Dressing a pig edition
www.theleftcoaster.com

"They honestly need a baseball bat against the head. Because if they don't change the lexicon immediately, as bad as this election is going to be, they're going to lose the presidency in 2008. I've given up on 2006. They've already made so many mistakes, there's no way they can fix it in two weeks. But I'm worried now they're going to lose all the marbles."
Frank Luntz,
on the GOP?s troubles this election

T2 astutely noted in a comment earlier today that the media is crafting a "GOP recovery" narrative already, setting the frame so that any rebound in the GOP's fortunes between now and Election Day would be expected rather than suspect. As T2 correctly noted, it is imperative for the corporate media to stamp out expectations of a Democratic wave so that the perception of a close race can be reestablished and give the GOP a new sheen. I have noted the same thing in scanning the coverage of many media outlets over the last day or so, and some commentators are now saying that there won?t be a Democratic "wave" but simply "gains", even though the polls still show a Senate pickup of four seats and a House pickup of at least 15.

What is behind this of course is the Rove tactic of creating their own reality and then forcing the media to accept it through repetition and self-assuredness. A good example is the Page One in Wednesday's Post by Peter Baker, wherein he talks about how the GOP is leaning on a proven strategy from the last two elections to get their base to come home, and accepts it as a fact that this will occur, when there is no evidence presented in this piece to prove that it is happening.

It's just that the media expects it to happen, because the GOP has slapped them into believing that the guys who botched Iraq and Katrina are Supermen. They aren't.

Democrats for Doolittle
www.calitics.com

We've all heard how huge and effective Charlie Brown's "Republicans for Brown" group has been. We hear about them in the media, wearing their Tshirts at all kinds of events. At the launch there were already 50 members.

Well, Doolittle decided he didn't want to be left out of the fun, and started his own group, "Democrats for Doolittle." AP has the story:

"The group is being chaired by Placer County Sheriff Ed Bonner and Placer County Supervisor Bill Santucci, according to Doolittle's campaign. So far there aren't other members, but Doolittle spokesman Richard Robinson said there are "thousands of conservative Democrats supporting the congressman."

Haha. Gotta love astroturf. And, I don't have any evidence, but does anybody else think the titles of these two indicate there may be some of this at play here.

Faculty should be liberal
mkfreeberg.blogspot.com

Just something to remember next time someone forcefully denies the liberal bias in the academia. And it should lead to a question: Does the denier agree with the position of this person who says this is the way things should be? And if so, are these positions to be taken seriously? That the liberal bias ought to be existing, and the educational institution is derelict in it's duty to bring it about.

"Donald Lazere, a University of Iowa visiting professor, will present a lecture and discussion entitled "Two Cheers for Political Correctness: Why Higher Education SHOULD Have a Liberal Bias" Lazere will make the case that daily life in America is so saturated with conservative conventions that the resulting biases are not even perceived as such but simply assumed to be the norm of neutrality.

"It is a legitimate role for professors in liberal education to make students aware of liberal or leftist viewpoints that challenge the biases in these conservative conventions. The frequent unfortunate result, however, is that many students -- as well as conservatives in the larger society, in media, and in government -- are inclined only to stigmatize the challenging views as biased, not the conventions they challenge," said Lazere.

Mmmkay. Well, look. Colleges and universities are already getting a bad rap from the business community, for failing to prepare graduates with the selection of skills needed. ... Those who can, do; those who can?t, teach, goes the maxim. I wouldn't want to see this situation deteriorate any further. And yet, the guy does have a point. If the students graduate without a sampling of diverse points of view, the educational institution could be said by some to have failed in its mission.

So how about a disclaimer for all the liberal points of view that are presented behind the ivy walls, for diversity's sake and for diversity's sake alone. "Your instructor has worked hard to offer you a smorgasbord of conservative ideas that work in the real world; now, for diversity's sake alone, we are going to give you an offering of liberal ideas that DON'T." Just put that little preamble on the beginning, and then let the left-wing love-fest commence in that context. I'd be down with that.

Oh and this other silly back-and-forth discussion on whether there's a liberal bias in our universities, or not. That can stop now. Right?

Actually, all I can think about is researchers at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University ? nekkid!

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