Colbert Report: Racial Profiling Isn’t an Unintended Outcome of Arizona’s Anti-Immigrant Law — It’s the Point
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Month: April 2010
Young Voters Not Enthusiastic About Midterms
Gallup poll: Younger voters are less enthusiastic about voting in the upcoming midterm elections than older voters, which could present a challenge for the Democratic Party in re-energizing the voting bloc that helped President Obama win the presidency in 2008.
Among 18- to 29-year-olds, 47 percent say they are not enthusiastic, among 30-49s, it’s 41 percent; among 50-64s it drops to 41 percent, and for the 65+ set, it’s 29 percent. The most enthusiastic voters were 50- to 64-year-olds, with 44 percent saying they were very enthusiastic, versus only 23 percent of 18-29s.
Democrat-to-Republican Ratio Lowest Since ’05
According to a recent Gallup poll, the percentage of Americans who are registered or lean toward the Republican Party rose six points to 45 percent, versus 46 percent Democrat, in a poll that was taken from January through March 2010. That is the narrowest margin since 2005, when the two parties were tied at 46 percent.
The six-point rise in Republican support since the first quarter of 2009 is due entirely to a growing proportion of independents who lean to the Republican Party, rather than an increase in the percentage of Americans who identify as Republicans outright. (Gallup measures party identification by first asking Americans whether they identify as Republicans, Democrats, or independents. Those who are independent or express no party preference are then asked whether they lean more toward the Democratic or the Republican Party.)
Loneliness of the Placeholder
As the wags and pundits confer,
On the Florida senate race, they demur
To make a prediction,
Though they say with conviction
They’re damned glad they’re not George Lemieux!
A Growing Consensus: Tea Partiers Are Just Militant, Sore Loser Republicans
At a speaking gig last week for the Manufacturers’ Association of South Central Pennsylvania, Newt Gingrich predicted that the tea party movement would eventually morph into the “militant wing of the Republican Party,” rather than spinning itself off into a third party.
A few tea party types have taken umbrage at Gingrich’s use of the word “militant,” but there has been scant complaint so far about his describing them as Republicans. This is potentially significant, because not so long ago tea partiers would have loudly denied they were aligned with the GOP or any party.
Will Latino Republicans Defend Hateful Arizona Anti-Immigrant Law?
Arizona’s dreadful new anti-immigrant law, signed by Gov. Jan Brewer within hours of Pres. Obama denouncing it, isn’t the slam-dunk wedge issue Republicans might have hoped for. Sure, chronically aggrieved Tea Party types who take in too much Lou Dobbs are thrilled. Guilty until proven innocent pretty much sums up how the law will work for most members of the brown community.
Verbatim
It used to be you couldn’t go downtown in the evening without running into half a dozen evangelists ranting and raving and carrying on; some of them put on their shows in tents or at camp meetings, and some of them just stood around on street corners and worked up a crowd. They’d stir people up for a while, but they always got over it. But now we’ve got just this one evangelist, this Billy Graham, and he’s gone off the beam. He’s… well, I hadn’t ought to say this, but he’s one of those counterfeits I was telling you about. He claims he’s a friend of all the Presidents, but he was never a friend of mine when I was President. I just don’t go for people like that. All he’s interested in is getting his name in the paper.
– Former Pres. Harry S. Truman (1884–1972), speaking in 1962
Glenn Beck Scares Him
Catchy little ditty (with a long intro and credits) to which we can all relate.
Gallup: 75% of Americans Correctly Blame Bush for Bush Recession
However, just 19 months after the second greatest economic collapse of the past 100 years — and as a direct result of Republican efforts to rewrite the disastrous history of the Bush administration — a growing number of those surveyed said they are beginning to blame the Bush Recession on Pres. Obama. According to Gallup, in July 2009, only 32 percent — roughly the same number who self-identify as Republicans — blamed Pres. Obama. Now that number has risen to 50 percent. The jump in numbers was caused by the fact that 50 percent of independents and even 26 percent of Democrats now believe that Obama, who was a presidential candidate while serving in the Senate at the time of the meltdown, caused the recession.
