"As I stand here before you today" is my favorite hackneyed political trope -- thus the post's title.
Well, as I sit here and type before you today, the nation is adjudicating the contentious case of Barrack H. Obumuh versus Willard Mittens (R)-Money the Eighteenth. Who is to win, and who to lose? Gagner ou ne pas gagner? C'est la la question.
This large carnivorous dinosaur has snarled with sufficient intensity at Nate Silver on location at the NYT to bring the odds up to a whopping 90.9 per cent -- 90.9 per cent odds, that is, in favor of a relatively narrow victory for the president in both the electoral college and the popular vote. Here's hoping he doesn't change them now that I've gone home to await the results. You never know about that Nate -- statistics and numbers, you know. Even the most terrifying dinosaur has only limited powers over statistics and arithmetics. And frankly, I'm seldom granted more than "mildly disquieting" status, so....
Thanks to all who have participated in the process, either helping out at polling stations, donating money, or just plain voting. All of it is important, and part of the civic life of the country. Thanks in advance to the candidates for "putting themselves out there," however much or little we may agree with some of them. It's exhausting to run for office these days, and it takes a good deal of commitment and sacrifice of one's privacy and even, at times, one's personal dignity -- something I think all sides should be able to agree on. We will all see the results soon, and then, as the Shakespeare line goes, "the end is known."
9:49 PM - Two BIG wins for the Dems:
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Warren beats Scott Brown in Mass - YEAH !!!
Joe Donnelly beats Richard "Rape is God's Will" Mourdock - YEAH !!!
10:23 PM - Another BIG win:
ReplyDeleteClaire McCaskill beats Todd "Legitimate Rape" Akin - YEAH !!!
I'm hearing now that President Barack Obama has just been re-elected to a second term: Ohio and Iowa have been called in his favor, putting him over the top!
ReplyDeleteAll in all, a good night!
ReplyDeleteYippee!!! Unfortunately I may be seeing a lot of Romneys around the beach.
Despite Citizens United, despite over $1 billion in SuperPac money, despite the Kochroach brothers, despite the pandering and slandering and lies and deceptions … we won. What is left of our tattered democracy may still be on life support, but at least there are life signs.
ReplyDeleteThe Democrats gained at least 4 senate seats; the TeaThug candidates failed; and voters rejected the extreme right wing, neo-con, theo-con and neo-fascist agenda. The Republicans will be forced to rethink their situation (yes, I know, thinking is hard for those folks).
In celebration, you are all invited to my reef for stegosaurus steaks and spiced crustaceans; but first …
We need to revive the Captain. The suspense has been especially hard on him.
Anyway, I said this six long years ago, but it bears repeating tonight. Especially since all of the lovely young people in Wisconsin seem to agree.
ReplyDelete"The nightmare presidency of George W. Bush has sounded the death-knell for the republican party as we have known it."
I don't know if anyone else picked up on Obama alluding to campaign financing reform. He sort of threw into a conversation a reference to how much money was spent on ads and how we need reform. I do believe that a key issue in the next four years will be to diminish and perhaps neutralize the Citizen's United ruling.
ReplyDeleteBrowsing the net last night, I saw a picture of all the corporate airliners parked at Logan in Boston bringing the Corporate vampires to the Romney victory party that never happened. My little county was host to a fleet of busses with Texas plates bringing hordes of vermin to work for war criminal Allen West.
ReplyDeleteGrass roots stuff, right?
Grass, my ass! this was an attempted corporate coup and we stopped it without firing a shot - morels the pity.
"campaign financing reform"
ReplyDeleteRocky,
And I think the perfect poster child for such a campaign is the 4-year old girl on the news last week who was crying over excessive electioneering. "No more Obama and Romney," she said. Like that little girl, I think we can all justifiably claim extreme emotional abuse and torment - in both content and frequency.
Blame Citizens United. Blame the Kochroach brothers. Blame corporate personhood. But don't blame Obama. He was forced to play DEEfense.
"He was forced to play DEEfense." Yes, he was, the Dems had no choice but to spend money to counter the attacks but I think the amount of money being spent bothered him alot. I can't remember which interview I heard him make his comments or I'd try to find it on youtube but I think we will be seeing campaign reform revisited and I think he will have the backing of the people to do something about it - not to mention the eternal gratitude of that 4 year old 4 years from now! :)
ReplyDelete