The Democrats Gloat Thread

Simmering Rage Within the GOP

By David S. Broder
Thursday, July 27, 2006

My weekend visitor was one of the founders of the postwar Republican Party in the South, one of those stubborn men who challenged the Democratic rule in his one-party state. He was conservative enough that in the [..] 1952 [primary], his sympathies were with Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio, not Dwight D. Eisenhower.

He has lived long enough to see Republicans elected as senator and governor of his state and to see a Republican from the Sun Belt behemoth of Texas capture the White House. His profession won't let him speak with his name attached, but he is sadly disillusioned.

"I thought it was stupid," he said [about the veto Bush administered to the bill expanding federal funding for embryonic stem cell research]. "I know too many people who are like this" -- and he shook his hands like a victim of Parkinson's disease -- "and their only hope of a cure is in stem cells. Now Bush is forcing that science to move overseas."

He went on: "How the hell long can they refuse to raise the minimum wage?" He was furious, he said, with the Republican leaders of Congress who keep blocking bills to raise the minimum wage, which has been stuck at $5.15 an hour for years. "I'm a conservative," he said, "but they make me sound like a damned liberal the way they act. They spend like fools, they run up the deficits and they refuse to give a raise to the working people who are struggling. How the hell are you supposed to live on $5.15 an hour these days?"

"If it wasn't for Pelosi," he said, "I'd just as soon the Democrats take over this fall. Get some checks and balances and teach these guys a lesson."

In the end, his dislike of the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi of California, and his ingrained disdain for the Democrats may keep my friend voting Republican. But the complaints that I heard from him -- echoed by many of his contemporaries in the Taft-Goldwater-Reagan wing of the GOP -- are a significant factor in the dynamics of the midterm election. They could spell trouble for Republicans in mobilizing their vote this fall.

I first became aware of the spreading discontent on the right in visiting with people in the church social hall after the funeral this spring for Lyn Nofziger, Ronald Reagan's longtime press spokesman and adviser. The comments about the Bush White House people -- who were notable by their absence at the service -- startled me.

But since then I have heard the refrain over and over: They never reached out to us. They never thought they needed our help. Now they're in trouble. To hell with them.

Whether or not the complaints are justified, they are epidemic. They are often accompanied, as they were in the case of my weekend visitor, by the comment that everything the White House does seems to be aimed at pleasing only one section of the Republican coalition -- the religious right.

That is why there was so much high-fiving on e-mails and phone calls among other Republicans over the defeat last week of Ralph Reed, the one-time driving force of Pat Robertson's religious-political movement who lost the nomination for lieutenant governor of Georgia because of his links to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. [..]

But the dissent threatens Republican chances of avoiding a major defeat in the midterm elections. Andrew Kohut's survey for the respected Pew Research Center last month found Democrats far more motivated to vote this year than Republicans. The Democrats held a 16-point advantage over the GOP on the question Kohut uses to gauge the level of interest in voting, exactly the reverse of the situation in 1994, the year the Republicans took over Congress. [..]

McCloskey bucks GOP, backs Democrat

GOP candidate says criticism was a joke

Wed Jul 26

Republican Senate candidate Michael Steele on Wednesday called President Bush his "homeboy," reversed course on having the president campaign for him and said he was joking when he described his Republican affiliation as a scarlet letter.

The Maryland lieutenant governor, under fire for his comments, told WBAL radio that his remarks were supposed to be off the record with a handful of reporters. Instead, Steele's campaign confirmed Tuesday that he was the unnamed Senate candidate who had assailed the Bush administration and Republican-controlled Congress in a story in The Washington Post.

"I've been quoted as calling the president my homeboy, you know. And that's how I feel. ... It's a term of affection and respect for his leadership of our country in a difficult time," Steele, who is black, said in the radio interview.

The Post quoted the unnamed candidate as saying the GOP-controlled Congress should "just shut up and get something done," that the Iraq war "didn't work" and "we didn't prepare for the peace," that the response to Hurricane Katrina was "a monumental failure of government," and that "there's a palpable frustration right now in the country."

Steele also said he probably wouldn't want Bush campaigning for him in Maryland and that he considers his party affiliation a scarlet letter. The White House said Wednesday that Bush still is backing Steele in his Senate race.

Steele said Wednesday: "If the president wanted to come and help me in Maryland, he is more than welcome, because I'm not going to turn my back on a friend. I'm not gonna do that." [..]

"We want to be very, very clear that I'm not trying to 'dis' the president. I'm not trying to distance myself from the president. I'm trying to show those lines where, you know what, I have a different perspective," he said.

Asked about the scarlet letter remark, Steele said: "So I was making a joke about the fact that in this political climate, in Maryland, being a Republican is like wearing a scarlet letter. That's all it is."

At the White House, Bush spokesman Tony Snow said the president understands what politics is about, "and he wants Michael Steele to be elected as senator."

Snow declined to say how the president responded when told what Steele had said. "I could, but I won't," Snow said. But he remarked dryly, "I think the comments have come to his attention."

Steele also told the listeners of "The Chip Franklin Show" that he made positive comments about Bush during the meeting that weren't reported [and that] his independence makes him best suited for the job.

"The president doesn't want a sycophant in the United States Senate. He wants an honest broker for the people of Maryland. He doesn't want a 'yes' man. He wants someone who's going to be genuine in his approach to solving the problems. And that's me," Steele said.

In Maryland, Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich said Wednesday that Steele's independent streak makes him a good candidate.

"He speaks his mind. He's always going to speak his mind, which is why we have such a strong friendship," said Ehrlich, who faces a tough re-election this November. He added, "He's running a great campaign."

Asked whether he agreed with Steele, Ehrlich said, "I'm not going to get into any of that." [..]

Anecdotal evidence of original Republicans being turned off by today's Bush Republicans:

3. Professer Nimh does not know that the following are now the leads held by Republican Senators in key states according to Rassmussen Poll Numbers.

Source- Rasmussen reports

Senator DeWine-Ohio--- 46-39

Senator Allen-Virginia----Ahead by 11 points [..]

If you need some pointers on understanding American Politics, Professor Nimmh, I will be happy to assist you. If not, you may go back to the analysis of the Hungarian quasi Communist chaos.

Well, heres an interesting list:

Obama, Snowe and Conrad Are Top U.S. Senators

Here, I've beautified it so that its easier to see how the Democrats and Republicans rank, and where the could-be Presidential candidates for '08 stand:



So:

- of the 10 Senators most approved of by their constituents, 7 are Democrats, and only 3 Republicans -- and of those three, two are what conservatives like to call RINO's, Republicans In Name Only.

- of the 10 Senators least approved of by their constituents, 7 are Republicans, and only 3 Democrats.

- in fact, of the bottom-ranking 25 Senators, just 8 are Democrats, and 17 are Republicans.

George Allen, John Kerry and Bill Frist, all mentioned as Presidential hopefuls, are each less popular among their own constituents than the average US Senator.

Polls mean very little.

I am surprised that you would think that a poll of 600 People would elict anything near the truth about each Senator.

l.No one, excpet a very brave person, because of the guilt that has been built into millions of Americans by left wing radical professors left over from the hippie generation, would dare to say anything bad about Barack Obima. If you don;t know this, you know NOTHING about American Poltics.

3. Only someone who is mathematically challenged would think that a poll which has 600 respondents( AND I NOTE THAT YOU DID NOT PRESENT THE QUESTIONS THAT WERE ASKED OR THE WORDINGS OF THOSE QUESTIONS WHICH, AS EVERYONE BUT CRETINS KNOW, ARE CRITICAL IN THE ASSESSMENT OF THE POLL PRESENTED) can really reflect the truth about the Senators.

Well, heres an interesting list:

Obama, Snowe and Conrad Are Top U.S. Senators

4. You are apparently ignorant of the fact that there are many people who will not answer a pollster. I know( and will search for data backing this up) that elderly people especially will refuse to be polled. This, of course, gives a taint to poll presented.

Because you are ignorant about American Politics(This is not the crypto-Communist Hungary, you know) you are unawre of the DISLAIMERS GIVEN BY YOUR POLLSTERS --SURVEY USA-

Note:

other possible sources of error in all surveys that may be more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. These include refusals to be interviewed, question wording and question order, weighting by demographic control data and the manner in which respondents are filtered (such as, determining who is a likely voter). It is difficult to quantify the errors that may result from these factors.

Why not? Don't they teach that in the Hungarian Schools?

The funny thing is, I have been having problems with moths here, recently, or at least I think thats what they are... "recently" as in pretty much since Bernard started off on his moth-eaten thing... do you think he is secretly behind it? ;-)

The funny thing is, I have been having problems with moths here, recently, or at least I think thats what they are... "recently" as in pretty much since Bernard started off on his moth-eaten thing... do you think he is secretly behind it? ;-)

I pointed out that the central feature of your presentation is in error.

You noted that there were 30,000 responses to the poll. Indeed, there were but ONLY 600 for each Senator.[..]

Mr. Nimh -sir_ I think you are egregiously mistaken.

It is highly doubtful, (given the disclaimers published by Survey USA )that a poll of 600 people comprising about one one hundreth of one percent of the roughly four Million voters in Illinois during the last Senatorial contest is in any way significant.

So how do you really feel, Brownie?

The September issue of Playboy -- hey, we only read the press releases about the articles -- features an interview with former FEMA chief Michael Brown, who says that the federal government is "less prepared" for a natural disaster than it was before Hurricane Katrina. Among the snarky highlights:

Brown on "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job": "That didn't mean anything to me. It's typical of the president. He's a cheerleader. You know what that comment did? How many people in the world do you think have ever called me 'Brownie'? His name's George W. Bush. When he used that nickname, a lot of people in the media went, 'Is he an insider?' Do they know each other? What's the deal here?' That's when Time started researching my resume and came up with the totally false story about my having inflated it."

Brown on Mississippi Rep. Gene Taylor: "That congressman, that little twerp, said I didn't understand suffering. He said I didn't understand the death and suffering that was going on. As I told him, I've seen death and suffering. I've smelled death. I smelled death in the tsunami. I know what it's like to lose close friends in disasters ... For that little twerp to claim I didn't understand death and suffering -- he can just bite me, for all I care."

Brown on Bush's claim that nobody "anticipated the breach of the levees": "He doesn't have an incredible command of the English language. Maybe he meant 'None of us really wanted this to happen.' My friends in the Republican Party -- the bullies -- jumped all over Clinton about parsing words. Now the president was parsing words. 'Are the levees going to break?' 'Are they going to top?' Who cares? We are going to have flooding in New Orleans, and we knew New Orleans was a fishbowl."