In summary:

[andygates]

In the words of Warwick LPMUD, "McCain is massacred into tiny fragments with devastating force."  

Sometimes the fun is in the game, sometimes it's in the crushing victory.

Good work, guys. 

Comments

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Will Bolton thump Scharma? That would be the absolute cherry on my cake tonight.

[estaratshirai.livejournal.com]

Yay! We don't always suck!

[andygates.livejournal.com]

*does the thanks-for-proving-it dance* !

[teahisme.livejournal.com]

I do feel sorry for McCain though. He is a guy that has been through so very much and gave up lots for his country. No one can doubt his love of the US. That said, yay us! Did you see both their speeches last night? AWESOMENESS!

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Don't make him the right man for the job. I saw both speeches. Maybe a bit of a damp eye when CHA 27 (thanks ankaret) man took the stage.

[esran.livejournal.com]

OMG. Someone found my e2 stuff! And one of the few of my e2 edits that hasn't gone to node heaven too!

[andygates.livejournal.com]

It's on the first page of Google results for "warwick mud" - how could I resist?

[thudthwacker.livejournal.com]

Sitting and watching the returns, as a win, became a rout, became a landslide, was a truly wonderful time. Both speeches were great, and let me tell you, having a president who I *like* listening to is going to feel really good after the last 8 years.

I was genuinely moved by one part near the end of McCain's concession:

"Today, I was a candidate for the highest office in the country I love so much. And tonight, I remain her servant. That is blessing enough for anyone."

He seemed to mean it, he shushed his bolt-necked supporters when they booed Obama, and in general ended his campaign with a lot of class and dignity. And he didn't let that Palin woman get within a yard of the microphone, which was just plain old good sense.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

It did seem as if the Darth McCain of the latter half of the campaign finally managed to fizz up his Light Side and become the guy he was before the lizard empire got their tentacles into him. But he made a bad, dumb, dangerous and weak choice in going that way, and this isn't Star Wars so my love is tempered.

Obama... yeah. Fuck yeah.

[despaer.livejournal.com]

Let us hope he does what everyone hopes he can. And let us also hope that everyone starts to judge him on those deeds and forgets what colour his skin is as that should no longer be a consideration in this day and age.

I hadn't realised until I read this that Palin had gone totally silent but now you mention it, isn't it nice?

[andygates.livejournal.com]

You betcha!

[xeeny.livejournal.com]

"Barak Obama. Can we fix it? Yes we can!"

Hmmm - not convinced. Last time we saw all this happiness and optimism at a political landslide was New Labour winning. That worked out well didn't it?

How long will the honeymoon last do we reckon? A few years? Or until they start to bomb Iran?

[andygates.livejournal.com]

The first term wasn't too bad. It hit the toilet when the George and Tony Show decided to start a war. Obama has, at least, come out against *this* war: it's no guarantee that he won't balls it up, but if you want guarantees, you should be looking at religion, not politics.

This guy doesn't pretend climate change doesn't exist. He's not a born-again antiscience asshat who goes with his gut: he's got a reputation for getting a good team of advisers together and listening to them, not editing their reports where the conclusions are unwelcome. We're a sight closer to getting a sequel to Kyoto with him than with McCain.

I'm not expecting the White House puppy to be a unicorn, but it's a damn sight better than the other guy and a damn sight better than the last eight years.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

He also subscribes to the Powell Doctrine as regards military action. This is a Good Thing.

[despaer.livejournal.com]

The first term only wasn't too bad because the economic damage they started to wreak didn't impact directly enough on anyone for them to notice and the economy was so easy to drive at that stage that nobody paid attention to what they were doing.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

I'm not an economist so I can't comment.

[despaer.livejournal.com]

Good things they did - Introduce the minimum wage, give interest rate setting to the Bank of England

Bad things they did - introduce the tax on pension dividends, move our system of taxation over to one done by stealth rather than obvious means (income tax and vat), set the housing boom in motion.

Credit where it is due, it wasn't all bad but the problem was that the bad stuff was done in an underhand way (remember how everyone used to think that they were prudent with tax revenue?) and we will be paying through either increased taxation or high inflation for this for about 10 years starting in about 2010 or 2011.

Of course I may be talking cobblers, so if I am hopefully this blog entry will have been buried deep under all Gates' other stuff by then :)