349 comments on “Yes you can …”

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  2. [Leaders of US/AUS 2014

    Palin/Pyne

    You heard it here first …]

    I don’t think we should give two of the leading democracies of the western world away to the nutters and dingbats quite yet, Punna!

  3. Yes, the anti-incumbency cuts both ways. The people elected to the House this year will be up for re-election in 2 years. The Senators have 6.

  10. Puna said…………

    [ Leaders of US/AUS 2014

    Palin/Pyne

    You heard it here first …]

    OK, I give up. Which are you? ;

    (a) A pessimist of the highest order, or

    (b) A fan of loonies.

  11. [If Hillary got up somehow, the Rethugs would absolutely crucify her]

    Victoria, my prediction is, it will be Hillary Vs Palin.

    Dont worry about Hillary, she is a tough cookie. That is the problem with Obama, he is too laid back and not tough enough.

  13. It’s going to be even worse for Obama, cause he’s black. Last time, they call him a liar in the Congress. Something that they will never do to a white POTUS. what will they do this time.

    [Dear Democrats: I feel your pain. I’ve been there. I was one of President Clinton’s chief political advisers when we lost 52 House seats and eight Senate seats. In 1994, losing the Congress was not good for President Clinton. The Republican Congress impeached him, for Pete’s sake. They harassed him. They refused to confirm many of his judges. They shut down the government. They refused to listen to him on climate change. I expect the new Republican House to be even more partisan; even more extreme; even more mean-spirited]

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-begala/a-centrist-democratic-age_b_777955.html

  15. Finns @ 261

    Yes, Obama needs to show some steel. Musseling up to Wall Street would be a good place to start. However, since the mob Matt Taibi called a ‘vampire sucking squid on the face of humanity’ (AKA Goldman Sachs) paid for Barak’s election I guess pigs may fly first.

    Having said that Palin will probably be bankrolled by a bunch of lunar right billionaires.

    Ah the not so United Staes of America….the best ‘democracy’ money can buy.

  17. [OK, I give up. Which are you? ;

    (a) A pessimist of the highest order, or

    (b) A fan of loonies.]

    None of the above. I’m making a pseph predictionfar enough out that everyone will have forgotten if it’s wrong and I can crow big time if it’s right.

    OTOH I doubt the crowing would make up for life as it would be lived in that scenario.

    I do think that Pyne’s sheer tenacious bastardry is underestimated and that his ambition is huge.

    And that the Teabaggers are history but Palin is very much not.

    Especially as she perfectly fits the profile of Rupert’s ideal politician – one who has great power and would be nowhere without him.

    And having had JG break the “defacto” woman-in-charge ice Mesma cannot be ruled out of the top job either.

  19. [ There was talk earlier of Joe Manchin and how he was a Conservative Democrat. I hadn’t seen his campaign add, where he puts a bullet through the Cap and Trade bill. Now I get what people were talking about! ]

    Coal mining is the lifeblood of West Virginia. So Cap and Trade goes over like a lead balloon.

  21. kakuru, I tend to forget how localised the races are in the US and how candidates from the one party can differ so much in their public pronouncements. Much more than here where everyone basically sticks to the party line.

    Having said that, I’d vote for Joe. He looks like he can get things done 👿

  23. So which seats yet to be called in the Senate? Just Washington and Colorado? Oh, and Alaska (no change to the Dem majority whatever happens).

  24. From fivethirtyeight:

    [3:04 A.M. |Congratulations, Democrats!

    FiveThirtyEight can project with 99% confidence that the Democrats will not lose 70 seats. Between 62 and 68 appears to be the realistic range at this point.]

    I’m detecting some irony here…

  25. Mmmmmm

    So, the US looks like heading towards Inertia having the BOP, just when it needs some log-jam breaking lumberjacks to ride the rapids.

    Ossification; decline; fall.

  26. [I do think that Pyne’s sheer tenacious bastardry is underestimated and that his ambition is huge.]

    Pyne suffers the same problems that Downer suffered from.

    A voice that no-one other than a certain kind of Adelaidean could love

    A personal style that makes Ginger Meggs look like he has “gravitas”.

    A location that is right out of the mainstream of the big boys and gals of Australian politics

    A public perception of being a “softy” on some things and a pretty crass tiger snake on others.

    If Pyne ever does get elected as a stop gap leader by the Coalition it certainly won’t be for long, and it won’t be for any election that he might win. The real power brokers in the Liberal party simply wouldn’t waste the position on him. As with Downer, it will be simply to provide a bit of a break while the real players sort out the numbers.

  27. If you want to get a real conservative fanboy’s take on these elections, check out the latest pap from Paul Sheehan in todays SMH. As usual, it is predictable, tedious and pitched to his own preferences. You can almost see the lump in his undercarriage as he describes (exaggerates, actually) Democrat losses. He seems to have a deep and particular hatred for Obama. Let’s hope the reasons are more than skin deep but given some of this person’s views on asylum seekers, one wonders.

    While I don’t mind Americans voting against their own interests just like those here who class themselves as Howard/Abbott battlers do here, it would be nice, if a pipedream, to think that one of the few Australian dailies with a remaining skerrick of balance could assign someone other than a high tory Stage Door Johnnie to write up the story.

    Then again, it’s not like I paid to read it…

  28. Rod Hagen @ 276 said;

    [If Pyne ever does get elected as a stop gap leader by the Coalition it certainly won’t be for long, and it won’t be for any election that he might win. The real power brokers in the Liberal party simply wouldn’t waste the position on him. As with Downer, it will be simply to provide a bit of a break while the real players sort out the numbers.]

    Here, here. I’m with you.

    And Palin? Palin will implode like a huge meteor in the sky. Particularly if she gets the Repug nomination.

  29. At least Meg Whitman didn’t win the cali governors job. I saw some of her ads on tv when I was there early last month and they were really sickening. She spent over $160 mill trying to buy the job. Just goes to show there must be money to be made in politics in the US.

    Not surprised at all by the current results there as the US is a basket case and Americans want someone to blame. I do seriously doubt they will install Palin in the white house as I know she cops plenty from republicans on RW forums.

  30. Howdy all,

    Just had a look through the US election results and on the whole I think this is about as good as the Democrats could ever have hoped (based on polling and pundits).

    Nevada, Washington and West Virginia (+ California if anyone thought that would be close) all going Dem is pretty good. The losses in the other states were predictable although Penn was v. close and I think Colorado could still go Dem (once Boulder county and Denver surrounds finished) so 53-47 (including Lisa Murk… as Rep and Dem indies as Dems) is great. Also great because it fits with my pre election prediction!!!!

    All of this just increases Obama’s chances in 2012 IMO. All he needs is a turn in the economy and to hammer republicans for arguing for rich tax cuts in the middle of huge deficits.

  31. Does anyone else think the US election coverage is pitiful? Where is there AG who can say (yes the total result it 52:48 to Republicans but when you factor in the booths/counties in their case you find its actually the Democrats that are projected to win!

    PS: Exit polls in Colorado also point to Dem win there

  32. Obama will scoot home in two years if he can produce just a bit of economic sunlight and if the voter turnout goes up from the midterm 40 percent to the presidential 50+ percent.

  33. [They are reporting that Dems likely to control senate. How accurate is this news?]

    60 votes out of 100 are needed to break a filibuster & pass anything in the Senate. Technically speaking, the Dems actually lost control back when the Massachusetts senate seat was won by the Republican.

  34. [And Palin? Palin will implode like a huge meteor in the sky. Particularly if she gets the Repug nomination.]

    Palin = Pauline Hanson. An ugly excrescence that the “right” flirt with for a while until she starts to eat their own babies. The worry is that other “mainstream” republicans will give in and play the same game there that Howard did here, by simply incorporating the nastiest elements of the xenophobia that she represents in their own platform. I’m afraid this is will probably work just as well in the US as it did for Howard here.

  35. [… and Lisa Murkowski has the lead as a write-in candidate. When was the last time one of those got up? ]

    Courtesy the NY Times: The last write-in candidate elected to the Senate was Strom Thurmond from South Carolina in 1954.

    The Times article also suggests that the Murkowski camp are confident that the margin is enough for them to survive any legal challenges.

    http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/write-in-murkowski-performs-well-in-alaska/?hp

  38. GG

    Finn’s is pretty keen on the warping of space-time and he’s clearly well ahead of his time. We are the plodders on the surface of Earth while he gallivants through space at 99.9999% of the speed of light, only to return to us to honor us with his experiences from the future. This also keeps him relatively young compared to us.

  39. Fairly likely Colorado and Washington will fall on Dem side. 53:47 a pretty good result given the redwash in the House.

    Senate result very much thanks to the Tea party candidates (Delaware and Nevada previously definite Dem losses in my book). Hopefully the Tea Party will think they have done well and tear the Republican vote to shreds in 2 yrs…

  42. ModLib 289
    [Hopefully the Tea Party will think they have done well and tear the Republican vote to shreds in 2 yrs…]
    Yes, ultimately the Tea Party are much more of a problem for the Republicans (just as One Nation were more of a problem for the Coalition). The Tea Party may have cost the Republicans control of the Senate and now with their “Contract from America” they will be at war with moderate Congressional Republicans as much as Democrats.

    One of the problems for the Republicans is that the Tea Party can mobilise vast numbers to caucuses and primaries to get THEIR candidates up, but when the real elections come around and more people vote, these candidates may not look so attractive! The Tea Party will be pushing Sarah Palin’s wagon for all it’s worth for the next 18 months and they will flood the key caucuses and primaries, but if she is the Republican Presidential Candidate, Obama will win by the “length of the straight”, more than Clinton 1996.

  43. By the way William, how’s your head feeling today?
    [RR, I have decided against maintaining threads on American politics in future, on the grounds that I would rather plunge my head in boiling chip fat.]

  46. [pretty accurate predictions – I think the Tea Party have not helped the Republicans in Delaware, Nevada and Alaska.]

    No. I think the Tea party just exarcerbated what is some classical midterm outrage at a first term president. They had some successful candidates in places, but most of those were in solid GOP areas such as the south. Their big win was Rubio – and, objectively, he has potential to be a strong asset, electorally, to the GOP.

    The GOP got their House majority. I wonder if they can control the tea party influence (in the last week, it was suddenly obvious to them that the tea party might be a monster they can’t contain)

  48. [It’s a strange day when the Dems win West Virginia but lose Illinois.]

    Not really. The last time the GOP won a US Senate election in WV is in 1956, whereas the last time they won in Illinois (prior to this year) was 1998.

  49. [The Tea Party will be pushing Sarah Palin’s wagon for all it’s worth for the next 18 months and they will flood the key caucuses and primaries, but if she is the Republican Presidential Candidate, Obama will win by the “length of the straight”, more than Clinton 1996.]

    There was no 2010-style Fox News in 1996.

    Whatever he may or may not be here, Rupert is a player in the US.

    It may well all come to nothing but it’s a factor that cannot be overlooked.

  50. [Didn’t you also predict Hillary would be POTUS in 2008?]

    Diog, that is why my prediction is rIGHt. Obama in government, Hillary in power. Obama running USA, Hillary running the World 👿

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