And by 'explain', I mean bumbled around for a bit to the point even the lap dogs in the media have no clue what he's talking about.

Creigh Deeds is the Democrat's candidate for governor in Virginia. He is also desperately trying to explain how having just promised not to raise taxes, he is going to um, raise taxes.

Ok, he wants to raise revenue not taxes. I guess under his plan the Commonwealth of Virginia is going to get a part time job. Perhaps they can get a paper route or open a lemonade stand.

Better yet, they could open a brothel with underage girls illegally smuggled into the country. At least they know where to go to get tax advice for that plan.

No doubt the Washington Post will follow up on this by doing an 8 part series on how the Republican candidate once failed to donate canned foods to a shelter specializing in helping women who work.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:47 AM | Comments (1)
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Sorry about the third poll-post. I thought this one was important enough to post anyway.

Whoops! It's an online poll. But it's not a self-selecting online poll as I criticized yesterday; it seems to be like Zogby Interactive, where they find respondents through the internet but attempt to correct for the obvious biases this causes.

However, these sorts of polls, even with corrective measures, are still suspect and I don't believe most pollsters think they're particularly accurate.

On the plus side, it was a poll of adults, so it skews in favor of Obama.

...

President ObamaÂ’s rating is now 49% positive, 51% negative, compared to 51% positive and 49% negative in August. While the month-on-month change is not statistically significant, the latest numbers are significantly worse than his ratings in all the other Harris Polls conducted since his inauguration. In May his ratings were 59% positive, 41% negative.

* While Democrats still have overwhelmingly positive views of the president, and Republicans are overwhelmingly negative, a majority of Independents (by 54% to 46%) now give the president negative ratings. And 21% of Democrats give him negative marks.

* The 58% to 42% majority which now thinks that the country is on the wrong track is more negative than the 54% to 46% majority who believed this in August. However, the new numbers on this question are virtually the same as they were in June and July.

Obama's numbers are now a bit less than the average for presidents at this point in their term.

Thanks to AHFF Geoff.

Posted by: Ace at 07:40 AM | Comments (1)
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Sorry to do two poll posts in a row, but this one should get a little attention (PDF).

The big ones, for me, are questions 20 and 21. Only twenty-two percent of registered voters believe Obamacare would make them better off. Even among Democrats, that number is only at thirty-six* percent.

This explains why the President's dire warning that More. People. Will. Die. has not been persuasive. Most Americans look at their own healthcare coverage and do not see the horrific situation that Obama describes. Many are afraid that the President is going to make things worse.

And that's the other big take-away from this poll. Forty-six percent of voters would prefer to stay with the current health system than switch to Obamacare. Only thirty-seven percent prefer the plan proposed by the President.

Of course—and I'm putting this in bold—that does not mean that we're proposing to do nothing. Obamacare is bad and we can do better than Obamacare by sticking with the status quo. But Republicans have been consistent in saying, not only is the status quo better than Obama's plan to destroy the health care industry, but we've got an even better plan than the status quo!

You want competition? Great, let's drop the laws and regs that keep insurers from competing across state lines.

You want to encourage everyone to have health insurance? Great, make individual plans tax-deductible, just like employer plans. De-couple health insurance from employment and we'll end much of the fuss about losing coverage when changing jobs.

(In fact, my preference for health insurance reform is to make it unlawful to offer health insurance as a benefit of employment. In other words, don't just encourage individual plans, make them the only kind of insurance you can get. This also has the benefit of taking care of the "pre-existing condition problem" which strikes when people change insurers incident to changing jobs. If you've had individual insurance since your early twenties and kept that insurance through all of your various employment changes, there'd be no problem.

It would also end the massive distortion in the insurance market caused by large employers and unions which place small businesses at a massive disadvantage. I realize that this option would never fly for that very reason, so I'll stick with the Republicans and aim lower.)

In any case, while it is true that many believe things would be better under the status quo than under Obamacare, Republicans have an even better alternative. If the Democrats in Congress were really interested in increasing competition they'd be working with Republicans instead of drawing their public option line in the sand.

*fixed.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:23 AM | Comments (2)
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One More Time with Feeling [Jonah Goldberg]

Maybe one of the Sunday show interviewers will show this when they ask the inevitable "are you at risk of being over-exposed" question:

Posted by: Uncle Jimbo at 07:14 AM | Add Comment
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Only a one point change, but the trend is unmistakable:

Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters nationwide now oppose the health care reform proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. ThatÂ’s the highest level of opposition yet measured and includes 44% who are Strongly Opposed.

Just 43% now favor the proposal, including 24% who Strongly Favor it.

Thanks to Shooter McGavin.

Oh, This Is Not Going To Go Well for the President At All: I suspect the numbers opposed will skyrocket when people hear about the President's idea for covering illegal aliens: just give them an amnesty!

Also: I've gotta say, this question from Rasmussen doesn't quite measure what we'd like it to. The question is whether the respondent favors or opposes "the health care reform proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats." Of course, there are five healthcare bills in Congress and the President outlined his own vision (although none of the bills completed so far look much like what he claimed he was seeking).

So, the question really only measures whether the respondent likes, in a general sense, what the Democrats in Washington, D.C. are up to. I bet most people are saying "no" or "hell no" not to any particular Democratic healthcare bill, but to the Democratic behavior in general.

Democrats acted like jerks ever since Obama tried to rush this through in July. It got worse in August with all the namecalling—"the mob", "terrorists", "racists", "like theKKK", "evil-mongers", "want to kill the president", "traitors", and "Neanderthals." And this month Obama accuses Republicans of scare tactics and then suggests people will die if we don't fall in line. His amnesty suggestion is going to go over like a ton of bricks.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:38 AM | Add Comment
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Heh. Not good news for Democrats.

Baucus wasn't just trying to find some agreement between the Far Left and Grassley, Enzi, and Snowe. He was trying to satisfy his own party's centrists. The bill was an attempt to gain votes from skittish senators like Claire McCaskill, Ben Nelson, and Joe Lieberman. They've been praising it.

Oops.

President Obama's mention of Sen. Max Baucus's healthcare proposal drew boos Thursday at a healthcare rally at the University of Maryland.

By contrast, the left-leaning crowd cheered Obama when he endorseed a public health insurance option, which is considered a core provision for liberal lawmakers but is absent from Baucus's (D-Mont.) proposal.

Amusingly, those folks cheering are out of step with a majority of voters, placing Obama—no matter how hard he tries—out on the Far Left of this issue. This is a departure from his usual strategy and I think it is entirely unintentional.

See, usually he identifies the "noble" progressive position, picks out some villains on the Right, but then presents a fakey "third way." But not this time. No matter how much he squirms he's out on the left flank.

Ultimately, I think he'll sign any healthcare bill that crosses his desk. But with his speech last week, he's really wedded himself to the government option. Now he's got to ride that tiger.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:20 AM | Comments (1)
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Told ya so.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:04 AM | Comments (3)
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Good evening all morons and moronettes. Tonight's ONT has no theme - just open threadiness - so enjoy.

Item #1: Dana Carvey's SNL Audition Tape
Dana shows off his impressions while auditioning for Saturday Night Live back in 1986. And it was good enough to get him the gig and keep him on the show until he left in 1993.

Posted by: Open Blog at 07:15 PM | Add Comment
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I will say "don't watch this at work" and leave it at that. There may be some surprise still left and I don't want to blow it.

The anchorette's face is funny.

Here's the story, though you just watched the whole story.

Is he drunk or is he trying to get fired? He didn't mumble that, it didn't slip out, and he didn't accidentally get caught saying it as they went to commercial. He just said it in a normal speaking voice on hot television.

Granted, it is sorta funny, but I don't know for the Ten O'Clock News.

There's only one thing I know for sure: Ernie Anastos is racist.

Maybe this isn't fair, but I heard him say "Keep f*cking that chicken, boy."

Anyone else hear that?

Another Vid: We seem to be having a vicious cockfight over what he said. Some are saying he said plucking.

The video is worse here but the audio is better.

Not plucking.

Posted by: Ace at 06:59 PM | Add Comment
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OK apropos of navel-gazing mostly, Herschel Smith paid me a few compliments while disagreeing with me on the Afghan ROE issue, and he got me thinking. Not about ROE, but about language. He said I was sardonic and while I understand it is a compliment calling me some sort of dark, smart ass, I have questions.

Is sardonic just the description of an attitude, or are their actual acts of sardony, like irony, I could perpetrate or instances of sardonicality that could be pointed out? Is sardonism something that could be practiced like hedonism? I mean, I'm pretty good at that. Which brings me to my buddy Sammy, who was not the brightest bulb on the tree, but an amazing hedonist. We were watching a wicked, lesbian comic eviscerate Alannis Morrisette for her song Ironic, which ironically contained not an iota of irony.

Sammy asked me what irony was if not the series of unfortunate events chronicled in the song. I gave him a definition, described the song as self-ironic and noted several simple ironies. He continued to look at me like a hog examining a wristwatch. But about a year later, I got a call from him and he was so excited he could hardly contain himself. "Jimmy I got it, Jimmy I got it. Ice-T made his money with a song called "Cop Killa" and now he plays a cop on TV".

Ding, ding, ding I told him. Now I invite your answers and abuse on the topic of sardony, which sounds fun and dirty and I want to learn.

Posted by: Uncle Jimbo at 05:26 PM | Add Comment
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