Getting Worried
By Digby
Campaign for America's Future
April 6, 2011
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011041406/getting-worried

Charlie Cook can hardly believe what he's seeing:

[T]alking with Republican pollsters, strategists
and veteran campaign professionals recently, I
now hear sounds of concern that haven’t been
heard in almost two years.

Among the worries the party now has is that a
government shutdown could get blamed on the GOP.
Additionally, these party insiders believe that
taking on entitlements, specifically Medicare,
could jeopardize the party’s hold on the House,
its strong chances of taking the Senate and the
stronghold that the party has been established
with older white voters—not coincidentally,
Medicare recipients.

Yes, this is a big problem. In fact, you have to wonder
if they've just lost their marbles.

He goes on to assure us that the Republicans leadership
is "intelligent and reasonable" and are only doing all
this because their voters are cretins who insist that
they voted for certain things and they want them done.

But the problem isn't just the hooligans. It seems that
the vaunted "independent" voters who allegedly believed
that Obama had gone way too far by passing health care
and the stimulus and so voted out the Democrats are
unhappy with the Republicans now --- also for going too
far.

Keep in mind the volatility we have seen in the
three previous elections. Independent voters
swung heavily in favor of Democrats in 2006 and
2008. In 2010, those same independent voters
went in the opposite direction to push
Republicans forward. If something happens in
three consecutive elections, who wants to say
that a fourth time is inconceivable?

It isn't. There's an epic political battle going on in
this country and these independents don't seem to get
that it won't be solved by "punishing" the party that's
in office every two years when it does what it promised
it was going to do.

If people really feel that the stimulus and health care
plans are as radical and destructive as shutting down
the government and destroying the safety net, then
there's no getting through to them until we have a
depression or worse. Until they actively engage and
figure out what's what instead of mindlessly swinging
back and forth like a pendulum, this will probably
continue for some time.

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