David Axel-liar!

David Axelrod, apparently lied when he had this to say about not knowing aboutHillary Clinton's personal emailserver:


That's because he was emailing her on it.

...Tuesday night’s massive dump of State Department emails shows that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was exchanging emails with another man also named David Axelrod. It must be a different guy, because the one warning about the “email trap” didn’t know anything about Clinton’s private email server and personal email address.

Saturday Learning Series - Data Modeling and Mining

Stay with me on this one. I can't stress enough how important this episode is for the conservative movement.   In the past I've argued that there is a much smarter way to use data in everything, but it's particularly true in politics.  Conservatives can argue until they are blue (or red) in the face about what could have defeated president Obama in the 2012 election, or what is needed to win in 2016, but what made a big difference for Obama was targeted tactical efforts in key areas, maximizing their results to spectacular effect.

Barack Obama won the 2012 presidential election, defeating Mitt Romney in nearly all battleground states, securing a total of 332 electoral votes and winning 51% of the popular vote. Following the election, several prominent media outlets reported the Obama campaign’s effective mining of the large databases of voter information was a major factor in the president’s victory. In fact, during the election, Time Magazine interviewed several of the Obama campaign’s “data crunches” and estimated their efforts “helped Obama raise $1 billion, remade the process of targeting TV ads and created detailed models of swing-state voters that could be used to increase the effectiveness of everything from phone calls and door knocks to direct mailings and social media.” Obama strategist David Axelrod told news reporters “nothing happened on election night that surprised me — nothing. Every single domino that turned over was in keeping with the model that our folks had projected.”

...Data was continually collected through cookies and tracker programs on Obama’s website and social media apps. Using data mining, the Obama campaign’s data scientists were able to comb through all the information to discover important patterns and draw conclusions about potential voters. They assigned potential swing state voters numbers of a scale of 1 to 100 in four metrics: the likelihood that they would support Mr. Obama, the likelihood they would show up at the polls, the likelihood an Obama supporter who did not consistently vote could be motivated to go to the polls, and finally, how persuadable someone was by a conversation on a particular issue.

The Obama campaign then utilized advanced statistical algorithms to run test models predicting what actions or messages would persuade the most voters to swing democratic.

...David Axelrod stated that because of the 2012 results he would: “invest in people who understand where the technology is going and what the potential will be by 2016 for communications, for targeting, for mining data, to make precision possible in terms of both persuasion and mobilization.” Because of the crucial role data mining played in Obama’s victory, “guys sitting in a back room smoking cigars, saying ‘We always buy 60 Minutes’ is over.” Fundamentals and gut feelings are being replaced by the information driven insights of data scientists and technology.

Liberal yawner: Republicans don't have ideas

From Fox News, team Obama has started in on the pat response to any GOP candidate or position; "they don't have any ideas", "there's no new ideas", "they're just anti-Obama, they have no ideas of their own".

Caption Contest: 3 dudes in D.C.

I don't have a financial prize to offer for the best caption for the photo below, but I can give your blog or twitter account a mention. I realize that a mention from me is worth about the equivalent of a stick of gum - okay half a stick of gum - but still. You could do it for fun and/or bragging rights, couldn't you? C'mon.


Please post a caption in the comments section below the picture, which is...below.

Your thoughts on an Obama cabinet shuffle?

Based on absolutely no factual evidence, not even gossip or innuendo, I've started speculating about who might be the first to get axed out of the Obama administration (not including lower level names, and not including Walpin - who isn't a cabinet member nor able to be fired by the President...wait, what?).

Why? Mainly because it's fun.

Here's some preliminary thoughts I had on the possibilities:

-Based on the primary battles with Clinton and perhaps Obama's feeling that he had to hire her, maybe she's a contender to get let go. She seems stressed about Bill, but underneath there could still be Obama stress

-Holder continues to say all the right wrong things so he's probably safe.

-Robert Gibbs, I'm surprised doesn't just give up and quit on his own. Seeing him makes me want to yell at my TV screen "It's over Johnny!"

-Biden you can't really fire but at least they're keeping him better hidden for now.

-Emmanuel - no chance, he's the hatchet man not the victim. Where's his off switch?

-Axelrod? Maybe if there's some stickiness to the scandal.

-Sebelius? Nope - too partisan to let go. Perhaps shuffled to the Department of Used Rags.

What are your thoughts? Anyone care to handicap the favorites? And how about the timing?

Obama and the Benjamins

Let me see if I've got this right...

1. Obama was against "Drill, baby Drill." No oil drilling off the coast of America under Obama.

2. In August 2008 George Soros invested heavily in Brazilian national oil company Petrobas.

3. Soros is behind Moveon.org, a big big big Obama backer.

4. The Obama administration this week underwrote $2 billion of offshore drilling. In Brazil.

5. George Soros converted his Petrobras common stock to Petrobras preferred which paid dividends 2 days prior to the Obama announcement.

6. In a big recession, jobs are needed and investment in America in any form is better than invstment offshore.

7. The reason given to not drill in America during the campaign was that it wasn't green enough.

Conclusion #1

So, it's okay to drill in Brazil because their oil is greener. It's okay to pass a $787 stimulus bill to supposedly stimulate the economy but then spend $2 billion on Brazilian oil.

The disconnect is crazy.

The reason this was done, clearly looks like a payoff to Soros for the election.

Additional considerations

-The cash for clunkers program ended up helping out Japanese automakers more than American automakers.

- A media consulting firm with ties to White House senior strategist David Axelrod has been hired to produce a multi-million dollar ad campaign touting the Obama administration's health care overhaul.

Conclusion #2

This is all about the Benjamins. Obama payoffs, insider trading Chicago style politics, and Blagojevich 2.0.

Wow.

If this were a third world banana republic, it'd be laughable. In America, it's inconceivable that this could go on. Be ashamed. Be very ashamed.

Axelrod email crimes

That's right Mr. Axelrod, and everyone else at the White House, crimes. Direct Marketing is an interesting business. It basically consists of the effort of creating a message and sending that message to a targeted group of people, through any number of channels - telemarketing, direct mail or email for example. There's a lot of complexity underlying how that's done, particularly if it's done well.

If it's not done well, it goes to the wrong target, or a mass untargeted group, or includes people who don't want to be included, or worse. And there are a lot of ways it can go wrong. And I know that personally, since it's my day job to manage direct marketing campaigns.

One of the touchiest areas around direct marketing involves privacy. People who have asked to not be solicited and are solicited are having their privacy violated. It's something to take seriously, so much so that there are laws against violating privacy, specifically related to telemarketing, and email spam.

With that in mind, recently the White house sent out what appeared to be a spam type message, regarding health care. The issue was brought to the nation's attention in an at length exchange between Fox News' Major Garrett and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on the matter.

The problem was serious enough, that as Politico reports the White House followed up on the issue by making changes to it's email rules.

“We are implementing measures to make subscribing to e-mails clearer, including preventing advocacy organizations from signing people up to our lists without their permission when they deliver petition signatures and other messages on individual’s behalf,” spokesman Nick Shapiro said in a statement Sunday night.

...

“The White House e-mail list is made up of e-mail addresses obtained solely through the White House website. The White House doesn't purchase, upload or merge from any other list. … [A]ll e-mails come from the White House website as we have no interest in emailing anyone who does not want to receive an email.

“If an individual received the e-mail because someone else or a group signed them up or forwarded the email , we hope they were not too inconvenienced. Further, we suggest that they unsubscribe from the list by clicking the link at the bottom of the e-mail or tell whomever forwarded it to them not to forward such information anymore.”

The complaints concerned a 1,500-word e-mail sent Thursday in the name of White House senior adviser David Axelrod, including “8 common myths about health insurance reform.” The e-mail mimicked the style of chain e-mails attacking President Barack Obama’s health-reform plan. The subject line: “Something worth forwarding.”

The White House had sent other e-mails to the list without complaint.

The email even sounds like spam in the title. Despite Politico's attempt in the last line to run interference for the White House, serious questions remain unanswered. It doesn't matter if 500 lists went out without complaint, this one is the one where the problems exist. The question is why did it happen?

The White House is clearly trying to deflect blame by indicating some organizations mass enrolled others without their consent. Maybe that's the case, but maybe it isn't. If this were a private company, no doubt the Federal Trade Commission would be all over it wanting to see the database, and understand what the company has done to be compliant with the CAN-SPAM act of 2003 and the changes of 2008.

Regardless of the spam aspect of the situation there are some real ethical concerns with these unintended recipients.

1) How did the White House get their email addresses?

2) Why did they not have any sort of gatekeeper mechanism (for example a verification step) in place to prevent this from happening?

3) Did the White House willing accept these mass lists without any sort of screening process or at least questioning the list sources and contents?

4) What other private data might the White House have, just because they think the target of the data might be someone 'fishy'?

These are legitimate questions and the answers might, if not prove criminal activity, at least provide some difficult to explain away ethical shortcomings of the White House, Mr. Axelrod or, more likely the scapegoat they decide to blame the whole issue on if it ever gets that far.

The Newest Top 12 liberal idiots.

In my previous Top 10 liberal idiots list, I made a note in the comments section about how I thought the list would change on a regular basis. Unfortunately I typed 12 instead of 10. So being true to my word, here are the top 12 liberal idiots of the week.

12. Jon Stewart. Smug, smarmy, smirky. Yet refreshingly facile and predictably tilted left. Sorry, no pass for posing with sock puppets (no, not the Senate Democrats, these guys). Bonus marks for having a sense of humor though - keeps you out of 11th place.

11. Al Franken. The only repeat, no sense of humor present, moves to # 11 - just for sticking around this long. Go away Al. Just go away.

10. David Axelrod. How's life under that bus, Meathead? Lonely? Don't worry, you'll have company as soon as names start getting dropped in Chicago. Doesn't the picture look like some 1973 Sasquatch hunter in his headquarters?

9. Donna Brazile. Angry, idiotic. There's a combination just waiting to be another news byte. Give it time friends, give it time.

8. Al Gore. (See this for proof). Angry, idiotic, guilty, Nobel-prize winning con artist.

7. John McCain. Yep. Liberal. A Democrat sleeper cell in the GOP. Or at least a sleeper period. Dude, endorse Palin already or else look like an opportunistic dork forever. Your 'corpse is still warm'? I'm not so sure it ever warmed up Senator. Does loyalty only go one way John? For that matter, does compromise? Apparently in your world, both true.

6. Warren Buffett. Complaining that you don't pay enough taxes makes me wonder how you ever got rich. Yes, I know the history, but it doesn't merit the level of adulation or success achieved. Not that I'm jealous, it just doesn't add up. Besides, being a market wizard doesn't make you a political one.

5. George Bush. I'm only now fully convinced he's a Democrat double agent. Yeah, maybe a man of honour and he stuck to his convictions. But kudos for the damage done to the GOP. Obama himself could not have done more damage to Republican reputation. Then again, maybe he'll return the favor.

4. George Soros / Moveon.org. A double feature. Soros is to politics as Ozzy Osborne is to coherence. Living proof that intelligence in area does not translate into intelligence in another. And Moveon.org is to patriotism as Chairman Mao was to genocide.

3. Markos Zuniga. Daily Kos is like a ray of sunshine in a skin cancer ward.

2. Bill Maher. Making fun of religion in your latest movie. Is it that hard to find work Bill? Stir up controversy to sell your film. Clever. I mean that, sarcastically.

1. Rod Blagojevich. This is a no-brainer. I mean him. But thanks for the PR boost for the GOP Ron. (Is it just me or does this look like Sam from LOTR cross-bred with someone from the Sopranos?)