Harper's Weekly for November 4, 2008
Here's the first paragraph from the always-wonderful and surprise-filled Harper's Weekly email newsletter.
Democrats were outvoting Republicans in all nine states that track the party affiliations of early voters, indicating a likely election victory for Barack Obama. "It's gonna get nasty," Obama told a crowd in Missouri. Republicans claimed that Democrats were coercing dementia patients to cast absentee ballots, and fliers posted in black neighborhoods of Philadelphia falsely warned that voters with unpaid parking tickets would be arrested at the polls. It was reported that Obama's half-aunt Zeitun Onyango lives in a Boston housing project and is an illegal immigrant--a detail likely leaked by the Bush Administration against the procedures of the Department of Homeland Security. Evidence emerged that during the Senate Ethics Committee investigation of the Keating Five scandal in 1990, John McCain allegedly committed perjury and illegally leaked details to the press that made himself seem innocent and his colleagues seem guilty--actions that had they been exposed at the time, could have resulted in McCain's expulsion from the Senate. Novelist John Updike endorsed Obama. "I am so much for Obama," said the author of "Terrorist," "it would be hard for me to cook up a character who was for McCain." Dick Cheney endorsed McCain, and two white-supremacist skinheads were arrested in Tennessee for plotting to kill 88 people, behead 14 African Americans, and assassinate Barack Obama while wearing white tuxedos and top hats. Author Erica Jong told an Italian interviewer, "If Obama loses, it will spark the second American Civil War. Blood will run in the streets, believe me. And it's not a coincidence that President Bush recalled soldiers from Iraq for Dick Cheney to lead against American citizens in the streets." Madelyn Dunham, Obama's 86-year-old grandmother, died of cancer, and a man leaped to his death from the Spaghetti Bowl, in El Paso, Texas, leaving behind a note that read, "Obama take care of my family."To subscribe to Harper's Weekly, send an email to join-harpers-weekly@pluto.sparklist.com.
the latest
latest episodes
KKKarl Rove predicts a landslide for Obama. I see no reason to argue with him.
I find it hard to imagine a scenario where Obama loses, but I doubt a landslide is going to happen. In any event, it will be nice to see the level of hyperbole drop to more reasonable levels.
I am so sick of this election cycle. Melodramatic much, Erica Jong? This country is so full of stupid, and it knows no political boundaries.
Four years ago I spent election night refreshing a website that tracked the winner as each news network called it. For the life of me I cannot remember the name of the website. Does anyone know of it or a similar website?
I especially like this one:
Way to juxtapose two unrelated facts.
"...a detail likely leaked by the Bush Administration against the procedures of the Department of Homeland Security."
Oh, thanks for that speculation. Also, thanks for showing me that I have no interest in reading the rest of your article.
"And it's not a coincidence that President Bush recalled soldiers from Iraq for Dick Cheney to lead against American citizens in the streets."
Right. We all know that Erica Jong has an inside track to the secret plottings of the Cheney uber-empire.
Do they actually seriously belive that?
jux·ta·pose (jkst-pz)
tr.v. jux·ta·posed, jux·ta·pos·ing, jux·ta·pos·es
To place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast.
[French juxtaposer : Latin ixt, close by; see yeug- in Indo-European roots + French poser, to place (from Old French; see pose1).]
alright, way to put those two facts together in the same sentence to create the illusion of relationship. Better?
Makes me want to go out to Seattle's Eastside and put up fliers that say something a la "IF YOU CHEATED ON TAXES IN THE PAST 10 YEARS YOU CAN'T VOTE".
in meaning, but don't you feel you could arrive at a single word stylistically? Or did you intend feint or possibly lure?
I could have, but im a bit off my game today. Give me a few min. and ill have something better.
1up, u want relationship? all 3 are mccain supporters. all three are world class assholes. all three are wished, by me, to rot in hell.
Ok, come up with a single word for *that*, then.
mmm,"conflate"?
mmm,"conflate"?
A word whose continued existence seems purely dependent on BB comments.
no. no, that would be "confluge"
Erica, what a relief! We finally get the Race War we deserve. The ladder to my treehouse will NOT be accessible from the ground tomorrow.
Erica Jong is a loony. I still like Fear of Flying, mind.
Raj77, I was gonna say that reading Erica Jong's Wikipedia article has the feel of a foray into crazy.
1up Mushroom @2, I don't think there exists a widely-accepted formal definition of "landslide", but over on FiveThirtyEight.com, Nate Silver is using 375+ electoral votes as his definition, and thinks there's only a 28% chance of Obama pulling that off (and 0% for McCain).
The white supremist/Cheney connection there is about on the same level as abcnews.com's story about how Farrakhan and Ayers use the same polling place as Obama.
I think everyone needs a rabies vaccination or something.
#21 Yea, to me landslide is what Regan did to Mondale, but Silver's definition seems fairly reasonable to me.
It never ceases to amaze me the way liberals and conservative paint each other. Bush is the devil! Run! Obama is the devil! Run! Rn! vryn nds t chll t bfr kck vryn n th ntsck.
Apparently, my last comment had a vowel movement...
"Erica Jong told an Italian interviewer, 'If Obama loses, it will spark the second American Civil War.'"
Erica Jong? Complete pinhead.
Anyway: have a look at the electoral college votes on this page.
http://election.princeton.edu/history-of-electoral-votes-for-obama/
Short of bussing in hundreds of thousands of fraudulant voters in a dozen states? ain't gonna happen.
Maaybee wee shoouuld aadd vooweels too thee gooood coommeents.
Man, I hope it is a landslide for whoever wins. We've had way too much anger and hate between parties since the last few elections. A landslide win wont necessarily stop the animosity, but it should at least make the losing party accept that America has truly made a definitive choice about what we want from our leaders. I'd rather Obama win by a landslide than have McCain win by a very small margin or only by the electoral college.
Here's some scary news - I'm at work today - a 24 hour shift, 7am-7am. We were just given a general announcement over our vocal system (a PA system that connects to every City of Memphis fire station). The announcement: "All companies are to go over the Civil Disobedience Plan."
I hope they're just being over cautious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-qQrrCad_E
=D =D =D =D =D