Most Academics Liberal

Larry Elder has an article for Townhall about leftist bias in the public universities of California. My guess: it's no worse in California than in most states across this great land.

I spent roughly 37 years in public institutions of higher education in California - as either a student or faculty member - and the allegation of leftist bias is absolutely correct. I spent another 5 years in the public institutions of higher education in other parts of the country and the leftist bias was there too, no surprise.

However, I don't think the beliefs of most students are much influenced by leftist professors. A few, yes; most, no. Unfortunately it is the few who are influenced who go on to become the next generation of professors. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised about this, either.

Remember the quote correctly attributed to French Premier Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929), but often attributed to Sir Winston Churchill:

Not to be a socialist at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is proof of want of head.

Barone on the Numbers

Analyst Michael Barone, writing for RealClearPolitics, takes a look at the various sources of polling data and concludes those who say Obama is a slam dunk are deluding themselves. We can hope he is correct. I like this Barone thought:

General elections involving sitting presidents usually turn out to be verdicts on the incumbent. Challengers who meet minimal standards tend to win if most voters want the incumbent out.

One thing we know for sure: it is too early to take the numbers very seriously. The only people paying close attention to politics now are folks like us, those who follow politics pretty much constantly, either as participants or as a spectator sport. And as noted yesterday, some of the numbers are more than a little suspect.

Lying With Numbers

Recently the ABC News/Washington Post poll came out showing President Obama with a comfortable lead, particularly among women. What do you suppose would be the impact on the results if it turned out a healthy majority of those polled were Democrats?

You think the results would be biased? You'd be correct. Jay Cost of The Weekly Standard shows the sample was biased in Obama's favor:

The poll has an inexplicably large Democratic advantage – the party breakdown in the poll is 34 percent Democratic, 23 percent Republican, and 34 percent independent. As a point of historical comparison, the party spread in four of the last five elections since 2002 has basically been an even split between the two sides. In 2008, a “perfect storm” of bad news for the GOP, the party ID advantage was “only” +7. So, a Democratic advantage of +11 is an unjustifiable number, at least in terms of what the electorate is thinking.

As Mark Twain once said, "figures don't lie but liars figure." Take the WaPo numbers as more of an indication of what they'd like to be true than as showing what the electorate is feeling.

Political Gender Gap

Let's think about from whence the political gender gap comes. At its most basic, in America men and women want somewhat different things from their government.

The question I wish to pose to our dozens of polling organizations is "what are these different things?" Get to work, pollsters, get us some answers.

In the absence of hard data, we are free to speculate. I believe we can parse out some of the difference from examining romantic or "chick" films versus action or "guy" films, and the different books men and women read for pleasure.

Another possible source of insight could be the classic "mommy" government versus "daddy" government paradigm; that is, government providing nurture versus government encouraging self-reliance.

Anybody who claims there are no important differences between men and women is willfully ignoring clear evidence to the contrary. Left to their own devices, men and women often choose quite different recreational pastimes. They choose different politicians or parties, too. We need to know why.

Obamacare Popularity at New Low

Yahoo News echos an ABC News article which reports unpopularity of the health care "reform" law normally labeled Obamacare at a new low. Furthermore, large numbers believe the court will decide based on politics rather than on analysis of the law. See the article for details of the findings.

Even More Weird Science

Americans get wiser as they get older but Japanese don't, or so The Daily Mail reports from studies done by a Canadian researcher. Apparently the article attributes the differences to the well-known individualist orientation of the U.S. and group orientation of Japan.

That attribution seems like a stretch to me. I'd as soon ascribe the observed differences to the different diets each nation consumes.

How about this: maybe U.S. schools do a less good job than Japanese schools so Americans spend the next 50 years learning on their own what they should have learned in school. Hat tip to Lucianne.com for the link.

Sayonara Santorum

Former Senator Rick Santorum has announced that he is "suspending" his presidential campaign, making the announcement in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. See the article at Yahoo News.

Santorum certainly gave it a serious effort, and spoke for a real segment of the Republican electorate. Oddly, Roman Catholic Santorum led the evangelical, social conservative segment of the party, an alignment nobody would have predicted in the Reagan era.

Add this Santorum suspension to the "I will support Romney if he's nominated" comments made by Gingrich over the weekend and the GOP primary race is essentially over. Now the main bout begins - Romney vs. Obama - for the title of President, decision in November.

Historians will judge whether the hard-fought multi-candidate GOP primary made candidate Romney stronger or weaker. COTTonLINE hopes the answer is "stronger."

The point of the November exercise is to replace Obama. It is unlikely Romney will be a worse president than Obama.

What Is An Entitlement?

Robert Samuelson, writing for RealClearPolitics, has an excellent article about how Social Security began as a sort of contributory program, and morphed into the welfare program it is today. If you are anywhere near retirement age, you should read this.

Samuelson shows how people believe they've "earned" their benefits. Actually, most people receive from the system more than they ever contributed plus the interest those contributions could have earned. Instead their contributions have been used to pay the already retired.

Now we near a point where there will be too many Baby Boomer retirees drawing benefits, too few workers contributing, and the Ponzi scheme begins to collapse. Some political leader will have to tell Americans the truth about Social Security - that it's a welfare plan which must be means-tested.

That leader will probably be handed his or her head by an angry electorate. When the public finally understands Social Security is a welfare scheme, their support for the system will plummet.

Quote of the Day

Sasha Isenberg, writing for New York Magazine, about the degree to which liberal vs. conservative may be genetically determined.

Would those who oppose discrimination against gays on the basis that sexuality is no choice still feel empowered to hate the right wing if they knew homophobes, too, were just born that way?

Fascinating question, this.

The Economy Is Bad

Wynton Hall, writing in Breitbart's Big Government, lists seven ugly facts about the U.S. economy during the Obama years. You needn't take his word for them, Hall links to sources for each nasty item. Here is a summary:

• Every fifth man in America is out of a job.
• Every seventh person is on food stamps.
• Gas prices have more than doubled.
• Fewer than 6 out of 10 college grads can find a job.
• More than one in four homeowners owes more than their home is worth.
• The national debt has increased more in Obama's 3 years than in Bush's 8 years.
• Almost 88 million Americans have dropped out of the labor force.

Middle East War on Horizon?

Neil Snyder writes in American Thinker that war in the Middle East may be inevitable. His bottom line is that Israelis have given up on the idea of a "peace process" and don't believe Palestinians will accept the "two state solution" idea. I won't try to summarize why he believes this to be so, but the list of reasons he puts forward are formidable.

For another slant on this issue, did you know that Mitt Romney and Benjamin Netanyahu were (and are) friends, from the days when they both worked for Boston Consulting Group? Both have taken hawkish stands vis-a-vis Iran and Palestine. See this New York Times article for more.

Easter Greetings

COTTonLINE wishes all our readers a Happy Easter.

Hot Senate Races

The editorial staff of The Week has identified eight U.S. Senate races that are close enough to possibly go either way; that's where real politics mavens should keep their eyes focused during the run-up to November. See The Week article on Yahoo News.

The states to watch are Maine, Nebraska, Virginia, Massachusetts (no kidding), Wisconsin, North Dakota, Montana, and Hawaii (a long shot). A key thing to remember is this:

The GOP only needs a net gain of four seats to seize control of the chamber for the first time since 2006. (snip) Ominously for the Democrats, they are defending 23 seats to the GOP's 10, and several high-profile retirements are making things even harder.

Retirements are important because very often incumbents are reelected.

The Woman Vote

Depending on who you ask, Obama is more popular among women voters than among men, and particularly among single women voters. See this National Review Online article for details.

What do we think this is about? Why single women in particular? Republicans generally favor a set of national values and institutions that presume most individuals live in married households. Unfortunately, this is less and less true.

Democrats' view of government is in loco parentis, Latin for in place of parents; meaning the government will care for you. This Democratic view is particularly appealing to groups which, in one way or another, feel threatened or abused. Some (but not all) racial or ethnic minorities, non-typical gender orientations, the very poor, and single mothers all fit this profile.

Answer Is Obvious

Yahoo News runs a National Journal article asking the question "why do people keep turning out for Newt Gingrich rallies" when he has little or no chance of being the nominee? Talk about your pointless questions, I believe the answer to this one is obvious.

Newt Gingrich is simply the most interesting orator, most interesting speaker in the Republican party ranks today. Survey a thousand Republicans and ask them which speaker they'd most likely turn out to listen to - I'm convinced Gingrich would be the name most often mentioned.

That is not to say that Newt would be the best presidential candidate, clearly he is not. Gingrich is the most interesting Republican, not the most sound, and there is a difference. He's a dreamer, a thinker, a futurist, and a prolific author - bright as anything, but not disciplined or a particularly good manager.

So the answer is yes, I'd go hear him speak, but I probably wouldn't vote for him. I have that same reaction to Sarah Palin, another firecracker speaker, in a different way.

More Travel Blogging

Santa Barbara: We are anchored off-shore off Santa Barbara, sending passengers ashore via tenders (ship's boats). SB has no real harbor except for a man-made small boat marina.

We have beautiful weather, the Southern California Chamber of Commerce deluxe special weather that causes people to move here. San Francisco delivered the same, blue skies and sunshine.

I wonder if out-of-state people on shipboard have any idea how rare such weather is in San Francisco? It is more common here in Santa Barbara.

We expected rough water off the CA coast and actually had relatively little of it. We only talked to one woman who experienced sea sickness and that the first night out of LA/San Pedro. (N.B., "San Pedro" is pronounced "son pay-drow" in Spanish but Angelinos say "san pee-drow.")

California is filled with Spanish names pronounced all sorts of ways. For example, the town Vallejo should be pronounced "vie-yea-ho" but is pronounced "val-lay-ho." Port Hueneme should be pronounced "way-nay-ma" but is pronounced "why-nee-mee."

My favorite is La Jolla which should be pronounced "la hoi-ya" and for a change is pronounced correctly here. Out-of-state news readers normally come out with something like "la jaw-la," always good for a laugh.

I guess the mispronounced Spanish is no worse than the garbled Indian names you find in Washington state or in Massachusetts.

The cruise ends tomorrow and we'll be back to our normal blogging topics on Easter Sunday. Meanwhile, have a happy Good Friday.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs....

Bloomberg reports Labor Department data that shows that we created only 120,000 jobs last month, whereas the unemployment rate dropped from 8.3 to 8.2%. A dropping unemployment rate is good news, right?

Wrong. It is bad news because larger numbers are leaving the workforce - retiring or giving up the search for work. Labor also reports people worked less hours and earned less per hour, not good news at all.

Fewer people working or looking for work cannot be good news, especially for those who are retired. The retired rely on those working to generate their support via Social Security, Medicare and other programs which are tax-funded.

Polar Bears Plentiful

A Canadian paper with no reason to lie about it reports a new survey which shows there are more polar bears than formerly thought, and their numbers appear to be growing! How about that, global cooling fans?

Seriously, I've no idea whether the planet is warming, cooling, or engaging in the normal year to year variations that we call "weather." My point is that people like Al Gore who claim to be certain are employing faith, not fact, in reaching their conclusions. Faith is okay, as long as we recognize it as such.

In other words, we simply don't know with any scientific certainty what the climate is doing, or whether humans are having any significant influence thereupon. A healthy Canadian polar bear population suggests maybe things aren't so bad, eh? See The Globe and Mail article here.

Travel Blogging

San Francisco: If you've noticed a lack of blog entries over the past week, it is because the DrsC are once again in travel mode. This time it is a one week cruise off the California coast: San Pedro-San Diego-Ensenada-San Francisco-Santa Barbara-San Pedro on the Sapphire Princess. SF is showing us a beautiful day; how strange is that?

We should take note of the primary results yesterday. Mitt Romney has to be pleased. Reasonable people would agree that for all practical purposes the primary is over. If only the also-rans could see the light.

Cheney on mend

Vice President Dick Cheney appears to be making a full and rapid recovery from heart replacement surgery. All at COTTonLINE wish him well.