We conclude James Bond week with the current James Bond: Daniel Craig.
Craig won a lot of women over with this scene:
Casino Royale (2006)
Quantum of Solace (2008)
James is a Super Spy, but even Super Spies need friends.
James’ CIA Friend has been Felix Leiter.
I loved Felix…he’s changed races over the years, but I don’t care.
Here are some James Bond Moments:
And, where would James Bond have been without his Aston Martin -outfitted by Q
State Senator NIna Turner absolutely rocks!!
LOL Bashir’s beenon FIY-AH tody.
Chuck Todd is masturbating th eelectoral map board on MSNBC, trying to crunch numbers for Mittens. Umm; if this is such a tight, neck-neck race; why are you spending the weekend rubbing a board, Chuckles?!
Paul Krugman- Reporting that makes you stupid (media pushing ‘race is tied’ meme
Today’s Financial Times bears a banner headline on p.1: “US election hangs on a knife edge”. Aside from everything else, surely this gets the cliche wrong: you rest on a knife edge, don’t you? If you try to hang on one, I think you just cut off your fingers.
More important, though, this headline deeply misleads readers about the state of the race — and in so doing, it echoes a lot of political reporting right now. Quite simply, many of the “analysis” articles being published in these final days leave readers worse informed than they were before reading.
As Nate Silver (who has lately attracted a remarkable amount of hate — welcome to my world, Nate!) clearly explains, state polling currently points overwhelmingly to an Obama victory. It’s possible that the polls are systematically biased — and this bias has to encompass almost all the polls, since even Rasmussen is now showing Ohio tied. So Romney might yet win. But a knife-edge this really isn’t, and any reporting suggesting that it is makes you stupider.
Worse yet, some reporting tells readers things the reporters have to know aren’t true. How many stories have you seen declaring that “both sides think they’re winning”? No, they don’t: the Romney campaign is visibly flailing, trying desperately to find new fronts on which to attack Obama. They clearly know that it will take a miracle — sorry, a last-minute surge — to prevail on Tuesday. It’s OK, I guess, to report campaign spin; but surely it’s not OK to report campaign spin as the truth, which is what these stories are doing.
more
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/03/reporting-that-makes-you-stupid/
LOL Rove and CO are starting to spin the WINLESS election for Mittens., by BLAMING Sandy. Leave it to the GOP men to blame it on a woman.
Romney Campaign, Karl Rove Framing Hurricane Sandy For Possible Election Day Defeat
The Huffington Post | By Sabrina Siddiqui Posted: 11/03/2012 5:54 pm EDT Updated: 11/03/2012 5:57 pm EDT
SNIP:
The GOP presidential nominee’s momentum rose after the first presidential debate gave him his first bounce this cycle. But there has been little evidence in national and swing state polls conducted since then that the GOP nominee has sustained that momentum, despite the Romney campaign’s claims to the contrary.
Nonetheless, Romney’s allies also began to point prematurely at the timing of Sandy. Republican strategist Karl Rove called the storm the “October Surprise” and argued it had been disadvantageous toward Romney in an interview with The Washington Post on Friday.
“If you hadn’t had the storm, there would have been more of a chance for the [Mitt] Romney campaign to talk about the deficit, the debt, the economy,” Rove said. “There was a stutter in the campaign. When you have attention drawn away to somewhere else, to something else, it is not to his [Romney’s] advantage.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/03/romney-campaign-hurricane-sandy_n_2069252.html
Scandalous: Resident Director at Morehouse College Stars in Gay Porn Film
*OK, we’re going all out here and placing this in the “What the HELL was he thinking?” category.
As adults, we realize we have to take responsibility for the things we choose to do in our personal lives, right? I mean, we do know things like, if we choose to ignore paying our phone bill, we can’t complain when the phone gets turned off, or if we choose to bite the hand that feeds us, we risk the chance of starving, right?
So we are wondering why, oh why, would a resident director at one of the most prestigious colleges in the country, Morehouse, choose to take the overt route and participate in, a videotaped sexual escapade … not to mention such a ”hot-button item” as a same-sex romp, for a proposed porn TV series.
We’re waiting…WHY?
In a clip sure to be in full circulation soon, courtesy of our source at ObnoxiousTV, Morehouse College resident director Isaiah Green (pictured above) is seen “gettin’ it in,” as they say, with actor Des Epps – a young man struggling with being on the ‘down low’. Epps, a professional actor, claims he is “straight” and just portraying a gay man.
http://www.eurweb.com/2012/11/scandalous-resident-director-at-morehouse-college-stars-in-gay-porn-film/
GO KATY!
Is True the Vote Intimidating Minority Voters From Going to the Polls?
By DAN HARRIS (@danbharris) and MELIA PATRIA
Nov. 2, 2012
Teresa Sharp, a homemaker and grandmother, has lived in Hamilton County, Ohio, for nearly 30 years. A former poll worker and a Democrat, she says she has voted in every election since she was 18.
“Voting to me is, like, sacred, like my children,” she said. “It lets me at least have an opinion about how I want to live in America.”
Sharp is keenly aware that her vote counts. Hamilton County, which includes Cincinnati, is hotly contested in a swing state that could decide this extraordinarily close presidential race. So naturally, Sharp was surprised when she received a letter in the mail that said, “You are hereby notified that your right to vote has been challenged by a qualified elector under RC 3503.243505.19.”
“Nobody’s ever challenged me, especially my right to vote,” Sharp said. “I’m confused. I’m concerned and pretty darn mad.”
Her husband, Herbert, her sons, Christopher and Herbert Jr., her daughters, Aseneth and Eleanor, and her elderly aunt, all residents at the same family home in Hamilton County, also received a similar letter.
“I thought to myself that there’s somebody out here trying to scare people into not voting,” she said.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/true-vote-intimidating-minority-voters-polls/story?id=17618823#.UJWQvGfyDMx
Found this in the comments at Balloon Juice:
trollhattan Says:
@Kane:
Willard, the Commodore 64 of politics, will be heading to where he’s surrounded and loved by those for whom he cares the most—his money. His cabana boy, Paul Ryan, is ready to become the Windows ME PC of politics.
The battle for 2016 begins on Thursday. Oh boy.
LOL This comment is hilarious. Rik, check your email please. Thanks.
Ametia,
I don’t see anything. Can you resend it?
THIS IS HILARIOUS:
“And also too, Obama has embraced Chris Christie, forever putting unbearable Obama cooties on him.’
found this in the comments at Balloon Juice:
Kane Says:
TeamObama is about to end the political career of Mitt Romney once and for all. And in the process, they have exposed Paul Ryan as an extremist and effectively ended his media-created myth of being a deficit hawk. And also too, Obama has embraced Chris Christie, forever putting unbearable Obama cooties on him.
It’s a threefer. They have taken out the Republican nominee and successfully ended any future presidential aspirations for what were considered to be two of the GOP’s rising stars in Ryan and Christie. Who do they have to offer for 2016? Jeb? Marco? Good luck with that.
BWA HA HA HA
“Obama camp says their ground game focused on quality, not quantity: no robo-calls. Cites 126 million in-person voter contacts. “
https://twitter.com/devindwyer/status/264839467385356288
“@PeterHambyCNN: Obama campaign says they have made 125,646,479 voter contacts this cycle. Team Romney has made 50 million
Last-Minute Ohio Directive Could Trash Legal Votes And Swing The Election
A last-minute directive issued by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted could invalidate legal provisional ballots. Ohio is widely viewed as the most critical state for both presidential campaigns and — with some polls showing a close race — the 11th-hour move could swing the entire election.
The directive, issued Friday, lays out the requirements for submitting a provisional ballot. The directive includes a form which puts the burden on the voter to correctly record the form of ID provided to election officials. Husted also instructed election officials that if the form is not filled out correctly by a voter, the ballot should not be counted.
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/11/03/1134981/last-minute-ohio-directive-could-trash-legal-votes-and-swing-the-election/?mobile=nc
Help Us Win the House
by BooMan
Sat Nov 3rd, 2012 at 09:58:08 AM EST
We need to win back the House of Representatives. Experts are saying that we are going to come up short, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t make every effort to prove them wrong. Democracy for America has a special dialer program that allows people to make phone calls into specific districts without ever leaving the comfort of their living room. It does everything for you, so you don’t have to deal with hangups or wrong numbers. You only talk to live voters. Because if this, you can easily reach 100 voters in a single two-hour shift.
On Tuesday, DFA volunteers reached 17,000 voters in Wisconsin on behalf of Tammy Baldwin. Yesterday, the volunteers reached 30,000 people on behalf of Joe Garcia (FL-26) and Kathy Boockvar (PA-08). These are huge numbers. It’s not just the voters who are contacted that helps. Participating in the program helps the candidates refine their voter lists by eliminating the voters who have moved or changed phone numbers. You can help them identify supporters while also making it easier for them to contact actual voters between now and when the polls close on Tuesday.
Consult the following schedule and pick a candidate you want to help. The first one on the list is Manan Trivedi who is running to represent me. I’d love to see 15,000 contacts in my district this afternoon. It’s this kind of organization that can shock the pundits and deliver us a meaningful victory next week.
Choose a candidate to support:
Make calls for Manan Trivedi in PA-06!
Sat – 11/3 – 1-3pm Eastern
Make calls for Annie Kuster in NH-02!
Sat – 11/3 – 4-6pm Eastern
Make calls for Raul Ruiz in CA-36!
Sun – 11/4 – 5-7pm Eastern
Make calls for Jose Hernandez in CA-10!
Sun – 11/4 – 8-10pm Eastern
Make calls for Joe Garcia in FL-26!
Mon – 11/5 – 12-2pm Eastern
Make calls for Tammy Baldwin in WI!
Mon – 11/5 – 3-5pm Eastern
Make calls for Joe Miklosi in CO-06
! Mon – 11/5 – 6-8pm Eastern
Make calls for Annie Kuster in NH-02!
Tues – 11/6 – 12-2pm Eastern
Make calls for Joe Miklosi in CO-06!
Tues – 11/6 – 3-5pm Eastern
Make calls for Raul Ruiz in CA-36!
Tues – 11/6 – 6-8pm Eastern
NEW SHIFT Make calls for Carol Shea Porter
Tues – 11/6 – 10am – 12pm Eastern
Thanks in advance for participating.
[I am a consultant for Democracy for America]
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/11/3/9588/23794
Help GOTV
by BooMan
Sat Nov 3rd, 2012 at 05:22:28 PM EST
So, do you want to know what the Obama ground game looks like in action? Read this memo from Mitch Stewart, Jeremy Bird, and Marlon Marshall.
It is enough to strike terror into Karl Rove’s heart. When you are done reading it, contact your local OFA and get involved. There’s no better way to spend Election Day than doing work in the field. And you’ll be able to tell your grandkids that you were part of the greatest grassroots turnout effort the world has ever seen.
http://www.boomantribune.com/
http://youtu.be/8h6jY7EDkw4
http://youtu.be/zMKryy5TBOA
Romney campaign ripped PBO for saying “Voting is the best revenge”. It is the best revenge on you vote suppressing, voter intimidation mofo. No need to boo these clowns. Exercise your vote and defeat them at the polls. How sweet it is!
Remember all the racism, hate, lies, obstruction, deceit, slurs, voter suppression,voter intimidation, disrespect against PBO and–> VOTE!
wanda hamilton@Heknowsmynam
WE KNOW EXACTLY WHAT PBO MEANT BY INSTRUCTING US TO VOTE 4 REVENGE..Re: Lies//obstruction/racism/voter suppression
___________________
YES!!!!!!!!!! I heard him!
Talking Points Memo@TPM
Suspicious package prompts evacuation of Florida early voting site: http://tpm.ly/SjqZk1
You will not stop us coward mofos!
These crazy fools are literally saying they are WILLING TO KILL US, before they let us exercise our RIGHT TO VOTE.
As Charles Blow stated, Mitt Romney isn’t a harmless shyster. He’s a dangerous, unprincipled man…
Joy Reid is handing this foolish woman her ass on a platter . Saying folks shouldn’t be whining about voter suppression. GTFOH.
Please, bitch. Republicans are trying to dominate the polls by spinning and voter intimidationa and suppression. AND THEY ARE STILL LOSING.
where is Joy Ann Reid delivering this smackdown?
video please?
The segment was on MSNBC this afternoon. If I find the segment, I’ll post. It was a genric news show with Joy on the panel.
Mitt is “creeping out” voters in Wisconsin
Town of Mukwonago voter Priscilla Trulen is used to ignoring political solicitations. For weeks, she’s been receiving three political robocalls per day related to the presidential election. On Thursday, she got seven.
But one call she got on Halloween still haunts her. It was a recorded message read by a presidential candidate trying to get her to vote.
“It was Mitt Romney saying, ‘I know you have an absentee ballot and I know you haven’t sent it in yet,’ ” Trulen said in an interview. “That just sent me over the line. Not only is it like Big Brother. It is Big Brother. It’s down to where they know I have a ballot and I haven’t sent it in! I thought when I requested the ballot that the only other entity that would know was the Mukwonago clerk.”
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/unprecedented-microtargeting-by-campaigns-creeps-out-voters-007f111-177062301.htmlhttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/03/1154750/-Mitt-is-creeping-out-voters-in-Wisconsin
Stevie Wonder urges Ohioans to vote early in surprise performance
The final weekend of early voting is underway in this key Democratic stronghold in all-important Ohio — and that means Stevie Wonder.
In an unannounced event, Wonder performed for a small crowd of about 50 people a few blocks from the veritably besieged Cuyahoga County early voting site.
“I would like you to commit to me one thing,” he said. “I do a song. You go vote. Can we do that?”
Then he broke into “You Can Feel It ll Over,” as the crowd sang along, punctuated with “I’m fired up, ready to go.”
Wonder will also appear at a rally with President Obama in Cincinnati on Sunday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/11/03/stevie-wonder-urges-ohioans-to-vote-early-in-surprise-performance/?wprss=rss_politics
The Party of No: New Details on the GOP Plot to Obstruct Obama
just published “The Party of No,” an article adapted from my new book, The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era. It reveals some of my reporting on the Republican plot to obstruct President Obama before he even took office, including secret meetings led by House GOP whip Eric Cantor (in December 2008) and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (in early January 2009) in which they laid out their daring (though cynical and political) no-honeymoon strategy of all-out resistance to a popular President-elect during an economic emergency. “If he was for it,” former Ohio Senator George Voinovich explained, “we had to be against it.” The excerpt includes a special bonus nugget of Mitt Romney dissing the Tea Party.
But as we say in the sales world: There’s more! I’m going to be blogging some of the news and larger themes from the book here at TIME.com, and I’ll kick it off with more scenes from the early days of the Republican strategy of No. Read on to hear what Joe Biden’s sources in the Senate GOP were telling him, some candid pillow talk between a Republican staffer and an Obama aide, and a top Republican admitting his party didn’t want to “play.” I’ll start with a scene I consider a turning point in the Obama era, when the new President went to the Hill to extend his hand and the GOP spurned it.
Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2012/08/23/the-party-of-no-new-details-on-the-gop-plot-to-obstruct-obama/#ixzz2BBYerjyC
I’ll read this, after Tuesday, 11-6.
A very nice op/ed from Stephen Stills in Rolling Stone:
[…]
At the second debate, somebody asked how Bush and Romney differ. I’ll give you the answer: Romney’s taller, Mormon and a little smarter and meaner. That’s about it. I couldn’t believe how he acted at that debate. He’s a churlish little prick. At least Bush was affable. I don’t care if it’s a debate and you’re running for office. It’s not right to be that rude to the President of the United States, let alone anybody else. Also, you don’t get offended when you get corrected. Unlike President Obama, Mitt Romney has been inside the bubble all his life. He has no idea what’s going on here. He has no idea how descructive Bush’s eight years were to this country.
[…]
I think that President Obama has done the best he possibly could during the first term considering that his opposition was willing to do whatever necessary to destroy him, even if it meant damaging the country in the process. I love Obama’s calm and dignity. A lot of people confuse that with being aloof, but I know people that have held that job. It’s a 24-hour barrage of information. Reagan wasn’t wrong taking a break from it. At least Obama’s been on the job. He didn’t spend 200 days at a ranch clearing brush.
[…]
Look, Mitt Romney has never governed. He’s been running for president forever. He was the chief executive of Massachusetts, and he left them with a huge deficit. All he’s done is predatory venture capitalism. That’s it. He doesn’t know how to make jobs. He knows how to get rid of jobs.
After getting driven into the ground by the policies of the Bush administration, the economy is creeping up. It’s doing that because people are sticking their shoulders to the wheel. Community banks are doing a lot of lending to small businesses and keeping them going. I just traveled through 80 cities in the country, and they’re working on roads everywhere. That’s the Obama stimulus money at work. He’s lead this country back from the brink of a complete disaster. Romney stands for all the policies that got us into this mess. It’s imperative that Obama gets re-elected, and I’m going to do everything I can between now and the election to make sure that happens.
With only a few days left, there is very little opportunity for nuance, so I will just tell you from my gut. I never in my lifetime thought I would see a creepier politician than Richard Nixon, but in the last few days, it became clear that Willard Mitt Romney is really, really creepy. Icky creepy, as my granddaughter would put it.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/stephen-stills-on-mitt-romney-i-never-thought-id-see-a-creepier-politician-than-nixon-20121029#ixzz2BAnb1BJo
Truth-telling at ITS finest. Thank you, mr. Stills.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ShdiYQ1EHvA
Romney GTFOH Pathetic ASSCLOWN. If you loved your country, you’d speak to VOTER SUPPRESSION; instead; you condone it with your silence.
Can’t wait for Tuesday, when the trouncing commences!
The Romney campagin & Bain are circling the DRAIN
Nate Silver Took A Huge Shot Against Mainstream Political Pundits In His Latest Election Forecast
Nate Silver’s whole project of taking a purely numbers-based approach to political punditry has always been an implicit criticism of most mainstream forecasters, but in recent days he’s gotten much more aggressive about what he sees as the flaws and errors of most professionals.
His latest election forecast looks at the fact that of the 22 Swing State polls that were released yesterday, Barack Obama led in 19, and that Mitt Romney lead in just 1 (2 were ties).
He then delves into the various reasons this might not mean Obama will win, most notably the possibility that swing state polls are systemically biased against Romney for whatever reason. That he considers a possible coherent logical argument, but it’s one that very few of the folks calling the race a “toss up” are citing.
To which Silver then responds:
My argument, rather, is this: we’ve about reached the point where if Mr. Romney wins, it can only be because the polls have been biased against him. Almost all of the chance that Mr. Romney has in the FiveThirtyEight forecast, about 16 percent to win the Electoral College, reflects this possibility.
Yes, of course: most of the arguments that the polls are necessarily biased against Mr. Romney reflect little more than wishful thinking.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/nate-silver-on-who-political-pundits-who-are-mostly-entertainers-2012-11#ixzz2BBVXXaYk
here’s a classic from LO- The Last Word
***HOLLERING****
LOL “This is Cher, Bitches; do as she says.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZEuL76ptYU&feature=youtu.be
TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRESIDENT’S REMARKS:
You see heroes running into buildings, wading into the water to help their fellow citizens; neighbors helping neighbors cope with tragedy; leaders of different political parties working together to fix what’s broken; it’s a spirit that says no matter how bad a storm is, no matter how tough the times are, we’re all in this together – that we rise or fall as one nation, as one people.
And that spirit has guided this country along its improbable journey for more than two centuries. It has carried us through the trials and tribulations of the last four years. Remember in 2008, we were in the middle of two wars and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Today, our businesses have created nearly five and a half million new jobs. The American auto industry is back on top. Home values are on the rise. We’re less dependent on foreign oil than at any time in 20 years. Because of the service and sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform, the war in Iraq is over. The war in Afghanistan is winding down. Al Qaeda is on the run and Osama bin Laden is dead.
So we’ve made real progress these past four years. But Ohio, we’re here today because we all know we’ve got more work to do. I love you back and we’ve got more work to do. As long as there’s a single American who wants a job and still can’t find work; as long as there are families who are working harder and harder but are still falling behind; as long as there’s a child anywhere in this country who’s languishing in poverty, or barred from opportunity, we got more work to do. Our fight goes on.
THERE YOU GO! Reposted this video on the PBO Prayer Circle Thread.
I love this picture. always have
It’s clssic. I have it framed and hanging on my home office wall.
LOL The pundits are crunching thosse electoral numbers; trying to get Romney to 270. It’s hysterical.
been telling you for months..
I’ve been playing around with 270towin for a long time, and can’t find anyway to 270 for Willard.
i see Mr. Nerdy Nerd isn’t letting the meatheads intimidate him with those num-bas!
Nov. 1: The Simple Case for Saying Obama Is the Favorite
By NATE SILVER
If you are following some of the same people that I do on Twitter, you may have noticed some pushback about our contention that Barack Obama is a favorite (and certainly not a lock) to be re-elected. I haven’t come across too many analyses suggesting that Mitt Romney is the favorite. (There are exceptions.) But there are plenty of people who say that the race is a “tossup.”
What I find confounding about this is that the argument we’re making is exceedingly simple. Here it is:
Obama’s ahead in Ohio.
A somewhat-more-complicated version:
Mr. Obama is leading in the polls of Ohio and other states that would suffice for him to win 270 electoral votes, and by a margin that has historically translated into victory a fairly high percentage of the time.
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/nov-1-the-simple-case-for-saying-obama-is-the-favorite/#more-37035
SHORT: FUCK YOU JOEY SCAR!
Christina A. – BEAUTIFUL
Bon Jovi- LIVING’ON A PRAYER
Ms. Mary J. Blige- Queen of R&B
Da BOSS
And so it begins. THIS is the story of the year – the Ohio Sec. of State is in violation of Ohio law. This needs to go viral.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=460330714006421&set=a.433295386709954.96727.433288343377325&type=1&theater
Nina Turner is on the point – as always.
People are not playing with these mofos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EDxOSjgl5Z4
BWA HA HA Chris; you KRAZY!
The Three Biggest Democratic Takeaways from Election 2012
By Robert Reich
t’s not too early to draw some lessons. Regardless of what happens Tuesday, Democrats should have three big takeaways from the 2012 election.
Lesson One: Democrats Can Own the Future.
Latinos, African-Americans, young people, and women have become the major Democratic voting blocs. That’s good news for Democrats because the first three constitute a growing percentage of the voting population (young people eventually become the entire voting population), while women continue to gain economic ground.
The challenge for Democrats will be to hold these groups in the future. All have been attracted to the Democratic Party in recent years mainly because Republican policies have turned them off – policies like the GOP’s draconian responses to undocumented workers, its eagerness to slash Medicaid and food stamps, its misogynistic approach to abortion, and its demand to cut federal spending on education and student loans.
http://www.nationofchange.org/print/31211
Of coruse it doesn’t, moving the proverbial GOALPOST is the name of the game,, don’tcha know!
Economists say jobs data to have little impact on U.S. elections: Reuters poll
By Chris Reese
NEW YORK | Fri Nov 2, 2012 7:08pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stronger-than-expected hiring by U.S. employers in October and a small increase in the jobless rate will have a neutral or insignificant impact on U.S. presidential elections next week, according to most economists surveyed in a Reuters poll on Friday.
Twenty-four economists said the payrolls data would have a “neutral” impact on next Tuesday’s elections, while 15 said the data would have an insignificant impact. Ten economists said the data would have a significant impact, while four said it would have a very insignificant impact, and one said it would have a very significant impact.
The government said on Friday employers added 171,000 jobs last month, up from 148,000 in September. The unemployment rate in October edged up, however, by one-tenth of a point to 7.9 percent.
http://www.nationofchange.org/three-biggest-democratic-takeaways-election-2012-1351920661
I thoroughly enjoyed the Bond series this week, Rikyrah. Hubby & I are going to do a marathon of Bond this weekend now. Thanks so much!
A vote for the future or for the past?
By Harold Meyerson,
Published: October 30
The 2012 presidential election is fundamentally a contest between our future and our past. Barack Obama’s America is the America that will be; Mitt Romney’s is the America that was. And the distance between the two is greater, perhaps, than in any election we’ve had since the Civil War.
The demographic bases of the rival coalitions couldn’t be more different. Monday’s poll from the Pew Research Center is just the latest to show Obama with a decisive lead (in this case, 21 percentage points) among voters younger than 30. Obama’s margin declines to six points among voters ages 30 through 44, and he breaks even with Romney among voters ages 45 through 64. Romney’s home turf is voters 65 and older; among those, he leads Obama by 19 points.
Age polarization is not specific to the presidential election. On a host of issues, as diverse as gay and lesbian rights and skepticism about the merits of capitalism, polls have shown that younger voters are consistently more tolerant and well to the left of their elders.
Nor is age the only metric through which we can differentiate our future from our past. The other is race, as the nation grows more racially diverse (or, more bluntly, less white) each year. While the 2000 Census put whites’ share of the U.S. population at 69.1 percent, that share had declined to 63.7 percent in the 2010 Census, while the proportion of Hispanics rose from 12.5 percent to 16.3 percent. In raw numbers, total white population increased by just 1.2 percent during the decade, while the African American segment grew by 12.3 percent and the Hispanic share by 43 percent. Demographers predict that the white share of the U.S. population will fall beneath 50 percent in the 2050 Census.
Rather than trying to establish a foothold among America’s growing minorities, however, Romney and the Republicans have decided to forgo an appeal to Hispanic voters by opposing legislation that would grant legal status to undocumented immigrants brought here as children and by backing legislation that effectively requires Hispanics to carry documentation papers in certain states. Republicans seek a majority through winning an ever-higher share of white voters. The Washington Post reported last week that its polling showed the greatest racial gap between the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates since the 1988 election, with Romney favored by 60 percent of white voters and Obama by 80 percent of minority voters (a figure that may prove low, if three-quarters of the Hispanic vote goes to Obama, as some other polls suggest it will). The problem for Republicans, of course, is that the minority vote is a far larger share of the total vote today than it was 24 years ago.
By repeatedly estranging minorities and opposing social policies favored by the young, the Republicans have opted for a King Canute strategy: standing on the shore and commanding the tide to stop. Republicans with an eye toward the future, most notably George W. Bush and Karl Rove, have urged the party to embrace immigration reform, but the base is rabidly anti-immigrant and its antipathy is reinforced daily by talk radio hosts and Fox News chatterers who depict an America under siege by alien forces.
Should Republicans prevail in this election and seek to build a more-than-one-term plurality, they will confront a stark choice: Either Romney must persuade his party to reverse its stance on immigration, or the party must seek to extend the scope of its voter-suppression efforts. Put another way, they must try to either accommodate the future or suppress it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/harold-meyerson-electing-the-future-or-the-past/2012/10/30/7dd06708-2200-11e2-8448-81b1ce7d6978_story.html
THIS; “notably George W. Bush and Karl Rove, have urged the party to embrace immigration reform, but the base is rabidly anti-immigrant and its antipathy is reinforced daily by talk radio hosts and Fox News chatterers who depict an America under siege by alien forces. ”
Beam all those MOFOs out of here. Their chip inplants are damaged.
Rick Klein @rickklein
odd campaign blip – Romney campaign didn’t distribute GOP weekly radio address because of “technical reasons.” Obama got his in per usual.
NATE SILVER: Obama’s Odds Of Winning Have Now Soared To 84% by @hblodget http://read.bi/PNr4AR
Blue Goat News@BlueGoatNews
“@scarylawyerguy: Knives out on Romney side- leaking to @politico that CC was WMR’s 1st VP pick: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83254.html …
SG2, I hope you are on the mend.
Thank you, Rikyrah. I feel so much better. The soreness is still present but I am relieved of the horrible pain. I can walk, I can stand without crying.
Rachel Maddow Checkable facts expose end-of-campaign bluster
[wpvideo xgKjJh6d]
The report Mitch McConnell doesn’t want you to see
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/
Good morning, 3Chics!
Good Morning, SG2, Ametia and Everyone :)
Moaning, Ladies. Wow slept in this morning. How y’all be?