No Biden Bounce for Obama
August 25th, 2008 at 09:58am Matt Margolis
Bad news for Obama leading into their convention.
It’s a dead heat in the race for the White House. The first national poll conducted entirely after Barack Obama publicly named Joe Biden as his running mate suggests that battle for the presidency between the Illinois senator and Republican rival John McCain is all tied up.
In a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll out Sunday night, 47 percent of those questioned are backing Obama with an equal amount supporting the Arizona senator.
“This looks like a step backward for Obama, who had a 51 to 44 percent advantage last month,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
D’oh.
Entry Filed under: Campaign 2008, Democrats
26 Comments
1. Bull | August 25th, 2008 at 11:20 am
so with the polls tied it means that mccain really has about a 7 point lead.
the only way for him to blow this now is to pick someone like liberman as vp.
if mccain picks a vp that can make people say “wow” then obama is toast.
2. SEW | August 25th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Watch the reverse bounce when the blowhard begins talking about himself and his importance. Thrown in with a few lies which will mean nothing to blowhard liberals, par for them, but will resonate with undecideds.
3. Rich | August 25th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
I’m still saying McCain should pick Petreus. If not, then I think Palin would be a nice choice to pick up the waywars Clinton backers.
4. William of Orange | August 25th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
From the article:
..this is indeed worrisome news for the Vaunted One. But can someone explain the calculus that says a dead head in polls translates to McCain being up by 7 points?
..would it were it true.
“..
5. Bull | August 25th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
william, it’s called liberal bias in the polls.
6. js | August 25th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
now…all these clintonites they are talking about…i assume they are the same folks from the kerry campaign….how do they poll the dead ones? or do they just do the business as usual thing and play like they all actually have an intent to vote for whoever the DNC says they will vote for….
how does that work?
7. LiberalMind | August 25th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Democrats will gain seats in the Senate and the House.
That is guaranteed.
This country is probably still too immature to elect a black man or a white woman to the presidency.
You will get your old white man, just like so many other presidents.
8. David B. Schmidt | August 25th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Liberal(lack of a)Mind,
For such a progressive–you, like M. Obama, don’t get it. It has nothing to do with race, creed, color, sexual orientation, whether it is a male or female running.
It has to do with ideas, character, deeds and beliefs–of which Obama has none and Biden has less than Obama because he actually voted for and against stuff rather than “present.”
At this point, I finally feel that McCain will pull it out but also the House and Senate will remain even.
9. hermie | August 25th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
LM:
So you’ve given up already?
What about ‘Hope and Change’, oh wait.
When the Obamamessiah decided he needed an old white man to prop him up, THAT clinched it for you?
10. LiberalMind | August 25th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
David B. Schmidt:
It has mush to do with race.
Polls show that most Americans favor liberal policies and ideas like preserving Social Security, protecting the environment, leaving Iraq, pro-choice laws, gay rights to marry, universal healthcare and even progressive immigration law reforms.
You can research the polls for yourself.
So when someone (McSame) runs on a platform explicitly promising to continue the unpopular policies of Bush and the disastrous, bankrupt ideas of Conservatism, it leaves little other conclusion.
America will take more abuse from the Republicans before they take a chance on an “uppity” colored fellow.
Right?
11. hermie | August 25th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Yet Obama is losing steadily in the polls. For someone whose ‘policies’ are supposedly favored by the ‘polled majority” (Usually using a higher percentage of Dems), he seems to have lost the confidence of voters.
Of course, his being an empty suit might have just a little something to do woth it.
12. sunrunner | August 25th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
McCain, with the help of Bush’s staff is simply giving Obama a taste of Rovian swift-boating McCain himself received in South Carolina. Slime politics works, the polls show it and the Republicans are masters. Advisors with a conscious like McKinnon are long gone. Even advisor Fionia who had the candor to suggest McCain was wrong for voting against legislation that would require insurance companies to cover birth control if they cover Viagra has been silenced. We are now in gutter politics only Karl Rove loves. But I have faith the American people will not fall for this garbage a third straight time. If this election is a referendum as to how McCain will would also lead America, then if elected we certainly will witness a Bush third term.
One day McCain will have defend his votes. If he is not the surrogate for a Bush third term then which if any of the 95% Bush legislation he voted for would he now flip flop on?
13. Casper | August 25th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
The question should be; Why isn’t McCain way ahead?
He has 10 times the time in the Senate, has had twice the wives, 7 times the houses, and he is 50% older than Obama. He should be at least 10 points ahead at this point. What is wrong with McCain that he can’t close this deal?
14. Retired Spook | August 25th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
I woke up in the middle of the night last night and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I sat down at the computer and started reading about Senator Biden. One of the things about having been in the Senate for so long is that there is a wealth of information about him on-line, most of it not very complimentary. It’s no wonder that the campaign didn’t get any “bounce”.
I’ve heard it said that Joe Biden is a nice guy, and, in truth, his close friends may view him that way. In the world of politics, however, there is not a nastier, meaner, more vindictive, more egotistical, truth-challenged blowhard than Joe Biden. His premature conviction of the Haditha Marines (about a half-step behind Murtha), all but one of whom has since been exonerated, will hurt the Obama/Biden ticket with the military, a demographic the Dems can ill afford to alienate even further. Biden’s derogatory comments about Indiana-Americans working at 7/11’s and blacks lacking in intelligence will hurt the ticket with minorities. There is hardly a group that Senator Biden has not disparaged during his long and less than illustrious career, and much of it is on video. There is so much ad material using the candidate’s own words, that the GOP won’t be able to use it all before November 4th. Couple that with the treasure trove of videos of Obama off-script and without a teleprompter, and I think, as long as McCain picks a solid conservative running mate, the Dems are looking at a defeat in November of McGovernesque proportions.
If there is a single VP candidate that Obama could have picked, (aside from Dennis Kucinnich), that could have better guaranteed defeat in November, I’d be hard-pressed to think who it would be.
And anyone who watched the press vigil of the Biden family compound last Saturday morning with numerous helicopter aerial shots of the property, has to wonder how Biden could make disparaging remarks about McCain’s houses with a straight face — probably because he and Obama are so wrong on the issues that class warfare and race are about the only things they have left to exploit. Not a winning strategy — it’s just not.
15. WhatChange | August 25th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
“which if any of the 95% Bush legislation he voted for would he now flip flop on?” sunrunner
Bush is a legislator? I thought Bush was in the executive branch, POTUS, and Reid/Pelosi were the, cough, legislators.
Casper, probably because McCain didn’t attend a Muslim school.
16. Fantasyteam | August 25th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
15. WhatChange | August 25th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Follow how this works. Bush is the leader of the Republican Party. He SET the Republican legislative agenda that McCain championed through the Senate before the American people in 2006 put McSame and Bush’s legislative agenda on the trash heap of American history.
17. Thrower | August 25th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
“It has nothing to do with race, creed, color, sexual orientation, whether it is a male or female running.”
What country do you live in David? I have a lifelong Democratic mother-in-law who plainly says she will never vote for a black man. It’s hard to say how many otherwise progressive people there are like her in this country but the number is certainly in the millions.
18. Fantasyteam | August 25th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
13. Casper | August 25th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
I couldn’t agree more. McSame has Rove’s swift-boat machine to tap into, an entire TV network, Fox at his disposal, most of print press which is corporate owned gushing over his gaffs, 75% of the AM dial spewing hate Obama speech and the best McCain can do is a dead heat! Why isn’t McCain way out in front? Could it be all we know about him is the facts he is an anti elitist with seven or eight houses and he is a POW?
19. Casper | August 25th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Retired Spook,
Biden is the poorest member of the Senate. Both he and his wife work. He commutes by train every day. He knows how many houses he haves. I doubt he has any more gaffes than McCain.
Frankly I have a lot more in common with him than I do with someone that wears $500 shoes, flies everywhere in a jet, and can’t remember how many houses he owns.
20. Fantasyteam | August 25th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
What country do you live in David? I have a lifelong Democratic mother-in-law who plainly says she will never vote for a black man.17. Thrower | August 25th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
If in fact your story is true, please release your mother-in-law from her bigoted closet. Take to her a Republican voter registration card, for if she is no Progressive and no Democrat.
21. neocon | August 25th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Our resident liberals attempts to reconcile the messiahs drop in the polls is amusing.
It’s because he’s black; it’s because of the media (which is my personal favorite), or it’s because the public is too immature or that 75% of the AM dial doesn’t like him>
Why is it never because of his policies and/or lack of experience?
22. neocon | August 25th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
If in fact your story is true, please release your mother-in-law from her bigoted closet. Take to her a Republican voter registration card, for if she is no Progressive and no Democrat. - Fantasyteam
Oh I would disagree with that. Here’s some examples from your party’s glorious past.
February 18, 1946 Appointed by Republican President Calvin Coolidge, federal judge Paul McCormick ends segregation of Mexican-American children in California public schools
July 11, 1952 Republican Party platform condemns “duplicity and insincerity” of Democrats in racial matters
September 30, 1953 Earl Warren, California’s three-term Republican Governor and 1948 Republican vice presidential nominee, nominated to be Chief Justice; wrote landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education
December 8, 1953 Eisenhower administration Asst. Attorney General Lee Rankin argues for plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education
May 17, 1954 Chief Justice Earl Warren, three-term Republican Governor (CA) and Republican vice presidential nominee in 1948, wins unanimous support of Supreme Court for school desegregation in Brown v. Board of Education
November 25, 1955 Eisenhower administration bans racial segregation of interstate bus travel
March 12, 1956 Ninety-seven Democrats in Congress condemn Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, and pledge to continue segregation
June 5, 1956 Republican federal judge Frank Johnson rules in favor of Rosa Parks in decision striking down “blacks in the back of the bus” law
October 19, 1956 On campaign trail, Vice President Richard Nixon vows: “American boys and girls shall sit, side by side, at any school – public or private – with no regard paid to the color of their skin. Segregation, discrimination, and prejudice have no place in America”
November 6, 1956 African-American civil rights leaders Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy vote for Republican Dwight Eisenhower for President
September 9, 1957 President Dwight Eisenhower signs Republican Party’s 1957 Civil Rights Act
September 24, 1957 Sparking criticism from Democrats such as Senators John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, President Dwight Eisenhower deploys the 82nd Airborne Division to Little Rock, AR to force Democrat Governor Orval Faubus to integrate public schools
June 23, 1958 President Dwight Eisenhower meets with Martin Luther King and other African-American leaders to discuss plans to advance civil rights
February 4, 1959 President Eisenhower informs Republican leaders of his plan to introduce 1960 Civil Rights Act, despite staunch opposition from many Democrats
May 6, 1960 President Dwight Eisenhower signs Republicans’ Civil Rights Act of 1960, overcoming 125-hour, around-the-clock filibuster by 18 Senate Democrats
July 27, 1960 At Republican National Convention, Vice President and eventual presidential nominee Richard Nixon insists on strong civil rights plank in platform
May 2, 1963 Republicans condemn Democrat sheriff of Birmingham, AL for arresting over 2,000 African-American schoolchildren marching for their civil rights
June 1, 1963 Democrat Governor George Wallace announces defiance of court order issued by Republican federal judge Frank Johnson to integrate University of Alabama
September 29, 1963 Gov. George Wallace (D-AL) defies order by U.S. District Judge Frank Johnson, appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower, to integrate Tuskegee High School
June 9, 1964 Republicans condemn 14-hour filibuster against 1964 Civil Rights Act by U.S. Senator and former Ku Klux Klansman Robert Byrd (D-WV), who still serves in the Senate
June 10, 1964 Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) criticizes Democrat filibuster against 1964 Civil Rights Act, calls on Democrats to stop opposing racial equality
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was introduced and approved by a staggering majority of Republicans in the Senate. The Act was opposed by most southern Democrat senators, several of whom were proud segregationists—one of them being Al Gore Sr. Democrat President Lyndon B. Johnson relied on Illinois Senator Everett Dirkson, the Republican leader from Illinois, to get the Act passed.
June 20, 1964 The Chicago Defender, renowned African-American newspaper, praises Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) for leading passage of 1964 Civil Rights Act
March 7, 1965 Police under the command of Democrat Governor George Wallace attack African-Americans demonstrating for voting rights in Selma, AL
March 21, 1965 Republican federal judge Frank Johnson authorizes Martin Luther King’s protest march from Selma to Montgomery, overruling Democrat Governor George Wallace
August 4, 1965 Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) overcomes Democrat attempts to block 1965 Voting Rights Act; 94% of Senate Republicans vote for landmark civil right legislation, while 27% of Democrats oppose
August 6, 1965 Voting Rights Act of 1965, abolishing literacy tests and other measures devised by Democrats to prevent African-Americans from voting, signed into law; higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats vote in favor
July 8, 1970 In special message to Congress, President Richard Nixon calls for reversal of policy of forced termination of Native American rights and benefits
September 17, 1971 Former Ku Klux Klan
member and Democrat U.S. Senator Hugo Black (D-AL) retires from U.S. Supreme Court; appointed by FDR in 1937, he had defended Klansmen for racial murders
February 19, 1976 President Gerald Ford formally rescinds President Franklin Roosevelt’s notorious Executive Order authorizing internment of over 120,000 Japanese-Americans during WWII
September 15, 1981 President Ronald Reagan establishes the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, to increase African-American participation in federal education programs
June 29, 1982 President Ronald Reagan signs 25-year extension of 1965 Voting Rights Act
August 10, 1988 President Ronald Reagan signs Civil Liberties Act of 1988, compensating Japanese-Americans for deprivation of civil rights and property during World War II internment ordered by FDR
November 21, 1991 President George H. W. Bush signs Civil Rights Act of 1991 to strengthen federal civil rights legislation
August 20, 1996 Bill authored by U.S. Rep.
Susan Molinari (R-NY) to prohibit racial discrimination in adoptions, part of Republicans’ Contract With America, becomes law
April 26, 1999 Legislation authored by U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI) awarding Congressional Gold Medal to civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks is transmitted to President
January 25, 2001 U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee declares school choice to be “Educational Emancipation”
March 19, 2003 Republican U.S. Representatives of Hispanic and Portuguese descent form Congressional Hispanic Conference
May 23, 2003 U.S. Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) introduces bill to establish National Museum of African American History and Culture
23. Thrower | August 25th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true Fantasyteam. I have known several otherwise progressive people, generous in spirit and giving in their personal lives who couldn’t let loose of lifelong racism. She says she can’t stomach the thought of black people living in the White House. She would never vote for McCain, by the way, because she thinks the Republican party has done major damage to the country. At least she’s right on that.
And by the way, Neocon, the Republican party welcomed the Dixiecrats with open arms in the mid-1960s and changed the balance of power in American politics. Lose the south and you lose presidential elections has been the reality for half a century but that is about to end as racism slowly dies out with the old.
24. kmg | August 25th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
“…there is not a nastier, meaner, more vindictive, more egotistical, truth-challenged blowhard than Joe Biden.”
Yes there is. His name is John McCain.
25. neocon | August 26th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Racism dies out with the old???
Why are 94% of blacks voting for Obama?
26. FmrMarine | August 26th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
libmindless
>>>You will get your old white man, just like so many other presidents.>>>
REALLY???
Dont you think, THAT is WHY
we have become the richest, greatest, purest, most powerful, nation in the history of the world, and stayed that way?