Dems Took A Pounding...Did It Have To Turn Out This Way?

[dbt]

Now that Democrats have lost the House, pundits will likely declare a mandate for a right-wing agenda. Don't believe a word of it. What we witnessed tonight was a protest vote by an angry sector of the electorate, encouraged by hundreds of millions in spending by corporate-funded groups, that has attributed its falling fortunes to a cultural change in Washington. People who are not like them are running things in Washington, and everything really sucks.

The final results of the 2010 mid-term elections have yet to be tallied, but progressives have already begun their soul-searching.

Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Lynne Woolsey, congresswoman from California, told Pacifica News Radio that the Democrats lost the House because "we weren't bold enough." If they had started off with a jobs bill, Woolsey said, their position would be different tonight. And, Woolsey said, "We could have done a much better job of letting people know what we had accomplished."

At an election-night event broadcast by Free Speech TV at a progressive gathering-place in Washington, D.C., longtime labor activist Bill Fletcher complained that progressives left the right a wide opening when, after the election, the leaders who had put together the coalition that elected President Barack Obama sent those activists "back to the barracks."

More from Alternet

[xchrom]

1. the elected peeps were late to the party.

opting to do nothing very bold -- a little conservative -- but not enough
to capture the imagination of the people for something better.

[panzerfaust]

2. No. We could have delivered on the HOPE for CHANGE

The country still HOPES for CHANGE.

In the runup to the election, The Onion put it best -

Democrats: 'If We're Gonna Lose, Let's Go Down Running Away From Every Legislative Accomplishment We've Made'

WASHINGTON—Conceding almost certain Republican gains in next month's crucial midterm elections, Democratic lawmakers vowed Tuesday not to give up without making one final push to ensure their party runs away from every major legislative victory of the past two years.

Party leaders told reporters that regardless of the ultimate outcome, they would do everything in their power from now until the polls closed to distance themselves from their hard-won passage of a historic health care overhaul, the toughest financial regulations since the 1930s, and a stimulus package most economists now credit with preventing a second Great Depression.

"There's a great deal on the line, and we know it isn't going to be easy for us," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), speaking from the steps of the Capitol. "But if we suffer defeat, we will do so knowing we cowered away from absolutely anything we produced that was even remotely progressive or valuable in any way..."

http://www.theonion.com/articles/democrats-if-were-gonna-lose-lets-go-down-running,18333/

[dbt]

8. That Onion slice takes me back to 2003,

when it became apparent that Mad was a news magazine and Newsweek was a comic book.

[AuntPatsy]

9. And not much has changed since that realization, 2010 and it's more than apparent

That besides Rachel and kieth and a very few like ones on primetime media, the daily show has more credibility as a news source than say CNN or faux etc.....

[harun]

3. There was Hope, Change and Corporate dollars. Can't have all three.

[Skidmore]

4. We didn't just take a pounding in Congress but in the

state legislatures as well. A real thumping.

[MBS]

5. Sen. Kerry's statement

His statement clearly speaks to more than MA.

Tonight’s clean sweep underscores that despite massive outside spending and prevailing political winds, Massachusetts Democrats win when they take nothing for granted, fight hard, and stand proud of the people and values they represent. Deval Patrick, Tim Murray, Barney Frank, Bill Keating, and many, many others reminded Massachusetts tonight that some things really are worth fighting for, and that’s a big big lesson not just for Democrats but for everyone, everywhere

I have to say that Dems were taking nothing for granted this time around. But both the White House and the Congress do need to do a MUCH better job, every single day, of articulating, in clear terms, the values they represent and the values they are fighting for.

[Catherina]

6. Rec'd n/t

[DrDan]

7. Senate goes next time if unemployment does not improve

[DemocratAholic]

10. squandered

we squandered a great opportunity. we had a fantastic political machine put together, and in 2 years it became totally useless.