Via Raw Story.

Last night on the Faux News Channel, Bill O’Reilly explained that President Obama won re-election because “the voters — many of them — feel that this economic system is stacked against them and they want stuff.” Does O’Reilly consider this some kind of profound analysis? It’s how democracy is supposed to work all the time.

It’s true. We voters want a lot. We want a government in Washington that represents the people. We want peace, and prosperity for everyone (not just the rich). We want clean air and water, energy conservation, and a livable planet. We want an end to unconstitutional government surveillance, and policies that permit U.S. citizens to be assassinated and imprisoned without due process of law. We want torturers and Wall Street fraudsters to be convicted of their crimes in federal court. We want to take good care of our military veterans who have sacrificed so much for this country. We want the Social Security and Medicare benefits we earned through a lifetime of work, even if it means the rich have to pay more taxes. We want everyone’s constitutional rights to be respected, particularly women and minorities. We want immigrants to be treated fairly, and not exploited or persecuted.

But wait just one minute, O’Reilly. Do you believe the millionaires and billionaires who financed the most expensive election in American history didn’t demand anything in return for their contributions? It’s not just the 99 Percent who want stuff. The 1 Percent are trying to increase their wealth at our expense, using the power of government policy.

UPDATE: Steve Benen wonders how Karl Rove’s day is going today.

I imagine there are some fascinating behind-the-scenes conversations taking place in the political world this morning, but the chats I’d especially like to hear are the ones between the most generous Republican donors and the party officials who didn’t deliver.

Precise estimates vary, but by all accounts, Republican casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, for example, invested tens of millions of dollars in the 2012 cycle, including writing several large checks to Rove’s Crossroads attack operation. Rove effectively told Adelson and other hyper-wealthy donors, “Give me your money and I’ll deliver the election results you want.”

The checks came. The victories didn’t.

UPDATE: You can count on Glenn Greenwald to rain on the progressive parade:

It is widely expected – including by liberals – that Obama intends (again) to pursue a so-called “Grand Bargain” with the GOP: a deficit- and debt-cutting agreement whereby the GOP agrees to some very modest tax increases on the rich in exchange for substantial cuts to entitlement programs such as social security and Medicare, the crown legislative jewels of American liberalism.

…With last night’s results, one can choose to see things two ways: (1) emboldened by their success and the obvious movement of the electorate in their direction, liberals will resolve that this time things will be different, that their willingness to be Good Partisan Soldiers depends upon their core values not being ignored and stomped on, or (2) inebriated with love and gratitude for Obama for having vanquished the evil Republican villains, they will follow their beloved superhero wherever he goes with even more loyalty than before. One does not need to be Nate Silver to be able to use the available historical data to see which of those two courses is the far more likely one.

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