Election Day Linkage
- NRO’s roundup of hacks is pretty entertaining. Perhaps my favorite is the guy who can’t tell the difference between Angus King and Joe Lieberman.
- Speaking of the NRO, what can you even say about this? ” A vote for Romney tomorrow is a vote for a restoration of the old Jacksonian — Andrew, that is — Democratic party, a true populist party shorn of its Communist accretions that is every bit as all-American as the other guys.” Right. I’d say one Jacksonian party is enough, thanks…
- For some intellectual nourishment, Perlstein on McGovern and on how conservatives fleece the rubes.
- “Mandate” is a Latin term meaning “bullshit.” One thing you have to give George W. Bush (first term) credit for — you have a “mandate” to the extent that you have the votes in Congress, the end.
- Your guide to election law and Ohio. Toobin has more.
- If my prose is a little too long-winded, Jen Sorensen lays things out in convenient chart form.
- The PPACA, Sotomayor, and Latino alienation from the Republican Party. If only the Democratic Party would do something for its constituencies!
- There are smart things to say about the limits of quantification in political science. Michael Gerson’s thoughts are not those.
- It’s great that Miami decided to give a truckload of money to one of the biggest assholes in the known universe instead of investing in the equipment necessary to run an election.
- Pema Levy knows who Republicans will like to blame.
Greg Sanders:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:38 am
Aw, man, I didn’t realize that Hard Times Cafe owner meant the name of his restaurant chain as a reflection of his political agenda. That’s depressing to learn.
TT:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:39 am
I skimmed the Walsh colon cleanse over at DeLong’s shop. That’s a dude who appears to have some….issues? Is “issues” even the right word for whatever produces that kind of weapons-grade insanity?
The only thing that makes conservatives even angrier and more bitter than losing is winning.
Cody:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:44 am
I was waiting for them to say “77-yr old Jim Bob, who is currently living off Medicare and Social Security, said that if Obama won it would be because of people who don’t pay taxes”
But alas, no such striking example of irony was present.
Uncle Kvetch:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:54 am
Not wishing to visit NRO I checked DeLong’s excerpt, and boy howdy, you ain’t kidding:
and now, so close to realizing the ultimate expression of “critical theory” — that everything about America stinks — they and their media allies are doing their best to swing one last election for Obama
Chest-thumping machismo meets rampaging paranoia. Two great tastes that taste great together!
Uncle Kvetch:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:55 am
OTOH, I did just learn that Bull Connor was a progressive, so I have to thank Walsh for that.
parrot:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:57 am
for some types of written insanity, the ‘rhetoric’ will make more sense if you screw on your inner jesse ‘the body’ ventura voice as you read …
NBarnes:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Goddess, I loathe Andrew Jackson. I’m glad that Walsh’s ideas have negative predictive value, but it’s still offensive.
The Dead Acorn:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:26 pm
Nice Todd Snider reference to a great song (disregard if “knows who Republicans will like to blame” is just a coincidence).
rea:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
Michael Walsh prediction–After the Democrats lose, they will force Elizabeth Warren to walk to Oklahoma . . .
mark f:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
N.B., Walsh looks like a Team America-version-of-Matt-Damon version of Peter Gallagher.
mark f:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:51 pm
From NRO:
Smart analogy.
I get the feeling Medved will spend tomorrow hiding at the bottom of a swimming pool.
Erik Loomis:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:52 pm
Glad to see that the NRO is embracing the Panic of 1837 as its economic policy.
James E Powell:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:13 pm
I want to know how Rick Venema of COLONIAL HEIGHTS, VIRGINIA is spending this election day.
Karen:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:21 pm
I read at the WaPo website that early voting was down well below ’08 numbers, meaning we’re screwed no the polls were all wrong. Can anyone make me feel better about this?
Halloween Jack:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:25 pm
I like Jen Sorensen. Her explanation of Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize makes perfect sense.
Murc:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:25 pm
I put this on ‘list of nice things that we can’t have anymore because of Republicans.’
I always interpreted ‘mandate’ to mean ‘you campaigned on a specific set of issues and legislative priorities, and won. Not only won, but won with an impressive margin and possibly impressive coattails. Therefore, the various institutions of our country, including the media, will regard your agenda as having been blessed by the American people. You will be given the benefit of the doubt as you pursue it and it will have the presumption of legitimacy.’
This is a perfectly good way of doing things that I support, because it dovetails nicely with the idea that if you win, you get to govern.
But that’s not how it’s used these days.
These days when people say ‘mandate’ what they often mean is ‘I am worried we might lose, so I’m attempting to pre-emptively de-legitimate my opponent by claiming that they won’t win a mandate even if they win the election, regardless of whether or not its true.’
This isn’t ALWAYS bullshit. If you run on one agenda and suddenly pivot to a different one, you can be said to not have a mandate. If you win in a weak or manner (losing the popular vote, winning a tiebreaker in the house because of malapportionment, the Supreme Court steals the election, etc.) there’s an argument to be made that your mandate is weak.
Basically Republicans took a perfectly useful concept and ruined it.
mark f:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:30 pm
How does that differ from “your mandate is what Congress will agree to”?
Davis:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:42 pm
I remember the geniuses at NRO just before the 2006 midterms predicting the Republicans not only retaining the House, but gaining seats. Of course, their credibility with their readers is undimmed.
Anonymous:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:50 pm
” A vote for Romney tomorrow is a vote for a restoration of the old Jacksonian — Andrew, that is…”
Versus what, Michael or Tito?
Scott Lemieux:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:58 pm
Jeez, and he didn’t even talk about Lifetime Grand Wizard of the KKK Hugo Black. A disappointing performance.
Scott Lemieux:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:58 pm
Nope, not a coincidence. Hell, let me add the video.
Murc:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:59 pm
… because what Congress will and will not agree to can potentially change depending on if the legislative agenda of the President is perceived as having broad popular support and legitimacy, which is reinforced by other major institutions perceiving this as well?
Granted, that’s not as much the case these days as once it was, as there seems to be a much higher number of congresscritters who don’t give a shit about things like that, but its not NOTHING.
Scott Lemieux:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:04 pm
As Wanda remarked in A Fish Called Wanda (1988), “I’ve worn dresses with higher IQs. But you think you’re an intellectual, don’t you, Medved?”
Scott Lemieux:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:05 pm
Hanging out at the WORLD’S BIGGEST ARBY’S, I hope.
Scott Lemieux:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:05 pm
+1.
Scott Lemieux:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:06 pm
Action!
catclub:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:33 pm
Scoop. Wild eyed liberal. To them.
Anna in PDX:
November 6th, 2012 at 3:03 pm
Wow, the Perlstein article on fleecing the rubes was TERRIFIC. I really had no idea that the right wing noise machine continues to get people to buy into weird get rich quick schemes and find miracle cures for cancer for just 23 cents a day. It was very interesting how he tied these things together and connected them to Romney’s ability to lie so seamlessly.
Wido Incognitus:
November 6th, 2012 at 3:46 pm
Man, it’s good to have as many people voting for your candidate as possible. That’s really the only reason to vote, because there’s is simply no chance that your single vote will matter, even if you live in a swing state.
Wido Incognitus:
November 6th, 2012 at 3:47 pm
I should explain that I use this as a defense of the importance of a mandate, from a certain point of view.
Wido Incognitus:
November 6th, 2012 at 3:48 pm
“The math”!
mark f:
November 6th, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Oh, watch Fox for 30 minutes during the day. All the commercials are for gold, reverse mortgages and catheters.
mark f:
November 6th, 2012 at 4:33 pm
I might finally have to see that movie.
Cody:
November 6th, 2012 at 4:34 pm
I always vote based on winning the Presidents of History knife fight.
In this sense, if Romney is Andrew Jackson I may have to reconsider my vote…
Otherwise, Obama’s athletic talents (although meager) give him a large lead over Romney.
mark f:
November 6th, 2012 at 4:42 pm
This seems tautological. If the president has coattails then the new congress will reflect that “mandate.” If not, what’s his claim? It just sounds like George Bush’s “political capital” talk to me. Sure, the president just by being president sets an agenda of sorts — Congress is going to proceed according to how he’s going to act on it sends to the White House, though not necessarily with getting his signature in mind — but how often does an opposing congress acquiesce to his priorities? How would that work in practice?
Scott Lemieux:
November 6th, 2012 at 5:09 pm
No ads for Reagan commemorative coins anymore?
Thlayli:
November 6th, 2012 at 6:41 pm
… but enough about LeBron James.