Numbers crunching

Fox News’ crystal ball

On Sunday at 2 p.m., Fox News “Breaking News” reported just SECONDS after polls closed in the French presidential election that the conservative candidate would be the winner and “that will lead to better relations with the United States.”

Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy won the election with 53 percent of the vote, defeating Socialist Segolene Royal.

A victorious Sarkozy said he wanted to tell his "American friends that they can rely on our friendship ... France will always be next to them when they need us." He added, "Friends can think differently."

CNN reports Sarkozy called on the U.S. "not to impede" in the fight against global warming. "On the contrary, they must lead this fight because humanity's fate is at stake here." LINK

Thought police

Did the right-wing watch the Republican candidates debate on MSNBC on Thursday night, 3 May 2007? Why would they when they could tune in to Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly and let him do their thinking for them? According to the Nielsen Ratings, during the first hour of the 90-minute debate, O’Reilly pulled 2,314,000 viewers while MSNBC, which aired the debate, had 1,762,000 viewers. During the last 30 minutes of the debate, Fox News’ “Hannity and Colmes” had 1,548,000 viewers. LINK

Dubya out of Time

Time magazine (LINK) has bumped George W. Bush from its 4th annual list of “100 Most Influential People.” Bush had made the previous three annual lists. Only two persons have made the list all four times: Condoleezza Rice and Oprah Winfrey.

The right-wing is crying foul. One moxie pundit said Time is the “new Mad magazine.”

Time, whose criteria for selection is “the men and women whose power, talent or moral example is transforming our world," apparently is making a statement.

Newsweek poll grim for GOP

The 27 questions of the Newsweek poll of registered voters, released 5 May 2007, show the three leading Democratic presidential hopefuls ahead in every matchup with the top GOP candidates.

George W. Bush’s job approval rating is at 28 percent with only 25 percent of Americans “satisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time.”

I highly recommend you take a few minutes to examine the 27 questions of this poll. Scroll down the page for results: LINK