John McCain

Note: I began writing this before Matt posted his diary.  Below, I look at the short-term problem of how to START spending the money quickly and effectively.  Obviously, the long-term challenge is just as great.  We have to do both.

Conservative hacks may still be attacking the New Deal, but GOP economists, not so much.  Support for a massive stimulus is bipartisan now amongst economists, Bloomberg reports:

Calls for $1 Trillion Stimulus Package Grow as Economy Tumbles

By Rich Miller and Matt Benjamin

Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The one thing that isn't shrinking in the U.S.

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E.J. Dionne writes about accusations that Obama is moving to the center, and discovers that he is just being a pragmatic progressive (emphasis mine):

Obama's selection of a team of highly skilled pragmatists has already been described as a move to the political center, but Obama advisers and longtime acquaintances say that this is a misreading of the incoming president and his approach. They describe it as combining a practicality about means with an overriding concern about the corrosive effects of growing economic inequalities.

Aides say that Obama was drawn to Summers in part because the former Harvard president shares the president-elect's passion for a more equitable distribution of economic benefits.

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Natasha and I had a shared epiphany tonight over gchat. Finally, we learned to stop criticizing Obama and, as will make many people happy, STFU. We saved the transcript of this transcendent realization, and you can read it in the extended entry.

Natasha: hey

Chris:  Natasha, I'm starting to think that I was wrong for criticizing John McCain during the election. After all, he hadn't actually taken the office of the Presidency during the campaign. Really, should I only criticize candidates for what they do when they are in office.

Natasha:  Erm ...
Sent at 8:26 PM on Monday

Chris:  Really, it's the only standard of judgment that makes any sense. Criticize people for what they do, not what they say.  read more »

Cross-posted at Project Vote's blog, Voting Matters

Weekly Voting Rights News Update

By Erin Ferns

Following an historic turnout in the 2008 election comes a flurry of election reform agendas from both sides of the battle over voting rights. Since November 4, some state lawmakers have seized on the success of early voting and Election Day Registration (EDR) as models for facilitating voter registration, while others appear to have been threatened by the heightened turnout and inspired to introduce restrictive voter ID and proof-of-citizenship bills for the 2009 legislative session.  read more »

At DKos yesterday, Jed L posted the following map in a FP diary "Obama Won 197 Of 196 Battleground EVs": It's a map of supposed "battleground states" from the Washington Post's Dan Balz and Alec Macgillis on June 8, 2008:

As Jed L notes, Obama did indeed win more battleground EVs than the Post had identified just over a week after Obama had clinched the Democratic nomination.  And therein lies a tale quite opposed to the current narrative of a "center-right nation."  read more »

During the past several decades, it has seemed that U.S. Christian evangelicals have been on a Rapture-like ascendancy. Not only were mainstream churches losing members, but mega-churches blossomed from coast to coast. Mega-churches raised cash and raised hell for The Lord (their close personal friend), damning to hell all unbelievers, secularists, Democrats and artists. They bought up bushels of Republican politicians and, sometimes, entire communities. Colorado Springs, for instance, and the neighboring Air Force Academy. "Attention Zoomies! You're all Christians now! Or else!"
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It looks like John McCain has won Missouri — the last state not marked in either red or blue on the electoral map.

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama's 8.5 million-vote margin over John McCain was fueled by a more than 20 percent surge in minority voting, a new analysis of exit polling data suggests.

WASHINGTON — Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who this fall campaigned hard for Republican presidential nominee John McCain, got only a mild rebuke Tuesday from Senate Democrats.

James Kirchick packs so much absurdity into 1100 words defending Lieberman that Jonathan Chait has to set him straight.  

Some nuggets:

[The Democratic Party's] 2006 congressional takeover, engineered by incoming Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, wouldn't have happened if the party didn't run centrist and conservative Democrats in traditionally red states.

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A UW Survey and Analysis Center poll shows that Wyoming residents favor a variety of solutions to meet U.S. energy needs, with near-unanimous support for renewable energy.

Wind power had the support of 97 percent of respondents and solar power, 96 percent. Almost 87 percent favored pumping more oil from existing wells, drilling more offshore wells (74 percent) and opening the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge for oil production (56 percent).

Nuclear energy? 60 percent in favor.

Respondents were split on whether the U.S. should release oil from its strategic oil reserve, with 49 percent in favor and 44 percent in opposition.

And 83 percent of respondents believed that Teapot Dome is Dick Cheney's White House nickname. Just joshing. That wasn't really part of the survey -- but it could have been.

Here's a quote from a UW press release:
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The vote on Senator Lieberman's chairmanship will be held tomorrow. Even though it will take place behind closed doors and without a roll call vote, you can still make your voice heard by signing the Just Say No To Joe petition at FDL. Or, you could directly call a member of the Democratic Steering committee:

Debbie Stabenow, Michigan - Chairwoman (202) 224-4822
Harry Reid, Nevada (202) 224-3542
John Kerry, Massachusetts (202) 224-2742
Daniel Inouye, Hawaii (202) 224-3934
Robert Byrd, West Virginia (202) 224-3954
Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts (202) 224-4543
Joe Biden, Delaware (202) 224-5042
Patrick Leahy, Vermont (202) 224-4242
Chris Dodd, Connecticut (202) 224-2823
Tom Harkin, Iowa (202) 224-3254
Max Baucus, Montana (202) 224-2651
Richard Durbin, Illinois (202) 224-2152
Kent Conrad, North Dakota (202) 224-2043  read more »

Beyond the sheer mendacity of the 'center-right nation' meme, there lies serious discussion of whether the election we just had is, indeed a realigning election.  The mendacious meme and the serious discussion are clearly related: if this was a realignment, then we can say, "Well, maybe it was a center-right nation, but it isn't anymore."  There's just one problem: no one can quite agree on what a realigning election is.  read more »

WASHINGTON — As President-elect Barack Obama meets with former rivals John McCain and Hillary Clinton, two of his surrogates are meeting with at least 15 major world powers and key U.S. allies in Washington for the global economic summit.

On November 4th and 5th, Democracy Corps conducted a post-election poll that, among other things, looked at the reasons why voters supported and opposed Barack Obama and John McCain. The results offer real insight into the why Obama won, and also into just how deep a hole Republicans have dug for themselves.

Beyond even the anti-Republican political environment, in an election when McCain was forced to try and win voters who do not traditionally support Republicans, McCain found himself trapped by an activist base that both demands social conservatism and which has failed to elected a significant number of women and minorities to statewide and other leadership positions. The net result was that, in his necessary attempt to appeal to voters who usually do not support Republicans, McCain was practically forced to pick Sarah Palin.  read more »