Every election has them … the winners and the losers. Ok. Not quite true. There’s usually lots and lots of losers and really only one winner. And technically that will be true on this Tuesday night Wednesday evening morning as well.
But this election has seen several winners; they won’t all be making victory speeches in outdoor stadiums, but they deserve a shout-out or two.
Iowa: every four years, people bitch and whine about why should this really white, pretty rural, heavily agricultural state get to be so important. Here’s why: according to … well… everyone, this state should have been a walk for Edwards and Clinton. He had the infrastructure, she had the brand and no way was some urbane half-term Senator from Illinois with the funny name going to get anywhere. If Obama wins, some credit has to go to Iowans who got excited and stayed excited. And then they went out and caucused. And maybe had a hand in proving to African-Americans that yes, this one had some serious viability with people who are amazingly, blindingly white [it's not that Iowans don't like black people; it's that we don't know any].
FiveThirtyEight.com: Nate Silver is my crush for this political season (don’t worry Anderson Cooper. You’ll always be my first love but there’s room in my heart for two). I’ve become addicted to his site — completely and utterly obsessed. Partly because he isn’t in the newsmaking business at all. His mission is to look at the polls. Really look at the polls — pop the hood, poke around in the engine, figure out what makes them run and what makes them good, bad or important — and make some very informed forecasts. And despite his clear liberal bent, he very patiently and quite calmly explains what the hell is really going on with all those numbers. Plus, he calls the bullshit on exit polls.
Rachel Maddow: My other crush for the political season. Smart, naturally funny, totally uncomfortable in her ill-fitting suits (let the girl wear a hoodie and jeans for god’s sake) MSNBC’s newest anchor is winning viewers and some serious love from liberal politicos. She — with Pat Buchanan — is one of the year’s best political odd couples; he brings the crazy and she brings the eye roll. If you don’t have MSNBC, you can stream her show from their website. Megan Carpentier from Jezebel and Campbell Brown from CNN come in right behind her though.
Chuck Todd: This year’s mancrush. Seriously. There’s a big handful of straight guys in my office who literally hang on to his every word, would follow him into the abyss, would bear his children if he asked. Frankly, he doesn’t really do it for me but I can see the attraction. He’s a lot like Nate Silver but with a beard. And without the baseball. Plus, with his hi-tech maps and smart screens, he is more than an adequate replacement for Tim Russert’s whiteboard.
Tina Fey: she reminds us again of why Saturday Night Live was better with her. And I don’t think there’s ever been another political impersonation that has been so absolutely dead-on — looks, voice, mannerisms, the winking, the absolute deliciousness of her Palin character. Now go watch her on 30 Rock, damn it. She’s great in that too.
And now let’s list the losers:
Matt Drudge: No one is paying attention to him. And if they are, they aren’t taking him very seriously.
Public financing: Dead. Dead. Dead.
The religious right: Poor, poor James Dobson. The new politically astute conservative evenaglicals are hedging their bets a bit; there appears to be a growing progressive evangelicial movement; and Dobson stands alone … very, very alone. Torn between pragmatism (Romney and McCain) and the idealogically perfect (Huckabee and Brownback), the old-timers couldn’t pick a Republican candidate to support despite some flirtation with the cross-dressing, gay-marrying, twice-divorced mayor of New York and a brief dalliance with some jowly actor who once played a politician on TV. Palin was a bone thrown to the dog and the fact that they failed to realize how irrelevant she was made them even more irrelevant.
Related posts:
No Comments so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.