{"id":1186,"date":"2013-08-21T13:21:35","date_gmt":"2013-08-21T18:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/?p=1186"},"modified":"2013-08-21T13:21:35","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T18:21:35","slug":"is-the-gop-house-majority-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/is-the-gop-house-majority-forever\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the GOP House Majority Forever?"},"content":{"rendered":"

My new favorite blogger, Jonathan Chait, posted a sobering piece<\/a> yesterday on the apparent imperviousness of the GOP’s House majority, at least until after the next reapportionment, notwithstanding their eye-popping lunacy and cruelty.<\/p>\n

It’s gratifying to know that we’ve done what we can do by sending Bill<\/a> Foster<\/a>\u00a0and Tammy Duckworth<\/a> to Congress to be voices for sanity and responsibility. \u00a0But we can’t afford to be complacent about these successes or discouraged about the larger prospects. \u00a0What we can – and must – do here is to keep the good guys in there so, if and when the tide turns and there’s a Democratic majority again, we’ll be in a position to help move the ball forward as a country.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, here’s Jonathan Chait (Excerpts, and emphasis added<\/strong>. \u00a0Click through<\/a> to read the whole thing):<\/p>\n

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It\u2019ll Take More Than an Apocalypse to Unseat House Republicans<\/a><\/h2>\n

\"120130_house_gop_ap_328\"<\/a>There is a morally intuitive connection between crime and punishment that is leading many people in Washington to speculate that the dysfunction of the Republican House could cost the party in the midterm elections. \u00a0\u00a0If House Republicans are preventing any alternative to terribly designed budget sequestration, blocking agreement on immigration reform, and threatening fiscal and economic crises in order to posture against Obamacare, the fair and rational thing would be for voters to punish them. …<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, life isn\u2019t fair or rational.<\/p>\n

The main issue is that most voters don\u2019t pay attention to Congress. Political scientists have found they hold the president accountable for everything<\/strong>, so that the in-party only really gets punished if voters are mad at the president and they\u2019re the same party. …<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

There is one way the House Republicans’ extremism is hurting the party: by poisoning the party\u2019s general brand, reinforcing the Democratic loyalties of the younger cohort that has lifted Obama into office twice. In particular, if Republicans kill immigration reform, then I suspect it could cement the hostility of Latinos for years and years to come.<\/p>\n

Those voters can hurt Republicans over the very long run, and in presidential elections in the short run. But the House map will allow the Republican majority to survive with almost all white voters for a long time.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

… In the meantime, they can inflict an awful lot of damage to the country at very little cost to themselves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n