One hopes.
Here’s Senator Ted Cruz giving a damn good speech at the Abbott Victory party, last night, saying “we fired Harry Reid” and the era of Obama Lawlessness is over.”
The must read of the day with a lot of key, inside ballpark info some of which should have been shared earlier: Philip Rucker and Robert Costa, WaPo: Battle for the Senate: How the GOP did it:
Republican rebootMinutes after landing at Reagan National Airport one day early this year, many GOP Senate hopefuls found themselves besieged at baggage claim by people with cameras yelling questions at them about abortion and rape.
This was no impromptu news conference but rather Republican staffers in disguise, trying to shock the candidates into realizing the intensity of what lay before them.
From the airport, the startled candidates were whisked off to NRSC headquarters for a series of meetings. There were policy briefings led by Lanhee Chen, Mitt Romney’s former policy director, as well as communications boot camps and media training from Roger Ailes associate Jon Kraushar, who has mentored Fox News personalities.
Looming large were the ghosts of combustible campaigns past: Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, Ken Buck, Christine O’Donnell, Sharron Angle.
“How do you fundamentally go about making human beings who are wildly unpredictable more predictable?” the NRSC’s Collins said. “It’s not about replacing what they believe. Pro-life is a majority view in this country, so how do you talk about it in terms that are relevant and not characterized as extreme?”
FrontPageMag: Daniel Greenfield: Obama Aide: “He Doesn’t Feel Repudiated.”
75 percent of voters say that he needs to rethink his policies. An unprecedented landslide squashed his party. Exit poll after exit poll shows angry voters expressing dissatisfaction with him.
His own party candidates did not want to be seen with him. Some actually ran against him.So why would Mr. Ego feel repudiated?
Mr. Obama bristled as the last campaign that would influence his presidency played out while he sat largely on the sidelines. He privately complained that it should not be a judgment on him. “He doesn’t feel repudiated,” the aide said Tuesday night.
Of course not.
Now pivot to Amnesty, the War on Women, arming Syrian Jihadis, creating Green Jobs with taxes and 3D Printers, celebrity appearances, fundraisers, vacations, golfing and unilateral imperial rule.
Not a thing needs to be changed.
David Harsanyi, The Federalist: The Republican Wave Debunked Four Myths About The Obama Era:
There will be plenty of time to deconstruct the Republican midterm blowout. Meanwhile, it would be fantastic if we began ditching some of its more dubious assumptions about the Obama years.
Sorry, Voters Don’t Hate ‘Obstructionism’
If we’re to believe the media-authored account of the last six years, the GOP has made rigid obstructionism of Barack Obama’s policies its sole agenda item. Even yesterday, in victory and in concession speeches, candidates of both parties told us that dysfunction was the biggest problem in DC.Where exactly have Republicans suffered? After endless analysis of the Kentucky Senate race, Mitch McConnell, the architect of obstructionist strategy in the Senate, won re-election easily. The reality is that Republicans have been generously rewarded from their tenacity in stopping post-Obamacare progressive policy. Since 2010, the Republicans have pulled together a historic string of victories—with scores of seats changing hands in the House. If anything, what we learned is that politicians are far more likely to be penalized by the electorate for passing unworkable and overreaching legislation than they are stopping it.
The Washington Examiner: Obama’s reverse Midas touch: ‘Everything he touched turned to crap’:
Another “shellacking” in the midterms also confirmed Democratic fears that Obama was more effective at getting himself elected than other progressive candidates.
The president will address the loss of the Senate and his path forward in a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
And some Republicans could only crow about the White House’s misfortune.
“Couldn’t he have visited just a few more states?” quipped a senior House Republican aide. “Everything he touched turned to crap.”
Ace of Spades HQ: Harry Reid: Don’t Blame Me, Obama Just Sucks:
The actual truth is that Obama simply doesn’t do his job, because he is lazy, and he refuses to do the non-glamorous, non-“fun” parts of his job such as compromising, horsetrading, or working out the details, because he is a committed die-hard ideologue who also suffers from an intense Messianic complex in which he can only be the conquering hero.
And also, he seems to be lethargic because he is psychologically a depressive, whose mood is only elevated by hero worship — something he hasn’t gotten in a while, because he’s a miserable failure.
These are the real truths of the matter, but of course the New York Times and Politico can only bring themselves to criticize Obama for disdaining phony theatrics or phony “schmoozing” with the horrible phonies that make up the Democratic congressional caucus.
Hot Air: Reid: Why can’t we all just … get along?
Dylan Byers notes that the other three leaders in the Senate Democratic caucus had pledged their support before the election, but that was then … and this is now. Now includes the very real possibility that two members of Reid’s caucus already have reasons to switch sides, and keeping Reid around will almost guarantee that Republicans will pressure Mitch McConnell to make the Democratic wilderness as miserable as Reid made the Republican wilderness. If that happens, both Angus King and Joe Manchin will certainly bolt, and Democrats may face another round of key retirements in the next two years, which will eat into their ability to regain the majority in 2016.
McConnell doesn’t have any incentive to make that situation on Reid any easier, and plenty of incentive to force Reid out. McConnell may want to return to normal order, but not with Reid across the table from him. If McConnell wants to play hardball, all he needs to do is insist that Democrats shun Reid entirely — no leadership position, no ranking-member position on committees — for the next two years, in exchange for returning to the pre-Reid Senate environment. If not, McConnell can promise that Republicans will follow the Reid precedent in suppressing minority participation, all the while reminding Senate Democrats that they enthusiastically supported those rules when they enjoyed the majority. Democrats may grumble, but in the end they’ll cave.
David Bernstein, The Washington Post: Harry Reid the “unAmerican” and soon-to-be-former Senate majority leader: Good riddance:
Why go after the Kochs so vigorously, to the point where Reid mentioned them over 100 times on the Senate floor, and they received countless death threats? Especially since the attacks seemed to goad the Kochs into digging even deeper into their wallets to defeat Democrats? And even though the attacks didn’t seem to resonate with the public at large? And despite the fact that Democrats spend about as much as Republicans each election cycle, and have their own billionaire patrons, like Tom Steyer and George Soros? As the Wall Street Journal’s Kim Strassel points out, the Kochs themselves were largely irrelevant. Rather, Reid and his allies wanted to warn other potential Republican donors that they would face a public smearing if they also gave to GOP candidates. For someone as powerful as Reid to threaten private citizens in this way for pure political gain to my mind makes someone unfit to be a Senator, much less majority leader.
Guy Benson, Townhall: RED TSUNAMI: GOP GAINS ACROSS THE BOARD IN HISTORIC SWEEP:
1) Senators-elect Cory Gardner, Joni Ernst, and Thom Tillis are all winners of formerly-blue seats in states carried by Barack Obama at least once. Gardner tossed a perfect game in his race, beating Sen. Mark “Uterus” Udall soundly (by six points, with 89 percent of the vote counted). He neutralized the “war on women” nonsense and outperformed among Latinos. The national party should turn Gardner’s win into a case study. Joni Ernst dominated Bruce Braley, winning by eight points. Adding insult to injury, Democrats also lost Braley’s House seat. These ‘precriminations‘ told the story. And Thom Tillis, who trailed in the polling average for the entire race, came from behind and ousted Kay Hagan.
(2) The last time Republicans defeated more than two incumbent Democratic Senators in one election cycle was 1980. In 2014, they’ve gotten four (Pryor, Udall, Hagan, Begich), with a fifth — Mary Landrieu — looking like a sitting duck. Landrieu garnered just 42 percent of the vote in Louisiana, compared to 55 percent for her two GOP rivals. She will need a miracle to win the December 6 runoff.
(3) The polls were, in fact, skewed. Toward Democrats. Significantly. Mitch McConnell won by 15 points in Kentucky. David Perdue beat Michelle Nunn by 13 points, easily avoiding a run-off. Tom Cotton absolutely destroyed Mark Pryor. Tillis wasn’t supposed to win. The polls were way off in all of these races. And, I’m happy to add, the disgusting race-baiting failed.
Charles Hurt, Washington Times: “America faces most dangerous two years in 150 years:”
President Obama still has two more years left in his final term.
Already, he has demonstrated again and again that he has no regard for the constitution or the legitimacy of laws when they do not suit his agenda. He flaunts his disregard for the constitutional process, dismisses laws he doesn’t like and rewrites others.
He mocks the powers of Congress. The Supreme Court has slapped him down more than any president in recent times. All of this as he tells us he is an expert on constitutional law.
Now come his very explicit threats to pass more illegal and unconstitutional presidential edicts to grant amnesty to illegal aliens already in the United States. This, in turn, will issue invitations for millions more illegals to come streaming across the border.
It will not end at immigration. Unchecked power is addictive.
Disowned by Democrats and made to feel irrelevant in this election, President Obama’s enormous and unjustified ego is deeply wounded. He is frustrated and feels caged, cornered. This is when people like him are most dangerous.
Buoyant Republicans will make an effort to engage him.
But President Obama is not a listener. He is not a negotiator. He is not a learner. He will just take what he wants. It is easier that way.
Roger L. Simon, PJ Media: Hooray for the Wave: Now Forget It:
Too bad there’s no time to celebrate. We almost lost our country. There’s no time to lose getting it back.
Depending on whether Barack Obama decides to behave like an adult or not in the face of massive defeat, all Hell can break loose in the next few months. He can subvert Congress and initiate an absurd amnesty program that nobody wants except for perhaps some random aging members of La Raza. Just as bad, or maybe worse — it involves weapons of mass destruction — he can subvert Congress again and sign a deal with the Iranian mullahs that, on latest reports, relies on our good friends the Russians to police the Iranian nuclear program. How insane is that? Ask any Ukrainian.
And that’s only getting started. The litany of possible mischief small and large is endless from Obamacare to accusations of racism (how else could Obama lose?) to that monumental absurdity the “War on Women.” (That one doesn’t seem to be working out too well lately with the Senate filling up with Republican women.)
Sen. Ted Cruz issued the following press release:
Don’t Enable Obama’s Executive Amnesty in Lame Duck
GOP senators send warning to Harry Reid after resounding referendum
WASHINGTON, DC – Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today sent a letter to Sen. Harry Reid, D-NV, the outgoing Senate Majority Leader, signed by Sens. Mike Crapo, R-ID; Mike Lee, R-UT; Pat Roberts, R-KS; Jeff Sessions, R-AL; and David Vitter, R-LA expressing opposition to President Obama’s announced intention to take unilateral executive action by the end of this year to lawlessly grant amnesty to immigrants who have entered the country illegally.
“The Supreme Court has recognized that ‘over no conceivable subject is the power of Congress more complete’ than its power over immigration,” the letter said. “Therefore, President Obama will be exercising powers properly belonging to Congress if he makes good on his threat. This will create a constitutional crisis that demands action by Congress to restore the separation of powers.”
The letter continued: “As majority leader of the Senate, you have the responsibility of not only representing the citizens of your State, but also of protecting the Constitution through vigilant exercise of the checks and balances provided under the Constitution. Therefore, we write to offer our full assistance in ensuring expeditious Senate debate and passage for a measure that preserves the power of Congress by blocking any action the President may take to violate the Constitution and unilaterally grant amnesty; however, should you decline to defend the Senate and the Constitution from executive overreach, the undersigned Senators will use all procedural means necessary to return the Senate’s focus during the lame duck session to resolving the constitutional crisis created by President Obama’s lawless amnesty.”
The text of the letter is below:
Dear Leader Reid:
We write to express our alarm with President Obama’s announced intention to take unilateral executive action by the end of this year to lawlessly grant amnesty to immigrants who have entered the country illegally. The Supreme Court has recognized that “over no conceivable subject is the power of Congress more complete” than its power over immigration. Therefore, President Obama will be exercising powers properly belonging to Congress if he makes good on his threat. This will create a constitutional crisis that demands action by Congress to restore the separation of powers.
As majority leader of the Senate, you have the responsibility of not only representing the citizens of your State, but also of protecting the Constitution through vigilant exercise of the checks and balances provided under the Constitution. Therefore, we write to offer our full assistance in ensuring expeditious Senate debate and passage for a measure that preserves the power of Congress by blocking any action the President may take to violate the Constitution and unilaterally grant amnesty; however, should you decline to defend the Senate and the Constitution from executive overreach, the undersigned Senators will use all procedural means necessary to return the Senate’s focus during the lame duck session to resolving the constitutional crisis created by President Obama’s lawless amnesty.
Nice Deb 