For now. Thoughts on red and blue maps, from Lileks.
16 thoughts on “No More JesusLand”
I love seeing all that blue.
Obama won by approximately 7%. That’s a huge number considering recent context.
And I do believe he is committed to competence more than to any particular ideology. You will hopefully see this in his cabinet.
If the GOP wants to come back, the first item on the agenda is to STOP taking instruction or direction from talk radio. Young people in large majorities view Limbaugh, Hannity etc. as a huge joke.
Got to love the stuff that passes for thinking on the left. “Taking instruction or direction from talk radio?” ll, you need to go into stand-up comedy. Tell me, who on “talk radio” thought McCain should be the candidate of the GOP?
Jesusland is so 2004, now it’s the racist belt, because you know those counties are red because Obama is black… nothing else could describe it, because Obama’s view of government are universally accepted. [/sarcasm]
Something I found out on a semi-random surf that might be relevant to the fact that black voters overwhelmingly voted for Obama; the fact that Kentucky took until 1976 to ratify the 13th and 15th Amendments, and Mississippi took until 1995 to ratify the 13th; also that Tennessee took until 1997 (!) to ratify the 15th.
In other words, the official position of Mississippi until 1995 was pro-slavery, and the official position of Tennessee until 1997 was that blacks should not have a vote. And you wonder why blacks in the US don’t vote Republican?
When I found out those little snippets, I was astounded. Not to mention more than a little sickened.
In other words, the official position of Mississippi until 1995 was pro-slavery, and the official position of Tennessee until 1997 was that blacks should not have a vote. And you wonder why blacks in the US don’t vote Republican?
Hate to break it to you, Fletcher, but until recently, the South was solidly Democrat. It was the Republicans that fought the war to free the slaves–the Democrats were opposed. It was the Democrats who fought against the civil rights measures in the 1950s and 1960s. Bull Connor and George Wallace were Democrats. Every Senator who filibustered against the bills was a Democrat. The bills wouldn’t have passed without the Republican support for them.
It seems you’re as ignorant of American history as you are about much else about this country.
The alternative interpretation of this data is that the Jesuslanders finally realized that they had no home or candidate in the Republican party and just sat it out except in the hard core areas. I didn’t sit out, but I did vote my conscience for the Constitution Party.
My biggest regret is seeing no viable support for a third party, so unless there is a real move to small government conservatism in the GOP, I may not even vote in a national election next time. Besides, the trend is your friend, and this trend is clearly towards more government, not less. I may as well spend my time and resources preparing to ride it out until it burns out. Instead of trying to deflect the hurricane of socialism, I’ll just buy supplies, board up the house and hunker down till it passes..
Yes, Rand, but who is the champion of the blacks NOW, or at least seen as such if only because he is black?
…who is the champion of the blacks NOW, or at least seen as such if only because he is black?
It’s only perceived as such. In reality, the Democrats (and Barack Obama) want to keep the blacks on the welfare plantation.
Hmmmm.
@ II
“Obama won by approximately 7%. That’s a huge number considering recent context. “
Are you on -crack cocaine-!?
1. Obama had the near complete monopoly on the media.
2. Obama had the media of the entire -world- pushing his greatness.
3. Obama spent $600 million dollars and out spent his rival by a huge margin.
4. Obama had a huge edge because his being black attracted many voters who wanted to participate in this “historic” event.
5. McCain ran a completely idiotic campaign.
6. McCain took public financing, his pet issue of campaign finance reform, which bit him on the ass.
7. McCain made huge mistakes during the campaign.
8. McCain was despised by the conservative base and the inclusion of Palin was the -only- thing that remotely saved his ass.
9. Many conservatives actually voted for -Palin-, not McCain. McCain was on the ticket, but wasn’t the draw.
10. McCain, being -McCain-, had truly monumentally idiotic positions where he was in favor of drilling, but not in ANWR. A great many contradictory positions and/or positions little different from Obama.
In short Obama should have won by a much much larger margin.
That Obama did not win by such a margin points to the elemental political weakness that Obama has. As exemplified by his moronic attack on Nancy Reagan on his “historic” and “first press conference”.
Of all the things to do on your first presser attacking the widow of late President that you asserted you admired, is pretty damn stupid. Particularly when said late President is an icon of your opposing party.
Orville: thanks to you and other third party voters for helping Obama into office.
Symbolic gestures have real-world consequences, people. You’re about to find out, since a walking, talking Symbolic Gesture has been voted into office. But that’s okay — now Al-Jazeera will write nice articles about the president of the US.
Hmmmm.
@ Andrea Harris
“Orville: thanks to you and other third party voters for helping Obama into office. “
You’re extremely welcome.
Because in a choice between black Obama and white (McCain) Obama I chose to stay home.
Next time the Republican party decides a liberal Republican is the way to go, I’ll stay home then too.
I vote -conservative-. Either put up conservatives or stop wasting my time.
I have to agree with Memo and Orville. Particularly memo’s point about voting for Palin. As I said quite some time ago, I would not support McCain, and I didn’t. I argued quite a bit on Rand’s blog against Obama, but not in support for McCain. I would argue in support of Palin, and will do so.
I wanted Thompson, but once that was lost, I might have supported a Vice Thompson or maybe a Jindal, besides Palin. Otherwise, I would have let McCain twist in the wind as I went on down to the rest of the ticket.
One vote I gave that I really hated doing was voting for Cornyn. If Democrats hadn’t bragged about a 60 strong majority in the Senate, I would have left Cornyn with one less vote.
I voted for the McCain/Palin ticket for two reasons:
1. Sarah Palin
2. Barack Obama
Mark Levin said almost exactly the same thing the other night.
To put it another way:
I ended up volunteering for the McCain/Palin campaign; something I had never done before. McCain had nothing to do with it. My main motivation was fear of an Obama victory. I was determined to do everything in my power to avoid that outcome.
One night, another volunteer said, “There’s never been a candidate I wanted to see lose more than Obama.”
I replied, “I agree, and at the same time, there’s never been a candidate I wanted to see win more than Palin.”
Hmmm.
1. McCain had already stated that he was going to be President for one term. Considering McCain’s -current- lack of support for Palin there is absolutely nothing that convinces me that he wouldn’t have marginalized her had he won.
McCain is opposed to conservatives. This is what McCain is. This is what McCain does. McCain assigned members of his staff to handle Palin but they made mistakes doing so. Yet the mistakes made weren’t minor or easily overlooked. These are incredible mistakes that could not be anything other than intentional.
If you voted for McCain/Palin then, IMO, you would have gotten McCain and zero Palin. There are no established duties for a VP in the executive branch so it would have been very easy for McCain to sideline Palin and then ignore her -or- set her up to fail.
2. I do -not- trust Thompson.
Fred Thompson entered the primaries at the precise moment when the conservatives were shaking themselves out and beginning to select a conservative candidate. A selection that would have doomed McCain completely.
Instead Fred Thompson, a friend of McCain’s, entered the race in a desultory manner and sucked up all of the attention, money and oxygen away from every other conservative candidate. And then proceeded to run his campaign in such a way that McCain could not possibly loose.
Fred Thompson was a stalking horse for McCain during the primaries because of their friendship and McCain’s age. I believe this because it is the most logical answer to the situation as it had developed.
IMO until and unless Thompson can answer these points I frankly will oppose any attempt on his part for any future candidacy.
IMO until and unless Thompson can answer these points I frankly will oppose any attempt on his part for any future candidacy.
memo, suppose this was deliberate. Can you imagine a better outcome than the current one? It’ll be some conservative like Romney or maybe Huckabee. And they’d lose by margins that would be much more than 7%. Bush poisoned the conservative cause for this election and I don’t think any true conservative had a prayer of beating Obama. At least, McCain had a chance of beating Obama.
I love seeing all that blue.
Obama won by approximately 7%. That’s a huge number considering recent context.
And I do believe he is committed to competence more than to any particular ideology. You will hopefully see this in his cabinet.
If the GOP wants to come back, the first item on the agenda is to STOP taking instruction or direction from talk radio. Young people in large majorities view Limbaugh, Hannity etc. as a huge joke.
Got to love the stuff that passes for thinking on the left. “Taking instruction or direction from talk radio?” ll, you need to go into stand-up comedy. Tell me, who on “talk radio” thought McCain should be the candidate of the GOP?
Jesusland is so 2004, now it’s the racist belt, because you know those counties are red because Obama is black… nothing else could describe it, because Obama’s view of government are universally accepted. [/sarcasm]
Something I found out on a semi-random surf that might be relevant to the fact that black voters overwhelmingly voted for Obama; the fact that Kentucky took until 1976 to ratify the 13th and 15th Amendments, and Mississippi took until 1995 to ratify the 13th; also that Tennessee took until 1997 (!) to ratify the 15th.
In other words, the official position of Mississippi until 1995 was pro-slavery, and the official position of Tennessee until 1997 was that blacks should not have a vote. And you wonder why blacks in the US don’t vote Republican?
When I found out those little snippets, I was astounded. Not to mention more than a little sickened.
In other words, the official position of Mississippi until 1995 was pro-slavery, and the official position of Tennessee until 1997 was that blacks should not have a vote. And you wonder why blacks in the US don’t vote Republican?
Hate to break it to you, Fletcher, but until recently, the South was solidly Democrat. It was the Republicans that fought the war to free the slaves–the Democrats were opposed. It was the Democrats who fought against the civil rights measures in the 1950s and 1960s. Bull Connor and George Wallace were Democrats. Every Senator who filibustered against the bills was a Democrat. The bills wouldn’t have passed without the Republican support for them.
It seems you’re as ignorant of American history as you are about much else about this country.
The alternative interpretation of this data is that the Jesuslanders finally realized that they had no home or candidate in the Republican party and just sat it out except in the hard core areas. I didn’t sit out, but I did vote my conscience for the Constitution Party.
My biggest regret is seeing no viable support for a third party, so unless there is a real move to small government conservatism in the GOP, I may not even vote in a national election next time. Besides, the trend is your friend, and this trend is clearly towards more government, not less. I may as well spend my time and resources preparing to ride it out until it burns out. Instead of trying to deflect the hurricane of socialism, I’ll just buy supplies, board up the house and hunker down till it passes..
Yes, Rand, but who is the champion of the blacks NOW, or at least seen as such if only because he is black?
…who is the champion of the blacks NOW, or at least seen as such if only because he is black?
It’s only perceived as such. In reality, the Democrats (and Barack Obama) want to keep the blacks on the welfare plantation.
Hmmmm.
@ II
“Obama won by approximately 7%. That’s a huge number considering recent context. “
Are you on -crack cocaine-!?
1. Obama had the near complete monopoly on the media.
2. Obama had the media of the entire -world- pushing his greatness.
3. Obama spent $600 million dollars and out spent his rival by a huge margin.
4. Obama had a huge edge because his being black attracted many voters who wanted to participate in this “historic” event.
5. McCain ran a completely idiotic campaign.
6. McCain took public financing, his pet issue of campaign finance reform, which bit him on the ass.
7. McCain made huge mistakes during the campaign.
8. McCain was despised by the conservative base and the inclusion of Palin was the -only- thing that remotely saved his ass.
9. Many conservatives actually voted for -Palin-, not McCain. McCain was on the ticket, but wasn’t the draw.
10. McCain, being -McCain-, had truly monumentally idiotic positions where he was in favor of drilling, but not in ANWR. A great many contradictory positions and/or positions little different from Obama.
In short Obama should have won by a much much larger margin.
That Obama did not win by such a margin points to the elemental political weakness that Obama has. As exemplified by his moronic attack on Nancy Reagan on his “historic” and “first press conference”.
Of all the things to do on your first presser attacking the widow of late President that you asserted you admired, is pretty damn stupid. Particularly when said late President is an icon of your opposing party.
Orville: thanks to you and other third party voters for helping Obama into office.
Symbolic gestures have real-world consequences, people. You’re about to find out, since a walking, talking Symbolic Gesture has been voted into office. But that’s okay — now Al-Jazeera will write nice articles about the president of the US.
Hmmmm.
@ Andrea Harris
“Orville: thanks to you and other third party voters for helping Obama into office. “
You’re extremely welcome.
Because in a choice between black Obama and white (McCain) Obama I chose to stay home.
Next time the Republican party decides a liberal Republican is the way to go, I’ll stay home then too.
I vote -conservative-. Either put up conservatives or stop wasting my time.
I have to agree with Memo and Orville. Particularly memo’s point about voting for Palin. As I said quite some time ago, I would not support McCain, and I didn’t. I argued quite a bit on Rand’s blog against Obama, but not in support for McCain. I would argue in support of Palin, and will do so.
I wanted Thompson, but once that was lost, I might have supported a Vice Thompson or maybe a Jindal, besides Palin. Otherwise, I would have let McCain twist in the wind as I went on down to the rest of the ticket.
One vote I gave that I really hated doing was voting for Cornyn. If Democrats hadn’t bragged about a 60 strong majority in the Senate, I would have left Cornyn with one less vote.
I voted for the McCain/Palin ticket for two reasons:
1. Sarah Palin
2. Barack Obama
Mark Levin said almost exactly the same thing the other night.
To put it another way:
I ended up volunteering for the McCain/Palin campaign; something I had never done before. McCain had nothing to do with it. My main motivation was fear of an Obama victory. I was determined to do everything in my power to avoid that outcome.
One night, another volunteer said, “There’s never been a candidate I wanted to see lose more than Obama.”
I replied, “I agree, and at the same time, there’s never been a candidate I wanted to see win more than Palin.”
Hmmm.
1. McCain had already stated that he was going to be President for one term. Considering McCain’s -current- lack of support for Palin there is absolutely nothing that convinces me that he wouldn’t have marginalized her had he won.
McCain is opposed to conservatives. This is what McCain is. This is what McCain does. McCain assigned members of his staff to handle Palin but they made mistakes doing so. Yet the mistakes made weren’t minor or easily overlooked. These are incredible mistakes that could not be anything other than intentional.
If you voted for McCain/Palin then, IMO, you would have gotten McCain and zero Palin. There are no established duties for a VP in the executive branch so it would have been very easy for McCain to sideline Palin and then ignore her -or- set her up to fail.
2. I do -not- trust Thompson.
Fred Thompson entered the primaries at the precise moment when the conservatives were shaking themselves out and beginning to select a conservative candidate. A selection that would have doomed McCain completely.
Instead Fred Thompson, a friend of McCain’s, entered the race in a desultory manner and sucked up all of the attention, money and oxygen away from every other conservative candidate. And then proceeded to run his campaign in such a way that McCain could not possibly loose.
Fred Thompson was a stalking horse for McCain during the primaries because of their friendship and McCain’s age. I believe this because it is the most logical answer to the situation as it had developed.
IMO until and unless Thompson can answer these points I frankly will oppose any attempt on his part for any future candidacy.
IMO until and unless Thompson can answer these points I frankly will oppose any attempt on his part for any future candidacy.
memo, suppose this was deliberate. Can you imagine a better outcome than the current one? It’ll be some conservative like Romney or maybe Huckabee. And they’d lose by margins that would be much more than 7%. Bush poisoned the conservative cause for this election and I don’t think any true conservative had a prayer of beating Obama. At least, McCain had a chance of beating Obama.