The Look On The Bright Side Thread

[DonnyMost]

Looking at the outcome as it stands now, I see a few things to be thankful about.

1) Now Democrats don't have to fix the mess of the previous administration. It's their bed, let them sleep in it.

2) If a Republican Congress and President CAN'T fix things over the next 4 years, I don't think we'll be seeing another Republican president until 2020.

3) George W. Bush has been, by far, the president most ripe for lampooning ever. The Daily Show will have a mountain of material at it's disposal, along with SNL, and all other comedy outlets.

4) In a bit of good news for the Harris County folks, Prop 1 passed with flying colors, while Prop 2 barely slipped through. Prop 1 has legal prescedent though, and will most likely be implemented, while Prop 2 will not. You should ALL be extremely thankful for this.

Any other thoughts?

[MR. MEOWGI]

Some good, new protest music would be nice. Too bad the "majority" would rather have lip-synced garbage.

[RocketMan Tex]

Donny...I agree with #1 and wholeheartedly agree with #2, as long as the Democrats are able to do some soul-searching and back away from the left-side ledge they are currently walking along. The Democrats have to become more centrist. Until then, the south will be solid red states.

[Deuce Rings]

The democrats have four years to change things, but here's the reality of what we are seeing in this election:

(1) The young vote can NEVER be counted on to show up. In the 72' election with Vietnam as the primary issue, the young vote did not show up. Then we have this election when the youth were reprotedly outraged by the Iraq war and again they didn't show up. So much for one of the most liberal populations in the country.

(2) An incumbent Republican president that has made mistakes, has had the entire media and entertainment machine trashing him since Election Day 2000, who is viewed as dumb, incompetent, and a liar by at the very least half of our country STILL won the majority in the electoral college and popular vote. In fairness, this may have more to do with the inadequacies of John Kerry as a presidential candidate, but in my opinion the Republican incumbent has never been more ripe for defeat and it didn't happen. Keep in mind that we are in a new era of media coverage as well with several 24-hour news networks that in my opinion have gone out of their way to paint a bad picture of the president fairly or unfairly.

(3) Large voter turnout no longer is a definite benefit to the left. This year we are seeing the largest voter turnout in four decades and the Republican has won the race.

(4) The Minority Leader in Congress couldn't even win re-election in his own state.

I am not a liberal, but if I was I would find the above four points EXTREMELY disturbing to the future of the democratic party. Your point is taken on Bush fumbling the presidency in the next four years benefitting the Dems for years to come, but I would argue that he faced re-election under those circumstances in the 2004 election and STILL came out on top. The Dems are going to have to come up with something really good to change these trends and it isn't the divisive Hillary Clinton in 08'. Expect the next four years to be even uglier from the left towards the president than the last four years have been as right now it seems their party can not afford to reach across the aisle if they want the White House in 08'. Divided we stand.

[DonnyMost]

(2) An incumbent Republican president that has made mistakes, has had the entire media and entertainment machine trashing him since Election Day 2000, who is viewed as dumb, incompetent, and a liar by at the very least half of our country STILL won the majority in the electoral college and popular vote. In fairness, this may have more to do with the inadequacies of John Kerry as a presidential candidate, but in my opinion the Republican incumbent has never been more ripe for defeat and it didn't happen. Keep in mind that we are in a new era of media coverage as well with several 24-hour news networks that in my opinion have gone out of their way to paint a bad picture of the president fairly or unfairly.

You forgot two tiny little insignificant things..

One starts with a nine and ends with an eleven.. the other starts with an eye and ends with a rack.

No Republican has ever lost an election during war time, no?

[Deuce Rings]

Originally posted by DonnyMost
You forgot two tiny little insignificant things..

One starts with a nine and ends with an eleven.. the other starts with an eye and ends with a rack.

No Republican has ever lost an election during war time, no?

True, but you have to consider that the polls leading into the election were saying that half of registered voters disagreed with the War in Iraq and that the majority of registered voters thought that the country was "heading in the wrong direction" neither of which fall heavily, if at all, on the Bush side so I maintain my original point that democrats should be very considered with where the party stands this morning after last nights results.

[whag00]

The good news is there should be one hell of a stock market rally from now until probably the end of the year. And the rally has started today...

[AntiSonic]

It would appear that the Dems have a younger base and Republicans still have abysmal support of the constantly growing minority community. If the right doesn't start reaching out now, they will probably start seeing some heavy losses in a decade or so.

So it's not all gloom and doom for you guys. :)

[JayZ750]

Originally posted by Deuce Rings
(1) The young vote can NEVER be counted on to show up. In the 72' election with Vietnam as the primary issue, the young vote did not show up. Then we have this election when the youth were reprotedly outraged by the Iraq war and again they didn't show up. So much for one of the most liberal populations in the country.


I wouldn't say NEVER, but certainly not until the actual voting process becomes much more "youth-friendly" - i.e. potential eventual internet voting, etc.

[ROCKET RICH NYC]

Originally posted by AntiSonic
It would appear that the Dems have a younger base and Republicans still have abysmal support of the constantly growing minority community. If the right doesn't start reaching out now, they will probably start seeing some heavy losses in a decade or so.

So it's not all gloom and doom for you guys. :)

On the contrary...

The Right solidified their base during the Primaries and at the same time reached outside of their base to moderates, minorities, and the young during the Republican Convention. Liberals take for granted that they automatically get the young vote because of MTV but just as many Young Republicans were recruited this year than in any year. More Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Jewish Americans voted for this President which the Liberals didn't think would happen. The Republican party is in good shape for 2008.

[AntiSonic]

Originally posted by ROCKET RICH NYC
On the contrary...

The Right solidified their base during the Primaries and at the same time reached outside of their base to moderates, minorities, and the young during the Republican Convention. Liberals take for granted that they automatically get the young vote because of MTV but just as many Young Republicans were recruited this year than in any year. More Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Jewish Americans voted for this President which the Liberals didn't think would happen. The Republican party is in good shape for 2008.

African American support for Bush was still under 20%.

I'm not saying that no progress has been made, but the Republicans can not afford to rest on their laurels.

[losttexan]

stock tip for ya- invest now in war contractors and halaburton with no re-election to worry about and the changes in the house and senate, let the #&$ raping begin

[ROCKET RICH NYC]

Originally posted by AntiSonic
African American support for Bush was still under 20%.

I'm not saying that no progress has been made, but the Republicans can not afford to rest on their laurels.

but that was way up from 2000 when it was under 5%

[ima_drummer2k]

Originally posted by losttexan
stock tip for ya- invest now in war contractors and halaburton with no re-election to worry about and the changes in the house and senate, let the #&$ raping begin
Sweet! Thanks for the tip!

[nyquil82]

more jobs and higher pay for budding lawyers like myself

[Trader_Jorge]

Originally posted by ima_drummer2k
Sweet! Thanks for the tip!


HILARIOUS

[RocketMan Tex]

Originally posted by losttexan
stock tip for ya- invest now in war contractors and halaburton with no re-election to worry about and the changes in the house and senate, let the #&$ raping begin

Nah. Halliburton was at $15 a share right before the War in Iraq started, in January 2003. That's when you should have bought it. It's at $37 now.

[rockbox]

Originally posted by DonnyMost
Looking at the outcome as it stands now, I see a few things to be thankful about.

1) Now Democrats don't have to fix the mess of the previous administration. It's their bed, let them sleep in it.



Unfortunately, we will be all sleeping in it.

[the futants]

the good news: only four more years of W.

the bad news: after that, we'll have eight years of Jeb.

that's a pretty solidly f**ked up 12 years.











please excuse the slippery slope. i'm a bit frazzled today.;)

[MR. MEOWGI]

Originally posted by nyquil82
more jobs and higher pay for budding lawyers like myself

And outsourced jobs for everyone else...

[nyquil82]

Originally posted by MR. MEOWGI
And outsourced jobs for everyone else...

eh, now that most of the country is red, i've moved my priorities from the country to myself. Personally, I benefit a lot from Bush, I'll be doing corporate law, im not gay, I own property, I'm going to be rich, I'll be marrying a doctor who will hopefully not have to pay as much insurance in the future while earning more. I also know ways to legally pay less tax, loopholes that Kerry would have closed.

Before the election, I really cared about the state of the nation and our place in the world. Now that bush has won, i can resort to being selfish, taking and not giving, shirking responsibility, etc. I've said before that i didn't like bush despite how much I gain personally from his policies. Since he has the majority vote, I can only assume that America approves of my type of life and finds nothing wrong with the fact that I'm being awarded for being born into the right family.

besides, i don't have to be patriotic anymore, i only have to say it. Those who opposed the president didn't do a good enough job to win, the best thing for me to do is stop complaining and dredging about it and enjoy the free ride under W. Those hurt under the administration had their chance and I supported them then, but sorry, now you're on your own until 2008.

[4chuckie]

Originally posted by MR. MEOWGI
And outsourced jobs for everyone else...

let me be very clear on this: John kerry would not have effected outsourcing.

Kerry's "plan" all along was to close tax breaks Bush created to encourage outsourcing. Now i hate to disappoint you but Bush created no tax laws (nor did he open any loopholes) that encouraged outsourcing.

All kerry could have done (which he proposed) was to lower taxes of companies which don't outsource. One question though how does he pay for that? If he did what he said he would have done he would have had to raise someone else taxes to pay for it.

[MR. MEOWGI]

Originally posted by 4chuckie
let me be very clear on this: John kerry would not have effected outsourcing.

Kerry's "plan" all along was to close tax breaks Bush created to encourage outsourcing. Now i hate to disappoint you but Bush created no tax laws (nor did he open any loopholes) that encouraged outsourcing.

All kerry could have done (which he proposed) was to lower taxes of companies which don't outsource. One question though how does he pay for that? If he did what he said he would have done he would have had to raise someone else taxes to pay for it.

Like the ones who do?

[Rocket River]

Hillary in '08

Rocket River

[Ender120]

Originally posted by Rocket River
Hillary in '08

Rocket River

[RIET]

Originally posted by 4chuckie
let me be very clear on this: John kerry would not have effected outsourcing.

Most people don’t realize presidents really have very little impact on the economy. The economy is cyclical and expansions occur when there is new technology, new and better products and services or more efficiencies which increase productivity.

Outsourcing is just a byproduct of making the US more competitive with its international peers.

What’s interesting is that both parties promised new jobs – or at least saving current ones.

What neither candidate will admit is manufacturing jobs will be lost forever, there will be continued forays into white collar positions and there will be a Darwinistic evolution where only those strong enough to adapt will survive. These are all natural market forces which true capitalists can appreciate.

Unfortunately for the Republicans, many of their constituents’ jobs will go bye bye forever. Many of these people voted with their “religious heart” and not their “wallet”.

In the next several years, many “religious” voters who have these jobs will become disenchanted. You can play the religion card, you can play the terror card. However, if you can’t “solve terrorism, can’t exit Iraq gracefully, continue to rack up huge budget deficits, offer huge tax breaks to the ultra wealthy, and can’t stop the outsourcing bleeding - what is left?

Usually one party can blame the other when these things don’t materialize. However, now Republicans with their overwhelming “mandate” will have to deliver on everything they promised - which is virtually impossible.

For the next four years, I will enjoy my lower marginal tax brackets and lower cap gains rates and adjust my finances to take advantage of these opportunities.

I will also enjoy watching lower middle income Republicans try to figure out exactly how they’ve benefited from anything the Republicans have promised.

[mr_gootan]

Dead voters are more reliable than young voters, and they're easier to convince, too.

[StupidMoniker]

Please God, let the Democrats run Hillary in '08.

[ima_drummer2k]

Originally posted by StupidMoniker
Please God, let the Democrats run Hillary in '08.
You think there was a high Republican turnout this time around...

[bigtexxx]

Originally posted by StupidMoniker
Please God, let the Democrats run Hillary in '08.

Agreed. I believe she would be absolutely PASTED in the election. Karl Rove would be the end of that woman.

[DaDakota]

Jeb Bush would be BY FAR a better president that W.

DD

[FranchiseBlade]

The bright side for me was the measure in California that passed to give extensive funding to stem cell research. It starts next year. California now gives more funding to stem cell research than any other state, making it a leader in search for possible cures.

So far this looks like the best chance for a cure for type 1 diabetes. For all the diabetes sufferers out there worried about long term affects such as blindness, loss of a kidney, loss of a limb, heart disease, lowered immune system etc. this measure was huge, and gives a lot of people a lot of hope.

[moestavern19]

John Ellis Bush / Rudolph Guiliani in 08.