On Wednesday, I was forced to go to a funeral and haven't encountered traffic that bad in Brooklyn since the rescheduled 2001 primary day. But in the last two days the streets have been deserted.
Don't say the tank is half empty; say the tank is half full.
Memo to the Governor: You remember the 70, right? How about imposing odd/even rationing until the crisis is over?
DeBlasio & the Marathon: He was for it before he was against it. Mayoral Candidates Flip Flop on NYC Marathon politicker.com
Moderate Republican Cognitive Dissonance Watch (Part 357):
Brooks supports Romney, saying that if Mitt wins, we’re more likely to get bipartisan reform and the President is re-elected, it’d be more of the same small stuff.
This is like a judge awarding the batterer custody of the kids because he's less likely to be in the hospital. The Upside of Opportunism www.nytimes.com
Moderate Republican Cognitive Dissonance Watch (Part 358):
In the most seriously disordered column of this election season Frum says Obama is responsible for an economic recovery now accelerating into an expansion, killed Osama bin Laden, ended the war in Iraq and enforced tightening sanctions against Iran, while his GOP opponents in Congress have behaved about as badly and irresponsibly as any opposition group in decades.
Then Frum says he opposes repealing Obamacare, but doesn't believe the Republicans will do that. Frum also says he favors Cap and Trade. He adds that "Mitt Romney's campaign has been one long appeasement of the most selfish and stupid elements of the Republican coalition, and the instinct for appeasement will not terminate with the counting of the votes next Tuesday."
But in the end, Frum comes out for Romney. His argument is essentially that the House Republicans are terrorists holding us hostage and that the safest thing to do is to pay the ransom. Why I'll Vote for Romney www.thedailybeast.com
Why do liberals love The Smartest Man in America?
The author is persuasive in explaining why so many (and not just right wingers) hate Silver, and maybe he is right about some of the liberal love.
But, as to this particular liberal, my answer is that Nate Silver is detail obsessed, evidence based, and seemingly misses no possible nuance or doubt in his calculi.
As someone whose taken heat again and again for his numerically based pessimism about the Turner/Weprin and Storobin/Fidler races, because I rejected false signifiers like enrollment in favor of looking at actual voter performance, news and facts on the ground, I can categorically say that I do not love Nate Silver because he predicts my side will win (he called the House two years ago in all its awful gory details)—I love Nate Silver because he's right about 83.7% of the time. Silver Linings prospect.org
N.Y. Election Law
§ 5-106. Qualifications of voters; reasons for exclusion.
1. No person who shall receive, accept, or offer to receive, or pay, offer or promise to pay, contribute, offer or promise to contribute to another, to be paid or used, any money or any other valuable thing as a compensation or reward for the giving or withholding a vote at an election, or for registering or refraining from registering as a voter, or who shall make any promise to influence the giving or withholding of any such vote or registration, or who shall make or become directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending upon the result of an election, shall vote at such election.
§ 17–132. Illegal voting
Any person who:
1. Knowingly votes or offers or attempts to vote at anyelection, when not qualified…
…is guilty of a felony.
If The Smartest Man In America casts a vote Tuesday, he would seem to be committing a felony under NYS law. Nate Silver Bets Joe Scarborough Over Election Outcome www.huffingtonpost.com
I will eat crow and admit that Hackshaw may indeed be correct that the President will exceed 300 electoral votes, although some of Obama’s new movement comes in states where minority voting is not an especially important factor.
Guess Rock knew about the storm all along.
Still, Romney looks well on track to exceed 48% of the popular vote, and any election where 48% or more of the people vote for the loser is close by any sane definition. Nov. 2: For Romney to Win, State Polls Must Be Statistically Biased fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com
McWhorter: It might surprise some to know that after all President Obama has been through, all he has done, all he has run up against, that after this rich four-year pageant of challenge, confusion and coping as a commander in chief, a certain crowd’s take on it all is “He hasn’t done anything for black people!”…
…Health care reform, the Race to the Top education initiative, the auto industry bailout, getting rid of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” pushing a jobs bill, not to mention Michelle Obama’s Food Initiative for Urban Communities — never mind. None of it has been “black” enough.
By way of answer, McWhorter says: "….these days, having your eyes on the prize means focusing on strategies aimed at leveling the playing field in general — helping all underprivileged and uninsured and unemployed people climb their way up the ladder.’
Answering those who want to know why Obama couldn’t break the mold and wage a particular fight for people of color, or for poor people, McWhorter notes "…Obama never said he would, that the approach didn’t work the first time, and that in today’s political atmosphere any such proposals would indubitably never have even gotten off the ground…They Have a Dream, I guess. But I was more interested in change we could actually believe in." People need to stop saying Obama 'hasn't done anything for black people' www.nydailynews.com
A Scary Treat for the Halloween Season. The 100th Day of the Romney Administration Share this: Tweet this: Take a look at the first 100 days of the Romney administration.