Les Jones

News > Post-election Links

Quick note: I haven't forgotten about the election predictions I'm tracking. Fox shows Iowa as undecided, and CNN shows both Iowa and New Mexico undecided. Once they're called I'll determine the winner, based on who was closest to the final electoral count. I've decided to buy the winner a trophy.

Alarming News: Lessons from an election. Also read the comment by Roberta Davis on the routine mis-understandings people have at the polling places.

National Review: Zogby's inaccurate predictions. I said Zogby was nuts on election night, and I was right.

Dave Kopel: 2004 elections brought a net gain in pro-gun politicians.

AlphaPatriot: Bush does, too, have a mandate. UPDATE: Kevin Drum agrees.

Tim Blair: But that doesn't mean the CNN Webmaster has to like him. UPDATE: It turns out it was one of Netscape's people.

WizBang: "George Bush won the popular vote by almost 4 million votes, earning over 50%, something no President has done since 1988, even Clinton never broke 50%."

Belgravia Dispatch: Kerry didn't concede because Bush won the popular vote. He conceded because he couldn't win Ohio, and therefore couldn't win the electoral college. From Kerry's concession speech: "I would not give up this fight if there was a chance that we would prevail. But it is now clear that even when all the provisional ballots are counted, which they will be, there won't be enough outstanding votes for us to be able to win Ohio. And therefore we cannot win this election."

Jonah Goldberg: "NOW THAT HE'S NOT USING IT... Can John Kerry please tell us what his super-duper special terrific secret plan to fix Iraq was?"

INDC: Dan Rather's meltdown. "DAN RATHER: One would expect that the blogging machine which the White House and the Bush-Cheney campaign has used for any number of purposes over their four years will start now, if it hasn't started already, to say, listen, Kerry-Edwards, for the good of the country, need to concede." Time to retire, Dan.

Tim Cavanaugh: Interesting post for anyone who followed the Rathergate story:

A couple months ago somebody sent me a review DVD of Greg Palast's Bush Family Fortunes (the Battlestar Galactica to Fahrenheit 9/11's Star Wars). I never got around to watching it, but figured I'd give it a look before the polls opened--just so there's no danger that I might vote without realizing that President Bush has connections with Big Oil. I understand Palast has some legitimate journalistic credentials (which he highlights by wearing a fedora and casting quizzical sidelong glances at the camera as he describes his various scoops), but he can't really help coming off like a Michael Moore manque here. (Among other things, he manques a few hundred pounds.) But the big bust for this picture is that I didn't watch it when I first got it: Palast's lead source for information on Bush's unstellar Air National Guard career is Bill Burkett, the incredible imploding lieutenant colonel whose personal Stalingrad came with Rathergate. D'oh!