Where There's Smoke There's Fired

David Freddoso sees a troubling sign for Congressional Democrats. Maybe that should be another troubling sign:

Today’s “Tweet the Press” interview between NBC’s David Gregory and DCCC Chairman Steve Israel, D-N.Y., contained what I consider two giant red flags. The first came as Gregory noted the toxic political environment, the Florida-13 result, and President Obama’s low approval ratings. Then he asked how Democratic House candidates can handle this:

In my limited experience, this is the one true and unmistakable indication that a party is going to lose the coming Midterm. I saw Republicans say this in 2006 and Democrats say it in 2010 and 2002. The magical phrase is some variation of “We’re going to run on local issues.”

The trick to big gains in an off-year election is to nationalize the race. Newt Gingrich did this to stunning effect in 1994, winning enough seats to gain the Senate and make himself the first GOP Speaker 40 years. The GOP did it again to a lesser degree in 2002, managing mid-term to win seats as the party in power — an historical anomaly. That year the issue was 9/11. In 2006 the Democrats ran against the Iraq War and swept the table. 2010, the GOP and the dirty tricks used to foist ♡bamaCare!!! on the nation.

This year the “nationalization” is almost automatic as ♡bamaCare!!! goes into effect. Er, the portions of it the Wiggleroom Administration hasn’t unilaterally delayed or suspended or called “do over!”

The problem facing Democrats is that the ♡bamaCare!!! rollout has been so ugly that it is a local issue — as localized as the kitchen table in millions of American homes.

Try running away from that, Brave Sir Robin.