From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Oh! More Things I Know:
Despite Tuesday's election results, the public approves of President Obama three times as much as they approve of Congress.
When Democrats defeat Republicans in a wave election, the media lectures our side to compromise with Republicans. When Republicans defeat Democrats in a wave election, the media lectures our side to compromise with Republicans.
I also know that despite
Tuesday's election results,
climate calamity rolls onward.
Al Franken is still a sitting United States Senator. Bill O'Reilly is still a cable TV hack.
In the 36 hours since the polls closed Tuesday, I've received 397 emails from various campaigns informing me that our work isn’t finished, by which they mean the work involving me giving them more money.
The next person to suggest that carpetbagger Scott Brown should take his dog and pony show to Maine gets a wedgie.
Republicans released an American citizen from quarantine Tuesday night after he was no longer considered toxic: George W. Bush. Out of an abundance of caution, he'll be isolated again in mid-2016.
The only possible explanation I can come up with for why the sun is setting an hour earlier today than it did five days ago is sorcery.
At his press conference yesterday, President Obama would've worn a tan suit, but he didn’t want to get press corps brains all over him.
Headline you'll never see: Iowa Senator Joni Ernst Ends Federal Government Tyranny With Pistol Hidden in Purse.
To drive your conservative family members crazy during Thanksgiving dinner three weeks from today, pour all of the gravy onto your plate first, and then tell them it will eventually trickle down onto theirs.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, November 6, 2014
Note: I'm down with my first major cold in two years, so if some parts of C&J don’t make sense today, please horse. ---The Butter
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9 days!!!
By the Numbers:
Days 'til Thanksgiving:
21
Days 'til the
Granite State On Tap Beer Festival in Manchester:
9
States in which voters chose to increase the minimum wage Tuesday:
5
Minimum number of states in which early voting surpassed 2010's level:
11
(Source: AP)
Percent of U.S. Hispanics who didn't have a high school diploma in 2000:
32%
Percent of U.S. Hispanics who didn't have a high school diploma in 2012:
14%
(Source: FiveThirtyEight.com)
Percent of U.S. gas stations where the per-gallon price is under 3 bucks:
60%
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
Monica Crowley with MSNBC, in the wake of John Kerry's botched program, astutely observed "how lucky we are that he was not elected president. ... The Republicans remain the grown-ups, the responsible ones on national security." How many dead Americans has this grown-up war resulted in?
And how darling of Fox's Juan Williams, upon learning polls show the people favor Democrats on taxes, to say, "To me, that's crazy." And how many times did Chris Matthews use the Republican talking points about Nancy Pelosi? Extremist, uncooperative, incapable, unwilling to work with the president.
So after 12 years of tolerating lying, cheating and corruption, the press is prepared to lecture Democrats on how to behave with bipartisan manners.
---November, 2006
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Make mine a double…
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CHEERS to irrational exuberance. I have this annoying little habit of looking at carcasses of Democratic shellackings and picking over the bones for tasty morsels of goodness. And 2014 had its share, so let's preserve 'em in amber:
At least this jerk isn't
going back to the Senate.
Senate: Ed Markey (D-MA) wins a full term in the Senate. Al Franken wins in Minnesota. In New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen deals an historic second drubbing of Scott Brown by a girl! Dependable Dick Durbin wins in Illinois, as do Chris Coons (Delaware), Cory Booker (New Jersey), Tom Udall (New Mexico) and Mark Warner (Virginia, a squeaker). And Let's give it up for Gary Peters, who'll fill Carl Levin's seat in Michigan. Yes, we lost the majority, but our bench is still impressive and will be, dare I say it, fun to build on in 2016.
Governorships: Tom Wolf's win in Pennsylvania is significant, as is Maggie Hassan's in New Hampshire, Mark Dayton's in Minnesota and, as the first Democrat to win the office since 1990, Gina Raimondo's in Rhode Island. Also nice that Jerry Brown gets another go-round in California to continue undoing the damage from Hurricane Schwarzenegger.
Oregon chose...wisely.
Marijuana: Though it missed the 60% threshold it needed, there was big support (57%) for medicinal marijuana in Florida. But citizen initiatives on recreational pot did pass in Oregon, Alaska and South Portland, Maine.
Minimum wage: Arkansas, Nebraska, Alaska, Illinois (non-binding, but we hope it sticks anyway) and South Dakota voted to raise theirs.
Personhood Amendments: Sorry, blastocysts, but Colorado and North Dakota voters don’t believe that a microscopic bit of goo is a fully formed person entitled to a gun and a Bible and able to spend unlimited amounts of dark money on buying elections.
That's not to minimize our big losses. In fact, we should take our rage and frustration and channel it into concrete steps as we prepare for our next major fight against conservatives. Which, of course, is the 2014 War on Christmas. Remember our rallying cry of doom:
"Happy Holidays!"
CHEERS to Mitch vs. the maniacs. Keep in mind that when Senate Republicans---many of them no more sophisticated than the garden-variety tea party rabble in the House---take the reins in January, it won't take much to make 'em act like a nest of vipers in a gunnysack fighting over a lizard. This could provide hours of amusement:
I bet he'll demand to be
called "Senate Viceroy."
"[Ted] Cruz is gonna be using his national base to put relentless pressure on McConnell," said Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar with the American Enterprise Institute. "I've never seen a guy so despised by a vast majority of his caucus---they hate Cruz. They see Cruz as completely out for himself. But let's face it if he's out there inciting the base, and talk radio guys and blog people ... that's going to be difficult for them," Ornstein said.
If McConnell can't control crazy Cruz, his leadership style will become known in political scientist circles as, "Leading from behind an ass's behind."
CHEERS to the first skinny-guy-with-big-ears president from Illinois. On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Even back then the party had its flamboyant wing. From Joseph Cummins' book, Anything for a Vote:
In 1860 presidents were still selected
through a game of "Musical Chairs." This
captures the moment of Lincoln's victory
over Stephen Douglas, who stormed out.
The Republicans held massive rallies and marches several miles long, with hordes of Wide Awakes---Republican faithful who would save the Union---marching with torches and likenesses of "Honest Abe." The Wide Awakes wore oilcloth capes and strange black enamel caps to protect themselves from dripping torch oil. In surviving lithographs, they bear a weird resemblance to certain members of the Village People. Boston Republicans organized a rail-splitter's battalion---in homage to Lincoln, every member stood exactly six-feet-four-inches tall. And throughout the campaign, Republican newspapers published countless jokes at [challenger Stephen] Douglas's expense, such as: "Lincoln is like a rail. Douglas is the reverse---rail spelled backwards---liar."
But Republicans got their share of guff, too, as when the
New York Herald wrote: "The conduct of the Republican party in this nomination is a remarkable indication of a small intellect growing smaller." The words were wrong as applied to Lincoln...but, as it turns out, spot-on as applied to the party.
P.S. It's also the 126th anniversary of the day in 1888 when Republican Benjamin Harrison beat Grover Cleveland to become the 23rd president. Funny thing...Cleveland came back four years later and kicked Harrison's ass. What's that dish that's best served cold, again?
P.P.S It's also the 153rd anniversary of the day in 1861 when Jefferson Davis was elected to a six-year term as president of the confederacy. The last two-and-a-half were the lame-duckiest in the history of lameduckism.
Not peeing!
JEERS to today's boring correction. They won’t debunk Republican lies, but when it comes to rumors that the guy from The Weather Channel was peeing his name in the snow during coverage of a North Carolina winter storm, NBC News is all over it. For the record, Meteorologist Mike Seidel was just hunched over and
listening to a feed through his cellphone while pooping in his snow pants. Will we ever be able to trust social media again...
CHEERS to compassionate conservatism. On November 6, 1986, mediocre President Ronald Reagan did something decent by signing into law the Immigration Reform and Control Act which, among other things, provided amnesty to 3 million undocumented immigrants. Or as today's Republicans like to say, "Absolutely nothing happened on this date in 1986 so shut up, shut up, and shut up."
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Five years ago in C&J: November 6, 2009
CHEERS to words of wisdom from...the beltway villagers??? Yup. Every once in a while they actually take an accurate inventory of themselves:
Howard Fineman: One of [Barack Obama's] great qualities, whether you like him or not, is patience. And he's playing a very patient game here.
Chris Matthews: Is he smarter than us?
Howard Fineman: Of course he is!
We have nothing further to add.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to the beginning of the end. You have reached the point in today's C&J where politics ends and the really important stuff begins. Yes---it's another Star Wars update. Despite Han Solo breaking his leg and throwing production out of whack for a bit, director J.J. Abrams announced that he just wrapped up principal photography on Episode VII: Please Don't Blow Up Our New Death Star---It's A Rental. And look who showed up at the cast party:
Now the special effects wizards and sound designers will perform their Industrial Light and Magic magic, and composer John Williams will write the score in whatever corner of the geniusverse he works, in time for the premiere in December 2015. In the meantime, I'll be practicing my lightsaber skills here at home. Right after I double-check to make sure our renter's insurance is up-to-date.
Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Fox Host: "We need a Bill in Portland Maine Appreciation Day"
---Media Matters
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