The Dems have won

[LoneWolf23k]

Well, as of the time I've written this post, it appears the Democrats now have control of both Congress and the Senate..


...That's so not good.

[RHJunior]

An unpleasant event, but not entirely unexpected. The Republicans have had the ball for what, six years now? And they have consistently shown a lack of spine and innards when it came to sticking to their own party platform. They are reaping the consequences thereof. Unfortunately, the rest of the country is going to suffer far worse.

[Jwrebholz]

You hear that noise? That's this country's legislative gears grinding to a halt. With a Democratic legislative majority and a Republican president, we're looking at 2 years of a political stalemate. If the Repubs sponsor a bill, the Dem majority will shoot it down. If the Dems support a bill, they'll pass it--but the President will veto it. (and the Dems don't have the 2/3 majority required to override that veto)

[Trump]

Don't quite count Virginia completely out yet. Seems nothing is quite official just yet and the dreaded "R" word may yet be used.

[BrockthePaine]

You hear that noise? That's this country's legislative gears grinding to a halt. With a Democratic legislative majority and a Republican president, we're looking at 2 years of a political stalemate. If the Repubs sponsor a bill, the Dem majority will shoot it down. If the Dems support a bill, they'll pass it--but the President will veto it. (and the Dems don't have the 2/3 majority required to override that veto)

As best I know, Bush has only vetoed one bill in the past six years, no matter how odious. I'd like to hope he WILL use it more often, but I still think he'll rubber-stamp a lot of stuff.

[Sapphire]

What's with all the cynicism? Let me tell you what I think will happen-

Pelosi is walking a tightrope, wary knowing that public opinion has turned on Democrats easily, especially considering the Conservative base is objectivally more ossified in their affiliations. She's also carrying a stack of power, and is being incredibly careful to hold it upright. No one is simply going to charge ahead on this front.

Meanwhile, Bush and the White House have been hit hard--there's now no denying that public opinion has turned on them, and widely, strongly so (albeit, remember, it's easy to turn). Knowing that his approval rating, as well as those of cabinet members, are plummeting, he has to make a change--and here comes the chance. Helping Pelosi cross the tightrope, he can appear to be bipartisan while simultaneously gently guiding her. Also, it will help him seem to be a change, thus ridding him of that which has turned public opinion against him.

My immediate reaction is, "How could he seem to be a reform
from himself? And then I remember the last Presidential election, when he ran as a country-boy outsider. Despite being a billionaire oil-baron son of a President.

[BrockthePaine]

Conservatism has not lost, Republicans lost.

[The JAM]

Mexico has been gridlocked (and many urgent reforms have been blocked) since 1997 when the PRI lost the majority in the HOR and never got it back, and now the current legislature is split 1/3-1/3-1/4-1/12, so now even emergency situations such as Oaxaca are getting lost in the shuffle.

[Deckard Canine]

Conservatism has not lost, Republicans lost.

Quite.

[BrockthePaine]

Similarly, I may add "Democrats didn't win, they just beat the Republicans." Both political parties have lost their way. They'd better find themselves again pdq.

[Lazerus]

AWESOME!

.......he he, wrong forum for that huh?

In all seriousness, this election means didly-crap in the long run, it just gives both sides a chance. All it means is that the public thinks the Republicans have been doing a shitty job, well, news flash, they have. They've let their party get mired with corruption and loose it's way.

Now, with both sides on roughly equal footing in Congress, they both have a chance to prove their the most reasonable party, who can represent the people.

What happens next election will be determined entirly by their behavior from this point foreward. Both parties have a chance to clean up.

[UncleMonty]

It was predictable. Even inevitable.
The party which wrongly calls itself "Democratic" controls our news media, our entertainment media, our public education system, our colleges, most large corporations, our state department, our supreme court, a large segment of our religious institutions, our welfare system, and most of our health care system... Against that, what possible hope did mere facts and truth have?

[Madmoonie]

It was predictable. Even inevitable.
The party which wrongly calls itself "Democratic" controls our news media, our entertainment media, our public education system, our colleges, most large corporations, our state department, our supreme court, a large segment of our religious institutions, our welfare system, and most of our health care system... Against that, what possible hope did mere facts and truth have?

Its quite amuzing there are claims the Republicans own everything and abusing everyting and yet the Democrats have a greater influence over the media, communication, education, and welfare of the country. Maybe ther policy is 'you do not need to know."

[Lazerus]

It was predictable. Even inevitable.
The party which wrongly calls itself "Democratic" controls our news media, our entertainment media, our public education system, our colleges, most large corporations, our state department, our supreme court, a large segment of our religious institutions, our welfare system, and most of our health care system... Against that, what possible hope did mere facts and truth have?

Its quite amuzing there are claims the Republicans own everything and abusing everyting and yet the Democrats have a greater influence over the media, communication, education, and welfare of the country. Maybe ther policy is 'you do not need to know."

*ahem* *cough*

*drinks water*

BULLSHIT.

Lets rattle off the major news channels, shall we? Fox is a propoganda machine for the far right. CBS and NBC have a slight conservative bias. NPR has a slight left bais.

But, we could argue about who is and isn't biased all day, and it would be stupid. That's a matter of opinion. NAME a fact that influenced the election that the media misrepresnted in the democrats favor.

[MikeVanPelt]

Lets rattle off the major news channels, shall we? Fox is a propoganda machine for the far right. CBS and NBC have a slight conservative bias.

Been reading a bit too much Ted Rall, eh?

[Sciguy]

What won the election for the Dems was a instiant gradafication mindset.

People want results right away.

Sadly you can't get that. Change takes time.

What you can do is blame and promise. Just what heppened in the election.

"Bush is wrong."
"The war is going wrong."
"We can get ourselves to better standing quick."


And with the economy... The head of the Demacrat Delegation was reported to have said it was doing poorly.

The National Debit has been cut in half from what I've heard. Or was it what we normaly owe...


Funny thought. Presadent Clinton would celabrate that his people had drawn up a balanced budget. When it came to end of year, no one talked about how it worked out, untill Presadent Bush's first year, when the same budget came to an end and had us in debit.

Lock Box my tush!

[Madmoonie]

Okay...well, someone already kind of mentioned it but the economy according to the many sources is wrose than ever yet apparently its actually rising steadily over the past few years. NBC (or was it CBS) doctored Bush's records to give a black look and they admitted to it which greatly ignored by the country as a whole. And I have never heard of anyone calling NPR 'slighly left.' I have heard from Democrats themselves and liberals that NPR leans so far left it could be lying down. Also never heard CBS or NBC as being conservative. Not remotly. The FOX thing I can understand.

And also there is no need to use foul langauge with me. Try using a thesaurus next time.

[Mikhail Dragoslav]

It was predictable. Even inevitable.
The party which wrongly calls itself "Democratic" controls our news media, our entertainment media, our public education system, our colleges, most large corporations, our state department, our supreme court, a large segment of our religious institutions, our welfare system, and most of our health care system... Against that, what possible hope did mere facts and truth have?

Its quite amuzing there are claims the Republicans own everything and abusing everyting and yet the Democrats have a greater influence over the media, communication, education, and welfare of the country. Maybe ther policy is 'you do not need to know."

I would have to question this assumption based on the simple fact that if this were true, then how did the Republicans dominate Congress from 1994 to 2006 and the Presidency for the last eight years? I'm not questioning whether this network or that leans this way or that, I'm just challenging the idea that one side was incapable of getting its message out when it's been in power for eight years in the White House and twelve years in Congress. How did they win in the first place and then keep winning it that were the case?

Coming from outside the Democratic-Republican divide I have noted a tendency that when one party is in power, they point in vindication that their views are triumphant, that the other views are repudiated, and that more people read/listen to their party's gurus: More people read Ann Coulter than Michael Moore or listen to Rush Limbaugh more than Al Franken (or vice versa). But when they suddenly find themselves out of power, suddenly the other side turns out to have controlled the media the entire time. Convenient, no?

By the same token, when the people vote your way it's because they're smart, intelligent, see through the crap of the other side, etc. When the other guy wins it's because the people are short-sided, stupid, gullibe, etc.

I recall some of the remarks made during the last election: They basically broiled down to the notion that the American people basically rejected liberalism in all its forms, yet now when the shoe is on the other foot it's not your ideology that failed, it's just the party that represented it that did. Again, selective observation and analysis there.

So what does this election show then? That the people of twenty-eight formerly Republican congressional districts and eleven different states that turned out their Republican Governor and/or Senator suddenly became gullible idiots who fell for quick-fix line? It's always someone elses fault: the media, the people, it's never the fault of your own party for failing (I direct this as a general principle, not an indictment of you guys here).

Make no mistake, I'm not some unity-mongering centrist that damns both sides impartially and never takes a stand. I have staunch convictions and stand by them, but I can still see where people on both side of the divide are just full of it. Just because this party or that won Congress doesn't mean that it's because the majority of the American people believe in every jott of their platform.

Just because the Republicans held Congress doesn't mean neccessarily mean that American people want prayer in schools or a ban on all abortions and likewise, just because the Democrats won it doesn't mean that the American people are suddenly for gay marriage or gun control. People didn't fall asleep Conservative and wake up Liberal or vice versa.

The United States will not suddenly transform into Scandinavia because the Democrats are swept in, nor will it become the Confederate States reborn when the Republicans are again.

When someone votes against you and yours its because they think you went too far, you didn't go far enough, you should never have 'gone' in the first place or you did it (whatever it might be) poorly. Whatever combination of these won the Democrats both Houses of Congress and the majority of the Governorships, the fact remains that they did.

[ChronicMisadventures]

CBS and NBC have a slight conservative bias. .

....uh, we talking about the same CBS here? The one who 'stood by its employees' when Dan Rather pulled out those forged National Guard documents as a 2004 October Surprise? ...the ones where CBS, since it couldn't find legitimate experts to verify them, hired as their typing expert 'a guy who repaired typewriters for a few weeks as a part time job forty years ago' and as a handwriting expert went with 'a guy who writes books on how to tell a woman's libido from her handwriting'?

[Lazerus]

CBS and NBC have a slight conservative bias. .

....uh, we talking about the same CBS here? The one who 'stood by its employees' when Dan Rather pulled out those forged National Guard documents as a 2004 October Surprise? ...the ones where CBS, since it couldn't find legitimate experts to verify them, hired as their typing expert 'a guy who repaired typewriters for a few weeks as a part time job forty years ago' and as a handwriting expert went with 'a guy who writes books on how to tell a woman's libido from her handwriting'?

Yep. And the same CBS who nodded quietly and didn't make a peep when they learned the president was hiding the coffins coming back from Iraq. As I said, a slight bias.