Election Open Thread (VENT or LAUGH)

RayMormon 29 Comments

Just thought some of you might like a place to vent or laugh maniacally tonight – at least.  Only one rule:

This is not meant as a thread to “discuss the election” and try to convince someone else about which option is the best.  It is meant primarily to be a place to highlight the absurd and frustrating – those things said by talking-heads, pollsters, voters and candidates that leave you either scratching your head, fuming or laughing hysterically.  Secondarily, it is meant as a place to vent – without critique of the vents.  In other words, this is a blog dumping ground post – not a high-brow consortium or debate arena.

Have at it.  Throw stuff against the wall – not at each other.  Suppress your urge to argue and simply decorate the wall.

Comments 29

  1. I voted for a cartoon character again. Spongebob Squarepants got my vote for state senator. I didn’t like the person running, and they had no opposition. You know, there were actually a lot of local elected positions running unopposed it seemed…

    I have to include this at least once on every ballot I cast. It’s a personal tradition that I cherish 🙂

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    CNN is already announcing reported totals (with less than 1% reported) in states where the polls haven’t closed yet, as well as a running popular vote count. This means that eastern states’ results are being reported at least 3 hours or more before the western states’ polls close.

    I HATE THAT PRACTICE!!

  3. Ray – hear, hear. I blame it on the concept of 24/7 news. If they had to wait until “News at 11,” they might be better at separating the news from the not news.

  4. Good point to be sure, but I wonder if we are taking responsibility away from the western voters. Isn’t that a pretty lame excuse not to vote… that the news called it prematurely?

  5. Clay – maybe, but if it feels as though your vote won’t count (e.g. dem in UT), it’s easy for complacency to creep in. At this point, even Fox News is calling it for Obama (with Ohio going for him).

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    I am flipping back and forth among multiple stations. I just heard one of the anchors on Fox News say something like, “Our viewers like to see shots of (whatever the state candidates’ names are). They are good looking men.” I promise I am not making that up. I have no idea what the context was, but . . .

    I also listened for about one minute longer, and it’s funny how despondent they sound. Right as I was about to switch back to CNN, I heard an anchor say, “Now, looking again at those two good looking men . . .” It was the senate race in Arizona.

    Unbelievable.

  7. Ray, I heard that comment. They put up the pics of both guys and realized there were no results available yet, thus the comment – that they were just showing the picture for the heck of it. It was pretty funny though. I’m not sure what I liked more – that comment or the moment when Karl Rove gave everyone cookies. (I’m not a big Fox News watcher, so I’m not sure if that’s just another day at the office, or what.)

    My husband is so depressed right now. I am trying to contain my glee. Failing, but trying.

  8. Ray

    “Fox News say something like, “Our viewers like to see shots of (whatever the state candidates’ names are). They are good looking men.” I promise I am not making that up. I have no idea what the context was, but .”

    They were joking because a screen froze with the wrong picture ( of those two men ) up on screen, so they joked about a bit to ad lib also

    But still its a great day today. Not only has the first black man been elected -although he is mixed race- to lead the free world, the GOP has been further decimated in congress, and that war criminal George W Bush is soon to be gone for ever.

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  10. One wonders if the GOP can hang together after this stinging defeat! I see a scenario where the Republicans break into two parties. One is this right wing, religious, right to life types and the other a more centrist, pragmatic party.

    If we would have seen the McCain of last night’s speech and SNL appearance, with a reasonable VP pick, he probably would have won. The anti-doofus (Bush) vote was overwhelming.

  11. “If we would have seen the McCain of last night’s speech and SNL appearance, with a reasonable VP pick, he probably would have won. The anti-doofus (Bush) vote was overwhelming.”

    I don’t think so. McCain lost primarily because he does not represent the economic change the country wants at this moment. The exit polls showed overwhelmingly that the economy was the biggest factor in people’s vote. This is similar to 2004 when the top exit poll issue was social values and Bush won because he was more closely identified with that. I think McCain lost on the economy, but it went from loss to landslide because of Sarah Palin.

    McCain was great last night. I wish my fellow Arizonans had acted with a little more class towards Obama.

  12. I see a scenario where the Republicans break into two parties. One is this right wing, religious, right to life types and the other a more centrist, pragmatic party.

    Such a party (the “more cenrist, pragmatic party”) would likely enjoy a huge influx from those who consider themselves independent, as well as centrist democrats. I honestly don’t think there are many rational people on the extreme ends of either major party (and yes, I say that as a very liberal democrat!).

  13. The Repubs. will spend some time in the wilderness on this one…but I think the analogy of Jimmy Carter might well be fitting.

    1) Carter came in on an anti-corruption, “I’m not NIxon and am new-to-politics” wave
    2) Carter was quite inexperienced, having only been the Georgia governor for one term
    3) Carter won b/c of his opponent’s connections to Nixon…how many people know much about Obama’s policies? (not that they’re horrendous…just that are largely unknown)
    4) Carter entered in the wake of a widely unpopular war
    5) Carter appealed to the evangelical left

    There are others…but I will make the prediction that Obama will have to prove his toughness, his American-ness in foreign policy…and in doing so, will make some kind of fatal blunder. He will need to prove that he has all the love of country that McCain could make claim to. When a candidate finds himself needing to prove something, bad things happen…whether it’s masculinity or patriotism.

  14. Clay #17,

    I agree with your premise to some extent. but, I think that Americans by and large trusted the “real john McCain.” Not the manufactured one we saw. The economy is certainly the number one issue because in our “Just think of myself” society that we live in, it really affects people.

    but, I think the the real McCain could have recovered from “The economy is sound” gaffe but for the fact that he had a poor campaign staff that directed him to make every campaign mistake in the book.

    Having said that, I voted for Obama and that is who I wanted to win. I am glad he won and i hope those who didn’t vote for it get over it and move on to help bring the country back.

  15. “The economy is certainly the number one issue because in our “Just think of myself” society that we live in, it really affects people.”

    That’s an interesting take. I have been noticing that is a common view of Democratic economic approaches, as well as of Republican approaches. The Right says the Left is selfish because they want to use the government to force rich people to help poor people – who they (the Left) supposedly are unwilling to help through a private capacity. It also supposes that liberal programs result in laziness (giving fish instead of teaching to fish.)

    The Left says the Right has a core value that people act in their own self-interest and therefore a free market will always bear the most equal opportunity because the competing self-interests act as balancing competition, with the understanding that any resulting inequality is deserved. If you don’t succeed, it is your own fault for not applying yourself. The Left sees this as being a faulty ideal because it is like the Lion telling the Gazelle that it can overcome the lack of muscle, claws, and fangs by just applying itself harder.

    Somehow both sides view the other as being selfish. This just says to me that we are all talking past each other.

  16. Clay – “The Right says the Left is selfish because they want to use the government to force rich people to help poor people.” I think the Right would say the left is enabling (hence the term “bleeding heart”) rather than selfish, and most Right wingers I know would say they do that for one of two reasons: 1) they themselves are the beneficiaries of this mandatory charity (e.g. the voting poor) or 2) they are part of the academic elite who want to rescue the underclass as an idealistic mission based on a principle (e.g. wealth redistribution).

    I think your description of how the Left views the Right is fairly apt. The Left would say the Right feels that the poor deserve to be poor because they didn’t work hard enough (welfare queens), weren’t smart enough (er-more on this one to follow), or weren’t “American” enough (immigrants).

    The problem is that the evangelical base has brought an unhealthy dose of NRA-toting NASCAR-loving brand of populism to the GOP. It used to be that the GOP was the party of the elite – the “haves,” the more educated, the more materially successful, and going back to the revolutionary war – the aristocracy. It was much easier to pick a party when one represented the “have nots” and one represented the “haves.” We could vote based on the size of our bank accounts or our level of education. Not so anymore. So, now the people who are disadvantaged because they weren’t “smart enough” (or educated)–where do they fit in? They are no longer in the left; they are in the GOP, standing next to Sarah Palin in the WalMart checkout line.

  17. “I think McCain lost on the economy, but it went from loss to landslide because of Sarah Palin”

    Very true.

    Palin is the job candidate who has the right resume and references but then after the interview one says “no, not her, she doesn’t appear competent”. But many in the GOP are looking to her today as its future, so the GOP will be out in the wilderness for a long long time.

    Maybe spliting the party would be the solution with the Gulianni’s, Romney’s and Ron Paul’s on the ‘libertarian’ side of the GOP with Bush, Palin, and Reverand Dobson on the other. It would only then be a matter of setting up a coalition for national elections, with each doing their own thing in local and state elections.

    But I hope they don’t do this and just stay a fractured party for years. They have done enough damage to the world to last a lifetime.

    By the way it seems that the anti-gay marriage proposals have passed in all states, so what happens now with the marriages already performed? and will the gay lobby go to the supreme court? Does anyone know?

  18. WOW!!

    Carl Cameron on Fox is reporting that some of the problems McCain’s staffers had with Palin was that she didn’t know what countries are in NAFTA (not many to remember) nor that Africa was a continent and not just one country!!!!! And Carl isn’t very democrat friendly nor is Fox News.

    Amazing! how did she ever get so close to the most powerful job on earth….oh, but then again republican’s loved that war criminal and total idiot George W Bush!

  19. The extreme ends on both sides tend to be the finger pointers and blame the other for the troubles of the world. What I was referring to when I said “our “Just think of myself” society was that the only time people in the US really pay attention to the political process is when it affects them personally. Otherwise, they are apathetic.

    The true partisans are typically the loudest and always involved. The ecomony issues woke up the rest. Because they can’t afford their $5 lattes at Starbucks anymore.

  20. I think you guys just showed the world what democracy is,and what it can do,and your choice speaks louder than any bullet or bomb.If a man can go from citizen to president in one generation,why would a young man choose the bomb over the ballot box.This will have done more to defeat terrorism than any amount of soldiery.You all walked your talk.

  21. One of the most far-out things I heard during the campaigns was that if Obama gets elected you wouldn’t be allowed to sing the national anthem anymore (a seriously Mormon blog, no less).

    You just showed the world that democracy can work. I wish more people had the courage to take the plunge.

  22. Like to watch Stargate Atlantis episodes and also Lost. I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.

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