Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Let there be snark.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

No one could have predicted…

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

A dilettante blog from the great progressive state of West Virginia.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

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Reader Interactions

98Comments

  2. 2.

    srv

    You can’t be creative w/o nukes:

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force on Monday fired two more nuclear commanders and disciplined a third, fresh evidence of leadership lapses in a nuclear missile corps that has suffered a rash of recent setbacks, including the firing last year of its top commander.

    The most senior officer to be relieved Monday was Col. Carl Jones, the No. 2 commander of the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, in charge of 150 of the Air Force’s 450 Minuteman 3 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles. He was dismissed “for a loss of trust and confidence in his leadership abilities,” and has been reassigned as a special assistant to the wing commander.

  3. 3.

    Belafon

    Most people listen to kindred spirits. And what binds a lot of these people: Their parents got them their jobs.

  4. 4.

    Mandalay

    Here’s something to contemplate which is just as chilling as anything ISIS can serve up: McCain could become chairman of the Armed Services Committee if the GOP claims a majority.

    Elections have consequences.

  5. 5.

    Someguy

    You mean, like, topple the Egyptian government and Libyan governments, sorta half topple the Egyptian government, definitely half topple the Syrian government, and reduce the stablizing presence of US troops in Iraq? That sort of destabilization? Or maybe toppling the Iraqi government, half destabilizing the Iranian government, and sorta 25 % topple the syrian government? Or does this mean some other sort of destabilization involving toppling and half toppling governments?

    I think this guy maybe has a wider audience than we typically give him credit for.

  6. 6.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    People still listen to him because being wrong but strong makes you infinitely more believable to people than being correct in general. Not to mention that, confronted with evidence, people have a terrible tendency to believe the exact goddamn opposite of what the evidence presents because apparently contrarianism is an inborn human instinct now. You see it in damn near everything these days, the economy, climate issues, politics in general, the more proof of how correct something is, the more likely people will run screaming away from it because somehow evidence in favor of something, especially if it’s something favored by anyone left of fucking Limbaugh, the more wrong it MUST be, because libs are always wrong since they hate America and baby Jesus.

  7. 7.

    Mike in NC

    Under Dubya, we destabilized the Middle East starting in 2003. Next week wait to hear new (and old) Republican senators talk about further destabilizing it by invading Syria and nuking Iran.

  9. 9.

    Cervantes

    @Tim F.:

    Yes, people still listen to this guy. No, I do not know why.

    Because the statements he makes, the games he plays, the system he reinforces — all these things suit them just fine.

    Now given that you knew that, what do you mean when you say you don’t know why people listen to him?

  10. 10.

    RaflW

    Unfortunately, starting tomorrow, the Village idiots may be paying (even) more attention to always wrong pundits like Kristol and Krauthammer as they all grossly misinterpret whatever “message” American voters are sending today.

  11. 11.

    gene108

    Billie, Irv’s boy, was right once, from a purely tactical perspective for Republicans. He was stupendously staggeringly right.

    He sent out a blast fax, in 1993, telling Congressional Republicans to not negotiate with President Clinton on healthcare, but rather to outright oppose any reforms he suggest and thus is born the “Gingrich Revolution”, Republicans taking control of the House for a generation, and laid the foundation for the modern GOP.

    If Bill Clinton got healthcare reform through, it could have been a big step to undoing the Reagan idea of government is the problem.

  12. 12.

    Amir Khalid

    I’m pretty sure there’s going to be more shit hitting the fan in the neighbourhood of Iraq over a generation or three, thanks to George Walker Bush’s excellent adventure. The Obama administration must realise this, and is surely not aiming for more than damage control.

  13. 13.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @RaflW:

    Sad to say, they may get the message exactly, depressingly right: that people will believe anything to come out of a conservative’s mouth unless it’s disproven relentlessly beyond a shadow of a doubt (and even then…) while they’ll distrust anything to come out of a dirty lib’s mouth unless Jesus his goddamn self endorsed it, and even then they’d probably just call Jesus a dirty stinking commie.

    This country is hard wired for conservative, GOP rule at this point. And almost all attempts to fight it will just result in people screaming rightward all the harder out of spite and contrarianism.

  14. 14.

    Tim F.

    @Someguy: The fuck are you talking about? Literally none of those things makes Obama look neoconservative. You think Bill Kristol wanted to pull troops out of Iraq? WTF is wrong with you? Obama did not precipitate Libya by any possible stretch of the imagination. He has done everything possible to avoid toppling Assad, literally every expert on the planet thinks that Iraq is better off and more stable having replaced Nouri al-Maliki, without a single American soldier involved by the way, and you are bullshitting like a pro with this “sorta half” stuff. Honestly now.

  18. 18.

    Betty Cracker

    We can — and should — blame the blood-gargling neo-con sociopaths for setting the Iraq misadventure in motion. But the latest anti-ISIS strategy debacle is on Mr. Obama and his team. I wish they’d hew closer to their own damn “don’t do stupid shit” axiom.

  20. 20.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @Belafon:

    I’m honestly convinced that most of the Rapture nuts don’t want it to come so they can be carried up to heaven, so much as so they can feel superior to those left in hell. You know, aside from the assumption that those asshats would got o heaven in the first place.

  22. 22.

    RP

    It’s only a debacle if Obama’s strategy actually made things worse. My sense is that it was a clusterf*ck before we got involved, and it’s a clusterf*ck now. I think Obama knew we couldn’t make a difference but made a half-hearted effort to give the impression that we were doing something.

  24. 24.

    Betty Cracker

    @RP: If true, that’s foreign policy malpractice. At least one US Marine died during the sorties against ISIS (in an accident), and untold billions have been poured down the Middle East rathole after the trillion or so Dubya pissed away.

  25. 25.

    RaflW

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:

    This country is hard wired for conservative, GOP rule at this point.

    I disagree. This election is hardwired for the GOP. The combination of the Senate seats up this year, and the 6th year pattern make this what should (if the analysts are correct) have been a massive year for Republicans will probably turn out to me a moderately good year for them.

    I do feel pessimistic. I was really sour a few days ago, as a few here probably noticed. But in the same way that things were not as fantastic as they seemed on Nov 5, 2008, I think they will not be as dire as they might on Nov 5, 2014.

    Republicans still have no real clue how to govern. They can campaign very well, spending massive cash in the process. But they fundamentally suck at actually doing anything legislatively, and their own caucus is gonna be an infighting bonanza.

    Two years from now the same Senate table that tilts R will tilt D. So I’m bummed but sanguine today.

  27. 27.

    Redshift

    This afternoon’s entertainment outside the polls: Grumpy old white people volunteering for the GOP.

    Favorite bit: “My friend from college lives on Long Island, and it’s still really bad there after that storm; houses boarded up. She said when the storm was coming, she just grabbed her furs and jewelry and left everything else.”

    Then they chatted about how they vote against all the school and transportation bonds, not because they don’t think money should be spent on those things, but because they hate all the waste in government. I have no problem with people who don’t understand the difference between “spending” and loans to finance long-term projects, as long as they get that they don’t understand finances, instead of being certain they understand better than everyone else.

    Then she went into a rambling story about how she raised X kids on a military wife’s budget, and then afterward lived in “that big house” by herself for whatever number of years, which she seemed to think somehow proved that she could manage a budget better than the government. I refrained from pointing out that if a government agency occupied a small part of a building much to big for it, she’d call it waste, not frugality.

  29. 29.

    srv

    @RP:

    half-hearted effort to give the impression that we were doing something.

    Hopefully, the general public will give a half-hearted effort at the polls today.

  30. 30.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @Betty Cracker:

    It might be foreign policy malpractice, but it’s also more than likely political realism. What do you imagine would’ve happened if Obama outright said that we really couldn’t do much there and that it was mostly up to regional powers to do the heavy lifting? Impeachment proceedings would’ve been rapid and swift. The fact that it was a shitty choice underscores the shitfest of our politics more than it does some horrific botched decision making on Obama’s part IMO.

  31. 31.

    Mike E

    @Tim F.: Heh! Since getting that Saddam guy worked out so well.

    OK, I just gave myself a sad. Moby! on my shuffle now, it’s all better…

  33. 33.

    Mandalay

    @Betty Cracker:

    But the latest anti-ISIS strategy debacle is on Mr. Obama and his team.

    Luckily for our president, John McCain has a two-pronged solution to the problem, and you’ll never guess what it is…
    [1] Provide more assistance to the “good guys” on the ground (aka the “moderate rebels” and “moderate opposition”), who have of course been “vetted”. The same bunch who just left a shit load of US supplies to Al Qaeda.
    [2] More bombing. Lots more!

    We should all laugh at McCain while we can, because none of us will be laughing if he gets control of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee.

  34. 34.

    Botsplainer

    @srv:

    Is there a less career-enhancing job than to be a nuclear missile wing commander in the USAF?

    “After acquiring the drill message, insert key into slot A, turn, and press some more buttons according to a sequence set forth in the manual while seated strapped into a chair as if you’re a pilot or something and won’t die when a metric shload of MIRVed SS18s come screaming over the pole to destroy your field and the C^3 facilities if this were real.

    We know that your average Mumbai CSR has a more difficult and demanding task when calling you about your VISA payment being late, but this has traditionally been a job for white guys and the proprieties must be observed.”

  35. 35.

    max

    @Redshift: Then she went into a rambling story about how she raised X kids on a military wife’s budget, and then afterward lived in “that big house” by herself for whatever number of years, which she seemed to think somehow proved that she could manage a budget better than the government. I refrained from pointing out that if a government agency occupied a small part of a building much to big for it, she’d call it waste, not frugality.

    Or perhaps pointing out that the government helped pay for the house.

    max
    [‘But… but… they’re giving money to black people!’]

  36. 36.

    Trollhattan

    @Mandalay: Doesn’t ISIS/ISIL keep overrunning our “good guys” and taking the weapons we gave them?

    We know what happens when trigger-drunk Ukranian rebels get Russian SAMs.

  37. 37.

    Jewish Steel

    I fraudvoted for my Obamaphone today. Apparently the local GOP trashed a bunch of D signage last night and then put a bunch of Bruce Rauner signs right outside a local polling place.

    That’s a sweet insight into the party as a whole. Do something illegal and too late and ultimately pointless.

  38. 38.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @RaflW:

    I’d be less despondent if not for the GOP’s amazing skill at blame shifting, and duping the country into believing their own political malfeasance was because of the Dems, or how somehow turning proof of something into the exact opposite in people’s minds. How easily support for shit like Voter ID is mined while fraud behind the ballot box remains untouched, how scientists are the real frauds and grifters, pay no mind to the incestuous dealings of energy companies and lobbyists. Oh, lets not forget how many people have legitimately fallen into the hole of ‘DEMS ARE THE REAL RACISTS’ bullshit.

    We’ve backslid on god knows how much, and now, as a country, we’re going to reward those responsible for it, outrageously so, so they can do it even more, and further blame the Dems, and anything we seem to be able to do to fight it just makes America hate us all the more and go screaming further fucking rightward.

    It’s hard to keep up the spirit to fight when it feels like the very act of fighting has been wired to turn people against what you fight for and you personally to the point of them flying completely out of reach.

  39. 39.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    FYWP, I don’t know what word’s triggering moderation at this point, but I give up on figuring out which one.

  40. 40.

    Betty Cracker

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:

    What do you imagine would’ve happened if Obama outright said that we really couldn’t do much there and that it was mostly up to regional powers to do the heavy lifting?

    I think he would have been expressing the sentiments of most Americans. Of course, he would have had to couch it in terms other than “we can’t do much” (illusions of American omniscience must be maintained), but if he’d said we’ve done enough in that part of the world, the resources being spent there are needed here and it’s up to the people there to sort their own shit out, up to 77% of Americans would agree with that.

  41. 41.

    Violet

    Just voted. Took great pleasure in voting straight ticket Democrat. And I had a nice little chat outside the polling place with some Democrats who were handing out literature for a candidate. Very refreshing. One of the poll workers told me that turnout had been high.

  44. 44.

    Redshift

    @RP: I’m not entirely convinced it won’t make things at least slightly better. While I agree that the military side may be mostly to convince people we’re doing something, it’s at least in part to convince people in the region whose support we need that we’re doing something, so that things hold together long enough for the economic measures, which are the really effective part, to begin to bite.

    Remember all that stuff back when ISIS burst on the scene about how they weren’t just a terrorist/insurgent group, they were actually trying to govern in the areas they conquered? One result of that seems to be that they can’t succeed in the standard insurgent fashion, where the ruling power needs to win, and the insurgents just need to not lose. After they burned through the money they looted from the banks, and now that refineries under their control have been destroyed and they aren’t getting nearly as much money from black market oil, and the military campaign kept them from capturing the dam that supplies electricity to the area they control, their attempts to govern have apparently gone seriously downhill.

    Yeah, to a significant degree it’s still counter-insurgency, but the essential part of counter-insurgency is depriving the insurgents of the support of the population. If people aren’t getting water and electricity from their new “government,” then mass executions can only do so much to maintain control.

    Unlike airstrikes and weapons drops, it’s not flashy enough or easily enough explained for our news media to ever make much of it, but that side of the campaign is the part that’s actually important.

    “Don’t do dumb things” is a great mantra, but doing nothing can also be a dumb thing, and sometimes all the choices are dumb things and you just have to go with whatever looks to be the least dumb.

  46. 46.

    Redshift

    @max:

    Or perhaps pointing out that the government helped pay for the house.

    Yeah, I thought of that, too. And considering how bloated the military has been for my entire life, but especially from Reagan onward, the salary that paid for it is arguably entirely government waste.

  47. 47.

    max

    @Betty Cracker: But the latest anti-ISIS strategy debacle is on Mr. Obama and his team. I wish they’d hew closer to their own damn “don’t do stupid shit” axiom.

    Tim F. was linking to KDrum who was quoting Zack Beauchamp. What Beauchamp is freaking out about is that the ‘moderate Syrian opposition’ is collapsing. Supporting those guys was part of the plan Obama announced. That part is not obviously not going to work. As far as I can tell, Obama brought that part in as a sop to the Sunday news show crowd because it was never going to work.

    (What Beauchamp is opposing is siding with Assad against ISIS – the alternatives are siding with al-Nusra against Assad & ISIS (ha, they’ll work with ISIS, they already are) or siding with ISIS against Assad. But everyone has been on the anti-Assad bandwagon for so long that they can’t break with that. Assad is basically playing the role of Saddam Hussein for Syria, but the neo-cons still want to get rid of him (of course they do!) so we can get democracy in the Middle East because oil Israel death to Iran.)

    The ‘halt the ISIS advance’ part, conducted by the USAF & the USN is going fine. The ‘reverse the ISIS advance’ part is not going as swimmingly as anyone would like, but it’s slooowwwwlllyyy moving in the right direction.

    The ‘support the moderate Syrians’ is in the toilet. Not least because there are no moderate Syrians left and haven’t been for two years, at least. Shoulda skipped that part.

    max
    [‘Beauchamp’s hyperventilating.’]

  48. 48.

    RP

    @Redshift: I agree; I should have qualified my original comment a little. I’m guessing that Obama felt that our support might help a little, and that for both political and strategic reasons it was better than doing nothing.

  49. 49.

    Patrick

    @Betty Cracker:

    but if he’d said we’ve done enough in that part of the world, the resources being spent there are needed here and it’s up to the people there to sort their own shit out, up to 77% of Americans would agree with that.

    Most Americans also wanted to invade Iraq in 2003…

  51. 51.

    Betty Cracker

    @Patrick: Yes, they did, but then something happened between 2003 and 2014 — the Iraq War became widely acknowledged as a massive clusterfuck, and even many of the dumb motherfuckers who originally supported it rethought the idea. I was thinking we should continue to capitalize on that learning experience to avoid making similar mistakes, albeit on a smaller scale.

  52. 52.

    Betty Cracker

    @max: My pessimism isn’t based on Beauchamp’s reporting alone. I don’t see any scenario where this ends well, and in my opinion, doing nothing was the least shitty option on the table. Maybe I’m wrong. We’ll see, by and by.

  54. 54.

    Mandalay

    @Trollhattan:

    Doesn’t ISIS/ISIL keep overrunning our “good guys” and taking the weapons we gave them?

    Yes they do, but I’m sure that McCain would argue that makes it all the more vital that we keep giving the good guys more arms.

    Look, if an alcoholic drinks all the booze then you get them some more to replace the missing booze, right? If a gambler loses all their money you give them some more to compensate for the lost money, right? Those are examples of The McCain Principle in action, only he does it with military hardware instead of booze or money.

  55. 55.

    Mnemosyne

    @Betty Cracker:

    even many of the dumb motherfuckers who originally supported it rethought the idea

    Which ones? The only one I can think of on the conservative side is Andrew Sullivan. I don’t think I’ve heard a single one of the other conservative war-humpers admit there was a single thing wrong with how we went into Iraq. Hell, I don’t think I’ve heard a single major media figure admit that maybe Iraq was a massive clusterfuck (except, again, Sullivan).

    ETA: Obviously, a lot of Democrats, including conservative ones, went WTF were we thinking?! but I can’t think of a major Republican or MSM person who did the same. Shep Smith?

  56. 56.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Betty Cracker:

    if he’d said we’ve done enough in that part of the world, the resources being spent there are needed here and it’s up to the people there to sort their own shit out, up to 77% of Americans would agree with that.

    If Obama had said that, there would be a hard cap of 73% support. I think you know why. Do the math.

  57. 57.

    Iowa Old Lady

    An academic I know took a job in Texas this year. He just posted this on FB:

    “Having just changed my residency to Texas, I got to see first-hand how hard it is now to get in the system now. It was way easier when I was a teenager. I had my passport and insurance and proof of residency, and they wouldn’t give me a state ID until I brought in tax returns.”

  58. 58.

    Mandalay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I think he would have been expressing the sentiments of most Americans.

    I think the sentiment of most Americans may be:
    – Nobody is fucking with Israel much right now, which is good.
    – Gas is cheap, which is good.
    – We are almost out of Iraq and Afghanistan, which is good.
    – Nothing else about the Middle East really registers. The Kurds, Egypt, Libya, Assad, the Saudis, the Taliban, ISIS, Iran et al don’t even need to go fuck themselves – they are simply irrelevant.

  60. 60.

    Betty Cracker

    @Mnemosyne: John Cole? I wasn’t specifically referring to Republicans though — I meant Americans who supported the war in general. I think the polling on that issue is pretty clear: A lot of people were bamboozled and scare-mongered into invading a country that had fuck-all to do with 9/11, and many regained their senses after things went south. Better late than never!

    @Bobby Thomson: You’re right; I meant 73%. I suck at math.

  61. 61.

    gogol's wife

    @Mnemosyne:

    The New York Times acts as if they didn’t cheerlead us into it. It’s all Obama’s fault. “Aluminum tubes? Who remembers aluminum tubes on our front page? I don’t.”

  62. 62.

    Another Holocene Human

    #*)@&$# I don’t know if anyone listens to NPR but they just did a big report on Philly Public Schools and PFT, blaming teacher for the budget problems, had some wet behind the ears financial guy complaining about increase in pension contributions when hello, what happened in 2008?

    Anyway, I think the privatizers are losing and they know it. Despite giving more time to the scumbags than any other stakeholder (and so much time to those poor, poor principals):

    They had to admit that Philadelphia public schools DON’T suck
    They gave time to parents and kids who are fed up with cuts to their public schools and fed up with the charter/privatization game
    They admitted that teachers are leaving the public schools and the district struggles to replace them so, huh, maybe the wage/benefit demands aren’t out ofline
    Tellingly, their charter shill admitted that charters only have the “reputation” of being cheaper, no actual evidence that they’re more “fiscally responsible”

    70 kids in a damn high school math class. Even the kids could tell that was bullshit.

    Got really hot under the collar when some shill dude said there was no way that Philly on state local or federal level could get more dollars. Really? Bullshit! The whole game is the break a powerful union so the corporations can steal more from working people (including their education). Fuck that noise.

    Also, they disclosed that privatization is costing them 6-7 times the total healthcare budget for teachers. Maybe that’s where you ought to staunch the bleeding.

  63. 63.

    catclub

    @RaflW:

    So I’m bummed but sanguine today.

    No reason to be bummed out yet. Wait for results.

    The sanguine part. Yeah, the only real harm they will do is to appointments that require senate confirmation. Obama avoids whining at all costs, but he might start (i.e calling out obstructionism on a regular basis) if they do nothing but block his appointments.

  65. 65.

    Mnemosyne

    @Betty Cracker:

    Ah, okay, that makes more sense. I do think you’re right that most ordinary Americans have re-thought any support they had for the war, even if some of them had to justify it to themselves as, Obama lost the war by withdrawing the troops!

    But AFAIK, the Village and the MSM never re-considered their support of the war and they’re the ones driving the narrative, unfortunately. That’s why Bill Kristol is still infecting my teevee as an “expert” instead of being driven out onto an ice floe as would happen in a healthy society.

  66. 66.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Another Holocene Human: Also, they gave time to a lady who was shilling for cuts to teacher benefits but revealed she’d been pushing for this crap since 2001 and nothing has changed. Definition of insanity much?

    I think NPR is starting to feel the heat too if they can’t run paid commercials for privatized school industry.

  68. 68.

    Another Holocene Human

    @catclub: If we hold the line at 50, we win.

    We’ll see tomorrow.

    We’ve succeeded at much better midterm GOTV. We’ve communicated to the base why these elections matter. We’ve signed up new voters. We’ve identified new leaders. We’ve even taught Dem donors and single issue big donors that you win elections with:

    populist ballot measures
    volunteers, volunteers, volunteers
    cooperation and coordination throughout the coalition
    early groundwork and listening to local partners

    and NOT with

    airdrops of cash to play shitty ads made by sketchy third parties

  69. 69.

    catclub

    @max: I read the War Nerd at Pando ( in spite of someone advising not to take him too seriously). He has some useful insights. One is that ISIS is primarily a PR organization, that needs that PR to keep young restless men coming to join them. And the latest video of a US bombing blowing up their guys is pretty deft strike back at their PR.

    Another is that ISIS is much less invincible than they are often given credit for. Taking 15 months to not quite yet, take Kobani, is not really the sign of an ultra powerful force.

  71. 71.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Trollhattan: Roll them back into the Army and under Army command, and mothball anything that duplicates efforts by Navy.

    Not only are they the proverbial hammer in search of the nail, not only do they fight with the Army and Navy and f*** up all procurement decisions beyond all recognition, but they’re a rat’s nest of race/class/gender/creed privilege. They’re the worst branch for invidious Evangelical Christian proselytizing and religious discrimination.

    Plus, the attitude makes me want to puke. Funny how all the other branches, and I include Marines here, much as it pains me to do so, can do stuff that’s just as difficult, complicated, technical (especially USN) without the fucking attitude. I know, this last thing is just personal and has nothing to do with billion$$$$ equipment procurement mistakes. I know I’m being just as dumb as the (true story) commander who noticed the neutral colored powder coat on the mainframe housings looked to him too much like the color belonging to a different branch and ordered all the computers spray-painted. But by god that fucken attitude really sticks in my craw.

  73. 73.

    Tone In DC

    I am not willing to buy into the “We’re DOOMED” point of view, just yet.

    According to these oh so Serious People in the media (like Bloody Bill), Obama lost the election to OvenMitt3000® two years ago, and the g00pers took the Senate at that point, as well.

    The Big Dog told us a while back, these winger idjits cannot even add and subtract. Don’t give them so much credit, they do not deserve it.

    If the non-insane members of the electorate do suffer ignominious defeat tonight, and I truly hope that this doesn’t occur…. Then, these ignorant, fractious, greedy people will overreach, as they have before (they handed Florida to BHO in 2012, after pushing through their disgusting voter ID law). And many people who may not have been motivated to participate in voting and related activities will start to participate. /end rant

  74. 74.

    Mike E

    @Bobby Thomson: true story: my daughter was attending the local magnet elementary school right near NC State, even attended a few games at the old barn on campus with plenty of red-colored indoctrination thrown in there (she knew Mr & Mrs Wuf for gawds sake). I just had to take a pulse, right about age 6…
    Me: “Hey, whuddya think about Carolina (UNC)?”
    Miss E: [with difficulty] “Umm…well, I uhh, I guess, they’re ok…”
    Me: “…and Duke…”
    Miss E: [a scant nanosecond passed] “Booooo Doook!”

    One of the funniest moments of my life.

  76. 76.

    Betty Cracker

    @Tone In DC: Amen and amen, sir or madam. I’ve been tempted to post something optimistic, but I’ve refrained…possibly for superstitious reasons!

  78. 78.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Violet: Yeah, me too, except for one local race that I left blank instead. Florida, I did vote to uphold all the judges, those are ‘non-partisan’ and the AFL opposes politicizing the judiciary.

    In the past I left a lot of races blank in Florida because I didn’t know if I was being told to vote for a Dixiecrat. I always voted the US House race for Corrine Brown because I knew she was good on transportation policy before I moved here, but I wasn’t sure about the state races. This year for the first time I voted for every Dem running for statewide office. That did feel good.

  79. 79.

    catclub

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Assad’s the one you need to watch out for.

    I am not sure what you mean. Assad may end up holding on to control of the same nation he has controlled for the past N years. Or holding on to much of it. This is bad for the Syrian people. It is very little skin off the US’s nose, either way. Obama has made a point of NOT escalating any attacks on Assad, or massively upping arms and support for rebels. He has demanded (?!) regime change but no followup means no great emphasis.

    This is why Israel and Saudi Arabia are pissed at us. We are Not fighting their war against Assad. Good.

  80. 80.

    JustRuss

    @Mnemosyne:

    That’s why Bill Kristol is still infecting my teevee as an “expert” instead of being driven out onto an ice floe as would happen in a healthy society.

    The acute shortage of Bill Kristols on ice floes is a problem that desperately needs solving.

  81. 81.

    Tone In DC

    @Betty Cracker:

    Ms. Cracker, thank you. For the record, it’s sir; a woman should not have a shaved head, a beard and wing tips. ;-)

    About to go vote in the nice, fall darkness. Hope the precinct is using paper ballots (Diebold is a terrible thing).

  83. 83.

    Hal

    I still don’t see how Republicans can do much damage as long as Obama has the veto. Besides, these are people who ran on Benghazi and overturning Obamacare. Now they’re going to get serious and take on employment in a serious matter. Doubt it.

    Of course, if a Supreme Court opening happens that could be an issues. I’m just not convinced that adding a few more teabaggers to the Senate is going to do anything but make the Senate a mirror of our do nothing House of Representatives.

  84. 84.

    Mandalay

    @catclub:

    ISIS is primarily a PR organization

    Er, not really. This is one of those claims which superficially sounds a bit daft, but on closer inspection is revealed as pure bullshit of the highest order.

  85. 85.

    Another Holocene Human

    @catclub: Not for the US but he is the one who put ISIS where it is today. He’s hung on as long as he has because he’s clever and ruthless. Didn’t really elaborate because I’m not an expert.

  86. 86.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Mandalay: ISIS took an enormous about of Iraqi territory with very few bullets, now if that doesn’t constitute some very effective PR, I don’t know what does.

  88. 88.

    bemused

    I didn’t meet too many of my republican neighbors today when I was out voting and bringing a senior citizen to vote at her polling place but a couple of them seemed a bit edgy.

  89. 89.

    jake the antisoshul soshulist

    Turn out is supposed to be better than 2010, but not enough to make a difference. The next most depressing thing about today was the number of local races with unopposed candidates. For the last few years, I have recorded protest write-in votes to unopposed candidates. This year I nearly ran out of film directors.

  90. 90.

    AxelFoley

    @Tim F.:

    @Someguy: The fuck are you talking about? Literally none of those things makes Obama look neoconservative. You think Bill Kristol wanted to pull troops out of Iraq? WTF is wrong with you? Obama did not precipitate Libya by any possible stretch of the imagination. He has done everything possible to avoid toppling Assad, literally every expert on the planet thinks that Iraq is better off and more stable having replaced Nouri al-Maliki, without a single American soldier involved by the way, and you are bullshitting like a pro with this “sorta half” stuff. Honestly now.

    That dumbass never argues in good faith, Tim.

  98. 98.

    Tehanu

    @RaflW:
    Jim at Stonekettle Station had a good post yesterday on this very topic. He says yeah, it’s depressing today, but basically nothing is going to happen for the next 2 years except the Publicans making fools of themselves. Checks and balances work 2 ways. I hope he’s right. I’ve spent most of my adult life being depressed about the results of elections but the Sucker Brothers haven’t taken over yet.

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