Well...

[Dr.Jeckyl]

Dems take the House and it looks they will take the Senate also. Rummy just resigned. what next?

thoughts on the last couple of days?

i'm personally glad it's over. i couldn't take anymore phonecalls or mailers and the wall to wall news coverage of these races.

[DaSmerg]

Press has to talk about something 24/7 live 365, plus political insight via Hardball or in the No Spin Zone though Jeck.

Should prove to be pretty interesting.  Maybe we'll finally see a moderation in the far too hard line that the GOP foolishly would not waver away from...that is...the 'you'e with us or against us' mentality.

Hopefully see the Prez et all finally look at serious and real changes in Middle East policy,nevermind the world at large..

On the economic side and being a Canuck, the Dem's have tradionally been the more protectionist party.  With a softening U.S. economy and the Dem's poised to be holding on to the purse strings, should be interesting to see what plays out.

Here's hoping that U.S. leadership is not weakened.  We do need strong leadership, but the GOP never really seemed to figure out that doesn't exactly equate to taking an unwaivering line on topics.

Best quick interview I caught last night was with John McCain.  I'd have to completely agree with him that the GOP allowed itself to not only move too far right on a whole range of issues but also seemingly lost their way when the reigns were handed to them.  Instead of going to work on some serious issues you saw too many silly wedge issues dominate the landscape..

Dems have a lot of work in front of them though.  Remains to be seen if they end up falling into the same bear trap that the GOP found themselves stuck in...wasting time on wedge issues instead of tackling the biggies.

How are the Dems going to handle their scandal(s)?  You know at least one or two are going to crop up.

Will a GOP prez and Dem congress put a much needed dampner on the crazy partisianship that has dominated federal politics since the dangling chads of 2K?

[Frozyn]

All I know is I'm glad Rumsfeld resigned.

The Army, going into Iraq, wanted to take thousands and thousands of tanks and to slowly steamroll the place. Rumsfeld wanted his stupid quick-deploy Army, and instead sent them with Humvees without armor. This is all according to my brother, who was in the Army at the time they went over.

Hopefully the new guy does a better job.

[MONOLITH]

Random thoughts....

It was pretty easy to see this coming. It's the pendulum swinging. Either party can only stay in power for so long, before they get fat lazy and corrupt. This is how the GOP took power in the first place; 1994 the Gingrich revolution, when all the long standing corrupt democrats were tossed out. Same scenario 12 years later, and we'll see it again after another few years.

I believe this will actually hurt the dems in 2008.

There are two democratic parties;

The level headed moderates like Lieberman, who can get right wing votes simply because he's a stand up guy.

And the far left; the Michael Moore's, the Sheehans, the Ted kennedy's.

The two are in a battle, and even a democrat can agree, the average Amercican doesn't really relate to the hardcore left. Or at least, if they think they do now, they won't after a year of the Pelosi show.

While it's a great American history moment to have a the first woman speaker of the house; Pelosi is far from moderate. Pelosi is very far left. And in snide and childish arrogance, her and her communist buddies will use their new power not to re-unite the parties and mend wounds and help America;

But they will use their new power for revenge. You will now see all sorts of time and money wasting shannanigans, from going after Rumsfeld for War Crimes, to trying to impeach Bush, to doing whatever they can to get revenge on the Right.

It will only widen the partisan divide even further, and by the time 2008 comes around America will be so sick of the games, and so disgusted at seeing the left for what it really is, that another republican will win the presidency in 2008, despite a democratic congress.

And if the left tears down the Patriot Act, weakens our military capabilites, and America gets hit again by Terrorists, forget it. You'll see the dems kicked out of congress again.

Putting the far left aside, I'm truly hoping with some of the Right wing arrogance pushed aside, that the true moderates like Lieberman and McCain can repair some of this partisan damage and get America united as one country again. Only time will tell.

I think the Bush/ Rumsfeld show yesterday was ridiculous. In his press conferences, Bush looked like a spineless child who's father had just come home to spank him.  Totally cowering down and ready to 'offer Miss Pelosi whatever she needs".  Oy Vey.

And Rumsfeld? I posted a month or so ago that I thought Iraq was clearly screwed up, and something should be done. But to make the change the day after the election simply looked like another cowardly act. Talk about 'cut and run'. :hmm:  

Let's hope for this;

The partisan divide shrinks.
Both sides of the fence mend old wounds and unify our government for the sake of the country.
A new, better gameplan is devised for Iraq.

But with the far left Pelosi's in control, I think we're going to see a whole lot of crap over the next year.

Taxes are going up.
Illegal immigrants get social security benefits, amnesty, and lincoln towncars to haul more illegals over the border.
Minimum wage goes up, so small mom and pop shops go out of business.
The Patriot Act goes away, so Al Quaeda can freely plan to attack us, using our own telephones.
Lots of ridiculous time and money spent on investigation after investigation on everything and anything just so the dems can crap on the right for awhile. Not because they should or need to for the country, but just because they can.

Who knows. We'll see. But I have a strong feeling, that like a starving kid in a candy store, the dems are going to blow this opportunity to win over Americas hearts. Their going to abuse this moment, and in 2008, they still won't be able to get a Presidency.

[MONOLITH]

Interesting points in this article for both sides. One thing I will be glad about; I'm sick and tired of the world hating us.


http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/08/D8L999BG0.html






.

[BOBK]

I don't know if any of you guys caught this, but when Pelosi gave her morning-after speech, she got thrown WAY off the rack, and had extreme difficulty coming back.

She started out fine.  She told a story of how she arrived to see several children waiting to greet her...how the "children are the future", etc., ...and that her job....er what?[microphone trouble...somone in-audience is communicating with her...she adjusts the mic]..."there, uh...is that better?...uh, er..."

then she nervously readjusted the mic, and said, "did I tell you about the children?"

off-camera: "yes...you alreadfy said that"

"ok then...I should just continue?uh then?...er, ok"she looks terrified for a second, then regroups and begins

"well, anyway" points to someone in audience "you saw them, didn't you?...the children I mean...the met me you see, on  the...."

Anyway, my point is that she REALLY REALLY lost her composure when something mild from left field came in.  She had absolutely no idea how to take it up where she left off.  It was like an ant that had lost the chemical scent of the trail the other ants were leaving.:hmm:

[MONOLITH]

Maybe her and Bush have more in common than I thought.   :tongue:

[BajaBravo]

Talk about 'cut and run'. :hmm:  

I had exactly that say thought. Get out of my head!!

You make some excellent points in that post.

[SilentEdge]

A lot of you are happy because you feel that the Republican held House, Senate, and Presidency were unduely aggressive, or didn't handle a variety of things the way you may like.

But, this is what I see, when I see PELOSI as the new Speaker, and MURTHA as the new House Majority leader:

In an extraordinary joint statement, more than 200 Socialist members of the European Parliament hailed the American election results as "the beginning of the end of a six-year nightmare for the world."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has consistently railed against the Bush administration, called the election "a reprisal vote."

One Frenchman, 53-year-old teacher Jean-Pierre Charpemtrat, said it was about time U.S. voters figured out what much of the rest of the world already knew....

 In Copenhagen, Denmark, Jens Langfeldt, 35, said he didn't know much about the midterm elections but was opposed to Bush, referring to the president as "that cowboy."

 One opposition lawmaker, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, said he welcomed the election result, but was hoping for more. Bush "deserves to be removed, put on trial and given a Saddam-like death sentence," he said.

The rest of the world HONESTLY thinks that we voted against Bush, and in turn the Republicans, because we found out that they didn't like him.

How far off are they?

[BajaBravo]

The rest of the world HONESTLY thinks that we voted against Bush, and in turn the Republicans, because we found out that they didn't like him.

Where did you get that from what you quoted?

[DaSmerg]

Talk about 'cut and run'. :hmm:

I was thinking that a big thumbs up endorsement from the President has, for just over the last year, pretty much spelled the end of that cabinet member.

First Brown and now Rumsfeld.

It's a comedy sketch waiting to happen.

As for some of the other comments from Mono and Edge...I dunno guys.  I really do hope your wrong.  I see a little too much of the GOP kool aid in what both of you have had to say.

Politicians get elected by making promises...and usually end up breaking those promises while serving their term to lesser and greater degrees.  But it's hard to bank on what has yet to happen.  What can be counted as certain is the past.  The GOP showed they were undeserving of being handed the full show in Washington.  Wedge issue after wedge issue after wedge issue continually dominated the legislative landscape in congress during their tenure and "real" issues kept being covered up with fear tactics.

Several leading Dem's, including Howard Dean as early as last night on Daily have said that impeaching the President is simply not going to be part of their agenda.  There are far too many real issues to deal with and also earn the public trust with.

I will agree with Mono though...I don't see the Dems being able to win the Oval office in '08 as of right now.  Not because of what they might or might not do but because they simply lack a viable candidate.

P.S.  To paraphrase last night's Daily show...the Democrats sweep aside the ruling party by campaigning on virtually no platform, put forward no new ideas of their own during the campaign, the only time any of their top leaders got major national media coverage he insulted the military at large by calling them retards.  Be afraid!  

[Da Fish]

Personally.....
I think this could be good for america, seeing how the house's and the president look at things in different ways, this could be mutually beneficial for the floating voters/mutually uneffective for the more hard core of either party.

Rumsfelds resignation could only be a good thing. From what I have heard about his replacement, there will be a more pragmatic and thoughtful approach from upon hi. Especially  in Iraq.

Something needed to change. A country cant win a fight it's population doesnt support.

Hopefully this will make things a little less of a bull in a china shop and ease several rifts
between america and the rest of the world. Also it might make things a little easier for Tony Blair being from a left wing party in the uk, the progressive swing to the left could possibly make the back benchers a little less likely to moan the "special relationship" our press like to brag about. A prime example again would be about Iraq.

Still, my favourite part of the whole thing is the two independant seats, IRC, in the house of Rep's.
(yeurgh... apologies about my fractured thought process, I'm tired and just got back from a 2hr rock climbing sesh!)

[farmboy]

I will agree with Mono though...I don't see the Dems being able to win the Oval office in '08 as of right now.  Not because of what they might or might not do but because they simply lack a viable candidate.

Hm?  Not an Obama fan?  Personally, I think he'd be an excellent president, and I'd definitely vote for him.  He's the first politician I've seen in a long time that tries to actually give people straight answers to their questions.  His honesty is refreshing.  Not that I'm saying you're necessarily wrong, but I wouldn't put it against the dems either.

[Frozyn]

I saw Obama speak a week ago on the same steps JFK spoke on 40 or so years ago here on the USC campus. I think that if he put himself in the race, he'd win. He could get students out to vote for him, that's for sure.

The speech he gave was about 10 minutes and he had no notes. Not once did he look down at something, and there were no projecter style machines. He spoke for 10 minutes from memory - to me that's impressive when it comes to public speaking.

And I like the way he thinks. Anyone remember the time he went on the Daily Show?

[Dr.Jeckyl]

x3 for Obama. Hillary is too much a lightning rod and may spend more time defending herself than getting anything done.

[BajaBravo]

I was surprised there wasn't more media focus on Senator Joe Lieberman's win in Connecticut since there was so much hoopla over his loss of the Democratic primary. His win makes me wonder if Americans aren't as polarized as the pundits and politicians would make us believe.

Best of luck with your new government. Here's to hoping your best intentions are realized and your worst fears aren't.

[MONOLITH]

I was surprised there wasn't more media focus on Senator Joe Lieberman's win in Connecticut since there was so much hoopla over his loss of the Democratic primary. .

*pssstt* media bias.


Joe's defeat by the left was proudly promoted in the media.

When he wins again, the media suppresses the event. They're not going to display their defeat.


This type of thing can be found over and over again, despite those who for some reason absolutely refuse to admit the old school media (networks and newwspapers) holds a left bias

[MONOLITH]

On Obama.....

In a recent campaign speech at a black church for one of the black candidates (can't remember who); Obama said of the candidate.... "I hope you win, I'm getting lonely in Washington" indicating how few black men were in Washington.

No candidate for President should be 'race oriented'. That comment will seriously cost him.

[Fixxxer]

No candidate for President should be 'race oriented'. That comment will seriously cost him.

Was it in a serious or joking manor? It probably wouldn't matter either way, mind you.

[TaLoN]

sounds like your taking that out of context, "No candidate for President should be 'race oriented'."  Sounds like he is saying no candidate should focus his campain with the "look at me im gonna be the first black president" mentality.