First, to sand lake bar, Ras has O moving down again today. I have watched Ras closely, and O vacillates like a mountain range but his general, steady direction has been down. So I think you're wrong on this but also I think IT DOESN'T MATTER.
Consider this possibility, namely that Obama has already factored in losing 30 House seats and 4-5 Senate seats next year and doesn't care. Yes, some of those legislators/senators will care, but I'm convinced O has already "provided" for them, that they already have cushy and powerful jobs lined up inside the admin IF they lose.
Need evidence that this is the case? Just this week, Lloyd Doggett and the guy from NC (forget his name, but there is a thread here about it) both said they don't care what their constituents want.
Everywhere, the Dem congressmen are hiding, sending low-level staffers, avoiding meeting with the public. Does this sound like people who care what their constituents thing?
Of course not. It looks exactly like people who plan to ram this through no matter what and hope the voters forget or (see my comments above) get another job.
If they get the bill in place that they want, it will take an ideologically committed SUPERMAJORITY to dismantle it. Does anyone here think, even if Obama's popularity plunges, we will get 100 House seats and 35 Senate seats in just over a year? And remember, every one of these people would have to be not just REPUBLICANS but ideologically committed CONSERVATIVES to undo this.
In short, I don't think the Tea Parties and town halls matter. I think they've already calculated in "acceptable casualties."
Thank you, LS!!!
I'd be ESPECIALLY pleased, as the show thread host, if you'd all comment on Professor Sweikhart's theory, What if They Don't Care?
Reply back to this thread.
THANK YOU ALL!!!!
So you are saying we might as well give up because we are already defeated?
I think LS has a right to his or her opinion.
I don’t buy a word of it.
The White House has focus groups every Wednesday. They then speak, spin, spindle and mutilate according to the results. This is a party that lives, dies and breathes with the spin, the polls and the focus groups.
They most certainly DO care.
What bothers me and you, so it seems, is the stonewall. This is Mass politics at its finest.
In short, I don’t think the Tea Parties and town halls matter. I think they’ve already calculated in “acceptable casualties.”
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I disagree. While I am sure that the O team has factored in certain losses in 2010, and are committed to ramming this through no matter what they are hearing from their constituents, if they were certain that they could pass it, they would have done it before the summer recess.
There are too many people now aware of the folly of submitting to a Congress who votes on Bills that were not yet written. Eg: the “Recovery Act” and the “Crap and Tax”.
There are too many Dem Congressmen who were elected in districts that were carried by McCain in 2008. They have to walk a tightrope between Pelosi and voters in order to get reelected next year.
We must keep the town hall pressure on. It gives backbone to many potential voters who have previously not been tuned in or who felt helpless.
I believe you are correct, unfortunately. They have the political power to do as they wish, and at best, we will only take back the House in 2010.
The only hope for this nation was to keep Pelosi, Reid, Durbin, Murtha, Schumer and the rest out of power. When conservatives fractured in 2005, it guaranteed the situation we are now in. It is a bitter pill to swallow, but it is the truth.
Loud and boisterous opposition to the individual components of the Dems agenda is our only strategy now.
The sad thing is that some if not many will be reelected, since they are the incumbent. That especially holds true in the districts with large rat voting populations. All the big cities (like doggett in Austin) will vote for him time and time again. There is little chance there will ever be an (R) representing his district. That is one reason he does not care. He knows his district is a safe (d) for the foreseeable future.
I agree your theory has much plausibility.
If even one major crisis occurs-a terrorist attack or major racial conflict ...no one will have their eye on congress and they will just slide it through.
That right there, is your battle cry.
Okay, they’ve already shown us they don’t care what we think or want. Now what suggestions do you have, considering you don’t see that tea parties and town hall questionings are effective? Serious question.
Thought provoking but I think “they” do care.
After the long hot August recess the tide will not only turn against this Health Care Debacle but Cap and Trade also.
I honestly do not think Obama has the votes to just “ram it down out throats”.
IMHO. This could be wishful thinking.
I think you are right. I ran into a blue dog last week and he is as calm as a kitten. He knows he has been voting 100% Pelosi and that is way off what his constituents sent him to WDC to do. The only time poll numbers matter is when you have to suck up to Congress for their support, like Reagan had to do on all-Dem Congress and Dubya had to try to do as he closed out his career.
Bambi will likely retain a Dem majority in both houses so his personal poll numbers are not that critical. I certainly hope he loses the House. Ohio may keep an R (Rob Portman) to replace Voinovich. 2 Dems are killing each other in primary.
Alas - I responded to #170 so please put me on your ping list.
I couldn't disagree more. They matter because they represent a visual opposition to the socialist polices of Obama and they are gaining momentum because they cannot be ignored.
If Obama was so confident, why is he mobilizing the shock troops? Go to this site and enter your zip code. Obama is organizing his 13 million brownshirts into action. Here in the DC metro area, there are dozens of events pushing Obamacare. His volunteers are at the subway entrances, community events, knocking on doors, phonebanks, etc. If we don't respond with some sort of opposition effort, we will lose regardless of how much the public may be opposed to his policies. We need to get organized as well. The stakes are high.
could there be another option, ie O has told the congress either you pass this “healthcare” reform, or I have a EO all set to go and no $$$ come election time. Either way its not going to go well
There is a strategic move taking place right now. They have waited decades for this. Now they have the raw legislative numbers, the economic and social conditions, and the political power base to do it without effective opposition. They intend to ram it through no matter what the "fallout" will be. The result is likely to be a permanent fait accompli against the American Republic and our Constitution.
The only thing standing between them and victory is the slowly awakening American People. Will that be enough? Will they mobilize and act soon enough?
We have second, more deadly, September 11th staring us in the face. This time it is driven by an even stronger enemy from within. Instead of the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the Capitol in the crosshairs it is the American Constitution and Republic.
"At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide." - Abraham Lincoln, 1838