Pew Ranks "Trusted" News Outlets

From the Pew Research report:

Those with consistently conservative political values are oriented around a single outlet—Fox News—to a much greater degree than those in any other ideological group: Nearly half (47%) of those who are consistently conservative name Fox News as their main source for government and political news. Far fewer choose any other single source: Local radio ranks second, named by 11%, with no other individual source named by more than 5% of consistent conservatives. Those with mostly conservative views also gravitate strongly toward Fox News – 31% name it as their main source, several times the share who name the next most popular sources, including CNN (9%), local television (6%) and radio (6%) and Yahoo News (6%).

On the left of the political spectrum, no single outlet predominates. Among consistent liberals, CNN (15%), NPR (13%), MSNBC (12%) and the New York Times (10%) all rank near the top of the list. CNN is named by just 20% of those with mostly liberal views, but still tops their list, followed by local television (11%) and NPR (9%). Both MSNBC and Fox News are mentioned by 5% of those who are mostly liberal. Those in other ideological groups name the New York Times, NPR and MSNBC less frequently as top news sources.

Respondents with a roughly equal mix of liberal and conservative values also have a diffuse mix of news providers. CNN (20%) and local television (16%) are the most frequently-named top sources, with a long list of other news sources named by fewer than one-in-ten. Fox News (8%) is among the most-named sources in this “long tail,” along with Yahoo News (7%) and Google News (6%), both of which primarily aggregate and highlight news produced by other outlets.

For the record, I highly trust last place Buzzfeed's Chris Geidner.

Quote Of The Day - Markos Moulitsas

"Would Sullivan rush to this guy's defense if it turned out he was a Grand Wizard in the KKK? Of course not. We are allowed to be intolerant of people who operate outside the bounds of civil decency. This wasn't governmental action infringing on any Constitutional rights. This was Mozilla developers saying they refused to do work with a bigot, private websites blocking access to the Firefox browser because they refused to do business with a bigot, and employees of the firm speaking up because they refused to work for a bigot. In short, it was the free market expressing itself. Eich was perfectly within his rights to stay at Mozilla, but he would then face a hostile market and eventually faced the reality that he couldn't do his job in that environment. The free market spoke, and a free market enterprise was forced to react." - Markos Moulitsas, founder of Daily Kos, writing for his site.

Daily Kos To Dems: Vote Santorum!

Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas has launched a campaign asking Democrats to vote for Rick Santorum in open primaries. He's calling it Operation Hilarity. Here's why:

The longer this GOP primary drags on, the better the numbers for Team Blue. Not only is President Barack Obama rising in comparison to the clowns in the GOP field, but GOP intensity is down—which would have repercussions all the way down the ballot.

The longer this thing drags out, the more unpopular the Republican presidential pretenders become. Just look at Mitt Romney's trajectory, which followed Herman Cain's trajectory, and Newt Gingrich's trajectory, and Michelle Bachmann's trajectory, and so on.

Rick Santorum will inevitably follow the same path once he gets properly vetted. Mitt Romney has been unable to stem the bleeding despite his tens of millions. Just imagine Santorum, with the far more radical record and a continued inability to raise real money.

Read the full project launch.

Netroots Nation - It Gets Better

The Daily Kos Lounge

At the moment I'm blogging from a big comfy floral sofa in the Daily Kos Lounge, an oasis of recliners, couches, and power strips (yay!) that runs down the center of the main hall of the Minneapolis Convention Center. That's my 'puter in the foreground and Good As You's Jeremy Hooper is across from me. I have no idea what the deal is with the kiddie pool.

Red-Caped Nutters: When You Don't Like The Poll Result, Just Edit The Choices

Daily Kos blogger Homogenius wrote last night to point out that the red-caped loons at the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property didn't like the result of their poll on the overturn of Prop 8, so they went in and edited the wording of the top response. Thanks to a freeping effort, 84% of respondents ticked the "I support the decision" box. But by the end of the day, the top response had been changed to read "It is an irrational decision denying the nature and purpose of marriage."

Netroots Nation 2011: Minneapolis

Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas closed this year's confab with the answer to one of the week's hottest topics. Netroots Nation 2011 will be in Minneapolis. (The last five: Las Vegas, Chicago, Austin, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas.) I had a blast during my one visit to Minneapolis, back in 2005 for the InterPride conference. Unfortunately, Netroots 2011 will take place in mid-June, the height of gay pride season, so I imagine some of this year's LGBT attendees will have some scheduling conflicts to deal with.

Daily Kos Denounces Polling Partner

Markos Moulitsas, founder of the progressive blogging powerhouse Daily Kos, has issued a quite scathing denouncement of his site's longtime polling partner Research 2000, alleging unspecified skullduggery in their methods. Research 2000 polling results were heavily cited across the blogosphere (including here) during the 2008 elections and beyond.

We contracted with Research 2000 to conduct polling and to provide us with the results of their surveys. Based on the report of the statisticians, it's clear that we did not get what we paid for. We were defrauded by Research 2000, and while we don't know if some or all of the data was fabricated or manipulated beyond recognition, we know we can't trust it. Meanwhile, Research 2000 has refused to offer any explanation. Early in this process, I asked for and they offered to provide us with their raw data for independent analysis -- which could potentially exculpate them. That was two weeks ago, and despite repeated promises to provide us that data, Research 2000 ultimately refused to do so. At one point, they claimed they couldn't deliver them because their computers were down and they had to work out of a Kinkos office. Research 2000 was delivered a copy of the report early Monday morning, and though they quickly responded and promised a full response, once again the authors of the report heard nothing more. While the investigation didn't look at all of Research 2000 polling conducted for us, fact is I no longer have any confidence in any of it, and neither should anyone else. I ask that all poll tracking sites remove any Research 2000 polls commissioned by us from their databases. I hereby renounce any post we've written based exclusively on Research 2000 polling.

Moulitsas says that he expects the right-wing to have a field day with this embarrassment and even allows that they probably should. Lawyers for Daily Kos are expected to file suit against Research 2000 shortly. The implications of this revelation are, to say the least, fascinating. Who was really pulling the strings at Research 2000?

Republicans Reveal Their Truths

From a Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll of self-identified Republicans, here are the Yes/No/Unsure percentages of a few of the poll's questions.

Should Obama be impeached? - 39/32/20
Was Obama born in America? - 42/36/22
Is Obama a socialist? - 63/21/16
Is Obama an anti-white racist? - 31/36/33
Should your state secede? - 23/57/19
Should gays be in the military? - 26/59/19
Do you support gay marriage? - 7/77/16
Should gays be allowed to teach? - 8/73/19
Should schools teach creationism? - 77/15/9
Do you think abortion is murder? - 76/8/16
Do you support the death penalty? - 91/4/5

Many more questions and the demographic breakdowns can be found at the above link.

Progressives Want To Kill Health Bill

Well, some progressives. Like bloggers from Firedoglake and Daily Kos.

Required Reading

It's too perfect to excerpt here, but please check out this Daily Kos diary entry titled, I'm Heterosexual And It's Just Freakin' Fantastic!

DKos Poll: Maine Poised To Lose Marriage Equality 48-46

The highly awaited Maine marriage poll conducted by Daily Kos/Research 2000 has just been released and it is ominous. Results show that if the voting were done today, Maine would lose marriage equality 48-46.
There is a bit of confusion in the poll's wording, as is so often the case. A "no" vote meant you DO want gays to be able to marry.

"I Am A Homosexual" - Check Yes Or No

Over at Daily Kos, a straight woman is flabbergasted by the adoption form sent to her by the state of Florida.

As I am a straight, married woman, and my husband is a straight, married man, it never occurred to either of us that--after the volumes of paperwork we had to complete as a couple, the copies of marriage certificates we had to supply, and the hours and hours of Partnerships in Parenting classes we had to complete as a couple--we would yet have to again affirm our heterosexuality so that we could have the rights to adopt our foster children as our own.

Page 5, section G. of our adoptive home application reads (with check boxes for Yes and No):

Section 63.042(3), F.S. states that "no person eligible to adopt under this statute may adopt if that person is a homosexual."

I am a homosexual. Yes No

Husband (Man)

Wife (Woman)

I am a bisexual. Yes No

Husband (Man)

Wife (Woman)

In addition to the fact that I think that our state's law prohibiting same-sex adoption equality is Draconian B.S., I find this question on the application not only intrusive, but offensively stupid and redundant. If we are applying as a married het couple, isn't it assumed that (duh) we are not gay and thus able to BE married in Florida? Recall that same-sex marriage is already banned in Florida, and the despicably-supported Amendment 2 goes so far as to ban civil unions as well.

Is the Florida DCF automatically assuming that my husband and I would be "hiding" behind marriage in a closeted situation? Although this is definitely not the case, what business is it of theirs to interfere with what may be going on in our hearts and souls? Furthermore, if being gay or lesbian is what Florida feels is the worst that can happen to an adopted foster child--who has most likely already been beaten, neglected, and sometimes sexually abused by their biological STRAIGHT parents--why do they care to assume "the worst" about us?

There is a movement underway to repeal Florida's ban on gay adoption. Visit Equality Florida for updates and information on how to help.

Poof! You're One Of Us

Remember the dust-up earlier this month about Mormons posthumously baptizing Jews? A Daily Kos diarist has just posthumously converted LDS founder Joseph Smith to the family of homosexuals.

Dear God of the Homos,

With your great and everlasting love that blessed the covenants of Achilles and Petroclus, Gilgamesh and Enkidu, and of Jonathon and David, bless then the soul of Joseph Smith of Sharon, Vermont with your divine penis. Let it pierce the anus of his soul, and let you be forever joined to him, since on this oppressive earth, he was denied the pleasure of the male sex.

Forever and ever, our brother Joseph Smith has now joined our family (We Sing the Hymn to Praise God of the Homos!).

Blessed be God of the Homos,

Amen

I know, we're terrible. But look at the portrait! It just screams "Hmmph!"

Hillary Supporters Striking At Daily Kos

About a hundred Hillary-supporting diarists are "striking" over at Daily Kos, refusing to blog at the site due to virulent anti-Hillary sentiment from the site's Obama fans. From the originator of the strike:

This is a strike - a walkout over unfair writing conditions at DailyKos. It does not mean that if conditions get better I won't "work" at DailyKos again. As a regular contributor to the discourse in our community, I would certainly hope to take part in the conversation at DailyKos again some day if we ever get to the point where we’re engaging each other in discussion rather than facing off in shouting matches. But not now. Writers need a safe place to reach out and exchange ideas, to communicate and challenge one another. DailyKos should be that place, but its tone, its essence has evolved into something ugly and destructive. Good writers can't survive in that kind of atmosphere. Democrats shouldn't have to put up with that from fellow Democrats.

Sadly, the majority of the administrators have allowed this hostile environment to develop in our online community for anyone who isn’t planted firmly in the Obama camp. They've routinely ignored personal attacks and allowed disruptive, spam-like posts to go unchecked whenever anyone expresses support for Hillary or challenges something their candidate has said or done. There are however several front-pagers who have managed to avoid taking part in the attacks on Hillary and for that I’m grateful. But the site has grown to the point where they simply can’t – or won’t monitor it.

And the left continues to eat their own.

Man Candy

-Via Daily Kos.

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