Don’t Call ‘Em Stupid….

Funny thing that and I noticed last night, watching the various networks cover their exit poll numbers from the Potomac Primaries:

Every one of them talked about a segment they called “affluent, educated Democrats” — which they defined as making more than 50K per year, and being college educated. They’re apparently Obama supporters.

The term kept popping up. “Affluent & Educated.” Never one without the other.

I thought about the Obama supporters I know — and those that were around me at the caucus. Not a lot of folks making over 50K. But yeah, all pretty well educated.

I guess the media sticks the “affluent” tag in front of “educated” because they don’t want to say, by implication, that the other side’s supporters are “uneducated.”

It would make for an amusing analysis though — “As we see here, dumbasses voted 65 to 35, whereas that number was reversed among people capable of critical thinking….”

Superdelegates Wavering

Interesting story in today’s New York Times. Critical quote:

“She has to win both Ohio and Texas comfortably, or she’s out,” said one superdelegate who has endorsed Mrs. Clinton, and who spoke on condition of anonymity to share a candid assessment. “The campaign is starting to come to terms with that.” Campaign advisers, also speaking privately in order to speak plainly, confirmed this view.

Several Clinton superdelegates, whose votes could help decide the nomination, said Monday that they were wavering in the face of Mr. Obama’s momentum after victories in Washington State, Nebraska, Louisiana and Maine last weekend.

Some said that they, like the hundreds of uncommitted superdelegates still at stake, might ultimately “go with the flow,” in the words of one, and support the candidate who appears to show the most strength in the primaries to come.

One of the quotes in that article had me yelling at my screen — Mark Penn, Clinton’s strategist, said “She has consistently shown an electoral resiliency in difficult situations that have made her a winner,” […] “Senator Obama has in fact never had a serious Republican challenger.”

She’s faced a serious Republican challenger? Who? Rick Lazio? John Spenser? They’re the only Republicans she’s ever run against….a nobody sacrificial lamb who the party threw in when Rudy dropped out the Senate race in 2000 (who she only managed to beat with 55%), and the Mayor of Yonkers. Of course, the average Clinton supporter has no idea about any of that, so Penn’s comment will be blindly accepted at face value.

In related super-delegatish news, check out this new grassroots site: ObamaIsWinning.com, which disputes the media narrative with data. Very interesting….

Writing and Money

SF author John Scalzi has posted a nifty blog entry on financial advice for writers.

“The full-time writing life isn’t about writing full-time; it’s about a full-time quest to get paid for your writing, both in selling the work, and then (alas) in collecting what you are owed. It’s not romantic; it’s a pain in the ass.”

Well worth a read. Check it out. I’ve already been living by several of those tenets, notably #6: “Don’t have the cash for it? You can’t have it.”

I will, however, take exception to #8: “Unless you have a truly compelling reason to be there, get the hell out of New York/LA/San Francisco.” Yeah, the financial reasons make sense, housing-wise….but he fails to take into account a couple of things: one, the sheer number of really interesting cultural things that you can do for free in those cities, which does cut down on your expenses. Two, you don’t need a car (at least in NYC), which we all know is a major cash-sink…..and three, the fact that I’m pretty sure that I’ll go fucking apeshit if I have to stay in the Midwest. (Well, OK — I couldn’t expect him to know that. But still!)