Patterico's Pontifications

11/5/2010

Quote of the Day: Get Your Christie Fix Right Here!

Filed under: General — Aaron Worthing @ 2:29 pm



[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; send your tips here.]

I won’t pretend I know enough about Chris Christie to say I would want him to be president, but there are times when I really like the cut of his jib.  Here he is trying to tell reporters he is definitely not running for president in 2012:

“Short of suicide, I don’t really know what I’d have to do to convince you people that I’m not running. I’m not running!” Christie told reporters in Trenton, the state capital….

“I’ve said I don’t want to. I’m not going to. There is zero chance I will. I don’t feel like I’m ready to be president. I don’t want to run for president. I don’t have the fire in the belly to run for president. But, yet, everyone seems to think that I’ve left the door open a little bit,” he said Thursday in exasperation.

So he is running, isn’t he?  (kidding)

It is actually a little reminiscent of when Obama said he was not ready to be president in 2004.  Apparently a lot changed in two years when he did start to run for president.  Oh, wait, nothing changed, except Obama’s willingness to accept his own limitations.

All of this comes via Cubachi, who also informs us that Christie will be in a Fox News special about people that pundits think might be running for president.  Another post also makes the case, convincingly, that Sarah Palin’s reality show is all about setting her up to be a presidential contender.  Ugh, a reality show to make you president?  The whole thing puts a bad taste in my mouth.  But, hey, it does give us this pic of Palin at her cheerful frontierswoman best:

Meanwhile in other “are they running or not” news, Cnn just sent me a breaking email: “Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will run for minority leader after GOP takes control of the House.”

All I can say to Democrats is “Yes!  Please make her the botoxed face of your party!”

[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]

Sockpuppet Friday! The Electoral Schadenfreude Edition (Update: Now With Olbermann Schadenfreude!)

Filed under: General — Aaron Worthing @ 9:27 am



[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here.]

As usual, you are positively encouraged to engage in sock puppetry in this thread.  The usual rules apply.

Please, be sure to switch back to your regular handle when commenting on other threads.  I have made that mistake myself, alot.

And let me suggest this time, imitate a politician you particularly despised who lost and get your schadenfreude on!  Or maybe imitate someone you liked but lost, and have fun with that.  Update: Or you could just make fun of Olbermann for being suspended. Or do whatever the heck you want, I don’t care.

And remember: the worst sin you can commit on this thread is not being funny.

[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]

Olbermann Contributed to Democrat on the Same Day He Appeared on his Show (Update: Suspended! and More Updates)

Filed under: General — Aaron Worthing @ 8:37 am



[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; send your tips here.]

Update: Olbermann has been suspended indefinitely without pay!  Details here!

The blogs are jumping at the news that Keith Olbermann donated to three different Democrats:

MSNBC host Keith Olbermann made campaign contributions to two Arizona members of Congress and failed Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway ahead of Tuesday’s election — a potential violation of NBC ethics policies.

The policies discourage such donations and say they must be done ahead of time.  We can only guess if he told them he planned to do that.  But to me the most troubling aspect is revealed in this paragraph:

Olbermann, who acknowledged the contributions in a statement to POLITICO, made the maximum legal donations of $2,400 apiece to Conway and to Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva andGabrielle Giffords. He donated to the Arizona pair on Oct. 28 — the same day that Grijalva appeared as a guest on Olbermann’s “Countdown” show.

You got that?  So either before he got chummy with him or just after, Keith makes a donation.  Creepy.

And shouldn’t Olbermann have actually disclosed these donations to us himself, instead of letting someone else discover them?

Credit goes to Politico for catching this.  I would give them a link, but they have been bullying a smaller site and thus no linky for you!  You can read more, however, at Hot Air.

Update (II): Bill Kristol makes the case that this suspension is unjust, to Olbermann.  I think he makes a lot of valid points, although I still think Olby should have disclosed.  But I get the feeling that Kristol’s argument has less to do with Kristol’s sense of fairness, than his unstated belief that Olbermann is harming his own cause.  It’s sort of like why I fervently hope Pelosi is kept as minority leader of the House Democrats.  Still, read what he has to say and see what you think.

Meanwhile, American Digest makes the very strong case that this is about MSNBC President Phil Griffin’s fears coming into the ongoing sale of MSNBC to Comcast:

When Comcast takes control there will be blood for the sake of profits and ideology won’t matter a hoot.

What does matter is who exactly gets to keep their jobs at MSNBC, Will it be a loss leader like Olbermann or a conscientious executive like current President Phil Griffin who is “aware”, acts quickly, and is “mindful”? “Without pay” is good corporate-speak too. It show’s that Griffin is ready and able and willing to make the cuts where it counts. Olbermann makes somewhere around $4,000,000 a year. Even if he’s just suspended for a month that sends $308,000 straight to the bottom line.

It’s not about Olbermann’s job. It’s about Griffin’s.

Well played, Phil.

Wait, they pay him $4 million?  Why?  Is he bringing in even half that much in revenue?

Update (III): Via Hot Air, we learn that insiders say Olbermann is not coming back.  And we get a good explanation from Michelle Malkin why it is a big deal:

(more…)

Taranto On the Election “The GOP Picks up Six Senate Seats. Let the Recriminations Begin.”

Filed under: General — Aaron Worthing @ 7:06 am



[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; send your tips here.]

Really, if you haven’t already, you should make James Taranto’s Best of the Web a daily read.  It’s a good mix of humor and sharp analysis.  Yesterday’s commentary on the election, for instance, sounds just about exactly right.  And it’s pure comment bait:

It’s hard to dispute the premise that Republicans would have been more likely to win the Senate races in Colorado, Delaware and Nevada had the establishment candidates prevailed in the primaries. But Graham, Lott and Frum overreach in seeing vindication for the party establishment in those losses.

For one thing, had the establishment had its way, the Republican caucus in the next Senate would include Arlen Specter and Charlie Crist–assuming those men would have beaten their Democratic opponents–instead of Pat Toomey and Marco Rubio…

It’s a bit odd for the GOP establishment to be blaming the Tea Party for the outcome of this year’s Senate elections. The party did gain six seats, its biggest pickup since 1994. By contrast, the Republicans lost six seats in 2006 and eight in 2008, when the Tea Party didn’t yet exist. True, they picked up four in 2004, but this year they held those and every other seat they carried back then.

Sure, primary voters probably could have chosen more wisely in Colorado, Delaware and Nevada. In future elections, Tea Party activists and Republican voters would do well to think more about electability. A rough-edged right-winger is better positioned to win in Kentucky than in Colorado. A liberal like Mike Castle may be the only kind of Republican who’s electable in a state like Delaware–something conservatives in Maine may want to take into account as Olympia Snowe faces re-election in 2012.

On the other hand, as the Utah example shows, some states are so conservative that when the rightmost candidate beats an incumbent in the Republican primary, the general-election outcome is virtually assured. And Lindsey Graham is up in 2014.

Someone once said on a blog (I have little hope of tracking down the original comment) that a huge part of the fault in the Delaware situation is the failure of the GOP’s establishment to recognize that the republicans wanted a more conservative nominee than Castle and to find a better alternative than O’Donnell.  And let’s remember that many of O’Donnell’s problems had nothing to do with her political beliefs, and had everything to do with her personal shortcomings.  The fact is years ago O’Donnell decided she wanted to be a celebrity conservative.  So she went on MTV and on Bill Maher, and behaved in ways that drew attention to herself.  And a lot of what she did came back to bite her in the hindquarters.  Not to mention her resume problems, consisting of 1) not very much political or practical experience, and 2) she lied at least once (that we know of) about her resume.  Eventually her reputation for flakiness got so bad that when she correctly stated something about the constitution, half the world laughed at her before the truth got its boots on.  But even then Coons had to promise to extend the Bush tax cuts and Gawker felt the need to make the most disgusting attack on a political candidate I have ever seen.  Imagine, then instead that the GOP establishment picked a conservative as likeable and serious as, say, Marco Rubio, to run in Deleware?  I think it is fair to say that a Marco Rubio would have been every bit as competitive as Castle would have been—maybe more, because excited donors would be willing to give more to a true conservative.  But on the other  hand, while the GOP establishment made a mistake in failing to find a polished conservative, the fact is that on election day the base picked the worse candidate.

The answer is that both sides have to work together if we are going to take back the Senate and the Presidency in 2012.  The establishment has to be more open to the input of the Tea Party.  They cannot get their energy without taking their guidance.  But at the same time, the Tea Party needs to be more realistic on the concept of electability and choose less flawed candidates.  Still all around I would give the Tea Party an A- for its conduct in the election and the republican establishment a C+, largely for not screwing it up too much.

At least that is what I think.  Reasonable people can disagree, and surely will.

Update: Krauthammer is usually insightful, but I found this analysis strange.  On one hand he is saying that there is nothing unusual about such a massive swing.  But on the other hand, he writes that “Tuesday was the electorate’s first opportunity to render a national verdict on [the Democrats’] manner of governance. The rejection was stunning.”

In other news Howard Dean’s spokesmodel spontaneously told us he was not challenging Obama for the primary electon, which Andrew Malcom of the LA Times considered dubious as a denial: “To prove this denial theory, tonight at dinner, while grinding the pepper, volunteer to your spouse out of the blue that you are definitely not cheating with someone else.”

[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]

Bag of Ballots Surfaces in Connecticut . . .

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:59 am



. . . where, it just so happens, there is a close race for Governor — and the Republican is barely ahead.

In what has become one of the stranger twists in an already bizarre Governor’s race, a bag of uncounted ballots was found in Bridgeport Thursday night.

. . . .

[Bridgeport GOP Chairman Marc] Delmonico said Democrats asked to have several people deputized to count the uncounted ballots, but Republicans objected, claiming that wasn’t proper procedure in the vote-counting process.

. . . .

Wednesday, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz declared Democrat Dan Malloy the “unofficial” winner, but numbers released by her office show Republican Tom Foley still leading Malloy by more than 8,000 votes. Those totals do not include any of the vote totals from the City of Bridgeport.

Hey, look, I am sure there are a few Republican ballots in that bag as well.

Just to make it look good.

Via Hot Air Headlines.


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