A Beautiful Day

found online by Raymond

 

     [Using Taegan Goddard’s blank interactive electoral map]

From Dave Dubya:

Let’s celebrate our limited victory, but be clear in this perspective.

We need to understand the Right will never stop their voter suppression. They will never surrender in their war on democracy. Fascism is always lurking in the resentments and anger of white nationalism. Corporate interests will always try to dominate our government. Hatred and division will always be stoked by Republicans and the far Right. As long as the Senate is controlled by Republicans we will have nothing close to a representative republic.

“Consent of the governed” is in the Declaration of Independence. The founders blew it with their compromise with slave states that produced the electoral college.

– More –
 

60 Years and No Class Ago –
Compared to Today

I was barely old enough to be dimly aware that Presidents are elected and that there is a difference between a democracy and a democratic republic. But I was old enough to be entranced by the candidate.

As the years since have become decades, and decades have become measurable as generations, John F. Kennedy has remained a sort of standard, for me, by which others are to be measured.

Democrat John Kennedy and Republican Richard Nixon were not antagonists in the couple of years during which they were both in Congress. Some accounts had them as friends who enjoyed each other’s company. Nixon was elected Senator from California in 1950 after an extraordinarily vicious campaign against incumbent Helen Gahagan Douglas. If Douglas was not a communist, the Nixon campaign held, she was at least a fellow traveler. “Pink right down to her underwear” became part of that year’s ugly narrative.

In private, Kennedy defended Nixon when most observers held the new Senator in distain for his dirty tactics. The friendship continued through most of the 1950s as Richard Nixon became Eisenhower’s Vice President and John F. Kennedy was elected the junior Senator from Massachusetts.

Somewhere along the line things soured. It may have been in 1960 as both won party nominations for President and campaigned against each other.

A steady pattern of small incidents seemed to demonstrate a lack of Nixon class. The candidates held the first televised debates in American history. They talked with each other casually as television preparations occurred around them. Kennedy noticed that, at odd moments, Nixon’s demeanor would suddenly change for a few seconds. He would scowl and point his finger at Kennedy’s face while talking about some personal triviality. The pattern became clear. It happened whenever Nixon noticed some photographer about to snap a picture. He wanted to look tougher than his opponent.
Continue reading “60 Years and No Class Ago –
Compared to Today”

Poll Workers Count, DisElect College, Misinfo, Lotsa Luck Biden, Bye Bond

     [Shamelessly stolen from Earth-Bound Misfit]
     

  • In Scotties Toy Box, poll workers sign up as a part of good citizenship. They work to help voters and find themselves targets of abuse that sometimes goes to physical assault. Thank you Mr. Trump.
     
  • In Letters from an American, Heather Cox Richardson advises patience. Careful counting of ballots may seem slow, and it is. But, as she reminds us, that care is a good thing. She notes the turmoil, much of it generated by Trump camp angst. At the center, election workers calmly keep on totaling.
     
  • At The Moderate Voice, Kate Starbird reads social media for falsehoods and warns of the five most common types of misinformation.
     
  • Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger notes an alarming election trend.
     
  • Max’s Dad thinks about the number of people who would vote for a child caging, fascist, sexist, homophobic white supremacist, considers one or two horrible new representatives, celebrates a prospective Biden victory, and wishes the new President luck in cleaning up the mess.
     
  • Libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara holds that critics of the electoral college fail to understand America. Well that settles it, right?
     
    I respectfully disagree. (sort of respectfully)
     
  • On January 20, 2009, minutes after Barack Obama became President Obama, Mitch McConnell met with Republican Senators and conservative lobbyists to plan the following four years. At the center was a firm resolution to fight against any and every proposal the new President might make, no matter how valid, how necessary for the protection of the nation. The Senate filibuster as it then existed would enable their obstruction. Their only objective would be to prevent a second Obama term.
     
    Twelve years later, there are a couple of outstanding Senate runoffs in Georgia. But it looks like an extreme longshot to take the Senate back from McConnell’s current Republican majority. So here we go again. Infidel753 comes up with a simple, elegant idea on how incoming President Joe Biden can frustrate this term’s McConnell obstruction. AND he can show great bi-partisan reconciliation while doing it. Presumably he can smile while sprinkling peace and friendliness along every flowery step.
     
  • Lie, lie, lie!! At The Onion, both-sides-do-it media condemns Biden for his false claim that, as the election counting concludes, the nation will come together.

Continue reading “Poll Workers Count, DisElect College, Misinfo, Lotsa Luck Biden, Bye Bond”

Good Advice for Mr. Trump

found on Twitter by Burr

 
At some point today, an honorable President would do this:
 

Transcript:

I think what the president needs to do is, frankly, put his big boy pants on. He needs to acknowledge the fact that he lost.

And he needs to congratulate the winner, just as Jimmy Carter did, just as George H. W. Bush did, and frankly just as Al Gore did. And stop this and let us move forward as a country.

And that’s my feeling. I doubt he’ll listen to me but that’s it.

How to Say Our Chances are Not So Bad

found on Twitter by Burr

 
Biden is now ahead in Georgia
 
With a few thousand mail-in ballots left to count:
Mail in ballots so far having gone overwhelming for Biden.
 

Trump Claims Ownership of Four Critical States

found online by Burr

 
Note from Burr:
This comment was clearly accurate by yesterday afternoon

From Cato’s Julian Sanchez:

 

Sarah Cooper Knows How to Election Night

My Best Guess – as of 8:26 AM 11/4

For what it’s worth

Filling in Taegan Goddard’s blank interactive electoral map at Political Wire (Click to try it yourself)

Biggest surprise for me last night – Trump strength in early count
Biggest surprise for me this morning – Georgia leaning to Biden

Based on news reports, absentee votes still being counted, and news projections that look reliable:

My Best Guess – Wed 11/4/2020 as of 8:26 AM Central     [Using Taegan Goddard’s blank interactive electoral map]

 
Update: As of 11/5 – 8:45 Central
Everything looks accurate except for one electoral vote in Maine
(Damn! Now Biden is down to 306)