Colin Powell takes on Rush Limbaugh

Tim Cuprisin on his blog links to a CNN report on an interview with Colin Powell to be aired Sunday at 1pm ET, in which he talks about what Republicans need to do and wonders whether Rush Limbaugh serves the party well.

Cuprisin doesn’t much go for the “sqwakers” anyway, so this fits in his meme.

Powell, of course, supported Obama over McCain, whom I suppose was too conservative for him.

There is nothing wrong with being conservative. There is nothing wrong with having socially conservative views — I don’t object to that. But if the party wants to have a future in this country, it has to face some realities. In another 20 years, the majority in this country will be the minority.

The thing that surprised me was that Powell considers himself a Republican. I must have missed that.

Any way here’s what he said about Limbaugh,

“Can we continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh?” Powell asked. “Is this really the kind of party that we want to be when these kinds of spokespersons seem to appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?”

I’m not a big fan of talk radio and hardly listen to it, unless I’m in the car, but doesn’t Air America do the same kind of thing? It didn’t seem to hurt the Democrats.

But I guess he’s saying Republicans should become Democrats.

That should give the country a choice.

I guess some Republicans feel like Powell and Emil W. Henry Jr.

who wrote in the Washington Post about infrastructure spending, which was not bad, but he started with this,

In the wake of the recent electoral rout, we conservatives must redefine ourselves in a world that has changed since the birth of the Reagan Doctrine.

Rout? Oh, it was a convincing victory and we should learn some lessons from it, but a rout? I guess his definition of a rout is different from mine. And Republicans have won twice since the election–hardly what you would expect from a rout.

Filed under: 2008, Elections, Republican, conservative , 2008 election, Colin Powell, conservative, Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh

I’m a map geek

The best way to get my attention is with a map. I explore maps; I pour over maps; I collect maps.

I just love maps.

So here are some electoral maps I’ve run across.

The Washington Independent has a group of maps which answers the question, “What would the 2008 electoral map look like if the election were decided by [Fill In the Blank]“

The Electoral Map uses the first of a series of maps from the New York Times to state that the country is turning blue, but if you use the comparison from ‘92 and ‘96 we’re turning red. Obviously we’ll have to see what the next couple of elections tell us.

The USATODAY.com has a time lapse of when counties were declared one way or the other.

Frontloading HQ has a map of the 2012 projected Electoral College votes.

And last, but not least, Christopher Healey from the Computer Science department at North Carolina State university has a series of maps which subdivides each congressional district into four quadrants and visualizes

“four elections of interest: President (upper-left), U.S. Senate (upper-right), U.S. House (lower-right), and Governor (lower-left).”

In addition,

“saturation [of color] represents the winning percentage (more saturated for higher percentages); the small disc floating over the state shows aggregated state-wide results; incumbent losses are highlighted with textured X’s; the height of the state represents the number of electoral college votes it controls.”

Whew.

These maps also dispel the notion of Red State-Blue State, for the most part.

Filed under: 2008, Democrats, Elections, Republican, presidential , 2008 presidential election, Democrat, Electoral College, maps, Republican

Youth vote: Democratic movement, or fad?

At Stateline.org, Louis Jacobsen’s “Out There” column has this

In a normal election year, the two precincts serving the bulk of students at California University of Pennsylvania attract a total of about 400 voters, according to election watchers here. But on Election Day 2008, that number more than quadrupled to a combined total of more than 1,700. And in those precincts, Obama crushed Republican nominee John McCain by margins of between 2 to1 and 3 to1.

[snip]

Obama managed to sweep the 18-to-29 vote in some of the most deeply Republican states in the union. They include not just North Dakota but also Alabama (50 percent), Kansas (51), Kentucky (51), Mississippi (56), South Carolina (55), Tennessee (55) and Texas (54).

Should the GOP be worried? Sure. But note,

Overall, the trendlines for young voters do not look good for the GOP. As political journalist Ron Brownstein has noted, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry carried 54 percent of voters younger than 30. In the 2006 midterms, 60 percent voted Democratic in House races. This year, Obama trounced McCain among voters under 30 by a 2-to-1 margin.

As some contacted by Jacobson admitted, the GOP needs to be concerned that their message is not getting across (or, perhaps, getting lost in the static?) But is this insurmountable? No. He noted these things:

1. Many Republican candidates in red states did well on Election Day. We have no further to look than Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan, whose district went for Obama.

2. State Democratic parties are not always able to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them.

3. Are Democrats winning future loyalists to the party as a whole, or are young newcomers mostly attracted to the new president?

Time will tell.

Filed under: 2008, Elections, presidential , Barack Obama, Republican Party, youth vote

Conservatives and McCain

Conservatives had, at best, a rocky coalition with John McCain during the recent campaign and now afterwards, too.

In retrieving an old e-mail account, I found this post at Boots & Sabers and wondered how many of the conservatives who were neutral or against McCain wound up voting for him.

Filed under: 2008, Elections, conservative, presidential , 2008 presidential election, conservative, John McCain

Quick Hits

Suzie-Q How Many People Voted For Obama?

Overall, that means turnout will be up by about 2% over 2004 levels. But the real story is that while the Democratic vote will have increased by a bit over 10% from 2004, the Republican turnout will have dropped by about 7%.

Omaha.com – Obama may win Nebraska’s 2nd District votes. Nebraska, for those who don’t know, allocates their electoral votes by congressional district.

McClatchy Washington Bureau – How will President Obama deploy his Internet army?

Trippi predicted that Obama would use his forces, first and foremost, to intimidate congressional foes of his agenda, rally his allies and forge “one of the most powerful presidencies in American history.”

Politico.com – The next president. Minute by Minute. Seems like overkill to me. For example, the 9:30AM entry for November 6,

Obama heads to gym for 90 minutes.

Oooookay.

Politico.com again – The 2010 campaign is now under way Written by Phil Singer who has worked for Sen. Charles Schumer, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Hillary Rodham Clinton and John F. Kerry presidential campaigns, most of this article’s suggestions would work for the GOP also.

Jonathan Martin’s Blog at Politico.com – Lobbyists in Obamaworld

With the campaign over, lobbyists are out of the dog house and helping with the White House transition team. But they’re also being asked to sign a document pledging to not lobby for one year the department or agency they’re helping to staff, according to Democratic sources.

Filed under: 2008, 2010, Elections, presidential , 2008 presidential election, 2010 election, Barack Obama, Nebraska

Vitriol

I hate to write posts like this; it’s probably one reason I hardly do it.

Peter from Texas Hold ‘Em blog has written some pretty harsh things, both on his blog (which he has deleted) and at Boots & Sabres about the election results. Wendy and Owen both called him on it and perhaps his frustration has led him to delete his blog.

I like Peter. He’s a sharp guy. Unfortunately sometimes that sharpness was hidden by name calling and bitterness.

But hoping this country gets attacked repeatedly and wanting to put a bounty on the head of the president goes way beyond reasonable to me.

Again I like Peter. He has his style of blogging; I have mine. I won’t take him off the blog roll. I don’t blog roll that way.

But I had to write this. And I hope Peter understands.

Filed under: 2008, Blogging, Elections, Politics, presidential , 2008 presidential election, Politics

A look back

Last night’s election, while disappointing was not the disaster many thought it would be. Democrats are far short of the “super majority,” and didn’t pick up as many in the House as predicted by some. I attribute this to the fact that, although people want change, they don’t want revolution. They are mostly satisfied with their lives, but want some stuff fixed.

McCain lost and he lost by about what pundits predicted. The interesting thing was that it was over before Florida, Indiana, and North Carolina were decided.

So where should the Republican Party go from here?

Many have said that Sarah Palin has the inside track for 2012. Of course many thought Hillary Clinton was a shoo-in. I like Gov. Palin and believe she would be no worse a candidate than Barack Obama. But four years is a long way off.

President-elect Obama seems to have won by appealing to African-Americans, young people, and Hispanics. It’s also clear that tax cuts as a campaign strategy works about as well as abortion (but note that anti-gay marriage proposals passed in FL and CA; reminds me of two years ago, when the marriage amendment and an opinion question concerning restoring the death penalty passed in a year when Republicans were defeated nationwide).

If Republicans want to win elections, we have to figure out how to appeal to the groups that went big for Obama. We either have to come up with new ideas as Paul Ryan (although like Nick, I am troubled of his support for the bailout) or we have to sell the old ideas better.

I think part of McCain’s failure was not selling the ideas better. He spent too much energy attacking Obama for things that didn’t seem to matter to the electorate. One could argue the reasons why the people didn’t care, but that’s not the purpose of this post.

But, better than coming up with new ideas, I think Republicans have to prove that they are willing to follow those ideas themselves.

The Republican Party has traditionally been the party of small government. The past 8 years were anything but. If we decide we want to continue to be the party of small government, we have to mean it.

I’m not sure that’s what the American people want. They seem to be satisfied with government being involved in areas that Republicans traditionally haven’t been comfortable with. Health care is one area.

Much wailing and gnashing of teeth will follow in the coming days and in fact, has already started. The death of conservatism has already been proclaimed.

We shall see.

Filed under: 2008, Elections, Republican, presidential , 2008 presidential election, Republican Party

Congratulations, President-elect Obama

Barack Obama has been elected president of the US. He ran a great campaign, especially in exciting new and younger voters to actually vote, compared to previous elections when they didn’t.

Beginning essentially with his speech at the Democratic convention in 2004, Obama has made few missteps in his march to this moment. An underdog, inexperienced, he conquered what many felt was a superior field of candidates, finally besting Hillary Clinton who, with her husband, was a superior campaigner.

And then he took on the party in power and defeated it.

He did it with a simple message of change and convinced people that change could happen.

It’s an historic occasion and I am proud of the fact that we have been able to elect an African American president, without regard for his race. I can only speculate on how all African Americans feel at this moment.

Both men made gracious speeches. We knew Obama was gifted, but McCain has seemed more comfortable lately, perhaps having resigned himself to defeat several days ago.

McCain was humble in accepting blame for the defeat. Obama was humble in reiterating that he doesn’t have the answers and can’t solve the problem on his own.

Now the hard work begins. Do I disagree with the direction he wants to take the country. Yes, I still do.

But he has my prayers as he chooses his cabinet and the direction his administration will take.

Filed under: 2008, Elections, presidential , 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama

Election Day notes

Probably won’t be much else today, since I’m working today and Drinking Right is tonight.

But here’s a collection of comments I’ve made on an open thread at Cindy Kilkenny’s blog with some other thoughts.

You can get free stuff! They say you need a sticker, but I’m pretty sure they couldn’t enforce it if you forced the issue. UPDATE – They would be breaking federal election laws (h/t Brad V).

Lines at Ward 3 and 4 in Waukesha were not long, at least from mid-morning to noon. In fact, they were almost non-existent. One friend took less than an hour to get his residency proof, get to Frame Park (5 min. drive), register, vote and get back.

Being a working-class neighborhood, it’ll probably get crowded after about 3pm.

Many of my friends and co-workers are completely unaware of Wisconsin election laws concerning proving their residence and who can vote. Even that you are allowed time off to vote. Thankfully, I got a piece of Obama literature that tells everyone what they need to do.

JSOnline has a bunch of stuff.

First there’s this Google map of reports on wait times at various polling places. You can send in your wait times, if you’re so inclined. You might even read it in a future Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.

I just like to look at the maps.

Next, we have

They also have a forum dedicated to recording your voting experiences. The first posting talks about lines around the block at the MLK library at 6 in the morning! Again, if you post yours, the paper may contact you. So embellish.

Then they have a map of how Wisconsin counties have voted over the years. It goes back to 1964.

Dixville Notch, NH went for Obama, the first time they voted Democratic since ‘68.

Huffington Post has a collection of widgets for election night. If you’re looking for something, chances are it is here or will be here.

I may add more if I find more. Many blogs are posting pictures and their experiences at the polls so check the blogroll for more news.

Filed under: 2008, Elections, Wisconsin, presidential , 2008 presidential election, Wisconsin

Are you watching Monday Night Football?

Washington Redskins Predict Presidential Elections

Stay with me here. For a long time, the winner of the last Washington Redskins home game before the presidential election echoed the winner of the election in this way; if the Redskins won, the party in power retained the presidency; if they lost, the party in power lost the election.

This went unchanged from the time the Redskins made their home in Washington until, well, 2004 when the Packers beat the Redskins and John Kerry lost the election.

OK, this is like that coincidence of every president since 1840 who was elected in a year ending in zero, died in office. This ended with President Reagan.

But if you’re a Republican grasping at straws, watch the game.

UPDATE: Here’s another (via steveegg),

1960 - Jets record: 4-5; Party elected: Democrats

1964 - Jets record: 4-2-1; Party elected: Democrats

1968 - Jets record: 6-2; Party elected: Republicans

1972 - Jets record: 5-3; Party elected: Republicans

1976 - Jets record: 2-6; Party elected: Democrats

1980 - Jets record: 2-7; Party elected: Republicans

1984 - Jets record: 6-4; Party elected: Republicans

1988 - Jets record: 5-4-1; Party elected: Republicans

1992 - Jets record: 2-6; Party elected: Democrats

1996 - Jets record: 1-8; Party elected: Republicans [sic - as steveegg points out in the comments, this should be Democrats]

2000 - Jets record: 6-3; Party elected: Republicans

2004 - Jets record: 6-1; Party elected: Republicans

The Jets are 5-3.

Filed under: Elections, Football, NFL, Sports, presidential , presidential elections, Washington Redskins