Wednesday Evening Thread: Bring It On Home

Folks bout to start telling ere thang LOL

Olmert: Netanyahu interfered in U.S. elections for Sheldon Adelson

Speaking to U.S. Jewish leaders, the former PM, who is considering a return to politics, says Netanyahu might not have ‘a friend in the White House’ after he publicly backed Republican nominee Romney.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/u-s-elections-2012/olmert-netanyahu-interfered-in-u-s-elections-for-sheldon-adelson.premium-1.475990

I’m watching the first family take off from Chicago.

Romney’s concession speech was not gracious

Pundits rush to praise the GOP candidate, but his behavior was petulant and sullen
By Mary Elizabeth Williams

It is a venerable tradition in American politics that no matter how ugly a bloodbath the campaign that preceded it may have been, on election night, the defeated candidate steps up and gives an elegant concession speech, thanking his supporters and pledging his loyalty to the victor. In return, the winning side politely vows to reach across the aisle, and lauds the loser’s “graciousness,” thereby assuring that no one can accuse the victorious side of anything resembling gloating.

Sure enough, after Mitt Romney’s five-minute parting words Tuesday evening – which actually came in the early hours of Wednesday morning – the governor was perfunctorily summed up in the punditsphere by the adjective of choice: The “Today” show declared that Romney’s speech was a “short but gracious” end to his six-year quest for the White House. Our own Salon staff called it a “gracious” speech. Even BuzzFeed called it “gracious,” pointing out its most “conciliatory and statesmanlike moments.” New York magazine, meanwhile, said that Romney “concedes with class.” Now, it may seem nitpicky to mention this while the door is still hitting the guy’s ass on his way out, but are you kidding me?

Take a journey back in time with me: The Associated Press, NBC and CNN called it for the incumbent president at around 11:15 p.m., filling exhausted voters on the still-battered East Coast with the naive hope that they could go to bed early. Instead, they, like the rest of the world, would have to wait nearly an hour and 45 minutes for the former governor to take the stage. Why? In part because even as Fox News analysts were admitting, “We’re actually quite comfortable with the call in Ohio,” and the Obama campaign had pulled the trigger on its record-breakingly forwarded victory tweet, the Romney campaign was still hanging on, perhaps, because as Daily Kos joked, they were waiting for their vote-flipping-machines results to kick in.

http://www.salon.com/2012/11/07/romneys_concession_speech_was_not_gracious/

Poor Stacey Dash. Thanks to PBO’s victory, her dreams of being sponsored by Paul Ryan have been deferred…

Stacey Dash Epic 1,344 Word Rant About Election Depression

Stacey Dash is really bummed out that Mitt Romney is NOT the next President of These United States … and we know she’s bummed out because she sent us a 1,344 word essay about it.

In her statement, Dash touches on sleeping, hanging chads, her baby, her DNA, Osama Bin Laden … and she also refers to herself in the 3rd person.

As we previously reported, Dash took a whole lotta heat for being one of the only black people in Hollywood to not support Barack Obama.

But at the end of her paper, Dash does say, “I am hopeful that President Obama will lead us to becoming the great United States of America that thrives.”

Stacey Dash everyone … she was in “Clueless” once.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2012/11/07/stacey-dash-epic-1-344-word-disseration-about-election-disappointment/#ixzz2BZriQ5zW

Of course, CNN asks “Does Obama own win to Bill Clinton?”

We knew they were gonna go there.

ROFLMAO

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A7IVNYpCIAE2WXV.jpg

Posted at 11:06 AM ET, 11/07/2012

No, Obama’s victory was not ‘small’

By Greg Sargent

I continue to be puzzled by suggestions that Campaign 2012 — and with it, the significance of Obama’s victory — were somehow “small.” And I’m glad to see there’s some pushback on this idea. Here’s E.J. Dionne:

Many have argued that the president ran a “small” and “negative” campaign, and he was certainly not shy about going after Romney. But this misses the extent to which Obama made specific commitments and repeatedly cast the election as a choice between two different philosophical directions.

He was not vague about what he meant. Obama campaigned explicitly on higher taxes for the wealthy as part of a balanced budget deal. He stoutly defended the federal government’s interventions to bring the economy back from the brink — and especially his rescue of the auto companies.

The president also called for higher levels of government spending for job training and education, particularly community colleges. And he spoke repeatedly against turning Medicare into a voucher program and sending Medicaid to the states. The voters who reelected the president knew what they were voting for. They also knew what they were voting against.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/no-obamas-victory-was-not-small/2012/11/07/706eeef2-28f1-11e2-96b6-8e6a7524553f_blog.html

Posted at 11:59 PM ET, 11/06/2012

A big night for Democrats and liberals

By Greg Sargent

To appreciate the magnitude of the victory Barack Obama and Democrats won tonight, think back to what the political landscape looked like in the spring. The Supreme Court appeared ready to strike down Obamacare, the President’s signature domestic achievement. The recovery was stalling; Republicans were preparing to unleash $1 billion in super PAC ads; Obama’s reelection seemed perilous; and Dem control of the Senate was in doubt. It looked perfectly possible that the congressional GOP’s strategy of obstruction at every turn could be rewarded by voters, possibly with a return of one party rule to the GOP. The Obama experiment appeared headed for failure, and the prospects for the future of progressive reform were teetering on the brink.

Instead, Obamacare survived. Obama has been reelected with a resounding victory in the electoral college (the popular vote is outstanding). Democrats have routed Republicans in the Senate races. A progressive champion has been sent to the Upper Chamber in the person of Elizabeth Warren. The first openly gay Senator — Tammy Baldwin, another solid liberal — joins her. The Dem majority will be more progressive and energetic. In Maryland, gay marriage has been ratified by popular vote for the first time.
……………………………………………………………………………..

Obamacare will survive. It will continue to be implemented, and provided that it works, it will grow in popularity as its benefits kick in. The health law will slowly get woven into the fabric of American life, just as the major progressive reforms of the 20th Century did over time.

The economy is likely to continue to recover. If Mitt Romney had won, he and his ideas (tax cuts, deregulation, unshackling the free market) might have been associated with the recovery, leaving Keynesianism and stimulus spending thoroughly discredited. Instead, Obama and Democrats will hopefully gain more credit for the ongoing recovery, and perhaps the idea that government can act to fix the economy will get rehabilitated. Warren’s victory is important here, too: The most vocal advocate of progressive taxation in the country was sent to the Senate, at a time when the argument over whether to raise taxes on the rich to help fix our fiscal problems is about to climax.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/a-big-night-for-democrats-and-liberals/2012/11/07/d19a690e-2892-11e2-bab2-eda299503684_blog.html

DANG! Y’all did the damn thing Milwaukee!

87% of registered voters voted in Milwaukee

By Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel
Nov. 7, 2012 4:03 p.m.

The Milwaukee Election Commission reports that 288,549 voters cast their ballots on Tuesday in the election, which turns out to be a 87% turnout rate among registered voters.

By comparison, 275,042 people voted four years ago, for a 80.3% turnout rate among registered voters. In 2004, 277,535 voters cast their ballots, good for a 69.9% turnout rate among registered voters.
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/177734161.html

Tester, Heitkamp push Senate Dems to 55
By Steve Benen
Wed Nov 7, 2012 2:07 PM EST.

Following up on an earlier item, the two unresolved U.S. Senate races have been called, both in Democrats’ favor.

This was true in Montana..

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester prevailed Wednesday in a tight re-election battle, beating back nearly two years of attacks for his support of some Obama administration policies to hand Republican U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg his first election loss since 1996. [...]

“I have been waiting a long time to say this. It is over,” Tester told supporters early Wednesday.

…and in North Dakota.

Republican Rick Berg concedes US Senate race in North Dakota to Democrat Heidi Heitkamp.

Heitkamp’s red-state victory is especially impressive, given that it came on the same day as North Dakota voters supported Mitt Romney by 20 points, and supported a Republican governor by 29 points. The former state attorney general proved to be one of 2012′s most impressive candidates.
…………………………………

Finally, consider this jaw-dropper: in a year that was supposed to be awful for Senate Dems, zero Democratic incumbents lost this year. Literally, none.

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/11/07/14999043-tester-heitkamp-push-senate-dems-to-55?lite.

Rove has some explaining to do
By Steve Benen
Wed Nov 7, 2012 11:29 AM EST

I imagine there are some fascinating behind-the-scenes conversations taking place in the political world this morning, but the chats I’d especially like to hear are the ones between the most generous Republican donors and the party officials who didn’t deliver.

Precise estimates vary, but by all accounts, Republican casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, for example, invested tens of millions of dollars in the 2012 cycle, including writing several large checks to Rove’s Crossroads attack operation. Rove effectively told Adelson and other hyper-wealthy donors, “Give me your money and I’ll deliver the election results you want.”

The checks came. The victories didn’t.

With Republicans already in control of the House, Crossroads, Restore Our Future, and related groups seemed to think it was simply a matter of finances — if they could raise the necessary resources, they could “carpetbomb” Democratic candidates, win the Senate, and take the White House. Democrats wouldn’t know what hit them.

It wasn’t a bad theory; it just failed miserably. President Obama appears to have ended up with 332 electoral votes, and the Democratic majority in the Senate got bigger, not smaller. When Rove’s phone rings today, and angry billionaires want to know what kind of return on investment they received, I honestly have no idea what he can say to justify such widespread failures

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/11/07/14996347-rove-has-some-explaining-to-do?lite

A new, more progressive Senate

By Steve Benen
Wed Nov 7, 2012 8:59 AM EST

When Republican strategists come up with a game plan for the 2014 midterms, I suspect page one will include a rather straightforward piece of advice: “Let’s not talk about rape this year.”

As thing stand this morning, Senate Democrats have a 52-seat majority. If Maine’s Angus King (I) caucuses with Dems — and efforts are already well underway to make that happen — that becomes a 53-seat majority. If Montana’s Jon Tester and North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp hang on to win their races — and both are ahead in unofficial vote counts — then the new Senate will have a 55-seat Democratic majority, and Dems will have earned a net gain of two seats for the cycle.

Earlier in the year, this was simply inconceivable. Democrats had 23 seats to defend, many in reliably-red states, while Republicans had only 10. Karl Rove and others had raised truckloads full of cash to crush Democratic candidates, and buy the chamber for the GOP.

And yet, it now appears Democrats will have expanded their majority in 2012. Indeed, it is now the fourth consecutive cycle in which voters have elected a Democratically-controlled Senate, despite all the cyclical and institutional reasons this seemed impossible.

And how did this happen? A variety of factors, of course, led to state-by-state victories, but the role of rape rhetoric no doubt played a meaningful part.

In Missouri, incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) handpicked right-wing Rep. Todd Akin (R) as her preferred challenger, assuming he’d be the easiest Republican to defeat, and she was right — he sealed his fate with the legendary “forcible rape” comments. The year’s most vulnerable Democratic incumbent ended up winning by 16 points.

Similarly, in Indiana, Sen. Dick Lugar was defeated in a Republican primary by Richard Mourdock, whose campaign went into a tailspin when he said rape pregnancies are “something that God intended to happen.” Sen.-elect Joe Donnelly (D) won by six, even as other Republicans cruised in the state.

It may seem hyperbolic, but the truth is, we’ll have a more Democratic Senate because the GOP’s far-right base elected unhinged and unelectable conservatives who said ridiculous things about rape.

But we can take this one step further when looking at the larger Senate membership.

——————————————————————————–

The New York Times’ David Firestone raised a point that’s slowly been making the rounds.

It’s rarely wise to make upbeat predictions about a group of lawmakers as reliably disappointing as the United States Senate. But with President Obama winning re-election and Democrats having a strong night in several states, this is not an impossible political fantasy:

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/11/07/14993545-a-new-more-progressive-senate?lite

Gun sales jump on Obama re-election
Some fear president will restrict ownership
Published 5:09 PM EST Nov 07, 2012

FAIRFIELD, Ohio — The outcome of Tuesday’s presidential election has spiked gun and ammunition sales.

The re-election of President Barack Obama was the subject of much conversation Wednesday at Gary’s Guns in Fairfield, where some regulars feared the Democrat would push for stricter gun laws.

“Well, I just hope we don’t lose any more rights than we’ve already lost,” said gun owner Clarence Turner.

Shop owner Gary Metcalf said he’s seen a recent jump in concealed carry permits.

“I sold over 100 handguns last month and it was all carry and conceal,” Metcalfe said.

He said his distributors are getting lots of calls for assault rifles, too.

Read more: http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/butler-county/Gun-sales-jump-on-Obama-re-election/-/13601510/17317362/-/xq28yt/-/index.html#ixzz2BaPlVAuH

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