Martha Coakley-Scott Brown Election (MA)

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What would be so vile and despicable about that? I think half the people you are arguing with are wishing that this is what is happening but sadly it isnt. You know, what you think of as socialism and marxism isnt so bad. Works fairly well where I am from. Mmm, socialism, that is really what is lacking in the US, you need a proper socialistic party and not those representatives of the capitalist pigs that run both the democrats and the republicans!

 

My impression is that crucis has at best a very vague idea of what Socialism or Marxism actually is about, and he has not ever in his live gotten into real life contact with either of the two - which doesn't prevent him from fearing it very much, and opposing it vehemently. Better Dead Than Red!

In the clear sighted words of the late Richard Hofstadter:

So true. It is good that every now and then people like crucis come along to remind us that the people Stephen Colbert is parodying do exist in reality.

 

True, but they aren't the only ones responsible. It's their job to try to bring their party together, but as we have amply seen their party - especially in the case of the Senate - is very, very reluctant to really unite. The bills have been watered down time and again to buy support, especially in the Senate.

Obama appears to be a little too afraid of what happened to Clinton in 1994 when the president insisted on the Congress passing the bill he had in mind, and as a result is sitting on the sidelines and basically saying any bill would be ok with him. True, he could be more assertive, but from what I know he has been fairly active trying to get Democrats to come together - it doesn't look like he'll be getting much support from the Republicans on the issue.

 

I don't understand how people see it this way. Someone has to be in charge and that person gets the glory and gets the blame. However watered down the bills get, if they pass their respective half of Congress it becomes their bill.

In regard to Obama, the way he is acting isn't surprising at all. Everyone knew (but chose to ignore) that he had no executive experience and was lacking in leadership experience. I hope it isn't a surprise to anyone that he likes to sit on the sidelines and watch. When you are President you aren't allowed to vote "present".

 

It is conceivable, although still unlikely, that the Dems will lose the House. Every member of House runs every two years, and if there is enough public opposition to the Democrats, it is possible that they could lose their majoirty in the House.

It's almost inconceivable that the lose the Senate, simply based on how Senatorial elections are run. Remember, only 1/3 of the Senate runs every two years. While the number will be higher this time around (38) compared to what you normally see due to some retirements, most Democrats won't be like Coakley, and they'll actually campaign. Fivethirtyeight.com keeps a running tally on all the Senate races slated for the fall, and he sees 11 Senate races that will be closely contended. Of those 11, eight are currently held by Democrats, and just three by Republicans.

However, even if the Dems lose all eight, and fail to pick up any of the other three, they'd still be in the majority. Since Joe Biden gets to pass the tie-breaking vote, they would have to lose a net of 10 seats to lose their majority. Public sentiment may be shifted towards Republicans this fall, but there simply aren't enough Senators up for re-election that losing the Senate is a realistic possibility. Even the most hard-core conservatives don't think the Republicans will take back the Senate. Liberal pundits place the Dem losses in the 2-3 range, while conservative ones are in the 5-6 range.

He should be. Clinton lost his Democratic Congress that election. Based on what I said above, while it's almost impossible to lose the Senate, even losing one of the chambers would shift the balance of power.

EDIT: Here's fivethiryeight's latest Senate Rankings. As you can see, most of those most likely to flip are Democrat, but it is unlikely that they'd get enough to flip (while simultaneously not losing any Republican seats) for the Dems to lose Congress.

 

We do have socialism in the US, guys - We have corporate socialism, or corporate communism would be more closer to the point. Almost everything you own belongs to a bank, a credit card company or an insurance company, inclding the government. Now the Supreme Court has made a corporation a "natural born citizen of the United States." The Founders would wig-out (no pun intended).

Snook - Yes, Obama has screwed up. How did he become the political creature of big government? He did it by becoming the creature of big business. That's a lethal combination. Consider that if MA IS a big liberal state, like you say it is, that means that LIBERALS voted for Brown. Why would liberals do this if this was really in some way about Obama? Conservatives despise him because he seen as a big government politician; liberals see him as a big business sell-out. That doesn't leave much, does it?

Liberals/progressives are just as pissed-off as the tea potters, my friend.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/31234647/obamas_big_sellout

 

Martaug?

...and businesses are only allowed to exist if the government allows them to exist. This is no different. The entire thrust of your argument is that the government will put insurance companies out of business simply because it can. Your argument falls flat, however, when held up against real world examples. The USPS hasn't closed down Fed-Ex or UPS. Despite the fact that they've had a public option since 1883, the German government still hasn't closed down its private insurance industry -- and the Germans really are socialist.

 

I doubt most Germans would agree with your assessment about Germany or especially the current German government.

 

How so? That 15% of Germans opt to use private insurance in lieu of the government option is an observable fact that really isn't open to interpretation. Sure, they may someday put their insurance industry out of business, but a lot of people may do a lot of things. The point is that they haven't done so yet.

 

The sun doesn't shine on Martaug? Drew, do you know something about him that the rest of us don't?

I think it was more the 'they're socialist' jab that he was talking about. Mind you, I don't know anything about German politics, so I'm only guessing.

 

Hey, now. Martuag is not even here to defend himself.

There is an old theory, called the Teutonic Germ theory. Maybe that's what he means. As for the big insurance companies, I don't give a flip if they survive or not. Why should I? Did a lot of these cons give a crap if GM stayed in busiess? or Ford? So why are they all bleeding hearts for the big insurance companies, who are able to treat their customers like crap because they don't have any competition? Complete with a anti-trust exemption to make sure that there is no "free market" competition? What's all this boo-hooing about over big insurance?