This video was posted by conservative former radio talk show host and anti-Obama documentarian John Ziegler's website HowObamaGotElected. He's trying to convince the world that Obama was elected because everyone who voted for him was woefully misinformed. On his site, Ziegler wrote:

On Election day twelve Obama voters were interviewed extensively right after they voted to learn how the news media impacted their knowledge of what occurred during the campaign. These voters were chosen for their apparent intelligence/verbal abilities and willingness to express their opinions to a large audience. The rather shocking video below seeks to provide some insight into which information broke through the news media clutter and which did not.

But Nate Silver, the polling genius of FiveThirtyEight.com, wasn't having it. Silver agreed to a phone interview with Ziegler that didn't go so well. Here is an excerpt:

NS: Would you consider yourself well-informed
JZ: I’d consider myself extremely well-informed.

NS: Who are the two senators from South Dakota
JZ: Thune and, uh, Johnson.

NS: Very good. South Carolina?
JZ: Go fuck yourself. I'm done with this interview if you're going to ask me stupid questions like that. Obviously I know who Lindsay Graham is.

NS: Well, since you’re running a website calling people misinformed, I’d like to see if -- there are certain things you’ve said that I would consider misinformed.
JZ: Misinformed? You're a piece of work! You are never going to have the guts to post a representative transcript on your website! I thought you actually ran a legitimate website!

NS: Thank you, have a good day.
JZ: Go fuck yourself.

Go, Nate. The near-Asperger's superhero of the 2008 election used his super-brain to make Ziegler appear as hysterical as he really is.

Nate Silver, the polling superhero of FiveThirtyEight.com, dispels some of the myths about why Prop 8 passed:

Now, it's true that if new voters had voted against Prop 8 at the same rates that they voted for Obama, the measure probably would have failed. But that does not mean that the new voters were harmful on balance -- they were helpful on balance. If California's electorate had been the same as it was in 2004, Prop 8 would have passed by a wider margin . . . At the end of the day, Prop 8's passage was more a generational matter than a racial one. If nobody over the age of 65 had voted, Prop 8 would have failed by a point or two. It appears that the generational splits may be larger within minority communities than among whites, although the data on this is sketchy.

The good news for supporters of marriage equity is that -- and there's no polite way to put this -- the older voters aren't going to be around for all that much longer, and they'll gradually be cycled out and replaced by younger voters who grew up in a more tolerant era. Everyone knew going in that Prop 8 was going to be a photo finish -- California might be just progressive enough and 2008 might be just soon enough for the voters to affirm marriage equity. Or, it might fall just short, which is what happened. But two or four or six or eight years from now, it will get across the finish line.

This is pretty much in line with what Michelangelo Signorile has been saying. We are, relatively speaking, a young movement, and we need to be patient, and we need to keep fighting.

And as we keep fighting, especially as the protests continue, is that these are supposed to be peaceful protests. Via Joe.My.God, here is footage of a protest rally in Palm Springs. A Prop 8 proponent, an elderly woman carrying a large cross, is surrounded by a group of gay men who try to interrupt her interview. The cross is ripped from her hands, thrown to the ground, and stomped on.

The LA Times has a story on why Prop 8 passed despite polls suggesting that it would fail:

When comparing the findings from the Field Poll's final pre-election survey to the Edison Media Research exit poll of voters, the biggest differences related to the turnout and preferences of frequent churchgoers and Catholics.

This is pretty much what I've been thinking, too. And I think a new term is going to be coined (like "The Bradley Effect") to capture how one segment of a population can vote two way, simultaneously.

Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com projected that it would be close, but he also noted that ballot measures are notoriously difficult to forecast.

Related, the post-Prop 8 world is playing itself out. LA's KUTV is reporting:

Gay and lesbian spokespersons asked for help from the LDS Church in winning gay rights in Utah, but not for gay marriage, in the wake of the passage of Proposition 8 in California. "While we disagree with the Church's position on Proposition 8," said Stephanie Pappas, Chair of Equality Utah at a news conference on Monday. "We respect that their position is based on the guiding principles of their faith" . . . "We're looking for reconciliation," said Utah State Sen. Scott McCoy a gay Democrat.

You have to start somewhere . . . .

Biden's new role: Good cop.

A post-election view of McCain

Terry McAuliffe to run for Virginia governor

Al Franken's odds of winning the Minnesota recount long -- and short

Howard Dean to step down as DNC chair. Who's going to replace him?

Join the Impact - Protest information for upcoming Prop 8 protests

Obama roasts Rahm Emanuel in 2005. Funny stuff. (Via Andrew Sullivan)