We lost because people are stupid

[Quixote1818]

I think Obama made some mistakes and was not forceful enough with his agenda and getting his message out as far as all the stuff that was accomplished, but I really think the main reason we lost is simply because a lot of people are just stupid and change their mind on politics like changing stations on the TV. All these idiots like everything individually about the Health Care bill but for some insane reason are against the whole bill because they are constantly lied to and are stupid enough to believe the lies. All these people think Obama is the one running us into debt when Republican Presidents gave us 9 Trillion of the 11 Trillion we are in debt mostly because Reagan lowered taxes on the wealthy. I could make a thousand points like these. All this information is out there if people want to research it and it gets pointed out by a lot of Democrats but people are just too stupid to get it. All I can say is if you voted for Obama two years ago and voted Republican this time around, then there is a screw or two missing. Open up your fucking brain and read a newspaper or do some research instead of believing all the false political ads before you vote next time you dumb asses.

[RandomThoughts]

1. You can't blame people lied to for making bad decision.

Those that deceive them are to blame.

[county worker]

8. People need to be able to use some critical analysis not just accept what they are told.

So many Americans cannot tell a lie when they hear one or are too receptive to the lie .

[RandomThoughts]

18. I agree, if they are given enough information to make a decision.

Most actually do not think.

Most people have a continuous inner monologue of their own thoughts going, and never really hear what is said outside them.

Maybe they are to blame, but only if they glimpse something true and refuse to think on it.

[county worker]

33. check this out

IMMANUEL KANT
An Answer to the Question:
What is Enlightenment? (1784)
Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! "Have courage to use your own understanding!"--that is the motto of enlightenment.

Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why so great a proportion of men, long after nature has released them from alien guidance (natura-liter maiorennes), nonetheless gladly remain in lifelong immaturity, and why it is so easy for others to establish themselves as their guardians. It is so easy to be immature. If I have a book to serve as my understanding, a pastor to serve as my conscience, a physician to determine my diet for me, and so on, I need not exert myself at all. I need not think, if only I can pay: others will readily undertake the irksome work for me. The guardians who have so benevolently taken over the supervision of men have carefully seen to it that the far greatest part of them (including the entire fair sex) regard taking the step to maturity as very dangerous, not to mention difficult. Having first made their domestic livestock dumb, and having carefully made sure that these docile creatures will not take a single step without the go-cart to which they are harnessed, these guardians then show them the danger that threatens them, should they attempt to walk alone. Now this danger is not actually so great, for after falling a few times they would in the end certainly learn to walk; but an example of this kind makes men timid and usually frightens them out of all further attempts.

more:

http://www.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/kant.html

[RandomThoughts]

67. Nice note, it has a hint of Greek in it.

Reminds me of the guy that argued against the court, but accepted the courts sentence when he was said to be heretical. Socrates I think, although he was wrong in many things, I also think he was wrong in that idea of accepting that verdict, he bowed to social order over reason in that action.

There is two competing thoughts, freedom, and social order. Freedom is restrained so that a system can operate to handle basic goods and services of a societal goal and even feelings of security for many people. However many times that goal becomes the restriction of freedom since the concept of 'obey' makes it easier to run a society. Freedom of action, or even thought, makes operation of society more difficult.

I have found there is a constant pressure not only not to think, but also not to feel, numbness and robotic following of any structure is for the ease of societal control, against the dignity of people in society. But it makes sense when it is seen that some individuals want to hurt each other. Although a system built of many people inherit that same capability, so to 'obey' within that system then becomes wrong, since the society will hurt also.

From that 'pure freedom' can only come from a concept of no thoughts of hurting others, or when accompanied by complete love, in that the need to fulfill the order of society continues, while feeling and thinking can also act in other ways.

For individuality to exist in an operating society, the individuals must impose social order on themselves by not hurting others, if they chose to not obey a system. Especially if that system begins to hurt or to create fear or threats to maintain order by forcing people to obey.

There are two ways for a society to operate, one is by control where people either by lack of information or by 'obey' do what they are told for the ends of the society, the bigger machine of many that form the rules that are there to maintain the system first, then after that what ever goals the system have.

The other way for a society to exist is for many people to be completely free to do what ever they want, but only when they only do what does not infringe on another persons rights, either rights to exist or even rights to think and feel as they want, that can easily come from love, hence why love completes the law, even if one does not follow a societal order.

So my following of religious concepts is not by being told to, but by thinking and finding that they make sense in the struggle of what is an individual and what is society. From that, anyone can do what they want until they begin to infringe on the dignity of others, then they have to be brought under the control mechanism of a society, meanwhile those that can tolerate other thoughts and act without harming others should concentrate on monitoring and correcting societal systems, since they also devolve into self survival of the larger form of the social entity, instead of serving the basic goal of order within a society and the goal of serving individuals in society. Society itself becomes an entity to enforce its control, not to do its role, hence why it has to be constantly pushed back into its original goals outside of its laws created in part for its (the societal entities) self survival.

So society exist with rules that must be followed because people are imperfect, but because imperfect people create society, those that can act within tolerance and without hurting others or taking from others what they have, must monitor society and continually push it back to ways of being more just and compassionate to those it wards over by making them obey.

I think it is a better answer to who watches the watchers, since when a person has the ability to be tolerant and selfless, then he can move society, but when he is not in those better thoughts, then society can force him to follow structures. So to rule a society that tries to rule a people, the person must be able to not hurt and offer dignity to people, and from that can move the society to a better place, yet he must also know that when he is imperfect he also is bound by societal rules.

And on that entire journey one must always try to cultivate others to keep him in the better actions and better thoughts, just like the way society tries to keep its individuals in better thoughts by order, but not by restraint but by learning.


So the system of society becomes circular, where society tries to enforce order on all, but fails by imperfection for that order to be perfect, then those that can act in better ways, impose restrictions and control on society outside of the laws of that society when in perfect better thought of only caring and dignity for all people. But when they do that they are at the bottom of society, even as they rule over society by pulling it to better ideas. Since by opposing the societal structure, society punishes them within its different uses of distribution, as they push back on the societal mechanism.

So the bottom of society rules society in the brief moments when it is able to hold in its thoughts ideas of kindness and justice, and with that power, bends the laws of society to better ideas and better thoughts of freedom and dignity for more people. Meanwhile the top of society tries to restrict all people, even when not in best thought, and makes hardship for the bottom that rules over it, striking on imperfections that are also in those people. That is why targeted justice, and imperfections of those that try to move society are hit so hard by forces, since any form of lack of perfection removes there ability to pull society against its inertia of status quo.

And hopefully along the way many in the middle learn when they think in ideas of selflessness to also move societal structures to better forms, and try to learn to be in that place where they can do that, and recognize when they are not and when are under bounds of societal laws when not in perfect tolerance and love.

It explains why smears out of perspective exist, and why people that try to improve society get much more pressure on their weaknesses, and why they end up, if they want to make a difference also working on their own short comings if they want to pull society to a better place.

Really society is circular with the bottom moving the top, hence why many that make a difference end up on the bottom of society by declaring freedom to challenge society.

Although while the top controls the middle by structure, some move, especially when pushed by failures of justice and compassion in the system, down to freedom by trying to improve systems and move society, when in moments of selflessness and able to think on society first. Since stepping out of societies laws causes a punishment by inertia forces in society.

Some move up to authoritarian where they control the middle, and step on the bottom since the bottom is correcting the forms of the rules they try to get people to follow.

(side note, top and bottom in this note is within concepts of pyramid, it can also be seen as upside down pyramid just as easily. where the top is actually the many on the bottom, while the top of the pyramid is the bottom trying to bring people under control, it is relative to what you think is better the top or bottom, many times based on ones own position. In my view neither can be defined as better, and somewhere in the middle is best place to probably be.)


(side note, laws do not mean illegal things, but ideas against concepts that can be shown not for societal good, although those are sometimes illegal such as acts of civil disobedience, while being obedient to a personal thought of a defendable higher morale position.)



That concept is in this song also, but it has the concept of starting fires hurts society. If that fire is passions to correct society, then it is from love for love, not for harm. It also has the concept of being on the bottom or lost when in that love, and not being numb or in obey, but to feel part of the thrill also. That song is really deep, glad to have thought on and held its many great concepts within thoughts. Much learning in that song, pages and pages of thoughts.

La Roux - In for the Kill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ1Mi77nogQ


That song, is also 'on the line'

[watrwefitinfor]

14. Hell yes he can blame them, and I can, too,

if they're too damn dumb to even attempt to learn about the world around them. I'm in South Carolina, and I know a dumb person when I run across one.

Your schtick is getting on my nerves worse than usual tonight. Don't know why you constantly run this pablum, but tonight it is disgusting.

Wat.

[bullimiami]

32. Im with the "everyone is responsible for their one vote" crowd.

[mrcheerful]

23. What these ass clowns still believe that any day now Reagan's promises of great wealth

will trickle down on them because they kept the faith in their honest R representatives. It is not a matter of being lied to and not knowing they were lied to, they actually believe that the lier's are telling them the truth and they refuse to listen to anyone that tells them they were lied to, you can't fix stupid nor are you doing them a favor by being nice or understanding, they brought it on themselves as well as those around them.

[Curmudgeoness]

24. You can blame people who will not look beyond their noses for truth.

I got an email that sounds ridiculous, there was a link to the US Senate website that they encouraged you to click to see that it was true. I clicked on it. There was a disclaimer right there that said this email was being passed around that was not true. Do you think that the sender clicked that link? And how easy that was. It is their fault for being suckers.

Oh, and yes, the deceivers are despicable and there should be consequences, but please, people, get your heads out of your asses.

[we can do it]

73. People That Are To Lazy To Find Out What the Truth Is Are

[Tansy_Gold]

2. Were they magically smarter two years ago? n/t

[Warren Stupidity]

5. no.

This 'muddle in the middle' is easily manipulated.

[Quixote1818]

6. Exactly. nt

[emulatorloo]

25. It was hard for the media to ignore McCain's "The Fundamentals of the Economy are Strong"

Most times they just cover for the Republicans, repeating the talking points, denigrating the Democrats.

And thats what busy voters hear day after day after day.

Until they get a situation they just can't hide.

Another example: Bush's Katrina "response"

[Kievan Rus]

3. They're ignorant, not stupid

A lot of people will believe whatever the guy on the TeeVee says...especially if it's somebody like Glenn Beck. A lot of people like that are just willfully ignorant.

[Quixote1818]

11. Actually you are right about that. nt

[AnArmyVeteran]

13. Don't forget profoundly gullible!!!

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

17. I think both types are out there voting, I have a question,

How was the vote effected by the 20% of Americans that beleive Obama's is a Muslim?

[trotsky]

71. You are correct. n/t

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[apocalypsehow]

7. Who says A, must say B. n/t.

[Rage for Order]

9. Calling them stupid will certainly get them to vote for Democrats next time

I'm surprised you aren't a campaign manager

:eyes:

[Quixote1818]

15. Do you think they are actually reading DU?

Don't think so. This is a watering hole for strong Democrats. I am talking to you all the way I would talk to a good friend. Speaking my mind.

[Rage for Order]

39. Many things become public knowledge even though they weren't intended to be

Do you think the republican who played nazi dress-up on the weekends ever thought those pictures would be shown across the country? Do you think Larry Craig ever thought everybody would find out he trolls men's bathrooms for blowjobs? Just because you intend for the audience to be like-minded folks doesn't mean it's going to stay that way.

:shrug:

[treestar]

20. It might.

Seriously. Treating them with respect is what does not work. It allows the stupid to think their thoughts are intelligent.

Some people respect it more when they are called out on it.

[BeFree]

21. Wouldn't that be cool?

Imagine a campaign of 100 million TV dollars telling the people who didn't go vote they are stupid.

That would be hilarious and have a big impact.

"You didn't vote? Are you stupid, or what?"

[Quixote1818]

31. LOL! Reminds me of this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIraCchPDhk

[arcane1]

26. Or a former White House aide

now a mayoral candidate in Chicago :(

ps: love your username! :headbang:

[USA_1]

10. Your Message Is Correct

But why didn't Democrat politicians say that out in the open? Why it this being repeated here by people like you & I?? Silence is death and the Dem party has chosen to walk to its death like lambs to the slaughter. Because of that there is nothing further you or I can do.

[MrSlayer]

12. It's not stupidity as such. It's willful ignorance and intellectual laziness.

That plus half a billion dollars worth of repeated propaganda lies drummed into their heads. Lack of wisdom is not the same as lack of intelligence, though plenty of them are stupid.

[HughMoran]

16. Too stupid to live

My state is chock full of ignoramuses. I don't like Mike Barnicle at all, but this comparison between Vermont and NH does ring true in many ways. He forgot to mention - Vermont is one of the most liberal states, New Hampshire is Republican redneck country.

Vermont vs. New Hampshire

By Mike Barnicle
The Boston Globe

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit Vermont and New Hampshire. My trips again reminded me of the incredible differences between two states many assume are similar.

On paper, according to the census, they appear to be a match: Vermont has half a million people, making it 49th of 50 states in population. The median age for residents is 33. It is 98 percent while and has a 5 percent unemployment rate.

New Hampshire has about a million residents. That places it 40th in rank. It, too, is 98 percent white and also has an unemplyment rate lingering around 5 percent.

This proves beyond doubt that statistics are stupid. As a matter of fact, two states could no be more different.

Vermont is a beautiful place, a postcard. New Hampshire looks like Arkansas with snow.

Vermont was home to Abe Lincoln's son and the von Trapp family. New Hampshire gave us the lunatic publisher Loeb, the theif Sherman Adams, athe perposterous Sununu and a member of the Manson gang.

Vermont passed a Clean Air act before the environment became trendy. New Hampshire wrote a constitutional amendment raising the IQ of its citizens by 50 points so they could communicate with their house pets.

Vermont has several nifty towns like Brattleboro and Montpelier. New Hamshire's largest city - Manchester - has a main street that concludes in a dead end.

First thing you see when cross into Vermont is spectactular foliage and sprawling valleys that recede into picturesque, rolling hills. First thing you see in New Hampshire is a toll booth where the attendent is stumped making change for a $5 bill, followe d by a state liquor store.

They speak English in Vermont. They speak a contorted form of gibberish in New Hampshire, saying things like "Geez-o crow, look 'hup the street, the soldiers are marching down."

Vermont has a lots of extremely attractive women. In New Hampshire, the best looking femals are those who trim their mustaches.

Vermont is a mecca for tourists. New Hampshire attracts illiterate ice-fishermen and motorcycle gangs.

Vermont has two capable United States senators. New Hampshire has Judd Gregg, a complete dope who won the 1993 Anthony Perkins "Psycho" look-alike contest and took great pride in the fact he tried to take a dying woman's money after shw put a down payment on his property and then tried to get it back after she contracted cancer. When Gregg announced for the Senate, they coined the phrase, "The sap is running."

On Saturday evenings in Vermont, residents go out to eat or stay home to listen to that boring screwball on National Public Radio. Saturday nights in New Hampshire there is a debate over whether to bathe for the week ahead.

Vermont has a lot of people who moved from Massachussetts and New York to escape the rat race. New Hampshire has thousands who moved in out of pure selfishness, to avoid taxes or doing anything that might help a neighbor.

In Vermont, if you get sick the take you to a hosptial. In New Hampshire, if you become ill, old or infirm they use you for fertilizer or target practice.

In Vermont, people sometimes complain about the cold of winter or the mud in the spring. In New Hampshire, the most common complaint is the sheep either hav a headache or they lie.

To be fair, New Hampshire does have some good points. Areas like Portsmouth, Keene and Peterborough and places like Dartmouth and Durham get a special exemption beacuse they don't fit in with the rest of the state. In addition, New Hampshire has a lot of funerals.

Vermont is called the "Green Mountain State." New Hampshire has "Live Free or Die" on its license plates and the Legislature would actually prefer three of the words tbe removed so the slogan would simply read, "Die."

Vermonters are urbane and fashionable in a rural-chic way. Granite State natives are a mentally-challenged lot of easily confused white people who think buildings with elevators qualify as tourist attractions and spend enormous amounts of money in tattoo parlors or gun stores.

When people from Vermont take a vacation, they travel to spots like Yellowstone Park or Sanibel Island. In New Hampshire, they get in their snowmobiles or speed boats and go to motels to take pictures of indoor plumbing.

Vermont is comfortable and progressive. New Hampshire is home to oddballs in Day-Glo hast, with a deer tossed on top of their truck who pride themselves in being sour, stingy sociopaths who revel in the economic misery of others.

Vermont is New England. In New Hampshire, even in the Old Man of the Mountains wants out.

:rofl:

[mainer]

50. Wow, what'd NH do to him?

But it did make me laugh.

[emulatorloo]

19. Not stupid. They get fed Republican talking points 24/7 by CNN etc. They dont have time to researc

on the internet - TOO BUSY. Cable News Media is the quickest way to get news - but it is all wrapped in the GOP perspective.

[Quixote1818]

27. There is some truth to that but at least they could try to spend an hour

before the election looking up a number of the charges going both directions and seeing what they can find. It only takes a minute or two to google the history of our national debt and see what has really been going on.

[JudyM]

48. Yes, and they are drawn to a "story" which the Rs had and we didn't pound home.

I think about like looking at what's popular on tv -- people latch on to a good drama that they find compelling... the Rs kept telling their story over and over, even though it was all distortion and lies. We were insufficiently aggressive in presenting our story in soundbytes.

:shrug:

[we can do it]

75. Speak fer yerself - here in D'OHio We Are Killing Ourselves With Obamahate

cause we're smartnshit ya know? we're pissed off about the bailout then we elect lehman bros katshit as guvnur

[arbusto_baboso]

22. It's not stupidity OR ignorance. It's denial.

Republican voters are like battered wives. They know in their heart-of-hearts that they've made horrible decisions in staying with their batterer for years and years, but admitting it now would be tantamount to admitting that they are losers and would shatter the false bravado that they have masquerading as self-esteem.

It's their only way of feeling good about themselves, even if it screws them to the wall.

[CakeGrrl]

28. The thing is, you don't HAVE to admit it. Voting is a private matter.

Tell people whatever you want, but if you vote against your own financial/social interests because you'd rather not admit to yourself that you were wrong, then maybe it becomes a form of electoral Darwinism.

[arbusto_baboso]

35. That is precisely what it is.

Abuse victims take a long time to wake up. Some never wake up. And no outside force changes them. It comes from within.

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. You do not understand the box of rocks that is the

electorate.

Must will run on those adds.

Fear works

Learn that.

Republicans will gut Social Security... (True) run that.

repeat it.

Say it

Bumper stickers...

RUN IT.

Fear works.

[sally cat]

30. No bad. It resonates.

[Naturyl]

34. But people weren't stupid in Nov 2008?

Personally, I agree with you, though. Just a question worth considering.

[2Design]

36. remember last august and the misinformation of health care and seniors

were out against government insurance which they were on with medicare - same group were hyped up more with lies and they voted against themselves and us

[scarletwoman]

37. People aren't too stupid to understand that they're getting fucked.

Thanks to our corporate controlled news media, and the egregious inability of our Democratic "leaders" to put out a coherent and compelling narrative, people have nothing to go on other than how crappy their lives are.

They're not stupid, they know they're getting fucked and they don't see an end to the fucking anytime soon. So, like any sane person would do, they again vote for something different. They have no power over their fates beyond voting.

All they want is for the fucking to stop. Since that hasn't happened yet, it's only logical that they would look in a different direction.

Choices are limited in our two party duopoly. If one party doesn't deliver, there's nothing you can do but go to the other end of the pole.

sw

[Tansy_Gold]

41. +1,000,000 or two! n/t

[undeterred]

52. But they're too stupid to figure out who is really fucking them.

[IDHow]

57. Right on!

And it should be obvious it is the corporate big shots and not so-called "high taxes"!!!

[scarletwoman]

59. That's not stupidity, it's misinformation. Since no one tells them the truth about the Plutocacy,

they're left with bouncing between two political parties who will never, ever tell the real story of who actually controls the State.

[Catherina]

77. Thank you for truth in yet another stupid superiority thread n/t

[Stagecoach]

38. Stupid and impatient people

A lot of things got screwed up in the 8 years between January 2001 and January 2009, and I can't believe people expected everything to be fixed in just 2 years. Obama layed out his agenda to everyone when he was campaigning, and people liked his agenda and they put him in office, and he's stayed pretty close to that agenda, but for some reason 2 years later, the same people that liked that agenda, or now against it. I'm afraid people fell for the GOP selling pitch hook, line and sinker. A lot of the electorate have this sense that if they put the GOP in charge and keep the tax cuts for the rich going, that by helping the rich stay rich that they'll be rich someday, too. I think a lot of those people are going to be disappointed in 2 years when they find out the people they put in didn't work for them.

[moondust]

40. Billionaires, bigots, and boobs.

:rofl:

[lelgt60]

60. Boobs: 50% of the people have an IQ less than 100...

17% have an IQ less than 85. IQ may not be a good estimate of "total" intelligence, but it is probably OK for "logical" intelligence necessary to evaluate political alternatives.

Bigots: Then you have mean people who think their own good luck in where they were born, or how educated/wealthy their parents were, or their own genetic makeup was somehow their own hard work, so fuck anyone who is less fortunate.

Billionaires - only a few hundred - but LOTS of influence on the boobs and bigots.

[Pisces]

42. People vote against their own best interest all of the time. It is easy

to lead frightened people where you want them to go. No questions asked. I am sick of our own side attacking Obama and helping to bring about this loss. TImes are bad so let's make them worse
by voting in Republicans to undo the good work already done. It is unimaginable how dumb people are.

[dimbear]

43. When the herd panics, do you blame the cows or the

cowboys?

[Curmudgeoness]

44. Now people are the same as cows? It just gets scarier. nt

[Odin2005]

45. People know they are being screwed, they are just being mislead as to who is scrwing them.

[GearHeadTheStalker]

It's true, people are stupid

Why else would they vote for RepubliKKKan Teabaggers.

[GearHeadTheStalker]

46. It's true, people are stupid

Why else would they vote for RepubliKKKan Teabaggers.

[jgraz]

47. People have been stupid since the beginning of time

The real question is why didn't the Democrats have a strategy to deal with stupid people.

[Name removed]

49. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Posteritatis]

51. I've always liked how everyone who claims everyone is stupid conveniently excludes themselves. (nt)

[emilyg]

54. Of course.

[ProfessorGAC]

53. People Were Stupid In 1992, 1996, 2006, 2008 . . .

People are generally stupid and willfully ignorant. You can't blame this on stupidity and then celebrate when things go the way DU'ers would like.

When Clinton won, when he won again, when dems took over congress while Silverspoon was in the WH, and in 2008, people were stupid then.

They just didn't get stupid in the last 2 years.

We did a poor job of messaging and marketing, and since people are, in fact, stupid, sending the right message in the right way is the key. The dem power structure screwed that up.

That's got nothing to with the electorate being stupid. Most of them are stupid anyway. But, the lunatic right sent a message they bought and the dems didn't.
GAC

[Fire1]

63. No! I haven't seen willful ignorance like THIS since the

Civil Rights movement!

[ProfessorGAC]

69. Then We Disagree

I've been seeing it the whole time. This time, however, they had the excuse of the bad economy to hide their disdain for a black president. Might be rooted in racism (stupid) but cloaked in a semi-valid reason for disapproval.

And, willful ignorance and stupidity aren't the same thing. One can be willfully ignorant but not stupid. Stupid is buying an obviously bad conclusion because it fits one's own narrow world view. Willful ignorance is not wanting to know the truth because it doesn't fit one's own narrow world view.

Neither is admirable, but they aren't really the same thing.
GAC

[Fire1]

70. Then I should have clarified that I don't think it's stupidity. n/t

[deaniac21]

55. Thank goodness they aren't when we win!

[and-justice-for-all]

56. When those pukes start cutting social benefits...

I hope people realize what voting for repukes or not voting at all gets them.

[Ilsa]

58. And they want to defund public education to make sure people

are unable to think critically for themselves or discern the truth.

[wiggs]

61. This thread is as close to explaining what's going on as anything. Maybe 'stupid'

isn't it, but lazy, gullible, narrow, incurious, blind, shallow, easily distracted, ignorant, arrogant, easily led, drone mentality, group-think, etc...tend to sum it up. And those on the right with power and money have brilliantly taken advantage of these tendencies to manipulate opinion, money, and votes.

[EFerrari]

64. But people don't change that much from one cycle to the next.

These are the same people who voted Obama in making these decisions.

[wiggs]

65. It took 8 years of plainly ridiculous and illegal governance to shake some people

loose from Fox's grip.

We've been in a deep, deep hole...behind the gop in messaging, media ownership, think tanks, unity in message, etc for a long time. It is very very hard to come up with occasional victories. This time, it took the worst administration in HISTORY followed by an unusually smart and charismatic candidate to get a presidential victory. But the machinery that was put in place to assure a 100 year gop reign (Delay's words) still exists and isn't likely to go away easily. Add to that mix a gop willingness (thankfully not a dem trait) to go low by lying, smearing, spreading misinformation, and throwing groups under the bus (southern strategy applied to nearly any group you'd wish to name)...you have a powerful force that takes extraordinary circumstances to overcome.

the low information lazy voters we're talking about are the pawns.

[Fire1]

62. No! People read! They researched! It didn't fuckin matter!!

They HEAR what they want to hear!! They SEE what they want to see!! They saw and heard every fuckin obstruction that came from the GOP!! Did it matter? Hell no! Too many of us KNOW what the deal is!! The shit these so-called progressives ran for the last fuckin two years is as transparent as cellophane.

[lumberjack_jeff]

66. Phew! That's a relief. Now I can be apathetic because there's nothing I can do. n/t

[NuttyFluffers]

68. no, we lost because we didn't "manage the stupid"

(i feel a bit of distaste using that. i do believe americans are surprisingly more capable than assumed when engaged on an individual level. but mobs are stupid the world over, and what was whipped up was a frothing mob.)

it's very simple. you either whip up the mob for your own power or you let your opponent do so. whoever whips up the mob on their side the first and fastest has an advantage to steamroll their hapless victim.

now, why are democratic leaders too weak, inept, incapable, or (dare i say it?) "stupid" to learn basic populist politics 101 and learn to "manage the stupid mob?" all it requires is some firebrand populist rhetoric, a 50 state strategy, and some basic fear mongering finger pointing (except, unlike republicans, our accusations can all be frightfully true). not hard.

now, i personally don't believe democratic leadership is stupid, inept, or incapable. unfortunately that leaves their motivations cast in doubt, (because when all other possibilities are removed what's left has to be the truth, right?). but hey, that's their own doing. you can't keep failing the same way every few years with some of the country's brightest people and not leave lingering questions about collusion... they are left with the horrible Catch 22: they can be smart and complicit, or incompetent and innocent. the only third option is they are ingenue political savants -- somehow savvy enough to get elected, but too naive to know what they're doing with power once they get it -- and that's an oxymoron i cannot believe.

[w8liftinglady]

72. My partner's county...one of the Poorest in Texas...

voted OVERWHELMINGLY Republican...I think he was one of about 3,000 dems in Henderson county-almost al of whom are teachers in other counties.

the mean salary in Henderson County is 30,000 for a family of four.

FEDERAL OFFICE

U.S. Representative, District 5

Jeb Hensarling, Republican — 14,294

Tom Berry, Democrat — 3,816

Ken Ashby, Libertarian — 374



STATEWIDE OFFICES



Governor

Rick Perry, Republican — 12,301

Bill White, Democrat — 5,198

Kathie Glass, Libertarian — 444

Deb Shafto, Green — 101



Lieutenant Governor

David Dewhurst, Republican — 14,207

Linda Chavez-Thompson, Democrat — 3,944

Scott Jameson, Libertarian — 461

Herb Gonzales, Jr., Green — 132



Attorney General

Greg Abbott, Republican — 14,474

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, Democrat — 3,851

Jon Roland, Libertarian — 401



Comptroller of Public Accounts

Susan Combs, Republican — 14,656

Mary J. Ruwart, Libertarian — 1,216

Edward Lindsay, Green — 614



Commissioner of the General Land Office

Jerry Patterson, Republican — 13,998

Hector Uribe, Democrat — 3,912

James L. Holdar, Libertarian — 594



Commissioner of Agriculture

Todd Staples, Republican — 14,008

Hank Gilbert, Democrat — 4,124

Rick Donaldson, Libertarian — 507



Railroad Commissioner

David Porter, Republican — 13,285

Jeff Weems, Democrat — 4,410

Roger Gray, Libertarian — 500

Art Browning, Green — 273

[maxsolomon]

74. more voters showed up in 2008. more DEMOCRATIC voters.

more young people. more minorities. the flibberdigibbets who changed their minds are not as large a % as we think. if we show up, we win.

in WA state, King Co. showed up in record numbers for a midterm. Patty Murray won.

[JonLP24]

76. And they have remarkably inept memories

of when the Republicans were in power.

[cry baby]

78. Agreed...so we have to do a better job at educating the stupid.

We must become better communicators to the stupid people instead of just saying they're stupid and believing there isn't anything we can do about it.

We have to learn to appeal to the stupid people of this country.

[MyNameGoesHere]

79. People are not stupid

they just have not learned any lessons from the tragedy of the failed American experiment. It is dead. We never evolved. We stagnated behind the perceived power of the greenback. America is a lost cause abandon it before you are doomed.

[struggle4progress]

80. We lost because we didn't work hard enough to GOTV