If Midterms Were Held TODAY-Repubs Would LOSE House (TIME)

[kpete]

TIME
Republicans on the Run

If the midterm elections were held today, top strategists of both parties say privately, the Republicans would probably lose the 15 seats they need to keep control of the House of Representatives
By KAREN TUMULTY AND MIKE ALLEN



The midterm contests in a President's second term are almost always treacherous, but this time around, Republicans thought it would be different. The 2006 elections, coming on top of their gains in 2002 and 2004, would make history and perhaps even cement a g.o.p. majority in Congress for a generation. George W. Bush's credibility on national security and the states' aggressive gerrymandering, they believed, had turned the vast majority of districts into fortresses for incumbents. But that's not turning out to be the case. In recent weeks, a startling realization has begun to take hold: if the elections were held today, top strategists of both parties say privately, the Republicans would probably lose the 15 seats they need to keep control of the House of Representatives and could come within a seat or two of losing the Senate as well.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1176959-1,00.html

[catmandu57]

1. By November

I believe they'll be lucky to only lose 15 seats, I believe the house and senate is ours if we play our cards right.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. More discussion in GDP and Editorials

Please click here (Editorials) or here (GDP).

[kpete]

4. Thanks & well done!

[madrchsod]

3. i won`t hold my breath

even if they do take the house just how much will change? my opinion is that if they are cowards now why would i trust them now? there`s only a few democrats that have stood up to be counted and they took the heat. not a lot will change because they will still line their pockets with campaign contributions. after all they have an election coming up in two years

[ccpup]

5. Normally, I would agree with you

but you underestimate the anger the Constituents are feeling toward the Repug Party district by district, State by State. When the Repugs impeached Clinton, they were appeasing their "base", those people who wanted Clinton to "pay" for ... well, whatever. But it was their BASE they were appeasing, not the Country. I suspect when the Dems take the House their constituents will demand action be taken (they already are!) and will support Bush "paying" for the many, many wrongs he's done. The lies. The malfeasance. The arrogance. For making Joe Sixpack feel like an idiot because he stridently defended Bush and then later was made to look like an ass after it became glaringly obvious to EVERYBODY that Bush had lied. Plus his paycheck isn't stretching and his health insurance is in danger. (is it true that the 90s were actually better with Bubba at the helm?)

To assume that because they're lining their pockets with campaign contributions (how else are they supposed to compete in an Election and get their ideas to the people? ... until they get free air time and newspaper support, that is) that nothing will happen is overlooking the fact that perhaps the majority of people contributing WANT Bush impeached or censured or tied to a post and horse-whipped.

Just my two cents.

[Jack Rabbit]

6. Imagine Conyers as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee

Many Congressional Democrats have acted like cowards and other party leaders like Al From and Will Marshall have acted like outright collaborationists with the Bush regime. The frustration of many liberals, progessives and leftists is felt. The Democrats have caved so often in the face of the Bush junta's tyranny that it is more than understandable to think that putting them in power in Congress will make little difference. Nevertheless, some key Democrats have shown real courage and, with the Democrats holding a majority in the House, they may be able to make a big difference. Putting the Democrats in power could very well set the wheels in justice in motion in a way that Bush and the neoconservatives cannot stop.

Imagine John Conyers as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Imagine him with subpoena power. Imagine him using it to investigate the misuse of intelligence prior to the Iraq War.

There can be no doubt that junta insiders -- including Mr. Bush -- knew that the intelligence they had did not support a case for war. I was at best inconclusive as to whether Saddam actually had any biochemical arsenal at all, let alone that he possessed them in the quantities that General (Ret.) Powell said he had or where Mr. Rumsfeld said they were. There was more evidence to suggest that Saddam couldn't get his hands on material to "reconstitute" his nuclear program, as Mr. Cheney said, than to suggest that he was even trying to get them. Consequently, Dr. Rice knew very well that there was no smoking gun in the form of a mushroom cloud that would materialize any time soon. Moreover, if the policymakers had any confidence in the intelligence to make their case, they wouldn't have tasked Mr. Feith to doctor it in the OSP nor would Mr. Cheney and Mr. Libby paid frequent visits to Langley to strong arm analysts into saying what they wanted to hear, regardless of the facts. Through all this, intelligence was being fabricated and the intelligence community set up to be the fall guy.

They were lying and they knew they were lying. Not only are those impeachable offenses, they are war crimes. All of those named in the above paragraph richly deserve to face an international tribunal after being impeached and removed from power.

[AndyTiedye]

7. I Don't Expect Our Lead to Last

There will be all sorts of "revelations" about our candidates, either stuff gleaned from NSA wiretapping,
or made up out of whole cloth. The Swift Boat Liars are back in business, and the media is ready and waiting
to give them all the free airtime they need.

Even if the accusations are so obviously bogus that NOBODY believes them, the media will tell us that
EVERYONE ELSE believed them after the Diebold Republican Electing machines do their thing on Election Day.

And there are the always-convenient (for THEM) small airplane crashes.

[lovuian]

8. W0oHoo!!! That is a dream come true!!!

:woohoo:

[kentuck]

9. If a frog had wings...

he wouldn't bump his ass...

The Republicans are already in full campaign mode. The "immigration" policy proposal by Sensenbrenner is only their latest facade. Bush is doing his best to get his polls up so the Congressional candidates will not continue running from him. It will be interesting to see what they plan on doing about the huge deficits and debt. They will say that the Deocrats are "big spenders" and that they are the "fiscal conservatives" but will their followers buy it? Republicans Are The Party Of Fiscal Conservatism ? Not!

[Greeby]

11. If that was a campaign move

Bigger protests than during Vietnam probably wasn't the result they had in mind

[SheilaT]

10. But the election is NOT being held today.

There's not telling what will happen between now and November, and that's not even counting deliberate manipulations of various kinds on the part of Republicans. Nor does it include deliberate voting booth fraud. Remember, most states are using electronic machines which have no oversight, now valid way of doing a recount.

As I frequently say, never forget that these people came to power in a coup, and they will never relinquish power willing, least of all in something so silly as a fair, free, and honest election.