Politics
razib | November 3, 2008Jay Nordlinger has responded to the critiques about his comment about Vermont (thanks to Jim Manzi):
Yes, yes, I heard from Professor Gelman too -- thank you, Jim. You have well and truly schooled me. And I was indeed writing impressionistically and rhetorically -- saying I was taught that the Republican party was the party of the rich, and the Democrats the party of the common man, pure and simple. I was meaning to say: When I grew up, I realized it wasn't so simple. And, yes, I was writing as a journalist and observer, not as a statistician. When I want to write less breezily and more…
grrlscientist | November 3, 2008tags: Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin's Kanye West remix, politics, satire, humor, music video, streaming video
Sarah Palin sings a song about Barack Obama .. "he's a hypnotizer" .. [2:29]
drorzel | November 3, 2008Is it just me, or is this New York Times article on undecided voters just a more genteel version of this Daily Show segment on undecided voters?
(Personally, all the people in the Times sound like they want to vote for McCain, but know there's no good reason to do so. They'll talk themselves into it by Tuesday. But maybe reading too many blogs has made me pessimistic.)
gregladen | November 3, 2008From CREW's report on the most Corrupt Members of Congress, this bit about Norm Coleman:
When in Washington, Sen. Coleman lives in a basement apartment in the Capitol Hill townhouse of Republican operative Jeff Larson. Mr. Larson runs FLS Connect, a telemarketing firm, which has been paid over $1.4 million since 2001 by Sen. Coleman's leadership political action committee (PAC) and two campaign committees. Mr. Larson is also the treasurer of Sen. Coleman's PAC and provides it with office space in St. Paul, MN. Adding to the relationship between the pair, Mr. Larson's wife, Dorene Kainz,…
evolvingthoughts | November 2, 2008
I haven't seen a lot of commentary about what it will mean if the Republicans go down or if they win the White House and Congress. From half a world away, some reflections beneath the fold.
Republicans win the White House but lose the Senate
This will reinforce the politics of smear and division used by the Republicans against Gore, Kerry and now Obama. Karl Rove's legacy will become a permanent part of the political landscape, further devaluing democracy in the US. However, if they lose the Senate, there will be a continuing deadlock between the representatives of the states and the…
gregladen | November 2, 2008
Simple, no matter how dumb your screw up is, just throw a flag over your head and go down on the statue of liberty. You'll be fine.
gregladen | November 2, 2008Gallup Daily Tracking Poll an ABC poll, a CBS poll, and another poll being reported in USA Today tomorrow morning, according to an editor with the paper speaking seconds ago on Hadrball, show two important things:
1) An Obama lead of 11 to 13 points, and
2) A trend spreading this difference.
I don't believe it, but I thought you'd like to know.
Some of these polls are also showing that in the traditional area where R's lead D's, the opinions of those polled is even: Security, economy, etc. In other areas, the D's are killing the R's.
gregladen | November 2, 2008This is a recap of my earlier post of what to watch for in the US Senate Races.
We are hoping for a 60 seat Democratic Party presence in the Senate in order to have a filibuster proof majority. Without this, any Republican with a grudge, a bad attitude, a hatred of liberal or progressive idea, or who feels that his/her own career is more important than his/her country (which pretty much describes 99 percent of all Republicans) can get up on the Senate Floor and read Mother Goose Tales forever in order to stop a bill being brought up for a vote. I'm not using an analogy or a metaphor here…
gregladen | November 2, 2008Two and seven: With two days left until election day, a new national poll suggests that Barack Obama holds a seven-point lead over John McCain in the race for the White House.
In the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, released Sunday morning, 53 percent of likely voters say they are backing Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, for president, while 46 percent support McCain....
CNN
pharyngula | November 2, 2008This is how petty election politics have become this year: a Republican denies children Halloween candy if they won't agree with her choice of McCain for president.
clock | November 2, 2008 Vote early and vote often.
- Al Capone, 1899 - 1947
Suffrage, n. Expression of opinion by means of a ballot. The right of suffrage (which is held to be both a privilege and a duty) means, as commonly interpreted, the right to vote for the man of another man's choice, and is highly prized.
- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1881 - 1906
Ask a man which way he is going to vote, and he will probably tell you. Ask him, however, why, and vagueness is all.
- Bernard Levin
Truth is not determined by majority vote.
- Doug Gwyn
Always vote for principle, though you may…
gregladen | November 2, 2008I have reanalyzed the electoral map with the latest information. Applying some reasonable criteria (see below) to the most current information, a very reasonable conclusion is that the electoral vote not counting Pennsylvania will be Obama 252 vs. McCain 265. Neither of these numbers is above the required number to win. Starting at this base, the candidate who wins Pennsylvania wins the election.
I am not prepared to put Pennsylvania in either column for the following reasons: 1) All of the effects in my adjustment criteria (outlined below) are strongest in Pennsylvania and 2) McCain and…
gregladen | November 2, 2008"Norm got a free ride from the press. St. Paul is a small town and anybody who hangs around the St. Paul Grill knows about Norm's habits. Everyone knows that his family situation is, shall we say, very interesting, but nobody bothered to ask about it, least of all the religious people in the Republican Party. They made their peace with hypocrisy long ago. So this false knight made his way as an all-purpose feel-good candidate, standing for vaguely Republican values, supporting the president."
That's from Garrison Keiller, quoted here. More details here.
drorzel | November 2, 2008With the election nearly upon us, I've started regularly following Talking Points Memo again. Late last night, Josh Marshall wrote about the early voting results:
Among those who've already voted, it's Obama 57%, McCain 38%. And that number is not inconsistent with numbers coming out of a lot of the early voting states.
CBS says that "about one in five voters" have voted early. I'm sure I'm just missing it, but I can't find it in the polling document. Meanwhile, Gallup says the number is now 27%, which I find astonishing.
Now, there are two ways of looking at these numbers. One possibility is…
grrlscientist | November 2, 2008tags: Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin's Kanye West remix, politics, satire, humor, music video, streaming video
As if real life isn't frightening enough, this video shows Sarah Palin's hot new Kanye West remix that should give you nightmares long after voting day has ended [2:05]
gregladen | November 2, 2008Next congressional election: If someone running for the US house was an outed atheist/agnostic, and every atheist/agnostic donated one dollar to that campaign, or if ten percent of the atheists/agnostics gave ten dollars to that campaign, it would be the best funded congressional campaign ever.
Of course, you'd have to be an otherwise competent candidate, probably with a liberal stand on most issues, pro-science, pro-education, pro-rational, etc. etc. But mainly we need you to be an Establishment Clause nut.
Pass it on.