If you feel like talking about the election, feel free to do it here. In most cases, I don’t care if Dems lose, they deserve it, but a couple likely losses will sadden me: Feingold and Grayson.
Update: Grayson has lost. Blanche Lincoln is also down.
Update 2: Feingold down.
Regarding Grayson,well we have a little controlled experiment. His neighboring first term Democratic congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas, in a very similar district, took the opposite approach to Grayson. She ran as hard to the right as she could get away with, never had a controversial thought much less uttered one, was rewarded with big money and support from the DCCC — and she lost too. This race was bigger than both of them. Florida is turning hard right.
Update 3: As a friend pointed out at this point it looks like in the House 25 Blue Dogs lost, and 4 progressives. Therefore the Progressive movement is doomed.
Yeah.
anon2525
My ballot had a Republican (incumbent), a Libertarian, and an independent (republican/tea party-like, based on his website) on it. There was no Democrat or Green Party candidate. I wrote in Ralph Nader’s name in order to give the D&R party officials some notice that I was voting against the duopoly.
Voting is free. Representation? That’ll cost you money. Tomorrow, the lobbyists go back to work.
Repudiation Deserved
Obama raised expectations prior to his election and didn’t deliver for the folks who voted for him once he took office. A marginalized labor movement couldn’t grow or raise incomes for workers. The capital machine made sure that nothing was done about foreclosures, government spending went only to the biggest banks, and minimal investments in the real economy kept unemployment high and is going higher still. A significant number of our fellow citizens are in worse economic shape than just two years ago. With that economic record, repudiation is deserved.
David H
anon2525 — “Voting is free…”
Our system in 10 words or less, brilliant.
Taking the bailout as the classic example, when what we wanted corresponded in no way to what actually happened, I fail to see the point of today’s dog & pony show.
Perhaps a few principled voices will be silenced, but to ultimate outcomes did they make any real difference? I wish I could say yes, but I just don’t see it.
anon2525
Taking the bailout as the classic example, when what we wanted corresponded in no way to what actually happened…
I’m of two minds about the Citizens United decision.
On the one hand, this is the Scalia-Cheney thinking that the amount of representation in gov’t. ought to be relative to the amount of worth a person has. To their mind, it is simply a restoration of the rule that was enshrined in the early Constitution: Those people who had put other people into slavery should have their own vote, plus 3/5 vote for every person that they held in slavery.
On the other hand, why bother with all of the spending done by the supporters of the Citizens United decision? They already have representation that is based on the amount of money that they are will to spend for it.
Of course, the Citizens United decision would have been meaningless if people would stop voting against their own interests and if there was a party that represented their interests.
alyosha
It was important for me to help Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer get in, instead of poorly qualified and ill-intentioned Republicans. It was important to defeat certain state level propositions and hope like hell that other ones pass. I was very focused on “just my state”, trying to get the best outcomes here, and am saddened by what I read about races elsewhere (particularly regarding Grayson).
anon2525
With that economic record, repudiation is deserved.
Repudiation is deserved, but it is not possible because there is no party and group of candidates who represent the interests of the majority of the population. Repudiation is not possible because you can only elect the duopoly.
jcapan
Was aware of Feingold’s challenge but not Grayson’s. Sad to hear. It’s not like the party has a lot of stars. I didn’t vote but mainly b/c I’m registered in a state I lived in for all of a year, and as an expat who doesn’t pay taxes or intend to return, I don’t feel right voting in local races. As for 2012, if there’s actually a choice on the ballot, I’ll vote.
My feeling remains that until the dems/Obama lose power, no party restoration is possible. Nor is the “long arduous” work of building a viable 3rd party likely to begin (the far more realistic option if we hope to wrest power from the corpo-state).
Steve
I’m going to try and avoid watching the election coverage tonight because if I hear another pundit say that “Obama and the Democrats have to move to the center,” I’m going to kick my TV screen in.
Mandos
Still haven’t decided whether I am going to follow the election returns very closely, because I haven’t decided whether this train wreck is either pathetic or horrifying. All I know is that, even if the Dems squeak into retaining control of the House, the grassroots would have squandered an opportunity to show that opportunistic, virulent right-wing populism doesn’t pay, *even* when the Dems are predictably pathetic.
anon2525
…a couple likely losses will sadden me: Feingold…
But Chuck Todd says that means Feingold will run against Obama in 2012. Quite the silver lining.
(Yes, I know. Todd is a Village Idiot.)
anon2525
Some numbers:*
Number of people eligible to vote in the U.S.: approximately 218 million out of approx. 310 million
Number of people expected to vote in this election: approx. 90 million (41%)
The vast majority of the voting population does not believe that voting will effect their interests (whether positively or negatively) enough for them to vote.
* United States Election Project (h/t truthout.org)
jeer9
Voted straight Green except for the Boxer race. Feingold and Grayson losing could be a good thing, as it might prompt them to consider a third party run in 2012. We need somebody of integrity who’s ambitious and frustrated to grab the reins and challenge the duopoly.
Z
Motto for a third party: Vote for us becoz the other two parties deserve to lose.
Z
Mandos
And a pony. Don’t forget to include the wish for your pony.
Mandos
I peeked at Kos. Grayson is officially kaput. Left-wing populism has now been stoned in the public square.
anon2525
I peeked at Kos. Grayson is officially kaput.
I peeked at FDL (no Kos for me) — they confirm. Grayson is now free to defend homeowners from foreclosure fraud.
Left-wing populism has now been stoned in the public square.
Or, he made a mistake supporting Obama/Emmanuel’s Medical-services Protection Act. How many Democrats turned a blind-eye to the DLC’s failure in Massachusetts? DLC corporatism is being stoned across the country. Again.
Ian Welsh
Florida has a massive right wing wave. Grayson proves little, other than that when the top of the party fucks up, the bottom of the party gets fucked.
Notorious P.A.T.
Nate Silver: “Republicans are well-positioned to win control of the House of Representatives, and quite possibly to achieve the largest gain made by either party in a Congressional election since World War II.”
Remember how divided, disorganized, and demoralized the Republican party was after the 2008 elections? And now here we are. It took a lot of hard work for the Democrats to bring this about. I hope they are enjoying it.
John J Sears
I live in Wisconsin, and I couldn’t care less about Feingold, myself. He lost my vote when he voted for the HCR boondoggle (twice). Nobody who wants to turn US citizens into insurance company serfs deserves my support.
For that matter, great civil libertarian that he supposedly is, he’s whitewashed Obama’s record on torture and he voted to confirm Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court when there is a lot of legitimate concern about her views on expansive Executive power.
I won’t miss him if he goes.
b.
Grayson is an ineffective poser – he makes good copy, but the lack of substance became more obvious as he cranked up the volume. Feingold says the right things, but what exactly has he accomplished? No Fulbright he.
Nobody – not even Barbara Lee – that was in Congress since SCOTUS made a one-time-only decision on voting rights and equal protection in 2000 deserves to be re-elected. Illegal war, illegal occupation, torture, illegal wiretapping, “extralegal” assassination, trillions of dollars committed without law or mandate, by collusion of Fed and Treasury overriding limits made explicit in Congressional legislation – no Senator or Representative in office during this time ever did anything to fulfill their oath to uphold and defend the constitution. Those that are willing to trade the rule of law for their incumbency will have neither. We have witnessed a decade of wholesale abdication of duty and responsibility, and no-one – not a single one in the lot – deserves to keep their seat, no matter how had they tried, or what good they might have done polishing the bones while the mass graves were filled.
Notorious P.A.T.
So who does that leave us? Who is out there that might actually turn this country around?
Mandos
If Grayson’s loss meant anything about his health care vote, you’d have to explain what progressive act all those dozens of Ds who *did* vote for the PPACA and will still be reelected did that Grayson did not.
Mandos
You must first create citizens who want to turn the country around in the direction you want it turned around. Elect a new public.
Mandos
See, the whole sour grapes “bah humbug” thing would be way more credible if Feingold and Grayson were being replaced by people to the left of them, or their seats were being somehow left vacant for a do-over with True Progressives.
Lesson one: a non-vote is exactly that. Something that is not a vote. It is basically uninterpretable and uninterpreted (same goes for spoiled and refused ballots). It is not a vote for a non-candidate. It is not an anti-vote for a candidate—it isn’t subtracted from anything.
Ian Welsh
Ok, Mandos, enough. I predicted this a year and a fucking half in advance. I predicted it specifically because conservative things were being done: ineffective policies. You told me, at the time, that you thought I was getting ahead of myself.
I wasn’t. I was right. Imagine that.
There are only two parties, when one fails on pragmatic terms, they get replaced by the other party. That’s how it works. You know that. This is a wave election. Americans elected Dems in 2006 and 2008 to fix things, they didn’t, so they’re giving Republicans another chance.
People like you, screaming that liberalism doesn’t work, are why America is going down. Your talking points are EXACTLY the same as the DLCs on this issue. Exactly. You should get a job with them.
jeer9
There doesn’t appear to be anyone pure enough. Michael Moore? But he just wrote a column telling us how important it was to vote democratic. At this point, that’s a bit too clueless. The Democratic Party hasn’t arrived here just by accident or stupidity. They have done everything in their power to resurrect the Republicans because the duopoly demands that neither party be so disgraced that an opening might appear for an independent group to arise. The Blue Dog Dems, the Dem corporate hacks, and the call for bipartisanship with a “sensible” Right remain indispensable in the political scam that is perpetrated every electoral cycle. Apathy and cynicism abound – and that’s exactly what is desired. Or do you think the country is yearning for a return to the Chimpster’s glory?
anon2525
Nobody – not even Barbara Lee – that was in Congress since SCOTUS made a one-time-only decision on voting rights and equal protection in 2000 deserves to be re-elected. Illegal war, illegal occupation, torture, illegal wiretapping, “extralegal” assassination, trillions of dollars committed without law or mandate, by collusion of Fed and Treasury overriding limits made explicit in Congressional legislation – no Senator or Representative in office during this time ever did anything to fulfill their oath to uphold and defend the constitution.
Agreed, but it’s pretty easy to list huge crimes that were ignored decade by decade going back to at least the 1940s. Or the 1890s. We’re going to have to throw out a lot of people over and over until a better class of people hold office. One time isn’t going to come close.
Oh, and Feingold did what a Senator could — present a resolution for Censure in 2006 — against Bush, upholding his oath. Kucinich in the House did what a Representative could do — present articles of impeachment on the House floor in 2008 — against Bush, upholding his oath. They weren’t joined by their party, which had Very Important Electoral matters to attend to.
Mandos
Yes, your prediction was certainly correct. But not for the reasons you are citing. I underestimated the Bottomless Well of Crazy, and I underestimated the extent to which the progressive part of the public really believed that somehow the ouster of Bush would lead to some kind of progressive nirvana.
The “wave” election thing, on the other hand, is simply a way to, well, wave away the fact that Americans are voting in droves for crazy wingers, having had every opportunity to see that they were crazy. The basic disagreement is this: when Americans vote for crazy people, do they really mean it?
Liberalism works fine*—as policy. I never said it didn’t. Liberals, on the other hand, have no idea how to re-elect failure, whereas the right does.
*Insofar as “fine” is relatively close to the status quo, when we need something more aggressive than Standard American Liberalism.
anon2525
So who does that leave us? Who is out there that might actually turn this country around?
If this were 150 years ago, then it would be up to us in town hall meetings — we who mostly lived on farms or in small towns. When a minority captures the gov’t. for its own benefit, then it becomes up to the majority to rely on more direct democracy. But today there may not be time enough for that (along with the fact that very few of us live in small towns or on farms and don’t come together to town halls to discuss the matters that are facing the country) before a significant crisis occurs or, worse, there is a collapse.
Mandos
BTW, re the DLC types: I don’t agree with them on policy (ie, what works and what doesn’t, and what should work and what shouldn’t), but yes, I’ve come to agree with them about the nature of elections. Or rather, they’re about the only part of the Democratic party that has anything to say at all on why people vote, and the distinction between that and particular policy preferences. Which should not be suprising—the right has actually made these investments while the left speaks truth to inattentive power.
The fact that the Blue Dogs are losing doesn’t mean what a whole lot of people (both here and elsewhere on the liberal blogosphere) are hoping it means. What it means is that the growth areas for the party are in Blue Dog districts, amid voters who would otherwise vote Republican.
par4
What fucking ‘liberalism’? Student loan modification? BFD
John J Sears
CNN’s tentatively calling my neck of the woods for the GOP, Senate and Governor’s mansion.
Barrett was a pathetic candidate, so that’s not a huge surprise. Feingold, I’ve said what I think of him, but he also ran a pretty awful campaign from what little I saw of it (and I live in Madison).
Our outgoing governor inked the agreement to finalize our shiny new federally funded rail line so the incoming Republican can’t cancel it.. in secret over the weekend. So at least somebody around here knows how to get things done.
anon2525
…you’d have to explain what progressive act all those dozens of Ds who *did* vote for the PPACA and will still be reelected did that Grayson did not.
It’s called the Two-Party System ™. Voters are, by and large, only offered the duopoly (in my case, not even that). Those in the 40% of eligible voters who haven’t yet concluded that the duopoly does not represent their interests (unlike the 60% of eligible voters who have concluded that it does not) fall prey to the Lesser Evil ™ deception.
What really needs to be explained is what the DLC democrats are going to do now that it has been shown that their policies drive the left from the party and makes it impossible for that party to win elections and majorities. The DLC Ds have more in common with the left wing of the republican party — maybe they can convince those republicans to vote for them.
anon2525
Feingold, I’ve said what I think of him, but he also ran a pretty awful campaign from what little I saw of it (and I live in Madison).
Apparently your vote (or not?) hasn’t been counted yet, and Feingold has not yet conceded:
Feingold’s campaign manager George Aldrich told the crowd in Middleton that only 40 percent of the vote has been reported.
“Russ is down by 80,000 votes, but…up to 1.4 million votes haven’t been counted,” he told the crowd.
Among those votes that have been counted, there is “not a single vote” from the city of Madison, he said. — truthout.org, at 11:35 PM
Notorious P.A.T.
“What fucking ‘liberalism’? Student loan modification? BFD”
Don’t forget the new regulations on selling tobacco to minors.
Notorious P.A.T.
“re the DLC types: I don’t agree with them on policy (ie, what works and what doesn’t, and what should work and what shouldn’t), but yes, I’ve come to agree with them about the nature of elections.”
Yeah, look at the golden age of prosperity listening to them has brought us. “It hasn’t worked yet, but that just means we’re due!”
Harold Ford ’12!
Notorious P.A.T.
“You must first create citizens who want to turn the country around in the direction you want it turned around. Elect a new public.”
That tells me how seriously to take your advice.
One minute, you say we need bland, centrist “Democrats” to cater to the laziest prejudices of conservative voters. The next, you say we need to change the public’s mind. Good plan!
b.
What Digby declines to mention is that Grayson was about as effective as Kosmas when if comes to actually accomplishing anything besides “having thoughts” or “muttering”.
Gore, Spitzer, Grayson, Feingold… there is a never-ending gallery of third tier messiah stand-ins to relieve the so-called “left”, “progressives” etc. from actually doing more than blogging approval.
b.
>censure
Memory failed me. Mike Gravel.
Torrents of digital ink have been spilled in blather about a filibuster. Ever seen one done against unconstitutional acts? Ever seen a Senator get serious about throwing a wrench in the works, even if it might cost him his re-election? Ever seen a Senator read torture testimony or Jackson @ Nuremberg in the record?
Kabuki. It is certainly true that a disowned People that are unwilling to take to the streets or – gasp – engage in civil disobedience are also disenfranchised. It is equally true that if a US Senator is unwilling to leverage the considerable power and near-absolute immunity from prosecution he or she is granted to Do What Is Right, then such a Senator is to blame more loudly than any of his or her constituents. The only justification for an elitist “retarding” institution like the US Senate is that from those to whom much is granted, much is expected. That includes not killing foreign civilians and US servicemen for their own re-election prospects.
Yves posted this
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/11/on-voting-as-a-duty-versus-voting-as-a-right.html
The comments are a comprehensive, self-inflicted indictment of the so-called liberal mindset. Yes, voting is a civic duty. It is the duty of The People to defend and uphold the constitution when everything else is failing, and it is their duty to end the crimes of their representatives lest they be held responsible for them.
Michael S. Levinson
I am an independent candidate for president. With everyone behind me I will win, because I bring to the table a prophetic work of art – that stems from the heart – a Television Scripture, lettered on the 112 pages in double columns with every line delicate sensible rhyme, like old blind Homer but this time around dusk until dawn for all ther worlds’ peoples to sea listen to and be a part of all at once on all the worlds’ television channels at once.
I invite you to my page http://michaelslevinson.com where you will find solutions not positions.
Michael S. Levinson
I left off the title of my Television Scripture. It is The Book ov Lev It A Kiss.
My trademark is the story of Adman and Even in the Gar Den ov Edum. Find the story in a video on my home page. From that you can judge who is a living prophet with words for all man kind.
This is the Good Ship Mother Earth. Whatever deck you live on, the cards are dealt out evenly. When it comes time to change the course of human history, on Good Ship Mother Urf all the world cries out for is a spokes man, a spokes person, to turn the wheel.
Find on my home page the cover of my recent “New World Hors D’oeuvres.” Click to read the first ten or twelve pages. In the event you like what you read here is a free pdf:
http://michaelslevinson.com/newworld.pdf