My RNC buddy just gave the best three words regarding GOP assessment in 2010 elections

[zulchzulu]

I just had a couple adult drinks with a friend of mine who got back from an RNC meeting in Chicago and DC. We yakked about how stupid he thinks Palin is ("she's toast in 2011 if she dares to run"), how much of an asshat Boehner is (he's a goddamn drunk") and how many of his Republican colleagues are "disappointed at the new good numbers on the economy", which of course means that it's going to be harder than the spin about the Republicans doing well in 2010.

As for how things are turning up with sinking contributions to the RNC because of Teabaggers and Micheal Steele, he basically said that Obama and those around him will turn their successes into larger turnouts in the 2010 election cycle than ever before and that... as Republicans, "we are fucked".

This guy knows the GOP inside and out and would love for them to win, if only because he's more like a team guy when it comes to belonging to political parties.

Was he correct before? He predicted well before McCain was nominated that he would be the nominee and lose badly.

I almost feel sorry for the guy.

:rofl:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Good.

Keep buying him drinks, OK?

He sounds like the kind of GOP friend it's useful to keep around...

:hi:

[blm]

13. heheh

.

[roguevalley]

14. thank you, ZulchZulu. If you listen to the news, you would think

otherwise. Bless you.

[tridim]

2. Nice! I'm sure I couldn't be friends with a professional Republican.

Amateur Republicans are bad enough.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

21. Actually, many of the pros can be rather pleasant people. Much different than your average freak RW

They just know how to stir the drink properly, so to speak, which is their job.

[Sherman A1]

23. I knew one who was a local GOP committee man and while he & I

disagreed on most social issues (he is pro-life & I am pro-common sense), we found that we did agree on many fiscal ones. We the discussion got heated we would switch to talking about the process and not the issues. We knew we would not change each other's minds, but I did offer to pound in yard signs if he ever ran for the State Legislature.

[LiberalFighter]

3. Well.....

if he wants to be a winner he should become a Democrat and help the party improve.

[arcane1]

4. Republican colleagues are "disappointed at the new good numbers on the economy"

Which clearly shows what they consider to be most important to them. Politics over people.

[CurtEastPoint]

6. Yeah...why do they hate America? n/t

[Pluvious]

36. Country First !!! (n/t)

n/t

[monmouth]

5. Must agree with CA Peggy, he sounds like a good guy who needs to

vent in the future. He will be gold to mine...LOL.

[zipplewrath]

7. Complacency is our risk

I'd love to believe this, but the truth is that in many ways this is our election to screw up. They can afford to be a bit depressed because their is little they can do to change reality.

I do think there are several mistakes we could make in this up coming election and "standing pat" is one of them. We have not been populist enough, and need to get candidates out there that can leverage this mood. That may mean watching some existing office holders lose in the primaries. We can't make the mistake of staying in the past. We have to embrace the future. We can't be seen as the party "wheeling and dealing", that's what got us in trouble on Health Insurance Reform. We have to look like we are out for the voter, not just protecting the incumbents. Some fresh faces would be a real good idea.

[Fire1]

9. Totally agree. But here's the rub. Finding them. n/t

[Robbie88]

27. I agree with all of this. n/t

[One Voice]

8. Listen to CaliforniaPeggy!

:toast:

[opihimoimoi]

10. Your buddy speaks Reality...the GOP thinks in Fantasy......Nov is GOP Waterloo

[stevietheman]

43. More like Waterloo III -- 2006 was the first, 2008 the second. n/t

n/t

[sfwriter]

11. I've had the same assesment from another Republican back in August...

Even then, he saw Steele as a trap of self aggrandizement and thought buying into tea=party heat was the only hope the party had.

"And what if you buy that bucket of hate and lose?"

"We are fucked."

[blm]

12. Hey z.....have I told you lately that I love you?

K and fockin' R!

[zulchzulu]

15. Right back at ya...

:fistbump:

[HillGal]

16. Don't count your chickens before they're hatched, we lost New Jersey Virginia and Massachusetts, and

I just read Paul Volckers comments on a VAT tax which is going to hurt the poor and the middle class more than anyone. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm tired, I work hard and don't earn much, go to school, and take care of my mom who's as poor as a church mouse and only has social security coming in and didn't get an increase this year. I can't afford another tax, I pay my own health insurance, and we're already basically living on chicken and pasta and cereal right now. I'm scared and I don't see much hope about the future getting better, and neither do the people around me. Maybe I'm just being melancholy but I'm not seeing anything to be happy about right now.

[karynnj]

35. There were unusual circumstances behind both NJ and MA

In NJ, Democrat Codey could have won easily. Corzine had low approval ratings for personal reasons and he ran a very nasty ugly campaign.

As to the VAT tax. Volker is not part of the Obama administration. Even then it was in answer to a question and he said it was not as toxic an idea as it was in the past. Now, who spoke of it in the past -- RW economists liked it or the flat tax. The RW has been rumoring for weeks that Obama wants a VAT - no proof here.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6355N520100406

You haven't been happy since Hillary lost.

[tavalon]

17. I was really angry at Democrats and was thinking about sitting out the election

I wasn't alone. In the last week, though, the Republicans have taken off their masks and I realize that it behooves me to vote for the lesser evil because the greater evil is really, really evil.

[vaberella]

33. Hence Í'm independent. Lesser evil is right. n/t

[golfguru]

18. You just gave me an excuse to...

have another rum and coke! :toast:

[Hekate]

19. A toast to your friend and his new GOP slogan!

:toast: "We. Are. Fucked." :toast: :rofl:

Hekate

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

20. I don't think they're "fucked", but I sure don't think their gains will be anywhere near expected.

Maybe a dozen house seats and a net gain of a few Senate seats. Enthusiasm is going to be a bigger factor for us than anything else, frankly. Those hateful assholes are very motivated to get to the ballot box, and that's going to be the difference. Still, it won't carry them to what most people seem to be predicting, largely for the reasons your buddy states.

[Cosmocat]

30. Yep ... been saying that for half a year now ...

since the MSM started carrying water in full for the Rs going into this mid term, pushing the usual "dems in trouble, Rs on the prowl" bs ...

The turnout won't be as great as the president for the Ds, and Rs always show up better in mid terms ...

I think the House will swing a little more than a dozen, I would put the over and under at 18 ... Just pulling a number out of the air ...

The tea bag thing is a gremlin for them ...

During the presidentential, all we heard from April up until election day was how much trouble BO was in because of Hill holdouts ... If the teabaggers were on the left, the potential split they pose from establishment candidates would be the breathless banter for the chattering class ...

They will help swing seats with the rage, but they will get some unelectable lunatics on the ballots, too ...

[olegramps]

22. Perhaps your buddy is trying to lull you to sleep.

[ClassWarrior]

24. That's great news, zulu, but it'll only happen if we work our asses off in the next election.

NGU.

[tabbycat31]

25. +1000

I've already committed to two Congressional races here

[zulchzulu]

26. Agreed! n/t

[Robbie88]

28. I would like to have this same optimistic outlook regarding the November elections,

but I'm afraid that I just can't, especially with the the recent poll numbers in my home state (Wisconsin) not looking very good for us at all. Your friend seems to know what he's talking about, so hopefully he's right, but I do think that we are going to have our work cut out for us over the next several months in trying to counter the right-wing noise machine that's been so overbearing since President Obama was sworn in...

[southernyankeebelle]

29. Lets not count our eggs just yet. However, I always thought the republicans

were over stating things and in the end it would come back to bite them in the ass. The teabaggers are in shock over the health care. What do you do when you incite these people to such hate?

[ProgressOnTheMove]

31. The rate things are going we may have a super progressive senate, and world will be a...

brighter place once we do. The greatest way to overcome the noise machine is to succeed, then their message is void.

[Hello_Kitty]

32. In 2008 the GOP in Arizona was toast.

They were dead broke and the infighting among had reached comical levels. We were positive that Democrats were going to pick up seats in the state legislature. Prominent Republicans were openly admitting that they expected to lose their 40 year majority because of the brokeness and incompetence of the state party. We Democrats, OTOH, were flush with cash and fairly well-organized.

What ended up happening? Election day came and the GOP picked up more seats. The departure of Janet Napolitano left us with a fundie Governor (Jan Brewer) and a Republican majority at the State Capitol so solid that the few Dems left can't get a bill heard and can't stop any of the egregious bills that the wingnuts push through.

The moral of the story is do not underestimate the stupidity of the voting public. I hate to sound mean but I do quite a bit of canvassing and phonebanking where I talk to "independent" voters. The people I talk to are good, hard-working, upstanding, and nice. When it comes to politics, though, the vast majority are fucking morons. They don't know shit about policies or the legislative process. And the worst thing is they have no idea how dumb they are. They affect this smug, world-weary expression on their faces as they inform you that "both parties are the same."

[Cosmocat]

44. YEP ... we have the tougher road ...

to slog, no doubt ...

For every left leaning type who I hear the "both parties are the same" thing from, I hear it from 10 more right leaning types ... The republican party is SO over the top right now, only the complete die hards stake the flag, but make no mistake, there is a BIG chunk of the "independents" who are straight R voters who just don't want to have to deal with being openly associated with the party ...

I have SO many friends who are great, kind people, who do so much in the community and care deeply about others - frankly, people I consider to be "liberal" in the way the live - who are flat out straight R voters, and if you start to talk politics with them will go completely unhinged about socialism and all the other bizarre nonsense you hear coming from the right ...

It is a disconnect I just can't start to understand ...

And, it appears to be a LOT easier to plug into that side of people for politics than it is to plug into the "progressive" stance, again, despite how people live their lives ...

[Hello_Kitty]

45. True that. eom

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

34. What? You have a Republican friend?

You've got some 'splaining to do, Mister!

I posted last week my belief that the Democrats will gain seats in 2010 -- just because all the pundits think the exact opposite. While that may be just wishful thinking, I think 2010 is going to be a comparatively good year.

The RNC is all but crippled right now, and basically the only races where the GOP ISN'T divided is where they have completely capitulated to the Teabaggers. While these lunatics bring out the base, they scare the crap out of everybody else - I don't see Independents embracing the extreme fringe.

Continuing improvement in the economy and the spreading realizatiog that healthcare reform really WAS a good idea are going to make life and campaigns extremely difficult for the Republicans.

And every time I start to feel sorry for them, I just remember their campaign against Max Cleland and I get this grim satisfaction.

[newtothegame]

37. "sinking contributions to the RNC because of Teabaggers and Micheal Steele"

I realize that we loved headlines that make us look good and them bad, but we have to be realistic here...

RNC reports big fundraising haul in March

Washington (CNN) - The Republican National Committee says it raised $11.4 million in March, their biggest fundraising total for any March of a midterm election year, according to the organization.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/07/rnc-reports-big-fundraising-haul-in-march/?fbid=YcZYaMq7Yl5

Facts are a bitch, huh?

[fugop]

39. Not too much of a bitch ...

... considering that the Dems raised MORE, right?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/07/dnc-outraises-rnc-by-more_n_528184.html

[newtothegame]

41. Yeah I can read articles too. But what does the Dems fundraising have to do with the OP calling...

a record fundraising month for the Necons "sinking contributions?" I work for a foundation and I would never refer to a record month as "sinking contributions" just to get attention. Our fundraising has NOTHING to do with the FACT that the Neocons raised more money this March than they've ever raised in a mid-term election year. My point was, don't call it a "sinking ship" just to get reccs on DU; they're raising more than ever before, but if you wanna call them a dead horse cause it suits you, fine. I prefer to be realistic and fight them cause they'll be as real as ever in November.

ed for sp

[mckara]

38. I Hope He Was Right!

Because, if they are not fucked, the rest of us are fucked!

[sam sarrha]

40. tap your foot and you could be Blown too...

[craigmatic]

42. bonehead boehner does seem like an alchy to me too. very nice post. n/t