Republicans picked up their 8th Senate victory earlier Wednesday morning, as it was announced that Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, defeated Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Begich in the midterm elections.
Sullivan served as the Attorney General of Alaska under former Gov. Sarah Palin (R). Begich previously served as the mayor of Anchorage before being elected to the Senate in 2008.
Last week Ebola was coming for you and the Obama administration and the Democrats were leading it straight to your doorstep. This week however, Ebola is no longer an issue worthy of our time or money and the funding the president requested to help fight the disease is pointless and unnecessary.
What changed? There was an election on Tuesday so Fox News and the Republican party needed to keep the American people scared in the hopes that they will vote Republicans into power. Well, it worked, so now, after the election, Fox is now downplaying the Ebola threat.
Before the November 4th midterm elections, Ebola and ISIS practically shared office space in the Fox News building. The two issues were talked about so much by Fox News hosts, that they could have collected a paycheck from Rupert Murdoch. After the November 4th midterm election, however, where fear of Ebola and ISIS caused the American people to vote Republicans in control of the U.S Congress, President Obama made a request to House Speaker John Boehner asking for more money to help fight the Ebola outbreak in Africa. Fox News is now asking if the Ebola crisis is “worthy of all theat money being shipped overseas!”
Fox’s Peter Johnson, Jr.: Is The Ebola Crisis “Worthy Of All That Money Being Shipped Overseas?” During the November 7 episode of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, Fox contributor Peter Johnson, Jr. hosted an interview with Betsy McCaughey in which they criticized President Obama’s request for emergency funds to fight Ebola:
JOHNSON: President Obama asking congress for $6.2 billion in emergency funds to help fight Ebola in West Africa. But is this crisis worthy of all that money being shipped overseas? Would it be better spent on deadly diseases threatening Americans right here at home right now?
[…]
MCCAUGHEY: It’s totally out of proportion, Peter. Five thousand people have died from Ebola. No Americans. Three hundred and sixty thousand Americans die from cancer every year. The president wants to spend a hundred times as much, per Ebola victim, as per cancer victim. That tells you what’s going on here. [Fox News Channel, Fox & Friends.
In case you haven’t heard the news, Americans had a massive dose of amnesia on Tuesday. They forgot which party got us into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they forgot which party was responsible for the great recession of 2008, they forgot which party shut down the government a year ago because they did not want Americans to have healthcare. And these Americans forgot which party is responsible for blocking every jobs bill the President and his party tried to implement.
So with this massive case of amnesia, the American people voted for the Republican party to run the United States Congress, and they also voted for more Republican governors!
Consider this your lesson in The Battered Woman Syndrome – she keeps going back to her abuser!
Well after Americans ran back to their Republican abusers Tuesday night, something miraculous happened. After years of blocking the president and the Democrats, Republicans suddenly began talking about “bipartisanship!” You know, like a real abuser does, ‘baby, I’m gonna change, it will never happen again!’ Republicans blocked progress in this country so much, doses of Drano couldn’t help. But winning Congress apparently opened their eyes and now, after almost 7 years of saying “NO” to everything, they want to say yes!
This is confusing to anyone who follows politics, and Jon Stewart’s confusion manifested itself in his last show.
In one of the clips Stewart showed on Wednesday’s program, Mitch McConnell – the same Republican who infamously said his only goal was to make President Obama a failure – after winning his re-election, McConnell was heard saying, “just because we have a two-party system doesn’t mean we have to be in perpetual conflict.”
I was like, HUH!?!
The look on Stewart’s face said it all. But his words in response to McConnell’s new found willingness to work with the President said even more than his facial expression.
“Who the fuck are you people?” Stewart asked.
“I gotta tell you, that sound bite would have been better not coming from the guy who for six years has been one of the sole owners and operators of this country’s Perpetual Conflictinators,” he added.
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An election season void of any real debate on any real issue, simply comes down to this: the best liar, wins.
Who pointed the most fingers, who had the biggest megaphone and the most passionate liars on the biggest networks to push their message, who had the most donations from the most secret donors each with their own motives for getting their politician elected.
These are the engins that pushed this year’s midterm election cycle, and lost in all the melee are the issues that matter to the voters.
After the dusts have settled and the votes are counted we will know. The final vote count will tell us who had the loudest megaphone, the best liars, the biggest network. In this cycle it does not matter what your feelings were about health care, or the deficit, or ISIS or the budget or immigration. Because the chance that these issues survived this election cycle is minimal.
So some will win and they will celebrate, oblivious to the issues that matter, but mindful of the donors they’ll represent.
And these “winners” will sit in office for the next few years planning their path for the next re-election. They will cuddle up with their secret donors and they will cultivate their friendship with the networks. And the vicious cycle of lies and misinformation will continue with the losers being the American people and the issues that matters to them.
American democracy. You just gotta love it!
From where I sit, last year was worse for the Republican Party and for progress than it ever was for President Obama. Yes, yes, I know what the conventional wisdom said about the president’s fifth year, but really, I don’t necessarily buy it. As a matter of fact, I think that when all is said and done by 2017, many people won’t even remember what the fuss was all about.
For example, the health care website was a dud in October and November, but as we speak, over 3 million people have signed up for health insurance through the portal and Medicaid, and the goal of signing up 7 million people by the end of March is eminently attainable. The Republican blahblahgosphere will say that not enough young, healthy people have signed up and that the death spiral will begin any time now, but since they’ve been wrong about everything related to the law (remember when the election of Scott Brown meant the end of the ACA?), why would we want to believe them now?
On immigration, the critics say that because there was no final bill last year that this was a failure for Obama. Not if we get a bill this year, and it’s looking more and more likely that we will. Not because it was a bad idea last year, but because the GOP has finally realized that they are national election toast of they don’t do something to help the Hispanic electorate that is running very quickly away from their party.
Likewise for the minimum wage, climate policy, appointees and foreign policy. In every one of these cases, the president won’t get Congress to sign on to his initiatives, but he’s laying the groundwork for later years or, most likely, for his successor who will most likely be a Democrat. At this point, Obama can do the most for this country by executive order and that’s what we’re likely to hear on Tuesday.
Most presidents, if they are remembered at all, are usually known for one or two major laws that transform the country. The ACA will be Obama’s main accomplishment, but I could see him also being remembered for the Consumer Protection Board and the president who saved the American automobile industry. Immigration would put him in the top ten lists of great ones. The right-wing knows this and that’s why their last-ditch efforts to derail anything Obama wants to do will be loud and scary. But that’s all they’ll be for years to come.
In the meantime, we are living through a trying time with a leader that history will remember fondly.
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Democrats have lost their advantage and Republicans now have a slight edge in the battle for control of Congress, according to a new national poll.
A CNN/ORC International survey released Thursday also indicates that President Barack Obama may be dragging down Democratic congressional candidates, and that the 2014 midterm elections are shaping up to be a low-turnout event, with only three in 10 registered voters extremely or very enthusiastic about voting next year.
Two months ago, Democrats held a 50%-42% advantage among registered voters in a generic ballot, which asked respondents to choose between a Democrat or Republican in their congressional district without identifying the candidates. That result came after congressional Republicans appeared to overplay their hand in the bitter fight over the federal government shutdown and the debt ceiling.
But the Democratic lead evaporated, and a CNN poll a month ago indicated the GOP holding a 49%-47% lead. The new survey, conducted in mid-December, indicates Republicans with a 49%-44% edge over the Democrats.
The 13-point swing over the past two months follows a political uproar over Obamacare, which included the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov and controversy over the possiblity of insurance policy cancelations due primarily to the new health law.
