NOTE: Now that the election is over our famous Around The Sphere linkfest reverts to its original form — offering you links from a variety of weblogs, not all of them to political posts. Linked posts do not necessarily reflect the opinion of TMV or its writers.
A MUST READ ON OBAMA’S ELECTION: Taylor Owen at Oxblog (one of TMV’s favorite sites.)
The Controversy Among Democrats Over Sen. Joe Lieberman’s Future in the Senate pecking order goes on. But if feelers are any indication, Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to defuse it. Feelings are running high among some Democrats who feel Lieberman really crossed the line.
The Republicans Have A Tiny Problem, Too which is called “losing an election in which the other party’s candidate got more votes than any candidate in history.” And how are they faring? Pajamas Media’s Jennifer Rubin doesn’t think they reacted too well:
Well, in the days following the election they engaged in the same petty, irrelevant. and ultimately self-destructive behavior which got them into the political ditch to begin with.
Let’s start with the petty. The RNC spent its time sending out “oppo” memos as word of President-elect Obama’s White House staff picks (e.g., Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod) came out. “Too partisan!” screamed the press releases. “He’s hiring political people!” Oh, the horror! Not many people in the country, other than staffers at the RNC with too little to do, begrudge the new president selecting competent political advisers, especially ones which proved discreet and capable during the campaign. And even the Wall Street Journal editors were not buying the hysteria — correctly noting that Emanuel was a free trader and economic moderate.
Next, we were treated to the sight of a group of old Washington insiders meeting at a Virginia estate to discuss the future of the GOP. This hardly seemed the way to refreshen, revive, and enliven the party. And by shutting out young conservative bloggers, they ensured that the most significant impact of the confab was to start another intra-party fight.
But much of the week was taken up by former McCain staffers, snooty columnists, and unnamed sources continuing the vendetta against Sarah Palin.
Read it in its entirety.
The GOP Circular Firing Squad Uncircling? Some McCain staffers and other GOPers are starting to defend Republican Presidential candidate Sarah Palin from a bad imagery tsunami (some of it stirred up by McCain staffers..)
Some Are Pondering why the Republican brand is in trouble.
The Post Election Feeling? For Andrew Sullivan, it’s relief in more ways than one…
But Is There Even A Lull? Or are the gotcha campaign attacks still happening including via the news media?
What Do Britney Spears And Sarah Palin Have In Common? This (given the McCain campaign commercial and talk radio hosts’ riffs on celebrity=vapidness, does this means those talk show hosts will oppose her if she runs in 2012 on the grounds that she’s a celebrity?).
Who Really Got Obama Elected? Some think this.
Should Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi Keep His Day Job? When is a joke racist?
A Call To Boycott Fox News is now coming from some conservatives. (This MUST be a new era: conservatives and liberals now seem to agree on something.)
Thanksgiving Will Soon Be Here And As Christmas Draws Close What Will We Inevitably Hear? Christmas music? That, too… But even more so Fox’s Bill O’Reilly will resume his rant against the “war against Christmas” (which most people didn’t know even exists, but it does boost ratings.”) More HERE.
Look At The Votes Received And Money Spent By Obama And McCain And McCain’s Money Was Better Spent, argues Wizbang’s Jay Tea. Tea makes this prediction:
In the end, McCain showed that he was, in many ways, a good loser. Because in the end, it’s results matter. McCain spent far less money, and spent it far more efficiently, but in the end he achieved exactly nothing. His spending totals, his popular votes, and his electoral votes all together, with five bucks in cash on hand, might get him a cup of coffee at Starbucks. And Obama, who spent money so profligately that drunken sailors were saying “whoa, dude,” ultimately has to be considered the more efficient — because he achieved his goal.
When we look back at this election, I think we will see that Obama didn’t just defeat McCain at the polls. He didn’t just kill McCain’s long-held presidential ambitions, he drove a stake through the heart of one of McCain’s proudest legacies: the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act. By rejecting public financing, by freeing himself of the limitations that imposes on who accept public money for the presidential election, Obama has proven that the election financing system is severely broken, and ain’t getting better any time soon.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that in 2012, the Republican nominee will also eschew public financing — and that both campaigns will end up raising over a billion dollars each over the entire campaign cycle.
McCain-Feingold, it will be argued, was formulated before the potential of the Internet to harvest small donations was accurately predicted. Why WOULD a Republican candidate agree to it in the future? Unless they’re guilty of political negligence, the Republicans will be working to duplicate Obama’s feat in coming elections.
Do Initial Signs Point To Obama Being Just Another Unitary Executive? Dean Esmay says yes.
Obama’s New Chief Of Staff Is Rep. Rahm Emanuel and here are some little known facts about him…
A Look At All Souls’ Day in Central Slovakia: A great photo essay.
Meanwhile, On The Energy Front China is expanding its nuclear power.
In Minnesota Will Norm Colman Get The Last Laugh in the Senate race — or is it shaping up that the last laugh (as usual) will gotten by comedy writer/comedian Al Franken? And read this update.
Obama And The Kennedy Mystique: Some see parallels, some don’t. Some thoughts HERE.
Why Does President Bush Think The GOP Lost The Election? The Garlic has the top 10 reasons.
A Major Issue On The Nation’s Shrinking Financial Plate is bailing out the troubled auto industry. But has this become the subject of a “feeding frenzy?”
Some Say The Republicans Should Be Given A Lot Of Credit for being introspective in defeat.
DVDs Can Take You Into A Time Tunnel (tell me about it) And You Can Get Hooked On An Old Show like the cop show classic “The Naked City” (despite the title, it wasn’t about a nudist colony or a college dorm…).
The Fed’s Recent AIG Bailout Was Not The End Of It: The U.S. is giving the insurance giant a bigger bailout.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.