The Commentariat -- Nov. 11, 2012

AP: "Saturday marked the first of what will be three days of Veterans Day commemorations across the United States. The holiday falls on a Sunday, and the federal observance is on Monday."

Here, at long last, is your final Electoral College map, assuming of course there are no rebels among the collegians. The tally 332 for President Obama; 206 for Mitt Romney. Not exactly a close call:

... Thanks to Jeanne B. for forwarding the graphic. ...

... Lizette Alvarez of the New York Times: "... in Florida..., after days of counting absentee ballots, the official results are in, at last: To the surprise of no one, Mr. Obama narrowly beat out his Republican rival 50 percent to 49.1 percent, a difference of about 74,000 votes.... A record number of Florida voters -- 8.4 million, or 70 percent of those registered -- cast ballots."

For those who are discouraged that the country seems dominated by the right, these maps -- called "cartographs" -- which contributor Lisa forwarded, should make you feel better. ...

** AND there's this. Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "Although a small number of ballots remain to be counted..., votes for a Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives outweigh votes for Republican candidates.... There is a simple explanation for how this happened: Republicans won several key state legislatures and governors' mansions in the election cycle before redistricting, and they gerrymandered those states.... [For instance,] President Obama won Pennsylvania by more than 5 points, but Democrats carried only 5 of the state's 18 congressional seats." Get that? More people voted for Democratic candidates for the House than for Republican candidates. Absent GOP gerrymandering, the House would be about evenly divided, or Democrats would have a slight majority.

Prof. Stephen Hahn, in a New York Times op-ed, on political racism: "Although our present-day tactics are state-issued IDs, state-mandated harassment of immigrants and voter-roll purges, these are not a far cry from the poll taxes, literacy tests, residency requirements and discretionary power of local registrars that composed the political racism of a century ago. That's not even counting the hours-long lines many minority voters confronted." ...

... Brian McFadden of the New York Times has a few ideas for modernizing the vote. Here are some of them:

CLICK ON CARTOON TO SEE ENLARGED IMAGE.Maureen Dowd: "Romney and Tea Party loonies dismissed half the country as chattel and moochers who did not belong in their 'traditional' America. But the more they insulted the president with birther cracks, the more they tried to force chastity belts on women, and the more they made Hispanics, blacks and gays feel like the help, the more these groups burned to prove that, knitted together, they could give the dead-enders of white male domination the boot."

Graph from Derek Thompson of The Atlantic.

Image by the ever-fabulous DriftglassKen Vogel of Politico: The Many Excuses of Karl Rove are not going over that well. "In his Wall Street Journal column the next day, he blamed Obama's win on an 'anonymous New York Times headline writer,' a 'hotel employee with a cell phone camera' who recorded damaging video of Romney criticizing American voters, and Hurricane Sandy, among other factors. And on Thursday, Rove told Fox News that Obama won by 'suppressing the vote.' ... Some donors have called Crossroads officials to ask how their polling could have been so far off, while others are openly grumbling that the groups should have spent more on the ground game. Rival operatives -- long frustrated by Rove's dominance of big GOP money — are seizing on the discontent, questioning whether he's hurting the cause and privately urging donors to shut him out." ...

... In case you're the one person who has gotten over his schadenfreude & is feeling a little sorry for poor, maligned Karl, this should snap you out of your conservative compassion. Dan Eggen & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Some of the biggest winners in the most expensive election in U.S. history weren't the politicians, but the private consultants who brought in tens of millions of dollars in fees for advertising, fundraising and other campaign activities. In the presidential race alone, the two main media firms working for President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney earned profits for handling more than half a billion dollars of campaign advertising, according to disclosures and ad tracking data.... Their combined cut could easily be $25 million or more at standard industry rates. Other big earners were the digital strategy companies, telemarketing firms, air charter services, pollsters and consultants who saw a spike in business in a presidential contest that cost at least $2.6 billion." ...

... AND Rove is scarcely contrite. Karen Tumulty of the Post: "As Rove sees it, the campaign proved that American Crossroads and its more secretive issue-advocacy arm, Crossroads GPS -- which allows donors to remain anonymous -- are here to stay. Rove is pondering new missions for Crossroads to address weaknesses laid bare by the GOP's back-to-back failures to win the White House and the fact that the party fell short when expected to win back the Senate."

Eli Lake, et al., of Newsweek: "They were the gang who couldn't shoot straight. Romney's ground-game operation was a disaster -- from technology that didn't work to field operatives who didn't understand their tasks. The result: Obama won."

Alexander Burns of Politico: "For Republicans, one of the worst parts of the GOP's 2012 trouncing was that they didn't see it coming."

Roll Back the Enlightenment! Paul Krugman: Republicans, with their "faith-based analysis," have been getting everything wrong for some time. "You might think that the election debacle would force some reconsideration. But I doubt it; if the financial crisis didn't do it, nothing will." ...

... Case in Point. Let me put it very clearly. I am not willing to raise taxes to turn off the sequester. Period.... Look, [President Obama] may think it would be helpful to his presidency to continue to divide and demonize us. But my answer will still be short and firm: No. We won't agree to any tax increases that will hurt the economy. -- Senate Minority Mitch McConnell, in the spirit of bipartisanship

Gail Collins: "If Hillary Clinton ... follows through on her plan to not decide anything for a year, it would put the 2016 presidential speculation on ice, at least on the Democratic side. And that would be a signal service to the American public, the best-prepared candidate in American history: one who's lived in the White House, served in the United States Senate, a woman who knows virtually every head of state in the world.... If Clinton follows through on her plan to not decide anything for a year, it would put the 2016 presidential speculation on ice, at least on the Democratic side. And that would be a signal service to the American public, which needs an election break."

Matt Sedensky of the AP: "Firebrand Republican Rep. Allen West was defeated by Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy, according to the state's vote count Saturday, but the incumbent won't concede. The state issued complete but unofficial results showing Murphy with a lead of 2,442 votes, or 50.4 percent. That's beyond the half-percent margin needed to trigger an automatic recount. A handful of overseas and military ballots remain outstanding, but under state law the decision for a recount is based on Saturday's count.... The race was the country's most expensive House race...."

Katharine Seelye of the New York Times profiles Senator-Elect Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Garance Burke of the AP: "Longtime Republican Rep. Mary Bono Mack lost her seat Friday to Democrat Raul Ruiz, a Harvard-educated physician who mobilized the district's growing swath of Hispanic voters.... Bono Mack served eight terms after winning an election in 1998 to fill the seat of her late husband, entertainer Sonny Bono. Her current husband, GOP Rep. Connie Mack IV of Florida, lost his bid for the U.S. Senate." Thanks to James S. for the link to this delightful news.

Garry Wills in the New York Review of Books: a number of losing presidential candidates have gone on to post-election careers dedicated to public service. What could Mitt Romney do? Absolutely nothing.

Scott Shane & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. investigation that led to the resignation of David H. Petraeus as C.I.A. director on Friday began with a complaint several months ago about 'harassing' e-mails sent by Paula Broadwell, Mr. Petraeus's biographer, to an unidentified third person, a government official ... said Saturday. When F.B.I. agents following up on the complaint began to examine Ms. Broadwell's e-mails, they discovered exchanges between her and Mr. Petraeus that revealed that they were having an affair...." ...

... This Washington Post report, by Sari Horwitz & Greg Miller, is clearer than the NYT report: "The collapse of the impressive career of CIA Director David H. Petraeus was triggered when a woman with whom he was having an affair sent threatening e-mails to another woman close to him.... The recipient of the e-mails was so frightened that she went to the FBI for protection and help tracking down the sender, according to the officials. The FBI investigation traced the threats to Paula Broadwell, a former military officer and a Petraeus biographer, and uncovered explicit e-mails between Broadwell and Petraeus.... The e-mails from Broadwell indicated that she felt the other woman was becoming involved with Petraeus.... [Officials] said the e-mails were 'threatening and harassing' but not specific enough to warrant criminal charges.... The recipient of the e-mails complained to Petraeus about them and ... the FBI later obtained e-mails between Petraeus and Broadwell in which they discussed the harassment." ...

... Michael Wines of the New York Times: "... in a digital era..., the odds of exposure have become exponentially greater.... That prominent figures throw caution to the winds may be no accident.... A 2001 study in the Journal of Family Psychology concluded that the incidence of extramarital affairs rises with income and education.... Many scandals burst open in part because powerful men usually are rotten at picking mistresses. ...

... Joby Warrick, et al., of the Washington Post: anonymous sources say Petraeus had "an unusual bond" with Broadwell, which made his aides nervous & which Broadwell exploited. ...

... Kimberly Dozier & Pete Yost of the AP: "... the CIA, FBI and White House face questions from Congress about Petraeus' love life and how his emails came under investigation.... Petraeus' sudden departure made news before House and Senate intelligence committees were briefed, catching lawmakers who oversee the intelligence community off guard.... CIA officers long had expressed concern about Broadwell's unprecedented access to the director. She frequently visited the spy agency's headquarters in Langley, Va., to meet Petraeus in his office, accompanied him on morning runs around the CIA grounds and often attended public functions as his guest...."

Jonathan Weisman & Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "On a conference call with House Republicans a day after the party's electoral battering last week, Speaker John A. Boehner dished out some bitter medicine, and for the first time in the 112th Congress, most members took their dose. Their party lost, badly, Mr. Boehner said, and while Republicans would still control the House and would continue to staunchly oppose tax rate increases as Congress grapples with the impending fiscal battle, they had to avoid the nasty showdowns that marked so much of the last two years. Members on the call, subdued and dark, murmured words of support.... It was a striking contrast to a similar call last year, when Mr. Boehner tried to persuade members to compromise with Democrats on a deal to extend a temporary cut in payroll taxes, only to have them loudly revolt."

News Ledes

President Obama honors veterans at Arlington National Cemetery:

New York Times: "Greece’s fragile government pushed a tough budget of spending cuts and tax increases for 2013 through Parliament early Monday, moving a step closer to unlocking crucial rescue financing from the country's foreign creditors. The vote occurred as about 20,000 demonstrators gathered outside Parliament to protest austerity measures, the second such protest in a week."

New York Times: "Lawmakers with authority over intelligence and national security expressed consternation on Sunday that the F.B.I. investigation that led to the resignation of David Petraeus as director of central intelligence could have been conducted without the knowledge of officials in the White House or Congress. They also voiced puzzlement that it came to a head within hours of President Obama's re-election."

New York Times: "Syrian opposition factions signed a tentative agreement on Sunday to create a unified umbrella organization that could pave the way for long-elusive international diplomatic recognition, as well as more funding and improved military aid from foreign capitals."

AP: "A roaring explosion that leveled two homes and set two others ablaze in a huge fire forced about 200 people from a devastated Indianapolis neighborhood where at least one person was killed, authorities said Sunday. The powerful nighttime blast shattered windows, crumpled walls and inflicted other damage on at least 14 other homes.... The cause of the explosions remains unknown...."

AP: "Israeli aircraft struck the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing a Palestinian man, as militants bombarded the Jewish state with rockets and mortars in a fierce second day of fighting. The clashes have threatened to draw the two sides into a major confrontation two months before Israeli elections, a possibility underlined by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's warning that Israel was ready to strike harder against the militants if the violence persisted."

AP: "Israel was drawn into the Syrian civil war for the first time on Sunday, firing warning shots into the neighboring country after a stray mortar shell fired from Syrian territory hit an Israeli military post. The Israeli military said the mortar fire caused no injuries or damage at the post in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and then annexed. But in recent weeks, incidents of errant fire from Syria have multiplied, leading Israel to warn that it holds Syria responsible for fire on Israeli-held territory."

The Commentariat -- Nov. 10, 2012

The President's Weekly Address (will remain a fixture here):

     ... The transcript is here.

Character means doing the right thing when nobody is watching. -- David Petraeus, frequently

Someone is always watching. -- David Petraeus, occasional addendum

Those of you who appreciate irony may want to read "General David Petraeus's Rules for Living," which appears in this week's Newsweek under the byline of Paula Broadwell. See Fred Kaplan piece below. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link. ...

... Here's Andrea Mitchell of NBC News breaking the news:

... Josh Rogin of Foreign Policy has the transcripts of Petraeus's full statement to the CIA staff & President Obama's remarks following Petraeus's resignation. ...

... Commenter "Wheels" on Crooks & Liars writes, "... expect Fox news to add a D next to his name when reporting on it." ...

... Seung Min Kim of Politico: "The resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus came less than a week before he was scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on the Sept. 11 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. A spokesman for the committee said acting CIA Director Mike Morell would testify Thursday in place of Petraeus, who resigned Friday after admitting to an extramarital affair." ...

     ... Joe Coscarelli of New York magazine: "... he was scheduled to testify in front of the Intelligence Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives next Thursday. He won't now, and so the conspiracy theories have started already: 'This is only the latest in a string of groundshaking events demonstrating that the Obama administration hid information vital to the American people during the last days of the 2012 election cycle,' writes Ben Shapiro of Breitbart.com. 'Timing, everything suspicious. There has to be more to this story," tweeted all-seeing eye Rupert Murdoch.'" ...

... Fred Kaplan of Slate: "The woman with whom Gen. David Petraeus was having an affair is Paula Broadwell, the author of a recent hagiographic book about him, All In: The Education of General David Petraeus. It had long been rumored that something was going on between Petraeus and Broadwell. Her book, co-written with Vernon Loeb, is widely regarded as a valentine to the general. When she was embedded with him in Afghanistan, they went on frequent five-mile runs together. But Petraeus went on five-mile runs with many reporters, and few people who knew him took the rumors seriously. In his personal life, he's always been seen as a straight shooter, a square." Here's Broadwell's Webpage. (Update: it's gone now.) The blurb for her book, unfortunately titled All In, says, "... Broadwell was afforded extensive access to General Petraeus...." CW: I guess. Here's Broadwell on "The Daily Show":

     ... Stewart says, by way of intro, "The last time I recall a journalist embedded with a person at this level was with McCrystal, and it was Rolling Stone, and he got fired." CW: seems to be something of a pattern here. ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times profiles Broadwell, who is married with children.

... CW: I am not too sure why someone has to quit his job because he's had/is having an affair with a reporter. Don't you just go the Appalachian Trail route (see Sanford, Mark) & say, "I had/am having an affair with a reporter. I've been a terrible disappointment to my wife, blah blah"? ...

     ... Update: ah, here's the rub. Richard Engel of NBC News: "The biographer for resigning CIA Director David Petraeus is under FBI investigation for improperly trying to access his email and possibly gaining access to classified information, law enforcement officials told NBC News on Friday." During that investigation, the FBI happened upon the affair. ...

     ... Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Wall Street Journal: "The computer-security investigation -- which raised questions about a potential compromise to national security -- points to one reason Mr. Petraeus and the White House decided he couldn't remain in the senior intelligence position."

***

Frank Rich writes a terrific -- and rather terrifying -- post mortem of the Romney campaign & the GOP's long turn in Fantasyland: "For all the hand-wringing about Washington's chronic dysfunction and lack of bipartisanship, it may be the wholesale denial of reality by the opposition and its fellow travelers that is the biggest obstacle to our country moving forward under a much-empowered Barack Obama in his second term. If truth can't command a mandate, no one can."

John Cassidy, Jane Mayer & Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker talk to Dorothy Wickenden about the election:

David Maraniss, in the Washington Post: "At various points during his first term, Obama convened evening round tables of historians at the White House. According to several in attendance, the discussions ranged widely, but the central question Obama pursued was what it would take to reach lasting greatness, beyond the color of his skin."

Daniel Klaidman of Newsweek: no, Barack Obama is not "just lucky." ...

... CW: one bit of luck: super-duper savvy business manager/efficiency expert Mitt Romney bought a costly "state of the art" GOTV computer system that had never been tested, that crashed multiple times on election day & that left some 30,000 Romney campaign volunteers with no idea of who had voted & who hadn't, or WTF they were supposed to do. I guess that explains why Romney volunteers were still calling me on election day, even though my husband & I are registered Democrats & we had both early-voted. ...

... By Contrast -- Ruby Kramer of BuzzFeed: "Obama for America made what [campaign manager Jim] Messina called an 'unparalleled' $100 million investment in technology.... Every night, Obama's analytics team would run the campaign 66,000 times on a computer simulation. 'And every morning we would come in and spend our money based on those simulations,' said Messina. Their models ultimately predicted Florida results within 0.2%, and 0.4% in Ohio. The only state they got wrong, noted Messina, was Colorado, 'where we got one more point than we thought we would.' The Obama campaign was able to do that, he said, because they turned away from mainstream polling from shops like Gallup, which he called 'wrong the entire election.' ..."

... CW: meanwhile, as Akhilleus noted in a comment .... Garrett Haake of NBC News: "From the moment Mitt Romney stepped off stage Tuesday night, having just delivered a brief concession speech he wrote only that evening, the massive infrastructure surrounding his campaign quickly began to disassemble itself. Aides taking cabs home late that night got rude awakenings when they found the credit cards linked to the campaign no longer worked. 'Fiscally conservative,' sighed one aide the next day."

David Firestone of the New York Times: the Romney camp's belief that Romney would win the election, despite polls consistently showing Obama ahead, "shows just how far Republican isolationism has spread. No external source can be trusted, particularly if it comes from the government and the news media (excluding Fox and other conservative sources). Unemployment reports are suspect, the Congressional Budget Office has an agenda, and pollsters with long and sterling records are actually in the tank for the Democrats." CW: Firestone left out the Congressional Research Service!

Dan Amira of New York suggests "Nine Jobs that Mitt Romney Would Be Perfect for." With illustrations.

Dana Milbank: "Before arriving at acceptance, Republicans must go through another stage of grief unique to political loss: an extended period of finger-pointing known as the recriminations phase."

Greg Sargent "asked Larry Norden, an attorney with the Brennan Center for Justice, which closely monitors voting problems and voter suppression, how some of the voting problems could be solved. Norden had quite a few concrete suggestions, none of which Republicans would like.

... Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post: don't forget -- lots of white guys voted for Obama, too. The Democratic party would be making a mistake to forget that. CW: particularly true in the Rust Belt.

Jake Heller of Newsweek details "Six Absurd Republican Excuses for Mitt Romney's Defeat." Heller counters, "In reality, the Republican Party ... lost because 71 percent of Latinos, 93 percent of black people, 73 percent of Asian Americans, and 55 percent of women voted against it. The party did not embrace policies that appeal to these demographic groups -- and lost. And that's the GOP's fault."

James Galbraith in Salon: "That the looming debt and deficit crisis is fake is something that, by now, even the most dim member of Congress must know. The combination of hysterical rhetoric, small armies of lobbyists and pundits, and the proliferation of billionaire-backed front groups with names like the 'Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget' is not a novelty in Washington.... Big Money has been gunning for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid for decades -- since the beginning of Social Security in 1935." Galbraith, an economist, writes an excellent little essay explaining why the government should keep its hands off these programs.

New York Times Editors: "President Obama sounds as if he's ready to fight. Speaker John Boehner sounds like Mitt Romney."

Andy Borowitz: "House Speaker John Boehner today called for an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for the rich, thus ending a streak of pretending to work with President Obama that lasted forty-eight hours.... Speaking to reporters, Mr. Boehner downplayed the significance of his record-setting performance, saying merely, 'It just feels good being a dick again.'"

Ed Kilgore: despite what Very Serious People may tell you, Republican governors are not "pragmatic problem-solvers who know how to work across party lines to get things done." They're just as ideological & batty as Congressional Republicans.

Giant Lump of Coal. Axel Tonconogy of National Memo: "The day after the election, [Robert Murray,] the chairman and chief executive of the Ohio-based coal company fired 54 employees at American Coal and 102 at Utah American Energy, but not before reading a prayer and telling workers that 'the takers outvoted the producers.' Murray faulted Obama's 'war on coal,'" The Washington Post reported.... Given that no major changes took place in the days since Obama's re-election, there is little reason to believe Murray had any other cause for the layoffs besides partisan politics." The Washington Post story is here. CW: and CEOs can't understand why they're usually portrayed as evil, greedy sociopaths.

Lyle Denniston of ScotusBlog: "Acting three days after the nation's minority voters showed that they have increased and still growing power in U.S. elections, the Supreme Court agreed on Friday to rule on a challenge to Congress's power to protect those groups' rights at the polls." Via Greg Sargent. ...

... Adam Serwer of Mother Jones has more. "A cursory review of recent Republican shenanigans with voting rules should put the notion that the [Voting Rights Act] is obsolete entirely to bed. ...

... Adam Liptak of the New York Times has a good piece on the Court's decision to hear a case against the Voting Rights Act.

Local News

Norimitsu Onishi of the New York Times: "California's Democrats were poised on Friday to gain a two-thirds supermajority in the State Legislature, an achievement that would give them the power to raise taxes unilaterally and could potentially ease the gridlock in a state known for its fiscal chaos."

George Bennett & Christine Stapleton of the Palm Beach Post: "A Palm Beach County Circuit Court judge today denied U.S. Rep. Allen West's motion to impound ballots and voting machines from his apparent narrow loss to Democrat Patrick Murphy in the District 18 congressional race.... Judge David Crow said the West campaign's motion was 'premature' because official results have not yet been posted. Crow also said it is not the court's role to set elections procedures." CW: sticking with a tradition begun in 2000, they're still counting ballots in Palm Beach County. In Florida, we like to have hyphenated elections, as in "the 2012-2013 election."

News Ledes

CBS Chicago: "A former U.S. attorney representing embattled Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. is negotiating a plea deal with the federal government, CBS 2 has learned.... The plea deal would end Jackson's 17-year career as a congressman...."

Guardian: "The BBC has been plunged into the deepest crisis in its history with the dramatic resignation of its director general, George Entwistle, after just 54 days in the job. Entwistle fell on his sword after being engulfed by a crisis that escalated following confirmation on Friday that the BBC had wrongly implicated Lord McAlpine, a former senior Tory politician, in a story about paedophilia. It was the second scandal to hit Newsnight in recent weeks."

New York Times: "The Army's preliminary hearing in the case against Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians in Kandahar Province this year, unfolded last week.... The attacks, which occurred on March 11 in a deeply poor rural region while most of the victims were asleep, were the deadliest war crime attributed to a single American soldier in the decade of war that has followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001...."

Reuters: "Pentagon leaders knew of the September 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi an hour after it began, but were unable to mobilize reinforcements based in Europe in time to prevent the death of the U.S. ambassador, according to a timeline released on Friday."

Washington Post: "Federal agents arrested dozens of members of the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood of Texas on Friday and charged them with murder, kidnapping, racketeering and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine. A 43-page federal indictment unsealed by the Justice Department names 34 members of the violent organized crime group who have been charged, including four of its senior leaders."

Reuters: "An Afghan villager and two of his sons, who survived a night-time shooting rampage in March, testified on Saturday that they saw only one U.S. soldier attacking their compound, backing the U.S. government's account. Military prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, accusing him of killing 16 villagers, mostly women and children, when he ventured out of his remote camp on two revenge-fueled forays over a five-hour period in March."

New York Times: "The board of Citigroup has awarded $6.65 million to Vikram S. Pandit after unexpectedly ousting the chief executive last month. Mr. Pandit will receive the money as part of an 'incentive' package for his work during 2012. He will also continue to collect his deferred cash and stock awards from the previous year, compensation that the bank currently valued at more than $8.8 million."

Reuters: "A Vatican court on Saturday found Claudio Sciarpelletti, a computer expert, guilty of obstruction of justice in the investigation of leaks of sensitive papal documents to the media by Pope Benedict's former butler. The same court which last month convicted Paolo Gabriele, the Pope's former butler, gave Sciarpelletti a two-month suspended sentence."

The State of Reality Chex

First, thank you all for your encouragement and kind words.

I started Reality Chex in 2008 because I couldn't find a single site where I could get all or most all of what I wanted to know about the state of the presidential race and other contests. I figured that since I had to look all over the place to get a good handle on the big picture, I might as well share what I was finding. It was never my intention to carry the site past the 2008 election. However, the transition was pretty interesting so I carried on a bit longer. I figured I'd shut down after the inauguration. But the first months of the Obama administration were intense, so I kept up. Finally, I shut down Reality Chex in April 2009. Big protest. So I did a few things to make my job easier and started back up again.

I didn't allow comments until some time in 2011 (as I recall). That went fairly well, except I had problems with a few commenters attacking others and with some commenters who thought they could just make up “facts” to bolster their views. Others took me to be their personal research assistant or Answer Lady and would ask me to find stuff widely available through a simple Google search, or worse, to compile data in formats that were not widely available and report back. I got sick of all that & shut down for about a week, but I had enough letters asking me to resume that I did so, with some caveat that commenters had better shape up.

I understand that we were all on pins and needles going into the election, and we're all pumped now that it turned out more-or-less for the best. But this excitement has been followed by a return of the fact-free zone (along with few of requests of the Answer Lady). That gets me down, mostly because I don't think I should have to babysit adults. And I sure as hell don't enjoy it. I feel like Sister Mary Elephant.

So if you want to keep this site going, please show us all the courtesy of writing comments that contribute to, rather than detract from, the conversation. This is what most of you do almost all of the time. Alternately, if you want to write crap, I'll either have to shut down the comments facility – which I don't want to do – or find a crap moderator and let her or him manage the comments. Any volunteers for this thankless post should write to me personally at constantweader@gmail.com I don't expect a long line of applicants.

As Sister Mary Elephant would say, “Thank you.”

Marie