It's not as bad as it sounds, because he gets out his message: I care about middle income Americans, not the very poor (he says they have a safety net) and not the very rich (he says they're doing just fine).

This will be called a gaffe. I don't think it's as big as a gaffe as people seem to think. (Corrected: I initially said it wasn't a gaffe. It is. Just not a huge one.)

How many possible Republican voters are going to be put off by the message, "I'm not into expanding the safety net further, I only care about you, middle class voters"?

Not many. more...

Posted by: Ace at 07:11 AM | Comments (422)
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Second Thoughts About Mass Extinction As A Political Philosophy

Now that the euphoria about the new guy has worn down a bit, this all is starting to seem a bit short-sighted.

I mean, there are things I still wanted to do with the rest of my life, you know? And I don't really want to go running around knocking things off a bucket list for the next ten months.

OK, that may sound selfish. But I'd hazard that there's a significant plurality of people who think sudden cataclysmic destruction of all life is undesirable, for one reason or another. And yes, those reasons may be selfish - like wanting to see their children grow up, or being unwilling to be torn apart by a pulverizing force beyond their comprehension - but so what? Their petty workaday desires are no less valid than anyone else's.

Gonna level with you here. This didn't just come to me as a bolt.

This morning a plucky young campaigner came to talk to me about this darkhorse candidate that I never heard of, but who really makes a lot of sense to me. more...

Posted by: LauraW at 06:10 AM | Comments (238)
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PSA: If you just can't get enough DOOM in the morning post, now you can get your DOOM all day long! DOOM is now available on Twitter by following @AoSHQDOOM. All DOOM, all the time. The usual Daily DOOM will be a digest of selected Tweets from the previous 24 hours (with perhaps a bit more smartass commentary from yours truly).

The recent CBO report is chock full of really unhappy economic news, but it's nothing we didn't all see coming. Of particular note is the Social Security Ponzi scheme, which is tipping into the red far more quickly than the con-artists who run it thought it would.

The “it’s the economy, stupid” trope is itself quite stupid, and I don’t know why people keep trotting it out every election cycle. The economy is important, but there are other polarizing factors at play that may well trump economics in the modern political climate. Obama’s hard leftist base is clearly where his heart is, and people who plan to vote for him are well aware of this -- even the so-called “centrists” who always seem to lean left when the chips are really down. Democrats will turn out for Obama for reasons other than the state of the economy: Obama benefits if the economy goes up, but he’s not going to suffer unduly from voters if it goes back down. Black voters, for example: there is nothing that will peel off any large segment of this voting bloc from Obama. Obama could do nothing so wrong that black voters would not find a way to forgive him for it. Hispanics will also go for him in large majorities, regardless of how the economy is doing. The only demographic where the economy will factor into the vote is white independents (who lean socially liberal as a rule). I think Obama’s got quite a good chance of winning a second term regardless of the state of the economy, particularly given the lame GOP field that will oppose him.
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Posted by: Monty at 04:45 AM | Comments (141)
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Happy Wednesday. Some news items:

Reuters breathlessly reports on a secret DOD report (that doesn't seem so secret to me) that says the Taliban are ready to re-take Afghanistan after our retreat. Or it could just be a compilation of the opinions of detainees at Bagram.

One of the largest breast cancer charities, Komen for a Cure, has severed ties with Planned Parenthood. Abortion activists are "reeling" and, ISYN, have found a way to blame Sarah Palin.

Wikiwanker Assange's extradition for rape and molestation case is at the UK Supreme Court today.

Lady-'rons, one million packets of birth control pills have been recalled by Pfizer in the U.S. They might not prevent pregnancy.

DC Comics announces seven planned Watchmen prequels.

Juvenile headline of he day is here. Just click.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:52 AM | Comments (192)
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