I think Norm Ornstein allowed himself to get a little over-exuberant about the ascendancy of liberalism in the U.S. Senate, but he didn’t even mention the two new liberal senators from Hawai’i. I agree that the Senate is probably more liberal at the moment than in any other period of my life. And I agree that there are some whip-smart liberals in the body who will gain seniority and influence over time. But, it won’t mean much at all as long as the House is controlled by Republicans and the Senate Republicans are being cast in the Rand Paul and Mike Lee mold.
I also think Josh Kraushaar is hyperventilating a bit when he predicts that the GOP will soon be abandoned to the Tea Party folks while The Establishment works to create a new party. There are powerful obstacles to creating third parties that can compete, let alone supplant one of the two majors. The GOP is more likely to see fruitless challenges from its middle that do nothing more than ensure Democratic victories. We could see that happen in Virginia’s gubernatorial race this fall.
If the polls are showing continuing decline in popularity for the teapubs, and they are losing elections (i.e., the senate seats recently), why wouldn’t the establishment GOP just keep passing legislation with the Dems and marginalize the teapots further and further?
I don’t think Boehner can hold on much longer if he continues that way, and McConnell is coming to the fore now, which means he may get primaried out next year.
“He” meaining Boehner or McConnell?
McConnell.
I hope so. I want the Cooch to go away.
They may be alienating the Tea Party, which is dangerous, ’cause who except crazy people would vote for them? But they may be trapped. Doing basically nothing for years doesn’t generate much cheddar for the lobbyists, some of whom must be getting pretty tired of waiting for a better day.
I also think Josh Kraushaar is hyperventilating a bit when he predicts that the GOP will soon be abandoned to the Tea Party folks while The Establishment works to create a new party.
Kraushaar is an idiot. Always has been. As Boo knows, PA made it very, very hard for 3rd parties to get on thr ballot a few years ago. And who did that? And how does Kraushaar propose to change that? And I bet PA is far from the only state that’s made things hard for 3rd parties.
Illinois also. And why come out with a third Party to support business and bankers when the Democratic Party with its DLC cheerleaders are always willing to do your bidding if you just allow a little symbolic scrap for the little people?
In your life, but definitely not in mine nor TarheelDem’s life.
How so?
Are you talking about the 1950’s and 1960s?
Because we had a thing called Jim Crow segregation back then, and all of those cats were Democrats. We didn’t have gay rights. We didn’t have women’s rights. Abortion was illegal. Congress was almost 100% white and almost 100% male.
The only thing more progressive back then was the tax code.
Perhaps the 1970s, when the party was led in the Senate by Mike Mansfield and Robert Byrd?
I was born in ’69, but I take your point.
Were those things changed by conservatives? I didn’t say the country was more liberal, in fact, I’ll say it was more conservative.
But the Senate that created the Civil Rights Act and Medicare was much more liberal than today’s. I doubt if either program could pass today’s Senate. Slightly later, the Senate actually considered negative income tax, passed federal revenue sharing, and ended the draft.