Tuesday, September 07, 2004
What are they talking about?
Two events last week marked significant turning points for very different reasons. One was the recent polls that showed President Bush taking a double digit lead. The other was the tragedy in Beslan.
I spent a lot of time on home improvement projects this weekend, but I've been wondering want kind of response these two events have elicited from the "opposition", specifically those who have opposed Bush and/or have been apologists for Islam.
For example I stopped by Juan Cole's blog with the somewhat sententious title Informed Comment. Not a word about Beslan or the polls. He does condemn Qaradawi, which I applaud, but the rest of the week's posts are about events in Iraq and his new favorite, the Israeli "spy" story (does anyone remember Susan Lindaur getting this kind of coverage?), which in all likelihood will not even result in any charges being made.
Daily Kos is all over the post convention bounce story. He's throwing everything and the kitchen sink at Bush, but the main response seemed to be a CNN/Gallup poll that only gives Bush a two point bounce. I could spend all day analyzing this, but I'll let the reader draw their own conclusions:
The Bush Bounce in Historical Context
Bush's two-point convention bounce is one of the smallest registered in Gallup polling history, along with Hubert Humphrey's two-point bounce following the 1968 Democratic convention, George McGovern's zero-point bounce following the 1972 Democratic convention, and Kerry's "negative bounce" of one point among registered voters earlier this year. Bush's bounce is the smallest an incumbent president has received.
To get a better overview of the polls, see the Votemaster at the Electoral College Predictor
Oh, and nothing about Beslan. But after the contractor incident I don't expect much in the way of compassion at Daily Kos
Talking Points Memo had this rather cryptic entry regarding the polls. And lots on the Israeli "spy" case. Good thing this is just valid criticism of Israel and not anti-semitism, or else I'd be getting a little uncomfortable right now. Russian massacre - bubkes. He also had a blog ad I found very amusing. A picture of Ted Turner with the caption "My beef with big media". It links to an article by Ted in the Washington Monthly.
I freely admit: When I was in the media business, especially after the federal government changed the rules to favor large companies, I tried to sweep the board, and I came within one move of owning every link up and down the media chain. Yet I felt then, as I do now, that the government was not doing its job. The role of the government ought to be like the role of a referee in boxing, keeping the big guys from killing the little guys
I spent a lot of time on home improvement projects this weekend, but I've been wondering want kind of response these two events have elicited from the "opposition", specifically those who have opposed Bush and/or have been apologists for Islam.
For example I stopped by Juan Cole's blog with the somewhat sententious title Informed Comment. Not a word about Beslan or the polls. He does condemn Qaradawi, which I applaud, but the rest of the week's posts are about events in Iraq and his new favorite, the Israeli "spy" story (does anyone remember Susan Lindaur getting this kind of coverage?), which in all likelihood will not even result in any charges being made.
Daily Kos is all over the post convention bounce story. He's throwing everything and the kitchen sink at Bush, but the main response seemed to be a CNN/Gallup poll that only gives Bush a two point bounce. I could spend all day analyzing this, but I'll let the reader draw their own conclusions:
The Bush Bounce in Historical Context
Bush's two-point convention bounce is one of the smallest registered in Gallup polling history, along with Hubert Humphrey's two-point bounce following the 1968 Democratic convention, George McGovern's zero-point bounce following the 1972 Democratic convention, and Kerry's "negative bounce" of one point among registered voters earlier this year. Bush's bounce is the smallest an incumbent president has received.
To get a better overview of the polls, see the Votemaster at the Electoral College Predictor
Oh, and nothing about Beslan. But after the contractor incident I don't expect much in the way of compassion at Daily Kos
Talking Points Memo had this rather cryptic entry regarding the polls. And lots on the Israeli "spy" case. Good thing this is just valid criticism of Israel and not anti-semitism, or else I'd be getting a little uncomfortable right now. Russian massacre - bubkes. He also had a blog ad I found very amusing. A picture of Ted Turner with the caption "My beef with big media". It links to an article by Ted in the Washington Monthly.
I freely admit: When I was in the media business, especially after the federal government changed the rules to favor large companies, I tried to sweep the board, and I came within one move of owning every link up and down the media chain. Yet I felt then, as I do now, that the government was not doing its job. The role of the government ought to be like the role of a referee in boxing, keeping the big guys from killing the little guys
Even though he can afford to take out blog ads to get people to read his article, at heart he's just a regular shmoe like the rest of us.
Unlike Ted, I can't afford to spend all day holding forth, so that will have to be all for now
papijoe 6:58 AM
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