Voters Send Message To Washington: We’re Idiots

Posted by on November 3, 2010 at 11:05 am. 26 Comments :

The party’s over, America. And, unfortunately, it isn’t the Tea Party. Prepare to follow in the footsteps of the Romans, the Greeks, the Brits, the Grand Fenwicks. The empire has fallen into the grip of a powerful cadre of overseers who suffer delusions and celebrate ignorance.

This morning we will be plagued by ceaseless and insufferable speeches about what message the American people are sending. But the all too obvious summation boils down to a populace that has resolutely turned toward Washington and shouted: We’re idiots!

That’s right. We are a nation that can be easily manipulated by disingenuous flattery, horror stories of marauding, alien, socialists, and offers of extravagant and unpaid for gifts of tax cuts and magically disappearing deficits. We are a gullible lot and are anxious for anyone with a sword and a smile to rescue us from the certain doom that was manufactured by our reputed saviors. We are desperately grasping for the rays of light that emanate from our electronic herald of Armageddon, Fox News, as we pray for salvation and mercy. [Note: Two Fox News contributors were elected. John Kasich, governor of Ohio, and Pam Biondi, Attorney General of Florida]

It’s hard to put a positive spin on last night’s disappointing election results if you aren’t fully steeped in Tea Baggery. Turning the House over to an angry Republican mob is about as disturbing a development as can be imagined. The specter of a sobbing John Boehner pretending to grab the reins of power is ironic imagery, to say the least. And the inevitable gloating of repugnant characters like Sarah Palin, Karl Rove, Jim DeMint, and Glenn Beck is chilling indeed. But there are reasons to maintain hope.

First of all, Sarah Palin’s vaunted Mama Grizzlies were more like harmless Teddy Bears. Sharron Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Linda McMahon, and Carly Fiorina all lost. Each of those races were hijacked by Tea Partiers who arguably performed worse than the establishment Republicans they beat in the primaries. So Palin likely helped Democrats preserve their majority in the Senate. Thanks Sarah.

California was a particularly bright spot for Democrats. They won every statewide race and maintained a majority congressional caucus. And it looks like Colorado Democrats muscled through victories for both governor and senate over world-class wackos Tom Tancredo and Ken Buck respectively. Also, West Virginia’s John Raese and Alaska’s Joe Miller, both Papa Grizzlies, were rejected by voters. In Miller’s case the loss was a personal rebuke of Palin in her home state as her nemesis Lisa Murkowski trounced Palin’s Tea Party palooka with an unprecedented write in campaign. These, and other races that bucked the red tide, offer some solace and hope for future renewal.

So where does this leave America? As disheartening as it is that so many people would vote for so much stupidity, it probably doesn’t have as much of an impact on lawmaking as one might think. The Democratic House was repeatedly thwarted for the past two years by a Senate whose rules allowed a minority of right-wingers to impose gridlock. Now the Republican House will get to see what it’s like to pass bills that go to the Senate to languish and die.

Furthermore, Republicans have exceedingly over-promised their constituents. They campaigned on a platform of cutting taxes and reducing the deficit. But they offered no plans to achieve any of it. They are going to find that it is much easier to complain about spending than it is to actually cut programs that people support and depend upon.

The new Republican House majority is sitting on a precarious precipice. They have already announced that their top priority will be to insure that Barack Obama is a one-term president. The best way to do that is to prevent any progress on legislation that will benefit the country on economy and jobs. But if they do that they will be held accountable as well and will likely get shoved back into minority status. This congress has a heavy burden to produce tangible results. That is, unless the Tea Party is a pretentious facade of partisan Republicans that never had the courage of their convictions in the first place. Uh oh.

Washington is going to start making noises about working together for the good of the nation. They do this after every election, but it is even more important now. Their natural impulse will be to espouse the bipartisan rhetoric of compromise while ignoring the reality of it entirely. But due to the severity of the nation’s problems, Democrats and Republicans have something in common that may cause them to behave out of character. They both need to have trophies to display in 2012 in order to get reelected. They need to make progress on improving the economy and creating jobs, but that progress conflicts with what the GOP claims is their first priority, beating Obama.

It will be interesting to see what happens if the Republican House fails to move legislation that gets results. Will the Tea Party stay true to their professed ideals and throw the bums out? If not, then the dishonesty of their movement will be revealed. They will be exposed as nothing more than noisy Republicans. And the rest of the country will be justified in asking them politely to shut the fuck up.

Good luck, America. We’re going to need it.

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26 thoughts on “Voters Send Message To Washington: We’re Idiots”

  1. What will likely happen to the GOP is what usually happens to the party in power: they will spend all their time bickering among themselves and in-fighting over ideological purity, while ignoring whatever agenda they thought they were bringing. Mark my word: just as in the GOP primaries,there will be relentless friction between the GOP establishment (McConnell, Boehner, Cantor) and the insurgent Tea Baggers (Palin, Paul, Bachmann), with the establishment trying to kick the Baggers out of the country club and send them back to the trailer park where they belong (witness the recent Huckabee/Rove spat as evidence of this).

    • This one is hard to call. Ordinarily the novice insurgents are quickly seduced by the power and privilege of DC. But the Tea Baggers are less predictable. They may be more resistant to their GOP superiors. What’s more, the GOP superiors know that many of the Baggers got there without them, so they may not have as much clout.

      They’ll be circling each other for a few weeks to see who flinches. But all bets are off if the Baggers ditch the GOP leadership (McConnell, Boehner). Then it’s war.

      • The result is that the GOP will continue to splinter, while the Dems regroup and unify. This is the same thing that happened after the Dems won big in 2008–they splintered while the GOP regrouped. The Dems are probably even worse than the GOP in becoming fractious after seizing power, which is why they never achieve their goals. Remember what Will Rogers said: “I don’t belong to an organized political party. I’m a Democrat.” It will be interesting to see if the GOP can avoid disintegration.

    • I think the Republicans in the House can indulge their Tea Party wing all they like for the next 2 years. They can be totally irresponsible, all the while posing for Fox and 2012, in the sure knowledge that anything crazy they pass won’t go anywhere. My guess is there will be an escalation of lunacy as the right-wing noise machine’s and House agendas merge into one.

      I know one thing….every time the level of public discourse has hit a new low, and the thought of it descending any lower seems impossible, it does anyway. I’m preparing myself for another descent.

  2. How about crazy ass Grayson in Florida! I’m sure you were thrilled about that!

    • I was more upset with the Sestak loss in PA. He was an effective congressman, a decorated admiral, and would have made a great senator.

      Grayson was great entertainment. I think he would make a better talk radio host than congressman. He was swept into a GOP district during a Democratic wave in 2008. It was always regarded as a tough seat to hold.

      • Well from an actual Pennsylvania voter – I’m 100% glad Pat Toomey won – we’ll be better off – I’m sure.

  3. What an eloquent, cathartic post. I’m emailing it to all I think will appreciate it.

    • Since you didn’t bother to inform readers of what thesis you think needs revisitation, I’ll help out.

      Your first link is to my article on how “Fox News is Killing the Republican Party.” That is still true and nothing you posted refutes it. The article’s premise is that Fox promotes the most insane factions on the right and that that isn’t good for the GOP. What’s your argument with that? Repubs would control the senate today were it not for the Crazy Caucus holding court on Fox.

      Your other links are entirely irrelevant to my article. I can only guess that you included them because you like to hype Fox’s ratings (which have no bearing in my argument) and you think the Washington Times has some semblance of credibility (it doesn’t).

      But thanks for stopping by and contributing nothing to the discussion.

  5. Voters send message to left-wingers in America: We aren’t buying your lies, your insults, nor your hate. God bless America.

    • But you are buying the right-wing lies, insults, and hate. And that’s far worse.

  6. Rubbish. Left-wingers spew lies and hate on an exponential level. And the American voters had enough.

  7. That message was sent 2 years ago when the voters put that clown Barak Obama in as president. This was buyers remorse.

  8. One day you will understand liberalism is a no go to the majority of people. Guys like Barak Obama win when they aren’t campaigning as a lib – get used to it. As stated many many times, the people aren’t buying what your selling. Accept the blunt assessment – by the way calling everyone stupid that doesn’t accept your ideas of what’s best isn’t going to get you too far. You’re no better than your arch enemy Glenn Beck, just read what your write – according to so many on this site – us right leaning people are dumb knuckle-dragging extremists, and whatever other derogatory terms you can come up with. We’re just soooo dumb because we just don’t see liberalism/progressivism as a good option – we like our freedom too much. If California is the example – keep it. I would prefer to live with a financially viable system.

  9. “California was a particularly bright spot for Democrats.”

    And don’t forget Hawaii, Mark. We took back a seat in the House. Djou is out and Democrat Hanabusa is in.

    • Yeah, a bright spot if you like irresponsible fiscal policy. Bankruptcy is already there – I would prefer to see it stay there. More proof liberal governing is a disaster – I like my money to be worth something.

  10. Are you sad that the American people chose conservatism over the filthy concept of marxism? I know it hurts – I think we’re being saved from horrible leftism – you should be thankful and you will be in the long term, of course that assumes any of these guys can be trusted to the right thing. We have Barak Obama to thank for this, he exposed people to the horrors of leftism.

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