So Let's See What Happens

[BanginJimmy]

Bohener says the Republicans have been given a "mandate by the American people"... but I don't think so as the GOOP only got the house

They took 65 seats in the house, that is not a minor thing.

and the Dems kept the Senate.

Dems kept the Senate in 4 very blue states and in WV a VERY centric, and leaning right in many areas, Gov. who is also very popular in state won. GOP took Senate seats in every swing state that had one running.

Honestly I'm surprised the Dems kept the senate as the media narrative for the past 8 months has been "GOP sweeps both houses".

I heard it too and I called that BS even then. I did think it was possible several months ago, but that was short lived and since the primaries I knew it wasnt going to happen. Still, 6 Senate seats with 1 more possibility, in a single mid term is significant. Also, keep in mind that GOP lost no Senate seats.

It didn't help that the DNC dropped Howard Dean for Tim Kaine. They threw Dean's brilliant "50 state" strategy that won big in '06 and '08 out the window and just dumped money into supporting Blue Dogs and the candidates most favored to win. Supporting the Blue Dogs was a waste of money... when people are presented with a fake republican and a real one they usually vote for the real thing. A lot of the liberal Dems decided to sit out the election rather than vote for the likes of Blanche Lincoln.

Most of the Blue Dogs, especially the first and second termers, were in right leaning districts and only got in because of Bush paranoia. Most of them were going to lose no matter what happened. Its much the same as the Dems like Blumenthall, Boxer, and Murray. They all represent VERY blue states and will typically win no matter what. In NH (I think) Mike Castle had a very good chance to win becuse he was well known and liked in state, but he was a VERY liberal republican.

Most of the radical teabaggers like Angle, O'Donnell, etc lost their races. The few that did get in (Paulbot 2.0, etc) will be co-opted into the mainstream. The GOP doesn't like it when you buck them. And these freshman congressmen will want those committee seats and lobbyist dollars.

We will see about that. I think Paul and especially Rubio will avoid the mainstream GOP for at least 1 term. If the tea party support dies off, then they may drift into the mainstream, but if it tea party continues to grow you will see them stay away from the main stream.

Bohener may not win for speaker. As we have already seen, he's a morose drunk who's motto is "GTL: Golf/Tan/Lobbyists". His work ethic has been questioned by many in the party, most notably current Minority Whip Eric Cantor. Bachmann is also in the running, but she just won't have the support of the "log cabin" set.

I would love to see Cantor get it because of his work ethic. I dont think he or Paul Ryan are senior enough though. Bohener makes a great speech, but I havent actually seen him rally anyone together or pull anyone from the left over in his time as minority leader. I also think GOP is going to get younger over the next 2 years and start pushing off some of the very senior members.

Lots of money and time wasted in investigations, subpeonas, and impeachment attempts. I really expect them to go that route as Agent Orange and McChinless have both said that their priority #1 is getting rid of Obama. Since he isn't involved in corruption or sex, they will try to cast him as a subversive/radical. It'll be a new age of McCarthyism.

I realize you are an idiot, but you are getting more ignorant by the second. I realize the country has just neutered your savior, but it really will be all right. You will survive.

There are investigation that need to be conducted though. The most obvious being Obama's decision to drop an obvious case of voter intimidation.

BTW, no one has ever said anything about impeachment. GOP does plan to start working on a repeal of the health care takeover though.

I don't think they will get a repeal of HCR past the senate and Obama's veto. Also, they don't have a HCR plan of their own and HCR was such a gimme to their corporate overlords anyway that I don't think the will for repeal will be there. The same with doing away with the Dept. of Education and the Dept. of Agriculture. That would never pass the Senate or the Veto.

None of them will get past the Veto, your right, but it can be defunded. Dept of Education needs to go away or be HEAVILY reformed. GOP should have done it in '94, but blew it off. They need to do it now if we ever want to see education improve in this country.

Social security and medicare will be safe... the "O" in GOP does stand for "old" after all and since the GOP base is mostly old people, they won't stand for having their gov't checks and their gov't healthcare taken away.

I dont remember anyone saying they wanted to get rid of SS or Medicare. Why dont you link us to the quote.

Now, if you want to talk about Paul Ryan's plan I am all for it.

We will see proposals for escalation of the war, and we will also see them pushing for war with Iran. There will be many resolutions against Iran proposed, and we will hear about more "gulf of tonkin" style incidents on the Gulf. I don't think it will develop into war though. But it will still cost us billions.

Got anything to back this up or is just something else you pulled out of your ass? Im sure it is the latter.

The Bush tax cuts will stay. Neither party wants to be seen as the party that "raised taxes," although the Bush tax cuts are actually "spending" on the part of the government. They're damned if they do here because the GOP base wants tax cuts AND spending cuts. But the corporations and millionaire financiers who pay for the attack ads will win out.

Tax cuts have actually shown to produce more tax revenue, not reduce it. We dont expect you to admit this though as Obama didnt say it.

De-regulation of banking, telecom, agribusiness, and big oil. We will basically be removing the safeguards that kept the economic mess we are in now from getting worse.

Exactly what safeguards are you talking about? 2 of the MAIN contributors of the financial meltdown were freddie and fannie and the Dems specificly excluded them from the financial reforms.

I don't see anything happening with the deficit. The Republicans might make some cuts to keep it from going higher, but these will be offset by their spending on defense and investigations.

DADT, DOMA, and the Patriot Act aren't going anywhere. They might repeal DADT in the lame duck session, but I doubt it.

Remember, the dems are the ones that could have simply let the Patriot Act go away last year and decided they wanted to keep it.

Things like DOMA are among the reasons I will never call myself a republican. Gay marriage has absolutely no impact on anyone but the 2 getting married so who fucking cares.

[QUOTE=Total_Blender;39144911]Obama will have a couple of Dem. primary challengers in 2012 but he will win the nomination. His liberal base is pissed off that he's capitulated so much to the GOOP[quote]

When did he do this?

and they are also pissed that his pledge of "transparency" was bull as most of his administrations business happens in backroom negotiations.

We agree here. He is forced to do this though because he knows how unpopular this agenda is and cannot let the details get out before bills get passed. Much like the fact that he ahs ignored pretty much every promise he made on the campaign trail.

In other words, its pretty much gonna be business as usual.

I highly doubt anything of substance gets done in the next 2 years unless Obama moves to the center and brings the liberals in the Senate with him. Outside of that it will be politics as usual in Washington. Hell, we heard on the talk shows this week that GOP and Dems were already positioning resources and vetting candidates for 2012. DNC has been to the Pentagon and FBI looking for info (dirt) on about a dozen possible GOP presidential candidates.