THIS WON'T HAPPEN

In somewhat different ways, David Frum, Conor Friedersdorf and Kevin Drum have called for the GOP to de-kookify itself but that won't happen until conservative talk radio and FAUX News are much less popular than they are today and I don't see that happening anytime soon.

LIKE OTHER WINGNUTS, MARY MATALIN HAS BECOME UNHINGED

I noted her extremely nasty attitude before and The Root found that she's still bitter after the election.

BLITZER: The Republicans, Mary, as you know, retained the majority, the decisive majority, in the House of Representatives. So, where do you see bipartisan cooperation going, if at all?

MARY MATALIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, it's certainly not initiated by this president. There's no record of that. Van is completely wrong. He's completely erroneous and he was there when -- I believe he was in the White House when the president said to Eric Cantor who came with all of the Republican ideas in hand, elections have consequences, Eric, and I won. He didn't include any of those Republican ideas. He had majorities in both chambers and he jammed through his own agenda. And he is -- his campaign was --

JONES: (INAUDIBLE) --

MATALIN: -- marked by malice. His campaign was marked by malice and mendacity. It was full of derision and division and destruction and distraction and distortion. I don't see how he can -- how anyone would trust him, even Democrats.

BLITZER: All right, let's let Van respond to that.

MATALIN: -- he has mow [NO] mandate for anything.

[]
JONES: I don't think this helps America. We've got to be able to move past this, Mary.

MATALIN: I don't care what you think, Van. And he did not have any issues mandated other than free contraceptions and taxing rich. He's got -- he's the only history in president who has -- his president in history who has a low-re-election margin and fewer electoral votes than his first time around. He won in a squeaker --

SOURCE:
CNN
November 7, 2012 Wednesday
SHOW: CNN NEWSROOM 1:00 PM EST
Obama Wins And A Look At What's Next; Another Possible Storm Heading To Northeast; Obama Faces Fiscal Cliff; Third Party Candidate Gets 1 Percent; Heavy Rain, Cold Expected in Northeast; Stocks Selling Off Day After Election; Wisconsin Elects First Openly Gay Senator; Balance of Power in Congress Remains Split
BYLINE: Suzanne Malveaux, Wolf Blitzer, Jill Dougherty, Van Jones, Mary Matalin, Rob Marciano, Alison Kosik, Dana Bash, Ben Wedeman, Fred Pleitgen, Reza Sayah, Brooke Baldwin
GUESTS: Robert Reich, Gary Johnson
SECTION: NEWS; Domestic
LENGTH: 6886 words

IT WAS MORE THAN INCOMPETENCE & DELUSIONS

Romney & the GOP's FAIL was due to more than campaign incompetence and delusional thinking, it was also due to the rejection of the GOP's platform, especially the Fundie part:

Christian Right Failed to Sway Voters on Issues
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: November 9, 2012
NY Times

“Millions of American evangelicals are absolutely shocked by not just the presidential election, but by the entire avalanche of results that came in,” R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Louisville, Ky., said in an interview. “It’s not that our message — we think abortion is wrong, we think same-sex marriage is wrong — didn’t get out. It did get out.

“It’s that the entire moral landscape has changed,” he said. “An increasingly secularized America understands our positions, and has rejected them.”

Baggers like Judson Phillips and Amy Kremer are still in DENIAL.

YES, SANTA CLAUS IS JUST FINE WITH ME

Some conservatives are blaming Mitten$ loss on the "fact" that Pres. Obama bought votes by acting like Santa Claus to millions of Americans.  Well, after a botched war (Afghan) and an botched & immoral war (Iraq), and the Great Recession, I think it's time for Americans to tend to ourselves and if that means the Feds acting like Santa Claus, that's OK by me.

UPDATE: In his comment, Ken Hoop points out that Afghan has now become an immoral war and he is correct.

HANNITY THE WHORE RETURNS

I've noted before that Sean Hannity is an unprincipled hack so I'm not surprised about this, merely disgusted:

Hannity: I've 'evolved' on immigration and support a 'pathway to citizenship'
By MACKENZIE WEINGER |
11/8/12 6:32 PM EST
POLITICO

STUART VARNEY, POLL DENIALIST

Varney is another hack at the Fox Business Channel and on Sept. 25th, he made the following assertion about the polls:

STUART VARNEY, FOX BUSINESS: Hey, look, I don't believe them! I mean...

HANNITY: Neither do I.

VARNEY: ... look, [you] can go through all the scientific gobbledygook you like, I don't believe them! You're trying to make me believe that America is in favor of a president who's given us 8 percent unemployment, $16 trillion worth of debt, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and these polls say, Yes, he is going to win. And we're being told by the establishment media we should believe that. Well, I don't!

SOURCE:
Fox News Network
September 25, 2012 Tuesday
SHOW: FOX HANNITY 9:53 PM EST
Interview with Stuart Varney, Dana Perino
BYLINE: Sean Hannity
GUESTS: Stuart Varney, Dana Perino
SECTION: NEWS; Domestic
LENGTH: 1335 words

ADAM SMITH & EPICTETUS

In addition to Mandeville, Smith may have gotten his notion of the Invisible Hand from Epictetus  (circa 55 AD-135 AD), specifically Book 1, Chapter 19 of his Discourses:

This is not a perverse self-regard, for the animal is constituted so as to do all things for itself. For even the sun does all things for itself; nay, even Zeus himself. But when he chooses to be the Giver of rain and the Giver of fruits, and the Father of gods and men, you see that he cannot obtain these functions and these names, if he is not useful to man; and, universally, he has made the nature of the rational animal such that it cannot obtain any one of its own proper interests, if it does not contribute something to the common interest. In this manner and sense it is not unsociable for a man to do everything, for the sake of himself. For what do you expect? that a man should neglect himself and his own interest? And how in that case can there be one and the same principle in all animals, the principle of attachment to themselves?

GLENDA BECK TURNS TO GRIFTING AGAIN

Yesterday on his radio show, he tried to get the rubes to part with more cash by (1) asking them to sign up for The Blaze TV and (2) asking for investors to put a gob of money into his expansion plans.  The latter was probably meant for filthy rich pigs like the Koch brothers because Glenda said he's only looking for a couple of investors.  He made it VERY clear that they would be silent partners.

ALSO TOO: CONSERVATIVE INCOMPETENCE

(h/t Atrios)

I first noticed that Mitten$ campaign might be overloaded with amateurs with the campaign bus antics and now Ace of Spades lets us know the Mitten$ GOTV campaign was a clown show.  I would have expected Mitten$ to hire better people but I guess he's not good at that.

HANNITY STILL DOESN'T GET IT

Right now on his radio show, he's giving time to the Great Bigot, Pat Buchanan.

ANN COULTER READS THE HANDWRITING...

On Ingraham's radio show, she said  “There is no hope."  Ingraham tried to talk Coulter into optimism but War Whore forgot her own statements from last September:

Laura Ingraham To Republicans: ‘If You Can’t Beat Barack Obama… Then Shut Down The Party’
by Andrew Kirell | 6:22 pm, September 10th, 2012
MEDIAITE

WILL THE ELECTION AFFECT CONSERVATIVE TALK RADIO?

Maybe. 

I subscribe to NTS MediaOnline and over the past couple of days, I've read reports that talk radio should take the election results as a wake-up call.   In this post from today, a couple of insiders say it's past time for the gasbags to change:

...longtime Talk programmer and Gabe Hobbs Media namesake Gabe Hobbs weighs in with his opinion. ... "...That said, our best protection is diversification and broader appeal. What is the other 95% of the population talking about? Perhaps we should think about also engaging them!”

Former Talk radio host Wes Minter (WSB, WCCO, KCMO and KRMG) — who is now working in corporate sales but continues to do fill-in work at News/Talk KDKA/Pittsburgh — agrees that changes are inevitable for spoken-word radio formats. “Our country is supposed to be indivisible, yet the anecdotal criticism I hear of Talk radio from friends is that its shows are more polarizing than ever. Millenials and younger demographics represent a growing new audience that talk hosts need to recognize and be able to attract and hold. Talk about things that matter to them and, in my opinion, the ‘stickiness” will be there.

From yesterday, this post has the same advice from another insider:

Veteran Talk radio programmer and Alpha Broadcasting advisor Brian Jennings notes, “While conservative Talk stations do well, they are still a small percentage of the overall ratings pie. Let’s not forget how important personality and entertainment value play too. If radio is fun to hear, there will always be an audience. My problem these days with the format that I had a strong hand in developing, is that its not as fun to listen to as it used to be. We often place politics ahead of entertainment value. We must recapture that edge. We also have more competition than ever before. While I think there will always be a role for conservative media, I see the pie shrinking with more competition from all other media, especially social media. Today, many young people watch the late night shows for their news. And, their mobile devices rule their lives. Conservative media will always have a following, but it will fight for attention and must never lose its entertainment value.”

THIS IS WHY THE GOP IS DOOMED

I noted before that Mary Matalin made some very nasty remarks about the 47% and she is still playing the nasty:

Mendacity and Malice Won
By Mary Matalin
November 7, 2012 2:23 P.M

A political narcissistic sociopath leveraged fear and ignorance with a campaign marked by mendacity and malice rather than a mandate for resurgence and reform. Instead of using his high office to articulate a vision for our future, Obama used it as a vehicle for character assassination, replete with unrelenting and destructive distortion, derision, and division.

WOW!

Sean Hannity just said that America may no longer be a center-right country.  Fats Limbaugh said that most Americans now reject a life of traditional achievement.

I say: Thank you, Pres. Obama!!!

LOCAL AZ STUFF

Frank Antenori is a GOP state senator who pushed a for a bill to allow people to shoot at varmints any time within city limits. He's a big favorite of one of the Tucson wingnut radio stations, KQTH.  He also won't be a state senator much longer:

Frank Antenori *rep
31155 46.05%
David Bradley dem
36498 53.95%
* = incumbent 95% precincts reporting

OK, HOW WILL THE GASBAGS SPIN THE ROMNEY DEFEAT?

For a little bit, before the California votes came in, Drudge was trying to push the "fact" that Pres. Obama lost the popular vote.  Beyond that FAIL, I can't see how the conservative gasbags can maintain that this is a center-right country.

RADIO PEOPLE WHO NEED TO BE TOLD TO FUCK OFF & DIE

RUSH LIMBAUGH

SEAN HANNITY

MARK LEVIN

GLENN BECK

DOWN GO THE BAGGERS!!! [/HOWARD COSELL]

Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock and Joe Walsh have lost to decent people.

UPDATE: This is what the post title refers to.

WHY IS THIS A PROBLEM?

Our dear Bibi (Netanyahu) is a little worried that Pres. Obama may be re-elected and remember that Bibi wasn't very helpful, according to this article in YNET.COM:

'Obama may intervene in Israel elections'

Itamar Eichner
11.06.12, 09:41 / Israel News

The prime minister's aides fear that Obama will publicly criticize Netanyahu's policy and embarrass him during the election campaign. In addition, the US president may stop automatically backing Israel in international forums over its policy in the territories.

We should stop automatically backing ISR on this issue.

OK, MAYBE ROMNEY ISN'T A SOCIOPATH

Maybe he's just like Musil's The Man Without Qualities:

The protagonist Ulrich is the man without qualities. But lacking a center, he changes his ideas with the ease of an actor learning a new role.

ROMNEY IS GOING TO LOSE

I base that on the desperation of the gasbags.

Today, Hannity pushed as FACT the rumor that Valerie Jarrett is Nixon-like and said the Administration will make a point to punish its enemies.  Dennis Miller repeated Glenda Beck's Chick-fil-A theory.  Peggy Noonan is trying to convince her readers that Nate Silver and others don't know what they are talking about.  Fats Limbaugh tries attacking CNN's poll for not predicting a Romney landslide.

REALLY GOOD NEWS FROM OHIO

The GOTV campaign for Pres. Obama seems to be working out very well despite GOP efforts to suppress the vote.

Sunday voting in Ohio draws throngs of Obama backers
By Michael Finnegan
November 4, 2012, 4:13 p.m
LA Times

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Dale Snyder Sr., the pastor of Bethel AME Church in Columbus, surveyed the scene with satisfaction: Thousands of people, most of them African American, were waiting in a line that curved round and round the parking lot outside Franklin County’s early voting center.

Republicans had gone all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in their losing battle to stop just such a scene from occurring this weekend in Ohio. But there they were, most of them supporters of President Obama, braving a 45-degree chill for up to two hours to cast their ballots.

From Snyder’s standpoint, the Republican gambit had backfired. Bethel AME was one of 69 black churches in Columbus that had organized caravans of buses, vans and cars to take congregants to the strip mall where Franklin County had set up its lone early voting site.

Similar scenes unfolded Sunday in Cleveland, Cincinnati and other Ohio cities where the Souls to the Polls project was producing thousands more early votes for the president’s reelection. Many of those who showed up, Snyder said, were galvanized by the Republican drive to block weekend voting.

FIRST THE ECONOMIST, NOW THE FINANCIAL TIMES

(h/t POLITICO)

Obama is the wiser bet for crisis-hit US
November 4, 2012 6:41 pm

The Financial Times

SUNDAY NIGHT WITH BILLY CUNNINGHAM

Billy repeated a point I heard earlier this week from Glenda Beck: Romney will win (Ohio) because of the Chick-fil-A vote. Hannity came on and renewed his effort to make Benghazi the Scandal of the Century.

What Billy won't say: For the last 3 weeks, PPP has shown a lead for Pres. Obama is Ohio and it's latest poll (11/3-11/4) shows that Pres. Obama has a 5 point lead. Right now, Nate Silver gives Pres. Obama an 86% chance of winning Ohio and even the national polls are turning in Pres. Obama's way.

ANOTHER ROMNEY FAIL

(h/t Atrios)

This will seem like some kind of Drudgified story but it's the literal truth:

Romney staff refusing to let frostbitten children leave PA rally
11/4/2012 7:17pm by John Aravosis

Back when I read about the Romney's campaign childish bus antics, I began to worry about the wackos Mitten$ would bring into his Administration.

GENESIS, SKOUSEN & ROMNEY

Some time ago, I noted that Genesis contains 2 contradictory creation stories.  W. Cleon Skousen in The first two thousand years. Salt Lake City, Bookcraft [1953] declares that the first creation story refers only to SPIRITUAL creation while the second refers to PHYSICAL creation, thus evading the contradiction.