The 2006 American Midterm Election Day Thread

"Tonight the news has arrived from every corner of the country - the American people have sent a resounding and unmistakeable message of change and a new direction for America!

"We accept your votes not as a victory for our party but as an opportunity for our country. All Americans have recognised that what we are doing in Iraq isn't working and we need to change course."

Let the betting pool for the total number of subpoenas begin

The diff is Bush only has a year to go to true lame duckitude, Nixon had 3-1/2 years left when the shit really hit. The conv 'wisdom' will rule out beheading W.

Also, the Dems had Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm then, we get Pelosi.

hahaha OTM

Summary of the e-voting problems - gotta skip an ad to get to it, though

There's plenty of evidence to suggest that President Bush may have been the deciding factor that killed the GOP's momentum in some key Senate races over the last week. One Republican consultant is convinced that Bush's last-minute visit to Missouri on behalf of ousted GOP Sen. Jim Talent did the incumbent in. According to the network exit polls, Democrat Claire McCaskill crushed Talent among those late-breaking voters who decided in the final three days (a full 11 percent of the electorate). Bush also made a last-minute trip to Montana, where anecdotal evidence indicates the president's rally for Republican Conrad Burns stopped the incumbent's momentum in Billings.

It's hard not to look at the White House and wonder if it was flying blind. For 18 months, there was evidence that this was going to be a tough midterm thanks to basic history (six-year itch, after all) and the war in Iraq. So why didn't Karl Rove attempt to do what he did in '02 and '04 and dictate the terms of the debate? It was clear this was going to be a national election, yet the White House stuck to its "stay the course" guns for way too long. Northeastern Republicans were desperate for Bush to pivot on Iraq and he just wouldn't do it. When he finally did, it was too late.

The political arm of the Bush White House doesn't usually miss this badly, but it appears this election was misjudged from the beginning. Maybe they believed all the "genius" books that were being written about them.

He was joined for a dinner of crow bisque and humble pie by political strategist Karl Rove, GOP chairman Ken Mehlman, White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, counselor to the president Dan Bartlett, former Commerce Secretary Don Evans and Brad Freeman, a California venture capitalist and top Bush fundraiser.

what say you?

xxpost

Patrick was born on Chicago's South Side in 1956, into an African-American family living on welfare and residing in a one-bedroom apartment. His father Pat Patrick, a member of jazz musician Sun Ra's band, left his wife Emily, son Deval, and daughter Rhonda in order to play music in New York City.[1] While in middle school, one of Deval's teachers referred Deval to A Better Chance, a national non-profit organization for identifying, recruiting and developing leaders among academically gifted students of color, which enabled him to attend Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts.[2][3]

"Welcome to hell, America"

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is stepping down, sources tell CNN.

A HAHAHAHAHAH AHAHA FUCK YOU HOPE YOU FUCKIN GET IN A CAR ACCIDENT ON THE WAY HOME

"Rumsfield will stay until 2008"

I can't believe it. Seriously.

I'm watching the Washington Post stream.

xpost: ah, yeah. There we go.

The milblogs will be insane.

Even two DAYS ago, had the annoucement of Rumsfield stepping down came through, last night could have been different.

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

http://cache.wonkette.com/assets/resources/2006/11/santorumconcedes.jpg

And now, back to Rummy.

HAHA, that decorating joke laid a Charles Rocket-size egg