Seriously?

[Glenn]

We endured all of that...all the incessant and mind-numbing ads, all the acrimony by candidates and activists, all the pointless prognosticating by analysts and experts, all the intense build-up and hype...just to have it fizzle in the end with a humdrum election day that resulted in no change of power in the presidency, house, or senate? I wanted drama dang it! Actually I wanted an electoral college tie, that would have livened things up in a way that has never happened before.

Oh well, Bill you have to be as disappointed in Virginia as I am in Kentucky, but at least you got a continuation for at least two years (probably four) of the federal gridlock you are always saying is good. Congratulations on that!

[jorvik]

As an Englishman I probably see things that Americans don't see with their politicians. Democrats always looks like liars, sometimes they make me feel physically ill watching them,. especially Clinton , I just want to toss when I see his cheesey grin, just so darn insincere. When he smiles I want to stick a housebrick in his face. Republicans, Why are they so thick? they just look dumb and have all sorts of stupid soundbites to grab attention....the only politician that I like is Ron Paul.in the UK it's Nigel Farage

[Glenn]

As an Englishman I probably see things that Americans don't see with their politicians.

We try to see our politicians as little as possible!

Democrats always looks like liars, sometimes they make me feel physically ill watching them,. especially Clinton , I just want to toss when I see his cheesey grin, just so darn insincere. When he smiles I want to stick a housebrick in his face. Republicans, Why are they so thick? they just look dumb and have all sorts of stupid soundbites to grab attention

Other than the fact that those comments are interchangable between the parties, I think you summed it up pretty well!

[jorvik]

Quote
"Other than the fact that those comments are interchangable between the parties, I think you summed it up pretty well!"

Oh Behave!! what about all those weapons of mass destruction that they found in Iraq, and heck they didn't want regime change

[Glenn]

"BBC America" take me away from all of this politic'n. I need a stiff dose of Midsomer Murders or Doctor Who to put the election season out of mind!

[jorvik]

No, what you need is "Sherlock" although I rather like the American version i.e Robert Downey JR....I actually live rather close to where some of that was filmed..in one Shelrock Holmes film they used my old school, the one with Jeremy Brett...the league of red headed gentlemen I believe..

[Glenn]

I liked Jeremy Brett as Holmes. I have seen a few episodes of "Sherlock" and it is not bad. Really liked the few episodes of "Whitechapel" that I have seen. My favorites though are Midsomer and "Poirot", and "Doctor Who".

And of course, everything I know about England I learned through these shows! Y'all really should do something about the murder rate over there!

[jorvik]

Well I think Brett was the best Sherlock of all time, other than him I liked Basil Rathbone the best. All the new stuff I don't really count as SH, Dr.Who is a kind of tradition in the UK I grew with it and I've seen so many different doctors over the years.

Quote

And of course, everything I know about England I learned through these shows! Y'all really should do something about the murder rate over there!

I'm the same with the US, everybody's got good teeth and carries at least 5 guns on them

[Glenn]

Wow, not a peep from Bill since before the election, he must be taking the results really hard!

[Jason Rees]

I took 24 hours to mourn.
Now I get to watch everything go to ##### at an accelerated rate for four years.

The bleeding has already begun.

[Glenn]

On the surface we could say that it is a shame attempts to make sure all Americans have the opportunity for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" on par with other developed countries are being met with such resistance, but of course those jobs were going overseas anyways in accordance with current corporate trends and the new health care law is just being used as an excuse to speed up the process.

My former company did the same thing in 2009. We were told in early 2008 that within five years the company would downsize its American workforce by a third, as the those jobs were to be shifted to Ireland (analyst jobs), India (programming), and The Philippines (call centers). As the company was a long-time important fixture in both Chicago and Lincoln they were expecting negative publicity from the move. Then the recession hit in late 2008, and by the end of 2009 all layoffs had been completed, speeded up to be covered by the recessionary spike of layoffs and avoid negative publicity...and it worked, news of the start of the layoffs in early 2009 got just a single paragraph mention on an interior page in newspapers in both cities, just considered a footnote to a recession that had not caused those layoffs in the first place.

I took 24 hours to mourn.

There are plenty of Republicans who could have won that election, why did they not run? I have voted in eight presidential elections, four times for Republican candidates and four times for Democratic candidates (2016 will be a tie breaker!). Counting local, state, and national elections, I voted for some Republican and some Democratic candidates on Tuesday as well. I, and other independant moderates, would have voted for the right Republican presidential candidate this time, Romney and Ryan were just not the right candidates. Maybe 2016. My hope is that Tuesday's results break the influence of the extreme elements on both sides, given how ineffectual they ended up being this time. It would be nice if the so-called Tea Party and the un-named equivalent on the Democratic side would fade into the history books now.

Republicans will also get their base to vote for them, as occured on Tuesday, they just have to honestly and sincerely appeal to the moderates to win.

[Jason Rees]

Nice try, Glenn. If a company says they have to fire x number of people to get ready for Obamacare, I'm going to take them at their word.

Also, we tried moderate candidates twice now. Fool them once, shame on you, and so forth... I don't think you're going to get another moderate to pull the football away from at the last second again... no, it wasn't moderates that 'sat out.' It was the base. Romney didn't inspire the base, and his ground game was jacked up by experimental, untested software. Obama tended his base very well, and his ground game was superb.

No, no, a hundred times no. You won't see a 'moderate' candidate next time 'because he's the only one who can win.' Sorry. Been down that road twice now, and that car just won't drive. Lucy won't be holding the ball next time.

[Glenn]

Nice try, Glenn. If a company says they have to fire x number of people to get ready for Obamacare, I'm going to take them at their word.

You're getting your info from a conservative paper, factor out the bias filter before you start taking their word.

Anyway, both sides have to court the moderates to win, and it takes a moderate candidate to do that. Party registration has been on the decline while registration as independent has been on the rise. There simply is not enough of a base in either party to win the presidency. And they both know that.

[jorvik]

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"It would be nice if the so-called Tea Party and the un-named equivalent on the Democratic side would fade into the history books now. "

I'm English, so please forgive me if my comments seem out of place The tea party movement IMHO was very valid but got hijacked by the Republicans. The candidate I'm thinking of here was Ron Paul, who was basically disowned by the Republicans. I look at the "occupy wall street" movement in the same light, they were not militants, they were disgusted with the same system Ron was disgusted by. What you have in the US is crony capitalism, corporate fascism call it what you will. Capitalism made the US great, but you don't have that now.you had a great constitution.........Bush attacked it with the patriot act and Obama continued the onslaught ...in a sense ( please forgive me for saying this) it is better that Obama gets elected because Bernanke will carry on printing dollars until the dollar collapses.you are $16 trillion in debt , why default on that ? why not go for $100 trillion.so he will continue to print and sensible folks can buy their gold, their guns and their farm land......Romney would have got rid of Bernanke and the pain would have come much sooner, but much less..I'm not gloating, the US and the UK are teid at the hip and we will eventually get what you get .so prepare

[Jason Rees]

You're getting your info from a conservative paper, factor out the bias filter before you start taking their word.

...
LOL! You mean I'm not taking advice from the NYT Editorial page? Shocker.
No, seriously, Glenn. I'm looking at numbers. The cold, hard truth is that Republicans didn't turn out. Less of them came out for Romney than they did for McCain (Fun fact: More Mormons voted for Bush than Romney). Those are cold, hard facts, and all the wishful thinking of the NYT for the Republican Party to abandon all hope and vanish into the nether can't change that.

Anyway, both sides have to court the moderates to win, and it takes a moderate candidate to do that. Party registration has been on the decline while registration as independent has been on the rise. There simply is not enough of a base in either party to win the presidency. And they both know that.

Fact: Obama is not a moderate.
Fact: Obama got moderates to vote for him.
Fact: You do not have to be a moderate to get moderates to vote for you.
Fact: If your base doesn't turn out, you will lose.
Fact: For two elections in a row, Republicans courted moderates more than their base, and it didn't go well.