Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Most Americans are Not Crazy

It was a good election. Serial liar Romney, a man completely devoid of honesty, principles, and integrity, was convincingly defeated. I wasn't completely happy with Obama, but he was so much better than the alternative.

Nearly all the crazies lost: Allen West, Connie Mack, Todd Akin, Joe Walsh, and Richard Mourdock. Unfortunately it looks like we are still stuck with Michele Bachmann. And Judge Roy Moore won election in Alabama. Alabama secures its reputation as the worst place to live in the US.

Elizabeth Warren, who was the subject of nasty attacks about her native American heritage, easily defeated Scott Brown. Brown was not nearly as extremist as depicted by Democrats, but he was in the wrong state. He would have been a decent candidate for a state like Indiana or Pennsylvania, but not Massachusetts.

Maine and Maryland legalized same-sex marriage. Minnesota turned down a bid to change its constitution to prevent same-sex marriage. And Washington voters have apparently approved a law allowing same-sex marriage.

Two states legalized marijuana. This may be the start of a sane drug policy.

The mathematical illiterates who were skeptical of Nate Silver were proven wildly wrong. Silver's predictions were basically completely correct.

As predicted, crazies like Doug Groothuis are apoplectic. Groothuis raves as follows: "American [sic] does not know how to think, has no moral or political principles worth having, is manipulated by images and slogans, does not fear the idol of the State does not give a rip about unborn children; we will be taxes [sic] for their murders, does not believe in its own God-given greatness."

The dishonest Charles Krauthammer was raving about the "nationalization" of health care under Obama. Krauthammer is a liar. If you want to see nationalized health care, go to Britain. Obamacare isn't even close to "nationalization"; it's a timid initiative that maintains the status quo in almost every health care aspect except insurance. Bush's prescription drug benefit was a much bigger change.

Americans proved that the majority was not racist and was not fooled by pandering. That's a very good sign.

12 comments:

Bayesian Bouffant, FCD said...

"does not fear the idol of the State"

What?

Spirula said...

The right wing (is there another?) of the republican party got their answer. We don't want them.

Will this translate into rational policies...I don't know. But it is a start, and I have hope.

The wingers failed to account for the large number of sane people still living here that don't get sampled by the land-line poll... the minorities, college students etc. and "disaffected" white, middle-aged people like me.

And just how many minority groups can you alienate before it bites you in the ass?

They failed to give credit to the accuracy of statisticians like Nate Silver.

Math...does not work for stringent ideology.

(I have hope. I live in the land of sociopath pRick Scott. Floria.)

Oort Cloud said...

"Elizabeth Warren, who was the subject of nasty attacks about her native American heritage,"

You should word this better, more honestly. She was the subject of nasty attacks about her claim that she had native American heritage, where that claim was doubted. Plus the fact that Harvard claimed she was a "woman of color", so they could check that box off.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/05/25/elizabeth-warren-identified-as-woman-of-color-in-1993-publication

Jeffrey Shallit said...

Oort Cloud:

You've got some nerve complaining about honesty.

I stand by my characterization. Her opponent said during a debate, "Elizabeth Warren said she was a Native American, a person of color. As you can see, she's not." That's a nasty attack.

Takis Konstantopoulos said...

American does not know how to think,
has no moral or political principles worth having,
is manipulated by images and slogans,
does not fear the idol of the State
does not give a rip about unborn children;
we will be taxes for their murders,
[subject missing] does not believe in its own God-given greatness.


If you look at the syntax of these few sentences you will quickly realize that they are written by a person in anger. He was so furious about the outcome, that his brain was more damaged than it usually, apparently, is.

What an utter idiot!

P.S. His last sentence, "[America] does not believe in its own God-given greatness" is the kind of thing that gives you the creeps, something that you do not expect from a professor of philosophy!

Oort Cloud said...

Thank you, your argument proves my point. The attack was not about her heritage, it was about her claim It was mostly about her cynically taking advantage of that claim.

John Stockwell said...

This election is also a resounding example of the benefits of the electoral college and particularly the "winner take all" formula that exists in most states.

Barack Obama 61177368 50% 303
Mitt Romney 58174359 48% 206

If wwe a popular vote only system, we would currently be in the throws of national recounts and lawsuits.

Danny Sleator said...

I have to disagree with John Stockwell. A 2% difference (3 million votes) is nowhere near the threshold for which a recount even makes sense.

The electoral college is an abomination and gives zero benefit as far as avoiding nasty recount fights.

For more information read this page:
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/faqitem.php?f=15

The Atheist Missionary said...

Several days ago, I left Groothuis a comment on the post you referred to above, asking him if he could reconcile why countries like the Netherlands have such low abortion rates when they have such permissive abortion laws. The comment has yet to make it through moderation and, of course, I don't expect it ever will.

Jeffrey Shallit said...

Groothuis is not tolerant of anyone who disagrees with him. I pity his students.

SLC said...

As they say, nothing is more devastating to an opinion then a number. Mr. Silver's record: 50 out of 51 states called correctly. The only exception was Florida which he said slightly favored Rmoney but which, apparently, went to Obama. Of course, he said that Rmoney's chances in Florida were 50.3%, which is probably in the noise level, so not much of a mistake there. Any of Silver's critics come anywhere near that?

Anonymous said...

Did you notice Doug's latest post where he quotes himself!