Is this the first tiny crack in the MSNBC facade?

...it's also clear that he hasn't been able to stay on offense. John McCain has been trying to force Obama into a debate not about who's the "change" candidate, but who's the "maverick." For if Obama is voting with his fellow Democrats almost 100 percent of the time in the Senate...is he really a guy who's gonna change anything?...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 08:31 AM | Comments (55)
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Well yea, having your guy's numbers in freefall does that sometimes.

...stirring angst and second-guessing among some of the Democratic Party’s most experienced operatives...“It’s a palpable frustration. Deep-seated unease in the sense that the message has gotten away from them.”

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 07:18 AM | Comments (52)
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Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:28 AM | Comments (26)
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PA links this story below. But the news could be both better and worse than you think.

First, on the "worse": although the Gallup analysis is new, the numbers are from that same groundbreaking USA Today/Gallup poll from Monday that showed McCain up by 4 with registered voters, 10 with likely voters, and Republican party ID remarkably recovered. So it's not new news, just part of that amazing package of old news.

As for "better": the Gallup analysis buries the lede, reporting that the Dem Generic Congress advantage "slips to 3 points" when in fact that's just the registered voters number. Adjusted for likely voters -- which has, traditionally, given better predictions -- the GOP actually has a 5 point lead! (Full numbers here.)

Could the numbers be way off on this one wildly optimistic poll? Well, maybe, but one key thing to note is that the figure on which we have comparable recent polling data -- McCain vs. Obama among registered voters -- has been pretty consistent between this poll (McCain +4) and others (Gallup daily has most recently had McCain at +5 and +4, with other polls a bit less but in the same vicinity).

Oh, and by the way, that Gallup piece notes that they do survey cell phones. Sorry, Kos Kiddies...

Posted by: Open Blog at 08:55 AM | Comments (33)
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I just got emailed this under the subject line, "So, so gay. Transcendentally gay. Manifestly gay. The gay made flesh."

The email was from IndianFromTheVillagePeople@yahoo.com. So, like, he'd know. more...

Posted by: Ace at 10:52 PM | Comments (77)
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Today a jury in Kent accepted the argument that vandalism at a coal power plant is a legally justified response to global warming. Last year, six Greenpeace idiots climbed the stack at Kingsnorth power station and painted "Gordon" (the Prime Minister's first name) in protest. It cost £35,000 to remove.

The defence of "lawful excuse" under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage – such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire.

The not-guilty verdict, delivered after two days and greeted with cheers in the courtroom, raises the stakes for the most pressing issue on Britain's green agenda and could encourage further direct action.

[...]

During the trial the defendants said they had acted lawfully, owing to an honestly held belief that their attempt to stop emissions from Kingsnorth would prevent further damage to properties worldwide caused by global warming. Their aim, they said, was to rein back CO2 emissions and bring urgent pressure to bear on the Government and E.ON [the power company] to changes policies. They insisted their action had caused the minimum amount of damage necessary to close the plant down and constituted a "proportionate response" to the increasing environmental threat.

Authorities and utilities and, well, everyone should be a little worried about this. There's no reason to expect that other juries would do the same thing if similar cases come up...except that the defense of lawful excuse is shockingly easy to claim in a case like this.

For lawful excuse to apply, it is immaterial whether the belief is justified or not so long as it is honestly held. And with AGW being taught in schools and preached in Parliament it wouldn't be difficult at all for juries to conclude that green activists honestly believe that illegally shutting down a power station is less harmful than allowing it to operate normally.

Greenpeace pulled out all the stops for this one, flying in James Hansen to testify to the dangers of global warming. I almost don't blame the jury. This con man has been swindling whole countries for twenty years now, starting with our own. Anthony Watts is calling for NASA to fire him, though I don't see that happening.

I think I've mentioned it here before, one of my favorite novels is Niven and Pournelle's Lucifer's Hammer, which is the finest example of apocalyptic fiction. I first read it when I was in my teens and if you've read it, you know why this case made me think of the book's San Joaquin Nuclear Project. Civilization, represented by the people who literally keep the lights on, is confronted by a vast and relentless (not to mention cannibalistic) horde led by a charismatic preacher of a false religion. The book was published in 1977. Those guys are geniuses.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:52 PM | Comments (57)
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Also many Star Wars geeks. And one (1) mutant ninja turtle. more...

Posted by: Ace at 05:14 PM | Comments (38)
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I kinda hit the wall today. But I always love when other people do work on my behalf. That's where you come in.

Posted by: Ace at 04:39 PM | Comments (77)
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I read on The Corner that a group brandishing McCain/Palin signs was at Lex and 86th. I called up a blogger in the UES blog-bureau, Ari, and asked if she'd gotten pictures.

"Oh, you mean the four people on the corner waving signs?"

Yes, alas.

Okay, so it's not exactly the Beer Hall Putsch. (But honestly, what could be? Good times, good times.)

Still. This is where Woody Allen lives with his wife-slash-daughter. So, it's something.

Posted by: Ace at 03:58 PM | Comments (42)
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Oh God. That was the one Big Unknown that was working, we thought, in Obama's favor.

The FoxNews poll was the only one to ask this question (PDF, note). Seems like an obvious one.

On the other hand, these are (I think) people being reached by landline, and one can guess (but only guess) there are more new voters only reachable by cellphone who are Obama supporters.

Posted by: Ace at 03:49 PM | Comments (43)
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