![election:
Let’s not let politics tear us apart, OK? Seven talking points on family and politics.
To pull back the shade on my personal life a tad: Despite going out of my way to not touch the issue, politics has become so heated amongst family and friends that I’ve had to cut some people off entirely … at least until Wednesday. (I’ve had to block people from calling/texting my phone. It was that bad.) No matter who wins, my relationship shouldn’t change with these people. I blog about politics a lot, but when it comes to my friends and family, I would rather know about how their lives are going.
I was discussing this issue with some good friends last night, and how much it was stressing me out, because I don’t want to argue with people I really care about regarding politics. They mentioned hearing a report on NPR about this very issue, and how it was tearing apart families. This is wrong. And I want to help. [more]
My thoughts on defusing family/friend-related political drama. — Ernie @ SFB](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mczcctmaad1rdkipfo1_500.jpg)
Let’s not let politics tear us apart, OK? Seven talking points on family and politics.
To pull back the shade on my personal life a tad: Despite going out of my way to not touch the issue, politics has become so heated amongst family and friends that I’ve had to cut some people off entirely … at least until Wednesday. (I’ve had to block people from calling/texting my phone. It was that bad.) No matter who wins, my relationship shouldn’t change with these people. I blog about politics a lot, but when it comes to my friends and family, I would rather know about how their lives are going.
I was discussing this issue with some good friends last night, and how much it was stressing me out, because I don’t want to argue with people I really care about regarding politics. They mentioned hearing a report on NPR about this very issue, and how it was tearing apart families. This is wrong. And I want to help. [more]
My thoughts on defusing family/friend-related political drama. — Ernie @ SFB
Michael Bloomberg endorses Obama: Shortly after delivering some extremely harsh criticism of President Obama in The Atlantic this month, the Mayor of New York has endorsed Obama for reelection, attributing much of his decision to Obama’s leadership on, of all things, climate change. “Obama has taken major steps to reduce our carbon consumption, including setting higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks,” Bloomberg wrote in his endorsement. He had nice words for Mitt Romney, but criticized him for reversing otherwise “sensible positions” on a variety of issues. “If the 1994 or 2003 version of Mitt Romney were running for president, I may well have voted for him,” said Bloomberg. (Photo credit: AP) source
I’ve never met anyone in my life who is conniving and dishonest as this guy. He’s my brother so it’s hard to talk about this, but I believe that if he gets elected, he’ll eventually serve time in prison.
The brother of GOP congressional candidate Kerry Bentivolio. This would be an incendiary thing for even a fleeting associate to say about a candidate, let alone a family member, but it’s not the oddest thing to come out of the race for Michigan’s 11th congressional district. A former schoolteacher, Bentivolio was accused of grabbing children’s desks and screaming at them, telling students of his goal to “make each of you cry at least once,” and admitting to a class that they “are just a paycheck to me.” According to his brother, he owes $20,000 in a botched housing deal; Bentivolio responded to accusation by asking the FBI to investigate his brother (so he says; the FBI hasn’t confirmed that it’s doing any investigating into the matter). Bentivolio, who once said that he “has a problem” determining whether or not he’s actually Santa Claus, is currently polling 8 points ahead of his Democratic opponent. source
—Seth @ ShortFormBlog
(via election)
The anti-campaign ad: Richard Tisei, who’s seeking to unseat Rep. John Tierney in Massachusetts, knows voters are sick of campaign ads, and would probably much rather watch, say, footage of a beach. So, he released an ad that’s comprised of just that—a beach. There are no references to policies, vote records, or unsavory associations. Just a sunrise, seagulls, and gentle waves lapping at the shore. This reminds us a bit of Mike Gravel’s rock commercial, except Tisei’s is more succinct, has higher production value, and is grounded in reality.
—Seth @ ShortFormBlog
In case you haven’t seen, we introduce you to the only campaign ad that matters right now.
I believe that FEMA plays a key role in working with states and localities to prepare for and respond to natural disasters. As president, I will ensure FEMA has the funding it needs to fulfill its mission, while directing maximum resources to the first responders who work tirelessly to help those in need, because states and localities are in the best position to get aid to the individuals and communities affected by natural disasters.Mitt Romney • In a statement released by his campaign on Wednesday, pushing back against claims that he would eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency should he win the presidency next week. Romney has been put on the defensive recently, thanks to comments he made regarding the agency’s future should he become President during a debate last June. “Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction,” Romney told debate moderator John King, adding, “And if you can go even further, and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better.”
I’ve spent the morning reading various endorsements of Mitt Romney for president, and they all say the same thing: Mitch McConnell and John Boehner’s strategy worked.Ezra Klein • In a new post on WonkBlog, commenting on a number of Romney endorsements that surprised him — most notably the Des Moines Register’s decision to endorse Mitt Romney, after endorsing the Democratic candidate in the previous five races. In his piece, Klein challenges the paper’s suggestion that President Obama was ineffective when dealing with Congress. He stops short of giving President Obama an endorsement, and recognizes the leadership abilities of Romney, but Klein is not unclear about his feelings on this particular line of logic. “There are good reasons to endorse Mitt Romney for president,” said Klein, adding, “But if you want the political system to work more smoothly, endorsing McConnell and Boehner’s strategy over the last four years is folly.”
![election:
Does your brain feel like it’s melting? Blame the campaign ads.
It’s the final week before the election, and rich people are shoving money into Senate campaigns left and right, The Washington Post reports. If you’re in one of the battleground states, we feel for you. All these annoying ads are probably testing your patience when all you want to do is watch “King of the Hill” reruns while eating Hot Pockets and otherwise being vegetative. And if you live in Montana, we doubly feel for you:
Perhaps no state has been so consumed by outside spending as Montana, where advertising is very cheap compared to large states with urban populations such as Ohio and Florida. There, according to the GOP tracking document, [Jon] Tester ($311,000) and [Denny] Rehberg ($515,000) will blanket the state’s seven small media markets with their closing ads in their competitive race.
Are you at the point where you just don’t care anymore? Think you’ll queue up Netflix and watch a “King of the Hill” marathon on election day rather than, y’know, voting? Just a thought of encouragement here: Don’t listen to the majority. Don’t feel like you’re at a crossroads. Read up on the issues, get a grip on foreign, domestic and economic policy issues, and vote for yourself. And don’t merely base your opinion on the fact that Denny Rehberg wears flannel in his official Congressional photo and looks like a distant relative of Ron Swanson. You can do better than that.
— Ernie @ ShortFormBlog
Why campaign ads are getting increasingly annoying.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcqa8e14P01rdkipfo1_500.jpg)
Does your brain feel like it’s melting? Blame the campaign ads.
It’s the final week before the election, and rich people are shoving money into Senate campaigns left and right, The Washington Post reports. If you’re in one of the battleground states, we feel for you. All these annoying ads are probably testing your patience when all you want to do is watch “King of the Hill” reruns while eating Hot Pockets and otherwise being vegetative. And if you live in Montana, we doubly feel for you:
Perhaps no state has been so consumed by outside spending as Montana, where advertising is very cheap compared to large states with urban populations such as Ohio and Florida. There, according to the GOP tracking document, [Jon] Tester ($311,000) and [Denny] Rehberg ($515,000) will blanket the state’s seven small media markets with their closing ads in their competitive race.
Are you at the point where you just don’t care anymore? Think you’ll queue up Netflix and watch a “King of the Hill” marathon on election day rather than, y’know, voting? Just a thought of encouragement here: Don’t listen to the majority. Don’t feel like you’re at a crossroads. Read up on the issues, get a grip on foreign, domestic and economic policy issues, and vote for yourself. And don’t merely base your opinion on the fact that Denny Rehberg wears flannel in his official Congressional photo and looks like a distant relative of Ron Swanson. You can do better than that.
— Ernie @ ShortFormBlog
Why campaign ads are getting increasingly annoying.
The question of why poor people vote Republican is not simply an issue of income but primarily race and partly region and gender. Poor people may be more likely to vote Democrat; poor white people are not. In 2008 McCain won a slim majority (51%) of white Americans who earn less than $50,000 (this is just below the national median income which is not poor but the only figure available from exit polls that breaks down votes down by race and income), while Obama won a whopping majority of non-whites in the same category (86%). Asked in May which candidate would do more to advance their family’s economic interests middle-class white voters who say they are struggling to maintain their financial positions gave Romney a 26 point lead over Obama.
But that support is less pronounced among white women than white men and is not uniform across the country. In Mississippi 84% of whites who earn below $50,000 backed McCain: in Vermont 70% in the same category voted for Obama. Of the nine states that backed Obama in 2008 in three less affluent whites went for McCain, in five they backed Obama and one was a tie. In all of them non-whites voted Democrat.
The Guardian’s Gary Younge takes a closer look at what he believes to be the driving forces behind poor and working class Americans’ ballot decisions.
— Scott @ ShortFormBlog
Both camps agreed to the cancellation, so this isn’t a partisan thing. The two have been neck and neck the entire campaign, with a Boston Globe poll today showing Brown leading Warren by a statistically-insignificant 2 points. source
But seriously … I am not kidding.
I’m not watching all of...
Yahoo wants to buy Hulu now too. They’re going on an “I...
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
To be brutal, a certain amount of bad weather on election day helps conservatives in every democracy. In crude terms, car-driving conservative retirees still turn out in driving rain, when bus-taking lower-income workers just back from a night shift are more likely to give rain-soaked polls a miss.The Economist, speculating on what effect—if any—Hurricane Sandy might have on the outcome of the election. “School closures are a particular problem for low-income families or single mothers scrambling to find childcare,” the columnist adds, and this could further surpress Democratic turnout. However, there’s also the possibility that Sandy could help Obama’s chances. The theory here is that the news coverage devoted to the storm will prevent any serious change in the media narrative of the race from taking hold, and because Obama is still the favorite for reelection, this could end up “freezing the election campaign, and Mr Romney’s perceived momentum, in place.” In truth, it’s anyone’s guess as to what effect Sandy will have on the polls. Thankfully, though, the storm is expected to clear up by November 6th, so it may ultimately be a moot point. —Seth @ ShortFormBlog (via election)
We’re still waiting for the full impact of Hurricane Sandy. But we’ve got at least a sense for what lies ahead in the next hours and days.
The National Weather Service has issued a series of warningsup and down the East Coast.
Below, we take a geographical look at the five most politically important areas in the path of the storm:
1. Philadelphia: This is where Democrats win elections in Pennsylvania, and it’s smack-dab in the middle of where the hurricane is supposed to make landfall. There is currently a flood warning in place for Philadelphia. The question is whether whatever happens over the next week hurts turnout in this vital area of the state. There is no early voting, so Democrats won’t be losing votes before Election Day, but they’ll need this area to come out strong on Nov. 6. If it doesn’t, that could give Republicans a better chance in a blue-leaning state (and a huge electoral vote prize).
The Post’s list of potentially affected regions also includes Boston, southwest Virginia, western and coastal North Carolina, as well as both northern and eastern Ohio. The storm is expected to leave tens of thousands, possibly even millions, of residents without power, and has already forced the cancellation of early voting in some parts of North Carolina. Could all this bad weather have an effect on the final results?
— Scott @ ShortFormBlog
Our first post on Election. We tried to make it count.
Thanks again to last week’s guest editors, safely ensconced on the West Coast: Cord Jefferson and L.A. Liberty. For those of us back east, we may be off to a rocky start for the week due to Hurricane Sandy, so your election-blogging may vary.
However, we’d still like to extend the usual official welcome to this week’s guest editors. They are itinerant commentator and Nation correspondent Ari Melber, plus the voraciously productive and comprehensive newsy known as ShortFormBlog. Big hugs all round.
So yeah, this is kind of a weird week for this. But we’re still going to try our best to make it awesome. Yeah elections whoo!
Ayn Rand is one of those things that a lot of us, when we were 17 or 18 and feeling misunderstood, we’d pick up. Then, as we get older, we realize that a world in which we’re only thinking about ourselves and not thinking about anybody else, in which we’re considering the entire project of developing ourselves as more important than our relationships to other people and making sure that everybody else has opportunity – that that’s a pretty narrow vision.President Obama, in an interview with Rolling Stone, when asked about Paul Ryan’s “obsession” with Rand. source
Copyright 2009-2013 Ernie Smith • Ask us stuff! • E-mail us • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook
