Mission Accomplished, my ass Mr. PresidentI just had to write that headline! It gives me oh so much pleasure to stick that shiv into Bush since he used it so long against Dems in trying to prop up this lousy war.
But to be fair, I have to acknowledge I’m writing this at 1AM PST and, while it appears that Webb has won Virginia and McCaskill Missouri, Jon Tester’s lead has diminished considerably over the course of the evening and as I write this he leads by something like 3,500 votes with only 82% counted. That could be a nail-biter. Plus, I understand there are absentee ballots to count in the Virginia race. But I still think Dems have an excellent shot at taking the Senate.
Dems celebrate majority control of House (credit: Getty)It’s pretty clear that Bush does not have the political resilience to do a Clinton after 1994 and recalibrate his political strategy. He just doesn’t have the wit or guile to do that. So we will have a president who will continue to live in denial about the decline of his power. Oh God how it pleases me to write that. And Dick Cheney will become a chained bulldog. Ditto on how I enjoy writing that too. If the Repubs were smart they’d bundle Dick up in an overcoat & shove him into a car and take him to some secure location for the remainder of the Bush presidency. That guy’s going to be radioactive in the next two years. Oh and last but not least, poor Karl. To go out like this in such a fizzle. It’s gotta hurt. I HOPE IT DOES! LOTS!
Claire McCaskill celebrates Missouri Senate victory (credit: Huy Richard Mach/St. Louis Post-Dispatch)Remember that recent crack of Bush’s about how when he gets really sad and lonely out there in the big bad Beltway cesspool, he likes to use Google Earth to take a look at the ranch and think how he’d like to be there. Oh how I’ll look forward to sending him there come 2008. It’ll be worth the wait to look at his crestfallen mug at the Inauguration of a Democratic president. The shame, the horror. How will he live it down? Of course, there’s a small matter of an election to win before we get there. But hey, I can dream.
Doesn’t this outcome make Charlie Crist, running for Florida governor, look prescient in refusing to be seen with Bush on the final day of the campaign? That was one of the delightful bits of news yesterday. Bush plans a FL. campaign trip solely to bolster Crist and the latter is the one who asked him to do it. And what does Crist do? He not only stiffs Bush, but he does it by joining John McCain at another rally! And guess who won the governor’s race? You guessed it, Crist. Smart guy.
We will have a Democratic party with very frail majorities and wanting to be extremely careful about not rocking the boat too hard, or rubbing the Repubs noses in their loss. I don’t see the Dems coming up with a bold centrist policy though I wish they could. The Congressional Republicans will be the wildcard here. Will they finally get some gumption and try to cobble together coalitions with Dems on a few discreet, major issues to get something done? Or will they follow the likely Bush path of obstructionism?
I’m heartened to hear that John Murtha will run for majority leader. He will be good for Dems on the Iraq issue.
The most important House race here is WA-08 in which Darcy Burner challenged Dave Reichert. The latter’s been ahead all night by 4% but the media’s still calling it “too close to call” with 40% of the vote counted. Hang in there Darcy! Wish I could’ve voted for you.
A happy day electorally. I hope your district goes the right way.
An Illinois report here – we swept the State-wide offices. I had to hold my nose on a few votes – particularly our Governor.Blogoyovich His administration has stunk of scandal – (but of course his opponent was no cleaner – having served in the administration of our previous governor, George Ryan who will soon be a “guest” of the federal government)
No Senate race occurred this year. The House races maintained the status-quo (9 Dems, 8 Repubs). My district was a no-brainer – Jan Shakowski ran virtually unopposed and won as expected. The three races watched closely went to the incumbents. Which was great for Melissa Bean (who took the seat from the Republicans in 2004 and beat of a tough challenge).
The two we were most hopeful for to switch allegiance- were held by Repubs. Iraqi War Vetran Tammy Duckworth lost by a few percentage points to Peter Roskam (who accused her of wanting to “Cut and Run” despite the fact she lost both her legs in Iraq). The seat was open – it had been held by Henry Hyde.
The other race I was watching closely was Mark Kirk – one of the more moderate Republicans against Dan Seals. Kirk held his with about 5 percent. Kirk’s district is very liberal – but also one of the wealthiest (perhaps THE wealthiest) in the state (and the nation). Republicans who are liberal on social issues but give the rich their tax cuts do quite well there – and sadly this was the best chances the Dems had – with the Iraq war sentiment. With the Dems holding the House now – I suspect Kirk will continue to be safe. The wealthy liberals can feel safe about their social issues – while getting their pocketbook issues pushed by their Congressman.
So we didn’t do much to change the balance of power – but we didn’t “hurt” it either. The key thing to watch in our state going forward is the presidential ambition of our Junior Senator. We’ll have to see whether he is serious about possibly taking on Mrs. Clinton or whether he’s really just posturing to be her running-mate…
Regarding Connecticut
Most of Joe Lieberman’s policies are too liberal for my tastes and if it was up to me regarding Iraq; declare victory, cut and run.
If I was a CT resident I probably would’ve voted for Schlesinger who was shamelessly abandoned by his party’s elites.
However, considering that Lamont made allies with execrable and yes, dangerous figures like like Sharpton and MoveOn, I’m grateful Lieberman prevailed and hopefully this victory will be, if not a complete death knell, then serious emasculation of those self-appointed yahoos of the angry extreme who tried to push it into the mainstream.
If Lamont won, Sharpton and MoveOn and Kos’ ACTUAL influence in determining the outcome would have likely been minor at best. However, would they have exercised such humility and self-restraint in admitting to that or would they have trumpted their role in bringing Ned to victory and demand a nice piece of the action. Plus, subsequently do everything in their power to increase their share of the limelight and use it as a springboard to convert perceived influence into the real thing.
If someone counters by saying that hate messages scrawled on MoveOn’s web site or Al’s bombastic shouts are less dangerous than the situation in Iraq; IMO that’s based on several assumptions. One of them being, that the Dems will actually do something constructive to alleviate the situation without making themselves look weak on defense or unsympathetic to members of the armed forces. For right or wrong, those two phobias hang over the Dems head like Damocles’ sword.
Let’s see if House Speaker-to-be Pelosi can construct something…well, constructive.
The other assumption might be that the hate messages are a non-event. However, the staff of MoveOn’s reluctance to MoveIn and do something about it is a real event and a disturbing one. No doubt that there can be a fine line between moral outrage over such posts and the often inevitable cynical utilization by the opposition. Despite that, one should be hard-pressed to conclude that it’s all a non-event.
Despite my preference for AIPAC to pack it up and disband, Mr Soros’ perceived indifference to the hate perpetuated by Move On’s members makes me more than reluctant to throw in my hat to any other organization that he bankrolls or influences.
You’re just spouting Lieberman campaign pablum. Nothing above has any basis in reality. Republicans are so fond of characterizing Democrats as “full of rage” or “hating the rich,” or whatever other stupidity comes into their heads. Lamont is not extreme & is not angry. You seem to resent the fact that Lamont had an angry Black man for a political ally. Yes, those angry Black men can be threatening to those who neither know nor wish to know about what it means to be Black in America.
Finally, something I can agree with. But if what you just wrote is true then why do you & esp. Lieberman make such a big deal about the alleged rage & extremism of these groups & individuals? Can’t speak for yr reasons, but Lieberman’s have everything to do w. scoring propaganda pts. in order to scare a few voters into voting for him. Lieberman is politically despicable. In fact, I’d wager that within 6 months Republican blandishments to join them will cause him to switch parties despite his pledge not to. It won’t be long. It’s where he really belongs. But he wouldn’t go over to the ‘dark side’ because it wasn’t political advantageous at the time to do so.
Oh, do you mean like the neocons and evangelicals “trumpeted their role” in bringing Bush to victory & then demanded “a nice piece of the political action;” plus doing “everything in their power to increase their share of the limelight & using it as a springboard to convert perceived influence into the real thing?”
What are you on about? That’s what lobbies do. That’s the way our system works (unfortunately). But when yr side does it it’s using the legitimate tools offered by our political system. When my side does it it represents a naked power grab and pure political corruption.
Puh-leeze! In this blog, I’ve written about numerous homicidal comments at Little Green Footballs which Johnson has either not removed or not banished the commenter fr. his site. I’ll tell you what–when you can get Johnson to police his site then we can get all high & mighty about MoveOn’s site. And how about the myriad right wing sites which post murderous, slimy comments about people like me not to mention the bloggers themselves. Why can’t you acknowledge there is more than enough hate to go around instead of acting like progressives are the only one’s who’ve ever uttered a hateful comment. And besides, there is a lot of hate in the comments section here. Should I be seen as a proponent of displacing Jews from Israel because a Palestinian extremist says this at my site? Or should I be viewed as a militant settler supporter because another commenter claims that God gave the land to Israel in perpetuity & besides Palestinians don’t exist as a people & never have? Believe me I’ve deleted some of the more outrageous variations on those themes. But I haven’t deleted many that rise to the level of hate, but which don’t rise enough above it to justify deletion. I hope no one judges my blogs by a single or even 2 or 3 comments of a certain stripe.
“Republicans are so fond of characterizing Democrats as “full of rage” or “hating the rich,” or whatever other stupidity comes into their heads.”
Wait a sec. My comments were reserved strictly for MoveOn and Sharpton. That’s just one of several tangents in your reply.
“I’ve written about numerous homicidal comments at Little Green Footballs which Johnson has either not removed or not banished the commenter fr. his site”
Now you’re assuming I’m an LGF follower. C’mon Richard, that almost violates your own disclaimer about avoiding “profane abusive or insulting comments”. Charles Johnson and Eli Pariser are two sides of the same coin as far as I’m concerned. As far as your accusation of
“instead of acting like progressives are the only one’s who’ve ever uttered a hateful comment.” Again, that’s just another assumption. I mentioned MoveOn because they were a high-profile player in the specific context of Lieberman and Lamont; a high-profile campaign. And your own problems with the likes of Kos is proof that there’s corruption in the progressive blogosphere as much as anything in the right-wing one.
“nor wish to know about what it means to be Black in America.”
Who said Sharpton is the one who represents what it means to be black in America? How are you any more qualified than any other non-Blacks to opine on Black authenticity?
Sharpton never acknowledged or apologized for heating things up in Crown Heights in the midst of the riots or for starting one in Dec 1995 getting a crowd riled up that “white interlopers” are forbidden to open shops on 125th St and several workers lost their lives in an arson attack on that store. Because of his antics in the Tawana Brawley hoax two of his lawyer comrades Maddox and Mason are no longer allowed to practice law. He’s a showman, a huckster, a shameless self-promoting dangerous demagogue.
And I was replying to you that just as you’ll find rage or anger among some Dems, you’ll find the same hate & rage among conservatives toward us liberals. You seem to believe that we have the market cornered on rage & it’s patently not true.
If I came across that way I didn’t mean to. I simply meant to say that among conservative websites too there is much homicidal rage. If you, a conservative, has a right to ask me to explain or defend such rage at MoveOn then I have a right to ask the same of you regarding LGF.
I absolutely agree w. you here. I’ve even had anti-Semitic insults hurled at me by the forum moderator at Democrats.com! It’s simply astonishing that Bob Fertik, the Jewish (I presume based on his name) owner of that site allows his forum moderator to get away with that crap. And as you said, such corruption knows no ideology unfortunately.
I’d say the tens or hundreds of thousands of voters who voted for him in the Democratic presidential primaries give him a seal of authenticity. Many of these voters were African American as well. You may not like Sharpton & that’s fine. But he represents something important to many African-Americans. If you attempt to demean or diminish him w/o grappling with his msg. then you’ve done African Americans & yourself a disservice.
I don’t like many of the things you describe above either. But come on, that’s old history (going back to 1995!?). You really know how to nurse a grudge against a man don’t you? Do you mean to tell me honestly that you really believe that Al Sharpton hasn’t changed since those incidents you describe? Because if you don’t believe he’s matured since then then you’re not really listening to anything he’s said or done in recent years.
I don’t want to make any claims that Al Sharpton is the perfect answer to anything. He wouldn’t be my choice for a presidential candidate. But he has a rightful place in American politics and I don’t like the animus of much of the political attacks against him. It’s mean, it’s petty & in some cases it’s barely concealed racism. To make myself clear, I’m not accusing you of any of those things. But there are other white conservatives who say virtually the same as what you did whose motives are much less transparent.