Hit me baby, one more time

Ahhh, what a glorious evening was last night, and what an enjoyable day today.

I’m tired, because I was so wired last night that I was up until 4 am. I did next to nothing today, other than reading through the analyses and various takes on what happened, the demographics, and so forth. I kept the TV off all day, I didn’t feel like talking to anyone, and I just enjoyed the moment as I read my fill. I didn’t even spend a whole lot of time on Facebook, reading various reactions. I needed the time to regroup, take it all in, and let out the mental breath I’d been holding for about two freakin’ years! Whew!

I gave myself 24 hours to gloat, and I’ve posted a few items today that were definitely of that ilk. I’m not a mean-spirited person, for the most part, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t ecstatic that President Obama not only won four more years, but did so by beating one of the most cynical, mendacious candidates I’ve seen in some time. There have been times when I felt rather sorry for a losing candidate; I even had a twinge of that in 2008, because despite my anger at McCain for foisting the Grifter Palin upon us, he gave a decent and honorable concession speech.

Not so Romney. For some reason, he refused to make the phone call to President Obama for about an hour and a half after the race had already been called by the networks (if not Karl Rove, haha). When Romney finally did give his speech, I found it to be perfunctory and stiff, and it reeked of the attitude that he truly felt that he was entitled to win, and in fact, believed up until the end that he would. Most accounts say that he had not written a concession speech, only a victory speech. I believe this might be a classic case of hubris and nemesis. I can cut him some slack on the tone of it, I suppose; it’s not easy to lose. However, McCain (as well as Hillary Clinton, when she conceded the Democratic nomination to Obama) showed that concession speeches can be gracious and that the person who didn’t win can do so with decency and strength. Romney’s concession speech showed little of that.

It’s all a moot point, of course. Mittens is toast. I would be very surprised if he runs for office again. The endless parsing of the votes and the breakdown of the demographics have already begun. (Note to Republicans: your white guy base is dwindling.) It’s been fascinating to watch not only the demographics, but the hilarious freak-outs of various right wing pundits and “celebrities.” Donald “The Dorito” [thanks for the nickname, Holly!] Trump called for a revolution (at least until someone apparently told him that that might be considered treason, and he removed that tweet), batshit crazy bobblehead Victoria Jackson cried that America had died, and pants-shitting draft dodger Ted Nugent called Obama supporters pimps, whores, welfare brats, and “subhuman varmints.” I would like to give the Republican party a word of advice: until you start condemning these wingnuts, calling them out for their hyperbole and hatred, and start signalling that you do not find such rhetoric acceptable, you are going to continue to hemorrhage supporters. As long as you continue to build your coalition on white, conservative, religious-motivated voters, you will continue to hemorrhage supporters. And unless you let go of your death grip on your bibles and your religious-based social attitudes, you will continue to hemorrhage supporters. Don’t believe me? Fine. Just keep going the way you’re going. In about a decade or so, we’ll see how that is going for you, okay?

Another interesting takeaway from this was the rise of the statistics gurus. My own “personal” guru (at least the one I’ve been reading since the last election) is Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight blog. For the past three months or so, it has been a daily check for me. It’s even become a joke among liberals who were wigging out about Obama’s chances for re-election: Keep calm and check Nate Silver. Nate took a lot of flak from the right wing pundits (and even a few on the left) who felt that gut instinct would triumph over statistics and math. Peggy Noonan (insert Seinfeldian ‘Noooonan’ here) based her declaration that it was going to be an overwhelming victory for Romney on seeing lots of Romney yard signs in a particular neighborhood. Mm-hm. Maybe they feel that their jobs are threatened? No worries...the world will always need talking heads. But the complete refusal of so many to accept the polls and/or the math—and even the reality—was rather mind-boggling to me. Nate, who bases his statistical model on all the polls that are taken, both nationally and statewide, was fully and completely vindicated when he successfully predicted the outcome of every single state. (Florida still hasn’t been called, but it seems that Obama is going to win it.) In the last two elections, that makes him 99/100 when it comes to calling the states. I think a whole lot of people owe Nate Silver a big fucking apology today!

As for predictions, I made mine back in early September, with a political email group I am involved with. Here was mine:

Obama 326

Romney 212

Obama wins OH, PA, WI, CO, NV, VA, FL, NH

Romney wins NC, IA, MO

The only one I got wrong was Iowa. If I had made my prediction more recently, I would have put Iowa in the Obama camp, as well, but that’s the problem with making your prediction so early on! Again, they haven’t called Florida yet, but it looks likely Obama. When that happens, it will be Obama 332, Romney 206. I’m more than a little pleased with myself! But I owe it all to Nate Silver. So for those who kicked sand in Nate’s face, just stop it, you guys! Leave Nate alone!

So that’s that. This concludes my period of gloating, and now I’m ready to move on and help to make shit happen. I don’t wish Mitt Romney or his family any ill, but I can honestly say that I’m very glad he lost. I did not find him a likable candidate, nor an honorable one. (Please note that I specifically used the word ‘candidate,’ not ‘person.’ I don’t know him as a person, so I don’t feel that I can make that inference.) There is plenty of work to be done, and I hope that our legislative branch will get off their asses and start doing it. I foresee many letters and emails in my future, as I try to keep their feet to the fire.

After all, we all want what is best for the country, right? I think we can all agree on that. We might disagree on how to go about it, but as Joe Biden said in his debate with Paul Ryan, “Facts matter, Martha.” Just ask Nate Silver.

Ted Nugent: Gone-zo

I didn’t want to write about this because I don’t like giving this idiot bandwidth, but the more I read, the more I want to say a few things. I’m not posting a picture of him, though. Here’s a picture of a cat wearing a Batman mask instead.

So Ted Nugent was speaking at an NRA convention. Nothing surprising there, because he’s been all up in our grills about guns and ammo and hunting and all that shit for a long time now. But he caught some flak this week for saying that if President Obama is re-elected, he’ll either be dead or in jail this time next year. Some considered that a not-so-veiled threat against the President, ‘cause see, why would Nugent be in jail or dead if President Obama is re-elected? Maybe because he’d do something violent, something that would cause him to be thrown in jail, or be shot because of his actions? Maybe something like, oh…trying to HARM the President? The Secret Service, which takes all threats seriously, will be interviewing him tomorrow. Nugent says he’s going to have a barbecue for them. I’m guessing that they will be all business, and politely decline...at least I hope so. The Secret Service has their own damage control to do, don’t they?

Anyway, Nugent swears that he didn’t threaten the President by making that statement. Says that he was just exercising his right to free speech, and he has the right to bear arms and blahbitty blah blah and YEEEEOWWWW your face is a Maserati! Oh, and he says that he never threatens people. Really? Roll the tape, please, Cal. (If I had a media guy, his name would be Cal.)



“Ride my machine gun.” Right. That’s not a threat. He calls President Obama a “piece of shit,” Hillary Clinton a “worthless bitch,” and Dianne Feinstein a “worthless whore.” Maybe name-calling isn’t a threat, but telling these people to ride his machine gun certainly seems a little threatening to me. If someone came up to you on the street and yelled, “Hey, you worthless bitch...ride my machine gun!” would you feel threatened? I sure would!

Okay, listen. This guy is pretty much washed up, and hasn’t been relevant for a long time. I liked some of his stuff when I was in the mood for ‘70s arena rock, which has been about once in the past 15 years or so. I said goodbye to him permanently when he wrote about Sarah Palin for Time and praised her “herculean work ethic.” Anyone saying that about Sarah Palin is obviously a delusional moron, and I had had enough. It’s one thing to be outrageous and on the edge, but when you cross the line into just plain stupid, I’m done with you.

There IS a line, and Nugent has crossed it, which I think he is beginning to comprehend. We all value free speech, and want to protect the right of everyone (even addlepated has-beens) to speak their mind and criticize opinions with which they don’t agree. But when you are so caught up in your bizarre little gun-totin’ world that you start using violent gun imagery to discuss people rather than policy, you’ve gone too far, and the Secret Service pays you a visit.

So get a grip here, Ted. What you have been saying is not cool, and the vast majority of people are not speaking of you in glowing terms tonight. They’re talking about how you’re an asshole, and how most of your music sucked, anyway. The only people who approve of a wingnut threatening the President of the United States of America are other wingnuts. So how about you just head on back to your little Michigan farm, shoot your little guns, and dream your little dreams about when you were out on the road and getting blow jobs from underage girls, okay? 

Oh, and Mittens? Do you think it might be time, finally, to show a little decency and backbone and prove that you actually have a pair of testes—or even ONE! Surely you have ONE teste!—and renounce this flaming asshole and decline his support? Or are you just going to continue to say that everyone needs to be civil? Jeez, what a pussy.

Speaking of pussy, here’s a picture of a cat dressed as Darth Vader. You’re welcome.

It’s a free for all!

The infighting continues among the GOP, with some attempting to jockey into a position of front-runner for 2012, others trying to inject a calm voice of reason into the debate...and then there's Limbaugh. Sort of like "And then there's Maude!" Wouldn't you love to see how Maude would have dealt with Limbaugh? What a comedic goldmine that would have been! But I digress.

The latest brouhaha started with Mitt Romney commenting on only two Republicans appearing in Time's 100 most influential people in the world: Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh. He tried to make some joke about how maybe it was really a list of the most beautiful people rather than most influential. Silly Mitt. Obviously not, since Limbaugh is on the list! Many Palin supporters took offense at that, thinking that he was being dismissive of her qualifications. Silly Palin supporters. What qualifications? [grin] So a group of Palin supporters came out with this video:

I had seen it earlier yesterday, and when Ken saw it last night, we both started laughing. Not at the video, but at the continued snarky infighting going on in the GOP. But wait, there's more!

Colin Powell spoke Monday about the problems the GOP is facing, and believes that one of them is Limbaugh. "I think what Rush does as an entertainer diminishes the party and intrudes or inserts into our public life a kind of nastiness that we would be better to do without." Limbaugh fired back today (surprise, surprise), calling Powell "just another liberal," and stating again that Powell's endorsement of Obama was about nothing more than race. He said, "He’s just mad at me because I’m the one person in the country who had the guts to explain [the endorsement]. There can be no other explanation for it." He suggested that Powell leave the Republican party and become a Democrat.

A few things here.

This sort of fighting amongst themselves is very unattractive. While Ken and I laughed about it, we also agreed that it's exactly this sort of thing that made us stop calling ourselves Republicans, and why we'll switch our affiliation to Independent. While I had made up my mind a while before the election about who I would vote for, Ken's ultimate deciding point was the nasty turn that the McCain campaign took at the end, especially Palin's attack dog tactics. I know some will disagree, but I believe that instead of offering real solutions and plans, their primary campaign platform was to tear down the opposition and paint them as bad people and scary characters. When I see that sort of behavior, it really turns me off, and I much prefer hearing someone clearly articulate their plans and refrain from character attacks.

In that light, Colin Powell is completely correct. I believe that the majority of people are like us in not enjoying such unseemly attacks, and I also completely disagree with their social platform, which I find horribly exclusive and discriminatory--that's another reason they lost me. The fact is that only 21% of Americans identify themselves as Republicans now. They certainly lost me and Ken in this last election, and it would seem obvious (it's certainly obvious to me) that what they're doing isn't working. What don't people like Limbaugh get about that?

As for Limbaugh, his remark that Powell's endorsement of Obama was about nothing more than race is offensive and completely unfair to General Powell. It implies that Powell is neither intelligent enough or impartial enough to make an informed decision, that he voted for Obama only because he's black. Obama wouldn't have been elected without a significant number of white votes, so that's a stupid argument. Also another reason why the GOP is hemorrhaging members. Being so dismissive of an obviously intelligent, decorated member of the military--who also happens to be black--would seem imprudent, don't you think? Suggesting that they leave the party seems even more foolish. I suspect that Limbaugh won't be satisfied until everyone who is still left in the party (after he gets done with his exclusionary tactics) is in complete goosestep with him. Yeah...good luck with that.

In honor of the GOP's free for all, here's the Motor City Madman himself, Ted Nugent, in his gonzo glory days. I believe Ted is quite the conservative, so this seems especially fitting...just like Ted's pants. Nuge is a little crazy, but he's one of my favorite guitarists!