Printable View
I had 2 of those guys - one on either side of me - last night at the Poll. Absolutely unprepared, totally befuddled by touch-screen machines, and obviously ignorant of any need for anonymity. Both left their machines and walked over to mine to ask for help.Quote:
Originally Posted by BDC
I wanted to punch them; instead called a poll worker over. Geez...my fellow citizens.
As House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi would have absolutely nothing to say about who the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee is. That will be up to the Senate Majority leader, most likely Ted Kennedy or Joe Biden.Quote:
Originally Posted by Major Robert Dump
Edit: Technically speaking, Harry Reid (current Minority Leader) should be the next Senate Majority Leader, except Dems are pretty pissed at him, and I'm not certain they'll back him as Majority Leader, hence my listing of Biden & Kennedy.
Okay, of all the Democratic victories yesterday, one that I actually wanted to see but didn't was Harald Ford Jr in Tennessee. The reason I opposed Bob Corker was this vile piece of filth. It's disgusting. The guns, the terrorists etcetera... sure I suppose it's fair game. But the girl at the end? That is blatant racism... elect a black guy and he'll take all the white women. And the stupid hicks in Tennessee played along and voted against him. Don Imus was right this morning. Bob Corker may not be awful, but nobody in Tennessee thought he was better than Harald Ford Jr. (a very conservative Democrat, by the by). I had hoped we had moved beyond all this, but sadly, :no: I would have hoped that I could have said if we were going to lose, we could have at least lost with style. Sadly, we lost, and in doing so, Republicans managed to lose their dignity at the same time.
Well, one positive side to the election... Ken Mehlmann (RNC chairman) and his cronies will be shown the door. They're not conservatives, they're the lobby for graft.
Look on the bright side.... well the statistical side. If these 5000 are voting truly randomly that's 2500 each way, cancelling each other out. It's only where you have a third choice things get interesting .... 1,666 each for Reps, Dems and the token fruit-bat alternative, raising the fruit-bat vote to a grand total of 1,667 :clown:
Kukri - you missed a chance to say "Look, press this button HERE" (although this would clearly offend your honest approach to democracy :bow:)
More post-election polling info:
Corruption was the top-ranked issue: 41% called it "extremely important." Six in 10 of those voters favored Democrats. Republicans lost the Florida district that had been represented by Mark Foley, who resigned in the wake of the congressional-page scandal. In Pennsylvania, Rep. Don Sherwood, accused by his former mistress of trying to strangle her, lost, too.
Terrorism, rated "extremely important" by 39%, worked to Republicans' advantage, but by just 7 points — not the slam-dunk that the White House envisioned. Bush repeatedly argued during the campaign that Democrats couldn't be trusted to keep the nation safe. On Tuesday, 29% of voters said that Republicans alone could protect the country from terrorism — only somewhat more than the 22% who said only the Democrats could.
In the end, views on the Iraq war correlated most closely with how people voted; 36% called the issue "extremely important." Eight in 10 of those who opposed the war voted for Democrats; eight in 10 of those who supported the war voted for Republicans.
Codoleezza is HOT~:pimp:Quote:
Originally Posted by TB666
You may have to make good on that promise. You're in VA, right?Quote:
Originally Posted by Proletariat
[edit]
Turns out the G.O.P. loss was all McCain's fault! Who knew?
Handed a large majority, the GOP frittered it away. The chief fritterer was Senator McCain and his Gang of 14 and Kennedy-McCain immigration bill, supplemented by a last minute throw down that prevented the NSA bill from progressing or the key judicial nominations from receiving a vote. His accomplice in that master stroke was Senator Graham. Together they cost their friend Mike DeWine his seat in the Senate, and all their Republican colleagues their chairmanships. Senator McCain should rethink his presidential run. Amid the ruins of the GOP's majority there is a clear culprit.
[snip]
Senator Santorum is now available for a seat on the SCOTUS should one become available.
[edit of the edit]
And then there's The Onion's take:
Republicans Blame Election Losses On Democrats
WASHINGTON, DC—Republican officials are blaming tonight's GOP losses on Democrats, who they claim have engaged in a wide variety of "aggressive, premeditated, anti-Republican campaigns" over the past six-to-18 months. "We have evidence of a well-organized, well-funded series of operations designed specifically to undermine our message, depict our past performance in a negative light, and drive Republicans out of office," said Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman, who accused an organization called the Democratic National Committee of spearheading the nationwide effort. "There are reports of television spots, print ads, even volunteers going door-to-door encouraging citizens to vote against us." Acknowledging that the "damage has already been done," Mehlman is seeking a promise from Democrats to never again engage in similar practices.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KukriKhan
I heard that in Oregon the people voted for new campaign finance reform laws by a margin of 55-45, while voting against the constitutional amendment that would allow those laws to take effect.
AAGH! Lemur, you gave me the sort of shock I normally only get from Lars in the babe thread :pimp:Quote:
Take your pick, gents:
I like his Babe Thread posts, its his Backroom stance that makes my mind wobble.Quote:
Originally Posted by macsen rufus
Are you saying you don't like popsickle-licking twins and Islamists-Versus-Pirate threads?
:2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup:Quote:
Republicans Blame Election Losses On Democrats
WASHINGTON, DC—Republican officials are blaming tonight's GOP losses on Democrats, who they claim have engaged in a wide variety of "aggressive, premeditated, anti-Republican campaigns" over the past six-to-18 months. "We have evidence of a well-organized, well-funded series of operations designed specifically to undermine our message, depict our past performance in a negative light, and drive Republicans out of office," said Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman, who accused an organization called the Democratic National Committee of spearheading the nationwide effort. "There are reports of television spots, print ads, even volunteers going door-to-door encouraging citizens to vote against us." Acknowledging that the "damage has already been done," Mehlman is seeking a promise from Democrats to never again engage in similar practices.
trust the onion to make me smile thanks Lemur
Montana ~:cheers:
Can anyone explain in a broad-brush way for non-Americans what this result means - ie not going into detail of the personalities, but the broad implications of the two houses being controlled by a different party from the White House etc? Does the USA grind to a halt until the next Presidential election? Does legislation halt / go into reverse / explode? Will foreign policy change?
Okay, that's the token intelligent question, now babe thread posts, I'm afraid Lars focusses too much on the wobble for my taste. But as a Brit I shouldn't really slate Pelosi and Rice when we have Widdicombe, Curry, Short et al to scare naughty little boys with.... shudder :skull: :skull: :skull:
Bush will have to compromise with the dems if he wants to get anything done.
Well the for legislature to pass it has to get an apporving 1/2 majority vote for both the house and senate. The president, can then veto whatever legislature comes his way for final approval. The bill then goes back to the Senate where it has to recieve a 2/3 vote to override the veto.Quote:
Originally Posted by macsen rufus
One of two things could happen. The democrats could throw a bunch of legislature at Bush and he could veto every single piece not getting much done in his last years as president, or he could compromise with the house/senate.
Did they call Montana for Talent? I just went to CNN and didn't see anything about it.
Edit: Oops, duplicate post.
Mascen, pretty much what's been said before. Having Congress & the White House at odds tends to bring about gridlock (the benevolent kind so favored by Lemur, and the not so good kind, such as when Newt Gingrich locked all federal employees out of their offices because they couldn't compromise on a spending bill).
Generally speaking, American voters will punish either/both sides if they're perceived as being too obstructionist. If Bush says "You know, anything Nancy & Harry send my way is gonna get a veto", you can bet the farm on a Democratic president in 2 years. Likewise, if the Senate stops approving any and every nomination (the moderates AND the conservatives) and pass spending bills, they Congressional majority of Dems will last exactly 2 years.
I'm going to go way out on a limb here. Right here, I'm going to take a pledge to embrace the Democratic Congress and not blanketly dismiss them out of hand. I may criticize some of their stances, but for the next 2 years, I'm going to try as hard as I can to give the Socialist side of the street a chance and see where that gets us. I cannot choke down Universal Healthcare, as it would be disastrous for our medical infrastructure, but affordable insurance for everyone ok. Open border with Mexico, okay. I'll give the Democratic agenda a chance, try to allow as much of the 6 For 2006 a chance. Who knows, I just might learn something. Call me Mr. 5 1/2 for 2006. I'll still take exception when policy is debated, but once you guys have the votes and put it up and get it on the books, mum's the word. Sasaki, Lemur and all you other Dems, feel free to call me on it when I stray from the path.
Yes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Corleone
Also, Drapes, lol.
Yup, looks like folks are calling Montana for Tester. I guess his opponent had a little problem:
"Burns was a top recipient of campaign contributions from Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in January to corruption. Burns has since returned or donated about $150,000, and has maintained he did nothing wrong and was never influenced by Abramoff."
I like how Bush is all "I've always supported bipartisanship" the day after losing control of congress.
"Burns had some of his own gaffes, beyond the Abrahmhoff scandall, including a incident where he cursed at firefighters". :dizzy2:
Well, I suppose it would be too much to expect Jim Allen to do the honorable thing and concede now, to save us from a 3rd election decided in the courts. Unfortunately, he's the wrong man for that particular job. I'm afraid we won't know who the majority leader is for another month and a half now...:shame:
Post-election uncertainty has sort of become our theme in the last decade. I was expecting it this time. The shocker (for the lemur) will be if it's only one election that isn't resolved until mid-December.
I'm hopeful that he'll just do the expected re-count and then call it a day.Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Corleone
The likelihood of him having any aspirations after this loss is almost nil, after all, so he has a vested interest in making sure the count was correct.
Note: Webb's win would probably have been a notch BIGGER without a marriage protection ammendment on the ballot.
Which in effect means that, given the current political landscape, nothing is going to get done.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sasaki Kojiro
Well I think you're nuts for doing so. When the Republicans controlled the executive & legislative branches most of us who are moderate to right leaning expected a little bit more than tax cuts and Supreme Court nominations. What we wound up with was a party that became drunk with power and ran contrary to its core ideologies on the serious issues. Seriously now, that 20th century Democrat tribute band called the Neo-Cons really screwed the pooch in Iraq. And yet despite the shock of being dragged into a geopolitically inspired strategy of nation building in Iraq the Republican constituency still expected their elected officials would address illegal immigration, privatize social security and generally slash and burn government down to size. But what did those elected representatives do? Give birth to the wonder twins known as Jack and Squat. To expect anything more from the Democrats simply flies in the face of common sense and to be brutally honest, smacks of desperation tempered with prescription medication induced fantasy.Quote:
I'm going to go way out on a limb here. Right here, I'm going to take a pledge to embrace the Democratic Congress and not blanketly dismiss them out of hand. I may criticize some of their stances, but for the next 2 years, I'm going to try as hard as I can to give the Socialist side of the street a chance and see where that gets us. I cannot choke down Universal Healthcare, as it would be disastrous for our medical infrastructure, but affordable insurance for everyone ok. Open border with Mexico, okay. I'll give the Democratic agenda a chance, try to allow as much of the 6 For 2006 a chance. Who knows, I just might learn something. Call me Mr. 5 1/2 for 2006. I'll still take exception when policy is debated, but once you guys have the votes and put it up and get it on the books, mum's the word. Sasaki, Lemur and all you other Dems, feel free to call me on it when I stray from the path.
Let's pray modern science has an answer to our problems because it's painfully clear most of these post-war generation politicians only know how to get themselves elected and milk the system like its the last teat left in the last dairy farm on the face of the Earth. I firmly believe that a pack of genetically engineered rhesus monkeys with brains the size of watermelons could do a better job of running the country than the current generation of self-absorbed fools and fops. In the very least the monkeys would be more entertaining when they screw up...
I haven't the slightest bit of optimism for the future, the road ahead seems so bleak I feel like I'm stuck in some post-war German art film.
But hey, three cheers to gridlock! ~:cheers: ~:cheers: ~:cheers:
Now you're talking sense!Quote:
Originally Posted by Spino
It will be interesting to see if Bush can switch gears and lead a bipartisan government.
While I dislike Bush intensely, don't put this past him. When he was in Texas, as I understand it, he was indeed a bipartisan figure, and worked exceptionally well with the democratic assembly. Mostly because he had to, sure-- but he has it in him to really be a uniter, not a divider, as he so often claimed to be.
In the spirit of Don's embrace of the democratic congress, i'm going to give Bush a second chance. I just hope there's not too much water under the bridge, because America has some serious problems to solve.
Just beautiful.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spino
:iloveyou:
When all is said and done this election is still a victory for conservatives. The only way the Dems pulled this off was by running conservative candidates. Now we have Rinos and Dinos running everything.