Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Megan's Inspiration is my opportunity to be petty and cynical
Whether or not you are for Obama, the candidate, I think you have to admit that there is one pretty exciting thing happening today: we will never again live in an America where a black man can't be elected president.I wholeheartedly agree.I will also be enjoying a much more petty sentiment - gently chiding my various acquaintances who think McCain will win 'because America is too racist', and openly ridiculing the handful who thought Bush would start a war with Iran and use it as a pretense to call off the election. As you may recall I offered some big money bets on these predictions but - SURPRISE - had no takers.
I guess it's obvious I disagree with co-bloggers who think McCain will win.
Finally, since NJ was polling 15-20% in favor of Obama, I pulled the lever for Barr and Republican names down the ballot. I would really like to get back to divided government. Sorry guys, McCain is simply too statist for me, and his administration and motley group of economic advisors looks good only compared to the enigmatic threat of a possibly protectionist wealth redistributor with an enormous mandate and a congressional majority.
Evan Coyne Maloney did the same, apparently, with similar reasoning.
19 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Nov 04, 03:31:00 PM:
Pretty easy to vote for Barr if you live in a cast iron dem state. But what if you lived in Ohio or Pa.? Would you still gbe as principled?
By , at
Tue Nov 04, 03:36:00 PM:
ditto.
No one likes McCain, and his nomination shows pretty clearly the hard intellectual road ahead for the GOP in developing a better argument for the voters as to why the party deserves to be elected.
By , at
Tue Nov 04, 03:36:00 PM:
Did you vote for Barr simply because Obama is guaranteed to win and your vote doesn't matter?
Unfortunately, protest votes don't register in the minds of politicians. A win is a win, and they don't give a rip about the population that voted for other candidates.
Like Pres. Bush said after his 2004 win, he'll spend his political capital since he won and screw the rest.
By , at
Tue Nov 04, 03:42:00 PM:
So, Why did you have the McCain-Palin sign displayed?
By 
Charlottesvillain, at
Tue Nov 04, 03:43:00 PM:
Dude, Bill Clinton settled that issue long ago.
By Dawnfire82, at
Tue Nov 04, 03:44:00 PM:
"No one likes McCain"
I like McCain. I liked him in 2000, too.
By , at
Tue Nov 04, 03:52:00 PM:
I like McCain too. I am disappointed that sometimes he goes off the rails in weird ways, but I trust him when he talks about how much he loves this country.
I know someone who personally has encountered Bob Barr in Georgia (in a formal legal setting), and is convinced that Barr is no Libertarian.
-David
By , at
Tue Nov 04, 04:20:00 PM:
I'll get back to you in a few nmonths and you can tell me how that voting for Barr thing worked out.
By Andrew Hofer, at
Tue Nov 04, 04:53:00 PM:
Don't bother, as you can see, I know how it will work out. Unless you think Obama will win NJ in a squeaker. Willing to take some action on that if you'd like...
No, I wouldn't have voted for Barr elsewhere. I'm not sure I trust Barr is loyal to his platform.
By Nomennovum, at
Tue Nov 04, 05:41:00 PM:
You said in your earlier post today, "I hope that John McCain wins tonight."
Yet now you tell us that you pulled the lever for Barr.
This is how elections are lost. What will be the number of Barr voters in the swing states? Who knows? However, those votes may well end up being decisive. I think it is somewhat dangerous to assume that your vote won't count. You could be wrong. The guy voting for Barr in Florida or Ohio could (much more likely) be wrong.
Think of your vote as a vote to defeat Obama. Thought of that way, a vote for Barr is a vote not to defeat Obama. It is therefore a vote for Obama.
I don't mean to sound harsh, Tigerhawk, but elections are not the time or place to indulge one's vanity.
By , at
Tue Nov 04, 05:48:00 PM:
Nomennovum
This post was by Mindles H. Dreck, not Tigerhawk.
TH is a level on the level, and wears McCain-Palin sportswear into the blue-state Hell of Princeton, NJ. Mindles H. Dreck is an ace financial guru who lives somewhere in Greater New York, I think.
There are a variety of people that blog here. It's like a box of chocolates, some would say.
-David
By Dawnfire82, at
Tue Nov 04, 05:49:00 PM:
Er, that was MHD, not TH, speaking. Writing. Typing. Whatever.
Given that the last 2 presidential elections were pretty much 49-51 contests, those third party crazy votes just might matter.
In Florida, 2000, the percentage was 48.9% to 48.8%. That means that 2.3% went to a third party. Had only .2% been cast for Gore rather than Bush, he'd have won Florida and history would be quite different.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2000_(detail)
By Nomennovum, at
Tue Nov 04, 05:51:00 PM:
Well, as Emily Litella used to say, "never mind."
This is another one of those times where I hit "publish" before I had my facts straight.
I owe both you, Tigerhawk, and you, Mindles H. Dreck, an apology.
Tigerhawk has not been hypocritical as I alluded; nor has MHD, who simply doesn't like McCain's policies. Fair enough.
I will try to be more careful next time.
By Andrew Hofer, at
Tue Nov 04, 06:17:00 PM:
If NJ goes on a slim margin (1-2%) I'll sadly eat crow. I think I even offered to put some money on the opposite, though.
By Brian, at
Tue Nov 04, 06:37:00 PM:
I'm glad to hear that MHD believes "big money bets" are useful to see if people are serious about their assertions. I agree, and am happy to bet people that deny human-caused global warming.
By , at
Tue Nov 04, 07:54:00 PM:
Bob Barr....? The guy that "didn't know that gun was loaded" at a speech he made.....just askin.
By Dawnfire82, at
Tue Nov 04, 08:02:00 PM:
Brian: I'll gladly bet you that the world will end in a fiery apocalype in 2012 as the Mayan calendar rolls over into the 5th age.
You can't prove or disprove faith-based ideas. By their nature, they cannot be known for sure until some unthinkable thing happens, at which point money will probably be quite worthless.
By Joanne, at
Tue Nov 04, 10:49:00 PM:
It just goes to show anyone in America, and I mean anyone, can be potentially elected President of the United States. The bar has not been raised, but placed beaneath the ground. The fat lady isn't singing yet, but I can hear her warming up.
By Andrew Hofer, at
Wed Nov 05, 06:01:00 AM:
Someone else beat me to this point - Brian, what criteria would you want to use to measure and determine the winner? It would require falsifying the proposition that warming is not caused by humans. How would we do that?
