Archive for October, 2010

After watching 1:15 min of the Stewart Rally I have one thing to say

Posted: October 30, 2010 by datechguy in special events
Tags: , , , , , ,

That’s for every democratic politician who thought this would get votes for them!

And for Oprah and Arianna Huffington and anyone else who paid people to come.

Democrats running scared and dirty in Massachusetts

Posted: October 30, 2010 by datechguy in congress, elections, opinion/news, politics
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Noticed on Twitter a new person tweeting me about ma-10 who is pushing the narrative of Jeff Perry as bad cop et/al.

the user is named TeapartyUsa1 and has under 30 followers. Most likely a paid tweet to go after republicans in the last weekend of the campaign as his tweets are directed to suggest that the GOP dislikes the candidate.

It’s a cheap but inexpensive trick and an easy way to make $8 an hour but what else can they do:

With less than a week to go before November 2, it appears that Keating’s campaign is going with a “duck and cover” strategy and hoping the liberal base will deliver on Election Day (sound familiar?). In the past two weeks, Keating has pulled out of three debates, citing “other commitments.” He is probably wise. His past performances have done little to inspire confidence.

At a breakfast forum hosted by the South Shore Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, Keating twice said he would not have voted for the stimulus package. “I would not have supported that,” he said. “I would not have supported that particular stimulus package.” Later that day, his campaign released a statement saying that Keating “misspoke”: He would have voted for the stimulus, though he would have preferred “something more targeted to rebuilding our infrastructure.”

Keating has also flat-out refused to say whether or not he would support Nancy Pelosi for House speaker in the event that the Democrats retain their majority. When asked during a debate in Plymouth earlier this month, Keating, faced with frustrated audience members shouting, “Yes or no?” remained steadfast in his waffling, saying he would “keep an open mind.”

Meanwhile in ma-6 Tierney ducks and covers from his wife’s federal guilty plea

The Republican went after Tierney for not disclosing to the government millions of dollars that were in an account his wife managed for her brother, Robert Eremian. Eremian was indicted in August on charges that included racketeering, money laundering and operating an illegal gambling business.

“The congressman takes great pains to look at my financial disclosure report and to say that I have $1 million in Bank of America stock,” referring to information Tierney has publicized. “That’s my wife’s money. The congressman knows more about my wife than he does his own.”

In case you’ve forgotten the details:

The wife of Democratic incumbent Congressman John F. Tierney pleaded guilty today to charges she helped cover up her brother’s $7 million ownership stake in a Caribbean gambling operation by falsifying his federal tax returns.

And in ma-4 Sean Bielat raises money from the people who know Barney best:

Documents filed with the Federal Elections Commission show that in September, the Republican Bielat outraised Frank in the congressman’s hometown of Newton, $31,249 to $13,785.

He has also out-raised him overall.

And mind you these are the seats that the media is noticing. Democrats are pouring incredible amounts of money into ma-1 and ma-2 supposedly safe seats while Jim McGovern is in the fight of his life in ma-3 and Nikki Tsongas worries in ma-5.

If only democrats had tens of thousands of people to canvas today in Massachusetts to help out, oops sorry those guys are at the John Stewart Rally today.

The Big Red Wave will be a lot of fun.

Oh and expect the Wave is to hit va-9 too.

Rally to restore totalitarianism No cameras allowed?

Posted: October 30, 2010 by datechguy in culture, media, special events
Tags: , , , , , ,

It looks like Comedy Central is REALLY trying to stage manage a successful rally:

Steve Albani:
Please note, taping for television or any other filming is strictly prohibited between 3rd and 7th Street without a media credential.

Richard Pollack sets him straight about the law:

Although it may not make any sense to you at this moment, the National Mall is not a TV set, although it may look like one.

As the former chief Washington producer for ABC’s “Good Morning America” for nine years, let me assure you that you cannot bar cameras from public walkways on the Mall. It has never happened.

And so we will be there crew and all.

It does seem a bit incredulous that a rally for “reasonableness” should exclude freely based camera crews exercising their First Amendment rights to cover your attendees walking on public property. Unless this is Prague in 1968. And unless Comedy Central own tanks. Or unless it deploys a Comedy Police with enforcement powers.

An attempt to protect their live show, or an attempt to manage news? It will be fun to see them try to stop people on public property filming and tweeting. I don’t think it will go over well with their fans. Are these people really this stupid?

I smell crashing and burning.

Update: After 2 hours of watching this I know why they were forbiding filming. It really REALLY Su*&^!

Update: Tweet of the day:

This really says it all

My predictions on the Stewart Rally:

Posted: October 30, 2010 by datechguy in culture, internet/free speech, media, opinion/news, special events
Tags: , , , , , ,

Attendance:

I predict a rally attended by maybe 50k maybe slightly more a ceiling of about 75k pretty close to the Freedomworks rally but nowhere near Beck’s. Stewart is a legitimate star as is Colbert, the idea of what their fans consider and “open air show” and what the establishment left consider their best chance to convince their base that they have a chance will help bump the numbers up porta potty issue or no.

The Draw

The draw will come in three flavors. The primary flavor that decided to go right at the start will be college age Comedy Central fans. They are coming for fun, and if Arianna Huffington and Oprah want to pay their way so much the better. Their purpose is not primarily political (although some might have strong political beliefs) they are there for a good time, some partying and the hope of getting laid. (yeah that’s blunt but true)

The secondary flavor will be the Democratic political class/Unions. There are the hardcore dems who hope to use this rally in the way that OneNation was supposed to be used, to convince the democratic base that they have momentum. They are aware that the MSM are going to do their best to advance this narrative so Union leaders and Various activists will compel their membership to go. I suspect they will be dwarfed by the first flavor and will find the Stewart fans a whole lot less enthusiastic for what they are selling.

The final flavor will be the true believes like the lady I met in Newton two weeks ago they believe in Obama, Obamacare, global warming, cap and trade, etc. This includes a lot of the socialist groups that attended one nation in the hopes of getting joiners contributes. They will be the smallest group and their reaction will be based on how they look at it. Publicly they will talk numbers and be “inspired”, privately they will notice that the non-activists have very little interest in their causes. Watch their body language when they get home, it will speak volumes.

The Show

This I have absolutely no idea about, don’t know what Stewart is planning, how he is planning it, how much will be comedy and how he intends to do it. Since his primary shtick is to play off of others I don’t know how he does that. Will he show parts of the Beck rally and comment? Will he try to parody bits and pieces of it? Will Colbert do a fake Beck while Stewart laughs at him? I’m presuming that he has good writers but there is a difference between writing for a live show with an audience that he can’t predict vs a studio audience. I’m presuming Stewart’s team is likely to and has been collaborating as much as possible with the democratic left to whatever degree they can without risking their brand. I also trust Stewart’s team will make sure that there is not trash left everywhere.

The Media

The media is in the worst of all positions. They support this march and the goals of all three groups. They will be portraying the march in the most favorable light possible, but people from the right will be there with cameras and phones tweeting so they are in a box. If the attendance numbers are VERY low then they will be very embarrassed since the story will be of an epic fail. If the air photo is smaller than Beck’s by degrees as I suspect they will be it will be used against the media as it portrays it as a win. If there is drunkenness and public nastiness then it is going to be shown by conservatives but ignored by the media. If the crowd gets too rowdy and/or destructive then the story and the narrative goes very astray. I don’t know if CSPAN will cover the rally, if they do then watch out. Bottom line, the media has a narrative they have already written and are hoping for, everything will depend on how far from that narrative that the actual event goes.

The End Result
Bill Press is exactly right in on respect, activists here are wasted instead of being in the field. A lot of the young people there frankly are not likely to be getting OTHERS out to vote and I suspect the greatest quantities are already coming from the bluest of areas. This is not going to create any actual votes but it might allow the media to try to push a narrative of democratic momentum in the last 48 hours.

In the end The Sunday and Monday shows will be all over this, if it is a success they will trumpet it, if it mediocre they will pretend it is a success, if it is a failure and/or an embarrassment then they will declare it simply a comedy show and nothing else. The problem for the media however is they no longer have the monopoly on the message and the alternative message will be getting out in real-time via twitter and the blogs.

What started as a show/publicity stunt has basically become a high stakes risk for Stewart and Comedy Central. If they make democrats look bad he will find there is plenty of room under the Obama/Democratic bus. If he pulls it off then he will have even more power then the left has already ceded him. God help him if it is boring.

I will know if I’m right within 48 hours, so will you.

BTW how telling is it that there is not a single Memeorandum thread on this subject at this time 7:48 a.m. Could it be that the media has already decided it will not pan out and is starting to downplay it?

Update: One thing I neglected to mention. Politics aside Stewart’s primary goals for the rally are tied up with fans of the show and the audience there. The lefts & the media’s goals (I know redundant) are tied up with the viewing public not there.

Update 2: My God that was boring. He did however draw more folks then I thought but not nearly as many as Beck.

Update 3: Pajamas Media has some more and wider shot photos and better methodology (including the ridiculous CBS stuff) Still not as much Beck but still pretty impressive. This quote is vital:

Big name acts, extensive crowd control, rules against video or audio taping even with your cell phone, boring political speeches … this wasn’t a rally, this was a U2 concert!

And that tells us the real story: they held a rock/comedy concert, with pro acts including two of the hottest TV comedians around, and professional production, with free admission and with Arianna Huffington paying for bus rides — and no matter what you think a “dense” crowd is, it was still only about six-tenths of Beck’s open-air church service.

Actually I thought the acts were so so (I thought the dueling trains stuff was very clever) but I think the real question that I still don’t have a good answer on is the composition. I’ll keep digging

Older Entries
Newer Entries