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It's only 1/3rd of the Republican party that somehow hijacked the House by The Happiness Engine 10/02/2013, 4:13pm PDT
Yes, yes, it's the fucking New Yorker. They have a pretty map.

Ryan Lizza wrote:

In short, these eighty members represent an America where the population is getting whiter, where there are few major cities, where Obama lost the last election in a landslide, and where the Republican Party is becoming more dominant and more popular. Meanwhile, in national politics, each of these trends is actually reversed.

In one sense, these eighty members are acting rationally. They seem to be pushing policies that are representative of what their constituents back home want. But even within the broader Republican Party, they represent a minority view, at least at the level of tactics (almost all Republicans want to defund Obamacare, even if they disagree about using the issue to threaten a government shutdown).

In previous eras, ideologically extreme minorities could be controlled by party leadership. What’s new about the current House of Representatives is that party discipline has broken down on the Republican side. On the most important policy questions, ones that most affect the national brand of the party, Boehner has lost his ability to control his caucus, and an ideological faction, aided by outside interest groups, can now set the national agenda.

Through redistricting, Republicans have built themselves a perhaps unbreakable majority in the House. But it has come at a cost of both party discipline and national popularity. Nowadays, a Sunday-school teacher can defeat the will of the Speaker of the House.


PREVIOUS NEXT REPLY QUOTE
 
Anyone want to take odds on the shutdown? Winner gets someone's steam cards or by something, I dunno - fucking newbie 10/01/2013, 9:27pm PDT NEW
    When the government collapses by laudablepuss 10/02/2013, 10:23am PDT NEW
    Republicans cave before Sunday. NT by WITTGENSTEIN 10/02/2013, 10:48am PDT NEW
        Why? by motherfuckerfoodeater 10/02/2013, 3:57pm PDT NEW
            It's only 1/3rd of the Republican party that somehow hijacked the House by The Happiness Engine 10/02/2013, 4:13pm PDT NEW
                Illuminating. You get this shit off A&L Daily, or do you inflict the New Yorker by fucking newbie 10/03/2013, 4:08am PDT NEW
                    Fuck no. Coincidentally-timed Facebook link. NT by The Happiness Engine 10/03/2013, 4:48pm PDT NEW
        Then the economy caves a few months after obamacare. NT by kate leth 10/02/2013, 11:35pm PDT NEW
            shut up jhoh NT by WITTGENSTEIN 10/03/2013, 8:07am PDT NEW
                lolololololololololololololol i troll u NT by i troll u 10/03/2013, 8:20pm PDT NEW
        Go inside one of their strategy sessions by FLY ON THE WALL OF CONGRESS 10/03/2013, 10:42am PDT NEW
            video removed by user :( NT by laudablepuss 10/04/2013, 4:17pm PDT NEW
                Mirrored zillions of times by Mischief Maker 10/04/2013, 4:52pm PDT NEW
                    STAGED by Fullofkittens 10/04/2013, 9:16pm PDT NEW
                    Should we play this as every one of our commercials for the next 6 years? Nah! NT by DNC braintrust 10/04/2013, 11:05pm PDT NEW
        GET IN HERE AND ACCOUNT FOR YOUR MISTAKE! by REPUBLICANS GAINING POWER! 10/06/2013, 6:53pm PDT NEW
            That post was off the cuff by WITTGENSTEIN 10/06/2013, 7:16pm PDT NEW
    So the New Yorker says the House is like the Texas school board, and the senate by goatfuck newbie 10/04/2013, 5:21am PDT NEW
 
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