Update: Liberal Values is back up

While the fundamentals work in favor of the Republicans in the upcoming off-year election, it is likely any gains will be a dead cat bounce unless Republicans take some additional action. Here’s some more advice I’d like to offer to them:

• Don’t call yourself a supporter of small government and then support policies which increase the influence of the government in the lives of individuals.
• Don’t call yourself fiscally conservative and then increase spending on credit while simultaneously cutting taxes for the ultra-wealthy.
• Don’t run on national security credentials until you understand that going to war should be reserved as a last resort, and should not be done based upon lies.
• Don’t talk about socialism unless you are really talking about socialists, and not centrist politicians such as Barack Obama.

While I don’t believe such polls are terribly predictive, this does help counter the conventional wisdom of a Republican resurgence. This is the second straight month in which the Democrats win a majority compared to April when when 44 percent preferred Republican control as opposed to  41 percent for the Democrats.

The posts from the main blog may include links to older blog posts which will not work correctly until the blog is restored.

Update: I have the main blog temporarily back up on Tuesday but it will be down as of  Wednesday morning, and possibly sooner if I can get things completed to make the move.

“One thing’s for sure: Palin did not have brain implants.” –Andy Borowitz

There’s just a quickie edition of Scifi Weekend this week while I’m out of town. American viewers of Doctor Who saw the first of a two part story in which the Doctor met some beings from down under. The BBC had the doctor try to fit in among normal people, including a game of soccer. This was far more fun than the World Cup.

Next week (BBC): The Pandorica opens.

The big news of the week was reported in a separate post: Torchwood to return with a bigger budget as a joint venture between the BBC and Starz.

True Blood returns, meaning more hot vampire sex. Anna Paquin discussed her nude scenes with Entertainment Weekly:

Anna Paquin (who plays Sookie Stackhouse) is certainly used to getting naked on the show, but says the graphic love scenes are the least of her concerns. “It doesn’t really bother me,” she admits. “I’m really close with all of our cast, and we’ve all seen each other in various compromising and odd situations.” The actress is, of course, particularly close with fiancé Stephen Moyer (who plays Sookie’s vampire lover Bill), and Moyer says their real-life romance definitely adds to their love scenes. Jokes the actor, “I think that one great bonus is we don’t need a fluffer.”

“Remember the good old days, when ‘tea bagging’ just meant dropping your balls into someone’s mouth?”
–Wil Wheaton

At the beginning of the year the conventional wisdom was that many Americans were backing the tea party movement as well as the Republicans and the Democrats were in serious trouble. Several news reports and polls suggest that the right may have peaked too soon.

The Washington Post explains that tea party candidates were hurt by the lack of organization in the movement. Like most horse race stories in the mainstream media, the story gets it partially right but misses the major problems faced by the tea party: they are ignorant on the issues and hold extremist views which most Americans would find repulsive if  news reports provided more than a superficial description.

While the media has done a poor job of describing what the tea party really stands for, at least this report does show that more Americans are catching on. They cite a Washington Post-ABC News poll which found that 50 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of the tea party movement, up from 39 percent in March. This number will grow as more people understand what the tea party actually stands for.

Other polls also show a trend away from the right wing. A new Public Policy Polling survey shows that the Democrats have taken a small lead on the generic Congressional ballot for the first time this year. Another poll shows that Obama leads all opponents in  hypothetical 2012 match ups. The margin is small in some cases, but the advantages of incumbency as well as potential loss of support as the opponents come under greater scrutiny will probably increase this spread further. Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney currently come closest while Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, and Ron Paul trail by large margins.