Americans Too Free?
While I'm socially conservative on most issues, I'm by no stretch a Social Conservative. Yet I agree with Rod Dreher's rebuttal to those who argue that the salvation of the Republican Party will come from expelling the Religious Right: John McCain didn't get his clock cleaned because of his ardent advocacy for unborn life or his stout defense of traditional ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on December 2, 2008 11:59
McCain Ads That Didn’t Run
Most of John McCain's television spots, going back to the primaries, were simply dreadful. Now, Fred Davis III, the "advertising whiz" behind these atrocious ads, is whining to TIME's Michael Scherer that McCain wouldn't let him run some particularly clever ones. What if the McCain campaign had run ads using footage of Barack Obama dancing with Ellen DeGeneres to show ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 26, 2008 07:55
Conservative Policy Solutions
Kevin Drum seconds my concerns about conservative public intellectuals and offers two example where the Right isn't offering useful policy alternatives. Conservatives on Global Warming Take global warming. Here's the rough conservative reaction to it starting in the early 90s: It doesn't exist. It exists but it isn't manmade. It's manmade, but it's too expensive to do anything about. Even this is a generous assessment. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 24, 2008 15:44
Obama Shafts Progressives, Campaign Loyalists
Two reports in the British press indicate that Barack Obama has shunted aside key campaign advisors and given the back of his hand to his most ardent supporters in the liberal wing of his party. Leonard Doyle of The Independent reports on the machinations necessary to get Hillary Clinton on board as Secretary of State. The advisers who helped trash the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 23, 2008 08:17
McCain Wins Missouri
[caption id="attachment_27645" align="alignright" width="292" caption="Sen. John McCain has won the state of Missouri."][/caption] John McCain has won Missouri's 11 electoral votes, CNN declares. Missouri hasn't actually made that official yet, mind you. But the election was a mere sixteen days ago. According to the unofficial results, McCain won the state by 3,632 votes . The unofficial count shows McCain with 1,445,812 votes, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 20, 2008 08:12
Obama Lost Confederacy
Several folks are picking up on this Strange Maps overlay of cotton production in 1860 and the voting patterns in this month's presidential contest between Barack Obama and John McCain: [caption id="attachment_27533" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Overlay of 2008 election and 1860 cotton picking maps."][/caption] While the title "From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents" is rather amusing, it's precisely wrong. Indeed, the Strange Maps blogger ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 17, 2008 14:17
Obama Job Seeker Vetting Process
John McCain has caught quite a bit of flak for his rather cursory vetting process for his vice presidential selection. Barack Obama is going to the other extreme, requiring applicants for even low level appointments in his administration to fill out a seven page, 63 question document covering every conceivable base. The questionnaire includes 63 requests for personal and professional records, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 13, 2008 07:58
McCain: Some People Say There’s a Woman to Blame …
John McCain was on the "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno last night, continuing his graceful exit from a bitter presidential race. [caption id="attachment_27357" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Nov. 11, 2008: John McCain talks about life after the presidential campaign with Jay Leno on the "][/caption] In his first interview since conceding the presidential election, John McCain said Tuesday that Sarah Palin did not damage ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 12, 2008 09:28
Obama’s Landslide in Perspective
In the discussion on Obama's apparent 365-173 Electoral College victory, Rodney Dill asks, "How close is this, historically? The popular vote difference seems like it was pretty big by modern standards, but usually that would result in an even more lopsided electoral vote." It's an interesting question. Dave Leip's Atlas has the results for every election. In 1980, the first ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 8, 2008 11:22
2008 Voter Turnout Same as 2004
It turns out that, despite a huge rise in voter registrations, actual turnout Tuesday was essentially the same as in 2004. 61 Percent of Eligibles Voted A new report from American University’s Center for the Study of the American Electorate concludes that voter turnout in Tuesday’s election was the same in percentage terms as it was four years ago — or at ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 7, 2008 07:55
