Alan Grayson’s excuse for losing is . . . .
“In my case, it’s simply a matter of the Democrats not voting,” Grayson, who was defeated by Republican Dan Webster in Florida’s 8th District, said. “We don’t have the final numbers from Election Day yet, but in the early voting, when you compare the vote this time to the vote in 2008, the Republicans dropped about 20 percent, and the Democratic vote dropped 60 percent.”
“That wasn’t just true in my district; it was true all around Florida, and as far as I can tell all around the country, with the possible exception of the West Coast and New England,” he continued. “If Democrats don’t vote, then Democrats can’t win.”
Alan’s one of those guys who makes beautiful speeches supporting grand ideas but, he’s apparently forgotten that voters won’t vote if it doesn’t matter to them.
Why is this such a tough lesson? Give us something to vote for and we’ll get out and vote.
[Disclaimer :: I voted for several Democrats and no Republicans.]
[UPDATE] MoveOn is apparently starting to wake up:
Progressives Fault Economy, Corporate Sell-Out For Election Wipe-Out
Justin Ruben, the head of MoveOn.org, which fought to protect progressive members, put out a statement Wednesday explaining the devastation.
Democrats who decided to play ball with corporate interests found themselves friendless: not only did voters turn their backs on them, but so did the industries they sought to mollify. From Glenn Nye to Blanche Lincoln, play-it-safe Democrats have been sent packing. Corporate interests and oil billionaires poured unprecedented cash into political attack ads hitting not only front line Democrats, but turning previously safe seats into bitter fights for survival. This means we now have a Republican majority in the House of Representatives that owes its majority to big corporations and a small handful of wealthy donors. And, it suggests that claiming to support Democratic principles while quietly pandering to corporate interests is no longer a winning political strategy.
.
I left MoveOn when they threw their support behind Obama in early 2008. But, they’re right about this. Pandering to corporate interests is no longer a winning political strategy.
Filed under: General
He declared he.s been hanging on DU where he is getting his best ideas. This sounds like one of them.
Also, he is from Florida. He should have a clue about the relationship of voters with the D party. If he can think back oh, 2 years…
HONK, HONK, HONK!
I’m sure this is going to be an on-going series. There are some entertaining excuses floating around!
If you look at Grayson’s statement on MSNBC, he seems to have put the blame squarely where it belongs:
Personally, I’m sorry to see him go – he was one of the few Democrats in Congress to understand the magnitude of foreclosure fraud.
Oh, that’s good to read…. I’ll post an update in the morning. Thank you for sharing this.
Pandering to corporate interests is no longer a winning political strategy.
*********
It was a brilliant winning strategy for the corps and “big money”. In 2008 with no chance for a Rethug President, promise the Dems. huge amounts of campaign cash and political power for a generation. Then give hundreds of millions to a political light weight who will sell out to anyone who will pay for his narcissistic dreams. After he is elected, label his pro-corporate legislation “Socialism” and then fund the Rethugs in 2010. F’ing brilliant, IMHO.
(cough) HONK
(hey! That feels good!)
I’m very sad to say we lost Rick Boucher. And to a man that doesn’t even live in our district. I am so angry I could bite nails into. I don’t understand the idiocy of voting for some guy who lives outside your district. His whole campaign was vote against Obama, and cap and trade. But he hasn’t said a single thing that I have heard about what he WILL be doing. Boucher had a Showcasing Virginia program, he brought jobs here, clean water to a lot of rural areas, vet centers, industrial parks to attract businesses, and for me personally, he cut through all the red tape with Social Security for my 21 year old son when he had cancer, and my husband’s VA claim. He was also responsible for procuring funding to build a new fire station nearby, a few years too late for me cause my house caught on fire 15 years ago and it took the fire department almost 20 minutes to get here, now, its like 3-5 minutes if we need them. We lost a good man mainly due to Cap and Trade. Its a sorry day when one freaking issue negates all of the other positives. That and running as the Anti Obama candidate. From what I read the central theme for most of these people who won was simply vote for me I will oppose Obama. Well, now the burden is on this nobama zombie to actually produce something. And I honestly don’t think he has a clue what to do next.
I absolutely don’t get what would make people vote for a Republican against a good guy. And a Republican who doesn’t live in the district? That’s bad.
But, for Boucher to lose, a LOT of Democrats had to stay home. It’s not that they went out and voted for the Republican…. It’s that they didn’t feel like they HAD to Get Out and Vote for Boucher.
Voters like you didn’t need to be told why Boucher made a difference. But, evidently enough Dems in the district were out of that loop.
Did you do any canvasing for him to tell your story?
Same here in NM. Teague wasn’t my first choice, but against the guy whom he beat 2 years ago….HAD to vote! Pearce literally voted against everything for returning Iraq vets and this is a heavily military area…White Sands and lots of retired vets. Pearce turned his back on people asking about his stance on vets while he held office.
So, what do they do? vote out Teague, who actually held real meetings, many of them, with constituents and even helped a military family finally get their deceased loved one the honors he deserved, unlike Pearce who sat on it for years.
STUPID PEOPLE…
I got news for Allen, and the rest. You need to wake up fast, or my former party is toast.
I paid a small visit to Cheeto-land, and they are over there beating the rayce drum hard, moaning about the backward “white right” and dreaming of demographics magically saving them one day.
Um. 62% of the Hispanic vote going for Marco Rubio, anyone? More minority candidates than the GOP has ever had, many of whom won?
Sorry, but the right is not largely raycist, or hateful. It just ISN’T. Maybe it was at one time, but that’s changing too fast for your demographics fairy to save you.
Identity politics and demographics is not going to save the left. This is not 1969. Stop fighting yesterday’s battles, and DO something tangible for the country. You are going to have to run on policy. Get your shit together and enact some to run on.
I like this.
It makes me angry, katie. Conservatism is an ideology. It is not “fringe”, nor is it entirely illogical. It has great appeal, to a lot of people.
And the Democratic Party is going to have to fucking confront it head on, and come up with tangible reasons to SHOW why our way is better, or they are dead.
Relying on the old strong-arm machine politics, relying on rayce, etc is NOT going to work anymore – and they’ve skated by on that for a long time now. People are fecking sick of that crap. If that’s all the Dems have, they are a dying dinosaur. Man up and HAVE THE GODDAMN ARGUMENT about the function of govt. Wimps.
It makes me angry too…. “HAVE THE GODDAMN ARGUMENT about the function of govt. Wimps.”
Another great comment.
If WMCB won’t front page her rants herself, maybe somebody will have to do it for her.
I was thinking the very same thing myself….
I honk YES, for some front page rants from
WMCB.
You have a way with the facts…
Honk!
But remember.that Cubans vote GOP. Mexicans, as we saw in CA vote D
Nope. That wasn’t it. Non-Cubans surpassed Cubans as percentage of Latinos in Florida back in 2008.
Yep, politics really is local.
That’s true–I have friends down there who have told me the Cubans are no longer the largest Hispanic group.
Yes, I just came back from a trip to my home town of Tampa. Specifically my local area of West Tampa. In the 10 years since I had been back home, the Cuban population of that area has gotten smaller. There are more South American Latin populations in that small area of Tampa, which is famous for its Boliche Blvd aka Columbus Dr.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/104364/tampas_cuban_restaurants_along_boliche.html
But I have drifted a bit…I meant to say that yes, I noticed a big change in the Hispanic population when I went down for a visit. I wonder what the statistics on the census show for any change in the percentage of Cuban to other Latin regions…as far as ethnic race is concerned.
I meant to say South and Central American Latin countries….
I think I mentioned the other day that Mexicans lean Democratic, but other Latinos not so much. Florida more populated with Cubans and those from Central America (lots of Nicaraguans who are very right wing) and South America. There may be Mexicans, but they are not predominant. The NY Latinos are predominantly Puerto RIcans and very Democratic. The West is more Mexican and also Democratic.
I think I know what I’m talking about.
The tiniest of Kudos to MoveOn.org for FINALLY opening one eye. But only the tiniest of kudos………
Having suffered the rage of the boyz over there in spring 08, I soon left.
I just figured their kudos were tiny.
Makes sense.
ah, well in Ohio that was the case, 57% of registered Dems did not turn out…..
…Where was the legendary $20 million ground game for the Ohio Democratic Party…????
Good question…
It turned into ground beef.
well I would have voted for the Democrats but I couldn’t find any.
I mainly voted against the horrific Republican ads. I’ve never seen anything like them before.
I voted for Democrats when there weren’t any obscure Independents to vote for. When I did vote for a Democrat, I voted on another party line, like Working Families.
NYT:
All the GOP plotting and scheming would have meant nothing if Obama and the Democrats had DONE WHAT THEY WERE ELECTED TO DO!
HONK!! HONK!!
Absolutely!
{{headdesk}}
I’m glad. I think the elections sobered her up
And I thought O was delusional.
Frankly, I can see why she would. The others talking about running are blue dogs, and their caucus was decimated on election night. The Democratic caucus is decidedly more liberal and generally with Pelosi on most issues. Further, she is a fund raising powerhouse. Finally, she actually did manage to pass some less than completely crappy legislation and given the President she had to deal with that’s saying something. Of course, that legislation died in the Senate where Harry Reid insisted on decorum and strict adherance to the rulz. Pelosi certainly hitched her wagon to the wrong guy and there is a certain amount of karma coming at her now, which I admit I enjoy, but really the House paid the price for a weak President and an ineffective Senate.
“If Democrats don’t vote, then Democrats can’t win.”
Well, duh.
wow – must be an example of Ivy league education!
Grayson needs to finish his thought: “If Democrats don’t vote, then Democrats can’t win.” ergo, quit telling us to STFU and listen to us and maybe we’ll vote for your sorry asses.
The worst election results for Dems may well be the Devastation at the state level. This hurts the farm team for future leaders.
It will take a few years to rebuild that farm.
I have a couple of things to say and no answers, of course.
1. The “creative class” blogger boyz have run into a huge problem: the reality of Obama. There are two mistakes they have to admit to make in order to begin to solve the problem, First, they made a terrible mistake in backing an incompetent weakling who stands for nothing. Some now tepidly admit that. But there is a second mistake, an even bigger mistake, that was obvious from the debates (and I was, I hang my head in shame, an Edwards supporter): Hillary was the only one who knew anything. She wiped the floor with the lot of them. She was the only competent one running. So, the second mistake the blogger boyz have to admit is their inaccurate assessment of Hillary (otherwise known as CDS). This, IMO, they will never be able to do. It’s too much to admit you’re not just half an idiot, you’re a total idiot. But fixing the problem requires that, IMO.
2. Who the hell is this guy, Obama? Seriously. He was abandoned by both parents. OK. That’s pretty bad in terms of self-esteem. But somehow he comes across as overindulged. Like he never had to use his brain. He slid through various schools with hardly a bump. How the hell did he get into Columbia? On what basis? He’s never done anything his entire life, that I can see. My friends are all over my case when I say he’s stupid, so I’ve had to refine my position. Even if he’s not stupid, he is definitely undereducated, having never learned how to use his brain. Like, you know, formulate an opinion – on anything, any topic whatsoever – and defend that position from attack. He can’t do it. He has no viewpoint – on anything. Therefore, he has no principles. I’m not sure he’s narcissistic so much as grandiose. He’s gotten by on nothing substantive. He’s easily seduced by anyone with a strong opinion and he’s surrounded himself by the in-crowd, consisting basically of GS.
This is a horrific situation. The left must disown him now and forever, relentlessly. He is not a leftie, he is not a progressive, he is not a liberal, he is not a Blue Dog, he’s not even a Republican. He’s nothing. Subject to control by whoever seduces him with fancy words and promises. A real Manchurian candidate. Who was really behind his candidacy? That’s where the enemy lies.
The voters want jobs. They want Wall Street to pay for its crimes. They don’t want to be ordered to pay for health insurance they cannot afford and won’t cover them when they’re ill. They don’t really want the Repubs. All they want is somebody to stand up for the working stiff. That is definitely not Obama. How hard is that to understand?
It’s a real mystery… One step to following the trail might be this story my sister sent me today:
From the notes following “Despite the Power of Money”: Reflections on the Vapid Obama Commentary of Professor Angela Davis“
Good one.
Good pick-up, chilling, but good.
Back in the day, she was the secretary of the miltant group, she did all the typing, and printing, and organizing, and that’s were they wanted her to stay, in her place. Until San Quinton came up, and she had to
to step it up, she was not just sitting in the jail house, but headed to CIW.
She understand the prison system like no other woman in America. Knowing that solitary confinement
is equivalent to torture, why does she not call Obama out on Gitmo North, and his record on continuing rendition, and more so, his power to assasinate.
I do have to agree with the poster who said Obama didn’t come up from a grassroots movement……..
Obama was a grant bandit back then, and he’s done a great job of convincing Americans that he got small donations, and that is how he won the election. People believe that, and you’d better now show them anything different. If you do, you get called an idiot.
I doubt that Angela Davis would want to get too involved in politics. Writing books and giving lectures is one thing, but nothing beyond that because her image was tarnished.
You are right that O has no viewpoint. He also has a complete lack of curiosity because he thinks he knows everything, which to me is a sign of below-average intelligence. Smart people usually admit there is a lot they don’t know. He doesn’t care to learn, he is just happy making up his own shit. And no one has ever f*cking once called him on that fact — for just one example: during the election when he went to Selma & said his parents met at the March on Selma — even though the March on Selma happened 4 years AFTER he was born. He makes shit up & everyone fawns all over him telling him how brilliant he is — and he not only believes it, he expects it. Overindulged is right. But I also think he is a narcissist.
Katiebird–that’s more than most have found on Obama. His school records have been sealed (which tells you they aren’t wonderful). There seems to be missing chunks from his life–particularly when he was at Columbia.
My sister is totally into this. She’s following all the footnotes. We had a great conversation today.
{It’s a bad habit of mine to say, “my sister” as if everyone should know who I’m talking about. Which is stupid. I’ve got 4 sisters…. The one I’m talking about isn’t joaniebone}
Have fun with this one….
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101104/ap_on_bi_ge/us_aarp_health_plan
Well isn’t that special. Asshats.
I think he is a narcissist too. He was on TV today–again, having a cabinet meeting. Someone commented that his cabinet member should be out defending his administration, but I think he wants to be the only one in the spotlight. I read on politico that he is going to be on Sixty Minutes this Sunday. It’s getting worse–this need for constant attention.
Getting tired of articles like these:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/11/03/notes110310.DTL&ao=all
Get a clue already, Mark Morford.
I’m speechless.
We’ve already had better than that in my lifetime.
Guess I should have given a barf warning…
Jesus H Christ………..don’t you know he’s considered to be one of our Greatest Presidents, evah.
(notice the ™)
Mortimer Snerd is whacko.
what utter stupidity but wasn’t it Mark Morford who called him ‘the light bringer’ or something like that during the primaries??
Mortimer SnerdMorford is not the only one who shugs the koolaid continually through a straw. I just read this post at another website:Yup. That’s the dude.
Speaking of the West…here’s my take from the SOUTHwest…
New Mexico and a few horrors to ponder…
Haven’t posted much lately for personal reasons along with spending a lot more time trying to keep track of the stock market. For the first time in my life, I’m trading GOLD Miners stocks…in an attempt to build some reserves for when the inflation party starts…..
OK, Ready to Lose What Little We Had Now?? A Story About CRUMBS…
http://insightanalytical.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/ok-ready-to-lose-what-little-we-had-now-a-story-about-crumbs/
P.S. It includes a special hat tip that very special man, Chris Christie, who is screwing teachers and is lavishing love on his own version of “education” reformers….
Ahhh yes, the ‘lightworker.’ Must have been some serious drugs at work.
Our clingy little lives would have been so much better if we could have tapped into that light.
It turned out to be a dim bulb.