Moe Lane

From Rasmussen:

A new Rasmussen Reports nationwide telephone survey finds that 66% of Adults correctly identify soccer, or football as it’s known outside the United States, as the sport played in the World Cup competition. However, three percent (3%) say it’s all about baseball, and one percent (1%) each think the international teams will be playing tennis, hockey or golf. Twenty-eight percent (28%) are not sure what sport will be played.

66% is far too high – and we really need to get that percentage of the population who think that it’s a golf competition up. It’s absolutely critical for our long-term national security needs; the more people in this country who don’t have a clue what the World Cup is, the fewer people who will get upset when we get our rears kicked by countries like Costa Rica or Ghana.  Dammit, just because it’s a slightly absurd geopolitical safety valve doesn’t mean that it’s not a real one…

How Bizarre, OMC

…oh, right, I hated these guys. ‘Pretentious gits’ was the phrase that I think that I used at the time.

So in honor of the occasion…

Well, for given values of ‘honor.’

You may remember Isaac from CPAC: he’s running in Jesse Jackson, Jr’s district – or, as we like to call Jackson around here, “Senate Candidate #5.”

Isaac’s site is here.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

(Via Instapundit) Oddly enough, to find a proper response to this particular absurd exercise in Bush-bashing one need go no further than Doonesbury’s Garry Trudeau (in, admittedly, another set of circumstances completely). If I remember properly, it went like this:

I forget. Was he the cute mop head?

He’s certainly not the bright one…

Moe Lane

(more…)

Witness this map.

It’s called the Dartmouth map, and as the New York Times and Hot Air notes, it was used by the Obama administration to argue that there were existing inefficiencies in the Medicare system that could be trimmed away, thus permitting a scenario where Medicare funding could be cut significantly while not sacrificing care (indeed, the map’s creators argue that it demonstrates that cutting Medicare will improve care). In fact, Sir Donald – that being the guy who loves the British Health Service to, ahem, death – is particularly enamored of this map:

Dr. Donald Berwick, nominated by President Obama to run Medicare, called it the most important research of its kind in the last quarter-century. In March, in response to the Congressional Democrats who would have otherwise withheld their support for the health legislation, the administration made a promise. It said it would ask the Institute of Medicine, a nongovernment advisory group, to consider ways of putting the Dartmouth findings into action by setting payment rates that would punish inefficient hospitals and reward efficient ones.

Just one small problem: it’s not actually a map of inefficient care. Just expensive care. More from the Times: (more…)

Well, now we know why the Left decided to start freaking out again about Rasmussen.  In-con-ven-i-ent poll re-sults:

Congressman Joe Sestak’s post-primary bounce appears to over, and he now trails Republican rival Pat Toomey by seven points in the U.S. Senate contest in Pennsylvania.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Pennsylvania shows Toomey with 45% support, while Sestak earns 38%. Five percent (5%) prefer another candidate in the race, and 12% are undecided.

Mind you, I’m not suggesting that anything was leaked, or anything. Just that everybody who pays attention to this sort of thing knows full well that Sestak was scheduled to get a post-nomination bounce; and that the bounce would then dissipate for one reason or another.  Nomination bounces often do because the act of being nominated doesn’t automatically change people’s perceptions of a candidate’s flaws, strengths, or opinions; and while increased scrutiny may increase the number of people who take a second look and end up being impressed, it can also increase the number of people who take a second look and end up not being impressed.  Hence, Sestak’s resetting back to his pre-nomination numbers.

Mind you, it’s a lot easier to scream that Rasmussen is flawed.  Quicker than waiting for November, too.

Moe Lane

PS: Toomey.

On Iowa governor Chet Culver’s (D) steadily-… there isn’t a good word, really.  ‘Eroding’ isn’t dynamic enough and English doesn’t really have a word for the process of explosive decompression.  Anyway, Jim Geraghty sums it up:

If Culver’s approval among Republicans goes any lower, it will be easier for PPP to just list the supporters individually than provide a percentage: “Culver’s approval rating has dropped from 4 percent to Floyd.”

But to be fair: Floyd will be like a rock.

Moe Lane

PS: Terry Branstad is apparently the front-runner for that race. Sorry: this one I’m not really checked out on.

…and you are absolutely sick and tired of the way that self-appointed ‘elites’ will stop at nothing in order to keep secure their place at the twin troughs of power and money; if you are appalled that in 2010 – 2010 – a politician from any party would think that his petty privileges are worth smearing the public reputation of not only his constituents, but an entire state; if you are filled with an elemental loathing of the tactics and methods of those who want to stop reform in government – well, I would like to quote to you some excellent American folk wisdom.

“Don’t get mad.
Get even.”

It’s no longer a goal of having Nikki Haley take first place in the primary. The goal is now to get her above 50% and eliminate the need for a runoff.

Contribute today.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Down To The River To Pray, Alison Krauss

Long, slow breaths, Moe.  Cleansing, centering breaths.

Looks like a computer-generated series based on the popular (both on this blog, and in the outside world) Dragon Age: Origins video game. There’s two episodes so far: the second one is below.

I have to note: for a world with regular incursions of demonic hell-creatures out of the depths of the earth, the inhabitants seem distressingly ill-armed and trained.  I mean, what would have happened if my PC hadn’t shown up?

Besides Darkspawn Chronicles, of course.

Scott’s got a longer primary than most (September), so he was able to talk with Redstate for a bit on the race, the likely Democratic nominee (apparently, the White House cleared out primary opposition to this race, too), and why the Democratic governor of Wisconsin isn’t the Democratic nominee.

His website is here.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.