Nate Silver last night:
“I’m not very pro-pundit, I have to say,” Silver said. “If pundits were on the ballot against, like, I don’t know, Ebola, I might vote Ebola, or third party.”
Get out and vote!
by DougJ| 310 Comments
This post is in: David Brooks Giving A Seminar At The Aspen Institute, Election 2012
Nate Silver last night:
“I’m not very pro-pundit, I have to say,” Silver said. “If pundits were on the ballot against, like, I don’t know, Ebola, I might vote Ebola, or third party.”
Get out and vote!
Comments are closed.
KG
Ebola/Clap 2016! I’m pretty sure it’d be a landslide
kindness
I for one hail our new fearless leader Ebola!
Why I voted for the Kenyan So$hulist, I can’t say.
Xantar
How many people has ebola killed?
How many people have died as a result of pundits talking the nation into a war of choice in Iraq?
BGinCHI
Ebola has not, to my knowledge, invaded Iraq.
Villago Delenda Est
The first thing we do, is kill all the pundits.
This has the benefit of not being offered as irony, as the Shakespeare’s original.
Spaghetti Lee
I voted! It was awesome! Straight-ticket D the whole way! There wasn’t a line at my polling place, but it wasn’t deserted either. Mostly college kids (my precinct is pretty much all student apartments). Very helpful poll workers. Some electioneering outside the building. I just really love voting, you know? It’s like an adrenaline charge for me. Todd Akin for Senate? I DON’T THINK SO, MOTHERFUCKER, YOU’RE GOIN’ DOWN. Hartzler for congress? YOU TOO, ASSHOLE. BAM! BAM! I’m like the fucking John McClane of voting.
Villago Delenda Est
@KG:
Old military joke:
Officers get urinary tract infections.
NCO’s get venereal diseases.
Troops get the clap.
Violet
Reposted from previous thread:
Just got back from voting. I was fifth in line and waited only about three or four minutes. It was a little creepy and scary when I showed up because there were two cop cars parked at the corner, and one cop outside the door when I walked up to the door. The election judge outside the door said, “Are you here to vote?” while the cop glared at me. I said, “Yes!” and the judge let me in the door. What kind of question is that?
There were TWO True the Vote representatives there, sitting at a table at the side of the room. Both middle-aged/older white men, with white shirts, American flag ties and both eating crunchy chips out of bags. VERY loud and annoying in the mostly-silent voting area, especially for me because I got sent to the voting machine right next to them. I kept glaring at them. I have no idea what they were doing, since they didn’t move from the table while I was there. Just there to intimidate people, I guess.
I voted for every Democrat I could. We vote for judges, so there were a lot of Dems to choose. I didn’t vote straight ticket because I wanted the pleasure of voting against every damn Republican I could.
No signs for Romney or Obama outside the polling place–only local election signs. One lone guy holding a sign for a local election. In 2010 there were about five people outside the polling place–in the rain. Today it’s gorgeous and there’s only one. Weird.
Southern Beale
It’s not easy to vote for Obama in some places. Some electronic machines seem to think they know better than the voter operating them who would make the best president.
I am hoping this is some kind of hoax but I just don’t see how it possibly can be.
Ralph Spoilsport
and I feel like a beetle on its back…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvJhyJ-OXsU
Scott S.
Can I vote to give pundits Ebola?
They already try to cover the country with bloody diarrhea.
BGinCHI
@Villago Delenda Est: I never thought I’d say this, but I can’t wait until all of the major American newspapers are dead as a doornail.
Not because I don’t love newspapers per se (I do), but because they have become, almost uniformly, corporate rags.
But I supposed that does tell us a lot about the country we currently live in.
The Moar You Know
Still pissed that no Dem ran for the state Assembly seat here. I mean, yeah, odds of winning aren’t good, but damn, at least put up some token pretense of a fight, would you?
At least the sane Republican (Rocky Chavez) is in fact a semi-sane Republican and someone we can do business with. His opponent doesn’t even fall under teatard crazy, she’s on another level entirely and you all better pray that “Scary” Sherry Hodges, witch-hunter extraordinaire, loses this election and that she’s risen as far as she can go. She makes Michelle Bachmann look downright sane.
Thoughtcrime
I vote Anthrax: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjio-F47IfM
Should be a landslide in the BJ community.
Xecky Gilchrist
@BGinCHI: I can’t wait until all of the major American newspapers are dead as a doornail.
I have to admit a bit of surprise that this hasn’t happened already, with the disgraceful performance they all turned in during the Bush years.
I would be just as happy if they were re-regulated and the big congloms broken up, though, but dead-as-a-doornail probably has to happen first.
NotMax
@Violet
True the Vote = New Whiter-than-white Panthers
Suffern ACE
Not really a fair comparison. Ebola can be contained through isolation, quarantine and sterilization. The pundits keep inviting Dick Morris back on their shows and who knows where he has been?
There is a vaccine for ebola now, so I might consider it a better option. I would look forward to the Carville-ebola debates of 2016.
Wag
And that’s one thing I don’t wanna catch.
JPL
@BGinCHI: When I discovered I could stream MSNBC, I was joyful. That lasted about two weeks. I might put on Chris at five to see if he has a big grin. After 2004 I refuse to look at exit polls.
Southern Beale
@The Moar You Know:
Husband cast two votes for Big Bird here. One for the U.S. Senate race, since the “Dem” is really a crazy conservative who just ran as a Democrat because the Republican is sure to win anyway, and the house for a state house race that had no Dem opposition.
I would love to know how many votes Big Bird gets this election, in how many different races. Good thing he’s easy to clone.
SatanicPanic
@BGinCHI: Our local rich wingnut bought both of the remaining ones here in San Diego. Only the one alternative weekly left that’s not total wingnut propaganda. It’s sad, because the SD Union Tribune brought down Randy “Duke” Cunningham a few years back. And they were widely considered right-leaning even then. Now I can’t imagine them investigating a Republican representative for corruption, even the most obvious kind. That paper’s a joke, I hope Doug Manchester wastes a ton of money on it.
Scott S.
@The Moar You Know: Haven’t heard of Hodges. Share stories about the crazy, please? :)
NotMax
@ Suffern ACE
Dick Morris, the Human Prion.
Violet
@NotMax: No fucking kidding. These guys were scary and I have NO idea what they were doing. They did nothing but eat crunchy stuff (loudly) and glare at voters while I was there.
The nice young Latino man who checked me in at the table loudly asked me, “Do you have a form of ID?” I produced my Voters ID card and said, “Will this do?” and he loudly said, “Yes, that’s perfect” with a bit of a stare over at the True the Vote asshats. The guy after me used his drivers license. We don’t have to produce picture ID…yet. They’re trying, but it’s hung up in court. I’m sure the True the Vote guys were there to make sure everyone produced SOME kind of ID.
The whole thing was intimidating and a little nerve-wracking. I HATE the voter suppression stuff. I hope those guys all go to the hell they claim they believe in. They’ve earned it.
BGinCHI
@SatanicPanic: There are still some smaller papers doing good local work, but they are getting rarer as the big chains buy all the papers.
Scott S.
@Thoughtcrime:
Anthrax?
Metrosexual Manichean Monster DougJ
@Wag:
Great song, right?
quannlace
No incarnations of BJ trolls showing up today=Good omen?
****
Other good news. They say the new North-Easter heading towards the East Coast looks weaker than they first thought.
DPS
From Nate’s twitter feed:
Assuming 8 million votes, that’s a difference of 1,760. I know we don’t need FL, but fuck me, what a mess.
Jay in Oregon
@quannlace:
Best case scenario? Their checks from whatever GOP ratfucking operation stopped coming. They don’t give that shit out for free, you know.
Worst case scenario? After Obama wins, they’ll be sitting in their cars in the garage with the windows rolled up.
trollhattan
Maybe the most devastating anti-Willard ad I’ve see all cycle. Pretty much the equal of the one featuring him singing “America the Beautiful.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZENtH3psXl4
nellcote
from the tweet machine:
Ralph Gilles@RalphGilles
For the record Gm,Ford & Chrysler via negotiated terms UAW have had election day off for 15yrs! Logically extended to salaried workers too!
Chris
Just talked to one of my best friends, studying law in Pittsburgh. Apparently, his home district never sent him his absentee ballot, so he’s “sitting this out.”
Fuck this eighteenth century electoral system and all the fuckups it causes.
Violet
@DPS: Isn’t the nor’easter hitting Florida today? From what I saw, looked like the northern parts were getting the worst of it. I seem to remember from the primaries that the panhandle/northern counties were the ones that went Newt–ie, the redneck, teabagging counties. Maybe it’ll depress wingnut voting?
TG Chicago
@Southern Beale: I was just about to post that same thing. Very scary.
The video shows a touch screen upon which a voter is clearly trying to choose Obama, but it comes up for Romney.
Frankly, I think this is a big part of why the right has gotten so lathered up about voter fraud. Partly to try to repress Democratic votes, but also as a Rovian “attack the opponent for your own side’s weakness” gambit.
This video is way more troubling than some goofy New Black Panthers wandering around. We’ll see how much traction it gets.
NotMax
@Violet
Guessing that the symbolic payment they’ve been promised for sitting there will all be spent on Bud Lite, pork rinds and Funyuns by tonight.
Lurking Canadian
Don’t blame me, I voted for smallpox.
LAC
@Violet: Thank you for that story. Jaysus, what a pair of tools.
LAC
@Violet: Thank you for that story. Jaysus, what a pair of tools.
Quicksand
Speaking of pundits, which TV network is a good choice for watching election returns tonight? I don’t have cable, so I’m already well-protected against Wolf Blitzer.
NBC has Luke Russert, of course, and I’m afraid PBS might have Bobo on hand.
So I’m thinking CBS or ABC.
Ben Grimm
@DPS:
I think that’s actually the state motto now.
Chris
@Violet:
Bingo.
I suspect it’s especially effective in low-income, minority-heavy areas, where people may have had enough experience with bad cops, judges and the like to know that their legal rights don’t always mean anything in the face of authority.
Cassidy
Kay, hopefully you see this. I have a relative in Ohio who is hospitalized. It’s not something she anticipated so she never applied for an absentee ballot. Is there anything she can do to vote?
trollhattan
@Scott S.:
What a great band, P!ssed I never saw them–not for lack of opportunity, either.
Bill Arnold
There is video. This is a new thing.
I’m hoping the word is out in Ohio that there will be (may be) a reward if anyone has solid evidence of election fraud committed, including by election officials. I don’t actually know of such a reward but it seems a very good idea. Cameras/video/audio recordings are golden in this context.
LD50
it might be a good idea if people recounting their voting experiences said what state they live in…
(massively Democratic SF Bay Area neighborhood, will vote with my wife when she gets off work)
Chris
@TG Chicago:
Someone here posted a few days ago about a World War One propaganda effort in which the Allies alleged that the Germans were cutting off the hands of Belgian civilians. Never actually happened. And the propagandists got the idea from the fact that the Belgians, on the other hand, were very much going around cutting the hands off of civilians in the Congo.
I suppose the logic is that if you accuse your enemy of what you yourself are doing, if he in turn accuses you of the truth, you can just say “oh you’re just counterpunching blindly” or something.
Scott S.
@trollhattan: I’m pretty sure Anthrax is still around, making records, and touring. It won’t be too late as long as Scott Ian can still hold a guitar… :)
Enhanced Mooching Techniques
OT one of the wingnuts are work launched into some conspiracy theory about how the Democrats have a bill all set for the next session of congress to raise taxes. Like it would get passed the GOP House or not be filibustered to oblivion in the Senate. I pointed this out to her and she hand waved away with the excuse “Democrats get everything they want”. I got rather heated after that. Willfully dumb is more that I can tolerate.
DPS
@Ben Grimm:
Awesome.
Chyron HR
@Enhanced Mooching Techniques:
Correct answer: “Elections have consequences.”
Haydnseek
@Wag: I saw what you did there Gang of Four fan…….
Michael Bersin
Here in west central Missouri we got in line to vote at our precinct about ten minutes before the polls opened at 6:00 a.m. There were fifty to seventy people in line when they opened the doors. My voting precinct is a mixture of small town and rural addresses. There were two older men in line wearing NRA propaganda tee shirts.
It was interesting to observe the demeanor of voters as they snaked through the line to get their ballot. In past presidential elections there has been a much more jovial atmosphere. Given the demographic present this morning I was left to wonder if this was the grim resignation of the losing side. There was a middle aged African American couple in line in front of me standing right behind the dour guy with the NRA tee shirt. They appeared to be in a much better mood than he was.
I took a paper ballot. I kept a smile on my face throughout my voting experience. I voted a straight Democratic ballot, then I turned to the Governor race. I thought about that blank for a long minute. Then I voted for Jay Nixon, the Democrat incumbent in the race, (a liberal state senator once quipped at a local party meeting that he “was the best republican governor we’ve ever had.” That line got a big laugh.) because his opponent, Dave Spence (r) would be several orders of magnitude worse. But I had to think about it. Don’t laugh too hard. We’ll be seeing Jay Nixon all over Iowa in the next few months. I’ll be supporting someone else for the party nomination in 2016.
An hour later I drove by the precinct and realized that I had indeed made the correct decision to not leave that race blank. In that short period Dave Spence (r) campaign elves deposited yard signs at the parking lot entrances to the polling place. It’s a sure sign you’re losing when you invest more man hours in sign placement on election day than you do in GOTV the week leading up to it. While legal (In Missouri the electioneering restriction is twenty-five feet from the front entrance of a polling place) this is the first time in over twenty years of voting here I’ve ever witnessed a campaign place campaign yard signs like this in my county. That’s the problem with a one size fits all approach to campaigning. Yeah, that’ll go over well with people showing up to vote in this particular county. But, of course, the usual republican pearl clutchers won’t complain because IOKIYAR. If it was a Democratic Party candidate it would be an entirely different story.
And, at an intersection, just a short distance down the street from the polling place was a lonely Todd Akin (r) yard sign in the right of way. A perfect metaphor for his campaign.
SatanicPanic
@BGinCHI: Our alternative weekly does some good reporting, but it has a much smaller audience. I’m not going to miss the tribune when it’s gone, stupid rag that it is. But I wish we had something better going out to the old people who primarily get their news from newspapers.
Violet
@NotMax: I suspect they’ll go back to their expensive homes in the suburbs and feel great about sitting on their asses all day while eating junk food. Tools.
I wish I’d complained to an Election Judge about them after I was finished voting because their chip-eating was loud and distracting and their presence, a mere three feet from my voting machine was intimidating. I was certain they could see who I was voting for and would signal someone to slash my tires. So I just left after I voted. I didn’t want the cop arresting me for daring to ask a question.
When I left, the parking lot was full and I gave my space to a nice young Asian woman waiting for a parking spot. I hoped that being young and female she might also be a Democratic voter.
I did take great satisfaction is choosing the Democrat on every option. In my head it went like this: “Democrat! Take that wingnuts!” [Loud crunching from True the Vote guys.] “Take that True the Vote asshats!” That made it fun!
Violet
@Chris: Yeah, I’m sure that’s why they’re there. My area is a kind of mixed area, and has voted more Democratic in recent elections, so I guess they’re there to suppress the Latino/African-American vote. They probably thought I was on their side. Ha! Take that, wingnut motherfuckers. Democrat all the way.
J. Michael Neal
I had to wait in line a little over two hours to vote in northeast Minneapolis this morning. Voted straight Dem and double No.
Chris
@Michael Bersin:
Given the last four years of scorched-earth partisan hackery by the GOP, I think people are a lot less jovial all around. It actually feels like war by another name this time, which in my anecdotal experience, wasn’t the case four years ago. Probably just Dems I knew being magnanimous + Repubs having enough sense to STFU because they knew how badly their leaders had fucked up.
catclub
@Jay in Oregon: and cars these days are so clean, that takes a very long time to kill you.
Dr. Loveless
@NotMax:
I prefer the <a href = "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Panther_Party"old White Panthers.
Michael Bersin
@Spaghetti Lee: Yep, I voted for Claire McCaskill and Teresa Hensley (4th Congressional District).
jibeaux
Ebola v. political pundits? Got to go third party.
NotMax
Compelled to wonder if it was a legitimate Todd Akin sign.
Might not have been, because Mother Earth has a way of shutting those down.
(insert rimshot here)
Violet
Voting machine that turns vote from Obama to Romney taken out of service:
Motherfuckers really are doing whatever they can to steal the election.
EconWatcher
Virginia, Virginia, don’t let me down.
LD50
@Violet: What state are you in? I’m curious to know where the True the Vote shitheads are actually appearing.
MikeJ
@jibeaux:
ONe of the good things about ebola is that it kills so quickly it’s actually difficult to spread too widely. Sadly, people see pundits on the air and say, “if that idiot can do it, any one can!” And they’re right. Thus the punditry disease spreads. We can’t afford that risk. Ebola 2012.
Cassidy
Argh…I want exit polling data dammit. I’m going through withdrawal. I NEEDZ MY WANKERY!
andy
I voted! Minnesota for Obama, Nolan, Klobuchar, and against MNGOP’s crass, cynical and craven marriage and voting amendments!
jibeaux
@DPS: Who are the .472% assholes still voting third party in Florida is my question.
28 Percent
I’m going to go with a protest write-in vote for Tire Rims.
Never been challenged at the polls before like I was today. Handed over my driver’s license to the little old lady behind the laptop with the registration info on it and she asked me for my full name. Gave my first and last name and she said “no, your full name.” Then I had to rattle off my street address, which she then repeated back to me. None of which I understood why it was necessary because I’d just handed her my freakin’ picture ID. I could show up at the bank and hand that over and they’d let me empty my account. What the hell?
Peter
@Violet: Why the HELL do you people tolerate voting machines? I swear to god.
Michael Bersin
@Chris: Even in 2004, when we thought the world was gonna end (and the Kerry campaign had pulled the plug on their campaign in Missouri a few weeks before the election), voters of all kind in the same precinct were much more upbeat.
Today it wasn’t funereal, it was much more angry than that.
Tim
Speaking as someone across the pond, and hence without any sort of say, something in me feels genuinely worried that Romney will take it. I am a natural pessimist at the best of times but I’m just not convinced the Democratic turn-out will be enough and that too many will have bought into Romney’s BS business credentials line.
Currently debating staying up with frayed nerves to watch the coverage, or crashing to see the result in the morning.
chopper
@DPS:
i’m just assuming FL will be in recount for a while. either way, O won’t need FL to win, and i think he’ll take OH by enough of a margin that a recount there won’t happen.
Hill Dweller
@Violet:
Yep. The problems seem to be especially bad in FL, PA and OH. All have wingnut governments.
NJ is also a disaster, but that is understandable.
Villago Delenda Est
@28 Percent:
“We show you’ve voted for Democrats in the past. This means you must be wrong in the haid.”
Spaghetti Lee
For the record, I’ll say that I did not have any problems with right-wing intimidators or faulty equipment. They gave me a choice between paper and electronic and last night’s threads spooked me out enough to choose paper. My county government is entirely run by Dems, so I’m not too worried. Straight Dem for candidates (I left blank one where only a Republican was running), yes on a 1/4-of-a-cent sales tax increase to fund mental health programs at public schools, yes on a .00635% (or some ridiculous number) tax increase on cigarettes, NO on a very sneaky provision tucked into the back that would disallow the state government from setting up health insurance exchanges without the approval of the legislature and/or a public referendum.
Violet
@Peter:
What do you mean by “you people”?
hueyplong
“Ebola v. political pundits? Got to go third party.”
Oh, sure, go waste your vote on unicorns and rainbows. Just because ebola has on occasion killed, you’re going to permit the pundits to survive? Next thing we know, you’ll be saying there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between ebola and political pundits.
Roger Moore
@Enhanced Mooching Techniques:
Of course they don’t need one. The Bush tax cuts expire January 1st. The Democrats only need to block an extension in order to get a tax hike.
dr. bloor
@quannlace:
Nah, it just means they weren’t paid to be here on election day. They’re probably eating chips out of a bag at some polling site today.
Spaghetti Lee
@Violet:
Well, that’s good news. Yeah, they’re trying, but this time they got caught. I hope someone gets dragged into court over that.
And those ‘True the Vote’ morons you were dealing with…what legal authority do they have to be there? Isn’t that electioneering? Does the County Board or whoever have to let them in just because they show up?
Peter
@Violet: Americans.
Punchy
Offshore odds on Obama winning dropping steadily. Dont know why, but lots and lots of people (or maybe a few people with a ton of $$) are suddenly betting on Romney.
Eric U.
there was a local referendum to raise the local income tax by .1 percent to buy green space in the township. There were signs put up by opponents that said the tax would be 20%. I understand innumeracy and I also understand lying.
markus o'farkus
Both pundits and ebola suck, but only one can cure the other. Advantage: ebola.
Violet
@Peter: Are you not an American? If not, what do you do in your country when you vote?
@Spaghetti Lee:
I haven’t the slightest idea. I’m in Texas, ground zero for True the Vote crap, so maybe they’ve bullied their way into polling places with the blessing of local election authorities. I just don’t know. I haven’t paid any attention to it because NO ONE will intimidate me and keep me from voting. I triple checked my voters ID card and polling place to make sure I knew where to vote and could vote. Those motherfuckers can go to hell. I hope they get there sooner rather than later.
Ronzoni Rigatoni
@Chris: Happened to me 4 years ago. I insisted on a regular ballot because the absentee ballot was never sent. 45 minutes later and several calls “downtown,” I was allowed to vote, and no goddam provisional ballot either. For awhile there I was expecting the St. Police to throw me out of the place (I was yelling like a goddam Banshee). I had been living and voting not 2 blox from my house for over 20 years. But that’s Florida for ya.
Jason Bylinowski
I just voted. I’m in Georgia so it’s unlikely to count for much beyond local races. That’s okay. I also gave about $500 this year to Obama, and I’m hoping that little bit of extra money might have made some difference. I work with a bunch of conservatives, but none of them begrudge my choice, and I try to be a good sport about their preferences as well. We’ll soon find out who gets to be depressed tomorrow: just me, or my entire office (except for me).
Patricia Kayden
Just voted in Southern Maryland. Literally in and out. Can’t imagine the poor folks in Ohio and Florida waiting in line for up to 7 hours. Yikes!
Really hope that the pro-equal marriage amendment passes for Maryland (and the other 3 states where it’s on the ballot).
PeakVT
@Violet: I think we need an organized effort to move to paper ballots, optically scanned or not. Without open-source systems there’s just too much potential for fraud.
Villago Delenda Est
@Punchy:
Might just be that the bookies are looking to make a killing on dumbfuck Rmoney voters.
The fact of the matter is, bookmakers track the trends of the bettors, to insure the bookies’ take. If more people are betting on Rmoney, they’ll adjust the odds accordingly, to minimize their losses. However, they’re also playing to suckers when they do it.
The Moar You Know
@Punchy: Odds hit the point where betting a few on Romney made a lot of sense. You wouldn’t lose a lot and could stand to make quite a bit back if you got lucky.
Unlike an actual horserace, there’s only two options in this race, so such a strategy would make sense. If I had ten grand lying around and nothing better to do with it, I’d plunk it on Romney myself.
So a lot of money is hitting Romney and they’re jacking his odds back up so they don’t get bankrupted if the extremely unlikely happens and he wins.
MAC
@Cassidy:
I’m not Kay, but I am in Ohio and here’s info on emergency absentee voting in Ohio. The clock is ticking — this says she needs to have a signed request in by 3pm. I’d have her call her board of elections asap. Hospital Absentee
Violet
@PeakVT: We need a better system than we do have, that’s for sure.
I wish we paid people to vote or penalized them (tax) when they didn’t vote, like Australia. The more people that vote the better. Suck it, Republicans. It’s called democracy.
EconWatcher
@Villago Delenda Est:
Intrade has Obama’s chances slightly up today, to 70%, for what it’s worth.
gocart mozart
Linda McMahon Gives Master Class In False Flag GOTV
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/11/linda-mcmahon-sample-ballot-gotv.php?ref=fpa
ericblair
Voted in Fairfax County, VA. Pretty quick, but some lines for the electronic machines, so they were steering people towards paper ballots. Voted paper for the Islamofascist cigarette smoking dusky-hued guy and his minions. I voted a different time of the day in 08, so can’t compare directly, but it looked fairly busy for that time of day.
Chris
@Michael Bersin:
I remember a few angry arguments in 2004, but nothing like this. But the arguments in 2004 were about what was happening in Iraq; despite all the nastiness from the Bush side of the aisle, neither side had just spent the last four years explicitly saying in a myriad different ways that their biggest, even only policy goal was to crush the other half of the country and grind it into dust (see also “our number one goal is to make Obama a one term president,” “[insert demographic here] shouldn’t even be allowed to vote because shut up that’s why,” the 47% video, too many shenanigans from the Republican primary to count).
I think this election was my first time getting a taste of what the sixties must’ve been like politically for my parents’ generation, where politics really felt like war by other means. (Hopefully, the shoe’s on the other foot this time).
David Koch
If the election was btwn Ebola and the Yankees, I’d have to go 3rd party.
schrodinger's cat
Sully has a map of the Confederacy up, it is strikingly similar to the states that will go for Romney. Post racial, indeed!
Bill Arnold
@EconWatcher:
I’ve been glancing at the intrade daily “Time and Sales chart” today. It auto-refreshes. Lots of activity; it’s been around 70 for the last hour or so.
Old Dan and Little Ann
I voted at 6:15 am this morning with my wife. We drove by one polling station before getting to ours less than an 1/8th of a mile away. We were in and out in 5 minutes as we saw only one other woman voting at that time. We walked by one other on the way out. Then we drove a mile up the road for breakfast and I saw two more polling sites. I can’t believe what a clusterfuck it is for many people around the country. Good on all those who wait in line for one to six hours of more. I sure as fuck couldn’t wait that long due to my job.
trollhattan
I’m out of things to say about the election, so here’s a pic of a Dalmatian sniffing my gov’s butt while he votes this a.m.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/assets_c/2010/12/Jerry%20Brown-15564.html
We have to use a pinch collar with ours, too (Dalmatian, not governor).
Seanly
Voted in Idaho 2 for Nicole LeFavour over Mike Simpson. Voted Democratic when I could. Sheriff was R vs Libertarian so I went with R. Voted against Props 1, 2 & 3 (ID’s teacher busting props) as well as against the right to hunt amendment (I am all for hunting, but don’t think it should be in the state constitution).
Wife also voted D but left blank a few if she didn’t have a D option as well as the state amendment.
We were first in line. Idaho requires ID though you can sign an affadavit & still vote. Our driver’s licenses don’t have correct address (we moved in May into our house), but that wasn’t an issue.
My wife was the first done & got to sign a form stating that she witnessed that the vote recieving box was empty.
Good luck to all the Democratic candidates.
Spaghetti Lee
You know, I’m willing to admit that I have a problem. It’s only quarter after one, polls don’t start closing for 6 hours at least, and I’m already starving for some election results, even though I know I’ll spend all night obsessing over them anyway and should really get some work done now.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Violet:
Normally I don’t go for paranoia, but part me wonders what is stopping them from just putting it back into service as soon as nobody is paying attention. Also, shouldn’t that particular machine be impounded by the Dept of Justice? It may turn out to be primary evidence for deliberate vote rigging, but I can just imagine somebody wiping the machine, either just as a matter of routine maintenance, or deliberately to destroy the evidence.
David Koch
Here’s a juicy tea leaf: Fixxed News is saying don’t believe the exit polls.
Hmmm, now why would they say that. Hmmm.
Jewish Steel
Due to a ballot error instead of voting, I vœted. Hopefully didn’t put Grendel over the top.
Bulworth
So funny these ads. The one popping up here claiming that the gay marriage referendum in Maryland will legalize “homosexual” marriage.
Gosh, I hope so.
trollhattan
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
Lamestream media failed to add that Romney votes were changed to pie on the same machine. Delicious pie.
Schlemizel
@quannlace:
Schools not out yet, give him an hour at least
Schlemizel
@quannlace:
Schools not out yet, give him an hour at least
trollhattan
@David Koch:
Isn’t that called a “tell” in poker?
Central Planning
I, for one, welcome our new viral overlords.
trollhattan
@trollhattan: Isn’t that called a “tell” in [that kard game which gets moderated by FYWP]?
some guy
nice Gang of Four reference, dougj
Randy P
Email from People For The American Way (I forget who that is exactly but I get a lot of stuff from them) reports that True The Vote goons are being barred from polling places across PA and OH.
Quicksand
@trollhattan:
That’s a hilarious picture. Reminds me of the pic of Romney in front of the little girl.
Both sides do it!
Spaghetti Lee
@Randy P:
Good. Fuck ’em.
MikeJ
@Central Planning: Viruses over prions anyday. At least a virus brings his own DNA along and contributes something. Those lazy prions are just lazy proteins floating along looking to destroy what somebody else has made.
Viruses: they may have bad ideas, but at least they’re ideas.
Eric U.
@trollhattan: I’m guessing that the screen is miscalibrated on that machine, and pressing lower would register as a vote for Obama. Not saying it wasn’t intentional, but it’s a really stupid way to fix a vote.
OTOH, I would pay good money to see what would happen if the voting order was reversed and a vote for Romney counted as a vote for Obama. Comedy gold!
Republicans are good for something, there was a guy wearing a Romney sticker outside our polling place that was making sure people were in the right line. Probably saved me half an hour.
Paul
@Violet:
Not speaking for Peter, but don’t most countries simply use a paper ballot.
Triassic Sands
Surprise, Surprise, Surprise. Reports coming in of trouble in Pennsylvania (gee, I wondered why Romney suddenly put that back on the list late in the game). It seems people are being turned away when they don’t have photo ID — against the law, but exactly the plan of the Republicans. I’ve heard about improper demands for ID in Ohio as well. Florida? Really long lines due to cutting back on early voting.
The Republican Plan all along has been to steal this election — it’s what you do when your party ideology rejects free and fair elections and you’ve got a candidate from Hell.
Cmm
@TG Chicago: Roger Ebert posted a version of the voting machine video that was bumpered with talking by some guy about to head for the “studio” so I was thinking hes from that Democracy show or what have you, but anyway the guy follows up after the actual footage saying that the original poster has posted on reddit saying that he is the one posting it and it is not just a calibration error, because if you click on Jill Stein it checks her box (Stein is under Obama on the candidate choices, so presumably if the problem was calibration and picking Obama checked the Romney box, then picking Stein should check the Obama box).
The guy also said that the reddit poster stated that he showed it to an election official there who simply told him everything will be fine, and walked away. The reddit person also said that there is no editing and will show the raw video as shot to any news organization that wants to see it. I wish the Stein part and the voting official response were included, and as bad as it would look for “our side” I almost hope it is faked. If it is not, I really feel like we are doomed. Not just for this election but as a country. You can fight back against the voting hurdles like ID through education of voters and court challenges. You can fight against the election day disinformation (going on steadily since the 70s) by turning out the vote in numbers that will overwhelm the ones discouraged by the disinformation. But how can something like this be fought? Especially when they get skilled enough to change the vote where it is invisible, and who is to say they don’t do that some other places?
Cmm
@TG Chicago: Roger Ebert posted a version of the voting machine video that was bumpered with talking by some guy about to head for the “studio” so I was thinking hes from that Democracy show or what have you, but anyway the guy follows up after the actual footage saying that the original poster has posted on reddit saying that he is the one posting it and it is not just a calibration error, because if you click on Jill Stein it checks her box (Stein is under Obama on the candidate choices, so presumably if the problem was calibration and picking Obama checked the Romney box, then picking Stein should check the Obama box).
The guy also said that the reddit poster stated that he showed it to an election official there who simply told him everything will be fine, and walked away. The reddit person also said that there is no editing and will show the raw video as shot to any news organization that wants to see it. I wish the Stein part and the voting official response were included, and as bad as it would look for “our side” I almost hope it is faked. If it is not, I really feel like we are doomed. Not just for this election but as a country. You can fight back against the voting hurdles like ID through education of voters and court challenges. You can fight against the election day disinformation (going on steadily since the 70s) by turning out the vote in numbers that will overwhelm the ones discouraged by the disinformation. But how can something like this be fought? Especially when they get skilled enough to change the vote where it is invisible, and who is to say they don’t do that some other places?
David Koch
Limbaugh is telling audience not to believe the exit polls, that they’re rigged.
Hmmm. I wonder what would motivate him to say that.
Cassidy
@MAC: Cool. Thank you. I found something on the OH Democratic Party page and forwarded it about an hour ago. I just added that. No response, yet. I’m hoping that means she got her butt moving.
Southern Beale
Romney charging media $1,000 to cover election night party, which tells me he’s expecting a big loss and wants to hide.
J. Michael Neal
@David Koch:
Because they have dead air to fill for hours yet. The consortium isn’t sending the exit polling data to the networks until 5pm eastern. They’re blowing smoke.
Violet
@Paul: Brazil doesn’t. They use voting machines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Brazil#The_Brazilian_voting_machines. Had a long talk about it with some folks in Brazil when I was there a few years ago near their election. No paper trail. Same skepticism about them as here.
Bobby Thomson
Ebola would have gotten a public option.
gogol's wife
I voted at 1:30. There was no line, but they did ask me for my driver’s license (in CT). I thought of challenging them about it, but decided to just go along to get along, since we’re not a swing state. I hope Linda’s going down!
Usually BJ calms me down, but today you guys are making me nervous with all this talk about dirty tricks. There’s nothing I can do about it, so maybe I’ll tune out and spend the evening watching Constance Bennett and Basil Rathbone on TCM until it’s safe to come out of my shell.
IowaOldLady
@Eric U.: The guy who shot the video of his vote being changed to Romney says he tried all the buttons and only the Obama one misfired. He says he’s in software and tried every problem shooting thing he could think of.
The chaotic voting situations in Ohio and Florida break my heart with how un-American they are. As Congressman Lewis says, he knows people who died for the right to vote. And you could see the problems coming weeks ago because they were deliberately created.
Felonius Monk
@KG:
Violet
@trollhattan: I see your Dalmation-sniffs-Governor’s-butt photo and raise you a Baby flips off Bill Clinton photo.
Steeplejack
@Eric U.:
Nope, not a simple “offset” miscalibration. From the guy’s original post:
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Cmm: Question: Unless you are the one marking on the paper where they keep the totals, and you are the one following the total as it gets aggregated, how are you sure your vote wasn’t changed?
I think this video may be showing tampering, but there are a lot of places for your vote to get changed. That’s partially why I find the whole idea of a receipt funny: I can print Obama on the sheet and count Romney.
I do think that voting machine source code ought to be public domain.
PsiFighter37
@David Koch: Because the Black Panthers are intimidating white folks who would want to be exit-polled, obviously.
pseudonymous in nc
@Paul:
Most countries don’t elect Assistant Commissioner of Gravel, which makes it easier.
Once again, though: it’s not the technology that matters, it’s the culture. The US doesn’t have a strong, widespread tradition of free and fair elections. Some states do, but the history of the political machine and the voting machine go hand in hand, and those states with histories of poll taxes and literacy tests and basic voter intimidation simply perpetuate that through other means.
I’d contend that when you have that cultural legacy, you can’t get to free and fair elections while retaining state/county-based election administration.
@IowaOldLady:
Except in historical terms they couldn’t be more American. Chaos and contention is how the US does elections.
marcopolo
@Spaghetti Lee: Now you have me wondering where in StL County you are voting :) Not near me, I didn’t have any races w/ just an R running.
The Moar You Know
@Southern Beale: Grifter must grift until the bitter end.
I agree with your analysis, by the way.
Origuy
Just voted in east San Jose, CA. Since it was 11:00 here, there was no one in line, but there usually isn’t. This is a heavily immigrant precinct; the election workers were a Vietnamese woman and man, an African-American man, and a man from somewhere around India. All were elderly and very nice.
This was in the county mental health clinic. One woman came in looking for the clinic entrance and asked if she could vote. From what I heard it sounded like she had moved since registering and had no clue where to go. I hope they get her straightened out after she finishes at the clinic.
scav
@MikeJ:
Prion v. Virses political jokes. Why I come here in concentrated form and on a day where I could use it. The. democrats have the phone box.
Chris
@pseudonymous in nc:
This.
We have a voting system designed in the age of robber barons and political bosses for whom widespread fraud was a feature, not a bug, and while most counties have gotten a lot better, we’ve never really had a sustained nationwide campaign to clean up the system. We may yet reap the rewards.
trollhattan
@Violet:
LOL! If I ever took a photo that great I’d have to retire my cameras.
joes527
I just voted.
Walked in, held up my absentee ballot in its envelope and was called right over to a table. The nice lady signed the envelope, dropped in in the box, ad gave me a sticker. All told < 60 seconds.
There were a couple of folks at the table getting ballots, but there was no line at all.
No scary black dude opened the door for me. No scary white dudes tried to true my vote. Dull, dull. dull!
Origuy
@pseudonymous in nc:
This. If you are just voting for your MP or delegate or whatever, it’s pretty easy. I voted for President, Senator, Representative, State Senator, State Assembly, two high school districts (how can I be in both?), 11 state measures, and six local measures. I skipped the community college district, because I couldn’t find anything out about the candidates. No judges this time.
rlrr
@marcopolo:
In Kirkwood, the R State Senator is running unopposed…
Culture of Truth
And those ‘True the Vote’ morons you were dealing with…what legal authority do they have to be there?
I recall Rachael saying it was old Jim Crow law.
But then I haven’t seen tv for a week.
gocart mozart
@gogol’s wife:
Here is the ID rules for CT
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/State_by_State_Voter_ID_Laws
the Conster
Voted first thing this morning, and in my little town of about 4600 people outside of Boston, 1/10th of the town had already voted by 8:15. In my 15 years of voting here I’ve never seen it so crowded. For the special election on a cold January Wednesday two years ago when Cosmo Trucknutz beat Coakley, the turnout was 87%, highest in the Commonwealth, and she only lost by a little over 100,000 total votes, IIRC. I’m feeling very good about Warren’s chances.
Peter
@Violet: Canadian. We get a paper ballot, and then go behind a screen to fill it in with a pencil. Then we fold it and drop it in a box. No muss, no fuss, no lines, and I know exactly what’s on my ballot without having to worry about what a mediating piece of machinery will do.
trollhattan
@MikeJ:
Soooo the message to prions is, “You didn’t build that”?
Jay in Oregon
@catclub:
I wonder how long it’d take in a Chevy Volt? :D
Joel
@Punchy: I’m thinking arbitage.
Intrade is climbing.
Someone at Sam Wang’s place the other day indicated that there were arbitage opportunities between Intrade and Betfair. I imagine that people who gamble for a living (or a serious hobby) have noticed the same.
rlrr
@Jay in Oregon:
Conservative talking point: Cars with big battery packs are bad for the environment.
Spaghetti Lee
@marcopolo:
I’m actually in Columbia.
gogol's wife
@gocart mozart:
Wow, I’m about a 100th-time voter. Interesting.
gogol's wife
@gocart mozart:
As I said before WP ate my comment: Wow, I’m about a 100th-time voter. Interesting.
Arm The Homeless
@David Koch: I saw the link earlier in the day from NewsBusters, here is a less vile link from Washington Monthly.
I voted last week here, last I heard from the trenches we are expecting higher turnout than 2008. We had nearly 70% of the entire voting total in 2008 by the end of early voting Saturday. I have a good feeling, even though we are by no means a bellweather for Florida. Lots of happy POC and students, and a lot more lawn signs and bumper stickers popped up in the past week for Obama.
Heading out for a two hour stint driving people to polls. They told me they didn’t need me earlier since almost everyone on their contact list had already voted or didn’t need assistance.
gogol's wife
FYWP.
Ben Cisco
Repost from down below:
Got this from my niece, who lives in the Western Piedmont region of NC (the odious Patrick McHenry’s district):
http://myreadyroom.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/r4o.jpg?w=549
LOVE IT.
AA+ Bonds
Religion scholar Mark Silk: “Catholics always go with the winner”
Punchy
@Joel: I’ve decided to shut my hole about these changing odds, cuz now it’s moving fast in Obama’s direction (from minus 300 to minus 350 in ten minutes). I’m guessing Limp-paw’s declaration to “ignore exit polls” is smartly taken by punters as a sign that they are anticipating bad (for Republicans) results tonite….
marcopolo
Hmmm. In just this thread at least four folks from central-eastern MO. Sounds like if JC ever passes through St Louis, we’ll have to try a BJ meet up here :). We do now have an abundance of decent micro-breweries in town now. Also too, politically speaking, MO is the West Virginia of the midwest. At least it seems that way to me.
maurinsky
I voted in CT this morning and didn’t show a photo ID. I moved recently and when I changed my address at the registrar’s, I brought a bank statement with all financial information blacked out, just my name and address showing. That was good enough for the registrar, so that’s what I showed the lady at the desk this morning, and that was that, no problem.
Really, the only way you can vote more than once would be if you were registered in multiple districts, and not letting that happen is why the registrar gets paid more money than I do.
Joel
@Triassic Sands: Got a credible link?
So much paranoia and misinformation flying around that you’ll have to forgive me for being extremely skeptical. Not to say that many people aren’t having a rough go, I just think this stuff is exaggerated for effect from some pretty unsavory corners of the internet.
mai naem
@The Moar You Know: It is normal to charge. Never heard of that. I know they pay for the airplace tix but not to cover the freaking election party. That’s krazy.
burnspbesq
@BGinCHI:
Are you surprised by this? If so, why?
EDJ
Any exit polls yet? I just got back from canvassing. Is the news mostly good or mostly bad?
Comrade Mary
And a heart FUCK YOU! to Michael Colton on the CBC, who just said that Obama ran a “small, nasty” campaign and he was just another politician trying to squeeze out a narrow win. FUCK YOU.
Andrew Abshier
I voted early last week, and had to work today, so I’m not working the election. I did make a quick trip to the polling place in North Port, FL over my lunch break and the Democratic observers there said that all was well. Sarasota County has paper fill-in ballots with optical scanners, so our county will have a verifiable paper trail. Pretty good for having an R as an elections supervisor! (She was also one of the first to publicly oppose Herr Reichkanzler Rick Scott’s voter purge attempt, so there’s that also.)
Shawn in ShowMe
@marcopolo:
Nah, that would be Oklahoma. In Missouri there are actually safe Democratic havens.
LD50
@J. Michael Neal: If Fox was in on some conspiracy they wouldn’t admit it now. They’d let everything unfold then feign surprise tonight.
pseudonymous in nc
@Origuy:
Honestly, I think it’d make sense to make state/local elections standalone, and in odd-numbered years — which is roughly how it works in Canada and Australia — but that would probably reduce turnout to about 30%.
LanceThruster
Vote Early…and Vote Often!
Comrade Mary
And just in case no one else has posted: Sam Wang’s final prediction.
He says that Romney takes Florida (but it’s a squeaker) and thinks NC is a more likely Romney pickup.
LD50
@BGinCHI: When I first heard newspapers were dying 12-15 years ago, I thought it was really worrying news. Something about the last 10 years has made me not care one bit.
Kate McArdle
@The Moar You Know:
The Offshore Odds still seem to be in favor of Obama
Andrew Abshier
@Shawn in ShowMe: In St. Louis some of us used to say there is no life west of I-270! (Actually, Columbia is pretty decent.)
Looking at Oklahoma now, it’s hard to believe it produced a Democratic Speaker back in the 1970s, Carl Albert. If it hadn’t been for an independent diluting the R vote, they never would have gotten Brad Henry for a Governor.
Spaghetti Lee
@Shawn in ShowMe:
Oklahoma’s the South, as far as I’m concerned. And Missouri’s getting there. The reddening of Missouri politics is, in my opinion, directly related to the decline of St. Louis and the rise of Springfield/Branson in terms of population, and thus clout.
AA+ Bonds
Religion scholar Mark Silk: “Catholics always go with the winner”, cntd.:
Peter
@Comrade Mary: Fuck the CBC on American politics. My radio station’s morning show had the local CBC anchor on to talk about it, and every word out of her mouth could have been spoken by Halperin.
Spaghetti Lee
@Andrew Abshier:
Trivia: In 2008, Every county in Oklahoma gave Obama 44% of the vote or less. 44! Even freaking Utah had a few counties go for Obama.
FormerSwingVoter
@Joel: I agree. The only reason people are saying it’s not a basic calibration error is that the user who posted it to YouTube totally said so. I remain skeptical.
Comrade Mary
@Peter: You are my soulmate. As I have said here repeatedly, I either turn off the hourly news in election years or I play the radio downstairs while I work upstairs.
22over7
Thanks, guys, for all the great stories. I won’t be able to vote for HOURS, and it’s making me crazy.
Gonna be a long night.
MikeJ
@Spaghetti Lee:
I always had to drive through the bootheel to get to Columbia, so I always thought of Missouri as less midwestern and more southron.
pseudonymous in nc
@Comrade Mary:
The quants have a pretty decent consensus from polling that the Rmoney-leaners (Florida and NC) are way closer than the Obama leaners (Colorado, Virginia, Iowa, New Hampshire) and that Ohio is less close than those. Flip CO/VA/IA/NH and Rmoney still only gets to 267.
Schlemizel
this is probably a repost but I am not digging through the whole days posting to check. The Onion is on top of the whole election
Here is their take on the undecided voter:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/undecided-voter-pretty-sure-hes-some-kind-of-idiot,30229/
A great read
burnspbesq
@jibeaux:
The people who still think they did the right thing by voting for Nader in 2000.
Hypatia's Momma
We should pass a proposition that allows polling place workers to slap you if you are old enough to vote AND are enrolled in a prestigious university BUT are apparently incapable of following the very simple instructions for an absentee ballot AND then proceed to loudly moan and bitch and blame above mentioned workers for being so obstructionist.
Joel
@pseudonymous in nc: I side with Yglesias in thinking that a lot of local elections need to be abolished.
Scuffletuffle
Couldn’t find the line for the Kenyan Usurper on my ballot, so I went for Obama/Biden.
Spaghetti Lee
@burnspbesq:
Calm down, fellas. If the third-party candidate in question is Gary Johnson we might end up thanking them.
ChrisNYC
I’ll take Bob Dylan punditry:
Chyron HR
Where da new posts at?
Shawn in ShowMe
@Spaghetti Lee:
I’ll give you that anything south of Tulsa is the South. But even if you throw Oklahoma out, Kansas and Nebraska are significantly redder than Missouri is. Is there even one visible minority politician in those states?
Face
Fresh thread, please?
trollhattan
@Chyron HR:
I think the FPers are all out on break, getting hopped up on Ann’s surplus pep pills (“Mother’s little helper”) prior to tonight’s ceremonial server slaughter and megacrash. Or something.
Spaghetti Lee
@Shawn in ShowMe:
Hmmm…Charles Curtis?
Peter
@Comrade Mary: it’s so weird because on virtually all other issues, I love the CBC. They’re a genuinely good news organization. But as soon the topic crosses the southern border everything is terrible.
leinie (iPad)
@Seanly: Yeah, another Idahoan! Your ballot sounds a lot like mine, right down to the sheriff! I know Simpson is gonna win but it felt damn good to vote for Nicole.
DPS
@Scuffletuffle:
Ah, maybe your county uses a “Half-breed Muslin” ballot instead.
burnspbesq
In light of the source, I particularly like this.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/romney-the-end/
schrodinger's cat
@Chyron HR: Tunch is eating them.
Comrade Mary
@Peter: You hear it even from the younger, allegedly hipper personalities like Jian Ghomeshi. There’s a certain bitter, exasperated, cynical purity to their views about Obama. The worst sin on the CBC is failing to show yourself to be the smartest person in the room.
LD50
How can you not love the Onion’s Joe Biden:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/poll-workers-overhear-biden-repeating-phrase-bange,30266/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=standard-post%3Aheadline%3Adefault
Chyron HR
@schrodinger’s cat:
Related inquiry: Where da white kitties at?
Peter
@Comrade Mary: Fuck Jian in general, his show is a fucking blight in CBC Radio.
Roger Moore
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
The goal of having a printed piece of paper is so you can audit the machine counted votes later. You go to some randomly selected subset of the precincts and count the vote according to the printed paper ballots, and compare that to the machine generated totals for the same precincts. If they don’t match, you have a problem and start a recount and an attempt to figure out why the electronic total was incorrect. It makes it much tougher and more dangerous to try rigging the machines.
ThresherK
Re the “Hard Times Cafe” in another post (from this morning).
The New Deal Steak Place on the coast in central CT is not soft-peddling its FDR luv. And it’s been there for at least a decade and a half. I never asked the owners, but I’ll guess that someone’s parents had a pic of him on the wall at home back in the day.
(Plus what’s not to like about a place with a “Prohibition enders” drinks menu? And directly quoting “Happy days are here again”?)
Comrade Mary
ALSO: I think liberal/left/progressive/whatever Canadians are used to both supporting and needling left of center politicians, with the only exception being what seems like near-universal high regard for Layton.
But I’m inclined to grade Obama on a curve I wouldn’t apply to a Canadian politician because, dude, do you see what a large chunk of his country is like? The CBC people don’t seem to make the same accommodation. Or maybe they are just too fucking lazy to find out how the American system works.
marcopolo
@Shawn in ShowMe: Here’s the thing though, W. Va is remarkably D, Gov., both Senators, one of three House Reps and the state legislature. They just lean hard conservative–though there is also a fair amount of union membership in the state. Both KS & OK tilt more R than that. NE is a better fit than those states, actually.
Still, it sounds as if we could have a lively discussion if we ever found the opportunity to schmooze over booze.
Scuffletuffle
@DPS: Shit, you’re probably right!
MikeJ
Yeah! Looney Tunes on Cartoon network is showing Bugs “BAllot Box Bunny”.
trollhattan
@Peter:
Listened to them when I lived in Washington, mostly for the Canadian humour.
Q: How many leftist Saskatchewan farmers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Two–one to change it and one to point out they wouldn’t need to do it at all if the NDP were in power.
Q: How many surrealists?
A: A fish.
It’s an acquired taste.
Peter
@Comrade Mary: This is true. (Although man, Layton earned that regard. What an incredible campaigner. I never voted for him – I live in a staunchly conservative so I vote for the candidate with the largest outside chance to oust the conservative – but damn.
schrodinger's cat
@Chyron HR: Well The Tunch is not entirely white, he has an after market orange tail and orange ears. He has currently locked John in the basement and is raiding the tuna cache.
Chris
@Spaghetti Lee:
Never quite understood what is and isn’t considered “the South.” Is it counted as all slave states, or all states that were part of the Confederacy? I always used to think it was the latter, but I’m told that Maryland and DC are in fact “the South.” Which, as a Maryland/DCer, somewhat depresses me.
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
Viruses didn’t build that, either; their whole schtick is to trick somebody else into building it for them. They move into a cell, force its machinery to build viral proteins and nucleotides, and then trash the place on their way out. A lot like Mitt, when you think about it.
trollhattan
@LD50:
!
Am SO hoping they have Onion Joe Tweeting the results tonight. His debate Tweets might have been the best moment of the entire campaign.
The Moar You Know
@rlrr: Has been a talking point for the tards for a long time. The Hummer crowd went nuts for it.
It unfortunately happens to be true. Battery production is a truly heinous process that pollutes everything it touches. NiMH (the cell used in the Prius) is particularly awful, as is anything to do with nickel production. LiPo (lithium poly) is not as bad but you still wouldn’t voluntarily live next to a plant that’s either making the batteries or mining the raw materials.
However, we have ways of dealing with huge amounts of toxic sludge. We do not have a way to remove carbon from the atmosphere.
trollhattan
@Roger Moore:
Too bad Willard’s last name isn’t Starling. Or Cuckoo.
28 Percent
If it makes anybody else here feel better, I’m also a software engineer and I have a few observations about the Reddit post:
1. It’s as likely (actually, more likely) to be a hardware issue as a software one. The touchscreens work by interpreting electrical resistance yada yada yada… a few sensors dead or schmutz on the screen and this can happen.
2. If a person with more than two brain cells to rub together was going to try to rig the election, it would be done using software, not hardware, if for no other reason than the hardware would have to have been specially manufactured, not robust, couldn’t be reused, couldn’t fake a test… just, no, it wouldn’t be hardware.
3. If a person with more than three brain cells was going to try to rig the election with software, it wouldn’t be this way, it would be by displaying the desired candidate and then algorithmically changing a certain number of votes out of sight of the voter because if you show the voter that their votes are going amiss said voters tend to get cranky and object and put an end to your fun and games by getting the machine shut down.
So this is a very annoying voting machine and raising awareness is all to the good, but don’t read nefarious purposes into this video. Worry about what you can’t see, it’s much, much scarier.
Shawn in ShowMe
@marcopolo:
I call it the Robert Byrd effect. I just wonder how long it will continue since he isn’t around to be that Daddy figure anymore.
rlrr
@The Moar You Know:
As the technology becomes more pervasive, they’ll be more opportunities for recycling…
trollhattan
@The Moar You Know:
Threadjack. Since you work in the industry, how “recyclable” are NiMH and other competing cells? I presume a lot of the metals, etc. can be retrieved and reused, but am ignorant of whether it’s viable and if not, what happens to spent cells?
GregB
For those wanting to follow NH results closely.
Here’s the link to the NH Sec. of State office.
Link.
Historical note: The NH Sec. of State assumed that office in 1976 and has been reaffirmed by both Democratic and Republican legislatures ever since.
Jerzy Russian
@SatanicPanic:
They had Obama as the worst president of all time, and as I recall G. W. Bush made the top 5 best presidents. I only read it for the Sunday Funnies, and even those are going downhill.
Joel
OFA is seriously organized right now. Just got a text to ask me to call someone in another state. Don’t think I can do it, but I’ll be doing a last minute canvas for R-74 in Washington here.
cckids
@Spaghetti Lee:
Speaking of court, I give you one of our local NV wingnuts & her recent conduct: http://www.lvrj.com/news/investigator-believes-woman-was-testing-the-system-by-trying-to-vote-twice-177356061.html?numComments=29
In case the link doesn't work, she went to vote early (Repub, of course), signed the register,voted & was incensed that they didn't ask her for ID. So she went to a second early voting location & tried to vote again.(30 minutes later)
The poll workers checked their records, which showed that that she'd voted, & denied her the right to vote again. She insisted that they were wrong, but they stood firm & didn't let her vote twice.
So, after she'd been charged with voter fraud, she is claiming that she only did it to "shine light on the flaws in the system". The very system that worked perfectly & didn’t let her vote twice.
Oy. Wingnut logic, it always fails. Whatever the maximum penalty is, she should get it. Also, have her voting rights stripped permanently.
rlrr
@Jerzy Russian:
Most comics are available online these days, anyway.
Spaghetti Lee
@Chris:
I think it’s hard to call Maryland ‘the South’ anymore. Or at least, rural Maryland is the south, but Baltimore/DC isn’t. I think there’s a ‘line’, but it’s not a straight one. St. Louis is farther south than Cincinnati, but I personally think of Cincy as a more ‘southern’ town. I’d personally say the South ends at I-70 going north, and wherever there’s more sand than grass to the West.
I’d say some more tongue-in-cheek definitions would be, if college sports are more important than pro sports where you are, you’re in the South. If the area was ever home to immigrants from Italy or Poland – it’s not the South. I can’t even use the whole Confederate flag thing because I have a college buddy from Kansas City who decked out his dorm with confederate crap. Other suggestions are welcome.
trollhattan
@Jerzy Russian:
Only hiring local columnist TBogg can save them now! Make it so.
The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of compassion
@marcopolo: I’m in! (I’ll drive up from Cape Girardeau.)
rlrr
@The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of compassion:
Me too, also.
SatanicPanic
@Jerzy Russian: Those presidential rankings sound pretty funny to me.
burnspbesq
Interesting. Check out Biden’s answer to whether this is the last time he’ll be voting for himself.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/11/06/14970877-tuesdays-campaign-round-up?lite
pseudonymous in nc
@Joel:
Agreed. They’re usually turned into elected positions by legislatures that want to remove them from patronage, but the result is that you have an electorate that is 95% “huh?” and 5% invested in the outcome. I’m completely fine with patronage for those positions, because if there’s a fuck-up, the relevant executive (governor, county commission, city mayor) is accountable.
EconWatcher
This probably shows that I need medication, but I just noticed that Silver reduced Obama’s probability of victory from 92% to 91%. Anyone know why?
Shawn in ShowMe
@Chris:
Geography + a reverence for 19th-century style white supremacy.
rlrr
@EconWatcher:
OH NOES ! ! !
The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of compassion
@rlrr: Holy Crap! Somebody else on this blog is in CAPE?
Thoughtcrime
@LD50:
He is the real reason for the gender gap: http://media.talkingpointsmemo.com/slideshow/joe-biden-ladies-man?ref=fpblg
Svensker
@Comrade Mary:
Did you see that the Globe had a “discussion” between liberal Ignatieff and conservative Paul Wolfowitz on the American election? One Canadian has-been and one American neo-con whom we all thought (and hoped) had passed on. And what the frick do either of them know about this election?
A real WTF piece of “journalism”.
rlrr
@The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of compassion:
No, Kirkwood – I was just stating my willingness to participate in a meetup…
Chris
@Spaghetti Lee:
Yeah, that’s what I figured: I’ve certainly never figured Bethesda as any form of “the South.” I think, as you say, there’s not really a clear line anymore – the cultural divide is more urban/rural than North/South (with the suburbs being somewhere in between).
trollhattan
@EconWatcher:
He had Willard down to something like 7.2% last night–I presume he’s just fiddling with the levers and dials on the SilverTron2012. It’s what he does.
A sudden ten-point jump might get me so stir, but this is almost literally inside baseball (considering his past life).
prometheus shrugged
@The Moar You Know:
Actually, there are very effective ways of removing carbon from the atmosphere. The carbon capture schemes of next generation coal fired power plants are one way. Klaus Lackner at Columbia Univ. has also developed what he calls “artificial trees” that soak up CO2 through absorption onto a resin and could be deployed anywhere. These technologies are the basis for the emphasis (mostly on the part of the scientific community) on carbon sequestration.
scott
@Svensker: If you’re willing to do things that are broadly acceptable to the media and business elites, and have certain talents for not so harmless puffery, you need never go hungry.
Thoughtcrime
@EconWatcher:
This morning’s Florida poll update?
https://twitter.com/fivethirtyeight/status/265835769934012416
ericblair
@Spaghetti Lee:
You can pretty much peg it in Virginia as south of the Rapahannock. That’s where the pick up trucks and Waffle Houses start in earnest. I don’t know about western MD: that seems more like the rural Midwest than really the South. Sure, the Mason-Dixon line is PA/MD, but I don’t think that counts for anything anymore.
schrodinger's cat
He is back….
trollhattan
@EDJ:
Taco!
My day is saved.
LD50
@Thoughtcrime: we all know this is the classic:
http://a.abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/ap_joe_biden_cruisers_diner_jt_120909_wblog.jpg
EconWatcher
@rlrr:
Look, I admitted I have a problem and probably need medication. No need for sarcasm….
Seanly
@leinie (iPad):
Cool! Though I must admit my wife & I are recent transplants to Boise (about 14 months now). We’re raging liberals, but much prefer the western style of conservatives to the southern type. Boise’s a beautiful place and we’ve got good jobs here.
Back on topic, here’s an item from PEC I liked:
To show my geekiness: in my old AD&D days, a roll of 1 on the d20 was always a miss so I never take anything as 100%. I hope the Obama leads in OH & PA (and elsewhere) are high enough that some hiccups or unfortunately successful voter suppression don’t make a difference.
OT – re: definition of the South – a lot of Southerners define it as the former Confederate states. A lot of folks in PA base it on the Mason-Dixon line which is very close to the PA-MD border.
SatanicPanic
@EconWatcher: Taking the votes of the 1% into account?
trollhattan
@LD50:
Still think those biker dudes eyeing each other are thinking, “If it weren’t for the damn Secret Service I’d have to kick this guy’s ass.”
'Niques
@pseudonymous in nc: I still have high hopes for Florida. Waited about an hour late this morning, with mostly elderly, white folks. No grumpies that I could see. Spent the wait time chatting with elderly man and his middle aged son. Obama voters because he “hates liars”. We joked and ranted and agreed, and probably got a bit louder than we intended. Only saw smiles and nods from those within earshot. Good times.
EDJ
Word is Romney is doing MUCH better than expected in OH and especially PA. Virginia and especially North Carolina are already in the bag. IN. THE. BAG. Ditto Florida.
Iowa and Wisconsin are trickier but things are looking up there. There is even an outside chance of a Michigan surprise.
Yup yup! Looking like a long long night for liberals. Suck on that, losers.
MikeJ
Any FPers around to give us a fresh thread? How about the topic: “Where are Juicers gathering to watch?”
trollhattan
BTW, I’m informed (via zuper zecret conference call) that Willard’s post-debacle getaway is fully staffed, equipped and ready for his arrival, tomorrow.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152222908925293&set=a.486874655292.385232.258058105292&type=1&relevant_count=1
CW in LA
@MikeJ: I’d settle for “What network/channel will have more numbers and less bloviating?”
The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of compassion
@rlrr: Whew! The idea of two of us in one such location was straining my concept of the possible.
rlrr
The Troll is making an appearance, Obama must be winning big.
Chyron HR
@EDJ:
Hey, Eddie, bad news–I was voting in Virginia (where my vote, unlike yours, counts) and I saw a whole line of people who bore the “Curse of Ham” being allowed to vote without getting Trued at all. Tough luck, try again in 2016.
joes527
@Thoughtcrime:
Oh great. Look out suprimes. Here comes Obama v. Romney!
scav
@SatanicPanic: no, no, no, I think canvassing in the Mittster camp means stretching some actual blank canvass on the frame so that the can project whatever image they need onto it. Stuff is durable, but has been getting quite a workout on that guy.
CW in LA
EDJ = Erectilely Dysfunctional Jackass?
GxB
@EDJ: Oh good, we’ve been hoping you’d show up. New nym yet again and apparently FFS was already taken. Anyway I’ve put two hampers in the bathroom. There’s one for your dirty shirts, and the other one is for socks and poo poo undies.
Luvs…
SatanicPanic
@EDJ: Word is? Is this like word on the street?
I like to imagine I’m going for a walk, and a man in a trenchcoat and a fedora says “psssst, Romney is actually up by 5%”
And I say “leave me alone weirdo”
trollhattan
@EDJ:
Am curious: what’s the protocol for delivering bad news to Willard? Do you get some poor disposable intern to handle it then run like hell, do you leave it in a memo on his chair while he’s in the can, or do you simply skip the whole uncomfortable thing and make shit up?
I’m betting #3 but am always ready to learn.
Bobby Thomson
@LD50: That’s actually not that far from stuff that Carper has said in public.
schrodinger's cat
@Chyron HR: Well he is home from school now, back to typing gibberish.
Must be true if it is in bold
rlrr
@joes527:
Florida will not be deciding this election.
EDJ
Gotta go now. Be back tonight, losers, to rub your noses in defeat! So long as I am allowed to vote.
Chris
@ericblair:
See, some parts of Northern Virginia still strike me as very Southern, though. Not in a redneck good-old-boy kind of way, but in an upper class Southern-Gentleman-aristocrat-wannabe kind of way – the white, conservative, upper-middle class suburbia, especially with the number of people who live off of the Pentagon, kind of exudes that Old South vibe (not necessarily because they are but because they want to be, or maybe it’s just the people I know).
LD50
@trollhattan: I always thought it was more like “I sure hope those Secret Service guys don’t check what we’ve got in our pockets”.
MikeJ
@SatanicPanic:
I’m wainting until I hear from Huggy Bear.
PeakVT
Voted. Nothing interesting to report.
I like it that way.
trollhattan
@EDJ:
Why do I think “not”?
eemom
The good news is, the multi-named spambot troll’s gonna be gone forefuckinEVAH after tonight.
Not that it’ll be man enough to show up then. I’m predicting it goes fwwwwwpppt right before they call Virginia for Obama.
trollhattan
@LD50:
Hmm, good point.
LD50
@joes527: Obama can win without Florida, tho of course it would be nice. When Obama passes 270 without FL, it’s over and the Florida count loses all urgency.
EDJ
@trollhattan:
So long as I am not banned I will circle back here around 8:30. You can set your watch to it now.
trollhattan
@eemom:
Not unless he’s got the chootz-pah to hang around long enough to go, “We wuz robbed!”
trollhattan
@EDJ:
Will do. Which time zone?
EDJ
@trollhattan:
Eastern time.
Scott S.
@EDJ: Wait, trolls get banned at Balloon Juice?!
Also, do you think he realizes that the FBI probably keeps better track of his IP address than the front pagers do?
Chyron HR
@schrodinger’s cat:
Don’t you remember your Strunk and Whites?
“If it’s not in BOLD, they won’t get TOLD.”
The Moar You Know
@trollhattan: I’ll let the NY Times answer that question about battery recycling, they do it better than I could.
I don’t work in battery production, BTW. It’s been a longtime interest as I fly electric model aircraft – which is seriously on the cutting edge of battery technology.
Bottom line is that it costs more to recycle than to make new, by a substantial margin. At least for now.
scav
for the record, Tpm reports the Nate Silver drove 20% of their NYT traffic on election eve. Voting Anthrax with their clix, one must assume ( that and the anti-numeracy brigade, of course). Still, not a sign of strength for the newsprint end of things.
Joel
@EconWatcher: Some polls were released this AM.
Joel
@EconWatcher: Some polls were released this AM.
burnspbesq
@EDJ:
If you show up here tonight, be sure to bring a big tube of K-Y. The line of people waiting to shove things up your ass is so long that they’re being given wristbands and told to come back later, because they are gumming up traffic going into an out of the polling place a half mile from Cole’s house.
...now I try to be amused
I like Silver’s implication that Ebola would run as a Republican.
Mike Lamb
@burnspbesq: Gross.
replicnt6
@EDJ:
Wait, if I set my watch to it now, won’t my watch be off by several hours? Oh, yeah, I forgot. You live in a completely alternate dimension. Time probably works differently there. Never mind.
Aet
Go ahead, throw your vote away.
If you aren’t voting for the infectious flesh-eating disease, you might as well be voting _for_ the pundits, Nate Silver!
les
@Shawn in ShowMe:
Minorities on the ballot in KS? You jest. When I voted this morning, Obama/Biden were the only Democrats on the ballot. For anything–congress, state leg, county–anything. Made it quick, though.
HinTN
@Southern Beale: I voted Green in the Senate race, straight D the rest of the way. Hope to see the end of DesJarlais!
HinTN
@LD50: With Virginia Florida becomes irrelevant. I’ll take 270 without Ohio but remain convinced the margin there is too big for fraud to fix. I’m at 303 for Obama!
Oregon guy
@EDJ:
Bookmark it, libs!
Comrade Mary
@Svensker: The Globe is probably one of the more intelligent national papers, but they endorsed Harper, too. (BTW, if you still want to read more than 10 Globe stories a month now that they have their paywall up, you just have to delete your G&M cookies.)
Comrade Mary
@trollhattan:
Have you read Redshirts by John Scalzi? You should really read Redshirts by John Scalzi.
Ass Pull, don’t read Redshirts by John Scalzi. We like you just the way you are.
Triassic Sands
@Joel:
No link, because I was listening to NPR.