Finally, It’s Over!

MoonHowler

 

David Letterman has fully apologized to Sarah Palin and her daughters.  For the past several days, the country has been consumed with the ‘knocked up by A-Rod’ bad Letterman joke.  Did Sarah Palin fail to notice the snipes and tasteless jokes last fall?  Why is she so outraged now?  The jokes really weren’t any less crude and Letterman was hardly the most frequent offender.

At any rate, here it is–the long awaited Letterman apology:

“I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception,” he said. “And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It’s not your fault that it was misunderstood, it’s my fault. . . . So I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke.”

 

 

I suppose for the next few days the cable news shows and others who have been getting so much press off of this bad joke can now analyze the apology.  One has to question why, after all the jokes of questionable taste, did Sarah Palin chose now to protest? 

According to the Washington Post:

Through mid-March, Leno had made 15 jokes about the Palin daughter’s pregnancy, Stewart had told four on “The Daily Show,” and Letterman checked in with eight, according to an analysis of late-night humor by the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonpartisan research organization affiliated with George Mason University.

Perhaps there is more to this than just a mother bear defending her cubs.  What do contributors think.

Full Story: Washington Post, June 16. 2009

 

Barack Obama is Time Person of the Year

MoonHowler

 

Barack Obama has been selected as Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.

Runners up were Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Gov. Sarah Palin and Chinese director Zhang Yimou.

Should there be other runners up? Was Obama the best person for the selection? Why is he the Man of the Year?

[Editor’s note:  correction from man to person.  Thanks TPWB]

Election Disaggregated Data: Obama Wins Moderate Vote

MoonHowler

The Pew Research Center has released some interesting data on the demographics of the election. The teaser is here on the blog with a link to more info to those who want it, via the blue Pew Research Center.

An important bit of data revealed that Obama won the moderate vote. While Democrats have captured the moderate vote for the past 5 elections, this past election the results were dramatic and significantly more moderates were identified as the swing vote. What does all this tell us? Are moderates sick of some of the conservative social values the Republicans always seem to mire in? Are people just voting against the Religious Right?

Inquiring minds want to know and the anti group is never shy about sharing their respective opinions.

[ed note: The chart is small. I attempted to make it larger. It got blurrier. If the print is too small use the link to the original site.]

“It’s A New Day” Debutes on Oprah

MoonHowler

Will.I.Am’s new song, “It’s A New Day” debuted on Oprah on Friday. “It’s A New Day” captures the feeling many folks had Wednesday morning after the election and contains many shots from Tuesday night. It isn’t Manassas but close enough. The video can be found on http://dipdive.com/. I am not able to embed it. No charge for the listen. It is the first video.

Will.I.Am appeared on CNN via hologram election night.

Stewart’s Sabotage of McCain in PWC

Alanna

Chairman Stewart,
It was not the illegal immigration issue that hurt John McCain in Prince William County it WAS YOU. You were unable to set aside your differences with McCain and work for the common good of the party. You were supposed to be campaigning for McCain, instead the day before the election you’re tearing him down talking about his mistakes and what he should have done. In fact, you sounded defeated in the comments that you made on TooConservative.net. I’d suggest watching what the Democrats were doing on Monday night. They obviously energized their electorate. Guess what, that was your job to do but nothing that I’ve seen remotely suggests that you even attempted to do that.

Republicans should be asking themselves whether or not Chairman Stewart worked on behalf of the Party to elect John McCain or if his disagreement with him on the issue of ‘illegal immigration’ caused him to sabotage McCain’s campaign in Prince William. Personally, I tend to believe this argument holds some credence and apparently I’m not the only one.

From TooConservative.net, we have the following:

First,

As a PWC Republican I’ve been dismayed at your failure to show the level of support for the McCain-Palin Ticket that is so vital in PWC.
If McCain doesn’t Win PWC why shouldn’t us Republican’s in PWC not hold a Recall?
– PWConservative

And secondly,

Mr. Stewart-
I have to say I agree with PW Conservative. Although I have never met you personally, every quote I have seen from you lately in the press has been negative about our ticket i.e. McCain hasn’t focused enough on illegal immigration and it will hurt him and McCain didn’t give me a big enough role at his rally. How can you justify such tepid support? As “The Preiminent Northern Virginia Republican” (I believe this is also a self-appointed title by you), we need your full support, not your snipping and backbiting. Please take the opportunity to defend yourself if I am being unfair here.
– Huh?

Followed by Chairman Stewart’s responses:

Gus,
I believe the McCain campaign could have piggy backed on that success by more closely aligning itself with the PWC Board and our crackdown on illegal immigration. It chose not to do so. I think that was a mistake given that the local voters rewarded the Board with reelection after we imposed the crackdown. I understand that McCain has a national electorate and has decided to avoid the illegal immigration issue on a national level. This will, however, hurt him in PWC tomorrow.
– Corey Stewart

Huge Losses for Anti-Immigrant Crowd

Alanna

It was a tough night for the anti-immigrant crowd. The Senate lost Elizabeth Dole. The Pennsylvania Mayor of Hazelton who gained national recognition for his ‘illegal-alien’ lunacy LOST his Congressional Race. And, Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode who has a propensity for calling US Citizens – ‘Anchor Babies’ at a mind boggling pace has lost his re-election bid.

Then when we look at the so called “Americans for Better Immigration” which is part of the NumbersUSA conglomerate, they were UNABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY OPPOSE ANY of the 27 Congressional and Senate candidates that they identified as being “more opposed than supportive of overall immigration reductions”.

Congratulations to:

1. Sam Farr CALIFORNIA-(D) 17th District
2. Maxine Waters CALIFORNIA-(D) 35th District
3. Linda Sanchez CALIFORNIA – (D) 39th District
4. Loretta Sanchez CALIFORNIA-(D) 47th District
5. Bob Filner CALIFORNIA-(D) 51st District
6. Susan A. Davis CALIFORNIA-(D) 53rd District
7. Raul M. Grijalva ARIZONA-(D) 7th District
8. Gabrielle Giffords ARIZONA-(D) 8th District
9. Diana DeGette COLORADO-(D) 1st District
10. Joe Courtney CONNECTICUT-(D) 2nd District
11. Robert Wexler FLORIDA-(D) 19th District
12. Sanford D. Bishop Jr. GEORGIA-(D) 2nd District
13. Pete Visclosky INDIANA-(D) 1st District
14. Dick Durbin ILLINOIS-(D) US Senate
15. Chris Van Hollen MARYLAND-(D) 8th District
16. Bob Etheridge NORTH CAROLINA-(D) 2nd District
17. Brad Miller NORTH CAROLINA-(D) 13th District
18. Jim McDermott WASHINGTON-(D) 7th District
19. Brian Baird WASHINGTON-(D) 3rd District
20. Ron Kind WISCONSIN-(D) 3rd District,
21. David Obey WISCONSIN-(D) 7th District
22. Nick Rahall WEST VIRGINIA-(D) 3rd District
23. Lindsey Graham SOUTH CAROLINA-(R) US Senate
24. Ruben Hinojosa TEXAS-(D) 15th District
25. Sheila Jackson Lee TEXAS-(D) 18th District
26. Gene Green TEXAS-(D) 29th District
27. Earl Blumenauer OREGON-(D) 3rd District

Secret Service and Campaign Eye Several Venues

MoonHowler

Ok, so where is the huge Obama Rally? The prognosticators and I have narrowed down the venue to 4 places: the Fairgrounds, Nissan Pavilion, Costello Park, or out in the middle of a field reminiscent of the Woodstock Days.

[update 1:20 PM Nov. 1, 2008: insidenova.com provides another clue]

Let’s examine each. Obama has been drawing crowds in the neighborhood of 100,000 cheering spectators. Is there anywhere around here that could accommodate that kind of crowd? Washington Mall—that’s about it. Smaller huge venues would be Scott Stadium at UVA in Charlottesville or FedEx field over in Maryland. Scott Stadium makes sense. It is in the heart of Democrat-land also. FedEx does nothing for Virginia.

Nissan only holds about 35,000 people. Is this big enough for an Obama crowd the second time around? After all, he did kick off his official campaign here, right after the Democratic Convention. Traffic patterns are already established.

The Fairgrounds? Who knows how many people you can fit there. I can’t really see Obama speaking where the tractor pull is held or where the donkey dive used to be held before PETA got it. Parking there is just a nightmare.

Costello Park and an open field seem to be not very viable options. The battlefield has no parking and I doubt seriously if our 2 biggest landowners in the county would want throngs schlepping all over their property. Besides, they aren’t even Democrats.

Manassas Park cannot handle this one. It looks like Prince William inherits the King. Stay tuned and place your bets here: Which venue will it be?

(There is always the chance they will pack up their marbles and go elsewhere.)

Update: Hillary Clinton will be in Fairfax, not Manassas.
Change We Need Rally
with Senator Hillary Clinton

George Mason University
Johnson Center
4400 University Dr.
Fairfax, VA 22030

Final Obama Campaign Stop: Manassas,Virginia!!!

MoonHowler

Holy Bat Crap!

It looks like it all winds up right here, right under our noses. Yes, Virginia, our votes count.
A good friend just beeped me this news alert which I will post as is, since it is the middle of the night.

Posted at 10:33 PM ET, 10/30/2008
Obama Will End Campaign in Northern Virginia
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama announced tonight his final event of the campaign will take place Monday evening in Northern Virginia.

Obama plans to hold a large rally in or near Manassas Park, although an exact location has yet to be determined.

Obama’s decision to end his 20-month campaign in Virginia is yet another sign that he views Virginia, which last voted for a Democratic presidential nominee in 1964, as a crucial battleground. Obama has made 10 stops in Virginia since June, when he kicked off his general election campaign with stops in Bristol and at Nissan Pavilion near Manassas.

Considering Obama has drawn crowds that exceed 100,000, Monday night’s rally could be a massive affair, although its unclear if the campaign can find a large venue in that part of Prince William County.

Posted by Tim Craig
Washington Post

The McCain/Palin Rift Continues

MoonHowler

You don’t have to be a Republican to feel the internal strife between the McCain people and the Palin people. Many blogs around the nation are commenting on the rising tensions between the 2 encampments.

The McCainites feel Palin is a loose cannon and want to rein her in. The Palinites feel that she was sabotaged at every turn, from her initial introduction to the shopping spree that she had nothing to do with, according to her.

From the Washington Post (E. J. Dionne’ Blog):

It’s hard to believe that the infighting in the Republican camp is so fierce with a week still left to go until Election Day. The battle between the camps of John McCain and Sarah Palin is something to behold. McCain’s loyalists are clearly trying to shift some of the blame for the ticket’s troubles to Palin, and Palin’s people are fighting back. In today’s Post, Dana Milbank cites this astonishing quotation that a McCain adviser offered CNN: “She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else. Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party.” The McCain adviser also described Palin as “a diva.” Palin in the meantime is reported to be furious about how the McCain campaign botched the roll-out of her candidacy. She feels a need to defend herself, particularly against charges stemming from the Republican National Committee’s high-end shopping spree on her behalf. Since I thought from the beginning that the choice of Palin was a mistake I’m not surprised that it’s all come to grief for both of them. Palin is certainly right that the McCain campaign’s too obvious fear of letting her off on her own did her image no good….

Now it’s your turn. Who is to blame? Has Palin been short-changed or is she a prima donna? Has McCain been set back by Palin? Has she hurt or helped the ticket?

What do the folks on Anti think?

The Voices of Virginia

MoonHowler

How do Virginians typically see this Election 2008? The Washington Post interviewed a cross-section of Virginians at the Virginia State Fair, an annual event that traditionally takes place in the last week of September and runs into the first week of October.

Not surprisingly, many different people, in all walks of life, from all areas of Virginia, voiced an opinion.

With one week to go before the election, the surrogates are swarming all over the state. The party faithful and the stand-ins are out en mass trying to carry the candidates’ messages. The candidates, all 4 of them in fact, have visited the Old Dominion multiple times. How will it all end this November 4th?

The last time Virginia voted Democratic, as a state, was for LBJ in 1964. Will it return to being a blue state, after 44 years or will it continue down the red path? Do ordinary people care that much about party affiliation except during a presidential election? Can Virginia even consider itself a red state with 2 Democratic senators and a Democrat for governor?

Virginia Election Statistics: The New Battleground

MoonHowler

Just released on Fox News:

Obama has visited Virginia 28 times since January 2007.

Between October 7 and October 13, Obama spent $3.9 MILLION on Virginia ads.

Hampton Roads is home to 50,000 vets.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post has examined the influence of the military on Hampton Roads and thus, on Virginia. There are some very different views out there, as you will see viewing “God, Guns, and Guts, Pts. 1 & 2.”

God, Guns, and Guts Part 1 looks at the military’s devotion to the Republican Party and to one of their own– navy flier and former POW John McCain.

God, Guns and Guts Part 2 shows that not all military personnel falls in to the traditional stereotype of voting Republican. Many of these military folks and vets want NO parts of the ‘Maverick.’ They unequivocally support Barack Obama.

BOCS Chairman Stewart Not Too Happy With McCain Rally

MoonHowler

According to the Gainesville-Times, Corey Stewart is not too happy with the McCain Campaign because Senator McCain did not address the immigration issue. McCain supports a pathway to citizenship and co-sponsored an Immigration Reform bill in 2007 which went down in defeat.

Apparently, Corey Stewart felt that the McCain Campaign dissed him and his fellow Republican leaders at the October 18 rally at the County Complex:

…Stewart resented what he perceived as the McCain camp’s attempt to distance itself from the county’s crackdown.
“We had no real place other than getting introduced through a long line of people,” Stewart said of his fellow Republican county supervisors, referring to an honorees list read by Clerk of the Circuit Court Michele McQuigg.
Though she had asked the audience to hold their applause until the end, Stewart’s name was the only one cheered after she read it.
“I don’t feel that proper protocol was respected, and I think that’s going to hurt him, frankly. The local Republicans know how to win elections here,” said Stewart.
“I’m very, very disappointed in McCain’s campaign here,” he added.

Earlier in the week Stewart bragged that he has practically begged the McCain campaign to come to Prince William County. The Gainesville-Times further elaborates on the immigration issue in Prince William County and how it relates to Stewart.

One issue noticeably absent from Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain’s speech to supporters in Prince William on Saturday was illegal immigration.
Unlike the majority of the Republican base, McCain has supported a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
So for him to stop in the county that was the national hotbed for illegal immigration controversy just last year and not talk about the issue troubled of Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart (R).

Stewart complained :

“But I think that clearly McCain’s campaign has tried to distance itself on Prince William County’s local crackdown on illegal immigration,” he said. “And I think that’s a blunder. And I use that word very strongly and I mean it.”

In order to connect with the crowd on illegal immigration, “All he had to say was ‘Protect the borders’ and unlike [Democratic president nominee Sen.] Barack Obama, he does not favor workforce rights and giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. That’s all he had to say,”

Does this mean that Corey is going to just get angry and support Obama? Somehow I can’t see that happening. What I do see here is a sore loser. I wonder what he thinks about the campaign choosing Tito the Builder over him?

Did Corey think the McCain Rally was his very own little pep rally, just for him and his buds? Let’s hope Corey doesn’t trip over his lip.

Tito the Builder: Tito Introduces Governor Palin in Leesburg

MoonHowler

It is rather neat that a Prince William County immigrant was chosen to introduce the Republican Candidate for Vice President of the United States. Only in America. Gov. Palin now mentions Tito in most of her speeches, including the out of state rallies like Kissimmee, Florida.

The next video continues with the one showed on the previous thread. Tito the Builder very eloquently introduces the candidate and gives us a little biographical glimpse of our Prince William Icon.

Has the local media overlooked the national attention Tito the Builder is getting? I thought surely some of the other blogs would pick up on his recent fame.

Tito the Builder Part 2

MoonHowler

Sarah Palin is stumping in Leesburg with Woodbridge’s very own Tito the Builder on her right. Is this the Republicans’ new ‘right hand man?’

They are up chanting ‘Use your brain, Vote McCain.’
Now they are chanting ‘I am Joe, I am Joe!’ Don’t they know their man Tito is right there?

Ahhh!
Tito has been recognized and introduced. He is now the the topic of conversation. Sarah Palin tells his story. Tito Tito Tito! Tito says he was born in Colombia but made in the USA. He owns a small construction company. Tito really lives in Woodbridge so he is our own homegrown icon.

He is truly the Republican icon now. He remained on the stage with Sarah Palin throughout the speech.

Live from Leesburg….

2 PM
Addendum…make that A-ddendum. Tito also warmed up the crowd at the Leesburg rally this morning. He introduced Sarah Palin and First Dude to the enthusiastic crowd of cheering supporters.

Tito the Builder has risen in the ranks from outside the McCoart Building to introducing the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States. Si se puedo! Amazing that Tito was chosen for this honor rather than the BOCS chair who purportedly
brought the McCain/Palin Campaign to Prince William County.

You betcha!

Check out the job done by Tito!