The Good News

1. Massive turnout here in Media, Pa.'s south precinct -- approaching 90 percent. The borough went for Kerry 2,045 to 974. We went for Joe Hoeffel by a 300-vote margin. Even poor Dr. Scoles -- the former surgeon who stepped in when our original congressional challenger, Greg Philips, was shipped off for active duty in Iraq -- carried the town against Representative-for-life Curt Weldon. We're thinking of making up T-shirts: "Don't blame me, I'm from Media South."

2. The race-baiting eye doctor Melissa Brown became a three-time loser, getting clobbered by Democrat Allyson Schwartz in Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district. (The GOP redrew the 13th in 2000 to make it tougher to win for Democrats -- and the Democrats have carried it ever since.)

3. Barack Obama. 71 percent, baby -- 71 percent.

4. No state elected to send Steve Carlton to represent them in the United States Senate. The Hall-of-fame pitcher is one of baseball's all-time greats, but he is also, sadly, full gonzo loony. In Lefty's case, at least, the American people seem to recognize that it is possible to respect and admire the athlete without feeling the need to send a befuddled man to Washington.

5. Watergate. Iran-Contra. Monica. That's what the last three second-terms in office have looked like for American presidents. As Kevin Drum has pointed out, the list of scandals ready to break is almost impressive.

6. They won most of the battles, but we had all the good songs.

Comments

[cjmr]

Nice Tom Lehrer reference, even if it wasn't intentional.

I don't think any of us here in MD had any doubt Obama would win in a landslide (hopping and with one hand tied behind his back) when the best the GOP could come up with to oppose him was the so eminently unelectable Mr. Keyes!

[syfr]

Points for the Tom Lehrer reference......

[Patrick J. Mullins]

You did some great work. Pennsylvania came through.

The major race is all about unreality, and preferring it to reality. It is an essentially ignorant country if something this unreal can happen. This country is all about becoming a terrified theme park.

This election was stolen just like the first one because the first one was.

I don't feel at all like an American in any but the most technical sense any more, and have no faith whatsoever that anything will be made to work in any happy way here again.

It wasn't Kerry's fault. It was people's fault. This country finally came out as an ugliness-worshipper. The culture has been dead for some time, and will now disappear.

I am not interested in having a 'good attitude' about this. We've already got enough newspeak and nonspeak.

So much for big voter turnout. Bush and Cheney and Karl Rove destroyed the country and the country thanked them for it.

[Dave Lartigue]

So what if "scandals are ready to break". What on earth has left any kind of mark on this administration? Given Abu Ghraib, Enron, Valerie Plame, etc., what could POSSIBLY happen that's going to have any kind of influence on a bunch of brownshirts who think that the worst thing ever is homosexuality? Get Bush caught with his peepee unacceptable configured with Cheney and maybe, MAYBE, you'll have something, but if torture, lies, and incompetence don't do anything, I doubt anything else will. Watergate and Iran-Contra are things of the past. No one cares about "scandals" unless they involve sex.

[Jake]

Never underestimate Humanity's ability to shock in a bad way. (That goes double for the United "Little Boy" States of "Fat Man" America)

It's not over yet though...

[James]

The BBC's 1xtra radio station recently ran a documentary on Obama which makes cheering listening on this bleak morning. 1xtra is a 'black culture' station that's been doing good things of late. It's available in MP3 at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/tx/documentaries/downloads.shtml

[ludovico]

"As Kevin Drum has pointed out, the list of scandals ready to break is almost impressive."

But will it be covered? The mass media is thoroughly cowed by this administration. For my money, the lies concerning WODs in Iraq ought to have been more than enough to topple this gang.

As was mentioned in the NYT article, this group "creates its own realities" which are in turn propagated by a well-oiled, vertically integrated media machine.

Beyond this, America has reasserted its anti-intellectual tradition. The last time a relatively undiluted intellectual bloc seized control of policy in this country was in 1932, when the U.S. was brought to its knees by the Depression.

My conclusion is that things must get much worse on an immediate, material level for far more Americans before progressive politics have a chance to take hold on a national level. And of course if this is to happen (I believe it will) it can be exploited by right wing elements as further justification for the suspension of civil liberties and the final dismantling of the welfare state. And they are likely to be supported by a mass media that is oligarchic and has an unprecented grip upon the world views of its consumers.

So we must take this election as a lesson in commitment. As bleak as things appear, we must take this as an opportunity to establish a coherent progressive platform. We must hold together. After all, for a wartime president with an extremely complient media appartus, Bush did not do that well.

WE HAVE MADE PROGRESS IN BUILDING A MOVEMENT AND WE MUST CONTINUE.

[Ista]

Nice 'look at the sunny-side of life' post. :) I'm not even American and I'm pretty disappointed right now.

But, once the doom and gloom settles, this might galvanise the democrats and make them even more determined. Bush has (just about) won this through the culture of fear which he very successfully waged throughout his campaign. What a shame it worked so well and that you guys are stuck with him for the next four years (and the rest of us are stuck watching him). Better luck in '08. ;)

[Donald Johnson]

It won't necessarily matter if the scandals are covered, as someone else said. I'm a basher of the mainstream press, but they've done a sufficiently good job exposing at least some of Bush's lies to shock even the casual reader or TV watcher, if people cared. Many people don't care, apparently. I don't know that you can blame individuals--we've got a sick culture on our hands.

[carla]

as steve earle says, the revolution starts now.  here are some things to consider:
  
In 1972, a sitting wartime president took every state but one.  His administration was crumbling, however, largely because of his own misdeeds, and he and his VP would resign by 1974.  In 2004, a sitting wartime president still hasn't been declared the winner--more than 50 million people voted AGAINST him, in the largest turnout in years.  he and his cronies will claim a "mandate," and, indeed, they will rule as if they have one, given their ownership of all branches of government.  is it possible that they, too, will be hoist by their own petard?  What does that CIA report really say?  What's up with Halliburton?
  
I am, of course, dismayed by the fact that this election was probably won by people who believe that a deity talks directly to the president, by people who think it's more important to keep Mary Cheney from marrying the person she loves than it is to build bridges with our Islamic neighbors, people who think meddling in my reproductive organs is more important than the  thousands of our sons and daughters and brothers and sisters who have died or been wounded in a war that only creates more enemies for us, people who will find some way to blame the next attack on me and on the 60 million people who voted the way I did, rather than laying it at the door of the fools in office who enabled and encouraged it to happen.
  
I'm not conceding--I'm not conceding the election, and, more important, I am not conceding my country.  I don't have much nationalistic fervor, it's true, but I don't think that's necessary.  All that's necessary is that we go back to the ideals espoused by the men and women who fought for this country and brought it into being 230 years ago.  Yes, of course they were flawed, and imperfect--many of them owned other human beings; they murdered indigenous peoples to gain a foothold; the female half of the population didn't have the right to vote.  but go back and read the Declaration of Independence, go back and read the Constitution.  if you have any belief in the rightness of social justice, if you have any concern for your fellow human beings, well, damnit, don't give up now.  There are almost 60 million people who share your concern.  Here's a lyric from Sprinsteen's "Ghost of Tom Joad":
  
  Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy
  Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
  Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air
  Look for me Mom I'll be there
  Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand
  Or decent job or a helpin' hand
  Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free
  Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me."
  
And I can live by that.

[Edward Liu]

Howdy,

As I said on a message board elsewhere, congratulations to Bush and the Republicans on their victory in 2004, but you never have and still do not speak for me.

Small glimmers of good news: Rush Holt, my Congressman, won re-election here in New Jersey. Seeing as I consider him one of the Good Guys in Congress, I'm going to look into volunteering for his office.

I also want to investigate changing the Electoral College rules for New Jersey to split across popular vote tallies. We weren't ever a swing state (latter-day polls notwithstanding). We got the Bush sister that nobody knows he has visiting a senior community, and I think a Kerry daughter showed up once. None of those talking heads was talking to me, despite the fact that we hold 15 electoral votes, were one of two states hardest hit by 9/11, and pay more in taxes than we get back in benefits. Something's wrong with this picture.

I'm also leaning heavily towards caving in and registering as a Democrat. I'm still pitching back and forth on this, since New Jersey Democrats are a distressingly small evolutionary step above sphagnum moss, toenail fungus, Internet spammers, and New Jersey Republicans. They gave us Jim McGreevey, Bob Toricelli, and Frank Lautenberg -- three of the most despicable and useless career politicians I've ever seen other than the candidates the opposition threw at them. I don't know if those idiots reached public office because of or in spite of the party, but I think I need to see for myself.

And I'm sharpening the knives for the House and Senate races for 2006.

-- Ed

[Anya]

I think that the GOP's attempt to scandalize every little thing that Bill Clinton did during the 8 yrs of his presidency has numbed the nation to scandal. These weary travelers looked upon Abu Gharib, halliburton, NO FRICKIN' WMDs with the same glazed eyes they saw 'filegate', whitewater and 'travelgate'.

They are the media who cried scandal. No one looks anymore. Not the average meatloaf and mashed potatoes, homework checking, weekend yard work crowd.

Four words for the future: Barack Obama in 2008

[Rowandoll]

It was a privilige to vote for Obama this year. I really believe he's the one ray of sunshine on this day.

My faith was shaken today, not because Kerry lost or Bush won, but because it seems to me that the majority of christians in this country have a drastically different view of God and Christ than I do. If that's true, and their view is the correct one, then God is one merciless motherfucker. God not only condones murder and torture, but has a contempt for the poor that exceeds his wrath on Sodom.

I feel I am wrong in my faith, and that the majority of america is right. If this is true, I would rather take the punishment of hell; the utter destruction of the soul, than strive for heaven ruled by this God.

[Jake]

But abu graib, gitmo, NO FRICKIN' WMDs and halliburton weren't scandals.

A stupidly large proportion of hte country believe they will find WMD in Iraq still, believe a connection between Saddam and Osama exists, believe that abu graib and gitmo was justified by the decapitations and 9/11, and also believe that Halliburton is just a liberal conspiracy theory.

there were no real scandals.

[Jake]

The Irony, rowandoll, is that if they end up in the hell of your god, they will no doubt end up roasting in the 'fires' of His (probably big gay) love, were as in their Hell, it will be a slightly more literal lake of fire.

[carla]

Julie, I think the problem is that the people who voted for Bush think that gay marriage ("moral values," to them) is more important than, for example, torturing innocent people or lying about the reasons for a war. I haven't yet figured out how to wade into that fight, except to point out that more americans have died in Iraq than have died because of same-sex marriage. But fight I will.

[Karl]

Great post :) I posted some similar thoughts and amature analysis at my site.

[ctate]

The GOP owns the House and the Senate, and quite possibly soon the Supreme Court. If a scandal breaks in the White House, but no-one is there to prosecute it, does it make a sound...?

If a scandal breaks in the White House, but no-one is there to prosecute it, does it make a sound...?

Well, we can always hope for public outrage? I.e. they better prosecute it, or the public backlash throws them out of office. Not counting on it, though. I agree...people seemed to be numbed to scandal, especially those that love their W. cause he is a good ole boy who prays and is "pro-life" (expect in matters relating to war, capital punishment, and the poor).

Where is Bill Bennett complaining about the Death of Outrage when you need him. Oh, wait, turns out he is a partisan hack, not a principled moralist.

[Steve]

If a scandal breaks in the White House, but no-one is there to prosecute it, does it make a sound...?

Well, we can always hope for public outrage? I.e. they better prosecute it, or the public backlash throws them out of office. Not counting on it, though. I agree...people seemed to be numbed to scandal, especially those that love their W. cause he is a good ole boy who prays and is "pro-life" (expect in matters relating to war, capital punishment, and the poor).

Where is Bill Bennett complaining about the Death of Outrage when you need him. Oh, wait, turns out he is a partisan hack, not a principled moralist.