#rsrh Perhaps I am too cheerfully cynical…

…but I am neither shocked nor particularly upset that Juan Williams got fired for espousing heresy.  I’m not shocked because I already knew that NPR’s particularly flavor of corporate theocratic thinking is incredibly intolerant of opposing viewpoints (especially when they’re coming from inside the faith, and doubly so when they’re coming from non-white/non-male heretics); and I’m not particularly upset because, well, it ain’t my religion and I’m not obliged to get all worked up because a talking head got excommunicated from his church.

But defund NPR, by all means.  That’s a good idea on general principles, and by ‘general’ I mean ‘Establishment Clause.’  I’m sure that we’ll be able to find enough local radio stations that can play jazz records for a couple of hours a day.

RCP: November continues to loom for Democrats.

Sean Trende of Real Clear Politics – an underrated blogger, possibly because RCP is such a good site generally that its bloggers get overshadowed – still holds his opinion from April that the House is going to flip big in November:

The bottom line is that Democrats are on pace for an ugly November. They’re increasingly running out of time to change the dynamic, and it looks about as likely that things will get worse as that they will get better. If the elections were held today, the balance of the evidence suggests they would lose 50-60 seats. If you think the political environment will improve for Democrats, you can adjust your expectations accordingly, but if you think they will get worse, you can do the same.

He’s basing that on a few things: the Gallup and Rasmussen generic ballot polls, and the NPR analysis.  Continue reading RCP: November continues to loom for Democrats.

#rsrh I’m too sexy for my Census form.

The government probably had similar problems with the last one, too, but this is still funny: the hipsters aren’t bothering with filling theirs out, the dolts. Listen to the NPR report on this (with a slightly glassy smile) (transcript here):

…and let me just highlight this marvel of our public school system:

Just outside the record store, I meet Jamie Lilly. She knows the ads. She got the form but she thinks that returning it is just supporting a government that she doesnt believe in.

Ms. JAMIE LILLY: You know, on a personal note, maybe some people, they figure what’s the point to be counted if you dont count for much anyway? If we dont count, why be counted?

Words cannot express my relief that it is highly unlikely that Ms. Lilly will ever have a say in formulating Republican party policy.

How to get sympathetic coverage from NPR on Tea Parties.

Hold out the hope that a national third party – i.e., continued control of the federal government by the Democratic party – will be the end result.  Personally, I think it’s cruel to get their hopes up like that.

Which should not be taken as a request to stop doing it, of course.

(Also via Instapundit – heck, the same post, even.)

Crossposted to RedState.

When you’re losing NPR…

There is – some – good news for the administration in this latest NPR poll (via Political Wire, h/t Soren Dayton), but when you’re a Democrat getting these kinds of results among registered* voters**:

Those are the chief findings of the latest NPR poll of registered voters conducted nationwide Wednesday through Sunday by a bipartisan team. The pollsters found 53 percent approving of the president’s handling of his job, while 42 percent disapproved — the narrowest gap of the Obama presidency to date. Most of the approving group said they approved strongly, and an even greater majority of the disapproving group said they disapproved strongly.

Poll respondents liked a Democratic statement on solving health care problems better than a Republican statement (51 percent to 42 percent). However, when asked about the plan now moving through Congress, a plurality of 47 percent was opposed and 42 percent said they were in favor, based on what they had heard about the plan so far.

…you have a problem. The poll results also report that voters are also currently favoring generic Republican candidates over Democratic ones, 43/42 (and hastens to add that it’s within MoE): Rasmussen, of course, reported yesterday that the GOP lead the Democrats 42/39 among likely voters (that’s the fifth week in a row that the GOP’s lead on that question).  It’s going to be an interesting August, particularly since it looks increasingly likely that there will be a lot of Democrats that are going to be asked how they plan to vote on healthcare rationing, rather than why they voted for healthcare rationing.  Either one would have been fun to work with, but I suppose that it’s unreasonable to expect to have both.

Moe Lane

*Although the actual poll says “likely” at the very beginning.  I assume that there’s an arcane reason for that.

**Gallup had him at 54% on Tuesday.  All of these numbers will go up, by the way: the President’s approval ratings are linked to his job performance, and presumably at some point he’ll appear to be performing it.  But the days of the President being the One Who Ejaculates Roses are well and truly gone. Continue reading When you’re losing NPR…