The 2008 Presidential Election - Results Thread (Catch All)

so I guess the means President Obama gotta look for Osama?

Trying to punish the current administration (and former members who are no longer serving in it) for their crimes, while it would be an administration of justice, would honestly be a waste of precious time that would be far better spent working on repairing the damage to our government and then evolving it to a better-functioning and more effective status.

I really want to see the criminals punished, but if I set aside my anger I have to admit that it's really a waste of our most precious commodity of all - time.

By the way, FWIW, I never got a reply from Obama or any of his staffers to my letter requesting an explanation behind the FISA amendment vote that he cast. While I figured he himself would be too busy for that, I'm disappointed that I didn't get some sort of reply.

Farscry wrote:

Trying to punish the current administration (and former members who are no longer serving in it) for their crimes, while it would be an administration of justice, would honestly be a waste of precious time that would be far better spent working on repairing the damage to our government and then evolving it to a better-functioning and more effective status.

I really want to see the criminals punished, but if I set aside my anger I have to admit that it's really a waste of our most precious commodity of all - time.

I just can't help wanting to see Cheney being lead around in handcuffs. Does that make me a bad person?

Bear wrote:

I just can't help wanting to see Cheney being lead around in handcuffs. Does that make me a bad person?

If it does, then we can be bad people together, dude.

Farscry wrote:

Trying to punish the current administration (and former members who are no longer serving in it) for their crimes, while it would be an administration of justice, would honestly be a waste of precious time that would be far better spent working on repairing the damage to our government and then evolving it to a better-functioning and more effective status.

You're right. They should be declared terrorists under the Patriot Act, whisked away to Gitmo, denied access to legal counsel, tortured, and imprisoned for the next couple of decades.

As much as I agree that it's pointless to go after the current administration, there's a piece of me that would love to see the macabre distortions of our government that they created be used against them. There just would be something so karmicly right about having John Yoo waterboarded with someone standing over him screaming "how you like them apples!"

OG_slinger wrote:

You're right. They should be declared terrorists under the Patriot Act, whisked away to Gitmo, denied access to legal counsel, tortured, and imprisoned for the next couple of decades.

I would love that (yeah, like Bear said, that might make me a bad person), but it really would only serve to deepen the political rifts of our nation rather than building a cooperative spirit.

Jayhawker wrote:

Found this through Ubrakto's awesome blog.

Thanks for the plug, but your link is to Bill Harris's blog. BH gets more hits than god. He doesn't need any more help.
---Todd

Found this through Ubrakto's awesome blog.

Dear Obama,
ubrakto wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

Found this through Ubrakto's awesome blog.

Thanks for the plug, but your link is to Bill Harris's blog. BH gets more hits than god. He doesn't need any more help.
---Todd

Sorry, sorry, sorry! Nut and Feisty Weasel sits right next to Dubious Quality on my bookmarks bar, and I copied from the wrong one. I have fixed the error in my post and even in this one. Sorry for the confusion.

Farscry wrote:

By the way, FWIW, I never got a reply from Obama or any of his staffers to my letter requesting an explanation behind the FISA amendment vote that he cast. While I figured he himself would be too busy for that, I'm disappointed that I didn't get some sort of reply.

That is strange, disappointing and definitely does suck.

Ulairi wrote:

This election had nothing to do with the rest of the world. It had to do with the Republican party throwing overboard college educated, productive, fiscal and social responsibility, in order to win knuckle dragging (Thanks Paleo) reactionary fundamentalist. The Republican party today is held up by anti-intellectual mouth breathers who despise people like me, who used to be the core of the Republican party. When the white young male with a graduate degree doesn't feel welcome in the party, the party is doomed.

This is in essence what this election was about to me personally. It was about ditching the powerbase that placates religious fandamentalists who think about the past, not the future. They sequester the advancement of science to the detriment of everyone on the planet by ignoring it because it disturbs their worldview. The republican party has placated these people for years and it has finally come back to get them.

Fundamentalism is the root cause of so many of humanity's problems it boggles the mind.

The whole talk during the months leading toward the election of elitism I found infuriating.

Farscry wrote:

Trying to punish the current administration (and former members who are no longer serving in it) for their crimes, while it would be an administration of justice, would honestly be a waste of precious time that would be far better spent working on repairing the damage to our government and then evolving it to a better-functioning and more effective status.

I really want to see the criminals punished, but if I set aside my anger I have to admit that it's really a waste of our most precious commodity of all - time.

True statement. We as a country do not need to go through a long drawn out process of legal trials over this. Everyone involved will get off scott free. You really have to look at the long view for justice on this one. I truly feel that most presidents wanted the job to have themselves immortalized. How will history view W's two terms? I have this feeling that there are thousands of documents that will be made public thirty years from now that show just how criminal the actions of these individuals were. Then it will be a toss up as to who was the worst president this country has ever had, Nixon or Bush. And I would guess that infamy is not what W was after when he took the job.

Maybe he'll go to live in a kind of self-sequestered exhile. Probably in Saudi Arabia or Bahrain. Like Michael Jackson.

Gorilla.800.lbs wrote:
Farscry wrote:

By the way, FWIW, I never got a reply from Obama or any of his staffers to my letter requesting an explanation behind the FISA amendment vote that he cast. While I figured he himself would be too busy for that, I'm disappointed that I didn't get some sort of reply.

That is strange, disappointing and definitely does suck.

My hope is that, with the frenzy of campaigning done, that a response is still sent to me. It would still matter to me and could instill more confidence for us in his presidency. If I get a response I still intend to post it for you guys.

Jayhawker wrote:
ubrakto wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

Found this through Ubrakto's awesome blog.

Thanks for the plug, but your link is to Bill Harris's blog. BH gets more hits than god. He doesn't need any more help.
---Todd

Sorry, sorry, sorry! Nut and Feisty Weasel sits right next to Dubious Quality on my bookmarks bar, and I copied from the wrong one. I have fixed the error in my post and even in this one. Sorry for the confusion.

Don't ever f@#ing let it happen again. In all seriousness, that song by "Hannah" that you posted is really pretty good. Started reading the rest of her blog this afternoon and she's pretty damn talented.

ubrakto wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:
ubrakto wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

Found this through Ubrakto's awesome blog.

Thanks for the plug, but your link is to Bill Harris's blog. BH gets more hits than god. He doesn't need any more help.
---Todd

Sorry, sorry, sorry! Nut and Feisty Weasel sits right next to Dubious Quality on my bookmarks bar, and I copied from the wrong one. I have fixed the error in my post and even in this one. Sorry for the confusion.

Don't ever f@#ing let it happen again. In all seriousness, that song by "Hannah" that you posted is really pretty good. Started reading the rest of her blog this afternoon and she's pretty damn talented.

I agree. She's a Yale grad, and a gamer to boot. I was wondering how she found your guys' blog.

But to be fair Dubious Quality by Bill Harris is a really fine blog.

Almost even yet?

As an aside, is it just me, or will anyone else be welcoming our new CNN Hologram overlords?

[size=1]Seriously, a hologram? Are you all just screwing around now?[/size]

Prederick wrote:

As an aside, is it just me, or will anyone else be welcoming our new CNN Hologram overlords?

[size=1]Seriously, a hologram? Are you all just screwing around now?[/size]

CNN seems to have caught a bit of ESPN's "Overuse your fancy new piece of technology until you get sick of it" bug.

Rat Boy wrote:
Prederick wrote:

As an aside, is it just me, or will anyone else be welcoming our new CNN Hologram overlords?

[size=1]Seriously, a hologram? Are you all just screwing around now?[/size]

CNN seems to have caught a bit of ESPN's "Overuse your fancy new piece of technology until you get sick of it" bug.

NBC got caught up in the act as well. They even turned off the graphics and showed the green screen to show just how they pulled off the fake room with all of the columns. Fancy!

Jayhawker wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:
Prederick wrote:

As an aside, is it just me, or will anyone else be welcoming our new CNN Hologram overlords?

[size=1]Seriously, a hologram? Are you all just screwing around now?[/size]

CNN seems to have caught a bit of ESPN's "Overuse your fancy new piece of technology until you get sick of it" bug.

NBC got caught up in the act as well. They even turned off the graphics and showed the green screen to show just how they pulled off the fake room with all of the columns. Fancy!

I miss the white board.

Can we start betting now on what gimmick comes next?

Anyway, looks like Ted Stevens will be back (assuming he isn't thrown in jail or pushed out by his fellows), as will the charming Ms. Bachmann.

Prederick wrote:

Can we start betting now on what gimmick comes next?

I would be happy if MSNBC just upgraded to HD.

Speaking of that, I started recording NBC late last night so I would not miss Obama's acceptance speech in HD. What NBC did was horrifying, to me. Not only did they leave all of the info boxes up and down the sides, my local channel shrunk that down in order to scroll local results underneath. So we had this tiny view of Obama and his family surrounded by tons of clutter. It was maddening.

I switched to ABC to find an awesome view. They had absolutely nothing on the screen but the scene at Grant Park. Eventually, there was a small ABC News icon and a line across the bottom of the screen. I cannot understand how NBC could not get how at this moment, less was more.

"democrats are America-haters and anyone with a good education is an elitist jerk" line

Just so you know...many of us on the right are quite sick of this pathetic line of attack - why, because some so commonly ascribe it to a majority of the GOP, or all of them...and that's stupid. I do pray the GOP gets back to the fundamentals that got us in the majority, and that wasn't just a steady stream of fear. I'm praying this election will put a serious jolt in the GOP's chosen campaign method of fear...as the quote states.

BUT PLEASE...do not go so far as to assume that those that try to toss out the rhetoric of dem's are evil America-haters are representative...in ANY way, or the many, many more typical moderate conservatives who also disdain this line of attack!

As for the right...I hope we do away with venting. I've had enough of years of crying over a 'stolen' election instead of getting on with co-existing and the nation's business as adults should. I'm excited folks...I know I disagree with a TON of Obama's ideas, but i'm willing to listen, and find common ground to support where possible. The fact is, he united and excited a massive cross-section of the country to mobilize, and get excited, and believe again. I'd be a fool to not recognize that, to not ask to join in that parade, even as an outsider, and help in any way I can.

That's because you're a real Republican, Pigpen, not one of the ignorant hatemongering idiots. I disagree with you, but I can at least respect you!

Pigpen wrote:

I'd be a fool to not recognize that, to not ask to join in that parade, even as an outsider, and help in any way I can.

I'd say that if you want to join in the parade and not try to tear it down, then you're not really an outsider. This is what we have to get past in America. You can have ideological differences and not be an "outsider". I don't agree with all of Obama's approaches, but I'm on board.

Farscry wrote:

That's because you're a real Republican, Pigpen, not one of the ignorant hatemongering idiots. I disagree with you, but I can at least respect you!

See, you had me up to the whole respect part.. Apparently, you don't know him as well as I do.

PS: I find myself universally agreeing with you on all your political commentary, Far... which should frighten you.

The Fly wrote:
Morro wrote:

I'm constantly annoyed by how many plastic-faced pundits will talk about this great "victory for diversity," or some such nonsense. Never heard a worse reason to be happy about a presidential win. As though we just need to cycle through all possible minorities in office, before we can say that we're not all horribly racist.

Not to mention how insulting it is to Obama, to essentially call him a token black candidate. He was totally electable without all that idiotic rhetoric. Electing a black president is totally meaningless. Electing a GOOD president is what matters. Same thing with females and Hillary.

It's certainly possible to recognize the significance of Obama's ethnicity without diminishing him to "token black candidate" status, or diminishing his overall qualifications.

Did you listen to Obama's own acceptance speech? Much of it--including the opening lines--was a direct reference to his own background, and the fact that his election was possible because of decades of progress in this country's struggle to overcome its racist history. Obama's election is absolutely a triumph for diversity. He knows it and, he obviously doesn't find the notion insulting.

I live in a predominantly black neighborhood, and the outpouring of celebration that I saw and heard last night, and even as I walked to the bus stop and rode to work this morning, is telling. His election has incredible symbolic importance. Obama is far, far, more than America's first black president-elect. But the fact that he is America's first black president-elect is monumental.

Waking up my daughter this morning to tell her the news of Obama's election and then let her watch his acceptance speech was an emotional moment for me, in large part because I feel like we've proven to ourselves, and to the rest of the world, that we can rise above past hatred and discrimination. Yes I think we still have a long way to go, and yes I think there's no reason to be complacent about issues of race and discrimination, but I absolutely think Obama's election is cause for celebration.

While there is no doubt that Obama's race is significant, what I find far more interesting is that a typical middle class guy with no family influence has risen to this position. He doesn't have a daddy who was president or a war hero, Republicans talked about him being unready for power, but I feel that the manner of his rise has made him far more ready than many give him credit for.

He isn't perfect, but he's a battler and a street fighter. I'm sure that he has compromised his principles at some point to get to where he is, but he remains a principled man who knows how to fight.

Another really interesting thing is how he leveraged technology to his advantage With his use of cellphone and internet fund raising and even advertising in Burnout Paradise, in many ways his was the first information age campaign, like Kennedy's was the first television campaign. Political campaigning will never be the same.

You could argue that McCain has as much chance against Obama as Nixon had against Kennedy.

I have watched Obama's acceptance speech many, many times, both on my computer and on TV. I had not realized just how many, until I changed the channel (from CNN to some movie) and my daughter looked at me and asked,

"Pou einai Obama?" (Greek for "Where is Obama?")

I changed it back to CNN.

My daughter pointed at his picture, "Nato Obama!" (pronounced nah-toh, Greek for "There it is!")

She just turned two last Sunday. I'm so proud.

Next step: teach her the masculine form, "There he is." Got seventy some days to do it, I spose...

Pigpen wrote:

BUT PLEASE...do not go so far as to assume that those that try to toss out the rhetoric of dem's are evil America-haters are representative...in ANY way, or the many, many more typical moderate conservatives who also disdain this line of attack!

Actually, I believe they are representative by definition (you know, Senator... Governor... etc).

Just kidding! Please don't hurt me!