This site is a mess. It is laid out poorly and functions like a Model T in sub-zero weather. All the error messages are inexcusable. The “editing” is hit or miss and seems to be more a function of who is awake and feels like doodling with the site than any coherent policy or strategy.

But my concern goes well beyond that.

Any site whose “managing editor” feels free to call a conservative Republican Congressman a “douchebag” (for something he didn’t even do) is not a site that most serious Republicans will stick with.

Worse than that, a site whose “editors” choose to endorse two Democrats in Alaska in some sort of spasm of misdirected rectitude, is sadly lacking in adult supervision.

Finally, in the weeks when the financial meltdown was front and center in the news and John McCain was hemorrhaging support, what was kept front and center on the “front page” here at RedState? The same bloody story! Did it not occur to “the editors” that endlessly giving the “economic crisis” so much attention would be like Kos headlining his site with breathless updates on William Ayers or Jeremiah Wright? Lunacy.

This site is amateurish in an age that demands more. For decades conservatives have been ahead of the liberals in organization. Not now. If RedState wants to be relevant it needs to clean up its act and get serious. Now.

I have been exchanging a few emails the past several days with a very liberal Democratic friend of mine who lives in Alexandria Virginia just outside DC. He is totally for Obama but a comment he made in an email today really got my attention:

I haven’t seen a single Obama TV ad in 3-4 days and
the TV has been peppered by McCain ads…..

If that is an accurate observation that is very interesting news indeed.

Has anyone else in Northern Virginia noticed this?

No I mean their actual ages. Of course it matters who is ELECTED.

I have noticed that many news stories go out of their way to give the candidate ages.

For instance this AP story.

Ages normally are included either when the individuals are unknown or when there is a specific reason for their age to be mentioned.

In a routine story on the latest Zogby Poll it seems odd that the ages were splashed out there in the 4th and 5th paragraphs.

Amongst all the well documented media bias this is just another drip, but telling all the same.

This election is not over. John McCain can still win. The polls are grim but they are in a tightening phase once again.

For the past several weeks there have been odd swings where Obama goes way out in front and then slips back. We are currently witnessing another slip back.

I’ve decided a couple of things in terms of what polls I will watch. First I am only interested in the tracking polls. At least with tracking polls you have some reasonable chance of spotting trends one way or the other in spite of any bias that may be involved. And one shot polls are so ‘90s anyway.

Read More →

I haven’t seen any comments related to Obama’s desire that the FDIC limit be raised from the current $100,000 to $250,000 via the “recovery” bill.

This seems a tad odd and out of line with his professed love for the middle class and poor down trodden folk in general.

After all how much of the “struggling middle class” have accounts with $250,000 in them?

Given the fact that it is relatively simple to spread several hundred thousand dollars among various institutions I find Obama’s special concern in this area curious. Peculiar even.

Not to mention that FDIC has only a fraction of the money on hand that would likely be needed if things REALLY went off the tracks.

Ace of Spades today linked to this piece by William Saletan in Slate.

From September 14, 2000 it pronounced GWB “toast” because of his poor standing in the polls. Saletan’s concluding paragraph:

A candidate who puts pride before prudence, refuses to learn from his mistakes, and is capable of living for days in an alternate political universe can only survive while he’s ahead. Once he falls behind, there’s no reason to think he’s up to the task of correcting his course and regaining control of the race. Yes, Bush came back to beat John McCain in South Carolina. But in that case, Bush had a firewall of phone banks, military backers, and boundless financial superiority. The swing voters in that contest were conservative Republicans. Bush’s little-known opponent was prone to fatally undisciplined anger and was vulnerable to ads full of previously unaired negative information. Against Gore, Bush has none of those crutches. Stick a fork in him. He’s done.

Gee, does any of that sound familiar?

After tonight’s outstanding performance by Sarah Palin we conservatives need to redouble our efforts to elect John McCain.

Joe Biden was right: This is the most important election of our lives.

The polling picture just now is rather grim for Republicans. They almost unanimously show Obama with a 4 to 9 point lead. This is not good. It also is not the end of the world.

Everyone wants to be up in the polls. No matter how much we disparage them when we are behind, we all know we would rather be up, much as a football team would prefer to lead by two touchdowns to begin the Fourth Quarter. But just as no PROFESSIONAL football team would give up when time remains on the clock, neither should Republicans give up 33 days before Election Day.

There are several reasons why but here I’ll deal with the polling issue.

Read More →

The death of Paul Newman saddens me.

Mr. Newman was a classy guy, a great actor, a competent race car driver, and several cuts above the average Hollywood leading man.

Mr. Newman was a political liberal but not of the mindless Woody Harrleson variety or the nasty and angry Ed Asner or Michael Moore type, and not the smug Alan Alda or snarky David Letterman sort.

He was a liberal but also recognized the decency and good intentions of conservatives.

His passing leaves the world a colder and less tolerant place.

So here are the three tracking polls I have been following.

As of September 25:

Gallup Tracking - Tie , 46 46

Rasmussen Tracking - Obama +3 , 49 46

Battleground Tracking - McCain +1 , 48 47

Everyone buckle your chin straps and hang on.

Jay Cost on his old Horse Race Blog did an outstanding job of breaking down the various polls in 2004. He was invaluable in figuring out which ones were solid and which ones were fluff.

Is anyone doing that on a daily or weekly basis in 2008?

The constant avalanche of polls is bewildering and bordering on meaningless.

Many of the results just don’t scan.

Read More →

After closely watching the polls over the past three weeks my sense is that they are weird this cycle.

I am mildly suspicious about the national polls. They seem to be going up and down in a semi-choreographed way. This makes we wonder if in fact they are all tinkering with their sample ingredients to try to blend in with the current news cycle.

Read More →

After closely watching the polls over the past three weeks my sense is that they are weird this cycle.

I am mildly suspicious about the national polls. They seem to be going up and down in a semi-choreographed way. This makes we wonder if in fact they are all tinkering with their sample ingredients to try to blend in with the current news cycle.

Read More →

As we behold the disgusting attacks on John McCain and Sarah Palin it would be well to recall that it was 56 years ago this week that another Republican ticket was fighting against the same type of smear tactics.

Charges that were first splashed across the pages of the New York Post were quickly picked up by the major media of the time. The fact that the charges were spurious and that the fund in question was both common and legal didn’t matter. The fact that every cent was carefully accounted for didn’t slow the media frenzy.

Only the courage of the vice-presidential nominee and the good sense of Republicans across the country kept the left-wingers from winning that battle.

Read More →

Today was the 221st anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution and in Orange County Virginia, Montpelier, the home of the Father of The Constitution, James Madison, re-opened after a multi-million dollar renovation.

Along with various elected officials, we were honored by the presence of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.

Before the ceremonies I had a chance to speak very briefly with each of them. My sole desire and interest was to be able to thank them for what they do.

Read More →

RCP has put up five very telling FOX News/Rasmussen polls this evening:

Pennsylvania Obama 47, McCain 47 Tie
Ohio McCain 48, Obama 45 McCain +3
Florida McCain 49, Obama 44 McCain +5
Virginia McCain 48, Obama 48 Tie
Colorado Obama 46, McCain 48 McCain +2

Read More →

Two new polls show Barack Obama ahead in New York by 5 points and in Virginia by 4 points.

If you believe that I have some oceanfront property in Iowa to sell you.

New York went for John Kerry by 19 points while Virginia went for George W. Bush by 8 points. For you community organizers out there that is a 27 point differential. No way that four years later these two states are a point apart.

It is likely that both polls are wrong but the one for Virginia by Survey USA has some obvious red flags.

Read More →

Over the past 60 years of presidential elections “experience” has proven a tenuous foothold for those trying to discredit an opponent.

For instance Richard Nixon was only 39 years of age when Ike put him on the ticket in 1952. The Democrats, who already hated Nixon because of his take down of Alger Hiss and Helen Gahagan Douglas, pounced on Nixon’s inexperience and alleged unsuitability for the Vice-Presidency.

Four years later the Stevenson campaign again flogged the same horse. In both ‘52 and ‘56 the nation didn’t buy it. Even given Dwight Eisenhower’s known health problems, in 1956 the people chose the GOP ticket in another, larger, landslide.

Read More →

In a piece via UPI, Martin Sieff explores some of the more egregious examples of the media bias this year.

But for me he kind of ruined the whole effort with this paragraph:

In the long sweep of U.S. political history, the worst dirt that has been thrown at either of the presidential candidates pales compared with……..the false claims by Republicans in the 1944 campaign that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was senile. FDR by that point was indeed a dying man, though he did not know it, but he was mentally as sharp as ever.

For starters, the Democrats said the same thing about Ronald Reagan in 1984 but apparently Sieff doesn’t consider that to be “dirty” enough to be mentioned.

Read More →

When John McCain chose Sarah Palin he pulled off perhaps the most brilliant political masterstroke in living memory.

Whether he realized all the nuances of his act or not, will likely be the subject of a few books over next 5 or 10 years.

I believe that he also had the good fortune to have very fertile ground on which to plant. Just prior to the Sarah Palin pick, Republican and conservative voters all over the nation had finally gotten to the point of maximum revulsion toward the Democratic ticket.

Read More →