Politico’s Arresting, COMPLETELY UNSUPPORTED, claim about African-American voters.

(Via Hot Air) Specifically, North Carolinian voters on Tuesday’s Amendment One vote banning same-sex marriage:

African-Americans voted 2-1 in favor of the North Carolina amendment banning gay marriage Tuesday, but the White House is betting that black voters there and beyond will stick with the president, despite broad resistance to legalization.

…and that’s it. There’s no backup for that at all in the article. The question is of some interest – African-American opposition to California’s same-sex marriage laws gave social conservatives a completely unexpected victory on 2008's Election Night – but if there are actual exit polls publicly available then I have yet to see them. For that matter, ABC News reported today (May 10, 2012) that there was no exit polling in North Carolina for Amendment One. At all.

So where did Politico get that number?

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: While we’re on the subject of not linking to things, the April Pew poll that Politico referenced can be found here. Opposition/Support for same-sex marriage among Black voters went from 63/26 in 2008 to 49/39. I am uncertain as to why they didn’t link to this poll…

Ah. Of course.  The author may have… issues… with the Second Amendment.

View the original article here

Obama’s new Ohio ad: just making stuff up at this point.

It's like these people don't do any vetting at all.

Let me present to you the amazing amount of scrutiny that apparently needs to go into a Barack Obama campaign ad, just to understand what it actually means.

Level Minus One. This is the scrutiny that is done by the creators of the ad itself (that is to say, none at all). Summary of said ad (second video at this Hot Air link): this Brian Slagle fellow from Ohio was in the auto industry; he got laid off; but he has a job, now; and thank God for that nice Obama fellow, who made it all possible.Level Zero. This was the scrutiny done by ABC News. They discovered that the company that Mr. Slagle works for now (Johnson Controls) apparently frittered away a lot of its stimulus money then; is actually laying off people now; and is currently being investigated for employee health violations. As in, lead poisoning. In other words; it’s not that great a job, and there’s some question about whether its employees are better off with the company still being in business. I mean. Lead poisoning.Level One. This is the scrutiny done by The Weekly Standard: in short, actual fact-checking. It turns out that Mr. Slagle has been employed by Johnson Controls… since 2006. This information could be found via the arcane method of “looking up Brian Slagle on Facebook:” the information has since been removed, but TWS took screenshots, of course. Translation: Brian Slagle did not actually get a new job from Obama’s stimulus program. They want you to think that he did, but he didn’t*.

All of which means that the actual message of the ad is “I had a job in the auto industry until about six years ago… and then I got a new job. Which is apparently one with a bad environmental and fiscal record, but that doesn’t matter! That’s because Barack Obama really, really needs me to get on the screen and tell you how great it is for me as a spectator to see the auto industry get bailed out. So I figure that I’m golden… oh, crud, Facebook. But… they promised me that Republicans couldn’t read!”

Which, admittedly, doesn’t really sing as a campaign message.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*This is, by the way, what campaigns do when they don’t actually have anything useful to run on.

View the original article here

Daily Links – May 10, 2012

Today is May 10th. On this date in 1924, J. Edgar Hoover was appointed as acting director of the FBI. He became the official director later that year. Hoover wielded tremendous power during his 48 year tenure, and [redacted] from the [redacted] six chickens [redacted] threw the bottle at the midget [redacted] so everyone just ate the soup. Also on this date, in 1863, Confederate General “Stonewall” Jackson died of complications and pneumonia resulting from wounds sustained from friendly fire after the Battle of Chancellorsville, as predicted by the Mayans. On this date in 1877, President Rutherford B. Hayes had the first telephone installed in the White House. The phone number was 1. The first First phone call was from the treasury department, when I.C. Weiner ordered a pizza. And finally, today is “Eat What You Want Day,” a day when most of us overdo it on bacon, and Bill Clinton has to be restrained and sequestered. Consider this an Open Thread.

Must Watch Video: We Have Something to Say | Obama/Volt 2012
“And We Mean It.”

Putin To Obama: Dimitri Transmitted Your Information To Me And I Am Not Impressed | Ace of Spades HQ
“Keep in mind Obama has already hurt missile defense plans through proposed decommissioning of Navy ships that are key to his supposed commitment to the program. Republicans are desperately fighting to save this crucial capability.”

How Wisconsin Could Be the First Domino of 2012 | Jim Geraghty
“It is easy to overstate the ramifications from one race in June on the national elections to come in November. But if the Democrats’ effort to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker fails, it is not unthinkable that this could be the first domino to fall in a sequence that dooms President Obama’s reelection hopes.”

No H8? Gay marriage supporters to opponents: kill yourselves | Twitchy
(LANGUAGE WARNING) “Whatever happened to “No H8?? Oh, that’s right, the tolerance thugs have always been cool with hateful language as long as it’s directed at ‘pansy asses’ who hold different views.”

Today’s Word of the Day comes via Merriam-Webster.
tranche (TRAHNSH): noun a division or portion of a pool or whole

View the original article here

Barack Obama’s bullying of “Coretta.” #pray4coretta

Alternative title: "Barry bullied a girl. And he liked it."

(via @adambaldwin) Scare quotes deliberate: for all I know, ‘Coretta’ is a composite of three or four African-American girls that President Barack Obama bullied as a kid.

“I’m not her boyfriend!” I shouted. I ran up to Coretta and gave her a slight shove; she staggered back and looked up at me, but still said nothing. “Leave me alone!” I shouted again. And suddenly Coretta was running, faster and faster, until she disappeared from sight. Appreciative laughs rose around me. Then the bell rang, and the teachers appeared to round us back to class.

No wonder Barack Obama underpays women who work for him. He’s been carefully taught to treat ‘em that way.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Oh, I’m sorry: was that unfair? Let me keep repeating this: the Left will not win a “Whose candidate is weirder?” contest. Also: Obama staffers need to read their candidate’s own books before they try to pass scary stories about Romney to the mainstream press. Because while Barack Obama may have meant that passage to be about how racism (“Coretta’s” description was perhaps slightly… stereotypical) informed his upbringing, it reads just as easily as being an account of How I Learned To Push Women Around And Never Suffer The Consequences.

View the original article here