Election Aftermath

[TulsaRufnex]

It's called entrepreneurial spirit. Not that you'd know anything about that.  

Yep.

[Ed W]

First, some semi-compulsory snark:



Now that it's out of the way, let's move on to more serious stuff.

The republic survived through eight years of the Bush administration.  It will survive through President Obama's tenure, just as it survived Nixon, Reagan, and far more venal rogues.  Take a deep breath and think about this question.  How much impact does the office of the president have on your day-to-day life?  For most of us, whoever occupies the oval office is largely irrelevant, so why get overly emotional about a presidential election?

Here's one personal observation that you may agree with or not.  The Tea Party is a political dead end, one that the Republican party can safely discard.  I know.  It's heresy in Oklahoma particularly in light of the election of two TP stalwarts on Tuesday.  I'm saying that the mainstream Republicans can jettison both the Tea Party and the social conservatives.  There simply are no more votes to be had out there on the fringe, so why worry about them?  It's not as if they'll turn to the Democrats.  No, the country club Republicans will have to throw a few sops their way, but there's no need to pander to the far right fringe any longer.

It will come as no surprise to discover that Fox News now has the credibility of the defunct Weekly World News without the insouciant charm of Bat Boy.  I suspect that many former WWN staffers are now with Fox.  Earlier today, Speaker of the House John Boehner said that in order to avoid the looming fiscal cliff, the Republican majority in the House would give consideration to raising additional revenue, provided some caveats were met.  The talking heads on Fox were appalled that he'd say such a thing. News is supposed to be based on reality, yet it's painfully obvious that Fox prefers ideology.  So I can only conclude that Fox is more like performance art or the Weekly World News.

The Tulsa World revealed its loyalty to Oklahoma readers and advertisers while turning a blind eye to the strengths of the President's achievements.  There's a name for the "everyone believes" fallacy, but it escapes me just now.  Oh, I understand their reasons for echoing the views of the majority here in Oklahoma.  Newsprint is an endangered species, after all, so why hasten its demise?  Their tepid endorsement of Governor Romney was self-serving, practical, and utterly spineless.

Tulsa county voters stuck to their anti-tax guns by voting down both Vision2 proposals, largely giving credence to the "too soon, too vague, too hurried" argument.  Yet they also voted for state-wide questions that serve to cap property taxes and reduce corporate taxes.  Similar proposals in other states have served to reduce the amount of money for schools.  Since the effects are known, what can explain the voters endorsement of these proposals?  I'm sure the legislature will step up and see that the funds are available.  Sure they will.

[Conan71]

One more bit of bad news/gloating that should be taken care of today: Across all the House races, Democrats won the popular vote by about half a million. Thanks to the 2.5% (ish) Republican gerrymandering advantage, the Republicans still have a decent sized majority. God help the Republicans if the playing field is ever leveled.

Funny, libs I know say the GOP has the gerrymandering advantage, cons I know say it's the other way.  I think all of you are lying.

[Teatownclown]

Funny, libs I know say the GOP has the gerrymandering advantage, cons I know say it's the other way.  I think all of you are lying.

Outsider.

[nathanm]

Funny, libs I know say the GOP has the gerrymandering advantage, cons I know say it's the other way.  I think all of you are lying.

Statistics. Suck 'em. 

As I've said before, I'd rather draw districts by algorithm and completely without regard to partisan advantage, race, income, or anything else other than state boundaries. Let the chips fall where they may. Demographic shifts eventually change the makeup of the districts if we don't actively work against them.

[swake]

Funny, libs I know say the GOP has the gerrymandering advantage, cons I know say it's the other way.  I think all of you are lying.

The Tea Party wave two years ago set the advantage in State Houses and Governorships so that Republicans were able to redraw house lines after the census and will they have a Gerrymandered advantage for the next decade.

[Townsend]

Something else that happened:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/08/puerto-ricans-favor-statehood-for-first-time/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_politicalticker+%28Blog%3A+Political+Ticker%29

Puerto Ricans favor statehood for first time

CNN) – In an overshadowed Election Day contest, Puerto Ricans voted in favor of statehood in a nonbinding referendum, marking the first time such an initiative garnered a majority.

Puerto Ricans were asked about their desires in two parts. First, by a 54% to 46% margin, voters rejected their current status as a U.S. commonwealth. In a separate question, 61% chose statehood as the alternative, compared with 33% for the semi-autonomous "sovereign free association" and 6% for outright independence.

[Townsend]

Screen shots of short lived victorious Romney website:

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/11/07/romneys_transition_site.html

[Gaspar]

The Obama website was a bit mor blunt.

[Conan71]

The Tea Party wave two years ago set the advantage in State Houses and Governorships so that Republicans were able to redraw house lines after the census and will they have a Gerrymandered advantage for the next decade.

Only thing I can find claims a 1.2% advantage as of the recent round of redistricting.  There are several Republican Congressmen/women who blamed gerrymandering in blue states on their losses Tuesday.

Summary: My analysis indicates that redistricting has given Republicans an advantage of about 1.2% in national popular vote margin compared with pre-2010. In a close national Congressional race, which we have this year, this translates to an advantage of 13 seats. The effect is more than I was expecting. http://election.princeton.edu/2012/10/04/quantifying-the-effect-of-redistricting/

In spite of this supposed advantage, Democrats gained House seats.

[Townsend]

In spite of this supposed advantage, Democrats gained House seats.

And Senate seats.

Of course they did.  The republican party was a ship wreck.

[Townsend]

Only 73 more days to inauguration day.

[nathanm]

In spite of this supposed advantage, Democrats gained House seats.

Not very many, despite winning the national popular vote.

[Gaspar]

It begins.
http://lasvegas.cbslocal.com/2012/11/07/vegas-employer-obama-won-so-i-fired-22-employees/

[Townsend]

It begins.
http://lasvegas.cbslocal.com/2012/11/07/vegas-employer-obama-won-so-i-fired-22-employees/

"David" is a 27 year old creeper living in his mother's basement wanting to hear himself on the radio.