Of course, we have obvious incentives to discount polls unfavorable to Republicans, but I would also beware of polls that show Republicans winning. Polls are not campaigns and polls don’t win elections. Any poll can be wrong and, especially in the home stretch of a campaign — eight days to go! — you can’t let polls tell you what to think. To repeat what I said last week:
I only want to see poll numbers if the numbers tell me that a Republican underdog is gaining ground on a supposedly “safe” Democratic incumbent, or if the numbers confirm that a vulnerable Democrat is on his way to well-deserved defeat.
Everything else is just a damned distraction from the fight at this point in the campaign, I’m as tired of overconfident Pollyannas as I am of Eeyore worrywarts.
It seems like eons ago, but actually it was only December 2008, when I examined the proposed neo-Keynesian economic agenda of the ascendant Democrats and said, “It Won’t Work.”
Obama gave a speech in Los Angeles [Friday], where he hailed the accomplishments of his administration (most money wasted? record budget deficits?). He said “This is a choice between the past and the future, between fear and hope, between moving backwards and moving forwards. And I don’t know about you, but I want to move forward”.
Mr Obama, you’re ignoring the First Rule of Cliffs – when you’re headed off one – stop moving forward.
The news of McCain’s taste for front-end venison is of course well known. Slightly less notorious is the ‘Barbie Cam’, a scarred-yet-miraculously-functional bubble gum pink affair similar to this:
The Barbie Cam is rumored to have criss-crossed Europe before falling out of Skippy’s luggage:
That lonely Barbie Cam may soon be joined by an equally snazzy go-kartchariot, tip jar willing:
Stacy is on record as saying that no interviewee can resist the Barbie Cam. The question will then move to whether any interviewee’s composure can resist Stacy pulling up to the interview site in a Hello Kitty Car. In defense of Stacy, more traditional ice breakers are unsuitable for land use.
These ideas are not terribly new with Whittle, but he brings at least two crucial ingredients to these timeless questions of societal organization, one relatively obvious, one less so.
1. Bill is an excellent communicator. He has acquired knowledge and broadcasts it smoothly. He’s spent enough time doing media work that he knows well what not to do. Over on PJTV, he did an obituary for someone you’ve likely never heard of, and made it interesting for a solid 10 minutes. Granted, the subject was interesting, but the skill in play held the audience all the way to the conclusion. That ain’t beanbag.
2. More important than Bill’s communications skill is the vision involved. Unlike the vast sea of people yelling at their televisions over what is wrong with modern culture, more than those doing the important work of writing blogs and supporting useful candidates for office, Bill’s Declaration Entertainment is going to have a lasting impact on the culture.
The reason for the last sentence is that the notion of aggregating the audience beforehand to break the grip of the Left on the movie making business is as brilliant as the mind behind these Firewall essays. The market for new movie production is relatively sewn up, and the movies being made are such dreck that the silent majority steers clear of the stream of filth. Leveraging the internet to break into the market with fresh ideas seems, in retrospect, obvious. Yet there is Bill with the timing and location to pull it off. Building the budget for professional movie productions one small nibble at a time overcomes the otherwise daunting funding challenge.
Whether Declaration Entertainment is a reflection of the genius behind the Firewall (and older Afterburner) essays, or the reverse doesn’t matter much. What does matter is that liberty be preserved.
Thus, whenever you’re linking or reviewing a Firewall essay, consider plugging the bigger idea of Declaration Entertainment that they are driving. Also, consider subscribing to DE. Once it reaches critical mass, and has a few releases under its belt, the care and feeding won’t be as crucial as they are now.
Still, all participants can know that each drop of blog post adds to the tsunami that is going to wash the Progressive deadwood off the beach, lead to a renewed American vigor in human history, and dismay for authoritarian clowns the world over. Screw those clowns. Go, DE!
The sanctity of elections is as crucial as the dollar remaining the currency of the land. The country very literally cannot function in its current form if our elections are as queered as those of countries we grew up silently thankful that the Almighty had not chosen to place us within.
Reforming our voter registration processes has got to be among the top 10 priorities of the next Congress. It may not be the absolute #1 priority, but, in the long run, it is way up there. The currently reported shenanigans invite questions about other recent elections that could evolve into unhelpful distractions.
