midterm elections Archives - Page 4 of 5

Bill Clinton’s Take on the Midterms

November 17, 2014 Buck Banks

There was a collapse of the youth vote. The African-American vote held fairly steady and was remarkable… we had a little bit of a loss of the Hispanic vote perhaps because the president didn’t sign an order on executive action on immigration reform.

— Bill Clinton, quoted by Politico, on the results of the 2014 midterm elections.

Why the Democrats’ Approach Failed

November 5, 2014 Buck Banks

Democrats believed they could help isolate and insulate their vulnerable Democrats from an unpopular president by making each contest about the individual candidates. Democrats hoped that the tainted GOP brand combined with incumbent candidates with solid political pedigrees who ‘knew their states’ could prevail over the country’s pessimistic mood. It didn’t work.

— Amy Walter, writing for the Cook Political Report.

Paul: Midterms a Repudiation of Clinton

November 5, 2014 Buck Banks

She’s said to be the front-runner for the nomination for their party. So really elections are about who the leadership is in a party, and it’s about either accepting or rejecting those leaders. And frankly, I think that yesterday was a repudiation of Hillary Clinton.

— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by The Week, on the meaning of the midterm elections.

A Not Sugar-Coated Sugar Coating

November 5, 2014 Buck Banks

I won’t sugarcoat it – we always knew tonight would be a challenging night. In short, it could have been worse.

— Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), quoted by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, sugar coating the election results.

It Doesn’t Matter Who Controls the Senate

November 3, 2014 Buck Banks

The legislative dynamics in Washington are very simple. Gridlock exists because Obama and House Republicans cannot agree on legislation. If Obama and the House could agree on legislation, their deal would be approved by a Democratic-controlled Senate or by a Republican-controlled Senate. There are no plausible circumstances in which the Senate would block a deal struck between the House and Obama, because, whichever party controls the Senate, its ideological center will sit comfortably inside in the enormous space between Obama and the House Republicans. Ergo, the party that controls the Senate has no impact on legislative outcomes.

— Jonathan Chait, writing in New York Magazine.

GOP Not Content with Winning, Wants to Drown Democrats

November 3, 2014 Buck Banks

A wave just doesn’t happen. Waves happen when every single member of a cause or a movement comes together. This is our time, we need to crush it and push their heads under over and over and over again until they cannot breathe anymore.

— New Hampshire GOP Chairman Jennifer Horn, quoted by NH Journal, on defeating Democrats in the midterm elections.

The Panic’s Infectious

October 16, 2014October 21, 2014 Buck Banks

Democrats have panic growing in their eyes,
As Republicans see their Senate hopes rise.
But one thing’s for sure,
In the absence of a cure,
Ebola is this election’s “October surprise.”

Democrats Starting to Manage Midterm Expectations

October 16, 2014 Buck Banks

The first thing I see every morning when my eyes flutter open is 29 — which is the average loss to a president’s party in a second midterm. We never assumed the best, we prepared for the worst.

— Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, managing midterm election expectations in a NBC News interview.

There’s Still Time for Republican Crazies to Emerge Before Midterms

September 22, 2014 Buck Banks

I have to give the Republicans credit for one thing in this election cycle. They’ve been able to keep their crazies quiet. But the big question is: Will some GOP crazy talk seep out between now November 4? In the words of Sarah Palin, I’d have to say, ‘You betcha.’

— Dean Obeidallah, writing for the Daily Beast.

Manchin to Wait Until After Midterms to See Whether He Will Continue to Be Unproductive in the Senate

June 19, 2014 Buck Banks

I’m going to wait until the 2014 election is over, and then I’m going to see what I should do. I’ve never been in a less productive time in my life than I am right now, in the United States Senate.

There was a collapse of the youth vote. The African-American vote held fairly steady and was remarkable… we had a little bit of a loss of the Hispanic vote perhaps because the president didn’t sign an order on executive action on immigration reform.

— Bill Clinton, quoted by Politico, on the results of the 2014 midterm elections.

— Amy Walter, writing for the Cook Political Report.

She’s said to be the front-runner for the nomination for their party. So really elections are about who the leadership is in a party, and it’s about either accepting or rejecting those leaders. And frankly, I think that yesterday was a repudiation of Hillary Clinton.

— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by The Week, on the meaning of the midterm elections.

I won’t sugarcoat it – we always knew tonight would be a challenging night. In short, it could have been worse.

— Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), quoted by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, sugar coating the election results.

— Jonathan Chait, writing in New York Magazine.

A wave just doesn’t happen. Waves happen when every single member of a cause or a movement comes together. This is our time, we need to crush it and push their heads under over and over and over again until they cannot breathe anymore.

— New Hampshire GOP Chairman Jennifer Horn, quoted by NH Journal, on defeating Democrats in the midterm elections.

The first thing I see every morning when my eyes flutter open is 29 — which is the average loss to a president’s party in a second midterm. We never assumed the best, we prepared for the worst.

— Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, managing midterm election expectations in a NBC News interview.

I have to give the Republicans credit for one thing in this election cycle. They’ve been able to keep their crazies quiet. But the big question is: Will some GOP crazy talk seep out between now November 4? In the words of Sarah Palin, I’d have to say, ‘You betcha.’

— Dean Obeidallah, writing for the Daily Beast.

I’m going to wait until the 2014 election is over, and then I’m going to see what I should do. I’ve never been in a less productive time in my life than I am right now, in the United States Senate.

— Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), in an interview with Time, on his political future.

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“If you are committing fraud against the American people, all of us in public leadership should be trying to stop it and throw you in prison for enriching yourself off the American taxpayer.”

— Vice President JD Vance, on Fox News.

“Your generation has a great bullshit meter, because you’re fed bullshit online all day. And the Democratic Party brand right now is so bullshit.”

— Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D), quoted by The Atlantic, speaking to college students.

“We are done, Americans are done with endless conflict in the Middle East, spending trillions of dollars, American lives… this is insane and we have to call it for what it is.”

— Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), on CNN.

Numerati

+175,000

“The U.S. State Department announced on Monday that it has revoked more than 175,000 visas during President Donald Trump’s administration so far,” Fox News reports.

$4,600

11

30%

A new American Research Group poll finds just 30% of Americans say they approve of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president and 67% say they disapprove.

61% to 35%