The Democrats lose one election, and suddenly they’re at each other’s throats with a viciousness seldom deployed against rival Republicans. But even amidst the anger, recriminations and obvious fear about what will happen in November, there’s some truth.
Take, for example, Politico’s story today that quotes Congresswoman Dina Titus saying U.S. Sen. Harry Reid is “done,” in November. Here’s the full passage:
In a display of contempt unfathomable in the feel-good days after [President Barack] Obama’s Inauguration, freshman Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) stood up at a meeting with [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi last week to declare: “Reid is done; he’s going to lose” in November, according to three people who were in the room.
Titus denied Tuesday evening that she had singled out Reid, but she acknowledged that she said Democrats would be “f—-ed” if they failed to heed the lessons of Massachusetts, where Republican Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat last week.
First, Titus’s contempt for Reid was totally fathomable long before Obama was inaugurated, but that’s beside the point. And the point is this: Titus isn’t exactly alone in thinking Reid’s finished in politics come November.
Think about it: Every poll taken of the Nevada race, from the Review-Journal/Mason-Dixon to DailyKos/Research 2000 to fivethiryeight.com finds Reid coming up a loser, no matter who his opponent may end up being. (Even little-known conservative ex-Assemblywoman Sharron Angle beats Reid, according to the R-J!) So saying “Reid is done; he’s going to lose in November” is no more controversial than saying the Indianapolis Colts are favored to win Super Bowl over the New Orleans Saints. (I don’t necessarily share that belief, for a variety of reasons, but that, too, is beside the point.)
Similarly, saying Democrats are fucked (we assume she said “fucked,” although “fudged” or “forced into irrelevancy and sure to be ignored” are other possibilities) if they don’t “heed the lessons of Massachusetts” is not controversial, especially among conservative Democrats facing tough races this year. Titus is one. And this is hardly the first time she’s expressed such sentiments, telling the Las Vegas Sun on Thursday that “maybe we [Democrats] too big a bite of the apple,” with respect to health care reform. Titus, along with fellow U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, encouraged a scaled-back, smaller health-care bill.
No, the controversial question here is not whether Titus is right about Reid’s fate, but whether she’s right about the lessons of Massachusetts. Was the lesson that the American people are fed up with ambitious big government proposals to reform health care, or was it that the American people are fed up with ambitious big government proposals to reform health care that never go anywhere because Democrats squandered their majorities in both houses? Was the lesson of Massachusetts that Americans are rejecting Democratic arrogance and over-reaching, or was it that Americans would really like to see some Democratic arrogance and over-reaching toward a goal of fixing the economy and getting them back to work? Are people against Obama-style hope and change, or is it that they haven’t seen any hope or change, and they really want to?
It’s like the person quoted by Review-Journal columnist (the sane one) Geoff Schumacher said in a recent piece: It’s as if the Democrats are apologizing for winning. (Schumacher is also publisher of CityLife, the newspaper I edit, by way of full disclosure.)
Epilogue: Surely sensing Reid may have been offended by her quoted remarks, Titus tried to walk it back, saying she hadn’t singled Reid out specifically, but was warning that all Democrats are fucked if they don’t figure out what’s bugging voters so badly they filled Edward Kennedy‘s Massachusetts Senate seat with a Republican.
Once again, Titus is more right than she knows.
UPDATE: I spoke with both Titus and Reid on Wednesday, and she confirmed that she did say “fucked,” mostly to convey to her fellow freshman Democrats her anxiety. Titus added, however, she did not single out Reid in her comments, saying that unless Democrats picked up on the national mood, they could all be swept from power, including Harry Reid. (She offered the names of several people in the room at the time who she said would confirm her account.) Titus also confirmed that she’d called Reid Tuesday evening to explain the quote. Reid, for his part, said he’d spoken with Titus, and that he accepted her explanation of the remark. The senator was, however, clearly displeased that it had come out at all, especially since Republicans went to work almost immediately highlighting how even members of Reid’s own party think he’s doomed.
Tags: Dina Titus, Harry Reid
Loading ...
I don’t know, Steve. Titus may be correct, but…
Maybe once the Nevada electorate learns that Lowden wants to end all deficit spending and borrowing money to run the government, they might not like her way.
Lowden’s proposed cuts [as per her website] would eliminate every agency branch and department of the federal government, leaving only social security, medicare, medicaid the military and making interest payments alive.
Lowden’s budget proposal would still be $300 billion short of revenues to pay for ss/mc/mc/military and debt obligation payments. Lowden is thus implicitly calling for a $300 billion reduction in medicare/ss/medicaid/military spending and/or defaulting on our debt obligations.
Lowden wants to compound her demand for $1.4 trillion dollar cut in federal spending even further by reducing corporate tax receipts by 60% which is another $288 billion in cuts to ss/mc/mc/military and further defaulting on our debt obligations. Added together that is about $600 billion to be cut from ss/mc/mc/military and/or debt payment obligations under Lowden’s budget proposal.
Lowden is implicitly calling for the end of the Medicare D program as the Fed contributes $80 billion a year to run the program which is run on borrowed money.
Lastly, Lowden has implicitly called for an end to both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars…as those are funded by borrowed money.
Things are serious and Lowden is helping to sharpen the focus of the debate of what kind of Country we want to have.
Hey Steve,
This whole thing will be academic in a few weeks . . .As a Democratic challenger to the Senate Majority leader, I will KNOCK OUT former collegiate boxer, Harry Reid, in the June 2010 Democratic primary election in Nevada !