Strawpoll

By ThinkProgress on Jun 20, 2007 at 4:31 pm

For eons, liberals have dreamed of a straw poll whose meaninglessness could equal that achieved by the Ames Straw Poll on the GOP side. The Politico/Take Back America straw poll doesn’t quite reach those lofty heights, but it’s the best we’ve got. At any rate, Barack Obama eked out a narrow victory, though it would be interesting to know how many people got tickets through Obama’s TBA Facebook giveaway.

I’d also like to know what proportion of registrants actually voted in the straw poll. Nobody I spoke to at the event seemed to actually be voting, so I think the survey may be meaningless even as a sample of people who attended the conference.

()

Politics

Laura Bush Falsely Claims That ‘Many’ Iraqi Refugees Have Been Welcomed Into The U.S.

By Guest Blogger on Jun 20, 2007 at 3:48 pm

This morning, during an interview with First Lady Laura Bush, CNN highlighted World Refugee Day and the effect that the war in Iraq has had on the number of refugees around the world. CNN reported Iraqis “who were helping the Americans or even helping their own country” are now targeted and must seek “refuge in other nations, as well as the United States.”

Bush responded saying, “Obviously we’re especially concerned about the Iraqi refugees.” She added, “We welcome many of those refugees, both from Iraq and Afghanistan into the United States.”

Watch it:

[flv http://video.thinkprogress.org/2007/06/bushlrefugee.320.240.flv]

The First Lady is greatly exaggerating the administration’s policy. As the Baltimore Sun notes today, “as of May, only 69 Iraqis had entered the United States” this fiscal year. In total, the United States has “resettled fewer than 500 Iraqi refugees” since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Meanwhile, the situation in Iraq has become “the world’s fastest-growing refugee crisis.” Syria alone is hosting “1.4 million Iraqi ‘guests’” and Iraqi refugees have become increasingly desperate, some even resorting to prostitution. In total, there are more than two million Iraqi refugees.

Digg It!

– Ryan Powers

Transcript: Read more

()

Politics

Arkansas senators join call for ‘caging’ investigation.

By Amanda Terkel on Jun 20, 2007 at 3:47 pm

On Monday, Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) called for the Justice Department to investigate allegations of “caging” surrounding former U.S. attorney Tim Griffin. Today, both Arkansas Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D) and Mark Pryor (D) said that they support the investigation. “If a citizen’s right to vote is being threatened, I think without a doubt it is a very appropriate thing to investigate,” said Lincoln. “There are enough suggestions out there that lend itself to that.”

()

Climate Progress

Support CAFE, not Hydrogen

By Joe Romm on Jun 20, 2007 at 2:42 pm

Strong support offered for tougher fuel economy standards this afternoon by Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Dick Durbin (D-IL). Still, Dorgan couldn’t resist a couple of minutes on hydrogen cars.

I really wish he wouldn’t say “Hydrogen is ubiquitous. Hydrogen is everywhere.” Hydrogen is nowhere — hydrocarbons and H20 are everywhere, but making hydrogen from hydrocarbons produces huge amounts of greenhouse gases, and extracting hydrogen from water is incredibly energy intensive.

Fortunately, the Senator understands that hydrogen is at best a long-term strategy and that we need to focus on fuel economy today.

Media

Off The Record

By ThinkProgress on Jun 20, 2007 at 2:40 pm

But why, inquiring minds want to know, do campaigns release opposition research “not for attribution?” Ana Marie Cox has some discussion but I think it can actually be boiled down pretty simply. Roughly speaking, “Hillary Clinton Sucks” is a good story for Barack Obama whereas “Obama: Clinton Sucks” is a good story for John Edwards.

Negative campaigning is difficult in the context of a primary campaign, since your only rivals dangerous enough to be worth attacking are people who are generally well-liked by the target audience of the electorate. You want negative stories about your rivals to get written, but you don’t want stories to be written about your negative attacks on your rivals.

()

Yglesias

Rudy and the ISG

By ThinkProgress on Jun 20, 2007 at 2:24 pm

I didn’t blog yesterday about Rudy Giuliani skipping out on the invitation to join the Iraq Study Group so he could spend more time coasting on his reputation and earning money because I figured I didn’t have anything of great analytic import to add to the story, but if the press is really ignoring the story as completely as Kevin Drum suggests, I figure I’d better throw my two cents in — this is the perfect example of how hollow Giuliani’s claim to be a national security candidate is. He doesn’t know anything about military policy or foreign policy and he doesn’t even care about these topics.

()

Media

REPORT: The Right Wing Domination Of Talk Radio And How To End It

By Faiz Shakir on Jun 20, 2007 at 2:08 pm

The Center for American Progress and Free Press today released the first-of-its-kind statistical analysis of the political make-up of talk radio in the United States. It confirms that talk radio, one of the most widely used media formats in America, is dominated almost exclusively by conservatives.

The new report — entitled “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio” — raises serious questions about whether the companies licensed to broadcast over the public radio airwaves are serving the listening needs of all Americans.

While progressive talk is making inroads on commercial stations, right-wing talk reigns supreme on America’s airwaves. Some key findings:

– In the spring of 2007, of the 257 news/talk stations owned by the top five commercial station owners, 91 percent of the total weekday talk radio programming was conservative, and only 9 percent was progressive.

– Each weekday, 2,570 hours and 15 minutes of conservative talk are broadcast on these stations compared to 254 hours of progressive talk — 10 times as much conservative talk as progressive talk.

– 76 percent of the news/talk programming in the top 10 radio markets is conservative, while 24 percent is progressive.

Two common myths are frequently offered to explain the imbalance of talk radio: 1) the 1987 repeal of the Fairness Doctrine (which required broadcasters to devote airtime to contrasting views), and 2) simple consumer demand. Each of these fails to adequately explain the root cause of the problem. The report explains:

Our conclusion is that the gap between conservative and progressive talk radio is the result of multiple structural problems in the U.S. regulatory system, particularly the complete breakdown of the public trustee concept of broadcast, the elimination of clear public interest requirements for broadcasting, and the relaxation of ownership rules including the requirement of local participation in management. [...]

Ultimately, these results suggest that increasing ownership diversity, both in terms of the race/ethnicity and gender of owners, as well as the number of independent local owners, will lead to more diverse programming, more choices for listeners, and more owners who are responsive to their local communities and serve the public interest.

Along with other ideas, the report recommends that national radio ownership not be allowed to exceed 5 percent of the total number of AM and FM broadcast stations, and local ownership should not exceed more than 10 percent of the total commercial radio stations in a given market.

Read the full report here.

Digg It!

()

Politics

President Bush vetoes stem cell bill.

By ThinkProgress on Jun 20, 2007 at 1:41 pm

For the second time, President Bush has vetoed popular legislation to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. To win some political cover, Bush also will issue an executive order “intended to encourage scientific advances in regenerative medicine.” But as the New York Times notes, “the effort appears largely symbolic — there is no money attached — and some scientists were instantly skeptical.”

()

Politics

NYT delves into Rupert Murdoch empire.

By ThinkProgress on Jun 20, 2007 at 1:21 pm

“The New York Times is currently undertaking a major news investigation, led by managing editor Jill Abramson, into News Corp.’s business dealings throughout the world, according to a source with knowledge of the project.” Abramson told the New York Observer she is leading “an investigative project for the next month” and that it “involves a group of domestic and foreign reporters, but I obviously can’t tell you what it is.”