Right Wing Nut House

And so, it’s begun.

More than 18 months after the war began in Iraq, the climactic struggle against the thugs, terrorists, Saddam bitter enders, and foreign fighters has been joined as an operation involving Iraqi and American forces seeks to take Fallujah away from the “insurgents.” (Not, of course, any terrorists. After all…there are no terrorists in Iraq. There never HAVE been terrorists in Iraq.)

Leading the way, as they have for more than 200 years, are the men and women of the United States Marine Corps.

Many of these fine young men are going to die. The terrorists are not going to give up easily. The entire islamic world is watching Fallujah and hoping that the terrorists can inflict thousands of casualties on the Americans before they die. I have no doubt that Al Jazeera will dwell long and lovingly on each and every civilian casualty, each new “outrage” by American forces against the peace loving people of Fallujah. The fact that the terrorists are using the civilian population as “human shields” will not be mentioned in the islamic press. After all, it would ruin the story line.

“We are here to defend our country,” said Ali, 28, a soldier from Nasiriyah who is in the Iraqi army’s 1st Brigade. Like many of the Iraqi soldiers interviewed here, he gave only one name. “We have to get rid of terrorism. All the world looks down on Iraq now because of the terrorists who are not Iraqi. We will make them see Iraqi men ending the terrorism in Iraq.”

Does this sound like Viet Nam to you?

These guys are serious. They are proud, nationalistic, and motivated. And while they have complaints about the quality of their weapons and equipment compared to the Americans, they see their duty and are prepared to meet the challenge. Here’s the Iraqi Commander:

“We know our enemy, even if they have developed weapons,” he said. “As Iraqi people and army, we’ll fight them with traditional weapons. We have our strategy and mentality. What made the Iraqi soldier fight the American soldiers in 1990 and last year, despite their high technology, is the same we will use in this battle.”

Does this sound like Viet Nam to you?

By all reports, our troops are ready to go. As professionals, they don’t need to be told of the importance of this battle. According to reports, they’re anxious to take the battle to the terrorists. After almost a year of ambushes on lonely roads and car bombs exploding at checkpoints, these guys seem eager to engage, despite the bloody work ahead:

“You’re rested, you’re ready, and we’re prepared,” Lt. Col. James Rainey of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment of the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division, told his staff as their mobile command center was broken down around them. “This is going to be the biggest fight any of us will do in the near future. . . . No matter what you think about the Iraqi war or the Iraqi government, this fight is 100 percent about terrorists — terrorists who want to come to your house and kill you.”

“Terrorists who want to come to your house and kill you.”…I think that just about says it all.

TITAN GIVES UP ITS SECRETS…RELUCTANTLY

Is Saturn’s moon Titan a better place to look for life than Mars?

That’s the question NASA’s Cassini space probe is seeking to answer as it made it’s second flyby of the giant moon and trained its array of instruments at the surface.

“When Cassini turned its formidable instrument array on smog-shrouded Titan, it made some very intriguing finds, the most surprising of which was the moon appears to be geologically active — the spacecraft’s instruments showed the moon has continental plates and volcanism. It also exhibits a veritable soup of hydrocarbons, including methane, ethane and benzene — some in liquefied deposits the size of very large lakes. Put this all together and it makes — what?”

What, indeed. The fact that the moon is geologically active means that there may be heat being generated at the surface. If so, and if the complex molecules have found a way to combine without the presence of water, life may have in fact developed at some point in Titan’s past.

“The question is, can life spring from hydrocarbons but not water? For that matter, can life’s soup be made from only a partial ingredients list? Finding the answer is critical, because if life is discovered on another distant world — thereby doubling the count of life’s known locales — then it becomes more likely life exists on many of the estimated 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Earth-like planets in the universe.” (Don’t you just love it when scientists use such big numbers?)

The most exciting phase of the mission will come Christmas day when the European built lander Huygens will attempt a soft landing on the moon’s surface. If successful, the lander will surely encounter the most bizarre surface ever studied. Titan’s pools of hydrocarbons (liqiud oil? probably not)and acres of frozen methane present challenges no lander has ever had to deal with. And while the lander is not designed to search for or identify life, it may answer questions that could lead to a determination if life could exist in some form on the surface.

THE MYTH OF THE “REALITY BASED COMMUNITY”

Leave it to a moonbat to consider himself a member of something called the “reality based community.”

When I first started seeing Atrios, Kos, and Eric Alterman refer to themselves as belonging to something called the “reality based community,” I just couldn’t believe the arrogance, the hubris, the out and out BALLS of people whose belief in their own superiority was so set, so unshakable as to place themselves on a different plane of “reality” than the rest of us poor slobs in the red states.

How reality based is it to believe that George Bush is the second coming of Adolph Hitler?

How reality based is it to believe that Vice President Cheney urged war in Iraq to personally enrich himself?

How reality based is it to believe that John Ashcroft wants to tear up the Constitution, repeal the Bill of Rights, and put innocent people in jail?

How reality based is it to believe that, despite all evidence to the contrary, George Bush stole the election of 2000 by “disenfranchising” millions of minority voters.

How reality based is it to believe that Diebold Corporation, the company that makes voting machines, is in cahoots with the Bush administration and helped Republicans “steal” Ohio by hacking the electronic voting machines and running up huge totals for the President?

How reality based is it to believe that we’re fighting in Iraq for oil? (If we are, we’re sure as hell not getting much now, are we?)

How reality based is it to believe that, despite every bit of evidence to the contrary, there is going to be a draft in a second Bush term?

How reality based is it to believe in so many conspiracy theories that you can’t keep track of which ones conflict with which other ones?

Lawrence Kaplan has an article in today’s New Republic that discusses this weird phenomena. In short, Kaplan points out that saying your political opponents live in a “non-reality” based community, you’re not going to win many votes:

“If this is what passes for rational discourse on the left–and for too many liberals these days, it is–then just who is it that belongs to the “reality-based community” and just who is it that suffers under the weight of what the left used to call “false consciousness”? The question merits an answer, since Wills and otherwise sensible voices on the left–such as The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne, who professes himself “alarmed that so many of our fellow citizens could look the other way and not hold Bush accountable for utter incompetence in Iraq” and “amazed that a majority was not concerned about heaping a huge debt burden on our children just to give large tax breaks to the rich”–see their task as raising the level of consciousness of Americans out of step with reality. But what if their own estrangement leads not to insight, but rather to blindness and, more important, to separation from the very Americans they mean to influence?”

“Raising the level of consciousness” was very big in the 1960’s. It usually referred to some kind of drug induced “eureka” moment where one would experience a thrill when the mysteries of the universe would be revealed. (I remember my raised consciousness involved realizing that “God” spelled backwords was “dog!” Woof! Woof! Lord).

Kaplan points out that such arrogance is, in fact, anti-american. That seems about par for the course for our monkey-brained moonbats whose “reality” doesn’t include those of us who voted for George Bush.

MORE MOONBAT MADNESS

Tim Worstall has a link to a Bob Herbert piece on “the reality based community” teaching us right wing yankers about…well, reality.

“Yes, I know, hard to believe that this is a step up but at least he is only calling them ignorant, not morons.

Actually, I think he’s really on to something. Democratic Underground activists, perhaps Kos or Atrios instead, conducting teach-ins to explain to these pig-ignorant homophobes and evangelicals that their entire worldview is wrong and that their self-identification with ShrimpyMcBushChimp was all a delusion based upon their ignorance.”

Herbert makes a distinction between being called “ignorant” rather than a “moron.” I guess that’s a step up. After all, “moron” refers to someone who’s…how shall we put this…mentally challenged (oh those compassionate moonbats!) while “ignorant” is a condition that ostensibly can be improved with education (or, more aptly “re-education”…as in camps).

I cringe in awe and fear as the light of superior knowledge and intellect shines down upon me from above. Is it from God? Jesus?

No, silly…it’s Michael Moore.

Too close for comfort…

I say that not as a Republican but as an American.

John Kerry’s positions on the issues would have represented, I believe, a profound retreat in the war on terror. The idea that a President Kerry would have gone hat in hand to the United Nations and the rest of our allies to try and garner support for the war in Iraq would have meant admitting that Bush’s entire approach to the WoT was mistaken. A President Kerry would have made another terrorist attack not only more likely, but I believe a virtual certainty as terrorists would have been free to plan their attacks in Iran, Syria, Pakistan, Lebanon, Yemen, and North Korea without fear of American reprisal.

Mr. Kerry was unconvincing in his promise to pre-emptively protect the country. His votes against cold war policies and weapons systems, against intervention in Kuwait, and his critique of the Iraq war all point to someone who has profound misgivings on the uses and exercising of American power. His insistence on some kind of “global test” for protecting the citizens of the United States revealed a breathtaking naivete about the motivations of the French, Russians, Germans, and other EU members who, more than anything, seek a counterweight to what they perceive as America’s dangerous unilateralism. It would be in keeping with these nation’s national interests to bring America down “a peg or two” to achieve this. If that means a bunch a dead Americans…regrettable but C’est la Vie.

How near a thing was this victory? If a couple of dozen more Kerry voters had come out to vote in each Ohio precinct, John Kerry would have won Ohio and the Presidency. Bush’s margin of victory would have gone for naught as the inexorable logic of the electoral college would have given Kerry the margin of victory. No amount of crowing about an election “mandate” by Republicans is going to change the fact that President Bush’s policies remain controversial and will be vehemently opposed by leftists Democrat and their allies in the MSM.

I said on election night that voters will have much less patience with Mr. Bush during this second term. He will have to show concrete results in Iraq, the economy, health care, social security, and, most divisive of all, entitlement reform. Mr. Bush has substantially raised expectations for his second term. And given the civil war that is soon to break out in the Republican party between neoconservatives and the paleo-conservatives led by Pat Buchanan, it remains to be seen whether Mr. Bush can keep the party united enough to enact his ambitious and revolutionary agenda.

DROOLING ON THE LEFT

One of the more enjoyable aspects of Bush’s victory this past week was going to far left blogs and watching people melt into puddles of incoherent, jibbering, paranoid pudding pops.

Talkleft certainly qualifies as a nominee for Most Incoherent Bunch of Blither Blatherers. Here’s a gem from Annette. (My comment to her post was “Please adjust your tin foil cap…it’s obviously malfunctioning.”)

“We in Blue States support the Reds with tax $$$ for farm subsidies, etc. We need to all contact our congress representatives and senators and let them know we won’t stand for that. Also, don’t travel to Red States and drop tourist dollars there. Take the kids to Disney in Calif instead of FL, try the beaches in New England or Southern CA instead of Gulf Coast States. Try Southern CA for a winter retreat instead of FL or AZ…”

Then there’s this from “Paul”…who, even though a Canadian, feels perfectly comfortable about putting his two cents in…

“What in the world is wrong with 51% of Americans? How can they vote a nincumpoop(sic), a certified imbecil, a semi-literate and intelectually-challenged hick to another four years in office. I’m from canada(sic), and I despair for America. There is much that is good about your country - but the corporate capital and the corporate media and a bunch of neo-con zealots have turned half of your people into zombies. What a waste of human material?(sic) Anywhere else, even a mannequin would win against Bush. My sympathies for those who voted for Democrats - brace yourselves for another for years of darkness, only more intense this time…”

We’ve been seeing this since Wednesday. People who voted for Bush are called all sorts of vile names with their intelligence being questioned…not just here but abroad as well. And I haven’t even talked about those who are convinced the election was “stolen” by Republican operatives who hacked the touch-screen voting machines used in Florida and Ohio.

And these guys are perplexed about why they lose elections?

What arrogance! What breathtaking hubris! What a bunch of elitist, tin foil hat wearing, kool-aid drinking artichoke brains!

What would we ever do without Kofi Annan?

Let’s face it…the guy makes it too easy by half to make the United Nations look like an international version of “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh in.” Listen to what this dufus has to say about our coming offensive into Fallujah:

“I wish to share with you my increasing concern at the prospect of an escalation in violence, which I fear could be very disruptive for Iraq’s political transition,” Annan wrote to the three leaders.”

“I also worry about the negative impact that major military assaults, in which the main burden seems bound to be borne by American forces, are likely to have on the prospects for encouraging a broader participation by Iraqis in the political process, including in the elections.”

Annan is feeling sorry for the beheaders, the car bombers, the suicide attackers, the rapists, the bitter-ender corrupt murderers who ran Saddam’s torture chambers for 30 years. He’s worried they won’t want to vote in the January elections.

These are the people that Chirac and his ally in the French war against America wanted to bring to the bargaining table if John Kerry had been elected. A lot of good young American kids are going to die to make sure that these thugs make it no where near a voting booth much less the halls of government.

It’s up to us to make sure their sacrifice means something.

IT’S TERRORISM, STUPID

Significant Otherhawk had some excellent observations about the election. In the 48 hours leading up to November 2 and as Bush’s numbers inched slowly lower, she reassured me that John Kerry would never be elected President. “The American people will never elect someone who doesn’t believe in killing terrorists,” she told me.

And that ultimately was the difference between George Bush and John Kerry. Bush wanted to confront the terrorists, Kerry wanted to either arrest or neutralize them. Instinctively, the American people realized that a dead terrorist cannot harm them. Otherhawk was confident that even if many voters were leaning towards Kerry as they went into the voting booth, terrorism would trump everything else and Bush would prevail.

And now that the left has adopted the “stupid, ignorant, homophobic red state voter” meme as a rationale for losing the election, it makes one wonder whether they’ll ever really “get it:”

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 CHANGED RED AMERICA MORE THAN IT CHANGED BLUE AMERICA.

David Brooks
in his article today proves that it was terrorism NOT gay marriage or abortion, that drobve the Bush victory:

“Here are the facts. As Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center points out, there was no disproportionate surge in the evangelical vote this year. Evangelicals made up the same share of the electorate this year as they did in 2000. There was no increase in the percentage of voters who are pro-life. Sixteen percent of voters said abortions should be illegal in all circumstances. There was no increase in the percentage of voters who say they pray daily.”

If that’s the case, who then voted for Bush?

“The fact is that if you think we are safer now, you probably voted for Bush. If you think we are less safe, you probably voted for Kerry. That’s policy, not fundamentalism. The upsurge in voters was an upsurge of people with conservative policy views, whether they are religious or not.”

I wonder if Kos & Co. are paying attention?

LAST HURRAH FOR THE EXIT POLLS?

Joe Lenski of Edison Media research is on the hot seat. Less than 48 hours after the polls closed Lenski, who ran the exit polling operation for a consortium of big media, is being forced to defend the indefensible. How did he get it so wrong?

“No wrong projections [of winners] were made; the projections were spot on,” he said. “The members used this data with sophistication and understanding of what data can and cannot be used for.”

Yeah right. Lenski sounds like the designer of the Titanic trying to explain that even though a disaster happened, the ship was still unsinkable. Here were some exit polls posted by Sexette on the afternoon of November 2:

FL: 52/48 - KERRY
OH: 52/47 - KERRY
MI: 51/48 - KERRY
PA: 58/42 - KERRY
IA: 50/48 - KERRY
WI: 53/47 - KERRY
MN: 57/42 - KERRY
NH: 58/41 - KERRY
ME: 55/44 - KERRY

NM: 49/49 - TIE

NV: 48/49 - BUSH
CO: 49/50 - BUSH
AR: 45/54 - BUSH
NC: 47/53 - BUSH

Actual vote totals can be found here.. They were close in NC, AR, NV, MI,and IA. By close, I mean within one percentage point of the eventual outcome.

But Kerry winning by 16 in PA? Up 15 in MN? Kerry by 17 in NH? These numbers aren’t just wrong, they’re numbers taken from some kind of weird parallel universe where bloggers don’t exist! How could they have gotten it so wrong?

The Washington Post blames the bloggers:

“Results based on the first few rounds of interviewing are usually only approximations of the final vote. Printouts warn that estimates of each candidate’s support are unreliable and not for on-air use. Those estimates are untrustworthy because people who vote earlier in the day tend to be different from those who vote in the middle of the day or the evening. For instance, the early national sample Tuesday that was 59 percent female probably reflected that more women vote in the day than the evening.”

The fact that someone leaked the numbers to some high volume blogs, including Drudge and Wonkette, proves to me that someone was trying to “game the system.” Dick Morris agrees:

“That an exit poll is always right is an axiom of politics. It is easier to assume that a compass is not pointing north than to assume that an exit poll is incorrect. It takes a deliberate act of fraud and bias to get an exit poll wrong. Since the variables of whether or not a person will actually vote are eliminated in exit polling, it is like peeking at the answer before taking the test.”

Morris speculated on O’Reilly last night that perhaps a Democratic operative had gotten a hold of where the exit pollsters were going to be stationed and “flooded” those precincts with pro-Kerry voters to skew the results, dishearten Republican voters, and tip the battleground states to Kerry.

I find that a little hard to believe because the sampling was too large (more than 12,000) and such a project would involve an enormous amount of coordination. A more likely explanation according to the Post:

“That is why the early leaks anger Lenski. “The basic issue here is the leaking of this information without any sophisticated understanding or analysis, in a way that makes it look inaccurate,” he said.

After the survey is completed and the votes are counted, the exit poll results are adjusted to reflect the actual vote, which in theory improves the accuracy of all the exit poll results, including the breakdown of the vote by age, gender and other characteristics.”

Clearly, lefty blogs ran with these early numbers because they WANTED them to be true. Right wing blogs ran with them pointing out the bogus nature of the sampling (59% women) and, more importantly URGING REPUBLICANS TO IGNORE THEM AND VOTE ANYWAY!

If this episode shows anything, it’s that you can’t “game” the blogosphere…not when you have literally thousands of individuals ready to add a corrective to any attempt to do so.

UPDATE:

Our dearly restored Commissar agrees that, if the exit polls favor one side or another, leaks will be inevitable. Somehow, it was so very satisfying to watch as the returns started coming in, Kos & Co. begin to melt like the Wicked Witch of the West when Dorothy threw water on her. Here’s Kos in all his glory after Fox called OH for Bush:

“The more I think about it, the more pissed off I am that the networks are calling Ohio when the state is still clearly undecided.
The odds may be slight, but this is Democracy. Let the fucking votes be counted.

And if the votes say Bush won, then great. Call it then.

But there is no reason to do so when the outcome is still so clearly in doubt.”

UPDATE:

The Bear has some interesting thoughts:

“Could somebody explain to me why, when the exit polls couldn’t accurately predict a simple question like “will Kerry or Bush win”, we should believe them when they say “Although seven in 10 voters were worried about another major attack on U.S. soil, a majority nonetheless felt the nation was safer than four years ago”?”

UPDATE:

The Capn’ weighs in:

“Not that I carry any water for the idea of exit polling — lately, we’ve had two elections where the exit polling impacted election coverage negatively, and some might argue actual voting as well. Exit polling has never been terribly predictive, as pollster Pat Caddell explained on Fox News this afternoon. It can give interesting demographic information about the vote after it’s complete, but as a predictive model, it’s a disaster.”

I wholeheartedly agree with the Captain’s assessment. I think one reason pollsters-both exit and national-are getting it so wrong lately is that the American public has become so sophistiacted about them, that they feel no compunction about telling pollsters what they think they WANT to hear rather than what they really think. Pollsters swear they factor such variables into their calulations but I don’t buy it. Especially this time around where there was an actual stigma attached to people (especially in heavily blue states) if they supported Bush.

The best polls seem to be those that asks the demographic questions FIRST and at the last ask the candidate preference question.

Can the polls be made more accurate? Given the market forces at work in the polling industry, I have absolutely no doubt they’ll get better.

The Guardian has proven itself to be the publication of choice for American moonbats. After all it’s got three things going for it:

1. It’s foreign
2. It’s liberal
3. It hates George Bush

Despite the Guardian’s towering reputation for honesty, integrity, and non-partisanship, here was the lead paragraph on media coverage of the election:

“Fox News broke ranks with its rivals last night to call the state of Ohio for George Bush even before the polls had closed.”

“Even before the polls closed?” I wrote this letter to the editor this AM:

FOR PUBLICATION

You need to print a correction to your article on Fox News calling Ohio “even before the polls closed.”

Fox called Ohio for the President at 1:20 AM Central Standard Time…5 hours and 20 minutes AFTER the polls had closed in Ohio. The fact that there were votes left to count in Ohio is completely irrelevant because THE VOTES HAD ALREADY BEEN CAST! What possible impact could the Fox call have on an election that was already over?

Was the Guardian trying to protect the reputation of Fox News? If so, I’m sure they’re grateful. But if, through some misunderstanding of the difference between calling a a state where 94% of the raw vote had been counted and 0% counted (as you imply in the lead paragraph of the article), the Guardian has erred, it would behoove your editor to make the necessary correction.

The reasons for the Ohio call by Fox News were sound . They were based on raw vote totals from Democratic and Republican counties, what votes were still to be counted from those counties (giving a proportionate share to each candidate) and conservatively extrapolating a vote total based on sound polling principles.

By the way, did you see the vote totals from Clark County, Ohio?

Bush — 34,444 (50.96%)
Kerry — 32,824 (48.56%)

As an American and Bush supporter, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks for your efforts on President Bush’s behalf. Who would’ve guessed that the Guardian, a bastion of progressive thinking, would give such a huge boost to our President’s reelection! Your intervention in the affairs of your poor, ignorant American peasant cousins was greatly appreciated by those of us who respect your wisdom, tolerance, and superior knowledge of the American psyche.

Sincerely, and with enormous gratitude,

Rick Moran
Algonquin, IL
USA

Do you think the moonbats will publish this? I await their decision with bated breath.

FEED A COLD…STARVE A MOONBAT

This from the Democratic Underground:

“I cannot possibly put into words how disappointed, angry, and perplexed I am right now. The reported results coming out of Florida and Ohio simply make no sense to me. I cannot comprehend how we could have such a massive increase in turnout and not win the election. To paraphrase that little weasel Tucker Carlson: You don’t wait in line for five hours to vote for more of the same.”

You’re absolutely right, Moonbat…except that the reason Republicans waited 4 hours in line was to support a good and decent man doing his best in extraordinarily difficult times. And, they recognized that for this country to survive (so that you and your moonbat friends can continue to spout conspiracy theories), George Bush, despite his faults and foibles, needed to be reelected.

Now…BEND OVER AND TAKE WHAT’S COMING TO YA!!! (”Thank you sir can I have another.”)

FEMALE MOONBAT NEEDS CHEERING UP

From the Skankette:

“Wonkette Answers: The Most Important Question of All Time
As far as I can tell the election is still going on, but my computer swears it is Wednesday. Do I have to stop drinking now?

No.”

Do you think she wrote that while sitting naked, eating hot buttered popcorn at her computer on her vibrating sofa? (Superhawk has a sudden spasm of nausea and resists the urge to spew last night’s 2:00 AM bologna sub all over his keyboard.)

MOONBAT TALKING POINTS

Hey Josh! Are you KIDDIN ME?

“President Bush and the Republicans now control the entire national government, even more surely now than they have over the last four years. They do so on the basis of garnering the votes of 51% or 52% of the population. But they will use that power as though there were no opposition at all. That needs to be countered.”

Jimmy Carter won with less than 50% of the vote in 1976 and the Democrats governed as if the Republicans didn’t exist. During the entire period of the 1980’s, Ronald Reagan and George Bush (41) had to put up with HUGE Democratic majorities in the House that, at the time, seemed to be the natural order of things.

I said it last night and I’ll say it again…the Democrats must learn to be “the loyal opposition.” They cannot continue to obstruct, delay, impede, and otherwise oppose the President simply on the bsais of wanting desperately to get back in power. THIS is what the American voters rejected NOT the Democratic party. Try working with the President without biting his head off every time he proposes something you disagree with…

Can’t we all just…get along? (A lone tear escapes Superhawk’s eye and falls to the floor. Is that compassion for the moonbats? “I had something in my eye.” Superhawk responds.)

UNITED WE STAND…EXCEPT THE MOONBATS

The “Nation” (although what “nation” they belong to I don’t recognize. I GOT IT… it’s the IMAGI-NATION!) rants away:

The good news: America is a divided nation. Despite the pundit hand-wringing over this fact, it is a positive thing. Nearly–nearly–half of the electorate rejected Bush’s leadership, his agenda, his priorities, his falsehoods. From Eminem to the chairman of Bank of America to 48 Nobel laureates to gangbangers who joined anti-Bush get-out-the-vote efforts in swing states. Nearly half of the voting public concluded that Bush had caused the deaths of over 1,100 American GIs and literally countless Iraqis (maybe 100,000) for no compelling reason. Nearly half saw the emperor buck naked and butt ugly. Nearly half said no to his rash actions and dishonest justifications. Nearly half realized that Bush had misrepresented the war in Iraq as a crucial part of the effort against al Qaeda and Islamic jihadism. Nearly half desired better and more honest leadership. Nearly half knew that Bush has led the country astray.”

A divided nation, positive? Eminem menioned in the same breath as 48 Nobel laureates? The emperor “buck naked and butt ugly…”? Bush “had caused” the deaths of 1000 American GI’s? (Since when did a moonbat ever give a hoot about soldiers except as a target to spit on and call “baby killer?”)

The point, moonbat is that MORE THAN HALF DISAGREE WITH YOU! And the fact that somehow in all of your brilliant analysis you’ve missed the essence of democracy shows just why YOU CANNOT AND WILL NOT WIN ELECTIONS AS LONG AS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DON’T TRUST YOU! (Superhawk takes a deep breath and let’s out a tremendous sigh…”They just don’t get it, do they?” he asks no-one in particular.)

1:55 John Kerry won’t concede tonight. Just as well…he worked very hard as did his supporters (although it was the dirtiest campaign in memory) and I can understand how hard it is for him to let go. My guess is after talking to Ted Kennedy (whose brother was involved in the 1960 race where Nixon conceded an election that was much closer than this one), Kerry will concede around noon eastern time tomorrow.

Talk of litigation in Ohio is bogus…not with Bush winning by 130,000. And New Mexico’s margin for Bush will be equally daunting for Kerry lawyers. So, it’s over.

I can’t say I’m happy as much as relieved…and filled with wonder. 120,000,000
Americans went to the polls during an unpopular war and voted for more war. Just enough…barely enough American’s realized the danger we’re in and swallowed all the things they disagree with the President about and voted him back in office.

I think that people will have a LOT less patience with Bush during the next 4 years. They’re going to demand progress in Iraq, a better economy, something done about the cost of healthcare, and serious work done on the deficit, for starters. And they’ll also have minimal patience with Democrats. They’ll want an end to the tomfoolery with regards to judicial nominations and other obstructionist measures.

In short…after 5 decades of basically liberal Democratic party rule, Republicans are going to have to learn to be a majority party and Democrats are going to have to learn to be a “loyal opposition.”

How each party handles their new roles will determine how voters will view them.

GOOD NIGHT

1:25 Jeff Jarvis at NZ Bear came up with a great pledge before the votes were counted:

After the election results are in, I promise to:
: Support the President, even if I didn’t vote for him.
: Criticize the President, even if I did vote for him.
: Uphold standards of civilized discourse in blogs and in media while pushing both to be better.
: Unite as a nation, putting country over party, even as we work together to make America better.

I had been thinking what I would do after the election, especially when the bogus exit polls came out this afternoon. I think that Jeff’s pledge represents the difference between the moonbats and us. I feel pretty confident that I would have done as Jeff suggests and put “country over party”…AND THEN WORK LIKE HELL TO DEFEAT KERRY IN 2008!

12:50 CNN has now called Ohio….a GREEN state, too close to call. They’re the only network not to call Ohio for Bush (do you think if Kerry had a 102,000 vote lead that they’d be calling it a green state?) IA looking good for Bush. Nevada also even though he trails slightly. All of Las Vegas is counted and Bush trails by less than 1000 votes. Nevada will tip Bush within the hour. Michael Barrone just said on Fox that IA is still too close with both dem and rep. strongholds yet to be counted.

12:15 Bush in striking distance in NV, WI, IA. Slightly ahead in NM (I predict NM will put him over the top), slightly behind in MI. I’d have to say that Rove’s strategy of maximizing Republican turnout in Red states is what probably saved Bush. I have a feeling when polls are analyszed tomorrow that Bush will have LOST support among independents and democrats but had a corresponding INCREASE in support from Republicans.

FLASH…FLASH…FLASH…

Bush wins Ohio! Fox news has called Ohio for Bush at 11:20 pm CST. ALL BUSH NEEDS IS EITHER NM OR NV PLUS ALASKA (SHOO-IN) TO WIN!!!!!!!!!

11:15 Bush maintains Ohio lead and gets CO. EV now 246-206 with the Maine 2nd district still up for grabs. Capn’ reports that Kerry lead shrinking in MN now that surburbia starts to roll in. Also, in MI Kerry may have hit his high water mark with votes from heavily dem Wayne cty (Detroit) mostly counted. If so, look for Bush to even MI up and perhaps pull away when the UP vote starts to come in. (HT: Capn’). The Capn’ updates us with news from WI that there also, Kerry’s surge is the result of dem counties reporting.

FLASH…FLASH…FLASH

ABC calls FL for Bush! OH still tilts Bush…as does WI, NM, CO, and NV. If Bush loses OH, it becomes difficult but not unreachable. He would need WI, NM, CO, NV and AK. Bush closing in IA, losing big in MN and still to close in MI.

Somebody get me some maalox.

10:45 Susan Estrich was just on Fox and looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. She was positively glowing as she reported that her talks with Kerry people had convinced her that Ohio was going Kerry. She also says that people in FL urban areas were still standing in line at 10:30 Central time (that’s nuts). She looked about 100% more optimistic than her last appearance about 2 hrs ago. Is she engaging in some desperate wishful thinking or does she know something? Time will tell.

10:25 Bush takes MT and AZ…no surprise. It now comes down to Ohio. If Kerry loses Ohio THERE IS NO WAY HE CAN GET ENOUGH ELECTORAL VOTES TO REACH 270. Bush still ahead in WI but now falling behind in MI. Looking good in NM and OR is still out. Ohio is the ballgame…and Bush still leads there although its very close. If Bush loses in OH, it’s an uphill climb for HIM becaus he’s down big in IA and MN. OH is gonna go down to the wire…and probably no concession from Kerry tonight.

9:55 PA finally goes Kerry. Polls close in CA, WA, and OR which will all probably called immediately for Kerry. EV Count 193 to 134 Bush.

If you haven’t yet tonight…visit Megapundit.. He’s got an excellent, easy to follow chart with vote totals and trends. Right now, Bush doing better in NH (tied at 50%), PA looks lost (59-41 Kerry). BTW, I expect it to come out after the election that MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ocurred in PA…Ed Rendell should be indicted.

9:30 Bushies are upbeat…dems look depressed. Zogby, who went out on a limb and predicted Kerry getting 300 electoral votes may be finished as a national pollster…WHAT A MOONBAT!

9:15 Bush called in AR and MO! Great news! EV has Bush up 193-112. Here’s my take for the rest of the night…
Bush has the rest of the mountain west sown up…AZ, NV, MT, and ID for 22 electoral votes. That would give Bush 219 out of 270 needed to win. IF Bush can hold onto leads in OH and FL (looking good right now) that would give him 47 more EV’s for a total of 266. ALL BUSH NEEDS TO DO IS WIN ONE OF THE FOLLOWING…CO, IA, NM, OR NH OR MAYBE HI!

It’s an uphill battle for Kerry right now as Bush also leads in MI…if he loses there, it’s ballgame and an early night.

9:00 Bush called in MT…no word yet on other states in MT west…
Looking VERY GOOD in MI, bad in PA iffy in NH.
OH and FL still looking good. Bush margin in Rep. counties up MORE from 2000 than Kerry margin in Gore counties. I think Bush should win by 200,000-300,000 votes in FL.

8:40 My old neighbor from MT. Prospect Phil Crane is being swamped by the Kerry/Obama tidal wave (Kerry getting 78% of vote in IL running BEHIND Obama!) Looks like a dem pickup.

Crane ran for President in 1980 and has faded the last few years…he’s old and tired and looks like he’s being put out to pasture. His district was redrawn to include some more blue collar counties which prrobably contributed to his apparent defeat.

8:15 FL looking VERY GOOD for Bush. Still no word for Miami or Dade counties-heavily democratic.

THis is an old political trick. If any shennanigans are going to happen, it’ll be in the big cities like Miami and Orlando…dems wait until they get an idea of “how many votes they’re going to need” and then try every trick in the book to up the vote totals. (Coming from Chicago, I know all about the “graveyard” vote…where in 1960, residents of a graveyard on the south side suddenly came to life, reigstered to vote, and ALL went for Kennedy). Hope our gys are on the ball in Dade county.

8:00 Calls coming fast and furious: Bush takes TX, NE, KS,ND, SD, and WY. Kerry takes NY and RI. Too close in MO, AR, FL, OH, MN, WI, MI, and NM.
Capn’ says watch NJ! May have been called prematurely!

7:35: VA finally called for Bush…(about time guys)

7:30 Bush called in SC. EV 77-74 Kerry. No surprises so far (VA has Bush ahead but big TO in N. VA probably holding the call)

7:15 Bush called in NC! Closer than expected but still comfortable. Bush way ahead in SC…expect that to go red shortly.

7:00 pm: Bush takes OK, AL, and TN. Kerry takes IL, DC, NJ,…EV 77-66 Kerry. VA and SC and NC all look good for Bush. I was right…turnout is making the network’s job difficult.

FLASH…FLASH…FLASH…

Kerry Spot quotes Bush insider:

“About a half hour back, I posted word that a senior Bush campaign official was saying, “Ohio is won, Florida is won, and Pennsylvania is tied.” Then Shannon Coffin noted a White House source saying, “Confident that Bush will win OH and FL, that he will roll in WVa (ten points?) and that Mel Martinez will carry Florida.”

Now some unnamed source is telling Red State is saying “it is over. Bush won. Ohio and Florida are secure.”

A word about exit polls…they take a couple of dozen “key” precincts and average turnout, party reliability, and a few other mundane factors to project a winner. The big turnout here COULD be skewing the computer models and not giving confidence to the networks.

Wishful thinking??? Mebbe…Superhawk VERY NERVOUS!

6:40: Bush leads popular vote 58% to 42%…still no call on VA or NC or SC.
While Kerry was getting closer in VA, no such problems for BUSH in others.
Don’t know what this means…could be a glitch in exit polling due to turnout…could be bad news.

6:30: WV Goes Bush: BIG! Bush had narrow lead in polls prior to election.
EV 39-3 Bush

6:15: GA Goes Bush; Bush 34-3 electoral college

6:00 pm: Polls now closed in KY and IN…President projected winner in both by CNN. Kerry projected in VT. Too close to call in VA and SC.

Not good.

I voted at 6:15 this AM.

My precinct (Algonquin 1) uses the optical scan ballot…sort of reminded me of taking my SAT test. I was VERY CAREFUL in marking my ballot, making sure that I blackened the oval next to George Bush’s name without going outside of the line. (Note: I nearly flunked Advanced Coloring in kindergarten so you can imagine what the damn ballot looked like after I was finished with it.)

I complained to the judge that the guy at the street corner waving the Kerry sign was less than 100 feet from the poll. He looked at me like I was some kind of nutcake (I am) and told me that “everything was taken care of.” (Superhawk glares at the moonbat with a look that could’ve melted the moonbat’s tin foil cap.)

I’ll be liveblogging the election tonight starting at 5:00 pm Central Time. I’ll be happy to add a link to your posting if you’re doing the same. Also, feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment…let’s have some fun tonight!

The Capn’ will also be live blogging tonight…make sure you link back to his site for some first rate analysis.

ELECTION NIGHT TOOLS

First, John Lund’s excellent piece in WSJ today gives poll closing times in all the states plus some excellent analysis. Print this out and follow along tonight.

Second, the interactive MSNBC electoral map is SO MUCH FUN! I’ve spent a lot of time plugging in various scenarios and it’s a riot! I plan on using it extensively tonight.

NZ Bear has a link to some good resources also. If you have any additional resources, let me know.

Townhall has an EXCELLENT election site with live commentary from around the world…should be interesting.

ELECTION NIGHT TV COVERAGE

THESE ARE THE LISTING FOR CABLE COVERAGE OF THE ELECTION:

Fox News Channel: Coverage starts at 6 p.m. with anchor Brit Hume from New York.

CNN: Coverage from Times Square starts at 6 p.m. with anchor Wolf Blitzer and Aaron Brown, Anderson Cooper, and Jeff Greenfield.

MSNBC: Coverage starts at 5 p.m. anchored by Chris Matthews.

“In Konduz (Afghanistan), a group of women were standing in line to vote when an explosive device detonated a few hundred yards away. They refused to move — to do so, they reasoned, would be to give the terrorists a victory.” (Townhall, 10/15/04)

I wonder what it would be like to live in a country where “Vote or Die” meant something besides an outrageously crafted lie by left wing loons.

What is it about the human soul that gives people the courage to face possible death or serious injury all just to put a check mark next to the name of a total stranger?

Why are people willing to die fighting rather than submit to the notion that someone else knows better than they how to run their lives?

Do you believe in anyone or anything as strongly as those women standing in line to vote in Afghanistan?

“The mood in most places appeared irrepressibly upbeat.

“This is one of the happiest days of my life,” said Sayed Aminullah as he cast he vote at Eid Gah Mosque in the capital.

“I don’t care about the result. All I care is that we are having an election. This is a sign that things are improving for Afghanistan.” (Reuters, 10/9)

Why are Iraqi men flooding recruiting centers to sign up for the army when their compatriots are regularly and routinely murdered in suicide attacks, executed along lonely roads, and killed in gun battles with a hide and seek insurgency?

What is it that gives an Iraqi woman the courage and determination to work with coalition forces as a translator despite the fact that her family has been targeted by the terrorists, her brother killed, two other siblings seriously injured, and she herself the target of a powerful explosion that resulted in severe injuries?

Have we Americans lost this kind of courage? Have we become so jaded, so cynical about democracy, about the very essence of what democracy is, that we’re now prepared to put a man who gave aid and comfort to the enemies of democracy and has consistently opposed the march of freedom across the world, the most powerful office on the planet?

How can we keep faith with the men and women of Afghanistan and Iraq if we so cavalierly treat their sacrifices with disdain and contempt by electing a President who has denigrated these sacrifices and called their liberation a “mistake” or a “diversion?”

When I’m standing in line to vote tomorrow, I’m not going to complain about the long lines. I’m not going to dismiss this sacred act as choosing “the lesser of two evils.” I’m not going to gripe about the weather, my neighbors, my political opponents, or the biased media.

I am going to remember.

I am going to remember those women risking their lives to vote in Afghanistan.

I am going to remember that, as I’m standing in line, men and women in Iraq are fighting and dying to win their basic right as a human being to determine their own destiny.

I am going to exercise a right that my ancestors fought and died to secure and that people all over the globe are dying daily to achieve.

I am going to vote. Don’t you think you should too?