Archive for the ‘Election 2008’ Category

Inauguration Event Preview?

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

“Everyone will go to school, everyone will have a job, everyone will be equal, no one will exploit or be exploited… and all those who oppose this wonderful vision will be crushed” — from Amerika

Chris Matthews - What a Joke

Friday, November 7th, 2008

Chris, can I call you that, Chris?  After all, you keep referring to “Barack”, so in this new era of informality where you feel comfortable enough to refer to our next president by his first name, I’ll just call you Chris. 

I confess I rarely watched your show, which should come as no surprise since you probably know all of your viewers by their first name as well.  However, I am fairly certain you never referred to President Bush as George… why is that?

Anyway, I suppose I am digressing a bit, just seems you are rather cozy with the new prez for a “journalist”.  Then again…

Chris, now that the election is over, it is refreshing to hear you finally admit that you are not now nor have you ever been an actual journalist.

You have been a partisan mole from the start.  By admitting your “job” is to do everything you can to ensure Barack succeeds as president after 8 years of taking the opposite view of your role in your “reporting” on anything related to our current president, you have confessed to being 100% in the tank for Barack.

In fact, you seemed stunned that anyone was even questioning why you would think that your job as a “journalist” was to ensure Barack was successful.  Isn’t that not only the job of every journalist, but the job of every single American, nay every living being on this planet? 

Now that the world has been freed from the evil wizard from the north who migrated to the southwest to grow in strength and power, calling his evil minions to his side as he plotted to steal our country from the rightful successors to the throne, Gorefindal and Kerrymingle…

OK, maybe your delusions are not quite as far out there as that, but clearly you have fallen under the spell of The One.  How else do you explain your total acceptance of all things Barack without any evidence that this man can accomplish anything he promises via his speech writers. 

You don’t want to ask any questions, you don’t want to know the answers, and you certainly do not appreciate anyone else asking any questions that could cause this delicate flower, Barack, to fail.  We must nurture the Barack because, how did you say it, we need our president to be successful.  One wonders if you would be of the same mind if Senator John McCain had won (I don’t think it would be appropriate to just call him by his first name… after all, he’s an adult).

In this video (saw it on FoxNews… you know, a real news network), Chris looks as if he has won the lottery and been promised unending life in the same day:

Even the other folks on the show appear stunned that Chris is showing his true nature.

And so begins the most bipartisan congress ever…

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

From AP - Reid looking to remove Lieberman as committee head:

Reid, in a sternly worded statement after the 45-minute meeting, said no official decisions have been made. But an aide to the Nevada Democrat said Reid was leaning toward removing Lieberman as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

“While I understand that Sen. Lieberman has voted with Democrats a majority of the time, his comments and actions have raised serious concerns among many in our caucus,” Reid said.

<snip>

Democrats in the past had tolerated Lieberman’s political straddling because he held their slim 51-49 majority in his hands. Now that Democrats have strengthened their hold in the Senate to at least 55 seats as a result of Tuesday’s election, Lieberman no longer is vital to their majority control.

So there you have it.  While Reid needed Lieberman to have a majority and hold his position of power, he was willing to let Lieberman have independent thoughts.  Now that they don’t need Lieberman anymore, off to the gallows dear friend.

If they are willing to dismiss Joe Lieberman, a man who has caucused with them and supported them on nearly everything, what makes us think they will even listen to those on the other side of the aisle.

Welcome to one party government.

One last remaining hope for this election…

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

Please, please do not let Al Franken win a senate seat. That would be the final embarrassment for our country. He is a total, complete, far, far, far left nut case and yet somehow there are over a million people voting for this idiot.

Just the fact that it is this close is embarrassing enough. Might as well elect Rosie O’Donnell next. Maybe then we will finally learn the truth about 9/11…

Unbelievable.

Historical Election Results

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

Some folks have been looking for updated charts, (popular vote, popular vote %, electoral vote), so here ya go…

Obama had the 2nd highest percent of total votes cast for a Democrat since Johnson, number seven on our list going back to Truman.

Included McCain for reference because the turnout was key in this election.  Obama is the top vote getter.  although hard to judge because registered voters and actual voters varies year over year, McCain got more votes than every winner except Obama and GW Bush.

2008 popular vote numbers not final/official yet.

As far as electoral votes, Obama ranks 10th since Truman and is the 4th highest among Dems.

Big parties lead to… big hangovers…

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

Last night was a time of celebration, justifiably so.

But the concern has got to be that expectations have now been set for sweeping change in everything from bringing troops home to bringing prosperity to every American via redistribution of income; from universal health care to affordable access to post-secondary education; from lower taxes for 95% of Americans to higher wages and more jobs.

Unfortunately, promises like these are not likely to translate into reality.

In most elections, folks have come to expect that political promises are more political than promise.

This election is different.  This election Barack Obama reached new voters and made them believe in him and his message.  If he does not or can not deliver, these folks will be crushed. 

To be lied to by a politician, no big deal, happens all the time.

To be lied to by a savior…  devastating.

Did you see the faces of adoring fans throughout the campaign?  Did you see the sheer elation in the celebrations last night?

Obama has created some extraordinary expectations of what he can deliver, and it is unlikely his followers, and the world, will understand that he can not deliver on everything on day one, if at all.  It also appears day one will not wait for inauguration.

This is a man who decided to act presidential well before election day, so there is an expectation that he do something today, one day after the election, since he was already the president weeks ago in the minds of many, and perhaps even his own.

This is just the beginning of a long, long road:

Afghan president demands Obama end civilian deaths - The Afghan president on Wednesday demanded that President-elect Barack Obama put an end to civilian casualties …

Better get right on that Mr. President (elect)

The good new for Barack Obama?  It appears that, with grown ups in the White House for the past eight years, there will actually be a smooth transition of power, as opposed to the total disaster and clear attempt to sabotage the Bush presidency by the Clinton administration.

From CNN Nov. 27, 2000:

With the results of the presidential election now before a Florida court and awaiting a U.S. Supreme Court hearing, President Clinton offered Monday to set up a special council to aid whoever is declared president-elect.

Clinton announced the move Monday during a meeting of his Cabinet, saying he was trying to “ensure that we are as prepared as we can be for an orderly transition to the new administration.”

The move is largely symbolic at this point, while Vice President Al Gore contests the Florida decision awarding the state’s 25 electoral votes to Texas Gov. George W. Bush. It also allows the White House to deflect charges that they are aiding Gore’s effort to claim victory by denying Bush’s request for help in providing money and office space for a transition.

Bush’s running mate, former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, said Monday the campaign would seek private donations to defray the cost of setting up a new administration.

From WAPO June 3, 2001:

White House officials yesterday released a list of damage they say was done by outgoing staffers of President Bill Clinton, including obscene graffiti in six offices, a 20-inch-wide presidential seal ripped off a wall, 10 sliced telephone lines and 100 inoperable computer keyboards.

Most of the incidents described yesterday by White House press secretary Ari Fleischer were said to have occurred in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House. Pornographic or obscene greetings were left on 15 telephone lines in the offices of the vice president and White House counsel and in the scheduling and advance offices, Fleischer said. As a precaution, all phones were disabled and reprogrammed, he said.

The vandalism brouhaha started the day after Bush was inaugurated with boasts by Clinton staffers that they had removed the “W” key caps from their computers, and it escalated with televised allegations by Fleischer on Jan. 25 that departing aides had “cut wires” and performed other acts that the administration was “cataloguing.”

The only incident Fleischer described in the White House itself was a photocopier in the West Wing that had pictures of naked people interspersed with blank photocopy paper so deep in the tray that they were still popping out weeks after the inauguration.

Fleischer said that workers were able to affix new “W” caps to many computers but that 100 keyboards had to be replaced. Fleischer also said five brass nameplates bearing the presidential seal were missing in the Eisenhower building.

Fleischer said 75 phones had been “tampered with,” which he described as having the number plates removed and the lines plugged into the wrong wall outlet. “Nobody knew their number, and nobody could call in,” he said. Six fax machines were moved around in a similar fashion, he said.

Fleischer said that two historic doorknobs were missing and that desks and furniture were overturned in many of the Eisenhower offices. He said six to eight 14-foot loads of usable office supplies, including 6,000 binders, were recovered from the trash and are being used. He said no estimate had been made of the dollar value of the damage.

LA Times June 12, 2002:

A yearlong investigation into whether Clinton administration aides left the White House in fraternity-party disarray as they vacated the presidential premises has turned up about $15,000 in damage, according to a government report released Tuesday.

Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) asked the General Accounting Office last June to look into allegations that Clinton staffers had ripped phone cords from walls, left obscene voicemail messages, defaced bathrooms and vandalized computer keyboards by removing the “W” keys when they left the White House. A number of items, including a 12-inch presidential seal and several antique doorknobs, were assumed stolen.

“The Clinton administration treated the White House worse than college freshmen checking out of their dorm rooms,” Barr said Tuesday. “They disgraced not just themselves but the institution and the office of the presidency as well.”

The GAO concluded that “damage, theft, vandalism, and pranks did occur in the White House during the 2001 presidential transition.” The report stated that some incidents, such as removing keyboard keys, placing glue on desk drawers and leaving obscene voicemail messages “clearly were intentional,” and intentional damage would constitute a criminal act under federal law. No prosecutions are planned, though.

What we will witness this time around is the difference when adults turn over power.  Expect a smooth transition.  Hopefully, assuming Barack Obama finds himself in a position to turn over power to a Republican some day, he will help to prove Democrats can behave like adults too.

As for me, I still believe in the two party system and am once again considering a move to the Republican Party, if only because our country can not survive as a democracy with one party holding all the cards…

Congrats to President Elect Barack Obama

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

… and to the Dems.

Now it’s time to stop behaving like a bunch of whining, spoiled brats in the House and Senate and really act like grown ups for the sake of our country.

No more excuses folks… we now have a one party government and you be it.