Talk me off the cliff because I swear we're in for a big setup with 2008 and coming years

[LynneSin]

Is it any more obvious that the republicans are tossing this election away? They had 2 very qualified candidates (for republican standards) with Rommey and Giuliani and yet it was McCain who won the primaries even though he was lagging badly in the polls for most of the early primaries.

And then when McCain could have strengthen his ticket with a strong VP selection he found the most obscured, most uneducated hick out of Alaska that has no real knowledge of anything that would qualify her to be Vice President. There were plenty of choices out there that would have pleased the fundies AND been more than qualified to be Vice President so why would he pick Palin.

The last 8 years, the Bush regime has made a GIANT SIZE BONZO MESS of not only this country but also our relationships throughout the rest of the world. We're broke, unpopular and unloved so why in bejesus name would any republican want to come in now and clean up this mess? Why not just turn it all over to the democrats so hopefully by 2012 the republicans will run a qualified candidate (by republican standards) to come back in and continue us on this path of destruction but hopefully with an approval rating closer to 50%.

And what's worse, these republcians could also be plotting another 'Contract on(for) America' aka 1994, a time when Bill Clinton had to make some very unpopular choices to get our country turned around again (although ultimately Clinton did get us a nice size surplus by the end of his term). And crunching the numbers from 1994, they gained 11 new republican senators which was more than enough to take over the senate both in 1994 AND if they do the same in 2010 (based on the fact that we should be around 58 come 2009). They also gained enough house seats to take over 1994 AND if they made the same gains they would still takeover based projected 2009 house numbers.

Makes me paranoid. I want Obama to win, he is the right person to lead this country but I also believe that this country is in such a hellhole that he's gonna get hit hard with this job.

Tell me I'm being paranoid

[BOSSHOG]

1. I think you are right

because the gop does not do anything for the country unless it is a political statement for them. However, history is on our side as a tax and spend liberal sweeps in and cleans up the fiscal mess made by a group of fiscal conservatives.

Conservatives are great at scripting elections, but, as you well know, really suck at governing. However they may get their asses kicked in 2010 and beyond if Obama and Biden and their cabinet of " evil tax and spend liberals" quickly start healing the wounds.

Now get off that fucking cliff. Hey its okay to be paranoid as long as republicans exist.

[stuntcat]

2. not merely paranoid, but pretty positive :(

I was wondering the last few days WHO in their right mind could want to take charge of all the crap going on now. It will be nothing but a struggle uphill for the next decade.
It's all on Bush though, EVERYTHING we had was blown away and wasted the last few years. I can't help but get some hope listening to Obama but I've decided not to hope for much anymore.. I mean my people elected George Bush twice????

[blondeatlast]

3. I might be too optimistic, but I really don't think so.

The bitterness of the Bush years won't easily fade away, especially with the crappy economy and moreso if we are still in Iraq.

One of Obama's biggest strengths is that he brings a broad spectrum of views together to discuss solutions and policy. It may not play well with the left but it will play well with the middle left to middle right (where most AMeicans are) and it will demonstrate that Washington DOES work for us.

They may be trying to set something up, but they are going to be played by a very sane, very competent administration. The adults are in charge now--just remember that.

See you in January; woman--you just convinced me I MUST be there! :hi:

Edit: Dulles or Baltimore?

[LynneSin]

8. Baltimore - give me your flight time and I'll pick you up on the way down

Or hell fly into Philadelphia and you can hang out in Wilmington a few days (I'll show you were Joe lives)

[blondeatlast]

14. Mind if I bring my son (11)? Philadelphia works, SW goes there, too! nt

[LynneSin]

18. Check your PM

:D

[succubus.blues]

4. My tinfoil hat is firmly on.

I think the Repubs are throwing this election away, too. No way Obama can clean up this mess in four years, and then in 2012, like you said, the R's can swoop in and say they can fix the mess the Dems' left. Maybe I've been beat too many times, but I keep flinching and thinking that this is all a trap and we are going to get screwed.

[iceman66]

5. Even if that were true.

We'd be even MORE screwed if McCain won!

[Solomon]

11. Right. We'll take it anyway. Just because they want to give it

away doesn't mean we don't want to take it.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

6. I think you're right and a lot of people feel as you do. Mike Malloy has been going down this road

for the past few months. He argues that the Reps are throwing this election away in hopes that Obama and the Dems will get the brunt of the blame for the economic crisis, and if God forbid, there are more external conflicts. They are hoping that with enough projection, they'll regain the House in two years and White House in 4 years. I fear that there will never be another black candidate for decades to come. And more than that, the Democrats will be out of power for years if they don't grow a spine and fight back!!

[LynneSin]

9. I fear there will never be anyone but pasty old white men

:scared:

First thing that needs to be done above and beyond everything out there is Stevens, Ginsberg and any other liberal leaning justice with declining health needs to retire from the Supreme Court. And Obama needs to find judges around 45 years of age to replace them with.

[HughMoran]

7. Nope. It happened exactly as it did due to voters actually voting and McCain being an eratic nut

Your desire to see a conspiracy due to McCain's poor choices is understandable, BUT WE HAVEN'T EVEN WON YET!!!

Do NOT get overconfident!!!

This post is NOT productive as it implies that we have this "in the bag".

It's not in the bag people!

[Barack_America]

10. No. Being in a tight spot makes people do crazy things.

The Republican brand is shit. And Obama is an uncommonly strong candidate. That's the driving force behind these bizarre moves.

[apnu]

12. I think they are tossing it

Just like they tossed it to Clinton when Shrub let everything get out of control. The Republicans know they can't clean up this mess, they know this is the cost of their craven thievery, and they know the piper has to be paid. And so, like Clinton, they will punt this to the Democrats to pay that piper, plus interest. They will lie low for a cycle or two, then storm Washington, once the coffers start to fill.

Pirates, I tell you, Republicans are pirates.

[freestyle]

13. It's the same setup as always. Cleaning up Republican messes.

Republicans screw up. Democrats right the ship and leave things better than before. Lulled into a false sense of security, the people vote Republicans in again. Wash, rinse, repeat. The cycle goes back to FDR. The challenge is for Democrats to retain the presidency after fixing the mess. The federal debt is so out of control that it would take 30 to 40 years of big surpluses, not 4, to eliminate it.

[DinahMoeHum]

15. One big difference, though. Obama will have grassroots support,

which Clinton never really had. We're gonna make certain that once we knock the 'Pukes down and out, they STAY down and out.

50-State Strategy, baby! Now and forever.

:kick::kick::kick:

[LynneSin]

16. But the media has gotten only WORSE since 1994

which is the really :scared: part of all of this

[scheming daemons]

17. Football coaches always want to take over a team that went 0-16 the previous year

If you turn out a 2-14 season, you did good.

If you go 8-8, you're a hero.

If you win more than you lose, you're a god.



The BEST time to take over any enterprise, including the US government, is when it is at rock bottom.

Ask FDR.


The people are willing to let you try bold things. *ANY* improvement in the situation AT ALL will be hailed.... even if it would've happened anyway.


Conversely, you don't want to be the coach that takes over a Super Bowl champion. Nowhere to go but down.

[rug]

19. They miss the 8 years they had using Clinton as a pinata.

They're looking forward to bashing Obama while he tries to clean up this mess.

[Orangepeel]

20. if the GOP were throwing it away, they wouldn't be so nasty

McCain won the nomination because he was the second choice candidate of a majority of GOP primary voters.

The fundie base didn't like him, but they didn't like gay-loving, baby-killing Guiliani and false-religion, liberal-northeastern-state Romney even more. The money people wanted Romney, but had to make sure that it wasn't Huckabee, who is populist-leaning nut that they wouldn't be able to control. The neocons wanted Guiliani, but there is no way the boots-on-the-ground fundie voter would vote for him.

Ergo, say-anything to get elected McCain came out on top.

He didn't pick Palin because he's trying to lose. If he was trying to lose, he would have gone out with some dignity. He picked Palin because he listens to the last person who whispered in his ear and in this case it was James Dobson.

[SidneyCarton]

21. It's ok. After so many years of incompetence and fear these feelings are perfectly understandable

It really has been a long time since we last had competent leadership in this country that wasn't just looking to see how much it could loot, as such, we have become accostumed to the idea that the Republicans are Macchievelian masterminds, who have rigged this from the beginning, and that this is their bailout from the ship of state that they have sunk.

This may be in part true, but not entirely. They have reaped a bumper crop of disaster from the seeds of incompetence, greed and cronyism, they screwed up and this election is living proof of it. McCain picked Palin because he had to, the party made him do it, because they had to energize the only part of their base they could reliably count on, the fundies, and McCain couldn't do that. On the other hand, due to ideologically driven primaries, Giuliani and Romney never had a chance, Rudy was too liberal (abortion aborted his campaign) and Mitt, well Mitt had the same problem I would have if I ran for President, his religion did him in (the base would never back a Mormon) and his attempts to ditch many of the more progressive achievements of his governorship did not endear him to the Conservatives, it merely showed that he would say anything, and betray almost any principle to get the nomination. Which left McCain. He was every bit as unscrupulous as Romney, and like Giuliani he had heretical positions. But he was a rugged western military hero, a seeming combination of Reagan and John Wayne, making him a sort of Republican Wet Dream, at least in theory.

Unfortunately, in practice, McCain has proven to be none of the above. His erratic behavior shows the temperment that crashed so many planes. The man they gambled on has an even less steady hand on the tiller than W, and its showing big time. The "maverick" is just that, he has no plan, no idea what to do, and is determined to look contrarian while all the time covering for his backers. Furthermore, the Palin pick is proof that the Republican party's Faustian bargain with the religious right was an atrocious idea. For the fundies have finally managed to potentially get one of their own a heartbeat away from our nuclear arsenal. As much as she might be a shill for big oil, her inexperience and instability cannot thrill the Rich core of the Republican party, the end of the world would be very bad for business.

So don't worry too much, the Republicans may well end up throwing this, but not because they wanted to, they really just ran out of any other choices, sit back and enjoy the implosion, it should be quite a show.