November 2, 2004 by dafyd
Peter Snow (him of the swingometer) has done a pretty good article for BBC News explaining how the actual process work in the election (electoral colleges and so on) – check it out. (You need RealPlayer for the video.)
The Guardian also has an interesting breakdown of what will actually happen over the course of tonight, starting at midnight when the polls close in the east.
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November 2, 2004 by dafyd
I just spotted the ‘Quote of the Day’ on the IMDb front page – how apt is this…?
It does not matter which way you vote. Either way your planet is doomed. Doomed. Doomed.
If you were wandering, it’s Kang from The Simpsons…
The Simpsons website also has quite a witty piece about Homer running for president, including his manifesto:
- A friend to one, a friend to all. (Except Flanders.) - There is nothing to fear except fear itself. Oh… and fear of the voices… the constant voices telling me to do things… bad things - I will put a man on Mars within the decade. That man will be Flanders. And he will not return. - No big government, just big waist sizes. - Children are the future. That’s why they must be stopped today. - I will make the trains run on time. On second thought, coal might be better. I will make the trains run on coal. - I will legalize the hunting of sisters-in-law. - Repeal all taxes… make Sweden pay for everything.
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October 31, 2004 by dafyd
Possibly my favourite Flash animation of the election so far – Bush 43 and John Kerry singing Bohemian Rhapsody. Absolutely classic!
Make sure you watch it before it’s too late!
Not quite as good, but certainly a brilliant animation nevertheless – The Timewarp (from the Rocky Horror Picture Show) US Election stylee. Check it out!
Another brilliant one – Woody Guthrie’s song ‘This Land’ – I’m sure you can work out how it’s been manipulated. Watch out for a special guest appearance by the Governator.
Seeing as we’re talking about the US election, it seems a worthy time for the return of my favourite photo EVER:
Oh, and happy hallowe’en. I’m not sure when we started wishing people a happy hallowe’en – it’s something quite new for me. Anyway – Google had quite a good hallowe’en logo today:
Over in the GoogleBlog, there are some photos of the hallowe’en costumes sighted around the GooglePlex – they obviously had quite a good time!
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October 30, 2004 by dafyd
The Grauniad newspaper has, over the last few weeks, been running a feature whereby its British readers write to American voters in Clark County, Ohio, to try and influence the result of the Election next Tuesday.
They launched the campaign as follows:
…At the core of it is a unique scheme to match individual Guardian readers to individual American voters, giving you the opportunity to write a personal letter, citizen to citizen, explaining why this election matters to you, and which issues you think ought to matter to the US electorate. It may even be a chance to persuade somebody to use their vote at all.
To maximise the likelihood of your efforts making a difference, we’ve zeroed in on one of the places where this year’s election truly will be decided: Clark County, Ohio, which is balanced on a razor’s edge between Republicans and Democrats. In the 2000 election, Al Gore won Clark County by 1% – equivalent to 324 votes – but George Bush won the state as a whole by just four percentage points. This time round, Ohio is one of the most crucial swing states: Kerry and Bush have been campaigning there tire lessly – they’ve visited Clark County itself – and the most recent Ohio poll shows, once again, a 1% difference between the two of them. The voters we will target in our letter-writing initiative are all Clark County residents, and they are all registered independents, which somewhat increases the chances of their being persuadable.
From the UK, it seems that 14,000 readers were inspired to contact counterparts in Ohio, including the authors John Le Carré and Antonia Fraser and the scientist Richard Dawkins.
Understandably, there was a variety of reactions from the States. I have included a few of the ‘best’ below:
Consider this: stay out of American electoral politics. Unless you would like a company of US Navy Seals – Republican to a man – to descend upon the offices of the Guardian, bag the lot of you, and transport you to Guantanamo Bay, where you can share quarters with some lonely Taliban shepherd boys.
Now a positive one:
I am a student and life-long resident of Clark County, Ohio. I just wanted you to know that this is a wonderful idea you’ve initiated; people here love and respect the United Kingdom, especially the prime minister. I hope this campaign will be successful for your newspaper and for us voters.
A quite vocally anti-Grauniad response:
KEEP YOUR F**KIN’ LIMEY HANDS OFF OUR ELECTION. HEY, SHITHEADS, REMEMBER THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR? REMEMBER THE WAR OF 1812? WE DIDN’T WANT YOU, OR YOUR POLITICS HERE, THAT’S WHY WE KICKED YOUR ASSES OUT. FOR THE 47% OF YOU WHO DON’T WANT PRESIDENT BUSH, I SAY THIS … TOUGH SHIT!
And a nice, subtle one from someone who oviously knows how international law works…
Please be advised that I have forwarded this to the CIA and FBI.
And finally, as featured on Have I Got News For You:
Have you not noticed that Americans don’t give two shits what Europeans think of us? Each email someone gets from some arrogant Brit telling us why to NOT vote for George Bush is going to backfire, you stupid, yellow-toothed pansies … I don’t give a rat’s ass if our election is going to have an effect on your worthless little life. I really don’t. If you want to have a meaningful election in your crappy little island full of shitty food and yellow teeth, then maybe you should try not to sell your sovereignty out to Brussels and Berlin, dipshit. Oh, yeah – and brush your goddamned teeth, you filthy animals.
So, it seems that Operation Clark County, although in theory a fantastic idea to subvert the American electoral process, has actually acheived the opposite effect to its aim: Americans being as they are, anyone who gets advice to vote for John Kerry will naturally go and vote for Bush 43. It can’t be helped. It’s how they are built.
Oh, and it could also be something to do with the voting booths… (requires QuickTime)
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October 28, 2004 by dafyd
I’ve just watched Question Time on BBCi, which this week came from (of all places) Miami, Florida.
The panel was a fantastic mix of views, with a Senior Advisor to Bill Clinton, the guy who invented the phrase ‘axis of evil’ for George Bush 43, and – best of all – Michael Moore. There was also a representative of the Miami-Dade Electoral Reform Coalition (Florida was where the scandal about vote-rigging came about in the 2000 election) and Richard “Look at me, I’m a cretin” Littlejohn, a columnist on the Sun.
The audience, of course, was made up of Americans – and David Dimbleby was clearly uncomfortable presenting the programme. Whereas Question Time is usually a staid, debate-style affair, this programme had more than a touch of the Jerry Springers about it! The audience heckled the panellists and other questioners, often to the extent that one couldn’t hear what was happening – a pity, because the level of debate on this programme was probably considerably higher than at most other points in the presidential campaigns.
My highlight: Michael Moore, explaining the alternatives to invading Iraq to get rid of Sadddam Hussein – I’ll hunt around to see if I can find a quote and post it here in a bit.
EDIT: I can’t be bothered transcribing it – watch the programme, the bit in question is 32 minutes in.
You can watch the programme on the Question Time website – you need RealPlayer.
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October 14, 2004 by dafyd
From Michael Moore‘s blog:
Michael Moore filed a theft complaint with the Lansing City Police today stating that “someone has stolen both the brains AND the sense of humor from the Michigan Republican Party.” The brains were locked in a box where they were placed after the last moderate Republican governor of Michigan retired in 1980. The party’s “sense of humor” was not valued at more than $100 and therefore its theft is considered a misdemeanor. “I am concerned about the loss of these two items,” Moore told reporters. “If there is anything I can do to help the Republicans find them, I will.” Anyone knowing the whereabouts of the Michigan Republicans’ brains or sense of humor is asked to call CrimeStoppers at (269) 273-6467.
This is, of course, following the Michigan Republican Party accusation that the director is bribing students on his speaking tour to vote.
Although Moore attacked President George Bush in his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, his speeches do not tell people what party to vote for.
But Republicans still believe he is breaking Michigan election rules.
“We want everyone to participate in this year’s election, but not because they were bribed or coerced by the likes of Michael Moore,” said Greg McNeilly, executive director of the state’s Republican Party.
During Moore’s 60-city tour of college campuses and arenas he has been getting habitual non-voters on stage to pledge they will vote in the next election.
In exchange for promising to vote they receive gifts of potato crisps and noodles, among other small items.
Moore responded to the criticisms, saying: “It’s ironic that Republicans have no problem with allowing assault weapons out on our streets, yet they don’t want to put clean underwear in the hands of our slacker youth.”
Moore was in the news again today, I notice, as Bush 41 (George Sr) called him a “total ass, slimeball”. He added it was “outrageous, his lies about my family”.
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September 24, 2004 by dafyd
From BuyCostumes.com:
The BuyCostumes.com Presidential Mask Election Predictor is HERE for the 2004 Election! You’ll remember the mask predictions from the 2000 Presidential Election, as referred to by many media sources including CNN, the Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. What is the Presidential Mask Election Predictor? In 2000, due to the popularity of political masks, BuyCostumes.com began publishing statistics on each Presidential Candidate’s mask sales. It was soon apparent that the mask sales were as good a resource as the polls being published by major national media groups. Seeing the similarities, BuyCostumes.com then looked into some data on political mask sales in election years. Not only did they ask five different mask manufacturers, they also spoke with 12 national stores about their sales history all the way back to 1980. Their findings were astounding and right every time…With the 2004 Presidential Election campaigns underway, BuyCostumes.com has once again produced the Original Presidential Mask Election Predictor to provide reporting on candidate masks sales. John Kerry is going “face to face” with George W., and this is the one source for accurate, national statistics as based on sales of their caricature masks. This poll can be accessed from BuyCostumes.com and will show you up-to-the minute stats. Visit our Political Mask area to see all the other faces available! We did it in 2000, and we’ll do it again in 2004 – keep coming back for more info on who’ll be the next President of the United States of America!
Year Winner Loser 1980 Reagan = 60% Carter = 40% 1984 Reagan = 68% Mondale = 32% 1988 Bush = 62% Dukakis = 38% 1992 Clinton = 41% Bush 39% 1996 Clinton = 56% Dole = 40% 2000 Bush = 57% Gore = 43%
We should really have something like that in Britain… oh wait, we do! It’s called the Daily Mail…
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September 8, 2004 by dafyd
“This is one of the worst example of media bias I have ever seen. President Bush was campaigning in Wisconsin on Friday and told a crowd of supporters that President Clinton had been admitted to the hospital. President Bush extended his best wishes to the former president, and the crowd cheered.
But that’s not the way the AP reported the story…
Audience boos as Bush offers best wishes for Clinton’s recovery
By Associated Press, 9/3/2004, 1:57PM
WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) — President Bush on Friday wished Bill Clinton “best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery.”
“He’s is in our thoughts and prayers,” Bush said at a campaign rally.
Bush’s audience of thousands in West Allis, Wis., booed. Bush did nothing to stop them.
Later that day, the AP corrected the earlier report without correcting the record.
Bush offers best wishes for Clinton’s recovery
By Associated Press, 9/3/2004, 6:06PM
WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) — President Bush on Friday offered former President Bill Clinton, who faces heart bypass surgery, “best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery.”
“He is in our thoughts and prayers,” Bush said at a campaign rally in Wisconsin.
The crowd reacted with applause and with some “ooohs,” apparently surprised by the news that Clinton was ill.
Notice how the AP tried to cover their tracks with the “ooohs” reference. Nice try AP, but it was completely obvious that some in the crowd were surprised by the news. Don’t take my word for it though, listen to the actual audio feed.
After listening to the audio feed, is there any way that a trained reporter could mistake applause for booing?
Unbelievable.”
It’s interesting to note that for once the media bias was against Bush, as opposed to pro-W. When you watch Fox News, it’s hard to believe you’re not watching an election broadcast. AP is one of the most respected news agencies, so I’d like to think it was a mistake, but on the evidence given…
(Thanks to The Political Edge by Jeffrey Skelly)
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September 6, 2004 by dafyd
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August 1, 2004 by dafyd
From the BBC News Convention Weblog:
This will be the first convention covered by bloggers, those opinionated cyber-diarists who have renewed the internet’s promise of self-publishing. Bloggers blog at the bloggers breakfast To celebrate, the Democratic Party threw them a breakfast. “Do you have Wi-Fi?” one of the bloggers asked Michael Feldman who writes for DowBrigade.com. “No, and my server is down,” he answered. But he made the mistake of being the first blogger to whip out his laptop, and the traditional media pounced. Mutual distrust The Bloggers Breakfast was one of those surreal circular media events, where the traditional media cover someone who in turn covers the traditional media. Dean said the traditional media will increasingly become irrelevant I snapped pictures of them. They snapped pictures of me. I interviewed them. They interviewed me. The traditional media and bloggers have a mutual distrust. Bloggers think the traditional media are tapped out, and the traditional media think bloggers are amateur pundits. Even though I’m “blogging”, Michael told me I wasn’t a blogger because I was getting paid by a traditional media outlet, although he said that it was a matter of some debate in the blogging community. The suspicion was obvious. Veteran Associated Press reporter Walter Mears will actually be blogging this convention, and one of the bloggers asked him which candidate he supported so they could take that into account when they read his blog. ‘Not real journalists’ No dice, he wouldn’t tell. And they didn’t need to take his political affiliation into account, he said, because “I’m objective”. The hoots and laughter from the bloggers showed they were less than convinced. And when the blogging political pioneer Howard Dean addressed the audience, he added a large helping of media mistrust to the breakfast on hand. “If I were you, I wouldn’t be insulted if someone said you weren’t a real journalist,” he said, because news has increasingly become entertainment, not information. And he believes the traditional media will increasingly become irrelevant. “The net will become so ubiquitous over the next 25 years, that you will largely be able to bypass traditional media,” he said.
There were 15,000 accredited journalists at the Convention, of whom nearly half (I believe) were bloggers. As Kevin Anderson says in the BBC blog, even ‘traditional’ media like the BBC or Associated Press have sent their own bloggers – because blogging is an easy, quick way to release news instantly. I can imagine that the PR people for the Democrats had a nightmare of a time – any little mistake, anywhere, anytime, and the blogs would have it immediately. Whereas in the past they could brush it into a corner before press time or the news bulletins, now they have to be permanently alert…
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