(…like some snivelling beeyotch liberals are always whinging about doing if their anointed one loses)…
…but I’m feeling pretty good today.
Here’s why:
Can’t Fight History
I’m not going to say Barack Obama was “inevitable” – there is virtually no such thing in electoral politics – but the GOP hit a perfect storm last night: a popular (if skin-deep) candidate, a war, an economic crisis, the historical fact that it’s very hard for a party to keep power after eight years even if it’s doing its ideological blocking and tackling correctly, and the fact that the GOP and the conservative movement have pretty much blown most of their blocks and tackles this past four years. It would have been hard for any Republican to win; that Mac kept it within four and change defied the media’s “conventional wisdom”. It was a win, and a mandate, for Obama – but it was not a landslide.
One thing, by the way, I will not do is countenance on the right is the kind of flagrant, whinging, infantile, and occasionally deranged and paranoid disrespect that has befouled the once-noble American left this past eight years. The left gave us “smirkingchimp.com” and “democraticunderground.com”, and visits them constantly. I suspect if some conservative starts “jug-eared-fop.blogspot.com”, it will languish in obscurity. Let’s hope so. Even if you don’t respect the man (and Obama is a respectable person, wrongness about all things political notwithstanding), you respect the office. I do expect the Right to behave better than the left has; I doubt I’ll be disappointed.
And here’s the kicker: Now The One-Elect has to go on and prove to the mass of people who came out to vote for him that he can, indeed, walk on water and heal the sick. Some pundits say Obama needs to “lower expectations” – but while Chris Matthews can smear Anbesol on his leg to stifle the tingling, there are a whole lot of people who elected Obama with very high expectations.
So good one, Democrats. You won this one. Try (some of you, at least) to be a little less insufferable in victory than you’ve been in defeat.
Thanks.
We Can Filibuster
The Democrats expected to get 60 in the Senate. Last night, Ed and King and I figured they’d come out with 57 or 58 – bad, but still filibusterable.
As of this moment, it’s 55-41, with three races still out: Stevens will likely win in Alaska (and then be removed, and have a successor appointed by Governor, ahem, Palin); Smith has a decent chance of pulling an upset in Oregon (he’s up a point with 75% reporting), and while Georgia will need to do a runoff to get to its unique, mandated “50%+1” threshold, Saxby Chambliss will likely pull it off. It’s not a “victory”, but in a year like this, staving off annihilation is mighty fine.
The Tics picked up 20 in the House. It could have been much worse. And Minnesota is a key reason I’m feeling good about both houses of Congress.
Because…
Purple, Schmurple
Presidential results notwithstanding, Minnesota got just a bit more red last night.
You read that right.
Coleman pulled it off, against an utterly despicable Franken campaign. The polls just before the election showed either a Franken lead or a tossup – and the latter were right. Coleman is going to get by with a razor-thin majority when all the recounting is over. And if he could survive last night, Norm can survive anything.
But much better was to come.
Michele Bachmann in the Sixth District not only beat Elwin “E-Tink” “The 35W Ghoul” Tinklenberg, she beat Chris Matthews, the entire agenda media, funding from coast to coast, and a feckless GOP national apparatus that cut and ran when the media sodomized the context of her remarks on Tinglyball. Conventional “wisdom” called it a toss-up to a slight edge for E-Tink. And yet again, the most unrepentant conservative in Minnesota Politics won, and won by way outside anyone’s wildest expectations. Her three-point win was misleadingly small, I think; the Ventura “Independence” Party’s Bob Anderson is one of the IP’s tiny minority of fiscal conservative/social libertarians that the likes of Dean Barkley have pretty much driven back to the GOP; running unendorsed (the district’s V“I”P endorsed E-Tink, who’d “served” in the Ventura “administration”), he pulled an extremely respectable 10%, indicating the Sixth District is redder than anyone on the left was willing to admit.
Even better news? The conventional wisdom a few days back showed Ashwin Madia having an edge over Erik Paulsen. The Lori Sturdevants of the world declared it a fait accompli that the Third District was “turning purple” – it has, indeed, been one of the statements of faith among the Metro’s chattering classes for years. And yet not only did the Third replace the very moderate (and fellow Jamestown, ND native) Jim Ramstad with the more-conservative Erik Paulsen, but they did it with a margin that absolutely crushed any expectations.
Almost eight points.
Like Bachmann’s eight-point win two years ago (in a similarly difficult year), it’s proof that the “Minnesota is Purple” talk is a gross oversimplification.
And while there was little doubt that Second District representative John Kline was fairly safe, his fifteen point win over Steve Sarvi should stifle the left’s wishful bleating that the Two is moving to the middle.
The Power Of Talk
What were the biggest surprises in Minnesota last night? Obviously – Bachmann and Paulsen’s unexpectedly-big wins, and the margin by which John Kline crushed Steve Sarvi.
A week ago, nobody predicted this.
A week ago, the Three Tenors of Talk came to town. They got out an avalanche of the base; the Patriot expected perhaps 1,500 people, maybe; we drew almost 3,000, and were turning people away at the door by the time we were ready go get going last October 28.
A conservative Republican electorate that was widely reported as “despirited” going into that week came out afterward and, to quote Minnesota’s great sage, “shocked the talking heads” at 425 Portland a week later.
Where does the core of AM1280’s demographic live?
In the Third, the Sixth and the Second Districts.
I’d only “declare victory” this morning as a hyperbolic joke.
But there is a big silver lining, folks.
In 2010, if an Obama Administration can’t manage to actually walk on water, the Dems are going to bleed through the ears.
And we will be there pounding on the sides of their heads (rhetorically speaking).
So be of good cheer, Real Americans. Not only is the tide going to turn – it’s going to whipsaw. And Minnesota is going to lead the way.
Mitch promised: “One thing, by the way, I will not do is countenance on the right is the kind of flagrant, whinging, infantile, and occasionally deranged and paranoid disrespect that has befouled the once-noble American left this past eight years. … I do expect the Right to behave better than the left has; I doubt I’ll be disappointed.”
Then you’ll be disappointed to see that justplainangry is comparing Obama to Hitler on your blog.
JPA is “the right?”
Hm. Who knew?
(And while I haven’t seen JPA’s comment, I’m sure that the context will be a little more nuanced than you’ve told us about, Clown. And we know you tics don’t handle nuance well).
I don’t know, Mitch, if you’ve got an incumbent senator who can’t do better than a statistical tie with an SNL comedian, you’ve got some problems. Just be thankful the DFL didn’t run Jon Lovitz.
Gilbert Gottfried ’14!
an SNL comedian…
…the entire national media, all of Hollywood and a lot of its money, the baggage of four really bad years for Republicans, the ghost of Paul Wellstone, 12 million ACORN registrations AND Barack Obama’s coattails.
“Then you’ll be disappointed to see that justplainangry is comparing Obama to Hitler on your blog.”
…In response to your suggestion he move to Nazi Germany or Vichy France.
Context is neat!
Nothing wrong with money, is there Mitch? It’s protected by the Constitution (Wingnut Abridged Version).
Just be thankful the DFL didn’t run Jon Lovitz.
He would be easily countered with Dennis Miller.
At least Jon Lovitz and Gilbert Gottfried are funny. Franken – not so much…
I’ll be honest here; I would have voted for Jon Lovitz.
That’s the ticket. . .
AC, Then you’ll be disappointed to see that justplainangry is comparing Obama to Hitler on your blog.
I did not compare 0bama to Hitler. Context’s a b****, eh? I did, however, draw parallels between you and Hitler Youth. If the shoe fits, it will find a way up your arse…
Favorite Gilbert Gottfried moment: MTV promo, ca. 1985:
“People ask me “what do you think about David and David?” I like David – but I just can’t stand David“.
Franken used to be funny. Really — if you can find his bit before the White House correspondents’ dinner during the Clinton administration, watch it. It’s terrific, because while he was — openly — a partisan, he clearly enjoyed poking fun at everybody, including himself.
That joy left him a long time ago, and with it went his funniness.
As to Minnesota’s results, they’re interesting, to say the least. While there are things about Michelle Bachmann I like, I’d not have been unhappy, under most circumstances, to see her go. But the combination of the massive attack from outside the state and E-Tink makes me think that this isn’t the right year for it.
As to Paulsen, it just goes to show that if that district is going to go for a DFLer over a conservative Republican, it’s going to go for a moderate one, or one with experience, not a (moderately) far left beginner. We’ll see how things go in two years, but the odds are pretty good that that’ll be a good year for Republicans . . .
. . . after a bad couple of years for the country. Less than twelve hours after Obama’s win, we already had our first “gird your loins” moment with the Russians moving missiles to the border, and that’s just the merest taste of things to come.
Going to be an interesting time. In the Chinese Curse sense.
Haha! Yeah, not much, JPA!
“The problem is, 4 years is a LONG time. A LOT of damage can be done in 4 years. A LOT! How long did it take Hitler? We may not have The Constitution nor the tools to affect ANYTHING in 4 years.”
ac, a stopped clock, is right twice a day; this is one of those times.
I think that there are real threats to freedom of expression — and fully expect a successful push for the Fairness Doctrine, to get “right wing talk radio” put out of business — but the Hitler comparison is over the top.
That said, there are more than a few authoritarian impulses in Obama and his supporters, and they’re pretty awful.
Franken was cheated. Don’t try to weasel out of it by calling him names. I know what’s happening here. It’s as plain as the nose on your face.
When they’re not distributing the AIDS virus inside free needles, the Evil White Males running Hennepin County suppress Black voters. Minnesota has a long and wicked history of discriminating against Black people. Don’t think that setting free Dred Scott or renaming Constitution Avenue into The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior Drive fooled anybody.
Look how long it took for Minnesota to send the First Minnesota Regiment to fight in the Civil War! Fort Sumpter fell April 14, 1861 and Lincoln called for volunteers to put down the rebellion on April 15, but Minnesota didn’t muster troops until April 29, nearly two entire weeks later, barely in time to fight in the First Battle of Bull Run. That Minnesota was the first state to respond doesn’t prove we’re not racists, only that other states are even MORE racist.
Look how long it to get rid of separate drinking fountains in the old Dayton’s store in downtown Minneapolis, how long Black people struggled to win the right to sit at the counter in Mickey’s Diner. Don’t forget Black civil rights activists descending on the State Capital in the now infamous March Blizzard March of ’64 only to find it locked and everybody gone home – another clear case of crushing the First Amendment rights of Black people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.
And don’t even get me started on running I-94 through the poorest slum in town on the pretext that the land was cheaper there. That plan always was about destroying the Rondo neighborhood because it was Black. Everybody knows that.
Look, the Hennepin County Elections people claiming to have underestimated the number of unregistered Black voters who would turn up to vote at the last second is nothing more than a White Man’s ploy to suppress the Black Franken vote. Black Franken voters are people who can’t afford to stand in line waiting while you run off a few more photocopies – the polls close at 8:00 so they have scant precious minutes to fight their way past the police dogs, dodge the fire hoses, pay the poll tax, pass the literacy test, and produce multiple ID’s to get their on-the-spot registration cards.
Making a Black person wait is a form of Racial Inconveniencing, which is a Hate Crime, or should be. No different from expecting them to walk in crosswalks, keep receipts for returns, signal turns, or refrain from shooting at each other.
And I KNOW you only voted for Obama because he’s half WHITE, so you’re still a Black-hating racist.
Nothing can wash away the stains of the sins of slavery, nothing short of total Black control of the country for the next 300 years, until we can eradicate all traces of White civilization and turn this place into the same paradise as Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Somalia.
That’s our only hope for change.
.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/shakespeares_sister/reusables/party1.gif
But we are Nazis.
Mitch says so because we make snarky Photoshops of Sarah Palin and act like meanies and make conservatives cry WHICH IS EXACTLY HOW HITLER ROSE TO POWER.
But we are Nazis.
From your lips to the world’s ears.
Mitch says so because we make snarky Photoshops of Sarah Palin and act like meanies and make conservatives cry WHICH IS EXACTLY HOW HITLER ROSE TO POWER.
Tim. Dear, simple, deranged little Tim.
The word “nazi” doesn’t turn up in the post you linked.
Are y’all “Nazis?” No. Merely graceless misogynists.
Especially you. Good Lord, man, you “won” last night. And yet all you can do is try to jam words into my mouth?
Seek help, little fellow. Seek help.
You are making even less sense than usual today, Tim in St. Paul.
Tim in StP: please go back on the meds. Thank you.
Mitch, first you said this was the most liberal state in the union, so any Democratic victory wave was to be expected.. now it’s a deeper shade of purple (my ass).
Btw, sniveling beyotch liberals.. nice, no hyperbole there… nope. And also btw, war usually means the incumbant wins.. might want to check up on that. Now an UNPOPULAR WAR, not so much.
As well, if it was a ‘perfect storm’ explain how Coleman squeeked and Paulsen won an increasingly blue district?
Unlike you (or at least your sychophants) I don’t advocate the ‘nuclear’ option, or phumper BS about up or down votes. If the Repubs want to filibuster, there will be a much more obviously moderate constituency holding them accountable for doing so. I think they can read the handwriting, even though you seem blind to it.
Finally, I believe you predicted a 5 point win for Bachmann, so I guess it’s not quite the case no one thought it, but then again, you said McCain was going to win, narrowly, or by a lot.. or maybe Obama would squeek by.. I guess a 200 point EV victory is a squeek. And Kline won by 18 points, the lowest victory total of any of the clear favorites. You predicted Kline would win BIG, I guess 18 points or so is big, kinda, but it aint 50 (71-22 Ellison), you know, the one you said would be closer than it was. The Repubs got spanked on home ground, and held on in turf generally favoring them. Coleman was the incumbant, incumbants usually win, and he painted himself the moderate that he is not. That said, Franken ran a somewhat clumsy campaign… Madia was terrible – couldn’t get out of his own way. I thought Paulsen would win by 3 as I recall..
Either way, the Republican approach of reverse robin-hood has been repudiated. You have what you should have, appropriate representation equivilant to the population your view represents. I support that level of representation, I DID NOT support a filibuster proof majority (which was a fiction anyway -first damned few Dems thought it was going to happen, that’s just your spin) but second, many Dem Senators are moderates, and wouldn’t have voted for cloture on controversial bills – split government, or at least restrained government is good. It’s ironic that you now support it, when you so unabashedly were cackling with glee as Bush and Delay rammed stuff down the Democrats throats for 6 years. I guess you favor limited government only when it’s the opposition party in charge.
Hypberbole and obsessive spin.. you’ve got it down cold, be careful, you might turn blue.
That should say, “The Repubs got spanked on Democratic home ground”
BTW, better Canada, than the Mexico you were steering us into becoming.
And this REAL American finds your comments highly offensive. Calling me a traitor besides, Mitch? Real Americans don’t hate half the country, and want to lop off portions they don’t like.
a deeper shade of purple (my ass).
If your ass is purple, it’s a sign that you’re sitting too much, writing crap in peoples’ comment sections.
Question, Peev: Did Bachmann and Paulsen win, or did they not?
Red, baby.
nice, no hyperbole there… nope.
OF COURSE it’s hyperbole, genius.
As well, if it was a ‘perfect storm’ explain how Coleman squeeked and Paulsen won an increasingly blue district?
Sigh.
Read it again. Think. If you still don’t get how one gets from “perfect storm” of preliminary conditions and victory in the end, ask nicely, and I’ll show you where and how the answer can be found.
Unlike you (or at least your sychophants)
I have sycophants? Who knew?
I don’t advocate the ‘nuclear’ option, or phumper BS about up or down votes. If the Repubs want to filibuster, there will be a much more obviously moderate constituency holding them accountable for doing so. I think they can read the handwriting, even though you seem blind to it.
Look, of course the election leaves the field a little dicier for filibusters. For now, anyway. Never said it didn’t.
Just because a party is in the minority doesn’t mean it doesn’t try to push its agenda. If filibuster is the only tool available, then it is ones duty to use it as appropriate.
Finally, I believe you predicted a 5 point win for Bachmann, so I guess it’s not quite the case no one thought it,
My last prediction was 3-4, actually. I think Anderson got some of her votes.
but then again, you said McCain was going to win, narrowly, or by a lot..
My final prediction was Obama by a point or two.
I guess a 200 point EV victory is a squeek.
I was predicting popular vote. I didn’t attempt the EC this year. So you are mistaken.
And Kline won by 18 points, the lowest victory total of any of the clear favorites. You predicted Kline would win BIG, I guess 18 points or so is big, kinda
Yeah, “kinda” – I predicted somewhere in low two digits. I was figuring 12-15. 18 was better than I’d hoped for.
but it aint 50 (71-22 Ellison), you know, the one you said would be closer than it was.
Yep. I hoped it would be. Can’t win ’em all.
The Repubs got spanked on home ground, and held on in turf generally favoring them.
Rubbish. Patent buncombe.
The 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th were pretty much all status quo. They did better than expected in the 2nd and 6th, and VASTLY better than expected running a conservative in a “purple” district.
Either way, the Republican approach of reverse robin-hood has been repudiated.
Also made up from whole cloth.
Hypberbole and obsessive spin.. you’ve got it down cold, be careful, you might turn blue.
Well, yours is making me green.
Hey Mitch, since you described my posting as obsessive (that was classy of you) are you ever going to get around to posting any comparative numbers – you know, my # of posts compared to your other commenters? I mean, I’m guessing I’m #1, right? If not, what does that make people like, say, jpmn, or justplain? Why is it you’ve ducked that question, time and again?
Stay classy you classy, classy guys.. I sure do enjoy reading your thoughts. BTW – ‘provably wrong’ LMAO – yeah, I’ve been SOOO wrong on Iraq, the economy, terrorism, political predictions.. yeah.. wow. phew..
sorry for all those errors… gosh.
Haven’t you guys got something better to do today than simply be venomous, haven’t you got something better to do with your lives than spending the next 8 years being bitter? Really.
And Mitch, mysoginists? Let’s see, this from the guy who claims to be the #1 Feminist because he has good thoughts, but has never raised a finger in real action? Talk about sneering condescencion. For you to lecture anyone on vitriole – given the ugly nature of this post.. is laughable. But hey, stay classy bud.
Hey Mitch, since you described my posting as obsessive (that was classy of you)
And, given the record this past three years, utterly accurate.
You’ve spent two and a half years crashing a party you’ve been tossed out of, over and over again. You’ve been banned three times. You’ve adopted over half a dozen pseudonyms to get around those bans.
And even though your presence is tolerated only for comedic effect (because it IS comic!), and your endless purple rage is mitigated only by the occasional (yet utterly predictable) howler (the Scott Johnson episode, and your endless parade of anonymous neighbors and friends who just happen to confirm your most outlandish flights of fancy, seemingly on-call), you keep coming back.
No. Nothing obsessive there.
are you ever going to get around to posting any comparative numbers – you know, my # of posts compared to your other commenters?
No. That would be…
…obsessive?
And Mitch, mysoginists? Let’s see, this from the guy who claims to be the #1 Feminist because he has good thoughts, but has never raised a finger in real action?
You have no idea what my fingers do.
More than yours, certainly, but again, you’re just making it up as you go along.
Sorta like how you’re more qualified to read Minnesota state statutes than Scott Johnson is; yet again, you’re a legend in your own mind.
Talk about sneering condescencion.
In the whole spirit of “the stopped clock is right twice a day” – yes. I’m condescending, sneeringly. Your logic, reasoning and command of fact deserve, regrettably, no more.
For you to lecture anyone on vitriole – given the ugly nature of this post.. is laughable.
No, Peev, the notion that this post has “vitriol” or is “ugly” is laughable. I congratulated Pres.-Elect Obama and his supporters, and found some things to find optimism over. You’re the one trying to pee in my wheaties.
But hey, stay classy bud.
Hey, keep thrashing around like a rhetorical bull in a china shop.
Hint: we’re laughing at you.
Nate, and don’t forget that we abort African-American babies at a much higher rate then their population is in Minnesota. Wait, I’m not sure if that is good or bad? The far left and far right both say that is good.
penigma said:
“yeah, I’ve been SOOO wrong … sorry for all those errors”
Laughable.
Hyperbole only works if you are actually exaggerating something. You are not.
No, Peev, you’re not obsessive. Not in the least.
And this comment isn’t dripping with sarcasm, either.
And I’m not worth beans as a person, clearly.
*laughing*
Hey, peev, why don’t you get together with slash and start a blog? It could be point-counterpoint, kinda like the view a farmer gets when he teams two mules together to plow a hard row.
I didn’t know Peev could be so petulant when his Party wins. OMG!
Mitch, Norm still has to win the recount. Team Franken will pull out all the stops to get every non vote counted as a vote for Angry Al.
Coleman better get some lawyers down to the election bureau toute suite, pardon my French. When Al Gore tried to steal the election in 2000, only some very strong lawyer types made Florida follow their own law and saved a repeat of Kennedy/Nixon in 1960. This year the Demo’s thought nothing of violating Joe the Plumber’s privacy rights, can’t imagine them being too bothered about rigging a win in MN. These are people who believe not counting illegal votes is wrong.
I suppose that depends on what it takes to disappoint you.
Oh I am so embarrassed.