Activist Wednesday: What Now?
Posted on: November 7, 2012
Did the Democrats keep the Senate? Did the Republicans keep the House? Who won in these key races? How powerful is the Tea Party now?
And of course, did the Wretched Rs win the White House, or did the Do-Little Ds retain it?
Are we feeling a sense of relief, or a heightened sense of anxiety?
Is today’s theme song this?
Or this? (Oh, Gordon McRae….)
Well, I’m guessing we’re all feeling a mixture of things today. Rarely is politics black or white. But no matter what, just remember these three things, and I think we’ll get through this somehow:
1) Take heart.
2) Stick together.
3) Speak up.
Let it all out! This is an open thread.
96 Responses to "Activist Wednesday: What Now?"
November 7, 2012 at 8:04 am
Morning Pat,
This is just a theory, but I believe the popular vote closeness can be explained by a very heavy turnout amongst the evangelicals, and not a lot of enthusiasm for Obama from the liberal base . I do not think that the rest of the country was excited about Mitt or the Republicans.
November 7, 2012 at 8:10 am
I am just pleased that so many women candidates across the nation have managed to achieve victory. Dem women too!
So yes, all in all, I do think we have a lot to be grateful for. Just hoping the midterm elections in two years manages to flush out even more of the Fruit Loops in congress and return a reasonable voice of the nation in DC.
However, Michele Bachmann, Steve King, and Paul Ryan will be returning to congress.
Ugh!
November 7, 2012 at 8:19 am
Here is a great article about the historic night women had.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/women-senate-2012-election_n_2086093.html
November 7, 2012 at 8:47 am
Also, we now have our first a new Democratic woman governor – Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire.
November 7, 2012 at 9:21 am
I think one of the lessons learned for the Democrats, is that you need the Clinton Democrats to win. In 2008, the “ham sandwich” effect allowed Obama to win while deliberately throwing the Clinton Dems under the bus. In 2012, Obama relied heavily on both Hillary and Bill themselves, as well as Rust Belt voters from the Midwest, to win . In addition, according to exit polls, the rhetoric about saving the middle class and taking care of the poorer amongst us by keeping the social safety net safe, was very effective. Again, that is Clintonesque, not Obaman.
Lessons learned for Republicans – The Southern Strategy has finally failed. Racism and social conservatism are no longer acceptable on a national level. The thing they feared most, a “takeover” by women and former “minorities,” has come to pass. White men are now the true minority in this county, and if the Republicans want to become a viable Party again, they will have to adapt..
November 7, 2012 at 9:29 am
madamab: You hit the nail on the head!
Obama may not have won at all without Bill Clinton at his side and Romney may have won if the current GOP was not as racist and dimwitted as they are when it comes to taking the national pulse.
Obama owes both Clinton’s a great deal for their support. Let’s see if he reciprocates in 2016 if Hillary decides to run.
A revival of “old style Dems” who never entirely went away.
November 7, 2012 at 10:17 am
I’m not sure it was pushback against racism so much as it was pushback (for once!) against misogyny. The Democrats’ rhetoric against the War on Women (in which their own hands are far from clean) was effective. All the rape’s-not-so-bad jerks lost.
Also, I think it’s a mistake to attribute Romney’s relative success to his being attractive to those who want “punishment”. Yes, he was attractive to many whose worldview includes hatred toward many groups. The Repuplican candidate is always attractive to them. But his campaign rhetoric centered around the sucky economy, and he would not have come close to winning the popular vote without a large number of people who believed that he would be better on the economy on Obama. I don’t think Romney would have been better on the economy. But compared to Obama, who has done nothing whatsoever on the economy, it wasn’t unreasonable for people to want something, just anything, different.
Obama’s win is not a good thing. Both Democrats and Republicans are lining up to dismantle Social Security, Medicare and the rest of the social safety net. The Democrats are just less explicit about their goals. Or Obama would not have told Romney he agrees with him about Social Security in the first debate. Pelosi would not be whipping for some “serious action” on the all the deficit kabuki.
In Mass., the conventional wisdom (snort!) among newscasters was that Obama’s overwhelmingly popularity in MA helped Warren win with turnout. If that’s true, I don’t put it down to Obama as helping elect the first female Senator from Mass. I put it down to those who still believe that Obama stands for fairness and equality voting for Warren. Obama doesn’t give jack about equality, helping the social safety net, or making us a less hateful or punishing society, and hasn’t lifted a finger in four years on any of those issues. But there are still people who think he does, and they are the ones that put home over the top. That’s what’s good about the results, not his reelection.
November 7, 2012 at 10:17 am
Well, it’s over. Big whoop.
“What Now?” I predict more of the same.
November 7, 2012 at 10:26 am
@7 – I agree, and I believe that Obama will have to reciprocate, but I suspect he will be irrelevant by then.
I am hopeful that the Tea Party will finally be forced to become its own third party, and that the Republican Party can return to being “only” Austerians, leaving the anti-gay/anti-brown/anti-woman agenda to that group. Without the power of the Republican Party behind them, they will need a lot more help holding on to their current House seats.
As bad as both the Repubs and Dems are, the Tea Party is far far worse. The less both Parties feel they have to cater to these hate zombies, the better.
November 7, 2012 at 10:30 am
@8 – VALHALLA! So good to see you here.
I completely agree with your post, as usual. I do think that this election was a triumph of “normal” people over the Tea Party hate zombies.That is what I’m celebrating. Obviously I am not, nor ever have been, a fan of Obama. I voted for Jill Stein. 
This really resonated with me:
Obama doesn’t give jack about equality, helping the social safety net, or making us a less hateful or punishing society, and hasn’t lifted a finger in four years on any of those issues. But there are still people who think he does, and they are the ones that put home over the top. That’s what’s good about the results, not his reelection.
Yes. The people who care about those issues outnumbered those who don’t. Thank Goddess.
November 7, 2012 at 10:33 am
I agree with all of the above.
The Republican party has to make some choices. Their tried and true approaches to running this country didn’t work – and they will be even less effective in 4 years and beyond. The minorities and the majorities are changing (even if they do remain center-right.) The Tea Party is living in the 1800s – and if the Republican party wants to survive they will throw them overboard. Let the Tea Party become an official, separate party. The more pragmatic Republicans need to take the likes of Ryan and Trump and Aikin, etc. and disown them, salt the Earth, and start over. Otherwise they’re screwed.
As far as Democrats – well, it took Nixon to go to China. And yes, I’m afraid it will take Democrats to dismantle our safety nets.
Also, I really don’t think Hillary will run in 2016. Once she steps out of politics she won’t want to go back. And if Chelsea has kids – forget about it. Hillary will keep a high profile like Bill has with a Foundation, probably centered on rights of women and children, but I don’t think she’ll run for office again.
November 7, 2012 at 10:51 am
Good Morning! Interesting comments. Overall, I think it was a good election. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will get a couple of new younger judges that won’t be so inclined to always vote for corporations, and some great progress for women! If the tea party break off, it will probably be harder for the dems to beat the repubs, but, its interesting to think about.
Our Prop 37 failed, unfortunately. The big chemcal & agribiznesses poured in tens of millions of $ and they ran non stop commercials lying to people. I hope the Prop 37 people are working on a new one that is better written. A bill for education passed, so that is good for us personally.
November 7, 2012 at 10:51 am
@12 – If Hillary doesn’t run, we now have some women politicians who are raising their national profiles and who could be potential Presidential candidates. I am thinking of a possible team of Elizabeth Warren & Kirsten Gillibrand, for example.
I think liberal/Democratic women are starting to revive themselves, look around, and notice they are strong. This, also, is a VERY good thing and something to celebrate.
November 7, 2012 at 10:54 am
Sorta good news all around. Love the number of women who were elected – about time. And Mourdock went down to ignominy with Atkin. There is a goddess! Somehow I doubt Obama will go after the social safety net – he’ll be more interested in his historical legacy. And if he tries that bipartisanship crap again, he’s a beeping fool. La Donald is urging revolution – see democracy is only democracy when the “right” people win. Posted this over at Skydancing, but thought you might like it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2229109/Election-2012-Donald-Trump-tweets-anger-following-disgusting-injustice-Obamas-election.html?ICO=most_read_module
November 7, 2012 at 11:07 am
If they try to go after the safety net, they’ll get millions in DC protesting. I would go myself. If R2 had won, my husband would have been on one side of his proposed cutoff (of who wouldn’t be affected), and I would have been on the other. What crap.
November 7, 2012 at 11:13 am
Bronco bama won the popular vote: 50.4% – 48.1%, almost 2 million. Trump is insane. I don’t know if they actually called FL yet or not.
November 7, 2012 at 11:18 am
@16 – Agreed. I would go too, and might even try to organize a Widdershins protest in DC.
People only voted for Obama because they thought he wouldn’t go after the safety net. I think he will try – that’s what the Catfood Commission was all about.
November 7, 2012 at 11:21 am
@15 – HT, there is another hilariously petulant article from Fox News which I clicked on from our News section on the right. (it’s not there anymore) I can’t bring myself to link to them, but the opening paragraph was like, “How, howwwwwww did this happen despite all our mindf*cking propaganda and lies about Obama?” I mean, there are plenty of reasons not to like Obama, but Fox News did not highlight a single one of them.
November 7, 2012 at 11:52 am
Madamab @20 I’ll look for it. Schadenfreude is sweet. Don’t expect Fox to ever have a legitimate reason for anything – they follow their lord and master Murdoch – you recall, the one who was behind the hacking of dead young girl’s cell phone for ratings. Scussy people.
November 7, 2012 at 12:34 pm
Well, it’s over and what a relief not to have Romney/Ryan in! I agonized over whether to vote for Obama or Stein until the very last minute and finally voted for Stein. I could tell by the way I felt afterwards that it was the right decision for me.
I completely agree with this:
: Obama doesn’t give jack about equality, helping the social safety net, or making us a less hateful or punishing society, and
hasn’t lifted a finger in four years on any of those issues. But there are still people who think he does, and they are the ones that put him over the top. That’s what’s good about the results, not his reelection.
I’m very happy about the new women going to Congress, esp. Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin. We need to keep this momentum going and not let the nutcases gain power again.
November 7, 2012 at 12:56 pm
MB@5: Just reading very quickly, have a doc’s appt.
Actually, you did have Kathleen Blanco a Dem woman governor in La. prior to, and afterKatrina. She didn’t do as badly as people want to think she did, but was overwhelmed by that god-awful mess. When she left office there was a surplus in the budget which lil Booby promptly wiped out. Sound familiar?
I’ll join y’all later when I’m back.
November 7, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Just checking in. I;m still exhausted from yesterday.
@20 – it’s amazing – with such a wealth if material to choose, the right wing concentrated in the damndest stuff,
November 7, 2012 at 1:54 pm
I guess Alec Baldwin tweeted the following: “You know your party is in trouble when people ask did the rape guy win, and you have to ask which one?”
November 7, 2012 at 2:33 pm
@26 — good one DYB. Here’s my favorite quote from yesterday, and of all people, it was from Lindsey Graham, “We just can’t make angry white guys fast enough…”
Best moment and “must see teevee,” — on Fox, the Pillsbury Whoreboy, Karl Rove, having an absolute meltdown and seeing his life flash before his eyes when Fox called Ohio and the election for Obama. Rove was realizing he had to tell Sheldon Adelson that his $70 million was pretty much blown. Adelson is rumored to bring machetes to employee reviews. Rove actually questioned the call by Fox and it caused Megan Kelly and Brett Baier to have to ask their decision desk to justify their call to quiet Rove down — all of this was “on air” — now how “unafraid” is Fox to have a Super-Pac daddy on the air and stop all proceedings in order to justify itself? Unbelieveable!
For someone who is supposed to be a numbers driven guy like Romney — what universe were his people polling and building a strategy around? At the end of the analysis, all Obama did was to run up his numbers from 2008 based upon the demographic changes. What Romney did was to think he was playing Commando II — Conquer the World and concentrate on geography instead of votes.
One thing that is a real happy-making moment for me — Nate Silver, whip smart nerd, was dead-on in his calls. After the drubbing he got from everyone on the right I bet he broke out a fresh case of Cheetos and a six-pack of Mt. Dew to celebrate. All hail the Natester.
November 7, 2012 at 2:34 pm
@26 – hahaha DYB! So sad and true.
Socal, let me get you out if Fredster hasn’t already.
November 7, 2012 at 2:47 pm
@28 – I am guessing there was a strong component of “wishin’ and hopin’” in Romney’s campaign strategy. He may also have been counting on the myriad voter suppression efforts that were planned, to take some of Obama’s advantage away.
I see this as more of an outcry of “NO” against the Tea Partiers, than a referendum on Obama. We just don’t want the America they do.
I was thinking also about all the millionaires and Super PACs that spent so much money trying to buy Republican victories. None were successful from what I saw, at least none of the high-profile ones. Will the Super PACs simply decide to spend their money elsewhere? Is this how America defeats Citizens United?
November 7, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Some funny tweets from random people, including Nate Silver, last night.
http://www.happyplace.com/19049/the-funniest-tweets-from-the-2012-presidential-election/page/1
November 7, 2012 at 3:04 pm
I think the Tea Party did more damage to the Republicans than they’re admitting right now. At least in public. In private they probably know. The big question is: what will they do about it??
November 7, 2012 at 3:14 pm
MB @5 Umm, cough, cough.
Ella Tambussi Grasso, of CT was the first Democratic female governor to be elected in her own right (not the wife of the gov).
While I am a displaced NYer who complains frequently about CT’s shortcomings in comparison, I was a college student in CT during Ella’s time and it is one of the bright, shining things about this state. That and legal raw milk.)
November 7, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Thanks Sophie and Fredster! I’m not sure why HuffPoo published that article, but clearly the fact-checking was not as good as it is at TW.
I will revise my comment accordingly!!!
November 7, 2012 at 3:24 pm
@32 – I can only hope that the Republicans are as good at kicking their base to the curb, as the Democrats were in 2008.
November 7, 2012 at 3:25 pm
MB, I just researched it out of curiosity and HuffPo is way off! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_governors_in_the_United_States
Looks like there are currently two other Democratic female Govs: Bev Purdue in NC and Christine Gregiore in WA.
November 7, 2012 at 3:28 pm
And the errors at HuffPo continue!! Not only all of that (see above), she’s not even the first female gov of NH!! Jeanne Shaheen was, now is serving as senator.
I guess HuffPo isn’t interested in fact checkers either.
November 7, 2012 at 3:35 pm
@30 — MB, the Super-Pacs were successful in some House races, particularly Rove’s Crossroads’ brothel-bundling. Nothing will stop “Citizens United” short of a new Supreme or a constitutional amendment. I would prefer a new Supreme with Scalia being led out of the building on an animal control collar.
One thing that is so insidious about “Citizens United” — the Koch Brothers have set the standard for surreptitiously invading state governments with “dark dollars” and changing outcomes based upon double and tripling back on anonymous ads. It is exactly what happened with the dark money in Calli on the agri-referendum — all dark corporate money.
November 7, 2012 at 3:50 pm
Prolix & DYB, thanks for the funnies!
Yes, they pulled it off with Prop 37, but we will fight them again another day.
November 7, 2012 at 3:56 pm
Roves meltdown on Fox was hilarious. My kid had just turned there, to see their reaction…we never watch it otherwise, so we actually caught that. Pretty bizarre. Today, the repubs are still acting like jerks, that clown who is the House leader, just gave his statement a few minutes ago & said the election was a “mandate for [them-repubs] to lead.” I don’t think they’ll cooperate to get anything done. I hope more of them are voted out next time.
November 7, 2012 at 4:23 pm
“I would prefer a new Supreme with Scalia being led out of the building on an animal control collar.”
Oh Prolix, that is PRICELESS! 
Yes, HuffyPoo is questionable at best. Serves me right for quoting them!
On the “Citizens United” front, hubby sent me an article about “dark dollars” and how they were used to divide the nation and foment irrational hatred of Obama. (Like I said, you can hate Obama for perfectly rational reasons – but these weren’t them.) You may find it interesting.
November 7, 2012 at 4:29 pm
@41, Annie, I did exactly what your child did last night — I switched over to Fox to see the reaction and was regaled with Rove-nastics. It was classic. As for Boehner, predictable in its banality — just like McConnell’s spout-sucking of the Tea Party since he has a 2014 primary to worry about. Honestly, we are about to see what it was like to see the last regimental line of Custer to go over the hill.
There’s some poetic justice in all of this — the Tea Party was birthed a mere four weeks after Obama was elected. The attendants in the delivery room were the Koch Brothers and Dick Armey. They delivered the Tea Party to the Republican Party and now their baby tiger has gone and grown up on them and it is still hungry — they tried to feed it Democrats, but it seems to like the taste of Republicans. Bon appetit!
One good thing — pre-existing conditions are covered under Obamacare and I say we should do everything possible to keep the Tea Party alive and well in perpetuity because it would be a shame to separate it from the Republicans.
November 7, 2012 at 4:42 pm
@42, MB — thank hubby for me, it is a great article. I had always wondered just how many “hate Obama” books had been written. When you have a cottage industry built up around these Super-Pac feeding cretins whose only talent in life is hating, drowning “Citizens United” in the bathtub has to be close to the top of the agenda.
November 7, 2012 at 5:53 pm
@44 – I will!
Watching Faux News might even be worth it to see that slimy POS KKKarl dissolving in his own toxic effusions.
November 7, 2012 at 5:59 pm
Thanks for that link MB. It was written before the election but I thik this was an interesting point in the aritcle:
If Obama is re-elected, it will send the message that all the hyperpartisan distortions, the intensely ideological congressional obstruction and the flood of dark money didn’t work.
Republicans will have to confront the fact that these extreme tactics backfired by alienating the moderate majority of Americans (and interestingly, Obama currently leads among moderate voters in key swing states like Ohio by nearly 20 points). This will alter the landscape of the next Congress and shift the incentives back toward working together on a more bipartisan basis. It might even help re-center the Republican Party going forward, something I would sincerely like to see because it would be good for our democracy.
Bolding was mine.
November 7, 2012 at 6:00 pm
Hey DYB: Did you get my email with your prize for being the 200th commenter last night?
November 7, 2012 at 6:29 pm
@46 – Hmm, I was hoping for some crying and melting a la Wicked Witch of the East. Disappointing.
November 7, 2012 at 6:30 pm
@47 – Yes! I noticed that too. I hope Pat comes back and reads that!!!
November 7, 2012 at 6:31 pm
@49: Wait until he has to start taking those calls from all those folks who gave him those millions. Got a feeling there will be a meltdown and some crying (and broken knees?) then.
November 7, 2012 at 6:39 pm
Hey I wanted to say thanks to all of our commenters last night. We hit 225 comments! I don’t know if that’s the largest number on TW or not but it was great in my opinion. I hope it means we’re a place you want to come to share *your* opinions and to read what we front-pagers have to say. Know this: we (at least I) value all the comments we get and I enjoy sharing the camaraderie that I think we have here.
Okay, off my soapbox now and have to go pick up a couple of scripts.
November 7, 2012 at 6:59 pm
@52 – I completely agree, Fredster. I had no idea we hit that number! Thanks to everyone for hanging out and sharing your thoughts with us. We love it!
November 7, 2012 at 7:13 pm
MB & Fredster, perusing some post election articles, blogs, and my Twitter feed, I can tell you, there is no such soul-searching going on amongst Republicans at this time. Perhaps these conversations are happening in private or will happen after a cooling off period, but right now, it looks like they didn’t get the message.
Check out some of the comments at Greta’s place regarding an Olympia Snowe Tweet:
http://gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com/twitter/outgoing-us-senator-olympia-j-snowe-tweets-a-message-to-her-fellow-republicans-click-to-see/
November 7, 2012 at 7:33 pm
@54 – Sophie, they are just following Raygun’s 11th commandment. I am quite sure there is a lot of turmoil behind the scenes. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving group of people.
November 7, 2012 at 7:35 pm
SophieCT: Let ‘em keep it up; all the better for Hillary 2016!
They had one of their own guys Steve Schmidt(?) on MSNBC last night saying if they keep going on their current track they will no longer be a national party.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/steve-schmidt-gop_n_2086051.html
November 7, 2012 at 7:37 pm
BTW Sophie, thanks for the link. Those comments are completely hilarious. They will never understand that they are a fringe minority and that it is only by the dint of massive amounts of money and gerrymandering that they have ANY VOICE AT ALL in our government.
Those are not the people that would be doing soul-searching, by the way. Those are the lunatics who should be kicked to the curb. I’m talking about the KKKarls and the Cheneys and the Michael Steeles…they are the ones that will soon be meeting in quiet boardrooms trying to prevent the complete implosion of their party.
November 7, 2012 at 8:25 pm
Can we retire both of these bloviating gasbags now?
Congrats to @KarlRove on blowing $400 million this cycle. Every race @CrossroadsGPS ran ads in, the Republicans lost. What a waste of money.—
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 07, 2012
November 7, 2012 at 8:35 pm
@3 Pat, are you ok out there? We are getting classic noreaster here in Boston. I just had a harrowing ride home.
@24 Chat, good to hear from you. Bless you for voting yesterday. i hope you feel better tomorrow
@39 Prolix, Clarence Thomas has to go first. Led out in a Hannibal Lector suit.
@9 HI Beata. It’s always so nice to hear from you. Yes, today is definitely an exhausting, let down kind of day.
Where is DYB? We could do with some soothing music. Maybe a little Monteverdi or Mozart.
November 7, 2012 at 8:56 pm
Well, it’s not Monteverdi or Mozart, but what can I do – I’m really happy at the results.
November 7, 2012 at 9:04 pm
Hey Ya’all HILLARY2016 begins today! Talk about a big step towards the 30% solution…20 Women in the Senate WOW…only 10 away from 30! The lesson learned: when democrats run women Women win! We can do this…
Well it is almost 9 pm and Florida still has not been called…This is Just embarrassing, on the good side Tallahassee gets its first 2 openly LGBT members in the Legislature!.
The voting fiasco in Florida will be the nail in Rick Scott’s Coffin and Florida’s I-4 Corridor is now solidly Blue! Tampa and surrounding area have purged Republicans from Local Government. In Alachua County all Tea Party Candidates went down in defeat!
Orlando was all blue too we are going to make this a two party state in 2014!
Only 17% of the House is women I think we can close the gender gap in the house in 2014….
We will get 2 or 3 more Democratic Supreme Court Nominees that is good.
I know we are not big on Obama but now he is over and we can take the party back. After a few night of good sleep we will be back to work!
November 7, 2012 at 9:11 pm
Michael said:
Florida’s I-4 Corridor is now solidly Blue! Tampa and surrounding area have purged Republicans from Local Government.
That blew me away last night! I could never figure out why that area on the Gulf coast was so red. Hell, that was Katherine Harris country.
November 7, 2012 at 9:16 pm
Today has been a very odd day for me. I’m glad Romney and nuts like Mourdock were defeated yesterday but I can’t seem to feel happy about a second Obama term. I guess I’ve taken over Pat’s role as “Debbie Downer”. 
I find this song soothing. My mother used to sing it to me as a lullaby.
November 7, 2012 at 9:36 pm
MB @64 and Fuzzy @62 That would be very nice indeed.
Beata @65 Yes. Bittersweet. As far back as the Republican primaries, I realized I would not be happy with whoever won the top slot. I was miserable for weeks/months over not having a candidate. So, what I got from this election was a whole bunch of down-ticket happiness with a huge number of ballot initiative happy surprises. We have an out-Lesbian Senator! As I said elsewhere, I feel represented. I didn’t get Prop 37 (GMO labeling) though and that was the main thing I wanted. As far as I’m concerned, that fight’s not over.
November 7, 2012 at 9:38 pm
Beata I can understand your malaise, but what would have been the better outcome?
When I was a child, my mom didn’t sing to me. when I had children I sang 10 minutes ago. Although I love Rosemary Clooney, 10 minutes ago just summed up the amazing feeling I had about my children – they were and are wonderful and neither have been involved in criminal or drug activities. I am blessed – a single sole support mom who never had a major problem with her children. BTW, I sang this song to them from the time I realized I was pregnant.
November 7, 2012 at 10:02 pm
Beata – I understand completely and agree. No worries.
Mary – we are in the thick of it here. It’s probably going to be 10 inches of snow.
November 7, 2012 at 10:07 pm
Georgy Sviridov was a wonderful Soviet era Russian composer. This is a suite from his score for a film adaptation of Pushkin’s “The Snowstorm.”
November 7, 2012 at 10:07 pm
Mary Luke, LOL on the Hannibal Lecter suit, and Prolix, ditto on the animal control collar. You guys are on top of your game today.
Hope you NE’ers are doing ok.
November 7, 2012 at 10:09 pm
MB, I read the article on the dark money you linked. Very good. Mind blowing. I didn’t realize it was that bad.
November 7, 2012 at 10:12 pm
Lots of great stuff today. Has Florida posted yet?
HT, I loved that Cinderella when I was a little girl. They did a revival of it in the early 90s in Hollywood at the Pantages theater and hubbie and I went. Rose Marie played the fairy godmother, I remember. Love all the other music too, and Rosemary!
November 7, 2012 at 10:14 pm
@67: HT, what a beautiful song! And wasn’t Lesley Ann Warren wonderful in that production?
November 7, 2012 at 10:18 pm
MB@11 — Hey madamab, I’m always lurking around somewhere. I come here when things get too depressing “out there” and I need to read something encouraging!
I’m glad the crazies in the Tea Party & Repubs got slapped down (DYB@27 — hilarious!). But I get afraid of two things — one, the folks who voted for Obama thinking they were voting for the opposite of the TPers will now be all complacent about the upcoming fights for Social Security and Medicare because they think Obama’s taking care of their interests. And 2) that it’s too easy to be drawn away from other important issues by concentrating too much on the extremes of the “other side”.
I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade. But honestly, sometimes I think we should just ignore these guys. It’s like by focusing on some of these extreme opinions so much, the words get out into the ether and do damage anyway, no matter how much pushback they get. They get more and more attention and I think it makes them seem as if they are more numerous and more of a power than they really are.
That being said, I am celebrating all the wins for women and gay marriage both in their own right and as a repudiation of all the hate rhetoric churned up by this dismal election!
November 7, 2012 at 10:40 pm
Beata, I’m dead serious, I used to tickle my progeny’s toes and sing this song every night while I was putting them in their beds – of course we also had individual songs – Nothin could be finer than XXXXX in the morning, not to be out done my son was RXXX you’re my guy, you’re the apple of my eye. But I love 10 minutes ago and always have since I first heard it.
Hey Socal, how’s Laker doing? Give him another hug from me willya.
November 7, 2012 at 10:42 pm
I used to sing to laker a lot also. I made up a song for him when he was a baby, and whenever I sang it, if he was crying, he would stop.
November 7, 2012 at 10:44 pm
Beata said: This the way I’m feeling today:
Well on the bright side, you did get a good Senator out of it. However, don’t fight the blahs or whatever they are; just go with them for now.
November 7, 2012 at 10:46 pm
Valhalla said: That being said, I am celebrating all the wins for women and gay marriage both in their own right and as a repudiation of all the hate rhetoric churned up by this dismal election!
And don’t forget we got legal pot in some states too!
November 7, 2012 at 10:47 pm
DYB is *not* gonna answer me on whether he got his 200th comment prize.
November 7, 2012 at 10:47 pm
Florida still hasn’t called it. By waiting so long, they have made their votes irrelevant, instead of being an important swing state. Fuzzy, I’m glad you had some good results in FL anyway.
November 7, 2012 at 10:48 pm
@75: Lord, I wrote “This the way I’m feeling today.” I can’t even write a complete sentence. I’m going to bed. .
Be safe everyone.
November 7, 2012 at 10:49 pm
Fredster, I got the e-mail, though I haven’t claimed the prize yet… Sorry!
November 7, 2012 at 10:50 pm
Socal, Whenever I sang to either child their own song – and I did it every night – they stopped struggling against sleep and just drifted away. But I still sang 10 minutes ago – that was the prelude, their personal song came next. Funny about kids, they remember. Not immediately, but eventually they remember.
November 7, 2012 at 10:51 pm
Taibbi has an election-eve column which I’ll just put a little bit of here:
So it’s finally here – the big day. After eighteen months of relentless, ear-splitting propaganda, with thousands, if not tens of thousands, of reporters humping the horse-race (jumping on every single poll like heavily-panting boy-dogs with their little red wieners showing) and day after day swinging the heavy horseshit-hammer of Thor, braining us with one meaningless, made-up non-controversy after another – after all that angst and stress and directionless aggression, it’s finally going to end.
That it’s all going to be over finally, thank God for that. But today will still go down as a truly sad day, no matter who wins.
Years from now, when we look back at these last days and weeks before this 2012 election, what we’re going to remember is how intensely millions of Americans hated during this time, how many shameless and dishonorable lies were told as the race tightened (we scratched and clawed at each other like sewer rats over every absurd factual dispute, finding ways to shriek at each other even over things that by definition are nobody’s fault, even over acts of God like Hurricane Sandy) and how reflexively people on opposite sides of the race disbelieved each other and laid blame at each others’ feet over just about every issue, important or (more often) not.
November 7, 2012 at 10:58 pm
Well, I got my scripts (switching over from HCTZ to Lasix for a fluid med.) and another and also picked up a grilled chicken club sandwich so I’m off to eat that.
I’ll be around later if anyone else is also, and I know Socal usually is.
Folks in the NE, be warm. I hope those poor people who are w/out power got moved some place out the weather tonight.
November 7, 2012 at 11:14 pm
I used to think that we were the frosted north. Seems I was wrong. Although I smelled and felt snow (yes you can actually smell it) recently, it didn’t happen. For all my friends, keep warm and safe.
November 7, 2012 at 11:28 pm
That Taibbi rant was excellent.
You guys, 80% of all homes on Fire Island were destroyed by Sandy. I cannot believe what is happening here…
November 7, 2012 at 11:31 pm
Good Grief madamab, that is terrible – 80%? do you know if there is a non profit where folks like me can donate.
November 8, 2012 at 12:32 am
MB said: 80% of all homes on Fire Island were destroyed by Sandy
That’s a lot of homosexuals to be homeless. It’s not funny but I couldn’t resist. I’m a member of “the club” so I can make snarky comments about my sisters.
November 8, 2012 at 1:19 am
Lush Rumball contradicting his earlier words (of course):
“On today’s show, Limbaugh argued that conservatism “did not lose last night” and that there’s no need to reorient the party.”
Conservatism did not lose? Yeah. It did.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/11/rush-limbaugh-conservatism-did-not-lose-148902.html
November 8, 2012 at 1:28 am
@94: Rush is such a douche! Hey Republicans: Keep listening to Rush and watching Fox News, we’ll get the House back in 2014 and in 2016 we’ll have HRC in the White House!
Comments are closed.
November 7, 2012 at 7:37 am
For someone like me who follows this stuff on a daily basis I found myself incapable of watching the returns for a better part of the evening. Just couldn’t bring myself to watch a possible Romney win when what he represented, and what he is as a person, could have easily seen the tide turning his way.
But it is with a sense of relief this morning that this did not become a reality. My anxiety, and I admit to experiencing an acute case of pessimism, was knowing that no matter how bad he was as a candidate, no matter how radical the agenda he carried on his shoulders, the polls showed an uptick of support going down to the wire.
It was astounding to me to find that rather than lose the voters with his mendacity and unwillingness to answer questions, Mitt Romney was credited with a voter “surge” just weeks before the outcome.
I kept asking myself why. How was this possible? And by no means was this my “unfailing dedication” to Barack Obama but a deep seated belief that what Romney and the GOP promoted was nothing but a tissue of lies that seemed to be working on their behalf.
The popular vote shows a very small margin between both candidates. This tells me that half this nation was willing to hand over the reins of governance to a party that stood for “punishment”.
Punishment against women, gays, seniors, children, education, the environment, regulation, and the separation of church and state. A party focused on disenfranchising voters and unraveling collective bargaining. A party intent on infusing military spending but ignoring the needs of its citizenery.
We “dodged the bullet” but it was close. Too close for comfort IMHO.