The 114th Congress: How Low Can They Go?

[Kepler]

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

This is why they have lost the popular vote 5 out of the last 6 Presidential elections. If it wasn't for Gerry Mandering they may not have any power at all.

Even when the chickens come home to roost the Republicans will still have solid stretches of the deep south and the prairies amounting to 15 - 20 states which they will effectively never lose. They will dominate those state legs, send their idiots to Congress, and churn up the same social bitterness even as they evaporate. Televangelists never go hungry -- there are always rubes to fleece.

(* I'm only counting up to about 2060. After that y'all are on your own).

[French Rage]

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

This is great: http://img.fark.net/images/cache/850...A&f=1445832000

[St. Clown]

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

This is great: http://img.fark.net/images/cache/850...A&f=1445832000

A squirrel with large nuts?

[French Rage]

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

A squirrel with large nuts?

Goddamit. I need to learn about posting images from Fark. Hmm.

It's supposed to be an animated GIF of the end of Michigan/MSU, without Gowdy's face over the Michigan punter and Clinton's over the MSU player. Yeah, it doesn't translate as well into words.

[dxmnkd316]

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

Go to Fark.com first. Then copy the URL into the address bar. The referring page has to come from within the fark.com domain.

[Slap Shot]

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

It wasn't just T-Paw that was influencing that idea within Minnesota. At that point, we'd had two terms of Arnie Carlson (R), then Jesse "The Governor" Ventura (I), and then Tim Pawlenty for two terms. By the end of Pawlenty's second term, it had been twenty years since our last DFL governor - Rudy Perpich.

Arne was a small 'r' and Jesse was no big friend to the conservative base.

[dxmnkd316]

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

Shared not because of the article, but because of the headline.

http://gawker.com/house-gop-now-an-o...ing-1738611285

It really is a perfect headline. The article is a rehash of a lot of other articles on how the GOP is black-holing itself, but might still be worth a read. It's a more gawker-like take on it which makes it interesting.

But yes, the headline is close to perfection.

[Kepler]

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

If Boehner pulls this off Ryan should remain on-call to orally pleasure him for the rest of his life as needed.

OTOH, the lizard brains will probably lace his scotch with strychnine before the week is out.

[Rover]

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

If Boehner pulls this off Ryan should remain on-call to orally pleasure him for the rest of his life as needed.

OTOH, the lizard brains will probably lace his scotch with strychnine before the week is out.

Boner is doing the weasel a big favor, although you have to think he made a deal with Ryan beforehand in order to get him to take the job.

[Kepler]

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

Never underestimate the ability of Republicans in Congress to f-ck it up, but it looks like we survived yet another GOP-imposed crisis.

In other news, Tailgunner Ted no longer has any reason to live.

[Kepler]

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

Interesting inside baseball story on upcoming GOP committee rules and membership changes. tl; dr: if it wasn't already bad enough, the leadership will likely be weakened further with respect to the nutbars.

[Kepler]

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

Not much new but something to keep in mind should the derp really hit the fan.

[Kepler]

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

A 10k foot view of the Senate elections. For those who follow closely there's nothing new, but it's a good primer for those who check in only at election time.

[Rover]

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

Senate article was kinda dumb. Its no more complicated than this: whoever wins the White House wins the Senate. To pick up on a featured race in the article, there's no way Kelly Ayotte survives in New Hampshire if the top of the ticket loses her state by high single digits. The electorate is too polarized to split their tickets that much unless you're a long term entrenched incumbent with a lot of goodwill, not a first termer (ex. Scott Brown).

The House article was better. There are about 28 seats maybe that Obama won but have GOP reps in them. I believe its more like 37 based on 2008 results. The point being that the Dems don't need a '64 or '84 type blowout. They need a result between 2012 and 2008 to put in play the 30 seat gain they're looking for. Not saying this will happen of course, but the days of Reagan kicking @ ss in a landslide election yet the opposition party holding big majorities in the House are over. People seem to vote straight line in national elections a lot more nowadays.

[Kepler]

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

the days of Reagan kicking @ ss in a landslide election yet the opposition party holding big majorities in the House are over. People seem to vote straight line in national elections a lot more nowadays.

There's a simple reason for that: the Dixiecrats moved from D to R. For a long time Democratic numbers in Congress far outstripped liberal numbers. The Republican racial strategy peeled off the Dixiecrats and created the current Triple Alignment of party, ideology, and geography. Rove et al. thought this would give the Republicans the same "permanent majority" in the House that the Democrats enjoyed for 54 years. They didn't factor in that the rightward gallop of the GOP would alienate moderates and result in a almost perfect 50/50 split.