Election

Opposition to the Affordable Care Act is often ironic

Opposition to the Affordable Care Act is often ironic | Albuquerque Journal News by Winthrop Quigley

I have long found it amusing that so many people describe the Affordable Care Act as socialism. It is a law that is designed to secure 40 million new customers for the for-profit insurance industry so that the bills of many thousands of for-profit health care providers can be paid.

A single-payer system whereby tax dollars cover every citizen’s medical costs is a government takeover of health care. Obamacare is no such thing.

Opposition to the Affordable Care Act is often ironic | Albuquerque Journal News

Will Obamacare separate Scalia from his principles? – The Washington Post by E.J. Dionne

Here’s a hypothetical for you: First, the Supreme Court issues a ruling that installs a conservative president. Then, he appoints two conservative Supreme Court justices who then join with three of their colleagues to make mincemeat of the greatest achievement of a progressive president elected by a clear majority. If such a thing happened in any other country, would we still call it a democratic republic?

Will Obamacare separate Scalia from his principles? – The Washington Post

Election

Republicans won’t cooperate, they prefer to dominate

Don’t govern on fantasies – The Washington Post By E.J. Dionne Jr. Opinion writer November 9 at 7:42 PM

“A prove-you-can-govern strategy will inevitably divide the party on the same tea-party-vs.-establishment lines that Republicans have just succeeded in overcoming,” the National Review argued. Also: “If voters come to believe that a Republican Congress and a Democratic president are doing a fine job of governing together, why wouldn’t they vote to continue the arrangement in 2016?”

They’re saying, in other words, that spending two more years making Obama look bad should remain the GOP’s central goal, lest Republicans make the whole country ready for Hillary Clinton. This is the prevailing view among conservatives. McConnell’s main argument with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), and his followers is not about ends but means. McConnell is no less focused than Cruz on bringing down Obama and discrediting Democratic governance, but McConnell needs to be more subtle about it.

Don’t govern on fantasies – The Washington Post

The Governing Trap | National Review Online

If Republicans proclaim that they have to govern now that they run Congress, they maximize the incentive for the Democrats to filibuster everything they can — and for President Obama to veto the remainder. Then the Democrats will explain that the Republicans are too extreme to get anything done. …

Not much progress is possible until we have a better president. Getting one ought to be conservatism’s main political goal over the next two years.

The Governing Trap | National Review Online

Fuck you, Nation Review. Go to hell.

Election

“This kind of magical thinking would be a terrible mistake.”

After we’ve all spent a few days of rationalizing and denying the real significance of the midterms, a hardcore progressive yells “wake up!” Read it all at the link.

Where the Democrats went wrong – The Washington Post By Eugene Robinson Opinion writer November 6 at 8:47 PM

You’re telling me that Anthony Brown, an uncontroversial if unexciting candidate, couldn’t win the governor’s race in Maryland, usually a Democratic fortress? That Sen. Mark Udall couldn’t squeak to reelection in Colorado, a state that has seemed to be trending blue? That Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina could run what the political cognoscenti called a nearly flawless campaign and still lose? That Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, who had been expected to win his race easily, managed to survive — pending a final vote count — only by the grace of a few precincts in the Washington suburbs?

Democrats may be tempted to say, relax, we’ve got this. Voter turnout was low even for a midterm. Two years from now, we’ll have a presidential election — the Democratic Party knows how to win those, having taken the popular vote in five of the last six — and the Senate seats at risks will mostly be GOP-held.

This kind of magical thinking would be a terrible mistake.

Where the Democrats went wrong – The Washington Post

Election, NADA - New American Dark Ages

“Americans have just elected the party they like the least to run the government body they least trust.”

Interesting take from overseas. Read it all at the link.

US midterms: ‘Republicans didn’t win as big as you think they did’ by Gary Younge of the Irish Times

According to a CNN exit poll , eight in 10 Americans disapprove of how Congress has been handling its job, while almost six in 10 are displeased with Obama.

A full 44 per cent have a positive view of Democrats; 40 per cent have a positive view of Republicans. Americans have just elected the party they like the least to run the government body they least trust. Even greater cynicism is the most likely outcome.

US midterms: ‘Republicans didn’t win as big as you think they did’

[hat tip to Pat Lyford]

Election, NADA - New American Dark Ages

Gerrymandering Rigged the 2014 Elections for GOP Advantage

Just as your freedom of speech is proportional to your bankroll, your vote counts as much as the party in power says. One person, one vote – not so much. And they bray endlessly about voter fraud.

Gerrymandering Rigged the 2014 Elections for GOP Advantage | BillMoyers.com

In 2012, the first congressional election after the last round of gerrymandering, Democratic House candidates won 50.59 percent of the vote — or 1.37 million more votes than Republican candidates — yet secured only 201 seats in Congress, compared to 234 seats for Republicans. The House of Representatives, the “people’s house,” no longer requires the most votes for power.

As the results from this year roll in, we see a similar dynamic. Republican gerrymandering means Democratic voters are packed tightly into single districts, while Republicans are spread out in such a way to translate into the most congressional seats for the GOP.

There are a lot of structural issues that influence congressional elections, from voter ID requirements to early voting access. But what does it matter if you’ve been packed into a district in which your vote can’t change the composition of Congress.

Gerrymandering Rigged the 2014 Elections for GOP Advantage | BillMoyers.com

Corporate Triumphs, Progressive Victories and the Roadmap for a Democratic Revival | BillMoyers.com

After the 2010 Census, Republicans succeeded in redrawing House districts to favor their party, creating increasingly “safe” districts for GOP candidates. The GOP’s control of the majority of state legislatures and governors’s offices gave them an advantage that made it possible to redraw the districts to their liking. In 2012, Democrats won 1.3 million more votes than Republican in all 435 House race – 59.6 million and 58.2 million. In other words, Democrats won 55 percent of the two-party vote but GOP candidates won 54 percent of the 435 House seats. In Pennsylvania, for example, Democrats won 83,000 more votes than Republicans, but Republicans won 13 seats and Democrats won 5 seats. On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Republicans increased their margin to 14 seats. Nationwide, the GOP widened their congressional majority to by at least another 8 seats to 243. This was more a reflection of partisan mapmaking than voter preferences.

Corporate Triumphs, Progressive Victories and the Roadmap for a Democratic Revival | BillMoyers.com

Election, NADA - New American Dark Ages

2016 campaign commercials are already in the can.

“In 2014, you elected us to bring change to Washington. For the past two years, Republicans have endeavored to move the nation forward but have been stymied by an obstructionist in the White House. We need a Republican President to complete the work of the nation.”

If anything gets past Obama’s veto, it will be an unlikely compromise that Republicans will take 100% of the credit for. Mitch McConnell wrote this game plan years ago.

We need to keep recording and replaying the words of Republicans when they let their masks slip, as Allen Weh did when he spoke of lowering the minimum wage. “So what?,” he intoned with such disdain his voice finally matched his mean ugly mug. That was a perfect echo of Romney’s disdain for the 47% (really, the 99%). These are the scoundrels, the old, rich, white men who aren’t going to let go of power until we tear it from their cold dead fingers. So be it. (Not a call to violence but a play on one of their many bullshit phrases we’ve all memorized through endless replay.) Record every word. Replay them every chance. Bring truth to corrupt, self-serving power. REAL truth, not Fox ‘truth’. They will stumble; the mask will slip again.

Election

Let the rabid dogs enjoy their bones

I like to remember Karl der Grosse, the “architect of victory” as DUHbya so wisely named him. Rove declared a generation of Republican rule in 2004 (the beginning of the Thousand Year Right). How’d that work out? Now the architect of victory is a peer of Saruh Palin, et nauseum (sic). Enjoy the sweet taste of victory while you can. The pendulum swings and cuts both ways.

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Race Calls – Associated Press Interactive (every state)

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams