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The retirement of Cockstradamus

Wouldn't want to encourage the pessimist copycats

By: Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary)  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 07:26 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. – Ecclesiastes 1:2

While a Democratic Party official from 1980-1996, I correctly prognosticated, despite favorable national polls, the losses of Carter, Mondale, and Dukakis, and as a converted Republican, the losses of Gore and Kerry. I believe Obama is unelectable. I predicted the ending of the oil drilling moratorium two months ago, the declaration of victory in Iraq (see draw down of troops) and that Russia would never get to Tbilisi. I said Palin would pinch Biden’s plugs last night and that the dawgs would lose to the Crimson Tide between the hedges.

But so what?

I would say that from 1980-1996, I never publicly expressed my (then) pessimism to fellow democrats. What good would that have done, given my goals at that time? None.

So, to ensure that I don’t inspire more of the locust-like loathsome naysayers that already waste bandwidth telling us that McCain can’t win, I hereby tender my nostra-resignation.


What good does it do for people that portend to support the conservative cause to persist in negativism now that the MLB playoffs have begun, unless it is to maximize the 24 hours of faux fame they would enjoy immediately after Election Day?

Isn’t their real message that polls that favor Obama are gospel and that Americans are too stupid to be persuaded to accept the truth of conservatism?

We are past the point of the primaries where criticism held out the chance that we would pick a better nominee. Now, we face a stark choice with, as always, a flawed human being as our choice.

So, what good does it do to declare the election over, except to satisfy some narcissistic, nihilistic and/or defeatist pathology of the blogger?

If the declared point is to cause the GOP to move to the left or to change McCain, isn’t that task better put off till next year?

I will no longer give cover to the pathetic, ignorant of history yutes (or burnt out hippies) with my vetted for optimism Karnakisms (see Johnny Carson skit).

And I will henceforth be relentless in calling out these leeches on Redstate, Race 4 2008 and primitive hospitals, especially those that have an idea for an ad or campaign response occur to them; bemoan that same hasn’t been executed within five seconds and then bemoan the fact that same occurred within ten seconds.

Grow up bloggers. The world doesn’t rise and set because you exist; sit in the peanut gallery; and don’t have to expend capital to make your dreams come true like the Holodeck on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Before I accept the gold watch, some facts:

No known Leftist has ever been elected President.
Known leftists regularly lead in pre-election polls

Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
Legal Editor for The Minority and HinzSight Reports
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” – The Chief Justice
Race 4 2008
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

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COMMENTS

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  • BooBooKitty

    You can count me by your side GC.

  • pilgrim

    Of course I saw this coming a while back when the cockstradamus predicted that Sen. Jim Webb will be Obama’s VP pick. heehee

  • BooBooKitty

    I too tire of the gloom and doom prognostications- history and common sense our on our side.

  • digitalhap

    …and the election is a month off. Maybe Obama would win if the election were held today (and that’s a big maybe, as I’m not convinced a majority of the American people can pull the lever for him when it comes right down to it).

    But it’s not being held *today. Let’s let the whole thing play out, go to the polls as we should, and count the actual votes cast.

    Hap Aziz

    *Early voting notwithstanding. By the way, I hate early voting, because that’s an exercise of the franchise before all the information has come in. Stupid.

  • gamecock

    so it must have been

    and we thank you for not confusing the recent, TEMPORARY, ineptitude of -stradamus’s alter egos on pigskin prognostications.

    People, this pilgrim is a persistent

    good guy

  • gamecock

    5

  • RedFox84

    Just because its’ gamecock.

  • Susannah

    Great diary! Recommended. I, too, am tired of the pessimists.

    By the way, I predicted, in a comment on Civil Truth’s blog, that we would all be pleasantly surprised with Sarah Palin’s performance in last night’s debate. I predict that John McCain will exceed expectations in the economic debate on Tuesday night, and that his poll numbers will start to rise. I will continue to stay positive, darn it! I will let no one kill my joy. :-)

  • speciallist

    I would not have to work as hard I do…

  • PaRep

    Is there a More Stupid Human Being on the face of the Earth???

  • Jaded

    MSM is getting into the heads of the naysayers and I say to those people….:smack: get over yourself….we have and election to win!

    ancedotal information STILL more and more McCain bumper stickers cropping up here in Northern VA.

  • ocleverone

    You said it beautifully! Well done.

    I am so sick of the nay-sayers and hand wringers of this election cycle. Of course it can be done, McCain/Palin cand and will pull this off.

    It’s time for conservatives & Republicans to put on their game faces, pull up their big boy/girl panties and fight. Losing this one is not an option.

    I too am seeing a lot more McCain bumper stickers, yard signs and gear around the Stafford/Fredericksburg region.

    Now we need to get out the vote.

  • gamecock

    unless Rebels beat my Cocks

  • Flagstaff

    Maybe not, after he was hammered by Dick Morris last night (Thursday). I think I detected true animosity.

    It is for sure that last night should have been an inflection point. Not to be negative, but although all GC wrote is true, when the information delivery system is one-sidedly selective in the information it delivers, there may be enough voters out there who don’t know what they don’t know to bring about a result even they don’t expect.

    We all find ourselves in the position of the railbird trying to push his nag home without benefit of anything beyond telepathy. We hold what should be the winning tickets if our horse doesn’t break down in the stretch, but what is that dark horse doing?–leading as they go into the clubhouse turn.

    Our old war horse has surprised us a couple of times already. He may still have some tricks under his saddle to surprise not only us but the other horse as well. It’s good to know they are only icing on the cake.

  • 29Victor

    He’s obviously not from this planet.

  • 29Victor

    I’m not 100% on board with pulling up my “big boy panties,” however.

    Someone needs to print out this diary, roll it up and smack Allahpundit in the head with it.

  • gamecock

    Rush arrived in 1988. FNC in 1996. Before that all conservatives ahd was the WSJ editorial page, Pat Buchanan on Crossfire and WFB on Firing Line.

    We still won 7 of 10.

  • WOSG

    BUT HE HAS TO FIGHT LIKE THE DICKENS TO WIN.

    That means being unafraid to go after Obama on why he is wrong on the economy.

    McCain needs to expose the fact that ‘deregulation’ didnt cause the financial crisis, failures in Govt – in Fannie Mae, with CRA, and at the Fed, caused it (and no, moron campaign staffers, it is NOT a complex argument, its:

    “Federal reserve had loose money policy that incited an asset bubble, the Community Reinvestment Act encourage lax lending standards, which with Fannie Mae and freddie mac created a boom in subprime mortgages, private lenders gave loans to people who werent able to pay back to boost their bottom line, and both borrowers and lenders engaged in fraud. The combination was a recipe for disaster. We need to say “NEVER AGAIN” and that means reforming subprime lending and CRA rules, reforming Fannie Mae like I proposed some years back, and bringing to account those who engaged in fraud and deception. When I and other Republicans proposed fixing the oversight into Fannie Mae in 2005, Democrats said no. They were wrong, I was right. If Democrats cannot own up to their own past failures, they will never be able to stop it from happening again.”

  • Pomme

    win more to our side with them down, but it’s not usual.

  • Flagstaff

    until Watergate; then it became straight anti-Republican.

    Although almost monolithic, it wasn’t yet, IIRC, willing to ignore or alter facts to promote Democrats. That tactic came to a head during the Florida recount, abated for a while after 9/11, and came back in full force at about the time Harry Reid declared “the war is lost.”

    It isn’t insurmountable, but since the battle ground is “undecided” voters, and one may reasonably assume that such voters get most of their information through the SCUM, the misinformation can have an inordinate effect on elections.

    This is why I say that McCain need to be aware that the Press is not his friend, and that he must measure his words and actions against how they will be portrayed to be used against him. And, he needs to forcefully stake out his position any time it gets muddied up by his former friends in the press.

    That’s really nothing extraordinary. It’s just good politics, but he doesn’t get any help from the folks who are protected in their mischief by the Constitution.

  • gamecock

    1 – That JFK was killed due to an environment of intolerance of right wingers

    He was killed by a communist. (see also RFK by an Islamist)

    2 – Walter LIED and said we lost TET.

    3 – Reagan was an amiable dunce.

    4 – Moral equivalence with the USSR and USA.

    5 – 1992 was 1929.

    6 – sh*t, I’m stopping here. This ain’t close and flagstaff knows it

  • gamecock

    it is that I feel betrayed by the msm as an American by the unpatriotic press for my whole god damned life. They lied and they hid facts from 1963-yesterday. They protect the lie that is liberalism.

  • speciallist

    n/p

  • c17wife

    This is NOT over!
    I’ll grant you we need some things to start breaking our way a tad, but this is NOT over.
    Time for action, n ot whining.
    Go to McCain’s website, give him some money, grab a phone list and get ‘er done!

  • StephC

    I said that on another post here without any text. Think about it.

    GC is right. This election isn’t over until it’s over and the left is too desperate to make it be over. I, too, have my negative moments but the more the left tries to bully me and convince me that Obama has the election, the surer I am we’re still in this fight. They wouldn’t be trying so hard if we weren’t.

    The MSM and Obama supporters are scared to death of Palin and that’s obvious.

    They’re also scared of McCain which isn’t so obvious.

    They want us to believe they’re “useful idiots and I don’t believe that for a minute”… even when I want to grind my teeth at some of McCain’s worst ideas. The Democrat Party used to have some respectable people in it and that’s the party McCain remembers. When he realizes they aren’t the same party they used to be, and I believe he’s coming to realize it already, he will start naming names. We want it now, but sometimes waiting is the best strategy and McCain is an old warrior.

    If Obama wins it will split this country in two, literally in two. The military will be gutted by its own hand because it will not serve under him. For months there have been whispers of taking up arms against Washington but the whispering is getting louder. If Obama wins and lets lose his thug regime, they will take up arms against him. I’d dearly love to avoid that happening.

    The MSM and Obamanationites think they are pushing people into apathy, so much they won’t bother to vote. Some will be that way but most are just angry.

    In addition, if you read your Revelations, there are going to be some extremely religious people out there who are looking at Obama as the Anti-Christ. He has been named, by a Jew no less, when Cohen likened him to Jesus in front of Congress, I believe it was. He has songs written for him, eerily reminiscent of Hitler’s movement and Mao se Tung. And out of his own mouth he has promised miracles(the seas will stop rising and lights will shine down on people voting for him). And much of his rhetoric is also reminiscent of the speeches Hitler gave on his way to power.

    Now, I’m not saying he is, but you can bet there are people out there thinking he is and they will reject him.

    We think in terms of his marxism and what his policies will mean to this free nation. His supporters think in terms of movements similar to Hitler’s in Germany; if they can’t convince, they bully and threaten us. They forget one thing: Germany never had a country like ours with people who believe in the inalienable rights under which we have prospered. These Americans will reject him,too, happy or not with McCain.

    As someone else said, it’s not over until it’s over.

  • jdub19

    I live by the words of JimmyV and Churchill …and always will.

    Never.Ever.Give.UP.

  • praiseyourwife

    He is an extreme leftist, that is sure. But the vast majority of America is not aware of it. The media has covered for Obama, and the McCain campaign has done little to educate the American public about Obama’s record and past affiliations.

    So Obama may yet be elected. By 2012, of course, Americans will have learned about his extreme leftism….

  • izoneguy

    Even if Obama gets beat back this time – what happens when he emerges yet again in 2012? Or even worse – someone even furthur left than Obama?

  • Strelnikov

    Rumors were going around yesterday that various regular U.S. Army units were being redeployed around the U.S. with one of the purposes being to control any “civil unrest” which might occur soon.

    We note that England raised its Terrorism Alert Level to “critical.” So perhaps there is a connection to a possible terrorist attack to make people vote cowardice as in Spain.

    On the other hand, another interpretation is that an Obama defeat will lead the Left to start a near civil war crying “fraud” and riots beyond anything seen in the ’60′s.

    Another interpretation is that an Obama victory will set off the armed pick-up trucks to secede from the union.

    I do not sense the latter, until the Big Brobama starts shutting off civil rights. The second is more likely, but not to the degree of the ’60′s. 40 years of videoization and bingeing on food stamps has brought obesity and a lack of energy to the lower classes.

    Palin/Bohner/Jindal?Kasich and other younger Republicans will need to stand up against any orders from Big Brobama: if America goes stupid and elects him and a Dem Congress (and how is that possible with a 9% approval rating???!!!), then 2012 will be our year for sure.

  • gamecock

    known even more in posterity!

    great essay

  • streetwise
  • StephC

    The vast majority of Americans don’t realize what the word leftist means rather than they don’t know Obama is one. They know he is, but don’t care because they have only the most superficial understanding of the word; as just a word to separate Democrats from Republicans. They, too, still think in terms of the old Democrat party.

  • aceintx

    no blogs lately because I don’t want to be the quintessential negativist.

    Conservativism CAN indeed win this election for McCain if he can stop the populism and bipartisan horse crap.

    The question remains can he?

    He hasn’t so far!

  • David123

    Based on “There he is”

    Announcer: America is a blessed country where we have individual freedom to choose our religion. With many choices available, Barack Obama chose to attend this church for 20 years, and get spiritual guidance from his friend the pastor there, Jeremiah Wright.
    Barack: “He’s a friend … Dr. Jeremiah Wright”
    Announcer: For 20 years Barrack Obama attended a church where hatred of America was preached.
    Wright: “NO NO NO, Not God Bless America, God Damn America!”
    Announcer: a church where attack politics was preached from the pulpit.
    Wright: “Bill have been good to us, no … Bill did us just like he did Monica Lewinsky.”
    Announcer: A church where America is blamed for being attacked
    Wright: “The World Trade Center happened to us and so did white supremacy happen to us.” & “The Gov’t LIED about Pearl Harbor” & “America’s chickens are coming home to roost”
    Announcer: Is this the 20-year spiritual path that equips a man to be America’s president?

  • gamecock

    for 20 years in a hate Whitey America Church.

    thank God

    Hint: Whites don’t like to be hated and called bitter bigots.

    Obama can’t win

    http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/blog/g/8a43cf4e-75f7-483b-b169-0e8313b34113

  • speciallist

    Here’s a start..

  • ILLINOIS_CONSERV

    McCain is afraid to go down this path during the debate. The minute Obama starts with the “4 more years of Bush” comments, McCain needs to say this to BHO-
    If you want to play the name association game, let’s go there! And bring up all the named associates of BHO. This clown in the video Wright, along with Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko, etc. And then, to bring it all current, remind the people of BHO’s close ties with Franklin Raines, former head of Fannie Mae who was booted out because he was cooking the financial books. McCain sits there and lets BHO connect him to Bush and infers that it is this administrations fault that we are in this financial mess in the first place. McCain needs to set the record straight NOW! John had better ome out swinging in this next debate.

  • speciallist

    n/p

  • David123

    Publicizing Obama+Wright+Ayers will be criticized by the usual “fair minded” people.

    Two Obama excuses
    1. Barack’s not to blame because he supposedly wasn’t in church when Wright cursed America

    GOP Reply – in 99% of the churches in America if your pastor cursed America and you missed church that day YOU WOULD HEAR ABOUT IT. That cursing America doesn’t raise eyebrows in Obama’s church is almost worse than the cursing itself.

    1. McCain-Palin’s going negative.

    GOP reply: The problem with negativity is when it’s based on lies like the forged documents that tried to disgrace Bush’s honorable service in the Air Nat Guard. But if the other candidate really did do something like attend a hate-America church for 20 years, it’s the duty of his opponent AND THE MEDIA to INFORM the voters.

    Sarah Palin could make these points much, much better than I just did.

  • redneck_hippie

    Cockstradamus’ prognostications are my favorite regular feature on RS.

    So what if they act as strange attractors? I’ve never seen a moby yet who survived the Ahab modsticks. As others state, the more attacks in a day, the better read we get on The One Cult’s desperation.

    We are not here to create dissent, we are here to preserve dissent. Here is a Time article from 1969 with more Richard Daley malapropisms.

    I continue to generate my election forecasts based on my neighborhood yard sign index:

    o The yard sign index in my neighbood went from 10 to 9 this week. Out of six yard signs for the national election, one lone Obama/Biden yard sign finally appeared. That’s 5 to 1 for McCain/Palin and please be reminded that there is no freaking way in heck that Obama is going to lose Illinois. So analyze why those five people still bother with a McCain/Palin yard sign, hmmmm? This is the bailout fiasco protest in my neighborhood. There were exactly zero yard signs for the national election until the bailout fiasco hit the “news.” This protest has just begun to fester. It is the systemic blood infection from a gnat bite that is going to free up Senator Obama’s time to raise money for his next senate campaign.

    Keep on acrowin, pretty please?

  • stang

    I believe you said something like that awhile back and I want to thank you for saving me from much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth.

  • vernonia

    McCain indentifies For Whom the Bell Tolls as his favorite work of literature.

    The protagonist of said novel, Robert Jordan, is McCain’s hero. Robert Jordan fought a losing battle for the socialists against the fascists in the story, set in the Spanish Civil War. McCain’s Worth the Fighting For is a tribute to a quote from Hemingway’s anti-hero.

    McCain’s favorite movie? Viva Zapata In that one, Marlon Brando portrayed a Mexican who fought the law and… lost.

    Meaningless trivia? Maybe. But McCain said at the 2007 New Hampshire debate that his heores “inspire me and qualify me to lead”. Maybe he’s a better meddling antagonist like his heroes than triumphant leader…

    Special thanks to McCain biographer Matt Welch editor of www.reason.com for the details. McCain: The Myth of a Maverick is an honest effort to find out what John McCain actually believes. The senator seldom defines a “greater cause”. The MSM has never been interested. They used to fawn over him, before leaving him for a younger man.

  • stang

    You asked.

    You would like me to impute John McCain’s motives from his favorite book and movie because the protagonist in each was a loser?

    You must just be a baby whale.

  • vernonia

    I generally root for guys who win because of their virtue.

    The senator thinks guys who fight for losing causes are the most virtuous and compelling.

    Sen McCain has spent much of the last decade fighting for unpopular, losing causes and loving every minute of it.

    That’s why I speculated he might not really “want it”.

  • vernonia

    I generally root for guys who win because of their virtue.

    The senator thinks guys who fight for losing causes are the most virtuous and compelling.

    Sen McCain has spent much of the last decade fighting for unpopular, losing causes and loving every minute of it.

    That’s why I speculated he might not really “want it”.

  • stang

    Let’s see here. You’ve read John McCain’s mind and you’ve read books and therefore we should believe whatever tripe you’re spouting..

    And to think your parents wasted all that money on college for you.

    Swim away baby whale. Come back when you’ve learned to see and think for yourself. You’re wasting precious bandwidth here.

    “Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by ignorance.”

    James Thurber

  • gamecock

    since Dec 2006 against any generic dem and since Feb 2007 against an Obama or a Hillary

    He will return after the election

    and if any prognostications are called for w/i 48 hrs, Gamecock will handle it! or his owner

    Mike DeVine will divine the future. I have the Rod!

  • MrSandman

    “The military will be gutted by its own hand because it will not serve under him. For months there have been whispers of taking up arms against Washington but the whispering is getting louder. If Obama wins and lets lose his thug regime, they will take up arms against him.”

    Hogwash. Not to mention completely disrespectful for this nation’s military.

    I would have to guess you have never served if you actually believe this rubbish. Anyone that served with honor knows your statement is total crock.

  • gamecock

    5

  • gamecock

    that he is going to win his way or not at all, and part of his way is to appear above the fray.

  • ILLINOIS_CONSERV

    Palin’s ears…I just read that Sarah came out swinging at Obama’s dubious associates today. About time! There is also a story about the Feds looking into Tony Rezko and another real estate deal this time with Illinois’ Gov Blago. Geez how many smoking guns does Obama have that the MSM just chooses to ignore? If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck..it’s a Ba-duck Obama!

  • StephC

    I didn’t mean the military will take up arms against Washington, I meant those who are whispering about it now.

    If you think the military will serve under an Obama administration after the way Obama has treated the military, that’s your opinion. Would you serve under a Commander in Chief who verbally abuses you every chance he gets and, if he has his way, will cut defense spending regardless of what it might mean for our national security? Where’s the honor in serving someone who hates you and every other American?

    While I may not have served in the military as active duty, I was a military spouse for 23 years.

  • vernonia

    …always a rebel.

    McCain has admitted in his books he liked to bend the rules while at Annapolis. His story sounds a bit like Tom Cruise in Top Gun: playboy joker that everyone likes (except a few uptight superiors).

    50 years later, he still wants to irritate the guys in charge, snicker in the back of the room, and prevail because everyone forgives his badboy ways.

  • vernonia

    I believe if John McCain announced he loved The Day After Tomorrow, or said George Clooney’s character in Syriana was his favorite, many here would have serious concerns.

    If you don’t think a man’s aesthetics reveals his ethics, that’s fine. I do.

    BTW, funny you should mention college money, as I just paid off my student loan this week. 15 years, and I finally paid off both degrees myself.

  • stang

    What conclusion about Obama are you suggesting we should draw from this?

    Please enlighten us with some more of your beliefs.

  • JLenardDetroit

    There are more and more, of the folks that would other-wise not pay attention, and go out and vote as pre-indoctrinated to do so, having the ‘hey, wait a minute’ moment as they see the overwhelmingly biased MSM and Hollywood messages. The more they lay it on, the better, the amount of distortion is getting so great that the sound/noise generated is waking some from their slumber like a good loud alarm clock in the morning. Some are finally getting irritated at how sore their nose is from being lead around by it and finally opening theirs eyes, ears, and minds.

    Somebody give me the location of a steam-grate in Toledo Ohio so I can drive down to Ohio and use it as my ‘address’ and qualify as a resident and do the ‘same-day’ registration/voting. I’m kidding, of course, but you can rest assured that the other side has its ACORN units out in force.

  • Wisecracker

    OK, I guess Dole vs. Clinton.

    However, since 2000 they have been wrong, including the exit polls in 2004. Everyone thought we had President Kerry until the votes were counted.

    I too am sick of the pessimism on the blogs and on our side!

  • JLenardDetroit

    He’s making the Socialist leaners an offer they can’t refuse… lol

  • Neil_Stevens
  • vernonia

    Hadn’t heard Obama likes the classics. I took him for more of a Talented Mr. Ripley fan.

    Can’t say what it means…

    Your derisive tone suggests no answer would suffice anyway. Let go of the rage, bro.

  • gamecock

    And I hope most Americans get to HEAR him read them. If they do, they will agree that he must never be President and also exctiedly wait for his next naval gazing tome.

  • Nobama

    Please see my last two blogs.

    There is significant evidence that BHO’s supporters are especially vocal this year (to friends and pollsters; see New Hampshire Democratic Primary) and that McCain’s supporters can’t or won’t talk to pollsters but do show up and vote (see this year’s GOP Primaries in California, Florida, New Hampshire, and South Carolina).

    I don’t want to see another poll between now and November 5th. Just count the votes, please. And don’t count votes from dead people, “carousel voters”, Mickey Mouse, Uncle Ted’s dog, illegal aliens, convicted felons (in states where they’re not allowed to vote), or people who already voted.

  • dbecraft

    election cycle. It seems to be on the increase with ACORN rising to the challenge. There effort also is being helped by judges – most worrisome of all…

  • izoneguy

    was a bust for the democrats. I heard a figure that a grand total of 400 people voted that week in Ohio. But the RNC should still be on the look out for voter fraud where ever it might happen.

  • dbecraft

    busing college students to places for registration & vote precincts (same day registration and voting). Where did you get that information?

  • stang

    If it was indeed your intent to persuade here vernonia(not) you might have posited an argument that you could support with fact, not supposition and mind reading.

    Supposition and mind reading evidently work for you though, I see.

    ?Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.?

    Plato

  • StandardCandle

    the world would like to know….

    ;)

  • vernonia

    If you’ll accept my non-empirical supposition that there is a God.

    Still don’t understand the hostility…

  • Flagstaff

    1. I’m not aware of these charges being put forth in the MSM at anytime. Oliver Stone is not part of the MSM.

    2. True. But as I pointed out, he was lying about Democrats at the time, not Republicans. He was lying about the war, an issue, not politics.

    3. Also true, and something I didn’t cover. I was responding to your question that I read as “How do you explain our victory in 7 out of 10 Pres-elections given MSM bias?” A key part of my answer was that the MSM (now SCUM) were not “willing to ignore or alter facts to promote Democrats.” I don’t think they came out full force against Reagan until after he was elected, because even they could read the tea leaves, and at the time they didn’t like Carter much, either. Calling Reagan a dummy was non-factual, but it was also an opinion and recognized as one. And they did still have to report Reagan’s successes, because they were so obvious they couldn’t be ignored.

    4. Moral equivalence is similarly a matter of opinion, which is, as I hoped to make clear, exactly the area that having a SCUM reporting the news is most dangerous. Their opinions are often taken as facts.

    5. On this one I think you’re right. There was no serious challenge to any of Clinton’s wild exaggerations in the 1992 campaign. So, I have to adjust my starting point for blatant lying on the part of the SCUM to the last 6 months of the Bush 41 administration.

    Anyway, I stand by my assertion that the MSM didn’t completely turn into the SCUM until just before Clinton’s first election.

    Perhaps a better response would have been that we won in ’68 and ’72 with the help of anti-war sentiment fanned by the MSM and because of the quality of the opponents.

    ’76 was lost in great part because of the picture painted of Gerald Ford as a bumbling fool, including on SNL. And he didn’t help himself, either. WIN was also unfairly ridiculed in the popular press, as Jimmy Carter found out.

    ’80 and ’84 Reagan was unbeatable, no matter what they did unless they outright lied, and they couldn’t lie about things that were obvious to the public every day. It helped that Mondale admitted that he intended to raise taxes if elected.

    ’88 Times were good and Bush 41 was an extension of Reagan to many people. Even the trashing of Dan Quayle by the press didn’t derail him, and Dukakis helped by some of his stunts, photo ops, and prisoner releases while Mass. Governor.

    The trashing of Quayle continued through the Bush Administration, and it bore results in ’92, as did Bush’s shortcomings as a campaigner. Clinton was clearly superior in that respect, and as you pointed out, the MSM/SCUM was happy to help him by accepting his word as gospel.

    ’96? Nothing need be said. Our ticket was clearly outmatched, with or without help from anybody.

    1. I was busy with personal events during that election. Also, I didn’t see much news about Gore vs. Bush. During the recount, it was clear that the MSM had become the So-Called Unbiased Media. A close call.

    2. Looking at Rathergate’s accusations vs. those of Swiftboats for Truth, I have to conclude that the first was treated by the press as a mistake, “but true,” and the second was a scurrilous, unfounded attack on a war hero. Thanks to the internet, the war, and talk radio, Bush was re-elected. But another close call.

    Since then, the NYT and LAT and the alphabet networks have done all in their power to undercut the Administration’s credibility and ability to operate effectively, and it’s had a tremendous effect.

    Having said all that, if McCain can acquit himself well tonight (Tuesday), I think he has a good chance to win on his merit, in spite of the SCUM.

    We lost only two elections we should have won on merit, 1976 and 1992. IMHO, 1976 was a tossup, turned against us by the MSM. Both of those elections were greatly affected by the bias of the MSM at the time, and by public perception as manipulated by entertainment productions of the time.

    Since ’92, the Internet and Rush and talk radio in general have been great help in countering the SCUM and its lies, but they couldn’t help enough in 1992. The big advantage the SCUM presents is that it is omnipresent and granted undeserved credibility. The Great Undecided Minority doesn’t have to look for it, and when they see it they might just believe it.

    It isn’t all-powerful and definitive, but it is powerful and can be decisive.

  • Flagstaff

    thingy. That business in the middle was accidental.

  • Flagstaff

    by that.

    The idea that they are protected by the Constitution should carry some responsibility with it. I don’t know what can be done about it. Right now, it is happening by the loss of readers, viewers, advertising revenues and stock prices. But it doesn’t make them clean up their act.

    Perhaps we need to be able to sue them for malfeasance of a Constitutionally-protected public trust.

  • Flagstaff

    in that “list” business. I just noticed it.

    The number “1″ replaced the date “2000,” and “2″ replaced “2004.”

  • Nobama

    Which could make a difference if Ohio is as close this year as Florida was in 2000 and Wisconsin was in 2004.

    The trouble is that ACORN will try to get these same people back the polls on November 4th, doubling their impact by giving 2 votes to each person.

    Add that to the fact that ACORN is actively turning in fraudulent voter registrations so that they can mail in fraudulent absentee ballots and we got a big problem this year.