Author: Dave

The good folks at Free Republic looked at early ballots from Ohio (a state that Obama cannot lose and still have much hope of winning the election) and they suggest… well, read for yourself: Ok, I finally got around to comparing the total shortfall by both Ds and Rs from 2008 to 2012 in those…

Early voting patterns suggesting a Romney blowout in Ohio? And in a sign that the enthusiasm of 2008 voters is depressed, just 638,997 absentee ballots have been requested, according to American Majority Action, which culled the statistics together from Ohio college professors who are tracking the state’s absentee ballots used for early voting. The group…

That’s the phrase of the day, courtesy Zombie (h/t Glenn). That only 9% of those polled are responding is just incredibly devastating — that means the polls are essentially worthless, with that kind of massive, systemic sampling problem they can’t really be said to be accurate to within better than 10% or so. Think for…

Gallup’s Editor-In-Chief tells us to stop asking impertinent questions, the polls are just fine. Now if a given poll in Ohio in this election shows Obama with a 10-percentage-point lead, one should just ask, “How likely is it that Obama would be ahead by 10 points if he won by five points in 2008?” —…

Last week we saw the bizarre spectacle of the MSM focusing not on the riots around our embassies and the murder of a U.S. ambassador, but on Romney’s criticism of the Obama admin’s response to the riots — even as the admin itself made the same criticism of its own response. This is how they…

I find it hard to believe anyone is actually stupid enough to believe in the implied neutrality of these “nonpartisan fact-checking articles.” They’re just MSM outlets, which generally go about 90% Dem, and who thinks they tried to balance GOP and Dem viewpoints in their fact-checking functions? Not likely. Those wishing to unseat Obama need…

Whoa, hey, come on guys, it’s not like they were campaign bundlers or something. Can you really expect our historically awesome President to personally sign so many letters? He has an incredibly busy schedule of golf and fundraising! He’s important! The grieving families of our soldiers should just be happy (proud, even) that they got…

So, this weekend the talking heads have been discussing the extra years of Romney’s tax returns Democrats are demanding. I wonder why more aren’t seeing that this is a classic Romney rope-a-dope: there’s nothing to hide in his tax returns (the guy is clean as a whistle), and he’s probably known for a decade that…

Apropos of yesterday’s poleaxing poll post, a quant at The Naked Dollar blog looks at the national mood and finds a trend favorable to the GOP: This time series started on April 1st. Each time a poll moves for a Republican, it’s a positive, and vice verse. (Obama moving from +1 to +3 would mean…

Wow. Just wow. This is amazing. If I were Ace, I’d be breaking out the Flaming Skull. If I were Allahpundit, the robot would be humping. So I’ve been saying for a while 2012 will look more like 2010/2004 (even D/R split) than 2008 (D+7). Jay Cost tends to agree, and points out current polling…

“We tried our plan — and it worked.” “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” “The private sector is doing fine.” “And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion…” How the hell did this guy ever get elected to anything?  

Has any metaphor ever achieved such perfection? SAN FRANCISCO — At an exclusive re-election fundraiser tonight, President Obama hobnobbed with 60 of his wealthiest supporters, including two figures at the center of the Solyndra loan controversy. … Samuelsohn noted that Westly was seen near the pool “juggling lemons, entertaining kids at the party.” Well, you…

Jay Cost addresses a point I’ve been making: pollsters are generally using 2008 turnout models (of registered voters) meaning Mitt is doing quite a bit better than the polls indicate. Jay notes the 2004 D/R exit poll split was even, as it was in 2010, while the media polling average is D+5.5, which is much…

My opinion? Jindal is the only pick that makes sense. Jindal adds excitement for the base, makes this an uber-competence ticket, and makes the ticket multiethnic, which may not matter to you and I but will have an effect on the MSM (remember how “historic” Obama’s candidacy was?). Portman and Pawlenty add nothing, they’re boring…

Alex and Tyler raise some good points on the CT post about libertarianism and the workplace, which is probably getting way more attention than it merits. At the risk of exacerbating the problem above: the CTers’ basic argument is that the employee-employer relationship is asymmetrical. The simple counterargument is that asymmetrical relationships aren’t an excuse…

Tyler Cowen unkindly (I’m sure he meant well!) directs my attention to something called Crooked Timber, which appears to be some sort of nuisance blog that enjoys making nonsensical claims about libertarianism: …we have to understand how little freedom workers enjoy at work. Unfreedom in the workplace can be broken down into three categories. 1.…

This is pretty dumb, even for TNR. Of course no one is talking about cutting $1T off the 2012 federal budget for 2013 — that would be a 30% cut in one year! Not even Rand Paul is considering cuts that large, to say nothing of Paul Ryan’s more centrist plan. And yes, it is…

The Narrative just took a bullet to the chest. Perhaps inevitably, the story starts with, yes, a dog: A pit bull named Big Boi began menacing George and Shellie Zimmerman in the fall of 2009. The first time the dog ran free and cornered Shellie in their gated community in Sanford, Florida, George called the…

Not with a bang but with… well, okay, yeah pretty much with a bang.

The saga of Sandra Fluke (now being painted as some sort of hero to women) is a perfect example of why we needed Andrew. Her testimony before Congress appears to have been very dishonest.  Fluke’s story about her friend who was denied birth control pills despite a medical need unrelated to contraception seems unlikely to be…