That is interesting. Thank you for posting that, Pretzelogic.

Unions are evil because they are a peasant conceit that empowers the serfs to question their masters. To the medieval Republican mind labor unions are no more than a rabble mob with pitchforks and torches overrunning the lord's castle.

Ronald Reagan was the head of SAG... then claims "I did not leave the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party left me". What a lie. Clearly HE left the Democratic Party, not vice versa. It was his liberal wife Wyman that left him.

I distinctly remember rachel poiting out that democrats needed to get out and vote for democrats around the time of the mid-terms - she had that whole piece on polls showing that dems had more support but the people who actually voted were largely republicans.

The distance between Democrats winning versus Democrats losing on Tuesday is the distance between your tuchus on the couch if you're going to vote for Democrats and your tuchus actually making it to the voting booth on Tuesday if you're going to vote for Democrats. That's the distance.

i know you think rachel is overly critical of Pres. Obama, and this probably won't change your mind at all, but your point comes across better if you don't stretch the truth to make it.

jender give me a break. Rachel did nothing but act as if PBO was the cause of gay people not having civil rights. Lets not pretend what she was doing on her show. Don't forget gay people were on TV MSNBC 24/7 talking AGAINST PBO.

Progressives who had access to the media did nothing but promote themselves and talk bs about PBO.

White repubs and DEMS voted these republican govs in office. Now they have buyers remorse.

I live in Ohio and know that these gov were bad news.

For any progressive to blame PBO or any other Dem about what is going on now is disingenuous and down right hypocritical.

Well she does have a point that liberals were on the offensive regarding Obama for a long time. I don't think liberals honestly wanted Republicans to get voted in, I think this was just liberals being liberals. The majority of liberals out there are not lock-and-file people. Most liberals will argue with one another- it's always been that way. The adage "Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line" was never meant to be a compliment or insult to either party. It was merely a statement attempting to reflect the different mentalities that occupy the majority of those who vote Democrat and those who vote Republican. It is not common for Republicans to have huge political disagreements with other Republicans unless they are on the fringe. What we've seen in the past two years has been rather intriguing because you have Republicans fighting way more amongst themselves than they usually do. Democrats always fight one another. To be a Republican President is MUCH more easy than to be a Democratic President because the GOP will always fall in lock-step with it's candidates, whereas Democrats will bitch and moan constantly. That's just how Dems are; that's just how liberals are. I don't think the disillusionment coming from Rachel and Ed was motivated by hatred of Obama. I think it was more to do with the liberal mentality of "I want what I want when I want it" and our overly perfectionist mindset. Liberals compromise because liberals don't like to fight, but liberals do like to complain. If that's all you hear over and over again it can sometimes send the wrong message. The intent of the broadcaster isn't to cause harm, it's to bitch. But sometimes when you do it over and over again...well you know the adage "you are what you eat?" I suppose this would be "you are what you listen to." The more you hear someone complain about Obama for not being perfect, the more you think he's not perfect. I suppose to make an analogy it's like the parent who constantly tells his child "you can do better," but that doesn't say "I'm proud of you" very often. Eventually it leads the child to believe he isn't valuable when the parent is in reality trying to accomplish the opposite.

I should also throw it out there, just for the sake of accuracy, that the media often decides who it is going to support each election cycle. Obama was likely never going to lose his election because McCain was an old, cranky, white guy whereas Obama was a very charismatic, black man. The media story behind Obama was far more intriguing than that behind McCain. That's not to say that Obama didn't win on his own merits- he did. Nor is it to say McCain lost because no one agreed with his policies or found him personable. It's just to say the media has a nasty tendency of talking better about the person/people/party they want to win and worse about the person/people/party they want to lose. And if the first paragraph is true, that invariably means this second paragraph is also true (regarding media influence).

MM I stand 100% behind people in Wisc protesting. For Ed and Rachel to bring in PBO in these states issues is ridiculous.

PBO campaigned for Feingold and Strickland. He was in Ohio several times. What is not reported is that the Black vote came out for Strickland in Ohio. Strickland lost because he didn't get the WHITE vote. Dems voted for Kasich now they are scared and sorry for the vote they cast. Many UNION people didn't vote for Strickland.

Rachel and Ed you reap what u sow. Glad u are covering the story but tell the DAMN truth.

@ Tanya : If Rachel did not call out PBO when he was wrong (ala Fox marching in lock step with anything a right winger says or does) I would not watch her.

And when did Rachel and Ed "encourage white dems to vote for republicans"...puh-leeze!

Again, please review Rachel's show. She rarely allows Democrats who have different views than her come on her show. All u heard was how gay people were being oppressed by PBO.

Rachel claimed to know what the Dem "base" wanted. Dem base was not just concerned about Gay rights. The base of the Dem party is Black people and we know she don't have Black guests on talking about Black issues.

Just tell the truth.

PBO is not to blame for republican gov put into office by white republicans and white Dems.

Ummmm how many times has she had Melissa Harris Perry on?

Dems need to remember that they vote people in by default when they sit out midterm elections. And this applies to people of all races. The responsibility to "get off your tuchus" should not rest with white voters. If we want to eliminate race as a factor in swaying elections one way or the other, then we need to quit playing race cards altogether. What is beneficial to one group is often beneficial to other groups. There is no doubt that the Civil Rights movement paved the way for equal rights for other groups and not just Black people.

I'm a "white Dem" so I can't speak extensively to race without sounding patronizing, but I have dealt with gender issues. To illustrate my point, consider for example, that the same issues that women's groups push for--equality in the work place, family-friendly work environments, access to career building opportunities--end up benefiting men and other minority groups just as much women. No upper management suit will put a policy in place with the caveat that it is for one gender and no others, lest they be sued. But the policy may have arisen at the insistence of one gender. We could take this out of the workplace and into the collegiate student body. I was involved in a women in science group that put on career and mentoring programs and we did not exclude men. Some male students actually benefited from our efforts. But we did not view that as helping the opposition. It was good that our efforts helped any student, no matter the race, gender or sexual orientation.

Excellent points. And I also agree that we all have a responsibility to "get off our tuchus"-- into the streets to protest and march and into the voting booth for every election!

Micro Geek - Rachel and her progressive buddies undermined PBO and Black people. The harping on PBO as if he was the ENEMY of gay rights when he was actually trying to help cannot be understated. The gay rights advocacy that I saw ignored and attacked Black people. We need to be honest.

For Rachel and Ed to open their mouths and say it is PBO's fault that Rep govs are doing what they promised is bs.

Link to the who voted in the last elections.

http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/call-post-all-ohio-edition/mi_8089/is_20101117/understanding-2010-mid-elections/ai_n56563668/

In some states, Democratic candidates lost because of a failure to attract White votes, Bositis observed. In Ohio, for example, the Democratic candidate for governor attracted only 38 percent of the White vote. African Americans comprise only 10.6 of the Ohio electorate, not nearly enough to overcome such a poor showing among White voters.

Lets tell the truth. Progressives did nothing for the Dem party the past two years. They had media access and did nothing but whine and yell about PBO and enable republicans. They need to sit down and shut up if they cannot help.

Tanarys,

Thanks for posting that article. I would encourage everyone to read it. I'm sure there are other analyses out there that would show the same thing. It'll be interesting to see the numbers for more states and districts. But thanks again for showing the numbers.

I'm saddled in Debbie Halverson's old district that went red this past election. Made my head spin. And as for Alexi Giannoulis, when you get billed as a corrupt Chicago politician by Chicagoans, you are destined for an upset. I'm stuck living in whitesville, so when I go to the poll center, all I see is old white people. So, my big beef is with young voters sitting out the midterm. Perhaps there is a report out there that would contradict my observation for my district.

I'm still of the mindset, though, that we need to make the point that issues are important to the majority of all voters, regardless of the demographic. Marriage equality, gender equality, resolving issues that disproportionately affect minorities, sustaining fair labor practices, can only resonate and lead to a better life across all demographics. You are correct that this is a problem in election cycles. And we alienate voting blocks by billing issues based on those voting blocks. You have to remember that we have a "me" society. People are more likely to be active if they realize that an issue billed as a "Black" problem or a "Gay" problem, etc, can also have serious consequences to them. Usually, though, by the time they realize the consequences, it is too late and they are stuck with the government they got by sitting on their tuchuses (tuchi?). I once had a good friend decline to donate to a fund raiser for a scholarship program because he said he would never have to use it. Not, "I don't have the money right now". Not, "I like to give to this other charity." But, "why should I care about something that is not going to benefit me." It's about a better society, not a better me, me, me, me.

So, perhaps we should take the tactic of, instead of saying that issue XYZ is important to Black, Latino, women, gay, old, young, etc, voters, we should say that issue XYZ is important for out country because......

And I agree--the liberals have always been where the GOP is now entering with the Tea Party--too much infighting.

Thought I had linked the source, but maybe not

(UPDATED)

"Republican threats to slash public broadcasting are" about doing away with those programs and organizations who are presenting factual, liberal views....

"Republican threats to slash public broadcasting are: a warning to the few liberal news programs left and to those who offer progressive educational programming.

Republicans are scared of smart people because smart people can see through their lies.

Only if we allow them to take us back to the days of lords and kings, landowners and serfs!!

Keep the upper 2% healthy? Quantitatively, the wealthiest have lost the most under Republican malfeasance. Ten trillion in investment value wiped out by economic downturn then trillions more in debt-fueled stimulus and bailouts to be paid back the wealthy. Qualitatively, losing a job is more catastrophic than losing a stock portfolio but the rich suffer too. Republican "pro-business" is anything but.

Please interview middle class Republicans who are voting. All I hear from them is nonsense. Why would anyone, middle class or otherwise, vote Republican unless they are simply fooled by their lies?