Groundwork for Catastrophe

OpEdNews Op Eds 11/16/2014 at 09:07:29 Democrats Laying the Groundwork For 2016 Catastrophe By Donn Marten (about the author)     Permalink       (Page 1 of 2 pages) Related Topic(s): Democratic; Democrats; Democrats; Democrats Conservative; Democrats DNC; Democrats Lose; Senate, Add Tags Add to My Group(s)  1    1    1  View Ratings | Rate It opednews.com Headlined to H1 11/16/14

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Democrats may have gone to bed crying softly into their pillows in the wee hours of early Wednesday morning last week but awoke determined to double down on exactly what it was that got their clocks cleaned in the first place. You would think that after receiving such an ass-whipping that there would be some sort of soul-searching and a rethinking of their overall strategy prior to 2016. But we are talking about the Democratic party here so the only logical thing to do with the iceberg in sight is to order the engine room to crank it up to ramming speed. On Thursday, Senate Democrats once again elected Harry Reid to be their leader.

The intrepid Reid's fingerprints were all over the great beat down of 2014 and early indications are that they will also be on the torpedo hit amidships in two years if Queen Hillary the Inevitable gets rejected by the electorate in her quixotic quest for power. If Mrs. Clinton goes down she is going to take the entire party down with her and there is no Plan B for the immediate future. Republican strategists must be licking their chops over the prospect of a Democratic party self-immolation -- that is if they can stop bickering among themselves long enough take advantage of the rare historical opportunity to deliver the killing blow to their nemesis. The scheming Karl Rove once spoke of a "permanent Republican majority" although he could never deliver it. That prophecy is within reach if all that the GOP does is simply stay out of the Democrats' way as they continue to march off the edge of a cliff like a pack of drunken lemmings.

According to a story from the website of The Washington Post entitled "Sen. Harry M. Reid sees dissent but holds onto Democratic leadership role":

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid faced the first internal opposition to his grip on power Thursday as at least six Democrats rejected his bid for another leadership term during an emotional meeting following last week's drubbing in the midterm elections.

Quelling a small but vocal rebellion, Reid (D-Nev.) won reelection to another term atop the caucus, now as minority leader after eight years in the majority. But his victory came only after a 31 / 2-hour meeting that became a forum for political grievances and a rollout of an expanded leadership team meant to balance the caucus's ideological and regional diversity.

Four straight election victories had produced unwavering support and increasing power for Reid in the Democratic caucus, but the repudiation on Nov. 4 tested his clout.

On Thursday, he listened to his critics complain about the party's campaign agenda, and some demanded that he steer away from confrontation with Republicans.

But Reid had no trouble securing the leadership spot because hell, if you are in a hole just keep right on digging until it becomes a grave. Common sense would not dictate such a thing but the Dems are just asking for a bigger shovel. This should do wonders for the party base that in a rejection of both President Barack Obama and the thorough rot of the party leadership stayed home in the mid-terms. There is already more trouble brewing with the desperate Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana getting behind a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline in the Senate next week. The Democrats are also scrambling to ensure that there will be no real reform of the NSA Stasi's domestic surveillance and data-mining programs. This will endear the party to environmentalists and progressives who will vote Green, libertarian or just stay home. It is fascinating to watch this slow motion train wreck because the party is determined to stay the course leading towards political extinction.

Reid's smoothest early move has been to eliminate a potential key anti-Hillary voice in giving Senator Elizabeth Warren a "special" leadership post as an "envoy" to the party base or in cruder terms, a Judas goat. A column from The Boston Herald, "Harry Reid plays Elizabeth Warren like a chump with new post" sees this as the Machiavellian political masterstroke that it is:

It's an offer she couldn't refuse -- but should have.

Harry Reid and his loser Democratic colleagues dangled a meaningless leadership post in front of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and she took the bait.

Hillary Clinton must be getting a big, loud laugh out of this one. Warren is the biggest threat to her path to the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and now the Massachusetts senator is on the party's leadership team. The same team that just got smoked by the voters.

How can Warren lead a liberal insurgency against Clinton when she's no longer an insurgent? A few weeks ago she was getting headlines calling out the Senate for being sexist. Now the headline is, "Warren takes Senate leadership post."

Taking Reid's offer is a risky move for the freshman senator's future. If Democrats lose big again in two years, she will get part of the blame. After all, she is the "strategic policy adviser for the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee."

It brings to mind Lyndon B. Johnson's classic remark - reportedly about J.Edgar Hoover -that he'd rather have him "inside of the tent pissing out than outside of the tent pissing in". So it is all in on a proven bad game plan in order to feed the lust for power of the Clinton mafia who may have a crackerjack political operation but also a bad flagship product that it may not be able to close the deal on with voters. The much hyped war on women figures to be a big part of Hillary's 2016 campaign but consider all the good that it did last week when it went up like a bag of flaming dogshit left on the doorstep at DNC headquarters. But hey, this is just how the Democrats roll anymore.

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http://carryingaflag.blogspot.com/

Donn Marten is a free lance writer and consultant who resides in West Central Florida.
I am a concerned American who has serious problems with the tragic turn that our society has taken. Of primary importance is the the total corruption (more...)

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