Apparently Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fl.) doesn’t know he’s in a District that’s rated R+2 by Charlie Cook as he decided to show that post-partisan spirit that reigns in the age of Obama by following up his remarks last night comparing people not having health insurance to the Holocaust by calling Republicans knuckle-dragging neanderthals.
Democrats are already in trouble and Grayson’s behavior shows he doesn’t realize that he’s among the most vulnerable Democrats in the country. Cook was speaking over at the Center for American Progress where he said that Democrats have a 1 in 3 to 1 in 2 chance of losing the House. Some fun tibdits taken down by James Pethokoukis:
1) Record drop in party ID where a 17 percent D edge has dropped to 5 over the summer.
2) An eight point drop in Obama’s approval rating over same period from 60 to 52.
3) Obama approval among independents has dropped to the low 40s. They are very worried about deficit and hyperactive government. Cook called it “visceral.”
4) Cook notes that more than 80 D House seats are in districts won by McCain in 2008 or Bush in 2004. And 48 are in districts won by both McCain and Bush in 2008 and 2008.
None of this has much to do with the GOP doing anything spectacularly brilliant. But sometimes you don’t have to be spectacularly brilliant when your opponents are helping. You don’t have to play like the ’27 Yankees when your opponents are playing like the 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates. However, if you want to have a lasting majority, you have to be able to provide some competence and respectful leadership in government.
It took the GOP 12 years in power to get this arrogant. It didn’t take the Democrats but three, and truth be told most of the Dems were this arrogant to start with.
September 30th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
He didn’t compare it to “the” Holocaust, which is the only one that gets capitalized. He said it was a holocaust, which is still rabidly insane, but not the same thing.
September 30th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
If Bush was criticized after his time for a superpowered executive, especially vice President Cheney, Obama’s going to take heat for deferring all the shots to a team of partisan hack jobs in the Congress. That’s about the best way to kill “Change” that there is.
September 30th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
How do the Democrats resuscitate their public image? If they follow through on their plans, things will only get worse for them. And if they don’t, they will lose their base and appear weak and pathetic to everybody else. There are no economic miracles waiting on the horizon to bail them out.
I suspect that sometime in the next year a fourth or a third of the people who still have some faith in Obama (and would currently state for the record they approve of him in polls) will start tuning him out. What follows will be like a nightmare for them. And it will keep getting worse.
October 1st, 2009 at 12:32 am
“And if they don’t, they will lose their base and appear weak and pathetic to everybody else.”
Funny how the Obama domestic policy ideals (“we can’t surrender on this issue or we’ll look weak and get slaughtered”) is based on the complete NEGATION of their foreign policy ideals (“we can simply unilaterally disarm and everyone will suddenly like us”). Or am I the only one who notices this?
And Alex, I get your point, but holocaust is now used specifically to apply to THE holocaust (kind of like how this cite is called a “blog” even though it doesn’t use Blogger). All other holocausts get qualified by a modifier (ie: the Armenian holocaust, nuclear holocaust, etc.)
October 1st, 2009 at 1:09 am
you are right, the dems are woking with a self destructive level of over confidence
October 1st, 2009 at 12:00 pm
“How do the Democrats resuscitate their public image?”
Well, they have to do what they were elected to do and continue passing legislation, like the health care reform.
“If they follow through on their plans, things will only get worse for them.”
Huh? That’s exactly 180 degrees backwards. They need to do what they were elected to do – if they DON’T follow through, their goose is cooked.