Pajiba

Things went pretty well in CT..well, except for the fact that they ran out of ballots in the most populous city, then proceeded to run around and panic rather than organize a well thought out solution. And now the Governor's race looks like in will be decided in court. But otherwise, it went well.

So, is it too early for us Liberals to scream that we want out country back?

I kid, I kid! Well, here in Illinois Kirk was elected. I guess we could have done worse and elected Brady as Governor. Now that would be a fucking disaster. I did ask my mum why she voted for Kirk, and all she could muster was “Giannoulias, blah blah, family bank, blah blah”. It’s clear that Karl Rove and Republican money were able to persuade dumb voters* with TV commercials.

*Yes, I called my mum dumb. I’m not ashamed.

We sent Mark Kirk to the Senate. It's not my fault, but I'm still sorry. Is it any consolation that the other guy was corrupt as hell and wouldn't have been much better? Nah, I thought not.

I always walk in to the voting booth knowing it's a waste of time. The only way my state could get any redder is if there were some sort of hemophilia epidemic.

So we have a governor who ran on a platform of fiscal responsibility who is in personal bankruptcy despite using his political connections to cook up some sweet deals for himself and his business friends. Makes a lot of sense to me. Let's also hire foxes to protect and promote our poultry industry.

The idiots in this state sent Rubio to the senate, but that was pretty much a wash, since he was a Miami right-wingnut replacing a Miami right-wingnut. Damn Kendrick Meek for not listening to Bill Clinton like he should have.

Still don't know who the governor is. But it's looking like the guy who committed massive fraud, took the 5th in his deposition, and then still refused to release the transcript, even though he was running for governor. Apparently he didn't believe that his honesty &/or integrity were germane. And, given what the voters did, perhaps he was right.

The good news is that a friend of mine, and a good liberal, was re-elected to the state house. Silver lining, I guess.

Absolutely, Yossarian. The shock was back in the primary when C O'D beat Mike Castle. Coons wouldn't have stood a chance against him. Castle a big name in this state. The teabaggers and all their out of state money basically handed Chris Coons the election. I'm not complaining, but then, they shouldn't either. We may be small, but we know crazy.

The GOP swept Pennsylvania. Turnout at in Philadelphia was at historically low levels. These two things are closely related.

And I bet Congressman Snookie up there was crying with joy because he was thinking about just how hard he's going to fuck us during the next two years. Even his nigh-invulnerable irradiated skin will have a hard time surviving that kind of nonstop, ruthless, balls-deep, lube-free ass fucking he's got planned.

I was going to comment about my disappointment in Boston, but then I remembered that in order for me to enjoy this site, I need to not participate in political discussions. There are only so many times I can handle being called "Republitard," accused of lacking information and intelligence, and condemned as an insane, irrational racist.

I like you guys, for real. Let's stay friends. Have fun in here, and I'll see you in the movie/tv reviews.

Did 2HB go to the rally to restore sanity? Sounds reasonable, especially since you don't have much to complain about yesterday.

I know I should be distraught at the GOP taking the Senate. I should be super bummed that marijuana ain't legal in California and that, now, I can't sit on a sidewalk in SF, because I could go to jail. But, ooooooh-di-lally, you can't take this grin from me because CA has a democrat governor again. The long state-wide nightmare is ov-well it's still going on. We're massively broke. But, wooooo hooo, Jerry! I'm so excited!!!!

Republicans have been whining since they lost in 2004 and now that they're winning, they're still FUCKING WHINING.

I will throw this out into the fray: I am a little surprised and disappointed in the results from California. I was hoping for more support for Whitman and Fiorina.

These were smart, capable, qualified female candidates- worlds apart from the O'Donnell and Palin types. They were running as conservatives but they were liberal on social issues, so none of the religious right bullshit that I hate about the Republican party. (I do think Meg Whitman's campaign was kind of a mess but I was pulling for her as a candidate.)

And I can't believe anyone is excited about Boxer and Jerry Brown, two worn out lifetime politicians who bring nothing new to the table. California is a mess right now. I don't see how that state isn't heading for bankruptcy and a serious day of reckoning. Doesn't anyone over there think it might be time to maybe try something different?

And WTF on the marijuana initiative? Come on, if you are going to elect the left-wing candidates at least support decriminalizing pot!

Yay! Now we can look forward to two years of total gridlock and blaming while the country continues to fall further and further behind the rest of the world in education, innovation, technology, and economy. Hopefully we can get more enlightening conversations courtesy of the far Right about teaching our children that an invisible man in the sky made the planet in 7 days and ignoring all that pesky science and common sense. Rather than teaching them to be competent in math and science. Chipping away at that wall between Church and State that our forefathers so thoughtlessly put into the Consitition would be a good start.

I find it ridiculous that in 2010 we are still voting primarily based on beliefs held by ancient doctrine and superstition.

What a fucking treat. The fact is that until term limits are enacted in the House and Senate there ain't a damn thing that's going to change term to term, just the color of the seat. Or not, because the color of the Senate is now lilly white. Yee ha.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not just bashing the Republican leaders. I hate the Democrats just as equally. Both of the old parties need to go because they are the same. I'm just curious now how the GOP is going to manage to fuck up even worse than the DEMS have because I have no doubt that they will.

Ok, I know people like to give libertarians a lot of crap, but shouldn't you save your hate for the Tea Party? Years ago, it was evident that the GOP in its current incarnation (saying small government, but supporting large government spending), would have to wither based on the voting ideologies of it's primary base (fiscally conservative). However, I had hoped that it would spur towards a moderate libertarian view (socially liberal, fiscally conservative), but instead it's rampantly swallowing up the Tea Party mentality (extreme social and fiscal conservative policies).

If the GOP keeps putting up these uber-conservative candidates, the Democrats, in theory, could simply run on a more moderate ideology to attract independent voters and then make headway towards more liberal goals once in office. See: Delaware.

However, people still confuse our government with a straight democracy thinking that our votes directly affect the congressional changes we wish to see made and so people will always want to allow for the candidate that fits them exactly to make it to office. Rather than making some concessions, people put up caricatures of themselves so that their voice can be heard. I'd rather vote for someone I agree with 60% of the time that actually has a chance of winning, than someone with no chance running who agrees with me 100% of the time. Side note, the only way that would happen is if I ran myself, and I'm either too dumb or too smart to subject myself to a job in politics.

I know the libertarians can appear crazy, but most of the followers are generally more moderate than some of the soapbox folks. In comparison to Tea Party wackos who are almost all extremists, we libertarians are the lesser of two evils for the liberal.

I prefer to look at the half-full glass. Harry Reid prevailed: he even took Angle's home county. Fiorina and Whitman were told where to go with their mega-millions. With a little bit of luck Quinn is going to keep the religious zealot Brady at bay in the Governor's house here in Illinois. Miller is losing badly in Alaska.

As for Kirk's win: Giannoulias should have had the grace not to put himself forward when he had so much baggage. So I see it less as a Republican win and more of a Democrat fuck-up. But still, if we can keep Brady out of the Governor's mansion I'll be happy.

Oh and to keep this on topic:

*slings mud* PFFFFTTTT ALL OF Y'ALL ARE DUMMM!

Ugh, I knew they only got one Chamber. This is another reason why I don't usually post in political threads, I'm so frequently an idiot. Thanks, RobP.

I keep checking the numbers PaddyDog, Quinn and Brady are awfully close. There are still thousands of ballots not counted from Cook County, which will mostly go to Quinn. But I'm uncomfortable with Brady this close. He's pure fucking evil.

I only toss out the most unoriginal insults because I love. Really. And I understand that my stances are overly wide-even for an airport bathroom. However, too often I hear "I'm a libertarian" thrown around as an excuse to be an asshole. Particulary after the sniggering at Al Gore about "inventing" the internet. I promise to behave, at least as long as the meds hold up.

Yo: Obviously you don't live in Indiana surrounded by people that swallow Glenn Beck's brand of miracle tonic. I would say you are right, the defeat of the more extreme GOP and Tea Party candidates is a good sign. But O'Donnell still got 40% of the vote. And that is a WHOLE lot of stupid.

As the last goddamn result rolled in I thought about all those dumb fucks that are going to lose their homes and jobs and health insurance because they think that voting republican will lead to their salvation. And that's when it hit me, some people love getting fucked in the ass. So to them I say, enjoy.

Everything that escapes most politicians' mouths is white noise being fed to them by hyperaggressive handlers and rah-rah party pushers. I don't believe one fucking word any of them says, and that's a shame because I KNOW there are some good ones out there. I tried to weed out the best in NC, but sometimes you're limited by what's available.

On a side note, I've noticed liberals calling conservatives (and any other non-Dem party, for that matter) a bunch of idiots and assholes lately. Personally, this only makes me (open to any reasonable candidate regardless of party affiliation) want to vote Republican in the future just to piss these people off. It does nothing for their point of view to constantly attack, attack, attack. Democrats own 2 out of the 3 branches of our government. They need to focus and keep promoting their interests and why theirs the best solution to whatever ails us, and if the Republicans mindlessly fight good ideas, people will notice their idiocy all by themselves. Constantly insulting every politican that isn't a Democrat is self-defeating, arrogant, and reminds me of the Bush administration's tendencies. They should be better than that. Just sit back, enjoy your historic president, and treat yourself to something nice, Democrats.

@coveredinbees, sorry, wasn't trying to make you feel like an idiot. Just making sure we were all on the same page.

@Jana, I would've been shocked, too, had I not been following the poll numbers in the last couple days. Bill White never really stood a chance with his personality (I know, I know), he never got within 5 points of Perry, and his campaign was pretty terrible.

@Kayanne, I totally respect Libertarianism, and being in Texas I'm probably closer to that than a truly liberal Democrat, but I don't view government as an evil, or a necessary evil. I see it as a cumulative, and necessary, good even when I think the wrong people are in charge of it. That said, when there ain't a D, and I can only choose between R or L, I vote L. (A bit oversimplified, but true.)

was hoping for more support for Whitman and Fiorina.

These were smart, capable, qualified female candidates

Carly Fiorina is qualified to do what, exactly? She was one of the worst CEOs in recent memory - ran HP right into the ground. If you're running a "I'm a business person and I know business" campaign, it helps to, you know, actually have a track record of business success.

Scully:

I'm convinced Brady isn't just pure evil: he's backed by Opus Dei. There are 8,300 votes separating them right now and you're right the uncounted ones are Cook County mostly. The Brady campaign keep saying there are also military absentee ballots out there but CLTV said this morning that all the military ballots are in and counted so fingers and tows crossed.

But Kballs, I see Republicans on non-stop smear campaigns year round. It's ok for them to suggest Nancy Pelosi is a crack-smoking shrewish dictator running the nation into the ground because she's a woman but not ok for a Democrat to call a Republican an idiot for saying crazy things like that to get a rise out of people? Neither is ok, but singling out one party over another for the name calling and attacks isn't helping any.

Can we at least all agree that having Sandra Lee as the quasi-first lady of New York is a scary prospect? Or an exciting one if SNL jumps on that shit right now?

I'd like to just mention the saddest bit out of this whole sordid mess:

Russ Feingold did not get re-elected. One of the finest senators we've ever had, and certainly the best Wisconsin has ever had. He campaigned endlessly for campaign finance reform, and campaign finance reform (and the atrocious Citizens United case) is what ultimately led to his loss -- he was outspent by a vacant-eyed plastics maker with zero political experience.

Fucking hell.

I agree Agent Johnson. Feingold's loss is really really sad. First the Robert's court kicks him in the balls and now this.

PaddyDog, have I told you lately that I love you?

Voting went great in my area...got a brand spanking new Gov, some new congresspeople, a senator and it looks like a congressman from my state will be the new speaker of the house (he's not mean at all very humble background and worked his ass off to get where he is) got to see America reject Obama and Pelosi's agenda.... and now I don't have to pay my gas bill, my mortgage, or my car payment oh wait Obama was supposed to do that guess it's off to work

If I could leave this state, I would. That won't happen till my kid's 18, or my ex croaks, which will probably come first.

I just hope the wave of conservatives that we voted in last remember that they can be easily replaced if the don't produce or don't listen to the will of the people

Excellent points, 3:19, and I am far from a straight-ticket Republican. The so-called conservative party was busy screwing things up for about a decade and GWB was one of the least responsible presidents from a spending/ budget perspective I can imagine. I think one of the biggest reasons that there is so much outcry over Obama's spending is because Bush left this country in such poor financial shape (after inheriting a surplus from Clinton) that anything more is already too much (have you seen that Dimitri Martin sketch were they make fun of diamond commercials? It's like that.)

I voted against Bush every time and I was beside myself when he won re-election in 2004. People who supported Bush but hate Obama don't make any sense to me. But just because the Republican's did it too doesn't make it ok. Things are still bad. We don't have the liberty of being able to rely on that 8-year-old 'he did it first' excuse. We still have to do what is best for the country now.

I saw it as a referendum on spending. I am hopeful that legitimate change will come as a result but I am not holding my breath. Most likely the new congress will just substitute a different set of pet-projects and policies in place of the old ones and nobody will have the stones to stand up and force people to make real sacrifices (ultimately this boils down to the stupidity of the American public, who want lower taxes and less spending but don't don't want to cut anything either). The problems will keep getting pushed forward for someone else to worry about. So it goes.

The good news is, my county sent Amanda Pasdon to the state House. Amanda Pasdon looks like this:

wvgop.org/atf/cf/%7BECA940D3-04AC-4C9F-84F0-4F6D2B1A3007%7D/Amanda%20Pason.jpg

The bad news is, an admitted racist running for school board in my county drew 2,500 votes out of about 18,000.

I live in a weird state. It's VERY (2-to-1) Democratic but the Democrats are very conservative, so you get us going for W twice, and this election the GOP gained in the state House while remaining a small minority, and apparently (though there's probably a recount in the works) added a second GOP representative to the three-person U.S. House delegation.

OTOH, Democrats have been in charge in West Virginia for 80 years, and what do you think of when you think of West Virginia?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Somebody wrote a letter to the editor the other day that asked, "Where we would be without Sen. Byrd?" I guess we'd be 50th in everything instead of 49th. We'd be Mississippi.

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Posted by: Kballs at November 3, 2010 10:44 AM

"Lately"? You must not have been around when the Left painted Ford as a bumbling idiot, painted Reagan as a delusional cowboy whose wife was really running things, painted GHWB as a fool because he didn't know how a grocery scanner worked, painted Quayle as a moron because he had the audacity to be young (and couldn't spell "potato"), couldn't do much with Dole because he fought in the war so painted him as a doddering old man, and painted GWB as the biggest dumbass ever to come down the pike (Cheney was REALLY the president).

Anybody I missed?

Nothing is going to get better.
It doesn't matter which "side" is in power.
These "American People" the politicians are supposedly talking to were angry about the state of things when the Republicans were in power, and they remained angry after the Democrats took over, because no one, on either side, actually did anything to make things better.
What is so fucking special about today's brand of anger, versus that of the last several years, that all of a fucking sudden the politicians are going to shape-up, and change how they do things, and actually improve the mess we're in?
NOTHING. There is no difference, except the House majority has tilted again. Wooooooo.
Big fucking woop.
Things will go on being the same as they were yesterday, as they were three years ago.
"The People" will remain angry, and the politicians will continue to do nothing but blame each other for it, to the exclusion of getting anything done.

LEE -- I'm in Michigan, too -- Traverse City. But at least I got the city commissioner and judge, and the propositions went my way.

Oh, except for the road millage -- because evidently the best way to punish bad administrators is to force ourselves to drive on shitty roads till the next election.

Seeing politics in action makes me long for Robot Overlords.

I'd just like to state that yesterday I voted for boobies and, according to Pajiba today, my candidate won. Vive la boobolucion!

Yossarian - I hope I didn't come off as too bitchy (maybe just bitchy enough?) - I wasn't yelling at you so much as just venting. I really don't understand how anyone can think voting Republican (federally at least, I can't say state to state) will make the deficit problem any better, especially when the leadership is saying it won't touch Medicare or defense. In light of recent history, I think they will make it much much worse. It's not that I don't want them to make the country better - I hope I'm wrong. But from what I can glean from recent history and their stated agenda (which is almost less than nothing - they didn't put out any proposals), it's going to be tax cuts and possibly upping the retirement age, which will be interesting because keeping more people in the employment pool will only exacerbate the unemployment problem.

Most amusing development of the night: seeing Sarah Palin look like a complete idiot for demanding that Murkowski leave the Senate race. Apparently the "will of the people" isn't quite the same as the "will of the Republican primary." Go figure.

Oh, and a special "screw you" to Iowa for ditching three of its Supreme Court justices for standing up for something silly called equal rights.

I still say the Martians had the right idea. How can I be a rational person and truly, even viscerally, care about what happened in Congress yesterday? I'm not happy or sad, I just don't care, because nothing really happened, and nothing will really happen. A lot of nothing, probably. But, sure, Boo Hoo, Huzzah, whatever.

Yossarian >> You need to go back and look at Fiorina's platform. She's about as far from "liberal on social issues" as you will ever find.

As for Brown vs. Whitman, I wasn't thrilled about the choice, but Brown has done a decent fiscal job with the California governor job before.

And I understand that my stances are overly wide-even for an airport bathroom.

That reference will always be funny. At least the Republicans are good for something.

We're one of the states where we won't know who our governor is for a little while longer. It's not tragic if my pick loses, but it will be a baffling statement on the priorities of the people. Our Republican choice is merely benign, but fortunately not evil. Like that Boner guy.

I'm trying to keep my disappointment over the House in check, because my first response is to bemoan how nothing will get done now. But the Dems are hardly doing any better. I don't want to be one of those people who say they've done nothing, because they've passed some truly monumental and important legislation, but they're also a bunch of pansy asses tripping all over themselves to be all things, and yet nothing, at once. I can appreciate the Republicans owning up to having whored out their souls long ago. The Dems are still trying to hide this.

what i just can't understand is how in the hell did brown get back in office in California did you people throw him out once? LITERALLY!! Why in the world would you vote for I would think you'd be better off voting for the corpse og Gary Coleman rather then putting that asshat back in office. I can understand not voting for the Repub you wacky left coast people just don't mesh with conservative ideals I get that but Jerry ASSHAT Brown...really?

you know what I was thinking of Gary Davis damn I was wrong I appollogise for incorrectly assigning Jerry Brown an asshat, for I will wear it for the day for my mistake, though I still think Coleman's corpse would make a good Gov that I will stand by

What can I say Scully when you're wrong you're wrong and afterwards I notice several spelling mistakes as well *sigh* but hey how about that Charlie Sheen what a Douchebag right?

It's the suede/denim secret police!
They have come for your uncool niece...

It may not be the government we want, but it's the one we deserve.

Commissioner Gordon? Is this some sort of Batman euphemism?

I would just like to clarify:

I am from Buffalo and I LOATHE Carl Paladino. If you look up 'batshit crazy' in the dictionary you'd see a picture of Paladino with a damn baseball bat.

The people of Massachusetts showed just how stupid they can be when they re-elected Barney Frank.