actually, i don't see 97% gridlock as significantly different than 99% gridlock.

off year elections always favor the GOP. if the GOP gains power, and really screws the pooch, the Dems will win all three branches in 2016.

I'm warning you! DON'T GIVE THE FASCISTS A SINGLE INCH OF GROUND!

Ditto. You'll live to regret it like we have.

You Canadians crazy? We Amurkins never ever look what other countries do.
Instead we watch Fox news to find out what the deal is.

really. the states and the feds are often in direct conflict with one another, in fact.

for the record, i never said a damn thing about what SHOULD be done. i merely expressed a possible outcome. you came up with another one. i have no reason to suspect either is more accurate, but please don't paint me as an ADVOCATE. i am a MESSENGER.

please point out the post where any of us expressed any JOY over the GOP winning, Jim, otherwise, i declare your accusation bullshit of the first order.

i suggested in the OP title that a victory for the GOP may be great for Democrats in 2016. that was paraphrasing the article. i wasn't advocating ANYTHING. i was merely summarizing. many here have fervently disagreed. i was trying to explain why it MAY not be all of that bad, again, summarizing the article. but i don't think it is fair to call that "celebrating", at all.

please point out the post where any of us expressed any JOY over the GOP winning, Jim, otherwise, i declare your accusation bullshit of the first order.

I never said you or anyone else who posted was expressing joy at the prospect of a GOP victory.

then you Canadians must have a different meaning of the term HAPPY than we do.

pray- what did you mean by "happily discussing"? did you mean that we were enjoying the English language? or perhaps that we were pleasantly engaged in a discussion? what on Earth did you mean, if not that we were taking some ENJOYMENT over the prospect of the GOP winning?

"Happily discussing" means "pleasantly engaged in a discussion", IMO. At least it does in Canuckistanian. What does it mean in Murrican?

i don't know that anyone can have a pleasant discussion about this, oskar. it is like having a "pleasant discussion about ebola" or a "pleasant discussion about heart disease". but whatever.

if the remark was meant ironically, simply saying so would suffice. but for the record, there is no pleasure in this for me.

Parody rather than irony, methinks.

It's common to have a pleasant (i.e. amicable) discussion among friends about an unpleasant topic, isn't it?

This thread is a perfect example of Cattleman's remark "even the spoken (or written in this case) word can be subjective"

See sooz. I told you posts would ramp up closer to the election.

parodying what? mirthlessness?

i probably would not have been tripped up by the word pleasant, as that is common parlance.

does happy convey the same idea? i didn't even consider that idea, honestly.

amicable and friendly imply the MODE of conveyance, not the MOOD of it.

I realize that Mac. All I'm saying is that for years before Harper got his much lusted majority - everyone seemed to just give them a pass for their supposed miscues and embarrassments. Eventually that led excusing their low level corruption and later their blatant and excessive fraud to the point where it is buried so deep as to be imperceptible. But it's there and it permeates the entire party/government apparatus. So... what seemed petty and of no consequence while they were in opposition was really incrementally softening the people's shock toward their later excesses. It's now to the point where Canadians have been almost completely desensitized to their corruption or are in a deep state of shock while witnessing their incessant depravity.

If Americans give the GOP an inch, they're going to live to regret it for a very long time because Harper's strategy of "take and hold" is exactly what the GOP will do. Trust me. It'll get really ugly really fast. Both the GOP/Tea Party and the Harper CONservatives read from the same play book and sing from the same hymnal. Please understand something here, Mac. My country is on the verge of being destroyed beyond the tipping point of being able to repair the damage done by these fascists. I really wouldn't want to see the same thing happen to America because what's left of her democracy may be all that we have left after Harper is done with us.

topping. good chance for us to all kiss and make up. ;]

my statement about the 2016 elections had nothing to do with "optimism", ftr. it has to do with the demographics that are typical to presidential election years. just for the record, my statements about 2014 were based on that same analysis. i am willing to wait a few more election cycles before people start listening to me. that's cool.