Jonah cites this interview with Mark Penn about how the media have been destroying their credibility, and he deserves credit for being far more honest than most journalists, but this line reached out and slapped me in the face.
This is an election in which the voters are going to decide for themselves. The media has lost credibility with them.
Apparently, he thinks that’s a bad thing — you know, voters deciding elections for themselves. If I’m being overly sensitive, please smack me, but this strikes me as being way beyond arrogant. Do these people think they should decide elections for us? No, strike that. Are these people so arrogant that they would admit in a public interview that they think they should decide elections for us?
Journalists: Joining used-car salesmen and defense lawyers at the bottom of the sewer.
Eighty percent say McCain, with nearly three decades in Congress, has the right experience to be president. Just 46 percent say Obama, now in his fourth year in the Senate, is experienced enough. Another 47 percent say Obama lacks the proper experience—an even worse reading than the 36 percent who had the same criticism about Palin, now in her second year as governor after serving as a small-town mayor in her state.
If Mr Obama should be in any doubt how gravely the vice-presidential nomination of the Governor of Alaska has imperilled his White House ambitions, then a day spent in Macomb County will make this clear: white women who voted for John Kerry in 2004 are suddenly deserting the Democratic Party.
This is Mount Clemens, in the heart of Macomb County, where the pollster Stan Greenberg first identified the phenomenon of the Reagan Democrats – the working-class, socially conservative, traditionally Democratic whites who deserted the party for Ronald Reagan in 1980. It is fair to say that this critical swing group now has a new name: Palin Democrats.
I should have been finding this funny. My whole plan, after all, had been to write something funny this week about the whole Sarah Palin phenomenon. I’d arrived at an if-you-can’t-beat-’em-laugh-at-’em kind of a juncture, I suppose.
I’d planned to make attending the McCain/Palin event a silly sort of adventure. I’d invited a friend who has six kids to come with me. I figured funny things were bound to befall us in Palin-Land, where, collectively, we’d have eight children between us (a funny thought in and of itself.) A Harold and Kumar Escape from the Barracuda sort of storyline was the idea – until my friend, done in by one too many sleepless nights, declined to accompany me, and I had to venture off alone.
And, forced to make new friends on the spot, discovered that the Palin Phenomenon is no laughing matter.
The New Republic hits on a clever strategy to counter Palinsanity. Send out reporters to cover McCain Palin events and then write things making fun of the women they meet there, how they dress, and their children. In my experience, women really respond well to that sort of thing.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows John McCain up by three points, his largest lead since Obama wrapped up the Democratic Presidential Nomination. For most of the past several months, Obama has held a modest lead with McCain slipping ahead by a single point on just three of the past hundred days.
McCain now attracts 48% of the vote while Obama earns 45%. When “leaners” are included, it’s McCain 49%, Obama 46%. Yesterday, the candidates were tied . . .
Obama has the edge among voters under 40 while McCain leads among older voters.
Guess who votes and who doesn’t. And here’s more (from the Premium page).
44% say McCain likely to continue Bush policies, down from 53%
52% say Obama likely to offer liberal, big government solutions
Likely to Reach Across the Aisle When President…..McCain 63% Obama 51%
And more. When asked whether offshore drilling should be allowed, 69% of likely voters said yes, and only 19% said no. Rasmussen is supposed to release a presidential tracking poll for Missouri later today.
A potential shift in fortunes for the Republicans in Congress is seen in the latest USA Today/Gallup survey, with the Democrats now leading the Republicans by just 3 percentage points, 48% to 45%, in voters’ “generic ballot” preferences for Congress. This is down from consistent double-digit Democratic leads seen on this measure over the past year. [Note that this is among registered voters.]
And just cause it’s so pretty.
How about another Almond Joy?
Republicans, who are now much more enthused about the 2008 election than they were prior to the convention, show heightened interest in voting, and thus outscore Democrats in apparent likelihood to vote in November. As a result, Republican candidates now lead Democratic candidates among likely voters by 5 percentage points, 50% to 45%.
More at the link. You know, at this rate, I’m going to have to create a Candy! category.
Right Wing Nation » Reporting With Caution: and the results haven’t yet been published. Recall that the Susquehanna poll yesterday had Lt. Col. Bill Russell only four points behind Murtha, after him calling his own constituents racists and all? Imagine them being offended by
Right Wing Nation » Wowza: thunk? I mean, really. This is right up there in the same Twilight Zone episode category as the NRA ad beginning with “Hillary was
