Hard work and dedication wasn't undermined by the Obama Administration. Yes, I agree America needs social and fiscal conservatism. I don't hear that from the GOP; it's still preaching a platform based on exclusion.

There has been very little change thus far, which is why the two governor races went the way they historically do after a Presidential election. I believe Corzine was a victim of being too close to Wall Street. Being a Goldman-Sachs alum did him no favors in a country that is becoming more and more hostile to giant financial institutions. In Virginia the candidate who ran the better campaign won. I think the test on where conservative thinking sits with people could be found in the Hoffman-Owens election in New York where the moderate candidate chose by the RNC was forced to quit her campaign, which led to the first Democrat being elected to Congress from that district since the 1800s.

You know casooner90, liberals and conservatives both agree that bailouts for companies too big to fail is wrong. That said, saving the credit markets and trying to salvage our automotive industry needed to happen in my opinion. You may disagree. I do not think Chrysler will survive and our car business will be down to two domestic companies.

You made an interesting comment: America needs social and fiscal conservatism to stay ahead of the liberal europeans. 

I have a dear friend living in San Diego currently who worked for 30 years in the record business. He is a fiscal conservative who worked for RCA when it was owned by American investors, and then continued to work for RCA/BMG after the Bertelsmann AG buyout of the company. He left right before the Sony Bertelsmann merger that occurred a few years back. The German company was far superior as a management company and offered far superior company benefit packages to all employees. When he retired he told me when RCA was American owned the company did not give a rat's behind for the employee. The German company actually stressed everyone mattered. His retirement plan is a dream package that would not have  been his reality should the company have remained American. As a  conservative he told me me it would be in the interest of every American worker to have all American companies bought out by European ones.

Americans have no entitlements. We have scant benefits that are at the mercy of top management people ready to take them away at every opportunity in the name of short term profitability. Social Security is not an entitlement. We all put in to the kitty. I would argue that the poor pay a higher share of their earnings than do the rich for Social Security, and that the government retirement package could easily be fixed by mandating that the highest earning bracket pay into Social Security with every check all year long, just like the median earners do.  Medicare is not an entitlement it is strictly a highly regulated insurance program. Do you tell all old people you meet they do not deserve affordable health insurance provided by Medicare? That this is an entitlement and that if you cannot pay for private insurance you should just get out of the way and die, quickly?

Europeans have nearly two months of vacation every year and all health care paid for with no fear of bankruptcy from an illness or injury. The workers there have no fear about going on strike. They do it all the time to keep some modicum of leverage in the ongoing bargaining process. In America most workers never see two weeks vacation, and a strike is something Republican Presidents love to crush by invoking national security.

It is no wonder the American worker is the lowest paid and hardest toiling fool in the civilized industrial nation world. Americans keep working toward third world status and seem to do so without thinking. Third world earnings are what the corporate kings think American labor is entitled to. I guess that must be what you mean by entitlement today, casooner90.

I belive the best thing that can happen to conservatism is few years of liberalism

I think you're going to get eight, at minimum.

Uh, uh ... four years, tops -- if even that. Either he will get himself impeached or Congress will have to do that once the D.C. District Court serves a quo warranto over his failure so far to prove he meets the constitutional requirement to be a natural born citizen to serve as president.

At any rate, the election all boils down to this message: 

CAN YOU HEAR US NOW?

Did "Congressman" Hoffman tell you that, Pax?  Or did you get it from "Vice President" Palin? 

Obama will be impeached by a Republican Congress?  In yer hallucinations.   

And the courts aren't serving warrants, they're presenting bills for fines to the Flat Birthers.  You guys lost.  But then, the whole controversy was always a house built on bandini.

Pax:

This sounds like your personal fantasy instead of a rational assessment of reality.

But let's be gentlemen. I'll bet you a cold Smithwick's you're wrong. Seriously.

This sounds like your personal fantasy instead of a rational assessment of reality.

Not even *HIS* personal fantasy.  It's one that's been handed to him in exchange for reality.

This is nothing more than a simple repeat of history:

The first elections after a new President is in office always favor the opposing party.  Look it up.

Spam code: FCTON - funny enough, the notion that yesterday's elections are proof of a "conservative come back" are fiction.

Congratulations you guys.  You had a good night. 

No sour grapes here.  Enjoy your high?  ;-)

Can you change the debate in Washington after last night? The answer is NO! YOU LOST THE ONLY TWO Co ngressional seats that were open...you are DOWN TWO VOTES IN THE HO USE!
 

LOL!!!

Unfortunately for true conservatives, the ones making all the noise, like a couple on this blog, are ruining any chance of a comeback.  True conservatives will always be moderates by definition. 

Agree with FSG. History following its usual pattern explains a lot of the outcome.

Also, if anything, all of these races showed that the American public is by and large fairly moderate, pragmatic and interested in the issues that actually affect them where they live. And they like electing peole that might affect those issues by actually, you know, uh, governing. The candidates who won knew this. The ideologues at the far ends of the political spectrum (most visibly on the right this time, though it also certainly happens on the left)  lost sight of that.

Straightahead, if anyone ruined anything, it's so-called "moderate" Republican DeDe Scozzafava, who foiled what otherwise would've been a clear sweep. The GOP made a big boo-boo in picking her, and the result was this, as analyzed by Jeff Schreiber:

If there is any race which can be spun in any direction, it is this one. A seat traditionally in the hands of a moderate Republican is vacated when the president appoints that Republican to a bigger position on Capitol Hill. A Democrat runs, joined by a liberal Republican who ran unopposed through the primary process. Later in the game, an out-of-district conservative candidate joins the fray. Hilarity ensues, and within hours of the election, the liberal Republican drops out, endorses the liberal Democrat, and establishment Republicans finally put half-hearted support behind the conservative.

You couldn’t make this stuff up, folks. And what resulted was a uniquely spinnable race, regardless of result.

As it turns out, the conservative third-party candidate lost to the Democrat. Inevitably, the media will spin this as a life lesson for the GOP, a referendum on whether conservatives and the tea party movement will be able to elect someone, a sign that the tea partiers and conservatives on the right are pushing independents away from the GOP. Clearly, as we’ve seen in both the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races, this is not so.

What has happened, my friends, is that we have been given a lesson about the viability of a third-party candidate. Sure, Doug Hoffman doesn’t live in the district. Sure, he wasn’t a seasoned, experienced candidate. But if Dede Scozzafava had been opposed by a conservative in a primary, she would likely not have been on the ballot to begin with yesterday, and a conservative Republican would likely have prevailed, especially considering that adding Scozzafava’s votes to Hoffman’s would have been enough to vanquish Owens, the Democrat.

Anyway, the pro-lifers are all too giddy over how things turned out: http://www.lifenews.com/sta...

By the way, Elinem, you're on on the beer bet. The odds certainly are in your favor, what with the majority of folks being intellectually lazy and not giving a hoot about following the constitutional requirement, but there's always hope that they'll change their tune.

what with the majority of folks being intellectually lazy

You've got to stop judging the rest of us by your fellow parishioners, Pax.  We're Not Like You.

Obama *IS* the President of the United States.  If you can't get used to that, maybe you will sometime during his second term.

But I like the way you think re:  Scozzofava.  Keep on choosing those loony Glenn Beck acolytes and run them against moderate opponents like her in the GOP primaries.  

Make the choice all too clear:  vote for the Democrat, or vote for the nutcase. 

As it turns out, the conservative third-party candidate lost to the Democrat

Praise Allah!

Interesting that 50 to 70 county officials are bolting the Democratic Party for the GOP in Texas: http://libertarianrepublica...

Definitely a bad thing for the Dems, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing for the GOP. It depends on whether they're blue-dog Democrats who share the conservative social values of the Palins in the party or are of the DeDe Scozzafava stripe.

Speaking of the blue dogs, let's see if the Democrats let them run the show and kick the Pelosis to the curb, especially after the resounding message they got yesterday that they're way off course, especially on health-care reform.

Interesting that 50 to 70 county officials are bolting the Democratic Party for the GOP in Texas:

AKA:  National Laboratory for Bad Government.  Whatever Texas does, don't do that anywhere else. 

But assuming they're blue dogs, good riddance!  Their switchover will benefit *BOTH* parties--until the lunatics in the GOP kick them out for not being dumb enough.

Pelosi's re-election next year and continued Speakership will be a thorn in your side for a looooong time, Pax.

We'll see. One thing's for certain: Obama's mystique is up in ...

Wishful thinking on your part Pax, like whistling through the graveyard which is where the conservatives are today.

casooner:  Just a quick comment.  I've had about all the hope and change I can stand.  About the only "change" I've seen is a few coins jingling in my pocket -- and they're dwindling. 

My daughter's last day on her job is today.  Company has gone out of business.

Sorry about your daughter Alicen.  It's a terrible, sinking feeling to lose ones job.  Hopefully she can get something else soon.

Alicen, is it the President's fault your daughter lost her job?

More jobs will be lost as the government reaches deeper into the pockets of American small businesses. 

However, this isn't the time to argue as any job losses are painful - my sympathy goes out to Alicen's daughter.  Jobs are difficult to find and good paying work is even more scarce.  Not sure how old she is or the circumstances she is in, but is this maybe an opportunity to learn a new trade? 

Ah, the teabaggers are starting to devour other Republicans nationwide.  EXXXXXXXXelent....more Democratic gains ahead.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsm...

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsm...

Look!  Over there!  Kevin McCarthy's insufficiently wingnut!  Sic 'im!

Better start making that list of excuses for the 2010 election RF,  maybe one can be voters just got tired of looking at Pelosi's botox eyes, and I guess ALICENS daughter wasnt on that list of jobs created or saved by the one, too bad

Better start making that list of excuses for the 2010 election RF,

Why should I do *YOUR* side's work for them?

What was your excuse for losing a Congressional seat that had been in Red hands for 140 years, last night?   Besides the inherent stupidity of the teabaggers?   A stupidity they're bent on demonstrating state-by-state?

.

I guess ALICENS daughter wasnt on that list of jobs created or saved by the one, too bad

Yeah, too bad--and no skin off *YOUR* nose, right?    Your side fought the ARRA every step of the way.  Now that it's working, you want to pretend it isn't.

Thanks, Audrey, for your comment about my daughter.  Yes, it's a sinking feeling I believe she has.  Her company was bought by one from England. 

I was fired from my first job.  I did a blog on in months and months ago.  I described how devastated I was, and how I cried bitter tears about it. 

It was a job at a nursery, pruning roses.  My mother had gotten me the job.  It paid 10 cents an hour.  I was 10 years old.  But I'll never forget how devastating it was.  Never. 

Losing a job the way my daughter did isn't quite the same thing, but, still, there are aspects of it that can make one feel lessened by the experience.  I don't think it will be that way with her, and I think she'll be quite happy to be at home -- for a while. 

casooner:  I believe my daughter will make this an opportunity for improvement.   ; 

You're right:  there will be more job losses as more small businesses aren't able to hold up under the crush of taxes and fees.  One of my fears is that people will lose the drive for free enterprise, wondering why bother, when it will be made more of an uphill climb than it already is.  And I do believe that it's small business that really is our national backbone. 

Several weeks ago I wrote a blog called (I believe) "Corny Observations," or something like that.  It was the text of a letter I'd sent to then-president Bush telling him about my idea of America.  It's corny, all right, but it's the way I think and feel about my country. 

I have noted by way of a couple of commercials that someone really has come up with a better "mouse trap."  Yea!

Europeans have nearly two months of vacation every year and all health care paid for with no fear of bankruptcy from an illness or injury. The workers there have no fear about going on strike. They do it all the time to keep some modicum of leverage in the ongoing bargaining process. In America most workers never see two weeks vacation, and a strike is something Republican Presidents love to crush by invoking national security. 

Adam, have you ever lived in Europe?  Only then you'll realize the burden of socialism.  If not, you'll always cry greener grass over the pasture. 

 casooner:  I could be wrong, but my memory (from what I've read) tells me that Europeans pay at least half their compensation to the government for their "universal" health care. 

 Alice- unless you live in a different country than I do then you'd know that those of us in CA are now being taxed an additional 10% (above and beyond the 27%)... so our country isnt that far behind in taxes and we have a helluva lot less to show for it.

Miles, obviously you haven't lived in europe either.  If you really do belive that the Europeans have it better than us, you should hop on the plane and get over there.  Remember, this is a free country and you're free to do what ever you want to. 

I've lived over there and I know the standard of living over there.  Believe me when I say that the grass isn't greener over there. 

Everyone whining about how bad we have it and how much better others have it, you need to travel some.  In my experience of both growing up in another country and also having lived in another country, we are still living in the greatest country in the World.  If you really envy european's long vacations, socialized care and welfare programs, go on and see for your self.  Only then you'll see the high unemployment rates, high taxes and lower standard of living.  So, go and pack your bag and hop on that first plane over.  Don't just vacation for few weeks, but live with the folks and see if really is better over the pasture. 

casooner90- you might've traveled but you certainly haven't grown up as a result of it.

miles, what are you like 18?  Am I arguing with a minimum wage burger flipper? 

Nothing wrong with flipping burgers.

 "Nothing wrong with flipping burgers."

Good Point !

And that's especially  true if you are able to read Dostoevksy while on your work break.

--virgil

 By the way, Dostoevsky was a conservative too ...

--virgil

And that's especially  true if you are able to read Dostoevksy while on your work break.

I used to read Camus, Dubois, and Paul Robeson when I was a dishwasher in college.

Francais,

Those were the days, when strangers met the color line - some of us, for the first time.

--virgil

Nothing wrong with flipping burgers!

I agree also, its honest money.

Those were the days, when strangers met the color line - some of us, for the first time.

Are you talking being in college or the era when the authors were published?

With Schiller being sung in the back ground ...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

--virgil

Francais,

While I was at University.

--virgil

Where are you from Virgil?

Only then you'll realize the burden of socialism

O, what a burden. 

http://www.huliq.com/3257/8...

http://jobsanger.blogspot.c...

Forbes Magazine best place in the world to do business:  Denmark.  They have that damned socialist universal health care, ya know.

Francais,

I'm the youngest of five sons. My dad was in the Navy, as soon as he was of age;  but he came from the Texas panhandle. I grew up mostly in San Diego, yet I can call Tennessee, New Mexico, Kentucky and Northern California my home as well.

--virgil

If you can't get used to that, maybe you will sometime during his second term.

where?  in Jail?

"miles, what are you like 18?  Am I arguing with a minimum wage burger flipper?"

Actually, I write local and national columns (even people who live under rocks- and can read- have probably read one or two of my pieces), volunteer roughly 10-20 hours per month with the American Heart Association, I am a local artist that has had work shown (and sold) at the Bakersfield Museum of Art, Metro Gallery and Surface Gallery AND I organize the Social Media & Public Relations for a well-known local magazine.

But if you need to believe that I'm 18 (I wish!) and that I "flip burgers" at minimum wage, knock yourself out. Clearly you have little else to do.

didn't the former administration start the bail out bull?  I could have SWORN they had.  Could just be my over-active imagination.  

Can't there just be a middle ground. Sheesh!  I'm tired of all this one sided, extremism, stuff. 

Miles, casooner has moved up the employment ladder and made a buck or two, so he can look down on anyone who he thinks is inferior to him - of course he believes anyone who disagrees with him is inferior. 

He is also a loud advocate of "America, love it or leave it" and likes to shout it all the time, which is why he is never invited out.

A typical, brain-dead conservative.