The Dems are going to have 57 or 58 senators (can actually get 60, if everything goes right for them) and 255-180 (I hope not 270-165, but even this may happen) majority in the House. About what it was in 1993-94, before the Gingrich takeover.
GOP gained 54 seats in 1994 election, and now all these seats are coming back.
Even if Obama somehow manages to lose in November, all McCain will be able to do in the next 4 years is to veto some bills, and even some of these vetos will be overriden. Or he can simply go along and try to moderate the Rangel/Dingell/Pelosi-run Congress. And the GOP will still be percieved as being in power and get blamed for the economic troubles (which are pretty much given, for a decade or longer).
If Obama is elected, the Dems are on the clock. Who knows how much time they got? UK’s Labor is on its way out, but it took them 10+ years to self-destruct. The GOP here did it in 12. If the economy is lousy, the Dems may be on the way out in 2014. Maybe Obama will even lose reelection in 2012.
In any case, I don’t feel compelled to vote for McCain. Why waste GOP clock on somebody who is not even a Republican.
I kind of agree with you. Under any kind of carbon credit scheme, energy prices are going to quadruple, and I don't want the GOP to be tagged with any of that. If it happens under an Obama presidency and a 60% Democrat Congress, the Republicans cannot be blamed for the mess and would be poised for a big comeback.
I have to say, ubaldus, that what you said makes the most sense of anything I've read all night. This may be a time for “political Judo” - let the Democrats momentum carry them right over the edge and let them have full ownership of all the problems that are coming, and that they will cause.
What the left would like more than anything else is for a weak, centrist Republican like McCain to be the President while they pass mass illegal alien amnesty, the largest tax increases in history, the biggest gutting of the military in history, and the largest government takeover of private enterprise in history, because then they could say “it was all bipartisan”, while conservatives get more and more forlorn. At this point I'd say let Barack, Pelosi, Reid, and the rest own it. In four years they may get to replace three liberal Supreme court justices with three more - not great but not a disaster. This alone is NOT the reason to give them McCain as the front man for their master plan.
I'm already going into “bunker” mentality - this will be the Carter years all over again but probably a lot worse. The stock market will retreat to the mid 5000 (Dow) level as the Democrat economic policies take hold. Gas will touch the $7 and $8 per gallon ranges, and shortages will occur. There will be accidents and mass casualties among the armed forces as they are not properly funded.
America will be sick and appear to be dying, but it will be 100% the Democrats fault.
I hate for this type of post to be my first one back, but I guess I'm just in a pretty gloomy mood right now.
One thing I know for sure though is that McCain is NOT the guy we can trust to stand up to the liberal tsunami - in fact he'd probably join whatever they propose and put the Republican brand on it too - just so whatever Congressional seats the R's have left in 2010 and 2012 can be lost too.
Has this country ever seen a 75+ Senate and 350+ House going to one party? We might pretty soon. And then after that the old “democracies last about 200 to 250 years” rule may go into effect.
Head for high ground.
Another “safe” Senate seat that could fall is in TX, where Senator Cornyn is largely unrecognized by most voters because of his low profile. This has been a Republican seat since June 1961 too.
I think sometimes Freepers get caught up in party labels. This is not about someone who is a Republican and who is Democrat. This is about someone who is right (McCain) and one who is wrong (H. Obama) for the nation.
Also, the clock is an absurd idea. You are assuming Obama's policies will be unpopular. With the bully pulpit, he will be able to convince people his policies are exactly what they need. The end result is an endless nightmare for America.
Plus there is the whole issue about the SCOTUS. I trust McCain's panel (led by Ted Olson) to make the right picks as opposed to Obama's judiciary panel (led by Cornell West).
God Bless McCain. God Bless America.