GOP: Dems didn't win, 'we lost.'

Boehmer needs to listen to the comments on the Senate floor this morning by Gregg & Coryn on the Bush Iraq proposal to understand why the Republicans lost and the Democrats won. The country has just had enough of the continual delusion by the Bush supporter's shoved down their throat.

Yes, Mr. Boehner and in 1994 the Republicans didn't win, the Democrats lost, right? Whatever. Go spend some more time with Jack Abramoff.

The GOP still can't get over their "thumpin" in the midterm elections.

Boehner is halfway right.
The Republicans in Congress were partisan and corrupt and that led to their downfall,along with their lockstepping with W. on Iraq and everything else.
The GOP that "beat its self" now consists of guys who are going to prison or are on their way there.

W. has already sunk the GOP battleship for 08
I wonder if the GOP candidate for President in 08 is going to let W. and Cheney stump for them?

"We lost" instead of "They won"

"surge" instead of "escalation"

"Un-patriotic" instead of "Anti-war"

"Constant terror threat" instead of "Military-industrial complex"

We live in an age where the political establishment communicates to the public via catch-phrases and euphemisms.

It's amazing what is fed to the people through the media. It's more amazing how the people sit back and swallow it.

Three comments in and the Dem cheerleaders here can't see the very obvious point -- that the Democrats did not win.

That is, that '06 was not a positive vote but a negative one. That the swing voters were not FOR the Democrats but AGAINST the Republicans.

The reason that lesson is important, D cheerleaders, is that now if the Dems don't BECOME RELEVANT they're going to be out of power very soon. They've shown us in the recent past that they're very good at being irrelevant. They're showing no signs of changing that as yet.

And The R's have shown us in the recent past that they're very good at being relevant. Now they're regrouping. Time to worry if you're a Democrat.

Oh, and John E, you look very cute waving your pom-pons.

I'd say the GOP lost because they got away from the true conservative values that got them in to begin with.

“We know that Americans are pragmatists,’’ he said. “They are not just moved by words. They are moved by ideas and outcomes.''

That doesn't stop you from trying to cloud the issue with spun words. And if it makes you feel better to say you lost they didn't win...fine. What that does mean is your "out" we're "in".

"I didn’t come here because I wanted to be a congressman,’’ the congressman added. “I came here because I thought government was too much, it cost too much,’’ intrudes in peoples’ lives too much and has no accountability.

But once he became a congressman, he decided to ditch those principles and just enjoy being a congressman. What an ingracious slug! What a typical Republican.

By the way, nice makeup job, Boehnnie. Do you sell Mary Kay on the side?

So "Government intrudes too much in peoples' lives," Mr. Boehner? So you will vote to stop the Pentagon datamining our personal financial histories? You will support the current investigations into abuses of the FISA law?

No?

So that would make you a hypocrite.

First of all let me say to Dale, my deepest sympathy to you and your family for your recent loss.

Now as for the idea that the republican party just can’t get over their loss of the control of Congress, it’s not a surprise to me. You see the GOP feel it’s their right to control the masses, it’s sort of like controlling a corporate empire. That’s where all the power and money stay at the top, and the rest of the population should be happy with the scraps that fall from their table. The GOP has been in this state of denial since the Nixon administration, and oddly enough that’s where Cheney and Rumsfeld got their start in politics. The sooner that people understand that the GOP is never going represent THEM, and will always put corporate interests first, the sooner we will begin to regain the respect around the world that we’ve lost these past 6 years. A true democracy is a government doing the will of it’s people, and the rest of the world knows it.

I'm not surprised that the GOP can't believe that they lost the midterm elections.
They figured with KKKarl Rove in their corner the fix was in......again....

Little Johnny D. aka "noname" "Leo T":

You can do better than that don't you think?

And The R's have shown us in the recent past that they're very good at being relevant. Now they're regrouping. Time to worry if you're a Democrat.Posted by: Leo T | Jan 18, 2007 1:20:51 PM

I'm not sure how you can say they've been relevant. They did absolutely nothing in the congress. Please name some relevant legislation that they have passed. Immigration? health care?
Social security? Seems to me they have not acted like a republican party at all. Uncontrolled spending, increased government. You may want to think twice about useing the tough on terror routine, we are in a bigger mess now than we have ever been in.

"Government intrudes too much in peoples' lives,"

I love this one....first you want to tell people
how to live..gay marriage..abortion..stem cell
and then you want to tell us how to die..Terry Shiavo. What hypocrisy!!!!!

I love it. Republicans are absolutely convinced that they know what is best for you whether you know it or not. Personally, I hope they maintain this frame of mind. The upcoming election in 2008 will make 2006 Republican rout look like a warm up. One question I might ask Rep. John Boehner is, why do you think so many Democrats are coming out of the woodwork to run for president? Might it be because they think that the Republican candidate, whoever that might be, may be running with a heavy handicap??

The Republicans' inability to handle the loss of their majority and the fact that the election was indeed not so much won by the Democrats as lost by the Republicans, I see as two entirely different issues.

As a Democrat, I definitely "get" that, had the Republicans not blatantly and condescendingly lied to the public over and over and over again, had they not messed up the Iraq conflict repeatedly and turned it into such a multi-level nightmare, had they not been so revoltingly incompetent over the whole Hurricane Katrina disaster, they'd still be calling the shots all the way across the board. The public did not vote out of love and trust for the Democratic party; they voted out of anger, outrage and pain for what the Republicans did to us since their last victory in 2004.

I can't "get," however, why many of the Republicans continue to think there's some magic wand they can wave to pull it all back without having to admit the error of their ways and work to actually earn the trust and respect they seem to be demanding. It's still spin and talking points for them.

I'd imagine President Bush's 2004 mandate wasn't really a mandate after all - it was simply a Dem loss.
Right, Rep. Boehner?

WASHINGTON - Newly empowered House Democrats sought to recoup billions of dollars in lost royalties from offshore drilling as they anticipated approval Thursday of a $15 billion package of fees, taxes and royalties on oil and gas companies. The money would be used to promote renewable fuels.

100 hours and the Dems have achieved more than the whack jobs did in 12 years.Poor oil companies,are you right wing big shots going to cry for them.Since the Dems took over,Oil is dropping like a rock,see what a little hint of investigation will do.Party is over,Big Spenders!!!

Hey Bohnie,maybe the "Earls" of this country finally woke up,you think?

Hey Rep. Stiffy,
You lost, buddy. Sorry.
But denial is a way of life for Repub politicos these days.
Don't get caught crying in public; political death sentence.

***********

Hey boys and girls; just experienced a cable outage in my area! No tube or broadband internet this afternoon. Started sweating and shaking like a liberal in the Mormon Tabernacle. Had to have my heroin hit of Paulo/JD/John D.

But everything is good again.

********************

"Terry Shiavo. What hypocrisy!!!!!
Posted by: bill r. | Jan 18, 2007 2:30:22 PM"

(new mid season TV show on Fox)
'Have Hypocrisy Will Grovel'

Hey Rep. Stiffy,
You lost, buddy. Sorry.
But denial is a way of life for Repub politicos these days.
Don't get caught crying in public; political death sentence.

***********

Hey boys and girls; just experienced a cable outage in my area! No tube or broadband internet this afternoon. Started sweating and shaking like a liberal in the Mormon Tabernacle. Had to have my heroin hit of Paulo/JD/John D.

But everything is good again.

********************

"Terry Shiavo. What hypocrisy!!!!!
Posted by: bill r. | Jan 18, 2007 2:30:22 PM"

(new mid season TV show on Fox)
'Have Hypocrisy Will Grovel'

"It's amazing what is fed to the people through the media. It's more amazing how the people sit back and swallow it.

Posted by: Realist | Jan 18, 2007 1:08:25 PM"

Like a fluffer in Boogie Nights.

""I didn’t come here because I wanted to be a congressman,’’ the congressman added. “I came here because I thought government was too much, it cost too much,’’ intrudes in peoples’ lives too much and has no accountability."

What this really means;

'We wanted government to fail, and by G-d we made sure it did.'

John,

Thank you, for stepping up and also stating the simple, self evidesnt truth "that the election was indeed not so much won by the Democrats as lost by the Republicans".

And yes, it's also self evident that the R's have "to admit the error of their ways and work to actually earn the trust and respect they seem to be demanding". I'd bet that many Republicans would agree with you.

AND, let me repeat...

It is critically urgent to most of the posters here (I think it's fair to call this a Liberal Democratic blog) that the Ds UNIFY. They have to focus on an single agenda. Vis-a-vis Iraq: One workable, well crafted plan -- ASAP.

The D's also have to earn respect and trust. Only a fool would say otherwise.

No name,

I agree with you, the R's have strayed far from classic Conservatism. I think that may change sooner rather than later. They have a talent for unifying and focusing on the message. Like I said, that spells trouble for the D's unless they shape up and stop their behavioral trend of the past several decades.

To all of the D's and libs here,

You don't have to attack me, I'm not a Republican. The fact that you assume that I am is part of your problem. You see criticism of your party as an attack by the other side, and you don't even try to listen objectively.

Mindless loyalty does you no good at all. You MUST look at your party with a cold eye, and tell them in no uncertain terms what they are doing wrong. If you don't, you'll always be losers.

From yesterday's NYTimes:

"And while the report confirms that the original leasing blunders were made under the Clinton administration, it provides new details about the reluctance of the Bush administration to discuss the issue publicly or find a fix for the problem for nearly six years.

At issue are more than 1,000 offshore drilling leases for the gulf that the Interior Department signed in 1998 and 1999, during the Clinton administration.

The government offered drillers lucrative “royalty relief,” a holiday from the standard 12 percent royalty, as an incentive to increase exploration and production in waters that were thousands of feet deep.

But as a result of what investigators believe was bureaucratic bumbling, the leases for 1998 and 1999 omitted a standard escape clause that rescinded the special inducements if oil prices climbed above $34 a barrel.

Midlevel officials at Interior spotted the omission in 2000, and quietly made sure to include the escape clause in all subsequent leases. But no one tried to fix the leases that had already been signed, and almost no one talked about them until oil prices started to climb above $34 a barrel in 2004."

The comptency of the Clinton administration shows its head again. The reason for "trying not to fix the problem" is because it is called a contract.

Terry,

You know I luv ya big guy.
You're the only conservative blogger left on here that has a normal thought process since Bill died.
With Paulo and Little Johhny/JD carrying the torch for the GOP things have REALLY gone south for you guys,you need to send them back to the Karl Rove remedial school for slow learning GOP bloggers.

But enought of that Terry.
Here's why I called:

BILL CLINTON IS NOT THE PRESIDENT ANYMORE!

You don't have to attack me,I'm not a Republican

Posted by JohnJD/Leo T Jan 18 2007 6:04:49 PM

Little Johnny D......I would mock you,but you and Paulo are getting to easy.

John E, you would mock me?

Please, go ahead and try.

To all:

I'm just old enough to remember Kennedy... barely. At the age I started to pay attention to world events Johnson's Administration was winding down.

In all that time the Democrats have been nothing but dissapointing; impotent failures, disorganized, rudderless. In 1980, 1988, 2000 and 2004 they should have just walked into the White House, and could have -- IF they put up a viable candidate and platform.

We all enjoy making jokes about what a stupid lump Dubya is. My god, he's almost John E stupid! ...and yet the Democrats couldn't beat him.

So instead launching into the usual lame excuses -- Rove and Swiftboating and Southern Strategy and Hillbillies are just too stupid to vote right and blah, blah, blah...

Maybe, JUST MAYBE, you should stop and think, hmmm, my party might be doing something wrong.

Leo T., I'm in your court on the Democrats' need to come up with a workable, unified plan as well as our need to earn the trust and respect of the people.

I think it's unrealistic to expect all Democrats to agree as one voice on a platform (and, given what that kind of behavior has done to the Republican Party, it's not necessarily even a good idea), but if we can't at least come to some kind of consensus as to an overall plan we can all support, more or less, for the good of the country, we're just spinning our wheels at the public expense. There's certainly room within that context for discussion and adjustment. One of the main precepts of any government would have to be a realization that no one party is going to simply get everything it wants without "giving in" on some points in order to get business taken care of overall.

And, by all means, Democrats need to "clean up their house so they can invite company over." Given the scandals in both parties we've seen recently, it's clear the public in general is getting tired of seeing politicians seeming to act more for their own personal interest than for the purpose of benefitting their constituency or the country as a whole. I'm not in favor of ANYBODY being able to conduct "business as usual" while they're under suspicion of wrongdoing. There needs to be immediate, appropriate, PUBLIC investigation to any such allegations, and the results need to be made available on an urgent basis. If the party or parties under investigation are found innocent, then we need to stop harping at them and let them get on with their jobs; and if they're found guilty, they need to take their medicine as anyone else would.

Enough pontificating from me. Thanks for listening!

It is critically urgent to most of the posters here (I think it's fair to call this a Liberal Democratic blog) that the Ds UNIFY. They have to focus on an single agenda. Vis-a-vis Iraq: One workable, well crafted plan -- ASAP.

The D's also have to earn respect and trust. Only a fool would say otherwise.

Posted by: Leo T | Jan 18, 2007 6:04:49 PM

They have unified Bill,and their agenda is the working class,which includes you and your ilk that post here.

The working class Bill,the ones who have been left behind the last six years.You remember,increse in minimum wage,better deals on prescription drugs,health insurance,going after enery companies who have abused the working class.Etc.Etc.Etc.

"In all that time the Democrats have been nothing but dissapointing; impotent failures, disorganized, rudderless"

Sorry to hear you were in a coma from 1992-2000 Leo T. That must have been tough on you and your family.

"Maybe, JUST MAYBE, you should stop and think, hmmm, my party might be doing something wrong."

The democrats spend alot of time foing that Leo. Too much time in fact.

Do the Republicans spend any time thinking that something might be wrong with them when they consider the records in office of GWB and this Iraq mess, GHWB getting tossed out after one term, Ronald Reagan with massive deficits and Iran/Contra, I won't speak ill of Ford with his recent passing, and Nixon ('nuff said)?

Leo T, You don't have to convince me that the Democrats have had problems and still do, but the Republican party is no longer a viable option for voters like me. I'm old enough to remember when many Republicans were supposedly fiscal conservatives who supported the US Constitution, attacked corruption, and were reluctant to get the US involved in foriegn wars. I used to vote for some of them. Now they start wars, trample the Constitution, torture prisoners, can't spend enough of our tax dollars, and routinely exchange legislation for campaign contributions. Whatever problems the Democrats have, they hardly have to try to be better than these Bush Republicans. Actually, that may be the Democrat's biggest problem now.

Good post John. Pontificate all you want to as far as I'm concerned. Yes I'm a little simplistic about the unifying thing, but I think you get my drift.

Loon,
I'm not Bill. And yes, I know I'm working class.

Tony,
No I wasn't in a coma.

Tony and Tom O,
We all know how the Republicans have screwed the pooch. Time to move on. The D's are in an excellent position for taking the White House. But they've been there before (for example, Dukakis 17 points ahead in July and nobody liking GB1) so its NOT a lock, by any means.