Autumn is my favorite time of year. The days get cooler as we approach winter, the leaves change color, kids are back in school and life just seems to be more invigorating. That, and the football season begins on college campuses and pro stadiums.
Metaphorically, football is much like politics and life in general. The “good guys” don’t always win, sometimes it isn’t even very fair and the “right team” can be easily upset, even when they have the lead. In football, it seems that any team can knock off another on any given day.
In life, the same is true. Life is rarely fair, and the bad guys seem to win more often than the good guys.
Four years ago, the Democratic Party seized control of the House and Senate from the Republicans. Two years ago, Barack Obama was elected president in an Electoral College landslide. It looked like the “good guys” were finally in control and a progressive agenda would be realized. Everything seemed to be in place for a bright future for the Party of “evil liberals.”
Everything except the economy – the Great Recession changed all the rules.
Like the winless football team that rises up and smites the champions, the recession handcuffed the progressive agenda. The Republicans seized the initiative from the Democrats and backed the “good guys” up to their own goal line. Republicans have a unique ability to shamelessly ignore their past failures and pass off their “new” agenda as somehow being different from their “old” agenda. Unfortunately, the voters are incapable of seeing through the deceit.
In 2010, the Democrats are likely to lose both the House and Senate. President Obama may well be one term president. The progressive agenda appears to be dead and a return to a far right philosophy seems inevitable. In football parlance, we had a big lead at half time and blew it all in the second half.
Now what?
Well, in football, the schemes of championship teams are frequently copied by the lesser teams. The Democrats need to take the playbook of the Republicans and recognize that there is more than one way to cross the goal line.
The Democrats have to learn to play the game with the Republicans. They have failed miserably, especially over the past two years. Now is the time for a new game plan.
William Stephenson Clark
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 
I think with all the tea party wingnuts winning you may see a brand new play book written. I also suspect Republicans and Democrats alike may look wistfully backwards to the good ole days. These folks are nutjobs extraordinaire! Maybe they are what it will take to begin a productive conversation among the adults of all political philosophies?
Meanwhile, we pass the popcorn and watch while the Republican Party decides who they are and where they are going. Seems the Republicans have lost the ball. They know they had it, but the game can’t begin until they find it.
“Seems the Republicans have lost the ball. They know they had it, but the game can’t begin until they find it.”
Perhaps; but to mix sports, “beware the hidden ball trick”.
I’d hide the ball too if it meant playing the game would get me both elected and responsible.
Perhaps these bimbos are meant to keep the party out of the majority and improve their chances in 2012 in presidential elections?
And ya know, the people who bear the brunt of all the shenanigans are you and I — average Americans.
I keep being reminded of that ole saying, “Be careful of what you wish for, you may get it!”.
OK now the old Republican comes out, the problem with the Democratic party when they get in power is that they lose focus and end up running around like the chicken with its head cut off.
Some many problems to solve and they are all equal since a problem no matter how big or small is still a problem needing solved!
You all end up like you are wanting to paint the house, build a new garage, paint the rooms inside and re-shingle the roof all at the same time. Nothing you attempt to do is solid or truly workable in the intent it is suppose to be.
Taking into contention the economic situation, that added up to a royal cluster fook when they tried to govern. It is impossible to me that any party could come off looking worse then the Cons and the Bush Administration. That they could this soon be so able to get the people to actually forget what happened under the previous administration.
OMG only two years later and already the majority is wanting to go back to the failure Conservatives!
There will be some real in hindsight kicking the ass of the Democratic BY THE DEMOCRATIC THEMSELVES!
Sadly though it will end up with one faction and the others arguing it was there fault.
The more Liberal will accuse the problem was that Obama and the Congress was not Liberal enough.
More Centrist and Conservative will say it was because of trying to fast to bring change.
You are seeing it right now in the Republican party and my fear is that the final decision as to the cause of the fall was that the GOP was not hard right Conservative enough!
I understand where you are coming from on your assertion that the Democrats always try to fix too many problems at once. I do think that is a bit of a problem. But the larger problem, in my opinion, is that they are so anxious to do something, anything, towards fixing the problem that they are too quick to compromise on solutions and end up passing half-measures. Then they pat themselves on the back and move on to the next problem and do the same thing.
The Republican Party gives us excuses, blame, accusations and finger-pointing, but no new solutions.
The Democratic Party gives us band-aids for gaping wounds.
All of these politicians are completely out of touch with the problems we are facing. I think that is the only thing that makes a tea party candidate the least bit appealing.
I agree and the reason they do is to not be in the position of being the only ones to blame.
To the sacrifice of the good of the country, better to have those who will do the right things even if some times it will mean it does not work right.
The reality for some time was that there was nothing the Republicans could have done to stop the Democratic. That is why I would not stomach when the me-me came out about the reason they could not pass this or that was the Republicans.
That was too much like the softball team who does show up for the game while the other team does not.
Blaming the team who was not there for the loss of the team that did show up.
I was born on a weekend but it was not last weekend…
I think a team of 435 reps, 100 senators, a president, many appointed professionals should be able to address the country’s problems, and not do it one at a time. We have all those committees who are supposed to work on various agendas, some overlap but not too much. So the problem isn’t, imo, that democrats see much to be done and rush in to tackle it. Yes, you are absolutely correct that the solutions are often so complicated and inadequate they can actually make a new problem that is equally bad as the one they solved.
I blame lobbyists and corporate monies who have their own personal agendas. Since they also have the money that buys elections Congress pays more attention to them and their needs in those ‘solutions’ than to what is best for the American public.
I’ve told you before how much I look forward to Republican majorities in Congress. You may think I’m not being serious. You’re wrong. I want the Party of No to share the responsibilities. Once they’re part of who shares the credit or blame, will they actually work toward something / anything that benefits Americans?
Plus, tstb, you may be seeing democratic disagreement but don’t be fooled into believing that democrats are trusting republicans can do better. We know better than that, our memories aren’t that short. But we can be vocally disappointed and expect more from our own party!
The people whose memories are shortest are those who knew nothing more than what they were told to believe. If you pay no or little attention all you hear are talking points. The Party of No has not participated in governing. Their only goal — they stated it clearly — was to defeat democrats and President Obama. That’s the only work they’ve undertaken so of course they’ve had an upper hand in the talking points.
The attention span of the average American is about 30-seconds and this is proven by the fact it only takes 30-second soundbites being dished 24/7 to turn this country into a raving lunatic mob ready to kill anything that resembles ________ (fill in the blank).
I watched a television documentary about the US educational system and we are routinely ranked in the lowest of the top 25 spots in math and science.
The US high school graduation rate is 75%.
But yet we rank at the top for the most money spent on education.
Where is all the outrage – beyond just hearing that teachers unions are the problems?
I found it interesting that Finland was the country most often rated as #1 in the rankings.
I have several friends who are teachers. Some retired early because they were tired of the politics in the district.
Other reasons were:
1) Not being able to keep discipline in their classroom
2) Being expected to teach non-English speaking students.
3) The lack of parental support for their students. There are alot of single parent homes, low- wage earner parents who are not much more than kids themselves.
4) Not being able to concentrate on teaching – but expected to pass all those standardized tests in order to keep the influx of money coming.
5) Not being respected or paid what they are worth.
Do I think all teachers are always right 100% of the time – NO.
Do I think all teachers are ‘good’ teachers – NO.
And in that respect – I think the teachers union is wrong when they fight to keep a teacher who is obviously not qualified rather than to expect quality from their ranks.
But couldn’t the same be said about any other professional group? What about the doctors who will circle the wagons to protect one of their own?
That is a problem that has been going for a long time.
But back to my original thought – without our citizens being educated – what future does our country have to look forward to?
We have already become a debtor nation with a service-oriented economy. That does not exactly spell success on our terms – now does it?
We are still dependent on foreign oil for energy.
Lack of education and dependent on others for our economic survival does not make me feel very confident for the future of America.
IMO, if the teachers truly taught that which needs to be taught, the standardized tests take care of themselves.
Of course, for teachers to be free to do that, there needs to be a total reexamination of administrative goals, societal expectations, and the like. As that is not happening any time soon, we will (as a society) continue in the whirlpool circling the drain.
I wonder if Finland’s system is similar to Germany’s.
What is it that makes the Chinese and many other Asian people care so strongly about their education?
Our children are spoiled. That’s the fault of my generation and those after mine.
Did we ever doubt they would support her? NO! Not even when they were not supporting her, just last night. 😉
Reporting from Washington —
After initially expressing concerns about the strength of her candidacy, national Republicans offered symbolic support to Christine O’Donnell the morning after her surprising victory in the Delaware Republican Senate primary.
“Let there be no mistake: The National Republican Senatorial Committee – and I personally as the committee’s chairman – strongly stand by all of our Republican nominees, including Christine O’Donnell in Delaware,” Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said in a statement Wednesday morning.
Cornyn said he spoke with O’Donnell Wednesday morning and offered his personal congratulations. The committee also is sending her a $42,000 contribution, the maximum allowed by law.
If the rumors are true about her finances and how she’s spent them, Sarah can show her all the great places to buy clothes. 😉
I have nothing against a woman making something of herself, but if she has to degrade others and not allow them basic rights, she might as well sit down and stfu.
I guess she isn’t planning to masturbate as part of her celebration.
ROFLMAO, fnord!!
Good one!!
(But, if she is like the other conservative hypocrites we’ve met, she does it more than most and tells everyone else it’s EEE-VIL.)
Well she is kind of cute so I will….
No forget that thought!
Are pro football cheerleaders getting a little chunkier? Or is it only the Chargers cheerleaders?
I’m not complaining. I’m real sick of stick figures.
I have a friend who’s a former KC Chiefs cheerleader. I don’t know if Carla will appreciate me telling the story she tells, but what the hell. She’ll never know, right? 🙂
She was very proud of how high she could kick. Higher than any of the others on the team. So during one of the Sunday games, she decided to show off her high kick…and she kicked so high, she knocked herself out. Nobody makes me laugh the way she does.
WS –
Waaaaaah!!!!!
I couldn’t resist. It looked like you needed a good cry. I especially love the “far right” pejorative; “far right” means, of course, anything you disagree with.
“I especially love the “far right” pejorative; “far right” means, of course, anything you disagree with.”
Fail.
I look at each issue independently and decide on my opinion based on the facts. Left or right are only labels.
But kindly tell us ill-informed liberals just how the right is going to solve all our problems. Didn’t you folks have a fair shot atit last time around?
I suspect the far-right will justify their going to war with Iran and North Korea as ‘God’s divine plan’ and supply our military needs of personnel with all those unemployed people. (wasn’t that that the goal of Republicans to never vote to help the unemployed?)
We can still borrow from China – after all – all those poor corporations will still demand their profits at all costs.
Of course, these two new wars (like Iraq and Afghanistan) will be handled in much the same way.
No-bid contracts will be given to only special ‘right’ companies. These companies will bill for their overpriced services and Republicans will all lock-step to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy.
And when their reign of terror comes to an end – which it will because the average American has the attention span of 30-seconds and demands success immediately – Democrats will go in and try to clean up the mess – again.
Isn’t that the way this song has been sung for years?
The problem is Fnord those committees doe not work in a vacuum everything they do has to go before the collective of the entire Congress and Senate. That was the problem that the finance committee was facing.
It was not a matter of simply finding something that Grassley would agree with it was finding something that every member of the body would support.
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