Billmon:
It’s going to take Adam Nagourney a while to spin this as a Democratic failure, but I’m sure he’ll give it the old college try.
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November 8, 2006
WB: Shut Out
Comments
So they come in in January, right?
The Dems have a solid House but a shaky Senate. I think that means they can’t pass laws, or more importantly repeal them.
Is the power of one body, the House of Representatives, good for investigation and subpoenas of documents and testimony.
Yes I think so but I never paid too much attention in Social Studies, not that we in Canada studied the US government.
I wonder what Lieberman ends up being, CNN shows no Independent senate wins, so where are they counting him?
Lieberman and Cheney may be the controlling senate votes, how ’bout that.
Suer beats the hell out of whatever came before. Good luck, America. Kill them quickly before they multiply :=)
Posted by: jonku | Nov 8 2006 9:16 utc | 1
The spin: well, we lost, but it was not NEARLY as bad as those nattering nabobs of negativism prognostificated it would be. And the anti-gay marriage bills passed in four states, so there’s a triumph for American Family Values.
And although it is no longer illegal to get an abortion in South Dakota, it is still practically impossible to find a doctor or a clinic to offer one.
Whoa, I’m getting dizzy, better go see my spin doctor…
Posted by: ralphieboy | Nov 8 2006 10:16 utc | 2
Surely Lieberman will vote straight Dem, no? He’s sure being counted in the 51 (well, 51 if Montana holds and Virginia sees off a recount).
not that we in Canada studied the US government.
In my neck of the woods, grade 9 & 13 history both dealt with the US and Canadian oligar, I mean dumocracies. Manifest Density, the Roosevelt Corollary, Monroe Doctrine, etc…
Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 8 2006 11:32 utc | 4
That Bush/fetal position thing had better be a joke.
If not, why the hell isn’t he removed at once? Oh yeah, forgot. Cheney.
Impeach them both. We can do it now.
Posted by: hopping madbunny | Nov 8 2006 11:57 utc | 5
Maybe we’ll have something that looks like a democracy again now that the children have been grounded.
Posted by: beq | Nov 8 2006 12:11 utc | 6
Waiting for Clarity On the Brink of Oblivion
The tone of the emails I’ve been receiving has changed dramatically over the past several days.
People are now terrified about the events unfolding inside the U.S.
Panic is setting in, and for some silly reason, people think this upcoming election holds the key to the future.
Guys, wake the F up. This Republican/Democrat thing is beyond embarrassing.
Please understand: THERE ARE NO POLITICAL SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS THE U.S. IS FACING. The outcome of this election is meaningless, one way or the other. The more you keep grasping for glimmers of hope within the political system, the worse off you will be.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Nov 8 2006 13:29 utc | 7
I am sorry, but watching the Democrats last night I really must beg to differ with all those who say they are the same as the crooks and liars who have been running this country for the past six years. There IS going to be a huge difference, at least as far as domestic politics is concerned. I think this election was all about one thing:
INTEGRITY.
And I think the Democrats do have a lot more of that than the Republicans, at least domestically. I have to believe that they will not allow the Constitution to be trashed. I do believe, after carefully listening to them all speak, that they will re-introduce accountability, transparency, and the rule of law to government.
I very much hope that I am not naive or mistaken, but this is what my gut tells me.
And I agree 100% with Billmon — they must do it fast, and hard.
Posted by: Bea | Nov 8 2006 15:33 utc | 8
… spin this as a Democratic failure …
The spin started last night, and you didn’t have to go as far as Pox News to find it.
ABC’s coverage at about 2:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time featured Charles Gibson talking with that staunch defender of the media’s right to publicly display the effects of a pre-frontal lobotomy, Cokie Roberts.
This certainly isn’t a transcript; however, Gibson asked Roberts one of those well-how-does-it-all-look-Cokie? questions. Cocky Cokie fixed the camera with that wierd stare (man, her eyes are just too far apart)and said, “I was up on the Hill yesterday, and the Republican leadership was confident, though it was a little ‘whistling past the graveyard’ — but one of them said, the Democrats have only defined themselves as the party of ‘Not-Republican’ .”
Cokie unblinkingly went right on (again, not a transcript): “And the Democrats for their part will now find themselves in a very different position, having to govern, and we’ll just have to see what they do.”
In effect, she simply put an official-ABC-political-reporter stamp on the reheated, Rethug meme-of-the-moment: The Dems have no plan. They can only criticize. They’re weak and divided; America needs strong leadership in time of war, ad nauseum u. absurdum.
A short time later Gibson, and Cokie (that sly little minx) did their volleyball set-up-and-spike again: Gibson asked another what’s-it-all-about, Cokie? question. Roberts responded that it was clear that “tonight we can see: The system works. The people have spoken. The closest example is with President Clinton in the 1994 midterms, when the voters said, ‘Hey, wait a minute, we didn’t elect you to go this far!'”
Now, you’d expect a neutral, objective commentator to balance that interesting characterization of Clinton [must’ve pained the dear girl to call him President] as obviously too-liberal with an opposing example.
But again, Cokie just allowed her shallow, lacking-in-analysis observation to hang there, and continued by repeating, “The people have spoken; the system works” — without saying at all what the People had spoken, even when it was painfully obvious.
Nice. And she calls herself a journalist? Well, so does Bret Hume…
Posted by: Austin Cooper | Nov 8 2006 15:49 utc | 9
the people have spoken. the system appears to still be working. how many will go back to sleep now? hopefully enough will stay awake to keep the fires going under the dems feet so that they hold the admin accountable for their crimes. while i’m not expecting to see heads on pikes around dc, i am expecting blood.
Posted by: b real | Nov 8 2006 16:07 utc | 10
jonku- the house of representatives is the body that introduces calls for investigations.
before this election NOT ONE investigation by the majority republicans was even called for. anything that bush did was a-okay with them…while this same body spent millions of dollars and 1000 investigations to hunt down Clinton.
The House was granted its own exclusive powers: the power to initiate revenue bills, impeach officials, and elect the President in electoral college deadlocks. The Senate, however, can propose amendments to spending bills, try impeached officials, and choose the Vice President in an electoral college deadlock.
Now people need to let the House know that we expect investigations into various problems with the way Bush has governed. People watch these investigations more than they listen to the nightly news about Abramoff. This is an opportunity to shed some light on what’s been happening so that people who do not regularly follow what’s going on can get a bigger picture.
The message of this vote is that Americans are disgusted with the way Republicans have ruled.
The south will still be more conservative than the majority population of this country. The dems will still try to peel off voters from these more conservative portions of the population. but they can also destroy Republicans in the minds of the American people and, hopefully, move the country more to the center, at the very least, and hopefully more to the left…tho this will take some time.
But it can start now.
Posted by: fauxreal | Nov 8 2006 16:42 utc | 11
it is my fervent hope (and expectation) that john conyers is sharpening his knives in preparation for january.
Posted by: conchita | Nov 8 2006 17:07 utc | 12
i watched nothing but fox last night.
the outcome is meaningless in many ways, but at leaast the knucklkeheads don’t realize they also win by losing. anyways, schadenfreude is beautiful, and worth a demorublican victory.
my fav moment was when hume had to use delay’s former seat as the pickup needed to create a recratipub majority. schadenfreude, baby.
Posted by: slothrop | Nov 8 2006 17:14 utc | 13
i’d also encourage everyone here to take a walk through the knucklkehead websites this morn: “i’m embarrassed to be an American”. “lower the Stars and Stripes and raise the Hammer and Sickle”. “Tonight is a big BIG victory for AL Queada”. “the mex immigrants are gonna tear this country apart.”
and so on.
it’s really a beautiful bright fall day here, i tell you what.
Posted by: slothrop | Nov 8 2006 17:39 utc | 14
slothrop- where I live, repubs in this state call it “the socialist republic of…” and the house district where I vote is called “the bloody 9th” because of the difference in political philosphy between my area and other parts of the district that has, for decades, been a nasty fight.
the democrat won last night. he lost last time by 1000 votes. he’s definitely not representative of “the socialist republic” where I live, but again, in the real world, he has to win based upon who votes. ppl who don’t vote because they are more liberal than he is make it necessary for him (or any other candidate) to do this.
Previously, the rep from this district was instrumental in getting some sort of attention/action to stop the “ethnic cleansing” in Kosovo. Samantha Power wrote about some of this in A Problem From Hell. He was much more liberal than the current democrat, but that’s also an indication of the overall population before Reagan made it okay again to be a racist.
Posted by: fauxreal | Nov 8 2006 17:59 utc | 15
best to clarify my earlier stmt: the voting system appears to still be working
time for relentless pressure tactics, nothing to celebrate. yet.
Posted by: b real | Nov 8 2006 19:19 utc | 16
Here is Nagourney’s try – hyping (a lot) Emanuel and Schumer (no mention of Dean and grassroots) and saying the Repubss just couldn’t help it
That the Republican campaign largely failed this time was to a certain extent because of forces beyond either party’s control: public dissatisfaction with the war and the unpopularity of Mr. Bush. And the Democratic campaign, under the direction of two of the most politically aggressive urban warriors in the nation — Mr. Emanuel and Mr. Schumer — put the party on par with Republicans on almost every political field.
“On par” ???!!!!