November 09, 2008

The P.J. O'Rourke Post-Mortem.

It's brutal, and beautiful.


h/t Hot Air.

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November 07, 2008

"Dear Senator McCain"

Treacher's is, of course, more succinct than mine.

Dear Senator McCain,

I write to you in a spirit of overwhelming gratitude for your service to this country: your heroism, your work in the U.S. Senate (including the bills I disagreed with!), and your hard work campaigning to set this country on a different course.

I recently drove out to Clark County, Nevada, a week before the election to assist in "get out the vote" efforts in Nevada, and stood on the wet grass near the top of Henderson Pavillion in the cold to hear you speak and cheer you on, along with my freedom-loving friends.

On election night, I watched your beautiful concession speech, tears streaming down my cheeks.

I'm terribly grateful for all you've done.

I would, however, like to request that you issue a statement on behalf of Sarah Palin, who is being slimed, once again--but this time by people from your campaign (apparently), who do not even seem to have the guts to identify themselves.

I know you're recovering from a grueling Presidential campaign, but the unseemly behavior of your former team members is a disgrace--and an embarrassment to the GOP. If you could take a few minutes to denounce this behavior, I'd appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Joy W. McCann

Treacher apparently got the idea from DoublePlus Undead, via Down the Ticket.

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November 05, 2008

Uh-Oh.


Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

h/t: Write Enough.

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As I Get Ready for the Policy Fights,

and for the struggle to re-build a Small Government coalition; re-work campaign-finance guidelines, and buttress the security/integrity of our polling procedures, I must pause and say that a part of me is gleeful that the "racial barrier" has been broken WRT the Presidency.


This wasn't quite what I had in mind, of course: I wanted someone who looks and sounds like Morgan Freeman, and thinks like Thomas Sowell. I'm sure most of you recall that I tried hard to draft Condi Rice, before she made it utterly clear that she had zero interest in the job (and before A the H and I began arguing whether it was she, or G.W. Bush, who was more responsible for the flaws in our foreign policy lately).

Yeah: Larry Elder, "the Sage from South Central," had to spell it out for me—"no Condi, get used to it"—when I interviewed him two years ago at the Liberty Film Festival. Elder was right. And I know we'd need a crowbar to pry Sowell out of academia, where his approach to economics and his passion for scholarship are desperately needed.

But on a certain level it's still cool to have a black President. Can we have V.F. Blanchard next time? Or, perhaps, the first choice of Desert Cat's wife, Alfonzo "Zo" Rachel of Macho Sauce Productions?

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We Are Still Americans

One by Blue Star Beth, thanks John McCain, and Zoey points out that are heads may be bloody, but are still unbowed.

I will support my new President 100%. I will fight, however:

• any gutting of our defenses;
• any risky maneuvers in the Middle East;
• any show of weakness toward Russia;
• most of the new taxes;
• any additional limitations on the Second Amendment;
• any moves toward a "single-payer" healthcare system.

• And if a new paramilitary organization is developed that allows Federal military personnel to go into a state for the purposes of policing that state—in a workaround of / subversion of posse comitatus—I will fight it tooth and nail.

• And if the "Fairness Doctrine" is enacted WRT radio, but not television, I will scream bloody murder; my voice will be heard, one way or the other, because the solution to bad speech is more speech.

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November 04, 2008

I am Not Depressed.

Just in a Matthew Arnold-ey sort of mood:

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,

Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

And then, of course, there's Anthony Hecht:

. . . [A]ll the time he was talking she had in mind
The notion of what his whiskers would feel like
On the back of her neck. She told me later on
That after a while she got to looking out
At the lights across the channel, and really felt sad,
Thinking of all the wine and enormous beds
And blandishments in French and the perfumes.
And then she got really angry. To have been brought
All the way down from London, and then be addressed
As a sort of mournful cosmic last resort
Is really tough on a girl, and she was pretty.

If you ever wanted to read "Dover Beach" and "Dover Bitch" back-to-back, here's your chance.


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One Feels That There Might Be a Potential Contradiction Between the Imagery and the Chorus.

And it wasn't long after this that Jerry left us. But let it pass.

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Why Do Black Folks

. . . sometimes end up with the worst damn jobs?

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Okay. Heading "Home."

But I am, indeed, going to wear the Mardi Gras-style beads that decorated the table here in the casino's sport-book bar.

Because we fought the good fight.

(At least, most of us did; my jury's still out on certain elements within the party, but I will leave that analysis for another day.)

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I'm Here at the, um, "Victory Party."

McCain just conceded.

I'm going to finish my martini, eat my quesadillas, and go back to Gentleman Blogger's home. (Yeah: today I've had a doughnut to eat, plus whatever protein and vitamins were in my fruit smoothie.)

I'm glad I listened to Glenn Beck for a while this afternoon: he pointed out that if things didn't go "our way," we needed to go back—tomorrow—to remembering that this is a Democracy, and "the people have spoken."

No biggie, I guess: we just got Beta'd.

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Obama Supporter Discovers

. . . that theft is still illegal in this country. At least, it is until January . . .

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Release the Tape!

The Los Angeles Times should be ashamed.

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"Top Five Reasons Obama Lost This Election."

HillBuzz lays it out.

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November 03, 2008

Election Predictions

Ed Morrissey is "cautiously optimistic":

I think John McCain will win a squeaker over Barack Obama, 273-265, by holding Florida [and] Nevada, and adding Pennsylvania as a trade for Virginia.

I pretty much agree with his map.

In a shocking development, AllahP is . . . less starry-eyed.


Stacy McCain reminds Obama supporters that voting day for progressive Democrats is actually going to be on Wednesday, due to the new system that will help them accommodate the increased turnout in this cycle.

Also, I'd like to remind you that tomorrow is Media Embargo Day, since the exit-poll data will be even more out-of-whack than it is now. It is especially imperative that you observe Media Embargo Day if you live in the Mountain or Pacific Time Zones.

The rally at Henderson today drew, they told us, 11,000 McCain supporters. I cannot believe this man's schedule today: seven stops in one day, from Florida to Arizona.


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He's Not Fickle.

He's flexible.

By Mary Katherine Ham, via Hot Air.

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"I Was Going to Vote for McCain . . .

until you people started calling me too many times. Now that I'm hearing from you at 10:00 on a Sunday night, I'm not voting for him any more!"

Please select the rest of this dialogue from the following:

1) "Actually, Dickweed, it's 8:50. And if you aren't smart enough to set your fucking clock forward, how the fuck do you expect to make it to the polls on Tuesday?"

2) "Wow. That has got to be the most reasonable, compelling argument for selecting a Presidential candidate I've ever heard. Wait a moment; I need to write this down."

3) "Oh, I'm so sorry that due to a combination of computer glitches and possibly misguided enthusiasm by people who actually give a shit about the future of this country, you've gotten more phone calls than you care for. Do you need me to verbally suck your dick before you're capable of doing the right thing?"

4) He hung up rather promptly, putting an end to the call and once again delivering me into temptation: when someone hangs up or is terribly rude, I just ache to program the system to ensure that we will, indeed, call them again. I mean, it stands to reason that if a conversation ends that abruptly, that the line just somehow got disconnected. And if the line got disconnected, that's just like they never answered in the first place. So they should get another call, right?

I was delivering this rationale to one of the volunteer college students, who I had thought would get that it was tongue-in-cheek, when one of the supervisors—a tall, intimidating PUMA—cut in and corrected me. "No," she told us, in no uncertain terms. "That counts as a "refusal to talk," and gets them off the list so they won't waste our time any more."

I looked up at her, smiled and said, "but I'll bet you can understand the temptation!"

No smile in return; after all, I was preparing to lead nice young people down the rosy path to the everlasting bonfire. And there's no getting around that.

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Morrissey . . .

has entirely too much fun dissecting a CBS poll.

For your information, Mr. Smarty Pants, they didn't just sample voters to get this result; they also relied on statistical magic fairy dust, which has terrific predictive value.

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November 02, 2008

Mrs. Palin Dropped by the Office Again Today, with Her Husband.

Not Governor Palin, silly; Mrs. Palin.

Apparently, Sarah's parents were also around, but I think they were in our "annex" or somewhere, keeping up morale among the reinforcements that have recently arrived from Utah, Idaho, and California.

I sort of winked at Todd's mom and dad as I went to the phone bank, having cleverly placed my snack in front of a phone. Someone tried to take my phone away while I was off scoring a script and some call sheets, but I scuttled back and announced in the petulant tone of a seven-year-old that this particular space was mine.

"I spit on it," I told the would-be purloiner-of-call-center space.

Later on, Todd's mom gave me a hug. "I saw you fighting for a spot at the phones," she told me.

"You guys are sweet," I responded. "And someday Todd is going to be First Dude in a different place, under a different set of circumstances."


IMG_3703.JPG
Several days ago, when I showed up wearing no makeup, threw my hair back in an elastic band, and forgot that when I smile too broadly I show off the crowns in the back of my mouth. I could have gotten a better picture tonight, but one gets exhausted after a while.

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November 01, 2008

Arnold in Ohio.

Stole this from Ace; it's the vid from Schwarzenegger's speech yesterday, to which I already alluded:

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Rick Davis Sent Me a Love Note.

After the usual terms of endearment, his confession that I'm his very favorite "nobody" manning the phones "out in the wilds of the desert," he shared the following information with me, under the condition that I keep it in strictest confidence, and not blab it:

The State of the Campaign

If your television is tuned to cable news as frequently as ours are here at campaign headquarters, you have seen the pundits say John McCain and his campaign are done. And, if you've followed this race since the beginning, this is clearly a song you've heard before. I wanted to take some time today to give you some insight on the state of the race as we see it.

An AP poll released this morning revealed a very telling fact: ONE out of every SEVEN voters is undecided. That means, if 130 million voters turn out on Tuesday, 18.5 million of them have yet to make up their mind. With that many votes on the table and the tremendous movement we've seen in this race, I believe we are in a very competitive campaign.

Here's why:

All the major polls have shown a tightening in the race and a significant narrowing of the numbers. In John McCain's typical pattern, he is closing strong and surprising the pundits. We believe this race is winnable, and if the trajectory continues, we will surpass the 270 Electoral votes needed on Election Night.
National Polls: Major polls last week showed John McCain trailing by double-digit margins - but by the middle of this week, we were within the margin of error on four national tracking surveys. In fact, the Gallup national tracking survey showed the race in a virtual tie 2 days this week.

State Polls:

Iowa— Our numbers in Iowa have seen a tremendous surge in the past 10 days. We took Obama's lead from the double digits to a very close race. That is why you see Barack Obama visiting the state in the final days, trying to stem his losses. It is too little, too late. Like many other Midwestern states, Iowa is moving swiftly into McCain's column.

The Southwest—It is no secret that Republican candidates in the Southwest have to focus on winning over enough Latino and Hispanic voters in Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado to carry them to victory. John McCain has overcome challenges Republicans face, and has made up tremendous ground in these states with these voters. For these voters, the choice has become clear, and you have seen a big change in the numbers. John McCain is now winning enough voters to perform within the margin of error—putting these states within reach.

Colorado—Barack Obama tried to outspend our campaign in Colorado during the early weeks of October and finish off our candidate in Colorado. However, after our visit early this week, we saw a tremendous rebound in our poll position, and Colorado is back on the map.

Ohio and Pennsylvania—Everyone knows that vote-rich Ohio and Pennsylvania will be key battlegrounds for this election. Between the two: 41 electoral votes and no candidate has gotten to the White House without Ohio. Senator McCain and Governor Palin have been campaigning non-stop in these key battleground states and tonight Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has pumped up our campaign at a rally in Columbus. Our position in these states is strong and undecided voters continue to have a very favorable impression of our candidate.

Obama campaign faces tremendous structural challenges
In the final days of this campaign

Obama has a challenge hitting 50%: Barack Obama has not reached the 50% threshold in almost any battleground state. He consistently is performing in the 45-48% range. When we look closely at the primary votes, we see a history of a candidate whose Election Day performance is often at or behind his final polling numbers. If this is true, our surge will leave Obama with even or under 50% of the vote on Election Day.

Early Vote—The Obama campaign has promised that their early vote and absentee efforts will change the composition of the electorate. They have sold the press on a story that first-time voters will turn out in droves this election cycle. Again, the facts undermine their argument. In our analysis of early voting and absentee votes to date: The composition of the electorate has not changed significantly and most folks who have voted early are high-propensity voters who would have voted regardless of the high interest in this campaign.

Expanding the Field—Obama is running out of states if you follow a traditional model. Today, he expanded his buy into North Dakota, Georgia and Arizona in an attempt to widen the playing field and find his 270 Electoral Votes. This is a very tall order, and trying to expand into new states in the final hours shows he doesn't have the votes to win.

The Final Barnstorm

On Monday, we will have a 14-state rally, with our candidates crisscrossing the country trying to turn out our voters and sway the final undecided voters. Governor Palin will hit Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada and Alaska in the final day of campaigning, while Senator McCain will travel from Tampa, Florida, to Virginia, then Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico, and Nevada, finishing the night in Prescott, Arizona. The enthusiasm and excitement we generate on Monday will be the electricity that powers our "Get Out the Vote" efforts on Tuesday.

On the Ground

Our field organization has tremendous energy and is out-performing the Bush campaign at the same time in 2004. This week our field organization crossed a huge threshold and began reaching more than one million voters per day, and by week's end will have contacted more than five million voters. Our phone centers are full, and our rate of voter contact is significantly out-pacing the Bush campaign in 2004. We have the resources to do the voter contact necessary to support the surge we are seeing in our polling with old-fashioned grassroots outreach.

On the Airwaves

In the final days of the campaign, our television presence will be bigger and broader than the Obama campaign's presence. The full Republican effort—the RNC's Independent Expenditure and the McCain campaign—will out-buy Barack Obama and the Democrats by just about ten million dollars.

In short: the McCain campaign is surging in the final 72 hours. Our grassroots campaign is vibrant, and communicating to voters in a very powerful way. Our television presence is strong. And, we have a secret ingredient: A candidate who will never quit, and who will never stop fighting for you and for your families.

In these final hours, Senator McCain and Governor Palin are counting on you —they are counting on you to knock on doors, to make turnout calls, to contact your friends and neighbors. Get our voters to the polls, and help John McCain fight for you and for our country. This is our last mission on behalf of John McCain, and I have no doubt I can count on your effort and energy to carry us across the line to victory.

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