Archive for January, 2010
OUTRAGE: Boston Globe Calls The Election For Coakley Hours Ahead Of Time, OOPS!
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010My friend Eric at Funhouseus catches the Boston Globe reporting results in Massachusetts before they’re counted.
It’s all a big mistake.
[Associated Press] was testing an election data feed to its Massachusetts clients. During corresponding tests at our end, the feed of AP’s hypothetical test data was inadvertently posted for a few minutes on a single subsection page within ur site. As soon as the error was discovered, it was removed. We regret the mishap.”
Barney Frank Wants To Get Rid Of Filibuster
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010You’d think that Democrats would be wary of changing rules to suit them in the short term. They’re seeing what happened in Massachusetts. Not going so well.
Still, Barney Frank wants to boot the Filibuster to get health care reform passed by any means necessary.
How A Brown Win Could Help The Economy
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010The economy stinks. It’s not getting better. The recovery is being hampered by mixed messages and downright hostility toward the private sector.
Business owners have been holding. They haven’t upped production. If business is good, they’ve cautiously hired, if at all. If business is fair, they’ve resisted increasing overhead for fear they’ll need the extra cash for stupid taxes and government programs.
Right now, the stock market is up.
Should Brown win, there will be a collective sigh of relief. Americans will relax just a wee bit and know that the Dems can’t just jam any old stupid idea down Americans’ throats.
The economy could rebound. Hiring could begin again. Maybe things would get better.
Should Coakley win, I predict a double-dip recession. We might get one anyway, but this will make it worse.
The American people will know that the Democrats have no governor and no way to be stopped. The American people have seen one year of bad decision after bad decision. They’ll be disheartened should Coakley win.
Scott Brown V. Martha Coakley: It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010Come on people! This election is by no means in the bag. In fact, it’s so far out of the bag, that I’m feeling a wee bit queasy about what I’m seeing on Twitter already.
This is a special election in an overwhelmingly Democrat state.
People there actually liked Ted Kennedy–you know, the guy never charged of negligent homicide. Him.
So, my point is that the bar for elected officials in that state is not particularly high. Need more proof? Two words: John and Kerry.
Forgive me for being the Debbie Downer today, but I don’t want one potential Brown voter to think this election is a done deal, because it’s not. Not at all.
One little piece of optimism from me, since I’ve been such a miserable cuss about this election: If Coakley eeks out a victory, it will still give the Dems a heart attack. This is Massachusetts, not Texas. The voters are not happy with the elitist attitude from anyone Democrat or Republican.
Podcast 80: Talking Scott Brown With Failed Prognosticator John Hawkins And Women In The GOP With RNC Co-Chair Jan Larimer
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010Actually, John is usually right about his predictions and I am usually wrong. We’ll see. Listen to see who says what. We argue, as usual.
In the second half, Republican National Committee Co-Chair Jan Larimer talks to me about how Republicans treat women, the outlook for 2010 and candidate recruitment.
John Hawkins joins Melissa to talk about the upcoming election and a few predictions are made. RNC Co-Chair Jan Larimer joins Melissa in the 2nd half to discuss women in politics and their role in the Republican party.
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When Melissa isn’t on the radio, you can find her at melissaclouthier.com and on Twitter. Her username is MelissaTweets.
President Obama Plans A “Combative Turn”?
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010Would the Presidents combative turn be in contrast to his bipartisan chumminess up until now? Oh wait….
Via Politico:
President Barack Obama plans a combative response if, as White House aides fear, Democrats lose Tuesday’s special Senate election in Massachusetts, close advisers say.
“This is not a moment that causes the president or anybody who works for him to express any doubt,” a senior administration official said. “It more reinforces the conviction to fight hard.”
A defeat by Martha Coakley for the seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy would be embarrassing for the party — and potentially debilitating, since Democrats will lose their filibuster-proof, 60-vote hold on the Senate.
A potential casualty: the health care bill that was to be the crowning achievement of the president’s first year in office.
The health care backdrop has given the White House a strong incentive to strike a defiant posture, at least rhetorically, in response to what would be an undeniable embarrassment for the president and his party.
Let’s see, Scott Brown is making a game of it in Massachusetts where he ran a positive, optimistic, cheerful campaign. The American people were hoping for a brand new political day and got the Chicago machine. Ergo, President Obama is going to be defiant.
Well, at least he’ll be consistent. I can’t see this helping him at all. So he’s blamed Bush his first year and we see how well that’s worked. And this year, he plans to get combative with the American people.
Pure genius, this guy.
This Is How You Message: YouTube Videos That Are Making TV Ads Look Sad
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010To the Democrats:
To the Republicans:
American Resurgence:
This last one was made by a teenager. Nice production value, don’t you think? And, by the way, I’m in it.
Massachusetts Miracle:
“Momentum” Ad By Scott Brown
*This is a TV ad but it is so good, I included it.
What do these videos/ads have in common?
1. They connect emotionally
2. The message is clear
3. The feel is positive, optimistic
4. They inspire action
5. They promote connection
These are great examples of videos that touch heart and mind with an understandable, actionable message. Note that there isn’t a lot of flash and dash with any of these videos, yet they’re all easy to watch and absorb.
Good stuff. I like it.
Scott Brown Supporters: Don’t Count Your Chickens…. Vote!
Monday, January 18th, 2010I’m going to tell you now what’s coming on my podcast tomorrow AM because less of you read my blog than listen to my podcast: I have predicted that Coakley will win by 2 tomorrow. I know. I know. I’m a pessimist. But I just don’t believe all the glowing polls. I want to be wrong, but here’s evidence for my side of the story:
There is a report that Martha Coakley’s internals for Sunday night put her ahead by two points, 48 to 46 percent. For what it’s worth, my little birdie tells me that her Sunday night poll put her ahead by one point and that the three-night average for Friday, Saturday and Sunday also put her ahead by one. Recall that Scott Brown had pulled ahead (by as many as three points) in Coakley’s polls late last week. So this might indicate potential tightening.
Hey, get mad if you want, but it’s Massachusetts. The way Scott Brown wins is by turnout. That’s it. If Dems stay home, he has a chance, and a slim one at that.
And yeah, I know what Intrade is saying. I should place a bet. I could win big.
Something To Warm Your Heart Before The Scott Brown And What’s Her Name Special Election
Monday, January 18th, 2010A profoundly distressed Andrew Sullivan:
I can see no alternative scenario but a huge – staggeringly huge – victory for the FNC/RNC machine tomorrow. They crafted a strategy of total oppositionism to anything Obama proposed a year ago. Remember they gave him zero votes on even the stimulus in his first weeks. They saw health insurance reform as Obama’s Waterloo, and, thanks in part to the dithering Democrats, they beat him on that hill. They have successfully channeled all the rage at the massive debt and recession the president inherited on Obama after just one year. If they can do that already, against the massive evidence against them, they have the power to wield populism to destroy any attempt by government to address any actual problems.
This is a nihilist moment, built from a nihilist strategy in order to regain power … to do nothing but wage war against enemies at home and abroad.What comes next will be a real test for Obama. I suspect serious health insurance reform is over for yet another generation.
If this is any indication of the gnashing of teeth after a Scott Brown win, it will be a sweet victory, indeed.
Liberal Professors: A Type-Casted Profession?
Monday, January 18th, 2010Right out of central casting: Pony-tailed hair, elbow pads, Birkenstocks and nubby socks, spectacles and a general dislike for people, especially, ironically, young people. Seems that there’s a reason:
Nursing is what sociologists call “gender typed.” Mr. Gross said that “professors and a number of other fields are politically typed.” Journalism, art, fashion, social work and therapy are dominated by liberals; while law enforcement, farming, dentistry, medicine and the military attract more conservatives.
“These types of occupational reputations affect people’s career aspirations,” he added in a telephone interview from his office at the University of British Columbia. Mr. Fosse, his co-author, is a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard.
The academic profession “has acquired such a strong reputation for liberalism and secularism that over the last 35 years few politically or religiously conservative students, but many liberal and secular ones, have formed the aspiration to become professors,” they write in the paper, “Why Are Professors Liberal?” That is especially true of their own field, sociology, which has become associated with “the study of race, class and gender inequality — a set of concerns especially important to liberals.”
So it’s not that a conservative would have to keep his politics to himself lest he be denied tenure or tormented on his path to professorship, it’s that conservatives just don’t want to be a professor because professors are so politically typecast?
I don’t know. You can read the whole article and see for yourself.
It’s true that some professions are more female dominated: teaching, nursing, flight attendant, etc.
Political type-casting? Maybe conservatives want to be involved with something where they actually contribute something concrete to society rather than some airy-fairy intellectual exercise lost in the theoretical.
The problem with conservatives shunning academia, of course, is that there is a complete lack of diverse thought in education from bottom to top. Kids hear Marxist drivel and the ideas are never challenged. And heaven forbid a student challenge them. They’ll pay for their uppity-ness for sure.
It’s a chicken-egg thing, I think. One problem feeds into another. The solution has been for colleges to spring up that support more conservative ideology across the board. The problem is that there are just too few conservative schools.
