GUY I DO NOT LIKE.

Norm.

I find his pre-emptive declaration of victory in the current Senate race profoundly offensive. And yes, I know that the AP momentarily declared Coleman the "winner" — but given the numbers, Coleman didn't have to pounce. And he did, and this was enormously disrespectful to the voters. Part of the reason why this was so disrespectful is because of the CONTINUAL mismanagement of elections in urban centers (which just so happen to tilt democratically). In my neighborhood, people waited alomst two hours to vote. I watched people arrive, look at the line, and turn around. Now I've heard people argue that if your vote isn't important enough for you to wait then it's tough luck, but I don't want to hear that from anyone in a) a "red" county where there was b) no significant wait for voting. People were losing their opportunity to vote in neighborhood because they had to go to work. That's not right. At this moment, Senator Coleman is up by less than 400 votes, and the number is shrinking as the counties double check the bottoms of the vote bins. I honestly don't think Franken would be playing his hand this way if the numbers were reversed. When Franken was up ever so slightly Thursday night, he expressed cautious optimism, but also the importance of being patient and counting all the votes. Given how long people waited TO vote, this is entirely reasonable. I've been struggling to come up with an analogy that captures how jarringly inappropriate Coleman's behavior is here. This is my best effort so far.

Heck, if Rachel Maddow can go the well for a football analogy, why can't I?

Imagine a football team (the Pachyderms?) that won the last Super Bowl because the opposing team's quarterback was killed in a horrific accident days before the game. Imagine further that this Super Bowl winner talked a lot of smack after edging the other team (the Donkeys, captained for that one game by an old second string QB who comes out of retirement for the game). After the game, the Pachyderm QB says that he's a better QB than the late Donkey quarterback ever was, while wearing his "Pachyderm Super Bowl CHAMPS" t-shirt. Fast forward to the next Super Bowl. The losing team is back with a new, better QB. In the 59th minute of a hard-fought game, the Donkeys manage to tie the game, and they kick off to the Pachyderms, who respond with a drive that stalls on the Donkey 45-yard-line as time expires. The Donkey QB takes a deep breath and prepares to play on. The Pachyderms, by contrast, led by their QB, begin a victory celebration at midfield.

"Hey," the Donkeys and the referees say. "The game is not over yet."

"We win!" shouts the Pachyderm QB. We've got the ball and we're in your territory!"

"Yes, but you don't have more points. The rules say you need to score more points. This game is tied at 42-all."

"Well, I'm driving, and we probably would have scored more points on this drive had the clock not expired, so let's acknowledge that we're the better team. Woo-hoo! We win!"

"No, the rules specify we flip the coin and start a new quarter until somebody scores. Might be you, might be us, but after a short break we're starting the overtime period."

"But won't that mean we'll have to pay the referees extra?"

"Sure, they get time-and-a-half for overtime."

"Given the financial pressures that the league is facing, shouldn't you spare us all that added expense?"

"Ummmm, NO. Because we've already budgeted for this possibility, and because the fans are still waiting in their seats to see who won the game according to the rules of the game."

"Are you really going to put us through all of that trouble?"

"Y'know, it's not really me, and it's not really my Donkey teammates. It's the rules. We have the rules so that we stand a good chance of finding out who has the better team today. So far, you're not better enough. Don't you want to know whether you're really better than us?"

(long pause)

"Repeat Super Bowl Champions! Woo-hoo! We're going to Disneyland!"

Norm Coleman would like to think that he can reconcile his professed interest in bipartisanship with his overt and profound disrespect for the votes of the 1,211,190 Franken supporters who did not wish to see him returned to the Senate (to say nothing of the votes of the Barkley supporters).

He can't.

57% of the people of this state DO NOT WANT HIM to continue as Senator.

DO. NOT. WANT.

Yet Norm surveyed that lanscape, and decided to shout: "VICTORY."

To which I think a lot of Minnesotans are responding: Uff da!

GUY I LIKE.

Robert Gibbs. For years I have watched liberalism be characterized as a refuge for unpricipled, mealy-mouthed equivocators. Robert Gibbs, by NOT being afraid to use the "L" word (in this case, I mean "lie") here shows what tough liberal sounds like.