I wanted to post a thought about conservative commentators like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannitty.
Although they are always talking up conservative thought and bashing liberals, I am not sure that the election of John McCain would have really been in their favor. They tend to shine much more when they are attacking liberals rather than defending unpopular republicans. Think of Limbaugh when Clinton was President. He was loving it up. We all know its easier to attack someone you disagree with rather than support someone you do.
Also, angry people will watch your show more often. If conservatives who watch those shows (not me), thought everything was hunky-dory and going their way, then they would not feel super inclined to watch and get that "vindication" feeling. On the other hand, with liberals in power, they are gonna be mad and are gonna be looking for someone to tell them they should be mad and that liberals are retarded.
So I think that Sean Hannity and Rush are in the same situation that Hillary was in. It was in Hillary's best interest for Obama to lose so she could run again in 4 years. But she can't look like she is unloyal so she has to support him or risk ending her political career. Likewise, its personally better for Rush and Sean to have a liberal president, but they can't show that that is what they want or the conservatives watching will feel betrayed.
So I hear a lot of you guys saying, "What is Sean Hannity gonna say now?....I wanna see the GOP machine go reeling".
Sean Hannity is probably pretty content with the outcome and will have PLENTY of things to say everyday from now on thanks to this election.
I think there is a difference between disagreeing and the crap spewed out between these two personalities. Claiming he was a Muslim, not being patriotic, supporting terrorism, even supporting a bill that encouraged infanticide! There is a big difference, and they should have to answer to those bullshit lies. And it is encouraging to see that the American people saw past those attacks, and other lies and elected a person that they believe can make this country better.
So my school just had a round table discussion on what the election means, with our professors who are experts in a number of different areas. One talked about this being a historic reframing election in that the Reagan Republican era is over, just as the New Deal Democrat era was over after Carter (Carter would've lost no matter what, essentially.) Clinton essentially ran and governed as a republican (he would've been a Rockefeller republican in the 60s) and made their ideas democrat ideas, which is part of what angered so many Rs. Now that this era is over, in order to survive the Republican party is going to have to restructure itself, essentially cutting off the current head of the party and abandoning the 3gs (God, guns and gays.) It's important to emphasize that politicans do what works, and this worked brilliantly for Reagan, but as we saw last night there's just no way to pick up enough electoral votes based on the deep south.
VT and IN provide examples for this. Even though they went for Obama, their republican governors were both re-elected. Mitch Daniels and Jim Douglas both ran on jobs and moderate issues, not social issues, so that's what we're going to start to see. Right now is a fantastic time to be a young republican, because they're going to gain power within the party, which they've essentially never had since Goldwater/Reagan. The Palin fans will still exist, but they're no longer the focus and it's doubtful we'll see her in 2012. What McCain really should've done was bring her out as his VP to energize the base, but a week later introduce his picks for cabinet members like Sec. of Treasury who would be centrists. The problem the party is going to face is that redistricting comes up in 2 years and with the Ds doing so well, they're going to position themselves very nicely for the next decade.
The judicial expert also said we really don't know what Obama will do with the Supreme Court. Conservatives throw around the "judges need empathy" quote around a lot but he thinks they're taking his usage of empathy out of context. The best example of his judicial mindset, according to the prof, is the way he handled the hearings for Justice Roberts and it seems like he is not an originalist, but he wants to choose people that will uphold the ideals of the constitution, such as equal protection, etc, but not simply as it was written. Still, he said besides that Obama has said very little on the issue (which is perplexing because his professors at Harvard talked about him being a brilliant legal mind) and even if he leans one way or the other, it's quite possible the justice won't actually act that way, like Souter did.
I don't know if you saw the map CNN went over last night, but by district it had the south as almost a solid red from Texas over to Florida. Compared to the previous elections it looked as if Obama had lost a lot more than previous democrats in the south, but those maps show a very different picture.
Cameron was on O'reilly saying essentially the same thing, but also that she did not know what Wilsonianism was, and that she one time answered her hotel room door in a bath robe ( ? ) This really isn't related, but who can't get enough Family Guy?
On November 06 2008 12:37 KOFgokuon wrote: wow that's pretty brutal i wonder if that's all true didn't know africa was a fucking continent? absurd
I wouldn't be surprised if they were all true. Listening to the way she handled the prank call reveals that she is an ABSOLUTE idiot. I can't believe that she is a governor.
Wow wow wow... I had a meeting on while the results were being tallied but everyone was so distracted. We had all woken up at 6am to watch CNN so we all looked like shit, and when Obama won Pensylvannia we called a coffee break to catch up on the news, and then when he won the election everyone's mobile went crazy with people sharing the news. One of my bosses used to be a McCain supporter (the only one in the office!) but he went for Obama when he got to know Sarah Palin so basically everyone at the meeting was totally in the tank for Obama.
And then we cut the meeting short to watch Obama's speech on my laptop.
On November 06 2008 05:09 Flaccid wrote: Copy paste from a dude's blog: --------------------------------
When John McCain Surrendered, We All Lost
by Enlightened Savage
Nation, the dust has begun to settle on the spectacle that was the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election. And while I'm not insensitive to the historic nature of the decision that was made last night, I'm afraid there's one particular aspect of this race that *could* have changed politics as we know it, if not for the capitulation of one man: John McCain.
...
-------------------------------------
I know how he feels. I was actually leaning towards McCain until it became clear that he just wasn't the same guy he used to be. His economic policies were sensible. I'm all for being against ethanol subsidies.
On November 06 2008 12:37 KOFgokuon wrote: wow that's pretty brutal i wonder if that's all true didn't know africa was a fucking continent? absurd
ofc not. as much as id like to think it is for reasons of personal entertainment, this is just damage control. They are trying to blame the party faults/failure on one person.
On November 05 2008 14:00 IdrA wrote: they have not endured slavery, their ancestors did they did not accomplish anything to be proud of, obama did (barring those who directly, effectively helped him) and racism will definitely still exist. just because a black guy is president you think all the red necks and idiots will change their minds?
Many minorities feel proud that Obama won, feel that they as a people have achieved something, because they identify themselves as part of a group that, although it resides in America, has always been treated as though and has always felt as if it were not a part of the American nation.
being the same color as someone who accomplished something does not give you reason to be proud if you contributed nothing to their success.
i'm not debating whether this identification makes sense or not.
but by your logic then it's idiotic to be proud of your country, the achievements of your family, your father, your sister, your favorite soccer team winning, etc.
yes it is, why would you be proud of something you had nothing to do with? of course you can be happy about it, but if you had no part in something happening why would you be proud of it? its not like you accomplished or achieved anything by someone else being successful, whats to be proud of?
we're proud that our country is finally at the point where we can elect a man of color-someone who still would have had to go to seperate school or drink from a special fountain half a century ago.
unless youre an ass backwards bigot, then you absolutely should be proud that our country has reached the point where, on the whole, we can look past color and put a man in the highest postion in the land. you dont have to vote for him to be proud of that. how the fuck can't you grasp that
Mmm hmm.
/nods
And everyone at TL.Net should stop being proud of a sniveling, whiney, white kid's accomplishment of making it to Korea to play videogames. Given that you're in South Korea, and not North Korea, I assume they have the word 'democracy' in their english dictionaries. Give it a spin.
America selected the best candidate tonight, and they did it in spite of what many people felt America was. It's that whole judging by "content of [their] character" instead of skin color thing Martin Luther King Jr. was talking about. America, the nation that had segregated schools mere decades ago, judged this man not only on his character, but his qualifications, and saw him fit to lead. That's incredible progress.
America made that decision. As a whole. And they should be damned proud. As a whole.
ok people are just misusing the idea of pride pride /praɪd/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [prahyd] Show IPA Pronunciation noun, verb, prid⋅ed, prid⋅ing. –noun 1. a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.
do you really think anyone has gained a higher opinion of themselves because im in korea playing sc? im pretty sure they havent.
i suppose you can argue that voting for obama is something to be proud of, but i hardly see voting for the person you view as the best fit for the job as a credit to yourself or as any kind of accomplishment. and if you really believe that your one vote in millions is a meaningful contribution to him getting elected... well i guess i cant argue that.
actually you are misusing the idea of pride
you dont necessarily have to be proud of yourself. its like being proud of your kid for making the right decision in a situation you could have no way prepared him for
"pride" and "proud" dont mean precisely the same thing in different contexts (this is one of those contexts)
i disagree and i have fancy little dictionary entries on my side.
Wow... To think fucking rednecks really believe that racism is over just because an African American is the president. Ignorance shines so bright at moments like this.
On November 07 2008 01:40 a-game wrote: ok apparently ted stevens hasn't quite won the alaska senate race yet
there are still 60,000 votes left to be counted
Shhhh.
While distracted with the vote count, the Canadians are going to flood across Alaska's vulnerable border utilizing superior snow-mobile technology and finally annex what is rightfully ours in the name of the glorious Queen.
Since the captured Alaskans will have no land-path by which march home, here's hoping they can swim.
EPT
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