2008 USP(G)ET pt. II: counting the days to 2012 primary thread 1

Bill Kristol shows his civic responsibility:

As for the campaign, Palin made clear — without being willing to flat out say so — that she regretted allowing herself to be overly handled and constrained after the Republican convention. She described the debate on Thursday night as “liberating,” and she emphasized how much she now looked forward to being out there, “getting to speak directly to the folks.”

Since she seemed to have enjoyed the debate, I asked her whether she’d like to take this opportunity to challenge Joe Biden to another one.

There was a pause, and I thought I heard some staff murmuring in the background (we were on speaker phones). She passed on the notion of a challenge. But she did say she was more than willing to accept an invitation to debate with Biden again, and even expressed a preference for a town hall meeting-type format.

Since their debate drew more than 70 million television viewers — some 20 million more than watched John McCain and Barack Obama the week before — I trust that various civic associations, universities and media organizations will have invitations in the mail to Biden and Palin pronto.

And, really, shouldn’t the public get the benefit of another Biden-Palin debate, or even two? If there’s difficulty finding a moderator, I’ll be glad to volunteer.

hahaha jesus christ

I don't think the moderator is allowed to perform cunnilingus on one of the debaters during the debate.

hahahahanonono NO DAN

NO

BAD DAN

If there’s difficulty finding a moderator, I’ll be glad to volunteer.

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/original/KristolThug.jpg

wau my new screen name just got a whole lot more sinister

ewwwwwwwwwwww! hahaha

ban the dan

COINCIDENCE? [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

Question from a reader:

Does the selloff on Wall Street have anything to do with the increasing likelihood that Obama will be our next president?

Note that the two trends — the financial meltdown, despite passage of the bailout, and the solidification of Obama's lead — are coinciding. At a minimum, the market's behavior is not a vote of confidence in an Obama presidency.

10/06 01:03 PM

Kathryn doesn't understand the difference between causation and correlation.

Kathryn doesn't understand the difference between pancakes with extra butter and broccoli

oh snap

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/original/KristolThug.jpg

ACK STOP THAT

(it can't be posted enough)

suggest ban

suggest ban gabbneb for trying to fuck with Al's first amendment right to Kristolian thug life

Of Montreal - "Kristolian Thug Life."

From the NY Daily News (by way of TPM):

McCain's course correction reflects a growing case of nerves within his high command as the electoral map has shifted significantly in Obama's favor in the past two weeks.

"It's a dangerous road, but we have no choice," a top McCain strategist told the Daily News. "If we keep talking about the economic crisis, we're going to lose."

how about if the market crashes and they continue NOT talking about the economic crisis

They can always turn back a page.

I can't get over the blatancy of this:

"We're going to get a little tougher," a senior Republican operative said, indicating that a fresh batch of television ads is coming. "We've got to question this guy's associations. Very soon. There's no question that we have to change the subject here," said the operative, who was not authorized to discuss strategy and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

I mean I'm surprised there's not already an Obama ad quoting that. "While most Americans think the economy is the most important issue in the election, John McCain's campaign said that they 'have to change the subject.'"

The Republicans are not getting as much traction out of this as they used to. Is it because after 8 years of Rovian tactics, people are less receptive or is it just coming across as desperate?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/10/06/afghan.saudi.talks/index.html

What impact do you think this will have on the election, if any?

i think people are a little sick of it and noticing that mccain and palin don't have a thing to say beyond negative attacks. i hope the trend continues on for the next month.

KEATING 5 KEATING 5 KEATING 5 KEATING 5

I mean I'm surprised there's not already an Obama ad quoting that

there pretty much is, that one that's like, "John McCain .... erratic in a crisis .... no wonder they want to change the subject"

So what is wrong with early voting? Even leaving aside the large matter of increased potential for fraud in voting by absentee ballots, there are two costs to early voting.

First, for tens of millions of early voters, the campaign process of informing and persuading is effectively truncated. Now, there is evidence that early voters are more partisan and informed than other voters and hence are less likely than the rest of the electorate to be swayed by events late in an election season. Nevertheless, early voting increasingly affects the rhythms of campaigns, forcing the front-loading of arguments [...]

The second problem with early voting is that one of its supposed benefits is actually a subtraction from civic health. The benefit is that it makes voting easier-indeed, essentially effortless. But surely the quality of the electoral turnout declines when the quantity is increased by "convenience voting."

lol what

we must fight this "convenience voting"!! bring back the poll tax!

I kind of think that, instead of voting for people, you should select policy positions and rank them according to your personal priority. Those then get tallied and the candidate whose overall profile gets the largest number of votes wins.

Yes, I know this would never work.

that was george will btw

the QUALITY of the electoral turnout!!

"efforts to put up state patrol roadblocks on voting day are diminished, making the practice patently unfair to republicans"

george will from the "it's not the size of your tool, it's the motion of the ocean" school of politics

i can't wait for his article calling for hip-hop to abandon 80-minute 20 track albums and return to the days of illmatic style half hour classics

excellent snl skit here

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/george-f-wills-sports-machine/3005458430

ahh yes, ballparks. in humanity there exists a vestigal memory of an enclosed greenspace, as a place, or freedom or play.

ahahaha id never seen that A+++

Anybody know if Joan Didion's written any essays about this election?

"have you ever played baseball?" "if by play you mean drink deep the aura of the field..."

piffle or not piffle

Anybody know if Joan Didion's written any essays about this election?

I don't. Another voice I miss, for comment on this election: Mailer. Nothing to be done about that one, alas.

There were some great Doonesbury strips about Will in the early 80s with a similar spin...

Didion spoke on a panel at the Brooklyn Book Festival about the election:
http://ephemerist.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/joan-didion-discourses-at-the-brooklyn-book-festival/

George Will's Sports Machine is probably my fav SNL sketch of all time

xp Oh, and the audio is here:
http://media.nybooks.com/092408-didion.mp3

Didion will publish an essay in a collection of essays devoted to discussing life after Bush.

CONVENIENCE VOTING FTW

g*d damn that's amazing. amazing george will.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/3519/saturday-night-live-george-f-wills-sports-machine