ReadabilityWhy Obama is in trouble & Ashley Judd is Dangerous
Two pieces of news came out yesterday that at first glance might seem totally unrelated, first a poll concerning President Obama
His approval rating has dropped to the lowest level in more than a year, with more voters now turning thumbs down on his performance than thumbs up, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll. The measure of how much people like him also has dropped.
He’s still vastly more popular than Congress, particularly congressional Republicans. But in the biggest political clash of the year – over the federal budget and how to curb deficits – voters split 44 percent to 42 percent between preferring Congress or Obama.
Ok so polling shows Barack Obama is having some trouble in the numbers, big deal, polls go up and down all the time. It’s the nature of things, and anyway why on earth would this have anything to do with this:
Donald Trump thinks actress Ashley Judd would make a “great” Senate candidate, the real estate mogul tweeted on Tuesday.
“All reports indicate Ashley Judd will be running for Sen. McConnell’s seat,” Trump wrote. “She’s going to be a great candidate. …Re: Ashley Judd: Keep @KarlRove away. He already made her a viable candidate.”
Asked to clarify the remarks, Trump told POLITICO in a statement: “Ashley Judd’s candidacy was created by Karl Rove’s terrible ads; even before she thought seriously about running. The ads made her look great and now she probably will run.”
Trump has previously said that an ad from Rove’s super PAC was “the best thing that ever happened to Ashley Judd — simply increases her profile.”
DaTechGuy you’ve totally lost me, why on EARTH are you quoting Donald Trump opinion in Ashley Judd when everyone from Glenn Reynolds to Stacy McCain says she’s a joke, and what on earth does this have to do with the president’s poll numbers?
It’s actually pretty simple, celebrity culture and low information voters.
One of the reasons why Barack Obama beat all the odds and won re-election with a bad record and an even worse economy combination was the inability of Mitt Romney’s message to break through to low information votes. The president’s ad blitz made sure the background noise had nothing to do with the reality.
This time it has had the exact opposite effect, particularly on the sequester. The president pushed the evil of sequester and pointed to it as a direct cause of the White House cancelling kids tours and the media lapped it up.
Those EVIL republicans, on every network and on CNN in every airport people who do not pay attention to the news say school kids not about to tour the white house. The realities that other cuts could be made didn’t matter, the people who only see news in passing while checking on Lady Gaga or their favorite movie star knew the money wasn’t there for parties because of Republicans then they picked up their magazines to find out about Adele and Beyonce and read this:
The same week that President Obama’s administration announced that due to sequestration, White House tours would be cancelled, sources at the White House announced that it would be hosting megastars Adele and Beyonce at Michelle’s 50th birthday party next year. “America’s First Lady will be holding a huge celebrity-packed party for her birthday at the White House next year and, as she adores Adele and Beyonce, she has asked them both to sing,” the source told the UK Daily Mail. The source did say that “The Obamas will pay Adele’s expenses as it’s a private party, not a State one.”
OK they likely didn’t read that because low information voters don’t read Breitbart, they check out entertainment sites like this one:
Today it was revealed that director Quention Tarantino is desperate to have her compose a song for his new film after he fell in love with her Oscar-winning song for Skyfall.
And just a few hours later, it has been reported that the London lass has now been asked to perform at Michelle Obama’s 50th birthday alongside Beyoncé.
and the drop, and BET, and hello, and in entertainment sections elsewhere.
Bottom line the “White house can’t afford tours” story and the “White House has Beyonce & Adele to sing” story hit the exact same places that the low information voters go at the exact same time and the same voters who wouldn’t be caught dead on Fox (or any news site) suddenly had the message that Brietbart was trying to make
It’s been suggested the GOP get involved in the culture pages this is why.
And that’s why Ashley Judd is dangerous.
At first glance Judd is a joke with an entire persona that is totally opposite to what wins in Kentucky, but remember those same low information voters are not going to be reading any of the stories we are writing about her. They will see her celebrity, they will see various stars turn out for her, maybe a singer or two
We can have story after story about Judd and her pronouncements but if they don’t break though to the voter who simply sees a pretty Kentucky girl who managed to make it big, who does work for “charity” its not going to make a difference.
Granted Kentucky went heavily for Mitt in 2012 but it becomes a question of which message gets through to the people. A celebrity like Judd can break through to people in ways a regular pol simply can’t and there is absolutely no way for Mitch McConnell to portray himself as anything else like a Washington insider.
And when Mitch McConnell an established long time pol starts running ads against this pretty Kentucky girl who managed to make good watch how people react.
Does this mean she can romp, particularly if there is not a Tea Party Candidate dividing the GOP? No, but it means that if the GOP takes Judd, a woman who can raise money and get coverage at will, they might be vulnerable to the same mistakes Massachusetts Democrats made in January 2010 in a race they couldn’t lose.
We are in a brave new world, after two generations of the secular culture reaching that low information voter whose preparation for exercising the franchise our forefathers fought for is People’s magazine and the Supermarket tabloids are a factor. Sometimes it gives, sometimes it takes away and we ignore it at our and the country’s peril.
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I’ll be in transit to DC today and I have a couple of posts scheduled before I land. While I’m going to travel far today the quest for that elusive $300 paycheck hasn’t moved an inch since yesterday.
We had a fair amount of traffic the last few days with our coverage of the SF ads and CPAC is going to hopefully drive more, but without those 14 people willing to kick in that $20 this week, all the traffic in the world won’t matter.
So if you can give a hand to keep independent conservative blogging going consider hitting DaTipJar and getting that thermometer moving
Two pieces of news came out yesterday that at first glance might seem totally unrelated, first a poll concerning President Obama
His approval rating has dropped to the lowest level in more than a year, with more voters now turning thumbs down on his performance than thumbs up, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll. The measure of how much people like him also has dropped.
He’s still vastly more popular than Congress, particularly congressional Republicans. But in the biggest political clash of the year – over the federal budget and how to curb deficits – voters split 44 percent to 42 percent between preferring Congress or Obama.
Ok so polling shows Barack Obama is having some trouble in the numbers, big deal, polls go up and down all the time. It’s the nature of things, and anyway why on earth would this have anything to do with this:
Donald Trump thinks actress Ashley Judd would make a “great” Senate candidate, the real estate mogul tweeted on Tuesday.
“All reports indicate Ashley Judd will be running for Sen. McConnell’s seat,” Trump wrote. “She’s going to be a great candidate. …Re: Ashley Judd: Keep @KarlRove away. He already made her a viable candidate.”
Asked to clarify the remarks, Trump told POLITICO in a statement: “Ashley Judd’s candidacy was created by Karl Rove’s terrible ads; even before she thought seriously about running. The ads made her look great and now she probably will run.”
Trump has previously said that an ad from Rove’s super PAC was “the best thing that ever happened to Ashley Judd—simply increases her profile.”
DaTechGuy you’ve totally lost me, why on EARTH are you quoting Donald Trump opinion in Ashley Judd when everyone from Glenn Reynolds to Stacy McCain says she’s a joke, and what on earth does this have to do with the president’s poll numbers?
It’s actually pretty simple, celebrity culture and low information voters.
One of the reasons why Barack Obama beat all the odds and won re-election with a bad record and an even worse economy combination was the inability of Mitt Romney’s message to break through to low information votes. The president’s ad blitz made sure the background noise had nothing to do with the reality.
This time it has had the exact opposite effect, particularly on the sequester. The president pushed the evil of sequester and pointed to it as a direct cause of the White House cancelling kids tours and the media lapped it up.
Those EVIL republicans, on every network and on CNN in every airport people who do not pay attention to the news say school kids not about to tour the white house. The realities that other cuts could be made didn’t matter, the people who only see news in passing while checking on Lady Gaga or their favorite movie star knew the money wasn’t there for parties because of Republicans then they picked up their magazines to find out about Adele and Beyonce and read this:
The same week that President Obama’s administration announced that due to sequestration, White House tours would be cancelled, sources at the White House announced that it would be hosting megastars Adele and Beyonce at Michelle’s 50th birthday party next year. “America’s First Lady will be holding a huge celebrity-packed party for her birthday at the White House next year and, as she adores Adele and Beyonce, she has asked them both to sing,” the source told the UK Daily Mail. The source did say that “The Obamas will pay Adele’s expenses as it’s a private party, not a State one.”
OK they likely didn’t read that because low information voters don’t read Breitbart, they check out entertainment sites like this one:
Today it was revealed that director Quention Tarantino is desperate to have her compose a song for his new film after he fell in love with her Oscar-winning song for Skyfall.
And just a few hours later, it has been reported that the London lass has now been asked to perform at Michelle Obama’s 50th birthday alongside Beyoncé.
and the drop, and BET, and hello, and in entertainment sections elsewhere.
Bottom line the “White house can’t afford tours” story and the “White House has Beyonce & Adele to sing” story hit the exact same places that the low information voters go at the exact same time and the same voters who wouldn’t be caught dead on Fox (or any news site) suddenly had the message that Brietbart was trying to make
It’s been suggested the GOP get involved in the culture pages this is why.
And that’s why Ashley Judd is dangerous.
At first glance Judd is a joke with an entire persona that is totally opposite to what wins in Kentucky, but remember those same low information voters are not going to be reading any of the stories we are writing about her. They will see her celebrity, they will see various stars turn out for her, maybe a singer or two
We can have story after story about Judd and her pronouncements but if they don’t break though to the voter who simply sees a pretty Kentucky girl who managed to make it big, who does work for “charity” its not going to make a difference.
Granted Kentucky went heavily for Mitt in 2012 but it becomes a question of which message gets through to the people. A celebrity like Judd can break through to people in ways a regular pol simply can’t and there is absolutely no way for Mitch McConnell to portray himself as anything else like a Washington insider.
And when Mitch McConnell an established long time pol starts running ads against this pretty Kentucky girl who managed to make good watch how people react.
Does this mean she can romp, particularly if there is not a Tea Party Candidate dividing the GOP? No, but it means that if the GOP takes Judd, a woman who can raise money and get coverage at will, they might be vulnerable to the same mistakes Massachusetts Democrats made in January 2010 in a race they couldn’t lose.
We are in a brave new world, after two generations of the secular culture reaching that low information voter whose preparation for exercising the franchise our forefathers fought for is People’s magazine and the Supermarket tabloids are a factor. Sometimes it gives, sometimes it takes away and we ignore it at our and the country’s peril.
***********************************************************

I’ll be in transit to DC today and I have a couple of posts scheduled before I land. While I’m going to travel far today the quest for that elusive $300 paycheck hasn’t moved an inch since yesterday.
We had a fair amount of traffic the last few days with our coverage of the SF ads and CPAC is going to hopefully drive more, but without those 14 people willing to kick in that $20 this week, all the traffic in the world won’t matter.
So if you can give a hand to keep independent conservative blogging going consider hitting DaTipJar and getting that thermometer moving
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Don want to bang Ashley- She is looking for a new cock since the race car driver kicked her to the street
Some comments about the McConnell/Judd issue.
1. Obama has never come close to winning in Kentucky. He’s 0 for 2 here (0 for 3 if you count the 08 primary).
2. No individual who has run against McConnell for his Senate seat is still in public office (or public life for that matter).
The state has one Democrat member of Congress. The rest are Republicans, as are its two Senators.
While I don’t dismiss the potential Judd candidacy, I also am not particularly worried about it. My gut tells me that it’s a ploy by John Yarmuth (the noxious House Member representing Louisville) intended to annoy McConnell.
I love you, DaTechGuy, but please: grammar is worth attempting. Your post was almost incomprehensible at points. Anyway…
But even with huge out of state contributions, Judd will have a tough time in KY.
The “low-information voter” thing has a ring of truth to it, but it’s essentially the conservative version of “What’s the matter with Kansas?” (Incidentally, if you run the turnout numbers, the claim that Obama won thanks to the Hispanic vote is similarly overplayed). Two major things happened. One we hear about occasionally, and the other never comes up.
Obama won three crucial states: Ohio, Florida, and Virginia. That wouldn’t have been quite enough to put Romney over the top, but all three were must-win states and went Obama by razor-thin margins. So how did he lose? Simple: auto bailout, ObamaCare, and the stimulus, respectively. Romney’s point before the election was that if 47% of the country receives net transfer payments, then very nearly a working majority have been bought off. And on that he was right. Obama claimed he’d “saved the auto industry” and Romney never bothered to argue the point.
The other reason we never hear about at all. Both parties lost turnout from 2008. Obama shed far more voters than Romney, but somehow despite the lack of a housing crisis and with Obama’s terrible record Romney couldn’t even win all the McCain voters from 2008, let alone grow that base.
And I’m not sure why that happened. After mastering the crotch punch securing the nomination, he went totally limp against Obama. It’s possible religion played a role in keeping some tiny but crucial sliver of evangelicals at home. Good economic news was coming out at the time– all since retracted, but maybe the news about the economy was more important than the economy itself. Akin stayed in the race, and more’s the pity, but defending Mourdock (whose comments were taken out of context) might have stemmed the “war on women” narrative. Romney could have argued with Candy Crowley in that crucial debate– now there’s a great moment for low-information voting. Mostly likely, Romney never managed to articulate a message that voters could understand other than his own alleged genius, a message tailor-made to be quashed by the Obama team’s “Kill Romney” strategy.
Culture is upstream of politics, I totally agree. But that’s not what happened to Romney (or Scott Brown, incidentally).
“Both parties lost turnout from 2008.”
False. Vote totals the morning after election day are always lower than the final vote count. And the final vote count for Romney exceeds McCain’s final count.
she better be a great actress. (she isn’t.)
she is going to become a defender of the coal industry.
Just three words: Senator Al Franken
Looks like Trump is thinking with something other than his head. Guys need to be vigilant against thinking like this…
With Scott Warren, you had a centrist trying to get elected in a leftist state.
With Ashley Judd, you have a radical Leftist trying to ge elected in a very right-wing state.
Ashley is anti-hunting, anti-gun, anti-coal mining, even has a history of making anti-Christian remarks, pro-abortion, pro-Obama in a state that is diametricallyopposed to all of those positions.
Or as they say in Kentucky, there isn’t enough lipstick to fix that pig!
Caroline Kennedy II.
This is gonna be fun.
Sorry, no sale. Kentucky is not Massachusetts.
I sure hope you’re right