Embittered election postmortem (please let's just have this one thread to vent)

[useful idiot]

It was a mid-term with unusually low turnout and an unfavorable map; there's nothing for Democrats to be upset about apart from the loss of the elections themselves. This cycle said little about America as a whole or its direction. Your voters are out there for you to be able to win every cycle, you just need to figure out how to get them to the polls without a cult of personality driving them there. The Republican's problems are far more existential than that...

[Storebought]

Even after reading Mechaman's post, I still don't know what any of the GOP incumbents or freshman actually intend to do in Congress. Beyond rhetoric, the GOP has not done much if anything in Washington outside of what I can only call institutional filibustering, like Terry Schaivo and endless Benghazi hearings, since 2005 or so.

Even the level of rhetoric is disproportionate: it took the combination of George W Bush's irregular 2000 election combined with the Iraq War for left-wingers to equal the intensity that Obama faced from Republicans even before he was elected to his first term.

Yes, my request that a Republican state what he intends to do in Congress when he gets there can be dismissed as whining on my part (or elitism -- by god!, asking a legislature to legislate commands the heights of arrogance), but when the GOP collectively runs only on some vague promise of stopping Obama from implementing some equally vague (in the case of Ernst, dare I say delusional?) threat just looming in the White House, don't blame me for having my doubts.

(EDIT: It would be interesting to compare this election to a "Return to Normalcy" election like 1920 or 1948 -- but even that was predicated on the start of the Cold War. The national mood in those elections was just as complacent, and the electorate as small, as this one.)

[justfollowingtheelections]

I have nothing to add to the op. These results are disgusting. Evil has prevailed and America is back to the Neanderthal age.

[Brittain33]

It was a mid-term with unusually low turnout and an unfavorable map; there's nothing for Democrats to be upset about apart from the loss of the elections themselves. This cycle said little about America as a whole or its direction. Your voters are out there for you to be able to win every cycle, you just need to figure out how to get them to the polls without a cult of personality driving them there. The Republican's problems are far more existential than that...

This is where I'm at, too. Yeah, it was a bad election for Democrats with lots of real world consequences. I can't be happy about that. But as with 2010, this seems like a mirror of the preceding election, where people like Heidi Heitkamp and Jon Tester won elections they had no right to because the overall electorate was so unfavorable to Rs. 2014 looks like the 2004 electorate (the senate losses were all in states Bush won that time, I think; even down to IA flipping and NH staying Dem) with a whole lot more governorships at stake at the same time.

Someone said earlier the conservative culture warriors won this. Yes and no. This felt like the first post-gay election since, I don't know, 1990? There are other issues at stake and Republicans continue to win on abortion, but I don't see these issues as salient to most voters so much as a helpful tool for a subset of each party.

So, congrats Republicans, you did really well this year and knocked out some good Dems who I would have liked to survive. On to 2016.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Sorry to keep whining, but I need to add a more personal note: I have never felt this way about a US election before. Sure, 2010 was a pretty rough year, but even then Democrats outperformed expectations and I could actually feel genuinely joyful about Harry Reid's triumph. For as long as I've been interested in US politics, I've been feeling better after the election than I was before. The 2008, 2010 and 2012 election nights were fantastic moments of fun and excitement for me, and gave me some of my best memories.

Yes, I know elections are not about me but about the consequences for the population as a whole, and my rant sounds incredibly selfish and petty compared to Nathan's. But US elections have mattered a great deal to me (perhaps to unhealthy levels) and this really feels like a punch in the gut. I just need to put this out there. I'm like a child who, on Christmas, discovered overnight that he's not getting any presents and instead gets grounded for unknown reasons.

Feel free to laugh and mock.

[King]

Antonio, you just haven't been following American politics long enough then. People you find despicable have won elections in this country before and they always will.

[Cassius]

Jesus Christ this thread. The arrogance, narcissism and general delusion of the majority of the posters in this thread (many of whom manage to be perfectly reasonable most of the time) is just... staggering. I mean, throwing around terms like 'morally indefensible', an 'ideology that is an affront to man and God' (paraphrasing), 'the neanderthal age', 'evil', 'morally depraved'. What planet are you living on? An election has come and gone and the Republican party have taken a narrow majority in the Senate. So what? The world still turns, the Sun still shines, the birds still sing. Instead you'd think that Sauron had been reunited with the One Ring, judging by the comments here.

This thread is basically just an excuse for a bunch of woebegone politics junkies to engage, with other woebegone politics junkies, in hyperbolic, hypocritical moralistic cant. That's the sickening thing here, not that a bunch of perfectly nice people have defeated a bunch of other perfectly nice people in an election that probably won't change a lot anyway (given the lack of a filibusterproof majority and the Presidential veto). Seriously, go to a mirror, slap yourselves repeatedly, then read a good book. You'll feel much better.

[Mehmentum]

Jesus Christ this thread. The arrogance, narcissism and general delusion of the majority of the posters in this thread (many of whom manage to be perfectly reasonable most of the time) is just... staggering. I mean, throwing around terms like 'morally indefensible', an 'ideology that is an affront to man and God' (paraphrasing), 'the neanderthal age', 'evil', 'morally depraved'. What planet are you living on? An election has come and gone and the Republican party have taken a narrow majority in the Senate. So what? The world still turns, the Sun still shines, the birds still sing. Instead you'd think that Sauron had been reunited with the One Ring, judging by the comments here.

This thread is basically just an excuse for a bunch of woebegone politics junkies to engage, with other woebegone politics junkies, in hyperbolic, hypocritical moralistic cant. That's the sickening thing here, not that a bunch of perfectly nice people have defeated a bunch of other perfectly nice people in an election that probably won't change a lot anyway (given the lack of a filibusterproof majority and the Presidential veto). Seriously, go to a mirror, slap yourselves repeatedly, then read a good book. You'll feel much better.

This is just a way for some red avatars to let out their angst over losing the election.  I wouldn't take whats said here too seriously.

[Bigby]

Jesus Christ this thread. The arrogance, narcissism and general delusion of the majority of the posters in this thread (many of whom manage to be perfectly reasonable most of the time) is just... staggering. I mean, throwing around terms like 'morally indefensible', an 'ideology that is an affront to man and God' (paraphrasing), 'the neanderthal age', 'evil', 'morally depraved'. What planet are you living on? An election has come and gone and the Republican party have taken a narrow majority in the Senate. So what? The world still turns, the Sun still shines, the birds still sing. Instead you'd think that Sauron had been reunited with the One Ring, judging by the comments here.

This thread is basically just an excuse for a bunch of woebegone politics junkies to engage, with other woebegone politics junkies, in hyperbolic, hypocritical moralistic cant. That's the sickening thing here, not that a bunch of perfectly nice people have defeated a bunch of other perfectly nice people in an election that probably won't change a lot anyway (given the lack of a filibusterproof majority and the Presidential veto). Seriously, go to a mirror, slap yourselves repeatedly, then read a good book. You'll feel much better.

This is just a way for some red avatars to let out their angst over losing the election.  I wouldn't take whats said here too seriously.

I'll admit it is pretty funny to see the red avatars just losing it. I kind of wonder if the blue avatars did the same in 2008, though.

[King]

Jesus Christ this thread. The arrogance, narcissism and general delusion of the majority of the posters in this thread (many of whom manage to be perfectly reasonable most of the time) is just... staggering. I mean, throwing around terms like 'morally indefensible', an 'ideology that is an affront to man and God' (paraphrasing), 'the neanderthal age', 'evil', 'morally depraved'. What planet are you living on? An election has come and gone and the Republican party have taken a narrow majority in the Senate. So what? The world still turns, the Sun still shines, the birds still sing. Instead you'd think that Sauron had been reunited with the One Ring, judging by the comments here.

This thread is basically just an excuse for a bunch of woebegone politics junkies to engage, with other woebegone politics junkies, in hyperbolic, hypocritical moralistic cant. That's the sickening thing here, not that a bunch of perfectly nice people have defeated a bunch of other perfectly nice people in an election that probably won't change a lot anyway (given the lack of a filibusterproof majority and the Presidential veto). Seriously, go to a mirror, slap yourselves repeatedly, then read a good book. You'll feel much better.

This is just a way for some red avatars to let out their angst over losing the election.  I wouldn't take whats said here too seriously.

I'll admit it is pretty funny to see the red avatars just losing it. I kind of wonder if the blue avatars did the same in 2008, though.

2008? Go back to 2012 and find posts of people like azmagic declaring that the stock market will crash 10,000 points, unemployment will be 80% and the world will be a postapocalyptic nightmare before we even get to 2014.

[Bigby]

Jesus Christ this thread. The arrogance, narcissism and general delusion of the majority of the posters in this thread (many of whom manage to be perfectly reasonable most of the time) is just... staggering. I mean, throwing around terms like 'morally indefensible', an 'ideology that is an affront to man and God' (paraphrasing), 'the neanderthal age', 'evil', 'morally depraved'. What planet are you living on? An election has come and gone and the Republican party have taken a narrow majority in the Senate. So what? The world still turns, the Sun still shines, the birds still sing. Instead you'd think that Sauron had been reunited with the One Ring, judging by the comments here.

This thread is basically just an excuse for a bunch of woebegone politics junkies to engage, with other woebegone politics junkies, in hyperbolic, hypocritical moralistic cant. That's the sickening thing here, not that a bunch of perfectly nice people have defeated a bunch of other perfectly nice people in an election that probably won't change a lot anyway (given the lack of a filibusterproof majority and the Presidential veto). Seriously, go to a mirror, slap yourselves repeatedly, then read a good book. You'll feel much better.

This is just a way for some red avatars to let out their angst over losing the election.  I wouldn't take whats said here too seriously.

I'll admit it is pretty funny to see the red avatars just losing it. I kind of wonder if the blue avatars did the same in 2008, though.

2008? Go back to 2012 and find posts of people like azmagic declaring that the stock market will crash 10,000 points, unemployment will be 80% and the world will be a postapocalyptic nightmare before we even get to 2014.

Wow, people do really get pissed on this forum.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Jesus Christ this thread. The arrogance, narcissism and general delusion of the majority of the posters in this thread (many of whom manage to be perfectly reasonable most of the time) is just... staggering. I mean, throwing around terms like 'morally indefensible', an 'ideology that is an affront to man and God' (paraphrasing), 'the neanderthal age', 'evil', 'morally depraved'. What planet are you living on? An election has come and gone and the Republican party have taken a narrow majority in the Senate. So what? The world still turns, the Sun still shines, the birds still sing. Instead you'd think that Sauron had been reunited with the One Ring, judging by the comments here.

This thread is basically just an excuse for a bunch of woebegone politics junkies to engage, with other woebegone politics junkies, in hyperbolic, hypocritical moralistic cant. That's the sickening thing here, not that a bunch of perfectly nice people have defeated a bunch of other perfectly nice people in an election that probably won't change a lot anyway (given the lack of a filibusterproof majority and the Presidential veto). Seriously, go to a mirror, slap yourselves repeatedly, then read a good book. You'll feel much better.

LOLWUT!?  The GOP does not consist of "perfectly nice people", Cassius...I think that's what Nathan and I are trying to say here.  It's surprising that you were the one to come up with the obligatory "moderate-hero-everyone-chill-post-election" soliloquy, but it doesn't mean I can't dissect it for the BS that it is.  

-Trying to disenfranchise blacks is morally depraved and reprehensible
-Denying climate change because it is good for the profit margins of your donors is morally depraved and reprehensible
-Trying to repeal an act that has made healthcare affordable for millions is morally depraved and reprehensible
-Giving no ***** about the poor and homeless is morally depraved and reprehensible
-Keeping the minimum wage at levels where a 40 hour work week can't get you out of poverty is morally depraved and reprehensible
-Tricking people into voting for you by pretending to be on their side when it comes to religion is morally depraved and reprehensible

The GOP is morally depraved and reprehensible.  

[BM]

Jesus Christ this thread. The arrogance, narcissism and general delusion of the majority of the posters in this thread (many of whom manage to be perfectly reasonable most of the time) is just... staggering. I mean, throwing around terms like 'morally indefensible', an 'ideology that is an affront to man and God' (paraphrasing), 'the neanderthal age', 'evil', 'morally depraved'. What planet are you living on? An election has come and gone and the Republican party have taken a narrow majority in the Senate. So what? The world still turns, the Sun still shines, the birds still sing. Instead you'd think that Sauron had been reunited with the One Ring, judging by the comments here.

This thread is basically just an excuse for a bunch of woebegone politics junkies to engage, with other woebegone politics junkies, in hyperbolic, hypocritical moralistic cant. That's the sickening thing here, not that a bunch of perfectly nice people have defeated a bunch of other perfectly nice people in an election that probably won't change a lot anyway (given the lack of a filibusterproof majority and the Presidential veto). Seriously, go to a mirror, slap yourselves repeatedly, then read a good book. You'll feel much better.

LOLWUT!?  The GOP does not consist of "perfectly nice people", Cassius...I think that's what Nathan and I are trying to say here.  It's surprising that you were the one to come up with the obligatory "moderate-hero-everyone-chill-post-election" soliloquy, but it doesn't mean I can't dissect it for the BS that it is.  

-Trying to disenfranchise blacks is morally depraved and reprehensible
-Denying climate change because it is good for the profit margins of your donors is morally depraved and reprehensible
-Trying to repeal an act that has made healthcare affordable for millions is morally depraved and reprehensible
-Giving no ***** about the poor and homeless is morally depraved and reprehensible
-Keeping the minimum wage at levels where a 40 hour work week can't get you out of poverty is morally depraved and reprehensible

The GOP is morally depraved and reprehensible.  

This brought a tear to my eye. Thank you.

[Simfan34]

Jesus Christ this thread. The arrogance, narcissism and general delusion of the majority of the posters in this thread (many of whom manage to be perfectly reasonable most of the time) is just... staggering. I mean, throwing around terms like 'morally indefensible', an 'ideology that is an affront to man and God' (paraphrasing), 'the neanderthal age', 'evil', 'morally depraved'. What planet are you living on? An election has come and gone and the Republican party have taken a narrow majority in the Senate. So what? The world still turns, the Sun still shines, the birds still sing. Instead you'd think that Sauron had been reunited with the One Ring, judging by the comments here.

This thread is basically just an excuse for a bunch of woebegone politics junkies to engage, with other woebegone politics junkies, in hyperbolic, hypocritical moralistic cant. That's the sickening thing here, not that a bunch of perfectly nice people have defeated a bunch of other perfectly nice people in an election that probably won't change a lot anyway (given the lack of a filibusterproof majority and the Presidential veto). Seriously, go to a mirror, slap yourselves repeatedly, then read a good book. You'll feel much better.

This is just a way for some red avatars to let out their angst over losing the election.  I wouldn't take whats said here too seriously.

I'll admit it is pretty funny to see the red avatars just losing it. I kind of wonder if the blue avatars did the same in 2008, though.

Yes. This election is hardly important. But the meltdown of the Dems on here is hilarious.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

This thread is comedy gold. Absolute art.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I'll vent, but in a different manner than others are doing. Really I want to address posts like these:

It's really mystifying to me what the GOP stands for, or why the US electorate saw fit to send 245+ of them in the House.

I don't really understand these results and I can think of a lot of really angry snipes at the Republicans but before I feel comfortable doing that... I still fundamentally don't comprehend what policies, platform, or message they actually have and ran on so successfully.

I cannot comprehend why people would want to vote for such an evil to the roots party.

What a load of crap, to be quite honest. You don't think you understand why people vote this way? Go  listen to Republican voters and hear what they think. Maybe their reasons are facile, or they voted off of falsehood. But reasons are reasons, and we have a duty to reach out.

I can think of many reasons why someone would vote Republican this cycle:
-Given we want to cast a pox on all congresspeople anyway, we may as well vote the ones who are at least promising to shake up the system.
-Incidents from ebola to the secret service have shown how messed up the federal administration is, and we need to elect people to keep them in check.
-We still haven't recovered from the recession, and I like people who promise not to raise taxes.
-None of them seem divisive on social issues, and to hell with the law if they want to regulate our lives anyway. Their character matters most.
-Democrats are a bunch of elitists, litigious and uncaring, and they seem to take pride in it.
-Barack Obama does not represent our values.

And so forth. The Democrats can counter these points, but it takes time. What happened was that the hundreds of millions that could have been spent to counter these points were burnt on social issue zealotry, amassing a turnout that never did materialize. And why would they - after four years of gridlock and getting zero promised improvements, why would the Obama coalition reach out again?

Everyone plays identity politics. Don't hide in your Democrat bastions and pretend as if you can't understand identities outside of your own. Of course you do - take the time to learn it.

You can hide in your states, Democrat bastions, and insult the voters further. The presidency's on the line.

Well, of course I understand it on an intellectual level. But on an emotional level, not at all.

After a night's sleep, this is about where I am.

Anyway, I think this thread has served its purpose and run its course. Unless anybody has something really new and interesting that they're itching to say, I'm locking it.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Antonio, you just haven't been following American politics long enough then. People you find despicable have won elections in this country before and they always will.

Yes, obviously, I'm well aware of past US electoral history. But knowing something at the abstract level isn't the same as actually experiencing it. I was 11 in 2004, and while I already didn't like Bush, you can imagine I wasn't very invested in US politics at that time.

[King]

I'd be pleasantly surprised if this election affected policy outcomes.

More likely than not, Obama will not sign anything. Less likely than not (but still likely), the incredibly far right in the House and Senate will feel so "empowered" that the Republicans themselves will fail to even get many bills to the President for veto because they will be rejected for various petty infighting. I also really doubt Boehner and McConnell are on the same page. They certainly have not been in the past.

Remember, the Republicans controlled both houses before 2006 and struggled with partisan infighting to get anything for BUSH to sign. This is an even more ideological purity conscious GOP Congress.

I'm really concerned that once the afterglow fades on this, Capitol Hill will turn into a circus.

[Simfan34]

Last I checked, Obama still had veto power. Nothing will get done in Congress. Hillary Clinton will still be the next President of the United States. The fundamental picture has not changed.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I also kind of feel like I overreacted in the first place.

I was really overstimulated and overwhelmed last night. I'm sorry, for the most part.

[Maistre]

I blame Kay Hagan for losing to Thom Tillis.

Why are you so down on Hagan? She probably could not have done any better than she did. Hagan ran a near perfect campaign considering the headwinds she was going against, she damn near would have pulled it off too if the fundamentals of the race were even inches more favorable to her.

[justfollowingtheelections]

I also kind of feel like I overreacted in the first place.

I was really overstimulated and overwhelmed last night. I'm sorry, for the most part.

Unfortunately for us everything you said is correct

[King]

One good thing about this election that benefits all Americans is that conservative rich people, especially bankers, who were holding onto their money out of fear of the Democrats will likely be empowered to spend and invest even if nothing concrete as changed to the law. Republican wins like this DO historically inspire investor confidence and that will lead to a slow but eventual clearing of all the stimulus money banks have been hoarding.

[SPC]

One good thing about this election that benefits all Americans is that conservative rich people, especially bankers, who were holding onto their money out of fear of the Democrats will likely be empowered to spend and invest even if nothing concrete as changed to the law. Republican wins like this DO historically inspire investor confidence and that will lead to a slow but eventual clearing of all the stimulus money banks have been hoarding.

Then all of the doomsayers about hyperinflation start to look slightly less crazy...

[King]

One good thing about this election that benefits all Americans is that conservative rich people, especially bankers, who were holding onto their money out of fear of the Democrats will likely be empowered to spend and invest even if nothing concrete as changed to the law. Republican wins like this DO historically inspire investor confidence and that will lead to a slow but eventual clearing of all the stimulus money banks have been hoarding.

Then all of the doomsayers about hyperinflation start to look slightly less crazy...

No. The overabundance of domestic oil and gas will deflate the cost of production across markets to counteract any inflationary investing.