Well, if we didn't build separate reactors there wouldn't be as many contracts for Bechtel and Halliburton. Also, we need the depleted uranium for our ordinance, so that every "visit" from Uncle Sam will be the gift that keeps on giving for whatever local populace of brown people we decide to bomb/invade.

Posted at August 6, 2008 9:29 PM in response to We'll Always Have Paris

This probably got buried upthread, so in response to chickenman, who said, "Is half of America idiots?

If your answer is yes then you play right into my point about Obama's condescending elitism."

Uh, yes, half of Americans ARE idiots, and that has nothing to do with "condescending elitism" but rather is a basic mathematical principle called "the average". Half of whatever feature you are assessing, whether it be age, income, or yes, intelligence will fall above "the average", and half will fall below "the average".

As such it's an indisputable truth that half of Americans are of below average intelligence.

Now, you may argue that being below average intelligence doesn't = being an idiot, and that's probably true...as in all else, there are gradations of idiocy. But, it doesn't change the fact that half of Americans are smarter than the other half.

That's not elitism, that's math. But you might want to contact the RNC and suggest that next they try mocking fancy-pants math...math is soooo stupid, what does it know? Obama's idea of a budget is full of NUMBERS and stuff!!! If that doesn't prove he's a condescending elitist, I don't know what does!

Posted at August 5, 2008 10:18 PM in response to The Tire-Gauge Dust-Up And The Politics Of Mockery

Yes.

Uh, you are aware, aren't you, that it is an indisputable fact that half of all people are below average intelligence? You can go look it up if you're having a hard time wrapping your head around it.

Posted at August 5, 2008 9:10 PM in response to The Tire-Gauge Dust-Up And The Politics Of Mockery

To answer each of those inane questions in order:

Did the DNC really think they were going to win FL after their little 1/2 vote fiasco?

You're projecting. Florida Democratic voters didn't get a case of the vapors from the whole issue the way diehard Hillary supporters such as yourself did.

Even Romney got more votes. Why is it such a surprise he isn't winning now?

As you've just alluded to, Democratic voters in Florida were told before the primary that their votes would not count. Most of them stayed home meaning that - watch the magic of math at work here! - a lot more Republicans participated in their state primary in Florida than Democrats, who had already been told their votes wouldn't count.

Obama may well not be winning in Florida, not for any of the ludicrous suggestions you've made, but thanks to its high population of elderly. But as to whether or not he's winning? You wouldn't be able to prove it by this poll because of all the obvious flaws that I and others have pointed out. And certainly not because you're a dead-ender who can't accept that your candidate didn't win the primary.

Posted at August 4, 2008 9:14 PM in response to Poll: McCain Ahead In Florida

Another issue: they also undersampled lower income voters.

63% of survey respondents make over $50K per year. Just under 40% of registered Florida voters do. So they've oversampled higher income people by over 50%.

And what was the poll within the last couple of days that showed Obama 10 points ahead of McCain among lower-income voters? It was reported here at TPM but I don't remember the specifics.

This poll is pretty useless.

Posted at August 4, 2008 8:25 PM in response to Poll: McCain Ahead In Florida

Ok, in answer to your question, no. No, they don't.

To be specific, 31.3% of Florida registered voters are 60 or older. They don't give the number for age 72+, but it's gotta be 25% or less.

This poll oversamples this age group by over 100%.

Posted at August 4, 2008 8:08 PM in response to Poll: McCain Ahead In Florida

Among old white people, Republicans most certainly do outnumber Dems...at least in southern states like Florida. They oversampled really really really old people, and as you pointed out, white people were oversampled too, but specifically, old white people were oversampled.

Posted at August 4, 2008 8:00 PM in response to Poll: McCain Ahead In Florida

Damn you TPM comments system! That was a reply to Publicola Hussein.

Posted at August 4, 2008 7:57 PM in response to Poll: McCain Ahead In Florida

Who knows? The way they've presented the data makes it impossible to tell. They have a line titled "composition of likely voters", which is suggestive of the number in each age group who actually show up to vote...in that line, it shows over 65's at 30%. But it's impossible to tell how they arrived at final numbers. If, for example, they've first grossly oversampled really old people, and then magnified that by counting 30% of them to derive final numbers, while undercounting people under 50 and applying their lower turnout numbers (27% for middle aged cohorts and 17% for young adults), you can see how you'd be magnifying a the oversampling of the old folks even more. It's unclear to me, anyway. They need to show their work, as your math teacher used to say.

Posted at August 4, 2008 7:56 PM in response to Poll: McCain Ahead In Florida

Did I mention that the majority of the people in this survey were really, really old? As in older than even John McCain? Wanted to be sure I was clear on that point.

Posted at August 4, 2008 7:38 PM in response to Poll: McCain Ahead In Florida