How ’bout a winners and losers (update- I added an epic fail category for the losers who went above and beyond the call of duty) thread for the election that we can add to as needed. I will start:
Winners:
Howard Dean- The 50 State plan worked. Indiana, for goodness sakes.
Plouffe and Axelrod- Best campaign of my lifetime.
MLK- His dream was realized.
Reggie Love- A name many of you will get to know more in the future. The guy behind the scenes who helped keep Obama as cool and as calm as he is.
Homophobes- The gay marriage props and amendments everywhere are a disgrace. Grow up, you wankers.
The Clintons- Say what you want about them, they came through for Obama. The PUMA’s were a joke, and that is, in large part, due to the aggressive campaigning of Hillary to get her supporters to head to Obama.
Collaborative Democracy in the Modern Era- Every future campaign will steal the ideas implemented in the 2008, from the fund-raising to the social networking and everything in between.
The Obama Kids- They get their doggie! I don’t have any kids, and in general don’t like them, but I have to admit that every time I see the O kids, I smile. They are just too damned adorable. I would bet any amount of money they get a scruffy looking mutt and name it something silly, because that is just how those kids are.
The country- We have an adult. Finally. I will not agree with everything he does, but at least he speaks in full sentences and is competent.
Our international reputation- ’nuff said.
Daniel Larison, Jed Lewison, Al Giordano, and the folks at 538– Hands down, for me, these were the go-to blogs. For those of you who do not work or have not ever worked with stats, I do not think you can downplay the impact 538 will have on future election forecasting. Nate Silver and company were amazing.
Chuck Todd- Bar none, the best political go-to guy out there. I hope he gets MTP.
Losers:
Karl Rove- Permanent Republican Majority. Heh.
McCain-Feingold- Not only did McCain take it in the pants last night, so did his signature issue. Public financing is forever dead.
The country- we had a chance to throw out William Jefferson, Jack Murtha, Michelle Bachman and Ted Stevens, and seem to have failed.
Right Wing Radio- Hannity and Limbaugh and others who viewed themselves as kingmakers are irrelevant right now.
George Bush- This repudiation of George Bush is more severe than his low approval ratings, because this election, unlike approval ratings, actually matters.
Joe the Plumber- Is now a running joke.
Sarah Palin- She is done. She has been proven to be toxic in regards to independents and moderates, and will never recover. Additionally, over the next few weeks, more stories like this, in which we learn her 150k spending spree was actually WORSE than initially reported, will begin to trickle out. I am salivating at the prospect of all the insider stories leaking out in which we learn just how stupid this woman is.
The Republican party as a whole- This once proud party has now collapsed and is little more than the new Confederacy. This is a regional party, and will be so for a long time, as only the real lunatic fringe is left in leadership.
Epic Fail:
Larry Johnson and the PUMA’s- Go crawl back in your holes, you miserable wretches.
Joe Lieberman- He is just worthless, now. Had the Democrats won 59 seats, he would have still been relevant, but as we stand now, the Republicans do not want him, the Democrats have no use for him and strip him of his chairmanship. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
Right-wing blogs- To say they ate their seed corn is to wildly underestimate the damage they have done to their online presence, because if you just ate your seed corn, there would at least be a short-term benefit. More accurately, they chewed up their seed corn, spit it out, stomped on it, defecated on it, then grabbed it and smeared it on their chests to form the words “WHITEY TAPE.” These idiots spent the last six months chasing the whitey tape, questioning his patriotism, calling Obama a Muslim, panty-sniffing for an Obama affair, calling Obama a terrorist and socialist and you name it, and the country shrugged. Any future Republican campaign will need to rely on the “intellectual” arguments of thoroughly discredited propaganda organs like the Weekly Standard and the NRO, and we now have six months worth of their stupidity on file to throw in their faces and discredit them in the future. I am dying for the next time Andy McCarthy or one of these losers is brought on a cable show to advance a Republican position. Just dying. Good luck with the “next right,” folks.
Jon H
Eric Dondero is already pissing his Red Dawn Underroos and talking about the imminent trains to concentration camps.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
How about a thing that didn’t win or lose:
The Traditional Media.
Sure, they did a ton of their usual, lazy-ass, regurgative bullshit during the primary but yunno, once the campaign started, I noted a real change in tone. Sure, all the reporters and editors claim they don’t pay attention to the blogs, but they do, believe me, they do. We’re holding them accountable for their words and actions and they finally seem to be waking up to the realization that what’s hurting their profession is their run from right-wing criticism and it’s subsequent impact on their non-reporting.
Have they fixed the mess they’ve created for themselves? Hardly but there definitely seems to be something in the air.
Joel
Winners:
The country.
Losers:
OMG!!!!! Barack Obama has a Jewish problem!
Bob In Pacifica
Fear and bigotry won. Alas, Prop.8.
However:
The City Attorney for San Francisco is on his way to the Supreme Court as I type this to enjoin the Amendment from being enacted. Since it violates the principles of the state constitution in order for it to pass there would have to be a constitutional convention to California from being equal.
Josh E.
What’s the Palin story? Looks like you forgot the link?
Man, I took 2 months off to work here in Mercer County PA and we almost turned it blue. 3 damn votes.
Stillers smash the ‘skins. Obama smashes the GOP. Pretty sweet 24 hours.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Oh, another loser:
The state of Alaska. That includes its residents.
Until now, nobody really paid attention to the bizarreness that is Alaska politics. I even doubt that Tubes Stevens’s conviction would have made that much of a splash.
But with the arrival of Governor Gidget on the national scene, a big-assed spotlight was shone on the entire state and what we saw wasn’t pretty.
The Louisiana of the Artic isn’t a nice handle to be carrying.
jeff
Loser. Ralph Nader for calling Obama an
Uncle Tom.
iluvsummr
Winners:
The millions of Americans who donated anything from $3 to $2300 in order to ensure that the best candidate won.
The people who knocked on doors, called people, and drove people who didn’t have transportation to polling stations.
Real America which includes young and old, Asian, Hispanic, Black, Native American, White, Gay, Straight, Bi, working class, middle class, Warren Buffet-rich, small towners and big city folk. Thanks for not letting Palin define who you are.
Losers:
Whoever decided that looping an ad of Reverend Wright every 20 minutes the day before the election would trump a solid ground game with millions of volunteers.
Joe the Plumber. I’ll leave it at that.
Will
Loser: Sadly, anyone who likes gay marriage (Prop 8)
bvac
So does this put the skids under Joe the Plumbers run for congress in 2010?
Also, I think it’s good that Bachman won. She’s relatively powerless and we’ll need to keep some trash around to remind us how much the Republican party stinks. That’s right, I said it… STINKS!
ElBlot
Winner, Philadelphia! +450k for Obama in Philly, and every surrounding county going for him as well. The rise of Philadelphia since Ed Rendell became Mayor in 1992 has moved Pennsylvania firmly out of the battleground category.
Michael D.
I will say it. And I am sure will get lambasted for it.
Winners: The country and, in particular, African Americans. I am so proud of that and that I helped make it happen in a small way.
Losers: Gays. Largely because of African Americans.
EddieInCA
Winner: MSNBC – They tacked left just at the right time, and will reap the benefits, financially, for the foreseeable future.
Loser: Fox News – Terrorist! Bill Ayers! Rev. Wright! Muslim! Rashid Kalidi! Obama pwned them. They, too will reap the results – by being shut out by an Obama administration.
Dennis - SGMM
Loser:
Joe Lieberman. Campaigning for McCain was one thing. Speaking at the Republican convention, along with his remark that Obama "doesn’t put country first" among other sleazy remarks, brand him as a self-seeking loser. The Dem leadership must strip Lieberman of his committee assignments and throw him out of the caucus.
bh
Winner: bigotry…not only in California.
disgusting really
Comrade Stuck
Loser Joe Lieberman. Idiot, traitor, concern troll and ratfucker . Will have to put up with his presence for 4 more years. Current and Next assignment– Chief Turd Polisher for the party of Jefferson Davis.
And Dennis beat me to it. Lie Berman DOUBLE LOSER
Dave
Winner: Dems in Montana. Obama lost by only a 3-point margin (50-47) and Schweitzer crushed Brown. Montana could be a true blue state by 2012.
Loser: Tom Delay. Christ, he looked pathetic on television last night wailing about how the Democrats would drive the economy into a ditch. Dude, what do you think your party just did?
p.a.
Winner: rationalism. Funny how a great nation can succumb to assclown buffoonery. For a generation! That Onion headline is no joke. It shouldn’t take a view of the abyss for a nation to grow the fuck up, but at least we have grown up. I don’t know if I said it here last night or elsewhere, but over the next four years the clown right could make the years of Clinton dementia seem like the Algonquin Roundtable. The key is to push them into irrelevancy- they’ve dragged themselves to the brink anyway, might as well give them a helping shove.
Michael D.
@Comrade Stuck:
I wouldn’t call Lieberman a traitor. Are you talking about to country or to party?
I also see no evidence that he fucks rats.
Ecks
Loser: Bigotry – we elected an African American!
Winner: Bigotry – continues its long tradition of once shat upon groups turning around to shit on the next in line.
John T
I’m not feeling much Obamajoy today because of Prop 8. I don’t live in California anymore but I grew up there and most of my relatives live there, so I’m taking the defeat pretty personally.
But it does cheer me up a little bit to imagine all the rightwingers wailing and gnashing their teeth today over Obama’s victory and the senate pickups.
Dennis - SGMM
@Comrade Stuck:
high five!
Michael D.
@Ecks: Winner for best comment.
Delia
Winners: Community organizers. Somehow I don’t think the Republicans are going to be asking what they do anymore.
gyma
Winner:
The State of Colorado for ridding itself of the toxic Marilyn Musgrave and for voting down Amendment 48, the so-called Personhood Amendment, that would have defined life as beginning with conception.
Add icing to the cake – we elected our 2nd Democratic Senator, Mark Udall. We’re now true blue. Woo-hoo!!
jakester
Loser: Marilyn Musgrave. Sweet.
Winner: Ohio – way to step it up!
Loser: Me, for not doing anything to stop Prop 8. But I would like to really look at making gay marriage happen the old fashioned way – via legislatures, not courts. It needs to be a statement by America, like last night was.
Winner: The stupid proposition system. Worst way to legislate. EVAH!
Daily Shocker
Matt Drudge. Yeah, he was always a right-wing message factory, but he was better at concealing his motives or convincing us of news.
He totally and completely burnt all capital he had built in this election in a frantic attempt to ‘October Surprise’ Obama. He failed brilliantly. Watching him the last 3 or so weeks has been one of my personal joys. He completely lost his mind, went wonko-Right and lost the pundity.
for Chrissakes, he lost MARK HALPERIN. He’s done. He put it all on the line trying to islamo-socialize Obama, and he failed.
His failure stands to me as the greatest defeat to the Right in this election. Matt Drudge lost just about everything he had built.
Shygetz
For someone who has read Nixonland, you sure didn’t internalize the lessons. From LBJ in 1964 (a liberal victory MUCH bigger than this one) to Nixon in 1968/1972. The Republican wilderness period depends entirely on the quality of the Obama Presidency, and despite my high hopes that remains to be seen.
People often forget that black Christian conservatives have a lot in common with white Christian conservatives, and both broke heavily against equal rights for gays. Some clever gay-rights activist should try to put an anti-miscegenation Proposition on the California ballot, along with a gay marriage equal rights Proposition. Perhaps an explicit comparison on the same ballot would remind black Evangelicals exactly what’s going on here.
Dennis - SGMM
Well, does buy Ductape by the case (Keeps the rats from blowing up).
chrome agnomen
winners: global leaders who will no longer have to sit in stunned amazement that the most powerful country in the world can only offer a marginally articulate president, with no grasp of diplomacy or issues, with whom they can discuss serious affairs of the world in any sort of nuanced manner.
and to say we have only six months of teh stupid to throw in rethug faces is to miss the mark by orders of magnitude.
losers: soylent green lieberman, and godless libby dole.
(and others too numerous to mention)
ohollern
I’m not sure Hannity and Limbaugh are completely irrelevant. Now they can pose as righteous critics of power, just like they did in the nineties. I’m afraid we’re stuck with them. But I bet their ratings do go down, heh heh.
Cruel Jest
@Dennis – SGMM:
That’s where I was going, too. Lieberman went all in on the long shot and the only thing that could save him was for Democrats to hit 60 in the Senate. As I heard on the Discovery Channel once, "You better put some jelly in your pockets, ’cause we are toast."
gbear
Winner: Balloon juice. This has been one of the smartest places to come for non-technical info and insight (as long as we didn’t count on getting to it on debate or election nights).
And also too for the non-hyperventilated comments for each post. Even. Yes.
Brachiator
Winners:
The country
Losers:
The Clintons
It seems like only yesterday when Hillary Clinton was insisting that she was the only one who could win swing states for the Democrats and that her vote totals "proved" that she had "won" the primary.
Fearful Democrats who were absolutely certain that the Rovian GOP Smear Machine was an unstoppable force.
Fearful Democrats who insisted that Obama had to go negative to fight the GOP Smear Machine.
Cynical Campaign managers who "know" that negative campaigning works.
Idiot pundits everywhere.
Bill Clinton, Ralph Nader, Jesse Jackson and other political figures who had no clue of the new wind of change that was sweeping away past political calculations and assumptions.
Scapegoating does not become you. Although an analysis of voting pattern obviously shows that blacks voted for Prop 8 in large numbers, they weren’t the only ones voting, and they certainly were not the ones pouring money into the Yes on * campaign. And if you don’t get hung up on ethnicity, but look at conservative social values, you get a stronger and more meaningful correlation.
gex
I know I’ve been beating this ex-horse, but gay people lost. Again.
For over a decade we’ve been watching DOMAs and constitutional amendments pass as the only thing left and right can agree upon is that gays are lesser.
Ecks
epic genius win.
BarneyG2000
Looser
Huckabee, as the VP pick he would have energized the base as Palin did and would have attracted independents as Palin couldn’t. It could have been the difference
Winner
Huckabee, now positioned as the new face of conservatism, and his new show will only help.
Napoleon
You got to wonder if something like the Daily Show will end up as a looser, at least going forward. A couple of months ago one of Stewarts guest said something to him like "George Bush has been good for you", which is likely true (BTW, Jon’s reply was "not as an American").
Punchy
Fuck off. This was the FIRST GUY who stuck his neck out for the troops, in Nov. 2005. He was the first to speak up for them and say, "Hey, our troops are being played like chumps", with ridiculously long tours and multiple ones to boot. And he got VILIFIED and excoriated for it, despite its obvious veracity.
Murtha has issues with pork and honesty (yes, parts of PA are racist). But as a military guy, you’re being obtuse to deny that he fights for you fuckers at all costs.
amorphous
Loser: W.
Winner: Superfluous W’s.
Loser: Bills. see: Clinton, Ayers, Buffalo, Kristol (but we knew that)
John T
If I recall correctly, the California state legislature passed marriage equality twice but Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it both times, saying "let the courts decide".
stevie314159
Winners:
Katie Couric- for the most important interview of the year.
David Letterman – when he got pissed at McCain, I think he swung Indiana
Rachel Maddow – d’oh.
Losers:
Lady Lynn Forrester de Rothschild – well, maybe not. Hard to be a Rothschild AND a loser.
Notorious P.A.T.
This was Chris Matthews’s finest hour. And welcome Rachel Maddow )
Shygetz
@BarneyG2000: Silly Barney, Huckabee doesn’t have a vagina. All Republicans know that women vote with their vaginas. Geez.
gex
@jakester: correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t CAs legislature try to pass something, but Arnold vetoed? My take was the legislature, the SC, and the governor all supported equal marriage, but 50+1 got the mouth breathers and that’s all they needed.
Brian J
I’d like to second the call for a Dean Terrorist Fist Bump.
I’m going to create an in depth post about this soon, so perhaps some of what I am about to say might change as I learn more. But for right now, let me say that we shouldn’t just look at what Obama won, but what he lost, even by some fairly big margins. Take a look at this site and then take a look at this site for comparison. Assume the results won’t change much. In South Carolina, for instance, which wasn’t a swing state this year, he lost by nine points, which was half of the margin that the Democrats lost by in 2004. In Georgia, he only lost by five, whereas Bush won the state by more than 16 points. Hell, even in Texas, Obama only lost by twelve, whereas Bush won it by 23 points in 2004. I know some of these numbers are inflated for various reasons, like Bush being from Texas, but assuming these aren’t merely temporary blips but instead legitimate increases, perhaps we’re seeing the first step of a true Dean Fifty State Strategy. (I know there’s no particular reason to capitalize it like that, but I like it, because it makes it seem official, as if it would scare the shit out of Republicans.) Hell, if Indiana can swing 22 points in a single election cycle, a lot seems possible. If things are going well when Obama is up for reelection, I expect his campaign to try to its magic in states like Texas. If they have the money, it seems like it’s worth a shot.
As I said last night, I will never, ever understand why the time Howard Dean screamed at a rally is a stain on his career. It makes absolutely no sense. He’s probably never going to be president, but he’s probably leaving his mark in a more significant way. Under his tenure, the Democrats have expanded their majorities in congress and elected the first black to the presidency by various margins not seen in years. And to think, one of my bosses at work said the Democrats never want him in front of the cameras because he’s embarrassing for them.
Comrade Darkness
The Palin story is here right after the part about the hackers.
NonyNony
Winner – Nate Silver because damn – he nailed it. I think his style of regression analysis is going to become the standard for poll analysis.
Winner – Me. For having a President that isn’t an intellectually incurious do-nothing dolt who has only arrived at his station in life by the grace of his father’s influence. Reading the headlines about how Obama is already hitting the job, picking out folks for staff positions, getting ready for White House briefings – damn, having a President that wants to do the job feels kind of novel after the last 8 years. I think I like it. I’m not going to agree with everything that Obama does, but I get the feeling that I’ll at least be able to assume that he’s not doing things because he’s an under-informed jackass who doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. That’s a good assumption to be able to start from when evaluating whether or not I like a particular action that a President is taking.
Winner – the Democratic Party. For figuring out that you can’t win if you don’t compete. It only took them 30+ years to figure out what they once knew was obvious, but damn. They won Indiana. They won Virginia. They may have won North Carolina. This is a new Democratic Party than the one I grew up with, and again – I think I like it.
Loser – Joe The Lieberman. Jumping ship on the Dems just as their stock was rising in value shows quality judgment from the man who was once a standard bearer for the Democratic Party. What a sad little man he’s become.
D.N. Nation
Ahh, I remember seeing those unfortunate pics of Reggie Love at a certain frat party back in the day.
Dude won a national championship in basketball and now an election. What a life.
Notorious P.A.T.
I think that’s the wrong way to frame it. It was highly religious people who supported Prop 8. Remember all the millions of dollars poured into the campaign by the Mormons.
Poopyman
Winner: Tina Fey
Loser: That one.
But you didn’t say anything about the goats.
Pennypacker
Losers: Neo-Con hammerheads who see military action as the first and only response to any foreign policy issue
demkat620
Winner: Ed Rendell for his successful assist to Obama for the PA okey-doke. Probably see Transportation Secretary Rendell.
Loser: Bill Kristol for his foisting Sarah Palin on the country. A hearty fuck you very much, Bill.
DonnaInMichigan
You forgot another winner in this..
Levi Johnston. Now the high school drop-out, won’t have to through with that "shot gun weddin" to his high school drop-out baby momma.
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
Loser: Karl Rove, and Rove/Atwater gutter politics. When Rove had a suitably inept Democratic target, he succeeded. However, the right wing slime machine had never met the likes of Obama, who showed amazing discipline by taking to the high road and staying there. There’s a lesson there for future candidates.
Winner: electoral politics in the 21st century. Plouffe combined cutting edge tech with good old-fashioned ground game and ran what will surely become the gold standard of political campaigns. It was an awesome thing to behold.
BombIranForChrist
Losers:
The Southern Strategy.
The Republican Party is now the Southern Party. This is where its electoral strength lies.
Now, whenever a Republican runs for office, not only will he face people who are antagonistic to his policies, but he will also face people who are antagonistic to the South, generally. As Joe Scarborough mentioned last night, this is why Pennsylvania is Republicans’ "fool’s gold". As long as the Republicans are a Southern party, they will lose Pennsylvania.
The Republican party will continue to be strong in the South, this election notwithstanding, but this is a strength that is now counter-productive.
South of I-10
I actually listened to a couple of minutes of Rush on the way back from lunch. There are some seriously disjointed people calling in today. Rush spent the short time I listened attacking the "intellectual" wing of the Republican party. I had to turn it off – my head already hurts, that was making it worse.
iluvsummr
@Michael D.:
Right. African Americans in the Mormon church sponsored the anti gay marriage measure. All Whites, Asians and Hispanics in California voted no on proposition 8 but because of their overwhelming numbers, African Americans assured their defeat.
I understand you’re upset. I am too. But your scapegoating is kind of interesting. Especially since some of my gay friends here in Los Angeles are African American. Still I can understand that you’d be more upset about blacks who’ve faced discrimination voting against marriage rights for gays than about Mormons who’ve faced discrimination sponsoring the vote against marriage rights for gays.
Proposition 8 will get defeated one way or another.
eyeball
good post, john. funny and spot-on. the seed corn riff is gold.
fyi – i helped you out with that concern troll in the other thread.
p.a.
The key is not to attack, but to educate. Part of the reason the right gained traction before was Democratic laziness. There was a lot of pontificating and not much outreach. We saw the result of that kind of self-righteousness last night. I don’t think people should have to wait for basic human rights either Michael, but sometimes it’s necessary to clear a path to a goal or it will never be reached.
I’m uncomfortable writing that; as a straight white male I can imagine what it must feel like to see this shit come down, but I don’t live it. I know if I or anyone else I’ve read here could snap our fingers and make things right we would, but… I don’t know what else to say.
RSA
To second brachiator’s point, according to the NYTimes:
Black voters account for 6 percent of likely voters in most statewide elections, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, while Hispanic voters make up about 15 percent.
I don’t think 6% should count as "largely". Even if I think they voted the wrong way.
Napoleon
Isn’t that an oxymoron?
Notorious P.A.T.
Winner: the image of the first family.
This:
Picture
Or this:
Picture
Laura W
Women Winners:
Michelle Obama, for being so fucking smart and cool.
Katie Couric, for her series of too-perfect-to-be-true interviews.
Rachel Maddow, for shining so brightly in the MSNBC sea of mediocrity and banality that they were forced to give her her show.
Tina Fey: how fucking relieved is she today?
jakester
Urban areas voted against Prop 8. Rural areas voted for it. We have FAR more work to do in rural America for gay equality than we do among black America.
Do NOT take for granted the idea that change there is unpossible. We need to start working with rural America, so they do not continue to fall behind the zeitgeist.
John S.
Michael D.-
The oppressed often become the the oppressors. I don’t think you’re entirely wrong that while African-Americans (and to a lesser extent Hispanics) won, they assisted in handing a defeat to the GLBT community at the same time, and I think the results here in Florida and in California bear that out.
Look at the Israel. You have a country that was born from the ashes of the holocaust treating Palestinians as if they were animals and even threatening a holocaust against them. Or look at the political climate in South Africa and other African countries after they escaped the oppressive rule of minority whites.
Paulo Freire has some very interesting thoughts on the matter in his Pedagogy of the Oppressed. I wish more of his observations were of the crackpot variety. Sadly, they are not.
p.a.
damn these blockquotes! they’ve screwd me every time i’ve tried to include the poster’s name…
Comrade Darkness
What is this, sour grapes? "Nya Nya, We can’t have our non-conforming marriages so you can’t either?"
Laura W
Situation-specific "winner":
McShame, for not calling Obama: "President Elect That One" in his concession speech.
Notorious P.A.T.
And the really sad thing is, it’s too intellectual for Limbaugh.
Jeff
Loser: Idea that Jews vote for Israel issues first and/or feel Obama is bad for Israel
spavis
Winner: The City of Chicago. I was in the thick of it last night in Grant Park and they handled it masterfully. The wait to get in and out wasn’t excessive, I always felt safe… a real class act. Should really boost the profile of the city in general and for the 2016 bid for the Olympics specifically.
Loser: Bill Kristol, specifically and the NYT by proxy for giving him a byline. He was a one man noise band who managed to be absolutely wrong about absolutely everything. How the NYT could justify keeping him on staff going forward, I don’t know. At least David Brooks feigns rationality from the right.
Addendum: I hope to never, never (never!) hear from Sarah Palin again. If she appoints herself to the Senate I’m going to vom.
gbear
The local MN public radio pundits were talking about how Bachmann would come out of this. They agreed that she is in a position to become a major leader of the conservative movement. They also suggested that when Tim Pawlenty has to step down in a couple years, Bachmann might come home to run for governor. Gawd. If this happens, MN is the biggest loser ever and should be shot. Seriously. Please.
The Other Steve
I’d say on the media front some winners:
Mark Halperin, Roland Martin, Campbell Brown, Ed Rollins, Chuck Todd
Just because I saw a combination of really good reporting and commentary from them. They generally called bullshit what it was. For Martin and Rollins, they spoke truth even when spin would have helped their guys better.
Losers: Associated Press political reporting
Drudge, Fox News
Notorious P.A.T.
Hmm, I wonder if there’s a common denominator there. . .
Comrade Stuck
@Michael D.:
By traitor, I was referring in this comment to the Dem party. But I and others have wondered whether Joe’s preventive warmongering ways for the Middle East is completely out of National Security concerns for the US and not also Israel. I support the existence of Israel and would defend her if attacked, and almost did in 1973, when she was about to be overrun by Egypt. I was part of the 82nd AB on 18 hour alert and would have gladly, if not kneeshakenly done my part if ordered. But that is different than belligerently calling for war with Iraq and Iran and anybody else in the region that threatens Israel, and not the US.
As for ratfucking, it all depends on whether you believe a person can be a dem on many issues and pure Neoconservative and a republican on a single issue, and I say Joe is exactly that. And I would say his performance in this campaign of support for the neocon republican John Mccain offers credence to that theory.
The Other Steve
And you can trust the DFL will work hard to find a mediocre candidate who can lose to Bachmann for Governor.
Hey, they picked Madia, didn’t they? Blech!
The Grand Panjandrum
EPIC FAIL:
New Mexico Republicans. NM has a 5 member Congressional delegation which was a 3-2 split in their favor. After last night its 5-0 for the Democrats. Fucking awesome! My old homeys kicked some ass.
Winner:
Shep Smith at Fox News. Who knew we would find a voice of reason in that cesspool?
No rat with an ounce of self esteem would have him.
Comrade Darkness
I like to think that if CA had offered a three parter where the options were "no rights for gay unions of any kind" "access to civil unions" or "full frontal marriage" the middle road would have won out. But it wasn’t offered. The proposition was limited intentionally by its language. "Marriage" is a muddled religious and civil construct. Separate the parts out and getting rights assured will be easier.
To arbitrarily cut part of the population off from entering into a civil contract should never stand in the courts. It’s ludicrous.
What’s next: Blonds can’t buy property. Left handed people can’t get a driver’s license. … I mean, come on. Those are silly and so is targetting people because of sexual orientation.
4tehlulz
Be careful what you wish for; you might be unpleasantly surprised by how many African-Americans are not down with the interracial marriage thing.
Another loser, Al Qaeda. John McCain was key to staying in Iraq 4eva, and meeting the only major goal of AQ that is still unmet — sparking a Sunni/Shia bloodbath* by bombing Iran.
*Not like Iraq. Moar liek the Thirty Years’ War.
zzyzx
"Right Wing Radio- Hannity and Limbaugh and others who viewed themselves as kingmakers are irrelevant right now."
Nah, they’re stoked. All they have to do now is run against everything.
I have to say wrt Prop 8, as much as I hated it, I think WA has a better plan. We’re doing the boiling frog technique of first creating civil unions and then extending the rights they grant a little more each year. There’s never anything really to oppose in any of those bills but we’re subtlety creating same sex marriage here without actually involving courts.
Incertus
@Laura W: That’s a great point, especially since women were the demographic that really put Obama over the top in this thing. Democrats always win women, but Obama won them by far larger margins than Kerry or Gore did.
gbear
Unfortunately, yep. Why would things be any different next time?
b. hussein canuckistani
Winner: Another vote for Tina Fey. I think that one line "I can see Russia from my house!" permanently cemented the idea of Sarah Palin as a dimbulb. It’s like she took the wing off the Alaska Belle with one shot.
Stevenovitch
After looking at the data it now seems silly to lay prop 8 at the feet of the African American turn out. They provided 10% of the vote and 7% of the yes vote. If they had split more or less evenly like every other demographic that would have reduced the yes margin by 2 points, not enough to defeat the bill.
Original Lee
Loser: Definitely Nader. Stay classy, Ralph.
Winners: All of the RINOs who managed to persuade their crusty conservative friends to vote for Obama or Barr instead of McCain.
Tsulagi
She did with my dad. A month ago I would have put good money down on a sure bet he’d vote McCain. He’s a registered Republican, and I’d peg him as a moderate-right real (not the Bush wingwanker version) conservative. Also a veteran. Grew up as an Army brat.
He called me last night to tell me how he voted. He said he soooo wanted to vote for the team, but McCain’s campaign the last month didn’t help him get there. Couldn’t bring himself to pull a lever for Obama, so he wrote in Ron Paul. Welcome to the unpatriotic, unreal Americans, dad! Palin was the deciding factor for him.
Speaking of the diva, loved that Newsweek article. One more data point that she really is the double-X diva version of the spoiled brat Bush.
Also liked that some of the $150+k and counting clothes to be donated to charity are already “lost.” Yeah, right. I’m guessing more will find themselves in that unfortunate condition. If McCain’s people were smart, they’d check her luggage before she goes back to Alaska and for anything else not bolted and welded down that might also be “lost.”
Michael D.
@Notorious P.A.T.: I agree that Mormons pumped a bunch of money into this. But African Americans voted for Prop 8 overwhelmingly.
Sometimes I think African Americans have no perspective on history.
They voted against me on marriage – same as happened to them years ago.
BTW: I will counter this bigotry by supporting every single pro African American bill in Congress.
Countering bigotry with more bigotry is counterproductive.
Garrigus Carraig
Loser: Thousand-Year Reich. I just like saying "Thousand-Year Reich".
Oh, and Michael?
Remember when Quebecois secession was foiled by the immigrants and the Jews? Yeah, I thought you might. Nice try though.
Ecks
@Stevenovitch: The argument is not that they single handedly lost the vote – just that they, of all people, should have known better. It rarely works out that way of course, but hope springs eternal (and on this day it was springing higher than it had been in years).
Notorious P.A.T.
Oh my god, I hope that happens.
Jeff
Via Sully:
Hugh Hewitt scarily might be getting what happened. At least in a fake sort of way.
Malkin is still a wingnut.
Comrade Ed Drone
So he’s fucking lawyers now, right?*
Ed
The * reference is to the joke about how they’re using lawyers instead of lab rats in experiments now. This is because (1) the lab assistants don’t get attached to the lawyers, and (2) there are some things rats just won’t do.
Laura W
@Incertus: Ooops, left out a very important group of winning women:
Maria Shriver, for showing up spontaneously in her dusty horsewoman duds at a UCLA rally, where she joined Caroline K and The Oprah who were there supporting Michelle.
I caught that rally live on tee vee, and I was very moved by Shriver’s candid, self-revealing turn at the mic. It was the first time I’d ever heard Michelle speak at any great length, and extemporaneously at that. I was blown away by her poise, depth, heart and intellect. I fell deeply in love with the vision of her as First Lady. And I am NOT breaking up with her, ever.
Ecks
@Garrigus Carraig: "Immigrants and Jews"? Non, mon ami, it was "money and the ethnic vote," which denied Parizeau his "lobsters in the pot" dreams.
(All due Apologies to those who don’t follow Canadian politics :) )
because, y’know, the main thing holding back so many street people is a lack of Armani couture threads. It’s just so hard for them go get their food stamps cashed at any place under 5 stars without them…
Michael D.
@Garrigus Carraig: What does one have to do with the other?
Garrigus Carraig
Actually, no. It happened to the sliver of us who wished to marry outside our race. Miscegenation wasn’t very popular with the African-American community either. Frederick Douglass took a bit of flak for it.
Also, didn’t you come voluntarily from a country that allows gay marriage to a country whose record is spotty on the issue? I mean, no one voted against you on anything.
I understand your intense disappointment, but you might want to recalibrate the old internal censor, ’cause you’re laying out some serious nonsense here. Especially if Stevenovitch is right about the math (too busy to check).
BruceK
@Poopyman:
Fixed.
Michael D.
@Garrigus Carraig: Sorry Dude. But when it comes to marriage, I feel the same way that the Lovings did – whether you agree it’s equivalent or not.
This is a civil rights issue. Sorry. I don’t mean to usurp the issue. Fuck it. Yes I do. This is the same for me as it was for the Lovings.
Exactly the same.
BruceK
Gaah. I think HTML hates me.
Ah, well. At least now we can see to refilling the Strategic Snark Reserve.
Cyrus
Winner: Jesse Jackson. It was moving to see him in the crowd last night. Or maybe we can just assume he’s included in the MLK item as a veteran of the Civil Rights era. Whatever his faults, he and many others were on the right side of that conflict even though they were literally risking their lives for it, which made last night possible.
Epic fail: the Electoral College. Call me overcome by the Magical Unity Pony, but the way the Electoral College magnifies the difference in the popular vote makes the country more partisan and polarized. If Obama has a mandate, I’m glad just because liberal/progressive stuff will be more likely to get accomplished, but don’t lose sight of the fact that the popular vote difference was only six percentage points. The majority of the country still lives in states where their votes for president don’t matter. Political parties still get greater benefits from mobilizing their base than from appealing to the center or winning policy arguments. Bring on the national popular vote movement.
demimondian
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage: I like it! "Anchorage! All the virtues of New Orleans, with none of the vices. Not even Hurricanes. Also."
Michael D.
By the way, I thought President Bush made a nice speech congratulating Obama today.
A nice comment from an asshole.
Dennis - SGMM
Loser: Saxby Chambliss of Georgia who failed to get a majority and is now heading for a runoff election against Jim Martin.
Dr. Squid
"Nailed it" doesn’t begin to describe it. He predicted an Obama win by 6.1 points nationally from his models. Actual difference – 6.1 points.
That. Is "nailed it".
How many news agencies are at his door now?
Nader still sucks.
KRK
We don’t need opinions or feelings about who was the big winner of the election season. The answer is clear.
Nate Silver got a personal shoutout in today’s election-themed strip at xkcd. Nate Silver wins.
Garrigus Carraig
@Michael D.:
Krista
Winners: the rest of the world, who are now breathing a sigh of relief that there will be a sane, rational adult in the White House.
Losers: the deluded right-wingers who keep insisting that they are the "real Americans." They just don’t get it, do they?
Winners: a lot of shelter dogs, as the Obamas have promised to get Malia’s and Sasha’s dog from a shelter, which will likely increase national interest and visibility in canine rescue organizations.
Big winner: one particular shelter dog, who is right now forlornly sitting in a cage, tail ready to wag at the sound of footsteps, and who has no idea that he or she is soon going to be loved and pampered by a wonderful family while living in the most famous house in the world. Lucky doggie.
Losers: Cindy McCain. I don’t think John’s going to be particularly pleasant to live with for the next little while.
Michael D.
@Dennis – SGMM: What I said to my ex-partner and best friend:
Bubblegum Tate
Winner: This woman.
"A 98 year old woman who squeaked at the 8pm deadline. She is wearing the coat of the campaign guy who raced to her house to pick her up before polls closed."
I find that–and the tons of other examples just like it–to be so moving that I can’t even snark on Wingnut Fail right now.
iluvsummr
@Michael D.:
Okay Michael, warm hug from over here because I can tell that you’re really, truly upset, and making sweeping generalizations as a result. I was starting to get mad at you but that doesn’t help anyone and doesn’t reverse this awful situation.
It looks like a measure removing the amendment can be introduced the same way proposition 8 was. Education and effectively framing this as a civil-rights & anti-discrimination issue are the keys to getting more African Americans to understand. Robo-calls from Bill Clinton and Magic Johnson are obviously not enough. From my perspective, highlighting well-known African American figures like James Baldwin, Bayard Rustin, Barbara Jordan, etc., and emphasizing how wrong it would be to discriminate against them twice might resonate.
Also working with the African American clergy who were against proposition 8 would make a lot of sense.
That said, the larger issue is that not enough people of all races voted no. Even if all African Americans get on board, there will be problems if other groups vote the same way.
Brachiator
@Michael D.:
Bull puckey. Again, you won’t get anywhere if you indulge in scapegoating.
The other big lie that you are perpetuating here is the false dichotomy that one is either gay or black, but never both. And here if you want to play the "perspective on history game," it always bugged me that some gays want to pretend that the struggle for gay rights arose only from Stonewall or that anti-gay bigotry only affects white gays.
History is much more complex than that. Many people don’t know that the Harlem Renaissance was a flowering of black gay literary and musical culture, and that there were a number of interracial gay clubs and salons that prospered during this period.
A lot of people don’t know that a lion of the Civil Rights struggle, and the man who was instrumental in organizing the March on Washington, was openly gay Bayard Rustin, who nonetheless agreed to operate behind the scenes lest the FBI use this as a club with which to attack the entire movement.
And of course, civil rights icons like Barbara Jordan was a proud, gay woman. She knew what it was like to be oppressed because of her race, her gender, and her sexuality.
Finally, anyone who read the actual California marriage cases decision knows that it deliberately used as its basis the 1948 Perez case, which overturned the ban on interracial marriages in California. The standard there was that ALL citizens have a right to marry, and it is up to the state to prove that it had a compelling reason to single out a group to deny them the rights that exist for everyone.
This is the important point, the idea that gays are citizens just like anyone else and deserve simple justice. This should be the focus of all our efforts.
I can understand the deep disappointment of Michael and others at the California decision. It mars an otherwise historic change for the better in this country.
But to single out blacks as being especially responsible for the passage of Proposition 8 is both false, and ironically, just as bigoted as the actions of those who voted for the initiative for the worst of reasons.
Pete
@Cyrus:
This is off-topic but I couldn’t disagree more. If we abolished the electoral college then the rural states would have even less political power than they already do. The framers of the constitution knew exactly what they were doing.
Delia
New winner on the horizon: Rahm Emmanuel, Obama’s new Chief of Staff. Chicago moves east.
Michael D.
@Garrigus Carraig:
Hello!! That’s exactly who you blame!
Michael D.
@Brachiator: Sorry, It’s true. African Americans were complicit in this.
Yes, a lot of white and Hispanic people vote for Prop 8. But African Americans voted disproportionately for it.
Is it racist for me to point that out? I don’t think so. And if it is, I don’t care.
b. hussein canuckistani
I kinda got the impression that McCain was relieved that it was all over, and that he was heading off to recover on his 14-carat yacht.
Dennis - SGMM
Here’s a map that shows the vote in California county by county.
If you select the results for Prop 8 you’ll see that most of the inland counties voted for it, some of them by 70% or more. These are the people who have to be convinced.
CarolinCA
Michael –
There’s nothing the haters want more than for us to start sowing the seeds of division amongst ourselves.
We can slice and dice the demographics of the "Yes on 8" vote forever, but we can’t allow ourselves to be sidetracked about what is really going on.
Many of those who voted "Yes" can eventually become allies via outreach and education and patiently keeping dialogue going.
The real enemies are some of those who provided the big behind-the-scenes dollars to get this thing passed.
Read this link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…
It details a couple of the freaks (I choose the word quite deliberately) who have provided significant funding to the "Yes On 8" initiative.
When people like this begin to seize power, nobody is safe.
The brand of religious fanaticism described in Blumenthal’s article is dangerous to everyone, including conservative Christians of all races, because when all is said and done, they will not pass the purity tests that fanatics like these want to impose. If you’re not the "right kind" of Christian, you will find your rights gradually stripped away. In an oh-so-loving way, of course…
Many who voted "Yes" can eventually come to understand this.
More than anything I have seen for a long time, the funders described in this article fit that old essay that talks about how you can’t be silent when "they" come for your neighbor because next they’ll be coming for you.
djork
Winners: Me, for realizing I can access BJ from my cellphone.
Losers: My girlfriend, for I realized I can access BJ from damn near anywhere.
NickM
Winner: Marijuana – Decriminalization of marijuana ballot initiative passed overwhelmingly in Massachusetts, and a medical marijuana initiative passed in Michigan.
Also a winner: Frito-Lay, maker of Doritos.
dj spellchecka
on the subject of the electoral college…might it work better if the electoral collage was based on the actual population rather than on the set-in-stone number of house seats???
let’s say each 200,000 people = 1 electoral vote…. [back when congress started, i think the number of people per rep was 165k or so] …. that way WY gets 4 votes and CA gets 169…would that work? it would certainly better reflect the framers intentions……
as it stands now…even though ohio’s population went up between 90 and 00, our electoral count representation went DOWN…does that seem like a fair system???
thoughts??
gwangung
No, they weren’t.
I think you should talk with Pam Spaulding . I think there should be more outreach from the GLBT leadership to communities of color (the talk of isolation from GLBTs of color is rather revealing, I think). And more done to persuade and win some of those who are initially opposed
DonnaInMichigan
Winners: …those little "community organizers", …..the ones that Sarah Palin mocked, who went out of their way, to organize the Obama ground game, around this nation, those who followed and lead, those who phone called, and walked and knocked on doors, not knowing what or who they would find on the other end, in every neighborhood across this nation….those that championed this cause of change……these are the TRUE winners here…..the ones that did the hard work, the long hours, by the sweat of their brow…..
Garrigus Carraig
@Michael D.: You don’t blame anyone. You figure out what you could have done better. You figure out how to engage your opponents and convince them. Blaming the other side doesn’t work & doesn’t help.
Look at the Dems. For years they blamed the "stupid rednecks". Success came via improved organization & engagement of the "regions with voters with differeing views". [Had trouble accessing for awhile, hence delayed response & ill-formatted reply above]
4tehlulz
Do you really want this on the record, Michael?
les
@Jeff:
I don’t think Hewitt gets it at all–he thinks they just need to do a better job of communicating their message–he misses entirely that their message sucks, and it’s communicated plenty well. The comments are plenty of affirmation of that.
Garrigus Carraig
It’s interesting how Canada sends us:
(1) people who tell us our country should look less like theirs,
(2) people who tell us our country should look more like theirs, and
(3) comedians.
les
Krista, you’re making the assumption that Grampaw Crabby is pleasant to live with any time…I’d guess she mostly hides in one of the houses he doesn’t know about.
Gus
I bet David Wellstone would run. He’s a good guy. Has a lot of his old man’s fire, too. Otherwise, the DFL farm system is pretty weak.
lincoln deschain
re: the right wingnut blog-o-pit.
I think you’re giving them way too much credit. I mean the established Red media and their info-tainment representatives online. I don’t think they’re quite capable of making an "intellectual argument", or anything less subtle than a ‘thought exercise’ implying that the hypothetical ‘liberal’ subject is somehow a threat to national security and an apostasy to American Freedoms(tm).
They’re incapable of learning from their mistakes. They’ll wait for America to forget their tired old shtik, and will continue to ask us to pull their finger, (no really this time, c’mon pull it). Until invariably, in the far flung future, some idiot will give it a tug. Hopefully by then i’ll be long dead, and my bio-mass recycled for water and nutrients. And that will be ok. As long as Bill and Joe and Rush die before me. Go green.
Cris v.3.1
Losers: ThymeZone. He overreached on 35%, and owes DougJ a C-note.
Cyrus
@Pete:
True. And this would be good, so I don’t see why you disagree with it. At the moment, residents of relatively rural states have more representation in all levels of government than residents of relatively urban states. They shouldn’t. I can’t think of any possible reason for that, except for institutional inertia, an unnecessary, artificial bias in favor of certain types of conservativism or preferential treatment for some kind of "real" Americans.
Yes, they were making a necessary compromise to forge a federal union of almost-independent states which had very different economies and cultures. That hasn’t been true of America for half a century or more.
Don’t get me wrong, I realize that the entirety of what I’d like to see is almost literally impossible. But the practical argument is completely separate from the argument about how things should be, and it still seems pretty clear-cut to me that overrepresentation of rural areas should be fixed.
demimondian
@Garrigus Carraig: You can tell the difference among the three classes?
anonocrat
John, you are the worst sore winner I have ever seen, and every goddamn word you write makes me smile a little wider.
David Moisan
Losers: In Massachusetts, Barbara Anderson, Carla Howell and her anti-government forces. They have one victory (prop 2-1/2, modeled after CA’s Prop 13), but 28 years of screaming "less government, less taxes!" with no intention of any solutions other than to "cut waste!"
tripletee
Winners: Howard Dean and everyone who bought into the 50-state strategy.
Losers: obnoxious assholes like p.lukasiak who mocked the idea that Obama could expand the map. p.luk, it gives me great pleasure to say: Fuck. You.
Brachiator
@Michael D.:
I said before, and say again, that if you want to make black people particularly and singularly responsible for the passage of Prop 8, it is scapegoating and bigoted. You are singling out the most visible group.
And again, I note that you set up the false dichotomy that there is a world of black folk and a world of gay folk and there is no overlap.
And yep, it is bigoted because you discount that people may be socially conservative, and that the group of socially (religious) people includes a lot of black people.
You can say that you don’t care. But you paint yourself into a corner. And it does nothing to address the issues that are necessary to help the cause.
By the way, a couple of other states (Arizona?) passed initiatives regarding gay marriage. Why aren’t you parsing the vote in these states?
The sad essence of your bigotry is that you expect all black people to behave in a way that is acceptable to you, but oddly, you don’t have this expectation of other groups.
Ecks
@Garrigus Carraig: And musicians. Lots of singers. (Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Rush, don’t get me started)
Sasha
Conservapedia deserves some recognition as well.
Kynn
Loser: Michael D, for writing privileged bullshit like this: Is it racist for me to point that out? I don’t think so. And if it is, I don’t care.
Craig
Determining that any political party is left for dead ignores decades of evidence of the cyclical nature of political fortune. Ruling parties, especially those with nearly unchecked power will inevitably falter with their own excesses and corruption.
The epic fail is the political blogosphere overall. Puppets to their party’s talking points and slavish followers of the 24-hour news cycle’s latest partisan tempest in a teapot. Mission accomplished is "our side wins the day" and not following the truth, wherever it may lead. Even at the peril of losing a chunk of one’s echo chamber of daily traffic.
Dillard
Stevenovich (#86) wrote:
Check your math. Changing 10% of the vote from a 7-3 split to a 5-5 split would change the margin by 4 points, not 2. The result would have been 50-50 instead of 52-48.
Objective Scrutator
"we had a chance to throw out …. Ted Stevens, and seem to have failed."
Relax, moonbat. The Democrat Senate will probably vote to indict Stevens, and there’s probably going to be numerous pointless recounts of the vote. The Alaskan people, however, know the Truth about Stevens. The man is the primary inventor of the Internet, and he reached out to lobbyists and corporations in ways that no other congressman has done before. Without Stevens, lobbyists would probably be sent to Gitmo every time they tried to make their voice heard, and their freedom of speech would be severely regulated.
Knock it off, Apostate.
gbear
Here’s a carefree pup that the Obama’s could adopt.
LiberalTarian
Loser:
California. Letting the Mormon Church and the religious wrong turn our fantastic gay community back into second class citizens is simply gobstopping.
I hope we kill them in the courts. In the meantime? Any of those LDSers or other phoney Xians show up at my door I’m telling them to step fucking right back off. Those bigots are no longer tolerated in my sphere–it was one thing when their religious bullshit didn’t hurt anyone, but they just hurt my friends. They can go fuck themselves.
OriGuy
I’m seeing a fair amount of complaining about the inept No on 8 campaign. They didn’t get their act together to fight it well. I don’t remember hearing commercials against it on the radio. The Yes folks were on constantly, even on the Air America station.
Winners:
People who want to take a high-speed train between LA and SF (Prop 1A).
The Humane Society of the US, who pushed Prop 2 to get better conditions for farm animals.
Losers:
The Green Party. They were non-entities in this race.
T. Boone Pickens, who pushed Prop 10 to get alternative fuel money going where he wanted it to go.
iluvsummr
For those who are residents of California, you can sign a petition
here to Arnold Schwarzenegger to reopen proposition 8. There are currently over 137,000 signatures.