Day: January 10, 2014

Most N.J. Voters Think Christie Is Lying

Buck Banks

54%

Of New Jersey voters think it’s likely “Governor Chris Christie was aware of the Fort Lee traffic lane closures before they happened and should resign if this is proven,” a new Rasmussen Reports poll finds. And “56% of New Jersey voters believe Christie should resign if it is proven that he approved of retaliation against an elected official who refused to support him.”

TIME’s Politics Prediction Survey Misses the Mark

Buck Banks


TIME Magazine has an online survey that purports to be able to assess your politics based on a series of questions that seem to be apolitical (although they aren’t really, if you read them closely). I came out 32% conservative and 68% liberal, which is about as accurate as a Rush Limbaugh commentary.

There is a final question that allows you to self-identify, so you can correct the survey results to some extent.

Take the survey and leave a comment about how accurate you think the survey is.

Oh, and if you’re a dog-lover, beware.

Fox News Ignores Christie’s Bridgegate Scandal – Until Shep Smith Mentions It Briefly, Invites Viewers to ‘Google It’

Jon Ponder

This is how propaganda works, Fox News-style.

Nearly six hours after the story first broke — and well after both CNN and MSNBC first covered it in detail — Fox News finally devoted a short segment to the bridge scandal during Shepard Smith Reporting.

While declining to delve into the details of the damning emails — Shep Smith informed viewers that “they’re an easy Google away if you want to take a look” — Smith nonetheless concluded that, “the emails will be trouble for Governor Christie at least in local politics for quite some time. And if he decides to run for president, rest assured they’ll end up in campaign ads. There’s no question about it.”

Utah’s GOP Governor Puts Hundreds of Legal Same-Sex Marriages on Hold

Jon Ponder

Herbert
Has anything like this ever happened before? After the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay on a federal judge’s ruling that same-sex couples have the right to marry in Utah, the state’s Republican governor, Gary Herbert, issued an order effectively divorcing, at least temporarily, as many as 1,300 couples who had legally obtained marriage licenses.

In California, after the Mormon Church in Utah effectively drove the passage of Proposition 8 in 2008, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and Attorney General Jerry Brown, a Democrat — who is now the California governor — allowed the marriages of 1,800 couples to stand. Because of this, two classes of gay couples were created in the state: those who had legally married and those who were, as a result of Prop 8, prohibited from exercising that right. Prop 8 was later rescinded by court rulings.

(It should be noted that as governor, Schwarzenegger vetoed bills passed by the legislature that would have legalized marriage equality twice.)

Gov. Herbert’s decision to put a hold on the legal marriages appears to be motivated by politics — Utah is one of the most anti-gay states in the nation, which is saying a lot — rather than the law. The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed yesterday that it is reviewing the decision.