The Rise and Fall of the Democratic Congress

It seems like only yesterday the Democrats were celebrating their historic Senate victory of a one-seat lead in the sixth year of an unpopular president. During an extremely unpopular war. When the leading Republican Party was filled with so many scandals, even diehard conservatives either stayed home or voted Democratic. With only 49 actual Democrats, relying on a Senator they abandoned during the race and an unaffiliated Socialist to create a majority. However, it seems that now, less than a year later, the Dems are already losing their grip on the Senate.

If you think the President is unpopular, you’re right. In a July 11th Newsweek poll, Bush had 29% approval and 64% disapproval, for a net approval rating of -35%. But, amazingly, the Congress has managed to do even worse. In a July 9th AP-Ipsos poll, Congress had 24% approval and 70% disapproval, for a whopping -46% net approval rating from the people. Not exactly an outcry for the status quo, but definitely not a plea for Comrade Pelosi to ride in and save the world.

However, the Senate can still return to the Republicans before the 2008 elections. All we need is a way to get Joe Lieberman. Although Lieberman was the 2000 Democratic Party nominee for Vice President, he had a bit of a falling out with the party in 2006. Lieberman represents Connecticut, a liberal state by most standards, where support for Iraq is very low. Because he supports the mission, the Democratic voters in Connecticut decided to nominate Ned Lamont instead. Rather than sitting back and conceding defeat right then and there, however, Lieberman decided to run as an Independent, and ended up winning the election. Although he decided to caucus with the Democrats, he has supported the Republicans on a number of issues, most notably the Iraq resolution passed by the Democrats, which he opposed. All we need is for him to support one more Republican idea: affiliation with the Republican Party. This shouldn’t be too hard, if we’re willing to work for it.

If we can’t get Lieberman, it’s not the end of the world. We’ll just have to wait for the inevitable to happen in 2008. We only need to capture 2 seats to take control of the Senate, and that shouldn’t be too hard, considering the number of close Democratic seats where circumstances have drastically changed. I’ll start with the best news. John Kerry, although still fairly popular in Massachusetts, 63% of people in the rabidly liberal state do not want him to run again, with only 37% wanting him to run. This is great news in Massachusetts, which has an all-Democratic Congressional delegation. Another good seat for the GOP is that of Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. She won by a narrow margin of about 4% in a runoff in 2002, but after Katrina, many loyal Democrats have left the state, and when you take out their vote, the results are amazing. According to Human Events, Landrieu would have lost by 18 points had only the current population voted in 2002. Add to that the safety of most of the Republicans running in 2008 (save John Sununu, who could easily lose), and the Senate will most likely return to the GOP.

Therefore, I will not be surprised in 2008 when the GOP takes everything back. The Dems are simply not effective leaders in the Internet Age, where voters can read about their every blunder as it happens. When the next vote rolls around, they will remember the damage Bush did in his 8 years, but they will also remember the damage the Democratic Congress did in only 2, and they will remember Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and their insanity. In short, the “rise” in the Rise and Fall of the Democratic Congress is long gone, and the “fall” is coming just in time for the 2008 votes.