Salon.com > 2012 election

Must-see morning clip

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 14:14:00 +0000

ABC has released an exclusive interview with Michelle and Barack Obama's first joint interview since the election. The first lady takes Barbara Walters on a tour of the White House and the the couple discusses their marriage, below:

Tom Davis says “underclass minorities” helped Obama

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 23:26:00 +0000

Former Virginia congressman Tom Davis today attributed President Obama's reelection, in part, to the voter turnout of "underclass minorities."

Salon's Joan Walsh pointed out that the term "underclass" is out-of-touch and "that's not who we're talking about here," she said.

"Hardball" host Chris Matthews awkwardly defended Davis, saying, "He's a good guy, he's a good guy, Susan -- I mean Joan. Thank you, Joan Walsh, I'm just trying to help him out a little bit here, he came on the show, he's nice enough to do that -- you're always going to be here."

Must-see morning clip

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:44:00 +0000

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel interviews Eric Hartsburg, the man who received $15,000 for tattooing the Romney/Ryan campaign logo on his face. Hartsburg says he plans to keep the tattoo "for the rest of my life," and says that his forehead space is still for sale.

Where are America’s racist anti-Obama tweets coming from?

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 21:34:00 +0000

A group of academics that run the data visualization blog Floatingsheep has collected “some of the nastiest tweets you might possibly imagine" post-election and mapped them onto physical locations. The results are not all-together unsurprising: Many of the racist tweets against Obama come from states that voted for Romney, and there is a higher than average concentration in the southeastern United States. Time writes:

Post-election, politicos cash in

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 02:00:00 +0000

There are two types of money that corrupt our politics. After a national election that cost more than $2 billion, most of us know about the blatant kind that floods into politicians' campaigns, typically with quid pro quo strings attached. This is the most obvious form of legalized bribery — cash goes in, policy positions and legislative favors eventually come out.

As powerful as that money is, though, there's also a second, equally corrosive form of payoff — the kind that awaits campaign staff and outgoing government officials if and when they enter the world of influence peddling. This more secret form of influence, which will quietly shape the post-election period, tends to generate far less outrage than ho-hum rationalizations. For this reason, you almost never hear about it — that is, until the last few weeks, when a series of coincidental revelations provided a rare look at how this dark money really works.

Must-see morning clip

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 13:49:00 +0000

Jimmy Kimmel found yet another group of people who have "strong opinions" on "imaginary events," such as the Vice-Presidential Election. In last night's edition of "Lie Witness News," the crew interviewed people who were adamant about voting on Wednesday, Nov. 7.

TV Reporter mistakes will.i.am for Wyclef Jean and then Wale

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 21:27:00 +0000

TV Reporter Blake Burman is probably going to have a tough time recovering from this:

h/t Gawker

Watch Mitt Romney’s concession speech

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:57:00 +0000

Watch President Obama’s full victory speech

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:50:00 +0000

Twitter asks: Was Diane Sawyer drunk last night?

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:38:00 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) -- Diane Sawyer's Election Night performance left some viewers asking if she had begun celebrating Tuesday's election a bit early.

Co-anchoring ABC News' coverage, the veteran journalist struck a different manner from her practiced, straight-news-delivering style.

Sawyer spoke more slowly than usual while seeming to prop herself on outstretched arms at the anchor desk she shared with George Stephanopoulos.

"OK," she said at one point around 10 p.m. EST, "I wanna - can we have our music, because this is another big one here? Minnesota, we're ready to project Minnesota, rrright now. ... Well, tonight we know that President Barack has won Minnesota," she rambled on, stumbling over the president's name.

Maybe Sawyer was just weary from the recent torrent of news.

In any case, the Twitterverse took quick notice and began cracking wise.

Her name was soon trending with unflattering posts, while a new Twitter handle, Drunk Diane Sawyer, collected hundreds of followers. An ABC spokesman did not comment.

Must-see morning clip

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:02:00 +0000

Obama and his anger translator tell Americans what to expect under a second term:

Election Day pictures

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 10:30:00 +0000

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NY, NJ officials help displaced residents vote

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 14:22:00 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) — Officials in New York and New Jersey plan to go to considerable lengths Tuesday to ensure victims of Superstorm Sandy can still vote, in some cases shuttling voters to polling stations and allowing residents to cast provisional ballots.

Authorities in both states were guardedly optimistic that most polling places would be open in all but the worst-hit areas. In New Jersey, officials said fewer than 100 polling places in the state were without power compared with 800 sites a few days ago. In New York City, just 60 of the city's 1,350 polling sites remained unusable.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, quote, "compared to what we have had to deal with in the past week, this will be a walk in the park when it comes to voting."

Must-see morning clip

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 14:00:00 +0000

In another edition of Jimmy Kimmel's "Lie Witness News," the crew asks people about their polling experiences--one day before polls in the area opened up.

Jon Stewart on political pundit hackery

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 13:19:00 +0000

Jon Stewart mocks the hackery of political pundits (specifically Newt Gingrich).

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Obama’s last celebrity push

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 21:04:00 +0000

With the 2012 election now down to its last day, President Obama has been pulling in major star power to urge Americans to get out and vote. According to the AP, 181 celebrities, including prominent actors, musicians, authors, athletes and politicians, "are being deployed to carry his message to television and radio in the waning days of the campaign." Just this weekend alone ...

Stevie Wonder played a surprise concert in Ohio:

Neil Diamond worked the phones in Los Angeles:

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(Of course, he sang too):

Will Ferrell, the founder of Facebook, said "he'll personally give you a tattoo" if you vote for Obama:

Katy Perry performed in Milwaukee:

Election Day media guide

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:52:00 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) -- The days of watching Election Night coverage on a single television set may soon be a quaint anachronism.

Americans have an array of alternatives for following returns on Tuesday night. Television news divisions are throwing everything they have into the story, and second-screen options are abounding.

People will be able to construct their own media experiences, seek out desired information instead of waiting for it, participate in conversations and hear analysis that reflects their own perspectives or none in particular.

Virtually all of the media organizations covering the election promise a huge amount of information available online, from interactive maps that display state-by-state results to data from exit polls.

It's expected to be a big night for social media, and news organizations say they will monitor the conversations and have their own journalists actively participate.

Don't forget show biz: NBC is turning the Rockefeller Center skating rink into a giant map of the United States to be filled in with results. ABC will make Times Square into a virtual studio, displaying results and coverage on huge video screens and having Josh Elliott prowl around gathering reactions.

“In the service of my president”

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 01:33:00 +0000

Pundits still can't stop pitting former President Clinton against President Obama. On Fox News Sunday morning, Ed Henry said Clinton might be the one to pull Obama over the finish line on Tuesday, as though the current president was a laggard who couldn't do the job himself. But Clinton's embrace of Obama, while genuine, also reflects a strong dose of self-interest. A second Obama term secures Clinton's legacy. It's also a defeat for the ugly legacy of racism that the former president spent his career fighting.

I've been dismissing media attempts to foment or exaggerate a Clinton-Obama feud since the former president endorsed his wife Hillary's rival back in 2008. But there's no denying 2008 was bitter. Clinton did make racially insensitive (at the very least) remarks; some on the Obama team struck back by painting the former president as a backwards racist, unfairly in my opinion.

Heckler interrupts Romney rally to bring up climate change

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 19:36:00 +0000

In a real-life scene reminiscent of George Orwell's Two Minutes Hate, a protester at a Romney rally today was booed and escorted out after yelling, "What about climate? That's what caused this monster storm!" After his removal, the crowd erupted into a patriotic chant.

via ThinkProgress

Romney compares relief efforts to cleaning up a football field

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:43:00 +0000

At a recent "storm relief event" in Ohio, Mitt Romney likened the Hurricane Sandy relief effort to cleaning a football field covered with "rubbish and paper goods." While explaining that this was a challenge he faced in high school, he asked the crowd, "How are we going to clean up all the mess on the football field?'"

"If everybody cleans their lane," he said, everyone will be able to "get the job done."