11/8/06
Lord knows there are a million other places to turn if you're looking for punditry concerning yesterday's stunning election, and a blog entry like this will no doubt age poorly, but there are several people around the world who (I'm told) use this site as a touchstone for what Americans are thinking - God help them - and it has been a day of awesome reflection.
Let me say first I didn't think America possible of such flexibility. I figured we would win the House with 16 or 17 seats and get 4 Senate races. Winning around 30 House and grabbing six in the Senate is a lot to digest. Our candidate, Kirsten Gillibrand in New York's 20th district, was down eighteen points six weeks ago, and part of me still sees her that way. Of course, now she is going to Washington to be our proud representative, and it still has the ephemera of a dream.
Progressives and liberals rarely find a parade too small to rain on, or enough feet to shoot. Our way of thinking felt so endangered, especially during years like 2002, that we emerged from last night's election like a hermit peering out of the basement, squinting from the sun. I'd like to go ahead and wallow in our victory, because this sort of vindication comes but every decade or so.
There are those who don't see the election as the triumph of progressivism, but an example of Democrats winning by being conservative. If you're gay, you're no doubt disgusted with last night's referendums. But in every other way, this election was a celebration of unabashed progressivism. Hell, the only real "conservative" Democrat we ran ending up losing, the creepily homophobic Harold Ford in Tennessee. Sure, some of our red-state victories were won by guys I don't particularly like, but the national mood is changing.
The abortion ban in South Dakota lost. Santorum was run out of PA on a rail. The gay-bashing amendment in Arizona failed. Stem cell research won. Tester? Webb? These guys are pro-choice populists. Columnists who claim that Democrats appropriated conservatism for the win are deluding themselves, but after a night like last night, maybe I'd be grasping for answers too. Poor dudes. Hopefully they'll enjoy the next six years like I enjoyed the last six.
The Republicans also lost for two other reasons: one, Iraq (duh) - and two, they behaved like such fucking assholes for so long. They were meaner than shit. That sort of behavior pays huge dividends in the short term, but they were surviving on J.K. Rowling's unicorn blood, living a cursed half-life, only surviving as long as their next kill.
The Democrats, at least at first blush, have learned this lesson and spent all day using the word "bipartisan." In no way did anyone say "mandate" (even though they could) and certainly nothing as vein-bulgingly infuriating as Bush's "I've earned political capital and intend to use it" from 2004. Sure, there will be the usual poorly-written screed on how the Democrats only won because the Republicans were so bad, but today the Dems immediately put forth their intentions for the minimum wage, prescriptions, alternative energy, the 9/11 Commission's recommendations, pay-as-you-go fiscal discipline and planned an immediate summit on Iraq. ROCK and ROLL!!!
While talking to Sean today, I had to agree - in the back of our minds, there is still something unsettlingly flaky about the American mindset. There is no information this country had last night that they didn't have in 2004. In the interim, thousands of Americans have died, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died, New Orleans was all but lost.
Progressives don't dwell on the past, as they see the natural course of the world to be from darkness to light. I can only ask that we never catch the faintest whiff of complacency, and keep a mental note of how truly awful Congress has acted for the last decade. This election has cowed even Bush into temporary deference, but we can never forget what this man - and his friends - are capable of when they think we aren't looking.
Posted by Ian Williams at November 8, 2006 11:22 PMGood morning!
You "didn't think America possible of such flexibility"????? Ian -- that surely is a cleaned-up version of your expletive-filled rants during the Coastopia entries! You didn't have enough foul words in your vocabulary to describe your fellow Americans then, now did you?
It's OK. We understand. Have faith that America more or less fell into step with the rest of Coastopia, just a few years later than you had hoped it would. It's a new day!
P.S.: We've got a cute new governor here in Maryland. Have you seen him? I am glad my fellow Marylanders gave Ehrlich and his horrible toupee the boot.
"...this election was a celebration of unabashed progressivism. Hell, the only real "conservative" Democrat we ran ending up losing..."
You can disagree, of course, but...
THE 2006 CAMPAIGN; In Key House Races, Democrats Run to the Right: http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F7061EFC395B0C738FDDA90994DE404482
A right kind of Democrat: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-dems26oct26,0,3860101.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Democrats recruit conservative candidates: http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read/44675
Conservative Candidate Gives Dems a Chance to Reclaim Ky. 2: http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=163488
And that's just a quick look at Google. I hate to be a spoil sport, but I don't think the national mood is really changing so much toward progressive politics, with the passing state referendums not the least case in point. I've got to agree entirely with this:
"...there is still something unsettlingly flaky about the American mindset. There is no information this country had last night that they didn't have in 2004."
Though maybe they were misled by lies like the ludicrous Lancet "studies." At any rate, I won't say more. . .
I think many (most?) Americans are reactionary voters. That's why the pendulum tends to swing... although I have to admit, this week's resounding reversal was particularly gratifying.
Assuming Democrats did indeed run to the right, maybe they'll pull a G. W. Bush and swing the opposite direction after they're in office.
My suggestion for the first 100 Hours:
Whereas: These United States are Sick of Being Made Fun Of by All The Other Nations
Be It Resolved That:
It's pronounced nu·cle·ar (nū'klē-ər, nyū'-).
Let's see him veto *that*.
I think W will get on that whole nuclear thing when the Canucks start pronouncing "sorry" correctly and not "soar-ee" and when they pronounce "about" instead of "a-boot".
Stick to Bryan Adams, hockey and Celine Dion. Damn the party lines, nothing brings Americans together like a perceived threat from someone else.
It's fine for us to lampoon W, but not you. Besides, the rest of the world hears either "Fat Man and Little Boy" or "Hiroshima and Nagasaki" when W says: "new-cue-ler".
Now that my hackles are down, I'll agree that it would be nice for both W and my father to pronounce the word "nuclear" correctly. Soar-ee for over-reacting a-boot your comment.
And I like Bryan Adams.
Not so much with the Celine Dion though.
Wasn't it Jimmy Carter who couldn't pronounce nuclear?
Matt, I have no doubt those articles were written (I read most of them myself) but I think they're just parroting groupthink about the election. It's lazy reporting and drives me nuts.
Besides, I conceded that our House candidates in red-state territory are slightly to the right side of the Party - I mean, it would silly NOT to do that - but how do you explain Ohio? Sherrod Brown is a good old-fashioned leftie. Or the voting disparity in Santorum's race? We almost won Idaho-1! We won MONTANA, fer chrissake. And VIRGINIA! With two straight-ahead Dems.
I'm always the first to think the U.S. is full of shit, but I refuse to let the conservatives rain on our parade by claiming the victory was all about Republican hatred, and not about some basic progressive ideals.
I'm back to answer Ian's question.
I truly fail to see how Tuesday's election is a triumph of progressive policies. Ohio was plagued with local corruption scndals, so it's no mystery their Republican encumbents suffered for it. Marriage protection initiatives and the MCRI ban on "affirmative action" (that is, discrimination based on race and gender) aside, how do you explain Lieberman's victory over Lamont? Wasn't Ned the Kos poster boy for progressive net-roots politics? What about Heath Shuler (NC), Bob Casey, (PA) and Chris Carney (PA)? It's not "lazy journalism to note the plain fact that none of them are "progressive." Shuler is a culural conservative. Casey is pro-life, supported Alito and Roberts nomination to the USSC and opposes embryonic stem cell research. Carney had an endorsment from Richard Perle! This country is still center-right and Democrats owe their majority to freshmen like these guys.
i agree, i think the dems are republican-lite, like lite beer. tastes great, less filling. i'm progressive and i don't vote democrat unless it's a really compelling case. i feel by and large the democratic party is just faking the funk.
that being said, even moving from republican to republican-lite is progress. plus since i'm on the far left, it's always nice to see the far right take a hit.
and after the vile rhetoric spouted from the right, even from bush himself, talking about how a vote for democrats was like a vote for terrorists, the idea that enough people called bullshit on the far right ideologues and had enough courage to tip the scale and vote for the democratic terrorist-lovers is hella significant.
i guess if this is a sign that everyone in america kind of shifting toward a middle-ground moderate can't-tell-the-difference-between-parties mode, at least they are more likely to vote on issues and less likely to be brainwashed party loyalists.
Actually, if you read Daily Kos, you'll find Tester and Webb were Kos's number one poster boys. So either those two are progressive new Senators, or the Kos bloggers luv them some conservatives, take your pick.
If you look in Kos archives, most of them were backing Hackett over the more liberal Brown back in the Ohio primary.
Our new Senators also include Brown (liberal), McCaskill (liberal) and Bernie Sanders (socialist). Whitehouse beat a "moderate Republican" by running to the left. New representatives in Congress include such unabashed liberals as Loesbach in Iowa, McNerny in California, Shea-Porter in New Hampshire, Hall just downstate of Ian in NY, and Altmire in Pittsburgh.
Republicans did not gain even one new Governor, Senator or Representative in a seat currently held by a Democrat. I don't believe that's ever happened before. And every Democrat who beat a Republican was more liberal than that Republican. You mention Casey, Carney and Shuler, who are not liberal, but look at who they were running against.
Seems to me the GOP is resorting to spin fiction. Which is about what you'd expect.
Piglet, there's no doubt this election was a big win for Democrats. What I'm saying is it wasn't a win for progressive ideas (or die-hard liberals -- other than the anti-Iraq ones). Look at the ballot initiatives as well as dozens of "moderate" Dem candidates. Santorum lost to a pro-life, Alito-loving conservative. And Kos appeared in a commercial for Lamont. Now that he flamed out you want to say he wasn't really their poster child to begin with? Who's spinning fiction?
Democrats should embrace the victory. If people want to think this was a national movement towards progressive thought....I don't agree, but, whatever. It was an amazing night in the history of American politics, hopefully the Democratically controlled Congress will act in a fiscally sound manner and bring a swift and acceptable end to the Iraq/Afghan conflict. I think a change in tone will happen (and is needed) but I just don't think the non-coastopians that voted Democrat this year are ready to embrace policies too left of center. With the margin of victories what they were, any radical change in program will lead to a swift end to the experiment.
Geez Matt, are you from Philadelphia? I only ask because only someone from Philly could be such a spoilsport all the time. That's not a knock on Philly, its that their sports fans are notoriously harsh, they once booed and threw snowballs at Santa Claus.
You were pissed when your party had total legislative control and seem even more so now that the balance has shifted away from the right. Even if every seat were gained by the most leftist Democrat in the world, you'd still find some way to rain on the parade.
A small part of me admires your tenacity but a larger part just pities you. After 6 years of frustration at what W has wrought, I'm gonna kick back and watch my newly elected brothers and sisters re-assemble our government.
I've spent most of today in a "ding-dong the witch is dead" reverie, but now I am allowing myself to truly think about how horrible the last 6 years have been. While it was going on, I really couldn't fully accept the fact that the American people actually sent these monsters to Washington of their own free will. Now that's it's over, I can assess the wreckage a little bit more clearly. Thank God it's over. But think how many more young men and women would be alive today had a few more votes gone Gore's way in 2000...
all i know is that i feel that there is some hope for the future for the first time since the bush regime began. first the house, then rummy got the boot, now the senate. let's just hope the dems can keep their shit together for 2008.
and i'm with you LFMD - good riddance to bob ehrlich. we will miss mayor o'malley here in baltimore but our loss is the state's gain.
i don't get the feeling that people are thinking/writing about this win as if it's automatically a win for progressive ideals. i think to a large degree it was a vote against Republicans. And not necessarily conservatives. The meaning of Republican and conservatism seems to have drifted apart.
A vote against Republicans meant a vote against corruption, greed, arrogance, bull-headedness and mendacity.
I've read Kos for a long time now. Tester has been his boy since the beginning. He was also for Lamont, but mostly because Lieberman, again, represented arrogance and bull-headedness.
Just read that Allen conceded. What a fabulous week.
I'm cautiously optimistic as earlier stated (hell, maybe that was yesterday's comments). While I'm impressed by the fairly large swing back to the right (meaning "left") side, I have a feeling that any changes we'll see in the government and policy will be more incremental. And as much as I love me some Democrats, I have a hard time believing that this talk of "bipartisanship" will last for too long. I wish it would, but I doubt it will last. All that being said, I have some hope that with Democrats in control, American can start earning back some friendships throughout the world. Bush did a pretty good job of fucking that up.
Personally I think it's too bad the Dems won the Senate, too.
My guess is this will help McCain, come 2008.
i wanted to add... that while i don't think the big story is one of progressive ideals winning over the national electorate, progressive causes won in some conventially conservative places...
- voting against the gay marriage ban in AZ
- voting against the abortion ban in SD
- voting for stem cell measure in MOi was pretty surprised by those wins.
Bridget makes some good points, except for that second paragraph. ;)
Ken, I'm not upset at all. Congress doesn't direct troop movements, and maybe the Dems will get serious about the Islamist threat now that they have some power and a desire to prove themselves. I've actually been blas'e about the election. Until, that is, JP Stevens announces his retirement and it becomes clear that Congressional Republicans threw away the chance to swift power on the Sup Ct.
P.S. Though neither of us now live there, Ian and I share the same home state.
P.P.S. I was referring to Bridget's 12:51 PM post in the above comment.
Actually, Columbia County in NY is our legal residence. We're just here in LA a lot for work. Where are you from originally, Matt?
About 7 or 8 miles west of Grinnell, Iowa.
Piglet. While Loesbach might well be a fine German name, our new Congressman here in the Fighting Iowa Second is Dave Loebsack.
And our Governor? Vilsack.
Wingnut Conservative Steve King from the Fighting Fifth? We call him Nutsack.
The new governor is Chet "Big Lug" Culver. Not Culvert.
I
Matt, just saw your reply to my message from yesterday, which I posted absurdly late.
Frankly I don't even get what being a 'conservative' means any more. Most of the people voted out (or put in jail or indicted) all claim to be God-fearing Conservatives, but they've been spending our tax dollars -- and our children's future earnings -- like Bill Bennett at the craps table. They have their gay congressional aides writing up their anti-gay legislation. Or they're bloviating nutbags like Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly.
Those are not conservatives. A Conservative would be, say, Herbert Hoover, who made his name running the post World War One disaster relief in Europe. Or Billy Graham, with whom I share nothing doctrinally, but whose genuine compassion and humility have always impressed me. Or Bob Dole, who was and is a take-no-crap Mainstreet Republican.
If you're a thoughtful conservative, you ought to start thinking harder about the company you've been keeping.
And while we're on the subject of religion, I attend a conservative Quaker meeting (where 'conservative' means silent worship and no pastor, not Ann Coulter), and the people in the meeting have big differences on some issues, including Gay Marriage. But we all get along because we don't do anything without true consensus. If we can't agree, we agree to disagree and look for common ground to move forward.
I'm hoping that Congress and the President can start figuring out what they can agree on, and move the country forward. What has happened in the last 6 years has been straight up bullshit.
Kent, do you have an example of something I've written here that would support the implication that I haven't been true to conservatism? Have I defended pork barrel spending? big government? higher taxes? collectivism? Mark Foley?! I don't understand your comment about the company I'm keeping. Are there Republicans who've drifted away from conservative ideals, to use Bridget's phrasing? Certainly, and I do not countenance such things. I believe all my positions are supported by conservative philosophy. Yes, even the WoT.
Matt, I forgot you were from Grinnell - I should have remembered that from a few years back. I think our dad conducted there a few times.
I breath therefore I am! Hello Coastopians! (insert Snidely Whiplash laugh)
Let 'em crow Matt. They've been "oppressed" for so long they deserve to say "I told you so"...We just have to be on OUR alert that they don't get overly brave (unlikely) and come house to house.
No. I pretty much see things as they are..win some, lose some. Change for change's sake never works out. I look forward to watching the next 2 years as I would anticipate viewing a Fellini movie! On the other hand, it must really must be tough living in NYC with all those pesky terrorists (all Bush's fault, of course) poised & ready to behead, and fly bombs into buildings there.
Chucky Schumer and Charlie Rangel will defend them though. Good dreams. You'll have better dreams tonight if you go to bed with the truth about something. Read the WHOLE thing if you dare:
http://www.ejectejecteject.com/archives/000136.html
Babob (the real scary one)
Badbob - glad to see you back in action!
Aye, my dear! I am back from my continental dealings to cruise the seas on HMS Surprise!
"Killick thar" D'ye hear me? Another pot for me and my particular friend!"
You did finish them all, did you not? I am on a second reading through "The Yellow Admiral". Excellent series to evade reality with! I also highly recommend anything he wrote, including his short stories.
B2