HAPPY Mun-dane, Everyone. This week 3 Chic’s featured artist is Nat King Cole.
Wiki: Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. He owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres. He was one of the first black Americans to host a television variety show, and has maintained worldwide popularity since his death.
On November 5, 1956, The Nat King Cole Show debuted on NBC-TV. The Cole program was the first of its kind hosted by an African-American, which created controversy at the time.[8]
Beginning as a 15-minute pops show on Monday night, the program was expanded to a half hour in July 1957. Despite the efforts of NBC, as well as many of Cole’s industry colleagues—many of whom, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte, Frankie Laine, Mel Tormé, Peggy Lee, and Eartha Kitt, worked for industry scale (or even for no pay)[8] in order to help the show save money—The Nat King Cole Show was ultimately done in by lack of a national sponsorship.[8] Companies such as Rheingold Beer assumed regional sponsorship of the show, but a national sponsor never appeared.[8]
The last episode of “The Nat King Cole Show” aired December 17, 1957. Cole had survived for over a year, and it was he, not NBC, who ultimately decided to pull the plug on the show.[9] Commenting on the lack of sponsorship his show received, Cole quipped shortly after its demise, “Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark.”[10][11]
In January 1964, Cole made one of his final television appearances on The Jack Benny Program. Cole was introduced as “the best friend a song ever had,” and sang “When I Fall in Love.” It was one of Cole’s last performances.
rikyrah here: found this at The Reid Report.
John Brennan confirmed as CIA director following White House drone statement
By Aaron Blake, Updated: Thursday, March 7, 2:50 PM
John O. Brennan was confirmed as CIA director on Thursday afternoon, after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) expressed satisfaction with the response he had gotten to his questions about the Obama Administration’s drone program.
Paul engaged in a nearly 13-hour talking filibuster against Brennan’s nomination on Wednesday, ending after midnight on Thursday morning. Throughout the filibuster, Paul said he simply wanted the White House to clarify that it would not use unmanned aerial drones to kill American citizens on U.S. soil — a point he felt the White House hadn’t been clear enough
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rand-paul-says-hes-satisfied-with-obama-administrations-response-on-drones/2013/03/07/9b20aa44-875d-11e2-98a3-b3db6b9ac586_story.html?wpisrc=al_comboNP_p
Go jump in a lake and choke on the seaweed, Rand TOUPE Paul.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rand-paul-says-hes-satisfied-with-obama-administrations-response-on-drones/2013/03/07/9b20aa44-875d-11e2-98a3-b3db6b9ac586_story.html?wpisrc=al_comboNP_p
TPM Editor’s Blog
Staying Classy
Josh Marshall- October 22, 2012, 4:21 PM 8202I guess this is what happens late in the tight presidential race. Ronna Romney is the ex-sister-in-law of Mitt Romney. She’s apparently remained close to the Romney family. She has a minor role in the Romney campaign in Florida and has recently appeared at campaign events in Michigan with her daughter.
Earlier this afternoon she posted these grotesque images of the mangled body of the late Ambassador Chris Stevens with the words “Obama killed him” surrounded by dripping blood.
\
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/10/staying_classy_1.php?ref=fpblg
NBC/WSJ poll: Obama leads by 45 points with Latinos
By Domenico Montanaro, NBC News Deputy Political Editor
Hispanic voters continue to say they prefer President Obama by wide margins over Republican nominee Mitt Romney amid signs that the race is tightening among the broader electorate, according to new data in a NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Telemundo poll.
Obama leads Romney 70 percent to 25 percent among likely Latino voters (and 69 percent to 23 percent among registered voters), a slight uptick for Romney from the 70 percent to 25 percent lead the president held a month ago.
But Latino enthusiasm has ticked up since last month, up from its lows earlier this cycle but still not yet on par with Latino enthusiasm for Obama in 2008.
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/22/14617456-nbcwsj-poll-obama-leads-by-45-points-with-latinos?lite
Mitt, “IMMASPRAYPAINTMYFACE&HANDBEFOREMYTELEMUNDO-UNIVISIONVISIT Romney NEVER stood a chance with HISPANICS.
Mon Oct 22, 2012 at 08:32 AM PDT.
NC Early Voting Day 4: African American Turnout Doubles White GOP Turnout Sunday
Sunday, October 21 was another big day for African American voter turnout in North Carolina. 10,188 African Americans voted Sunday in NC, many of them after church as part of the “souls to the polls” movement. In comparison, only 4,980 White Republicans voted Sunday in NC. Overall, Sunday turnout was (at least) 24,357, whereas in 2008 it was 15,083, meaning that Sunday turnout was up (at least) 61.5% over 2008 levels. These numbers may go up as more counties report their totals.
It seems that White Evangelicals in NC may not be all that enthusiastic about voting for Mitt Romney, at least in comparison to the enthusiasm African American voters in NC feel about voting for Barack Obama. Billy Graham has taken out ads trying to motivate the religious right to “Vote for Biblical values” (apparently that is supposed to mean voting for Mitt Romney). But if that has prompted some sort of religious right voting wave, it is doing an excellent job of camouflaging itself in the early voting statistics. On Sunday, African American turnout in NC was more than double White Republican turnout.
Overall, early vote turnout is now up by 38.0% in NC above where it was at the same time in 2008. Yesterday it was up by 36.6%, but more votes from previous days keep trickling in from slow reporting counties. As a result, Obama’s vote margins keep improving from previous days.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/22/1147893/-NC-Early-Voting-Day-4-African-American-Turnout-Doubles-White-GOP-Turnout-Sunday
Oh! Oh! Jesus, son of the living God!
UPDATED: Sharmeka Moffitt Set On Fire and In Critical Condition; KKK Rumored To Be Behind Attack
http://www.blackyouthproject.com/2012/10/sharmeka-moffitt-set-on-fire-and-in-critical-condition-kkk-rumored-to-be-behind-attack/
Louisiana news outlets are reporting a truly horrific story.
A black woman named Sharmeka Moffitt was attacked and set on fire while on a walking trail in a city park in Winnsboro, LA.
Since the report surfaced, social media has been flooded with allegations that the attack was a hate crime perpetrated by three white men affiliated with the KKK.
From WMBF News:
“The story went viral Sunday evening on Twitter and Facebook. Many of the posts speculated the attack was a hate crime. However, the sheriff’s office confirmed with KSLA News 12 that Moffitt was not wearing a President Obama t-shirt, despite claims on social media that the t-shirt is what provoked the attack.
The investigation has been turned over to the Louisiana State Police Troop F.”
UPDATE 3:50 P.M.: Winnsboro burn victim clings to life
http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20121022/NEWS01/121022019/UPDATE-3-50-P-M-Winnsboro-burn-victim-clings-life
WINNSBORO – Twenty-year-old Sharmeka Moffitt is clinging to life this afternoon at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport after being attacked and set afire Sunday night here in Civitan Park by three men who wrote “KKK,” possibly with toothpaste, on her car.
Moffitt, who called 911 herself from the park, couldn’t identify the race of her attackers, but said they were all wearing white T-shirt hoodies.
When asked about his first reaction to the crime, Winnsboro Police Chief Lester Thomas said, “Devastated.”
Franklin Parish Sheriff Kevin Cobb was also shaken, saying he had never experienced such a crime.
“It’s most definitely a horrific event that has created an uneasy feeling in the community,” Cobb said.
Franklin Parish’s two top cops were joined by the Louisiana State Police and the FBI and will later determine whether the attack could be considered a hate crime, which is classified as violating someone’s civil rights.
“These are very unusual and troubling circumstances and won’t be taken lightly,” Cobb said. “We will follow the facts and seek justice. The best thing we can do now is pray for the victim’s healing and for her family.”
bless this poor child.
and may the evil who did this burn in hell
WHAT THE FUCK?!!! Set on fire? These EVIL, SICK BASTARDS must DIE for this crime.
An update on the election protection effort
By Kay October 22nd, 2012
I went to a voter protection meeting Saturday. We have an organized, statewide voter protection effort in Ohio that predates Obama’s first campaign here. It started in earnest after the first voter ID law went in, so in time for the 2006 election. We observed in 2006, 2008, 2010 and we’ll do the same in 2012. It gets better every year because most of us are veterans at this point. The Ohio Democratic Party ran the 2010 election protection effort, but you shouldn’t consider the Party or any campaign(s) programs as isolated and unique to a particular cycle. We’re not re-inventing this every year. We update on whatever barriers Republicans have put in place since the last cycle, but the general job doesn’t change.
The assumption going into the 2008 election was that Ohio would be close, so the Obama campaign was prepared for a contested result and they’re prepared again this year.
The idea behind voter protection is that the volunteer election observers troubleshoot in individual precincts while also looking for, documenting and reporting any problems that may turn out to be systemic. We share information.
The election observers who are inside a polling place in Ohio on our side are (mostly) lawyers or law students, but they’re not acting as lawyers for the campaign. They’re simply observers; we’re Ohio ”electors” (registered voters). To “enter” as an election observer in Ohio one must file with a county board of elections and again in each precinct entered, so all of that is in place at this point because we started preparing in April. We’ve been observing early voting, for example.
The campaign also has lawyers “on the ground”, just as they did in 2008. They would be the people who would actually represent the campaign if there were short-term injunctive relief required in any precinct or polling place or an eventual statewide contested result.
Something to remember about Ohio election protection in 2012 is the two candidates at the top of the ticket this year. The Obama campaign in 2008 and again in 2012 were absolutely rigorous about monitoring election process here. Too, the Obama Administration has been very aggressive on protecting voting rights in those states where the preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act apply.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2012/10/22/an-update-on-the-election-protection-effort/
Sweet Honey in the Rock – Ballad of Harry Moore
http://youtu.be/_wEPZ0rTsHs
“Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ’round”
Akin campaign doubles down on dog comparison: “If Claire McCaskill were a dog, she’d be a ‘Bullshitsu’”
http://thkpr.gs/RXtyLQ
__________________
What a low class disgusting POS man!
PIECE-O-SHIT. There, I fixed it for ya.
Mythe wrote:
So I went to vote at the “Martha Lutha Kang” Community Center and you would have thought it was Martin’s birthday. My peeps were there, standing in line, not complaining, being patient, wrapped around 2 corners deep. I WAS SO PROUD. I assume that they were there in full force because they feel guilty about letting their “one, only and first AA POTUS” down by not showing up in the 2010 midterms. I could have beat em all with a stick for putting this man thru 2 years of holy hell. But I am so proud right now, I forgive every last one of them. OBAMA’S GOT THIS!!
My peeps were there, standing in line, not complaining, being patient, wrapped around 2 corners deep. I WAS SO PROUD.
:’) :’) :’)
Posted at 01:25 PM ET, 10/22/2012
A reasonable way to judge who’s winning
By Greg Sargent
Nate Silver assesses the current state of the race, and concludes that Obama has an edge in the electoral college:
The bad news for President Obama: it’s been almost a week since the second presidential debate, in Hempstead, N.Y., one that instant-reaction polls said was a narrow victory for him. But there is little sign that this has translated into a bounce for Mr. Obama in his head-to-head polls against Mitt Romney. Instead, the presidential race may have settled into a period of relative stability.
There is bad news for Mr. Romney as well, however. The “new normal” of the presidential campaign is considerably more favorable for him than the environment before the first debate, in Denver. However, it is one in which he still seems to be trailing, by perhaps 2 percentage points, in the states that are most vital in the Electoral College.
I’m no polling expert, but I think there’s a very simple and reasonable way for lay-people to assess who is currently winning the presidential race. Here goes: According to the consensus of the polling averages, which candidate is winning more than 270 electoral college votes?
This is not the same as asking who will win the race or who has momentum. It is simply: Who is winning right now?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line
Mind The Gap, Ladies
By Zandar
October 22nd, 2012
Here’s the problem with our media in politics. Nate Silver’s analysis of the polls shows a near record national gender gap:
The biggest gender gap to date in the exit polls came in 2000, when Al Gore won by 11 points among women, but George W. Bush won by 9 points among men — a 20-point difference. The numbers this year look very close to that.
Since the first presidential debate in Denver, there have been 10 high-quality national polls that reported a breakout of results between men and women. (I define a “high-quality” poll as one that used live telephone interviews, and which called both landlines and cellphones. These polls will collect the most representative samples and should provide for the most reliable benchmarks of demographic trends.)
The results in the polls were varied, with the gender gap ranging from 33 points (in a Zogby telephone poll for the Washington Times) to just 8 (in polls by Pew Research and by The Washington Post). On average, however, there was an 18-point gender gap, with Mr. Obama leading by an average of 9 points among women but trailing by 9 points among men.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2012/10/22/mind-the-gap-ladies/
Pro-Romney CEO tells employees: ‘Help yourself’ by donating
By Steve Benen
Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:15 AM EDT.
We’ve talked a bit lately about business leaders using heavy-handed election tactics, pressuring their employees to support Mitt Romney, apparently at the candidate’s behest. Several Republican CEOs have taken Romney’s request to heart, and have abandoned subtlety when giving their workers voting instructions.
Among the most notable examples is Arthur Allen, CEO of ASG Software Solutions, who told his employees via email, “If we fail as a nation to make the right choice on November 6th, and we lose our independence as a company, I don’t want to hear any complaints regarding the fallout that will most likely come.” As “Up with Chris Hayes” reported over the weekend, that’s not all Arthur Allen said.
As it turns out, the ASG Software Solutions chief “has repeatedly solicited his more than 1,300 employees not only to support Mitt Romney, but to donate up to the maximum $2,500 to Romney’s presidential campaign.”
What strikes me as interesting about this is the degree to which a company can keep tabs on its workers. A CEO can send emails every day, pleading with them to vote one way or another in a given election, but when push comes to shove, an individual American walks into the voting booth and casts a secret ballot. It’s public information as to whether that person voted, but how he or she voted is entirely private.
If a worker runs into the boss at the water cooler, and the employer says, “So, did you vote the way I told you to?” the employee can say, “Absolutely, boss!” No one ever will know whether the assurance is true or not.
But urging employees to contribute the legal maximum is something else altogether.
——————————————————————————–
When someone donates $2,500 to a presidential candidate, that’s reported to the FEC. In other words, when the worker runs into the boss at the water cooler, and the employer says, “So, did you donate the way I told you to?” the employee can’t lie.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/22/14617296-pro-romney-ceo-tells-employees-help-yourself-by-donating?lite
‘Romnesia’ extends to marriage equality
By Steve Benen
Mon Oct 22, 2012 12:40 PM EDT.
After last week’s presidential candidate debate, Bay Buchanan talked to reporters in the spin room as a surrogate and senior adviser to the Romney campaign. It didn’t generate much attention at the time, but Buchanan told The Advocate that a Romney administration would treat marriage as “a state issue” and would “not get in the way of what states decide to do on marriage and adoption.”
So, was this a new attempt at moderation? Maybe another issue receiving the Etch A Sketch treatment? As it turns out, no — Buchanan simply came down with a temporary case of Romnesia, and soon after after disavowed her own comments.
Buchanan issued a clarification to BuzzFeed this afternoon following initial publication of this story, writing, “Governor Romney supports a federal marriage amendment to the Constitution that defines marriage as an institution between a man and a woman. Governor Romney also believes, consistent with the 10th Amendment, that it should be left to states to decide whether to grant same-sex couples certain benefits, such as hospital visitation rights and the ability to adopt children. I referred to the Tenth Amendment only when speaking about these kinds of benefits — not marriage.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/22/14618880-romnesia-extends-to-marriage-equality?lite
Albright: Romney not ready for ‘prime time’
By Steve Benen
Mon Oct 22, 2012 1:27 PM EDT.
With the third and final presidential candidate debate focusing on foreign policy and national security, the Obama campaign has a new video today making the case that Mitt Romney simply fails the Commander-in-Chief test. At nearly five minutes, it’s far too long for broadcast, but as an informational video, it’s pretty brutal.
http://youtu.be/FOatTWJAlpI
The clip features commentary from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Admiral John Nathman (ret.), and former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy, who collectively make the case that the Republican just doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Of particular interest was Albright’s criticism, in large part because she didn’t hold back. “In Gov. Romney, what worries me is just a series of statements that show that he’s not ready for prime time in terms of national security,” she said, adding, “We cannot afford to have Gov. Romney and Congressman Ryan as president and vice president because of Gov. Romney’s lack of understanding of the issues that a Commander in Chief has to deal with. That is dangerous.”
That’s pretty tough stuff from the nation’s former top diplomat.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/22/14619785-albright-romney-not-ready-for-prime-time?lite
Romney’s offensive on Benghazi unravels
By Steve Benen
Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:47 AM EDT.
A month ago, an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi left four Americans dead, and Mitt Romney immediately tried to exploit the crisis for partisan gain. The effort backfired and even many on the right condemned the candidate’s cravenness.
Though the incident left Romney hesitant to pursue Benghazi as a line of attack, the Republican again went on the offensive in last week’s debate. Again, Romney’s offensive backfired and left him looking rather ridiculous.
And on the eve of his third and final debate with President Obama, this time focused primarily on foreign policy, Romney very likely hoped to have one more chance to use Benghazi to undermine the president’s standing on national security. Over the weekend, however, the Republican’s entire line of criticism started to unravel.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/22/14615767-romneys-offensive-on-benghazi-unravels?lite
Just got back from casting my ballot for the re-election of President Barack Obama.
Took me less than 15 minutes.
Because I went to a central location, they had a lot of machines, and I got there right before the lunch crowd.
If you can vote early, please do so.
Whoo Hoo!
UPDATED: What everyone should know about the Benghazi attack BEFORE tonight’s debate http://thkpr.gs/QjsAoF
Heads up, Texans!
Early voting begins today in Texas. Lets get out there and VOTE!
The New Yorker endorsement of President Obama: The reelection of Barack Obama is a matter of great urgency.
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2012/10/29/121029taco_talk_editors#ixzz2A05aBhe9 …
Obama Sign Riddled With Bullet Holes: As Election Nears, Voter Intimidation Increases
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/10/21/obama-sign-riddled-with-bullet-holes-as-election-nears-voter-intimidation-and-endangerment-grow-images/
LUBBOCK, TEXAS — “Obama signs here are either stolen or shot. So sad in America people can’t have their own opinions.”
At least, that’s the caption on an anonymous Facebook user’s uploaded image, posted on the Being Liberal fan page and seen above. Is it a threat? Simple vandalism? Based on the background of the photograph, this vandalism by firearm occurred in a residential neighborhood, showing a startlingly high disregard for human life. This is, at the least, reckless endangerment. At worst, it is a direct attack on the democratic process. Second amendment rights don’t give you the right to take someone else’s first amendment rights. Free speech is free speech.
Hip hop’s royal couple loses trademark battle with Boston company\
BOSTON (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) A Boston event planning company has won a legal battle against one of the biggest stars in the world.
Blue Ivy Events in Boston will keep the name that they have operated under since 2009.
If the name “Blue Ivy” sounds familiar, it is likely because it is the name singer Beyonce Knowles and her rapper/entrepreneur husband Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter gave to their firstborn child earlier this year.
After her child’s birth, the 31-year-old songstress tried to trademark the name, reportedly to begin a line of baby products. It wasn’t long before Blue Ivy Events owner Veronica Alexandra was thrust into the spotlight as she tried to defend her company’s name.
On Tuesday, Alexandra won the battle and trademark protection for the name “Blue Ivy.” The ruling means the Carters have no legal rights to keep the name to themselves.
Read more: http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/19870709/2012/10/20/hip-hop-royalty-loses-trademark-battle-with-boston#ixzz2A2EAMRD6
An education about the Electoral College
Mo Rocca, host of the PBS film “Electoral Dysfunction,” helps us understand just what the Electoral College is, how it affects our choosing the president, and introduces us to one lawmaker’s plan to abolish it.
Video
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50133559n&tag=nl.e875&s_cid=e875
Is Romney Using Lyme Disease to Win Swing State Votes?
By Tim Murphy | Mon Oct. 22, 2012 3:03 AM PDT
In Virginia’s Loudoun County, the candidate waded into a contentious debate over Lyme disease. But in his bid to court voters, Romney may be playing politics with public health.
The mailers arrived in late September, courtesy of the Romney campaign—glossy and full-color, with a photo of a smiling doctor easing the concerns of a middle-aged white couple. Inside was a promise: “Romney and Ryan will do more to fight the spread of Lyme disease.” It rattled off a list of steps the Republican ticket would take to thwart a “massive epidemic,” and promised to protect doctors from malpractice cases.
The initial response from political observers was bemusement, followed by derision. As the Washington Examiner’s Philip Klein put it, “We may look back at this as epitomizing the smallness of the Romney campaign.”
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/mitt-romney-virginia-lyme-disease-michael-farris
Pennsylvania Newspaper Owned By Top Right-Wing Funder Falsely Claims ID Is Required To Vote
By Ian Millhiser on Oct 22, 2012 at 9:00 am
The Mount Pleasant Journal is one of several newspapers run by Trib Total Media, a media conglomerate owned by billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife. Scaife’s foundation donated hundreds of millions of dollars to conservative organizations ranging from the American Enterprise Institution to the Federalist Society, and he currently serves as vice-chairman of the right-wing Heritage Foundation’s board of trustees.
Last Thursday, at least one of Scaife’s newspapers printed an inaccurate story headlined “Photo ID required for November election,” when, in reality, a court order suspended the requirement that Pennsylvania voters show an ID or lose their right to vote. The following piece appeared in Scaife’s Mount Pleasant Journal:
Again, the claim that voters will need to show ID in order to vote, as well as the claim that voters who do not show ID will be forced to cast a provisional ballot and then show ID later, are entirely false. The state of Pennsylvania is currently bound by a court order which permits voters without ID to cast normal ballots, not provisional ballots, and to have those ballots counted just like any other. Voters will still be asked to show ID at the polls, but may not be turned away or given a provisional ballot because they do not show it.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/10/22/1056351/pennsylvania-newspaper-owned-by-top-right-wing-funder-falsely-claims-id-is-required-to-vote/
Obama’s not-so-hidden second-term agenda
By E.J. Dionne Jr., Published: October 21
Everywhere you turn, President Obama is accused of not offering a clear second-term agenda. It’s not surprising that Republicans say it, but you also hear it from quarters sympathetic to the president.
But how true is the charge?
The president does lack a crisp, here’s-my-plan set of sound bites. What’s less obvious is whether this should matter to anyone. Mitt Romney’s five-point plan sounds good but is quite vague and, upon inspection, looks rather like five-point plans issued by earlier Republican presidential candidates. Moreover, Romney has been resolutely unspecific about his tax plans, leading to the understandable suspicion that he’s hiding something politically unsavory, either in the popular deductions he’d have to slash or in the programs he’d have to get rid of.
Obama, by contrast, has been far more straightforward about what he would do about the deficit: He wants a budget deal that includes both spending cuts and tax increases. He has put forward rather detailed deficit-reduction proposals. The centerpiece is a plan that, when combined with cuts made in 2011, would reduce the deficit by $3.8 trillion over a decade, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Obama keeps insisting (rightly) that no deal can work without new revenue, and he is upfront that he’d begin by raising taxes on Americans earning over $250,000 a year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-the-not-so-hidden-obama-agenda/2012/10/21/a4280792-1ba4-11e2-9cd5-b55c38388962_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions
The New Yorker:
he International Cycling Union has stripped Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles.
The news follows this month’s finding by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency of “overwhelming” evidence that he was involved as a professional cyclist in “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program.
Registered voters vs likely voters
By Steve Benen
Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:05 AM EDT
Late last week, a CNN poll of Florida voters found something interesting. Among likely voters, Mitt Romney enjoys a slight edge over President Obama, 49% to 48%, but among registered voters, the president has a large advantage, 50% to 43%.
In other words, Florida voters overall clearly prefer Obama, but a whole lot of Obama supporters in Florida just don’t intend to show up. Though the results weren’t quite this dramatic in the new NBC/WSJ poll, the national trend is pointing in a similar direction.
I put together this chart to help illustrate the gap — among registered voters, the two candidates are tied at 47% each, while among registered voters, the president leads by five. Other recent national polls also point to the same phenomenon, with Obama faring much better with the adult population overall, and worse with those most likely to actually vote.
At a distance, this is a mixed bag for both sides. The good news for Obama is that he has room to grow — there are voters out there who want him to win, but are inclined to stay on the sidelines. If they can be motivated to cast a ballot, the president’s odds improve considerably.
The bad news for Obama is that, with just two week to go, he may very well lose because his supporters made a choice not to show up when it counted.
If you’re thinking this dynamic seems kind of familiar, there’s a good reason for that.
——————————————————————————–
About a week before the 2010 midterms, a Washington Post/ABC News poll found Republicans leading in all the relevant categories — generic ballot, economic credibility, personal values — among those likely to show up and cast a ballot. At the same time, the exact same poll shows Democrats leading in all the relevant categories — generic ballot, economic credibility, personal values — among registered voters.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/22/14614961-registered-voters-vs-likely-voters?lite
Posted at 09:15 AM ET, 10/22/2012
The Morning Plum: Shadow of Bush looms over foreign policy debate
By Greg Sargent
Throughout this campaign, Obama has frequently invoked Bush’s economic policies to argue that a Romney presidency would take us back to an approach that landed us in the mess we’re still digging our way out of four years later. That’s had mixed results, given that polls still show Obama and Romney tied on the economy — or a Romney edge.
But it may be a lot tougher for Romney to escape Bush’s shadow tonight, when the debate turns to foreign policy. That’s because Romney’s business background gives him a way to present himself as an alternative to Obama and Bush on the economy. When it comes to foreign policy, Romney will be harder pressed to present himself as an alternative to both presidents.
Indeed, in tonight’s debate, Obama’s message will be simple:
1) We got Osama Bin Laden
2) We’re ending Bush’s wars
3) Mitt Romney’s got nothing but more Bush bluster
The pairing of those first two points may prove powerful, since it combines a major national security success with the ending of an unpopular war. Romney, meanwhile, will make the case that Obama is a weak and ineffective leader who has damaged America’s standing in the world. He’ll point to the Libya attacks, and he’ll argue that he will be tougher than Obama has been in preventing Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon, to bolster that argument.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line
Josh Marshall✔
@joshtpm
Big, BIG number for Obama >>OH President ’12: OBAMA(D) 50.0% ROMNEY(R) 45.0% (10/20/2012 Quinnipiac/CBS/NYT) #ptmobile polltracker.talkingpointsmemo.com/contests/oh-pr…
Greg Sargent@ThePlumLineGS
CBS poll says 20% of Ohio voters have already voted; O leads among them 54-39. Election already happening as we speak
We Need Better Poll Aggregation, Not Excuses for Using Bad Data
Friday, October 19, 2012 | Posted by Deaniac83 at 2:25 PM
I don’t know if it’s TPV that’s been crawling under Nate Silver’s skin, but he’s been feeling the need to defend his methods. We’re at a point where Nate Silver himself points out the horrific track record of Gallup and insists on including it in his models anyway – and including it as the single largest factor in his trendline calculations. But it was on Tuesday that he actually came up with ways to justify it: he responded to the critics of his poll aggregation with a strawman argument: those of us calling for a better examination of internal data in a poll before it is included in aggregation without question are “cherry-picking” polls, or, at the least, doing a less obvious form of the same.
There is a more subtle form of bias, however, that a lot more of us are prone to. That bias is to look at all the data — except for the two or three data points that you like least, which you dismiss as being “outliers.”
Strawman. Nobody is seriously making the case that you only include polls that we “like,” Nate. We are arguing that poll aggregators have a responsibility to examine the poll’s internals and demographic data in context of actual voting patterns of the recent past and to an extent, current early voting. No one is arguing that you throw out a poll if it favors Romney. We’re saying that you throw out a poll, for example, if it shows conservatives will dominate this election by a 6-point higher margin than the ultraconservative electorate in 2010.
But Nate doesn’t like to do that either. I am thinking that’s because it makes too much work for him, but he has his excuse:
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2012/10/we-need-better-poll-aggregation-not.html
utaustinliberal@utaustinliberal
Early (in person) Voting begins in Wisconsin TODAY. Go out and VOTE so the Badger State remains blue for #ObamaBiden2012 and Democrats
utaustinliberal@utaustinliberal
Early (in person) Voting begins TODAY in Texas. C’mon Longhorns, make your voices heard for #ObamaBiden2012 and Democrats.
utaustinliberal@utaustinliberal
Early (in person) Voting begins TODAY in Illinois. Go out and VOTE so the state that gave the world Pres. Obama remains blue.
BWA HA HA HA Good Morning, Rikyrah, SG2, & Everyone! ]
That Romnesia poster is hilarious. :-)
Nat King Cole was the ‘original crooner.’
his voice..
his voice..
sigh…
utaustinliberal@utaustinliberal
Early (in person) Voting begins TODAY in Colorado. Go out and VOTE so Colorado remains blue for #ObamaBiden2012 and Democrats.
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Good Morning, Chicas!