Dakota Beacon

Dick Morris is making predictions regarding the November 2014 election outcome. I am not a big fan of Dick Morris. Morris was a friend and advisor to Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas and later served as political advisor to President Clinton. He went on to serve as Bill Clinton’s 1996 campaign manager. That venture was cut short two months before the election when, while consorting with a prostitute, he allowed the woman to listen in on conversations with the President. That is the Dick Morris I remember.

While under contract with Fox News as a political consultant, Morris was the least accurate of pundits predicting the outcome of the November 2012 election. On February 15, 2013, Fox announced it would not renew his contract. He did, however, return to Fox on November 11, 2013. Morris is a skilled political strategist in spite of his morals. That is why Clinton kept him around.

What will it mean if Republicans win the Senate with Obama as president? Last month Morris published a rather insightful article about what to expect if the Republicans take control of the US Senate in November. In all likelihood they will not acquire 67 votes that would permit them to override Obama’s vetoes. They may not even acquire 60 votes permitting them to cut off filibusters.

I would like to recount some of Morris’s points for those who may have missed his piece.

  -- If Republicans control the majority of the Senate, they can block confirmation of judges who would support Obama’s overreaching policies. The last thing America needs is more judges sympathetic to his agenda.

  -- The president does not have a line-item veto on budget items Therefore, Republicans in both Houses can include budget lines that would restrict or defund some of Obama’s obnoxious programs. Budget bills do not require 60 votes. Therefore, Democrats will not be able to stop them.

There is a catch, however. Obama could veto an entire budget bill. This might set the stage for a threatened government shutdown by the President. The way around that would be for the Republicans to select marginal but substantive items over which Obama would not be willing to assume the risk of shutting down the government. Instead of defunding all of Obamacare, the Republicans could defund the Medical Device Tax and the Payment Advisory Board (death panel).

  -- Republicans could stop Obama’s dreadful treaties. Treaties must be ratified to make them the law of the land. Until they are ratified, they still remain in effect as stipulated under the Vienna Convention. But Senator Harry Reid will not bring them up for a vote. So, the treaties remain in effect but are not part of the law of the land. A Republican-controlled Senate will be able to bring them up for a vote and then defeat them. Some of the targeted treaties are the Arms Trade Treaty, (backdoor gun control) and the Law of the Sea Treaty giving the United Nations more control of the seas. Republicans could also kill the climate change treaty that Secretary of State John Kerry is currently negotiating. This goes for the Internet treaty as well.

  -- The Obama administration has produced policies that generated bipartisan opposition. After the defeat of Democrats following the November election there should be more incentive for faithful Democrats to compromise even more. With issues such as coal, NSA surveillance, gun control, union election rules and correcting food stamp fraud there could be enough Democrat support to override at least a few vetoes.

  -- A massive defeat of Democrats should generate enough momentum in 2014 to carry over into the 2016 presidential elections. A broad national dislike of Obama’s policies should effectively launch the Republicans into the 2016 campaign.

  -- Republicans do have some attractive presidential candidates in Senators Ted Cruz (TX), Rand Paul (KY) and Marco Rubio (FL). With a senate majority they can hold hearings, pass bills and continue the momentum gained from the 2014 elections. Two years of exposure before the American public would allow them to stand out.

In the November 2014 election there are 11 Senate Democrat seats that will either be vacant or vulnerable. Republicans only need to win six seats to hold a majority. Unless Republicans snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, Dick Morris sees a November 2014 election win for Republicans in which they take control of the US Senate.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).