IF Nancy Pelosi hadn’t named Steve Israel as head of the DCCC;
IF Steve Israel hadn’t started a bipartisan caucus years ago where they all promised never to support a run against any member;
IF the DCCC was running candidates in those districts next year;
It’s too early to engage in these speculations. The other shoe is going to drop. When the Democrats cut Social Security and Medicare while reinstating the Defense sequester cuts they will blow the temporary advantage garnered by Republican vandalism to smithereens.
Susie,
If only a bunch of whiny self-absorbed Dem voters hadn’t sat on their fat asses and stayed at home in 2010 because they didn’t get *everything* that CANDIDATE Barack Obama had promised and felt that the best thing for the country would be to let the GOP take Congress to force the Democratic Party to turn “left” again, we wouldn’t have LOST Congress in the first place.
Because……
Those Dem stay-at-home voters didn’t help elect more Dems to Congress (or to keep *vulnerable* Dems stay in Congress);
Those Dem stay-at-home voters weren’t able to get more Dems in their state legislatures to keep far-right extremists from being able to gerrymander voting districts (as well as a whole host of restrictions on women’s health and reproductive issues);
And, thanks to that last aspect, those stay-at-home Dems made it far tougher for Dems to make any real Congressional gains in 2012 as well as allowing the prospect of many GOP-dominated state legislatures and Governorships to consider the prospect of “splitting their electoral votes” (a move which would have given Romney a real shot at the Presidency, even though he didn’t have an actual majority of those states’ voters nor an actual majority of national voters).
But, by all means, let’s ignore all of THAT history in favor of a hypothetical that, for all intents and purposes, is likely to be unimportant by election day next year. People KNEW LAST YEAR what these teabaggers were going to do if given half the chance, and yet, in the midst of a PRESIDENTIAL election (where voter turnout is ALWAYS at its highest), there weren’t enough Dem challengers to topple any but the most nutty (or most outrageous–take your pick) of teabagger candidates (I’m thinking especially of Allen West and Joe “I’m not an Eagle but I am a proud deadbeat dad” Walsh). But, the simple reality is that far too many Congressional districts have been so decisively gerrymandered for the sole purpose of protecting that GOP seat that a Democrat has little chance of actually winning the seat, even IF the DCCC put all its available resources behind a single candidate–much less spread them around to all challengers.
One also has to wonder why it is that no one was upset that no Democrat chose to challenge Obama in 2012–considering how “horrible” he was as President in 2010. Oh. I forgot. By mid-2011, those stay-at-home Dems saw what THEY had done and were now willing to accept the fact that NO elected official can do everything he or she promises on his or her own–not even a President. And when a President faces an opposition led by a bunch of radical extremists, even less is likely to get done to promote (much less further) his agenda.
That’s right, Joe. If we had re-elected all those blue dogs in 2010, they would have learned their lesson and started standing up for liberal values instead of following Obama into their 30 shekel grand bargain.
But I’ll never learn. I’d rather be ruled by conservatives in conservative clothing than by conservatives in liberal clothing. I really can’t think of enough horrible things I’d like to see happen to the blue dogs, Obamabots and other traitors. But I guess I’ll just have to settle for the satisfaction of seeing nitwits like you simmering in your own frustrated juices.
The reason the Dems lost ground in 2010 was because they had the WH and both houses of congress for 2 years and all they could think of was ways to accomodate the republican agenda. They kept many of Bush’s (often illegal) political appointees, they prosecuted no one for the financial and political frauds of the last decade that have turned us into a banana republic, they made 85% of Bush’s tax cuts permanent and got basically nothing in return. They were worse than useless, and worse than the alternative, because at least with the Rs doing the bad deeds, the blame for conservative policies would have fallen on the more conservative of the two conservative parties on offer in this country.
MC or Visa? the plutocrats or the oligarchs? what’s the difference? You obviously pride yourself of making such subtle distinctions. The rest of us will just sit at home on election day, or “waste” our largely symbolic votes on 3rd party candidates and have a chuckle at your expense.