Patters

Man, I can't believe I almost got tricked by all the spin -- that a difference of 77,000 votes and the Dem's wouldn't have won, that conservative Dems won, etc., but the more I read, the more I find out how untrue it is. In this week's, New Yorker's Talk of the Town column, they have this passage:

"In 2000, the last time this year's 33 Senate seats were up for grabs, the popular-vote totals in those races, like the popular-vote totals for President were essentially a tie. Democrats got 48% of the vote, Republicans slightly more than 47%. This time, in those same 33 states, Democrats got 55% of the vote, Republicans not quite 43%. In raw numbers, the national Democratic plurality in the 2000 senatorial races was the same as Al Gore's: around half a million. This time, despite the inevitably smaller off-year turnout and the fact that there were Senate races in only 2/3rds of the states, it was more than 7 million."

Now, think about it, Bush thought he had a mandate with a "win" of 500,000 votes. So, using that standard it's pretty clear that the American people are really calling for a return to Democratic values, and the nonsense from the righties is simply more of their spin and lies.

Pujo

An election's like a football game, man, it doesn't matter if the score is 31-0 or 14-13, it still goes down as a W. When Bush won the 2000 election despite losing the popular vote, he still wielded his power like he had won in a landslide. Once an election's over, gotta move on, nobody's going to care how the Democrats won, but everyone will be watching to see if they f up. The second they start thinking "we got a huge mandate, we can be arrogant", it'll slip away.

sdaniels7114

One thing that may point the Senate Dems in the direction of a mandate is the fact that in '08 there's 22 Republicans up for re-election and only 11 Democrats. Of those 22, there's 5 Senators that won by less than or equal to 5% last time around. Which makes them vulnerable to attack and should keep the RNC on the defensive. That makes flipping the Senate in '08 highly unlikely. Which allows the Senate Democrats to think in terms of four years to establish a positive record as leaders rather than only two.

patsfan13

Well the dems ran on a hate Bush agenda, and it worked, now they have to actually come up with policies, we'll see how popular they are with the electorate. I fond it interesting that many (most?) of the House members who were elected ran as blue dog, ie conservative dems.

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"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."

BelichickFan

Unfortunately the American people thought that the solution for a dislike for Bush was to vote in the Dems. I don't think the American people believe in the values of the Democrats but it was the only alternative. Consider it cutting off their nose to spite their face. Now we're stuck with pro abortion, pro homosexuality, pro high taxes, pro national health care crap.

It is what it is.

Real World

I pray that the Dems don't make the mistake of thinking that 7,000 votes out of millions in Virginia is a mandate, or that 1,700 in Montana is a mandate, or a few thousand in Missouri is a mandate. GW made the mistake of thinking people wanted him in '04 as opposed to people being petrified of the other guy. If the Dems think they have a mandate then it will mean continued extremism, only, from the left side. The people clearly voted in moderate candidates. The only "mandate" made by the people is that they disliked the current course of the country & wanted a more centrist approach to government. When polls show the Repubs at 27% approval, and the Dems at 34%, it is not a mandate when the Dems win. It's simply Coke or Pepsi guys. I pray that the Dems move to the center, and that the Repubs follow. It's good to have an extremist voice or two, but it's counter productive to have extremists guiding the ship.

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

Patters

Real World, I think it's a mandate to work on issues that affect people's lives and to clean up government. Bush seemed so focused on foreign policy that he did nothing to address the deficit, poverty, corruption, etc. I don't think the people gave a liberal mandate. Even I recognize that people don't want tax increases (though they may not object to increasing taxes on the truly wealthy) and don't want big new government programs. They might favor better regulation, laws that protect people from being ruined from Enron-style corruption, and so on. They also might favor new programs if they're run in an open way by private enterprise. An example of that would be some sort of univeral health care, but that will be a battle royale since there are many competing interests.

Real World

You know, health care is an animal that there is no easy answer for. I've thought about it over and over again and I really can't come to a solution. I think there are some issues that would help, like limiting malpractice suits & barring illegals from any form of care, but that alone doesn't solve the bulk of the problems. One thing I do oppose is a government takeover. I've seen what government healthcare is like in Italy and it is certifiably aweful. I pay, well my work pays, $400 a month for my insurance. Absolute joke. Mean while some illegal walks into an ER and gets care for free. Obviously that is why my insurance is $400 a month as opposed to $200, or $300.

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

BelichickFan

I pay on the order of $450 a month. That's my part, my employer pays some too. I get good coverage for catastrophic stuff like cancer or a heart attack. And reasonable coverage on prescription drugs. No optical. No dental. No general doctors visits. All that I pay 100%. I'm basically OK with it, I would prefer the cost to be lower and not have every Tom, Dick and Harry wanting my tax money to pay for their teeth cleaning or prostate exam. You want it, you pay for it. You have a heart attack and are rushed to the hospital, OK, that's different because it's life and death.

One thing companies are adding is Health Savings Accounts where you can put pre tax money in an account to spend on health care. That gives you a 25-30% discount. I'm starting one for the first time, wanting to lower my taxable income in anticipation of the Liberals raising my taxes. I should have done it before but this Democrat win pushed me into action. I can put up to $5K a year to help offset medical costs. It's a nice little tax shelter for those who are looking to save a little money.

Real World

Whats funny is that in my eyes, you are a very accountable, and prudent person. You're sense of accountability toward education, use of investmenting to ensure a healthy retirement, and smarts in utilizing the health savings shelters are all available to the common joe. Unfortunately to some, they view you as some rich jerk who doesn't care about poor people. Makes me want to vommit sometimes. Seriously. I just wish people were more responsible for themselves.

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897