As for Jay, good riddance to bad rubbish. Just another northeast libtard that went south and wanted to help the poor beknighted souls he found down south.

Not a bad idea :)… I am now convinced that the stupid rape and abortion disaster comments with the Republican senate candidates in Missouri (Akin) and Indiana (Murdoch) may have cost us more than these two seats… It may have cost Romney the the swing states of Ohio, Florida, Virginia, New Hampshire, and Colorado and hence the elections… It has also cost us Senate seats in other Republican states that were easily winnable….

mnjg on January 11, 2013 at 10:10 AM

You’re probably right, since Akin’s and Mourdoch’s stupid comments were broadcast on national media, and low-information voters were told that “Republicans” believe that rape victims must be forced to keep pregnancies due to rape, even though Romney never mentioned anything about rape. Voters in Indiana and Missouri knew the difference, supporting Romney while voting for Democrats over Akin and Mourdoch, but what about urban women in swing states?

Women who live in crime-ridden urban areas probably fear being raped, even those who have never been raped, who may know a rape victim. Rape is a very traumatic experience, and a woman being forced to carry a child conceived by rape would be a months-long reminder of the rapist himself and the horror she endured. So if an urban woman hears that “Republicans” want to force her to bear the child of a rapist, she will tend to vote Democrat, even though Romney never mentioned the issue.

Pro-life political candidates should be willing to make an exception and allow abortion in cases of rape and incest, which account for a small fraction of all aborted pregnancies. If a proof of rape or incest was required to obtain an abortion, single women who became pregnant through consensual sex may hesitate to accuse their boyfriends of rape, and such a law may also cause men to become more cautious about sex, out of fear of being accused of rape if their girlfriends become pregnant.

Politically, only about 30% of voters support banning all abortions, but there is about 60% support for a law banning abortions except in cases of rape and incest (or a pregnancy which threatens the life of the mother). If a political candidate supports a law banning abortions except for rape and incest, he/she has a much better chance of being elected, and such a law would save well over 90% of the babies now lost to abortion.

This is a test for the NRSC

Illinidiva on January 11, 2013 at 10:03 AM
You bet, and it shouldn’t be a particularly hard one. But after losing in North Dakota, Missouri, Montana etc, no bar is too low.

First step would be to stop trying to blame the Tea Party for their own failures and take an honest accounting of why they keep losing so many winnable seats in conservative states.

forest on January 11, 2013 at 10:07 AM

Too many so-called Tea Party candidates have lost winnable Senate races, not only in 2012 (ND, IN, MO, MT) but also in 2010 (NV, CO, DE).

Having “political outsiders” run for House seats might bring some fresh conservative thinking into Congress, but Senate candidates should have some political experience, including winning general elections. It would be helpful if Senate candidates were former statewide office-holders (Governors, state treasurers, Attorneys General, etc.) or at least former House members, who know how to win elections and avoid gaffes that lose them.

Another problem frequently encountered in Senate elections is having a candidate win a Republican primary among several candidates with only 35 or 40% of the Republican vote, most of which is in more-conservative rural areas. But in states with large, Democrat-heavy cities, it’s the suburbs that win or lose elections, and suburban voters tend to be less conservative than rural voters, and might vote for a Democrat over a Tea Party candidate.

We need candidates who can win suburban voters, and one way of ensuring that the eventual Republican nominee has broad support is to use two-round primaries, where the top two vote-getters in the first round compete in a runoff a few weeks after the first round. This would ensure that the eventual nominee has majority support among Republican voters, and would also allow time for candidates with foot-in-mouth disease to make their fatal gaffes BEFORE becoming the Republican nominee.

Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller will not run for reelection in 2014, passing up a bid for a sixth term and putting in play a Senate seat in deep red West Virginia.

How is West Virginia deep red? It has had a Democrat Governor for decades, and Democrat Joe Manchin won a special election to finish Robert Byrd’s Senate term, and also won re-election to a full Senate term this year. Democrats also control two of West Virginia’s three House seats.

West Virginia has only been red on the Presidential level since 2000. The state is heavily invested in the coal industry, which favored George W. Bush’s energy policy and opposed Obama’s “war on coal”. But coal miners are heavily unionized, and will tend to support Democrats in non-Presidential elections, if they are not hostile to the coal industry.

Rockefeller’s retirement may be a pickup opportunity in 2014, but many people thought Byron Dorgan’s retirement this year would give Republicans a pickup in ND, but Democrat Heidi Heitkamp won the Senate seat despite North Dakota’s voting for Republican Presidential candidates for decades.

Jesus H. Christ, My Christmas present came a few weeks late!

I guess it is asking too much for him to take Boxer with
him as a twofer….

Why don’t you go teach your grandmother to suck eggs you fking nitwit.

tom daschle concerned on January 11, 2013 at 11:47 AM

LOL … Class Act.
Are you a Canuck too? Why don’t you and your girlfriend post on Canadian sites?
Your moniker says it all, Tommy Boy.
*chuckle*
~(Ä)~

Having said that I thought we would win friggin North Dakota by the same Presidential logic and we didn’t. They love them some pork around the country and view their Senators in these states as pork providers and Santa Claus just like the rest of the country.

Conan on January 11, 2013 at 11:50 AM

Have you seen the Dem Senator from ND? You’ll understand where the term “porker” comes from and I’m not talking about the stuff that pads legislative bills.

I don’t think the GOP should be pulling out the red ink to color in the map after the 2014 election quite yet. That being said, hard to see how any Dem candidate will be able to run as a pro-rat ears Democrat in a state being economically crushed by the current administration. Throw in the forthcoming gun grab and you’ve got a situation where the GOP has a fighting chance. The Dems will run away from rat ears and the GOP candidate will make it a referendum on the administration.

Rockefeller is going to help kill coal. Manchion is a closet lib whose first reaction was to want to grab everybody’s gun (but first talk about movies and mental health before doing it).

Now Manchion is walking it back. Guess he understands its not too cool to go against the family on this issue. So he’ll be a noodle if something ever gets to the Senate regarding the Second Amendment.

Instead of hijacking threads with off-topic ruminations …
… why don’t you start up your own blog?
(give it some serious thought, eh?)
Just a Thawt
~(Ä)~

Karl Magnus on January 11, 2013 at 11:44 AM

Why don’t you go teach your grandmother to suck eggs you fking nitwit.

canopfor on January 11, 2013 at 10:55 AM

Instead of hijacking threads with off-topic ruminations …
… why don’t you start up your own blog?
(give it some serious thought, eh?)
Just a Thawt
~(Ä)~

ObamaCare was passed before Scott Brown was sworn in. If you remember, Ted Kennedy was wheeled in to cast his vote.

bw222 on January 11, 2013 at 11:16 AM

The initial one perhaps, but the final bill was not. Remember the infamous “Demon Pass.”

If Kirk had resigned, then we’d have lost the seat. The Governor is a Democrat (along with being a clueless bozo).

Illinidiva on January 11, 2013 at 11:00 AM

Well maybe being a clueless bozo will prevent him from joining his predecessors in a federal penitentiary. Although that didn’t stop Blago.

I stand by my statement. This is about good governance not about Ds and Rs. Mark Kirk was sidelined for about a year. Giffords longer than that. Jackson went AWOL for months without anybody telling us that he was in re-hab and/or the looney bin. I think there should be some sort of law that says if you miss a certain number of business days then you should not be recognized as a legitimate representative of your district/state. It wouldn’t stop an instance like Robert Byrd from drooling over himself but it would be a step in the right direction.

Jay Rockefeller, who has won five Senate elections in West Virginia but seen his state turn deeply conservative, will announce today that after 30 years the people of West Virginia have had is enough.

FIFY

There should be a absolute age limit on how old a person can be in either house (I’d put it at 57).

nobar on January 11, 2013 at 9:58 AM

You have to be 30 to get elected to the Senate. I’d put the limit at about 36.

Obamacare got passed despite the fact that Brown was #41 at the time.

Illinidiva on January 11, 2013 at 10:54 AM

ObamaCare was passed before Scott Brown was sworn in. If you remember, Ted Kennedy was wheeled in to cast his vote.

Illinidiva on January 11, 2013 at 11:03 AM

Yeah, they fell down in all sorts of different ways. Their job is to get Republicans elected to the Senate and it was a comprehensive failure.

This WV seat is good opportunity to get one back next time.