usa today

It looks like the GOP's attempts to paint women as irresponsible nitwits that have no idea about their own reproductive health is really starting to pay off - for President Obama:

In the fifth Swing States survey taken since last fall, Obama leads Republican front-runner Mitt Romney 51%-42% among registered voters just a month after the president had trailed him by two percentage points.

The biggest change came among women under 50. In mid-February, just under half of those voters supported Obama. Now more than six in 10 do while Romney's support among them has dropped by 14 points, to 30%. The president leads him 2-1 in this group.

This is a huge shift and to show the gender gap now present:

Romney's main advantage is among men 50 and older, swamping Obama 56%-38%.

And it looks like Women are really abandoning the GOP as a whole:

While women typically are more likely to identify themselves as Democrats than men are, that difference widens to a chasm in the USA TODAY poll. By 41%-24%, women call themselves Democrats; men by 27%-25% say they're Republicans.

But I'm sure they don't know what they are talking about. They are just a bunch of dumb broads after all. Or that's at least what I'm sure the Republican brains are saying in a backroom somewhere.

The propaganda station is at their usual old tactics in swaying public opinion:

On the February 23 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade brought on a panel of guests to discuss the ongoing protests in Wisconsin, sparked by Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to cut benefits and eliminate most collective bargaining rights for some public employees. While talking to Democratic strategist Robert Zimmerman, Kilmeade discussed the results of a recent USA Today/Gallup poll to falsely claim that "61 percent" of those polled are "in favor of taking [collective bargaining rights] away."

The poll Kilmeade is talking about is here, complete with this graphic:

The lowest tax levels since 1950?

Amid complaints about high taxes and calls for a smaller government, Americans paid their lowest level of taxes last year since Harry Truman's presidency, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data found.

Some conservative political movements such as the "Tea Party" have criticized federal spending as being out of control. While spending is up, taxes have fallen to exceptionally low levels.

Federal, state and local taxes — including income, property, sales and other taxes — consumed 9.2% of all personal income in 2009, the lowest rate since 1950, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports. That rate is far below the historic average of 12% for the last half-century. The overall tax burden hit bottom in December at 8.8.% of income before rising slightly in the first three months of 2010.

So go ahead baggers and protest the Democrats and their “high taxes”. And let’s have the Republicans out there saying “the Republican Party will lower your taxes”. We all know the truth that historically the party that has raised taxes is the Republican Party, unless you happen to be in that top 2% of the economic wealth of our nation. Of course most of those people are out there saying they should be paying more in taxes.

That’s what leading economists are saying (via Cesca):

The recovery is shaping up to be stronger than expected and there is little risk the economy will slip back into a recession, according to USA TODAY's quarterly survey of 46 leading economists.

Yet most still say the rebound will fall short of the sharp, V-shaped upturns that often follow severe slumps, and the 9.7% jobless rate will fall slowly.

As the Fed meets to assess the economy this week, seven in 10 economists say they're more optimistic than they were three months ago.

"I think we've gotten to a point where it's a self-sustaining recovery," says Standard & Poor's chief economist David Wyss.

Even Joe Scarborough is going on about the economy improving this morning. This kind of news will really help Democrats out this fall, especially if you tie it to the Republicans filibustering financial reform. Then you can also add the countless sound bites of Republicans saying “get rid of the stimulus” and you got a big winning campaign for the Democrats. Now we only need the powers to be to seize on all this news and inform the American people of what is happening.

USA Today/Gallup's final poll has Obama 53%, McCain 42%. This is a trend we been seeing in the final polls. McCain's argument of the polls tightening have been nullified. Of course it's up to all of us to make sure these numbers stick or are exceeded. Remember to get out and vote tomorrow and offer rides to those who can't get there.

USA Today:

Obama holds a 47%-43% edge over McCain among registered voters and a 48%-45% edge among likUSA Todayely voters. Both leads are within the margin of error of +/—4 percentage points.

To this, Bob Cesca points out:

The previous numbers showed McCain 49, Obama 45.

Why can't McBush close the deal?

So why is it the former POW, maverick, 25 year veteran of the Senate, "foreign policy expert" can't close the deal against the "latte sipping, muslim, ultra liberal, defeatist, terrorist sympathizer, elitist, non-experienced" Barack Obama?

McCain has decades of being a house hold name, that is very much loved by the media. Obama is the new kid on the block. While people say Obama should be way out ahead, I keep thinking why? You got a new brand going against a long term brand. Let's also not forget that this is the first black man running on a major party ticket for POTUS in our history.

So media - why isn't McCain crushing Obama?

Lanny Davis posted a blog on The Hill today entitled:

Recent Polling Data Show Serious Concerns About Sen. Obama’s ‘Electability’ Over Sen. McCain vs. Sen. Clinton’s (Lanny Davis)

Very interesting. I saw that and thought there was a bunch of polls I missed. Quickly I went to Real Clear Politics and looked at the recent head to head polls:

The outrage over Larry Craig's conviction is still loud and strong. I find it interesting to see all the outrage on the right. Today's USA Today highlights some of this.

I am still baffled by the outrage over Craig's conviction by some of the same people who came to the defense of Mark Foley. Foley's actions are far worse than the actions of Craig.

Thinking back to last fall, remember how a lot of these Republicans even went as far as to attack the children Foley was after?

I think everyone needs to call their Republican members of Congress and Senate and ask why there is such a disgusting double standard. It is disgusting because there is no real victim in Craig's crime. There were victims in what Foley did - victims that are children.

I guess it could be summed up best by saying that the Republican party does not care about children. This proves that their priorities are only within votes. They are truly the party of disgust.