Battlefield

This map shows the 2010 congressional election results, and as per the results, the balance of power lies with the republicans (193 votes went towards the Democrats and 242 went to the Republicans). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/2010-race-maps/house/ if you go to this website you’ll get customized maps of republican gains, tea party wins, overall poverty rate, votes from the percent 65 and older, non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and those uninsured. Quite interesting stuff, so check it out!


So what exactly can impact a party’s votes?


According to an article from The Washington Post, the Occupy Wall Street movement might stir up some negative results for the Democrats. Not the movement itself, but violent clashes that the media that has brought to our attention. The movement has been acknowledged by many Democratic politicians so the Republicans have a great deal to jab at, especially since Democrats ave already tried laying out attacks on the republicans for being extreme tea party activists.






What would make this a great story for the Republicans?


Well, as we all know, the protest has been quite peaceful, but just a few streaks of violence can really give the entire movement a bad stench. Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post writes, “Just as Democrats tried to tie Republicans to the most extreme tea party activists, the Massachusetts Republican Party is already attacking Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren as the “Matriarch of Mayhem” for saying she helped create an intellectual foundation for the protests”


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The video provides the framework for which the Democrats can bash the Democrats and the route they would take in doing so. They take a few quotes from Democrats and fit them into one clip to make them look bad. Essentially saying look at these Democrats and what they stand for, is this the party that you want to run your nation?


The media is so quick to capture the negativity but are reluctant to show the positive proponents. So far, we know that the protests have been rather peaceful, but for someone that doesn’t necessarily look into the movement and doesn’t keep up, this video would provide a complete basis for their outlook.


The violence in Oakland has been the basis for the negative media coverage lately. The city sent police to clear out protesters. This disrupted the peace amongst the protesters and they didn’t seem to like it very much because they weren’t doing anything wrong. Why is it the protesters faults when police fired teargas at them and didn’t them protest like the rest of the country? Isn’t it our right to assemble and isn’t freedom of speech our right as well? What do the Republicans have to say about that?


I personally don’t think the Republicans have a basis for which to attack the Democrats. The Democrats speak of the movement itself, not all the people individually. Pollster Stan Greenberg seems to agree that what’s going on with the Occupy Wall Street movement isn’t going to affect how the nation feels about the Democrats. Weiner writes,


“Pollster Stan Greenberg argues that the violent clash in Oakland won’t much change public opinion, pointing out that there was already a large gap between support for the goals of the movement and support for the movement itself, suggesting there’s already “some ambivalence on methods” — an ambivalence that has always existed about civil disobediance, including during the civil-rights movement.”