Well exactly. While I've been unhappy w/BO in a lot of areas, I think a lot of the corporate-fueled Reaction has been predicated by three conditions: 1) the economic freefall with a clear, if undiagnosed, sense of Financial Titans making out while most continue to suffer fearlfully... the Financial Titans have effectively achieved a hilarious transference to Big Gov'mnt; 2) there is an African American in the give-my-country-back Whiter House; 3) legislation was actually passed, most notably the Health Care (Obamacare!) bill.

Dude, in your lifetime that CA recall of a relatively competent Democratic Gov Gray Davis because of pre-Tea Reaction to a broken budget/financing structure caused essentially by pre-pre-Tea reactionary Prop 13 was the harbinger of all things crackpot. It, one might say, was a "CA pre-sages the national trends" moment.

Boxer is exactly the abrasive librul that should be demolished this cycle. She'll beat Fiorina by 4 points. NOBODY gets elected governor twice thirty years after the fact and Whitman will have spent 170 million on a state race (!!??) and will lose by 6-8 points. Sorry, CA doesn't fit the "tidal wave" scenario you are getting hard for.

And by "getting hard" I believe you mean "losing almost 50K in win bonuses." So, thanks for playing along. I'm actually saying that neither Brown nor Boxer should really be in trouble in a state like CA, but that since the Tea Fails have completely hijacked not only The Republican Party, but also, Public Discourse in America, they are having to fight against it.

Then there's people like: John Spratt, Ike Skelton, Chet Edwards, Bobby Bright, Jim Marshall, Gene Taylor, and other white dems in "McCain/Bush" Districts -- they are all most likely gone, and that does not bode well for things like, Obama's election, or anyone who believes that this country is best governed from The Center, and not swinging wildly between the two poles.

"The public arena is filled with incredible viciousness, with people on both sides hurling such hateful terminology at people who merely disagree with them on an issue or two. Discussion and public policy can't move forward in that state. If more people adopted a more sensible form of public discourse, we could find middle grounds that allow society to move forward. Share the positives of your ideas, not the negatives of other ideas."

Hillary 2016. I am not kidding. By then even the evangelicaban will want Bill back on Penn Ave.

Hmm. That's pretty clear... but your profession (campaigning, no?) is all-Free Markety about challenging "sensible form of public discourse" as not effective at producing votes.

The Center: not so sure about this romantic Ideal of something called the Center. The Constitution wasn't written by Centrists. De-segregation wasn't accomplished by Centrists. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ wasn't a Centrist. I think there is something more about the actually quality of the thinking, the efficacy of the ideas, the production of the models - economic, political, cultural - more than some sentimental schema of balance. "Center" in and of itself means nothing. "Civil discourse" is another matter.

Personally this whole economic crisis and the Reaction and dissembling of Mutli-National Capital have made me: 1) know at a profound level how broken most of our systems are and 2) understand and appreciate Marx.

LooGAR, you're turning into Joe Klein. Stop that.

You mean one of the best political writers in America? Why would I want to stop that?

Also: if a Democratic candidate for Senate... defaulted on her/his student-loan, received gov't assistance for her/him & her/his nine children, kidnapped &/or "kidnapped" a fellow student while at university, then tried to compel her to smoke the ganja, what would the national media being saying about it? What would LooGAR & Elvis Fu, et. al. be saying about it?

Seriously: this tidal wave of Republicans is a shitty fucking thing, terribly unqualified, & propelled by the fickleness of the perfect Center, the ignorance of the hoi polloi ("the President... is a n#gger" (OHG DAGT BLAGZING SAGDDLEGS)), & the unicorn expectations of a Left that is not going to vote (because of that denial of their unicorn(s)).

Considering I know the dudes running Conway's campaign, and Rand Paul is his daddy minus a modicum of intellectual honesty, I don't think I'd fail to jump on anyone that sucked that bad.

This is pretty funny/true, Monty. Seriously, I chuckled and nodded at the same time.

The Republican tidal wave continues in CA: Brown up by 13%, Boxer up by 8%.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-poll-20101024,0,1168989.story

Given the proportion of taxes CA pays to federal gov't versus fed dollars that return to the state (CA pays way more than it receives) there is a groundswell for a secession movement. A fence from Yuma to Yreka.

Cali is what, the 6th largest economy in the world?

Before the Great Recession they used to say the 5th largest in the world, now you see either 6th or 8th.

Me too. I'm actually more annoyed with the left that I'm "part of" than I am the right at the point. I expect the right to be dipshits. But the left? Suck it up, you fucking pussies.

You can't even fence off Mexico.

I just voted early, and I'm pretty damn convinced we need to at least nationalize voting machines & process. I know I'm new to voting in Texas, but the machine I used today was just retarded. Scrollwheel? Really?

That will pass when monkeys fly out of my ass. There's so much faith and confidence in the federal government, so allowing them to be in control of the voting process in every state will be played as: GOVERNMENT TAKES OVER VOTING. VOTE FOR WHO YOU WANT - YOUR VOTE WILL GO TO STALIN ANYWAY. (Or to whomever we are comparing the next Repub president to).

Oh, I get that, but shit is retarded.

John Raese is stirring people up around here in the WV panhandle. He is having a rally in Charles Town with John McCain at an American Legion, but journalists are barred from attending/covering the rally. Probably not a good move, when you're trying to be as lucid as possible after some missteps. I'm pretty sure Manchin has this one tied up at this point.

I hate to bring this up again, but Meg Whitman really is too fucking unattractive to be governor of a school for the blind, let alone of California. Repulsive.

Moreso than Barry or Hillary or Clarence Thomas or Sandra Day O'Connor erasing the glass ceiling in our culture, the fact that this gargoyle was ever able to go into a bank and get a loan not to mention be taken seriously by anybody anywhere is a testament to how far we've come. Don't quit your day job as the Ugly Tree, Grotesqueasauraus

for loogar, from the onion

http://www.theonion.com/articles/key-ra ... use,18354/

haaa ha ha nice