2008 Presidential Election

The Irrational Right, Or, Suffer The Wingnuts


What's that screaming, complete with a mix of explosive spittle and cheetos crums? Why, it's the Wingnut blogosphere.

Pamela Atlas (Just picture her drunk in her Long Island house, typing away with no use of her shift key in the middle of the night):

it is all pretty simple and straight forward to me.
the man is a political fraud.
he hid who he was.
he hid what he is.
he denied his friends, and he denied their beliefs, and he denied his adherence to them as friends and their shared beliefs.

so, while this son of a bitch paraded himself as an honest, open and fresh breath of air, ... , a rebirth of honest politics, he did so while running a campaign of deceit about who he is, what he believes, and what his convictions are.

i believe that there can only be one reason for this. he is also hiding what he intends to do as president. he says he is a democrat. i think he does so to hide that he is a committed marxist leninist who intends to impose a marxist dictatorhip upon this country, which advancig the interests of islam.
he will attempt to either impose or import sharia, and sharia financing into this country. he will stifle free discussion by the use of the "fairness doctrine," and he will seek the imposition of hate speech law, laws prohibiting discussing islam critically, and will seek added preferential treatment for muslims in our immigration law. and, then there is the matter of the promised "civilian security force" the size, prestige, force and cost of the united states military. [SIC]

And then Pam quotes a wingnut I have not heard before, Sultan Knish:

But we are a long way from surrender. The battle is over, the war begins. The United States government now falls into the hands of the enemies of this country and civilization for a time or forever. And that is part of what the war is about. The country has been in the hands of people we disagreed with, but never in the hands of people whose views are as diametrically opposed to ours as anything in the Third Reich or the Kremlin. In their hands Federal power becomes enemy power. The more ineffective and tied up they are, the less damage they can do.

...

It will not be an easy struggle. The Obama years will make the worst of the Clinton years look mild by comparison. We have seen the thuggish abuses of power that brought Obama into office, but that is only a taste of what an Obama administration in control of the Federal government will be able to do. We have seen only a shadow of the ruthless methods that were used to bring him to power, and even that shadow is mostly dismissed as conspiracy theories. But that is also our best hope. Obama's only real calling card has been an empty promise. Now he will have power and responsibility and we know he will abuse them. Arrogance was and remains his achilles heel and the achilles heel of his backers. And when their revolution runs into the reality of voter expectations, there will be the opening to begin the political downfall of this government.

For my own part I do not recognize Obama as my President, nor will I refer to him as such. He has no legal right to serve in office nor has he won a legal election. Nor do his cronies have any right to serve in any position they are appointed to.

Red State then released this startiling announcement:

RedState is pleased to announce it is engaging in a special project: Operation Leper.

We're tracking down all the people from the McCain campaign now whispering smears against Governor Palin to Carl Cameron and others. Michelle Malkin has the details.

Oh, good! Glad to see the rational Michelle Malkin working to throw fellow conservatives under the bus for their disloyalty. I hope she stalks and threatens them for the next four years. The Right Wingers just might eat each other. It will be fun to watch.

And then the single most stupid op-ed the WSJ has ever run. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Jeffrey Scott Shapiro:

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty — a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.


Bush can eat me. And Mr. Shapiro, you can eat me.

What a complete fascist asshole. And he is one of many. Be prepared for their tears and hysterical rants for the next 4 years.

Late Predictions, Wingnut Edition

Ed Morrissey, Hot Air (indeed): McCain wins in a squeaker (8 electoral votes) by taking Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, and Nevada. Good math, since he needs every one of those states to win this thing. If he loses one of them, it is over.

Pam Atlas, Atlas Shrugs:

I have enormous faith in the silent majority - good, decent Americans. We are going to take this thing. I saw both men make speeches today. McCain is the optimistic candidate. You feel good, optimistic, proud to be American after listening to McCain. Obama is depressing. Failed this, failed that, hopeless this, hopeless that. Gotta change this, gotta change that. And Obama looks old and tired. Older than McCain. Obama is doom and gloom. McCain is happy and peppy.

K-Lo, America's Shittiest Website:

John Sununu wins. I don’t know if that’s true but it is should be. We’ll need someone smart in Washington who is on our side.

Coleman wins. Al Franken cannot be a senator. This “anyone can be president (etc.)” Was not meant to be made a joke of. I mean, we’re free to make a joke of it all — the Constitution and all, which Joe Biden might be on board for — but … let’s not, Minnesota.

Murtha loses. It’s the right thing. And if anyone can do it, it is the bitter clingers.
I do hold out some hope on the presidential. There is no reason to not keep hope alive. Just vote. Ignore the talking heads prematurely celebrating and ignore the exit polls.

Ace of Spades: Black Panthers intimidating whte Republican voters.

Confederate Yankee:

If John McCain becomes the President after voting is complete on Tuesday, the wasteful, shallow extravagance in median of I-81 may very well be a fitting metaphor for a Obama political campaign ran precisely the same way.

What-ever!

It Was A 'Kitchen Sink' Tuesday

Wet snow falls in London's Paddington neighbourhood. Photo by Flickr user brusselsprout00, used here under a Creative Commons license.

Tuesday was a total information and event overload. And here in New York, it was a windy, cold, dismal day. I still went out to Nevada Smiths and watched Newcastle defeat West Brom 2-1. But let me try to count the many events and blog posts that caught my attention.

First, there is the weather. London had its first October snow in 74 years.

And there's the weather. The Poconos got about a foot of snow just 200 miles west of the Big Apple.

And more weather. New York City had its air temperature drop 10 degrees and wind speeds clocked to 40MPH after midday thunderstorms. I froze my ass off around 9pm, since I was dressed for mild rain in the afternoon.

And more weather. For the first time in MLB history, a World Series game was suspended due to rain Monday night in Philadelphia. The rain was the result of two storm systems that perfectly came together, and caused havoc in the Poconos and New York. It was a total fiasco. Between TBS' horrible coverage and the decision to try to play Monday night's Game 5, this year's MLB playoffs have been embarrassing for the MLB head office, and you could even say it is an inexcusable clusterf*ck.

The Domocratic talking point of the week is 'circular firing squad'. See here and here for the rundown on the Sarah Palin clothing budget blame game.

Joe The Plumber goes off-message and agrees with a McCain supporter that an Obama presidency would speel the destruction of Israel. It was so outrageous that even FOX's plastic anchor, Shepard Smith wouldn't accept it. Then the McCain campaign backs-up the Plumber. Oh, and The Plumber has hired himself a Nashville talent agent, in the hopes of landing himself a country music deal? Who saw that footnote coming?

And finally, the outrageous power-grab by elected politicians in New York City to modify the term limit law from 2 to 3 terms is not going to disappear in this busy run-up to the November election. The City Council, in a blatant conflict of interest, changed the city term limit law on Saturday. Not too many bloggers are writing about it now, but it will become a hot issue once it is sent to the courts. In the meantime, Craig Gurian at TPM is writing about it, as is the staff at the Village Voice. It's Banana Republic time in the Big Apple. It will not go through without a fierce fight. I and many New Yorkers oppose term limits. But our argument has always been that it should be up to the voters to decide when and how to phase them out.

Get Off My Television

Joe the Plumber has been having a tough week. He would really want the elitist news media to get off of his lawn:

"I'm just a plumber. I just want to get on with my life and do my job," Joe Wurzelbacher said in an interview on Friday outside his modest home in middle America. "I'd prefer to do that without people camped out on my doorstep."
But then Mike Huckabee puts Joe on his weekly TV show, and we are introduced to Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, media critic.
"The media's worried about whether I've paid my taxes, they're worried about any number of silly things that have nothing to do with America," Wurzelbacher told the former Republican presidential hopeful on his show, "Huckabee."

Wurzelbacher said he felt terrible after reading some of the criticism of himself posted online.

"I felt about that small," he said. "I mean I really did."

Time for Joe to go away. The way to do that, dear news media, is to pack-up and move-on. Please do so.

Get Joe off my television.

Know Your History


Because obviously Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota does not, and doesn't care. This segment is the most alarming and most significant segment shown on any American news network in weeks if not months. When it aired on Friday, I dropped everything and watched it twice, just to be sure I heard her correctly. She named Michelle Obama, the late Saul Alinsky (a teacher of the young Hillary Clinton), and even Tony Rezko as part of an anti-American fringe that has been advising Senator Obama his whole adult life. That would make Obama anti-American as well, although she did not say that. Thanks to some great questions from Chris Matthews, she went on to say that the news media should conduct a hunt to expose other anti-Americans in US politics. I haven't seen anything this disgusting from a House member since Jean Schmidt called John Murtha a 'coward' on the House floor in 2005. Watch:

The people of Minnesota elected this monster to the House two years ago, and it is up to them to vote her out in 3 weeks. And an online petition asking the House to censure Bachmann has been launched with nearly 20,000 signatures so far.

The Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel responded with raw emotion and a proclamation that Obama will win and people like Bachmann will lose. In order to preserve our freedom, they must lose.

I just watched Good Night, And Good Luck for the first time this morning. Obviously something triggered me to get around to watching it. Thank you, Congresswoman Bachmann.

UPDATE, 17:14: The petition to censure Bachmann is now up to 30,000 signatures. Go sign the petition and hope it falls into the hands of a Democrat or Republican with a spine.

Shorter Reuters & Wingnut Pieces*

Shorter Bob Tourtellotte, Reuters Entertainment writer:
Even though Dakota Fanning never played a role in wasn't alive during the 1960s Civil Rights movement, Barry Obama might want to thank her because she plays a fictitious character who is based on real people who opened the door for Mr. Obama to run for President.

And -

Shorter Ed Whelan, former Judge Scalia clerk:
Young women inherently have an impulse to abort their unwanted fetuses. But they will only do so if abortion is legal. Obama should realize how lucky he is to have been born in 1960, because if abortion were legal then, he would most certainly have been terminated. Obama supporters should be careful in their efforts to protect abortion rights, since they now favor racially mixed, former unwanted fetuses to become president.

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* ‘Shorter’ concept created by Daniel Davies and perfected by Elton Beard.
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Be Skeered...Be Very Skeered

Paster Swank:

Left-of-left B. Hussein, as far as knowledgeable Republicans are concerned, must conclude to be quite “scared” if B. Hussein lands in the Oval Office.

Muslims will follow him there.

Jeremiah Wright will follow him there.

All liberals—both theological and political—will follow him there.

A Dem-controlled Congress will follow him there.

Pro-abortionists and pro-homosexual “marriages” will follow him there.

Those intent on overthrowing America’s biblical
heritage will follow him there.

Is that not reason to be quite scared?


And -
And if McCain continues to stroke B. Hussein, he could just be handing the election over to the mask Muslim. [sic]

Dhalgren Makes His Picks

It's 20 days to go before the election. Time to make my state-by-state picks. These are amateur, armchair picks based on the numbers from major intrastate polls as of Tuesday, October 14th. But seeing the trends and seeing how much money Barry is spending on advertising in swing states has led me to make these calls now. I'll come back and see what my win percentage is in November.

Let's start with the 'known knowns'. These are the states that John McCain and Sarah Palin will win:

State (Electoral Votes)
Alaska (5)
Idaho (4)
Montana (4)
Wyoming (3)
Utah (5)
Arizona (10)
South Dakota (3)
Nebraska (5)
Kansas (6)
Oklahoma (7)
Texas (34)
Arkansas (6)
Louisiana (9)
Kentucky (8)

Tennessee (11)
Mississippi (6)
Alabama (9)
South Carolina (8)

McCain Electoral Vote Subtotal: 143

Here are the states Barack Obama and Joe Biden will win:

State (Electoral Votes)
Hawaii (4)
Washington (11)
Oregon (7)
California (55)
Minnesota (10)
Wisconsin (10)
Illinois (21)
Michigan (17)
DC (3)
Maryland (10)
Delaware (3)
New Jersey (15)

New York (31)
Maine (4)

Vermont (3)
Massachusetts (12)
Rhode Island (4)
Connecticut (7)

Obama Electoral Vote Subtotal: 227

Now for the 'known unknowns'. These are states where the polls have tightened in recent days. These will either embarrass me or put me over the top. Here are my picks.

State (Electroral Votes) & Dhalgren’s Pick
New Mexico (5) - Obama
Colorado (9) - Obama
Nevada (5) - Obama
North Dakota (3) - McCain
Missouri (11) - Obama
Georgia (15) - McCain
North Carolina (15) - Obama
Ohio (20) - McCain
Indiana (11) - McCain
Iowa (7) - Obama
Florida (27) - Obama
West Virginia (5) - Obama
Virginia (13) - Obama
Pennsylvania (21) - Obama
New Hampshire (4) - Obama

Grand totals:
Obama 348
McCain 192

Ok, I just predicted an Obama landslide, and that wasn't my intent here. I'm no trash talker or Joe Namath. But looking at the poll numbers, that's what it looks like.

I predict between 63 and 65 Million votes for Barack Obama, considering George W. Bush set a contemporary record of 62M in 2004. I think Obama will top that record.

Or put it this way, if you are throwing an election night party for Obama, you can pop the champagne once McCain loses Florida, Ohio, or Pennsylvania. He needs all three of those states to win, because Obama is poised to take several 'red' states from 2004. I predict McCain will win Ohio. So it won't be a short party. We should know who won the election around the stroke of midnight.

UPDATE: Chris Weigant at Huffington Post has made his picks. He's more conservative with his numbers. But interestingly, he draws almost the same conclusion regarding election night. He says that if Obama wins Florida and Virginia, then you can pop the cork well before midnight.

McCain's Town Halls Spiral Into Outbursts Of Anger And Panic


This has been the worst week ever for American capital markets. And in some respects, it has been another 'worst week ever' for John McCain. He failed to stop his poll numbers from sliding. He failed to attack Obama effectively at Tuesday night's debate. He is realizing that he is in danger of losing Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, and perhaps even Missouri. Four of those are 'red' states (from 2004). And his campaign has been forced to unleash its most viscous attacks on Obama yet. Beginning Tuesday, McCain has allowed the participants of rallies to stir and provoke the crowd into anti-Obama and anti-ACORN chants. McCain used to tell vocal members of his audience to turn their anger down a notch and show some respect. But those days are gone. And in an additional, almost unprecedented move, he has deployed Cindy McCain as a second attack dog, to supplement Sarah Palin.

Conservative and right-wing Americans have been sharing wingnut opinion articles, books, and conspiracy theories for years on the Internet. And of course, before there were right-wing blogs, there was (and still is) right-wing talk radio. But the wingnuttery has finally come to our televisions, with McCain supporters voicing their fear and anger that this country seems to be on the verge of electing a non-white man with an Arab/Swahili name to the White House.

Try to see it from their perspective. It is scary. It's bigger than the Yankees not making it to the playoffs. New Yorkers can always ignore the Yankees, stop going to the Stadium, or follow the Mets for a while. But for these active right-wingers, the election of Barack Obama would cause genuine pain and discomfort for months, and perhaps (hopefully) years. These are pissed-off people.

John Dickerson, Slate:

At a normal campaign rally, it's the candidate who tries to whip the crowd into a frenzy. At John McCain's town hall in Waukesha, Wis., Thursday, it was the other way around. "I'm mad, and I'm really mad," said one man who'd been called on to ask a question. "It's not the economy. It's the socialist taking over our country." McCain started to respond, and the man shot back sternly. "Let me finish please. When you have an Obama, Pelosi, and the rest of the hooligans up there gonna run this country, we've got to have our head examined. It's time that you two who are representing us, and we are mad."
Here's the video of that guy. He is indeed mad, and this clip has been shown on all major US cable news networks. The crowd cheered him as a hero, and you could say that he upstaged McCain.

James T. Harris, a local African-American talk-show host, stood and said, "I doubt that anyone in this room has taken, pardon me, the ass-whuppin' that I have taken for supporting you. Sir, I believe that in the next coming debate it is absolutely vital that you take it to Obama and that you hit him where it hits" [sic]. The crowd exploded. "ACORN is out there, we have Reverend Wright, all of these shady characters that surrounded him. I am begging you, sir." McCain told the man that he would take his advice—but that he also will offer a "positive plan of action" to address the financial crisis.
I don't think that crowd wants to hear about the financial crisis. Their priority is to prevent an Obama presidency. And for time, the time to play dirty is well overdue.

Jonathan Martin, Politico:

With McCain passing up the opportunity to level any tough personal shots in his first two debates and the very real prospect of an Obama presidency setting in, the sort of hard-core partisan activists who turn out for campaign events are venting in unusually personal terms.

"Terrorist!” one man screamed Monday at a New Mexico rally after McCain voiced the campaign’s new rhetorical staple aimed at raising doubts about the Illinois senator: “Who is the real Barack Obama?”

"He's a damn liar!” yelled a woman Wednesday in Pennsylvania. "Get him. He's bad for our country."

...

Such contempt for Democrats is, of course, nothing new from conservative activists. But in 2000 and 2004, the Republican rank and file was more apt to ridicule Gore as a stiff fabulist or Kerry as an effete weather vane of a politician.

“Flip-flop, flip-flop,” went the cry at Republican rallies four years ago, often with footwear to match the chant.

Now, though, the emotion on display is unadulterated anger rather than mocking.

Activists outside rallies openly talk about Obama as a terrorist, citing his name and purported ties to Islam in the fashion of the viral e-mails that have rocketed around the Internet for over a year now.

Some of this activity is finding its way into the events, too.

Which beings me back to my previous point about the opinions and soundbites of the wingnuttosphere making their way into live campaign events with the mainstream media candidate present.

And here is some if of that anger and wingnut behavior, albeit provoked by the videographer.

UPDATE: The fastest comment in the history of this tiny blog reminded me that Indiana is also in danger of falling into Obama's column. I will try to make my state-by-state predictions this weekend. I'm doing it for fun. But this election is dead serious. We have up to nine red states from 2004 that are totally in-play in 2008. In fact, New Mexico and Colorado might already be beyond John McCain's grasp. So my predictions are coming soon.

Oh, It's An Irish-Catholic Thing

This 'one'. That 'one'. Another 'one'. Chris Matthews says that it is an old Irish-Catholic thing. And I am inclined to agree. John McCain was born an Episcopalian Scots-Irish American. But he would be old enough to have picked-up on this use of the word "one."

School teacher: "You're a smart one."

Grandma (let's call her Rose): "Which one of you little devils broke my coffee mug? That one!"

John McCain:

And Mocean Worker quickly produced this great little diddy (H/T to Driftglass for finding this):

The Campain Ground War Surges

In the combined average of national polls, Real Clear Politics shows a 5-point lead for Obama.

In particular, today's Gallup national poll shows Obama with his biggest lead ever over McCain - 11 points.

It is still too early to declare the McCain campaign to be in a tailspin, but they have lost momentum just as they have unleashed their most fierce attacks. September was the month the McCain campaign was supposed to win the post-convention bump and keep it. They got the bump, but then lost it in the frenzy of our current economic crisis, and the way both candidates were perceived in recent weeks. Obama has been perceived at remaining calm, clear, and friendly. McCain has increasingly been perceived as irritated, erratic, and sometimes angry.

In previous election cycles, an angry candidate was sometimes seen as a sign of strength and would win a lot of white male votes. Geroge H.W. Bush was pretty swift in his dismissal of Michael Dukakis in 1988. His son was often snappy and angry at John Kerry in 2004 ("Tell Tony Blair we're going alone!"). But I am tempted to say that a good number of voters are better informed and watching a little closer this election cycle. It could be the result of our faster news cycle (which seems to look only 24 hours back and 24 hours forward). It could be the effect of YouTube and other Web 2.0 mediums. Or it could be that those who voted against Bush in 2004 are working harder to both promote their candidate and stay informed about the other side. The Left is hungry for a victory. We haven't won a presidential election since 1996 (or 2000, if you want to get technical, as Gore won Florida).

Meanwhile, some of our best bloggers are reporting movements both home and abroad.

Digby: They're getting their asses kicked. Time to start the 'ground game.'

Apostropher: Swift boater Jerome Corsi is seeking a Kenyan -any Kenyan- to appear in a 527 ad claiming Obama is a closeted Muslim terrorist sympathizer. But his evil plan has hit a little snag.

Obama Unleases 'Keating Five' Attack Video

Obama waited for Palin to open her mouth and accuse him of 'palling around with terrorists [plural!]' before unleashing his most vicious attack yet. At Noon Eastern time, the attack was publically released on YouTube. Here is Obama's 14-minute Keating Five documentary. Spread it around. Keep in mind McCain and Obama have a town hall debate tomorrow night. This video will help set the agenda against McCain. McCain scored major points unveiling Palin the day after Obama's historic acceptance speech in Denver. This is Obama scoring points in response. Well played.