As If the Primaries Had Never Happened
The blog PunditFight notes that, in a year when everyone says that all the pundits were wrong, there was an exception: me. They quote the hosts of Air America’s “Majority Report”:
Marc Maron: What we’ll find out in the next few months is if the big “fix” by the big “they” is really in. We’re gonna find out in the next couple of months.
Sam Seder: Yes! Ted Rall came on the Majority Report, this must have been over a year and a half ago. And he said that he believed that McCain and Clinton were gonna win, were gonna be the nominees because they had the most money and there had never been a time where somebody had had that much money that far out and hadn’t won. So it’ll be interesting to see if that comes around.
Yes, I do happen to be right most of the time. But it’s not because I’m a magician. I study history. Most of the time–almost all of the time–past performance IS a good indication of future returns. This year’s election, in which the two best-funded candidates are once again emerging as their party’s likely nominees–is no exception to the rule.
Meanwhile, the New York Times hires William Kristol for its Op/Ed page–not me. Of course, it’s not his fault he’s usually wrong. Have you ever noticed that he rarely, if ever, refers to historical precedent?
16 Comments.
Except you're wrong. Obama is the nominee, not Clinton. Can we now rake you across the rails like libs have with Kristol?
And get over the whole "pundits are wrong but still working" thing. You sound jealous and bitter. Since when has anyone been rewarded for being correct? Success is for those who go out and take it. Correct losers will always be on the sidelines whining about the incorrect winners.
Obama, Schlobama, I'm sticking with my prediction. Hillary will be the nominee. Count the delegates, read the state-by-state polls–it's hard to see how Obama can take it away from Hillary.
Even if I turn out to be wrong–and I doubt it–I'll have to be wrong a lot more often before I match Kristol's 0-for-1000 record.
"Jealous and bitter"? You bet I am. When assholes get rich for being wrong and I stay merely middle-class while doing a better job, I've got every right to be annoyed–and to say so.
I'm half-French. I never claimed to be a Stoic.
Now that the New York Times has helped shitcan Edwards, it's going after Obama. Check out today's cover story about his nuclear power bill controversy.
feel free to ridicule me, Ted, but I really want Obama to win for a number of reasons, though I think he's very like not going to. Maybe it's just because I'm a youngin' (at 31), but I like the idea of Camelot and believing that Obama can be transformative.
It would be something. I also can't wait to see the Repugs contort themselves with McCain.
"New York Times has helped shitcan Edwards, it's going after Obama. Check out today's cover story." Right that.
Again. Above the fold, where the stenographers Gordon and Miller reprint Big Brother's press releases. Buried way back somewhere in the Sunday Times forest, Frank RIch has a decent op-ed.
Think I mentioned it this morning somewhere else in this blog. Dunno: I was in a whole different city (really) then.
I agree with you Ted. Now how about that Ann Coulter?
Kristol is one of the (cough, cough) "conservative" writers for the NYTs. To be sure, making Ted Rall one of the token conservatives at the times would be no more ludicrous than giving the position to Kristol, but no one would fall for it.
Obviously, the dream neocon ticket is Clinton vs. McCain. There are only two issues that matter: One, continued mass immigration, and two, the continued occupation of Iraq.
Once it's down to those two, might as well just call the general election off.
Cassandra strikes again.
If only they knew that you also correctly* predicted Bush in 2000. So sad. Do you have that tape?
I think it is funny how you ended up being the only guy who will not let go of Florida.
Ted you were wrong about the "hosts" of Majority Report – Maron was the host of Morning Sedition and the Marc Maron show. Sam was indeed one of the hosts of the late, lamented and ground-breaking Majority Report, but the other was Janeane Garofalo. Sam is the current host of Seder on Sundays, a successor to the cancelled Seder in the Morning show. Marc and Sam do the Seder and Maron show most Tuesday mornings, on the internet only.
I guess I'm going to vote for Obama, now that my other hopeless causes have been ignored/hounded out of the race. Still, at least the Kucinich/Edwards interval was mercifully brief.
In the national election, then, the choice becomes which color of Korporate Kool-aid you want. At least with the Blue, our sense of betrayal may fuel some actual change that mere outrage seemingly can't.
I can see the advantages of Obama, too–a big one would be the message his election would send to the world. Barack Hussein Obama, whose dad was Muslim, might help expunge the horrors of the post-9/11 error. When I go the polls tomorrow in New York, however, I'll probably vote for Edwards to send a message to the party.
If only they knew that you also correctly* predicted Bush in 2000. So sad. Do you have that tape?
Yes, I do. I was just listening to it last week. It was in April 2000.
I think it is funny how you ended up being the only guy who will not let go of Florida.
I think it's weird that I'm the only one! In most countries, the streets fill with rioters when an election is stolen. Free and the brave, my ass. Americans are the most docile of all sheep.
angelo —
Elections — free, fair, and open — are what democracy means. "Letting go" of Florida would be letting go of democracy itself.
No patriot, no one who loves the U.S., no one who loves democracy, can ever "let go" of Florida.
What is it that you are saying we should choose over democracy, angelo?
As if it is up to me. I think the supreme court already ended this arguement, man. Lots of little guys like me will not let go of Florida. But we don't have a syndicated column or radio show. Ted complains about how he never gets work for being right. Well, he is only partially right. He probably has lost jobs for being right, as the kfi scandal seems to indicate.
angelo,
I apologize; I really didn't pick up on the context of your comments. Taken out of context, it sounded like a variation on "You lost, quit whining."
You were right. It is odd that no else (with much public life) seems to see that the Florida count debacle was actually the overthrow of the government of the US.
Again, I'm sorry for the tone of my comment.
I keep thinking about people referring to an Obama presidency as the next Camelot and how people referred to the Kennedy presidency as Camelot and one thing continues to rise to the surface: does no one else remember how the legend ended?
no sweat. I was happy that you went for the throat. I can't stand the 'get over it' crowd. To approximate the words of a wise man: "let it go" and "get over it" are lines that people use when they screw over someone else.