Abbreviated Polling Round-up: Romney "crazy like
a fox" for getting booed at NCAAP

^{Visual source: Newseum}

Rachel Weiner:

Romney seemed to think that four years after Obama?s barrier-breaking win, the NAACP audience would be open to a more combative approach. He thought wrong.

Rachel gets it right. The congratulatory idiotic analysis written more than one pundit that Romney expected and wanted to be booed to shore up his standing with the tea party completely misses the critical point that conservatives can't win Presidential elections by themselves. Standing up at the NAACP and declaring he doesn't care about black people might win him some votes, but so what? It loses him a lot more. It's getting to the point where Obama winning and Romney losing is not only important for the future direction of the country, but to course correct the people who think that what the tea party thinks actually matters to most Americans.

NY Times:

The aggressive posture ultimately became one of Mr. Romney?s selling points, particularly among conservative voters who were searching for the candidate tenacious enough to take out President Obama in the general election.

But now, even with polls suggesting he is battling Mr. Obama to a draw at this stage of the race, Mr. Romney finds himself confronting concern that he is not nimble and aggressive enough to withstand the Democratic assault against him.

Of course, keep in mind nothing short of ripping Obama's heart out and eating it raw on national TV will satisfy them.

Mark Blumenthal:

Either way, horse race polling on the 2012 election is likely to keep puzzling many political observers. Statistical noise is inherent in polling, so if the Obama-Romney contest remains close, polls will routinely tip a few points to one candidate or the other. Looking at the HuffPost Pollster chart, which is designed to smooth out much of that random variation, can help.

Buckle up, polling junkies, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

The HuffPost Pollster chart is especially useful for comparing "all pollsters" to "removing Rasmussen and Zogby" (in my view, a better baseline).

Nate Silver:

There is, of course, no guarantee that things will remain as stable straight through to Election Day. But there have been some cycles ? most notably 2004, which this race resembles in some ways ? in which we were seeing pretty much the same numbers for weeks or even months on end.

I?d like to wait at least a few more days before concluding that the latest news, like the jobs report and the health care ruling, will have little net effect on the race. The news over the past few weeks has been at least a little bit more substantive than at some points earlier in the year.

But this may be one of those cycles, like in 2004, when the public is pretty locked in to their choices. If so, the threshold for what news counts as ?important? in the context of the presidential race, like things that we might expect to move the numbers by at least a full percentage point in one direction or another, is going to be very high.

Marist poll:

For arguments sake, let?s put the unemployment numbers on hold.  Do people base their economic assessments more on their own financial circumstances? Are they having difficulty making ends meet? Are they worried about paying their mortgage? Or, is it a chat with friends or neighbors that shapes their views?
There are many factors that shape public opinion. Debate which follows news of each D.C. stat must go hand in hand with more personal indicators to paint a comprehensive picture of public opinion.  This will help us understand Americans? pessimism about current economic circumstances yet growing optimism that the worst may be over.

If it were a simplistic "gas prices" or "jobs report" election, Obama would be trailing by 10 points. It's not that simple. You have to factor in just how poor a candidate Romney is, and how disliked the Republican brand AND the standard bearer are, coupled with hope for the future.

Baltimore Sun editorial:

Obamacare: GOP moves to repeal, and then what?
Our view: Symbolic vote to dump court-approved health care reform an exercise in futility that only underscores GOP's failure to produce a reasonable alternative

I will be on Daily Kos radio with David Waldman at ~9:10 ET to talk about these polls. Listen here.

The Blue Skies Netroots Radio Player

Oh, and here is yesterday's appearance.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/7cRJZOoaeis/-Abbreviated-Polling-R
ound-up-Romney-crazy-like-a-fox-for-getting-booed-at-NCAAP

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

Abbreviated Polling Round-up: Romney "crazy like
a fox" for getting booed at NAACP

^{Visual source: Newseum}

Rachel Weiner:

Romney seemed to think that four years after Obama?s barrier-breaking win, the NAACP audience would be open to a more combative approach. He thought wrong.

Rachel gets it right. The congratulatory idiotic analysis written more than one pundit that Romney expected and wanted to be booed to shore up his standing with the tea party completely misses the critical point that conservatives can't win Presidential elections by themselves. Standing up at the NAACP and declaring he doesn't care about black people might win him some votes, but so what? It loses him a lot more. It's getting to the point where Obama winning and Romney losing is not only important for the future direction of the country, but to course correct the people who think that what the tea party thinks actually matters to most Americans.

NY Times:

The aggressive posture ultimately became one of Mr. Romney?s selling points, particularly among conservative voters who were searching for the candidate tenacious enough to take out President Obama in the general election.

But now, even with polls suggesting he is battling Mr. Obama to a draw at this stage of the race, Mr. Romney finds himself confronting concern that he is not nimble and aggressive enough to withstand the Democratic assault against him.

Of course, keep in mind nothing short of ripping Obama's heart out and eating it raw on national TV will satisfy them.

Mark Blumenthal:

Either way, horse race polling on the 2012 election is likely to keep puzzling many political observers. Statistical noise is inherent in polling, so if the Obama-Romney contest remains close, polls will routinely tip a few points to one candidate or the other. Looking at the HuffPost Pollster chart, which is designed to smooth out much of that random variation, can help.

Buckle up, polling junkies, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

The HuffPost Pollster chart is especially useful for comparing "all pollsters" to "removing Rasmussen and Zogby" (in my view, a better baseline).

Nate Silver:

There is, of course, no guarantee that things will remain as stable straight through to Election Day. But there have been some cycles ? most notably 2004, which this race resembles in some ways ? in which we were seeing pretty much the same numbers for weeks or even months on end.

I?d like to wait at least a few more days before concluding that the latest news, like the jobs report and the health care ruling, will have little net effect on the race. The news over the past few weeks has been at least a little bit more substantive than at some points earlier in the year.

But this may be one of those cycles, like in 2004, when the public is pretty locked in to their choices. If so, the threshold for what news counts as ?important? in the context of the presidential race, like things that we might expect to move the numbers by at least a full percentage point in one direction or another, is going to be very high.

Marist poll:

For arguments sake, let?s put the unemployment numbers on hold.  Do people base their economic assessments more on their own financial circumstances? Are they having difficulty making ends meet? Are they worried about paying their mortgage? Or, is it a chat with friends or neighbors that shapes their views?
There are many factors that shape public opinion. Debate which follows news of each D.C. stat must go hand in hand with more personal indicators to paint a comprehensive picture of public opinion.  This will help us understand Americans? pessimism about current economic circumstances yet growing optimism that the worst may be over.

If it were a simplistic "gas prices" or "jobs report" election, Obama would be trailing by 10 points. It's not that simple. You have to factor in just how poor a candidate Romney is, and how disliked the Republican brand AND the standard bearer are, coupled with hope for the future.

Baltimore Sun editorial:

Obamacare: GOP moves to repeal, and then what?
Our view: Symbolic vote to dump court-approved health care reform an exercise in futility that only underscores GOP's failure to produce a reasonable alternative

I will be on Daily Kos radio with David Waldman at ~9:10 ET to talk about these polls. Listen here.

The Blue Skies Netroots Radio Player

Oh, and here is yesterday's appearance.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/7cRJZOoaeis/-Abbreviated-Polling-R
ound-up-Romney-crazy-like-a-fox-for-getting-booed-at-NCAAP

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

Lakeside Diner

A variety of links to articles/interviews/speeches on current issues that may be of interest.[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/firedoglake/fdl/~3/Nyid1ylFIzE/

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

"It's Very Frenchy": Fox Continues Mockery Of
U.S. Olympic Team Uniform

According to Fox's Kimberly Guilfoyle, the wearing of berets is "very Frenchy." Neither Guilfoyle nor any of her fellow The Five co-hosts indicated whether they think American military uniforms are also "very Frenchy." 

Despite corrections to Fox & Friends by Media Matters, media outlets, and Fox's own audience, The Five picked up Fox & Friends' recent beret error by mocking the decision to top off the United States Olympic team uniform with a "French beret." Fox & Friends did acknowledge that most of the United States military wear berets, after receiving emails from their audience correction the error.

On Wednesday's edition of NBC's Today, American company Ralph Lauren unveiled the design for the U.S. Olympic team opening ceremony uniforms, which include a navy blue beret with red and white stripes. Fox & Friends mocked the decision to top off the uniform with a "French" hat. 

As Media Matters noted at the time, berets have been in use by the U.S. military "unofficially as early as 1954," and as part of the official uniform as early as 1961. Moreover, the 2002 Olympic uniforms for the Salt Lake City Olympics also included berets. 

Nonetheless, Fox News' The Five contributed its own mockery of the uniforms tonight. 

Discussing the uniforms, Dana Perino asked fellow co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle: "A beret? Do you like the beret look?" Guilfoyle responded, "It's very Frenchy. I'm not too sure about that. I've been known to sport a beret every once in a while, but I don't know if it's in keep with kind of the Olympic tradition and some of the uniforms we've had in the past."

Moments later, co-host Bob Beckel said, "Why we'd ever look anything like the French, I have no idea. They're lousy athletes and their clothes are lousy." 

Neither Guilfoyle nor Beckel mentioned that the United States military wear berets as part of their uniforms. 

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.mediamatters.org/~r/mediamatters/latest/~3/8GEbGkJAEgk/187103

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

Cornucopia Thursday

As Bob Dylan sang, "We live in a political world" .... was it always ever thus ...

DISTANT COUSINS? - two Civil War presidents: US president Abraham Lincoln and Confederate president Jefferson Davis.    

Gadzooks - well, why not stop in for a look at news items outside the headlines, in the arts and sciences; foreign news that generates little notice in the US media and ....well, just plain whimsy.....    
ART NOTES - the exhibit Manet in Black is at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts through October 28th.

TV NOTES - the former "Avengers" star Diana Rigg and her daughter are to star in a Doctor Who adventure next year: the 50th anniversary of the show.

TUESDAY's CHILDREN begin with Masyanya the Cat - a Russian kitteh rubbing heads with ... one of two baby Siberian tigers who were abandoned by their mother - and are now being nursed by a Shar-Pei dog named Cleopatra. A veritable menagerie ... and in a private home, too.    

FILM NOTES - a Hollywood film festival began this week with a screening of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World - including surviving cast members such as Carl Reiner, Mickey Rooney and Jonathan Winters - nearly 50 years after its premiere.

WEDNESDAY's CHILD is Boots the Cat - who appeared earlier in this space, when a judge allowed the setting-aside of an elderly Illinois woman's will specifying Boots to be euthanized (as she was afraid he wouldn't be cared for properly. Now, Boots has been adopted by a family in Missouri.

ALTHOUGH the Queen of Sheba is often used as a tagline: researchers have started to unveil the genetic heritage of Ethiopian populations, with striking similarities to those of populations in Israel and Syria ... and thus a potential genetic legacy of the Queen.

THIS COMING SATURDAY will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Woody Guthrie - and celebrations around the world will mark his work, some forty-five years after his death.

ART NOTES - a retrospective on the subject of Beer In New York City is at the New York Historical Society through September 2nd.

THE PAST FEW WEEKS the police in Mumbai, India have been shutting down parties and confiscating bars' music systems in a drive to regulate the city's nightlife - based upon prohibition-era laws dating back to 1963 - which until recently were rarely enforced, yet never formally repealed.

END of an ERA - some of the world's wealthiest families send their daughters for six weeks at what school principal Viviane Neri describes as Switzerland's (and possibly Europe's) last finishing school - spending $20,000 in the process.

THURSDAY's CHILD is Misty the Cat - rescued after seven days in a tree by the Animal Rescue League of Boston.

HAPPY TRAILS to the veteran stage and film actor Peter O'Toole who is retiring just short of his 80th birthday.

AFRICA'S RICHEST MAN got that way from dealing in everything from cement and sugar to pasta and prayer mats - unlike the usual path via petroleum.

I NORMALLY AVOID these types of Separated at Birth when it doesn't involve two humans, but here ... well, I couldn't resist: former NewsCorp executive Rebekah Brooks and the latest Pixar heroine, Merida (from the film, "Brave.")    

WHILE the European nation of Austria has had a checkered history when it comes to relations with Muslims - its 100-year-old Law on Islam gives Muslims the same rights as other officially recognised religions in Austria (such as Catholicism, Lutheranism, Judaism and Buddhism).

FRIDAY's CHILD is Soba the Cat - a Texas kitteh reunited with her family after going missing for four years.

......and finally, for a song of the week ............... someone who was an important part of the 1960's folk revival was born with the last name Holmes,  but everyone simply knew as Odetta - an influence to many, and someone always part of the civil rights as well as peace movements; always willing to lend a hand to her fellow musicians and missed by many less than five years after her death.

The Birmingham, Alabama native moved with her family to Los Angeles at age six and began voice lessons at age thirteen. Her mother hoped she would be able to follow in the footsteps of singer Marion Anderson, but she first began performing publicly a year later with Hollywood's Turnabout Puppet Theater where she worked alongside Elsa Lanchester and whose marionette designer (Harry Burnette) later helped subsidize Odetta's voice lessons when her mother was struggling financially.

At age 19 she began a stage acting career, touring first with a Los Angeles production of Finian's Rainbow - and when she performed in San Francisco in a 1950 version of "Guys and Dolls", she discovered folk music as well as the acoustic blues of Sonny Terry, leading to her career change.

For a time she worked as a live-in housekeeper, while performing evenings as an opening act for stars such as Paul Robeson. After honing her stage performance and repertoire, her big break came in 1953: when she performed at New York's Blue Angel club (where Barbra Streisand later came to fame as well). Both Pete Seeger and Harry Belafonte became big supporters, leading to her recording her first album - playing such traditional tunes as "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands" and "John Henry". Frequently, she was accompanied on double-bass by Bill Lee - the father of filmmaker Spike Lee - who also accompanied Bob Dylan on "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue."

Her music career began to build slowly, while her acting career continued: as she performed in 1955's Cinerama Holiday plus the 19691 adaptation of William Faulkner's Sanctuary - although her most noted film came later in 1974 - in the Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman starring Cicely Tyson.

After a 1959 TV appearance with Harry Belafonte, her music career (dovetailing nicely with the folk music revival) took off: as she released a total of sixteen albums during the 1960's. Her material ranged from traditional material ("Battle Hymn of the Republic", "Take this Hammer" and "She Moved through the Fair") to Woody Guthrie tunes ("Rambling Round Your City") to the blues (with Leadbelly songs "Midnight Special" and "Cotton Fields", plus LeRoy Carr's "How Long Blues"). And she was one of the performers at the 1963 civil rights march in Washington.

But she also sang contemporary songs by her colleagues: including one of the earliest Bob Dylan tribute albums. She also recorded songs by Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards, Elton John, James Taylor and even some originals.

By the dawn of the 1970's, while she still could draw a concert audience, the folk music audience had dwindled in terms of record buying. Her decision to emulate Bob Dylan in using full back-up electronic instruments also contributed to the decline.

With that, she began shifting more towards jazz and blues into the 1970's. Over time, her voice changed as well: when she began, she was considered a coloratura soprano - in maturity, she became more of a mezzo-soprano. After 1977, she released only two albums over the next twenty years, as the disco era affected her as well as many other performers.

In 1999 she released Blues Everywhere I Go - her first studio album in fifteen years, and her best-selling (and critically received) in longer than that, for which she toured world-wide in support of the album. Her last recording, 2005's Gonna Let It Shine was an album of spirituals recorded at Fordham University, which received a Grammy nomination.    

She had always been a sister to her fellow folk musicians: performing at the 1968 Woody Guthrie memorial concert (and were she still alive, I know she'd be at a 100th anniversary show for him) plus a memorial show for the Irish musician Liam Clancy in June, 2008. Fortunately, many performers gave her a tribute concert while she was around to see it in March, 2007. By this time she was performing in a wheelchair but still touring into her 70's.

Odetta died on December 2, 2008 - four weeks short of her 78th birthday and seven weeks before she hoped to perform at the Barack Obama inaugural. She received several awards in her lifetime: in 1999, Bill Clinton presented her the National Endowment for the Arts medal, she received the Kennedy Center honors in 2004 plus a Library of Congress award in 2005. And in Martin Scorsese's 2005 Bob Dylan documentary No Direction Home Odetta has an important place in the film.

Odetta was an influence to many (Harry Belafonte, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Maya Angelou and Carly Simon, for starters) ... and let's leave the last word for Bob Dylan - who had begun performing rock music in Minnesota in the late 1950's:

The first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta. I heard a record of hers in a record store, back when you could listen to records right there in the store. That was in '58 or something like that. Right then and there, I went out and traded my electric guitar and amplifier for an acoustic guitar, a flat-top Gibson.

   

One song by Leadbelly that Odetta made her own was the song Gallows Pole that was made popular when Led Zeppelin II was released in the autumn of 1970. It is representative of her 1960's folk songs, and below you can hear it.

Hangman, hangman, slack your rope
Slack it for a while
I think I see my mother coming
Riding many a mile

Mama, did you bring me silver?
Mama, did you bring me gold?
Or did you come to see me hanging
By the gallows pole?

I didn't bring no silver
I didn't bring no gold
I came to see you hanging
By the gallows pole

video details and more



Read The Full Article:
http://www.myleftwing.com/diary/28050/cornucopia-thursday

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

British Conservatives continue assault on middle
class and poor

The new plan for dumping massive healthcare costs onto others is "still under review" but if you glance at Tory history, there's a high likelihood of this succeeding. The bankers still walk free following their destructive policies yet everyone else is being asked, again, to pay for their crimes. Who has this kind of money when they're retired? And yes, it's similar to the outrageous...

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/uwRmEEp5Tes/british-conservatives-c
ontinue-assault.html

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

Thursday Open Thread

The books that help you most are those which make you think the most.
The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading;
but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought,
deep freighted with truth and beauty.

Pablo Neruda

Born July 12, 1904


Read The Full Article:
http://www.myleftwing.com/diary/28016/thursday-open-thread

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

No Nice Park Pictures For You!

By @KYYellowDog

Apparently because there is no law in Richmond, Kentucky, saying that gay people have a right to have their picture taken in a public park, it is perfectly legal for some mouth-breathing, homophobic goat-fucker to chase them out of the park just because they are gay.

I defy even Texas to beat that.

Daniel Moore at the Herald.

A state advocacy group renewed its call Wednesday for a Richmond fairness ordinance after a lesbian couple and their photographer contended they were kicked out of a park there.

"This young couple's plight is a perfect elucidation of the need for a local fairness ordinance in Richmond," Chris Hartman, director of the Fairness Campaign, said in a news release. "In truth, we need an anti-discrimination (law) that will cover the whole commonwealth, but until that law passes, local fairness ordinances in Richmond, Berea and other cities around the state are necessary."

Richmond Human Rights Commission chairwoman Sandra Anez-Powell said there was no law against telling the couple to leave the park because the city doesn't have a fairness ordinance.

Of the 23 human rights commissions in Kentucky, only those in Lexington, Louisville and Covington have "extended jurisdiction" to enforce discrimination against gays, lesbians and transgender people.

The others, including the one in Richmond, have "standard jurisdiction" that does not have those protections.

The issue of fairness in Richmond and nearby Berea was discussed last year, but neither city enacted an ordinance.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheyGaveUsARepublic-FrontPage/~3/pnWtWdKZMMs/no-ni
ce-park-pictures-for-you

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

Cavuto Hosts Discredited Right-Wing Activist J.
Christian Adams To Discuss Texas Voter ID Law

From the July 12 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto:

Previously: 

Who Is J. Christian Adams?

Fox News Turns To New Black Panthers Fabulist Adams For DOJ Commentary

Fox Turns To Discredited Right-Wing Activist J. Christian Adams To Discuss Executive Privilege Claim

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.mediamatters.org/~r/mediamatters/latest/~3/dIY3_NRkJo8/187100

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

Bobbie Rose to Tim Scott: freedom and equality go
hand in hand

Charleston SC ? In just its second sentence, the Declaration of Independence declares ?all men are created equal.?

Try telling that to Rep. Tim Scott, however.

Speaking recently in Berkeley County, he told constituents the exact opposite, says Bobbie Rose, Scott?s Democratic opponent in this year?s election for the 1st Congressional District.

According to the Goose Creek Patch, Scott said ?We?re faced with a president who believes that men and women ? no matter their effort, should all be equal.?

Scott was speaking about the Affordable Care Act, which he?s repeatedly argued against, and even attempted to have congress overrule in the very first bill he introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives.

A former private insurance company agent himself, Scott added ?You see, some of us believe in freedom. Others want equality.?

However, Rose argues, you can?t have freedom without equality. And definitely not when it comes to healthcare, she says.

?I am extremely proud that as an American, I am fortunate enough to have a President who ?believes that men and women, no matter their effort?should be equal,?? Rose says.

?I affirm that idea because equality means alike in value and merit, which is why the Declaration of Independence states, ??all men are created equal?? and why we fought a war to add the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- not because we are all exactly the same thing, but because we are equal.

?Scott apparently has a simplistic concept of what equality means to most Americans.  Does he really believe giving every American access to affordable healthcare is the same thing as giving each child in a classroom the same number of cookies so everybody gets exactly the same thing?

?I too believe in freedom, and I believe the Affordable Care Act gives every citizen the freedom to pursue his or her own destiny; a system that allows insurance companies to deny any citizen coverage, however, does not allow each of us the freedom we have been promised.?

Scott?s war against the Act is well-established. While still a state representative in November 2009, Scott was the primary sponsor of two bills (H 4171 and H 4181) to block the use of the Act in South Carolina, and while it was still under debate in U.S. Congress.

After the Patient Protection & Affordable Health Care Acts passed in March 2010, Scott tried to block it again with a new bill (H 4825).

Scott?s first bill to U.S. Congress was H.R. 698, which would ?deauthorize and rescind funding? for the healthcare act.

Allstate Insurance Company, which Scott represented until winning the 2010 election, sells supplemental health insurance, which is supposed to help with medical costs that ordinary health insurance doesn?t cover.  The Affordable Care Act can substantially reduce, if not eliminate, the need for this secondary format of insurance because of the Act?s removals of many policy limitations.

Over the last two election cycles, Scott?s received $164,125 in campaign donations from the insurance industry; over $100,000 was donated in this 2012 election cycle alone, making that industry Scott?s top current donor.

?Today,? Rose continues, ?I am an excited, optimistic person because I believe in freedom, and I believe in equality.  I am optimistic because I know, and the voters know, that in this country the two concepts of freedom and equality do go together.? 

Read The Full Article:
http://thepoliticsofjamiesanderson.blogspot.com/2012/07/bobbie-rose-to-tim-scott-
freedom-and.html

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!