Politics
clock | October 30, 2008On the Road: Charlotte, North Carolina:
An observation we've heard repeated in Obama offices across America, Crandall emphasized how beneficial the contested primary had been for building the foundation for record turnout. "We had real hints of it in the primary," Crandall said. The first-time voters the campaign energized for the May 6 vote foreshadowed what North Carolina is seeing today. Crandall remembers thinking "these are NOT your typical primary voters."
Pathetic yard sign captured in Raleigh - and Q of the Day:
By far I see more Obama stickers and signs in my town, including a…
clock | October 30, 2008In the end, I could not make it to the Obama rally in Raleigh, but other bloggers did.
If I did, I would have been one of the 28000 people to be the first to hear the "peanut butter and jelly" thing:
I think this is great framing - getting your mind back to the time you were a child. Who do you want to play with: a kid who shares his toys, or the old man who shouts "Get off my lawn!"? Do you prefer a parent who beats you every day, or a parent who teaches you how to get along with others?
clock | October 30, 2008Ed Cone interviews the security guru Bruce Schneier about voting machines:
There are a couple of reasons that things like automatic teller machines and gas pumps are more secure. The first one is, there's money involved. If someone hacks an ATM, the bank loses money. The bank has a financial interest in making those ATMs secure. If someone hacks a voting machine, nobody loses money. In fact, half the country is happy with the result. So it's much harder to get the economic incentives aligned.
The other issue about voting machines is that ballots are secret. A lot of the security in…
clock | October 30, 2008This is interesting:
But voter behavior is only part of the change drawing political attention to North Carolina. Presidential contenders are increasing their focus here because the state has more clout on the national stage than it did as recently as the 1980s. The same population boom that has helped alter the political landscape in North Carolina has also led to an increase in the number of electoral votes the state is allotted in the presidential election. While some states (such as Illinois and Pennsylvania) have been given fewer and fewer electoral votes since 1980, North Carolina has…
clock | October 30, 2008The Great Limbaugh Con by Charles M. Kelly, published in 1994, is even more current and up-to-date than it was then. And it is not really about Limbaugh himself - he serves only as a starting point. There are many Limbaughs out there now who parrot the same stuff and what he pioneered in the early 1990s is now a big industry for the Right.
Furthermore, some of the right-wing rhetoric that Rush invented is now not just a standard GOP advertising lingo, but also deeply ingrained in the nation's psyche and will take a lot of effort to neutralize. The book describes, for instance, exactly how…
drorzel | October 30, 2008Via Facebook, of all things, a message reporting a conversation with Representative Bill Foster (D-Fermilab), talking about the best ways to encourage Congress to take science seriously. First, he addressed what's been done in the past:
On the effectiveness of the APS letter-writing campaign:
*Recently I sent my chief of staff to a meeting of about 70 House chiefs of staff. He asked, how many of them were aware of the APS letter-writing campaign. Only two others were aware of it.
*These campaigns are a form of spam, and there are lots of groups involved in them. For many small-group issues…
pharyngula | October 30, 2008erv has it.
Personally, I found the little vignettes about ordinary Americans a bit off-putting — political sentimentality makes me cynical. I was more interested in hearing Obama simply speak about his policies. I was most impressed with a superficial factor: wouldn't it be cool to have a president who could open his mouth and say something and not sound like an illiterate hick?
clock | October 30, 2008
"Would you get on a plane with a pilot who has never flown?" the announcer asks. Yes, if the only other option is the guy who has proven repeatedly that he cannot keep his plane in the air:
(cartoon from The Star)
oracknows | October 29, 2008...the editors of Seed Magazine have endorsed Barack Obama for President.
In other news, the Pope remains Catholic, and bears have been observed relieving themselves in the woods.
pharyngula | October 29, 2008I've written a couple of posts decrying the tactics of Elizabeth Dole — who uses the act of talking to atheists as a smear — and favoring her opponent, Kay Hagan. It seems Ms. Hagan doesn't like us very much, though.
Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan angrily demanded Wednesday that incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Dole take down a new ad that questions the challenger's ties to an atheist political group, calling the spot a slanderous and pathetic attempt to maintain political power.
Hagan's attorneys sent a cease-and-desist order to Dole's campaign, saying the "libelous" ad should come down…
tqa | October 29, 2008
I just watched the Obama "infomercial", and I was blown away. Never mind the production values that Chris Matthews is nattering on about. The real story is about the message: this campaign is about us. It's about what we need, and what we can do to get it.
The entire half hour was - well, it's hard to call it a positive ad. It was a hard look at the problems that we're facing, and need to address. This was not a "daybreak in America" kind of talk. But it wasn't negative, either. McCain was not belittled, he was ignored.
As I was writing that last paragraph, MSNBC went to the first…
drorzel | October 29, 2008In a move that I'm sure will surprise, oh, three or four people, the editors of Seed have officially endorsed Barack Obama for president.
I doubt any regular reader of this blog will be surprised to hear that I agree with their endorsement. In fact, I'm on record as saying that I will not vote for any Republican for any office at any level, so long as the national party is run by the current gang of autocrats, theocrats, and con men. The McCain campaign has not given me any reason to change this stance, so I'll be voting for Obama, and everybody else on the Democratic line.
I might be open to…
jrosenhouse | October 29, 2008I know, I know. The candidates can't be held responsible for the acts of a few crazy supporters. But does anyone doubt that this sort of thing is far more common among McCain supporters than among Obama supporters? Can anyone deny that this sort of thing arises naturally when you run a campaign centered on flinging the nastiest possible smears at your opponent?
After the rally, we witnessed a near-street riot involving the exiting McCain crowd and two Cuban-American Obama supporters. Tony Garcia, 63, and Raul Sorando, 31, were suddenly surrounded by an angry mob. There is a moment in a…
gregladen | October 29, 2008We (American Liberals/Democrats) all know that the wheels have to come off at some point. Yes, at some point the wheels of the seemingly unstoppable Obama Machine have to come flying off, the tide turns, and McCain/Palin are elected President and Vice President of the Freakin' United States.
I'm assuming at the moment that this is going to happen tonight, during, as a result of, or perhaps just after the Obama Half Hour ad buy.
Perhaps this is when the October Surprised is planned for. The Obama ad by will be inturrupted by a news story orchistrated by the Republicans. Something about…
jrosenhouse | October 29, 2008The editors of SEED magazine have endorsed Barack Obama for President. A fine choice, in my opinion.
Far more important is this: Science is a way of governing, not just something to be governed. Science offers a methodology and philosophy rooted in evidence, kept in check by persistent inquiry, and bounded by the constraints of a self-critical and rigorous method. Science is a lens through which we can and should visualize and solve complex problems, organize government and multilateral bodies, establish international alliances, inspire national pride, restore positive feelings about…