The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll shows the sturdiness of a public option: after some five months of trash-talking and mud-slinging, it’s still holding at 57% favorability.

But amid the myriad of health care questions posed in this survey, a surprising numerical morsel arose: only 20% of Americans now identify themselves as Republicans.

Mind you, this ain’t no Zogby or Rasmussen hijinx. Those competing pollsters, although not as mainstream, are actually just as credible, if not more so. Nonetheless, I’d hazard the ABC News/Washington Post names carry a bit more weight out in the public square.

20% is the lowest figure on this measurement in 26 years. What’s more, “Among Republicans themselves just four in 10 are confident in their own party.”

On its face the 20% number is actually misleading. Just because Republicans clock in at 20% doesn’t mean Democrats are at 80%. Those identifying as Independents, whether registered officially or just saying so because they feel disenchanted and all trendy-like, make up a sizable middle position at 42%. This leaves 33% who call themselves Democrats.

33% isn’t none too high either, right? I didn’t think so until I put it like this: comparing the 20% and 33% suggests more than twice as many Americans identify as Democrats than Republicans. 65%, in fact. Read the rest of this entry »

He should have turned it down. Obama gains little by accepting the Nobel Peace Prize so unexpectedly thrust upon him this morning. In the current climate, it’s the last thing he needed.

As White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in one-word email: “Wow.” Has anyone ever wanted a Nobel Prize less? Bono and Bill Clinton would kill for this. After saving a few thousands more lives with antiretroviral drugs, of course.

Chip Reid asked Gibbs in the daily briefing if the president considered turning it down: “Not that I know of.” Really? Was Gibbs on a bathroom break?

It’s true that this validates Obama’s worldview and that how we speak to each other is important. Yet, in “seeking to encourage Obama’s ideals rather than recognize concrete results, ” the committee sidestepped its founder’s vision: “Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize should go ‘to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.’ ‘Shall have done,’ seems a tricky piece of language to write around.”

I don’t hold it against Obama, because I’m pretty sure he didn’t want it. Not now, anyway. However, I did think he would have the dexterity to decline gracefully and not offend the Nobel Foundation. Read the rest of this entry »

David Letterman has balls of steel.

He disclosed an unflattering $2 million extortion attempt against him and he didn’t have to. CBS says the instigator was a 48 Hours employee and TMZ figured out the guy’s name.

Early yesterday Letterman testified before a grand jury. If you were not aware, grand jury proceedings are secret: no jurors are allowed to disclose what is said in them. Only the witness is allowed to speak about his/her testimony out of court, if they choose to. Letterman did not have to go on network television and talk all about this: the full details would not necessarily have come out, as I understand it.

Rather, Dave had the dignity to come before everyone and tell it straight. He said something that above all stood out to me and distinguished himself. “The creepy stuff was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show,” he admitted. He didn’t avoid the bad, unbecoming part or euphemize by saying “I was intimate with women” instead. He was blunt, uneasy, and contrite.

Media personalities have constituents, trustworthiness, and favorability ratings to maintain, just like politicians. So, like your Sanfords and Spitzers this is no small thing, but Dave will weather it. Read the rest of this entry »