Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

No Justins, No Peace

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

People are complicated. Love is not.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2012 / Wednesday Evening Open Thread

Reader Interactions

154Comments

  2. 2.

    elmo

    Still traveling, now in Dallas. No offense to anyone here, but I positively detest Texas. There just isn’t anything about any part of it that I find the least bit appealing.

    Trying to work up the wherewithal to go have dinner in the hotel steakhouse. By myself.

    Damn, I hate traveling.

  3. 3.

    some guy

    my OFA friend convinced me to help with GOTV next week for President KillList. I said I could spare a few hours on M and W

  4. 4.

    Alison

    The agenda this evening is watching my Giants kick some Tiger ass…………………………hopefully :)

    Also too, re-upping this from yesterday: Anyone interested in buying the Game of Thrones season 1 DVD box set off me? I’m trying to bring in some extra funds and am sorting through my stuff, doing the “Do I really need/want/use this” thing and I realized as much as I like the show, I’m just not likely to watch them again. It’s unwrapped but other than that it’s brand new – has a “Creating the World of Westeros” bonus disc with it. Say $30 including shipping? First come, first served – email me at arparker711 AT gmail

  6. 6.

    PreservedKillick

    After not getting a single wingnut mailer this whole cycle, I made the mistake of donating a few bucks to a neighbor who’s a republican (so sue me, his heart’s in the right place even if his suggested policy is…odd.)

    Now I’m getting getting right wing propaganda against Warren on a daily basis.

    So this is good, they are going to waste more money on me than I donated.

    But what is really interesting is that it seems to me that they targeted me *once they thought I was a republican*. That is not going to win you a senate seat, guys. You need to actually convert some of the folks on the other side, ya know?

  7. 7.

    Ben Franklin

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/23/cia-whistleblower-john-kiriakou-leak?newsfeed=true

    After Tuesday’s hearing, one of Kiriakou’s lawyers, Jesselyn Radack, an expert on whistleblower issues with the Government Accountability Project, said it was an outrage that Kiriakou would serve jail time. She said she was glad, though, that the charges under the Espionage Act had been dropped.

    Low-hanging fruit. I guess Darrell Issa is too high to reach…

  10. 10.

    Chris

    @PreservedKillick:

    Once they know who’s on their side, they blast them with agitprop just to make sure the vote turns out. It does make some sense. But I hope for their sake it’s not the only trick up their sleeve.

  11. 11.

    ranchandsyrup

    I’m a bit ashamed but I broke someone on FB today. We’ve been going back and forth for over a year. A while back I caught her using some stats that apportioned “bad” things that Bush did to Obama. She tried to give me the old “I’m an accountant and you don’t understand numbers” thing on me (she hasn’t gotten her CPA yet). So I took her to task on it and others did too and I questioned if her tribalism led her to that or if she’s just a bad accountant. So she’s been quasi-stalking me. Over the past couple of days she has been pimping Lybia and Small Business memes. She was pointing out the “lies” by the President on Lybia and I gave her the old “IT’S ALWAYS PROJECTION” routine. That was enough for her. She defriended but put up a post about “Sometimes you gotta let people go” which some of our mutual friends sent along to me. Turned into a debate over whether I am a monster or history’s greatest monster. She’s urging all of our mutual friends to defriend me.
    This is almost as strange as another time when a friend’s mom logged in on his girlfriend’s account (we’re both about 40 yrs old) and went straight to insulting my manhood because I made fun of her son parroting el rusbo.
    Farging facebook.

  12. 12.

    Hal

    @dmsilev:

    Don’t worry, I’m sure George Bush will soon cut an equivalent ad for Mitt Romney…

    I would contribute money to his campaign if it would go strictly to a Bush endorsement ad.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Also, I’ve mentioned before Facebook postings from conservative friends regarding this election, and one in particular is fascinating me. He went from silence, to fuck yeah Mitt Romney after the first debate, to his current “All politicians are a joke.”

    Now he’s complaining about Donald Trump’s bullshit and using it as a both side style argument without actually mentioning that his fuck yeah ass-kicker candidate is the one who embraced that clown.

    Can’t wait until after the election when all these folks immediately start talking about how horrible a candidate Mitt Romney was and how they knew it all along.

  13. 13.

    Robin G.

    @The Dangerman: There is never a wrong time for FTFY.

    I’m torn about this series. On one hand, I really like this Giants team. On the other hand, I want Verlander to have a ring. Decisions, decisions.

  14. 14.

    The Bearded Blogger

    @piratedan: I often wonder why OFA hasn’t pushed republican economic sabotage front and center. In a sane society, that would be a deal breaker.

    I know, I know, “in a sane society”…

  15. 15.

    PreservedKillick

    @Chris:

    Once they know who’s on their side, they blast them with agitprop just to make sure the vote turns out.

    Sort of odd to me, I guess. This is a really tiny town. If I don’t vote, I’m going to get a call from someone organizing for the town dems. Many orders of magnitude more effective.

  16. 16.

    Roger Moore

    @The Dangerman:

    I think we need one final FTFY.

    No, there should never be a final FTFY, FTMFY, or FTMFYWAVRPF. We should continue to say those things whenever the Baseball Gods give us good reason to say them- say, every time TMFY either play a game or don’t get to play a game because they’ve been eliminated from the post season. And any time they show up in the news. Or when one of their fans acts like an asshole. And any time we feel like it, just because.

  19. 19.

    The Bearded Blogger

    @ranchandsyrup: I sometimes wonder about the long-term effects of polarizing republican media and the bubble they created and maintain. Apart from helping to fuck up country+planet, I think they’ve done a lot to tear social fabric apart. I wonder if there is ever going to be a sense of national unity, common values, etc.

  20. 20.

    beltane

    @Hal: It takes some skill to work Donald Trump into a “both sides do it” argument. Since when has a Democratic presidential candidate hidden behind the clown suit of an over-the-hill carnival barker? Not in my lifetime.

  21. 21.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    @Robin G.:

    The best thing about this World Series is that the Fucking Yankees are out as are the Zombie Cardinals. The latter means The Cheater will have less championship ring and ponder how he’ll never get into the Hall of Fame.

    Also too, the Cards radio play-by-play guy, Mike Shannon, the yardstick by which the worst PBP announcer in baseball is measured, is off the air until spring.

  22. 22.

    ranchandsyrup

    @The Bearded Blogger: I do my part by bringing up epistemic closure and tribalism constantly to these guys. I admit to them that I’m just as likely to fall into those positions as they are. I’m not sure if it works or not but that’s what I’ve been doing.

  23. 23.

    muddy

    @Redshift: Doing some decluttering and organizing storage a few weeks ago and I found a campaign pin, about 1″ diameter that says, “Adlai”. I gave it to my older sister and she’s been wearing it this election season, to the confusion of many I’m sure.

  26. 26.

    The Dangerman

    @The Bearded Blogger:

    I often wonder why OFA hasn’t pushed republican economic sabotage front and center.

    Romney’s been pushing his bipartisanship, so complaining about Congress would apparently be seen as too partisan. Just a guess.

  27. 27.

    TaMara (BHF)

    I clicked on the little box with Obama in the video and got a treat of him in Denver today telling us to go out and vote early.

    He made it in and out before the storm hit and according to the media (who gushed over Romney at Red Rocks yesterday – a govern’t program built it* btw) the President had a bigger crowd today (over 10K) even with the snow storm quickly approaching.

    Though it may be my hormones talking, but they didn’t seem to gush as much.

    *Red Rocks, not Rombot. I’m pretty sure he was manufactured in China.

  28. 28.

    Robin G.

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage: TMFY aren’t just out; they were brutally humiliated. (I only wish my O’s had been the ones to do it. Or that Jeter had broken his ankle a game earlier. As a general rule I find enjoying injuries to be ghoulish, but… Jeter.) And watching A-Rod wet himself was a thing of beauty.

  30. 30.

    Foregone Conclusion

    @PreservedKillick:

    It’s quite possible that an algorithm of a computer somewhere has decided that you’re exactly the kind of person they need to persuade – a registered Democrat (I presume?) who’s giving to a Republican candidate usually = persuadable, either from orientation or lack of interest. I know that both the Obama and Romney camps have a scary amount of information about individual voters.

  32. 32.

    Bubblegum Tate

    @elmo:

    Dallas sucks balls, no question about it. Houston can be OK, though–just don’t go in the summer.

  33. 33.

    The Bearded Blogger

    @ranchandsyrup: I think it’s a good thing; polarization is, in itself, a bad thing, and just building bridges is positive. Takes a lot of tact, though, people have “good books” and “bad books”, and are likely to shut you out if you are not careful. I try to do the same myself, but I often get tired and frustrated.

    @Elmo: Well, yeah, there’s never been a perfect sense of national unity, but I’m guessing in the early 20th century a pundit would have been run out of town for saying he hopes the president fails. Democracy requires a certain symbolic unity (a “civil religion”, per Tocqueville)… right now it is the continuation of war by other means.

    @piratedan: But ads, speeches, youtube videos, could help shape the media narrative. For example, a “gaffe” by Joe Biden.

    @The Dangerman: That could be it. But if they had a tape or statement by Ryan saying his aim is to sabotage BHO, it could be powerful, even affecting down ticket races

  35. 35.

    The Bearded Blogger

    Moderation, I’ll try to take out suspect words:

    @ranchandsyrup: I think it’s a good thing; polarization is, in itself, a bad thing, and just building bridges is positive. Takes a lot of tact, though, people have “good books” and “bad books”, and are likely to shut you out if you are not careful. I try to do the same myself, but I often get tired and frustrated.

    @Elmo: Well, yeah, there’s never been a perfect sense of national unity, but I’m guessing in the early 20th century a pundit would have been run out of town for saying he hopes the president fails.

    @piratedan: But ads, speeches, youtube videos, could help shape the media narrative. For example, an off the cuff remark by Biden

    @The Dangerman: That could be it. But if they had a tape or statement by Ryan saying his aim is to sabotage BHO, it could be powerful, even affecting down ticket races

  36. 36.

    magurakurin

    @Robin G.:

    I felt bad for Ichiro, though. But then again he chose that team to be traded to. I guess he didn’t realize how washed up they were. He played well, I thought, but it was like he was still on the Mariners…the best player on the field…only instead of being surrounded by regular guys doing their best he was surrounded by washed up prima donnas fucking the chicken.

    As Steve Gilliard, smiling down from heaven, must be saying…

    …fuck the fucking Yankees.

  37. 37.

    bemused

    @The Bearded Blogger:

    It’s not just straight out Republican media messing with people’s heads. People who aren’t rightwingers but only paying cursory attention to other news media which does a damn lousy job of reporting on issues. It’s no wonder I hear people I’ve always thought of as normal, reality-based folks repeating utter bullshit.

  38. 38.

    Bubblegum Tate

    @beltane:

    Since when has a Democratic presidential candidate hidden behind the clown suit of an over-the-hill carnival barker? Not in my lifetime.

    But…but…Michael Moore was at the DNC! BOTH SIDES DO IT!

  41. 41.

    SatanicPanic

    @magurakurin: Yeah, Ichiro, the best Japanese player ever, deserves better than wasting ten years on a Mariners team with an absentee owner, then getting traded to the has-been Yankees. Maybe he’ll have a few more years to make it to the WS.

  43. 43.

    ranchandsyrup

    @The Bearded Blogger: Oh, lots of them shut me out. I know that sometimes when I choose to shut someone out, it is because I am admitting that they’re right. I can take my ball and go home but I know what went down. They do too but can choose to ignore it.

  44. 44.

    PsiFighter37

    13 days until the election. Can’t wait.

    Today, from what I read around the Internets, was a good day poll-wise. That probably won’t stop everyone’s favorite troll from stopping by and slamming his keyboard because of UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH!!!11

    Off to exercise in a few. Keep it real, folks.

  45. 45.

    FlipYrWhig

    @The Bearded Blogger:

    I often wonder why OFA hasn’t pushed republican economic sabotage front and center.

    I feel similarly — I would want to run on Republican sabotage and, really, the whole Republican program of deliberate, hellbent-for-leather obstructionism. “I have done a lot as it is and I could have done much more if not for the other party pulling procedural bullshit on every last goddamn thing, seriously, like we’ve never fucking seen, not ever.”

    OK, I suppose the problem with that, aside from the exasperated profanity, is the people who would say, “Well, too bad, that’s politics. Both sides do it, so find a way somehow to knock off the bullshit and get something done.” Which is a very large number, including a lot of would-be, self-avowed progressives, the crowd that says that Obama didn’t try hard enough to fight hard enough, etc..

  57. 57.

    MikeJ

    @SatanicPanic: He was with the Mariners because they’re the hometown team of Japanese execs that fly over for games. I wish he’d stayed here, but there was no way the Mariners were going to give a 38 year old another 5 year/$90,000,000 contract. The FY can afford to pay him, and with him being the only decent player left they probably will.

  58. 58.

    The Bearded Blogger

    @FlipYrWhig: Yeah… maybe the message could be upbeat, though: In SPITE of republican obstruction (graph of fillibuster) we’ve achieved X and Y

  60. 60.

    Kay

    Obama’s coming to the GM plant here next week. It seems like Romney and Ryan don’t go to auto plants in Ohio.

    I wonder why that is :)

    Bush always came out to see us.

  61. 61.

    PsiFighter37

    And after a long delay, I should do this- I promised my fiancee that I’d help advertise her WH.gov petition around. It’s to make Election Day a federal holiday (a pretty good idea, IMO). If you do have a couple minutes to spare, please do sign it. I don’t have a lot of hope that we get the necessary signatures, but it’s a good cause, and you have to start somewhere.

    Click here to put your name down! And, if so inclined, please do spread the word.

  62. 62.

    Elmo

    @The Bearded Blogger:
    Maybe during wwi or WWII. Not at any other time. Some of what sends modern media to the fainting couches would have been considered mild in the 19th C.
    It has been ever thus. The moneyed interests have always demonized and denigrated their opposition in this country, when they weren’t resorting to outright violence and murder.

  63. 63.

    SatanicPanic

    @MikeJ: I read somewhere that their owner (Nintendo guy) has never even watched a Mariners game on TV, let alone visit Seattle. I get why he went there, but it’s a shame the Mariners didn’t try harder to build a good team around him.

  64. 64.

    SatanicPanic

    @raven: That’s who we’re talking about, right? Sadaharu Oh. Jerk who has bullied everyone into protecting his HR record all three times it’s been challenged.

  65. 65.

    raven

    Pat Lang on fire about Benghazi:

    “None of this matters to the “Friends of Trump” 1% crowd who will build any kind of sandcastle that they can that might influence a few more cretins in the battleground states to act out their racism in the polling booth.”

  66. 66.

    Desert Rat

    You have to admit that it’s nice to roll out a popular President every four years to fight for your side. The GOP never really got that with Reagan (and he was arguably never as popular as Big Dog anyway), but Barack (and Kerry before him in 2004) have had the luxury.

  67. 67.

    PsiFighter37

    And Matt Bai is busy being a concern troll over at NYT, saying it’s Bill Clinton’s fault for the raise tightening. What a fool – it’s Obama’s fault for not fighting as aggressively in the first debate as he did in the last two.

    Oh, and that the media must have a HORSE RACE, God forbid the country clearly chooses one candidate over the other.

  69. 69.

    FlipYrWhig

    @The Bearded Blogger: True. “Republicans in Congress fought us every step of the way. And still we…” Not a bad gambit. But I assume that focus groups don’t like the “It’s their fault!” family of complaints, even when they’re true. I mean, if it’s true that men watching the debates liked it when Romney confronted Obama and didn’t like it when Obama confronted Romney, then the whole subject of being confrontational is a minefield.

  70. 70.

    TheMightyTrowel

    Spamming all threads with a donation offer:

    I just got a paycheck, so I’ll match all donations to the BJ Act Blue for Obama up to $250 from now (11am Aus time) to the end of the work day (so 6 hours from now, my 5pm)

  74. 74.

    Gravenstone

    Taking a stab at Schedenfreude pie, which someone was kind enough to link to here last week or so. Omitted the Kahlua, since I’m not a fan of coffee liquers, but otherwise intact.

  75. 75.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ben Franklin:

    Awww, the CIA guy who went on national TV to say that torture totally works and claimed that we were able to get great information from Abu Zubaydah after just one session that lasted 30 seconds (instead of the truth, which was that Zubaydah was subjected to hundreds of torture sessions that yielded no useful information) got prosecuted for it?

    I’ll make sure to play the world’s tiniest violin tonight, just for him. I’m so very, very sad that a torture apologist got prosecuted for saying torture works, I just don’t know what else to do.

  76. 76.

    FlipYrWhig

    @PsiFighter37:

    it’s Obama’s fault for not fighting as aggressively in the first debate as he did in the last two.

    I still don’t think it was that exactly… It wasn’t anything Obama did or didn’t do but, and this is the core of the aggravating “Romney won the debate season” line from a few days ago, that Romney was so much better than anticipated that he won over the Republicans who had been dispirited, and they’ve stayed with him even after two serious beatdowns.

  77. 77.

    Maude

    @Kay:
    If you can, let us know how the people at GM react to Obama.
    Romney saying he would never hurt the auto industry was so strange. he wanted to let GM and other auto companies be liquidated. Obama said that during the debate.
    I am still glad McCain wasn’t elected.

  78. 78.

    Chris

    @Desert Rat:

    The GOP never really got that with Reagan

    I’m too young to remember these years (wasn’t alive for most of them anyway), but I’ve long had the sense that Reagan’s popularity and iconic status came from the way he was remembered rather than the way people felt about him while he was in office. A landslide isn’t in itself proof that the people think your farts don’t smell – Johnson and Nixon won by equally large margins.

    To be fair, I kind of figured the same thing about FDR. And I suppose most “great men” aren’t proclaimed and remembered that way until after they’ve left office (deservedly or not).

  79. 79.

    magurakurin

    @SatanicPanic:

    OH is definitely a legend in Japan, but I don’t really get the sense that fans here think he was a better player than Ichiro. Ichiro is the best player ever in the minds of even those who don’t really like him. But, like all players, Ichiro’s star is fading. Darvish is so hot right now….

  80. 80.

    Kay

    @Maude:

    Even John McCain came out once, and he’s not a ‘car guy’ like Mitt Romney, he’s more of a golf cart guy. Local Republicans had to bus in high school bands to fill the McCain event, but still, he came.

    No Romney. No Ryan. Oh, well.

    I have to work that day, Maude, but if I can go I will and I’ll take my usual crappy photos :)

  82. 82.

    General Stuck

    I ordered a counter top water distiller this week, and am giddy for it to arrive to make my own distilled water for teh cleanse the precious bodily fluids. And prevent kidney stones, and warts.

  83. 83.

    PsiFighter37

    @Alison: Nice!

    Is there some ethical rule saying I’ll donate more money to MBAL if people keep signing the petition?… :P

    @FlipYrWhig: I do think that if Obama had forcefully shoved Willard back into his hole in debate #1, he never would’ve rebounded. They would’ve been sad and despondent (and probably bitching about what an angry black man Obama was, etc.)

  84. 84.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Robin G.: Yes! This! A broken ankle one game earlier and the O’s would have been in it! And tonight we’d be watching … the Tigers. Those guys looked pretty damn tough, I don’t think the O’s would have made it past them.

    But at least the MFY got their asses handed to them. FTFY once again.

  85. 85.

    gogol's wife

    I really appreciate PO having been taken out this evening. He’s been showing up about this time every evening, it’s when I finally have a minute to really catch up on the blog and see what everyone’s doing, and he ruins it every single evening. How nice for him to have been bleeped out. Thank you, Anne Laurie, if it was you.

  88. 88.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @SatanicPanic:

    Maybe [Ichiro]’ll have a few more years to make it to the WS.

    Then there’s Rod Carew, who never made it. Or Cal Ripken, who made it during his rookie year, then never again.

  90. 90.

    PsiFighter37

    @Baud: I didn’t, but I couldn’t help myself. I don’t like bullshit going unanswered.

    But it’ll be better for my stress levels, so probably a good thing he is banned.

  92. 92.

    Maude

    @Kay:
    When I take a photo and I can tell what it is, it is a rousing success.
    If you can’t get there, let us know what the media coverage is like.

  97. 97.

    Baud

    People have noted that this year is the first year in a while that climate change hasn’t been mentioned in the debates. It just occurred to me this gay rights also weren’t mentioned at all, which was a real boon for Romney, IMHO.

  99. 99.

    PsiFighter37

    @Baud: Mainly blame this on the moderators. Jim Lehrer’s topics for the first debate were incredibly restrictive and ignored anything outside of the economy. Whoever negotiated that on the Obama side sure did a poor job.

  100. 100.

    Kay

    @Maude:

    It’s a good stop for him because he’s out in the rural counties, Republican, mostly, but he’ll still get Toledo tv/newspaper coverage.

  102. 102.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Robin G.:

    And watching A-Rod wet himself was a thing of beauty.

    True, so true, but–Ibanez. I-motherfucking-banez…

    But I agree, Puddytats woulda probably ended up with a mouthful of orange & black feathers. Wait till next year!

    And O, while we’re on da subjeck: Congratulations Buck Showalter, 2012 AL Manager of the Year!

  104. 104.

    Elie

    @The Bearded Blogger: This. Absolutely this.

    Americans are so unhappy. So tortured in our various Hells. We are lost. Travel in socalled poor countries and mark the difference. We lead the world in material success but still can’t feel our lives mean as much as the day to day values of our so called lesser allies like Italy and Spain. They know what it’s about. That this election is close is both bad and good. We have to find the We again. Money won’t and can’t make us happy

  106. 106.

    smintheus

    Commentary on Mitt’s lack of principles by a self-described conservative and former Dean at UMass, who says he found Romney as governor to be a practiced liar who would say anything and mean nothing. From the Providence Journal.

    Having worked directly with Romney during his term as Massachusetts governor, I can tell you that there is nothing authentic or genuine about him. He’ll tell you what he thinks that you want to hear and pretend to be what he thinks you want him to be. He’s an ideological chameleon who will say anything to get your support and then do whatever he wants to favor the rich and privileged; he’s a caricature of the stereotyped Republican Party. He lies frequently and convincingly, and has elastic principles, if any at all. He’s fundamentally dishonest, while presenting an image of goodness and light.

  110. 110.

    redshirt

    Does anyone have any real information regarding yard signs? Cuz from where I sit in Western Maine, it’s a staggering Romney advantage. 100 to 1.

    Do they not send them out? Are they not effective?

    I must say, despite my confidence in O’s victory, it’s depressing to drive anywhere and just get flooded with Rmoney signs.

    Though I haz a small chuckle/sad when the Rmoney sign is planked out in front of some dirt poor, ramshackle trailer. Really? You’re voting for the mega rich guy?

  111. 111.

    PsiFighter37

    @redshirt: I think you have to buy Obama yard signs – they don’t hand them out. Frankly, I think it’s generally a smart idea – I don’t think yard signs do anything in terms of moving support at all. It’s more effective for people who less name recognition than the candidates running in a presidential general election.

  112. 112.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @redshirt: The Obama campaign purposely doesn’t do yard signs. Sez yard signs don’t vote. They prefer to spend their money on field offices.

    You can get a yard sign from the website, but it’ll cost you $20, IIRC.

  113. 113.

    gbear

    @Baud: Baud, Obama does mention gay rights in every stump speech he makes (at least in the half dozen that I’ve watched).

  114. 114.

    Sparrowgal

    @PsiFighter37: Signed and posted with link on Facebook, with a quote from Ezra Klein’s article “Why is Tuesday Election Day?”. My post:

    Isn’t it time to carve out an official voting day, when folks don’t need to be concerned about returning to work in the eventuality of long lines?
    “Voting on a Tuesday dates back to 1845, when Congress needed to pick a time for Americans to vote. We were an agrarian society. We traveled by horse and buggy. Farmers needed a day to get to the county seat, a day to vote, and a day to get back, without interfering with the three days of worship. So that left Tuesday and Wednesday, but Wednesday was market day. So, Tuesday it was”. (via WaPo, 2011).
    Whitehouse.gov petition below. You have to sign up on site to sign, but it’s pretty painless, if you’re interested.

    Seems a really antiquated and pointless tradition. Feel free to embellish, edit and share the above, if desired.

  115. 115.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @PsiFighter37: Volkischer Beobachter Proctological Obstruction Political Observer, banned? Crap. You mean I went to the trouble of putting Fuck you with a rusty chainsaw into a one-key macro for nothing?

  116. 116.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @muddy:

    I had completely forgotten this, but somewhere in the muddle that lives in shoeboxes in my closet, I believe I have some buttons from the LOTR frenzy of the late ’60s/early ’70s. One of them says Frodo for President.”

    In Elvish.

    Gotta find those pins NAOW!

  117. 117.

    TheMightyTrowel

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    You mean I went to the trouble of putting Fuck you with a rusty chainsaw into a one-key macro for nothing?

    It’s BJ. I’m sure you’ll find a use for it sooner than you think.

  119. 119.

    redshirt

    @PsiFighter37: I see your point. I’d counter with a variation of the Rove “Bandwagon” theme – in which you pour on the resources/narrative in the last minutes to make it seem like your guy has unstoppable momentum.

    If you were just looking around, and nothing else, you’d say Western Maine is really Romney country. And maybe it is.

    Maine does split its EV’s, and anecdotally only, I’d have to say the 1 from North/Western Maine is in play.

  121. 121.

    PsiFighter37

    @Sparrowgal: Considering the French have their presidential election on a Sunday – and that low 80% participation is low for them – we should really be able to do better. Whether it’s making Election Day a holiday, moving it to the weekend, or something else – it’s way too difficult for most people to vote.

    @Uncle Cosmo: Sad, ain’t it? What else is worth saying almost instantaneously on BJ?

  122. 122.

    PsiFighter37

    @redshirt: Do you really think there are a lot of Romney / Michaud voters? Just asking, as every poll taken has Michaud winning his race comfortably, and he’s not exactly the most awesomest representative ever…

  124. 124.

    redshirt

    @PsiFighter37: My anecdotal evidence is every yard with a Romney sign also has a Raye sign too, as well as a bunch of state Senator signs and a vote No on gay marriage.

    The repukes up here are plastering the outdoors with signs and there is hardly any Democratic presence. For instance, I’ve seen 3 Obama signs (compared to 300+ for Rmoney), and no Michaud signs at all.

  125. 125.

    Sparrowgal

    @PsiFighter37: D’accord! Doubt we’d ever come close to a coveted 80%, but there have got to be ways to make some of the process less painful (voter ID, intimidation, registration fraud, etc. issues aside)

  126. 126.

    PreservedKillick

    @redshirt:

    The repukes up here are plastering the outdoors with signs and there is hardly any Democratic presence. For instance, I’ve seen 3 Obama signs (compared to 300+ for Rmoney), and no Michaud signs at all.

    True here, too. Always the same. And the area will go 60%+ dem.

  127. 127.

    redshirt

    Australia has a holiday for the election and I believe voting is mandatory too – is that right?

    Should be a holiday, and we might have got this passed during the 90’s. But the Repukes are anti-voting now, so no way. If anything, they’d love to make it ever harder to vote.

  128. 128.

    muddy

    I have not seen a single Obama or Romney signs. Plenty of locals though. And a veritable red tide of Bernies.

  130. 130.

    TheMightyTrowel

    @redshirt: Elections are on Saturdays (we just had one in my state), voting is mandatory (you get a small fine if you don’t vote – ACT saw nearly 97% turnout) and all the local churches and schools schedule bbqs and fetes to coincide.

  131. 131.

    PreservedKillick

    @redshirt:

    Where you at?

    Metrowest Suburban Boston. In the middle of a sea of Scott Brown and Jon Golnik signs and a very small number of Romney signs. Some Warren signs, too, but not so many.

  132. 132.

    Lancelot Link

    The Politifool Absurder got the banhammer?
    Dammit, I was saving this 2008 SadlyNo classic for him;

    Here is how it will go down next week. First, the results from Virginia and North Carolina will come in, and they’ll be declared for McCain. You’ll be disappointed, but “no big deal, change can’t come overnight” will be your comment. Florida will go red, and a little nervousness will creep in. The usual suspects will fall into the usual categories. As the night drags on, Ohio, Colorado, and (much to your horror) Pennsylvania will be too close to call.
    My advice at this point to you will be to go to bed. You will wake up to a McCain presidency and the Great Liberal Freakout will be on.
    Bookmark this, liberals, as this is exactly how it is going to go down. You will be wonder how the hell I was able to call this.

  133. 133.

    redshirt

    @TheMightyTrowel: I love the idea of mandatory voting, or a fine. Why not? Is it not your duty as a citizen? Then make it so!

    I was in Australia for the election of Kevin Rudd. Sad how he went down – everyone seemed very excited at the time.

  135. 135.

    MikeJ

    Saw one Obama sign in my hood yesterday, but it was gone today. No Romneys, thank gopod, but thinking about the missing Obama sign pisses me off.

  136. 136.

    Hal

    @PsiFighter37:

    And Matt Bai is busy being a concern troll over at NYT, saying it’s Bill Clinton’s fault for the raise tightening. What a fool – it’s Obama’s fault for not fighting as aggressively in the first debate as he did in the last two.

    Yeesh. Waded into the comments section there and it’s full on Wing Nut Daily. Which makes me think conservatives are starting to panic, or Romney staffers are busily populating the NY Times comment board.

  137. 137.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:

    I spent $10 bucks on one last week, but I had to pick it up in person. And I’m not putting it in my yard, for several reasons: (a) I do not have a yard; (2) I would be in violation of my lease; and (thirdly) the sign says “Obama Y’All” and in Georgia that is just too cool for school.

  139. 139.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @muddy:

    Assuming I ever dig it out, i’ll take a picture and post it. Might not be until the 2016 campaign, though, if I know me.

  140. 140.

    TheMightyTrowel

    @redshirt: Rudd rode a wave like Obama, but turned out to be more of an Edwards. At least, that’s my non-Australian perspective. Also, I was based in the EU at the time, so I didn’t follow too closely. Since I’ve been here Rudd has proved himself to be a backstabbing power hungry back bench grumbler. And yet far too many Australians prefer him to the woman. Gillard has plenty of her own issues, but she gets some really nasty misogyny thrown at her too and the Murdoch/Fairfax owned australian media doesn’t do much to stem the tide or even critique it.

  141. 141.

    Donald G

    He may be banned now, but, if history is our guide, our very own Axis Sally will be undoubtedly back under a new handle by November 6th to move the evershifting goalposts as to what’ll constitute a Romney landslide as each of his benchmarks for VICTORY fall to our guy, leading to him being “Obummed out” by November 7th.

    Then we won’t see much of him until the 2014 Congressional election.

  142. 142.

    Raven

    @JPL: It started when Jane hooked up with Norquist. I hammered her and a bunch of the rest of them relentlessly. Still miss the Dragon (who I hear is sick and the Flamethrower). It’s once reason I sort of whinced when I read PO got banned. I’d have liked it better if people here had the sense to shun him out of existence.

  143. 143.

    Matt McIrvin

    @PsiFighter37: Romney’s campaign has obviously been blasting free yard signs out everywhere. I think it may actually be effective as psyops designed to get Obama supporters depressed. But it’s probably not worth the amount they’re spending on them.

  146. 146.

    Sparrowgal

    @SiubhanDuinne: Man, I can so relate. As I type, I’m surrounded by 10 boxes of papers that I’ve procrastinated sorting through for YEARS. My shredder has gone bonkers several times today, literally overheating and shutting down. It’s so worth it though (or so I believe) in terms of the feeling of lightness post-declutter!! Wishing us both much luck and energy to power through!

  147. 147.

    FDRLincoln

    In my Midwestern college town, Obama yard signs outnumber Romney yard signs about 5-1. Even though you have to pay for the Obama signs.

    However, travel about 20 feet outside the city limits, and in the countryside it is about 5-1 Romney.

    I live in a deep-red state…our college town is the only pocket of blue. Hell, fucking NADER got 10 percent here.

    I am resigned to the fact that my vote doesn’t count electorally. But morally, it counts…gotta run up that popular vote as much as possible.

  148. 148.

    Mike in NC

    @MikeJ: Two weeks ago there were several Rmoney/Ryan signs in this development which is mostly retirees from NY and NJ. Last time we took a long walk it was more like 50/50 Obama/Rmoney, and somebody has been ripping off the Obama yard signs.

  149. 149.

    YellowJournalism

    @MikeJ: Ichiro was my grandmother’s favorite player in the last days before she passed away. She had a poster of him hung up in her room at the nursing home, and she never missed a game, although she might have fallen asleep during more Than a few of them. Just thinking about her dedication to him and the team even when things were at their worst for her at the end makes my eyes well up. So in honor of her: FTFY, except Ichiro.

  150. 150.

    Yutsano

    @YellowJournalism: When PayFraud went to FTFY I was pissed off at him being a greedy asshole. (Yes I know he stopped at the Rangers frst but him becoming a Yank was the real twist of the knife.) When Ichiro left I was just disappointed, although part of me saw it coming. Seattle just doesn’t pay that kind of scratch for a player even if he is a franchise. I still hold the rights to say FTMFY even though I still kinda like the little guy.

  151. 151.

    Steeplejack

    Here’s a cool site, Unphotographable.com, sent to me by my friend E., herself a gifted photographer.

    “This is a picture I did not take of a man in Atlanta wearing a yellow Martin Luther King ‘I Have a Dream’ T-shirt while selling drugs beneath the freeway, half a mile down the street from the house where Dr. King was born.”

    “This is a picture I did not take of a train conductor who approached me and asked, ‘Are you a terrorist?,’ and then explained (while keeping his distance) that a few passengers were scared because they’d seen me taking a photograph of the train, and that he ‘had to check and see’ what I was up to. . . .”

  152. 152.

    Steeplejack

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    In the absence of a reply from PreservedKillick, I would venture to say the name comes from a character in Patrick O’Brian’s (excellent) Aubrey-Maturin novels.

    You might like them. The milieu is British society, and in particular the Royal Navy, in the Napoleonic era, roughly 1800-1815. But they’re more than just ripping yarns. O’Brian is a gifted, subtle writer, and the result is something like Jane Austen with guns.

    The first in the series is Master and Commander, which was the (very loose) basis for the Russell Crowe movie of the same name.

  153. 153.

    gbear

    @Hal: If I read the comments at the NYT, I pick the ‘reader’s picks’ version rather than read them all or (even worse) read the NYT picks. The reader’s picks are usually reality based and informative.

  154. 154.

    PreservedKillick

    @Steeplejack:

    In the absence of a reply from PreservedKillick, I would venture to say the name comes from a character in Patrick O’Brian’s (excellent) Aubrey-Maturin novels.

    Thank you. Just so.

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