David Talbot (5:43 p.m. EST): They didn't buy it. In the end, that will be history's judgment on the sleazy and insultingly stupid GOP campaign directed at the American people. Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, terrorism, socialism, Joe the Plumber-ism -- none of this putrid, Rovian mind sludge worked on voters. So let's hear it for the often disparaged American electorate. You know, the ones who voted against George Bush in 2000 and came surprisingly close in 2004 -- in the face of massive voter suppression and possible fraud -- to dumping the incumbent. And then voted in a Democratic Congress in 2006. Now voters are on the verge of making history by electing Barack Obama and giving Democrats an even wider grip on Congress. Finally, finally, Americans look like they're getting the government they deserve.
And while I'm at it, three cheers for the voters of my home state, California, and other states where lopsided polls rendered voters completely invisible to the presidential campaigns. Despite being completely ignored by the campaigns, voters here are turning out in record numbers. At my polling place in San Francisco, poll workers told me they've never seen turnout numbers like today's.
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Joan Walsh (4:40 p.m. EST): If this is all getting too heavy for you, and you need some sweetness, check out Rebecca Traister and Caitlin Shamberg's awesome video about kids "voting" for Obama at a polling place in Brooklyn.
I'm sure Fox will follow up and accuse them of voter fraud.
My little girl, by the way, cast her first presidential vote in the Bronx today, for Obama (she's a freshman at Fordham). She, too, loved pulling the lever! There's no voting like New York voting.
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Gary Kamiya (4:33 p.m. EST): David, I totally agree that if Obama wins, he should claim a progressive mandate. But if he also figures out a way to reach out to McCain supporters, that would be a win-win.
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Glenn Greenwald (4:26 pm EST): Atrios wrote:
Intellectually I'm fairly confident that tonight will turn out well, though emotionally I'm starting to waver.
I wonder how many Obama supporters would say the same? The vast, vast majority, I'd bet.
I didn't really have that sensation until I heard Sarah Palin this morning confidently proclaim that she expects to wake up tomorrow as "Vice-President-elect." I know the confidence she's projecting is contrived, but still, that wicked phrase sits with you in the dark recesses of your brain.
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Glenn Greenwald (4:19 p.m. EST): Joan -- I've been watching Fox much of the day (in Brazil, where I am today, one can only view Fox and, intermittently, CNN-U.S. (it's interspersed with CNN-International).
There is one message from Fox being repeated all day, and Karl Rove just did his part to bolster it: African-Americans aren't merely voting in droves, but are cheating and stealing the election for Obama. As part of that segment you described, Rove just "informed" Fox viewers not only that there are more registered voters than adults in Philadelphia (and made the same claim about Milwaukee), but also that voting precincts are in the homes and "barber shops" of Democratic ward leaders, that there are already votes in the voting machines before the day begins, that ACORN criminals control the process in many large cities, etc.
Obama is going to take away the white people's money and give it to African-Americans with a new welfare program, and to make sure it happens, whites are being cheated and intimidated out of their vote. The endlessly looped Black Panther video ("intimidating white voters from voting") provides the perfect visual aid to this claim.
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Joan Walsh (4:02 p.m. EST): Oh dear God, I took Glenn's advice and tuned to Fox, and they're endlessly showing video of "Black Panthers" allegedly intimidating voters outside a polling place in Philly. Two guys from the New Black Panther Party, one with a nightstick, were outside, and Fox got its cameras. They missed nightstick guy, but they got the other guy, looking like, well, a Black Panther sort, and they got what they needed.
Right after that, Karl Rove appeared to accuse Lake County, Ind. (dominated by the city of Gary) of getting ready to commit voter fraud for Obama, saying the county wouldn't commit to a voter tally until it was clear what Obama needed. (I wasn't taking notes, my jaw dropped.)
Back to MSNBC.
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