Todd Akin has so far refused to step down giving his opponent, Claire McCaskill, a solid shot of retaining her seat. The GOP is furious with him over his "legitimate rape" comments and most pundits predict a ten point shift away from the Tea Party candidate and toward the democratic challenger. Not surprisingly, a recent poll done in a less than accurate way (less than a thousand called, all landlines) showed that Akin STILL has a four point lead, but this poll is skewered toward older, dumber, GOP vote only individuals, meaning that among that deluded, Akin is better than any democrat anytime no matter how stupid the person. This is exactly the mentality that cost the Republican party the Senate last election when they nominated such brain powers as Sharon "batshit crazy" Angle, Christine "I'm a witch" O'Donnell and Carla "I was voted the 19th worst CEO ever by Portfolio magazine" Fiorina, all of whom went down to crushing defeats, even though polls suggested a possible win. Sound familiar?
Akin is doomed as the GOP is pulling all support for him and will get crushed in a general election as a result as ads pound the local airwaves about this neanderthal's outdated views. It is telling that polls done by phone are becoming less and less accurate, proving my point that phone polls tend to be far righter than what people who show up to vote generally are. Rasmussen polls are a great example as they are NEVER right anymore and demonstrate why a combination of focus groups, phone polling and door to door questions are so much more accurate. And those polls spell disaster for the Republican party, especially if people like Todd Akin stay in the race. He will become a lightening rod of controversy and detract from any nonsense the GOP will try to throw at us. Add to that Romney's refusal to release his tax returns which should give rise to whole new movement based on the worthless birther movement. We should not let up on our demand for his returns as they may show criminal activity, something I would like to know before I elect a President. How come every Republican is okay with Romney being a crook but Obama's birth certificate, college records and even marriage license is a matter of life or death? Please.
Akin has until five o clock today to withdraw, a notion the Democrats do not want as their opponent is wounded and vulnerable. As the election gets closer, Akin is going to fall further and further in the polls, especially if the GOP and American Crossroads stop all funding which they might. True it might cost them the seat, but if they are seen as defending this guy, it could cost a lot more as other candidates are certain to seize on that issue; that abortion in case of rape is always going to be illegal under a GOP candidate. Paul Ryan has been shown in the past to agree with this, so opponents will use that to attack Romney and Ryan with it, and may be the deciding factor in the election if enough people decide it is an important enough matter to vote on. As a majority of the country has no problem with abortion under these circumstances, it is going to be hard to defend such an unpopular view as Akin's.
God may have a sense of humor in all this, as a possible hurricane is headed for Tampa and the RNC. If it strengthens enough it will be named Issac, which means it will join such infamous named storms like Irene, Ivan, Ike and Irene of the last decade. Now, the storm is still way out there and could go anywhere or even fizzle completely so if you live in the Tampa area don't panic yet. I just like the idea of category five hurricane slamming into the RNC and sweeping them all of to Oz, a place most of them seem to reside in anyway. By the way, who decides where these conventions are because both parties seem to have overlooked some major details? The GOP picked Tampa in August. Nevermind the brutal heat but it is also smack dab on the middle of hurricane season. And the democrats went to North Carolina (really?) at the Bank Of America Pavillion. Did no one notice that the name of the building you are in might have some issues with your platform and reeks of hypocrisy? I hate both parties, just the GOP a little more.
ABC continues its downward spiral as everyone seems to want to be Fox News now. After their idiotic rush to judgement that the Colorado theater shooter had Tea Party connections with zero evidence, they were forced to backtrack almost immediately. They have also been accused of misrepresenting the interview with the Joker shooter's mom which is a he said/she said controversy due to the unbelievable fact that the interview was not recorded. As a former reporter, I can tell you that everything in these circumstances is taped for just this reason and as to why it wasn't is an issue. Now comes word that director Tony Scott did NOT have inoperable brain cancer according to his widow. Way to check your facts you idiots. If it was just ABC news I'd feel better but this is becoming a regular occurrence.
Fox news and CNN jumped the gun over the Supreme Court ruling over Obamacare with both declaring it had been overturned, which it hadn't. Fox reversed themselves two minutes later while CNN went on for almost ten before realizing their mistake. NBC has been caught editing tape to the Zimmerman 911 call and Fox, is well Fox, making blatant propaganda on a near daily basis. This is not how news should be handled and the reason why no one is watching these channels anymore. CNN ratings are so low it would appear that only shutins, people at airports and the criminally insane are watching.
Not to be outdone, Newsweek started a controversy this week when historian Niall Ferguson wrote a blistering piece on Obama that was factually inaccurate and highly misleading. Economists like Paul Krugman ripped it apart as Republican propaganda run amok and some like Brad Delong stated that Ferguson should be fired, as Fareed Zakaria had been let go for plagiarism complainants recently. Having read the article, I was disgusted by how wrong it was, mislabeling parts of Obamacare as tax increases (they aren't), or how much it would cost ( which was off by billions of dollars according to the CBO). I particularly hated his support for the Ryan Budget plan is which will bankrupt this country stat. Funny how a historian can't see that by duplicating the exact mistakes that led to the Great Depression, another won't occur. Sad.
This is from The National Memo:
In response to the Newsweek piece, James Fallows apologized on behalf of his alma mater Harvard. Jonathan Alter said that Newsweek, the magazine where he worked for 28 years, had “disgraced itself.” Alex Pareene of Salon quipped:”Getting every single fact wrong in a magazine cover story is a great way to get everyone’s attention."
But why would we ever trust Niall Ferguson, who has been wrong about every economic issue that matters since the President took office?
But Newsweek itself has not yet responded, except to tweet Ferguson’s response.
A dishonest attack like Ferguson’ is to be expected in an election year. But a national news magazine should check the facts in a broadside cover attack on the president. And Professor: If you’re going to write Paul Ryan fan fiction, why not keep it in your diary where it belongs?
It is further telling that when asked, Newsweek said they do not have any fact checkers in their employment anymore and that writers were expected to self-fact check their work. Ah downsizing. Plus this method works so great with every major corporation out there and their self policing policies. Newsweek, Time and the like are pretty much rags of what they once were. I stopped getting both years ago when they became unreadable. I would suggest the rest of you do the same out there.
Vote for Elizabeth Warren 2012. The country depends on it.
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