They were discarding ‘preparedness’ when they cast those votes….

They are ready. But it reminds me of when I was in high school and our first soccer game was against last year’s state champions. Sure, we were prepared. But we all knew that it was not going to end well.

I wonder who has the position of “casualty identification”, and “gravedigger”?

I think the NY Times is a bit behind the times so to speak. If you accept the Real Clear Politics numbers of 206 GOP safe/lean/likely plus the tossups of 35 that gets you to 241. If all the tossups go GOP.

Yet recent polls in KY3-CA47-Iowa race seems to indicate that likely and lean Dem seats are more like tossups. The field of combat for the house races seem more like 80 seats or more then 60 seats. The Times article implies that fire walling 24 or so of the 60 tough seats gets you to 220 or democrats. It looks more like a firewall of 24 out 80 tough seats.

Let me downplay a bit the advantages of money in house races.

1. Like in the Brown /Mass sentate race we will be facing a blizzard of ads. No double the Blizzard in 2010 in same states. Think OH with gov ads/senate ads/statewide office ads. How exactly will house ads have an impact? tune out time. List the states with competitive senate & gov races. Money advantage in house races will be less important

2. GOTV will be huge for the GOP with the teaparty help. Would you rather have a million dollars in a house race or a 1000 volunteers talking you up to friends/family/co workers/neighbors.

3. GOTV and party efforts tend to overlap. You can plug an extra million into Ike Skelton’s district but guess what? The DCCC or DNC can buy ads but they cannot pay for local democratic offices in 34 counties and staff them with local volunteers. The GOP has an a foundation in MO4 and its gearing up for Blunt and legislative races this year. The Congressional nominee will be along for the ride in this effort.

I think the NY times is just reprinting the white house rescue memo. Don’t buy it

The Democrats other much-publicized strategy is an attempt to convince folks that the election won’t be a blow-out because the Republicans insisted on nominating too many extreme, far-out, hard-boiled conservatives, that it will drive away the “moderates” and “independents”. The holes in this theory:

1) Most republican “moderates” already have no problem voting for liberal Democrats, and have done so in the past, and are calculated in the polling sample, and party weighting.

2) The thoroughgoing majority of “independents” have been forced, over the course of the last 18 months to witness there is nothing but extreme, left-wing, Marxist-tinged statism in store for you if you vote Democrat, which is why they’ve abandoned Obama in vast battalions.

3) There is no such thing as a “Moderate” democrat. They are ALL extremists, as witnessed by their governance over the last 18 months. Democrats will try to paint solid, liberty-loving, constitutional conservatives as “extreme”, but, voters will prepare this mental balance sheet: Which is more extreme, to follow Paul Ryan’s roadmap to fiscal solvency, or to have the Federal Government seize the Healthcare industry? Which is more extreme, to cut the size, scope and reach of government, or to nationalize major industries? Which is more extreme, to repeal the disaster of Obamacare, or to destroy the energy sector with a knee-capping “carbon tax”.

If they’re plan to “triage” 2 dozen, it means THEY’VE ALREADY CONCEDED 2 DOZEN!

The article mentions four who the Dems are going to leave swingin’ in the wind: Markey of CO-04, Kravoti of MD-01, Kilroy of OH-15 (which is *odd*, when you think about it – that’s a D+1 seat! so the Dems are already assigning “KIAs” to Dems in D+1 seats?!?!!), and Periello of VA-05 (who, along with Grayson of FL-08, is about a 100% Dem “kill chance” for our side as of now).

But I’d love to know who the other 20 are, who are getting thrown under the bus! I can guess at some of them (e.g. Boccieri of OH-16, Grayson, probably Kosmas of FL-24…)

But who are the others?!

Pelosi’s triage unit deciding who is more important and throwing everyone else under the bus. And the kicker is that those under the bus are there because of their Obamacare and stimulus votes.

Texas Congressional Delegation in the 112nd congress at 22-10(TX-17 and TX-23 flipping to Republican). I think that the number might be more like 23-9 and if EBJ keeps being stupid, 24-8. If TX-30 and TX-25 flip to Republican, a Trip from my parents house to my grandmother’s house in Dallas will be all Republican congressional districts. Heck, it would be that way for me too and I’d be in Friendly county all the way up. I suspect that everything is going to get bad and it’s going to be much different in 112nd congress.

I agree with your assessment completely. I think their entire plan was to run around flaunting health care deform and financial strangulation, however those two creatures are as warm and fuzzy as a black widow and a brown recluse. The stimulus is even more unpopular and they thought it would be a club to use against Republicans. Clinton’s pronouncement that they only need pass the thing to get the political bounce from it proved especially wrong. The Dear Leader’s political popularity was supposed to seal the deal in those districts where the above mentioned strategeries didn’t work. The Won is now ballot box poison and they must rely on repeating narratives supported by lies and buttressed by falsehoods to get people to vote for them.

I think the biggest problem they have is something that all the money in the world can’t buy. They ticked off the public by refusing to listen to them.

* That victory march on the health care vote showing we’re going to pass it even though you don’t want it! Oh and you’re racist by the way since we’ll have a couple of black Congressmen lie and say they were called the N word mulitple times.

* When I run townhall meetings I’ll control everything not you.

* We can do anything we want.

And here’s the worse part from their prespective. Even if you’re not the Democrat Congressman who did the last two stunts you’ve got voters in your own district who believe that.

Throw in a trillion dollar stimulus bill that didn’t work. Real unemployment of 18%. Man Custer had a better chance at Little Big Horn than the Democrats do in 2010.

Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN

Check this baby out.

I had some epic LOL’s reading that one!

Dumping money into toss-up races to try and retain an already-lost House is only going to casue more currently Lean-D races to sink underwater, as well. In my district and the district just to the north, SD-AL and ND-AL, both incumbent Democrats have been pouring money into ads against their Republican opponent, and both are getting no where in the polls. If the Democrats still dream about retaining the House in November, it is races like these they will have to defend. You could pump another million into SD and ND each and get absolutely no where. Personally, I hope the Democrats spend like a bunch of drunken sailors on lost races. Then they will all see what damage a true wave can do.

Now that the GOP knows their game plan, the effectiveness of it will be diminished. The Republicans now have time to adjust their campaign efforts accordingly.

I think the Democrats are making a big mistake here. When you withdraw to protect your core you lose the big picture. If they decide to cut funding to losers and those on the edge, that would allow the GOP to spend more on the seats they think they can pick up.

For you Freshman and Sophomore Reps just remeber what Alex Karras said in Blazing Saddles;

Mongo is just pawn in game of life

You were just pawns in game of Politics

watched the TV show “Mash.” Casualties came in, doctors looked over the wounded, decided which ones could or might be saved and the rest put on the side to expire.
No matter how many were saved the doctors always felt terrible afterwards because of all the ones they could not save. I guess “Mash” is a pretty good description of the chaos the dems are in.

50 Dems. Check.

Roll!

Is Nancy Pelosi going to be a member of the Dems death panel?
Pity the poor congressman or woman who is put out in the rain or allowed to twist slowly in the wind and expire, fundless and unwanted.

The losing D’s will find well paying jobs in the D’s non-profits, universities & main stream news organizations. They will be waiting for the pendulum to swing back if the R’s screw up.