Much talk is being said about how the weak Democratic leadership on the Health Care Bill and the whole Bankster situation did in Coakley. Those things did help uninspire many voters into not bothering to go to the polls. The Health Care bill as written is a weak corporate giveaway that is too watered down by horrific leadership in the senate and complete lack of leadership on Obama’s part. There is no question if the White House had been pushing certain more progressive options they would have made it into the bill. But Obama had no intention of doing such a thing, because he’s a centrist, not a liberal.
The other major thing leading to anger is that the only things the Democrats seem to do about the economic problems is give money to the banks. There is a lot of public anger at the banks, and this is the perfect opportunity for a smart party to ride the populist rage against the banks to push in real reform, set up job stimulus bills instead of handing money to the bankers. But the Democrats are not doing that, because they are too busy sucking on the teat of big finance. Not all of them, just enough that nothing can be accomplished. And those guys are ruining it for everyone. And thus, the only populist rage being channeled now is the Teabaggers exploiting rage into their disturbing, self-destructive parties.
The main lessons to learn from the race are not to be more like the Republicans or to abandon all reform or any of the other stupid things conservative Democrats are saying. You don’t need to wait until you have 60 votes to do everything, and you don’t need to anger your base and spend months working on a bill that gets more and more horrible because one or two idiots in your party (or not even in your party anymore!) keeps dragging things out. Bush NEVER had a 60-vote majority, and he did whatever the hell he wanted. When Harry Reid loses in 2010 it will be the best thing to happen to Democrats in years. the Democrats had the supermajority and all sorts of fun games and prizes, and couldn’t deliver a simple universal health care bill.
That doesn’t mean we’ve given up or are gonna go all Teabagger because we thing the Democratic leadership blew it. This just means we’re going to stick to the “More Democrats, Better Democrats” plan and get some better Democrats in. If that means we lose a few horrible Democrats, fine by me.
But in the final result, Martha Coakley lost because Martha Coakley was a bad candidate. The blame falls on her shoulders first and foremost. She did not put in the work required, and now has paid the price. But just wait until Senator Scott Brown does something horrible. At least, that’s what Glenn Beck things, who thinks “This one could end with a dead intern. I’m just saying. It could end with a dead intern.”
But I’m sure the Teabaggers will just blame the intern.
Actually, this whole thing was just an excuse to post the Glenn Beck video! Plus I can also link this quote:
But keep your head up. The game ain’t over until you lose all your lives (or you rescue the Princess.) Feel free to tell me where I am wrong, because that’s what the comments are for.