Are you surprised by voting results?

A general dissatisfaction with governments is growing globally and it will probably lead to war sooner or later. People are trying to achieve “change” by voting for different people but they won’t get it so they’ll keep going back and forth like that ‘till they figure it out and revolt. Anarchy cannot be overcome.

Not everything is in yet but I think we kinda knew a lot of Republicans would be winning this time around. People are so fed up with everything and quite frankly, that Obama mojo/excitement seems to have diminished quite a bit in the past two years. I think a lot of people want to see more/different and actual change now :/

With several pieces of unpopular legislature being passed under the Democrats I gotta say, OH HAPPY(er) DAYS!!!

(Note: I’m independent but I really don’t like the Democrat party)

@DrasticDreamer

First Republican mayor or governor?

Prop 19 lookin like its going to lose.

though I cant say im overly surprised about that sadly.

Not really a big surprise for me in California. Brown and Boxer have strong political backgrounds and lots of support, and when both Whitman and Fiorina are both baking on their business experience, it didn’t take long for them to be called out on their “success”, especially with Fiorina nearly killing HP.

The General GOP gains in the house worry me. America is like a battered spouse, taking back the same asshats who beat it into a bloody pulp promising things will change this time around. People must be feeling really desperate about their situations if they are clinging to that circus called the tea party.

I was hoping that maybe we’d see an increase in third parties because of dissatisfaction with the Dem/GOP.

No surprise, if you look at the on-the-ground activity building up to here. I’m gleeful about the Missouri results.

I wish Whitman had learned from Michael Huffington (Arianna’s ex husband) that the California governor’s office cannot be bought by personal wealth.

The Republicans are now going to have to figure out how to govern with a caucus that is not manageable.

And i am bummed that Prop 19 didn’t pass, too, even though I don’t smoke weed.

@Brian1946 Governor, I meant, sorry.

I’m not really surprised. I am happy that Christine O’Donnell didn’t win in Delaware (that being my home state and all). I hope some better things happen for us in these next two years, but I don’t really have much faith that they will.

@zenvelo well its still too early to put the nail in the coffin.

As of right now 19% of the precincts are reporting and its 43.4% for 56.6% against. Yes is currently behind by ~300k votes. Still plenty of precincts to report in for it to turn around. Still got my fingers crossed an all :P

Not too surprised. The most shocking election ever for me was the reelection of Pres. Bush. Took me days to get out of my daze.

@JLeslie you and me both…

I’m not surprised that Republicans are winning all over the place (unfortunately), but the reason I’m surprised about some of Oregon’s probable results is because we don’t tend to follow the crowd here. We’re generally fiercely liberal, and it’s just a sad night for me.

I think it’s still too soon to tell here if there will be marijuana dispensers in pharmacies and the like, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that one.

@JLeslie Yes, I agree with you there.

Neither result nor surprise exactly, but the most notable thing I took away was how weak the Democrats were on their message. “Vote for us… uh… because if we give this thing back to the Republicans it will be worse.”

Hopey changey, indeed.

No, I am not surprised. They kicked the republicans out last couple of elections because they wouldn’t control spending.

The dems took control and thought they could double down on the spending and get away with it. They were wrong too.

I figure if the Repubs don’t start controlling spending, there will be a lot of new faces in 2012 and 2014 too.

What we really need are some good independant candidates with enough name recognition to take 4–5 seats from each party.

@DrasticDreamer I don’t know anything about the rep governor in Oregon, is he at least a moderate? I think of Oregon as being very very tree hugging liberal in the major cities, but parts of the state as being gun carrying good ol’ boys, but honestly that is kind of made up in my head. Is their any truth to my description?

nothing will change until the entire political system is toppled.

any vote isa throw away vote.

Ron Paul for King… NOW!

@JLeslie It’s Chris Dudley – he’s anti-choice and pro abstinence-only sex “education”. Which does not generally fly here. In the cities is where you find most of the granola-y liberals, yeah. In the more rural areas, you definitely find more conservatives – but the liberals generally always get the vote. It worries me a little, honestly, because it means that either a ton more conservatives voted, or more liberals actually voted for Republicans. And if any of you have ever visited Portland, the idea that the liberals here would vote conservative would make your mouths drop open.

No surprises. I was hoping for the senate but didn’t really expect it. It will be interesting to here Obama tomorrow. I wonder if he will come out with his typical blaming Republicans and taking no responsibility for anything. It would seem to be a tough sell but he has proven himself to be quite tone deaf in the past.

I am neither surprised nor dismayed. The only thing I would change in this election is that more LIbertarian candidates win, and that the Democrats lose control of the Senate, in addition to the House. I am sick unto death of the Obama/Ried/Boxer/Pelosi axis!

Not even a little bit.

@DrasticDreamer it seemed to me issues like choice and abstinence were out of the limelight this election, maybe that is why he was able to win. In terms of choice I am more concerned with congress and the president, more than a governor. The school abstinence thing is unfortunate though. What about euthanasia, is that ever a hot topic during election time? I always assume if I get diagnosed with a painful degenerative disease I am moving there.

@JLeslie That’s the thing, though, and that’s kind of exactly what I mean. Issues like choice and abstinence are generally never out of the limelight here, because they tend to be things that we keep an eye out for – even while other, “bigger” issues are afoot. Assisted suicide is never a hot topic here, because I think even most of the conservative Oregonians are generally in favor of it. That, I’m positive, will never again be taken away from us.

@DrasticDreamer I understand your point. That is a little unnerving.

oh God when you said you were shocked i thought wait a minute, maybe the Democrats have held on. Were you not away of the opinion polls? Pretty predictable really..the only good thing to come out of all this is you posting this question which in turn draws my attention to your new avatar

Elections are all about self advertisement (or “advertizement” for you americans) and your democrats did not do a good job in shouting loud enough and running on their achievements.
On both politicians and the electorate, let me offer you a quote by Lieutenant Commander Christopher Snipes of SOC: “When you sign up for the wrong outfit, you get what you deserve.”

@ragingloli American politics is one long round of promotion and PR, who can make their candidate look the most presentable, get them debating and scrapping it out in the bear pit, Obama should have been wiping the floor with the Tea-party before cornflakes, what a wasted opportunity.

im confused about prop 19… the site ive been tracking it on only says 30% in yet theyre saying a definitive no as the winner. Did i miss a lesson in math class or something?

This is the first time in Oregon’s history that the counting has had to go into the second day, before a winner could be called in the race for Governor. sigh.

Jerry Brown, the comeback kid. I does kind of surprise me that he’s going the be the Governor of California again.

I’m amazed that he’s 72. He used to be so young. Damn, so did I.

Every single year i am. it never changes.

@ragingloli

“Accomplishments?” WHAT accomplishments??

What ^he^ said…

did anyone see one single positive campaign advert?

@CaptainHarley provided the department of veteran’s affairs with $1.4 billion to improve services to America’s veterans. http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/

@Jeruba Didn’t we all, used to be young, that is. He still looks pretty good though. I was a Jerry Brown delegate at the Texas State Democratic Convention in 1992. I think I may have actually been the only Jerry Brown delegate at theTexas State Democratic Convention because, if I remember correctly, I think I lived in the only precinct in the entire state of Texas that went for Jerry Brown in the primary. I was living in Austin, that bastion of liberalism in Texas, and I was living near U.T.

@mammal awesome link

Not that surprised at the actual results, but I am surprised that Christine O’Donnell got as many votes as she did. Thankfully, it wasn’t enough for her to win, but still.

My state’s Senate race was one of the closest in the country, and the Democrat won. He’s an asshat, but he’s the asshat I voted for. The other dude is a Tea Party asshat! :P

What happened is normal in a good democracy. I’m not worried about moderate conservatives. The serious problem are the ultra conservatives. Therefore I asked

http://www.fluther.com/102743/how-many-of-the-newly-elected-republican-members-of-congress-are/

I thought it would go Republican,but not to this extent.This is rejection of the Socialist path Obama is trying to take us down.

@mammal Without going into just how biased that account is, this wasn’t a presidential election.

Not surprised – it’s actually right on schedule to have the Republicans ‘take over’ a bit – that’s what happens around mid-term elections…it’ll swing back when it counts in a couple of years – it’s following a very clear pattern.

Yeah, Obama’s already proven that he can’t lead or govern ( or even TALK without a teleprompter! ). That’s not going to change in two years. If the Reps don’t do something stupid, they will get the Senate majority and the Presidency in 2012.

I am surprised that the Senate didn’t fall to the Republicans too! The Dems really cheated brainwashed campaigned extra hard to accomplish that feat. ;)

@Cruiser

Actually, I don’t think that was possible this time, especially with some of the Republican senate candidates making mistakes the liberal press could pounce on.

@CaptainHarley LOL, ‘cause Bush was the epitome of eloquence. Read this.

When did I say that? Or even imply that?

And, for your information, eloquence is NO measure of competence. We see that everyday in the current incumbent of the Presidency.

@CaptainHarley No, you took a jab at Obama’s inability to speak w/o teleprompter – I just wanted to remind you what we had to deal with prior to him. And no, eloquence isn’t a measure of competence but you’re the one that mentioned it as if it was.

@CaptainHarley Obama could walk on water and cure the sick by touch and you would still harbour an irrational aversion to every single molecule in his body. That is classic cold war, conservative behaviour…. commies under the bed, in the closet, under the table, jumping jiminy cricket…..the little red bastards are everywhere!..lol

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I so agree with you. I think the problem was the media went on and on about how well spoken Obama is, and the truth is too often he almost stutters at the beginning of sentences when answering a question.

I believe We The People want a prosperous, happy life. If They do not have that then whoever is in government will be blamed and we will vote for the other party. The majority wanted Obama until he did not wave a magic wand and make things wonderful. Now that we are unhappy with him only a short time in office, we want someone else, we blame the party so once again we will vote in Republicans. I am a conservative and voted for Huckabee…I wish he would of had a chance. I wonder how many others now think the same thing.

It reminds me of the uselessness of debating polls prior to elections, and it also reminds me that polls are accurate 95% of the time or even more.

Can you say, “gross miscaracterization,” boys and girls. : )

Surprised? Not really – Democrats promised “change”, this and that, etc. etc. and people are still facing the hardships that they were facing and there hasn’t been a significant amount of “change” to impact the nation. Naturally, the people are going to “try something different”. If left doesn’t work, we’ll turn right.

Worried? Hell yes. I’m disappointed – but more or less in my country as a whole, I’m not exactly caught up in the blame game. We stand for a lot of good principles but the reality doesn’t quite reflect those principles.

Uh… does anyone understand that no one in government office will be capable of bringing Americans back to work until Americans themselves address the following issues…

Stop feeding Consumerism Monster.

Stop feeding the Sense of Entitlement Monster.

Stop Importing more than we Export.

Stop Government Corruption and secret Back Door Politics.

Stop letting Big Biz Run the Show with more rights than the JQ Public.

Stop Legislating Morality.

Did anyone run their campaign on the platform of issues that really matter? Did anyone lay out a clear plan as to how they would attempt to make things better, rather than the negative ad campaigns based mostly on distorted lies about their opponents?

Don’t you understand? All these negative campaigns only confirmed one thing… That Government is FULL OF CRIMINALS! They’re all ROTTEN… And that is TRULY the ONLY bipartisan consensus we will ever see out of the status quo.

The guy complaining about losing his job to China is probably watching the media lie to him on his Chinese manufactured television set. His car may be made in America, but only snapped together here with parts made in Japan. His freaking drive through burger at McDonalds is traveling half way around the world for someone in India to actually place the order and send it right back to the next window where he’ll get a Movie Promotion toy made in Mexico.

We are FUCKED People… There is NO return to the Glory Days on the horizon, and it doesn’t matter WHO the FUCK is in office. This isn’t a Re-Session… This is a Re-Set. Get used to it. Things are going to be like this (or worse) for a very very long time, if not permanently.

And now we’ve piled up even more debt for our children and grandchildren to pay off. How well do you think our debt is going to sit when Half of U.S. students who begin college never finish, and slightly more than half of Americans have a high school diploma.

Democrats didn’t do this to us. Republicans didn’t do this to us. We did this to ourselves.

Interesting rant, but quite pessimistic. Betting against America has always been a losing proposition, and I don’t think that has changed. Our capacity for self-renewal is legendary.

The America you knew is dead and gone @CaptainHarley. Our past glory of “self renewal” was based upon taking advantage of third world nations and gearing up the war machine to satisfy politico. That era has passed, and I for one am glad to see it gone.

The fear of Obama leading us into Socialism will soon be replaced by Ultra Conservatives leading us into Theocracy.

Tit for Tat, nothing will change except the cleverness of lying rhetoric foisted upon us.

How will our legendary self-renewal be revived on the world stage when we live in a primarily import based, drug addicted, uneducated, self entitled society? The only solution, I fear, is to keep the War Machine turning. Mark my words, government will soon invent a new enemy to distract us from our woes and blame everything upon. And the only ones profiting from it besides big gov, big biz, will be the Blackwater lookalikes who steal away our trained soldiers to work for them at a whopping $1000 per day to babysit a problem that we created.

Where is the money going to come from, from all those High School and College dropouts and the industry that isn’t there and won’t hire them? It’s laughable. The Jig is Up! The system is broken. We are a deceived people, enslaved by our own pompous greed and lacking intellect.

As I said above, you are far too pessimistic. In addition, America will never become a Theocracy. It’s not designed for it, and even many christians would actively resist it.

Well, we’d never be an openly admitted Theocracy, just like we’d never be an openly admitted Socialist nation. But in practice, we are far too eager to legislate morality. I still don’t understand the smoking bans all over the country. Why can’t I decide which restaurants I want to go to, based upon what they offer, rather than what local gov says they should? That’s just political leveraging for the next election. Some of our local campaign ads accused their opponents of being bad because they didn’t support smoking bans… yes they ran on that platform, and they set the whole freaking thing up just so they could.

I’m being a Realist rather than Pessimist. If my negative outlook existed in the face of solutions, real solutions, then I’d be a pessimist. But calling a spade a spade is not pessimism. That’s realism. But things are far too ugly for anyone to want to take a good look at reality.

Offer me solutions, as I have above, and show me how the nation is moving towards making those solutions manifest in reality. Then I’d be happy to be more optimistic. But realistically @CaptainHarley, there is no light at the end of this tunnel. And it’s not because of who’s in office. It’s because the American people have become fat, lazy, deceitful, greedy, boisterous, and altogether just plain stupid upon the junk food that ill conceived media feeds our minds with.

Things won’t change until we suffer a bit and stop blaming everyone else for our problems. This must begin on an individual basis, person by person, neighborhood by neighborhood, community by community, city by city, state by state… In other words, from the bottom up, and from the heart. But instead, we turn on the tube and listen to comedians complain about why things aren’t changing from the top down. Formula for disaster, and so contemporary American, for it allows us to continue blaming others for every little problem in our lives.

We can begin by paying off some of our credit cards and car loans. Then go say hello to a neighbor and ask if they need any help around the house. Build community strong… Start changing things on a personal level first, and watch with wonder as everything else falls into place naturally from there.

There is wisdom in what you say, particularly in your last two paragraphs. All I can do is what I am doing. I owe on my motorcycle, but that should be paid off this time next year. Then I will owe no man but to love him. I have great admiration for Congressman Ron Paul and for the LIbertarian Party. Whether they will ever be in a position to change things is open to conjecture, but I support them by volunteering and with donations. It’s about all I know to do.

RP for King!

Look up Ron Paul on youtube and revisit everything he was saying three years ago. His comments are/were prophetic, and should have been heeded back then. Too bad his son Rand doesn’t listen to his dad more…

What’s really a crock is to revisit the debates where he schools everyone, especially McCane. I honestly don’t know how America missed RP’s message and couldn’t separate him from the rest of the wolves (chumps).

I like this raspy commentary on the subject.

@Jeruba

There may indeed be a percentage of younger voters who are that childish and self-absorbed, but it goes much deeper than that. Obama gives a great speech and is indeed “well-spoken,” but he has no depth. He, and many of his far left followers cannot comprehend that many, many problems cannot be resolved by tossing out the people on the right and flooding the rest of America with thouchy-feely sound-bites.

@CaptainHarley – Or even TALK without a teleprompter? No depth? Do you expect the Fluther community to take you seriously?

[ shrug ] Whether anyone anywhere “takes me seriously” is a matter of total indifference to me. I don’t sugar-coat my conclusions just because someone might be offended. It’s time people outgrew that and learned that not everyone agrees with them.

Not agreeing with each other is the fuel of progress and a key feature of free societies. But spreading misinformation and unfounded insinuation is still embarrassing.

@mattbrowne

Toss around all the accusations you like. I remain unimpressed. I am not the one spreading misinformation and “unfounded insinuation.”

@mattbrowne You’re the second person to bring up @CaptainHarley‘s teleprompter comment and I’m not sure it’s really that important, compared to some of the more substantive things at issue. I think it’s kind of a distraction.

And to distract you from that distraction I submit this little gem from the Onion News Network about Obama’s dependence on the telelprompter.

I sent it to @CaptainHarley via PM and he got a major ROFLMAO out of it. Hope you do to. It’s a good laugh that the two of you can share, that all of us can share despite our differences.:-)

It is reassuring that America now has a president who can at least pronounce the words on the teleprompter

@lillycoyote – Well, I think it’s okay to disagree with (some of) Obama’s views, but when it comes to education and intellectual depth the vast majority of intellectuals worldwide would probably agree that George W. Bush is an intellectual dwarf, while Barack Obama is an intellectual giant. Obama can talk about almost anything complex without any written notes, while Bush or Palin are not able to do this.

This doesn’t mean that all of George W. Bush’s views are bad or that he doesn’t have any strengths. When Obama first became US Senator he was invited to the White House by George W. Bush in January 5. In Obama’s book ‘The Audicity of Hope’ he mentioned that Bush saw the potential and predicted a steep career path. I also think Bush made a very smart move appointing Henry Paulson. Without him, the financial crisis would have been far worse. And he wrote a great book called ‘On the Brink’. The Republicans have many intellectual giants. Paulson is one example. Colin Powell is another. The sad thing about the Tea Party is that more than 90% of their leaders and supporters belong to the category of intellectual dwarfs.

It’s time that Republicans reclaim their party and keep the ultra-conservative zealots in check.

@mattbrowne I don’t disagree with any of that, though I’m not entirely sure where its all coming from, in terms of it being a response to what I actually said. Check out my link, in my comment above; the link to the Onion video clip about Obama and his teleprompter. lighten up a little and have a good laugh about it all. That’s what I was going for. Then get back to the substantive stuff. And with all due respect Matt, please don’t patronize me. I have plenty “brain” enough myself to fully appreciate the differences between George W. and Barack Obama when it comes to intellectual capabilities, among other things. I don’t need you pointing out to me that “intellectuals worldwide” know this in order for me to understand it.

@lillycoyote – It was not my intention to patronize you. I apologize. And I will check out the link.

“Intellectualism” is vastly overrated. What it usually means is that the individual in question is eloquent, but has totally lost what little common sense they had in the first place, and thinks their azz is a goldmine because their shit’s still yellow.

There is almost no correlation between being intellectual and being eloquent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual

“An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence (thought and reason) and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.”

See also

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual#Right-wing_critics

“Conflicting perspectives about the intellectual established the critical tone about the societal role of the public intellectual. Typically, the right-wing perceives intellectuals as too-theoretical, with shallow roots in real life.”

So there seems to be a growing number of Republican voters who think countries should be run by normal people. They seem suspicious of people with degrees from Harvard. Being intellectual sounds negative to them. Well, here’s my solution

If they need heart surgery they got two options

1) Intellectual package
2) Non-intellectual package

Package one means they get Obama as President and a surgeon with an M.D. degree from a reputable university

Package two means they get a normal person like Palin as President and a normal person doing the surgery (Joe Plumber perhaps?)

I wonder what they will pick. I know what I pick. We need the people who are best qualified for a job. But some Republicans seem to refudiate this approach. Well, good luck with your open-heart surgery. Prayers might help, although I think God gave people a brain for a reason.

@mattbrowne I apologize too. I know you didn’t mean to be patronizing, it just felt like that to me. I’ve been a little cranky lately. :-)

@mattbrowne

“Typically, the right-wing perceives intellectuals as too-theoretical, with shallow roots in real life.”

And this is almost always the case. President Woodrow Wilson is a case in point. He was definitely an intellectual, but his establishment of the Federal Reserve and his support of The League of Nations resulted in some of the most intractable problems ongoing today.

I really, really don’t understand when or how being ‘intellectual’ became a bad thing. Truly, it boggles my mind that anyone wouldn’t want the smartest, most educated people on the planet guiding policy on our behalf.

Intelligence became a bad thing upon the introduction of game shows on television. It used to be that game shows had distinguished professors, scientists, and philosophers battling one another upon a stage of extremely difficult questions. Much of the studio audience and home viewers were educated enough to keep up, for back then, only the wealthiest were able to afford a television set.

As television sets became more affordable, a new less educated market appeared. Game shows were intentionally dumbed down to satisfy the interest level, and some smart producer thought it a good idea to make the common man a contestant. Although many were very intelligent, they were generally a notch or two below that of the previous scholarly contestants, and so were the questions. These shows were most often aired late afternoon or night.

But the game show audience was evolving, and had found great success in a new daytime market where housewives who had no higher education were prime for specialty advertisers. To get their interest, game shows were once again dumbed down to satisfy the new audience. This trend grew into what eventually became the luck/gambling game shows of today, such as “Deal or no Deal”, where absolutely no education is required. Anyone can play, compete on par with the television contestants, and even complain about how stupid they are. Contemporary game shows invite the home viewer to imagine themselves as winners of grand vacations and prizes because they can correctly answer questions at the 2nd to 4th grade level… most of the time.

That’s right… Monte Hall is solely responsible for the ruining of America.

Two things happened: those who refer to themselves as intellectuals grew more and more out of touch with the people, and the people lost confidence in intellectuals because of that. We need intelligent people to be able to influence policy, but not if they undermine the very system they’re suppose to be helping. The leader worth his or her salt needs to surround themselves with experts in many fields, but as advisors, not as leaders themselves. Leadership and intellectualism are two entirely different skill-sets.

Being intellectual is not a bad thing, quite the contrary, but it is not enough. Confucius said that men should have three qualities, courage, compassion and wisdom.

I have known iltellectuals who had none of thoe qualities! Knowledge does not equate to wisdom.

How can a man who was a community organizer be out of touch with the people? Who was a state senator meeting with thousands of workers threatened by unemployment be out of touch with the people? Meeting with thousands of people who are sick and have no health insurance be out of touch with the people?

The Case for Obama

and don’t get me wrong, I voted Ron Paul, and still believe he is our only hope. but Obama is not the failure that some would have us believe.

I am a little, just a little, disappointed in Obama. He hasn’t risen to the job as I had hoped. His speeches are not inspiring and he sounds dull. He isn’t leading the country so much as responding to events but I would still vote for him. Look at the alternatives.

They certainly couldn’t be any worse!

I don’t like the total disregard that the man seems to hold for the governed. For instance, between one thing and another, the health care bill had a solid majority of the country unhappy with it.And they forced the stinker through on a partisan vote.
And he called non-Democrats enemies lately, which bugs.