Letters to the Editor
Ricardo Malocchio
Published Letters: 151 Editor's Choice: 2
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KateTex, HRC dead-enders, et al...
[Read the article: Polls: Obama weathers Wright controversy ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If you (or your, heh, "statistician friend") don't care for the NBC/WSJ poll, perhaps you'd prefer the PEW Research Center's? Enjoy:
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/779/obama-weathers-the-wright-storm-clinton-faces-credibility-problem
There's been no small amount of speculation regarding the attitudes of certain "white ethnics", those whom we might refer to as the "Ferraro Block". As PEW confirms:
"Obama has a highly favorable image among Democratic voters, including white Democrats. But while Obama's personal image is more favorable than Clinton's, certain social beliefs and attitudes among older, white, working-class Democratic voters are associated with his lower levels of support among this group.
"In particular, white Democrats who hold unfavorable views of Obama are much more likely than those who have favorable opinions of him to say that equal rights for minorities have been pushed too far; they also are more likely to disapprove of interracial dating, and are more concerned about the threat that immigrants may pose to American values. In addition, nearly a quarter of white Democrats (23%) who hold a negative view of Obama believe he is a Muslim.
"Less educated and older white Democrats, who have not backed Obama in most primary elections, hold these values more commonly than do other Democrats.
But even with these racist-jingoist-ignorant Ferraro Block voters (who of course favor Hillary), PEW finds: "Obama maintains a 49%-to-39% advantage over Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, which is virtually unchanged from than the 49%-to-40% lead he held among Democrats in late February. Obama and Clinton continue to enjoy slight advantages over John McCain in general election matchups among *all* registered voters." (Emphasis added)
Not only does PEW find that Obama is favored by a statistically significant majority of Democrats and is otherwise as electable as Clinton among all registered voters (Democrat, Republican, and Independent), he also enjoys higher positive/lower negative ratings among Clinton supporters than Clinton does among Obama supporters. In fact, Obama has higher positives/lower negatives among all voters, regardless of party affiliation. Very telling, that.
So, we can wring our hands over Obama's non-appeal to the Ferraro Block of racist, jingoist, ignorant voters that somehow still identify as Democrat. Or we can revel in the fact that the racist, jingoist ignorant voters are too small a faction to derail his appeal among the majority of Democrats and all other voters.
Isn't it sad that this finding is something you can't cheer?
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There needs to be a re-vote at the expense of the Florida and Michigan taxpayers
[Read the article: Hillary Clinton's petition ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...though I concede I know much less about the process that lead to the Michigan date-change. But to the people of Florida (my home state of long ago, I'm embarrassed to say), you have no one to blame but yourselves. Your elected representatives, Dem and Repub, voted overwhelmingly to move your primary dates forward in direct defiance of both party's rules. In each vote (House, Senate, House again), there were all of three total votes against, and none were cast against approving the final measure.
And your fool representatives knew exactly what the penalty would be. EXACTLY. Presumably, you voters were following this in the papers. No? Really? Maybe next time you'll pay attention to what your fool representatives are up to. That's all part of being good citizens, by the way.
Your recourse? First, vote your idiot representatives out the first chance you get. They are the ones who "disenfranchised" your primary votes. Second, get those fools back in session and demand that they come up with a plan to conduct a revote ASAP and no later than end-of-June... at your own expense.
Do I give one tiny shit that this is money out of the pockets of Florida taxpayers? No, I do not. Your vote will count, and your penalty will be monetary. Which do you care for more? Your money or your vote? Up to you. Make your choice. And don't come bellyaching to the rest of us.
And, for crying out loud Florida, quite f'ing up the election process. It's about time you get your sloppy shit together, or we're gonna have to perform a penectomy on this great nation.
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It surely seems his faculties are failing - another McCain Moment.
[Read the article: McCain gets confused about al-Qaida again]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I can believe that the crusty old senator's wandered in a fog for the last 6 years, incapable of distinguishing Shi'ite from shinola among other pertinent points.
But since his taxpayer-funded tour of the Middle East when these comments were finally discussed publicly, surely he's been briefed on the difference between Sunnis and Shi'as and that little ol' tiff they got goin' on over there? He's likely been strongly advised against screwing up this particular point again.
So, he wanders out to his seat at the podium, and somewhere along the way the distinction eludes him. He ventures a guess as his mind whirs ineffectually (al-Qaeda, er... Shiites?), then covers his bases.
Oh, for uncomplicated times when all those assholes out there were just undifferentiated "mooslims". Almost makes a man pine for non-empire days. Before all these damnable foreign entanglements. Before ignorance is hardwired by the ravages of age.