Don’t Listen to the Media, They Are a Bunch of Drama Queens
Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you are quite aware of the presidential election going on between incumbent President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Depending upon which news channel you are watching, the polls outcome will vary. I do want to briefly mention, though, that the polls after the third debate are unsettling…. For the most part in that debate, Romney sat back on his laurels and agreed a lot of what Obama has been doing with foreign policies. Romney was a “yes sir, no sir” debater that night. Then to see some polls favor Romney after this debate? Something smells fishy.
That is the the skinny on the popular vote. On the other hand, our media is saying very little about the Electoral College (here I will abbreviate as “EC”) votes. Why? Because Obama is heavily favored to win the EC, and the media does not want either candidate to run away with the election early. If one candidate takes off and is clearly the most likely winner, then many viewers will go back to their normal lives and pay less attention to the election. Fewer viewers, less money. Simple.
If you did not know, the Electoral College takes precedence over the popular vote. Remember Bush v Gore in 2000? I was so angry that year. I ranted on about how the Electoral College was past it’s time, and with modern voting technology the EC is no longer necessary. I felt that the popular vote was the country speaking out loud – and I still feel that way. With this election there is a higher-than-normal chance that we may be seeing another EC-win Popular-loss except flip-flopped in favor of the Dem’s… that is, besides all of Romney’s flippin’ and a-floppin’. Obama wins the EC and Romney, the popular vote. This time around though, I won’t be ranting on like I did in 2000, but I am sure the Republicans will. They’ll claim “foul” and do whatever they can to counter the results. Personally, I feel Obama will win both, but the popular vote will be very close. I have to wonder what it would be truly like if the RepubliCons had not been suppressing votes in many states. Especially the swing states – and it appears that didn’t work as they had hoped. Without the suppression, it would be an Obama landslide.
There is a website called “270 to Win” because the first candidate to reach 270 EC votes, wins. Although the election is still upcoming, there are many states which are very apparent on which direction they will go. Others lean, while a few are a coin toss. This site allows you to choose the final outcome based upon choosing the winner for the swing states. I have been in this site for hours now working out the most likely result, the worst case scenario, and a few other possibilities. The first map below is a screen shot of my prediction of the outcome based upon the current polls – and I meant to give New Hampshire to Obama but show it here as Romney’s. The second map below is showing the swing states. Although you can change any state results that you want to.
Ohio and Florida are two key states and winning one or both will have some interesting results. If Obama wins both Ohio and Florida, there is still a slight chance that Romney could win… but only if he wins ALL the OTHER states. I doubt that would happen.
Now, on the flip side (there’s that word again), if Romney were to take both Ohio AND Florida, there is still a chance that Obama could win the EC, barely but a chance. The president would not need to win all the other states like Romney would have to, but he would have to win the vast majority. Depending upon how many votes in that state, Obama could still win if he takes all the other states except for two. In case of a tie, then the House votes – and anyone anti-Romney does not want that.
In a nutshell, the Electoral College is strongly favoring Obama for a second term as President of the United States. The media is simply acting like a bunch of drama queens by carrying on about the popular vote. One day Romney may be in the lead, then the next day it’s Obama, and so on. This is keeping the viewers glued to their TVs and computers so they can see if their candidate is currently in the lead.
Although I still am not a fan of the Electoral College, I have to admit that this year it is a welcome thing. I have been a horrible mess this election by even contemplating the possibility of Romney winning as he will destroy everything our country has gained. Let me emphasize “destroy.” I can deal with most of the conservative ideologies being put in action by the GOP, but Romney in office is much more than that. It would be devastating for a huge majority of the people in this country. Not to mention the 30 million who now have insurance, thanks to President Obama, and would have that yanked out from under them by Romney. Just for pure spite. Romney cares naught about the people.
This year, the Electoral College has helped me from having a stroke. I know it is not over yet, but at least I have relaxed a bit.
I recommend checking out “270 to Win” website. There is a lot of useful information there, plus see what results your picks will have. Just remember, these picks are not like the NCAA picks – lives literally depend upon these states.
A side note… it is “Electoral,” not “Electorial.” Apparently that is a common mistake which really ticks some people off. LOL… I saw a few websites with some very clear opinions….
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Motley News, Photos and Fun 
One thing noticeably missing from this year’s talk of polls: I believe in the past it was revealed that polling cannot be considered accurate because so many people no longer have home phones but instead use only cell phones. How are they now compensating to get accurate results?
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Actually, I’m not familiar with the actual polling procedure. “They” swear they’re very accurate towards the final results, but I don’t think so. Sure, they’re close, but I don’t think that the polling is a fair representation of the country. I cannot imagine that the pollsters are contacting lower class people to take their polls. And seriously, I think there’s something going on. Even though I cannot understand why anyone would vote for him, I think his strong showing now is bullshit. He insulted women many times. Will make abortions illegal. Shut down Planned Parenthood. Then there’s the retired and the military. Need I say more? The polls and/or the media are rigged. I feel very strongly about that.
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I couldn’t agree more about the Electoral College. The 2000 election fiasco should have been the end of it.
Don’t know who to believe about the current state of the polls, election, results, etc. By every indication, it’s a dead heat here in Colorado. I’m crossing my fingers that Ohio will win it for Obama.
I wonder about the polling methodology too. I personally don’t answer calls on my land line that come from unfamiliar numbers. I’ve had to ignore a couple on my cell phone as well.
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There are too many things just not making sense this election. We can vote early here. Been able to vote for a few weeks now. But I’m waiting until Tuesday as I don’t want to give anyone more time to find my vote and remove it for whatever bullshit reason they can think of.
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Reblogged this on The ObamaCrat.Com™ and commented:
Vitally important election information from Motley News and Photographs.
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Excellent post Michelle, and great website recommendation! I am aware that the Electoral College is strongly favoring Obama for a second term as President of the United States, only because I read the dying dinosaur of the News Print media regularly, in newspaper and magazine form, as well as their online versions – which may vanish when their traditional parents can no longer stay in business. Like you, I hated what happened when Gore won the 2000 popular vote but lost the electoral college vote and the election, and Bush Jr finally won for America what would turn into 8 years of wrong headed, incompetent and destructive leadership, by the final and ultimately deciding US Supreme Court vote of 5-4.
I also hated Ralph Nader for being ideologically pure but a political idiot out of touch with the reality that by running his Green Party bid for President, which had a snowball’s chance in hell of winning, that he would take away many votes from Gore, and greatly improve GWB’s chances of winning. Nader got over 97,000 votes in Florida alone. Think that might have made a difference? I sure do… it was the real deciding difference between us getting a President Bush, instead of a President Gore. Thanks a lot Ralph! I really admired you back when you were a champion for the well being and even the very lives of American consumers, and you took on GM and won. But to this day and onward, I’ll never forgive you for your idiotically stubborn political blindness in 2000.
And yeah, if Obama loses the popular vote but wins a second term by winning the electoral college, the GOP will scream bloody murder and call for as many recounts as they possibly can, while they engage in an all out war of dirty tricks behind the scenes, to try and change the outcome by rigging the election after the fact. And if they fail in that, some murderously deranged Tea Party fanatic may shoot and kill Obama, because the hatred of the worst of these people for Obama is a collectively psychotic and blind rage that knows no bounds.
So if Obama does get an electoral college win, I’ll be one of the first people to stand up and cheer the loudest, and also to laugh loudly at all the howling of those GOP assholes, when what worked for them in 2000, works for the Dems in 2012. But then I’ll batten down the hatches and dig in for the oncoming GOP counter attack, while praying for Obama to live long enough to survive all of his second term and also to grow enough to play with his grandchildren.
But I am cautiously optimistic for Obama winning this election, and I’ll continue to think that way for as long as I can, since my psychological well being and happiness depends on it – because if I hear the words “President Elect Romney” I am going to run for the nearest toilet and puke my guts up.
And then I will renounce my American citizenship and move right out of the nation of fools that was too self absorbed to pay enough attention, to NOT elect a man with no integrity whatsoever, who has a very long history of never meeting a political position he didn’t like, if calling it his own would get him enough votes to win an election. He’s a constant liar and a fool, who is foolish enough to choose Bush Jr. administration neo-cons for his foreign policy advisers, and his only real agenda is to advance his own political ambitions.
If he is successful in winning the biggest political prize of all, he will do all that he can to advance the cause of the very wealthiest Americans and give ever greater freedom to big corporations to make ever bigger profits, while the middle class continues to be crushed, and people formerly in the middle class, are forced to join the rapidly growing ranks of the poorest Americans.
Then it will be their turn to know what it’s like to become homeless, as many of them face their fate of debilitating and terminal illnesses they can’t afford to have cured, and the very real threat of eventual starvation.
Elections matter. They matter enough that people’s very lives depend upon the outcomes of elections, as well as the rise or the eventual collapse of the nation they live in. So please pay attention enough to make an informed decision about which man should hold the fate of millions of Americans in his hands, and then go out and VOTE!!!
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Remember, Gore won the popular vote. It was the Electoral College that gave the presidency to Bush, so Nadar didn’t affect that outcome.
Yeah, this election is more crucial towards people’s well-being than ever before. One candidate genuinely cares, and other doesn’t give a shit but believes in letting things “run it’s course.” Well, third world countries let things run their course. We are not a 3rd world country and are very fortunately that we have the ability to pull together and help those in need.
Romney is such an egotistical selfish psychopath that he will never change. He does not find any fault in the way he believes.
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I respectfully disagree about Nader not affecting the outcome, because Bush narrowly won the November 7th election in 2000, with 271 electoral votes to Gore’s 266 (with one elector abstaining in the official tally). That’s a difference of only 5 electoral votes, and if Nader had never run in Florida, Gore would have been certain to win Florida’s 25 electoral votes, and win the electoral college vote by a score of Gore: 291 to Bush: 246.
Why? Because Bush’s final official margin of victory in Florida was only 537 votes. Nader got over 97,000 votes in Florida, and if he had not run in Florida, there would have been thousands of liberals who voted for Gore in Florida, which would have given Florida’s 25 electoral votes to Gore, giving him a national electoral college victory as well as winning the national popular vote, and Gore would have been elected President in 2000, instead of Bush.
Why is this such an important point for me to make? Because for most of my life, I have watched liberals with the very best of intentions, but no political common sense, do politically stupid things that result in right wing GOP victories, and the election of the candidates most opposed to liberal idealism and progressive views of the role of government in our society. And what happened in 2000 is the ultimately worst example, although I could talk about at least six other elections that went the same way, for similar reasons.
It’s the reason why here in Mass right now, we have a US GOP Senator named Scott Brown, instead of Martha Coakley, who ran one of the worst campaigns I’ve ever seen, by assuming she had already won as soon as she announced her candidacy. So her campaign was run at half speed without the motivation and hard work required to get elected to the US Senate, or enough perception to notice the oncoming danger when Coakley’s GOP adversary was getting lots of national GOP and Tea Party money, while Scott Brown and his campaign were working their tails off to do everything they possibly could to win the election for what was Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat for so many years, until he died.
So here in Mass, we ended up with Republican US Senator Scott Brown sitting in Ted Kennedy’s seat, and to this very moment, I’m still very angry with Martha Coakey for throwing away what should have been an easy win for a highly qualified Democratic candidate, in the State of Massachusetts.
But Michelle? Now that I’ve got all that out of my system, please feel free to delete this reply, and if you don’t mind, please edit out of my original comment everything I said about Nader. Why? Because shortly after I finished and reread my comments, I knew that what I wrote about Nader would only cause a distraction away from the far more important points that I wanted to make in my comment – an example of my own less than good political judgement because I was feeling very angry as I wrote what I did, and as a result, I lost some of my focus on the goal of the overall impression that I wanted to make with my comment.
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I see what you mean about the liberals. I have wondered about that myself, too. I cannot remember much of the details anymore from 2000. Did Nader win the electoral vote in Florida? And anything you have or want to say is important to me. No worries!
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It’s often been the curse of liberal progressive politics for as long as I can remember, and why I consider myself more of a pragmatic political centrist with a social conscience, than a liberal.
Nader didn’t win the electoral vote in FLA, but there’s no doubt in my mind that he inadvertently helped Bush to win Florida’s 25 electoral votes, which decided the national election.
Thanks Michelle, I really appreciate that. 🙂 Gotta go, and maybe I’ll catch you later.
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Oh, how bad are you getting hit up there? I’ve been watching ALL day, but haven’t seen or heard anything about Mass.
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It was pretty crazy around here at 4 PM our time, with lots of sustained wind and big gusts. Our lights flickered a few times but stayed on, and soon after that I heard an electrical transformer loudly explode in another part of town, but it didn’t affect us. A very large tree came down in the yard of the house three houses away from us, and I was pretty sure that we were going to lose our electrical power any minute…
But the rain was only moderate by hurricane standards, and now the winds have died down, and we are fortunate enough to seem to have escaped any damage, so we’re happy! 🙂 Thanks for asking, Michelle.
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Well, I hope you and family and friends all come through without any major damage or injury. NYC is getting it pretty bad and the subways are now flooding. Not good.
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