voting
mikethemadbiologist | September 7, 2007...he is us. Over at Open Left, Chris Bowers relates the results of some polling. Democratic voters were asked the following question:
Now I'm going to read you a list of people, organizations. For each person or organization, please tell me which of the following four choices comes closest to what you think their view is on what the U.S. should do in Iraq?
The respondents had four choices:
1. Make no cutbacks in U.S. troops in Iraq.
2. Leave a substantial number of troops in Iraq, but have them concentrate on training Iraqis and targeting Al Qaeda leaders in Iraq.
3. Start withdrawing…
mikethemadbiologist | September 3, 2007...or too much of anyway. One of the most eloquent speeches that I have ever heard was by Martin Luther King to striking sanitation workers. What's sad is that, while the particulars have changed somewhat, the overall picture remains the same. From a speech he gave to striking sanitation workers in Memphis on March 18, 1968 (italics mine):
My dear friends, my dear friend James Lawson, and all of these dedicated and distinguished ministers of the Gospel assembled here tonight, to all of the sanitation workers and their families, and to all of my brothers and sisters, I need not pause to say…
mikethemadbiologist | July 14, 2007digby writes what I've often claimed around here--'people of faith' who criticize Democrats for not embracing 'faith' really want Democrats to embrace theopolitical conservatism:
The religious folk who vote GOP on the basis of religion are never going to vote for Democrats unless they become social conservatives. That's the formula and that's what the liberal religious lobby is really pushing. I just wish they'd be honest about it.
Amen, sister digby.
(now go read the whole thing).
mikethemadbiologist | June 21, 2007...help them win the election. Over at Thoughts from Kansas, ScienceBlogling Josh has a post about who and what are responsible for the current civil war in the West Bank and Gaza. In any discussion of the Middle East, all sorts of things will be claimed, but there is one awful historical fact: American and Israeli pressure on the Palestinian Authority to change their electoral system helped Hamas win the 2006 elections.
The original electoral system that Palestinians had was completely proportional. If a party won forty percent of the votes, it received forty percent of the seats in…
mikethemadbiologist | June 19, 2007Over at MyDD.com, there's some consternation about how a generic Democrat beats a generic Republican in opinion polls, but named Democrats do poorly against named Republicans. As you might imagine, everyone is arguing that this is the reason why his or her electoral strategy MUST BE FOLLOWED. I think the explanation is pretty straightforward:
The more voters know about a particular candidate, the less they like that candidate.
I'm serious; this isn't snark. Any time that a political party is identified with controlling the Congress by more than 64 percent of the voting public, that party…
mikethemadbiologist | May 26, 2007I go away for a meeting, and Congress goes and holds a vote about the Iraq War. Like some, I'm disgusted by the outcome, but I think many are blaming the wrong people. To paraphrase Pogo, the enemy is us. Or least part of us.
I'm not referring to the Mouth Breathing wing of the Republican Party (which is currently ascendant). One does not negotiate or convince authoritarians: empathy and abstraction are not their strong suit. The mindless Uruk-Hai will always oppose any thing deemed as 'surrender'--until their leaders point their lizard brains at something else.
No, the group I'm…
mikethemadbiologist | November 11, 2006Notice that I separated these two words. That's because between 2004 and 2006, there was a thirty point shift to Democrats among Latinos. Why? Well, this might have something to do with it:
I think the Republicans need to work on that whole Latino outreach thing...
mikethemadbiologist | November 11, 2006Whiskey Fire explains the 2006 election very cogently:
A lot has been said already about the '06 elections, and a lot more will be said. Most of this will be crap. So let me just be clear:
The Republicans lost the '06 elections because they are crazy people with shitty policies that have all failed.
Crucial to any analysis of yesterday's results must be the fact that they started a war based on bullshit, and then they quite literally made a bloody mess of it.
Also, they're completely corrupt and incompetent, self-righteously religious, willing to gay bait and race bait, and generally all they…
mikethemadbiologist | November 10, 2006Both the establishment centrists and the grassroots within the Democratic party are claiming the 2006 victory as their own. But what's really terrifying is that the group which pushed the Democrats over the top probably were the utterly clueless and indesicive voters. From CNN, comes this exit poll:
WHEN DID YOU DECIDE YOUR HOUSE VOTE?
TOTAL Democrat Republican
Today (10%) 61% 36%
Last Three Days (9%) 51% 47%
Last Week (9%) 52% 47%
Last Month (21%) 54% 44%
Before Then (50%) 54…
mikethemadbiologist | November 9, 2006So after reading Brad DeLong's post about how the Democrats won with a 13.4% majority in the Senate (if you total all the votes cast for each party), I decided to do the same with the Congressional races, since everyone votes for a congresscritter. Before I get to the results, here's some caveats:
I didn't include uncontested races. Since I was pulling data from CNN.com which didn't have totals for uncontested races, I'm underestimating the number of Democratic votes cast (the Democrats had far more uncontested seats than Republicans). This could result in an additional 1.2-1.5 Democratic…
mikethemadbiologist | November 8, 2006Already, you're seeing two competiting ideas about why the Democrats did so well in the election. This argument matters, particularly within the Democratic party, because, once again, the chicken shit loser centrist Democratic establishment is urging Democrats to move to the right.
The centrist argument is that this was a backlash phenomenon, and that Democrats shouldn't behave like Democrats--by that I mean that the Democrats should abandon Pelosi's 'radical' 100 hours. Because raising the minimum wage and reforming the House rules is just too lefty.
(an aside: Democratic congressman and…
mikethemadbiologist | November 7, 2006
For those of you who are fucking morons, the car is the Republican Party. Spin all you want baby, it sucks to be the car
I'm kidding about the last part of the post header. Sort of. So, what do you think the Republican spin will be?
I'll have more coherent thoughts later on Wednesday.
mikethemadbiologist | November 7, 2006Random thoughts below the fold.
John Sweeney, R-NY, has lost. Hitting your wife isn't liked by the electorate.
I wasn't a huge Jim Webb fan, but he was vastly superior to Sen. George "Macacawitz" Allen. Once again, it looks like the asshole Green Party siphoned off just enough votes to give the Republicans a victory. I would love nothing more than to take their Free Mumia posters and shove them up their collective backside.
We're taking the House. Big.
Sen. Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum is history.
Another thought related to Webb: Iraq was necessary as an issue, but not sufficient. If Tim…
mikethemadbiologist | November 7, 2006Tell these good people:
Election incidents can also be reported to several national hotlines. Those reported to 1-866-OUR-VOTE will be catalogued in the Election Incident Reporting System (check out the incident map, which already reflects several incidents across the nation). Problems with voting machines can also be reported by calling 1-888-SAV-VOTE (1-888-728-8683). You can also report incidents through the DNC by calling 1-888-DEM VOTE or by filling out this online form.
Also, I'm keeping a running log of Republican vote fraud here.
mikethemadbiologist | November 7, 2006
Time to go vote. We need sane people governing the country, and you sure as hell can't find them in the Republican party. As Andrew Sullivan put it, "This isn't an election, it's an intervention." After years of being called traitors, weaklings, and cowards because we correctly opposed Little Lord Pontchartrain's Excellent Iraqi Adventure, and after being called sluts and whores because we don't think a to-be-discarded blastula is equal to Michael J. Fox, pregnancy should be used as punishment, and cervical cancer should be used as coercion, and after watching 'faith-based', magical Peter…
mikethemadbiologist | November 6, 2006Our Benevolent Seed Overlords ask: What's the most important local political race to you this year (as a citizen, as a scientist)? For me, it's the Massachusetts gubernatorial race.
Deval Patrick is poised to become the first African-American governor ever. Also, since Massachusetts has a Democratic legislature, there's the potential of doing some very progressive, far-reaching things. Unlike in the Romney administration, where the primary purpose was to pave the way for Romney's presidential campaign.
A close second isn't a race, but a ballot initiative. In South Dakota, voters will…
mikethemadbiologist | November 6, 2006...because the only things they have left are voter intimidation and cheap tricks. As described by fellow ScienceBloglings coturnix and Josh, the Republicans are calling Democratic voters and either informing them that their polling place has changed or that they will be arrested if they vote illegally (the voters are accused of being out of state residents). These 'robocallers' are usually impersonating Democratic campaigns or election officials, the latter being a crime. The Republican crime wave has hit the following states:
Pennsylvania
Kansas
New Hampshire
New York
Connecticut
New…
mikethemadbiologist | November 6, 2006With less than 24 hours to go, here are my predictions for the Nov. 8 elections. The Democrats will pick up four Senate seats (and Lieberman will beat Lamont--let's face it, Lamont wasn't a very strong politician), and 26 House seats. Where I think we'll really see the Democratic tidal wave is in the state and local races; these races are very dependent on turnout and will be hurt by the top of the Republican ticket.
mikethemadbiologist | November 6, 2006On Tuesday, Massachusetts voters will have three ballot referenda to decide. Here's the Mad Biologist's endorsements.
Question 1 would create a new category of licenses for food stores to sell wine, and it would allow local licensing authorities to issue such licenses. Of the three ballot initiatives, this one has received the most attention, and is the most trivial. It's really a battle between wine sellers and grocery stores. Personally, this will have no effect on me one way or the other. I don't think it will affect prices, and I also don't think it will lead to hordes of drunks…
mikethemadbiologist | November 5, 2006There is absolutely nothing the Republicans won't politicize. Now, they have launched the War on Vaccination. For a decade, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a foundation dedicated to improving public health, particularly among the poor and the elderly, has funded a "Vote and Vax" program at early voting facilities that serve poor neighborhoods in 24 cities. Basically, if you're over 50, you can get a vaccination at the polling location.
Thursday, in Houston, the Republicans filed a lawsuit to stop this program.
Nevermind that the program has been running for ten years. When the program…