Decision 2014: GOP Gains Control of Senate

[BettorsChat]

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/2014

DEMOCRATS 44REPUBLICANS 53
INDEPENDENTS 2
UNDECIDED 1

DEMOCRATS 151REPUBLICANS 231
INDEPENDENTS 0
UNDECIDED 53
NBC PROJECTION: Republicans expected to win 250 seats; Democrats 185 seats, plus or minus 4 seats

[vols fan]

Great job America. Reid can take a fucking hike and we just need to get rid of the other idiot!!!

[vols fan]

Obama just said in his speech "it's time to get down to business". I mean what the hell has the idiot been doing for the last 6 years. I'm sure some will still defend this moron but thank you to all the dems that woke up and saw the light. States that have always been Dems turned to Republican. People who never voted republican in their life just put their ego to the side and voted republican cause it was the right thing to do for America. To yall I say Thank You!!!

[10DimeBry]

Hope and change has finally arrived in america.

[vols fan]

To bad it took us 6 years of lies to make it happen!!

[kbsooner21]

I was shocked at the amount of red in lib states. This baffoon's act has finally opened some eyes in the right way.

[vols fan]

I was shocked at the amount of red in lib states. This baffoon's act has finally opened some eyes in the right way.

I agree kb. It don't matter if you're on the right or on the left we can all be stubborn when it comes to politics. But for that many dems to turn their back on the dems they have voted for their whole lives just shows you how bad of a job Obama has done.

[vols fan]

Will this thread make it to page 2 before some idiot blames Bush???

[vols fan]

Even cnn is giving republicans props. Looks like it's MSNBC and the few tree hugging liberals left that support the idiot. I can't wait to hear from that dumb bitch Pelosi now that her fellow idiot isn't in charge anymore. Whooooooooo

[KazDog]

Y'all need to quit licking your nuts. This midterm election wasn't as big a deal as the nut licking Republicans want to make it out to be.....Republicans in all states beat doors down to get their constituents out to vote because they know they've been losing a grip on this country. This story puts it all into perspective.....It's a fair assessment.






In the end, there was no Republican wave. Indeed, ideologically it was barely a ripple. Unlike 2010, with the Tea Party, or 2006, when the Democrats took over, there was no all-encompassing agenda or over-arching theme. The Republicans won the US midterms – there’s no denying that – but they didn’t win as big as it first seems.

This election cycle included not only conservative-friendly states but a disproportionate number of competitive states in which incumbent Democrats were stepping down. Democrats have not won Louisiana or Arkansas in a presidential election since 1996, Georgia since 1992 and Alaska since 1964. A Democrat losing in these places is no great surprise. They were low-hanging fruit, and Republicans expended a lot of energy – and even more money – trying to get to it. They were successful. Democrats fared better on Tuesday night than they did in 2010, two years after which Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney. States where Democrats fared worse, like Virginia, North Carolina or Florida (in the governor’s race), are swing states that are always in play.

This election was not a referendum on Obama. Or if it was, it was inconclusive. He is as much the president in New Hampshire, where Democrats won a Senate seat, as in Colorado and Georgia, where they lost.

But the midterms were a reflection on Obama’s presidency. His second term has lacked purpose and direction as it has lurched from crisis to crisis, many of which – the NSA, the IRS, White House security – have been self-imposed. Where he has taken a stand, like on gun control after the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, Obama was unable to achieve legislative change. Where he has not taken a stand, as with immigration reform, he is being punished for it. Polling shows the public actually backs Obama rather than Republicans on key issues, including mending rather than repealing Obamacare, immigration reform, increasing the minimum wage, same-sex marriage and a host of other issues. The problem is few people have any confidence that Obama will actually get any of them done.


Still, 2014 was hardly an endorsement of the Republicans. Red states like Nebraska and Arkansas voted to raise the minimum wage, Alaska and Oregon and Washington DC voted to legalize marijuana, and Washington state voted for a gun control measure. That the GOP has now taken control of the Senate marks a substantial change in terms of leadership but not a particularly consequential one in terms of legislation. The Republicans will emerge with only a small majority, and if the party’s recent experience running the House of Representatives is anything to go by, the GOP is likely to be a dysfunctional caucus – and anything Republicans do come up with that is unpalatable to Democrats, the president still holds a veto. Obama at times has proved himself in negotiations to possess the spine of a jellyfish, but unless he caves, nothing much more will get done this session than during the previous one.

Only this time the excuses will be different. Instead of Democrats blaming House Republicans for refusing to compromise, Republicans will blame Obama for thwarting the will of Congress. “Just because we have a two-party system doesn’t mean we have to be in perpetual conflict,” Mitch McConnell, the presumptive new Senate majority leader, said in his victory speech on Tuesday night. “I think I’ve shown that to be true at critical times in the past. I hope the president gives me the chance to show it again.”

According to a CNN exit poll, 8 in 10 Americans disapprove of how Congress has been handling its job, while almost 6 in 10 are displeased with President Obama. A full 44% have a positive view of Democrats; 40% have a positive view of Republicans. Americans have just elected the party they like the least to run the government body they least trust. Even greater cynicism is the most likely outcome.

On Tuesday night, the electorate wasn’t waving. It was drowning.

[kbsooner21]

You know how a Lib is defeated? Acting like getting steamrolled in an election isn't a big deal.

LMFAO!!!!

[jcindaville]

My dissertation on UofL v UK wasn't as long as Kaz post

[kbsooner21]

Kaz just copied and pasted off msnbc or huffington post.

[vols fan]

I didn't make it past the "they just knocked on more doors" line. Oh so it's the republicans fault for working harder?? Lmao at how blind some people who THINK they are smart really are

[vols fan]

Only way Obama could sound any dumber is if Kaz was his speech writer!!