The Democrat Thread

[StrangeSox]

Nate Silver finds Rasmussen consistently biased towards Republicans, generally poor showing in latest election.

 

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2...ormed-strongly/

[StrangeSox]

On India:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/06/...in7028709.shtml

President Barack Obama has announced $10 billion in trade deals with India that are expected to help pay for 54,000 U.S. jobs.

[lostfan]

Nate Silver finds Rasmussen consistently biased towards Republicans, generally poor showing in latest election.

 

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2...ormed-strongly/

I thought that was common knowledge. Rasmussen usually favors Republicans or some conservative idea by about 4-6 points ahead of everyone else. They still do show the same trends as the other polls, though.

[StrangeSox]

I thought that was common knowledge. Rasmussen usually favors Republicans or some conservative idea by about 4-6 points ahead of everyone else. They still do show the same trends as the other polls, though.

 

They did pretty well in 2006 and 2008. But since that election, they've tilted very heavily Republican, to the point where it was almost comical. Nate points out how high of a disapproval rating they had, basically double anyone else's, within the first month or two of Obama's term. This election they were biased and it caused them to be wrong on a lot of races. It's important to point out their problems (ideological or methodological) on election polls since we can compare them with the real results--not something you can do with issues polls.

[Balta1701]

They did pretty well in 2006 and 2008. But since that election, they've tilted very heavily Republican, to the point where it was almost comical. Nate points out how high of a disapproval rating they had, basically double anyone else's, within the first month or two of Obama's term. This election they were biased and it caused them to be wrong on a lot of races. It's important to point out their problems (ideological or methodological) on election polls since we can compare them with the real results--not something you can do with issues polls.

The real problem is the press issue, as usual. Ras probably put out >50% of the polls in this cycle. Many of the press organizations, not just Fox, get a poll and report it and discuss it if the results are interesting. Putting otu so many polls adn consistently weighting them 5% towards 1 side builds the narrative that one side is winning and the other side is struggling. It's push-polling, except with the media as the pushers.

 

Those polls are especially useful if promoting the winning side happens tob e part of the explicit motivation of the press as well.

[Balta1701]

Update on previous issue:

“After several days of deliberation and discussion, I have determined that suspending Keith through and including Monday night’s program is an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy. We look forward to having him back on the air Tuesday night.”

That was a brief suspension. Sounds an awful lot like a capitulation on the part of management.

[Rex Kickass]

Update on previous issue:

 

That was a brief suspension. Sounds an awful lot like a capitulation on the part of management.

 

Or priming the pump for 1.5-2 million viewers tomorrow.

[Rex Kickass]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/us/polit...rss&emc=rss

Some Republican lawmakers — still reveling in Tuesday’s statewide election sweep — are proposing an unprecedented solution to the state’s estimated $25 billion budget shortfall: dropping out of the federal Medicaid program.

 

Far-right conservatives are offering that possibility in impassioned news conferences. Moderate Republicans are studying it behind closed doors. And the party’s advisers on health care policy say it is being discussed more seriously than ever, though they admit it may be as much a huge in-your-face to Washington as anything else.

 

“With Obamacare mandates coming down, we have a situation where we cannot reduce benefits or change eligibility” to cut costs, said State Representative Warren Chisum, Republican of Pampa, the veteran conservative lawmaker who recently entered the race for speaker of the House. “This system is bankrupting our state,” he said. “We need to get out of it. And with the budget shortfall we’re anticipating, we may have to act this year.”

[Balta1701]

So, here's Olbermann releasing a statment, thanking his fans and basically going "team Coco" on MSNBC.

A STATEMENT TO THE VIEWERS OF COUNTDOWN by Keith Olbermann

 

I want to sincerely thank you for the honor of your extraordinary and

ground-rattling support. Your efforts have been integral to the remedying of

these recent events, and the results should remind us of the power of

individuals spontaneously acting together to correct injustices great or small. I

would also like to acknowledge with respect the many commentators and

reporters, including those with whom my politics do not overlap, for their

support.

 

I also wish to apologize to you viewers for having precipitated such anxiety

and unnecessary drama. You should know that I mistakenly violated an

inconsistently applied rule - which I previously knew nothing about - that

pertains to the process by which such political contributions are approved by

NBC. Certainly this mistake merited a form of public acknowledgment and/or

internal warning, and an on-air discussion about the merits of limitations on

such campaign contributions by all employees of news organizations. Instead,

after my representative was assured that no suspension was contemplated, I

was suspended without a hearing, and learned of that suspension through the

media.

 

You should also know that I did not attempt to keep any of these political

contributions secret; I knew they would be known to you and the rest of the

public. I did not make them through a relative, friend, corporation, PAC, or

any other intermediary, and I did not blame them on some kind of convenient

'mistake' by their recipients. When a website contacted NBC about one of the

donations, I immediately volunteered that there were in fact three of them; and

contrary to much of the subsequent reporting, I immediately volunteered to

explain all this, on-air and off, in the fashion MSNBC desired.

 

I genuinely look forward to rejoining you on Countdown on Tuesday, to

begin the repayment of your latest display of support and loyalty - support and

loyalty that is truly mutual.

 

--K.O.

[BigSqwert]

Steven Taylor is troubled by Gallup noting that "use of the death penalty has been declining worldwide, with most of the known executions now carried out in five countries — China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the United States":

When dealing with i

s

s

ue

s

of ju

s

tice and human right

s

, that i

s

n

’

t exactly the company I would thin

k

that the U

S

would a

s

pire to

k

eep. We are tal

k

ing about three authoritarian regime

s

with que

s

tionable human right

s

record

s

(China, Iran and

S

audi Arabia), a p

s

eudodemocracy in the context of an ongoing conflict (Iraq), and the country that

s

ee

s

it

s

elf a

s

a beacon of liberty and democracy (the U

S

). One of the

s

e thing

s

i

s

, theoretically, not li

k

e the other

s

. At a minimum thi

s

compari

s

on ought to give u

s

all pau

s

e for thought.

 

via

[KipWellsFan]

via

 

D'uh.

[StrangeSox]

Tea Partiers in AZ city oppose municipal garbage collection.

 

A Valley community's decision to change the way trash is picked up provided further proof of how deeply the nation's anti-government, "tea party"-fueled sentiment is running.

 

A decision by the Fountain Hills Town Council to hire a single trash hauler and begin a curbside recycling program has been met with angry protests from residents who accuse town leaders of overstepping their bounds and taking a leap toward socialism.

 

Some even likened it to "Obamacare" for garbage, calling it "trashcare."

 

The horror, the horror...

[NorthSideSox72]

Tea Partiers in AZ city oppose municipal garbage collection.

 

 

 

The horror, the horror...

I've been in Fountain Hills. Its an isolated little bubble of old snowbirds and retirees who wanted to be somewhat "alone". That crowd will tend to have a pretty big tea party alignment.

 

For example, a few years back, many in the town were up in arms that a Target was going in, afraid of the riff-raff that would invade their town.

 

 

[Balta1701]

I'm impressed. I got the impression from press reports and from the public statements of the people in Congress who were holding out to try to keep DADT on the books that they were expecting this survey to come back showing that the armed forces wanted DADT kept in place.

A Pentagon study group has concluded that the military can lift the ban on gays serving openly in uniform with only minimal and isolated incidents of risk to the current war efforts, according to two people familiar with a draft of the report, which is due to President Obama on Dec. 1.

 

More than 70 percent of respondents to a survey sent to active-duty and reserve troops over the summer said the effect of repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy would be positive, mixed or nonexistent, said two sources familiar with the document. The survey results led the report's authors to conclude that objections to openly gay colleagues would drop once troops were able to live and serve alongside them.

[lostfan]

John Bolton and John Yoo wrote a ridiculously stupid op-ed in the NYT (liberal media strikes again) and Fred Kaplan gives a comprehensive takedown basically exposing the whole thing as a bunch of lies.

 

Really though there are very few, if any, substantive reasons to oppose the treaty so the next step is just to fabricate objections through exaggeration, or just make them up out of whole cloth to squeeze political gain from it, i.e. not let President Obama have any credit for it.

[StrangeSox]

John Bolton and John Yoo are synonyms for "everything wrong with the Bush administration"

[Balta1701]

However, my jaw will drop if that treaty is officially ratified any time in the next 2 years.

[mr_genius]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/the-vicep...,18444/?slide=1

 

A pretty good slideshow dedicated to Joe Biden.

[Rex Kickass]

Glenn Beck accuses holocaust survivor George Soros of being a Nazi collaborator, as a 13 year old Jewish boy.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101...ocaust-comments

 

Glenn Beck has railed many times against George Soros, a Hungarian-American financier and liberal philanthropist whom the conservative host dubs the "progressive puppet master."

 

But Beck ramped up his criticism this week on Fox News and his radio show, making comments about how Soros survived in Nazi-occupied Hungary that have provoked denunciations from Jewish organizations.

 

Beck said on the radio Wednesday that Soros—as a 13-year-old Jewish boy, living apart from his parents in order to avoid apprehension by the Nazis—"used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off. … It was frightening. Here's a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps."

 

Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League and a Holocaust survivor, called Beck's comments "completely inappropriate, offensive and over the top." [see update]

 

"While I, too, may disagree with many of Soros' views and analysis on the issues, to bring in this kind of innuendo about his past is unacceptable," Foxman said. "To hold a young boy responsible for what was going on around him during the Holocaust as part of a larger effort to denigrate the man is repugnant."

[Balta1701]

As far as I can tell, Eric Cantor of 2007 thinks that Eric Cantor from 2010 just committed a felony.

 

[lostfan]

I just had an ad for Sarah Palin's reality show on Facebook so I removed it, and it asked why so I clicked "Other" and when it asked for a reason I wrote "stupid"

[Balta1701]

It's not partisan, but it's a good read and this is sorta the thread I dominate so I'm going to share it. The Post has a 2-day, long, investigation piece on the Mumbai attacks, including detailing some of the Pakistani government connections and the activities of a U.S. citizen. Part 1. Part 2

[BigSqwert]

The pathological liar known as Sarah Palin exposed once again. This time for her claim of being an avid fisher, hunter, and outdoorsman.

[EvilMonkey]

Glenn Beck accuses holocaust survivor George Soros of being a Nazi collaborator, as a 13 year old Jewish boy.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101...ocaust-comments

 

 

Beck said on the radio Wednesday that Soros—as a 13-year-old Jewish boy, living apart from his parents in order to avoid apprehension by the Nazis—"used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off. … It was frightening. Here's a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps."

 

Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League and a Holocaust survivor, called Beck's comments "completely inappropriate, offensive and over the top." [see update]

Here is the rest of that quote that seems to be missing.....

 

And I am certainly not saying that George Soros enjoyed that, even had a choice. I mean, he's 14 years old. He was surviving. So I'm not making a judgment. That's between him and God. As a 14-year-old boy, I don't know what you would do. I don't know what you would do. But you would think that there would be some remorse as an 80-year-old man or a 40-year-old man or a 20-year-old man, when it was all over, you would do some soul searching and say, 'What did I do? What did I do?'”

 

[StrangeSox]

Here is the rest of that quote that seems to be missing.....

 

Is that supposed to make it any better?