…the exciting possibility that threatening to bludgeon people is now part of mainstream political discourse.

But isn’t already? Didn’t I hear Karl Rove cite the example (albeit more than a decade ago) of Rahm Emmanuel ranting about Clinton’s political enemies and driving a knife repatedly into a table saying “Die! Die! Die!”?

You have posited this as the “exit question” :

If Hillary does land at State and things turn predictably contentious, will she or The One be the first to threaten the other publicly with a crowbar?

But, in light of the above, doesn’t it need amending in terms of (a) the parties and (b) the weapon of choice?

The battery in a laptop only works for so long before it needs a re-charge.

Bicyea on November 21, 2008 at 7:43 AM

Apparently you are very backward in your thinking…you are not a “green” progressive.
Here is Obama’s answer to your silly statement.
Learn to live in a GREEN world…or die.

The Repubs have no one to blame but themselves for mcCain, and he is to blame for his losing.

John The Baptist on November 20, 2008 at 11:20 PM

No problem, but people like Luntz, and fools like Huck didn’t help the Republican cause any.

Obama’s strength with his nutroots and online presence had nothing to do with Internet savvy or using computers. Obama didn’t mind breaking election laws and taking debit card and credit card money from anyone, anywhere in the world. It had to do with being willing to lie, cheat and steal. McCain wouldn’t.

odannyboy on November 20, 2008 at 10:03 PM

Yes, it’s a lot easier for a candidate to raise tons of money when they’re not limiting themselves to U.S. donors, as McCain did. It’s also easier to get more votes when you have groups like ACORN signing up illegal aliens (sure amigo, just check the little box on the registration form that says you’re an American citizen; nobody will ever verify it). Winning’s always easier for the ones who’re willing to cheat and lie, and once the cheater has won and is in power, who’s going to investigate him?

I’ll let you guess who the #1 spot ought to be occupied by, but I’ll give one hint….

The things I hate most in this world is socialism, communism, and the tenets behind it; keynessian economics.s

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m waiting for the incredible laugh I am going to have when the “checks” that are going to change people’s lives don’t show up.

Hog Wild on November 20, 2008 at 11:00 PM

I wish I could share your optimism that these checks won’t be showing up, but I doubt it. Lots of money will be handed out to our permanently-entitled, never-taxpaying class under the guise of “recession relief” or some other mild description.

It’ll go like this: Obama promised a federal tax cut to 95% of Americans, 40% or whom don’t pay any federal taxes to begin with so their “cut” is just a welfare check.

The financial crisis will require a walkback on this promise so the “most able” of this group will be called upon to do their “fair share” which means no cut, and probably an increase, for the 55% who do pay taxes.

Checks will then go out to the 40% who never have paid taxes, subject of course to the usual “correct” demographic/geographic criteria – the rural poor will not be determined to be anywhere near as needy as the urban poor because the rural poor are predominantly… you know. Rednecks and such, not reliably 100% Democrat voters. Dismissible.

………………… he couldn’t ask just a few simple questions BEFORE the election that would have said it all.

Why anyone would even waste the time to fart in any “pollsters” general direction is beyond me……..

………….. the MSM and the pollsters are just propaganda machines, and now we have to live with it.

So quick to violence in defeat…

Hey, Earth to Captain Ahab! How about showing some of that oft touted “honor” you’ve talking up since 2000 and admonishing some of these wretches?

Reflects poorly on you, seriously.

Time to find people who can communicate and articulate. Palin did badly with the press… not because of filters but because she managed to come across as if on some sort of medication gone wrong. No filter made the message incoherent. The fractured messages coming from the right obscured the core values and message of the party. Against the Bush legacy the McCain campaign did as well as could be expected. Blaming the messenger and anyone else other than Bush is misplaced.

__________________

The use of a Blackberry or any other device is nothing more than another utensil. It is a mode of communication, not the communication itself.

Direct mailers have vast data bases of contacts too, but are you interested in receiving more unsolicited mailings?

Consider your own email in box, what percentage of your email is valuable to you? Sheesh.

Look, the notion that McCain doesn’t use a computer or Blackberry because of his war injuries rather than not knowing how to use it has been challenged by Maverick himself during his campaign. In January 2008, when asked if he was a Mac or PC guy, McCain replied: “Neither. I am an illiterate that has to rely on my wife for all of the assistance that I can get.” In September 2008 he told reporters that “I am learning to get online myself… I don’t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need.” That’s different than flat out not being able to type on a laptop or mobile device because you’re injured.

All McCain needed to say to a reporter was: “Yes, I am a huge fan of all the innovative new mobile devices and recognize the power of the Internet, but the thing is that I can’t personally spend too much time on a keyboard because my arms were broken during my torture in a Vietcong prison.” He could’ve then used that as a starting point for talking about his plans to grow the economy using technology, have a discussion about healthcare reform, Gitmo, et cetera.

But he didn’t do that. And I think we all know that nobody in the media was going to ask him about it if he didn’t bring it up.

McCain’s website was so rudimentary and simplistic compared to The One. The social networking hooks on McCain’s campaign website were almost non-existent until they launched a “McCainSpace” subpage… in late August. McCain did some strong web videos on YouTube but even those weren’t done until the last few weeks of the campaign–-and were basically just TV ads that someone encoded in Adobe Flash to be view in 320 X 240 resolution. McCain’s tribe was fighting with flint tipped arrows while The One had an army of thralls in plate armor and catapults.

Luntz was advising all Republicans to embrace new technologies to make better connections with voters and was pointing out McCain’s failures in that arena because as the Republican presidential candidate, McCain was the standard bearer for the Republican Party. Luntz points out these facts and McInturff called him “a moron” and said “I would like to take a hammer and start breaking bones in Frank’s arms” in response.

Not good…

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m waiting for the incredible laugh I am going to have when the “checks” that are going to change people’s lives don’t show up.

Wait by your mailbox if you feel the need to do so. Pack a lunch, you are going to need it, in a bad way.

Talk is cheap. A hard lesson a lot of American’s are about to learn. Thank God my Mom taught me that when I was young. Saved me a whole lot of disappointment…

If Hillary does land at State and things turn predictably contentious, will she or The One be the first to threaten the other publicly with a crowbar?

She’ll throw a lamp and call him a string of expletives, none of which, she will publicly proclaim, were racial.

McCain lost because of McCain. Google McCain opposition research and you will know why McCain attacked Romney more than Obama.