How Badly Have Obama, The Dems And The Media Screwed Up?

This badly - via ... Gallup:

If these numbers are sustained through Election Day -- a big if -- Republicans could be expected to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Comments

[seekeronos]

Oh, come now. The Democrats snatching defeat from the jaws of Certain Victory?

It'll never happen. :P

About eight months ago, though... I said that we were looking at a 350-400+ seat House, a 70+seat Senate, and a Democrat POTUS.

Now I am not so sure: perhaps a thin majority for the Dems in Congress, and President Palin (should McCain win, and later decide to step down due to health).

That just might make my day.

[Peg C.]

And how slamming McCain for being computer illiterate helps the Dems, I can't fathom. Barack is beyond pathetic, and the Drive Bys are so in the tank for him they're going to kill his chances and drag the Dems in Congress down with him. Heh! (Can we say Sarah has skirttails?)

[BILL DEMPSEY]

I HAVE BEEN CLOSELY AFFILIATED WITH THE WASHINGTON POST FOR ALMOST SEVENTY YEARS AS A DELIVERY BOY AND AVID READER. IT IS MY HOME TOWN PAPER. I AM EMBARASSED BY THEIR OVERT FAVORABLE COVERAGE OF THE OBAMA CANDIDACY. IT IS ALMOST LIKE THEY ARE TRAPPED IN THEIR ENDORSEMENT AND DOING AND SAYING ANYTHING TO RATIONALIZE THEIR POSITION. THE ANN KORNBLUT STORY ON PALIN IN TODAY'S ISSUE IS EXHIBIT ONE IN THEIR SLANTED COVERAGE. SHE BLATANTLY MISSTATES PALIN'S POSITION ON HUSSEIN'S INVOLVEMENT IN 9/11.

[DBrooks]

Hey, Bill. I agree with your sentiments. However, if you have been reading the newspaper for that many years, surely you noticed they don't capitalize every word.

[Moptop]

If this holds true, and it seems like a few national ads showing the deficit numbers since the Dems took over to protect interns from sexual predators and get us out of a war in Iraq that their media allies lied about and said we were losing, then yeah, I think a congress with a single digit approval rating is at risk.

I never saw the Dems in the house going above the perfect storm high water mark of 2006 and always scratched my head when the wise heads said the Dems were going to expand their lead. From where?

Sarah seems to be to congress what Rush was in '94. Also, the Dem re-alignment needed defeat in Iraq, and they got outfoxed by the idiot in the WH. Next election will be after the map gets even redder with the next census.

[moptop]

"Hey, Bill. I agree with your sentiments"

I woulnd't read an all caps post if it was written by Sarah Palin herself.

[chris]

Wow, a 70 year-old paper boy! Do you still ride your bike or do you take a car these days??

[MP]

Does no one in the Obama campaign have any sense? He has no ability to tell a joke or make a jibe and should not even try. He literally, physically almost collapses under the pressure of a real confrontation (he's had so little practice given the creepy adulation that has been lavished on him). Now he's running this 1982 ad which tries to go after McCain for not knowing how to use a computer but really comes across as bashing all seniors. They'll probably run it FL too! How can they have so little clue. On the one hand, I love the meltdown, on the other, his hysterical supporters can get pretty disturbing.

[jblog]

You rarely, if ever, see this in the news media, but for the past 18 months the Democratically controlled Congress has consistently polled five to 10 points BEHIND President Bush.

As their popularity continues to approach becoming a rounding error, it's little surprise that their prospects for the fall election are declining as well.

[Natalie]

Guys, go easy on Mr. Dempsey. My 84 year old father does the same thing. Not because he is shouting but because he came so late to computers and typing that it takes him a painfully long time to type a paragraph even in all caps. Doing the Shift thing makes it take even longer.

The guy said he has been involved with the WaPo for 70 years which would place him around my father's age.

So, as gently as I can....he is not the one being rude here. A little courtesy, please?

[JorgXMcKie]

jblog, the Dems should be ecstatic if Congress were *only* 10 points behind Bush. It's more like 9-34, which is a helluva lot more than 10 points.

And if the Dems are going to bash McCain for his lack of computer skills, they better be able to demonstrate Obama's and Biden's mad hacking skillz 4shur.

My most insanely pro-Democratic acquaintance (and I am at a university) is now getting his panties in a wad over the possibility of tanking in Congress. I mean, he's all but foaming and is *incredibly* angry at Obama for not attacking McCain and Palin hard enough. (If I hear him misuse Swiftboat just one more time I many have to slap him.) I'm really sure even more vicious attacks from the Dems (or should that be dims?) is going to work just great.

[Dan Riehl]

"A little courtesy, please?"

I'm Dan Riehl and I approved this message.

[From Inwood]

Natalie

Re Mr. Dempsey.

Courtesy works both ways. Mr. Dempsey is being discourteous to the readers of this thread.

I too am old & type with two fingers. But it is not that hard to use the shift key.

I have a friend who types in all caps & another who types in lower case without punctuation. I suggested to Mr. Small that he was writing in the archy and mehitabel style, & to him & Mr. Large that what they were doing was annoying & unnecessary. Both of them sneered at me telling me that they'd never had to learn to type because they always had secretaries, ya see. As if I hadn’t.

My suggestion to both, unheeded so far, was as follows:

In informal writing, the Principle of Proportionality should apply. People are not going to be as careful as they would in formal writing. And ordinary readers are not going to read e-mails with a mental “blue pencil”. But obviously an informal note with a ton of misspellings & illiteracies, having no punctuation, all in either upper or lower case, is off putting. So, Gower’s grammar rule would apply to spelling & type face as well as grammar/syntax in an informal e-mail: avoid “lapses from what for the time being is regarded as correct [which] irritate the educated reader and distract his attention, and so make him the less likely to be affected precisely as you wish”.

Regards

[joeb]

Bill Clinton admitted he didn't know how to use a computer when he was President either. Mostly likely he still doesn't know how. Too busy out shaking hands and smoozing.
I live in the DC area and have been reading The Washington Post for 41 years. They used to run DC in a big way. Not anymore. They are fast being replaced by the internet.
However what Bill says is true. The Washington Post is all Democratic with no apologies to anyone. They have been running hit articles and editorials and columns on Sarah Palin for days now. Not one single editorial or column has anything positive to say about her. I began to see a troubling pattern in all this right away. The fact that she is a Christian is driving them crazy. Wonder why? I have yet to read one article or column by any Jewish writer who has any positive things to say about Sarah Palin. Check it out. But then the black writers on the Post are just as much in lock step with their employer. This goes for the Jewish talking heads on TV also. I would call them a cabal but there is nothing secret about it. It is all clearly out there for anyone to see.

[Jabba the Tutt]

Seekeronos: McCain's age --- did you see his 95 year old Mother? And I saw a picture of McCain meeting with his Annapolis classmates. They all looked old, McCain looked 20 years younger. Maybe ambition keeps him young....

[Brother J]

Natalie is right guys. Let Mr. Dempsey be on the all caps post. True, it's poor form on the internet. But it is equally poor form to try and teach manners to your elders (at least that's the way I was brought up). We can probably learn a lot more from him than he can from us.

[Reno Sepulveda]

I think Republicans need to wake up and smell the chorizo. Yes Obama was bound to fall a bit in the polls. Yes John McCain made an inspired pick with Sarah Palin and recieved a huge bounce from the convention. Does anybody think this new surge in the polls is based on the public's newfound embrace of Republican ideals nad candidiates rather than Sarah Palin's newly formed cult of personality? Ummmmmmm no.

[seekeronos]

Jabba T.:

Looks and video staging and lighting aside, if I vote (R) for the McCain/Palin ticket -- it certainly won't be on McCain's account. It will be in hopes that Palin will someday make an excellent POTUS in her own right.

[TC@LeatherPenguin]

(sob)
LEAVE MR. DEMPSEY ALONE!
(/sob)

[Kelly]

I'm not usually a pessimist, but I still have little hope that republicans will win the white house. I feel the best we can do is hold on to what we have in congress and hopefully in the midterm elections we'll gain ground. I don't think in the history of the republic a President has ever been elected solely on the basis of his vice Presidential pick.

[chris]

Hey, at least Mr. Dempsey knows how to USE the internet. John McCain is too busy shuffling between his 8 houses to be anything but AWARE of it.

Remember McCain isn't old, he's EXPERIENCED!!!!

[Moptop]

" based on the public's newfound embrace of Republican ideals nad candidiates rather than Sarah Palin's newly formed cult of personality? ummmmmmmm no!"

Hey look Obama is postin here! Or as he calls himself Oh-ummmm-errr-bam-uh-bam-uuuuh-err-bama.

I think Obama is right, we need to ratchet up the ridicule of the bitter clingers until they finally capitulate!

[red]

.... John McCain is too busy shuffling between his 8 houses to be anything but AWARE of it.

His wife's houses... and if Senator McCain showed too much interest in them, that would open the door to you yelling about the real estate collapse and predatory mortgage lending.

Lets compare houses...McCain's vs. Al Gore's...McCain vs. Kerry's.... Obama doesn't live in a shack, of course he had help from his convicted Slum Lord Buddy Rezko to buy it. Soon the Illinois Governor will be living in a big house too because of his dealings with Rezko. How did that artfully constructed mortgage work again?

Who lives in a shack by the way??? George Obama. Poor guy living on 12 dollars a month. That's compassion.

Obama isn't compassionate...HES A SOCIALIST.

[Moptop]

"Hey, at least Mr. Dempsey knows how to USE the internet. John McCain is too busy shuffling between his 8 houses to be anything but AWARE of it.

Remember McCain isn't old, he's EXPERIENCED!!!"

Good luck with that.

[Tad]

@Chris:

Way to add to the discussion. I'd love to ask Biden a few questions about Java and see just how savvy he is. And you don't really want to go down the 'house' road do you... you've heard of "Tony" Rezco, the now-convicted felon who helped Obama buy his own house, haven't you?

[Tad]

Sorry, its Tony Rezko

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Rezko

[Moptop]

Let's see, Obama bought his house at below market rates from a guy who was trying to get a contract to build power plants in post war Iraq, who is a convicted felon.

Obama's wife got a 160% raise and Obama got her employer a million dollar earmark.

Obama's original VP Search guru got thrown under the bus because he was so deeply involved in the mortgage market meltdown, remember him? Oh he is as gone as the original utterer of the prase "The Audacity of Hope", good old Jermiah Wright.

But McCain doesn't use a computer and his wife owns seven houses.

[Mister Snitch!]

there, there, TC... there, there....

[Mark]

"I don't think in the history of the republic a President has ever been elected solely on the basis of his vice Presidential pick."

So you are basically saying the only reason anyone will vote for McCain is because of Sarah Palin? Or maybe they will vote for him because of his positions and the fact that Obama is the farthest left candidate in recent memory. If he loses it will be for much the same reasons John Kerry lost. The United States is quite simply not that liberal.

[Jim]

"Remember McCain isn't old, he's EXPERIENCED!!!"

Good luck with that"

It seems to be working quite well. Don't worry, once McCain assumes the presidency in November, I am sure he will learn to use the internet.

[Jim]

To clarify my above post, McCain will be winning in November and assuming the presidency in January.

[MarkJ]

"And how slamming McCain for being computer illiterate helps the Dems, I can't fathom. Barack is beyond pathetic, and the Drive Bys are so in the tank for him they're going to kill his chances and drag the Dems in Congress down with him. Heh! (Can we say Sarah has skirttails?)"

Yeah it's a cute ad, but Obama's crew has just set themselves up for a devastating counter-attack given that Joe "Motor Mouth" Biden was elected to the Senate in...November 1972. Yup, Obamatons, that means Mr. Capped & Bonded was already well into his second term when McCain came to Washington.

On a related thought, if Joey Hair Plugs smirks like this at Palin during the upcoming VP debate, he might as well turn off his microphone and buy an Amtrak ticket home because she'll have him by the short and curlies:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Joe_Biden,_official_photo_portrait_2-cropped.jpg

[chris]

It's funny to see you mouthbreathers defend that angry old gigolo. While his wife may own those 8 houses, his tubes of Ben Gay and Fixodent reside there.

McCain 2008 - More Experienced Than Dirt!

[docweasel]

That would be great if Republicans retook the House, so the GOP could back to reminding Americans why they are just as poor stewards of the government as the Dems are, then in 2 years, they could lose it again, the cycle repeats.

[Fred Beloit]

Don't pay any attention to "chris". B.B., his real initials, is just passing the time between drawing panels for his so-called cartoon, Opus.

[joeb]

It is not John McCain's fault that his wife is rich. Repeat that. It's not his fault that his wife is rich.

[FlaLady]

Bill, thank you for participating. As we get older, it remains imperative that we continue to be involved and as up-to-date as possible. I sometimes feel that the old cartoon The Jetsons will soon become a reality what with flying cars and all. But, about WaPo, have they always been this far to the left? I think there will be a shake up in the journalistic community after this election, it has been so slanted.

[Kelly]

Mark, I guess I should have phrased it differently. I was always going to vote for McCain even before the Palin pick, but I've seen plenty of people who claim that they are voting for him only because of Palin. That makes me nervous and I don't quite trust it.

[John Schulien]

What a shockingly stupid statement! Many, many voters of McCain's age cannot operate a computer or use email, or find technology intimidating, but they do vote and Obama just seriously dissed them!

[seekeronos]

"--- angry old gigolo ---"

Awww, chris/bob is just jealous because McCain scored a beer heiress twenty years his junior.

But that aside, God willing, he will also be an old man. I wonder if he will tone down his ageist hatred by then...