World News Korner

With Republicans fighting each other tooth and nail, is a possible Democratic takeover of Congress a real possibility? Maybe.

This is taken from a much longer article over at the Daily Beast concerning a new poll taken by Democratic pollster Geoffrey Garin, in which he states that only 20 percent of the electorate thinks that the government shutdown is a rational or reasonable approach.

His take is supported by William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a veteran of the 1995–96 shutdown when he was President Clinton’s domestic-policy adviser.:

Before the shutdown, Democrats were pretty much reconciled to falling short in efforts to retake the House next year. With so many gerrymandered seats, the 17 pickups Democrats need seem out of reach and may still be. But Galston points to research that says Democrats can overcome the structural disadvantage they face if they add 5 percentage points in their overall votes for the House, then they would have a better than 50 percent chance of winning control. “The Republicans are doing the only thing that could conceivably endanger their majority,” Galston says. The latest Quinnipiac and Pew polls show Democrats with a 9-point generic edge, twice what it was in late August. “After the dust settles next November and the generic Democratic edge is 9 points, I guarantee you the next speaker is Nancy Pelosi,” he says.

On the Senate side, Republicans need six seats to gain control of the chamber. In just about every contested race, Republicans are battling each other in primaries to see who can be the biggest cheerleader of the government shutdown. “If Ted Cruz becomes the public face for the Republican Party, it will be a cold day in hell before they have a Senate majority,” says Galston. The last shutdown 17 years ago helped reelect Clinton. This one could give Obama the Congress he wants.

I am cautiously optimistic, but if the Republicans were able to make such incredible gains in 2010, using unsubstantiated fear of the President to energize their electorate, I don't see why it would be impossible for the Democrats to use the very much substantiated fear of what these Teabagger idiots are doing to our political system to run the board on them in 2014.

I mean it is not like there is not ample evidence as to the negative effects of this group of insurgents on the country, so all it takes is to wait out the upcoming Bloodsport version of the GOP primaries and kick the broken and battered survivor in the face before he can regain his footing.

All I know is that I am going to keep a happy thought.

Source