04.27.07
Debate roundup
Of all the analysis I have read on the Democratic debate last night, this is probably my favorite. This gives a visual depiction of the candidates. From pollster.com:
Janet Harris, a friend and Pollster reader, sends an interesting bit of analysis she did on last night’s MSNBC Democratic debate. Using the free site TagCrowd, she created a set of “tag clouds” that provides a visual depiction of the words used most often last night by each of the candidates.
For those not familiar with the term, you have probably seen tag clouds appearing on many web sites (and hopefully, very soon here on Pollster). They were apparently first implemented on the photo sharing site Flickr, and typically provide a visual representation of the most popular “tags” assigned to web pages. The type size of each word varies according to its frequency of usage. The larger the type size, the more often each candidate used that word.
Here are the clouds Janet created:
Hillary Clinton vs. GOD
Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Al Gore were in an airplane that crashed. They’re up in heaven, and God’s sitting on the great white throne. God addresses Al first.
“Al, what do you believe in?”
Al replies, “Well, I believe that the combustion engine is evil and that we need to save the world from CFCs and that if any more freon is used, the whole earth will become a greenhouse and we’ll all die.”
God thinks for a second and says “Okay, I can live with that. Come and sit at my left.”
God then addresses Bill. “Bill, what do you believe in?”
Bill replies, “Well, I believe in power to the people. I think people should be able to make their own choices about things and that no one should ever be able to tell someone else what to do. I also believe in feeling people’s pain.”
God thinks for a second and says “Okay, that sounds good. Come and sit at my right.”
God then address Hillary. “Hillary, what do you believe in?”
“I believe you’re in my chair.”
04.25.07
It’s Pay day ladies!!
So this posting is technically a day late, but yesterday was Equal Pay Day in the United States, the day that us women remind ourselves that we make less than what men make. Its the day when we renew our vow to end pay discrimination. As much as I dislike her, Hillary Clinton gave a nice blurb over at Firedog Lake:
If men in this country were paid just 77 cents for every dollar that women were paid for the same work, what do you think would happen?
Mass protests? Editorial outrage? Immediate Congressional action?
I think all of the above. And more.
But women have been paid less than men for decades, and we are still fighting for this fundamental inequity to be remedied.
Equal Pay Day is the day we recognize that we have a long way to go before women’s pay catches up with men. It’s a powerful reminder that even though we’ve made a lot of progress toward equality, there is so much work left to do…
1st Debate of 2008 Cycle!
Good news!
The first debate of Democratic presidential hopefuls will take place Thursday, April 26 at 7:00pm (ET) airing on MSNBC. Here is the press release LINK
04.23.07
Mayor Bloomberg on Gun Control
Mayor Bloomberg of New York City wrote a very inspiring piece this week for Newsweek. He talks about how the debate on gun control needs to change… and is changing. The issue is not guns, but rather illegal guns. How do we protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners, while keeping them out of the hands of criminals? Read on…
Civil Unions to be legal in NH
This is truly great news. It’s about freaking time:
ABC News’ David Chalian Reports: Gov. John Lynch, D-N.H., announced today that he intends to sign a bill establishing legal civil unions for same sex couples in the key first-in-the-nation primary state.
Since most of the Democratic candidates running for president support civil unions for gay couples, Gov. Lynch’s move provides an easy applause line for those candidates speaking in front of Democratic crowds in the Granite State.
It will be far more interesting to watch the Republican presidential hopefuls react to what will soon be the law of the land in New Hampshire. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has expressed support for civil unions in the past. Mitt Romney is opposed to them except when they are the only alternative to same-sex marriage.
And on November 19, 2006 when ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos asked Sen. John McCain if he was for civil unions, he said he believes that people ought to be able to “enter into contracts and exchange “powers of attorney.”
Perhaps providing clues as to how some Republican candidates may respond, the Associated Press reports that New Hampshire State Republican Party Chairman Fergus Cullen responded to Lynch’s announcement thusly, “The Democrats are going too far, too fast and Governor Lynch is going along with them,” he said. “These are not the actions of a moderate governor.”
04.19.07
Supreme Court backs intact D&E abortion
I don’t get riled up about many things, but a woman’s right to choice is something I am deeply interested in preserving. The United States has a fourty-year history of upholding the constitutional right of abortion since Roe v. Wade in 1973. However, our current Supreme Court has decided to uphold the Federal “Partial-Birth Abortion” Ban Act of 2003. The ban had not taken effect because of lower court’s rulings, but these have been overturned.
In a scathing majority opinion, Justice Kennedy wrote about the implications of abortion’s “ethical and moral concerns.” He said “the act expresses respect for the dignity of human life.”
From the NY Times:
The court did not explicitly overturn any of its precedents, although Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the four dissenters, said the decision was “so at odds with our jurisprudence” that it “should not have staying power.” Justice Ginsburg called the decision “alarming” and said the majority’s “hostility” to the right to abortion was “not concealed.”
Justice Ginsburg has been a long-time advocate of woman’s rights, and the majority opinion is basically a slap in the face. I feel sorry for her.
This is truly backwards thinking. Conservatives are all about personal freedom and against government “nannyism.” But when it comes to abortion, for some reason they feel like they should be able to tell woman what to do with their own bodies. This is downright insulting, and I hope that this decision forces abortion into the spotlight during the ‘08 Presidential election.
So there.
04.18.07
Angie Paccione Returns!
From Colorado Confidential:
The list starts with Paccione, and according to a longtime Larimer County Democrat and volunteer for Paccione’s 2006 campaign: “She’s 95 percent in the race. My gut feeling is that she is going to run.”I think she’s going to come forward sometime in the next 30 days.”
This Democratic source, who wished to remain anonymous speaking about potential candidates in CD-4, says that Paccione would start over fresh and has already decided that if she runs, “About 90 percent of the people who were involved with her last campaign will not be back.”
The other name to watch in CD-4 is Betsy Markey, Regional Director for Sen. Ken Salazar’s North Central office.
“I think Salazar really is pushing her, to be honest,” says the source. “She hasn’t denied that she’s looking at it, and I’ve noticed her getting involved in some stuff.”
In addition to working for Salazar, Markey does have strong local ties; she was the 2004 Chair of the Larimer County Democrats.
I worry that Paccione is an old hat. Last year she was a fresh new face. The upside is that she now has the name recognition that she needs, and other dem candidates would have to spend a lot of $$ on just name rec. Mmmm…. I would love to Angie in the seat, but I haven’t decided if this is a good idea or not. We shall see…
Why the gun lobby usually wins
The Politico had an awesome article out this morning about the NRA and the gun lobby, and why they are so successful.
The National Rifle Association has money, motivated members and powerful allies in Congress. But what puts the NRA in a separate class among interest groups is its track record of defeating incumbents.
In Washington, that is real power…
Go HERE now…
Related stories:
Politico’s Jonathan Martin: “Rudy No Longer Interested in Federal Mandate on Handguns”
“People have the right to keep and bear arms and the Constitution says this right will not be infringed. The recent Parker decision makes it clear that restrictions, if any, must be reasonable and these are best decided on a state-by-state basis,” Giuliani concluded, referring to the recent federal appeals court decision overturning the gun ban in Washington, D.C. MORE
Newsweek’s Howard Fineman: “Gun Control? Don’t Hold Your Breath”
Top Democratic strategists agree on few things, but one of them is that taking on gun control as a defining issue is a bad—very bad—idea. MORE
