It's a new day for AmericaFollow

That's the contrast I'm pointing out. Not a single conservative talk host I heard today made any statement similar to those made routinely by their liberal counterparts

There are liberal talk show hosts?

More respectful and displaying of much more class.

It's easy to be respectful when it's your only option. The others of being a fringe minority of religious wackos for twenty years, or to be seen as racist, obstructionist loons aren't that appealing. This is America, though. As usual, once progressives repair the economy and the US's standing in the world, voters will decide that they're outraged that Harry Reid bought **** from a Mexican flea market or whatever other trivial ******** occurs to allow you people to regain power. Then when the policies fail, yet, again, they'll come back to the Democratic party to fix it. Of course by then, the idea of government not being involved in health care for every American will be politically indefensible in the way reforming medicare or soc sec are now.

Plus, DC and PR will be states, election day will be a national holiday, and anyone who shows up from any nation will be allowed to vote as many times as they choose.

Woo hoo!

God no wonder Shadowrealm always sounds bitter. And it explains his horrendous typos. I bet all this time he was typing as fast as possible to ensure his lady wife didnt see him spouting such leftist comments.

It all makes sense now!!!!!

You know, I agree with Damian. The reason the libs were so ornery during Bush's reign is that they know he was doing the wrong thing, whereas this time around, the cons realize that Obama is in the right!

I don't think he will.

You better hope not. Otherwise Jesse Jackson will ride into the Oval Office on a wave of Obama's martyrdom and white guilt.

McCain's concession speech was the best speech I saw him give the whole campaign. It was heartfelt, serious and very well done.

Had McCain conducted himself throughout his campaign with the same kind of dignity and decorum that he displayed in his concession speech, this election would have been much closer. But he elected to take the low road, while Obama stayed on message and didn't sling any mud. I'm really kind of surprised that McCain would even allow that sort of thing in his campaign, let alone engage in it personally, given the character assassination he suffered at the hands of Bush/Rove in 2000. Nothing about his campaign seemed well thought out, while everything about Obama's did.

The better candidate won. The bitter little racist monkeys of the country have something to fling **** about now for the next four years. It was amazing how so many of them came out of the woodwork here on this board on election night. This morning, one of my co-workers was actually telling people that Obama was the next Hitler in the making.

Well, I'm looking forward to the next four years. It may be overly sentimental of me, but I just feel as if a huge, crushing boulder of despair and greed and malevolence has been lifted from the shoulder of this country, like we can all hope again. The whole world just got better, just like that.

Let's keep in mind though, that this is still the same country that elected Bush to the highest, most important office in the world.

Twice.

Let's not let our guard down.

An open letter to conservatives from an independent:

Hello,

This letter is my attempt to reach out to conservatives and offer some help to them in the wilderness. I doubt that I will be listened to at all by anyone. I am positive that I am wasting my time. I am doing this because I believe that there must be two healthy and strong sides vying against each other in our political system in order to keep each other in check and it seems like that the tide has turned. Instead of a Republican stranglehold on power we now have a Democratic stranglehold and I do not believe that it is healthy for our nation.

Before I begin I would like to point out a few things about myself; I am not an egghead. I went to Indiana University and dropped out. I am not from a great metropolis. I was raised in and around Ft Wayne by Germanic conservatives. I am not a partisan. I read opinions from across the spectrum; Garrison Keillor and Cal Thomas, FreeRepublic and DemocraticUnderground, George Will and Andrew Sullivan. I read as much as I can from as many sources as possible because like many of you I have a great love of political observation. I do so for my own benefit only.

I hope that I can offer you some reasons for your downfall that are honest because I believe that I am a seeker of the truth and not a seeker of opinions that agree with my own. I guess I am center-left politically but I have spent more time and effort reading from the right for two reasons: the right has held most of the power in recent years and I do not feel the need to inhabit an echo chamber of ideas that are very similar to my own. My purpose here is to spell out the reasons I believe the right in the country lost their way and how they can regain traction for the future.

Refusal to disagree with the Republican leadership when it was wrong and while it was in power cost you dearly. Defending Bush without question severely damaged the GOP. It is not that the conservative ideal was wrong; on the contrary, it is necessary for the heath of our nation that our political coin has two sides. The problem was that the Bush administration left those ideals in a myriad of ways and very few on the right spoke a word against it. The administration lost its credibility and so did their supporters. This ultimately was the downfall of John McCain. McCain had a lot of support from the center but he embraced Bush just before the administration imploded and his whole history was replaced by his words spoken the the GOP convention and by a photo of him hugging Bush. McCain trapped himself because he had to please Bush supporters who should have known better than to demand absolute loyalty to a damaged man. I cannot stress this enough. As citizens we must all be honest with ourselves about the people we support. No politician should recieve blanket support from anyone unless they absolutely deserve it by behaving impeccably.

Demonizing the opposition has hurt you as well. It is perfectly acceptable to attack your opponents positions, that is not the problem. The problem is that you have tried to make monsters out of reasonable people. It doesn't wash anymore. It worked great for a while but no longer. This last election should be self-evident proof of this. Say what you will about Obama's positions but note that he never attacked McCain as a human being. He paid McCain great respect while destroying his policy positions. In turn, every attack on Obama's person by McCain rebounded and made McCain look bad to independents. You must accept that your political opponents have just as much at stake and care just as much about our country and future as you do.

I believe that the right has "wedged" itself down to a minority. There used to be an idea of big tent parties but that is gone from the scene on the right. This is a result of demonizing whole segments of society. The southern strategy cut out the blacks. That is ten percent right there. Lop off another ten percent for the gay folks who have been directly threatened by the right. Goodbye athiests, muslims and anyone who live on the west coast and in large cities. Scientists, feminists, immigrants and career academia are all gone. It seems to me what Palin would call "not real Americans" now greatly outnumber you. For years you demonized those opposed to the stupid Iraq war and now a great majority opposes it. You cannot win on Evangelicals alone because even they are not solidly behind you anymore.

Now how to get back on track again and become an opposition with hopes to make a comeback? First, stop blaming other people for your losses. Take responsiblity for it and move on. Stop blaming the media, public school indoctrination and ACORN. Own your defeat and use it as a guide in order to avoid the mistakes of the past. Second, stick to true conservative ideals and use them to convince the middle instead of trying to tear down the left with personal attacks. Accept that your opponents are wrong from your perspective but not evil or stupid. Don't use bad behavior from the left as justification for your own bad behavior. Rise above it and win by setting a better example. Third, be honest when your leadership is in the wrong. Don't defend your side when you know in your heart that they have left the path of good government. Demand rather that they act up to standards. Fourth, embrace those who are different from you but may share the ideals that you believe in. Gays, nonbelievers and ethnic peoples could be won over to your side if you are willing to accept them as they are. Make their differences a non-issue and you will draw them in. All Americans deserve a seat at the table. And finally, be more willing to accept the truth at its face. The polls are not all bs. The last two elections I have seen you deny the polls all the way up to the point of huge losses. It didn't help you at all.

Best of luck to you. We need you.

Cherried for truth.

My parents are both life-long Republicans, and they honestly believe that Obama's proposed tax policies will hurt more than will do good. I disagree, but then they point out that I'm registered to vote in a state that is going to go Republican no matter what (Tennessee).

By far, the best thing that no one has mentioned yet about the election being over is that there are no more political ads clogging up the TV. No more about Obama palling around with terrorists, Alan Greyson wanting a state income tax, or how Tom Feeney is one of the most corrupt congressmen currently serving (Registered in TN, but living in FL at the moment).

Instead, the airwaves are now being flooded with advertisements for the 'must have' toys for Christmas now, which are almost as bad.

I dunno where the conversation is in this thread at this point, but I'd like to point out that my parents, who are both somewhat racist, voted for Barack Obama. So much for that Bradley Effect.

Good for them. I love voters who seem to be looking at policies and voting on the real policies of the candidates, rather than voting on some sort of nebulous perception of the personality of the candidate.

Edited, Nov 6th 2008 9:23am by Aripyanfar