Mitt Romney's Transition Team Website!

After Al Gore won the popular vote, but lost the Electoral College in 2000, there has been a cottage industry of alternate reality fiction, wherein Gore became president. Think of the potential storylines there. What would have happened differently? Would 9/11 have happened? Would he have gotten two terms? Where would that have left Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama? Would we still have a war on terror, and a Great Recession? Yeah, well, I'm guessing there will not be a lot of Mitt Romney alternate reality fiction.  There is however, an alternate reality transition team! And an alternate reality motto! It's all very pretty, and official looking. And it makes me think that Romney really, really thought he was going to win.

[Excerpt]

Mitt Romney Transition Website Draft Uncovered

Mitt Romney really was all ready to go if he'd won the election on Tuesday.  For a while on Wednesday, a draft version of his transition website was visible to the public on a server belonging to the company that designed it, a Utah software shop called SolutionStream. The site, located at romney.solutionstreamcreative.com, was titled: "Mitt Romney Elected the 45th President of The United States of America. . ."

Read more at: Huffington Post

Losing His Election (Rocky Mountain Mike Song Parody)

One more Mitt Romney skewering song parody from everyone's favorite songsmith, Rocky Mountain Mike! This time to the REM tune, Losing My Religion. No more Mitt to kick around. It's so sad. No wait, it's not. . .

Greenlee Gazette Predicted Election Perfectly!

On the day before Tuesday's election, I put up an election prediction. More precisely, I put up two: 1) a happy-clappy, wished for best case scenario, and 2) a second--what I deemed "more realistic" one. Turns out that America is just as happy clappy as I am! With the Mitt Romney concession of Florida today, it turns out I was exactly correct. I even beat Nate Silver! And the right-wing media? Trashed 'em all. You heard it here!

My prediction from before the election:

Rush Limbaugh Lied to His Listeners About Election

Every sentient human who has ever listened to Rush Limbaugh knows that he is a dishonest man. You know it every time he says "Democrat Party." Rush says it like that--without the "ic" in "Democratic"--not because he doesn't know the proper wording. He says it because he knows it plays well with his audience. A small, but constant lie. But Rush tells much larger lies. And they are lies. Unlike a Sean Hannity, who I'm convinced is a dolt, and that he might actually believe what Mark Levin gives him to say, Rush knows better. He's a political showman. And he's an expert at knowing just how to play his audience, and what blend of truth, fiction, scare tactics, humor and warm fuzzies to feed his audience.

Occasionally, Rush will come right out and tell you he's lying. But even when he's lying, it's layered. He lies to cover a lie, and the contradiction reveals the lie. You follow me? Okay, to have it layed out for you (are you from Rio Linda?), watch this. You may start to see how Rush plays his audience

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FOX "News" and the Election: Jon Stewart Returns to Bullshit Mountain

Poor, poor FOX "News," and all of their FOX-Fans. The bubble ruptured Tuesday night, and reality leaked in. Of course, no one could encapsulate it as well as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Fun Republican Freak Outs, Take 2: Donald Trump

Donald Trump belongs to a group of media whores (others include Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter) who exist to spark controversy, in order to get on the teevee machine to talk about said controversy. So, it is always an internal battle when I say something on the blog about any of them. If we could all agree to ignore them, they would just go away. But, sometimes, The stupid! It burns!

I watched The Donald™ finally lose whatever grasp of reality he was tenuously holding onto, live on my Twitter feed. To wit:

After this, Trump should fade into oblivion. His desperate pleas for attention have gotten stupider, and more brazenly crazed. The man has always been something of a freak show, but there is nothing left worth the attention he gets. I will stand by my policy of only reporting on this jackass if it is to make fun of him, and to skewer that ridiculous rodent on his head.

 

Fun Republican Freak-outs, Take 1: Victoria Jackson

I watched my Twitter feed as much as I could on election night, without being rude to my guests. But I did find that when I'd read something like that pictured here, my guests weren't as amused as I was. I guess I'm just a fan of schadenfreude.

Buck up, cupcake. Without Obama to rag on, you'd have no career, instead of . . . what is it you do again these days?

Newt Gingrich Admits He's Wrong

This is not something you see every day. And more than that, he calls all the rest of the right-wing prognosticators out too. Good for Newt. He's still a pig, but, you know. . .

Rachel Maddow: It's Time to Pop the Conservative Bubble

Fans of Rachel Maddow know that one of her biggest strengths is in her narrative-driven, educational storytelling. She manages to get several points across in a fact-rich, easy to understand way. She's Glenn Beck without the crazy, or the tears or the. . .well, everything else.

But the drawback in Rachel's style is in sharing her nuggets of wisdom. The clip below is more than 16 minutes long! So, while the whole thing is good--great in fact--you should know that at just about 9 minutes in, there's a terrific composite of FOX "News" and their disbelief at the election results. At just over 12 minutes, there is a must-see deconstruction of the conservative bubble, how it led to to utter shock when Mitt Romney lost, and how the bubble needs to be popped in order for America to properly function as a democracy.

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I have an alternate plan. I'm hoping that when conservatives get past shock, anger, denial, bargaining and acceptance, that they take their tea party into an official Tea Party Party. I want their purity test into a viable Tea Party candidate. I want the bubble to be moved around that party, and for the Republicans to soldier on with the reasonable, non-crazy Republicans. This way, everybody's happy, we no longer have a two-party system. . .and Democrats win for at least the next several cycles. 

President Barack Obama Wins Re-Election, Democrats Victorious

I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say about the 2012 election tomorrow, and in the days to come. For now, as I write this, it is nearly midnight Pacific time. Which is pretty early, when you consider everyone thought this race was so close and would go well into the night, if not for days or weeks. Nope. Before 8:30 pm, we knew that President Obama had won re-election. Of course, the Mitt Romney campaign clung to hope, and refused to concede Ohio for a while, but in the end it didn't matter. . .for all the huff and puff of how important Ohio was? Even though he won it, Obama didn't need it to win. [Story continues below]


Almost across the board, Tuesday night was a happy night for Democrats. We retained the Presidency. We retained (and picked up seats in) the Senate. We reduced the majority in the House. We got Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth and Tammy Baldwin into Congress. Alan Grayson returns to the House of Representatives, and Sherrod Brown defeated that twerp Josh Mandel.

On top of this, there were four marriage equality battles across the country, and we won--get this--all four of them!* This is a victory of unprecedented scale. In 32 previous battles, we lost them all. Obviously and clearly, the tide has turned. Momentum is seriously on our side. And hey, Tammy Baldwin is now the first openly gay Senator! A fantastic, dare I say fabulous night for gay Americans.

There were many other victories for Democrats, eclipsing to the point of irrelevancy most Republican scores. They won no unexpected states. They have at least three candidates clinging to the hope of victory (still undecided at this writing), Michele Bachmann, Allen West and Dean Heller, but in sight of a loss. I'll cross my fingers on those.

Much more to say, obviously, but I think this is it for me until Wednesday evening. Thank you, America! I was just as nervous as last year, but it turns out that I'll continue trusting former superhero, current demigod, Nate Silver.


*One caveat: at the time of this writing, Washington was on the road to victory in the marriage equality fight, but it wasn't yet officially decided. Just FYI.

2012 Election Results...

Obama and Romney Tied in First Vote

Well, that was helpful! Thanks, Dixville Notch!

[Excerpt]

A tie for Obama and Romney in nation's first results



The first presidential election results are in - and it's a tie.
President Barack Obama and his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, each received five votes in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire.

The town in the state's northeast corner has opened its polls shortly after midnight each election day since 1960 - but today's tie was the first in its history. . .

Read more at: CNN

Greenlee Gazette's Election Predictions

I'm am not a soothsayer, though I've had a psychic moment or two in my life (said as an atheist, so take that for what it's worth). But I'm a student of politics, and have been following it very closely over these last several years, and I can play a hunch. I live in Las Vegas after all. So here is my gut feeling for how this election is going to go down. First, my hopeful, happy-clappy feeling:

Click to embiggen. Map Made at Huffington Post.

In that scenario, Obama wins 8 of 9 swing states, which is possibly a bit far-fetched, but not impossible. I don't fully expect this, but I'd like to see it. I suspect it's possible that Obama will lose Florida in a squeaker (or worse), possibly New Hampshire, maybe Colorado? In a worst-case scenario (barring losing the whole shebang, this is how I'd call it:

Click to embiggen. Map made at Huffington Post.

That's probably more realistic, but I'd take anything between these two scenarios. I've got a fierce wiggins grabbing me about shenanigans in Ohio, which is not crucial to Obama (though it is for Romney), but is important. I'm pretty sure Nevada, New Mexico, Iowa, and Wisconsin are all good.  Of course, I could be a victim of wishful thinking. Hoping not.

As for the rest of the elections, I'm just hoping for the best. The fact that America is likely going to retain a majority-Republican House of Representatives makes zero sense logically. The obstructionist, tea bagging, batshit crazy members of the Congress are so unpalatable, their likely wins cast a pall upon the intelligence of the voting public. I'll be heartened if some of the nuttier ones like Michele Bachmann and Joe Walsh lose their seats. I'll be very happy if Senator Scott Brown loses to Elizabeth Warren.  I'll be thrilled to see Paul Ryan lose both the Vice Presidency and his House seat.

My gut tells me Obama's going to win. My inner milquetoast Democrat is worried, all the same. I think we're going to keep a Democratic Senate (with a slight bump up or down, either way), and still be miles away from winning the House, which will remain obstructionist and looney-tunes. As I said, I'm an atheist, so I don't pray, or really believe in "luck" or "kismet" or "fate." But I'm hoping with all of my crossable parts crossed!

This Guy Will Lie to You (Rocky Mountain Mike Song Parody)

One more great Rocky Mountain Mike song parody has gone unreported on the blog, and I thought I'd better get it up in time for election day. Because it serves as a warning about Mitt Romney: This Guy Will Lie To You, to the tune of This Guy's In Love With You by Herb Alpert. Thanks, Mike!

Skeeterstock (Rocky Mountain Mike)

You've met Skeeter, your typical American tea-bagger with Obama Derangement Syndrome. Well, Skeeter's political action committee, SkeeterPAC is having one last pre-election blowout!

(And yes, I found that I'd missed several more Rocky Mountain Mike parodies, and there is limited time to get them up before the election!)

Don't Have to Vote for That Mitt Romney (Rocky Mountain Mike Song Parody)

Thank you, Rocky Mountain Mike, for making this very, very long campaign a little more enjoyable! Here's hoping you're short of material for a while!

This one is to the tune of Refugee by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Ohio Republican Senate Candidate's In-Laws Take Out Ad Against Him!

Ping! Ping! Ping! Image from source.

My brother is going to be tickled by this one. Of all the races beyond the presidential one, the Sherrod Brown/Josh Mendel fight is what gets to my brother. Brown is very popular with liberals, and has honestly seemed to care for his constituency. Mandel--by all accounts I've heard--(and I'm from Ohio) is a twerpy weasel. Apparently some in his family think so too. And I find it particularly ironic that a guy who blows up my gaydar is openly, brazenly homophobic. Ah, irony.

[Excerpt]

Josh Mandel's In-Laws Call Him Out on Anti-Gay Stance in Newspaper Ad

What does it say about the character of a candidate when he can't even garner the support of his own relatives? This is a question that many Ohioans should be left to ponder, as it has been revealed that Mandel's own family does not support his anti-gay views. In an advertisement taken out in the Cleveland Jewish News, Mandel's wife's cousins published an open letter in which they publicly lambasted him for his stance on same-sex marriages, gays and lesbians serving in the military, and general anti-inclusive beliefs. . .

Read more at: The Cleveland Leader

President Bartlett Stumps for President Obama

As a huge fan of both The West Wing and Martin Sheen, I was happy to see this.

Nate Silver's Election Eve 538 Forecast

OMG!!! 

What would cause me to use a 12-year-old's exclamation? Nate Silver, the wunderkind statistician--so good at what he does the New York Times absorbed his FiveThirtyEight.com--has revised his election eve figures. And the news is awesome if you're a Barack Obama supporter. Nate's figures have been an oasis in a desert of bad news during the post-Denver debate, and a continuing boost of confidence during what has been relentlessly called a very tight race. Take a look:

Pretty sweet, right? I mean, that doesn't exactly look like a squeaker, does it? In fact, it makes me feel much, much better. So much, that I might be able to sleep tonight.

Now, I'm not going to get over-confident, and declare that this sucker is over. I mean there are several things to note:

- Even Nate Silver says an 8.6% chance that Romney wins is still a chance. It isn't impossible.

- Nate himself could have gotten overconfident, or forgotten to carry a 2 somewhere.

- Voter suppression efforts in Ohio, Florida and elsewhere could have caused erosion in the vote that doesn't show up in the polls.

- This kind of prediction--if taken too much to heart--could discourage people from bothering to vote. So VOTE!

Source: FiveThirtyEight.com

Ridiculously Long Voting Lines in Ohio and Florida Engineered?

Answer me this, my Republican friends. When you see images of and hear stories about 3, 4, 5, up to 8-hour waits to vote in Florida and Ohio, what is your reaction? Is it just liberal whining that we find this ridiculous, embarrassing, just shy of criminal? How about the fact that much of it is taking place in heavily Democratic counties? How about the concerted efforts of some Republicans--like Florida Governor Rick Scott and Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted--to make voting as difficult as possible, challenging the courts, in some cases. I'm serious, Republicans, does rigging the game seem American to you? Is winning by any means acceptable, as long as your guy wins?

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