A Random Sampling of Election Night Quotes (Thus Far)
“Help Me Wolf Blitzer, You’re My Only Hope!” — NY Times
“Oh my God, are you watching this awful hologram thing on CNN? I am so waiting for Wolf Blitzer to strike Jessica Yellin down with a light saber.” — The Morning News
“Holograms? Please, CNN, we’ve had these for years! How do you think we prank Destro in the executive can?” — Cobra Commander
“My voting machine looked like it was designed by Willy Wonka. I’m interested in joining a collaboration to prototype a replacement.” — Zach Klein
When Christians react to elections with despair and panic, they [demonstrate] that their faith is in the wrong place…Salvation is not something that Caesar holds in his hand, whether to give or withhold. — Douglas Wilson
Quote, “Halloween idea: A half Obama half McCain mask for someone who wants to be an undecided voter.” — Jason Fried via Twitter
Is This What Christianity in America Has Become?
“O God, we are in a battle that is raging for the soul of this nation. You, O God, have raised up Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin for such a time as this. Help them, O God, to strengthen our economy, to keep our taxes and spending low…and grant them the privilege of being elected the next president and vice president.”
— from the opening prayer of a McCain/Palin rally at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA
“O God, we are in a battle that is raging for the soul of this nation. You, O God, have raised up Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin for such a time as this. Help them, O God, to strengthen our economy, to keep our taxes and spending low…and grant them the privilege of being elected the next president and vice president.”
— from the opening prayer of a McCain/Palin rally at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA
This isn’t about the candidates as much as it is American theology. You can replace “Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin” with “Senator Barack Obama and Senator Joe Biden” and switch the policies to reflect the respective party line. It’s still just as disgusting.
“Please, Lord, keep my taxes low and the economy strong so I can continue being in the top 1% of money earners worldwide while not caring about the other 99%.”
Who Should You Vote For? gives you relevant topics like healthcare, foreign policy, taxes, etc. to agree or disagree with, then tells you which candidate best lines up with your issue beliefs. My results were polarizing for sure, though there’s still a good bit I don’t have an educated opinion on. (via Sarah Hatter)
President Bartlet Meets Senator Obama courtesy of (of-course-biased) The West Wing creator/writer Aaron Sorkin and the NY Times. We’re just into Season 4 of said show, but I’m amazed Sorkin can still write Bartlet so in character.
Oh well, I thought about shying away from political commentary here, but it’s gotten so bizarre, I feel the need to at least poke it with a stick. Katie Couric interviews Sarah Palin on the current economic situation and it’s downright laughable how uninformed she is. And by “laughable” I of course mean “scary.” Do with that what you will.
What Part of Legal Immigration Don’t You Understand?
This Terry Colon illustration from the October issue of Reason Magazine is clever, well-executed and informative. No small feat when you’re talking about the U.S. immigration process and what has to be almost insurmountable bureaucracy.
Quote, “The only thing I want to hear come out of [Matt] Damon’s mouth is ‘What is Tredstone?’” says YouTube commenter chilltownbraves in reply to this video of Damon condemning VP-nominee Sarah Palin. I find it interesting that the kneejerk reaction to actors speaking out politically is typically “well, who are they to say?” I also find it interesting that I simultaneously kinda agree with Damon and also love a YouTube comment poking fun at him.
The Democratic Primary in 8 Minutes
In case you haven’t been keeping up, here’s a recap of the entire ‘07/08 Democratic Primary race condensed down to 8 minutes of well-edited and narrated video.
I wish political coverage was this succinct and engaging on television.
If the Democrats can’t landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up… — Ralph Nader, who recently announced he’s running for President (again) as a 3rd party candidate
Oh, snap. Democrats in da House. From all accounts at work and on the web, today’s post-election vibe is a sort of liberal nirvana. I do find it slightly sad that so many Dems (in da House) essentially got elected based on the platform of… change. But change isn’t a strategy per se, it’s simply a reaction. (Nonetheless, I’ll be interested to see what they do with House control.)
The State of the Union
Is it just me, or was the State of the Union address last night a joke? I’m not even really talking about the content, though I might get to that in a second; i’m more so talking about the entire thing. Why does the President (any President) need to deliver a 15 minute speech every year? If we’re being honest here, it’s actually a 7-8 minute speech punctuated by either the left or right side of the room standing up and clapping every 6 sentences or so, or whenever a dramatic pause seeems to linger too long.
Last night was an excuse for the right side of the room to engage in some primetime, standing o back-slapping and for the left side of the room to cheer about all the things that Bush wanted that he didn’t get. And the funny thing is, apart from Bush’s typical soaring rhetoric and broad-sweeping idealism, the other two thirds of the entire speech could have been said by Clinton when he was in office. It would have been completely in line with that administration. I’m amazed that people wonder why I have a hard time manufacturing any real interest in politics.
The Democratic response wasn’t all that stellar, either. Apparently there is a “better way”, as Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine repeatedly said, but I listened to his whole response and didn’t get much of a gauge as to what that better way was (other than “Not Bush,” which is sort of the equivalent of saying, “this sucks, so let’s change it to an undefined thing that will OF COURSE be better simply because it is not the thing that currently sucks.” I’m not saying it isn’t true, i’m just saying it’s a bit ridiculous.)
Besides, did you see that guy’s left eyebrow? It is SERIOUSLY CREEPY. I don’t know how anyone could elect a politician with that creepy of a facial feature. That probably makes me shallow.