From Denny: Kiss off, billionaire Koch Brothers - and park your XL Pipeline where the sun doesn't shine. President Obama's back in town. And he has a lot of female company. Even though this was primarily an election to protect the status quo, rejecting a societal return to the set of Mad Men, there were some "firsts."
There are five new female senators, completing a 20 group, the largest amount ever in the Senate. Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren is the first woman senator elected from the state of Massachusetts in its history. Col. Tammy Duckworth, a disabled Iraq War vet, won her Illinois House seat after getting trashed by the Republicans as not patriotic enough. She only lost both her legs in service to her country. Wisconsin's Senator-elect Tammy Baldwin is the first openly gay woman elected too.
And the territory of Puerto Rico voted for the first time by 54 percent to decide to become America's 51st state. It is a non-binding resolution which means Congress has to approve it. Puerto Rico has done a lot of soul-searching for decades on this issue. To date, as a territory, they are not allowed to vote - yet are American citizens. How will their vote, if granted, change the political process? Can you imagine just how much the Republicans will fight to stop that possibility? It's their worst nightmare.
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Senator-elect Joe Donnelly won Indiana after the Republican, Rep. Todd Akin, imploded on his "legitimate rape" beliefs he barfed all over America's women. Yeah? Looks like Indiana women vomited right back at him.
There was another "first" - this was the first time $2.5 billion was spent on a presidential election. It was a total of $6 billion spent across the country on all the elections. That screams corruption. It sure isn't surprising to any of the voters, weary of this contentious vicious 2012 race.
Considering Romney's worst nightmare, choosing Paul Ryan - and his political baggage - as his VP, it turns out Ryan was re-elected for his congressional seat. Here's the kicker though: those same folks in that Wisconsin district voted against him for the VP ticket. That should get the Weird Award of the day.
Did Paul Ryan deliver his home state of Wisconsin? No. Did Romney deliver his home state of Massachusetts? Are you kidding? He left office as a disgraced and much maligned governor. Answer: Nope; didn't carry that state either. He lost Michigan too, a place where he grew up. Romney lost California where he has another home. Do any of the neighbors like this guy? That would be a resounding, "No!"
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Why did the Republicans lose so resoundingly?
Why did Romney, Ryan, Rove and their conservative whack-o Republican Party lose so badly? The conversation was reduced to these "talking points" where the candidates effectively imploded any thought of decency:
* Listen, women, you will get nothing and like it. And, hey, we will tell you if your rape was actually legitimate and when you can take your birth control. You have no rights of self-determination. You have no rights to govern your own health. Do what we tell you to do and that's the final word. We are The American Taliban; fear us. Oh, and by the way, don't expect to keep the vote since you keep resisting our constantly shifting definition of rape to protect ourselves from prosecution.
* Hey, Hispanics, go home! Make sure you self-deport so it can get done efficiently and cost us less to get rid of you. Now that's advanced immigration policy! It isn't like we want you to stay here and vote against us in the coming generations.
* And you stupid moochers of the co-dependent 47 percent: What gives you the right to bleed the country dry when you get old and feeble and can't work any more? So what if you worked all your life and contributed to Social Security? It's a stupid entitlement program which you shouldn't get. Social Security monies are promised to Wall Street as play money. We can't disappoint them. Surely you understand.
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* Students? Why should the banks give you anything better than loan shark interest rates for your high student loans? After all, it's good for the economy for you to take the next 30 years of your life to pay off your student debt. That's just good business. Buck up and attend to your responsibility even if it is crushing debt that can never be paid off in your life time.
* Lying at every turn. Lots of flip-flopping on their positions. It was so dizzying the media could not keep pace either to promote them - like Fox News - or mock them like, well, everyone else with a brain. No one knew where Romney and Ryan stood on the issues, including them. Hey, no one could jump on their facts since they didn't own any.
* Odious voter intimidation drove over 27 million to the polls for early voting. A lot of people, especially minorities and women, wanted to make sure their votes were counted. The Republicans and the Tea Party were out in full force to turn voters away from the polls on the official election day. There were even international election observers that were challenged in some states like Texas. The Democrats went to the United Nations to make sure the elections were witnessed as fair. That push back infuriated the Republicans.
* From 1992 at 87 percent, whites are now 72 percent of the country. Republicans had pinned their models to a shrinking white, mostly aging, male base. Hey, boys, the math does not lie.
* Obama took 69 percent of the Jewish vote, 43 percent of white voters and 72 percent of the Latino vote. He did well with women in general. Unmarried women and the youth vote supported Obama above the 60 percent level. Obama took 42 percent of the Protestant vote too though Romney took 57 percent of that demographic. Obama took 303 electoral votes plus Florida yet to be determined to Romney's 206 electoral votes.
* Even though my state of Louisiana went to Romney with 58 percent of the popular vote, my parish (county) went for Obama by 52 percent. Iberville Parish went for Obama by 56 percent. Parts of Louisiana performed this well even though we were completely ignored by the Democrats. Can you imagine how things could change if the Democrats actually put in some real effort to ask for the vote in states where they don't even try?
Now if I could ever convince the Democrats to get serious about campaigning in the South in the off years, long before an important campaign, it would be possible to start picking off southern states from the Republican column. The country would no longer be so divided.
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What voters were really saying in this historic vote
In short, Obama succeeded in stitching together disparate groups to win, OK, the entire country that was not old white male. What was most interesting is how late deciding voters did not break for the challenger in the final days. In the last three days those late deciders broke for the president to the tune of 51 percent to 44 percent for Romney.
This election was a lot less about choosing to support Obama or his weak record that did little to help the middle class. It was more about upholding the rights of the middle class, women and minorities. Many minorities felt they were fighting a second civil rights war.
Obama really owes his second term to the professional politicians like VP Joe Biden and President Bill Clinton who made the case for him and led the way. It took Clinton to define Obama's spotty accomplishments and slap a sparkling polish on them that Obama's political hacks failed to do. It took Joe Biden to rally the troops in his high performing VP debate, trouncing arrogant clueless Ryan. His battle hardened experience and outright truthfulness won the day, reviving the Democratic base.
Romney and his battling Republicans accomplished a lot: they so ticked off the public with voter intimidation that it sent lapsed and inconsistent voters to the polls - in droves. Says Obama to the Republicans, "Good job, guys. Thank you very much for gift wrapping my win! Oh, by the way, this chair's taken."
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