July 18, 2008 03:00 PM
Mid-Day Open Thread
- Want to help send Karl Rove to jail? Well watch this and sign the petition.
- Take the Pew News IQ Test and post your score. Also notice that while 84% know Oprah campaigned for Obama, only 28% know that over 4000 American soldiers have died in Iraq. Good job, media!
- Yesterdays fundraising appeal for Sean Tevis was a great success. He reached his goal in just 37 hours...and it's still going.
- Pathetic excuse for a human being Michael Savage on autism: "A fraud, a racket. ... In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out."
- Remember all the fauxtrage from the McCain campaign after Gramm's "Americans are whiners" comments? Well, it look like McCain has gotten over it, because he's keeping Gramm around.
- Netroots Nation tries to label FOX as "opinion news."
- McCain's Media™ withholds favorable Obama polls.
- After word magically "leaks" out that Jesse Jackson said more than "nuts," O'Reilly threatens to waterboard his staff to get to the "truth."
- Even though McCain thinks Social Security is a "disgrace," that's not gonna stop him from cashin' in those checks.
- Michael Chertoff has a message for you: I'm trying my best, but you still may die.
Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
MALIKI: I SUPPORT OBAMA’S WITHDRAWAL TIMETABLE
"Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told a German magazine that he supports Barack Obama’s plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office."
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/19/maliki-i-support-obamas-withdraw...
I don't care about Michael Savage's politics.
He's just a fucking fool.
His father failed miserably.
Pew News Quiz... I got 85%.
Got the financial questions (9 and 11) wrong.
Oooh... 9-11 Someone contact the conspiracy nuts.
Scored 91% on the test - better than all of the idiots in my family who think McCain is so wonderful and that Obama is a US hating, Islamic terrorist. And why is Karl Rove still a free man?
Okay, primarily Michael Weiner is an asshole. He can claim he's only an asshole because he's blindingly ignorant, but he's mostly an asshole. You can read the full quote and see exactly how he was "raised". How does he even keep a job, let alone a radio show?
Next, proud to say, I answered 12 out of 12 correctly on the Pew quiz. Thanks C&L for keeping me up to date.
I'm becoming more and more convinced that McCain is a hypocritical fool and the "straight-talk express" was just the flavor of the month for the political chameleon. Mr. Keating Five deserves a swift kick in the ass.
I scored 100% although I think the Repubs still run congress.
I got all of the questions right. My IQ is higher than education level, gender and age. 97 percentile. HA!
netkooks gave pelosi a standing ovation and free pass.
I did not know Military paid SS before the 80's. I was a Fed Civil Service & we did not pay SS because of the Federal pension. After Regan gutted the pension, Fed Civil Service were changed to Social Security.
McCain should be ashamed to collect it either way.
i think people here shouldn't take the pew test -- we're skewing the results, or perhaps pew should add democratic/republican into the demographics. i think democrats would blow republicans out of the water.
(i got a 91, embarrassed to say i got the last question wrong)
Scored 83%...
And I'm a f***ing German on the other side of the ocean for God's sake...
McCain collecting Social security? WTF! Doesn't his wife have a gizzion dollars? Depressing.
let's see the dog whisperer do this!
Being a Pakistani-American this is very diturbing:
Many of the family members were clearly proud. They considered their sons martyrs who had died for the homeland.
Pakistani soldiers who were supposed to be fighting hand-in-hand with US forces against the Taleban had, in fact, been killed by US missiles.
The Americans said they had been aiming at militants. Pakistan called it an unprovoked act of aggression.
When soldiers here die fighting the pro-Taleban tribesmen in their border region, there is a debate about whether or not they are martyrs. Some religious scholars say that honour belongs to the Taleban, not to troops fighting their own people.
This time, according to those at the funerals, there was no such ambivalence.
These soldiers were killed by Americans... non-Muslims, said the Imams, bent on harming Islamic countries. "May God destroy the alien forces," they prayed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7511771...
91% !!!!!! :) :)
91%, I have to admit I don't look closely at the dow numbers which is the one I missed. Most of those questions should be considered too easy. Just goes to show where we are as a nation.....
Obama's Revenge: Leaks Schedule of McCain's Nighttime 'Leaks'
I got 91! I can't believe how many Dumb-asses there are in this country. How can they not know basic facts? We truly are brain-washed by corporate media. Christ!
12/12 and 97%.
Detrius: and I am a french bast*rd living in Colombia... Sad status of your country, americans (norteamericanos, as they say here, because they don't feel they are less american than you).
* Michael Savage: looks like good fodder for a advertiser boycott.
* Netroots Nation tries to label FOX as “opinion news.” Opinion News would still be respectable. I mean opinions aren't necessarily bad out of hand. Fox is propaganda. A whole different thing.
* McCain’s Media™ withholds favorable Obama polls. Bout what I'd expect. I don't think the media likes McCain, based on the way they act, I'd say for some reason they are afraid of him. Its like they all tip toe around anything that might upset him. Given the amount of time he's been in washington, they may be right. God knows what dirt he's got on people.
* McCain thinks Social Security is a “disgrace,” that’s not gonna stop him from cashin’ in those checks. What a fucking tool. Do you think he even knows? Probably some assistant with a stamp sees a check for McCain and is sending them to his bank.
According to mikey whiner is Tourette syndrome just an act?
How else could he explain his show?
Damn, 83% , it was the the Dow jones and serbia question. Too much CNN and TMZ....need more BBC news or RealNews.
91%... See! From the looks of it ^^^, not ALL Americans are stupid.
Yeah, I also got two wrong, and I'm a Canadian in Ireland.... I think Americans should DEFINITELY get these 100% right. Except maybe that DOW jones question.
91st percentile. I got the last one wrong.
I guess we can take solace in one thing - if the public was REALLY listening to Limbaugh, they'd probably hear smears-a-plenty on the Senate Majority Leader, thus know who it was.
i got 12 out 12.....any prizes
I got 11 out of 12.
I wasn't sure of two questions. I put the Dow around 10,000 (but it's been recovering since gas prices started going down)
And Kosovo as the group splitting from Serbia.
Not sure which one of them was the oopsie.
Well, we here at C&Lers are smarter than the average shmoo. It is depressing to think that Americans just don't have the interest or willingness to learn more. But than again if you listen to Rush or Billo you are without hope.
Pew: 91 I'm embarrassed to admit, I don't follow the Dow, but it blew me away to learn that it's still around 12,000. Apparently the Bush economy hasn't started hurting the wealthy yet. Give it time.
PS: I really agree with the commenter who suggested we shouldn't be taking this because of skewing the results. Would love to see it broken down by Progressive/Conservative.
Stubear @ 30:
Are you sure you got that one wrong? I can try the quiz again but I could have sworn I guessed 12000 and missed it. Maybe I guessed 10000....
I missed one, I thought the Dow Jones was closer to 10,000 than 12,000, I don't keep up with finance Bull and Bear Crap!
Stubear @ 30:
you had to be watching it the last couple days to get that one correct.....oil price dropped financials had a slight surge after fan/fred bailout....
I had them all right. None of you had better argue with me anymore. LOL!
12 out of 12 - 97th percentile
getalife "whiners" @ 9 - she got props for showing up, was being called on avoiding the tough questions, and when that got too much - they introduced Al Gore as a mystery guest - which saved her from further embarrassment... sounds a lot different when you add context, non???
The best informed/uninformed survey was the one where they asked you questions, then asked you to rate yourself about how informed you were, then asked where you got most of your news from. Turned out, people who said they got their news primarily from Fox rated themselves as the MOST informed, but as per the results of the quiz were actually the LEAST informed.
Fox viewers think they are the most informed but are the least informed. Says it all don't it?
Stubear @ 30:
Just googled Dow Jones highest closing and found out that just a year ago, it was over 14000. So it is starting to affect the rich. The only good thing about it all.
91%!!!!!!!!
ysbaddaden @ 28:
It was the Dow - I got them all right, and chose Serbia
silent patriot has brought the sometimes painful truth to our attention the knowledge or lack of knowledge the public has on board about these issues....that has to change
I got a 91. I thought the Dow had taken a larger dip than it actually had. Ooops. There goes my poor consumer confidence tripping me up again.
skippy @ 14:
That video is priceless! Is that you Skippy? I had to call my husband in to watch it too. I think it may be so cute that it might be illegal. :)
Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor responds:
Senator McCain's economic plan gives nearly $4 billion in tax breaks to the oil companies but doesn't provide any tax relief to more than 100 million middle-class families. But that shouldn't come as a surprise since today we learned that Phil Gramm will continue to advise Senator McCain on economic policy despite calling Americans struggling in this economy 'whiners,'".
that's how corporate socialism works
I scored 83% on the Pew quiz; the only two I missed were the number of dead in Iraq (I answered 5000...we're damned near there, and my "rule" for rounding up with such stats...well...), and the volume on the market (I answered 10000).
What really floored me was the demographics. Jeeeezus! What a buncha morons my countrymen & -women are!
Oh well. Time for another nap. Old Thom is getting up there in years. Can't save everybody's asses all the damned time. Patriots need sleep, too.
TPRA
My Score.
You
97
I scored a 97%
91, missed the last question. I guess I need to find a job.
Can I get my cookie now???.....PLease
did i get this correct 1 out of 7 americans would be able to locate iraq on a map....and that's with iraq labeled on the map.
actually it makes me somewhat sad why...because this is the reason we don't get anything done on capitol hill
and why we're taken by special interests/politicians...
Slingblade dude @ 46:
Actually, the explanation of your score says you were above the 97. When I checked my answers I had all of them right.
constituent @ 50:
"It's because... ummm... most Americans.... don't.... have maps.... PS-naaaaaaailed it!"
Leadership @ 7:
Yeah, I think this was a trick question, though I also chose to go with party label rather than actual policy.
12/12.
outtheoffice @ 47:
If you missed 1 your score would be 91, how can you have 97%?
lafin gas @ 54:
I explained at #51.
lafin gas @ 54:
I guess 3% obtained that score. That's why they're reporting "better than 97% of the population"
if you answered 12 out of 12 your in the top 3% of respondents who took this test
Just took the Pew poll.
The Oprah/Obama question was also the highest scoring answer by people with "a High School education or less" at 76%. But that same demographic still scored lower than every other group on every other question EXCEPT ONE: fewer women (21%) knew the correct number of troop deaths in Iraq than the "HS or less" (24%) crowd.
Something a bit nauseating there.
what do you people have to say about mccain collecting social security?
11 correct out of 12.
Thanks to Skeletor for saving us all. What an asshole.
97%, 12 out of 12.
Damn, the dow had rebounded more last week than I thought. See what happens when you go on vacation and tune the world out? Well, what happens is you take a test and miss one of the questions. Bummer!
Netroots Nation is right.
Faux News should be designated opinion news...
...or maybe the word I just coined:
O-Spin-ion News.
constituent @ 59:
I say:
A. He's a fucking tool
B. He probably doesn't even know. Some low level functionary with a rubber stamp of McCain's signature probably just stamps and sends to the bank every check that comes his way.
Ron @ 55:
That is not your test score then is it? Your score is 100%, and you scored in the top 97%, there is a difference!
10 out of 11, 91%. I need some harder questions.
Here's Your Score: You correctly answered 11 out of the 12 possible questions, which means you did better on the quiz than 91% of the general public.
i would like mccain to asked about the social security
system with preface to the question..........something like
senator mccain you are receiving social security so you
know how it works what changes would you make in the
system.....kind of a passive/aggressive exposure
not really designed to make a judgement but a set up
for others to make a judgement during tough economic times....ron what do think
97 percentile-all questions correct but I had to guess the Dow Jones industrial average. Good guess but terrifying that the GP is well, that stupid!
senator mccain, has the social security system been a
"disgrace" for you during your collection of benefits for
the last 8 years?
I got a 100% and I'm Canucki. Guess we're not as slow as some people think.
So, McSame will continue Bush's ruinous economic policies and keep on Foreclosure Phil after all http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/07/foreclosure-phil.html
These people are all about plundering and pillaging the middle class for their own personal fortunes.
91st percentile on the quiz, forgot the DJIA went up the last couple of days. Rove is scum of the earth, can't wait for him to meet the tossed salad man.
Two wrong answers from me on the Serbia and Dow Jones questions. And now, to console myself, I'm gonna watch Skippy's cute puppy video again.
Got all 12 of 12 questions.
I'd like to see Karl Rove in jail... about 185 days from now. Otherwise, Bush will pardon his ass.
Aced the Pew test - I have to say... I'm embarrassed to have a uterus right now. Ho-lee crap wimin, what's the matter with ya'll!!! The ONLY question women fared better than men on was the one concerning OPRAH!?!?!?!?
The glimmer of hope on the horizon, my 13 year old DAUGHTER scored 11 of 12 - missing the Dow Jones question.
*sigh*
83rd percentile... got the Dow question and Kosovo (duh!) wrong.
91, missed the Dow Jones question. Thought it was closer to 10,000. Stupid me.
Did you notice when O'LIELIE threatened to waterboard a couple of people on staff to get to the bottom of the Jackson story leakage that the other commentator said we don't TORTURE here?
At least we finally have proof that Fox believes that waterboarding is torture, or perhaps Shepard Smith will get pink-slipped over it.
12 for 12. I need to get out more.
For fun, post this at RW blogs:
“Even though McCain thinks Social Security is a “disgrace,” that’s not gonna stop him from cashin’ in those checks.”
Lib ♥ welfare.
I got 91. Is being an Australian cheating?
You know, some things that disturb me about the present day in the US are as follows:
1) The sense of the military being unquestionable, even among commentors here. Why? What makes stars on your shoulders or stripes on your sleeves a qualification for being untroubled when you decide something? All soldiers of all peoples, nations, ideologies, religions, megacultures, all of them are nothing but glorified killers. Nathan Forrest, damn his black soul had it right when he said "War means fighting and fighting means killing." Much as war is sometimes necessary to us, is it really necessary to turn entire areas into wastelands and kill them like they kill us? Who wins in a war? Gains gotten by arms ultimately fade before time, and the legacy and bitterness of a conflict among the defeated and the arrogance of the conquerors in writing out their enemies, "dehumanizing" them will never fade. To use a cliche example, there was nothing Nazi Germany was doing in Europe that had not been seen before, either in Europe or elsewhere. Hitler's evil lay in violating a code of the times, that white men should not kill white men, and in using the better death technology he had for that purpose. There are no true heroes, no true villains, only shades of gray, whether Al Qaeda insurgents or US troops are there. Morality is only a smokescreen.
2) This paranoid fear among large areas of the US population of Muslims. Muslims are nothing but a form of the same tradition that Christians hold to, a different form, but still Abrahamic. They are not savages like some C&L 9/11 Truthers think, nor are they an all-powerful force destined to wipe out America, like most Right Wingers think. They are human, same as we are, not angels, not demons, not gods, not monsters. They are equally as bitter, loving, flawed, rational or irrational as we are. Islam is no more and no less irrational than the Christianity I hold to, and my faith has more than enough irrationality now and in history to suffice to the point that I cannot, in good conscience, state that Islam is a threat, when my own faith is its own worst enemy. Stating that people of a different culture and religion are human should not be the shock that it is, they aren't toys or something we can dismiss, their humanity and inhumanity matches ours.
3) How we can ignore 20,000-30,000 years of American history, and the descendants of those first Americans can live in such poverty and dreams of...just dreams. Indians built societies that were different to ours. The 21st Century United States and its united Central North America and Alaska is no more and no less superior to the Mound builders, Anasazi, and Haudenosaunee than the People's Republic of China is from the Zhou-era states there. Flashier equipment, more lethal weapons, and secularism does not superiority make, nor are their Pre-Columbian days some sort of utopia. Times and flashy tools may change, and societies may grow larger and stronger, but strength and size are not symbols of superiority, they are symbols of opportunity to expand, and of the increasingly different cultures created by interaction. And Indians today are in a damned if they do, damned if they don't situation, either stick to tradition and the past like a good vanishing Injun or move forward and they aren't Indians at all.
4) The whole "authoritarian Right-winger brain is different from the Left" thing smacks, to me, of a fascist way of looking at things. People can't disagree or hold to ideas that, yes, I disagree with too, but people like my parents and my uncle in Texas cannot hold to their beliefs without it having a sort of 19th Century-pseudoracist idea of mental superiority. A person can admire Bush and what he created without having some sort of different mental and genetic architecture. What of people like me with wingnut parents? Considering both are equally wingnutty, did the genes malfunction or something that I should be with the progressives because I saw that RW ideas failed in the aftermath of Iraq, or is this the same tribalism condemned on the Right, only it's OK cuz Science says so? Political differences are not genetic or neurological, and pretending that it's so is a form of dehumanization all its own.
91% and also missed the Dow Jones question.
I would love to see this broken down by repub/dem
Site monitors, what did I do? Please tell me, and I'll apologize and stop doing it. My post wasn't even barely up there and it got a "moderation" notice. If I'm doing something wrong, I apologize, and please tell me, so that I can stop doing it. The last thing we need is division against Bushism.
McCain is the disgrace. The Prevaricater in Chief!
And, the only thing that frightens me about Mike Chertoff - is his creepy face!!!
91% I got the Dow Jones question wrong. The freakin average is only 50%. What the hell are these people doing!!?
Here's Your Score: You correctly answered 12 of the 12 possible questions along with approximately 3% of the public. You did better than 97% of the general public.
In your face, ditto-dorks!
To be truthful, I guessed at Kosovo, though.
At a national average of 50%, the only way you're going to get a meaningful election outcome based on an informed understanding of the issues, would be to hold the election in Germany. Wherever that is......
barfly @ 89:
To be truthful so did I. the others I knew for sure.
97th percentile... 12 for 12
LunaStick @ 17:
I scored 91% as well. I didn't have a clue about the DOW numbers. I agree many of the questions were softballs.
The percentage that had answered the number of US troops who have died in Iraq was ONLY 28% when I was taking the quiz. People in the military to the American people...Thanks for caring.
Here's Your Score: You correctly answered 11 out of the 12 possible questions, which means you did better on the quiz than 91% of the general public.
Kudos to C&L for keeping this guy well-informed!
I got a 100% - yay me! ;-)
I'm appalled that only 28% knew that the death toll is closest to 4,000. Very effin' sad.
Scored 91% - only missed the Dow Jones average. I"m a little scared people might miss more than 2 or 3 of these questions, though.
Is there any wonder how W got elected twice?
One has to assume scores of similar polls back then would reveal similar stupidity.
And the MSM is to blame, too. We know more about the sex life of "personalities" than about our country and the world we live in.
12 of 12 here.
Old Billy Hussein @ 6:
ditto to everything you just said.
lynne @ 5:
Not to brag but I got all 12 correct and I'm 63 years old.
Kathy @ 10:
That and the disability pay he gets also. Anyone person who gets $163,000 along with free insurance shouldn't need that money.
12/12, 97% - that's 'cause I get all my news from blogs and don't watch TV. Thanks C&L, Hufffpo, Kos, etc., etc. The scary part? All those other folks (the 24 - 28 percenters) vote too . . .
I'm 66-year-old female, some college. Got all 12 right for 97th percentile.
I got 12/12. That's MISS Smartypants to you.
Domino @ 79:
The Dow question was a bit tricky, seeing as how it has dipped below 11,000 in the last week. Just had a boom in the last few days.
12/12, 97th percentile for myself. Kudos to C&L and I watch the market due to the fact I find some sick satisfaction in watching it fall.
Got them all right!!!
Must confess, figuring out which party controlled congress was a tough one. I know it is the Democrats, but sometimes looking at the way things are run you might be confused.
12 out of 12 correct on the Pew test...thank you C&L for keeping me informed. I'm not sure which is sadder...not knowing the troop casualty counts or not knowing the name of the man who is in the news daily bailing out Fannie, Freddie and their ilk...apparently we're equally weak on the most important foreign and domestic issues.
I wish they had asked primary news source as part of the demographics as well...it would have been nice to see not only a breakdown by age, education and gender, but also by FOX, CNN, MSNBC, major networks, Daily Show/Colbert, Internet, newspapers. I'm gonna bet the high scorers get most of their news from the net.
I got 83 percentile. Missed the financial questions.
"Here's Your Score: You correctly answered 12 of the 12 possible questions along with approximately 3% of the public. You did better than 97% of the general public"
Damn straight, skippy! Next time, ask some HARD questions!
I got an 91% on the news quiz. Got Kosovo wrong. Stupid part of the world where that place is.....
My wife scored a 60 something. Yesterday she scolded me for reading too many political and news sites. Who is wasting their time now, eh?
Its me....
lynne @ 5:
91% here. Missed the one about Serbia.
Lou @ 110:
Hehehe, sounds like my situation. "You're on crooks and liars, again!!?"
Hmm... If women want to run the world, they first need to know what's going on in it. Women scored significantly worse than men on every question except one... Oprah.
That really concerns me.
91% - I got the Dow Jones question wrong too. Just confirmation that I really am a political geek.
* Take the Pew News IQ Test and post your score. Also notice that while 84% know Oprah campaigned for Obama, only 28% know that over 4000 American soldiers have died in Iraq. Good job, media!
===========
12 for 12 for me! Yay me?
91st percentile on Pew quiz (wasn't sure about Howard Dean or Rahm Emanuel as DNC head).
I scored 91; I could have sworn the news report the other day (yesterday?) said the DJ was close to 10000
I got 91 on the Pew test.....I'm a 59 yr. old Canadian with a grade 8 education.
Wow. And I isn't even an American. Hmmm...go figure
Scored in the 91st percentile. Missed the Dow Jones question because I was thinking earlier today it will be down close to 10,000 soon. Messed my memory up. =P hehehehe
I was very surprised to listen to Michael Chertoff speak on CNN the other evening,
about the malicious addition of CNN's Drew Griffins name to the TSA list in may 08, after he investigated the TSA.
OMFG talk about squeaking, how the heck do these so called polticians and hacks gets into the positions of power,
when they sound like some cartoon character, and their body language and mannerisms come straight from Disney or Loony Toons.
I got 83% on a GED education. I don't follow the market because I barely participate in it (most of my shopping is done at my local co-op), so I missed that one. I wavered on the last question. Ever take a test and you know you know the answer to a question, but still choose the most familiar--and in this case, wrong--one?
I'm amazed, shocked, and appalled all at the same time.
91% Missed the Kosovo question.
kiemer @ 88:
Hard to tell if the average is 50% actually - the "average" is the 50th percentile (or as it's known to us semantics-buffs, the median). The average was 6.7/12 for males, 5.3/12 for females. If there were an equal number of males and females, then the average would just so happen to be 6/12, i.e. 50%.
In fairness, all of these questions are "you either know it or you don't" facts-based questions. A lot of questions, such as McCain's home state, don't really impact the voting mentality of the public. I don't think questions like that reveal an ill-informed base. Some of the questions (e.g. troop casualties, sects of Islam), however, are facts that the public SHOULD know. The true mark of a nation's readiness to vote is in their ability to sift through bullshit, and that's an awfully difficult test to design and administer.
91%,
and I am in Norway
Though, the question regarding US casualties is asking for casualties from start of hostilities, not after "Mission accomplished", and anyone dying en route to hospitals in Germany are ot counted anyway, so its a fake.
*end whine*
I'm unhappy. I got 91% on the Pew IQ test and I'm an Australian who has never been to the US.
How can the average American manage only 50%???
97% on the Pew test - for 12/12, so how do you get 100%? ;-)
Pew test - 83%
Pew results......83%...although I must protest the Dow Jones question....I picked 10,000 and according to the yahoo finance interactive chart, the DJIAA hit 10,962 on July 15, 2008. Other question was about DNC....oops.
97%, but I got lucky on the Kosovo one. Almost went with Bosnia.
My score resulted with a 91 percentile. I answered one question - in haste - incorrectly.
In my particular demographics they stated the "average" respondent scored at 60 percent.
Professor at college - decades ago - informed the class that in order to communicate with the average American one must lower their IQ 60 percent before speaking.
The GOP apparently depends upon those averages in communications to their voting base, especially in this era.
What? I answered "Kosovo" and got an "incorrect" . . .
Matt V @ 128:
12 for 12 IS 100%...
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