It's hardly a mandate. Neither President Barack Obama nor challenger Mitt Romney were particularly appealing candidates. But it appears that, in addition to gaining enough electoral votes to win, Obama has squeaked by in the popular vote, too. According to the latest from HuffPo, he is ahead of Romney by about 13,000 votes nationwide.
I admire both men, who were much more classy than their supporters. Both were able to rise above the political rhetoric, if only for a moment, to congratulate each other on spirited campaigns.
Whether the rest of us can do this remains to be seen.
We tend to forget that, no matter what political label we wear, we are all Americans. We need to listen to each other more and shout at each other less.
“The strategy of obstruction, gridlock and delay was soundly rejected by the American people. Now they are looking to us for solutions.”
Those are the words of Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, who just happens to be a Mormon.
Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
Local Government TV
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Wednesday, November 07, 2012
65 comments:
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.
Amwn.
ReplyDeleteRuss
OK - so I spelled it wrong.
ReplyDeleteConsidering all the Republican tactics used ( voter ID, reduction of early voting) and the tens of millions more spent on their campaigns by outside groups, it's amazing that Obama and the Senate Dems prevailed..They overcame many obstacles..Now if we can change the Supreme Court and get rid of citizens United( something that wouldnt have happened with a Romney win) we might just get our Democracy back.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you get the message. It is none of those things. People are sick and tired of extremism, the we v. they mentality. Unless you drop that and recognize that all parties have useful ideas, we will continue our downward spiral.
ReplyDelete"...we might just get our Democracy back."
ReplyDeleteYou are clueless.
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."
-Ben Franklin
Game over. Turns out it may have been for a while.
Bernie, it is a we vs. they, and there is nothing wrong with that. Nothing in these pretty close popular, albeit blow-out electoral, results to dispute that. There is right and wrong. Takers vs. providers. Originalists vs. revisionists. Moral vs. immoral.
Looks like the "they" are of greater numbers and concentration. The fears of the Founders have, to a great extent, been realized.
With apologies to John Sterling:
Losers Win!
Thhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeee LOSERS WIN!
Only, they don't.
-Clem
Well... nothing has changed. Four more years of the same stuff. Dems have the Presidency and Senate and the Reps have the House. The big matter will be the rabid implementation of Obamacare. That will be the fun thing to watch and how much it costs the individuals in taxes.
ReplyDeleteCan we investigate Benghazi now? Can we indict Hillary finally?
ReplyDeleteObama left Marines to be slaughtered and should be impeached. It's time to begin House investigations.
No legislation is getting passed anyway. It's time to start digging into this stuff.
O @ 146 has it correct. More specifically, IMO, it is the teaparty extremist. Even Michelle Bachman in her redefined district meant to protect her barely won.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, I vote outside the City and was never asked for ID. I know an elderly super voter who was asked for ID, had it, but refused to show it.
611. READ YOUR HISTORY from 1983 when 241 Service Americans were killed in the Beirut bombing. There were warnings of an attack was coming three days before it occurred. The Reagan administration testified that there was adequate security.
ReplyDeleteThe commission's report found "senior military officials" responsible for security lapses and "blamed the military" chain of command for the disaster....not Reagan. It suggested that there might have been many fewer deaths if the barracks guards had carried loaded weapons and a barrier.
Reagan took responsibility as did Obama. Bottom line....there were lapses in judgement at many levels and the threat was underestimated in BOTH cases.
Can true bipartisanship emerge from the ashes of this election cycle? I hope so and agree with Bernie that we need to listen to all ideas..and get it correct. The people have spoken..time to get to work.
ReplyDeleteFour more years of this stuff. I am afraid a lot of us small business owners will not be around in another 4 years with business as usual!!
ReplyDeletebend over America, grab your ankles. Here comes the big one and there will be no lube.
ReplyDeleteWTF is that supposed to mean? Take responsibility and stop blaming others for your situation. Fear and loathing is really getting old.
ReplyDeleteLead..follow..or get out of the way!
ReplyDeleteharry reid will turn on his own words in a heartbeat.
ReplyDeletemoochele is already planning her next trip at your expense
ReplyDeleteDrop the hate and GROW UP!
ReplyDeleteWhite supremacy is OVER! It's a new world and thank God..YOU..have been marginalized.
ReplyDeleteYEAH!!!! welfare for everyone
ReplyDeletewonder if casey will accomplish anything this term
move over Greece - here we come
More sloganeering and pure hatred. Get over it..it's called Democracy!
ReplyDeleteThe right is expected to give give give. They give their money, their freedom of religion, their indoctrination of their children, their values, traditions and anything else the left can take. Why would you expect anyone to be okay with this? There is no give and take. If you aren't too narrow minded it is plain to see. So half of the country will take what they can get through any means while the other half will wait for the pendulum to swing back. When you use bully tactics and pure meanness like a spoiled child the adults have to find a way to settle things. we may not say it but we do not accept the things the left forces on us. Who would? So we stay divided....
ReplyDeleteDemocracy??? We are a Republic. So far.
ReplyDeleteThe republicans once again gave us a lousy candidate. The dems once again feed on the greed of our give me, give me society. We fucked ourselves. There will be no winners.
ReplyDelete...government dysfunctional....need bipartisanship...
ReplyDeletethere's this thing, largely unfamiliar to the left, called "principles", that provide a natural boundary to "bipartisanship". I hope that the House blocks every thing Obama wants to do
It's morning in America. Thank you Tea Party.
ReplyDeleteMore blame..more stupidity..more slogans..try some grace. Lose and win with grace. Be humble. Democracy is the worst form of government until you try to think of one that's better. There is only US..we're all Americans. The people spoke..
ReplyDeleteHe's a lame duck with no possibility of passing any legislation. We are all Detroit now. Aim high.
ReplyDeleteBernie = Suggested useful idea. $1.00 in additional revenue for every $10.00 in budget expense cuts.
ReplyDeleteRepublican leadership in house sez???
There is no question that this is an area where the President and Congress should work together. There really has to be a tax increase on wealthier Americans, coupled with a serious reform of our entitlement programs. That would accomplish what you suggest.
ReplyDeleteToo many of my GOP friends claim centrism but fail to condemn the racist, homophobic and anti-immigrant positions taken by their party. Romney would not have had to try to go to the right of Newt, Santorum, Cain and Perry if he thought that centrists held sway in his party. If he had principles he sold them out and now he is out
ReplyDeleteBernie, are you aware that if the government confiscated every dime earned above $250,000, the revenue would run the government for about 3 months.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think it would be certain that NEXT year, no one would be earning anything above $250,000. Why would they? what would be the point of that?
So explain again why we have to raise taxes on the "rich" and by how much you think they should be raised?
Trouble is the GOP rejects any tax increase even one that accompanies 10x more in spending cuts
ReplyDeleteThe candiates laid out there platform, the people spoke, election day Nov. 6th, 2012 is now History. These next four years are going to be very interesting. We have new Senators and Representatives that ran on their promises to the people and things they hope to achieve during their terms of office. Fifty Senators and almost five hundred congressman made promises to their constituency that they want to keep. It doesn't matter whether you are a Democrat or a Republican you made promises and if you don't keep your promises you may not get re-elected. "The art of compromise". That is what these two parties have got to practice. Compromise is the only way this Country moves ahead. We haven't seen that in the last four years. The Talk show hosts are already saying this is no mandate and the Republicans shoudn't give up on their moral values (I.E. gay marriages, woman's right to choose, etc.) and also the tax issue (keep the wealthy from paying the same share "percentage" of taxes everyone else pays) and therein starts the gridlock. Talk show hosts are nothing but entertainers lining their pockets on the backs of the gullible that really believe what they are hearing. The nut jobs that make up the tea party are just that, NUT JOBS. The dems have to change their liberal ways. We can't be everything to everyone. Let's meet and discuss is long overdue in Washington. Name calling and finger pointing won't resolve a thing.
ReplyDeleteThe "white supremacy" remark was made by someone attacking Rs.
ReplyDeleteAll comments posted by Rolf Oeler, aka ironpigpen, will be deleted. Anonymous posts from him on this blog, if they appear to be from him, will be deleted. This is not a forum for people to make threatening remarks.
ReplyDeleteWill be an interesting 4 years. I wonder how many businesses and start ups will dial back their activities in the face of higher taxes and regulations?
ReplyDeleteIt is great that you are increasing the safety net, but neither candidate said how they were going to pay for it. And everybody knows that as taxes increase, the desire for investment and increase productivity decreases. Like the left says, it is a race to the bottom.
Any word on how Buddy Christ is doing today?
ReplyDeleteBuddy is working out with the Eagles.
ReplyDelete"Will be an interesting 4 years. I wonder how many businesses and start ups will dial back their activities in the face of higher taxes and regulations?"
ReplyDeleteTe stock market is down 300 points, which certainly is an indication that the business world is unhappy.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2012/11/07/wall-street-election-react/1687277/
there is a better form or democracy. It's called a republic....Greece invented democracy and that is now our future. For 2 years the d's shut out the R's and now they want to play nice. Think, hope the R's have learned a few things about shoving things down the throats of half the population. Dirtiest, foulest, and total dishonesty is what the lobs showed the rest of us. True bullies. How does anyone deal with that? When the poor get poorer they will see. How can you raise taxes when all you do is spend and borrow? Fix that first.
ReplyDeleteHere's another example of the "fruits" of teh Won's victory.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, corporate sends out email asking for donations of non-perishables for the victims of Sandy if you are in main office, money if you are in another state. Instintively, I reach for the checkbook. Would not have been much, maybe $50 or so.
Of course, I was optimistic yesterday.
Today, not so much. I'll keep the money at home. I'll need it to pay il duce's increase next year.
Just think what employers and investors will do when the costs of hope and change are visited upon them. They aren't going to downsize or outsource themselves folks. And they aren't going to keep their money where nannybama can get her hands on it.
As teh Won says, elections have consequences.
-Clem
8:20 (called "principles", that provide a natural boundary to "bipartisanship". I hope that the House blocks every thing Obama wants to do)
ReplyDeletethat's thing that is ruining this great Republic and this hyper-partisanship is ruining the Republican party in the long run. It actually started pre-Tea Party, with the Club for Growth, etc, who have purged the GOP of its centrist elements.
To Clem,8:20, and other Tea Folks who love to talk about the Founders, re-read Federalist 10. You advocate government by your narrow faction or nothing is going to get done. Very un-Madison.
I loved Reagan when he was President...but the GOP left me, and I voted accordingly yesterday...In the words of Reagan:
"When I began entering into the give and take of legislative bargaining in Sacramento, a lot of the most radical conservatives who had supported me during the election didn't like it.
"Compromise" was a dirty word to them and they wouldn't face the fact that we couldn't get all of what we wanted today. They wanted all or nothing and they wanted it all at once. If you don't get it all, some said, don't take anything.
"I'd learned while negotiating union contracts that you seldom got everything you asked for. And I agreed with FDR, who said in 1933: 'I have no expectations of making a hit every time I come to bat. What I seek is the highest possible batting average.'
"If you got seventy-five or eighty percent of what you were asking for, I say, you take it and fight for the rest later, and that's what I told these radical conservatives who never got used to it."
Clem, That's not exactly an argument. Lighthouse id a centrist or perhaps a realist. Perhaps it is time to re-think the all-or-nothing mentality on both sides of the ideological spectrum.
ReplyDeleteFour years of gridlock is actually a very good thing. When they are working together, they are doing so ti screw us. He couldn't get a single vote from his own party for the one budget he attempted in four years. No way he gets to lead now. Yesterday was a good day for holding government in check.
ReplyDeleteSo, we are at a crossroads. 50-50 with extraordinarily, radically different ideas on how we want to live.
ReplyDeleteSounds like something divorces are made of. For the good of the kids, honey, we just can't live together anymore.
Sounds good. We could, very peacefully, divy up. Blues govern themselves their way. Reds, likewise.
Like to see how that turns out for the Obamanation: Government workers and program dependents, academics, and of course, the union girls who would be waiting at the hall for a call from that "someone who should start a business and create a job for me that pays lots for little and lets me tell them how it's gonna be.
Don't you think it might be time for blues to have a country of their own, where you can kill any baby for any reason, marry animals, have doc kill grandma, occupy anything, raise taxes weekly and give everyone everything they want without any pushback?
You go your way, we'll go ours. And, we'll stay friends. You just can't have access to our account anymore.
-Clem
Clem 1219. Sorry you feel that way. Giving is never about ones self. I will pick up your slack Clem and try to give a little extra somewhere. First Red Cross Santa I see......Anyone else with me?
ReplyDeleteI just thought of the women in Long Island who donated to local food bank. She never thought she would be on the receiving end because of Sandy.
Sorry, meant the Salvation Army Santa....you get to point...
ReplyDeleteDear public works....plow my street first. If there is budget left over, you can take a far right hand turn and go down Red Rose Street.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct Bernie, it is not an argument. It's calling bullshit, like you did to me a couple of weeks ago when I made an argument you believed "bullshit".
ReplyDeleteRealist, centrist, jack of all trades, master of none... whatever.
-Clem
but he's the Lightworker! filled with Hope! and Change!
ReplyDelete60 million frickin morons in this country
The hate is actually palpable today..like heat radiating off of the scalding hot Summer pavement. Life is short..live in grace..walk softly.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Un-united Socialist States of Meism.
ReplyDeleteAt booth 1 you may get your welfare check
Booth 2 is for food stamps and your cell phone
Booth 3 , which is for jobs, is currently closed
Booth 4 is for your free medical care. (If you are over 75 you need not apply)
Booth 5 is for rich people only - this is where you get screwed even further
Booth 6 is where you can get your passport and one way ticket to Fairyland (previously known as Maryland)
Booth 7 is for lost hope and no change
Iran and Russia are celebrating. They haven't laughed at such a lightweight since Kennedy.
ReplyDeleteClem 12:52
ReplyDeleteI guess you have not seen the list or map showing how much more the blue states pay in federal taxes relative to the amount they get back. And the reverse is true for red states
Is Maryland now a pink state?
ReplyDeleteThe Stasi has gotten word to me that you took you best shot with the Secret Service ... but you failed to achieve your desired results.
ReplyDeleteEs tut mir leid.
When are you going FINALLY acknowledge that I am really only 98.6% as stupid as you think I am?
A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
ReplyDeleteFrom bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.
Alexander Fraser Tytler 1747-1813
9:36, aka Rolf Oeler, I did not take my "best shot." I reported your threatening remarks concerning the President of the United States, and the Secret Service has them. I understand you received a visit. I was asked whether you have continued posting here, and unfortunately, that occurred before you started this AM. Now stay off this blog. I will delete anything you post, or anything I think you post. Any person who wishes evil on another person has no credibility with me. You have done this once before, and I kicked you off. I relented and let you post here after some time. No more. You add nothing to any discussion, attack my readers and are nauseatingly repetitive. Take a hike.
ReplyDelete@6:01 pm:
ReplyDeleteNot the point.
I'm telling you that the productive class of the blue states will move red, and the Obamaphiles in the red states can fulfill their fantasies in the blUnited Slum of America.
Everyone moves on to their better place. Peaceable separation, and each gets to be a proving ground for whether or not their way is THE way.
Talk about getting something done...
Without the ugly variable of slavery this time around, and without the force of arms, this is a play worthy of consideration, no?
-Clem
Pigpen, Rolf ...
ReplyDeleteYour heart is in the right place, but take it easy. There's lots of leeway here, the teabagger pussy takes lots of shots at me and others. I, for one, have dished out at least what I've taken (I like to believe more).
The toughest are those that can take a punch harder than their own.
If you want to be a martyr, that is your biz. I'd rather see ya bitch slap 'em with your brain, which you do damn well, but check the threats at the door. Besides, if it ever did get to the point of violent resistance, no one who really wanted to win that fight would be spouting off about it on a blog.
Leave the crazy to the left. They are better at it, from Choom the Revenger and his pals Ayers and Dorin the police bombers, to Bill Maher and the occupy-their-own-shitpile losers, because it is who they are, 24/7/365.
-Clem
Clem, He is not welcome here and will be deleted.
ReplyDelete"Why not change you blog's name to Racing to the 1950's, agin; when white guys ruled!
ReplyDelete12:42 AM"
Man, or non-man, you are a dumbass. I'm talking about a conservative place where Alan Keyes would have already been president, we wouldn't have had Bush and McCain pushed down our throats to play to the "moderates".
More importantly, Blue Heaven would be a case study in apartheid, where the Kennedys and the Soros and the Clintons and the Algores would continue to pass out the stamps and pat their beneficiaries on the head and tell 'em how much they are doing for them. Let them eat cake in Blue Heaven.
Yeah, that's heaven. Mmm...mmm...mmm...
-Clem
Yeah, I know. But he'll read it and maybe get it. Worth a few key strokes, I think.
ReplyDelete-Clem
Fear the truth, angry old white men. You are a cowardly lot!
ReplyDeleteSo tell us 3:28, exaclty what is the truth we should fear?
ReplyDeleteBernie, this guy is a frickin scream!