Well, it just makes sense. Republicans aren’t actually running on anything in 2014 other than “Democrats are no good! Also, Obamacare!”
As Jesse LaGreca points out, however, “50+ repeal votes, a SCOTUS decision and a Presidential election, still no GOP alternative to Obamacare, just trolling & BS.”
So, it’s not much to run on. But that’s okay. The Rs have an advantage this year thanks to the D’s huge wins in 2008, leaving Dems with much more territory to defend this year in the U.S. Senate. More importantly, while Republicans have little or no policy initiatives to actually run on — or, at least, few they’d like to mention out loud — they don’t really need to. The Koch Brothers are so desperate to see Republicans back in power, and all the swell goodies that come with it, they are unleashing everything they can to simply buy their way back into greater control of our nation’s once-of-the-people, by-the-people, for-the-people government.
At the same time, unfortunately, Democrats aren’t running on much more themselves. “We’re not crazy Republicans!” may be true, but it doesn’t give American voters much to vote for, especially while the Kochs are outspending outside Democratic-leaning groups 10 to 1 so far this year. So it all makes sense that with the Kochs’ money running this year in lieu of actual Republicans with policies, Democrats seem to be set on simply run against the Kochs. That appears to be the plan. Or, at least the one that’s working for them so far, according to Dave Weigel at Slate today:
But five emails mentioned, in at least some way, the Koch brothers. Those asks raised $32,668.72, an average of $6,533.74 per email. The Democratic base, which has been hearing about and fearing the Kochs for nearly four years, responds to this stuff.
So, running against The Koch Brothers brings in three times as much money as running on…whatever else the Dems have been trying to run on so far this year.
It’d be nice if the Democrats gave voters something concrete to vote for. It might even solve their oft-cited problem of D voters not turning out for mid-terms. Why should they, after all? That’s not a criticism, that’s an actual question. Why should voters turn out? What are they supposed to be voting for?Democrats might want to start thinking about offering a concrete reason or three. But, in lieu of that, running against the two privileged sons of an oil baron who are willing to spend as much of their father’s hard-earned money as they need to in hopes of buying the United States whole hog will have to suffice, apparently. In 2014, with few, if any, policy promises (so far) presented to voters, Koch is it.
Unfortunately, for every dollar raised by the Dems, the Kochs can just cut a check for three or ten more. So, if you’d like to start questioning the Democrats’ 2014 election strategy, now would be a good time.
You also might want to ask them why they aren’t doing much more to fight against the madness unleashed by the infamous Citizens United in 2010 and the way that Republicans (particularly the Kochs and Karl Rove) have gamed every last inch of whatever scraps are left of campaign finance law in this country. Come to think of it, a hard promise to pass laws to effectively overturn Citizens United and restore campaign finance enforcement at the FEC would be just one concrete policy that Americans might actually turn out to vote affirmatively for. And, Democrats could beat up on the Kochs all they like in the bargain. Win-win! So, of course, Democrats probably won’t do it.
You know that phrase “when push comes to shove?”….call me just a silly dreamer, but i’m picking up on something in the air of late (locally, nationally, globally) that tells me the aristocracy is mad as hell and they’re not going to take it any more…..i know, i know, I KNOW it makes NO FUCKING SENSE that the have-it-alls are growing sick and tired of the have-nothings saying something or aspiring to anything….there be madness stirring, like going to bed with Woodstock and waking up to Kent State….Charles and David Koch are the bloated booze soaked and cigar reeking sociopathic poster brats for country-clubbers (literally) choking on their dentures and squirting their Pampers because THEY WANT IT ALL and it’s never ever enough, is it?….Greed is NOT good, it’s one of the deadliest of human sins no matter how you dress it up and sanitize it for mass make-believe….societies can and do collapse from the kind of raw class warfare (top down) we’re all witnessing with our very own eyes from every quarter lately…..should we then be cynical, fearful, despondent, obsequious, obstreperous or oblivious????…..fuck no, Felicity, we’ve got some gargantuan cellulite ass to kick and time’s a’wastin, my friends and fellow Americans…..the 2014 ELECTIONS WILL MAKE OR BREAK THIS NATION, so let’s all get to work and have us a damn good time doing the right thing…for Democracy!
You’re asking all the questions I keep asking of Democrats, and all I get is the proverbial piss off if you don’t like it.
What is their strategy for 2014?…nothing.
What do Democrats do to fight the Kochs?…Harry Reid gets on the Senate floor and whines.
Why haven’t they done a thing regarding Citizens United?…nobody knows, nobody cares.
I firmly believe that the billionaire sociopaths will seal this nation’s future this year. Once that happens, there is no longer going to be a legal/governing system that works for anybody except the corporations and their owners.
….funny how capitulation always proves to be self-fulfilling, n’est-ce pas?….so there’s absolutely nobody or nothing worth fighting for?….hmmmm….somewhere an angel loses its wings, as Karl Rove grins…..but good to have touched a nerve, which is still the one and only known pathway of ultimately reaching the brain…..