Campaign Watch: Sayonara to Campaign Watch

November 06, 2008

Sayonara to Campaign Watch

With the close of the election season, this is the official goodbye to the Campaign Watch blog -- which was conceived as the Primary Pundit blog some two years ago as the presidential primary circus began to set up its tents, unleash its barkers and test its acts. I've posted hundreds and hundreds of daily entries and updates talking about and linking to the important, the trivial and the outrageous. It's all part of the pageantry and majesty that defines the exotic ways we choose our leaders (imagine what a visitor from, say, Mars would think about the past two years and you get my point.)

But make no mistake about it -- this was an extraordinary and historic election cycle by any measure. The primary battle between Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama was an amazing clash of ideas, personalities and heavyweight wills. The general election showdown between Obama and Republican John McCain was in part a wild national conversation turned argument about who we are, what is important, and where we need to go. It was a street brawl but the result led to a outbreak of national euphoria that was stunning and profound as Americans take the next step in the ever-changing evolution of defining who we are. And the Senate and House races in NH were also historically important and compelling. For better or worse, the Age of Obama has dawned.

It's been my privilege and joy to write for these blogs. My goal was insight, informed perspective and entertainment. I don't know if I always succeeded but that was the goal. And I applaud abd appreciate all the readers who have read the entries and provided hundreds of pointed and helpful comments. It would have been a lesser blog without your input. Thanks for the memories.

Posted by Michael McCord at November 6, 2008 11:09 AM

Comments

So this is the big kiss-off, huh? Too bad! There's still going to be so much snarking to do from the wings.

Thanks for all the updates.

Posted by: Gimp Face at November 6, 2008 01:25 PM

Here's a quote from the New York Times on right-wing fear:

" '[Obama's] a gun-snatcher ... He wants to take our guns from us and create a socialist society policed by his own police force,' said Jim Pruett, owner of Jim Pruett’s Guns and Ammo in northwest Houston, which was packed with shoppers on Thursday.' "

"David Nelson, a co-owner of Montana Ordnance & Supply in Missoula, Mont., said his buyers were 'awake and aware and see a dangerous trend.' "

"In Colorado, would-be gun buyers set a one-day record last Saturday with the highest number of background check requests in a 24-hour period, according to figures from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation."

" 'We’re not really sure who is promoting the concept that a change in federal administrations might affect firearms possession rights,' said an agency spokesman, Lance Clem, 'but we do know that it’s increased business considerably.' "

THE McCAIN PEOPLE DID TOO LITTLE TO ALLAY SUCH FEARS AND TOO MUCH TO STOKE THEM. America is a more dangerous place now.

I've predicted a dangerous backlash, and here we see the groundwork has been laid for a path to hysteria to become a trail ablaze.

What percentage of those increased gun sales represents liberals anticipating a flare-up (or worse) of right-wing terror, like me? "Too little to be statistically significant" is my guess.

"Political uncertainty, gun dealers say, is great for business."

The putrifying zombie corpse of Timothy McVeigh has clawed its way out of the grave to rise and once again stalk the land.

Posted by: Gimp Face at November 7, 2008 07:06 AM

Gary, thanks for listening.

Gimp, one word: Pavilion. Go there.

Posted by: WhyIsHeraldSoBiased at November 8, 2008 08:03 AM

I did, and I got counseling. I was advised to arm myself because the nutters are freaking out.

Posted by: Gimp Face at November 8, 2008 08:07 AM

Whoops. Gary? Who is Gary? I meant Michael.

Posted by: WhyIsHeraldSoBiased at November 8, 2008 11:13 AM

From today's LA Times:

"In the larger war of ideas, some experts say, Obama's election serves as ammunition against extremist propaganda.

'If the fact that the grandson of a Kenyan goatherd becomes president of the United States does not undermine the jihadi message that the United States is unjust and oppressive, I don't know what will,' [Marc] Sageman [an academic and scholar-in-residence at the New York Police Department] said.

Caprioli, for his part, says Islamic fundamentalists may see the president-elect, a Christian, as an apostate because he did not adopt his African family's Muslim faith.
'They will judge him on his policies, not on his identity,' [Louis] Caprioli said [former counter-terrorism chief of the DST, France's lead intelligence agency]."

The apostate angle is interesting....

I've been on a couple of dates with a Christian fundamentalist woman who declares Obama isn't a Christian: Since when does a Christian want to close the faith to would-be converts? Since when does a Christian tell a convert, "You're not good enough and I reject your claim on Christ?"

And the jihadis reject him as an apostate.

He's too black to be white and too white to be black. He's too Muslim to be Christian and too Christian to be Muslim.

This Obama guy is a remarkable person.

Posted by: Gimp Face at November 9, 2008 08:12 PM

From today's LA Times:

"White extremists lash out over election of first black president":

"The Ku Klux Klan is emerging from decades of disorganization and obscurity, and the turnaround is acutely evident -- more than 200 hate-related incidents have been reported since the Nov. 4 election."

Posted by: bellssmile at November 23, 2008 12:25 PM

"Now that the campaign is over, have the death threats stopped?" NPr's Terri Gross asked Ayers.

"Escalated," Ayers replied.

"Why, do you think?"

"I'm not sure," Ayers said, "but I've gotten a lot of threats that talk about civil war and the fact that we now have a socialist government and that the war is on."

Posted by: bellssmile at November 25, 2008 01:08 PM

Today at work, a Christian conservative co-worker saw I was wearing an old Howard Dean campaign wooley-pulley cap, and she said: "Howard Dean? Aren't you concerned that, one of these days, someone is going to bump you off?"

Where the Hell did that come from? I said or did nothing to prompt the comment other than to wear the cap. This woman (who is 60) apparently thinks that such umbrage at liberal Democrats is normative. She's mainstream in Republican thinking, not fringe-type.

I'm neither surprised nor unready. Sensing the right-wing angst (even when I'm not causing it), I expect the worst.

Posted by: bellssmile at December 22, 2008 11:53 PM

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31