The Rev. Al is the host of 'Politics Nation with Al Sharpton' on MSNBC. This was the second annual year-end show where The Rev. and his panel gave awards for the high and low points of politics during the year. His panel included Jonathan Capehart, Victoria Defrancesco Soto, Krystal Ball, and Richard Wolffe.
Many of the accolades had ridiculous names such as 'The Empty Chair' and 'Lost Their Shirt' Awards. Also, the panel could barely identify one positive move made by a Republican during 2012, except for Chris Christie's post-Hurricane Sandy photo-op with President Obama - and even that was a back-handed compliment to the Democratic Party. You must take everything the Rev. Al says with a grain of salt as he has a history of stretching the truth. We remember those Tawana Brawley allegations, Rev. But take a look at his list anyway.
2nd Annual 'Revvie' Awards
'The Thriller Award' - Best Political Move - The Obama 2012 Campaign ground game turning out the vote to re-elect Barack Obama
'This Dud's for You' - Worst Political Move - The republican's engineering an aggressive voter suppression campaign
'The Spotlight Award' - Defining Moment of 2012 - Mitt Romney's 47% speech
Best Musical Performance - Governor Chris Christie's duet with Jimmy Fallon on Bruce Springsteen's Thunder Road. Watch the duet here.
Honorary Best Musical Performance - President Obama's performance of Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together'
'Rising Star of the Year' - Political Powerhouse of 2012 - Latinos, Elizabeth Warren, and Hillary Clinton
'The Empty Chair Award' - Award for Not Showing Up - Donald Trump's continued birther quest
'Lost Their Shirt Award' - Worst Investor of the Year - Karl Rove's group, American Crossroads, for making a $91 million dollar investment in the 2012 presidential campaign with nothing to show for it.
'Bluebird Pie Award' - Lifetime Achievement Award - Karl Rove, who is obviously Al Sharpton's nemesis.
Biggest Winner of 2012 - 47% or 99% who showed up to vote and the tenacity of minority group voting coalitions.
Biggest Loser of 2012 - Right wing media who lost the ability to convince people that just because you put something on high rotation doesn't convince people that it is true.
Predictions for 2013 - The Supreme Court addressing key issues, such as marriage rights and gun laws, and states trying to undermine federal law.
Watch clips here and here and here.
After the Republican convention in August, Senator Lindsey Graham (SC) stated, “We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.” Now, conservative analysts have revisited this idea that demographics in the Republican party need some attention as "white voters go missing."
Without looking at statistics, it would seem that the number of white voters would decrease as the composition of the electorate changes, but in reality, exit polls reflect a decrease in the number of white voters showing up t\o the polls compared to the relatively small increase in the number of minority voters who voted. The Associated Press reported that 72% of voters in the 2012 Presidential election were white, compared to 74% in 2008.
"White guys" were not the only individuals who did not turn out to vote in the recent election. Based on the defeat of Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock, who seem to be fans of rape, women did not show up to vote for them either. During the campaign for Senate, Akin stated woman could not get pregnant from "legitimate rape." We're still waiting for someone to define "legitimate rape." Even after criticism, Mourdock stood by his statement that pregnancy from rape is "something God intends to happen."
Read more about the "Angry White Guy" theory here.
The New York Times Campaign Stops blog analyzed many of the political Google searches, which revealed some interesting [to say the least] things about many voters.
- 5,000 people a month ask about Mitt Romney's underwear
- "Paul Ryan Shirtless" is nine times more popular a search than "Paul Ryan budget"
- Red
states are more likely to search for "Barack Hussein Obama" whereas
blue states search more frequently for "Willard Mitt Romney"
- 1 in 100 searches for Obama on election day in 2008 also included "KKK" or "nigger"
- "Michelle Obama ugly" receives three times as many searches as "Michelle Obama beautiful"
Hmm...
Read the rest of the list here.
A Romney supporter recently wore this shirt to a rally in Ohio:
A spokesperson for the Romney campaign denounced the shirt, saying that it has no place in this election but it makes us wonder how many holey sheets the supporter has in his closet.
There's even a (unrelated) Facebook group, which says, "Let's put a white man back in The White House. Electing Obama to office was a huge mistake. Even though he is only a half breed it was his black side running our country and spending out of control." And it looks like 23 people agree.
More here.
On October 16, 1995, social activist Louis Farrakan called all African-American men to Washington, D.C. for the "Million Man March," which led to controversy about whether the march attendees met the million person goal.
After the first Presidential Debate, presidential candidate Mitt Romney threatened to cut funding for PBS which receives about 1% of the federal budget which accounts for about 12% of PBS's revenue. Viewers like you are none too happy at the prospect of losing Sesame Street and access to public broadcasting and have called for a Million Muppet March to save PBS' funding.
Every time another group latches on to the Million (insert M word) March formula, it seems to diminish the magnitude of calling for a million individuals to support a social movement.
Here is a sampling of movements based off the Million Man March name: Million Marijuana March, Million Mom March, Million Hoodie March, and Million Woman March.
Find out more about the Muppet March here.
Debate season starts soon and the first one is this Wednesday:
First Presidential Debate
Thursday, October 3, 2012 @ 9 p.m. EDT
University of Denver - Denver, Colorado
Domestic Policy
Moderated by Jim Lehrer, Executive Editor of PBS' NewsHour
Vice Presidential Debate
Wednesday, October 11, 2012 @ 9 p.m. EDT
Centre College - Danville, Kentucky
Domestic and Foreign Policy
Moderated by Martha Raddatz, Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent ABC News
Second Presidential Debate
Tuesday, October 16, 2012 @ 9 p.m. EDT
Hofstra University - Hempstead, New York
Foreign and Domestic Policy
Moderated by Candy Crowley, Chief Political Correspondent CNN and Anchor of CNN's State of the Union
Third Presidential Debate
Monday, October 22, 2012 @ 9 p.m. EDT
Lynn University - Boca Raton, Florida
Foreign Policy
Moderated by Bob Schieffer, Chief Washington Correspondent, CBS News, and Moderator of Face the Nation
More details here. Of course, @SBWomanBlog will be live-tweeting.
