Why did the Democrats lose?

[CitadelGrad]

It appears that the sentiment was against incumbent Democrats who didn't represent gerrymandered safe districts.

You think Democrats lost gerrymandered safe districts? Most of the districts they lost seats in voted for McCain in 2008.

That is precisely the opposite of what I wrote, you dimwit.

".... Democrats who DIDN'T represent gerrymandered safe districts.

[89Hen]

Democrats:
43% favorable
52% unfavorable

Republicans:
42% favorable
53% unfavorable

Not to nitpick, but doesn't it say Dems are 53% unfavorable and Reps 52%?

[native]

Democrats:
43% favorable
52% unfavorable

Republicans:
42% favorable
53% unfavorable

Do you have a point hiding somewhere in that post, skelly?

[Baldy]

Lawrence "I'm a Socialist" O'Donnell and Glen Greenwald.
Two peas in a pod having a catfight and getting it totally wrong...priceless.

We're all socialists, Baldy. Even you. Think about it, son.

Another swing and a miss, Cappy.
There are very few so-called Socialists in this country who have the same extreme radical left-wing philosophy Lawrence O'Donnell does. Do your homework and research the azzclown then get back to me.

[kalm]

We're all socialists, Baldy. Even you. Think about it, son.

Another swing and a miss, Cappy.
There are very few so-called Socialists in this country who have the same extreme radical left-wing philosophy Lawrence O'Donnell does. Do your homework and research the azzclown then get back to me.

In your defense, I think O'Donnell admitted as much during the debate while also suggesting how impractical it was politically. He took Greenwald to task over hiding behind the progressive moniker.

That being said, technically speaking, there are far more practicing socialists in the US than capitalists.

[free7694]

Democrats lost because they don't understand this sentence. It's very simple, just five words. Here it is:

Government does not create jobs.

[kalm]

Democrats lost because they don't understand this sentence. It's very simple, just five words. Here it is:

Government does not create jobs.

The Interstate Highway Program created jobs during construction and created jobs for the shipping, trucking, automobile, and other private sector industries post construction.

The War on Drugs created 100,000's of law enforcement and corrections jobs stateside and a bunch of private sector manufacturing and distribution jobs south of the border.

[LeadBolt]

The Democrats lost because they are more in tune with idealogical purity and rhetoric than with the practical aspects of governing for the common good. The same thing will happen to Republicans if they focus on their philosophy as well.

Since the parties re-aligned along philosophical lines 30 years ago they have been drifting to the extremes and debating who is most liberal/conservative within their own ranks and leaving the majority of Americans, who are either centrists or moderately liberal or conservative feeling disenfranchised. That is why the negative values are so high for both.

The two party system worked much better when there were a range of philosophies within both of the parties and those from the center-left in the Republican party worked with those from the center-right in the Democratic party to reach workable solutions. imho.

[kalm]

The Democrats lost because they are more in tune with idealogical purity and rhetoric than with the practical aspects of governing for the common good. The same thing will happen to Republicans if they focus on their philosophy as well.

Since the parties re-aligned along philosophical lines 30 years ago they have been drifting to the extremes and debating who is most liberal/conservative within their own ranks and leaving the majority of Americans, who are either centrists or moderately liberal or conservative feeling disenfranchised. That is why the negative values are so high for both.

The two party system worked much better when there were a range of philosophies within both of the parties and those from the center-left in the Republican party worked with those from the center-right in the Democratic party to reach workable solutions. imho.

Good post. Made me think of Charlie Wilson.

[YoUDeeMan]

Thought I heard on NPR that Obama wants to spend $145MM to bring Indonesians over to attend schools in the US.

Hope I heard the incorrectly.

Then I heard that we have settled a WTO lawsuit with Brazil by giving them $175MM per year as a penalty for subsidizing our American cotton farmers.

So, we taxpayers are now subsidizing both Brazilian and American cotton farmers while also subsidizing Indonesian students coming to our schools.

Our tax money at work.

[CitadelGrad]

Thought I heard on NPR that Obama wants to spend $145MM to bring Indonesians over to attend schools in the US.

Hope I heard the incorrectly.

Then I heard that we have settled a WTO lawsuit with Brazil by giving them $175MM per year as a penalty for subsidizing our American cotton farmers.

So, we taxpayers are now subsidizing both Brazilian and American cotton farmers while also subsidizing Indonesian students coming to our schools.

Our tax money at work.

Well, there is a silver lining. Pretty soon all of those millions won't be worth anything. We'll be paying them next to nothing.

[Cap'n Cat]

We're all socialists, Baldy. Even you. Think about it, son.

Another swing and a miss, Cappy.
There are very few so-called Socialists in this country who have the same extreme radical left-wing philosophy Lawrence O'Donnell does. Do your homework and research the azzclown then get back to me.

Gigantic whiff from my Southern Brouthern. When you exaggerate like that, you say, in essence, nothing ,and you're little more than the Rush Limbaugh parrot you've been since '88.

[Baldy]

Another swing and a miss, Cappy.
There are very few so-called Socialists in this country who have the same extreme radical left-wing philosophy Lawrence O'Donnell does. Do your homework and research the azzclown then get back to me.

Gigantic whiff from my Southern Brouthern. When you exaggerate like that, you say, in essence, nothing ,and you're little more than the Rush Limbaugh parrot you've been since '88.

If you think that description is an exaggeration, there is no doubt you don't even know who the guy is.

[kalm]

Gigantic whiff from my Southern Brouthern. When you exaggerate like that, you say, in essence, nothing ,and you're little more than the Rush Limbaugh parrot you've been since '88.

If you think that description is an exaggeration, there is no doubt you don't even know who the guy is.

O'Donnell was an aide to Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He's an establishment liberal. So yes, your description is a terrific exaggeration.

[Baldy]

Another swing and a miss, Cappy.
There are very few so-called Socialists in this country who have the same extreme radical left-wing philosophy Lawrence O'Donnell does. Do your homework and research the azzclown then get back to me.

In your defense, I think O'Donnell admitted as much during the debate while also suggesting how impractical it was politically. He took Greenwald to task over hiding behind the progressive moniker.

That being said, technically speaking, there are far more practicing socialists in the US than capitalists.

He did say it was impractical, but I also found it very strange for him to actually admit to the strategy of using and hiding behind the blue-dogs to further their agenda. The masks are starting to come off and there is going to be a political war between the traditional Donks and the extreme radical "Progressives" soon.

[Baldy]

O'Donnell was an aide to Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He's an establishment liberal. So yes, your description is a terrific exaggeration.

Sure.....

Let's see how O'Donnell describes himself...
"Unlike you, I am not a progressive. I am not a liberal who is so afraid of the word that I had to change my name to progressive. Liberals amuse me. I am a socialist. I live to the extreme left, the extreme left of you mere liberals ...I don't pretend that my views, which would ban all guns in America, make Medicare available to all in America..."

O'Donnell describes himself as someone who lives to the "extreme left", but I'm exaggerating?

Maybe you and Cappy need to get together for a study session.

[kalm]

O'Donnell was an aide to Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He's an establishment liberal. So yes, your description is a terrific exaggeration.

Sure.....

[quote="Lawrence O'Donnell]"Unlike you, I am not a progressive. I am not a liberal who is so afraid of the word that I had to change my name to progressive. Liberals amuse me. I am a socialist. I live to the extreme left, the extreme left of you mere liberals ...I don't pretend that my views, which would ban all guns in America, make Medicare available to all in America..."

O'Donnell describes himself as someone who lives to the "extreme left", but I'm exaggerating.

Maybe you and Cappy need to get together for a study session. [/quote][/quote]

BTW, I gave that one to ya so you're welcome.

That's the problem with labels. At the beginning of the healthcare debate, 70% of Americans supported a single payer system. So I guess 70% of Americans at that time were extremel radical progressives.

[Cap'n Cat]

Baldy,
You're in over your head today, bud.

[Baldy]

Sure.....

[quote="Lawrence O'Donnell]"Unlike you, I am not a progressive. I am not a liberal who is so afraid of the word that I had to change my name to progressive. Liberals amuse me. I am a socialist. I live to the extreme left, the extreme left of you mere liberals ...I don't pretend that my views, which would ban all guns in America, make Medicare available to all in America..."

O'Donnell describes himself as someone who lives to the "extreme left", but I'm exaggerating.

Maybe you and Cappy need to get together for a study session.

[/quote]

BTW, I gave that one to ya so you're welcome.

That's the problem with labels. At the beginning of the healthcare debate, 70% of Americans supported a single payer system. So I guess 70% of Americans at that time were extremel radical progressives. [/quote][/quote][/quote]
Really?

Nice try, but during the health care debate, 49% of Americans supported a single-payer system.

http://www.srbi.com/MostAmericansEagerf ... eform.html

No need to leave anything out.
Care to discuss O'Donnell's extreme radical view to ban all guns?

[Baldy]

Baldy,
You're in over your head today, bud.

I used O'Donnell's own words to prove you wrong, but I'm in over my head?


You might as well turn your computer off for the rest of the day.

[Cap'n Cat]

O'Donnell describes himself as someone who lives to the "extreme left", but I'm exaggerating.

Maybe you and Cappy need to get together for a study session.

BTW, I gave that one to ya so you're welcome.

That's the problem with labels. At the beginning of the healthcare debate, 70% of Americans supported a single payer system. So I guess 70% of Americans at that time were extremel radical progressives. [/quote][/quote][/quote]
Really?

Nice try, but during the health care debate, 49% of Americans supported a single-payer system.

http://www.srbi.com/MostAmericansEagerf ... eform.html

No need to leave anything out.
Care to discuss O'Donnell's extreme radical view to ban all guns? [/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]


Brother Baldy,
Dude, you're dead on arrival using phrases like "extreme radical". Conk nutjobs use those words.

[native]

If you think that description is an exaggeration, there is no doubt you don't even know who the guy is.

O'Donnell was an aide to Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He's an establishment liberal. So yes, your description is a terrific exaggeration.

Just because rabidly radical O'Donnell was an aide to the more practical Moynihan, it does not follow that he is an "establishment liberal."

[LeadBolt]

O'Donnell was an aide to Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He's an establishment liberal. So yes, your description is a terrific exaggeration.

Just because rabidly radical O'Donnell was an aide to the more practical Moynihan, it does not follow that he is an "establishment liberal."

+1

[Baldy]

Brother Baldy,
Dude, you're dead on arrival using phrases like "extreme radical". Conk nutjobs use those words.

Strange play on words, Cap.

Since, in your opinion, only Conk nutjobs use those words, are you implying "extreme radicals" on the left don't exist?
You use similar verbiage to describe many conservatives, so are you calling yourself a "nutjob"?

Hell, since O'Donnell called himself "extreme" I guess he is a nutjob, too.

[Cap'n Cat]

Brother Baldy,
Dude, you're dead on arrival using phrases like "extreme radical". Conk nutjobs use those words.

Strange play on words, Cap.

Since, in your opinion, only Conk nutjobs use those words, are you implying "extreme radicals" on the left don't exist?
You use similar verbiage to describe many conservatives, so are you calling yourself a "nutjob"?

Hell, since O'Donnell called himself "extreme" I guess he is a nutjob, too.

There are NO extreme radicals on the Left, Bald One, just as there are NO extreme radicals on the Right. Your characterizations are simply inflammatory and meant as insults, as your Master, Rush, would have it.

They would be inflammatory if I used those words, too, but I don't, preferring much more tame and accepted expressions such as fascist and Wermacht and Gestapo when characterizing the Reich....er, I mean Right.