LIVE THREAD: ELECTIONS 2006

[kenth]

And that misrepresentation was allowed to happen by the President. He allowed the media to frame the debate. He was purely reactionary. The times he would talk, he only put it in terms of what was good for the Iraqis. Boil it down and most Americans don't give a whit about Iraqis getting electricity or clean water. They want to know what's in it for them.

[jveritas]

Many wars were waged without the approval of Congress.

[CedarDave]

Burns sounds as if he's going to avoid conceding until there's absolutely no hope of his winning. Too bad; as you said, for a while it looked like he could pull it out.

[STARWISE]

LOL...

[Luis Gonzalez]

OK...fair enough, let's look at it your way.

• January 1993: two CIA staff killed outside agency headquarters in Langley, Va.
• February 1993: Six people killed at the World Trade Center.
• March 1994: an Orthodox Jewish boy killed on the Brooklyn Bridge.
• February 1997: a Danish tourist killed on the Empire State building.
• October 1999: 217 passengers killed on an EgyptAir flight near New York City.

That's 227 people killed on our soil by terrorists between 1993 and 2001; I include the EgyptAir flight because it originated on US soil, and carried American citizens who boarded the flight on American soil.

Now, discounting the war casualties in Iraq (that IS a war after all), and not taking into account the attack on September 11, I'd say that the Bush years are free of attacks while the Clinton years were full of them, so we HAVE been safer these past six years than we were the previous thirteen.

P.S. I'm not even mentioning that USS Cole or attacks on Americans and/or American interests outside the US during the same period of time.

[Nascar Dad]

I can count fine.

1. PA
2. RI
3. OH
4. MO
5. VA
6. MT

That's 6 in my book.

[BigSkyFreeper]

I thought Webb ran on a lot of conservative issues?

All the Democrats who won, ran on conservative issues.

[Alberta's Child]

You're either being selectively forgetful or deliberately misleading.

For every Danish tourist killed at the Empire State Building in 1997 there was a shooting at the El Al counter at LAX in 2002.

For every crash of an EgyptAir flight in 1999 there are two homosexual black men (a Muslim and an illegal immigrant a foreign invader) shooting people at random in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. in 2002.

And for every Jewish kid killed on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1994 there is an Iranian-born college student driving his car onto a crowded sidewalk on the campus of UNC Chapel Hill in 2006 while shouting "Allah Akbar!," "Osama is great!," "Rove, you magnificent bastard!" or something like that.

Oddly enough . . . the one thing just about all of these attacks (the ones you mentioned as well as mine) have in common is that the U.S. government -- under Democrat and Republican administrations alike -- has steadfastly refused to call them "acts of terrorism" under any circumstances.

Now you tell me just how effective this government has REALLY been in "fighting terrorism."

[brazzaville]

Good morning.
"as of right now I don't know what to say except that they won control."

Yes they did, and I have to say hate the taste of crow.

Even Tom McClintock and Prop 90 went down.

All that's left is for me to stay on my hill and grow olives. We're dooomed.

Michael Frazier

[SupplySider]

And that misrepresentation was allowed to happen by the President. He allowed the media to frame the debate. He was purely reactionary. The times he would talk, he only put it in terms of what was good for the Iraqis. Boil it down and most Americans don't give a whit about Iraqis getting electricity or clean water. They want to know what's in it for them.

Excellent point, and I think it applies to domestic policy, too. Americans were never really made to understand how "tax cuts for the rich" go into their pockets. The president defaulted to a defensive Keynesian "stimulate the economy" idea instead of making a clear and consistent case for economic growth. I suppose he was afraid of the media calling him a friend of the rich, using the phrase "trickle down" and so forth.

Looking back, being more bold in explaining foreign and domestic policies would have given Americans something more to get behind.

[GoldwaterChick]

Just another leftist to add to all those elected last night. The pay-back Conservatives did it again to spite GWB so now they will get absolutely nothing they want. Of course now Nancy wants "bipartisanship" now that they are in control but never practiced it these past years. This blood bath will now rival Ortega's. Thank God for the inventor of the remote so I never have to hear Rangel, Pelosi, Clinton, Reid, Kerry again.

At least our pay-back Conservatives are dancing in the street--they defeated GWB. Hope they watch out for the broken glass.

[RedMonqey]

The facts speak louder mere words.

Both of the bumbling but sincere
Bushes are godsends to the Democrats.

[HitmanLV]

'Doomed' would be an overstatement.

We lost. The electorate pretty much rejected our vision. They have done that before, though.

[sam_paine]

if the conservative movement can not gets its act together with respect to enforcing the laws of the land, then forget it.

Seriously....what exactly do you mean by "forget it?"

Forget what? Conservatism? Participation in public policy? Your country?

If you did not suddenly get your way on illegal immigration in the 109th congress, then screw the "last great bastion of freedom in the world" as Ronald Reagan once called America?

Where have you been in the primaries since 1988. What letters to your congresscritters have you written/supported, whatever? Why is it sudenly that you've decided that the great old sausage machine of congress must immediately crank out a prime rib for you or else be set afire and looted and destroyed?

Don't like name callers? Another Paine once called people like you in a situation like this "Summer soldiers and sunshine patriots."

[La Enchiladita]

It's all in the game, Michael. We can't give up the fight.

[Raquel]

"A telling comment from Cal Thomas on News Watch some time ago, Conservative Christians, Catholics, Evangelicals should no longer feel obligated to President Bush 43 because of the Stem Cell Bill he signed."

President Bush and Christian Conservatives support stem cell research from adults 100%. In fact, this type of stem cell research has provided positive results. President Bush and Christian conservative oppose embryonic stem cell research that kills an innocent unborn child, and has the potential to exploit women, plus efforts to control these cells (so as to use them to cure diseases) have been unsuccessful. This is one issue the President and Christians agree.

[RedMonqey]

"Rove has worked hard to secure an enduring GOP majority."


Sure. Tell Speaker Pelosi that.

[RedMonqey]

"Thank you for the dumbest post of the night, thus far."


You give me far too much credit. Those proclaiming the GOP would not only hold both houses but GAIN seats are surely more absurb.

[RedMonqey]

Has it ever occured to you that Bush and Rove warned you that this is what would happen if you didn't try to get the mexicans that were here on our side before you tried to shut the door?

If Bush wants"mexican" votes then he should run for president of Mexico.

[olde north church]

I should have been more clear ... he was speaking of the 8 embryonic stem cell lines he signed federal funding for.