My favorite quote so far today.

“Actually, I thought we were going to do fine yesterday,’’ Bush said. “Shows what I know.’’

That last part kinda sums him all up doesn’t it?

I think it was Bush that said he was “Very disappointed” in the results of this year’s election.  That statement, coming from the President seems to me a bit scary.  It actually sounds like something a king would say, as if we are supposed to all hear his disappointment and then rush out to change our votes or something.  I guess he doesn’t understand the democratic process or what the election results mean as far as what the people are saying (all 300 million of which are technically HIS employers).

Obviously he’s entitled to his opinion, but the fact that he said it in public sorta for me lent it that feel that he was issuing a decree.  Maybe I’m just being paranoid.

Sweet, it is now official.  The Dems have taken the senate. Democrats win Senate. 

It’s amazing, especially with all the shit that was being done by the other side this year to suppress votes, and those damn electronic voting machines.  My faith in the democratic process may just not have died after all…

This is a dream come true! Could this be the best day ever?

We did people of this United States --We managed to make someone in Washington hear the peoples wishes!  We should thank each other for a voice raised.  I start by thanking you!!!!

And thanks to you, too, Momma. 

To say that I am most pleased is an understatement. Let’s hope they make good use of it.

Let’s hope they make good use of it.

Why not pepper your congressman or senator with whishes as to what you would like him/her to do now, to go with the good wishes themselves.

I’m as giddy as a school girl, to be sure, but this remarkable turn of events had better be worth it. I expect to see subpoenas handed out like candy on Halloween for criminal activities rife in the White House and the Legislature. We’ve suffered the most corrupt Federal Government ever and heads need to roll, dammit.

But Democrats often are too forgiving or too scared to push for justice. Now that they have power to investigate, they must. Principals and laws are meaningless unless upheld with felonious actions punished.

“Balls!” said the Queen. “If I had them I’d be King.”

Congratulations y’all.
Now all you gotta do is keep the dream and the momentum alive for another two years.
That’ll test you.
I was pointed to this from another thread.
1.5 hours well-spent.
It seems your voting procedures may have, or be open to, some problems. I love understatement.
I thought one of the roles of your FBI was to impartially look after the internal security of the nation.
That was a joke, sorry. 

“Balls!” said the Queen. “If I had them I’d be King.”

Is that another FBI joke? 

My happiness over all of this is tempered by the worry that the Dems, now that they have a majority, will decide to spend time on things that don’t really counteract or change any of the damages of the Bush administration.

I worry this because Barack Obama said so. I wish I could find the article I read, but I can’t, so I’m just paraphrasing here, and he said something along the lines of “People don’t want us to take any sort of political retribution. They’re worried about healthcare and the minimum wage, and that’s what we’ll deal with.”

Frankly, things like getting back my fourth amendment rights and curbing the power excesses of the executive branch seem to take precedence over things like this. There are many old wounds to fix before anything else is done.

Well, generally I agree with the thought that the Dems won’t be pursuing any major retribution, and I have mixed feelings about it.  Obviously the White House gang needs to be brought to Justice, but the Democrats are hardly the unified front that the former Republican majority once was. 

It will also be interesting to see the formerly “I’ll sign anything into law” George Bush turn into the “I’ll veto everything” George Bush.  He says he’ll work with the new majority, but I’d bet anything that his first veto earlier this year has given him a taste and he likes the idea now that he no longer has absolute control. His veto can be over-ridden, and with fewer Republicans actually overtly supporting him now, that might be a good possibility on some things.

But generally, I agree with what Bill Maher said on Larry King last night.  To paraphrase, he said the Dems won’t do anything drastic, because they are afraid of not being voted back in or retaining their new majority.  This would include cutting funding for the war in Iraq in order to force Bush to change tactics.  However, I know there are some Dems who are itching to do some serious cleaning like Russ Fiengold .  I doubt lukewarm Dems like Hillary will do much, but I’ve heard Fiengold get pretty fired up about the corruption and what needs to be done about it. 

He’s the one that tried to stand up to Bush earlier this year and censor him (the closest thing a minority could hope to get to starting impeachment processes at the time.) I just hope he can keep it up now that his party is taking the majority.

In any event, if they can roll back some of the more disastrous Bush changes, like permanent tax cuts, I think that will be a good start.

In any event, if they can roll back some of the more disastrous Bush changes, like permanent tax cuts, I think that will be a good start.

That’s kind of the attitude I’m worried about, though. The Patriot Act, in my opinion, is far more disastrous than his tax cuts. The Military Commissions Act of 2006, with its implicit allowance of torture and suspension of habeas corpus, is more disastrous. The administration’s embrace of fundamentalist Christianity is more disastrous, and the war, with hundreds of thousands dead, is far more disastrous.

I guess I just hope that the social and constutional ills are put ahead of the financial ills.

I agree, I just used the tax cuts as a quick and obvious (and probably fairly easy to fix) example.  By no means am I giving the Patriot Act or the rollback of workers rights, civil rights, privacy rights, etc, etc, ad infinitum a pass.  I don’t think all the dems are going to be willing to do so either, but even with a majority, I think many democrats are more aligned with the Hillary or Lieberman mindset (not sure he even counts anymore since he appears to have won as an independent with primarily republican votes) that basically goes with the flow (Hillary for example did not speak out against Bush until recently, when it was less likely to be seen as political suicide, but then again, I don’t remember ANY democrats speaking up against him before recently either).

Fiengold has been my new Democrat hero for about a year now.  He appears to be the only one with balls.

I suspect not much will actually get done in these two years in terms of law creation and such.  Bush will want to veto anything the Dems do, and the Dems will want to block anything Bush tries to do.  And Bush doesn’t seem to have the ability to work with people for a reasonable solution.

I suspect not much will actually get done in these two years in terms of law creation and such.  Bush will want to veto anything the Dems do, and the Dems will want to block anything Bush tries to do.  And Bush doesn’t seem to have the ability to work with people for a reasonable solution.

Thoroughly agreed. Hopefully they can at least institute some executive investigations. I don’t believe Bush can do anything about that. As for his ability to work with people, well, he’s the decided, dammit, and they should just listen to him.

I suspect not much will actually get done in these two years in terms of law creation and such.

This is a good thing, although it would be nice if they can undo some of the shit that was done during the past 6 years.  It will be very good when they start doing some investigations and hang some republican ass.

Actually if you look at Bush’s record from when he was Governor he actually did a pretty good job of getting bipartisan support on legislation in Texas. He hasn’t had to for the past several years because the Republicans controlled both houses, but now that he has a hostile congress perhaps he’ll return to the style he used as governor.

Which, in my honest opinion, would only be to his (and everyone else’s) benefit.

Les: perhaps he’ll return to the style he used as governor.

Mmm, the art of compromise where everyone wins. This’ll be interesting.
The Dems’ll have to come up with some workable solutions; are there any? 
Wonder when we’ll pull outa Vietiraq; it’s gonna be an unstable shithouse for more than a few years. Bet he wishes he had a General like Macarthur who got the job in Japan done in three years.
I wonder if Bull$hit has realised yet, how much he’s done to help the terrorists and their cause. 

Well, whatever the Dems may or may not be able to do, we can celebrate the taking of Congress, but perhaps more importantly, John Bolton is not going to be the new UN Ambassador.