The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

[Kepler]

Re: The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

So who will be the new leader? Chuck, "I've never met a camera I didn't like" Schumer?

That is a great question. I can't overstate how much he is HATED by his own caucus. By all rights he should be on the short list but, again... he's got that Ted Cruz / Dick Cheney magic touch where it takes people about 3 seconds to utterly and irrevocably despise him. Even Nixon made a few friends.

I think if Durbin said yes he'd be the easy choice, but everything I've heard about him is he actively doesn't want it. Schumer's there panting and humping legs. The caucus knows how stupid Murray is and would probably like to avoid her if at all possible, so maybe the DSC will beg Warren. That would give us a very strong public face for real liberalism, and it would give her a platform to show off her political skills for a presidential run someday.

tl; dr: .5 Durbin, .3 Schumer, .1 Warren, .1 field

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

That is a great question. I can't overstate how much he is HATED by his own caucus. By all rights he should be on the short list but, again... he's got that Ted Cruz / Dick Cheney magic touch where it takes people about 3 seconds to utterly and irrevocably despise him. Even Nixon made a few friends.

I think if Durbin said yes he'd be the easy choice, but everything I've heard about him is he actively doesn't want it. Schumer's there panting and humping legs. The caucus knows how stupid Murray is and would probably like to avoid her if at all possible, so maybe the DSC will beg Warren. That would give us a very strong public face for real liberalism, and it would give her a platform to show off her political skills for a presidential run someday.

tl; dr: .5 Durbin, .3 Schumer, .1 Warren, .1 field

Whoever the Dems pick they'll be light years better than Harry and Turtle "Itch" Boy.

[Kepler]

Re: The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

Whoever the Dems pick they'll be light years better than Harry and Turtle "Itch" Boy.

The weirdest thing about Harry is my wife swears that when the heavy hitters of both parties talk about him off record they say he's been great in the job. I have no idea what they can be thinking about. He must do a lot of work behind the scenes; it sure doesn't show.

I guess we'll see whether the change in leadership affects anything. Short of sending half the GOP caucus back to nursery school, I don't see any way to make things better.

[Kepler]

Re: The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

Whoever the Dems pick they'll be light years better than Harry and Turtle "Itch" Boy.

God, Dr. Mrs. Kepler just had a great idea I should have thought of: Booker. He's incredibly ambitious and people like him (at least so far). She says Warren is no way unless the Dems are just trying to keep her out of the race.

Here's her picks for likelihood:

1. Murray (everybody scream in pain)
2. Boxer if she reverses her decision to not run in 16
3. Shumer
4. Durbin (it's his for the asking but he won't ask)

[Rover]

Re: The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

Good riddance Harry! I blame him first and foremost for the Dems losing the House in 2010 even though obviously he was Senate leader. His inability to realize his so called long time GOP friends were screwing him by pretending to negotiate on the ACA while telling their supporters they were merely trying to run out the clock was astounding for a guy who'd been in DC for 30 years. It only took him 5 years to figure out how to do his job as Majority Leader. While you always hate to possibly give up a seat, unless Sandoval gets involved in a Presidential year the Dems should be in decent shape. Either way its a tradeoff I'm happy to make. There's plenty of other opportunites out there, even before potential retirements in IA and AZ (IL, OH, FL, NH, PA, WI) for the Dems to take back the Senate.

Regarding next Dem Senate leader, Durbin seems like a Reid clone which I'd like to avoid. Schumer I could live with but it would be nice if some other people would get involved like Warner, Reed, Merkley, Warren, etc.

[Kepler]

Re: The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

Good riddance Harry! I blame him first and foremost for the Dems losing the House in 2010 even though obviously he was Senate leader. His inability to realize his so called long time GOP friends were screwing him by pretending to negotiate on the ACA while telling their supporters they were merely trying to run out the clock was astounding for a guy who'd been in DC for 30 years. It only took him 5 years to figure out how to do his job as Majority Leader. While you always hate to possibly give up a seat, unless Sandoval gets involved in a Presidential year the Dems should be in decent shape. Either way its a tradeoff I'm happy to make. There's plenty of other opportunites out there, even before potential retirements in IA and AZ (IL, OH, FL, NH, PA, WI) for the Dems to take back the Senate.

Regarding next Dem Senate leader, Durbin seems like a Reid clone which I'd like to avoid. Schumer I could live with but it would be nice if some other people would get involved like Warner, Reed, Merkley, Warren, etc.

Durbin isn't a Reid clone. I actually think you'd LOVE the way Durbin would approach the job. He is very much in your mold of "you can't get anything you want unless you win elections." He could actually be very effective, too, if he did have to turn on the hard side, because he knows everything about everybody on both sides.

I agree with your criticism of Reid and I share your surprise that he would let the GOP mess with him for so long. I think he was playing the game where he'd triangulate with his friends and cut the nutbars off within their own caucus, and he (along with a lot of people, including the president) underestimated how easily the GOP would slide to the far right. There have historically been brakes on the parties from sliding too far from the center, but for all the reasons we've discussed here (gerrymandering, voter self-segregation within and between states, the Rise of Money) they no longer operate, at least on the right.

In Harry's defense, much as with Obama once he finally figured it out he stopped them dead. It was too late to save the Senate at that point, but honestly we'd seen that coming for years anyway, and the damage was limited enough that a 1-cycle flip is possible.

This would be a decent time to have a generational transfer of power throughout the Democratic leadership. The Republicans are putting a lot of their young guns in important positions (they're being forced too, but still, it will help them in future cycles). The Democrats need to do the same. That's why Booker struck me as a really good choice. The dynamics of Booker-McConnell negotiations, with Cruz standing being McConnell continually stabbing him in the back, are delicious to contemplate.

[Priceless]

Re: The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

God, Dr. Mrs. Kepler just had a great idea I should have thought of: Booker. He's incredibly ambitious and people like him (at least so far). She says Warren is no way unless the Dems are just trying to keep her out of the race.

Here's her picks for likelihood:

1. Murray (everybody scream in pain)
2. Boxer if she reverses her decision to not run in 16
3. Shumer
4. Durbin (it's his for the asking but he won't ask)

Why wouldn't the Dems elect Warren? Too much of a firebrand? Are we going to have another milquetoast leader?

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

Why wouldn't the Dems elect Warren? Too much of a firebrand? Are we going to have another milquetoast leader?

Warren would be awesome. Especially when talking to the media about what a moron Turtle Boy is.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

Why wouldn't the Dems elect Warren? Too much of a firebrand? Are we going to have another milquetoast leader?

Trying to push her to become President. Which reminds me... has Homo from NY thrown his hat in for your party?

[joecct]

Re: The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

Well, turn on the cameras

@foxnewspolitics: Reid endorses @SenSchumer to succeed him as Senate Dem leader http://fxn.ws/1FZ7poy #HarryReidRetires

[Kepler]

Re: The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

Why wouldn't the Dems elect Warren? Too much of a firebrand? Are we going to have another milquetoast leader?

I'm not sure she wants it. By nature it's a position for compromise where you don't advocate strongly when there's a disagreement within your conference. Warren is an idea person and one of only a few liberals in the Senate, and she probably wouldn't want that voice watered down. Plus, it's a really thankless job. The HMLs get to let their freak flags fly (remember Newt) but the SMLs are more button down. It's a good place for a proceduralist, not an ideologue.

[bronconick]

Re: The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

Prince Harry of Nevada will not seek re-election. A pick up or a successful defend?

To steal from elsewhere, I'm more wondering who's going to join the League of Liberal Boogeymen, since he's one of a handful of Dem politicians that Republican voters can name behind Obama, both Clintons, and Pelosi?

[Kepler]

Re: The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

Now that's what I call a statesman.

He early became fabled for a Rabelaisian earthiness, urinating in the parking lot of the House Office Building as the urge took him; if a colleague came into a Capitol bathroom as he was finishing at the urinal there, he would sometimes swing around still holding his member, which he liked to call "Jumbo," hooting once, "Have you ever seen anything as big as this?," and shaking it in almost a brandishing manner as he began discoursing about some pending legislation.

[...]

Even on the floors of the House and Senate, he would extravagantly rummage away at his groin, sometimes reaching his hand through a pocket and leaning with half-lifted leg for more thorough access.

[walrus]

Re: The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

Now that's what I call a statesman.

teddy kennedy?

[St. Clown]

Re: The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

teddy kennedy?

In honor of his departed friend, he named his little friend Chapstick.