Vote Early, Vote Often!

[Hunt 11]

"For Packsaddle, FB, Hunt, BadenP and the rest of you liberals, I'm sure your vast and significant amount of military tactical and strategic experience would be greatly appreciated in Washington right about now. "

 

Well, maybe we should offer our services...we couldn't do much worse than Rumsfeld did.

And Gonzo, I hate to break it to you, but as of Tuesday, I don't think "liberal" is a dirty word any more.

[CA_Scouter 11]

"...but as of Tuesday, I don't think "liberal" is a dirty word any more. "

 

 

As Jimmy Carter is rumored to have said upon his election:

 

'Ya'll have the accent now!'

 

 

[BrentAllen 10]

Easy, there Hunt - you better look a little more closely at the results of Tuesday. Yes, Democrats won and Republicans lost, but if you think liberalism won and conservatism lost, you would be incorrect. A lot of the Democrats that won are pretty conservative. In one of the biggest races, the liberal Democrat lost to a moderate/conservative Independent - Lieberman sent liberal Lamont packing. Heath Schuler is pretty conservative. Jim Webb used to be a Republican, serving under Reagan. It is going to be interesting how these conservative Democrats work with the liberal wing of the party.

[GernBlansten 10]

Brent,

ZERO incumbent democrats (liberal and moderate) lost their seat. All dem gains were from ousting an incumbent republican or an open seat (there were four open seats due to republican corruption). All republican wins were either by incumbents or open seats. That says more than anything.

 

This election was a rejection of republican rule, values and ethics by the American voters. Even Rush Limbaugh has turned his shoulder on the party.

 

BTW, I'm not a liberal but a paleo(Goldwater)conservative who is grateful that the republicans got a message that they no longer represent me. I hope they do something about it.

[Fuzzy Bear 12]

Let's take a few issues:

 

War- the new members won't speak. Few of the new or old will vote to cut funding. Stay the Course will be the vote. They will most likely set a date (two years) to bring the troops home. This will be hailed as a great victory.

 

Strengthening the military and their equipment will more likely be the big issue.

 

Abortion- the new members stand with many of the R.'s and it is the law and the R. court won't act, so it will not make the list.

 

Gun Control- so few votes that it will not be on the agenda.

 

Taxes- no change.

 

The deficit- there will great speeches made about cutting funding for programs where there is no voice or little support but little change is expected.

 

Stem Cell research will be the rallying cry but any bill will be sent back to them by GW where it will shelved with much hue and cry.

 

The D.'s don't have the leadership, direction or votes necessary to make any changes plus it will take bipartisan support for change and the R.s have shown that they are not bent in that way. I expect allot more finger pointing making it essential to have a new president to rescue us.

 

The D.s will continue recruiting conservatives until they look more like the Rs than the Rs. The total gain will mean that the conservative agenda will finally get passed by the opposing party. There will still be plenty of debate and maneuvering over who gets their name on the bills. They will return to their districts like conquering heroes.

 

B.A.U.

[Hunt 11]

I agree that the election was not a triumph of liberalism--the Democrats very shrewdly ran moderate candidates in order to capture the middle. It will be interesting to see whether both parties learn from this both in governing and in running candidates next time. It could be very good news for McCain, and I think you'll be amazed at just how moderate Hillary Clinton is for the next couple of years.

But I think the election did show that trying to counter the Democrats by tarring them as liberals did not work. The Republicans seemed to think that the idea of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker would somehow be frightening to the average American--it just wasn't. I think most probably found Hastert more scary at this point.

[Fuzzy Bear 12]

The Democrats came to the table to win an election not win policy changes. They stepped up and put money down on high probability bets only. The electorate was ready for changes in policy not just to win an election. The D.'s miscalculated and will only hurt themselves in the next election. Their conservative strategy will drive those in the liberal middle and edges to vote for Independents in '08 thus reducing their advantage and returning the election back to the R.'s.

 

Listening to the electorate is always better even if you lose. People will believe that you are representing them. Playing strategy politics is a sham and easily sniffed out because of the stink it creates. fb