Like a pendulum, the current 111th Congress, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid are poised for a major swing at the hands of independent voters.
The Daily Beast's Peter Beniart has it in the crosshairs:
"To understand why the Rangel scandals are so dangerous for Democrats, you need to understand something about midterm landslides: They’re usually composed of three parts. First, the other party’s activists are highly motivated. Second, your own activists are highly unmotivated. Third, independents want to burn Washington to the ground.
"There’s nothing Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi can do about the first problem.
The stimulus, the bank bailouts, the auto-takeover and the health-care push have convinced large numbers of aging white people that Obama is Mao Zedong, and they’re not going to change their mind anytime soon. The best response to the second problem is to pass health-care reform and give Keith Olbermann something to get excited about. But perhaps most crucial of all is responding to problem No. 3.
"Independents are the most fickle, the most cynical, and the least ideological people in the American electorate. When they’re unhappy with the state of the country, they tend to stampede the party in power—less because they disagree on the issues than because they decide that the folks running government must be malevolent and corrupt. In Washington, congressmen violate ethics rules all the time. But when independents get in one of their sour moods, these infractions become matches on dry tinder. In 1994, the scandals concerning Rostenkowski and the House bank helped sweep the Gingrichites into power. In 2006, according to exit polls, the scandals surrounding mega-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Rep. Mark Foley did more to lose the GOP control of Congress than did the Iraq war. Pelosi became speaker, in fact, by running against the GOP’s 'culture of corruption' and promising the 'most ethical Congress in history.' ”Will the 112th Congress be any better?
4 comments:
I have no idea what you are talking about but the guy looks VERY content! Mike
The fastest-growing party in the US is the party of apathy and indifference. And that should worry everyone because the ignorance gives way to deception and corruption in government. Sadly, I think we're there already, thanks to both parties and the independents too. As one pundit noted today, "Charlie been around a long time. He knows the game, it's his life." That's the problem, isn't it? Tim
Mike - Count yourself fortunate. Google Charlie Rangel. He's not feeling content any longer.
how come you're bold-blue-underlined and the rest of us are plain black and white?
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