It's quite often the subtle bias in the dominant liberal media that can make a significant difference. Witness yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle piece on a California ballot initiative to impose tax-and-spending limitations on state government. Writer John Wildermuth quotes from two Colorado sources to establish views on our own state's experience with the stronger Taxpayer's Bill of Rights limit (emphases added):"Nobody disagrees that (the cap) kept government spending lower," said Carol Hedges, a senior fiscal analyst for the nonpartisan Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, which opposes the state's budget cap. "But supporters don't like to talk about the human cost of keeping government smaller."... Across the nation, anti-tax … [Read more...]
Whimsical Case for a “Progressive” Third Party to Replace the GOP
Are you up for a little distracting whimsy? A former elected official, Boulder attorney and self-proclaimed "former Republican" (one of the more popular descriptors being bandied about these days) offers this (over) dose of elitist smugness, painful self-indulgence, overwrought rhetoric, and selective historical knowledge:I was a Republican for 28 years. Like so many others who now vote Democratic, I didn’t leave the party — it left me. Based on the analyses of this month’s election, it also left college graduates, suburbanites and Hispanics in the red-state dust. The sad fact is that a map of the few counties that voted more Republican than they did in 2004 neatly overlays maps showing the nation’s highest rates of obesity, poverty … [Read more...]
Crushing Last Shred of Media Credibility a Good Reason to Vote McCain
So you're a conservative and you're not that inspired by John McCain's record or the way he has run this campaign? Sarah Palin isn't enough motivation for you? Well, this snippet from Howard Kurtz's Washington Post column may just give you all the extra incentive you need to get out and vote for McCain-Palin (and the whole Republican team, of course):"If the mainstream media are wrong about Obama and the voters pull a Truman, that is going to be the end of whatever shred of credibility they have left," says Tobe Berkovitz, associate dean of Boston University's College of Communication. Stamping out the last shred of media establishment credibility? That sounds pretty appealing to me. … [Read more...]
ObamaFraud and the Ongoing Motivation of the GOP Ground Game
There is a ton to catch up on heading into the election's final week: Palestra has the latest on vote fraud committed by Barack Obama staffers camping out in Ohio. Naysayers repeat the mantra that this fraud can't possibly affect the election, because it's on such a small scale. Focused so intently on potential direct impacts, they miss the point. The ever expanding, yet unknowable, scale of voter registration fraud has been part of feeding a public perception. Based on what we know about human nature and behavior, it will have some effect - how so, it's too hard to say. To further understand the concern, think instead about what this says: the bare minimum of electronic controls to cover his online donations, allowing for myriad kinds … [Read more...]