Saw / heard McInturff on C-Span, smart as hell and someone who actually seeks to be objective. Not that his advice has always been good. If he was McCain's pollster in 2008 and his counsel contributed to McCain's strategy, then there would be reason to be skeptical. Of course, McCain may be most responsible for his own defeat because of his dubious values and lack of education (this means self-education more than anything else) on a number of major issues. In any case, McInturff's comments about the heath care law (Rigel calls it the Unaffordable Heath Care Act) Re: the gvt shutdown and Republican politics, is worth gold. You can view it via C-Span's video archives. The GOP just does not get it, the party is ideological and, said McInturff, the American public is un-ideological. Most voters, overwhelmingly have a simple test of policies and laws: Does it work? The GOP fought this latest battle based on doctrines about "freedom" and the free market. The public, by and large, is not interested. The average voter simply wants to know: Does this deliver as advertised? Worse, the GOP -aka the party of the well off, or the party of the rich- is clueless about the views of the masses at the bottom of the totem pole. Kuttner's article, circulated previously, spells that all out. But McInturff summed it all up with one astute observation: Until now senior women (a lot of widows among them) were scared out of their minds by the threat the latest nonsense in DC posed to them. For which, understandably enough, they blamed the Republicans. Hence, for the first time since forever, the GOP has (at least for now) LOST significant support from this group, which is to say, a major part of their base. This is, say, 20 million voters. Uhhh, hate to say "I told you so," but Republican identification as the Stupid Party is intact, and "better than ever." No-one does the math. No-one thinks much of anything through. Well, this is an exaggeration, but to make a point... Sure, in this case, I agree more than not with the GOP position. Actually I would prefer single payer, but if we can't have that, the abortion that has been foisted upon us via the Unaffordable Care Act is an atrocity. But could a political party have played its cards any worse? I don't think so. Billy ===================== Wikipedia : William "Bill" McInturff is a _Republican_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)) _pollster_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollster) , the co-founder (and partner) of Public Opinion Strategies, and, along with _Peter D. Hart_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_D._Hart) , the lead pollster for the _NBC News_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_News) /_Wall Street Journal_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Journal) polling series for the past decade. He was the lead pollster for _John McCain_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain) in his 2008 bid for the office of _United States President_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_President) . He has built Public Opinion Strategies into the largest Republican polling operation, representing 19 _American Senators_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate) and over 50 _Congressmen_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives)
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