Thankfully we won't have to listen to anymore mud slinging for a few more months. Don't forget to vote.

Thank goodness. Any more and my head was going to explode.

I predict there will be alot of new liars and thieves elected.

P.S Watch out for New Black Panthers!

Whew! I'm tired of all the stupid recorded phone calls.

The the thing I hate the most about the ads, phone calls, and etc. Is that they are made for the Lowest Common Denominator. That applies to both sides.

as they say in chicago vote early vote often

You must have a landline, haven't had one call on my cell.

that reason alone is enuf to dump the damn land line

Fvckin' A.

Put on your seatbelts! We are making a hard right turn today!

Game over! The US House is seeing RED!

Senate is still hinging on the results of 7 swing states.

Rossi is trailing Murray by 2 points with 54% of the vote in.

Funny how the red/blue map shakes out when you look at total geography in this state...

http://elections.msnbc.msn.com/ns/politics/2010/washington/senate

Obama got BISH slapped silly tonight! Can't wait to hear what the Liar in chief says tomorrow.

OK King5 News is reporting only a 1.2% spread.

Dino is sure gaining a reputation as the KING of nailbiters!

You guys better hope that Murray/Rossi doesn't have to go to recounts, your state knows how to recount and "find" votes till the democrats get their way.

looks to like two more years of nothing getting done to help the people

Looks like two years of fewer things being done to hurt the people

For a party that KK and a few others proclaimed dead a couple years ago, they seem to have rebounded pretty well.

The Dems in only 2 years of total control have managed to revive the Republican Party faster than anyone thought possible. Thanks Nancy, Harry, Barack, KK. You guys are the best!

It ain't over till its over.

1053 essentially tells the legislature for the 4th, 5th or 6th time, no new taxes.

1098 is not a pass, which is pretty evident. Thank Dog.

1100 looks pretty close. Still early.

1105 going down soundly. Didn't like that one.

1107 has the food we choose to eat non taxed. Even if it is crap, it is criminal to tax food.

Bill 52, glad that is going down. It would have lots of feel-good projects that would replace working equipment in the name of being green.

8552. I think people don't realize what this math problem really was. While debt is neither bad nor good in moderation, I think we added some roome for some game playing here.

4220. Great! Time to stop letting career criminals out on bail, only to see them offend again and again. I worry about the constitutionality of this though, and expect a challenge.

Murray V. Rossi, only 1.2% between them as of 9:27pm. This will be another nail biter. Hopefully enough dead people voted for Patty. ( ) Either way we're screwed with this lesser of two evils race.

Inslee? What were people thinking? He can't even answer a direct question. He'll be running for the queen's seat in 2 years. Don't expect much from him, as he'll likely just vote "present", or have an aide do that for him.

No real surprises legislatively. Nice to see a buddy winning his race.

Lots of voters out there, with many counties over 50%. That is great to see in one manner, sad in another way where we don't see a better turn-out. I know they haven't all been counted, but it is kind of disappointing that we are looking at a 66% projected voter turn out, and we think that is high.

Just be lucky that I wasn't on the ballot this year. The streets would run with blood if I were elected.

Agreed.

Hardly an endorsement of modern-day republicanism but definately a repudiation of liberal policies. The R's have yet to prove they can be true limited gov't legislators. Introduce a bill to cut defense by a large margin, get it to a vote, and you will see just how committed to small gov't some of these new R's are.

The repugnants are on double secret probation. They phuque up this time and the streets just may run with blood,........with or without the Dogfather

So what's it going to take Andy?

Rossi/Murray seems like it'll be a day or so before we know.... With all the mail in ballots.

I think it'll be great to see the budget the house has to put out now.. I've been waiting patiently for someone to show me how they could both cut taxes and balance the budget.

Meet the new boss.

Same as the old boss.

Hank, I think it is pretty simple why the big swing. In 2006 and 2008 the Democratic party promised that they were the ones that were fiscally responsible and the Republicans weren't. Turns out they weren't. Add that to 10% unemployment along with a President that tells the voters that they are not thinking clearly because they are angry and you end up with a whole bunch of incumbants that are suddenly unemployed. Independents voted the last bunch of Republicans out and tonight Independents voted this bunch of Dems out.

Glad to see Graison in Florida get the boot. Good riddance to that bag of skin. The massive Democratic airlift into Nevada seems to have saved Harry Reid. The list of favors he owes now is probably longer than Santa's delivery list.

BTW, Gov. Crissy was just on tv and says she doesn't have a clue what to do next and anyone with ideas is free to call. Its about time to revive the idea of taxing the populace based on the size of the engine in their car.

Lights go out in Nevada, and Harry wins......... Hmmm

Yup.

I'd nominate Chuck for governor but his football predictions scare the hell out of me.

Well it looks like throw the bums out was at full speed. It will be interesting to see if the R's are smart enough to recognize it and not think everyone loves them. Also if the Prez is as smart as Clinton because he got more done with the R congress then the D one.

As for our poor home. Somebody needs to set on that winy ass governor. Oh she says only 30% of the state budget is open to cuts. Wrong. She may not be able to cut agencies cost due to union contract and ect........but you can reduce funding AND THE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES. 2/3 vote on any tax so no new taxes so ............... get ready for the widows & orphan parade!

Going to be fun to watch the blue / green caucus in action this time around. That little egotistic PS click will be on the ropes...........

Just glad that CA voters finally schit-canned that 60% majority bullschit. WA can go fvck itself. IMHO the same dumbschits that caused CA's Big Mess moved up here to escape it and then caused the same clusterfvck.

Oh well, no longer my problem. I'm gone.

Why doesen't Murray fix her teeth with the great Health care plan Congress has? She's got some fcked up teeth, looks like she uses mustard instead of tooth paste.

The missus asked me that same question this morning

maybe she's english. you know, they've got bad teeth.

My prediction -- following this "landslide" -or "earthquake", the GOP House will assert almost immediately that "The President Controls the Agenda"... It will be a display of cowardice -- not of a group that just won a huge election. It's a game of who wants to be blamed -- and since I'm still convinced the Tea Party/GOP aren't serious about spending cuts.

SHOW ME YOUR BUDGET proposal that lowers taxes, and eliminates deficit spending. I cannot wait to see it.

If they have the grapes to slash the military (-25%?) and entitlements (-20%), and cut taxes too, then I will gladly vote for them next time around.

"My prediction -- following this "landslide" -or "earthquake", the GOP House will assert almost immediately that "The President Controls the Agenda"... It will be a display of cowardice -- not of a group that just won a huge election."

That would be right out of the Democratic playbook from 2006.

"Dino is sure gaining a reputation as the KING of nailbiters!"

And of "I'll take anything. Give me something of power." Why is that?

"It would be a sad irony indeed if the same voters who rejected I-1098 end up sending Sen. Patty Murray (D), who opposes extending the Bush tax cuts across all income levels, back to the Senate."

As usual Hankster doesn't understand something. The voters rejected having to file state income taxes and giving the legislature an opportunity down the road to expand it. Patty Murray opposes keeping the Bush tax cuts on the rich.

My crystal ball say's:

The TP'd RWWJ's party of no, now no plan, will take this as a mandate AGAIN. I shouldn't say no plan as they've already leaked their number one goal. It isn't the economy, isn't the welfare of the people, isn't jobs, isn't the country it's making sure Obama doesn't get re-elected. Olong the way there will be failed attempts to gut SS and medicare. Failed attempts at giving away the environment. Failed attempts of going back to what got us here....banks and Wall Street having little to no over site. A government shutdown. General stalemate, which isn't always a bad thing and a two year Clinton era witch hunt. In the long run it's the best for this country. The reps are back and expected to fix what they broke. When they refuse to it'll be the final death null of the GOP which should have died years ago.

Just as the 2008 election was an anti-Republican vote, the 2010 election was an anti-Democrat vote. If the House Republican majority continues its "party of no" platform, the 2012 election will just be another anti-Republican vote. They have an opportunity to do something, but I'm extremely skeptical that the electorate will have anything to vote "for" instead of against in 2012.

Sg

It would be nice to see folks stop bickering and see some bipartisan effort.

+1,110,000,000,000,

The Democrats will be the party of no now as republican house bills die in the senate or the Obama veto pen.

Stlhead, Obama is making sure he doesn't get re-elected all on his own. Well, for the past 2 years he did have the help of his congress in that pursuit. No need for Him to point fingers any other place than straight at a mirror.

I switched over to MSNBC to watch em' squirm for a little bit last night Overbite and Madcow had a guest on saying how " It was a victory" for the Democrats..just about pissed myself.

While it would be "nice" to see that, the problem will of course be that no one will be able to decide "who" should get to claim responsibality for said effort.

So of course a commitee will have to be formed to decide which party gets to be responisblity for the effort.

Of course, because they all want to get reelected. There will be those that are scared to like an idea because of voter backlash. Which will lead to more waffeling and we as Americans will continue to suffer.

you know this bi partisan stuff is crap. what the best consensus builders have done ( LBJ / Sam Rayburn / Tip O'Neil / the salamander & Clinton ) was bring the middle together from both sides to get things pasted. Hell LBJ got the voting rights act done with primarily R support. Arm twisting, horse trades, all really and that is what makes a democratic republic ( which is what we are NOT a democracy ) function.

You don't need the elected congress to get along or even do much but pass budgets, keep our asses safe, provide care for those who are unable to care for themselves and insure all citizens are equal. After that just stay the hell out of our lives.

Some assert this was a rejection of the Dems/Bailouts/HCR... Maybe so.

But in a parallel universe -- where the GOP had been in power for the last 2 years across the board, we'd have seen a massive backlash there. The problem is the economy-- and I think NEITHER party has a magic wand. Economies (and stock prices) go into the crapper quickly and recover slowly. This is the way of things...

This was a period where WHOMEVER was in power was going to get blasted. They'd get blasted for different reasons, but they'd get blasted none-the-less.

I agree with IrishRogue. Two years ago, we couldn't wait to vote out the Republican administration. Now, we're bringing them back, probably because things still suck for the average voter. What was the Republicans' fault then must be the Democrats' fault now.

I posted a new topic asking if anyone knew how our new legislative saviors planned to fix things in Washington. So far, it's had over 40 views but no responses. There may be other reasons for the lack of responses, but it sure seems like nobody has any answers.

The two-party system is working to perfection for its benefactors....

Until we can separate candidates from the money, and that means their own money, and those that would support them.
Candidates will say what ever is necessary to get elected, then serve the needs of those who contributed the most to their campaign.
Presently that seems to be what pisses voters off the most, politicians that they supported in the election, not serving the voters wishes, but instead serving those of special interests.
Like it or not our political system is for sale to whoever has the most money.

I agree for the most part, but McMehan, Whitman, and Fiorina would like to have a word with you about that.

M -- "Buck Up or Stay in the Truck"

Hank,

Our state auditor apparently can't audit his way out of a soaking wet paper bag. Very bad performance on three WDFW audits, which should be easy in comparison to some complex state programs.

Sg

Don't you mean McMegan?

Yeah; fat fingers.

Oh, and every now and then I forget to proofreed.

Hankster:

Before you gloat too much more, remember that it was only a few years ago when they were counting the Republicans out for a loong time. I am old enough to remember several such prognostications, all of which ultimately proved to be wrong. The Rs had a resurgence because the people are not happy with the way things are going. If the Rs can’t change that appreciably in the next two year they too will get tossed out. What I am seeing is both parties are viewed unfavorable. We tossed the Dems as the lesser of two evils. Another problem for the Rs is the fact the Tea Party has done such a poor job sleecting cnatidates. They undoubtedly cost the Rs at least two senate seats. They may get better at that with time, but they may continue to back wack jobs like O'Donnel which could really hurt you.

I look forward to the next presidental cycle. I supect Obama will be challanged by someone in his own party and I am certain the Tea Party will have some very major plans for one of their own. Sarah?

If the Rs can’t get unemployment under 8 percent and make some real headway on the deficit they will be washed out on the next wave.

I do think unemployment will gradually improve irrespective of who’s in power. But that deficit is going to be damn hard to reduce without alienating a ton of voters. Cut the military, which I believe is absolutely necessary, and you lose many R voters. Cut the programs like S.S. and Medicare and you lose many D voters. I see no easy solution for either party.

Do enjoy your victory. Throwing the bums out is about all the pleasure any of us get from politics.

Kitzhaber is now being projected as the winner of Oregon's Governor race.
I'll be watching very closely to see that he follows up on his campaign promise to remove the mainstem CR gillnets.

The r leadership keeps saying the same thing, but when followed up with the question of what discretionary spending they'd cut, not a one has an answer. So I'm curious what discretionary spending would you cut? And how much of each agency?

Hankster for President 2012



Mf

The trouble is even if you do both, the deficit will remain!

Washington state isnt done yet and they could still flip BOTH houses.
They will be counting for several more days.

The white house has 1500 employees, just in the whitehouse.

The military isnt shy about cutting, its the vendors that hassle the congress about buying crap they dont need. I wonder why we still have bases in places like Japan or did that close? We send cruise missles from miles off the shoreline, bases cost too much.

One of the most likely scenarios is to put forth a continuing resolution and Cut every budget X amount or go back to 06,07,08 for a base line. The house has to fund these programs, so health care isnt going anywhere if they dont fund it. So many democrats have run from Health care, it will be Obamas veto that gets headlines cause the bill is going to come, if they can pass it in the senate. Even Cantwell might have to rethink her position.

ODonnel lost, but they already did some polls and the guy she beat in the primary would have lost as well.

So far 19 state legislatures have flipped.
Redistricting is going to propel R agenda forward.
After the 2004 Election Soros funded a campaign to elect democrat secretaries of State. That is who signs off on the election. That gave us the Commedian Senator. This year many many military ballots did not arrive in time to get them back. Our mail in ballot system has old names, dead names and people who moved away. The states need to clear the rolls. literally, you could walk into Pierce county and vote without showing ID and the witness do not need to provide a phone number for a follow up. In Chicago, the report is they hand delivered 200 ballots to the local jail or prison. In washington state the number are either going to Put the R in charge or very close and we need to clean up our election system.

If Sam Reed isnt up to the job we need to retire him. Im not happy with his performance.

If you all want to get rid of Sonntag, you need to find a candidate that you all will support and you need the republicans to stop Stumping for the GOOD democrat. They help Sontag win by very large margins.
Im wondering if that office should become NON partisan.

Im in construction and they are not investing because they cannot see what the medical expenses will be. Cap and trade, taxes etc etc and they will not add workers. A lot of people who bought homes are no longer able to buy homes cause their credit it shot. Down payments are required. There is still a large surplus of homes so housing is not going resume near normal levels. The jobs have to come from the private sector not government. During the Clinton Global initiative, he admitted to cnbc that he was lucky to be elected during the expanding technology industry. That in fact is what allowed him to raise taxes and not kill the economy. He also said, Bush only had housing to keep the economy going. Simple fact when you make it cheap for everyone, your market saturation comes quickly. They were down to zero down, no credentials, interest only payments. They allowed too much credit and the banks were mopping up. Even Harley Davidson had 4% of their in house loans on bikes go bad. People refinanced to pay off credit cards over and over and they had zero equity. Banks screwed over the appraisers to come up with bogus values that were high or you never got another job. They stopped requiring appraiser for refies.

Want jobs? Give them something they can count on and stop loading on taxes and regulations. Baby boomer are going to be on the draining side of the ledger, they are buying less. I dont know what the population demographic are of the gen x and those behind us, but if they are not working they cannot buy homes. As long as unions continue to push and push, we are going to lose more and more jobs. Including Boeing.

I didnt miss him at all, but i wondered if he was choking from getting teabagged.

I'd probably go with 25% to 30% of Defense. Might be tough on the military-industrial complex, but they'll get over it.

So, just for starters you're looking at reducing the deficit by less than 1/2 of 1%. Seriously, what discretionary spending should Congress cut to really make a difference? The rs keep talking about it, so some republican here should have the answer.

He's either on a permanent cognitive vacation, or he lacks the requisite mental furniture to develop rational thought.

HANKSTER:
Farm & Ethanol Subsidies... okay, let's do that.
I have Ethanol subsidies at ~$5B (in 2009). Okay, good start.
Farm subsidies... My number there is about 15.4B (2010), another nice chunk. Let's see 15.4B + 5B. Okay, that's 20.4B. Excellent.
Now let's see, the deficit for fiscal 2010 was 1.29 TRILLION... So let's subtract your savings... Okay, that's 1,290B, minus 20B, leaving us 1.27 TRILLION to go...

Plus, just for bonus points, you just a) caved in (spinless) to those pesky Europeans who have been on you to reduce farm subsidies. b) increased unemployment in already devastated sections of the country, c) not come even remotely close to paying for the bush tax cuts, which I presume you want to extend... and d) ensured that you or anyone like you never wins the Iowa caucus, but hey, it's a start.

And the real kicker? What you suggest is at least a LEGITIMATE attempt, unlike what I suspect we'll get from the GOP in the house. They will do only THREE THINGS:

1. Investigate stuff with hearings (today's awesome news they're going to get to the bottom of climategate! Sweet!)

2. Repeatedly attempt to overturn HCR, which they know either the Senate and/or Obama will block, so it's *purely* a political maneuver.

3. Try to extend the bush tax cuts

NONE of which will contribute a thin dime to reducing the deficit, and #3 will add TRILLIONS more to our debt.

LEAD BOUNCER, you wrote "Redistricting is going to propel R agenda forward. "
I can't think of anything more cynical and outright ANTI-DEMOCRATIC than this statement... How can you celebrate this? I can't respect anyone, anywhere who believes the districting process should be exploited for political gain. Even FLORIDA yesterday passed state constitutional amendments to remove partisan ship from this process. This is corruption, pure and simple.

" LEAD BOUNCER, you wrote "Redistricting is going to propel R agenda forward. "
I can't think of anything more cynical and outright ANTI-DEMOCRATIC than this statement... How can you celebrate this? I can't respect anyone, anywhere who believes the districting process should be exploited for political gain. Even FLORIDA yesterday passed state constitutional amendments to remove partisan ship from this process. This is corruption, pure and simple. "

The state of California already put theirs into law according to the interview I heard. They got the R's to sign on and so now its nearly impossible to get elected in CA. They will be turning the process over to a commission for redistricting.

I live in a district with 3 democrats and only the senator had an opponent. She has been in that Seat for 20 years. She works for the ALF-CIO. She raised five times the money and a lot of it was from out of town. She gives money away to other candidates. She never had to do more than throw up some signs. The State and County would not give him any money because they didnt think he could win, even though he had 42 percent of the vote in the primary. On the other hand, other R challengers picked up between 50-100 grand from the county and state party. The two legislators were unopposed and one of them had only one term under her belt. The party could not find anyone to spend the time and money. He spent a lot of time replacing stolen signs. And the signs I found were tossed in the weeds down the bank, so not only are the pricks afraid of the competition, they have no respect for the land. fk um. People move, so they need to redraw the lines. Whether you like it or not, both sides do it. I think we are in fact living under a republican redistricting now, if that tells you how crooked they are. 3 Districts out of 9 are usually R. Wow!

http://vote.wa.gov/Elections/WEI/Results...mp;ViewMode=All

Of course no redistricting over comes the side deal to persuade a democrat from withdrawing from the races so the egomaniac third party can defeat the well spoken Cuban and help dominate the cuban vote in Florida for the next decade or so. When Meeks didnt withdrawl they threw him under the bus.

In everett the union got caught funding both the D and R challenger to the D incumbent because he didnt vote with the union enough, so they wanted him gone. A special election may be ordered depending on what a judge has to say.

In some races democrats funded Teaparty candidates to drive down the numbers of the R in the race, giving the D a better shot.

Jim McDermotts district has never been competitive. There are many others. Gerrymandering isnt new and apparently Barney Frank has quite the district. Ive heard some of the black caucus has a lot of twist and turns in it, between homes in the neighborhood. Might be outdated, but at one time.

John Fund wrote a book a year or two back on elections. The guy knows the stats like a baseball fanatic. Lots of dirt in elections.
Really think Cantwell and Gorton had 2000 votes mixed up in 2000? Sure.....

Ever seen the black panther video from 2008 and they never bothered to prosecute.

A lot of redistricting could be cleaned up by clearing the voter rolls and starting over before every presidental election. Military guys stationed in this state often get the ballot sent to an out of state address. They post office LOST Brian Suits ballot in 2008, so now he walks it into the courthouse. Michael Medveds daughters signature did not match so they sent that back. Im all for fairness. We could start with a local tv station FORGETTING to run two Half hours commercials for ODonnel that were prepaid. In 2008 at the R national convention the Telepromter went out on Palin during the speech and she had memorized it. Good thing too.... The only teleprompter in use today is on its way to INDIA.
Noone has ever used one. They will probably think he has a nervous tick.

LB: 637 words by you, and at least one edit pass, and I have absolutely no idea what you are trying to say. Try writing three good sentences instead of the firehose method.

My point is simple, politicized redistricting = corruption, and is anti-democratic, and anti-american. Do you believe the founding fathers would have thought otherwise? Just because a district isn't competitive doesn't mean it's been gerrymandered, which you seem confused about.

How about we start by putting all of those GW era no bid contracts out for bid? Sure isn't going to happen now.

Going to be tough for the R's to use the freeloader argument.
Anrachy coming to a city near you.

Hank: Out of curiosity, why is extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy a good start? If your top 2 issues are the deficit and jobs, do you seriously believe it will affect either? I know 10's of affected people -- many who run companies like me -- and nobody I know thinks this will influence their hiring *one bit*.

Certainly it isn't the best job-creation idea you can come up with, is it? The annual cost is like $60B to extend it for next year. So really you're saying you support the GOP's new, $60B "trickle down, job creating, stimulus package" as the best use of that money.

I, for one, think I'd rather apply that to the deficit. If we MUST spend it on a jobs program, I would likely spend it HIRING people to do infrastructure work or otherwise. Not giving it to the top earners and hoping for trickle down.

Cool. Reagan was only capable of nearly tripling the deficit in the '80s. I'm sure this new crop of rs can do better than that. Quadruple, maybe?

Yo Hank and all the Rest of the Two Second Attention Span types in Pungentpolis, heres a "Cliff Notes Version" of WHY. And you Goat Abusers can do your own Lookie Up to learn the complete concept. But here goes for the short attention spanners, You Hire a Bill Gates PC Weeny Nerd much like Parker (sorry Parker) to install, update, and constantly fix all that Pee Poor Quality Microcrap software. But sometimes the Moon is Full, Mirocrap actually produces a program not tooooooo buggy, and democrats run an honest election (snicker snicker), so Poor Old Parker does have too much to occupy his COSTLY TIME for HIS PAYCHECK and BENEFITS, so he sits around a lot doing NOTHING. Now multiply that say by the IT FTE Headcount at WDFW and you get the idea. Then heaven forbid, your servers, destops, printers, com lines and all the IT hardware & software goodies are NOT BEING USED 100% of the time (gasp gasp), kinda like Parker hanging out in the break room too much. The Audit Report that recommend that all State Agencies either contract out that particular service to a Professionally Run Private Enterprise that will in fact squeeze maximum efficiency out of staff & resources thereby reducing the costs of those goods and services. Much to his credit, my Rep., VandeWegge actually crafted legislation in his first term in office to REQUIRE State Agencies to do just that. The Audit Recommendations are still there, and the rest of Kevin's fellow DEMOCRATS who were the ONLY ONES IN MAORITY CHARGE just ignored him. Sure made the State Goobermint Unions happy. So if anybody thinks/believes that Crissy cannot CUT MORE is smoking KK's Goat by the Hindend.

Goober Class Dismissed, go kill some Fish.

PS. AuntyM, that posting above went a tad over your head cause that is a quote from my personnally autographed copy of Going Rouge.

Wow, no kidding? Who woulda thunk? You better get that gut looked at; there's obviously something wrong with it.
Pretty easy to go look up; about a 30 second Google search will prove it to you. Reagan nearly tripled the deficit.

Tomorrow the jobs numbers are supposed to come out and the unemployment numbers are forecast to rise, most likely due to the sudden unemployment of a whole bunch of Democrats from the House and a few from the Senate.

When considering the likes of Lead Eater and Bait Humper, one shouldn't wonder why tigers eat their young.

No, some companies give bonuses, most do not. It's probably just something you ate giving you that feeling.

Not at all. First, the increase is from including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the budget rather than through the use of “emergency” supplemental spending bills. The previous administration never included his catastrophe in to the budget, he just kept kicking the can down the road. Additionally, the increase assumes the Alternative Minimum Tax will be indexed for inflation; accounts for the full costs of Medicare reimbursements, and anticipates the inevitable expenditures for natural disaster relief. These are all additions that the previous admin either kept hidden, or simply disregarded. Finally, also included is the cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (from the previous admin), and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

According to the CBO, the U.S. budget situation has deteriorated significantly since 2001, when they forecast average annual surpluses of approximately $850 billion from 2009–2012. The average deficit forecast in each of those years is now approximately $1,215 billion because of the previous republican House majority. But the CBO based that data on current law. Now with the new republican House majority (that sounds real expensive, doesn't it?), the deficit will increase almost automatically when they extend the bush tax cuts. Although the rs swear they can extend the tax cuts and balance the budget at the same time. Yeah, and I'm going to get a unicorn that farts glitter.

But even given all that, the deficit is still projected to be less than doubled by 2015. Not Reaganesque tripled. And absolutely not astronomical.

Sure, Congress writes the budget according to the President's requests. And all those emergency spending bills were....?

"That makes it pretty hard for the R's to get the cuts extended unless they cut spending elsewhere. I'm confident they'll be able to accomplish those spending cuts that will pay for that tax extension."
That's some funny stuff right there. Not a single r has been able to state one thing they'll cut to reduce the deficit, let alone pay for the tax extension. In fact, Cantor won't even admit they're tax cuts. None of them will even admit it will add to the deficit. You guys are delusional.

And the size of the deficit being less than doubled; that's the CBO's estimate.

Well you might want to rethink part of that last post. The R's House will propose just that reductions, reform, number of issues.......betting on the D's controlling the Senate rejecting it. Will happen bet on it.

That is the Presidents opportunity just as Mr. Clinton had. Move behind the scenes to pull the pragmatic members of both parties to a center coalition. Libs's will scream like hell,( Huffington & Soros could have heart attacks ) Conserv's will scream like hell ( the Newt could join Huffy in the oxy bottle routine ) ...............and the President will look like a bridge building, coalition building SOB and absolutely win reelection. His to do really, or join the ranks of one term like Ford, Bush Sr., and Carter. ( I voted for all just once )

+151,000 jobs in October.
Another positive the R's will try to claim down the road.

Uh, unemplyment really isn't the 9.6% they advertise, try U-6 which is closer to 16-17%.

I really don't care who has which house. I just want to see the finger pointing and blame storming stop. Time for some bipartisan cooperation.

Care to share some of what your smoking?

Fresh out.

RVGY: I think your analysis has merit. Many presidents have gotten spanked and still gone on to win reelection. But the job of building a consensus of moderates if going to be tougher this time. Many of the Blue Dog democrats lost and the Tea Party picked up a good number of seats. The result is fewer in the center of both parties. That is not a good thing for someone trying to find the moderate center.

Who would you be think is in the middle?

Agree. But last time out it was the Lib to Mod R's that bit the dust and the ultra lib core of D's drove policy that got " throw the bums out" again. The difference I think is that the problems are so huge and the mess so great that, well both parties would ignore that. The time frame is the diff DV. Two years between both getting their ass kicked and polls show failure will result the same two years out. The Libs in core of the D will not change anymore than core R Conservatives and that is certain, look at the Botox Queen she don't get it. The strange thing is the Teabaggers are not going to let up on this spending thing and the R's can be beat up. Obama I think really would like to be reelected and 2 years out the D's have a huge number of Senate seats up( R's a few ).

Presidents are made by events while in office and always have one eye on history. Obama may not be my favorite guy but a liberal president can go right of center and stop much better than a conservatives. Take Nixon, went to China, got a bunch of enviro centerpiece stuff in place, a lib never would have pulled it off. Despite everything the R's controlling the house, with D's in the Senate President Obama has the ability to really change the future. The country is about 25% Lib / 25% Conservative / with the other 50% left or right of center, depending on your description of center. In addition Independents are the deciding vote and more and more of the nation are in that spot.

If you look at polls Obama care is not popular but health care reform not yes but hell yes. Budget reform same, government size again the same. The man can make Mount Rushmore, he simply needs to go Clinton and right to the center gather up the middle in both parties and rumble. It is doable but he will choose his destiny not the media or you and I, but as a dyed in the wool R friend of mine said " say what you will about Obama but one thing he ain't is stupid "

Did not vote for him but right now history says stupid to bet against him right now. I think we are about to see the first pragmatic Lib president since LBJ do some serous ass kicking in his party and the R's. It will be prime me thinks.

In an interesting set of bedfellows, I think you also might see the Dems align with the extreme right/tea party folks over one other big issue:

Wars & Military Spending

I believe they will find common ground on the spending on all these wars and the left plus the extreme right may combine to put the brakes on. This *if* (huge if) the tea party folks really are about deficit reduction and smaller government, not just "nuh-uh".

Another bi-partisan (and IMO very important) issue could be legislation trying to curtail corporate and union contributions to elections.

Yo Parker, would you kindly point AuntyM to your past posting on this very subject?? (sorry Parker for "Using You" as an example.

And M, we are actually in agreement on the "Relative Abilities & Skills" of Senior Sonntag. He needs to be shown the down, i.e., Voted Out Of Oriface. Butt, I'm sure that all the Intelligent Pungentopolis Dim-Wit-O-Crats will insure his continuence. And the only reason I somewhat focus on IT positions is that is my area of expertise. I believe that Communications Specialist, Administrative Specialist, Public Relations Specialist, Financial Analysts, etc., etc., are a far larger problem that should be contracted out thereby better and more efficiently serving us, their number one stakeholder. I also would start looking at shady relationships between WDFW & Academia to boot. Studies for the sake of studies is nothing more than metal masturbation, just keeps the academics employed. What makes me think there is a glimmer of hope, is Democrat Reps like Vandewegge are looking into the problem and trying to actually improve it, ergo, my active support of his recent re-election. What dashes that hope is a larger problem of Democrats that jump off the cliff of supporting State Employee Unions at our expense. I bet that even a stoner like KK would be able to do the voter count math of State Employee Unions vs Voters who Vote and also fish/hunt or those whose livelyhood depends upon those who hunt/fish. I am personally trying to get Kevin to re-introduce that legislation again.

Ahhhhhhhhhh the typical Seattle Soccer Mom's little Son response. Now go away little boy and hide in that Minivan.

BANG You're Dead The cool part is at the end with the double pops