Rasmussen polling -- Rasmussen! -- finds that Elaine Marshall got a big bounce from that awful, hideous, wasteful 2nd primary. She is now dead even with Sen. Dick Burr. Whaaa?Dick Burr's got all that money. But sometimes buckets of money can seem like exactly what they are ... proof that a politician is bought & paid for.
Sez Rasmussen:
Another concern for Burr is that incumbents who earn less than 50% of the vote at this stage of a campaign are considered politically vulnerable, and no incumbent has been reelected to the seat [Burr] holds since 1968. The incumbent may benefit, however, from the fact that the political environment is very difficult for Democrats this year.
That last point is a pretty blunt instrument, Mr. Pollster, when the actual "political environment" might more accurately said to be "very difficult" for incumbents. Most of whom are Democrats, granted. But not in the case of North Carolina's senior senator.
Just sayin'.
I hope the "throw the rascals out" mentality takes hold in NC senate race AND the 5th district. Would it not be great to wave bye-bye to The Madam even before redistricting?
ReplyDeleteLet's see, how many various sources of income will she be eligible to draw upon retirement? Social Security, Congressional retirement pay, State retirement from her years at ASU and Mayland, plus whatever the family business has laid by with all those small-business tax breaks they have been able to put together through the years....I don't think she will be hurting.
Just curious, why is Rasmussen written a second time in J.W.'s post, in italics with an exclamation point?
ReplyDeleteSenator Burr is very vulnerable. When he purposefully misled voters in the Blowing Rock area over the land trade, it rankled even the most hardened conservatives. Burr is a big a crook as is Foxx, and hopefully this November will see defeat at the hands of those who first put him into office. The downside to this is a liberal will take office, but I would rather have a known enemy across the isle than a turncoat fence sitter behind me.
ReplyDeleteJohnny Rico
PS I bet you guys are glad to see me!
Richard Burr has been in Washington DC for 16 years -- longer than Elaine Marshall has been Secretary of State.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking tossing Burr as a 16 year member of the DC establishment is a distinct possibility in this election season, even if Burr is a Republican.
I really hope Burr and Foxx are replaced in November. They are fence sitting moderates who masquerade as right wingers. We need these folks out even if it means a liberal sheep of a politician. Perhaps failure is our best option so we can rebuild from the ashes. Burr and Foxx are far more dangerous than a liberal as they have the ability to pass legislation (Blowing Rock Land Trade and Blue Ridge Parkway Act) without being questioned by their constituients until it is too late.
ReplyDeleteI am also disappointed that many of the liberals in this county wouldn't hammer Foxx over the land trade as this represented an excellant "wedge issue" that would have eroded her support far more than the usual blathering dribble associated with the fringe left liberals. Anyone feel like going head to head over this issue? I doubt it and I know you are praying that I won't take your site over again. Don't worry I won't. I need a challenge, not a gimme. This is why I am busy chipping away at Burr and Foxx's political. The Watauga County Republican Party has recieved several letters over the past several months outlining the pitfalls of Virginia Foxx and her henchman Aaron Whitner. For some odd reason, they seem to hate that a conservative is questioning a fake conservative (Foxx and Burr).
Your ole pal always
Johnny Rico
Mike - Rasmussen reports is a conservative leaning organization that tends to publish mostly data favoring Republicans. See the Wikipedia entry for more details.
ReplyDeleteBrushfire,
ReplyDeleteIt is my understanding that Rasmussen polling has been shown to be the most accurate, the best indicator of the outcome of recent elections. Is it not possible to hold political views, yet still do an excellent job polling the tides of public sentiment in our society?
J.W. certainly doesn't seem to have a problem with leftist extremist professors who have direct influence on the minds of their students. Why would he have a problem with a statistician daring to hold a political viewpoint?
"J.W. certainly doesn't seem to have a problem with leftist extremist professors who have direct influence on the minds of their students." - Mike D.
ReplyDeleteMikey, baby, get over it. College professors are there to open the minds of their students. Even the conservative ones. Why have such a bug up your bun about college? Let it go, man. Your professors were only trying to get you to think. Did it hurt too much?
My point exactly, BikerBard. A pollster might be a conservative and be perfectly capable of gathering and publishing accurate polling data, just like your teacher friends who proclaim themselves Marxists to their students are perfectly capable of opening the minds of their students, in spite of the fact that their political ideology makes swastika wearers look like good samaritans.
ReplyDeleteNow, kind sir, I ask you to give J.W. the same treatment you give me, namely "So what? Scott Rasmussen is a conservative! Get over it, J.W.! It has nothing to do with the fine work he does as a pollster!"
Thank you!
Mike - The point is that Rasmussen may not publish the polls that predict unfavorable (to conservatives) results. That is why JW expressed surprise.
ReplyDeleteThey have also been accused of "push polling" by phrasing questions in such a way as to elicit certain responses or to produce certain impressions in the voters' minds.
And I agree with the Bard about your obsession with liberal college professors. Get over it,, please. Education is supposed to challenge our ideas and take us beyond our comfort zones. I had a Christian conservative psychology professor who was as full of &*^%&& as they come. It didn't scar me for life.
Mike D:
ReplyDeleteWere you once bitten by a teacher as a child? Get over it. You had a teacher you hated! Fine! He or she is probably dead. Give it a rest!
BikerBard,
ReplyDeleteI was 'bitten' by a teacher, to be sure, but not when I was a child. It happened when I was in college, and that teacher was so much more interested in the supremacy of his political ideology than the professional ethics and responsibilities of his position that he allowed his girlfriend to verbally assault me and infringe on my Constitutionally protected civil rights. So you and Bridle may say "get over it" as much as you like, but until that professor apologizes to me for abusing his authority at my expense to further his political crusade, I will not agree with you that teachers are just there to "challenge our ideas". I think there are some who are incredibly insidious and divisive. And BikerBard, I do not hate, except, perhaps, the Bradford Pear tree. I am not a person who is consumed by hatred. However, I am only inclined to forgive those who seek forgiveness, and when someone truly wrongs me, and they are not willing to apologize, I use the system to make myself a sufficient burden that it becomes easier for the culprit to make things right than to continue living the lie of false innocence.
Bridle, if you follow Rasmussen's polling, you will know that his polling is consistent, regardless of the trend. He has been polling Senate and Governors' races in many states for months now. The races he polls stay the same, and the questions he asks stay the same, and he reports without slanting the results or explaining them away (other than to describe his three-day sampling technique immediately after important speeches or bill passages). With regard to push polling, he even shared a push polling experiment on his site during the health care debate, comparing different types of polling questions and demonstrating how they impacted the poll results. Then he went into considerable detail, describing the methodology he uses to develop questions that are intended to find the truth, not to confirm his ideology. Perhaps his professional neutrality and careful dedication to finding the truth, not creating it, is something that makes you feel uncomfortable? Perhaps it is something new for you?
Do you actually read what he has to say, or do you listen to what Areola Huffington and friends say about him?
P.S. Funny, my random word generator/post authenticator is "abledem"... how appropriate. :)
Mike:
ReplyDeleteSo let me get this straight. Some woman, a profeswsor's girlfriend, yelled at you maybe 10-15 years ago over and you are still smarting from the hurt? F-her and get over it. Man up, man. Shake it off.
BikerBard,
ReplyDelete"Yelled at [me]"?
She physically ripped apart my attempt to present a dissenting view at her professor boyfriend's "political action". He was there when she did it. He saw it happen. He did nothing to stop it. He has never accepted any responsibility for it. He has never apologized. And he has read my request, in this column, for his apology. He even responded with a further, sad attempt to obfuscate and pass the blame.
I should like to hear the words you, BikerBard, would say to a victim of rape that happened seven years ago. Would you tell her to "get over it"?
BikerBard, it's not a matter of getting over it or not. The professor who supervised the violation of my civil rights is still in this town, and he knows very well what was done to me. At any point, he could come to me to apologize, publicly or privately, and as I have said before, I would accept his apology, forgive him, and never bring it up again.
So you ask, am i still "smarting from the hurt"? Absolutely not. I have a wonderful, fulfilling life full of love and adventure. But as long as I know that there is such a person walking around, accepting no responsibility, offering no remorse, seeking no forgiveness, then I am going to keep talking about it.
Professors should not condone or allow the violation of the Constitutionally protected rights of students, particularly when they are condoning it to benefit their own personal political crusade, and when it is done with violence, right in front of them, by their girlfriend.
BikerBard, are you so in bed with a political party that you honestly see no problem with a professor violating the civil rights of a student, as long as the professor is a leftist?
That is truly bizarre to me. I would never stand for such a thing happening to you. I would jump in front of you to defend you if needed, and you know this is true.
Hold on Mike. You hold this professor responsible for ANOTHER PERSON verbally abusing you?? It seems to me your gripe was with this woman, NOT her boyfriend.
ReplyDeleteYou should have told her to F**K OFF!
So, Matt is responsible for another person's behavior?? And this makes all professors evil poisoners of young people? Get a grip!
And to top it off, you think that this is comparable to RAPE?? Bad comparison.
Why don't you talk to a rape victim - maybe that will help you to LET IT GO!
Nicely put Biker Bard.
ReplyDeleteBikerBard,
ReplyDelete1) The professor was not Matt Robinson.
2) If my wife attacks someone, and doesn't see the error of her actions, I will attempt to apologize to that person, because I know it was wrong. But then again, I am an ethical person.
3) You keep saying it was a verbal attack, but it was much more than verbal. She physically tore down my sign.
4) Ok, you don't like the rape comparison, then how about a comparison that involves an authority figure abusing their authority over the subject they should instead be protecting, for self-gratification? Does that work better for you?
5) I don't tell people to F%#k Off. I hold them accountable for their actions.
6) If a liberal attempts to counter-protest at a Tea Party , and the liberal's sign is physically torn down by the wife of the Tea Party protest organizer, and the victim relates their experience to you in this column, I guarantee your criticism will be aimed at the perpetrator, not the victim.
7) I still fail to see how you can know me personally, not know the professor in question, and still side with the aggressors who violated the state code of professional ethics for teachers in order to politically silence a student who dared dissent. Come on, you have to be able to see how disgusting that is.
8) A teacher uses his position at a university to gather student followers, works with his girlfriend to organize them into a group to fight his political war, then works with that girlfriend to organize his army of students into a "political action" (their words). One solitary student attempts to show dissent at the "political action" by showing up with a sign that is critical of the group, and the girlfriend co-organizer physically tears down that sign while screaming obscenities at the student. And you think the professor bears no responsibility for the attack on the student?
Mike D:
ReplyDelete#1. Not Matt? My bad. Then why such a thing about Matt?
#2. If you take someone else's side over your wife, get ready for a world of shit and sleeping on the sofa.
#3. Your SIGN was damaged? REALLY? Read this over again and see how juvenile that sounds.
#4. Authority did not abuse you. He let you work it out for yourself. His GIRLFRIEND tore up your sign. You were not hurt. You have no idea what he said to her privately, do you? I wouldn't criticise my wife publically.
#5. Then hold the GIRLFRIEND responsible! Jeez!
#6. My only criticism of this "victim," YOU, is that you are holding the wrong person, and his entire profession responsible. Wrong! I was punched in the mouth, once, by a lesbian former nun. Not only did I get over that ASSAULT, (reported to police) it's now a great story I tell. Do I hold all women, lesbians or nuns responsible? Well, maybe nuns. (lol)
#7 I don't know who the teacher was. And unless he ordered his girlfriend to attack you, and unless you reported this to the police, he is blameless. Would I have stepped in to help you? YES.
#8. If you think this instructor did wrong, did you report him to his dean? What happened at the hearing?
Now, truth be told WHEN did this incident happen? No smirking.
Mike - It may be that you hold professors in such esteem that you become mortally offended when one doesn't behave to the high standards you set for them. They are all human, after all. Some are jerks just like in any other profession. I was accused of cheating by a professor who didn't believe I was capable of producing the answer to a chemistry problem on my own.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't make sense to carry a grudge about that.
There are so many other really awful things to get angry about. :)
Mike D:
ReplyDeleteHave we reached you yet?
"Would I have stepped in to help you? YES."
ReplyDeleteThanks, BikerBard.
"Some are jerks just like in any other profession."
Thanks, Brushfire.
It is good to see that you guys are giving in slightly to the idea that what was done to me was morally wrong.
BikerBard, it happened about 7 years ago. I think I could pin it down for you if I tried really hard. I think I still have a copy of my account of the incident that was published in the local paper.
I would love to hear the story of your beating at the hands of a nun, though I am not so interested in her sexual orientation. The nun part sounds funny enough to me. :)
Brushfire, I am thoroughly enjoying day lily buds, sauteed in butter, with some salt and pepper. They taste like baby asparagus, but with a hint of sweetness, and they don't make your pee smell bad. The texture is a wee bit slimy, but it doesn't bother me. I love them.
Thanks for seeing things my way a little, friends. I wonder what prevents that professor from manning up and coming to me to apologize for his group's behavior?
P.S. BikerBard, how did you know that I have to sleep on the couch sometimes? Been there a time or two yourself? ;)
Mike - I have some Epazote (Mexican tea or wormseed) plants if you want some. Also red raspberry plants.
ReplyDeleteMike D:
ReplyDeleteMorally wrong - absolutely! But we can't do people's morality for them. It must come from within, and over that we have no control of others.
7 years is enough. Let it go.
Buy me a beer and I'll tell you the nun story. It's a hoot!
Slept on soda with wife #1's punishment. Not now- I'm a fast learner and I'm a lucky man to gave married such a great wife!!
Brushfire,
ReplyDeleteI have no idea (yet) what Mexican Tea is, though I must say that Jamaica (Hah-My-Kah), or Hibiscus Tea, is one of my childhood delicacies from Mexico that persists into adulthood. There is nothing more refreshing on a hot summer day than a glass of ice cold Jamaica.
I just looked up the plant, Dysphania ambrosioides, and I do not know it... is it a wild one or have you cultivated it? Its medicinal resume is very impressive. Let's talk. :)
P.S. It's almost time for chanterelles... you want to foray with me when the rains come?
Mike - check your email. I'll tell you all about it.
ReplyDelete