Archive for the '2008 Election' Category

Sarah Palin vs. The Blogosphere, Round Two

By Doug Mataconis | Related entries in 2008 Election, Palin, Politics

Back in November, Sarah Palin unloaded on the blogosphere in one of her first post-election interviews. And, she’s back at it again: (CNN) — Sarah Palin fired a new salvo in her war on the media, unloading in a new interview on her home state paper and “bored, anonymous, pathetic bloggers who lie.” The Alaska [...]

January 15th, 2009 | Permalink| 6 Comments »

(ANP VIDEO) Did Mormons Go Too Far With Prop 8?

By American News Project | Related entries in 2008 Election, Gay Marriage, General Politics, Proposition 8, Video

Does new evidence incriminate the Mormon Church’s involvement with Proposition 8? This is Steven Greenstreet with American News Project. Activists claim that money from the Mormon Church was the deciding factor in passing Proposition 8 in California – banning gay marriage. The church claims to have only spent a few thousand dollars on the campaign, [...]

January 14th, 2009 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Minnesota Recount Over. Franken Up 225 Votes.

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Law, Minnesota, Voting

However, Norm Coleman is going to the courts to add even more rejected absentee ballots. Still, to overcome a 225 votes deficit at this point seems extremely unlikely. Here’s more from the Star Tribune… DFLer Al Franken held an unofficial lead of 225 votes over Coleman, according to a newspaper tally of the officials’ count [...]

January 3rd, 2009 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

Cornyn Threatens Filibuster if Franken Seated

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Minnesota, Senate

With Al Franken up just 50 votes in the Minnesota recount, congressional Republicans are worried the Democratic controlled Senate might try to seat Franken provisionally. Now, Republican Senator John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has threatened a filibuster if Democrats try to seat Franken before the Minnesota secretary of state and governor [...]

January 3rd, 2009 | Permalink| 5 Comments »

Tom Brokaw Reflects On 2008

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Video

What will we say 20 years from now? Sure, I think the year will be defined by the economic collapse and the election, but perhaps it may also be seen as the year we woke up with regards to our banking system and started to reform it in real, honest ways. Fingers crossed.

December 26th, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »

Al Franken Will Likely Be Senator Franken?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Law, Minnesota, Voting

What looked completely unlikely just a few weeks ago has turned around for the funnyman as he has won some key decisions in the past week and is now ahead by just 46 votes. That’s right…46 votes. From the Star Tribune: A state Supreme Court ruling Wednesday narrowed the options available for Sen. Norm Coleman [...]

December 25th, 2008 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

Sarah Palin’s Lament

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Media, Palin

I argued again and again and again that not opening Palin up to the press right off the bat was a horrible idea. Now, upon further reflection, it seems she agrees… The biggest mistake made was that I could have called more shots on this: the opportunities that were not seized to speak to more [...]

December 23rd, 2008 | Permalink| 9 Comments »

Hillary Eats $13.1 Million

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Hillary, History, Money

She tried to hold fundraisers to drive down the total, but after Bill’s post-presidency fundraising was revealed recently, I can understand why she put a stop to it and just ate the remaining. But that doesn’t mean she’s out of the woods yet… According to fillings with the Federal Election Commission, Mrs. Clinton forgave a [...]

December 23rd, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »

Caroline Kennedy Is Seeking NY Senate Seat

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Hillary, New York, Senate

It’s official. She wants it. And frankly, it could be refreshing to have somebody who hasn’t been a diehard political operative in that seat. From Politico: Her move raises the pressure on New York Governor David Paterson either to choose her or to select someone else soon, as Kennedy’s rivals for the seat have already [...]

December 15th, 2008 | Permalink| 8 Comments »

2008 Turnout Highest Since 1968

By Doug Mataconis | Related entries in 2008 Election

The latest estimate of turnout in the 2008 General Election says that turnout was at the highest level it’s been since Richard Nixon beat Hubert Humphrey: Ahead of today’s vote of the electoral college to certify Barack Obama as the president-elect, a George Mason University professor announced yesterday that voter turnout in last month’s presidential [...]

December 15th, 2008 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

The Chicago Way — The American Way?

By John Burke | Related entries in 2008 Election, Democrats, General Politics, Illinois, In The News, News

  Former Illinois Governor George H. Ryan (above) is the Republican who preceded Democrat Rod Blagojevich in the Springfield state house and may soon be joined by Blagojevich at the nearest Federal Big House.  Ryan, who served one term as Governor from 1999 to 2003, was convicted in 2006 for his role in the widespread [...]

December 12th, 2008 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

Powell Questions Palin’s Worldview

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Palin, Powell, Smart Things Said By Smart People, Video

Following up on the previous post…here’s the video of Powell questioning Palin’s wisdom when she talked about “small town values.” I always thought that the whole “Real America” talk was remarkably dumb because it alienated more voters than it drew in…and I’m glad to see that Powell shares that view. What’s more, the GOP often [...]

December 12th, 2008 | Permalink| 3 Comments »

McCain Pollster: Wright Attacks Would’ve Backfired

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, McCain, Polls

I never understood why Republicans were so hot to talk about Reverend Wright in the general election when so much had been said in the primaries, but many in the GOP are still slamming McCain for not “getting tough.” Well, guess what? McCain’s own people said that “getting tough” could have destroyed him. From Politico: [...]

December 12th, 2008 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

Powell: GOP’s Polarization Doomed Them

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Democrats, Powell, Republicans

The most important endorsement of the 2008 Election speaks out about why he thinks the Republicans lost by such a significant margin. From CNN: In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria for Sunday’s “GPS” program, President Bush’s former secretary of state said his party’s attempt “to use polarization for political advantage” backfired last month. “There [...]

December 12th, 2008 | Permalink| 6 Comments »

Joe The Plumber “Appalled” By McCain

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, McCain

More evidence that Joe Wurzelbacher knows little more than what his gut tells him: Wurzelbacher told conservative radio host Glenn Beck that he felt “dirty” after “being on the campaign trail and seeing some of the things that take place.” Recalling a conversation he had with McCain about the $700 billion financial industry bailout in [...]

December 10th, 2008 | Permalink| 2 Comments »

The Unaired Reverend Wright Ad

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, History, McCain, Video

It’s a bit of a snoozer, and outside groups created numerous Wright ads that had absolutely ZERO effect, but let Republicans keep telling themselves that McCain lost because he wouldn’t play tough and run this. At the end of the day, this election didn’t come down to character. McCain’s campaign tried to make it about [...]

December 9th, 2008 | Permalink| 1 Comment »

More On Anh Cao’s Victory And GOP’s Response

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Ethics, Louisiana, Republicans, Video

MSNBC checks out the new Congressman we wrote about yesterday here and here. One thing I want to focus on is how House Minority leader John Boehner characterized this victory… In a memo to colleagues called “The Time is Cao,” Boehner says that Anh “Joseph” Cao’s win over Jefferson in a heavily Democratic district points [...]

December 9th, 2008 | Permalink| No Comments »

Is Anh Cao A Model For A New Republican Party?

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Democrats, Louisiana, Republicans

One of the biggest surprises over the weekend was the defeat of popular, but indicted, Representative William Jefferson for Louisiana’s 2nd congressional district. But should it surprise anybody that voters preferred Anh Cao’s message of pragmatic politics? Because after reading even a little bit about this guy, I would have cast my ballot for him [...]

December 8th, 2008 | Permalink| 7 Comments »

Cao Victory Proves Corruption is Always a Loser

By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Democrats, Louisiana, Republicans

In a grim election year, the Republicans can at least take solace in the fact that they didn’t lose to a guy who was caught with $90,000 in his freezer. With the defeat of William Jefferson of Louisiana, Republican Anh “Joseph” Cao has proven that even amidst a Democratic sweep and even in a heavily [...]

December 8th, 2008 | Permalink| 4 Comments »

William Ayers Talks About His “Pal” Barack Obama

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Ayers, Barack, Media, Memes

It was reported after the election ended that the link between Obama and Ayers was first introduced on the campaign trail prematurely by Palin, and then McCain was forced to join in. But the blogs were talking about them long before that. One meme even emerged that Ayers wrote Obama’s first book, and even though [...]

December 6th, 2008 | Permalink| 2 Comments »