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SNIPPETS, our daily collection of short items and comments, is here.

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Answers to last week's "Current Question" are here. The new "Current Question" is here, in the right-hand column.

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As I'm sure you understand, we are flooded with post-election e-mails.  I'll try to answer each one that requires an answer, but there may be a bit of a delay.

WEDNESDAY,  NOVEMBER 5,  2008

MEDIA SINS

Posted at 8:08 p.m. ET

We are dignified in defeat, but that doesn't mean forgetting what we learned and observed in this campaign.  One of the things we learned is how serious media bias can be, how pervasive, and how damaging.  We must not forget.  The media will not be our friend.  In 2010 and 2012 our side must learn, as Ronald Reagan learned, how to get around the press and speak directly to the American people.  I think John McCain was a bit naive about that, thinking his media "friends" were real.

We've been presenting here some media gems, illustrating how bad things are in the print and broadcast worlds.  Here are a few others.  First, the impeccably dense Christiane Amanpour, also quoted here yesterday, continues her flight into ecstasy with this:

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A page of history has been turned and a tsunami of goodwill is rumbling across the Atlantic to the Pacific, from pole to pole and across our many continents.

Pole to pole?  Really?  Did she interview the penguins?  Yes, of course.  Penguins are black and white together.  Of course they're cheering Obama.  We'll be researching quotes from penguin newspapers. 

I don't know who at the North Pole she's referring to.  Maybe she has secret sources.

Oh, by the way, about this goodwill bit:  The "goodwill" after the attacks of September 11th lasted precisely 48 hours.  Within two days the BBC was on the air with vicious, anti-American programming.  Don't expect too much "goodwill."

President-elect Barack Obama has brought America back, and yet he inherits a monumental mess.

Nothing like a little editorializing.  And get this:

No sooner had he said "I do" than world leaders, pundits and of course the media started weighing in with their wish lists.

When did he say "I do"?  What is this woman talking about?  Was there a wedding? 

Actually, the whole world pronounced itself sick of what it perceived to be Bush's multipronged military approach. From the start, President Obama will have to tackle the campaign pledge that defined his candidacy: bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq and ending the war there.

The whole world is doing things again.  Apparently, everyone in the world agrees with Christiane.  This individual is the chief international correspondent of CNN, and writes like a child.  And the Iraq pledge never defined Obama's candidacy.  In fact, he became rather vague about it.

It is no enviable task, but America's next president starts with a world of best wishes.

Again, the whole world is involved.  It's clear that Amanpour, in her rapture, didn't notice the threats from Moscow that accompanied Obama's election. 

How embarrassing for a major news operation.

And then there's the AP, whose reporting during the campaign was particularly disgraceful.  You can't find a more blatant example of bias than this, which appears in an AP news story today:

Skepticism, however, was high in the Muslim world. The Bush administration alienated those in the Middle East by mistreating prisoners at its detention center for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison -- human rights violations also condemned worldwide.

The Bush administration mistreated prisoners at Abu Ghraib?  I thought they prosecuted the individuals who did it.  And Guantanamo?  There are debatable legal issues, but there has been no evidence presented of real mistreatment.  This is very bad, propagandistic reporting.  Or this:

Some Iraqis, who have suffered through five years of a war ignited by the United States and its allies, said they would believe positive change when they saw it.

Ignited by the United States and its allies?  You mean Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with it?  We just decided to invade a country whose name we picked out of a hat?

This is disgraceful stuff.  And, by the way, this is the kind of thing fed to readers around the world.  America's image is created less by America's actions than by the corruption of news organizations, many of which are owned by ideologies.

We have a tough fight ahead to preserve freedom.  It's sad that some of our opponents will be in the media, but they will.

November 5, 2008.      Permalink          

UPDATE AT 7:30 P.M. ET:  More political integrity, via the Boston Globe: 

BOSTON—No sooner had John Kerry won re-election than he refused to rule out the possibility he might give up his Senate seat for a position in the Obama administration.

He also broadened his definition of service to Massachusetts, suggesting he could provide it whether he was one of the state's U.S. senators or held some other post under President-elect Barack Obama.

It was a change from past statements in which the Democrat would say he was only interested in seeking re-election. Kerry achieved that goal when he won a fifth term by beating Republican challenger Jeff Beatty.

There's talk he wants to be secretary of state, which would be a catastrophic appointment.  I hope Obama has more sense than that.  I also hope he has more sense than to appoint a pseudo Republican like Chuck Hagel, or the Senate's marshmallow-in-chief, Richard Lugar.  We need a tough secretary of state. 

UPDATE AT 7:22 P.M. ET:  Very early today we reported on which pollsters got it right, and which got it wrong.  But election tallies were refined during the day, and now we must revise our findings.  Obama, in the latest count, won the election, 52-46, a six-point margin. 

Ladies and gentlemen, the pollster winners, and new champ-eens are:

Rasmussen Reports and Pew Research, both of whom, in their final polls, got it exactly right.  (We define "exactly right" as hitting all three numbers - the percentages for the candidates, and the point spread.)

The big losers continue to be Zogby and Gallup, who are undoubtedly spending the day examining their methodology.

UPDATE AT 6:50 P.M. ET:  Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The stock market posted its biggest plunge following a presidential election as reports on jobs and service industries stoked concern the economy will worsen even as President-elect Barack Obama tries to stimulate growth.

COMMENT:  Reality sets in. 

UPDATE AT 6:38 P.M. ET:  We've just received this, on the Minnesota Senate race, from a knowledgeable observer:

The Minnesota recount will probably be pro forma, in that Coleman's current 477 vote margin is extremely unlikely to overturned by it.  Two months ago a judicial election recount netted a change of 7 votes, split between the two candidates. Extrapolate that to the MN Senate race and you get maybe 50-70 votes switching among the candidates, but in both directions. There are no major irregulariities that might void the election. The Secretary of State today, a Democrat, indicated that he thought the recount would not generate great surprises.  So, relax for now about Coleman.

I feel better already.

UPDATE AT 5:48 P.M. ET:  Aside from the Minnesota race, other critical Senate races have yet to be decided, something that is being ignored in all the hoopla over Barack Obama.  In Georgia, there may have to be a runoff to decide whether Republican Saxby Chandliss keeps his seat.  In Alaska, embarrasing Republican Senator Ted Stevens may have kept his seat, even after his recent conviction.  Final results not known.  In Oregon, presumably Republican Gordon Smith, who has distanced himself from President Bush, is tied with his Democratic challenger, with 70 percent of the vote counted.  Even if Smith hangs on, he will vote more as an independent than a Republican.

Chambliss is expected to win any recount.  Stevens, even if he wins, may have to resign, given his legal woes.  (Alaska hasn't polished its reputation by reelecting a convicted man.)  Then, Governor Sarah Palin will appoint a successor.  (I have a scheming scenario for that, but we'll save it for another time.)

UPDATE AT 5:12 P.M. ET: There is still no declared winner in the Minnesota Senate race, as AP reports:

MINNEAPOLIS – Republican Norm Coleman finished ahead of Democrat Al Franken in one of Minnesota's tightest Senate elections ever, but the margin was so slim it triggered an automatic recount.

Of nearly 2.9 million ballots cast, Coleman led Franken by 727 votes in unofficial returns from the Minnesota secretary of state. Coleman had 1,211,628 votes, or 42.03 percent; Franken had 1,210,901 votes, or 42.01 percent.

The recount won't begin until mid-November and can stretch into December.  We hope Coleman, a fine senator, wins his race and saves Minnesota from embarrassment.

WARM TRIBUTE

Posted at 9:54 a.m. ET

As we've reported, there's a flood of pompous pieces coming from the international press this morning, as our European betters tap us politely on the head, saying, "You Yanks are growing up, just like us." 

Leave it to a good, solid Aussie writer like Greg Sheridan to have the thoughtfulness to pay a deserved tribute to this country, in the wake of Obama's election.

SO now we know for sure. The Noam Chomsky-John Pilger-Phillip Adams view of America is wrong. In George W. Bush's America, a land allegedly rife with militarism and racism, the white military hero lost and the black memoirist won a slashing election victory.

Well said.  But never underestimate the financial lure of anti-Americanism.  Those three unworthies will be back at the same old stand.

It is indeed a wonderful thing for the US to have its first black president. No African-American child need ever fear there is any limit to what they can achieve. Whatever you think of Obama's policies and capacity to govern well -- and I have my doubts -- his election is a powerful symbol of America's inclusiveness and opportunity. Which other big, rich, predominantly white society has elected a member of a racial minority to be its head of government? Not Australia.

So as we salute Obama, let's salute America as well.

The left liberal caricature of America was always nonsense. The militarism of American society is vastly overstated, just as its profound willingness to make sacrifice for other people's freedom is under-appreciated.

And...

Similarly on race, the dynamic has been the opposite of the left liberal caricature of America for a long time. As Shelby Steele has argued, America has been ready for years to elect a black president. Of all the exit polls CNN conducted, perhaps the most revealing was the one that found only 20 per cent of Americans believed race was an important factor in how they voted. And a clear majority of those people voted for Obama.

But Obama's win must be put into perspective:

John McCain surely did just about as well as any Republican could have. He certainly made mistakes. But at the time of writing the popular vote was about 52 per cent to 47 per cent. That means Obama got about 1per cent more than Bush did four years ago. This was no landslide comparable to Ronald Reagan's victory of 1980, Richard Nixon's in 1972 or Lyndon Johnson's in 1964.

He is correct, but look at some of the hysterical reporting.  You'd think George Washington was elected.

Obama cannot govern by dint of his exotic identity or smooth talking. But these features will afford one advantage. At least temporarily, and perhaps for quite some time, the routine, stupid and dully uninformed anti-Americanism of many opinion makers around the world will be untenable. But all that will be less important than how Obama decides to govern. History here has plenty of cautionary lessons. The US political system works around checks and balances. History tells us that when one party controls the presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives, it is often pretty ugly. There is overwhelming evidence that unified government in Washington spends and taxes more than a divided government, and that will be a temptation for Obama and congressional leaders.

Correct again.

But at this stage we have no idea of how Obama will govern. The first real sign will come when he appoints his cabinet. Then perhaps we can answer the question this long campaign has so far not addressed: politically, who is Barack Obama?

Ah, the question of the era.

November 5, 2008.      Permalink          

UPDATE AT 9:09 A.M. ET:   MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Republican Norm Coleman outlasted Democrat Al Franken in one of Minnesota's tightest Senate elections ever, squeaking past the former comedian early Wednesday by a margin that appeared certain to trigger a recount.  With 4,129 of 4,130 precincts reporting, Coleman led Franken by 762 votes out of nearly 2.9 million cast. Coleman had 1,210,790 votes, or 42.03 percent, to Franken's 1,210,028 votes, or 42 percent.

THE NEW PRESIDENT

Posted at 7:59 a.m. ET

Of course we're disappointed.  We need to get over it quickly.  There are these things to be done:

First, we greet the president-elect, whose acceptance speech was eloquent. We wish him every success, while reserving the right to define what the word means.

Second, we make our feelings known - about policies and appointments.  This is the time for participation, not silence.  We are citizens, no matter who we supported.

Third, we avoid internecine warfare on our side.  It is a moment for planning and thoughtful debate.  Blame games are just that - games.  Games never get you anywhere, unless you're in a casino.

Fourth, we recognize that there'll be another election in two years.  Between Bill Clinton's election in 1992, and the midterms of 1994, the GOP was essentially reborn.  It was so successful in the 1994 elections that President Clinton, at a news conference, had to argue that he was still relevant.

Fifth, we constantly remind ourselves, and our leaders, that foreign threats trump anything else.  We must never be distracted, no matter how great our domestic challenges.

Sixth, we don't become what the Democrats became out of office - a bitter party, wallowing in conspiracy theories.  We don't want to see directed at Mr. Obama the irrational, destructive hatred that was showered on President Bush.

The new president takes the oath in two and a half months.  In that time he will appoint a number of officials.  The quality of the appointments will tell us much about the character of the new administration.  Mr. Obama said he would preside in a spirit of bipartisanship.  Of course, they always say that.  If he appoints Republicans to his cabinet, however, let us hope they are real Republicans, not marshmallows or Republicans in Name Only, or Republicans who helped Mr. Obama get elected.

There are four key cabinet posts - State, Defense, Treasury, and Attorney-general.  Mr. Obama's secretary of state should be a strong, firm individual who knows the department well, and who will not be buried by its deadening bureaucracy.  It should also be a person who will represent this country's interest first and foremost, without shame or excuse.  The defense secretary should be someone identified with strengthening defense, not a weak reed who will gladly preside over a diminished force.  Treasury, in the short term, may be the most crucial appointment of all.  Let's see if Obama has the courage to appoint someone like Larry Summers, who held the post under Clinton, but who was forced out of the presidency of Harvard in an orgy of dishonest political correctness. 

Because Obama comes from the Chicago political machine, we will watch to see if his attorney-general is an independent force for justice, or someone appointed to protect the president's legal flank.  In a way, it is the most symbolic appointment.  President-elect Kennedy's first blunder was appointing his brother as attorney-general, subjecting the new president to ridicule and contempt.  The appointment led to federal legislation banning such blatant nepotism. 

Today begins a new political era.  We are part of the loyal opposition.  How intelligently we proceed will determine how soon we have a victorious election, as in days we all remember.

November 5, 2008.      Permalink          

NOTE AT 7:15 A.M. ET:   We are certainly getting our predicted share of obnoxious journalism to go with some of the examples we featured yesterday.  We are now informed that something called "the world" is hailing Obama's victory.  Tell me, did they call you for a comment?  Are you part of the "world"?  Apparently not.  But that did not stop AFP from running this headline:

World hails Obama's 'brilliant' victory

At least they put quotes around "brilliant."  There are some standards left.

NOTE AT 6:57 A.M. ET:  Here is one of the best quotes I've seen on the election result, from Cliff May, president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies:

Give Obama his due: It is an exceptional politician who can win the support of Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, and Kenneth Duberstein, former chief of staff to President Reagan; of William Ayers, an unrepentant terrorist, and Christopher Buckley, son of William F. Buckley, founder of modern intellectual conservatism; of Rashid Khalidi, an Israel-hater, and Edgar Bronfman, former head of the World Jewish Congress. Here’s a not-very-bold prediction: A year from now, someone is going to be sorely disappointed.

UPDATE AT 6:28 A.M. ET:  In that Minnesota Senate race, pitting Republican incumbent Norm Coleman against comedian Al Franken, it appears that Coleman has squeezed out the narrowest of victories.  With 99 percent of the precincts counted, he's leading Franken 1,210,595 votes to 1,209,919, a difference of 676 votes.  This could change, but we hope not.

UPDATE AT 4:31 A.M. ET:  I think you'll want to know which pollsters got it right in their final polls, and which didn't.  Based on current Real Clear Politics reporting, Obama received 52 percent of the actual vote and McCain got 47 percent.  A five-point gap.

Winner of the on-the-button award - Celinda Lake of the Battleground poll, who got all the numbers exactly right.

Runners-up (a tie) - Rasmussen, who had Obama up six, 52 to 46; and Pew research, which reported the same.

Worst performers:  Zogby, who had Obama winning, 54-43, an 11-point gap; and Gallup, which had Obama up, 55-44, also an 11-point gap.

TUESDAY,  NOVEMBER 4,  2008

12:18 A.M.   The president-elect has given an eloquent and literate acceptance speech, for which he should be praised.  Now the easy part is over.  The hard part starts tomorrow morning.

11:45 P.M.   Fox is predicting a Democratic pickup of about 25 seats in the House, which has to be described as impressive.  In the Senate, though, the Democrats have, thus far, only picked up five seats.  Several races are still out, but it seems unlikely that the Democrats will pick up the nine seats needed to have a filibuster-proof majority.

Disgracefully, though, Al Franken is doing well in Minnesota against a a fine Republican senator, Norm Coleman, in part because a third-party candidate seems to be taking votes from Coleman.  Reports say the Coleman people are very concerned.  The idea of Al Franken in the Senate should be embarrassing, but apparently not this year.  All the major Democratic papers endorsed Coleman.

11:43 P.M.   John Murtha has been reelected in western Pennsylvania, an area he openly called racist.  I have no idea what those voters were thinking.  Maybe they should pay attention.

11:31 P.M.   John McCain has just delivered a classy, elegant concession speech worthy of the character of the man.  He went out with style.  Sarah Palin did not speak, but McCain's reference to her got the biggest applause of his address.  We will hear from her.  This campaign is over.

11:15 P.M.   The Democratic celebrations have begun.  We wish the new president well, and hope he serves the country with distinction.  We will applaud him when we think he's right, and respectfully oppose him when we think he's wrong.  That is the role of the responsbile citizen. 

11:02 P.M.   All networks are calling the election for Obama. 

10:57 P.M.   Polls close on the West Coast within minutes.  Once California is called, and it will be for Obama, the networks will start making it official, and I'd imagine there will be a concession announcement.  We fought the good fight.  We still fight to keep those opposition numbers down in the Senate and House.  Never give up. 

10:45 P.M.   Fox calls Virginia for Obama. 

10:23 P.M.  Both CNN and Fox are reporting that senior McCain aides concede there is no path to victory for the Arizona senator.  This is not a great shock. 

NOTE AT 10:14 P.M.  Just wanted to point out that some of the irresponsible journalist bravado that we saw in the last day or so, suggesting that some networks would call the race by 8 p.m. ET, has faded away.  Although it is clear that Obama will win, barring some real upset in a western state, the race overall seems to be closer than many had predicted.  And the Senate results thus far show Democrats picking up only four seats.  So all is not bleak.  Stay with it.

10:07 P.M.   Well, what do you know, Fox has just pulled back on its report that Roger Wicker has kept his seat in Mississippi.  They're calling it too close to call.  Also too close to call is the Senate race in Louisiana, where Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu is in some trouble.  If she loses, that would be the only Democratic turnover of the night.  Very close. 

10:03 P.M.   Roger Wicker, the incumbent Republican senator from Mississippi, has held on to his seat, eliminating a serious Democratic challenge.  As the hours go on, the chances of the Dems reaching 60 in the Senate, are slipping away.

9:59 P.M.  There seems to be, as they say, a lull in the fighting.  No key decisions have been made for a while.  We are awaiting decisions in key states like Virginia, Florida, and Missouri.  But McCain would have to win all of them, plus pick up some unlikely states, to pull a surprise.  It doesn't seem to be happening.  In Senate races, we're looking at Minnesota, where incumbent Republican Norm Coleman is trying to hold off comedian, and ridiculous candidate Al Franken.  We're also looking at Georgia, where incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss is in a tough race, but seems to be hanging on.  Iowa has just been called for Obama, which was expected.

BULLETIN AT 9:24 P.M.   Fox has just called Ohio for Obama.  No Republican has ever been elected while losing Ohio.  The chances of McCain pulling an upset tonight are now extremely bleak.  The issue is how large Obama's victory will be, how big a "mandate" he can claim.  The other issue tonight, of course, is the Senate.  Will the Democrats reach 60 seats, a filibuster-proof majority?  That may be the biggest suspense story of the election.   

9:06 P.M.   Democrats just gained another seat in the Senate - Tom Udall has won the seat left open by the retirement of Pete Dominici, a Republican.  The Dems have now picked up four seats in the Senate.

8:56 P.M.   Michael Barone just noted very high WPE's in Virginia.  WPE stands for Within Precinct Error.  It's the difference between the exit poll result and the actual vote.  As in the primaries, the WPE's generally show much higher exit poll results for Obama than actual votes.  That may not mean much in the end, but at least it makes us feel a bit better.

8:42 P.M.   CNN again scanned the crowd at the Obama victory party in Grant Park, Chicago.  Every face was young.  This is an entertainment event.  The centrifuges are still spinning in Iran.

8:40 P.M.   Fox calls Georgia for McCain. 

8:31 P.M.   Fox has just called Pennsylvania for Obama, a huge defeat for McCain.  The McCain campaign put enormous effort into Pennsylvania, but the state has a large African-American population, and a large population of affluent, "educated" voters who are going Democratic.

8:28 P.M.   Fox just called the New Hampshire Senate race for Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, defeating incumbent Republican John Sununu.

8:22 P.M.   Several news organizations are calling Pennsylvania for Obama, but others are holding back.  The fact is that there are very few actual returns in from Pennsylvania.  Michael Barone just reported that, thus far tonight, there have been precincts where the exit polls have Obama eleven points higher than the actual returns.

8:09 P.M.   Fox just called the Kentucky Senate race for Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell.  But Fox also just called the North Carolina Senate race for Demcorat Kay Hagan, who defeated Elizabeth Dole.  North Carolina is a major turnover for the Dems.  Kentucky is a major hold for the GOP.

7:53 P.M.   Bill Kristol, at Fox, notes that the early actual returns - not exit polls - seem to be confirming the pre-election polls.  However, Brit Hume notes that it doesn't look like the kind of early blowout that some had predicted.  The key states where polls have closed are still too close to call.  A number of important states close at 8 p.m. ET, about seven minutes from now.

7:39 P.M.   Polls in Virginia and Indiana are closed, but the states are too close to call.  However, early indications in both, as analyzed by Michael Barone, are less than favorable for Senator McCain.

7:30 P.M.   Polls are closing in North Carolina and Ohio, both critical. 

7:25 P.M.   CNN just showed crowds rushing into the Obama "victory" party in Grant Park in Chicago.  It looked like an American Idol celebration, not a political event.  In certain respects, a bit disturbing.  We're electing a president.  I hope they know it.

7:10 P.M.   Again, no surprise.  The Dems picked up a Senate seat in Virginia - former Governor Mark Warner. 

7:01 P.M.:  No surprise.  Fox called Vermont for Obama, Kentucky for McCain.

WE'RE NOW STARTING, AT ABOUT 6:50 P.M. ET., OUR UNINTERRUPTED ELECTION COVERAGE.  STAY WITH US.

UPDATE AT 6:25 P.M. ET:  Early reports of exit polls, by Fox and CNN, show very strong support for Obama.  However, a caution:  The exit polls in 2004 were way off, and there is a body of evidence to suggest that Obama supporters are more likely to participate in these polls than McCain supporters.  I think we can wait for the real results, which won't be long in coming.

NO SHAME

Posted at 6:09 p.m. ET

They just keep coming.   They're collectible.  We warned last night about the kind of journalism to expect today.  We haven't been disappointed.  But this blog by the certifiable nutbag Christiane Amanpour, of CNN, one of the most biased reporters in the trade today, has got to be eligible for some kind of prize.  I hate to use a cliché, but you really can't make this up:

NEW YORK — Finding myself in New York City this U.S. election Day, I saw scenes that reminded me of the first democratic elections I covered in Afghanistan in 2004, or Iraq in 2005.

Scenes that reminded me of the historic election in South Africa in 1994 when a black man, Nelson Mandela, was elected president thus ending generations of white minority rule known as apartheid.

Yes, I checked.  I quoted that accurately.  That's what she wrote - comparing the United States, with more than two centuries of peaceful, democratic elections, to third-world countries. 

Or 1998 in Iran when women and young people turned out en masse to elect the first ever reform president, the moderate cleric Mohammad Khatami.

Moderate?  Did she say moderate?  Well, I guess Albert Speer was moderate compared with Adolph Hitler.  Maybe that's the example she had in mind.

And that’s what I saw this morning in New York City as the polls opened. As I rode my son to school by bike, we passed a public school-turned voting center that made us gasp.

Oh, come on.  Please.  Readers, she did say that.  She had to inform us that she rode her son by bike.  No carbon footprint there.  Just a clean, green bike.  That line has got to be worth an invitation to Al Gore's next birthday party.

Oh, by the way, in New York City you have to ride bikes in the street, never on the sidewalk.  So this brilliant chunk of parenthood was riding her son on her bike, and watching the polling places, rather than the traffic.  Another mother-of-the-year.

Remember, the U.S. is never known for its high voter turnouts.

We do quite a bit better, Christiane, than the dictatorships you seem never to mind.  This "international correspondent" is Iranian, a leftist, and a flack for Arab causes.  She's judging us?

Everywhere you look the mood smacks of history…almost a foregone conclusion. Even New York City’s right-wing leading tabloids, are calling it for Obama.

In fact, only one leading tabloid is right wing, or conservative, as we prefer to say.  That's the New York Post.  The other "right-wing" tabloid she's apparently referencing is the Daily News, which endorsed Obama.  Apparently she never noticed.  Must have been watching the polling places.

Meantime cable and broadcast TV networks can barely contain themselves: Newspaper articles quote news executives all but saying they will be able to call the election as soon as polls close early evening.

Barely contain themselves?  This is the way she describes her "colleagues"?  I guess we've been right about this crowd all along.  Thanks, Christiane, for your honesty about that, if about nothing else. 

And the big finish:

No election has electrified the U.S. like this since 1968. But the whole world wishes it could cast a vote in this one. Whatever happens, this U.S. election will change the world. Stay tuned.

Notice she says 1968.  Apparently, in her self-written history book there was no 1980.  Reagan?  Who was Reagan?  Could he have possibly been as important as Eugene McCarthy? 

I'm always amused when reporters bring up 1968, as a kind of nostalgic act.  It was the year, after all, of the worst journalistic scandal of modern American history - the misreporting of the Tet offensive, which mislead the American people into thinking we were losing, and led to our ultimate tragedy in Vietnam.

This blog exposes Amanpour for exactly who she is.  The sad fact is that there are clones of this woman throughout journalism, which is why we may suffer another tragedy before coming to our senses.

November 4, 2008.      Permalink          

UPDATE AT 4:53 P.M. ET:  From Fox News:  Some last minute campaigning for US Senate hopeful Al Franken...Who spent most of Monday campaigning alongside Senator Hillary Clinton.The two attended an event in Duluth, Minnesota aimed at encouraging people to get out and vote.The former presidential candidate told voters... if they voted to send Al Franken to the White House, the country would see the type of change they want.

COMMENT:  Utterly sickening.  In the end, Hillary will do anything.  Al Franken is a sick joke, a man who has written vile things about women, a preacher of leftist hate.  And there's Hillary, right beside him, building up political credits for the future.  And she calls herself a feminist, a word that has lost all meaning.

UPDATE AT 3:20 P.M. ET:  The only trend we're seeing is heavy voting throughout the country, which was expected.  There are isolated reports of dirty tricks, irregularities and missing ballots, but so far we haven't seen any major pattern of voter fraud.  We stress "so far."

THE CHILLING EFFECT

Posted at 2:46 p.m. ET

Boy, they don't wait long, do they?  Although he represents a good chunk of the broadcast industry as a senator from New York, Chuck Schumer is already on the warpath on behalf of the so-called "fairness doctrine," which would regulate the political content of over-the-air broadcasting.  Liberals are also going totalitarian in their support of a union measure that would deny workers the right to a secret ballot in union-organizing elections.  Nice, huh?  We the people. 

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday defended the so-called Fairness Doctrine in an interview on Fox News, saying, “I think we should all be fair and balanced, don’t you?”

Schumer’s comments echo other Democrats’ views on reviving the Fairness Doctrine, which would require radio stations to balance conservative hosts with liberal ones.

Asked if he is a supporter of telling radio stations what content they should have, Schumer used the fair and balanced line, claiming that critics of the Fairness Doctrine are being inconsistent.

“The very same people who don’t want the Fairness Doctrine want the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] to limit pornography on the air. I am for that… But you can’t say government hands off in one area to a commercial enterprise but you are allowed to intervene in another. That’s not consistent.”

So pornography and political content are to be treated the same?  Hmm.  What about murder and double parking?  They're both violations of the law, correct?  See that guy in the Toyota, double parked?  Life sentence.  Lock him up.

He also defended “card check” legislation, claiming there is a strong need to allow workers a private ballot to register their votes on whether to organize a union.  Schumer said “there has to be some counter” to the leverage businesses have, claiming “employers have every leg up on people who want to organize and that’s why union workers have gone down from about 25 percent to 6 percent [in the private sector].”

Under "card check" there would be no secret ballot.  Great for democracy, isn't it? 

Don't think it stops there.  I wouldn't be shocked if there are assaults on democracy in other areas, like the internet.  There are initiatives under way at the UN to regulate internet content, and some countries already do it.  But we want "civil" speech, don't we?  We don't want "hate" speech, do we?  Get ready for those arguments.

This is coming from the left wing of the Democratic Party, and these are angry folks.

Now please go out and vote.  That's the first step in fighting back.

November 4, 2008.      Permalink          

UPDATE AT 2:19 P.M. ET:  Last-minute polls have now been published.  All show Obama in the lead.  The largest lead is reported by Zogby - 11 points, 54-43.  The smallest, two points, 50-48, comes from one of two releases, (Tarrance) by Battleground.  The other Battleground report (Lake) has Obama leading by five, 52-47.  Rasmussen has Obama up by six, 52-46. 

UPDATE AT 10:48 A.M. ET: 

(CNN) – John McCain and his aides are still banking on a come-from-behind victory Tuesday, but the GOP's most famous political strategist has already called the race for Barack Obama.

Karl Rove, the man widely credited with engineering President Bush's two successful White House bids, is predicting the Illinois senator will take the White House in an Electoral College landslide, winning 338 votes to John McCain's 200. That would be the largest Electoral College victory since 1996, when Bill Clinton defeated Bob Dole in a 379-159 rout.

COMMENT: Maybe. Maybe not.  But let's not forget that McCain's fortunes began to slide dramatically after the financial meltdown, even though much of the cause of that meltdown - the subprime mortgage scandal - could be traced to Democratic policies.  The voters punish the party in the White House.

UPDATE AT 10:01 A.M. ET:  From AP: 

Voting problems surfaced in several areas early Tuesday as people turned out in droves as balloting commenced along the Eastern Seaboard and in mid-Atlantic states.

Voters needed to use paper ballots because of problems with electronic voting machines in some New Jersey precincts. And in New York, Board of Elections spokeswoman Valerie Vazquez-Rivera said many people began lining up as early as 4 a.m. at some polling places to avoid long lines, leading to erroneous reports that some sites were not opening on time.

Poll worker John Ritch in Chappaqua, N.Y., said: ''By 7:30 this morning, we had as many as we had at noon in 2004.''

UPDATE AT 9:44 A.M. ET:  From Amanda Carpenter at Townhall.com:   GOP Election Board members have been tossed out of polling stations in at least half a dozen polling stations in Philadelphia because of their party status.  A Pennsylvania judge previously ruled that court-appointed poll watchers could be NOT removed from their boards by an on-site election judge, but that is exactly what is happening.  It is the duty of election board workers to monitor and guard the integrity of the voting process.

COMMENT:  I suspect there'll be a lot more stories like this in big cities today.  We'll keep watch.

NOTE AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  A question to consider today.  If Obama is elected, who will be the new U.S. senator from Illinois, replacing him?  I'd imagine that Obama himself will do the picking of the man or woman to finish his term, which expires in January, 2011. 

There is speculation that Rahm Emanuel, the fiery Dem congressman from Chicago, will be tapped to be White House chief of staff, effectively taking him out of the running for senator.  There may something cynical in that move, as it clears the way for...Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.  African-American power groups would almost certainly demand that Obama be replaced with another African-American, and the Jackson pick would pay off political debts.  It would also enrage many whites, who see the young Jackson as representing the old racialist wing of the movement. 
   

NOTE AT 8:49 A.M. ET:  We cautioned last night about the kind of journalism to expect today.  Here is a particularly disgraceful example:

BERLIN (AP) -- The world was riveted by the election drama unfolding Tuesday in the United States, inspired by the hope embodied by Barack Obama or simply relieved that -- whoever wins -- an administration that spawned Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay was coming to an end.

From Berlin's Brandenburg Gate to the small town of Obama, Japan, the globe geared up to celebrate a fresh start for America after eight wearisome years of George W. Bush.

That's a news story?  it must be, because it isn't labeled "analysis" or "commentary."  It's presented as news.

So, we're told that "the world" was riveted by something.  We should always dismiss stories that tell us that the "world" is doing this or that.  What world is that?  Did the reporter interview the entire world?  It reminds me of Alan Jay Lerner's complaint about lyricists who tell us, in their songs, about "hearts" doing things.  My heart did this, my heart did that.  Hearts really don't do much expect pump, and attack us.

This is awful journalism.  It further erodes whatever is left of the credibility of the press.  We can't count on them anymore.  We just can't.   

THE FINAL OUTRAGE

Posted at 7:44 a.m. ET

All right, I know that sounds like the title of one of those 1970s thrillers, but it fits.  It was perhaps inevitable that the media would give us one final outrage on this election day.  They always come through, don't they?

One of the great stories of the 2004 election was the wild inaccuracy of the exit polls.  You'd think the press would have learned.  But the press rarely learns anything.  So we have this, as reported by The New York Times:

At least one broadcast network and one Web site said Monday that they could foresee signaling to viewers early Tuesday evening which candidate appeared to have won the presidency, despite the unreliability of some early exit polls in the last presidential election.

Unreliability?  Hey, what kind of a word is that in today's journalism?  It's just another point of view.  Right?

A senior vice president of CBS News, Paul Friedman, said the prospects for Barack Obama or John McCain meeting the minimum threshold of electoral votes could be clear as soon as 8 p.m. — before polls in even New York and Rhode Island close, let alone those in Texas and California. At such a moment, determined from a combination of polling data and samples of actual votes, the network could share its preliminary projection with viewers, Mr. Friedman said.

“We could know Virginia at 7,” he said. “We could know Indiana before 8. We could know Florida at 8. We could know Pennsylvania at 8. We could know the whole story of the election with those results. We can’t be in this position of hiding our heads in the sand when the story is obvious.”

Everyone knows that one effect of that kind of reporting is to discourage people from voting - especially people on the losing side. 

How long has this campaign been going on?  Two years?  Can't "journalists" wait a few more hours to tell us who won, and keep the election process relatively pure?  I guess not.

“When a candidate gets 270 electoral votes, they’re the next president,” said Sheldon Gawiser, director of elections for NBC News. “If some states are still voting, it’s an unfortunate circumstance, that’s what it is. The founding fathers never expected us to count the votes fast.”

The patriotism.  The statesmanship.  Damn those founding daddies.  What did they know?

When the loser concedes, then we'll know.

November 4, 2008.      Permalink          

UPDATE AT 6:47 A.M. ET:  The final IBD/TIPP poll, published overnight, has Obama up eight, when undecideds are allocated.  This was the most accurate poll in 2004, and its findings are pretty consistent, this year, with other polls.

Early voting from those little New Hampshire towns that vote first is heavily Obama, even in places carried by Bush in 2004.