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Opening Arguments

The stupid party marches on

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air headlines this post "Are the parties over?" but he realizes what occurred to me to, that this is worse for Republicans than it is for Democrats:

Forty-two percent of Americans, on average, identified as political independents in 2013, the highest Gallup has measured since it began conducting interviews by telephone 25 years ago. Meanwhile, Republican identification fell to 25%, the lowest over that time span. At 31%, Democratic identification is unchanged from the last four years but down from 36% in 2008.

What the numbers should tell you is that a lot of former Republicans are now calling themselves independents, and, yes, that would be the Tea Party members, formerly known as the Republican base. Establishment Democrats are still playing to their base, while establishment Republicans seem determined to alienate theirs with appeasements and capitulations designed to win the so-called moderates.

I give you:

 

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue Wednesday said his organization will use its vast resources to make lawmakers pay for opposition to new immigration laws and other business priorities and will focus on primary challenges to lawmakers who can’t or won’t “see the light.”

[. . .]

Donohue acknowledged that getting new immigration legislation passed or any of the Chamber’s other priorities done will be difficult in an election year.

But he argued the Chamber hopes to turn “the upcoming elections into a motivator for change. It’s based on a simple theory — if you can’t make them see the light, then at least make them feel some heat.”

With the disastrous roll-out of Obamacare and the continuing revelations of just what a Big Government takeover it really is, Republicans should have an excellent chance of keeping the House and rewinning the Senate this year, providing a block for most of the administration's excesses. But Republicans have a long history of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. They don't call it the stupid party for nothing.

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