1994 - Do you remember why we lost the majority?

[kentuck]

Had President Clinton already signed the NAFTA law?

We recall that Newt and Luntz had come up with the "Contract for America" which still has promises they never kept, such as term limits.

The Democrats that voted in 1992 just decided not to vote in 1994. Does anyone recall why?

[Arkana]

1. Health care.

I recall there was one hell of a snarl in 1993 over an attempt to reform health care, and it didn't work out well for us.

[ginnyinWI]

2. the difference now is the state of the GOP.

Back then they were a viable party. Today,their approval ratings are terrible. It's almost like there is no opposition party because nothing they say sticks because it is based on nothing.

[pnwmom]

7. They could still stop us in the Senate. They're quite strong as an opposition only

party.

[Go2Peace]

13. they are still a threat and they will be heavily active while our side will be dissalusioned

oh, and did we ever fix that good old electronic voting corruption stuff? Next election will be a good one to be playing games with. How come our representatives havent fixed our voting laws? I would think they better soon or it will be too late for the next big election.

[kentuck]

3. They blamed Hillary...

for trying to run the show behind closed doors, as I recall.

However, that is why this healthcare vote is so important. If they are defeated this time, or are forced to water it down to an almost meaningless gesture, then they may never get another chance to vote on healthcare reform for our people. For once, history does call them. It yells in their ears. Yet, they pretend not to hear. This could be our last chance.

[anonymous171]

4. NAFTA, Gun Control, and a shitty attempt at healthcare reform. nt

[kentuck]

6. What were the details in the "gun control" controversy?

Do you recall?

[anonymous171]

9. Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violent_Crime_Control_and_Law_Enforcement_Act#Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban

[kentuck]

12. I remember!

They were like the original "Tea-baggers".

[Chulanowa]

8. Also Somalia

The Americn public has a terribly short attention span. Just like lots of people around here are convincing themselves that Obama is the one who put us into Afghanistan, there was the weird disconnect that it was Clinton that sent our guys to Somalia. So when that went pear-shaped, the voters turned against democrats the next year.

[kentuck]

15. As I recall about Somalia...

Bush Sr had sent food and supplies into Somalia strictly as a humanitarian mission. Clinton inherited that war, just as Obama has inherited Iraq and Afghanistan. The bushmen are war mongers.

[Captain Hilts]

5. Dems are notorious for not showing up in off year elections. nt

[kentuck]

10. I have noticed that to be a trend.

About the only time Democrats win off-year elections is when the Republican candidate is under indictment for embezzlement, suspicious ethical charges, total and absolute incompetence, or carrying on a secretive hetero or homo-sexual affair. :-)

[Toucano]

14. Will the incumbent advantage help us this time? n-t

[kentuck]

18. We, as a Party, have a difficult time getting interested in small races.

They simply don't interest us that much. We do tend to be somewhat more interested in the mid-term elections. And we can sometimes be like a slumbering giant in presidential elections.

[treestar]

30. And the right is interested in every election no matter how minor

All the way down to school boards. That was their plan. They had energy for it.

We do tend to just sit back and think that just being reasonable is going to be enough.

[kentuck]

33. I think that is mostly correct.

The Repubs are more interested in minor races than Democrats. For better or worse.

[mamaleah]

38. We as a party need to get over our election ADD then.

And get out and vote and quit thinking non-presidential election cycles don't matter!

[Captain Hilts]

31. It was maddening to watch when I was in polling. R's just put 'gay marriage' on the ballot...

or abortion and their people all show up.

We've no comparable issues. Look at the complete CREEPS VA just elected for Gov and AG. Especially the AG. And young people and black voters did not turn out because the Dem wasn't inspiring. Keeping the Republican creeps should have been motivation enough. It was not.

[bluestateguy]

11. I remember their phony term limits plank

They held one House vote on the issue. It failed, and that was that. We never heard about it again.

[Yupster]

45. They passed term limits for committee chairmen

in the House. A committee chairman could only serve as chairman for six years. It came back to bite them because after their committee chairmen reached their term limits, they left the congress and the party often lost the seats.

I believe the term limit was just repealed last year or this year.

[lumberjack_jeff]

16. AWB and failure of health reform. n/t

[Toucano]

17. Disillusioned left, pissed off right.

Seems like forever ago, but there are shadows of it all around.

[kentuck]

20. Do you see any similarities between then and now?

as far as the electorate is concerned?

[Toucano]

22. It feels like it.

I mean, the teabaggers are being whipped into a frenzy and we've got a lot of Dems feeling more than a bit cheated (Wars, Spying, Gitmo, Health Care, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Tarp, etc.).

Unless unemployment improves and oil takes a huge plunge, I can see a 1994 all over again.

[Toucano]

19. Add Ruby Ridge and Branch Dividians in Waco to your list.

The right was highly motivated.

[kentuck]

25. I remember I was at the Lodge in a State Park in Kentucky...

and my wife and I were making reservations for dinner that evening. As we entered the lobby, the story was on the television that tanks had rammed the compound in Waco with those religious "nuts" and their children. Janet Reno was told by the FBI or "someone" that David Koresh was having incestuous relationships with the very young girls in the compound. So she gave word to attack the place and bring them out. But they were supposed to surrender once the gas was fired into the compound. But they didn't surrender as they thought they would.

So I stand there mesmerized and frozen in disbelief as the building started to burn. Oh, my God! What about the children?! It was an awful and empty feeling. I couldn't believe it. And the flames got higher and hotter...and I coudn't move.

[Toucano]

26. Yes, Waco shocked a lot of us on the left, too.

I remember thinking, "Is this the way we're going to handle domestic conflict now? With tanks?"

[struggle4progress]

37. Ruby Ridge occurred under Bush the First

[alphafemale]

48. Yep. And it was Bush the Elder that invaded Somalia.

He did it just a couple of weeks before leaving office.

[Toucano]

51. I stand corrected.

Or sit rather!

Thanks.

[WCGreen]

21. One of the man reasons for 1994 was the redrawing of the

congressional districts in 1992.

But since so much money was spent on the presidential election with Bush Clinton and Perue sucking up all the political air and attemtion, the redrawn districts didn't come into play until the 1994 elections.

It was then that congressional districts in the south and much of the midwest were up for grabs.

Of course the oppositions success in stopping the Health Care reform emboldened the right...

[QC]

23. A president who ran on a change platform delivered no real change.

That took the heart out of those who had voted for him.

Meanwhile, the people who had voted against him believed that he was some sort of communist hippy mass murderer, so they were out for blood.

Perfect storm.

[Blue_Tires]

24. there were a lot of longtime entrenched deadwood pols

who thought they were in safe states or districts and forgot about serving their constituents...as a result they had become both complacent and vulnerable targets who had enjoyed the "game" and "lifestyle" of being a longtime beltway insider rather than actually putting in work or shit like that...

there was also a very simplistic and outdated mindset in GOTV and campaign strategies (which continued on until Dean came around)...So many of the complacent congresscritters simply thought as long as they wooed the urban areas, blacks, unions and a few other old reliable strongholds, then re-election was assured...Nevermind the fact that all the same broken-record promises to the usual groups were forgotten the day after re-election...

and although it's laughable now because the GOP never even pretended to act on it; do NOT underestimate the effect of the promise of term limits on the "Contract"...Dems had been in control for three decades, many of them had been in office since the 60s/70s, and a lot had grown out-of-touch...

And this was also the renewed surge of RW fundie xtianism, with the emergence of the Christian Coalition, so social issues were very big...Remember Promise Keepers was HUGE then, in the early 90s a lot of states were fighting the abortion wars with bullets and bombs, and there were a number of other issues...The GOP did a MUCH better job of getting their people out to vote en masse under a unified message in '94...

[kentuck]

27. Also, remember the "scandal" about the stamps in the Congressional Post Office?

And Dan Rostenkoski, who had the seat before Charlie Rangel, was forced out of office and did jail time, as I recall?

[Yupster]

46. I think the House Bank Scandal and Post Office Scandal

were a big part of the loss.

People were tired of the corruption. Rostenkowski was the recognizable symbol.

[Blue_Tires]

50. barely...

I was in H.S. at the time, and although I closely followed the '92 Clinton race, I didn't really start to follow politics until the buildup and aftermath of the '94 races ('94 was my first time voting, and I did a project in history class on the Contract with America)...I grew up in VA, so I saw firsthand the rising armies of militant social conservatives preparing their strike against gays, abortion, interracial couples, liberal judges, egghead Ivy League intellectuals, etc...

[GodDamLiberal]

28. Don't forget the 43%

clinton became prez with only 43% of the vote in 92,
56% didn't vote for him.

[kentuck]

29. That is true.

That was before the "independents" had deserted the Republican Party. That was before George W Bush. He sent a lot of "independents" to the Democratic side.

[doc03]

32. I don't see the gays in the military issue

Don't ask don't tell. I think that was one of the biggest reasons.

[kentuck]

34. The Clintons drove them absolutely insane!

:-)

[ingac70]

35. NAFTA. Reagan's wet dream.....

came to fruition under Democrats. Might as well have had Republicans.

[pansypoo53219]

36. tax hikes on the wealthy to clean up

the deficit. gays in the military, WHITEWATER. TRAVELGATE, YADA YADA YADA. the teevee gnews.

[Jim Lane]

39. I think the tax hikes were the main thing.

The Reagan/Bush years had seen the full implementation of "voodoo economics", as Bush rightly called it before he joined the ticket -- the claim that we could cut tax rates, increase total revenues, and balance the budget. The result, of course, was a huge budget deficit.

Clinton proposed a necessary tax increase. It cleared the House of Representatives without one single Republican vote. The results were that (1) we got on track to reduce the deficit, which was eliminated by the end of Clinton's second term, and (2) the Republicans, the self-appointed party of fiscal responsibility, denounced this prudent step and defeated many of the Democrats who had voted for the tax increase.

[Snazzy]

40. Clinton was such a fucking relief after Reagan x2 + Bush

A lot of people were burned out and freakin' relieved it was over. We let down our guard or thought it was someone else's turn or something like that. And danced in the streets a lot. (No, it never ends I learned, still learning). The transparent noise machine, we thought that would be, uh, transparent. So begins completely made up reality ala Fox.

[BrklynLiberal]

41. That is what will happen in 2010 if these guys do not get their act together!!!

[Hippo_Tron]

42. Probably had something to do with having it continuously for 50 years

[Kansas Wyatt]

43. Democrats fucked up REAL Health Care Reform.

For those who think this shit flowing down to us is so GREAT...

Enjoy scratching your heads after the 2010 & 2012 Elections, wondering why people vote against their 'best interests.'

[kenny blankenship]

44. Oooh I know: insufficient bipartisanship!

No?

[Kickin_Donkey]

47. If I remember correctly ...

I think it had something to do with balancing the budget and raising taxes to do so.

The Democrats voted for it for the the good of the country. Even Clinton knew at the time of the vote that a lot of them would be voted out of office for that vote.

And indeed the Democrats took a big hit in '94. Of course, the balancing of the budget ushered in the biggest economic boom in the postwar era.

[proteus_lives]

49. Dumb-ass gun control, that's why.

Gun-grabbers have ever been the bane of the Democratic party.