We can continue to lick our wounds and play the blame game, or we can regroup and do the job ourselves.  We can all agree that messaging is not the Dems strong suit. We can continue to beg them to wake up and start fighting back or we can become our own think tanks and fire up the people who just don’t get it.

Last night on Rachel Maddow’s show, Gail Collins (progressive columnist) pleaded with the national Democratic leaders to grab and use the “fiscal responsibility” hypocrisy of the Repugs.  Less than 24 hours after the election, Jim DeMint said it was going to be necessary to raise the debt ceiling again.  The tea partiers are counting on the Repugs to slash everything in sight (especially all those “job killing” regs.)  So we have to find a way to explain to anyone who will listen that adding $700 billion (tax cuts for super wealthy Americans) to the national debt does NOT reduce the total debt.  Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  Then how come voters can be bamboozled into thinking we can have tax cuts for the rich and still reduce the debt?  Because the other side is expert at bait and switch.

Fiscal responsibility is just one issue.  Then there’s Karl Rove’s “climate is done” statement. And the new House leaders are already lining up witnesses for hearings in the spring to “prove” that climate change is a “hoax.”

And then there’s the repeal of health care reform. Mitch McConnell already is using (and you can be damned sure every Repug will repeat) Health Care Spending Bill to describe the Affordable Care Act.

President Obama has invited the Repug leaders to a White House dinner to discuss the economy, taxes etc.  I hope he has a “taster” check his soup for him.

It doesn’t look like we’re going to get any help from the national or state Dem leaders as far as pushing back against right wing muggers, so we’ll have to do it ourselves. If everyone who posts on this blog finds 10 other sane folks, they can form their own think tank. Repeated often enough, our message will find receptive ears.

Yes, I know I’m spittin’ in the wind, but I’m Irish and don’t like getting stomped on.  

McCaskill says she’s definitely running for re-election in 2012

By Jo Mannies, Beacon Political Reporter, and Robert Koenig, Washington Correspondent  

Posted 6:08 pm, Wed., 11.3.10

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said Wednesday that she’s “absolutely” seeking another term in 2012 — shooting down rampant rumors in Republican circles that she woudn’t seek re-election and might even step down early.

“Anybody who thinks I’m not running in 2012 doesn’t know me very well,” McCaskill said in an interview Wednesday…

There was also this:

…McCaskill currently is Missouri’s most powerful Democrat in Washington. On a state level, she has a strong voice in the party’s operations, although control of the state party’s apparatus is up to Gov. Jay Nixon, a fellow Democrat and former rival. The two now are on good terms and talk regularly…

Right.

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

CONTRIBUTION OF MORE THAN $5,000.00 RECEIVED BY ANY COMMITTEE FROM ANY SINGLE DONOR – TO BE FILED WITHIN 48 HOURS OF RECEIVING THE CONTRIBUTION

C001135 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI 11/4/2010

PFHC Political Action Committee

203 E Main Street, Suite C

Union, MO 63084

11/3/2010

$25,000.00

[emphasis added]

We have a Democratic governor in Missouri? Really? Wouldn’t they usually go from district to district campaigning during an off year election to use their popularity to help members of their party get elected to the General Assembly to help further their compatible agendas? Just asking.

Or maybe it’s because the new republican leadership in the House is so accommodating to the cause of civil discourse:

The Left truly DOES hate the majority of the American people as evidenced by their sour twitter grapes. Sad. Oh well, we shall govern now! 13 minutes ago  via web  

@angelabingaman @briannieves 106 NEW House Republicans, 26 New Senate GOP…bye bye Crazy Lefty! 24 minutes ago  via web  in reply to angelabingaman

@saradstreet Welcome to the NATION WIDE Conservative Tidal Wave! Why don’t you just head out of country and save us all the drama?     36 minutes ago  via web  in reply to saradstreet

What’s the difference between the cool kidz clique in a junior high school lunchroom and the Missouri General Assembly? The Missouri General Assembly has more republicans, but the cool kidz write more erudite tweets.

So, after snarking out a few comments in response to the new Missouri House Republican Floor Leader, I decided that my best way to get instant Tim Jones was to follow him.

(Click here for a larger version. -Clark)

Wow.

Guess correcting his math really pisses him off.

Hearing is one thing, listening is another, delivering? well.. hmm | rt @timwjones The People have spoken (…) We hear you!

1998 = decades #newmath | rt @timwjones PA is going to elect a GOP governor for first time in decades and media completely ignores the story

What are the odds that someone in his party has to take Tim Jones’ Twitter away before he torches his career?

Also, anybody whining about the media not covering Pennsylvania in a year that Republicans picked up virtually everything needs to really get a life. I hope Tim Jones doesn’t throw popcorn at the TV when he thinks the refs made a bad call against the Rams.

I guess i’m not as cool as the people who think the President was born in Kenya, eh Timbo?

—-

Edit: Your terrifying Tim Jones quote of the day- “Maybe some day you’ll both be lucky though and you can vote for me for Governor!” (Provided, of course, that Jones can prove he wasn’t secretly born in Canada)

Barack Obama and Timothy Geithner cost Barbara Fraser her seat in the state senate in HD 24. Obama made the mistake of appointing a Wall Street crony, who assured Obama that if THE STREET were rescued, the nation’s economic puzzle would fall into place.

It bloody well didn’t, of course. And voters took their anger and angst out on Democrats all the way down to Barbara Fraser and Kenny Biermann. Fraser lost the race to replace termed out Senator Bray by a heartbreaking 2/10ths of a percentage point. So instead of a progressive woman, SD 24 will send Republican John Lamping, who has never run for office but whose war chest overflowed with money from all over the state, to Jeff City. Then there’s State Rep. Kenny Biermann, who edged out incumbent Vicki Schneider in 2008 but who got more than just edged out (56/44) this go round.

As a result, St. Charles County is now entirely red, and the parts of St. Louis County that teeter between red and blue are redder. Previously secure incumbents were punished. State Rep. Sam Komo, who won his first race in 2006 handily (56/44) and coasted in 2008 to 100%, lost on Tuesday by 49% to 47%. State Rep. Jeff Roorda barely won his first race in 2004 (51/49), but in 2006 he beat the man he had edged out in ’04 by twenty points. Last time around, Roorda had no opposition. Tuesday night, though, he lost 50% to 42%. (The other 8% went to a Constitution Party candidate, so call that Republican and think of the outcome as 58/42.) That race wasn’t even close.

Freshman State Rep. Vicki Englund went down to the opponent, Cloria Brown, that she had beaten (55/45) for an empty seat in 2008. This time Brown got 53%; Englund only 47%. (At least freshman Jeanne Kirkton eked out a win in Webster Groves with 51% of the vote.  Freshman Jill Schupp, fortunately, didn’t have an opponent.)

And the loss of all those seats in the St. Louis metro area doesn’t even count the races where the Democratic challenger might well have succeeded in another electoral climate. The most obvious of those is Deb Lavender in her second shot at Rick Stream for the House seat in Kirkwood. It would have been a triumph of principle over slippery selfishness, and she had i.d.’d enough Democratic and Democratic leaning voters to put her over the top. But they didn’t show up in sufficient numbers. She lost 56% to 44%. At 10:30 Tuesday night, as I left her election night gathering, no results were in–not in her race. But the bleak picture was emerging elsewhere. When I said goodbye, she smiled, put an arm around my shoulders and said that in the morning, she’d either join the long list of disappointments or be one tiny ray of hope. Love that lady’s spirit.

I don’t know whether she’ll have one more go at Stream any more than I know whether Fraser, Komo, Roorda, Biermann, or Englund will fight back in 2012. Nor do I know whether Obama will give them a better chance to succeed if they do try it again. Jane Hamsher, writing at HuffPost, doubts it:

After a rout like this, the only sane response is to fire everyone in the White House (starting with Robert Gibbs) and admit that your messaging failed. What worked for the Democrats this time? Protecting Social Security, anti-NAFTA/free trade and jobs creation. What does Obama plan to do? As of this morning, double down on his plan to spend the next two years reducing the deficit, which means cuts to Social Security, and potentially exacerbating unemployment. And yesterday, the President “assured his South Korean counterpart that his administration was working hard to complete a free trade pact between the two countries.” Good luck to anyone running as a Democrat in 2012.

My pipe dream is that Obama would replace the Geithner and Emanuel types with Paul Krugman and Robert Reich. Reich just bemoaned the Democratic tendency, after a loss like this, to move to the center (whereas the Republicans, after a similar loss, dig in their heels and stay put).

But I know Obama won’t listen to progressives like Reich. He’s too scared of offending Wall Street. So all I can do is shout into the wind: Goddamit, Mr. President, be a Democrat. The country needs one.

TPM notes that among incoming House members, four unequivocally qualify for membership in that chamber’s Crazy Caucus – among them, Missouri’s Vicky Hartzler. In this very special group of congressional newbies, which includes such standard fringewing specimens as as a proud torturer of war prisoners (Allen West, R-FL), an hysterical anti-Muslim fanatic (Renee Elmers, R-NC), and a birther (Tim Walberg, R-MI), Hartzler occupies the requisite religious nut niche (although there will no doubt be lots of mutual holding of ideological hands):

Hartzler belongs to that particular branch of conservative politicians, such as Michele Bachmann, who have described their political careers as callings from God. In fact, she wrote a campaign handbook for similarly-minded aspiring politicians, Running God’s Way.

This leaves me with just one question. Is Hartzler the price the powers that be are exacting in return for getting the queen of Christian scourges, Cynthia Davis, out of state government? If so, the tally is unbalanced – we still have Christian Dominionist Todd Akin (R-2nd) running untethered in Washington. One such embarrassment from Missouri should be enough, particularly in Washington where they can do big-time, national damage to Missouri’s reputation if they’re not watched carefully, which, given the new character makeup of the House of Representatives, is unlikely to be the case.

Unofficial Election Returns

State of Missouri General Election – November 2, 2010 General Election

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

U.S. Representative – District 3

Precincts Reporting 311 of 311

Carnahan, Russ DEM 99,011 48.9%

Martin, Ed REP 94,593 46.7%

Hedrick, Steven R. LIB 5,757 2.8%

Ivanovich, Nicholas J. (Nick) CST 3,151 1.6%

Wallner, Brian WI 59 .0%

Total Votes 202,571

From the Ed Martin (r-email, what e-mail?) campaign:

Ed Martin for Congress

News and Information from the Ed Martin for Congress Campaign

Democracy is precious, and the very cornerstone of our representative republic is free and fair elections.  Losing by a handful of votes in a fair contest is tough, but our team could handle it.

In the case of this election, the facts are not adding up to a fair election.  The three glaring factors which stand out involve the Secretary of State’s office, the sole decision of a newly appointed Democratic chair at the City Elections Board, and an unprecedented number of votes coming in late from the city and county.

The Secretary of State first of all is Congressman Carnahan’s sister, Robin Carnahan.  She reported having irregularities and computer glitches early in the day. We have heard from countless voters who want those problems scrutinized. Many point out that the for three years the Department of Justice pursued a case against Missouri for failing to clean up the process. “When filed in 2005, one-third of Missouri counties had more registered voters than voting-age residents. What’s more, Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan,… contended that her office had no obligation to ensure individual counties were complying with the federal law mandating a cleanup of their voter rolls.” (Wall Street Journal, John Fund, July 8, 2010)

People also question the motive behind a newly appointed St. Louis City Board of Elections Democratic Chairwoman, Eileen McCann, hiring a security company with close ties to Congressman Carnahan. Special Services was called on by Congressman Carnahan to do security for him as recently as August 26th. Carnahan paid the company $1400 at that time which can be seen in a quick review of his FEC filing.

Then just before midnight seven precincts within the city and county delivered an astounshing late night dump of votes.   In such a hotly contested race and with so many voters concerned it only makes sense to make sure in fact every vote counts.

For this reason, we will continue to fight.  Our supporters who struggled and worked deserve our best efforts.  Further, the voters of the district deserve to have the cloud lifted from the election by either revealing a reasonable explanation for the amazing, last minute results or by identifying the misconduct and hopefully those responsible.  If you witnessed anything out of the ordinary, we invite you to use our online form to report details.  We will pass these on to the investigative authority.

Please help us continue this fight.  We budgeted our race to leave it all “on the field” – we did not plan on losing.   You contribution will help us over the next few weeks cover the expenses of reviewing records and investigating the procedures at work.  Any amount, $100, $50, or even $10 will help defray the costs.

Thank you for your continued support.  We’ll see where this all goes.

Thank you,

Ed Martin

“…Then just before midnight seven precincts within the city and county delivered an astounshing [sic] late night dump of votes…”

They must have gotten caught somewhere between astonishing and astounding near Conspiracyville in Persecution Complex County.

“…Any amount, $100, $50, or even $10 will help defray the costs….”

Like a grifter, pulling a long con.

According to the Washington Post, Carl Rove’s American Crossroads paid $4,120,921 to help buy Roy Blunt’s Senate seat. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, by comparison, pumped a measly $1,110,461 into Missouri to help their pal Roy. Nothing like buying a known commodity, I guess.

Of course Blunt also owes the Koch brothers a big debt; if their AFP hadn’t fanned the Tea Party bonfires, it would have been much rougher going. From one point of view, Blunt’s race was the proof of the pudding when it comes to the preferred way to use the Tea Party. Actual Tea Party candidates who won their primaries mostly crashed and burned (think Christine O’Donnell, Sharon Angle and Joe Miller), proving that there is actually a limit on how many Americans will tolerate pure stupidity; but the cadres did make excellent foot soldiers for the good ol’ boys of the corporate GOP and helped to create the required media narrative.

Addendum:  I forgot to add our own Ed Martin’s name to the list of defeated Tea Party candidates – perhaps because he always struck me as a more of a political opportunist using the Tea Party for camouflage than the real thing.  He not only crashed and burned, but he seems determined to make a total ass out of himself now that the damage is done.

Are we all vegans yet?

At the Missouri Ethics Commission:

CONTRIBUTION OF MORE THAN $5,000.00 RECEIVED BY ANY COMMITTEE FROM ANY SINGLE DONOR – TO BE FILED WITHIN 48 HOURS OF RECEIVING THE CONTRIBUTION

C101546 ALLIANCE FOR TRUTH [pdf] 11/3/2010

MFA Inc.

201 Ray Young Dr.

Columbia, MO 65201

11/2/2010

$10,000.00

[emphasis added]

If they had only waited one more day they could have saved $10,000.00.

Unofficial Election Returns

State of Missouri General Election – November 2, 2010 General Election

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Proposition B

Precincts Reporting 3411 of 3411

Yes 993,860 51.6%

No 933,540 48.4%

Total Votes 1,927,400

Previously:

Have you kicked a puppy today? (September 24, 2010)

Three excellent reasons to support Prop. B and regulate “puppy mills” (October 5, 2010)

Alliance for Truthiness: dumbing down Proposition B (October 9, 2010)

Alliance for Truthiness: dumbing down Proposition B, part 2 (October 13, 2010)