FINAL COUNTDOWN FOR USA ELECTION 2008

McCain leads by four points among men while Obama leads by three among women. On Tuesday, when Obama’s lead peaked, he had a fourteen point advantage among women. . . .

Forty-one percent (41%) of voters say that they are certain they will cast their ballot for McCain and will not change their mind before November. Thirty-eight percent (38%) say the same about Obama. Overall, McCain is now viewed favorably by 60% of the nation’s voters while Obama earns positive reviews from 55% (see trends).

Foxfyre, the taxcut issue is interesting, because Democrats have claimed that taxcuts do not help the economy, yet their actions speak otherwise. If they didn't think they helped, why would they talk about keeping the taxcuts to help the economy? They speak out of both sides of their mouth. Why don't they stick to their beliefs, if that is what they believe, that taxcuts only benefit the rich, that trickle down economics doesn't work, right? Alot of their words and actions are totally contradictory.

Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews Booted From MSNBC Political Anchor Desk
September 8, 2008

Keith Olbermann may be the “voice” of MSNBC, but network executives have decided to yank the talkmeister off its politican anchor desk after the cable channel finishing dead last in the Nielsen rankings of all news coverage during the two weeks of political conventions.

The network announced Monday that Olbermann and Chris Matthews have both been booted as co-hosts on political night coverage in favor of David Gregory, whose White House press corps experience may make him better suited to deliver sober and less opinion-driven assessments of the news.

All summer, MSNBC executives have fought off complaints that Olbermann and Matthews, the network’s top commentators, could serve in the role of impartial newsmen. Those complaints reached a crescendo last week when Olbermann, reporting on the Republican National Convention from New York rather than St. Paul, apologized to the audience after the channel aired a Sept. 11 video tribute crafted by the RNC.

“We would be rightly eviscerated at all quarters, perhaps by the Republican Party itself, for exploiting the memories of the dead, and perhaps even for trying to evoke that pain again. If you reacted to that videotape the way I did, I apologize,” Olbermann said.

The network’s weak ratings during the conventions may have given MSNBC executives the cover they needed to boot Olbermann and Matthews. FOX News Channel topped all broadcast and cable networks with 9.2 million viewers on each of the last two nights of the convention. MSNBC got barely more than a quarter of Fox’s total "2.5 million viewers.

MSNBC also ranked last among the three cable channels during primetime coverage of the last two nights of the Democratic convention.

Olbermann’s hard left views and his catfights with other MSNBC hosts have been the talk of gossip pages all summer. Olbermann sarcastically dismissed Republican pundit Pat Buchanan on the air after Buchanan said the GOP had been enlivened by Sarah Palin’s vice presidential nomination.

“Those reading Us Weekly with the picture of her and her youngest daughter with the word ’scandal’ written across it won’t be so happy,” Olbermann said.

He also expressed no regard for the GOP’s push back against rumors about Palin’s personal life.

“We’ll see if people feel sorry for unfounded rumors on the Internet,” he said. “If that’s the case, Senator Obama’s probably standing up and cheering and waiting for people to feel sorry for him.”

Olbermann’s brash style may also have earned him enemies within his own organization. He was caught on microphones mocking another MSNBC host, Joe Scarborough, when Scarborough was discussing positive developments in McCain’s campaign.

“Jesus, Joe, why don’t you get a shovel?” he asked.

At another time, Matthews snapped at Olbermann on-air when it appeared Olbermann was criticizing him for talking too much. Matthews told TVNewser last week that he and Olbermann get along fine. It’s not clear when Matthews was informed of the decision to bounce him from the anchor spot along with Olbermann.

Asked about the internal fighting at MSNBC, NBC anchor Brian Williams tried to smooth ruffled feathers during an appearance on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” last week.

“Is there no control?” asked host Jon Stewart. “Is it ‘Lord of the Flies’?”

Williams replied that every family has a dynamic of its own.

“But does MSNBC have to be the Lohans?” Stewart said.

As a result of the internal turmoil, Gregory will now anchor MSNBC’s coverage of the presidential and vice presidential debates, as well as on election night, said network spokesman Jeremy Gaines.

Olbermann did score an interview with Barack Obama on his “Countdown” show. That is set to air Monday and will go up against Bill O’Reilly’s interview with Obama on FOX News. A portion of the O’Reilly interview with Obama aired last Thursday and earned O’Reilly his second highest rating ever, with more than 6.6 million viewers.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/08/msnbc-hosts-olbermann-matthews-booted-from-political-night-duties/

Well, McCain certainly has got his bounce out of the convention. This is why I was cautioning others on Friday not to get too ahead of themselves re: the polling.

It will be interesting to see some state polling now. Most of the state polls we have are pretty out of date, and at this point I don't trust the state polling maps as much as I used to. I would predict that by the end of the week, we see a return to the parity we had before; but if not, Obama better start making news in one way or another, if he wants to turn this thing around. He'd be foolish to make the same mistake that Kerry did and wait for the debates without really taking the attack to his opponent.

Cycloptichorn

Well, McCain certainly has got his bounce out of the convention. This is why I was cautioning others on Friday not to get too ahead of themselves re: the polling.
Cycloptichorn

[...]We talk endlessly about uninsured children in New Mexico, when the far bigger problem is working adults who make too little to afford insurance and too much to qualify for public help. We fret about insurance company administrative costs, which in New Mexico were about 11 percent of premium dollars last year, and spend no time on the accelerating salaries and mind-boggling waste spurring medical costs, which were about 84 percent of premium dollars.

Partly it’s because we also talk about implementation details instead of the values that we citizens want a health care system to reflect.

What we look like

In Britain right now, the national health system is falling apart, for the same reason our system is struggling. It costs too much. The British ration care by withholding services and making people wait. Americans ration care by allowing 47 million people to have no insurance.

Polling shows that the British will accept the waits and the lack of services as long as everybody has the same wait and the same lack of services. Egalitarianism is a value system, and the health system reflects it.

Polling in the United States shows that most people dislike the nation’s health system in the abstract but rather like their own care. Arithmetic shows that, if 47 million Americans have no coverage, about 250 million do.

Our continuing inactivity shows that 47 million uninsured is consistent with our value system.

Therefore, I have a modest legislative proposal of my own: Since we don’t do what is required to cover the uninsured, let us ban, by law, the use of the word “uninsured” until we’re serious about solving the problem.

Cycloptichorn wrote:

Well, McCain certainly has got his bounce out of the convention. This is why I was cautioning others on Friday not to get too ahead of themselves re: the polling.
Cycloptichorn

Admit it, cyclops, you've been crowing about Obama having this in the bag for months, every day almost, right here on this forum.

The Rasmussen Reports Balance of Power Calculator currently shows Obama leading in states with 193 Electoral College votes while McCain leads in states with 183 votes (see Quick Campaign Overview). When leaners are included, it’s Obama 264, McCain 247 (see 50-State Summary).

Data from Rasmussen Markets currently gives Obama a 52.0% chance of winning in November.

Well, I still think he's the clear favorite to win. But McCain has reached his highest levels of the race so far, and if he maintains these levels, Obama most certainly will not be the clear favorite to win any longer.

Olbermann did score an interview with Barack Obama on his “Countdown” show. That is set to air Monday and will go up against Bill O’Reilly’s interview with Obama on FOX News. A portion of the O’Reilly interview with Obama aired last Thursday and earned O’Reilly his second highest rating ever, with more than 6.6 million viewers.

Gov. Sarah Palin will sit down with ABC News' Charlie Gibson for her first interview since winning the Republican vice presidential nomination, the network's news division confirmed today.