Monthly Archives: September 2004

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Fiscal Conservatives Challenge Bush

Fiscal Conservatives Challenge Bush By Adam Entous, Reuters.com

President Bush, who accuses his Democratic rival of keeping his budget plans secret, has yet to offer plans of his own for funding his campaign promises and cutting the deficit in half, fiscal conservatives said on Friday. …

But even fiscal conservatives, traditionally allied with the Republican White House, were skeptical of Bush’s plans.

“While it’s true that Kerry hasn’t provided a detailed plan, neither has the president,” said Heritage Foundation budget analyst Brian Riedl.

William Niskanen, chairman of the Cato Institute, said Bush’s warnings about Kerry’s spending plans were “inconsistent” with his own proposals. “There’s no way to accomplish (Bush’s) major new measures, including tax reform, without substantial increases in spending,” Niskanen said.

Stephen Moore of the Club for Growth, a group that raises money for conservative political candidates, said Bush was not being “very forthright” about his plans. He called Bush’s fiscal record “abysmal” …

This week congressional analysts warned the deficit will balloon to a cumulative $2.29 trillion over the next decade.

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More Polls

Two more recurring polls, one updated daily, the other consolidating other National polls (state polls are generally held as more accurate). Last link is to an article on interpreting polls. mjh

Rasmussen Reports Prez track 2004

Presidential Tracking Poll: Bush-Kerry
Updated Daily by Noon Eastern

Election 2004

Presidential Ballot
Bush 47.8%
Kerry 46.2%
Other 1.8%
Not Sure 4.2%

Friday September 10, 2004–The Rasmussen Reports Presidential Tracking Poll shows President George W. Bush with 48% of the vote and Senator John Kerry with 46%. The Tracking Poll is updated daily by noon Eastern.

This is the first report based entirely upon interviews conducted after both the Republican Convention and the holiday weekend. Looking back, the Friday after the Democratic National Convention, Senator Kerry was ahead by an identical 48-46 margin.

White House 2004

PollingReport.com National Trial Heat Summary

NCPP – National Council on Public Polls
20 Questions A Journalist Should Ask About Poll Results
Second Edition
Sheldon R. Gawiser, Ph.D. and G. Evans Witt

Letters-to-the-Editor

Register. Vote. Change things.

There may be voter

fraud in New Mexico. There certainly is a lot of talk about it, all of it originating with Republicans. Recently, a Republican who claims

‘someone’ registered his 13-year-old brought suit to require ALL newly registered voters to show ID (the true goal is to require ALL

voters — period — to show ID).

There doesn’t seem to be any curiousity, even in our faithful Media, about who registered

little Robbie Republican. Doesn’t that person have some culpability?

Now our Republican US Attorney, David Iglesias, has stepped in

by starting the first-ever fraud watch. Something is wrong, he intones, consistent with the party line.

Why are Republicans so

worried? Well, how many unregistered conservatives do you think there are in New Mexico in comparison to unregistered traitorous commies?

Therefore, every new registration would seem to have better than even odds to belong to a liberal satanist. So, first, let’s scare some

folks (I recommend white hoods). Next, let’s denegrate the process so thoroughly as to discourage some folks. Finally, let’s make sure

we’re on record as denouncing the process so when we lose, we can claim it is only through fraud. These guys invented destroying the

village to save it.

But why do Democrats resist IDs? Well, Republicans imply it’s because they’re cheaters. But imagine a Democrat

and a Republican head for the polls. One passively hands over his ever-present ID to the authorities. The other forgot/lost his. Which

one is a Democrat? One has driver’s license, work ID, NRA card, dozens of credit cards, IDs up the wazoo. The other has nothing. Which

one is a Republican?

Quick: how many of the 2 million Americans in prison today are Republicans? Maybe that explains Republican

support for long sentences AND opposition to restoring voting rights to those who serve their time.

Finally, the judge who said it’s

too late to change the process is also a Republican — and clearly not an activist. Seems like an all-Republican show — everywhere.

Register. Vote. Change things. mjh

Election

Studying the Polls – A Rollercoaster

The Canadian ::.centre for public opinion and democracy.:: tracks

polls and elections all over the world. Here you can not only find the latest state-wide polls but polls of citizens in other countries!

Unfortunately, the interface isn’t very friendly (even broken in Firefox). Strangely, I found more results from the Centre by searching

Google News for ‘Zogby Interactive Poll‘ (Zogby International itself wants you to pay) than by searching the Centre’s site directly.

See also

the Wall Street Journal’s Flash-based map of battleground states based on Zogby.

Meanwhile, things swing daily at the oft-noted www.electoral-vote.com. mjh

Dump Duhbya

Health Care Crisis? Blame the Lawyers!

Health Insurance Costs Soar, Workers Hit By Kim Dixon, Reuters

Health insurance premiums rose five times faster than U.S. workers’ salaries this year, according to a survey released on Thursday that also showed slippage in the percentage of American workers covered by employer health plans. …

The percentage of people receiving health-care coverage at work dropped 1 percentage point to 61 percent in 2004 from a recent peak of 65 percent in 2001, the Kaiser study found.

“As a consequence, we estimate that there are at least 5 million fewer jobs providing health insurance in 2004 than in 2001,” the report said. …

The Kaiser survey comes soon after the U.S. Census Bureau in August reported more people went without health insurance in 2003, with about 15.6 percent of the population, or 45 million Americans, lacking any coverage.

Health care costs are rising and our Fearful Leader has figured out why: frivolous lawsuits. And, gasp, the Democrats have a, shudder, Trial Lawyer on their ticket. The Party of Lincoln prefers to ignore that Lincoln was a trial lawyer. Anyway, notice Bush has exploited this issue for a long time, in spite of the facts. Facts, we don’t need no stinking facts. mjh

FactCheck.org President Uses Dubious Statistics on Costs of Malpractice Lawsuits
Two Congressional agencies dispute findings that caps on damage awards produce big savings in medical costs.

The President holds out the prospect of major cost savings if Congress will pass a law limiting what injured patients can collect in lawsuits. He wants a cap of $250,000 on any damages for ‘pain and suffering’� and other non-economic damages. His administration projects savings to the entire economy of between $60 billion and $108 billion per year in health-care costs, including $28 billion or more to federal taxpayers.

But both the General Accounting Office and the Congressional Budget Office criticize the 1996 study the Bush administration uses as their main support. These nonpartisan agencies suggest savings — if any — would be relatively small.

Election

Can YOU reconcile these two surveys?

ABQjournal: Gloomy Outlook In N.M., Poll Says By Leslie

Linthicum, Journal Staff Writer

Nearly half of New Mexico voters have a gloomy outlook on the future of the nation, according to a

Journal poll, with 45 percent believing the country is headed down the wrong track. …

Only 39 percent chose the “right direction,”

compared to the 45 percent who said the “wrong track.” Sixteen percent were either undecided, had mixed feelings or didn’t want to share

their answer with a pollster. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.

Who’s the most glum?

They are highly educated (53 percent saying things are going sour), Democrats (61 percent), people who live in northern New Mexico (60

percent) and those who make between $40,000 and $60,000 (51 percent).

And the most optimistic about the national direction?

They are Republicans (72 percent) and people who live on the state’s east side (51 percent).

Hispanic voters appeared to have

less faith in the country’s future than Anglos. Twenty-six percent of Hispanics polled said the country was heading in the right

direction compared to 48 percent of Anglos polled. Fifty-six percent of the Hispanics said we’re on the wrong track, compared to 38

percent of the Anglos.

Women were twice as likely as men to be undecided or not say.

ABQjournal: Oh, So Close! Bush has Slight Lead in N.M.By

Andy Lenderman, Albuquerque Journal Politics Writer

President Bush had a slight edge over Democrat John Kerry in a Journal poll of

New Mexico voters, completed as the candidates prepared for the final two months of the campaign.

Bush had 45 percent support

compared to Kerry’s 42 percent in the Aug. 27 to Sept. 1 survey of 908 registered voters statewide.