Archive for May 31st, 2011
Arizona Ground Report
(Moderator’s Note: Thank you to Hillbuzz reader Kimberlie for this! Please use the “Contact Us” in the navigation menu above to send in your Ground Reports. We would especially love to get reports from campaign events.)
Dear Hillbuzz,
I went to a political focus group last weekend moderated by Dr. Frank Luntz (the
pollster often featured on Fox News). I was in the Conservative/Republican group
(they wisely kept each political group separate), and it was very interesting.
About 10% of these people were overly aggressive, even to Dr. Luntz. Unless you
were a “purist” (or Ron Paul supporter) they didn’t want to listen to a thing you
had to say. They were the types who are pushing for a 3rd party candidate just so
they can “send a message” to the GOP. I argued the fact that this would only assure
a liberal/Dem win, and they honestly did not care! They wanted candidates to be
EXACTLY how they wanted them to be or they would “throw them out”.
Dr. Luntz told these people that he just interviewed a group of swing voters, and
they felt exactly the opposite, and that an unwillingness to listen or take other’s
views into account was alienating swing, moderate and independent voters. He told
them all the shouting and name calling was not helping their cause, and if they
wanted people to consider their argument, they needed to bring the volume down and
actually LISTEN to other points of view. He told several of them that they were
scary and they were prime examples of why the Tea Party has been getting higher
“unfavorable” ratings lately in national polls.
Things got really heated when he told them that the research he’s done indicates
that R’s will win the House and Senate, but Obama will win the WH again. When
someone challenged him about this, he replied “Dude, this is what I DO! I’ve been
to Ohio 6 times this year, how many times have you been there? I’ve been to Florida
8 times. I’ve talked to people on the ground in every battle state, and they are
extremely worried about the R’s Medicare plan.”
We asked what we could do to counter the Dems misinformation, and he said to get
organized and get out to the seniors in retirement homes, active living communities,
etc and educate them. For the most part, they only watch the MSM and are unaware
that the media has a political agenda. They truly believe what the Dems are
peddling about Republicans pushing grandma off a cliff.
After he said that, the meeting started wrapping up and some of the people were
clearly depressed about the thought of Obama winning a 2nd term. I got into my
Hillbuzz mode and chastised them for being Eeyores. I told them to get out and DO
what Dr. Luntz said and take action, not sit around whining about how “all is lost”.
Anyway, just wanted to let you know what Dr. Luntz said. He is a very conservative
guy who is very politically astute, and I think we should consider his advice and
start to mobilize and take action. I looked through the descriptions of HB Action
Items, and I’m not sure which color this action item would fall under…maybe we need
another color for “Community Organizing”. I suggest using pink, as a poke in the
eye to Code Pink!
If you have any questions about what I experienced at the focus group last week,
please let me know.
Kimberlie
National Tweet Your Weiner Day
HT/ Newsrealblog.com
To show solidarity and support for poor Democrat representative Anthony Weiner, whose Twitter account was mysteriously “hacked” last week, we’re asking Hillbuzz readers with Twitter accounts to tweet a photo of your Weiner on Wednesday, June 1st, 2011.
National Tweet Your Weiner Day is that day that we should all take a moment to update our social media passwords so that we may avoid getting caught with our pants down.
We’ve attached a Weiner pic to this post to get you started. (We think the folks at Newsrealblog must be psychic, because they posted this back on March 17th.)
We would like to create broad awareness of National Tweet Your Weiner Day, so please be sure to “Like” this post on Facebook and share it with your friends on Twitter.
Herman Cain vs Mitt Romney: Who’s Qualified To Be President?
The LSM is determined to convince you that you are unhappy about your choices for the GOP nomination because of the “Weak GOP Field.”
My contention is that this is the most exciting year for the GOP, conservatives and libertarians in decades. We don’t have a GOP frontrunner yet, because there’s no GOP incumbent, and fewer and fewer people rely on the LSM to tell them what they think. People like you, the readers of Hillbuzz, are taking ownership of the nomination and vetting process.
I found this post on Free Republic over the weekend: Mitt Romney, Herman Cain and Presidential Qualifications.
What makes this analysis interesting is the fact that it was published back on December 29, 2010, before Herman Cain’s exhilarating performance in the South Carolina debate.
The author’s conclusion?
Of course, if after examining the evidence you still don’t believe Herman Cain is qualified to be president, then you would have to also conclude that Mitt Romney is not qualified to be president. The only significant difference in their resumes is Romney’s four year stint as governor of Massachusetts—a governorship that was, from a conservative perspective, an absolute disaster. Mitt Romney was not a success as governor, and it would be pure spin to say otherwise.
Take a look at the article on Free Republic. Would it be useful to have this kind of head-to-head comparison of all the GOP candidates? Should we make this a project for the Blue Team?
Hillbuzz Open Thread: May 31, 2011
Watch this video before consuming any political reporting.
So, how many family members have you shared WeinerGate with today? My folks were visiting yesterday, and I asked, “So, what do you think about WeinerGate?” Neither had heard of it. But my mom immediately said, “I bet it’s about a Democrat.” Gotta love my mom. 
