On Polls, Bitterness, and Clinging…

TNR’s Isaac Chotiner:

Yes, yes, we should not get carried away with overnight tracking polls, but today Obama is up 11 points in Gallup (his biggest lead ever) and 9 points in Rasmussen. Since Saturday–which was the first night that included any post-bittergate data–Obama has moved up 10 points in Rasmussen and 4 points in Gallup.

There are two possible conclusions: The first is that polls are meaningless. The second is that the Democratic electorate is completely reactionary. I vote for option 2! Tell Hillary to leave the race…and her polls go up. Attack Barack over Reverend Wright…and his polls go up. Perhaps Clinton’s only hope is a monumental scandal…about her!

I’m voting for option 1. These tracking polls really are showing nothing.

If anything, it’s a sign that scandals take time to permeate, especially ones driven by the media, without supporting video. (And especially when the only audio sounds like whales copulating.)

Brief thoughts on this scandal: It’s a typical Obama scandal. The words themselves are confusing and maybe meaningless, but there are very positive and negative ways to spin them. And you can’t spin all one way without looking like an idiot. (For instance, there’s definitely some bitterness about the economy, and no matter what Obama says, he probably did not mean religion in a positive way).

I’m taking it light, because there’s just not that much happening right now. Luckily, once Pennsylvania votes in a couple weeks, this long break will be over and the campaign will probably be over within a month.