Republican Gerrymandering

[AVG-JOE]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/o...-gerrymander-of-2012.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Confounding conventional wisdom, partisan redistricting is not symmetrical between the political parties. By my seat-discrepancy criterion, 10 states are out of whack: the five I have mentioned, plus Virginia, Ohio, Florida, Illinois and Texas. Arizona was redistricted by an independent commission, Texas was a combination of Republican and federal court efforts, and Illinois was controlled by Democrats. Republicans designed the other seven maps. Both sides may do it, but one side does it more often

In North Carolina, where the two-party House vote was 51 percent Democratic, 49 percent Republican, the average simulated delegation was seven Democrats and six Republicans. The actual outcome? Four Democrats, nine Republicans — a split that occurred in less than 1 percent*of simulations. If districts were drawn fairly, this lopsided discrepancy would hardly ever occur.

Gerrymandering is not hard. The core technique is to jam voters likely to favor your opponents into a few throwaway districts where the other side will win lopsided victories, a strategy known as “packing.” Arrange other boundaries to win close victories, “cracking” opposition groups into many districts. Professionals use proprietary software to draw districts, but free software like Dave’s Redistricting App lets you do it from your couch.

True that both sides do it, but in the opinion of this average Joe, the republicans are just FAR better at it, and now they are paying the price, being dragged by their tail by out-dated ideologies.

I wouldn’t say that. The republicans are not better at it by any means. It is more prevalent atm because it is republicans that hold state governments by fairly large margins. 2010 really set the republicans up for this when they swept local elections across the board.

I can see that... it's not a favored skill, per se... it's an opportunity not wasted.

 

[Samson]

In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan advantaged districts.

Gerrymandering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The TEA Party wing of the Republicans may not owe its existence to Gerrymandering, but the tail-wagging-the-dog power it holds over the party and the nation is a direct result.

The Republican insistence on nominating conservative candidates who are right-wing buffoons in the general elections is a direct result of Gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering may be protecting the ideology of the Right, but it's rendering the Republicans impotent in national elections.

Gerrymandering is THE reason that Americans have a less than 10% approval rating for Congress.

It's the REPUBLICANS who're being hurt by Republican Gerrymandering in the long run.

`​

There's no such thing as Democrat Gerrymandering?

Cathy Castor, FL 14th district, Democrat US HOR;

Castor is a rank-and-file Democrat according to GovTrack's own analysis of bill sponsorship

 

[Darkwind]

In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan advantaged districts.

Gerrymandering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The TEA Party wing of the Republicans may not owe its existence to Gerrymandering, but the tail-wagging-the-dog power it holds over the party and the nation is a direct result.

The Republican insistence on nominating conservative candidates who are right-wing buffoons in the general elections is a direct result of Gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering may be protecting the ideology of the Right, but it's rendering the Republicans impotent in national elections.

Gerrymandering is THE reason that Americans have a less than 10% approval rating for Congress.

It's the REPUBLICANS who're being hurt by Republican Gerrymandering in the long run.

`​

You are just pissed because the Democrats aren't doing it. If the roles were reversed, you'd not make a peep about this.

Will you advocate for drawing ALL Congressional Districts as squares of equal population, regardless of political affiliation of the population? I can assure you, that would be worse for the Democrats than for the Republicans.

 

[bripat9643]

The pretense that Democrats don't Gerrymander and that they don't have "extreme" candidates doesn't pass the laugh test.

You beat me to it they just recently elected the extreme and also phony Indian Elizabeth Warren and the extremely radical nut job Alan Grayson as just two examples.

"Well... well... well... they do it too!" is not a solution.

Besides... who gives a fuck about the democrats? I want to discuss how republican gerrymandering is damaging republican chances nationally.

It doesn't damage diddly squat. Republicans would be stupid not to do it when Democrats do it with gusto.

We really believe that you're concerned about helping Republicans win elections. A better strategy would be to convince Democrats to stop their Gerrymandering.

 

[IlarMeilyr]

In reality, the Tea Party is the sole potential salvation for the GOP. The national GOP, that miscreant collection of weak-willed losers, are more interested in staying in power than in doing the heavy lifting of governance. And they aren't very intelligent about retaining (or reclaiming) power, at that.

The GOP is too busy attempting to placate the liberal media and the false portrayal it offers of the "mood" of the electorate to bother attending to the logic of reality and history.

The institutional GOP "leadership" tries to "sanction" the conservatives. All the better to keep a version of Party discipline which is in keeping with their own myopic views on what they need to do to get votes.

But there's nobody tripping over themselves to vote for the national GOP candidates when the national Party has no discernible distinguishing principles.

If the fucking dishonest liberally-biased media claims that "the Hispanic vote" is the be all and end all of getting elections won, then the GOP dutifully "reaches out" to the Hispanic population by caving-in on matters of immigration reform. Does it work? Will THAT help get the "Hispanic vot"e to perform a sea change shift from the Dim Party to the GOP?

Of course not.

All the GOP manages to accomplish is to LOOK like snake oil salesmen to the very constituency they are hoping to woo. And they get what SHOULD be their base to lose faith in what the GOP stands for. The GOP-base voters might as well vote for a Dim since there are fewer and fewer substantive differences between the two national Parties. Or, on election days, the GOP base just stays home, more and more, which effectively concedes the field to the opposition. It turns out that it's not such a great idea to take "counsel" or "advice" from the FakeyStarkeys of the world, and their media stooges.

If the national GOP had a brain in its collective head, they'd study recent history. What led to their ascendancy when they achieved any form of electoral success? Seriously. Did Ronald Reagan pander to the liberals? Or did he TAKE THEM ON? Did he spend lots of time agreeing with them or did he expose the hideous leftist logic behind the Democrat Parody agenda.

So, once again, the question is urgent, pressing and quite real: What led to the GOP ascendancy when they achieved any form of electoral success?

Hint: it was NOT acting like a pale version of the Dim Party.

 

[bripat9643]

"Well... well... well... they do it too!" is not a solution.

Besides... who gives a fuck about the democrats? I want to discuss how republican gerrymandering is damaging republican chances nationally.

It sounds more like you just want to trash the Tea Party more than discuss anything.

On the contrary. The involvement of the TEA party in my thesis is almost a side note. The point of discussion is how gerrymandering is coming back to bite the republicans on the ideological butt.

The over-justifiable influence of the TEA Party wing is a symptom.

It isn't biting them in the butt, moron. Not even a Democrat is stupid enough to fall for that con.

 

[NightFox]

Essentially, the state would be cut into simple rectangles.

Nice in theory but I cannot envision a scenario where the duopoly would surrender this handy tool for distorting democracy, methinks that ship has sailed and the founders missed it.

 

[IlarMeilyr]

If the national GOP had a brain in its collective head, they'd study recent history. What led to their ascendancy when they achieved any form of electoral success? Seriously. Did Ronald Reagan pander to the liberals? Or did he TAKE THEM ON? Did he spend lots of time agreeing with them or did he expose the hideous leftist logic behind the Democrat Parody agenda?

So, once again, the question is urgent, pressing and quite real: What led to the GOP ascendancy when they achieved any form of electoral success?

Hint: it was NOT acting like a pale version of the Dim Party.

 

[Samson]

In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan advantaged districts.

Gerrymandering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The TEA Party wing of the Republicans may not owe its existence to Gerrymandering, but the tail-wagging-the-dog power it holds over the party and the nation is a direct result.

The Republican insistence on nominating conservative candidates who are right-wing buffoons in the general elections is a direct result of Gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering may be protecting the ideology of the Right, but it's rendering the Republicans impotent in national elections.

Gerrymandering is THE reason that Americans have a less than 10% approval rating for Congress.

It's the REPUBLICANS who're being hurt by Republican Gerrymandering in the long run.

`​

There's no such thing as Democrat Gerrymandering?

Louis Guiterrez, IL 4th district, Democrat US HOR;

 

[bripat9643]

The TEA Party wing of the Republicans may not owe its existence to Gerrymandering, but the tail-wagging-the-dog power it holds over the party and the nation is a direct result.

The Republican insistence on nominating conservative candidates who are right-wing buffoons in the general elections is a direct result of Gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering may be protecting the ideology of the Right, but it's rendering the Republicans impotent in national elections.

Gerrymandering is THE reason that Americans have a less than 10% approval rating for Congress.

It's the REPUBLICANS who're being hurt by Republican Gerrymandering in the long run.

`​

Don't turds like you keep saying the TEA Party is nothing, that is has no power?

Turds? What are you... thirteen?



I've never said that the TEA Party has no power... and sweeping generalizations like that are another dead give-away of an immature writer, just in case you're interested.

I address people with the amount of respect they have earned. Libturds have earned none so they get none.

Countless libturds in this forum have said the TEA Party is toothless, that it has no electoral support.

 

[Samson]

In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan advantaged districts.

Gerrymandering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The TEA Party wing of the Republicans may not owe its existence to Gerrymandering, but the tail-wagging-the-dog power it holds over the party and the nation is a direct result.

The Republican insistence on nominating conservative candidates who are right-wing buffoons in the general elections is a direct result of Gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering may be protecting the ideology of the Right, but it's rendering the Republicans impotent in national elections.

Gerrymandering is THE reason that Americans have a less than 10% approval rating for Congress.

It's the REPUBLICANS who're being hurt by Republican Gerrymandering in the long run.

`​

There's no such thing as Democrat Gerrymandering?

Dutch Ruppetsburger, MD 2th district, Democrat US HOR;

 

[AVG-JOE]

In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan advantaged districts.

Gerrymandering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The TEA Party wing of the Republicans may not owe its existence to Gerrymandering, but the tail-wagging-the-dog power it holds over the party and the nation is a direct result.

The Republican insistence on nominating conservative candidates who are right-wing buffoons in the general elections is a direct result of Gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering may be protecting the ideology of the Right, but it's rendering the Republicans impotent in national elections.

Gerrymandering is THE reason that Americans have a less than 10% approval rating for Congress.

It's the REPUBLICANS who're being hurt by Republican Gerrymandering in the long run.

`​

There's no such thing as Democrat Gerrymandering?

Cathy Castor, FL 14th district, Democrat US HOR;

Castor is a rank-and-file Democrat according to GovTrack's own analysis of bill sponsorship

In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan advantaged districts.

Gerrymandering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The TEA Party wing of the Republicans may not owe its existence to Gerrymandering, but the tail-wagging-the-dog power it holds over the party and the nation is a direct result.

The Republican insistence on nominating conservative candidates who are right-wing buffoons in the general elections is a direct result of Gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering may be protecting the ideology of the Right, but it's rendering the Republicans impotent in national elections.

Gerrymandering is THE reason that Americans have a less than 10% approval rating for Congress.

It's the REPUBLICANS who're being hurt by Republican Gerrymandering in the long run.

`​

You are just pissed because the Democrats aren't doing it. If the roles were reversed, you'd not make a peep about this.

Will you advocate for drawing ALL Congressional Districts as squares of equal population, regardless of political affiliation of the population? I can assure you, that would be worse for the Democrats than for the Republicans.

I'll just ass-u-me that reading the rest of the thread has answered these questions...

 

[AVG-JOE]

You beat me to it they just recently elected the extreme and also phony Indian Elizabeth Warren and the extremely radical nut job Alan Grayson as just two examples.

"Well... well... well... they do it too!" is not a solution.

Besides... who gives a fuck about the democrats? I want to discuss how republican gerrymandering is damaging republican chances nationally.

It doesn't damage diddly squat. Republicans would be stupid not to do it when Democrats do it with gusto.

We really believe that you're concerned about helping Republicans win elections. A better strategy would be to convince Democrats to stop their Gerrymandering.

My concern is to stop the unfairness of gerrymandering on both sides.

I can't help it if the republicans are the current poster child for the problem.

 

[Samson]

In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan advantaged districts.

Gerrymandering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The TEA Party wing of the Republicans may not owe its existence to Gerrymandering, but the tail-wagging-the-dog power it holds over the party and the nation is a direct result.

The Republican insistence on nominating conservative candidates who are right-wing buffoons in the general elections is a direct result of Gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering may be protecting the ideology of the Right, but it's rendering the Republicans impotent in national elections.

Gerrymandering is THE reason that Americans have a less than 10% approval rating for Congress.

It's the REPUBLICANS who're being hurt by Republican Gerrymandering in the long run.

`​

There's no such thing as Democrat Gerrymandering?

Danny Davis, IL 7th district, Democrat US HOR;

 

[bripat9643]

"Well... well... well... they do it too!" is not a solution.

Besides... who gives a fuck about the democrats? I want to discuss how republican gerrymandering is damaging republican chances nationally.

It doesn't damage diddly squat. Republicans would be stupid not to do it when Democrats do it with gusto.

We really believe that you're concerned about helping Republicans win elections. A better strategy would be to convince Democrats to stop their Gerrymandering.

My concern is to stop the unfairness of gerrymandering on both sides.

I can't help it if the republicans are the current poster child for the problem.

Democrats can go first and serve as a role model.

 

[Samson]

I can't help it if the republicans are the current poster child for the problem.

John Sarbanes, Democrat HOR MD 3rd District

 

[jasonnfree]

In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan advantaged districts.

Gerrymandering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The TEA Party wing of the Republicans may not owe its existence to Gerrymandering, but the tail-wagging-the-dog power it holds over the party and the nation is a direct result.

The Republican insistence on nominating conservative candidates who are right-wing buffoons in the general elections is a direct result of Gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering may be protecting the ideology of the Right, but it's rendering the Republicans impotent in national elections.

Gerrymandering is THE reason that Americans have a less than 10% approval rating for Congress.

It's the REPUBLICANS who're being hurt by Republican Gerrymandering in the long run.

`​

What a stupid generalization!!!! Take a close look and you will find that most states with Democrat majority of elected politicians are the most gerrymandered - by Dem controlled state legislatures.

In the 2012 US congressional election the democrats won the popular vote but lost the election. This was due to redistricting of votes by republicans. These last ditch efforts of republicans won't last forever. There are more and more minorities now and they won't put up with republican racism or hatred of the working class. You people will have to change or win fewer and fewer elections.

PolitiFact | Steny Hoyer: House Democrats won majority of 2012 popular vote

 

[AVG-JOE]

It doesn't damage diddly squat. Republicans would be stupid not to do it when Democrats do it with gusto.

We really believe that you're concerned about helping Republicans win elections. A better strategy would be to convince Democrats to stop their Gerrymandering.

My concern is to stop the unfairness of gerrymandering on both sides.

I can't help it if the republicans are the current poster child for the problem.

Democrats can go first and serve as a role model.

​

With the current house & senate?!?

 

[NightFox]

My concern is to stop the unfairness of gerrymandering on both sides.

A noble effort but I suspect one that is in vain, can't enforce it on a federal level without a constitutional amendment and to get it done in any particular state(s) you would have to convince the sitting majority to do something that while it's the right thing to do from a principle standpoint is against their own partisan political interests.

Unfortunately the nature of our duopoly makes doing the right thing nearly impossible sometimes.

 

[Papageorgio]

It doesn't damage diddly squat. Republicans would be stupid not to do it when Democrats do it with gusto.

We really believe that you're concerned about helping Republicans win elections. A better strategy would be to convince Democrats to stop their Gerrymandering.

My concern is to stop the unfairness of gerrymandering on both sides.

I can't help it if the republicans are the current poster child for the problem.

Democrats can go first and serve as a role model.

I love how hypocritical Avg Joe is. After starting this politically charged thread and blaming Republicans, then claim he is "concerned" is such bullshit. Here is the transparency Obama talked about.