September 26, 2008

It's time for another "cruel neutrality" check.

You know I've taken a vow of cruel neutrality, but people keep questioning my faith.

So how is Althouse doing with her "cruel neutrality"?
Badly. I know she'll vote for McCain.
Badly. I know she'll vote for Obama.
Okay, but I think she'll probably vote for McCain.
Okay, but I think she'll probably vote for Obama.
Great, because I really don't know.
  
pollcode.com free polls
Posted by Ann Althouse at 7:18 PM
Tags: , ,

24 comments:

Sprezzatura said...

No pie option?

I must abstain, again.

9/26/08, 7:24 PM
Trooper York said...

Present.

9/26/08, 7:26 PM
Masterasia said...

Ann has in all likelihood students who are democrats. Not to forget, her kids are democrats.

All the laywer teachers that I know of usually goes with the political flow of their students.

So I think she's going Obama. :)

9/26/08, 7:29 PM
Simon said...

No, because she hates America. Oh, wait, sorry. Wrong poll. :p

I take you at your word. I don't think you've made up your mind, and although events happen that might nudge you one way or the other on a day-to-day basis, I don't know overall who you lean towards.

9/26/08, 7:29 PM
Daddio said...

Ann is managing her neutrality campaign like a true pro. She was looking like a McCain supporter for a while but recently she has rolled out some anti-McCain indicators. I predict some pro-Obama noises during the next 24 hours to help bring us observers back toward a belief of her neutrality.

9/26/08, 7:42 PM
Meade said...

Neutrality, she has down pat. It's the cruel part she needs to work on.

9/26/08, 7:46 PM
Kylos said...

Well, your readers are pretty evenly split on the issue.

9/26/08, 7:53 PM
Nals said...

You should have polls on what to eat for dinner, on what hair color to use, on what dress to wear. It would fit in with the most narcissistic blog in existence.

9/26/08, 8:14 PM
Unknown said...

The thing about cruel neutrality is that there is nothing that demands equal time.

I think that's something that some people have trouble with. Neutrality, cruel or otherwise, simply means trying not to prejudice the reporting by trying to show one fellow in a good light and the other fellow in a bad light.

Or trying to convince her readers to favor her guy.

The thing about this poll is that a whole lot of us never doubted Ann when she said she's always been a Democrat. Probably this means she really does favor most Democratic policies. So probably she'd like to like Obama. I think it would take a whole lot for her to vote for McCain.

And unlike some people, I don't figure someone is stupid or evil if they don't see the *obvious* rightness of a certain viewpoint.

9/26/08, 8:31 PM
Eli Blake said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
9/26/08, 9:10 PM
Eli Blake said...

Ann,

toomanyjims was keeping count at one point and discovered you had not done a good job.

Based on the political view of 9/10 of the commenters on your blog I suspect that (they being intelligent) will freep the poll in favor of 'you will vote for Obama) until it is disproportionate (unless your motivation is to be self-delusional and get the input of 'yes men' to keep it so) but I will go and cast my vote:

I believe that until the past day or two you've been almost uniformly negative towards Obama and had very little (but mostly positive) things to say about McCain.

When Obama first chose Biden your reaction was especially telling, you had to go back and see what you'd written to figure out whether you liked Biden or not, and then when you found that you had liked him before you had to look around for things to not like about him.

(signed,) NOT playing along with the illusion that will surely come from a self-selecting poll of people with a political agenda.

I will vote, 'badly, and you'll vote for McCain.'

9/26/08, 9:13 PM
rhhardin said...

Althouse will vote for Obama because he means well.

9/26/08, 9:17 PM
Simon said...

Eli Blake said...
"I believe that until the past day or two you've been almost uniformly negative towards Obama"

That doesn't mean that she isn't neutral. It's a natural reaction by anyone who isn't already a wild-eyed liberal and who pays attention to what comes out of that person's mouth.

9/26/08, 9:19 PM
BJK said...

I'd love to see the next cruel neutrality check segment the responses by the person's own candidate preference.

- McCain supporter; thinks Ann supports McCain
- McCain; Obama
- McCain; can't tell
- Obama; McCain
- Obama; Obama
- Obama; can't tell
- Undecided; McCain
- Undecided; Obama
- Undecided; can't tell

That may be too many options for the poll-generator, but it would be interesting to see if people think Ann will vote the way they are, or vice-versa.

9/26/08, 9:51 PM
veni vidi vici said...

next time try listening to the debate on the radio, without television pictures. i did in the car, and it was pretty clear that, for example, Ann's 9:31 comment about the debate in the liveblog post must rely heavily on appearance, because the audio had obama saying "uh" quite frequently towards the end, and he sounded awful, condescending and professorial. but not particularly erudite.

obama got pwn3d tonight. a few cute barbs, but he got killed out there. he's the puppet: "me too!" is his claim to an original line.

9/26/08, 10:03 PM
Paddy O said...

Off-blog Althouse has broader interests and concerns on a variety of different topics than she discusses here.

What is talked about isn't necessarily an indication of ultimate preference.

I think it's still up in the air, but I suspect this is Obama's vote to lose.

9/26/08, 10:18 PM
Shawn Levasseur said...

One thing outside the scope of the poll is the "cruel" part of the "cruel neutrality". The cruel neutrality has been more evident in the past week or so, as opposed to a more generic neutrality in the prior months.

9/26/08, 11:02 PM
Fletch said...

Eli-

Based on the political view of 9/10 of the commenters on your blog I suspect that (they being intelligent) will freep the poll in favor of 'you will vote for Obama) until it is disproportionate

90% are... what? I'm a "l"libertarian (I prefer "rational anarchist"- whose last vote for a Repub President was Reagan '84.

I see you are a devoted member of the "community-based Reality" because you would never let the facts
affect your opinion.

9/26/08, 11:04 PM
Fen said...

Eli: Based on the political view of 9/10 of the commenters on your blog I suspect that (they being intelligent) will freep the poll in favor of 'you will vote for Obama) until it is disproportionate

Eli, to "freep" a poll means to vote, delete cookies, then revote...rinse, cycle, repeat. The intent is to show how unsound net polls are, how easily they can be abused.

I think I'm the only former Freeper here, and I really doubt anyone here center or center-right would do such a thing merely to protect Ann. She can handle herself just fine.

9/26/08, 11:24 PM
bagoh20 said...

These tickets are so different that I can't believe there really is anyone who is undecided unless they are waiting to pick whomever is winning. If you have developed a world view at all, you know who you prefer.

9/26/08, 11:25 PM
Jennifer said...

My very liberal in laws and friends think that I'm a jackbooted conservative thug. My very conservative family and friends think I'm a bleeding heart liberal. I think that probably means I'm fairly moderate and both groups think I could and should lean their way.

Ann strikes me as falling into a similar category. I also find that - very much like the commenters here - those leaning left in my life tend to be more judgmental and critical of my opinions and those leaning right in my life tend to be a little more laissez-faire. Maybe that means I lean farther right. Or, maybe it's just indicative of who is more passionate about and feels more defined by their beliefs.

Like Ann, I've voted for candidates from several different parties over the years. Most of those who get the most riled up about my politics cannot say the same. When did we all get so dogmatic?

9/27/08, 8:38 AM
Meade said...

You want cruel? Here is cruel.

9/27/08, 8:55 AM
John Kindley said...

Abstinence is no longer an option?! My favorite chaste law professor is committed to getting screwed by somebody?

9/27/08, 9:09 AM
Elizabeth said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
9/27/08, 4:18 PM

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