Congratulations to the President Elect, Senator Barack Obama. He may be the most undeserving, least vetted, least experienced presidential candidate in American history…but what should stand out is the historic moment of the United States breaking the ultimate glass ceiling, to elect the first black (biracial) American to the highest office. As much as I have deplored the crutch of racial fixation, the fact that we witnessed it happen, is something to be proud of, turning a page in our history. If there is anything positive to result from this election, it’s the potential for the country to finally move beyond race. It is, at least symbolic, if nothing else. Racism will always exist. But no one can ever again accuse America of “holding the black man down”.
John McCain gave a very gracious, a very necessary concession speech tonight. I am proud of what he said. I don’t blame him nor President Bush for losing us this election. Frankly, I believe John McCain of all our Republican candidates had the best shot at winning. The fact we lost says more about the excitement and energy that surrounded Senator Obama than the unworthiness of Senator McCain. We can whine about the media, we can complain about the lost opportunities and poor strategy of the McCain campaign, the unprecedented amount of campaign money that weighed against us…but at some point you just have to stop whining like Democrats of the last 8 years. Eat your crow, and take the lumps. It’s not the end of the world. My country may seem unrecognizable to me tonight; but the sun will come out tomorrow…someday. We still remain the greatest nation on God’s green earth. Sarah Palin’s political career is just beginning. We’ve not seen the last of her. Or Tina Fey.
I only speak for myself; but can only encourage those reading this to do as John McCain has done; do as Scott suggests; do as decent Americans do and put country first: Respect the electoral process and congratulate your political opponents on their hard-earned victory. I know our passions ran deep, and this election hurt deep. But it’s not the death of conservative ideology or the Republican Party. It wasn’t a landslide victory, and Senator McCain finished respectably. Nor did the Democrats gain their filibuster-proof majority seats.
At some point, as liberating as it is from mainstream news, the blogosphere can be a very toxic place. For all the fear we foresee in an Obama Presidency, my one hope is that we are proven wrong. That some of what we “investigated” into his past history, however legitimate, will not reflect upon his need to govern to the center and serve ALL the people of the United States. Not just blacks. Not just liberals. But serve all Americans.
Senator Obama has given lip service to promises of unity, bipartisanship, of reaching out. Let’s give him the chance to prove it, then hold him accountable to his words. Let’s not do to him what liberal Democrats have done to President Bush for 8 years.
Of course I will still fight tooth and nail against the liberal agenda and policies I feel would steer America in the wrong direction. He may be influenced by socialist ideology, but America is not a socialist nation. But tonight, this night…..we should all be proud as Americans that once every two, four years, we have the freedom to choose our elected leaders. We should feel grateful that we have a voice; and that each of our votes counts. That we are able to transition leadership, peaceably. We remain an example of representative democracy to the rest of the world.
In America, anything is possible. A man with the unlikely name of “Barack Hussein Obama” just proved it. It is sad that Barack Obama’s grandmother did not live long enough to see this day….
…and a happy climax for Chris Matthews and his “leg thrill”.
God bless America.
Wow, you’re a clever one Craig. Thanks for adding so much to the discussion. Please feel free to make fun of my mother next. That would be awesome.
So Craig, you wanted Fred Thompson – who won what – one state in the primary? Did he win anything? So he lost. Now whom do you support? Nobody – you just sit and bitch? Nice. Just continue to sit and bitch and maybe one day a right wing extremist will make it through the primary process and you can watch them go down in flames in the general. Very Productive.
Mata, I understand your point. But I disagree. I don’t think I could really add much more to what I have already written. Those independents had two real choices and like Rush said, we won less than 4 in 10. That was the problem. Not energizing the base, which is the only thing that Palin brought to the ticket.
And FYI – for my wife it is television shows. Her favorite ever? Freaks and Geeks. Yea it lasted about two years.
@voter:
You never followed up with the challenges to your perception of reality regarding the 2000 Election, in that other thread. I think Al Gore was the one despicable with how it “went down”.
His “buddies”? You mean Halliburton? They get contracted out, as they always have by previous administrations, because few do what they can do, and do it as well as they can do it.
Are we getting rich from Iraqi oil? Oil had something to do with this war, but not what lefties make it out to be.
Iran was one of those named as “axis of evil”. If we went in to Iran, would you now be complaining “if he was really worried about wmd, we would have gone into North Korea”?
North Korea was named as part of the “axis of evil”. If we found just cause to invade over wmd, would you then wonder why NK, and not Iraq?
Iraq posed a danger, and it was a combination of wmd threat coupled to terrorism that made him a prime candidate of forceful removal from power. Plus, justification from violation of UN Security Council Resolutions, 686 and 687, and 12 years of subsequent follow up resolutions that Saddam snubbed his nose at.
So, let me get this straight: What you advocate is we wait until we know for certain that Saddam had wmd, including nuclear weapons, so that it’d be a “fair fight”?!!!! There’s a reason why President Bush never said Iraq was an imminent threat, but that we must act before the threat became imminent.
Your line of reasoning is as ridiculous as asserting that cops shouldn’t take on unarmed criminals who don’t have a chance to defend themselves against a PR-24 or firearm. Is it fair that law enforcement officers call in for backup? That they tackle a suspect en masse when possible rather than going “one on one”?
God forbid we should ever seek a “fair fight” in warfare unnecessarily endangering American soldiers, rather than bring to bare superior and sustained firepower to suppress an enemy with minimal casualties to us.
Is George Bush profiting from this war, voter? Is America getting rich from Iraqi oil? What’s that inflated dollar figure anti-war liberals like to trout out, now?
That’s assuming that your premise that this was a war about oil and profiteering were correct. It is not.
Examples, please.
All those reasons were stated from the very beginning.
The emphasis post-war did change, as did the situation on the ground. After major combat operations ended, where should we have gone from there? The original plan was “liberation not occupation” and hand over reigns as soon as possible, modeled after Afghanistan. Bremer and others in the State Dept insured that didn’t happen, so we became occupiers. And the responsible course was now securing Iraq because it is tied to our national security, and because it was and is the humane, honorable thing to do.
“So Craig, you wanted Fred Thompson – who won what – one state in the primary? Did he win anything? So he lost. Now whom do you support?” (CentFlaw)
Boy you are not clever. I wanted Sarah Palin as President. I don’t really know who Fred Thompson is… only heard a bit about him. As for your mother, what is she doing in this discussion?
@Craig: I was the one that wanted Fred. He is actually how I found this site.
If it was not for Fred’s mom being in the hospital for most of his campaign and the MSM ignoring him like all the other conservatives running, he would have done better. But it was not to be, and so we got McCain. My last choice except for Ron Paul and the Huckleberry Hound Huckabe.
@MataHarley:
I don’t know how your challenge to me is related to what you cited.
What I wrote:
My point being, some people out there consider our election loss to be a rejection of conservative ideology. It was not. Passage of Prop 8 in California is just one example of that.
In order for Obama to win election, aside from the spell of charisma and glass ceiling breaking he had the country under, Obama also had to move to the right and campaign as a centrist (tax cuts, hawkish foreign policy blustering, distancing from past radical ties and history). He did not win by campaigning as a far left anti-war progressive liberal socialist.
As far as McCain, I stand by the series of posts I made late in the primaries, defending his conservative record as being more conservative than angry conservatives will give him credit for.
But that’s beside the point.
Did McCain run a lousy campaign? Sure. But there are a combination of factors that went into this election to become ours to lose. I’m not going to throw McCain under the straight talk express bus and blame-hand him as the reason we lost.
We had a lot going against us this year.
Obama appealed to his base, plus the majority independent votes. He campaigned to the center, not the “fringe left”. Palin energized the base, but she also drove away voters, whether through legitimate concerns or media-induced scare regarding her ability to lead, at this time.
Like who? This was our election to lose, no matter who we put out there, imo. I think we had a chance, and I think McCain was actually our best shot (he was not my first, second, or third choice) at winning, but his campaign made some mistakes. In the end, it really was Obama’s election to win. The media momentum and hype was overwhelming.
I truly don’t think Fred Thompson would have pulled this off, although he would have made conservatives happy.
Great op-ed by Shelby Steele in today’s LATimes:
STIX,
I think I know who Fred Thompson is now…. wasn’t he the guy on a video in the top right column of this site a week or two ago? Yes… I think it was him. For what I remember, he seemed t be a great guy. I guess I would have liked him.
Word, “da *man*”. My challenges are always extended with the best of intents, you know. However I really must disagree. In this election, conservative… if not dead… was downright non-existant. The closest thing to a traditional conservative was Palin, and the “moderate” right are busy blaming her.
Conservatism, as I know it, is all but dead in the past many elections. The further away from the Reagan era, the further away from conservatism. I don’t know how to say it any other way. You are a young whippersnapper (at least compared to me.._, so perhaps you have a morphed view. But on this, Mr. Mike and I are closer in our views on McCain and conservatism.
Oye vay….
You think because the words “tax cuts” dribbed from Obama’s lips, he was “centrist”?
You consider his “cuppa tea” foreign policy “hawkish”??
Blustering and distancing himself from Black Theologists and Marxists ties is “centrist”????
I must be addressing that cute little whippersnapper in the red velvet rhinestone cowboy hat here…
For every yin there is a yang. I’m saying this to an “asian-american”??? (as we both so LOVE the hypenated american bit…). When the left says “pro choice”, it’s supposed to be the yang to “pro life”. But ya know, “pro death” doesn’t sound so good, so they make it “pro life” instead.
Such is Obama’s “tax cuts”. So let’s examine the “yang” you miss
1: BHO’s “tax cuts” are tax increases by sunsetting the Bush tax cuts
2: BHO’s “tax cuts” are only for the lower income, who do not pay the bulk of the taxes
3: BHO’s “tax cuts” also include tax credits for those who don’t pay taxes, giving them bucks back on their annual IRS return.
BTW, if I can’t be Treasure Sec’y, I play to be a senior welfare baby if Obama does this. So get to work…. :0)
So much for a “centrist” ‘tude on tax cuts but in “just words” only. It’s actually “tax increases” but “only on the wealthy” (sort of a yang to the DNC tax mantra). But a true conservative cuts taxes for all.. not those that contribute to least to growing the economy.
“Hawkish foreign policy”???? There’s no where to go there. Not sure what you think is “hawkish”. Unless, of couse, you want to include escalating Afghanistan and assailing Pakistan without their approval. But since both of those have been done under the Bush admin, and McCain would continue to do both as the situations warranted, I’m hard pressed to call Obama dutifully following the logical path “hawkish”.
And I don’t know what you would call centrist about throwing long term friends and associates under the bus (at least temporarily and half-heartedly). You can’t go from radical friends to centrist just by saying “that’s not the guy I knew”. That’s just plain politically expedient, and obvious to boot…. at least to 48% of us anyway.
I’m going to repeat this, and ask you to reconsider your response. Because this is actually important. In every previous election, most candidates disguised themselves and ran to the center. This election is very different. BECAUSE Obama did not run to the center.
Obama campaigned on “spread the wealth” before Joe the plumber made him say those three little words.
Obama campaigned on “social and economic justice” education before anyone knew about William Ayers.
Obama campaigned on taxpayer funded health care… and education.. and work training programs… and enery… all socialist govt programs, not private industry.
In short, Obama honestly campaigned as a far left fringe socialist from the beginning. The only difference is people didn’t start putting the “just words” together with the person until the end of the campaign. Perhaps he used too big of words? Dunno… but it was there from the start. And remained there to the end.
I’m not saying he IS centrist; but that he portrayed himself as a non-radical lefty. I know post-election stats have shown something like 75% of voters think he’ll raise taxes; and the same voters also felt the economy was the number one issue, which seems a contradiction. I think we gained a bit toward the end when his socialist views were exposed by Joe Wurzelbacher, but it was too little too late; and focus by the media was on Joe’s record, taking the spotlight heat off of “The Annointed One”.
Most people I know are fooled by his air of moderation; his crafted image, and not the substance underneath. They’ve been led to believe that talks of his radical ties are smears.
Hey Folks;
Wow, I wasn’t expecting this kind of infighting amongst Reps in what’s become a post analysis of, “What went wrong?” If you don’t mind, a little Indy input;
Hard Right. I understand your conviction to unbending “far-right” positions, but a firm hard line in the sand is not going to get you what you need. There needs to be some ability for you guys to compromise to get what you want. Not necessarily in your ideologies and convictions. In today’s world, neither party can be an island unto itself. And neither can pull in 270 electoral points on it’s own merits. You have to garnish some Independent votes to pull us in to help. You can’t afford to ignore us indies. Let me put it this way; The leadership of the Republican Party has strayed from it’s conservative base and swung left. Like it or not it is now a centrist party. And that is what caused many of us to jump ship. Independents are the new conservatives.
I’m not suggesting you should switch parties to Indy. But, Mon Deux! Repubs can’t move anymore to center when they’re already there. They’re infringing on Democrat territories. That’s how you lost us. We view you as both the same. We have to either stay Indy or try to pick the worst of “two evils”. You have to work smarter, not harder to draw us to your side. You have to look at what the Indies want and try to homogenize and co-operate with us. Many of us would much rather help the Reps if the stakes are down. Dubya was certainly not a conservative. He was actually left of center and moved further left after he got in. Palin didn’t only recharge your conservative base. Her positions on anti-corruption and reform also caught the eye of many formerly disenchanted conservative Indies. I would never have joined with you in this fight had it not been for her. As I’ve said before, although I have very high respect for McCain, I didn’t particularly like his positions on the issues.
You see, here’s the problems we Indies had with both parties:
1) Big business: NAFTA, and other Free Trade initiatives pissed us off. Businesses loved the idea because it increase their profit margins. They threw money at candidates on both sides of the aisle. The down-side was it closed up our factories. The Independents screamed for, Made In America” products, but neither of you listened. Under the Constitution, most of our Government funds came through tariffs and import/export taxes. When you took those away, you had to reach into our pockets for it. Even though both candidates support Free Trade, McCain made the mistake of saying we needed even more of it. Obama agreed, but he never came out and said it.
2) Lobbyist money: You have to wean yourselves off of taking money in exchange for favors. It has thoroughly corrupted our politicians and the system.
3) Proposals to change our Constitution: Stop coming up with Amendments to our Constitution. Independents liked our Constitution and Bills of Right exactly as they were thank you very much. Both sides need to quit screwing with it. Every Congress jokers on both sides of the aisle propose a dozen unnecessary changes. It makes us Indies very nervous every time you do this. Example: “All men are created equal” is a blanket statement already referring to all mankind. We didn’t need to change this to include the 13th 15th, 19th or ERA, we only needed to pass laws and legislation to enforce what was already provided for in the Supreme Law of the land. Prohibition and it’s repeal? Were those necessary? The 12th Amendment? Dump it, we don’t need it anymore. The 16th was created to allow for socialist program to get a foothold and create big government bureaucracies. The 23rd? Why did a single city need it’s own reps when our Capitol was in a state that already had them? Should NYC and LA get their own?
Both Dems & Repubs always screw this up because the “reform” bills they create are naturally corrupted, as they are drawn up by beltway insiders that wouldn’t know reform if it bit them in the butt. Look how good it worked this year with the campaign finance reforms. Just peachy right? The only way to make reform work is to have processes analyzed and examined by study groups and think tanks. Improvement suggestions are then drawn by those with no political affiliation or potential investment gains. It’s like a business hiring an efficiency expert. It’s impossible to get it right when you are part of the problem. Paradigms have to be challenged.
By God, enforce our borders and stop letting illegals in and rewarding them with automatic citizenship to buy their votes. Both parties are endangering our national security doing this. They are not taking jobs, “nobody else wants”. They are taking jobs that used to be the entry level jobs of our nation’s teens, poor, and those who were outmoded by technological advance. Our kids are joining gangs or becoming slackers mooching on their parents because they can’t get entry-level job experience. If you drastically cut the taxes on small and medium businesses you could raise minimum wage, improve the economy, and reduce crime.
It appears my comment #128775 is stuck in permanent “moderation limbo”: http://www.floppingaces.net/2008/11/04/is-it-2012-yet-p/#comment-128775
Don’t listen to liberals on anything … that’s #1.
#2 – The Republican Party needs gutting … big time and I’m tired of our $ going to crooked contractors and Dubia!
And it’s not Palin that needs to go … which is why the party is now turning on her. Listening to Laura Ingraham this morning and the jokes that ran McCain’s campaign are now blaming Palin?
Sorry to be vulgar but WTF? Way to go guys … go back to crawling up Obama’s a**! You are the cowards that let this happen … YOU … not Palin. You were dead before her and made her do what McCain should have been doing. I admire your service Senator … but when you say FIGHT … I think the wind coudl blow you over.
Maybe McCain shouldn’t have neutered himself by foolishly thinking that to win he needed to appease the uber-left.
Many call themselves democrats, but the % of them that are truly left is much smaller. Much. Again … people do what the TV tells them too. Which is why when things started going negative the last week, things tightened. Just like when Palin made her acceptance speech and ripped Obama new one … proper!
Enjoy your 4 years … you’ve woke a sleeping giant.
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