The democrats are going to get wiped out tomorrow, I wouldn’t be shocked if the school levy here is defeated, there is effectively no state party apparatus in WV anymore, the media is completely failing us, and all I see on my twitter feed is some bullshit about a seven year old Lena Dunham playing doctor with her sister.
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
Oh, and Tom Magliozzi died. Which sucks. A lot.
JMG
Dear John: If the last 10 years have shown us anything, it’s that both victory and defeat tend to be short-lived in American politics.
Raven
It’s all bullshit.
Dcrefugee
I share your pessimism, John, but I don’t think we’ll know for sure until January, after the La. and Ga. run-offs. And the run-offs only exist to prolong the agony.
Attorneys and doctors can be sued for malpractice. Why can’t Dems?
catclub
@JMG: This. PLus more reason to continue working.
Another Holocene Human
How does the media fail “us” when the media doesn’t care about “us”?
JR
The thing that drives me absolutely fucking insane about West Virginia this year is that the Charleston area suffered a major goddamn crisis when the water became unsafe due to under-regulation and general dumbfuckery.
And the response looks like it’ll be one gigantic shrug, like the people are so used to being pissed on that they don’t see an alternative option.
Fucking infuriating.
RP
One side has a 24/7 propaganda machine that’s more relentless than the Terminator and the other side has **crickets**. I don’t blame average folks for “knowing” that Obama has screwed everything up and our only hope is to elect Republicans.
We don’t need a third party. We need a second party.
cahuenga
Thirty years of holding our nose and voting for nominal democrats has come home to roost. When you can barely tell tell the difference, what’s the point?
catclub
The one that would bother me is Kansas as a tease. The reports that Roberts was running a terrible campaign came in time for the GOP to parachute massive money in to save him. Maybe my disappointment will be short-lived. … something else worse will come up.
Lee
Living in Texas I take solace in the fact that so far the Republicans in Texas while they talk crazy have not gone full bat-shit crazy like the ones in Kansas.
It is going to be ugly tomorrow. I’m not even going to watch a bit of the news tomorrow and just check the paper the Wednesday morning (and I’ll stay off FB for a week).
catclub
wow.
srv
@JMG:
I know John hates it when I do this, but it isn’t about him:
Valdivia
though I think a lot of things do suck I am not so sure the Dems will get wiped out tomorrow. I do think the media have wanted that to be the story and might even try to make it the story if the Republicans only win in states they were supposed to win. I think IA, CO and Alaska will surprise us.
Another Holocene Human
It’s not all doomy gloom in WV. Amtrak purchased equipment (being built now) so they can run a daily Card. Virginia is throwing millions at upgrading the Buckingham Branch. Expect Amtrak to start pushing hard in about two years to negotiate a daily Card with the Class I’s.
oh look, Sunday train agrees with me: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/10/1098951/-Sunday-Train-Putting-Steel-into-the-Amtrak-Long-Distance-Backbone
You can also look up Amtrak’s 2010 PIP report on The Cardinal. It’s a pdf, though.
Corner Stone
Chuckles Todd makes me think about putting him and Abby Huntsman in a car, turning it on, and shutting the garage door behind me on the way out.
Xantar
@catclub:
Alzheimer’s is a bitch. There wasn’t any sign of it when the show went off the air two years ago, either.
Cacti
Meh.
A GOP Senate majority means Obama will have a busier veto pen for the next two years.
They were never in danger of losing the House, and as long as they held at least 1 House of Congress, nothing meaningful would get done anyway.
I hope PBO proceeds apace with his plans concerning executive action on immigration.
schrodinger's cat
@Corner Stone: I had to google Huntsman, had never heard of her.
Another Holocene Human
@Valdivia: Looks like the Democrats have some momentum in NC.
NC’s sort of a cautionary tale, the people there made it not-suck and then all of these out of state transplants* came in and tried to turn it into a shithole. Hello, cross over to Tennessee and see where that kind of derp gets you. (Lowtaxes, residential and school segregation, dumb-dumb transportation policy.) Ugh.
*-half-backs — Jersey to Florida to NC
Another Holocene Human
@Cacti: Not being able to appoint judges sucks, though.
Obama and Reid have been making hay lately.
Of course the Right knows that, that’s why they want the Senate back.
schrodinger's cat
What color is Andrew Sullivan’s blog these days?
Pee Cee
So … election day is going to be just another “every election day down South”, then? I live in a state that is just 64% white, yet the Republicans own every statewide office, both houses of the legislature, both US senators, and all but one of our US house members.
It’s depressing being a southern liberal …
Valdivia
@Cacti: isn’t the problem confirmation of judges and people in his administration to replace those that might want to leave? If that’s the case Harry Reid better get busy confirming people before Jan!
sharl
The death of Tommy Magliozzi is getting condolences from multiple generations and factions on Twitter – rather heartwarming IMO (yeah, ain’t much of a silver lining, but whatever…).
RIP Tommy.
El Caganer
So, fuck it, if you’re going to be miserable anyway, watch the Penguins tomorrow night. At that point there won’t be shit you can do about the elections unless you can fuck with the voting machines.
catclub
@Valdivia:
I just wrote the flip side to your post on the other thread. I do hope, however, that yours happens.
Howard Beale IV
Bill Mahar on Democrats self-defeatism.
Roboflipper
I am a little more sanguine about the prospect of a GOP congress. Either nothing will get done, or mostly unpopular/crazy things will get done. Either way, the GOP won’t be able to deflect full responsibility for what happens in Congress anymore.
I suspect we’re in for several rounds of Tea Party driven overreach. The impeachment of Obama, the passing of the Ryan budget, and the repeal of Obamacare are not the most pressing issues facing the country. I don’t think they will be reworded for pursuing any of those.
Also, all the “moderate” GOP senators from blue states, the Collinses and the Kirks of the world, will have to actually take a vote on all the crazy crap the house will send to them. This will not be good for their careers.
The GOP obstruction cycle has managed to exhaust the nation because whatever happened, the Dems shared blame. Not anymore. We’ll see how quick it takes America to get exhausted with the GOP again.
Cacti
@Another Holocene Human:
The judicial situation is a pity.
However, the important task of changing the ideological balance on the DC Circuit has been accomplished.
The balance of SCOTUS wasn’t going to change unless Scalia or Kennedy left the Court feet first.
GregB
Even more depressing for you is the fact that if this election turns in to a rout…there is the distinct possibility that Manchin will pull a Nighthorse on WV.
However I think the Democrats will beat the odds.
catclub
@Pee Cee:
Isn’t Jim Hood still AG?
I have hopes that tea-partiers will boycott Cochran and he loses. Not very high hopes, but still hopes.
Another Holocene Human
@Valdivia: Really? Because AK I’m hopeful about but IA and CO look like dogshit right now. CO really is surprising me, actually, even though I know it’s religious right theocracy central.
Please tell me where the IA polling might be off or where their electorate might be very different from the midterm norm. I think the hog-cutter wins. Remember, this is the state that gave us Chuck Grassley. If you don’t find him extreme, you’re not paying attention.
Hal
Meh. Republicans are completely ineffectual legislators. Obama has the veto. Nothing is going to happen. But if anything does happen, I hope it’s a scorched earth policy from PBO. I can dream, can’t I?
Valdivia
@Another Holocene Human: great minds :)
Mr. Twister
@GregB: I’ve been thinking he might do this as well.
beth
Well there’s a small bright spot – here’s a headline from CNN:
The idea of turtle man having to deal with out of control teahadists makes me warm all over.
Cacti
@Roboflipper:
This.
As favorable as the 2014 Senate map is for the GOP, 2016 will be a 180, and they’ll be defending seats in blue or purple states like Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Florida.
Dems will only be defending seats in two purple states: Nevada and Colorado.
El Caganer
@beth: “You hush up your mouth!” howled the mighty King Yertle. “You’ve no right to talk to the world’s highest turtle!”
wmd
@catclub:
You can help make IA, CO and AK a surprise in our favor by making get out the vote calls.
http://act.boldprogressives.org/survey/COTV_2014_info/
Even if you only spend 5 minutes and only reach one voter you’ll have acted to make a difference. So take some time and act to improve the outcome in these races.
schrodinger's cat
I don’t buy the MSM narrative, they have been wrong about a lot of things, especially politics.
In 2008 Hillary and Giuliani were going to win the nominations of their respective parties
Obama was not black enough
In 2012 it was Romney’s race to lose because of the economy.
Also these are the same folks who eagerly lapped up Bush’s excuses to start a war in Iraq.
So why do you think that they are 100% accurate this time?
FlipYrWhig
@Mr. Twister: No way. If anything he goes “independent.” I don’t think anyone with ambition is going to want to attach themselves to the Ernst/Cotton class of 2014. They’re going to be hella embarrassing.
The Dangerman
Hard to fathom given I live in a State (CA) where Republicans poll slightly above Ebola. What the fuck, America (minus the Sunshine State)?
Another Holocene Human
re: polling, Markos Moulitsas did an article about the consistently bad polling of Latinos a couple of days ago that I found very convincing. One thing I noticed in the media chum about Latinos supposedly turning on Democrats was that the media conflated very real anger about the Democrats failing to follow through on immigration reform with suddenly embracing the GOP. The very same poll showed that the GOP had not improved their favorables with that demographic at all.
I don’t know what kind of internals the Democratic party was working with when they decided not to do the executive action thing over immigration reform, but I think Obama staying his hand was a mistake. For one thing, it would have been balling as fuck and pumped up the rank and file who do GOTV. For another thing, it would have earned some allies for 2016. For another thing, losing again would have made a lot of GOPers feel bad about themselves … I guess the idea is that fear motivates them but if you hadn’t noticed the media has fed them all the fear-cocaine they need.
Dunno, too risk-adverse, or just the right amount? Barry Bams obviously knows something we don’t right now but yeah, I’m disappointed too.
eta: some immigration reform measures might have also trolled the teaGOP into more obstructionism theater, goddamn Obama caring more about passing legislation and “the country” than winning an election!
Pee Cee
@catclub:
Different state. We’ve got this guy over here in SC. A real piece of work, he is …
Comrade Dread
Ah, man, we’ll survive a GOP congress. Hopefully only for the next two years. We survived Bush after all.
Now whether or not we’ll survive the media’s bloviating about conservatism making a comeback and how this shows that Democrats overreached by providing health care to poor and sick people and President Obama must show leadership in reaching across the aisle (as if there’s anything short of resigning and agreeing to go to prison for the aforementioned health care act that would satisfy folks like Ted Cruz), well, that’s the question and why I plan on tuning out for the next couple of weeks.
Valdivia
@Another Holocene Human:
all the polling has Iowa neck and neck (except that crazy poll from the Register with 7% win for Ernst, which I think is an outlier, given all other polls have it tied). I really think it comes down to ground game and the early voting has been really good for Braley. That is what gives me hope.
CO—last time around they had Bennet down by 3 on the RCP average and he won. Same this time around with Udall. The difference this year I think is the gov race there. But I think a lot of the polling in CO just doesn’t count latinos at all. Or counts them badly. One reason to think they are not getting the numbers right. Then again–early voting is apparently dismal (though I read somewhere that had changed in the last few days). So this one too comes down to ground game.
Alaska: going only by what people are describing as a crazy detailed ground game to get new voters to actually vote in the midterm. Also a slew of polls that had Begich ahead.
Again, it could go either way. I just think the totally negative we are going to lose 10 seats talk is premature. If Brown overperforms in NH then we are fucked. That’s my tell for tomorrow night.
Also–I agree, Grasley is insane. Ernst is more!
@catclub: I guess this is my summary for optimism. :)
Gin & Tonic
Meanwhile, in Russia, they’ve removed an iPhone-shaped memorial to Steve Jobs in St. Petersburg because Tim Cook came out.
Pee Cee
@Hal:
Well, aside from the inevitable government shutdowns. Maybe they’ll go for a pointless impeachment attempt over Ebolaghazi or something.
GregB
Strange how the name tea party has been shoved down the memory hole and how many of their biggest fans and victors in 2010 are withering before our eyes.
Why isn’t the media reporting that ground zero for tea-party governance, Kansas, is set to eject their top scientists out of the laboratory of democracy?
Another Holocene Human
@Cacti: Florida’s winnable with a candidate. It’s losable if we get another 2010 race. Some lame-ass GOP party insider with an ethics cloud took it all in a 3way against a damaged R and a damaged D.
One thing is clear: we need better statewide candidates than Alex Sink.
J R in WV
@JR:
The Democratic party in WV has been in charge since 1932. The lack of environmental safety is their fault. The Department of Environmental Protection is a toothless agency in charge of keeping score, without the ability to stop violators from continuing to pollute, because the office holders in charge of legislation and the appointment of management of DEP’s various offices are totally beholden to industry.
So what should West Virginians do? Vote in Republicans, who will actually work hard to be even worse than the Dems have been? Because as bad as it has been, it can get worse!
FlipYrWhig
@Another Holocene Human:
He knows that Senators come to his office and whine about how when he “does” “things” it makes their re-election campaigns difficult. And that if he tells them to go piss up a rope, and they then lose, they’ll badmouth him in the courtier media.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
There are two things I’ll be looking forward to if the Republicans take the Senate tomorrow. The first is that we can maybe, at long last, wave goodbye to the filibuster. The other is that they won’t hold it for more than two years. The map for the Republicans in 2016 is worse than the map for the Democrats is this year.
gopher2b
I don’t know. I’m not convinced (despite their wrong proclamations every 2 years) that they know how to poll people under 40 years old. Nate Silver is saying it will be a slaughter but even he admits that it’s based on historical models of who will turn out.
If it is a slaughter, I blame the people that didn’t turn out and the people who ran some of the worst campaigns I’ve ever seen. GOPers are turning out in droves to vote against an unannounced immigration program and a widely successful health reform law. Dems are staying home because they didn’t get the immigration reform they were repeatedly promised and, well, I don’t really understand the other reasons.
Look at the bright side, if they GOP takes over the House and Senate, we’ll get a good old-fashioned impeachment that may actually result in the removal of President Obama. Nothing like a good coup to wake everyone the &^%$ up.
Another Holocene Human
@GregB: It conflicts with their wrapped in a bow narrative. And their both-sides-do-it-ism, one of the tenets of which is that the GOP has valid “ideas”. The ideas in action leading to epic failure makes them look like, er, liars. This is also why they talk about the money in NC race and not the issues. If Hagan wins they can talk about who was “outspent”.
kindness
Shakespeare famously said ‘The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”
Meh. I’ve changed over who should be front of that line several times in my mind. Really…I don’t know that our current model will ever end so long as the Robert’s Court continues to rewrite the social compact. And while I hope it never comes to such a thing I have few reservations that many on the other side of the aisle would jump at such a chance.
Valdivia
@Another Holocene Human:
he was asked by the imperiled Senators going into election to wait. It was in the news at the time. He could have said fuck it, but then again he gets accused of not helping the party all the time so I think they gambled it would help.
Like you I think he should have done it anyway though.
Another Holocene Human
@gopher2b: They don’t have the votes. 2/3rds.
If they put POTUS on trial, though, wake up and smell the political anger.
Are there still enough white supremacists in the FBI to subvert, break up, harass, and imprison community organizers 1960s style? Because that’s next.
The Pale Scot
Go read Chief Wright over at Stone Kettle Station John;
Go read the rest
Feel better?
Apo for the repost form the last thread
robotswillstealyourjobs
@gopher2b:
Impeachment requires a 2/3 majority of the Senate. I’m not sure if the House is deranged enough to try for it anyway, but they would clearly be tilting at windmills. I hope they will – it’d show the country that they can’t be trusted to govern like adults.
Tree With Water
A bad guy I once knew (“wise in the way of a serpent”) told me, “when the heat is really on is the time to relax and light a big cigar”. Like everyone else, I’ll be an innocent bystander of tomorrow’s election results. I’m not about to start gnashing my teeth about it.
I would strongly advise however that Howard Dean resume his former role as party chairman (or whatever that title is) if only to put some fight back into a badly whipped chicken.
Omnes Omnibus
@gopher2b: Which Democrats do you think would vote to remove Obama? You need 2/3 of the Senate.
RaflW
I’ve been skipping the usual blogs and news sites and just window shopping airline tickets. I also distracted myself with online gawking at appartments for sale in a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden, 10 minutes drive from where a cousin I adore lives.
In a week or two, I’ll probably go back to reading news and dipping in a bit more here at BJ. But right now the political news sucks. I did my donating, I’m definitely voting tomorrow, but otherwise, I want to be in a near-vacuum for a couple days.
In happier, local news, I attended a committee meeting of the state Airports Commission this morning, and the chair, a Governor’s appointee, listened to my testimony and that of polar explorer Will Steger about needing to make green jobs* a career pathway for minorities and women, and he responded positively in session and then chatted with us after the meeting about reforms he’s supporting.
The political world sucks right now – but grassroots organizing, mobilizing and lobbying still works. Don’t lose focus, change happens on the granular level. It’s one of the reasons I respect Kay here so much. She gets how she’s advancing things, day by day, one issue at a time.
(*Airports, green? Mostly, not so much. But the MAC is investing in a $25.4M solar array atop the MSP parking garage).
schrodinger's cat
BTW can one suggest a good book on introduction to relativity? I used Resnick’s book as an undergrad. I was wondering if there were any newer books that are better.
Another Holocene Human
@Valdivia: Udall–doesn’t he need the Latin@ vote?
Which he may not be getting?
Obviously, what the Dems need there is a really good GOP voter suppression push to make Latinos forget what Obama did or didn’t do.
eta: what I mean to say is that in Southeastern states this is a very big issue driving voter registration and voting D among people of color
cckids
@Cacti:
I hate to get started on 2016 already, but speaking from Nevada, I am torn between hoping Harry Reid doesn’t run again & being afraid of who the Democrats will find to try to take his place.
Another Holocene Human
@robotswillstealyourjobs: If they’re going to relive the 90s can we have our living wage back?
RaflW
ETA: Nevermind. This post didn’t need to remain. Carry on.
Another Holocene Human
@Tree With Water: Howard Dean is a lobbyist whose haste to sell out would make a whore blush and who waxes rhapsodic about palling around with (domestic) terrorists. Fuck him.
rlrr
@schrodinger’s cat:
Einstein’s book is surprisingly accessible to people with a passing familiarity with algebra and geometry.
Another Holocene Human
@cckids: That does look to be shaping up as a tough seat. However, as an out of state spectator I must say that Harry Reid kicks ass. I wish I were half as tough as he is.
ETA: Reid’s trolling of Rmoney on twitter during 2012 was a thing of beauty and a joy forever
Valdivia
@Another Holocene Human:
Oh yes he needs them. But I read (I think it was on twitter) that his numbers with Latinos are not bad as reported by the media. The guys who nailed the latino vote in 2010 and 2012 are saying there is no dropoff there, actually an increase. PNA I think. The poll that had Garner just 4 points behind with latinos was Quinnipac, not very reliable with that demographic.
Elizabelle
@Another Holocene Human:
Someone mentioned about 5 threads down a professional license for journalists, since too many don’t know how to do their jobs.
I think what a good journalist needs is (1) curiosity and (2) EMPATHY, with (3) a solid understanding of history third.
That will exclude anybody who might be tempted to work for Fox News type crapola, unless they happen to be masochists.
Librarian
I just can’t believe that the people of Iowa would elect a batshit insane lunatic as a senator. If they do, they deserve to be damned for eternity. They deserve to ostracized and boycotted to death. She will be an embarrassment to them as Bachmann was to Minnesota, and when it dawns on Iowa what they’ve done, they should hang their heads in shame.
BillinGlendaleCA
@FlipYrWhig: Impossible! I’ve been assured by Joe Scar that the President doesn’t talk to Senators, even Democrats.
gopher2b
@robotswillstealyourjobs:
Oh it is? I probably could have simply looked that up. I’m such dummy.
Chris
@kindness:
“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the teabaggers.”
There, adjusted for 2014.
schrodinger's cat
@rlrr: Too dense, I am reading it right now. Math can include calculus and more.
Keith G
One thing for sure is that by the end of 2016, we will have a complete inventory of the steel in Obama’s spine.
The GOP will send important spending bill after important spending bill to Obama’s desk. Each one will contain something (maybe just one single thing) that is extremely repellant to progressives. Does he veto the bill and shut down the government (or parts thereof) or does he tell the progressives (and the poor), “Sorry about this, but there’s always the next election.”
Interesting times.
Elizabelle
I think Democrats are going to turn out in better numbers than the “likely voter” screens show, and that they are going to win some seats “pundit commandos” thought would go Republican.
We have no idea how mail-in voting in Colorado is going to work, and if a lot of voters are sick to death of Citizens United blanket the airwaves advertising and mud-slinging.
Plus, some people might like the Affordable Care Act a lot more than the polls show.
Yeah, there are idiots who say “throw all the bums out”, but a lot of people do see the Republicans for the radical rightwingers they are.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Another Holocene Human: I never heard Udall was one of those pushing against executive action. Pryor was the only name I heard
@Another Holocene Human: all we need is Howard– and six years of George Bush, four years of a quagmire in Iraq, the loss of an American city me with perfect Republican indifference, Mark Foley, and the Abramoff trial!
But Dr Dean is magic!
Lee
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
I was thinking the same thing about the filibuster. The Republican crazies force the Senate to do away with the filibuster. The entire time the Democrats will wail ‘Please don’t throw us in the Briar Patch’ (knowing that PBO will veto anything that squeeks through). Then in 2 years when hopefully things flip back, the chickens will then roost.
Lee
@Elizabelle: Honestly I would just be happy with the ability for a journalist to ask a follow-up question.
Another Holocene Human
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Pryor’s definitely going to lose, so good work Pryor. If true.
Is there something else at work in CO that I’m missing? Or did a doomed effort to save Pryor sink Udall? If so, ouch.
schrodinger's cat
@Keith G: But isn’t Obama spineless, and/or history’s greatest monster? And to be blamed for everything from Ebola to Putin’s incursion is Ukraine.
Elizabelle
@Librarian:
Maybe they can start telling people they’re really from Kansas.
I am not so sure that pig castrator is going to make it to the Senate. Polls are wanky, and some are conducted to skew a result and drive the narrative.
I think Harkin’s “gaffe” of equating Ernst with Michele Bachmann might make some people think twice.
Which is why jackasses like Luke Russert need to call it a “gaffe.” It’s not. It’s the fucking truth.
And more people would know that if reporters stressed Ernst’s ideas — and what has come out of her own mouth — rather than her cosy background.
Another Holocene Human
Hm, looking at Rasmussen they have Perdue 46 to Nunn 46 and given the source, I am now hopeful Nunn can put it over 50 on Tuesday. I am so worried about those missing voter registrations, y’all.
pseudonymous in nc
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Yeah, the Senate map for 2016 reflects 2010 and there aren’t many races where Dems will be fighting to defend seats, but plenty of vulnerable GOPpers.
@Librarian:
As Charlie Pierce noted today, she’s a very good retail politician and a master of campaign trail banality. And in American politics, you’re not allowed to note that someone is batshit because civility.
There was an interview with a Latino group in the NC Triangle which had put up “if not now then when?” billboards against Kay Hagan. Let’s just say that with GOP control of the Senate, “when” is no earlier than 2017.
Valdivia
@Elizabelle:
it’s exactly how I see things too. I laugh how the commandos have been saying that both Virginia and Maryland (Gov race) are about to go Republican. I mean, really?
I also just saw that Ernst is now being called rock star with VicePresidential appeal for 2016. Shoot me now.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
If I had to bet, I’d bet on a GOP win, but I don’t have to, so I’m not ruling out skin-of-our-teeth not-quite disaster. I think Udall may pull it out, maybe Nunn, and I saw a poll at TPM that shows Roberts slipping back in KS. 50-50 plus Joe Biden would be a great result, even if we have to watch Biden, Reid, Durbin et al sing the praises of some preening “independent” caucus in the Senate. This election to me is all about the Courts not getting worse.
And that does suck about Tom Magliozzi. They seem(ed) like a pair of genuinely good guys.
Another Holocene Human
@Elizabelle: It’s only a “gaffe” if it backfires.
Davis X. Machina
How many flipped Senate seats will flip in states that were +10 or better for Romney anyways?
RaflW
BTW, speaking about batshit voters, La Bachmann’s bowing-out is going to lead us to Tom Emmer, a grumpy jerkwad who lost the race for governor of MN 4 years ago. He’s a cake-walk for her crazy eyes district. I’m sure he’ll go to DC and cover himself with glory.
Unfortunately, I think the 8th in MN will flip GOP, too. Stuart Mills, if he wins, will be an annoying prig.
I just don’t get what Minnesota is becoming. But I suppose it’s just part of the national ‘great sorting’ where the blue districts get bluer, the red redder, and we just push like crazy to have more blue than red districts. Blerg.
Tree With Water
@Librarian: I felt & feel exactly the same way about those Americans who re-elected Bush-Cheney.
Another Holocene Human
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Oooh, oooh, did he call GWB a “wanker” like Tom the Dancing Bug called GHWB?
Another Holocene Human
@RaflW: What’s happening is that “New Deal” voters are dying off rapidly now.
Young, poor voters don’t vote in great numbers.
Housing has become increasingly segregated by economic class.
El Caganer
@Valdivia: It’s not unrealistic, since Snowbilly Snooki already set the VP bar so low that it’s basically underground.
Valdivia
One last thing before I get back to working on my lecture for class:
It drives me absolutely bananas that Obama’s 45% approval is being described as collapsing, dismal, etc etc. Its not above water but its not in the 30s as you would think from the reports. Politico had a gem yesterday saying Obama should learn from W who turned around his presidency after 2006 by shaking up his staff!
The Village exemplified.
Another Holocene Human
@Valdivia:
So was Rubio. Lololol trollololo.
Elie
I just wonder how accurate polling data can be given how many errors (wrong numbers, disconnected numbers) etc I find each time that I do phone banking. And theoretically, we update this stuff regularly. Sure, I am calling a small sample that is highly skewed, but jeez, with all the cell phones and people ultrasensitive about responding to ANY unsolicited calls, I have to say that I wonder.
Tree With Water
@Elizabelle: “I think Democrats are going to turn out in better numbers than the “likely voter” screens show, and that they are going to win some seats “pundit commandos” thought would go Republican”.
I tend to think likewise, but I don’t trust my powers of prediction, at all. I’ve been too badly wrong in too many elections.
Keith G
@schrodinger’s cat: This will be a whole new world for the White House, and really for the entire government.
As I see it, there are two big variables:
1) Will the GOP be able to become a disciplined hard ass in their legislative assault on the White House or will they just be all id all the time? The latter would still be horrible , but just not as destructive as the former.
2) Will the President be willing to go to war with the GOP even if it means short term mess in service of a better long term outlook?
To be honest, I just do not know how ready, willing, and able the White House is to fight really tough with the GOP.
VOR
@Librarian: First, Iowa already has Steve King and are going to re-elect him. Second, Bachmann kept getting re-elected in the Minnesota 6th so obviously the embarrassment was not enough.
RaflW
@Another Holocene Human: A big part of what is happening in MN is that progressive voters are densely urban, and conservative voters are dispersed exurban and rural. So Keith Ellison wins his race 80-20, and the 8th, which is MSP northers exurbs all the way up to Canada, is a 1 or 3% squeaker margin one way or the other.
We currently have Dems in every statewide office: Gov, Atty Gen, SOS, and both US Senators. But our US House contingent may be 50/50 in a few days, and our State House might (og FSM, noooo!) flip back GOP.
Our districts aren’t badly gerrymandered, but the GOP can win a lot of outstate races 52-48 and a few dozen state House races in the core cities are all the Dems by 20 and 30 point wins. We’re an Obama +8 (or so) state, but could have a GOP state House. And that’s how…
Valdivia
@Another Holocene Human:
@El Caganer:
It is shameless how the Village simply decided that Ernst was not crazy so they pretend she just isn’t. They are the ones who have cloaked her true views from Iowans, just like they did with all others con-darlings before. Let’s see how that works out.
geg6
@cahuenga:
This is such bullshit that I could just throw up.
Don’t bother voting then, asshole. Just don’t bother. That’ll show those stoopid Dems who want to actually win elections and not go down to defeat in a glorious waterfall of purity pony shit, right?
Heliopause
@gopher2b:
So, latinos, young adults, the poor and working classes.
Another Holocene Human
@Valdivia: Yeah, but what if they stay home because they’re in the depression phase of ragetantrum? (Okay, not the voters, but the activists, and the activists are important to getting the voters out to vote.)
I agree that the recent drill-down numbers being touted about Latin@s are suspect at best.
Really great story this election cycle about GOTV efforts on Indian reservations.
catclub
@Davis X. Machina: Political Animal pointed this out, also.
Not a wave when those seats go. It is unfortunate that Harkin picked this year to not run.
WV, LA, AR look bad for Democrats. But not surprises. Or keys to a wave.
Nate Dawg
I think the imminent take over of the Senate shows how ridiculously out of touch Ruth Bader Ginsburg is about gay marriage, as she claims “there is no rush”.
Well, in fact there is. No one can say what tomorrow holds, but say one of our 5 votes drops dead for some reason or other, since this court just punted the ball on gay marriage, it would be a shitstorm of epic proportions, where the midterm Senate would get to decide the fate of marriages all across the nation.
Sack-cloth, ashes, etc….but seriously, wtf!
Another Holocene Human
@geg6: I’m scratching ma brane trying to figure out where in the country are the Democratic Party and the Republicans interchangeable? Because I’m thinkin’ it’s about Northwest-a nowhere at this point.
RaflW
Oh, and f*ing Noisemax. The stock market is back near record highs, and since there’s an election tomorrow, their “nooz” headline is “Obama stock crash looming?”
Right. Got it. The incredible five year run-up in stock prices we (or at least the 1%) have enjoyed so much? Not Obama, not at all. A possible “crash”? All Obama. 100%.
I know, Noisemax is a shit-stained propaganda house of the most odious kind. But they set a tone, and there’s plenty of Village idiots who seem to think too much like the Maxies.
Omnes Omnibus
It seems to me that there are an awful lot of very close races. Why are so many people convinced that the worst will happen in all or most of them? I’ll join everyone in being depressed and angry tomorrow evening if it is warranted. Until then, I plan to remain guardedly optimistic.
catclub
@RaflW:
That result is really the definition of badly gerrymandered. District boundaries controlled by one party to its benefit. or did you mean they did a very good job of gerrymandering?
Another Holocene Human
@RaflW: Well, portions of rural Minn used to be pretty blue, ditto some of the other Midwestern states, so there is a story here. Methinks it’s the New Deal voters dying out. This lets exurban GOPers dominate, especially in these House megadistricts which have little relationship to regional or local political boundaries and are thus very expensive to run in and contest, advantage: Kochs.
Valdivia
@Another Holocene Human:
Speaking only for the CO race: I think the experience of that close Bennet election in 2010 is informing what they are doing. They have clear numbers they need to hit, I am not privy at all that they are hitting them, but my impression (from that PNA poll) is that the latino vote has not dropped off from that election or 2012. That is good for Udall. I really do not believe a poll that says a Republican is only 4 points behind with latinos. Disappointment my have people on the sidelines not voting for the guys that want to deport you!
great conversation now I have to really really get back to work :)
catclub
@RaflW: More importantly, unemployment has fallen below 6% and the US has added jobs for N straight months (where N is large). And he gets no credit for THAT.
When Bush left office we were losing over 500k jobs per month.
As to the stock market, Obama is a piss-poor socialist if this is what his policies produced.
Elie
@Keith G:
Depends on what else is happening. Its hard to conduct a sword fight in the back of the cockpit if the plane has a couple of engines on fire.
I think that Obama emphasizes and has always emphasized keeping the plane in the air. He loses some of the sword fights and is inattentive to how that looks sometimes. He is extraordinarily patient – sometimes to a fault to most of us — but he can let things play out with a remarkable discipline that I totally admire. For example, he received tons of criticism for appointing Klain as the Ebola Czar and then for not letting him in front of the mikes. Turned out to be a good plan. Klain worked behind the scenes to clean up some of the frayed messaging and stayed out of the way of the real expert, Dr. Tony Fauci who is the medical expert. Right now, after a lot of light and smoke, things have cooled off and we have only one Ebola case who is thankfully improving. He was smart enough not to get gummed up in the who said, she said among the moron Governors but let the experts in the field (and one crackerjack nurse) kick their shins black and blue. He didn’t feel compelled to push his say so but let the facts and knowledge shape events. I tell you, he amazes me and I am always surprised that so many others don’t see it.
Amir Khalid
I can’t explain or justify it, but I have a hunch that the news on Tuesday night will be better than you fear.
Elizabelle
Top of the website story at the Not The Ben Bradlee Washington Post:
Obama’s path from Democratic hero to millstone
Where did Obama go wrong?
Fuck them. With Ben Bradlee’s — well, whatever …
Elizabelle
@catclub:
Agreed. I think he should have fought it out, and retired for whatever reason in 2016, so that the successor to his unfilled term could be chosen during the 2016 presidential election.
I can understand Harkin not having fire in his belly, but I wonder if he thought there was a chance he would not win?
d58826
@Cacti: While in theory itr sounds good but the Dem’s can’t organize a one car funeral. They will, as always, rise to the occassion and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. (Yes I’m a pessimist – being a Dem and a Phillies fan kinda gets you down)
JPL
After Bush was reelected in 2004, I went into a deep funk. Finally, I snapped out of it and said what damage can he do in four years. Well a hell of a lot it seems so don’t discount the powers of a Republican controlled Senate.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I can’t fault Harkin for retiring at his age, and on paper i think Braley looked a lot stronger. Harkin has fought the good fight for most of his career– though I was surprised to see he voted for the Iraq War. Not thrilled with his sitting on $2.4 million in campaign funds, but my view-from-nosebleed-seats hunch is that money matters less in this campaign than the fact that Ernst, like Gardener in CO, is good at being shameless, and the media can’t be bother to look past their campaign commercials
Corner Stone
@Elizabelle:
He’s 75, for pete’s sake. And if he retires mid-stream doesn’t an R Gov get to appoint someone for multiple years to that seat?
Corner Stone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
One interesting thing Chuckles Todd said today was that if you took the same money spent in Iowa and tried it in CA it would cost you $100B do duplicate there.
So those $2.4M could be big money.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@Elizabelle:
The fact that they’re feeding that narrative is infuriating.
What sends me despondent though is just the sheer number of people that have bought into it. The W revisionism and the froth of ‘HOLY SHIT, OBAMA’S THE MOST INCOMPETENT COUNTRY DESTROYING SUPER-FAILURE EVER!!!” just gives me little hope for any fucking change in this country, considering just how goddamn impenetrable it is. Everything on the right is credible writ large, everything from the left is treated like lies from the pit of hell and trying to convince anyone of anything toward the left just sends them screaming further to the right without being reachable ever again.
Corner Stone
You know, Chuckles Todd on The Cycle today actually displayed some hints of the old political analyst he used to be. He made some astute observations at times. But he also mangled quite a bit with his latter day persona.
So kinda a weird bifurcation. I guess you take the good, you take the bad and there you have. The Facts of Life.
AliceBlue
@Omnes Omnibus:
Same here. A new PPP poll that dropped today shows Nunn and Perdue in a 48-48 tie in GA. I’m not ready for the sackcloth and ashes yet.
Elizabelle
@Corner Stone:
I don’t know. You raise a good point. I think governors making Senate appointments should appoint from the departing Senator’s party. That party won the Senate seat.
Cuts both ways. Democratic governors can’t appoint Democrats to fill Republican Senate seats; GOP can’t put their party into a seat won by a Democrat.
Let the voters sort it out. That seems most fair to me.
Corner Stone
@catclub:
In-freaking-deed.
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus:
Hold me!
Elizabelle
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:
Yeah, I have no idea what the actual article says. Usually a lot of qualifying statements and not as provocative as the headline.
Gonna finish what I can of leaf-raking before dark, and may never get around to that crapola clickbait story.
Been a lovely day in NoVA today. Even nicer tomorrow. Good day to elect some Democrats in the Old Dominion.
slag
Polls mystify.
The vast majority of the data on the economy, deficit, healthcare, crime, and pretty much every other issue Americans claim to care about all indicate substantial improvements over the last 6 years. And yet those same Americans believe we’re on the wrong track.
If that’s not demonstrable evidence of significant bias, I don’t know what is.
cckids
@Another Holocene Human:
I agree, but the age thing is coming into play (he’s 74 now), and, while I like what he’s doing as Majority Leader, he is remarkably absent from the state as a senator. There’s a definite feeling of “who do you represent, NV or just the Dems?” here.
And, yes, his poking at Romney was a joy.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: I said guardedly optimistic, not bug fuck nuts.
gopher2b
@Heliopause:
If they don’t vote, then yes. Is this controversial?
AliceBlue
@AliceBlue:
Correction: 46-46.
Patrick
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I’m guessing he conveniently voted for the Iraq war because he may have been up for re-election in 2002. At least he didn’t go to the Rose Garden to stand by Bush like Dick Gephardt did. Still; Harkin was dead wrong on what he did.
Patrick
@Heliopause:
Who would you blame?
cckids
@Valdivia:
Oh, please make this happen. She is so, so much less appealing than Sarah!! And even more nuts & less “trainable”. Do it, Repubs. Go all-in, Cruz-Ernst ’16! You’ll get steamrollered.
hilts
RIP Tom Magliozzi
http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2014/11/03/tom-magliozzi-dies
cckids
@Valdivia:
Ho. Lee. Shit. They are certifiable.
Howard Beale IV
@RaflW: I got 3 GOTV votes from the MN GOP machine in less than 24 hours. They’re desperate.
Another Holocene Human
@Another Holocene Human: Maybe that was Tom Tomorrow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Modern_World Eons ago!
JPL
@cckids: Yup and that worked out so well for us.
Another Holocene Human
@Howard Beale IV: Do you mean calls or are they stuffing the ballot boxes?
piratedan
@Amir Khalid#119 same here, I’m voting and will have to have faith that others like me will do the same.
Another Holocene Human
@Patrick: Is this the new twist on Calvinism and Protestant Work Ethic?
Blame the poors and disenfranchised for their lack of electoral prowess!
God doesn’t love them enoughthey lack the sterner stuff that winners are made of. Away with the unworthy!Patrick
@Valdivia:
Bush went from a 40% approval rating in 2006 down to a 25% approval rating in 2008. Politico, like the rest of the Villagers, seem to be making up their own reality to fit their agendas. Don’t we deserve a media that can at least do a tiny bit of research???
http://www.gallup.com/poll/116500/presidential-approval-ratings-george-bush.aspx
Irony Abounds
Unfortunately, I think Cole is on target. Gonna wind up with a 53-46-1 Senate (King being the real independent who may switch to caucusing with the Repubs), and it would not shock me to see Manchin change parties (for the betterment of WV of course). What will be most sickening is that the things the media (pushed by the Drudge Report fanboys) scared the country most with the past few months, ISIS, ebola, diseased illegals, will fade now that they have served the purpose of lighting a fire under the ill-informed old white people. Just a fucking shame.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@cckids: @JPL: Whom amongstest us can forget the Golden Age of Bush’s last two years. Harriet Miers, the Libby trial, the US Atty scandal and Alberto Gonzales’s resignation, not getting hit by a shoe, and… DANCING!
Patrick
@Another Holocene Human:
Are you seriously claiming that every Democratic voter is poor and God forbid can’t vote? At the place I work, just about everybody is middle class. And just about everybody I talk to have no plans whatsoever of voting tomorrow.
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus: I thought that was another example of the vaunted understatement of the simple Mid-Westerner. In reality, it was like saying you’re ready to strip down to a tie, thong underwear and schmear on the bear grease, set up the vodka funnel and have red and blue pills on every end table.
I repeatedly keep hearing that if Obama smiles tightly and nods briefly that it really means he wants to rip your guts and garters out. So, poetic license and all that.
Howard Beale IV
@Another Holocene Human: Calls. The last one they actually left me a voice mail.
J R in WV
@Amir Khalid:
Man oh Man, do I hope you’re right.
I try hard to stay optimistic. I know WV is gonna tank for the Rs, I fear that KY and NC will also. but that won’t be enough to turn the Senate.
I hope the next 2 years aren’t a string of Obama vetoes of stupid Republican bills. But better that than just allowing crazy Republican acts become law.
I’ve donated to candidates, worked for a local candidate, have done what I can, now it’s up to the mass of voters. We decided to not vote early, we like to go to the polling place, see the old timers who work the polls over at the middle school, shake hands with some of them, other voters. Democracy in action~!
Good luck in your South Pacific haven, and Thanks for your calm and sensible contributions to our crazed political sphere!
Corner Stone
@Patrick:
So then they’re actually non-voters, then?
hilts
@Elizabelle:
Dana Priest, Walter Pincus, Erik Wemple, and Michael Dirda are the only Washington Post writers worth reading.
slag
@hilts: Car Talk was interesting in that the subject matter was the show’s least engaging aspect.
catclub
@hilts: and with a nym like yours, remember Michael Hiltzik at the LA times.
d58826
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Didn’t he also grope the German PM Merckle? Or was that in his earlier years?
Amir Khalid
@J R in WV:
Um, South Pacific?
J R in WV
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I hope I never forget seeing the news film of George Shrub, seeing that show flying at him, and ducking so quick!! And then another shoe comes from the crowd, and he ducks again!
Two for two! I couldn’t believe it, a lazy drunk able to dodge flying shoes!!?!!
I hope that exists on Youtube, forever!
He deserved to get hit in the face, and only the devil allowed him to avoid the face-shoe smack-down!
Cervantes
@John Cole, quoting:
When it comes to democracy, Mencken isn’t the best guide.
Remember this diary entry of his (it’s from 1943)?
That’s just one diary entry. There are others and they are not unrelated to the kind of thinking behind that gem you quoted above (out of frustration, no doubt).
Corner Stone
Motherfucker.
How the economy will win if Republicans sweep the midterms
Another Hope over Experience paean to fucking bullshit tropes.
Dog damn these people.
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid: Bali Hai, kemo sabe!
Cervantes
@hilts: And I’m not sure about the first four.
hilts
@Valdivia:
Other gems
Donny Deutsch agreed that a GOP takeover of the Senate in tomorrow’s midterm elections would be the best result possible for President Barack Obama, not to mention both parties and “the country.” “This is going to be the best thing to ever happen to Barack Obama,” Deutsch said… “It might wake him up and reenergize him in the last two years.”
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/morning-joe-gop-takeover-will-wake-obama-up
Ben Stein: “This president is the most racist president there has ever been in America. He is purposely trying to use race to divide Americans”
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/ben-stein-obamas-the-most-racist-president-there-has-ever-been
J R in WV
@Amir Khalid:
Well, I know where you are, it seems like south and on the western edge of the Pacific to me, although I’ve never been there, yet. Ring of fire and all that?
OK, edumacate me, how far off am I?
hilts
@catclub:
Thanks for the reminder. I saw Hiltzik once on BookTV and he was great.
Patrick
@hilts:
So Mr Stein, by his own admission, think that Obama is more racist for example than the 12 Presidents who actually owned slaves. His statement just boggles the mind.
J R in WV
@Patrick: Mr. Stein is obviously an ignorant fool, with no redeeming parts whatsoever.
Accusing a black person of racism is the ne-plus-ultra of confederate hate speech! He needs a through application of (not TOO hot) tar and feathers, followed by riding a sharp fence rail to the edge of town.
All captured on video and preserved for eternity on the Internet data tubes!
RaflW
@catclub: We had a specially appointed commission set up by the MN Supreme Court do our US House redistricting. I believe our State House was court-redistricted as well.
Not saying this makes them non-partisan, but they were not done by a hyper-partisan one-party lege.
But the phenomenon, especially in a single-dominant-city type state like MN, there really is a demographic trend of liberal concentrating in the urban core(s) and conservatives being more suburban + rural and dispersed. I suppose lots of finger-like districts could be drawn that incorporate some of each into multiple districts could be tried, but it seems unlikely.
Amir Khalid
@J R in WV:
I’m in Southeast Asia, just north of the Equator.
Wikipedia offers three different definitions of the South Pacific:
Australasia, a region of Oceania, including New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea and neighbouring islands;
Oceania, a geographical/geopolitical region consisting of islands in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity, usually including Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia
The southern part of the Pacific Ocean, usually the area south of the equator.
Kathleen
@Corner Stone: YES!!!!!!!!!@Corner Stone:
hilts
@Patrick:
@J R in WV:
The only worthwhile thing Ben Stein ever did in his life was his role in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
hilts
@Corner Stone: @Kathleen:
Leave room for Chris Matthews, Amy Walter, and Stu Rothenberg in the back seat.
Heliopause
@gopher2b: @Patrick:
Something close to 150 million (let me write that down again so it sinks in; 150 million) people eligible to vote will not do so tomorrow. That is a massive, catastrophic failure of liberalism/the Democratic Party in this country. If mind-boggling numbers of people feel no compulsion to vote for your favored party you might think about facing the unpleasant possibility that there is a catastrophic problem with your favored party and its messaging.
Another one to chew on: American voter turnout in Presidential years is well below average for “developed” democracies. Again, this is an astonishing fact; American presidential elections are — this is no exaggeration — the most hyped public events in the history of the planet. And still, scores of millions of Americans don’t participate.
It’s not terribly mysterious, is it? People participate in things they feel a connection with. If you want people to feel connected to your pet cause then figure out a way to communicate it to them. It’s not their job to seek you out and beg to be convinced.
Valdivia
@cckids:
I could not believe it. Then again. It is Politico!
Corner Stone
@hilts: I say we find a VW Bus from the days when Hippies ruled the earth, stick it in a detached garage next door to a Planned Parenthood clinic, light up some fat doobs, turn off the CFL overheads and let nature take its course.
Valdivia
@hilts:
they have no shame anymore openly rooting for the Republicans. I really think they just want something new to write about. Obama is so boring eh? Gah.
@Patrick: I know, actual data and history is irrelevant. They have their narrative that Obama is collapsing in the polls and less popular than Bush ever was!
Dave
Worst news of the day, week, month and maybe the year… Tom Magliozzi died. RIP Tom. The world lost a real human being.
Howard Beale IV
@RaflW: Explains why me (being in the Twin Cities outer burbs north of 694) got hammered by GOP GOTV calls.
Elie
The only thing that I care about with people like Stein is that we give him and his supporting sponsor plenty of clicks. He is too stupid and Fox we KNOW is not worth the energy to either listen to or move your eyeballs to read. WHO CARES? An ugly toad, stupid asshole who can line up with bunches of them and never stand out, but we give him the attention he craves..silly
PaulW
What the hell happened to Howard Dean’s effort from 2006 of a “50 State Strategy”? It worked back then. Why are the Dems giving up on building up their state operations…?
El Caganer
@Corner Stone: Delusional? I”ll give you delusional! http://tribtalk.org/2014/11/02/why-minorities-should-vote-for-abbott/
hilts
@Corner Stone:
That’s the ideal solution. These villagers are a criminal waste of protoplasm.
Elizabelle
NBC News just earned the “off” button on my remote. They did not follow their relatively even report from Sunday night.
Gag me. I used to love NBC News when I was a child. No longer.
Patrick
@Heliopause:
I know a number of Republicans who vote every time there is an election. They vote, not because they agree with much of the Republican platform. They vote because they hate whatever the Dems stand for.
Anybody who could vote but choose not to vote is still voting for something. In this election, they are implicitly voting for a Republican senate.
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
Or, as Ted Geisel called it: the far western part of southeast North Dakota.
But not at Hoople.
SFAW
@PaulW:
Howard Dean “screamed” on TV once, which is far more damaging than:
1) Starting a war – just for shits and grins – killing hundreds of thousands
2) Leading a coordinated, country-wide voter-suppression scheme
3) Threatening the President
4) BENGHAZIII!!!!1!!2!!
5) Lying to the “press” every day
I’m kind of appalled that you even have to ask. Next you’ll be asking some commie-like question like “Why are Republicans so crazy/stupid/evil?”
Death Panel Truck
@catclub: The funniest thing I ever heard on Car Talk was when this guy called in to ask about his windshield. Seems he woke up one morning to find it covered in ice.
“I couldn’t find my ice scraper,” the guy says, “so I used a piece of a broken Mountain Dew bottle I found in the car. Now the window is covered in scratches. Is there any I can get the scratches out of the glass?”
The brothers told him no, that he had ruined his windshield and would have to get another one. The guy says thank you, and hangs up.
After a moment of silence, the brothers burst out laughing, and Tom says, “What a knucklehead!”
sherparick
@cahuenga: Believe me, there are about a 10,000 dead Americans and 500,000 million Iraqi dead who can tell the difference between Dubya and Al Gore.
Also, do a little thought experiment. Imagine if John McCain and Sarah Palin had been elected President in 2008.
President Obama was not perfect and the Affordable Care Act ain’t perfect, but he got something done that all the Presidents from TR to Clinton could not get done, establish the framework to build universal health insurance to everyone in the country.
On the economy, there has been close to 60 months of job growth. On the environment, just compare we have fuel economy standards with teeth and Greenhouse gas regulations. None of that would happen under the “drill baby drill” Republicans. Yes, I wish he had been more vigoruous iin defending Social Security and Medicare and not gotten into the deficit frenzy in 2009 and 10, but there is so much difference. Also Kagan and Sotomayer in the Supreme court, compared to Alito and Roberts. So please never say there is no difference, because one day you will wake up and find the whole country Kansas with Ted Cruz as President.
We liberals and progressives really do suffer from a perserverance problem (hey lets have a protest and march, then go home and hang out- that will solve everything), a green lantern problem (Lets elect politician X, that will solve it all and we can go home and hang-out so we don’t have to do that hard work to elect progressive Senators and Representatives (for instance, primary that douche bag Steve Israel), and when the going gets tough, let’s shoot our leaders to show the bad guys how piss’d off we are. I see a lot of that right now (Obama is a politician who is at best center-left, I am shocked, just shocked that he is what his platform in 2008 said he was). The next two years the Congress is going to try to repeal not only Obama’s reforms, but the whole Great Society and New Deal as well, by threatening debt defaults and Government shutdowns and if they don’t get their way, then impeachment. So you are going find out there is a big difference between Mark Udall and Corey Gardner, Mark Pryor and sociopath Tom Cotton; and Tom Harkin and loony “Agenda 21 and I am packing” Jodi Ernst.
hilts
@Elizabelle:
NBC News and its rivals have nothing substantive to offer viewers. Their programming is nothing more than super sized steaming piles of excrement.
sherparick
@J R in WV: The Democrats and Republican divide in West Virginia was for a long time the way families split up during the Civil War and neither side liked Blacks. Then the New Deal came and for a whle West Virginia had the UMW and USW and the URW unions counter-points to the operators and railroads. But then the corrupt appartchiks took over UMW and literally put hits out on reformers and the post-McGovern Democratic party found all the unions old fashion and hawkish, and afterwards, corrupted by Wall Street money under Tony Coehlo, sold the working classes out, with the White Working Class, particularly after NAFTA, drifting to cultural conservativism. The unions were the cement that held state Democratic parties together when after all the hub bub of the Presidential elections the volunteers went home. So that is why West Virginia has no opposition to plutocratic rule and so many believe the lies that all their problems started the last five years under Obama.
sherparick
Tom Magliozzi’s passing is hard. I believe I first started listening to the Tappett Brothers when I came back from Germany in 1984 and service in the Army. 30 years of laughs from them was such a gift. http://www.boston.com/cars/news-and-reviews/2014/11/03/remembering-tom-magliozzi/OeHHswu9lBAFmzukLelK7O/story.html?camp=rss:cars&dlvrit=834420
AndoChronic
I just reside in the fact that I’m in grad. school and am often times funnier than those on the right!
Linnaeus
In times like these, remember that despair is counterrevolutionary.
Curt
I’m just going to say the votes are out there to win every single race. What are you doing to get them out? I just spent five hours door-knocking. My day tomorrow begins with a 7:30 “visibility” event, and then I’m door-knocking until the polls close. We can win this if we try. How many of you are trying?