Reaction from Wingnuttia
Free Republic provided my morning chuckle with
this post:
The President of the United States is the most powerful political figure in the world, but as national executives go his powers are actually quite restricted. Obama will become President, but he won’t be dictator or king, let alone deity. He still has to work with the House and the Senate, and he still has to live within Constitutional restrictions
Does the phrase “unitary executive” mean anything to this person? How
about suspending Habeas Corpus? Signing statements?
I’m sure sites like Free Republic and Liberty News Forum will prove bountiful reservoirs of
schadenfreude
in the coming days. I lost the links in yesterday’s celebratory haze,
but I’ve seen people saying that McCain lost because he’s not a True
Conservative™, or because he was dragged down by Bush, who’s not
a True Conservative™. It’s all very reminiscent of the
argument
that “if you deconverted, that means you were never a True
Christian™ to begin with”. Evidently conservatism can never
fail, it can only be failed (I think put it
that way).
Also,
impeach-barack-obama.com
has already been set up.
In other election news, Sean Tevis has apparently
lost
by 4%.
Michelle Bachmann, the McCarthyite from Minnesota, has been reelected.
Boo.
Elizabeth Dole lost, apparently in part because of backlash against
her “godless” ad.
And the California amendment banning gay marriages has also passed,
also by a 4% margin. I wonder what this means for
existing gay marriages.
Will they now be retroactively annulled?
And Alaskans have elected a felon to the Senate. The speculation du
jour is that when Stevens is sent to prison, the governor will appoint
a replacement. That governor is, of course, Caribou Barbie herself,
Sarah Palin. and if she’s entertaining presidential ambitions, she
might appoint herself to the Senate. The obvious question that this
raises is, will she be able to provide Jon Stewart with
fodder
for The Daily Show?
Based on her interview with Katie Couric and her general performance
during the campaign, I think we can safely say yes.
My understanding is that Alaska (along with a few other states) does not allow for the Governor to make temporary appointments so I guess they’ll have to immediately hold a special election.
Fez:
Thanks for the correction.
There are lots of uncounted mail-in votes still, last I checked, and the margin for Stevens is still small, so Begich (the democrat) may yet pull this out.
According to dKos’s scoreboard, Begich is behind by 3353 votes. That seems rather a lot to make up, though I suppose it’s possible.
I suppose it’s nice that we still have these tidbits to follow after the excitement of the main election, so that those of us who obsessively followed the elections this past month don’t have to go cold turkey.
In other non-news, looks like Missouri and Omaha still haven’t been called, and they’re still fighting over the Senate in Minnesota.