Month: September 2010

NV Sen: Angle Says Woman Attacked at Event by Tea Bagger Thug Was Asking for It

Jon Ponder

If you’re just tuning into the story about the fracas at a Harry Reid-Sharron Angle campaign event in Nevada Thursday night, here’s how the local NBC station reported the incident:

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Verbatim

Buck Banks

The Democrats have 30 days to sort of stand up, embrace the challenge, and offer a worthy alternative. If they lay down and let it be a referendum, our side is going to get whacked.

— Bill Clinton, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, arguing his fellow Democrats should stop “mealy mouthing around” and start taking the fight to Republicans.

CA Prop 19: Pot Legalization Poll Finds Perennnial Faultline Between ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ – Results Are Eerily Similar to Prop 8’s Two Years Ago

Jon Ponder

A poll from Survey USA [PDF] that was sponsored by televisions stations in several California markets, including KABC in Los Angeles found that support for Prop 19, the ballot initiative that would legalize pot in the state, has remained steady since the same survey polled voters three weeks ago:

Just about every California politician you may have heard of is against Prop 19: GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a former (I suppose) pot-smoker himself; Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer; Attorney Gen. Jerry Brown and his opponent in the governor’s race, Meg Whitman; and Sen. Boxer’s opponent, Carly Fiorina.

Support for Prop 19 is at 47 percent, while opposition is at 42 percent, and 11 percent have yet to make up their minds.

Below the top results, what struck me, however, was how the pollsters described the various voter sub-groups in each camp. This is a nearly perfect capsulization of the perennial divide in the California electorate, Us vs. Them:

  • Them, 42 percent who oppose prop 19:

    Opposition to 19 is above 50 percent among conservatives, Republicans, tea party supporters, pro-life voters, and the oldest voters.

  • Us, 47 percent who support Prop 19:

    Support is above 50 percent among men, younger voters, liberals, Democrats, pro-choice voters, higher-income voters, and in the Bay Area.

That leaves a third group, of course: The 11 percent of folks that have not yet made up their minds — and as usual, it’s this group that controls the destiny of the rest of us on this issue and others.

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Verbatim

Buck Banks

A reason to run is if nobody else were to step up with the solutions that are needed to get the economy back on the right track and to be so committed to our national security that they are going to do all that they can, including fighting those on the extreme left who seem to want to dismantle some of our national security tools that we have in place. If nobody else wanted to step up … I would offer myself up in the name of service to the public.

— Political celebrity Sarah Palin (R), apparently without irony, in an interview on Fox News.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

It’s so obnoxious to once again be using women’s bodies to sell fundamentally unhealthy products.

— National Organization for Women President Terry O’Neill, quoted by USA Today, on KFC’s latest marketing ploy to promote its new bunless Double Down sandwich — you know, the one that replaces bread with fried chicken. KFC is paying cute college co-eds $500 to hand out coupons while wearing fitted sweatpants with the sandwich’s name emblazoned across their rear ends. The stunt comes as KFC profits are dropping — 7 percent in the last quarter — and consumers 18 to 25 are failing to recognize Col. Sanders. (KFC’s own research said six out of 10 people in that key demographic couldn’t identify the logo.) KFC marketing chief John Cywinski said the rear-end stunt is an effective way to grab the attention of young men — the “biggest fans” of the Double Down.

CA Sen: Fiorina’s Sexist Ad Attacking Boxer – Would GOP Be Outraged if a Male Lawmaker Asked a General to Call Him Senator?

Jon Ponder

Really, Carly, is this all you’ve got?

Fiorina, the disgraced HP executive who is running against Sen. Barbara Boxer in California, has released a new ad that she hopes will turn one of the GOP’s pet peeves about Boxer into a firestorm of controversy:

A week after her rival, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, aired spots attacking her tenure as chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, Fiorina’s first general election ad uses campaign footage from a well-known exchange between Boxer and Army Corps of Engineers Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh at a hearing more than a year ago [in June 2009] of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which Boxer chairs.

In the brief clip used by Fiorina’s team, Boxer has interrupted Walsh after he’s addressed her as ‘Ma’am’: “You know, do me a favor. Could you say ‘Senator’ instead of ‘Ma’am’? It’s just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title, so I’d appreciate it,” Boxer says to Walsh.

Yeah, how dare Sen. Boxer ask to be addressed by her proper title? Who does she think she is?

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