Maybe they can receive posthumous baptism by proxy

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville (South Carolina) that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.

"Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.

"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ's Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation."

Sometimes i can't believe we let these guys run the entirety of western civilization for well over a thousand years. No wonder they're called the Dark Ages.

Continue reading Maybe they can receive posthumous baptism by proxy

Rumors

So what's this i hear that B.J. Lawson's (Republican candidate for congress from the 4th district) paid poll workers were encouraging people to vote Obama, Democratic Party, but switch the congressional vote to Lawson instead of Price? Anybody else experience this?

Continue reading Rumors

Outtakes

Continue reading Outtakes

What's the holdup?

It's Thursday morning, Obama's lead in NC is up to 14,000 votes, from 12,000 on Tuesday night, and the state hasn't been called yet?

What's the deal?

UPDATE:

In the unofficial returns, Obama led Republican John McCain by 13,746 votes. Gary Bartlett, the state elections director, said Obama should be considered the unofficial victor. Bartlett said an estimated 40,000 provisional ballots still must be counted, but based on experience, the outcome is not likely to change when the State Board of Elections certifies the results on Nov. 25.

McCain would have to win the provisionals by better than 2-1 (27K - 13K) to overtake Obama. Chalk NC up for Obama.

UPDATE II: It's official!

Continue reading What's the holdup?

Straight party ticket voting

A commenter at Kevin's place asks the question: "Interesting that 20% of the county's Democrats did not vote straight ticket -- I'd love an analysis on which races caused democrats to forgo that option."

I'm not sure where the 20% figure comes from. There were just under 58,000 straight party tickets cast for Democrats, and there are about 108,000 registered Democrats in the county. (All figures from PDF files available at the county BoE website.)

So even if you assume that all of the straight party tickets cast for Democrats were cast by Democrats, you're just a little over half. By contrast, there are 27,000 or so registered Republicans, and there were 12,000 straight Republican ballots cast. That makes sense, since local races such as County Commissioner, DA, and some of the state house races had no Republicans running.

For the most part, Democrats in Durham generally picked up around 100,000 votes in races that covered the whole county. Obama, for example, got 102,237 votes. Kay Hagan, 99,382. Tracey Cline, with over 105K votes was actually the leading vote getter in Durham County. Ronnie Ansley and Mary Fant Donnan, the two Democratic Council of State candidates who did not win (Agriculture and Labor, respectively) both got 93K votes in Durham. That was a few thousand below other Democratic CoS candidates.

The real drop off comes in the County Commissioners races. No candidate received more than 85,740 votes, and two candidates (Becky Heron and Ellen Reckhow) received 80,053 and 77,930 respectively. For that we look, i think, to the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black people, which endorsed only the 3 African American candidates for County Commissioner (Joe Bowser, Brenda Howerton, and incumbent Michael Page.) The Committee has volunteers at most of the predominantly African American precincts in the city handing out their endorsements, and as i've seen personally the past two elections, most voters take them and refer to them. Joe Bowser's success, coming after being rejected by the voters 4 years ago after a tempestuous term on the Commission, has to be attributed to both his endorsement by the Committee, and the large turnout of people voting for Obama.

Two things to add here. first, in the interests of disclosure, i'm one of those registered Democrats who didn't vote straight party ticket. And Joe Bowser was the reason why. I thought his actions in his previous term meant that he should not have been invited back to the Commission. So i left him off my ballot. And second, i spent the afternoon handing out Democratic Party literature and voting guides at Antioch Baptist Church, the precinct 18 polling place. 18 is a predominantly African American district, over 81% of its2253 registered voters identify as African American, a number almost exactly congruent with the number of Democrats. When i got there, folks were handing out literature for the Committee, for B.J.Lawson (she didn't stick around very long after i got there) for Judge Kristin Ruth, and in favor of the prepared meals tax. Based on conversation, i'm pretty sure that the Committee folks and myself were the only ones not being paid for our time. I have no way of knowing what happened before i got there, but during the hours i was there, the folks representing the Committee took the time to explain to each voter how to vote straight party, and did not make any special effort to discourage straight party ticket voting, even though they were not endorsing all of the Democratic candidates for County Commission. So, there's that. But i think anyone interested in analyzing voting patterns in Durham this election needs to take that into account.

Continue reading Straight party ticket voting

Schadenfreude

Just a little bit:

NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. . . . An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.

A Palin aide said: "Governor Palin was not directing staffers to put anything on their personal credit cards, and anything that staffers put on their credit cards has been reimbursed, like an expense. Nasty and false accusations following a defeat say more about the person who made them than they do about Governor Palin."

McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech Tuesday night, but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.

See ya, Sarah!

Continue reading Schadenfreude

Concession speeches, translated

Thank you my friends. Over the past few months, i've said some incredibly nasty things about my opponent. Now that he's kicked my ass up the mountain and down the desert, i need to let everyone know that i didn't really mean them. You know how it goes in the heat of battle.

I was just saying them to try to convince the more moronic of you out there that you shouldn't vote for him. But enough of you did. So shame on those of you who voted for me if you believed that stuff.

So i'm going to say right now that i intend to support my opponent.

And you can believe that every bit as much as you believed it when i called him a socialist.

Continue reading Concession speeches, translated

Making a difference

One thing about an election as closely contested as North Carolina's presidential last night, is that everyone who contributed, whether by phone banking, knocking on doors, driving people to the polls, registering and voting for the first time, or whatever, you'll be able to look at the results and think to yourself, i made a difference.

Continue reading Making a difference

Newspapers react around the world

Great collection of front pages and headlines here.

Love the Hamburg Morning Post, and the Daily Star.

I'm going to call in sick today and go pick up my redistribution check from Joe the Plumber's wealth. Who's in?

Continue reading Newspapers react around the world

NC for Obama?

97 counties reporting - Obama up by 13K votes.

Buncombe, Mecklenburg, and Wilson haven't finished. McCain has to take somewhere around 80% of the uncounted votes to win the state.

Na ga happen.

Continue reading NC for Obama?

President Obama

Fox, MSNBC & CNN call Ohio for Obama. that's 195 EVs

on the West Coast, Obama will take California (55), Washington (11), Oregon (7) and Hawaii (4).

That's 77 EVs. Plus 195 gives him 272.

Hail to the Chief.

Continue reading President Obama

Hello Senator Hagan

Goodbye Senator Asshole!

Continue reading Hello Senator Hagan

"Bugged and 'Chunked

Popped in and out of an Obama staging area today on my way to a shift walking parts of precinct 19 and handing out literature at precinct 18.

Great to see Phil Morrison and Mac McCaughan picking up walk lists and heading out to knock on doors. Thanks guys.


Here's the Precinct 18 crew representing a bunch of different candidates and groups, including the Durham Committee, the pro-meals tax folks, Judge Kristin Ruth, and the Democratic Party. Special thanks to Audell, who came by to vote, and decided that his rain tent would be put to better use keeping volunteers dry than taking up space in his garage.

Time to watch and wait.

Continue reading "Bugged and 'Chunked

Election day

Took a swing by the precinct on Trinity Ave. at around 8 this morning on my way in. If there were any lines, they weren't coming out the door. Early voting has probably helped that a lot. Hopefully the rain is not keeping anyone from their civic responsibilities.

At work, an Orange County co-worker told me she waited in line for almost 90 minutes to vote, most of that outside, and a Guilford County co-worker described his touch screen voting experience. I had thought that all of NC's counties were using paper ballots this year. Guess i was wrong. We'll keep an ey open for any reports of tabulation difficulties in Guilford.

How about your precincts? Any good stories to tell?

Continue reading Election day

Go vote!

I'm at the day job till about noon, and then i'll be shaking out those few slug-a-beds in my precinct who haven't voted yet and driving them to the polling place.

Let's have some fun tonight.

Continue reading Go vote!

Election Day predictions

Or hopes?

Presidential popular vote: Obama 57 - McCain 42 - Other 1

Electoral College: McCain wins Idaho, Utah, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Total - 135 EVs

Obama wins the rest - 403 EVs

Senate - Democrats end up with 58 seats (Pickups in Minnesota, North Carolina, Georgia, Alaska, Oregon, New Hampshire, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia.) With Sanders and Lieberman, that makes 60. Lieberman gets dumped from the Democratic caucus and loses his committee chairmanship anyway.

House - Democrats 260 seats, Republicans 175 seats

NC Senate - Hagan
NC Governor - McCrory
NC Council of State - Democratic sweep (I'm gonna miss Cherie K. Berry!)

Local - 4th district - David Price
8th District - Larry Kissell

Prepared meals tax - defeated

Continue reading Election Day predictions

Bushed

It's no coincidence President Bush has been out of the public's eye in recent days — that's the way the Republican Party wants it. White House press secretary Dana Perino said Monday the incumbent's invisibility is by design — because "the Republican Party wanted to make this election about John McCain."

The president knows there are people in this country who want change and are looking for something new, Perino said.

"We're realistic about the political environment that we are in," she said. "What keeps him going is knowing that he's done the right thing."

With a 26 percent approval rating, Bush has only appeared in Democratic television ads that regularly tie him to Republican candidates. And that won't change until after Election Day.

Since Bush endorsed McCain in the Rose Garden on March 5, the two have appeared in public only three times for a total of 12 minutes. That's in stark contrast to the scores of fundraisers and rallies Bush did before congressional midterm elections in 2002 and 2006. Perino said the last time Bush and McCain communicated was before the president's Cabinet meeting October 15.

Dana Perino is so hot. I'm going to miss her.

Continue reading Bushed

Political ads

In addition to the truly repulsive ad from Liddy discussed below, there's a few other observations to be made about the ads that i've seen this past 72 hours.

* - Nobody is a Democrat or Republican. Except for the handful of ads in the Congressional races that were paid for by the various party committees, the words Democrat or Republican are simply not a part of this advertising cycle. And even those ads only mention Democrats or Republicans in the small print and the rapidly spoken disclaimer at the end mentioning who paid for the ad and who is responsible for its content. I'm a little surprised by this. I thought Democrats were rebuilding their brand?

* - Pat McCrory in the Governor's race is the only Republican candidate i've seen run any positive ads. Every single ad i've seen from Liddy Dole, Bob Pittenger (Lt. Governor), or Robin Hayes (8th congressional) has been an attack ad. John McCain had a few positive ads in the beginning of the cycle. I didn't see any of them this weekend.

* - The DSCC's ads on behalf of Kay Hagan seemed to have worked. I thought the ads, which i call the Bartles and Jaymes campaign, sucked. What do i know?

* - The Republican "blank check for liberals" ad is truly hysterical, in all senses of the word. Vote for Liddy. She's the last bulwark against a 60 seat Democratic majority in the Senate. Oh, my.

* - Who is left to be persuaded by campaign ads? According to these guys, early voting in North Carolina had already reached 72.5% of the total turnout in the 2004 race at 5am on Saturday. (2.57 million 2008 early votes vs 3.55 million total votes in 2004). And turnout was reported heavy on Saturday.

Continue reading Political ads

Liddy Dole - still an asshole

And her husband Bob has squandered whatever integrity he might have had left after the moronic Britney Spears Pepsi ad from a few years ago.

First, Liddy's got a new "godless" ad.


"If godless Americans threw a party in your honor, would you go?"

What the fuck, Liddy? Do you really ask every person you know what kind of faith in the magical sky-being they have before you break bread with them? Does it matter that much to you? Really? Tell you what, then.

Go fuck yourself.

You're running for Senate, not Archbishop. You know, render unto Caesar and all that. No religious test shall ever be applied to an office seeker in the United States of America. Remember that? It's in the Constitution that you swore (on the Bible, if i remember correctly) to uphold.

And Bob?

An adviser for Godless Americans held a fund-raiser at his home for Hagan. The event was not billed as a Godless Americans event, and other hosts included an ambassador and U.S. Sen. John Kerry.

Former Sen. Bob Dole says North Carolina voters deserve to know why Hagan went to the event.

"Just answer the question, I've been in this business a long time and when everything else fails, you just have to answer the question. Even if you don't want to answer the question,” he said.

So, Bob? Here's a question you don't want to answer. Can you still get it up for Britney? What a pair of pseudo-moralistic hypocrites.

Continue reading Liddy Dole - still an asshole

Nail, coffin

Hammer

A Quebec comedy duo notorious for pulling prank calls on celebrities have struck again. This time, comedian Marc Antoine Audette and Sebastian Trudel Audette, known as the Masked Avengers, tricked Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin into believing that she was speaking to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The duo kept Palin on the line for several minutes and discussed politics and hunting, even making a jab at the current Vice-President's infamous 2006 incident where he shot a friend in the face.

Throughout the interview Audette drops hints that he's not who he claims to be. He names popular French singer Johnny Hallyday as his advisor on U.S. affairs and Quebec singer Stef Carse was named as Canada's Prime Minister.

"We have such great respect for you [Sarkozy], John and I," she gushed.

Later in the interview, Audette, jokes that he and Palin shared an interest in common, hunting.

"We should try hunting by helicopter like you did, I never did that," Audette said.

"We could have a lot of fun together while we're getting work done. Kill two birds with one stone," Palin replied.

Continue reading Nail, coffin