From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
I'm Not Just Polling Your Leg
With the exception of that one mad scientist in Hoboken whose time travel experiment succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, the first quarter of 2016 is behind us. And that means it's C&J number-crunching time. Every few months we revisit the results of some past C&J polls to give you a retro-snapshot of just what the hell "you people" were thinking between January through March. The total number of votes each poll received is in parentheses so you'll know it's not just me and the cat voting, but rather me and thousands of cats:
• After seven years in office, 58 percent give President Obama an A for his overall performance. 35 percent give him a B and 5 percent a C. (8,644)
• In late January, 47 percent of you thought the 2016 primary season was more exciting than the 2008 primary season, while 30 percent thought it was less exciting. (2,327)
• 99 percent disagree with Ted Cruz's assertion that if John F. Kennedy was alive today he'd be a Republican. (5,414)
A public service message from C&J.
• Only 23 percent of you followed astronaut Scott Kelly's year in space somewhat or very closely. (3,640)
• 81 percent were against the FBI's now-abandoned effort to force Apple to create a backdoor to its iPhone. (5,174)
• 88 percent of you have read the late Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird and/or seen the movie version of it. (4,361)
• Seven percent rated House Speaker Paul Ryan's assertion that the Republican party "does not prey on people's prejudices" as false. But 89 percent rated it Pants-On-Fire. (6,969)
• In the C&J primary test vote for Florida's 23rd district, 92 percent chose Tim Canova over Debbie Wasserman Schultz. (3,381)
• As for your early impression of Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, 77 percent view him favorably, 16 percent unfavorably. (6,039)
• On its sixth anniversary, 32 percent thought the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was working "very well," while 60 percent believed it was working "pretty well." (7,297)
As always, we bow to your superior wisdom. But not too low, because we hear that's tyranny.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Note: Neither Bernie nor Hillary have released their krakens yet. What are they hiding???
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By the Numbers:
4 days!!!
Days 'til Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens comes out on DVD and Blue-Ray: 0!!!!!!!!!
Days 'til California's Bodega Bay Fisherman's Festival: 4
Amount the GOP and Dem candidates, and outside groups, are spending on ads in Wisconsin according to The Tracking Firm: $8.5 million
Length of the current period of economic expansion: 81 months
Overall support for the EPA’s Clean Power Plan via PPP polling: 67%
Percent of Dems and indys who support it, respectively: 87%, 72%
Winning auction bid Saturday on a baseball glove once owned by Babe Ruth: $118,000
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Tuesday Words of Wisdom from the Right-wing Blogosphere:
Let's check in and see how the folks at World Net Daily are reacting to Trump's backtracking after saying women who have abortions should be criminally prosecuted:
"Donald Trump was absolutely correct in reiterating that abortion is murder. Whereas, others who are Christians in name only, will never reiterate publicly that abortion is murder."
Hey...he’s just asking!
"A vote for Cruz or Kasich at this point in the primaries is equivalent to a vote for Hillary. Hillary is the queen of abortions. If she is elected, there will be an abortion parlor on every corner and we will have to let in illegals of every kind to make up for the low birthrate of American citizens."
"Don't waste your vote on Cruz, who is not even an American citizen. Hillary would expose Cruz this summer and win big time in November...I would vote for Hillary before I would ever vote for an illegal alien."
All together now: 1…2…3… Awesome!
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Puppy Pic of the Day:
Today marks seven weeks since our rescue lab-mix Haley had "TPLO" surgery on to compensate for a busted ligament in her left knee that left her hobbling on three legs. One more week of "strict confinement" (including lugging her 50-pound self up and down the stairs) and then fresh X-rays will show how successful it was. We're confident it worked like a charm, seeing as she's able to go on short walks without any sign of a limp. Here she is posing with fresh vittles from the supply wagon:
I can haz scissorz please?
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Yes, we’re all staring at you, cows.
CHEERS to choosy cheeseheads. Well, Wisconsin, today it's your turn to bask in the glow of the national spotlight as you cast ballots for your most favorite primary candidate of all time yaay! At stake: 96 juicy slices of cheddar for the Democrats and 42 for the Republicans. Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz are the odds-on favorites, but it's---minor spoiler here---not likely that either will deliver anything resembling a crushing blow against The Donald or The Hillary. It's an open primary, so anyone can vote any which way for any which one. Polls close at 8 o'clock central time. As always, the Daily Kos Elections Team will post results and---[sigh, the level at which I stoop to amuse you people]---whey in on the Big Picture. You might say they'll de-brie-f you.
P.S. C&J endorses JoAnne Kloppenburg in today’s Wisconsin Supreme Court contest. Because when it comes to all things judicial, she’s gouda!
CHEERS to karate kicking a white supremacist in the choppers. In yet another case where Antonin Scalia's murder-by-pillow helped save democracy’s (and the Democratic party's) bacon, yesterday the Supreme Court ruled that "One person, one vote" is still the way things oughtta be. It's a setback for racist Koch stooge Edward Blum, writes Ian Millhiser at Think Progress:
As I have previously noted, “Blum has probably done more than anyone who does not sit on the Supreme Court to dismantle America’s civil rights laws.”
Ginsburg delivered the bad news to the racist guy who only wants white people to vote.
One of Blum’s most ambitious efforts to make the halls of American power whiter has failed, however. Indeed, it failed disastrously. All eight justices rejected the plaintiffs arguments in Evenwel v. Abbott, a case backed by Blum, with six justices joining a majority opinion by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The issue in Evenwel is whether states must redraw congressional districts in ways that would shift representation away from communities with large numbers of non-citizen immigrants and towards whiter communities.
So America's congressional districts will remain equal-apportioned melting pots of humanity. But only for now. Because, slug that he is, Blum will be back. Just watch for trail of white slime.
“Go on. Lean in. Listen, you hear it? Caaaarpe… Caaarpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.”
CHEERS to hoops hopes. Congrats to the Villanova Wildcats, who were crowned the NCAA men's basketball champs after their tight-as-a-tick 77-74 win over North Carolina last night. (Those last-second end-of-game three-pointers by both teams were heart-stopping.) Tonight the women wrap up the Madness d' March with a board-stompin' dustup between Syracuse and UConn. My head says the Orange (Oranges? Orangei?) because of their commitment to vitamin C awareness, but my gut's cheerin' for the Huskies because our dog is part husky and if we don’t root for 'em she'll pee in our shoes. Ya gotta be scientific about these things.
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Gong! Gong!! BuddaBuddaBudda… GONG!!!
This is another edition of The One Word Answer Man. Michael Bourne at Salon asks: Where does all the white rage go when Donald Trump loses?
Bars.
Now back to Cheers and Jeers.
Gong! Gong!! BuddaBuddaBudda… GONG!!!
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JEERS to the least-surprising news flash of the year. What the "Panama Papers" conclusively proved when they were released Sunday: that rich people are hiding their money in offshore bank accounts, screwing governments out of tons of tax revenue except it's totally legal for them to do it. Versus what we knew before Sunday: that rich people are hiding their money in offshore bank accounts, screwing governments out of tons of tax revenue except it's totally legal for them to do it. You know what would be news? Hearing that someone had figured out a way to stop them from doing that. When that happens on the First of Never, be sure to stop by my gravesite and holler the news to me. I'll give you a big thumbs-up. (Can't wait to see the look on your face.)
CHEERS to Great Moments in Medicine. On April 5, 1933, the first operation to remove a lung was performed at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, MO. Unfortunately the guy was just there to visit his grandmother, but the point is: Progress!
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Eleven years ago in C&J: April 5, 2005
CHEERS to the perfect length. Tony Blair has asked the Queen for permission to dissolve Parliament, paving the way for new elections. Instead of our never-ending campaign cycle, the Brits will go to the polls exactly one month from today. Those poor blokes at "Thames Barge Veterans for Truth" won't have time to get their smear campaign out of the starting gate.
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And just one more…
The horse I rode in on.
CHEERS to another year of front-page swoosh-gonginess. I swear, these anniversaries come around faster and faster. On April 5, 2005, sixteen months after our debut in the Daily Kos diaries, this little column got promoted to the front page by Markos. I love to tell the story of that first day: how I posted C&J from my desk at work, then went to a meeting, then went to lunch, then came back to find a frantic email from Kos asking me why I did something horrible with my html formatting (remember html?) that made the front page margins go kerflooey. (Yes, he said that was the actual sound it made.) I'm happy to say that's the one and only time I broke the blog. But it was a doozy.
Whether you're a long-time splasher or a relative newcomer, thank you for reading and supporting this snarky little pimple on the blogiverse's butt. It sure beats the hell out of my previous career. Whatever the hell it was.
Have a nice Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Worldwide, jaws drop to Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool leak
---USA Today
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