The Nation: GOP Spins Defeat as Victory

[marmar]

GOP SPINS DEFEAT AS VICTORY...Republicans lost a special Congressional election in Massachusetts by six percentage points last night. Yet they are already trying to spin the defeat as a victory. Their desperation reminds one of Democrats circa 2002.

Democrat Niki Tsongas, the widow of former presidential candidate Paul Tsongas, defeated GOP businessman Jim Ogonowski 51 to 45 percent to fill the seat of Congressman Marty Meehan, who left the House to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. The district is less liberal than the rest of the state, having voted for GOP Governors William Weld and Mitt Romney. But that didn't stop the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) from sending a reporters a missive by 10 pm entitled, "The Democratic Wave Breaks."

Get this: Republicans are planning to run in '08 against the mess in Washington that they made. "Democrats have become part of the problem in Washington," the NRCC writes. "And as evidenced by their rock-bottom approval rating, Democrat leadership isn't getting the job done."

The only problem with this argument is that Republicans in Congress are more unpopular than Democrats--by nine points in the latest poll--and George W. Bush has the lowest presidential ratings since Nixon during Watergate.

To be sure, the public, particularly Democrats, are angry at Congress' failure/inability to end the war in Iraq. But Republicans shouldn't confuse disgust at the war with support for a party that brought us the surge and has been reduced of late to denying healthcare for children.

Posted by Ari Berman at 10/17/2007 @ 12:31pm

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters?bid=45&pid=243637

[tandot]

1. And, the GOP talking points have already been posted here on DU

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3618929

[nightrider767]

2. I agree

It seems that people are rapidly growing tired of this idealized utopian world that they are building. Even as it crumbles down around them, they see no reason to alter plans....

As Nero plays the fiddle, the bewildered populous looks on in disbelief and awe-struck....

[nightrider767]

3. Dupe

Duped!