Attack Of The Sensible Village Centrists

No First 100 Days plan from Nancy, no ma'am. She wants Obama to be a Sensible Village Centrist.

Pelosi, D-California, said she hoped Obama would "bring people together to reach consensus" on issues that concern Americans. "A new president must govern from the middle," she said.

Topping her agenda, she said, would be "growing the economy, expanding health care, ending dependence on foreign oil and ending the war in Iraq."

When he woke up Wednesday morning, Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan said, he felt like the boy who stubbed his toe, the character in a quote from President Lincoln, who said: "It hurts too bad to laugh, and I'm too big to cry."

Duncan also called on the president-elect to govern from the center and warned that if Democrats moved too far to the left, Republicans could take back seats in the 2010 midterm elections.

"The last two times Democrats controlled the House, Senate and the presidency, they choked on the bone of responsibility," he said. "They lurched far to the left and introduced the country to President Ronald Reagan and Speaker Newt Gingrich."

You were under the impression the Democrats had control of Congress?

How naive are you, anyway? The Democrats now serve the aggrieved minority party, just like the last two years.

As McCain graciously acknowledged defeat, it was clear that not all of his supporters were ready to rally behind the president-elect.

Kevin Neugebauer of Katy, Texas, said he was "really disappointed " and "distraught" about his party's loss.

"Being a conservative, I think the Republican Party's kind of lost some of their identity of who they are. I really don't understand how it could happen," he said. "I don't know if it's really sunk in. It's hard to understand.

Other McCain voters took their frustrations to the Internet, finding solidarity on anti-Obama sites.

"We have to watch this guy and not give him an inch," one McCain supporter wrote. "The same way he criticized every move of President Bush. We have to make things as difficult for him as he did for Bush."

"The new mantra for all of us," another supporter declared.

Already the Village press comes to the rescue of these brave resistance fighters!

And of course we all remember just how hard Democrats made it for Bush! Why, they stopped him at every turn, and didn't roll over like whipped stray mongrels in the least.

But the Wingnut Blogs, the Village Press, and the GOP are dead serious when they say "not give him an inch". And they will be characterized as American Goddamn Heroes while they do it.

When Progressives do it, they are Dirty Fucking Hippies and always will be. There are no patriots on the Left...only traitors who haven't been caught yet.

Job one of the New GOP is to purge the moderates. The new leadership that will materialize in the next two months will be nothing but hard-core whackjobs: The Bachmanns, the Mean Jean Schmidts, the Jim Inhofes and the Jim Bunnings. The moderate Senators will be told to join or die politically. Job two is to destroy Obama and the Democratic Party to the point that nobody can ever commit the mortal sin of resisting the GOP ever the fuck again.

And Democrats like Nancy know exactly what's coming. They saw it before in 1992. A lot of Dems didn't survive that purge in 1994. It took Dems 12 years to recover...only to assure themselves a place under the master's table begging for scraps from Bush.

Now that Bush the middleman is out of the way, they can beg directly to the mintority party running the country for the forseeable future.

Hell, you thought Obama was in charge? Nancy and the House Dems are ALREADY stabbing him in the back. They've surrendered on the first DAY.

Post-Election Winners And Losers

First, The Winners:

1. The Village: They remember what it was like to have some hick Democrat from Arkansas try to run DC rather then them. They will dust off the Clinton playbook and apply it to Obama, which will suit...

2. Hillary: just fine. Ask Ted Kennedy about a 40-year dream deferred. Not our Hillary. She's going to be setting herself up as the Sensible Centrist Alternative to Obama from day one. You think she just forgot Plan 2012? She knows the drill, as do...

3. El Rushbo, Drudge And Friends: FOX just became the snappy counter culture freedom fighters to Obama's Scary Nubian Army. They will be mobilizing big time. These folks made their bones off trying to destroy Clinton: Rush, Hannity, Savage, Tweety and Morning Joe, and now the Right Blogosphere will back them up to rule the Village and tell them how to attack. The war is on for these guys and they couldn't be happier about it, and their The One?

4. Sister Sarah Palin: Palin's '08 VP speech to them was Obama's '04 DNC speech to us. She's going to be with us a long, long time, kids, and she's leading the Purge of the Moderates. She will galvanize the New GOP as the Brave Resistance to Obama's tyranny and oppression. You thought the GOP was a bunch of racist assholes before? You ain't seen nothing yet.

On the other side are The Losers:

1. John Sidney McLoser III: One has to die so that the rest may live. Bob Dole'd out of the GOP and politics, he may not even serve out his Senate term. Perhaps he can vacation with...

2. Dubya Also Kryptonite to the new GOP. He'll get sick of the Democratic pity shown to him, regarding him as a horse that needs to be put down. The rest of DC will stop returning his calls and tell him to get the hell out and take McLoser with him. Will probably end up doing interviews with...

3. Keith Olbermann Yes, I'm listing him as a loser. He's got nothing to do now: Stewart and Colbert are funnier, Rachel Maddow is much smarter, and without Bush to scream at he's got two choices: Press Mouthpiece of the Obama Administration or attack him from the Left. The former will kill his ratings, the latter he doesn't have the temperament for, and either way he risks descending into self-parody. (Some say "too late!") But the biggest loser may be...

4. Progressives We'd better figure out damn fast what Obama's real plans are now that he's in charge, or we'll get hung out to dry in a New York Minute should Obama decide to play the DC Dems favorite game: Triangulation! White House Edition. The Big Dog left Progressives to die and the end result was impeachment followed by Dubya. History's given us a rare second chance...but it's given a lot of folks a second chance to stop us.

Time to go to work. Frame the newspaper, enjoy your drink, then dig in. The real fight starts now.

The Obama Press Honeymoon Is Already Over

Less than 12 hours, folks.

The news that president-elect Barack Obama has offered the position of White House chief of staff to Congressman Rahm Emanuel has generally drawn praise as a canny political move.

However, former Rep. Joe Scarborough disagrees strongly, calling Emanuel "a harsh partisan" and saying on Wednesday that if he accepts the post it would be a "horrible symbol" for Republicans.

Scarborough got into a dust-up over Emanuel with the guests on his MSNBC program, beginning when Time editor Mark Haperin suggested that Obama will be "in a very strong position" when it comes to dealing with Congress because Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are "nice people ... but they're not the strongest figures in the world."

"Obama understands legislatures," Halperin explainued, "and he's not going to make the mistakes the way Bill Clinton did. ... The danger you're talking about -- going too left, letting Congress run roughshod over him -- I do not think's going to happen. ... He's now ... offered the chief of staff job to your friend Rahm Emanuel -- I think a very shrewd move."

According to Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post, before being elected to Congress, "Emanuel built a reputation as one of the savviest political minds in the party and also one of the most confrontational and sharp elbowed. His tactics and approach earned him the name 'Rahmbo.' ... In pursuing Emanuel, Obama is also sending a message to Capitol Hill that he recognizes the need to work with them by selecting one of their own but that he also will not be afraid to play tough."

Scarborough, however, apparently did not see the choice of Emanuel as a signal to Congressional Democrats that Obama intends to work with them while keeping the upper hand but rather as a slap in the face to Republicans hoping for a bipartisan approach.

"I don't think that's a shrewd move," Scarborough complained. "I respect Rahm politically ... [but] that is a very bad sign for a united America because Rahm Emanuel is all brass knuckles. ... Barack Obama, if he selects him, has just sent a message to Republicans, 'Drop dead.'"

"It is a horrible, horrible symbol ... to people that believe that Barack Obama's going to reach out to the center and to Republicans," continued Scarborough. He insisted that "they needed a Tom Daschle" -- referring to the mild-mannered former Senate Majority Leader who was an early Obama supporter.

Let's get things straight, folks. Obama is not allowed to be "partisan" or "leftist" or "liberal" in any way. Therefore any cabinet or staff appointment that isn't:

• A Republican woman or minority (or both)
• A Very Sensible Wise Old Man Of Washington that the Village pre-approves (like Tom Daschle)
• Joe F'ckin Lieberman

...will be too "partisan" or "leftist" or "liberal" and Your Liberal Media will freak out like Scarborough did and attack Obama. If Rahm Emanuel, a Hillary Clinton-style centrist "go along to get along" capitulator and the guy that helped Steny Hoyer and the Bush Dogs roll over on EVERYTHING Bush crammed down their throats, is too partisan for a White House job, then Obama will have no choice but to use actual hyper-partisan Bush staffers, otherwise he's being hyper-partisan himself. He can't win. The honeymoon's already f'ckin over for this guy. Understand that anything that isn't the status quo: Democrats rolling over to do whatever the extremist wing of the GOP wants every second of every day, is just too "partisan" or "leftist" or "liberal". Shame on Obama playing the same old Washington insider games, the Washington insiders will say!

But then again I've been calling this reaction from the Village Idiots for months now.

So you can't say you're surprised. The Village is now enforcing the Status Quo, and even before he's sworn in the next ten weeks will be a relentless assault on the Democratic leadership in Congress and what Obama should do to resist them at every opportunity.

Don't be surprised if the Village starts making the "suggestion" that Nancy and Harry step down. I wouldn't be opposed to that actually...we can do FAR better than those two for "leadership" in Congress.

But they will want Nancy and Harry replaced with Bush loyalists like Steny Hoyer and Joe F'ckin Lieberman as a "new breed of post-partisan sensible centrism".

Hell, I'm honestly waiting for at least one Sunday talk show bobblehead to pitch having Obama having the Democrats nominate actual Republicans for leading their caucus as a bold leadership move.

After all, House Speaker Michele Bachman and Senate Majority Leader Ted Stevens is what the Village really wants ANYWAY.

And Lo, It Begins

Get used to this, folks.

While most of Chicago was celebrating Tuesday night, police and Secret Service agents believe one man may have been plotting to harm the man who would become president elect.

"Police and the Secret Service are investigating whether a man arrested this afternoon in Rosemont with an assault rifle intended to harm Barack Obama, several sources have told the Chicago Sun-Times," the paper reported.

The man was arrested during a routine traffic stop, according to the paper. Police found a laptop computer opened to a page warning of possible riots if Obama won. The man also had a stun gun, ammunition and hand guns, along with the assault rifle, sources told the paper.

“There’s an individual who we have in custody at this time. There’s no charges as of yet,” a police spokesman told the Sun Times. “As part of the investigation, we’ve gotten the assistance of other law enforcement agencies.”

As the GOP was often fond of saying after 9/11, "Welcome to the New Normal".

Everything is different now. This guy suffers from a pre-11/4 mindset!

All joking aside, this is pretty awful. The world that we live in doesn't need to tolerate this for a second. And yet the reality is while the world changed forever last night, the people in it didn't. We still have the same problems we did on November 3, 2008.

We're going to have to work to fix them, and work hard.

Zandar's Thought Of the Day

Democrats got what they wanted, Obama and healthy margins in both the House and Senate.

Now they have 728 days to:

1. Get out of Iraq and Afghanistan,
2. Deal with Pakistan and Iran,
3. Catch Osama bin Laden,
4. End the War on Terror and the Bush Doctrine,
5. Restore rule of law and civil liberties,
6. Restore the Constitution,
7. Lower the unemployment rate to 5%,
8. Get the Dow back to 14,000+,
9. Help 47 million uninsured Americans get affordable health care,
10. Solve global warming,
11. Fix the energy crisis,
12. Broker a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine,
13. Make Social Security and Medicare solvent,
14. Create a society that doesn't need to ever resort to abortion,
15. End all racism, sexism, and gender/sexuality discrimination,
16. ...And win both the gold medal count and the overall medal count in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Otherwise the GOP will most likely pull another Contract With America and the folks running in 2010 will not be the cuddly Chris Shays/Gordon Smith/Olympia Snowe types either. We'll be up to our necks in Palinists and wingnuts running on the "Impeach Dear Leader" platform.

You thought the commercials and smear ads and Village Idiots were bad in 2008? You have no idea.

Now the real fun begins.

The Five Stages Of GOP Grief

Hey Zandardad, here's the Republicans doin' the Kubler-Ross thing:

Stage One: Denial, Pajamas Media's Roger Kimball.

Nevertheless, I continue to think McCain can pull victory from the jaws of defeat. Why? Not because of any complex statistical alchemy but for the simple old fashioned reason that I do not believe the instinct for self-preservation has been entirely bred out of the American electorate.

Stage Two: Anger, National Review's John Derbyshire.

I'm sour about the GOP too. What did it all get us, those 8 years of pandering and spending? If GWB had turned his face against new entitlements, closed the borders, deported the illegals, held the line on calls to loosen mortgage-lending standards, starved the Department of Education, and declined those invitations to mosque functions, would the GOP be in any worse shape now?

Stage Three: Bargaining, Volokh Conspiracy's David Bernstein.

Here's something I think the vast majority of Republicans/conservatives/libertarians can agree on: holding Obama to this pledge, made to the American public during the third debate:

what I've done throughout this campaign is to propose a net spending cut.... What I want to emphasize ... is that I have been a strong proponent of pay-as- you-go. Every dollar that I've proposed, I've proposed an additional cut so that it matches.

UPDATE: Not that I expect this to happen, but it would be wonderful if Senate McCain and the Senate and House minority leaders each congratulated Obama, and added, "we look forward to helping President-elect Obama fulfill his promise of a net spending cut."

Stage Four, Depression: FOX News commentator James Pinkerton:

And yet when it came time for the general election, environmentalists, the mainstream media, and Hispanics all went solidly for Obama, joined by a sufficient number of swing Democrats, who saw no compelling reason to cross the aisle and vote Republican. In particular, McCain got no “credit,” if that’s the right word, from good-government types for not bringing up Obama’s support for drivers’ licenses for illegal aliens–probably the single best populist arrow the Republicans had in their quiver, and yet an arrow that McCain never fired.

To top it all off, McCain voted for the Wall Street bailout last month–once again putting the establishment ahead of the Republican base, putting pundits’ praise ahead of populist swing voters. And so, by the end of the campaign, plenty of activist Republicans had figured out what McCain really thought of them, and acted accordingly.

With apologies to Frank Sinatra, McCain ran the campaign “his way”–and just like the narrator in that famous song, he paid a steep price. Maybe that’s what McCain wanted all along. It sure seems like it.

and finally Stage 5, Acceptance: Power Line's Scott Johnson.

Tonight let us salute and congratulate Senator Obama as the author of a brilliant campaign and pray that he achieves greatness in office. To adapt the imprecation of Stephen Decatur: May he always be in the right; but our president, right or wrong.

I'm thinking however that most of them are going to be stuck on anger for the next, oh, FOREVER. And look, I learned something from Psych 101 too.

So hey, Republicans? Guess what?



NEENER NEENER NEENER.

That is all.

I Must Stop Subjecting Myself To This

...but there's Michelle Malkin saying things like this.

We lock and load our ideological ammunition.

Le sigh.

Still much work to be done.

The View From Six Fifteen AM

The Democrats didn't perform nearly as well as expected, folks. The 140 million voter turnout was much closer to 2004's 120 million, meaning the 2004 turnout models were correct. All those Obama ground game voters? They didn't materialize. With 95% of precincts in, about 117 million people voted for President, meaning the final numbers will be about 123 million, barely over 2004's 121 million.

Obama flipped seven states so far: VA, OH, FL, IA, CO, NM, and NV. IN, NC, and MO are still too close to call. The thing that bothers me the most is that Obama came terribly close to winning the popular vote but losing the electoral vote. His combined margin of victory in the states he flipped was only about 1.2 million votes, and right now he's winning the popular vote 62 million to 55 million. If McCain got, say, 1.5 million more votes in the states Obama flipped, we'd be in the nightmare scenario right now: A 2004 map with a number of states too close to call and almost certainly headed to multiple recounts. We'd be up to our necks in lawyers and lawsuits at this point.

The GOP plan to sue was ready to go. Obama really only won this election by 1% when you break down the math in the battleground states.

It was that close...scarily so.

Don't think the GOP hasn't noticed. Their voter suppression efforts almost completely canceled out the monstrous Democratic registration drive, and the Republicans got out the vote. We were very nearly in a situation where it would have been 60 million votes for Obama and 56 million for McCain, and 3 states separated by only about 35,000 votes total would have then decided the nation.

In other words we almost ended up in a situation where a 50-47% Obama popular vote win could have produced an electoral map identical to 2004, 286-252 for McCain.

We stopped them this time. We almost did not.

No matter how you voted and who you voted for, there are deep concerns with the electoral college still.

Now having said that, how the hell is Ted Stevens winning?

StupidiNews, Morning After Edition

• Barack Obama: Your 44th President of the United States.
• The Israelis and Palestinians respond by breaking a four-month-old truce.
• European markets and US futures down sharply as a result.
• Michele Bachmann survives to win re-election.
• Senator Series of Toobs makes a Series Of Comebacks and is leading this morning (no seriously).

The Other Side

Malkinvania's response?

Democrats won the White House, but they do not have an unfettered mandate for left-wing policies across the board.

260+ seats in the House, 56+ seats in the Senate, 52%+ of the popular vote and 338+ EVs. These are minimums. But this is not a mandate?

Bush had less...far, far less. He had a "mandate" and chose to govern as such.