2014 Election Megathread

[Tonitrus]

I read that in Washington, they had 2 proposals on the ballot:
1) prohibiting required background checks for gun purchases,
2) requiring background checks for gun purchases

It turned out that 1) failed and 2) passed. But, apparently polling indicated that there was a chance that both would pass. Possibly some people were confused by the wording, possibly the polls were wrong, or possibly voters are just stupid.

In WA, all you need to get an initiative on the ballot is enough signatures and certification of same by the proper state authorities.  So having two contradicting initiatives, while very uncommon, is not impossible.

[Hansmeister]

So sad that people are blaming obama for his failures and voting in such a way that it will be even harder for him to do anything.
Enjoy a few years of no government yanks!

The point is that we don't want him to do anything anymore since everything he touches turns to ashes. His Presidency has been one continuous train wreck of incompetence and failure.

[Hansmeister]

I predict there will be less gridlock than people are saying.

Well, with Harry Reid out as Senate Majority Leader the biggest obstruction has already been removed. People have been largely ignorant as to how much he acted as a road block on virtually everything. It was Reid who decided to stop even working on budgets 5 years ago and blocking amendments on virtually all bills in order to prevent having to have the Senate ever vote on popular GOP amendments that the leadership didn't like. The thuggish Harry Reid complete poisoned the well in the Senate thru these maneuvers.

[Tonitrus]

So sad that people are blaming obama for his failures and voting in such a way that it will be even harder for him to do anything.
Enjoy a few years of no government yanks!

The point is that we don't want him to do anything anymore since everything he touches turns to ashes. His Presidency has been one continuous train wreck of incompetence and failure.

Sounds like 1994 rhetoric. 

Obama just needs to channel Bill Clinton(maybe less interns/cigars), and his legacy is assured. 

[Hansmeister]

Anyway, I would love to have the Republicans look foolish next year so that it can prepare the way for the rightful coronation. Something that should have taken place say in '08.

You're smoking crack if you think she'll ever get elected President!  She is a rather unskilled politician without any accomplishments of note and long past her sell by date. Her husband had all the talent, she doesn't have shit. The Democrats don't back a loser like that.  The democrats tend to chose their candidates the way you'd chose a one night stand:  you see a mysterious attractive stranger and before you know who he is your making out with him and only after you wake up in the morning do you start to realize with whom you went to bed.  The GOP looks at a candidate as a potential spouse: you carefully evaluate him over a longer period of time, he might not be very exciting, you'll detect some flaws but figure that in the end he is a dependable person you can settle down with.

Hillary is yesterday's news, to anyone under 30 she is ancient history, boring and uninteresting. The Stupid young voters are a critical core democratic constituency to turn out in both the primary and general election and they're not going to get excited by her to bother coming out to vote. The lazy poor don't sho up for the crucial primaries, the progressive clerical class doesnt trust her because she has always been extremely cautious and calculating in her positions, all of which means that the rent-seeking class isn't going to back a sure loser.

The only way she would get the nomination if the Democrats can't fi any other plausible candidate due to the extreme unlikelyhood of the voters wanting a third democratic presidential term after this train wreck and are thus unable to find a candidate.

And let's face it, the two usual talent pools for presidential candidates are usually the Senate or the governors mansions and where are the Democrats prospects?  Where are the successful, charismatic candidates for the Dems to choose from?  Where the GOP currently has an embarrassment of riches with over a dozen young, charismatic and successful potential candidates the Democrats are simply an embarrassment.

[garbon]

Wasting my time to read lengthy Hans drivel? No thanks!

[Viking]

So did America win last night?

Depends on which America you ask. 

The america that was won, as it will remain.

[Hansmeister]

So sad that people are blaming obama for his failures and voting in such a way that it will be even harder for him to do anything.
Enjoy a few years of no government yanks!

The point is that we don't want him to do anything anymore since everything he touches turns to ashes. His Presidency has been one continuous train wreck of incompetence and failure.

Sounds like 1994 rhetoric. 

Obama just needs to channel Bill Clinton(maybe less interns/cigars), and his legacy is assured. 

Clinton's first two years were a train wreck, but he was flexible and adaptive.  He brought in new talent, he switched focus and co-opted GOP positions since he was naturally a moderate.

Obama is dogmatic and insular. He lives in a bubble, surrounded by sycophants who worship him and never challenge him.  His press conference today revealed that he has learned nothing. It has been kinda funny watching the press slowly realize how poorly he is suited for the job.  Who knew President of the United States is probably not a good entry level job for someone with no actual work experience whatsoever?

Of course I poin this out eight years ago, only someone either extremely naïve or extremely stupid could have thought that he would be able to do the job.

It Has been funny watching old tingles coming to that sudden realization over on that network nobody watches.

[dps]

Anyway, I would love to have the Republicans look foolish next year so that it can prepare the way for the rightful coronation. Something that should have taken place say in '08.

You're smoking crack if you think she'll ever get elected President!  She is a rather unskilled politician without any accomplishments of note and long past her sell by date. Her husband had all the talent, she doesn't have shit. The Democrats don't back a loser like that.  The democrats tend to chose their candidates the way you'd chose a one night stand:  you see a mysterious attractive stranger and before you know who he is your making out with him and only after you wake up in the morning do you start to realize with whom you went to bed.  The GOP looks at a candidate as a potential spouse: you carefully evaluate him over a longer period of time, he might not be very exciting, you'll detect some flaws but figure that in the end he is a dependable person you can settle down with.

There is something to that, but in a way you can't blame the Democrats.  In the past 40 years, they've had good luck getting previously obscure politicians elected President, but losing the White House when they nominate someone who had already been well known.  Look at the record:  1976--a Georgia governor who basically no one outside the state of Georgia had heard of a year earlier won.  1992--an Arkansas governor who only blip on the national radar before his Presidential campaign had been a controversy that erupted over the refusal of his opponent in the governor's race to shake his hand wins.  2008--a Congressional backbencher is nominated and wins.

OTOH:  1984--a former Vice-President who before that had been a moderately well-known Senator (though, I suppose, mostly known for being a protégé of Hubert Humphrey rather than for anything he himself had actually done) is nominated and loses.  2000--Another former Vice-President who had previously been d prominent Senator--more prominent than the candidate in 1984--is nominated and loses.  2004--a somewhat well-know Senator is nominated and loses.

And let's face it, the two usual talent pools for presidential candidates are usually the Senate or the governors mansions and where are the Democrats prospects?  Where are the successful, charismatic candidates for the Dems to choose from?  Where the GOP currently has an embarrassment of riches with over a dozen young, charismatic and successful potential candidates the Democrats are simply an embarrassment.

I think you're over-rating the current Republican Senators and governors.

[Neil]

I think you're over-rating the current Republican Senators and governors.

Indeed.  It seems to me that a lot of the Republican 'young talent' is nationally unelectable due to their extremism.  You're not going to win the White House on conspiracy theories and anti-abortion screeds.

[derspiess]

2014 House election results.

[derspiess]

I predict there will be less gridlock than people are saying.

Well, with Harry Reid out as Senate Majority Leader the biggest obstruction has already been removed. People have been largely ignorant as to how much he acted as a road block on virtually everything. It was Reid who decided to stop even working on budgets 5 years ago and blocking amendments on virtually all bills in order to prevent having to have the Senate ever vote on popular GOP amendments that the leadership didn't like. The thuggish Harry Reid complete poisoned the well in the Senate thru these maneuvers.

We will now have a "cleaner" separation of powers with a GOP controlled Senate and House, which is why I think there will be more things with this arrangement than there had been.  If Obama can be convinced to play ball (his speech yesterday does not seem to have been a good start), shit may actually get done.

[derspiess]

Anyway, I would love to have the Republicans look foolish next year so that it can prepare the way for the rightful coronation. Something that should have taken place say in '08.

She didn't seem to help many of the people she campaigned for this year.  See: #hillaryslosers

[Berkut]

I predict there will be less gridlock than people are saying.

Well, with Harry Reid out as Senate Majority Leader the biggest obstruction has already been removed. People have been largely ignorant as to how much he acted as a road block on virtually everything. It was Reid who decided to stop even working on budgets 5 years ago and blocking amendments on virtually all bills in order to prevent having to have the Senate ever vote on popular GOP amendments that the leadership didn't like. The thuggish Harry Reid complete poisoned the well in the Senate thru these maneuvers.

We will now have a "cleaner" separation of powers with a GOP controlled Senate and House, which is why I think there will be more things with this arrangement than there had been.  If Obama can be convinced to play ball (his speech yesterday does not seem to have been a good start), shit may actually get done.

That is fucking priceless.

[Grey Fox]

WHy would Obama play ball, both houses are now full of people who hate him simply because he's not part of the GOP white esthablishment.