2012 U.S. Presidential Election

[TinCow]

Looks like Colorado is going to legalize marijuana. This will be interesting...

[ICantSpellDawg]

Christie/Rubio 2016.

G.O.P. needs to reach out to hispanics and work to reform immigration. They need to moderate their tone on birth control and stay strong against abortion, but they need to be cautious with the language that they use. We need to be more cautious on the fiscal conservatism, in spite of what pundits will say.

I wish one party would end the drug war - the trajectory is for Democrats to do this, but with the Democratic nanny-state and their growing hubris and "protect us from us" mentality, it could be the G.O.P. As immigration swells and old people die off, the GOP will re-calibrate in a big way for 2016.

[a completely inoffensive name]

There were three states that had propositions to legalize marijuana, Washington, Oregon and Colorado.

Washington and Colorado looks like they passed theirs while Oregon is 10 points behind. Nevertheless, it is going to be a drastic impact on drug policy in the Western United States.

[HopAlongBunny]

4 more years of the O'Bama-Rama!

Happy New President's Day to America :)

[TinCow]

Looks like the Nate Silver doubters will be eating their hats in the morning. Unless something changes in Virginia or Florida, is looks like he called every state correctly.

[ICantSpellDawg]

Looks like the Nate Silver doubters will be eating their hats in the morning. Unless something changes in Virginia or Florida, is looks like he called every state correctly.

Everyone should have "doubted" Nate Silver. I expected him to be right, because I am a Republican who reads the polls and his posts, but I hoped that he was missing something. I think that Dick Morris, Zogby and Rassmussen should be dragged into the street. this is the second election where it seems like they are running propaganda, but I can't for the life of me figure out who it is benefiting, other than themselves. Hopefully that is over now. Realclearpolitics has reformed themselves in my eyes. I left them after the 08 election, but they seem to have reformed their method with the data and have been pretty spot on this cycle.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Legalized Pot, Gay Marriage, and limits on tax increases.



Go Washington! (state(!))

I went to an election "party" tonight, which I found out was a group of Obama supporters. A bit awkward for me, but they at least acknowledged Obama's failings and were welcoming to Gary Johnson supporters.

I also found out Obama's White House home brew beer recipe is pretty good.

CR

[a completely inoffensive name]

So far, just as I expected, California is fucking up, again.

[a completely inoffensive name]

I cannot believe it didn't pass here in Oregon. This State supplies the weed for all the states that actually passed the law. FUBAR man, FUBAR. All those weed barons just don't wanna pay taxes.

It doesn't matter, all it takes is one state and we got two. Once Washington and Colorado figuratively swim in the tax revenue from everyone in the Western US coming to buy pot, every state is going to want in on the action. The Feds just cannot enforce their laws without massive help on the state level, once that is gone, the fight is over for the Feds. They are going to take it to SCOTUS unless Obama gets enforcement to back off once and for all.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Boy did I get that one wrong.

Obama did not eke out a win, as I expected, he beat Romney soundly. The electoral college win was a walk-away (and will go up further when the recount shows he got Florida as well) and Obama gained a solid popular vote win as well, earning a huge percentage of the West Coast's votes to top that category as well. He may not have had the "new" tag that got him an extra 5% last time, but he had more than enough to win soundly this go around.

The Senate and House remain essentially the same, as expected. All of the oomph from the Tea Party had faded back a notch.

[Hooahguy]

Maryland joins the progressive states and legalized gay marriage.

I feel this may be a turning point in American politics. Maybe now the GOP will reject the Tea Party right and become more moderate.

[rvg]

Maryland joins the progressive states and legalized gay marriage.

I feel this may be a turning point in American politics. Maybe now the GOP will reject the Tea Party right and become more moderate.

I can only hope. GOP has just lost a reasonable and moderate Scott Brown to a leftist moron, and I can't help but blame the tea party for it.

[Hooahguy]

I also think the Todd Aiken debacle contributed to the nationwide boot of GOP candidates.

[Kadagar_AV]

I also think the Todd Aiken debacle contributed to the nationwide boot of GOP candidates.

It is rather hard getting respect when high ranking members are seen as intellectually challenged by anyone with the ability to, say, google.

[Lemur]

Well, now that's settled, let's abolish the Electoral College and chuck every electronic voting machine off a cliff.

Can we make a deal?

Also, now is the time to talk about voter IDs and so forth. Not in the three months leading up to a national election. Now.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Christie/Rubio 2016.

G.O.P. needs to reach out to hispanics and work to reform immigration. They need to moderate their tone on birth control and stay strong against abortion, but they need to be cautious with the language that they use. We need to be more cautious on the fiscal conservatism, in spite of what pundits will say.

I wish one party would end the drug war - the trajectory is for Democrats to do this, but with the Democratic nanny-state and their growing hubris and "protect us from us" mentality, it could be the G.O.P. As immigration swells and old people die off, the GOP will re-calibrate in a big way for 2016.

I saw some talking head saying some people in the GOP are going to demand a more conservative candidate.

And I thought, really? That's the takeaway from tonight? Someone who's less of a moderate? Being more to the right on social issues? But apparently yes; http://www.redstate.com/2012/11/07/status-quo-ante/
and especially http://www.redstate.com/2012/11/07/baloney/

Good grief.

Maybe the Libertarian party can rise from the ashes (well, probably not, but...)

CR

[Lemur]

Holy ****, this seems like tremendous, major news, or am I missing something? We gonna need some 51-star flags?

Puerto Rico wants to become the 51st state of the US

Voters in Puerto Rico have supported a non-binding referendum to become a full US state.

The measure will require approval from the US Congress, but President Barack Obama has said he will respect the vote.

The island is currently a US territory, which uses the dollar and whose citizens travel on US passports.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Holy ****, this seems like tremendous, major news, or am I missing something? We gonna need some 51-star flags?

Puerto Rico wants to become the 51st state of the US

Voters in Puerto Rico have supported a non-binding referendum to become a full US state.

The measure will require approval from the US Congress, but President Barack Obama has said he will respect the vote.

The island is currently a US territory, which uses the dollar and whose citizens travel on US passports.

If you could time their admission to coincide with the secession of Texas you would not need to change the flag...

[Beskar]

The problem is, Obama will still face the issues of the previous end of last term with having a republican Congress and a stalemated Senate. So nothing much will be done as the republicans will just fillibuster everything again.

[Fisherking]

The problem is, Obama will still face the issues of the previous end of last term with having a republican Congress and a stalemated Senate. So nothing much will be done as the republicans will just fillibuster everything again.

Perhaps, just perhaps Republicans may find grounds to work with him now that he can not be reelected. Or he may even move toward them in order to get things done. But I won’t hold my breath.

[TinCow]

Holy ****, this seems like tremendous, major news, or am I missing something? We gonna need some 51-star flags?

Puerto Rico wants to become the 51st state of the US

Voters in Puerto Rico have supported a non-binding referendum to become a full US state.

The measure will require approval from the US Congress, but President Barack Obama has said he will respect the vote.

The island is currently a US territory, which uses the dollar and whose citizens travel on US passports.

Wow... between that and the legalization of marijuana measures, we've certainly got more than our usual share of unusual referendum results to chew on. I've lived my entire life under a 50 star flag with 100 senators... it will screw up all the nice even numbers!

[Lemur]

I think there are modest grounds for optimism. The Republican strategy of the last four years was, frankly, to block attempts at constructive engagement, prevent any Federal efforts at encouraging recovery, and then blame the sitting Prez for getting nothing done. (While also, paradoxically, blaming him for anything he actually did get done.)

The overwhelming goal, as declared on the record by the Speaker of the House, was "to make Obama a one-term president."

That has failed.

Congresscritters will now have to consider their own survival, especially given that the normal outcome of a mid-term election (small-to-large losses in the House and Senate for the incumbent party) also failed to take place.

The House GOP may see political advantage in doing their job as legislators.

It's a possibility.

[Lemur]

Also, we may see some reformation in the right-wing echo chamber. A good takedown:

Conservatives were at an information disadvantage because so many right-leaning outlets wasted time on stories the rest of America dismissed as nonsense. WorldNetDaily brought you birtherism. Forbes brought you Kenyan anti-colonialism. National Review obsessed about an imaginary rejection of American exceptionalism, misrepresenting an Obama quote in the process, and Andy McCarthy was interviewed widely about his theory that Obama, aka the Drone Warrior in Chief, allied himself with our Islamist enemies in a "Grand Jihad" against America. Seriously?

Conservatives were at a disadvantage because their information elites pandered in the most cynical, self-defeating ways, treating would-be candidates like Sarah Palin and Herman Cain as if they were plausible presidents rather than national jokes who'd lose worse than George McGovern.

How many months were wasted on them?

How many hours of Glenn Beck conspiracy theories did Fox News broadcast to its viewers? How many hours of transparently mindless Sean Hannity content is still broadcast daily? Why don't Americans trust Republicans on foreign policy as they once did? In part because conservatism hasn't grappled with the foreign-policy failures of George W. Bush. A conspiracy of silence surrounds the subject. Romney could neither run on the man's record nor repudiate it. The most damaging Romney gaffe of the campaign, where he talked about how the 47 percent of Americans who pay no income taxes are a lost cause for Republicans? Either he was unaware that many of those people are Republican voters, or was pandering to GOP donors who are misinformed. Either way, bad information within the conservative movement was to blame.

In conservative fantasy-land, Richard Nixon was a champion of ideological conservatism, tax cuts are the only way to raise revenue, adding neoconservatives to a foreign-policy team reassures American voters, Benghazi was a winning campaign issue, Clint Eastwood's convention speech was a brilliant triumph, and Obama's America is a place where black kids can beat up white kids with impunity. Most conservative pundits know better than this nonsense -- not that they speak up against it. They see criticizing their own side as a sign of disloyalty. I see a coalition that has lost all perspective, partly because there's no cost to broadcasting or publishing inane bullshit. In fact, it's often very profitable. A lot of cynical people have gotten rich broadcasting and publishing red meat for movement conservative consumption.

[Xiahou]

By and large, there was no change in Congress. How is that pressure to do anything differently? The voters wildly disapprove of congress, but when it comes to their own representatives, they sent most of them back. This election adds up to an endorsement of the status quo.

[Lemur]

The overwhelming goal, as declared on the record by the Speaker of the House, was "to make Obama a one-term president."

That has failed.

By and large, there was no change in Congress. How is that pressure to do anything differently?

Because the overwhelming goals of the last four years have failed.

1. Obama will not be a one-term president.
2. ACA (Obamacare) will not be repealed. And no population in any nation has ever repealed universal health care once enacted.

So the status quo in 2012 is remarkably different from the status quo in 2008 or 2010.

[Xiahou]

Because the overwhelming goals of the last four years have failed.

1. Obama will not be a one-term president.
2. ACA (Obamacare) will not be repealed. And no population in any nation has ever repealed universal health care once enacted.

So the status quo in 2012 is remarkably different from the status quo in 2008 or 2010.

Accepting all of that- they were still returned to their seats for another term. I'm straining how to see this would be seen as a mandate for change....

[Lemur]

I'm straining how to see this would be seen as a mandate for change....

You're not "straining to see" anything, you're disagreeing; two very different mental experiences.

As I said earlier, there are "modest grounds for optimism." That's all. Total obstructionism may be judged to not be in the House GOP's best interest. It's a possibility. Hence "modest," hence "optimism."

[Xiahou]

You're not "straining to see" anything, you're disagreeing; two very different mental experiences.

No, I'm pretty sure I meant what I said. Thanks for trying to read my thoughts though just the same.

[Lemur]

Thanks for trying to read my thoughts though just the same.

Not trying to be rude, it just seemed as though "straining to see" was oblique-speak for "disagree."

So, do you see any significance in this election at all? Anything?

[TinCow]

Accepting all of that- they were still returned to their seats for another term. I'm straining how to see this would be seen as a mandate for change....

This statement assumes there was a mandate for anything, which is the problem. This country is heavily split, almost down the middle, and neither side appears prepared to budge. Both want significant changes, but in opposite directions and they continue to pull in those directions. Change will happen due to sheer momentum once one side finally stumbles, but it won't be because of a mandate, it will simply be due to political exhaustion.