The 2010 Elections Thread - Page 3

So, the GOP needs 10 seats to take over the Senate. Since I find myself with a little free time, here's my write-up on the chances of that happening.

Definite Republican Pick-ups
North Dakota: The last poll (August) had Hoeven up 44 points on Potter. The biggest slam dunk on the map.
Arkansas: Boozman is up an average of 25 points on Lincoln who is lucky to crack 30% in most polls.
Indiana: Coats is up double digits on Ellsworth, who can't get out of the mid-30s.

Leaning towards Republican Pick-up
Pennsylvania: Toomey has led Sestak in every poll since Quinnipiac found a 43-43 tie in mid July. Quinnipiac's newest poll has Toomey at 50%. The last time Sestak led was a May poll from R2000/Daily Kos.

Toss Ups
Nevada: Reid got a gift when the Republicans nominated Angle. This went from a likely pick-up to a toss up. Virtually every poll in the last two months has this race within the margin of error. Angle is up by a point in the most recent two polls.
West Virginia: Robert Byrd's old seat was supposed to stay blue with the popular Governor Manchin tossing his hat in the race. But PPP just released a shock poll giving Raese a 3% lead. Manchin is up 7% in a contemporaneous Rasmussen poll.
California: Boxer is favored here. But Fiorina has made it a race. Other than a PPP poll that gave Boxer an 8% lead last week, every recent poll of likely voters puts Boxer's lead within the margin of error.
Wisconsin: Feingold wasn't supposed to be vulnerable. Since winning the Republican nomination, Johnson has jumped out to a large lead in 2 polls. Rasmussen has him up 7% on Feingold; PPP has him up 11%. Both polls have Johnson over 50%. A post-primary bump? Or a sign that this race is slipping away from Feingold?
Illinois: Obama's old seat is up for grabs. Kirk and Giannoulias have traded small leads for the last few months. Kirk has a 3-4% lead in this month's two polls. Like Nevada, voters don't seem thrilled with either candidate.
Washington: Dino Rossi is giving it another go against Patty Murray. Rossi led in some polls last month. But this race seems to be getting away from him. Murray is opening up a decent lead and looks like she will hold onto her seat.
Colorado: The two most recent polls give Bennet a 3% lead and Buck a 4% lead. Could go either way.


Connecticut could still be in play if it's a really bad year for the Democrats. Delaware and even New York (Gillibrand's seat) are still a bit vulnerable under the right conditions.

As far as pick-ups for the Democrats, Florida, Ohio, and Missouri have broken for the Republican candidates. And the Republicans dodged a bullet when Kelly Ayotte squeaked out a win in New Hampshire. She should hold that seat pretty easily now. The latest poll in Alaska seems to indicate that Murkowski won't spoil it for Miller in Alaska. Should be another Republican hold.

So, assuming no Democratic pick-ups, the Republicans can only lose one of the 7 toss-ups and still regain the majority. Unlikely, but not impossible, as each of those races is looking like it will be decided by turnout. The Democrats better start trying to close that enthusiasm gap.

Feingold is ESPECIALLY vulnerable because the Koch brothers-funded right wing dirty tricks are being set up all across Wisconsin, so there will be vote caging and intimidation in predominantly Democratic and minority districts. So, expect voter suppression to happen. I really hope Wisconsinites fight it.

The story is here.

Meanwhile, in California, we have two female candidates trying to buy offices (off-shoring former HP-bankruptor Fiorina gunning for Barbara Boxer's seat and lifetime non-voter Meg Whitman spending historic amounts of her own cash to beat Jerry Brown), and oil companies using their new Citizens United-granted "rights" to buy legislation in California limiting our pioneering emission standards. If we have voter apathy in California this cycle, we are &^%$#d.

Can the Koch brothers just form a suicide pact already? Feingold is one of the few senators who's worth a shit, so I wouldn't be surprised if he lost. The average voter is dumber than a post.

Actually, looking back at some of the legislative triumphs of the past 40 years or so, most of the more prominent/effective laws passed have been passed through a divided Congress/President (different parties in Congress/President). Maybe the Dems losing control of the House or Senate wouldn't be the end of the world, because both sides couldnt blame the other if they both bear the responsibility of getting shit done. I'd post which laws were passed, but I have to go to work, so ya, do your own damn research for once.

EDIT- Notable Bills passed in Divided Government:
Eisenhowers Interstate Highway System - 1956
Nixon's Environmental Acts (EPA, Clean Water, etc...) - Early 70s
Anything Reagan/Bush I passed

So maybe a having the GOP in power in Congress wouldn't be the end of days, although with their leadership/stubbornness/general ignorance, as well as any potentional Tea Party reps, I wouldn't blame anybody for voting down party lines.

Let that be a warning siren to any progressives thinking about not voting.

"a commitment to life and a commitment to marriage". Harumph. Isn't this the party whose members keep getting caught in homosexual trysts? Isn't this the party that made fucking torture fucking policy? Who do they think they're fooling?

The entire GOP agenda.

In short, "Undo everything Obama has done."

"Declaration of War: The Short Form"

Two new likely voter polls show a much tighter race in NY for Gillibrand. She has a lead of 6 points from Quinnipiac and only 1 point with SurveyUSA. If DioGuardi can build on his post-primary bounce, we have another one to add to the Toss Up column. And his daughter Kara has a little more free time now to do some campaigning for him.

What is gonna hurt here is that both the GOP and most Tea Partys have abandoned Dan Maes the candidate for Governor since he is a fucking loon. So they can throw all their weight behind Buck who is a tea party candidate and split the bill. Letting the Dems keep the Mansion but taking the Senate.

Good point. It's kind of a double-edged sword, though. With no conservatives really jazzed about the top of the ticket race for governor, conservative turnout might be a little lower than it would otherwise be this fall. That would be a benefit for Bennet in a close race.

Roughly the same thing

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_republicans_agenda

These people are fucking insane. Do they really think they will be able to do any of this? Is there really enough support to carry through with these threats? It seemed that the American people were more pissed at Democrats than clamoring for this type of bullshit. Hopefully they hang themselves with this type of insanity. The major problem though is the rest of us have to suffer more of this fanaticism for at least another two year and probably more.

More hollow rhetoric from the nation's leading dinner theater hams.

"Take the country back" Take it back? From whom? Their last thuggish administration has been out of power for less than two years. How can they even begin to justify the ceaseless lamentations of victimhood?

I noticed they didn't mention their pledge to raise the age for retirement thanks to medical advancements that allow people to live longer. Nor their pledge to do everything in their power to make sure you don't get access to those medical advancements.

Well, the house has gone on break and not passed the extension on tax cuts. I don't think the average American is paying all that much attention to these sorts of things and unless it's voted on immediately after they return the Bush tax cuts are going to expire. I could only hope that this is some sort of a planned effort to let them expire from both sides to help reduce the mountain of debt we have in our future. The reality is the Dems are just afraid of passing it before the vote, much like they didn't pass a budget, because they don't want the debt to be laid at their feet before the vote.

Connecticut update. The good news is that one reporter here in the state finally managed to stop talking about the premature deaths of wrestlers long enough to ask Linda McMahon about policy.

The bad news is that the question was about the minimum wage, and her answer was that Congress should keep open the option of lowering it.

In CA it's Brown Vs Whitman

The LA Times sums up my feelings on our Governor's race;

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/...0,913011.story

So now Brown and Whitman have had two debates, and Brown has wiped the floor with her. Didn't help that her housekeeper of 9 years was an Illegal (Whitman is rabidly anti-Illegal Immigrant).

Write up is HERE

For any Georgia Chewers reading this--please vote for John Monds, the Libertarian candidate, for Governor. The other two choices are literaly shit and shit warmed over. One guy couldn't keep his job as governor the first time, and the other guy left Congress as he was getting investigated for multiple transgressions. At the very least, take a look at where they all stand on things, and where they come from.

I just hope whoever wins gets rid of those fucking furlough days for schools. What an absolute joke. Fuck Sonny Perdue

Less than a day to go kiddies! My local campaigns seem to be a bit boring. Former Eagles Offensive Lineman Jon Runyan is runyan for the House (sorry). I hope he loses - and since he was a former Eagle he's used to that. Other than that I'm a bit bummed that I don't have any local Tea Party r-tards to ridicule.

Local voting in Georgia sucks. The Democrats are really Republicans, and they still don't have a chance in hell.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epo...reid-1517.html

The latest polls show Angle ahead of Reid. Guess we'll find out how accurate they are tomorrow night.

If the RCP averages hold out, we should see a 50 \ 50 split of the Senate. Well, I think technically it's a 48(D) . 2(I) . 50(R) Senate but that is more or less a split. I think the real money to be made is on the litigation after tomorrow night! Imagine 5 senate seats held up in court!

So, is it prediction time?

Republicans pick up a net of 61 seats in the House and 9 in the Senate (North Dakota, Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Colorado, Wisconsin, and Washington). Democrats will hold West Virginia and California. Republicans will hold Kentucky, Florida, Ohio, Missouri, and New Hampshire.

I got a prediction: we're fucked. Here's another one: we'll be hearing about how the GOP can't get anything done because of the Democratic Senate and the Democratic President, and it's their fault everything is still shitty. For the next two years, the party of personal responsibility and courage, will whine and cry about the mean ole Democrats and nothing will get better.

Or, because this IS a movie site after all, here's a succinct version of all that using the words from one our greatest thespians.

"Prediction? Pain."

Heard two people talking about Barnes vs. Deal today, and how they just didn't feel compelled to vote for either. I said, "Then vote for Monds, the Libertarian candidate." One guy says, "Well, I'm a Libertarian, but I'm voting for Deal because I don't want the Republicans to lose any footholds anywhere." Me: "Then you're not a Libertarian. You're a dipshit." Ok, I said that after I got in my car.

At this point, I'm done with worrying about whether we're fucked or not (we'll probably be in an unsatisfying, wishy-washy holding pattern as always), I'm just deliriously happy the campaign TV ads will be off my fucking television.

Here's my prediction: they will begin investigations into Democrats in Congress and commence impeachment proceedings against Obama.

Frankly I'm incredibly nervous and really hope Jerry Brown and Babs Boxer pull it off in CA. I'm rooting for Gavin Newsom as well. The big fight in CA is the ballot initiatives. It's a critical election for the environment, with 23 and 26 put on the ballot by special interests. And, of course, the pot initiative, which is so necessary.

Also, Fox Business News launched an assault against Prop 24 (which would close a big corporate loophole) without disclosing that Big Fox donated $1.5 mil to kill it. Sickness.

Prediction: Democrats gonna get raped. The wharrgarbl from every single right-leaning publication will reach fever pitch and last well until the next year. The dems will piss themselves trying to come up with a coherent message, but will, as usual, be too incompetent. By next summer every elected tea party candidate will be as corrupt as the politician they replaced. No substantive legislation will get passed. And Colbert and Stewart will be funnier than ever, because the artards on Capitol Hill will provide hours of quality footage.

The only vaguely interesting political development will be the size of the Republican civil war come campaigning time.

No predictions because typically I jinx whoever I am pulling for when I make one.

But yeah, gonna be so nice to be rid of the commercials. The Bennett/Buck ones are especially disgusting.

I feel comfortable in saying that, after waiting for SIX YEARS to even dent Bush's strangehold, seeing Obama and the Dems being laid low less than two years into an historic presidency makes me feel that America as a society is irreversibly fucked.

Seriously.

I'd sacrifice a fucking goat at this point if I thought it'd help.

The last two years to me are a testament to the top-of-the-food-chain-predator that the corporate controlled, pundit driven, fourth estate mainstream media has become in the US - they have clout and they've used it baby.

The only reason it's happening is because of the economy. They'll of course never admit it, but the recession is the best thing that could have happened to the Right in the wake of the goodwill and high-approval Obama had going into office. Even though it's 99 percent derived from Bush era politics and policies, the average American voter is far too short-sighted to blame it on an ex-President that's barely been seen in public since his departure. People vote in the here and now, and while they might occasionally factor in "hope for the future" into their votes, they're more often playing the "blame game" and factoring more into "hope I keep my job."

Add in that the Republicans have undoubtedly managed to dominate the media and fill the airwaves with angry rhetoric and their usual grand delusion that they're the party of the "common man" (still amazed by how many people buy into that crap), and it's not hard to see why a lot of American voters will be fooled into voting Republican. It's hard work to wade through all the obfuscation and hyperbole of BOTH sides, and speaking as someone that tries to stay informed, there's only so many hours in the day, and between work and schooling and trying to squeeze in some occasional leisure, spending several more hours wading through the internet trying to find unbiased, un-slanted facts isn't something most people are going to have the time to do, particularly if they're also raising families, etc...

In other words, it isn't necessarily that Americans are "stupid" it's that it's practically a full-time job to shovel aside all the political bullshit to get to some honest truths, and most people already have full-time jobs.

The only glimmer of hope out of all this is that it's entirely possible the pendulum will swing right back to the other side by the 2012 election (particularly if the economy visibly picks up and unemployment rates drop significantly...just as a sitting President often takes the "blame" when the economy is bad...he also tends to get the credit when it's good...no matter how many Republican legislators/presidential candidates will be trying to claim it's "in spite of him, not because of him"). We've seen how far it reversed this time...now all we can do is try to make it swing back the other way as soon as possible, because sadly we'll never be able to get it to rest in the middle.

I'm sorry, no. It doesn't take hours of research to come to the conclusion that the anti-gay, anti-healthcare, anti-immigration, pro-war, pro-Rapture predominantly white Christian Republican party is a Bad Thing. I have young children and a full-time job, AND I live on the other side of the Atlantic. I've managed to figure it out - why can't the sizeable majority of Americans do the same?

Because, culturally, you're in a deep, dark, hole signposted "fucked". And the majority - not a large majority, but a definite majority - of Americans don't give a shit about it.

I'm afraid Andrew's right.

I don't agree. As I see it, the right has become inextricably tied to big business. Big business knows how to sell product, and if it doesn't, it has the money to hire strategists that do. When you have a vast majority of people too busy or too disengaged to really follow what's going on, those are the kinds of people who are vulnerable to large-scale marketing. There's a major profit motive on the right, so their marketing machinery is out in full force. There's no profit motive on the left -- only the inchoate responsibility to do what's right for wage-earners and the "little guy."

Add to that a corporate media that has a profit motive in negating the will to do what's right by the people and reinforce big business' domination of the narrative.

I don't think that many people are straight up stupid (though there are a lot who are); I just think a deliberate movement to separate people from education & truth has been in effect for many years and the forces that created it are winning. But at a certain point, that will turn. Maybe not this year but the system as it is can't hold.

Yeah, I'm sure you have a great perspective on the mindset of the average American seeing as how you're living amongst us and all...oh, wait a minute. Come over here and live in the environment where the American media is blasting you with hyperbole from both sides on a 24/7 basis and then try to talk to me about wading through the bullshit. You get to sit "above it all" and look down your nose from your apparent Utopian paradise. Those of us actually over here have to wallow in it, and no, it's not pleasant and it's really goddamn frustrating (particularly at times like these). You have a cartoonish view of the Republicans that's just as hyperbole-ridden as the crap the Republicans throw out about the "socialist progressive liberals."

It's harder to "call out" the Republicans than you think, because 90 percent of what most Americans (particularly the mass of independent and moderate voters) vote on is the economy. Full stop. The rest is bullshit political posturing soundbites for the faithful. The Republicans bombard the public with "You/someone in your family/someone you know is out of work, has been for the last year and a half, and meanwhile the President and his Democrat cronies in congress have tripled the deficit and now want to raise your taxes!" The Democrats haven't come up with any sort of coherent counter-message beyond halfhearted cries of "It's still Bush's fault!" and "look at all this stuff we've pushed through Congress that you won't see the effects of for years (if then)!" They can't even be bothered to make the point stick that the taxes they want to raise are only on the top 5% of earners. Then again, that goes back to the brainwashing that is "The American Dream" and how far too many people spend their whole lives believing that they'll break into that "top 5%" if they just try hard enough. That, and of course the ultra-wealthy basically control the media, so it's easy to "squelch" any message that might hurt their bottom line.

You're right though: There are plenty of Americans that don't give a crap about the social issues one way or another (at least not enough to swing their vote), because those issues don't affect them personally. What does affect them is whether or not they can put food on the table. Right now one party is doing a good job of cranking out the propaganda that they can help them do that (even if it's bullshit), and the other...isn't.

This was said two years ago. Obama won, fair enough, but two years later we've got Republican craziness back in full force and Democrats declaring that they're disenfranchised because the entire political world hasn't been transformed in the blink of an eye. One side is insane, the other quits way too easily. Where are the people that voted Democrat in '08? Are they that ill-informed/"busy"? Or was '08 the anomaly, and the inevitable results of today the sad truth?

This. Thank you for more eloquently pointing out one of the points I was trying to make.

Oh, for God's sake. When your country stops wielding massive influence over every bloody corner of the Western world, maybe I'll shut my trap about it. Or do you refrain from commenting about political/economical situations anywhere else in the world because you don't live there?

And sorry, when moderate Republican candidates are being squeezed out of Senate races by Tea Partiers with no platform other than "Communist! Socialist! Death Panels! Gays!", I'll stick with my "cartoonish view". Christine Fucking O'Donnell won a primary. Sarah Palin is still being touted as a viable Presidential candidate. This isn't propaganda - it's basic common sense that all this stuff being spouted by the Right is utter nonsense.

And really, what's the big deal about a party that wants to cast my brother-in-law as a second-class citizen and wants to force their interpretation of a 2000 year-old book down our throats as long as they keep the economy going?

My point exactly. This is the crux of my "America=fucked" thesis. One party stands so against basic humanity, and yet it continually gets voted into power again and again.

This is all enormously depressing for me. It's depressing because Obama could have gotten so much more if he'd not tried to be the "great man" and make friends with everyone. He should have known from moment one that the opposition's power base would come from racial hatred, and that he needed to act swiftly and capitalize on the national mood. If he'd held a public rally with 200 000 people the week after the inauguration and called for single payer --- and said that those who want to deny health care are evil and unamerican -- we'd now have a single payer system. Instead he's pissed away so much good will and political capital trying to triangulize with a political party whose members are so obtuse they think the earth is six thousand years old


Obama is not a bad guy, and he's done some great things, but he's too timid and wasted his chance to be a political Alexander. There could still be some big event that gives him a chance to seize the reigns of power and use public sentiment to shame congress into getting his way, but after failing to use the BP Oil Spill to any good effect in the battle against climate change, I have my doubts he'd rise to the occasion should it be presented to him

He's a black Bill Clinton, which isn't bad I guess, but it's not what this nation needs when we're confronted with what I view to be essentially American Nazis, circa 1930 (I no longer think this comparison is over the top, the Tea Party* truly frightens me).

So yeah, I'm disappointed with my President (for being less than Alexandrian), very disappointed with my party (for being bought out and spineless), but most of all I'm disappointed in my country

No, strike that, I'm disgusted with my country

If America is really so gullible as to turn the reigns of power back to the Republicans (I won't bore you with listing all the reasons that's a dangerous idea), I think we'll have squandered one of our last best chances to avoid a grim future for this nation and the planet

If the country is really ready to appoint these despicable goons and con men to rob our national coffers at the behest of corporations and steal away whatever civic virtue was left in our politics, gods help us

If the financial crisis wasn't enough of a whack on the head to get people to finally sit up and take notice, to understand that what it means to be American is to dedicate yourself to protecting the least among us, if we can't move past this borderline Jim Crowe "I want my country back!" bull shit now, than I have no clue what bleak day will have dawned before America is finally ready for real change

A plague or super flu that puts into stark contrast the failures of what Beck calls "the best health care system in the world"? Like Katrina did for the myth of Bush competence? Our wars dragging on for another two decades until our blood and treasure are so hopelessly depleted that we're forced to offer up a true social safety net to the impoverished citizens of our broken nation in a last ditch effort to stave off some sort of communist uprising? Like FDR and Social Security in the midst of the depression?

Who knows. Whatever it finally takes, I'm ashamed to live in a country suffering from such crippling retardation that it thinks the agenda of the bigots and billionaires is the path towards a brighter tomorrow

That's my last word on this whole election for now, might post after the results.

*as Bill Maher pointed out, it's clever marketing that the repubs have rebranded themselves

Generally no, I don't comment on the political/economical situations of other nations. It's not about "shutting your trap" and more about trying to get you to understand that there's a lot more going on than you seem to think. Or more accurately to understand that the social issues you seem to think define the election(s) aren't really the issues that most Americans are voting on. As James Carville famously said (and used to great effect as a campaign slogan during Bill Clinton's presidential campaign): "It's the economy, stupid."

The point being that for most Americans it doesn't get as personal as "brother in law" and they don't view not being able to get married or openly serve in the military as "second class citizens" (assuming you're speaking of gays). It'd take government-enforced segregation or worse for that to happen.

I'd also note that it isn't as though nobody out there is going to be voting Democrat, or that no Independents are going to vote Democrat. Yes, the right seems to be swinging more of the independent vote this time around, but it's not like there's only going to be Republicans in congress after the elections today (even if that's what the media keeps making it sound like).

So what do you propose we do about it, Andrew? Just throw our hands up and give up? All we can do is vote for the sensible party and try to encourage others to do the same. The fact is that most Americans vote their pocketbooks and their conscience becomes a distant second.

Though once again, the social issues you seem to think define the right aren't really what's winning them votes from the independents, as I've tried to illustrate again and again. Also, being a midterm election, generally it's the "Party faithful" that tend to turn out on both sides...a lot of independents/moderates tend to only vote in Presidential elections, sadly.

This election cycle has made me even more Bill Hicks-ian. Both sides are fucked - the right just more so (and more overt about it). Even the people that go there honestly trying to "fix" the system just end up gobbled up by it, which is what the Tea Partiers are about to find out. Then in 2014 they'll toss those people out and bring in a new batch to try and get a permanent fix. System's broken folks.

And as I've tried to point out again and again, they should be voting with their conscience. Voting in evil nasty old fucks because you think they might help stop you losing your job at some phantom point in the future IS STUPID. This selfish, shortsighted approach to voting is exactly what I've been condeming. I'm not even disagreeing with you in bigger picture terms - I know that the Right's economic scaremongering is what's getting them votes. What angers me is vast swathes of people ignoring the social evils endorsed by the Right because they're afraid of maybe someday possibly having less money in their pocket. And that pattern of "me first and fuck everybody else" is what defines modern American elections, it seems.

Ergo, America be fucked.

They ignore the social evils because in many cases they know that they will never be able to push through most of the tenets of their supposed social agenda. Once again, the Democrats aren't going to disappear after today's elections, nor the people that voted for them. Even a majority in Congress isn't enough to push through anything and everything, and even unanimous party approval isn't necessarily easy to come by. Further, the checks and balances of the Supreme Court and Executive Branch are still in play. It's generally been the nature of American politics that the "opposition" party tends to win in the midterms. This isn't anything new. The pendulum never stops swinging, and probably never will (at least as long as the US remains in existence under its' current form of government). In a few years, the Democrats will regain their seats for a few years, and then the Republicans, etc... etc... It's highly unlikely we're ever going to reach a single-party system in the US (and arguably that would be a bad thing, what with being a Totalitarian state and all). I'd be all for some viable third and fourth and fifth parties, though.

I'd also add that the pattern of "me first and fuck everybody else" probably defines most elections in most countries of the world (those that hold genuine elections, of course), being more a human nature thing than a political thing. Except it's less "fuck everybody else" and more "everybody else can vote for themselves." I'm not sure which country you're in, but is there some Utopian paradise where everyone works together for the common good of all mankind (or at least everyone within their own country) out there that I'm not aware of?

It's easy to say "forget yourself and vote for the good of all mankind" when you're not the one that might be facing foreclosure and/or unemployment, which are both still very real problems within the US economy right now...not "phantom boogeymen" that have no real chance of materializing for a large number of American voters, if it's not affecting them already.

I've faced redundancy. And I still voted Left, despite the many economic failings that the Labour Party were perceived to have been responsible for.

I'm sorry, they're dumb enough to fall for the Right's propaganda but smart enough to reason that the Right won't have enough power to enact policy? This is contortionist logic.

And we come back to the masses being wilfully ignorant about the country around them - when faced with potential economic crisis, vote in the party that scapegoats the "other" instead of the party which is in favour of maintaining support programs for those faced with loss of earnings, et cetera. Again, the excuse of being too busy to know that the Republican party is only in it for themselves is bullshit reasoning that lets voters off the hook. It doesnt take any time at all to educate yourself about the broad philosophical underpinnings of each of the current parties. If Americans are dumb enough to continually fall for the bare-faced lies told by the Tea Party candidates and their Republican sponsors I have no issue declaring them to be stupid. And again, when it took SIX YEARS for people to realise that the death and war being visited by BushCo wasn't altogether great, but only two years for them to forget all about the greed, corruption and unpleasantness that characterised the Republicans' last taste of power, I also have no problem in decrying the current social and political trends of America.

9/11 fucked your country up, possibly beyond repair. So many Americans are now so scared of anything and everything that all the Republicans have to do is raise an eyebrow and mention Obama's middle name, and a large portion of the populace will be convinced that he's evil. This is not right, and it's getting worse and worse. I'd love to believe it's cyclical, but even if that is the case we're going to have some horrendous event that marks the end of this particular run-through. And then it'll start all over again in a few years. Modern Republicanism is like Pennywise - someone needs to stare into its deadlights, rip its heart out and stamp on the eggs, because nothing short of that is going to stop it. But no-one will do that, because people wave this shit off with "oh, it's all cyclical, take the good with the bad, yada yada yada". Some things SHOULDN'T be cyclical. The hatred and mania surrounding the Right for the last ten years is one of those things.

I'm with you, Mr Merriweather. Many many Americans are dangerously stupid and ignorant. Sad but true. You have to keep in mind though that a good chunk of their mental disconnect is based in the fact that they're fearful and racist too, which is why they're so agitated now: we have a black President and more "minority" babies are being born every year than white babies.

Congratulations, enlightened one. Can you say the same of all the rest of your countrymen? I hadn't heard that Britain (forgive me if I've got the wrong country) was now free of social ills because its' entire populace began consistently voting for the common good, but maybe that news just hadn't reached over here. Or is your own nation, as you put it, "fucked?"

Fine, we're irreversibly fucked. Once again, what the hell do you propose we do about it? Are you advocating mass-suicide or should we just become political refugees in some other nation? Or do we just give up and either refuse to vote or vote Republican since we're irreversibly fucked anyway? Do you not see how this mentality is only serving the fearmongers in the long run?

"Well, you can't fix it no matter what, so...oh well! You're fucked." Yeah, way to get the vote out. If some of us don't keep SOME hope that things can get better, then you're right, we're fucked. May as well hand the keys to the Republicans and cancel any further elections forevermore since those of us that don't agree with them will never ever ever be in power again ever after this midterm election anyway, right? Just like those folks that were declaring the Republicans "dead/irrelevant forevermore" after Obama's election, right?