Awards for Election Commentary
The "I Saw It Coming" Award goes to Byron York, National Review Online:
"In January, a few days before the South Carolina Democratic primary, I went to a Barack Obama rally in Columbia with a Republican friend who had never before seen Obama in action. This friend’s reaction: 'Oh, s**t.' The super-enthusiastic crowd was about 3,000 strong -- no big deal compared to the audiences Obama would later draw in the general election, but several times what John McCain was attracting in South Carolina at the time. My friend said the scene reminded him of the old clip from Jaws, in which the small-town sheriff, seeing how big the shark really is, says, 'We’re gonna need a bigger boat.' The question, of course, was whether Republicans actually had a bigger boat. Now we can say for sure that they didn’t."
The "Best Campaign Sign" Award goes to an anonymous Mississippi partisan:
"Rednecks for Obama: Even We've Had Enough"
The "Gracious Concession Speech" Award goes to Rod Dreher (just beating out John McCain):
"I am a Republican, and I've had it with my side, who got the thumping we deserve. And all credit to the president-elect for magnanimously reaching out to us bruised and battered conservatives in his victory address, quoting Abraham Lincoln's hauntingly beautiful line, 'We are not enemies, but friends.' Yep, he's my president too. And I'm fine with that."
The "State of Denial" Award goes to Dallas Republicans, as reported by The Dallas Morning News Trailblazers blog's Mark Norris:
"There was about 10 people with me around a TV tuned to the Obama speech. By the end, they had all walked off. Most sighed as they walked away or shook their heads. As the speech ended, there was some yelling from the other side of the room. The one word I was able to discern - 'recount.'"
The "I Lost; You Won; Now Do What I Say" Award goes to The Dallas Morning News editorial board:
"The job now for Mr. Obama is to make good on his promise to govern from the political center, paying particular attention to getting spending under control. The president-elect should strongly consider appointing Republicans to his Cabinet and ensure that conservative voices get a fair hearing in policy decisions."
The "Hoping for Failure" Award goes to Trey Garrison:
"The fun of the Pelosi/Reid/Obama axis train wreck is just beginning and open Keynesianism will be on display in its full, ugly, failing glory."
The "Tell Us What You Really Think" Award goes to the NYT's Paul Krugman:
"For the past 14 years America’s political life has been largely dominated by, well, monsters. Monsters like Tom DeLay, who suggested that the shootings at Columbine happened because schools teach students the theory of evolution. Monsters like Karl Rove, who declared that liberals wanted to offer 'therapy and understanding' to terrorists. Monsters like Dick Cheney, who saw 9/11 as an opportunity to start torturing people. ... Four years ago it seemed as if the monsters would dominate American politics for a long time to come. But for now, at least, they’ve been banished to the wilderness."
The "First Look At 2012" Award goes to reader Ryan Short on The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog:
"A poignant moment for me last night was during McCain's concession speech. I celebrated at the Bishop Arts party, and it seemed there were almost no boos during his very gracious speech... until he mentioned Sarah Palin's name. Then the crowd went nuts. After McCain finished mentioning her, the crowd calmed. I won't say I'm surprised necessarily at the sharp reaction, or that I agreed/disagreed, but the heavy shift in tone from the crowd did pull me back a minute. It's a good sign that the Republicans should seriously think twice before running Palin in 2012."
Finally, the poignant "Barriers Still to Overcome" Award goes to reader "othniel" of the Burnt Orange Report:
"I worked for Obama, for hope. I believed. I donated. I dared to have vision. I celebrated his victory with my sons who cast their first voted for him. I thought I belonged. But those of us who are LGBT have once again simply been sacrificed to the gods of political expediency. Sit down you are rocking the boat, we used to be told. Now we are just thrown overboard. We are tired of being thrown in to your closet after working so hard to get out of ours. It was easier not to hope, and it hurt far less. Sorry to rain on the party, but I am tired of being uninvited, though expected to help pay for it. Never ever ask me for a campaign contribution again, or expect me to be happy with some miscegnated concept of an un'civil' union. Never has any group of Americans been slapped by its friends as horribly as what happened to LGBT Americans last night when the rocket of hope for which we worked alongside our brethren and sisters took off before we were asked aboard. I guess the parade has passed us by after all. Some American Dream this turned out to be. No stars for our ilk on that flag after all."
2 comments:
Could you explain what was poignant about what othniel wrote? It didnt seem poignant to me and I don't understand what he is talking about.
For othniel, the election was bittersweet. At the same time voters were electing the first African-American president, voters in California and two other states were voting to deny the benefits of marriage to gays. othniel's lament was emotionally moving and distressing, in other words, poignant.
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