Friday, October 31, 2008
Four days left, you can tell me that as much as you want, but I still don’t believe it. Obama is on the air in a bunch of new states and people are beginning to blame Sarah Palin for, well, everything. USA Today has interviews with both of the candidates which are relatively generic, but not bad. If you want to get into obsessive levels of detials, head over to TPM election central‘s morning roundup.
A new poll by the AP says that 1 in 7 voters are still persuadable. I met one guy last weekend in New Hampshire who was certain Senator Obama was going to take away his guns and Senator McCain is going to get rid of his social security. I guess that does make it a tough choice, but then again, he was also clearly batshit insane.
Crazy old Bush is still trying to deregulate, sex offenders need to cancel their Halloween plans and get back Loretta, there’s some special Rock Band news after the jump.
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Tuesday, June 17, 2008
You know it is a slow news day when the Washington Post leads off with a story about their new poll. Sure, it is the first Post-ABC poll since Obama secured the nomination, but you could have written about the US Open or something. The poll shows Obama with a 49%-45% lead among voters, but it is always important to remember that polls do nothing but capture a snapshot in time. If people bring it up at work, here are three factoids that you can cite to sound smart:
- Only 8 out of 10 Democrats support Obama for President – a quarter of those who said they favored Clinton over Obama for the nomination currently prefer McCain for the general election.
- 57 percent said McCain would continue to lead the country as Bush has and 38 percent said he would chart a new course. Compare that to the fact that 84% of the respondents said that the country is on the wrong track and you have a serious problem for McCain.
I doubt this actually changes anyone’s mind about anything, but Al Gore officially endorsed Obama last night. He did so using a 90-minute Powerpoint presentation that is expected to net him another Peace Prize. Some political observers are questioning whether he will be that active in campaigning for Obama since it became evident 20 minutes into his endorsement that he was just reusing his presentation from An Inconvenient Truth with the words “Climate Change” replaced by “John McCain.”
China has begun to lecture the United States on the status of our economy, a change from the glory days of us telling everyone how to live their lives. The Chinese economy, while growing at a massive rate, is mostly fueled by lead paint covered toys and misery.
That was some OUTSTANDING golf yesterday. Tiger Woods, in his first tournament back after having massive knee surgery, won the US Open in 91 holes. Tiger, the #1 ranked golfer in the world, finished the tournament tied with Rocco Mediate, ranked #158. There was an 18-hole playoff (that is why your office was so quite) and at the end of it the two were tied again. The tournament went to sudden death where Tiger won after Mediate missed a par putt on the Seventh hole. I was completely in the tank for the congenial and middle-aged Mediate, who played the best round of his golf of his life.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Coverage is dominated today by the news of a massive earthquake that hit China yesterday. The quake measured 7.9 on the Richter scale and the death toll stands currently at over 10,000. The quake destroyed 80% of the structures in some towns and cities near the epicenter. Many are seeing this as a test of China’s infrastructure and government reaction in advance of the Olympics. What impressed me was that the Chinese Premiere was at the site just a few hours after the quake – rather than say, flying overhead surveying the damage.
A new Gallup poll shows that the majority of Democrats think that the nominating contest should continue and a majority think that Obama should pick Clinton has his running mate. I say, hey, we’ve got polls, who needs ‘elections’?
Sign that a campaign is entering a slow season – articles on what candidates’ handwriting says about them. Senator Obama is apparently secretive and trying to distance himself form his father, Senator Clinton is “readable, but lacks emotion and warmth” and Senator McCain dots his i’s with little hearts.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Maybe I am unduly affected by the weather, but today’s news seems uniformly depressing. There is not even a single story driving any of the coverage. It is a bit all over the place, but there are a few things you should check up on.
The biggest story today is that whistleblowers testified to Congress that federal officials have been overlooking or thwarting major airline inspections. The main airline affected seems to be Southwest, but the issue shines a light on the close relationship that airlines have with their federal regulators. This is the kind of story that only expands. If it comes up at the office, say that we should either nationalize or completely privatize the airlines (flip a coin). Also say that even with cracked fuselages it is still better than Amtrack.
Do you like summits? If so, you should think about getting involved in NATO. President Bush passed part of his agenda at a NATO summit yesterday, getting countries to back the concept of a missile-defense system in Europe. However, he couldn’t get the member-nations to agree to let in Georgia (this one) and Ukraine. This probably won’t come up, but if it does it is pretty much always OK to make fun of a missile shield.
The fighting is Basra and Baghdad has largely died down, and the New York Times has a review of how the Iraqi security forces performed. Let’s just say, not so hot.
Finally, a new poll says that 81% of the nation says we are on the wrong track. That is the highest percentage since the New York Times began doing these polls in 1990. After reading today’s headlines, I can’t imagine why anyone would say that.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Senator Clinton and Senator Obama met in Ohio last night for what will likely be the final debate of the Democratic primary. This was the most confrontational of the debates and the candidates sparred over a variety of issues, including health care, foreign policy, and NAFTA. Senator Clinton needed to knock Senator Obama off his stride, and while she dominated the debate it doesn’t appear that she made anything stick. If the debate comes up at work and you are unsure who the person you are talking to is supporting, it is always safe to criticize the moderators, who were their usual bizarre selves. Some examples of the moderators drinking problems where convoluted hypotheticals on Iraq and a question about rejecting the endorsement of Louis Farrakhan. Thank GOD I know where they stand on that. You can check out a full debate transcript, but I have no idea why you would want to.
McCain, Google, and the GOP after the jump
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