Rg Just Proved Once Again That Congress Doesnã¢â‚¬â„¢t Understand the Internet

November 1, 2006

It's Wednesday Morning. Was it Good for You?

It's Wednesday Morning. Was it Good for You?

Click to Listen to the Show (24 MB MP3)

The most likely outcome after Tuesday's midterm elections is a new majority in the House and a couple of squeakers that lead to an evenly divided Senate. But regardless of who wins, there will be plenty that's new in Congress, plenty of new plans on Wednesday morning, plenty of old enemies to pay back, plenty of aggressive awareness that it's only two more years until we choose the next President.

But that's Congress. What about you? The last time the Republicans won, some Americans considered moving to Canada or posted pictures of themselves to the Internet with the words "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry," that is, to the world, for being American. What happens if the Democrats win, when "I'm sorry" turns into "Hoo doggie!"? If you're a Republican, are you more or less of one after the election? How has this summer of infighting — new among Republicans — changed you?

On the morning of Wednesday, November 8th, we'll be collecting comments, emails and blog posts that answer the question "Was it good for you?" Is YOUR life — not Nancy Pelosi's or George Bush's — better or worse? Have your plans changed? Has your party affiliation? We'll be looking at the election results at a personal level, asking how each of you is reacting now that the world has realigned itself.

Or hasn't.

Obviously you can't write about Wednesday morning until Tuesday night has happened. To participate, send a short email now to everyone radioopensource org (turn it into an email address). We'll check back in on Wednesday morning to see how you feel.

Steve Almond

Author, The Evil BB Chow and Other Stories, My Life in Heavy Metal, and Candyfreak

Megan McArdle

Blogger, Asymmetrical Information

Global agenda correspondent, The Economist

Jay Stevens

Blogger, 4&20 Blackbirds

Dee Vantuyl

Author, The Chatterbox Chronicles

Toby Archer

Toby in the North, Open Source commenter

Matt Stoller

Political activist

Blogger, MyDD

Update, 11/8/06 5:51 pm

And the responses rolled in. Here's a sample. More to come.

7 a.m.: The radio alarm wakes us up. NPR briskly announces that the Democrats have taken the House. I'm trembling with glee. No, wait, I'm trembling with cold. I look out the window. It's pouring rain. The Democrats never said anything about rain.

Alice Bradley, A whole new world! The first three hours, Finslippy.

If I could have created a perfect candidate, he or she would have wanted to end illegal immigration, improved our national image, created a true winning strategy in the Middle East, reduced gasoline costs by eliminating the tax breaks given to the big oil companies, maintained our current federal income tax breaks for individuals, created civil unions, banned partial-birth abortions, banned smoking in all public places, improved medical and life insurance coverage for our military, reduced medical malpractice lawsuits, and provided more public funding for higher education. I know. Pipe dream. But that's what I wanted from my candidates yesterday.

AF Sister, F-itty F F, My Side of the Puddle

.

Virginia is changing. There are now a decent number of South Asians in Virginia — 77,000 — and a significant subset of them are voting American citizens. Assuming that the vast majority were voting for Webb, there are certainly enough desis there to have affected the final tally of the election in Webb's favor.

Amardeep Singh, Macacas, Youtube and the Question of Respect, Sepia Mutiny.

I still maintain that most of the country is closer to the middle of the aisle than to the far right or left. I believe that most Americans love America, want it terror and Sharia free, want our children safe from predators and activist courts that would free them and want the partisan bickering to end so that actual progress can be made.

Ala, New Direction or Stand Still, Blonde Sagacity.

Whether it was gun control, gay marriage, immigration, national defense, abortion or taxes, the blue dog democrats who were elected more closely reflect my values than Lincoln Chaffe ever did.

1st/14th, in a comment to Open Source.

If you want to try running on fiscal conservativism here in NY, that will work. But a national party that embraces record deficits and religious extremism has nothing to offer New Yorkers.

Dora, in a comment to Open Source.

I left Columbus around 11:30 for the two hour ride home. Talk about your bad ideas. Two hours to stew over the election results in sheer darkness turns out to be a painful process. Something interesting happened, though. The ride turned out to be cathartic as well. I definitely went through the five stages of dealing with grief.

Matt Dole, So That's What That Feels Like, Lincoln Logs.

In the long run, though, the real issues have to be this thundering race between China and the US to see who can puke the most carbon into the atmosphere, America's attempt to bankrupt itself with debt, and our ongoing efforts to blind ourselves to the problems with religion.

PZ Myers, Morning-after Cynicism, Pharyngula.

I was born in a Third World country, and I might well just die in one, so I guess I best get a move on to make sure that I'm nicely ensconsed in the coming oligarchy. But that is the future, the danger down the generations must for the moment cede ground to the government abomination of the present. Sometimes the right hand needs the left, and two wrongs do make a right.

Razib, The Election — the monkey wrench, Gene Expression.

I suspect tomorrow will be like a bag of potato chips – on the one hand, there will be short-term satisfaction, but on the other, there will also be a butt load of empty calories and another step toward diabetes or a heart attack.

Sopper14, in a comment to Open Source

.

This, however, is another day, another pure opportunity to be stunned. The first bruise of sunlight is creeping behind the houses across the alley. Does the world this morning feel like a better or safer place? Maybe you're one of the lucky ones, and can't answer that question with any real honesty or perspective.

Brad Zeller, One More Morning in America, Yo, Ivanhoe

.

My greatest fear is that we roll over and look at what we are in bed with and wonder, am I going to regret this? Change is an integral part of life, but we want change for the better, not change for the sake of change.

boyfrmnyc, in a comment to Open Source

.

The e-mails have already started this morning, "oh look, the country has come to it's senses, when are you moving back?" as if moving to Canada was done on a whim. This is home now; this is where I want to be. Just because the politics of where I lived has changed doesn't mean that the culture will.

Nikolas, It's Morning in the United States, Life Without Borders.

It's almost like being lifted out of your life and set down in a new reality, a reality where struggle and survival and "what it takes to get through it" become commonplace – suddenly, the election doesn't matter, the price of gas, and the fact that the sushi place shorted us a california roll… it flows in and out and between the facts and emotions and raw data of cancer and chemo and what it means to my little family.

Jennifer Seabs, First Do No Harm, Weight of My World.

I've been watching these elections since the early '40s when the big argument was, 'should we change horses in midstream when the stream was right in the middle of WW II?'

joel, in a comment to Open Source.

Instead of casting doubt over the Democrats' ability to make massive gains in the races, the punditry now doubts the Democrats' ability to affect any real change.

Nice honeymoon period.

Marc Faletti, "Dammit, I thought I'd wake up this morning why aren't there $100 bills spilling out of my mailbox? I hate this Congress!", Punk Ass Blog.

I'm most distraught when I think about what this means for the sanctity of marriage. What message does this send to kids everywhere about what our President describes as our most "sacred institution," the foundation of our society. I do aspect Mr. Bush to come out today and decry this misuse of marriage. I mean this is a slippery slope folks; next you'll have men marrying dogs and drive-thru abortion clinics.

Say it ain't so Britney!

nother, in a comment to Open Source.

Related Content

nortoncoudes.blogspot.com

Source: https://radioopensource.org/its-wednesday-morning-was-it-good-for-you/

Share this post