2008 USGE RESULTS THREAD PS GOP U LOST DIXVILLE NOTCH LOL

guyz i was downtown in grant park for the speech and it was amaaaaazing

i think the thing that tripped me up the most was how really subdued and calmly happy everyone was - i mean, people were really excited but it was this really serene scene walking with thousands and thousands of other people back from grant park. coming over the hill right before reaching michigan ave and passing by all the bootleg obama t-shirt sellers (there were TONS) you could see how far the mass of people walking west through the streets stretched out, it was really really powerful and crazy - ive never seen chicago (ESPECIALLY a city as historically racially charged as chicago) so CONGENIAL.

ahhhhhhh i am so happyyyyyyyyyyyyy

i think one of the other great things about this campaign is how it encouraged people to feel like they owned a piece of it - because of the money i sent and the time i invested, woke up early the last two days to canvass in indiana and prior to that was phone banking in ohio .... the stories i have meeting people ... it makes me really PROUD to have been a part of it

Good stuff.

I hope the Obama campaign can figure out a way to turn the campaign organization, with all its eager energy, to other purposes very soon, like helping local organizers recruit people for local civil volunteer service (maybe partly managed by paid organizers, like the campaign in swing states). If they can pull this off, I will be so pumped.

deej, that sounds like an amazing scene. wow.

I posted this on the Rolling Metal Thread, but what the hell. Came up with this doodle while waiting for election results last night:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3045/3006202229_76f71b5583.jpg?v=0

hahaha jeff i love you dude

I linked to this on the schadenfreude thread: more delicious Palin dirt

no gaahlo xp

deej i love your description of that scene. my only regret about all this is that last night i was so spent from canvassing with a flu all day that i ended up watching the speeches from my couch instead of a public place with others. sigh.

I give to you all 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.

We intend to constantly remind the base about these people, monitor who they are working for, and, when 2012 rolls around, see which candidates hire them. Naturally then, you'll see us go to war against those candidates.

It is our expressed intention to make these few people political lepers.

....

Don't make us add you to our list. Do you really want to be next to Kathleen Parker in the leper colony?

Malkin here, with plenty more links.

Oh, this will be fun.

oh man that is GOLD

oh man, night of long knives is on. let them carve each other up.

so, they are intending to go to war against republicans who hire operatives who smeared other republicans? so their position on john mccain was...

oh man that is GOLD

Even this did not prepare me for the lulz.

Dice are rolling, the knives are out...:

Randy Scheunemann, a senior foreign policy adviser to John McCain, was fired from the Arizona senator's campaign last week for what one aide called "trashing" the campaign staff, three senior McCain advisers tell CNN.

One of the aides tells CNN that campaign manager Rick Davis fired Scheunemann after determining that he had been in direct contact with journalists spreading "disinformation" about campaign aides, including Nicolle Wallace and other officials.

"He was positioning himself with Palin at the expense of John McCain's campaign message," said one of the aides.

IIRC this was the guy who vented to Ambinder...ah yes:

Just read your post. This is on the record. This is cleared by HQ. It is a fact that Barack Obama was palling around with terrorists. It was a fact before Governor Palin said it in a fully vetted speech and it is fact today. It is bullshit to claim or write anything else.

Fun fun!

Good lord, at this point, all the infighting and angst is just dessert to an excellent terrorist fist jab main course.

ahahahahhahaa

ohhhhh my god that malkin post is a gold mine

Let’s assume the rumor-mongers are telling the truth for a moment. Who does it damn more: Sarah Palin or McCain and his vetters who green-lighted her for the vice presidential nomination? Don’t need an Ivy League degree to figure that one out.

lololooolooloolool

"If she's not an idiot, they're scumbags. If she's an idiot, they're stupid scumbags."

On November 5th, 2008 at 11:41 pm, nativeaz08 said:

I’ve heard it was Romney’s ex-aides who were doing this because they want him to run again in 2012, not Palin.

Anyway, I’ve decided I am not watching any news channels, including FOX for one year. I will get my news from reliable blogs, which are more accurate than any news channel anyway. Screw the MSM.

MALKIN KNKOWS THE TRUTH

Smith: Now that the election is over, Carl, tell us more about those reports of infighting between Palin and McCain staffers.

Cameron: I wish I could have told you more at the time but all of it was put off the record until after the election. There was great concern in the McCain campaign that Sarah Palin lack the degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, and a heartbeat away from the presidency. We're told by folks that she didn't know what countries that were in NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, that being the Canada, the US, and Mexico. We're told she didn't understand that Africa was a continent rather than a country just in itself ... a whole host of questions that caused serious problems about her knowledgeability. She got very angry at staff, thought that she was mishandled.....was particularly angry about the way the Katie Couric interview went. She didn't accept preparation for that interview when the aides say that that was part of the problem. And that there were times that she was hard to control emotionally there's talk of temper tantrums at bad news clippings...

I can't say I'm surprised:

On his first day of being an historical footnote, Arizona Sen. John McCain walked down to his neighborhood Starbucks for his morning coffee -- all by himself.

Having lost the presidential election and conceded it generously in front of millions watching TV, the now-former Republican presidential candidate, who was late taking Secret Service protection because it cramped his style, had no cumbersome motorcade with flashing lights.

With his convincing loss behind him, no speeches to give and no White House transition to plan or even contemplate, friends described McCain as extremely happy.

He spent the morning in his Phoenix condo relaxing and joking with friends and family, who described him as eager to return to work in the Senate, where a fair number of other losers have already returned from their own failed campaigns.

McCain and close friend Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina are discussing possible legislative initiatives and planning a trip to Afghanistan.

Really! Who wouldn't want to go there after a bruising political campaign?

Campaign manager Rick Davis said, "He didn't even spend 24 hours lamenting the loss."

Late today, according to our Swamp colleague Jill Zuckman, McCain left with family and friends for his rural home outside Sedona, where rib-grilling was reported high on the non-campaign schedule.

the real problem for the republicans is, they have to find some republicans to blame for not running a good campaign, because they can't say: we asked people to vote for republicans, and the voters looked at what we got from republican governance and said HELL NO

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3279/3006416363_95ef8de914_o.jpg

mccain's people knew this thing was over like a month ago, mccain must've figured it out soon after.

i heard rendell punked him by publicly fretting that obama was in danger of losing pennsylvania.. thus mccain took a shit ton of time and resources away from florida/ohio/virginia etc, trying to win a state that was never close.

i am really ready to buy whole hog into some cheap 'political psychology' bs about the conservative vs liberal brains -- a huge chunk of the goddam GOP wants to strap themselves to palin like a bomb. people ascribe all these magical, powerful qualities to her that are totally unsupported or even contradicted by the evidence. do they really think that defensive, transparent yearning and staking their claim on a "real america" that comprises like 15% of this country is a path back to power? i understand a little bit of a political crush (hello, our candidate!) but there is something deeply deeply perverse going on here.

i mean shit i know we just won this thing but, wtf, i've been in mugatu mode about her and i'm not coming out of it.

xp omg those kids

OMG deej, that picture is the best thing ever

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2008-11/43201531.jpg

xpost - goole - i just see it as conservatives wanting someone new and cool and exciting. and they don't like or trust mccain. never did. they are sure going to blame mccain for the loss & defend palin like mad because she's theirs. i suspect mccain is going enjoy palling around with lieberman and graham in the senate, and probably (hopefully?) sticking it to the right wing wackos every chance he gets, because if the dems are gonna need 60 votes to stop filibusters..

there are certainly plenty of "liberal" brains who are just as pigheaded as conservative ones..

i have to say also, about the backstabbing, mccain's people who vetted and picked palin, and mccain himself, they are responsible. they should own it. if they were not sure if she knew her stuff or was up to the task, they had no business picking an unknown state governor and dropping her on the national stage like that. and she shouldn't have accepted it either, but again, the people who were already in national politics were the ones who knew the requirements.

but i think it ultimately didn't matter - who the hell could mccain have put on the ticket that would convince the voters to put another GOP president in office, after the economy took a nosedive in september?

yeah i think yr probably right. the malkin quotes up there are amazing; "who does it damn more" uhh it damns the whole lot of you, dumbshit!

there were about ten days there where the gamble looked like it had worked. if mccain and mittens hadn't tried to outdo each other becoming absurd hard right jackboots (and they didn't hate each other), i think romney could have been all right. he was the governor of Massachussetts! he built a universal health plan!

i read a pretty smart observation on a blog (they do exist) that.. it was ironic that lehman brothers was a big donor to obama, because their going under set off the chain of events that made the election break for obama

the trouble with mittens is that the christian right thinks mormons are.. some kind of dangerous cult

also, this:
http://dcfab.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-did-i-miss-this.html

yeah, but they'll take mormon money easily enough

it's late and i'm kind of losing coherence here. at first, for a while, it looked like palin was working out. but long beforehand, romney had a competent technocrat thing going on (a different flavor of moderate GOP-ness) that he had to run away from asap to have a shot. maybe he would've helped if he'd stuck to who he was as governor.

it's funny how the race came in close to the generic "dem vs gop" polls from a long time ago. winning the dem nomination was a real prize (it's why hillary hung in so long) but winning the gop primary was itself a kiss of death: you had to please the last sliver of the country that thinks bush is awesome. there's no way to pivot off that or build anything on it.

charlie rose last night was really good and even drunk-friendly if anyone is interested (i love his roundtables in general, even when they get all horseracey, but the guests were awesome even this republican publisher who looks all like piggy the banker very even-keeled dude i miss republicans like that. there's like 15 people on the show to start with and then new people start popping in and out. mark halperin doesn't even get to talk that much

http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2008/11/04/1/live-coverage-of-the-2008-presidential-election

i suppose i have to watch david alan grier tonight. wish me luck

I'm pretty sure that, some time after several drinks last night, I uttered the words "I feel magical".

i can't watch charlie rose, he asks questions and then talks over the answers. so aggravating.

^ true for 85% of his one-on-ones (better guests just bull through his parade of rong theses and pet notions anyway but that's v. rare) but he tends to rise to the level of his roundtables fwiw. anyway this one has minimal charlie and decent charlie

honolulu was so motherfucking depressing tuesday nite you guys.

no one partying anywhere. normal ass tuesday nite behavior.

his speech was over at 7:30 PM!!!! we had all nite to party!

i guess i missed the 'official' dems party at this retardo nightclub at the MALL but fuck that. i wanted spontaneous dancing in the streets shit you guys all had :(

not to be all michelle bachmann but in a lot of ways hawaii really is the most unamerican state.

also rush limbaugh was awesome today. he sounded giddy to get back to his 8-years-of-clinton glory days.

mark levin was playing audio of a ronald reagan anti-social security speech circa 1963 for like 10 minutes at a time looooool

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2008-11/43201531.jpg
― ✓ ✔ ☑ vote LJ! (caek), Wednesday, November 5, 2008 8:47 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^this is still like a quarter mile away from where the stage was in grant park!!!!!!!!

talking with highschool bro who was born and raised in bosnia, moved to US in middle school, became a citizen, moved back to sarajevo after college and voted for obama at the US embassy. he said everyone in sarajevo was in tears all day including him. ps he is a muslim

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0cTo7CX2K40Wf/610x.jpg
6 hours ago: NEW ORLEANS - NOVEMBER 05: Chris Paul #3 of the New Orleans Hornets has the name of President-elect Barack Obama written on his shoes during the game against the Atlanta Hawks at the New Orleans Arena on November 5, 2008 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/06VW81e4ka2DZ/610x.jpg
9 hours ago: A woman views the front pages of Wednesday's newspapers from around the world on display outside the Newseum in Washington November 5, 2008. Americans woke with joy, cautious optimism and frank worry on Wednesday after the historic win by Democrat Barack Obama, who went from long shot to president-elect on the promise of change.

http://www.marijuana-picture.com/gallery/animated_marijuana_pics/images/animated_marijuana_spinning.gifPeople vote to make pot lowest police priorityhttp://www.marijuana-picture.com/gallery/animated_marijuana_pics/images/animated_marijuana_spinning.gif

November 5, 2008 - Hawaii County

A measure to make marijuana the lowest enforcement priority for the Hawaii County Police Department has won the vote of the public. In yesterday's 2008 general election, over 53 percent of the votes cast were in favor of the Peaceful Sky initiative, which was placed on the November ballot by a Hawaii County Council vote in August.

According to language in the ordinance introduced by council, the purpose of the article is to "provide law enforcement more time and resources to focus on more series crimes", free up prison space and the court system, and "reduce the fear of prosecution and the stigma of criminality from non-violent citizens who harmlessly cultivate and/or use Cannabis for personal, medicinal, religious, and recreational purposes."

38% of the voting public voted against the measure. 8% of all Big Island voters left the ballot question blank.

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0dT82FxeGL5xd/610x.jpg
12 hours ago: A day after the United States elected Barack Obama as it's 44th president, union carpenters work on the reviewing stand for Obama's Inaugural Parade, November 5, 2008 on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House in Washington, DC. Barack Obama will be sworn-in Tuesday, January 20, 2009 as the next US president.

guys every time i hear someone on the news say "President Elect Barack Obama" i cant help smiling ear to ear

sorry i'll stop now-- i just hadnt posted to this thread in like 29 hours