Comments on FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: Dems Must Give Voters Explicit Permission To Like ...

Impressive accuracy - thanks for all the hard work...

2008-11-05T11:45:31.082-05:00

Impressive accuracy - thanks for all the hard work - I really enjoyed following along

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/200...

2008-09-23T13:14:08.400-04:00

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008195867_apbillclintonpalin.html

Looks like President Clinton is taking on this argument. You know you're going to get savaged when he starts making nice.

I hope the Democrats take this advice and run ads ...

2008-09-17T00:52:55.890-04:00

I hope the Democrats take this advice and run ads like what is suggested. It is a further attempt to demean Palin, and it will backfire, just like the rest of the attacks from the Obama campaign and the media. Trying to make Sarah Palin a bad choice just doesn't work. Every time someone tries to say how unready she is to be VP, it just makes the uncommitted listener think how unready Obama is to be *President*. It is a trap well sprung, and it will be very difficult to get out of. If the Dems had good sense, they would treat Palin like the Repubs treat Biden. You know, "Joe who?"

It is hilarious to see the Obama Collective projec...

2008-09-16T04:32:07.941-04:00

It is hilarious to see the Obama Collective project their own problems onto Sarah Palin.

Yeah, you're so worried about *her* inexperience and lies, but those darn Palin fans just like her too darn much to listen to facts.

ROTFLMAO!

Any of you Hopium huffers gonna start listening to the facts about Obama any time soon? Or looking up the facts yourselves?

Oh, and wikipedia and Obama.com don't count.

Yeah....I didn't think so.

simon,i listened to Rush Limbaugh today, too. for...

2008-09-16T03:48:06.212-04:00

simon,
i listened to Rush Limbaugh today, too. for about 5 minutes...got any original material?

i agreee about the emotional argument trumping the...

2008-09-15T21:05:58.202-04:00

i agreee about the emotional argument trumping the logical one - especially for those undecided voters who have heard all the logic from both sides and still are on the fence. nonetheless i really think they just need to ignore her for the most part and remind people that it's mccain that is running. when people get back to realizing that the bump will fade because he is no match for obama in so many ways.

Give Democrats permission to "like" Palin? What if...

2008-09-15T18:33:39.940-04:00

Give Democrats permission to "like" Palin? What if I can't stand her myself? She's a pretentious liar with a paper-thin, shallow character and a lightweight intellectually. Besides, the pitch of Palin's voice makes my ears bleed to the point where I've had to buy earplugs to muffle the sound of her voice, especially for those times she might say a word like "Houdini". Ouch!

Excuse me, but what is there to like?Okay, she has...

2008-09-15T16:10:13.391-04:00

Excuse me, but what is there to like?

Okay, she has nice hair, and her glasses are pretty stylish.

However, she is a judgmental, underqualified woman who fires people without cause and tries to ban books that don't fit her tiny worldview.

She preaches abstinence only education, opposes contraception, and has 2 teenage children who were the most promiscuous kids in town. She attends a church that tries to convert gays through prayer, and preaches against government handouts while holding both hands out for her town and family.

I find nothing likeable her inauthentic, hypocritical personality. Add to this the fact that she leapfrogged hundreds of more qualified Republican elected officials and it becomes not only easy to despise her, but frightening that she could become president within 4 months.

Democrats constantly try to placate others and not appear "mean", while Republicans do as the damned well please. We can see not only who gets their agenda passed, but who wins elections. Bush won in 2004 by slandering Kerry with lies, so why shouldn't Democrats smear Palin with the truth?

Palin is new. People haven't made up their mind ab...

2008-09-15T15:46:58.637-04:00

Palin is new. People haven't made up their mind about her. Her favorability rating has dropped steadily in the last five days. She went from +17 down to +4. More and more people don't like her.

Her arguments show a contempt for reality. She can see Russia from her house and she thinks she is an expert on Russia. Now that's logic. Hey, I can see the moon at night, maybe I'm an astronaut!

Nicely and wisely said Sean Quinn. Friends of mine...

2008-09-15T15:43:21.645-04:00

Nicely and wisely said Sean Quinn. Friends of mine who inhabit the ideological spaces that extols a Sarah Palin need not be discounted out of hand (even if the hypcorisy meter on her stump speeches long ago broke). Thanks for the post.

Quint

@ EriqHate is not a party platform?Please to be ex...

2008-09-15T15:31:20.424-04:00

@ Eriq

Hate is not a party platform?

Please to be explaining the 2004 election and why I can't get married? I await your response.

New thread...

2008-09-15T15:22:27.205-04:00

New thread...

Lets move off Palin, she is shriveling, lets just ...

2008-09-15T15:21:25.840-04:00

Lets move off Palin, she is shriveling, lets just let it happen.

McCain is the sotry, and if Scmidt really goes the swift boat route with 527's we need to be ready to refute every arguemnt with facts.

Bullshit to all Gallup polls and all RePub windbag...

2008-09-15T15:19:54.293-04:00

Bullshit to all Gallup polls and all RePub windbags declaring victory.

In case you haven't noticed--- We just made it halfway thru September, and your Geriactric Boy hasn't ever made it above 50%...

And no amount of Viagra is ever gonna close the deficit, especially with such a brain-dead candidate.

Sorry, scumbuckets, but that is the way it is.

And another word-heavy article on Palin, it links ...

2008-09-15T15:10:45.863-04:00

And another word-heavy article on Palin, it links very well to biogeek´s Salon excerpt.

I think it´s clear who Sarah Palin is. She was a young ambitious woman who sought to become a powerful politican. Her birth in Alaska however was a real disadvantage. But I think she struck a deal with evangelical movements and the oil industry to promote their policies if they provide organisation force and electorate for her. That´s how she could effectively import the culture war campaign into a sleepy small town like Wasilla. A city that grew strong thanks to evangelical immigrants and ensured Sarah Palin a safe office for a national run.

Her first try (lt. governor) failed. But she was awarded an influencal position in the oil industry (Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission), probably thanks to backdoor pressure on Governor Murkowski. Then she organized a coup against her own Republican Party machine that was still in control of pre-Reaganite Republicans (like Gov. Murkowski and Senator Stevens) so the new Reagan-wing of the party took control, with Sarah Palin as a front face. She will continue to promote the oil-friendly creatonist evangelical policies that elevated her career.

I agree with most of Sean´s post, but not everythi...

2008-09-15T14:59:06.144-04:00

I agree with most of Sean´s post, but not everything. I think he´s completely right up to a certain point. At this point, when her favorables are somewhat neutral, or even dragging the ticket down, you don´t even have to like her anymore. The Dems can only attack her as hard as her favorables allow. It´s a step-by-step approach. That´s why the sex-ed ad backfired...Obama has got too high favorables for this ad. The Anti-Kerry campaign was more subtle. It started slow and got harder over time.

I think the "someone you can have a beer with" is an excellent idea. Linking to Bush, but not too aggressive. And by the way, Palin´s favorable are moving into a direction that soon allows hard blows, if the Obama campaign thinks that they are necessary.

I think you are off target. Check out http://wome...

2008-09-15T14:55:03.617-04:00

I think you are off target. Check out http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com

It started with 4 women e-mailing 40 of their friends. As of today it has 130,000 posts from women of all ages. You underestimate the reaction that is building against Palin that has nothing to do with liking her or not but that does have to do with hating what she stands for and how she has personally abused the power of public office. Stay tuned on that one. And why didn't the demonstration against Palin when she arrived in Alaska receive more news coverage? It was reportedly huge.

I canvass for Obama, and there's no interest in discussing Palin out there at all. It's easy to say she's likable. It's the rest of it that isn't.

O needs to appeal to older white voters every sing...

2008-09-15T14:21:41.071-04:00

O needs to appeal to older white voters every single day. many of them are democrats but haven't come around to him. Mocking McCain for his computer illiteracy doesn't do it. Maybe a "Talk to Your Parents Day for grownups"?
Even if he convinces 2% of whites holding out against him, it's worth it.

Obama's winning strategy is to get more public exp...

2008-09-15T14:08:45.728-04:00

Obama's winning strategy is to get more public exposure. He is very likeable, and he's very bright and thoughtful.

The Republican strategy is to keep attention off of Obama and off of issues. Distract and entertain.

Of course Obama should refute falsehoods, and reflect falsehoods back on McCain, but fundamentally Obama should make peace with losing the election on his own terms, and drive his positive vision for America.

I'm willing to do my fair share, pay more taxes, and work hard for a more perfect Union that would solve many of the basic issues that arise when we try to cram 6B people on a single planet, and make them compete for finite, non-renewable resources.

I also see how badly Republican policies of the last eight years have failed and how they compare unfavorably to the Clinton years.

I disagree with M. Simon about people in politics being dirty or dirtier. I was in politics for 8 years myself. In my vive, Democracy is not clean, and its not dirty. I agree with Churchill's observations that Democracy is the worst system accept for the others, and I saw clearly its many limitations, and so I too was reduced to being a moron. I disagreed with many colleagues, but they almost all worked hard and sincerely believed themselves, which is also part of the problem. We were all sincere, hard-working morons who disagree over issues.

Keep your eye on the prize, Barack.

Palin reminds me of some of the girls I grew up wi...

2008-09-15T13:59:49.456-04:00

Palin reminds me of some of the girls I grew up with who spent all of their intellect on figuring out how to get to the top of the pecking order and stay there. They were experts at being mean, and I hated them.

That's my gut reaction. Juvenile? Sure. Most gut reactions are.

From a Salon article :Another valley activist, Phi...

2008-09-15T13:58:50.040-04:00

From a Salon article :

Another valley activist, Philip Munger, says that Palin also helped push the evangelical drive to take over the Mat-Su Borough school board. "She wanted to get people who believed in creationism on the board," said Munger, a music composer and teacher. "I bumped into her once after my band played at a graduation ceremony at the Assembly of God. I said, 'Sarah, how can you believe in creationism -- your father's a science teacher.' And she said, 'We don't have to agree on everything.'

"I pushed her on the earth's creation, whether it was really less than 7,000 years old and whether dinosaurs and humans walked the earth at the same time. And she said yes, she'd seen images somewhere of dinosaur fossils with human footprints in them."

Munger also asked Palin if she truly believed in the End of Days, the doomsday scenario when the Messiah will return. "She looked in my eyes and said, 'Yes, I think I will see Jesus come back to earth in my lifetime.'" (end of quote)

The vaguely soothing claim that Palin was "only pandering" to the fundy fringe is losing credibility. It seems that if a Pres. McCain falls seriously ill, the nuclear codes will indeed be in the hands of a zealot.

And now let's all intone in a patronizing voice: "She may set the world on fire, she may take away your rights, but you're so allowed to LIKE her." I'm prepared to admit that this electoral strategy works, but dang, do I feel like a Martian on Vega here.

Palin's favorables continue to trend down daily. ...

2008-09-15T13:53:31.911-04:00

Palin's favorables continue to trend down daily. She was only +7 two days ago, +5 yesterday, and +4 in today's release... Watch her implode as Palin will probably be a net drag on the GOPer ticket by October IMHO
------------------------------------
Yesterday's Results
DATE MCCAIN OBAMA BARR NADER OTHER UND
09/14 45 48 2 2 1 2

Favorable/Unfavorable
CANDIDATE FAV UNFAV NO OPINION
MCCAIN 51 45 4 [+14]
OBAMA 54 38 8 [+16]
BIDEN 48 32 20 [+16]
PALIN 47 43 10 [paltry +4]

I heard one of her constituents say at the rally i...

2008-09-15T13:33:30.968-04:00

I heard one of her constituents say at the rally in Alaska this weekend that she liked Palin as a govenor but she didn't Palin was ready to be VP.

That is the real truth. No hate, no name calling. Just the simple truth.

Somebody needs to make an ad with that sound bite.

The emotional bonding Obama needs to do is with ol...

2008-09-15T13:20:13.088-04:00

The emotional bonding Obama needs to do is with older white voters, especially women. Judging by my own family, they may be democrats, but they just can't relate to a young black male (call it soft racism). Make sure he's seen conversing, not speaking, with 60+ whites every single day.

Not everyone likes Sarah Palin. I'm not sure wher...

2008-09-15T13:18:23.730-04:00

Not everyone likes Sarah Palin. I'm not sure where you're getting your info, Sean.

In fact, as many, or more, people dislike Sarah Palin for her views.

What you're saying is that because Pat Buchanan is considered the likeable crazy uncle to "some," the rest of us should be enamored with him.