Gizmodo 
Enter your username and password.
Tip your editors:
tips@gizmodo.com
Editorial Director:
Brian Lam | Email | Twitter
Editor:
Jason Chen
Email | AIM | Twitter
Features Editor:
Wilson Rothman
Email | Twitter
Senior Contributing Editor:
Jesus Diaz
Email | AIM | Twitter
Mark Wilson, Reviews
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editors:
Matt Buchanan
Email | AIM | Twitter
Adam Frucci
Email | Twitter
Sean Fallon
Email | Twitter
Jack Loftus
Email | Twitter
John Herrman
Email | Twitter
Dan Nosowitz
Email
Chris Mascari
Email
Danny Allen
Email | Twitter
Columnist:
Brendan I. Koerner
Interns:
Don Nguyen
Email
Chris Jacob
Email
Comment Intern:
Nick Ellenoff | Email
Comment Account Questions:
Comments@gizmodo.com
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/15/08
This is why you do not talk politics at work, and Giz is work, Gadget work, but still work
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
Dan, I appreciate your columns, but you knew this would happen.
11/15/08
11/15/08
Fixed your post..
They want this to happen. It's like an escape valve, and cuts down on politspeak on other posts. And they LOVE Obama. In a Prop 8 sort of way, of course.
11/15/08
"...in an anti-Prop. 8 sort of way."
(Not that I agree, but that seemed to be what you meant.)
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
a) I trust Obama more than the Senate leadership, and while 60 would help Obama, it would also give the Senate a lot of power to prevent pragmatic solutions in favor of state politics.
b) I do not, do not, do not want Joe Lieberman to be that important.
c) I don't currently see any legitimate way we could win Georgia, and I don't want a "tricky" win.
d) Norm Coleman has the IQ of an 8 year-old, but I could live without Al Franken saying prickish things and making us look bad.
11/15/08
So I'll take Alaska and leave it at that.
But what I would have really liked would have been to see Rice get in there over that joker Inhofe. It was never going to happen, but I think Andrew Rice would have been an excellent senator. (Maybe he can take out Coburn in 2010 - that would be even better.)
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
But the ballots in the car thing has been established as untrue by the very local Republican who first reported it.
However it does turn out though, a fair result is all I really care about.
11/15/08
11/15/08
"Pelosi, The President needs you stop acting like you run this party. Just as I did with Welfare to Work, I'm going to create a centrist, pragmatist position with or without you. And if you're not on board? You're DEAD to us! *knife plunge!*"
(And don't try to tell me Chicago is any worse than Alaska or Louisiana or New York or Oklahoma or anywhere Abramoff went or any of the other places with well-established corruption. The whole system is corrupt. At least he put in the most extensive rules against lobbyists in a transition team we've ever had.)
11/15/08
11/15/08
But, whether or not it's a good thing, from my perspective it's not about some shady backrooms, but that you can trace it pretty directly to when Kerry (not from Chicago) tapped him for the DNC keynote.
If you look at the grassroots organizations and liberal blogs (mydd, dailykos, HuffPo, etc.) after that speech, folks were ready for him to be a national player right then. It was after that speech that well-respected Senators, etc. approached him about running.
It's not just Reagan and the Repubs. Dems like some inspiration too and were tired of the Gore's and Kerry's of the world.
While I happen to think that he has since showed himself to be competent and right on policy since that night, I'll totally accept that it was purely Obama's ability to make a good speech that got him the national spotlight and the beginning of his base. A base that was totally disspirited and ready to latch on to anyone who could inspire "Hope."
11/15/08
11/15/08
"Independent" coverage has implied that Obama has been careful not to make specific promises to voting blocks (hence the lack of policy charge), BUT I'll still be (pleasantly) shocked if he can live up to expectations and the "vision" that people have projected on him. (Including me, I'll accept that.)
But then again, I am one of those people who can't really bring himself to cheer for Clinton since I do very dearly resent how he abandoned his promises, and I won't forget it.
11/15/08
I know, I know, where else would they be posted? I'd prefer open distribution through something like bit torrent or hosting on a government-run server like any .gov site, but they'd get posted to Youtube anyway and this is perhaps the most effective way to have a lot of people see them. Youtube, after all, is the second most used search engine in the world (after Google).
It does seem like a natural progression, since there was that "Youtube debate" and all, but I still wish they had picked another option.
11/15/08
I'm guessing YouTube was a balance between being allowed a certain amount of control over the video while still being able to reach a wide audience. But a multiple party approach would be better.
It is, however, "primarily" posted on the change.gov cite. So maybe we should consider this the "posted to YouTube anyway"?
11/15/08
How "right" it feels? Is this a Freudian slip I see before me here on the Giz, where things are oft remarkable for how "left" they feel? :)
Obama has my respect as President. But those who offer him endless adulation, attribute him boundless inspirational powers, and expect him to cure all mankind's ills would do well to heed Wolfe: "A cult is a religion with no political power."
11/15/08
Who wants a change to even more liberal ideas such as baby killing, socialism, and higher taxes? Sounds like a change for the worse to me.
Gizliberals? I lose respect for you :(
11/15/08
1) Same baby killing not more baby killing.
2) Only socialism if you think the Clinton years were socialism. We're not going to be Scandanavia anytime soon (although God forbid if we were, those people are really suffering and unhappy.)
3) Higher taxes only if you make over $250K. A group of people who actually voted for Obama even though they acknowledged they would pay more taxes, because they recognized that a return to Clinton-era tax rates was actually better for the economy overall.
(I know, I know - I need to stop correcting this stuff. But seriously, disagreement I'm fine with. Lack of accuracy drives me nuts.)
11/15/08
Spouting massively debunked Fox News talking points is unattractive. The self-serving conservative media has done a great job of propagandizing the term "liberal" into what you have so ineloquently distilled it to. The conservative media that spends its time blasting the "liberal media", which barely exists in this country, does so because it makes them appear to be victims, when in fact, they are the perpetrators. Perpetrators of a massive fraud that has taken in the American people in vast numbers.
On the gadget front, I just got my Fujitsu U820 this week, and it's a nice, zippy piece of kit! :)
11/15/08
1. Obama wants to increase abortion to a later term in preganancy. Any abortion is murder and later term is more abominable.
2. Socialism comes by increasing socialism of our banking system (in progress), socialism of our health care, socialism of our education (done), socialism in our taxes (steal from rich, give to poor to make all equal), socialism in our thoughts (taking away free speech, guns, etc, espcially with the "hate crimes bills" and "fairness doctrines", and socialism in our national programs. More government control is always bad. I prefer freedom.
3. Don't go along with the liberal spewed lies. Even obama says 150k in certain speeches. Liberals raise taxes in many areas, not just income tax. We are taxed to death and it will get worse. Lower taxes boost the economy. Higher taxes stiffle it. Our national debt cannot be corrected at this point no matter what, so they will attempt to hyperinflate and tax us with this unseen tax.
America is going down the toilet even faster (repubs and demoncrats are mostly all liberals now)
11/15/08
1) Obama doesn't the power to do what you say, even if he wanted to. What Obama has supported is state restriction on late-term abortion so long as there is a real health of the mother exception (so you don't lose both the mother and the baby.) He does not include "mental health" in this definition.
2) How does access to the Congressional insurance coverage equal socialism? He has never proposed a state-run health care system. If anything, the Dems argued that his health care proposals were not strong enough, relative to Clinton and Edwards. Where is the socialism of education? Are you actually against Federal-backed student loans? Returning to prior tax rates is "stealing from the rich?" Unless you think that only a flat tax or no income tax is the answer - that argument holds no logical power. Obama has explicitly rejected the fairness doctrine and has said nothing about extending hate crime bills.
3. Most of the "taxes" are state taxes. Property, Sales, etc. If you think Obama is simply "lying" about under 200K cut, over 250K increase, then that's your prerogative, but the position itself is clear. And if you are in favor of tax loopholes and welfare for corporations that move jobs and incorporate overseas and in the Caribbean, then you are free to, but I would like to see their tax loopholes close so that they can pay taxes like the rest of us.
11/15/08
You've been lied to. He's already voted in the Senate to raise taxes on all who make over $42,000. In his own campaign, they've gone from $300,000 and are now down to $150,000. Hey, Koo-Aid!
The other points are wrong as well, but I'm tired. You'll see. You won't learn, but you'll see.
11/15/08
11/15/08
Want to make some wagers?
*taps fingers together excitedly!*
The $150K number came from Biden, so it's worth, oh you know...nothin'. I think Richardson said $120, but he's not even part of the campaign.
The $42K was not an actual tax raise vote, but a non-binding resolution regarding overall priorities that included a number of details and implications that no one expected to ever become law.
It's like agreeing in principle to an outline of a discussion and then being told that it means you want to implement some particular element of the drafters notes.
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
And that's okay.
It's not like I think Rachel Maddow is trying to be objective either, and I don't lean on her for my objective news coverage.
(And now that I know Keith Olbermann doesn't even vote, I've pretty much written him off completely.)
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
WW1: during Woodrow Wilson's presidency
WW2: during FDR
Korean War: Truman
Cuba: JFK
Vietnam: LBJ
Iran-Contra crisis: Carter
Kosovo bombings: Clinton (wag the dog anyone?)
But our current republican president attacks safe-havens for those who wish to exterminate every American/Western man, woman and child ([www.msnbc.msn.com]">Afghanistan, Iraq) in the age of the internet and instantly he's a villain.
11/15/08
We're just as capable and incapable of starting, leading, and/or ending both good and bad wars and invasions as the Repubs are.
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
You're not making any sense here whatsoever, and it's borderline trollish.
@Illist:
I think it's great for Obama to be doing this as well.
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
Your treating this man like the new heart-throb on 90210... I kinda want to throw up.
Politics aside though I agree that this new medium of communication is a great way to voice his concerns and plans with everyone without the nation having to be glued to a tv or radio. Its a good step forward.
I still want to throw up though...
11/15/08
Well, that is why the posted it.
11/15/08
11/15/08
Since he's OUR PRESIDENT! and all.
(Sorry, did I accidentally say that really loudly?)
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
If we're screwed, it's because we already are.
11/15/08
11/15/08
Hell yeah!
11/15/08
11/15/08
Tell you what, if you even have the balls to respond to this. Please, share with everyone YOUR economic recovery plan. I'm sure the 6,000 Sun employees who were laid off yesterday would love to read it.
11/15/08
11/15/08
Stop spending money you dont need to. <-- solves a huge portion of problems.
granted there are the families who are struggling and having difficulty, but its difficulty to pin point any one economic group. Also i highly doubt anyone here posting on giz is desperate for money so its difficulty to be hateful towards each other. Mainly my point is, we (generally speaking) who post/comment on giz have no understanding what most of these people go through. Next time you see a homeless person or someone who looks like their down on their luck. toss a few dollars their way. if you really are worried about the economy go volunteer for a charitable organization that assists people. Im not saying you dont do this, im just randomly throwing out reasons and suggestions on how the economy could be saved by a few people.
So do as Obama said look after yourself and each other.
11/15/08
Hey I have an idea, how about you quit crying like he said something about a family member of yours. Now I didn't either one of the candidates but hey I am an American and will always be. The dude can be sarcastic if he wants to, he didn't say anything to you personally, so grab that stick out of your ass and have a good day. Quit sweating the small stuff and enjoy life. Deuces!
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
11/15/08
"Also i highly doubt anyone here posting on giz is desperate for money"
Yeah, I've been unemployed reading Giz before, and it may happen again.
Good try, though. I appreciate the thought.
"We (generally speaking) who post/comment on giz have no understanding what most of these people go through."
I ride the bus and walk everyday. There's some richkids here, but there's a big audience for Giz.
"Next time you see a homeless person or someone who looks like their down on their luck. toss a few dollars their way."
Or me. I have a home to pay for.
11/15/08
Second of all, riding the bus is your idea of "going through" shit? Wow, your life is great. Stop whining about having to ride decent public transportation and having a home that is hard to pay for. That is called LIFE. That is nothing like being homeless or living a rough life by any means at all.
Thirdly, stop posting on giz and go get a job. If you are unemployed, why are you posting on giz and not trying to salvage your future? Maybe think about things before purchasing a house that you may not be able to afford. ALWAYS take into consideration that your job may not be forever. ESPECIALLY when purchasing something like a house that must be paid off.
So, that completely debunks everything you just said. You are selfish and irrational. Have a good day.
11/15/08