Howard Fineman: DMR endorsement means Obama may lose the race.

[RandySF]

Howard Fineman ‏@howardfineman
It's not scientific or quantifiable by Nate Silver but Des Moines Register endorsement of Mitt first time it's' clear O may lose the race


https://twitter.com/howardfineman

[BootinUp]

1. nonsense

[TeamPooka]

105. does he mean only Iowa or the whole thing?

[Bjorn Against]

2. Yes, because there is no more powerful voice in America than the Des Moines Register

Is this guy serious?

[ananda]

5. Lol

[gkhouston]

11. It's so powerful that people who have already voted will be storming the county clerk's

office, demanding to change their votes.

[Duke Newcombe]

3. Shorter Fineman: "It's Truthy"

Kind of like Herman Cain: "I can't prove it...but it's true!!111"

[chadnky]

4. Ridiculous

What a ridiculous conclusion to make from a newspaper endorsement. If the President wins Nevada, Wisconsin, and Ohio, then he doesn't even need Iowa anyway.

[quinnox]

6. odd because the same fleeting thought

occurred to me when I heard about this. If Iowa is lost then it will be a bad sign for other states like Nevada and Colorado. In any case, this was not good news. And hopefully it will not have as negative or big an impact as it might be thought of at first glance.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

45. Yeah Because Nevada, Colorado, And Iowa Are Such Similar States

Nevada -27% Latino
Colorado -21% Latino


Drum roll...

...


Iowa-5% Latino

[quinnox]

54. ok, but any toss up state lost can't be a good thing

or a good sign. Sorry, but I don't think Romney getting the influential newspaper of Iowa's endorsement is good news or can be thought of as a positive development.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

58. I Will See Your DMR Endorsement And Raise You With This:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251183295

[Dan]

109. well, one question

Who owns the paper?

[demgrrrll]

112. Gannet.

[coalition_unwilling]

113. AKA: Right-wing stooges - n/t

[Arugula Latte]

87. This is assuming newspaper boards base their endorsements on who they think is ahead in their state.

That is a false premise.

[barnabas63]

7. What is he smoking?

Put the crack pipe down, Howard. You usually act like you have more sense than that.

[Spazito]

8. Oh Howie, Howie, Howie...

it's clear you are full of it and not for the first time.

[highplainsdem]

9. That might be the stupidest thing Fineman ever said.

[Justice4All1]

32. Fineman is really dumbing down to try to keep this a horse race lie

Who cares about Des moines Iowa? He's turning into "This must be good news for McCain trolls.
Boy, he's stupid.

[JackRiddler]

99. Highly doubt that.

[grantcart]

10. Dammit Fineman someone hacked your twitter account again!

[Condem]

12. No worries brother and sisterhood..

...we'll deliver Iowa. And Iowa City will make damn sure of that!!

[winstars]

14. Thanks for the report from the ground. As goes the DMR, goes the country???

[Condem]

27. When's the last time a newspaper's endorsement made a damn bit of difference?

Early voting here is STRONG....the eastern part of Ioway will blast shithole western Iowa out of the water.

[winstars]

37. I think it was back on the 12th of Never on that Sunday that fell in the middle of the week!!!

[LiberalElite]

89. THAT'LL BE THE DAY!

[winstars]

103. John Wayne in "The Searchers" nice one.... n/t

[Cha]

21. Hey, Condem.. I remember you from a long time ago

and the Iowa Floods. How's it going.. I like your Optimism!

[Condem]

39. Still here, Cha!!

We ARE cool. And we will fuckin' deliver.

[janx]

79. Were you the guy who posted the pics of Iowa City and

the sandbagging activity?

[Condem]

82. 4 years ago, janx.

Seems like a fucking eternity ago.

[janx]

93. I loved those pics!

Everybody kicking into gear and getting it done. I have in-laws who are Iowa City natives living in Oregon now. They recently went back for a Hawkeye game. Their dad was faculty at the U of I, and their mom worked there too. Proud Dems, all.

Cheers!

[janx]

76. My alma mater is there...

[MjolnirTime]

13. why fling this poo around?

[Cha]

15. Does Fineman not know how damn stupid he sounds?

[senseandsensibility]

22. Did he know how stupid he sounded when he oooohed and awwed over bush

in his flightsuit with tweety? Case closed.

[janx]

95. I don't think he knows much about Iowa.

[graywarrior]

16. BS

[underthematrix]

17. just tweeted fineman LOL!!!

[Cha]

23. Yeah? What'd ya tweet? :)

[hanzi88]

18. Does it mean that WaPo and NYT endorsement of Obama

means he'll win the race?

[reformist2]

19. It won't even change the way Iowans vote, let alone the country.

[flamingdem]

20. Let this thread die and don't pump this bullshit

Anyone who'd be swayed at this point is pretty dumb and their numbers are minimal

[RandySF]

31. I posted it so everyone can see that Fineman is drinking tonight.

[flamingdem]

38. I appreciate that your title isn't that explicit, it's too late anyway

25,000 mentions of it already on google news sites. arg.

It looks like something the Romney campaign planned, they ARE confident for some reasons, they do have some connections and this is one of them. They'll use it to bash the president for being incompetent, as did Fineman.

Fineman is an ASS, you're right he must be drinking tonight!

[quinnox]

90. I'm glad they posted this thread, its exactly the kind of thread DU is for

It's information and interesting what a prominent political news guy like Fineman said, not sure why you think posting this is "pumping" it.

[tman]

24. He's a funny guy.

[LisaL]

25. Darn. Who knew paper most people couldn't care less about had so much power?

[BeyondGeography]

26. Well, when they endorsed Hillary it nearly cost Obama the nomination

Not to mention Iowa...

[Justice4All1]

92. What's the proof their endorsement nearly cost Obama the nom or IA?

Hillary was very well liked, if DMR was so powerful, then Hillary should've won NOT Obama.

These leaps of assumptions are pathetic. Obama won even though they endorsed Hillary, so? He will win IA again, fineman's just trying to make news.

[BeyondGeography]

97. I was joking

Welcome to DU.

[Son of Gob]

98. It's called sarcasm pal.

[moondust]

28. Howard Fineman falls for

naive DMR that falls for professional huckster.

[flamingdem]

47. I think you meant to spell it fall$

[moondust]

66. HuffPo/AOL?

In it for the profits? Gasp!

[flamingdem]

68. Someone posted saying the paper is part owned by Bain

Think it was Amborin citing wiki. Feinman and Ariana what a lovely duo

[Yul A]

108. Howard Fineman would fall for a

3-card-monty game.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

29. What a spectacularly stupid comment.

Like the Des Moines Register is so incredibly powerful that it will change the minds of thousands of Iowans who were going to vote for Obama but read that lame endorsement and said to themselves, "OMG! The Des Moines Register has endorsed Romney! I can't vote for Obama now!"

Wadda maroon.

[RomneyLies]

30. Fineman has sharked the jump. nt

[Justice4All1]

43. I like that, Fineman has sharked the jump. Good one, he is stupid.

Stupid, Fineman.

Candidates shouldn't bother buying ad time anymore, just buy Des moines IA endorsement. God, he's a stupid dummy.

[SingleSeatBiggerMeat]

33. Hey Howard - WE NEED SOME CLICKS!

This is so lame....as usual.

Just using Nate Silver as an example, he has Obama at 72% and approximately 30% of the vote is in (I believe).

And this endorsement is going to turn it over to Romney?

Are you f'in kidding me?

[TwilightGardener]

34. Funny, did he say this about Mitten's chances in Colorado after the

Denver Post endorsed Obama? No? Then he's a hack.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

35. Hold on...l have watched him for years. He is for Obama, no doubt. This is not good

that he is saying this. He's perceptive.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

41. He's a hack. Always has been.

[RomneyLies]

44. No, he's not now nor has he ever been "perceptive". He's now and always has been an idiot

I've only ever given him a slide because he's nominally progressive. His analysis is banal and idiotic nearly all of the time.

This is the stupidest tweet in the history of Twitter.

[LisaL]

50. Well don't you know, DMR is the center of the Universe?

[Spazito]

49. He's not perceptive at all...

Here's one of his gems from the bush regime dark times:

"And what alternative are the Democrats really proposing? What would they have us do? Even the Germans don’t want us to leave Iraq, though they won’t pay much to help us stay. Does anyone think that announcing a timetable for withdrawal really is a good idea? Is Osama bin Laden going to see that as a peace gesture? Are the suicide bombers likely to stop strapping on their vests?"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8405365/ns/politics-howard_fineman/t/president-doesnt-waver-iraq/#.UIyS5sXA-dg

[Justice4All1]

59. He's for the news & keeping this as a horse race

than he is for Obama.

[quinnox]

67. He is for Obama

I could tell that very easily from the last time I saw him on one of the political news shows on MSNBC.

[Justice4All1]

78. He can pretend to be for Obam and still be more for political drama, that's how he makes money

by making news, you know.

Anyway, thiss is weak because des moines Registry endorsed RMoney in the primaries in december so no big surprise. If he was for obama he wouldn't have tweeted this nonsense.

He was part of the clique who made a big deal in the first debate, Fineman is not so much for Obama. Anybody really for Obama would not make his into an issue when it isn't.

Fineman's for his paycheck & making news. His comment is total BS, Obama's already won the eletion in early voting & will win IA.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

73. He also claimed Rmoney was winning debate 2 until he realized no one else thought so

Fuck him.

[CTyankee]

110. I agree with you that Fineman appears tobe for Obama. But I kinda doubt that the DMR

has that much clout in this day and age. I think the day of DMR's power to change elections has come and gone. Whole new media, etc...

[progressivebydesign]

36. I love twitter, because I can take on his stupid shit directly.

What an asshole.

[cleduc]

40. For some time, it's been clear that newspaper endorsements

don't mean much at the polls the way they used to.

http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3750

Few voters are swayed by newspaper endorsements of presidential candidates. So why do editorial pages keep publishing them?

http://www.inquisitr.com/6334/do-newspaper-endorsements-matter/

Conclusion

Newspaper endorsement don’t matter, at least not that much, and not in a statistical way that would affect the outcome of a national election. They may still count for more in local communities where candidates are much more unknown than Presidential Candidates. Newspaper endorsements are reflective of the current mood of the people in each community, and they give a voice to those preferences, rather then ultimately changing how people may vote.

Gallup: In U.S., Confidence in Newspapers, TV News Remains a Rarity
http://www.gallup.com/poll/142133/confidence-newspapers-news-remains-rarity.aspx

Trust in the media has plummeted to all time lows. It's sad in that democracy relies on the media but when you've been served so much garbage for so many years and poor quality journalism, folks get turned off.

You would have thought after all the years he spent in the media that Fineman would know that.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

52. Newspaper endorsements might matter for state and local candidates.

If a candidate is not especially well-known, the endorsement of the local fish wrap could certainly help. But I can't imagine how a newspaper endorsement does much of anything for a presidential candidate any more.

[kstewart33]

42. Have great respect for Fineman.

The DMR is more influential in the state than newspapers typically are, but I wouldn't immediately write Iowa off. And if Obama loses Iowa, there are other routes to a win.

[RomneyLies]

46. The Obama ground game i Iowa is epic.

Romney has no ground game at all in Iowa.

Fineman is being an ass.

[Justice4All1]

51. No kidding, he's being an ass. More than that he's being an extremely stupid ass. LOL.

Fineman's a huge idiot.

[Justice4All1]

48. Oh, seriously, this has no bearing on the race

When most Iowans have voted & have their minds made up.

Fineman's crazy, if it was that important people would've waited until the endorsement to vote. This is total horse sh** from Fineman, he's nuts.

[.99center]

53. Here's another gem from Friedman

"Obama admitted in DM register off the record interview that he hadn't talked to the edit board in 4 years!! Political malpractice."
OMG!! Obama's priorities are ass backwards, he should of been concentrating on talking to the edit board instead of focusing on killing Bin Laden and fixing our health care system!!

[senseandsensibility]

61. You mean Fineman?

Good point.

[Tutonic]

55. Same thing happened when they endorsed Hills during Primary 2008

er uh oh yeah he still won didn't he? DMR has been wrong more than right in its presidential endorsements.

[sadbear]

56. Ten days out and they're shoveling the bullshit pretty damn high.

If we promise to watch tv in the next 10 days, can you guys promise to cut out the ridiculous bullshit to keep us watching? Yes, President Obama is going to be reelected and most everyone now knows it. This kind of nonsense just makes you look foolish.

[Takket]

57. What is a "newspaper"?

nt

[renate]

91. bwaaaaa

[flamingdem]

60. Fineman sends a slightly contrite response to anger in Twittersphere

Howard Fineman ‏@howardfineman

Anger in my corner of Twittersphere cuz i said DM Reg Mitt endorsement bad news for Obama. It's' not fatal, but he needs all mo' he can get.

[senseandsensibility]

63. I guess he has the tweetspeak down.

Too bad he doesn't have the political savvy down and has to be schooled by the people.

[flamingdem]

65. The tweets coming out of his beak

prove he's a birdbrain!

[RomneyLies]

70. In the tweet just before that one, he said it was fatal

He's a fucking idiot.

[Justice4All1]

80. Yea, he's trying to walk back his stupidity

This is what he wanted to make news, doesn't matter if his comment was incompetent & superstitious.

Fineman's one of the douches who went all gaga over Myth's 1st performance.

[Justice4All1]

85. What an idiot, I really dislike him now.

An endorsement from DIR is "MO"? LOL.
Douche.

This paper's a hack, Myth had an interview there with them, where he said he had no legislation against abortion, then a few hours later, his campaign said, of course he's pro-life & would lead as such. This is a clear flip flop & DMR endorses this clear liar? They're a very irresponsible paper to endorse the moron who would repeal Roe V Wade

They're admitting he ran as a severe conservative to win the nomination then tried to at moderate to get votes, so basially they're admitting, nobody really knows who the real RMoney is, that he'll say anything to whatever audiene to get votes..yet they want somebody who would dupe, lie, mislead his own base to win as somebody that can be trusted?

where was he moderate? He was so moderate he had to veto 800 Dem legislation in MA. Myth himself said he was a severely conservative governor. DMR is a severely a very irresponsible, full of sh** paper.....but Fineman's a jerk, in it to make news like he did after the first debate. Enough said.

[AtomicKitten]

62. Howard's got that feeling. Everybody else shrugs. nt

[craigmatic]

64. See this kind of bullshit right here is why nobody takes the talking heads seriously.

[theglammistress]

69. Get ready for this to be the main talking point on Joe Scar Monday

[fascisthunter]

71. Who pays this guy to say this kind of shit

seems important enough to publicize so how much did he make? And why should what he just say be considered?

[Indpndnt]

72. What is clear is that Howie is off his meds.

The Des Moines Register? Really?

[BattyDem]

74. DMR has made 23 presidential endorsements over the last 100 years

Their choice lost 14 times.

This paragraph from their endorsement speaks volumes:

"Romney could be assured that Democrats would work to defeat him as hard as Republicans worked against Obama is if he were to adopt the reactionary agenda of the most extreme elements of the Republican Party. Romney had to tack to the right during the primary season. Since then, he has recalibrated his campaign to focus on his concern for the middle class, and that is believable if the real Mitt Romney is the one on display as governor of Massachusetts who passed a health care reform plan that became the model for the one passed by Congress."

By their own admission, they don't even know who the "real" Mitt Romney is ... but they're endorsing him?!?

[TwilightGardener]

83. Good point: They're not sure which Mittloaf would show up

on the first day of work. They know they're endorsing a fucking phony--no credibility whatsoever.

[Honeycombe8]

75. May lose the race nationally, or in Iowa? It's hard to believe DMR is so powerful it'll sway OH or

other states. Or even the whole state of IA?

[Justice4All1]

81. Fineman's an idiot, the only people who've heard of DMR is IA

That endorsement won't influence IA, let alone other states.

Fineman's trying to make this a talking point, people should ignore him. He's a douche.

[Honeycombe8]

104. Good. nt

[bigtree]

77. #pettylosers

ron fullwood ‏@ronfullwood

@howardfineman reminds me of Newt's tantrum; to think DMR chose Romney because of presidential snub #PETTYLOSERS

[spanone]

84. bwahahahahahahaaaa

[LiberalElite]

86. Howard, Howard, Howard

You've been working too hard buddy, you need a break! Like, take the rest of the next 10 days off you jackass!
Anyway, I saw "DMR" and thought what the heck is that! OOOH, Des Moines Register! Like who the F**K cares what DMF thinks. Do they even care in IOWA!?!?

[Justice4All1]

88. Seriously, Howard's a mess. Needs to get off the sauce now.

[IL Lib]

94. I've never really liked Howard Fineman,

but this is probably the dumbest assumption that i've seen on the race so far by supposedly a credible journalist. And there have been many. Wow.

[alcibiades_mystery]

96. Interesting to see the Fineman fans on this thread

Those who get the tinge of the same feeling, or find him "perceptive." That they're as bitter old 2008 primary refighters as Fineman is fairly obvious. That they obviously seem to have some emotional investment in Obama losing is just sad. They're going on ignore until this election is over, in any case, because who could have time for dipshits like that.

[senseandsensibility]

100. If there are any fineman fans on this thread they're outnumbered twenty to one

at least. I wouldn't waste any emotional energy on them.

[alcibiades_mystery]

101. Oh, I'm not

Just noting the usual suspects.

[Z_I_Peevey]

102. From the great Media Horse

If there is a dumber Media Whore on the planet than Howard Fineman, would the National Security Agency please wiretap every phone conversation on earth and find him?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/05/02/330097/-Requiem-for-a-Media-Horse

Take a look at what the late great Media Whores Online (via this Daily Kos link) had to say about the only two-time winner of Media Whore of the Year (and a few others as well).

[NYC Liberal]

106. What about the big newspapers that endorsed Obama this year after endorsing McSame last time?

But I guess those don't count toward the "Romney momentum" narrative.

[Hippo_Tron]

107. It's about as relevant as whether or not the Redskins win next weekend

[malokvale77]

111. Well the DMN...

(Dallas Morning News) endorsed Romney too, so I took they're advice and voted...wait for it... OBAMA. Thank you.