Comments on: Retreat, Retreat! (Louisiana Edition) http://www.oliverwillis.com/2008/10/15/retreat-retreat-louisiana-edition/ Like Kryptonite To Stupid Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:00:55 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Ian Aleksander Adams http://www.oliverwillis.com/2008/10/15/retreat-retreat-louisiana-edition/#comment-121084 Ian Aleksander Adams Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:39:48 +0000 http://www.oliverwillis.com/?p=10451#comment-121084 I'm not surprised at all. I'm in Georgia and I see a lot of enthusiasm for Obama, much of it from people I'd never have expected to be interested in politics. One thing a friend of me told me is that she's personally helped register thousands of students, and none of them have had a landline - and that polls only go through landlines. Is this true? Could that mean that the results might be even more heavily skewed than I thought? I’m not surprised at all. I’m in Georgia and I see a lot of enthusiasm for Obama, much of it from people I’d never have expected to be interested in politics.

One thing a friend of me told me is that she’s personally helped register thousands of students, and none of them have had a landline – and that polls only go through landlines. Is this true? Could that mean that the results might be even more heavily skewed than I thought?

]]> By: PG http://www.oliverwillis.com/2008/10/15/retreat-retreat-louisiana-edition/#comment-121070 PG Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:58:23 +0000 http://www.oliverwillis.com/?p=10451#comment-121070 It's not a surprise -- in their bid to hang onto the narrowest part of the base, they're driving away people who don't fit the precise mold, e.g. Muslims-Americans who used to identify with the GOP for its traditional values and emphasis on entrepeneurship, but now feel targeted for their religion. Just like Bush's attempt at immigration reform was no match for the angriest part of his party, his reference to Islam as a "religion of peace" can't stem the effect of <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/14/muslim.dvd/index.html" rel="nofollow">stuff like this</a>. Even if the politics of literal xenophobia (fear of the stranger) somehow work this year, I think demographic shifts in this country will make this the last election in which it does. It’s not a surprise — in their bid to hang onto the narrowest part of the base, they’re driving away people who don’t fit the precise mold, e.g. Muslims-Americans who used to identify with the GOP for its traditional values and emphasis on entrepeneurship, but now feel targeted for their religion. Just like Bush’s attempt at immigration reform was no match for the angriest part of his party, his reference to Islam as a “religion of peace” can’t stem the effect of stuff like this. Even if the politics of literal xenophobia (fear of the stranger) somehow work this year, I think demographic shifts in this country will make this the last election in which it does.

]]>