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Electoral ponderings

For the past few days I've been checking Electoral-vote.com to keep up on the latest polls in the presidential race. The site offers downloadable polling data of ALL the polls to date for each state, or just the most recent data (basically, the average of the most recent poll plus any other polls in the previous 7 days). I was looking around at this data, and noticed something interesting: If Obama takes all of the states currently rated as "Strong Dem" and "Weak Dem," he wins the election with 282 electoral votes. This does not include the states the are considered up for grabs as of today - basically, those where there is a statistical tie (where one candidate leads the other by less than twice the margin of error). These include Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Ohio.

Now, the North Dakota thing has got to be a fluke. The last previous poll was dated September 17th - nearly a month ago - so it's plausible that the balance has shifted. But for McCain to go from a 13-point lead to trailing by 2 points in a state that has gone Republican for every presidential election in recent history, and where Bush had near-30-point margins in 2000 and 2004? Either that poll is seriously flawed, or McCain is in more trouble than it seems.

But aside from that, even assuming McCain takes North Dakota, Obama doesn't need to win in Florida, Missouri, or Ohio - states that have been considered vital in previous elections. Unless, of course, something significant happens in the next three weeks.

It's okay to say "dick" except when you mean "penis"

The other night on The Daily Show, John Stewart was talking about exchanging recipes for spotted dick with the British (or something - I wasn't completely paying attention). ANYway, he goes on to say "My recipe for spotted dick involves a Sharpie ... [pause] ... and my *beep*." To me, the funniest part about the whole thing wasn't the pun, but the fact that he'd said the word "dick" two or three times prior to that last one, and that was fine, but when he used it to mean "penis," the censors had to step in to protect us.

I wonder if a similar rule would apply to discussions about titmice? For instance, if one suggested that a titmouse is a mouse sitting on a *beep*. Huh. I guess it does.

xILF meme breaks the glass something

Sarah Palin goes from HMILF to GILF, then shoots for VPILF status.

"Seriously funny"

The Daily Show turns out to be a pretty decent news source. A study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism 'concludes that The Daily Show is a satire in the tradition of Art Buchwald and H.L. Mencken, and argues that it “performs a function that is close to journalistic in nature—getting people to think critically about the public square.”'

Politics roundupdate!

The comparisons between the Republican presidential ticket and Battlestar Galactica are only just warming up.

• John McCain is a Cylon (and here's one from March ... and two from January)
• Vote Tigh/Roslin!

An awesome reason to not have a credit card

Credit card companies will fuck you.

Politics roundup

It's that time of year - the Republican convention over in St. Paul is winding down soon, and the Democrats took care of their nomination process in Denver last week. Of course my reader is wondering, "What does Lady With a Hat have to say about all this?"

One of my favorite nonsenses of the season has to do with those disaffected Hillary supporters who are threatening to vote for McCain. A handful showed up on the Daily Show last week to protest the selection of a black(ish) man over their beloved feminist icon as the Democrats' candidate of choice this year. A number of them indicated their disgust with being accused of racism for supporting a white woman over a man of color in the contest. Almost immediately afterward, they bicthed about the blatant sexism that pervaded the media coverage of the race for the Democratic nomination and ultimately prevented Hillary from getting the support she needed to secure the nomination. Is that irony? I don't know, but it looks like a textbook example of morony to me.

And then there's McCain's pick for running mate - and all the attendant "does he really have good enough judgment to be trusted in the Oval Office" talk (scattered throughout the 'b).

Sarah Palin is the 2nd female in history to make it to November as part of a presidential ticket (assuming she makes it that far). I don't know much about her, but what I've heard so far reminds me of Michelle Bachmann, who represents Minnesota's 6th District in the House of Reps. Bachman is a religious whackjob, and if Sarah Palin is anything like Michelle Bachmann, I'm a bit nervous about the prospect of her being so close to commander-in-chiefdom.

Speaking of Michelles, a piece in Slate carries the subtitle "Michelle Obama and Sarah Palin have more in common than you might think." My first thought was, "They both hate whitey?"

There's also the problem of Palin's 17-year-old pregnant, unwed daughter. Obama says the subject is off-limits (I can't find a source for this right now, but it's out there), but it's already in the open, and the father of the fetus is even joining the family at the Convention. And given the typical hypocrisy and "do as I say not as I do" attitude characteristics of religious wingnuts, one has to wonder What if Bristol Palin Were Black?

But I think my favorite piece on the whole Sarah Palin subject is this piece, which compares her to the character of Laura Roslin from Battlestar Galactica. Pointless, flimsy fluff? Definitely. But it's shiny and distracting, like a Cylon. Wait, if Palin=Roslin, does that mean that Cindy McCain is the mysterious 12th Cylon?

From the "I'm not surprised" department

"Male enhancement"? Maybe he meant "Enhance the size of my certain part of the male body - the wallet."

Is that meat on your head, or are you just happy to see me?

Meat Hats