I (do not) hate to say "I told you so"

[paulsby]

I cannot recall how many posts I have read since the Obama election, that "conservatism is dead", "the republican party is dead" bla bla bla

I said it then, I say it now. It's hubris, it's harmful, it's counterfactual, it's historically myopic.

Every time we see a bubble (stocks, gold, tulips, whatever) in finance, we see a "it's different this time" rationalization. And it NEVER is.

And we see the EXACT same thing in politics. People with no historical perspective, and metric assloads of ego say "it's over for the *** party".

the repubs said it during the whole contract w/america/reagan revolution thang. and dems were saying it just months ago (if that) due to the obama election and senate supermajority.

coakley clearly had an entitlement attitude, similar to what i am criticizing here. and it's ALWAYS harmful and works against the party in power. in this case, OUR party.

we have better ideas. but we have the same emotional response, celebratory ignorance, and historical myopia. and it's harmful

[Codeine]

1. +1

Conservatism didn't die, it just had a hiccup. We need to keep fighting and never forget that our battle is going to be uphill for a while.

[AlinPA]

2. There were a huge number of such posts, claiming the republican party was dying or dead. I don't

think we will see many more of those. I expect we will be seeing more posts about getting tough and fighting harder.

[paulsby]

3. there is a columbian proverb

"One learns best with blood". I think that applies here. some people need to get a nice smack in the kisser to wake up.

a republican senator in MA is about as much of a smack in the kisser as i could imagine.

[treestar]

4. Yep. I remember how furious I was Poppy Bush's supporters thought

the Dems would not even dare run a candidate for President in 1992!!!

So glad Clinton beat his ass.

[howaboutme]

5. Voter anger

Edited to add that I agree with you and you've written an insightful post.

The political Parties both think this is about them. They are wrong. The real issue is we have a huge segment of the populace that are very disgusted with the incumbent Washington elite. Congressional approval is at all time lows. I don't see ideology and liberalism or conservatism being as important as the many voters who believe incumbent politicians who see themselves as an entitled bunch. The anger goes to both Democrats and Republicans. Voters see the Congress as interested only in responding to bankers, CEOs, lobbyists, and big donors while they refuse to consider the electorate as important.

The Senate deal making over health care and special tax exclusions for some were the straws that broke the camel's back. The lack of transparency in negotiations even though it was promised by Obama was another factor. At the heart of it was the truly preferential treatment given to the scoundrels of Wall Street that created the economic mess, and the bonuses and profits they made, while regular Americans lost jobs and homeowners lost homes. Obama talked tough about excess compensation and taxes on the rich and Wall Street but it never materialized. Instead they added taxes to health insurance.

I was an Obama supporter from the beginning and hoped that he would push Congress to carry through with vigorous enforcement and leveling of the playing field against the financial services community but it also never happened. The financial services sector gives immense amounts and strong enforcement would have been biting the hand that feeds them. We disparately need public financing of US elections.

[ibegurpard]

6. Agreed