Wrapping up a crazy election

The post-game euphoria is beginning to wear off, but there is still a lot to say.

1. First, everyone should read this, a secret history of the campaign. These reporters were not allowed to publish their story until after the election, so as you might imagine, there are a lot of juicy tidbits.

2. Speaking of juicy tidbits, over the past few days, we have learned from McCain campaign insiders that Palin apparently didn't know that Africa was a continent and not a country, nor was she aware of which countries were part of NAFTA (hint: there's only three countries in North America). Needless to say, campaign insiders sniping at each other is probably not the very best source of information, but it says something about Palin that such a story seems even the least bit plausible.

And, backed up by the Newsweek article, it seems that Palin was frustrated with all the coaching for the Gibson interview, and refused to be coached in preparation for the Couric interview. Hmmm...that explains a few things. The Gibson interview was bad, but the Couric one was a whole new level of epic fail.

The product of all this foolishness?

Why non-McCain voters doubted McCain:



(CNN's exit poll, via Daily Kos)

McCain would have lost whether he had chosen Palin or not, but Palin didn't help. Despite what Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity might want to believe, most Americans actually don't respond well to divisive bullshit about "Real America", or "pallin' around with terrorists", or "small-town hockey mom", or "as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there."

No, most Americans responded thusly: "Jesus Christ! McCain's totally lost his mind!"

Some Republicans might want her to be the future leader of the party, but ALL Democrats hope she will be.

3. Speaking of the future of the Republican party, this is good. As is this. And this. All written by conservatives, BTW, just not the wingnuts that dominate the "conservative" movement.

I honestly think the Republicans are going to just descend further into the backwoods of regionalism, anti-intellectualism, and tinfoil hat wearing. It'll be a repeat of the 1990s, when Republicans went after Clinton with a vengeance, drumming up one bullshit scandal after another. Hell, there's even an Obama death list. The difference this time is that Democrats are ready for it. And Obama is not Clinton.

UPDATE: Via Pharyngula:



The know-nothing party. Man, I never realized Buchanan was such an ignorant blowhard. O'Donnell should have followed up by asking him whether he thought the Earth was 6,000 years old and whether humans co-existed with dinosaurs.