Possibly coincidence, but 95 Congressional candidates signed a pledge supporting FCC regulation of the Internet, and all 95 lost.
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Whatever the case may be there's not much to do now. There are no real political salvagable ways to reduce the deficit or stimulate the economy. America has a much bigger problem. We are an economy driven by consumption and media. Our education systems have faltered as our society places more emphasis on sports and entertainment than it does on good grades and scientific achievement. Innovation use to be something we prided ourselves on, and we've all but abandoned basic research. The fact is we are falling behind in many of the key areas we once were clearly dominating. And the question is what can gov't do to bring that back. With our current sorry state of affairs, I don't think there is much. And if there was, the poisonous relationship between the two parties will never allow us to solve the problems we need to. Each party and their partisans care more about pooping on the other side than actually fixing problems. Just look at this thread, you have someone posting an elephant screwing a donkey. While very funny actually, it just goes to show that Republicans and Dems really don't like each other. I think in 50 years people will write about our downfall and talk about how the partisan nature of our gov't was one of the key reasons.
There had been several calls for a larger stimulus that was universally opposed by Republicans and some Democrats. There was no way such a thing would've passed. There is no guarantee it would've worked either. The Dems. fought TARP? Obama pushed TARP along with several Congressional Dems, and Repubs. The Republicans featured opposition to TARP in their campaign rhetoric this year.
An interesting take on last night -- Ignore the Media Conflictinator: 2010 Vote Was Turning Point Against Conservative Doctrine There is no shortage of disturbing/depressing meta-messages from last night's election results. There was the "What's the Matter With Kansas" message of populism being channeled into the cause of elitism and aristocracy: For example, we saw an anti-establishment/anti-corporate/anti-NAFTA/anti-government Tea Party electing to the Senate a congressman's son (Rand Paul), a senator-turned-Washington-drug-lobbyist (Dan Coats) and George W. Bush's trade representative (Rob Portman). There was the "The Privileged Finish First" while "Good People Finish Last" message: For instance, principled Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, who has taken many a principled progressive stand, loses while appointed Sen. Thurston Bennet the III of Colorado, who has sold out on key issues, wins.* And, of course, there was the "Celebrity Trumps Everything" message of our Sarah Palin-inspired idiocracy: As just one example, low-key-but-uber-serious Rep. David Obey (D) retires and is replaced by a Republican known only for being an MTV Real World star. All of that said, though, there is one very positive meta-message that -- arguably -- trumps all of the negative ones -- a meta-message that will be inevitably ignored by what Jon Stewart so aptly called the national media's D.C.-obsessed "conflictinator." You can see this deeper, far more important story in the ballot measures. Ballot measures get ignored by the media because they don't involve personality -- but that's exactly why they are so good at telling us what an election is all about. Precisely because they are exclusively about issues and stripped of all the personality/side issues that come with specific candidates, ballot measures tell us what voters are thinking. And when you look at what happened to the ballot measures here that exemplify the most pure form of conservative doctrine, you see an overwhelming rejection of that doctrine. Colorado gives us a good example. Amendments 60, 61 and 101 were known here as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights on steroids -- they would have mandated massive spending and tax cuts. On top of that, Amendment 62 was the so-called "personhood" amendment that would have effectively outlawed abortion. All of these amendments, as I said, represent a pure form of the core conservative budget, tax and social issues agenda -- and all of them were defeated by a more than 2-to-1 margin in one of the most politically important swing-states in the country. Additionally, as the Denver Post notes, cities and counties throughout Colorado actually passed local measures raising revenues for key progressive public priorities. This was not, mind you, isolated to Colorado. CNN reports that there was a similar trend all over the country, noting that "voters in several states defeated major anti-tax measures on Tuesday, acknowledging that their financially-strapped governments need revenue to provide services." I'm not saying last night was, overall, a terrific night for progressive politics. But I am saying that beneath all the national media's manufactured storylines and its inevitably focus on the D.C. palace drama, we can see what may end up being the most important long-term result of the 2010 election: When put up for a vote in an election that had everything aligned for conservatives, the conservative policy agenda was stopped dead in its tracks -- and that very well could be a paradigm shift in our politics.
When Major runs for President and wins, I nominate you for Secretary of Getting This Bull**** Corrected.
I actually think the Tea Party Congress will be great for the country. It will give them a lot of profile. I was hoping that the Tea Party could take over a state like utah or something - completely control it, completely screw it up, and hopefully let people see what happens when you let these guys get power.
jesus dude, your side won. Take a break from the dickishness even yer boy in FL gets it “We make a grave mistake if we believe that tonight these results are somehow an embrace of the Republican Party.” -- Senator-elect Marco Rubio (R-FL)
Pure spin. We got curb stomped, and we'd better learn from it, or it will happen again in just two short years.
