Did you lose something?

On Election Day, I woke up at my current ridiculous hour — 5 a.m. After I read the entire Internet and a chapter from Friday’s book-club selection (“The Leisure Seeker,” Michael Zadoorian) I laid in a puddle of self-loathing, watching a debate between my angel and devil. By now it was 6:45.

Hey, fatty. You should be exercising. This book isn’t that good.

But my knee hurts.

Your knee hurts because you don’t exercise. It’s a loop.

And then, just to make sure the angel and devil would be joined by a third visual cliché, a light bulb appeared over my head. (How did cartoonists illustrate “I just had an idea” before Thomas Edison? Candles?) I know: I will get up and walk briskly to my polling place! It’s not exactly an eight-mile run, but my knee hurts. It’s something. Better than nothing.

And so I got up and pulled on a few layers and headed out, looking frankly a little rumply and just-out-of-beddy. As I drew closer to city hall I reflected on the genius of this plan, as I’d be able to enter via a different door and bypass the sign-wavers in the parking lot, at least some of whom I’d know. Then I saw the parking lot. It was full. Those people couldn’t possibly all be waiting to vote, could they?

They could. And were. Even with more machines than I’ve ever seen, it was almost a 30-minute wait to vote. I filled out my ballot with grim purpose and started home, striving for a sweet spot for the footfall to not make every step say ouch. I detoured through the alley because of construction on a storefront, and saw what appeared at a distance to be a fried-chicken thigh lying near a dumpster. (I was behind the Chicken Shack.) As I grew closer, it revealed itself: A wallet.

A wallet with a credit card, and an EBT card, and a little bit of cash, and a driver’s license. I went around to the construction crew: Anybody here named Aaron? No. So I walked back to city hall and turned it in to the police. Regular readers who haven’t been bored into stupefaction may recall I lost my own wallet a few years ago, and it was delivered back to my door, intact, by a kind soul. This was not just a lost wallet, but a chance to repay a karmic debt.

I also found the guy on Facebook, and messaged him. Did what I can. When a guy’s getting food stamps, he can’t afford to lose his wallet.

I’m writing this while watching election returns come in, but it’s early. I have to be up at oh-dark-nothing to get to Lansing for the post-election stuff, and it’s likely I’ll be asleep by the time this thing is called, so this may have to be an open-thread day. Just in case there are a few of you who would like to discuss anything else, some conversation-starters:

A starving-dog story with a twist, involving the Detroit Bus Company, which I wrote about for Bridge a few weeks ago.

A few months ago, something took me into the vortex of Timothy Ferriss, author of the “four-hour” bullshit franchise. Want to get rich and not work too hard? Buy “The Four-Hour Work Week.” Did you know you can be fit and strong and have a six-pack? No? Why, you must not have read “The Four-Hour Body.” I hear that in the latter volume, Ferriss claims he can give a woman a 15-minute orgasm. Your initial reaction may be mine: Who the hell wants one of those? (I’m kind of with Woody Allen on the orgasm question — mine have all been right on the money.) Without having read the books, I feel I can safely say he’s full of shit, not just for the 15-minute orgasm claim, but also because it’s said that this man weighs his own feces for some health-related reason. So when I heard his latest book, some other four-hour thing, is not having a very easy time of it, all I could think was, it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

Finally, remember 2 Live Crew? “Me So Horny,” Tipper Gore, all that stuff? He’s settled down, as we all tend to do with age. What’s he doing now? Coaching high-school football. Interesting guy. Good story.

Now to schedule this post and wait for the news to roll in. Fingers crossed for all my votes, and yours, too.

UPDATE: OK, I’m still up. Mourdock just ate dirt in Indiana. I may need to survive on coffee tomorrow.

Posted at 12:37 am in Current events, Detroit life |
 

130 responses to “Did you lose something?”

  1. LAMary said on November 7, 2012 at 12:42 am

    Thank goodness. No president Mittens.

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  2. Dorothy said on November 7, 2012 at 12:48 am

    Ditto! I had surgery 2day on my arthritic right thuymb. Have tobe concise. Thx Mary!

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  3. Sherri said on November 7, 2012 at 12:53 am

    “The rape thing” candidate out here, John Koster, lost in my Congressional district to Suzan DelBene. Marijuana legalization has also passed. Same sex marriage is leading, but too early to call yet.

    Of course, now we get to see what the feds do about our marijuana legalization, but there’s a pretty strong message that the current War on Drugs isn’t working.

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  4. Mark p said on November 7, 2012 at 12:57 am

    Woo hoo I think.

    Watched the republicans and thought, Republicans — the Cadillac of political parties. That is, it appeals to an old, gray constituency that is dying off with no replacements in sight. Thank goodness.

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  5. Scout said on November 7, 2012 at 1:21 am

    While Arizona is once again the bummer that keeps on giving, I am extremely relieved at the bullet we just dodged. Ruth Bader Ginsberg can now star measuring drapes for her retirement home. And Elizabeth Warren! And Tammy Duckworth! And mosur dock and Akin going down in flames! I can’t stop smiling.

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  6. Maggie Jochild said on November 7, 2012 at 1:29 am

    I want their voices drowned out now and replaced by responsible, compassionate people who want government to work and things to actually get repaired. All the money and hate in the WORLD did not pull this off for them. Go. Away.

    And: Go compare Nate Silver’s 5 November projection map to the final results.
    http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/06/live-blog-the-2012-presidential-election/

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  7. jcburns said on November 7, 2012 at 1:34 am

    Just finished listening to my congressman, John Lewis, tell Brian Williams live that there’s got to be things accomplished in congress now. Boehner can’t play the same games. As usual, I found him inspiring.

    I think the president I voted for is about to come out to speak. At, what, 1:40 am eastern!?

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  8. Dexter said on November 7, 2012 at 2:34 am

    I stayed up and awake for all of it. John Lewis was great, as always. Mitch McConnell is already stirring up shit via Twitter. The Donald is calling for revolution, which Brian Williams called “sickening”. The President’s speech had ’em cheering, and I realized it’s his last hurrah. Tempus does fugit.
    I kept looking for my nephew’s wife in the crowd at McCormick Place…she’s Mayor Emanuel’s Chief Communications Officer at Chicago Public Schools. She posted a photo of herself and a friend from there, but there were too many people to pick out a face in the crowd.
    I was so glad to see Mourdock, Mandel, and Scott Brown beaten. It was a good night.

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  9. Dexter said on November 7, 2012 at 2:43 am

    This stuff sometimes happens when Detroit plays in a World Series. This time it happened in San Francisco. Here’s what happened:
    http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-bus-driver-honored-for-courage-4013724.php

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  10. Joe K said on November 7, 2012 at 3:22 am

    Couldn’t watch the results, had to WORK, gwb-atl-cak-day-pld-gwb, I truly hope it turns out well, history will be the judge, hopefully the Republican Party will get some younger people in the next time. Congratulations to you all. Be as good in winning as I will be in defeat.
    Pilot Joe

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  11. Cara said on November 7, 2012 at 3:40 am

    Nancy, the dog story caught me. As I get more enjoyment from your nn.c than any of my magazines, a donation equal to a subscription has been made for her. Hoping my fellow readers will join me in helping to heal and rescue this small creature.

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  12. ROGirl said on November 7, 2012 at 5:13 am

    Janice Daniels, the Tea Party mayor in Troy, MI, has been recalled.

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  13. David C. said on November 7, 2012 at 5:19 am

    I’m so pleased with Tammy Baldwin winning here in WI. Poor old Tommy, his codgerism really shined through, so even with all the Koch money he couldn’t pull it off. Even four years ago, I don’t think a lesbian candidate would have stood a chance here. We truly have grown, well most of us anyway.

    http://www.salon.com/2012/11/07/the_20_biggest_sore_losers_of_election_night/

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  14. coozledad said on November 7, 2012 at 5:33 am

    Another great circle closes:
    http://www.dependablerenegade.com/dependable_renegade/2012/11/romney-concedes.html

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  15. David C. said on November 7, 2012 at 5:38 am

    That’s priceless, Coozledad.

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  16. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 7, 2012 at 5:54 am

    Mitch McConnell is the absolute epitome of what’s wrong with the GOP generally, nationally, locally. I’d call him the poster child for the need for a major Republican housecleaning except I’d be comparing poster children to dustbunnies. And Akin, and Mourdock — honestly. You can defend pro-life positions without sounding like a Mrs. Kravitz, but not by the leadership we keep getting.

    I’ve never been a fan of any of the right-wing radio show crowd, but my one encouragement today is how Laura Ingraham’s statement from a few weeks ago is coming back around: if the GOP can’t find traction in a year like this, “shut it down. Shut the whole party down. Fire everyone and start over.”

    And for everyone who thinks that there has to be some limits on federal government authority into local affairs, and public spending pushing total taxes up over a third of gross income, and a better way to set US health care policy than we’ve seen or heard from anyone on the national stage, I’ll be the wimp I usually am, and let Al Swearingen do my cussing for me, and slap the GOP rank-and-file even as I’d like to shoot most of the RNC leadership for malfeasance and incompetence and criminal tediousness: http://youtu.be/z2Q7YRDL90E

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  17. Suzanne said on November 7, 2012 at 6:56 am

    Have to say, watching Mourdock go down in flames made my day.

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  18. Judybusy said on November 7, 2012 at 7:04 am

    Joe, thanks for your gracious words. I hope the newly elected will do right by you.

    Scout, that was a great way to say the SCOTUS is now positioned to get reasonable! My partner and I talked about that last night as we processed what it all means.

    Here in Minnesota, I am so happy: we defeated the marriage and voter ID amendments and Dems have control of both houses and the governorship for the first time in 2 decades. I hope this means we can begin to restore some of the cuts made to the schools and our most vulnerable citizens over the last decade. A few weeks ago, one of the volunteers against the marriage amendment pointed out that if we got control of the House and Senate in MN, we have a governor who would sign marriage equality legislation in a heart beat.

    I had to turn in around midnight, so didn’t know how the amendment was going to go. I just cried with joy at all the good MN news! And Tammy! And Elizabeth!

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  19. James said on November 7, 2012 at 7:07 am

    Pilot joe:

    If you heard Obama’s speech last night, you’d truly know what a gracious winner sounds like.

    Oh… By the way, the glorious people’s revolutionary reeducation camps start tomorrow. Please be sure to line up early for same-sex partner assignment before then.

    Ok… So I’m no Obama…

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  20. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 7, 2012 at 7:12 am

    By the way, Alex, I hope you don’t have to avoid being cheery on account of any sore losers. I do think, after the dust settles, there’s going to be some interesting analysis of the whole early & absentee voter push. It just didn’t work the way anyone thought it would, while traditional get out the vote (GOTV) activities were what made the real movement in the numbers.

    That, combined with the online apps and such for phone banking, and increasingly obvious (*I* think) irrelevance of rallies means that there’s work to do in remodeling what campaigning is and does.

    Del, I never claimed to be a prophet! Sorry to let you down. 😉

    Anyhow, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5TwT69i1lU

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  21. Linda said on November 7, 2012 at 7:25 am

    Here’s an encouraging trend I see defeated in this election: rich assholes throwing their weight and money around. The Michigan initiative to block a rival to the Embassador Bridge went down in flames, the big buck ads to sink Sherrod Brown didn’t work either. I saw an ad the other day which ominously warned people not to vote for “those that wanted to take from the rich.” And it had film of a Soviet work farm! As a final gasp/hissy fit, the Donald urged a revolution last night. Even the denizens of Free Republic called him out as the blowhard and fool he is.

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  22. Deborah said on November 7, 2012 at 7:36 am

    Two people I don’t ever want to hear about again: Donald Trump and Dick Morris.

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  23. beb said on November 7, 2012 at 7:50 am

    I’m excited that great candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin won. I’m also excited that obvious douchebags like Akin and Mourdock lost. To that list I’d like to add the lost by Allen West, a member of Congress from Florida.

    Kevin Drum wrote an interesting post a day or so back about the vital role the concession speech plays in politics. It’s the signal that the war is over, to put down one’s arms and stop trying to kill the other side. I haven’t read Romney’s concession speech but that he made his concession early in the counting I think will help a lot in getting his party over their loss last night.

    I wish the Media would say to the Republican party ‘you lost last night. We’re no longer interested in you’ but it will never happen. The Sunday talk shows will continue to have two Republicans on for every Democrat They will continue to have Sen. McCain on every three weeks or so even though he has no insights into anything. Issues will be framed from Republican talking points. And instead of saying that Obama has a mandate to govern they’re going to say he done hurt people’s feeling…

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  24. Basset said on November 7, 2012 at 7:50 am

    Both my knees hurt, one reconstructed and the other just old. Here in Tennessee the Jesus-didn’t-have-a-website guy lost as badly as you’d expect but the patient-screwing, abortion-recommending doctor got re-elected.

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  25. Dave said on November 7, 2012 at 8:04 am

    Good job with the wallet, Nancy. The wallet we found a number of years ago, we were able to return to the owner with help from the early, dial-up Internet, where we were able to find the owner’s parents in PA, call them, and get an address to return the wallet to their son, a University of Chicago student. I was just thinking that I wonder if we could do that as easily today, with people shedding their landline phones. Of course, we would still have the address on the driver’s license to work with.

    Pence the governor, Bennett knocked out as state school superintendent, Republicans have legislative super-majorities, Win Moses lost after 20 years, the Girl Scout cookie guy re-elected (to be fair, his opponent didn’t even respond to newspaper requests for interviews), still. . .that super-majority thing is never good for either side, I fear.

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  26. coozledad said on November 7, 2012 at 8:14 am

    Deborah: You’ll hear about them for awhile, because they’re what that party is about. Everybody talking about how “The Republican Party has lost its soul blah-de bladda ” is simply ignoring the obvious: the most noxious superstitions and prejudices have found a welcoming home in that primarily white, bitter elder demographic. They know they don’t have much of a shot left. But authoritarians, when their backs are against the wall, will always take stupid gambles instead of pretending to play nice. There’s never a bowing out gracefully.

    Their map doesn’t even change much:
    http://www.common-place.org/pasley/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/800px-1860_Electoral_Map.jpg

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  27. alex said on November 7, 2012 at 8:16 am

    Pilot Joe, you are a gentleman and I’m reflecting back on the times that I’ve let my anger get the better of me in my dealings with you and not feeling good about it, despite having a lot to feel good about this morning. I won’t be waltzing into the office with a big smile, however, because I’m slightly hung over. I stayed up nursing cocktails with my eyes trained on McCormick Place waiting for Romney to concede. Next thing I know, I wake up on the couch at 3:00 AM with the TV blaring. I’m quite bummed at having missed Obama’s speech.

    All around pleased with the election results. We had a few surprises in Indiana, including the unseating of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who was basically a stooge for the corporations that own the charter schools and was charged with dismantling public education. Good to know people in Indiana aren’t all asleep while the foxes raid the hen house.

    Obama may not have a mandate but it would be fair to say that our government does: Play nice, damn it.

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  28. Sue said on November 7, 2012 at 8:25 am

    And now…
    On to the midterms!

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  29. Sue said on November 7, 2012 at 8:34 am

    Interesting mix of voting in WI last night, Obama and Baldwin win, but the state legislature is now totally in Republican hands. So… on a national level Wisconsin voters were not having any of it, but on a state level we’re heading into tea party nation. It should be interesting to see what happens, if Republicans take this as a mandate and go forward with the worst of what brought about the recall in the first place (not just labor, but environment, women’s issues and poverty issues). Well, no, not interesting I guess. I’m sick of living in interesting times, to be honest.
    I was struck by how stunned Romney and Tommy Thompson were. They really hadn’t prepared for a possible loss?
    And oh, I’ll bet the Koch brothers and Karl Rove have headaches this morning. That’s the only real schadenfreude I have.

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  30. alex said on November 7, 2012 at 8:36 am

    My prediction for 2016: With the economy roaring full steam ahead and a bunch more old white guys gone on to their great reward the Dems will hold the White House and take Congress.

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  31. Joe Kobiela said on November 7, 2012 at 8:41 am

    Alex,
    I came in low over Leo around 3 last night sorry if I woke you up.
    Pilot Joe

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  32. del said on November 7, 2012 at 8:43 am

    Washington Post headline:

    Claire McCaskill legitimately shuts down Todd Akin in Missouri senate race.

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  33. Jolene said on November 7, 2012 at 8:48 am

    My prediction for 2016: With the economy roaring full steam ahead and a bunch more old white guys gone on to their great reward the Dems will hold the White House and take Congress.

    I think this could perhaps happen as soon as 2014. The economy might not be roaring yet, depending substantially on what Congress does, but, if I were Obama, I’d get to work on rebuilding a majority in the House of Representatives right now. He will likely succeed in dealing with some of the immediately pressing fiscal issues based on desperation and this current win, but further progress on other goals will require more support. Building a Democratic coalition that could survive his presidency would be a great legacy.

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  34. Jolene said on November 7, 2012 at 8:53 am

    Poor old Tommy, his codgerism really shined through

    I thought this too. In fact, I was surprised when I heard he was running. I’d have thought that having been governor and secretary of HHS and then having utterly failed as a presidential candidate, he’d have realized his sell-by date had passed. It’s a big problem in American politics, I think, that people don’t seem to catch the idea that they can retire before they are senile or crushed in defeat. I just can’t imagine why we have to keep seeing John McCain on one Sunday talk show after another. Aren’t there other Republicans who have a point of view they’d like to share?

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  35. Mark P said on November 7, 2012 at 8:57 am

    I just heard the Great Pumpkin John Boehner say that he was ready to continue doing exactly what he has been doing all along. He reads the election as the American people telling him that.

    I wanted to expand my comment earlier, which I had to do from my iPhone. If you saw the Romney crowd in Boston last night, and then the Obama crowd in Chicago, it couldn’t have been any plainer what’s wrong with the Republican Party. The Romney crowd was old, white people. The Obama crowd was young people of all colors, with a few older people (old liberals like me) thrown in. The breakdown of the vote last night made me ashamed to be a white man. Obama’s voters were Hispanic, Black, Asian, and “other”, as well as single women. Romney’s voters were white men. To me that says it all, and what it says is damning of the America the Republicans want to bring back.

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  36. Mark P said on November 7, 2012 at 8:58 am

    Go to Lance Mannion’s blog and look at the photo at the top. Now try to imagine that happening with Romney.

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  37. Deborah said on November 7, 2012 at 8:59 am

    Hilary 2016!

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  38. LAMary said on November 7, 2012 at 9:23 am

    People who should go away:
    Trump
    Dick Morris
    George Will
    That Nicolle person who was doing GOP commentary on ABC.

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  39. Jolene said on November 7, 2012 at 9:46 am

    Here’s a longer list of people who should go away. If you haven’t read it yet, you really should click through to the Peggy Noonan column. It combines florid prose and fuzzy thinking in a truly impressive way.

    TNC has some good comments on why we should stop paying attention to people who attempt to speak on serious subjects without serious thought, AKA people who talk out their ass.

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  40. coozledad said on November 7, 2012 at 9:49 am

    Drunk Diane Sawyer was even embarrassing lil’ Steffi. I couldn’t tell from his hand gestures whether he was trying to prop her up or desperately fighting the urge to strangle her.
    http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/2012/11/was-diane-sawyer-drunk-election-night-video

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  41. Icarus said on November 7, 2012 at 9:50 am

    “How did cartoonists illustrate “I just had an idea” before Thomas Edison? Candles?”

    Perhaps by having an apple fall on someone from a tree?

    30 minutes to vote is getting off easy. We voted early and it took 90 minutes from the back of the line to the voting machine. They only had 7 of them in our early voter location. We did notice a surge at certain points and suspect it came during a section of savvy individuals who weren’t thrown off by the electronic voting booth.

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  42. Prospero said on November 7, 2012 at 9:51 am

    I’m not a chemist, but aside from Puritan instincts in government and the electorate, I’ve always figured the main problem with marijuana laws in the US is that federal law identifies pot as a Class I narcotic, right up there with heroin. That is a bogus legal definition that has no connection with the effects or chemical makeup of pot. It comes from international law and it’s highly subjective (pun intended) and unscientific:

    Under international law, the United Nations provides a stipend (gift of funds or money) to certain Nations known to produce certain illegal substances of recognized drug matter that the World Court (in the hague) has determined as “NARCOTIC” or “having an effect of disorientation, euphporia or other change in mental condition of the individual who imbibes (that) substance”. Damn, that sounds a lot like brewkis, vino and spirits to me.

    The actual US legal definition of narcotic:

    According to 21 USCS § 802 (17), the term narcotic drug means “any of the following whether produced directly or indirectly by extraction from substances of vegetable origin, or independently by means of chemical synthesis, or by a combination of extraction and chemical synthesis:

    (A) Opium, opiates, derivatives of opium and opiates, including their isomers, esters, ethers, salts, and salts of isomers, esters, and ethers, whenever the existence of such isomers, esters, ethers, and salts is possible within the specific chemical designation. Such term does not include the isoquinoline alkaloids of opium.

    (B) Poppy straw and concentrate of poppy straw.

    (C) Coca leaves, except coca leaves and extracts of coca leaves from which cocaine, ecgonine, and derivatives of ecgonine or their salts have been removed.

    (D) Cocaine, its salts, optical and geometric isomers, and salts of isomers.

    (E) Ecgonine, its derivatives, their salts, isomers, and salts of isomers.

    (F) Any compound, mixture, or preparation which contains any quantity of any of the substances referred to in subparagraphs (A) through (E).”

    How does weed fit that definition? Just say Yo.

    LAMary. May I add Peggy Noonan to your list. Might be redundant, though. It would be no surprise to find out Noonan is George Will wearing Rudy Giuliani’s dresses.

    For all the GOPers that wasted all of that Kock Kriminal Konspiracy Kash and American Crossroads money, I’d like to quote Rachel Maddow: That’s $100million you don’t get back. Makes one wonder whether the asinine reversion to flat-out horse-race reporting in the last couple of weeks is less repertorial ineptitude and more media mogul money grubbing.

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  43. derwood said on November 7, 2012 at 9:51 am

    Running on about 2.5 hours of sleep. Nancy…thank you for the Dog link. Donated what I would have spent on one of our animals at the vet. Speedy recovery for her.

    Nervous about Pence and the super-majority in Indiana. It’s going to be Pence’s social issue wet dream legislation for the next two years.

    Hope everyone stays awake today!

    -daron

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  44. John (not McCain) said on November 7, 2012 at 10:05 am

    Watched the NBC election coverage streamed live via Xbox 360 last night. In addition to making me feel like a Jetson, there was something very satisfying about watching election coverage on a videogame system. Fortunately, unlike most games I play on the 360, this time I felt like I won!

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  45. Jolene said on November 7, 2012 at 10:07 am

    A great set of photos from last night: sad-faced people on Fox News.

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  46. Mark P said on November 7, 2012 at 10:09 am

    I finally clicked on the dog story. The sad truth is that this dog is just one of thousands of dogs routinely abandoned all over the country, and most of them are pit bulls or pit mixes. We’re on an email list here in Georgia from a group that tries to save dogs from our local pound. There are 30 to 40 every week, from a county-wide population of almost 96,000, and those are just the ones that are turned in or nabbed by the dog catcher. The rest are dumped at the side of the road, where a few people like us try to capture them and find new homes (our current dog, Zeke, is an abandoned dog.). Otherwise they end up hit by cars. Most are, as I said, pit/mixes, with a scattering of other breeds. The rescuers save a fair number from the pound. Many are sent up north, where apparently people are not utterly indifferent to the suffering of animals. It’s painful to see them every week, but it’s virtually impossible to do anything about the general problem because the real problem is people, not dogs.

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  47. nancy said on November 7, 2012 at 10:29 am

    Quite true about the dog. I hesitated to post that link, but I trust Andy not to squander the money on beer. I was initially moved by the fact the dog was pregnant, but as you can see from the latest update, those weren’t pups in her belly but intestinal impactions. The next 24 hours or so will be critical, but if they can get her guts moving again, she has a good shot of survival. He’s already said that if they exceed their vet-bill needs, the rest will go to the dog rescue that’s been helping with her. People really do suck. Most of them, anyway.

    I went into a tavern a few weeks ago, and there was a guy sitting at the bar with what must have been a 50-pound pit bull in his arms. He’d just adopted it, and it was still feeling a little insecure. The poor thing had had its ears mostly trimmed off, and was scarred enough that it looked like it had been the designated sparring partner for better fighters. It was still sweet as sugar, but I don’t think I’d welcome a dog with that sort of trauma into my home. My horse trainer used to say there were too many good animals in the world worthy of your attention to waste too much time on the rest. Cold, but true.

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  48. Prospero said on November 7, 2012 at 10:36 am

    Our polling place had chairs for everybody in line. Four rows of nine chairs, that were all filled with buttocks the entire 45 minutes we were there at 7 am/ Like a Disneyworld line, but not hot as hell and more civilized. It was quite humorous watching people scoot their bums from seat to seat.

    The rogues gallery of Fox frowns and moues made me think immediately of the John Carpenter classic that made Rowdy Roddy Piper a movie star, They Live. Those assholes are exactly who Carpenter made that movie about.

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  49. Sue said on November 7, 2012 at 10:36 am

    Nancy, I would very respectfully like to say that as the owner of more than my share of traumatized animals, I believe your horse trainer’s opinion is indeed cold but not necessarily true.

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  50. nancy said on November 7, 2012 at 10:44 am

    Fair enough. She was speaking mostly in terms of horses, which are expensive to keep, and the bad ones can do real damage to their keepers. She believed in cutting losses and moving on if the partnership wasn’t working, and I can’t say I disagree, having watched more than a few riders knock heads with animals they just weren’t well-suited for.

    A dog trainer I knew more casually, now — she was a real hard-liner. She bred Australian shepherds, and put all her pups through rigid temperament testing. If they didn’t pass her test, she had absolutely zero qualms about having them put down. She said that when you become a breeder, you accept responsibility for bloodlines, and if the blood is bad, you must winnow it out. I couldn’t do it, but she certainly took the job seriously.

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  51. Danny said on November 7, 2012 at 10:50 am

    Well, THAT was certainly an ass-kicker! Man, I shouldn’t have bothered voting. The only thing I got for my troubles was a sticker and the looming specter of future jury duty.

    Congrats to you all on the other side. I hope it all works out, but I am not confident.

    Now, back to work. You can’t go to Hawaii for three weeks then go on bereavement for one week and not have some catching up to do!

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  52. Danny said on November 7, 2012 at 10:58 am

    And Elizabeth Warren?!? Puh-leeze. The 1,024th of me that is Cherokee is extremely offended and the rest of me wants to set up a casino and make some money.

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  53. BigHank53 said on November 7, 2012 at 10:58 am

    I’ll never tell someone what they’re obligated to do for a rescued animal. I’ve made the call to put down more than one feral cat that had an untreatable condition. I’ve seen others that I would have shot had it been feasible, so as to spare them a drawn-out painful death. But then there’s this:

    http://www.badrap.org/five-years-later

    So. You do what you can.

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  54. Sue said on November 7, 2012 at 11:04 am

    Oddly enough, I agree with your dog trainer friend. If you’re going to breed for specific characteristics you are going to have to deal with some genetic fallout, whether in temperament issues or physical maladies. Slipping a temperamentally dangerous or vet-bill-nightmare dog into the system as ‘pet quality’ doesn’t do anyone any favors. As you can tell I’m more a fan of hybrid vigor.
    That’s different from carefully opening your home and heart to a damaged animal. Fortunately I’ve never had to put an animal to sleep because of a danger element and I’ve only had to find another home for one cat, who was going to beat the shit out of everyone until he got the space he needed.
    And no, I don’t go looking for them. Things just happen.

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  55. Charlotte said on November 7, 2012 at 11:08 am

    Looking good here in Montana — the PACs threw millions and millions of dollars into trying to defeat Bullock and Tester, and it looks like they both survived. To me the story of the night is that truly progressive candidates and causes (all those marriage equality amendments, oh, and dope it up Colorado!) passed while troglodytes were defeated across the nation. Now can we have some science please? Can we please start dealing with climate change? It’s 60 degrees this morning in Montana …

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  56. Danny said on November 7, 2012 at 11:10 am

    I’m not a chemist, but aside from Puritan instincts in government and the electorate, I’ve always figured the main problem with marijuana laws in the US is that federal law identifies pot as a Class I narcotic, right up there with heroin. That is a bogus legal definition that has no connection with the effects or chemical makeup of pot. It comes from international law and it’s highly subjective (pun intended) and unscientific:

    Props, a radio guy a few years ago had a funny story about his father’s beliefs regarding marijuana as a gateway drug. Apparently the father believed that immediately after you took your first puff of a joint, you set it down, picked up a needle-full of heroin and jabbed it in your eye.

    Nancy, I still chuckle about that story with Ashley and the heroin he found at his deceased sister-mother’s place.. sad as it was…

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  57. DellaDash said on November 7, 2012 at 11:10 am

    Kudos especially to both Joe K and Cooze for showing graciousness (and restraint – “Good show”) in defeat and victory.

    I, on the other hand, and going to get petty…because, in spite of the exceptionally good mood I woke up with this morning, something from yesterday, which unexpectedly turned out to be a nail-biter, still rankles:

    JeffTMMO – who are you and what are you peddling? I have to ditto Del’s comment from the previous thread regarding your self-presentation as a prophet. Del and Deborah weren’t the only ones who were disturbed by your seemingly illegal insider info. Cooze took a rather vicious chunk out of your hide some weeks ago that gave me serious pause…although I couldn’t quite see it at the time. Now I do. Your authenticity is shot to hell where I’m concerned. You’ve been busted.

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  58. alex said on November 7, 2012 at 11:15 am

    Saw my parents early this morning. They were elated with the election results, their faith restored that massive money can’t buy an election and that people aren’t as stupid as Republican pols take them to be. They waited almost two hours to vote yesterday and had never seen such a crowd before on election day. What struck them most was that the voters were mostly elderly, white and rural and doubtless Republican. What they found so heartening in this election, particularly in Indiana, is that those same people obviously split their votes and rebuked Tea Party extremism.

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  59. LAMary said on November 7, 2012 at 11:17 am

    When I adopted my giant dog Max, I was concerned I had a problem dog, and at 140 pounds he would have been really big problem. It took a while but he came around, but I don’t know if I would do it again. Now he’s an elder statesdog and is a mellow as could be.

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  60. Catherine said on November 7, 2012 at 11:19 am

    Mark P @35, as the camera panned across the crowd at Romney HQ, my 15 YO said, “Buncha sad white people.”

    And Deborah @37, from your mouth to God’s ear. If Hilary runs again, this time I swear I am going to drop everything else and work for her.

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  61. Catherine said on November 7, 2012 at 11:26 am

    Kathryn Schultz tweeted: “Elected to the Senate today: the first disabled woman, first openly lesbian woman, first Asian woman. Binder full of fucking awesome.”

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  62. Judybusy said on November 7, 2012 at 11:34 am

    I did last minute GOTV work on the marriage amendment–right up to polls closing. Frankly, mostly not worth the effort, as most had voted. However, I did encounter one young man who’d been turned away and unable to register because he didn’t have the right documents. I got him sorted out and he was headed back to the polls! My volunteer pal and I walked past the long line, and a woman was handing out pizza. I later ran into someone who had also bought pizza for those in line. I think I got a couple young women to the polls by telling her they were handing out pizza–she exclaimed to her roommate: “They’re giving out pizza!” Whatever it takes to motivate people to vote!

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  63. del said on November 7, 2012 at 11:43 am

    DellaDash, perception is subjective, we see what we want. Jeff’s comments sent me off into Ricky Bobby land, as when he thought he was on fire with invisible racing fuel flames, like, well, this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ8-eiHLg-M

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  64. DellaDash said on November 7, 2012 at 11:54 am

    Hee hee…Ricky Bobby land is a good mood restorative.

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  65. cosmo panzini said on November 7, 2012 at 11:56 am

    I, for one, believe that the Republicans will wise up and at least begin to distance themselves from the right-wing-nuts and Tea Party know-nothings. The evidence that a majority of people cannot be swayed by K Rove, Fox News, and mega-billionaire fascists throwing mega-millions around trying to get their people elected is now abundantly clear. The R’s are not stupid.

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  66. del said on November 7, 2012 at 11:57 am

    Actually Della, it was Jeff who, ironically, taught me the meaning of the word “apophenia.”

    Now, if you’ll excuse me I think I’ve still got some flames to douse.

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  67. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 7, 2012 at 12:02 pm

    DellaDash #57: Huh? The numbers I noted were simply totals of early ballots, sorted by comparison to previous election trends. No insider information, and as it turns out, indicative of very little. There was lots of work to push early voting by both campaigns, but especially by the OfA organization, and the results were very odd because it appeared (still appears) that it generated more Romney-ite early voting (though we’ll never know that for sure), and in the end the voters in the polling places were much more determinative.

    I think many, and I was pulled into this thinking myself, thought that when early voting became a 30-40% phenomenon, you might have an indicator independent from “exit polls” per se. But I’m sure the Obama team as much as anyone will be crunching those figures and have more to say later about what they learned, but simply put, I was wrong as were a number of media outlets, in thinking early vote *total* increases by “leaner” districts were a leading indicator. They didn’t tell us a thing.

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  68. Prospero said on November 7, 2012 at 12:04 pm

    Alex@58: The Obama organization raised $100million, mostly on the net and 90% in contributions of $20 or less. Hope them Kriminal Koch Bros. are happy with their purchases. They spent several $million on their bizarre distaste for and obsession with Sherrod Brown, who in my opinion is the real deal for a US Senator (i.e. Progressiver-than-thou rollers criticize him as much as GOPers). Bye Bye Bucks. And Sheldon Adelson’s millions? Might as well have flushed the money down Rand Paul’s defective toilet AIPAC man. Should have taken up Sarah Silverman’s offer of sex, you disgusting old criminal fart.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B5o6-qNk6Q

    Mary, how big was Max when he came to live with you? 140# is one gigunda dog. Is he a Shetland? Can you share a picture. The companion of my childhood was a beautiful tri-color collie named Sandy, who was an uncharacteristically large collie the size of a good-sized Shepherd and about 90 lbs.

    My UPS guy just delivered my new copy of Cloud Atlas, my next read. I will never watch a movie version of a book that is held in such high regard by people whose opinion I trust before reading the book, or pretty much any novel really. I have still never watched the third of the Salander movies because I’m only halfway through The Girl That Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. I admire the lightning speed plotting and at-a-gallop pace of Larssen’t books, and would never want to know from the movie what is about to happen in the book.

    More people that should STFU after apologizing, and just disappear: Bill Kristol (the PNAC sinecure by nepotism, and presumed disciple of Sun Myung Moon), Hermanator, Bray Buchanon, Darth Nader, Ayn Ryan, Willard the Elevator Boy, John “Crash” McCain, Phony RAM driver Cosmo Scott Brown, John “Marcel Stupido” Sununu. Gallup and Rasmussen, GOPer shills. Sheldon Adelson. The truly sad list of entertainment celebrities that openly supported RMoney.

    Deborah, I can’t see Hillary wanting to go through the dog and pony show, but if she chooses to, she could regalvanize the forces for health care reform and move the Obama ACA front line further down the road to intelligent universal health care at half the cost the USA pays now.

    In my younger days I “experimented” with heroin a few times, and smoked kilos of pot, and I can say for a fact that there is no comparison in physiological nor psychological effects of the two substances. Putting pot in a legal category with heroin, morphine and codeine is bone stupid, and a bar to sensible public policy. Legal grass, taxed and regulated as liquor is would be a boon to the US economy, and workers would be more productive the day after a party. It’s the old story of never buying a car completed on a Monday. Hangovers, for those that suffer them, are debilitating. Pot doesn’t have that effect.

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  69. jcburns said on November 7, 2012 at 12:05 pm

    Elizabeth Warren is going to do a lot of good in the Senate, not just for Massachusetts. Mark my words.

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  70. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 7, 2012 at 12:05 pm

    And I’m thankful for Pizza Hut, Cheerios, and my smokin’ hot wife, and like dear sweet little baby Jesus the best.

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  71. Sue said on November 7, 2012 at 12:09 pm

    cosmo, I think you might be right, based on some of the comments in today’s news. The big question is, will the right-wing-nuts and tea party know-nothings agree to be distanced?
    del and Della, I think MMJeff kind of enjoys Cooz-level untouchability around here. Both of them prove their worth pretty much daily, beyond their ability to set various groups off.
    Having said that, I should probably also add that MMJeff scared the bejeesus out of me yesterday with his comments.

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  72. DellaDash said on November 7, 2012 at 12:13 pm

    Early voting numbers weren’t supposed to be released until the polls closed. That’s what’s hinky.

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  73. brian stouder said on November 7, 2012 at 12:16 pm

    Let me just say, please go easy on my brother from another mother, Jeff tmmo.

    I believe he’s the real deal in every respect, and one who walks the walk 100x guys like me, who mainly talk the talk. His Ohio remark yesterday puzzled me, too, but this is why we have conversations, yes? We share impressions, and possibly portentous perceptions (or else essentially silly sidebars) every single day.

    I think it’s all too easy to misunderstand a subtlety or a grinning remark on internet forums like this one (as I think happened regarding Jeff’s Buckeye remarks yesterday); just as, on the other hand, it is easy to miss Cooz’s sharp perceptiveness, amidst his rollicking vulgarity*….but you’ll have that, yes?

    Yes!

    *Not to put too fine a point on it, but I’m coming to the end of 600 pages of reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln – the collected files of William Herndon, transcribed with all the mis-spellings and so on; the book is a priceless collection of genuine treasures (and more than a little fool’s gold), which I read years ago, and decided to re-read (a rarity for me). With Spielberg’s movie coming right up, it will be all the more interesting to see what portrait Hollywood will present us now, of the 16th president. Anyway – one thing you cannot escape is that pretty much everyone who knew him well comments on his inexhaustible supply of “smutty stories”/vulgar jokes/barnyard humor. And this sort of strikes me as Cooz’s approach, too

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  74. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 7, 2012 at 12:16 pm

    Della, look at what I said, yesterday and just now. It wasn’t *the votes* but just the number of total cast ballots, correlated (erroneously!) with previous election trends.

    As Disraeli said about politics in his day, “the pendulum swings.” I was surprised by how quickly the pendulum swung *back* after the debates, but it did get us an inarguable margin, saving all of us a month or more of angst. But if you’d seen how prepped both sides were with legal teams in Ohio if it had been close, you would have thought (rightly) that the campaigns neither one thought this would be decisive.

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  75. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 7, 2012 at 12:17 pm

    Sue, I apologize for scaring you. Sincerely! And even as I posted that here, I thought (and you can check my FB feed to see) that what was shaping up was that Obama would lose Ohio, but win the national total & EV.

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  76. DellaDash said on November 7, 2012 at 12:23 pm

    Ok…I get it…and have now also added ‘apophenia’ (synonym – ‘drivel’) to my dangerously diminishing vocabulary.

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  77. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 7, 2012 at 12:26 pm

    Ironically, as you said that I’m eating a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with an image of a very sad Karl Rove on it.

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  78. Sherri said on November 7, 2012 at 12:30 pm

    It’s not going to happen, but I do wish that the various media outlets would take advantage of this election to get rid of some of their high profile pundits who are way past their sell-by date. Anyone who predicted a 300 EV win for Romney, and I’m looking especially at you, George Will, time to move on. Refusing to accept reality on air to the point of questioning the competence of your own co-workers, Karl Rove, means that you really don’t get to have your own math, and you should at least stop pretending that you do on my TV.

    Also, here’s a handy list for the Sunday shows, since they seem to have trouble finding guests without Y chromosomes. It’s the list of women who will be serving in the next Senate, both Republicans and Democrats.

    Dems: Dianne Feinstein (CA), Barbara Boxer (CA), Mazie Hirono (HI), Mary Landrieu (LA), Barbara Mikulski (MD), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Debbie Stabenow (MI), Claire McCaskill (MO), Amy Kolbuchar (MN), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Kristin Gillibrand (NY), Kay Hagan (NC), Heidi Heitkamp (ND), Patty Murray (WA), Maria Cantwell (WA), and Tammy Baldwin (WI).

    Repubs: Lisa Murkowski (AK), Susan Collins (ME), Deb Fischer (NB), and Kelly Ayotte (NH).

    Last night on ABC, Matt Dowd said that this might be the last election we saw two white men running for President. (At least his colleages laughed at him.) First, he needs to go, and second, ABC, your Sunday show guests should stop looking like two white men running against each other. Use the list above for help.

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  79. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 7, 2012 at 12:38 pm

    Oh, and I should have said this first: the “late undecideds break for the challenger” conventional wisdom? I think this election put the final nails in that coffin, too. There’s a case to be made that it’s still true if the challengers aren’t appallingly bad candidates, but in general I’d say it just isn’t how political opinion shifts anymore.

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  80. Kaye said on November 7, 2012 at 12:39 pm

    In my mind Jolene’s comment relating the NYT report on Ross, Pike and Scioto counties greatly assuaged the anxiety Jeff’s comment caused. I think the Ohio early voting push was very successful for OfA. Yes, there was more early voting in red areas than in previously elections but those folks did not vote as expected. Those ballots were included in the initial reported returns and showed Obama up by double digits then, as 06 NOV ballots were counted the margin dropped. (scarily so!) I suspect those unhappy with Romney’s selection as the GOP option chose to instead vote for the “devil they knew”.

    Drove by the Ohio statehouse to gawk at all the media trucks. Good golly there were lots of them! Saw an Ohio University student doing a stand-up just down the street from Erin Barnett of CNN. Had I been that student I would have been mighty excited to be in the company of the MSM.

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  81. Prospero said on November 7, 2012 at 12:47 pm

    DellaDash@76: Or as we say on the intertubes, dribble, me thinks.

    I suppose I’m a lowdown lirul racist if I point out that anti-Obama rioting at Ole Miss is probably the result of bigotry against black people:

    http://www.wmctv.com/story/20025451/riots-brew-on-ole-miss-campus

    Bill Maher tweeted that Willard’s final comment on the election was directed to his u-trou, “Magic, my ass.” Will LDS elders, in their Kolobian wisdom, now announce that the Constitutional crisis that would set off the White Horse Prophecy just doesn’t exist currently?

    Sherri@78 Early on, I got an email from Kirsten Gillibrand soliciting a donation for Mazie Hirono. I looked her up and found her to be a worthwhile candidate, so sent some money. Got lots of correspondence from Mazie’s campaign, including a signed personal note from the candidate with a hand drawing of a Hawai’ian flower she favors. Of course, I’ve saved that note. Very cool, and I was very happy she won. Elizabeth Warren has the potential to be the conscience of the Senate, as Cicero was in the last days of the Roman Republic. There are certainly a large number of figurative Catilines in that body for her to call out.

    Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?

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  82. Sue said on November 7, 2012 at 1:05 pm

    Oh my, apparently it wasn’t just Donald Trump who got a little upset last night:
    http://www.salon.com/2012/11/07/ted_nugents_twitter_meltdown/

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  83. Dexter said on November 7, 2012 at 1:15 pm

    I am a devotee of Brian Williams’ TV coverage, and he also made huge mistakes, 1) wrong graphics for a report from Jerry Brown, gov-CA, 2) wrong PARTY !! for the mayor of San Antonio, and many other huge gaffes, so maybe Diane Sawyer was just fatigued to the max? But she surely seemed drunk as seven barrels of owl shit.

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  84. Prospero said on November 7, 2012 at 1:21 pm

    At our house, we’re talking today about going to DC for the inauguration. S. has never been to DC. I say that is a shame at 50 y.o. I haven’t been since Nixon’s and Pigasus’ inhoguration by the Yippees in January, ’69. I was in Grant Park for the pig’s nomination so had to see his investiture.

    Sherri, George Will should first of all STFU about baseball. He is ignorant on the subject as he is on politics. And could Will take the responsibility of pushing Krauthammer’s wheelchair when he leaves?

    Michael Tomasky has an interesting analysis:

    tonight, America told the guy who’s been trying that they appreciate it. And they told the crazy party: you’re crazy.

    from:

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/06/a-thrashing.html

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  85. Prospero said on November 7, 2012 at 1:52 pm

    Anybody know what time today the black and Latino voting results are supposed to come out? How does a Secretary of State that sent out voter information with the correct voting date in English and a two-days late date in Spanish not get arrested or at least run out of office on a rail?

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  86. Mark P said on November 7, 2012 at 1:55 pm

    Jeff (tmmo), I’m not sure there was a pendulum swing after the first debate, because I’m not sure there was ever any pendulum swing at all. I suspect that there may have been a slight blip at most, but I think the pendulum existed mainly in the minds of the punditariat. I saw some figures today about when voters made their minds up, and the vast majority had made up their minds before the first debate. The media persisted in claiming that the election had a razor-thin margin right up to the end, when the best poll aggregators had been showing for a long, long time that Obama had a very high probability of winning the election. The razor-thin margin was necessary to build the required suspense. I also suspect that the media failed to understand that an overwhelming probability of winning did not mean a probability of an overwhelming win.

    This election was also a victory for the numbers guys over the expert pundits, who judge things based on their years of experience of punditry, and their personal knowledge of people in high places who are more important than us mortals. I hope they all pack their bags and go off to punditland where their talents will be more appreciated. But I suspect they will stay right where they are.

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  87. deb said on November 7, 2012 at 2:11 pm

    Did anyone actually watch Fox last night? I was amused and appalled that, after their own network called it for Obama, the on-air “talent” refused to say it was so and Rove was actually calling, on-air, for Fox to rescind that call.

    Rachel Maddow segued into a blistering takedown of the Romney campaign’s refusal to accept observations and facts, even those from unbiased third-party experts—like the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report that unemployment was under 8 percent—that didn’t jibe with what they were selling. It was a tour de force, some of the most powerful extemporaneous commentary I’ve ever seen, but I can’t find the video online. If any of you spot it, please post the link.

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  88. Prospero said on November 7, 2012 at 2:12 pm

    Anybody that is paid for “punditry” but can’t pronounce “pundit” without a superflous “n” before the final “t” should GTFA, for sure.

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  89. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 7, 2012 at 2:25 pm

    Hey, this is probably pretty lowball/entry level, but it’s fulltime here in sunny (he lied again) Newark, Ohio.

    Job Postings with The Newark Advocate

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    Copy Editor

    Newark Advocate Media has an immediate full-time opening for Copy Editor in the Information Center located at The Advocate in Newark.

    The Copy Editor is responsible for editing and preparing fundamental news, sports and feature content for publication on all print and digital platforms. On each shift, this position primarily handles editing and processing of local and wire content for assigned MNCO publication(s) and/or pages to the off-site Design Studio. This includes primary or secondary editing of content, writing of clear and accurate headlines, captions and other associated content. Some posting of digital content and/or coordination with MNCO digital editors will be required. Responsible for proofing assigned pages or publications as design work is completed by the Design Studio while meeting press deadlines. Resulting work is free of typos, grammatical errors and misspelling. This position requires independent decision making and effective communication with MNCO sites, copy desk colleagues and off-site Design Studio personnel.

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    the First Amendment are reflected. Requires proofing all assigned pages, including final approval of pages for release to the production department by press deadlines.

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    Ensures spelling, grammar, syntax and quotes are accurate and correct in stories. Understands and follows AP style. Understands libel and ensures that stories do not contain such material.

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  90. Jolene said on November 7, 2012 at 2:35 pm

    In my mind Jolene’s comment relating the NYT report on Ross, Pike and Scioto counties greatly assuaged the anxiety Jeff’s comment caused.

    Thanks for mentioning this. I had the same heart-stopping reaction to Jeff’s initial post re the early voting results as many others did, so sought a bit more information. What I found was, of course, the explanation that, despite differences in voting rates by Rs and Ds across counties, the differences in population across counties would likely outweigh the differences in voting rates. It’s not a huge deal, Jeff, but I did think you might have acknowledged the additional info. Letting the initial report stand after an obvious and important update contradicting it seemed to be either ignoring me (not so important) or ignoring facts (more important).

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  91. Sherri said on November 7, 2012 at 2:40 pm

    I didn’t play a drinking game with the coverage last night because I no longer drink, but I changed the channel among the broadcast networks every time they started analyzing how the white male vote broke down. My remote control got quite a workout, and I didn’t even watch Fox News. I called it “Where the White Men At” coverage, and my daughter, who was trying to sleep, came down to complain I was being too loud. I’m not anti-white men, I’m even married to one, but I’m tired of elections being all about white men.

    I enjoyed the highlights of the Fox coverage in this link, especially the standup from Ed Henry in Chicago – “There’s almost pandemonium here, despite the fact that there’s still almost 8% unemployment!”: http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/11/fox-news-karl-rove-lose-mind-over-election-results.html

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  92. Sue said on November 7, 2012 at 2:44 pm

    Did anyone else notice that, in spite of being in a tight race, Michele Bachmann got almost no coverage last night? I was going between MSNBC, ABC and the CNN website and didn’t hear her mentioned once.
    It seems an odd disconnect the way the founder and head of the Tea Party caucus disappeared so completely from the coverage.

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  93. Peter said on November 7, 2012 at 2:44 pm

    Sorry I’m coming in late to the party – but I was an election judge yesterday in Chicago, and even with all of the post voting procedures done fast without error – we still didn’t close until 9:30.

    I’d like to know if there are some reasons I don’t know about lines at polling places. The precinct I worked had 85% total turnout, and minus the early voting, we had about 450 people show up to vote. At no time were there more than two people standing in line to vote, and that’s with a judge or two asking for ID when they shouldn’t have. The only reasons I could think are:
    1. Maybe our precincts are smaller than average – the one I work has 650 registered voters.
    2. Maybe I’m lax on certain voting procedures. Our precinct is in a school lunchroom and if the booths are occupied we tell people they can grab a table and either wait for a booth or vote there – most take us up on voting at the table.
    3. Maybe we don’t let the crotchety sort hijack the process – every precinct I worked always had one person like me whose objective was to keep the line moving.

    Well, back to sleep.

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  94. Jolene said on November 7, 2012 at 2:53 pm

    Peter, I was glad to hear Obama say, in regard to lines at polling places, that we need to “fix that.” I have no insights about what needs to be done, but it seems pretty clear that (1) partisan control of election procedures invites abuse and (2) there is no reason why people ought to have to stand in line for hours to vote. I’ll be interested to see what he does about fixing it.

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  95. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 7, 2012 at 3:01 pm

    Jolene, I had no intent to mislead. And I’m still a bit taken aback at the reaction to the info, which I think was consistently misread as actual ballot results instead of total ballots. But I didn’t think Ohio was ever going to be as determinative as folks kept making us out to be, anyhow.

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  96. DellaDash said on November 7, 2012 at 3:02 pm

    Appreciated your comeback (and research) yesterday, Jolene…but more so today…now that I don’t misunderstand the nature of the MMJeff-Bomb

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  97. Scout said on November 7, 2012 at 3:02 pm

    We don’t have cable and our digital doohickey barely picks up any local stations. Not a problem normally since our tube consumption is almost entirely thru Netflix. However, we did want to watch the election coverage and the only station that came through well was our local ABC affiliate.

    Diane Sawyer was slurring her words, at times making very little sense, and occassionally practically laying across the desk. I thought she was gonna end up in Whathisname’s lap a coupla times. George F’ing Will is useless. He was there… why again? And Nicole Wallace is a nasty, spiteful mean girl piece of work. She got more and more toxic as the night went on and once the race was called for the President, she didn’t even bother trying to pretend to be civil any more. Matt Dowd was just an annoying know-it-all. Cokie did OK, I guess. Because we never watch these people on the TV box normally, it was very instructional to us just how the so-called librul media operates.

    The President being re-elected is such a huge relief to all of us who care about what happens to the middle class, women, minorities, glbt citizens, health care and the SCOTUS. Second biggest thrill of the night was the Senate wins, especially Elizabeth Warren. I see in her the same potential I saw in Obama when he burst onto the national scene in 2004. If Hillary doesn’t run, I’d love to see Warren do it.

    I live in AZ and I said last night, that sucking sound you hear is coming from that red splotch wedged in between California and New Mexico. I despair to live in a state more aligned with the banjo contingent than its smarter neighbors. Oh well. I take comfort that my home state (PA) and Pat’s (IL) are blue and if we live long enough maybe some day AZ will be too.

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  98. Sherri said on November 7, 2012 at 3:04 pm

    The biggest surprise of the election to me (maybe only because I wasn’t following it closely) is that California Democrats appear to have gained a supermajority in the legislature. Given the budget problems and the fact that it takes a 2/3 vote to accomplish almost anything in the legislature, this means that California has a chance to start addressing some of its problems. The Republican party has become all but irrelevant in California.

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  99. mark said on November 7, 2012 at 3:06 pm

    Peter-

    I’m guessing that you are perplexed about lines elsewhere because you are using some type of paper ballot, which can be filled out in a less private setting if the voter allows. Most will do so because it is preferable to long waits and still pretty private.

    Where I live, we use machines and have no ready paper ballot alternative. That is increasingly common, I think. The trick, then, is to have and allocate the appropriate number of machines to each precinct. Somebody did a pretty good job at my polling location as we were constantly swamped, but the wait rarely exceeded about 30 minutes.

    Interesting change in the last 4 years- this year we had a large number of voters treating the machines like they were touch screens, even after warnings to the contrary. Lots of voters swearing that the darn thing wouldn’t work, only to discover they were poking away at the screen, not the array of buttons lining both sides of the electronic ballot.

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  100. Jolene said on November 7, 2012 at 3:08 pm

    The ND Senate race was called for Heidi Heitkamp a couple hours ago. So that’s one more woman in the Senate. Congrats to the folks back home for electing their first woman senator.

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  101. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 7, 2012 at 3:09 pm

    We had lines at the outset, a lunch rush, and the pre-end of the day. I wasn’t present at the 7:30 mark, but was told that in fact there was no line when the last few came in at 7:29.

    Granville, with Denison U., and our neighbors to the north a half hour, Gambier w/ Kenyon College, are often problematic because they’ll set up extra in some elections and have no traffic, scale back and then get hammered with many more voters than machines. It seems like it should be easier to predict (off year, presidentials, etc.) when college students will get in with larger numbers, but it isn’t.

    And accusations of trolling aside, I really was surprised to see so few students yesterday traipsing down College Hill to vote. It was a steady stream marching happily four years ago, and an occasional clump of students everytime I passed the south gate and the Drag yesterday. Another reason I found credence in early indicators that Ohio was not going for Obama this time. Four years from now, I know our town has huge pent-up reservoirs of appreciation and willingness to put forth effort for Hillary: she won HUGELY here in the ’08 primaries.

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  102. Mark P said on November 7, 2012 at 3:11 pm

    Oh, I almost forgot. People have been mentioning Hillary Clinton as a natural successor for Obama in 2016, but someone else mentioned another name that was food for thought: Elizabeth Warren. She’s smart and she’s on the right side. I think she can handle domestic policy right now, and she has some time in the Senate to get educated on foreign affairs. It makes me happy to think there are good people in line in the Democratic Party.

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  103. Deborah said on November 7, 2012 at 3:28 pm

    I’d say 2016 is a bit early for a President Warren, if Hilary is willing, but she might not be. But what do I know.

    Jeff you scared me too and I said then that I hoped you were wrong. New Mexico also had a drastic drop in numbers of early voters which gave me pause too.

    I just wonder if the media hypes up controversy making us think the races are much closer than they really are to fatten their own pocketbooks with ads and eyes. It really went pretty quickly last night compared to all the hoopla I’d heard about how it could drag out until December. Do these people really know what they’re talking about?

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  104. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 7, 2012 at 3:36 pm

    In my defense (and my main source of early info thru friends inside the belly of the beast): http://wosu.org/2012/columbusontherecord/how-the-heck-did-mitt-romney-lose-ohio/

    Sorry to have scared anyone other than on Oct. 31, and hey, I almost forgot: grace and peace and healing mercies to our friend Dorothy, and her thumb!

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  105. Icarus said on November 7, 2012 at 3:50 pm

    can we not talk about the 2016 election until at least 2014/2015?

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  106. Mark P said on November 7, 2012 at 4:10 pm

    Deborah, as I said in an earlier comment, the closeness of the election was almost entirely a figment of the punditariat’s imagination, genned up by them so they could say things that made them look all serious and insightful. As we have seen, the numbers did not lie about how the election would probably go. It went as it was predicted to go. If only our weather forecasts were as accurate as the poll aggregators were this time. Of course, it is still a fact that the forecasts were about probabilities, not certainties. If Romney had won the election, it would not have invalidated the predictions, because improbable events sometimes actually occur. But now we know who we should have been listening to, and it is not the pundits.

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  107. Heather said on November 7, 2012 at 4:20 pm

    deb: Regarding Rachel Maddow on Rove’s meltdown, here you go:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leIqigDcYs0

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  108. Scout said on November 7, 2012 at 4:24 pm

    Forgot to mention earlier that I love the title of today’s post, Nancy.

    And I also meant to thank Pilot Joe for his graciousness today. Thank you, PJ!

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  109. Kirk said on November 7, 2012 at 4:26 pm

    Worked until 2:30 this morning heping get the election in the paper, so didn’t see any TV coverage until the post-mortems, which grew redundant by 5, so I finished my beer and went to bed.

    But I just looked at YouTube for some Diane Sawyer and, jeez, she definitely seemed to be impaired.

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  110. Bitter Scribe said on November 7, 2012 at 4:34 pm

    It’s been hard for me to work today because I keep peeking at right-wing websites to see all the exploding heads. Hee hee hee.

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  111. Dave said on November 7, 2012 at 4:49 pm

    Local Fort Wayne radio is unlistenable today, the disgraced former WOWO post is playing “The End”, by The Doors, and reading some e-mail he received from a listener about the USA dying last night, this after it was suggested by a listener that the US started declining in the 1940’s when Roosevelt helped the blacks get the vote, and then so on and so on. Mr. Pat White should be ashamed of himself.

    Meanwhile, the other local host, who Brian Stouder has a name for that I can’t recall, has resurfaced after being mostly off WOWO for several months, talking about how could this happen.

    Down in Cincinnati, WLW’s Bill Cunningham, always bombastic, says he’s quitting radio altogether and will never discuss politics again. Of course, he’s got a syndicated, Jerry Springer-style TV show now and he is nearing 65. I’m guessing this is a more publicity-filled way out.

    I suspect, only on my own, that Hillary’s time has passed and she may have the thought of why would she want to put herself through that at (let’s be honest) her advancing age. Mere speculation on my part.

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  112. Jolene said on November 7, 2012 at 5:15 pm

    I kind of think that about Hillary too, Dave, i.e., that her moment will have passed. She’ll be 69 in 2016. Though she appears vital an energetic and has a favorable genetic history, that’s not a great point to take on a new campaign. Still, I would love to vote for her and, at the moment, see no one I’d rather vote for. Will be interesting to see what she decides to do.

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  113. Sue said on November 7, 2012 at 5:21 pm

    For some reason every time I think of Hillary running, I picture Jeb Bush as her opponent.
    And watching Bill campaign for Hillary would be its own show.

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  114. Mark P said on November 7, 2012 at 5:31 pm

    I hate to say it — and I mean I really hate to say it — but I’m afraid Jolene might be right. And I have to say it even though I’m only a little bit behind her. (That means I’ll never be President. One more possibility missed.)

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  115. deb said on November 7, 2012 at 5:34 pm

    Heather, thanks for the link, but that one stopped short the Maddow rant I was talking about. I think it came shortly after. I’m still looking for it.

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  116. deb said on November 7, 2012 at 5:35 pm

    “stopped short OF…” (What happened to the edit-comments feature, JC?)

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  117. Prospero said on November 7, 2012 at 5:38 pm

    Jeb would be a hilarious opponent for an Dem opponent. This family has fucked over the American electorate by lying and making shit up like no family that ever hit the face of the earth. RMoney said he would double-down on the trickle-down. MAYBE people have seen that is asinine bullshit. And Sue, you have hit on something. Bill loves Hillary and sees unbridled possibilities. Like real universal health care. Mark H. Please explain how the 61% white guys for RMoney don’t represent racism. Wait, doan matter. Lots of us oltimers voting as anti-Nixon kow for a fact that Mittens goes for beach walks with black socks and uncool sandals. This guy was Nixon Agonistes. And nobody needs that shitheel any more.

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  118. Dave said on November 7, 2012 at 5:39 pm

    My first line above, host, not post. I guess jc is never bringing back the edit feature. I almost said our edit feature but it isn’t really ours. If I knew how to italicize ours, I would.

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  119. Prospero said on November 7, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    Dave

    your text. I believe when most of us are trying hard to write intelligibly, the edit function is crucial. I apologize for anything I’ve said that was obnoxious about politics, but the people that oppose my views have been far more obnoxious, which sorta pisses me off. Seriously, does anybody believe it makes sense to let the Bush family kill more American kids? When W just went fracking AWOL from Tejas? How do these shitheads excuse their proclivity fo killing innocents to save their asses? HW bailed out of a plane with two crewmembers, when they may have been saved. I doubt Poppi Bush would have done that if he thought he could help, but W, he’d bail at will and damn the consequences.

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  120. brian stouder said on November 7, 2012 at 5:54 pm

    Well, not for nothing, but I recall when Ronald Reagan folded up his challenge to President Ford in 1976, and they – I seem to think it was Leslie Stahl, who I saw – reported “but he’ll be 69 in 1980, and it looks like his chance has passed”.

    Who the hell knows? But especially now that I’m 51, 69 doesn’t sound old at all!

    Ol’ Pat Miller, who seems sworn to only ever (ever ever) say “Democrat” (as in “Democrat party”, “Democrat candidate”, “Democrat voter”, etc) billed himself as the big round mound of conservative sound…

    At lunchtime I gave Uncle Rush 5 minutes, and in that time I heard him decrying the gender gap, and he said (I kid you not) something like – ‘Obama treats women like vaginas, and they vote for him’.

    At that, I bailed. I think he’s just wanting to create ‘outrage’, and I’m fresh outta’ outrage, right now.

    But I do think that this sort of Palin-esque consumption of seed-corn bodes ill for Uncle Rush. He seems to be like one of those sicko-exhibitionists who thinks anyone actually wants to see what he’s doing there, in his solitary room in his Florida compound.

    And, I’m with Alex. Had to tune out lots of oddball chatter at work today. One guy went on and on (and on) about how this really and truly marks the end of the United States.

    What that guy doesn’t know about the United States only convinced me that, whatever he thinks the United States is, is the really fantastic question

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  121. Prospero said on November 7, 2012 at 6:04 pm

    Sherri, this is a question for you. I think you get sports as much as I do. Michael Wilbon compared Johnny Football to Hersschel pn PtI. Excuse me but he’s fracking nuts. Everybody is keen to take up Jim Kelly’s USFL stats. Hersschels are ridiculous. In fact, if you add Herschel Walker’s WFL stats to his NBA, it’s fairly obvious he was the best football player that ever lived. Herschel don’t care, but if you add the stats from the two leagues. and include some intelligent analysis, Herschel doesn’t just rule all=purpose, He’s also got more rushing yards. What say Sherri. You at least have to admit that was the best player ever misused by coaches. Tjis is something that pisses me off. Herschel is a very good guy. Donald Trump screwed him over.

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  122. Jolene said on November 7, 2012 at 6:15 pm

    Probably to my detriment, I don’t have a great deal of day-to-day contact w/ people who hold conservative views, but I see enough to know that one of the constant themes is the idea of our golden past. This idea just kills me; it is so greatly and so obviously at odds w/ the data. Yes, there were good things about the past; there were a lot of lousy things too, especially if you didn’t happen to a middle-class (or rich) white guy. One of the things that appeals to me most about President Obama is that he refers fairly often, and again last night, to “the work of perfecting our union.” To me, that is the central idea of America–that it was created by its people and can be constantly remade by them. There is no golden past, and there may be no golden future either, but there is always the possibility of making things better–a possibility that can only be fulfilled if people aren’t constantly looking backward.

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  123. DellaDash said on November 7, 2012 at 6:26 pm

    I thought it was the deaths in Benghazi that had Obama subdued and distracted for the first debate…and however hard he took it, Hillary Clinton seems to have taken it 10 times harder. She has my heartfelt support for whatever direction she chooses to follow.

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  124. Deborah said on November 7, 2012 at 6:34 pm

    Speaking of Palin, the photo of her in that sad Fox faces link was creepy. She looks rode hard and put away wet.

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  125. Sherri said on November 7, 2012 at 6:39 pm

    Still another hour until King County reports more results, which should tell us that same sex marriage did pass and likely will settle the governor’s race here, but just because the election is over doesn’t mean my phone has stopped ringing. I’ve received two phone calls from the local Republican party. The first (which I let go to voice mail) warned me there was a problem with my ballot (there’s not, I had already checked over a week ago), and the second, just now, asked me if I supported Rob McKenna, the Republican candidate for governor. When I said no, they were done with me. Maybe they’re stop calling me now!

    Pros, there’s no way Johnny Manziel is as good as Herschel Walker was, but I think Bo Jackson was even better.

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  126. Deborah said on November 7, 2012 at 7:54 pm

    Why Romney lost https://twitpic.com/bazz2e/full

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  127. Jolene said on November 7, 2012 at 8:25 pm

    Great pair of pics, Deborah. Here are a couple more fun election follow-ups.

    A bullet point wrap-up by TNC, worth the click just to see the title.

    A big dose of adorableness, Obama-style.

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  128. Jolene said on November 7, 2012 at 8:27 pm

    And one more: James Fallows on why Obama’s 2012 win is more important and impressive than his election in 2008.

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  129. Sherri said on November 7, 2012 at 9:06 pm

    This article makes me wish I had saved all my Obama emails so I could try to reverse-engineer what they knew about me! http://swampland.time.com/2012/11/07/inside-the-secret-world-of-quants-and-data-crunchers-who-helped-obama-win/

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  130. Prospero said on November 20, 2012 at 10:29 pm

    the deer were way smarter., He generally had to yank they
    Whoa., My old dad thought them fools in them treestands were hilarious. Wholerous stupidud, and likelely to fall out drunk. He saw them dumbshits regular in his mergency room. He generally had to yank they shoulders out when they fell out of they trees. Generally, deer win.

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