Thank You, Mister Tee

[Mister Tee]

Thanks, truly, everybody. I only wish there was a way you could recommend me for a paying position.

Great map, Sonic. I've been pointing people for some time to the electoral maps of 1900 and 2000 -- they are virtual reversals of one another. Dave Leip's site has links to all. (He also has preliminary numbers on this year's outcome)

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/



Edited By Mister Tee on 1226005821

[Sonic Youth]

A very nice idea for a thread, Damien. I agree.

Mister Tee, here's a fun map for you to enjoy. It's an animated electoral map charting U.S. states' voting history from 1840 to 2004 in ninety seconds. I hope they'll add 2008 once the vote-counting is established.

http://americanpast.richmond.edu/voting/statelevel.html

Everyone knows that the party ideologies drastically changed over the centuries, but it's still a bit of a shock to see red northern states and blue southern states on the map.



Edited By Sonic Youth on 1225993307

[Penelope]

Thank you, Tee; I always love reading your commentary--your wealth of knowledge humbles me.

[cam]

Well, I'm not only happy to have helped out, I'm glad you guys took what I said to heart. Far more people tend to be dismissive when I bring this stuff up. Most seem to like thinking of politics as somehow unknowable -- an existential field where any outcome is always possible. Some have even suggested it's "arrogant" to assume you could understand elections from past trends. (Suggesting it's more thoughtful to ignore history altogether, I guess) And, as you point out, Damien, most of our powers-that-be will insist until the end of time that the election turned on the last shiny object that passed by -- in this case, at least, the financial meltdown did have a concrete impact, though not the decisive one.

I warn you, the downside of understanding all this: there will come a time when all the signs will point to our favored candidate losing, and we'll be stuck with that knowledge of mortality while others around us try to keep up hope of survival.

Mister Tee: I thanked you elsewhere, so I thank you here, where I should have!

[Mister Tee]

Well, I'm not only happy to have helped out, I'm glad you guys took what I said to heart. Far more people tend to be dismissive when I bring this stuff up. Most seem to like thinking of politics as somehow unknowable -- an existential field where any outcome is always possible. Some have even suggested it's "arrogant" to assume you could understand elections from past trends. (Suggesting it's more thoughtful to ignore history altogether, I guess) And, as you point out, Damien, most of our powers-that-be will insist until the end of time that the election turned on the last shiny object that passed by -- in this case, at least, the financial meltdown did have a concrete impact, though not the decisive one.

I warn you, the downside of understanding all this: there will come a time when all the signs will point to our favored candidate losing, and we'll be stuck with that knowledge of mortality while others around us try to keep up hope of survival.

[Okri]

Yes, I'd like to echo that. Mainly because my knowledge of American electoral politics is pretty minimal, especially from an historic perspective, so it was great to read, and also (I might add) a great soothsayer to the paranoia in me.

[Damien]

Tee, I just wanted to show my appreciation for the posts you began writing long before the primaries in which you set out the conditions in the country which made it a virtual certainty that the Democratic candidate -- whoever he or she was -- would win this year.

I took your points to heart and so, like you, I never doubted the outcome. And it was a great attitude to have all those times when a majority of my friends were acting like Nervous Nellies -- I told more than a few to shut up and if they wanted to fret and whine, do it elsewhere. And it's why I could confidently tell everyone that Sarah Palin was just a passing phenomenon.

(The pre-destiny aspects of the election also makes the oft'-repeated statement that it was the stock meltdown in September that did in McCain.)

So, many thanks, Tee!