We're all gonna rock to the rules that I make -- Election 2008

[RGMike]

If they start pushing a far-leftist agenda down everyone's throat they're just going to engender more bad feelings and cause more problems down the road.

Other than the single issue of marriage equality (and y'all know where I personally stand on that), I can't even think of what 'a far-leftist agenda' even entails.  Climate crisis: mainstream.  Find a sensible, non-abrupt way out of Iraq: mainstream.  Beef up Afghanistan & finally nail Bin Laden: mainstream.  Extend health care: mainstream.

Of course the far-RIGHT nutjobs consider *all* that stuff "far-left", and it will fall to the Fox Newsies and their ilk to try to make Every. Single. Dem. Proposal. into a "radical leftist outrage".

But the GOP is in deep doo-doo.  One of their strategists (I forget his name; he's the guy who had a dust-up with Rachel Maddow on her show 2 weeks ago) was on BBC America saying, basically that the Repubs have become the old/white/uneducated/rural party. That's their base, and that group is shrinking, not growing. It's the Palin crowd, and she's welcome to 'em!

[mshray]

If they start pushing a far-leftist agenda down everyone's throat they're just going to engender more bad feelings and cause more problems down the road.

Other than the single issue of marriage equality (and y'all know where I personally stand on that), I can't even think of what 'a far-leftist agenda' even entails.  Climate crisis: mainstream.  Find a sensible, non-abrupt way out of Iraq: mainstream.  Beef up Afghanistan & finally nail Bin Laden: mainstream.  Extend health care: mainstream.

Of course the far-RIGHT nutjobs consider *all* that stuff "far-left", and it will fall to the Fox Newsies and their ilk to try to make Every. Single. Dem. Proposal. into a "radical leftist outrage".

But the GOP is in deep doo-doo.  One of their strategists (I forget his name; he's the guy who had a dust-up with Rachel Maddow on her show 2 weeks ago) was on BBC America saying, basically that the Repubs have become the old/white/uneducated/rural party. That's their base, and that group is shrinking, not growing. It's the Palin crowd, and she's welcome to 'em!

If Palin has any sense whatsoever - and I think she actually does, or shrewdness anyway - she's gonna distance herself from Joe Sixpack if she has any further aspirations on the national scene.

Perhaps lost among all the post elections coverage, but Obama became the first Democrat to win outright the vote among college-educated whites.  That may well be the single most telling stat of the whole night.

[RGMike]

If Palin has any sense whatsoever - and I think she actually does, or shrewdness anyway

Hope you saw South Park last nite -- catch the replay tonite if you didn't. No spoilers from me, but quite an episode.

[RGMike]

Yippee! Looks like Jeff Merkley, the Oregon Democratic challenger for Gordon Smith's seat in the senate, has pulled out a narrow victory. So tally one more for the left side of the aisle.

It's worth noting that the Repub in that race was considered a "moderate" which says something about how blue the West Coast has become.

And NBC has finally awarded North Carolina to Obama.

[RGMike]

It looks like Obama gets 1 electoral vote from Nebraska (!) as he appears to have won the 2nd Congressional Dist by doing very well in Omaha.

And I was astounded to learn how close he came to flipping Montana (!!) from red to blue.

[urth]

It looks like Obama gets 1 electoral vote from Nebraska (!) as he appears to have won the 2nd Congressional Dist by doing very well in Omaha.

And I was astounded to learn how close he came to flipping Montana (!!) from red to blue.

Not to mention Missouri, which is still close but looks like it'll still go to McPain.

As for Smith, he's definitely a more moderate Repub, but he ran a pretty negative campaign against Merkley, and I think that may have swayed people against him. Also, like a lot of states, the larger cities here have large Democratic majorities, and that's what finally swayed it in Merkley's favor. Multnomah (Portland) and Lane (Eugene) counties were among the last to finalize their vote tallies. Most of the state went for McCain. I think the final margin of victory was around 14,000 votes.  Our county, Yamhill, was initially leaning toward Obama, which would have been huge as it's pretty rural and conservative out here. But in the final total, McCain won here by just a couple of hundred votes. Which in itself is significant.

[mshray]

Here's an interesting page of election maps, which compares population-scaled and electoral-college-vote-scaled cartograms to standard geographic maps.

There are several maps, and the commentary is good, but the main result is that this:


turns into this:

[urth]

Not to keep flogging what I hope will soon become a dead horse (politically anyway), but the McCain advisor who leaked Palin's lack of understanding about foreign affairs and world geography has outed himself:

http://www.eisenstadtgroup.com/2008/11/10/eisenstadt-the-source-for-sarah-palin-africa-leak-and-proud-of-it/

And still there are loads of people defending her ignorance (read thru the first few dozen comments if you have time). I tellya, there is no limit to the gullibility of a good portion of the American electorate.

[urth]

Not to keep flogging what I hope will soon become a dead horse (politically anyway), but the McCain advisor who leaked Palin's lack of understanding about foreign affairs and world geography has outed himself:

http://www.eisenstadtgroup.com/2008/11/10/eisenstadt-the-source-for-sarah-palin-africa-leak-and-proud-of-it/

And still there are loads of people defending her ignorance (read thru the first few dozen comments if you have time). I tellya, there is no limit to the gullibility of a good portion of the American electorate.

Well, isn't this just a little embarassing. Turns out that this blog is a hoax. Eisenstadt doesn't exist, and this isn't the first time these guys have pulled a fast one using that name.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/11/12/entertainment/e203346S31.DTL&hw=Eisenstadt&sn=001&sc=1000

Ya just can't believe nobody no more.

In happier news, Ted Stevens has now fallen behind in the Alaska Senate race. Of course, they won't finish counting until next week, but....
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/11/12/politics/p181146S30.DTL

Anyone heard anything from Minnesota?

[mshray]

Anyone heard anything from Minnesota?

The Washington Post says the Minnesota recount will start soon, and could take until mid-Decemeber.  Currently Coleman leads Franken by 209 votes out of over 2.88 million, or about 0.007%.

[Gazoo]

Well, isn't this just a little embarassing. Turns out that this blog is a hoax. Eisenstadt doesn't exist, and this isn't the first time these guys have pulled a fast one using that name.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/11/12/entertainment/e203346S31.DTL&hw=Eisenstadt&sn=001&sc=1000

Ya just can't believe nobody no more.

I fell for it.

[ggould]

One sunny day in 2009, an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he'd been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.” The Marine looked at the man and said, 'Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.' The old man said, 'Okay' and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.' The Marine again told the man, 'Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.'  The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same U. S. Marine, saying 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush. 'The Marine, somewhat agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, 'Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I've told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here.  Don't you understand?'
 
The old man looked at the Marine and said, 'Oh, I understand.  I just love hearing it.'   

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, “See you tomorrow.”
 

[mshray]

One sunny day in 2009, an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he'd been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.” The Marine looked at the man and said, 'Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.' The old man said, 'Okay' and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.' The Marine again told the man, 'Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.'  The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same U. S. Marine, saying 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush. 'The Marine, somewhat agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, 'Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I've told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here.  Don't you understand?'
 
The old man looked at the Marine and said, 'Oh, I understand.  I just love hearing it.'   

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, “See you tomorrow.”
 

Very nice!!

[ggould]

click on file thumbnail to enlarge

[RGMike]

click on file thumbnail to enlarge

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