More election fallout
Let the teeth-gnashing begin!
Hey, remember back in 2004, when conservative pundits claimed that Bush had a "mandate" to do whatever the hell he wanted because he won 51% of the vote and beat John "I Was a Teenaged Wooden Statue" Kerry by 3.5 million votes? Well, professional douchebag Robert Novak is claiming that Obama's victory on Tuesday was "no mandate." Because winning by 7.5 million votes and getting, what, 53% of the vote is somehow less impressive than Bush's win. As Think Progress points out, Novak specifically said that Bush's margin gave him a mandate. Good stuff, Bob. Shut the hell up, okay?
I hope Obama doesn't consider this election a "mandate." I cringed when I heard Bush use that, because it ignored the half of the country who didn't vote for him. Almost half of the country didn't vote for Obama, either, so I hope he's more intelligent than 43 and realizes that if he treats this election as carte blanche, he's in trouble. You know what a mandate is? Reagan in 1984. When a president wins 49 states, that's a mandate. Obama should remember that, just like Bush should have remembered that four years ago.
Meanwhile, remember all those conservatives who told liberals to "get over it" four years ago when the crazy left-wingers were whining about Bush winning? I'm fairly certain it won't surprise you to know that those crazy right-wingers who wanted to move on are now, well, freaking out. This post is just an example of some of the craziness out there (and that entire blog is, frankly, frightening, just like a lot of crazy left-wing blogs were frightening after Bush won). The best thing in that post: that Obama will implement sharia teaching in the schools. Won't someone think of the children???? The same people who said that we should all unite behind Bush in '04 when he won legitimately and in '00 when he won illegitimately are now claiming that Obama will never be their president. Listen, if Bush didn't destroy this country, I doubt if Obama will.
Finally, on the radio today, a conservative talk show host played a clip from a Swedish documentary in which a teacher in North Carolina humiliated a girl who was voting for McCain in the school's mock election. Fine. That's despicable. I agree. But this dude went nuts, claiming that this sort of thing happens all over the place (with no empirical evidence, mind you). Well, using my own evidence, at the school where once I taught, we hired a science teacher who refused to teach the theory of evolution. Chew on that for a while. And did this guy get all bent out of shape when a 7th-grade teacher used the word "nigger" to describe Obama? If he did, okay. But don't single out one stupid teacher and claim that we're now going to "indoctrinate" our children. School is indoctrination. Parenting is indoctrination. Church is indoctrination. Everything is indoctrination. Deal with it.
We're off to a rousing start to the presidency, aren't we? Conservative talk radio should be a barrel of laughs for the next 4-8 years! (And by "barrel of laughs," I mean "cause for apoplexy while I'm driving," so I might have to keep the dial tuned to sports talk!)
Hey, remember back in 2004, when conservative pundits claimed that Bush had a "mandate" to do whatever the hell he wanted because he won 51% of the vote and beat John "I Was a Teenaged Wooden Statue" Kerry by 3.5 million votes? Well, professional douchebag Robert Novak is claiming that Obama's victory on Tuesday was "no mandate." Because winning by 7.5 million votes and getting, what, 53% of the vote is somehow less impressive than Bush's win. As Think Progress points out, Novak specifically said that Bush's margin gave him a mandate. Good stuff, Bob. Shut the hell up, okay?
I hope Obama doesn't consider this election a "mandate." I cringed when I heard Bush use that, because it ignored the half of the country who didn't vote for him. Almost half of the country didn't vote for Obama, either, so I hope he's more intelligent than 43 and realizes that if he treats this election as carte blanche, he's in trouble. You know what a mandate is? Reagan in 1984. When a president wins 49 states, that's a mandate. Obama should remember that, just like Bush should have remembered that four years ago.
Meanwhile, remember all those conservatives who told liberals to "get over it" four years ago when the crazy left-wingers were whining about Bush winning? I'm fairly certain it won't surprise you to know that those crazy right-wingers who wanted to move on are now, well, freaking out. This post is just an example of some of the craziness out there (and that entire blog is, frankly, frightening, just like a lot of crazy left-wing blogs were frightening after Bush won). The best thing in that post: that Obama will implement sharia teaching in the schools. Won't someone think of the children???? The same people who said that we should all unite behind Bush in '04 when he won legitimately and in '00 when he won illegitimately are now claiming that Obama will never be their president. Listen, if Bush didn't destroy this country, I doubt if Obama will.
Finally, on the radio today, a conservative talk show host played a clip from a Swedish documentary in which a teacher in North Carolina humiliated a girl who was voting for McCain in the school's mock election. Fine. That's despicable. I agree. But this dude went nuts, claiming that this sort of thing happens all over the place (with no empirical evidence, mind you). Well, using my own evidence, at the school where once I taught, we hired a science teacher who refused to teach the theory of evolution. Chew on that for a while. And did this guy get all bent out of shape when a 7th-grade teacher used the word "nigger" to describe Obama? If he did, okay. But don't single out one stupid teacher and claim that we're now going to "indoctrinate" our children. School is indoctrination. Parenting is indoctrination. Church is indoctrination. Everything is indoctrination. Deal with it.
We're off to a rousing start to the presidency, aren't we? Conservative talk radio should be a barrel of laughs for the next 4-8 years! (And by "barrel of laughs," I mean "cause for apoplexy while I'm driving," so I might have to keep the dial tuned to sports talk!)
Labels: Education ranting, Politics, This insane world
posted by Greg | 9:18 AM
2 Comments:
People like Novak are like snakes eating their own heads. Entertaining to watch but not very nutritious.
I thought he'd like retired or something anyway? Sheesh.
Hey, I was going to write about the big election in your neck of the woods tomorrow! I was reading about the Maori Party having a big effect on it. Those crazy Maoris!
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