May 6, 2008

Is it going to be boring tonight?

Mark Halperin tells you what they're going to tell you:
1. “She did what she had to do.”
2. “She didn’t do what she had to do.”
3. “John McCain is the big winner tonight.”
4. “No matter what, Clinton can’t overtake Obama’s lead in elected delegates.”
5. “There is no way the Democratic Party is going to take the nomination away from an African-American who is the winner of the elected delegate race.”
6. “It was the fight over the gas tax that did it.”
7. “This leaves us right where we were.”
8. “Look at how he did with white, working-class voters in the exit poll.”
9. “People are going to start telling her she needs to get out of this race.”
10. “Once again, he missed a chance to put her away.”
There are 10 more, so go read it.

Are you going to sit there sinking into your sofa while Wolf and his people say the things on that list? Or are you going to be out in the world, perhaps listening to a brilliant artist and sneaking a look at your iPhone under the table now and then to catch the score?

30 comments:

MadisonMan said...

Or will you be watching American Idol! I'm waiting for a Castro rebound -- some Talking Heads could do it.

rhhardin said...

Remember it's a soap opera narrative list. It attracts audience.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

We will be watching the two hour finale of Dexter that we have recorded on our DVR player. A fine dinner movie.

Sloanasaurus said...

Obama will be the nominee. At the very least, we can thank Hillary for exposing Obama for who he is.

Trooper York said...

This is the week for the shocking elimination on the idol. So it's time for Damian Archuleta to be eliminated by the powers that be. I hope they don't have to use holy water and Max Von Sydow.

Laura Reynolds said...

Yeah Trooper I was thinking we might see Damian A make a surprise exit this week.

No sense watching the returns tonight except to get the numbers, the narrative has already been written.

garage mahal said...

11. "The math is still against her".
12. "Was this the game-changer she needed?"
13. "Let's zoom in on these down scale working class white counties".
14. "African American strongholds".
15. "This is what makes it so difficult for her".
16. "Did going negative hurt her?"

John Stodder said...

Watched a little bit of Obama on nightline, with that moral midget Terry Moran following him around.

Maybe it was just being in the presence of such a journalistic cretin, but Obama seemed like a guy with a massive headache. He talked abnormally. I think this campaign has about killed him.

Balfegor said...

Are you going to sit there sinking into your sofa while Wolf and his people say the things on that list?

Nope. Gonna sit by my computer frantically refreshing the vote count map at CNN to see what the final percentages are.

George M. Spencer said...

Number 9

The watusi. The twist.

Unknown said...

note: I am no the banned Mary

I just got in from voting here in Raleigh, and it was nice to finally get to weigh in. But I'll watch idol tonight and read results online - can't bear to watch the news shows work their narrative.

If you blog it I'll be here...same place I have enjoyed the debates, the cruel neutrality, the photo essays...

Unknown said...

oops - meant "not" instead of "no"

Castro up, Archuleta down would make my day as well. madisonman: Talking Heads is an interesting direction - what led you there? Who do you pick for the others?

vbspurs said...

note: I am no the banned Mary

Wait, someone was actually banned up in this piece? There's hope for the Althouse blog yet...

Oh and hey, Mary, thanks for a local viewpoint. Last time, the PA primary was over 200 posts long -- apparently, Blogger puts a 200 post cap on comments showing up on the main page. You have to click on "leave comment" to see 201-etc.

Just a heads up people.

And I'm going for Door Number 4. It's the only one which counts.

Cheers,
Victoria

MadisonMan said...

Talking Heads is not my idea, it's the good folks at EW.com. I love their commentary. They suggest Same as it ever was for Jason Castro, Sweet Dreams (the Eurhythmics) for David Cook, California Dreaming for Damien A. and some Led Zeppelin song for Syesha. There was a nice article on AI on EW this past week. David A's Dad is over-controlling. But I suppose if I had a 17-yo kid on the show, I'd be in people's faces.

Mary said...

Well, I think those are interesting choices for Jason and D Cook. The problem is these kids don't know many of these songs, so it is difficult for them to know what would be good for their style. My picks: Jason - Ziggy Stardust, D A - Reach Out I'll Be There (or in a stretch, Smells Like Teen Spirit?), D Cook - I Will Dare or River Deep Mountain High, Syesha - Brass in Pocket or Something to Talk About. I bet they could do worse than these...

Voter turnout here in NC is high. We had early voting available last week and it was nearly double previous turnouts. 85% of unaffiliated voters choosing a D ballot. Like me. That's where all the drama is. The gov race is tight, and the Senate race is interesting - an openly gay man in the primary wants to go against Liddy Dole in Sep. I doubt he makes it past the funded D candidate, but that would be terrific fun leading to November if he did.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Watching the news? I'm making the news!

Big turnout in my little precinct today. My husband had a short wait in line this morning; I went right in at noontime. They asked me for my I.D. and made me state my name and address and confirm I was who I said I was. That hasn't happened before. I thanked her for asking. I asked, 'how's turnout' and they were thrilled at the high turnout.

MadisonMan said...

Didn't Sanjaya sing Something to Talk about? I don't know if Syesha would want to recall that in her performance.

My suggestions: Syesha: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Jason: I Fall to Pieces. David A: Pretty Woman. David C: Every breath you take.

I'm glad to hear the turnout is high. That's great for the poll workers. Otherwise there's nothing to do what look at the paint peel.

KCFleming said...

there's nothing to do [but] look at the paint peel.

By regulation, it must do so in a bipartisan fashion.

Mary said...


This link
is an alternative to watching CNN/Fox/etc call the NC results...not sure how detailed it will be. My precinct was pretty quiet around 11 (maybe 3 other voters) but the workers said flow had been good and steady, up from most elections. I tried to pick a quiet time and did well. I did have a book ready if there was a wait.

I missed the Sanjaya season although Althouse kept me up to date plenty enough. I don't remember song choice unless it was ab fab. Like Summertime, for Fantasia. Or Bridge Over Troubled Water, by Clay. I'm having an NC-centric day. How can I even watch Idol this year!

Roger J. said...

the results tonite, I fearlessly predict, will keep the race going. Does anyone know what the next "make or break" primary is?

vbspurs said...

Rog, here ya go.

May 13 West Virginia primary

May 20 Kentucky / Oregon primary

June 1 Puerto Rico primary

June 3 Montana primary / South Dakota

--

June 3?? H O L Y CRAP. I'm fatigued already.

Side note:

When was the last time West Virginia had such a potential to upset the apple cart? I think it was Kennedy-Nixon '60, surely?

When Kennedy had to trot out his wartime record to counter the anti-Catholic suspicions of the locals.

And the rural ladies were criticising Mrs. Kennedy for her bouffant hairdo and Park Avenue ways.

Plus ça change, indeed...

Cheers,
Victoria

Simon Kenton said...

Shot my last TV in 82 (7 230-grain bullets from a .45; it died well), so I won't be favored with network enlightenment. I'll be putting the attack engine, the tanker, the brush truck, and the Type 3 back in the fire station: we had our own little election today. Tomorrow morning will be soon enough to learn which anchor, anchorettes and pundits have gotten the covetted Most Delphic Award.

vbspurs said...

Breaking: Obama's Terra Haute, IN HQ bomb-threatened

Just turned on the news cable channels, and apparently, rural voters in Indiana are not turning out in expected numbers. Hillary is on the airwaves, trying to get the voters out.

Meanwhile, Obama is in Ruth Anne/Mary country, as that's where his real celebration HQs are located.

2 1/2 hours left.

Cheers,
Victoria

Balfegor said...

the results tonite, I fearlessly predict, will keep the race going. Does anyone know what the next "make or break" primary is?

I don't think there are any, really, although I suppose they could gin some up if they really needed to. At most, it will be an expectations game, like North Carolina for Clinton -- does she lose by 5 points or 15? Does Obama lose West Virginia by 10 points or 20? That kind of thing.

Zachary Sire said...

You never know!

Obama could win NC by 15 points (as expected)...but what if he wins IN by 5 or 6 points? What if Hillary has a concession speech planned for tonight?

If David Archuleta can be voted off of AI tomorrow, Hillary can drop out of the race tonight.

Mary said...

vbspurs - I forgot to get back to the banned: some time ago there was a Mary-based-kerfuffle - a former student or some such. She was indeed banned, and there was suspicion of an name-changing effort at re-entry. It seems to have quieted down. I don't miss her. Or Maxine. It ain't me babe. But it did keep me from commenting.

I am glad you are back. And I am a titus___ fan.

Richard Fagin said...

This evening I will be at my computer writing yet another patent application. I need to make all the money I can this year before President Clinton or President Obama decides to take it away from me, because paying a mere 40 percent of my income in federal taxes is just "unfair" to "working class people" whoever they are these days.

I suggest the rest of you do the same.

mrs whatsit said...

Why does everybody hate on little David A so much? I agree that his song choices can get dull, but the timbre of his voice is just extraordinarily beautiful. Syesha certainly can control her voice as ably as he does, and she's a natural entertainer, performer, but the sound of her voice is much more ordinary than David A's.

David C's an original and consistently good. I imagine he'll probably win -- but I wish to goodness he would learn to e-nun-ci-ate and stop swallowing the lyrics.

As for Jason Castro, he seems sweet, he's very cute, he's got great eyelashes and all that, but goodness sakes, he cannot carry a tune and he should have been gone long ago. How it ought to go from here, I believe, is Jason this week, Syesha next week, either David, either David.

Travis Wiebe said...

I'll be kicking it playing GTA IV. There's nothing like running people over who are just walking down the virtual sidewalk.

Clearly, I'm far too distracted to pay attention to this silly election. Please don't vote for Bush.

vbspurs said...

2, 4, 8, and 9. Who knew?

Cheers,
Victoria