Politics
choofnagle | November 5, 2008Here in California, the Mormons poured millions into an initiative constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, after the California Supreme Court found a right to marry in the State's Constitution.
Proposition 8 looks like it has passed. Currently, it's 52-48 in favor, with 95% of the vote counted.
I'm really just posting this in order to share this anti-Proposition 8 commercial that was running in California. It might be the most offensive political ad ever. Check it out:
drorzel | November 5, 2008Some commentary on the night just past. This will be somewhat scattered, as I stayed up until 1 to hear Obama and read the celebratory postings at my favorite left-leaning blogs:
-- As much as I believed what folks like Nate Silver were saying, I was still afraid that it would somehow all go wrong, and we'd be subjected to another four years of lunatic governance from the right, and lunatic conspiracy theorizing from the left. It's hard to express how happy I am to put all of the lunacy on one side of the political spectrum, the side that's out of power.
-- I guess people aren't as down on…
pharyngula | November 5, 2008The world is a somewhat more hopeful place today than it was yesterday, but let's get real.
Obama is a conservative/centrist Democrat who will at best implement a small shift in American policies — he hasn't promised any strong change in Iraq, and his health care plans are an incremental improvement over the existing situation. And the opposition is shrieking "socialist!" at every suggestion, so don't expect an easy road to accomplishing even the centrist plans of President Obama…especially since he's inheriting the wreckage of 8 years of Bush misrule.
He still has to work with a self-…
grrlscientist | November 5, 2008tags: Barack Obama, politics, victory speech, election2008, streaming video
This is the third and last part of Obama's victory speech delivered on 4 November 2008 [9:47]
grrlscientist | November 5, 2008tags: Barack Obama, politics, victory speech, election2008, streaming video
This is the second part of Obama's victory speech delivered on 4 November 2008 [10:31]
grrlscientist | November 5, 2008tags: Barack Obama, politics, victory speech, election2008, streaming video
This is the first part of Obama's victory speech delivered on 4 November 2008 [4:12]
drorzel | November 5, 2008Heart-warming morning thought: SteelyKid is going to grow up in a world where "Can a black man be elected President?" will be considered a stupid question.
That's worth a smile:
Hell, that's worth some dancing in the streets:
In a heavy drizzle shortly after midnight, several thousand people filled the barricaded segment of Pennsylvania Avenue between 15th and 17th streets in front of the White House dancing and chanting "O-ba-ma!" and "Whose house? Obama's house!" Some sang "America the Beautiful" and "Star Spangled Banner."
At 14th and U streets NW, hundreds of Sen. Barack Obama's…
gregladen | November 5, 2008Good Morning America!
Well, after I went to bed last night, the Minnesota Senate Race between Al Franken and Norm Coleman tightened up. The Associated Press is reporting, I hear, that Coleman has won. They are wrong.
The difference between the two candidates is now (at 6:30 AM) just over 1,000 votes. Here in Minnesota, we are pretty sane and strightforward about our election process. Sensible scanning bubble sheets, lots of polling places, short lines, and an automatic recount law (one half percent different requires recount). There will now be a special recount of this race, and that…
razib | November 5, 2008The New York Times put together a really nice interactive map for the election...but I thought it would be nice to have the three displays right next to each other instead of just toggling. So below the fold are the:
1) States as allocated to each candidate
2) Counties allocated to each candidate, shaded to illustrate the size of the percentage margin
3) Counties allocated to each candidate, with a bubble representation whose size is proportional to the absolute margin of the winning candidate in that county
To some extent, perhaps the Obama coalition could be characterized like so: the…
grrlscientist | November 4, 2008tags: Barack Obama, election2008, politics, NYC, Times Square
Image: orphaned [larger view].
One of the nice things about living in NYC is the fact that there are often fun things happening that are both spontaneous and free-of-charge. One of those events occurred last evening and continued through the wee hours of today, when I spent election eve in NYC's Times Square, along with half a million other people.
Even though I am not normally very tolerant of crowds, I do really enjoy walking around Times Square at night, and this was a pleasant evening; not too warm nor too cold, and the…
razib | November 4, 2008I'm still chewing through the exit polls, though Steve is right that there are no big surprises. I think I'll put up a few charts which display questions where responses can be thought of in an ordinal manner just to make clear the trend lines. But of course Andrew Gelman has already crunched the data. His main findings are:
1. The election was pretty close.
2. As with previous Republican candidates, McCain did better among the rich than the poor. But the pattern has changed among the highest-income categories.
3. The gap between young and old has increased-a lot. But there was no massive…
evolvingthoughts | November 4, 2008
The antigay marriage measures in Arizona and Florida passed, and it looks like the Californian one will also pass. I cannot see how anyone can justify refusing a large minority the rights afforded the majority. There's a name for that.
I reiterate my modest proposal.
grrlscientist | November 4, 2008tags: Barack Obama, election2008, President Obama, politics, American politics
Image: Doug Mills/The New York Times [larger view].
Congratulations on your historical victory, Senator Obama. I am happy for this country.
However, I am sad for you and for your family. After all, you were chosen by the electorate to act as a janitor for George Bush, Dick Cheney and all their ultra-rich cronies as well as for all the selfish bankers, CEOs and Wall Street jackasses who have invested their lifetimes into destroying this country and others' creations as well as stealing what little money that…
jrosenhouse | November 4, 2008Now that Obama has scored a very convincing win in the big election, I am reminded of a column written by Michael Kinsley in 1992, celebrating the victory of Bill Clinton. It's eerie how much of it is still relevant today. Couldn't find it online, so here are a few excerpts. Alas, just as with Clinton, no doubt Kinsley's first sentence must give everyone pause.
No doubt it will all end in tears. But for the moment, I FEEL GREAT! It's like the lifting of a terrible headache, or like coming up for air after swimming underwater.
Yes, the euphoria is not entirely rational. I think I speak…
gregladen | November 4, 2008McCain is conceding . The crowd is booing Obama, McCain has to calm them down.
Now, here, and over the next couple of weeks, McCain has to put the horrors back into the Pandora's Box that he and Sarah Palin opened.
Some people are probably going to die because of the way they ran their campaign. It is his (and Palin's) responsibility to mitigate the damage they've done.
There are only a few more states left. No more updates from me. Indiana will go Obama by one percent. Montana ... we'll have to wait. I think they count the ballots with mules, takes longer. Missouri will go McCain,…
gregladen | November 4, 2008Bachmann is ahead of Tinklenberg enough to be pretty sure that she will win the night.
Paulson is beating Madia by enough to be pretty sure that Madia will not be going to Washington as our congressperson.
Coleman has pulled ahead of Franken, and my estimate is that Franken-leaning precincts were counted early. Franken will not win.
Minnesotans can be such unmitigated morons that I can't believe it sometimes.
I think we passed the nature tax.
sb admin | November 4, 2008Watch it happen live! And if I can, I'll though in some useless editorializing.
Now fivethirtyeight and CNN have excellent widgets to watch as well. Fivethirtyeight.com is especially cool, as it has developed a nice reputation for actually being right. Currently, they are projecting a rather wide victory for Obama.
Ohio an Penn!!!!!