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Official NeoGAF US Mid-term Elections 2006 Thread

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T

Triumph

Banned
If Montana keeps going this way, we could have 2 states with Recountapalooza going on. Honestly, though, with Webb looking like he's gonna hold onto about a 7,000 vote lead, I doubt we're gonna see much going on in VA. If Montana keeps dropping, though, that could be dicey.
 
B

BigJonsson

Member
What a night....


...even though I'm Canadian....but I am a Poli Sci grad student and there was an event for poli sci students at the campus pub and free beer is always awesome...

Montana keeps shrinking....makes me not want to go to bed
 
T

Triumph

Banned
33 House seats. Potentially 6 Senate seats. I was gonna give 'em 20 and 3, respectively. Man, I can't make fun of Democrats for being losers anymore. Give Dean a hug, people.
 
M

Mandark

Small balls, big fun!
Bush didn't fail because he was too much like a Democrat. Out of the three things he did to kill the budget, two were classic right-wing stuff: tax cuts and a hawkish foreign policy.

List all the podunk pork giveaways you want, they don't add up to anything near that. Don't tell me foreign interventionism is anti-conservative either, not if you want to hold Reagan up as a conservative icon.
 
O

Open Source

Banned
Mandark said:
Pork is a Bad Thing, but in budget terms, how big is it? Bush has done three things to blow open the budget:

1) Tax cuts
2) The war in Iraq
3) The Medicare drug bill

Each of these, by themselves, is waaaaaaay more expensive than any discretionary spending increases you could name.

Bush is religious on social issues, dogmatically hawkish in foreign policy, totally favoring corporations in both regulatory and labor policy, royalist on taxes, and downright imperial on the role of the executive branch.

Yeah, he's not going to tear down the welfare state, but that's because, you know, the welfare state is wildly successful and popular. Tell me it isn't, and I'll tell you to repeal Social Security and see how far it goes.

Reagan got as far as he did because white, middle class people felt "their" tax money was going to "those" people who didn't deserve it. There has never been a sufficient political base to roll back the Great Society and the New Deal, and there almost certainly won't be one in our lifetimes.
Click to expand...

I disagree. First, the European states that are now floundering in their 35 hour work weeks and double-digit unemployment will provide a stark example of what not to do. Second, Medicare and Social Security are going to cost so much in upcoming years that some poor political party is going to have to take the rap for stripping away tons of benefits. Personally, I think that the money I pay in Social Security and Medicare taxes is gone for good, and I'll never have anything to show for it but some lame excuses from politicians 20 years from now, who will point the finger at politicians of this decade and next for not having the guts to fix an obviously urgent problem.
 
B

BigJonsson

Member
Johan van Benderschlotten said:
33 House seats. Potentially 6 Senate seats. I was gonna give 'em 20 and 3, respectively. Man, I can't make fun of Democrats for being losers anymore. Give Dean a hug, people.
Click to expand...


No

Give him a scream

Montana Dem lead back up to 6,000...
 
M

Mandark

Small balls, big fun!
Europe is having problems because medicine is too good, so you get an old population. This is a problem with or without social programs. You either 1) make them work longer into their lives, 2) ignore them and let them move in with their kids/eat dog food, or 3) keep running social programs that tax current, younger workers. There is no magical market solution.

Can anyone point to a large, economically libertarian country as an example of what we should be doing? Or an era of American history with laissez faire policies that didn't involve massive inequality and a woeful working class?
 
O

Open Source

Banned
Mandark said:
Bush didn't fail because he was too much like a Democrat. Out of the three things he did to kill the budget, two were classic right-wing stuff: tax cuts and a hawkish foreign policy.

List all the podunk pork giveaways you want, they don't add up to anything near that. Don't tell me foreign interventionism is anti-conservative either, not if you want to hold Reagan up as a conservative icon.
Click to expand...

United States federal budget, 2007 - $2.8 trillion (submitted February 2006 by President Bush)
United States federal budget, 2006 - $2.6 trillion (submitted February 2005 by President Bush)
United States federal budget, 2005 - $2.4 trillion (submitted 2004 by President Bush)
United States federal budget, 2004 - $2.2 trillion (submitted 2003 by President Bush)
United States federal budget, 2003 - $2.1 trillion (submitted 2002 by President Bush)
United States federal budget, 2002 - $2.0 trillion (submitted 2001 by President Bush)

BTW - tax cuts are not right wing, just as civil liberties are not left wing. You should look into what right wing really means.
 
J

joeposh

Member
I just wanted to stop in here and say that it has been a wonderfully exhausting night. With the news from MSNBC that there is a recount underway in Montana and thus they won't have an official result till 7 or 8 am, I am going to turn in. First time I've gone to bed on election night optimistic and content in quite some time. Here's hoping I wake up to a Democratic Senate as well! *knock on wood*
 
E

echoshifting

Banned
xsarien said:
Can Allen just concede already so I can go to bed? It's nearly 1am. :p
Click to expand...

I thought he already went to bed and encouraged his supporters to do the same.

Either way I don't think he'll concede right away. He'll at least sleep on the possibility of demanding a recount.
 
T

Triumph

Banned
xsarien said:
Can Allen just concede already so I can go to bed? It's nearly 1am. :p
Click to expand...
He SHOULD do it tomorrow. 8000 votes are not going to be found in a recount, especially when a lengthy fight is probably going to highlight some sleazy shit that Allen's campaign did. Smarter to take your licks like a man and hang up the spurs, then go into lobbying and make a shit ton of money.
 
M

Mandark

Small balls, big fun!
Open Source: Tax cuttery is certainly a right wing hobbyhorse in the US today. I won't say it's conservative, or libertarian, or anything with a philosophy behind it. But it's definitely the territory of the right wing of US politics, especially the type of tax cuts enacted by Bush.

Thanks for posting those numbers. In a discussion of which factors have increased the budget, a list of the budget totals is just about useless. I'm thinking something like this:

3-7-03bud-f1.jpg


Every single "pork" bill, every dollar that goes to education and faith-based initiatives is in "Non-defense appropriations." Less than one-fifth of the budget.

Again, Bush did three things to make the budget the mess that it is: Tax cuts, the war in Iraq, and the Medicare drug bill. Everything else, as corrupt as it is, and as large as the numbers seem in absolute terms, is not a huge deal relative to the federal budget.
 
T

Triumph

Banned
Looking like early tomorrow morning until they want to call MT. Tester's people are confident that they can hold the lead, but apparently Burns is big in Yellowstone which is acting weird.


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NEED SLEEP
 
B

BigJonsson

Member
Johan van Benderschlotten said:
Looking like early tomorrow morning until they want to call MT. Tester's people are confident that they can hold the lead, but apparently Burns is big in Yellowstone which is acting weird.


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NEED SLEEP
Click to expand...


How is it acting weird?
 
V

VALIS

Member
There's no need to worry about Montana. Yellowstone County was the one who's votes were removed for a recount (that's when the precincts reported % took a big drop), and that county was in favor of Tester. Once that's recounted, his lead will jump up again.
 
M

Matt

Member
Johan van Benderschlotten said:
Apparently there were some malfunctioning machines so they're being recounted or something like that. Dunno.
Click to expand...
Oh shit, you're right. CNN is showing NO votes counted for Yellowstone. And with about 130,000 people in that county...this could be bad...
 
V

VALIS

Member
Matt said:
Oh shit, you're right. CNN is showing NO votes counted for Yellowstone. And with about 130,000 people in that county...this could be bad...
Click to expand...

Nope, as I said, Yellowstone was pretty good in favor of Tester. Here's their last posted tallies before the recount:

http://www.co.yellowstone.mt.us/elections/results/RESULTS/DEFAULT.HTM

UNITED STATES SENATOR

Vote for 1

CONRAD BURNS (REP) . . . . . . . 16,888 46.97

STAN JONES (LIB) . . . . . . . . 811 2.26

JON TESTER (DEM) . . . . . . . . 18,161 50.51

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 96 .27

Total . . . . . . . . . 35,956
 
O

OpinionatedCyborg

Member
Why the hell am I still awake? Dems are gonna pick up the 6. I just want to know it for certain before I fall asleep...

btw, MSNBC's Chris Mathews is pretty hilarious at this hour.
 
B

Bat

Member
Matt said:
Oh, well, in that case, I'm back to being certain that Montana is safe.
Click to expand...

I sure hope all this is right.

What a wild night....at first I thought the gains were gonna be smaller than expected; then Webb caught up to Allen in the last few precincts reporting and since then everything has gone like a dream. Then the narrowing of the gap in Montana started...sigh.

Well, a few hours ago I thought the Dems had no chance at the Senate and was unsure of their margin of victory in the House. Now they've taken 30+ seats in the House and are on the cusp of controlling the Senate :)
 
M

Macam

Banned
Coincidentally, I'm staying up but it's not because of the politics....and by all counts, the Senate is still hanging on Montana and Virginia. Even if they register as losses, the Democrats have gained massive ground tonight. We'll see how it goes (and more so, in the long run).

Also, :lol @ "Splitney Spears"
 
D

DonasaurusRex

Online Ho Champ
virginia should be ova, and they have a law against recounts, i cant believe the republicans want to whine and cry when they chastised gore for a far closer race.
 
L

LM4sure

Banned
DAmn it all to hell. Oh well, even with the Democrats in control, nothing will get done when they are in control by only a few senators. LOL!!!!!
 
W

whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
LM4sure said:
DAmn it all to hell. Oh well, even with the Democrats in control, nothing will get done when they are in control by only a few senators. LOL!!!!!
Click to expand...
haha right.

if democrats gain control of the house and senate, just wait for the hearings to start on Bush. This is clearly a referendum on Iraq and people don't want it anymore. They don't need Bush's approval to hold hearings on anything from Wiretapping to the Valerie Plame stuff to the Iraq war. Just wait-- Bush's life, if the Senate goes Democrat, is going to become a nightmare.
 
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