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Related: About this forumElection 2012 - The Pundits are Stumped
"Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign says it still has momentum. President Barack Obama's campaign says that's all spin.
Meanwhile, there isn't a single well-informed pundit between them who can tell you who's right.
"The problem is: there are so many variables. And now, with the storm, turnout may become an issue in closer Obama-leaning states like Pennsylvania," Time Magazine's Joe Klein told POLITICO. "Polling is inexact, especially with the cell phone factornot enough data over time for pollsters to be absolutely sure they're getting it right."
In a column headlined "I don't know," Klein wrote earlier this week, "Anyone who claims to know who is going to win is blowing smoke." Cenk Uygur breaks down the ridiculous back-and-forths in mainstream media, explaining why numbers should be trusted more than spin.
(ALSO QUOTED):
The key is that no one on anyones own side is calling it, said John Podhoretz, the New York Post columnist, adding that 2008 featured a lot of Republicans talking about headwinds and McCain saying it was a 6-point race. That was the tip-off. Now, nobody knows anything.
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Echoing Kleins blowing smoke comment, MSNBCs Joe Scarborough said earlier this week that anybody that thinks that this race is anything but a toss-up right now is such an ideologue, they should be kept away from typewriters, computers, laptops and microphones for the next 10 days, because theyre jokes.
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)This trying to make it a toss-up really pisses me off. No, it's no slam dunk, but anyone half-paying attention can see that Obama has a stronger advantage heading into Tuesday than Romney. There really is no viable path to 270 for Romney right now without flipping some states Obama currently leads in. Because of that, he is, rightfully, the underdog.
And now, I'm not blowing smoke, Klein.
Iggo
(47,565 posts)They should be ashamed of themselves.
creon
(1,183 posts)The talking heads are entertainers. They are not 'reporters'; they are not 'journalists'.
They are after market share and advertising dollars.
They do not do serious research or investigating. There are very few who actually exert the effort needed to research or to investigate.
stlsaxman
(9,236 posts)rrely
(7 posts)we should remember who said what and regard them accordingly. People who acted like jokes, should be regarded as jokes.
Bucky
(54,065 posts)It's not that they're cowards. It's that they're employees. This is why Cenk didn't last as an employee. He thinks.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)There is no "journalism" when all you have is an attitude that both sides are equal either.
We have come to the point where Republicans are trying to present to the American People that you can vote for a different reality.
It's the job of journalists to deal in reality and call out a politician when they lie but they think it's not their job to take sides but these aren't even journalists, they're hacks and stenographers pretending to be journalists.
It all dates back to the Reagan years.
Reagan used to get up there and spout out a string of lies and false figures and his supporters whined about how the media was picking on him so the media decided to let the Dems fact check him and that's when it became the "he said she said" phenomenon with the media refusing to take a stand on the side of REALITY.