Friday, November 7, 2008
Oklahoma
The ONLY totally red state in the lower 48 - the ONLY state with ZERO blue counties is none other than your Tatami Pundit's home state of Oklahoma.
Check out this horrible, horrible, awful graphic and keep your eyes focused in the middle of the country...electoral info porn courtesy of the New York Times. Every state in the midsection of the country had at least a couple of pale blue counties.
AND - close up. Look up north...Kansas eked out a couple of blue counties and - Holy Lord - lookit Dallas county, Texas! Blue as the sky above! Now, lookit the wasteland in between. Aw Jeez, even Tulsa was solid red. Christ, this is embarrassing. Well, if anyone asks, I'll just disavow and say I'm from Los Angeles.
Bush Countdown Clock
I went online expecting to find a few and inadvertently hit the digital motherlode. Here's a sampling...
http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushclock.htm
http://www.bbspot.com/News/2005/01/bush_countdown.html
http://www.nationalnightmare.com/
Add this to your Facebook account: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2384255757
Get a screensaver for your home machine: http://www.simtel.net/product.php%5Bid%5D82106%5Bcid%5D252%5BSiteID%5Dsimtel.net
A widget for your website or desktop: http://www.pyzam.com/toys/view/georgewcountdown
HTML link for your website: http://3d2f.com/programs/22-644-george-bush-s-election-countdown-download.shtml
Oh, look! Another widget! http://www.dashboardwidgets.com/showcase/details.php?wid=1102
And another: http://download.chip.eu/en/Bush-Countdown-Widget-1.0_1309189.html
A Mac-specific widget (no, not that Mac! We mean the computer, not the Republican candidate!): http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20060730/3640/
Good heavens! Widgets galore! Another! http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/bush-countdown-clock
For your iGoogle page, if ya got one: http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/1600666.aspx
You just aren’t gonna believe what I found here: http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Dashboard-Widgets/Webcams/Miscellaneous/Bush-Countdown.shtml
Didn’t I see this one somewhere? http://domandgabesmom.blogspot.com/2008/03/official-george-w-bush-countdown-clock.html
Get your Bush on with this treasure trove of 33 widgets for the W In Chief: http://www.widgetbox.com/tag/george+bush Well, at least 3 of them are relevant.
And one more! http://www.softpedia.com/get/Windows-Widgets/Alarms-Clocks/Bush-Countdown-Clock.shtml
Guess there are some folks who just can’t wait!
And, on the opposite side of the spectrum…
Obama Countdown to Presidency widget. It's the same thing, but with more hope: http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Dashboard-Widgets/Webcams/Miscellaneous/President-Obama-Countdown.shtml
Thursday, November 6, 2008
The morning after
100% of precincts reporting and they still can't find a winner, although Obama leads by 22,000 votes?
Guys - it's over. Y'all ain't gonna be another Florida. Just call it for Mr. O be done with it.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Obama, Japan
The Japan Times covered the event, as well as the BBC, Italian media, various bloggers ... and, ummm...who was that? CNN. Heard of them? No?
Aftermath
Beer has been broken out and folks are in a very celebratory mood.
Funny thing - a huge percentage of American expatriates in Japan are Democrats or Democratic-sympathetic. I guess over the past two years, I have only heard one American over here actually say, "Bush is doing a great job," or "I support McCain".
There was 153 people packed into a cramped bar in central Tokyo today. An amazing turnout. No electric outlets ... I had to go next door to charge my laptop battery. A beautiful experience. It was wonderful!
Best Quote of the Day
Obama's Acceptance Speech
Waiting for Obama's Speech
No doubt with pitchforks and torches to forcefully and prematurely remove the present occupant.
CONGRATULATIONS, AMERICA!!!
For the first time in 8 years, I can tell people, with pride, that I am from the United States of America. I will be able to proudly represent this country to my host nation and to citizens of other countries.
Thank you from Japan.
Domo Arigato Gozaimashita.
McCain's concession speech, Part II
"Goddammit, John, why didn't you do better on the campaign?"
"Shut your trap, Sarah. I wasn't the one who embarrassed myself on national TV!"
"Jerk!"
"Bitch!"
McCain's concession speech
WTF?
What is this racial crap?
"The failure is mine, not yours."
Well, Mac, not exactly. I would think Sarah Palin helped in that department.
"Grateful to Sarah Palin..."
Oh, please...pack up Caribou Barbie and send her back to the Great November Moose Hunt.
OBAMA WINS
Obama has won. All is right in the universe.
Our long national nightmare is over.
A quick breather
So far, the Dems have picked up two seats in the Senate and Minnesota is still in play.
Three states required for the Magic 270 for Obama. Crunch time, folks!
AND - the Tatami Pundit has to check out for about 30 minutes. Low Battery...damn.
Ohio goes Obama. Even Fox News concedes
Bring in California, Washington, Florida and that's it! Obama is within striking distance.
Virginia, Texas, Arizona too close to call
Mitch McConnell is projected to win by the landslide percentage of 51-49.
Damn.
Well, Democrats have two firm pick-ups in the Senate. I would SOOOO hate to be Joe Lieberman right now.
Talking to the local press
Looks like Texas is in play and that is the biggest surprise of the day so far.
Electoral Vote Spot Check
MSNBC: 103-34
CBS: 81-39
Fox: 8-3, McCain. Yep. Fox. Fair and Balanced. And, well, kinda off.
Solid lead for Obama in Ohio
Electoral Vote: 103-34 Obama
Obama taking Florida I-5 corridor
MSNBC calls Pennsylvania; CNN is clueless
Wolf calls the election for East America
Mighty fine reporting there, Wolf.
Screw the exit polls, we're just gonna dartboard this sucker!
Liddy Dole Crashes!! And Burns!! Just like her husband in 1996!!
Georgia is dumb
Amazing.
Note to the rest of the nation: Put Georgia up on e-bay after the election.
Reversal!
Obama leads by 64,000 on the popular vote.
Wolf tells us again - 7th time since coverage began - that "we're doing the math for you". Got it, Wolf - thanks.
Commercial break. Thank God. I need coffee.
Obama leads Ohio
Viva la Hillbilly!
McCain leads in "Real" Virginia
Campbell Brown is trying to balance the hype - saying "It's still way early" about three times in a five-minute segment. Well, yeah, I'd rather have that than Wolf telling the world, "With 1% of the votes in, we project..."
CNN
Now I get to hear Wolf Blitzer talk all night about how "We're doing the math for you".
Early Results
Right now, in terms of percentage, McCain is leading by a huge margin, but only a few thousand votes have been counted. It is still unnerving to see these numbers.
First Returns
McCain 8-3 right now. CNN has given Kentucky 55-44 to the Republican candidate.
Too close to call yet in Virginia, Florida, Indiana.
Senate: Kentucky - McConnell and Lunsford are neck and neck
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
It begins
Get out the vote, America. While I sleep, I expect all of you to do your civic duty, stand in line, deal with harassment from poorly-trained voting officials, anger and fear over vote-flipping machines with no paper audit trail, and other sorts of intimidation. Do this.
Me? Yes, I am way far away, but I voted absentee back in early October. I'm registered in Maricopa County, Arizona, seeing as that's where the folks are, so I have the distinct honor of saying - in all truthiness - that my vote negated John McCain's on his home turf! POW! Take that, Walnuts!
Oh, heads up! Throughout the day, there will be references to "Walnuts", a pet name for John McCain. To get up on this reference, check out Wonkette or the original "Walnuts" video.
I guess this nullifies Alaska's vote.
The total 48 votes between them should more than negate Alaska's results, so we're safe there.
More on the two Granite State villages here, which have enjoyed "First Voting" status since 1948.
The US President and Japan - A Primer
Despite the fact that the groundwork for the present US-Japan alliance was laid during Truman's 2nd term, and Japan was considered a vital staging point for US/UN-Allied troops during the Korean War. the common perception was that Japan's relationship with America matured during the Eisenhower years. In many ways, it did - SCAP was disbanded, Japan gradually fell under the US defensive umbrella, and the stage was set for Japan's rapid postwar economic expansion which lasted well into the 1980s.
With the Kennedy years occupied with the Soviet Union and the Cold War, Japan was considered a critical ally, but not an area of strategic focus. That status continued with the Johnson administration and its added concern over the escalating Vietnam conflict.
Although it would be easy to write a long thesis on how each successive US administration had different effects on the Japan-US relationship, this is a blog and I want to keep it readable. The short version is that even today, despite the total inept failure of the Bush years and the corresponding wane of American prestige here and around the world, if you spoke to the average Japanese guy in the street, a great many would be more comfortable with a McCain administration than an Obama presidency. (This is my experience only, speaking with people in Kangawa, Shizuoka, Aichi, Mie and Hyogo prefectures over the past nine months. Other accounts may, and probably will, vary.) The results are also split evenly among the "over 40/under 40" demographic. Predictably, the "over 40" folks tend to lean more Republican than the "under 40" who came of age and became internationally aware during the Clinton years.
Even though the Clinton years did a lot to move Japan-US relations forward and erase much of the "Japan bashing" of the 80s from public memory, I still remember speaking to Japanese citizens in the year 2000 expressing relief that Bush won/was granted the election over Gore.
It comes as no surprise, really. This is a country where the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (a misnomer if there ever was one!) has held rule for over 60 years, save for 10 months in 1995, when the Socialists briefly took power. Continuity and consistency hold heavy sway here and once something is ingrained in the national consciousness, correct or not, it often is very resistant to change. If a President Obama, at the end of a 2nd term in 2016, proved to skillfully balance the Japan-China relationship and leave both countries with stronger ties to the US, today's common preconceptions may be challenged.
(Editor's Note: If anyone knows more about this or has information to add/change, please tell me. While I try to vet my historic sources carefully, I am less than flawless. Thanks!)
22 Hours to go
78 days left in the Bush administration; 2,012 days since the announcement of "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq.
Monday, November 3, 2008
So, why are we here?
Greetings from Yokohama, Japan. Hope all of you are doing well. Capping a two year marathon campaign season, returns from the US Election will start coming in about 36 hours from now, and the Tatami Pundit team will be posting results as they come in, live from the Baron in Roppongi, central Tokyo. The fun starts at 9am, Wednesday morning, Japan time. Live comments, opinion and news (probably in that order) will be posted at a frantic pace.
The US Presidential race will be our main course, but we will be watching select Senate races (especially those in North Carolina, Kentucky and Minnesota).
For the uninitiated, the US presidential contest is all about the Electoral College. Popular vote is counted, yes, but it only goes toward the Electoral College. The Electoral College then actually makes the direct vote for president. Thus, Americans are, technically, voting for these Electors, not for president directly.
Each state gets a number of votes which is equal to the size of its delegation in Congress. Congressional delegations are the sum of the number of representatives a state has in the House of Represetatives, plus the two members each state has in the Senate. Take Ohio, for instance. Ohio has 18 members in the House, and two Senate members, giving it 20 electoral votes. Some states have huge electoral values, such as California (55), Texas (34) and New York (31), and others have much smaller worth, such as Alaska (3), Nevada (5), and Oklahoma (7). The goal of this exercise is to get a majority of Electoral Votes. The magic number is 270. Get that or over, and you're president. Simple, eh? Oh, by the way, although it has never happened, it is mathematically possible for an electoral tie to occur. A 269-269 vote would then go to the Senate.
So, with this wonderful, wild, wacky system, is it possible (and indeed, it has happened twice so far in US history), for a candidate to win the popular vote, but lose the electoral college and, therefore, the presidency.
Where do the candidates stand now? Well, numbers vary, but MSNBC and most other news outlets have already called the race for Obama. The pre-election day electoral count, as counted by various polling aggregators and news agencies are:
MSNBC: 286-157, Obama; 95 toss-up
CNN: 291-157, Obama; 90 toss-up (http://edition.cnn.com/POLITICS/)
Electoral Vote: 353-185, Obama; No toss-ups
538.com: 340.2-198.8, Obama; No toss-ups
CBSNews: Gives Obama a +13 edge, but no map available.
Fox News, perhaps sensing impending doom on the Republican side, has their map completely blank on this election eve, but there is a section on the front page linking teen pregnancy to sexy TV.
I know, I know..."Oh, like so what? Another amatuer blog on Election Night!"
That's what you're thinking, right? Right, but I have the advantage of watching this from 8,000 miles away.
To me, elections are like catnip. I live for election return nights, and that I live in Japan just means I have to do this on a Wednesday morning instead of a Tuesday evening. I have the same problem with the Super Bowl - our local fiestas for the game always start around 8am Monday morning.
We will blog through the day and the language and tone will no doubt get salty. But, this is supposed to be satire and political wit, mixed with no small quantity of late-morning beer. The point is to be informative and irreverant/entertaining. Oh, and, on a personal note - yeah, I'm very partisan. I'm not a paid journalist, so there won't be a lot of objectivity here. I'm pulling for Obama in a big way. I have had enough of meeting someone and, when the invetible question on national origin comes up, having to qualify my nationality..."I'm from the USA, but I didn't vote for George Bush..."
See you guys in about 36...