MetaTalk posts tagged with election

I feel like continuing a fight with billysumday.

Joe Beese — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:00:42 -0800

I feel like continuing a fight with billysumday. The story so far... Commenting in a post about the disputed election results from Iran, I quote Chris Floyd to the effect that the Powers That Be probably aren't displeased with the outcome. billysumday comments: So, this is all really about Western conservatives, "Zionists," and George Bush? Grind away ye axe, oh myopic American! Some things in this world really do occur relatively independently from the machinations of Washington, DC. I reply: True as far as it goes. But the Iranians have the nearby example of the Palestinians to remind them of the unfortunate consequences of exercising their franchise in a manner displeasing to the empire. billysumday counters: Dude, that is so effing tired. Tired, tired, tired. You really think the Iranians were thinking about the Palestinians, the Lebanese, or the Americans when they voted? Maybe they were thinking about their economy, their standing in the world, whether they liked the candidates' demeanors - the manner in which MA lives his life, the clothes he wears, how he presents himself - you know, all the shit we think about when we elect a president. Iran is too interesting of a country for us to be lazy and talk about it simply through the prism of how it affects America, or vice versa. I reply to the effect that: Yes, I do think the Iranians think about America when voting. billysumday replies: LOL. Good ole Joe. It gives me great pride to know that Metafilter's own personal blogger knows the thoughts of ordinary Iranians and what they consider when they vote for their President. I obliquely suggest that his credentials for speculation are no better than mine. He counters: you make my point well. I don't know what motivates the ordinary Iranian anymore than you do - but your narcissism fails to allow you to admit that. I suggest that this is inconsistent with his earlier statements. He replies: Joe, I don't really want to further derail this thread. I've made my point, you've made yours. If we want to continue this argument, we can do it in your next blog post, which is scheduled to be posted to the front page in (checks watch) about two hours. Billy, aside from the fact that you seem insistent on making this personal, I think that you're trying to have it both ways here. For the record, I agree with your more recent statement that we are equally well or poorly equipped for speculating on the thoughts of Iranian voters. Does that mean your earlier comment "You really think the Iranians were thinking about the Palestinians, the Lebanese, or the Americans when they voted?" was not the rhetorical question it appeared to be?

34: cortex drives the bus

mathowie — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:51:16 -0800

The 34th podcast features newly pantless full-time employee cortex and is unfortunately jessamyn-free. It features recaps from around the MeFi universe and runs about 45min long.

Helpful links Podcast Feed MeFi Podcast on iTunes Direct mp3 download (44Mb) MeFi Music mentioned and played Here Comes Your Man by ORthey Music Challenge cover requests thread, all songs tagged as lessthanaminute Go Gadget, Go! by csimpkins Three-Camera Sitcom by uncleozzy Henry Pants by Karlos the Jackal Miss You by dagosto Jobs bshort's coder job in NYC Projects The Design State Channel 5 documentary title generator MeFi Posts QWOP flash "game" Election day box full of puppies Election day updates post Aspergers online test The perfect film Mathematician jokes Ask MeFi questions How do people on MeFi find interesting sites? Examples of Family Jargon I received a strange book in the mail Why doesn't everyone vote by mail? Why is Howard Dean leaving his DNC post? (answer from someone working for Dean) stevis update on his political campaign Obscure LOLanimals? (LOLtapirs) What are the best liquors for the money? MetaTalk mentions What have you bought as a result of a post/question/comment/answer on MetaFilter? NaNoWriMo 2008 tkchrist's story of his Vietnam War vet dad Ynoxas had a motorcycle accident MetaFilter users on Obama in January 2007 vs November 2008 Election contest results

And the winner is...

gsteff — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:17:08 -0800

And the winner of the 2008 MetaFilter Election Prediction Contest is... Iridic! Missouri and North Carolina haven't been certified yet, so I'll hold off on awarding the prize until they are. But if they fall in the directions currently projected (Missouri to McCain, North Carolina to Obama), Iridic was one of three participants (the others being rbellon and Dr. Zira) to guess all ten states correctly, and his popular vote guess was the closest of the three (he predicted that Obama would win the popular vote by 5.1%, and according to CNN, Obama is currently believed to have won by 6.2%). So congratulations, Iridic, and be sure to let us know what charity you'd like the prize money donated to.

Portland, OR Obama Victory Meetup!

velvet winter — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:16:29 -0800

Portland, OR Obama Victory Meetup! Some of us Portland MeFites were otherwise occupied and didn't have much chance to properly celebrate Obama's victory last night, so how 'bout a meetup? Yes, we just had a meetup recently...but this is a special occasion! Last time, several of us found the Deschutes Pub too noisy and crowded for our tastes. Anyone interested in meeting at a coffee shop instead? Or, say, some kind of restaurant that serves alcohol, but isn't really a pub? I'd vote for downtown or NW, but all suggestions are welcome. I'm thinking this Saturday, Nov. 8. I know it's short notice, but I'm ready to celebrate already! All the photos of people weeping with joy and screaming and dancing in the streets are getting to me, and it's hard to keep my mind on work. Anyone want to convene for some revelry?

Election Watch '08

MrMoonPie — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:51:10 -0800

Do we need an (un)official election watch meetup thread? If so, I'll get it going. I'm joining a group at Madhatter in DC. I'm the tall one in this picture, though I imagine I'll be sitting down; still, the big, ponytailed guy in a black shirt is usually easy to find. Getting there 6-ish, staying late. MeMail me if you need more details.

The Meme Equivalent of Grey Goo: Tomorrow's FPP

WCityMike — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:59:54 -0800

Just out of curiousity, tomorrow, there's going to be about five million, four hundred thousand, six hundred fifty-two attempts to write a "first black President" FPP. Do the mods have any specific plans, or is it going to be whomever jumps the gun first? And are you guys going to be able to enjoy the festivities, or are you going to be too busy deleting everyone's massively respawning dupes? ;-)

My university sweatshirt says ELECTORAL COLLEGE

cyrusdogstar — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:07:02 -0800

Do any NYC folks have plans for election night? Imagining the possibility of hanging out at some place with a liquor license and a television to watch the numbers roll in... I realize this would make for a 3rd meetup in a row (and being the workaholic anti-socialite I am, I was not/will not be present at numbers 1 and 2 :() but my wife and I were hoping to get sloshed and watch the election coverage, and preferably with other people involved. Don't have any real suggestion for venue, but I'm hoping some other interested parties might have a good idea.

Palinfilter

jenkinsEar — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:12:49 -0800

3 FPP Palins in one day? Enough already! I realize that Ms. Palin EATS BABBYS and WANTS US ALL DEAD, but maybe we could have a day or two off? Maybe just two anti-Palin posts a day would be enough?

mathowie on the vote!

dr. moot — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 08:07:05 -0800

mathowie's opinion on the nerd vote has been posted over at boingboing.fyi.

Stunty McStuntster

davidmsc — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:58:13 -0800

Yes, this stunt post was a bad idea... ...but I felt it was just in light of the absolutely not-FPP-worthiness of this post. And I knew that mine would likely be deleted. But come on. I'm no newbie. I've been here at MeFi for a long time. I know what's good and what's -filter. And posting a few images - no matter how good they might be - is REALLY stretching "Best Of The Web." Look, I know I'm in the minority here at MeFi. Not liberal. Not Democrat. Not progressive. But I'm not exactly a McCain fan, either. But the level of worship here of The One is astounding. And to be honest - really - I'm OK with that. I know where MeFi stands, mostly. I was just trying to inject a tiny wee-little bit of perspective with my admittedly bad and stunty FPP. And demonstrate how awesomely lame such an FPP is/was/will be. Photo galleries as FPP? Eh. Maybe. But a photo gallery about a politician who is in the public eye as no one before in history (probably), both here and on the TV and on the radio and on blogs and on various filters, nearly every moment of every day, often accompanied by doe-eyed worship, and being photographed more than any other politician ever? Come on.

London meetup Nov 4th - US Election Night

adrianhon — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 10:16:13 -0800

London meetup Nov 4th - US Election Night. Let's face it, we're all going to be checking the internet obsessively, so we might as well do it together! This idea was raised at yesterday's meetup and a few people seemed interested. Obviously it'd require staying over at someone's house and probably booking the 5th off as a holiday, but aside from that, it could be a lot of fun. Large quantities of pizza, beer, laptops, Mefi madness - what's not to want? Other ideas: - a Mefi Election Night IRC channel, because loading the inevitable 10,000 comment thread is going to be pretty tough on everyone's bandwidth... - a Ustream.TV feed from London, so you can see all our commentary and shenanigans, live from the interwebs!

Canada 2008 General Election Thread

KokuRyu — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:03:12 -0800

The Canadian General Election kicks off in four hours. Can we use this as the official election thread, or is there a better way (snark away, but at least provide an example of a better way)? The multiple McCain-Obama-Palin-USElectionFilter-FinancialMeltdown thread have made me anxious...

Amazed at no FPP on McCain's epic gaff

spock — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:37:03 -0800

You know, I get as sick as anybody over every minor story about the U.S. presidential election getting posted to the Blue, and I know the mods are trying to keep the quality of posts up, but it [i]still[/i] surprised me to go there tonight and find NO DISCUSSION of what history could very well define as THE important turning point in this election: John McCain's not knowing how many houses he owns. This on the heels of his definition of $5 million as defining "rich". Could no one draft a decent FPP about it, or has it been decided that this story isn't going on the Blue no matter what? If so, one has to wonder: why?

Fightin' Obama and the howlin' wingnuts

Artw — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:22:45 -0800

Hmm. I thought the WWII Post/Obama post was interesting and don't see the excessiveness GYOBness. What's that all about?

Should we FPP the Obama speech?

Artw — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:39:35 -0800

Should we FPP the Obama speech? Some debate here. On the one hand it seems like it would be doomed to deletion as we have two open Obama related threads. On the other hand it's a really big deal, and (IMHO) rises above NewsFilter into Best Of The Web because it's such an incredibly good speech. Also those other threads are way below the fold. Thoughts?

No more Ron Paul, please

Blazecock Pileon — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 15:23:57 -0800

Policy regarding political fundraising, campaigning or other support sites for Ron Paul? I have noticed increasing numbers of posts (recent example) which are direct or indirect fundraising or stump sites for Ron Paul — it seems to be a couple a week. Above and beyond my dislike for this person and his politics (which I do not intend to start a discussion about) — and without calling into question any motivations of the original poster — I do not feel that these meet the criteria for acceptable front page posts. Assuming the community agrees, I wonder if there can be a deletion policy applied which is also used for other political-themed posts (e.g. the recent TPM post), as well as a spinning alert banner similar to that used in the past as a warning for Iraq- and Israel-themed posts. If I'm wrong about the extent of the problem, or if it is even a problem (something that the community may not agree with) then I apologize and please feel free to delete or close this post.

The Australian Election Thread

Effigy2000 — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 17:12:12 -0800

Jimbob said "Yeah, keep this thread running. May it serve as an example to all the American politics nuts who insist on starting a new post every time Hillary takes a shit." And so that's just what we did. In an example of how I think Metafilter can do politics well, the Australian Politics thread, which started on October 14 (the date the election was called, which is not the first day of the campaign), ran for 30 days straight and (at time of writing) had amassed almost 600 comments. But as is the norm for an FPP after 30 days on the Blue, it's about to be closed so discussion has moved over to Thread #2, by wilful, to get us through to election day. An index of the first thread is inside, as well as kudos for those involved (because I think they deserve it). It's a big thread, so to make it easy for everyone to navigate around it, here are some quick links to each day up until the thread was closed and what the major issues of the day were. Day 1: The first day of the election proper saw the Governments promise huge tax cuts, which were the big issue for the day. Day 2: The tax cuts were still the big issue. Day 3: Still the tax cuts, but criticism of their potential effects on the economy were starting to surface. Day 4: Still tax cuts, but analysis of election ads were also a big issue this day. Day 5: The first Newspoll of the campaign and political reaction to The Chaser's 'Eulogy Song' were the big issues of the day. Day 6: The Opposition released their tax plan late on Day 5, so Day 6 was focused largely on analysis of their tax policy. Day 7: A pretty quiet day, but anticipation for the Leaders debate to be held that night was high. Day 8: The leaders debate was itself debated, especially the furore surrounding the alleged censorship of The Worm. Day 9: A new Newspoll that showed Labor surging ahead, but The Worm was still a big topic. Day 10: Howard announces $4b worth of pork for seniors, and discussion turns once again to the tax cuts of Day 1. Day 11: The release of the latest CPI figures revealed a forthcoming rates rise nightmare for the Government. Day 12: The Government was still copping flack over the potential rate rise and a new Morgan poll showed surging support for Labor. Day 13: Joe McDonald was expelled from the ALP, rates rises were still on the menu (but waning as an issue) and a new AC Nielsen poll echoed yesterday's Morgan. Day 14: It was revealed Turnbull tried to get Cabinet to ratify Kyoto and that, along with the story of how the leak occurred, was making headlines this day. Day 15: Interest rates made a small comeback, but environment issues were the focus of the day. Day 16: Another Newspoll, this time with the Government gaining ground over Labor. The Treasurers debate happened; many people yawned. Day 17: Tony Abbott's day from hell which saw him insult a dying man, turn up late for a national debate and caught swearing on camera. Day 18: Another boring day, mostly focussed on Howard's $4b worth of bribes to seniors and how they'd vote for him because of it. Day 19: At the halfway mark of the campaign, an e-mail suggests a conspiracy between the Government and the AFP against Dr. Haneef. Peter Garrett puts his foot in his mouth. Day 20: The Government went into full attack mode over Peter Garrett's gaffe and Peter Andren MP, sadly, passed away. Day 21: A second day of coverage on Garrett's gaffe, and the first time that Howard tried to paint an interest rate rise as a positive factor of his leadership. Day 22: The Garrett gaffe had all but disappeared as voters and journos digested the latest Galaxy poll and Howard's change of heart on rates. Day 23: The day of the Melbourne cup showed Howard closing the gap (by 1 point) in the latest Newspoll. FWIW, my horsie, Gallic, dropped out. Day 24: As expected, this day saw the RBA raise interest rates, pushing mortgage rates to an 11-year high of 6.75 per cent. Day 25: Interest rates, interest rates, interest rates, interest rates. Also, a debate about the environment. Did I mention interest rates? Day 26: Interest rates again, lots of talk about Howard's non-apologetic apology, and former Labor leader Mark Latham returns from beyond the political grave. Day 27: News came to light that half of all AWAs failed the Governments fairness test. Two new polls, with Morgan in particular giving Labor a massive lead. Day 28: It was revealed that Julia Gillard had once been conned by a man she loved and the PM acknowledged that home repossessions were up since being re-elected in 2004. Day 29: Today! The anniversary of the Whitlam Governments dismissal saw a new Newspoll with Labor gaining ground. The Liberals launched their campaign in Brisbane and spent up big. A big shout out to UbuRovias, Jimbob and wilful, who were the biggest and most common contributors to the thread, but kudos to everyone who popped in for the thirty days the thread ran for to keep the thread alive and more importantly contribute, debate, discuss and dissect the happenings of the campaign so far. May it last for the rest of the campaign in the new thread! Come join us (Aussies in particular!). It's the future of your democracy, people! And may these two threads serve as an example of how Metafilter can (I think) do politics well, especially when there is goodwill on all sides and a commitment from all participants to keep one thread on one political event alive, rather than starting a new thread every time a new development takes place.

Electionfilter!

mathowie — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:13:18 -0800

The newsvine elections area is pretty cool. Vote inside...

658 days until the 2008 US elections

dios — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 09:54:13 -0800

There are 658 days between now and the 2008 election in the United States of America. Can we please not start the daily posting of unpostworthy campaign minutia 658 days out? Can we at least hold off until, say, 3 months prior to the election? I shutter in fear at the prospect of having this stuff devour Metafilter for the next 658 days, as we know from experience it will.

The subset of people who are ~~boring~~ ~~obsessive~~ interested enough in this to already care about this us-centric minutia are certainly the same subset of people who already read political blogs. Why does it need to be here?

Please save us, mathowie. You are our only hope.

Why was a question about Limbaugh's and Hannity's reaction to the election deleted?

stam_broker — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 14:59:56 -0800

Alright, this is just lame -- I asked a very specific question related to the election and it got deleted. I wanted to find a capsule summary of how Rush and Hannity were playing post-election as Wednesday programming opened. If my post is considered too redundant or inflammatory, fine, but telling me to go listen to the radio is kind of callous and rude. I said I missed the coverage and as it is, out where I live I don't even know if we get the shows. You all don't have to repost it; but I'm just kind of teed off.

And the winner of the 2006 Metafilter Election Prediction contest is . . .

gsteff — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 07:42:58 -0800

And the winner of the 2006 MetaFilter Election Prediction Contest is...

Great coverage of UK general election

nthdegx — Sat, 07 May 2005 06:22:04 -0800

I've really enjoyed reading and participating in the coverage the UK general election has received at MetaFilter, particularly the follow-up threads (which, in one case, might otherwise have been dismissed as news filter). Contrasting points of view expressed intelligently and with measure. Well done.

this thread is really fascinating stuf, complete with actual non-hostile debate!

xmutex — Tue, 19 Apr 2005 15:40:03 -0800

Despite some snarking here and there, this thread is really fascinating stuf, complete with actual non-hostile debate! I learn something new every day. Kudos.

sidebar getting dated

freebird — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 15:47:17 -0800

The election contest item in the sidebar is pretty old now. Is it still there for a reason?

Censored!!

troutfishing — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 11:44:18 -0800

OK Matt : I took your deletion of my previous two posts on this subject, the 2004 election controversy ( and probably several by other folks ) as an indication that either 1) you oppose posts on the election controversy or 2) you want quality posts. Since I don't like to think of you as a site manager inclined towards censorship, I took the deletion of those posts as an indication that they weren't of sufficient quality. So, I addressed #2 : I thought that was a high quality post - well substantiated, and which presented an angle not yet discussed or noted elsewhere on the net. If you are opposed to discussion of the 2004 election, why not state that in your posting guidelines ? I feel that would be more helpful. Otherwise, new users may be confused for those unspecified posting categories which you are inclined to delete.