"The biggest Republican majority in the House since 1928"

[eppur_se_muova]

Heard that earlier on All In with Chris Hayes.

So many good things happened in the two years after that ...

[southerncrone]

1. Yes. We know what directly follows this phenomenon, too.

[Odin2005]

2. That "wanted urgently" sign breaks my heart.

[world wide wally]

3. Apparently, this is what the American people think they want

[merrily]

8. Yes, but they also wanted increases to the minimum wage and sick time.

Granted, there is a disconnect between voting for liberal policies and for Republicans in the same election. It's up to the Party to bridge the gap. And, the Party's midterm campaign strategy of "What's Obamacare? Who's Obama?) did not help anything.

I've been critical of Obama, to the point that I have a target on my back for certain DUers. However, I've been posting against that strategy for months. You cannot try to run away from your own voting record and win, unless you are running unopposed. You just can't. Why I could get that and the DNC and its well paid strategists could not is way beyond me.

[world wide wally]

10. I posted a thread on Wednesday that asked the same question...

Why can all of us at DU figure this out and our Dem candidates, leaders, and strategists can't?
I'm sure there are people here looking for jobs that would work for half as much.

[merrily]

11. Yeah, www, I don't believe that all the brain power in the

Democratic Party is concentrated at DU. They KNOW.

Also, I don't believe they are waiting for our emails to let them know we are not fans of war, we want affordable educations for our kids, we'd like jobs, etc. They KNOW.

[True Blue Door]

12. Because Americans don't vote for issues in candidate elections, they vote for candidates

and campaigns. We never seem to remember that.

[merrily]

15. Speak for yourself. I know that they vote for candidates. Is your point

that candidates who run on things like raising the minimum wage can't get elected? That people love it when they read it a ballot initiative, but hate it coming from a candidate's mouth?

[True Blue Door]

16. No, my point is that strong issues don't make weak candidates strong.

A samurai sword in the hands of a bumbling oaf is just a glorified bread knife.

[merrily]

17. Still, running on strong issues is likelier to result in a win than

running on "Obama who?"

[True Blue Door]

19. Absolutely. The fact that they ran from Obama was a major symptom of their incompetence.

He was a source of strength that they saw as weakness simply because they believed their own enemies.

[merrily]

20. It's not only that. "Voted with Obama" was the mantra against incumbents.

You cannot run away from your own voting record. You just can't.

You have to run on it.

[True Blue Door]

21. They should have turned it into strength.

For some reason we are beset with weaklings who think like inverse-Nietzscheans. People with no will whatsoever, who can only react to the will and framing of others.

[merrily]

22. Again, though, all the brain power of the Democratic Party is not

concentrated on DU. I cannot believe that we're the only ones who get this, not the professional politicians or their career strategists. Pretending not to know Obama, ducking the issues, attacking negatively was pretty much a consistent strategy across the nation. There were exceptions, yes, but it was a theme. It was coordinated, not some dumb thing only a couple of candidates in backwater districts did

[True Blue Door]

23. It's because the "professional" politicos are an aristocracy, not a skilled technocracy.

They're judged by their relationships, not by victory or defeat. So they occasionally act as if defeat is the more desirable outcome, because for them it is: A time to sow seeds of further advancement later on. They have no stake in the victory of a set of ideals or particular legislation.

Hard meritocracy has to be instituted: No room for professional losers in this party. Maybe a "three strikes" law, not including defending easy incumbents?

[BarackTheVote]

4. Lots of good photography, at least n/t

[joshdawg]

5. Excellent post.

Thanks for demonstrating the truth.
%^&*(*&^ republicans!

[BlindTiresias]

6. Know what is great about this

We were so busy smashing socialists and commies there isn't anyone left to fight back this round. You can expect complete and total rightwing victory in the future.

[merrily]

18. I KNOW, right? Hoover and McCarthy used to bash liberals, now Democrats do it.

[Rex]

7. The Stock Market is at it's highest eva! What could go wrong in 2 years?

[merrily]

9. I am not as worried about the investor class as I am about the cat food class.

That said, a lot of pension plans are in the investor class.

[kentuck]

13. Hoover?

[merrily]

14. Biggest R majority since 1928. So, how did 1929 go?