Speculative Bubble Politics Blog

Hillary is Mom Jeans

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Not sure if you've caught these websites but they are very clever:

First one is Barack Obama is your new bicycle
[hit refresh once you're there]

What is cooler than your new bicycle? Nothing. Every phrase on the site is an example of what a cool person is:

Barack Obama took off when he heard you weren't coming
Barack Obama picked you up at the airport
Barack Obama helped you move a sofa
Barack Obama remembered your birthday

The exact opposite of cool is mom jeans.
[hit refresh once you're there]

What is less cool than your mom's jeans? Nothing. Every phrase on the site is an example of what an uncool person is:

HILLARY BLOCKED YOUR CAR IN THE DRIVEWAY
HILLARY KEEPS INTERRUPTING THE MOVIE SAYING "WHAT DID HE SAY?"
HILLARY FOLDED THE MAP WRONG
HILLARY LEFT ONE SPOONFUL IN THE ICE CREAM CARTON

These sites are user generated content so they keep getting better and better and better the more people submit. hillaryismomjeans has something like 10,000 random phrases submitted so far so you have to at least see it once (and reload it a few times...).

The Politics of Planting - CNN

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Republican National Convention Logo Photoshopped

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3112814

The United States Presidency on Ebay

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0000

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320157866712

Republican Comparison

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:00:00 +0000

You have to click on it for the full size:

Via Digg

Third Debate Transcripts Sorted by Candidate - Democratic

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

The transcript of tonight's PBS Democratic primary debates broken out by individual candidate:

Joe Biden
Hillary Clinton
Christopher Dodd
John Edwards
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich
Barack Obama
Bill Richardson

Full transcript of the debate here

check out DC Shuffle's breakdown:

Three interesting things of note:
-The general evasiveness was much higher than the last time they got together
-Hillary won the reviled DC Shuffle award a second time in a row
-They all got equal air time because Tavis did a great job


Direct Questions answered clearly	5	4	6	6	6	5	4	5
Additional questions answered clearly	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Questions discussed but not answered	4	4	3	3	1	4	4	3
Questions avoided entirely	1	2	1	1	2	1	1	2


Responds clearly to direct question ratio	50%	40%	60%	60%	67%	50%	44%	50%
Responds clearly to all questions ratio	50%	40%	60%	60%	67%	50%	44%	50%
Empty answer ratio	40%	40%	30%	30%	11%	40%	44%	30%
Question avoidance ratio	10%	20%	10%	10%	22%	10%	11%	20%

Official 2008 presidential campaign blogs

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Every candidate with an actual blog (meaning a blog with an RSS feed) is on here and gets checked a few times a day for their new posts:

Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Edwards, Giulianai, Huckabee, Kucinich, McCain, Obama, Paul, Richardson, Romney, Tancredo, F Thompson

Click here to check it out

To the rest of the candidates without RSS:
One would think that Internet literacy would be a pre-requisite for a Presidential campaign staffer to build your website - guess not - good luck convincing others of your ability to lead the country with the obvious knack you have for picking the right person for the job: Welcome to the Internet.

Giuliani's website sucks

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

So I'm in the process of building a page for each of the candidates and thought it would be nice to have their latest official campaign blog post included. So after a bit of coding, I added a little box at the top of each candidate's page that links directly to their blog's most recent post - slick! I'm trying to be cool about it and link to every single candidate and I picked Rudy's candidate page here as a test to double check my mad programming skillz:

So I double check that the link to his latest blog post works. It says Weekly Wrap - Why Rudy and has a URL that looks like this: ( http://www.joinrudy2008.com/index.php?section=6&id=126 ). I click on it but then get completely redirected away to some huge sign up splash page that fills the screen (this one is shrunk way down):

What's this? That's not the article - How do I get out of this and to the article?

Oh I found it - There is only one way out without giving up an email address: so I click on
">> Skip to Main Site"

Then what happens - you guessed it, I did skip to the MAIN SITE ( http://www.joinrudy2008.com/index.php ) - THE MAIN SITE - not to the article I wanted ( http://www.joinrudy2008.com/index.php?section=6&id=126 ). All kinds of stuff to click on his homepage, fiscal discipline - that looks interesting. Hey wait, why am I on Rudy's webpage again? What was that headline I clicked on again? Wasn't there something that I wanted to read about? - Oh well, I'm already here - might as well click on that polished picture of Rudy maybe - or hold it, look - a shiny red button what does that do I wonder?

Giuliani's website redirects their visitors to a splash page and then forces them from there to Giuliani's homepage. Not caring where the visitor was even going on the site, not caring what even brought the visitor there! This is how ecommerce webmasters increase their conversion numbers in the SHORT TERM because they don't give a shiat if the visitors ever return again - just force each web visitor onto the mailing list and then email blast them until they buy something or get so mad they opt-out. Yikes Rudy!

Not sure what I'm talking about? Go try it: See if you can read their recent article titled Mayor Curt Pringle: Why I Am Supporting Rudy Giuliani for President - Notice the URL for it: http://www.joinrudy2008.com/index.php?section=6&id=17 and watch where they take you in the location bar and see what I'm talking about - how many clicks and how long did it take you to read the article? - Did you EVER find it? I couldn't.
That Pringle article is their most recent post on this feed: http://www.joinrudy2008.com/rss/thebuzz.xml which I guess is their blog? Not sure? If I can't figure it out I wonder who can?

This is exactly why I never link to any article from forbes.com - forbes is always 90% pop-ups, splash screens and ads - whatever their short article is about is not even worth the hassle - they've turned into a spam site. Learn from forbes mistakes Giuliani staff.

If it was just some sort of typo in the code I really doubt it; I think it was much more about greed than building a visitor base - a rookie mistake made a zillion times by web masters 5 years ago. I'll give them a bit to fix it but I think I'll have to remove the links to them eventually. If a hyper link does not go to where it is pointing to, then that is intentionally deceiving - SPAM. No one wants to be permanently redirected off to some junk sign up page and then to a start page like that - I don't care what website it is.

That said, still have to give team Rudy props for at least trying - Hunter, Brownback, Tommy Thompson and Gravel don't even have RSS Feeds ( Needed to automatically figure out what their latest blog post was )

UPDATE JUNE 23: Whoa - now it properly redirects you to the article after the email sign up spash page. Better; much much better - well done whoever fixed it - it would still be best without the redirect to the splash page but at least now it eventually goes to the article.

UPDATE JUNE 23: Not so fast hold short... it seems that only links to their /news/pr/ pages work - so the jury is still out on this one..

UPDATE JULY 12: I can no longer stand them doing that - I deleted Giuliani's website from the aggregated candidate feeds page and will no longer update the Giuliani page here with his new content. If they fix it I'll put them back in ASAP. I hated to do it and I went back and forth on it but decided there is no point in linking to an article that redirects somewhere else then somewhere else with no way to get to where you intended and just frustrates the visitor ... That being the case, what point is there linking to them? Why even bother?

Earmark Transparency

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Despite the new Democratic congressional leadership's promise of 'openness and transparency' in the budget process, a CNN survey of the House found it nearly impossible to get information on lawmakers' pet projects:

In 2006, Congress approved a record $29 billion in earmarks (those spending requests derided as 'pork')

When Democrats regained control of Congress last fall, they promised to create the most honest, open Congress in history.

'We will bring transparency and openness to the budget process and to the use of earmarks,' Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi said in December 2006, 'and we will give the American people the leadership they deserve.'

32,000 earmark requests

'It violates the whole spirit of the reform, said Craig Holman, legislative representative for the nonpartisan group's Congress Watch.

'We really did expect that earmark requests would be an open book so that all of America could sit there and take a look at who's requesting what earmarks,' Holman said.

Full article at cnn.com

Hillary Clinton Sopranos Parody

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

If you don't watch the Sopranos you won't get this - but it's a replica of the final scene - with Hillary instead of Tony. Funny that the best song she could pick is written and sung by Canadians

The Money Race (1st quarter)

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

CANDIDATE	HOME	RAISED	SPENT	CASH ON HAND	DEBTS
Democratic Candidates
Clinton, Hillary	NY	$36,054,568	$5,079,789	$30,974,779	$1,582,639
Obama, Barack	IL	$25,797,721	$6,605,200	$19,192,520	$190,560
Edwards, John	NC	$14,031,662	$3,299,781	$10,733,641	$0
Dodd, Chris	CT	$8,795,706	$1,313,239	$7,482,467	$0
Richardson, Bill	NM	$6,249,354	$1,226,881	$5,022,473	$19,579
Biden, Joe	DE	$4,013,089	$1,174,174	$2,838,915	$0
Kucinich, Dennis	OH	$344,891	$194,217	$163,887	$0
Gravel, Mike	AK	$15,534	$18,304	$498	$88,516

CANDIDATE	HOME	RAISED	SPENT	CASH ON HAND	DEBTS
Republican Candidates
Romney, Mitt	MA	$23,434,634	$11,570,981	$11,863,652	$2,350,000
Giuliani, Rudy	NY	$16,623,410	$5,688,207	$11,949,734	$88,862
McCain, John	AZ	$13,087,559	$8,379,214	$5,180,799	$1,812,636
Brownback, Sam	KS	$1,871,057	$1,064,431	$806,626	$0
Tancredo, Tom	CO	$1,256,090	$711,012	$575,078	$15,000
Paul, Ron	TX	$639,989	$115,070	$524,919	$0
Huckabee, Mike	AR	$544,157	$170,239	$373,918	$52,502
Hunter, Duncan	CA	$538,524	$265,971	$272,552	$0
Thompson, Tommy	WI	$391,628	$252,404	$139,723	$129,194
Gilmore, Jim	VA	$203,896	$113,789	$90,107	$88,013

Source and a lot more details

Where does all this money come from so very early in the campaign?? I don't understand how the so called top three favorites of each party have all this 10++ million dollars campaign money to start with right off?

What makes them a top three favorite in the first place - the money? Who makes them the favorite? - The media? Why? Because they are going to be a big ad spender - or did someone in their party make the call?

Does more money = more sold political favors?

Not sure...

BTW this is old first quarter data but I wanted to get the first quarter snapshot of it in the archives here to compare changes / rankings quarter by quarter

Ron Paul on Morton Downey Jr Show 1988

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Presidential Elections: A Purple America

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Full size here

Transcripts of the third GOP debate sorted by candidate

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Ability to answer direct questions:

Who among them was most likely to answer the question asked, who preferred giving hollow answers by speaking about a question but never actually answering it, and who avoided the question altogether.
The merits of the answers were not evaluated - that's a value judgment for each voter to make:

Here is a 'who gave a straight answer breakdown' thanks to DC Shuffle's analysis:

The Buck Stops Here award:	Paul			(Zero question avoidance)
Straight Talk award	Tancredo	McCain	Paul	(highest clear answer ratio)
Where's the Beef award	Gilmore	Romney		(most empty answers provided)
Moderator's Pet award	Giuliani	Romney		(received the most direct questions)
Good Boy Award	Thompson	Huckabee		(only answers questions directed at them)
The DC Shuffle award	Gilmore	Romney		(Most likely to not clearly answer a question)
Put up or Shut up award	Tancredo			(Zero empty answers)


	Direct Questions answered clearly	9	6	7	7	11	6	7	4	11	9
	Additional questions answered clearly	1	0	1	1	3	0	2	0	1	2
	Questions discussed but not answered	0	2	2	7	1	3	1	6	2	5
	Questions avoided entirely	1	2	2	3	1	2	2	1	0	2

Q1	Introduce yourself	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Q2	Was it a mistake to invade iraq?				2					3	4
Q3	Did you read the NIE?			0		4		3
Q4	Was it appropriate for Congress to auth war w/o reading NIE?								2
Q5	If no prog in Iraq by Sept, what then?	3	4			4
Q6	If no prog in Iraq by Sept, how much longer should the US stay?							2		4
Q7	Do you have confidence in Iraqi govt?	0					0
Q8	Did Pres Bush make the right call to open dialogue w/ Iran			4
Q9	Would you authorize a pre-emptive nuclear strike on Iran?				2			4	2		2
Q10	What are the consequences if immigration bill becomes law? Discuss.	4	4	3	4	4		3		4	4
Q11	What would you do w/ the illegals in the country now?				2
Q12	If illegals leave the country, who will fill the jobs they vacate?							4
Q13	Under what circumstances would you let them begin that path?			4
Q14	Did you vote for the 700 mi fence on mexican border?									4
Q15	Is there a need for a fence on Canada border?									4
Q16	Do you believe that English should be official language	Question was unclear, muddled and poorly phrased. How Ironic!!

Q17	Is Fred Thompson conservative enough for America?		2						2
Q18	How do you feel when words like that from a Bishop?										2
Q19	Why should conservatives believe you oppose abortion?				2
Q20	Do you believe in creation as described in the Bible? Where do you stand on evolution?				0		2
Q21	Do you believe creationism should be taught in schools?					0
Q22	What do you want to say about your fait, yourself, and God?				4
Q23	What do you say about the separation of church and state?									4
Q24	Is science wrong on Global warming?				3	3					4
Q25	what steps if any would you take to address climate change?				1						2
Q26	What do you say to those who say there's too much alliance between big oil & Republicans?				0
Q27	Do you have a problem with big oil making huge profits?				.	4
Q28	Do you believe that big oil needs tax breaks from the govt?									4
Q29	Do you agree with previous question?								2
Q30	Is it time to end dont ask/tell in the military?				4	4	2			2
Q31	Was it appropriate to dismiss military linguists who were gay?										0
Q32	Speak up if you believe gays should serve openly?	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Q33	How would you use GW Bush?	4	4	4


Q34	What happened to the GOP (that they are losing seats around the country)?						4
Q35	Is it appropriate for Bush to pardon Libby?							0
Q36	Would you pardon Libby?	4	2	4	2	2	2		4		2
Q37	what would you do to bring the troops home?			2		3		4
Q38	Is dividing Iraq into three federated states a good idea?					4
Q39	What do we do to strengthen Iraqi govt so we can pull out?									4	2
Q40	Can a conservative platform have a conservationist agenda?	4							4
Q41	What would you do about drug /health care costs?		4					4			4
Q42	Would you support a govt single payer system?		0
Q43	What do you say to critics of how you did healthcare in MA				4
Q44	What is the most pressing moral issue?			4			4			4	4
Q45	How would you address the previous?						0			1
Q46	Could you support Giuliani?			2
Q47	Why air ads in Spanish?				4
Q48	Would you air ads in Spanish?	4
Q49	How does your position differ from Bush/ His biggest Mistake?	4	0	0	0	4	4	0	0	4	4
Q50	What does it mean to be an American as it relates to immigration?	4				3			1		3
Q51	Should we effectively end most legal immigration?					4	4				4
Q52	What would you do to bring back moderates and independents?				2	4			2		3
Q53	Shouldn't GOP follow CA Gov example?							4			0


	Direct Questions answered clearly	9	6	7	7	11	6	7	4	11	9
	Additional questions answered clearly	1	0	1	1	3	0	2	0	1	2
	Questions discussed but not answered	0	2	2	7	1	3	1	6	2	5
	Questions avoided entirely	1	2	2	3	1	2	2	1	0	2

	Questions asked directly	10	10	11	15	13	11	10	10	12	16
	Questions responded to	11	10	12	18	16	11	12	11	14	18



	Responds clearly to direct question ratio	90%	60%	64%	47%	85%	55%	70%	40%	92%	56%
	Responds clearly to all questions ratio	91%	60%	67%	44%	88%	55%	75%	36%	86%	61%
	Empty answer ratio	0%	20%	17%	39%	6%	27%	8%	55%	14%	28%
	Question avoidance ratio	10%	20%	18%	20%	8%	18%	20%	10%	0%	13%

The Talk Clock:

June 5th debate transcript by candidate:

Sam Brownback
Jim Gilmore
Rudy Giuliani
Mike Huckabee
Duncan Hunter
John McCain
Ron Paul
Mitt Romney
Tom Tancredo
Tommy Thompson

Full unsorted transcript here

Second Debate Transcripts Sorted by Candidate - Democratic

Sun, 03 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

A big thanks to the DC SHUFFLe for the analysis and data

who prefers giving hollow answers by speaking about a question but never actually answering it, and who's given to avoiding the question altogether. I also don't evaluate the merits of the candidates' answers. That's a value judgment each voter has to make independently.

Hillary Rodham-Clinton actually got more than double the number of questions offered to Mike Gravel. What's especially sad about that is Mike Gravel was the most likely to answer clearly while Hillary was the least likely. You learned twice as much about Mike Gravel as a candidate in about 1/3 of the time it took Hillary to tell half as much about herself...

Direct Questions answered clearly

Additional questions answered clearly

Questions discussed but not answered

Questions avoided entirely


Q1	Has Bush administration's effort to thwart security at home been successful?
Q2	Does the Bush administration deserve any credit that there's been no attack in 6 yrs?
Q3	Do you believe the US is not at war with terrorists?
Q4	Do you agree that the war on terror is nothing more than a bumper sticker?
Q5	Why are the other candidates wrong to vote against recent troop funding?
Q6	Why are you reluctant to say they were wrong and you were right?
Q7	What is your response to the charge of playing politics with the lives of the troops?
Q8	Where, if at all, do you disagree with any of your Democratic colleagues -- Democratic candidates -- on this issue of the troops, the funding of the war, how to get out?
Q9	You want to name names?
Q10	Response to charge by Edwards of failing to lead
Q11	Are the differences minor between you and these Democratic candidates?
Q12	What moral responsibility does the United States have to deal with the scenario: unilateral, quick U.S. withdrawal from Iraq leads not only to an increased civil war, but to genocide in Iraq?
Q13	Can you tell me if the mission we accomplished during our deployment in Iraq was worth our effort and sacrifice, or was it a waste of time and resources?
Q14	Do you regret voting the authorize the president to use force against Saddam Hussein in Iraq without actually reading the national intelligence estimate, the classified document laying out the best U.S. intelligence at that time?
Q15	Do you regret not reading the national intelligence estimate?
Q16	Do you think someone who authorized the use of force to go to war in Iraq should be president of the United States?
Q17	Why is granting legal status to about 12 million people who have entered this country illegally not an amnesty program?

Q18	Governor Richardson doesn't think there needs to be a 700 mile fence. Why is he wrong?
Q19	If you don't think there needs to be a fence, why did you vote for that legislation?
Q20	Raise your hand if you believe English should be the official language of the United States.
Q21	Are the other candidates being honest about the true costs of universal health care in America?
Q22	Response to charge by Edwards that Obama's health care plan is not universal
Q23	What do you think of Senator Obama's plan?
Q24	Can you provide universal health care without raising taxes?
Q25	Response to charge by Edwards that Obama's plan leave 15 mil uncovered
Q26	Was President Clinton's policy of "don't ask/don't tell" a mistake?
Q27	Raise hand if it's time to get rid of "don’t ask/tell"
Q28	Is it time to move beyond civil unions and let gays and lesbians get married?
Q29	How if at all would you use former president Bill Clinton in your administration?
Q30	What would you do to reduce gas prices?
Q31	Are the big oil companies engaged in price- gouging of the American consumer?
Q32	What is your vision on ending major military operations?
Q33	How do you plan on rebuilding the military after such many years of conflict?
Q34	What do you say to Congressman Kucinich, who says he wants to cut the size of the U.S. military?	Question misrepresented Kucinich assertion which Obama noted and corrected

Q35	Are there relics of the Cold War, big- ticket military items that you would cut?
Q36	Why is it that veterans cannot receive medical services at the hospital of their choice?
Q37	Are you satisfied or unsatisfied with VA health care?
Q38	Did Obama do any oversight or know of problems at VA hospitals prior to Walter Reed scandal?
Q39	Would you use force or would you use diplomacy in Iran? / How would you approach solving the problem we have Iran today?
Q40	And if you used diplomacy, what would you do?
Q41	if diplomacy, when all is said and done, fails, then what?
Q42	Is that what you're saying, no military option on the table?
Q43	If you got word from the U.S. intelligence community that Ahmadinejad and his government were on the verge of having a nuclear bomb capable of hitting targets in the region on missiles, what would you do?
Q44	How do you reconcile our security interests with Pakistan with our interest in promoting liberal democracy?
Q45	You've got to give the order yes or no to take Osama out w/i 20 min with a Hellfire missile, but it's going to kill some innocent civilians at the same time: What would be your decision?
Q46	If you were elected president, would role do you think the United States should play in addressing Darfur?
Q47	Would you use force to save people in Darfur?
Q48	What about that idea about possibly boycotting the Beijing Summer Olympic games if China doesn't use its influence to stop the genocide in Sudan?
Q49	Should we have 1 year mandatory govt service and if so, how you plan to make it happen?
Q50	Is it time to bring back the military draft?
Q51	What the definition of rich is on the part of the candidates, but using, perhaps, an income level.
Q52	Do you have a problem with running huge federal deficits again?
Q53	How will you alleviate the deficit?
Q54	What do you say to Republicans who argue your all tax and spend Democrats?
Q55	Would you vow, if elected president, to veto all bills containing earmarks?
Q56	Respond to charge by Gravel that Clinton's balanced budget was funded by raiding social security
Q57	What would be your top priority for your first 100 days?

	Questions asked directly	15	18	15	14	11	11	9	11
	Questions responded to	15	19	17	16	13	11	10	11

	Direct Questions answered clearly	12	9	12	11	10	6	8	9
	Additional questions answered clearly	0	0	2	2	0	0	1	0
	Questions discussed but not answered	3	5	3	1	1	1	1	2
	Questions avoided entirely	0	5	0	2	1	4	0	0

	Responds clearly to direct question ratio	80%	50%	80%	79%	91%	55%	89%	82%
	Responds clearly to all questions ratio	80%	47%	82%	81%	77%	55%	90%	82%
	Empty answer ratio	20%	26%	18%	6%	8%	9%	10%	18%
	Question avoidance ratio	0%	28%	0%	14%	9%	36%	0%	0%

The Buck Stops Here award:	Obama	Edwards	Gravel	Dodd	(Zero question avoidance)
Straight Talk award	Gravel	Edwards	Dodd		(highest clear answer ratio)
Penn & Teller award	Clinton	Obama	Edwards	Dodd	(most empty answers provided)
Moderator's Pet award	Clinton	Obama	Edwards		(received the most direct questions)
Good Boy Award	Everybody but Edwards, Richardson, & Gravel				(only answers questions directed at them)
The DC Shuffle award	Clinton				(Most likely to not clearly answer a question)
Put up or Shut up award	No One				(Zero empty answers)

New Hampshire Democratic debates broken out by individual candidate:

Joe Biden
Hillary Clinton
Christopher Dodd
John Edwards
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich
Barack Obama
Bill Richardson

Full transcript of the debate here

Immigration reform - a couple comments

Fri, 25 May 2007 00:00:00 +0000

The immigration issue

anonymous comments from HousingPANIC:

The only people who worry about immigration reform are politicians.

Borders are becoming irrelevant. In case you haven't noticed, we're buying most of our Wal Mart junk from China, along with our clothes from Thailand, cars from Japan and Korea, etc. We can move people or we can move goods, there's not a lot of difference ultimately. I've worked on job sites with lots of illegals, in general they are good, hard-working people with skills most Americans now see as "below" them. The American ideal has become flipping houses and investing loose capital while ridding around in fancy SUVs with 20 inchers... Many people from countries to the south of the US still believe in working hard, taking care of their families and giving their kids better opportunities. Given a choice between working with a crew over-privileged frat boys and a crew of illegal Mexicans I'd take the Mexicans.

Full article at housingpanic.blogspot.com

CNN WTF?

Thu, 17 May 2007 00:00:00 +0000