Numbers say no chance for GOP

[citizen snips]

WASHINGTON - The first year of the 2008 campaign -- think about that -- has clearly established that the Republican Party's prospects are cloudy. In the first two major contests, Mike Huckabee has finished first and third, John McCain fourth and first, Romney second twice. Rudy Giuliani has been treading water, waiting for Florida, which on Jan. 29 will allocate more convention delegates (114) than Iowa, Wyoming and New Hampshire have combined (92). So, clinging to cliches as to a lifeline, Republicans congratulate themselves on how evenly the party's strengths, such as they are, are spread among their candidates.

But although only one-third of 1 percent of the national electorate -- those who have participated in the Iowa, Wyoming and New Hampshire nominating events -- have spoken, the Democrats have even more reason than they did three weeks ago to look forward to a rollicking November. Realistic Republicans are looking for shelter. Nov. 4 could be their most disagreeable day since Nov. 3, 1964. Actually, this November could be even worse because in 1964 Barry Goldwater's loss of 44 states served a purpose, the ideological reorientation and revitalization of the party. Which Republican candidate this year could produce a similarly constructive loss?

Dismal adverse indicators include: shifts in voters' identifications with the two parties (Democrats now 50 percent, Republicans 36 percent); the tendency of independents (they favored Democratic candidates by 18 points in 2006); the fact that Democrats hold a majority of congressional seats in states with 303 electoral votes; the Democrats' strength and the Republicans' relative weakness in fundraising; the percentage of Americans who think the country is on the "wrong track"; the Republicans' enthusiasm deficit relative to Democrats' embrace of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, one of whom will be nominated.

Iowa and New Hampshire were two of the three states (New Mexico was the third) that changed partisan alignment between 2000 and 2004 -- Iowa turning red, New Hampshire blue. This month, Democratic participation was twice the Republican participation in Iowa and almost 22 percent higher in New Hampshire. George W. Bush won Iowa by just 0.67 percent of the vote. Whomever the Republicans nominate should assume that he must replace Iowa's seven electoral votes if he is to reach Bush's 2004 total of 286.

more...
http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/columns/story/880784.html

[opihimoimoi]

1. Peeps should remember its not the Individuals of the Pub Party when voting

Its what they did during 16 years of domination.....The Republicans have Fucked our Nation into a DEBT so massive its almost overwhelming

The Pubs have selected Bush 2x and now we feel the damage, the losses, the diversion from goodness into selfishness etc

Their basic philosophy is MEism.....worse, they don't seem to realize their wayward ways....brainwashed and stubborn to the bone...all counter productive to a good society....

For OUR SAKE....Vote Blue

[woodsprite]

2. Yes, but what are Rove's fingers doing dancing on the keyboard. n/t

[Skittles]

3. is this with or without voting shenanigans?

:o

[DavidMS]

4. In other news...

Water is wet.

Rush Limbaugh is fat idiot.

The Sky is blue.

This is just long term trends continuing. The American people are tried of being lied to and stolen from!

[Doctor_J]

5. Since polls have been off by up to 10% lately, thanks to Diebold,

this means exactly nothing

[0rganism]

6. since when has GOP success been about the real numbers?

They cause record deficits, and call it fiscal responsibility. They boast about shrinking government and making it less intrusive and wasteful, yet deliver the most bloated, invasive, and useless federal government we've ever seen. I could go on for a while, but the bottom line is this: they demonstrably know how to work the system, they've used their time in power to stack the courts and rewrite the rules in their favor, and that's what we're up against in November.

[yurbud]

7. hope he's right, but he's forgetting Dem tendency to savage each other then surrender to GOP

[tom_paine]

8. Lucky for the Bushies that our votes belong to them to do with as they see fit.

Diebold (now Premier) and ES&S own our votes. As soon as we punch our votes in they become untraceable vaporware that are the sole intellectual property of the Bushies that own these companies.

Government inspectors are not permitted to validate these machines, they are proprietary, you see.

Oddly enough, video poker and electronic slots machines, are subject to random, twice-yearly inspections, even though they, too, are "proprietary".

Got news for all of you, my fellow DUers and Imperial Subjects of Amerika, all the pieces are already in place, from our neutralized Democratic "opposition" to a judiciary which acts like a Mafia in protecting the interests of it's Bushie and Corporate Masters, regardless of law or precedent, to the laughable joke that our MSM has become, to our Bushified/Nazified Executive Agencies that serve the Bush Party alone, ask David Iglesias, as well as a half-dozen other aspects too numerous to list here.

We will, as we always do, keep our eyes pinned on the entertainment of the 2008 "election". We will watch the horse race with rapt attention, failing to notice the rampant Mafia race-fixing that is everywhere.

And when the Bush Court allows Voter ID to savage the ranks of poor and minority voters, which it will...100% chance...the Mafia fix is in, it will further reduce the amount of vaporware votes they need to "alter" to get their desired outcome.

I am not suggesting giving up, and I will NEVER suggest not voting, even if it is laughably rigged, we need to try anyway.

But we MUST know where we stand, and that is not just at the edge of a precipice, but over it and already falling.

[katty]

9. yup & after bernanke's depressing forecast--even less