January 4, 2012

Did you watch the TV coverage of the Iowa Caucuses all the way to the end?

I didn't, but Chris (my son) did. Here's our IM dialogue (with me in italics):
i went to bed early

was extremely long


were some amusing parts though

what?

like this http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2012/01/04/bts-iowa-caucus-edith-carolyn-highlights.cnn

I heard them say "It's too close to call" about 100 times, then I lost my mind, then I went to bed



some stuff on cnn... they sort of figured out the results before it was announced by talking to a precinct captain

there was a point where someone kept trying to "flick" a graphic back to the original tv and did it three or four times before it worked, and anderson cooper said something like "have we just given up?" (on reporting)

LOL [at the "Edith and Carolyn" video]

"whadya mean the numbers don't match"

yeah

what time of night was that?

i think around 1 am central

and it was after the point where they seemed like the news anchors couldn't take it anymore

anderson cooper in particular kept just insulting the graphics and stuff

LOL


there was a point when cooper said something like "if you miss any of this you can catch it all later on the daily show when he ruthlessly makes fun of you

if they had all the clips of everything that happened they could make it seem really funny but the problem is it was over the course of like 6-7 hours
Yeah, that's why I went to bed.

ADDED: You can watch the flickfail here.

73 comments:

Original Mike said...

Iowa isn't "winner takes all", is it? It didn't matter who "won".

I did watch Santorum's and Romney's speeches. Santorum's was a lot better.

Sprezzatura said...

"I did watch Santorum's and Romney's speeches. Santorum's was a lot better."

He didn't get to read the brilliant text that was loaded in the (promptly dismantled) tele-p, so at the last minute he was stuck w/ his normal stump speech.

BTW, I followed it until the end, which wasn't so late on the left coast.

Original Mike said...

"He didn't get to read the brilliant text that was loaded in the (promptly dismantled) tele-p, so at the last minute he was stuck w/ his normal stump speech."

"He" being Romney.

Apparently, Santorum routinely speaks without a crutch. Implies there's something upstairs.

Once written, twice... said...

Romney is by far the only competent Republican candidate. He is also the only sane candidate in a field of nutjobs. Santorum is the nuttiest of them all. I will want President Obama to win but I can definitely live with Romney as President. He will work with Democrats and appoint centrist judges. He will try to make Romneyobamacare a success. He might also be the best chance for getting sane emissions legislation passed.

Looking back, Gerald Ford was a good president who was the perfect moderate leader for his time. Romney could be the perfect moderate leader for this time.

Thank you Ann for ignoring your loony Althouse Hillbillies and supporting a good moderate/liberal Republican like Romney.

If Romney is elected it will be like eating our cake and having it too.

Chris Althouse Cohen said...

No, it didn't matter who won, in fact the delegate allocation is done through a complicated series of caucuses and conventions, of which this was just the first. In the precinct caucus (which was yesterday), they elect a proportional number of delegates to go to the county/district caucus, where they elect a smaller number of delegates to go to the state convention, where they elect delegates to go to the national convention. At each of these points, there is strategy involved in voting, delegates are allowed to change their minds, people might not show up, etc. To some extent, I'm assuming that it works the way it did in Texas, but I have read that they have all four: precinct, county, state, and then national (which everyone has).

I did this in Texas for Hillary in 2008 and went as far as the county convention/caucus, and was the precinct captain for Hillary. It took a lot of work just to get the number of delegates to the state convention that it seemed like we were entitled to, largely because I had to make sure a specific group of voters in the neighborhood actually showed up, and there was somewhat complicated strategy involved in the county voting itself that meant that, in some cases, people would actually lose delegates because the opponent's supporters strategized their voting better. I could explain why in more depth, but it has to do with the fact that county delegates vote for which delegates among them will go to the state level, and all the delegates (including the opponent's delegates) are ranked by how many votes they (not the candidate) got, meaning you have to do some math and split your vote in a way that works for your particular situation. I also called all of the delegates and alternates beforehand to make sure that they would be there early in the morning and able to stay the entire day. That meant convincing alternates that it was worth them showing up, when they thought they wouldn't count (and in fact most of them were needed). I also convinced one person who had changed her mind about which candidate to support not to show up.

And the county convention itself was sort of grueling. At more than one point, someone started talking about leaving just because it was taking too long. At least one delegate was disqualified at the last minute, so the alternates that I talked into staying were then needed. And all of this wound up being to send one delegate (and no alternates) to the state convention. And what if no one in your neighborhood is available to travel to the state convention on that particular day? You could effectively lose all of your precinct's votes, or only your opponent might have someone available. If the person we sent for Hillary got sick or something, all of our votes would have not counted.

And Iowa ultimately has 25 delegates at the national convention. So, no the 8 votes that Romney won by don't matter in terms of delegates.

Original Mike said...

@Chris - Good grief!

Original Mike said...

"He will try to make Romneyobamacare a success."

If that's his intention, there is no way in hell he gets the nomination.

BJM said...

No, it's bullshit.

The media will choose Obama's opponent and then destroy him. The media went all in with Obama and they have no choice but to prop him up to salvage what little influence they have.

Barring a miracle or a disaster we will be bending a knee to Her Excellency for another four years.

mccullough said...

I watched some of it on Fox. I like Megyn Kelly.

edutcher said...

Watched the PBS thing on Egypt.

Was right about IA being less about who wins.

MayBee said...

What was with the color scheme CNN chose? It was horrible.

Chris Althouse Cohen said...

Of course, the Iowa Caucus does matter on a symbolic level. Iowa doesn't have many delegates, and neither does New Hampshire, so it's only because of their national influence that they get so much attention.

Chris Althouse Cohen said...

...just to state the obvious.

Original Mike said...

"Of course, the Iowa Caucus does matter on a symbolic level."

Yeah, Santorum won Iowa. Big time. I have no idea if he can do anything with it.

Chuck66 said...

"I watched some of it on Fox. I like Megyn Kelly."

Hey, I'm stalking her. You stay away.

Right is right! said...

Now that Bachmann has left the race her supporters will go to Santorum. As Gingrich and Perry supporters realize their candidates are not in the running they will go to Santorum.

Look for Romney and his friends in the liberal mainstream media to attack Santorum viciously. Most likely they will try to crucify him for his strongly held Christian beliefs.

mccullough said...

Dane County,

Wouldn't it be easier to "crucify" Santorum among conservatives by showing that he was a big proponent of borrow and spend? That he believes in government telling people what to do in many facets of life? Santorum is pro-life and anti gay marriage. That's about it. Unlike Huckabee, he has no charm or humor.

Right is right! said...

When he served in the senate Santorum was always highly rated by conservative taxpayers groups.

From an article reporting that he was given a "Hero of the Taxpayer" award, Grover Norquist said

"These key votes were the most critical for taxpayers in the first session of the 109th Congress," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and prominent D.C.-based activist. "Looking at these votes, taxpayers back home can tell if they have a friend or an enemy in Washington. As far as Rick Santorum is concerned, they have a friend."

http://sixers.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWY5ZmU5OTE4OGI1M2MxNjFlM2NmMWJkYjgyYmIyMjY=

Right is right! said...

Mccullough is a tool of the liberal mainstream media and their favorite Big Government liberal Republican Mitt Romney.

pm317 said...

Chris Althouse Cohen said...
------------

Nice to see you went through all those hoops for Hillary. Thank you!

mccullough said...

Dane County,

Grover Norquist doesn't care anything about deficits. Neither did W. Neither does Obama. Neither does Santorum. Rick loves the pork and the entitlements like Medicare Part D. He believes that Congress has the power under the commerce clause to ban partial-birth abortions in the states. What part of abortion is interstate commerce? Rick loves Big Government. He's a junior-varsity version of W.

pm317 said...

Santorum scares me. In a twisted irony, it is probably good to have the GoP establishment on Romney's side now and that they will go after Santorum. He won't get any independents.

wv: stinc -- they all stink

Right is right! said...

Mccullough you believe in murdering borned innocent babies? You are morally despicable and not worthy of conversing with.

Crunchy Frog said...

Unlike Huckabee, he does not have the baggage of being a young-earth creationist in public, or of being an amnesty supporter, or of a thousand other things that made the Huckster anathema outside of the Bible Belt.

Romney is expected to clean up in NH. Big deal.

The acid test is going to be South Carolina. Gingrich (and to a lesser extent Perry) territory. Everyone currently writing off Newt right now is going to have a face full of egg.

In the long run the not-Romney (and not-Paul) vote is going to have to go somewhere. Mitt's best hope is that it stays splintered enough for everyone to finally give up and settle on him.

Paul? Not a chance. He has only a small but very committed (deluded) following that plays well in caucus states but will die out when the primaries start.

Right is right! said...

Mccullough must also believe that the Federal government had no standing to use the Commerce Clause to end the spread of Slavery and end Jim Crow given that he is happy to watch babies outside of the womb get butchered.

Sick.

Right is right! said...

Liberals hate Santorum with a passion. In fact they have gone so far as to defiled his name in the most filthy of ways.

OTOH, liberals seem to like Romney just fine.

Don't be a surrender monkey to the mainstream liberal media!

Aridog said...

Chris A/C at 1:44 PM ...

Great comment and concise accurate description ... I've freely linked it elsewhere. So, thanks for the clarity.

Chip Ahoy said...

I watched off and on, here and there, on mute, until Santorum took the stage with his family then my flat teevee went flat black.

ERROR: testosterone surge

Have you noticed how brilliant everybody is on mute? Try it sometime back and forth --

intolerable * brilliant
intolerable * brilliant
intolerable * brilliant
intolerable * brilliant

Pragmatist said...

Everytime I turn on the tv or radio and listen to the blanket coverage of the Rep "debates" or the (hoo hum) Iowa Caucuses my ears bleed. God it is bad but Romney is the only candidate that most of us who are independents can stomach from the Right. He is too sane to be too nuts. But can he pull the rest of the party back from the brink? Will he pick a certifiable nut and thus pander to the crazies and do a Mccain? I am sure the Dems would like Ricky S and Shelly Crazy Eyes as the dream ticket.

Original Mike said...

I never paid much attention to Santorum because he was so low in the polls. I am unaware of what makes Santorum "crazy".

LilEvie said...

You guys missed the fun on Fox. Right after Romney was finally declared the winner they went to Carl Cameron in the empty Romney room. Suddenly a group of people came running in and screaming. Cameron said the occupiers are here and kept trying to talk. The talking heads in the studio were totally cracking up. They finally reported that they were Romney staffers, some with beers, celebrating and cheering someone named Sarah, the state campaign chair.

Once written, twice... said...

What makes Santorum crazy?

He is a right wing true believing ideologue for one thing.

He also is quick to say that this is a Christian nation.

He is a real wack-job.

I am glad to see that McCain endorsed Romney today. The rational adults in the GOP have wrestled control back from the crazy tea-baggers like Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain.

rcommal said...

Dang it! Not wording correctly to capture, succinctly, that things work a little differently depending on whether you're talking about the R or D parties.

Here is the main thing I wanted to say:

Nice job, Chris, just one thing that was missing: district convention in addition to county and state.

Whew! Outta here. : )

Original Mike said...

Wow, that's really persuasive, Jay.

Right is right! said...

Santorum is "Crazy" because the mainstream liberal media has defined him as such. The sad part is that so many wishy-washy people like Ann Althouse buy into it.

Original Mike said...

Where did Althouse diss Santorum?

garage mahal said...

Original Mike-
If you're not too familiar with Rick Santorum, I highly reccomend googling it.

Once written, twice... said...

I like it that Ann's political analysis is about as sophisticated as her American Idol commentary

I am looking forward to her "How Romney lost me" post later this year. :)

Sofa King said...

Mccullough must also believe that the Federal government had no standing to use the Commerce Clause to end the spread of Slavery

The fact that they felt they had to pass the Thirteenth Amendment to end slavery suggests that this is correct.

Original Mike said...

I just scanned Santorum's wikipedia article. There a some things I'd like to know more about, but I'm open-minded at this point.

Just A Blogger said...

Romney will will the nomination. He is Wall Street's pick. Romney is essentially Wall Street. Santorum is too focused on gays. He claims to be for small government, but he is really for big government. He wants the government to be all up in your life. He would probably have cameras installed in everyone's bedrooms if he could, just to make sure everyone is having sex in the missionary position. I think Santorum is a closeted homosexual. Studies have shown that men who are outwardly homophobic are secretly gay.

Original Mike said...

"He wants the government to be all up in your life."

Just like Obama, eh?

Anonymous said...

Studies have shown that men who are outwardly homophobic are secretly gay.

Which studies are those?

Anonymous said...

Mccullough must also believe that the Federal government had no standing to use the Commerce Clause to end the spread of Slavery

I know. It's been commented on. But, really? Did you really just say this?

Right is right! said...

Seven Machos,



I hold Santorum in higher esteem in being willing to use the Commerce Clause to end the murder of borned, outside of the womb babies than your willingness to have standby and let Jim Crow continue.



Also, does anyone doubt that Romney will be more pliable in expanding the Commerce Clause than Santorum?

Right is right! said...

BTW, Romney is pro baby murdering. Or did he flip-flop on that one too? I can't remember.

mccullough said...

Dane County,

If Rick Santorum wants to ban partial birth abortion, that's fine. He should run for governor of Pennsylvania or Virginia or wherever he lives and do it there and convince other states to do likewise. If the partial-birth abortion bill only banned it in the federal territories that would be fine as well, as Congress has authority to do so.

Mitt Romney signed Romneycare in Massachusetts. He didn't stick his plan on all 50 states. He also didn't vote for entitlements that raised the deficit.

Rick Santorum should do what Billy Graham does; he should not run for President. He has no respect for the Constitution. And neither do you.

Just A Blogger said...

Romney wears magic mormon underwear.

Cedarford said...

Crunchy - "Romney is expected to clean up in NH. Big deal.

The acid test is going to be South Carolina. Gingrich (and to a lesser extent Perry) territory. Everyone currently writing off Newt right now is going to have a face full of egg.

In the long run the not-Romney (and not-Paul) vote is going to have to go somewhere."

================
The thing is NH is always a VERY BIG DEAL!! That is because the voters are well known and the experts and the big money donors use it as a test bed to extrapolate future candidate viability.
South Carolina is no acid test. The state is more atypical than NH.
The acid test is NH, then Florida and the states on Super Tuesday.

As for Newt, he is writing himself off. Following the Caucuses Newt took the stage and in doing so, confirmed people's worst fears about him. He Was Nasty! Clearly out of control of his emotions. His loss was not his doing, see, but the "negatives" Ron Paul and Romney hit him with. And as a sunny, positive kindly guy...well, now he has No Choice but to become evil old unstable, undisciplined Newt of the 90s again.
He will use his UberNewt mind and Masterdebator skills to drag the Paul and Romney into the very depths of hell!!

In those 5 minutes, you saw why he was dumped as Speaker by Republicans and why he earned the title of the most disliked pol of the late 90s. Newt Gingrich is unfit to be in the Oval Office.

Right is right! said...

Mccullough,

If your constitution means that we all have to stand by and let babies that are partially borned be murdered or men, women and children be held in slavery then you can stick that constitution right up your immoral ass.

Would you support the states having the right to reinstate Jim Crow if they so desired?

My Constitution is not a morally neutral piece of paper. It is informed by the Declaration of Independence and the Christian faith that created this country.

Murdering children in the womb is bad enough. Doing so after they have gasped their first air is sinful beyond words.

Lincoln understood that slavery was blood on the United States collective hands. Santorum understands the same about the murdering of babies.

Now all of you sophisticates can snicker and say that makes him a conservative wack-job, but you have the blood of little babies on your hands.

Palladian said...

Not to be a comments-clutterer, but "Dane County Taxpayer" has been shown to be a "Moby" commenter several times. I believe, based on some evidence and a hunch, that it's the same person who posts as "Jay Retread". To me, this kind of activity is the essence of "commenting in bad faith".

Anonymous said...

The farce about using the Commerce Clause to end slavery was a bridge too far. Definitely Moby material.

In the new spirit of censorship, I say boot the bastard.

garage mahal said...

I wouldn't doubt there are many sockpuppets here. But where was it proven Dane County Taxpayer is one?

mccullough said...

Dane County,

Congress has power under section 5 of the 14th Amendment to ban Jim Crow. And it did so.

If abortion is that important an issue to you, you should probably not live in Wisconsin.

Palladian said...

garage, the Blogger profile number for the account is the same as quite a few previous over-the-top "right wing" commenters, such as one called "Tidy Righty". It used to be much easier to check because there was a demographics archiving engine called "BackType" that crawled blogger comments, but the fucking capitalists sold themselves to Twitter and now expect people to pay.

garage mahal said...

Always wondered how one could track commenters across blogs. I remember looking extensively once, and couldn't find a damn thing.

Peano said...

Did you watch the TV coverage of the Iowa Caucuses all the way to the end?

I didn't watch the TV coverage of the Iowa caucuses at all.

Right is right! said...

I am a principled conservative. It is fitting that someone as unprincipled as Seven Machoes who believes that there is imperative that we select Romney even though he is an unprincipled political hack, wants to have me banned so he is not confronted with a stronger argument. (which is not hard given that Seven has no defensible position in support of Romney.) Seven Machos would have made a good Nazi.

BJM said...

@Dane Cty

Seven Machos would have made a good Nazi.

:::GONG!!:::

You lose.

Anonymous said...

Dane -- It looks like you outed yourself as a Moby. Give it up. The part about the Commerce Clause and slavery was just too exquisitely brilliant to pass up, I guess, huh?

Palladian is right. You are not posting in good faith. That's against the rules here. You should voluntarily leave.

Right is right! said...

If Ann asks me not to post here I will leave her parlor. Until then all of you sniveling little eunuchs can bug off.

Carnifex said...

The hardest test of the 1st amendment is to allow speech you find offensive.

Libelous attacks and just plain name calling don't further the debate and should be censored, as the host/hostess wishes.

If the host/hostess censors more than you think they should start your own blog.

That being said, I didn't watch the Iowa caucus' because the GOP has chosen its candidate. Mitt Romney. Now they're just trying to get the more conservative candidates to quit so their boat doesn't get rocked. I won't be voting for Romney on Super Tuesday, but when Nov 2 rolls around I expect he'll be the nominee, and I expect to vote for him. "Anybody but Obama."

PS. watched pro-wrestling instead. The Blue Cyclone beat the Champ using a chair he sneaked (snuck? snook?) into the ring with the help of his manager Sneaky Pete.

Just as predictable as the GOP nominating process.

Anonymous said...

The hardest test of the 1st amendment is to allow speech you find offensive.

The speech is not offensive. But sock puppetry and Mobyism aren't fair and honest dealing. Dane exposed himself today as a Moby. That's not cool.

Right is right! said...

Seven is a Moby acting in bad faith. Ann should ban him. (See how easy that is? And isn't it great how Ann's blog gets cluttered with debates about who is a Moby because people like Seven can not stomach other points of views?)

Freeman Hunt said...

I support Romney. I did, however, try to come up with a candidate the GOP could run who I would refuse to vote for on November second. I couldn't come up with one who could realistically get the nomination.

Obama really is that bad.

Not everyone sees it that way though, so I think Romney is a good pick to get the most votes in the end.

Automatic_Wing said...

Eh, Huckabee won Iowa easily in 2008, it's not all that impressive for a social con candidate to do well there. Let's see how he does in NH, SC and FL before declaring him the next big thing.

Phil 314 said...

I support Romney. I did, however, try to come up with a candidate the GOP could run who I would refuse to vote for on November second. I couldn't come up with one who could realistically get the nomination.

Agreed

Phil 314 said...

I want to be a "sniveling little eunuch" too.

LilEvie said...

DaneCo = moby. Please feel free to join the dirty dozen.
Everyone else please IGNORE.

Ralph L said...

Dane County Taxpayer said...
Mccullough must also believe that the Federal government had no standing to use the Commerce Clause to end the spread of Slavery
DCT is correct. Remember the Compromise of 1830 and the Missouri Compromise? Congress limited slavery in new states. Why do you think the South seceded? They knew an amendment on slavery couldn't pass, but Congress and Lincoln could curtail slavery by statute.

Unknown said...

It is just for fun

Hoosier Daddy said...

I swear anymore going through these comments makes me feel like Andy Duphraine walking a mile in a sewer to find a few worthwhile comments.

Der Hahn said...

@Freeman - That's my feeling too, though as a Republican first and conservative second I probably have a lower bar.

CAC gave a very good description of the process. IIRC from way back in 1980 when I got to be a delegate to the county and district conventions, GHWB won the caucus night straw poll but the Regan organization got the delegates by the time the state convention was held.

Santorum is a Huckabee rerun. His SoCon positions appeal to the evengelical wing of the GOP here in Iowa but he's gonna crater with the more libertarian/small government GOPers in other states.