Clipmarks | jklugman's 'politics' clips

McCain tax cuts give Corporations $175B/year windfall

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:11:57 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: And guess who will make up the difference?

Report: McCain Tax Cuts to Save Corporations $175 Billion/Year

In campaign news, a new report is estimating Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s proposed tax plan will produce a windfall for corporate America. The Center For American Progress estimates McCain’s plan would save corporations $175 billion per year. The country’s largest 200 corporations alone would save $45 billion.

Tags: politics, economy

Study: Open-Minded Blog Readers Much More Likely To Be Left-Wing

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:11:56 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks: I ordinarily stay away from "liberals are x; conservatives are y" stories but what the hell, we've seen a lot of that lately on Clipmarks and this study looks well-designed.

Clip Source: papers.ssrn.com

Self-Segregation or Deliberation? Blog Readership, Participation and Polarization in American Politics

HENRY FARRELL
George Washington University - Department of Political Science
ERIC LAWRENCE
George Washington University-Department of Political Science
JOHN SIDES
George Washington University - Department of Political Science

June, 25 2008

Clip Source: crookedtimber.org

blog readers seem to exhibit strong homophily. That is to say, they overwhelmingly choose blogs that are written by people who are roughly in accordance with their political views. Left wingers read left wing blogs, right wingers read right wing blogs, and very few people read both left wing and right wing blogs. Those few people who read both left wing and right wing blogs are considerably more likely to be left wing themselves; interpret this as you like.

Clip Source: crookedtimber.org

Tags: politics, liberals, conservatives

McCain top recipient of money from oil & gas industry

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:42:47 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks: Via Faiz at ThinkProgress

Clip Source: blogs.wsj.com

Indeed, McCain does lead all other senators, and all others who ran for president, in contributions from the oil and gas industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics’ analysis of federal data in the 2007-08 election cycle. McCain collected $724,000 through May.

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, took in $304,000 from the industry.

Right-wingers really are nicer people, research shows

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:21:42 GMT

clipped by: RecordSage
clipper's remarks: The article speaks for itself.

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Don't listen to the liberals - Right-wingers really are nicer people, latest research shows

George Orwell once wrote that politics was closely related to social identity. 'One sometimes gets the impression,' he wrote in The Road To Wigan Pier, 'that the mere words socialism and communism draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, nature-cure quack, pacifist and feminist in England'.

Orwell was making an observation. But today a whole body of academic research shows he was correct: your politics influence the manner in which you live your life. And the news is not so good for those on the political Left.

There is plenty of data that shows that Right-wingers are happier, more generous to charities, less likely to commit suicide - and even hug their children more than those on the Left.

Much of this springs from the destructive influence of modern liberal ideas.

Tags: right wing, left wing, liberals, conservatives, comparison, research

Middle class taxes: Obama plan cuts three times more than McCain

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:00:33 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Non-partisan Tax Policy Center: Families making between $37,595 and $66,354 of annual income with Obama would get an average tax cut of $1,042 per family while McCain’s tax cut for this group would be $319. But the rich guys, now, that's another matter.

Clip Source: thinkprogress.org

According to a non-partisan analysis of the presidential candidates’ tax plans, Barack Obama “offers three times the break for middle class families” than proposals of John McCain, who “would steer the bulk of the benefits to the wealthiest families”:

Families making between $37,595 and $66,354 of annual income with Obama would get an average tax cut of $1,042 per family while McCain’s tax cut for this group would be $319

The Wonk Room has more on the study by the Tax Policy Center.

UPDATE: In 2001, McCain said of the Bush tax cuts: “I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle-class Americans who most need tax relief.” McCain is now proposing tax cuts that are more regressive than the Bush tax cuts.

Tags: taxes, politics

92% of max Bush contributors not giving now; Iraq concern

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:51:55 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "I always considered myself a Republican, primarily because of a belief in smaller government. And if you want a smaller government, you don’t want wars — especially wars that can be avoided."

Clip Source: thinkprogress.org

Citing Iraq opposition, former Bush donors are reluctant to donate to McCain.»

A CQ analysis shows that only about 8 percent of the 62,800 donors who gave the maximum contribution of $2,000 to Bush in 2004 had given to McCain as of April 30. Moreover, at least 46 of Bush’s 2004 donors have contributed significantly to both Obama and Clinton but are not listed as McCain donors. One, a lifelong Republican who donated $2,000 to Bush in 2004, said that he will not donate to McCain because of the senator’s fervent support of the Iraq war:

I always considered myself a Republican, primarily because of a belief in smaller government. And if you want a smaller government, you don’t want wars — especially wars that can be avoided.

Tags: bush, republicans, politics

Who's to Blame for High Gas Prices?

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 00:42:09 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: www.powerlineblog.com

For several decades, the Democratic Party has pursued policies designed to drive up the cost of petroleum, and therefore gas at the pump. Remarkably, the Democrats don't seem to have taken much of a political hit from the current spike in gas prices. Probably that's because most people don't realize how different the two parties' energy policies have been.

ANWR Exploration House Republicans: 91% Supported House Democrats: 86% Opposed

Coal-to-Liquid
House Republicans: 97% Supported
House Democrats: 78% Opposed

Oil Shale Exploration
House Republicans: 90% Supported
House Democrats: 86% Opposed

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Exploration
House Republicans: 81% Supported
House Democrats: 83% Opposed

Refinery Increased Capacity
House Republicans: 97% Supported
House Democrats: 96% Opposed

91% of House Republicans have historically voted to increase the production of American-made oil and gas

86% of House Democrats have historically voted against increasing the production of American-made oil and gas

Tags: gas, oil, politics, republicans, democrats

Democratic Party seats Florida, Michigan delegations

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:26:49 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Compromise gives each delegate half a vote at convention

Democratic party officials said a committee agreed Saturday on a compromise to seat Michigan and Florida delegates with half-votes after Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton failed to get enough support to force their positions through.

The committee agreed on a compromise offered by the Michigan Democratic Party that would split the difference, allowing Clinton to take 69 delegates and Obama 59. Each delegate would get half a vote at the convention in Denver this summer, according to the deal.

They also agreed to seat the Florida delegation based on the outcome of the January primary, with 105 pledged delegates for Clinton and 67 for Obama, but with each delegate getting half a vote as a penalty.

The resolution increased the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination to 2,118, leaving Obama 66 delegates short but still within striking distance after the three final primaries are held in the next three days.

Tags: politics, obama, clinton, democrats, election, vote

Fascist on the London Assembly

Sat, 03 May 2008 11:36:55 GMT

clipped by: Elfrida

Clip Source: www.socialistworker.org.uk

Millions of people across Britain will be shocked and horrified by the news that the fascist British National Party (BNP) has managed to grab an assembly seat in London – one of the most multiracial and diverse cities of the world.

While anti-fascist campaigning and the high turnout helped hold the Nazis back, it was not enough to prevent them from breaking through the crucial 5 percent barrier that guarantees a London assembly seat.

Much of the blame for letting the Nazis in lies with the political and media establishment that has whipped up a storm of racism against Muslims and immigrants

They have lashed out at Muslims to find a scapegoat for their disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and lashed out at Poles to deflect anger at the poor housing, decaying public services and dismal wages

The fascists feed off this climate of despair – and they will grow further if the anti-Nazi majority does not stand together and stand up to their politics of bigotry and race hatred.

The GOP is not the Nazi Party...right?!?!?!?

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 21:09:54 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: I don;t think so, someone should tell that to this moron!

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: politics, political, race, racism, nazi, gop, say what?

"Impossible" for Obama to lose lead

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:54:33 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: NBC analyst Chuck Todd

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

Report: Almost Impossible for Obama to Lose Pledged Delegate Lead

Although Clinton won by ten percentage points in Pennsylvania, she only gained about nine pledged delegates. According to NBC political analyst Chuck Todd, it now appears impossible for Obama to lose his lead in pledged delegates.

Tags: politics, clinton, obama

Obama's bitter comment: wrong on every count

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 03:47:46 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks: What Obama did was just parrot the conventional wisdom about small-town, working-class Americans. As political scientist Larry Bartels points out, the CW is wrong.

Mr. Obama’s comments are supposed to be significant because of the popular perception that rural, working-class voters have abandoned the Democratic Party in recent decades and that the only way for Democrats to win them back is to cater to their cultural concerns. The reality is that John Kerry received a slender plurality of their votes in 2004, while John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey, in the close elections of 1960 and 1968, lost them narrowly.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Mr. Obama explained that the people he had in mind “don’t vote on economic issues, because they don’t expect anybody’s going to help them.” He added: “So people end up, you know, voting on issues like guns, and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. And they take refuge in their faith and their community and their families and things they can count on. But they don’t believe they can count on Washington.”

This is a remarkably detailed and vivid account of the political sociology of the American electorate. What is even more remarkable is that it is wrong on virtually every count.

Small-town, working-class people are more likely than their cosmopolitan counterparts, not less, to say they trust the government to do what’s right.

Do small-town, working-class voters cast ballots on the basis of social issues? Yes, but less than other voters do.

Small-town, working-class voters were also less likely to connect religion and politics.

Tags: barack obama, larry bartels, politics, political-science

Democrats not very democratic

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 06:07:32 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners
clipper's remarks: The Obama supporters have been up in arms about the Clinton plan to try and win the primary by picking up more of the super delegates at the convention. They say doing so is thwarting the will of the people by trying to use back room politics to win the nomination. Yet this is exactly what the Obama camp is celebrating right now. Their candidate will likely win more delegates in Texas even though Clinton won the popular vote. This clearly shows that caucuses don't always reflect the will of the people. So without counting Michigan and Florida, and with Obama wining many if not all of the caucuses, who is to say what the will of the people is?

Is Hillary right or wrong for taking this primary all the way to the convention? I don't know (and don't care for that matter), but I do know that she would have no more stolen the nomination if she does pull of the win than Obama will have stolen it if he wins.

Clip Source: www.statesman.com

Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign says that based on results from some 280 regional conventions in Texas on Saturday, he overtook Sen. Hillary Clinton in delegates. Punch line: She may have won the popular vote in the March 4 primary, but he substantially outperformed her at primary-night precinct caucuses that fed into the regional conventions.

Their press release:

With more than 56 percent of the results tallied from today’s 284 Democratic district conventions across Texas, Sen. Barack Obama currently is projected to earn a 38-29 pledged delegate win in the Texas caucuses, exactly as projected on the day after the March 4th precinct caucuses. The nine delegate margin in the caucuses means Obama will gain a net margin of five pledged delegates from Texas because Senator Clinton narrowly won the Texas primary by only four delegates, 65-61.

Tags: democrat, primary, vote, election, texas, obama, clinton, politics

Obama's church and Hamas

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:09:06 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: mypetjawa.mu.nu

Sen. Barack Obama's Chicago church reprinted a manifesto by Hamas that defended terrorism as legitimate resistance, refused to recognize the right of Israel to exist and compared the terror group's official charter – which calls for the murder of Jews – to America's Declaration of Independence.

The Hamas piece was published on the "Pastor's Page" of the Trinity United Church of Christ newsletter reserved for Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., whose anti-American, anti-Israel remarks landed Obama in hot water

In his July 22, 2007, church bulletin, Wright reprinted an article by Mousa Abu Marzook, identified in the newsletter as a "deputy of the political bureau of Hamas."

Marzook's original piece was titled, "Hamas' stand" but was re-titled "A Fresh View of the Palestinian Struggle" by Obama's church newsletter.[emphasis mine] The newsletter also referred to Hamas as the "Islamic Resistance Movement," and added in its introduction that Marzook was addressing Hamas' goals for "all of Palestine."

Clip Source: www.bizzyblog.com

Tags: obama, wright, race, racism, religion, politics, hamas, terrorism, israel

Name that party Slideshow version

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 05:40:19 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners
clipper's remarks: ABC makes it easy. Instead of having to go search for media bias, ABC does all the work in a nice pretty slideshow format.

The official numbers go like this. Of the 13 sex scandals, 12 involve elected officials. Of those, 7 are republican and 5 are democrat. And if you counted you know that they mention party only once for the democrats (20%), but they mention it in six of the clips involving republicans (86%).

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

Political Sex Scandals

Tags: media, bias, democrats, republicans, politics, sex, msm