"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Thursday, November 10, 2016

The Post-Mortems Begin

And they'll do as much good as the last post-mortems did. This, however, is interesting:

The media got it wrong. The public pollsters got it wrong, so did the private ones. The Democratic Party got wrong. The Republican Party was wrong too. Five living presidents got it wrong. The betting markets got it wrong. The markets got it wrong. By many accounts even President-elect Donald Trump got it wrong.

One man got it spectacularly right, predicting not only that Clinton would lose, but where she would lose, among which voters she would lose, and why: the left wing documentary maker Michael Moore.

Moore does have his ear to the ground. Maybe someone should have listened to him.

And a thought: You know, this didn't happen overnight, or even over the past eighteen months. The Republicans have been laying the groundwork for this for years, starting with "conservative" candidates for dogcatcher -- perhaps a slight overstatement, but not by much. They've taken over a majority of state legislatures and governorships and built an entire infrastructure dedicated to making sure that only Republicans can get elected.

Anyone who wants to reverse this has to start at home. Run for dogcatcher. Or city council. Or county board.


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