From Charlie Cook, Editor and Publisher of The Cook Political Report, and political analyst for National Journal.
Here’s a question for conservatives and Republicans: Going into the 2012 Election Day, or even in the last few days before Election Day, did you think Mitt Romney was going to win?
A couple of months ago, did you think the strategy of threatening to shut down the government or prevent raising the debt ceiling, to force the outright repeal or defunding of Obamacare, would really work?
Romney lost by 4,967,508 votes, 126 Electoral College votes, and 3.85 percentage points. That’s not very close. Obamacare isn’t going to be repealed this year, and it’s not going to be defunded.
“So the question is whether conservatives and Republicans should begin to worry if their instincts—specifically, their judgment on matters of politics and policy—are a bit off. Maybe “spectacularly wrong” would be more accurate. Does that worry anyone on the right or in the Republican Party? Are they concerned that continuing to follow such awful political instincts could lead to catastrophic consequences for their movement and their party? In politics, it isn’t uncommon to see judgment clouded by emotion, but when hate and contempt predominate, truly awful decisions often result.”
Too bad that hate and contempt prevent so many of them from listening….
It is becoming evident through bits and pieces in the media, that the GOP is returning to it’s stand on all issues leading to the shutdown. Maybe they needed more than one day of rest to recover brain function. Or due to the predominance of males in the House, maybe those with balls who voted to end the shutdown, even temporarily, will continue to do the jobs they were elected to do and paid for by their constituents tax dollars. I am not holding my breath till it happens.
We’ve only been saying this for thirty years. But hey, who’s gonna listen to us DFHs?
The Affordable Care Act is not going away; the President is still bi-racial; and, he is still the President. Elected twice, even. The Rs and the TP (appropriate acronym, as it turns out) have a mighty lot to deal with. This will be a tough task since it’s really dark where they are.
The TP folks were stupid haters last week. They are the same this week. Until we get them out of Washington, look for more stupid hateful acts. They cannot help it. It is who they are. How about the folks that SENT them there? Can they learn?
We really do need a two party system (at least) with folks talking rationally about important stuff. It’s like watching someone go over a cliff and ignoring all the signs and warnings while they talk crazy and blame others for their problems.
I think that the Dem. Party permitted the GOP to create the belief that the threat of a short shutdown would work. Look at all the times the Dems would cave to GOP demands with only a whimper. This gave them the idea that Dems don’t have a backbone.
Do the Dems have a backbone? We will find out in January. Progressives need to run in districts that are gerrymandered for the GOP, because the GOP is neither conservative (like Goldwater) or fiscally responsible.
I wonder how and why the information/sign up for the ACA is so screwed up; they had about three years to prepare so why use a 10 year old computer program? Sabatoge? Did they hire a Republican/Tea Party backed computer programmer?
Ronald; whether the Dems planned it or not, I’m sure the GOP fully expected President Obama, Senate and House Dems all to cave…again. In the words of Gomer Pyle, “Serprize, eruprize, serprize!”