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   Dan Savage, the brilliant and foul-mouthed sex columnist, has become one of the most important ethicists in America. Are we screwed?
 The federal government is supposed to issue new rules about debt levels for students in for-profit colleges. In the meantime, the states are working on their own regulations.
 Washingtons budget hawks want to decimate the federal workforce to shrink the deficit. It will have the opposite effect.
 There arent nearly enough counterterrorism experts to instruct all of Americas police. So we got these guys instead.
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February 28, 2010
DROPPING LIKE FLIES.... In January, much of the media decided that retirements among congressional Democrats were evidence of shifting political winds that will greatly benefit Republicans. In one report from ABC News, Democrats were characterized as "dropping like flies." In the meantime, Republican retirements not only outnumber Democrats, the GOP total keeps growing.
There's apparently some dispute about exactly how many House Republicans have announced their retirements. Most of the totals I've seen put the number at 19, but National Journal says it's 20. I'm trying to nail down the precise number. Regardless, the National Republican Congressional Committee is confident that the party will keep the seat in November, and with good cause -- it's solidly "red," with an R+16 partisan voting index. But it's the larger context that still strikes me as interesting. There are 178 Republicans in the House caucus. There are now 19 House Republicans (and counting) retiring this year, seven more than among Democrats. As a result, as we talked about a few weeks ago, more than one in 10 House GOP incumbents have decided to give up their seats in a year that's supposed to be a wildly successful one for Republicans. In fairness, not all retirements are created equal. There's a qualitative difference between stepping down in a competitive district and giving up one's seat in a "sure thing" for one party. When considering questions like the balance of power, retirements are not quite the indicator some in the media would like to believe. This is very likely true in Linder's case -- Dems will struggle badly to compete in Georgia's 7th. But if you ask anyone at the NRCC or DCCC for an honest opinion, I think they'd agree that when a party is supposed to have the wind at its back, and when that party's leadership is trying to keep retirements to a minimum, having more than 10% of the caucus walk away has to be discouraging. Indeed, just two weeks ago, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said Democratic retirements are a sign that Dems are "running for the hills because they sold out their constituents and don't want to face them at the ballot box." With GOP retirements outnumbering Dems' -- by a margin that's growing -- are we to also assume that Republicans don't want to face voters at the ballot box? —Steve Benen 8:00 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (12)
Comments
Or maybe it's that some or even many of the retirees figure a year when the odds supposedly favor Republicans is the best time to step down and ensure that their seat stays Republican. Posted by: Domage on February 28, 2010 at 8:05 AM | PERMALINKNobody wants to have to listen to the psychotic teabagging assholes who are burning up their phone lines and crowding their town meetings. It's probably worse if you have to be somewhat responsive to them because they're your base. Posted by: calling all toasters on February 28, 2010 at 8:18 AM | PERMALINKHaving spent his four years in the minority lining up wildly lucrative work on the corporate side of the corporate state, Linder has probably calculated that the time is right to become a lobbyist in 2011, working with the sure-to-be GOP majority. Posted by: JMG on February 28, 2010 at 8:24 AM | PERMALINKIt's hard work being crazy 24/7, year after year. Retiring repubs probably just want to kick back and try to have a nice, relaxed, logical thought. Posted by: JoeW on February 28, 2010 at 8:29 AM | PERMALINKOr, maybe, Dems and Reps alike are throwing up their hands in abject disgust at a corrupt system that thrives on gerrymandering and back room deals; Charlie Rangle being the latest poster boy in a long line of hogs at the trough. Posted by: DAY on February 28, 2010 at 8:54 AM | PERMALINKSteve: You are missing the major point about retirements. The Democrats are stupid and the Republicans are smart. Gads, it hurts to write that. If a Democrat retired in 2006 or 2008 then we would have had a younger Democrat who would have had a better chance of winning in 2010. Very few open seats in 2006 or 2008 would have gone to Republicans. Now, in 2010, a bunch of Republicans are retiring and will be replaced by Republicans at least as conservative as the Republicans retiring. The Democrats who are retiring are going to be replaced, in almost every case, by a conservative Republican. This looks like it will be a Republican year. It would be good for Republicans if every Republican over 70 retired. The old Republicans who are running this year will end up retiring in years that will not be as pro Republican as this year. Posted by: neil wilson on February 28, 2010 at 10:35 AM | PERMALINKThere's a qualitative difference between stepping down in a competitive district and giving up one's seat in a "sure thing" for one party. Really? Can you say, "Senator Scott Brown from Massachusetts"? Posted by: oh my on February 28, 2010 at 10:46 AM | PERMALINKHas anyone considered that perhaps these Republican men and women, forced to brazenly lie every day and practice the most base hypocrisy and obstruction, must then go home and look their families, children, and grandchildren in the eye.
Sometimes getting teabagged can hurt - read strong tug to the right in the Republican primaries, 2010! -Kevo Posted by: kevo on February 28, 2010 at 1:00 PM | PERMALINKThe thing that no one is considering is that the Republican coalition will look very different come fall if these retirees are replaced by tea baggers. Quite a few of these districts are "safely" Republican? As safe as CD23 in New York was? How many Republicans from supposedly "safe" seats are leaving rather than risk facing that? Posted by: Doug on February 28, 2010 at 6:17 PM | PERMALINKI would like to understand how GOP whose Congresspeople have an approval rating of 19% (Kos poll) can be said to be resurgent, to "have the wind at their backs". What a place is DC. Posted by: bob h on March 1, 2010 at 6:51 AM | PERMALINKPost a comment
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