Politico on polling driven journalism

Alex Burns @ 4:30 am

Forget the careful craft of survey research; as the midterm election hurtles toward the finish, campaigns are wielding polls less like scientific instruments than like heavy weaponry, using them to hijack news cycles and push their favored narratives about the campaign.

Alex Burns @ 5:53 am

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has widened his advantage over Republican wrestling executive Linda McMahon to 15 points, the Democrat’s internal tracking poll shows. The Democratic firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner has Blumenthal holding steady with a majority of the vote and leading McMahon, 53 percent to 38 percent. The pollster notes in a memo that McMahon’s public image remains deeply problematic, and “large numbers of Connecticut voters hold unfavorable views of McMahon.” Her favorability rating in the survey was 32 percent, while 47 percent said they had an unfavorable impression of her. The poll tested 600 likely voters on Oct. 3 and 4. Read the polling memo here.

Twitter / Ben Smith: A half-true anecdote, wild ...

Twitter / Ben Smith: A half-true anecdote, wild ...:

"A half-true anecdote, wildly embelished, makes Vanity Fair, bc you can apparently write anything abt Palin"

The pushback begins.

On Dissent and Dissembling

Christy Hardin Smith had this to say at FireDogLake.

Dissent isn't disloyal. But keeping lies and manipulation of the public to yourself -- when you know that other people's lives hang in the balance? That sure as hell is as disloyal as they come.

And I have nothing to add.

Stupid Headlines

Ticker: 'Law & Order' star bashes NYC, Giuliani

This was the headline on a CNN story link about Fred Thompson commenting on how stupid it was that our friend Rudy was talking up what a great mayor he had been.

Now, I don't know about you but I think that is just stupid. Granted old Fred isn't exactly setting the world on fire as a candidate but don't they think that just maybe they should identify him as "Thompson" or "Fred" or even "other candidates" in the link text? I honest to god thought it was going to be something about Sam Waterston.

To be fair, the actual article had a sensible headline but that isn't what got me to click through now is it?

I am not sure why this pissed me off when I saw it given all the really egregious crap that goes on in the world but it did.

Good Thing There arent real issues to report on in this campaign

Senator Barack Obama’s comments about the absence of an American flag pin on his lapel created dustup on the campaign trail yesterday. When asked why he wasn’t wearing a flag pin in a television interview on Wednesday he said he had stopped wearing one because he felt that the pin “had become a substitute for … true patriotism.”

So what are the other candidates wearing on their lapels these days? Lets take a look at a few photos from the most recent debates.

Give me a break

Shaking my head

I just wandered over to cnn and according to their website the two most popular topics today are Britney Spears and Princess Diana.

Just for a change of pace, can i suggest that my readers(cough both of you cough) instead ponder World Peace or maybe even just happiness

Glenn Beck is a big fat idiot too

Glenn Beck to Muslim-American guest:

“How do we know the difference between you and those that are trying to kill us?”

I am speechless.

From Media Matters via Think Progress

Obama hasn't wowed the press - BFD

From the estimable Ms Ana Marie Cox at Swampland comes word that Obama is in trouble because while he is drawing huge crowds he isnt wowing "the press".

Here is a thought. How about "the press" just get "wowed" that a young, articulate, dynamic politician is raising buckets of money and getting huge turnouts at his campaign events.

Dammit I am getting tired of the way that this campaign is being covered. You don't have to be an Obama fanboy, and I am most assuredly not, to think that he would be a perfectly serviceable President. Whether or not he "wows the press" is completely immaterial to whether he has the right stuff to lead the country. After all, the current president "wowed the press" and look where that has led.

Rachel Maddow is .. well .. wow!

Rachel Maddow makes Pat Buchanan’s head explode as she easily exposes the underbelly of conservative politics. If you’re poor and need help—you’re socialist scum—and screw your kids too.

Go watch this absolutely stunning takedown over at Crooks and Liars

Cume Ratings in the new world

What does this all mean? Not much, since there is nothing to compare it to. Nielsen only instituted the rule change this past July that allowed the combining of ratings on two different nights for the same episode. Now, if a broadcast network re-airs the same episode in the week--with the exact same advertisers in the exact same order--then Nielsen would cume, or add, the unduplicated viewers of both episodes together into one big fat rating.

NBC was able to get this higher number because Nissan had bought all the advertising time as the exclusive sponsor of both telecasts. Since NBC's controversy last week, Nielsen says it may review or change this new rule.

Some competing network research executives and media agency research executives were unaware of the change, and upset with what seem like sudden news just a day into the new season. They believed NBC was up to some ratings trickery, in an effort to boost its ratings.

At the risk of being accused of being a mouthpiece for my employer I have to say that at least when you put a piece of admail in someone's mailbox you are sure that it actually got there just once. Now if we can only force folks to READ them...

The full article is behind a (free) registration wall at MediaPost

Rush Limbaugh is still a big fat idiot

Though he has far more class than to say so explicitly, I suspect that Bill Moyers was upset by Rush Limbaugh’s statement that any troop member advocating withdrawal was a “phony soldier”. He looks at the seven soldiers who penned the op-ed in the NY Times questioning why remain in Iraq and the tragic price three have paid.

Funny, none of them look remotely phony to me, Rush…

Go over to Crooks and Liars to watch the video

People Magazine and Baseball

BEN AFFLECK AND JENNIFER GARNER

Rabid Red Sox fan and former Sexiest Man Alive Ben Affleck and his wife Jennifer Garner cheer for the team he's "so into" at the green monster – a.k.a. Fenway Park – in Beantown.

Now I know that People isnt exactly Sports Illustrated but come on. Does anyone really call Fenway Park "the green monster"?

All You Need To Know About Corporate Media

The key information can be found in just a couple of short quotes from this Examiner.com article describing Katie Couric's remarks at the National Press club.

“Everyone in this room would agree that people in this country were misled in terms of the rationale of this war,” said Couric, adding that it is “pretty much accepted” that the war in Iraq was a mistake.

and

And I remember feeling, when I was anchoring the ‘Today’ show, this inevitable march towards war and kind of feeling like, ‘Will anybody put the brakes on this?’ And is this really being properly challenged by the right people? And I think, at the time, anyone who questioned the administration was considered unpatriotic and it was a very difficult position to be in.”

In other words, even though she really didn't support it in the beginning she was too gutless to stand up and say "wait a minute" and fact check what was going on because someone might have called her a mean name. Yup, that is who I want to trust to get my news.

The truly sad part is that she probably thinks she is being brave for admitting this. God help us all.

joe klein on hillary on fox

Joe takes the opportunity in a 2 paragraph post supposedly on how HRC did on Chris Wallace to say

She handled the MoveOn.Org "Betrayus" ad well, putting it in the same category as the Swift Boat ads in 2004, and those comparing Max Cleland to Osama Bin Laden in 2002...but this is still a terrible weight for Democrats to carry and it is time for MoveOn to apologize for its boneheaded move.

Joe, repeat after me...

"Petraeus DID betray the public trust and more of his troops are going to die for no reason other than his desire to be president someday"

So .. in my humble opinion .. Joe Klein needs some of this ...

Bill O'Reilly - Worst Person In The World - Ever

I shouldn't be surprised when Bill O'Reilly says something stupid and/or racist but I have to admit that this (via Media Matters) took me by surprise due to the absolute complete lack of self awareness that is shown.

"I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship."

How would it be possible to say something like that and not realize that a) it is racist and b) someone is going to call you out on it?

Rachel Maddow' on the Values Voter Debate

Rachel is wonderful

Cenk Gets It Just Right

Cenk Uygur, as he so often does, get it just right on the bullshit of the last few days in the Senate.

I love that Cenk is completely pissed off at this crap and not ashamed to show it. At this point, if you are not pissed off at what is going on you are completely out of touch with reality!

I Heart Rachel Maddow

She is the best thing about Air America Radio and someone should find a TV spot for her. I hear that MSNBC has a slot that isnt being watched by many folks.