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Post Mortem Why Republicans got shellacked in the midterms
the weekly standard ^ | 11/08/2006 9:00:00 AM | Fred Barnes

Posted on 11/08/2006 6:35:06 AM PST by flixxx

THIS ONE IS PRETTY EASY TO EXPLAIN. Republicans lost the House and probably the Senate because of Iraq, corruption, and a record of taking up big issues and then doing nothing on them. Of these, the war was by far the biggest factor. Unpopular wars trump good economies and everything else. President Truman learned this in 1952, as did President Johnson in 1968. Now, it was President Bush's turn, and since his name wasn't on the ballot, his party took the hit.

(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: elections
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To: frogjerk
DIMS will Cut funding of Iraq.

The Defense Appropriations bill won't be passed until late summer 2007 at the earliest, and won't be implemented until Oct 2007, which is the beginning of FY 2008. I would hope that if the Dims manage to pass any lesser bills before then that cut funding for Iraq, President Bush would veto them. If not, then the WOT wasn't so important to him all along, and I don't believe that's true, so he would veto.

If the appropriations are cut effective Oct 2007, the Bush administration will probably have already begun to 'redeploy' by then. IOW, the point might be moot by then. Or not.

101 posted on 11/08/2006 7:17:25 AM PST by savedbygrace (SECURE THE BORDERS FIRST (I'M YELLING ON PURPOSE))
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To: Rodent_in_NY
Let's all hope your right in your adolescent arrogance.

Personally, I think you're full of shit and hope it's your city and not mine that gets it next.

102 posted on 11/08/2006 7:17:59 AM PST by liberty_lvr (Wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream.)
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To: Alberta's Child
The Bush administration is going to "cut & run" in Iraq because it will never accommodate Group #1 no matter what it does, and it simply doesn't have the will (or the resources) to execute the war in a manner that will satisfy Group #2.

The Bush admin should stop trying to accomodate Group 1... it's what got them into trouble in the first place, and is the reason people think Bush doesn't have the will to prosecute this war like a war.

The reason the public doesn't like the war is because of the MSM's portrayal... If they were getting accurate reporting, the opinion of the general public would be vastly different.
103 posted on 11/08/2006 7:18:22 AM PST by snowrip (Liberal? YOU HAVE NO RATIONAL ARGUMENT. Actually, you lack even a legitimate excuse.)
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To: 3catsanadog
She claims she won't pursue impeachment

Grandma doesn't need to mention the "i" word. She just needs to keep investigations going.

104 posted on 11/08/2006 7:18:57 AM PST by Right_in_Virginia
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To: flixxx

>>Not much to add...should be an interesting 2 years with (hopefully) a recharged Right in time for 2008...<<

Yup.. This could be a good thing in the long run. If housing tanks, and the economy with it, as much as I suspect it will in 2007-2008, this could be a VERY good thing.


105 posted on 11/08/2006 7:19:00 AM PST by RobRoy (Islam is a greater threat to the world now than Naziism was in 1937.)
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To: kenavi; freespirited; Oberon
I'd say in that case, there were many other factors at work, not the least of which is Lieberman's long-term incumbancy.
106 posted on 11/08/2006 7:19:15 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
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To: robertpaulsen
>>But the Republicans won't take that as the message. They'll simply think they weren't liberal enough.<<

It takes a bit of twisted logic to think the election was a lesson for the Republicans to move right rather than left.

107 posted on 11/08/2006 7:19:20 AM PST by Muleteam1
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To: Conservativegreatgrandma

>>I don't disagree with this. Problem is the RATS leave us in a very vulnerable position. The terrorists have to love this.<<

It may be that we need a serious attack to get us off our butts.


108 posted on 11/08/2006 7:19:56 AM PST by RobRoy (Islam is a greater threat to the world now than Naziism was in 1937.)
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To: stuck_in_new_orleans
you can say whatever you want...but if you have a enemy then you should use overpowering force. We didnt and it came back to bite us as we all expected the people of Iraq to rise up and joyfully take over and throw rose pedals at us and welcoming us as liberators aka france/ww2.

We did use "overpowering force" to defeat Saddam and his military. The idea that we could/should carpetbomb Iraq into the stone age is nonsense. We were liberators and used a strategy to deal with the postwar period to include a stable, democratically elected government. Our biggest mistake, using 20/20 hindsight, was not taking out the militias. But you can't unring a bell. You need to deal with the reality on the ground now. FYI: We were welcomed by many Iraqis as liberators. Also, the Iraqi government wants us to stay.

Someone would have t be in REAL denail to see that it hasnt and wont happen that way and that looking back we should have just bombed Saddam into oblivion and screw what the rest of the world thought.

You don't bomb one man or his regime into oblivion. There are million Iraqis to deal with. We had to aid the Japanese and Germans to get back on their feet after a devastating war that destroyed their countries' infrastructure and political system. I think we are winning in Iraq and should continue to support the current government, which has been in power about 6 months. We need patience and resolve to achieve long term objectives, i.e., a stable, democratic Iraq, which will not be a threat to its neighbors or a sancturary for terrorists.

109 posted on 11/08/2006 7:20:58 AM PST by kabar
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To: snowrip
By disenfranchising their base, they caused a great many people (who otherwise would have voted conservative) to stay home or vote independent.

The time to throw temper tantrums is during the primaries. I think I'll take a 2 yr break from FR and come back and try to rally those "true conservatives" you speak about to stop Hillary in '08. Maybe by then they will have come to their senses, or maybe not, maybe they'll still be whining.

110 posted on 11/08/2006 7:21:01 AM PST by petercooper (Polls Schmolls.)
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To: liberty_lvr

I think this DUmmy's city (NY) already "got it." Guess it wasn't devastating enough for him.


111 posted on 11/08/2006 7:22:11 AM PST by Tucker822
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To: Rodent_in_NY
The reason your terrorist mantra is worn out is that it doesn't make any sense to anyone who uses their brain.

I guess you missed all of those terorist attacks on the U.S. while Klintoon was President. You must also have missed how proud the 'Rats were of trying to kill important antiterrorism tools like the Patriot Act, and the Terrorist Surveillance Program. The 'rats are demonstrably not serious about national security, and a lot of innocent people will pay dearly for it.

112 posted on 11/08/2006 7:22:20 AM PST by EricT. (The Democrats have decided it will either be a Democrat led America, or no America at all.)
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To: Rodent_in_NY

" The rest of America woke up"

We have to wonder when we will ALL not wake up. Democrats and security??? What a joke.[Not a botched one either] The next 911 will be nuclear.


113 posted on 11/08/2006 7:22:30 AM PST by Bushiefan
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To: Rodent_in_NY

Well, then I guess we get to see what the utterly corrupt, totally self-absorbed, cowardly new politicos do, now that they run everything.

Ought to be interesting, yes?


114 posted on 11/08/2006 7:22:41 AM PST by BelegStrongbow (www.stjosephssanford.org: Ecce Pactum, id cape aut id relinque)
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To: flixxx

Nancy's top priority is to raise the minimum wage. That should be all you need to know about how important the war is to them.


115 posted on 11/08/2006 7:22:57 AM PST by Sir Gawain
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To: Rodent_in_NY

Hi, there!

I'm a busy guy, so I'll just say "bye."


116 posted on 11/08/2006 7:23:44 AM PST by rightinthemiddle (Without the Media, the Left and Islamofacists are Nothing.)
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To: Concho

>>The end of America as we know it.<<

I agree, except the America I knew ended a long time ago. The Republicans were reprehensible. They had the power, and were pathetic.

Ultimately though, it is not the politicians that are responsible, it is the voters.

If you want to know what is wrong with the US, just go to the mall and watch it's citizens. Turn on the TV and watch their programming. It is a seriously sick culture and that just comes to the surface in the quality of leaders we choose, on BOTH sides of the aisle.


117 posted on 11/08/2006 7:24:08 AM PST by RobRoy (Islam is a greater threat to the world now than Naziism was in 1937.)
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To: flixxx

IMHO, the dims realized that in order to survive they had to move to the center in at least a few areas. Lampson in TX, Webb in VA, and a few others are examples. But the overall lesson of our defeat is that WE WERE NOT FIRED UP ENOUGH TO FIGHT! I talking to that guy who looks at me in the mirror every morning. We have been too complacent, too confident, too stingy with our contributions. I swear that between today and 2008, I will get in the game and knock some heads. The war will be won or lost at the ballot box. This war WILL go on for the next 50-100 years. We lost a political battle; we will not lose the war.


118 posted on 11/08/2006 7:24:11 AM PST by darth
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To: Bushiefan

" The rest of America woke up"

We have to wonder when we will ALL not wake up. Democrats and security??? What a joke.[Not a botched one either] The next 911 will be nuclear."

Not according to Rodent...there are no such things as terrorists who wish to do us harm. Bush/Cheney and Rove just made them up to "scare" us.


119 posted on 11/08/2006 7:24:56 AM PST by AngieGOP (I never met a woman who became a stripper because she played with Barbie dolls as a kid.)
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To: Muleteam1
It takes a bit of twisted logic to think the election was a lesson for the Republicans to move right rather than left.

It's not a matter of right vs. left...it's a matter of integrity. Do what you said you came to do.

It was that very trait that enabled Ronald Reagan to do as much as he did in the face of an opposition congress. Simply put, he did what he said he was going to do.

120 posted on 11/08/2006 7:25:20 AM PST by Oberon (What does it take to make government shrink?)
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