I bet this fella is really nice. And bright. And his momma loved him. After all, he teaches at Dartmouth where the air is clear and the guys are randy -- or at least they were back in the day. But is this Dartmouth assistant professor nuts? Or what?!
Will voters punish the G.O.P. for the actions of a conservative faction that blocked Kevin McCarthy’s ascension and has been willing to repeatedly risk government shutdowns in confrontations with President Obama?
Recent history suggests that the political costs of turmoil and confrontation for the G.O.P. are likely to be minimal.
The most obvious point of comparison is the sequence of events after the 1998 midterm elections, when poor results caused Newt Gingrich to resign as House Speaker and Bob Livingston was forced to withdraw his candidacy to replace him. (Dennis Hastert eventually took over.)
Despite the turmoil, the House impeached President Bill Clinton in December over the objections of a majority of the public. At the time, many observers thought the backlash against the impeachment proceedings and the perceived extremism of congressional Republicans would damage the G.O.P. in the 2000 election. Expectations about whether Mr. Hastert could manage to unite his “badly divided” and “split, often combative party” were similarly pessimistic.
But Republicans suffered few ill effects despite trying and failing to remove President Clinton from office. The party quickly fell back into line behind George W. Bush, who significantly outperformed political science forecasts and won the presidency in 2000, an election in which the... ...BrendanNyhan,NYTeditorial
Wait a minute there! This is "history"?
"Significantly outperformed" and "won"?
Are you plumb nuts?
