GIBSON: And you would think that Don Sherwood (R-Pa), he’s got four terms in the House, you would think he’d be easy for re-election. But Don Sherwood ran into some problems and had to admit to his district that indeed he had an extramarital affair. He also was accused of — well, what was he accused of? Beating up the mistress, I guess.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I think strangling her, he tried to strangle her, Charlie. [Chuckles.] It was not a good race for Don Sherwood.
Best Dan Rather Impersonation
This goes to Chris Matthews for his colorful — if syntactically flawed — search for meaning: “Is there anywhere you can find in this manure pile a pony for the Republicans?”
Best Ad Hominem Attack
CNN’s Paul Begala, who, in discussing how Missouri’s stem-cell initiative affected turnout, told Anderson Cooper that Rush Limbaugh is a “drug-addled windbag.”
Most Nuanced Dissection of a Race
CNN’s Bill Schneider, for this helpful distillation of the Virginia Senate contest: “Men voting for Allen, that’s football. Women voting for Webb, that’s Iraq.”
Voodoo Politics
Finally, we take note of Brian Kilmeade, on Fox & Friends this morning, for delivering the most original explanation for what happened, at least on one key race: “It didn’t help Sen. Santorum that his good buddy Joe Paterno [the Penn State football coach] has a broken leg and got hurt on Saturday. Maybe that was a precursor of what he’s experienced.”
I can't speak to anyone else's comments, but Toobin's is not as silly as it sounds, in context. I think what he was trying to explain is that people should not expect a recount to dramatically swing things the other way, as they might be inclined to do. I think it would have been more accurate for him to say it is always an advantage going in, because rarely do recounts turn the race in the other direction.
As for the rest of them? Drug-addled windbags as far as I'm concerned.
Posted by Xanthippas on Wed 8 Nov 2006 at 02:22 PM