The Republican Party is Dead

[dario73]

THE GOP IS DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!

House of Rep

[Dos Equis]

THE GOP IS DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!

House of Rep

Wow.  Speak on this Lurker.  Where you stay?   

[dario73]

2014 Governor results

[dario73]

2014 Senate Results

[Archer77]

Before anyone get's drunk on gloating lets have a moment of perspective. Unless Republicans move on amnesty and border security the election results are only a momentary reprieve.

[Dos Equis]

Before anyone get's drunk on gloating lets have a moment of perspective. Unless Republicans move on amnesty and border security the election results are only a momentary reprieve.

I'm not gloating.  Just questioning the contention that the GOP is dead. 

I doubt anything gets done the next two years, but gridlock is good.  Better to have no new laws than bad ones (like Obamacare). 

[240 is Back]

Republicans control the Senate, increased their hold of the House to a level not seen in decades, and made gains at the state level, including terrific performances in gubenatorial races. 

Doesn't sound like the GOP is dead to me. 

they're not dead.  they're just powerless to stop a president bent on destroying the USA using executive orders. 

Well, not entirely powerless.  they control the purse strings and could impeach... but i doubt they have the balls to exercise either

[Archer77]

I'm not gloating.  Just questioning the contention that the GOP is dead. 

I doubt anything gets done the next two years, but gridlock is good.  Better to have no new laws than bad ones (like Obamacare). 

I'm not accusing you of gloating.  It was a general warning against gloating, myself included. I was just saying that work needs to be done. 

[dario73]

How much work can the GOP get done when the clown still has veto power?

[240 is Back]

I'm not accusing you of gloating.  It was a general warning against gloating, myself included. I was just saying that work needs to be done. 

Iin 2010, there was tons of gloating, because the future seemed to bright.

After 4 years of gridlock, and exec power like crazy, we now see that the repubs can only really do TWO things in controlling senate too.

They can cut the funding - and they probably will not.
They can impeach obama - and they probably will not.

So the big "win" was really something like "now we're in good shape if we win White House in 2016".

however, there are tens of millions of people who don't bother in off-year elections that will certainly show up to vote (D) in a presidential election.  The win in 2010 was way more brutal and in 2012, ROmney still got beaten (after the major tea party force was unable to even secure a tea party candidate).

Run another RINO in 2016, and (it's a lot of repubs saying it now too) - Dems will probably win white house again.

[Dos Equis]

they're not dead.  they're just powerless to stop a president bent on destroying the USA using executive orders. 

Well, not entirely powerless.  they control the purse strings and could impeach... but i doubt they have the balls to exercise either

 

[Dos Equis]

I'm not accusing you of gloating.  It was a general warning against gloating, myself included. I was just saying that work needs to be done. 

Understood.  Thanks.  I won't be holding my breath waiting for anything substantive to get done.

[Dos Equis]

More proof of the GOP's demise.  http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?topic=554739.0

[Soul Crusher]

As Democrats take stock of their grievous losses in the 2014 elections, party leaders are confronting a challenge perhaps even more daunting than their defeats in the House and Senate: the virtual wipeout of the Democratic talent pool across the country.

After the Republican waves of 2010 and 2014, the party is depleted not just in its major-league talent, but also in its triple-A recruitment prospects. It amounts to a setback, Democrats say, that will almost certainly require more than one election cycle to repair.

At the start of the 2014 campaign, Democrats envisioned an election that would produce new national stars for the party in at least a few tough states – Georgia Sen. Michelle Nunn or Kentucky Sen. Alison Lundergan Grimes, for instance, or maybe even Texas Gov. Wendy Davis. Even if the party fell short in those “reach” states, Democrats hoped to produce new heavyweight blue-state Democrats – Maryland Gov. Anthony Brown, the country’s only black state executive; or Maine Gov. Mike Michaud, who would have been the first openly gay candidate elected governor.

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

[240 is Back]

d

[Dos Equis]

Republican Midterm Dominance Extends to Executive Mansions
Forget the Senate: The GOP also took control of hotly contested governor's seats.
Nov. 5, 2014, in Annapolis, Md.
By Joseph P. Williams Nov. 5, 2014

While most of the nation’s attention was focused on their Senate bloodbath, the Democrats’ bad night got even worse at the state level Tuesday. Republicans seized the governorships in six battleground states – including in President Barack Obama’s home state of Illinois – and retook the Democratic stronghold of Massachusetts. 

In total, Republicans had won or led in 26 of 36 state governor's races by early Wednesday morning.

The Republican midterm dominance included perhaps the most-watched gubernatorial race this cycle, in which embattled Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker weathered political scandals and a 2012 recall vote to win another term. He handily defeated Mary Burke, a businesswoman and promising Democratic political newcomer who seemed well-suited to take on what many saw as a vulnerable, marginally popular incumbent.

Their heated race featured millions of dollars in outside spending, mostly by Republican-affiliated groups, and a rare campaign trail appearance by Obama, who stumped in support of Burke.

At the same time, GOP incumbent governors John Kasich of Ohio and Rick Snyder of Michigan, running in what had been considered highly competitive races, easily defeated their Democratic challengers. In the process, both solidified their credentials for a possible spot on the GOP’s 2016 presidential ticket. 

Republicans also took control of the governor’s mansions in three Democratic bastions: Maryland, where Democratic Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown lost to Republican businessman Larry Hogan; Arkansas, where Asa Hutchinson – a former congressman and George W. Bush administration official – defeated former Democratic Rep. Mike Ross; and Massachusetts, where Attorney General Martha Coakley – whom Scott Brown defeated in the campaign to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy in 2010 – lost a nail-biter of a race to health care executive Charlie Baker.

In Maryland, Brown – who served two terms under popular governor (and potential Democratic presidential challenger) Martin O’Malley – was unable to hold what had been a substantial lead over Hogan. In Arkansas, Ross’ defeat came despite the efforts of former President Bill Clinton, a still-popular favorite son who campaigned hard for Ross in the final days of the contest.

Republicans led in or took nearly every competitive governor’s race this cycle – including in Colorado, where GOP challenger Bob Beauprez was poised to defeat incumbent Democrat John Hickenlooper; the two had been running neck-and-neck in the polls. The case was the same in Florida, where incumbent Gov. Rick Scott and Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist were locked in a bitter grudge match for months.

Scott won by the thinnest of margins, and did it despite his own ugly voter approval ratings, which sank to around 39 percent toward the end of his first term. Crist’s poll numbers, however, weren’t much better, languishing at about the same level, and nationwide commentary focused on the fact that voters had to pick between two candidates no one much liked.

While the fight for control of the Senate dominated the political headlines during the midterm cycle, the executive mansion wins could pay big dividends for Republicans. Many of the GOP’s conservative policies are set at the state level, and Walker and others could be considered contenders for the GOP’s 2016 presidential nomination.

There was one bright spot in an otherwise dark night for Democrats. In Pennsylvania, Democratic challenger Tom Wolf beat the incumbent Republican, Tom Corbett, in a historic election – the first time in 40 years a sitting governor in the state has been defeated.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/11/05/republican-midterm-dominance-extends-to-governors-races

[Soul Crusher]

d

Correct - the problem of the stupid people who voted for this African communist pos is still with us

[Dos Equis]

Quinn declines to concede governor’s race, waiting for final tally
Gov. Pat Quinn tells supporters he will not concede the election until every vote is counted. Quinn, a Democrat, is the first governor to lose re-election in a president’s home state since 1892.
Tyler Pager, Breaking News Editor
November 5, 2014 •

CHICAGO — Despite multiple outlets calling the Illinois gubernatorial election in favor of Republican challenger Bruce Rauner, Gov. Pat Quinn refused to concede the election Tuesday night.

Quinn, who has served as Illinois’ governor since 2009, said he wanted to make sure every vote was counted before relinquishing his seat.
“I don’t believe in throwing in the towel if that many votes are being counted,” he said. “Until that happens, I don’t think we should make any judgment on this election.”

With 99 percent of the state’s precincts reporting, Rauner captured 51 percent of the vote to Quinn’s 46 percent. Quinn’s loss marked the first time that the governor of a president’s home state lost a re-election bid since 1892.

. . .

http://dailynorthwestern.com/2014/11/05/city/quinn-declines-to-concede-governors-race-waiting-for-final-tally/

[Option D]

Correct - the problem of the stupid people who voted for this African communist pos is still with us

cool story bro

[Soul Crusher]

cool story bro

You will kneepad Hillary too and you know it.   Cool story bro - kneepadding Hillary - lmfao

[flipper5470]

The GOP has some interesting possibilities for President in 2016.  Walker in WI, Kasich in OH, Martinez out in NM, Sandoval in NV....not to mention the two heavyweights in Christie (ha...I said heavyweight) and Bush.   If Hillary! is the choice for the Dems...and that is by no means certain...you can't really criticize the GOP for running another Bush.  The GOP has a number of people they can run with clout in swing states.  The dems have Hillary!..a flawed candidate with tons of baggage and who else?  Warren?  Cuomo?   Warren is so far left and she's done nothing outside of being a one term Senator.  Do you think they can sell that package again?  And Cuomo? He's from New York...apart from the firefighters and Derek Jeter the rest of the country hates New Yorkers.

I don't see a really compelling dem for 2016...I see a number of really solid options for the GOP.

[Dos Equis]

The downward spiral of the Republican Party continues.

What Just Happened In The Senate Race In Alaska Could Be Considered Righting A Political Wrong
...there is just one senate contest still to be decided...
NORVELL ROSE — NOVEMBER 12, 2014
 
Incumbent U.S. Senator Mark Begich of Alaska won his seat in 2008 by defeating the longest-serving Republican member of the upper chamber, Ted Stevens. But many of Stevens’ allies and supporters at the time said that Begich’s victory was tainted, even illegitimate.

Just days before the election, you may recall, Stevens was found guilty by a Washington D.C. federal jury on seven felony counts. However, the conviction of the popular GOP senator was later set aside due to prosecutorial misconduct, and Stevens record was cleared.

It was too late — Begich was already installed as Alaska’s junior senator. Soon, though, the one-termer will be out of office.

As Fox News reports, Republican Dan Sullivan has defeated Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Begich in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race. Just about a week after election day, the Associated Press has declared Sullivan the winner, bringing to 53 the number of seats the GOP has now captured.

The Washington Times explains the delay in determining who won the hard-fought Alaska race:

The Alaska race was too close to call on Election Night last week, with Sullivan up by about 8,100 votes, but it became evident Tuesday when the state began counting about 20,000 of absentee and questioned ballots that Begich could not overcome Sullivan.

But while the race has been declared, Sen. Begich has not conceded. According to his campaign:

“Sen. Begich believes every vote deserves to be counted in this election. There are tens of thousands of outstanding votes and Sen. Begich has heard from rural Alaskans that their votes deserve to be counted and their voices deserve to be heard. He will honor those requests.”

Assuming the current status of the Alaska race holds, there is just one senate contest still to be decided. That’s the runoff on December 6th in Louisiana between Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Rep Bill Cassidy (R-LA).

Ironically, Senate Democrats may push for a vote on the Keystone XL pipeline in the coming weeks, according to Democratic aides — a move that could help Landrieu, who is currently viewed as the underdog in the runoff.

President Obama and many of his Democrat allies have long dragged their feet on reaching a conclusion about whether to okay construction of the pipeline.

But now, says NBC News, Democrats may suddenly become aggressive champions of Keystone XL:

While no decisions have been made to go forward with the plan, the strategy would see a vote on the controversial pipeline before the Republican majority is sworn-in, and would allow Landrieu, and other moderate Democrats, to vote in support of approving it.

http://www.westernjournalism.com/just-happened-senate-race-alaska-considered-righting-political-wrong/#O0J0MLCMG4s8UwGG.99

[Dos Equis]

Pretty funny (and informative) read.

Election Night Reality vs. MSNBC's Pre-Election Wishful Thinking
By Ann Coulter | November 6, 2014

After Tuesday night, Republicans' main objective is clear: Convince Oregon Measure 88 to run for president.

Measure 88 won more votes than anything else on the Oregon ballot. More votes than pot legalization. More than the incumbent governor, the incumbent senator or any of the six other ballot measures. The widely popular, landslide vote on Measure 88 prohibits illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses.

In the nightmare scenario for MSNBC, by midnight Tuesday night, Republicans had 52 Senate seats -- 53 with their probable win in the Louisiana runoff in December, 54 if they win Alaska and 55 if they win Virginia. And I'm not even counting Democratic flips.

Don't you wish all these new Republicans were joining Republican senators Richard Lugar, Mike Castle and whatever Republican was running against Todd Akin? How about Rob Simmons in Connecticut, who would be the senator from Connecticut if self-serving GOP consultants hadn't gone for the money-bags, unelectable candidate instead?

Without tea party challenges and greedy Republican consultants, Republicans would be looking at 59 Senate seats in the next Congress. Maybe 61 with Democrat flips.

One more wave election, and it wouldn't matter who the president is.

And what if the money and energy wasted this year saving incumbent senators Mitch McConnell, Thad Cochran and Pat Roberts from tea party challenges had been spent on Senate elections in New Hampshire, Virginia or Minnesota?  These guys weren't Arlen Specter! They weren't even John McCain or Marco Rubio.

(The only person who had a worse night on Tuesday than MSNBC's Rachel Maddow was Marco Rubio, who just lost the only argument for not primarying him in 2016.)

Republicans won every possible Senate and governor's seat, but one: long-shot, come-from-behind Scott Brown in New Hampshire. A month ago, no one thought we'd even be talking about New Hampshire on election night.

But Brown was such a fantastic candidate, aggressively denouncing amnesty and open borders, that he managed to single-handedly turn a safe seat for the Democrats into a bloodbath. He is surely responsible for at least one Republican Senate win by forcing Democrats to divert precious resources to New Hampshire.

Without many silver linings, all of MSNBC's bitterness election night was directed at Scott Brown.

An angry Rachel Maddow repeatedly told her little joke about Brown being the first man to lose to two women in two states. Hey, Rachel: Martha Coakley just became the first woman in the same state to lose to a man in two elections for two different offices -- senator and governor!

It was a tough night for Rachel. For those of you who haven't seen her show, words cannot capture the giggling, smirking, cutesy antics that accompany her remarks.

Exactly two months ago, Rachel was hyping Princeton's Sam Wang, who, in 2012, "correctly predicted all 33 U.S. Senate races"! I don't remember those being that hard to predict, but it impressed Rachel. "According to Sam Wang`s calculations," Maddow smirked on Sept. 3, "the odds of the Democrats holding onto the Senate nationwide for the whole country, those odds move to 85 percent."

Election results by midnight Tuesday:

    -- Senate Republicans: 52
    -- Senate Democrats: 44

Less than a month ago, Rachel devoted several shows to a complicated argument about how the Democrats could win the Senate election in South Dakota. "Now, today, the new unthinkable," she began. "The Democratic Party today just announced that, hey, South Dakota is hereby a contested race. South Dakota. Democrats all of a sudden think they can maybe win in South Dakota. ... Woo-hoo!"

Tuesday night election results in South Dakota:

    -- Republican Mike Rounds: 51.1 percent
    -- Democrat Rick Weiland: 29 percent

One month ago, Rachel was gloating about Kansas governor Sam Brownback heading to defeat because of his experiment with "massive" tax cuts. "The result of Sam Brownback's experiment," she said, "is, number one, that Kansas is broke. Number two, that Sam Brownback is losing his re-election bid to a centrist Democrat who warned that Kansas couldn`t afford those cuts."

Tuesday night election results in Kansas:

    -- Sam Brownback: 49.9 percent
    -- Paul Davis: 46.1 percent

Rachel on Arkansas, earlier this year:

"Basically the unanimous Beltway common wisdom was Mark Pryor, Democratic senator from Arkansas, was definitely going to lose this year. ... Except that it is not at all what happened. Check this out. Mark Pryor has been polling 10 and 11 points ahead of this Tom Cotton guy who is running against him. Senator Pryor is up in this race by double digits."

(Translation of "this Tom Cotton guy": magna cum laude graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law School; second lieutenant in the U.S. Army; infantry officer and platoon leader with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq; U.S. representative from Arkansas.)

Tuesday night election results in Arkansas:


    -- Tom "This Guy" Cotton: 56.5 percent
    -- Mark Pryor: 39.5 percent

And what ever happened to A-Star-Is-Born, Wendy Davis? MSNBC spent all of 2013 telling us she was going to be the next governor of Texas.

Rachel began referring to Davis' opponent, Greg Abbott, as the man "best known as the Republican running for Texas governor against Democrat Wendy Davis." On June 26, 2014, Rachel spent airtime commemorating the one-year anniversary of Davis' filibuster for abortion!

Tuesday night election results in Texas:

    -- Greg Abbott: 59.4 percent
    -- Wendy Davis: 38.9 percent

I could go on and on. Rachel sneering about Thom Tillis, Rachel giggling about Mitch McConnell, Rachel laughing at Nathan Deal, Rachel mocking Rick Scott, Rachel dismissing Scott Walker.

Instead, let's review a few of Tuesday's highlights:

    -- A former House impeachment manager is now governor of Bill Clinton's home state of Arkansas.
    -- The deep blue states of Maryland and Massachusetts will now have Republican governors.
    -- Republicans have just elected: the youngest member of Congress (Elise Stefanik of New York); the first black female representative from Utah (Mia Love); the first black senator from the South since Reconstruction (Tim Scott).  The two black senators from the South before that were also Republicans, as was the first black senator from the North, Edward Brooke.

    -- Americans really don't want driver's licenses for illegal aliens.
    -- Sandra Fluke lost.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ann-coulter/2014/11/06/election-night-reality-vs-msnbcs-pre-election-wishful-thinking#sthash.3WszNIu3.dpuf

[flipper5470]

In the post Watergate 70's...when Carter won and the Deems had large majorities in the Senate and House... republicans were fought to be in deep shit for a generation St least.  In 1980..four years later..the GOP takes the Senate and the White house and makes huge gains in the House.

In 1992, Clinton wins and the GOP faces a Dem Senate and House.  Surely..the GOP was screwed for decades.   In 1994 the GOP takes back the House and Senate .  in 2000, the GOP takes the White House as well.

In 2006,the tide turns.  Democrats win a majority in the House and Senate and in 2008 Obama gets elected and brings a veto proof Senate with him.   Surely the GOP is screwed now... until 2010 when they win back the House and 2014 when they take the Senate.

Politics is cyclical... reality tends to run in a circle while ideology tends to be more linear.  Sometimes, the reality of what the people want intersects with your line of thinking.  Holding to too narrow a line lessens the geometry quite a bit.

[Dos Equis]

In the post Watergate 70's...when Carter won and the Deems had large majorities in the Senate and House... republicans were fought to be in deep shit for a generation St least.  In 1980..four years later..the GOP takes the Senate and the White house and makes huge gains in the House.

In 1992, Clinton wins and the GOP faces a Dem Senate and House.  Surely..the GOP was screwed for decades.   In 1994 the GOP takes back the House and Senate .  in 2000, the GOP takes the White House as well.

In 2006,the tide turns.  Democrats win a majority in the House and Senate and in 2008 Obama gets elected and brings a veto proof Senate with him.   Surely the GOP is screwed now... until 2010 when they win back the House and 2014 when they take the Senate.

Politics is cyclical... reality tends to run in a circle while ideology tends to be more linear.  Sometimes, the reality of what the people want intersects with your line of thinking.  Holding to too narrow a line lessens the geometry quite a bit.

A lot of truth to this.  It's similar to sports franchises.  Winning and losing are cyclical.  I don't think either party is dead or will ever die. 

That said, I do think liberalism is a proven failure in politics.  Liberal candidates will still win elections, but the ideology itself is a failure.