When I first read Seth Grahame-Smith's July 1 blog in the Huffington Post I had a nice chuckle starting with the title, "All of McCain's Base Belongs to Us; Why It Won't Even Be Close." Grahame-Smith's over the top confidence in the certainty of Barack Obama's election victory was so gloatingly bold as to be quite hilarious in its assertions (emphasis mine):
It's over.
It's mathematically impossible for John McCain to win.
Were the great Tim Russert still with us, he would call the election for Obama at 7pm Eastern time. No, I'm not talking about November 4th -- I mean tonight.
Yup! It was all over as of July 1. However, Grahame-Smith was only getting warmed up:
Call it whatever you want: arrogance, a jinx -- but let's be honest with ourselves -- this thing is over. I know, I know. "A lot can happen between now and November." I know that we Democrats are used to scurrying around like we're on Meerkat Manor, with a sky full of Neocon hawks overhead. I know that we've perfected the art of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. But can't you feel it in the smog-kissed air? Feel that this year is different? This year, we've got a candidate who refuses to cower in the face of the old Rove/Atwater/Dobson line of attack. A candidate who understands that you can't change the world unless you win, and that you don't have to sell your soul to do it. And despite some bruises, we've got a Democratic Party on its way toward unprecedented unity and energy.
Uh-huh. We heard you, Grahame-Smith. It's over. In fact the election is a mere technical formality in the coronation of Barack Obama as president. Not content to just describe Obama's "inevitable" victory, Grahame-Smith also stomped on the grave of McCain's sure defeat:
I don't care if footage of Obama snorting coke off Scarlett Johansson's boobs surfaces in late October. All it will do is bolster his standing with white males. I don't care if McCain is introduced by a resurrected Jesus Christ at the convention. All it will do is piss off Joe Lieberman. McCain won't just be defeated, he'll be crushed. And not just Bob Dole crushed, but crushed in a way that redefines the political map for the next 25 years.
He'll be crushed so decidedly, that bartenders will coin a new drink called "The McCrush" -- vodka and Orange Crush over crushed ice, served in a hollow flip-flop with a sprig of pandering. The networks will switch over to infomercials at 10pm on Election Night, because they'll have nothing left to cover after Obama's victory speech. Webster's will add the word "McCained" to its thesaurus entry for "crushed." Gamers will start taunting each other with new words like "Obampwnd!" and "McNoob!." Somewhere, out there in the everlasting ether of death, Barry Goldwater will feel better about himself.
Well, that was Grahame-Smith gloating about Obama's "inevitable" victory on July 1. Now that the dog days of summer have set in, along with harsh electoral reality, Grahame-Smith's tone has suddenly changed. That happy slam dunk end zone victory dancing has been replaced by anger as you can see in his August 19 blog:
Dear Mainstream Media,
For all the attention you've lavished on John McCain's Saddleback "victory," not ONE of you has asked him ANY of the obvious follow-ups:
The now glum Grahame-Smith angrily puts forth a series of questions that he wants the MSM to ask of John McCain in the wake of Obama's disastrous performance at the Saddleback church forum. In fact, Grahame-Smith is now sounding so desperate that he puts his request as "An Urgent Appeal to the MSM." Here are a couple of the questions that he urgently wants the MSM to ask of McCain:
Question #1: "Did you err when you attributed the 'cross in the dirt' story to yourself, and if not, why didn't you ever mention it before 1999?"
Question #2: "Why weren't you sequestered during Senator Obama's conversation with Pastor Rick Warren as you were supposed to have been?"
The once overconfident Grahame-Smith concludes on a somewhat less than confident desperate note:
Look -- I realize that it's scary to test McCain in person. After all, there's always the chance he'll Hulk out and beat you to death with one of his $500 loafers. (See? I can say anything I want, because I live on the Internet, where John McCain will never find me). But for the love of Edward R. Murrow, will one of you PLEASE grow a spine and ask the obvious?
Please?
So why are you so worried, Seth? You already declared this election to be over back at the beginning of July and that "it's mathematically impossible for John McCain to win."
Perhaps Seth Grahame-Smith should view this Louie Award video warning about the dangers of overconfidence.
