Pun Salad

In no particular order:

• Well, now I wish I'd voted for Gary Johnson. Talk about a wasted vote.

• You're gonna get real tired of me saying "I told you so" over the next few years. (See Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)

• From Jim Geraghty's Morning Jolt newsletter today:
  If you really think that the guy with the tired promises of spending more and taxing more is really going to save you, I can't help you.

  More long-windedly: heavy regulation, mandates, rules, programs, subsidies, politically-driven "investments", increased taxes, etc. has never been a recipe for prosperity. And never will. If a sufficiently large fraction of voting Americans believe otherwise, we're in for a long painful period.

• My ex-Congresscritter and full-time toothache, Carol Shea-Porter, will be my future Congresscritter. Interestingly, it looks as if Libertarian candidate, Brendan Kelly, tallied well over twice as many votes (as I type: 12383) than the margin separating Shea-Porter and defeated Republican incumbent Frank Guinta (as I type: 143681 - 138219 = 5462).

  Hey, Frank: if you had managed to sway less than half of Kelly's voters to vote for you instead, you would have won.

• Many folks who confidently predicted a Romney win don't just have egg on their faces: it's an entire Denny's Lumberjack Slam® breakfast with a side of oatmeal. Although I didn't make an Official Pun Salad Prediction—why take a chance on looking even more stupid than usual?—I had a nagging feeling that the numbers guys (Intrade, Nate Silver) had an edge over the gut-feeling guys. xkcd gloats a bit, and I can't blame him:

  

• And if you'd like to read something substantive and ire-inducing today, how about Avik Roy's reposting of Ben Domenech’s top ten worst fact checks of the election cycle. You should Read The Whole Thing™, but here's number four:

  4. That thing you said isn’t true because it sounds really awful, unless something similar comes up about the guy we hate. http://vlt.tc/jw9 It’s odd how fact checkers shift to considering the motivations of a politician on some occasions, but not on others. Thus, President Obama’s stance against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act can’t mean he favors legal protection for infanticide because that sounds really nasty. The phrase “we find it hard to fathom” isn’t typically a sign that you’re fact-checking – you’re just expressing an opinion. http://vlt.tc/jwb However, Paul Ryan is totally in favor of outlawing in-vitro fertilization even though the bill he supported says nothing of the kind, because he’s that kind of person. http://vlt.tc/jwa

  The MSM's "fact-checking" has long been a joke. Someone should act as a clearinghouse for debunking Politifact and the rest. (I'd do it, but it would almost be a fulltime job.)

• I tried watching the election coverage local ABC affiliate, WMUR. And gave up. There is nothing sadder than watching an anchorperson babble without a script. And when our local folks switched over to the national coverage helmed by Diane Sawyer… just as bad! Via Treacher, some diligent soul has assembled some of her droolings [video replaced]:

  Shitfaced or drunk? You decide!