define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true); define('DISALLOW_FILE_MODS', true); No Runny Eggs

No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

December 11, 2008

The Morning Scramble/Open Thread Thursday – 12/11/2008

by @ 9:48. Filed under Open Thread Thursday, The Morning Scramble.

I was going to go with the usual Thursday blues, but Shoebox’s take on the Big Thr…er, UAW bailout shifted the musical focus just a little bit….

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nGS2yyODQg[/youtube]

Before I get to the heart of the Scramble, I must pass along a “clarification” from KHQA denouncing its 11/5 story (dumped into the ether) stating that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-Corrupt) and President-elect Barack Obama were to meet later that day. Of course, it doesn’t exactly address its 11/8 story from a different reporter that stated that a meeting did take place (which also got dumped into the ether).

  • Speaking of corrections, I need to correct a major oversight missing from yesterday’s Blago Scramble Special – Kate dug up a bunch of Blago toons.
  • Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin run the Lexis-Nexis numbers on Blago mentions by the presstitutes. Care to guess which is higher; mentions in the last 48 hours or mentions in all of November? Hell, I’ll wager there were more mentions in the last 48 hours than there were in any of the first 11 months.
  • Nate Beeler can’t put a price on the criminal complaint against Blago. I believe I can say with some confidence that “@$&*!’N” doesn’t really stand for “@$&*!’N”.
  • Gabriel Malor believes his lying eyes over Obama’s greasy assurances. I will note that it is only a pic, so we can’t even read lips on whether they discussed Obama’s replacement in the Senate.
  • Jim W. Ainsworth channels Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and various members of Congress answering some bailout questions.
  • Lance Burri found immigration wasn’t exactly a deal-breaker in November. Of course, there was no substantive difference between Obama and John McCain on shamnesty.
  • Mark Tapscott explains why there is a credibility problem in the DC power structure. Of note, Joe the Plumber wanted off the Straight Double-Talk Express after McCain tried to explain why he was in favor of the $700 billion $850 billion $8 trillion bailout of October.
  • Doug Mataconis points out that the current-year deficit is on pace to hit $1 trillion. The truly-scary thing is, other than the bailouts and the on-autopilot increasing welfare programs, the federal government is running on continuing resolutions until sometime after Obama is sworn in, and both he and the Congressional Democrats have a boatload of additional spending plans.
  • Uncle Jimbo lays the smackdown on Jimmy Carter’s candy-ass.
  • Jo Egelhoff has the proper solution for Wisconsin’s budget crunch – freeze and prune. It’s far better than increasing spending by nearly 10%, with over half of that increase coming from Wisconsin’s own bailout.
  • Tom Blumer plays Name That Party, ABC edition. In their montage of 14 political crooks (evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats), they named the GOP crook as such 5 of 7 times (4 in the first sentence, the 5th in the 3rd), but named the ‘Rat crook as such only 2 of 7 times (both in the first sentence).
  • Okie Campaigns found 650 scientists, many former Gorbebal “Warming” acolytes, committing heresy against the Religion of Gorebal “Warming”.
  • William Teach caught the UN cardinal of Gorebal “Warming” admitting that “(t)here is no clear evidence that global warming is an imminent danger to the world.”
  • Tracy Coenen reports Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway wants to let others get away with the type of fraud he got away with. I wonder if he’ll try to bend any of his fellow supervisors over their desks this time; he does have a history of that.
  • Jim Geraghty wonders why the FBI is asking about Obama’s home purchase (with convicted briber Tony Rezko’s wife also involved).

That’s it; the thread’s yours.

Paul Ryan on the Big Thr…er, UAW bailout

by @ 9:06. Tags:
Filed under Business, Economy, Politics - National, Politics - Wisconsin.

Because I bashed Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI, my Congresscritter) for his vote on the UAW bailout, it is only fair that I present his side of the argument. From a press release that came into my mailbox a half-hour ago (only stripping off the announcement that it was a statement):

It is clear that the mounting hardships throughout Southern Wisconsin have been downright gut-wrenching. In addition to the imminent closure of the GM plant in my hometown of Janesville and mass layoffs elsewhere, hard-working Wisconsinites are finding it increasingly difficult during this recession to cope with strained credit markets, rising health care costs, and making their monthly mortgage payments.

The American automotive industry is under considerable distress, and various proposals have been put forth to provide aid to those in need. I’ve maintained that any assistance to the domestic auto industry should be drawn from previously approved funds from a U.S. Department of Energy loan package, rather than divert resources from the financial rescue package or rely on additional taxpayer dollars. H.R. 7321 cuts through the bureaucratic red tape and expedites these previously appropriated funds. Because no additional taxpayer dollars were appropriated, I was able to support this legislation.

At the forefront of my mind are jobs in Southern Wisconsin and the retiree commitments to workers that could be placed in jeopardy under certain bankruptcy scenarios. To be clear, this bill is not intended to save the American auto industry and makes no guarantees that layoffs in this industry will end. Congress must stop overselling what it can do. At the very least, I am hopeful that by extending these loans to the American auto manufacturers, bankruptcy will be avoided in the near term and protections for retirees will remain intact.

As Jules Winnfield once said, well, allow me to retort. The UAW workers, who are dwindling in number in Wisconsin with or without the bailout by the way, aren’t the only ones who are hurting. Sending $14 billion of everybody’s money down the rat hole known as GM, Ford and Chrysler just so they can survive the next 3 1/2 months without any permanent reforms, without any assurance that they would ever return to profitability, is the height of stupidity. The market forces are saying that the Big Three are sending too much money out the door in compensation, and the bailout only seriously addresses the white-collar portion (not even half) of that.

I suppose I could give a half-cheer that the bailout is using $25 billion that was already committed to the Big Three, and a quarter-cheer that it leaves $9 billion for the original purpose of plant modernization.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy is not the end of the world. Indeed, many of Ryan’s Republican colleagues suggested that a pre-negotiated Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which would allow the union portion of that compensation to be adjusted with less UAW interference, is the way to go. I agree.

The Bill Of The Living Dead

by @ 5:40. Filed under Economy, Politics - National.

By a vote of 237 to 170, the House of Representatives passed the Auto bail out bill this evening.

The Auto bill is being sold as funding to ensure that Detroit can survivef the recession and restructure their businesses so that they are leaner and better competitors once the restructuring is complete.  

After reading the bill, I’ve come to the conclusion that the bill will not allow for the survival of the Detroit automakers.   Rather, the bill is a disguised suicide pact.

You’ve probably heard about most of the provisions in the bill:   There will be an auto czar who will have significant influence over the indebted auto manufacturers, all private airplanes must go, salaries and bonuses have been capped, the Government will get stock warrants for 20% of the company.   What you may not have heard about is the process that the Auto Czar will use to determine who gets loans and how much they get.

The process of doling out “loans” is two fold.   The three auto makers will go to the Czar for bridge loans.   These loans are intended to keep the manufacturers solvent while they work on their “Restructuring Plan.”   According to the legislation, the Czar must consider the following criteria, in the order presented, when determining who gets how much:

SEC. 9. ALLOCATION.

PRIORITIZING ALLOCATION
The President’s designee shall prioritize allocation of the provision of financial assistance under this Act to any eligible automobile manufacturer, based on

(1) the necessity of the financial assistance for the continued operation of the eligible automobile manufacturer;
(2) the potential impact of the failure of the eligible automobile manufacturer on the United States economy; and
(3) the ability to utilize the financial assistance optimally to satisfy the operational and long-term restructuring requirements of the eligible automobile manufacturer.

That seems reasonable.   If we’re really working to have the companies survive and be able to repay the loans we would want to put their financial viability as a first priority.

After the companies are approved for the bridge loan, they are given until March 31, 2009 to put detail to the plans they presented to Congress and produce a “Restructuring Plan.”   The “Restructuring Plan” is the plan they will execute, and that the Czar will hold them to, until they have paid their loans back to the Government.   Based on this plan, the Czar will make determinations about any additional money that the auto company may receive.

The Auto Czar is supposed to use the same criteria, as noted above, to evaluate the “Restructuring Plan.”   However, the legislation provides for a different priority to consider and weight the three criteria:

(c) ORDER OF PRIORITY; SECTION 7."”For purposes of allocating financial assistance for restructuring pursuant to section 7, the President’s designee shall prioritize the considerations set forth in subsection (a) in the following order: paragraph (3), paragraph (2), and paragraph (1).

Well gee, that’s kind of odd.   Rather than focusing on the financial viability of the company, the long term plan is to be evaluated based upon:

the ability to utilize the financial assistance optimally to satisfy the operational and long-term restructuring requirements of the eligible automobile manufacturer.

What do you suppose that means?

Along with the list of provisions that I gave you early in this post, are a couple of others that you’ve likely heard in passing:   If the automaker does not comply with the federal fuel efficiency standards, they can have their loan called, to commence domestic manufacturing of advanced technology vehicles (read that as non fossil fuel vehicles) and do an analysis of how to take excess manufacturing capacity and use it to make mass transit vehicles.

Once the automakers sign up for this loan the government can change the federal fuel standards to anything they want and force to automakers to make the goal. Once the automakers sign up for this loan they have to make non fossil fuel vehicles. Once the automakers sign up for this loan they will be expected to provide manufacturing for mass transit vehicles. All of this will be required or expected of the automakers with the threat of loan recalls if they balk or miss on any of it. All of this will be required or expected without regard to the market or the financial viability of the requirements.

While it’s not surprising that this legislation included “green” requirements, you may find it surprising that the priority for green was placed above all other considerations, including financial viability. Well, you would have been surprised had this happened a couple of years ago before the nation started its rapid and determined race to nationalization of industries and socialism. Now it seems hard to find any sense of fiscal sanity with in any action coming from inside the Washington beltway.

The Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act is not an act to bring the auto industry back to health. Rather, it is an act that will create three industrial zombies. Like Zombies, they will be a shell of the real thing. They will be soul less and act in ways that are inexplicable except to their masters.  Their masters will care nothing for the well being of the zombies and are only interested in them to accomplish the master’s goals.

It’s obvious to see why the automakers want the bailout; they see it as they only way to survive. I wonder if they would make the same choice if they understood that they are about to become the new stars in The Night of the Living Dead?

December 10, 2008

WordPress 2.7 is live

by @ 23:32. Tags:
Filed under The Blog.

That’s right. After almost a month of delay, WordPress 2.7 is out. There are some nice improvements, both on the back end and the front end.

The biggest item on the front-end is threaded comments. To reply to a specific comment, just hit “Reply” just below the comment. I’ve enabled it all the way out to the maximum 10 levels of commenting.

Paul Ryan votes to bail out the UAW

by @ 20:48. Tags:
Filed under Business, Economy, Politics - National, Politics - Wisconsin.

This YouTube video is my insta-reaction to Paul Ryan joining the Democratic caucus in bailing out the Big Thr…er, UAW to the tune of $14 billion (warning, gratutious use of fuck-bombs involved). I especially like the stretch between 1:25 and 1:33 when Butch Coolidge goes ballistic.

Revisions/extensions (9:00 pm 12/10/2008) – I should’ve checked to see if was embeddible before trying to embed it. Sorry about that.

The Morni…er, Afternoon Scramble, 12/10/2008

by @ 17:57. Filed under The Morning Scramble.

This one goes out to Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (D)…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psTUiQzNoxw[/youtube]

  • Katie Favazza wonders what is on Blago’s iPod. He strikes me as a punk rock fan.
  • Charles Henrickson wishes all the DUmmies a Merry Fitzmas, complete with song.
  • Brian Ross confirms that Jesse Jackson Jr tried to keep the seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama in the Chicago family the old-fashioned way – with 10,000 Benjamins (or $1,000,000 for those who can’t do the math)
  • James Wigderson has a dozen questions for Obama. Judging by the complaint, Blago tried to buy favors from the Obama campaign/transition team in exchange for naming one of their prefered candidates for at least 10 days, which James compared with the “pro-forma” discussions Blago had with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).
  • Mary Katharine Ham dug up a report from November 5 that stated Obama planned on meeting with Blago the afternoon of November 5. That would be right in the middle of the attempt to buy favors from the Obama campaign/transition team. The link “conveniently” died, but Yahoo still has it cached (and I have the cache saved in case the ObamiNation Net Scrubbers strike Yahoo as well). Meanwhile, Fred put up a screencap, knowing full well the ObamiNation Net Scrubbers would strike.
  • Rob reports that meeting did, in fact, take place. Of course, the station that had that report did the same thing it did to the one MKH found, and thankfully Yahoo still has it for the moment (I also saved this one).
  • To counter that, Ed Morrissey found a report from the Chicago Sun-Times on November 6 (between the two noted above) that says Blago and Obama didn’t meet.
  • Jim Lindgren runs the timeline some more and wonders why there was an initial denial of any knowledge of Blago’s attempt whatsoever from Obama.
  • Rick Esenberg reminds us that, absent something more substantial than what has already come out, this doesn’t say anything substantive about Obama. He also reminds us that Blago is a manifestation of the natural human condition, and that can’t be fixed by “clean government” reforms. While that is true, it can be mitigated by “open government” ones.
  • John McCormack found the Obamination Express finally throwing Blago under the bus after everybody else stomped a mudhole in him. Way to show courage, Barry – wait until everybody else disowns him and then send out a flack to finish him off.
  • Nick Schweitzer uses Blago as another example for smaller government. Amen.

Since you’re probably done with the first song, it’s time for another from the Blago iPod (uncensored, of course)…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNaKWXqXkhw[/youtube]

  • Back to Katie – she found a Craigs List listing that “Hot Rod B.” put up. If it disappears, Asian Badger thoughtfully archived the text.
  • Stix1972 found an interesting eBay auction before it disappeared. The bad news – there were at least 17 bids before it was pulled.
  • Sister Toldjah found another yanked eBay auction. She also reports there is (actually, was; this also got yanked) a wish list for Blago on Amazon filled with things a guy in a “don’t drop the soap” federal pen needs.
  • Faux eBay part 3 – Iowahawk found exclusive documents from the Fed’s seizure of Blago’s eBay account </humor> (it saddens me that I have to include that tag for the humor-challenged).
  • Eric explains how Blago can survive. I will add that Blago strikes me as the type of guy who uses what isn’t there.
  • J. Gravelle takes a look at what the LeftStreamMedia, broadcast division, would have done had Blago hadn’t been so stupid as to put the squeeze on the Tribune Company.
  • Warner Todd Huston reports that didn’t stop The News Organization That Cannot Be Quoted™ from providing all sorts of cover for both Blago and Obama (but mostly Obama).
  • Michelle Malkin broke out the Crying River Flood Warning for Reuters.
  • Jim Geraghty tells the LeftStreamMedia, “I told you so.”
  • Teresa bugged the walls in Blago’s office and caught an interesting snippet of conversation of Blago returning to work.
  • Jayme Siemer asks who will take the lead on transparency legislation in Illinois. I’ve got “no current politician” in the pool.
  • Silent E makes it a three-song Scramble…

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYi381lJoeQ&eurl=http://silentespeaks.com/?p=3313[/youtube]

  • Rick Moran, who knows more than the average bear about Illinois politics, terms Blago’s conduct “beyond business as usual”.
  • Tom McMahon 4-blocks (or should that be “8-blocks” the 3 Illinois governors prior to Blago to get sent up the river. He’s jumping the gun a bit on Blago (unless one counts the several hours cooling his heels in federal custody waiting for his bond hearing) – I’m willing to put cold, hard cash on the line in saying that Blago will walk despite the facts.
  • My blogfather Chris has a fitting punishment for Blago. In case those of you on the Left think he’s bluffing, do note he offers the same punishment for Ted Stevens.
  • Bill Quick found the pic the presstitutes won’t run, and compared it to the one they’re running.

Be Careful the Fights You Pick

by @ 9:27. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Saw this interesting articleabout the Chicago Tribune’s cooperation with FBI regarding the reporting of the Blagojevich investigation.     According to the Tribune, the FBI requested and on numerous occasions the Tribune complied with not reporting all of the information the Tribune had uncovered.  

To say that this is unusual is a bit of an understatement.   Even the Tribune says:

“It’s very important for news organizations to remain independent from law enforcement. Independence is the key to journalistic integrity. When you enter into agreements or partnerships, you find your independence compromised,” said Kelly McBride, media ethicist at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. “If we are too cozy with law enforcement, we will have no credibility when we question law enforcement, in the eyes of the public.”

Fiztgerald was equally impressed by the unique support from the Tribune:

We thought we’d never have the opportunity to install the bug or place the telephone tap and we made an urgent request for the Tribune not to publish that story,” Fitzgerald said. “That is a very rare thing for us to do and it’s an even rarer thing for a newspaper to grant.

When you think about Press involvement with government secrets you don’t tend to think of it in a supportive, positive relationship (Think NY Times).   Do you think the Tribune’s unusual support was for a unique sense of morality or patriotism?   Or, perhaps, do you think it could be because of this:

 

Count Two

Sections 666(a)(1)(B) and 2.

 

Beginning no later than November 2008 to the present, in Cook County, in the Northern District of Illinois, defendants ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, being agents of the State of Illinois, a State government which during a one-year period, beginning January 1, 2008 and continuing to the present, received federal benefits in excess of $10,000, corruptly solicited and demanded a thing of value, namely, the firing of certain Chicago Tribune editorial members responsible for widely-circulated editorials critical of ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with business and transactions of the State of Illinois involving a thing of value of $5,000 or more, namely, the provision of millions of dollars in financial assistance by the State of Illinois, including through the Illinois Finance Authority, an agency of the State of Illinois, to the Tribune Company involving the Wrigley Field baseball stadium; in violation of Title 18, United States Code,

I used to manage the media relations area for a company I worked for. It was a constant struggle to keep from storming down to one of the newspapers whenever I saw a negative story about my company or industry. Fortunately, I never did. Early on in my role I was given sage advice,

“Don’t start fights with people who buy ink by the barrel!”

I’m guessing that’s advice that Blagojevich never received!

Call It A Trial Run

by @ 5:15. Filed under Economy, Politics - National.

Most news agencies are reporting that an agreement has been reached between the Democrat Congressional leaders and the White House, to provide the $15 billion in Federal funding, bail out, bridge loan….pick your favorite euphemism.   The agreement calls for the creation of a Car Czar who will

have powers to shape a restructuring of the companies, withholding further loans if progress toward a turnaround stalled.

While Nancy Pelosi may want to see House Republicans sign on to the bail out just to provide the appearance of her greater bipartisanship, there’s no doubt that the Democrats will pass the bill now that they don’t have to worry about the implications of impending elections.

On the Senate side, the outcome of a vote on the package is far from certain.   There are reports of dissatisfaction within the Senate Republican ranks.   The question will be whether, while they still have 49 seats, the Republicans can hold together 41 votes and keep the bill from a vote.

In just a few weeks Barack Obama will be sworn in as President.   Despite what some are calling “centrist” cabinet selections, there is no doubt that Obama’s views are far to the left of the American public.   Couple him with Nancy Pelosi and her faux bipartisanship in the House and you are 2/3rds of the way to passing nearly any legislation that Obama or Pelosi may dream up.   The only place where Republicans have a chance to influence policy for the next two years will be in the Senate.

In January the Republicans will be pared down to 42 or possibly 41 Senate seats.   Included in that number will be Senators Snowe, Collins, Specter and of course the ever enigmatic McCain.   It has been much debated whether the Republicans will be able to hold together to create any amount of resistance to the Democrat agenda.

61% of Americans are unwilling to provide a bail out for the auto industry. That coupled with Republicans now lip syncing that they want to be the party of smaller government (again), seems like the perfect opportunity, while we still have the 49 vote training wheels on, to see if we can hold the caucus together and flex some minority muscle. If they can, well, maybe there is some hope. If they can’t, buckle up, it’s going to be a long couple of years.

I think you can consider the Senate vote on the auto bill a trial run for what we will see at least until 2010.

Hmmmmmm

by @ 5:01. Filed under Law and order, Politics - National.

Alright, I heard when US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said that the criminal complaint  against Blagojevich didn’t involve President-elect Obama.  

I’ve now read the entire complaint and in 17 separate phone calls or conversations, the complaint documents Blagojevich and others discussing how to extract something for Blagojevich in return for his selection of the President-elect’s preferred person to replace him in the Senate.

That leaves me thinking that either Blagojevich and those around him are the most delusional people on the face on the earth or they were receiving feedback along the way.   At this point I’m not suggesting that Obama was involved but if Blagojevich was getting feedback, someone was giving it to him.   I think this investigation has the potential to make the Scooter LIbby situation look like first year law school stuff.

This could be fun.

December 9, 2008

Refinancing defaulted mortgages – FAIL

by @ 15:45. Tags:
Filed under Business, Economy, Politics - National.

CNN reports on a statement from US Comptroller John Dugan that states that over half of those that had their defaulted mortgages adjusted through the Hope Now Alliance, a coalition of lenders, servicers, investors and counselors, redefaulted on their mortgages within 6 months of having the adjustment. Some numbers from the article:

– So far in 2008, 1.7 homeowners have had their mortgages adjusted through this program.
– 53% of those who had their mortages adjusted in the first quarter of 2008 have redefaulted within 6 months.
– At least 51% of those who had their mortgages adjusted in the second quarter of 2008 have redefaulted within 6 months. This percentage could easily increase, as those who underwent the adjustment in June (and possibly part of May) have not reached the 6-month threshold.

Despite these failures, FDIC chairwoman Sheila Bair wants to extend this program to reduce payments to no more than 31% of gross monthly income by lowering interest rates to 3% and extending the mortgage to 40 years, with the government eating 50% of the loss of those who make it past 6 months without redefaulting to the tune of an estimated $24.4 billion.

Now, what did Albert Einstein say about insanity? I believe it had something to do with doing the same failed thing over and over while expecting a different result.

Congrats on the big 1-3 Scott

by @ 12:46. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Scott Feldstein has had a web presence for 13 years. Yes, he is one of the “old-timers” who had hard-coded his stuff, and he was around before there was such a thing as a “blog”. Little-known fact about Scott; he self-hosts rather than trusting a hosting company.

Drinking Right tonight

by @ 10:43. Filed under Miscellaneous.

This is the Emergency Blogging System. Tonight’s Drinking Right is ON! You are instructed to shovel yourself out of however inches of snow you’re under and report to Papa’s Social Club, 7718 W Burleigh in Milwaukee, at 7 pm.

As The Chad says, “It’s better to weather the weather with drinks and friends.”

This has been an Emergency Blogging System alert. Had it been a test, you would have been graded. Hell, if you’re not there and you don’t have a better excuse than the weather, you will receive a FAIL.

It’s Fitzmas! (now complete with indictm…er, criminal complaint)

by @ 8:45. Filed under Politics, Politics - National.

(H/T – Eric Odom’s Twitter stream)

The Chicago Tribume is reporting that Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (D-with the reference in paragraph #4) was taken into federal custody this morning. This comes a few hours after the Trib reported that the federal investigation into pay-for-play allegations against Blagojevich led by US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald had been expanded to include Blagojevich’s choice for Barack Obama’s replacement in the Senate.

I’m under no illusions that Blagojevich will either be convicted or not pardoned. Fitzgerald has but 40 days to get a conviction before he is no longer US Attorney. Further, Blagojevich and Obama share a friend convicted on public corruption charges, Tony Rezko, and Obama will, as of January 20, have the power to make all of Blagojevich’s federal charges disappear.

Revisions/extensions (9:35 am 12/9/2008) – The Trib comes through with the two-count-apiece indictment criminal complaint against Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris. The first count involves multiple instances of play-to-play, including the attempted sale of Obama’s Senate seat for personal gain. The second involves a scheme to have members of the Trib’s editorial board, who had been agitating for Blagojevich’s impeachment, fired in exchange for help in disposing of Wrigley Field. The short-version press release is also available from the Trib.

R&E part 2 (12:24 pm 12/9/2009) – A few updates. First, I have to thank Emperor Misha I and Allen Fuller for linking to me. Welcome those of you from Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler and RootsHQ.

Second, I just got done listening to the press conference with Fitzgerald and the FBI Special Agent in Charge. One important item from the conference; in response to a question of whether Obama knew anything about the attempt to sell his vacated Senate seat, Fitzgerald pointed back to the indictment complaint/affidavit combo and said that it didn’t indicate that Obama or his team knew anything about that. He pointedly refused to say whether any evidence not included in that did indicate either Obama or his team knew anything, which is standard procedure regardless of whether the evidence exists or not.

I suppose I should answer the Emperor on how this will go away because I didn’t explain it very well above. I doubt it will get to the point of Blagojevich needing a pardon, but if it does come to that, it will happen. The fact that Fitzgerald included the shakedown of a childrens hospital as part of count #1 makes it likely that, if necessary, it will happen later rather than sooner (say the third quarter of 2011).

However, a pardon isn’t the only way that Obama could influence this. It has become customary for the entire US Attorney corps to be replaced by an incoming administration. I would expect the new US Attorney for Northern Illinois to “quietly” seek the dismissal of charges. Whether Blagojevich would have any legitimate juicy dirt on Obama or not, he strikes me as the type to try to use that to try to strike a deal. Obama can’t risk that dirt coming out, whether or not it is real.

R&E part 3 (12:29 pm 12/9/2008) – I really need to check my overbloated feed. I somehow missed doubleplusundead linking to me. Guess that’s why I’m a Moron.

R&E part 4 (12:33 pm 12/9/2008) – DrewM. live-blogged the press conference for those of you who missed it.

R&E part 5 (1:51 pm 12/9/2008) – I erred in calling this an indictment. It is a criminal complaint; the indictment will come from a grand jury. Sorry about that.

R&E part 6 (1:56 pm 12/9/2008) – Blagojevich and Harris are free on $4500 bond. They do have to turn over their passports and any firearms under the terms of the bond. They best not have any handguns because they’re both Chicago residents.

R&E part 7 (2:24 pm 12/9/2008) – Obama is “saddened and sobered” by the indictment, but says it’s “inappropriate” to comment on it at this time. He had “no contact with the governor or his office,” so he had no idea what was happening.

R&E part 8 (2:59 pm 12/9/2008) – Obama senior adviser David Axelrod contradicts those claims in an appearance on “Fox Chicago Sunday” from 11/23 (starting at the 1:14 mark, with the money quote at 1:20):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=konL35ur0Bo[/youtube]

Oops, Obama did it again!

R&E part 9 (4:16 pm 12/9/2008) – With a hat-tip to Allahpundit, I direct your attention to Jake Tapper, who has a couple more tidbits on Obama’s closeness to Blagojevich, and the $999 million questions – “But there remain questions about how Blagojevich knew that Mr. Obama was not willing to give him anything in exchange for the Senate seat — with whom was Blagojevich speaking? Did that person report the governor to the authorities?”

The Leftosphere thinks that Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel did tip off the authorities. He may have, and if he did, I’ll gladly give him a couple of “atta-boys”, but judging by the publicly-available timeline, I believe Fitzgerald and company knew about this the moment they reviewed the wiretaps.

R&E part 10 (4:46 pm 12/9/2008) – With a tip of the hat to EM Zanotti, I have bad news for friends of clean government – Blagojevich is going nowhere.

Meanwhile, Rick Moran has the definitive south-of-the-Waukegan-toll-plaza view. While I won’t be able to listen to Rick’s BlogTalkRadio show live because of Drinking Right, I will tune in sometime before 2 pm tomorrow. If you’re not going to DR, at least tune in to that.

…..Two Bits

by @ 5:42. Filed under Economy, Politics - National, Taxes.

Barack Obama was on Meet The Press with Tom Brokaw this weekend.   Obama provided the following perspective on the auto bail out during the interview:

MR. BROKAW:   …should the current management be allowed to stay in their jobs?

PRES.-ELECT OBAMA:   Here’s what I’ll, I’ll say, that it may not be the same for all the, all the companies, but what I think we have to put an end to is the head-in-the-sand approach to the auto industry that has been prevalent for decades now.   I think, in fairness, you have seen some progress made incrementally in many of these companies.   You know, they have been building better cars now than they were 10 or 15 or 20 years ago.   They are making some investments in the kind of green technologies and, and the new batteries that would allow us to create plug-in hybrids.   What we haven’t seen is a sense of urgency and the willingness to make tough decisions.   And what we still see are executive compensation packages for the auto industry that are out of line compared to their competitors, their Japanese competitors who are doing a lot better.

Now, it’s not unique to the auto industry.   We have seen that across the board.   Certainly, we saw it on Wall Street.   And part of what I’m hoping to introduce as the next president is a new ethic of responsibility where we say that, if you’re laying off workers, the least you can do, when you’re making $25 million a year, is give up some of your compensation and some of your bonuses.   Figure out ways in which workers maybe have to take a haircut, but they can still keep their jobs, they can still keep their health care and they can still stay in their homes.   That kind of notion of shared benefits and burdens is something that I think has been lost for too long, and it’s something that I’d like to see restored. (Emphasis mine)

Today, Nancy Pelosi echoed the meme  of “shared sacrifice:”

Pelosi said that everyone involved in the U.S. auto industry, including management, labor unions, parts suppliers, investors and dealers, would have to make a sacrifice to ensure the continuing viability of the industry.

“We call this a barber shop: everyone’s getting a hair cut,” said Pelosi, speaking at a press conference in the U.S. Capitol.

According to these Democrat leaders, the threshold for determining when a sharing of sacrifice should occur is when you are leader who has been fiscally irresponsible with your charge.   You should share even more if your irresponsibility requires the American taxpayer to bail you out.

Hey wait!

Hasn’t Congress been irresponsible with their financial responsibilities?

  • Leaving Fannie and Freddie unchecked and unsupervised.
  • Ignoring the risk of leverage on exotic financial instruments and leaving them completely unregulated or over seen.
  • Constricting energy exploration which resulted in a 24 month hyper price speculation.
  • Giving Hank Paulson nearly completely unchecked ability to spend $700 billion entirely on his whim.
  • Adding over $100 billion of pork to the TARP bill….just because.

And who is now bailing out Congress’ financial irresponsibility?   That’s right, you and me, the American taxpayers.

If sharing the pain is what Pelosi and Obama think should happen to leaders who rely on the American taxpayers for a bailout,  Democrat and Republican Congress people alike,  ought to be answering the door and the American taxpayer ought to be knocking….

Shave and a haircut, two bits!

 

A Bridge To Nowhere

by @ 5:39. Filed under Business, Economy, Politics - National.

It appears that there may be an agreement to bail out the auto industry is close to fruition.   Being discussed is providing a $15 billion loan to the three US auto makers.

The term “Bail out” has gotten an increasingly negative response from the American public.   It probably has something to do with the fact that Hank Paulson threatened and then lied to the American public and seems unsure of how to spend the rest of his piggy bank; “To buy mortgages or not to buy mortgages, that is the question.”   As a result, Congress has come up with a new term to describe their steps toward socializing our economy, “Bridge Loan.”

In normal finance and banking arrangements, a “Bridge Loan” is just what it sounds like; it is a loan for a limited period of time.   Bridge loans are often provided during the riskier parts of a project for example during the construction process, when  collateralization is difficult and day to day value of the asset is difficult to determine.    For this reason, providers of bridge loans generally have tight controls over what they are financing and often  require that there is assurance of permanent financing for the completed process before they offer the interim financing.   In other words,  Bridge Loan providers  generally know exactly what the plan is, and how it will be executed, before a bridge loan is provided.    

Leave it to Congress to turn normal business terms on their head!   With their “Bridge Loan” Congress has no idea what they have or where they are going to with their “project.”   They are loaning money to enterprises who have no reliable plan that allows them to pay it back.

Of course “not knowing where they are going” doesn’t stop Congress from making demands along the way.   Rather than ensuring a reorganization of the automakers that would focus on developing a profitable business, Congress is focused on enforcing their “Green Dream” on the industry and thereby ensuring that the money lent to them will never be repaid.

Barney Frank had a moment of candor regarding the farcity of calling the $15 billion a “bridge Loan”:

“We don’t think the $15 billion is enough to get them into March, but given the administration’s insistence "¦ that’s where we are now,” Frank said.

Frank said that in the new Congress, which will have stronger Democratic majorities and a friendlier White House, the funds taken from the energy loans this year to prop up the ailing industry would be restored.

“Once we get a new administration we will replenish that money,” he said. “We will not see a diminution of funding available for energy efficiency.

“The reason for that is that then you get the new administration "” the Obama administration "” able to take it up from there and make the longer-range projections,” he added.

Yup, a new administration with longer-range projections with even greater demands for greenery and even less concern about financial viability.   It seems like the only bridges that Congress is able to finance are bridges to no where.

December 8, 2008

Customizing comment output in WP 2.7

by @ 19:46. Tags:
Filed under The Blog.

One of the big things with WP 2.7 is paginated and threaded comments. That is great; however, there is one problem. The code masters had to create a new method of calling comments to get that, and as a result, I had been less-than-impressed with how WP 2.7 had been handling comment meta data (the “who” and “when”), and hacking the core was less-than-satisfactory. Instead of displaying my custom “…said on…/…pinged back on…with/…tracked back on…with”, it had a very ugly “…says:” with the when on a separate line.

Fortunately, Jeremy Clark found a way to allow customized comment meta data. The very-short version:

– Create a function in the theme’s functions.php that recreates, using the pre-WP 2.7 method, the customized styling. Don’t forget to add the new “reply” code, and don’t forget to save.
– Edit the “wp_list_comments” in the comments.php file to create a callback to that new function.

Thanks Jeremy. My one big complaint with WP 2.7 has been worked around. I can’t wait for it to hit public consumption.

As a side note; I’ve also done some further hacking of the Journalized 2.7.1 theme to get the threaded comments display the way I like it.

Eggs on the road – Double dose of Papa’s

by @ 13:34. Tags:
Filed under Miscellaneous.

Since it’s December, we of the Cheddarsphere have not one, but two outings scheduled for Papa’s Social Club, 7718 W Burleigh in Milwaukee.

Dose #1 – Drinking Right, 12/8/2008 at 7 pm. As Nick said, “Don’t give into the hype! Go out when it’s snowing!” Besides, the snow (it will be all snow well before then, with the freezing rain coming overnight tonight) will be tapering off.

Dose #2 – Cheddarsphere Christmas party, 12/28/2008 at noon. This one is strictly non-partisan, and there will be a gift exchange during the halftime of the Packers/Lions game.

Be there or be nowhere.

…Worse Than The Disease?

by @ 5:29. Filed under Global "Warming".

According to the UK Independent, we no longer have to fear global warming….we’ve found a solution!   All we have to do is 1. Grow a bunch of trees, 2. burn them without releasing the CO2 they’ve absorbed, 3.   Burn them without using more energy than they create in the burning process and 4.   Bury the ashes in the soil.

Sounds simple; well, except that whole burning them without releasing the C02 and not using more energy than they create part!   But, hey, let’s not be negative.   After all, as Big G points out regularly to me, no one thought we could go to the moon but we did!   It does sound simple except for a minor detail.   In order to do this, we would need to grow and burn forests that are the equivalent of 2.5% of our productive land.

2.5%, doesn’t sound like much does it?

The World has approximately 33 Million sq. Mi. of productive land.   2.5 % of that would be approximately 835,600 sq. miles that would be needed for our carbon tree farm.   So far so good.

I think it’s safe to assume that planing our Carbon tree farm willy nilly around the world isn’t what these folks have in mind.   I think it would be safe to assume that they would determine that the tree farms should be where the carbon dioxide is.   After all, you’ll want to soak it up right after it gets produced so that the carbon dioxide doesn’t get a chance to further warm the world right?

According to this chart by the World Bank, the US, Saudi Arabia, Canada and Australia have the highest carbon dioxide per capita.   It would seem to make sense to plant the bulk of the trees in those countries.

The US has about 1.5 million sq. mi. of productive land, Canada has a little over 100,000 sq. mi. and Australia has about 138,000 sq. mi.   That’s a total of about 1.74 million sq. Mi. of productive land in the most offensive (carbon dioxide wise) countries.   If I take it one step further, of the US’ productive land, only 58% of it is in crop or forest land.   I suspect a similar number would be found in Canada and Australia, the balance of the land is pasture.

The reason that I raise the US, Canada and Australia is that with their productive lands account for over 70% of the world’s wheat exports, over 60% of the world’s corn exports and even 13% of the world’s rice exports.

Remember what was happening to the price of corn this past spring as energy prices were rising and the US was forcing more production into creation of ethanol?   Just to remind you, corn went from a recent average of less than $3/bushel to nearly $8 bushel.   Do your remember the stories about how the increased price of corn was increasing the cost of tortillas in Mexico?     Do you remember how the increased price of corn was being blamed for people starving in developing countries?

The additional corn production required to make our expected ethanol mandate this year amounted to less than .75% of our total productive acres.   Only .75% yet, it over doubled our price of corn.   The Carbon Tree Farms are expected to need 2.5% of all our productive acres.

Does anyone else see a problem?

December 5, 2008

I’ll drink to this anniversary

by @ 11:38. Filed under History.

Doug Mataconis reminds us that today is the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition.

Hoist a cold one.

Force Majeure Run Amok

by @ 10:50. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Force Majeure is a French phrase meaning “greater force.”   It is also a legal phrase used in many contracts.  

The “Force Majeure clause” is typically used in contracts that require the contracting parties to act over a period of time.   The clause generally says that the contracting parties are freed of the contracts obligations if an extraordinary and unforeseeable event occurs that prevents them from fulfilling their contractual duties.   Typical “extraordinary and unforeseeable” events that are called out in these clauses are riots, war, severe climatic event such as an earthquake, volcano etc.

I’ve been in business for more than a quarter of a century (doesn’t that sound like a long time?) and have been party to hundreds of business contracts that have had a Force Majeure clause.   I can’t remember one time that a Force Majeure event has been claimed in any of those contracts.   I’m not suggesting that Force Majeure never comes into play, it certainly does.   What I’m suggesting is that it’s a rare event when it does get invoked.

Donald Trump is building the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, which is to be the second-tallest building in that city (after the Sears Tower).     The NY Times chronicles Trumps problems with the project as the real estate market has become recently challenged (you may have read about that.)  

Trump has a personal guarantee of $40 million on his project and he’s not happy about having to pony up on that guarantee.   In an attempt to save himself $40 million and perhaps to save his project, Trump is suing his lender Deutsche Bank.   His suit claims that the current economic conditions allow him to invoke the Force Majeure clause of his contract.   Trump’s reasoning?

"Would you consider the biggest depression we have had in this country since 1929 to be such an event? I would," he said in an interview. "A depression is not within the control of the borrower."

Oh man, where do I go from here?

I could go down the path of the automobile industry executives claiming Force Majeure has caused them to be in their current financial distress.   That Force Majeure has them standing in Washington with their hands out.   That Force Majeure is why they think we should agree with Nancy Pelosi that “bankruptcy is not an option!”   Yeah, I could go there….

I could go down the path that Hank Paulson appears to agree with Trump that the economic situation is a Force Majeure.   Why else would Paulson have asked for extraordinary and unforeseeable powers except to address a situation that was extraordinary and unforeseeable?   Of course what Paulson doesn’t seem to understand is that his extraordinary and unforeseeable measures are likely to have as extraordinary and unforeseeable circumstances.   Do you get the feeling at all that Paulson is just running to one side of a teeter-totter only to find that the other side just shot into the air?   He corrects this by running to the other side of the teeter-totter and the side he used to be standing on shoots into the air.   Yeah, I could go there…

I could go down the path that Nancy, Harry, Barry and the rest of the Dems also agree with “The Don.”   It’s really the only explanation for why they would want to throw another $700 billion of claimed “stimulus” into the economy when their first pass at it did bupkus.   Yeah, I could go there…

No, I don’t think any of those are the directions to go with this.   Not because they aren’t real but because they are all symptoms of the real issue.   “The Don” has hit upon a nugget of truth in his lawsuit.

Watching the “Bail out-o-mania” and the “I’m voting for Barack because he’ll pay my gas bill and my mortgage,” it strikes me that a significant portion of Americans believe that their entire lives  have become  subject to Force Majeure:

  • I can’t pay my mortgage – It wasn’t possible to forsee that I wasn’t really qualified to pay this loan
  • Abortion under any circumstances – It wasn’t possible to foresee the consequence of last night’s actions
  • Trophies for all – It wasn’t possible to forsee a winner and a loser as an outcome of the contest.

Force Majeure is commonly referred to as “Acts of God.”   Isn’t it ironic that so many people who don’t act as if they want God in their daily lives are now claiming “Acts of God” as the reason they are having the problems that they have?

December 4, 2008

The Morning Scramble/Open Thread Thursday – 12/4/2008

by @ 9:38. Filed under Open Thread Thursday, The Morning Scramble.

There’s finally enough snow on the ground outside the bunker to drive back the foot that’s slow.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae-LDQVrDUY[/youtube]

  • JammieWearingFool reports that the next Congress will be known as Teh Most (Un)Ethical Congress Evah Ver. 2.0™, partly because Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told Charlie Rangel (D-NY) that he will continue to write tax laws as long as he wants despite an ongoing House ethics investigation into his failure to pay taxes on various money-making schemes.
  • Rick Moran finds history about to repeat itself in Chicago. Of course, back in the day, Michael Bilandic blamed The Next Ice Age for the unremoved snow and consequently lost his mayoral office, while Richard M. Daley’s blaming Gorebal “Warming” and doesn’t face a challenge.
  • William Teach answers the question why a significant number of meteorologists (as opposed to climatologists, who are the altar boys and girls in the Church of Gorebal “Warming”) are not buying Gorebal “Warming” hook, line and stink..er, sinker – there is but one constant – back-and-forth change in the weather.
  • Lady Logician has a couple more nails in the coffin of the climatic truth Gorebal “Warming”, including the inveterate gamblers in Britain breaking The Man on a white Christmas.
  • Stephen Kruiser issued his Envirodork of the Day award to the LeftStreamMedia for applying their election template to the Gorebal “Warming” debate battle.
  • RadicalRon found a new hero for those of us who haven’t consumed the Gorebal “Warming” Kool-Aid – Czech President (and soon-to-be EU President) Vaclav Klaus.
  • Kat has a lesson from the Massacre of Mumbai – “Do not act as the terrorist expect. Do not be terrified into inaction. Expect no mercy and shrink their window of opportunity to act at every turn.”
  • Speaking of the Massacre of Mumbai, Stephen Green wonders how one says “DEFCON 2” in Hindi.
  • Dad29 found some serious respect for the US military from their French counterparts.
  • Rick Moran dubs Barack Obama “The Promise Breaker”. As Jim Geraghty said way back when, all statements by Barack Obama have an expiration date. All of them.
  • Jim Hoft reports the payoffs are starting to come in for the Missouri Obama “Truth Squad”, with one of their number the favorite to become eastern Missouri US Attorney. My advice to Jim is to get across the Mississippi STAT (and probably move south across the Ohio because Illinois isn’t exactly the best place to be – sorry Rick and my other readers south of the toll booths).
  • Jon Ham recycles a classic “Mad Magazine” cover for the incoming Obama administration. While he believes things are darkest just before the dawn, I tend to take the “darkest just before things go to pitch black” approach.
  • Allahpundit found a CNN poll that says 61% are now “dead set” against bailing out The Big Three automakers the United Auto Workers union.
  • Mark Pribonic takes us on a fabulous journey from Henry Ford’s “Let everybody fail, including me” attitude during the Great Depression to the Not-So-Big Three’s tin cups. Do read all the way to the end for Mark’s predictions of what will happen when they burn through their cash.
  • Speaking of tin cups, Nate Beeler pictures that as only he can.
  • Matt Lewis has a pair of frightening predictions from John Fund. While I agree that Dingy Harry and company will refuse to seat Norm Coleman, nationwide same-day registration will wait until abortion-on-demand is part of the United States Code.

The dogs of doom are howling as well because I have to go to the younger sister’s place for more tech support on their wireless network. Since it’s Thursday, that means the thread’s yours. I know there’s a bunch of stuff I haven’t touched on; I had to deep-six some very good items just to get this out before 10 so I can do said tech support.

A Silver Lining?

by @ 5:58. Filed under Economy, Immigration.

With the recession officially called, there may be a silver lining to the economic challenges that seem to appear around every corner; illegal immigrants are returning home.

McClatchy writes the article about an illegal who is contemplating moving back to Mexico for better economic prospects.

McClatchy gets the news aspect correct with their headline:

With economy souring, illegal immigrants going home

But that’s where the news ends and the editorial disguised as news begins.   McClatchy begins their lament with:

But the U.S. economic crisis has disrupted his life and the lives of countless other illegal immigrants who are now planning to leave or have already left.

Sure the economy is causing folks to adjust but didn’t the illegals  disrupt their lives when they chose to illegally move into the US?

Oh, but it’s not just the people in the US that are hurting.   The US slow down is also hurting the economy of entire towns in other nations:

The ripple effects are already being felt. Communities in Latin America and the Caribbean report a reduction in remittances — money sent home from the United States. That money is critical to the survival of families and the success of local civic projects. Border communities that once thrived as way stations for those heading north are now little more than ghost towns.

Is the Governor’s conference still going?   Perhaps the mayors of these border community ghost towns can get in line with California, Michigan and others and get a piece of a federal bailout to allow them to survive the down turn?   Maybe Hank Paulson has a bailout plan for the Latin American house payments that will now go unpaid?

Rasmussen Reports issued a polltoday on America’s sentiment of illegal border crossings.   74% of those polled still believe that the US government isn’t doing enough to secure our borders.   Interestingly, less than half of those polled now believe that there is no way to end illegal immigration.   That’s a shift of 7% in just 6 weeks.

I’d really prefer the economy back to where it was in mid 2007.   That said, how many months of consumer malaise would it take to solve a our illegal immigration problem?   Well, we ought to at least ask!

December 3, 2008

Oh Good Lord!

by @ 16:47. Filed under Elections, Politics - Minnesota, Vote Fraud.

Another Twin City precinct found another problem with their count of Senate ballots on election day.   According to this article, Minneaplis has come up 133 ballots short in their recount, of the ballots that they recorded on election night.   The Election Director came up with another lame excuse for how that “could” have happened and said she would verify the new numbers with Secretary of State. The reduction of the 133 ballots provided Coleman with a net pick up of 44 votes (apparently Franken had a 44 vote advantage in the 133 nonexistent ballots).

Minnesota has consistently been in the top 5 states of highschool graduation rates.   It is similarly rated for college graduates.   Apparently none of the folks in these “oops precincts” have  accplished either of those mile stones.

How stupid are Obama voters and Democrats?

by @ 13:24. Filed under Politics - National.

(H/T – Pam)

You may or may not remember John Ziegler or his poll and video of Obama voters. For those of you who have short attention spans and don’t want to click back to the archives, Ziegler interviewed a dozen Obama voters right after they stepped out of the voting booth and asked them some basic current civics questions such as which party had control of Congress going into the election. He also commissioned a Zogby poll asking 512 Obama supporters those same questions. Needless to say, they blew chunks on that.

Also needless to say, the Nutroots were incensed, and claimed it was a misleading push poll designed to embarrass them. Ziegler offered to fund a follow-up poll involving McCain voters, and after getting turned down by Zogby, he went to Wilson Research Strategies and reran the poll among both McCain and Obama supporters, with an additional question on the Keating Five and a change on the “started his/her political career at an ex-terrorist’s house” question to name Bill Ayers specifically. The results are, shall we say, even more embarrassing for the Nutroots, at least among those that care about an educated populace.

Like everybody else, I’ll focus on the pre-election Congressional control question (pages 19-21 on the crosstabs), but run with something that hasn’t exactly been explored elsewhere. First off, let’s review the actual question (“Before this election, which political party controlled both houses of Congress?”), and the responses allowed (I assume in order because there isn’t a notation in the methodology to rotate, Republican, Democrat, neither Republican and Democrat were rotated with neither third; see Chris Wilson’s comment below). Among all 1000 participants, 51.4% got this correct by saying “Democrat”, 35.2% got it 100% wrong by saying “Republican”, 4.5% got it wrong by saying “Neither”, 8.5% admitted they didn’t know, and 2 of them refused to answer the question.

Let’s first delve into the Obama vs McCain voters that everybody else ran with. The designed split of 53.0% Obama voters versus 46.0% McCain voters is close enough to reality to run with. McCain voters got it right to the tune of 62.8% Democratic control, 26.5% Republican control, 6.1% “don’t know”, 4.1% neither, and 1 refusal. Obama voters got it wrong to the tune of 43.0% Republican control, 41.3% Democratic control, 10.6% “don’t know”, 4.9% neither, and 1 refusal.

Now, let’s deviate from the “blame the media” game everybody else is playing because while viewers of CNN and the broadcast networks couldn’t create a majority correct, they did manage a plurality. Instead, let’s take a look at the partisan splits on that question. This poll had a party split of 21.9% “strong Republican”, 10.1% “not-so-strong Republican” (or “soft” for short; for a 32.0% total “Republican”), 26.7% “independent/other”, 9.4% “not-so-strong Democrat”, 29.5% “strong Democrat” (for a 39.0% total “Democrat”), and 2.3% refusal (not reflected in the crosstabs). The highest percentage of those who got this question correct was among “strong Republicans”, at 65.8%. “Soft Republicans” were next at 60.4% correct, which gave the Republican universe a total of 64.1% correct. “Independents” were next at 55.1% correct. “Soft Democrats” could only manage a plurality correct of 45.1%. Worst were the “strong Democrats”, where only 36.6% got the question correct, and a near-majority of 48.5% got it 100% wrong.

If the GOP is “The Stupid Party”, what does that make the Democratic Party? No, you Lefties can’t appropriate “morons”, We AoSHQ Morons have already done that.

Revisions/extensions (2:39 pm 12/3/2008) – Chris Wilson, CEO of Wilson Research Strategies, points out that the first two prompted answers of the Congressional control question (Republican, Democratic) were rotated.

R&E part 2 (10:55 pm 12/3/2008) – Ed Morrissey interviewed John Ziegler late this afternoon.

R&E part 3 (11:03 pm 12/3/2008) – I thought I had corrected the link to the question list. Guess that’s what I get for assumptions. It is now pointing to the correct file.

Congratulations Senator Chambliss!

by @ 5:44. Filed under Elections, Politics - National.

Senator Chambliss has been called as the winner of the runoff election in Georgia.   This will give the Republicans at least 41 votes, on paper, in the Senate.

While the vote totals appear to be substantially lower than the general election, they still managed to get about 55% of the folks to return for a second time.   55% is a pretty good overall return rate for a runoff.   However, the two candidates fared very differently compared to the average.

I’m working off of numbers from the Secretary of State as of about 10 PM.   At that time, Chambliss had about 64% of the general election total while Martin only received about 50% of his general election total.   95% of the precincts had reported in those numbers.   If this difference holds, and I suspect it will generally based on the precincts left to report, I’ve got the following questions questions:

  • 93% of blacks voted for Martin when Obama was on the ballot.   They accounted for 56% of Martin’s vote total.   Did they come out and support an older white man when there wasn’t a black candidate on the ballot?
  • With the Democrats within reach of the magic 60 number in the Senate, how many folks switched from Martin to Chambliss?
  • Chambliss and Martin split the 29 and under group in the general election.   It will be interesting to see whether that group was able to show up a second time this year.
  • Sarah Palin made several campaign appearances for Chambliss.   By all accounts the events were very well attended.   How much, or was she a factor in generating turn out for Chambliss?
  • Do you remember how the MSM was carrying on about how the special elections for Mississippi and Illinois told us that conservatism was dead rather than the fact that Republicans know how to run crappy candidates.   Will the MSM be running stories about how Obama has lost his coat tails?

This and more I’d like to see.   I haven’t found any exit polls yet.   When I do, you’ll be the first to know!

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