Category: Awards

By Patrick Appel

Alex Knapp’s December 17th, 2007 election prediction.

by Chris Bodenner

"Aside from the criminal defendants and the Illinois Democratic Party, who are the big losers in Blago-gate? Really anyone who wants to get away with something or get something they don’t really deserve. … [They] may be handicapped in achieving their political aspirations. … Unqualified Caroline Kennedy wants to use the Kennedy name to leapfrog over a dozen more qualified candidates? Not unless Gov. Paterson wants grief," – Jennifer Rubin.

Her post appears* prescient; here’s Paterson:

"I’m not going to comment on anything that happened in any other state, but what I would say is that just hearing the news makes me more resolved to the fact that this has to be a merit process. The only thing I should be thinking about is the merits of the candidates. … [B]ecause of the precious nature of seniority in Washington, I’m hoping that a candidate that I select would win in 2010. … [S]eniority is very important."

Awards glossary here.  Perhaps Andrew should create an award for spot-on political, social, and cultural predictions, especially ones dismissed or derided at the time.  (Shinseki Award?)  Any good nominee examples you can think of, readers?  Update: "examples" as in passages like Rubin’s, not names for an award (yes, Schiff and Cassandra are great suggestions for the latter).

*Her post was actually published two hours after the Paterson post, but I doubt she saw it.

by Chris Bodenner
Dee Dee Myers unloads on Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau:

It’s an act of deliberate humiliation. Of disempowerment. Of denigration. And it disgusts me. … The press, the pundits, and the public could say things about her (“She’s a shrew!”) and to her (“Iron my shirt!) that were over-the-top sexist—yet got almost no reaction. Imagine how different the reaction would be if an important aide to John McCain had been caught in similar picture featuring Michelle Obama? Or if the picture had shown a cutout of Barack Obama and, say, a white hood?

By Patrick Appel
"…in another sense, [Blagojevich’s crimes are] just plain enjoyable. It’s like when you watch "Cops" and the idiot burglar tries to hide beside a tree in the dark, even though he’s wearing light-up sneakers. It’s like when Dan Rather dares the world to prove he’s a clueless ass-clown. It’s just good stuff. There’s no tragedy here. No wasted potential. No undeserving victims. No profound and complicated symbolic issues (I somewhat doubt the Serbian-American lobby is going to cry racism). This is the sort of criminality we want the Feds to find, particularly in Chicago. Everyone gets what they deserve — at least so far — and all of the guilty parties are all the more deserving of punishment because they don’t quite understand what the big deal is. I love it," Jonah Golberg, NRO.

by Chris Bodenner
"First things first: my apologies to Democratic voters in Louisiana’s Second District.  I did not believe that enough of you would be willing to put aside your partisan affiliation to cast a meaningful vote against rampant corruption.  The results have proven me wrong, and I am sorry for doubting your collective judgment," – RedState’s Moe Lane, watching the final returns come in and the curtains fall on Bill Jefferson.

K-Lo rarely disappoints:

Tonight I was over at the vice president’s house for one of their holiday parties. It was like a gathering of old friends — friends who likely won’t see the inside of the naval observatory for a bit. Cheney aides like David Addington. Conservative Hill aides. Bill Bennett … Karl Rove. And that’s the picture I want for my Facebook page: Karl Rove with Dick Cheney; Karl was two behind me in the receiving line.

Ah, K-Lo’s Facebook page: the gold at the end of the rainbow.

"My support for gay adoption will surely be met with hostility and, no doubt, charges of RHINO’ism by many of my colleagues, but the Grand Old Party is at a crossroads and now is not the time for an echo chamber. Homosexual demagoguery is not the answer to the Party’s woes, particularly when gay men and women represent the only demographic in which John McCain bested President Bush (27% to 19% based on exit polling). And as Daniel Blatt notes, gay-hostile rhetoric no longer resonates in suburban areas with soccer moms, many of whom have gay friends or family members, and plays even worse with young voters, 61% of which voted against stripping gay couples of the right to marry.

To my dissenters, let me be clear, I am not advocating some sort of radical “judicial activism.”

I maintain that judicial resolution to these matters (adoption, marriage, etc) typically leads to protracted and bitter legal battles, but, what is perhaps equally as distressing is our collective failure as a Party to hold a candid discussion on the emerging role of gays in the Party and society at large – not as outcasts, but as equals." – James Richardson, RNC Online Communication Manager for the 2008 Presidential cycle.

Perhaps the most remarkable fact in our politics is that the Republican party does not simply oppose marriage rights; it opposes any recognition of gay couples at all, whether under the rubric of civil union, domestic partnership, or any formal relationship that offers gay couples any protection or respect. This position is, at this point, held by a fast-shrinking proportion of the electorate. And yet the GOP cannot actually propose something positive for gays to appeal to the middle. They cannot even back civil unions. There is only one reason for this, and it’s the Christianist veto.

(Hat tip: Hot Air)