Democratic landslide...In Your Face Rednecks!

mindseye

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NBC has now called Virginia for Jim Webb. I spent 11 hours during the last seven days in get-out-the-vote efforts in Virginia; during that time, I had doors slammed in my face, got hung up on hundreds of times, and was cursed at more than once. I challenged efforts to depress voter turnout, and got cursed at even more for that. But considering the closeness of the vote, I think it was time very well spent. I'm delighted that I could participate a little bit in helping him across the finish line.
Goooooo, Senate Majority Leader Reid! :)
 

vegasbill

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Not sure I'd catagorize it as a "Landslide" It's a fairly typical result of the second midterm election of an administration. The Republicans actually lost a lot less seats than I thought they would, and the ones they lost were, for the most part, by razor thin margins. Look at Virginia!
 

dags

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I'm thrilled with the election results as well. This morning Tom Delay was saying something to the effect that the Dem's shouldn't get too excited because they (Rep) would be taking it back in 2008.
I thought that was pretty presumptuous. This just reinforces the fact that Dem's really need to work hard for the 2008 election.
 

coopturn

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As a conservative who votes for candidates from both parties, I'm very happy with the election of so many conservative candidates who ran as Democrats. Balance is needed in both parties. It's exciting to me that pro-life Dems, like Casey in Penn and Shuler in NC were elected. These aren't your father's Democrats that were elected yesterday.
 

dags

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I am happy that a message was finally sent by the American people that there has to be a change from the elitist privaledged rape that the last 10 years have been (yes, Before Bush, even). This wasn't a mandate for the Democrats. This was an ousting of the party elite who were blatanty fucking the majority or Americans, in multiple ways. The Democrats have basically two years to show some style, and have an actual coherent platform for positive change. I hope they can pull their heads out of their asses long enough to stop being infighting pussies like they HAVE been for the last 6 years at least, and come together and work for that positive change. I have my doubts. But a first step has been taken, a message has finally been sent, and I hold out hope that some small modicum of sanity and intellegence will come forth from somewhere. Maybe, JUST maybe, there MIGHT be a chance to save America from a cival class war, and a third world economic nation. Good luck to us all. We will need it!

Exactly! And your absolutely right, people are fed up and pissed off. Everyone I talk to including family, friends and co-workers are just sick of all the BS. But they also feel powerless, I tell them to A: don't bitch unless you VOTE. B: Get involved, write or email your Representatives. Or better yet get out and protest.
Some people just don't take action on something unless it effects them. I suppose in allot of the rich circles our politicians travel they don't deal with what the middle class does. So why should they care.
One attack ad in my home state used the immigration problem with the Mexican border issue, saying what a burden these people were on our social services programs (welfare). I'm sorry but I do not agree, any Spanish friend, co-worker, neighbor or whomever I have ever met WORKS.
Thats for sure. The Spanish come here to work and they aren't the ones I see down at the courthouse bleeding our welfare system dry and committing fraud. I work in section 8 housing, I know who is doing that.
Billions of dollars.
 

SpeedoGuy

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I had doors slammed in my face, got hung up on hundreds of times, and was cursed at more than once. I challenged efforts to depress voter turnout, and got cursed at even more for that.

Good on you for doing the dirty work, mindseye. You have my respect and gratitude for that.

Can you elaborate on what you said about efforts to depress voter turnout?
 

Gisella

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NBC has now called Virginia for Jim Webb. I spent 11 hours during the last seven days in get-out-the-vote efforts in Virginia; during that time, I had doors slammed in my face, got hung up on hundreds of times, and was cursed at more than once. I challenged efforts to depress voter turnout, and got cursed at even more for that. But considering the closeness of the vote, I think it was time very well spent. I'm delighted that I could participate a little bit in helping him across the finish line.
Goooooo, Senate Majority Leader Reid! :)

:hug: Well done Mindseye I'm delighted too.
 

rob_just_rob

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and... I wanted to add... I am among those who would like to see radical change. I don't believe either the Democrats or Republicans will give this to us. I think it's sad that the way our government is set up, a handful of seats changing from one party to the only other party in the country in the Senate, and a few more changing in the House, is considered to be some kind of huge turning point.

Agreed. Ask someone from anywhere else in the world what the key differences between the democrats and republicans are, and they won't be able to tell you. Aside from their stances on some hot-button social issues, they're just about identical. And individuals from each party aren't even consistent there.

So despite this "change", the culture of graft and kickbacks in Washington will continue, the rich will continue to get richer, the poor will continue to get poorer, money will be still be blown on defense spending instead of on infrastructure, small countries will still get bullied, and Iraq/Afghanistan will still be a fucking mess.

Blood in the streets, as I keep saying. Aside from the details, it's the same story up here.

It sounds like I need a drink, doesn't it? :biggrin1:
 

JustAsking

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If the Dems do have a plan like you suggest, they need to do a much better job of putting it forward. If not, the celebration some of us are having today isn't going to last long. I'm not the only one out here who wonders where the hell the Dems stand and when they're going to grow a backbone - and I can assure you I'm not a "Republican talking head."

I'm not asking for spin doctors in lockstep; I want to hear some semblance of an program. Advocacy for such a program doesn't automatically make a political party "monolithic" (it is what political parties do, after all), although it can. My point is that simply disagreeing with the Republicans, which is largely what shifted control of the House, is going to run out of gas sooner rather than later.

Democratic Plan. Its a start, anyway.
 

JustAsking

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Well, I got my wish(es)- Mike Dewine and Ken Blackwell got ousted like the egregious shitbags they are! There may be hope for Ohio yet, even though we weren't quite clever enough to trounce Deborah Pryce soundly enough to make it stick. Still, I'm grateful beyond belief that the worst offenders are fucking GONE. If current trends continue, Dewine and Blackwell can join their fellow scumbags Taft, Noe, and Ney in fucking JAIL where they'll be free to suck each other's cocks without damaging the rest of us. Oh, Ohio. Despite being convicted and awaiting sentencing, Taft hasn't even stepped down from office- apparently being a felon is okay if you're a fucking repug- and you wonder why I cuss so much.

*takes deep breath*

In better news, Nancy Pelosi- that's all I'm saying.

Aaaaaaaand Ohio's chief "Creationist" on the State Board of Education was trounced by Tom Sawyer, a well respected Ohio statesman, who was recruited by a science advocacy group. Bye bye Ms. Owens-Fink. Now maybe we can bring Ohio back into The Enlightenment.
 

D_Martin van Burden

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My precinct has 733 registered members in it and only 280 came out to vote. I got those numbers being a judge on Election Day, and I think I'm still disappointed in that bit of apathy even though I'm more than happy to see some reshuffling across the board.
 

tripod

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For all of those members who stated that this election does not mean anything because the democrats are:

1). Just like the Republicans... not much difference between the two
2). Incapable of forming a plan or a coherent strategy
3). Simply reactionaries who stand for what the republican's do not
4). Enjoying a much smaller margin of victory then the Republicans did in 1994

Let me just say that the Democrats are fair people. They believe in the unity of mankind, freedom of religion, a woman's reproductive rights, fair labor practices, a strong middle class, minority rights, a living wage. afordable health care, a strong Environment... I could go on...

These issues are so far from the Republican platform it ain't even funny!

Democrats have been reluctant to form a plan on anything for a simple reason. The media has been in total Republican control (I'm not talking about the print media, I mean ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, etc.) for the past dozen years or so. There has been silent media consolidation by the FCC, that has taken place without so much as a peep from the American people. This has allowed corporations like G.E., Viacom, Vivendi Universal, and Rupert Murdoch's Clear Channels, to have total control over the message that we are hearing or watching on TV. This has turned the media into one giant Republican talking point and a Democratic smear machine. I'm not discounting all of the proper news that the organizations have put out over the years. The news organizations are still run by the normal journalists that have always reported good news to the best of their abilities, it's just that the management of these news organizations is now in Republican friendly hands. They'll feature unbiased progressive news, but there had better be a solid market for it (ultimately these corporations answer to the dollar)!

If the democrats announced their plan, it would have been a joke! Nobody would have even taken the plan seriously, and the Republicans would set out to make sure that those plans would never come into fruition. Yes, I'm talking about actual covert operations to thwart any democratic agenda, the Republicans could do that in their fucking sleep! So don't blame the Dems because they haven't had a plan, they haven't had a plan because they ARE FLIPPIN' SMART!

The Republicans re-districted North Carolina and Texas in the 90's to ruin the chances of Democrats ever getting re-elected in those states. To this day, the Democrats don't hold hardly any house seats in those states, despite having large numbers of Democrats that live in the the area. The Democratic victory would have been significantly larger if this didn't happen.

I have been listening to C-Span all morning and the stupid Southern people that call up to bitch on the Republican line all sound like they didn't graduate Junior High (all of the respectable Republicans know what is up, and didn't call in this morning). The Democrats that call up are all well spoken and lucid... Like I said...

IN YOUR FACE REDNECKS!
 

B_NineInchCock_160IQ

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I can't speak for anyone else but personally when I say there is little difference between Democrats and Republicans I am referring to the politicians and not their constituents. Even though the differences among their constituents are also often overblown to serve the interests of either party, but at least there is some reality to them.
 

tripod

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Shelby and NineInch... you guys are super intelligent people (NineInch beats my IQ by 13 points).

I am a fightin' liberal... Damn right I'm angry, I don't pick daisies like most dems... I am just sooo damn frustrated living in the SouthEast during the Republican revolution. I have had to put my Chicago style Democratic tail between my legs for far too long! It has made me a little crazy! You guys tell it like it is!:wink:
 

JustAsking

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tripod,
I think I agree with you pretty much down the line on the press issue, but another major force is the "Wartime" atmosphere, which causes people to go all "nationalistic". It makes criticizing the war strategy and defining very different plans quite difficult, even if the press were somewhat neutral.

I think the strategy is for the dems to get back in power, have tons of hearings on all the incompetence, the suicidal deficit, and the Iraq situation and allow time for the national consciousness to process it all. Then reveal new plans for the war.

On other issues besides the war, some things can be done immediately, like raising minimum wage, stopping all the subsidies to the oil companies, revealing an energy policy, reforming election finance laws, etc.
 

tripod

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I think I agree with you pretty much down the line on the press issue, but another major force is the "Wartime" atmosphere, which causes people to go all "nationalistic". It makes criticizing the war strategy and defining very different plans quite difficult, even if the press were somewhat neutral.

This wartime atmosphere is an interesting one. It has it's roots in the South's rise and the North's decline in population that can be traced to the advent of air conditioning and the breakdown of the labor unions. The population simply shifted slowly to the South, with the 90's seeing most major manufacturing corporations moving their operations down South to avoid the Unions (Yes, you can still be roughed up for union activities down South). This in turn led to greater congressional representation for the sunbelt. The sunbelt's major white ethnic component is the Scots-Irish.

The Scots-Irish are an interesting people. They were English or Scottish farmers who were repatriated to Ireland in some of the best farmland of the whole island. This land was stolen from the native Celts from Cromwell after his invasion. The goal was to reduce the Catholic percentage of the Irish population, these repatriated farmers were all protestant. The Scots-Irish were Harrassed and invaded by the local Celts and developed a "war-like" attitude from these constant raids. They were in Ireland at the behest of the Parliament, so they all developed a very subservient attitude towards their government and it's leaders. These two habits of being quick to war and being subservient towards government chimes well with the fact that they are easily charmed by charismatic leaders.

Fast forward to the present day with the Scots-Irish descendants of the Sunbelt now flexing their muscles and bullying the country to do their bidding. They are just doing what they know how to do. Oh, did I mention that the Scots-Irish are easily manipulated? This has led to America driving SUV's, watching American Idol, wanting to blow up foreign lands and loving war, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw being as big as Whitney Houston once was, and consistently blindly giving the government the benefit of the doubt. These are Scots-Irish ideals that the country has adopted. When I say rednecks... I am usually referring to ignorant people of Scots-Irish descent, and yes they live up North as well. Living in the South has been extremely enlightening as well as frustrating...very interesting!
 

BuddyBoy

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NBC has now called Virginia for Jim Webb. I spent 11 hours during the last seven days in get-out-the-vote efforts in Virginia; during that time, I had doors slammed in my face, got hung up on hundreds of times, and was cursed at more than once. I challenged efforts to depress voter turnout, and got cursed at even more for that. But considering the closeness of the vote, I think it was time very well spent. I'm delighted that I could participate a little bit in helping him across the finish line.
Goooooo, Senate Majority Leader Reid! :)
You rock. Thank you from a frustrated foreigner who's been watching his country's biggest trading partner twirling clockwise down the fiscal and human rights toilet for the last five years.
 

Matthew

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For all of those members who stated that this election does not mean anything because the democrats are:

1). Just like the Republicans... not much difference between the two
2). Incapable of forming a plan or a coherent strategy
3). Simply reactionaries who stand for what the republican's do not
4). Enjoying a much smaller margin of victory then the Republicans did in 1994

Let me just say that the Democrats are fair people. They believe in the unity of mankind, freedom of religion, a woman's reproductive rights, fair labor practices, a strong middle class, minority rights, a living wage. afordable health care, a strong Environment... I could go on...

These issues are so far from the Republican platform it ain't even funny!

Democrats have been reluctant to form a plan on anything for a simple reason. The media has been in total Republican control .... If the democrats announced their plan, it would have been a joke! Nobody would have even taken the plan seriously, and the Republicans would set out to make sure that those plans would never come into fruition .... So don't blame the Dems because they haven't had a plan, they haven't had a plan because they ARE FLIPPIN' SMART!

I don't personally believe that the Democrats are incapable of making a plan. I wish they would come up with a more comprehensive and public strategy for two reasons: A) this country/planet needs serious redirection on issues like environmental protection, use of armed forces in the Middle East and elsewhere, reducing dependence on oil ... just to name a few. Merely easing off the Republican gas pedal won't be enough -- a wholesale change in course is necessary; and B) while it may have been, as you suggest, a winning election strategy to be vague and simply capitalize on voter discontent with the Republicans in order to alienate as few people as possible, people won't stay tied to a "we're not like those guys" program forever. At some point, you have got to unite people for something, not just against.

And while I do support the "fair people" list of issues you posted, they don't add up to a program to move this country forward. What I am trying to say is that my criticisms of the Democrats are because I want them to win again in '08 -- and I'm afraid if they don't step it up, they will not. The optimism many of us feel this week will quickly fade if we don't get a Democrat in the White House or if Congress shifts back to the right.

That said, I confess to being one of the people who doesn't have a lot of faith in the Dems or in the two-party system. While the issues you listed are the reasons why I do see the Democrats as a preferable alternative, they have not given me a lot of hope in the recent past that they have what it takes to successfully tackle the critical issues of this generation. I am hoping to be wrong.