marceline

That's it in a nutshell. When fewer people vote Republicans win. Hence the voter suppression which is going to get a LOT worse as they get ready for 2016.

That's because one party has a vested interest in keeping people insecure about their economic futures.

It makes more sense when you realize that trickle-down economics is a religion. When it fails to work over and over, the answer is to cut more i.e. believe harder. It's like how faith healing charlatans promise big results then when the person in the wheel chair still can't walk they claim it's because their faith wasn't strong enough. That's the right wing thinking around tax cuts.

This has been one of my my problems with the left for a long time. We save people from the negative consequences of their votes in the name of compassion and "we're all in this together" pixie dust then the people we help spit in our faces. Dems don't have the balls to shoot the hostage then act surprised when the hostage ends up dead anyway and they get blamed. How many times did Obama wasted precious time and resources trying to middle ground with people who told him on day one that their only priority was making him a failure?

The sad truth is that most people don't pay the level of attention to politics that we do. Honestly I'm fine with people who vote Republican and, especially, people who don't vote ending up with a country of forced birth, permanent war, undrinkable water and flat wages. The problem is that the rest of us get that too and we don't deserve it. I'm an engaged active participant in my democracy and I deserve better than this. But Jon Stewart called it right a long time ago: Democrats are pussies. They keep trying to beat the GOP at its own game. Until the Democratic Party gets itself together we'll stay on this death march to the the end of the American era. In fact, that might be inevitable anyway. All great societies eventually end and this may just be how we go out. A couple of years ago I adjusted my retirement because I finally realized that I'm going to have to retire in another country. Assuming of course my retirement accounts doesn't get wiped out in the next inevitable stock market crash which should happen pretty soon. (I predict this October.)

I almost never follow election results in real time. I learned that after 2000. I went to bed thinking Gore had won and woke up the next day to chaos. Plus it usually takes overnight to get decent results on local issues. I actually start tuning out on political news about two weeks before election day. That's when all the people who "don't pay attention" to politics start flapping their gums and it's just more than I can take.

Idiots decide to tell the world why they aren't voting: http://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000003211589/why-im-not-voting-in-the-midterms.html?

But not voting actually DOES rewards those candidates. Both of them. If you have 1,000 voters and they all go to the polls then the candidates have to work to get 501 people to vote for them. If 900 of those people decide to stay home then they only need 51 votes so your refusal to participate in the process just makes it easier for those evil candidates to become evil lifelong politicians. Also, keep in mind that most of the people who think they are taking a stand also don't vote on things like school levies or ballot initiatives. So even in situations were people worked hard, got signatures and put an issue on the ballot (you know, the things that actually CAN change the system) these petulant, lazy children sit home and tell themselves that they are making the world better by doing nothing. Because apparently they think all big social change came about by doing nothing. Mind you, I don't consider third party or voting none of the above to be good options. I'm a strategic voter. If I can't vote for a candidate then I'll vote against one. But not voting at all isn't a statement, it's self sabotage.

You're touching on something that sets me off like no other and that's people who think that not voting is some kind of principled stand. I see these imbeciles saying things like "I'm not going to vote until things change" or "I refuse to participate in the two party system" and I just want to slap them until I get carpal tunnel. It shows how some people have completely confused democracy for capitalism. In capitalism if a business isn't doing what you want, withholding your money can be a great motivator. Withholding your vote, however, has the opposite effect. It actually rewards bad governing. There are so many options for showing up to the polls and still registering your displeasure: third party voting (which I will never do again), write-ins or voting "none of the above." Staying home and acting like you are sending a message is just ignorant, lazy bullshit.

Getting freaked out over who Grimes voted for is a perfect example of how the media dumbs down political discourse. The idea that not saying who she voted for means that Mitch McConnell should be given yet another term is ludicrous. It's like deciding your vote based on what kind of sundae topping someone orders. It's hysterical to me that Democrats think they can woo black voters even as the run from the nation's first black president. Sigh. It's like there's only one spine in the Democratic Party and it gets passed back and forth between Elizabeth Warren and Wendy Davis.

There's nothing Obama could do that would make this better. At the end of the day, the Democratic Party is filled with cowards who time and time again let the idiots in the GOP put them on the defensive. Democrats do such a lousy job of promoting their wins and policies and an even worse job of tearing down the lies of the GOP. The fact that they are still running from the ACA is a perfect example of that. This whole Ebola issue is a perfect example of how the Democrats could highlight the failure of GOP policies (for-profit healthcare, big Pharma, no Surgeon General, cuts to the CDC and NIH, forced quarantining, etc...) but the party is too wussified to even try. It's the reason I don't think of myself as a Democrat. I'm a liberal who is basically forced to vote for Democrats.

In spite of everything, Bob had what is probably the best kind of death anyone could hope for. He was made comfortable and treated like family. He got to make peace and say goodbye to the people he loved and who loved him. Then after he was gone, they treated his body with respect and with as much kindness and humanity as one could. I haven't been all that interested in Maggie but I loved that she got the title line. Father Urkel looking around saying "This is God's house" called for a really good response and hers was perfect. Again, NOTHING about going to DC makes sense. The show has given me no reason to see Eugene as anyone or anything worth all this effort. Certainly not worth splitting up the group for. Didn't we just come back from a fractured canvas? Tyrese is lucky Carol wasn't there when Gareth mentioned that Martin was still alive. I would've loved to see her face. You had ONE JOB, Tyrese!

I don't think he's so much a dud character as he's supposed to be at the other end of the spectrum of Daryl, Carol, Michonne and Rick i.e. all the people who keep everyone else alive. He's supposed to be the guy holding on to his precious humanity in the ZA even when it gets other people killed. He's the new version of Herschel and Dale. There's always one idiot who thinks they can be the good guy and just pretend that this isn't life or death. This season that idiot is Tyrese. If there's been talk of Tyrese as a stereotype, I've happily managed to miss it. The funny thing is that right now Tyrese reminds me most of Andrea. Everytime he shows up on screen, I just roll my eyes and think, "I just cant with this bullshit. How many people have to die because of you?" I completely agree with you on how they never show Tyrese's fights. He always just disappears then reappears surrounded by corpses. It's lazy. The only place that works is James Bond movies.

But if Tyrese thought he killed that guy without a headshot then it was just a matter of time before the guy turned. How would that be better?

I'm just sick to death of people who won't do what needs doing in the ZA. We've seen time and time again what happens when you leave an enemy alive. In this universe you don't just kill them, you give them the headshot so they don't turn. That's not only practical, it's merciful. I don't care whether it's Tyrese, Reverend "God is the only protection I need," Herschel's pacifist ass or psycho Mika. I'm tired of these characters who end up endangering others because they refuse to acknowledge the reality around them.

MSNBC actually has a decent talent base. I feel like all of the ones I like are relegated to the weekends. I like Jonathan Capeheart, Willie Geist, Melissa Harris-Perry, Alex Wagner and Joy Reid. I also like Andrea Mitchell even though I agree that there are some concerns about conflict of interest. I'd like to see the network bring on other personalities. Not necessarily for shows but just to add to the mix. That said, I still consider Maddow and O'Donnell to be MSNBC royalty

I don't care about MSNBC losing ratings all that much. They need a serious revamp. Most of the daily personalities are long past any prime they may have had. It's ludicrous that the morning show is hosted by the odious Joe and vapid Mika then you move on to such heavy hitters as Chuck "Starbucks vs Chik-Fil-A" Todd and Al "Can't get a sentence out" Sharpton. And while I love Rachel and admire her thoroughness, I admit that I often scream "get to the [!@#$%^&*] point!" when I watch. The real tragedy of that article is the news that CNN - a network that discussed alien abduction as a possible cause for the disappearance of the Malaysian jet - is gaining viewers. That's ridiculous. At this point the only solid sources for news are Al Jazeera, BBC and PBS.

Cornelius Smith Jr. will be appearing on Tuesday's episode of Forever on ABC.

Republicans routinely spit on ideas they claim to believe in. Look at the free market.They claim to love that...unless you're Tesla and want to sell cars direct in Arizona or Texas. Or you're an insurance company that wants to offer abortion coverage in Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Utah. Or you're a consumer in Oklahoma who wants solar panels (you'll have to pay an extra fee). There's nothing surprising that the same people who claim to believe in democracy have done everything possible to undermine it.

Don't even get me started. Never in my life did I think I would feel this way about my state and my country.

They were? Most of the polls I saw said it was basically a 50/50 split. Admittedly, I didn't start paying attention until this week so I missed a lot of the discussion.

Well that was a mindfuck.

I think it's pretty obvious Sanford has a serious personality disorders. The grandiosity, narcissism, inability to acknowledge the affect his behavior has on other people, unwillingness to accept consequences, etc... I'd be fascinated to see what he'd be diagnosed with by a real mental health professional.

It may make me a terrible person but I am going to enjoy every minute of what is clearly going to be a lengthy and embarrassing meltdown on the part of Mark Sanford. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/12/mark-sanford-s-epic-facebook-overshare.html I just want to give him a bottle of vodka, cue up Carl Thomas' "So Emotional" and get this show going.

I don't think Maher has been considered a liberal darling in ages. I know some of the leftiest lefties who ever left-ed and most of them think Maher is basically a dick who occasionally/frequently makes good points. Personally, I kind of wrote him off after he got all butthurt on Rush Limbaugh's behalf because he thought it wasn't fair for us to contact sponsors after the Sandra Fluke comments. It became clear then that he's he's just another hypocrite who loves the power of free speech but doesn't want to deal with the consequences of using it poorly.