Of all of the races yesterday, the most interesting for me was the Missouri Senate race. Senator Claire McCaskill was one of the least popular members of the Senate and a virtual guarantee for defeat until Rep. Todd Akin delivered victory from the jaws of defeat. Akin’s infamous rape remarks made him completely toxic to the entire nation and the GOP leadership quickly called for his withdrawal from the race. Akin treated the suggestion as absurd and allowed two deadlines to pass that would have allowed his party to repair the damage that he caused. At one time, politicians would put the interests of their party and their country before their own. However, we live in a different time and Akin is the face of the times: egotistical, selfish, and extremist. Linda MacMahon in Connecticut cut the same intensely egotistical image: spending $100 million of her own money in two unsuccessful efforts to make herself a Senator despite a fairly toxic personality and image associated with professional wrestling. Despite the sound defeat in the last election, MacMahon spent even more of her own money as the former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment to secure a second defeat. The question for the GOP is whether the disaster this election will cause anyone in the party to consider the eradication of moderates in their party and the loss of what we once called “Rockefeller Republicans.”
In the end, Akin appears to have been unable to even break 40 percent of the vote.
Had Akin withdrawn, the GOP would have likely secured the seat in Missouri. Not only Akin but the entire Tea Party worked last night to the great benefit for the Democrats — alienating moderate voters and securing wins across the country.
Akin will be left to history as a sad clownish figure who refused to accept the obvious reality that his own comments and extremist views destroyed any chance for election. MacMahon will fill another footnote on the amount of money someone is willing to spend in pursuit of egotism. Notably, MacMahon never appeared to have any particular vision or idea or cause — she just wanted to be a Senator and thought she had the money to guarantee it like some choreographed WWF bout. They are not the only such figures in this election.
The question is how we end up with such caricatured candidates in national elections and the overall low quality of politicians in this country. I have long blamed the monopoly of the two major parties on our politics. I still hold that view. However, Akin also represents a sad cultural reality today. It is not just the loss of moderation in politics but a loss of a sense of personal integrity and responsibility. Akin immediately blamed others and refused to stand aside for the benefit of his state and party. He is for me the face of what is wrong with our politics: an anti-intellectual extremist who ultimately shows little sense of duty or calling beyond himself.
Source: USA Today
SWM, Rock County is part of Ryan’s district and it’s solid blue. Ryan was reelected to the House by a healthy margin.
@Bron: It depends on what you mean by “liberty,” and what you mean by “prosperity.”
One person’s freedom from regulation is another person’s lack of protection or recourse when victimized by the first.
One person’s prosperity can be another person’s lost pension, lost job, lost home, or lost opportunity to escape poverty. In the health insurance industry, one person’s prosperity was (and remains) another person’s death by intentional fraud.
Freedom cannot be defined as the lack of regulations. Any definition of Prosperity that does not include a demand for fair play in the acquisition of wealth is an empty definition; thieves, frauds, slavers and Mafia dons can get rich by exploitation and oppression. Just “some people can get rich” is not a workable definition “Prosperity” if they can get rich by hurting others.
How do you stop people from hurting others? The only tool we have is an imperfect one that burdens the innocent to thwart the guilty: Regulations, required disclosures, and punishment for violations. As imperfect as that system is, it is the only way we know that works.
There is no Prosperity without regulation, there is no Freedom without government.
ACLU Leader Calls on President to Uphold Constitutional Principles in Second Term
November 7, 2012
Anthony D. Romero Asks Obama to Fulfill His Promise to Dismantle National Security State, Ensure Safe and Legal Abortions and Reform Immigration Policies
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org
NEW YORK – Now that President Obama has won another term, the head of the American Civil Liberties Union said this morning that the time had come for the president to reaffirm his commitment to civil liberties and core constitutional principles.
Anthony D. Romero, ACLU executive director, said addressing such issues as closing the Guantanamo Bay prison, ensuring access to abortion and reforming immigration enforcement would be important cornerstones in the president’s legacy.
“We congratulate President Obama on winning a new term and look forward to continue working with his administration over the next four years. This is his opportunity to reaffirm our constitutional principles and the fundamental American values of due process, respect for the rule of law and individual freedom. It is a time to once again be a nation where we can be both safe and free. We urge President Obama to dismantle a national security state where warrantless surveillance, extra-judicial killings by drones and other attacks on our personal freedoms have been deemed acceptable.
Now is the time to make good the promise he made four years ago to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Back home he needs to put an end to his administration’s abusive and discriminatory deportation policies. They foster racial profiling and do nothing to improve public safety. And he must remove the myriad abortion restrictions from the federal budget so that the right to a safe and legal abortion remains accessible to all women. With four more years in front of him and the history of the Obama presidency yet to be written, he has the opportunity to put us back on the right track.” (ACLU)
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/11/6/in_landmark_ruling_dark_money_group (In Landmark Ruling, “Dark Money” Group Tied to Citizens United Ordered to Reveal Its Donors)
“As Democracy Now! has previously reported, one of every four dollars spent on the campaign ads, direct mail and robocalls that target voters now comes from so-called “dark money” organizations. The IRS lets these groups keep their donors secret because they are considered “social welfare non-profits.” But that changed this past Friday when a Montana judge ordered the release of one such group’s bank records. An investigation had found that Western Tradition Partnership may have misled the IRS about the extent of its political activities, and that citizens have a right to know where its campaign cash was coming from. The group is known for bringing a lawsuit to the Supreme Court that successfully challenged Montana’s ban on corporate spending in elections, and the resulting ruling extended the court’s Citizens United decision to include all 50 states. Friday’s ruling marks the first time a court has ordered a dark money group’s donors to be made public, and some say the judge’s move could serve as a warning to similar organizations. We’re joined by Kim Barker, the ProPublica reporter who helped break the story along with PBS Frontline.”
Romney-Ryan got slaughtered in Rock County, Wisconsin (where Janesville, Ryans’s home, is located): Obama 61%, Romney 38%.” SAYS IT ALL
Obama may have lost seniors but he won the under 30’s by 5.1 million votes.
I disagree with the good Prof Turley. The explanation is even more simple.
Akin, Mourdock, West etc surround themselves with “yes” men, rejecting attempts at questioning or criticism while enjoying the obsessive-compulsive efforts of donors and volunteers. They only ever hear about themselves from sycophantic media. I believe the technical term is “living in a bubble”.
They are genuinely shocked when their views are questioned or they lose a race!
As William Wrigley Jr said “when two men in a room always agree, one of them isn’t necessary anymore”. These GOPers need some outsiders or a trip into the Total Perspective Vortex.
I didn’t say it wasn’t broad, Bron. I said it wasn’t broad enough. Liberty and prosperity are important to people’s lives, but they are not the only things that make people’s lives better.
Gene H:
how so? That seems pretty broad to me.
idealist, Don’t forget the latinas
Thank goodness for the gender gap. Women rule!
They always have. You know why? Because they are like blacks more than in the fact that they are suppressed. They have soul, like the blacks do. Too much civilization kills the spirit of humanity.
AY, excuse me, but may I point out that even the white, male, “NICE” Republicans support weird ideas, people, and a party that wants to lead us back to the past.
They won’t even acknowledge the Constitution, or the reality of the world around them. Demographics and solidarity has left them groping in the dark ages.
Obama said in his victory speech that the world still sees America as the best example of a nation where ALL people can cooperate for the common good, and many nations are still fighting for the right to speak and vote.
The Republicans, ever the good ones, believe that those with money shuuld be the speakers and voters. They are wrong, Unfortunately, they are still too many. Those that have a little more, and expect more crumbs. We have to change some minds. Thank goodness for the electoral college (Trump is calling for reform/abolishment).
No. I think limiting the general welfare to freedom and prosperity is too narrow a scope.
Gene H:
I think a person’s life is made better by more freedom and prosperity.
Do you disagree?
Congrats to all who had the people they like elected. Best regards to those who had candidates they voted for lose. I voted for Johnson as prez and was forced to write-in on several candidates. I’m looking to see how many write-in votes Russ Feingold got, he got mine.
“Politics should be about making all people’s lives better
easier by increasing freedom and prosperity.”Precision, Bron. Precision.
McCaskill obviously not only kissed, but French kissed, the Blarney Stone.
Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. The GOP won’t change, they’ll just perfect their skill at obscuring their most popularly noxious positions even more.
Woosty:
enjoy!
this Country has the chance now to back out of a very mean place….. 🙂
ps: >>>>>>>>>>GLOATING!!!!!!!!!<<<<<<<<<<<< !!!!!!!!!
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!
YO, JT: I did not want to reveal this rather well known fact to you and the readership because I wanted Todd to lose. But the “legitimate rape” phrase has its roots. Jane Doe, one of the plaintiffs in Roe et al v. Wade in fact lied and pleaded in her litigation that she had been raped when she had not. So the phrase legitimate rape has some roots. Some Constitutional lawyers need to take some seminars and probably the ones that Justice Scalia berated recently.