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On The Election
Nov. 12th, 2012 05:40 pmSo we had an election last week, as I'm sure everyone knows. And I'm sure everyone also knows the outcome. Obama was re-elected in a landslide.
And if you were paying attention, you knew it was coming. Nate Silver in particular, of FiveThirtyEight, correctly predicted how every state would vote and correctly picked all but one Senate race. He did this using aggregate polling and statistics ... aka math. He used statistics and modeling to accurately predict the election.
And, leading up to Tuesday, he was vilified by the right, who were absolutely convinced he was skewing the polls. They created their own websites - ironically called "Unskewed Polls" - that predicted Romney would win 51 percent of the vote and 275 electors. Karl Rove predicted that Romney would win 285 electors. They were absolutely convinced they were correct.
We all know what happened. Obama won in a near landslide, winning 332 electors to Romney's 206. He also won the popular vote by more than 3% - a pretty large margin by election standards. And, from everything I've read, the Republicans absolutely didn't see it coming. And on election night, as Ohio was called for Obama - thus sealing his win - Karl Rove had a very public meltdown on air on Fox News. And while I usually don't engage in schadenfreude ... it couldn't have happened to a nicer asshole.
In the coming weeks, the Republican party will try to figure out just how they managed to blow this election that they had every chance of winning. They will have to make some big decisions - especially in light of the changing demographics - what direction they want to take the party.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
halioffirpine had some great advice on his blog - especially the part about not mentioning rape. But I'd like to add one little piece of advice of my own.
Stop living in your own reality.
I've watched Fox News occasionally, and I sometimes wonder if I'm living on the same planet. It's time for you to stop listening to the people telling you what you want to hear, and to the people who are twisting and distorting facts to fit their own beliefs. It's time for you to stop living in your own echo chamber and come join the rest of us in the real world.
Now, does this mean you have to agree with the Democrats on everything? Of course not. You wouldn't be the opposition party if you didn't. And more to the point, as liberal as I am - and I am very, very liberal - I want a strong Republican party to keep providing alternatives. I don't want to live in a single party state, because that's when real problems begin. But, before you can become a real alternative, you have got to stop listening to those people who are only telling you what you want to hear, and start agreeing to some basic facts of the universe.
Only then, can you begin to climb out of the hole you've dug yourselves into for 30+ years.
I know you don't like Rachel Maddow, but I urge you to listen to the last half of this video. Because it's important for the future of America.
Oh yeah. And don't talk about rape. Ever.
And if you were paying attention, you knew it was coming. Nate Silver in particular, of FiveThirtyEight, correctly predicted how every state would vote and correctly picked all but one Senate race. He did this using aggregate polling and statistics ... aka math. He used statistics and modeling to accurately predict the election.
And, leading up to Tuesday, he was vilified by the right, who were absolutely convinced he was skewing the polls. They created their own websites - ironically called "Unskewed Polls" - that predicted Romney would win 51 percent of the vote and 275 electors. Karl Rove predicted that Romney would win 285 electors. They were absolutely convinced they were correct.
We all know what happened. Obama won in a near landslide, winning 332 electors to Romney's 206. He also won the popular vote by more than 3% - a pretty large margin by election standards. And, from everything I've read, the Republicans absolutely didn't see it coming. And on election night, as Ohio was called for Obama - thus sealing his win - Karl Rove had a very public meltdown on air on Fox News. And while I usually don't engage in schadenfreude ... it couldn't have happened to a nicer asshole.
In the coming weeks, the Republican party will try to figure out just how they managed to blow this election that they had every chance of winning. They will have to make some big decisions - especially in light of the changing demographics - what direction they want to take the party.
halioffirpine had some great advice on his blog - especially the part about not mentioning rape. But I'd like to add one little piece of advice of my own.Stop living in your own reality.
I've watched Fox News occasionally, and I sometimes wonder if I'm living on the same planet. It's time for you to stop listening to the people telling you what you want to hear, and to the people who are twisting and distorting facts to fit their own beliefs. It's time for you to stop living in your own echo chamber and come join the rest of us in the real world.
Now, does this mean you have to agree with the Democrats on everything? Of course not. You wouldn't be the opposition party if you didn't. And more to the point, as liberal as I am - and I am very, very liberal - I want a strong Republican party to keep providing alternatives. I don't want to live in a single party state, because that's when real problems begin. But, before you can become a real alternative, you have got to stop listening to those people who are only telling you what you want to hear, and start agreeing to some basic facts of the universe.
Only then, can you begin to climb out of the hole you've dug yourselves into for 30+ years.
I know you don't like Rachel Maddow, but I urge you to listen to the last half of this video. Because it's important for the future of America.
Oh yeah. And don't talk about rape. Ever.
