One of the more scurrilous 2008 campaign tactics (in a campaign seemingly full of them) had to have been those insidious "Have you heard... Barack Obama is a secret Muslim?!?" emails. These bounced hither and yon on the internet almost from the beginning of the campaign itself (or at the very least, since when it looked like Obama had a chance at the nomination). This sort of activity would likely fall into most people's "there ought to be a law" list -- a list of things worth changing in our election process. Unfortunately, the state Supreme Court of Virginia handed down a ruling in the midst of the campaign which may ultimately make any sort of limits on this sort of anonymous political (and technological) mudslinging actually unconstitutional. Meaning it would be impossible to pass any sort of laws against the practice at all.

This has enormous and chilling implications. Emails saying absolutely anything about a candidate (whether true, false, or viciously slanderous) could not only be sent anonymously, but whoever sends them would actually be allowed to break any sort of anti-spam laws to do so. Robocalls could be made with untraceable phone numbers, and untraceable accountability -- and lawmakers could not ban such practices, or even seek to regulate them. No matter what technologies arise in the future, security protocols with the intended purpose of verifying user identity may actually be unconstitutional as well. This would, no doubt, lead to an absolute avalanche of such messages in future campaigns; funded anonymously, sent anonymously, and with no accountability whatsoever.

Continue Reading »

In honor of Sarah Palin, I ate two bowls of sugar cereal for breakfast, and am currently blogging in my pajamas. I am in my own house, and not in my parents' basement, but I can't do anything about that, sorry Sarah (actual quotes at end, in case you missed the fracas).

Oh, and by the way, Sarah -- how can we miss you if you won't leave?

[Ahem. Let me start over....]

OK, I know it's been a week and we've got to move on. The election is over, the dust has settled, and I really should be writing about something else rather than indulging in navel-gazing. But I can't help myself. I have to write one more article about the election, and in particular my picks. I apologize in advance. If you don't like watching someone else pat themselves on the back, then just skip today's article altogether and go out and decorate a veteran's grave. You have been warned.

Continue Reading »

Today's column is in three parts. The first two are updates on the Missouri presidential election results and the Alaskan Senate election results, and then a quick rundown of some of the state-level ballot initiatives you may have missed out on... what with all the other election excitement this year.

First, though, I got tired of endlessly downloading various "election results" webpages, in the hopes of getting some final results. And I also got tired of waiting for the mainstream media to do its job and inform the public what is going on with the remaining states, whose election results have not yet been reported. So I called up the state election officials myself, and thought I would share with you what I found.

Continue Reading »

Welcome back to Friday Talking Points.

Of course, the big question on everyone's mind right now is: What is going on up in Minnesota? Al Franken is tantalizingly close to taking a lead in his Senate race, but very few details are available in the media (with the exception of this report from the Huffington Post) to let us know exactly what is going on. So I went to the source, and contacted the Franken campaign for some details.

Minnesota is currently in the process of verifying their ballot results. What is happening right now (and the reason why the totals keep slightly changing) is "canvassing" in Minnesota's 87 counties. This is a preliminary review of the results, and should be complete in the middle of next week. A few days after this is completed, each county will conduct a post-election review, or a spot-check of a small sampling of precincts, to verify the machine totals are correct.

Over 2.9 million votes were cast in the Gopher State. An automatic recount is triggered by one-half of one percent (0.50%) of these votes. The margin right now is less than 240 votes, or less than one one-hundredth of a percent (0.01%), meaning that a recount is mandatory.

Of course, the outcome of a recount is anybody's guess. Franken campaign spokesperson Jess McIntosh summed it up: "The race is the closest Senate race in Minnesota history and the closest race anywhere in the country this year; it is too close to call, and we do not yet know who won."

Continue Reading »

[I am taking another day of rest today (normal columns will resume tomorrow). Instead of an article, I present here today as a public service the full text of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s final speech, which was given the night before he was assassinated (April 3, 1968). King was in Memphis in support of striking sanitation workers. If you don't have time to read the full speech, which is rather long, please at least scroll down to the end and read the last few paragraphs. Video of the speech is available from www.mlkonline.net.]

I See the Promised Land

Continue Reading »

[This is a repeat of a column I wrote right after the 2006 election. Most of it is still appropriate, but since I am taking a few days off for a well-needed (and, in my humble opinion, well-deserved) rest, it suggested itself as the best possible column to run today. I still love the tinkly piano soundtrack -- paid for by my tax dollars, no less. The Toles cartoon is still hilarious, and could have run today. Some of the items are out of date, however. Now would be a dandy time to strip Lieberman of his committee assignments, for instance. In any case, I beg the gentle reader's forgiveness for this rerun, but it's been a long two years....]

Continue Reading »

About the Cartoonist  |  Reprint Policy

Because it's Election Day, I'm not going to give a detailed analysis of the past week's polls, as I normally do here. For those who have been following the progress of my "Electoral Math" columns, I have provided the final charts at the bottom, so you can see where they wound up, if you're interested.

Instead, I'm going to make my picks and call the races. First, some down-ballot calls.

Continue Reading »

Barack Obama has run one of the most impressive political campaigns in all of American history. That is saying quite a lot, but I truly feel he has earned that much, no matter what happens tomorrow night. The Obama campaign did not leak, and they did not squabble amongst themselves in public -- right there, two astounding feats that no other candidate in the race could manage. Should Obama be elected, and should he run his White House the way he has run his campaign; then we are about to see some professionalism and basic competence in Washington once again, instead of the pure partisan rancor and dysfunction we've (sadly) become accustomed to.

But it has to be said -- Barack Obama is where he is today because he is smarter than us. Now, by "us" I am not referring to you, dear reader (perish the thought!), but rather the collective "us" out here blogging in the progressive trenches on the left. We (and I certainly include myself in this) have been second-guessing Obama's political tactics and strategy for over a year now. Obama has had us tearing our hair out at times with frustration, and each time he wound up proving us wrong.

Continue Reading »

[Today's Hallowe'en column is in two ghastly parts -- one frightful, fingernail-chewing tale for each side of the corpse-ridden and zombified political divide.]

Gather 'round, ghouls and goblins! Our annual Hallowe'en fright fest is about to begin... full of scary monsters, ghostly tales, and horrors galore... because on this night, everyone -- even the politically wonky -- deserves to be scared right down to their socks!! O, ye lefties -- think you that Obama's election absolutely cannot be derailed? O, ye righties -- think you that Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama comprise the creepiest, most apocalyptic trifecta of liberal horrendousness you can imagine?

Well, think again! No matter what your deepest and darkest fears may be, no matter how mind-shattering your own political nightmares may be, you ain't heard nothing yet! Because your humble storyteller from the crypt has frightful and spooky stories to terrify both sides of the political chasm tonight... so without further ado, drag up a gravestone and gather 'round... for this year's two Spine-Tingling Tales Of Terror™!!

Continue Reading »

While the news from Election Night is going to be all about losers and winners from various parts of the country, I think that the news from Election Day is going to be similar across a large number of states. I'm talking about what the news story will be before the returns actually start coming in, later in the evening. Because I think the news lead is going to be: "Polling places overwhelmed by flood of voters" or maybe "Election officials say they just weren't ready."

But before we get into that, we have a cartoon for your amusement...

About the Cartoonist  |  Reprint Policy

Continue Reading »