A Discussion Over a Disc

Whether you watch it Fair and Balanced or prefer The Place for Politics, there's no getting away from The Spin. And it drifts into your own conversations, as these two dear friends discover. (Click for the large)

Obama - Eye for Detail

When you're this far ahead in the polls, with even Hannity wringing his hands and Limbaugh parroting the far right fringe fantasy that Obama is really a Muslim Kenyan Socialist, and he's only in Hawaii so he can kill his grandmother before she leaks his Big Secret, it might be easy to get complacent. Not Obama, he's got his hand in everything.

Click for the Big

Coffee with the Candidates

If I am jacked up today on caffeine, I blame 7-11 for providing their Obama and McCain cups only in the large size.

7-Eleven is again conducting their presidential poll via coffee cups. They call it "7-Election." Choose McCain or Obama cups and the UPC scan records your choice. Says 7-Eleven President and CEO Joe DePinto, “7-Election provides an interesting daily snapshot of the election.”

Clever idea, except they do not provide a daily snapshot of the election. The cups are in the stores and I'm drinking from one now, but nowhere on 7-Eleven's site is this mentioned, and the website "7-Election" is "coming soon." I blame IT, as they are usually prima donna punks acting all swamped and put-upon and "no one appreciates us."

A long and silly press release is here, including where DePinto calls us "citizen-customers."

Push Poll Paul

I've modified "Cold Call Carl" as we come into the final stretch of this marathon of an election season. The din of the spin is deafening and dumbing.

If I were a teacher and America sat in my classroom, I would mark on her paper, "F. See me."

click for bigness

Crossposted to Radio Free Babylon.

Finally - An Issue That Matters

This is starting to get insane. Our politics are a total joke. We say we are electing the "leader of the free world" but this is the shit we care about.

Publishing note: I've decided to revive my other blog to post about politics and other things that aren't as light as the fare usually found here. I'll crosspost here when culture and national affairs intersect with advertising and marketing, which is pretty damn frequently lately, it seems.

The Manufactured Horse Race That Wasn't

DISCLAIMER: I have watched presidential politics with interest this season mainly because the Obama campaign is a textbook study in marketing. I've not decided how I will cast my vote and I'm finding the daily gaffe-watch to be disgusting on both sides. If I could get away from it, I would, but as a political junkie, I can't put it down.

As recently as last autumn, a pollster desperate to shatter the myth that polls don't accurately measure the growing population that has given up land lines in favor of cell only, said, "They don't vote."

Dream on, white boy - and wake up to a brand new day. The proof is pretty easy to find: it's the number of people showing up.


The media needs a horse race, which is why we are hearing today that Obama and McCain are statistically tied. Don't believe it. A person in their mid 20s, who has only known a cell phone since high school is unlikely to waste money purchasing a land line service. And a growing number of people, myself included, have realized that the home phone has become simply a means for solicitors and pollsters to call you. And we are opting out. Anyone who needs me has my cell number.

File pollsters into the growing category of professions rendered useless by technology.

And Now, A National Snapshot

I've noticed that the talking heads and political pundits are multiplying on TV. There are a dozen on every news show, and they all parrot each other. I've watched enough that I think I now qualify as a talking head and political pundit on TV.

My turn:

• Blacks who voted for Clinton in 92 or 96 and who attend church favor Obama by 90%.
• Blacks who voted for Bush in 92 or Dole in 96 and don’t attend church are really hard to find, but they favor Obama by 90%.
• Blacks who think Obama was uncool toward his pastor and is acting out of political expediency support Obama by 90%.
• Blacks who think Bill Clinton was “the first black president” support Obama by 90%.
• Blacks who think Hillary Clinton’s use of a John Mellencamp song as her stump speech background music is really stupid support Obama by 90%.
• Whites who secretly hate black people support Clinton by 51%.
• Whites who want us to “move beyond discussions of race” are obviously white.
• Blue collar, rural whites are perplexed that every four years people act like they care about them.
• Republicans are voting for McCain, even though they don’t like him.
• Conservative evangelicals feel neglected this year. McCain will win them in the end on a single issue.
• White, rural, college-educated, female, lesbian, blue collar Christians are just really interesting, independent and very hard to pin down. I think they are the key swing voters this year.
  

Everyone's Doing It

Polling, that is.

Just wondering...and wondering how these stupid-ass blog polls work.