The polls close at 8 pm. A few minutes later, a new era of Republican dominance begins.
Update. Via 538, SwingStateProject has benchmarks for various towns in MA. Also, on 538, I think I see where this may be headed:
Rasmussen will have some sort of quasi- exit poll survey thing out at 8 PM. I’m happy that they’re doing this, since the regular exit polling firms didn’t get their shit together in time to survey this race, but I’d interpret the topline results with extreme caution for a number of reasons.
Yesterday, I was thinking of writing that Republicans should run their own exit polls so that they have “evidence” that ACORN steals elections. I realize it’s tenuous since the illegally-registered ACORN voters could be interviewed by exit pollers as well as anyone else could be, but they could argue that said voters were afraid to talk to interviewers out of fear of being caught. I’d be surprised if we don’t see some kind of argument along these lines at some point in some election from the likes of Michael Barone and Michelle Malkin. Pajamas Media exit polls would be a good way to facilitate this.
Update. Every time you hear the words “misread”, “electorate”, “mandate”, or “right-center”, take a swig. What other keywords should I be watching for?
Update. You can follow the results here. Though the famous bellwether town of Gosnold went for Brown, which means it’s over. Gosnold has gone for the winner in every statewide race since the days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. R. W. Apple and Jake Germond co-wrote an excellent book about this.
K. Grant
Two bits says that Michael Steele says something inane at 3 minutes after the hour.
Cain
Frist!
cain
slag
Could Evan Bayh be more of a wanker?
Just asking.
J.W. Hamner
Yeah, pretty much any way it turns out that’s the story. The articles and op-eds just write themselves!
Omnes Omnibus
I, for one, welcome our new… aw, hell, I can’t do it.
Elizabelle
Please please please let Coakley pull it out. Pretty please.
K. Grant
@Cain: Now is the time to make some witty comment about not counting one’s chickens until they hatch, but alas, I am no wit, and thus I shall simply glory in actually being frist.
Well, at least it is better than what Coakley will get tonight.
General Winfield Stuck
Lard, hep us. Will I have to swear allegiance to Mitch McConnell or, (bites knuckle) watch Glen Beck?
mr. whipple
It really sucks to be a Democrat sometimes.
K. Grant
@Elizabelle: With sugar on top.
If ACORN is so god-damned all powerful, why is that we are all biting our nails tonight.
Rey
Screw jobs, Obama needs to send all of his Obots a 3 yr supply of valium. I will not be watching any news or pundits for the next 4 weeks.
Comrade Jake
I can’t bear to watch the piles of stupid that’s about to come across the teevee tonight. Can’t do it.
tigrismus
Repubs whine to much to be doms.
freelancer
@Cain:
fail.
morzer
Coakley to win by more than 5 less than 10. Sarah Palin to start talking about how the will of the people has not been heard.
fraught
…and a big new Republican star. Scott Brown will have every wing nut thinking he will be the “ONE” to save the Rs and will be pushing for a Brown/Palin, Palin/Brown ticket in 2012. Ken and Barbie will bring us to god. He makes Mitt Romney look like a geriatric hack and John McCain look about a 99 yo with a hangover.
K. Grant
@Rey: Xanax please. But I only take it when I fly. And that has nothing to do with turrrrorists. Just garden variety fear of flying.
JenJen
Dukakis in a Skirt!! /joke
OK, so what happened? Back to 59 Senators just like November 2008?
Xenos
Does ACORN even have a significant presence in Massachusetts? I have never even heard of them around here.
slag
Where are our links to Mass polling sites, DougJ?
The Dangerman
In a twisted way, a Brown victory is good for health care reform; there would be two possible outcomes:
1) House passes the Senate Bill as is and Obama signs it
2) HCR is killed for another decade or more
I think it would be the first, but I am an optimist.
eemom
ok, it’s been 5 minutes and Tweety/Olbermann haven’t called it for Brown yet…….so far so good…….
General Winfield Stuck
Well, to be honest, I’m not sure I could vote for a dem candidate that believes the Taliban are gone from Afghanistan. I’d at least need to get likkered up first.
Cat Lady
@fraught:
This. Fuck me, but this.
Xenos
Brown is seriously not ready for prime time. If he prevails tonight it is the last election he will win.
DougJ
Does ACORN even have a significant presence in Massachusetts? I have never even heard of them around here.
It’s pronounced differently.
Darryl
Fuck you but this what?
MobiusKlein
@K. Grant: Because the defunding of ACORN prevented a Dem-o-loser frauduwin.
K. Grant
I am pathetic. I am not going to news-sites, just loitering around here waiting for the shoe to drop, because I want to be amongst fellow travelers when the bad news comes in.
Demo Woman
@General Winfield Stuck: Then likkered up.
OT..
The repub candidate for Governor of Ga has a little problem..
A man hunting with Republican gubernatorial hopeful John Oxendine was “sprayed” in the leg during an organized quail hunt in Dade County on Sunday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned.
freelancer
@fraught:
Pro-choice, you have no idea how much that nullifies his potential “star power” in any GOP primary.
tigrismus
What other keywords should I be watching for?
“Referendum.” Barf.
mcd410x
Let the new era of bipartisanship begin!!
Hal
Since when does a party need 60 votes to “get anything done?” It’s amazing how all of a sudden, that’s the bottom line. There is so much bullshit flying around right now, you could choke on it.
BTW, even if Coakley wins, the media and Repubs will still portray it as a huge loss for Obama because she won’t win by at 30 points.
morzer
Results are starting to come in , and can be viewed here:
http://www.boston.com/news/special/politics/2010/senate/results.html
bend
Cole’s twitter feed is all that’s keeping me sane right now.
moe99
Well Kevin Drum has called it for Coakley. I’m betting not. It’s my contrarian nature. I’d rather be pleasantly surprised but prepared to accept the worst.
General Winfield Stuck
@Demo Woman:
Luckily, I don’t live in Mass. I guess now NM is the bluest state in the union, or at least a notch up that way. Even My Yellow Dog Democrat Bird knows the Taliban are not gone from Afghan.. jeebus.
Ash Can
@fraught: Actually, that would be fine by me. Ken would look like the pretty-boy airhead he is once he has to campaign against an opponent who actually knows what he’s doing, and Barbie would quit with a month and a half to go until the election. It’d be comedy gold.
JK
Doug,
Douchebag Chris Matthews is already floating the idea of Brown running for President in 2012.
The Truffle
@Comrade Jake: I can’t bear to check out Huffington Post these days.
AhabTRuler
@General Winfield Stuck: I’m hoping that you know that is Fox-spawned bullshit, right?
Sentient Puddle
I’ve already heard dumb shit about yard signs, Brown winning by double digits, and someone wondering how what Coakley said would play in a place like Pittsburgh.
I don’t need drinking words tonight. I just need a fridge full of beer.
mr. whipple
The dood that got shot will just apologize for putting his leg in front of the shooter.
Cat Lady
what other keywords should I be watching for
Arrogance.
Out of touch.
tigrismus
@Xenos: There’s an office in Dorchester.
Hey, on looking it up there’s one in Springfield, too.
General Winfield Stuck
@AhabTRuler: I saw the clip with my own eyes and ear Ahab. On MSNBC this morn.
she said the Taliban were gone from Afhgan. not that terrorists were gone, like what Fox New was saying.
Mnemosyne
I think that all of us can agree at this point that Tim Kaine needs to have his ass fired.
I really think that’s the issue that can have manic-progressives and Obots joining hands and singing in perfect harmony.
ETA: And, yes, that’s even if Coakley pulls it out. In fact, he deserves firing even more if she manages to win since he let it get to this point.
Cat Lady
@bend:
Linky plz.
Just Some Fuckhead
Didn’t hurt Reagan, Bush or Danger Monkey. I think it hurt Mitt slightly because he was all over the place on that and everything else.
mr. whipple
WTF? Based on what?
MikeJ
First result googling acorn Massachusetts:
“If It’s Close In Massachusetts, Expect ACORN To Lead Vote Fraud Effort “
Rey
I’m watching Nancy Grace for god’s sake. Nice wine buzz going but, I’m about to cry about this abducted baby that was left for dead in Arizona. Must be good news for John McCain..
demkat620
Repudiation.
If I hear that one more time or Joe Six Pack.
Brachiator
“Obamacare,” “anger and frustration,” “Independents,” “higher taxes,” “activist wing,” and Jay Leno.
OK. I just threw that last one in there.
freelancer
@Cat Lady:
Re: Coakley Campaign vs White House
“thrown under the bus”, so 2006.
also, “Optics” just cause I fucking hate that word in a political context.
batgirl
From 538 twitter: according to Rasmussen, Coakley won late deciders but Brown won 22% of Democrats. Stupid, stupid Democrats.
AB
I don’t drink, never have.
I’m reconsidering.
mr. whipple
Pray it be true….Might just be Ras fucking with our heads.
“Rasmussen Reports has conducted an Election Night survey of 1,000 voters in the Massachusetts special election for U.S. Senate. Data will be released on this page throughout the evening.
Preliminary results include:
•Among those who decided how they would vote in the past few days, Coakley has a slight edge, 47% to 41%.
•Coakley also has a big advantage among those who made up their mind more than a month ago.
•Seventy-six percent (76%) of voters for Brown said they were voting for him rather than against Coakley.
•Sixty-six percent (66%) of Coakley voters said they were voting for her rather than against Brown.
•22% of Democrats voted for Brown. That is generally consistent with pre-election polling.”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/19/827009/-Ras:-Coakley-With-Slight-Edge-in-Preliminary-Results
General Winfield Stuck
@AhabTRuler: Ok, after some more research, it seems Coakley corrected herself to mean Al Quaida after saying they were gone after a question about the Taliban in her debate with Brown when this was spawned. So the clip I saw on MSNBC may have done what MM claims Fox was doing. If that is true, then I stand corrected, but i did hear her say they were gone, answering an initial question about the Taliban. Shame on MSNBC, but I did not get if from Fox.
Alex S.
I wish the ferret thread were still on top.
AhabTRuler
@General Winfield Stuck:Fair enough.
But we should all know better when we hear seemingly outlandish statements from politicians reported. I mean, when has MSNBC been above ripping off a bullshit story from Fox?
Violet
Ooh! Keyword watch: Waterloo! Take a drink!
JK
Every time you hear the words “misread”, “electorate”, “mandate”, or “right-center”, take a swig. What other keywords should I be watching for?
Message, wake-up call, referendum
Xenos
I am running across rumors of strong Brown showings in Fall River, Springfield, Worcester. Boston plus inner suburbs won’t do it. They need the small cities as well.
General Winfield Stuck
@AhabTRuler: I did not use fox framing, read my comment. It was from MSNBC. Bad accusation there dude.
Darryl
It’s a great synonym for “appearances”…if you’re a moron.
It was corporate-speak that escaped to other venues. But some idiots like corporate-speak. I had a particularly horrible manager two years ago who used ‘resources’ when she meant ‘people’.
Carla: We’re going to rightsize by streamlining our resources.
Me: You mean you’re going to save money by firing people?
Carla: Uh…it’s not firing…it’s just…changing our resource base.
Me: Firing people.
I lasted about a month after she got there.
Comrade Jake
Ken and Barbie: 2012
It’s gonna be tough to beat that.
General Winfield Stuck
@AhabTRuler: It was a goddamn video clip that clearly left the impression she was talking about the Taliban being gone from Afghan. It is good that she corrected herself, and bad that MSNBC did not run that part. Sosueme smart ass
AhabTRuler
@General Winfield Stuck: Yes, I’ll grant you that, but the end result is carrying Fox’s water. And again, why would you trust MSNBC?
JK
Al Giordano on Massachusetts
h/t http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3739/will-cavalry-arrive-save-massachusetts-and-us-senate
Violet
@Darryl:
Ugh. Did you work for the same boss I did. I worked one place where almost every word out of everyone’s mouths, but especially my immediate superior, was some form of corporate doublespeak. I felt like I was living on a buzzword bingo board.
Cat Lady
@Comrade Jake:
Don’t forget the American Idol tryouts at the Inaugural Ball
/Roger Ailes
rootless_e
Obama needs to do some level setting, circle back on things with the stakeholders, and fix the optics which principals are saying is not focused on value add. Then, if we stay in our swim lane, we can repurpose the buzz, and sell on the sizzle.
Brien Jackson
94% reporting in Lowell, Coakley getting 69% of the vote there. A very good early sign for Dems.
Comrade Jake
Anyone mention how, no matter what happens, this is good news for John McCain?
I assume he’s already scheduled for one of the Sunday shows?
mr. whipple
Nate’s tweets are coming fast:
“Early results look slightly bad for Coakley in comparison with benchmarks. Quite bad in Central MA, though decent in Eastern MA.”
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/01/six-quick-things.html#comments
Omnes Omnibus
@Xenos: Boston.com has Coakley up 80/20 in Springfield. Don’t listen to rumors.
Now 63% Coakley
General Winfield Stuck
@AhabTRuler: Yea right, carrying Fox’s water, that’s quite a charge. Now go fuck yourself sideways, or go over to FDL and butter up them motherfuckers with your accusations. I am done with your prick ass.
slag
@General Winfield Stuck: MSNBC…the network featuring the guy who says voting for a white male candidate is going “back to basics”. Unlike the “female candidates and whatnot”.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_01/021995.php
I hate these people.
Hal
22% of Dems vote for Brown, thereby ushering in a new era of dominance for the Democrats!
Just Some Fuckhead
Jesus Stuck, do you think you could stop undermining us from within for five fucking minutes??
Elizabelle
Tim Kaine is a great guy, and just coming off his duties as Virginia governor. He’s a former governor as of Saturday.
No calls for his head yet, please. He’s a keeper, and deserves every chance.
AhabTRuler
@General Winfield Stuck: No. It was an unclear statement. You know, the sort that occur in live debate. The only way you knew that she meant Taliban was if you were predisposed to think she is an idiot. The sentence was ambiguous, but no more than that.
@General Winfield Stuck: Have you ever tried not overreacting to everything?
DougJ
Anyone mention how, no matter what happens, this is good news for John McCain?
Yes, others have made this point in other threads.
It’s sort of stating the obvious.
Comrade Jake
No BTD tonight? Dangit. That guy is full of win.
nepat
@Mnemosyne:
I live in MA (in solid Brown country, btw. His father lives in my city and was a city councilor here for years), and I can’t underscore enough how unspeakably awful Martha Coakley has been as a candidate. And on top of being an awful candidate, she decided to take a five-week vacation in the middle of a six-week campaign!
This isn’t about Tim Kaine. You can’t turn a dud with no appeal into an inspiring figure in a few weeks. When – and if – Coakley loses, she and her campaign deserve the heat of a thousand suns on them. They have a lot of ‘splaining to do.
The big winner for Dems this past week? OFA. An amazing organization that very quickly kicked into overdrive to bail out Coakley. I must have gotten about 10 calls from them alone.
Mary
@General Winfield Stuck: Tensions are high. Josh Marshall is telling the Democrats to STFU about complaining so that they can listen to him complain instead.
SiubhanDuinne
@Demo Woman #30
That’s delicious, but of course the best part is the state insurance commissioner hunting as a guest of, and on property owned by, one of the state’s. Biggest insurance moguls.
Comrade Jake
@slag:
I caught that video. It is impossible to express in words the stupidity on display there.
Shell
Another keyword via M. Matalin. “Apocalyptic ”
Jesus.
This is just an election to fill Ted’s seat, right? It hasn’t suddenly turned into a presidential election?
However it goes, can all the MSM please shut up about it by Thursday?
arguingwithsignposts
Brown is killing her in early returns, 53-46, over 30,000 vote spread. Not good. This suspense is killing me.
rootless_e
How did Coakley win nomination if she’s so bad? Was it “her turn”? Hate that.
JK
@slag:
Donny Deutsch is a douche
General Winfield Stuck
@AhabTRuler: I believed a report on MSNBC that was cut short. Not Fox. It apparently was wrong, and I don’t know if Coakley is smart or dumb, but I do know that she has run a dumb campaign, and if this report had of been accurate, it would have been just one more dumbass thing she has said or done. Hardly a game changer on the shit campaign she has run.
AxelFoley
@JK:
Man, fuck Matthews, that bipolar sumbitch.
rootless_e
I’ve always associated mary maitlin with the apocalypse. Maybe not THE beast, but A beast.
Shell
Meant to add…
Oh, well. Back to the ferrets thread
General Winfield Stuck
@AhabTRuler: You said I was carrying fox news water. That was a pretty strong reaction from you. That gets a strong reaction from me, sorry if that bothers you.
Brien Jackson
@rootless_e:
It’s a special election, and the office she held covered the largest portion of the electorate compared to other candidates. All name recognition.
Cat Lady
@rootless_e:
It was 4 way race between Rep. Mike Capuano from Somerville, Alan Khazei! from ?, the guy who partly owns the Celtics, and Coakley, who was the only one of the 4 who had ever run state-wide- AG is a statewide office.
Capuano was the right guy for this kind of campaign, but he’s not handsome.
Sigh.
General Winfield Stuck
@Just Some Fuckhead: Under mining us? Who is us? Jane Hamsher, Grover Norquist, fuckhead, Ahab?
The only us that matters to me are the dems in the WH and Congress.
JK
Sally Quinn: “Scott Brown is a Hunk and Posing Semi-Nude Gave Him Huge Advantage in Public Recognition”
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/sally-quinn-scott-brown-hunk-and-posing-se
batgirl
@AxelFoley: I’ve always felt that Matthews is a great bellwether for the nation. And that is not a compliment! He perfectly represents the stupidity of the average voter who is easily distracted by the superficial. Hence, the bipolarity.
Just Some Fuckhead
@General Winfield Stuck: I was being sarcastic. :)
JK
@AxelFoley:
Brown obviously sends a thrill up the legs of Chris Matthews
General Winfield Stuck
@Just Some Fuckhead: so was I:)
slag
@JK: He’s a douche that gets paid a lot of money for his douchery. Our society consistently rewards way too much douchery to be viable for much longer.
rootless_e
The only path out of this for the Democrats is to appoint Jane Hamsher and Grover Norquist as co-czarinas of the galaxy.
replicnt6
Martha Coakley = Bill Buckner
You heard it here, first.
rootless_e
voters in london said the same thing about Ken Livingston – nice guy, but time for a change. It’s enough to make you believe that humans are trying to accelerate the big die off.
jwb
@batgirl: You have to remember the bias of the polling firm here.
batgirl
I’m going through withdrawal: It has been 10 minutes since the last Nate tweet. I’m not watching the MSM. Only watching these two sites.
Damn, I wish Doctor Who would finish downloading so at least I could distract myself.
Frakkin Democrats!
SadieSue
@rootless_e:
She had the best known name among the candidates (who had a very short time to campaign). This, combined with very low turnout for the primary election, gave us Martha as a candidate. Full disclosure – I vote Capuano in the primary & Coakley today. And I have a very bad feeling Brown will win (please let me be wrong).
ETA – man you guys are fast; I got beaten to the punch multiple times while typing!
Peter J
This obviously is great news for Levi Johnston.
Dave C
@Mary:
I think it’s more accurate to say that he’s telling the dems to STFU and get back to work.
JK
@batgirl:
Matthews is the personification of superficiality. He had an orgasm discussing Game Change last week.
rootless_e
Coakley should have just said Danny Ainge is a whiner and always was and everyone would have been better off if Adrian Dantley had smacked his fool head off. That would have settled the sports controversy.
JK
@slag:
With a few exceptions, the MSM has devolved into a black hole of epic fail.
N M
Yes epic Gosnold. Hopefully that won’t be the margin of victory!
Also, I had a comment about Faux News hiring the Sarahcuda that I missed the thread for. To wit:
“Good News for Conservatives! Now when she says something dumb or totally off the reservation, they will have no choice but to swallow and back it full force!”
maye
you can keep up with the horror of it all here (AP):
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/elections/2010/by_county/MA_US_Senate_0119.html?SITE=AP&SECTION=POLITICS
SarahLoving
For want of a Red Sox foam finger, health care reform was lost.
Steph
@replicnt6: Ouch. True.
slag
Didn’t this happen during the Presidential with some famous podunk county bellweather in New Hampshire or somewhere going for McCain?
Cat Lady
@replicnt6:
Scott Brown = ?
Mary
@Dave C: Well, let’s hope this is a wake up call for everyone, including Josh.
eemom
no need to despair yet…….only about 30+% results are in, not including most of Boston.
Take heart — I remember ’06 when Jim Webb obliterated that despicable George Allen by the narrowest of margins. It was a cliffhanger all night, but WE WON at last.
Chuck Butcher
Me and the Harley went for a ride today, yes in NE OR on 1/19, which helps having to deal with posts and threads like this one. It should be highs in the teens with snow everywhere now, instead I got a couple hours ride. I feel better, though low 40s is chilly riding.
Cat Lady
@SarahLoving:
Early nomination for comment of the year.
eemom
oh, and fuck “bellwethers.” Nothing but rank superstition. Also too.
arguingwithsignposts
514-460. Unless the rest of those precincts are blue, this is looking ugly. please let me be wrong.
rootless_e
Obama should declare Mookie Wilson US ambassador to Boston.
Steph
@Cat Lady:
Scott Brown = The Mets
JK
@Cat Lady:
Scott Brown = Dirk Diggler
fraught
This has something of the inevitable about it, without getting too kumbaya about it. The zeitgeist has twisted out of sheer chaos. No one can take this to mean anything: it’s all spin, rumor, conjecture. It has no political significance beyond the impact Brown has as a political celebrity. It is as meaningless as what Sarah Palin says every day in public or private. Nonetheless, elections are won sometimes without any substance or context whatsoever.
Kennedy resentment, FDL insanity, Overton windowss, Cosmos nudity, racism, health care randomness. Take your choice.
mr. whipple
Nate 538 tweet:
“Coakley still only getting ~59% in Boston. Since she probably needs to win big there, looking rough for her.”
This is GREAT news for progressives.
Sentient Puddle
I’m not liking the way the map is looking either. I can see a few counties in west-central Mass. that haven’t reported yet and should help, but otherwise, it almost looks to me like Coakley’s hope is to run up the numbers in Boston.
Cat Lady
@rootless_e:
THAT was wicked funny.
SarahLoving
@Cat Lady: I’ve been in a daze for a week, what with the no handshakes and the baseball dissing. What a disaster candidate for 2010.
jwb
@arguingwithsignposts: It’s hard to say without knowing the history of how Mass. returns typically come in. But it does look like if Coakley does manage to win this one, it will be a squeaker.
slag
@eemom: The last mayoral election I volunteered for in November was a squeaker. Every pre-election poll had our (far less liberal and far, far better funded) opponent up by a significant margin. In the end, our candidate won by about 2 points in overtime. Neither candidate was an incumbent.
Though in that circumstance, youngsters were a significant factor. I doubt that’s the case here. And the election was not in Massachusetts. And our candidate was a vastly superior candidate (relatively speaking). OK…I’ll stop now.
Elie
@slag:
Actually I think its the first town to vote in the nation and its in Vermont or NH or somewhere and this time, I think it went for Obama..
Sentient Puddle
HA! Rachel Maddow called out Balloon Juice!
Napoleon
Rachel just mentioned BJ on MSNBC
jeffreyw
Rachel! just name checked BJ.
JK
Shame on Massachusetts, but I still love Dirty Water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqgKZnAoavM&NR=1
Rachel Maddow just showed Doug’s BJ post on air
slag
@Elie: Damn. Maybe it was during the primary then. One of the bellweathers somewhere had their winning streak broken recently. I’m almost positive.
Brian J
@Napoleon:
What did she say?
Joel
The good news with what looks like impending defeat is that we can stop hearing about what the democrats should be doing with their SUPERMAJORITY OMFG!! powers.
Turgidson
Normally when your house is on fire, you don’t ask the arsonist who started it to put out the blaze just because the firefighters are taking longer to put it out than you might like. At least, that’s what I thought.
John Cole
What did she say?
rootless_e
Why didn’t Whitey Bulger run? Is he in jail or dead or something?
arguingwithsignposts
Over 50 percent of precincts in and that dickwad Brown has an 80,000 vote lead. What is wrong with these people?!?!
slag
@Sentient Puddle: And of course, now I feel kinda bad for dissing her network in this very thread. But not that bad. Rachel is, it goes without saying, awesome. Too bad she has to work with those other boneheads.
eemom
@John Cole:
it was about the poll post.
Soooo cool………a picture of the page and everything!
Sentient Puddle
Rachel was discussing robocalls, and cited one of the earlier posts here on robocalls where the number was traced back to DC.
Cat Lady
@Sentient Puddle:
That makes Maddow, Wolcott, Greenwald, Charlie Pierce and digby who’ve all shown up here these past 2 weeks.
How you like them apples?
Darryl
ouch. 60% in and Brown’s up by 6 pts. Looks over.
JK
With a Rachel Maddow reference, Doug can now officially proclaim: I’M THE MAN
Congrats Doug
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el66jnuItYc
arguingwithsignposts
@slag:
Hey, we can diss that network all we want as long as Pat Buchanan, Noonan and Deutsche are collecting paychecks with their pasty white racist asses.
Darryl
of course, remember Al Franken? Maybe Coakley could be persuaded to sue, and tie this thing up in fed court for months.
Napoleon
And while she spoke they had the BJ headmast on screen behind Racheal.
JGabriel
I’m looking forward to the inevitable Brown/Palin presidential ticket, aka The Naked and the Damned.
.
batgirl
Nate:
Have to disagree about it not justifying the despondent self-pity. Coakley should be exiled from Democratic politics.
maye
@Joel:
If we must be honest with ourselves, the Dems never had a 60 vote majority. They had 59 plus you-know-who.
mr. whipple
I’m down to two bookmarks of the sane: here and Booman.
My world is shrinking, shrinking…
Comrade Kevin
I didn’t see today’s, but it’s not the first time Rachel Maddow has mentioned this here blog.
gwangung
If I were a bigwig in Democratic politics, my message would be “We fucked up. We need to figure out how. But no blame game; we need to focus on getting things done.”
But I’m not. And we wont’.
Elie
@arguingwithsignposts:
My goodness! What happened to brains in this country???
Are people wishing that they had W back and wanting the good ol Republicans back in power?
Are the lefties happy now??? That will show Obama, right? Lets just make sure he learns a lesson or two, right?
Shit, I wonder if he second guesses his decision to run for this shit assed office.. he could be chillin in the Senate, picking his fingernails and watching McCain and Palin fix the economy and pull us out of two wars — easy. Health care? Who needs it… The left could still pray for their Messiah some day instead of trying to actually do anything except critique for the perfect solution that they know could be done if only Obama was not such a stupid whore.
We don’t deserve decent government. We deserve chaos and endless Republican rule…
General Winfield Stuck
@Cat Lady: I was thinking the same thing. I may have to start acting halfway civilized and talk purdier.
And don’t forget Marcy Wheeler.
mr. whipple
Only 17 more years and I can get covered under Medicare.
CaseyL
Appropriately, I’m watching “This is Spinal Tap.”
I’d love to see a Chris Guest treatment of political campaigns. Suprised he hasn’t done one, really.
JK
@mr. whipple:
“Down to 2 bookmarks”
Try democracynow.org and GritTV with Laura Flanders
Peter J
If Brown leads by 80,000+? Forget it.
If Brown wins, as looks depressingly likely, there’s a couple of days before Brown gets seated to merge bills and vote, but I doubt that will happen.
More likely, the House will vote for the Senate version, but don’t worry, some more polls from FDL (now funded by Grover Norquist) will kill that option…
Xenos
Per the tracker at the NYTimes site only 20% of Boston has reported.
Also, to my surprise, Coakley is doing well in rural areas west of Worcester. Unfortunate that nearly nobody lives there. But this may turn out to be an exurb and lower-middle-class suburbs versus the rest of the state. Carlisle and Quincy, Duxbury and Dracut, coming together to rule us all.
Brian J
@arguingwithsignposts:
In the end, even if health care reform gets knocked down, I think the impact of this race is fairly minimal if Brown wins. Unless he is a lot more moderate than he’s letting on or the country takes a sharp turn to the right, Massachusetts included, I doubt he’ll be elected again in three years.
I don’t mean to sound vain, but the worst result from this will probably be the endless gloating from the clowns on the right and the nonstop speeches of how the Democrats need to move toward the center/act more bipartisan/get tough on terror/cut the deficit/sell out the unions/etc.
Elie
@Darryl:
I think you are right and I am avoiding teevee and the papers for a while…
Time to crack out the old wine bottle and a little cheese and crackers…
Brien Jackson
Geezus
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0110/Coakley_called_machine_didnt_use_machine.html?showall
Has there ever been a worse Senate candidate in a should’ve-been-easy state than Coakley? Ted Stevens did better than her under indictment for corruption.
maye
@Elie:
Truer words were never spoken.
Brian J
@gwangung:
Win or lose, this will serve as a wake up call to the administration that something needs to change. Whether that is the legislation the president pursues, the way he handles the Republicans, some messaging switch, or some combination of the three, remains to be seen. But I’m confident in Obama. Others? Not so much, but Obama is no dummy.
kay
@batgirl:
I think they should stop blaming each other.
Democrats would do well to stop talking for a while and just work. People here didn’t know enough about the health care bill to hate the health care bill, they hated the process, with all that endless self-promotion and weird disengaged speculating at “what might happen”. Listening to each Senator smilingly list objections and elaborate conditions was just soul-killing, and I’m a patient person and interested in process. What was with the coyness?
I can’t imagine what a disinterested person was thinking “WTF is wrong with these people? Why don’t they just work, or quit, one or the other?”
Mr Furious
@replicnt6: FTW
slag
@arguingwithsignposts: It really is the thoroughly unexamined racism and sexism that bothers me most about those people.
I’m all for differences of opinion within reason. But when race and gender come to the fore in the public square, I often feel as if suddenly I’ve been catapulted back into the Stone Age.
I mean, the overt stuff is one thing. There, I think people are just being contrarian (intentionally or otherwise). It’s the latent stuff that really chafes. Because people refuse–flat out refuse–to even contemplate it. It’s weird.
mr. whipple
I think this place just got Racheled.
Peter J
One thought. Maybe Ted Kennedy should have left the Senate before the 2008 election?
valdivia
@kay:
this. I see that now every democrat on tv is out saying Obama is not real change, hcr sucks, yeah they are all Jane Hamshers now. I guess Sulli was right and today ended the Obama presidency. Oh well. Way to stand with your party and your pres democrats. I am tuning out.
eemom
AP called it for Brown
Napoleon
I can’t take any more. Of to bed for me.
I wonder it the state liquor store is still open?
SiubhanDuinne
Coakley just conceded, per Rachel, per Norah O’Donnell.
JGabriel
Great (/sarcasm). With 1.5 million votes in, or 75% of precincts, Brown is leading Coakley by 105,000 votes, 53-46.
This is sucking big time.
.
Sentient Puddle
Cracking another beer. See you all on the non-politics thread.
arguingwithsignposts
F**k it. fortunately, my crock pot chicken is going to be ready very soon. Now to decide what to watch on Netflix instant.
Also, just an FYI, if you’re using twitter, it tends to re-log you in even after you’ve logged out of an account. so if you have multiple accounts, be careful.
Seanly
@Elie:
Intertubes ate my angry rant. Word on yours.
I hate my fellow Americans. We fully deserve whatever hell the teabaggers and Republicans want to drag us to.
mr. whipple
Night all.
Fuck.
Comrade Kevin
Hello, Senator
RomneyBrown?General Winfield Stuck
@kay: LOL. So true. Dems have the WH, The Senate and House by highly wide margins, and fight like cats and dogs, no, actually worse than that. Almost like they were in the minority with no hopes of doing any better than that. But that is in the blogosphere and the MSM that now feeds off the discontent and bickering here. CC’ers are getting along better than I expected, though never famously.
But I don’t think it will stop HCR, too far down the road. There will be limelighting like with Bayh today, who may vote no on a ping ponged final bill, but I doubt they will join a GOP filibuster. Though it could keep the bill more toward the senate version in the end.
JGabriel
Goodbye, Era of Democratic Dominance! From the day of Al Franken’s swearing in to today, it was a beautiful 6 months and 12 days!
Fuck.
.
Will
Fuck, asshole won.
kay
@valdivia:
I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about Rahm Emanuel and David Plouffe.
Look, I know the chain ‘o command and all that. I know Senate races go 1. senate campaign head and committee 2. state party, and I know this is (technically) not the White House’s electoral management area, but for Christ’s sake. Don’t appear on television unless you can say something bland and upbeat, if you’re the White House. They sound like precinct committee members, if TPM is accurate.
mai naem
I don’t even know what to say. Thanks a lot Max Fucksus and Joe Lieberprick and Ben Nelson and Mary Landimbulb. Fucking assholes. They win when the Dems win and when the Repubs win. Fuckers.
MJ
Ugh! Here come the MSM clowns…
I. Hate. Cable. News.
That is all.
Xenos
OK, she is behind by 100k votes, but Boston has reported 20%, Cambridge 3%, Pittsfield 0%, Brookline 0%… and she calls and concedes? What’s the fucking hurry? At least let him sweat it out a bit, damnit.
Coakley is clearly unfit as a politician. No love of the fight, just goo-goo and self regard, and retreat in a bloody hurry. Is she on the take or something?
Elie
@valdivia:
His presidency is done after one year in office…
By one year in office, had W even learned to wipe his behind or dial a telephone? Other than tax cuts, what had he done?
–Obama, bless him — actually tried to do something for average Americans and had both the right AND the left skewer him.
If health care reform does not pass, thousands of Massachusettians can think of the millions of citizens without coverage, sweating their bills and avoiding the bill collector. They got theirs, right, but screw the rest of the country so that they could make a narrow point.
I do not believe that this is Coakleys FAULT. She ran for office and hoped to do something positive. Maybe her process and approach was lame or ineffective, but unless you have ever had yourself in her position, in the villification she is about to receive — you need to STFU.
I send nothing but contemptuous scorn to the Massachsettians. Fuck em. Fuck their narrow, selfish world view and fuck their impatience and superficiality. Since many of these folks are Democrats — a special FUCK YOU…
kay
@General Winfield Stuck:
Again, Stuck, this time I’m not talking about bloggers or whatever.
The Democratic pollster working for Coakley posts a big nasty screed before the results come in?
Why does she still have a job? Her job is to wait to complain until the race is over.
Can they put ego aside for 25 minutes? It’s ridiculous.
Brian J
@valdivia:
I’m not giving up on the party or the president. I’m sure as shit not a Republican, and if the edge of our side is going to be just as worthless as the edge of the other side, then I’ve got nobody but him. I may not like everything he’s doing, but he’s a smart guy trying to do his best.
eemom
@Seanly:
That. Sadly, that.
SiubhanDuinne
Rachel: “The voters’ message was coherent — and totally divorced from reality.”
I kove Rachel but Tweety is making me crazy. I have to do something else for a while.
MJ
@ JGabriel
Word.
This must be how Conan felt after NBC pulled the plug after 7 months.
Goodbye cruel, cruel world…
Brien Jackson
So let’s see if I have this straight: Coakley didn’t call the mayor of Boston until a week ago, didn’t return phone calls from local officials looking to help her campaign, took a vacation in the middle of a six week campaign, refused to hold a sufficient number of campaign events, and when she was criticized for lackluster effort, she publicly mocked the very idea of going out and meeting voters. But it’s all Rahmbama’s fault.
Jesus we’re fucked.
K. Grant
To quote Milo Bloom – “It’s the media’s fault!”
slag
Well, on the bright side, we’ll get to explore new depths of sheer stupidity in our political discourse. It will be kind of fun to see how low we can go.
Liberty60
OK- we lost one…so now we just go out and work harder.
Maybe it is because I remember fighting as a Republican long ago, but I don’t buy the pity party.
We need to adopt the same self-confidence of the conservatives-
We know we are right.
They are wrong.
Demographics and history are on our side.
IMO, the effort now is to attack the Republicans, expose them as the pawns of the Wall Street Bankers, and hammer that message every day, on every blog and forum you can find until November.
tigrismus
Goddamn. Well, my only consolation at this point is it’s just finishing out Kennedy’s term. I think I’m going to reach out to Capuano.
JGabriel
Xenos:
My sentiments exactly. She could have at least waited until 90-95% of precincts had reported.
Sigh.
.
Chris Johnson
I’m not in Mass. but near it in Vermont.
I don’t remember anybody promising me that my fellow Americans weren’t sick, childish assholes in Bermuda shorts, happy to suck the blood of China and bomb anybody who’s got enough melanin to not count as a person.
Or that I would never pay consequences for this.
Fine. I’m gonna just keep plugging away and if I’m a casualty of this bizarre, declining country, I’m sure there are lots of people in Haiti who likewise would have liked to live in a healthy, reasonable place and it’s rank insolence of me to figure I deserve more just because I’m white and an American citizen.
I will not fight dirty, but I’m going to do my level best to survive. What more can anyone ask of me? Welcome to the third world, folks. Don’t get haughty, lots of other people all over the world put up with this degree of nihilism. Expect nothing and figure out who you know that you can depend on.
I’m very curious what Obama will end up doing. This is far from the first time a bold and progressive uprising of the people has been hamstrung by- the people.
Xenos
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
–H. L. Mencken
JK
@Xenos:
Martha Coakley and Creigh Deeds should be set adrift on an iceberg for running pathetic, incompetent campaigns
mai naem
I am a Dean supporter from way back(back when he was some Doctor/Governor Who from some small NE state who backed civil unions) and I do believe this wouldn’t have happened if he was the chair of the DNC. Yes, its the economy but you can damn well know he would have given them money for fucking tracking polls.
Darryl
@arguingwithsignposts: Don’t take this is a weird way, but I always assumed you were a woman. Weird to find out you’re a dude.
Cat Lady
America – we’re not Haiti yet!
Bob Loblaw
Just as a head’s up, don’t read Cilizza’s column if you care about the safety of your computer monitor…
Ten minutes after the result and the “jump ship” message is already being spread. Fuck.
Elie
@Xenos:
Oh BaY-BEE — truer words were never spoken…
maye
@Chris Johnson:
I’m going to move to your state so I can have health insurance. Seriously.
Laertes
I’m trying to hard to be disappointed that this awful woman lost, but I just can’t find it.
Had she won, we’d have been stuck with this tool forever. It sucked when Norm Coleman won Paul Wellstone’s old seat, but six years later we got Al Franken. The Mass Dems now have the better part of three years to come up with a serious candidate. One supposes that, chastened by this loss, they’ll bring their A game next time.
To hell with Coakley. She was an evil prosecutor, and she’d have been an evil senator.
Brian J
@MJ:
Except that, by putting Conan in where Leno was, NBC tried to fix something that wasn’t broken. @Brien Jackson:
Thanks for that information. When I talk to my boss in the next few days, it’ll help me give him some perspective.
arguingwithsignposts
@Darryl:
never heard that before. :)
Fern
@Brien Jackson: Soo… did she want to lose?
General Winfield Stuck
@kay: Oh, I thought you were talking about blogs and congress.
Yea, I know, I posted in another thread her camps scree blaming DC dems, ie Obama, but not themselves. She waited, what 4 weeks to start campaigning in a shortened SE election campaign period.
I am not going to let it bother me at all. Dems needed a wakeup call to pull their shit together and look to the midterm election coming up. And it takes away the GOP talking point of dems having filibuster proof majority, when they really didn’t./
@Liberty60:
This. Is the correct attitude.
cat48
Politico has an article titled, “Obama Plans Combative Turn.” I can’t imagine that, but it should be interesting. My late Southern father would say, “Obama’s going to go buck wild now!” Can’t wait.
keestadoll
“Every time you hear the words “misread”, “electorate”, “mandate”, or “right-center”, take a swig. What other keywords should I be watching for?”
I cannot believe you didn’t list “referendum!” I had my own party (ahem), and that was the buzz word.
I’m already hungover.
Karen
@Brien Jackson
Don’t you know? Everything is Obama’s fault. If he only “waited his turn” as the PUMAs are STILL saying….
I’m sure Jane and her new boyfriend Grover are popping the champagne corks right now. The only thing that would make them happier would be if Obama were to get on his knees and take one for the team, quitting the Presidency.
John S.
@Laertes:
That’s definitely some searching for a silver lining, but I agree. Unfortunately, judging from the Democrats immediate reaction to commence circular firing squad, it seems that they aren’t going to learn jack shit from this episode.
If anything, they will learn all the wrong lessons from it (especially if they listen to Evan Bayh and the Blue Dogs).
Bender
So, to summarize: These same Mass voters who’ve been sending Ted Kennedy and John Francois Kerry to DC with double-digit margins for five decades were Erudite Blue-State Geniuses up until this month, when most of them suddenly turned into knuckle-dragging insane Racist(!) God-bothering snake-handlers who want fellow Americans to die.
And you guys think you’re the smart ones? Wow.
It sounds like you guys have some deep thinking to do… don’t hurt yourselves.
Darryl
A sick part of me wants health care to fail now, and Obama to go on TV and say “The US Senate is the most incompetent institution I’ve seen since Fail came to Failtown. I believe the damage to our government is irreparable, and I’m hereby resigning and moving somewhere far, far away from this soon-to-be Third World country. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll find somewhere you idiots won’t bankrupt yourself invading in a few years. Peace.”
Elie
@JK:
As I said upstring, I can certainly buy some of what you say.
That said, unless you have even run for a volunteer post and not made it — know the pain and the hard work lost — you should at least hold a little back.
This woman is going to experience villification with a capital V. She lost the throne of Massachusetts and did it without style or fight. I would not wish to be in her skin in a million years and think of what she will experience. No one with a heart or awareness of their own pride could not see two days down from now what she will be going through.
I fault the Mass democratic party, the DLC chair (Kaine) and the people/voters of Massachusetts.
I can only imagine what the Kennedy family is feeling tonight.
Darryl
Somebody write Tax Cut on a bone and throw it, so Bender can run away chasing it.
mai naem
@Liberty60: The Republicans might be pawns of the Wall Street Bankers but it sure doesn’t help when Chris Dodd makes noises about scrapping the Consumers Protection Agency and the Democratic Blue Dogs are in cahoots with the bankers and finally, when Obama hires Geithner who is trying to hide emails of AIGs. Also too, Summers. Fuck, the Brits manage to mega tax the Banksta Bonuses and Obama is shouting about a measly $100 billion dollars over 10 yrs. Shit, that’s less than what some of these individuals make in a year. And whatever happened to the ratings agencies. There should be people in jail. And I ain’t talking just about Madoff.
John S.
@Fern:
Honestly, judging from all the evidence about how she ran her campaign and behaved as a candidate, one could almost arrive at that conclusion.
Chris Johnson
@maye: We will do our best to take care of you :)
We are your source for Bernie Sanders, Pat Leahy- about all we lack is Kucinich :) hell, we’re your source for Ben & Jerry’s. Love us :)
kay
@General Winfield Stuck:
I’m actually not blaming her. She made some arrogant assumptions, but she’s a state-level politician, and she won as AG, which is a completely different office and set of skills than “populist Senator”. She probably got bad advice, or completely ignored, or a combination of the two.
If you have to blame, I’d start with the head of the senatorial campaign effort (I don’t know who that is, which is probably a bad sign, it’s a Dem Senator).
I won’t blame anyone, but I would like them all to show some dignity when they lose and not start ripping each other’s heads off. I hate losing as much as the next person, but you can’t simply allow yourself to start firing randomly into the crowd, at co-workers.
If they’re losing their shit, they should shut up for a while until they get a grip.
The Republic of Stupidity
@Xenos:
Yeah, but at least those of us who aren’t complete morons know enough to ask for some decent lubricant…
I can’t say I’m gonna miss Ms Coakley’s smiling face, from what I’ve read about her.
What’s really going to be ABSOLUTELY, UNBEARABLY revolting is listening to righties crow in all their masturbatory splendor about the demise of the Obama Dictatorship, and how a magical new era is dawning… the skies will be bluer… the wine will sparkle a bit more… the dirty stinkin’ sozulistas will get theirs… and torture will be considered a Proud, American Tradition™, once again…
Excuse… I need to go throw up… badly…
Brien Jackson
@mai naem:
They didn’t tell anyone they didn’t have money.
replicnt6
New bumpersticker: Blame me, I’m from Massachusetts.
JBerardi
Coakley can kiss the fattest part of my ass. It is impossible to overstate how badly she fucked this thing up. I’ve been text-spamming my friends the last couple days to make sure they got out to vote. One response: “I don’t know anything about the candidates but I will take your word!”. That’s coming from someone who is A) a democrat (I think. Voted Obama anyway) B) in her early 20s C) a woman D) a nurse. Well, I guess there’s just no way for a democratic female candidate running on heath care reform to connect with a voter like that…
Fucking pathetic.
Brien Jackson
@Elie:
So the candidate runs one of the worst cmpaigns ever, and it’s everyone else’s fault?
STFU.
The Republic of Stupidity
@Bender:
Dear Bender… up yours.
Sooooooo… how will the Glorious GOP of Tomorrow run the country and the world, now that the dark, dark, days of the Obamination have ended?
Please… point to ONE, SINGLE, SOLITARY accomplish the GOOPers have on their resume for the decade they were in power, or one… just one… truly original, new, meaningful idea they’ve come up w/… to fix the mess they made that they’ve desperately been pretending they never saw before since last fall…
YOU. CAN’T.
But… Scott Brown getting into office makes it all worth it, huh?
Karen
As much as I didn’t care for Coakely’s style, I was thinking about it all day today. It’s abrasive but she was just saying what all politicians are thinking. They’re so phony, kissing up to the voters, making all kinds of promises that they know they’ll never keep. At least I would’ve known what I was getting right off the bat.
Then again, long ago and far away, I voted for the late Paul Tsongas because he was honest and said he’d raise taxes (and got punished for it by losing big in the primary).
The Sheriff's A Ni-
@The Republic of Stupidity: Tax cuts and dead non-white people.
SiubhanDuinne
I know I said I was leaving MSNBC for the night, and I did, and I meant it, but just now as I was scrolling around with the remote I passed by long enough to hear Chris Matthews say “Bill Clinton embarrassed us with Monica,” and I thought, first of all, Bill Clinton didn’t embarrass *me* so speak for yourself, Tweety; and second, it was *TWELVE. YEARS. AGO.* For Christ’s sake, Matthews, just drop that tired old bone, okay? And STFU for a while if you’re capable of S-ing TFU.
Brien Jackson
@kay:
For what?
jcricket
This is exactly the problem. Dems will immediately fold, run screaming from legislating, and promptly lose even more elections (b/c people hate wimpy losers more than anything). The only thing that will save us is that when Republicans are in charge again, they will fuck the country b/c THEIR ENTIRE AGENDA IS BULLSHIT!
Of course then after Democrats are re-elected to clean up the mess, we will fail again, and the cycle repeats.
I blame Democrats for this dynamic, but I also blame the so-called “independents” whose “a pox on both their houses” thinking continually leads to this kind of mess just when any progress is being made.
Karen
Siubhan,
I found it very disgusting that what people seemed to be focusing on was Monica Lewinski’s weight more than anything else. As if he had a “babe,” that would have made it all right.
And I’m curious, how do you pronounce your last name? I’m thinking it’s Gaelic?
SiubhanDuinne
Ugh. Just heard Coakley’s concession speech. If that’s any indication of her campaign, I can’t be sorry that she lost — well, except for all the obvious reasons. But seriously, what were her campaign advisors, and the Dem voters of the Commonwealth of MA, *thinking?*
How long until we can primary Brown’s ass? I’m thinking “Operation Chaos” in reverse.
arguingwithsignposts
Well, that didn’t take long:
SiubhanDuinne
@Karen: it’s kind of faux-Gaelic. The “Siubhan” is the Gaelic for my (English) first name. “Duinne” is a little bit of wordplay which I came up with at age 10 or so: “Duine” (one ‘n’) is the word for “man” according to a Gaelic-Englisg glossary I had. My last name was “Mann” with two ‘n’s, so I simply added the second ‘n’ to the Gaelic. I’ve used the name for well over 50 years. In my head I pronounce it *shooVAHN dWEEN* but I don’t claim to speak Gaelic and would be happy to be educated on the matter by someone who knows the language.
Much more than you wanted to know :-) Thanks for asking.
Will
Martha Coakley could screw up mashed potatoes.
cat48
@siubhan
Careful w/Tweety. He’s the only anchor left in primetime who hasn’t teamed with Zsa Zsa Hamsher against Obama. I think Tweety still likes Obama. Shultz, Olbermann, & Rachel are on the Hamsher train. Tweety is the only person I still watch.
FlipYrWhig
@SiubhanDuinne:
OK, that’s the worst bone image yet.
Texas Dem
“I will not fight dirty, but I’m going to do my level best to survive. What more can anyone ask of me? Welcome to the third world, folks. Don’t get haughty, lots of other people all over the world put up with this degree of nihilism. Expect nothing and figure out who you know that you can depend on.”
Agreed. I’ve structured my life so that I can weather the storm: I have a government job and reasonably good health care. But I also have a pre-existing condition (scoliosis surgery), so changing jobs will be difficult, and going out on my own and starting my own business (something I’ve considered from time to time) is out of the question. So I stay in my dead-end state job and await the financial reckoning that is destined to befall us. It’s only a matter of time. Given the massive denial I see in the electorate (people want a welfare state, an empire, but they don’t want to pay for it), it would be better if the GOP is in power when that happens.
cat48
I noticed someone said this was the end of the Obama presidency. Speaker Pelosi doesn’t think so. Her statement on health care yesterday:
“Let’s remove all doubt, we will have health care — one way or another.”
Got it??
nepat
Looking forward to a couple of weeks of unctuous lectures from the mutual admiration society of Jane Hamsher, Glenn Greenwald, Digby, and Joan Walsh. If only Grover Norquist had recorded a robocall for Coakley. What might have been. Sigh. Sadness. Etc.
mcc
Some thoughts:
– Scott will not hold this seat past November. His position is impossible. He won because he managed to avoid letting Massachusetts realize what his positions are, and because the Democrats didn’t bother running a campaign against him. This plan dies the instant he enters the Senate. Once he’s in the Senate, he will have to take votes. This means he has two choices: Alienating Massachusetts, or alienating the tea partiers. Either of these is probably enough to tip his .
– There is no reason for this to effect the health care bill. If we follow the same rules for this Senator we followed for the last two Senators, Brown will take ten days to be seated. If we decide to write special rules just for Brown and seat him immediately, the House can still pass the Senate bill. The Senate has to put the compromise bill up for a vote, and then the House has to vote for whatever the Senate passes (whether that’s the compromise bill or the original). Weiner and Nadler proposed passing a separate bill making amendments to the health care bill at the same time as the health care bill itself gets passed. That sounds like a great plan. But the base bill has to pass.
– The Bayhs and the Hamshers in the party will use this as an excuse to call to further obstruct reform. They have to be ignored.
– More in general: Any dem who decides to scale anything back because of what happened tonight, that is their own fault. If Reid scales back plans because of this vote, that is a decision Reid made, not anything having to do with this election. If Obama scales back plans because of this vote, that is a decision Obama made, not anything having to do with this election. Any dem who walks away from progress because of this vote should be held accountable.
– Some parts of the dem agenda can get by anyway even with Scott seated. We can probably pass the bank tax. We can probably repeal DADT. Some parts will not be so lucky. Cap and Trade is maybe out this year, EFCA is probably going to be almost impossible, I’m terrified about what happens to Dawn Johnsen and ENDA? But we can still do some things. We have to get as far as we can.
– Overall: In order to win in November the Democrats have to build a case for what they did these two years. In order to do this they have to actually pass stuff. This is the case whether they have 58 votes, 59, or 60. They have to do whatever they have to do to get things passed with the number of seats they have.
Zuzu's Petals
Fuck you, Massachusetts voters.
Fuck you.
That is all.
Texas Dem
I thought Brown was up for re-election in 2012, when Kennedy’s term expired. But in either event, I agree with you that he’s unlikely to hold on to the seat. He will be caught in a vice between the demands of the increasingly radical national Republican party and the liberal state he represents. That pickup truck and plain shirt routine only works once. After he starts casting votes, he has a record to run against. And, of course, the Dems can find a stronger candidate. I mean, if Coakley can get 47% after running one of the shittiest campaigns I’ve ever seen, image what Kennedy’s widow could do.
mcc
I’m sorry, you are 100% correct.
Damn.
Will
@Texas Dem:
Koz
“I mean, if Coakley can get 47% after running one of the shittiest campaigns I’ve ever seen, image what Kennedy’s widow could do.”
Hopefully she could open the one of the doors on the car before it sinks.
John
@The Dangerman:
Anthony Weiner and Carolyn Maloney seem to have chosen option 2.
Nick
@arguingwithsignposts:
More than 2 million people turned out in one of the highest turnouts ever for a special election…lack of ethusiasm?