Sullivan asks if anyone will ever hire Steve Schmidt again, which of course elicits the obvious response- Bob Shrum. So, yes, sadly, Steve Schmidt will work again.
Beyond that, though, this election is not over. I am terrified of premature triumphalism. ActBlue is to the right, there. Go knock on doors. Drive people to early voting. Go. Now.
Oh- and also at the Sully link– Sarah Palin was, as we all suspected, a last minute choice and completely unvetted.
Zifnab
*GASP!*
I am both shocked and awed.
Ned Raggett
Yeah, I’m with a little healthy nervousness to keep the drive going. Not *crippling* nervousness, just what John says — keep up and keep at it!
bedlam UK
And if your using the machines CHECK YOUR SELECTION.
Far too many stories floating around right now of Obama choices ‘mysteriously’ changing to McCain in Rethug run Voting halls.
Strangely only changes FROM Obama to McCain not the other way round.
Dont be shy, if your not sure ask an attendent to help you.
Double check your choice.
Get voting guys
ksmiami
Sorry, but $150,000 for hair, make up and clothing for Sarah Palin Doolittle is hitting the fan – Country First, No Neiman’s First!
Is the McCain campaign real?
rachel
The more I see the McCain campaign in action, the more I wonder whether McCain isn’t deliberately dropping an anvil on his own party. And then I wonder if he’s right in the head.
The Moar You Know
McCain should have stuck with Lieberman. It would have done him some damage with the GOP Taliban, but would have not done the hellish harm that his pick of Palin has done with independents and, for that matter, quite a few Republicans.
It says a lot about his character – nothing good, mind you – that he went with someone he’d never heard of over his own judgement because somebody told him it would be a good idea. That’s not a character trait I want to see in someone who is supposedly the "commander in chief".
Zifnab
@rachel: The age old question. Evil or stupid?
Stuck in the Funhouse
None of that at the Funhouse, although things are looking better. I think we’re about to see GOP electoral mischief on an epic scale, probably involving shenanigans we’ve never seen or thought of before. A desperate and panicked wingnut will stop at nothing to save The Cause and keep the Special Prosecutors at bay.
The Moar You Know
Did you see him the other night in Pennsylvania? I no longer doubt that there is something gravely wrong with his cognition; a person in full control of their faculties doesn’t come out with a garbled statement like that. Not even Bush at his worst was anything like that bad.
rachel
@Zifnab: If he’s sabotaging the Republicans, I wouldn’t exactly be calling him evil. ;)
NonyNony
And if your using the machines CHECK YOUR SELECTION.
And if there’s any way you can avoid using machines, do it.
Early voting here in Ohio involves filling in little bubbles on an actual piece of paper. That creates a paper trail as well as a human-readable record of the vote. If you live in Ohio and can get to your county’s early voting facility do it – not only will it save you time, your vote has a better chance of not disappearing into the ether or getting flipped to the other guy.
I’m not talking about coordinated vote theft or anything like that either – I’m talking about the fact that investigations here in Ohio have found that our electronic voting machines are poorly programmed pieces of crap that couldn’t get certified to be used as ATMs for banks. Whether you think they’re intentionally rigged or just (as I suspect) lowest bidder poor quality crap, they suck. The only reason they haven’t been decertified and removed from use is because it would have been too expensive to replace them all before the election. So if you can avoid using them WITHOUT voting on a provisional ballot, do it.
Oh and as far as premature triumphalism is concerned – watching how things are going in Ohio I’ve scared myself into thinking that Obama is going to win the popular vote by a nice margin and then lose the electoral college vote in a few squeakers that are close enough to steal – whether stealing goes on or not, the vote will be close enough that the perception of theft will be there. That’s enough to put a damper on my premature triumphalism – and make me queasy at the same time.
Punchy
The guy running 538.com has an interesting post (too lazy to link) about how McCane expects to take PA by appealing to their inherent racism (in SW PA, especially). A few points:
1) What a fucking disgusting strategy, and what a fucking scumbag to attempt it
2) McP is down double digs right now. If he were to swing it his way in less than 2 weeks, it would almost completely elimate all faith I (and others) would ever have in pre-election polls. And once those polls are considered suspect, it makes it even easier for either Party In Charge in subsequent elections to fuck with votes, electronic machines, etc. to get their result.
3) Amazingly, O could theorectically lose PA, OH, and FL and still win, and not with some insane criteria like needing Idaho or some shit.
4) I think O needs to plant Biden in PA for the next 2 weeks. Straight. Fuck all other states, and just go for the win. No diff really between 270 and 350 in the grand scheme. Just get the damn win.
Napoleon
I say Schmidt is done doing national level campaigns (Fed office or Govenorships). Unlike the Dems I think the Reps actaully punish the underperformers. Kos is good on this subject (it is largely the focus of his first book).
ThymeZoneThePlumber
1. McCain is not right in the head. Seriously.
2. Give (time, money, effort) now = Gloat in two weeks
Zifnab
I’ve liked Obama’s game plan up until this point. He’s still concentrating efforts in battleground states, but he makes quick trips down into WV and N. Carolina or out to the midwest forcing McPalin to trail after him.
Camping Biden in Pennsylvania lets the GOP focus their fire. Bouncing him around the country is generally more expensive and more time consuming, but if the McPalin team feels the need to chase after – and they always seem to do – its better to have Biden OUT of Pennsylvania just to force McPalin to chase him.
Furthermore, the difference between 270 and 350 is a squeaker election that leaves GOoPers something to rally around and a total blowout that crushes their spirits. This isn’t just a Presidential campaign anymore, its a Culture War. We don’t just want to win, we want to obliterate the opponent. We want Reagen-style margins of victory in as many states as we can muster. Completely running the board will give Democrats courage and drive Republicans crazy.
Xenos
Given his impulsive character, I suspect that he was reacting to someone who blocked him from picking Lieberman. If his staff, answering to RNC mucky-mucks instead of McCain, threatened to quit if a Democrat were named VP, then he was just going to go with their stupid girl even though he knew it would be a disaster. There is no way someone who really felt responsible for the outcome of the race could have chosen Palin.
So I posit that McCain is reluctantly following a path with two possible, acceptable results – if he wins, he wins, and who cares what else happens, or he loses, and he gets his revenge on the assholes who run the RNC and who hate him as much as he hates them.
Bellwetherman
Love this decription of all these monster republican intellects sitting around a table and giving birth to this runty thought:
Eventually, it was Schmidt who blurted out the epiphany concerning Obama. “Face it, gentlemen,” he said. “He’s being treated like a celebrity.”
The others grasped the concept — a celebrity like J-Lo! or Britney! — and exultation overtook the room.
Atanarjuat
I am in complete agreement with Mr. Cole.
All of you Ayers-affirming leftists should suppress the urge to hold a premature Jihad Jubilee as the only poll that matters has yet to occur, which is on November 4th.
So keep your party hats and explosive vests in the closet ’till then (though I suspect they’ll remain in storage for the next eight years, if not more).
Country First.
Ralph Dosser
I keep thinking of this sign on I-70E outside of Denver.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/rdosser/SP9DdoH-KGI/AAAAAAAAAEs/P9Tl4M6Wmx8/truck11_another1.jpg
ThymeZoneThePlumber
Yawn. You aren’t even trying any more, dude. Respect yourself.
Doug H. (Comrade Fausto no more)
No, its over. Not that I would recommend going into cruise control, but there’s less than two weeks to go and Obama’s lead is growing again. The only thing left to work on is how badly does McCain get crushed.
SGEW
Which is why we need to work even harder now! Let’s actually give our new president a mandate, and consign the current Republican party to the ash heap.
Western PA, yo. Scranton and Wilkes-Barres. Come on out, all y’all East Coasters – the racists need a good talking to.
Atanarjuat
ThymeZoneThePlumber said:
WTF does that even mean? If you’re that fatigued, go hug a saguaro or something. Better getting pricked than being a prick, lefty. (Though I suspect you’d enjoy the "getting pricked" part.)
Country First.
Douche Baggins
Hey Atanarjuat, I think you’re in the wrong thread. "Ayers-affirming" is somewhere else. This is "Liberal elitism crushing the spirit of True Americans – Country First!"
theturtlemoves
@Douche Baggins: Yeah, that was pretty weak compared to his performance in other threads. As others have said, either some darn good spoofing or ten pounds of crazy in a five pound bag.
Cris v.3.1
There are lots of reasons not to get complacent. In addition to the potential shenanigans that Amanda discussed, I’m concerned that the favorable polls are likely to make the Democratic leadership start playing not to lose. They don’t want to blow their lead, so they’ll hesitate to go for knockout punches, like countering the "socialism" charge by pointing out (as John has several times) that the Republicans are nationalizing banks.
Speaking of shenanigans, the resources the McCain campaign is putting into PA, and the confidence they’re expressing about it, is throwing a huge red flag for me. If they are saying they can win a state where JSM is trailing by double digits, I’d send the Greg Palast army in pronto.
I don’t know anything about Pennsylvania Secretary of State Pedro Cortes, but he’s a Dem appointee so maybe my concern is misplaced.
Soylent Green
McCain is a gambler, and his game is craps. There’s no card counting or psyching out the other player or any other means to influence the outcome in craps; you roll the dice and pray. Persuaded that Lieberman was a losing bet, McCain rolled the dice on another choice. This behavior would be the defining aspect of his presidency.
It was a senior moment, that’s all. He’s in the end stage of the most mentally and physically taxing undertaking in politics, and he’s tired. McCain is a lot smarter than Bush. The problem is his lack of judgment, integrity, honesty, the list goes on.
boonagain
Projection from anjuarat?
(not that there’s anything wrong with that)
demimondian
@ksmiami:
Come off it! She’s just following the President’s instructions, here: go shopping, or the Islamocommunist Liberal Obama terrorist-fist-bumping DEMOCRATS win!
binzinerator
Indeed I have suppressed the urge and instead of shooting my AK-47 in the air in celebration as we jihadists are wont to do in our fevered, mindless way, this Ayers-affirming leftist redirected that urge into canvassing all Saturday for Obama.
I of course wore my Obama-Biden pin on my explosive vest, and in the course of the day met several dozen other Ayers-affirming explosive vest types, the youngest was a 18-yr-old african-american woman who I helped get registered to vote, the oldest was a 78-yr-old white man who watches Fox News and still likes to listen to Limbaugh. And the old dude has an Obama sign in his yard! I met single parents, I met married couples with kids, I met grad students, I met grannies, I met people who had recently gained citizenship.
They were very nice people, considering they were aidin’-‘n’-abettin’ jihady terrorist coddlers. The kids, too, were often very sweet. Such adorable little jihadistas! I didn’t know they made explosive vests that small. Them terraists are sure are evil yet resourceful little bastards!
For what it’s worth, I met just a handful of undecideds, all of them politely refused to talk about any inclinations or leanings or issues. And I met even fewer people who would admit to being McCain supporters. Of those who would, all were elderly, and all them were at best brusque, and at worst condescending, snide and rude.
When I asked one 60-ish McCain supporter if there were any issues that caused her to favor McCain, she threw open her screen door, glared at me down her nose and hissed "Why don’t you just read?" I said, "Excuse me?" She hissed again at me with even more condescension (amazing that it was possible) "Just read." then closed the door.
I guess she meant read the news. I wondered what newspaper she had been reading, and from what planet.
The hissing part stuck with me. That old lady reminded me of a song by Tom Waits that goes
Auntie Mame has gone insane
She lives in the doorway of an old hotel
And the radio’s playing opera
All she ever says is ‘Go to hell’
Which reminds me of Atanarjuat. Same kind of thing. Same kind of crazy.
I’d say from my experiences that if there’s any one who is frothing at the mouth, delusional and bitter enough to go the explosive vest route, it would be certain McCain people.
Seriously, these people really are struggling with accepting reality. And they’re very upset they have to deal with it now. But their inability to tolerate reality been obvious from the past 8 years now hasn’t it?
Gus
Indeed. I’d still give this a 50-50 shot for Obama. I can easily see a scenario in which he wins the popular vote by a larger margin than Gore did, but still loses the election.
Soylent Green
Terrific post, Binzinerator.
glasgowtremontaine
We here in Harrisonburg are Virginia’s #4 in voter registration, and #1 in voter registration denials.
Lawyers welcome. Guest room with spacious view, private bathroom available. Cat optional.
Off shortly to go knock on more doors.
D-Chance.
What’s being said away from the cameras and microphones?
Dreher:
One of the guys at the table is well-connected in Washington GOP circles, and the news he brought from his RNC contacts was about as bad as you can imagine. McCain is done for; it’s all about saving as many Republican senators as they can now.