Hmmmm... I see a pattern here

 - by New Deal democrat

[Note:  regular economic blogging will resume with the Jobs Report tomorrow morning]

Gloria Borger, CNN:

Now voters demand change elections more often than they don't. Consider this: Republicans win the Senate in 2002, then lose it in 2006. The Democrats hold the Senate until losing control of it last night -- predictions are that they might be in a good position to take it back in two years.

At some point, someone might start listening: Voters are steaming. They're anxious.... .... [W]hat happened last night is not a communications problem. It's a governing problem. Almost 8 out of 10 voters who voted yesterday don't trust the government to do the right thing 

David Atkins, Digby's blog

[T]his was yet another wave election. The latest in a long string since 2006. It needs to be said again.

Turnout keeps declining in midterm elections as people lose faith in the political process. And the people who do vote, consistently vote for someone to change something. It's entirely likely that people will be fed up with Republicans fighting one another and putting terrible bills on the President's desk and vote again for change in the other direction in 2016--particularly with a larger, more progressive electorate. Not a given, of course, but likely.

And why not? The country is broken, and everyone who isn't already wealthy knows it. ....  And it seems like absolutely nothing is going to change any of that, no matter who gets into office....

 Eventually this will reach a breaking point. It has to. It'll break when some sufficiently large crisis occurs, and one side is fully prepared to use that seething rage for constructive outcomes. 

The party that is more ready for that moment will be the one that makes real policy changes. Until then, we'll just keep surfing waves ....

 Markos Moulitsas:

In 2004, Republicans won big, and Democrats were left trying to figure out what went wrong.

Then in 2006, Democrats won big, and they decided everything was fine. Republicans merely shrugged it off as the 6-year-itch that bedevils parties that hold the White House in a president's last midterm.

2008, Democrats won big again, and Republicans were left fumbling for excuses, but mainly decided it was Bush's fault and an artifact of Barack Obama's historic campaign.

In 2010, Republicans won big, so they were validated. All was fine! Democrats were left fumbling.

In 2012, Democrats won big, so they decided everything was fine. Demographics and data to the rescue! Republicans decided to rebrand, until they decided fuck that, no rebranding was needed.

And now in 2014, Republicans are validated again in the Democrats' own 6-year-itch election. Democrats are scrambling for answers.  

And I'll tell you what the future looks like:

In 2016, Democrats will win big ....

In 2018, Republicans will win ....

Then in 2020, Democrats will win ....

.... And that cycle won't be broken until 1) the Democrats figure out how to inspire their voters to the polls on off years, or 2) Republicans figure out how to appeal to the nation's changing electorate.

Let me distill this down to its essence. In a legacy two party system from which there appears to be no escape, voters have no choice but to throw the current crop of bums out, and give the other crop of bums another chance, until one or other of the groups of bums actually starts addressing their problems.