Breaking: Jim Webb declared winner in VA Update: Allen has “no plans” to drag out election
posted at 8:36 pm on November 8, 2006 by Ian
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Update: AP:
Democrats wrested control of the Senate from Republicans Wednesday with an upset victory in Virginia, giving the party complete domination of Capitol Hill for the first time since 1994.
Jim Webb’s squeaker win over incumbent Sen. George Allen gave Democrats their 51st seat in the Senate, an astonishing turnabout at the hands of voters unhappy with Republican scandal and unabated violence in Iraq. Allen was the sixth Republican incumbent senator defeated in Tuesday’s elections.
I predicted Allen would pull this one out, he still may. Word is he won’t call for a recount, which is dumb. I don’t mean to gloat, but the only other race I was wrong about was the Maryland Senate race.
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Hey Ian, how about a “Lib Gloat Thread”?
Honora? Consitantine? Care to let us have it?
Just curious though, if this dhimmi win was about Iraq and the dhimmis are gonna take us in “another direction”, can any of you tell us exactly what that direction would be? (And please don’t say “We have a plan.”)
Tony737 on November 8, 2006 at 8:46 PM
This is a bummer, dude.
The next thing I know, you go and tell me we lost the Senate.
Ian, we need some good news. Why don’t you tell people about how the Republicans picked up Guam?
It might help to dispell the stink of Macaca-gate.
EFG on November 8, 2006 at 8:47 PM
Now I know what Boba Fett felt like when Mace Windu beheaded Jango.
Savage on November 8, 2006 at 8:52 PM
This is a off topic, but did anybody notice the camel toe on the t-shirt model?
Tony737 on November 8, 2006 at 8:53 PM
Oh god the t-shirt model.
Phil Smith on November 8, 2006 at 8:54 PM
If you scroll up and down the page really fast, it kinda looks like Reagan has camel toe.
Savage on November 8, 2006 at 9:01 PM
CNN hasn’t called VA for Webb yet, they say they will wait for the canvassing to conclude. It does sound like Allen will gracefully not ask for a full recount.
MayBee on November 8, 2006 at 9:03 PM
???!!!???!!!
EFG on November 8, 2006 at 9:03 PM
Roll that beautiful Fox News Smutgate, So dirty I need hip boots, footage!
TheBigOldDog on November 8, 2006 at 9:06 PM
Allen will gracefully not ask for a full recount.
What a loser. If he’s not willing to fight for it, he doesn’t deserve it anyway.
Lehuster on November 8, 2006 at 9:13 PM
I think it shows the republicans have more class. Many of the races were decided by
jman on November 8, 2006 at 9:19 PM
I’m depressed. But Ann Coulter managed to lift a bit of the gloom with this article. Here’s a small sample.
Thanks Ann… I needed that.
Maxx on November 8, 2006 at 9:20 PM
Whoops!
I think it shows the republicans have more class. Many of the races were decided by less than 500 votes. Had the republicans won by such a small margin, the democrats would have their lawyers there along with Jessie Jcakson declaring voter fraud and racism.
jman on November 8, 2006 at 9:22 PM
Well this is wonderful, the American public again quit in the middle of the fight. First Vietnam then Iraq . . . this is disgraceful and this government had better never again send our youth to die until they confirm that the people have the backbone to stay in the fight. If they’re not sure then they can send all of these wormy politicians to do their own fighting. I’m sure that would be the shortest war in the annals of warfare.
rplat on November 8, 2006 at 9:24 PM
I haven’t seen the silver lining yet? Rumor had it, there was one?
I think Taranto pointed out that this election further divided the country by north and south. 1 republican left in the house from new england. 2 distinct parts of the country want to go in opposite directions. How long till it happens?
lorien1973 on November 8, 2006 at 9:30 PM
On the bright side, that’s one more manifestly unqualified pretender off the 2008 presidential primary contenders list before he could really embarass us. Much better that he melted down in ‘06 than ‘08.
As far as I am concerned, Romney is also off the list for abandoning Massachusetts to one party rule by the Democrats. He could have won the governor’s race, but he chose to put his presidential ambitions first. He is as much of a self-absorbed, backstabbing RINO as McCain.
cool breeze on November 8, 2006 at 9:32 PM
i love how the ap is putting stuff out about this race, wow. where do they get their information. the virginia site still has the numbers the same with only 94.+ percent in. I hope they find 10000 votes tomorrow and webb loses.
wishful thinking.
i think he can rebound.
Allen 08. Allen and Rudy 08
ross
kara26 on November 8, 2006 at 9:34 PM
Our republican officials quit on us, not the other way around. We should not have to fight them so hard to take real measures to secure our borders, for example.
jman on November 8, 2006 at 9:34 PM
I think it shows the republicans have more class.
Screw that. I voted for the son of a bitch, and I expect him to fight for me. It is certainly close enough that a recount is not uncalled for – if it had been more than 1% then no, you’re done, but 0.5% is worth recounting. “Classy” or not, Webb would have demanded it if the shoe had been on the other foot.
Lehuster on November 8, 2006 at 9:36 PM
Lehuster, Allen has had his good name and reputation (and family’s reputation) publicly dragged through the mud in a way that most of us will never experience. He has fought for this. If the votes aren’t there, there’s no sense dragging it out just to gin up outrage, ala Gore. Or foster conspiracy theories, like Ohio.
jman, I agree.
MayBee on November 8, 2006 at 9:38 PM
The silver lining is that the Dems will get a chance to really pursue their agenda for all of America to see. No more hiding. No more simply carping. Now they have to produce. Their base will demand it.
If this nation’s national security is greatly compromised as I think it will be, and disaster strikes, they could be done for a generation.
TheBigOldDog on November 8, 2006 at 9:38 PM
So Harry Reid becomes majority leader? He’s scandal free? Amazing.
Now, let’s see how badly Bush caves into the Dems and really tick off the base. Let’s see how intolerable the McCains and Specters become now. Hopefully the base will be more fired up in ‘08 because of it.
reaganaut on November 8, 2006 at 9:44 PM
The point is that the votes may well be there – that is WHY you have a recount.
Goddamn spineless whelp. He has had everything in his life handed to him on a plate, and as soon as he experiences some adversity, he runs like a whipped cur.
Lehuster on November 8, 2006 at 9:45 PM
Wasn’t there a post here a few months back from huffingtonpost where a guy was hoping for a terror attack to prove bush wrong and get democrats elected? It was wrong then and its wrong now.
This is not a silver lining.
lorien1973 on November 8, 2006 at 9:45 PM
…that notion is wearing a little thin….
What has to happen is that the Republicans have to *be there* and *catch them* when they step on their collective penii while pursuing this agenda…which they don’t seem either capable of or willing to do. They’re all drunk on the drug of “bipartisanship”…Bush on “being presidential”….
We can’t count on the MSM catching them…a lapdog makes a poor watchdog….
Puritan1648 on November 8, 2006 at 9:46 PM
“Dems Win Senate”
More reason for islamofascists to celebrate.
“Ortega Wins”
More reason for demonrats to celebrate.
Let’s all pray that when the Dems take over they’ll suddenly realize WE’RE AT WAR!
Arab: “My people blew up 2 of your buildings.”
Carlos Mencia: “Yeah? MY people blew up 2 of your COUNTRIES, bitch!”
Tony737 on November 8, 2006 at 9:47 PM
Yeah. i don’t think the media will call out the democrats even if its patently obvious a policy they advocate totally fubars this country. I wish I could believe that, but I can’t.
Isn’t there any republican leadership left? Newt is as good as it gets, I fear, and I think he’s unelectable nationally.
lorien1973 on November 8, 2006 at 9:49 PM
I predicted he was a complete idiot and that issuing a press release about Webb’s fictional novels was going to lose the Senate. At least I think I did. :-) I said something about that.
DaveS on November 8, 2006 at 9:50 PM
Lehuster, I agree there should be a recount if the votes are so close. But if after the recount Allen is still down, he should concede like a man and not degrade himself and his party with whining ond lawsuits as the dems are so fond of doing when they lose. I think the public is tired of this behaviour and it would not serve the republican party well.
jman on November 8, 2006 at 9:52 PM
I take it you are concerned that Newt and Rudy have a few marital issues? Yet, who in the country doesn’t think that Hillary and Bill’s marriage is strange, to put it mildly?
Hopefully the country is ready for it, because it looks right now like Rudy and Newt are the best that we’ve got!
cool breeze on November 8, 2006 at 10:02 PM
The media never calls them out, yet the people get the gist and have voted them out before.
Hoping for an attack is a lot different than expecting Dems will hurt national security making disasters more likely. If they allow that to happen, they won’t be forgiven so easily.
I predict that some conservatives will come out on national TV and in print and ridicule him (so dirty hip boots were required) for pointing out what Webb wrote in his novels was going to lose the Senate. At least I think I did. :-) I said something about that.
I guess we’ll never know which-is-which or if there was any impact at all now will we. I’m just glad I don’t have to fret over it.
TheBigOldDog on November 8, 2006 at 10:06 PM
Not marital issues, at all. I think those mare meaningless these days. He’s a been there, done that, figure though. Plus he hasn’t held elected office in over a decade come the election. How successful can he be.
lorien1973 on November 8, 2006 at 10:07 PM
There went my judges.And my fence. I only hope the Repubs have the balls to c***block the Dem majority a la Schumer, Leahy, and Kennedy.
Kid from Brooklyn on November 8, 2006 at 10:13 PM
Well, they got their power, now let’s what they will do. I’m betting they will completely stall at every corner and try to find anything to impeach Bush or to embarrass him and the presidency. All this “new direction” crap is just posturing that will turn out be nothing more than what the dems have been doing since the Republicans took the House and Senate — more calls for investigations and witch hunts. By that time 2008 comes around, America will be ready for a recharged Republican party –one that will hopefully be much more effective the next go around.
whtabtbill on November 8, 2006 at 10:13 PM
But if after the recount Allen is still down, he should concede like a man and not degrade himself and his party with whining ond lawsuits as the dems are so fond of doing when they lose.
Yeah, I agree, but a recount is certainly not “beyond the pale” or low-class.
It was clearly the “Macaca” remark that did Allen in. After that, he was on the defensive and never managed to rebound. The race was his to lose, and he lost it with one stupid remark.
Lehuster on November 8, 2006 at 10:15 PM
OK, so this isn’t so bad. The Dhimms are just going to refocus the war on capturing Bin Laden. And immediately offering him their sincerest apologies.
Hack Ptui on November 8, 2006 at 10:16 PM
You mean your “fence” right? It was never happening anyways.
lorien1973 on November 8, 2006 at 10:16 PM
It’s like deja vu all over again:
A democrat controlled congress forces through tax increases and manages to get the Republican Prez to sign. The economy goes in the tank, and the President gets the blame, following which a Clinton runs under the slogan, “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Haven’t we seen all this before?
JayVee on November 8, 2006 at 10:23 PM
If the lame duck Republicans are smart, they should cut the best deal they can on immigration now and push it through before the Democrats take power. If they do it now, in the next Congress they can use the filibuster and veto against any amendments with the defense that they have already addressed the problem. If they don’t do it now, the next Congress will really open the floodgates and, sadly, Bush will probably sign it.
cool breeze on November 8, 2006 at 10:47 PM
It amazes me that so many of you are trying to rewrite history already and claim it’s because you “weren’t conservative enough”. LoL. What a crock of bullsh-t.
Why did you lose? Well let’s think here:
Illegal Immigration – No action
Iraq body count rises
Government intervention in the Terri Schiavo case – 80% of country disgusted by your behavior, Tom Delay turns out to have taken his own father off life support, Bush signed a euthanasia law as governor of Texas, Terri Schiavo memo exposed, seen as GOP using a braindead woman as a campaign prop, Congress’ approval drops 20 points, Bush’s drops below 50 for the first real time in 2005 and never comes back
More illegal immigration
Scooter Libby – Indicted
Tom Delay – Indicted
Duke Cunningham – Jailed
Hurricane Katrina – Failed response after years of “WE’RE the ones who can respond to a major -terrorist- disaster! Not the Democrats! They’d suck at it!”
Harriet Miers – Nominated
Illegal NSA Wiretaps – Exposed
Dubai Ports Deal – confirmed
Jack Abramoff scandal in full force
Bob Ney – indicted
More illegal immigration, more Iraq
Senate concludes it’s business bullsh-tting on unimportant issues – gay marriage, abortion and flag burning – after doing nothing about Iraq, Social Security and Illegal Immigration
Mark Foley scandal
=
Republicans, OWNED.
Yeah, it’s cause you weren’t conservative ENOUGH. Right. That’s what it was.
Grebrook on November 8, 2006 at 11:00 PM
That’s the reason I didn’t vote Republican. They aren’t conservatives anymore. Those other reasons you gave?
Illegal immigration – Dems are going to give the amnesty that Bush has wanted the whole time
Iraq body count – Newsflash for Dems “People die in war”. Tragic but true.
Shiavo case – Now here you are correct in saying that memo ticked off the christian right. This was just another confirmation that they tell the christian right what they think we want to hear and then ignore us.
Libby – I trade you one Libby for one Sandy “pants” Berger
Tom Delay – still not proven guilty of anything btw
Cunningham – I’ll trade you for Grey Davis
Katrina – equal failure from both parties at all levels of government. If anything this proves the true conservative viewpoint that the government can’t do anything right so why involve it in everything?
Miers – yeah it was dumb but do you think anyone thought, “Man I’d really like to vote Republican this time but…that whole Harriet Miers thing”
Wiretaps – see Clinton, Bill (Echelon)
Dubai – yep, that was idiotic and conservatives didn’t like it
Abramoff – still pretending all those Democrats didn’t take money from him?
Ney – I’ll trade you all those felons that Clinton pardoned at the end of his second term
Senate – the Senate was more moderate than the House. The Republican leadership in it were pansies and yes, they didn’t get much of anything done. Not conservative enough.
Foley – Foley scandal hit and Foley is out of office immediately. Ted Kennedy KILLED A WOMAN and is still in office decades later.
So yes, the conservative base did in fact turn on the moderate Republican party for not being conservative enough.
Benaiah on November 8, 2006 at 11:50 PM
Benaiah: Thank you; well done!
Grebrook: Go play with the rest of your DUmmies, or have they had to block you for your gross stupidity (THAT would truly take a LOT of stupidity) And furthermore, sir, you are a true jackass. Unapologetically yours,
hillbillyjim on November 9, 2006 at 12:49 AM
You know what I found disgusting? Chuckie Schumer asking Allen not to ask for a recount, just accept the defeat. I escaped from the gulag that is NY. How dare he?
STFU Chuck! Mind your own f***ing business punk!
rightside on November 9, 2006 at 6:20 AM
Hack Ptui, the Nancyboy Dems told us they’d have caputered bin laden by now. So, now that they’re runnin’ things I fully expect to see bin laden in a D.C. courtroom any day now.
They never did explain HOW they’d do that, no word on invading Pakistan, what they’d do about Pakistan’s nukes, the islamic overthrow of Musharraf, what to do about Kashmir and relations with India once Pakistan becomes Pakitalibanistan, etc etc etc
Tony737 on November 9, 2006 at 6:55 AM
Just tune it out for the next two years, my brother. We have real work to do.
seejanemom on November 9, 2006 at 7:42 AM
Burns and Allen and yes also Steele should not concede yet. They should demand recounts.
The Schumer Gang does not play fair and we know this from the credit information stolen about Steele.
We should not forget that the Dems were the ones that orchestrated the Foley Follies.
This helped them win the election and we still do not know who was involved.
The State of Washington’s Governors race in 2004 was decide by around 400 votes as I recall and there were charges that in King County which is Washington State’s most populated county (Seattle) of convicted felons(1000+?) voting. We should take a page out of the Dems Play Book and demand recalls as was done in Washington State. In fact, we should have had a second recount because it was such a mess and maybe we would have prevailed.
Bax on November 9, 2006 at 8:48 AM
rightside said: “You know what I found disgusting? Chuckie Schumer asking Allen not to ask for a recount, just accept the defeat.”
I really, really wanted Allen to say: “Hey Chuckie, I may ask for a recount, but don’t worry, I won’t pull a Gore.”
Moose Dung on November 9, 2006 at 9:07 AM
Demanding a recount in Virginia is a little pointless as all the voting there was done electronicially. A recount would entail simply programming the machines to recalculate the votes and adding them up again; it would be nearly impossible for the numbers to change during this process as machines don’t make mistakes adding. This is much different than the recount in Flordia in 2000 where the election rested on hanging chads and double punched ballots. These ballots were not counted or counted wrong and there was a real chance a recount could change the totals. This is just simply not the case in VA, Allen knows this, most of Virginia knows this, and he doesn’t want to look like a d-bag calling for a pointless recount.
JaHerer22 on November 9, 2006 at 9:53 AM
Well . . . wonderful. I hope the brilliant electorate have a great relationship with their newly elected communist government. You could always jail the Republican crooks but what do you do with this lefitst mob.
rplat on November 9, 2006 at 10:16 AM
Hack Ptui, the Nancyboy Dems told us they’d have caputered bin laden by now. So, now that they’re runnin’ things I fully expect to see bin laden in a D.C. courtroom any day now.
Dude, they are in the best of all possibly situations – power without responsibility. They know very well that any failures in the next two years will be laid at the hairy feet of Dubya. We still didn’t catch Osama? Oh darn, that’s Dubya’s fault, not ours.
Lehuster on November 9, 2006 at 10:22 AM
Re: Maxx’ comment:
Thanks Ann… I needed that.
Maxx on November 8, 2006 at 9:20 PM
Maxx, it seems a red flag to me that Ann stops her statistical analyses at 1974, because:
One: that administration was coming off the Watergate scandal and the impeachment/resignation of the president, so that factor has to be looked at as an outlier, not an indicator, of HOuse casualties in the 6th year. We also saw President Ford pardon Nixon, which was incredibly unpopular, if you lived through that time you would remember the disdain.
And;
Two: between the Nixon admin and Bush #43 there have been a pair of two-term presidents (Reagan, Clinton) and Ann omits statistics from either of those administrations.
I might have thought since those administrations are are much more recent to our history that Ann might find them relevant.
A quick check on House elections in the 6th year of a presidential administration, here are the numbers.
1986: Reagan. Republicans lost 5 seats.
1998: Clinton. Democrats gained 5 seats.
Bill Clinton was a deservedly unpopular president. He lost 5 congressional seats in the 6th year of his presidency — no different from President Reagan. To say that Bush 43’s heavy losses of seats on Tuesday is just more of the same is simply not true.
The two most recent examples preceeding the Congressional vote for the 6th year of Bush 43’s administration don’t square with Ann’s point. Sometimes I really think Ann deals from a stacked deck and doesn’t like telling the whole story.
Old conservatives like myself are getting tired of the rhetoric and tactics. We need to regain trust in this party and trust in this nation, and working in half-truths simply is not going to get us there.
lincolnesque on November 9, 2006 at 10:25 AM
Correction: Clinton, a liar and a dissembler and a cheat and a massively unpopular president, actually gained 5 seats in the 6th year of his presidency. So for Ann to say this “especially” happens is appalling. We need to look in the mirror and stop making excuses saying, “no worries, it’s par for the course” — because it isn’t.
A final point:
Ann gives us the four examples above. But of her two most recent examples, she cites “partnership” terms, like Kennedy/Johnson, and Nixon/Ford. Again, these are more likely outliers than anything else. Kennedy was a hugely popular president who was slain; his successor LBJ never measured up to him as an equal in the eyes of the public. (He also had a Vietnam problem.) So throw that away this stat as an outlier, it isn’t a indicator of anything.
Same thing with Nixon/Ford. As I already mentioned, this was the “impeachment” and “pardon” partnership. THe president the public voted was out of office in disgrace and replaced by a guy that was never elected even as a VP by the American public, let alone as president. So throw that one away as well, since there was no real precedent for voters.
To say Bush 43 is just the same as those examples is to pretend that Bush came into the 2nd term of somebody elses’ office. It doesn’t wash.
So, the two examples Ann shows that are actually sort-of plausible are Roosevelt in 1938 (when we were picking ourselves up from the Depression and facing a global war that makes the GWOT puny by comparison — again, another outlier), and Eisenhower.
I can accept her number of Eisenhower losses in 1958 as a potential indicator. But I need more. Much more. One election cycle used as an example does not a pattern make. That is absurdity, especially (there’s Ann’s special word) — especially since our two most recent examples prior to Bush 43 was Reagan (5 seat loss) and Clinton (5 seat gain.)
I am more than ready to deal in some straight facts, get a dialogue going and get some trust back with the public. We need to rebuild the conservative movement and Republican Party, and I for one will not shed a tear if the MSM stops throwing Ann on air. If I didn’t know any better, I would guess she is a Dem agent out to make our positions look cruel and dishonest. I know many people that consider themselves to be conservative think she is a hero, but I don’t see it, she causes more harm than good and makes conversations with independents very difficult, they think we’re all clones of her.
lincolnesque on November 9, 2006 at 10:49 AM
Puritan, I wouldn’t worry too much – they can keep stuffing the dirty laundry in the hamper but sooner or later the smell gets out anyway. Between 1992 and 1994, they had a compliant media running cover for them, there were no blogs yet, and Rush was about the only alternative media the conservatives had on their side (which was tiny compared to the dems’s MSM).
People still figured out what was going on and we still ended up with the wave of 1994.
While dems still have a compliant and supportive MSM, we have a LOT more alternative media outlets now, and if they f up, they will get caught.
thirteen28 on November 9, 2006 at 11:06 AM
Lincolnesque, it seems like according to you, everything is an outlier and there is no pattern.
Lehuster on November 9, 2006 at 11:09 AM
Oh Ann, Ann, Ann. Take a look at the history of gerrymandering, especially note that this practice yielding the vast majority of seats effectively non-competitive, really hit its stride in the 80’s (interesting story and a great example of the law of unintended consequences but I digress) So FDR, Ike, JFK, Nixon–interesting but not especially germane.
Now here’s a question: do you think Ann really isn’t aware of this, in which case she’s just dumb; or do you think she is aware of this, in which case she’s disingenuous? Frankly either way works for me.
honora on November 9, 2006 at 11:53 AM
Now that the libbies have control of the Congress, does this mean they are gonna stop whining about the 2000 election?
I hope not, all that screaming and crying has always amused me.
JackM on November 9, 2006 at 12:00 PM
Yes.
honora on November 9, 2006 at 12:05 PM
“Bill Clinton was a deservedly unpopular president. He lost 5 congressional seats in the 6th year of his presidency — no different from President Reagan.”
Wow, you really are a moron. Actually, not only was Clinton popular, he left office with a 63% approval rating, the highest ever recorded for a retiring president.
By the way, historically the Democrats made history in the margin of the popular vote they won, and the only reason the House wasn’t a full landslide was because of gerrymandering, which did not exist in the 1940’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s or 80’s.
Gerrymandering saved your party from a 60 seat loss. This wasn’t a normal six-year itch. In 1994 you defeated the Dems 52-44% in the popular vote. We crushed you this year by more than 10 points.
Don’t let the facts get in the way of ignorance, though. That’s always a bummer.
Grebrook on November 9, 2006 at 1:30 PM
You haven’t forgot about all the elcetions we stole, did you????
haha
JackM on November 9, 2006 at 1:38 PM
this country will get what it deserves, they voted for $hit, now we will swim in it..
retired on November 9, 2006 at 1:50 PM
I never heard of this guy, then I hear Webb wrote a book with parts of it about sucking on little boy’s shlongs… then he gets elected… I am just thinking WTF?? Is Virginia some type of homo pedophile state?
retired on November 9, 2006 at 3:54 PM
No, Webb wrote about what he witnessed in Vietna, which included a religious ritual that people mistook for pedophilia.
Christ, conservatives are ignorant. You have to beat them over the head with facts for hours before they even notice.
Grebrook on November 10, 2006 at 1:53 AM
No, he wrote about something he witnessed in Thailand, and it wasn’t a religious ritual.
Christ, you’re an ill informed, ill mannered waste of time. You wouldn’t know a fact if it bit you on the ass.
Pablo on November 10, 2006 at 7:21 AM
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