Embittered election postmortem (please let's just have this one thread to vent)

[Antonio the Sixth]

That was a magnificent post Nathan, thank you so much for expressing everything that I have into myself but am to depressed to express coherently.

One thing on which I don't entirely agree about is your conclusion that Americans expressed they adhesion to the crooked, malicious cultural outlook championed by Republicans. My impression is even worse: they do not even care about fundamental values and basic moral principles. I think voters were too lazy to even think about these issues, instead they resorted to the old logic of sanctioning the "ruling" party or sitting out of the election. They have no f**king clue how much is at stake in their political system. It's the ultimate triumph of apathy.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I still have hope Landreau could win?

No.

[Antonio the Sixth]

This thread really illustrates why the Democrats lost, imo.

Because we overestimated the American electorate's ability to vote based on what's really important? Yes, I agree.

[Antonio the Sixth]

This thread really illustrates why the Democrats lost, imo.

Because we overestimated the American electorate's ability to vote based on what's really important? Yes, I agree.

No, because you didn't emphasize them nearly enough.

I don't see what Nathan's post (or the subsequent Democrats') has anything to do with that.

[Antonio the Sixth]

This thread really illustrates why the Democrats lost, imo.

Because we overestimated the American electorate's ability to vote based on what's really important? Yes, I agree.

No, because you didn't emphasize them nearly enough.

I don't see what Nathan's post (or the subsequent Democrats') has anything to do with that.

TO be fair Nathan's post did admit that mistakes were made.  However, the overall impression I get is that "those evil elitists bought everyone off!" when many Democrats, up to today apparently, had been mouthing off about how people who don't vote for them are a bunch of subhuman hicks and were pretty enthusiastic for a Wall Street-in-Chief candidate in 2016.

Yes, this might be an unfair characterization, but the attitudes of Democratic supporters ultimately does have an impact on peoples' perceptions of it.  The sooner the party throws out the WASP supremacists and banker cronies, the much better off it will be.  Contrary to popular opinion.

You're talking about two completely different kinds of Democrats, though.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Sorry to keep whining, but I need to add a more personal note: I have never felt this way about a US election before. Sure, 2010 was a pretty rough year, but even then Democrats outperformed expectations and I could actually feel genuinely joyful about Harry Reid's triumph. For as long as I've been interested in US politics, I've been feeling better after the election than I was before. The 2008, 2010 and 2012 election nights were fantastic moments of fun and excitement for me, and gave me some of my best memories.

Yes, I know elections are not about me but about the consequences for the population as a whole, and my rant sounds incredibly selfish and petty compared to Nathan's. But US elections have mattered a great deal to me (perhaps to unhealthy levels) and this really feels like a punch in the gut. I just need to put this out there. I'm like a child who, on Christmas, discovered overnight that he's not getting any presents and instead gets grounded for unknown reasons.

Feel free to laugh and mock.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Antonio, you just haven't been following American politics long enough then. People you find despicable have won elections in this country before and they always will.

Yes, obviously, I'm well aware of past US electoral history. But knowing something at the abstract level isn't the same as actually experiencing it. I was 11 in 2004, and while I already didn't like Bush, you can imagine I wasn't very invested in US politics at that time.