Vocal Minority

Liberal Media Bias: Romney Bashing ... in a Music Article

Coming out of blogging hibernation to post this discovery of Mitt Romney-bashing -- 5 months after the fricking election -- in an on-line pop music article.

The site is called Pop Dust. And this snippet comes out of an article about the 10 richest musicians of all time:

3. Bono: $600 million

Paul Hewson is known as much for his global diplomacy and forays into venture capital as U2’s music. His investment in Facebook’s IPO—via his Elevation Partners private equity firm—didn’t make him a billionaire, but U2’s “360 Tour” grossed nearly $800 million between 2009 and 2011, making it the biggest tour ever. (2005-06’s “Vertigo” tour is fifth on that list.) Combine that with Bono’s many investments (including private equity stakes, a clothing line, and a five-star hotel), the fact that the band owns all the rights to its own music, and Bono’s Romney-esque tax-dodging investment schemes, and the numbers add up quickly.

This perfectly exemplifies what El Rushbo talks about often: the low-information voter, consuming culture and news from low-information writers who stealthly (and not-so-stealthly) inject fallacious political commentary into their wholly non-political articles, T.V. shows, etc.

Bono has made millions for not only himself but has also provided a product desired by millions of customers (his fans) not to mention created jobs for thousands of "employees", i.e. everyone who works for him, for U2, marketers, retailers, ticket sellers, shirt makers, etc. etc. etc. Yet because he dared move his business away from a high-taxing business-unfriendly environment to a low-taxing business-friendly one, he's a scheming tax dodger. Get it?

That's not being a "tax dodger," leftists. It's calling being smart with your hard-earned money! What you're doing is like calling someone a shoplifter because they chose to buy a grocery item at supermarket X because they were selling it cheaper than supermarket Y. Of course, when you're of the ilk that believes that you're not paying your fair share and that the Government is owed your money, then when you make smart decisions by seeking out low-taxing environments you're smeared as a scheming tax dodger.

And what else works with the LIV? Word-association guilt-by-association games. You all know the game: A psychologist tells you to say the first thing that comes to your mind when (s)he says x. So what are LIV writers, and, as is presumed, their LIV readers, supposed to think when they hear "multi-millionaire tax-dodging investment schemer"? President Hope&Change's Republican arch-enemy Mitt Romney of course!

So, just like Mitt Romney whose candidacy ended almost 5 whole months ago, Bono is using unethical unfair schemes so that his "numbers add up quickly."

And that, my friends, is how you create and inculcate the low-information voter.

I Do NOT Believe Our Country Is Trending Significantly Leftward and Here's Why

UPDATE 8:11, Sun. Nov. 11: Asterisks below indicate data slightly revised since this post's original publish date of 3:43 PM Thursday, Nov. 8.

(This post is very numbers-heavy but bear with me and get through it. I guarantee it will be worth it.)

Needless to say, I'm as disappointed as any Republican that we lost Tuesday's election. The next four years with Obama back in office and an emboldened Reid-led Democrat Senate are not going to be pretty.

I also must admit to being surprised about the election results because I really believed the polls that showed Mitt Romney had this in the bag. I believed Rasmussen and those University of Colorado professors who have never been wrong predicting a presidential election since 1980. I believed Dick Morris and Michael Barone. I believed Rush and bought his argument that "D+" polls were unrealistic, that Democrats could not possibly vote in greater numbers than Republicans.

But in the end, the news was bad for us.

Did more Democrats vote for Obama than Romney? Yes.

Did Obama win virtually every swing state? Yes.

Did Obama trounce Romney in the electoral college? Yes.

Did Obama overwhelmingly get the overwhelming majority of blacks, Hispanics, and the youth vote -- especially single women? Hell, yes.

Did over 2.0 million fewer people vote Republican in 2012 than in 2008. Yes.

All these facts about the election have led many pundits to conclude our populace is trending precipitously Democratic, that we are no longer the "center-right" nation we used to be.

However, I'd like to propose that this is not necessarily the case. And here's why:

While the Republican lever was pulled by 1.3* million fewer people than in 2008, Obama's vote count from 2008 decreased by over 7.6* million. Put in percentage terms, the Republican vote decreased by 2.3%* from four years ago, but one-tenth* of Obama's 2008 voters rejected Hope and Change this time around. That is, in my opinion, a significant drop and a genuine rejection of Obama's policies, regardless of the fact that Obama beat Romney anyway.

In addition, the gap by which Obama beat Romney is significantly less than John McCain. In 2008 he beat McCain nearly 9.5 million votes. He beat Romney by only 3.5* million. (Yes, I can complain about Republican voters who for whatever reason couldn't bring themselves to vote for Romney, but that's another topic for another post.) And this is what gives me hope for the future.

My argument becomes stronger when you look at the individual states and the District of Columbia. Compared side by side here are the observations:

• The percentage of votes Obama lost from 2008 and 2012 was greater than the percentage of votes Romney lost compared to McCain in every state except for Alaska, Louisiana, and New Jersey.

• Obama lost voters in every state except for Louisiana and North Carolina (both of which Romney won). Some of these losses were actually quite huge and were not confined to the red states. These are the most egregious examples:

RED STATES

Arizona*: Obama got 841 thousand votes, compared to 1.03 million in 2008, an 18.7% decrease.

Kentucky: Obama got 679 thousand votes, compared to 752 thousand in 2008, a 9.7% decrease.

Utah (where Mia Love unfortanetly lost her Congressional bid): Obama got 229 thousand votes, compared to 327 thousand in 2008, an entire 30.0% decrease. By contrast, Romney got 12.7% more votes than McCain.

West Virginia: Obama got 235 thousand votes, compared to 304 thousand in 2008, a 22.7% decrease.

BLUE STATES

California*: Obama got 5.89 million votes, compared to 8.27 million in 2008, a 28.8% decrease! Unfortunately, Romney got 23.7% fewer votes than McCain (the largest percentage loss for Republicans than in any other state other than Alaska), which means that a staggering 3.4 million fewer Californians voted in 2012 than in 2008.

District of Columbia: Obama got 222 thousand votes, compared to 246 thousand, a 9.5% decrease.

Hawaii: Obama got 303 thousand votes, compared to 326 thousand in 2008, a 7.0% decrease.

Illinois: With 99.7% reporting at this writing, Obama has 2.92 million votes, compared to 3.42 in 2008, a 14.7% decrease.

New Jersey*: With 99.2% reporting at this writing, Obama has 1.96 million votes, compared to 2.21 million in 2008, an 11.5% decrease.

Pennsylvania: With 99.7% reporting at this writing, Obama has 2.91 million votes, compared to 3.27 million in 2008, a 11.3% decrease. By contrast, Romney has 2.61 million votes, compared to McCain's 2.65 million, only a 1.4% decrease.

BATTLEGROUND STATES

Indiana*: With 99.9% reporting at this writing, Obama has 1.14 million votes, compared to 1.37 million in 2008, a 17.0% decrease.

Missouri (where Dem Claire McCaskill trounced Republican Todd foot-in-mouth Akin): Obama got 1.21 million votes, compared to 1.44 in 2008, a 15.7% decrease.

Ohio*: Obama got 2.69 million votes, compared to 2.93 million in 2008, an 8.0% decrease.

Part II here.

For those interested:  The state-by-state data

 

Live-Blogging Election 2012 [UPDATES]

Well, this is it, kids!

8:58 PM. Politico has a very handy interactive map where you can click on states and look at their results county by county. So far, no swing states have been called for either candidate. No suprises yet on those states that have been called.

I'm interested in keeping track of counties that went for Obama last time that go for Romney this time. So far, in closely watched Virginia and North Carolina, none the counties whose precints have reported 100% of their votes have switched over (red counties have remained red and same with blue). Wake County, NC: very important. But I have noticed in most of these counties there are fewer votes for Obama than in 2008 and more votes for Romney than there were for John McCain. Will keep an eye out. Any one of these counties can tilt its state one way or another ...

With 70% of Florida in, Romney has a razor thin lead!

9:25 PM: Obama now a sliver ahead in Florida, and NBC calls it for Obama in Pennsylvania??? Oy. But a lot of the central rural counties still have to weigh in, so we'll see.

9:37 PM: NBC has also called Michigan and Wisconsin for Obama. Now, George W. Bush won in 2004 without Wisconsin, Michigan, or Pennsylvania. BUT he had Ohio, Florida, and Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico. So come on, guys!

10:29 PM: Why did everyone call Wisconsin for Obama? With 20% reported Romney's still ahead.  Colorado and Florida look too close for comfort, but I think Romney's going to get Virginia and North Carolina. He lost New Hampshire, arguably the four most valuable electoral points on the map. He needs Iowa and Nevada.

11:00 PM: I will have no more fingernails left soon. Wisconsin now in Obama's column. Romney takes North Carolina.

Articles: Let's Talk About Lies

This one's good too: Let's Talk About Lies:

Romney can say something to the effect of "let's talk about lies" and explain that breaking a promise is a definition for lying.  He can then rattle off five or six instances when Obama and his administration have broken promises to the American people.

Romney can say things like:

The president promised America that his $800-billion stimulus package wouldn't ship jobs overseas.  Instead, ABC News reported that 80% of stimulus money spent on wind power went to foreign firms...including some in China.

The president promised America that if his stimulus package passed, unemployment would never be over 8%.  Instead, since the president took office, we haven't seen the underside of 8% unemployment until several days ago when, after so many people have given up hope and stopped looking for work, the number dropped to 7.8%.

The president promised America that he would cut a $1.3-trillion deficit in half by his first term.  Instead, he has added $1 trillion to the deficit every year he has been in office.

The president promised America that ObamaCare would reduce health care costs.  Instead, ObamaCare has raised insurance premiums by $800 to $1,400, although some people have gotten a rebate from the insurance companies...of about $150.

The president promised that he wouldn't allow any tax increase of any kind on those making less than $250,000.  Instead, ObamaCare is the largest tax increase in U.S. history.  In fact, there are at least 20 new or higher taxes on American families and small businesses under ObamaCare.  These taxes will destroy -- not create, but destroy -- jobs.  That is yet another broken promise.

The president promised America that he would stop the influence of cronyism -- of "well-connected friends and high-priced lobbyists," as he put it.  Instead, in his first three years in office, we saw more than $1.5 billion more in spending by lobbyists than in the previous three years.

The president promised America he would and will invest revenue (which means he will spend your tax dollars or borrow money from China) to grow green companies.  Instead, 80% of the time, the green energy loans went to backers of the president.  This is simply cronyism.  And the companies he spends your money on don't even grow; they go bankrupt time and timeagain!  He loses jobs as fast as he "creates" them.  Two steps "Forward!" and three steps backward is not progress by any rational definition.

The president promised America to make the borders safe.  Instead, the DOJ oversaw Operation Fast and Furious, where thousands of guns went untracked to drug cartels in Mexico, killing Americans as well as Mexicans.

The president promised America transparency.  Instead, after months of congressional investigations being stonewalled by the DOJ and Attorney General Eric Holder, the president finally took action...and promptly covered it up.  He invoked executive privilege to keep the documents away from the light of Congress. ...

Vid of the Day: The Coulter-Maher Fights

As any regular reader of this blog will know, I cannot stand Bill Maher. I think he is utterly foul and caustic, and there is probably not one thing he says about politics that I agree with him on.

However, one thing I do respect about him is that he has the intellectual integrity to bring on guests to whom he is ideologically opposed and will engage in feisty debate. I think that's why the Fox News analyst/commentator programs are more popular than most other similar cable shows because even though most of the hosts lean conservative, they invite guests from all ranges of the spectrum.

And so, here is my girl Ann on Maher's show a few days ago to discuss her new book "Mugged" (which is excellent, by the way) and other issues of the day.

WARNING: There is a point where Maher calls Obama a "Rockefeller Republican." Please make sure you are not drinking, eating anything spicy, or sitting on a chair that is easy to fall off of.

Video of the Day (10/9/12): Voices without a Vote

This was played on the air last night by Mark Levin:

Liberal Racism: What the Left Does When Black Actress Supports Romney

There's a reason I started calling liberals "illiberals". If the shoe fits ...

Thomas Sowell has said it, as have Larry Elder, Walter E. Williams, Star Parker, Daneen Borelli, Angela McGlowan, Lloyd Marcus, Alonzo Rachel, Bob Parks, and scores of others: If you're black and dare leave the Democrat plantation and join the supposedly racist Republicans, prepare to have every disgusting racist epithet thrown at you like stones at a Muslim woman accused of adultery.

Recently the left praised and enthusiastically spread a pro-Obama video starring Samuel L. Jackson dropping the f-bomb all over the place -- including single-digit-aged children also dropping the f-bomb toward those who would dare oppose Dear Leader.

Now, the same "tolerant" left is pillorying no-longer-Clueless black actress Stacey Dash because she announced her support for Mitt Romney. 

Follow the story at the  Blaze and Twitchy. 

If you want to show your support for Ms. Dash, tweet with the hatchtag: #ISupportStaceyDash.

Rich Lowry: The media's terrible trip

Rich Lowry: The media's terrible trip.

Imagine if a cadre of journalists were recruited to cover the Obama campaign from 100 devoted Rush Limbaugh listeners living in the 230-mile corridor from Midland to Amarillo, Texas. Imagine they were overwhelmingly pro-life and heavily evangelical, owned five firearms each and largely socialized with one another and other conservative Republicans.

They could try their damnedest to be fair to the president whose politics they disdain. Still, their own predilections would inevitably show through.

In the real world, journalists tend to have the opposite of all these qualities, and on top of that they are usually self-important and willfully blind to their own biases. It's a wonder they aren't told "shove it" more often.