Former "troll" talk now mainstream

[angus]

Just a few months back when Reaganfan was first here, people called him a troll for, among other things, being wildly optimistic on GOP prospects. One of the biggest predictions made by Reaganfan was that the 2004 election was like the 1896 election... this was also on the Rasmussen website. The basic idea is that 2004 is a re-aligning election like 1896, and will usher in decades of GOP dominance like the 1896 election did (although 1904, 1908, 1912 and 1916 all saw progressive candidates returned to office).

Now the former speculation is being predicted by the nation's most respected politico, Karl Rove, as the media interviews him in his victory lap:

Rove, whom Bush called the "architect" of his political campaign, likened Tuesday's election to that of 1896, when voters picked Republican William McKinley and "realigned American politics years afterward."

``There are no permanent majorities in American politics,'' Rove said on the NBC program. ``They last for about 20 or 30 or 40, or, in the case of the Roosevelt coalition, 50 or 60 years, and then they disappear. But would I like to see the Republican Party be the dominant party for whatever time history gives it the chance to be? You bet.''

Reuters

surreal, ain't it?  You gotta admit that the GOP has reason to be giddy.  Everyone doing the talking-head circuit is congratulating them, and singing Rove's praises.  Dems included.  I like Ed Rollin's famous quote, "The goal is to win."  As in, it isn't how you play the game, it's whether you win or lose.  If you can divorce yourself from having a favorite, and just sit back and enjoy the surrealism and sport, then it becomes quite interesting.  Like a good football game between two good and evenly matched teams, but where you didn't place a bet on either side.  Just watch and enjoy.  In the end, the GOP really won this one, favoritisms aside.  And yes, they're gloating in an overly optimistic (trollish) fashion, and being helped along even by their opponents, in some cases.  Very weird, but entertaining. 

welcome back, by the way.

[angus]

Um... what a load of bullsh**t.
As unpleasant as this is for both parties, the days when one of them could accurately be described as a "Majority Party" are long over (unless 35-39% give or take differential turnout is a "majority"...)

And they ain't coming back either (unless someone kills all the Independents).

Anyone who claims otherwise (at the moment this will be Republicans, in a few years it might well be Democrats. Who knows) is kidding themselves.
Look at ALL the facts and you'll see why.

sober assessment.  thanks for the reality check.  In fact, ticket-splitters, and those who voted for Clinton in the 90s and then dumped on Gore in '00 and the unaffiliated, may be quite an influential group.  I am described by all those things, yet I don't feel 'courted'  Still, we are a growing group, and a large enough fraction that the dems and republicans are respectively, about 35 and 35 percent of the electorate.  There is no majority party!