And the natural order of things is restored. Or at least comes closer to it.
2.
Zifnab
Ping!
3.
tBone
“Five to one against and falling…” she said, “four to one against and falling… three to one… two… one… probability factor of one to one… we have normality, I repeat we have normality.” She turned her microphone off – then turned it back on, with a slight smile and continued: “Anything you still can’t cope with is therefore your own problem.”
Speaking as someone who was doing victory dances last night, I expect this button to be used often the next two years and I’ll agree with you a lot of the time when it is.
5.
SomeCallMeTim
“Even as we speak, the Dhimicrats are seeking ways to betray us to our enemies. And force us all to have herbal enemas.”
Like that, Cole?
6.
Zifnab
On November 28, 2000, when the Florida election results were certified, Conrad Burns said Gore “appears more and more like a man who wants to win at any cost.” Burns added, “It is time, as some have said, for Vice President Gore to stop being a litigant and start being a Patriot. The good of our nation is greater than any one man, and it is time for Mr. Gore to end these challenges and bow out gracefully.”
At the end of November 2000, Conrad Burns said he would like to see an end to Gore’s legal efforts in Florida. Burns said, “Mr. Gore should step aside and let the Bush team begin its orderly transition to the presidency.”
The morning after Election Day 2000, when Florida was counting absentee ballots, George Allen said, “we’ll need to move America forward as soon as those votes are cast.”
Ding Dong!!! Rummy is Gone. That is better than winning the Senate. Hells Yeah!
11.
Punchy
Rumsfeld is resigning.
Looks like Tim’s prediction may be coming true. They’ll offer this to Lieberman, who’ll accept (has Liebs even served?), and replace his ass with a R.
Connetticant may have just fucked the whole nation.
12.
LLeo
It’s on the Telly. Nothing on cnn.com.
13.
tBone
Ding Dong Rummy is Gone. That is better than winning the Senate. Hells Yeah!
Until Lieberman is tapped to replace him. Buh-bye, Senate majority.
14.
mrmobi
Nice thought, but I don’t see any activity.
It would be unlike W to show weakness (as he sees it) by doing this now, right after taking such a drubbing.
I only see this happening if somehow it leads to a Senate majority, say by tapping Lieberman for SecDef and then having the governor of CT (a REP) appoint the new Senator. Poof, no more Senate majority!
15.
LLeo
tBone: I’ve been the purveyer of that conspiracy theory for the last week. I don’t care, Rummey was bad for our Soldiers and Marines. Nothing comes ahead of our Troops for me right now.
The CW on the teevee is that it was a bunch of conservative Democrats that won the day. If you actually look at the results, that doesn’t really hold up. Bob Casey was the only real conservative Democrat to pickup a seat in the Senate. Brown is very liberal, Whitehouse is liberal, McCaskill and Webb are moderate to liberal. Tester is quite libertarian (openly bragged about wanting to repeal the PATRIOT act) but is the absolute favorite candidate this year on DailyKos. He’s pro-gun, but so is Howard Dean.
The kids turned out. From what I’ve seen in exit polls, youth turnout was really really high.
The Democrats can solidify their majorities by being gracious in victory, but have also been given a huge mandate on some issues. Minimum wage increases passed by large margins everywhere, so Democrats should feel free to handle that in congress on their own terms. They should work out a veto-proof coalition on stem cells. Hard-core lobbying reform is a must (Pelosi has proposed some good stuff, but we’ll see if it happens). Democrats shouldn’t be content to work with Republicans and the White House – they should use their new leverage to force Republicans to work with them. Talk softly. Carry a big stick.
Lots of socially conservative positions are on their way out, e.g. SD abortion ban, AZ gay marriage ban, MO stem cell funding, but are still somewhat mixed elsewhere.
Yesterday, RedState and DailyKos were like mirror images of people with their hair on fire. Since 2000 things have only gotten worse. Real bipartisan election reform is possible now. Touchscreen voting (esp. paperless touchscreen voting) should die a bloody death.
The Baker commission is the only way out of Iraq before 2008.
Pre-election polling turned out to be quite accurate. If you look at averages of the last few polls in each of the close races (esp. Senate), they almost all predicted the correct winner. The hypothesis that all the toss-ups should go the same way seems to be correct.
Schumer and Emanuell will get credit that should be given to Dean’s 50-state strategy. Broadening the playing field is what won the day.
17.
LLeo
mrmobi: The Prez is on the TV right now. RUMMY IS GONE.
18.
tBone
Nice thought, but I don’t see any activity.
It’s on the CNN and MSNBC websites right now.
19.
tBone
I don’t care, Rummey was bad for our Soldiers and Marines. Nothing comes ahead of our Troops for me right now.
Oh, I’m glad he’s getting the boot. It would be nice if they didn’t wrap it up in some bullshit political maneuver, though.
Dr. Robert Michael Gates (born September 25, 1943) has been nominated by President George W. Bush to be the 22nd United States Secretary of Defense to replace Donald Rumsfeld who resigned on Novermber 8th, 2006.
Is it too much to hope that Rummy will be replaced with someone who actually knows what he/she is doing?
If when you say “someone who actually knows what he/she is doing,” you really mean “someone whose first nomination as director of the CIA was rejected because of ties to Iran/Contra,” (according to Wikipedia), then yes.
I feel like the guys at the Poor Man Institute. Sure, I estimate Democrats have a good 50/50 chance of losing the spine and/or party discipline they seem to have found, but until then… Ponies! Ponies for everybody!
Om the other, do you mean to tell me that this monster was kept in office all this time just waiting for the administration to be BITCHSLAPPED by the people before they announced that he is being replaced?
This pigheaded, lying stupid cocksucker who endangered our troops and fucked up our military and only a week ago was being praised by the president …..
Good God almighty. I was wrong …. impeach this motherfucker of a president. Seriously, impeach him. Every day that Bush remains in office is a threat to this country.
26.
mrmobi
WOW! Happy to be wrong about Rummy. And doubly happy that it isn’t Holy Joe who’s been nominated to replace him.
At this point, any change has to be good for the troops, and they are who we should be thinking about and taking care of.
27.
Dave
Trying to be as objective as possible (which is hard today).
Was it me or was Pelosi’s presser conciliatory and and offering of bi-partisanship, and Bush’s was arrogant, defiant and basically the same stump speech he’s been giving for the past year?
Man, did Christmas come early this year or what? Thank you, Santa.
30.
jcricket
The CW on the teevee is that it was a bunch of conservative Democrats that won the day. If you actually look at the results, that doesn’t really hold up. Bob Casey was the only real conservative
And Ford (a true social conservative) lost. Honestly, as much as I would have liked another Senate seat, I’m not particularly sad he didn’t win. I didn’t like his politics or his willingness to attack Kerry. I’m glad we’re electing moderate-to-liberal candidates, and that the Republican party has been all-but-purged of its moderates (Snow and Collins are the only ones left). Makes it easier to see what the parties actually stand for.
The thing I’m most happy about is controlling 6 more Governor’s Mansions. That’s the next crop of presidential candidates, veto pens for any Republican legislatures and their socially conservative agendas and is a great pulpit for Democratic success stories around the nation.
Man, did Christmas come early this year or what? Thank you, Santa.
Better thank Hanukkah Harry, because I think we’ll get more than one day of “presents” out of controlling both the House and the Senate. If we call this “Day 1”, here’s what I’ve got:
2) Corruption – Other shoes to drop in the Abramoff, Ney & Delay, Reed & Norquist + more revelations from Cunningham and Noe.
3) Hypocrisy & Homophobia – Foley & Kolbe cases. Haggard, Crist and Larry Craig.
4) Election chicanery – The still ongoing NH phone jamming case, FBI investigations into this season’s dirty tricks + voter suppression
5) Plame – Libby, Rove and Armitage, so far (just wait until it hits Cheney)
6) Iraq – Pre-Iraq intelligence, post-war planning, ongoing corruption of the reconstruction efforts, the war itself.
7) Afghanistan, North Korea & Iran – Getting worse! Where’s Osama? Why does NK have the bomb? Expect to see lots of reports about how Bush has fucked up every foreign policy issue over the last 6 years.
8) ??? October 2007 surprise?
On the “positive agenda” side, we can claim a mandate for the issues people support overwhelmingly (minimum wage increase, securing borders + ports, fixing the medicare plan D debacle, etc) and we’ll be in good shape come 2008. The 100 hour agenda is a great start. Just keep passing the “no-brainers” for another 6 months, then work on the harder stuff. That’s what you do when you only have a small majority. You don’t start with the hardest stuff first.
31.
jcricket
Just thought of some suggestions for #8
A) Warrantless wiretapping (I guarantee it went a lot farther then they would admit
B) Secret prisons, Gitmo, Torture
There are a host of smaller scandals (Cheney won’t release his visitor’s log, the Gannon thing is still floating around out there), but those were the big ones I think could continue to hammer the Republicans at least another couple of years.
32.
Tax Analyst
Not yet, John, I think the Republicans still have more Stupidity to render unto us – they’ve been such a bottomless well the past few years, they couldn’t be flat out yet. But perhaps a “Stupidity Duet” can be arranged…I guess we’ll see. Honestly, I sure hope not.
33.
Pan Pan
If Lieberman had been nominated by Bush (I knew this was unlikely, since Lieberman and Bush have far more substantive policy differences than people think), do you think the Democrats would have fillibustered?
34.
Zifnab
Do you think the 100 hours strategy will still be in effect? Do you think it’ll work?
Overall, Republicans lost ground with swing voters such as Catholics, independents, Hispanics and suburbanites, according to exit polls conducted for the AP and the television networks. The GOP held its conservative base, but Democrats made inroads with moderates.
So let’s see, Republicans keep the 15% of the country (50% of their base) that’s fire-breathing, and another 15% that just votes Republican no matter what. We get everyone else that matters, and keep everyone we already had.
Wheeeeee!
38.
jcricket
Oh, and:
Without losing any seats of their own, Democrats captured 28 GOP-held seats. The party won in every region of the country and hoped to strengthen their majority by besting Republican incumbents in races that were too close to call.
Ponies for everyone. Except Darrell. He gets horse pie.
David
And the natural order of things is restored. Or at least comes closer to it.
Zifnab
Ping!
tBone
h/t DNA
zzyzx
Speaking as someone who was doing victory dances last night, I expect this button to be used often the next two years and I’ll agree with you a lot of the time when it is.
SomeCallMeTim
“Even as we speak, the Dhimicrats are seeking ways to betray us to our enemies. And force us all to have herbal enemas.”
Like that, Cole?
Zifnab
~DKos
Those silly Democrats and their recounts. Who needs’m?
Dave
I’ve…never seen this before it is a strange sight.
Richard Bottoms
Rumsfeld is resigning.
Zifnab
Bullshit. Link me.
LLeo
Ding Dong!!! Rummy is Gone. That is better than winning the Senate. Hells Yeah!
Punchy
Looks like Tim’s prediction may be coming true. They’ll offer this to Lieberman, who’ll accept (has Liebs even served?), and replace his ass with a R.
Connetticant may have just fucked the whole nation.
LLeo
It’s on the Telly. Nothing on cnn.com.
tBone
Until Lieberman is tapped to replace him. Buh-bye, Senate majority.
mrmobi
Nice thought, but I don’t see any activity.
It would be unlike W to show weakness (as he sees it) by doing this now, right after taking such a drubbing.
I only see this happening if somehow it leads to a Senate majority, say by tapping Lieberman for SecDef and then having the governor of CT (a REP) appoint the new Senator. Poof, no more Senate majority!
LLeo
tBone: I’ve been the purveyer of that conspiracy theory for the last week. I don’t care, Rummey was bad for our Soldiers and Marines. Nothing comes ahead of our Troops for me right now.
fwiffo
Some observations:
The CW on the teevee is that it was a bunch of conservative Democrats that won the day. If you actually look at the results, that doesn’t really hold up. Bob Casey was the only real conservative Democrat to pickup a seat in the Senate. Brown is very liberal, Whitehouse is liberal, McCaskill and Webb are moderate to liberal. Tester is quite libertarian (openly bragged about wanting to repeal the PATRIOT act) but is the absolute favorite candidate this year on DailyKos. He’s pro-gun, but so is Howard Dean.
The kids turned out. From what I’ve seen in exit polls, youth turnout was really really high.
The Democrats can solidify their majorities by being gracious in victory, but have also been given a huge mandate on some issues. Minimum wage increases passed by large margins everywhere, so Democrats should feel free to handle that in congress on their own terms. They should work out a veto-proof coalition on stem cells. Hard-core lobbying reform is a must (Pelosi has proposed some good stuff, but we’ll see if it happens). Democrats shouldn’t be content to work with Republicans and the White House – they should use their new leverage to force Republicans to work with them. Talk softly. Carry a big stick.
Lots of socially conservative positions are on their way out, e.g. SD abortion ban, AZ gay marriage ban, MO stem cell funding, but are still somewhat mixed elsewhere.
Yesterday, RedState and DailyKos were like mirror images of people with their hair on fire. Since 2000 things have only gotten worse. Real bipartisan election reform is possible now. Touchscreen voting (esp. paperless touchscreen voting) should die a bloody death.
The Baker commission is the only way out of Iraq before 2008.
Pre-election polling turned out to be quite accurate. If you look at averages of the last few polls in each of the close races (esp. Senate), they almost all predicted the correct winner. The hypothesis that all the toss-ups should go the same way seems to be correct.
Schumer and Emanuell will get credit that should be given to Dean’s 50-state strategy. Broadening the playing field is what won the day.
LLeo
mrmobi: The Prez is on the TV right now. RUMMY IS GONE.
tBone
It’s on the CNN and MSNBC websites right now.
tBone
Oh, I’m glad he’s getting the boot. It would be nice if they didn’t wrap it up in some bullshit political maneuver, though.
Krista
Is it too much to hope that Rummy will be replaced with someone who actually knows what he/she is doing?
Gold Star for Robot Boy
OK, what’s the word on Bob Gates?
As he’s former CIA, I imagine he comes with Bush the Elder’s stamp of approval.
Punchy
Ok, Rumsfeld has been deep-sixed. And it looks like they’re not bringing in Liebs to run the disaster.
Who wants such a shit-ass job, anyway?
Krista
Holy shit, somebody at Wiki is moving fast:
Cyrus
If when you say “someone who actually knows what he/she is doing,” you really mean “someone whose first nomination as director of the CIA was rejected because of ties to Iran/Contra,” (according to Wikipedia), then yes.
I feel like the guys at the Poor Man Institute. Sure, I estimate Democrats have a good 50/50 chance of losing the spine and/or party discipline they seem to have found, but until then… Ponies! Ponies for everybody!
ThymeZone
On the one hand, glad to see Rummy go.
Om the other, do you mean to tell me that this monster was kept in office all this time just waiting for the administration to be BITCHSLAPPED by the people before they announced that he is being replaced?
This pigheaded, lying stupid cocksucker who endangered our troops and fucked up our military and only a week ago was being praised by the president …..
Good God almighty. I was wrong …. impeach this motherfucker of a president. Seriously, impeach him. Every day that Bush remains in office is a threat to this country.
mrmobi
WOW! Happy to be wrong about Rummy. And doubly happy that it isn’t Holy Joe who’s been nominated to replace him.
At this point, any change has to be good for the troops, and they are who we should be thinking about and taking care of.
Dave
Trying to be as objective as possible (which is hard today).
Was it me or was Pelosi’s presser conciliatory and and offering of bi-partisanship, and Bush’s was arrogant, defiant and basically the same stump speech he’s been giving for the past year?
Capt. Jean-Luc Pikachu
Do you think the 100 hours strategy will still be in effect? Do you think it’ll work?
Suburban Legend
Man, did Christmas come early this year or what? Thank you, Santa.
jcricket
And Ford (a true social conservative) lost. Honestly, as much as I would have liked another Senate seat, I’m not particularly sad he didn’t win. I didn’t like his politics or his willingness to attack Kerry. I’m glad we’re electing moderate-to-liberal candidates, and that the Republican party has been all-but-purged of its moderates (Snow and Collins are the only ones left). Makes it easier to see what the parties actually stand for.
The thing I’m most happy about is controlling 6 more Governor’s Mansions. That’s the next crop of presidential candidates, veto pens for any Republican legislatures and their socially conservative agendas and is a great pulpit for Democratic success stories around the nation.
Better thank Hanukkah Harry, because I think we’ll get more than one day of “presents” out of controlling both the House and the Senate. If we call this “Day 1”, here’s what I’ve got:
2) Corruption – Other shoes to drop in the Abramoff, Ney & Delay, Reed & Norquist + more revelations from Cunningham and Noe.
3) Hypocrisy & Homophobia – Foley & Kolbe cases. Haggard, Crist and Larry Craig.
4) Election chicanery – The still ongoing NH phone jamming case, FBI investigations into this season’s dirty tricks + voter suppression
5) Plame – Libby, Rove and Armitage, so far (just wait until it hits Cheney)
6) Iraq – Pre-Iraq intelligence, post-war planning, ongoing corruption of the reconstruction efforts, the war itself.
7) Afghanistan, North Korea & Iran – Getting worse! Where’s Osama? Why does NK have the bomb? Expect to see lots of reports about how Bush has fucked up every foreign policy issue over the last 6 years.
8) ??? October 2007 surprise?
On the “positive agenda” side, we can claim a mandate for the issues people support overwhelmingly (minimum wage increase, securing borders + ports, fixing the medicare plan D debacle, etc) and we’ll be in good shape come 2008. The 100 hour agenda is a great start. Just keep passing the “no-brainers” for another 6 months, then work on the harder stuff. That’s what you do when you only have a small majority. You don’t start with the hardest stuff first.
jcricket
Just thought of some suggestions for #8
A) Warrantless wiretapping (I guarantee it went a lot farther then they would admit
B) Secret prisons, Gitmo, Torture
There are a host of smaller scandals (Cheney won’t release his visitor’s log, the Gannon thing is still floating around out there), but those were the big ones I think could continue to hammer the Republicans at least another couple of years.
Tax Analyst
Not yet, John, I think the Republicans still have more Stupidity to render unto us – they’ve been such a bottomless well the past few years, they couldn’t be flat out yet. But perhaps a “Stupidity Duet” can be arranged…I guess we’ll see. Honestly, I sure hope not.
Pan Pan
If Lieberman had been nominated by Bush (I knew this was unlikely, since Lieberman and Bush have far more substantive policy differences than people think), do you think the Democrats would have fillibustered?
Zifnab
It sure as fuck better be or I want my vote back.
Perry Como
9) The President’s Christmas card list
Dave_Violence
Hi, Fans!
Hey, congrats to the Democrats. The Republicans got what was coming to them.
jcricket
Here’s a rundown of what happened this election:
So let’s see, Republicans keep the 15% of the country (50% of their base) that’s fire-breathing, and another 15% that just votes Republican no matter what. We get everyone else that matters, and keep everyone we already had.
Wheeeeee!
jcricket
Oh, and:
Ponies for everyone. Except Darrell. He gets horse pie.
Newport 9
I fully expect Rahm Emanuel to say and do plenty of things that qualify as “Democratic Stupidity”.