Via Dizzy Queen at MyDD
McCain’s no care health care

Is it just me, or does the female voice in the McCain TV Commercial bear an unfortunate resemblance to a feminine hygiene commercial?

nyceve at California Nurses has a video of McSame’s appearance at the Lance Armstrong Cancer Center:

“Allow cooperation among states in the purchase of insurance”. This is code speak for the infamous and despicable Enzi Bill, which the Republicans deceptively named the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act of 2005 and had it become law (God forbid), would have thrown even the most modest state health insurance consumer protection laws out the window.

In 2006, Mr. Bush and the U.S. House tried to pass legislation to allow associations to offer health coverage to their small-business members.  Read more 

In the spirit of wishing openness and transparency for all our presidential candidates’ affairs:

Mc Cain has a bit of a gambling problem — he doesn’t acknowledge that he does gamble, at least to the one group that matters, the IRS. From the Time article:  Read more 

Murdoch Proclaims Obama ’The Real American Idol’

It seems the UK Sun has a positive article about Obama. Murdoch has been sending out signals for months that he would consider supporting either Clinton or Obama.

In his brilliant book Murdoch, the untold story of the world’s greatest media wizard Neil Chenoweth talks about tabloid culture. He describes how tabloids can support a politician for months or even years and suddenly turn on him. The actual phrase for this is put a weasel up his pants.

Right now McSame is feeling a weasel running up his pants.

So we’ll never get the racists/sexists to vote for this year’s Dem. But dood, I missed this one. Cliff:

McCain’s most recent exams show a range of health issues common in aging: He frequently has precancerous skin lesions removed, and in February had an early stage squamous cell carcinoma, an easily cured skin cancer, removed. He had benign colon growths called polyps taken out during a routine colonoscopy in March.

The SCLM buried that one, I’m sure. You can still do your part, tho. Seriously, being “weak” is a great sin to the minds of the rethug Base. McStain is tired, sick, and weak. Again. Remind your neighbors and friends today: he’s not Fit to Lead, and it’s time for some new, fresh blood to be in charge.

Update: pass these around today. heh.

While the Obama campaign and its surrogates have been trumpeting the fact that it is bringing in “new voters”, it seems to have forgotten a key component of the “old Democratic coalition” that it disparages.

“Old” voters. Literally.

The Clinton campaign consistently includes Hillary Clinton’s appeal to seniors when it discusses why she is the better choice to face off against John McCain – but the media seldom mentions older voters, choosing instead to concentrate on Clinton’s appeal to “white working class” voters to hype the race angle in the campaign.

The Obama campaign’s use of talking points involving “new voters” and a “new coalition” is sending a message to older voters – that “old” is worth a lot less to them than “new”, that young voters are more important than older voters, and that the “new coalition” means that the concerns of the “old coalition” members are no longer critical to the Party.

And all this is going on when the Republican Party will have a 71 year old as its nominee.  Read more 

CRANK ECONOMICS

John McCain wants to ease up on state regulations that require health insurers to cover specific conditions. So what would happen to kids like Jake Bernard, who gets speech therapy for his cleft lip only because Florida law requires it?  Read more 

Aka Obama’s Sour Apples to Apples, Part Four

Between late February and mid-April, voters in nine states that should/could be “Democratic” in the 2008 Presidential Election were exposed to a considerable amount of negative informative concerning both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The negative information had little impact on how Hillary Clinton was regarded when compared to John McCain. But it has had a major impact on their perception of Barack Obama, and on the perception of the relative merits of Obama and McCain.

Overall, the worst that can be said about Clinton is the negative press attention has resulted in more previously undecided voters in certain demographic categories expressing a preference for McCain rather than for Clinton. But Obama is not merely losing “undecided” voters in most demographic categories because of negative media coverage, a significant percentage of voters who had supported Obama over McCain have switched their preferences.  Read more 

Via TeddySanFran @ FDL, the question everyone should be asking right up to election day:

So, the question is: will the ad run on Monday?

…

Is John McCain powerless? Is he impotent?

Bwahaha. Yes, these are important questions. I hope that some of our more accessible talking heads *cough* Ezra *cough* will be able to raise them on the air. As in:

Really, what people are asking right now is, why hasn’t McCain been able to gain traction with Democrats? Are we looking at an impotent campaign here, you know, one that’s never going to get any stronger towards November?

or

Well, McCain’s been taking criticism lately, and he hasn’t shown that he’s really strong enough to deflect any of it… is this the emergence of an impotent candidate?

or

“Say, do you think McCain takes Cialis because he’s impotent?”

You get the picture. Simple yet devastating. Can we pull it off?

AKA OBAMA’S SOUR ’APPLES TO APPLES’, PART THREE: INDEPENDENTS AND MODERATES

In the last six weeks, Barack Obama has been losing support in virtually every key demographic category when matched against John McCain, while Hillary Clinton has gained support. Perhaps most disturbing is Obama’s decline among Independent voters: Between late February and mid-April, in 9 key states for Democrats

· Obama lost an average 4.2% of his support among Independents
· While Obama was losing support among Independents to McCain, McCain was also picking up new support from previously undecided Independent voters, resulting in major decreases in Obama’s margins against McCain among Independents.
· In February, Obama led McCain among Independents in 5 of the 9 states, By mid-April, Obama was leading in only one state – by only 2%.  Read more 

Orrin Hatch has written a song for McCain. It’s shallow and vapid, you can read the lyrics and barf here. But what’s really priceless is Tweety’s reaction after playing a snippet on Hardball:

I will be singing it on the pillow tonight.

I bet he will.

Obama may send a thrill up their legs (although that’s more about beating Clinton), but at night it’s McCain they dream about.

h/t Avedon

DEMOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW, MALE AND FEMALE VOTERS

In the last six weeks, Barack Obama has been losing support in virtually every key demographic category when matched against John McCain, while Hillary Clinton has gained support. Obama has lost support among men, women, White voters, “Independents”, and “Moderates”, while Clinton has gained support in all those categories.

Obama’s margins against McCain have fallen significantly in all of these categories, while Clinton is “holding her own” in these key categories as previously undecided voters make up their minds.  Read more 

Yet another friendly story about McCain. If A Dem has skipped that forum, it would have been turned into an instant mini-scandal by the press. McCain skipped it, and it’s because he’s “private about his faith”; and he “comes from an older generation, one that is more private about its faith.” They throw in a few obligatory lines about battle to remind everyone of what a Great Hero Great McCain is, (what “battles” has McCain fought in?  Read more 

Offered without comment:

All of this might make some sense if McCain didn’t have this ridiculously cozy relationship with the press that’s been solid as a rock for more than a decade. He is going to be terribly difficult to redefine. It will take everything they have to do it. And if they don’t do it, he could very well win this thing even if he is as old as Methuselah and has the campaign style of a pet rock.

I was talking to a staunchly liberal friend of mine over the week-end who told me that he really didn’t worry about the primary because if the party is damaged and McCain wins, it will probably be ok. The reason: he’s not stupid like Bush or crazy like Cheney. After I picked up my brains from the floor and put them back in my head, still reeling from the explosion, I tried to explain how that was wrong. It was pulling teeth and I don’t think I succeeded. He just likes the guy and doesn’t believe he’s really capable of being as bad as Bush because he “thinks for himself” and isn’t a GOP lackey.

The Democrats had better get themselves together. The Republicans picked the only candidate in the entire country who could elicit that kind of praise from my pal and others like him. He’s the only one who could possibly win, and win he may very well do if just let this congenial image continue without challenge.

Although old news, it’s news to me and worth talking about. What kind of people are these, really? We talk about sexism a lot on this blog, but as many have noted: what would it take to get you to use language like that, about your partner, in public? I honestly can’t imagine that.

My family is filled with passionate, flawed people who aren’t afraid to raise a voice (but never a hand) to each other. Harsh language is the salt of life, obviously I was raised to believe that too. But I don’t understand how something like this is ’normalized’ into the habits of two people married to each other and for whom public image matters. Recklessness? Carelessness? Lack of intelligence, tact? Hatred of women? Any answer is one that reflects poorly on McCain as a national figure, as someone we want to have a finger on the bomb.

Like I said, this is old news but it’s time to talk about it again, and again. Women will be really turned off by this, and should be reminded, McCain isn’t for us. I was reading some depressing statistics about low information people this morning, so let’s all do our part to keep the conversations and opinions properly focued. On McShame is a good place.

Survey: Most auto execs support McCain

Automotive executives overwhelmingly support Sen. John McCain for president and have a negative outlook for the industry, according to a survey released today by the law firm Dykema Gossett PLLC.

The people who ran their industry into the ground want McCain, because they know a failed executive when they see one.

Good job, CHS. This is well above and beyond ’golf clap’ worthy, this is action, meaningful and real. I applaud you and those who’ve signed the list. Here’s my take.

Background para:

Even so, FEC Chairman David Mason sent McCain’s campaign a strongly worded letter (PDF), letting them know that even though McCain didn’t consider his word on accepting public financing binding, that the FEC was not about to let him off the legal hook. What did McCain do? He ignored the letter, secured a loan based on representations of obtaining public financing and then blew past the public financing law spending limits…and he’s still raising campaign cash, too.

Quelle suprise! This is the last chance to rescue the idea that we should have “the rule of law” in this country. Either McCain is held to this standard, or he is not. I believe he will not be. I believe the FEC will do nothing. I believe the SCLM will do nothing, and gloss over and/or bury this. I believe the Federal Government as presently constituted will enforce no truly damaging law upon any national-level, media-approved Republican. I believe no Democrat of similar station will speak critically of nor contribute to efforts like yours, because of a combination of ignorance, arrogance, the disease of Villagerism, and the desire to have these powers for themselves. But I still thank you for your efforts.  Read more 

HOW THE GENDER GAP, SEXISM, AND MISOGYNY CHANGE THE OUTCOME IN INDIVIDUAL STATES

The gender gap in presidential elections is a well documented phenomenon. Almost without exception, women vote for Democratic candidates at a higher percentage than do men, while men vote for Republican candidates at a higher percentage than women. Moreover, men’s preference for Republican candidates is more pronounced than women’s preference for Democrats. In the 2004 election, nationally men gave Bush an 11 point lead (Bush 55%, Kerry 44%), while women gave Kerry a mere 3 point lead (Bush 48%, Kerry 51%).

Data from a recent (conducted Feb 26-28, released March 7) 50 state Survey USA (SUSA) poll of registered voters shows more than just a gender gap; it provides evidence that sexism and misogyny can have a profound impact in shaping electoral outcomes. The gender gap is nearly double the size when the matchup is John McCain vs. Hillary Clinton than when it is McCain
and Barack Obama. McCain/Clinton shows a 13.5% gap in registered voters and a 7% gap when it is McCain/Obama.  Read more 

Now that the brouhaha over the words of Reverend Wright has been completely done away with by Barack Obama’s speech, his supporters are once again clamoring for Hillary Clinton to get out of the race. We are told the only way she can win is if she manages to have a ‘coup by superdelegates.’ Those of you who are fans of the rules will note that such a coup is wholly permissible (as long as there is no associated violence).

There are many on the blogs who deem it unseemly that the will of the people would be ignored by these superdelegates (unless, say, that superdelegate was a governor from a southwestern state whose voters didn’t vote for the bloggers’ candidate of choice ). The question is what will they be looking at when making their decisions about what is best for the Democratic Party. Undoubtedly, the superdelegates will take the will of the people into account, but that is not all. Here I will focus on something else they will consider - who has the best chance of beating McCain in the Electoral College at the end of the year.

To do this I first look at the current state of polling in head to head match-ups between McCain and the two Democrats. The following two maps are drawn based on the current match-ups. These were created using 270toWin.com’s interactive map feature. The polling data used in this analysis were also found at 270toWin.com. A complete listing of this polling data is given in a table at the end of this post. The states are colored in only if the polls show a difference between the two (Clinton vs. McCain or Obama vs. McCain) of five percentage points or greater. It is certainly possible that changes of more than 5 percentage points could occur before November, but that is what I chose to use as a point for comparison.

Clinton vs. McCain

Obama vs. McCain

As can be seen, more states have aligned themselves with a candidate in the Clinton vs. McCain contest than for Obama vs. McCain. Clinton holds a >5% lead over McCain in 16 states (and the District of Columbia) which are worth a total of 215 electoral votes, while McCain leads (>5%) Clinton in 24 states worth 212 electoral votes. This leaves 10 states and 111 electoral votes ‘up for grabs.’ For Obama the lead (>5%) is in 15 states (plus DC), worth 180 electoral votes, with McCain leading (>5%) in 21 states worth 189 electoral votes. Thus they have 14 states and 169 electoral votes ‘in-play.’  Read more 

REGIONAL COMPARISONS & BEST AND WORST STATES

The individual state cross tables from the SUSA 50 state general election poll demonstrate how the gender gap determines the winner in a very large number of states. But there is considerable variation between states themselves and within regions. Much of the variation appears to be related to other factors, such as race and racism, and how liberal/conservative a state is.  Read more 

[Welcome, Pollster.com readers!]

Misogyny, sexism, and the gender gap are alive and well in the American electorate.

Overall, men prefer McCain over either Democrat, while women prefer either Democrat over McCain. But the gender gap widens considerably when a woman is running. When McCain is matched with Obama, the gap is 13.9% (comprising 7% of voters), but when it is McCain versus Clinton, the gap nearly doubles to 26.9% (comprising 13.5% of voters.)

The expansion of the gender gap is due almost entirely to changes in how men vote. Only a few more women (1.6%, comprising 0.9% of all voters) prefer Clinton when matched with McCain than when Obama is matched with McCain—women pretty much stick with the Democrat regardless of whether its Clinton or Obama.

 Read more 

UPDATE: I’ve created some new tables that show how much of the undecided vote the candidates need to win each state.

The lastest SUSA national poll provides a lot of food for thought in terms of how the general election campaign will shape up. While the polls both predict close electoral college victories for Clinton and Obama, there is a big difference between “too close to call” states (margin 3% or less), “swing” state (margin 4-6%), “battleground” states (margins 7-12%), and fairly “safe” states (margins 13% or more).  Read more 

So who wrote this?

After reading your rant about what you describe as [ ]’s “remarkable legacy of failure,” my first reaction is to suggest that you might want to talk to your doctor about upping your meds.

Nice and shrill, isn’t it? Of course, probably not what one should say if you’re Comm Director for a major advocacy group and certainly not to one of the bigger bloggers in our lil world.

What amazes me is that I still read defenders like this (emp added):

But Matt does invite these sort of things: “That’s simply disgusting and dishonorable and they should be ashamed of themselves.” That wasn’t exactly civil either, and set a poor tone in his original piece.
by: shaej @ Wed Feb 27, 2008 at 08:44  Read more 

That title is probably too clever by half, and I’m sure LB will yell at me for it, but he’s busy elsewhere today so don’t tell him, k? I submit this in full for those who’ve been too busy bashing Dems to notice the Republican frontrunner exploding in the room. It’s been suggested to me that McCain running out of matching funds money practically guarantees Mittster as Veep, I’m not sure if I’m convinced but we’ll see. Meanwhile, does the above play into the McCain/Iseman fun and games? Gotta love the Brit snark, “another pencil-thin blonde.” Heh. Anyway, pass this one on to your Republican friends bitching about the “lying, librul JooYork Times.” This is what blogs do best, and GOS is still a nice place to go for that. Remember, it’s “what he did for her afterwards, not what he did to/under/with her in their as-yet undefined private time before.”  Read more