Maybe Martha Coakley should lose

Associated Press and Reuters photos

Democratic Party heavyweights like Bill Clinton and John Kerry have campaigned for Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley to succeed the late Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate. Her defeat in the special election for Kennedy’s seat on Tuesday would be an embarrassing blow to the party.

In the photos that I’ve seen of her, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, who as the Democrats’ hand-picked would-be successor to the late Ted Kennedy is in a tight special election to fill Kennedy’s seat on Tuesday, looks nice enough. Nice enough that I gave her $10, even though I live on the Left Coast, in California. (It was U.S. Sen. Al Franken’s fundraising e-mail that induced me to give her any money at all, as I like Al.)

But I can’t help but wonder, as the fundraising e-mails for Coakley flood my two e-mail addresses’ inboxes, why the special election is so tight.

Ted Kennedy served in the U.S. Senate for Massachusetts from November 1962 to his death in August – longer than I’ve been on the planet, and I’ve been on the planet for a little more than four decades.

John Kerry, the now-senior U.S. senator from Massachusetts, has been in the Senate since January 1985 — for 25 years now.

Could it be that the Democrats have taken the Democratic votes of the people of Massachusetts for granted for waaay too fucking long now?

Could that be why the Dems need to scramble now to ensure that they don’t see an embarrassing defeat on Tuesday — because (at least in Massachusetts) they got too cocky, too complacent, too sure of themselves?

For the most part, no, I don’t want to see Coakley lose on Tuesday. I know how the mainstream media love to spin just one fucking election result: COAKLEY LOSES TED KENNEDY’S SEAT! THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS DEAD! It’s not accurate, but it’s dramatic and sensationalistic, so that’s how the media handle shit like that, and people who don’t know any better then parrot it.

Nor by a Coakley defeat do I want the Repugnicans to feel emboldened going into the 2010 mid-term elections. After a Coakley defeat the mainstream media headlines would say that, too: NATION SWINGS BACK TO THE GOP! 

But what if Coakley’s defeat would make the Democratic Party stop taking its base for granted?

What if?

For years now the Democratic Party has been great about hitting its supporters up for $$$, but not so great about actually delivering upon its promises in exchange for that $$$. We’ve given the Democratic Party a lot of our change, but we haven’t seen much of that promised change in return.

If Coakley’s defeat would make the Democrats actually start delivering the promised hope and change, then maybe her defeat would be worth it.

Still, again, I am cautious to assert that apparent voter discontent in Massachusetts is indicative of the national sentiment more than it actually is. I think that the mainstream mass media and mainstream-mass-media-consuming Americans in general tend to assert incorrectly that a regional or local election is indicative of a national trend.

Still, I love what 2004 Democratic presidential contender and former Democratic Party head (February 2005-January 2009) Howard Dean has to say about what’s going on right now. Reports The Associated Press today:

Washington – The ill winds of an angry electorate are blowing against Democrats, the warning signs clear in a closer-than-expected Massachusetts [U.S.] Senate race that may doom President Barack Obama’s health care agenda and foreshadow the party’s election prospects this fall.

[Again, I disagree that Massachusetts necessarily reflects the national mood; I could be that the voters of Massachusetts are just sick and tired of having the same political dysnasty, including its hand-picked successors like Coakley, running the show for several decades now.]

Anti-incumbent, anti-establishment sentiment is rampant. Independents are leaving Obama. Republicans are energized. Democrats are subdued. None of it bodes well for the party in power.

“It’s going to be a hard November for Democrats,” Howard Dean, the Democratic Party chairman in the 2006 and 2008 elections when the party took control of the White House and Congress, told The Associated Press in an interview. “Our base is demoralized.” [Emphasis mine.]

While he praised Obama as a good president, Dean said the Democrat hasn’t turned out to be the “change agent” the party thought it elected, and voters who supported Democrats in back-to-back elections now are turned off. Said Dean: “They really thought the revolution was at hand but it wasn’t, and now they’re getting the back of the hand.” [Emphasis mine.] …

Oh, shit, Howie, tell us how you really feel!

But seriously, I appreciate Howard Dean’s candor. Democratic Party hacks – you know, the fucktards who can defend even Billary Clinton, just because Billary calls itself a “Democrat” – will blast Dean for stating that President Barack Obama hasn’t been the “change agent” that he promised to be, but fuck, Dean was only speaking the obvious truth.

I really have to wonder now if Dean — who no doubt is deeply disappointed that Obama campaigned for the White House like a Howard Dean but now is presiding like a Billary Clinton – is angling for another run at the presidency.

You know, when Dean was head of the Democratic Party, the party did retake first the U.S. House of Representatives (giving us the nation’s first female speaker of the House), the U.S. Senate, the majority of the governorships and the majority of the state legislatures in 2006, and then retook the White House in 2008, while increasing its majorities in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate as well.

That’s not bad!

The Democratic Party hacks who oppose Dean might actually claim that the nation was going that way anyway, but I give Dean the credit where the credit is due; God knows that the clueless establishmentarian, Billary-lovin’ Democrats couldn’t have done it on their own.

Should Dean actually oppose Obama in 2012 — an unlikely but not impossible scenario — then Dean has my support. If not in 2012, then maybe in 2016.

In the meantime, Tuesday’s special election in Massachusetts should prove to be interesting.

Some GOOD news for a change

Associated Press photo

Democratic U.S. Senator Al Franken of Minnesota smiles in Minneapolis today after his victory over Repugnican Norm Coleman was made final. Franken’s victory makes it possible for President Barack Obama to get his — America’s — agenda through the U.S. Senate filibuster-free. (Gee, remember that “permanent Repugnican majority”?)

I live in California, which is sinking like the Titanic these days — all that I can say to those morons who actually voted for Repugnican Arnold Schwarzenegger in the bullshit gubernatorial recall election in 2003 is that I told you so – so it’s nice to hear some good news for a change:

Democrat Al Franken officially made it to the U.S. Senate today after his Repugnican challenger Norm Coleman, who had been the incumbent in the U.S. Senate seat for Minnesota, finally conceded to Franken after the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Franken, not Coleman, should be seated in the U.S. Senate.

Coleman had urged Franken, for the good of Minnesota, to concede to him after the  first vote count had Coleman beating Franken by only 215 votes. With such a microscopic margin Franken was entitled to a recount, and the recount showed that Franken actually had won the November election by a 225-vote margin.

Suddenly the welfare of the people of Minnesota wasn’t as important as it was when Coleman initially had been declared the winner, because after the recount Coleman didn’t take his own advice and concede to Franken.

Sore Loserman Coleman instead dragged the fight out for months, during which time the people of Minnesota were down one senator in the U.S. Senate. Because Repugnicans are fucking hypocrites.

But now, Franken, as the 58th Democratic U.S. senator, along with two independent senators who usually vote with the Democrats, will be the actual help to the people of Minnesota and to all Americans that Coleman lied that he would be.

Good always wins out in the end. The Repugnicans can obstruct progress, and they do, but they can’t obstruct it forever.

‘Socialism’ is gaining ground

Gee, for a “socialist” (“socialist” = baaaaad) president, Barack Obama is kicking ass in the polls.

National polls taken this month show that about two-thirds of Americans approve of the job that Obama has done thus far.

The Repugnican brand name is so far down the toilet that today Repugnican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania announced that he’s switching to the Democratic Party. Whether Specter’s move is just opportunistic or not, it still shows that the Repugnican Party is going the way of the dinosaurs that its members don’t believe in.

Adapt or die, and the Repugnican Party has refused to adapt. It still caters to “Christo”fascists, white supremacists, misogynists and homophobes, for fuck’s sake. The world continues to evolve while the Repugnican Party remains stuck in the past. Left Behind, ironically, is what’s happening to the wingnuts.

Anyway, once Repugnican Norm “Sore Loserman” Coleman finally loses his battle with Democrat Al Franken for Minnesota’s seat in the U.S. Senate, the Democrats will have a 60-seat filibuster-proof majority, enabling the Obama adminstration to enact its agenda — the agenda that the majority of the American people voted for — with greater ease. 

And how is “socialism” doing in the United States?

Salon.com recently noted that

…rather than damaging Obama by tagging him with red paint, it’s possible that the [Repugnicans are] just making “socialism” more popular by identifying it with a well-liked president.

A Rasmussen poll from earlier this month shows that capitalism only beats socialism 53 percent to 20 [percent], and among adults under 30, the split narrows to 37 [percent] to 33 [percent].

Exactly. If the damage that the unelected Bush regime wreaked upon the nation for eight long nightmarish years is representative of capitalism and Repugnicanism (and it is) and the national recovery that the actually-elected Obama administration represents “socialism,” then the Repugnicans and the capitalists are the best advertisement for “socialism” that the “socialists” could ever hope for.

‘Sore Loserman’ redux — only in reverse

AFP photos

Al on top: Democrat Al Franken, photographed above in November, appears closer than ever to unseating asswipe Norm Coleman (shown under Franken above in a photo from February 2008),  the incumbent Repugnican for a U.S. Senate seat for Minnesota. 

Democrat Al Franken is on track to replace Repugnican Norm Coleman as a U.S. senator for Minnesota. Right now, with the state’s recount of the incredibly close Senate race completed, Franken is ahead of Coleman by a razor-thin margin of 225 votes.

Of course, when initial results of the vote had put asshole Coleman on top by only 215 votes, Coleman urged Franken to concede for the good of Minnesota and the country and everything that is Godly and good. But now that the recount, which was mandated by state law, has put Franken on top, will hypocrite Coleman take his own advice and concede for the good of the Universe? Of fucking course not: Team Coleman plans to drag the matter out in court, potentially for months. (Remember the Repugnican cries of “Sore Loserman” from 2000?)

Thankfully, Franken is one Democrat named Al who didn’t give up so fucking easily. Franken has hung in there, wanting every last fucking vote to be counted as fairly and accurately as possible.

Democrats can take a lesson from Franken on the anatomical necessity of a spine. A typical Democrat would have taken his or her Repugnican opponent’s surely well-intended advice to concede already.

I used to listen to Franken at least a few years ago on Air America Radio, and he always struck me as a bit too moderate and a bit too polite — my impression was that his co-host, a former National Public Radio show host (what was her name?), held him back, because on NPR they’re always “nice” and “polite” and “professional” – and when Franken announced his intention to run for the U.S. Senate against Coleman I was doubtful of Franken’s chances, but I am happy to hear that Franken is close to finally, officially unseating Coleman the asshole.

The late Paul Wellstone would be proud.