Between Barack and a Hard Place: Ultimate US Elections 2012 Thread

[worstblogever]

Okay, how does this affect the Christians' moral outrage over their tax dollars possibly going towards contraception through the Affordable Care Act?

The Pope Drops Catholic ban on condoms in dramatic shift

[the4thpip]

Okay, how does this affect the Christians' moral outrage over their tax dollars possibly going towards contraception through the Affordable Care Act?

The Pope Drops Catholic ban on condoms in dramatic shift

Considering the article is almost 2 years old, I'd say not a lot.

[Vibranium]

someone posted earlier about the Republican Party being able to get under one umbrella during an election and get on message...Ive seen it and expected it to happen sooner or later this cycle, but after what has gone down next week, I am not so sure

[worstblogever]

And when you look at the speakers or those appearing at the GOP convention...

• Donald Trump (not an official speaker, but he's supposed to be "involved" somehow. Unless they're going to throw him out on national TV, this is a disaster waiting to happen)
• Newt Gingrich (the man who would put a lunar colony up by the end of his second presidential term)
• Jeb Bush (who even admits his party is going more conservative than even Ronald Reagan, by far)
• Chris Christie (a guy who's chased after media members while holding ice cream cones for having the nerve to ask him questions)
• Ted Cruz (Tea Party Texan that scares most of the mainstream GOP)
• Mike Huckabee (fresh off spearheading the call for "Chik-Fil-A Appreciation Day")
• John Kasich (a guy whose approval ratings in his own state currently sit at 40%)
• John McCain (the maverick himself, who regrets that his party was race-baiting via Palin in 2008)
• Rand Paul, United States Senator from Kentucky (Tea Party lunatic, who speaks at a 9th grade level)
• Condoleezza Rice, former United States Secretary of State (who also happens to be pro-choice)
• Rick Santorum (the man who said Mitt Romney was the worst possible choice to run against Barack Obama)
• Rick Scott, Governor of Florida (currently leading a flap over voter purges)
• Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin (and union buster under constant ethics investigations over misappropriation of state resources)

Hell, there's already the potential of an uproar between Mormons (y'know, Mitt's) and conservative Christians over who gives the blessing.

The president of the Tea Party Patriots is still calling for a swerve (a la WWE) and the Republicans picking a completely different candidate to run against Obama. I mean... the GOP are volatile. There might be some passion, some fire, but it's also likely that they're just going to start taking the torches to each other if it becomes too evident that they can't win.

[Vibranium]

Christie is a good bullhorn, but he's way too blunt for any office past the Governors chair in NJ

[the4thpip]

Rasmussen Tracking is literally spitting out a poll in the presidential race DAILY. And today's?

They're claiming Mitt Romney is up 47% to 43%. This, the day after Andrea Saul, according to Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Eric Erickson, "handed the election to Obama".

One of those things isn't right. And I'm pretty sure it's Rasmussen polling. While their FINAL poll before the election seems to be the most accurate, the weeks and months leading up to the election, they're all over the road.

CNN says Obama 52 Romney 45 today.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epo...bama-1171.html

[worstblogever]

CNN says Obama 52 Romney 45 today.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epo...bama-1171.html

That would seem to reflect the past 2 weeks a bit better, I'm thinking.

[worstblogever]

Speaking further into the tumult amongst the GOP party, and that they're not rallying together about the tentpole...

An interviewer asked Rick Santorum to defend Mitt Romney's stance on healthcare.


Santorum was unable to do so without laughing.

[Spike-X]

Okay, how does this affect the Christians' moral outrage over their tax dollars possibly going towards contraception through the Affordable Care Act?

The Pope Drops Catholic ban on condoms in dramatic shift

Considering the article is almost 2 years old, I'd say not a lot.

Especially given that he said it's only acceptable to use them to help prevent the transmission of HIV (flying in the face of his church's previous lie that they don't do any such thing), not as contraception.

[dupersuper]

I'm wondering if they vetted Christine O'Donnel for Veep yet. I could go for some new adventures of old Christine as Veep.

Ah, Julia Louise Dreyfus humour...

[Paradox]

worstblogever needs a minor correction:

Senator Bill Nelson in Florida was trailing Connie Mack (the son of legendary baseball player)

Not that it's that important, but "great-grandson" not "son". Connie Mack was in his 90s when he died in the mid-fifties. I'd be willing to put cash money down that all his sons are dead as well by now.

[the4thpip]

That would seem to reflect the past 2 weeks a bit better, I'm thinking.

When Pew Research came out with a 10 point lead a few days ago, most analysts were writing it off as an outlier by a pollster who usually favors Obama.

Today, FoxNews produced a poll showing almost the same lead. Obama 49, Romney 40.
Making Rasmussen's poll-like entity look even sillier.

[worstblogever]

When Pew Research came out with a 10 point lead a few days ago, most analysts were writing it off as an outlier by a pollster who usually favors Obama.

Today, FoxNews produced a poll showing almost the same lead. Obama 49, Romney 40.
Making Rasmussen's poll-like entity look even sillier.

Definitely. Gallup has Obama by two, CNN by 7, FOX News by 9, and yeah, Pew has him by 10.

Rasmussen claims Romney by 4. WTF?

[the4thpip]

Definitely. Gallup has Obama by two, CNN by 7, FOX News by 9, and yeah, Pew has him by 10.

Rasmussen claims Romney by 4. WTF?

Other than just oversampling Republicans based on a voter-turnout model that, especially at this stage in the campaign, is basically worthless, it's also possible that they use "priming" questions: Start the poll by asking "How worried are you about 8% unemployment" or the deficit, or whether people agree with the "you did not build that" line etc. That kind of thing never fails to bring down a president's numbers a few points in polling.

[the4thpip]

Ah, and a quick internet search shows that they indeed have been caught doing that:

3) Rasmussen will ask potentially biasing issue-based questions up front. This can cause serious problems, as Nate Silver has pointed out. PPP always asks favorability ratings, job approvals, and horserace head-to-heads before getting into the issue questions. This “clean slate” approach is unquestionably the right approach and avoids “priming” respondents with potentially negative information.

More reasons why Rasmussen's poll is not reliable in the full story here: http://www.favstocks.com/why-you-can...lling/0151994/