Politics

Politics

There are 1,056 posts filed in Politics (this is page 45 of 106).

Not Enough ‘Angry White Guys’

Here’s why I’m not at all worried about the future of the Democratic Party: demographics. The “angry white guys” that have lately been the target constituency of the GOP are fast becoming a minority. Couple with the fact that many of those angry white guys are also older means that this demographic isn’t a long-term way to build a party.

The Tea Party may disagree, but the racism that once kept Jessie Helms in office and Michael Dukakis out of office is a dead-end political strategy. The party that values inclusiveness (and more closely aligns with the changing demographics) will be the one that succeeds in the long term.

Republican senator Lindsey Graham’s remark that there weren’t enough “angry white guys” to bring Republicans to power seemed prophetic in the light of President Barack Obama’s victory. A decline in the number of white voters and a surge in voters from ethnic minorities and women helped Obama on election night. Ohio, one of the key battleground states, was captured in part through a rise in turnout among African-Americans, who voted overwhelmingly for Obama.

via Secret to Romney’s Defeat: Not Enough ‘Angry White Guys’? – U.S. Election 2012 – CNBC.

The Daylight Saving Time Fog

I was on the agenda for yesterday’s City Council meeting. Lately I’ve been done with these in about an hour. This session had a few more detailed items for discussion, however, and I waited in the audience long enough that I began to lose focus.

It seemed like I wasn’t the only one with this affliction. Maybe I was seeing things through sleepy eyes but to me the whole room seemed remarkably devoid of energy.

An amusing parade then began at the Council table. City Attorney Tom McCormick, a man who usually stays glued to his seat lest the Councilors get themselves into legal hot water while unsupervised, quietly stepped away from the table and out of the room, returning after a few minutes. I’m not sure why Tom stepped away, obviously, but I do know that it’s very rare for him to do so.
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Can we let go of the anger now?

Yesterday was Election Day and, like many other elections, I found some time to volunteer for a campaign. My friend Sig Hutchinson was running for state senate, so I stood outside the Lacy Elementary polling place as a poll greeter for Sig from before sunrise to 9 AM.

As I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to see the poll greeter across from me was also supporting Democratic party candidates. For the first hour we were alone, wondering where the Republican poll greeters were. Soon after, we were joined by others, one supporting Dr. Jim Fulghrum, one supporting Dan Forest, and one supporting Caroline Sullivan. Aside from the signs and campaign material, though, you never would’ve known that we all weren’t simply good friends, though. We were having such a fun and friendly conversation that I felt compelled to snap a picture of us all, lest I wake up this morning and think it was all just a dream.
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NBC News picks up on the Hacked by Mitt Romney story


NBC News’s Red Tape Chronicles blog mentioned the Hacked by Mitt Romney Facebook page in its story this afternoon on political social media fakery.

There have even been claims by hundreds of Obama supporters that they were somehow tricked or hacked into “liking” Mitt Romney on Facebook, as evidenced by the “Hacked by Mitt Romney” page. Facebook says there’s a much simpler explanation than hacking; it’s fairly easy to accidentally like a page on Facebook, making that the likely culprit.

What’s ironic is that this issue is gaining legitimacy largely due to the growing numbers of Facebook fans that the Hacked by Mitt Romney page is attracting.

via On social media, fakery muddies political discussion – Red Tape.

Miami journalist Hacked by Mitt Romney

I found this interesting Tweet from Hannah Sampson, business writer for the Miami Herald:

Hannah Sampson ?@hannahbsampson

@mkramer I like no candidate on Facebook (per my newspaper’s policy) but someone decided I liked Mitt Romney and hacked my page to say so.

Journalists are often prohibited by their media employers from publicly displaying their political beliefs in order to maintain nonpartiality (or the illusion of it, anyway). That Sampson would have made herself a fan of Mitt Romney’s Facebook page is quite unlikely indeed.

Tech guru Fred Langa gets Hacked by Mitt Romney


Veteran tech journalist and Windows expert Fred Langa found himself Hacked by Mitt Romney:

It happened to me about a week ago, when Facebook told me — and all my contacts — that I’d “liked” Romney.

I’d done no such thing.

Fess up, Facebook. You think he made a mistake with Facebook Mobile, don’t you?

via Fred Langa: "What comes next?": It's spreading: Facebook name-harvesting for fake Romney 'likes'.

Boston Globe weighs in on Romney Facebook Hacking


Bobby Calvan of the Boston Globe interviewed me this afternoon and wrote an excellent story on the Romney Facebook Hacking phenomenon. Hopefully this will bring out more information!

Visit Mitt Romney’s page on Facebook and you’ll see 11.6 million “likes.” Lee Wolf, a self-described liberal who likes nothing about Romney’s politics, was stunned to hear from friends on the online social network that his name had popped up as an apparent supporter of the Republican presidential candidate.

“I don’t believe in anything he says. He’s not somebody I’d be voting for,” said Wolf, who owns the Lobster Shanty, a restaurant in downtown Salem. “I’m still wondering how it happened.”

Others are wondering, too.

Why Do Obama Supporters Appear In Facebook Ads As Romney Fans? – Forbes


Forbes contributor Robert Hof wrote about the Romney Facebook Hacking phenomenon, though he was reluctant to contribute it to “skulduggery,” pointing instead to Facebook’s quickie diagnosis of fat-fingered mobile users. I’ve already shown that, in my case at least, it could not have happened from Facebook Mobile. I’ve also heard from other victims who don’t even own smartphones.

But what on Earth was the name of a friend, who I know is a vocal Obama supporter, doing on a Romney ad? The answer raises questions about how effective, or at least how accurate, these ads are–not necessarily due to a particular fault by Facebook but thanks to the byzantine rules and privacy features that have developed over years of user outrage and resulting Facebook accommodations.

via Why Do Obama Supporters Appear In Facebook Ads As Romney Fans? – Forbes.

More Dead People for Romney


An inspired wag created a Change.Org petition to have Mitt Romney’s Facebook account suspended. While there’s of course no chance of this actually happening, I did find the following comment from the petition to be interesting:

Terren Braen EASTHAMPTON, MA 1 day ago Liked 0

THEY MADE MY GREAT UNCLE LIKE MITT ROMNEY THE DAY HE DIED. THERE’S NO WAY HE SIGNED ONTO FACEBOOK AND LIKE MITT ROMNEY AS HE WAS DYING. THAT’S JUST SO SO SO RUDE AND ABUSIVE! WHO EVER IS RESPONSIBLE SHOULD PAY THE PRICE FOR THEIR LACK OF RESPECT.

What is wrong with America?

A Facebook friend (ok, acquaintance) posted a link to a sermon by David Jeremiah, saying it was “on the importance of voting and the selection of God fearing leaders.”

I didn’t watch it because the last thing I need is for some self-proclaimed holy man to tell me how to think. This is what drives me crazy about some ministers: some think they can tell you what God wants better than God Himself can tell you. In this case Jeremiah knows who you should vote for because God apparently told him.

The God that Jeremiah believes in sounds to me like a mighty weak one. Does anyone think for one moment that the Almighty’s power could be thwarted in any way by the outcome of an election? Do you think God really cares about such things? Or, do you think perhaps this only serves to stroke the ego of power-hungry mortals like David Jeremiah?
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