Prediction: Democrats re-take both the US Senate AND the US House this November

[Tock]

That's what I'm guessing . . .

There's
1) the Foley e-mail scandal,
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/wa...syahoo&emc=rss


2) Woodward's book showing Bush and his war to be a huge mess
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/polit...ard_10-04.html


3) and the usual pile of stuff.

I'm guessing that November will bring a change in congress . . .





http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/wa...syahoo&emc=rss

Conservatives Fear Foley Scandal Will Cost Votes


By BRIAN KNOWLTON International Herald Tribune
Published: October 8, 2006
WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 — Conservatives struggled today to turn back criticism over the Congressional page scandal involving former Representative Mark Foley of Florida, but some said they expected it to prove costly for Republicans in the midterm elections on Nov. 7 and others hinted that Representative J. Dennis Hastert’s future as speaker of the House was unsure.

“You’re going to have marginal candidates who will suffer at the polls,” said Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, on “Fox News Sunday.” But he said he thought it was “premature” for Mr. Hastert to resign, even as Democrats kept up their criticisms that he had acted far too slowly in the matter.

David Bossie, president of the conservative group Citizens United, disagreed with Mr. Perkins, saying, “I just say Dennis Hastert is going to end up not being the next speaker” because he appeared not to heed early warnings about Mr. Foley’s interest in teenage pages.

Taking the offensive, some Republicans sought today to shift blame for the scandal to Democrats who, they suggested, might have known about Mr. Foley’s behavior for months.

“I hope we don’t find out that people sat on information just so they could leak it here a month before the election,” Senator John Cornyn of Texas said on CNN. But he acknowledged that he had no evidence of this.

Some Republicans argued that Mr. Hastert’s resignation would be an extreme remedy.

“Give me a break on this resignation stuff,” Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina said on CNN. “President Bill Clinton actually had sex with an intern in the White House — he didn’t resign.”

Other conservatives were hoping the matter would simply die out — at least in local newspapers.

Such scandals “have to be fed daily,” said Patrick Buchanan, the conservative commentator and former presidential candidate, adding that this one could fade within a week. But if new information emerges, Mr. Buchanan said on CNN, “it will continue, it will deepen and it will worsen.”

The scandal has jolted Republicans battling to retain control of the House and Senate. Political analysts from both parties say the scandal has placed at least five more Republican Congressional seats into serious contention, undercutting Republican support among elderly voters, women and religious conservatives.

It produced the extraordinary scene over the weekend of another Republican leader involved in the matter, Representative Thomas Reynolds of New York, airing a campaign ad that included an apology.

“Nobody’s angrier and more disappointed that I didn’t catch his lies,” Mr. Reynolds says in the television commercial. But Mr. Reynolds notes in the ad that he called complaints about Mr. Foley to Mr. Hastert’s attention months ago. “I trusted that others had investigated. Looking back, more should have been done, and for that, I am sorry.”

Other Republicans insisted that if their leaders had known how sordid Mr. Foley’s communications were, they would have acted.

“If Tom Reynolds had had any, any, any indication that Mark Foley was this sick,” Mr. McHenry said, “he would’ve taken Mark Foley’s head out on a pike.”

Democrats have largely stood aside, enjoying Republicans’ intramural squabbling over who knew what when. But in the face of the more aggressive Republican defense today, some lashed back.

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware was asked whether Democrats might have long known about Mr. Foley’s actions but leaked information only to affect the midterm elections.

“What a dumb thing to say, what a silly thing to say,” he said on CNN. “Here you’ve got these pages at risk and the answer is, The Democrats did it? The news media did it?”

He predicted that the matter would influence the elections less than the war in Iraq, which he called “a debacle.”

The Foley scandal arose just as Republicans were battling to move beyond other bad news, including pessimistic reports about Iraq, Afghanistan and the fight against terror.

On Thursday, a White House aide, Susan B. Ralston, resigned. She was a former aide to the disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff who later worked for the presidential adviser Karl Rove. A Congressional report said she was a conduit between the two men. Her connections were particularly sensitive after a Congressional report documented hundreds of contacts between Mr. Abramoff and the White House.

As the House Ethics Committee, the Justice Department and Florida law enforcement authorities investigate the Foley scandal, much attention will focus on how soon and how plainly Republican House leaders were warned about Mr. Foley and how strongly they reacted.

“As far back as 2002-2003, there were warning signs” about Mr. Foley, said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, who heads House Democrats’ election efforts, said today on the ABC News program “This Week.”

But Representative Adam Putnam of Florida — called to appear on the program with Mr. Emanuel after Mr. Reynolds belatedly bowed out — disagreed. “The speaker’s office acted pro-actively, they acted aggressively” in the Foley matter, he said.

A former aide to Mr. Foley, Kirk Fordham, expects to go before the Ethics Committee this week and testify that he alerted the speaker’s office in 2003 to inappropriate contacts with pages by Mr. Foley, his lawyer said.

Mr. Fordham is also expected to say that Scott Palmer, the longtime chief of staff to Mr. Hastert, later met with Mr. Foley to talk about his troubling interest in pages, said Timothy J. Heaphy, Mr. Fordham’s lawyer.

Mr. Palmer has denied having such a discussion with Mr. Fordham.

[mcpeepants]

I wouldn't put to much faith in that. Democrats are adept at losing.

[Logan13]

I believe that the Dems will indeed gain seats and possibly take Congress. What I am concerned about is that they will do absolutely nothing, they have no platform whatsoever. Tock, you should not be proud to say that the Dems will retake the Congress only because of Republican "scandels", but the fact of the matter is that is the only reason they will win. As an American Democrat you should want them to take it back because they have a BETTER plan for the country, which is honestly not true. In fact, they have been running on the "We hate Bush" platform since 2002 and it has gotten them nowhere. Hell, if they had a better plan for the US, I would even vote for them on an individual basis.

[Tock]

Well, just comparing the two party platforms, the Dems come out ahead (especially looking at the Texas State Republican platform
http://www.texasgop.org/site/DocServ....pdf?docID=121 ).

I'm pretty sure, though, that if the Dems had been in control of things, we would not have had this war in Iraq, the rest of the world wouldn't hate the US, and we wouldn't be thinking about starting another war with Iran.

Ya, right off the bat, foreign policy would be greatly improved with Democrats running things. Of course, that would be expected, as Bush only had a couple terms as Texas governor before getting elected President, and Texas governors don't really get much practice doing anything, as the state constitution gives most of the political power and responsibility to other state offices (Treasurer, Land Commissioner, Lt. Governor, Atty General). .
Anyone is going to be better than Bush.

Thing is, that once the Democrats get control of the House of Representatives, they're gonna vote to investigate a lot of the fishy things the Republicans have been keeping under wraps. "What fishy things?" you ask? Ha - just wait and see what unfolds before your wondering eyes . . .

-Tock

[brewerpi]

the "DEMS" controlled the House for over 40 years and several of them went to prison (ABSCAM), a guy named Studds was caught banging a 17 year old boy/page, but the Democrats said it was a loving relationship between consenting adults...
It was a Democrat-LBJ who got us in to Vietnam.
There isn't a dime's worth of difference between the two parties.

[zimmy]

I predict that there will be a worthless group in the majority. But that's an easy prediction when in a 2 party system that our country's politically retarded "voters" have secured in our gov't :P

P.S. Same shit different smell :P

[RA]

Well, just comparing the two party platforms, the Dems come out ahead (especially looking at the Texas State Republican platform
www.texasgop.org/site/DocServer/RPTPlatform2004.pdf?docID=121 ).

I'm pretty sure, though, that if the Dems had been in control of things, we would not have had this war in Iraq, the rest of the world wouldn't hate the US, and we wouldn't be thinking about starting another war with Iran.

Ya, right off the bat, foreign policy would be greatly improved with Democrats running things. Of course, that would be expected, as Bush only had a couple terms as Texas governor before getting elected President, and Texas governors don't really get much practice doing anything, as the state constitution gives most of the political power and responsibility to other state offices (Treasurer, Land Commissioner, Lt. Governor, Atty General). .
Anyone is going to be better than Bush.

Thing is, that once the Democrats get control of the House of Representatives, they're gonna vote to investigate a lot of the fishy things the Republicans have been keeping under wraps. "What fishy things?" you ask? Ha - just wait and see what unfolds before your wondering eyes . . .

-Tock

In whos opinion?

[Teabagger]

I do hope the Dums...errr....I mean the Dems take the whole Congress, and the White House. The US would, within 1 year be the belle of the ball internationally. How would the US achieve such a diplomatic coup you ask? Easy....keep up everyone...here goes.

1. Pull all troops out of Iraq, Afganistan...within 12 days.
2. Dissolve the treaty with Israel.
3. Provide Hamas with billions of dollars in aid, currency and weapons.
4. Assist Iran in developing nuclear weapons, and the delivery vehicle.
5. Provide the missing pieces of our ICBM guidance systems to China.
6. As a gesture of good will...provide North Korea with billiions of dollars of aid.
7. Abolish Customs and Immigration, and all asundry enforcement capabilities.
8. Abolish the law requiring a voter be a US citizen, to vote or hold office.
9. Make Spanish, Arabic, French...whatever, the national language. Anything but English.
10. Finally eradicate all religious symbols and displays not only from public property, but from public view as well...except for Islam though. Establish by Exective Order "cultural awareness centers" funded by the Dept of Education, where the Koran is taught by former Taliban members. Alternative lifestyle education taught by card carrying members of NAMBLA, and convicted child molestors.

Now that may seem like a daunting task for the first year...but I have faith...oops can I say "faith"? that the much enlightened elite can accommplish this. Sounds pretty good huh Tock..?

[zimmy]

I do hope the Dums...errr....I mean the Dems take the whole Congress, and the White House. The US would, within 1 year be the belle of the ball internationally. How would the US achieve such a diplomatic coup you ask? Easy....keep up everyone...here goes.

1. Pull all troops out of Iraq, Afganistan...within 12 days.
2. Dissolve the treaty with Israel.
3. Provide Hamas with billions of dollars in aid, currency and weapons.
4. Assist Iran in developing nuclear weapons, and the delivery vehicle.
5. Provide the missing pieces of our ICBM guidance systems to China.
6. As a gesture of good will...provide North Korea with billiions of dollars of aid.
7. Abolish Customs and Immigration, and all asundry enforcement capabilities.
8. Abolish the law requiring a voter be a US citizen, to vote or hold office.
9. Make Spanish, Arabic, French...whatever, the national language. Anything but English.
10. Finally eradicate all religious symbols and displays not only from public property, but from public view as well...except for Islam though. Establish by Exective Order "cultural awareness centers" funded by the Dept of Education, where the Koran is taught by former Taliban members. Alternative lifestyle education taught by card carrying members of NAMBLA, and convicted child molestors.

Now that may seem like a daunting task for the first year...but I have faith...oops can I say "faith"? that the much enlightened elite can accommplish this. Sounds pretty good huh Tock..?

wow...good to see people can step away from there personal beliefs and give a realistic / non partial comment here and there (sarcasm)

[Logan13]

wow...good to see people can step away from there personal beliefs and give a realistic / non partial comment here and there (sarcasm)

he is not far off. Just listen to what the Dems have spoken out against....

[notorious_mem]

a good ol bill picture. check out her shirt.