Wednesday Open Thread [11.21.12]

This is from David Simon, but go read the whole thing:
"Change is a motherfucker when you run from it. And right now, the conservative movement in America is fleeing from dramatic change that is certain and immutable. A man of color is president for the second time, and this happened despite a struggling economic climate and a national spirit of general discontent. He has been returned to office over the specific objections of the mass of white men. He has instead been re-elected by women, by people of color, by homosexuals, by people of varying religions or no religion whatsoever. Behold the New Jerusalem. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a white man, of course. There’s nothing wrong with being anything. That’s the point. This election marks a moment in which the racial and social hierarchy of America is upended forever. No longer will it mean more politically to be a white male than to be anything else. Evolve, or don’t. Swallow your resentments, or don’t. But the votes are going to be counted, more of them with each election. Arizona will soon be in play. And in a few cycles, even Texas. And those wishing to hold national office in these United States will find it increasingly useless to argue for normal, to attempt to play one minority against the next, to turn pluralities against the feared “other” of gays, or blacks, or immigrants, or, incredibly in this election cycle, our very wives and lovers and daughters, fellow citizens who demand to control their own bodies."

Friday Open Thread [11.16.12]

The Republicans don't want to retool their message, which is excellent news for us:
"Two weeks after their presidential election defeat, Republican Party leaders are falling into roughly two camps as they struggle to explain what happened and devise ways to broaden the party's base. Some top GOP officials worry their message is wrong for a rapidly diversifying population, and that fundamental shifts in policy may be required. But the more dominant voice, and the one gaining currency within the center of the party, says such drama isn't necessary. It asserts that Mitt Romney's loss to President Barack Obama was primarily a tactical failure, a combination of poor articulation of GOP positions and a weak effort to register voters and move them to the polls. Better execution on both, they say, would have swung the few hundred thousand votes in a few states that would have tipped the presidential election the other way."
Maybe they will learn in 2024, after two terms each of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, while facing Texas Governor Julian Castro.

It is not our “Duty” to talk about bullsh*t.

From one of our commenters:
Meanwhile in the real world....Israel is assembling troops for a possible ground attack, the fiscal cliff crisis still looms and that pesky Benghazi investigation is heating up. Has DL gone brain dead since the election?
Let's talk about this one by one.

Vice President Biden on NBC’s Parks & Recreation tonight at 9:30 pm

Make sure you tune in. Good ole Papa Joe is the comedic relief in the Obama Administration, as his portrayal in the Onion satire can attest. Some of the jokes are not goodnatured, especially among sore loser and unfunny conservatives.
No matter how harsh the joke, Delawareans seem to take pride in their most famous (and most powerful) son. Delaware may be small, but it swells with a tight-knit pride. And those were the feelings running through [Parks & Recreation star Aubrey] Plaza — Delaware’s fastest rising Hollywood star — as she found herself in Washington, D.C., with the man himself. “One of the coolest things about him and everyone in Delaware is this weird Delaware pride we all have,” she says. “I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s something in the chemicals leaking into the ground, but we’re all really psyched about being from Delaware and he’s the face of that.”
It's true, when maybe not about the chemicals, but about the Delaware pride bit.

The Polling Report [11.15.12]

So you thought that since the election was over that the Polling Report would cease to exist? You thought you were rid of me? Muwhahahaha! Never. You see, polling never goes away. It merely takes little breaks. It's true, the Polling Report will appear less frequently than before. I think I will start off on a weekly basis and see how that goes. But when I get a pile of polling news, I will post a polling report. Now, the polling we report can be on the 2013 state gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, the 2014 Midterm congressional election and gubernatorial elections, or the 2016 presidential primaries. But before we do that, let’s look at some analysis of the ultimate 2012 poll, i.e. the election, showed.