Poll: Half of Americans would

‘never’ vote for Sen. Clinton

Filed by RAW STORY

Bad news for New York’s junior senator.

While Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has won broad support in national tracking polls in her quest for the presidency, the former first lady is steeped in negative attitudes, according to a Zogby International poll released Sunday.

Half of likely voters nationwide said they would never vote for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, in a poll Zogby conducted Oct. 11-15, 2007, with a margin of error of +/- 1.0 percentage point.

“This is up from 46% who said they could never vote for Clinton in a Zogby International telephone survey conducted in early March,” the poll asserts. “Older voters are most resistant to Clinton – 59% of those age 65 and older said they would never vote for the New York senator, but she is much more acceptable to younger voters: 42% of those age 18-29 said they would never vote for Clinton for President.”

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The problem I have with the discussion of NSPD-51 is the built-in assumption that we HAVE elections NOW, or that we have our freedoms NOW, and that their denial inheres at some near or distant time in the future when there is the next terrorist attack or natural disaster. Yes, it may become even worse then, the NSPD-51 may well be triggered then, but that will just allow our governmental FORMS to catch up with the SUBSTANCE of what is in place NOW.

Paul Lehto

Is the Justice Department Conducting Latino Outreach on Behalf of the GOP?

By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet

Posted on October 22, 2007, Printed on October 22, 2007

Earlier this month, the Department of Justice’s top official overseeing
voting rights, John Tanner, made some insensitive comments about elderly and
minority voters at a Latino forum in Los Angeles, raising eyebrows in the
voting rights community and prompting Democratic presidential candidate Sen.
Barack Obama to call for his ouster on Friday.

But the greater outrage, according to civil rights lawyers across the
country, is how the Department’s Voting Section has turned away from
defending minorities that are seen as supporting Democrats — African
Americans and Native Americans — while instead focusing on another minority
that is seen as a Republican swing vote — Latinos.

“It may be cynical, but it may also be true,” said Julie Fernandes, senior
policy analyst and special counsel for the Leadership Conference on Civil
Rights, “that the enforcement for Latinos has been more vigorous because
they see it as more in their political interest — their partisan interest.”

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Who will run the country after the next 9/11? – By Ron Rosenbaum – Slate Magazine

Who Will Rule Us After the Next 9/11?
The reality of NSPD-51 is almost as bad as the paranoia.

By Ron Rosenbaum
Posted Friday, Oct. 19, 2007, at 2:23 PM ET

Oh, god. I’m reluctant to write this particular column. I’ve been scarred by this kind of story before. I’ve learned that it’s difficult to write about the sources of paranoia without spreading paranoia.

But the subject, NSPD-51-that’s National Security Presidential Directive 51-and the attendant explosion of blogospheric paranoia about it deserve attention. Even if you don’t believe, as I don’t, that NSPD-51 is a blueprint for a coup in the guise of plans for “continuity of government” in the event of a national emergency (such as a terrorist attack during an election campaign). Even if you don’t believe, as I don’t, that it will be used as a pretext for canceling the upcoming presidential election and preserving “continuity” of this administration in office.

Nonetheless, the specifics of the directive are a matter of legitimate concern that has not been given the urgent and sustained attention it deserves by Congress or the mainstream media.

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Will the GOP election theft machine do it again in 2008?

And after watching them for the past two decades very closely, I think it’s obvious that what interests the media more than anything is access and gossip and vicious little smears piled one atop the other. And why not? They are easy to report, require no mind numbing shuffling of financial reports or struggling through arcane policy papers. In fact, the press has made a virtue of the simple-mindedness by calling what used to be known as gossip, “character issues”, which are used to stand in for judgment about policy.

The press, therefore, will go to great lengths to protect the people who give them what they crave, most of whom happen to be Republicans since character smears are their very special talent. There was a reason why Rove and Libby used “the wife sent him on a boondoggle” line. Stories about Edwards and his hair and Hillary and her cold, calculating cleavage are the coin of the realm.

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