2014: Another 2010?

Published December 20, 2013

by Gary Pearce, Talking About Politics, December 18, 2013.

Maybe I should apologize. But would Bob Rucho apologize? No sir! So I’ll double down, as they say.

 

My blog yesterday – warning that the next Congress might be run by people who think like Rucho – apparently ruined the Christmas spirit for some Democrats.

 

My friend Jerry Wayne Williamson of Boone (follow him at @JerryWilliamso1) wrote, “Well, Merry Christmas to you too! That's the most depressing thing I've read all morning!” Long-time colleague June Milby said, “Gary, It's the Christmas season, even Scrooge was redeemed right there at the end. Don't hit us too hard with the ghosts of Christmas past. There's plenty of time in January for that!

 

I can’t help it. And here I go again. Spoiler alert: This could really ruin your Christmas.

 

Here it is: Think about the chances that the 2014 elections could be even worse for Democrats than 2010 was.

 

Historically, second mid-term elections are disastrous for Presidents. See LBJ in 1968, Nixon/Ford in 1974 and Reagan in 1986. There are exceptions, like Clinton in 1998.

 

But here’s a disturbing poll finding from this week, a nugget that the Washington Post called “one very bad number for Obama”: The Post-ABC pollasked whether people trust Obama or the Republicans in Congress to do a better job "coping with the main problems the nation faces over the next few years." Forty-one percent said they trusted Obama. Forty-one percent said they trusted Republicans in Congress.

 

Let that sink in. Think about how the Republicans in Congress have done their jobs in recent years: the shutdowns, the shakedowns and the sheer nuttiness. Then tell yourself: Americans trust that crowd just as much as they trust the President.

 

This reflects, of course, the disastrous debut of Obamacare. Maybe, as some pundits predict, that will be gone and forgotten next November. Maybe not.

 

Thus far, experience tells us that when Obama is on the ballot, all goes well. Maybe it’s that people just feel good voting for him. But when he’s not on the ballot, look out.

 

And make no mistake: For better or for worse, the 2014 election will be a referendum on Obama. There is no escaping it. Even worse, there is not a lot that down-ballot candidates, from Senator Kay Hagan down, can do about it.

 

So, as Democrats enjoy Christmas and prepare for a new year, they need to plan for the worst, hope for the best and work like hell.

 

December 20, 2013 at 10:53 am
Norm Kelly says:

Another liberal twisting the facts to try to make the base (and probably themselves) feel good.

The fact is that the DEMONCRATS are the only ones who talked about a shutdown. The DemocRATs are the only ones who suggested that there would be a shutdown. The Demoncrats are the ones who stated that there would be NO negotiations on the budget. The DemocRATS insisted that they get everything they wanted, they would compromise on NOTHING. The facts show that the Republicans were willing to compromise on EVERYTHING except funding for Obamacare/socialized medicine part 1, but were rejected repeatedly by the Demoncrats. Because the facts show that the DemocRATs wanted a government shutdown. And why would the Dems want a government shutdown? What was the advantage to the Dems if they forced a government shutdown? Their allies in the media, much like Mr. Pearce, would support their claim that it was the Republicans who wouldn't negotiate. And, true to form, the media and people like Mr. Pearce were & are willing to do the bidding of the Dems. Go back and look up the facts for yourself. They might be hard to find if you rely on sources like the N&D, MSNBC (or any version of NBC), CNN, definitely ABC, and probably CBS as well. But the facts are out there to be found. Mr. Pearce won't like you any more if you discover the truth. People like Mr. Pearce expect that you will accept their words without question and fall in line with the Dems without hesitation. More power to the central planners!

'sheer nuttiness'. I wonder what it is, exactly, that libs find nutty. Is it the insistence that the Constitution be followed? Like the part of the Constitution that says ALL POWER belongs to the STATES, unless specifically enumerated in the Constitution. Like the part of the Constitution that says all spending starts in the House. Like the part that says the President is responsible for enforcing ALL the laws of the country. Is this the stuff that libs like to point to that they call nuttiness? Or how about the part that the national debt is driving us into bankruptcy. You know, when the President/King claims that raising the debt ceiling doesn't automatically lead to an increase in the national debt. Except those da-m-n fact things show that the national debt hit the new ceiling the same week the ceiling was raised.

'shakedowns'. Like the buyoff of medical industry companies in order to get them in line with Obamacare? Oh, wait. There's one of those fact things that libs like to avoid. It was the Dems who made special deals with certain medical industry companies to get them on board. Like the black head of the Justice Department who stirred up the race hatred during the Trayvon Martin case in Florida. You know, the fact that it was the Justice Department, headed by a black man, who paid people to attend race-related rallies outside the courthouse. It was the black head of the Justice Department who paid for buses to transport people from outside the area to come into the area to protest, using signs provided by Justice, to protest outside the courthouse. Like the black man who used his power at Justice to get the prosecutor on the case fired (or was it the police chief? doesn't matter, the black man did it anyway). The point is that it was this administration, based solely on race, that chose to inject race into the case where no race issue actually existed. Is it possible for Mr. Pearce to be more specific on the whole shakedown item? I remember the cornhusker shakedown during the socialized medicine debate. But is it possible for Mr. Pearce to provide another example of what he calls a shakedown? Oh, wait. I have my FACTS wrong. It wasn't the Republicans in the House with the cornhusker shakedown. That was the DemocRATs paying off one of their members in order to get a vote change to go along with socialized medicine. Come to think of it, I can't think of any shakedowns by the Republicans. Even watching the never-quite-truthful NBC 'news' programs, I don't recall hearing anything about Republican shakedowns. That has been limited to the race-baters like Sharpton & Jackson, as well as their friends in Washington, the Demoncrat party. Mr. Pearce, please be specific, or give us a link to where you've explained this on prior occasion.

'Americans trust that crowd just as much as they trust the President'. I know! Can you imagine! For some inexplicable reason, there are still people in this country who have any level of trust at all in Mr. Obama. I can't understand it either. Some things are completely dumbfounding. This is one of those that just jumps off the page at me. After telling such great and provable lies as 'you can keep it', 'i didn't draw the red line', and many others, there should be no one left who trusts Obama to pick up groceries at the store, let alone run the country! (i know. i just asked mr. pearce for specifics and then put in 'and many others'. but i started with 2 specifics first. do some research for yourself for a change. stop relying on everyone else to do it for you. the facts about obama's lies are out there. you just need to know not to look in the n&d, nbc, or cnn for your facts, cuz facts don't often live in those places.) Banghazi is another lie started by the King, and propagated throughout his administration, and carried by the left wing media.

Perhaps 2014 won't be as big a win for Republicans as 2010 was. Perhaps it will be a bigger win. Either way, the only way it's a win for the country is if real Conservatives are the winners, not just Republicans. If it were possible to find a Conservative Demoncrat, that person would have a shot at winning. But getting our spending in line, getting our spending priorities in line, getting the Justice Department to actually implement laws on the books, eliminating socialist programs wherever possible, are great steps in the right/proper direction. Ask yourself another question, that people like Mr. Pearce don't want you to ask. What EXACTLY is the DemocRAT plan for getting our spending in line? What EXACTLY is the Demoncrat plan for restoring FREEDOMS to the people? What EXACTLY is the DemocRAT plan for getting the PRIVATE SECTOR economy moving again? What EXACTLY is the DemocRAT plan for getting people back to work, and getting the unemployment number down below 10% again - the REAL unemployment number, not the one faked by this administration and reported by the liberal press. Do some real-life comparisons between the Demoncrat plans and the Republican plans (or TEA people plans). Does the DemocRAT plan contain more shifting of power to the central planners? Does the Demoncrat plan call for taking away more freedoms from the people? Taking away more choice from the people? Does the Demoncrat plan continue to call for the central planners to pick winners & losers in business? (in the case of this administration, picking losers and ignoring winners!) Before you vote next time, please think about what your choice means. Do you want to rely on yourself? Or do you want some unknown central planner to be making decisions for you? The Dems stand for more central planner control. What do the Republicans/Conservatives stand for?