Reuters/Ipso 'Fixes' Its Poll - And Makes it Even Worse

If you've been reading this blog you've known for more than a month now that the Reuters/Ipsos poll has severe methodology issues, consistently over-sampling Democrat voters by as much as 10% of the overall sample. As a result of this consistent, unaddressed issue, the poll showed Hillary Clinton leading by 15% one day in mid-July when no other poll had her lead registering at over 5%, with most having it within 1-2%.

Even though this ridiculous sampling method produced wildly-outlying results, Reuters/Ipsos did nothing to change its method until last week, when, even with its over-sampling of Democrat voters, the poll showed Trump suddenly moving into the lead following the GOP National Convention.

Now suddenly the folks who run the poll are recognizing they have a systemic problem in their polling method and are moving to "fix" it - only they're NOT fixing the problem that really exists, just "fixing" the method so that it will reliably show Hillary back in the lead.

Your fake national news media in action, folks.

Thoughts on Loretta Lynch/Bill Clinton Meeting

 
First, it is just unimaginable to me that our Attorney General, the chief law enforcement officer of the United States of America, would have this meeting in a public space as the FBI investigation nears its end.  The optics are just horrific for her and for Hillary Clinton, and the immediate thought that enters pretty much everyone's mind will be "well, the fix is in on that deal."

That sure was my first thought.

However, the other side of this is that it is just as likely that the AG was giving Mr. Clinton a head's up that there probably will be an indictment as it is that there will not be one. He is an ex-President, after all, and the office is deserving of deference and respect even if the person who  held it isn't. 

If I were in her position on this thing, I know I would be more likely to want to deliver bad news in person than good news.  I think I'd want to give that level of deference to anyone who had held the office.

I'm kind of like Fox Mulder where the AG is concerned: I want to believe Ms. Lynch will turn out to be an honorable person on this matter, and much of her background encourages optimism in that regard.  But we all have to understand that she is no doubt under tremendous pressure from her President to quash any criminal referral the FBI brings forth for purely partisan political reasons.

So, assuming the FBI does bring down such a referral, Ms. Lynch is likely to be faced with a choice of keeping her job or her integrity intact.  Her admirers would contend she would choose the later.  Only time will tell.

But the bottom line on this ill-advised meeting is that one should not assume she was delivering news that Mr. Clinton wanted to hear.  That could have just as easily been done over the phone with no prying eyes looking in.

The Terrible Choice Ahead

Quinnipiac came out with what Matt Drudge in his own inimitable manner called a "SHOCK POLL" in screaming headlines this morning.  The poll was a "shock" because it shows the presidential race a dead heat, with Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by just 42% to 40%.

Presumably the other 18% were gagging too hard to answer the question properly, because the poll's other results show that the majority of the voting public absolutely hates, detests and is horrified at the choice before them in this election.  To which I can only respond, well, guess what?  The public is who made this choice in the first place.

Let us never forget that, regardless of how "rigged" the nominating processes of each party are, ultimately it was the voters in the various state primaries and caucuses who ended up choosing these two specific presumptive nominees.  Yes, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the evil minions at the Democratic National Committee did everything they could to tilt their contest in the favor of Mrs. Clinton, and yes, her opponents ranged from the stark, raving crazy Bernie Sanders to a circus clownish ex-governor from Rhode Island, with only the terminally tedious Martin O'Malley in between, but still, there was a choice, and the Democrat voters chose The Most Corrupt Woman In America to be their party's standard bearer in the November election.

Assuming, of course, she isn't indicted prior to the convention.  But Democrat voters were well aware of that possibility, and chose her anyway.

The decision by GOP voters to leave their party's presidential hopes in the hands of a man who often wanders off into side-shows that do untold damage to his electability was also a conscious, very intentional choice that reflects the abject failure of the party's leadership in Washington to do anything effective to slow the Obama agenda in the last 8 years.  It was very clear that Trump was an undisciplined political wild card as far back as the first primary debate that was held in August of last year.  But GOP primary voters didn't care - they wanted something different, and boy has Trump delivered that.

So now that the decisions the voters have made are before them, and it is clear that there is most likely no turning back from this precipice, you have a big case of buyer's remorse settling in.  Many Democrat voters are no doubt standing back and thinking 'geez, if we'd have just nominated someone who isn't a career criminal, beating Trump would have been a cakewalk', just as many GOP voters are no doubt thinking 'geez, can  we give Marco Rubio a do over?'.  Well, no, you can't.

Here's the truth:  All the Republicans needed to do to easily defeat The Most Corrupt Woman In America was nominate someone who could run a disciplined, professional campaign.  All the Democrats needed to do to easily defeat Trump was to NOT nominate The Most Corrupt Woman In America.

Here's where we stand:  Trump still has an opportunity to discipline himself and let Paul Manafort run a professional campaign for him.  If that happens, he'll win.  If it doesn't, he won't.

The Democrats, meanwhile, are stuck with Hillary, barring a sudden, extremely unlikely burst of professional integrity at the Justice Department.  She is who she is, and there's no going back from that.

The fact that she is stuck in such a close race with Trump, after the horrid month Trump has had in June, is an overwhelmingly bad sign for the Democrats.

Regardless of how this election comes out, never forget that the voting public has only itself to blame, because they had the opportunity to vote for someone else.

BREAKING: Obama Judge Follows Constitution on Fracking Regulation!

Color me shocked, stunned, flabbergasted, discombobulated and utterly, completely agog:  A federal judge appointed by our current President issued a decision yesterday that - be sure you are sitting down before you go on - actually follows the legislative and regulatory process as the founding fathers and Constitution envisioned it ought to work.

I know that's hard to believe - trust me, upon reading the article, I did a double take and went over to snopes.com and The Onion to make sure it wasn't an urban legend or a prank - but it's true.  It actually did happen.

Here are the high points:

• Federal Judge Scott Skavdahl is a federal district court judge in Wyoming, appointed by Barack Obama;

• His ruling, for once, exactly follows the intent of the legislative/regulatory process, i.e., he rules that DOI cannot regulate hydraulic fracturing because Congress has not given that power to DOI.  What a concept!;

• Key passage from the decision:  "Congress' inability or unwillingness to pass a law desired by the executive branch does not default authority to the executive branch to act independently, regardless of whether hydraulic fracturing is good or bad for the environment or the citizens of the United States.”

·        If upheld through the appellate process, the reasoning behind this decision could have wide-reaching impacts on other major Obama Administration environment-related regulatory actions, such as the Waters of the U.S. and methane emissions regulations, given that all of those actions also vastly exceed the authority granted to the regulators by congress.

DOI will of course appeal this decision, but at least for this morning, justice has actually prevailed.

Somebody pinch me and make sure I'm not just dreaming this...