I am so happy right now. It was hard to contain my glee today at work even though I was dead tired after staying up so late. Here in Dallas County, Dems won 41 out of the 42 county elections yesterday. Dallas County has joined Travis County in becoming a more blue county.

That's great news especially in TX Aaron.

I so love that Pelosi is going to be speaker Stem cell research, looking into global warming issues, heck embracing science again not to mention the death of freakin anti-gay mariage amendments. Oh such a good day. And get our boys and girls out of Iraq and home as soon as humanly possible.

The Associated press has just called Virginia for Webb, which means that the new Senate will be made up of 51-49 in Democrat favor. Halfway through the recount the word is that there has not been much movement, and therefore the AP feels comfortable announing Webb as the winner. WOW!!! I DID NOT think the Democrats would win the Senate. The House I pretty much figured but I did not think they would run the table. This is one time I'm EXTREMELY happy to have been wrong. I feel so much better about my country and my future today and feel as though there are people with sense left in the world. The stupid repellent must have worn off.

Pombo losing was the best thing that happened last night

Oh what a night it was! I stayed up WAY late, but I just couldn't put the "election results crack pipe" down. I couldn't wait to wake up this morning and hear more good news. Not only is the House out of the bad guy's hands, but now we hear the Senate is too.

Today is my birthday and not one I will soon forget. A much happier one than when W beat Ann Richards for Texas Governor years ago that started this nightmare in the first place. I literally wept that night. If only Ann had lived just a little longer to see this day. I guess she actually had a better view than the rest of us and didn't have to worry about missing any sleep, God rest her soul. This one if for you Ann.

We got the f*cking Senate too! This is unbelievable! Pinch me, I must be dreaming! Dummy Rummy resigns, Bush admits he's a chronic liar, the Tribune Company about to be sold to a couple of Demo billionaires....my, my, my, I feel a bit faint!

Don't swoon too much! This is simply a correction from the extreme right. Now the trick to maintaining power is not to go too far left. Otherwise, America will make the move back right. Now, wouldn't that be the bitch of all time?

For tonight, I will swoon. I understand what you mean, though. We must never allow evil to overtake this country, ever again!

It's an affectation with the newscasters. Claire McCaskill, who is from rural Missouri but lives in Saint Louis, and Jim Talent, who is from suburban Saint Louis, both call it Missou-ree. Kit Bond, the drab right-wing senior Senator from there, calls it Missou-ree. That is the name, just like it's Saint Lou-is, not Lou-ee. People from Arkansas and southern Illinois and parts of Missouri are liable to say Missour-ah, but hey, they're from Arkansas and southern Illinois and parts of Missouri. Bob Schieffer is from Texas, so that's his explanation. The other newscasters have no excuse.

Michael Steele is vowing to come back. Please, can someone find him another job so we don't have to see him again? Actually, he's not hard on the eyes, but until he switches parties (he was basically in Democratic drag for half the election), he can stay out of sight. As for Harold Ford Jr., maybe he can be a poster man for something. He's very easy on the eyes, if way too conservative for my tastes. To be shallow, I was hoping the Democrats would have two cute Black senators, but it isn't to be. I'm not sure if I've read anyone else comment on this, but it was also a banner day for Democratic women running for the Senate. The Senate will now have 15 women, and 11 will be Democrats, including all female delegations from California and Washington.

And to everyone: the next time you go to Saint Louis, Saint Louis County, or any of the Missouri counties along the Mississippi, Kansas City, northern Virginia, Roanoke, Richmond, Bozeman, Missoula, Philadelphia or its suburbs, Pittsburgh or its suburbs, Harrisburg, anywhere in Rhode Island (which is as big as a postage stamp), most of Ohio but especially its large cities, and northern or southern New Jersey, say a silent thank you to the voters for helping effect a mini-revolution. Those few thousand votes in some cases may very well have come from these Democratic strongholds.

Whenever I hear someone say "Missoura", I always think of my grandmother. She was raised in Hartford, MO. I love hearing that state pronounced that way. It's always nice to think of grandma.

That Santorum family photo is one of the funniest photos I've ever seen. At first glance, I was like, "That can't be real." If there was ever a case to be made against home schooling, it's that photo! I just keep imagining those kids playing with that fetus he brought home.

Kind of like an Adams family, portrait, eh?

You know - Bush still has not considered that anything he has done might possibly be ill advised...

"Mr. Bush, meanwhile, was asked at his news conference how he could have been so hopeful of Republican victory in the face of polls predicting such serious losses.

“I thought when it was all said and done, the American people would understand the importance of taxes and the importance of security,” the president said. “But the people have spoken, and now it’s time for us to move on.”"

He believes that the American people have failed him and his (parties) vision of America by not giving their unconditional support.

He still is able to dismiss the idea that anyone else might be right about policy or the conduct of this war... or that he personally might be wrong.

There is a huge amount of arrogance in that view.


Rob

This was a good thing to be sure, but I'd say G Allen losing is, at least, equally as good.




Maybe Ann was in a better position to influence the results? Thank you, St. Ann.

Well, to me the definition of a "Senate liberal" is someone who voted against the USA PATRIOT Act, which means the Dems have the only one: Feingold.

By the way has anyone heard from Ms. Mouth herself, Ann Coulter, about the election? or has she gone into seclusion or hiding???

Here's the list of prospective Committee Chairmen in the incoming House

btw, next time any GOPer tries to trump up their "Big Tent" theory of their party, throw this in his/her face:

The outgoing GOP House of Representatives has 21 white male committee Chairmen -- make that 21 straight white male committee chairmen (or closeted, depending on which shoes David Dreier wants to wear that day )

The incoming Congress:

13 straight white male Chairmen
Collin Peterson (MN) -- Agriculture
Dave Obey (WI) -- Appropriations
Ike Skelton (MO) -- Armed Services
John Spratt (SC) -- Budget
George Miller (CA) -- Education & The Workforce
John Dingell (MI) -- Energy & Commerce
Henry Waxman (CA) -- Government Affairs
Tom Lantos (CA) -- International Relations
Nick Rahall (WV) -- Resources
Bart Gordon (TN) -- Science
Howard Berman (CA) -- Standards
Jim Oberstar (MN) -- Transportation
Bob Filner (CA) -- Veterans' Affairs

1 gay male Chairman:
Barney Frank (MA) -- Financial Services Committee

3 African American males:
Bennie Thompson (MS) -- Homeland Security
Charlie Rangel (NY) -- Ways & Means
John Conyers (MI) -- Judiciary

2 white women (not to mention Speaker of the House Pelosi):
Jane Harman (CA) -- Intelligence
Louise Slaughter (NY) -- Rules

1 African American woman:
Juanita Millender-McDonald (CA) - House Administration

1 Latina woman:
Nydia Velazquez (NY) -- Small Business

Now, that's a big tent.

DC Bucky: Have you seen the cover of the Nov. 13 issue of the New Yorker? You might enjoy it. Regrettably, it's not available online.

DCBucky, thanks for the heads up on the committees, that is a big tent.

On a more sobering note...Thanks for pointing that out UCLAfan. I was listening to Ted Koppel on NPR last night & he said that although this is good news for the country & that perhaps now we can see some new direction internationally speaking he said that we still awoke to the major problems we had b4 the elections. He said there's Iraq on top of that list (which continues to spiral more out of control), Israel-Palestine, Nuclear Iran & N. Korea, global terrorism, bringing the troops home at the correct time, plus all of our domestic issues (stem cell, gay marriage, abortion, health care, prescription drugs), etc. When he went through that list it kind of put things back in perspective & snuffed out some of my elation over the election results. Lets hope that the Dems not only have a plan, but a successful one @ that. And if that's the case, then hopefully the Dems will be in power for a while. Otherwise, you're right. The people of this country will give power back to the Right.

The Wicked Witch of the Worst Kind has spoken. Here is what she has to say. Good Lord, she has fallen off the wagon!

An Excerpt...

Jon Tester, Bob Casey Jr., Heath Shuler, possibly Jim Webb — I've never seen so much raw testosterone in my life. The smell of sweaty jockstraps from the "new Democrats" is overwhelming.

It might help Miss Coulter if you'd get off of your knees.

Just saw on MSNBC that Burns has officially conceded to Tester.

ANd Allen has a press conference at 3PM.

Get out your paper umbrellas. Daquiri's are on the house.

As far as I know, "liberal Republican," which is what I wrote, used to and still does refer to people who belong to the Republican Party and whose social and often economic outlook would be described as "liberal" to "progressive." Nelson Rockefeller, John Chafee, and Jacob Javits were historical exemplars of this political stance; as of Wednesday morning, in the US Senate, Olympia Snowe, Susan Colins, and Arlen Specter are about all that's left.

"Liberal Democrat" is something quite different, and much further to the left. Russ Feingold is a libertarian-progressive Democrat. But he'll actually be joined by someone to his political left, Bernie Sanders, come January. I can't wait to watch Senator Sanders of Vermont take the floor and argue on behalf of whatever.

Speaking of which, does anyone think the Republicans can ram through legislation before January? The Democrats, and in particular Bob Menendez, to make up for his torture bill vote, should simply tie up things so that Bushie can't ram through John Bolton, the terrible warrantless wiretapping bill, and so on. Filibuster to their hearts' content. And DARE the Republicans to pull the nuclear option, because of course we know that were they to do that, they'd be sitting in a very, very, very bad position come January 1, 2007.

It keeps getting better. Allen concedes!

Coulter:

"...Even America's greatest president, Ronald Reagan..."???

GREATEST PRESIDENT???

Greater than Washington? Jefferson? Jackson? Lincoln? T Roosevelt? F Roosevelt? Truman? Eisenhower?

I like dry comedy as much as the next person, but...

Rob

I like how Fox News is spinning the election as how the "liberal" Democrats are in charge, but a lot of the newly elected are more moderate. Well no shit. The moderate Republicans weren't in charge before. It's always the more extreme that are in charge.

Hastert was just as moderate as anyone after all...

Well, now ex-Speaker Hastert can moderate all he wants, while Speaker Pelosi makes sure that someone like Mark Foley can't get back in. Then he can moderate the in-fighting that is bound to occur when truly moderate Republicans break ranks to join up with the Democrats pass that moderate legislation which will doubtlessly upset the right-wing wackos of the GOP.

Fox News...are they still on the air?

Yes, all of this happened in spite of John Kerry's bad joke/sabotage attempt. You can inform him now that he can come out of his fox hole.

Speaking of Fox news, where is MS. COULTER????? Haven't heard a THING from the mouth. Whats up Ann?????

Here is an anemic quip from the Wicked Witch of the Worst Kind herself:



Yes, Coultergeist, the Democrats are in power. I simply think she's still drinking the Bush Kool-Aid and not wanting to put it down just yet.

The best comic out of the whole 2006 election

Can't believe the response of the Republican party to their loses in the midterms. Everyone seems to be saying their problem was not doing enough of the same:

More troops in Iraq (McCain)

More tax cuts for the rich (Forbes)

Privatize social security (Mehlman)

More empire building overseas (virtually all of them)

The only one with any sense seems to be Chaffee who blames the White House for his lose.

Thank God they will never run him for Prez in 2008. Hopefully the Dems will finish the job then.

Obama: the Dem's Reagan - all happy talk. But at least he's not an actor.

I was talking to my very conservative brother last night and he blames the loss on the liberal media and the fact that people in America are stupid cattle and just do what they are told. I told him when I said that same statement 2 years ago I was accused of being un-American and should go join Al-Qeada if I really felt that way.

His biggest concern now is that the Democrats are going to raise his taxes. I told him that I don't know if that's true but if it is, it's just to pay for the war he loves so much. "Your extra 2-3 dollars a week won't even put a dent into the 3 trillion your President owes."

I likened our country's state to letting someone sublet you home over the summer. You come back from a 3 month vacation and find the house in shambles, the neighbors won't even talk to you and none of the bills are paid and are way overdue. What the hell happened while we were gone?

I find it utterly amazing that, after Tuesday's bloodbath for the Rethuglican party, there are people out there that continue to support this loser known as GWB. He lost the Senate for them. He lost House of Reps for them. He has stuck this country with a bill approaching trillions of dollars. Of course their f*cking taxes are going to go up. Are they stupid or something? Where do these idiots think this money is going to come from? The Rethugs had better get used to paying higher taxes....at the rate Bush got us into this mess, it will be the grandchilden of this generation that will be getting us out of this fiscal mess. And yet they worship him with the mindless adornation of a flock of sheep. Amazing.

These people mostly live in Idaho, and Utah.

Taxes was the biggest straw man issue of the election. Democrats cannot raise taxes. They can only propose raising taxes. Only Bush can sign a proposed tax bill into law. Bush is completely free to veto any proposed tax increase.

True enough, but the tax cuts that were agreed upon in 2001 by Congress, back when we actually had a surplus, were not permanent, but instead expired in the next couple of years. IIRC, those expirations were added into the tax cuts as a means of some fiscal stability - many in Congress wanted even more explicit expirations of the tax cuts tied to the revenue the government was taking in (e.g., if we moved into deficit spending, the tax cuts would automatically expire so that the government's revenue would increase). So if Congress does nothing over the next couple of years means those tax cuts will expire and revert to their original levels, although given the amount of $$ we are bleeding into Iraq, and the into the pockets of the shareholders of Halliburton, we would still be up the proverbial paddle even with that additional revenue.

Just prior to the election, I was talking with a co-worker who lives in Montgomery County, MD (one of the richest counties in the nation) and was planning on voting for Erlich, the GOP governor of MD, because of concerns about taxes. Now Erlich is the scumbag in MD who began a wholesale firing of non-political staff in the state government who were not Erlich supporters, and whose campaign in both 2002 and 2006 published false and misleading campaign literature that was apparently meant to confuse African-American voters into thinking Erlich and Michael Steele, his Lt. Governor and 2006 Senate candidate, were Democrats and were endorsed by leading Democrats. In 2006, they even bussed in homeless people from Philly to work the precincts and pass these misleading fliers out to voters. I could not believe she was even considering voting for him, but her worries were all about taxes.

This woman is in a DINK relationship, she and her husband make well into 6 figures, and they live in a 3,000 sq foot townhouse with all the amenities, and she is a Democrat! But as all too often happens, those with the most become more concerned about keeping it than about making the country better. Quite frankly, we are one of the least-taxed nations on the earth, and I cannot lose too much sleep over some rich folks who might have to pay more over the next few years to finance Bush's folly.

The Dems-raise-taxes bogeyman fortunately didn't have as much scare power this time as before. But it's a specter that's always looming. Some Democrats are tax profligates, but my God, just look at this Republican-led Congress, which has spent money at levels exceeding any Democratic president or Congress since the Lyndon Johnson era. They've been doing so with the full knowledge that they've been borrowing money, underwritten by China and other countries, that eventually we as a nation will have to be able to pay back. Do they ever discuss this? No. They just crow about Democrats "raising taxes." Well, hello, where is the money supposed to come from? The heavens?

I wish my fellow Americans would look past the smokescreens on this topic a bit more clearly, because so often the Republicans borrow like crazy to keep taxes low (while allowing fees and other forms of taxation to rise), and then ultimately we HAVE TO raise taxes to pay off the debts they accumulated. This is the case in New Jersey, where Christie Todd Whitman (and the "beloved"--at least to the brain-dead media--former Gov. Tom Kean Sr.) borrowed money to cut taxes, only to leave the state in fiscal shambles when they left. Just ask yourself, after Bush leaves office, who is going to have to clean up the fiscal mess he created? Do you seriously think Republicans, who made the mess with him over six years, are going to do it? Does anyone think St. John McCain (who BTW was for the abortion ban in South Dakota that voters rejected; who wants to increase the troop levels in Iraq though 82% of Americans are for troop reductions of some sort, etc.) is willing to do the hard task of raising taxes to pay for the mess his buddy Bush has created?

Since the media refuse to cover or address taxation issues properly, Democratic politicians should learn to start doing so. Fortunately with Gov. Corzine he explained the taxation issue, though it enraged some people, but like Bill Clinton, he hasn't suffered in a serious way in terms of approval since the taxes were raised, because I gather that most New Jerseyans realize it's better to pay down the debts and get on a firmer financial footing than to play games like Whitman and Kean Sr. did and then have to pay at higher rates through the jugular and do without necessary and expected services down the road.

OH, WHAT A DAY!

The Democrats have officially taken control of Congress today. According to our Imperious President's pre-election speeches, we can look forward to terrorist bombings and a softening of our stance on terrorism. However, I think we will be just fine, if not a little better.

History has been made with the official installation of Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House. More of history continued to be made with a Muslim now being in the House as well in Keith Ellison.

Even Sen. McCain got into the act by declaring that the Republicans had lost their way, saying that they were more interested in power than in principles. They did, after all, put in more pork barrel projects than any other Congress and become one of the most corrupt Congress of all time. I enjoy Sen. McCain's approach to finally seeing the light. I wish our Imperious President were so publicly inclined to admit his errors.

Keith Ellison meets Virgil Goode today.

I find this priceless.

I love it! Ellison has been so gracious throughout this whole attack by Goode, and was a big enough person to go introduce himself and shake his hand. I also love that Dennis Kucinich, who really is in the far left of the Democratic Party, was chatting with them as well. From now until he leaves office, someone should regularly send photos of Goode shaking Ellison's hand and smiling to all of Goode's constituents.

In addition to Ellison, two Buddhist Democrats also were elected (one is filling the seat that Cynthia McKinney had occupied), the Democrats have at least two out members (Tammy Baldwin and Barney Frank), and their House leader is Roman Catholic and Senate leader is Mormon. Amazing. One fascinating thing was to see how diverse the Democratic side of the aisle is, in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, etc., and then how uniform the Republicans unfortunately are. Not a good sign...

Congratulations to Nancy Pelosi and to the Democrats, and let's get that 100-day agenda underway!

Yesterday was soo cool, seeing history being made as Nancy Pelosi became the first woman Speaker of the House. Gave a great speech too I might add, and how cool was it to have seen her kids and grandkids up there on the podium with her. Made my day.