Archive for 2010

THE HITS KEEP COMING: Illegal Aliens Canvassing for Patty Murray. “When Maria Gianni is knocking on voters’ doors, she’s not bashful about telling people she is in the country illegally. She knows it’s a risk to advertise to strangers that she’s here illegally — but one worth taking in what she sees as a crucial election. The 42-year-old is one of dozens of volunteers — many of them illegal immigrants — canvassing neighborhoods in the Seattle area trying to get naturalized citizens to cast a ballot for candidates like Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, who is in a neck-to-neck race with Republican Dino Rossi. Pramila Jayapal, head of OneAmerica Votes, says the campaign is about empowering immigrants who may not feel like they can contribute to a campaign because they can’t vote.”

RASMUSSEN POLL: Only 25% Prefer a Government With More Services, Higher Taxes. “Most voters (65%) say they prefer a government with fewer services and lower taxes rather than one with more services and higher taxes. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that only 25% of Likely U.S. Voters favor a government with more services and higher taxes instead. . . . As is often the case, there is a noticeable divide between the Political Class and Mainstream voters: 70% of the Political Class supports more services and higher taxes, while 78% of Mainstream voters prefer fewer services and lower taxes.”

MICHAEL BARONE: NPR’s Intolerant Firing of Juan Williams. “Reading between the lines of Juan’s statement and those of NPR officials, it’s apparent that NPR was moved to fire Juan because he irritates so many people in its audience. An interesting contrast: many NPR listeners apparently could not stomach that Williams also appeared on Fox News. But it doesn’t seem that any perceptible number of Fox News viewers had any complaints that Williams also worked for NPR. The Fox audience seems to be more tolerant of diversity than the NPR audience.” Well, Fox viewers are the open-minded, tolerant type.

SOME GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE TEEN PARENTHOOD RATE? “Good news,” hell. I need teens to be having more kids, pronto! Legitimate, illegitimate, I don’t care — somebody’s got to pay my Social Security.

WALTER SHAPIRO INTERVIEWS KENTUCKY VOTERS on the “Aqua Buddha” Ad Fail:

But many Paul voters already know that they will not be voting for a generic senator from Central Casting. “The ad was an effort to label Paul as off the reservation and a little weird,” said Tyler Long, the vice president of a local bank. “But we already knew that.” Yes, the 37-year-old Long (“I’m a reliable Republican with Tea Party sympathies”) is unequivocally backing Rand Paul.

Though random voter interviews are a crude barometer, it does seem telling that the only person at McKinley’s at all upset by Paul’s long-ago and immature connection with Aqua Buddha was a loyal Democrat.

Sorry, but “Aqua Buddha” just sounds like a low-rent superhero, not something scary.