Barack Obama for President

[Ninong]

Still To Be Determined

Nebraska: Omaha's leading newspaper called the second congressional district for Obama but the official Nebraska Secretary of State website still shows McCain ahead in that district by 569 votes. We may not know who won that electoral college vote until after results are certified. Nebraska has five electoral college votes: 2 go to the winner of the state and the other three are allocated to the winner in each of the state's three congressional districts.

Missouri: Only NBC has called this state for John McCain. All of the other networks have it as too close to call. McCain has a lead of 5,869 votes but there are a lot of absentee ballots and provisional ballots yet to be counted. If the majority of those ballots are from St. Louis, then Obama could make gains on McCain. We may not know who won Missouri for several days or more.

Alaska: This is getting weirder by the minute. Both Ted Stevens and Don Young appear to have won re-election, BUT there are still more than 50,000 votes yet to be counted. Those are the absentee ballots. In addition to those, there are approximately 18,000 provisional ballots that have to be verified and counted. Usually about two-thirds of those are determined to be valid. That's a lot of uncounted votes considering the size of the election day total of 220,000. Alaska has a lot more caribou than people.

Ted Stevens leads by less than 3,400 votes. If we assume that Mark Begich beats Stevens by 53%-46% in the absentee ballots, that would be a pickup of 3,500 votes. They could then split the provisional ballots 50-50 and Begich would still be the winner. The state is taking forever to count the absentee ballots. Early results appear to show Begich getting about 60% of those votes. It is quite possible that after the final results are tallied, both Stevens and Young may be out of work.

Georgia: Apparently Saxby Chambliss is headed for a runoff against his Democratic opponent. The Chambliss campaign commented that the runoff should be a slam dunk because most of the African-Americans who came out to vote for Obama won't bother to vote in the runoff. Already all of the heavy hitters in both parties are scheduled to campaign for their respective party's candidate. However, there are reports that thousands and thousands of ballots are "missing" in Georgia. Hmmm...?

Minnesota: The Minnesota Secretary of State website has Norm Coleman leading Al Franken by only 221 votes. By state law, there will be a recount.

The Senate: Right now it's Democrats 57 and Republicans 40. That's including the two Independents with the Democrats. There are three seats yet to be determined: Alaska, Minnesota and Georgia. If by some miracle the Democrats manage to win all three, then they would reach the magical number of 60.

However, Joe Lieberman has been told that he will NOT be chairman of the powerful Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs next year and he has said that this is "unacceptable." Little Joe is waiting to see which party will offer him the biggest bribe before making his future plans known. He has already met with Mitch McConnell and McConnell has offered to welcome him into the GOP caucus but that's not where Lying Joe wants to be. Besides, McConnell can't make Lieberman ranking member of any of the major committees without displacing a senior Republican and that's not likely to happen. Lieberman is begging his Democratic colleagues to allow him to retain his chairmanship. To put it mildly, that ain't gonna happen!

Lieberman lost in the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont. He immediately announced that he would run against Lamont in the general election as an Independent. The Republican party immediately switched their support and their money to Lieberman, dumping their own party's candidate. In fact, the Republican party's official candidate received less than 10% of the vote in the general. When Lieberman was campaigning against Lamont, he vowed publicly to support the Democratic party's presidential nominee and to work hard to ensure that the Democrats won the White House and increased their number of seats in the Senate.

Lieberman not only broke that promise, he campaigned across the country side by side with John McCain and Sarah Palin. Lieberman called President-elect Barack Obama a "dangerous" choice for America and said that it was "important that the Democrats not get 60 seats in the Senate." Wow! What a little piece of you know what. Not content to campaign for McCain and Palin, Lieberman even made appearances in support of down-ticked Republican candidates. Kick his scrawny ass out the door. The Republicans can have him. Wait till their base realizes that the war in Iraq is the ONLY issue where Lieberman votes with them. He is a LIBERAL Democrat on every other issue.

Lieberman has a long history of saying whatever he thinks will advance his career at the moment. Back in 1988, when he campaigned for his first term, he promised the voters that if elected he would serve no more than two terms. He broke that solemn promise. He is now in his fourth term.

[Ninong]

Friday, Nov 07

Who Got To Ask Questions At The Obama Presser?

In order:

Nedra Pickler (AP), Lee Cowan (NBC), Jake Tapper (ABC), Chip Reid (CBS), Karen Bohan (Reuters), John McCormick (Chicago Tribune), Lynn Sweet (Chicago Sun-Times), Candy Crowley (CNN), Jeff Zeleny (New York Times).

Which network didn't get a question? Fox News.



P.S. -- I'm beginning to like Rahm Emanuel even more in his new job as the next White House Chief of Staff.

[SPasse]

Ninong,

“Which network didn't get a question? Fox News.”

Hmm… I thought he said that he was the president of the people that listen to Fox news also?

Regards,

Scott

[Ninong]

Scott,

It was a very brief press conference. I believe it lasted only about 17 minutes. Not everyone in the room got to ask a question. I don't believe the representatives of the Wall Street Journal or the New York Post were called upon either, so it's not like FOX was the only Murdock-owned news organization that didn't get a question this time around. I'm sure President-elect Obama will get around to them eventually.

In the meantime, I believe FOX has exclusive rights to the first post-election interview with Gov. Palin. Maybe they'll ask her about the "silk boxers?"

[SPasse]

Ninong,

I was just joking

Actually he did pick a great bulldog in Rahm Emanuel.

This will be great theater if nothing else.[/font]

There are a lot of things that I could get behind in an Obama presidency others that I will not.

One of the things that he mentioned was appointing a CTO. (Chief Technical Officer) I doubt if some of our past presidents knew what a CTO was. I still remember Bush senior being amazed the first time that he saw a barcode scanner at a supermarket checkout line. A tech savvy president is kind of important don’t you think? ;)

Regards,

Scott

[Ninong]

Actually he did pick a great bulldog in Rahm Emanuel.

This will be great theater if nothing else.[/font]

Yes, Rahm Emanuel is probably a neocon's worst nightmare, which is why I was hoping he would replace Steny Hoyer as House Majority Leader. Emanuel is every bit as effective at keeping the troops in line as Tom DeLay was on his side of the aisle when they were in power.

At least this appointment should keep the Israeli lobby quiet for a while. We will have a White House chief of staff whose middle name is Israel and who volunteered to serve for a few months with the IDF during the First Gulf War.

It may be difficult for the press to quote him verbatim because he begins and ends every sentence with an expletive.

There are a lot of things that I could get behind in an Obama presidency others that I will not.

One of the things that he mentioned was appointing a CTO. (Chief Technical Officer) I doubt if some of our past presidents knew what a CTO was. I still remember Bush senior being amazed the first time that he saw a barcode scanner at a supermarket checkout line. A tech savvy president is kind of important don’t you think?

Well, I'm ahead of WALNUTS! because I have been emailing and using the computer for Internet access for more than 15 years now. Just don't ask me to do much more than that with them.

Now that the Gestapo is losing power, all of the government scientists will be allowed to speak to the press without having a 24-year-old political-appointee government minder present. And scientific papers will not be edited to conform with political policy.

Right now the Bush administration is rushing to put out as many executive orders as possible to benefit big oil and big mining at the expense of the environment. And they're signing new leases right and left. They just granted rights to mine for uranium within a couple miles of the Grand Canyon. This is the administration that said we should allow drilling in our national parks in the areas that are "out of sight" of the public. I'm not sure in any of those mining or drilling leases can be revoked but most of the executive orders can be and will be within the first 90 days of the Obama administration.

[Ninong]

Bush and Obama Meeting in White House Today

From Gallup:

Monday's White House meeting between President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama presents a remarkable contrast between one of the least popular two-term presidents in modern times at the close of his administration, and one of the most popular candidates to win the presidency.

According to Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Nov. 6-8, only 27% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing as president. This contrasts with the 70% of Americans holding a favorable view of Obama.

Although this contrast between Obama and Bush is based on different measures -- presidential job approval and general favorability -- the ratings produced by the two typically track very closely for U.S. presidents, and thus provide a good indication of the vast popularity gap that exists between Bush and Obama.

Additionally, nearly two-thirds of Americans say they are confident in Obama's ability to be a good president, similar to his 70% favorable reading.

P.S. -- Apparently the only people with an unfavorable view of Obama are the ones who think George W. Bush is doing a good job.

[Ninong]

Ted Stevens Could Still Lose

Uncounted Ballots in Alaska

This is dated 11/9/08:

60,950 uncounted absentee ballots
09,507 early votes
70,457 total abs & early votes

Plus 20,178 "questioned" ballots

That's more than 90,000 ballots outstanding! That number is about 9,000 higher than it was just a day or two ago. They keep "finding" missing ballots.

The Division of Elections doesn't plan to count the absentee and early ballots until Wednesday. They hope to count the remaining ballots Friday. Overseas ballots have until Wednesday, Nov. 19th to be received and be counted. The DOE plans to certify the election on Tuesday, Nov. 25th. An automatic recount will be implemented if the final votes are within 0.5 percent (same as in Minnesota). Dept. of Corrections: A recount in Alaska is only automatic in the case of a tie. If the final votes are within one-half of one percent, either candidate or a group of 10 registered voters can request a recount without paying the $15,000 fee.

P.S. -- Anchorage Daily News: "Something Smells Fishy."

[Ninong]

The Gift That Keeps On Giving (Cont'd.)

Sarah Palin is giving interviews right and left. FOX was just the first of many. Everybody is heading north to Alaska to get "exclusive" interviews with Caribou Barbie and taste her father's moose chili. Palin has scheduled a series of national interviews this week with FOX, NBC's "Today" show and CNN. She also plans to attend the Republican Governors Association conference in Florida this week.

Why did she and McCain lose? It was all George Bush's fault. And boy, did she ever go through the list, ticking off everything that Bush has messed up on. "I think the Republican ticket represented too much of the status quo, too much of what had gone on in these last eight years... It's amazing that we did as well as we did."

What about all those fancy clothes? She didn't ask for them and she doesn't want them. The RNC can have them. All she ever asked for was a Diet Dr. Pepper every now and then.

Will she run in 2012? It's all in God's hands. She's waiting for God to show her "the open door." "I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is."

What will she do if she sees an "open door." She will "plow through that door." "And if there is an open door in '12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I'll plow through that door."

Is it true that she refused to stay on message and went her own way during the last weeks of the campaign? "Being quite independent, just like John McCain is also, yes, maybe there is some characterizing of me going rogue when once in a while I would say something that -- hey, I said it from the heart."

What about Africa? Is it a country or a continent? "We discussed what was going on in Africa. And never, ever did I talk about, well, gee, is it a country or is it a continent. I just don't know about this issue. So I don't know how they took our one discussion on Africa and turned that into what they turned it into."

What does she think of the senior McCain Campaign insiders who leaked all those embarrassing details about her shopping spree? You know, the part about the "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman-Marcus from coast to coast." "They're a bunch of stinkers."

In Wasilla, her hometown backers welcomed her, putting aside their disappointment over her unsuccessful bid.

Jessica Steele can't wait to see what Sarah Palin does next — not with her political career, but with her hair.

Now that Palin is obviously already running for the 2012 GOP nomination, we should probably open a new "They're Off and Running" thread.

[Ninong]

From the Anchorage Daily News

Ted Stevens leads Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich by about 3,000 votes with roughly 30 percent of the ballots remaining to be counted, including:

• 61,000 absentee votes.
• More than 20,000 questioned ballots.
• 9,500 early votes.

Of those, at least two-thirds of the absentee votes and nearly all the early votes are expected to be counted Wednesday, said Division Director Gail Fenumiai.

This is going to take forever if they're only counting two-thirds of the absentee ballots and none of the "questioned" ballots tomorrow. However, it would be a very good sign if Begich pulls ahead of Convicted-on-all-seven-counts-felon Ted Stevens.

I have a good feeling about Alaska and Minnesota. I'm not all that confident about Georgia. The GOP scumbag, Saxby Chambliss, did get 49.8% of the vote on election day and it's going to be an uphill struggle to get enough of a Democratic turnout for the runoff to defeat him. It will be a battle of wills -- which party wants it more. Obama's ground team in Georgia was never as good as it was in neighboring Florida.

If Alaska and Minnesota are both resolved in favor of the Democrats before the Georgia runoff, then the Georgia race will determine whether the Democrats reach that magical number of 60. That's because it's looking more and more like the Democrats are willing to cut a deal with Little Joe Lieberman to keep him in their caucus. In my opinion, they have to do something to him to save face. They can't let him get away scot-free after what he did.

Lieberman says that losing his chairmanship of Homeland Security is "unacceptable." I say leaving him in that chair is unacceptable for two reasons: it would prove once again that the Democrats lack discipline and it's the wrong committee for him to be in charge of. Put him in charge of a committee where his views are in line with the party's views. That would include just about all of the other committees. Give him Veterans' Affairs or something like that.

Senate: Democrats +6 with 3 races outstanding.
House: Democrats +20 with 6 races outstanding.

We lost Mark Foley's old seat in Florida because the Democratic incumbent pulled an Eliot Spitzer on us at the last minute. Don Cazayoux lost his seat in Louisiana because the African-American Democrat he defeated in the Democratic primary pulled a Joe Lieberman on us and ran as an Independent in the general election. The Republican candidate won with 48% of the vote, the exact same amount he got when he was defeated by Cazayoux in the special election. That's a shame because the Democrats worked very hard to win that seat that had been in GOP hands for several decades.

Elections in Louisiana are extremely polarized along racial lines. It's disgusting that this is still going on in the 21st century. Sixty percent of white Democrats voted for John McCain, 38% of them voted for Barack Obama. I guess I should be happy. I was afraid that only 25% of them would vote for Obama.

[Ninong]

Update: Alaska Dept. of Elections

Mark Begich: 125,019
Ted Stevens: 125,016

Looks like they counted only about 44,000-45,000 absentee ballots today. Those absentee ballots came from all over the state, not from any particular area. That represents about half of the previously outstanding ballots, including the so-called "questioned" ballots, which I don't think they have begun to tackle yet. (Update: At the end of counting Wednesday, Begich's lead stands at 814 votes! There are still another 35,000 votes yet to be counted.)

Convicted-on-all-seven-counts-felon Ted Stevens was leading by about 3,300 votes. He now trails by 3 814 votes. Remember that if the final tally is within one-half of one percent, either candidate, or any ten registered voters, can request a recount without having to pay the $15,000 fee.

The Democrats have already picked up six Senate seats, giving them an operating total of 57 (including Bernie Sanders and Little Joe Lieberman).

Alaska looks like it will be extremely close and probably headed for a recount after all of the votes are counted the first time. I still think the Democratic candidate, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, will win this seat.

In Minnesota, Republican Norm "Stoner" Coleman leads Democrat Al Franken by only 203 votes. That race is headed for a manual recount as mandated by state law. I think there is a good chance that Franken will win this seat.

If the Democrats prevail in both Alaska and Minnesota, then the runoff race in Georgia will take on new importance because if the Democrats can somehow pull off a miracle there, they would reach the magical number of 60. We will know the results of both Alaska and Minnesota before the vote in Georgia. The GOP is already running scary ads down there telling people to vote for Chambliss to prevent the liberals from taking over and turning us into a Muslim country run by a socialist Marxist who pals around with domestic terrorists.

Failed presidential candidate John McCain, who lost his way a long, long time ago, will be down in Georgia campaigning for a man he once rightfully accused of reprehensible behavior for running the disgraceful ads against Vietnam veteran Max Cleland, a triple amputee. Besides the typical GOP race baiting ads that they always run against white Democrats in the South, draft dodger Chambliss ran ads accusing hero Max Cleland of being soft on terrorism, even showing his picture next to a picture of Osama bin Laden. As John McCain rightfully pointed out at the time, Cleland was a man who left three limbs on the battlefield -- how dare Chambliss accuse him of being unpatriotic and soft on terrorism.

"I'd never seen anything like that ad. Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to the picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield -- it's worse than disgraceful. It's reprehensible." -- John McCain way back in 2002 talking about Saxby Chambliss' TV spots against hero Max Cleland.

That was way back in 2002 when John McCain still had some principles. Back when he voted against the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy because, as McCain put it, they disproportionately benefited the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the middle class and the offended his conscience. Apparently his lost his conscience -- probably dropped in on that stage where he kissed former "agent of intolerance" Jerry Falwell's big fat ass.

So now John McCain will travel to Georgia to campaign for a man he once despised. McCain should be thinking about restoring whatever shreds of honor he might have left instead of campaigning for a scumbag like Saxby Chambliss, who is already running ads showing pictures of 9/11 against his current Democratic opponent, Jim Martin. I guess he figures that if it worked before, it might work again. The RNC will push the theme that we can't allow Barack Obama and his dangerous liberal agenda to have total control. Down here in Louisiana, the RNC bombarded us with ads calling Obama "a dangerous liberal with a radical agenda." They would then place of picture of Obama next to a picture of Sen. Mary Landrieu with Landriu repeating over and over again, I support Barack Obama. The voiceover would then tell us breathlessly that "Mary Landrieu voted with Barack Obama 81% of the time." She abandoned "our values" in favor of "Obama's dangerous liberal agenda." Naturally they managed to find a darkened, "menancing" looking photo of Obama (probably borrowed it from Hillary) to place next to Mary Landrieu's photo. The GOP never misses an opportunity to play the race card in areas of the country, like Louisiana, that are still living in the 1930's.

The Republican party deserved the crushing, humiliating defeat that was dealt to them on November 4th. If it hadn't been for all the racist white Democrats in the South and certain redneck parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio and a few other rustbelt states, Obama would have won the popular vote by 10-12 percent instead of just 6.5%. I checked the other Southern states and found that Louisiana came in first again. Sixty percent of white Democrats in this state voted for McCain. That's a much higher percentage than in any other state in the country. I guess I should be thankful that 38% of us did vote for Obama. In the Democratic primary, Obama got only 20% of the white vote. The rest voted for Hillary. This was our first year with closed primaries instead of open (aka jungle) primaries. I know someone who was frustrated to find out at the last minute that he wouldn't be able to vote for John McCain in the primary because he was still a registered Democrat, but that's another story.

You may find this hard to believe, but we just had a KKK murder a few days ago. At least the law enforcement authorities seem to be taking this one seriously. They have already arrested several people, all KKK members. This took place only about 30 miles from my home. Here's a photo gallery of the KKK scum responsbile for killing a woman who changed her mind about joining their gang of racist criminals.

The Tulsa, Okla, woman allegedly slain by a member of the Ku Klux Klan on Sunday when she tried to back out of an initiation rite in St. Tammany Parish has been identified as 43-year-old Cynthia C. Lynch, authorities said Wednesday.

Lynch, who was identified with the help of family members and medical records, died of a gunshot wound, St. Tammany Parish Coroner's Office spokesman Mark Lombard said.

Authorities have arrested Raymond "Chuck" Foster, 44, the head of a Klan group known as the Sons of Dixie, in the shooting and booked seven other members of the organization for allegedly trying to cover up the murder.

Here is the original story about this KKK ritual slaying, along with photos of the KKK members in custody. It's hard to believe that in the 21st century we are still dealing with the KKK.

Here are a few selected excerpts from that story that show just what a bunch of retards these morons really are:

The initiation continued at the campsite, with rituals that consisted mainly of lighting torches and "running around in the woods, " Strain said.

That would be hilarious right there if it weren't part of a murder story. Lighting torches and running around in the woods. Bunch of jackasses.

Sunday night, the woman decided she wanted to leave the camp, sparking an argument with Foster that soon turned violent, Strain said. Foster pushed the woman down and, as the argument continued, he shot her with a .40-caliber handgun, the sheriff said.

Belongings set ablaze
Foster immediately moved to cover up the crime, Strain said. He quickly flipped the woman's body over and tried to dig out the bullet with a knife before ordering his followers to destroy evidence, Strain said.

"That shows you the callousness of this individual," the sheriff said.

During the night, Klan members set fire to the woman's belongings as well as the campsite and dumped her body near Lock No. 3 Road, about a half-mile from the shooting site, Strain said.

But it was the group's effort to cover up the shooting that eventually put investigators on their trail.

Foster's son, Shane Foster, and Frank Stafford showed up at the Circle K store on Louisiana 21 in Bogalusa early Monday morning and asked the clerk how they could remove bloodstains from their clothes, said Lt. Tom Anderson of the Washington Parish Sheriff's Office. The clerk, who recognized the men, later called the Sheriff's Office, and the men were soon found, Anderson said.

Alerted to the situation, St. Tammany Parish deputies then converged on the campsite while the remaining six Klan members fled. Deputies found the woman's body and caught five of the suspects in the woods, Strain said. Foster turned himself in after being contacted by police, Strain said.

At the campsite, investigators found weapons, several flags, five white Klan uniforms and one black imperial wizard uniform. The uniforms are festooned with patches, including one that reads, "Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out, " and a pin shaped liked a noose.

"I can't imagine anyone feeling endangered or at risk from these kooks, " Strain said. "This Sheriff's Office will not allow it. We're not going to tolerate this in St. Tammany."

The two who asked the convenience story clerk for advice on how to remove blood stains from their clothing are definitely worthy of a nomination for the Dumbest Criminal of the Year Award.

[Ninong]

Priest: If You Voted For Obama, No Communion For You

Fifty-four percent of American Catholics voted for Barack Obama. They all committed mortal sin according to Fr. Jay Scott Newman of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville, SC. If they don't confess, they're going to burn in hell for all eternity. Oh, scary!

For starters, that decision is supposed to rest with the bishop of each diocese, not a local parish priest who was just ordained in 1993. Apparently Fr. Newman has an exalted opinion of his authority. On his personal website, he refers to the late pontiff as Pope John Paul the Great. That title is not one that is conferred by a parish priest. JPII hasn't even been canonized yet, although Papa Razi is doing his best to rush things. Only three popes (Leo I, Gregory I and Nicholas I) have had the title "the great" appended to their names and the last was more than 1,200 years ago. And all three were canonized. I wonder how many people are sending emails to Fr. Newman asking him who gave him the authority to make these decisions? jayscottnewman@mac.com

It's not exactly like the Catholic Church has the moral high ground lately, what with the billions of dollars they have paid out in damages for sexual abuse over the years that was covered up at the very highest levels of the church both in the United States and the Vatican.

P.S. -- Speaking of canonization: JPII created more saints during his reign as pope than all of the previous popes put together. They also lost a few in the past couple of decades. St. Christopher, for example, is now just Mr. Christopher. The nuns always gave you a St. Christopher medal in kindergarten to keep you from getting lost. I guess all the little kids will just have to get lost from now on.

[Ninong]

Alaska Update: Begich Now Leads by 1,022 Votes

11/14/2008
03:56:18 PM

They still have more than 20,000 votes left to count. This is looking better and better for Begich. It would be nice if his margin of victory ends up at least 1,800 votes or more so that they can avoid a recount. They could still have a recount but it would require payment of a $15,000 fee if the margin of victory is more than 0.5%.