Alan Grayson: Gone in 60 seconds

Last week, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) released an ad which plumbed the depths of lying douchebaggery, in which he slanders opponent Dan Webster by claiming Webster dodged the draft during the Vietnam war. In fact, Webster duly registered for the draft and received a series of academic deferments while attending college. He was in the ROTC during his college years and upon graduation attempted to enter the armed forces but was rejected for medical reasons and ultimately ended up with a 4-F classification. FactCheck.org roundly criticized the Grayson campaign for their patent dishonesty.

Just days later, Grayson released another ad calling Webster "Taliban Dan", smearing him as a religious fanatic and repeatedly playing a video clip of Webster quoting a biblical verse, saying "she should submit to me". Hot Air provides the full context of that clip here, and suffice it to say, FactCheck.org was once again not amused:

We thought Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida reached a low point when he falsely accused his opponent of being a draft dodger during the Vietnam War, and of not loving his country. But now Grayson has lowered the bar even further. He’s using edited video to make his rival appear to be saying the opposite of what he really said.

[ ... ]

Webster’s positions on abortion and marriage, and his religious views, are certainly fair game. But Grayson crosses the line when he uses manipulated video to cast Webster’s views in a false light, just as he did when he concocted a false accusation that Webster had been a Vietnam draft dodger.

Personally, I think it's perfectly OK to go negative in a campaign ad about one's opponent. Campaigns are just as much about one's opponent as they are about a candidate's own positions. But if you're going to go negative, tell the fucking truth.

Those two ads totaling a mere 60 seconds just might sink Grayson's campaign. According to The Blaze, the backlash against the Grayson campaign has already begun, and it's probably just getting started. I half expect to see a contrite (yet totally insincere, of course) Alan Grayson call a press conference announcing the dismissal of several "over-zealous" campaign staffers who released ads without his knowledge in an attempt at damage control.

But as he himself says in both those spots, he's Alan Grayson and he approved these messages.

Update: It seems Grayson himself has closed the window of opportunity on any such press conference.

Consequences

Got this in the e-mail today and had to post it. Unfortunately, I don't know who gets the credit for producing it.

Thanks again, AB!

Were elections a referendum on Obama? Kinda

A day after Virginia and (gasp!) New Jersey elected Republican governors, the Obama-loving media is eager to spin the results as being anything but a referendum on Barack Obama. Actually, they were so eager, the spin started the day before the election. CNN.com this morning has an analysis piece by Mark Preston titled "Elections not a referendum on Obama". Well, I guess that settles it. Preston does provide some polling data to support his assertion:

While the economy and jobs were the chief concern for voters in both states, 26 percent of New Jersey residents said property taxes was also a major issue, while another 20 percent mentioned corruption, according to CNN exit polling. In a similar CNN survey taken in Virginia, health care was the most important issue for 24 percent of the voters, while 15 percent named taxes and transportation was mentioned by 7 percent.

Further proof that this election was not solely focused on Obama, 56 percent of Virginians said that the president was not a factor when it came down to their vote. In New Jersey, that number increased to 60 percent of the people who went to the polls on Tuesday.

But who does Preston quote when it comes time to lay out a winning 2010 strategy for Democrats? Veteran political mastermind Former movie producer and far-left blogger Jane Hamsher.

"I would suggest that appealing to Republican interests is not the best way to turn out Democrats," Hamsher said. "It is just a fact of life. They have to turn out Democrats."

Wow, thanks for the keen insight, Jane.

I'm in no way a political strategist, but I know a thing or two about human nature. The average voter - that is to say the non-partisan who doesn't spend every waking hour consuming political news and tends to vote from the gut - isn't happy. At an emotional, adolescent level he still might be infatuated with Barack Obama, but on a less conscious (and perhaps more intellectual level) he knows Democratic policies are not improving things and may in fact be making things worse.

Young voters turned out overwhelmingly for Obama in 2008. But as Preston notes:

On Tuesday, the Obama magic did not rub off on Corzine or Deeds.

In New Jersey, while Corzine overwhelmingly won among African-Americans, only 14 percent of the vote was black; young people, age 18 to 29, made up 9 percent of the vote and 36 percent of them backed Republican Chris Christie. Meanwhile, 60 percent of independents supported Christie as well.

The numbers were worse for Deeds in Virginia. Ten percent of the electorate was age 18 to 29 and Republican Bob McDonnell captured 54 percent of this voting bloc. Deeds overwhelmingly carried the African-American vote that made up16 percent of people who turned out on Tuesday, while 66 percent of voters who identified themselves as independents backed McDonnell.

The black vote might be lost in perpetuity to the GOP, but young voters can often swing either way. In New Jersey, they simply failed to show up in enough numbers to change the outcome. In Virginia, they also failed to show up in significant numbers, but those that did voted heavily for McDonnell. That does not bode well for Virginia Democrats in 2010.

So while Obama may not have been a specific target for voter backlash, he's losing his influence over a key voting bloc...he's losing his mojo. And even if last night's elections weren't specifically a referendum on Obama, they might have been more generally a referendum on Democratic policies.

The odd outcome of this is that if the trend continues into the 2010 mid-term elections and Democrats lose the significant majority they now hold in Congress, Democratic policies will either be tabled or seriously diluted going forward. That could set the stage for another Obama win in 2012 if a more sound fiscal policy returns to Washington.

Bait and switch

Is this an example of incompetence at Associated Press, or are they deliberately trying to mislead people who only skim headlines?

AP: Asshat Press.

Update: They've now corrected the headline to read "Iraq wraps up election with no major violence".

Mikki the cat says...

Likking mah butt to get electoral taste out of my mouf.

Tobey the dog says...

I sendz deathrayz to librul media.

Harry the cat says...

Wut u mean Obama's the new prez?

Lady Liberty weeps

Spotted over at Theo Spark's place. How appropriate.

And so it begins

In the European stock markets, pharmaceutical companies took a beating and led the decline on the news of Barack Obama's election.

EUROPEAN shares extended early losses on Wednesday, falling as much as 3 per cent, with pharmaceuticals and banks leading the decline.

At 1025 GMT the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was 2.6 per cent lower 948.97 points after hitting a day's low of 944.97.

The index broke six straight days of gains as investors' focus returned to the economy after Barack Obama's election as US president.

Worries about pressure on US drug prices under a Democrat administration saw European drug stocks lead the losers after Barack Obama's decisive win in the presidential election.

Look for more of this as Obama's policies become more clear and other industries are threatened.

They own it now

The Democrats now own the White House and a convincing majority of both houses of Congress. The pressure is on. There's no other party to blame for the persistent stream of Democratic failures and the Axis of Taxes - Pelosi, Reid and Obama - will have to take responsibility for those failures.

It remains to be seen whether the Dems have attained the dreaded super-majority in the Senate. A neighbor tonight said he hopes they do so that there's no question come the mid-term elections who's to blame for everything that will inevitably go wrong. I'm inclined to agree with him.

The American voting public has chosen to elect or re-elect the absolute worst of the Democratic party...John Murtha, Al Franken...God only knows what other dregs of humanity...so the picture is complete. We're stuck with them...thanks, idjit voters, you stupid fuckers!

Update: No, I'm not going to join others in offering faux "classy" congratulations. At the same time, I do wish to acknowledge Obama's unsurpassed political ruthlessness in winning this election by any means necessary, such as abandoning his pledge to accept public financing and opening up his credit card donations to any Tom, Dick, Harry, Franz, Ahmed and Ivan who wanted to donate. New politics, indeed.

I'm also not going to make asinine statements like "not my president", because he is, whether I like it or not. That's just how we, as a nation, roll. Obama didn't steal the election, and he sure as hell didn't make idjit voters in Pennsylvania and Minnesota vote for shitbags like Murtha and Franken.

On the other hand, I will say that the one good thing about this election is that a barrier is broken...blown to smithereens, actually...by electing our first black president. That alone speaks volumes about how far we've come.

Anyway, enjoy your one term in office, Barry.

Update: I may have jumped the gun on the Al Franken thing. The last I saw before writing this post had Franken leading Coleman, but they're now in a dead heat according to Politico with 42% each.

Disaster

Not good at all. It looks like even Virginia is going Obama's way.

The douching of Washington begins in 2010.

Chesapeake County, VA: WTF?

What's up in Chesapeake County, VA? According to Politico's map, McCain leads there...with 383.3% of the vote. Obama has 27.3, while Barr, Nader and Other claim 8.something. Now, I could see this with 0.01% of the precincts reporting, but 98.1%?

I say again...what the fuck?

Update: Apparently there was a glitch either in the county's reporting or in Politico's data gathering. It's been fixed:

Early Virginia results look promising...

...McCain 56%, Obama 43% with 5% of precincts reporting, according to CBS Washington DC channel 9.

It's all over but the counting (almost)

Just some random election rambling...

First, a word on exit polls. NRO posted about an item from Virginia Virtucon that said exit pollsters were sampling minorities in the Falmouth district of Stafford County, VA at a ratio of 4:1 over non-minorities. I live not far from there, and rest assured, that's a way lopsided sampling. Probably an inversion of the demographic there. So...DON'T BELIEVE THE EXIT POLLS.

Second, a word about the local GOP organization here. They're great people, but they're not, in my humble opinion, making the best use of their volunteers' time. I cleared my calendar this afternoon to bail early from work and see what I could do to help. Got to the office at around 3PM to see if they had any voters needing rides to the polls. Nope...they had volunteers to drive, but no voters to drive to the polls. I think they've got no mechanism to identify voters needing assistance, and therefore had no way of knowing if any friendly voters needed rides.

Here's how it's done:
I shouldn't have to go to a regional office eight miles from my house. Each county is divided into voting districts/precincts. I should be able to get hold of precinct party captains who've got lists of registered voters in their precinct and there should be a precinct-level GOTV effort in the final days leading up to the election and on election day to call those voters and compile a list of people needing rides. Within a precinct, they're all going to the same place to vote, so it's pretty easy.

Note to field-level party wonks: phone-banking on election day is a waste of time and volunteer resources!

A quote and a thought for today

John at ExurbanLeague posted this as his thought of the day:

If someone would have told me on September 11, 2001, that our next president would be named Barack Hussein Obama, I would have assumed we had lost a war or something.

As a congenital Red Sox fan, I think I may actually retroactively remember this quote:

"The sun will rise, the sun will set, and I'll have lunch."
-Former BoSox GM Lou Gorman, on what to do if things don't work out the way you planned.

---
A kibitz from Mark

Update on an old post

Last December, before Barack Obama won the Iowa caucus that would ultimately lead to his nomination coronation as the Democratic candidate, I posted this top ten list of good things about a Democrat winning the White House today. I was convinced at the time that Fred Thompson was the one GOP candidate who could beat any Democrat in the general election, but there was no way he'd get the nomination. I was half right.

Oh, sure...anyone with a bit of political insight should have known that the national media would abandon all pretense at objectivity and actively work for the Obama campaign. Or that 51% of Americans would fall into a groupie-like swoon over a far left Marxist candidate with no experience to speak of and with ties to unrepentant domestic and international terrorists and criminals and who raked in fraudulent campaign contributions from anonymous donors all over the world. I don't know how the hell I didn't see that coming.

So, let's take a look at that list:

1. Abrupt withdrawal from Iraq results in chaos in the Persian Gulf region, which leads to $300/barrel oil. Global warming grinds to a halt, and Al Gore finally shuts the hell up.
2. Unemployment skyrockets to 15%, resulting in increased affordable entertainment by street corner musicians.
3. With mortgage interest rates at 18%, home and commercial construction industry collapses, halting urban sprawl.
4. Stock markets collapse, giving day traders more time to spend with their families.
5. Universal health care turns medical doctors into every day, 9-5 blue-collar workers. Take that, you uppity thoracic surgeon bitch!
6. Universal pre-K provides employment for tens of thousands of crack-dependent victims of society.
7. Repeal of second amendment disarms the populace, ensuring only criminals serious about their craft are armed.
8. Rise of nuclear-armed global Islamic caliphate allows us to stop worrying about Russia. And China.
9. Illegal immigration problem is reversed by US citizens sneaking into Mexico for work.
10. Righty bloggers finally get to be the ones "speaking truth to power".

Yeah. I'm thinking most of these will still hold true. We're already well on our way to number 4 and number 6 was more a Hillary Clinton thing, but there's no reason to think Obama won't embrace something similar. Number 10? Most definitely.

More "speculative retrospective"

The New York Post gives us more of what I've come to call speculative retrospective on an Obama presidency, this time from Ralph Peters. This one skewers Obama's complete lack of foreign policy chops, but in the form of a hagiographical adoring media account of Obama's first four years in office, and in doing so smacks the national media around even more than he smacks Obama.

Looking back on the four years of his first administration, President Obama can be proud: He made the US welcome among the family of nations again; he reduced our reliance on military force; and he gave us peace by reaching sensible accommodations with our enemies.

The lies told about him in the 2008 election were exposed as sheer bigotry. Far from being "soft on radical Islam," President Obama was the first world leader to welcome Jewish refugees after Iran's nuclear destruction of Israel's major cities (his only caveat - a fair one - was the refusal to accept Zionist military officers and their families, in light of Israel's excessive retaliation).

And here's yet another one in the NY Post. In this one, Nicole Gelinas fantasizes that Obama does a 180 on his economic plans and a depression is narrowly avoided.

That's why the Democrats howled when Obama gave a pre-inauguration speech on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in which he seemed to backtrack on many of his election promises.

First, Obama, alarmed at the market's continued drop, declared a moratorium on tax increases of any kind for his entire first term, most importantly keeping the 15% capital-gains rate in place. The Dems couldn't figure out why Obama was coddling the rich. But as we now know from Bob Woodward's book, "Cool Amid the Chaos," Obama had listened to his University of Chicago economic advisers. They had told him privately that raising taxes on capital gains would add one more reason for people to stay out of the market, when the nation desperately needed people to start investing again in the hopes of future gains.

Don't bet on it, Nicole.

Go Redskins! Or maybe not...

I'm a Redskins fan, so it's nothing out of the ordinary for me to be rooting for them tonight when they host the Steelers in Monday Night Football. Since 1936, every Washington Redskins home game prior to a presidential election has predicted the outcome of the election...if the Redskins win, the incumbent party wins. If they lose, the challenging party wins.

Well, up until the 2004 election, anyway. That year, the Redskins lost their last home game before the election, which suggested a John Kerry victory that never materialized. Maybe it's a changing of the century thing. The year 2000 was (contrary to what some might think), the last year of the 20th century, not the first year of the 21st century. So the rule held true for 64 straight years in the 20th century, and maybe it gets inverted for the 21st century. Or maybe the loony left was right and Bush stole the 2004 election.

Using 'price signals' to change behavior

This clip has been all over the usual righty blogs, so I figured I may as well throw in my own two cents' worth.

It would have been really nice if this clip had come to light, oh, a month or two ago. You know...maybe before eleventy gazillion people had already cast a vote for Obama in early voting. Will it move the needle now? No. Even if the national media outlets were to run clips of this all day today (and you know they won't even mention it), it takes days and weeks of repitition for this to sink in to the national consciousness and for people to fully understand the implications.

The net-net here is something that those of us who are a bit right-of-center have intuited all along...Barack Obama will manipulate markets and prices through taxation to steer Americans towards behavior he desires. He even acknowledges another argument we make against his rhetoric about taxing businesses instead of citizens: Businesses don't pay taxes, they collect taxes.

It's a great clip that comes too late to make a difference.

Punk endorsement for McCain

Spotted, appropriately, at Conservative Punk...Johnny Ramone's widow Linda endorses John McCain. In fact, she joined Megan McCain on the stump in Nevada. Unfortunately, there are no individual links to posts at Megan's blog...you'll have to look through the recent posts to find it.

It's maybe not so surprising...the Wikipedia article clues us in on Johnny's politics:

Infamous in the punk community as being one of a few conservatives, Cummings made his political affiliation known to the world in 2002, when the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After thanking everyone who made it possible — clad in his trademark T-shirt, ripped blue jeans and leather jacket — he said "God bless President Bush, and God bless America."

Also not very surprising that Wikipedia would consider conservative politics to be infamy, and that his politics were so exceptional that they felt they had to have a section of his Wikipedia entry dedicated to the topic, but that's a topic for another day.

Anywho...so Linda Ramone's endorsement might pale in comparison to others, but it has a certain cool factor to it. As a long-time Ramones fan ("I Wanna Be Sedated" is the default ringtone on my cell phone), I like to think Johnny wasn't the only conservative in the band.