Newsweek: The GOP's Senior Moment - and why that could spell trouble for Seniors ahead

[cbdo2007]

The GOP's Senior Moment

The Republicans owe their victory in large part to seniors. Why that could spell trouble ahead.

Despite what the cable coverage may suggest, the most consequential data point to emerge from Election Night 2010 wasn't Christine O'Donnell's defeat in Delaware. Or Linda McMahon's loss in Connecticut. Or even Rand Paul's victory in Kentucky. Instead, it was a single number buried deep in the exit polls: 23.

That's the percentage of voters Tuesday who were over 65 years of age, which explains a lot about how the Republican Party got here, and a lot about where it's going. The question now is whether this senior moment is a positive development for the GOP—or a sign of trouble ahead.

The first thing worth noting is that the number of seniors voting this year was extraordinarily high. Early in the night, many commentators made the mistake of marveling at the big jump
in turnout from 2008 to 2010. That's misleading. The geriatric set always makes up a disproportionate slice of the midterm electorate, so it's not really accurate to compare a midterm to a presidential election. But this year's slice was more like a hunk. In the last midterm elections, in 2006, over-65ers made up 19 percent of the voter pool; the same goes for 1994, the last time the GOP ran the board on a recently elected Democratic president. So this year's number—again, 23 percent—is a full 4 percentage points higher than the recent benchmarks. It was a historic night for early-birders.

On Tuesday, this senior support helped Republican candidates get the results they wanted. But in the long run, it may prove to be a double-edged sword. It is difficult, for example, to fulfill your promises to balance the budget and reduce the national debt without enacting substantive reforms to Medicare and Social Security, and it's almost impossible to reform Medicare and Social Security if your most important constituents are the people who benefit the most from those programs. The result is a lot of hypocrisy—like Republicans resisting precisely the kind of Medicare cuts they've advocated for decades—and a potential split between spending-obsessed Tea Partiers and the establishment conservatives who know they owe their jobs to seniors.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/11/03/forget-the-tea-party-republicans-won-because-of-older-voters.html
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Basically they're saying Seniors fell for the GOP lies and it's going to come back to bite them in the ass later.

[adigal]

1. Oh, well, hope they enjoy their cat food

Mean, I know, but I really don't care.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. +1.

:applause:

[Le Taz Hot]

19. Yeah, I alerted

This has already brought out the "I wish they'd just hurry up and die" DUers.

[adigal]

74. For pete's sake, this was satire!!!

I don't want anyone, even the other side, to have to be poor again. I am a liberal, not a Republican. My point was that these people were so stupid, they voted against their own self-interest. Just stupid, stubborn and uninformed.

Now, I know many older folks who voted Democratic, and I feel terribly for them, because they will be hurt, too.

[Donnachaidh]

80. too late

:rofl:

[classof56]

20. Right on, Tansy Gold!

I'm old, I'm on SS/Medicare, I voted Democrats all the way, and I resent being lumped in with those who apparently "deserve" to have my benefits taken aware and have to eat cat food. As I said in another post, I can only hope my fellow seniors will, when they realize what they have wrought, will join a movement to put a stop to tossing us under the bus.

[lamp_shade]

22. Thank you.

[DaveinJapan]

44. What a load of bullshit.

He admitted to no such thing.

He said that if they voted like idiots, they deserve what they get.

And I agree with that.

And I DO feel sorry for seniors who voted otherwise but will still feel the consequences.

But since when should ANYONE feel sorry for uninformed, idiotic voters who vote (in great numbers) against their own interests?

[malaise]

7. I hope the Koch brothers and Dick Armey

pay for their medical needs. Looks like they cut off their noses to spite their faces.

[lamp_shade]

18. I'm not sure I understand your remark, but as a senior citizen I feel offended by it.

adigal says oh well hope they enjoy their cat food. Mean I know but I really don't care.

[DaveinJapan]

51. He really doesn't care about the people who voted against their own interests, like fools. nt

[adigal]

75. It was satire...they were voting for their own demise

Satire no longer works around here, I see

[mmonk]

93. It doesn't work at my house either. I said to my wife (because

I was angry) that the Republicans better make good on their promise and stop those social security checks and that socialized healthcare called medicare for those seniors in the red states because that's what they voted for. She didn't think it was too funny either.

[mimitabby]

24. ++++

I can't add a vote to this response but you nailed it!!!!

[mimitabby]

28. the point about the cat food

is the people they are voting for are going to cut their throats!
cut all the stuff that is keeping senior citizens comfortably alive!

when they cut the fat off the budget, those nice little buses who take them to their doctor's appointments are going to go away
and so are the great coverages they get with medicare and medicaid.

[SammyWinstonJack]

30. -1

:puke:

[laughingliberal]

50. "They" won't be eating Cat Food. Every plan I've seen protects them and screws anyone under 58. nt

[TwilightGardener]

52. This is true--they know they're home free, so...screw the rest of you!

(Speaking, of course, of those elderly who vote Teapublican)

[DUFan]

56. Scroll down below the article and see

what "Mike" wrote. This is the common thought about why they want to get Obama and the Dems out.

[laughingliberal]

57. That's it, exactly. nt

[Jennicut]

2. And I hate to say this, but those older people will only be getting, well, old.

My parents are nearly 65 years old. These people are very reactionary and they came out in huge #'s. But general elections are not midterms and the future of the GOP has aging voters. I would rather be Dems, with the Millenials growing up into their thirties then the Repubs with the older voters only getting old. Eventually your base dies out if they are older, simple fact. The GOP needs to make up some ground with thirty and forty somethings to make up for it. May not happen in 2 or 4 years but it will come back to haunt them.

[Le Taz Hot]

13. See?

We'll all be dead soon enough so you'll have the perfect world you wish for when there's only young people doing just the right thing all the time. :puke:

[Jennicut]

91. There is no perfect world but the fact remains overwhelmingly that

younger people are less reactionary on gay rights issues, abortion, taxes and spending on the poor and health care reform. I am not talking about my generation. Gen X is more tolerant socially but still split on fiscal issues. The Millenials are the most liberal among us. If they stay that way, it would mean good things for the Dem party. When the Repub base gets even older, it is a good thing for the Dem party. Now, not everyone over 65 is a teabag idiot (just as not all young people are liberal). But the truth is, a lot in this age group are more conservative. I have no idea why but many baby boomers my parents age are very conservative.

[Arugula Latte]

79. Another demographic factor besides a dying out base: Latino voters coming up.

The GOP will be squeezed from both sides, hopefully.

[emulatorloo]

3. Maybe Seniors will turn off fox news in a year or so.

[otohara]

54. Fat Chance

Assisted living community type places I've visited for one reason or another, always have FOX on.

[daa]

4. Or to put it another way

the older whiter population that supported Hillary and voted for Obama are so, so disappointed that they bailed on him.

[Jennicut]

6. There wasn't much of them to begin with.

[daa]

27. I guess there were enough of them to vote in

Obama and a dem house and senate.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. A guest on WNYC (NPR-New York) said that seniors who voted believe that HRC will reduce their

Medicare benefits and of course, they didn't do their homework.

[emulatorloo]

31. Well, that's what all the Karl Rove Lie Ads said.

My mother-in-law is a die hard Democrat. But she is easily confused by these kinds of manipulations - junk mail that looks "Official", phone solicitors etc. It is good we are around to help her.

[DUFan]

45. Yes, this is what did it.

They believe that the new health reforms are going to take from Medicare to fund the reforms.

[tridim]

9. How cute, Newsweak thinks Republicans work for their voters.

Durrrr..

[classof56]

10. Well, as a senior who did not fall for the GOP lies...

I would like it if my ass is not one of the ones that gets bit because of the stupidity of so many of my fellow seniors. I can only hope once they all realize what they have wrought, they'll join me in fighting against balancing the budget on our backs.

Gonna be an interesting couple of years! Keep telling myself--hope is not dead and does indeed spring eternal.

[TwilightGardener]

11. Something I've always wondered--if the saying about age and wisdom is true, then

why are the elderly so easily frightened and suckered and scammed? And why, near the end of their lives, do they worry more about themselves than about the world that their grandchildren and great grandchildren will live in? Why would they want a diminished safety net, a lower standard of living than they enjoyed, and a meaner, greedier society for their descendants?

[cbdo2007]

25. This may be crass...but one of the comments to the article said

"It isn't that old people are getting more stupid. It's that more stupid people are getting old."

Just thought that was an interesting way to look at it, but it makes sense I think. Of course, I'm a "young" person but it seems like the Senior paranoia is more rampant now than it has been as long as I can remember. Not just "old" people but all of the Fox News crowd just are not interested in checking whether or not the things they say is true, they just believe it.

[TwilightGardener]

33. This may be true--that the none-too-bright are simply living longer, thanks

largely to gubmint-run health insurance. And thus make up the bulk of the Fox/Rush audience.

[howaboutme]

37. I get email from R friends all the time that is fabricated BS

It has become standard operating procedure for the Rovite Republican boiler shops to send those on GOP mailing lists incendiary email lies to generate donations and opinions. Senior citizens are not immune from it. I regularly use "reply all" and snopes etc to correct the fabrications and BS.

BTW I associate with those of all political ideologies and not just my own.

[enough]

32. I've wondered about this as I watched my parents become more reactionary as they aged.

I honestly think it's because many old people spend a very high percentage of their time watching television. The 24/7 scare tactics work, especially if you have less active interaction with the larger outside world.

Sad to say, I have not noticed an increase in wisdom with age.

And I say this as an old-timer myself (66).

[TwilightGardener]

36. And yet, my dad and my in-laws have become more tolerant

and expansive-minded as they've hit their 60's and 70's--of course they're all lifelong Democrats...edit to add, I think you're right about TV. Unfortunately, the news isn't the same as when Walter Cronkite had his heyday, but they don't know that...

[Skidmore]

76. That is the most craven, self-serving, and crass thing I've seen written to date at DU.

Where do you get off with making the underlying assumption underpinning your questions that as one ages their capacity to care is diminished? I am a mother and grandmother and an older woman who has tried very hard to make world that is better for my descendants. I track as carefully as I can and over the years have worked hard to provide an adequate living for my kids while teaching them how to care for themselves when I would no longer be around. We both worked damned hard and saved all that we could. I was single parenting for a period of my adult life too. At this point in my life in a culture that does not value older people, I'm finding myself trying to figure out how I will not be a burden to my family should resources run out. The older I get I find myself factoring the possibility of homelessness into that equation.

Not every older person is middle or upper middle class, nor should you assume that everyone had the benefits of a college education or parent who could afford to foot their bills for them for a protracted period of time. Most of our parents were children of the Great Depression. Some of them made it out of poverty at relatively young ages, and many didn't. We don't all start on the same square in the game of life.

Like it or not we have a diminished safety net because we are put out to pasture and expected to not make any demands for survival at the end of a life spent investing in raising the next generation. You did not spring fully formed from someone's brow. So where do you get off with this insulting question? Are we not becoming soylent green fast enough for you? Do you have any outrage left for the business school/finance college whiz kids who decided to turn our banking system into a casino? Do you have no outrage for the endless stream of lawyers who helped twist miniscule print six ways to Sunday to abet these whiz kids?

You ask why people are frighted and suckered and scammed? I certainly hope that you are soooooo much more savvy in your elder years when you have failing health, limited resources, and everyone half your age is so sure you've worn out your welcome on this earth.

I find your post highly insulting and presumptuous.

[TwilightGardener]

78. Oh well. In light of this article, and statistics...I stand by my post.

There's something wrong with the elderly when they vote GOP--they are the very people who benefit the most from Dem policies, and yet as a group seem to dislike Dems the most. And very often seem antagonistic, even hostile, toward younger generations--or act superior (WE didn't live beyond our means, etc.). Not all--but many. If you take offense at my pointing out and commenting on what I believe to be true, that's your business.

[lamp_shade]

14. Thanks. I like this article. I just emailed it to a bunch of my "senior" friends.

[old mark]

15. Not yet over 65, but closing in on it - I'm still a nasty progressive who hates the right

passionately.

Sadly, I would not count on much help from other early boomers (like me), though - they were conservative jerks in college till they were threatened with being drafted, and became conservative jerks again after the threat was removed.
The "Liberal Boomer" legend persists - the facts don't support it.

It is going to be a hard, uphill fight and don't think the Right won't do everything it can to keep winning.

mark

[Jennicut]

92. It is the truth. My parents are the older boomers and were Reaganites in the 80's.

Nothing has changed for them, they were never that liberal to begin with. My Dad voter for Carter but then voted for Reagan and is now a regular Faux news watcher. This group (in their early to mid 60's) has never been that liberal. They were already out in the working world by the time 1969 came around.

[Le Taz Hot]

16. I knew this thread was going to turn ugly

and, sure enough, it has.

I'm always up front when I do this. I alerted though ageist posts and posts against the overweight are generally accepted here on DU.

[cbdo2007]

26. Is your complaint about the OP or about the comments?

I didn't think my OP was offensive but maybe I"m wrong.

[Le Taz Hot]

34. "Senior Moment"

is highly offensive -- it implies that we're all senile and unable to think clearly. It lumps us all together which is, by definition, bigoted.

[cbdo2007]

40. Apologies - this was taken directly from the article headline.

To be fair, they're saying "senior moment" because more seniors came out to vote for the GOP this year which helped them win in many districts, but I do get what you're saying.

Take it up with Newsweek though, not me. I'm just the messenger and the rest of the article about these seniors who were lied to and tricked is spot on.

[Le Taz Hot]

42. Yes, I understand the point.

We've all lived long enough to have heard "the point" 4,368,295 times and that's just on this board.

I took it up with you because you chose to post it. Now, all of a sudden, you're "just the messenger." Well, perhaps I can convey to you this message: I'm a hell of a lot smarter at 55 than I was when I was 25.

[cbdo2007]

43. Well good, then the article isn't about you anyways.

Hopefully other seniors can look up to you and your rational wisdom.

[Le Taz Hot]

48. Well, yes, the article IS about me.

I'm over 50 and considered a senior. It is about me and millions like me.

[cbdo2007]

65. Were you tricked into voting Republican this election because you thought the

Health Care Bill was cutting $500 Billion from Medicare and all the other lies they're spouting??

This article isn't about ALL Seniors - it is about the Seniors who were led to believe one thing to get their vote, but will realize in the coming years that what they believed about the Health Care Bill was all lies, and they're going to see cuts.

You at least know what's going to happen and see it ahead of time. That's the point. You know the truth - they don't. They were tricked. They were lied to. Don't be mad at me for posting a Newsweek article that blatantly points this out 2 days after a major election, be mad at the Seniors who believe all this horse shit and threaten benefits for everyone else.

[Historic NY]

73. You can't be informed if you sit in front of the FOX Boobs.

[NNN0LHI]

17. I wonder why all the scam artists tend to target the elderly?

Keep in mind the only people you can scam are the ones who are hoping they are going to get something for nothing.

Don

[Kalyke]

21. They were also more white.

Effectively, they would rather be racists than have protective social safety nets.

[howaboutme]

23. Don't blame seniors

Don't blame seniors. Blame politicians in both Parties that refused to take on their corporate interests/benefactors/bribers.

WTF was it necessary to have a 2000 page health care bill with many special exemptions and exceptions when a 10 page bill prescribing a public option and medicare for all funded by a payroll tax that taxed every citizen including the ultra rich Wall Streeters and entertainers and CEOs that typically pay no payroll/SS tax. Answer: Many D and R politicians refused to buck big money.

Seniors vote in large numbers. They have the time to analyze issues, and they actually work harder to defend our democracy than those that refuse to take 10 minutes out of their life to order an absentee ballot. We should have 90% of Americans voting and in a good year we might get 40%.

[bullwinkle428]

29. Sounds like the "Keep your government hands off my Medicare" group

came out in droves!

[glitch]

35. A couple I know never learned to question authority. They watch that horrible guy on the 700 club

what's his name, he looks like an animatron in a carnival sideshow (sorry, but really he does) and follow whatever he says, nodding.
And all those plastic ladies around him treating him like some kind of wise old patriarch. Shudder. I am glad I don't live in their world.

[LeFleur1]

41. It's True

that older people trust that people will tell the truth. Blatant lying isn't part of their heritage.
Yeah, they knew liars, but not the number and degree that we have today.

It's also true that most older people grew up balancing their budgets, living on their income. This spending beyond means is frightening to them in many ways, and, as we've seen, for good reason.

BUT for people to lump all seniors together is too much like saying
ALL blacks
All Asians
All Mexicans
All teenagers
I thought for sure people on DU would be above that. I guess not.
My husband and I have been seniors for years. We've voted the Democratic ticket forever. Don't blame us for this mess. Some Seniors I know weren't thrilled with this administrations weak performance, the appointment of Bush people to important positions after a campaign that promised we would turn around and go down a better road. Darn those old people. They too often actually believe what a presidential candidate says.

[glitch]

58. I hope you are not implying that I am lumping all seniors together simply by relaying a story about

a couple I know. That would be broadbrush too.

I know a lot of seniors, my folks were firebrand liberals. FIREBRAND. But this couple I know also exist and are worthy of comment, especially because of their vulnerability to propaganda. I am not concerned about the firebrands, I am concerned about the propagandists and the people who follow them.

[wisteria]

38. Yes, many of our older generation fell for the death panel lies and the

other health care scare tactics pontificated by the Repubs.

[WCGreen]

39. I don't care what they say in Newsweek...

They are part of the problem, inflating the tea party because it made for great pictures and an easy story. Chasing down any sory that was handed to them by the PR machines run by and for the Right Wing because well, it's easy and you don't really have to work at it...

No the real problem is Race.

I said it before and I'll say it again.

All those exaggerated pictures of president Obama with bones in his nose, or an African Headdress or the Birthers was all about scaring the seniors, playing on their worse fear that the other, those brown and black skin people, are threatening our way of life.

It has worked in American politics since the day the first person not from England showed up on our shores...

[SoCalDem]

46. Well, every year from here on in, there will be MORE "over-65ers"

as more Boomers enter that "new frontier"...

Whatever way they voted as 40-64, will automatically now transfer to the next higher demographic.

[kratos2012]

47. If the Democrats aid and abet the Repuklicans

in cutting SS and Medicare they will undoubtedly get all of the blame for doing so.

The only way for Dems to win this part of the electorate over again is to dig their heels in and refuse any cuts to these programs and instead insist on raising taxes on the wealthy to pay for them.

That is the only way.

Any "compromise" by Dems on this will be used as a bludgeon against them by Repubs who lie as easily as they breathe, example: 2010 Midterm results.

[laughingliberal]

49. This bunch has always voted GOP heavily. They know their SS is safe. It's us almost seniors who...

will be screwed. And there's never been a single indication they give a damn about what happens to those who come after.

After living their lives largely with the benefits of strong labor protections and effective social safety nets, they consistently vote to make sure none of that is left for anyone younger. It's not an accident the pols make sure to say no one over 58 will be affected by changes to SS.

[CTyankee]

55. I don't know. I've been a staunch liberal all my life. Why on earth does anyone assume I would

change once I reached age 65? Magic?

[laughingliberal]

61. I don't know anything about you, personally, but it's been clear that the generation just ahead of

the Baby Boomers and the 'Greatest Generation' were voting GOP for years. They voted for Reagan in droves.

[CTyankee]

64. What was riling me up was the idea that we somehow get more conservative as we age.

As if that is somekind of "law of nature." I know plenty of aging and old liberals. We're the ones who were out protesting the Vietnam War...remember us?

[laughingliberal]

81. No, these asshats were conservative when they were young.

The 'Greatest Generation' down to those just a bit older than the Baby Boomers have always been this way. These very people are the ones who voted ecstatically for Reagan.

They started their working lives with all the protections of the New Deal and they've voted to make sure no one after them gets any of that.

I remember about the boomers. I am one. I have a problem with seeing that, for years, the boomers have been blamed for the shit this bunch pulls. The oldest baby boomer just turned 65. This article is talking about the over 65's. They are the same people we've been up against from the get go.

[Raksha]

86. Absolutely true! I refuse to even call them "the Greatest Generation" for that very reason.

Re "They started their working lives with all the protections of the New Deal and they've voted to make sure no one after them gets any of that.

"I remember about the boomers. I am one. I have a problem with seeing that, for years, the boomers have been blamed for the shit this bunch pulls. The oldest baby boomer just turned 65. This article is talking about the over 65's. They are the same people we've been up against from the get go."

I'm another early-vintage Boomer and I turn 65 in February. The so-called "Greatest Generation" are my parents' generation. It's true that they fought WWII, but those who survived were amply rewarded for it, not only during their working years, but further on into what was/is for the most part a VERY comfortable retirement. Most of them have generous pensions as well as Social Security, and those are now a thing of the past.

You are absolutely right that they started their working lives with all the protections and opportunities of the New Deal, which continued into the postwar boom years of the 1950s and 1960s, and those that were vets received some very generous V.A. benefits as well. And yet they showed their "gratitude" by voting for Reagan in droves, and obviously don't care about depriving the generations after them the same benefits they had. And they have the fucking gall to call US "the ME generation"!!!

[Odin2005]

96. don't confuse these jokers with the Greatest Generation, the Greatest leaned Left.

It's the Silent Generation as in "Silent Majoirty" that was born in between the Greatest generation and the Boomers that are the reactionaries.

[DUFan]

59. Actually, they are very afraid of the Dems.

Scroll down below the article and see what "Mike" had to say. This is what I hear from the elderly people I know.

[Odin2005]

95. Nixon's "Silent Majority" has spat in us younger folks' faces.

[wilt the stilt]

53. I posted on this subect yesterday

We only have ourselves to blame. Instead of doing the heavy lifting(Dean was great at motivating us and Kaine was terrible at it). We needed to hit the streets and educate the elderly and at the same time get the youth out to vote. I am as guilty as anyone.

Rove is as cynical as anyone. if he wasn't doing this he would be selling burial plots over the phone to the elderly or any other number of scams to the retired.

The youth was only 11% of the electorate.

The dividing year for the modern world is the high school class of 1965. Before that your view is very skewered to the fifties and precomputer. After that college classes included computer programming.

The right confused the elderly into the medicare cuts. The brain starts to shrink as you age and once into retirement it is no longer getting the stimulation required to be able to dissect information. Of course this is a generalization but most men lose it faster than women.

The right only cares about itself. Name anything the right has done for someone else where they don't personally benefit. There is no chance that they would have fought for civil tights because their was no benefit to themselves.

It really is our fault(I'm 59)

[CTyankee]

63. Hmm, I went to graduate school at age 59 and got my Master's (cum laude) at age 63.

I am currently retired and doing extensive art history research on my own. If anything, age and retirement have opened new paths of learning and discovery. I travel broadly as often as possible on my limited budget.

I have never wavered from my progressive beliefs -- the idea baffles me. I care about my 40 something kids and my grandkids. And I am not alone by a long shot. I tutor in ESOL and volunteer with the Institute for Learning in Retirement, offering my services as a lecturer in poetry. And I am active in politics, both local and national.

There are plenty of us around...

[wilt the stilt]

66. Stop being so focused on yourself

Ask yourself this question How many elderly people were in class with you? Do you consider yourself the norm of your age group? You were still 59(which I am) and my brain and memory is very sharp. I have always exercised my memory but with that in mind (I was also good at math) if I pick up a calculus book now it is quite the struggle to try to go back and use it.

Marketing strategies are developed with the most in mind not the exception.

This is why the seniors are always the target of scams. This is a broad generalization. In actuarial tables state that men die 7 years after they retire.

[CTyankee]

70. what are you talking about?

[wilt the stilt]

72. edited my repply please reread

[CTyankee]

83. There WERE aging seniors in my classes as a matter of fact.

People returning to school after retirement or who were close to retirement. I had professors who told me they loved teaching seniors because of their interest and maturity. A few years later I took Italian 101 and 102 at a local community college and there were aging seniors there (CT allow seniors to take courses at community colleges tuition free if space is available and seniors I know take advantage of it). And ILR in my community offers lots of courses in all kinds of subjects and has a large membership. Obviously, I self select the people I interact with, but my point is that there is a vibrant senior community out there...we're not dead yet...

[wilt the stilt]

84. once again

do you consider that the norm? I think that is probably not the norm. Ok take a look at what happened in this election. What areas stayed blue
Mass.
NY
CT
CA


What is the common thread here. Respect for education and higher learning. Repubs play to the norm where education is considered to almost be evil. We are talking anti intellectual areas. Moat of these other places like Palin. Most educated areas(blue and urban) look at her as an idiot.

So when they devised a strategy to appeal to the selfish element of people and the fact that as one get's older the brain actually starts to shrink they come out a winner.

[CTyankee]

85. I agree that education makesa huge difference.

But ignorance is ignorance at any age level. And playing to fears and prejudices is what the righties do best!

[napi21]

60. Percentages like that can be very misleading. You need to know how many total

votes there were in each year you're comparing. Then you need to know how manny voters were in each age catagory. ie: If you had 150 million voters in 2006, 29 million were seniors, andn the rest divided amoung the other age catagories; then i 2010 you had 120 million voters,28 million wre seniors, the % of seniors would still be almost the same but the # of voters in the other age brackets went down.

The other vaariable is because of the "baby boomer generation" are there just more seniors in 2010 han thee were in 2006.

My experience has been that almsot all seniors, especially those who are retired, always vote. Unfortunately, the majority of them vote Pub too! If you think about it, it's always the lder people who don't want things to change. They still carry with them all those old prejudices against people of color, gays, etc and I've always said "at least we can look forward to those ideas ding off with their believers." BTW, I have everyright to say those things because I AM a Senior myself!

[Rex]

62. Ah yes, Newsweek and their love of the Pukers. Why?

If we only had accuracy in reporting the news...sigh...seniors will lose big time over this and wonder what happened!? Argh.

[cbdo2007]

67. Agree Newsweek is part of the problem here - but it still seems like a major development for 2 days

after the election, they blatantly come out with an article saying,

"Seniors were tricked and lied to into voting for the Repubes this year and they fell for it!!"

It's basically saying all Seniors who voted for Repubes this year are idiots. We need to jump on this and get the word out to those Seniors that they were tricked and EVERYONE knows it but them!

[Rex]

71. How do we convince them? Even if we could sit down with each one

I have a feeling we would be scorned from the very beginning. It is like we would have to totally re-educate them about the political right and left (personally I've worked with a lot of seniors and they hate being lectured to). I agree, this needs to be exposed for what it is - the M$M once again held back news that they knew would hurt the GOP and senior citizens!

[cbdo2007]

77. YES - THANK YOU!!! That is the point - the MSM knew these were lies ahead of time....

and didn't bother to tell anyone until after the election.

It's sometimes hard for me to get my thoughts down correctly, but you've hit the nail on the head. This is solid proof of the MSM changing their story, they day after the election and basically saying to Seniors, "You should have known better..." yet they didn't print any of this stuff BEFORE the election.

I forwarded to the Daily Show, but not sure what good that would do. Hopefully Olbermann or Maddow or somebody will pick up on this as well because this needs to get some attention I think.

[Arkansas Granny]

68. What's the percentage of voters under the age of 30 and how many of them turned out to vote?

I've seen several reports online and elsewhere talking about the lack of turnout in the youth vote. This could have had an effect on the outcome, also.

[wilt the stilt]

88. 11%

18-29 2008- 18%
2010-115
OVER 65
2008- 11%
2010-25%

honestly, it is insane to have people over 65 determining the future of the country

[newspeak]

69. most of the angle bumperstickers I noticed

seniors were driving. One person was disabled. Now, either these people are totally into believing the crazy shite that angle dished out or they believe the great corporate gods need to rule. I bet every damn one of them was on assistance, but are more into the "I got mine screw everyone else even my children." I am 57 and will be one of the ones they want to screw--there is no way in hell do I trust a deregulated wallstreet for my retirement benefits, I swear some people in this country are so damn gullible or actually believe in the deregulated free market fairy.

[laughingliberal]

82. Yep. Like I said, this group locked their benefits up years ago & are happy to see us starve.

I'm 55 and know a whole slew of retirees up here who voted for Angle.

I told one, "Well, thanks for not caring if I starve."

Fuckers!

[Starbucks Anarchist]

87. No sympathy for them if their benefits get cut.

They knew what they were voting for.

[ThoughtCriminal]

89. Simple enough - just screw the next generation

You can always use a formula that panders to a demographic you want, and screw younger generations that have smaller turnout. One thing the GOP has learned is that they will not be held accountable.

[taught_me_patience]

90. They know they'll be grandfathered in

and cuts will affect younger generations. Therefore, they don't give a shit.

[Odin2005]

94. As I said in another thread, the Silent generation gave the rest of us a big "FUCK YOU!".

The generation of MLK jr, RFK, and Carl Sagan has gone to the dogs in their old age.

[mistertrickster]

97. Of course, the MSM ignores the single biggest cost to our gov't--the military.

Soc Security collects a dedicated tax. It helps to keep gov't solvent because of decades of SURPLUS.

The military is a complete and total drain -- the greatest single expense the gov't has -- yet, it's always ignored.

[HuckleB]

98. Another 2010 may be a mere hiccup.