Guest Pollster Nick Panagakis is president of Market Shares Corporation, a marketing and public opinion research firm headquartered in Arlington Heights, Ill.
The National Council on Public Polls analyzed national presidential poll accuracy In 2004. The found that eleven of fifteen pollster margins were off by 0% to...
Justin Halpern | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Muhlenberg College
10/20-24/08; 601 LV, 4%
Mode: Live Telephone Interviews
Pennsylvania
Obama 52, McCain 41
Eugene Jarecki | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Yesterday, I had a revealing exchange with Peggy Noonan on MSNBC's morning program "Morning Joe" that highlighted a growing confusion on Ms. Noonan's part (and presumably others who share her political leanings) about John McCain's candidacy. To be fair, Ms. Noonan distinguished herself some weeks ago from toeing the party...
Justin Halpern | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Rasmussen
10/23
Mode: IVR
Iowa 500 LV, 4.5%
Obama 52, McCain 44
Sen: Harkin (D-i) 57, Reed (R) 41
New Hampshire 700 LV, 4%
Obama 50, McCain 46
Sen: Shaheen (D) 52, Sununu (R-i) 46
Ken Adelman | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Who cares?
That's what I wondered when George Packer (ace of the New Yorker) asked whether he could post my intention to vote for Obama on his blog.
So I duly ignored him. Only when he bugged me two days later did I say okay, and responded in quick,...
Dr. Jeffrey McCombs | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
Mainstream healthcare in America has been abducted by the pharmaceutical and insurance companies. As profits have moved to the center stage, patient care has become secondary.
We need to make healthcare more affordable for Americans once more. We can start by creating a law that drugs in the U.S....
Marguerite Manteau-Rao | Posted May 25, 2011 | Green
Buried in 'Helping Green Products Grow', a recent McKinsey study on green marketing, are some rather startling data on the state of citizens' knowledge, regarding the most effective approaches to global warming reduction:
Taking these numbers into account, bloggers, journalists, environmental organizations, teachers,...
PH Staff | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Public Policy Polling (D)
10/4-5/08; 993 likely voters, margin of error +/- 3.1%
Mode: IVR
Ohio
Obama 51, McCain 44
(10/4-5: Obama 49, McCain 43)
Miles Mogulescu | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
It may appear as though the McCain/Palin campaign is erratically lurching from tactic to tactic on an almost daily basis and, in many ways, it is. But the various McCain/Palin campaign tactics do tie together in a pattern that reflects a level of Republican strategic thinking which would be a...
HuffPost Radio | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Wow, it's a lollapalooza of a show today. Arianna's still on the road, so she's not here to settle the men down...
Obama Leads; Which Way GOP; Greenspan's Goof?
A heckuva show today, Tony's a trifle testy over unfair allegations he says are being made against...
Albert Brooks | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
I am reading on this site that many of my comedic friends are panicked that something will go haywire on election night; that the one who is supposed to win won't, that something will go terribly wrong -- racism, machines, a catastrophe -- something. I am here to...
Barry Michael Cooper | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
When Politics Became The New Hip Hop, Vol. 3
I wasn't even going to post today, but I was a little disturbed by some comments I read on a bulletin board on HipHopDx.com, the Huffington Post of Hip Hop (shout out to one of the great editors over at...
Leo W. Gerard | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Protesters disrupted a convention of mortgage financers in San Francisco this week, storming the stage as former Bush adviser Karl Rove spoke, heckling bankers with bullhorns, and badgering a panel with demands for a foreclosure moratorium.
Fear and frustration compelled ordinary citizens to harangue the green-visor set...
I admit I thought the "Wassup" commercials for that McCain supporting beer with a bunch of bro-tard Joe Six Packs growling "Wassup?" into the phone were pretty obnoxious, though they were also oddly accurate analysis of manly-man communication. Learn more about what...
Robert S. McElvaine | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
CLINTON, Miss. There he goes again.
John McCain's instant acceptance of the highly suspicious story that one of his female campaign workers had been attacked at an ATM in Pittsburgh by a black Obama supporter who carved a backwards "B" on...
Sloan Barnett | Posted May 25, 2011 | Green
This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a startling study announcing that the number of children with food allergies has increased 18% in the last decade. In 2007, 3 million children had food allergies with about 9,500 of these cases resulting in hospitalization. And this increase is...
William Bradley | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Barack Obama captivated people around the world with this speech in Berlin, in which he identified himself as both a proud American and a "fellow citizen of the world."
Let's start by acknowledging that this election is...
Jamie Reidy | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
I didn't work out today. Bad back. Or maybe it was a hamstring.hamstring forget.
But sitting on the beach just now, exercising my brain with crossword puzzles, I felt ashamed of myself.
A 60-year old Unabomber lookalike exited the surf and walked past me. Not a strange occurrence in Manhattan...
Chris Weigant | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
John McCain is losing the race for the White House. Now, this doesn't mean he has already lost it -- we've still got to go vote, after all. I'll cover that aspect in the Talking Points section, but anyone looking at the polls or an electoral map these days would...
Paul Abrams | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
From Joe Biden's comments, the McCain campaign is launching another effort to convince people that Barack Obama's election will prompt another terrorist attack to "test" him.
McCain asserts he has been tested, and thus such a challenge will not occur. Somehow, the notion that John McCain is equipped to lead...
Richard (RJ) Eskow | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
This campaign gets stranger and stranger -- and more and more frightening. Brian Williams asked Sarah Palin a fairly straightforward question, based on her repeated use of the phrase "domestic terrorist" to characterize Bill Ayers. Williams asked: "Is an abortion clinic bomber a terrorist under this definition, Governor?"
Palin...
Josh Ruxin | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Last month, former President Bill Clinton arrived in Rwanda, the latest in a slew of political figures to visit the country. Several weeks ago, Cindy McCain, Tom Daschle, Bill Frist and others toured the country as part of the ONE Vote '08 mission to draw bipartisan attention to poverty issues....
Laura MacCleery and Matthew R. Welch | Posted May 25, 2011 | Business
When Congress negotiated passage of the bailout bill earlier this month, close observers noted the addition of $150 billion in taxpayer goodies unrelated to rescuing faltering financial institutions.
Apparently legislators rightly sensed that the bill would pass the second time around and so added hundreds of pages of extra goodies....
Yvonne R. Davis | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Resembling a 747 airplane caught on fire high in the sky, John McCain's campaign is taking a nose dive towards the most tragic political crashes in Presidential campaign history. Fighting to remain alive, he and his dead weight side kick Sarah Palin are engaging in their own brand of political...
Alec Baldwin | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
So Bloomberg has convinced the New York City Council to vote to overturn the City's term limits law. Even Christine Quinn, the Speaker of the Council, voted to throw out the law that New Yorkers approved in a referendum both in 1993 and again in 1996. I thought...
Carl Pope | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Missouri is the geographic center of the U.S. -- and Missourians like to think of theirs as the "bellwether state," having voted for the winning presidential candidate (with one exception) in every election since 1904. So the significance of Prop C (the initiative being voted on next week that would...
Jennifer Bogut | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
Jerry Waxman | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
I've been blessed over the years to have worked with some incredible talent on stage, whose ability to communicate holds me in awe. J. D. Sutton is a gifted actor who, for two and a half hours, so completely commands your attention, you don't realize the time has elapsed. Ten...
Lee Stranahan | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Details are still sketchy, even to me. I am thirsty and I need a hug.
All I know is that I drove into the 'right' side of town with an Obama-Biden sticker on the back of my car when I was approached by thugs riding snowmachines. They said they'd seen...
Tony Burman | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
The U.S. presidential race is mesmerizing the world. The result is hundreds of hours of unprecedented news coverage about the U.S. on international news channels -- including the one that I run, the English-language channel of Al Jazeera.
So why has one of our...
Mark Blumenthal | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Another day of what looks like random noise in the national daily tracking. Four trackers show slight, nominal movement to Obama (Gallup, Diageo Hotline, DailyKos/Research 2000 and IBD-TIPP). Three show slight movement to McCain (ABC/Washington Post, Reuters Zogby and GWU/Battleground) and one (Rasmussen) shows no change. As usual, all of...
Daniel Levy | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Yesterday, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the bombing of U.S. and French peacekeeping force barracks in Beirut - an assault which remains one of the most deadly and ugly attacks of its kind - the New York Times chose to run two opinion pieces on the subject, both offering the...
Stephanie Pierson and Barbara Harrison | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
Is something in retrograde this month? Don't tell us. All we know is that a bunch of situations have recently popped up on our radar screens that we don't understand and can't begin to respond to. Sure, AIG bankers still getting hot rock massages at Ritz Carleton resorts...
Larry Beinhart | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Keep religion away from the ballot.
The Constitution, Article VI, Section 3, states "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." James Madison, the primary author of...
Jeff Schweitzer | Posted May 25, 2011 | Green
In a final act of sabotage, the Bush Administration is working furiously to undermine the Endangered Species Act. Officials are frantic with the idea that McCain will not prevail in November. In a reaction of collective panic as the election draws near, Bush and a compliant McCain are proposing the...
Richard C. Thompson | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
Times are tough. No doubt about it. As the financial crises deepens, everyone's looking to blame someone, and there's plenty of blame to go around -- the politicians, the bankers, the consumers who borrowed and bought beyond their means. But there's a very large and important part of our population...
PH Staff | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Investor's Business Daily(IBD)/TechnoMetrica Institute of Policy and Politics (TIPP)
10/19-23/08, n=1,008 likely voters, margin of error +/- 3.5
Mode: Live Telephone Interviews
National
Obama 46, McCain 42
Win McCormack | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
John Sidney McCain III may have represented the American Southwestern state of Arizona in Congress for his entire political career, but he is culturally and psychologically the product of America's Deep South and of the slave-owning, militaristic culture that his Scotch-Irish ancestors established there in colonial times.
Joseph McCain, born...
We've all been spending some time getting our financial houses in order. But what about your actual house? It might seem trivial given all that's going on in the world, but there are times where you have to look around your personal or work space and decide to shed some...
Jessica Catto | Posted May 25, 2011 | Green
Plunging stocks have raised three things: fear of global depression; Democratic election expectations; and a cry for a world wide reassessment of capitalism. Greed, once again has become "the heavy thighed beast slouching toward Bethlehem."
The French President, Sarkozy, is quoted as saying, "Together we need to rebuild a capitalism...
Bobby Muller | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
I've mentioned before on this very blog that Veterans For America will not take sides in the Presidential Race. But right now, in Pennsylvania, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain are asking voters to do just that. I hope as everyone in that great state goes about making their...
Steven Waldman | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Look carefully and you'll notice that Republicans lately have not only been saying that Red Staters are more "pro-America" than others but also that they're more pro-God.
John McCain said recently that Western Pennsylvania is the "most God-loving" part of the country. A Republican congressman Robin Hayes...
Elaine Hall | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
Erik Ose | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
The day after her story of a politically-motivated assault made headlines around the nation, coverage pushed relentlessly by McCain-Palin campaign officials, a McCain campaign worker admitted she made it all up. Ashley Todd, 20, told Pittsburgh police on Wednesday night that she had been held up at an...
Wendy Diamond | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
Although she's only twenty-three, Ashley Tisdale (fondly known to fans as "The Tiz") is already a veteran performer, having been in the business since age three. Tisdale has performed on Broadway, in Les Miserables and guest starred on a number of hit television shows including Hannah Montana, Beverly Hills 90210...
William Klein | Posted May 25, 2011 | Business
In dramatic testimony today, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan acknowledged that he had caused the current financial meltdown.
"I messed up," the venerable sage told Congress. "Oops."
Greenspan, who is married to the also venerable (but strangely youthful looking) Andrea Mitchell, said that "a bunch of rich guys"...
Sean Hartofilis | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Last night, I played professional basketball, in a dream, for the 1992 Chicago Bulls. We won, and in the post-game press conference, I tried to explain why. It was difficult, because up until the point at which my dream suddenly jumped chapters -- which my dreams tend to -- from...
Michael Carmichael | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
The sheer momentum of the Obama-Biden ticket has triggered frantic and massive Republican vote-rigging operations in key battleground states designed to manufacture a counterfeit majority in the Electoral College.
Tactical operations now stemming from the McCain-Palin campaign and its surrogates are designed to lead to litigation in the...
Chris Rodda | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Because the majority of my work has to do with fighting the religious right in one way or another, the first thing that pops into my head when seeing the names Michele Bachmann and Robin Hayes is the Congressional Prayer Caucus, the prayer group founded by Congressman Randy Forbes...
Richard Lewis | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
As usual, Larry's brilliance and humor shine and at its core always the truth. But his essay made me even more frightened and hence I am forced to share my own terror.
Of course I'm like a little child next to the political brain power by...
Michelle Kraus | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
It is almost more courageous to focus on the blight of children in this country and acknowledge that there is a problem right here in the US. Children are receiving very little nutrition and food. They go to school malnourished and fail to study because their stomachs are empty. Federal...
James Love | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
This just in from the Association of American Publishers:
-----Original Message----- From: Acacia O'Connor [mailto:AOConnor@publishers.org] Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 9:33 AM To: Acacia O'Connor Subject: AAP Weekly Insider for the Week Ending Oct. 24, 2008Volume III Issue #42
Week Ending October 24, 2008
Welcome to volume III, issue...
Lisa Dale Norton | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
I was shaking my head while watching Sarah Silverman's Great Schlep video where Ms. Silverman asks Jewish kids to fly to Florida and convince their grand parents to vote for Obama and mumbling this question: So, you've been cursed with living in interesting times; what's your story?
Silverman even...
Off The Bus | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
From smear email campaigns and hectoring rally audiences to hateful YouTubes and candidate equivocations, slurs against Muslims and Arabs have become increasingly prevalent this election season. Yet this culturally toxic component of the campaigns has only fully entered the mainstream over the last couple of weeks, being covered at major...
Adam McKay | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Presidential candidate John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin attempted to manage the surprise endorsement of Barack Obama by Senator John McCain this past Thursday. McCain was dismissive of his 100% endorsement and even took a few shots at himself after the announcement.
"When all is said and...
Yvette Kantrow | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
Note to CNN: If you're going to demonize Wall Streeters for causing the country's economic collapse, at least demonize the right Wall Streeters.
The cable network last week brought us "Fall of the Fat Cats," in which it promised to examine how the big money on Wall Street "was made...
Mary Ellen Harte and John Harte | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
The San Francisco Chronicle recently declared that John McCain and Barack Obama are "like peas in a pod" on a major issue. The newspaper was talking about their energy platforms. It's time to debunk this: there are real differences in priorities. Yes, both John McCain and Barack Obama agree that...
Phillip Martin | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
I don't know about you, but I've heard Ashley Todd's story somewhere before and that somewhere is here in Boston. Twenty year old Todd from Texas is a student volunteer for the McCain campaign in Pittsburgh. Her scarred face turned up all over the internet after alleging that she was...
Natasha Chen | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
In the effort to send out volunteers to swing states, a grassroots organization started by a couple of Stanford students has turned into the main hub for volunteers to get plane tickets from sponsors who have frequent flyer miles. In the last three months, Travelforchange.org has sent 1,000 volunteers...
L. Londell McMillan | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
Barack Obama needed to be on the cover of The Source. As the leading voice for the Hip-Hop generation, The Source reports upon the music, culture and politics issues relevant to all youth culture around the world. In 2008, no figure is more important to people of all backgrounds than...
Jonathan Partridge | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
Most polls these days show President Bush's approval ratings hovering around a dismal 25 percent. However, Orange County resident Woody Aghnatios considers him a hero. Aghnatios, a Lebanese Christian, said Bush did more for Lebanon than any other president when he supported the movement in 2005 to end Syrian occupation.
...Benjamin Krevolin | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
The Soccer Mom of 2004 has been updated this election cycle into her colder more pugilistic sister, Sarah the Hockey Mom. But alas for me, the head of a small arts council in New York's Hudson River Valley, I am still longing to see -- or even hear about --...
ProPublica | Posted May 25, 2011 | Business
by Ben Protess.
As AIG was on the brink of bankruptcy and facing a government takeover, the insurance giant made sure Congress knew where it stood—on U.S.-India nuclear relations, that is.
AIG deployed its lobbyists to Washington last month to influence a bill that allows U.S. companies to...
Abigail Jones | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
The news is staggering: As many as 50 teenagers at Normandy High School in St. Louis, Missouri, may have been exposed to HIV. The school, which has a student body of 1,300, set up a testing center in the gym for its students; after consulting with a representative from the...
Jim Randel | Posted May 25, 2011 | Business
From The Skinny on the Housing Crisis (Clover Leaf, 2008)
Yesterday Alan Greenspan, Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, testified before Congress. To his credit, he was somewhat forthcoming in acknowledging that he miscalculated the events which have led to the worst financial...
Vicki Strauss Kennedy | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
John Porter | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
John Porter is an OffTheBus grassroots correspondent. Each week he contributes a campaign journal documenting his life out on the trail.
Since this is the first presidential campaign that I have had the pleasure of volunteering for, I really had no idea what to expect. What were other people like...
Beth Teitell | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
Here's what I've learned over the past few weeks, while doing interviews for my new book, "Drinking Problems at the Fountain of Youth." Even in 2008--or perhaps especially in 2008--it's considered shocking for a woman of a certain age to own up to that age publicly.
It always goes down...
Stephanie Miller | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
Today's "Right Wing World" from The Stephanie Miller Show offers up a special live right wing world with our caller excitable right wing caller Jerry, and Republican strategists Kevin Madden and Brad Blakeman.
Ari Melber | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Sen. Barack Obama is off the campaign trail, but his top aides are running hard today.
Obama's senior strategists held a national news conference by telephone today, bullishly arguing that the campaign is on offense and surging in red states, while Sen. John McCain is scampering to Pennsylvania for an...
Mark Green | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Last week, Barack Obama teased Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the Al Smith Dinner by noting that, as Bloomberg tried to alter term limits so he could run again, Bill Clinton replied, "You can do that?" Joke's over. In a run around democracy that not even Chavez or Putin attempted, Bloomberg...
Tim Dickinson | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
If School House Rock made a campaign ad it might look something like this:
Chris Nelson | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
It's fitting that Larry David should have such a wonderfully neurotic post about the twilight hours of this endless election season this week because I'm increasingly reminded of a scene in Curb Your Enthusiasm where Mr. David's semi-fictitious alter-ego squares off against an unruly toddler who won't quiet down...
Isabel Cowles | Posted May 25, 2011 | Green
I spend most of the week worrying that the EPA or Washington or the big three are going to forget about being green. I also spend a lot of time online, perusing the latest lists of "Ten Ways be Greener at Home." All of them make changing my light bulbs...
Julie Bergman Sender | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
I have been hearing voices in my head for the last 4 years. No, I have not been driven completely around the bend by 8 years of the Bush administration. But not unlike believing and chatting with an imaginary friend -- I have found comfort in pretend conversations with Republicans...
Frances Beinecke | Posted May 25, 2011 | Green
Last week I heard a great story on NPR's Morning Edition about how a tiny investment in an energy efficient window coating went on to save Americans billions of dollars on utility bills and jump start a green building boom.
It's a story arc that my colleagues are...
Linda Kulman | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
A recent house guest who hadn't seen our 3-year-old daughter -- or, more to the point, heard her -- since she became a full-fledged talker asked if "No" is her favorite word. "It's definitely one of them," I said. In fact, if you did a tag cloud for her,...
Judy Muller | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
Despite my usual tendency to delight in the unmasking of hypocrisy, I am having a tough time hopping on the bandwagon of outrage over Sarah Palin's 150-thousand dollar clothing allowance. Oh sure, it puts the lie to her small-town, off-the-rack values and reinforces her critics' image of her as some...
Amanda Michel | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
This presidential election is unprecedented. Gazillions of dollars are being spent on advertising, campaign materials, volunteer efforts, rallies, and - in the case of the McCain campaign - clothing and makeup. Hundreds of thousands of people - if not millions - are donating time and energy.
So, what does the...
Ryan Rivera | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
The National Republican Senatorial Committee confirmed today it was pulling its support from the Colorado race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Wayne Allard. Rumors of the pullout began circulating last week, but subsided after NRSC chairman Sen. John Ensign...
Karen Dionne | Posted May 25, 2011 | Green
Recently, governors and legislatures in eight Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces approved the Great Lakes Compact, a landmark agreement that bans the sale and diversion of water outside the region. The people living along the shores have reason to be concerned. For 15 years, I lived in St....
Harry Moroz | Posted May 25, 2011 | Business
Not to beat a dead horse, but a the Wall Street Journal op-ed on Wednesday made me reflect briefly on the Bush years. Adam Lerrick, an economics professor at Carnegie Mellon and a scholar at AEI, heavily criticized Obama's economic policy and tax plan, providing a macabre...
Kamala Lopez | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
A lot of people feel extremely frustrated about the rampant voter suppression going on as evidenced by the many comments on my last post about my experience in Nevada and the voter registration fraud going on there.
Here's an idea of something we can do right away that...
Anastasia Kousakis | Posted May 25, 2011 | Green
If you feel like I do, you're probably in the market for some uplifting news. Save the prospect of Obama winning the presidential election, there's very little of it these days. Lo and behold, out of the barrage of grim, gray news I found a hopeful ray of light -...
Martin Carnoy | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Dear Senator McCain:
Education policy finally played in the campaign this past week. You exchanged views on education with Senator Obama in the Third Debate, and your surrogate, Lisa Graham Keegan, had a wide-ranging education discussion with Linda Darling Hammond, Obama's surrogate, at New York's Columbia University.
But to tell...
Brooke-Sidney Gavins | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
He looks like most Americans, well African Americans. And you definitely can't tell he is a Muslim by his appearance. So, it would be difficult to target him based on his religion.
"I look like a regular black man in Washington, DC," said Omari West, a 35-year old American Sunni...
David Henry Sterry | Posted May 25, 2011 | Business
1500 points the market plummeted last week. This was preceded by
months of money drunk Wall Streeters feeding like little piggies at
the trough of dirty money. For me it's déjà vu all over again. Black
Monday, October 19, 1987, the market crashed 508 points, while I...
Jamie Stiehm | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Give him this: John McCain is a world-class apologizer for his sins so far.
It's just a matter of time before McCain says he's sorry to Sen. Barack Obama and the country for the mean-spirited turn his presidential campaign took since a well-dressed Hurricane Sarah made landfall at the...
Fern Siegel | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
Say it ain't so! After 27 years and 18 glorious editions, Gerard Alessandrini, the brains behind Forbidden Broadway, is calling it quits. The satiric revue of Broadway will air its final performance Jan 15. So run, don't walk to the 47th Street Theater and catch Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab....
Joan Kark | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
I spotted the large Obama sign in front of the confederate flag on my way to U.S. Representative Rick Boucher's luncheon in Pearisburg, Virginia, Saturday. As a longtime resident of Giles County, I am accustomed to seeing confederate signs dotting the countryside. One store has confederate flag...
Christine Hassler | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
I started writing this on a plane headed to my 10 year college reunion in Chicago . . . by myself - which seems rather appropriate because that is the way I spent most of my time in college. As I headed back to Northwestern University with a single football...
Kevin Grandia | Posted May 25, 2011 | Green
One of the most compelling chapters in the PBS Frontline two-hour special on global warming that aired earlier this week was the segment on America's Addiction to Coal. PBS dives headfirst into the myth of clean coal and pretty much tears it apart using something we don't often see...
Disgrasian | Posted May 25, 2011 | Style
Listen, we're glad Sarah Palin spent $150,000 of the RNC's money on a badly-needed wardrobe makeover. And we're incredibly happy for Kazuo Kawasaki, whose glasses, worn by the Caribou Barbie herself, have skyrocketed in wannabe Hockey MILF sales to the tune of $$$$$$$$$! Ka-ching chong, indeed!
...David Sirota | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
John McCain is doing what no progressive political leader has been able to do in at least a generation, if not more: He's creating a New Deal mandate for the next president, should that next president be Barack Obama. Indeed, in tacking to the hard economic right and focusing the...
Twanna A. Hines | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Many politicians have fallen from grace with their trousers at their ankles. We know about couldn't-keep-it-in-his-pants adulterer John Edwards and cookie cutter practitioners of inappropriate conduct like Arnold Schwarzenegger. New York's very own Client #9, Eliot Spitzer, pinned down prostitute Ashley Dupré. David Vitter and Randall...
Lee Camp | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
So most of my posts are fake/parody/satire/pretend/ bullsh*t -- whatever you wanna call 'em. And because of that, whenever I write something real or genuine, people assume it's fake. It's kinda like when Bush tries to tell the truth. But I mean it honestly this time -- this post...
To say the League of Arab States hasn't had the best relations with the United States would be an understatement.
The 22-member organization is as old as the United Nations and resembles the African Union. The region represents an area rich in natural resources, yet it is mired in...
Amira Al Hussaini | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
A Negro, a Muslim and an anti-American. These are just some of the names Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has been called over the past few days....
Michelle Pilecki | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Hearing that a volunteer for the McCain campaign had been attacked and mutilated in my Pittsburgh neighborhood -- indeed, at the very ATM I most often use -- filled me with embarrassment for such mistreatment of a visitor and sympathy for the pain of a fellow being. Disbelief...
Mary Lou Song | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
The global credit crisis has hit Wall Street and Main Street. But you know what's next. University Avenue.
Financing an education is difficult enough. But when you count on financial aid from family, schools and the government, you start to worry about how the economy is impacting them....
Greg Boose | Posted May 25, 2011 | Chicago
On a misty-then-rainy-then-clear-then-rainy night in Bridgeview, the Chicago Fire won their regular season finale with a score of 5-2 over the New York Red Bulls. Chris Rolfe recorded a hat trick by halftime, scoring in the 11th, 38th and 44th minutes, and later assisted on a goal by Daniel...
Eric Dienstfrey | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Rasmussen
10/23/08; 700 LV, 4%
Mode: Live Telephone Interviews
North Carolina
McCain 50, Obama 48
Mark Weisbrot | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Senator Barack Obama's campaign for the White House pulled ahead of his opponent, Senator John McCain, as soon as the current financial crisis hit the headlines. As one of McCain's top strategists recently blurted out, "If we keep talking about the economic crisis, we're going to lose."
There's a reason...
Dan Treul | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
Another ominous sign for the McCain campaign is the most recent polling average by Real Clear Politics, which has Barack Obama leading -- albeit barely -- in Indiana, a state that hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential contender since Johnson in 1964. A recent trip to the Hoosier state by...
Tina Wells | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
At times, the 2008 Presidential election campaign has been ugly. On top of the unfortunately commonplace personal character attacks in modern politics, Barack Obama's entrance into the global political theater has also shoved the issue of race into the spotlight.
Although the mainstream media proclaim the significance of race in...
Shola Lynch | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
From the onset the 2008 Black Entertainment Television (BET) Hip Hop Awards appeared to be crass and commercial, a stereotypical extravaganza, but something unexpected was percolating.
I had tickets to awards because of my participation in a town hall sponsored by BET earlier in the day, Fly Girls Vote,...
Jayne Lyn Stahl | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
Roberto Saviano, Italian author, and journalist with "La Repubblica," whose bestseller nonfiction novel, "Gamorra," details the activities of the Neapolitan mafia, has been threatened with assassination by Christmas.
The release of the film version of "Gomorra" is said to be the catalyst for this recent death threat. According to International...
Francine Hardaway | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Immigration reform seems to have dropped to the bottom of the pile of issues in this election for most of us, but for my Mexican and Guatemalan friends, it's all about "who is better for people without papers." That's the candidate who will get their votes.
For many years, no...
Paul Hogarth | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
In the final stretch of this election, Proposition 8 is dangerously close in the polls -- after months of it being safely behind. With massive out-of-state funding, including $8.4 million from the Mormon Church, the "Yes on 8" campaign has scared many swing voters into falsely believing that marriage equality...
Wajahat Ali | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
Comedian and actor Aasif Mandvi speaks to us about life at The Daily Show, life after Sakina's Restaurant, and why Muslims shouldn't complain about negative portrayals in Hollywood if they don't get involved.
So how does it feel to be, unofficially and involuntarily, the media ambassador for all things Muslim...
Eric Dienstfrey | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Gallup Poll
10/21-23/08
Mode: Live Telephone Interviews
National
2,787 Registered Voters:
Obama 52, mcCain 42
2,365 Likely Voters-Expanded:
Obama 51, McCain 44
2,406 Likely Voters-Traditional:
Obama 50, McCain 45
Steve Young | Posted May 25, 2011 | Style
In an arrangement not to be announced until November 4th, the upscale specialty despartment store, Neiman-Marcus and Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin have agreed in principal to open a chain of outlet stores offering discounted Palinwear™ while creating a line of higher-priced Palinwear™ for their upscale stores.
"The clothes...
A. Siegel | Posted May 25, 2011 | Green
For ever so long, the energy and environmental community has been working to communicate the dishonesty, truthiness, deceptiveness of John McCain's claims when it comes to renewable energy and global warming. Sadly, the McBlurring McSame McCain has worked all too well in creating confusion that John McCain is "green",...
Marco Trbovich | Posted May 25, 2011 | Business
Whoever is elected president on November 4th faces a "honeymoon" so troubled that he may sue for annulment before it's over.
Politicians seldom relish dealing with harsh realities, let alone dire economic straits. More often than not, they make tough choices only grudgingly, like the equivocating character in a Woody...
Taylor Marsh | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
It had to come from a conservative and again this season Kathleen Parker steps in it. But, finally, someone else wrote this so I didn't have to be the first one. Listen to Patrick J. Buchanan, Lawrence O'Donnell, the guy next door......
Pamela Mays McDonald | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
Pamela Mays McDonald is an OffTheBus grassroots correspondent. Each week she contributes a campaign journal documenting her life out on the trail.
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Camp Obama Paperwork.
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The Last "Camp Obama"
OAKLAND, CA---When I first accepted an invitation to serve as a facilitator, I had no...
Miles J. Zaremski | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
Over the internet today, colleagues and I saw an ad using the word "terrorist", with what looked to be a likeness of Senator Obama and words about not being able to trust folks. The clear implication of this ad was that Obama is associated with terrorism and that we really...
Michael Giltz | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
Few sports ever break into primetime the way NASCAR has in the past decade. The pastime of middle America, few people who followed NASCAR ever dreamed that the New York Times would be covering their events one day and that drivers would be stars in LA. But it happened.
...Suzette Standring | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
Watch out. Wearing the wrong logo can land you in jail or cause such labeled property to be seized. A gang-related insignia of a Mongolian warrior sporting sunglasses has been prohibited for wear, licensing, sale or distribution by an injunction signed by Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of the U.S. District Court...
Patrick Barry | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
In case you didn't realize, today is the 60th U.N. Day, a day celebrating the "anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Charter." Recently the U.N. has been getting a pretty bad wrap, especially in conservative circles, where John McCain has been leading a charge...
Darryle Pollack | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
There are boo hoos instead of Boola Boolas in New Haven this year. For the first time in 40 years, there will be no Yale graduate on the ballot for president or vice president.
I was in the first group of women who graduated from Yale, which went...
Phil Ramone and Danielle Evin | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
Stefanie Michaels | Posted May 25, 2011 | Green
Adventure Central Offers Eco-travel Packages for Budget Saavy Travelers
While industry insiders point to a slowdown in mainstream travel, reports also conclude that consumers are still looking to escape -- frequently closer to home, by taking advantage of the natural resources around them. Recent industry research indicates a significant increase...
Sara Avant Stover | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
"Unplug and Recharge" is a new Living series which aims to give you, our dear readers, a quick break from your day -- whether you have as much time as ten minutes or as little as two. Following the success of our Oasis at the DNC, we're hoping to...
Keith Blanchard | Posted May 25, 2011 | Business
Don't panic — this is just a speed bump. You want to ride this one out. Think long-term. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Keep your money where it is — trust the market. The worst thing you can do is panic.
Reassuring words, which can all be traced,...
Rob Kall | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
I parked, walked to the front of one of my favorite local restaurants and there, in front of its sign, was a McCain Palin yard sign. What was I to do?
To make matters worse, the McCain/Palin yard sign was in front of a favorite Indian restaurant I'd invited a...
Emily Douglas | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
In Maine, a state that's progressive on reproductive health, family planning providers are concerned about contraceptive and health care access issues already. So a proposed new regulation from the Department of Health and Human Services that would expand protections for providers who would deny women birth control and other...
Bil Browning | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Several readers wrote in when ProtectMarriage.com ads started showing up for our California readers on Bilerico Project. The pro-Prop 8 graphic was arriving via Google ads. Since none of the Editorial Team is in California, we had no idea they were popping up. One alert Projector grabbed this screenshot...
James Boyce | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
Friday at noon, I stop by NewsLadder and see what is the top story, as voted up by everyone who posts a story, reads a story, makes a comment or votes something up or down.
Last week at this time, the top story was about the 10 Differences...
Michelle Haimoff | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
My first job out of college was an internship at Bloomberg. The interview took place in October 2001, when the election was still up in the air. If he won, "Mike's Group" (the Corporate Communications department) at Bloomberg LLC was going to need extra support, at least temporarily, because so...
Zachary Karabell | Posted May 25, 2011 | Business
We are now in the season of scapegoats. The brays for justice and villains grow daily, and this week has seen a walk of shame as various participants in the credit debacle sit in front of Congress to be scolded and upbraided for their sins. Many of the goats today,...
Bruce Wilson | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
If Mary Glazier's claim, that Palin joined her prayer-warfare group almost two decades ago, is true it raises the possibiity that Sarah Palin personally participated in a 1995 campaign to drive an alleged "witch" out of Alaska.
[please vote this story up on Digg]
At two key points...
Elana Levin | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
I was recently lucky enough to tag along with United Here's members who are doing GOTV for Obama in Wisconsin. Nationally we have 335 members on leave from their jobs to do election work so far. I went to Wisconsin for a few reasons -- to get an understanding...
E. Joyce Moore | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
I have two friends who I chose to reach out to for their view of the ongoing attacks by those associated with the McCain-Palin campaign on Senator Barack Obama's ethnicity and religious beliefs and ties. I spoke to Tyrone, a mid-management employee of a large corporation. I asked him to...
Ryan Rivera | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
What is it with local GOP officials in New Mexico? Last month, Bernalillo County Republican Party chairman Fernando C De Baca was forced to resign after saying "Hispanics consider themselves above blacks" and wouldn't vote for a black presidential candidate and today the chairwoman...
Adam Blickstein | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Sarah Palin's contradictory and nonsensical answer on what constitutes a terrorist is being thoroughly fisked online. Her claim that William Ayers is a terrorist but an abortion clinic bomber is not leaves a lot to be desired intellectually, which begs an important follow-up: what would her view of...
Diane Tucker | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
Republicans intend to place GOP recruits inside Ohio polling places on Election Day to challenge the qualifications of certain voters. The Obama campaign told OffTheBus it intends to counter with the most massive voter protection effort Ohio has ever seen. "Democrats learned their lesson in 2004," said the high-level spokesman.
...Betsy Perry | Posted May 25, 2011 | Style
It better be temporary because New Yorkers are used to a type A life and right now the oomph seems to have disappeared from the city. The only language you don't hear on Fifth Avenue is English and the only languages you do hear on Bergdorf Goodman's couture floor seem...
Jim Wallis | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
In 2004, several conservative Catholic Bishops and a few megachurch pastors like Rick Warren issued their list of "non-negotiables," which were intended to be a voter guide for their followers. All of them were relatively the same list of issues: abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research, etc. None of them...
Ari Melber | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
There's a new meme in the presidential race: The Internet is helping expose dirty tricks, enhance campaign accountability and punish the purveyors of dog whistle sleaze. Web luminaries from Arianna Huffington to Micah Sifry pushed that argument this week. The Obama campaign agrees.
On Friday, Obama's new...
Lisa Solod | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
Lisa Solod Warren is an OffTheBus grassroots correspondent. Each week she contributes a campaign journal documenting her life out on the trail.
It's busy in all the tiny rooms in the rabbit warren of the small headquarters located on a narrow side street in downtown Staunton, busier than I've ever...
Eric Dienstfrey | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Riley Research
10/10-20/08; 499 LV, 4.4%
Mode: Live Telephone Interviews
Oregon
Obama 48, McCain 34
Sen: Merkley (D) 36, Smith (R-i) 35, Brownlow (C) 4
Josie Garthwaite | Posted May 25, 2011 | Green
If you're shopping for a new car next year (or wondering how much your gas-guzzling neighbors are spending on fuel), the EPA has just published your suggested reading: The 2009 Fuel Economy Guide. Hybrids swept the top four spots this time, with the 2009 Toyota Prius ranking as the most...
Marc Lampkin | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
The recent controversy over whether public school teachers can wear political buttons in the classroom highlights a significant obstacle to improving our schools: teachers' unions would rather dig in their heels in a fight over something trivial than actively work to improve learning in the classroom.
Should a school district...
Daniel Sinker | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Back during the Democratic primary (which, when you think about it, feels like an entire lifetime ago) I looked briefly at how Google Trends, which shows the popularity of different search terms, so closely resembled the data coming out of the national pollsters. Google's search stats not only...
Greg Mitchell | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
It had drawn wide local and national -- even political attention, with the McCain and Obama campaigns weighing in -- but now the Ashley Todd story has fallen apart. Police in Pittsburgh have now declared the tale a hoax and the woman, who has confessed, now faces charges for her...
Eric Dienstfrey | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
EPIC-MRA / Detroit News
10/19-22/08; 400 LV, 4.9%
Mode: Live Telephone Interviews
Michigan
Obama 51, McCain 37, Barr 1, Nader 1
Sen: Levin (D-i) 58, Hoogendyk (R) 30
Josh Sugarmann | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
This month, across the nation domestic violence prevention advocates are marking Domestic Violence Awareness Month, undertaking public education efforts to help protect women, children, and families. As part of this effort, each year the Violence Policy Center releases a new edition of its annual study When Men...
Tara Stiles | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
November 4 is creeping up, right alongside stress and anxiety levels for most of us. (Even Larry David!) We all have that annoying Palin-McCain fan as a neighbor or coworker, and those sound bites are sometimes tough to tune out. With our eyes, ears, and brains near boiling point,...
Mort Gerberg | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Lisa Solod | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
Jim Webb, Democratic Senator from Virginia, has made a huge difference in the Senate. As the 51st Democrat in the Senate, he swung the majority two years ago when he won the hotly contested seat during his race against George Allen, when Allen was derailed by allegedly racist remarks captured...
Barry Scheck | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
By now, hopefully many people have heard about Troy Davis, who is set to be executed Monday in Georgia for the murder of a police officer in Savannah. Investigations conducted since his 1991 conviction have produced disturbing affidavits showing that seven of the nine key witnesses who testified against Davis...
Eric Dienstfrey | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Economist / YouGov-Polimetrix
10/20-21/08; 1,000 LV, 3%
Mode: IVR
National
Obama 49, McCain 41
Daoud Kuttab | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
I must say I wasn't surprised when I read the statements made by outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I had been informed by an Israeli friend of mine about Olmert's dramatic conversion over the past few years, and especially last year.
The statements can be...
Howie Klein | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Olbermann is never kind to extremist lunatics. It's taken him a while but he's finally gotten around to Robin "Weepy" Hayes, a kind of feudal type who represents a sprawling district that stretches from Charlotte to Fayetteville (NC-08). Apparently he had either just lost control of himself or he was...
Tom Hayden | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Fifty clergy and human rights leaders are demanding that Congress oppose the pact being negotiated in secret by the Bush and al-Maliki administrations to bind the hands of the next Administration with a continued war and occupation in Iraq.
The White House and Pentagon commanders are threatening "consequences" if Iraq...
PH Staff | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Diageo/Hotline
10/21-23, 08; 766 LV 3.5%
Mode: Live Telephone Interviews
National
Obama 50, McCain 43
Jill Brooke | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
On the campaign trail, Gov. Sarah Palin proudly holds her baby son, Trig, who has Down Syndrome, and promises "to help families who have children with special needs." You don't have to know trigonometry to realize what that adds up to.
Having a special-needs child not only requires expensive, life-long...
Jason Notte | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Please don't be angry with Sarah Palin for excluding all those big, funny places with skyscrapers from "Real America" and its "Pro-America" borders. Nor should you blame John McCain's adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer for excluding Northern Virginia from the "Real Virginia," or Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann for looking...
John W. Whitehead | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
"I'm disgusted by what we've become in America. I truly believe there is brain death in this country. Everything we see is designed to sell us something. The only thing they want to do is take our money." -- John Carpenter
There are only a handful of directors whose films...
Michael Conniff | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
In this wacky-tobaccy world of 21st Century politics, if you can't parboil an idea down to a sound byte then you might as well chug it raw. We the people like our politics plain and simple, like meat and potatoes: Democrats and Republicans, Liberals and Conservatives, good guys and bad...
Jamal Dajani | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
It's been more than half a year since Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad embarked on a historic trip to Baghdad, accusing the United States of fueling the violence in Iraq and portraying his nation as a close friend of the neighbor it once fought in a bitter eight-year war.
"The Iraqi...
Eric Dienstfrey | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Democracy Corps (D) /
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner (D)
10/21-23/08; 1,000 LV, 3%
Mode: Live Telephone Interviews
National
Obama 52, McCain 43, Nader 2, Barr 1
Eric Schmeltzer | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
So this is how John McCain is going to go out. You can just picture the staff concocting this bizarre argument:
STEVE SCHMIDT: OK, so we say Obama hates old ladies.
MARK SALTER: Yeah, I like it!STAFFER 1: Damnit. Guys, just got this on my Blackberry....
Esther J. Cepeda | Posted May 25, 2011 | Chicago
I was at the Executives Club of Chicago CEO Breakfast this morning listening to Martin Slark, Vice Chairman and CEO of Molex, Inc. talk about leading truly global companies (Chicago-based Molex does 73 percent of its 3.3 billion dollars in sales outside of the U.S.) and he was -- let's...
Bob Franken | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Remember the oldie-but-goodie "Kill the Golden Goose"? It's an Aesop fable, actually, but who cares?
Aesop's point was you don't want to do that... you shouldn't kill the goose that's laying golden eggs.
But what if there are glimmers of toxic poisons inside those glittery shells that will...
Eric Dienstfrey | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Strategic Vision (R)
10/20-22/08
Mode: Live Telephone Interviews
Florida 1,200 LV, 3%
McCain 48, Obama 46
Georgia 800 LV, 3.5%
McCain 51, Obama 45
Sen: Chambliss (R-i) 46, Martin (D) 44, Buckley (L) 5
Ohio 1,200 LV, 3%
McCain 48, Obama...
Sen. Fritz Hollings | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
I am often asked the difference between being a Governor and a Senator. As Governor, if you want to increase revenues, you increase taxes. As Senator, if you want to increase revenues, you cut taxes -- stimulate the economy.
By law, the Secretary of the Treasury...
Paula Duffy | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
Last week the Palm Beach Post published a story about a player for the NHL's Florida Panthers who agreed to donate his brain for research to the Sports Injury Institute. It is working in conjunction with Boston University's School of Medicine to expand the base of knowledge in the...
Eric Dienstfrey | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Politico / Insider Advantage
10/22/08
Mode: IVR
(source)
Florida 562 LV, 4.5%
Obama 48, McCain 47
Ohio 408 LV, 5%
Obama 52, McCain 42
InsiderAdvantage
10/23/08; 615 LV, 4%
Mode: IVR
Georgia
Obama 48, McCain 47
...
Rashad Robinson | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
As you may have heard, James Dobson's anti-gay Focus on the Family radio program will be inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame on November 8th.
We at GLAAD have created an online video highlighting some of Dobson's anti-gay commentary and written a post over at glaadBLOG.
Stephen C. Rose | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
On a late show on CNN Thursday, David Gergen casually suggests that early voting has been light and hearts sink. Is he right? Here is a survey of available information, rounding up what can be known of early voting with 12 days to go until November 4.
Gergen...
Beverly Davis | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
This article is based on contributions from OffTheBus community members who participated in this week's call out. The full byline of contributors appears below.
"It's a good night when I don't get cussed out," laughed Karen Sellars, one of seventy campaign phone bank volunteers responding to a Huffington Post...
Matt Mendelsohn | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
Remember the war in Iraq?
Sadly, I didn't think so. Between all the truly grave dangers facing our country -- the economic crisis, the election, Sarah Palin's wardrobe malfunction -- it's easy to see how a thing like a war, with real people dying, could get, well, misplaced.
But you...
Grande Lum | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
It is not what we learn in conversation that enriches us. It is the elation that comes of swift contact with tingling currents of thought. -- Agnes Repplier
Approach the conversation as a craft to engage the other person with authenticity.
Conversation is an under-appreciated craft upon which we...
PH Staff | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
GWU/Battleground
Tarrance Group (R)/Lake Research (D)
10/19-10/23, 08; 1,000 LV 3.1%
Mode: Live Telephone Interviews
National
Obama 49, McCain 46
Eric Dienstfrey | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Winthrop/ETV
9/28-10/19/08
Mode: Live Telephone Interviews
(source)
North Carolina 744 LV, 3.6%
Obama 45, McCain 44
South Carolina 617 LV, 3.9%
McCain 55, Obama 35
Virginia 665 LV, 3.8%
Obama 45, McCain 44
Frank Schaeffer | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Okay, I had some help. But without me and lots of like minded right wing religious ideologues who put theological "principles" ahead of governing, the Republicans might be set to win again this year.
I dropped out of the Evangelical right in the mid 80s and became a movie...
Ian Gurvitz | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
In a revelation bound to send shock waves through the already battered, bruised, and flailing McCain campaign, Joe Six Pack and Joe the Plumber have confided to friends that they have fallen in love and intend to marry. The two Republican campaign symbols met at a recent rally and...
Gary Cohan | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Election 2008 Haiku
by Gary R. Cohan, M.D.
Hillary had it
But a cruel fate intervened.
Her own husband's mouth.
Hothead POW
Veers off wildly to the Right.
And disappoints all.
"Terrorist," Ayers,
"Socialist," "Muslim," "HUSSEIN."
Futile...
Dennis Whittle | Posted May 25, 2011 | Business
"I was wrong."
Those words are rarely heard, especially in Washington. But earlier this year, I attended a breakfast meeting with Larry Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury and President of Harvard University. The title of his talk was something along the lines of "Three Significant Areas Where I Was...
Tom Tomorrow | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
There's nothing new about Republicans claiming that a significant portion of their fellow citizens are somehow not "real" Americans. It was a familiar refrain when this cartoon ran in 2002 (earning me a denunciation as a sneering elitist from noted populist Ann Coulter, who...
PH Staff | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Rasmussen
10/21-23,08; 3,000 LV 2%
Mode: IVR
National
Obama 52, McCain 45
Eric Dienstfrey | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
SurveyUSA
10/21-22/08; 631 LV, 4%
Mode: IVR
Obama 49, McCain 45
Gov: Daniels (R-i) 54, Long Thompson (D) 35, Horning (L) 7
Tom Cosgrove | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
My dad was a plumber. My dad was a Republican. And if my dad were alive today, he would never vote for John McCain.
My father would respect McCain's service, I have no doubt. But he would be a little angered, I think, by McCain's attempt to connect to the...
Shelly Palmer | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
Sony drastically cut its financial forecast, with analysts noting that its profit for the fiscal year ending in March 2009 could plunge 59% from the year before. Sony expects to post a $215.2 million profit for July-September, down 72% from...
Sheila Tendy | Posted May 25, 2011 | Business
The Lawyer's Foreclosure Intervention Network (LFIN), the brainchild of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and sponsored jointly with the New York City Bar Justice Center, is a volunteer program for attorneys to represent the most desperate homeowners facing foreclosure.
Along with the hundreds of lawyers who have volunteered...
Ben Arnon | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
There has been a tremendous amount of art and music inspired by Barack Obama's message of Hope and Change. Last week I chronicled the story of Shepard Fairey's Obama 'Hope' poster. Today I bring you the latest work from Fairey -- "Vote For Change" viral video postcards. In...
The Uptake | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
Rep. Michele Bachmann caught the national spotlight recently when she told MSNBC's Chris Mathews that Barack Obama "may have anti-American views."
Although Bachmann's statement may have come as a surprise to people outside her home district in central Minnesota, she has a history of making statements that are inflammatory,...
Steve Young | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
In response to former House Speaker, Newt Gingrich saying that "Saturday Night Live skits were slander and worthy of a lawsuit," SNL Executive Producer, Lorne Michaels said the show is seriously considering a counter suit claiming that Gingrich has "slandered the SNL brand causing it great loss of future income."
...Mark Blumenthal | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Yesterday's new polls helped solidify Barack Obama's standing on our electoral map, although the most recent updates and national tracking polls showing relative stability in the race. Still, with Ohio shifting to the lean Obama column, we now show 306 electoral votes in the Obama column, and 268 electoral votes...
Eric Morse | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
John McCain thinks he has your number. About a month before the election, facing insurmountable odds, McCain expanded his character attacks on Barack Obama to include robocalls, eventually shifting the scurrilous side of his campaign entirely from TV to telephone. In response, Obama put out his own automated telephone calls....
Beth Arnold | Posted May 25, 2011 | Media
Is Elisabeth Hasselbeck too dumb to be on The View? This is the question I've gotta ask myself -- and have many times -- and what do I come up with?
I have to admit that I'd been out of the country and don't watch reality television anyway, so I'd...
Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks | Posted November 17, 2011 | Healthy Living
[Editor's Note: "Body Politics" by Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks is part of an ongoing series. Previous posts include: "The Source Of McCain's Odd Body Language, And The Gift It Brings", "Sarah Palin's Body Language And Why It Should Worry You", "What McCain's Smirks, Tics, and Jaw-Clenches...
Pam Atherton | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
I was at the dentist yesterday and the hygienist asked me what I thought of the upcoming election. I looked at this woman who had sharp objects in her hand and I thought it might be prudent to take the non-committal route.
"Wow! Sure is something, huh? Most exciting election...
PH Staff | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Daily Kos (D)/Research 2000
10/21-23,08; 1,100 LV 3%
Mode: Live Telephone Interviews
National
Obama 52, McCain 40
Brad Balfour | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
Actor Sam Rockwell, director Clark Gregg and author Chuck Palahniuk have to hand it to David Duchovny. He brings sex addiction to the public's attention, though it certainly wasn't his intention. While there are far bigger issues to lay on the common consciousness, his antics and subsequent separation from spouse...
Tracy Lea Carnes | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
Since the phrase "pals around with terrorists" didn't stick, the Republican campaign has now begun slinging a little "socialist" mud tinged with communist undertones. They throw words around like "Obama is a Marxist" and "Obama is a Socialist" as if they want you to believe that you're going to wake...
Dawn Teo | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
In recent weeks, as the McCain-Palin campaign has increasingly been called out for leveraging --- at rallies and in its notorious robocalls --- words of division, suspicion, and contempt, the emotions and tempers of McCain-Palin supporters have been heated beyond the boiling point. The language of the McCain-Palin campaign now...
Andy Borowitz | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Offering a sharp contrast to the general gloom on Wall Street today, retail stocks soared on the news that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) plans to buy a new outfit for Election Night.
Major retailers had been plummeting all day but staged a stunning comeback when Gov. Palin told a reporter...
PH Staff | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby
10/21-23, 08; 1,203 LV 2.9%
Mode: Live Telephone Interviews
National
Obama 51, McCain 41
Cenk Uygur | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics
These are two ads we put together at The Young Turks that we think Obama should run against McCain and Palin. So, we will be running them free of charge on our XM show, our web show and on our You Tube channel.
For the first ad...
Asher Goldstein | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
In the world of cinema one of my most beloved sub-genres is the coming of age picture. And I'm not referring to bubble-gum movies about suburbanites not getting to attend prom with the date of their choice. Rather, the pictures in question are the work, generally by young(er) filmmakers, that...
Tom Gregory | Posted May 25, 2011 | Entertainment
The Right's evangelical base is the new costume this Halloween.
No need for a mask, just leave reason at home.
John Dinges | Posted May 25, 2011 | Off The Bus
John McCain, who has harshly criticized the idea of sitting down with dictators without pre-conditions, appears to have done just that. In 1985, McCain traveled to Chile for a friendly meeting with Chile's military ruler, General Augusto Pinochet, one of the world's most notorious violators of human rights credited with...
Emily Cotler | Posted May 25, 2011 | Style
Full disclosure: I am a fervent Obama supporter and feel with every fiber of my being that Sarah Palin is wrong for the job, twelve ways to Tuesday. Her belief in fossil fuels, but not fossils makes me close my eyes and search for breath. Don't even get me started...
Guest Pollster | Posted May 25, 2011 | Politics