cyberspace rant to a Ron Paul lover

my response to a cyber-dude who was claiming a conspiracy in the media and polling companies with regards to Ron Paul not being more popular, and ahead in polls. his argument is that on twitter he is BLOWIN' UP! - sj

"I appreciate and can relate to your passion, here, but a couple of quick things worth noting: 1) twitter is media. twitter is an awesome new medium and platform, doing things many other standard tv, print, and other entities cannot do. 2) Ron Paul uses that medium, and dozens of other mediums to get his message out. 3) retweets and mentions on twitter are incomparable to polling results. they have nothing to do with it. Most polls are conducted on the telephone. So the results you're seeing are coming from those calls. THEN, there are results you're seeing on twitter. Apples/Oranges. 4) There are PLENTY of unbiased polling entities in operation now, and there are many others that have some bias, for sure, but a) they are consistent, and b) it doesn't matter, because there are polling analyses that AVERAGE the wide spectrum of all of them! 5) Ron Paul would be more popular if some of his policies didn't suck ballz. His anti-gun control, anti-gay/lesbian marriage, being against a woman's right to choose, anti-civil rights stance, his anti universal healthcare, anti-public education, anti- EPA, are just some of his idiotic and anti-american views, thoughts and policies (not to mention, why he's a REPUBLICAN). Even his "states-rights" argument is utter bullshit, as most of those issues I mentioned shouldn't even be debated with that possibility in mind. 6) I have plenty I can argue is wrong with him, and I'll ALSO argue he is racist. If you've ACTUALLY read the Ron Paul Newsletters, you would be amazed at the litany of racist content and made up lies about african-americans (and other people) in them. And they were HIS newsletters. The fact that he plays the moron when pressed on this ("der... welp.. I never read 'em!") only makes him as much of an idiot as any other lying politician. 7) the many different media entities and mediums are HELPING Ron Paul's popularity; not hurting it. If not for them, he'd be just another crazy old loon from Texas, with a few good ideas, and dozens of terrible ones. Fuck Ron Paul"

59% in favor of health care reform; 30% against!

from Daily Kos, last Friday...
(click here for original post, w/ hi-lighted links in post)

Digging into the Polls on HCR: Public Wants Stronger Reform
by mcjoan

Barry Sussman, editor of the Nieman Watchdog Project at Harvard's Nieman Foundation for Journalism, goes beyond the headlines screaming public opposition to healthcare reform.

Comes now (Feb. 26-28) a McClatchy/Ipsos poll of 1,076 people that on first glance offers rocks to sling at Obama. The lead question asks, “As of right now, do you favor or oppose the health care reform proposals presently being discussed?” Forty-one percent said they favored them, 47 percent said they were opposed, and the rest said they were unsure. Those are numbers the Republican leaders could work with.

But the pollsters went a step further, asking those opposed – 509 people in all – if they were against the proposals because they “don’t go far enough to reform health care” or because they go too far. Thirty-seven percent said it was because the proposals don’t go far enough. Thus – are you ready for this? – the addition of an obvious, simple follow-up question completely turns the tables. The overall numbers switch to 59 percent in favor of health care reform, 30 percent against. Putting aside those with no opinion, it becomes 66 percent in favor of health care reform, 34 percent against. Some would call that a consensus, or these days, a super majority.

Whoa, what happened here: a plurality against health care reform actually is a landslide in favor of it? In the same poll? If other surveys turn up similar data, will Republican leaders stop citing public opinion as the basis for opposing Obama’s health care legislation? Fat chance.

The poll did find resistance to key measures in the legislation. Seven of ten interviewed said they opposed putting “new taxes on the most expensive insurance policies;” six of ten opposed “a government requirement that everyone buy health insurance.”

There is still the opportunity to maximize the popularity of what ends up passing in the reconciliation package--make reform stronger with real competition for insurers, make sure the excise tax does not hit the middle class, and offset the mandate with some kind of public option, possibly Medicare buy-in. There's very strong policy and political arguments for making this bill as strong as possible--the 66 percent of Americans who want reform being no small part of that. That's a message the Blue Dogs particularly need to hear.

I suppose these folks are part of the 30% against health care reform! - sj