Oy, I need a drink

:toast:

or twelve.

Oy!

On a cheerier note, it's open season on Scott Brown, starting tomorrow.

Strangely enough I'm relatively calm, but I secretly expected this. So onward, fellow Massholes. Let's drink, and then go forth and kick some Scottie ass :toast:

I do advise everyone to avoid the cable chatter for a week or two. I for one do not want to see Matthews having daily orgasms and hear his calls for 'Brown '12' Was that fucked up or what? :rofl:

How about 2-3 years?

We have a target in MA. Every progressive organization and group in the Commonwealth starts open season on Scott Brown tomorrow. This guy is toast. And this is going to be fun.

I'm looking forward to this fight. I know this sounds odd, but in a way, this might have been better for us and the Dems in the long run than a Coakley win.

I saw them interviewing JK on NECN - I had the sound off to avoid hearing the pontifications of Kerry Healey, so I missed what he was saying. But he did not look happy.

People are worried, but they dont want somebody who blocks everything (starting by a job bill). This is going to be fun.

Twitter is alive with all the anti JK and Obama tweeters.
What a shame-Massachusetts voters have made a huge mistake electing this guy. He will bring them nothing. Sure there will be a vote against the Democrats, but that is all he will bring.

I am staying away for all political shows and cable network for the next week at least. I blame them for sealing the deal before it was done.
And, Scottie is no John Kennedy. That will soon become evident.

Though it really looks impossible.

Well, you still have the best Senator in the country - and hopefully Brown won't be worst.

just twice as much voters in the 3rd major city in the state as in my 20000 people little town.

Hopefully, somebody will look at the map and start to think. (BTW, my little town voted Coakley, but even this is a sign of a problem, when more blue collar Waltham next to us voted Brown).

2012 begins.

and BRING IT ON. Cheers, everyone.

I think Scottie is going to be a loney guy in Mass. And the people will quickly find out he served the Republican party- not Mass. I think he is three years at the most.

Oh, and that daughter doesn't miss a trick. She is promoting her latest CD at the celebration party. She is ready to sign everyone she sells.

is almost like what happened in Mass. We didn't have the greatest candidate, the Dem establishment waited until the last minute to help and the repuke with gobs of money pouring in from the GOP won. I do blame the media too, I didn't here one good thing about Coakley it was all Brown 24/7.

other than I think the media is trying to manipulate this administation and its priorities.
We have go to stop taking seats for granted and letting the candidate struggle on their own and then come and try to put out a fire in the last week or two.

I think what pisses me off more than the actual election, is the blame game. Of course I have my opinion as to who's to blame. (and it ain't Obama.) But they should all just suck it up, admit they f*ed up (even the ones who didn't) and move on. Stop giving the repukes more fodder.

Tay, and others from Mass, how long do you think it will be before a significant portion of those who voted for Brown wake up and say "Oh my gawd, what the hell have we done?!?" Or will they ever?

MA seemed happy with Kennedy and Kerry. If he consistently votes the opposite way, one would think that he would quickly lose popularity in MA. He will have a hard time keeping his teabaggers and MA both happy.

Sounds like he is trying to spin the importance of his vote already.

(not that she is not to blame), and look at the map of who voted Brown. For anybody who knows MA, these people have nothing to win from Brown, but ...

If he goes with McConnell, he's toast, if he goes against McConnell, he's toast, too.

Mass. would still have universal health care. But because the Bay State just elected him, health care for the other states is now in jeopardy.

Honestly, that is all I care about. Can we get this bill passed? I just don't know now. What if the panic takes over the House and they won't vote for the Senate bill?

Oh, Tay, and welcome to the club of states who have Republican Senators representing them. You'll soon realize why it is pointless to even call their office. Well, maybe he'll not be as conservative as Georgia's. 'Course, he supports torture and killing the health care bill, so I'm sure he'll get along with Saxby Chambliss just fine.

Gee, do I sound bitter? No, not me.

Oh, goodbye climate change bill as well.

And when you lose people who make the calls, then you lose momentum, period.

we have got to stick to our guns on this. It will be worse for us if we don't.

you still have one great and SENIOR SENATOR from Mass, John Kerry!!!!!!

I'm totally dumbfounded, every Dem that voted for Brown I hope gets a jab in the gut everytime Brownpolitan votes NO on things that would help the state of Mass. and the rest of the country. This sucks and I would love to watch reports of Haiti on TV but can't because I have to hear Matthews, Todd, etc. spewl their pompous asses.

Look at the map and compare it to a map of income/type of jobs. I find this generally very interesting (and very different from Romney's map, BTW).

Edited: I meant thread, not poll. Just a little bit furious right now.

BOSTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A Northeastern University Center for Labor Market Studies report says one of six U.S. blue collar-workers lost their jobs in the recession.

The statistics for construction and manufacturing workers mirror those of the Great Depression, when one in six workers lost a job and the unemployment rate soared above 20 percent, The Boston Globe reported Tuesday.

Among members of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, the unemployment rate is more than 25 percent, executive secretary-treasurer Mark Erlich said.

The Northeastern University study also said 70 percent of the blue-collar jobs lost are not coming back.

To compare sectors, the study said in Massachusetts each job opening in construction had 65 out-of-work construction workers that could apply for the job. Every manufacturing job opening could have 24 unemployed workers standing in line. For white collar professionals, there are two unemployed workers per job opening, the study said.

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2010/01/19/Blue-collar-jobs-hardest-hit-in-recession/UPI-28171263919483/

This is as much why Brown won as any comments around.

30 %.

Lowell went red.

Look at the map. It is striking. The west went blue. Springfield and Worcester went blue, as well as Boston and his immediate neighborhood. The rest went red, including Barnstable, with a few blue pockets in Fall River and New Bedford, as well as Cape Ann (Gloucester, ...).

http://www.boston.com/news/special/politics/2010/senate/results.html

and too many people are incapable of remembering more history than what they had for dinner last night.

It's not like the recession was caused by Bush and the GOP or anything ... I know! I'm mad I lost my job so I'm going to vote for the people who wrecked the economy!

:banghead:

We have to stop blaming the voters for these things. The MA GOP ran a great campaign.

Anyone remember that wonderful ad Sen. Kerry ran in 2008 that showed the wounded Iraqi war veteran being given a day at Fenway Park? That was a warm, human ad that showed a vulnerable person being helped by a caring Senator. Great, great ad, as were the other two ads he did. They were ads for the people of MA. (John Kerry cares about the people. Oh yeah, and the Sox won 5-3.)

Scott Brown ran those ads this time. He appealed to the people as one of them. He went to South Boston and was not embarrassed to showcase people with those funny lower-class Boston accents. He didn't hit people over the head with position papers and make them feel they were stupid because they didn't go to Harvard. He ran a "one of us" campaigns.

Every victory carries the seeds of defeat, every defeat the seeds of victory. You learn, as the GOP learned from the last cycle. We need to learn more too.

A little more "Hey hon, how's it going? Ya Mom doing okay? How ya doing on that jawb search?" and a little less being preached at would help. Those are the seeds we need to plant from this defeat.

It's about the people, as it has always been about the people. We forget that at our peril.

when I see something stupid I have a hard time hiding my feelings about it. Sigh.

But of course you have to campaign. What, Martha thought she didn't have to talk to people? Ah well easy for me to say I guess, but unfortunately it's not just this seat, it's the momentum and validation it gives a truly vile cast of characters.

I think I'm going to kill a few more brain cells and then go to bed. :(

It's not likeability, it's approachability. You have to feel like you can approach these people, ask any question, and get an answer you understand.

It was not required in NJ. In the 1960s, the college prep tract had a real economics class, but the other tracts simply taught things like filling out tax forms, computing interest, balancing a check book etc.

My economics class was the best class I had in high school. The teacher opted to ignore the textbook and had us reading sections of many classic economic texts.

This makes no sense to me. The COUNTRY is in a depression and I'm one of the frustrated ones impatient for DC to get their act together and STOP THE EXPORTATION OF JOBS!!!!

Republican's in Congress don't give a rat's a$$ about jobs. Only their own pocketbooks.

So these people VOTED for the same group that brought us this great destruction/depression.

SO...when can we get rid of the filibuster? Spineless, arrogant, safe in the lobbyist pockets Senators and Congressmen better get their acts together FAST.

Also, Can we say F-off to LIEbermannow?

The only problem I see if for JK to distance himself from this guy's votes or these same voters will blame him.

Kerry will vote as Kerry always does - with what he thinks is right. If they happen to be the same as the bad Brown, so much the better - it means we have a Republican vote. Kerry is a senior Senator, chairing an important committee, a former nominee of his party, which still as a 59 member majority. Brown is the least senior Senator in the Senate, in the minority, who is as junior as you can get.

This is Brown's day and his fans can say what they want, but in DC, it is Kerry who has by far more status. The only place Brown will have a place is on RW talk shows - and I assume MA will not like it if he suddenly shows a different side of himself. In the Senate - remember what happened when Allard forgot he was on the Senate floor and not on Fox News.

Bite me, Repub jerks. Ungracious in victory, as usual.

and yeah, like I said in GD. Those ppl are all trash.

MA has generally agreed with Kennedy and Kerry. Now if Brown pleases his fans, can he please MA? If he votes for anything for the state or that the state wants, can he please his fans?

Unless he hopes to be running as Sarah Palin's VP in 2012, he either has to really moderate his opinions and votes or he should be easy to beat. (Having heard my three daughters all out do each other disparaging Twilight as extremely bad from a feminist point of view, far preferring Buffy - I think that Palin/Brown to me is as horrifying as Belle/Edward was to them ) My youngest's favorite shirt involves Buffy staking Edward, the sparkling vampire.

2014 is a long time away still...by that time, I predict that Brown will be a distant (and probably not so pleasant) memory and Obama will be in the middle of his second term. Plus John Kerry is NO Martha Coakley in terms of campaigning....he would've beat the hell out of Brown if this had been his race and will do the same to whatever other empty-headed moron they come up with next.

Repubs=Ungracious and arrogant, win OR lose.. :thumbsdown:

...week. First the Chargers :7, and now this. It's depressing.

...let me pour you one.



Me, I'm drinking the chardonnay.

Anyway, c'mere.

:hug:

We shall survive this. We've seen worse.

Sadder for a bit, but wiser.

Scott Brown till 2012.

Scott Brown till 2012.

We're stuck with Nudie Boy for three. :puke:

That said, that does give us some time to get to work.

I do think that the 24/7 news cycle, to say nothing of endless polling, has enhanced the natural level of insanity and inanity in this country.

Fight on!

You got it!

Whoda thunk it.

Just think of being Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Delegation, lol. He's walking into hell and he doesn't know it, so there's that.

:hug:

This race was local, but it also wasn't. A lot of blue collar rural areas, and 'burbs went to Brown. From what hubby and daughter told me, the polling place in Amesbury had a ton of white men in their 30s to 50s.
So I'm guessing this was about jobs, budget deficit, and even healthcare, but it was also about right wing talk radio, racism, and sexism.

Any Senate race is about national issues. But it was also about Massachusetts. The voters wanted someone who understood their pain.

We know that Republicans don't actually care. But they can pretend they do very, very well. This is what casual observers of politics see.

So, what lessons should be learned from this and how do we go forward? What did we in Massachusetts learn and how can we restore MA's Senate seat to the Dems in 2012.

there is a lot of anger out there. It's justified and we forget that and blame the wrong targets at our peril.

Do not learn the wrong lesson from this loss. That would truly make this a tragedy. The voters are not our enemies. The masses that voted for Barack Obama in 2008 are still there.

How do we reach them? How do we tell them that they are our highest priority and what we wake up thinking about every day?

and falling for bullshit. If I can inform myself on the issues, I expect anyone else can, too. That said, I do blame the media, specifically talk radio in our area, for perpetuating lies all day long. I also blame our local Dem establishment for taking voters for granted and not doing anything to show them that their vote is deserved. I blame Coakley for pretty much the same thing.

You're right. Our elected officials must get back to the basics and realize who they are, who elected them, and why. Brown was able to fool the voters into thinking he was that kind of guy. Our side has to BE that kind of guy or woman.

to what happened over at Dkos. http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/1/19/827014/-Yeah,-Its-a-Referendum...-on-Martha-Coakley-

I'm not saying the targets of same don't deserve blame as politicians and personalities, but the racism and sexism are real and disturbing.

Along, with rewarding the Teabaggers for their hatred, racism and vulgarity.

If Brown were the better candidate- so be it, but this race had nothing to do with competence. It had to do with misguided hate and anger at the wrong people.

Rewarding the Republicans for the destructiion they did to this country is what bothers me.

Along, with rewarding the Teabaggers for their hatred, racism and vulgarity.

If Brown were the better candidate- so be it, but this race had nothing to do with competence. It had to do with misguided hate and anger at the wrong people.

Demagoguery sells in this country, and so does scapegoating. On top of that we have the 24/7 news cycle, and short attention spans...

I say it goes before he even gets to Washington.

he dumped that ranch quick once he was done destroying this country for 8 years.

He will do whatever the GOP media gurus advise him to do and little else. He can't think on his feet and he was severely packaged for this election.

Now he has to govern. And be accessible to the media. And justify his votes. Not so easy.

He was onstage with Martha at her concession.

Vicki Kennedy wasn't there. She was in DC, probably in tears.

this must be awful for her.

It's awful for Martha too, and even though the blame has to start and end with the candidate, it seems to me she probably could have been looked out for better, and I feel bad for her too. (and by looked out for I am thinking not of people like Kerry, who has his own job to do, but of the organizations who are supposed to do that. Ahem, DSCC.)

And,I really think they ignored the race. Hopefully they will not take any other state for granted. Pa is a concern.

because this will give momentum to Toomey's backers. :(

However Joe Sestak runs a campaign VERY much the opposite of Coakley. :)

receive his e-mails. He is a likeable guy. Right now though, I am so confused about what people really want. All I know is that I do not want Toomey to get in. Brown is clueless- Toomey is not and he has Scaife's backing which means the Tribune Review- circulation in the millions throughout many counties in my area. We also have vile RW talk radio 24/7.

the talking heads were even mentioning CA and Boxer in their (I hope) delirium. Or so I think I heard... as I mentioned elesewhere, I was nurturing a fever and being grateful for the numbing (and dumbing) of thoughts and emotions it cauased.

Each loss was unique in some ways and the same in others. We just can't brush it all off on Coakley in Mass. or Corizin (sp) in NJ.

We have nearly 4 years of practice doing so! The fact is that a he likely should have stepped aside - his numbers were in the 30s. But, anybody running against him knew he would throw in millions to win the nomination.

although there was no link.

I suspect that the Democrats were kind of caught off guard that her campaign really did not have it's act together. It sounds like she failed to fund raise, run ads, and did only 19 events in total to Brown's 66. Kerry did more than 19 in 2008 and he was running for a 5th term.

This does have to be hard for Vicki - but how hard will depend on whether they pass healthcare.

reform. We can only fight to make sure he only keeps this seat warm for three years.

Vicki Kennedy. This has to be heartbreaking.

Poor Vicki.... maybe it should not be "Teddy's seat" for others, but it surely is for her.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 19, 2010

CONTACT: Brigid O’Rourke, 617-756-3625



KERRY ON TUESDAY’S SPECIAL ELECTION IN MASSACHUSETTS



BOSTON – Senator John Kerry today released the following statement regarding Tuesday’s special election in Massachusetts.



“In Massachusetts, we fight like hell in political campaigns, we debate our differences, and the day after an election we go to work for the state we love. That's what we need to do now.

“I congratulate Scott Brown on his victory, and know that at this critical time our entire congressional delegation will do what's best for Massachusetts.

“Martha Coakley cares deeply about our state, and while we share in her disappointment we are all proud that she broke a glass ceiling in the politics of our party.She returns to the work of being an outstanding Attorney General for the Commonwealth.

“Tonight’s results will be analyzed and overanalyzed by the punditry. I hope as a Party we don't succumb to the temptation to form a circular firing squad. It does no one any good. One lesson Ted Kennedy and I both learned from defeat is, you just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, chart a course forward, and get back in the fight.

“I didn't need any reminders, but this election encapsulated what was clear in 2006 and 2008 and remains clear today: Americans are angry. They're mad at Washington and they're mad at Wall Street. They've seen millions of jobs lost and been left no choice but to bail out those responsible. They're tired of insurance companies that charge exorbitant premiums but don't deliver decent coverage when they need it. They're fed up with sending billions of dollars a day overseas for foreign oil. They hate knowing that they pay taxes while powerful interests evade taxes and hide money overseas in Cayman Island bank accounts. And they expect all of us, Democrat or Republican, to fight for them. That's what I will keep doing in the Senate and will work with everyone who shares those goals."



###

Forever to be known now as Martha Chokely.

Sigh!

(or does she get to stay in the AG job?)

plus she has a pretty large horde of people really mad at her.

If they feel it was because she really didn't try as hard as she should have?

Me don't drink much, but you can have one. :grouphug:


Thank goodness for music, sports, Ugly Betty, Meet The Browns and other non-news reality shows!



P.S., Glad your mom is doing well. We will survive this storm. :hi:

No, thank you :-). Even if the young ones are available.

(Google Spike Lee v. Tyler Perry), but it has some funny moments.

I just look for music and sports to listen or look at during these crazy times. It will keep you sane. :)

But then I have to wonder why she didn't fight like hell for it and not take the seat for granted.

I REALLY, REALLY try. I have way too little information + I am not much into judging others in any case. BUT whenever I hear about her vacation I see red.

and get back to her maiden name :-).

JK will tell everyone to "move to Massachusetts" instead of Ohio!

But the racism up there looks so scary.

He may not be able to do this, but I hope that the Senator can look into why turnout was so low in the African-American precincts. (This was tweeted and posted by a Jack & Jill Politics blooger from the Boston area that voted).

I remember reading in the Bay State Banner a while back that people voted more for Capuano and there seemed to be an ABC sentiment. Uncle Ted worked and fought so hard for them (and you all) over the years, would this have been the reason for them sitting this out? It's weird to think they would vote GOP because he is no longer here. :(

I don't want to jump to conclusions because don't want to sound ignorant about the whole situation or feel like coming into unfamiliar territory (since I am not from MA and only read what was on the ground, from citizens/constituents). It was asked in the NJ, VA, and a mayoral losses in North Carolina (went from Dem to GOP), and it's a question that needs to be looked into.

Was it frustration of being taken for granted by a candidate, election fatigue, lack of interest (not everyone is Obama), personal disillusionment (economy, jobs, education, etc)?. Make no mistake, AA were very (and still are) appreciative of the Kennedy family and Uncle Ted as a senator and it is/was going to be hard to replace him. They are hoping that someone will stand and fight with them rather than the TPTB of DC. (Ok, that sounds like a "concern troll" comment, if it is, apologies).

didn't advertise in the African-American community or do much outreach there. Don't know if it was true or just a rumor.

then that is not good. Mass posted that there was some enthusiam from them for her campaign in the end so it may be a rumor. The DNC dropped the ball also.

At Jack & Jill Politics (an urban blog), they are linking her to Hillary for "entitlement" to something (like Uncle Ted's Senate seat). The comments, more like rants were pretty brutal.

http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2010/01/homegirl-lost-the-ma-senate-race-shades-of-virginia-all-over-again/#disqus_thread

http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2010/01/afternoon-open-thread-262/#disqus_thread

I was stuck outside of MA, helping my family in CA, so I wasn't watching things unfold. But now I've been reading that she went on vacation for 6 days after the primary, that she held few events, etc. I went to her official page and looked at her events calendar -- it's almost empty until just a few days ago, when suddenly she made appearances with JK and Menino and Clinton and everybody. It's a pretty shocking sight; Brown's page has at least one public appearance almost every day. The Globe even wrote about her strange absence from public view, back before it became clear that it was a debacle in progress. I'd be curious to hear if anyone who was on the ground in MA saw things differently, but from googling around tonight, I got the impression that she really *didn't* think she had to get out and ask for people's votes.

ETA: What I found was similar to the brutal comments in the Jack-and-Jill posts, just I found the facts laid out in more detail in the Globe and on her site itself. Same concept, though. She mailed in her campaign and then wondered what went wrong.

Very deep stuff. We kept reading about the lack of Coakley signs (not that they mean much, but still). It sounds like this was more complacency than anything else.

in the middle class. They will ignore that at their own risk.

They were taken in and suckered in to voting for someone who sounded good. There anger could have been expressed in other ways. I won't make excuses for anyone who voted for this centerfold in a pick-up truck.

her sense of entitlement (actually PALPABLE when she gave a speech at JK's election-night rally in November 2008) turned me off very early on. . actually, right then and there, on election night 2008, almost a year before she formally announced her candidacy,

on a TV interview a few days before the election, Vicki Kennedy's voice was breaking when she said, "You have to ask citizens for their vote"(and this was when she was being interviewed as a supporter of Martha, so she was surely trying to be diplomatic..I'd guessed when I heard her voice that she was deeply, deeply pained by the arc of the campaign,the election prospects, and the implications for Teddy's legislative legacy.

That can't be true.

The Senator should be furious over this (I am sure he is behind the scenes).

http://www.thegrio.com/2010/01/coakley-ignored-black-voters-at-her-own-peril.php



Hat tip to rikyrah at Jack & Jill Poiltics.








edit for clarity

My 17 year old son came yesterday asking why all the online ads he was saying on his video games were for Scott Brown, for example.

Not sure she ignored AA particularly. Somebody more in tune can tell you. But she clearly ignore the state in general.

It looks like she thought the numbers were in her favor and because of that she didn't need to do anything else.
Her race, for me, is a case study in never taking the electorate for granted, no matter what.
If she had campaigned from the beginning she may have been able to reach that 5% that felt ignored and voted for Brown.
What a shame how this all played out.

Part of the problem in AA areas and Hispanic areas and so forth in MA is that the people feel neglected. Deval has not been a good governor and has not done the outreach he needed to do. This means AA folks who feel pretty much like the rest of the populace up here. The difference is that the AA community stayed home and didn't vote.

Gov. Patrick mention that Hispanics have moved into South Boston though heard some Gipper Democrats came out and voted for Brown?

Been reading about Patrick's unpopularity in the Bay State Banner, where he has ok support, but still people have felt more should have been done. Minorities have been getting hit hard in unemployment and for the lack of health insurance. Not just in MA, but everywhere.

As mentioned in other threads, looks like the Obama voters (the minority crowd, youth, etc) sat it out while the angry white males showed up in droves.

Whether there is or isn't truth in the Coakley campaign not advertising in urban community, this should serve as a wake up call to Democrats and the DNC everywhere this year and fall.

that I was glad that last night I was in a fever induced (tooth infection, yeach!) stupor. Worked wonders! Still I could not stop the word "sickening" from popping over and over in my mind.

No time to go through the thread now, will do it later, much in need of some virtual :grouphug: