Liberals: Gonna Get You Sucka!

As you've probably heard, Joe Lieberman keeps his main chair in the Senate. Perhaps the Democrats can start up on Ralph Nader again to work out their pent up anger against Republican consorting politicians.

Netroots Fuming Over Lieberman Vote - Politico - 18 Nov 08

"'I think we’ve now learned that Joe Lieberman is the smartest politician in D.C. He knew Democrats were spineless capitulators who would cave at the merest threat,' Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas wrote in a post on the site. 'He’s probably having a great laugh about it just about now.'

'It appears as though four in five Democrats in the United States Senate are content with their committee leadership including a member who actively campaigned not only for the Republican Presidential nominee but also Republican Senators up for reelection this fall,' MyDD blogger Jonathan Singer chimed in. 'I knew the Senate was a collegial place... I just didn't know it was this collegial.'

Talking Point Memo’s Joshua Marshall, meanwhile, ran the mocking headline 'Breaking: Lieberman expelled from Pilates class in Senate gym' on his site. Frustrated by the seeming inaction from party leaders, some have already begun gathering pledges to donate and work for whatever Democrat runs against Lieberman when his Senate term is up in 2012.

'The race starts now ... whoever runs against Joe Lieberman,' reads the pledge being circulated by FireDogLake’s Jane Hamsher. 'Sign-up to pledge your support in Connecticut's 2012 Senate race against Joe Lieberman. By signing on today, you promise to give money, volunteer, make calls from a distance, and help defeat Joe Lieberman in any way you can.'"

Liberals: Gonna Get You Sucka!

As you've probably heard, Joe Lieberman keeps his main chair in the Senate. Perhaps the Democrats can start up on Ralph Nader again to work out their pent up anger against Republican consorting politicians.

Netroots Fuming Over Lieberman Vote - Politico - 18 Nov 08

"'I think we’ve now learned that Joe Lieberman is the smartest politician in D.C. He knew Democrats were spineless capitulators who would cave at the merest threat,' Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas wrote in a post on the site. 'He’s probably having a great laugh about it just about now.'

'It appears as though four in five Democrats in the United States Senate are content with their committee leadership including a member who actively campaigned not only for the Republican Presidential nominee but also Republican Senators up for reelection this fall,' MyDD blogger Jonathan Singer chimed in. 'I knew the Senate was a collegial place... I just didn't know it was this collegial.'

Talking Point Memo’s Joshua Marshall, meanwhile, ran the mocking headline 'Breaking: Lieberman expelled from Pilates class in Senate gym' on his site. Frustrated by the seeming inaction from party leaders, some have already begun gathering pledges to donate and work for whatever Democrat runs against Lieberman when his Senate term is up in 2012.

'The race starts now ... whoever runs against Joe Lieberman,' reads the pledge being circulated by FireDogLake’s Jane Hamsher. 'Sign-up to pledge your support in Connecticut's 2012 Senate race against Joe Lieberman. By signing on today, you promise to give money, volunteer, make calls from a distance, and help defeat Joe Lieberman in any way you can.'"

Citizens Not Subjects - What A Novel Idea

More historical and other musings on Obama.

The New Liberalism by George Packer - The New Yorker - 17 Nov 08

"When the reporter pressed [Franklin] Roosevelt to offer a vision of his own historical opportunity, he gave two answers.

First, he said, America needed 'someone whose interests are not special but general, someone who can understand and treat the country as a whole. For as much as anything it needs to be reaffirmed at this juncture that the United States is one organic entity, that no interest, no class, no section, is either separate or supreme above the interests of all.'

But Roosevelt didn’t limit himself to the benign self-portrait of a unifying President. 'Moral leadership' had a philosophical component: he was, he said, 'a liberal.'

The election of 1932 arrived at one of those recurring moments when 'the general problems of civilization change in such a way that new difficulties of adjustment are presented to government.' As opposed to a conservative or a radical, Roosevelt concluded, a liberal 'recognizes the need of new machinery' but also 'works to control the processes of change, to the end that the break with the old pattern may not be too violent.'"

"The [Wall Street] Journal’s nightmare scenario of America under President Obama and a Democratic Congress included health care for all, a green revolution, expanded voting rights, due process for terror suspects, more powerful unions, financial regulation, and a shift of the tax burden upward. (If the editorial had had more space, full employment and the conquest of disease might have made the list.)"

"[Harvard law professor and author of "Nudge", Cass] Sunstein suggested as the governing philosophy of an Obama Presidency the idea of 'deliberative democracy.' The phrase appears in 'The Audacity of Hope,' where it denotes a conversation among adults who listen to one another, who attempt to persuade one another by means of argument and evidence, and who remain open to the possibility that they could be wrong. Sunstein pointed out that 'deliberative democracy' has certain 'preconditions': 'It requires an educated citizenry, a virtuous and engaged citizenry that has sufficient resources—and Madison sometimes spoke in these terms—that they could actually be citizens, rather than subjects.'"

Citizens Not Subjects - What A Novel Idea

More historical and other musings on Obama.

The New Liberalism by George Packer - The New Yorker - 17 Nov 08

"When the reporter pressed [Franklin] Roosevelt to offer a vision of his own historical opportunity, he gave two answers.

First, he said, America needed 'someone whose interests are not special but general, someone who can understand and treat the country as a whole. For as much as anything it needs to be reaffirmed at this juncture that the United States is one organic entity, that no interest, no class, no section, is either separate or supreme above the interests of all.'

But Roosevelt didn’t limit himself to the benign self-portrait of a unifying President. 'Moral leadership' had a philosophical component: he was, he said, 'a liberal.'

The election of 1932 arrived at one of those recurring moments when 'the general problems of civilization change in such a way that new difficulties of adjustment are presented to government.' As opposed to a conservative or a radical, Roosevelt concluded, a liberal 'recognizes the need of new machinery' but also 'works to control the processes of change, to the end that the break with the old pattern may not be too violent.'"

"The [Wall Street] Journal’s nightmare scenario of America under President Obama and a Democratic Congress included health care for all, a green revolution, expanded voting rights, due process for terror suspects, more powerful unions, financial regulation, and a shift of the tax burden upward. (If the editorial had had more space, full employment and the conquest of disease might have made the list.)"

"[Harvard law professor and author of "Nudge", Cass] Sunstein suggested as the governing philosophy of an Obama Presidency the idea of 'deliberative democracy.' The phrase appears in 'The Audacity of Hope,' where it denotes a conversation among adults who listen to one another, who attempt to persuade one another by means of argument and evidence, and who remain open to the possibility that they could be wrong. Sunstein pointed out that 'deliberative democracy' has certain 'preconditions': 'It requires an educated citizenry, a virtuous and engaged citizenry that has sufficient resources—and Madison sometimes spoke in these terms—that they could actually be citizens, rather than subjects.'"

"Your Vote Doesn't Matter"

Out of about 2.9 million votes in total. Amazing.

Opening Seals, Sorting Ballots: Minnesota's Senate Recount Begins - Star Tribune - 19 Nov 08

"The recount is required under state law because the margin between Coleman and Franken was less than 0.5 percent. Coleman's 215-vote lead heading into the recount translates to 0.008 percent.

According to early recount results today from Ramsey County, Franken netted four votes. Coleman lost nine votes and Franken lost five, according to the first 17 precincts out of 104 to be recounted in St. Paul. County elections manager Joe Mansky wrote the new raw numbers with a marker on the board next to totals from Election Day.

Mansky said there were about a dozen challenged ballots. 'I guarantee I will win all those challenges 100 percent when they get to the State Canvassing Board,' he said. On most of those challenged ballots, the voters' intent was clear, but sometimes there were stray marks or the voter colored in outside the oval. 'We have some new observers, and they feel they have to challenge something,' Mansky said."

"Your Vote Doesn't Matter"

Out of about 2.9 million votes in total. Amazing.

Opening Seals, Sorting Ballots: Minnesota's Senate Recount Begins - Star Tribune - 19 Nov 08

"The recount is required under state law because the margin between Coleman and Franken was less than 0.5 percent. Coleman's 215-vote lead heading into the recount translates to 0.008 percent.

According to early recount results today from Ramsey County, Franken netted four votes. Coleman lost nine votes and Franken lost five, according to the first 17 precincts out of 104 to be recounted in St. Paul. County elections manager Joe Mansky wrote the new raw numbers with a marker on the board next to totals from Election Day.

Mansky said there were about a dozen challenged ballots. 'I guarantee I will win all those challenges 100 percent when they get to the State Canvassing Board,' he said. On most of those challenged ballots, the voters' intent was clear, but sometimes there were stray marks or the voter colored in outside the oval. 'We have some new observers, and they feel they have to challenge something,' Mansky said."