November 2, 2010

"This is not an election on November 2. This is a restraining order."

"Power has been trapped, abused and exploited by Democrats. Go to the ballot box and put an end to this abusive relationship. And let’s not hear any nonsense about letting the Democrats off if they promise to get counseling."

Says P.J. O'Rourke.

64 comments:

kent said...

"This is not an election on November 2. This is a restraining order."

Obama is to open, honest and (genuinely) democratic-style government what Ike Turner was to Tina.

Big Mike said...

Well PJ gets it all right.

MadisonMan said...

Substitute Republicans for Democrats and it's 2006.

I did vote today. Split my ballot with more Republican office-seekers getting a vote than Democratic ones.

Bob_R said...

So is Mickey quoting PJ or plagiarizing?

WV: unharge

Anonymous said...

Yes, the Democrats can't stop improving us. Leaving people alone seems to be something they just won't consider.

The permanent crusaders are the worst pains in the ass.

We've got a lesbian in the band I currently play in, and she's a pain in the ass. Not because she's a lesbian... but because she's on a mission to make the world tolerant. She's totally self-interested. We must all bow down and kiss her ass because she's fighting for the great cause of... who knows what the fuck it is?

The Democratic Party just doesn't know how to butt the fuck out of our lives.

Don't know if the Republican Party will do any better at this, but at least they say they want to leave us alone.

Scott M said...

I'm guardedly optimistic, but I think the potential for historic fraud combines with potential for historic (and hysteric) legal battles over recounts, chads, to make this a much more measured day than exuberance would have us believe.

That being said, I'm hoping for a truly historic landslide in all corners. Not just from a policy point of view and the sheer shut-uppery that a landslide will give us, but from a purely selfish desire to be a part, however small, of a world class, major league ass-whuppin'.

FedkaTheConvict said...

O'Rourke always calls it correctly.

I got to my polling place (SC Johnson school in Racine) at 6:30 a.m. and there were already at least a dozen people ahead of me. Gonna be quite an interesting day.

Tuning in to MSNBC this evening will be quite a treat.

Bob_R said...

And Hillary definitely should say once and for all whether or not she is a witch.

Scott M said...

Tuning in to MSNBC this evening will be quite a treat.

It started last night with Tingles bitching about elitism. Never thought I would see the day.

MadisonMan said...

at 6:30 a.m

Do the Racine polls open before 7 like they do in Madison?

I went at 8, no line. Didn't buy anything at the bake sale this year.

FedkaTheConvict said...

"It started last night with Tingles bitching about elitism. Never thought I would see the day."

Ii missed that but I'm hoping to see Maddow meltdown.

Did anyone catch her on Halloween doing her show with her feet on the desk?

KCFleming said...

Last weekend, Minnesota AFSCME public employees were seen bringing mentally retarded adults from a group home into the Crow Wing County Courthouse to cast absentee ballots.

A witness reported that "supervisors were telling voters to cast a straight Democrat ticket. There was even a report of a voter prematurely leaving the voting both and a supervisor casting the ballot for the voter."

My wife is a voting judge. She has seen this before, with retarded persons and those with Alzheimers. Reporting it does nothing.

How many Franken units™ will be required to pull out the required Democratic victory this time?

kent said...

Tuning in to MSNBC this evening will be quite a treat.

Maddow will be somberly frocked in deepest black. Olbermann will be weeping, brokenly.

kent said...

Last weekend, Minnesota AFSCME public employees were seen bringing mentally retarded adults from a group home into the Crow Wing County Courthouse to cast absentee ballots.

Gotta respect any party that can so readily and ably pinpoint the core constituency of their voting base.

Peter Hoh said...

Madison Man gets it right. It's 2006 all over again.

And if it's a GOP House and a Dem Senate, what's the message?

I voted, and took along the big kid, who is (surprise) old enough to vote.

Kent, can you point to anything this administration and Congress did that approaches what the GOP did to pass Medicare, Part D?

KCFleming said...

I'm hopeful, but it's hard to beat trunkloads of ballots, busloads of "citizens" vouched for by one man, group home wranglers, and military votes uncounted.

Scott M said...

Kent, can you point to anything this administration and Congress did that approaches what the GOP did to pass Medicare, Part D?

Be more specific if you want to discuss competing brands of sausage. Also, you seem to be under the incorrect assumption that anyone opposing the administration and Congress's current arc of policies de facto supports the last group of borrower/spenders.

FedkaTheConvict said...

Do the Racine polls open before 7 like they do in Madison?


The polls opened just before 7 a.m. We waited outside and watch the little old ladies puttering around in the polling place.

The KRM light rail connection and the creation of taxing authorities have created lots of interest here. There's an Advisory Referendum question on the ballot:

"Should any new tax to support transit or rail services, such as a sales tax or local vehicle registration fee, be permitted in any part of Racine County?"

kent said...

Kent, can you point to anything this administration and Congress did that approaches what the GOP did to pass Medicare, Part D?

"If you like your current health care plan, you can keep it."

"Health insurance premiums will go down."

"The bill does not raise taxes."

"There will be no rationing of care."

SCOTT: Also, you seem to be under the incorrect assumption that anyone opposing the administration and Congress's current arc of policies de facto supports the last group of borrower/spenders.

BINGO.

Scott M said...

I would like to know the inside basball, if any (betting there is) between whatever officials and their contacts in the Philly NBPP this go-around. I would have loved to be that proverbial fly on the wall for that little sit down.

Ann Althouse said...

Mickey says O'Rourke said it, that's what made me go look up O'Rourke.

ricpic said...

LET FREEDOM RING!

MadisonMan said...

There's an Advisory Referendum question on the ballot:

We had two referenda, but they were on the back of the optical scan ballot, alone, making me wonder how many people will miss them.

TWM said...

I voted early, but other than helping the Repulican candidate sail to victory here in Tennessee, my vote meant little in the congressional elections. Unfortunately, Jim Cooper is my congressman and he sits in one of the only two firmly blue areas in the state. Add in a lackluster GOP opponent and he should keep his seat.

That said, on the way in today I went by the polling location in a overwhelmingly black section of Nashville. In 2008, the place was packed with voters and sign-holders alike. And I mean packed - hundreds lined out into the parking lot and down the sidewalk. Today, however, there were about six cars in the parking lot, no lines, and only two ladies waving "Jim Cooper" signs.

Telling I think as to Democratic turnout, although since Cooper is safe, maybe that had something to do with it.

Oh, I also saw Cooper himself (and by himself) standing on the side of the road waving his sign. He looked lonely.

And considering all his fellow Blue-Dogs who are probably getting their butts kicked today, he is going to be plenty lonely in Washington, too.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Kent, can you point to anything this administration and Congress did that approaches what the GOP did to pass Medicare, Part D?

I think its a safe bet to say that Part D along with GOP fiscal irrespondibility is what led to losing the Congress in 2006.

Clyde said...

I've quoted that a couple times here in the comments the last few days, but I'm glad it's getting wider exposure. O'Rourke's quote in the title sums this election up nicely.

kjbe said...

MM, both sides of the (Madison) ballot were posted in a couple places as we walked into our polling place. Anyway, I always turn it over to look.

TWM said...

I should clarify that is the Republican candidate for Governor that I helped sail to victory.

Shanna said...

We had two referenda, but they were on the back of the optical scan ballot, alone, making me wonder how many people will miss them.

We have ballot initiative about the right to hunt. I have no idea what its purpose is, since half the state already hunts and I dont' see that changing any time soon...

Robert Cook said...

"LET FREEDOM RING!"

Hahahahaha!

"Freedom" is a dead letter in this country, helped along to its grave no less by the Republicans than by the Democrats, who, when not simply feckless wimps, have been acting as Republicans-lite for decades.

We're living through the collapse of the American empire.

Hoosier Daddy said...

We're living through the collapse of the American empire.

I'm sure that keeps you warm at night too.

Anonymous said...

We're living through the collapse of the American empire.

Yes, we know you're hoping for that, Kookie.

kent said...

We're living through the collapse of the American empire. = the part of Tina that foolishly kept clinging to Ike, no matter how savagely or often he'd deploy the pimp hand.

Robert Cook said...

I did vote this morning, (in NY), pretty much a straight Democratic straight--(what, you think I'm going to vote for the swine the Dems have been imitating?)--but I did vote for third party candidates rather than than support either the execrable Charles Schumer or the corrupt Charles Rangel.

KCFleming said...

We may indeed be living through the collapse of the American empire, at least the one that began with Woodrow Wilson, expanded under the New Deal and the the Big Society, and reached its pinnacle under Obamacare.

Some have called it the Third American Republic. The hope is that the Fourth will return us to our roots.

I just hope this isn't our Beatles Get Back album, to be followed by a Yoko screech, and then dissolution.

hawkeyedjb said...

Here in Mesa, AZ (generally Republican territory) I was among about 40-50 people waiting in line to vote when the polls opened at 6AM. Not sure if it's indicative of anything...maybe there are just a lot of early birds in this neighborhood.

wv: parlaym - something you're not allowed to do within 75 feet of the polling place

Robert Cook said...

"Yes, we know you're hoping for that, Kookie."

Not hoping for it, just grimly hoping to get through it.

Anonymous said...

I did vote this morning, (in NY), pretty much a straight Democratic straight--(what, you think I'm going to vote for the swine the Dems have been imitating?)--but I did vote for third party candidates rather than than support either the execrable Charles Schumer or the corrupt Charles Rangel.

Josef Stalin wasn't on the ballot, Kookie?

Damn reactionaries!

MadisonMan said...

both sides of the (Madison) ballot were posted in a couple places as we walked into our polling place.

Yes, same with my precinct, although I didn't see them 'til after I had voted. I did see the printing on both sides as the ballot was handed to me. If I were handing out ballots, I'd make a point of telling people there are votes to cast on both sides.

Robert Cook said...

"We may indeed be living through the collapse of the American empire, at least the one that began with Woodrow Wilson, expanded under the New Deal and the the Big Society, and reached its pinnacle under Obamacare."

"Reached its pinnacle under Obamacare?" Hardly. A giveaway to the big insurance companies is hardly comparable to the New Deal or Great Society. I'd say Obama's hollow feint at "health care reform" (sic) is a pitiful death rattle from the party that once did strive to craft policies that would help "provide for the general welware."

Hoosier Daddy said...

Not hoping for it, just grimly hoping to get through it.

I'm pretty sure we'll manage.

In seriousness Cook, when you're down on Obama, Schumer or Rangel, I have to really wonder what kind of political system you'd be happy under because I don't think such a place exists in this particular dimension.

No government anywhere is immune from corruption or self serving politicians. The goal to simply to curb the amount of them. Honestly your rhetoric tells me you're either very young and naieve or never been outside the US.

Moose said...

I like the fact the the Democrats have changed their tune and are now noting that this election is no more a mandate than the '06 and '08 elections were.

They threw out the Republicans in '06, Bush & Co. in '08 (by proxy), and now they're throwing out the Democrats.

Why? Because none of them can do their jobs.

Amexpat said...

The RNC should replace Michael Steele with P.J. O'Rourke. Then people would laugh for the right reason.

FedkaTheConvict said...

I'd say Obama's hollow feint at "health care reform" (sic) is a pitiful death rattle from the party that once did strive to craft policies that would help "provide for the general welware."

The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution says "to promote the general welfare."

Perhaps you're quoting from Roosevelt's second Bill of Rights?

Robert Cook said...

"The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution says 'to promote the general welfare.'"

Same thing.

Unknown said...

O'Rourke's take may go down alongside Mr Dooley.

And, yes, Ubermoronn will do a 40 minute Speshul Komment tonight, having retired Worst Person in the World.

How many years did it take for him to figure out how lame it was?

Robert Cook said...

"LET FREEDOM RING!"

Hahahahaha!

"Freedom" is a dead letter in this country, helped along to its grave no less by the Republicans than by the Democrats, who, when not simply feckless wimps, have been acting as Republicans-lite for decades.

We're living through the collapse of the American empire.


Yeah, it figures Cook is a Howard Zinn fan, but Republicans-lite???

He must be following the last Joe Stalin-Lavrenti Beria manual, ca. '53.

"We may indeed be living through the collapse of the American empire, at least the one that began with Woodrow Wilson, expanded under the New Deal and the the Big Society, and reached its pinnacle under Obamacare."

"Reached its pinnacle under Obamacare?" Hardly. A giveaway to the big insurance companies is hardly comparable to the New Deal or Great Society.


Yeah, they're doing so swell they're being forced to price themselves out of existence.

Robert Cook said...

"Yeah, they're doing so swell they're being forced to price themselves out of existence."

No, they're parasites, and there exist in nature parasites that feed on their host, eating them away from the inside, until there is nothing left and the host, along with the parasite, dies.

The insurance companies are bleeding their customers while there's blood left to be had.

Alex said...

Cook - "general welfare" means something that works for all of us, not specific grievance groups.

Alex said...

No, they're parasites, and there exist in nature parasites that feed on their host, eating them away from the inside, until there is nothing left and the host, along with the parasite, dies.

Do you really think the American people want to drive private insurance out of business?

Hoosier Daddy said...

The insurance companies are bleeding their customers while there's blood left to be had.

I take you don't work in insurance.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Do you really think the American people want to drive private insurance out of business?

I believe there are some Americans who want to drive private business out of business. Hell I know a few personally that believe all insurance health, life, property & casualty insurance should be handled by the Federal government.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Cook you are aware that every Westernized country aside from Canada and Great Britain have a hybrid system of government funded and private insurer health care don't you?

France, which is the so called shining example of healthc are essentially has our Medicare system 80-20 government/private insurance. They're also considering raising taxes/cutting benefits because costs are spiralling there too. Go figure.

Peter Hoh said...

Scott, I don't insist that we must accept Obamacare because we accepted Medicare, Part D. I opposed to Obamacare, but I find it ridiculous to assert that its passage was somehow undemocratic. Anybody who wants to complain about how Obamacare was passed ought to know something about how the GOP rammed Medicare, Part D through.

Here's Bruce Bartlett on the arm-twisting and deception that went on behind the passage of Medicare, Part D.

Billy Tauzin, who helped push this bill through Congrss, left Congress to work as a lobbyist for the Pharmaceutical industry, the chief beneficiary of Medicare, Part D. It's reported that he received 2.5 million a year.

Scott M said...

Fully aware of what you're saying, Peter, and still find it equally repugnant.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Anybody who wants to complain about how Obamacare was passed ought to know something about how the GOP rammed Medicare, Part D through.

Which is just another great example of why a divided government is a good thing for America.

Seems everyone pines for the Golden Clinton Years. I could easily live with a Dem exec and a GOP legislature (or vice versa).

David said...

And we all know how well restraining orders work.

Freeman Hunt said...

I would like a ballot initiative that says anyone with any political experience is deemed ineligible for any office ever again.

Just have one of those ever couple decades or so.

MadisonMan said...

I would like a ballot initiative that says anyone with any political experience is deemed ineligible for any office ever again.

Did you vote anti-incumbent today?

MadisonMan said...

I voted for 2 Democratic incumbents, for 1 Republican incumbent, and against 4 Democratic incumbents. There was one race with no incumbent, and I voted for the Democrat.

I'll be curious to see how I did. I think the Republican incumbent I voted for will win. Most of the Democratic incumbents I voted against will probably win.

Peter Hoh said...

Would that everyone would vote the incumbent out. Unfortunately, three-quarters of the Representatives and half the Senators up for election this year aren't facing competitive races.

Revenant said...

I find it ridiculous to assert that its passage was somehow undemocratic.

People say it was "undemocratic" because the majority of Americans didn't want it passed.

Ramming it through on a party-line vote wasn't undemocratic. That was just deeply stupid.

Alex said...

People say it was "undemocratic" because the majority of Americans didn't want it passed.

The whole point of elections is to give Congress dictatorial powers for 2 years.

JAL said...

@Robert Cook
I'd say Obama's hollow feint at "health care reform" (sic) is a pitiful death rattle from the party that once did strive to craft policies that would help "provide for the general welware."

Response to above:
"The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution says 'to promote the general welfare.'"


RC respondes to response:
Same thing.

Right there is the problem in a nutshell.

People who equate "provide for" with "promote."

Fail.
(Something like the Keynesian / Kenya confusion Sunday? ;-))

JAL said...

Here was our statewide question to vote on:

RALEIGH, N.C. --
North Carolina voters were asked to decide Tuesday whether to amend the state constitution to bar convicted felons from running for or serving as a county sheriff.


Enough with the redneck jokes.