I’ve long wanted to be in Times Square for the dropping of the ball celebration, but I’m too old and my urinary tract is far too weak.
But today, when The New York Times declared Joe Biden the winner of the presidential race, I felt the joyful delirium reflected in the faces of those hundreds of thousands of young people who gather every year in Times Square.
This is fantastic. The relief is almost inexpressible. We’re on the cusp of saying so long to the biggest turd in the world’s biggest punch bowl.
As a friend of mine who called a few minutes ago said, “It’s not going to be a fun day at the golf club in New Jersey.”
On Wednesday, as many of you know, I wrote that the election appeared to be “the mother of all train wrecks.”
Like many of you, I was so blue. It appeared certain that the Senate would remain in Republican control, and it looked like Donald Trump (not going to capitalize the guy’s name ever again) could well be headed toward re-election.
I was also afraid that with the race being so tight, it was likely a Supreme Court majority would step in and thwart the people’s will, even if Biden was declared the winner.
How things have changed over four days. If Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock can somehow win runoff elections in Georgia, Democrats would control the Senate by virtue of Vice President Elect Kamala Harris being the tie-breaking vote.
In the presidential race, Biden steadily gained ground and passed Trump in the key states of Pennsylvania and Georgia, a state that had not gone for a Democratic presidential nominee since Bill Clinton in 1992.
In addition, Biden’s margins in Nevada and Arizona look like they are going to hold up…What all this means is that we’ve got a Supreme-Court-veto-proof majority in the electoral college.
Another thing that will take the Supreme Court out of play is the simple fact that once a presidential race has been declared — like it was after the Florida debacle in 2000 — the weight of the declaration of a winner and the recording of the electoral count are such that there is no going back. No court will try to “flip the result,” to borrow a phrase from idiotic Supreme Court Justice Bret Kavanaugh.
Moreover, Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett have their nice, comfortable seats on the Supreme Court; they’re not moving out of their offices just because Trump is. Why should they wring their hands or shed tears? They’re set for life.
And regardless of what indignities and abuses those three — along with justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas — subject the nation to in the years ahead, at least they won’t be trying to pump air into Donald Trump’s suddenly lifeless carcass.
Hallelujah, everyone. Celebrate like it’s New Year’s Eve…and then let’s get on with beating this damn pandemic.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Biden’s win will actually probably be the biggest margin over an incumbent since FDR beat Hoover.
It is time to thank all the Independents and Republicans in this country who joined with the Democrats to vote Trump out of office. It is obvious that Trump drove turnout for both sides to record levels. Having more voter participation is good thing for the entire country!
There will be plenty of time for everyone to over analyze what has happened this past week.
Let’s just hope that people start taking this virus stuff seriously as it is going to get really really bad over the next 6-8 weeks.
I think it’s time to revisit the faulty Electoral College. Technology is advanced enough that we can now count every single American’s vote. That will be true democracy and every vote will actually count.
Shortly after Texas turns blue, the Republicans will see the error of their ways on the Electoral College. It will be they who start coming up short. Same with Georgia, if it continues to go Democratic.
To my Republican friends, lots of Republican votes to be harvested in CA. Get rid of the Electoral College and come get hi.
Well, hello to you, too, Tom!
Just don’t get too many votes. 🥴
Jim, I don’t think anyone should be singing “Happy Days Are Here Again” yet, especially since the pandemic rages on, and it’s definitely time to junk the Electoral College and make the candidates work the entire nation in seeking support for their campaigns. I expect we’ll end up with a divided Congress after all of the races have been decided, which means Mr. Biden won’t be getting very far with his agenda in 2021 and 2022.
I was at Drake when Jimmy Carter won. We were all so thrilled. Finally, things were going to change. Liberalism for the benefit of the people was going to lead the way.
We went down to the Alameda Plaza to celebrate at the Democrat’s victory party on the night of Clinton’s victory. This time, we knew he was for the people; and things were going to change.
Forgive me for not feeling your euphoria. Today’s establishment wokeness is yesterday’s bait and switch.
“The average newspaper, especially of the better sort, has the intelligence of a hillbilly evangelist, the courage of a rat, the fairness of a prohibitionist boob-jumper, the information of a high school janitor, the taste of a designer of celluloid valentines, and the honor of a police-station lawyer.”
― H. L. Mencken