5 Myths About the Midterm Elections

[KKKarl is an idiot]

An interesting article in Time magazine:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1560212,00.html?cnn=yes

MYTH: Joe Lieberman's victory proves the netroots don't matter.
REALITY: The netroots had some key victories.

MYTH: Democrats won because they carefully recruited more conservative candidates.
REALITY: Democrats won because their candidates were conservative about their message.

MYTH: The losses Republicans sufferend this election were no different than what you usually see in a President's sixth year in office.
REALITY: Redistricting minimized what might have been a truly historic shellacking.

MYTH: The election was all about the war.
REALITY: It's the dishonesty, stupid.

MYTH: Republicans lost their base.
REALITY: The base turned out, they just got beat.

[nuxvomica]

1. The second myth analysis is not entirely true

I'm glad TIME debunked the notion that Dems won because they moved right but they are inaccurate about folks not knowing candidates' progressive stands, which nonetheless feeds the same assertion about our supposedly conservative electorate. A lot of the winners campaigned on issues of economic justice - health care reform, rolling back tax cuts for the wealthy and living wage especially -- that used to be considered rather liberal. I don't think these candidates came in under the radar. Folks like Carol Shea-Porter aren't "unorthodox", they are mainstream now.

[fhqwhgads]

3. i dunno...

...seems to me that on the whole, americans are progressive when it comes to issues that affect their own self-interest, like health care reform, taxes, etc. but they are conservative on social issues, whether it's gay rights, immigration, affirmative action, etc. so maybe both sides are half-right; we won with both economic progressives and social conservatives.

[Cosmocat]

2. Yeah ...

MYTH: Joe Lieberman's victory proves the netroots don't matter.
REALITY: The netroots had some key victories.

Fact is ... What Lieberman's victory proves is how pathetic the republican party is right now, that they find such great satisfaction in VOTING FOR and supporting a senator whose record is quite liberal ...

MYTH: Democrats won because they carefully recruited more conservative candidates.
REALITY: Democrats won because their candidates were conservative about their message.

Reality is that the republican party successfully managed to clain sole possession of base AMERICAN valus for too gall darn long ... The democrats recruited, and candidates came forward who were not afraid to stake our flag to what is ALL of our values ...

MYTH: The losses Republicans sufferend this election were no different than what you usually see in a President's sixth year in office.
REALITY: Redistricting minimized what might have been a truly historic shellacking.

Absolutely ...

MYTH: The election was all about the war.
REALITY: It's the dishonesty, stupid.

Except of course, that democrats swung total governorships in their favor, as well as made a net gain of 300 plus STATE legislature seats ... SOME of it had to do with the war, no doubt ... But, that has next to NO reflection on state races ... In fact, the democrats had won more net seats at the state level in 2004, too, and now have a marked advantage in total seats and control of state legislatures ...

MYTH: Republicans lost their base.
REALITY: The base turned out, they just got beat.

I said it LONG and hard before the election ... Their "base" isn't what "won" elections for them the last six years ... It was the independants ... They got tired of all the Clinton hate and gave the right wing their president in 2000, they had buyers remorse almost immediately, but then 9-11 hit, and the republican party used 9-11 and Iraq to scare the independants into voting for them the last two election cycles ... Katrina blew the lid off, and the independants have figured out that they are not all going to die ...

[AndyTiedye]

4. Our Victories This Year Had NOTHING to Do With Our Message

MYTH: Democrats won because they carefully recruited more conservative candidates.
REALITY: Democrats won because their candidates were conservative about their message.

Nobody hears our message because the media does not report it.

Our victories this year had nothing whatsoever to do with our message.
People voted for us because they were disgusted with the Republicans.