Christy! Charlie Brown! Nate!

fitz

Happy day after your birthday, Christy.

Thanks, Imm — am still catching up on sleep, having had to get up at a bleary 5 am yesterday. (I am SO not a morning person…)

You might have felt bleary but you looked MARVELOUS!

OK, off to work.

Awww, thanks, Imm. *blush*

Nate is great!

And another interesting piece of reading, from Matt Taibbi, courtesy the truthout website:

Time to Go! Inside the Worst Congress Ever
By Matt Taibbi
Rolling Stone

Tuesday 17 October 2006

The worst Congress ever: How our national legislature has become a stable of thieves and perverts – in five easy steps.
There is very little that sums up the record of the US Congress in the Bush years better than a half-mad boy-addict put in charge of a federal commission on child exploitation. After all, if a hairy-necked, raincoat-clad freak like Rep. Mark Foley can get himself named co-chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, one can only wonder: What the hell else is going on in the corridors of Capitol Hill these days?

These past six years were more than just the most shameful, corrupt and incompetent period in the history of the American legislative branch. These were the years when the US parliament became a historical punch line, a political obscenity on par with the court of Nero or Caligula – a stable of thieves and perverts who committed crimes rolling out of bed in the morning and did their very best to turn the mighty American empire into a debt-laden, despotic backwater, a Burkina Faso with cable.

Give it a read at http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101906R.shtml

This is a marathon, sometimes the muscles grow weary, but we need to remember the prize… taking back our beloved country from the neocon tyrrany.

Get Out Our Vote! [And happy everyday, Christy.]

Mornin’ Christy -

well ya looked like a fabulous morning person yesterday – and your handling of the gooper reminded me of the restaurant fight scene in Crouching Tiger – where she dispatched so many with one hand while sipping tea with the other *g*

I like that!
GET OUT OUR VOTE (GOOV)

morning all…. mmm, coffee good! anyone want some?

Mornin Redd

Bad polling news from Connecticut this morning:

Candidate debates this week did not help the two principal challengers in the Connecticut Senate race, as Sen. Joseph Lieberman now holds a 52 – 35 percent likely voter lead over Democratic candidate Ned Lamont, with 6 percent for Republican Alan Schlesinger and 7 percent undecided, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

OldCoastie at 100 — I do! I haven’t had time to make any as yet — have been sifting through the mound of e-mails…must…make…coffee…

just when I think my jaw can’t drop any lower, then I read about Jerry Lewis firing all the investigators who, um, are looking at HIM!

Man, those repugs! what a clever bunch!

rw at 11 — my understanding was that the Q-poll was conducted BEFORE the debates. Matt Stoller had something on that on MyDD — I’ll see if I can find the link. But first, must make myself some coffee before I fall over…

on top of everything else we’re doing – it is paramount to simply remind everyone you encounter to vote, including the convenience of Absentee and Early Voting where applicable – talk, talk, talk it up –

Old Coastie – USA Today is front paging the Lewis story

Great show Nate. We look forward to the next segment!

So proud of Nate. What an inspiration.

[egr wandering around with coffee cup muttering–marathon not sprint…marathon not sprint…]

Getting back into the saddle. It’s going to be another productive day.

Marc in Placerville -

what’s the trend on Charlie Brown in ‘Hangtown’ ? – saw the Auburn paper endorsed Charlie, but Placerville has been ‘proudly gooper’ for a while -

Redd– Here’s the whole story from Quinnipiac- sounds like the poll was done after the debate:

October 20, 2006 – Lieberman Opens 17-Point Lead In Connecticut, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Dem Challenger Gains Slightly On Rell Candidate debates this week did not help the two principal challengers in the Connecticut Senate race, as Sen. Joseph Lieberman now holds a 52 – 35 percent likely voter lead over Democratic candidate Ned Lamont, with 6 percent for Republican Alan Schlesinger and 7 percent undecided, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

[snip]

[Per dabinCT's reminder below, it's a good idea to post only portions of articles, not the full text, due to copyright considerations.  Thanks!  — CHS] 

cbl -

Old Coastie – USA Today is front paging the Lewis story

oh goody and thanks! the repug party here in So Cal is about to run the table for corruption – pretty soon, it’s going to be hard to find an R congresscritter in any district from the Mexican border north to Santa Barbara that isn’t in some sort of trouble…

rwcole @ 11

Mornin Redd

Bad polling news from Connecticut this morning:

Candidate debates this week did not help the two principal challengers in the Connecticut Senate race, as Sen. Joseph Lieberman now holds a 52 – 35 percent likely voter lead over Democratic candidate Ned Lamont, with 6 percent for Republican Alan Schlesinger and 7 percent undecided, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

‘Stick a fork in – he’s done’[Lou Reed].

Sad to say, but this has been obvious for weeks as some of us have been saying. Ned had his chance and he failed (not us). Time to have a good cry; and, as TPM and others have suggested, focus emotional energy and last minute cash on local races with a

Christy,

I thought you showed remarkable restraint when you said on C-Span that we just want Congress to do their…jobs. No swearing on national television :)

Old Coastie,

saw the gooper who sent the letter to hispanic voters get caught (running against one of the Sanchez sisters in OC) Repubs have asked him to quit race – he has a statement sched for this am -

first he denied it, then blamed staffer, etc.

similar story with Colorado Gov. gooper candidate – but he was already behind 15 pts bwah haaa haaa

tfitz

Yeah- looks like a case of toast. Now dems will have to scramble to make sure that ol Joe doesn’t go over to the dark side- kissin his ass is a job for someone with a strong stomach.

Good morning all!
Nate, thank you so much for adding to our momentum. You are the example of walking the walk. Great energy is important for all of us at this time.
We ARE taking it back.
A shoutout of healing to Tommy, Esten, and family.
Egregious, sending you a blanket of peace.

scarecrow October 19th, 2006 at 7:21 pm

I don’t know where this is coming from.

1. Ned has never stopped making his points about Iraq being a mistake that took our eye off the ball (al-Q) and Afghanistan, that make us less able to deal with other, more real threats. In fact, he has sharpened the message, saying that Bush policies have made us less secure, and made Israel less secure, while making us unable to play an honest broker role. I think that’s exactly what he should be saying, both wrt to the Dem dislike of Bush, and wrt to Lieberman’s claim that only he clearly sees the threat to US interests. Ned continues to undermine this conceit.

2. Ned never got “DLC’d” He got help, advice, and funding from others, but never let it control his campaign. The good guys are still running this.

3. The party can help Ned by making it harder for Joe to claim he’s a loyal Democrat. Before the debates began, polls suggested that 35 percent of Dems still supported Joe after the primary, so anything that brings these folks home to Ned, the real Democrat in this race, and the legitimate Democratic party nominee, would be helpful. Ned is doing what he needs to do to bring these folks home. The party needs to do more to make sure Connecticut voters realize that Joe has acted in a completely dishonest and disloyal manner, against his party in Connecticut (undercutting the House candidates) against his party’s national chances for victory in November, and undermining public support for the party in general by suggesting they don’t deserve to win the elections (this from a man who lost his own primary as an incumbent!).

The point Jane is making is about getting this betrayal conveyed to the voters of Connecticut, (and getting the Party leadership to help make this point) because (1) if Joe betrayed the Dems, there is no reason for Connecticut Dems to still support him and (2) if Joe betrayed his own party, but lies about it, then there is no reason for Republicans to trust him either (so vote for Schlesinger if you can’t vote for Ned).

So attacking Joe’s credibility, on any issue, is part of this overall strategy. His voting record, and prior statement, are all legitimate targets for questioning an incumbent’s credibility. There are lots of other statements from the Ned campaign that also point out Joe misstatements and lies.

The handwringing is not helpful, and IMO not based on what’s happening on the ground.

via the LeftCoaster – judge says Shooter must release his visitors’ list:

Cheney is pissed

OldCoastie @
13

just when I think my jaw can’t drop any lower, then I read about Jerry Lewis firing all the investigators who, um, are looking at HIM!

Man, those repugs! what a clever bunch!

Meanwhile, this morning’s LA Times leads the editorial section with a piece about congressional corruption, and starts it with a statement about…Harry Reid! Then they write

But Reid has nothing on House Republicans, who appear to be perfecting the art of “earmarking” money in federal spending bills to boost their real estate interests.

and go on about Hastert, Taylor, Calvert, and Miller (sounds like a law firm). But the damage is done: in this oh-so-Republican culture of congressional corruption, the LAT calls out Reid first. Just trying to be Fair And Balanced(tm) I guess.

The Q-poll is bullshit. Poll director Doug Schwartz is a Lieberman-clone who wants to be taken seriously as a prognosticator and trend-setter, but he’s just a dopey publicity hound.

He talks about how Ned didn’t hit a home run in the “debates”, yet the numbers were collected both BEFORE and only after the FIRST debate! The poll doesn’t reflect debateS, and the third and most important/visible debate is coming this MONDAY.

Just knock off all this stupid defeatist talk, OK? Jesus, the reason we never win anything is because people want to give up the moment things get a little tough.

Sorry about the rant. I’m just sick of hearing it.

marksb – has the new crackpot taken over the reins of the LA Times yet? (are you in Santa Barbara? you’ve got an interestin’ paper up there too!)

Happy Belated Birthday Christy and Suin, I wasn’t able to post that yesterday.

ru-roh – late, late, late! hitting the showers… I’ll check in from school..

and yes, something does seem to be very wrong with the Q poll…

Christy Hardin Smith @
4

Thanks, Imm — am still catching up on sleep, having had to get up at a bleary 5 am yesterday. (I am SO not a morning person…)

funny – i think of you as a morning person… only because i have the pleasure of reading you (and sometimes conversing in the comments) most mornings.

good morning and happy day-after birthday!

Thanks, CTBob, I’m going to continue to phone bank and whatever I can. At the same time, I am not putting all my eggs in this one basket.

rwcole @
19

Redd– Here’s the whole story from Quinnipiac- sounds like the poll was done after the debate:

October 20, 2006

“Ned Lamont needed to score a knockout in the debates to catch Sen. Joseph Lieberman, but he apparently didn’t lay a glove on him,” said Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D.

isn’t the Q poll the one that had a double digit lead for Ned a week before the primary that he won by 3%???

maybe propaganda???

o/t

per the Iraq ammo dump video – it appears to have been MOAB (Massive Ordinance Aerial Blast or Mother Of All Bombs)

the one they were scheduled to test in Nev around the time of Yearly Kos

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story…..SFeeds0312

Video from 03 Test in FL
(takes almost a minute to load)

http://media.theage.com.au/?ca…..l&ie=1

they’ve had them in Eye_Rack since 4/03

funny, the people you meet in the restaurant business . . .

and my usual apologies if prev. disclosed/discussed

Connecticut Bob @ 29

The Q-poll is bullshit. Poll director Doug Schwartz is a Lieberman-clone who wants to be taken seriously as a prognosticator and trend-setter, but he’s just a dopey publicity hound.

He talks about how Ned didn’t hit a home run in the “debates”, yet the numbers were collected both BEFORE and only after the FIRST debate! The poll doesn’t reflect debateS, and the third and most important/visible debate is coming this MONDAY.

Just knock off all this stupid defeatist talk, OK? Jesus, the reason we never win anything is because people want to give up the moment things get a little tough.

Sorry about the rant. I’m just sick of hearing it.

rant on!

Thanks Connecticut Bob. These poll numbers make no sense to me in light of the reaction I saw after the debates, the huge numbers of people Ned continues to pull to his rallies, and the more balanced reporting on Joe that I see coming out of the CT press. I sincerely hope Kerry’s visit on the 25th adds some additional vigor to the race.

Hey Nate, no bad for 4am video. Takes courage to move and jump into a campaign. Well done…

OldCoastie @
10

morning all…. mmm, coffee good! anyone want some?

Me! Please!

and your handling of the gooper reminded me of the restaurant fight scene in Crouching Tiger – where she dispatched so many with one hand while sipping tea with the other *g*

LOL. True. Christy you exuded poise and calm.

Connecticut Bob @ 29

The Q-poll is bullshit. Poll director Doug Schwartz is a Lieberman-clone who wants to be taken seriously as a prognosticator and trend-setter, but he’s just a dopey publicity hound.

He talks about how Ned didn’t hit a home run in the “debates”, yet the numbers were collected both BEFORE and only after the FIRST debate! The poll doesn’t reflect debateS, and the third and most important/visible debate is coming this MONDAY.

Just knock off all this stupid defeatist talk, OK? Jesus, the reason we never win anything is because people want to give up the moment things get a little tough.

Sorry about the rant. I’m just sick of hearing it.

No need to apologize. You’re putting A LOT of effort into this, and have been doing so for a while now. I can understand how frustrating it must be.

Thanks for understanding.

I just posted an even more inflammatory comment on My Left Nutmeg, and I feel better now.

So, how’s everyone this fine, rainy October morning? :)

John Casper @ 26

scarecrow October 19th, 2006 at 7:21 pm

I don’t know where this is coming from.The handwringing is not helpful, and IMO not based on what’s happening on the ground.

I’m sorry. I missed that thread and am not sure of your specific point in quoting. My point is not, and has never been, that Ned is not the superior person with the right positions. His apparent failure as a politician does not say terrible things about him per se.

Most of us here are politically quite active, knowledgable, and committed to the umbrella causes of FDL. I just think that we have to be careful about spending resources (energy, blog ‘air’, and money) on a lost cause when there are so many second and third tier congressional candidates who now have a fighting chance (i.e. less than 10% polling trend gap) to beat the REPUBS and could really benefit from our support and that of the FDL LADIES.

i like ned lamont’s new ad with senator dodd… what do you-all think?

Connecticut Bob @
29

The Q-poll is bullshit. Poll director Doug Schwartz is a Lieberman-clone who wants to be taken seriously as a prognosticator and trend-setter, but he’s just a dopey publicity hound.

He talks about how Ned didn’t hit a home run in the “debates”, yet the numbers were collected both BEFORE and only after the FIRST debate! The poll doesn’t reflect debateS, and the third and most important/visible debate is coming this MONDAY.

Just knock off all this stupid defeatist talk, OK? Jesus, the reason we never win anything is because people want to give up the moment things get a little tough.

Sorry about the rant. I’m just sick of hearing it.

Me too. It ain’t over ’til it’s over!

Connecticut Bob, screw the Q poll. You guys are doing a great job. Thanks for letting us know what’s going on.

OldCoastie @
30

marksb – has the new crackpot taken over the reins of the LA Times yet? (are you in Santa Barbara? you’ve got an interestin’ paper up there too!)

OC, my understanding was that the guy took charge on the first day by firing the editor at the welcoming party.

Connecticut Bob @ 43

Thanks for understanding.

I just posted an even more inflammatory comment on My Left Nutmeg, and I feel better now.

So, how’s everyone this fine, rainy October morning? :)

thinking about what to do this weekend… for ned’s campaign of course!

ctbob (and other nutmeggers) is canvassing the best thing for me to do? i live in MA, so it’s not a very long drive…. but i’m wondering what you think – how helpful is it for out-of-staters to canvass? i actually like canvassing, but i wonder – do you have any other suggestions?

Connecticut Bob @ 29

The Q-poll is bullshit. Poll director Doug Schwartz is a Lieberman-clone who wants to be taken seriously as a prognosticator and trend-setter, but he’s just a dopey publicity hound.

He talks about how Ned didn’t hit a home run in the “debates”, yet the numbers were collected both BEFORE and only after the FIRST debate! The poll doesn’t reflect debateS, and the third and most important/visible debate is coming this MONDAY.

Just knock off all this stupid defeatist talk, OK? Jesus, the reason we never win anything is because people want to give up the moment things get a little tough.

Sorry about the rant. I’m just sick of hearing it.

Thanks CTBob.

I agree.

However long Ned’s chances are, they are infinitely better than betting on Joe caucusing as a Dem in any meaningful way. Don’t you remember Joe’s vote on cloture for Alito?

Surrender is NOT an option. Anyone who advocates it, doesn’t understand we’re fighting for the soul of the Democratic party in CT and in this election, those Congressional races. According to the polls, some of the same Democrats who are voting for Joe are also voting for Dem Congresscritters against Repub’s. If Ned supporters pack it in now, Joe just shifts to doing everything he can to support the R’s running for the House. Ned and his supporters have a responsibility to run hard until the end. Four months ago, no one saw this “D” wave coming. All of a sudden, we start asking, do we have someone running against Reynolds in NY? That race looked a helluva a lot worse than Ned before the Foley scandal broke.

Joe also has taken money from every PAC around. That provides new fodder for Ned’s commercials.

CTBob – I second selise’s question. I got an email from Lamont campaign asking for help. But someone was recently commenting that Ned’s campaign is not seeking out of state help for calls etc. Do you know if this is so? What can out of staters do, besides send money?

I’m working on a campaign myself so I have to GOTV here – because this is Vermont and we WILL NOT send a rethug to congress. But I’d be happy to spend some time on the phone for Ned.

The polls doesn’t make any sense. The country is in an ugly, throw the bums out mood, Iraq is a huge issue, and CT voters are going back to Mr rubber stamp status quo?

Don’t look at the scoreboard, just MAKE PLAYS!

I’m a retired statistician, and have a built in bullshit detector for polls, and something smells funny about this one. It doesn’t square with the comments that people have been making about all the yard signs for Lamont, and few for Joe. Normally, I trust the Q polls when they are out a few weeks from the event, but there must be some kind of timing thing going on, or something went amiss with the local TV org embargoing the info or something. Something isn’t adding up in my opinion.

I wonder what it would look like if one of the mods checked out all the comments from tfitznc. Just seems to me so very, very often that he is raining on our parade.

Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

This was epu’d from the late night thread:

Menendez really doesn’t want my vote. Read what he did at a campaign appearance at Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston, NJ here.

I am disgusted. First a vote for the torture bill. Now support/pseudo-support for Holy Joe. Any ideas on what I can do to protest this folks? I am well and truly pissed.

Mr. NJP and I are going to do something constructive, doing some volunteer work for Linda Stender, a good progressive Democrat, running against Mike Ferguson in NJ-07. But I want to punish mendacious Menendez.

i should have done this before commenting, but i just now watched the youtube video in christy’s post. wow. nate is amazing! go nate!

Morning all and here’s a wake up call from Kevin Tillman– Pat’s birthday is November 6th and this ought to shake up any apathetic American… I am sending it all over and printing some up.

Please read the whole thing at the link!

Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.

Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.

Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.

Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.

Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.

Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.

Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.

Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.

Somehow torture is tolerated.

Somehow lying is tolerated.

Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.

Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.

Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.

Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.

Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.

Somehow this is tolerated.

Somehow nobody is accountable for this.

In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don’t be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that “somehow” was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.

Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat’s birthday.

http://www.truthdig.com/report….._birthday/

angie, as always, thanks for the powerful link on Tillman.

rwcole @ 11

Mornin Redd

Bad polling news from Connecticut this morning:

Candidate debates this week did not help the two principal challengers in the Connecticut Senate race, as Sen. Joseph Lieberman now holds a 52 – 35 percent likely voter lead over Democratic candidate Ned Lamont, with 6 percent for Republican Alan Schlesinger and 7 percent undecided, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

I KNEW rwcole that I would find you here sharing the good news. I just KNEW it.

The poll is BS. They didn’t release it yesterday, saying that they wanted to include results from the debates. Well, NOBODY except the audience in the theater, has seen the 2nd debate when this poll was taken.

I want to know the date of the poll. Most likely it was conducted last week – and then they did some additional polling yesterday and said the debates had no impact.

Rw – Lieberman’s internals clearly do not track with this poll because he’s getting hysterical about funding and the money that Lamont is spending. Lieberman says his campaign is tapped out. There is no way that Schlesinger is going to get under 15% because Republicans will vote a straight party line and many are voting for Judi Rell.

I’m on the ground here and there are lots of canvassing and other events going on the next few weeks. Howard Dean is in Hartford today having a big fundraising rally for Lamont. And we’ll keep working for change until the bitter end.

But, rw, thanks for your concern.

I don’t really know anything about the way things are going in Lamont offices regarding out of state supporters. Maura works in the Norwalk office, and more than anyone else on the campaign, I trust her opinions. You might want to email her and find out how she thinks your volunteering could be best used.

I have heard an occasional complaint that the campaign offices don’t fully utilize volunteers when they show up, but I’m hoping that has been remedied.

Best bet is to contact the Lamont campaign, get a real person on the phone and explain that you’re coming in from out of state to help, but you want them to be ready for you and make sure you are utilized to the greatest extent.

That’s probably the best way to do this. Anyone else have suggestions?

NJ Progressive- I feel your pain. I have Menendez’s campaign director’s e-mail if you’re interested. I sent him an e-mail the other night expressing some outrage.

If nothing else it may help to vent. Shoot me an e-mail at millineryman at mac dot com and I send it along to you.

thanks CTBob

OldCoastie @ 30

marksb – has the new crackpot taken over the reins of the LA Times yet? (are you in Santa Barbara? you’ve got an interestin’ paper up there too!)

I’m pretty sure David Hiller (who was publisher at the Cicago Tribune) has taken over as LAT publisher. Nothing in the paper lately about the changes or the conflict with the Tribune Co., and they were covering this conflict daily before Jeff Johnson was “resigned”. I haven’t noticed anything shifting. The front pages are starting to feature Iraq stories again, corruption is being covered inside in the National section. Of course Goldberg is still being published, but you-all know my feelings on that!

Meanwhile, Wendy McCaw, owner of the Santa Barbara News Press, continues the somewhat self-destructive moves at the paper. Now the staff has voted for representation by the Teamsters, and much of the staff that resigned have filed suit for back overtime. The subscription numbers are continuing to fall (or so we all guess and hear through the grapevine; the NP seems to pull subscription numbers out of their butts near as we can tell.) And it’s all so dumb. The stunts pulled by the NP publisher and owner could easily have been fixed and in fact could still be fixed. I’ve wondered if I should see if I have any friends that would let me have a word or three with Wendy, but I hear she’s not listening to anyone. I guess the idea is to let time go on, people forget, and keep the iron fist wrapped tightly around the paper. It was all covered in last month’s Vanity Fair if you can find one. I can’t seem to navigate past their front web pages.

Hey, it’s hard to remember to be angry at your only daily paper when the sun is out, the gentle ocean breeze is blowing, and the tide is low for a nice beach walk. At least I think that’s Wendy’s thinking.

OK, I’m off to a PET scan. See you all later.

nj progressive @ 55

This was epu’d from the late night thread:

Menendez really doesn’t want my vote. Read what he did at a campaign appearance at Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston, NJ here.

I am disgusted. First a vote for the torture bill. Now support/pseudo-support for Holy Joe. Any ideas on what I can do to protest this folks? I am well and truly pissed.

Mr. NJP and I are going to do something constructive, doing some volunteer work for Linda Stender, a good progressive Democrat, running against Mike Ferguson in NJ-07. But I want to punish mendacious Menendez.

if you’re a writer, what about a letter to the editor of your paper? i think the hardest thing is convince our so-called political leaders… but they will usually eventually follow where public opinion leads. and lte are, i’m told, a good way to get your ideas to a wide audience. good luck!

egregious @ 54

I wonder what it would look like if one of the mods checked out all the comments from tfitznc. Just seems to me so very, very often that he is raining on our parade.

Lead, follow, or get out of the way buddy.

I think you are correct. I liked this site from the beginning because it was spirited and reflected (some) diversity of opinion. I am guilty of not being a cheerleader. I am a realist who tries (apparently with little effect) to balance out what I view as naive or politically correct viewpoints. I dont think it is right for FDL to be a single-issue forum or to raise expectations.

My opinions are not unique on FDL, but very much in the minority. I’m tired of being accused of being a ‘troll’, “dangerstein”, etc.

Last time I heard, DISSENT IS DEMOCRATIC!

So long and best wishes.
tfitznc

nj progressive @ 55

This was epu’d from the late night thread:

Menendez really doesn’t want my vote. Read what he did at a campaign appearance at Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston, NJ here.

I am disgusted. First a vote for the torture bill. Now support/pseudo-support for Holy Joe. Any ideas on what I can do to protest this folks? I am well and truly pissed.

Mr. NJP and I are going to do something constructive, doing some volunteer work for Linda Stender, a good progressive Democrat, running against Mike Ferguson in NJ-07. But I want to punish mendacious Menendez.

IIRC, Menendez voted against cloture wrt Alito, which was a very principled vote against Alito. The bi-partisan Joe didn’t do that. I still see Menendez as the better alternative.

I’m also thinking once people go into the voting booth, they’ll vote all Democratic. When I phone bank, I often hear “I always vote for the Democrat”, even while they don’t seem familiar with the names.

LindyH @ 48

OldCoastie @
30

marksb – has the new crackpot taken over the reins of the LA Times yet? (are you in Santa Barbara? you’ve got an interestin’ paper up there too!)

OC, my understanding was that the guy took charge on the first day by firing the editor at the welcoming party.

You’ll love this: from Chicago Sun-Times via LA Biz Observed,

Hiller wants to make the paper more inviting. The paper now regularly previews feature, celebrity and sports stories in a space above the masthead on Page One, which Hiller calls “the Skybox.” And, according to sources at the paper, Hiller has told editors to give stories with popular appeal better play. “I think we’re seeing there’s opportunity, still, to have a variety of lead stories on the front page,” Hiller said. As an example, Hiller cited a recent story by entertainment reporter Mark Caro on a chefs’ feud over foie gras, or duck liver. “It was a wonderful story, was played on Page One, above the fold, was a story that really had people talking,” Hiller said.

Yeah, that’s what we want. More fluff, less news. Paper as TV, right? Duck liver! Bah!

There are lots of canvassing opportunities the next two weeks – all over CT.

I think Bob’s suggestion is a good one – contact Maura. (Contact info on Lamonts web site) I also have some names and phone numbers I can give offline. You can email me at dbharbor-blog at yahoo dot com

As someone who used to do polling on a national level I can say that the statements that Schwartz made, that the debates made no impact, is just wrong, wrong, wrong – and unprofessional.

They held off the poll by ONE day because people were dismissing it as being done pre-debate.

They clearly did not do all the polling (1,800) people after the 2nd debate aired in CT at 7:00 pm last night.

I’ll wait till I see other polls after the three debates have aired. The next one is Monday the 23rd and it is being moderated by Stepanopolis. It will be shown live, nationally.

meta @ 58 It strikes me as fully odd that CT is polling or trending in the opposite direction of the entire United States.

Exactly. I smell a rat.

Connecticut Bob @ 60

I don’t really know anything about the way things are going in Lamont offices regarding out of state supporters. Maura works in the Norwalk office, and more than anyone else on the campaign, I trust her opinions. You might want to email her and find out how she thinks your volunteering could be best used.

I have heard an occasional complaint that the campaign offices don’t fully utilize volunteers when they show up, but I’m hoping that has been remedied.

Best bet is to contact the Lamont campaign, get a real person on the phone and explain that you’re coming in from out of state to help, but you want them to be ready for you and make sure you are utilized to the greatest extent.

That’s probably the best way to do this. Anyone else have suggestions?

ctbob – i’ve thought ALL the lamont campaign staff have been GREAT! always felt there was something i could do – even the day after the primary, i just showed up in the meriden office (had a wicked headache and wasn’t ready to be on the road driving home). they gave me some tylenol and sat me in front of the phone, which i spent the day answering.

just was wondering if you had any special ideas…. i’m happy to keep canvassing whenever i can!

p.s. i think megan (who is the amazing organizer we all met at the meriden office before the primary) is now the coordinator for out-of-state volunteers and i’m told that she sees the emails to volunteer@nedlamont.com

Thanks, Nate!
I live in CA-11 and Mr SJVG and I are walking precincts every weekend for McNerney. But my grandbabies live in CA-04 [well my daughter and son-in-law, too, but my grandbabies!) and we appreciate all you are doing to help take back that district from the corrupt Doolittle.

Go Charlie Brown!
Go Jerry McNerney!
We are soooooo close in both districts!

Thanks for all the nationwide help from all the FDL readers.
SJVG

Hello, dear egregious. I somehow accidentally edited out my comment @ 58 when I went to post another, so thanks for noticing and fishing it out of the lake!

Stamina!

FDL is naive? politically correct? single-issue?

Jeepers, it’s a bit early to hit the sauce.

Or the crack.

For cryin’ out loud, here’s a post with video generated by an FDL regular covering CA-04, and commenters are discussing not only that video, but CT, propagandistic media, MOAB in Iraq…hardly single issue, and it’s very early yet.

And as for the CT race: if you don’t grok why this seat is so damned important, read/comment somewhere else. Stop with the whining and lecturing; a substantial number of us here in FDL are either working for campaigns, parties or have financially supported many candidates. Take a good, hard look at Howie Klein’s efforts and what the FDL folks have done to support that — it’s right there in dollars and cents.

I’ve gotten to a point where I loathe poll results for this reason. They draw out every defeatist concern troll.

And, rw, thanks sooo much (dripping with sarcasm) for posting Schwartz’s BS prognostication.

What I find really unfortunate is that you come here and gloat whenever there is bad news for Ned – and when you’re called on it you claim that you really want Ned to win.

I call BS. I was on this blog before Ned ran and heard all of your angry, impassioned arguments for why we shouldn’t be picking on Senator Lieberman.

Quite frankly, I’m furious that you posted the Q poll stuff. And I wish you had the courage of your convictions and could be honest about where your loyalties lie.

John Casper @ 50

Connecticut Bob @ 29

The Q-poll is bullshit. Poll director Doug Schwartz is a Lieberman-clone who wants to be taken seriously as a prognosticator and trend-setter, but he’s just a dopey publicity hound.

[snip]

Thanks CTBob.

I agree.

However long Ned’s chances are, they are infinitely better than betting on Joe caucusing as a Dem in any meaningful way. Don’t you remember Joe’s vote on cloture for Alito?

Surrender is NOT an option. Anyone who advocates it, doesn’t understand we’re fighting for the soul of the Democratic party in CT and in this election, those Congressional races. According to the polls, some of the same Democrats who are voting for Joe are also voting for Dem Congresscritters against Repub’s. If Ned supporters pack it in now, Joe just shifts to doing everything he can to support the R’s running for the House. Ned and his supporters have a responsibility to run hard until the end.

[snip]

Amen, brother!

sofistic @ 53

I’m a retired statistician, and have a built in bullshit detector for polls, and something smells funny about this one. It doesn’t square with the comments that people have been making about all the yard signs for Lamont, and few for Joe. Normally, I trust the Q polls when they are out a few weeks from the event, but there must be some kind of timing thing going on, or something went amiss with the local TV org embargoing the info or something. Something isn’t adding up in my opinion.

The very strange dynamics of the CT race, with a viable candidate who lost his party primary now running on his own are giving even good pollsters absolute fits. The problems are figuring out how to handle (a) who is a likely voter, and (b) what do you do with party identification?

The likely voter problem is a question of measuring motivation. Some think that all the attention will increase turnout, and are trying to include that in their model, in varying ways. Others are simply assuming that the old rules still apply here. Not sure how either assumption affects the results, but the polling community is wrestling with it nonetheless.

IMHO, the bigger problem is voter party ID. Some polls adjust their sample to reflect the right “mix” of voters to better represent the electorate. But that raises the question: is party ID relatively fixed and thus must be adjusted to decrease an oversampled subgroup and increase an undersampled one, or is party ID flexible enough that a pollster ought to simply go with what the sample shows? And if you adjust the weighting, how do you do it in a race like this? Mystery Pollster Mark Blumenthal gives a good primer on voter party ID at Pollster.org.

Half the battle of polling is to collect a representative sample, and the other half of the battle is properly analyzing what the data shows and knowing the limits of the data. There are so many things going on in CT that are unusual that both halves of the process are much more iffy than they are anywhere else.

Good pollsters are dealing with this by doing things that anywhere else would fly in the face of “standard polling” practices. Some will be right, and others wrong, but we won’t know who falls in which camp until after the election. I haven’t seen the background descriptions of the Q poll’s methodology, but they have been consistently at odds with much of the other polling.

tfitznc at 65 I dont think it is right for FDL to be a single-issue forum or to raise expectations.

This is where we disagree.

FDL a single-issue forum is laughable.

And you don’t think it’s right for FDL to raise expectations.

Ooookay.

Could some nice moderator get rid of the Q summary RW so kindly posted at 19 ?

I’m sure it violates copyright laws.

Thanks.

New thread, gang.

Bravo, dab. Keep the faith.

I’ve got to do something constructive, have guests coming for my son’s birthday today, too. Otherwise my blood pressure isn’t going to handle the negative energy today.

Polls don’t matter.
Unless you let them.
Votes Matter.
GOTV!

Peterr @ 76

Half the battle of polling is to collect a representative sample, and the other half of the battle is properly analyzing what the data shows and knowing the limits of the data.

i think there must be a third half: asking the right questions in the right way. how does one ask the questions in a way that will acurately reflect the party id and ballot position of what the votes will be confronted with on election day? i have no idea.

Gang — we’re all edgy as we head into the election, but that is NO EXCUSE for taking it out on each other. We are all on the same side and want a win for the Democrats — disagreements about the best way to get that are not only to be expected, but are healthy. Capice?

Half the battle of polling is to collect a representative sample, and the other half of the battle is properly analyzing what the data shows and knowing the limits of the data. There are so many things going on in CT that are unusual that both halves of the process are much more iffy than they are anywhere else.

Good pollsters are dealing with this by doing things that anywhere else would fly in the face of “standard polling” practices. Some will be right, and others wrong, but we won’t know who falls in which camp until after the election. I haven’t seen the background descriptions of the Q poll’s methodology, but they have been consistently at odds with much of the other polling.

Absolutely right peterr. I assume that their methodology has not changed from other polls they have done, and I am guessing they did random digit dialing. Voter ID is a real problem since Joe invented his own party. But I am guessing some kind of timing problem, either because of the time that information on the debates was released, or because of a change in time of day. I am only guessing since I don’t have access to their methodology.

egregious @ 70

meta @ 58 It strikes me as fully odd that CT is polling or trending in the opposite direction of the entire United States.

Exactly. I smell a rat.

Watch your diebolds. Hope you guys have plenty of poll watchers.

thanks Dab from CT for info. I’ll email you later as I gotta go.

See you cats later.

Nate! Just waking up, but I wanted to say this is SO GREAT!!

RW

Don’t leave again. People are very passionate and it can be hard to separate the heart and the mind.

Can we stop beating up on the regulars in the comments and the posts? Pretty please?

nj progressive @
55

This was epu’d from the late night thread:

Menendez really doesn’t want my vote. Read what he did at a campaign appearance at Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston, NJ here.

I am disgusted. First a vote for the torture bill. Now support/pseudo-support for Holy Joe. Any ideas on what I can do to protest this folks? I am well and truly pissed.

Mr. NJP and I are going to do something constructive, doing some volunteer work for Linda Stender, a good progressive Democrat, running against Mike Ferguson in NJ-07. But I want to punish mendacious Menendez.

NJP – I too find him doing things I don’t like, but he’s a democrat and this election, that’s what counts.

Its the only reason he gets my vote this time, and I have a long memory and I pay attention.

My Congressman is a rocket scientist.

kristine at 88 — have I missed something — where is there any beating up of regulars in the post? Feel free to e-mail me if you don’t want to post on this, but seriously, I thought this was a nice rah rah post on Nate this morning for a video that I thought was fantastic.

Twisted Martini @ 52

The polls doesn’t make any sense. The country is in an ugly, throw the bums out mood, Iraq is a huge issue, and CT voters are going back to Mr rubber stamp status quo?

Don’t look at the scoreboard, just MAKE PLAYS!

Yes! The polls are all over the place. Don’t give up before the final battle. Think of Wellington at Waterloo.

nj progressive @ 55

This was epu’d from the late night thread:

Menendez really doesn’t want my vote. Read what he did at a campaign appearance at Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston, NJ here.

I am disgusted. First a vote for the torture bill. Now support/pseudo-support for Holy Joe. Any ideas on what I can do to protest this folks? I am well and truly pissed.

Mr. NJP and I are going to do something constructive, doing some volunteer work for Linda Stender, a good progressive Democrat, running against Mike Ferguson in NJ-07. But I want to punish mendacious Menendez.

a vote for the despicable Menendez might be a vote for a Feingold majority. Please vote to give Russ a majority.

oh, and, almost forgot, Nate Rocks!

right on, Nate! boots on the ground….

egregious @
54

I wonder what it would look like if one of the mods checked out all the comments from tfitznc. Just seems to me so very, very often that he is raining on our parade.

Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

Good catch egregious – have noticed the same pattern from this poster but not quite connected the dots as you do so well!

marksb @ 68:

I wrote the LATimes a weeks or so back after the op-ed about a ‘national edition’ Tribune, saying that I wanted local coverage back. For a paper which is predominant in its area, it does a really crappy job of covering it. (Maybe they think everyone can afford to get two or three so as to keep up on their neighborhoods.)

!YAHOO! Connecticut Bob 29

NO apologies needed for your timely rant!

I’m with Selise: RANT ON!

ANYONE who gives up on CT at this point, after all that good work, is plain crazy!

I’m all for the behind-the-scenes analysis, but NOW’s the time to dig in & FIGHT, NOT QUIT!
So trite, but so true: if you don’t try, you KNOW you won’t win – If you keep trying, you always have a chance.

IMHO, ahem, I’m one who ought to apologize, shouting out to CT while sitting here in OH sweating bullets…

p.s., we in OH are not quitting either… but I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, as I meet repug after repug who’s worried about what’s happening to our democracy – DUH! Inwardly, I SCREAM, “Where have you BEEN these past six years?!?!”
Outwardly, I try to pretend to be tactful, but stay very firm about the duty of each and every concerned voter to get out there and VOTE IN the PROGRESSIVES who can help us start cleaning up the mess that used to be our democracy.
I also push HARD on the need to follow Dem. endorsements for judicial positions, as an integral part of the process – pointing out that’s a handy way to find fair judges even tho party affiliation isn’t listed on the ballot.
One of our OH Supreme Ct. Judges is so squeaky-clean, he won’t accept $$ from anyone, and never has signs. I’m making my own sign for him today, to put out by the road with our others.

!WE.MUST.NOT.GIVE.UP!

Was having lunch yesterday at Tres Hermanas Mexican Restaraunt in downtown Sacramento, CA (the. best. mole sauce. EVER) when the gentleman at the table next to me started talking about campaign calls he’s been getting “from someone named Charlie Brown” — a name he and his friends at the table thought was hilarious ….

But

Listening to the staffer on the other end of the phone made headway because the man said he’d be casting his vote for Charlie Brown on 11/7. He said he’d “trust the Peanuts Gang with the keys to city before he’d trust a Republican.” His friends nodded in agreement.

Go Charlie!!!

Christy Hardin Smith @ 90

kristine at 88 — have I missed something — where is there any beating up of regulars in the post? Feel free to e-mail me if you don’t want to post on this, but seriously, I thought this was a nice rah rah post on Nate this morning for a video that I thought was fantastic.

Whoa! I thought this thread was dead, and I meant no disrespect to you. I was talking amongst the regular commenters here. The last thing I ever wanted to do was require comment from you or add to your stress. Please except my humblest apologies.

Mark Fife–long time lurker, first time poster.

This is the FIRST election cycle where I have ever donated money.

$20.00 to Cindy Chavez, progressive Democrat for Mayor of San Jose–because I LIVE in Silicon Valley;

$25.00 to long-shot Richard Wright(WA-04), because I grew up in the Yakima Valley;

$25.00 to Jerry McNerney, because Pombo has GOT TO GO. His district butts right up against Zoe Lofgren’s, literally through my backyard, and the stench is overwhelming;

And $20.00 to Charlie Brown–
Because we own property in Warner Valley.
Because the residents of the 4th deserve better than a corrupt rubber stamp for failed policy.
Because the country is in desperate need for change.
Because “Stay the Course” is NOT a strategy.
Because the war in Iraq is destroying BOTH of our countries.
Because sanity and common sense are lacking in Congress.
And because it is LONG PAST TIME to bring oversight, accountability, and restoration of our most basic Constitutional principles to bear against this radical, out of touch, out of control president drunk with consolidation of power who is leading us down a long, dark road to fascism.

You’re a GOOD MAN, Charlie Brown.

Good Luck.
Sincerely,
Mark Fife

(I’m actively working the Chavez and McNerney campaigns, phonebanking/precinct walking. Doing my part, locally and nationally, a cog in the wheel of the 50 state let no seat go uncontested strategy we MUST endorse to have any hope of true reform or salvaging what’s left of our Democracy.I will also donate to Lamont, because the malignant cancerous vanity of turncoat Joe HAS GOT TO GO. Willingly undermining the party from within is unconscionable, inexcusable, and must NOT be tolerated.

Good luck to ALL good candidates across the country, and fight to the end, Firedogs!

Mark Fife–long time lurker, first time poster.

This is the FIRST election cycle where I have ever donated money.

$20.00 to Cindy Chavez, progressive Democrat for Mayor of San Jose–because I LIVE in Silicon Valley;

$25.00 to long-shot Richard Wright(WA-04), because I grew up in the Yakima Valley;

$25.00 to Jerry McNerney, because Pombo has GOT TO GO. His district butts right up against Zoe Lofgren’s, literally through my backyard, and the stench is overwhelming;

And $20.00 to Charlie Brown–
Because we own property in Warner Valley.
Because the residents of the 4th deserve better than a corrupt rubber stamp for failed policy.
Because the country is in desperate need for change.
Because “Stay the Course” is NOT a strategy.
Because the war in Iraq is destroying BOTH of our countries.
Because sanity and common sense are lacking in Congress.
And because it is LONG PAST TIME to bring oversight, accountability, and restoration of our most basic Constitutional principles to bear against this radical, out of touch, out of control president drunk with consolidation of power who is leading us down a long, dark road to fascism.

You’re a GOOD MAN, Charlie Brown.

Good Luck.
Sincerely,
Mark Fife

(I’m actively working the Chavez and McNerney campaigns, phonebanking/precinct walking. Doing my part, locally and nationally, a cog in the wheel of the 50 state let no seat go uncontested strategy we MUST endorse to have any hope of true reform or salvaging what’s left of our Democracy.I will also donate to Lamont, because the malignant cancerous vanity of turncoat Joe HAS GOT TO GO. Willingly undermining the party from within is unconscionable, inexcusable, and must NOT be tolerated!)

Good luck to ALL good candidates across the country, and fight to the end, Firedogs!

Mark Fife @ 100
Hi Mark! *waving from stinky CA-11* :)

Thanks for your help canvassing and phone banking for McNerney. I’m hoping, hoping, hoping that we can clean up that stench.

For anyone else who wants to help:
Phone From Home for McNerney