Nov 1, 2012
Our polling and punditry roundups are back online, as Greg Dworkin's Internet servcie has been restored! So we discussed Chris Christie's recent cooperation with President Obama on storm relief, the strange-sounding-but-explainable designation of Ohio as a "toss-up," the latest on the punditry's love affair with "The Narrative," and Republicans' continued attachment to "The Math." But is "The Math" really entirely divorced from reality? Consider that while Republicans accuse Democrats of manipulating polling output, Republicans are using state legislatures (and in some cases, plain old criminality) to manipulate the input in the one poll that really matters: actual voting. From ALEC copycat voter ID laws, to fake voter registration schemes, to their ill-fated attempt to force U.S. Attorneys to pretend they were finding and prosecuting "voter fraud," Republicans have been hard at work on creating this narrative for a long time. Plus, more on the astonishing idiocy of the attacks on Nate Silver, and how Dick Morris has finally written The Dumbest Thing Ever (but still gets paid).