Good Job S. Alabama. You Do Me proud!

And the Tea Party wave peaked, broke and receded on the Beaches of Alabama.

Long story short, in what was billed as a bellweather special election, a mainstream Republican and a Tea Party Crazy (for those still arguing that the Tea Party ISN'T just the craziest of the crazies, keep in mind that this Tea Party crazy was the hand picked flag-barer of Roy Moore).

Hype before election:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...d9eee2-44ce-11e3-bf0c-cebf37c6f484_story.html

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpoli...shment-digs-deep-for-alabama-special-election

http://dailycaller.com/2013/11/04/thedcs-election-guide-three-key-statewide-races-to-watch/

Results: sanity 52, insanity 48.
http://blog.al.com/live/2013/11/bradley_byrne_beats_back_surpr.html

The other side of the Rockies are almost like a foreign country.

Restraining the Federal government within its constitutional limits? Madness!

Maybe.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/11/civil-war-battle-explains-2013-elections

Certainly, the defeat of the crazies in Alabama and Virginia, coupled with the success of more responsible Republicans in New Jersey and Alabama bodes well. But there are going to be people saying "not crazy enough," for an explanation. And if the mote mainstream branch of the GOP decides to coast on the idea that the corner has been turned, they may be in for a surprise next year.

Yet if Christie gets the nomination in 16 the left and media are going to tar and feather him as a Right Wing Nut worse the W and Reagan's bastard Ayn Rand demon spawn.

You really don't get it. A Republican who can win in New Jersey and other blue states is a Republican that doesn't bother me too much. Nominate a guy like Christie and the GOP likely wins.

Exactly. He's basically a Democrat.

They won't have to. He'll never win the GOP primary without reinventing himself as a Right Wing Nut worse the W and Reagan's bastard Ayn Rand demon spawn.

I don't see Christie doing that, but I could be wrong.

Well, he was nice enough to reject a bunch of abhorrent gun laws and sign a couple of good ones. I know he's basically a RINO, but that was good.
http://www.anjrpc.org/

Maybe he's not a RINO, maybe too many Republicans are classified as RINOs who are just moderate Republicans. Democrats aren't all hardcore liberals, quite a few are moderate, or are they just DINOs?

Though some on the right may feel there are no "moderate Democrats", there certainly are. They're not unlike moderate Republicans and it shouldn't be an all or nothing game.

Shit, by my standards, there aren't many Democrats that aren't DINOs.

I mean, really, how many of these fucking lily-livers, and sellouts really stand by their liberal ideals?
A thin handful at best.

Seeing conservatives toss "socialist", as an epithet at these mealy-mouthed center-right corporatist shills is both hilarious and pathetic to me.

Screaming RINO at any republican that isn't to the right of Hitler is just another way the right is marginalizing and embarrasing itself.

I can agree that a lot of the democratic party is painted as "socialist" far too often, considering how much money is showered on both parties by corporations to help do their bidding. However, all I was trying to get at is there should be shades of grey in both parties and I think it helps to balance them out.

Getting rid of some of the ridiculous money spent on politics and special interests is not something I have enough energy to type about though.

Very true. They did it with both McCain and Romney and I don't see why they would stop playing a card that works regardless of how untrue it is.

Romney WAS a nut.

McCain however, was a whore.

Stop rewriting history inside your head.

The tea party did well in this election, make no mistake about it. 4 points is failure, but it's close.

If they can't win in S Alabama anymore then they are done.

You do like your conspiracy theories, dontcha?

Meanwhile, in Virginia:

^

Well maybe that, plus the extra cash his campaign spent over his competitor. They were both pretty flawed candidates from what I've read.

Though I'm pretty content whenever the TEA party loses a race.

A lot of that extra cash came from small contributors through outreach by Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly's organization. Yeah, McAuliffe's no saint, but the Cooch is insane, so good riddance.

The Republicans had everything going for them in Virginia and still managed to lose. Sort of like the Democrats losing in Florida to Rick Scott.

But wait, there's more!

Fifteen under-the-radar progressive wins of Election 2013

With all the clucking, it's easy to overlook another lesson of the Virginia governor's election...

Yep, McAuliffe did his best to lose. Virginia Democrats I know voted for him mostly because the alternative was insane. Had it not been for the crazy, many would have stayed home or voted the Libertarian protest.

A Republican party that can't manage to nominate a candidate who can beat McAuliffe for VA governor in a low turnout election is a party in a whole lot of trouble.

McAuliffe barely won despite his huge fundraising advantage and despite being ahead by double digits as recently as two weeks ago. Congratulations. Meanwhile in New Jersey, Republican Chris Cristie absolutely obliterated his opponent in a deep blue state. So if you're keeping "score" democrats won 1 out of 2 races. Not that it matters since governor's races are more about the candidates than any party.

Yeah, it's next year's House that matters...

if they'd only had the wisdom to stick to that script.