Phelps’s last blog post..Rules of Engagement

“Conservative” echo chambers, huh?

Phelps’s last blog post..Citizen Journalist

“The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows ongoing volatility in the Democratic Presidential Nomination. Nationally, Hillary Clinton now holds a very slight advantage over Barack Obama, 46% to 44%. Before the story broke about his former Pastor, Obama led Clinton by eight percentage points”

CosmicConservative’s last blog post..Australian scientist questions Global Warming Orthodoxy

Hmm… Since the revalations of his association with “Reverend” Wright came forth, he has lost his polling lead against both Hillary and McCain. His speech so far has not shown evidence of repairing that damage to his popularity.

I am quite certain that there has been great praise for his speech from the left, and even from some “moderates”. That’s the sort of speech they would praise.

But so far the actual voting public seems to be less impressed with it.

We’ll see how it goes in the next few weeks. McCain and Hillary have a pretty big opening to exploit. It will be interesting to see if they can manage to keep the bleeding going.

CosmicConservative’s last blog post..Australian scientist questions Global Warming Orthodoxy

You want to talk about echo chambers? How do you reconcile your statement with the fact that “conservative blogs” represent politically about half of the country?

First of all, I would contest that statement on the basis that it discounts moderates, which are a very significant percentage of the voting populace.

Secondly, there are very large echo chambers on both the liberal and conservative side, and if you pay attention to only one side, you will suffer from that mutual-reinforcing effect. That’s why I’m here, despite being essentially a Democrat.

(As a side note, I also choose this blog to take part in because it is a bit more moderate, and the level of discourse is much higher, then the vast majority of the blogs I’ve seen. While I may find myself in disagreement with other people more often then not, at least I feel like I can discuss it on a rational level.)

Hate to say it, Arnold, but it sounds to me like you’re living in a bit of an echo chamber. Outside of the conservative blogs (with this roughly concluded, even if it’s a more moderate conservative blog then most), I’ve mostly heard praise for that speech.

You want to talk about echo chambers? How do you reconcile your statement with the fact that “conservative blogs” represent politically about half of the country?

If you can’t pull people from that “echo chamber” then you can’t win the executive. Period.

Phelps’s last blog post..Citizen Journalist

It may be an even situation, but he has alienated a lot of independents and conservatives that would’ve actually voted for him.

We’ll see what the overall reaction to his comment turns out to be. I suspect a lot of white women will be somewhat offended by Obama’s casual assertion that they are all closet bigots. But since Hillary pretty much had those sewn up anyway in the primaries, the real question is how many of them will remember this attitude and hold it against Obama in the general election.

I suspect the number who do will be higher than those defending Obama here will expect.

CosmicConservative’s last blog post..The Daily Toon

I personally know a number of people who were on the fence about Obama who were won over specifically by this speech that you see as so incriminating.

Of course, the polls are still out. A couple polls have come post-speech, but only BARELY post-speech, which leaves me skeptical if they actually reflect the post-speech sentiment. In a week, we’ll be able to see what kind of bump he got. Until then, we’re all relying on anecdotal evidence. My anecdotal experience says this speech has helped a good deal.

And the funny part is this is all going down long before the Democrats even complete their nomination process.

Already, one in five of the Obama and Clinton supports say they will jump ship and swim over to the McCain boat if their own candidate fails to get the democratic nomination.

And the funny part is, the Republicans have not had one solitary damned thing to do with this epic struggle to the death between Obama and Clinton.

But McCain will be the man who reaps the reward. Especially if Obama were to get the nomination.

Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI