4:40 pm January 30, 2013, by Jay
Here’s what President Obama’s job-approval numbers look like, from Sept. 1 to today, as compiled from major polls by RealClearPolitics:

—————————–
It’s also interesting to look at the polls individually. Here’s a list of every major survey conducted in the month of January on the question of job approval. As you’ll notice, one of the numbers is not like the others:

Every poll but one reports an eight-to-12-point differential between job approval and disapproval. I won’t mention the identity of the outlier.
And finally, we have this, which helps to explain why, despite passionate promises to the contrary, the Republicans will not be pushing the government into default or shutting down the government anytime soon:

– Jay Bookman
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618 comments Add your comment
Thulsa Doom
January 30th, 2013
9:40 pm
Godless heathen,
I thought that was a nice pitch that Obama made. Coulda had a little more mustard on it but it was a nice curve and it did make it to the plate- albeit barely.
stands for decibels
January 30th, 2013
9:41 pm
As a white guy, sometimes I really have to wonder how I can deal with all this oppression.
Recon 0311 2533
January 30th, 2013
9:41 pm
” Republicans will not be pushing the government into default or shutting down the government anytime soon:”
What a stupid remark. We’re on an economic course that can’t be sustained. I don’t know what Republicans will do but hopefully they’ll do what Democrats fear to do and that’s cast election concerns aside and do what’s right for the country.
Matti
January 30th, 2013
9:41 pm
If the irony of men complaining about looking foolish in a beer commercial is lost on you, um… maybe this will help:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYVuc9YnXwI
Towncrier
January 30th, 2013
9:42 pm
“Abortion proponents = baby killers. And these idiots are clamoring for more gun control laws. What hypocrisy.”
I read recently there have been 60 million abortions since Roe vs. Wade. Can that be right? Unbelievable if it is. And no one is “advocating” abortion? That seems like a whole lot of advocacy there to me.
TBS
January 30th, 2013
9:43 pm
stands
I’m only half white and this cross is a heavy muther
I couldn’t fathom how you guys carry me through life
TBS
January 30th, 2013
9:44 pm
TC
and as long as you didn’t have an abortion, I’m sure you and your God are a OK
Thulsa Doom
January 30th, 2013
9:44 pm
“The truth of the matter? Corporate welfare and rich tax cheats cost this country more revenue than all of welfare combined.”
Mick,
Great point! I was thinking about that. If we could agree on the definition of what exactly constitutes corporate welfare then it could damn well be that whitey is far and away the biggest welfare recipient. Just depends on what we consider to be corporate welfare.
Mr_B
January 30th, 2013
9:45 pm
Del: If I’m advocating anything, it would be to make abortion unnecessary in the first place. But I don’t have any illusions that this will ever be an ideal world.
I’ve been involved with both sides of the “do I continue this pregnancy under these circumstances?” question. It’s completely gut-wrenching for everybody involved, and you spend the rest of your life second-guessing the decision you made. But I do believe that the people involve must have the freedom to make whatever decision they feel is right. Nobody outside my family needs to be involved in what are family decisions, and I have no right or interest in involving myself in someone else’s.
Towncrier
January 30th, 2013
9:45 pm
“If the irony of men complaining about looking foolish in a beer commercial is lost on you, um… maybe this will help…”
Is this the voice of a shrew?
stands for decibels
January 30th, 2013
9:46 pm
Not only am I an oppressed white man, I am an abortion survivor!
nobody knows de trubble I seen….
td
January 30th, 2013
9:46 pm
Men are damned if they do and damned if they do not. Go figure.
“More housework, less sex for married men: study
A man lights a gas stove on January 6, 2009. Husbands who spend more time doing traditionally female chores — such as cooking, cleaning, and shopping — reported having less sex than those who do more masculine tasks, according to a study in the American Sociological Review.
A man lights a gas stove on January 6, 2009. Husbands who spend more time doing traditionally female chores — such as cooking, cleaning, and shopping — reported having less sex than those who do more masculine tasks, according to a study in the American Sociological Review.
AFP – The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as they say: the more housework married men do, the less sex they have, according to a new study published Wednesday.
Husbands who spend more time doing traditionally female chores — such as cooking, cleaning, and shopping — reported having less sex than those who do more masculine tasks, said the study in the American Sociological Review.”
http://www.france24.com/en/20130130-more-housework-less-sex-married-men-study
Keep Up the Good Fight!
January 30th, 2013
9:46 pm
Oh lordy, won’t someone help those poor old white men.
Now s’cuse me while I whip this out.
Thulsa Doom
January 30th, 2013
9:46 pm
stands,
No one said we were being oppressed. Again. Its just an interesting observation.
Uh Huh..........Obama, Mr. Popularity
January 30th, 2013
9:46 pm
The tendency of CONS to whining and complaining may be taken as
the surest sign symptom of little souls and inferior intellects.
Mick
January 30th, 2013
9:47 pm
heathen & sink
I can still throw a baseball pretty good, especially if I warm up, and why is that? Probably because I played baseball from first grade through high school. Obviously, obama did not. It would be like you looking at a surfer and thinking, “damn that looks easy, how hard could it be?” Try it sometime and see if you don’t look the fool but I digress; obama CAN nail three pointers – so what???
F. Sinkwich
January 30th, 2013
9:47 pm
Corporate welfare?
Uh, Solyndra?
Mick
January 30th, 2013
9:49 pm
doom
I think the oil companies do pretty good and republicans in congress totally have their backs – no worries on that front. It is what it is I guess…
stands for decibels
January 30th, 2013
9:49 pm
anyway, ’twas just a drive by. I did read Jay’s post, not sure what to say since there was little I hadn’t already posted here. (Although I have to admit I wasn’t aware that FNC’s approval polling was so embarrassingly out of whack.)
Thulsa Doom
January 30th, 2013
9:50 pm
Hmm. As someone said the other night I wonder how the liberals on here would vote on abortion if they were still in the womb.
Recon 0311 2533
January 30th, 2013
9:51 pm
Are we headed to another revolution. I sure hope not but it almost sounds inevitable.
F. Sinkwich
January 30th, 2013
9:51 pm
“obama CAN nail three pointers – so what???”
Sez who?
You gotta YouTube ?
Didn’t think so.
I’d call him a girly man but that term is too masculine.
Mick
January 30th, 2013
9:51 pm
sink
Solyndra? Small potatoes..oil companies? Billions, you know they really need it, right???
Matti
January 30th, 2013
9:51 pm
Towncrier,
Would a “shrew” post that awesome link at 9:41? You tell me, but from the looks of things around here, I’m not the one taking myself way too seriously.
stands for decibels
January 30th, 2013
9:51 pm
Yeah, mick, if there were some basketball equivalent of the “ceremonial first pitch”–a ceremonial 3-pointer?–these wankers wouldn’t be having their little bit o’ fun.
(Honestly, I never thought his pitches were *that* horrible, and I’ve seen some pretty crappy ones over the years.)
/really oot now
TBS
January 30th, 2013
9:53 pm
“Hmm. As someone said the other night I wonder how the liberals on here would vote on abortion if they were still in the womb.”
What a realistic observation?
Let us know when it is
Mick
January 30th, 2013
9:53 pm
recon
No revolution, just a lot of hot air being released to add to the global heat…
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
January 30th, 2013
9:54 pm
josef:
Not sure if you are out there tonight but I recently read (and watched) where the Prime Minister of Egypt feels that you are descended from pigs and apes.
Just wondering if you knew if Obama had repudiated the Prime Minister’s statement or not ?
Uh Huh..........Obama, Mr. Popularity
January 30th, 2013
9:55 pm
@stands for decibels
January 30th, 2013
9:46 pm
Not only am I an oppressed white man, I am an abortion survivor!
nobody knows de trubble I seen….
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You better COUNT your blessings
You could get hit by a bus.
Then you will be a dead oppressed white man, who escaped an abortion.
heeheeheeheeheehee
td
January 30th, 2013
9:55 pm
“Republicans’ already-low ratings of Congress have dropped marginally, to 9% from 13% last month. There is a similar pattern among independents, whose approval of Congress, now at 16%, is down from 23% last month.” October 2009.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/123491/approval-congress-falls-21-driven-democrats.aspx
At yet Republicans won 56 seats the next month in the elections. I guess this punches a huge hole in Jay’s theory.
Jackie
January 30th, 2013
9:56 pm
One has to wonder if Rep Gingrey (R-GA) and his cohorts will proclaim the USA does not have enough money to help the victims of the tornado in his district today?
Thulsa Doom
January 30th, 2013
9:57 pm
Mick,
Oil companies I disagree with you on-especially considering that the govt makes more off of a gallon of oil than an oil co. And that’s even on oil that an oil company gets from non-American sources. So how is it big oil is getting subsidized on a foreign gallon of oil that the govts make more money off of than the oil company that actually went out and drilled for it on the other side of the planet. And for doing absolutely nothing.
As for the BS about the 4 billion in oil “subsidies” that’s just a standard amortization write off that applies to most American businesses. They weren’t getting any more of a break than anyone else.
Now as for subsidizing commercial farms, dairy, sugar, molasses, Jon Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen’s bee keepers, and companies like Solyndra that we have no business getting involved with I would agree with you. Gotta head out for a bit.
Mick
January 30th, 2013
9:57 pm
0311
Words…you live by the sword, you die by the sword: elected leaders should choose their words carefully and keep your enemies close…
Recon 0311 2533
January 30th, 2013
9:58 pm
No revolution, just a lot of hot air being released to add to the global heat…
Mick, hope you’re right.
Towncrier
January 30th, 2013
9:58 pm
“But I do believe that the people involve must have the freedom to make whatever decision they feel is right. Nobody outside my family needs to be involved in what are family decisions, and I have no right or interest in involving myself in someone else’s.”
Are you “down” with non-voluntary euthanasia as well?
=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_euthanasia
=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia_and_the_slippery_slope
And are you certain that abortions do NOT lead to a devaluation of life which then lead to an acceptance of euthanasia and eugenics?
=http://graceuniversity.edu/iip/2012/05/12-05-26-1/
Uh Huh..........Obama, Mr. Popularity
January 30th, 2013
9:58 pm
@Thulsa Doom
January 30th, 2013
9:50 pm
Hmm. As someone said the other night I wonder how the liberals on here would vote on abortion if they were still in the womb.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“if they were still in the womb?”
If “if” were a fifth WE’D ALL BE DRUNK.
heeheeheeheehee
TBS
January 30th, 2013
9:58 pm
Looks like Broun is running for Senate
The Jesus had a pet pterodactyl commercial cant be far off.
Thulsa Doom
January 30th, 2013
9:59 pm
TBS,
Obviously a hypothetical that can’t be replicated. But kinda interesting to ask someone how they would vote if that were the case. I don’t guess too many of us would vote for possible self annihilation.
Thulsa Doom
January 30th, 2013
10:00 pm
Uh huh,
If if if if, Yeah. I know. I heard a lot of if if if if from the dawg fans. Similar to woulda, shoulda, coulda
Uh Huh..........Obama, Mr. Popularity
January 30th, 2013
10:02 pm
@td
January 30th, 2013
9:55 pm
At yet Republicans won 56 seats the next month in the elections. I guess this punches a huge hole in Jay’s theory.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“At yet?”
“At yet” they may LOSE in 2014 and 2016.
heeheeheeheeheehee
Towncrier
January 30th, 2013
10:02 pm
“Just wondering if you knew if Obama had repudiated the Prime Minister’s statement or not ?”
Good question. If not, you can bet our resident “swine” will not respond.
TBS
January 30th, 2013
10:02 pm
TD
woulda, shoulda, coulda……………….
What issue can any one not come up with a hypothetical?
And I think I many have forgot to mention. Congrats to Bama……
Mick
January 30th, 2013
10:02 pm
recon
Think about it…yeah we get really po’ed at each other if people push our buttons, think different politically, but taking up arms? to what end? No, we’re all a bit looney but we need to save it for the next idiotic tinpot who oversteps their bounds…
Uh Huh..........Obama, Mr. Popularity
January 30th, 2013
10:05 pm
@Thulsa Doom
January 30th, 2013
10:00 pm
Uh huh,
If if if if, Yeah. I know. I heard a lot of if if if if from the dawg fans. Similar to woulda, shoulda, coulda
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Did you hear a lot of “AT YET”?
“At yet Republicans won 56 seats the next month in the elections. I guess this punches a huge hole in Jay’s theory.”
heeheeheeheeheehee
Sorry….I needed that.
Towncrier
January 30th, 2013
10:10 pm
“You tell me, but from the looks of things around here, I’m not the one taking myself way too seriously.”
Self-deprecating humor is common among comedians. What we are talking about is not self-deprecating humor, is it. If I ask my wife something like “how many layers of paint are you going to put on her face”?, she might not find it very funny. But if she herself says something like “Dang, I need to start using acrylic paint on my face – this stuff is running too fast” then we might both laugh. See what I am saying?
Towncrier
January 30th, 2013
10:11 pm
Goodnight all.
td
January 30th, 2013
10:13 pm
Uh Huh……….Obama, Mr. Popularity
January 30th, 2013
10:02 pm
@td
January 30th, 2013
9:55 pm
At yet Republicans won 56 seats the next month in the elections. I guess this punches a huge hole in Jay’s theory.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“At yet?”
“At yet” they may LOSE in 2014 and 2016.
I am glad I can humor you with a typo.
Check with Nate Silver and see what he thinks are the chances of the Dems taking back the House prior to 2022.
Thulsa Doom
January 30th, 2013
10:21 pm
Tbs,
No shame in losing the seccg. It was a great game that coulda gone either way. I wish more of the conference title games were that hotly contested.
Uh huh,
You on a roll tonight.
TBS
January 30th, 2013
10:31 pm
Bama is a better team, but CMR doesn’t have the killer instinct that Saban, Meyer or even Miles has.
Great guy but it is what it is. Still my team, but I’m not one of the Dawg fans thinking CMR is the man.
He is a great individual, but not a GENERAL.
My best friend is married to a Bama grad, who let’s say is high up in a telecom company. HIGH UP as in on the board.
She donates to Bama both to academic and athletic programs. She has been to several Saban “fund raisers” and “rah rah” sessions. She says while she love Bama he is a dick……..
I’m just jealous……. He isn’t at GA.
Thomas
January 30th, 2013
10:40 pm
Republicans’ already-low ratings of Congress have dropped marginally, to 9% from 13% last month
Is it possible to go below zero? If so the Republicans will figure out how-
Thulsa Doom
January 30th, 2013
10:42 pm
TBS,
Richt is close. Hopefully he’ll get there one day and when you think about it he was really 5 yards from the a national championship. I think we all knew the seccg was the national title game and that ND was just a formality.
Richt is one of the class guys in college football. People forget that it took the great Tom Osborne 22 years I think it was before he won a national title and I think it took Paterno something like 25 years or more to win it.
FWIW I only see 2 things wrong with Richt. No. 1 I think he really needs a strength and conditioning coach. The dawgs tend to fade a lot and bottom line is that they just don’t have the physicality of an Alabama or LSU. He just needs them to bulk up more and get more physical stamina and endurance.
The only other thing is that Saban may be a total d)(>(k but that’s okay. He runs the program with an iron fist and makes damn sure the players are focused and disciplined. Keeps those guys out of the police blotter and I’m more proud of that than the championships. And I really do believe that intense discipline our players have carries onto the field in terms of penalties and mistakes.
Richt has done a good job of disciplining them lately but in years past uga had a renegade problem with all the off the field arrests. I think if he can continue to get his guys more disciplined on and off the field they can make that leap to the top.
Cherokee
January 30th, 2013
10:57 pm
“Check with Nate Silver and see what he thinks are the chances of the Dems taking back the House prior to 2022.”
And td why don’t you share with us his reason for making that prediction. I’m sure it couldn’t be excessively gerrymandered districts favoring Republicans even though they lose the popular vote, right?
td
January 30th, 2013
11:01 pm
Cherokee
January 30th, 2013
10:57 pm
And? It is legal and it is politics. Nothing that the Dems have not done in the past.
td
January 30th, 2013
11:12 pm
td
January 30th, 2013
11:01 pm
Cherokee
January 30th, 2013
10:57 pm
And? It is legal and it is politics. Nothing that the Dems have not done in the past and are doing now in the 13 states they totally control.
TBS
January 30th, 2013
11:17 pm
td
Love that you are now a Silver groupie after sucking that Rove and Morris nipple for so long……..
we wont even bring up the blaze and breitbart who you willfully allowed to brainwash you about oversampling
bwhahahhahahhaha
Have a great night
Dharma Bum
January 31st, 2013
2:05 am
“Better than the GOP, but hardly good:
Approval 35, disapproval 60.”
There is a lesson to be learned here about something involving people in glass houses throwing rocks…
keith
January 31st, 2013
2:47 am
bookman, your radical nut at 1600 Penn. was just smacked down for his illegal/unconstitutional appointments. to you the fool can do no wrong, even when the courts bust him.
Redcoat
January 31st, 2013
5:33 am
Does anybody know who(individuals or businesses) is doing financially well right now and why? Is the government treasury being used for “too big to fail” corporations and the globally wealthy? Why do these polls matter? Are we getting the real news anymore? Dems vs Repubs theme seems to distract from facts…….
Redcoat
January 31st, 2013
5:52 am
Washington, State, and local governments…Democrats and Republicans….stop using taxpayers’ money to support private businesses….we know a scam is going on. Stop this legalized theft….it’s just easy money, our country’s future being stolen……The two parties system isn’t working for all the people of this country. It seems the US has now been or being transformed into being just another labor pool source for a global system….our wealth is being sucked dry….
Sorry, just early morning thoughts needing to express..
Redcoat
January 31st, 2013
6:13 am
All these news laws and proposed laws, healthcare, gun control…….all have those that are or will be exempt…which include the very folks that propose(d) them….everyone ok with that?
TaxPayer
January 31st, 2013
6:16 am
We’re doing good. We are recovering from the Great Recession. Our investments continue to improve… Life is much better. So sad to hear that you are not doing well, Redcoat.
Orange13
January 31st, 2013
6:35 am
“We are recovering from the Great Recession” Exactly how much of this recovery has gone into your pocket? As a matter of fact, if you work, I bet you have been receiving less every payday. I still haven’t seen the National debt ticker start going South.
middle of the road
January 31st, 2013
6:37 am
“From members of the party of “personal responsibility”-”
I also remember that the “party of personal responsibility” does not want to require everyone to purchase insurance, but also does not want to let them die if they need medical care, so they insist that us responsible people pay for the medical care for the freeloaders. Including those that make $100,000 per year.
TaxPayer
January 31st, 2013
6:47 am
Most of the recovery in our household is going into our pockets since it is in the form of qualifying dividends and capital gains, which receive special tax treatment. And of course I pay no payroll taxes on those earnings nor on my pension income. So sad to hear that you are not recovering, Orange.
Orange13
January 31st, 2013
6:56 am
Taxpayer,
Per your 06:47. Maybe you should change your user ID to nontaxpayer.
TaxPayer
January 31st, 2013
7:05 am
Orange,
I still pay income tax, property tax, sales tax, excise tax, etc. I simply do not pay payroll tax on my earnings. My wife pays them on her business income though. I do hope you find a way to recover so you too can pay taxes, Orange.
Moon Mullins
January 31st, 2013
7:13 am
A recent poll gave several options and those polled responded more favorably to a colonoscopy than to the U.S. Congress. Now, that stinks!
Orange13
January 31st, 2013
7:15 am
Taxpayer (sic),
In other words you have spent two entries saying you don’t work and that your wife does. Is that correct? With that being said. I have to go out and support “The Great Recovery”. Enjoy!
St Simons
January 31st, 2013
7:16 am
This makes me sick.
the way the ignorant AM radio sub-language code has crept into
our lexicon – from AP
NEW YORK (AP) — A big government study has fingered leafy greens like lettuce and spinach as the leading source of food poisoning, a perhaps uncomfortable conclusion for health officials who want us to eat our vegetables.
“Most meals are safe,” said Dr. Patricia Griffin, a government researcher and one of the study’s authors who said the finding shouldn’t discourage people from eating produce. Experts repeated often-heard advice: Be sure to wash those foods or cook them thoroughly.
While more people may have gotten sick from plants, more died from contaminated poultry, the study also found. The results were released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A simple story put out every year by the partly fed-funded CDC that
says. ‘remember to wash your vegetables’ turns into this –
-”a BIG gubmint ’study’ (hear the ignorant derisive sneer?)
-”an uncomfortable conclusion to ‘those’ that want us to eat our
vegetables (insert derisive eyeroll)
-”researchers repeated oft heard advice”…(waste $$ on ’science’)
the worst thing about the Last Decade of the Debacle of Stupid is
that these stupid people with willful ignorance have crept, slid, slimed
their way into positions of responsibility, and lower the whole bar.
Congratulations, cons. We’ll clean up your mess, again.
Granny Godzilla
January 31st, 2013
7:16 am
Orange13
January 31st, 2013
6:35 am
“We are recovering from the Great Recession” Exactly how much of this recovery has gone into your pocket? As a matter of fact, if you work, I bet you have been receiving less every payday. I still haven’t seen the National debt ticker start going South.
.
.
.
Actually some of our part of the recovery is being installed next week….new carpet and tile!
But as to a little less each payday…did you think the temporary payroll tax break wasn’t temporary?
Perhaps if you paid closer attention, you would not now be having financial issues.
Have you no personal responsibility?
TaxPayer
January 31st, 2013
7:23 am
I do feel sad for Orange given that he could not prepare for that 2% payroll tax hike back to the level it was at before the temporary cut. I suppose the same issues plague the Republicans with regard to the Bush temporary tax cuts.
And yes, Orange, my wife works here at home running her internet-based business and I am retired so I do not work (hehehe). I just look at stocks and blog and stuff like that.
Corbin Sharpe. I think, therefore I am...I think.
January 31st, 2013
7:24 am
Good morning all…
I think the key phrase here is “Live within your means”….and my company is hiring three more engineers…and…when I “retire” in March, I’ll still work here on a part time basis from home. A good deal all around, I think.
TaxPayer
January 31st, 2013
7:25 am
Breaking news,
Most Americans oppose cloning Neanderthal on the grounds that we just don’t need any more Republicans.
Granny Godzilla
January 31st, 2013
7:26 am
TaxPayer
Me too.
Here’s an idea….”Bootstraps R Us”
Common Sense isn't very Common
January 31st, 2013
7:27 am
TP
I am retired so I do not work (hehehe). I just look at stocks and blog and stuff like that.
———————————————–
That’s why some of us hate you. j/k
You old fart
GT
January 31st, 2013
7:28 am
The tea leaves are reading sad news to the bullies on the right. A tea party without tea, the rest of us are doing just fine.
Newt is always saying what America wants as his lead in to a made up argument in every debate. Then he goes off either saying something obvious like we don’t want cancer or he will make something up that one poll in a out sourced post in India comes up with as proof the American people want incest as a constitutional amendment. He and his type machine gun the interviewer who is so caught off guard with his remarks they never get a clean shot at Newt or whomever about how full of bs he is. The truth eventually catches up with guys like that, like they do the crooks on Wall Street but these guys are billionaires for just shooting hot air in the atmosphere. What a great country where hard working people starve and are left homeless while this act grows fat telling us lies.
Fred ™
January 31st, 2013
7:30 am
Nice catch St. Simon’s. Amen Granny.
Yeah we will have a few hundred LESS this pay check, but we are still 1000’s ahead from four years ago. The raises for doing a GOOD JOB and WORKING HARD offset the TEMPORARY payroll tax cut.
That was nice while it lasted, but now it’s time to man up and pay pour Countries bills. The TEMPORARY payroll tax did what it was supposed to do, it gave Americans a little more in their pocket to survive the Bush crash and it helped spur the economy. Why are the Republicans whining about paying their bills and taking personal responsibility? I don’t get it……..
TaxPayer
January 31st, 2013
7:31 am
I hate being an old fart too. I should have started at a much younger age being a fart.
Fred ™
January 31st, 2013
7:33 am
Corbin: I was at my eye doc’s yesterday and he said his son needs a job. He graduates in the Spring from Washington University in Mech engineering I think he said. Can you help a brother out?
stands for decibels
January 31st, 2013
7:34 am
DowninAlbany, if you’re around, regarding this:
Party foul! It was not my intent to misrepresent, but, I understand.
It’s a bit of a shame that your copy/paste wound up getting no more attention, apparently, than a cursory “where did you get that info” sort of discussion. It bears closer examination, and here goes.
I’m someone who follows the Gallup Presidential polling trendlines a bit compulsively. I’ve cited the “Job Approval Center” website many times here. I recognize Gallup as an invaluable historical resource, but one that needs to be seen for what it is–an organization that is small “c” conservative, cautious, slow to change and thus a bit lagging in its sample base. To put it broadly, they continue to oversample landlines, and they get a bit older/more Republican-leaning sample base as a result. It’s not huge but it’s there, and if you look at their percentages over an average of the rest you’ll see they “shortchange” (not intentionally, I don’t think) Obama a little bit.
I’m not complaining about Gallup. It is what it is.
This Weekly Standard blogster’s piece you quoted, on the other hand, is silly. He is hanging his thesis on a microscopic sample size (I mean, elected-for-a-second-term postwar presidents? Obama is one of six. (The blogster is really pushing that definition by including Truman in this.)
Also, when you have such a small sample size, you have to include other factors such as that 800# gorilla in the room, the worst economic hit since the 30s. None of the other guys had that to cope with–a better comparison would be how FDR fared in 1936, but Gallup wasn’t polling back then.
Having followed the Gallup numbers pretty compulsively during Obama’s first term–and I encourage others to click that link and compare the various Administrations–he compares pretty favorably to Clinton, actually. Obama did significantly better than Clinton during the first part of his term, but Clinton pulled a bit ahead later.
This isn’t to say that Obama couldn’t, conceivably, walk into the kind of snares Bush found himself in, in 2005 and be looking at horrible numbers in a coupla years. We could have the equivalent of a Katrina + a Terry Schaivo clusterfoxtrot; while Obama isn’t committing hundreds of thousands of ground troops to a “surge” in hopes of salvaging Afghanistan at the moment, there’s a potential for nasty blowback there, still.
But the Weekly Standard blogster was grasping at straws, hoping that his readers hadn’t been paying terribly close attention. It was lame, superficial, and based on a snapshot, without even the modicum of attention paid to bleedin’ obvious externalities, IMHO.
/soapbox
Granny Godzilla
January 31st, 2013
7:38 am
Whew…Stands had to read that twice…..thought you said 800 #godzilla at first glance….
clanmack
January 31st, 2013
7:38 am
Ge, and I thought the Bloomin’ Onion was from Outback
Fred ™
January 31st, 2013
7:38 am
TaxPayer
January 31st, 2013
7:31 am
I hate being an old fart too. I should have started at a much younger age being a fart.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Naw, then folks would call you mean like they do me. I retired when I was 40………….. retired, quit working……. same difference.
stands for decibels
January 31st, 2013
7:39 am
all have those that are or will be exempt…
Cite please.
I say this because it became very popular a few years back for people on both sides to cry and complain about congresspeople’s allegedly “free” healthcare, when in fact those people do have to pay for their own insurance. (they have excellent coverage through well managed plans they can choose from, but they do pay.)
stands for decibels
January 31st, 2013
7:40 am
thought you said 800 #godzilla at first glance….
I woulda been in Rednck Convert territory if Ida done that.
Fred ™
January 31st, 2013
7:42 am
Just damn. We are going to have to do all of this again tomorrow……..
http://www.theonion.com/articles/and-nation-has-to-go-through-it-all-again-tomorrow,31083/
TaxPayer
January 31st, 2013
7:42 am
(they have excellent coverage through well managed plans they can choose from, but they do pay.)
They can also vote themselves a pay raise to cover any premium hikes. And their pension plans are to die for.
Thomas
January 31st, 2013
7:44 am
Charts are great.
A chartist would say there was a little divergence and breakout but an investor would be selling the approve and buying the disapprove.
Anyway… Obama is great- can’t get enough of it!!!
Fred ™
January 31st, 2013
7:46 am
And their pension plans are to die for.
How do they collect if they are dead? I never understood that phrase…….. now if it were something to KILL for, I could be down with that……………..
stands for decibels
January 31st, 2013
7:47 am
They can also vote themselves a pay raise to cover any premium hikes.
You’ll have to try that one out on someone who worries that our legislators are somehow overpaid. If anything I tend to worry about the opposite, actually.
Also, this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-seventh_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
Thomas Heyward Jr
January 31st, 2013
7:48 am
Considering the economy………….Where does one get these free Obama Rose-Colored glasses?
Skip
January 31st, 2013
7:50 am
Don’t they pay $260.00 a month for family/for life?
alex
January 31st, 2013
7:50 am
To all who might think that there is any significant information in the 2 graphs of FOUR months of data please read “the signal and the noise” by Nate Silver , then have a cup of coffee and chuckle and enjoy your day. Jay, if there is a ? to your title than the answer is NO, there is no reason by these “graphs”that there has been a tone change in D.C.
Better yet Blank is kicking in more money and the Falcons may do a sweep to get around the Ga. state legislature voting on taxes or something about that….??
“I won’t mention the outlier”childish nonesense, you may not mention it, but you SHOULD ask why their data is different or you could remain ignorant and potentially a lemming–read the book and “herd” mentality..
stands for decibels
January 31st, 2013
7:50 am
Fred, I’ll see your Onion and raise you one:
Frustrated Inner-City Students Running Out Of Ideas To Motivate Teachers
CHICAGO—A frustrated group of students at Dunne High School on Chicago’s South Side told reporters Thursday that they are running out of ideas to motivate their underperforming teachers, who they claim have apparently given up on education despite the pupils’ concerted efforts.
“We’ve tried everything to reach out to our teachers in hopes of making a connection, but it’s just so hard to get through to them,” said 10th-grader Christopher Fenton, who confirmed that most of his instructors live in low-income households and lack the basic language skills to communicate effectively. “It’s difficult to walk in the classroom each morning and see them sitting listlessly at their desks, convinced that nothing they do at school matters. And, unfortunately, it creates a vicious cycle: They think they’re going nowhere, and so that’s how they behave.”
While Fenton stated that the school’s inadequate facilities and out-of-date teaching materials were partly to blame for educators’ dismal performance, he also acknowledged the problem has been exacerbated by the perceptible substance abuse issues that afflict many of his teachers, a number of whom have already developed lifelong dependencies on drugs and alcohol.
Welcome to the Occupation
January 31st, 2013
7:50 am
“while Obama isn’t committing hundreds of thousands of ground troops to a “surge” in hopes of salvaging Afghanistan at the moment”
Keep you eye on Mali.
And Iran.
And Syria.
And even Egypt.
The destabilization of the Middle East/N Africa being actively advanced by this administration is very dangerous and cynical.
Granny Godzilla
January 31st, 2013
7:53 am
Thomas Heyward Jr
January 31st, 2013
7:48 am
Considering the economy………….Where does one get these free Obama Rose-Colored glasses?
.
.
.
Well, you’d have to get yours at the “greet us as liberators outlet” or “mental recession mart”.
Or of course there’s always “ann taylor libertarian loft”
stands for decibels
January 31st, 2013
7:53 am
Considering the economy…
Considering your selective bouts of allegedly bipartisan poutrage, how do you feel about private companies directing the FBI’s antiterrorist activities to include targeting peaceful leafleteers and videographers?
Funny how a freedom-lover like you never seems to have the energy to say “boo” about that.
Corbin Sharpe. I think, therefore I am...I think.
January 31st, 2013
7:53 am
Fred ™
January 31st, 2013
7:33 am
I’ll do what I can…
—————————–
JAY,
send Fred my email address please.
Fred ™
January 31st, 2013
7:54 am
Thomas Heyward Jr
January 31st, 2013
7:48 am
Considering the economy………….Where does one get these free Obama Rose-Colored glasses?
++++++++++++++++++++
No glasses are needed, you just pull your head out of your ass and natural sunlight does the rest.
indigo
January 31st, 2013
7:56 am
Now that Manti Teo, Honey Boo Boo and Lance Armstrong are considered lead news stories, I have a greater understanding of the Republican electorate mind.