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[85283-071]

Massachusetts folk, obviously. I know I'm scarce around here these days, but forgive me for skipping the formalities. I hope the gravity of tomorrow's Senatorial election is enough to get a lot of you fine, progressive specimens to the polls. The course of the nation will be impacted by this.

Now, in other news. How y'all doin'?

[ps: Somehow I managed to post this in the main Scrwam section. I didn't even know that was possible]

[lentower]

Massachusetts folk, ... I hope the gravity of tomorrow's Senatorial election is enough to get a lot of you fine, progressive specimens to the polls. The course of the nation will be impacted by this.

concur

GO and VOTE!

[virtual~mary]

i implore ye mass-ites to get thee to the polls.

[85283-071]

We were at polling places for two towns. I didn't like the chatter, and I didn't like the proliferation of Scott Brown signs. Keep in mind, however, Middleboro is a bit of a hick town. Bridgewater? Not so much, and the college kids probably have a place to vote on campus. I hope.

I will be following the news feeds all day and night.

[CeeGBee]

We were at polling places for two towns. I didn't like the chatter, and I didn't like the proliferation of Scott Brown signs. Keep in mind, however, Middleboro is a bit of a hick town. Bridgewater? Not so much, and the college kids probably have a place to vote on campus. I hope.

I will be following the news feeds all day and night.

What worried me was all the Re-Elect Karzai signs.....

[Rob]

Thank you, Massachusetts

[CeeGBee]

Thank you, Massachusetts

For what, giving the Democratic National Establishment an excuse for getting nothing done
for the next two years?

Oh yeah...  See, we had health care, and economic recovery, and national security all set and
ready to go, but darn those Republicans and their 40th vote, they just filibuster everything, and
that's why we haven't done a damn thing since the beginning of 2010...

(To be fair...  Even if the Dems did have a plan, the GOP really would filibuster every meaningful bit
of legislation out of existence.  Don't believe it?  Watch confirmation votes for "routine" appointments.)

[virtual~mary]

but cee, is that really what you/the party wants? something done at any cost? i think we dems need to pull our heads out of our asses and listen to what the MA loss has to tell us. i agree with menendez that middle-income americans are anxious and impatient. haste makes waste. and we have no more to waste.

[CeeGBee]

but cee, is that really what you/the party wants? something done at any cost? i think we dems need to pull our heads out of our asses and listen to what the MA loss has to tell us. i agree with menendez that middle-income americans are anxious and impatient.
haste makes waste. and we have no more to waste.

What I want is for the two party system to stop being:
1- The party with the majority in-fighting, and
2- The opposition party stonewalling and making no effort to do anything constructive.
Actually, come to think of it, I'd like to see an end to the two - and only two - party system.  It is
clearly no better than a one-party system, and possibly worse [and if you think I'm exaggerating,
look at the state of governance in Byrd-machine Virginia, when the Republicans were a non-factor]

I mean, seriously, the GOP (just like the Dems a couple years ago) are holding up Executive-branch
appointments for no reason at all except that it leads to inaction in the affected federal agencies,
and thereby helps make the Administration look bad.   This rabid partisan obstructionism has to stop.
I'd almost welcome the other-side of the same coin: if the Dems had marched lock-step into DC on
inauguration day and just rammed through their whole slate of legislation - so what if every single vote
was straight party line.  If they think [whatever] will work, do it...  If it's not working in two years, they
lose the mid-term elections, and two years later the White House.  Alas, no one seems interested in
either putting-up or shutting up.

(Aside - for example - I got a "survey" from my own state-level Delegate (a Republican) yesterday,
and one of the yes/no questions was "Do you support legal and/or legislative efforts to block the so-called
Obamacare health plan in Virginia?"  Seriously, WTF?)



As for what MA has to tell us, it's that no legislative seat is "safe" enough to take your electorate for
granted.  As nearly as I can tell, the Democratic party simply assumed that the special election was a
mere formality before their annointed successor to St. Ted of Kennebunkport assumed her throne in
the Senate.... until about ten days ago.

[85283-071]

I'd almost welcome the other-side of the same coin: if the Dems had marched lock-step into DC on
inauguration day and just rammed through their whole slate of legislation - so what if every single vote
was straight party line.  If they think [whatever] will work, do it...  If it's not working in two years, they
lose the mid-term elections, and two years later the White House.

I agree with every single word of this except almost.

[J_Beck]

but cee, is that really what you/the party wants? something done at any cost? i think we dems need to pull our heads out of our asses and listen to what the MA loss has to tell us. i agree with menendez that middle-income americans are anxious and impatient. haste makes waste. and we have no more to waste.

All the MA loss tells you is Coakley was a horrible candidate, I know many Democrats and left leaning independents who voted for Brown not because of party but out of disdain of Coakley.

Many political pundits haven't even payed attention to this race till last week and are clueless when they talk about it.

[virtual~mary]

okay, so horrible candidate, right? how do we, as a party, retain our own and secure left-leaning independents if the candidates we're backing in a race are laughing stocks, even to us?

[CeeGBee]

okay, so horrible candidate, right? how do we, as a party, retain our own and secure left-leaning independents if the candidates we're backing in a race are laughing stocks, even to us?

This is the tough part in politics...

People need to get involved not just in the election process, but in the nomination process...
This is further complicated by the fact that people interested enough to get involved early
tend to be committed to party-line, or some specific issue, and unwilling to compromise their
ideals in order to field an electable candidate for the general election.  If their guy loses the
primary, they tend to go off and sulk in a corner (like, say, all those people who wanted
Caroline Kennedy to come take Uncle Ted's seat...)



On our next tape, we'll look at Step 2: getting the Hillary supporters to campaign for Obama,
or getting the Ron Paul Camp to stop trash-talking McCain/Palin...

[virtual~mary]

the fact that many are not getting involved early enough, or if involved, in it for a very narrow agenda, are looming concerns. i haven't observed recently an overly strong commitment to the "party-line," which i think may be part of the problem. the repubs, imo, have a much more entrenched commitment to party-line.

i agree that many in our ranks splinter off when their pet issue or candidate doesn't make it. too bad we can't find a way to deal with internal dissension and rationally critique our failings without losing our sense of party power and commitment to bedrock issues. how much is too much "compromise"?

[CeeGBee]

the fact that many are not getting involved early enough, or if involved, in it for a very narrow agenda, are looming concerns. i haven't observed recently an overly strong commitment to the "party-line," which i think may be part of the problem. the repubs, imo, have a much more entrenched commitment to party-line.

i agree that many in our ranks splinter off when their pet issue or candidate doesn't make it. too bad we can't find a way to deal with internal dissension and rationally critique our failings without losing our sense of party power and commitment to bedrock issues. how much is too much "compromise"?

Quite the contrary in fact...

If a few Dems had been willing to just go along with the party on abortion,
we'd have a passed-and-signed helthcare law by now...

My problem is more with people like the guy who started the whole Obama's-birth-certificate
idiocy...  Philip J. Berg, a disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporter.