10.07.08
Posted in News
at 3:03 pm
The Blogometer: 10/7: Turning Up The Heat:
John McCain’s aggressive speech in New Mexico, in which he delivered a scathing attack on Barack Obama’s character and record, generated a lot of commentary in the blogosphere. Conservative bloggers, of course, loved the speech. They were particularly pleased that McCain accused Dems (including Obama) of contributing to the financial crisis by protecting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Righty bloggers love this argument because they believe it is both (a.) true, and (b.) politically effective. As Moe Lane writes: “Sen. John McCain today [laid] plain the crisis on Wall Street — not to mention Main Street — firmly on the narrow shoulders of those who caused it in the first place: the Democratic Party in general, and Senator Barack Obama in particular.” …
Liberal bloggers are pissed. You care? Me neither.
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Posted in News
at 11:21 am
Slashdot | Election Dirty Tricks About To Begin:
“ABC is warning that dirty election tricks are about to start. In the past, they’ve ranged from late-night robo-calls to voter intimidation. ABC has a pretty good list of what to watch out for as told by Allen Raymond, a former Republican operative, who was reformed after spending three months in prison in 2006 for pulling some of the stunts he now helps to prevent.”
To make this story timely, last week someone broke into a McCain campaign office in Missouri and stole a laptop computer containing “strategic information” about the local campaign.
A pity they couldn’t find a reformed democrat operative so we could know what real dirty trick are like.
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10.06.08
Posted in News
at 3:10 pm
The Blogometer: 10/6: Off Come The Gloves:
Conservative bloggers were delighted by Sarah Palin’s incendiary remarks about Barack Obama, in which she invoked his ties to ex-Weatherman William Ayers and accused the Dem nominee of “pallin’ around with terrorists“. Righty bloggers have been discussing Obama’s connection to Ayers for months, and they’re pleased that John McCain’s campaign is finally willing to “go there.” Matt Lewis echoes the views of many conservative bloggers when he writes: “If McCain is going to have a chance to win this race, he will need to take the gloves off — or at least — empower Palin to do so.” …
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Posted in News
at 3:05 pm
Half Of New iPhone Owners Came From Verizon - 24% from T-Mobile, 19% from Sprint…:
Despite Verizon and T-Mobile faring better in call quality and customer satisfaction surveys, 30% of current 3G iPhone users made the switch from other carriers to AT&T from June to August, according to new data from the NPD Group. By comparison, 23% of wireless customers changed carriers during that same time frame. Nearly half of new AT&T iPhone customers switched from Verizon Wireless, another 24 percent switched from T-Mobile, and 19 percent switched from Sprint. iPhone smartphone share jumped from 11% to 17% of the market with the 3G’s launch.
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Posted in News
at 10:51 am
That’s what I have to deal with here in Virginia. I see where you guys in NY are dealing with a freeze warning tonight. Ah, the good old days when I lived there and would be freezing my ass off along with you. But sadly I have to deal with lots and lots of sunshine and warm temps. Last winter brought all of 3 inches of snow here and everyone’s wondering if we’ll get any at all this winter. They say January is the worst and sometimes it gets below freezing for several days in a row! My oh my how will I be able to take it…
Okay, enough for now but I’ll be back to rubbing it in when it really snows up there.
Have a great day!
Frank
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10.04.08
Posted in News
at 8:22 pm
“Why McCain Will Close and Win”:
With a month to go before election day, Hugh Hewitt sums up the case for John McCain better than McCain himself is likely to do. Hugh concludes:
America is a great and good nation, and it will not turn itself over to a party in the grip of its hardest left cadres, its most corrupt machine and its least experienced nominee ever.
Especially not when it has a man of enormous courage and proven devotion and sacrifice at the ready to lead through difficult times.
I agree that McCain should close and win the election, but I don’t share Hugh’s confidence that he will.
It’s always nice to beat the odds, the pundits and more than anything it’s nice to beat the dems.
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10.02.08
Posted in News
at 10:21 pm
Biden was more the wonk, the Washington Politician with the slick politician answers. Palin is unique. There are three politicians and one real person in this race and she’s the real person. I like her and I think a lot of other people will to. The pundits pontificate about things they alone care about. But feeling that a candidate is real and maybe not that far from where I am is different. That’s new and that’s why Palin won. When she said something about a real shout out to third graders watching I felt, wow, never have I heard something from someone that was this real, not planned or rehearsed or tested or whatever crap most pols do. She is someone I would like to visit with, someone who I would feel comfortable with if she came into my home. Yes, she is unique and I hope McCain/Palin win because I would really like that.
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Posted in News
at 10:11 pm
Fresh from the McCain people.
JOE BIDEN’S 14 LIES TONIGHT
1. TAX VOTE: Biden said McCain voted “the exact same way” as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.
2. AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.
3. OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: Biden said, “Drill we must.” But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to “raping” the Outer Continental Shelf.”
4. TROOP FUNDING: Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of it’s passage.
5. OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: Biden says he’s always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.
6. ALERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCain’s record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.
7. HEALTH INSURANCE: Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on people’s health insurance coverage — they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false
8. OIL TAXES: Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska — she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it’s not a windfall profits tax.
9. AFGHANISTAN / GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.
10. REGULATION: Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation — he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.
11. IRAQ: When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was “dead wrong on Iraq”, because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.
12. TAX INCREASES: Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldn’t see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.
13. BAILOUT: Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesn’t meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be part of “part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20.”
14. REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won’t pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.
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Posted in News
at 1:35 am
My Way News - Fact check: Biden spins a helicopter tale:
Good info to have read before the debate tonight. Palin better not screw it up or BO will be president BO.
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09.30.08
Posted in News
at 10:57 pm
VP debate moderator Ifill releasing pro-Obama book:
The moderator of Thursday’s vice presidential debate between Democrat Sen. Joe Biden and GOP Gov. Sarah Palin is writing a book, to come out about the time the next president takes the oath of office, to “shed new light” on Democratic candidate Barack Obama and other “emerging young African American politicians” who are “forging a bold new path to political power.” …
I’m sure she’ll be more than fair… To Obama…
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Posted in News
at 9:10 pm
Candidates Jockey for Political Edge, as Congress Regroups on Bailout - FOXNews.com Elections :
Barack Obama and John McCain sharply criticize each other over the economy, while calling on congressional lawmakers to set aside their differences and pass the Wall Street rescue package. …
Oh come on… see the humor in it…
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Posted in News
at 11:20 am
The Beltway Crash - WSJ.com:
Congress lives up to its 10% approval rating.
Okay, now we know… One in ten Americans are idiots.
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Posted in News
at 1:17 am
You Knew It All Along:
Glenn Reynolds reproduces an email from a “reader at a major newsroom:”
Off the record, every suspicion you have about MSM being in the tank for O is true. We have a team of 4 people going thru dumpsters in Alaska and 4 in arizona. Not a single one looking into Acorn, Ayers or Freddiemae. Editor refuses to publish anything that would jeopardize election for O, and betting you dollars to donuts same is true at NYT, others. People cheer when CNN or NBC run another Palin-mocking but raising any reasonable inquiry into obama is derided or flat out ignored. The fix is in, and its working.
Sadly, it’s true: it is indeed working. We live in a political system that has not yet been adequately described, but one might call it a “mediated democracy.” Mediated by a self-appointed, generally ignorant but highly opinionated “elite” that is not elite by any conventional measure–income, intelligence, education, social position–but that successfully dictates the terms of political discourse even though it no longer controls (exclusively, anyway) the means of production of the news. Someday, social scientists may be able to explain this. For now, we appear to be stuck with it.
To comment on this post, go here.
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09.29.08
Posted in News
at 11:50 pm
Bailout bill slapped aside; record stock plunge - Yahoo! News:
… In the House, “no” votes came from both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle. More than two-thirds of Republicans and 40 percent of Democrats opposed the bill. Several Democrats in close election fights waited until the last moment, then went against the bill as it became clear the vast majority of Republicans were opposing it.
Thirteen of the 19 most vulnerable Republicans and Democrats in an Associated Press analysis voted against the bill despite the pleas from President Bush and their party leaders to pass it.
In all, 65 Republicans joined 140 Democrats in voting “yes,” while 133 Republicans and 95 Democrats voted “no.” …
Well, I guess you could say this no vote was bipartisan couldn’t you. With the market down so much you’d think it was the time to buy and if so we might expect a resurgence Tuesday. But don’t go by me, I know nothing of these things. I’m also curious to see just what would happen if there is no bailout. As the old saying goes, “I don’t have a dime invested so it don’t matter to me.”
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Posted in News
at 11:26 am
Ledger Daughter Inherits Estate, Launches Lawsuit - E! Online:
From the department of not-so-shocking news: An insurance company is trying like crazy to find a loophole to avoid paying a hefty settlement. The kicker: It’s Heath Ledger’s policy.
Just days after the late actor’s father confirmed that the whole of Ledger’s estate would be going, without challenge, to 2-year-old daughter Matilda Rose, comes word that the ReliaStar Life Insurance Company is doing everything it can to make said estate worth $10 million less.
The company is allegedly refusing to pay out Ledger’s eight-figure life insurance policy on the grounds that his death could have been a suicide.
This, of course, despite the fact that the New York Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death accidental in an official report released in February. …
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Posted in News
at 11:24 am
Rasmussen Reports™: The most comprehensive public opinion coverage ever provided for a presidential election.:
… For polling data released during the week of September 28-October 4, 2008, the partisan weighting targets used by Rasmussen Reports will be 39.0% Democratic, 33.4% Republican, and 27.6% unaffiliated. For the preceding week, the partisan weighting targets were 39.0% Democratic, 33.5% Republican, and 27.5% unaffiliated.
Notice the difference in who they poll is also about 5%. Does this matter? Or is this a legitimate way of polling? But this article also states that for the last 4 days nothing has changed in the numbers which would infer that the first debate changed nothing. Obama has been leading McCain for a long time and that means what? The only real poll comes in about a month and then this long, tiresome, debate will be over and it will shift to who will wear what to the ball. Check Real Clear Politics for more info on polls and other stuff.
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09.28.08
Posted in News
at 8:17 am
Pitbull in a swimsuit: Exclusive pictures show Sarah Palin’s days as a beauty queen
| Mail Online:
It’s either this…
Or this…
For the next four years.
Speaking for all the male chauvinist pigs out there….
Vote for McCain/Palin.
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09.27.08
Posted in News
at 11:32 am
Letterman keeps up McCain tirade - CNN.com:
David Letterman kept up his verbal assault on John McCain, commiserating with Paris Hilton and saying he felt like an “ugly date” because the GOP presidential candidate backed out of an appearance on the “Late Show.” …
It’s been obvious for years that DL dislikes reps but this is just childish. The only thing funny about DL now is that he thinks he matters in this race. He just looks small but I guess that’s kinda normal for a dem.
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Posted in News
at 10:25 am
My Way News - Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at age 83:
Sep 27, 10:16 AM (ET)
WESTPORT, Conn. (AP) - Paul Newman, the Academy-Award winning superstar who personified cool as an activist, race car driver, popcorn impresario and the anti-hero of such films as “Hud,”"Cool Hand Luke” and “The Color of Money,” has died. He was 83.
Newman died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near Westport, publicist Jeff Sanderson said. He was surrounded by his family and close friends. …
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09.26.08
Posted in News
at 10:45 pm
“I agree with Senator McCain that. . .” vs. “What Senator Obama doesn’t seem to understand is. . .”:
At the end of the day, those two oft-repeated phrases sum up tonight’s debate. McCain was the teacher; Obama was the promising but somewhat disappointing student — the one who knows lots of facts but ultimtely doesn’t quite get the big picture
In reaching this verdict, I don’t want to give the impression did Obama did badly. To the contrary, I think he debated quite well for the most past. Certainly, his performance should end the mantra of certain critics that Obama can’t handle himself without a tele-prompter. The problem for Obama was not his performance; his problem was that once McCain got past his dreadful first “round” of the debate, he excelled. McCain was more knowledgeable, more to the point, keener on the attack, and (above all) deeper than Obama.
The reality is that, when he’s in form, McCain is deeper than just about anyone. Recall his debates with Mitt Romney (and a cast of thousands). Romney was articulate (probably more so than Obama) and knowledgeable. But McCain had an octave that Romney just couldn’t reach (though Giuliani did at times). McCain hit those notes frequently tonight; Obama couldn’t reach them any more than Romney could.
Recall too how, in those Republican debates, the other leading candidates kept praising McCain, figuring that he was finished as a contender and that they could get some reflected glory by speaking well of him. But voters kept noticing that McCain was the guy everyone else commended.
Obama didn’t praise McCain very much tonight, but he sure “seconded” him on multiple occasions. Let’s hope the voters noticed.
UPDATE: John H has a very different take below. He sees the debate as a draw at best for McCain. I agree with John on one thing (which is implied in my assessment) — Obama looked like a plausible president. So, voters who are too disgusted to vote for a Republican probably got enough reassurance from Obama tonight to take the plunge. But to the extent voters are still comparing the two candidates, rather than voting up or down on Obama, I think it was a good night for McCain.
I didn’t watch it, don’t plan too. If you want the opposite view you can get that on the MSM or John H’s take A Draw, At Best. It seems that nobody screwed up so we’re still at that draw unless the polls show something different in the next few days.
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Posted in News
at 10:11 am
Quote Of The Day: Think She Puts Her Hand On Her Chest For The National Anthem? - Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views):
Dear Editor,
San Francisco judges forbidding our Pledge of Allegiance? They will take the phrase ‘under God’ away from me when my cold, dead lips can no longer utter those words.
God Bless America” — Sarah Palin, letter to the editor, 2002
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Posted in News
at 9:47 am
Even NYT Crossword Puzzles In Tank for Obama:
Even the crossword puzzles in The New York Times are biased in favor of Obama and Biden finds David Levinson Wilk in Politico. Wilk did a little research to see how many times McCain has been an answer in the NYT puzzle since 2005. He came up with zero entries. When he looked for Obama he found the name “regularly appeared” in the puzzle. Does this prove that the Times is “150 percent in the tank” for Obama as McCain adviser Steve Schmidt recently claimed? …
At some point a few years ago the MSM gave up it’s pretense of being unbiased, thinking, I assume, that their mission of getting dems in office was more important than staying in business. Perhaps they could read the writing on the wall and knew that they were headed that way anyway and figure they might as well do something for the left on their way down. There are few people in the country who think the media is fair anymore, just lefties who never had a clue anyway.
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Posted in News
at 9:03 am
How Close Were US Presidential Elections?:
Mike Sheppard writes “I’m a graduate student in Statistics at Michigan State University and spent some time analyzing past US presidential elections to determine how close they truly were. The mathematical procedures of Linear Programming and 0-1 Integer Programming were used to find the optimal solution to the question: ‘What is the smallest number of total votes that need to be switched from one candidate to another, and from which states, to affect the outcome of the election?’ Because of the way the popular and electoral votes interact, the outcome of the analysis had some surprising and intriguing results. For example, in 2004, 57,787 votes would have given us President Kerry; and in 2000, 269 votes would have given us President Gore. In all there have been 12 US Presidential elections that were decided by less than a 1% margin; meaning if less than 1% of the voters in certain states had changed their mind to the other candidate the outcome of the election would have been different.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Crap! I thought this was common knowledge. Well, maybe for us political junkies it is. This election will be decided by a very few people making up their mind as the go into the booth or by what lever they can reach. Mistakes will be made because 2-4% of the people who do vote are… well… not very bright. I mean, how smart do you have to be to push a stylus into a hole to make sure you don’t have a hanging chad. Games are decided by who has the most points at the end of the game but the game itself is won or lost long before that. Gore lost his own state, not just Florida and Kerry lost by over a million votes, not just the deciding ones. BO will lose because of what he is, a dem, and dems pick losing candidates to run. Clinton and Carter are the two most recent losers they put forth who did win and look what happened. Hostage crisis with high inflation and cigars debauchery in the intern Whitehouse.
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