Democrats, Don't Screw This Up

Over the holidays, I was asked if there was anyway I felt the GOP could win the Presidency in 2016.  The first scenario I came up with, although very real, is also very tragic.  I mention that because of the jarring nature of the scenario:

With the GOP saddled with either Trump or Cruz, after their failed attempt to usurp their voting base's choice at the GOP convention, they find themselves in mid-October trailing the Democratic candidate by 25 points.  Considering the delusional, detached, and dangerous mindset of some of the GOP voters today, and with the abundance of guns readily available, one of their more fervent supporters decides to assassinate the Democratic nominee.  The individual, unfortunately, succeeds, and turns the Democratic ticket on it's head.  It becomes a fight between whomever loses in the primary (Clinton or Sanders), Joe Biden, or another senior Democratic statesman, for whom would be the replacement Presidential nominee.  Even if the party was able to coalesce around one individual quickly, Republican states would refuse to change the ballots before the election, meaning an intense campaign to encourage a 'Write-In' choice.  After the election, when none of the candidates have the Electoral College majority needed to claim victory, and after the GOP uses their conservative majority on the Supreme Court to uphold any state's overtly bias vote counting mandates, the decision on who becomes President moves to the U.S. House of Representatives, where roughly, through gerrymandering, 3/5th's are Republicans and 2/5th's are Democrats.  The question then becomes 'are there enough Republicans who would go against their party's orders and elect the clear choice of the American People, the Democrat, or would they take it upon themselves to install the candidate who finished a distant third behind the deceased Democratic candidate and the replacement Democratic candidate, the Republican?'  Blind allegiance wins in the end, and the Trump/Cruz term begins.

Something similar to this has actually happened before, although without an assassination to spur it.  In the 1824 election for this country's 6th President, no one won the electoral college majority to claim victory, but Andrew Jackson had won the majority of electoral college votes, and the popular vote too.  In early 1825, after the appointing of the President went to the House of Representatives, Jackson was stunned when Speaker of the House Henry Clay, a weasel of a politician, and a power hungry fiend, who had himself finished a distant 4th in the Presidential election, and who hated Andrew Jackson like Bakk hates Dayton, went against the voters wishes, and appointed John Quincy Adams as president.  Clay then accepted the role of Secretary of State, letting the country know the fix was in.  Jackson and his supporters were outraged.

The reason my current world scenario included the hypothetical 'would they' question is because the Republicans would know this would doom them for years, much like it did politicians who supported the Quincy Adams decision.  Today's Republican's who represent moderate districts would be ending their political careers with that vote.  The swing to the Democrats in the elections to come, gerrymandered House or not, would be unprecedented. Much like Quincy Adams, Trump or Cruz's bar for failure would be set pretty low, and the Democrats would likely run the conservatives out of DC, and the vast majority of state legislative bodies, in 2018, 2020, and for another decade afterwards.  Anytime a Republican ran for office, they would have to wear the yoke of the 2016 appointment like an anchor dragging them underwater.  And if the Democrats hold a filibuster minority in the Senate, Trump/Cruz would be able to do some damage, but not nearly as much as if they had two years of unfettered power.  Enough Republicans might vote for the public's choice, acknowledging the impending Republican nightmare from them installing a President.

That scenario is somewhat outrageous, and let's hope it never comes to light, but truthfully, I don't think the Democrats have won anything yet.  There are still a thousand ways the GOP could win in 2016 that don't include an assassination.  On the good side, most of those ways are avoidable as they involve the Democrats handing the Republican victories.

The biggest problem I see for the left is Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the head of the DNC, who clearly has a bias for Hillary Clinton.  Why she's still in charge after the debacle that was 2014 I have no idea, but her attempts to impress Clinton, by clearly making decisions she feels will give Hillary the edge, has soured a lot of Democrats.  For the record, I don't think Hillary Clinton has been privy to any of Wasserman-Schultz's boneheaded decisions, like the scheduling of debates, the amount of debates, the attempted silencing of her critics and the molehill of a witch hunt Debbie started against the Sanders campaign.  I think Wasserman-Shultz is acting on her own, and she's doing more harm to the party than good.

The fighting between the Sanders and Clinton folks has been, for the most part, passionate but respectful.  There's only about 10% of it which has gone too far.  Everyone, please, let the process play out.

To fervent Sanders supporters who inundate me with 'Hillary's really a Republican' correspondence,  you do realize Bernie has a very real chance at being the nominee, right?  Follow me:  Sanders loses Iowa but keeps it within 10 points.  He then wins New Hampshire handily (something Ken Martin, the head of the DFL, predicted this morning on my show).  I think for Sander's it would be wise to skip South Carolina, and head to Nevada.  If he can pull off the win there, he has taken half of the first four, and heads into Super Tuesday with new momentum.  Let me repeat, Sanders could win, and it's not science fiction for him to do so!  If he does become the nominee, the incendiary statements and allegations Sanders' supporters are making against Clinton supporters will come back to bite you in the butt.  You might want to think about that, and tone down the outrage a smidge.

Another problem for the Democrats?  Apathy.  We think it's in the bag because it's only Trump or Cruz and no one does their due diligence and campaigns.  The GOP machine of money, media and morons pushes forward and, along with either negative numbers for Clinton, or anti-leftists feelings for Sanders, they pull out the win.  Think 2010.  Most Democrats going into that night thought it was going to be a 50/50 night, but it ended up being a massive smackdown for the left.

Democrats, let's not screw this up.  Be involved, be active, but don't be a jerk.  There's a lot riding on 2016.  Let's make sure we keep moving forward as a county, not backwards.