Last night was a bad night for Democrats. After storming in and taking Virginia last November, they lost the state by a huge margin. In New Jersey, where being a Democrat is a birthright, Corzine lost pretty big to Chris Christie.
In New York’s 23rd District, the Democrat beat the Conservative party candidate and this has Pelosi happy. She even used a little revisionist history to express her glee:
“From our perspective, we won last night,” the California Democrat told reporters during a Wednesday photo op. “We had one race that we were engaged in, it was in northern New York, it was a race where a Republican has held the seat since the Civil War. And we won that seat. So, from our standpoint, no, a candidate was victorious who supports health care reform, and his remarks last night said this was a victory for health care reform and other initiatives for the American people.” Politico [emphasis mine]
Maybe I am not that familiar with US History but I am sure that the Civil War took place from 1861-1865. So, according to the Facelift Queen, no Democrat has held the seat Democrats just won since then. The problem with that is that a number of Democrats have held the seat there since 1945 or 80 years after the Civil War ended.
- Walther Lynch 1945-1951
- Sidney Fine 1951–1953
- Peter Peyser 1973-1977
- Samuel Stratton 1983-1989
- Michael McNulty 1989-1993
There were other Democrats who held the seat during this time.
It was a good win for the Democrats but it is not relevant. They already have more than enough votes to pass what they want and the guy who won is reportedly a fiscal conservative (or Blue Dog) so he might not vote the way she wants. In addition, he has to run for reelection in a year so he can’t afford to tick off his new bosses (his constituents for you liberals). I am not worried about him winning. If a liberal is going to win then I would prefer it be a real Democrat and not a RINO like Scozzafava who was more liberal than the Democrat. Ideology over party.
Pelosi can be happy but the bigger picture is the loss if Independents in Virgina and New Jersey. If this trend continues then Democrats in red states are going to have a tough time next year.
They have to be nervous right now so will they be willing to walk the plank for Pelosi and risk their jobs?
We will know in the next few weeks and in less than a year we will know how their decisions affected them.
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