“This is not Bill Clinton. There’s no indication [Obama's] moving to the political center. … Obviously he wasn’t my first choice, but he won. And I’m prepared to do things that I think are correct for the country, but it’s going to require the president to move to the middle.”
“Now, the reason you’re here today is cause they want to take me out. This is the only race, as I indicated, in the country with any national significance. And that’s why we’re up and running this far in advance.”
I wouldn’t want to take Mitch McConnell out. No. Way. Well, maybe if he offered to pay for the meal and a really good wine, but … Wait, hang on, I’m hearing something come through my imaginary ear piece. What’s that? He’s not talking about that kind of taking out?
Ohhh, got it. McConnell was referring to primary challenges, and a Democratic one, in an attempt to boot him out in the coming elections. My bad.
McConnell said as much at a gathering of about 60 supporters at his headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. This was awfully amusing considering how clear he made his own intentions to take President Obama out:
And he balked at the idea of deep rifts in the Republican Party, charging that Democrats have just as many differences, but because “the Democratic Senate hadn’t done anything,” those differences have not yet been revealed.
Rachel Maddow’s summary of Election 2012, and her correction of the record regarding all those Republican lies, are a work of art:
We are not going to have a Supreme court that will overturn Roe vs Wade.
There will be no more Antonin Scalias and Samuel Alitos added to this court.
We’re not going to repeal health reform.
Nobody is going to kill Medicare and make old people in this generation or any other generation fight it out on the open market to try to get themselves health insurance. We are not going to do that.
We are not going to give a 20% tax cut to millionaires and billionaires and expect programs like food stamps and kid’s health insurance to cover the cost of that tax cut.
We’ll not make you clear it with your boss if you want to get birth control under the insurance plan that you’re on.
We are not going to redefine rape.
We are not going to amend the United States Constitution to stop gay people from getting married.
We are not going to double Guantanamo.
We are not eliminating the Department of Energy or the Department of Education or Housing at the federal level.
We are not going to spend $2 trillion on the military that the military does not want.
We are not scaling back on student loans, because the country’s new plan is that you should “borrow money from their parents.”
We are not vetoing the DREAM Act. We are not self-deporting.
We are not letting Detroit go bankrupt.
We are not starting a trade war with China on Inauguration Day in January.
We are not going to have, as a president, a man who once led a mob of friends to run down a scared, gay kid, to hold him down and forcibly cut his hair off with a pair of scissors while that kid cried and screamed for help and there was no apology, not ever.
We are not going to have a Secretary of State John Bolton. We are not bringing Dick Cheney back.
We are not going to have a foreign policy shop stocked with architects of the Iraq War. we are not going to do it.
We had the choice to do that if we wanted to do that, as a country. and we said no, last night, loudly.
…
Scott brown lost by a lot to the nation’s foremost authority on the economic rights of the middle class.
After marriage rights for same-sex couples were voted down in state after state after state for years, more than 30 times in a row, this year, all change in Maine, they voted on marriage equality and they voted for it. In Maryland, they voted on marriage equality and they voted for it. In Minnesota, they were asked to vote against marriage equality, and Minnesota refused to ban it. In Washington state, the vote is not called yet. They are still counting the vote and we will be watching it closely, but if you are on the pro-gay rights side in Washington state, it should be noted that it is looking pretty good. In Iowa, anti-gay activists were sure that they were going to turf out a judge for ruling in favor of marriage equality. They had done it before, to a bunch of other judges. They had been successful every time they had tried before. But not this one, not this time. Judge Wiggins in Iowa keeps his seat.
Nevada elects its first African-American congressman this year.
America gets our first openly gay United States senator.
America gets our first-ever Asian American woman senator from Hawaii. Her seat in the House, I should note, gets filled by this woman, a Democratic Iraq War veteran. I’m going to tell you right now that her name is Tulsi Gabbard, because she is on the fast track to being very famous some day. Tulsi Gabbard.
Speaking of Iraq war veterans, Tammy Duckworth, veteran helicopter pilot, she lost both her legs in Iraq, she is going to Congress and she is sending home the opponent who mocked her for her war record, Joe Walsh.
California relaxed its three strikes you’re out law and rejected a law to cripple the power of unions.
Decriminalization of marijuana was approved in Washington and in Colorado.
…Sherrod Brown and Jon Tester… both won, they held on to their seats. Democrats won a Senate seat in North Dakota, of all places, a seat that nobody thought they could win.
Last night, Democratic women swept every major office in New Hampshire.
Allen West lost a seat.
More women got elected to the U.S. Senate than at any time in U.S. history.
The Republican presidential nominee and vice presidential nominee both lost their home states. Missouri and Montana and West Virginia chose Democratic governors. West Virginia chose its first gay state legislator. So did North Dakota. West Virginia and North Dakota? Yeah, seriously.
Joe Lieberman’s old seat went to a real Democrat in Connecticut.
The proportion of young people voting compared to 2008, it went up. Same with African-Americans, up from 2008. Same with Latinos, up from 2008, not down, up.
If you are a liberal or if you are rooting for the Democrats, last night was a very, very, very big night.
And, oh, yeah, this happened. President Barack Obama, yes, will go down in history as our nation’s first African-American president. but he will also go down in history as the most successful Democratic presidential candidate since FDR. President Clinton got re-elected too, I know, but only Barack Obama got re-elected with not just big electoral college margins, but also with majority wins in the popular vote. Twice.
…
Ohio really did go to President Obama last night. And he really did win.
And he really was born in Hawaii. And he really is legitimately president of the United States, again.
And the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not make up a fake unemployment rate last month.
And the Congressional Research Service really can find no evidence that cutting taxes on rich people grows the economy.
And the polls were not skewed to over-sample Democrats.
And Nate Silver was not making up fake projections about the election to make conservatives feel bad. Nate Silver was doing math.
And climate change is real.
And rape really does cause pregnancy sometimes.
And evolution is a thing.
And Benghazi was an attack on us, it was not a scandal by us.
And nobody is taking away anyone’s guns.
And taxes have not gone up.
And the deficit is dropping, actually.
And Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction.
And the moon landing was real.
And FEMA is not building concentration camps.
And U.N. election observers are not taking over Texas.
And moderate reforms of the regulations on the insurance industry and the financial services industry in this country are not the same thing as communism.
…
Last night the Republicans got shellacked, and they had no idea it was coming. And we saw them in real time, in real humiliating time, not believe it even as it was happening to them. And unless they are going to secede, they are going to have to pop the factual bubble they have been so happy living inside, if they do not want to get shellacked again, and that will be a painful process for them, I’m sure, but it will be good for the whole country, left, right, and center. You guys, we’re counting on you. Wake up.
Much has been made about President Obama’s convention speech move from a huge outdoor venue that would hold up to 65,000 people to a smaller indoor arena, all because of a weather threat. Republicans (and from what I saw, CNN’s Dana Bash) insinuated or outright claimed that it was secretly because the president couldn’t fill the larger stadium, so he moved it so the new digs would look like there was standing room only.
But no, actually, the Obama campaign is not happy because it means disappointing thousands of supporters:
It also means fewer opportunities to organize and sign up campaign volunteers.
But that doesn’t stop Obama’s detractors from saying it was all a big plot. As it turns out, the joke’s on them. See, a big ol’ rockin’ anti-DNC event called Rock The Red was going to be held at an 11,000 seat venue:
The idea behind the event originally was as a raspberry in the face of the President in every way, right down to the billboards promoting the event. So should Obama worry that ‘Rock The Red’ is going to wreck his big party? Let’s take a look at what’s gone wrong. [...]
The cancellation of the top-billed artists might be attributable to ‘sluggish’ ticket sales. According to the Palmetto Public Record, only about 300 tickets were purchased. [...] WSOC-TV:
CRVA said the organizers didn’t meet “contractual obligations.” The contract with the CRVA shows organizers paid the CRVA a deposit of $11,500. CRVA officials said they warned organizers two weeks ago that another payment toward the total $30,000 fee was due on Aug. 29, but it was never paid.
Please click on the link to read all about it, because there’s more fun to be had. But this is the best part, IMHO:
[I]t’s moved to a somewhat less prestigious site, it’s gone to $5 a head, kids free. That’s actually $3.50 less than it usually costs to visit The Hunter Farm, so it might be a good day to go, even if you just want to pick some pumpkins.
It is very wrong to react violently, even to whack a doodles like the Westies. There is always karma to make it right.
McALESTER – Members of a Kansas church that protests at military funerals may have found themselves in the wrong town Saturday.
Shortly after finishing their protest at the funeral of Army Sgt. Jason James McCluskey of McAlester, a half-dozen protesters from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., headed to their minivan, only to discover that its front and rear passenger-side tires had been slashed.
To make matters worse, as their minivan slowly hobbled away on two flat tires, with a McAlester police car following behind, the protesters were unable to find anyone in town who would repair their vehicle, according to police.
The minivan finally pulled over several blocks away in a shopping center parking lot, where AAA was called. A flatbed service truck arrived and loaded up the minivan. Assistant Police Chief Darrell Miller said the minivan was taken to Walmart for repairs
Lt. Col Barry Wingard is the lawyer for Gitmo detainee Fayiz Al-Kandari. For their ongoing story + related topics, please click on the link below: Kuwaiti Citizen Detained at Guantanamo since 2002
You can read the complete story here or on Wikipedia.
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