Reactions to story from http://cnn.com

• 

  Tracking Poll Update: Obama Hits New High in Gallup

  http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/7/134154/078
  56 days ago in MyDD :: Direct Democracy for People-Powered Politics · Authority: 1,757

  Here are today's numbers: ObamaMcCain Diageo/Hotline4644 Gallup5142 Rasmussen Reports5244 Research 2000/dKos5241 Average:50.2542.75 While the Gallup, Rasmussen and R2K polls are converging in their results, the Hotline poll is clearly moving in another
• 

  The Polls - 10/7

  http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/10/7/94311/8219
  56 days ago in Palin Calls Afghanistan "Our Neighboring Country" - TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime · Authority: 1,181

  On the eve of the second Presidential townhall/debate, the polls show Barack Obama with a significant lead. DKos/R2000 (10/4-6) has Obama up 11, 52-41. Ras (10/4-6) has Obama up 8, 52-44. Gallup (10/3-5) has Obama up 8, 50-42. Hotline (10/4-6) has Obama
• 

  The Polls - 10/7

  http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/10/7/94311/8219
  56 days ago in TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime · Authority: 1,569

  The Polls - 10/7 By Big Tent Democrat, Section Elections 2008 Posted on Tue Oct 07, 2008 at 08:43:11 AM EST Tags: (all tags) Share This: Digg! On the eve of the second Presidential townhall/debate, the polls show Barack Obama with a significant lead.
• 

  “Prejudice is prejudice.”

  http://www.theophania.net/logos/?p=740
  28 days ago in Rebel Yell · Authority: 6

  “Prejudice is prejudice.” November 4th, 2008 I found a link to this article through a friend’s journal. Most of the “fat prejudice” we hear about comes from women, who tend to be considered “fat” at any size beyond 6. But this article puts it in a more interesting perspective: that of a white man who has heretofore had no problem with his fatness. And, since I already voted, I’m going to distract myself with non-political articles (except for this one, in which Obama won a town that hasn’t voted for a Democrat since 1968). When I was younger, I used to have self-esteem issues on account of not being able to get dates with the women I wanted to and chalking it up to being fat. When I was a high schooler, I used to worry about being judged for being fat. As I got older, I gained more confidence as women started coming on to me when they saw that I was intelligent, funny, charming - and a sensitive, nice guy. I didn’t have any trouble making or keeping friends, and so I kind of forgot about what it was like to experience fat hatred, either self-imposed or externally. But, recently, I was confronted with an entirely new aspect of fatness in a way I hadn’t been before. I was face to face with fat prejudice, really for the first time. Being a gamer, however, I imagine that people will say, “Oh, all of these gamers are lazy fatties who eat crap and don’t ever leave the house. Who cares if he got teased by some other gamer fatties?” Well, he does. The author brings up a very good point: it is still very much acceptable to make fun of fat people and freely exercise prejudice against them. They’re fat because they’re greedy, lazy, have no self control, et al. They make up excuses about “glandular problems” and “heart problems” and their aches and pains that prevent them from exercising. Oh, those fat people are so lazy! If they’d just put down the fucking fork they’d all be fine! I’m sure that the anonymity of the internet allows for the self-loathing fat person to make fun of other fat people in order to make themselves feel better. It also allows people who just want to be hateful to freely exercise their prejudices with carefree abandon. But even in person, it’s still considered perfectly acceptable to be hateful to so-called “fatties.” In my own experience, I’ve heard it mentioned that stores such as Lane Bryant and Avenue, which cater to women sized 12/14 and up, only encourages women to be fat by making nicer clothes in larger sizes. If we just forbade them to dress nice, being ugly and not having anything to wear would be an incentive to lose weight and “stop being fat.” As if it were just that easy. “Oh, gee. I have nothing to wear and nothing fits me! Oh, I’ll just drop twenty pounds this week and everything will be sunshine and rainbows!” Just run a few miles every week! Just replace all of your fatty foods with celery and grapefruit! Try Atkins! South Beach! The Abs Diet! Take a spinning class! Destroy friendships by forcing your friends to diet and exercise with you! Oh, you tried all that and it didn’t work for you? Well, whatever, fatty. You’re probably too lazy to give up the Twinkies, and you probably just have “issues”, you overly sensitive wanker. Maybe you and John McCain can get together and cry about what big, fat losers you are. Ooh, too soon? Hey, it’s okay. No one cares about fat people with poor decision-making skills and no self-control, anyway. It’s something we joke about constantly, and we’re okay with it because we all consider it calling someone out on their stupidity (or laziness). They deserve to be taunted and ridiculed because they bring it on themselves by being fat. If you didn’t want to be teased, you wouldn’t have gotten fat in the first place. But since you ARE fat, it means that you probably are lazy, ignorant, and greedy, therefore we are all perfectly justified in making fun of you. No matter how you spin it, it still seems horribly wrong and unjustified to me. First, because there’s no discernment between the truly lazy, greedy, unhygienic fat person and the person who just happens to be fat, but still obviously cares about their health and well-being. Second, because I don’t believe that there’s any situation in which it should be okay to ridicule, taunt, and humiliate someone based on their physical appearance. If you are willfully ignorant, sure I’ll poke fun at you–you’ve knowingly and willingly ignored good advice and common sense in order to do something stupid. (This, I’ve been assured, is what “lulz” is all about.) What I think we’ve done is assigned “fatness” to the personality–if you are overweight, then you have a defect in your moral character, and inability to control your desires, and no sense of what’s good for you. This means that you are clearly a terrible person who deserves humiliation. Unfortunately, as the article above (not the political articles) mentions, this is usually far from the case. Prejudice is prejudice; it should never be acceptable, no matter what the case. Posted in Found on the Internet | No Comments »
• 

  Quick Slants for November 3, 2008

  http://onelittlevictoryblog.com/2008/11/03/quick-slants-for-...
  29 days ago in One Little Victory · Authority: 85

  Quick Slants for November 3, 2008 Posted by Rick on November 3, 2008 One last set of slants before the election. A Momo for Hatch Orrin Hatch isn’t just a moron; he is an outright ass. Today he claimed that the U.S. “lose a lot of stature throughout the world” if Barack Obama is elected President. I don’t know what planet this asshat is living on if he thinks that the U.S. enjoys a lot of “stature” in the world right now. Two things… Iraq and torture, have pretty much done in our international reputation. And now Hatch wants us to elect a guy who was beating the war drums early and often, as well as a guy who rolled over to the administration on the issue of torture. Perhaps he should leave Washington, DC and Utah a little more often. The Breeder’s Momo This one is really priceless. I had a suspicion that something was up with the replaced juror in the Ted Stevens case. the first reports that I heard were that she was disruptive and disrespectful, and ignored the judge’s directions during deliberations. Then then next thing I knew, she was replaced because her father had died. Too strange. Turns out it was too strange. Turns out that the juror, Marian Hinnant, lied to the judge about her father’s death so that she could fly to California to attend the Breeder’s Cup. Wow. Just wow. Sarah strikes again Ever the empathic veep candidate, Sarah palin assured an African-American today that she understood racial prejudice because her husband is part native Alaskan. Are you kidding me? Does she really want to make that comparison? Chalk this up as yet one more example of why she makes a better punchline than vice presidential candidate. See her comment here. Intrade Odds Intrade got every single state right in the 2004 election, showing that gamblers are at least as accurate as polls. This was also the case on another major futures site. So how do they have this election called? Obama 364, McCain 174. If that number seems familiar, it’s because that is exactly what I called a few days ago. And no, I had not consulted Intrade. Not working Despite all of the Republican attacks on Obama related to William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright, it turns out that Obama is actually widening his lead in the polls. I find it highly, highly unlikely that this race is tightening. Go Away, Joe Enough of this idiot Joe the Plumber (Joe Wurzelbacher) who now sounds like any of the Fixed Noise pundits by parroting the same crap that we have heard for the past two months. Now Mr. Wurzelbacher has questioned Obama’s loyalty to the United States. And I question yours, Mr. Wurzelbacher. Exactly what have you ever done to contribute to the good of this nation? Who the hell are you to be able to espouse such ignorance and expect to be taken seriously? Effective tomorrow, your fifteen minutes have expired, Mr. Wurzelbacher, but you can live on as a Golden Momo recipient. A final pre-election commentary No matter what your political persuasion, watch this clip and ask yourself whether or not we would take Barack Obama seriously as a candidate if he made all of the same blunders that John McCain has. So exactly why is anyone taking Mr. McCain seriously? So here we go… tomorrow is the most important moment in American history in the past forty years. How we choose tomorrow will say a great deal about us as a nation. Posted in 2008 Presidential Race, Barack Obama, Intolerance, Joe the Plumber, John McCain, Moron of the Moment, Orrin Hatch, Polling, Sarah Palin, Slants | Tagged: Barack Obama, Intolerance, John McCain, Keith Olbermann, Moron of the Moment, Politics, Sarah Palin, Slants
• 

  Obama widens lead

  http://www.esoterically.net/weblog/2008/10/14/obama-widens-l...
  49 days ago in esoterically.net/weblog · Authority: 122

  I’ve not popped the cork on the champagne yet, but the bottle is definitely chilling… Poll: Obama Opens 14-Point Lead On McCain Barack Obama Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is entering the third and final presidential debate Wednesday with a wide lead over Republican rival John McCain nationally, a new CBS News/New York Times poll shows. The Obama-Biden ticket now leads the McCain-Palin ticket 53 percent to 39 percent among likely voters, a 14-point margin. One week ago, prior to the Town Hall debate that uncommitted voters saw as a win for Obama, that margin was just three points. Among independents who are likely voters - a group that has swung back and forth between McCain and Obama over the course of the campaign - the Democratic ticket now leads by 18 points. McCain led among independents last week. McCain’s campaign strategy may be hurting hurt him: Twenty-one percent of voters say their opinion of the Republican has changed for the worse in the last few weeks. The top two reasons cited for the change of heart are McCain’s attacks on Obama and his choice of Sarah Palin as running mate. Obama is widely seen as running the more positive campaign: Sixty-one percent of those surveyed say McCain is spending more time attacking his opponent than explaining what he would do as president. Just 27 percent say the same of Obama. McCain’s favorable rating has fallen four points from last week, to 36 percent, and is now lower than his 41 percent unfavorable rating. Obama, by contrast, is now viewed favorably by half of registered voters and unfavorably by just 32 percent. The good news just keeps on coming… Obama Widens Lead in Four Key States Barack Obama widened his lead considerably over John McCain in four key battleground states during the past three weeks, providing further evidence that the economic crisis has greatly enhanced the Democrat’s advantage with just 21 days left before Election Day. Obama holds double-digit margins over McCain in Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin and carries a nine-point advantage over his Republican rival in Colorado, according to polling conducted by Quinnipiac University for washingtonpost.com and the Wall Street Journal. Obama’s ascendancy in these key states mirrors his growing lead in national polling. The latest Washington Post/ABC News survey put Obama at 53 percent to McCain’s 43 percent, while the daily Gallup tracking poll showed Obama holding a similar lead of 51 percent to 41 percent on Monday. The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll has Senator Obama leading 53 percent to 45 percent. Meanwhile, George W. Bush’s approval rating is at 23% - lower than even Richard Nixon’s lowest (24%). That, my friends, is pretty amazing. You betcha. Tomorrow night’s debate should be interesting. Johnny McCain and the Republicans are getting desperate (to say the least). Don’t forget to tune in. The fun starts at 9 Eastern, 8 Central, on nearly all the major broadcast channels. (I say “nearly” because our local GOP FOX affiliate has opted not to carry the debate. It will be showing a baseball game instead.)

Advertise on Technorati