If there's one thing that really bothers me about the American voter...

[MrScorpio]

That, nine times out of ten, whenever the voters unseats a competent and compassionate Democratic leader with some Republican, they have this tendency of choosing some incompetent, mean-spirited asshole to take the seat.

I could live to be 100 and never understand why people shoot themselves in the feet like that.

[leftstreet]

1. How does a competent and compassionate Dem lose his/her seat?

[scarletwoman]

3. Ask former Senator Russ Feingold. (nt)

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

5. This....Stereo Salesman Ron Johnson is embarrassing n/m

[Scuba]

13. You mean the guy who uses prison labor at his factory? That Ron Johnson?

[City Lights]

9. Yup. Russ Feingold was the first name that popped

into my mind when I read the OP.

[leftstreet]

10. 2010 Post-Hope and Change voter fatigue?

I don't know if Feingold would say that, but Democrats took a..'shellacking' as Obama called it

What a sad loss with Feingold

[MrScorpio]

4. Max Cleland, Ann Richards, Ted Strickland...

The ways are varied.

[Thinkingabout]

2. It seems the TP runs amok and somehow they are able to convince people to vote against themselves.

There may be a couple of issues those who think no one is listening and the TP runs out and says they will take care of the problem when in fact if the candidate is only inciting the crowds, they can not accomplish what they promise.

[AndyTiedye]

6. A Tsunami of Corporate Cash and Diebold Republican Electing Machinez Counting Votes

Russ Feingold was outspent by over 4:1, thanks to Citizens United opening the floodgates of unlimited dark money to the GOP coffers.


Max Cleland was leading by double-digits in the final pre-election polls, as was Democratic governor Roy Barnes. They "lost" in the first elections using the new Diebold Republican Electing (DRE) voting machines. No Democrat has won a stateside election in Georgia since.


Electronic voting machines give those operating them complete control of the results.

[jen63]

12. FFS

Ken Blackwell's face gives me nightmares! I've never been soooo thoroughly frustrated in all my life...............

Smug, arrogant ass!

[Wounded Bear]

7. Hell you could say the same thing about Repub pols, too...

They've pretty much destroyed all of the moderates that would at least entertain a compromise solution to a problem.

[scarletwoman]

8. I think there simply lots of people who vote with their ids.

Whoever appeals to the darkest parts of their psyches - they vote for those who give them permission to hate, to look down on others, to feel superior, to sit in judgement, to give in to their most selfish impulses.

Think about it - voting is anonymous, no one has to know. Now think about how some people behave on DU - they're anonymous, they can let loose, give in to their nastiest, meanest selves, say shit to other DUers in ways they'd probably never talk to anyone in their offline lives. But the anonymity lets their ids out to play.

I think it's the same with voting for some people. A candidate comes along - who, to the voters' perception, gives them permission to register a big "fuck you", who seems to offer a direction for their inchoate anger at how fucked over they feel - well, no amount of rational frontal cortex appeals to self-interest is going to overcome the reptilian brain that just wants smash shit.

[Arugula Latte]

11. So many of these voters are simpletons who fall for tough-guy, macho acts.

They don't want to think; they want someone to tell them what's what. They are susceptible to black-and-white thinking and like politicians who seem confident (i.e. brash) and authoritative. They want easy answers and they want a return to a fictional past. Most are religious and so are used to routinely swallowing mythology. Reagan, of course, was the model for a lot of this bullshit.