Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Let the Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth Begin
From Samizdata: "...I do think that it might interest Bush-supporters in the USA to know that every single BBC reporter looks like they have just swallowed a wasp."
From Daily Kos: "OK. I read thousands of comments and dozens of Diaries last night and this morning. And you know something? I’m going to forget I read most of them. Just erase them from memory along with the names of those who posted them. Chalk them up to adrenaline crashes, too much rage and reefer and booze.
Because what I found in my reading was a plethora of bashing Christians, bashing Kerry, bashing gays, bashing Edwards, bashing Kos, bashing America and bashing each other. As well as a lot of people saying they’re abandoning the Democrats, abandoning politics, abandoning the country. This descent into despair and irrationality and surrender puts icing on the Republican victory cake. " (Meteor Blades)
From Matt Yglesias: "So could I just ask commenters to stop alleging that the election was stolen by Diebold in some mysterious manner for which there seems to be no evidentiary support? Your concern on this front is duly noted, and I'm open to examining any evidence people may have, so please email me with it if you feel you have some. The mere fact that the early exit polls were out of line than the apparent vote totals has little probative value. Polls are polls and have margins of error. Early exits, of course, may have to be revised because more people vote later on...
...it looks like in some sense this may come down to the provisional ballots in Ohio. Fingers crossed. Still, even if Kerry somehow managed to squeak out a narrow win in Ohio, and therefore a narrow electoral college win, it's clear that this hasn't been the most stellar electoral performance. Frustratingly, the Democrats seem to have been rejected more on the basis of somewhat airy "values" questions, rather than on a concrete policy dispute where the party could either modify its position or else mount a more convincing argument the next time around. What to do about that is quite the puzzler, and I don't really specialize in political tactics, so I won't have anything especially enlightening to say about that until I read what some other smart people have to say about it."
From Daily Kos: "OK. I read thousands of comments and dozens of Diaries last night and this morning. And you know something? I’m going to forget I read most of them. Just erase them from memory along with the names of those who posted them. Chalk them up to adrenaline crashes, too much rage and reefer and booze.
Because what I found in my reading was a plethora of bashing Christians, bashing Kerry, bashing gays, bashing Edwards, bashing Kos, bashing America and bashing each other. As well as a lot of people saying they’re abandoning the Democrats, abandoning politics, abandoning the country. This descent into despair and irrationality and surrender puts icing on the Republican victory cake. " (Meteor Blades)
From Matt Yglesias: "So could I just ask commenters to stop alleging that the election was stolen by Diebold in some mysterious manner for which there seems to be no evidentiary support? Your concern on this front is duly noted, and I'm open to examining any evidence people may have, so please email me with it if you feel you have some. The mere fact that the early exit polls were out of line than the apparent vote totals has little probative value. Polls are polls and have margins of error. Early exits, of course, may have to be revised because more people vote later on...
...it looks like in some sense this may come down to the provisional ballots in Ohio. Fingers crossed. Still, even if Kerry somehow managed to squeak out a narrow win in Ohio, and therefore a narrow electoral college win, it's clear that this hasn't been the most stellar electoral performance. Frustratingly, the Democrats seem to have been rejected more on the basis of somewhat airy "values" questions, rather than on a concrete policy dispute where the party could either modify its position or else mount a more convincing argument the next time around. What to do about that is quite the puzzler, and I don't really specialize in political tactics, so I won't have anything especially enlightening to say about that until I read what some other smart people have to say about it."
papijoe 6:56 AM
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