Round Two: "Glenn Greenwald debates Lawrence O'Donnell on Blue Dogs" (video)

hidnusr10, video (12:30).

"Elizabeth Warren Helps Answer the Question: Can the Middle Class Be Saved?" (video)

Common Dreams with video from The Rachel Maddow Show, (06:20).

"What's the deal with a government shutdown?"

Laura Conaway (The Maddow Blog):

• (Chart of national debt by president by viewer Rick Seaman.)

  Republicans want to repeal the health reform law and -- so they say -- cut spending. Democrats would like the government to function. The natural strategy for Republicans, then, is to threaten a shutdown of the government if Democrats won't give them what they want.

  GOP lawmakers in the House get their first crack at it when Congress has to increase the amount the federal government is allowed to borrow, usually a routine order of business. From Talking Points Memo:

  If the debt ceiling is not raised before the federal government uses up its current borrowing authority, then sometime in February the U.S. government will no longer be able to issue more debt. What does that mean? In short all hell will break loose.

  For starters, the government would be forced either to slash all spending painfully, immediately, across the budget -- which could plunge us back into recession and cause immense personal pain -- or stop making payments on its outstanding debt, in which event the global economy would keel over. Really, it's that dire, which is why the vote to raise the debt ceiling has generally been a symbolic one. And yes, no one likes piles of government debt, but you can't get two wars, a recession and an economic recovery without it.

  Bear in mind, of course, that Republicans are still out hunting in the weeds for spending cuts to fund the $700 billion in Bush tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.

"Family of Secrets": Russ Baker on the Bush Dynasty on MSNBC with Dylan Ratigan (video)

MSNBC-Dylan Ratigan (05:13).

Video (05:01) from Russ Baker: "Bush v. Baker: Battle of the Books & Truth."

(Updated) "Wilson and Plame React to Bush Memoir" (video)

MSNBC-The Last Word (O'Donnell), video (09:31).

Howie P.S.: More on Valerie Plame--"I Am Really Good with an AK-47" (Vanity Fair):

If Tuesday’s election didn’t sate your thirst for back-stabbing politics and blatant public deceit, then the cineplex has just the thing for you this weekend: Fair Game. With the gritty, hyperkinetic sensibility that he demonstrated in The Bourne Identity, director Doug Liman’s film re-creates L’Affaire Valerie Plame and hearkens back to great 70s political thrillers such as Three Days of the Condor, The Parallax View, and All The President’s Men. Part political exposé, part spy thriller, Fair Game aims to remind you that the government once used trumped-up claims of nuclear Armageddon to justify a protracted and destructive ground war in the Middle East—in case you forgot. Liman’s father was chief counsel for the Senate during the Iran-Contra scandal, and he uses his intimate understanding of America’s intelligence network to paint a detailed picture of how the C.I.A. really works. MORE...

Taibbi: "Tea Party Anger Confused" (with video)

Watch: Taibbi on 'Parker/Spitzer' (TaibbBlog) with video from CNN (06:49):

Went on the new Parker/Spitzer show last night -- have been looking forward to this one because the governor knows more about the finance shenanigans than anyone -- and it turned out to be a good talk, mostly about the Tea Party. I have to apologize to the planet earth for two things. One, when Spitzer asks who my heroes are in this climate, I somehow forgot to mention Elizabeth Warren, who I still think should be gearing up to run for president. I also screwed up the name of Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, calling him "Ron" Merkley, and this is embarrassing to admit but I did this because I was confusing Merkley with an old New England Patriots draft choice, a linebacker named Ron Merkerson, who, if memory serves me correctly, had to retire because of microfracture issues. Senator Merkley, my apologies.

Darcy Burner: "A Progressive Prescription for the Post-Election Hangover"

Darcy Burner (Progressive Congress Action Fund):

While we’re not going to duplicate the capacity of Fox News overnight (nor are we going to match the Heritage Foundation’s $38 million/year), we could do a lot more to leverage progressive members of Congress and the soapboxes they have by:

* Making sure they have top-notch research on issues and messaging;
* Ensuring that members and progressive spokespeople get top notch training and practice for media appearances and public speaking;
* Having people whose job it is to book progressive members of Congress and spokespeople into the press;
* Building new distribution mechanisms for content and information, whether by radio, on TV, over the Internet, in print, in person, by text message, by iPhone app, or some other way;
* Coordinating messaging so that different people are saying things that reinforce each other; and
* Insisting that progressive leaders use communications best practices, such as telling stories. Saying that “women should have access to abortions” is not going to work as well as talking about the woman who showed up at a Catholic hospital late in her first trimester of pregnancy suffering from pre-eclampsia which would kill her if the pregnancy didn’t end. The nun in charge got permission to end the pregnancy to save the mother – and then was excommunicated. The next woman who shows up in that emergency room with pre-eclampsia will die. By eliminating coverage for medically necessary abortions, we’ve ensured that similar stories will play out all over America: women will die because a bunch of lawmakers didn’t understand why what they were doing was a problem.

There is plenty for progressives to do post-election both inside and outside of Congress. Act as if the future of the country depended on it. Because it does.
MORE...

"No We Can't, 2010 Midterms Edition"

A voter walks to a polling station in Titusville, Florida November 2, 2010 (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty)

Tim Dickinson:

There are many reasons for the "shellacking" Democrats took last night. But the decline and fall of Organizing for America (nee Obama for America), and the subsequent reversion of the electorate to the midterm norm, may be sorriest of all. The fact that young voters, who made up 18 percent of the electorate in 2008, stayed home for this election is especially disheartening -- because those who did make it to the polls broke 57 to 40 for Democrats.

Where did things go wrong? On Monday, the New York Times explored the disillusionment of the Millennial set with Obama and his party. And back in February, I explained how OFA went off course in this feature I wrote for the magazine. MORE...

Howie P.S.: I'm confused. Dickinson also says "The share of the electorate under 30 actually dipped a point from four years ago' to 11 percent." That's all? What about two years ago? Dickinson's earlier piece on OFA should be required reading for every political pundit (cable, print or tavern).

Greenwald: "Is there something about cable that causes people to convert substantive debates into personalized, self-centered dramas?"

factchecker's diary on Kos:

I was nearly dozing off listening to the very end of Lawrence O'Donnell's 1-hour show "The Last Word" on Monday (Nov. 8), when his final words hit me in the face like a slap.
O'Donnell spent the final minute announcing coming attractions for tomorrow night's show, including his guest Glenn Greenwald, who had argued forcefully and effectively with O'Donnell on "Morning Joe" a few days ago. One would expect some teaser, but O'Donnell instead lashed into his guest with insinuations that Greenwald was somehow not...American. MORE...

Howard Dean on the Midterms (video)

Howard Dean, video, (10:09).

Howie P.S.: "CLICK TO PLAY" UNDER "HOWARD DEAN." Dean spoke at The School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary (Canada) on November 3rd, 2010.

Van Jones: "We Must Prepare for Battle"

Adele M. Stan (AlterNet):

In a darkened space bedecked with impressionistic portraits of the progressive movement's great heroes, Van Jones -- community organizer, environmental activist and erstwhile presidential adviser -- steps onto a tiny stage that has just been warmed up by two local teenage poets and graced by Amy Goodman, the voice of Pacifica Radio's "Democracy Now!" The audience is filled with Washington activists, including the comedian and civil rights leader Dick Gregory, CodePink founder Medea Benjamin and Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., president of the Hip-Hop Caucus.

The room is packed, and a line snakes along the sidewalk outside Busboys and Poets, a restaurant designed as a gathering place for progressives, even as the event begins.

In a passionate speech focused mainly on the costs and horrors of America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Goodman sets the stage for Jones' talk by imploring activists to organize. While a portrait of Rosa Parks by Anna Rose Soevik glimmers behind her, Goodman debunks the mythology surrounding the woman whose refusal to give up her seat on a bus sparked the civil rights movement. "Yes, she was a tired seamstress," Goodman says, "but Rosa Parks was an organizer."

It's the evening after the big Rally to Restore Sanity hosted by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, and an odd mixture of exhilaration and anxiety fills the room -- the thrill of having been part of a gathering of like-minded people who flooded the National Mall in a repudiation of the harsh rhetoric of the Tea Party and cable news media, and anxiety about the Republican tide about to come crashing into the nation's capital in the midterm elections.

Jones has taken the temperature; he knows the score. But he's not about to let anybody off the hook.

"Now, here's our problem," he says. "Most of the people who are in this room have given away, over the past two years, almost all of our power. The reason the country is in the shape that it's in is not just because bad people created a hate machine; it's that good people shut down the hope machine." MORE...

Bob Herbert: "Tone-Deaf in D.C"

Bob Herbert:

The Democrats are in disarray because it’s a party that lacks a spine. The Republicans, conversely, fight like wild people whether they’re in the majority or not. What neither party is doing is offering a bold, coherent plan to get the nation’s economy in good shape and create jobs, to bring our young men and women home from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to rebuild the education system in a way that will prepare the next generation for the great challenges of the 21st century, and to reinvigorate the can-do spirit of America in a way that makes people believe that they are working together toward grand and constructive goals. MORE...

"Hemp and the Rule of Law" (with video)

TinroofVideo, with video (09:20):

Excerpt from the 55 minute documentary, "Hemp and the Rule of Law" chronicles the movement to legalize the growing of hemp for American farmers. Hemp is the non-narcotic relative of marijuana, once grown on American farms. Today, it is under the control of the Drug Enforcement Administration, who call it marijuana. The U.S. is the only industrialized nation to outlaw the crop.

H/t to Ziggy.

Memo to Goldy: Tim Eyman--Still a Horse's Ass!

Eyman was in a good mood at the election night party of the state Republican Party Tuesday. (AP Photo/The News Tribune, Peter Haley)

Here's the proof!

"How the Democrats shellacked themselves"

Joan Walsh (Salon):

The smart money may be on Obama caving to the GOP, as he did when Republicans demanded a smaller-than-needed stimulus, healthcare reform without a public option or curbs on industry profits, financial reform without a ban on banks' gambling with federally insured money -- and then delivered few or no votes for the watered-down result, anyway. I still believe Obama can stick to his guns, realizing that he's living through a depressing hazing ritual for Democratic presidents -- being stuck cleaning up after a Republican bacchanal -- and refuse to budge. MORE...

Jane Hamsher on "Barack Obama and OFA" and the Midterms

Jane Hamsher:

They firmly believed that they had permanently "redrawn the electoral map," and their "risky strategy" was to spend $30 million turning out 2008 surge voters rather than traditional midterm voters. There was considerable dissent from the DCCC, the DSCC, the DGA and the unions who were also working on Democratic turnout operations. They believed that Obama's chances of defying history and getting unlikely voters to the polls was small, though the effort was "likely to pay dividends for the president's reelection campaign in 2012." They were right. The entire thing was a complete flop -- for Democrats in 2010, that is. MORE...

Jonathan Raban: "Those Damned Seattle Liberals!"

Jonathan Raban (NY Review of Books):

The local rule of thumb is that a Republican running for the US Senate or the governor’s office must break 40 percent in King County, where close to a third of all voters in the state live. When, on election night, the early-ballot returns showed her winning in King County by 62 percent to Rossi’s 38 percent, Democrats here went to bed confident that she’d keep her seat. Rossi’s loss, despite his carrying thirty-seven out of forty-five counties, rather justifies the old cry from east of the mountains and the dying logging- and mill-towns on the Olympic Peninsula, that once again an election has been fatally skewed by the usual suspects, those damned Seattle liberals.
(SNIP)
So far (and touching wood for Larsen’s victory), Washington has been lightly scathed by the gale of anti-Democrat, anti-Obama loathing that has swept the US heartland but seems to have lost much of its force as it reached the West Coast, and was felt here as little more than an uncomfortably stiff breeze. Nor has there been any sign here of the “enthusiasm gap”: statewide turnout, estimated on election day as roughly 66 percent, is now said to be likely to rival, or even cap, the 72 percent record for a midterm election, set in 1970. MORE...

Frank Rich: "Barack Obama, Phone Home"

Frank Rich:

After his “shellacking,” President Obama had to do something. But who had the bright idea of scheduling his visit to India for right after this election? The Democrats’ failure to create jobs was at the heart of the shellacking. Nothing says “outsourcing” to the American public more succinctly than India. But the White House didn’t figure this out until the eve of Obama’s Friday departure, when it hastily rebranded his trip as a jobs mission. Perhaps the president should visit one of the Indian call centers policing Americans’ credit-card debts to feel our pain. MORE...

Howie P.S.: Even more than being forced to pray that Harry Reid would win, the cruel fact that Rhambo argued (correctly, it now seems) that jobs rather than health care should have been Obama's first task is a very bitter pill to have to swallow.

"Lawrence O'Donnell Calls Himself A 'Socialist,' Slams Glenn Greenwald On Morning Joe" (with video)

Jack Mirkinson (HuffPo), with video (06:52):

Lawrence O'Donnell and prominent blogger Glenn Greenwald engaged in a heated debate on Friday's "Morning Joe" about the political direction the Democratic Party should take in the wake of their midterm election losses.

Two days before he came on the MSNBC show, Greenwald had fired the first salvo in the debate. In a post on Wednesday, he singled out O'Donnell as an example of cable news pundits always advising Democrats to move to the right in order to win elections:

...Almost every time I had MNSBC on [during the coverage of the midterm elections], there was Lawrence O'Donnell trying to blame "the Left" and "liberalism" for the Democrats' political woes. Alan Grayson's loss was proof that outspoken liberalism fails. Blanche Lincoln's loss was the fault of the Left for mounting a serious primary challenge against her. Russ Feingold's defeat proved that voters reject liberalism in favor of conservatism, etc. etc. It sounded as though he was reading from some crusty script jointly prepared in 1995 by The New Republic, Lanny Davis and the DLC.

On Friday, O'Donnell seemed ready to respond. When Greenwald said that the notion that liberalism had suffered a defeat at the ballot box on Tuesday made no sense -- since nearly 95% of the Progressive Caucus in the House had been reelected, while the conservative Blue Dog Democrats had suffered massive losses -- O'Donnell leapt in.

"Glenn, Glenn, Glenn, Glenn, that's the silliest thing you can say," he told Greenwald. The liberal Representatives, he continued, lived in safe districts, whereas the Blue Dogs lived in tight swing districts. MORE...

Howie P.S.: If Lawrence is a socialist, he's a mighty thin-skinned one.

"Progressives, Obama and the Democratic Party" (with video)

Glenn Greenwald, with video (13:41):

Earlier today I posted video of a Civil Liberties and Terrorism speech I gave last night at the University of Wisconsin, along with some notices of events and media appearances tomorrow, but I wanted to separately post this 13-minute discussion I had on MSNBC this afternoon with Dylan Ratigan and Cenk Uygur about the Obama presidency, progressives and the Democratic Party, because I thought the discussion was quite good and touched on some important issues.

"The Tax Reform Debate, Post-1098 Defeat"

Andrew Calkin (Duly Noted Politics):

Initiative 1098 has done a great service to Washington State by fostering a dialogue on taxes, income inequality, education, and a general discussion of how government should be funded. Yet the failure of 1098 to pass in a single county and its statewide tally of 35 percent approve and 65 percent reject suggests that voters were not convinced by 1098’s course of action - at all.

Even as the overall trend in the 2010 election was anti-taxes, against tax increases, and against new types of taxes, voters rejected 1098 even though it would have meant lower property taxes for every single Washington residents (owners and renters alike). Taxes would have been raised for only 1.2% of Washingtonians. Knowing that, I-1098’s defeat on Tuesday evening is an anomaly of sorts. Why did voters not take the step and ensure that education is adequately funded for years to come, and why didn’t voters choose to approve a tax decrease for nearly everyone in Washington?

Fear politics won out, plain and simple. MORE...

"Bill Maher on Jon Stewart's FALSE EQUIVALENCY" (video)

Kevin1354, video (05:25).

(Updated) Karl Rove: "Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson are Fair Game" (video)

"Fair Game"

UPDATE: I just returned from the movie and I have two questions:

1. How come the reviews I looked at yesterday before I saw the movie were sufficiently critical to leave me wondering if I would find it engaging and very moving? (IT WAS.)
2. How come it was released just after election day?


bravenewfoundation, video (02:46).

Howie P.S.: My wife has invited me to see this film tomorrow and I am looking forward to it,

Matt Taibbi: "Olbermann Suspension is Lunacy"

Matt Taibbi:

We had a whole generation of journalists who sat by and did nothing while, for instance, George Bush led us into an idiotic war on a lie, plus thousands more who spent day after day collecting checks by covering Britney's hair and Tiger's text messages and other stupidities while the economy blew up and two bloody wars went on mostly unexamined... and it's Keith Olbermann who should "pay the price" for being unethical? Because, and let me get this straight, he donated money, privately, to politicians? MORE...

"Welcome to California Style Budget and Tax System Gridlock Nitwits" (with video)

artistdogboy with video from KING5 NEWS (02:54):

If you voted for I-1053 I'm sure you'll probably like it when absolutely nothing gets done in this State from now into the foreseeable future. I hope some government service you depend on gets cut first. Roads go to hell, ferry service is cut, kids don't get the medical treatment they need or your kid's school goes to hell. Little old San Juan was the only county in the state that rejected this bullshit initiative having apparently had enough of Mr. Eyman's past smoke and mirror routine with initiatives 1033 and 601. MORE...

Rachel Maddow Points Out the Difference Between FAUX and MSNBC (video)

MOX NEWS, video (07:03).

Howie P.S.: Greg Sargent adds this to the story this morning:

...the problem remains that the punishment far outweighed the transgression, particularly since the NBC policy Olbermann supposedly violated seems ambiguous, raising questions about the real motives behind his Olbermann's suspension. He should, and I suspect will, be allowed to return. MORE...

Greg Sargent: "Did Keith Olbermann even violate NBC policy?"

Greg Sargent:

Check out the fine print of what NBC policy said, as of 2007, about political activities on the part of NBC employees:

"Anyone working for NBC News who takes part in civic or other outside activities may find that these activities jeopardize his or her standing as an impartial journalist because they may create the appearance of a conflict of interest. Such activities may include participation in or contributions to political campaigns or groups that espouse controversial positions. You should report any such potential conflicts in advance to, and obtain prior approval of, the President of NBC News or his designee."

Emphasis mine. This is a bit difficult to parse. But this does seem to say that those who are worried that their "standing as an impartial journalist" would be jeopardized by political activity should report it. Last time I checked, Keith Olbermann doesn't pretend to be an "impartial journalist." MORE...

"On Obama and the elections"

Kerry Eleveld (The Advocate):

During his first two years in office, President Obama governed from the middle, but he let his policies be demonized by the right as hopelessly liberal — leaving progressives hopelessly unsatisfied.
(SNIP)
In short, Obama didn’t govern as a progressive but was painted as one. Therefore, progressives didn’t get what they voted for and yet the rest of the country was led to believe the “progressive” agenda had pushed us down a dark path to nowhere.

Here’s lesson 1: If you’re going to let yourself be characterized as a liberal, you damn well better be one; otherwise the base that elected you won’t turn up at the polls to get your back once you’ve given a bad name to everything they believed in but never actually got. MORE...

H/t to John Aravosis.

About Keith

Booman:

In short, Olbermann just got Dan Rathered by GE. Scared of losing influence with the Republicans in Congress, GE Executives cravenly did what they do best: protect their bottom line. Suspending Olbermann had nothing to do with drawing "a distinction between the journalistic standards of their news division and the standards of Fox." GE's own record of political contributions makes that very clear. MORE...

Ben Smith:

It's hard to see the Olbermann suspension as entirely different from the Juan Williams firing: An excuse to go after a guy who has legendarily difficult relations with management.

Sargent notes that Joe Scarborough gave some money to a House Republican in 2006 and that Pat Buchanan gives to candidates; Chris Hayes, Olbermann's substitute, has given the occasional political money. MORE...

"The Two Underlying Reasons Keith Olbermann Was Suspended Today" (Steve Krakauer):

Two years ago Keith Olbermann was MSNBC. In many ways, he was untouchable, and knew it. In a New Yorker profile in June 2008, he joked that his boss, Phil Griffin, “thinks he’s my boss.” Around the same time, a high level MSNBC source told me, “He is not central to MSNBC, he is the center of the MSNBC ratings strategy. We hang the entire schedule on him.”

But that’s changed. Now, Rachel Maddow is getting better ratings than Olbermann in the key A25-54 demographic, and Lawrence O’Donnell isn’t far behind. Olbermann is no longer the center of the strategy either – as the network has unveiled a vibrant, massive new campaign “Lean Forward” which focuses on half a dozen members of the MSNBC talent pool.

MSNBC executives – and executives even higher up the ladder – have to feel secure in their position in the cable news battle, even if Olbermann never returns to the line-up. Which brings us to reason number two: Comcast. The imminent merger and ultimate takeover is a tricky business maneuver, that both GE and Comcast have to be aware of. It has the attention of the government, and it has the attention of the competition. The company doesn’t need bad press right now – especially not one that’s political in nature. It also doesn’t help when Olbermann has previously tweeted things like Comcast wanting “to go more liberal” (a claim that doesn’t seem to be backed up anywhere). And on top of all that, this comes as NBC News appears to want to distance themselves from their more partisan cable channel.

Indeed, MSNBC management is striking at two birds with one stone here: Olbermann and, in the contrast, Fox, whose hosts Sean Hannity and Neil Cavuto, not to mention Huckabee, have given to political candidates, as Media Matters was quick to circulate.

The suspension does seem to cut hard, though, against the source of MSNBC's success, its unabashed liberalism in prime time. MORE...

Vivian McPeak: "Obama is accused of a government takeover, while corporations have hijacked democracy"

Vivian McPeak (seattlepi.com, op-ed):

I feel that it is actually the corporate right wing of this country that has accomplished a radical and total government takeover. The recent "Citizens United" Supreme Court ruling has essentially handed our democracy over to the highest bidder. Three billion dollars, much of it from multi-national conglomerates and covertly funneled through shell groups, has just perverted our democracy and influenced a media campaign of toxic gutter-level attack ads. Apparently a very effective strategy for influencing the minds of a pre-occupied and barely informed electorate.

And when I hear what prominent members of the republican party say about Obama, about liberals, and about the media, I feel as they are living in a parallel universe where everything is presented as the opposite of what it appears to actually be.

In classic Orwellian doublespeak the right wing accuses the corporately owned and operated mainstream media of being the mouthpiece of the liberal establishment. This makes about as much sense to me as it does when the partisan FOX news refers to itself as "fair and balanced." For every liberal radio talk show there are 10 conservative ones, for every progressive TV pundit there are scores of conservatives. I hear Tea Party members say things like "the media has given Obama a blank check and are not holding him accountable." Gee, that is exactly what I thought of the way they treated G.W. Bush's administration. MORE...

Obama on 60 Minutes on the Midterm Elections (video)

CBS News, video (01:54).

"Why Prop 19 died in big pot county" (with video)

Andrew Sullivan, with video (08:10):

I can concur with your reader about the greedy growers up here in the Emerald Triangle voting against Prop 19. I live in Mendocino County - Ukiah specifically. Just like Humboldt, Prop 19 went down in our County as well. Every grower I know - who, believe me, come from all walks of life - voted against Prop 19. MORE...

H/t to Ben Smith.

MSNBC: "Is losing good for business?"

Keach Hagey (Politico):

Harris Diamond, the chief executive of the Constituency Management Group of the Interpublic Group of Companies, which does branding among other communications work, said MSNBC’s new tagline made business sense.

“At the end of the day, what we’re seeing with MSNBC is a sort of doubling down on the business level,” he said. “In today’s world, if you look at the three majors, it’s pretty clear that Fox has been really successful in the folks who lean right. MSNBC wants to double down on the folks who lean left.”

The question, from a business perspective, is whether there are enough of liberal viewers to make it worthwhile for the parent company for MSNBC to go the more partisan route.

Paul Levinson, a professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University, believes that’s unlikely for the time being, even with the help of having Republicans in control of the House.

“It’s important to bear in mind that Fox has been successful during most of the Bush administration when it wasn’t in the opposition, as well as in the Obama administration, when it was in the opposition,” he said. “What happened is that CNN is much less successful than it was eight or nine years ago. For whatever reason, nowadays, conservative, anti-Obama viewpoints are much more successful on radio and television than progressive points of view.”

But he added that the Republican takeover of the House creates “a whole new ballgame” in which “anything is possible regarding the media.” MORE...

Even More Post Midterm News and Views

"Grayson: Democratic ‘appeasement’ cost us the election" (Raw Story):

Alan Grayson, the defeated Democratic congressman of "die quickly" fame, went on the offensive Thursday, telling reporters that the Democrats' "appeasement" of Republicans cost them the election.

In an appearance on MSNBC and an interview with Salon.com, Grayson argued that the "enthusiasm gap" that prompted millions of liberal voters to stay home Tuesday happened because the Obama administration and congressional Democrats did not fight hard enough for progressive values. MORE...

"Blue Dogs Dumped" (Joe Klein):

Normally, I don't have much patience for the whining on the left about the Blue Dog democrats--who were sliced in half on Tuesday, losing at least 28 of their 54 seats. When they lose, the Democrats lose control of the Congress. This year, however, I do feel that there is an argument that, to an extent, the Dogs brought this on themselves by being penny-wise, dogpound-foolish. The argument goes like this: a larger stimulus package might have helped the economy recover at a faster clip, but the Dogs opposed it on fiscal responsibility grounds. A second argument: the public really has had it with Wall Street, but the Dogs helped water down the financial regulatory bill, gutting the too-big-to-fail provisions. There is real merit to both points. MORE...

"Howard Dean Rules Out 2012 Bid" (Wall Street Journal):

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the unofficial general of the liberal movement, has ruled out posing a primary challenge to President Barack Obama, according to his office.

Mr. Dean, who energized the left with his unsuccessful 2004 presidential bid, has been a frequent critic of the president – most notably for the White House’s decision not to push for a so-called public option on the health care legislation. MORE...

"In Feingold’s Loss, Independents Turn on One of Their Own" (NY Times)

The irony was lost on no one. Senator Russ Feingold, a liberal with a fierce streak of independence who crusaded against the influence of money in politics, was toppled Tuesday in a campaign awash in the kind of unregulated cash he had struggled to keep out of the system.

And in a poignant twist, the loss came, in part, because independents flocked to his opponent, despite Mr. Feingold’s record of one maverick vote after another.

He was the sole senator to oppose the USA Patriot Act after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. He also broke with President Obama on several occasions, opposing the expansion of the war in Afghanistan, the bailing out of financial institutions in 2008 and the regulation of Wall Street this year, saying the restrictions did not go far enough.

Most prominently, he battled his colleagues to overhaul the campaign finance system; the resulting law, passed in 2002, bore his name and that of Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican (who won re-election Tuesday). MORE...

"Nancy Pelosi, undone by her own success" (Eugene Robinson):

Pelosi did what was right for the country, and what's right isn't always what's popular. Democrats may decide they need a less-polarizing figure as minority leader; if they do, well, that's politics. But I'd love to see her stay in the Democratic leadership - and I'm betting that eventually she'd find a way to take back the gavel that she pounds with such righteous authority. MORE...

"Rich Media, Poor Democracy" (Amy Goodman):

As the 2010 elections come to a close, the biggest winner of all remains undeclared: the broadcasters. The biggest loser: democracy. These were the most expensive midterm elections in U.S. history, costing close to $4 billion, $3 billion of which went to advertising. What if ad time were free? We hear no debate about this, because the media corporations are making such a killing by selling campaign ads. Yet the broadcasters are using public airwaves.

I am reminded of the 1999 book by media scholar Robert McChesney, “Rich Media, Poor Democracy.” In it, he writes, “Broadcasters have little incentive to cover candidates, because it is in their interest to force them to publicize their campaigns.” MORE...

Horsey on Why Dems Lost

David Horsey Election Cartoon Marathon.

Howie P.S.: I'm still mad at Horsey for his remarks about marijuana legalization, but this is a great cartoon.

Did Dems Lose Because They Failed to Fire Up The Base? (video)

MSNBC-O'Donnell (09:37).

Howie P.S.: Adam Green (Bold Progressives) and Tom Daschle talk with Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC.

"Progressive Caucus will now outnumber conservative Blue Dogs in Congress" (with video/audio)

Democracy Now! (with video/audio):

The Democrats lost the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in Tuesday’s midterm elections, but what is the makeup of the new Democratic House caucus? The conservative Blue Dogs lost half their members while the Progressive Caucus remains near 80. We speak to its co-chair, Rep. Raul Grijalva, who appears to have retained his seat in a close election in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District. Over the past year, Grijalva has received numerous threats, including having a suspicious package covered in swastikas sent to his office and having a bullet shot through his district office in Yuma, Arizona.

"McGinn calls for review of marijuana enforcement efforts"

Casey McNerthney (seattlepi.com):

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn has asked the King County prosecutor, Seattle city attorney, Seattle police chief, King County sheriff and a Seattle city councilman to join him in an executive review of marijuana enforcement. MORE...

Goldy: "my real post-election reaction"

David Goldstein (SLOG):

I've had my bit of fun this morning over at HA (we'll see how long it takes for my trolls to realize I'm just quoting Sharron Angle), so I thought I'd post my real post-election reaction here on Slog, the gist of it being that if you're looking for meaning in yesterday's election, don't.

Shit happens. Or more specifically, a shitty economy. MORE...

Howie P.S.: I must be pretty stupid. I took his earlier post seriously.

Maddow: Why Can't Dems HEAR Republicans NOT INTERSTED in Compromise? (video)

MSNBC-Maddow, video (14:22).

More Day After Reax (cont'd)

"GOP and Democrats gear up for all-out combat" (GuardianUK):

Barack Obama will use a White House press conference today to offer an olive branch to the Republicans as they seized control of at least the House of Representatives last night.

But the message from at least part of the Republican camp – including the Tea Party-backed winner of the Kentucky Senate seat, Rand Paul – was that co-operation even with their own party's leadership let alone the president was to be subordinated to a policy of obstructionism aimed at cutting spending and diminishing the power of government. MORE...

"Right-Wing Victories Should Be a Call to Arms" (David Goldstein):

Two failed wars, a collapsed economy and a host of far-right, proto-fascist, corporatist judicial appointments later, our nation is on its way to becoming an authoritarian plutocracy. And if there’s one thing the recent violent outbursts of teahadists should teach us, it’s that if we truly love the Constitution and what it stands for, then sometimes, politics just isn’t enough.

Our Founding Fathers put the Second Amendment in there for a reason, and that was to enable the People to protect themselves against tyranny. In fact, it was Thomas Jefferson who said that it’s good for a country to have a revolution every twenty years. I hope that’s not where we’re going, but, you know, if the Republicans take our nation the way they promise to take it, my fellow patriots on the left are going to start looking towarjavascript:void(0)d those Second Amendment remedies and ask ourselves, what can we do to turn this country around. MORE...

Howie P.S.: The use of the words "arms" and "combat" is new rhetorical territory for me,

More Day After Reax

"Turnout among young voters: 20 percent" (RAW STORY):

Around one million fewer Americans under the age of 30 cast ballots in the 2010 mid-term elections compared to the 2006 vote, a study from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) found. An estimated nine million people aged between 18 and 29, or one in five young Americans, voted Tuesday. MORE...

"Why the Election Turned Out as it Did" (Norman Goldman):

Where did President Obama go wrong?

A new poll shows people want MORE change from the president. These people are right. The president ran a very strong, pro-change campaign. Immediately upon taking office he (and he has now admitted this) began making deals. Bad deals. He began from positions of compromise and then compromised further from there -- like never advancing single payer as an opening position and then "backing down" to a strong public option. He compromised with drug companies; hospital associations and other corporate powers, in the health care debate. He sold out the public option, and then denied doing so; then had Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid do a bizarre charade at the end in order to NOT have the public option. He caved into ConservaDems like Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln and only was tough on his base -- the REAL Democrats who got him elected.Why do the progressive Democrats always have to cave to the ConservaDems? MORE...

"And now for the next battle" (E.J. Dionne, Jr.):

President Obama allowed Republicans to define the terms of the nation's political argument for the past two years and permitted them to draw battle lines the way they wanted. Neither he nor his party can let that happen again. MORE...

"Campaign Cash: Citizens United Becomes Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card for Corporate Criminals" (the media consortium):

The votes are in, and while some close races are still being tallied, there is a clear winner from the 2010 elections: Secret corporate cash.

Such unaccounted for political donations may end up allowing those accused of wrongdoing to go free. As Joshua Holland details for AlterNet, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission may have provided a lifetime supply of get-out-of-jail-free cards to corporate criminals. MORE...

"How Obama Saved Capitalism and Lost the Midterms" (Tim Egan-NY Times):

If I were one of the big corporate donors who bankrolled the Republican tide that carried into office more than 50 new Republicans in the House, I would be wary of what you just bought.

For no matter your view of President Obama, he effectively saved capitalism. And for that, he paid a terrible political price. MORE...

"Obama Takes Responsibility For Voter Frustration On Election Night" (HuffPo):

A chastened President Barack Obama signaled a willingness to compromise with Republicans on tax cuts and energy policy Wednesday, one day after his party lost control of the House and suffered deep Senate losses in midterm elections.

Obama ruefully called the Republican victories "a shellacking" and acknowledged that his own connection with the public had frayed. MORE...

"Schultz to Obama: Stop compromising!" (video)

MSNBC-ED Schultz, video (13:43).

"Will Republicans now reach out a hand?" (video)

MSNBC, video (04:03).

Howie P.S.: A Republican strategist makes that claim. Ari Melber says that is "false."

Post Election Memos to Obama

Robert Scheer:

Some Democratic leaders will urge Obama to follow President Bill Clinton’s lead after his party’s electoral reversal in the 1994 election and move even further to the right to strengthen his prospects for re-election. It was that opportunistic shift by Clinton that led to his signing off on the radical deregulation of the financial industry that caused the economic meltdown. If Obama follows such advice it will spell further disaster for the nation. MORE...

Glenn Thrush (Politico):

But if Obama’s critics are focusing on his agenda and messaging, many on his own team are urging him to address what they see as a major organizational flaw: an amorphous, ill-defined chain of command in the West Wing that concentrates too much power in too few hands, hampering efficiency, accountability and communication.

“If there’s still only five, 10 people making decisions, then we haven’t learned our lesson from Tuesday,” said one aide, who believes the problem starts with Obama’s insistence on giving his senior advisers, Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod, broadly sketched responsibilities.

But the issue isn’t confined to the upper levels. Several Obama insiders pointed to a surplus of West Wingers who spin out ideas by the bushel — and a shortage of seasoned middle managers to execute and sell them. MORE...

"Give Us This Day Our Daily Show"

Mr. Fish:

Political comedy, without practical application within a political strategy, will merely satiate our hunger for real change with a punch line and rob us of our sensitivity to any number of social and political injustices. Remember that levity provides a biochemical relief to our physiologies. It tells our insides that all is well and that there is happiness in our lives and that being buoyed by this temporary joy is justified by its own ends. Only when a wound is allowed to remain open and some measure of discomfort is permitted to pester our morality will we act to seek a solution to eliminating our pain and the pain that we empathetically feel in others.

“I’m sure a lot of you were just here to have a nice time, and I hope you did,” intoned Stewart from the stage at the end of his rally, groping comedically for a reason why the event was organized and also why the overwhelming majority of his audience showed up to watch it. Such a banal and grandmotherly adieu left me to wonder if Americans shouldn’t be looking for a more profound reason to stand shoulder to shoulder in a crowd of 250,000, in their nation’s capital, carrying signs and wearing T-shirts demanding peace, love and understanding in every way possible, than just to have a nice time.

Contrary to the mood of those surrounding me, those who were continuously waving at themselves on the immense monitors set up all over the Mall, I refused to fool myself into thinking, even for a historical moment, that we were just too big to fail. MORE...

Howie P.S.: The author, Mr. Fish, is a cartoonist. I think the "Rally" was helpful. However it will fail, by itself, to achieve its stated goal.

"Michael Moore on Midterm Elections, the Tea Party, and the Future of the Democratic Party" (with video/audio)

Democracy Now! with video/audio (20:18):

For the past 20 years, renowned filmmaker, author and activist Michael Moore has been one of the most politically active, provocative, and successful documentary filmmakers in the business. Moore came to our studio last night for our special Election Night broadcast to discuss the Tea Party movement, and the future of the Democratic and Republican parties.

Melber: "Lessons of the Blue Dog Blowout"

Ari Melber:

It was a blowout. By winning over 60 seats in the House, with close races still trickling in Wednesday morning, the anti-Obama wave of 2010 has already secured a prominent place in American history. Even conservative estimates -- say low 60s -- will place the 2010 midterms well above some of the largest shifts in party power in the modern era. This is bigger than the Newt revolution, which netted 54 seats in 1995, and signifcantly higher than the 49 seats that Democrats took after Watergate. In fact, you have to go back to the dramatic backlash to FDR in 1938 to find a midterm wave larger than the angry tsunami that crested on Tuesday. (The GOP netted 81 seats that year.) So what does that mean?

Since so much of our political discourse lives in an imagined future, like some sort of really annoying version of T2, analysts were spining their explanations before most ballots were cast.

Today's New York Times has analysis from Evan Bayh, a retiring centrist/moderate/presidential aspirant, which was obviously penned before polls closed in order to make it to press. "We were too deferential to our most zealous supporters," he bemoans, (huh?), and Democrats "over-interpreted our mandate." Bayh's solution is to focus more on GOP priorities like tax reform, government spending freezes and entitlement cuts. Third Way, a think tank that was literally founded to push Democrats to the center, has been pushing a similar line this week.

It is truly bizarre, because on Tuesday, voters rejected the very Blue Dog Democrats who have been following that exact approach.

The Blue Dog caucus was literally cut in half yesterday, from 54 to 26 members. Now people can argue whether that is good or bad -- but no serious political observer can say the strategy worked.

Loudly breaking with Obama on health care was not a winner, either. "Of the 34 Democrats who voted against the health care bill in March - 24 of them were Blue Dogs - only 12 won reelection," notes [5] reporter Jon Ward.

With such a strong current for the GOP, of course, there are few signs of what does work for Democrats right now. Yet ruling out the Blue Dog dance is a fine start. As Dr. Paul will tell you, in politics, first, do no harm.

Howie P.S.: Democracy Now! is doing an election wrap-up on this morning's show.

US Midterm Elections 2010 STREAMING LIVE on Democracy Now!

Democracy Now! (streaming video).

Connelly: "Murray: the last waltz, in jeans and tennis shoes"

Joel Connelly (seattlepi.com):

EVERETT - Sen. Patty Murray put on "my work gear" for what may be her final day on the campaign trail, visiting volunteers in a non-senatorial outfit of blue jeans, tennis shoes and a pullover sweatshirt.

She joked when asked if this IS her last campaign, likening the experience to having kids: Each time you swear never again.

"I will say this," Murray added, turning serious. "The among of money coming in -- unregulated, you don't know where it's coming from - has to be changed . . . Not just for our state, but for democracy."

She noted that by writing a six- or seven-figure check - and hiding it behind a non-profit front group - a hedge fund manager in New York can "cancel out the efforts of volunteers and small donors a continent away.

One such group, Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS, has spent $3.5 million on anti-Murray mailings and TV spots.

Out of its office on New York Avenue in Washington, D.C., it has bombarded voters with the charge that Murray is out of touch with this Washington. MORE...

"The war the election forgot"

Faye Fiore and Mark Z. Barabak (Los Angeles Times):

The United States is now in the ninth year of the longest conflict in its history, fought by 150,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq at a cost of more than $1 trillion. That is considerably more than the ultimate price of the much-debated Troubled Asset Relief Program, which bailed out automakers, banks and a handful of insurers.

Yet neither party has much incentive to discuss the fighting half a world away.

Democrats are pleased with the winding down of U.S. involvement in Iraq, but divided over Obama's decision to escalate efforts in Afghanistan; they don't want to pile onto a president already in political trouble.

Republicans, unhappy with Obama's opposition to the Iraq war when he ran for president, tend to agree with his approach in Afghanistan; but they aren't about to praise the Democratic commander in chief in the middle of the midterm campaign. MORE...

Sam Seder and Paul Krugman on Election Day (with video)

Sam Seder, video (03:28):

Sam Seder says vote and vote against Republicans and their policies.

Paul Krugman:

So again: it was mainly the economy, with the effects of a bad economy reinforced by Obama’s consistent policy of undercutting both messages and movements that might have helped Democrats weather the economic storm. MORE...

John Nichols on "Ted Sorensen and the Liberal Faith"

John Nichols (The Nation):

Sorensen was not nostalgic for a more politically potent past. He believed that Democrats needed, always, to outline and articulate ideals that spoke to the better angels of the times. They could not merely be a slightly less cruel or self-serving variation on the Republicans. It didn’t work that way.

"Democrats masquerading as a kinder, gentler version of Republicans lack credibility," Sorensen explained in his important 1996 book, Why I Am a Democrat (Henry Holt & Co, 1996).

"Having served Kennedy when he was senator and President, I know that criticism of presidential compromises that bridge the divide between the parties on a particular piece of legislation comes more easily to legislators and candidates who would rather fight than enact,” he wrote.”But it is also true that a party loses the election, loses its way, indeed, loses its very reason for being if it becomes merely a pale imitation of its opposition." MORE..

Howie P.S.: As a teenage political junkie, Sorensen was my role model. I still hold him in high regard.

"Michelle Obama Stumps For Harry Reid" (video)

ABC News, video (02:18):

The First Lady says it's not just about "putting one man in The White House."

What Digby said...about the Rally for Sanity

Digby:

They did an unfortunately clumsy bit at the end which indicated both sides were equally bad and Jon gave a very uninspiring speech about how both sides need to calm down. (Of course the only ones who will hear it are liberals, but whatever ...) MORE...

H/t to Bob Sesca.

'I REMEMBER, SO I'M VOTING, AND NOT REPUBLICAN.' (video)

StartLoving3, video (02:33).

Howie P.S.: I hope Mr. Stewart doesn't object.

Glenn Greenwald in Olympia WA Tonight!

South Puget Sound Community College at 7:00 p.m. Details are here.