To begin, congratulations to Patrick Murphy for winning another term as our PA-08 U.S. congressman. From what I could determine about the race, it looked like Tom Manion tried to run as a more traditional Repug (fiscally conservative, socially moderate), and to his credit, I really didn’t pick up on any attempts to throw “red meat” to “the base” (such as calling into question whether or not Patrick actually served in Iraq or not; preposterous I know, but other Repugs have tried and failed). For the most part, I believe Manion kept the campaign focused on the issues, though that could also be due to the fact that the Repugs didn’t have enough money to generate a torrent of snail-mail slime aimed at Patrick; there was something from the RNC that came and went last week, but it was little more than background noise, to be honest.
I saw no polling numbers anywhere on this contest, which led me to believe that Patrick was pretty much in command throughout. And though I was obviously unhappy with his votes on FISA and the D.C. gun bill, that probably helped to shut down two ways that he could have been attacked by Manion; lousy policy, but good politics. Here’s hoping that there will be many more good votes as opposed to the bad ones (as in the 110th Congress) for at least the next two years to come.
Also, congratulations to Steve Santarsiero, who will now go to Harrisburg to fill the PA State House seat formerly held by the retiring Dave Steil. The loss of what would have been a fine Bucks County Commissioner will now be the gain of the state’s 31st district.
I should also note that I haven’t had much to say about Joe Sestak in the PA-07 congressional district for some time because, to be honest, I haven’t thought much of his votes. Congressional Dems didn’t stand up on impeaching Bush, and I grudgingly forgave them. Many of them caved on FISA (including Patrick and Sestak), and I swallowed hard and moved on. However, Patrick has a much better record of at least voting in favor of Iraq war funding with troop withdrawal deadlines, and Sestak didn’t even bother to do that. However, Sestak should be congratulated for handily defeating Repug challenger Craig Williams, who won an Inquirer endorsement because, as a Repug, he would add “balance” to the U.S. House (let me know when they give a token endorsement like that to a Dem, OK?). Also, I don’t know where Williams got all the dough to run those full-page ads in the Philadelphia Daily News, but they went on nonstop for over a week – fortunately, they’ll disappear now also.
Now for the bad news…
I knew Harris Martin would have a tough road to hoe against Gene DiGirolamo for the PA State House District 18 seat, as he usually does, and it didn’t pan out this time either. It’s a no-brainer to me and others who watch this stuff closely; Harris would be an improvement over DiGirolamo in a big way. However, I have to grudgingly point out that we know people in the district who are genuinely happy with DiGirolamo’s constituent service (following up on issues, returning phone calls), and these are people who are middle-of-the-road politically. Some of the issues Harris noted in this post are of vital importance, but I have to say that I don’t know of one issue in particular which could serve as a “wedge” between DiGirolamo and people other than what you might call the “good government” crowd such as yours truly (maybe it’s out there and I just don’t know about it yet – I hope so). I greatly wish that such an issue does present itself sometime soon. It could lead to the justly-earned reward Harris has fought for so hard for so long.
Also, over in PA-06, another Dem (Bob Roggio this time) gave Jim Gerlach a run for his money, but Gerlach managed to eke out another victory (I don’t have county-by-county breakdowns on the congressional races yet, but my guess is that Chester and Lehigh sealed it for Gerlach again). And as far as PA-16 goes – sigh! – my sympathies go out to the voters of Berks County, who continue to support Democrats (Lois Herr two years ago and Bruce Slater this year), but in spite of that, the utterly odious Joe Pitts was returned (probably with a big help from some truly clueless individuals in Lancaster County – again, I don’t know the breakdown yet, but if all holds true to form, that will be the case).
We also fell short of the 60 votes needed to obtain control of the U.S. Senate, but 56 is a lot closer to that total than 51 (pending Minnesota, where – last I checked – Al Franken was losing to Norm Coleman by less than 600 votes and had not yet conceded; like the Bucks County Commissioners election last year, a third-party candidate screwed up that contest but good). I don’t know what our prospects are for getting to 60 in 2010; I’m sure The Daily Kos, among others, will be looking at that over the weeks and months ahead.
And now for some words about our corporate media; Mrs. Doomsy and I watched a good bit of CNN yesterday, and Anderson Cooper wins the commemorative “Beam Me Up, Scotty” award for conducting a holographic interview with will.i.am of The Black-Eyed Peas. And though it was tedious to listen to Bill Bennett drone on and on for no good reason, it was also worth it to watch the pungent duo of Alex Castellanos and Ed Rollins sitting silently and penitently in the background as the events unfolded (David Gergen was spot-on as he often is at these times).
Also, though Tom Brokaw put his foot in it big time here (h/t Atrios), he made what I thought was a nice observation on MSNBC after Obama spoke, saying that, maybe now, the “best and brightest” will consider coming to Washington, D.C. to work in government as a response to try and help Obama (won’t it be nice to not have to listen to Repugs trying to cram the “government is the problem” mantra down our throats for a change?). And last (and certainly least), I was in a waiting room yesterday where Fox “News” was tuned in on the teevee, and it was way too damn funny to listen to their humanoid correspondents claiming that, after tonight, the Repugs could “lose power” (uh, I hate to break the news to you, but the minority party lost Congress TWO YEARS AGO!).
So now comes the withdrawal from all of the hoopla, and we can get back to the business of trying to put our country right again after six years of ruinous Repug rule, to say nothing of what will be eight years of Bushco before all is said and done. And we will now no longer have to endure the seemingly endless interviews with “hard-working, American white voters,” or words to that effect, with the interviewers wondering if they’ll actually support Barack Obama (and maybe “Joe The Plumber” can go learn his trade and earn an actual license so he can be called that FOR REAL??!!).
Update 1: brownsox at The Daily Kos gives us the full U.S. congressional rundown here; I noted the senate race in Minnesota above, but Oregon, Georgia and Alaska (where "Tubes" Stevens could actually be returned as he appeals his conviction - unbelievable!) are still in question also.
Update 2: Sounds like "denial" is a river that runs through South Carolina also (ba-dump!).
Update 3: I really was unable to pay any attention to the PA State Congresssional race between Dem Chris King and Repug Frank Farry in the 142nd district; I always thought King was a good legislator - surprised that he lost to Farry (if I find out more on this, I'll pass it along).
Update 4: Oh, and one more thing; in case "Tubes" Stevens ends up going to the gray bar hotel when all is said and done, three guesses who'll appoint herself to serve out his term...
You Betcha!Update 5 11/6/08: In fairness to the commenter defending Palin, I should note that CNN's Campbell Brown is absolutely right here.
6 comments:
As I watched in awe the citizens pour out into the streets and fill Grant Park I was thinking it reminded me of New Years Eve...but not quite. Then it came to me...pictures of people in Times Square the day WW11 ended. The joy and unity was palpable. I hope it endures. I am so proud of Bucks County. So proud of my country.
God speed to our new President.
Absolutely - I second, third, and fourth those thoughts, if you will. Thanks.
Oh honey, you are just as bad as the 12 year olds over at a blog called "Californian in Texas" who says:
We left Bob Roggio in the 6th for dead against incumbent Republican Jim Gerlach, and Gerlach only won with 52%. Seems our best chance to take out Gerlach will at the soonest be 2012, if we can redistrict him into more Democratic turf.
I note babycakes doesn't allow comments or I would comment that as an out of stater she doesn't comprehend Gerlach's crossover appeal. For every Republican I know who voted for him there was a Democrat voting for him as well.
I swear this is as bad as small GOP off spring being heard to whisper to their parents "Mommy, that nice lady doesn't LOOK like an evil Democrat"...and for the record, Roggio performed even more poorly than Lois Murphy. And even in Montgomery County, he acheived 2.5 % LESS of the vote than Lois.
And did Roggio concede, or is he back to being the nobody he is and no one reported it?
Roggio was a loser. Gerlach is a moderate and if the GOP had a brain even the size of a pea they would figger out that a guy like Gerlach has more crossover appeal then Caribou Barbie...
I will say that I am absolutely disgusted by the "Impeach Obama" garbage I am seeing being reported by the news today. Man we are an ugly country.
I am genuinely thrilled Obama is our next president, by the way.
Here is that blog post I referenced:
http://californianintexas.blogspot.com/2008/11/look-at-post-mortems.html
You like to slam Governor Palin. Here is what she said about President-elect Obama:
"
"This is an historic moment. Barack Obama has been elected president. Let us, let us-let him be able to kind of savor this moment, one, and not let the pettiness of maybe internal workings of the campaign erode any of the recognition of this historic moment that we're in." Palin said, "And God bless Barack Obama and his beautiful family and the new administration coming in."
She added, "America is going to reach her destiny" and then reflected on the first African-American being ascending to the American presidency.
"It says all good things about our country, and the progress that we have made and the barriers that have come down." Palin said, "I couldn't be more proud of where we are today, you know, this minority status now being kind of propelled to the forefront, that's healthy."
She said it was an "honor" to represent working women while on the stump and she intends on continuing to work on their behalf.
"And whatever happens for me in the future, especially in terms of being able to help progress the women's movement also, I'm not gonna let women down. I'm gonna keep working hard."
"
Why do I believe that your loyal readers, and your fellow bloggers would not be so gracious in offering their support to her, if she and McCain had carried the day? The level of venom toward her was unlike anything I've seen since Clarence Thomas was nominated to the Supreme Court.
Why is it that anytime a person breaks a liberal stereotype of what they "should" be, they are savagely attacked?
I will admit that those were gracious words from Gov. Sarah Palin in response to the victory by Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the election. That’s nice and she deserves credit for that.
However, as far as I’m concerned, that doesn’t offset the continually bilious garbage she unleashed at her rallies about how Obama would be a “socialist” and a “redistributor” (??? – particularly funny when you look at the subsidies Alaskans receive from oil tax revenue), which were actually kind considering that others shouted “kill him” and “bomb Obama,” with that life form in Pottsville, PA I believe walking around at a McCain-Palin rally with a stuffed monkey wearing an Obama button. I heard very slight repudiation of that from McCain and none from her. And don’t get me started on her lack of qualifications for the job, seeing as how she was first and foremost a choice to appease “the base.”
Another thing; when McCain gave his gracious concession speech as I noted a couple of days ago, embedding the link to the video, there were loud boos when Obama’s name was mentioned to the point where McCain had to calm down the crowd. However, when McCain’s name was mentioned at Obama’s victory speech, there was polite applause, as there should be.
Also, I know supporting her and McCain would have been the right thing to do had they won, and as hard as it would have been to do it, I would have been obligated to do that. However, any chance the McCain-Palin team had to win basically went up in smoke when the markets started tanking, and I had prepared myself for the eventuality that the only way they could have won would have been through electoral fraud, and after enduring Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004 with the rest of this country, I’m not sure I would have been as gracious as I should if they’d pulled it off, I must admit.
Also, since you’re being respectful here (thank you), I will communicate as politely as I can that I really don’t need lessons about dealing with “levels of venom” and “(savage) attacks,” since I, again along with the rest of this country, watched Bill Clinton hounded day and night for six years by the then-ascendant Repugs led by Dole and Gingrich and their right-wing-friendly media pals. Yes, some of the problems were of his own design, but I often wonder how much more he would have been able to accomplish if the congressional Repugs had an inkling to work with him on anything besides welfare “reform,” eliminating regulation of the financial services industry, NAFTA and very little else beyond that.
If liberals/progressives/Democrats display any "venom", it's a learned response. When in Rome, and all, and since conservatives/Republicans seem to prefer that particular manner of criticism, I fail to see how they can expect to be treated with kid gloves when the situation is reversed.
I'd also note that whenever I've seen a liberal get snarky, they do so using their name.
Doomsy sez: "after tonight, the Repugs could “lose power” (uh, I hate to break the news to you, but the minority party lost Congress TWO YEARS AGO!)."
Even when the Republicans havent held the seats, they've held the power since the Reagan years simply by being the ones who framed the terms used in the debates and policies.
As long as the Democrats are playing defense in the War of Words, they wont truly hold power. I have hope that Obama may be up to the challenge on that front, though. His handling of the Republican Lie Machine was masterful, and indicates that he was somehow bypassing their definitions and substituting his own (the race speech during the Wright affair was a good example of that).
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