I’m glad the Dems won. Really. There needs to be this type of rollover change in the American political parties from time to time. It will go back to the Pubs in due time.
Wisconsin went too. I only wish the Governor’s race was different, Doyle is a lying ass. I suspect he’ll be indicted anyway, so that (him winning) ain’t much to loose sleep over.
Couple things. The Republicans (us or we, since I’m one) had our chance to make changes. We screwed up numerous times and still managed to fuck things up.
The Dems wanted this country bad enough,…you finally have it, and good too. I think that some positive changes will be made.
I also think this will be a very different reign for the Dems than they expect. The conservatives haven’t really kept to their core principles over the last 6 years. Spending increased, government got bigger, moral principles went south.
It won’t be a night and day change like in past years (like try raising taxes now).
The Dems have been critical of everything we have done over the last few years and now it’s your turn. Take the baton and run with it. Do the things you claim you wanted to do this whole time, make the changes you’ve been critical of during this administration. You’ve got the playing field, let’s go!
No more excuses.
I realise that there is some heavy baggage and some rather large skeletons in the closet that you’ll have to deal with. Like the national debt. Doubled in the last few years. You won’t be able to spend like the typical Dem party would have wanted to without watching the numbers sky-rocket further. You are also strapped with this war too. Tough one that. But since you were the party with all the answers, let’s see if you guys can make a purse out of this pigs ear.
You don’t realise how much control you actually had being the minority in the House and Senate, now that you’ve got majority control there should be no stopping you.
Let’s make the changes that you claim need to be made, stick to your principles, and be honest with the American people. Honesty has been something that’s been missing that last few presidential terms, both Bush and Clinton.
I think you hit nail the head about honesty. IMHO a big reason that the country voted the way they did wasn’t because of the Iraq mess per se, but because the spin about Iraq from the president and the Reb party insulted their intelligence.
I have to wonder what you mean by “typical Dem party spending”, though. Unless it’s along the lines of giving millions to poor people instead of the “typical Reb party spending” of billions to rich people. Who was the last official Tax and Spend Democrat? LBJ?
In truth, all decent members of any political want the same thing: a better world. What they disagree on is how to go about it, rational members of the parties are willing to sit down and discuss matters, find compromises, and experiment to see what works best to accomplish those goals. The problems arise when you have idealoges who put party before country (and every party has members who do this), sadly the Repubs have been held in the grips of some powerful idealogues, hopefully that’s been broken now, and hopefully, for the good of America, the Dems will avoid the same mistakes.
You recall the end of 12 Angry Men, when George C. Scott is finally standing alone? The vote is 11-1. He’s yelling the same points he’s been yelling for the past 2 hours. Every point has been addressed, and done away with, but all the ammo he has is the same thing he’s already used.
No new ideas. No new arguments. Yet, he keeps yelling the same thing, but it just sounds more and more pathetic.
After what has felt like a very frustrating last few years, when you really get to thinking that people’s voices don’t get heard by government, when you really wonder if all the incompetence has sunk in with the general public, or just the like-minded Democrats that I tend to be surrounded by. . .you wake up and realize that everyone just threw the fucking bums out. I love it.
When you hear people today say that they’re happy to be an American, you know exactly what they’re talking about. The voting public just cut George Bush’s balls off, and it’s causing me glee.
It was a great night in Ohio, let me tell you. Democrats swept all exec-branch statewide offices but one, and most of the local candidates and all of the issues I backed won. Dem Congressman Sherrod Brown, who’s a good guy, unseated incumbent GOP Sen. Mike DeWine. I did some Dem phonebanking in the weeks before the election, so I take a little pride in ownership at the results.
Big changes afoot in Washington, my friends. And the Dems’ route to the White House just got smoother for '08. Hooray!
What I mean is, and this is one of the differences between liberalism and conservatism, is that the Dems won’t be able to throw money at societal issues (in the hopes that that will fix them) like they wanted to in the past. I like what Palosi said, let’s hope she sticks to her guns. I think the remaining Pubs will have to dance with the Dems in order to make nice till the next elections. Being sore loosers won’t look good in the public eye. It’ll just make people resent them more and shift Congress further to the left.
It’s time to play nice.
I think you’re right. Lets hope that they use their newfound power and solidarity for the best.
You DO realise that conservative talk radio and all the righty pundits are looking forward to this, don’t you? They’ll be on the offensive now.
If Alcee Hastings, an impeached Federal Judge cum Represenatative is an example of the “honest”, “clean” Democratic leadership coming in, I’ll not exoect too much.
What we’ll have is yet more gridlock, this time with the democrats in nominal leadership, but with neither side with enough of a majority to drive a coherent agenda.
As if to imply they have been even slightly less than rabidly foaming at the mouth?
The Dems will do their best, but be expected to see Bush veto what he can, and the Dems taking the blame for not being able to clean up 6 years of carnage in two years.
I think the best thing that’s going to come out of this election will be a restoration of openness in the American government. We’ll start seeing issues being discussed rather than quietly rubber-stamped.
Except, you know, the minor fact that Democrats have at best 51-49 in the Senate, though around a 30-seat majority in the House. So this isn’t fabulous majority control. Also, there is one big thing stopping Democrats: a Republican president. Bush isn’t going to sit idly by and let the Democrats do what they want.
A few weeks ago, I asked Hillary Clinton what her top priorities would be if the Democrats took the Senate. The first thing she mentioned was pay-go. The Democrats ran on fiscal responsibility, and I think they’ll stick to that.
This Alcee Hastings talking point sure made the rounds fast, didn’t it? Not to say he should receive this committee assignment, mind you.
What talking point? We have one of the few impeached, convicted-felon, ex-federal judges, who somehow got elected as a Democratic Party member of the US House or Representatives, who is then in line to be the new Chairman of the House Intel Cmte, in the face of a Democratic Party that ran against a corrupt GoP membership.
Anybody reasonably well-read in US history and federal politics knows about Alcee Hastings, and the whole impeachment cycle.
And Robert Byrd is in line to become President pro tempore of the Senate again, as the senior senator of the majority party. That would put him next in line for the Presidency, right after Speaker Pelosi. Loyal Democrat that I am, I can’t say I’m terribly enthused about that.
He absolutely shouldn’t be chairman of that committee. That said, I’m pretty sure that some people who had never heard of Alcee Hastings two days ago are now painting this as the defining moment of the new Congress. That’s why it’s a talking point. Bad as his history is, I doubt your assessment that everybody knows about him.
