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Subscribe to RSS*** 60-plus: As we mentioned above, Republicans gained approximately 60 House seats. There are still 12 races we're watching -- all held by Democrats -- that are too close to call. Republicans lead in three of those, so GOP gains will likely inch slightly higher. What's left: AZ-7, AZ-8, CA-11, CA-20, GA-2, IL-8, KY-6, MI-9, NY25, TX-27, VA-11, and WA-2.
*** The correction: In 2006 and 2008 combined, Democrats picked up 56 seats (mostly in Republican-leaning territories). Well, Republicans took back 38 of those of those 56 seats. But what's most striking is that the GOP gained back nearly all the seats it lost (21 of 24) in ’08, and the other three are hung up in races that are too close to call. Of the other eight on the list of races yet to be called, three of them are '06 seats.
*** The hurricane that started in the South and continued through the Midwest: Democrats really got crushed in the South and Midwest. They lost 23 seats in the South, including four in Florida, three in Tennessee, and two in Texas (with an additional one in overtime). They lost 21 seats in the Midwest, including a total of 13 in Pennsylvania (5), Ohio (5), and Illinois (3).
*** 164 years of service gone: The longest-serving House member in history, John Dingell, may have walked away with a victory, but several of his Democratic colleagues who have worked in the lower chamber for decades lost their seats. Six "Old Bulls" -- John Spratt of South Carolina, Rick Boucher of Virginia, Ike Skelton of Missouri, Chet Edwards of Texas, James Oberstar of Minnesota, and Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota -- were defeated Tuesday. Out of that group, that's 128 combined years of service in the chamber.
*** We're about to find out what happens when Congress tops being polite and starts getting real...: Former “Real World” contestant Sean Duffy won in WI-7. But, as Cook House editor David Wasserman put it, Democrats and Republicans' "worst nightmare" came true because "live wires like" Renee Ellmers in NC-2, Allen West in FL-22, and Raul Labrador in ID-1 all won. Expect those districts -- and others -- to become top Dem targets in 2012. http://bit.ly/bxlLyb
*** O-hio: NBC's Chris Donovan points out that John Boehner would be the third speaker from the state of Ohio. The other two:
-- J. Warren Keifer - one term - (1881-83) and
-- Nicholas Longworth - 3 terms - (1925-31). NOTE: The Longworth House Office Building was named for him.
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Soon to be Speaker Boehner ( who by the way, Proudly stood side by side with Nazi sympathizer, someone who puts on the Nazi uniform) stated that the GOP tidal wave is definitely not a time for celebration. He certainly got that right, because this is a time for Woe! And by the way the Tea-Partiers, will be their worse "nightmare".
But, it will be average Americans who will get hurt by this tidal wave of destruction, which will not bring in anything good for the people. It came to me watching this debauchle, this "tidal wave of destruction", that it is the North vs. the South all over again, in another cleverly disquised form, and sometimes not so disquised. I mean when they say take their country back, take it back from whom?
And, its's amazing to me the "fickleness" of the American people to go back and elect GOP operatives that brought this country to the brink of ruin and catastophre. The GOP Party is obviously a group for big business and corporations and Not a group for the People! They are not even for small businesses, though they pretend to be. If they were for small business, than why are there so many large Wal-marts, Lowes, Home Depots, so that the small mom and pop operations are squeezed out of business. GOP will not even extend UE benefits when needed, knowing that the jobs are just not there anymore due to their policies of outsourcing good jobs to China and India.
I feel sorry for average Americans who continue to shoulder the tax burdens because the wealthy and big Corporations pay very little or no taxes at all due loopholes, which is just another way of lying and cheating and getting over on the American people. If the American people want more money in their wallets, than they should go about getting the wealthy to pay their fair share once again.
We can only pray that the people will eventually see through GOP lies and deceptions and get off the "yellow brick road" to nowhere, before its too late!
Business never pay Taxes.. The people that buy their Goods and Services are the ones that pay their Taxes.. Demanding they pay more is to tell the Federal Govt to tax the little guy more...
Oh, for God's sake, grow up!
Is Tom Cruise a Nazi sympathizer, too? After all, he wore a Nazi uniform once. How about Arte Johnson on Laugh In? I believe I'll cite him right now: your ludicrous claim is "very interesting, but stupid."
This sort of idiocy is why the country is turning its back very firmly on Leftist ideology. It is, frankly, childish in its very nature
Can you Say............. Nancy Pelosi.. You're Fired..............
The voters in her district said otherwise last night.
Will she be speaker next year? No.
Will she stil be in the house? Yes.
Hurrah! Pelosi has to give up her shiny new jet to a republican. Now I wish she would pay for her baggage class ticket back and forth to Cali out of her own wealthy pocket. The fuel savings alone each years is worth millions.
Idiot...laws passed after 9-11 required the Speaker of the House to travle privately and not on commerical airliners. Please be sure to post the links speaking of what 'down grades' that Boehner puts in place.
Enjoy this why you can, you have two years to fix everything, just as impossible as it was for Obama. Next elections most of the idiotic Tea Party Candidates and many of the Republicans will be tossed out.
This was not good for America but most of you let Fox News hide your head in the sand. Drinking Fox News's Kool-Aide is as dangerous as drinking Jones Kool-Aide.
This is what Orangeman wanted so let's see if he and his cronies can get things done any better. You have two years to come up with solutions to what you refer to as a mess. We will see!
Ohio took the kool aid last night. I'm sure the 13 churches on my street are all celebrating! Except Ohio has been ground down to poverty for the last 50 yrs under Republicans! There is very little left! So no new investments in Industries that could help good jobs come to Ohio? That equals more poverty and lower house values for Ohioans for the next four yrs. They can hardly stand anymore GOP, big business gouging......but here it comes! The Check cashing cons will re open to lend people next months paycheck for 36% interest, the gas will go up, my son who just came home from the military will have to drop out of Ohio State. (something Strickland did for our patriot warriors) He gets 999.00 per month for living and College....which does not cut it in anyones universe. But John Baymore will keep getting his face sprayed, keep playing golf and keep going to Wall Street to assume the position under the lunch tables of the rich for personal scraps. Of Course, Ohioans are not invited, the scraps will be all his....like always. Could anyone tell me why they are so happy? They are now promptly forgotten by the rich (who paid for their Judas Goats to lead them once more to ruin)....as usual!
Maybe that makes the Churches happy, India was like that before they got educated!
Welcome to 1950 India...Ohio! you will have lots of time and no jobs to contemplate your lack of education and inability to compete in the world. Bad choices have real consequences! Republicans have a net negative job creation history in Ohio....welcome to their nightmare!
So Obama was handed his head last night, Its great that sanity will return to the house, but the wrong democrats were defeated. It should have been the left wing dems on the coasts. But if they don't pay attention to what the electorate said last night in two years they will be gone too.
nickwolf - This is what Ohio does. If there is a poodle running with an (R) behind it's name, then that poodle will get elected.
Look - people in Ohio LIKE their Republican candidates. It took abject corruption to the likes no one has seen before to get rid of Taft and Blackwell, where Democrats were elected (Strickland). Now, I guess the Democrats didn't do enough for Ohio, so it is back to what they know. As we can see, Kasich will be the new Governor, so Ohioans have no one but themselves to complain to when Kasich goes back to being... Kasich!!
Can you hear that giant sucking sound of MORE money and jobs LEAVING Ohio - AGAIN?
I realise that there is nothing I can do to change this mindset. I live in Ohio, and I have to deal with things as they are.
These are just my observations.
Why does everyone get so angry when their side loses? Saying that people who are conservative, who want lower taxes for everyone, or even who just watch Fox News are stupid, being dooped, etc., is wrong, just as saying that people who are liberal, who want higher taxes, or who watch MSNBC are stupid is wrong.
People simply have disagreements. We have different priorities, different views of government and how it should work. Calling each other stupid will never replace meaningful, civil discussions of our differences that actually could lead to greater understanding, to compromise, to a more united nation. Pundits of both political persuasions on both MSNBC and FoxNews are biased and present incredibly biased, often incredibly uncivil and downright erroneous, information. I'm ready for a news network that not only allows for free discussions, but that corrects liars when they lie, doesn't allow intentional misrepresentative "spin," knows what "is" is, and makes sure that all the facts that are stated are checked and corrected if need be. I'm looking for that network that simply won't allow name calling and doesn't have "anchors" who get chills up their spines or who call one side "us" as Steve Doocey did this morning on Fox.
I'm a conservative. That doesn't make me stupid. It doesn't make me a Kool Aid drinker. I know many kind, civic-minded sincere liberals who aren't drinking Kool Aid either. When will we stop making gloom and doom predictions every time the other side wins, stop name calling, and start acting like Americans first, Democrats or Repulicans not second, but many other places down the list?
MCMBELL,
Amen to that. You can't watch network news because they lean left. Fox is Right, and MSNBC is left. I used to try to watch a little fox, then switch over to MSNBC to get their view. Finallly had to stop. MSNBC is just hateful, I used to enjoy Racheal, but now she is just crazy. Hannity is hateful, O'Reilly has some good days, but they are pretty rare. It would be nice to get an actual news report with no bias for a change.
I cant wait for the Speaker, whoever it is, to try and start an "adult conservsation" about cutting SS, Medicare, Medicaid etc in order to address the debt/budget crisis they deliberately created for this very purpose! Maybe the House will listen to the 57% of republicans nationwide who want current GOP leaders in Congress replaced!
Nothing will ever be ANY different , no matter whose is in control. Are you people so naive as to think that it the person elected who makes the difference? It is the pay-offs, lobbyists, big corporations and back-room dealers who run this country and that my friends will NEVER change, no matter what side of the aisle you voted for.
This is all great ...but the people who voted you in want results !.. America is waiting for Rand Pauls answer ...we voted him in to end the spending....will he vote to lower the debt ceiling... its a simple yes or no .... no stories or long winded speeches ! Tell us now if not your a one term man !
Politicians live in a little glass bubble they built for themselves and do not have one bit of knowledge about what going on in this country and they dont give a s**t. It's just let's get elected so we can live on easy street for the rest of our lives, make the idiots who voted for us think we really care and then see how hard we can screw them and make thier lives more miserable. Congress does not care about ANYTHING, but Congress
Joe Scarborough asked the real question this morning...
Did we vote for "better" or did we just vote for "different"?
Bottom line is, both parties absolutely need to come together for the common good of america. Again, we need a sobering realty about fixing Soc. Security, Medicare and job creation. We cannot keep saying tax the rich more, blah blah blah, like earlier posters stated, these taxes are always passed down to average joe somehow. We need to start pay-as-we-go, balance the budgets and instead of endless entitlement programs that money would be way better spent making people get back to work, creating jobs. You give people a fish, they eat for a day. You TEACH a person to fish, they eat for a lifetime!
Imagine the cost of this program? If 43.3 million people receive $100 per month, this program alone is costing America almost 4,300,000,000 per month people! And just imagine bthe fraud attached to thsi program! We could balance the budget and fix economy and fix social security by this alone! Americans cannot have it both ways, we must start being personally accountable. If you cannot afford to feed your family, then quit having kids! Quit expecting the government to take care of you.
I agree with your teach them how to fish comment. I have watched folks using those Food Stamps cards at the grocery store. They always separate their orders and check out the part that the food stamp card will scan for--the food--first. Then they pay cash for their booze and cigarettes. Better to have food banks than food stamps. Then the people who really need food can get it. And we wouldn't be paying farmers not to farm land, but to grow crops for the food banks. That system would be much more encouraging to folks to get out and better themselves so they could buy their own food.
It's like the 99 months of unemployment benefits--that's absurd. There is no motivation to find a job if the government will pay you not to work for three years. I have a friend who was out of work, and purposely didn't go back to work, finding ways out of taking the jobs that the employment service shared with her because she would make enough to cover her basic needs while not working. She had a nice 2 and 1/2 year hiatus from work while those of us who do work footed the bill for her monthly check. I know there are really hardship cases--people need food and people need jobs. But there are jobs out there that people just won't take because they can make more taking the unemployment check. Our government has taken the idea of the social safety net too far--it's ruining our economy, and worse, it's perpetuating a spirit of lazy entitlement in our population. I don't blame my friend--she's just taking advantage of the same system that millions of other people have used. She has the attitude of "Hey I paid into the SS system all those years--I paid for this." It's the governmental systems that perpetuate this attitude that should be abolished.
All the liberals need to stop their whining. We all know you are sore losers. That is why you all want to give a trophy to all the kids that play sports and you don't want to keep score. It is simple. There are people that try hard and work for what they have and those that don't want to. I am sick of people telling me I am "lucky" because I have a good job and a nice house. I am not lucky. I worked my butt off in a public school. My parents took an interest in my education and taught me what my teachers didn't to make sure I understood my lessons. I understood that you don't get ahead in this world without hard work. I went to college where I had a scholarship instead of whining about where I wanted to go. Then I took the lowest paying job offer I had because I wanted my graduate degree paid for. Now I am enjoying a successful career by design and the government is taking 55% of my income in social security (which won't be there for me), federal taxes, medicare (also won't be there for me), state taxes, local taxes, property taxes, and sales tax. When is enough enough? What did the government do for me lately? Pay our troops more, cut people from welfare, pay our teachers more based on performance (not seniority) and cut their pensions, make people uncomfortable in poverty and encourage them to better themselves, secure our borders. I bet if we limit our government to those few things we will all be safer and happier, our taxes will be lower. Everyone on welfare can stop stealing my money. I would rather donate to a private charity that can actually do some good with it. Nancy Pelosi said herself that it take 80 cents to distribute a dollar worth of food stamps. In what world is that reasonable.
Lower taxes = more disposable income = more spending = higher demand = jobs created
Money doesn't come from thin air. The government can't create wealth. They can only move it around. When we give it to somebody else we are stealing from those that work for it. What's mine is mine because I worked for it. Go work for your own. Work hard in school and live within your means.
I totally agree. If the government would stop taking so much of my money, I could contribute to the much more efficient, much more personal and life-changing social safety nets in my own community, like church benevolence funds, local food banks, Habitat for Humanity, etc. But the government takes so much of my money, I barely have enough left to take care of my family's needs. Finding money for giving is hard, though always rewarding. Taxes, however, never bless the taxpayer. None of us send in that tax check and have a sense of satisfaction that our hard earned money is going to be used well, for a good purpose. I am livid thinking of all Obama and Mrs. Obama's vacations and the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on those. How many taxpayers paid that money in? How many of us had to take out loans to pay the taxes? How many of us didn't get to go on even a three day weekend vacation this year because we didn't have enough left after taxes? It's that kind of contempt for the worker who earned the money that makes the whole issue of government spending--which is never free from waste and fraud--so infuriating. I get interstate highways, national parks, and defense from the federal government--that is it. I KNOW I'm paying way more than my fair share for those things. Nothing else of value comes from the feds.
pxw23: Tax cuts dont produce jobs. Bush's job creation record is WORSE than Hoover's!! Since 80% or so of the financial benefit of bush's tax cuts went to those making over $250k/yr.... all it did was to line their pockets AND run up a HUGE debt since they werent paid for. Bush's Medicare RX bill, where lie after lie was told about the cost, ALSO wasnt paid for!! Iraq wasnt paid for!
Keep in mind, the record shows that 80% of the national debt was run up under reagan/bush/bush! http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt.htm
I agree COMPLETELY with your statements above pxw23
And I am a DEMOCRAT. That tells you how far the Dems have alienated their own party.
We will see if the new Republicans and old Democrats who survived get the message. We the people want a smaller government with less intervention into our personal lives. If they do not understand this, in two more years there will be a bigger turnover. I do not trust any of them until they show they care about governing within the confines of the constitution. Only time will tell.
Telling people to quit having kids after they've already had them is not a valid solution to the problem. Neither would forcing them to bring unintended pregnancies to term. Put in proper context, cutting $51.6 billion annually would hardly be noticed as it amount to less than 1% of government spending. The consequence would be a substantial uptick in crime and incarceration. $1,200 a year per child in food subsidies is a lot more economical than $1 million per year, per inmate.
Now that the inmates are running the asylum again we will likely repeat 2008-09. Welcome to third world America.
This is how the Midterms will be Remembered 1,000 years from now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlffdZtWOKc