I think Atrios called the election right when he said that “whatever happens on election day, it’ll prove that america is, now and forever, a center right country”. Tomorrow night and Wednesday morning are likely to be brutal for those of us who are unfortunate enough to watch television or read newspapers.
That’s why I’m glad to be here. Before the internets, I had no choice but to listen to Howard Fineman prattle on about right-center nations and liberal overreach. Now, at least I can enjoy a little gallows humor among like-minded people.
It’s hard for me to believe this will last. Eventually, our Galtian overlords will decide that vituperative, foul-mouthed unseriousness is bad for the free markets. (It goes without saying that principled libertarians will agree.)
So let’s enjoy this all while we can.
demkat620
Hear, Hear! Tomorrow might be painful, but I will be here. No place else I could be.
Poopyman
I’ve been thinking the same thing. I figure it’s only a matter of time before “they” start regulating the hell out of the intertubes. How we work around that will be interesting to see.
ETA: Tomorrow I’ll be working as an election judge, so I probably won’t make an appearance on the nets until Wednesday. I gotta be there at 6 AM, so nighty-nite!
DougJ
@Poopyman:
I can’t see how they’ll let this go on for much longer.
MikeJ
It’s already over. Blogs are for old people. Other people prefer having their physical location automatically posted for the whole world to see and keep records of.
demkat620
@DougJ: Fuck ’em. We’ll go pirate!
RosiesDad
An acquaintance just sent me a link to the next great thing on the horizon: http://www.revolutionradio.us/
The apocalypse is truly upon us. No Howard Fineman but you do get Joe the Plumber. Fuck me.
maye
I spent my afternoon trying to get someone to pay for my son’s ophthamology exam. My vision insurance carrier says it won’t cover medical, and my medical insurance carrier says it won’t cover vision.
Thank God after tomorrow John Boehner will be there to save me from socialism!!
eemom
sweet jumping Jesus on a trampoline. What is WITH you people? What ever happened to “it ain’t over till the fat lady sings”??
For a coupla guys who spend most of their time bashing the CW, you sure open up and swallow when they shove that spoon in your face.
lamh32
I don’t plan to read any blogs tomorrow, but I gotta say, I’m probably gonna have to take a little peak at BJ before my election coverage exile.
Let’s make this viral:
Congressman John Lewis – We Vote!
Spaghetti Lee
Maybe I’m naive, but I think, say, the Democrats holding both houses of congress would have to put at least a slight bump in the wanking.
No?
Well, anyway, censorship of the internet isn’t quite the concern for me. A steady stream of entertainment for the rubes is the only way they keep the pitchforks away from their necks.
jl
@demkat620: I won’t read this miserablelefty blog no more if I have to put with pirate talk. I don’t care how great you think your ‘Yarr, maytey!” is.
I say we get up a tin can and string fund for the blog. We’ll need one of the math types to come up with a protocol.
DougJ
@eemom:
I’m not saying the election is over, I’m saying it doesn’t matter, we’ll hear a lot of bullshit anyway.
Davis X. Machina
@jl: Protocol’s all worked out. Details right here.
demkat620
@jl: That’s alot of string. Where is the world’s greatest ball of twine when we need it?
Odie Hugh Manatee
Yes. Thanks John and the Gang! This has been THE place for political discussions that I love best for over five years now.
Thank you all.
MikeJ
@demkat620: About ten years ago I remember techies talking about moving away to the hinternet. That is, we’d all pick up and go to those wide open, unoccupied spaces where the masses didn’t want to go, or places where they couldn’t go without a bit of technical know how. Which I guess some saw as a way to keep the riff-raff out.
It was a fairly fluid term that different people interpreted different ways. But it made for good conversation.
cleek
@DougJ:
the cows are moving to a different onion patch tomorrow, but the end result will smell the same: bullshit.
the MSM will still get 50% of everything wrong, as always. and the punditry will interpret 90% of that entirely wrong, as always.
Xecky Gilchrist
@eemom: What ever happened to “it ain’t over till the fat lady sings”??
Totally. The curl-up-and-die posts annoy the hell out of me.
earlofscriggs
I hope the Republicans sweep it. Go GOP! I wish them the best night they’ve had in years.
They’ll be doing the Democrats a huge favor. For the modest prize of a majority in the House (not the Senate, and no power in the White House) they’ll set themselves up — once again — to be utterly reviled in two years.
The alternative is for the Democrats to retain both houses, to absorb all the voter anger of the next two years. and to be thrown out in a much bigger wave in 2012.
It’s a fair trade…the little House this time in exchange for the White House next time.
DougJ
@Xecky Gilchrist:
Already dead, way of the samurai, motherfucker.
jl
Has Cole turned the emo pants key over to DougJ already?
This sounds like a Cole post, when he is in one of his ‘moods’.
I suggest ignoring the bullshit, except for material needed to keep this here miserable lefty blog appearing on ‘top ten’ lists compiled by our Galtian overlords.
MikeBoyScout
It ain’t ever over.
I will never surrender or concede.
F U November 3rd 2010!
We SHALL overcome. Bet on it. VICTORY!
stuckinred
@DougJ: That’s because it IS all bullshit!
El Cid
Before the interwebs I depended on a combination of tons of leftist and international magazines at bookstores, many read for free; shortwave radio to hear some sort of news not filtered through the nationalist lens inevitable from any major broadcaster here; live speeches; tapes of talks from various intellectuals handed around like samizdat; solidarity movement newsletters; locally published community and alternative press; careful reading of big newspapers especially looking for the last few paragraphs of each article; and in a few places I lived, independently supported liberal-left-multicultural radio like Pacifica stations.
Nowadays, however, I was able to, say, follow the Honduran coup in real time, listening to a crusading independent Honduran radio station which managed to only be shut down for a small while, and to read the daily press and local blogs and get to know the various actors and the most noble figures on the scene. I didn’t have to depend on the nonsense aired in our broadcast media or the dreck published in the news and pundit pages, nor various absurd government statements.
There is a form of connectedness now that there wasn’t, before, and there’s a lot more people who have read and heard and discussed the sorts of things which I used to have to look for in the sources I mentioned above. Widespread activism and organizing of many types is obviously more immediate and in some ways more possible and have been demonstrated.
kdaug
Not me – I’m going to play billiards with the league and then hit a happy hour. I’ll likely check in around midnight, but I sure as shit ain’t wading through 300 comment threads or staying up late for AK returns.
jl
@cleek: cleek at 16 is right. The BS will be same, just a question of which herd of cows is making it. Pretty much same fights will go on regardless.
DougJ
@El Cid:
Great comment.
Thomas
Tomorrow will be among the last gasps of a dying movement. Don’t even worry about it. The GOP isn’t going to shrink the deficit, they’ll be too busy trying to cut taxes every five minutes. Their hypocritical bullshit will be revealed for what it is and the last shred of whatever credibility they have will dissolve away.
Crashman
It’s appropriate that The Walking Dead premiered last night, since tomorrow will be a real Zombie Apocalypse.
cathyx
I’ll be so glad the the political ads will be done after tomorrow. I can’t remember an election that so inundated the airwaves. At least my phone number is unlisted and I haven’t been getting phone calls like my poor sister. She doesn’t even answer the phone anymore.
Xecky Gilchrist
@DougJ: Heh, OK. I can dig it.
We will indeed be treated to a tsunami of horseshit about how the Permanent Republican Majority™ is now even permanenter than ever!
beltane
Isn’t this why God invented hackers. Where there is a will, there is a way I suppose. At this rate we will have no more freedom than the Chinese do in a decade’s time, all thanks to those freedumb loving tea party patriots.
On the bright side, when the revolution comes it will be incredible. Too bad the glibertarians are too cheap to pay for public monuments, it would be so much fun to topple all those statues of Ronald Reagan kneeling at the feet of Ayn Rand. Good times.
Downpuppy
Eventually?
In the last decade we had 9/11, recession, Katrina, and economic collapse.
In the next decade, we’ll have much, much worse. Have you noticed that with no real recovery, oil is back to $83? The bozos will be in charge when TSHTF, so the only question will be whether disorder or brutal repression is the first response.
Martha
@cleek: This. I must remember this. I must remember this, even when the Guy who married the plastics billionairess becomes my senator…sigh.
mai naem
What I find depressing is that Christine O’Donnell according to the polls will get 40 percent of the vote. 4 out of 10 likely voters actually think that moron is qualified to sit in the senate. They actually feel comfortable having that stupid woman making decisions about wars, treaties and SC judges. You gotta be kidding me. Granted that Bush 11 lowered the standard but at least with Bush you figured his daddy and his buddies were going to help the special needs kid along.
Also too, anybody else feel that the SNL skit that is Sarah Palin has gone on just a bit too long?
Pancake
The best days for America are just about to begin once we get this election behind us.
Spaghetti Lee
@Xecky Gilchrist:
Yeah, about that. Has there been an election in recent memory when Republican gains weren’t forecast to be larger than they actually were?
Maude
Is Palin imploding?
She’s attacking the darlings that gave her so much attention.
I vote early in the morning and don’t watch tv. Won’t listen to radio.
The scary part is the idea that the extremists will be given a place in the Congress. This is the craziest I’ve ever seen it.
I hope the Repubs think the election is theirs and don’t turn out to vote.
It’s nice to have a place to come to and whine tomorrow.
We can also steamroller some trolls.
DougJ
@Pancake:
You’re not even trying.
DougJ
@Maude:
Feel the Thunementum. Lady Starburst is a stalking moose.
arguingwithsignposts
I think I speak for all of us when I say, let those helicopters laugh while they can!
jl
@DougJ: Give him a break. Everyone is exhausted.
arguingwithsignposts
@DougJ:
I know, kinda sad that the trolls are just going through the motions at this point.
beltane
@El Cid: I knew people back in the ’80s who operated a pirate radio station with a very powerful signal in the NY metro area. They lived in fear of FCC swat teams and were the most paranoid people I have ever met, putting your average drug dealer to shame, just for the sake of doing something we all take for granted now.
Bhall35
Well allow me to add:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRGGbyZzuTg&feature=share
mai naem
@Thomas: Umm, they’ve been saying that of the GOP since Nixon, hell… since Hoover. They’ll nominate Palladino and the teabaggers with other stupid Americans will vote for him.
Davis X. Machina
@mai naem:She has an R after her name. That’s 40% in a mid-term right there.
Go team go.
JWL
There’s much wisdom in the “got to get worse before people wise up” school of thought. The fly in the ointment is we didn’t come close to hitting rock bottom from 2000-2008. Not by a long shot.
Adam Lang
@demkat620:
Right here.
James E. Powell
Look, none of us had any control over the decisions of the White House or the congressional Democratic leadership. We are just the dullards in the bleachers, right?
We also had no control over the Great & Wise American voters who are so moronic that after the serial disasters of the Bush/Cheney Junta now, apparently, see fit to return not just the Republicans, but the worst kind of Republicans, to power. I can understand the bigots; I cannot understand the others. To paraphrase John Cole, show on the doll where Obama and the Democrats touched you.
What have the Republicans ever done for ordinary, average Americans?
What have the Democrats ever done to harm them?
What has happened in the lives of these people that they are so happy to disregard facts and reason?
If there were a way I could type a representation of a long, high-pitched, blood-curdling, anguished scream, I would type it right here:
beltane
@mai naem: It’s a zombie movement and zombies never die.
El Cid
@DougJ: Hanx
Guster
While we’re still here, I think this video, by the Noisettes, is lovely: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDg6pBMlsI4&p=80D5071964038DBF&playnext=1&index=62
Better even than pro forma trolls.
S. cerevisiae
I have unplugged my landline because of the constant calls. I am also so sick of the attack ads that I have avoided the local TV channels as well. The only thing that would make me as happy as the Democrats holding congress would be the Vikings firing Brad Childress.
jl
One warm and fuzzy memory I will have this year is that the political ads for most of the California propositions that I support were just as nasty, offensive and truth challenged as their opponents’ ads.
Also. too. All the commercials are all the same. Capacity of the political ad BS industry clearly could not keep up with the money. I started laughing at some, they were so predictable. Especially when the doom music turned into serene/meadow/at/beautiful/new/dawn music. or, we/all/start/on/great/new/journey/music, or happy/busy/beaver music.
Probably I am going mad from it, is what it is.
Cain
I don’t plan on looking at election results until the next day. Instead, I’m going to read a book and drink some scotch or something and call it good.
I’ll read about it the next day I think. I can’t believe those assholes Democrats didn’t vote in a tax cut. Really.. who decided the optics of that was bad? I wish some democratic insider would give us the background info on that.
cain
General Stuck
I simply can no longer watch cable news anymore, and that has been true for months now. The bullshit come Tuesday evening, regardless of what happens will not pass by BJ, but at least here I can respond to it. Makes all the difference, really.
though if open civil war commences, I will get me a teevee again. Wouldn’t want to miss that on Hardball.
And you all are a bunch of anti-dendites. Chew on that one awhile.
Guster
@S. cerevisiae: Olympia Snowe just called to tell me to vote for the teabagging Republican gubernatorial candidate. Because she’s moderate.
Lavocat
Bullshit. Do NOT buy into the right-wing noise machine. Do you honestly believe that with the levels of income inequality in this nation that we are REALLY a center-right nation?
Bullshit.
What we are is a nation where the plutocrats currently have control of the levers of power and they are desperate – yes, DESPERATE – to convince everyone who is foolish enough to listen that this is a center-right nation.
Bullshit.
What we have is an overwhelmingly white male power structure that thinks it can deny the future, just like it thinks it can deny global warming, just like it thinks it can deny anything and anyone who does not fit their current, skewed paradigm of a very warped reality.
Frankly, I think that we are closer to witnessing a revolution than some might think. Yes, a REAL revolution, when the peasants rise up and say FUCK THIS SHIT!
Think I’m delusional? Well, only time will tell. But I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that a landslide victory for the right-wing just might be the dose of hard medicine this country has long needed. These jokers have no plan. In fact, they are probably afraid of winning big. Why? Because these jokers have no plan. I’ll say it again: these jokers have no plan.
Fear and hatred is not a plan. Look back on our history and tell me where – when this nation was REALLY center-right – it ever accomplished anything of lasting value in peoples’ lives. All being center-right did was create an impetus to be ANYTHING but center-right, and lurch heartily toward the left.
Perhaps the Democrats will realize that it’s time to go back to being Democrats, and embracing their old New Deal liberalism. Cause we sure as hell do not need another, paler, more cowardly version of the Republican Party.
Center-right nation?
Bullshit.
General Stuck
And I hereby declare eemom the official Balloon Juice Yogi Berra.
It ain’t over till it’s over, beeches :)
James K. Polk, Esq.
Who Cares? 2012 and the Paliocalypose is right around the corner. Smoke ’em if you got ’em.
Proof: The Giants are about to win the World Series.
jl
@mai naem: At this point you will have to explain to me which is the skit and which is the reality (‘reality’ used very loosely here). I can’t keep track anymore.
John - A Motley Moose
This may just be the mj talking, but I think this is some of the best shit you’ve ever written, Dougj.
“It’s hard for me to believe this will last. Eventually, our Galtian overlords will decide that vituperative, foul-mouthed unseriousness is bad for the free markets. (It goes without saying that principled libertarians will agree.)”
timb
@Thomas: THIS.
Don’t you guys see this election is the worst thing to happen to them. The same jackasses who couldn’t keep McCain from being nominated are going to be showing their red asses for the world to see. Combined with the sheer demographic demise of the Republican base, this exposure will do nothing but destroy them.
This is a speed bump. By 2016 the Republicans will be a rump Southern party. For God’s sake, you know they are going to over-reach on immigration, which will push vast numbers of new Texas voters into the Dem column. It’s not like Fox News reaches the SAP only crowd.
How can you win a national election if you have to concede Texas, New York, and California?
Let this happen, since it was going to, and learn to enjoy the hilarity of uneducated, un-serious ideologues, imagine guys like Jeff Goldstein or Patterico, trying to run half a branch of government. It will be painful AND hilarious
Linda Featheringill
@demkat620:
Not a bad idea.
arguingwithsignposts
@General Stuck:
We’re number 10! w00t!
Seriously, I have stopped engaging in cable tv over the past few months, even maddow. it doesn’t matter. the right wing is nuts. Enjoy your kittehs. it beats the shit out of listening to a bunch of batshit insane folk playing their game – whatever that game may be.
Loneoak
Hey, at least the Giants will be beating W.’s Rangers.
DougJ
@John – A Motley Moose:
Thank you, I was happy with it too.
robertdsc-PowerBook & 27 titles
I’m gonna vote tomorrow & try to relax. Nothing else to do, really.
Davis X. Machina
Appeal to their worst instincts.
Since while people taken one-by-one are generally lovely, but in the aggregate are generally shits, appealing to their worst instincts is good politics in a majoritarian system
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Downpuppy: “Have you noticed that with no real recovery, oil is back to $83?”
I heard in the news today, according to our Wall Street overlords, that we will tolerate $90.00 a barrel.
Bring it on!
/finished bottle of Brawndo
jl
@timb: The worry is getting from here to there without them blowing up too much stuff and putting too many people six feet under through either war famine and pestilence, or their insane version of the free market on bad meth.
timb
@Cain: The lack of that vote just shows how many Democrats are in the pocket of the plutocrat class too
Crashman
@Loneoak: Maybe that’s an omen. San Francisco values for the win!
Martha
@S. cerevisiae: As a cheesehead, I do understand. We’d rather he stay your coach, but what a complete idiot. Hated him at UW too…
MikeBoyScout
Wanna talk “right-center nations and liberal overreach“?
Did you see that liberal reach over and pop that teabagging ninny right in the center of his forehead?
just kidding.
for now. :-p
Meh
Not sure if I’m just an idiot but I don’t think the fuck heads get either house. I am honestly not convinced that polling is accurate in the age of greatly reduced landlines. The only people with landlines are (by and large) older white voters which are breaking for the fucktards at almost a 2:1 clip. Everyone the I know under the age of 40 is voting and voting Democratic. I’m tellin ya – I don’t think they’re gonna take either house…at which point we will be told that the scumbags liberals stole the election and “REGULATORS!!! Mount up – we’re skinnin us some commies and darkies tonight fellas…2nd amendment remediesssssss!!!!!!!!”
Davis X. Machina
@timb:
Hate. White-hot, passionate hate.
100% of 40% of the electorate is enough to win close elections if you can drive opposition turnout down far enough. A new golden age of left-wing third parties is coming…. just don’t probe too closely into their funding.
El Cid
@beltane: All sorts of dissidents and activists are lunatic conspiracy-minded paranoiacs thinking the cops and feds are out to get them, until a couple decades later when FOIA requests gets the state police or FBI files on observing them or even sending in informers and agents provacateurs.
Tsulagi
@DougJ: No shit. Even O’Donnell puts more effort into masturbation than that.
Maude
@General Stuck:
If a new civil war breaks out, I don’t think they’ll be wearing wool uniforms this time. Prolly wash and wear.
Moses2317
It might be good if we could at least settle on a message of our own in advance so that we can fight back.
The main argument that we are going to hear from the media, Republicans, and whatever is left of the Blue Dogs is that the election results are proof that Democrats overreached in pushing liberal policies that the public disapproves of (they’ll say this even if we only lose 20 House seats and 5 Senate seats).
That argument is a load of crap. The real lesson is that President Obama and the Congressional Democrats should have been bolder in tackling the economic crisis that they inherited. My explanation is below, but let’s repeat this message over and over.
The tight political spot that Democrats are in right now is due to the fact that the economy is still struggling, unemployment is too high, and the mortgage crisis has not ended. And the continuation of those problems are due to the lack of an sufficiently aggressive and liberal response to the economic crisis.
Some of that is President Obama’s fault – by inexplicably appointing Summers, Geinthner, and some of the other folks who were partially responsible for the economic collapse, Obama failed to make the clean break necessary to break from the past both substantively and optically. In addition, the mortgage relief program was way too cautious and focused on propping up the banks rather than aiding the people who continue to be underwater.
And a lot of the continuing economic problems are the fault of the handful of conservative Democrats who conspired with Republicans to make the stimulus too small and focused on tax cuts to be effective, and who hindered any ability to pass additional stimulus as it became clear that the initial stimulus would not do enough beyond stemming the losses. What the continuing economic problems are not caused by, however, is some sort of liberal overreach on economic issues.
Without continued economic problems, the rest of the ginned up right wing anger would have largely fallen on deaf ears, and a lot of the folks who voted for our side in 2008 would still be fired up to support the President and Congressional Democrats. Instead, continued economic malaise have given the tea partiers an opening to exploit anger, and has taken the wind out of the sails of a lot of our backers.
Of course, it seems odd that voters are funneling their anger about continued economic problems toward increasing the chance of a takeover by Republicans who caused the economic collapse to begin with and who will make things even worse moving forward. But that anger is misdirected due to the bad economy and the fact that the Democrats failed to fully deliver on achieving economic recovery, not because the Democrats overreached.
Winning Progressive
jl
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Some emerging markets have handled their little piece of the Great Recession well enough to be recovering quite well. China is the biggest example.
It’s a global market.
My personal opinion is that it was impossible to really know how much of the oil spike before the last election was due to finanancial nonsense and how much was due to real economic factors. Maybe we will find out now, and at a very inconvenient time.
morzer
@beltane:
“That is not dead which can eternal lie”
I don’t see the GOP running out of lies any time soon.
Spaghetti Lee
@Davis X. Machina:
I understand the implication, but I put forth that they are by and large too stupid to pull off such an elegant, long-lasting ratfucking. Hell, James O’Keefe couldn’t even bone a CNN reporter without getting caught.
timb
@jl: Agreed. From my guess in 2008, I did not think they would gain control of the House, but I didn’t know the recession was this bad. They won’t take the Senate however, and that right there should limit much of their damage. Can you imagine how a Party will look with that orange jackass as their leader. The last thing that corporate cockroach needs is the light of sunshine!
Lolis
I don’t think Dems in the Senate or House were going to accomplish much these next two years anyway. So if Republicans win the House I don’t think it is that big of a deal. The swing voters will start to put some blame on Republicans just in time for 2012. Cause sadly I don’t think the economy will be roaring back to life in two years no matter who wins tomorrow.
MattR
@Meh: Just so I have something on my permanent record come Wednesday, I’ll say “this” with regard to your election predictions.
frosty
@Poopyman: Me too. Poll watcher, 6:45 AM to 6:00 PM. Also phone caller.
The Democratic coordinator sounded pretty excited when I told her I had the day free — she was going to have to leave that polling place bare otherwise.
DougJ
@Moses2317:
I agree, but what’s that got to do with a message?
joeyess
67 of 435 seats are within 2-3 points in the polling. Who the fuck elected the media to call these elections before the ballots are tallied?
John - A Motley Moose
This is as good a place as any to make a prediction about tomorrow. I have no idea if the Dems will hold either house. What I predict is that Ohio and Pennsylvania will set the script for the night. If we do well there, we do well overall. If we do poorly there…
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
You do realize that now a million people think you’re leaving the blog?
DougJ
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther:
That’s pageviews, not unique visitors.
Linda Featheringill
@El Cid:
Connectedness:
You’re right. We, everyone on the planet, is more connected than we used to be.
I used to publish a little monthly magazine, sort of a left-wing reader’s digest. I had readers in North America, Europe, Africa, and in the area we might call the Middle East. The hunger for connection exists throughout the world. There was a little group in Albania that smuggled my little magazine in. Some of the people in Africa passed copies from person to person. There were some prisons in the US that passed copies around until they came apart. Folks in Australia made copies and mailed them to other folks to help save on postage.
The words weren’t magic. But they served as a connection, addressing things that affected everyone or showing that folks here were very much like folks over there.
And that was by printed word and snail mail.
We now have many more connections that are much quicker. We prize these connections and we won’t let them go easily.
jl
@Meh: Nate Silver has a post today on how the Democrats could win, which he says is unlikely, but real, possibility. Basically, he give reasons why the polls could be wrong.
One thing is that jumped out at me is that he says there is enough evidence that the polls (mostly robocall polls) that do not include cell phones are biased four points towards the GOP.
He also mentions that the models used to weight the likely voter results are acting a little funny, which might point to a problem someplace in the models (which are similar from poll to poll).
He didn’t mention possibility of a larger than expected African American and Hispanic turnout, which could be reason for likely voter models behaving oddly this week.
Davis X. Machina
If U3 were 7% instead of nearly 10%, and U6 were more like 11% than 18%, this election would be a nothing sandwich. And it wouldn’t have mattered if Rahm!, Christine Romer, Ben Bernanke, the Tooth Fairy, all of them, none of them, or the Invisible Hand of the Free Market brought it to pass.
Nor would it have mattered if Tim Kaine, Howard Dean, or Moe Howard, or Harry Dean Stanton were DNC chair.
Omnes Omnibus
@DougJ: If you count the multiple personalities and the sockpuppets, you probably get 750,000.
Jewish Steel
@Davis X. Machina:
Ah, just when timb and matoko_chan had me talked off the ledge.
russell
Well, it’s been worse. The US has always been one crazy-ass country. Always, always, always, every single freaking minute since 1789. Before then, actually.
I’m hoping to hang on to my state and federal House reps, IMO they’re both excellent folks. Anything beyond that just makes my head hurt too much to try to think about.
I have no freaking idea how it’s all going to play out.
I will say that President Palin would make me look seriously into my options for emigration. Not something I’ve ever considered before, including under Nixon, Reagan, and both Bushes.
But it ain’t something I expect to see.
Anya
On the bright side, it will be fun watching the Republicans cannibalize each other. They’ve already started attaching bible spice, using anonymous sources at Politico. Of course the mean girl will not be silent for long.
Dee Loralei
@cathyx: Won’t be over tomorrow, Olberman announced earlier tonight that KKKarl Rove’s Crossroads GPS and maybe others will be advertising against the Lame Duck session of Congress. So poor us, God truly hates us and will force us to watch another fucking negative ad, funded by that seeping pistulant boil on the ass of American democracy. God damn that mother-fucker and his financiers to hell.
DougJ
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther:
Also too, I’m sad there are no other Faces fans here. It’s a great song.
russell
Net/net, get off your freaking ass and vote tomorrow.
stuckinred
@jl: He’s on O Donnell right now. With Ariana.
Lawrence not Esmerelda.
reality-based
@mai naem:
40% for O’Donnell? Ok, well THAT explains this election – we’ve all been using the wrong constant.
The Crazification Factor – pace, JC – is no longer 27%. It is now 40%.
It’s all clearer now, isn’t it?
Omnes Omnibus
@russell: Can’t vote tomorrow, it would be illegal.
Davis X. Machina
@Spaghetti Lee: Practice makes perfect. The GOP have already dabbled in this with Greens and independents on a small scale in earlier elections.
The Tea Party phenomenon can, if studied, deliver valuable lessons to the Chamber of Commerce, the Koch brothers, et al. about how to manufacture spontaneity at the requisite scale, and there will be, sad to say, no shortage of independents and soi-disant progressives who will be unable to resist the lure.
I predict robust primary challenges and a meaningful anti-Obama third party in 2012.
Remember, before Reagan, there was Thatcher. And now in the UK, there’s Nick Clegg….
jl
@Omnes Omnibus:
“If you count the multiple personalities and the sockpuppets, you probably get 750,000.”
I, for one, am am made anew, in the Spirit of the Balloon Juice Geist, every time I look at this m. l. blog.
General Stuck
What we are going to see is much the same we have seen from the wingnuts, which is set in seeming stone of our way or no way. Not even compromising in a Clintonian fashion will get their attention. The right wing, now distilled down to it’s elemental wingnut state, will show us all what real over reach is. They do not care anymore, governing the country through compromise, not with liberal ideology anyways. They have made decisions as a group whose back is against the wall, and are set on auto pilot to wherever things go.
Now they will have the numbers to strictly enforce the nihilistic path they have chosen, via the notions of activist head banging tea tards and their talk radio mouthpieces, who will enforce the new wingnut creed. No compromise.
It will make George Bush’s demands look like tea with the queen, and dems will not repeal, replace, or dismantle progressive policies to meet the ransom demanded from the right.
Nothing will happen, and at some point, dems are going to have to put down the responsible actor burden they have been carrying and just say no. They will and so will Obama.
Then the hostage crisis will get serious.
Moses2317
@DougJ: What it has to do with the message is that there is going to be a huge push once again to get Democrats to further water down their message and policy proposals under the incorrect assertion that we somehow overreached. And what following that advice would do is actually make people even less inspired to vote for Democrats.
What Democrats really need to do, especially on economic issues, is be much bolder. If Republicans take power in Congress tomorrow, they will grind D.C. to a halt which will cause even more economic pain. As that happens, Democrats need to be able to address the resulting crisis by being bold.
And that starts by essentially saying “The message of the election is people want bolder action on the economy and helping the middle class. We heard the message loud and clear, and we are presenting an aggressive plan on achieving that.” I haven’t figure out that plan yet, but we need to push for Democrats to take that approach, rather than cowering in fear of the right and believing the way out is to further water down our approach.
Winning Progressive
PeakVT
For anyone wondering what the 2012 Republican presidential primary will be like, I’ve found the perfect analogy.
Meh
@jl:
Yeah – figure that most of the races are inside of 5 pts (in the blue/purple states) – if the Dems outperform by 2 pts we are back in the game – if we outperform by 3-4 we’re tied. That’s about 4k people in the avg congressional district. Think we can’t round up 4k between high school, college kids, minorities, 2nd and swing shift workers, etc? I’m tellin ya…it aint over bitches….get ur pearls and faintin couches cuz wee gonna fuck some people up tomorrow
eemom
@jl:
IMO the little sellout twerp has belatedly realized that he ought to hedge his
betsstate-of-the art statistical models so he doesn’t lose his A-list emmessemm gig if the results of tomorrow just happen to blow all of his painstaking probabilistic prognostications all to shit.PaulW
I have hope.
I have hope that there will be enough last-minute efforts in the Senate campaigning in key states to ensure the Democrats get to keep a 2-3 seat lead… and that’s even with Holy Joe from Connecticut sticking with the Democratic caucus.
I have hope that referenda in particular states – such as the ones here in Florida for Fair Districts – will pass, and that such referenda will correct the evils of partisanship at the state level that might shake us free of despair.
I have hope that the Republicans, if they do succeed in claiming the House, will overreach so quickly and so corruptly that they will collapse upon themselves like a poorly-constructed mansion (which is apt, considering their obsession with deregulating safety standards that would have ensured a stronger house).
I have hope.
Ross Hershberger
Not to interfere with anyone’s mope, but has there ever been a political movement with a dumber name than Tea Party or more ridiculous nickname than Teabagger? Bull Moose is close, but I think the TP-ers are in a class of their own here. Whatever they accomplish, they’ll still have a nickname that’s synonymous with an unsavory act.
Spaghetti Lee
@Davis X. Machina:
Depends on how the next few years play out. If the economy improves, if Republican idiocy becomes too ugly to paper over, then I don’t think this comes to pass. Weren’t people saying the same thing about Clinton circa ’94 (Well OK there was Perot, but he had already been around.)
I guess it’s kind of satisfying on some level to predict an apocalyptic future. But I think every one who is predicting one should try to remember if they accurately predicted the Dem victory in 2006 2 years earlier, or if they predicted the election of a black president back in 2006 (Hell, no one knew who Obama was back in 2006), or the rise of all the current bullshit on the eve of, well, Obama’s election. Frankly, if you had told me last July that Mike Castle would get primaried out of existence by a masturbation-hating, black-magic-fearing kewpie doll, I’d have called you crazy.
Jewish Steel
@DougJ:
The Faces and The Who are all very well, but whither The Pretty Things? I can’t stop listening to Parachute lately.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny7tqIAh1iw&p=5A8A84F3F0E6E456&playnext=1&index=1
JWL
“I predict robust primary challenges and a meaningful anti-Obama third party in 2012”.
I’m curious. What democrat do you see as that viable challenger?
Because I don’t see it.
jl
@Meh: Heck Yeah! Everyone watch an old Mickey Rooney movie tonight.
“Hey kids, we can do it! We can put a show in that barn!”
Nooooh!
“We sure can, heck dingity dang it!”
Let’s hope for the best. I will certainly hope I am never so desperate again that I need to watch on old Mickey Rooney movie for inspiration.
Edit: I am seriously interested in what happens with the African American and Hispanic vote. I am also surprised that so little attention is paid to reports that they do not have the enthusiasm gap of other groups.
Spaghetti Lee
@PeakVT:
If the Republican primary is also accompanied by cheery techno music, I might be able to stand watching it.
stuckinred
@Ross Hershberger:
“You don’t need a Weatherman to sat which way the wind blows.”
Davis X. Machina
@Spaghetti Lee: @Spaghetti Lee: People forget how close 2004 was. 2006 wasn’t really a surprise, just an anomaly.
DougJ
@eemom:
I got nothing but love for you baby. I like Nate, but I respect that you grant no quarter.
morzer
Before anyone decides to write more along the line of “farewell, cruel world” and “we are all doomed”, just remember, once upon a time there was a community organizer called George Washington, and he certainly had times that tried his soul. Then, there was a chap named Lincoln, and he really inherited a mess. Then there was some dude in a wheelchair, and he had to turn the Depression around and deal with a mass-murdering thug with a war machine in Germany. Not so long ago, black people couldn’t vote, much less go presidenting.
I’ve said it before, and I will say it again:
We won in 1783, we won in 1865, we won in 1945, we won in 1965, and we won in 2008. When it comes to the big games, we keep winning.
Just think about that before you decide to practice flying from the tenth floor, ok?
Joseph Nobles
I don’t have time to expound, but I’m thinking oddly that Obama may not change positions at all. People are saying he will have to tack further right. I think Obama is comfortable where he is, and won’t change — possibly.
JCJ
@mai naem:
My theory remains that if the Republicans nominated a dead cat (with a birth certificate) it would get 40-45% of the vote nationally and would actually win in places like Oklahoma, Wyoming, Alabama, etc. Thus O’Donnell getting 40% of the vote in Delaware is to be expected as she is about as qualified as a dead cat.
stuckinred
@jl: Is there another kind of Mickey Rooney movie other than old?
MikeJ
Pelosi’s Sodomites are
threetwo outs from winning the world series!Tell me again about how manly Bush looked throwing a ball.
stuckinred
@MikeJ: one
General Stuck
@morzer:
I’m not the least bit worried about the ending. Though the movie is going to be a bitch and a half.
edit – cause we got something the other side doesn’t
A clue
MikeJ
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
jl
@stuckinred: Yeah right, scoff, you defeatist cynic. You clearly played the shameless cad who lost the pretty girl to Mickey.
I just checked Wikipedia.
Mickey Rooney is alive! He lives!
There is hope.
Loneoak
Haha, fuck you Texas!
morzer
@General Stuck:
All I ask is that Peter Jackson doesn’t get to direct.
Church Lady
Congratulations to John and the rest of the front-pagers on Balloon Juice being named by Investors Business Daily as one of the 10 most influential political blogs. Welcome to the big time!
Davis X. Machina
@JWL: Someone with an ego bigger than their brains. If Grayson winds up unemployed, I figure it might suit him better than actual work. He’d be a blog darling in a heartbeat.
Amanda in the South Bay
In some good news, San Francisco just messed with Texas.
Suffern ACE
@Ross Hershberger: Mugwumps.
srv
As Krugman explained in early 2009, your stimulus would dry up before the midterms. I’m glad dems are so reasonable when it comes to the art of the possible. Great work, that.
We’ve lost our chance for a half a generation As Krugman recently also explained, we’re going to look at Japan’s Lost Decade as a success story. We are nowhere near dealing with our problems.
The Giants prove what real men are. Would that we could let the south go and let the real producers free.
morzer
@JCJ:
A dead white cat. That matters to the sensitive electorate in such areas.
Crashman
@morzer: Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
MikeJ
@Suffern ACE:
When Denny met Cass he gave her love bumps;
Called John and Zal and that was the Mugwumps.
jl
And Texas strikes out!
’tis a sign!
edit: note to self, since Cole won’t buy SF Bay Juicer crowd drinks, will have to bill him for my binge. The things I put up with, reading this blog, I don’t believe it sometimes.
JWL
For the first time in my life, my team has won a World Series. So help me, I’m tearing up I’m so happy…
asiangrrlMN
@JWL:
@jl:
Nancy Pelosi’s Giants win the World Series! We shall overcome at the polls tomorrow! Or not. I’m just happy that Dubya’s team did not win.
@Davis X. Machina: Yeah, this. Big surge, then fall back. I fear we’re in the fall back position.
Crashman
@JWL: Congrats! Savor it!
Darkrose
THE GIANTS WIN THE SERIES!!!!
MattR
@JWL: Congrats. Can’t tell you how happy I am that there are fans that get to experience that joy this year, instead of my Yankees fan friends who have built up a tolerance towards success and barely get excited about winning a playoff game.
Davis X. Machina
@morzer: People collapse exhausted after a big effort. A very half-hearted Reconstruction followed the Civil War. The New Deal qua New Deal — absent the war — sort of petered out. Nixon was on his way to the White House three years after LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act.
We don’t follow through… never did.
America will tell you voting for Obama was enough of a strain for America. It was important. It showed she was a big country, not just a rich one, or a strong one. But surely, she thinks, having actually elected the colored guy, she’s entitled to a little peace. Surely it’s too soon to ask for another exercise of imagination and will. Surely it’s time for a little lie-down….
morzer
@srv:
Actually, Japan’s lost decade isn’t really lost. The Japanese did rather well during it, in fact. Their GNP grew by nearly 10%. Their unemployment averaged 3.6%. They had zero inflation. Their savings rate was over 20% – and life expectancy rose to over 80 years, which was 5 years ahead of the USA. Not bad, all things considered.
DougJ
@Church Lady:
That is the meanest thing you’ve ever written in one of my posts.
jl
@asiangrrlMN: And TX went down swinging hard. ’tis a sign I tell you, a sign!
Look there, look there!
timb
@Davis X. Machina: Grayson wouldn’t garner 25% on THIS blog, let alone slow the Obama 2012 victory march, I don’t think
Ross Hershberger
@MikeJ:
Sitting on a fence with his mug on one side and his wump on the other, if I remember correctly from grade school.
Yeah, Mugwump is pretty ridiculous but it hasn’t got the oro-genital connotations that I so cherish in the TP-er’s nickname.
morzer
@Davis X. Machina:
Well, the failure of Reconstruction had a good deal to do with Andrew Johnson becoming one of the least worthy and least effective presidents in US history. And Vietnam did for LBJ more than any other factor. I don’t think that “collapses” were inevitable at all. If we lose out this year, it’s because of the economy, as well as the fact that we haven’t understood the new media and technology rules quickly enough.
jl
@morzer: They also kept their safety net, including a functioning health care social insurance and functioning medical system.
I don’t think there are enough similarities between Japan and US there to take any comfort.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
@DougJ: IT WAS A METAPHOR.
You do realize that now a million page views think you’re leaving the blog.
asiangrrlMN
@jl: That would be really nice if it were. Truly, verily, yea, I say to thee. And, we could stretch the metaphor to include that Rentoria hit the three-run homer, and there was much rejoicing. Then, the Rangers got one homer, and oh, no. Tension. A couple more hits for the Rangers. Nervous nervous. Then, victory for the Giants! In other words, expect a mini-surge, but the good guys win out in the end. Or not. I’m still just happy to wipe the smirk off W.’s face.
@DougJ: Now I’m curious. I may have to un-pie her to see what she said to you. Or not.
kindness
Go Giants!
Now Tim Lincecum can smoke the weed again (till the next scheduled drug test).
Davis X. Machina
@timb: It’s not this blog I’m worried about. It’s not orange….
Omnes Omnibus
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: Pageviews can’t think.
morzer
@jl:
Right, which is why I wish people would stop saying that we shall experience a similar “lost decade”. We should be so lucky, frankly.
Anya
@asiangrrlMN: Could this be a sign that Nancy Pelosi will continue to torment the republicans.
beltane
@morzer:This. One of the good things to come out of the Rally for Sanity is that it reminded me of just how many nice people there are in this country. Not only that, but 3 times as many nice people showed up for a benevolent purpose as showed up in August to writhe and shriek about phantom Islamocommiefascists.
jl
@asiangrrlMN: I am moody like you. The last line was King Lear’s last words before he keeled over and died. This is Balloon Juice, you know, and we must live by the code!
I pass my hope on to you young folks while I venture out ot see the savage progressive liberal mob tear up this joint.
JCJ
@morzer:
Ahh. Silly me. Thank you for the correction.
morzer
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther:
Illegal metaphors organized by ACORN are now attempting to steal the election from DougJ.
Church Lady
@DougJ: Hey, I was actually being sincere. Now, if you want me to be mean, I could note that ya’ll came in #10 and were beat out by the Firebaggers.
Look at it this way, maybe it will lead to increased hits and more coinage from the ads.
beltane
@jl: Maybe it is a sign. Pelosi beats Bush. Dubya brings Fail to everything he touches.
asiangrrlMN
@Anya: We can only wish!
@jl: King Lear is an excellent play. Alas, I did not remember that line. And, I highly doubt I am much younger than you are.
Is that a dagger I see before me?
Oh, and Steepman, if you see this, come track me down. I have some thoughts on NaNoWriMo.
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: Not exactly a metaphor….
morzer
@asiangrrlMN:
That’s not a dagger – it’s Randy Moss trying to be helpful!
asiangrrlMN
@morzer: Bwahahahahahahahah! I can laugh because the Vikes cut him. Now, if they would just bench Favre….
P.S. I see Randy Moss as Iago.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
Every empire in history says, “hi.”
I mean, all Hitler had to do was stop after Czechoslovakia and his adopted grandson would be running a fifth of the world to this day. I wish I was as optimistic as you.
Anya
@Davis X. Machina: I don’t think GOS has that many suicidal firebaggers. I think the only group crazy enough to support a primary challenger are PUMAS and there aren’t that many of them.
FreeAtLast
@Crashman:
In 2004 I was sure the Red Sox win was an omen for Kerry’s election! So much for that ….
Suffern ACE
@timb: I didn’t think he was saying the Grayson would run for President, but that he would be a great blogger.
I don’t know who I would vote for that would make me not vote for Obama in a primary, were he primaried. Hilary would make me so mad if she did, making people relive 2008 again, I’d have to say no to that. Also, too, I am never…o.k. most likely never going to vote for another Democratic Senator in a primary for President again. They are just too damn collegial for their own good.
Frankly, I hope Lieberman runs. If we really wanted to bring the Obots and the DFHs back together again, a Lieberman primary would do just that. Draft Lieberman!
Xecky Gilchrist
@beltane: I’m guessing it really means the Republicans will win. While, on the other hand, a Texas win would have meant that the Republicans will win.
Good news for McCain!
morzer
@asiangrrlMN:
I must admit to being reluctantly impressed by the latest twist in the soap opera the Vikings have so painstakingly constructed. Renting Raving Randy for four weeks in exchange for a third round pick was a stroke of comic genius.
Violet
@Davis X. Machina:
Lt. Dan Choi says there should be a primary challenge to Obama. I’m sure it’s because those Republicans would put overturning DADT on the top of their list.
I’m thankful for B-J. It’s an oasis of sanity in the craziness of the political world.
gbear
@DougJ: I’m a huge fan of Faces. They were at the first concert I ever went to (Savoy fucking Brown was the headliner. Faces blew them off the stage).
I caught the reference in the title but, like others here, I’m still waiting for the fat lady to sing.
morzer
@Violet:
In fairness, Dan Choi has more reason to be angry with Obama than many of the firebagging scolds and pouters.
Suffern ACE
@morzer: At least this wasn’t Hershel Walker II. They would have made a bad pick with that third rounder anyway, so nothing lost.
El Cid
@asiangrrlMN: King Richard II:
Our lands, our lives and all are Bolingbroke’s,
And nothing can we call our own but death
And that small model of the barren earth
Which serves as paste and cover to our bones.
For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground, and tell sad stories of the death of kings…
Bishop of Carlisle:
My lord, wise men ne’er sit and wail their woes,
But presently prevent the ways to wail.
To fear the foe, since fear oppresseth strength,
Gives in your weakness strength unto your foe,
And so your follies fight against yourself.
Fear and be slain; no worse can come to fight:
And fight and die is death destroying death;
Where fearing dying pays death servile breath.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@jl: Except the sign has already come to pass: Some people from Texas who work hard get maligned because of people we had no control over.
At least Texas made it to the World Series. They finally figure out how to beat the Yankees, and A-Rod wasn’t even worth the practice.
morzer
@Suffern ACE:
Hmmm.. a pick lost is a pick gained. Bill Belichick is on course to suffer hideously in the next draft then. The poor fool has accumulated about 50 of the accursed things.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
@Omnes Omnibus: Or can they?
@morzer: AS THEY ALWAYS DO. Fucking baby oak criminals!
@asiangrrlMN: Oh I see how it is! Over there, you’re all “keep up the good work” and making me literally LOL over the notion of keeping up the good work in writing about my hair — and over here you’re all “not exactly a metaphor”! Is that how it is? I see how it is! It’s – wait, what are we talking about? How do you like my hair, asiangrrl?
mclaren
@Davis X. Machina:
How soon we forget. The Republican party started out as the party of radical reform — freeing the slaves. Then with Teddy Roosevelt the Repubs busted the trusts and brought the giant corporations to heel. During Wilson’s presidency the Repubs stood against foreign wars to bring democracy to the rest of the world.
Somewhere around the late 1920s, the Republican party ran off the rails and by the mid-1950s the Republican party had become the Night of the Living Dead, corporate zombies that wanted only to chew and swallow human flesh.
Once upon a time, the Republicans were a pretty good party. They had a 60-year run. Then they jumped the shark, and ever since the 1930s, forget it.
Linda Featheringill
@Meh:
[smiling :-)] I like your attitude!
El Cid
@mclaren: I’d wager that most people asking that are thinking about the last few decades. YMMV.
Spaghetti Lee
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.):
I can’t even tell if you’re agree or disagreeing with DougJ here.
Omnes Omnibus
@asiangrrlMN: I see Randy Moss as on waivers.
Pourquoi no beehive pics?
asiangrrlMN
FYWP!
@morzer: I was just going to say that. And, I think rightly or wrongly that the reason Democratic LGBT folk are protesting the Dems is because they know better than to expect anything from the other side. I do not agree with primarying Obama, however.
Oh, and Randy Moss. The whole fiasco makes me want to punch someone.
@El Cid: Those are both wonderful excerpts from the bard–and how apt. Me, I will quote from Lysistrata.
In other words, power of the puss-y!
beltane
@FreeAtLast: In 2004 I took the Red Sox win as a sign Kerry was doomed. Boston was cursed and they used every last bit of juju to remove the curse, thus depriving John Kerry of that last bit of The Force he needed to defeat the dark powers.
When the Yankees do well the Democrats do well. There was not a singles Yankees World Series win during the Bush administration.
MikeJ
@mclaren: Yeah, it should have read, “what have conservatives ever done for us.” The party of Lincoln were left wing extremists. Republicans would be alright if they went back to their roots.
asiangrrlMN
@Omnes Omnibus: Yes! I am happy.
The hostess of the party took the pics. She will be emailing them to me soon. Once she does, up in my blog they go. You will be amazed.
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: Duel at dawn with hunks of hair! I bet mine is longer than yours. Just be thankful that my hair is no longer in the beehive from hell! And, I lurrrrrves your hair!
John - A Motley Moose
@beltane: Maybe, no one can possibly say. However, asking the question is definitely a sign we all take politics too seriously.
Bob In Pacifica
Giants win the World Series!!!
MikeJ
@asiangrrlMN: Lysistrata!
morzer
@asiangrrlMN:
That’s quite a bee in your beehive. OTOH, so long as you only punch Republicans….
mai naem
Ugh, I just tuned into KO and Fineman and KO were talking about Lieberman. OMG, if Lieberman pulls a Repub switch, there better be no Congressional Dem supporting him in 2010. Also too he can DIAF after he gets bit by a million army ants.
Moses2317
@Meh: I agree. I just dare any teabaggers to come onto the Southside of Chicago and try to steal the election for Mark Kirk.
Winning Progressive
Omnes Omnibus
@asiangrrlMN: After the buildup, we had better be amazed.
asiangrrlMN
@MikeJ: Damn right. If I have the power, I should use it for good!
@morzer: Heh. Bee in my beehive. That’s funny.
@Omnes Omnibus: Believe me, there was a ton of build-up. A whole freaking can of hairspray. And, if you are not amazed, I will give you your money back.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
@asiangrrlMN: Wait, didn’t you tell me the duel was off? And now we’re doing it with hunks of hair? Well, let me warn you. Mine’s a little greasy right now. Not as bad as a few days ago, but….
John - A Motley Moose
@mai naem: And they say all the anger and violence is on the right. By God, we’ll show them.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
@Spaghetti Lee:
Doug is saying that eventually our Galtian overlords will figure out that all the craziness is bad for business. I say, never underestimate the stupidity of our Galtian overlords.
JGabriel
mai naem:
… he’d just be confirming what everyone already knows.
It’d be about as surprising as a Republican pedophile.
.
morzer
@asiangrrlMN:
I quite like the Wasps:
“..in a grisly circle round its head
Flickered the tongues of servile flatterers
Foredoomed to groan; its voice was like the roar
Of mighty floods descending from the hills,
Bearing destruction; noisome was the scent
That issued from the brute as it slid forth,
With camel’s rump and monstrous unwashed balls.”
Aristophanes clearly foresaw the obese teabagger rabble.
JGabriel
Over 200 comments. About time for a new thread, front-pagers?
.
Downpuppy
@mclaren: Ahh, Mac – it were never that easy. Between Lincoln & Roosevelt the Republicans had Grant’s corruption, Hayes stolen election, tight money keeping down the farmers, & generally did whatever Mark Hanna told them to as the cutout between the pols and the robber barons.
The current craziness – there’s only one obvious explanation for why there’s no pushback from the rich but smart old guys who’ve always run things: They know it’s hopeless. We’re sailing into a shitstorm with ships officers who don’t know a rudder from a lanyard, and Do Not Care.
asiangrrlMN
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: Or, we could just have a girl fight in a mound of Jello with all the monies going to a cat rescue.
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.): Nope. DougJ. is saying that our Galtian overlords will shut down Balloon Juice because WE are bad for business being so crude and crass and all, so we better have fun while we’re still up and running.
@morzer: Oooh! Nice! Me likey, too.
Ross Hershberger
@mai naem:
Lieberman! Just when I thought I had thought the most horrible possible thoughts today, you made me think of Lieberman flipping to the GOP to break a tied Senate. He would. he absolutely would. In a nanosecond.
morzer
@Downpuppy:
Grant wasn’t personally corrupt, and he did more to enforce emancipation and preserve the rights of African Americans than any president for most of the next century.
Omnes Omnibus
@Downpuppy: Grant is undergoing a serious reappraisal these days.
morzer
@Ross Hershberger:
This is exactly why I worry about pundits believing that the Democrats might “hold” the Senate, when Lieberman will betray us in a heartbeat. He knows he’s done in 2012, so he has nothing to lose.
UPDATE: bonus prediction – Lieberman as Palin’s VP in 2012.
Linda Featheringill
@jl:
I find it interesting that NOBODY in the MSM has considered the possibility of a greater-than-expected turnout. It’s my unscientific observation that the AA community is making up a greater percentage of early voters than the population figures would suggest. People who have been going door-to-door are even more optimistic than I am. Only a couple of reporters [black, I noticed] have mentioned the turnout.
And the MSM seems to be ignoring younger people, maybe because they don’t know how to reach them. But the on-the-ground workers who are calling the numbers given to the Obama org in 2008 all say that the younger folks are turning out quite well.
Does anybody know about Hispanic communities? [I lost my connections when I moved.]
asiangrrlMN
@morzer: Oh, great. Now I gotta worry about Joe Fucking Lieberman? As if I don’t have enough on my mind. Harrumph.
@Omnes Omnibus: Hm. This is true. I just didn’t have him on my radar before tonight. Sigh.
Omnes Omnibus
@asiangrrlMN: You don’t have to worry about Lieberman; you can count on him to be an ass. He is reliable that way.
Downpuppy
Fair enough. I should have said “Grant’s administration’s corruption”, but since the subject was the Party of Plutocracy, not Grant’s career, left it to be understood.
Grant was, as far as I know, even farther out of party politics than Eisenhower before running.
The guy who took Vicksburg was no dimwit.
morzer
@asiangrrlMN:
But would you really bet against it? Two arrogant, preening hypocrites, neither of who has the good sense God gave a whelk. Think who was around the McCain campaign kissing up hard to Halftermie Quarterbrainie. Imagine the orgasms from the press corps over this bipartisan coalition of the shilling.
Ross Hershberger
@asiangrrlMN:
Be glad you don’t have to worry about giant radioactive beavers.
EDIT: To put things in proper perspective.
Suffern ACE
@asiangrrlMN: One of my oddest fears, stoked by David Broder’s craven column this weekend, is that Joe Lieberman will flip to keep his chair to make a difference and that for some stupid reason, the Republicans in both houses pass a bill declaring war on Iran, just so Obama will have to veto it and run an election explaining to the public who doesn’t exactly love Iran why he voted against it.
This is why I need more sleep.
Mike in NC
@beltane:
A lot of people knew from the very outset that Bush 2.0 possessed an amazing reverse Midas touch: everything he got near turned into shit.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ross Hershberger: Why exactly don’t we need to worry about them? Imagine the effect loss of forest land and the subsequent increase in global warning if those mutant flat-tailed rodents are loosed upon us. I worry, sir. Oh yes, I worry.
asiangrrlMN
@morzer: Oh, hell no. That’s why I’m disgruntled. JFL wasn’t even on my radar before tonight. Now, I gotta add him to my worry list.
@Ross Hershberger: I will take the giant radioactive beaver over JFL any day.
@Suffern ACE: Shit. Yet another scary, but realistic scenario. Aaaaargh!
Linda Featheringill
@Crashman:
Had to laugh out loud! We have just begun to fight!
morzer
@Ross Hershberger:
I’ve enjoyed some good times with giant radioactive.. well, let’s just say the extra head and glow in the dark mad skillz were worth it!
Mnemosyne
@morzer:
It’s not a coincidence that Grant was demonized for years the same way that Reconstruction was demonized and dismissed. If you actually look at the history, the carpetbaggers were the good guys, but you’d never know it by reading a high school history book, and it remains a pejorative to this day.
They couldn’t print in the history books that Grant was a n*-lover, but but they did everything else they could to diminish him and his accomplishments.
MattR
@morzer: I was thinking it, but couldn’t figure out the right way to go there.
reality-based
@beltane:
You wanna know where there’s a whole bunch more Nice, Sensible People? 85-year-old, dyed-in-the-wool FDR North Dakota Democrats, that’s who.
In GOTV calls today, I stumbled on Rachel and Esther, two widowed sisters (85 and 87) living together who hadn’t signed up to vote-by-mail because their 8o year old neighbor always drove them to vote, and then they celebrated with a nice lunch, but the neighbor died unexpectedly, and they were afraid they would have to miss voting for “that nice Mr. Pomeroy. “‘
After I arranged a pick-up to get them to the polls tomorrow, we had a GRAND old time trashing lunatic teatards for 10 minutes.
(Rachel: “That Sarah Palin girl? She’s just not right in the HEAD, that one! )
Esther: “Don’t worry, dear – we got through the Great Depression and World War II, we can get through all these crazy Republicans, too! ”
I had a few more calls like that, too. (of course, I was calling known Democrats – but still – – – )
As @morzer:
Ok, we can hurl insults and names at each other all day long, and still be on the same side – but when you invoke the Ghost of Holy Joe to trouble my dreams, you, sir, have gone. too. far.
(sigh). Except I think you’re right. Caribou Barbie and Holy Joe in 2012. I will further predict that JFL’s legions of media fans will write serious columns saying that Joe Lieberman makes the whole ticket somehow Very Serious.
and just when I was all cheered up and all – –
MattR
@reality-based: My grandmother was one of those FDR North Dakota Democrats until she followed my father to the East Coast in her later years (with a pitstop and second marriage in Arizona). Unfortunately one of her brothers took a sharp turn to the right (possibly influenced by his second wife, but don’t quote me). They have all long since passed and I have never even spoken to the only remaining distant relatives who still live in ND so you didn’t call anyone I know. (Though if you were calling in the Jamestown area, more specifically Carrington, I bet they knew my grandmother)
Adam Lang
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.): I can only assume from what you’re saying that you missed the point. Which is that pretty soon the ‘serious people’ are going to look at the internet and say, ‘now, we can’t have so many unserious people communicating with one another so readily. We really need to do something about this,’ and *poof!* it’ll be gone.
It’s what I predicted back in 1992 or so. I was stunned when it didn’t come to pass, but I’m not going to bet on that trend continuing.
reality-based
@MattR:
No, I was in Grand Forks – But I have to say, after 25 years in Utah and California, I’m glad I came home – at least GOTV is a lot more fun in North Dakota.!
(of course , we haven’t had any snow yet – )
beltane
@reality-based: That is the nicest thing I heard today! I’m happy a stayed up to read it.
MattR
@reality-based: All of our relatives in North Dakota and Winnipeg were kind enough to schedule family events for the warm(er) months. Though we did catch a dusting of snow on one late May visit and got to experience the joys of negative 40 degree weather on another while attending a funeral (which was even more fun for my sister after the airline lost her luggage)
suzanne
I did six more hours of GOTV for Mitchell and Goddard today. Lots of people were so unbelievably nice. One lady in North Scottsdale said, “I feel like the only Democrat in the world! Thank you SO MUCH for calling!” I helped her find her polling place, so that was nice.
Met Glassman (McCain’s opponent). He’s very tall.
In other news, the Sprog is looking just great. Almost four and a half pounds, and her spine looks perfect. (This is the big concern for epileptic women.) And they were 100% able to tell she’s a girl, so my mother-in-law won’t be mad at me.
I am full of hope for tomorrow.
John Bird
I do not think that tweet means what you think it means.
PanurgeATL
@John Bird:
I agree. “Whatever happens” means “whatever happens”, i.e., “even if the Dems win every single contested election”. If the U.S. is a center-right country, the question is, What do we do to change that?
Liberals have for way too long accepted the right-wing spin on things and tried to work with or around it instead of trying to change it (the cultural expression of this is what we call “alt-culture” in the wake of punk, as opposed to “counter-culture” in the wake of the ’60s); apparently most liberals have spent too long letting themselves be daunted by such a task (a feeling I know all too well). It’s come to my attention that part of the reason liberalism is in such sad shape is that liberals are much less likely to vote than conservatives, and I wonder if that isn’t an effect of this learned helplessness.
MattR
@PanurgeATL: “whatever happens” means that the media spin is predetermined regardless of the election results. It does not mean that we have accepted that it is true. But we have accepted that it will be omnipresent on the airwaves. At least now we have the Internet to connect us so we realize that we are not the only ones screaming at the narrative the media is spinning.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
@asiangrrlMN: @Adam Lang:
With respect, I think you both missed my point. Doug is saying that our Galtian overlords will make a rational decision that free expression is bad for business. I say, never assume that Galtian overlords think in this manner.
Rather than banning newspapers, radio, television, and now Balloon Juice/the internet, our Galtian overlords will figure out how to make a short-term profit from it. That is, never assume our Galtian overlords will make a rational decision for long-term survival when a short-term killing is to be made.
When Rupert Murdoch offers John $20 million for his humble blog let’s see what happens.