Poll: Age may play bigger role than race on Election Day

By GottaLaff

Nah, race isn't that big a factor. But I'll shut up until you read the whole post:

A new national survey suggests that race won't be a major factor in the outcome of the presidential election.

Seven out of ten Americans questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Survey released Friday say that the race of the candidates will not be a factor in their vote for president this year. That 70 percent figure is up 9 points from July, when the same question was asked. Only 5 percent of those polled say race will be the single most important factor in their choice for president, with 11 percent saying it's one of several important factors, and 13 percent indicating race will be a minor factor in their vote.

I'm not so sure that 70% is something to celebrate, but okay, we'll take what we can get at this point.

So how will race affect the results on election day?

"First, don't assume that everyone who says that race is factor in their votes are voting against Obama,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

He adds that some voters are choosing Obama because of his race — and that many of those who say that race will influence their votes are Republicans who were highly unlikely to vote for any Democrat this year.

"By one complicated measure, the number of votes Obama may lose due to his race is roughly equal to the number who will vote for him because he is black. And both those numbers appear to be small, possibly just one percentage point in each direction," says Holland.

One question that often comes up when discussing polling regarding race is whether those being polled are telling the truth. Holland says that the survey results should be taken with a grain of salt: “ race is a complicated topic and polls may not reveal each respondent's true feelings on this hot-button issue,” says Holland.

Then what was the point of the poll? It's been that kind of day. Don't even get me started about my little tiff with Time/Warner just now. Moving on. What about age, already?

Roughly half of those polled say the age of the candidates will affect their vote, a number essentially unchanged since July. Three percent said age would be the most important factor in determining their presidential pick, with 19 percent saying it would be one of several important factors, and 25 percent saying it would be a minor factor.

Boy, that was a long way to go for one lousy paragraph. My Time/Warner convo took less time.

They Start To Notice McCains's Gaffes

And they're asking the 24 trillion dollar question.

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) said “Iraq” when he apparently meant “Afghanistan” on Monday, adding to a string of mixed-up word choices that is giving ammunition to the opposition.

Just in the past three weeks, McCain has also mistaken "Somalia" for "Sudan," and even football’s Green Bay Packers for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Ironically, the errors have been concentrated in what should be his area of expertise – foreign affairs.

McCain will turn 72 the day after Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) accepts his party’s nomination for president, calling new attention to the sensitive issue of McCain’s advanced age, three days before the start of his own convention.

(snip)

McCain aides point out that he spends much more time than Obama talking extemporaneously, taking questions from voters and reporters. "Being human and tripping over your tongue occasionally doesn't mean a thing," a top McCain official said.

But McCain's mistakes raise a serious, if uncomfortable question: Are the gaffes the result of his age? And what could that mean in the Oval Office?

Poll-itics: Good news for Obama

By GottaLaff

Per Commenter Eve, this will help to explain why polls are not yet predictive of November and why they will be predictive in October. And it's good news for Obama.

(Click on chart to enlarge)

If engagement and interest is what makes a voter a likely voter, and if younger voters have reached saturation ahead of older voters reflected in their superior grasp of information, then any likely voter screen that doesn't currently skew Democratic is probably an incorrect likely voter screen.

Oh, okay, if they insist.

23% agree: John Sidney McCain is too old

By GottaLaff

You might not have realized this after today's newsworthy little tidbits, but:

John McCain may be hindered more by his age than Barack Obama will be by his race as the two men vie for the White House, a new USA Today/Gallup poll suggests.

I could have told them that. In fact, I did. Twice.

According to the new poll, 23 percent of Americans say McCain's age — he'll turn 72 next month — is likely to make him a less effective president were he to win the White House. That compares to only 8 percent who said Obama's race would make him a less effective president.

Tell it to these racist jerks.

Overall, more than 8 in 10 Americans said Obama's race would make no difference in his effectiveness in the White House while 65 percent said the same about McCain's age.

Meanwhile, 9 percent of Americans said Obama's race would likely make him a more effective president, while 11 percent said McCain is made more effective by his age.

Those 11% are all on McCain's staff.

John Sidney Mc19%: "Old"

By GottaLaff

I feel vindicated. McCain is officially old. Let's put two videos side by side, just for fun. First, the AP video:

Now let's review the video I just made (and posted earlier). Why? Because it's fun.

Conclusion: John Sidney McCain is perceived as old and we aren't the only ones who think so.

UPDATE: He's short, too:

Public Service Announcement: McCain as Short as Dukakis

The New York Times referred in passing to John McCain’s diminutive stature over the weekend. I just checked and he’s 5′ 6″ — same as everybody’s favorite presidential short-joke Mike Dukakis.

Nothing more to add. Just color me surprised.

Barack Around the Clock

By GottaLaff

Finally, it's here! Another demented GottaLaff Video Effort!

It's been awhile since I've had the time to research/edit a zillion tiny pieces of tape, photos and music. I hope you think it was worth the half dozen computer crashes I went through to make it. I'm such a damned martyr:

72 v. 47

By GottaLaff

About that notion of cutting the convention short, or should I call it, the Republicans trying to rain on Obama's parade? There is an upside to the intrusion of J Sid on the Democrats' big day -- Happy 72nd V.P. Pickday, John Sidney McNewWrinkle:

With all of the talk about John McCain unveiling his running mate immediately after the Democratic National Convention to alleviate Barack Obama’s bounce, there could be a wrinkle in McCain’s potential plans: his birthday.

McCain turns 72 years old on August 29, the day after the Democrats’ convention. So while the Arizona senator could swipe some media attention from Obama by announcing his vice presidential choice during the time between the conventions, the senator’s birthday and age will be a prominent media story. And it will be contrasted even further with the age of his running mate.

There's always a silver lining.

Obama's birthday is August 4th, in case you were wondering. Lots of birthday stories in August (mine's the 17th, but I have a feeling it won't affect the campaigns), but the McCain one is my favorite. I can't wait to see the side-by-side images of the two birthday boys.

Poll-itics: Race v. age edition

By GottaLaff

Sigh:

As Sen. Barack Obama opens his campaign as the first African American on a major party presidential ticket, nearly half of all Americans say race relations in the country are in bad shape and three in 10 acknowledge feelings of racial prejudice, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Suckage. You can read all the gory details here.

But McCain's challenges are also an important part of the equation.

Numerous polls, for example, have indicated that McCain's age may be a bigger detractor than Obama's race. And more are now concerned that McCain will heed too closely the interests of large corporations than said so about Obama and the interests of blacks.

Ageism is not a good thing (it's so easy to joke about McCain, and I'm guilty of that), and it's particularly rampant in show business, something Mr. Laffy and I have witnessed first hand. Per this poll, Sidney McObsolete has some of those very detractors of his own. Hopefully, we'll all get old, key word: "hope". Hope is a positive word. The fact that we have that expectation in common, and despite the drawbacks of aging, it is still something to which we aspire.

But, I've never heard stories of the elderly being dragged behind trucks or forbidden entry or threatened with nooses. Racism and bigotry (toward gays, women, you name it) is utterly ridiculous, dangerous, vile, and way too pervasive. It's 2008. Time to evolve.

Which one of these people is black? Or old for that matter?
Get it now? Good.

McCain v. Obama = "Horse & Buggy v. NASA space ship"

By GottaLaff

Obama’s social network has nearly a million members. McCain’s has a sign-up that reads "Benefits of joining Team McCain include:"—with nothing following.

Photo: Composite image by Politico.com

While struggling to memorize his stump speech, John Sidney McAntiquity came across something behind the washboard next to his kerosene lamp: his wife's quill. He puzzled over the new-fangled writing device. After carefully examining it, a candle light bulb went off over his head: He could communicate to potential voters by dipping it in ink and stroking it across parchment in a series of symbols! Thus, the McAntiquity campaign was born.

When John McCain, 71, wanted Barack Obama, 46, to join him at a series of town hall meetings, he dispatched a messenger to hand-deliver the invitation. "You know, you could have just e-mailed this," Obama press secretary Bill Burton told the messenger.

"It's the difference between a horse and buggy and a NASA space ship," said Phil Noble, a veteran of Democratic campaigns and the founder of the nonpartisan political news site PoliticsOnline, comparing the campaigns’ respective approaches to technology. "Obama has given people the tools to create and run their own campaigns," Noble continued. "McCain is still a command-and-control, top-down candidate. Part of it is the difference in age." [...] McCain's response when Politico's Mike Allen asked him whether he used a Mac or a PC: "Neither. I'm an illiterate that has to rely on my wife for all of the assistance I can get."

With that, he boarded the stagecoach, whipped out his harmonica, and played haunting strains of "Old Folks at Home" all the way to Kansas.

Obama has also built a formidable network of online supporters and activists. As of Tuesday, his my.barackobama.com social networking site had 926,000 members, and he had 946,568 Facebook supporters.

McCain, by contrast, had 141,183 Facebook supporters, and his McCain Space online sign-up contains the dispiriting sentence fragment: "Benefits of joining Team McCain include:" — with nothing following.

McAntiquity: "Change you can gum chew on."

The campaign's different relationships to the Web reflect the difference between Obama's background in community organizing and McCain's many years in Washington.

"When you've run as many campaigns as McCain has, you rely on what's worked in the past," said Caleb Clark, founder and CEO of WeTheCitizens, a conservative-leaning online software development company.

McAntiquity powdered his wig and polished his musket one last time before realizing he'd forgotten to mail off the handwritten parchment notices of his campaign event in the town square. Great. There went the Kansas stump speech. And the next Pony Express wasn't due for another 3 days.

Describe McCain in one word: "Old"

By GottaLaff

I didn't say it. But a lot of other people did:

John McCain once had the most powerful brand in American politics.

He was often called the country's most popular politician and widely admired for his independent streak. It wasn't too many years ago that "maverick" was the cliche of choice in describing him.

But that term didn't even make the list this year when voters were asked by the Pew Research Center to sum up McCain in a single word. "Old" got the most mentions, followed by "honest," "experienced," "patriot," "conservative" and a dozen more. The words "independent," "change" or "reformer" weren't among them.

Voters have notoriously short memories, but it could be argued that McCain cheapened his own brand.

Yes, it could be argued that he did just that. I'm not in the mood for an argument, so I'll simply agree and call it a day.

McCain admitted he’d be too old to run in 2008.

By GottaLaff

UPDATE: Here's the video:

I tried 4 times to download the video, but the "no longer available" window popped up..which makes no sense since you can see it here. John Sidney McGeritol was interviewed by Jim Lehrer on News Hour and actually says out loud that he’d be too old to run for president in 2008.

Lehrer: Finally for the record, you have not lost your desire to be President of the United States have you?

McCain: Certainly it’s been put in deep cold storage. haha..

Lehrer: You haven’t lost it? [Laffy Note: He lost it years ago, but I digress]

McCain: Well, in 2004, I expect to be campaigning for the reelection of President George W. Bush, and by 2008, I think I might be ready to go down to the old soldiers home and await the cavalry charge there.

Who in the corporate media will confront him on this, to his face? He'd probably just say he"misspoke" and feels younger and more invigorated than he has in years. ... and then take his musket and go home.

Question: Would you agree to be vice president?

By GottaLaff

Would you agree to be vice president?

Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.)
“When I was much younger I would have probably said, ‘Sure, I’ll be glad to accept it,’ but I’m 70 years [old] and they need a younger person for the job. I would probably tell them, ‘Look for somebody else.’ ”

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.)
“No. I’m too old.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
“I’m too old to be vice president. But I am young enough to be reelected to the Senate.”

Then what must they think of this guy:

John Sidney McCain, U.S. Senator

Born: 29 August 1936

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)
“No. I’ve got too many things that I still want to do as a senator. And I don’t like the idea of a job where you sit around and wait for someone to die.”