As each day passes, the collapse of the Obama administration and the electoral hopes of Democrats seem to get worse. In the House, the Democrat talking points have moved from "we plan to take control" to "we surely will gain seats" to "we hope to break even" to "we hope to minimize our losses". In the Senate, the Democrats have also moved from confident statements about how they will retain control to statements about how it is a toss up and now to statements about who is to blame for the loss of control by the Democrats. Day after day, new polls come out that just make the situation look worse. Today, for example, Quinnipiac has Republican Gardner up by 6% over Democrat incumbent Mark Udall in Colorado, a race that was generally rated as likely Democrat at the start of the campaign season. Barring an earthquake among the voters in Colorado, Udall is toast. Even in New Hampshire, the Republican Scott Brown is running ahead in the latest poll. With a little bit of luck, the GOP could easily pick up a net of eight to ten seats in the Senate.
I started with a quick recap of the electoral scene, because I was struck by the latest piece by CNN commentator Sally Kohn called "Four Ways Democrats Have Already Won". To say that Kohn's view is delusional, is a major understatement. In her view, the election is shaping up as a major win for the Democrats even if they lose control of the Senate. The first way in which Democrats have won is that "there is still a contest for the senate." I am not making this up. Sally Kohn thinks that the continued campaign for control of the senate means that the Democrats have already won. She ignores all those statements by Democrats about how they would easily keep control of that body. She ignores the recent trend that strongly favors the GOP. Most important, she ignores the outcome of an election that the GOP is winning.
Kohn's second "victory" is that "Democrat policies are emerging as third rails". That claim is confusing to say the least. First of all, it assumes that there are actual Democrat policies. It is the lack of policies from Obama and the Democrats that have doomed them to failure this year. Americans have no idea what the Democrats want to do to grow the economy. We don't know how Obama wants to confront ISIS and the other terrorists (assuming that he does). Even Obama seems to have no idea how to handle Ebola. All that Kohn can say is that Obamacare has not been the defining issue of this campaign. Kohn thinks it is because the public likes Obamacare so much. She's wrong. The real reason is that there are so many other disasters brought about by the Democrats and the president that the entire mess has moved to center stage.
Kohn's third Democrat victory is that the "Republican War on Women" attack is now permanent and will prevail. The reality is that the public doesn't care about silly and phony attacks like this when there are real issues to be decided. Kohn ought to take a close look at Colorado where senator Udall made the War on Women such a central theme of his campaign that people there have started to call him senator Uterus instead of senator Udall. Udall's campaign has, of course, collapsed.
Last, Kohn says that the Democrats have won because Republicans are so desperate that they are supporting measures like voter ID. Kohn ignores the polls that say that roughly 80% of the American people think that voter ID requirements make sense. A few more "victories" like this one for the Democrats and they will become a permanent minority.
In 1964, Barry Goldwater lost an enormous landslide election to Lyndon Johnson. In the months after debacle, bumper stickers appeared that said something like "26,000,000 Americans can't be wrong". The point was that those who voted for Goldwater were right. Of course, those same bumper stickers ignored the fact that something like 39,000,000 Americans voted the other way. In many respects, the delusion of the Goldwater supporters reminds me of Kohn's claims today. In politics, the important victory is winning the election. Everything else is a delusion.
I started with a quick recap of the electoral scene, because I was struck by the latest piece by CNN commentator Sally Kohn called "Four Ways Democrats Have Already Won". To say that Kohn's view is delusional, is a major understatement. In her view, the election is shaping up as a major win for the Democrats even if they lose control of the Senate. The first way in which Democrats have won is that "there is still a contest for the senate." I am not making this up. Sally Kohn thinks that the continued campaign for control of the senate means that the Democrats have already won. She ignores all those statements by Democrats about how they would easily keep control of that body. She ignores the recent trend that strongly favors the GOP. Most important, she ignores the outcome of an election that the GOP is winning.
Kohn's second "victory" is that "Democrat policies are emerging as third rails". That claim is confusing to say the least. First of all, it assumes that there are actual Democrat policies. It is the lack of policies from Obama and the Democrats that have doomed them to failure this year. Americans have no idea what the Democrats want to do to grow the economy. We don't know how Obama wants to confront ISIS and the other terrorists (assuming that he does). Even Obama seems to have no idea how to handle Ebola. All that Kohn can say is that Obamacare has not been the defining issue of this campaign. Kohn thinks it is because the public likes Obamacare so much. She's wrong. The real reason is that there are so many other disasters brought about by the Democrats and the president that the entire mess has moved to center stage.
Kohn's third Democrat victory is that the "Republican War on Women" attack is now permanent and will prevail. The reality is that the public doesn't care about silly and phony attacks like this when there are real issues to be decided. Kohn ought to take a close look at Colorado where senator Udall made the War on Women such a central theme of his campaign that people there have started to call him senator Uterus instead of senator Udall. Udall's campaign has, of course, collapsed.
Last, Kohn says that the Democrats have won because Republicans are so desperate that they are supporting measures like voter ID. Kohn ignores the polls that say that roughly 80% of the American people think that voter ID requirements make sense. A few more "victories" like this one for the Democrats and they will become a permanent minority.
In 1964, Barry Goldwater lost an enormous landslide election to Lyndon Johnson. In the months after debacle, bumper stickers appeared that said something like "26,000,000 Americans can't be wrong". The point was that those who voted for Goldwater were right. Of course, those same bumper stickers ignored the fact that something like 39,000,000 Americans voted the other way. In many respects, the delusion of the Goldwater supporters reminds me of Kohn's claims today. In politics, the important victory is winning the election. Everything else is a delusion.
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