Having closely watched congressional developments over the last few weeks, I’ve concluded that one much-discussed Democratic tactic for dealing with Trump 2.0 is probably mistaken, as I explained at New York:
No one is going to rankĀ Mike JohnsonĀ among the great arm-twisting Speakers of the House, like Henry Clay, Tom Reed, Sam Rayburn, or evenĀ Nancy Pelosi. Indeed, he still resembles Winston ChurchillāsĀ descriptionĀ of Clement Atlee as āa modest man with much to be modest about.ā
But nonetheless, in the space of two weeks, Johnson has managed to get two huge and highly controversial measures through the closely divided House: aĀ budget resolutionĀ that sets the stage for enactment of Donald Trumpās entire legislative agendaĀ in one bill, then anĀ appropriations billĀ keeping the federal government operating until the end of September while preserving the highly contested power of Trump and his agents to cut and spend wherever they like.
Despite all the talk of divisions between the hard-core fiscal extremists of theĀ House Freedom CaucusĀ and swing-district āmoderateā Republicans, Johnson lost just one member ā the anti-spending fanatic and lone wolfĀ Thomas MassieĀ of Kentucky ā from the ranks of House Republicans on both votes. As a result, he needed not even a whiff of compromise with House Democrats (only one of them, the very Trump-friendlyĀ Jared GoldenĀ of Maine, voted for one of the measures, the appropriations bill).
Now there are a host of factors that made this impressive achievement possible. The budget-resolution vote was, as Johnson kept pointing out to recalcitrant House Republicans, a blueprint for massive domestic-spending cuts, not the cuts themselves. Its language was general and vague enough to give Republicans plausible deniability. And even more deviously, the appropriations measure was made brief and unspecific in order to giveĀ Elon MuskĀ andĀ Russ VoughtĀ the maximum leeway to whack spending and personnel to levels far below what the bill provided (J.D. VanceĀ told House Republicans right before the vote that the administration reserved the right to ignore the spending the bill mandated entirely, which pleased the government-hating HFC folk immensely). And most important, on both bills Johnson was able to rely on personal lobbying from key members of the administration, most notably the president himself, who had made it clear any congressional Republican who rebelled might soon be looking down the barrel of aĀ Musk-financed MAGA primary opponent. Without question, much of the credit Johnson is due for pulling off these votes should go to his White House boss, whose wish is his command.
But the lesson Democrats should take from these events is that they cannot just lie in the weeds and expect the congressional GOP to self-destruct owing to its many divisions and rivalries. In a controversialĀ New YorkĀ TimesĀ op-edĀ last month, Democratic strategistĀ James Carville argued Democrats should āplay deadā in order to keep a spotlight on Republican responsibility for the chaos in Washington, D.C., which might soon extend to Congress:
“Let the Republicans push for their tax cuts, their Medicaid cuts, their food stamp cuts. Give them all the rope they need. Then let dysfunction paralyze their House caucus and rupture their tiny majority. Let them reveal themselves as incapable of governing and, at the right moment, start making a coordinated, consistent argument about the need to protect Medicare, Medicaid, worker benefits and middle-class pocketbooks. Let the Republicans crumble, let the American people see it, and wait until they need us to offer our support.”
Now to be clear, Congressional GOP dysfunction could yet break out; House and Senate Republicans have struggled constantly to stay on the same page on budget strategy, the depth of domestic-spending cuts, and the extent of tax cuts. But as the two big votes in the House show, their three superpowers are (1) Trumpās death grip on them all, (2) the willingness of Musk and Vought and Trump himself to take the heat for unpopular policies, and (3) a capacity for lying shamelessly about what they are doing and what it will cost. Yes, ultimately, congressional Republicans will face voters in November 2026. But any fear of these elections is mitigated by the realization that thanks to the landscape of midterm races, probably nothing they can do will save control of the House or forfeit control of the Senate. So Republicans have a lot of incentives to follow Trump in a high-speed smash-and-grab operation that devastates the public sector, awards their billionaire friends with tax cuts, and wherever possible salts the earth to make a revival of good government as difficult as possible. Democrats have few ways to stop this nihilistic locomotive. But they may be fooling themselves if they assume itās going off the rails without their active involvement.
People, I of all people was the one screaming on the blogs and yellling at the Kerry camp to get into the negative attack mode or be wiped out. Its work…at least for now. Kerry is showing fire, now lets hope that Shrum’s ass is gone before he screws things up in October. You simply have to fight fire (or slime) with fire. Now, things would be much better for me if I knew Carville was on board and leading us on to victory. I still think we need to all call and email the kerry people and DNC, demanding Carville in position.
Now that said, I actually am much more optimistic than most. Let’s say Time is right, 52% would vote for Bush, after all the lovefest and positive Bush week… and he is the president… he can only muster a little over 50%??? That’s pathetic. I was expecting after all the Swift boat smears and kerry bashing at the convention, Bush would be at least at 55-57%
If you look at some of the other data in the Time poll, only 48% approve of Bush and the economy. In other words this is still very winnable if…….and this is a big if..Kerry continues to have balls and not play nice and loovy doovy like this past month and Half. Americans want strong leaders, Kerry must shove the lies, smears and record down Bush’s throat and never let up until after the inauguration.
I still believe we need a 527 to start the smear ad campaigns regarding Bush (awol, cocaine, drunk driving, etc.) Where can I send my $$$?? And no, Moveon is not it –they are also in the nice play it safe commercial mode. I want smears!!!
I’m with those who want a fierce, aggressive, no holds barred campaign against Bush and Cheney. I’m loaded for bear! And for those who looked at the (outlier) Time poll and are ready to slit their wrists…could you vote absentee first?
Bush and Cheney’s speeches reflect the utter detachment from reality that have characterized this Administration.
With the middle class squeezed, his Administration has been able to think of nothing more creative or effective to do than shovel money to the wealthiest people in the country instead, of say, doing something about the health insurance mess we’re in, fulfilling his funding promise for the education bill he now brags about, doing a better job of reducing the vulnerability of our harbors and chemical plants to terrorist attack, or helping out states so they would not have to slash services or raise taxes as much. Did anyone else notice the notable omission of his prescription drug sellout bill? Guess that one wasn’t considered such a big hit after all, even by this group.
Concentrations of wealth at the top were increasing over the past two decades before Bush came in. So what does he do but exacerbate the trend with huge giveaways to the wealthiest Americans? Do we want a democracy and opportunity for all Americans, or more government of, by, and for the fortunate few? If he wanted to help fight the recession with tax cuts he would have directed the money to the middle class, which spends it faster, and certainly needs it more.
Let’s talk about who is unfit to be Commander in Chief. We are losing ground in the war on terror, not winning. Check out the facts cited by NBC in Josh Marshall’s post today. In his speech statement on this our President is as blind to the most important facts as he was when he took us to war in Iraq. How can we trust someone with that power who is so blind to reality? With North Korea already a nuclear power and Iran well on its way to becoming one on Bush’s watch, which side has demonstrated for all to see that it is unfit to run US foreign policy in these dangerous times? They’ve been wrong so often in how they have projected the results of their policies it’s amazing they can raise the question of who’s fit to be Commander in Chief with a straight face. As for “the President of 9/11”, any President would have gone to war with the Taliban after 9/11; Kerry would, however, have vanquished al qaeda’s Afghanistan forces instead of letting them regroup and multiply like this incompetent crowd has done.
The Washington Post seemed ok with the speech in their lead editorial today. They seem to have determined that this election will be decided on national security issues. I had thought the voters make these determinations. Silly me. But we know how tough-minded and prescient the Washington Post editorial writers have proven to be on issue after issue of pressing importance over the past few years.
If it were time for them to make their endorsement today they’d endorse Bush. That comes through loud and clear to me. Unbelievable how far the quality of that newspaper’s editorial judgments have fallen. They should have incinerated him over the slew of vacuous domestic policy talking points he tossed out last night at the same time as he called for making his tax cuts permanent.
Kerry wants to spend some money but he will raise some instead of pawning everything off on those to come. Some quaint notion of generational responsibility. The old Washington Post would have been able to tell the difference and call Bush’s proposed “domestic agenda” for the deficit-exploding fraud that it is. His domestic agenda is neither serious nor responsible. But, hey, this election is going to be decided on national security issues. The Washington Post editors have told us so.
Yes, I am ready for this campaign to begin.
Prof Wang raises an excellent point..that’s what Pollkatz attempts as well.
Caveat: GIGO
The meta analysis is only as good as the state polls it sums. A good number of these are either Zogby interactive internet or Robo Polls like Rasmussen or Survey USA…also a number are Strategic Vision a Republican outfit
Actually, I think the Zogby poll is probably more worrying than the Time poll. An apples to apples comparison:
August 14 – Kerry +7
Sept 2 – Bush +2
That’s a nine point turnaround in less than three weeks.
It was a BEAUTIFUL night in Springfield,Ohio last night waiting over two hours with thousands of people for a speech from Kerry and Edwards at Midnight,no less.It was worth the wait.Kerry came out swinging-finally.It’s time to get mad and get aggressive.When,oh when, are we going to finally understand that “good guys finish last”?We need to make sure that we don’t repeat the same mistakes as in 2000.Let’s keep talking about the issues and state the facts immediately after we’ve been misrepresented or flat out lied against and show the American people that they can trust us with safety/security because we’re just as tough as the other guy and WAY more intelligent and discerning.These debates are not going to get here soon enough.Side by side,issue to issue,intellect to…whatever-George won’t have a prayer!
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/2004-09-02-moore_x.htm
Michael Moore speaks
I’m not a polling expert but I do know something about statistics and probabity theory.
It’s my understanding that Electoral College Meta-Analysis using probability theory is a better indicator than biased polls.
Perhaps Ruy can comment.
From Prof. Sam Wang at Princeton University
http://synapse.princeton.edu/~sam/pollcalc.html
These calculations are based on state polls from RealClearPolitics and other sources, and are meant to be an objective statistical analysis. The three most recent polls for each state are averaged and the standard error of the mean is used to calculate the probability of every combination of possible state results.
Results for Friday, September 3, 2004
Today’s median (expected) outcome:
Kerry 274 EV, Bush 264 EV
Kerry 95% confidence band: 243-306 EV
Kerry Electoral College win likelihood: 61%
So even after the high water mark of the RNC Kerry/Edwards are looking pretty damn good.
The potential effects of bias or opinion shift are as follows. Probabilities greater than 99.99% are given as 100%.
3 points to Kerry: Kerry 342 EV (95% confidence 300-375 EV), win 99.99%.
2 points to Kerry: Kerry 317 EV (95% confidence 280-357 EV), win 99.4%.
1 point to Kerry: Kerry 294 EV (95% confidence 262-332 EV), win 92%.
1 point to Bush: Kerry 254 EV (95% confidence 231-284 EV), win 17%.
2 points to Bush: Kerry 236 EV (95% confidence 216-265 EV), win 1%.
3 points to Bush: Kerry 223 EV (95% confidence 199-248 EV), win 0.02%.
It would be a better idea for Kerry blogs and supporters to start dissecting the Bush speech and highlighting its failures and shortcomings. This would help immensely to reduce the convention bounce at a more rapid rate and get Kerry back into the lead.
Every Kerry blog that I have travelled to is more or lest lamenting the Bush bounce and are starting to castigate the Kerry program. Too much time is spent rehashing the poll stats, even tho its known that no one seems to know how the numbers are derived and if they really serve any useful purpose. LVs and RVs, who knows what will be the net results from either group? No One. So lets support kerry with things that we are sure of.
If the blogs can force the media to start to critique Bush’s speech then it might do Kerry a wealth of good. Can we try this as a way to help?
I think this 300 billion! yes 300 billion! dollars this war is costing would be of some concern to the electorate. Maybe this is not being driven home hard enough! Imagine what that money could do for the country if we spent it here at home!………..
I don’t buy the argument that this is just the usual convention bounce. After all a few weeks ago everyone was busy explaining why Kerry didn’t get the usual bounce after the Dem convention and why it didn’t really matter.
Still I hadn’t realized that the Zogby poll was over the same period; I thought that the Time poll was the only one with polling on September 2. It may well be that Time is an outlier. I guess we have to wait and see.
I still think that Kerry was way too lethargic in responding to the Swift Boat attacks and that it has cost him much of what he gained during the convention.
However OTOH Bush may also be vulnerable on the sheer incoherence of his domestic agenda. He can’t simultaneously cut the deficit, make his tax cuts permanent and also increase spending on this and that worthy initiative. He can’t simultaneously simplify the tax code and create new tax incentives for this and that worthy activity. If Kerry hammers at these contradictions it could damage Bush’s credibility.
Ya dance with what brung Bush down to paraphrase Darrell Royal…
Yes the Time poll is the most volatile of all of them for some reason….and if ARG and Zogby are correct Bush is in trouble still, this campaign has until last night been properly focused
They have to hit hard
And they have to do what Ruy has been urging now for months…
Attack on Irak
Incumbents have enjoyed an average bounce in the vote margin of 8 points.
Incumbents who went on to win reelection had an average lead of 27 points after their convention.
Indeed, the average elected incumbent — winners and losers — had a lead of 16 points after their conventions
per Mark Mellman
geeeeeeze.. I forgot to put that darn panic button under lock and key… now everybody seems to be pushing it again.. Will you guys please take your hands off that button and give it back here…
Kerry needs your support folks… not your condemnation… at least not at this time… after he wins…… please!!!!!
Thanks
Who answers their phone for these polls anyway? I rarely answer my home phone — I check to see who is calling from the answering machine and pick it up if I know them. I get a lot of no message calls.
I just really wonder how representative phone polls are these days. More people use cell phones and computers for communication. Are these people being polled at all?
What? No 15 point bounce? š
The pollls you are seeing reflect the high water mark of Bush after after the RNC.
Kerry has already beaten Bush on all these REAL issues i.e. economy, jobs, healthcare, environment, failed foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc.
Net Net: George W. Bush is a “FAILURE”….No ands, ifs or buts.
The ONLY thing Bush and GOP have to SELL is FEAR !!!
But Kerry is already hitting back on this accusing Republicans of hiding President Bush’s “record of failure” behind insults and their negative campaign of fear ( or terror )
Chill out and allow Kerry/Edwards to pummel the daylights out of Bush/Cheney on the economy, jobs, healthcare, environment, failed foreign policy and debate on the issues of fear ( or terror )
That’s it in a nutshell.
Kerry/Edwards are going to win !
What is Time the Jesus Christ of all polls? come on! none of the others show that kind of a bounce. Let’s wait a couple of weeks. It pissis me off that Bush can shit all over the place and he gets a pass. kerry lets a little fart and the News media is all over it for days. Another thing, Kerry was in Ohio today trying to tell those people about how poor the job numbers are. I don’t think many of those right wing evangilists care. Jesus is comming back and taking them up in the air; they don’t need a job…
The CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of October 26, 2000 putting Bush up 13 over Gore was something for Democrats to panic over. I could care less about ANY poll immediately after the RNC, where a bounce of some level would be anticipated. Even a few days into November 2000, there were still polls with Bush up 5-9. The full final-three-month series of major polls in 2000 is shown at:
http://www.pollingreport.com/wh2genT.htm
By the way, does anyone have information on the internals of this new TIME poll (particularly the proportions of self-identified Democrats and Republicans in the sample)?
My guess is Time has some method where they push undecideds to choose a candidate — or they add in “leaners”. I’d sure like to see the internals there.
Remember, the Time poll after the DNC showed Kerry with a 9% lead, and was the clear outlier.
In addition to Zogby, ARG and the Economist polls were done almost the exact same time. Both of them show a tie — 47-47 for ARG, and 45-45 for Economist.
Don’t panic.
11 point lead, 9 point bounce – Time
THAT is something to worry about.
Bush has lower approval ratings now than he did the day he took office in January 2001. And that was after the ugly recount battle and an election where he got 1/2 million fewer votes than Gore. What in the world would make you think he can win this, a Time/CNN poll taken right after their biggest week of free publicity? Get serious people. But if some of you want to go slit your wrist today, go right ahead.
Bush ain’t up no 11%. For Heaven’s sake! All that poll would show is that (unless he has dramatically mobilized new voters) Bush picked up a percent or two baby-bounce in support and somehow pushed five or six percent back into play, which Kerry could easily regain most of anyway since they were previously for him in some soft, numb-nutted independent way. The Swift Boat Vets meme is past its high-water mark with 60 days left. Plenty of time for the press to turn the tide at their usually slow and inept pace. The fact is, they’ll just get bored of the SBVs and decide to cover the other guys for something to do. Because there ain’t no way they’re gonna cover something as boring as healthcare or economic policy between now and the election. They’ll die before they work that hard and risk creating any controversy. Bush screwed up with the SBVs. Mark my words. He put a sexy issue in play where the press had already given up trying to sort things out. Now it’s the only issue that will sell papers and allow the press to be above the fray. Time magazine! Read a real publication.
Not worth panicking yet. The Rasmussen Report poll has Bush ahead 49-45…and the Zogby poll with Bush ahead two points. I find it hard to believe there are that many undecideds out there that Bush could get enough of a bounce to get an 11 point lead.
That said, Kerry has run an abysmal campaign so far. From what I heard from him last night and today it sounds like he is finally going on the attack. I hope it isn’t too late.
“Likely voters” poll. Didn’t pick that up in the first blush of stunned surprise.
Would be interesting to see what the Registered voter totals were.
Might be a bit closer.
But still, kerry’s got a second race in his career where he was behind in September.
Remember Weld? Golden Boy of the Republican Party?
How about TIME:
Bush 52%
Kerry 41%
Kerry is toast
Er, “not because of one solitary poll” is what I meant.
OK, people, no wigging out, alright? It’s one poll. Deep breath–one poll, on its own, rarely tells you anything, as DR has frequently counseled us. You have to look at several polls, and follow trends within them, in order to have a good idea of what’s going on. And again with the LV issue–Time’s poll is likely voters, which DR just finished counseling us to take with a grain of salt.
So, once again, chill out. None of the other polls have shown anything remotely like this. Now, if every poll out there is showing results just like this within a week or two, well, then, maybe some wigging will be in order. But not now, not because of one solitary people. Take it easy and wait for more numbers to develop.
I was just about to link to the Time poll. I think Kerry is in serious trouble and this poll shows it beyond all doubt. I respect Mr Texeira but I think his recent analyses have been way too optimistic.
A lot of it has to with the incredibly soft coverage of the convention in the TV shows. The pundits were all over the Dems for their “Bush hatred” a few months back but generally gave the negative attacks on Kerry a pass. As far as I could tell there was little attempt to examine the truthfulness of the charges made against Kerry or to examine the feasibility of Bush’s domestic proposals given the massive deficits. The print media has done a better job but TV counts for much more with voters.
A lot of it is Kerry’s fault too though. He made his Vietnam service the heart of his convention speech and then allowed it to be ripped apart by the Swift Boat vets without a rapid response. For months we have been hearing how he won’t repeat the mistakes of Dukakis but that’s exactly what he has done.
Of course he still has time to recover but he needs to toughen up his campaign. This poll should be the wake-up call he needs.
Ruy you got to put up the Time poll it has Bush up 11 and although I don’t like it -it’s a poll we have to deal with. If this is confimed by others it wiil Show the Nazi tactics of the Bush campaign have worked—destroy and attack for a month and then have the shmuck give a speach and seem above it all due to his personal likeabilty—Kerry ceded a month to these slimeballs when you can’t give them a day.
What about the Time poll? ouch??
http://www.time.com/time/press_releases/article/0,8599,692562,00.html