Tag: John McCain

On one side we have two brilliant strategists and great team leaders, and on the other side there's a telegenic spokes-model and a semi-senile dinosaur.

And unfortunately for all of us, the great leaders are competing for bragging rights about a kids' game, while the bozos are fumbling and bumbling and humbugging our world into oblivion.

The Lakers draft Kobe Bryant. McCain drafts Sarah Palin. Obama drafts Larry Summers.

Harharharhar!!!

McCain and Obama are idiots!

And since it's pointless to ask how we could convert American politics into something more like the NBA, with brilliant leaders instead of clowns in charge, because we all know that isn't going to happen...

We might as well ask how to convert the NBA into something more like American politics, and that would be simpler than you might imagine, because...

All we have to do is make sucking up to the fans the only qualification for coaching, with the proviso that none of the candidates has any kind of record as a coach, or even as a player.

"You/We are the ones we/you were waiting for!"

"I love your values!"

And if you subtracted sucking up to the fans from McCain and Obama, both those clowns would disappear, like smoke blown away from a mirror.

 

Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone:

Requiem for a Maverick John McCain ran one of the most incompetent, schizo campaigns in history — and for that we owe him big-time

Lots of good reading here, I liked this:

In short, McCain entered this election season being the worst thing that anyone can be, in the eyes of the Rove-school Republicans: Different. Independent. His own man. He exited the campaign on his knees, all his dignity gone, having handed the White House to the hated liberals after spending the last months of the race with numb-nuts Sarah Palin on his arm and Karl Rove's c*ck in his mouth. Even if you wanted to vote for him, you didn't know who you were voting for. The old McCain? The new McCain? Neither? Both?

Ana Marie Cox has an extensive interview in the Daily Beast with Steve Schmidt, the chief strategist of John McCain's campaign.

When he knew McCain would lose? September 29.

On the future of the Republican party:'

“The party in the Northeast is all but extinct; the party on the West Coast is all but extinct...there has to be a message and a vision that is compelling to people in order for them to come back and to give consideration to the Republican Party again.”

Lots of good quotes here -- on leaks, on Palin and more.

Newsweek reports, using McCain campaign sources, that Sarah Palin was, contrary to her denials, not only fully involved in her clothing expenditures, she spent far more than previously announced.

NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill.

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I don't want to interrupt the Obama celebration tonight with talk about McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin, so I'm starting this post early.

I'm so glad she will be going back to Alaska and I won't have to write about her any more.

Here are my reasons why McCain/Palin lost -- in no partiuclar order: [More...]

What time will John McCain concede?

What will the final electoral vote count be?

What will the voter turnout be?

Tie breaker:

What will the Popular vote be?

Up to 5 winners will get a TalkLeft 4th Amendment Tote. My prediction yesterday: Obama either wins 383 to 155 or 356 to 182

Update 7:45pm: You can search the ABC exit polls here. CNN's are up for each state. Just go to their presidential page and click on the state you are interested in.

Update 6:45pm: 72% of white evangelicals voted for McCain. Bush got 78% of them, a six point drop for McCain. McCain is winning them in every state, with Mississippi at the top, Minnesota at the bottom.

Update: 6:30pm: Higher income voters (earning more than $100k) went for Obama nationally 52% to 47%. In Ohio, these voters preferred McCain but in Colorado, they preferred Obama. Translation: the tax issue isn't working nationally for McCain. [More below....]

The New York Times reports that CBS and Slate may call the election before the polls close around the country. I hope they do.

I think it will be an early night and the outcome will be known as soon as Ohio, PA, Florida, Indiana and Virginia are projected. CBS says:

"We can’t be in this position of hiding our heads in the sand when the story is obvious.”

Similarly, the editor of the Web site Slate, David Plotz, said in an e-mail message that “if Obama is winning heavily,” he could see calling the race “sometime between 8 and 9.”

“Our readers are not stupid, and we shouldn’t engage in a weird Kabuki drama that pretends McCain could win California and thus the presidency,” Mr. Plotz wrote. “We will call it when a sensible person — not a TV news anchor who has to engage in a silly pretense about West Coast voters — would call it.”

Why drag it out? Let's begin the celebration early.

Markos of Daily Kos gives his electoral vote predictions. He thinks Obama will win 390 to 148.

It's time for me to give my prediction: Obama either wins 383 to 155 or 356 to 182. My maps are below:

A lot of eyes will be on Virginia tomorrow. Today, a federal judge rejected a lawsuit by the NAACP to extend voting hours.

The lawsuit, filed last week, contends that the state is violating the U.S. and state constitutions by not providing enough voting machines, poll workers and polling places, particularly in precincts with large minority populations. The shortages could result in long lines and lost votes, the suit says.

"We are urging all voters to stand in line," NAACP President Ben Jealous said after the ruling. "Americans have waited 230 years for this -- a multi-gender, multi-generational, multiracial [campaign]. This is a big day. Stay in line."

Disabled and elederly voters can vote curbside. And anyone in line at 7pm when the polls close will get to vote. There are more than 5 million registered voters in the state.

Via the LA Times, Karl Rove has released his final electoral map predictions.

The final Rove & Co. electoral map (pdf)of the 2008 election cycle points to a 338-200 Barack Obama electoral vote victory over John McCain tomorrow.

All remaining toss-up states have been allocated to the candidate leading in them, with Florida (27 EV) going to Obama, and Indiana (11 EV), Missouri (11 EV), North Carolina (15 EV), and North Dakota (3 EV) going to McCain. The two candidates are in a dead heat in Missouri and North Carolina, but they go to McCain because the most recent polls conducted over this past weekend show him narrowly ahead. Florida, too, could end up in McCain’s column since he’s benefited from recent movement in the state.

Rove's predictions are only 1 EV different than Democratic strategist William Arnone's which I wrote about here.

It will be an early election night if Obama takes PA, FL and Ohio. Does anyone forsee any surprises? I think Obama has a decent shot at North Carolina and a chance at Indiana. I won't be surprised if he tops 350 electoral votes. But I'll gladly take 338 or 339.

William Arnone, author of previous reports on the key states in the primaries and the electoral vote, has prepared his final assessment of who is likely to carry each state in Tuesday's Presidential election. I am publishing the report with his permission.

His summary:

The final assessment shows that the Democratic ticket of Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and Senator Joe Biden of Delaware will win 27 states (including the District of Columbia) and part of one state (Nebraska) with 339 electoral votes.

The Republican Presidential ticket of Senator John McCain of Arizona and Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska will win 23 states and parts of one state (Nebraska) with 199 electoral votes. The number of electoral votes needed to win is 270.

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