“[Nate] Silver’s facts are being fired like bullets into the heart of the Romney campaign.”

Dan Hodges has a great piece in The Telegraph today titled “Nate Silver, the geeky statistician who is single-handedly dismantling the myth of Mitt-mentum”. It goes into great detail about the fantasy world that the Romney campaign is trying to hypnotize American voters with, creating a completely false narrative that Obama is on the ropes and they are in the lead with all the momentum.

As Hodges so perfectly shows, it’s a complete sham. Details (with GRAPHS!) after the jump.

Now THAT’S foreign policy!

Pete Hoekstra sat down for a radio interview and call-in show with Michigan Radio’s Rick Pluta today and one of the things they discussed was government investments in clean energy. Hoekstra made an astonishing statement about the major world powers whose governments are making investments in moving toward more clean energy, calling them “stupid”.

Details on this and on Pete Hoekstra’s change of heart on clean energy investments after the jump.

It’s a complicated ballot this year. Here’s some help!

I’m going to pin this to the top of the blog today to make sure everyone sees it before they head to the polls to vote. In this post is a link to a printable Voters Guide for the non-partisan parts of the Michigan statewide ballot. There are two on each page — one for you and one for a friend. Please share with others.

The 2012 ballot in Michigan is a complicated one, particularly the non-partisan section where we will vote for the Supreme Court seats and the various statewide ballot proposals. In order to help you sort through this part of the ballot, we have put together a Voters Guide. You can download it HERE (pdf). We’ve put two on each page so you can have an extra one for yourself or to give away to friends, family and coworkers.

Obviously, I am recommending that you vote a straight Democratic Party ticket. We have been assured by our County Clerk that you can fill in the spot for your favorite Democrat (like President Obama, for example) and still fill in the straight party spot without spoiling your ballot.

Aside from that, after the jump are the Eclectablog choices for the statewide non-partisan candidates and ballot proposals along with links to interviews with the Michigan Supreme Court candidates and my posts on the six ballot proposals.

Let’s go to tape, Mark…

Mark Ouimet rode the 2010 Republican wave to replace Democrat Pam Byrnes as the Michigan State House Representative of the 52nd District. In a dirty campaign with hideous robocalls against his Democratic opponent Christine Green (listen to them HERE, HERE, and HERE), Ouimet appealed to voters with a claim of being moderate and willing to work across the aisle with Democrats. Two years have passed and just how many times has Ouimet voted against the majority of his own party?

0.8%.

Much more after the jump.

Yes, that’s right. Just like Peter Jackson’s production of The Hobbit, I’ve found so much raw material to work with that I decided to break what was originally a single story into two, and now three sections. As I reported yesterday, in addition to being front-paged here at Eclectablog and at dKos, the first chart went utterly viral, hitting everything […]

Money should not be able to buy THIS

Sixth (and last) in a series on the ballot proposals on Michigan’s November 6, 2012 ballot. Read them all HERE.

Michigan Proposal 6 is about one thing: allowing billionaire Matty Moroun to purchase a constitutional amendment that will secure his monopoly on bridges and tunnels to Canada. Period. There is nothing else really to be said about it. The Proposal, which requires a statewide vote on any further international bridges and tunnels in Michigan, even includes a clause that excludes Moroun’s existing bridges and tunnel from such a vote.

It’s that vulgar.

More after the jump.

Stop the movement to crush labor unions

Fifth in a series on the ballot proposals on Michigan’s November 6, 2012 ballot. Read them all HERE.

I have written about Proposal 2 since it was first conceived under the banner of “Protect Our Jobs”. It later was renamed “Protect Working Families” in recognition of the fact that supporting the right of our labor brothers and sisters to bargain collectively for better wages, benefits and working conditions benefits ALL working families in our state.

Details on why you should VOTE YES! ON PROPOSAL 2 AND PROTECT WORKING FAMILIES after the jump.

UPDATE: Volume III of the GOP Rape Advisory Chart can be found HERE Wow. Yesterday, in light of the latest misogynistic idiocy by the Republican moron of the moment, Richard Mourdock, I decided to whip up a compilation of some of the more revolting statements on the subject of rape (often tied in with reproductive rights, but not always). The […]

This dude knows foreign policy and doesn’t like what he sees

Four Star General Colin Powell, the Secretary of State under George W. Bush, gave a full-throated endorsement of the reelection of President Obama this morning on the CBS This Morning show that was as much a condemnation of Mitt Romney’s “Romnesia” and constant shifting of positions on foreign policy and other issues as anything else. Four Star General Colin Powell, the Secretary of State under George W. Bush, gave a full-throated endorsement of the reelection of President Obama this morning on the CBS This Morning show that was as much a condemnation of Mitt Romney’s “Romnesia” and constant shifting of positions on foreign policy and other issues as anything else. He told Charlie Rose and Norah O’Donnell, “You know, I voted for him in 2008 and I plan to stick with him in 2012, and I’ll be voting for he and Vice President Joe Biden next month.”

In his endorsement, he characterized Romney’s foreign policy as “a moving target” and pointed out that the candidate is advised by and has views enspoused by neoconservatives with a thirst for war in the Middle East.

Video and transcript after the jump.

Do NOT let the tea party and Mackinac Center assume control

Fourth in a series on the ballot proposals on Michigan’s November 6, 2012 ballot. Read them all HERE.

Of all of the proposals on Michigan’s 2012 ballot, Prop 5 is probably the most insidious. Carefully cloaked in simple language, it appears benign. All they are asking for, say proponents, is a simple two-thirds majority vote in both the State House AND the State Senate on any tax increases. Seems pretty straightforward.

It’s not. If Prop 5 passes, it will ensure that Michigan never sees a revenue increase again. Period. No arguing here. Because, seriously, people, when did 2/3 of both chambers of the State Legislature EVER agree on anything? It means that this state will be stuck at the level of revenue it has now. And it’s worth reminding you that the Michigan Republicans just enacted a massive $2 billion a year tax break.

More after the jump.

UPDATE: Volume II of the GOP Rape Advisory Chart can be found HERE and Volume III is HERE. A week or so ago, someone posted her version of the GOP Rape Advisory Chart to help sort out all of the confusion about the wide variety of rape “flavors” that today’s Republican Party seems so hell-bent on bringing to light. I […]