October 27, 2010

Why is there so little political news this week?

Casting about for items to blog yesterday and today, I'm finding nothing interesting. Why the lull? Has everything already happened? Minds are made up? Or are Democrats so dispirited that they're not putting up any sort of a fight? There's no interplay. Maybe it is a way to fight — to refrain from promoting your policies at all, when the policies are so out of favor that it only works as an argument for the other side. Give your opponents nothing to fight and maybe everyone will lose the energy to drag themselves to the polls next week.

68 comments:

Scott M said...

The voting machine/ballot discrepancies are a very interesting topic regardless of isle side. Particularly the electronics machines that are registering votes opposite of what the person selected.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Dems are too busy plotting next week's election heists.

garage mahal said...

Oh Christ.

ndspinelli said...

It's all been overanalyzed and there's nothing more to say. It's time to vote and then overanalyze again.

traditionalguy said...

Wouldn't it be funny if there was a pop count of votes, like a pop test, on all voting machines/computers taken Monday. I expect the results of that test would be a 99% Democrat landslide in their Metro inner cities that always turn the statewide results.

Drew said...

Don't forget preparation for the court challenges. I'm expecting more than a dozen across the nation.

Darrell said...

I'll go with the Democrats concentrating on vote fraud, too.

Feel free to cite any Republican fraud that has reared its head, so far. You won't consume a single pixel--so its eco-friendly.

aronamos said...

The mainstream media don't WANT to talk about politics. It's not going their way this time.

Seriously, the Washington Post stories of late have all been on how the Democrats could surprise. Half-page picture and tonguebath on the front of the Style section yesterday on Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, head of the Demo House Campaign Committee.

Lincolntf said...

Here's a fun topic. From MWR at AoS.

http://www.wbaltv.com/r/25508790/detail.html



My favorite line...

"They originally had a margarine that was above 3 grams, actually, which
is very high compared to the .5 that is allowed. Then when we came back
and they had replaced it, they replaced it with one that was 2 grams, so
it still was too high...".

...Anyone ever read "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich"? This kind of non-compliance used to get you 6-20 years of hard labor.
The world's gone soft.

traditionalguy said...

NB. Sarah Palin is working overtime this week for dozens of candidates in close races...remember her, the lazy, illiterate quitter with no known skills. The Dems are all battened down to escape damage from Hurricane Sarah.

Once written, twice... said...

Oh, Ann you can find some red meat to throw out on the porch for your Althouse Hillbillies to gnaw on. Why don't you start some more conspiracy theories about how those Rand supporters were hypnotized into attacking that woman?

jayne_cobb said...

Well there's always that Minnesota DFL kerfuffle if you're looking for something.

john said...

Well, there is this new 9th circuit decision that strikes down Arizona voter ID law. Just in time for next Tuesday.

Why is that mean Fed man picking on us folks down here?

Anonymous said...

I don't want to rekindle the topic, but...

The great kerfluffle that produced over 500 comments on this site yesterday... you know the Ron Paul thing... was a virtual non-story in the media last night.

What was all that crap about on this site?

Please, don't answer. That'll just get it all going again.

Daniel12 said...

Ann, there's gotta be some violence somewhere that you can claim is fake, right?

Anonymous said...

Yeah!

I'm an Althouse Hillbilly!

Finally, a club that I want to join.

rhhardin said...

There's no political news because, as Rush speculated, the MSM is laying off all the bad things until after the election.

They don't want to remind people.

Anonymous said...

Here it comes!

Ann, there's gotta be some violence somewhere that you can claim is fake, right?

Jesus, these fucking idiots never get tired of this shit, do they?

Anonymous said...

The credentialed elite have given up. The ignorant slob masses aren't listening anymore.

TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Michael said...

Yeah, don't be "hillbillies," because those are the people the liberals hate and are much better and way smarter than. HILLBILLIES> Get it? hahaha. Because hillbillies are low class white people and the Democrats don't like low class white people who come from places they have never been to. Hillbillies. So. funny.

AlphaLiberal said...

Well, a lot of people are focused on the ground game.

Republicans are focused on manufacturing polling controversies and on repressing the vote.

And a lot of Democrats are wondering why this vow from Mitch McConnell is so ignored by the punditry:

"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president," McConnell said, adding, "Our single biggest political goal is to give [the Republican] nominee for president the maximum opportunity to be successful."

Not jobs, not economic growth, but attacking the President is their top priority.

Daniel12 said...

Nope. Never. Gonna be bringing that post up for a looooong time. It's the new Jessica Valenti breast incident!!

Salamandyr said...

At this point, the only real news is going to be if somebody screws up. Everybody is doing their best not to screw up.

That and a lot of inside baseball statistical crap.

AlphaLiberal said...

By the way, the Rand Paul head stomper now wants the woman whose head and neck he stomped to apologize to him. You can't make this shit up.

And, it's not the only Republican thuggishness. A grassroots Democrat tried to ask a question of Eric Cantor and was brutalized by police and thrown in handcuffs:


http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/voter-suppression-republican-style

AlphaLiberal said...

Easiest prediction of the cycle:
when Republicans lose races they will claim they were robbed.

Anonymous said...

Hark, I hear the cannon's raw...

Lincolntf said...

The real moonshine-drinking, cousin-humping hicks like Bill Clinton and Robert Byrd are absolutely worshiped by the Left when they can be used for the cause.
Just another knot in the stale pretzel that forms the Lib worldview.

Ann Althouse said...

Please go to the new post if you want to talk about the young man who overreacted to a perceived threat to Rand Paul and pushed his sneaker-cushioned toes against a woman's shoulder as she nestled her hard skull on the pillowy curb.

traditionalguy said...

The activist that successfully got a foot on her shoulder and side of the head should be rewarded by the Progressives in an appropriate way. She could get an Emmy. Or better yet, she could get a Survivor gig where she can show her genius at getting others thrown off the island.

The Crack Emcee said...

You're right (there's very little news to munch on) I've noticed it myself, though it never gets that way in my area of expertise - NewAge - because someone's always killing or fooling someone else in the name of whatever. For instance, here's something:

Oprah's hosting the "Rally for Sanity".

Discuss.

garage mahal said...

Republicans are focused on manufacturing polling controversies and on repressing the vote.

There will be breathless stream of *FOX NEWS ALERTS* every two minutes on Tues showcasing Soaring Eagle Super Patriot Citizen Watchdogs being denied their Constitutional Right of reacting to perceived threats by pushing their sneaker-cushioned toes against questionable Democratic voter's skulls against pillowy curbs.

Scott M said...

Come on, Garage. News from non-Fox-generated sources about the Nevada incidents was a bit weird, no matter how you slice it. I'm also willing to read about similar incidents occurring in the opposite direction, but I've not seen any yet.

Unknown said...

Anybody surprised Alpha uses crooksandliars as his source?

Darrell said...

I'll go with the Democrats concentrating on vote fraud, too.

Exactly, and the Lefties will whine about vote stealing. I wonder how many of the National Socialists (and this is where they show their true colors) will justify it with Florida 2000?

ricpic said...

You want news? The day after the election the Fed will meet to decide whether or not to give quantitative easing another go. We are talking the end of the world as we have known it. Possible Weimar. Sleep children, sleep.

Shanna said...

It is odd.

I guess no news is good news when all news is bad news.

Richard Dolan said...

"Casting about for items to blog yesterday and today, I'm finding nothing interesting."

"Nothing interesting" here means nothing crazy-weird and wildly offbeat. It's the sort of thing that Wellington or Napoleon might have said two days before Waterloo. Except, of course, that an idea like that would never have occurred to them.

That's partly a result of the modern habit of looking at politics as a blood sport, and partly the reality that, while cable news cycle is fast, the blogger cycle races along at light speed. The sporting metaphor for politics (or warfare) is overdone, and usually ends up focusing on twigs as the forest burns. The 'Feiler faster' principle driving the blog cycle almost requires an internalization of the sporting metaphor given the reality that blogging today is mostly reactive to events/spins happening elsewhere. The feedback effects become overwhelming in that set-up.

ricpic said...

Hey Denver, don't shit your pants yet but Tom Tancredo is within the margin of error.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Ricpic:

"Qantitative easing"?

In English please. heh.

TMink said...

Most media outlets are not enjoying the narrative, so they are not sharing it.

Trey

Henry said...

Democrat Caprio tells Obama to "Shove it" in Rhode Island.

We're having a lot of fun with it here, anyway.

Original Mike said...

And a lot of Democrats are wondering why this vow from Mitch McConnell is so ignored by the punditry:

"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president," McConnell said, adding, "Our single biggest political goal is to give [the Republican] nominee for president the maximum opportunity to be successful."

Not jobs, not economic growth, but attacking the President is their top priority.


AL, defeating Obama in 2012 IS about jobs and the economy. Seriously, no snark intended.

Henry said...

AL, defeating Obama in 2012 IS about jobs and the economy. Seriously, no snark intended.

Well said. I'd like a President in 2012 who doesn't have to spend two years blaming his predecessor.

Anonymous said...

""Qantitative easing"? In English please."

Printing money out of think air.

It is what banana republics do.

And what the Obama administration and its enablers do.

Mitch H. said...

Regular people are starting to get tired of the electioneering. Those that aren't tired, that are naturally political animals and don't understand those who are getting tired of all the political ads, may be preoccupied in GOTV efforts which leave less time and space for obsessively talking about politics online.

Scott M said...

If you're sick of talking politics, you could always start discussing the find of a supposed "time traveler", in the form of a women in 1928 caught on old archive footage walking past the camera talking on a cell phone.

Plenty of reasons it's NOT that, but spooky nonetheless.

mariner said...

Because what happened yesterday can't be used by the MSM to help Democrats.

victoria said...

So what you are saying, A.J. is that if the Republicans don't take over the house and the Senate and people like Sharon Angle and her ilk don't win it is because the election was stolen by the democrats. Way to back peddle and blame even before the results are out. The only stealing that will be done is that some of the wing nuts that the Tea Party and the uber right wing of the Republican party put out there are just not palatable for the regular voter who can see through the crap and focus on the real issues.

Way to lose gracefully, AJ.

OH, BTW, I am voting for Meg Whitman, my kind of Republican and not for Carly Fiorina, a tea party hack.


Vicki from Pasadena

Scott M said...

All well and good, Vicki. We'll see how gracefully the losers act on Tuesday regardless of isle side. My money is the assumption that volume of the loser whining will go to eleven.

Unknown said...

victoria said...

So what you are saying, A.J. is that if the Republicans don't take over the house and the Senate and people like Sharon Angle and her ilk don't win it is because the election was stolen by the democrats. Way to back peddle and blame even before the results are out. The only stealing that will be done is that some of the wing nuts that the Tea Party and the uber right wing of the Republican party put out there are just not palatable for the regular voter who can see through the crap and focus on the real issues.

Take a look at Drudge. The Lefties have the vote stealing machine going already and election day is a week off.

Or do you see nothing wrong with NV ballots where Harry Reid's name is already checked off or NC voting machines that are set up to register a Democrat vote when the Republican lever is pulled?

You're a hypocrite, sweetie.

PS Sharron Angle has an ilk?

Shanna said...

Soaring Eagle Super Patriot Citizen Watchdogs

Hee @ garage!

Anonymous said...

Vicki from Pasadena

Pasadena, huh?

In a Democrat controlled state.

So, Vicki, how's your state budget coming along? Taking in a much as your politicians spending?

How about the state's or even L.A.'s pension liability? Any good ideas how those are going to be covered?

Need to raise taxes again soon?

Think the Democrat approach on display in California would be good for the rest of the states - for those of us rubes in flyover country?

Original Mike said...

I really don't understand California. Their budget is a disaster yet they're going to return the people responsible yet again. How do they think this movie ends?

Drew said...

The question isn't how many races the Democrats will lose. It's how many they'll steal.

Roger Sweeny said...

Because there are no real issues. The Republicans are saying, "we won't be Democrats." But they aren't saying what they will do. Meanwhile, the Democrats are trying not to bring up much of what they've done.

In this election, nobody stands for much of anything.

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

Original Mike said...

I really don't understand California. Their budget is a disaster yet they're going to return the people responsible yet again.

Hey, at least California has a budget. That puts them one step ahead of the federal government. I think "We're going to spend money we don't have" is more honest than "We want your votes, so we're not going to tell you that we're going to spend money we don't have."

TMink said...

"How do they think this movie ends?"

With other people's money flying in to save the day of course. That is how all socialist dreams end.

Trey

Original Mike said...

I think a winning strategy for the White House in 2012 will be to simply pledge "NO bailout money for California." Forty five states, at least.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Vicky asked:

"So what you are saying, A.J. is that if the Republicans don't take over the house and the Senate and people like Sharon Angle and her ilk don't win it is because the election was stolen by the democrats. '

Nah I was just trying to be funny. But I do believe the Dems will steal a few elections here and there which is unconscionable behavior IMO. Sevral news accounts have already reported DEMS directing that absentee ballot requests and absentee ballots be sent to PO boxes controlled by Dems!

That is just plain evil when a political party interferes with the chain of custody for someone's vote!

Penny said...

"Because what happened yesterday can't be used by the MSM to help Democrats."

Surely you know that human ingenuity allows anyone or any group to spin yarn out of thin air. So has it always been, and so shall it ever be.

Peter Hoh said...

I'm enjoying seeing the different election forecasts. It's crunch time. In a week, we'll know who was best at this.

Nate Silver is blogging at the NYT site, but he retains his independence. It's interesting (and oh so convenient) to compare the NYT's election forecast maps with Silver's.

Silver has identified 20 - 22 close House races, while the NYT map has 48 toss ups.

They can't both be right.

Silver has the chances of Bachmann winning MN-6 at 98.3%, while the NYT has it in "leans Republican." Is this to encourage the idiots who keep throwing money at the race in the futile attempt to unseat Bachmann?

My neighbor blogger is getting really excited about the possibility of some Democrat incumbents losing in Minnesota, but Silver's data doesn't hint at it. Again, they both can't be right.

One caveat: House races don't have the frequency of polling like Senate races, so there's a wider margin for polls to be wrong.

On the Senate side, Nate has 4 close races, while the NYT brain trust says that there are 7 tossups, and 19 seats "in play."

AllenS said...

"I haven't left my house in days. I watch the news channels incessantly. All the news stories are about the election; all the commercials are for Viagra and Cialis. Election, erection, election, erection -- either way we're getting screwed!"--Bette Midler.

Peter Hoh said...

Larrison makes some House predictions of his own.

He thinks they pick up 41 seats at most, but he's hedging his bets.

Methadras said...

Denver said...

Oh, Ann you can find some red meat to throw out on the porch for your Althouse Hillbillies to gnaw on. Why don't you start some more conspiracy theories about how those Rand supporters were hypnotized into attacking that woman?


Hey, when was the last time you stopped stomping your wife? Hmmm, maybe that might make the news and we can all be outraged by it.

BJM said...

@Quayle

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Indeed.

1775OGG said...

Surely, you jest! Obama's going to be out of the ocuntry for 2-weeks following the elections. Hillary's going to be out of th ecountry for 2-weeks starting about now.

What do they know that we don't know, regarding how safe it's going to be in country? Is Obama's revenge against America starting right about now. Is Hillary's rage against America for denying her the presidency going to explode into massive civil rioting and other violence about now?

What about those of us stuck here? Why do we have to suffer for their sins?

Just asking!

Cheers.

AST said...

I think everybody is holding his/her breath.

dick said...

AL,

You better read that article again. The guy was thrown out of a diner after the owner asked him to leave. He could not have been asking a question of Cantor because the story says he was waiting for Cantor to show up. Nothing to do with Cantor. All to do with the guy causing a disturbance in a restaurant and being asked to leave and he tried to ignore the owner. They threw him out then.

Like that bit you tried earlier about the guy arrested at the Miller speech. He was arrested and detained long after Miller had already gone. Nothing to do with Miller either. You really need to learn to read.

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