The Watering Hole: November 9 — Get a grip, Republicans

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White People Mourning Romney

I mean really, people.  Drama Queen much?  That looks like a jewelry counter in there, I think y’all will be okay — unless potential customers just don’t like how friggin’ silly you’re being.

Hey, does anyone remember how you felt when George W. Bush won re-election in 2004?  I know I was stunned — and it was my BIRTHDAY!  Man, that stung!  I walked around in kind of an astonished daze for about a day, but I never thought this country had “died,” or was doomed for destruction (although GWB gave it one helluva try).

I shook it off, pulled up my big girl panties, and started informing myself.  I realized that, although I had always voted, I had never really been interested in politics and how or why they worked.  I got an internet connection and started looking for information — not knowing the first place to look.  I just had to read and read and read, knowing that because it’s on the internet, it doesn’t mean it’s true.

Sometime in 2005, I found Eric Alterman’s blog, “Altercation.”  He seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, so I checked all his links.  By doing so, I found David Corn’s blog.  I liked him because he was smart and snarky.  I made my first comments online on Corn’s blog.  Then Alterman linked to a brand new blog called “ThinkProgress,” and shit got real!  In a pretty short time, TP went from one or two posts a day, and maybe ten comments, to eight or ten post a day, and hundreds of comments!  I met loads of wonderful people there, and learned SO MUCH from their comments and outlook on life.  I read so much information on so many topics that I’d never heard of before, and it was awesome.  Then, in 2007, when the troll shit got so deep it was over-topping our hip-waders, we left TP and created TheZoo.  I’m still learning today!

My point is this, Republicans and assorted tea-types:  Sure, you’re disappointed.  You had high hopes and dreams that Barack Obama would be a one term President, and it just didn’t work out.  I can’t say I’m sorry about that turn of events, but I understand the feeling.  Sorta.

Here’s a video that might help you start you own journey toward educating yourself about politics in this country, and an actual exploration of facts.  It’s not Fox, it’s Rachel Maddow, but stay with me here.  It might scare you, but it’s 16 minutes of your life.  You can still be furious and hurt, but please stop thinking this country is over.  I don’t know why you think we’re such a fragile country.  I mean really, come on.

Rachel just gave you a huge number of FACTS.  You probably don’t agree with that assessment, but your assignment is to make a list of all those facts and then confirm or debunk them.  You have to be discerning in your sources of information!  No Drudge or Fox, and to be fair, no MSNBC or ThinkProgress.

Remember:  Actions speak louder than words.  John Boehner and Mitch McConnell can stand in front of microphones and say they’re all about “jobs, jobs, jobs,” but check their voting record.  It’s up to you to educate yourself, because it sticks better that way.  Do it for YOU, okay?  This bitterness and anger is going to eat you alive, and no one wants that.

Let’s work together on getting this country back in shape and working again.  Whadda ya say?

This is our daily open thread — And it’s FRIDAY!!!!

127 thoughts on “The Watering Hole: November 9 — Get a grip, Republicans”

  1. Welcome to our side the issue Sean.

    Sean Hannity Flips On Immigration Reform, Now Supports Pathway To Citizenship

    “We’ve gotta get rid of the immigration issue altogether. It’s simple for me to fix it. I think you control the border first, you create a pathway for those people that are here, you don’t say you gotta home. And that is a position that I’ve evolved on. Because you know what–it just–it’s gotta be resolved. The majority of people here–if some people have criminal records you can send’ em home–but if people are here, law-abiding, participating, four years, their kids are born here… first secure the border, pathway to citizenship… then it’s done. But you can’t let the problem continue. It’s gotta stop.”

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  3. We really need to fix gerrymandering.

    Democratic House Candidates Received More Votes Than Republicans

    While Republicans hung onto control of the House of Representatives after Tuesday’s election, Democratic candidates across the U.S. received more total votes than Republican candidates did.

    While not all ballots have been counted, Democrats hold an edge over Republicans in overall votes. According to ThinkProgress, 53,952,240 votes were cast for Democratic candidates, while Republican candidates received 53,402,643. However, thanks in part to redistricting, Republicans will hold more than half the seats in the House while receiving less than half of overall votes.

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    • i know that we focus heavily on the races from the top downwards, but the Republicans and the teabaggers in particular have focused on the state and governors races and that’s where the gerrymandering is done. Even down to the school boards (Kansas, Texas) – they are committed and run for something with something in mind.

      I know I’d vote (if I could) for just about anyone on this blog for any state or local race, or even chair of the local karate club’s fundraising team for crap’s sake.

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    • Media needs a horse race for ratings. CNN starves for viewers except during major news or weather events. Fox, on the other hand, deserves impeachment. Oh wait, Media Matters does that every day!

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  6. Funny I got my start posting on Altercation, the events of January to March 2003 radicalized me. Prioir to that, even though I had by now lived here 14 years and had a family with two small kids, I still looked at American politics as (1) a joke (2) was not something that impacted me – you see I was still an ‘ex-pat’ in my mind. Americans could screw up their own country however they wanted and there was next to no difference between the parties as long they didn’t f*** anyone else over around the world too much. America was the slightly slow, schoolyard bully, easily outwitted, easy to make fun of, but you got the sense you shouldn’t annoy him or attract his attention.

    Well the 2003 SOTU, when Chimpy spouted that line about the British finding the Niger yellowcake plot – I sat bolt upright and blurted out “That’s a total lie – he’s saying Saddam is building a nuke but he’s not taking responsibility for saying it. They are going to attack – does not matter anymore – its on.”

    Two months later I was on Altercation – got a handful of comments on. Then I found TP and stayed (as a variety of pseudonyms: challenge anyone to get them all – although Captain Obvious was… kinda obvious and Jesus H Christ is making a comeback). And when the sh*t got deep I came here. Occasionally I comment on the Daily Mail, like Wednesday, when Richard Littlejohn had an attack of acute Hannity, which I hear can be cured with strong antibiotics.

    Its Friday, I am working a few hours and then I’m off for the day. The Tutankhamen exhibition is begging and Bond James Bond is out in the cinemas…

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  10. By the way that Madow segment was awesome. She so got it right – they were shellacked because they didn’t know it was coming. For Obama to do what he did in the teeth of everything he was up against from a weak economy to a network that thinks its ‘Fair and Balanced’ to kowtow on live TV to a man who controls a $400m SuperPAC entirely dedicated to beating one party wherever it can ….

    And the signs are that some of them are simply not getting it…

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    • And it is a shame that Susan Rice may be the one to lose out because of the Benghazi witch-hunt …. she is very sharp indeed IMO.

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    • It would be interesting if he tapped Bill Clinton. Bill looked like he was in his element when he gave speeches for Obama.

      On the other hand, Senator Elizabeth Warran would be a good choice, IMHO.

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        • I believe she’s a quick study. She’s smart and articulate. And, what better way to build up her resume for a possible presidential run?

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          • No not Beth for POTUS…. give her a night stick and a pair of handcuffs and set her on Jamie Diamond, Jon Corzine and those other f***ing Wall St crooks.

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      • You don’t take a just elected Democrat in the Senate and remove her from congressional voting. Obama tapped Napolitano for DHS and how badly was she missed in Arizona?

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      • She’s right where she needs to be, in the Senate. Remember what happened the last time there was a temporary opening in MA? Those people are crazy. We’ve finally gotten a few real liberals in Congress; let’s not mess with that.

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    • Hillary has waffled. I’ll believe she’s leaving when she announces it publicly. If she runs in 2016, and Biden does too, Obama will have a sticky situation to deal with.

      If Hillary leaves as SoS, I think John Kerry will be appointed.

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    • Who ever he would pick had better not be a Senator. It would be best to pick someone other than a member of Congress. A strange scenario would be Hilary and Joe trade places. Of the 2, I think Hilary is more likely to run in 2016.

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      • I have decided to boycott any discussion of 2016. For dog’s sake America, isn’t it time to do some actual fixing or problems and governing for a change? If you want to see people run for stuff and vote on stuff, there’s Simon Cowell’s junk all over the TV and Kirstie Alley sexing it up on DWTS…..

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    • I liked Jim Kramer’s article yesterday. The Dems WON. House Republicans need to come to the table ready to bargain. THEY are up for re-election in two years, not the President. Time to put the nation above party. Let’s see if they’re up for it.

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  14. A great report from Ms. Maddow but she did miss one little opportunity. It would have been nice if she mentioned the massive hypocrisy of a network that claims to be “fair and balanced” depending on an “expert” from the GOP who is on the phone with a campaign manager instead of looking at the real numbers. I can’t think of anything that demonstrates that bubble more clearly.

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    • an “expert” from the GOP who is on the phone with a campaign manager instead of looking at the real numbers.

      That was a very pathetic few minutes. The desperation on Rove’s face and his flailing about was worth watching.
      Rove truly thought he had the money math. The thing of beauty is the Kochsuxers losing big time.

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  15. Tom Scocca notes that 88 percent of Romney voters were White:

    “[W]hite separatism was not enough to break up the actual Obama mandate. Obama’s support was so broad that if white people had simply split 50-50, rather than favoring their ethnic candidate, the president would have won 58 percent of the popular vote.”

    http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/scocca/2012/11/mitt_romney_white_voters_the_gop_candidate_s_race_based_monochromatic_campaign.html

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  16. Alas. The old racists teach their children. At least two southern colleges saw racially fueled demonstrations, some would say riots, because we reelected the black guy. The youthful flower of the south smells like carrion.

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  17. Holy fucking shit…

    Nothing veiled about that threat.

    Here’s what Josh Marshall had to say:

    …On one level it’s just a call for conservatives to keep up the fight, stay involved, despite Obama’s reelection victory. Nothing too surprising about that. But it has this sort of Wagnerian, Leni Riefenstahl quality to it that seems a tad jarring, at least a day or two after the election. (Notably, it was posted on Tuesday.) It has the feel of that fortitude against the bleak tomorrow futurism that I associate with the Terminator series.

    I fear for the President’s life — more than ever.

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    • No Prollem Petey. Amicable divorce works for me.
      I get custody of the tax revenues.
      You are prohibited from driving on public roads, sending your kids to public school, breathing clean air and drinking gummint regulated clean water.
      Good luck. Pack your shit up and leave.

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  22. How massive an asshole is Romney for stranding his staffers by canceling campaign credit cards immediately after his concession speech? As massive as the storm on Jupiter.

    Forbes magazine explained that this is not normal protocol for political campaigns.

    “In case you are wondering, this did not have to happen,” wrote columnist Helaine Olen. “The Mitt Romney for President entity does not end with Romney’s Tuesday night loss. There are papers to be filed with various federal commissions and bills to be paid.”

    Romney/Ryan 2012 is expected to be an extant business entity for years to come. In 2010, Hillary Clinton’s campaign was still soliciting donations to retire the last $771,000 of the $5.9 million debt it accrued in the bruising 2008 Democratic primary fight.

    In my experience working in the attorney’s office, it was always the richest clients who didn’t like to pay their bills, or at least made REALLY complicated.

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    • He treated the people who worked for him like shit. Is there any doubt that, if elected, he would have treated those who voted for him in the same way? Can you imagine how he would have treated those who worked and/or voted against him? The guy is a soulless sociopath and very well could have finished the job that Chimpy started. I have found it difficult to stop smiling, though I haven’t really tried, from the moment I realized we had dodged the bullet. The disturbing part is that the next one will probably be even worse!

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  24. Wow, the Lakers just fired Coach Mike Brown, 5 games into the season.

    Maybe Dick Morris can tell the Lakers who they should hire.

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    • Or perhaps hire Rush L. to whip those surly, slacker, dark skinned players into shape. Or better yet, trade them all for some decent, gawd fearing, no talent white seven footers.
      /remove tongue from cheek…

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  25. Canada’s Supreme Court strips Viagra patent from Pfizer

    Canada’s Supreme Court struck down the patent on global pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer Inc’s Viagra erectile dysfunction drug on Thursday and opened the door to generic competition.

    The court backed an appeal by Israeli-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd – the world’s largest generic drug maker – which argued Pfizer had been too vague when filing its patent, which runs out in 2014 in Canada.

    In a unanimous 7-0 verdict, the court said Pfizer had not provided enough details to identify the active ingredient in Viagra.

    Time to start smuggling cheap boner pills?

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    • Teva is the same outfit that makes Copaxone which is arguably the best drug for dealing with MS. They have refused to allow generics until at least 2015 and at the same time have been jacking the price up and up. What cost $1200/month a few years ago is now over $4,000/month. So, hooray for boners and fuck you, Teva.

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  26. The GOP Autopsy continues…

    First, an overview of the ORCA Project, “the campaign-designed voter-tracking app that was supposed to rival the Obama campaign’s ground-game efforts”:

    [“I]t was described as a mega-app for smartphones that would link the more than 30,000 operatives and volunteers involved in get-out-the-vote efforts. PBS profiled it a few days before the election. The app was created and managed by the Romney campaign and was kept a secret among a close circle in Boston, according to POLITICO sources. It was supposed to be incredibly efficient and allow the campaign to streamline, from its War Room at the Garden in Boston, the efforts to maximize turnout of Romney backers.”

    But, according to a fascinating first-person account from a Romney volunteer on the front-lines of ORCA, it was a total debacle:

    “30,000+ of the most active and fired-up volunteers were wandering around confused and frustrated when they could have been doing anything else to help. …

    The bitter irony of this entire endeavor was that a supposedly small government candidate gutted the local structure of GOTV efforts in favor of a centralized, faceless organization in a far off place (in this case, their Boston headquarters). Wrap your head around that.”

    http://www.readability.com/read?url=http%3A//ace.mu.nu/archives/334783.php

    Allahpundit marvels at the incompetence of the Romney campaign compared to the efficiency of Obama’s ground game:

    “This was supposed to be Romney’s strength, the reason to prefer him to Gingrich, Santorum, etc. Even if he didn’t always seem so “severely conservative,” he could be trusted to hold his own against Team Hopenchange in a battle of the ground games. After all, that’s his brand — he’s a managerial genius. If anyone could build a company capable of capturing the presidency, he could.

    But he couldn’t.”

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    • I was doing the Obama tracker next to a Project ORCA volunteer. I think it scared the shit out of her when she saw how fast a lazy liberal could do data entry. We had a team, she was alone and could barely get the names on paper, let alone try use the phone app. Her replacement didn’t even know how to use the phone app. 🙂

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    • Jackson Christian School

      University Christian School

      Xaverian High School, a private Catholic prep school

      Nice representation from those who purport to be morally upright by virtue of a book of fiction that is the word on the invisible *guy in charge*.

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  28. Carl Wolfson has gone off the air in Portland. Apparently Clear Channel is “taking KPOJ in a new direction” starting on Monday.

    Shit. Looks like another progressive radio station bites the dust — I hope I’m wrong — and I need to find another site to listen to my talk radio.

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  29. Heh! Even if the story isn’t true it’s hilarious.

    A guy called a local talk show and said that he noticed someone at the polling place wearing a True the Vote button. He claimed that he asked the guy for his ID and credentials as a poll watcher and he got flustered and left. Moral..?

    Always face down bullies. 99.9% of the time they will back down and crawl away.

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  33. Happy Friday!
    It looks like we need a new CIA director as well. TPM is reporting that Gen. Petreus has subitted his resignation.

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  35. I was naive and unrealistic, thinking that the political spam would dry up after the election. Now the message has switched to “help us congratulate President Obama”, which I did – and then got hit up for a contribution.

    Time to adjust the Gmail filters.

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  36. WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—House Speaker John Boehner today called for an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for the rich, thus ending a streak of pretending to work with President Obama that lasted forty-eight hours.

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  37. Hmmmm. I have yet to find a definitive article but it sounds like Bain might be gutting Clear Channel. Whasa matter, Mittens. Are you pissed because your pet Reich-wing freaks didn’t deliver the election into your sweaty, greedy, palms?

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    • Well, if Limbought ain’t packin’ ’em in like he used to, maybe it’s time to suck it dry, pump it up with debt, and dump it on the creditors.

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  38. The FBI is now investigating Petraeus’ biographer, who he was chummy with, and she may have had access to classified information — which she shouldn’t have.

    Stay tuned…..

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  39. I can’t quite bring myself to gloat over the fall of Petraeus. I wish he and/or Powell had turned on Bushco but I understand why that didn’t happen. Both of them were inoculated with the idea “my country, right or wrong” to such an extent that they couldn’t testify any more than any sane human could walk past a dying child. I think they were both wrong but I can still respect the ideals that they thought they were upholding and feel sorrow that they were used by unscrupulous men who understood their character.

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