Obesity vs. Political Apathy: Obesity Wins!
Americans may be too lazy (or too rational) to vote. But as a great man once said, "You gotta eat!" So, while half of America may not be voting in the booth, they're happy to vote with their stomachs.
At Baskin Robbins, the results are in, and Whirl of Change ("Peanut-nougat ice cream whirled with chunks of chocolate-covered peanut brittle and a caramel ribbon") beat Straight Talk Crunch ("Caramel ribbon, chocolate pieces, candy red states and crunchy mixed nuts swirled into White Chocolate ice cream") with 51 percent of the vote. Half a million votes were cast.
At 7-11, coffee drinkers can choose between an Obama cup and a McCain cup. Obama is crushing McCain with 60 percent of the popular vote in the great cup buy-up. He is also winning in every state where 7-11 exists, except New Hampshire.
This measure actually has a pretty decent record. The Gore cup lost to the Bush cup by a single percentage point, and the 2004 results were identical to national polls: 51 percent Bush, 49 percent Kerry. I guess the sample size is pretty decent at 1 million cups of coffee sold each day at 7-11 stores.
Looks like indicators from the gluttonous public predict a win for Obama. Ah, America. How I love you.
See the 7-11 cups in action at the reason offices earlier this month.
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Yeah, but you just know those Acorn folks are bringin' in unregistered homeless coffee drinkers...
Right now, at California Tortilla, it's Obama with 1,904 (48%), to McCain's 2,063 (52%).
The McCain-Chilada: Mexican rice, mesquite chicken, tortilla strips, velvety queso, fresh salsa, and shredded lettuce, rolled in a warm flour tortilla, smothered with green enchilada sauce and garnished with sour cream and cilantro.
The O-Chili-bama Burrito: Mexican rice, turkey chili, tortilla strips, jalape?o peppers, sour cream, and shredded lettuce, rolled in a warm flour tortilla, smothered with velvety queso and garnished with fresh salsa and green onions.
EJM --
Might have a little to do with the jalape?o peppers.
Perhaps.
The problem (or should I say one of the many problems) with his kind of measure is the intensity bias. It probably wasn't a factor in Bush vs Gore because it seemed like the amount of wildly pro-Bush people equaled that of the rabidly pro-Gore people. But this election, I sense a very different dynamic. McCain doesn't have any intense supporters. The intensity is all either pro-Obama or anti-Obama. McCain is at best a proxy, I'm not sure a proxy is going to have the same kind of purchasing power as an actual symbol. A better test might have been Obama cups, and cups that clearly mocked Obama or portrayed him in a negative light ( "Change We Can Believe In" vs "Curious George Obama" would probably make for a better measure). The intensity bias is probably going to impact the exit polls in a major way too. As a Charles Jay voter, I just blew by the exit pollster that tried to talk to me when I walked by early voting. But the Obama folks wanted the entire world to know who they voted for and were practically drooling to talk to the exit pollsters.
C'mon - the nougat is gonna cream "candy" red states. A fair test would be chocolate (McCain) versus vanilla (O'bama - he's Irish - right???)
Exit polls are the shit of shit. Anyone who puts any stock in them on election day in terms of predicting the results is an idiot.
whoaaaaaaa that 7-11 cup thing was real?
i thought that was an onion thing my friends were riffing on.
damn you, hyperreality!
I get my morning coffee at 7-11 (except on Fridays when I go upscale at Starbucks - just to see how the fancy people buy coffee) and you can't get a blue (O'bama) cup to save your life - just red cups.
Looks like you could make a good case for the Bradley Effect here - the 7-11 cups are carried around and visible in public. However the ice cream choice is an online poll in private...a good case of public support versus real intentions?
Or maybe people just like the color blue better...
Oh and there was a recent Nickelodeon kids poll, Obama was ahead by a mere percentage point (Kerry had a 7 point lead). Possible that kids are reflecting their parents, but unaffected by social stigma and giving a more honest answer?
I'd love to see how Libertarian cotton candy would do against Welfare State brownies.
BDB - Exit polls are the shit of shit. Anyone who puts any stock in them on election day in terms of predicting the results is an idiot.
If McCain wins despite what the exit polls seem to indicate, will you remember that you wrote that?
I have to agree with FDS: The problem (or should I say one of the many problems) with his kind of measure is the intensity bias.
I knew that I would vote Republican before I knew who the canidates were (assuming Hucklbee was choosen). I also do not answer telephone polls and doubt that I would respond to an exit pollster. Despite what I just wrote, who I vote for is my business and not some pollsters.
Shouldn't it be more like Chai Tea Latte (left/Obama) vs straight black coffee (right/McCain)? or maybe Fair Trade Organic vs Maxwell House?
damn you, hyperreality!
You will know Baudrillard was right when you reload a page like this and see a Google Ad which says...
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Looking for a "damn you, hyperreality!"? We have the best. http://www.damnyou.com/hyperreality
Hyperreality getting you down? Join thousands of others who damn hyperreality right from the comfort of their own living rooms! Guaranteed $300/month income.
"If McCain wins despite what the exit polls seem to indicate, will you remember that you wrote that?"
Yes. I don't trust exit polls. I predict, right now, that the exit polls will show silly stuff like Obama winning Virginia by +20 where in real life he will eek out a four point victory.
I do trust real, actual polls though. But exit polls are bull shit.
Maybe the socialist ice cream flavor just tastes better.
I knew that I would vote Republican before I knew who the candidates were...
You, sir, are a cancer on the body politic.
Not that that in any way makes you not a nice guy!
Maybe the socialist ice cream flavor just tastes better.
Yep. That makes sense.
Also, for those who use "socialist" as a word of constant abuse, you do realize that the number of people who were actually alive when socialism was actually scary and/or a real possibility in America are nearly all dead, right?
Just checking.
Politics be damned. I will never vote for turkey chili over mesquite chicken. On this I am absolutely partisan (unless it turns out that the turkey chili is especially good).
I would have ordered the whirl of change, but only because it sounds like it has less chocolate in it. I don't like chocolate.
I'm still alive!
(just pre-empting it).
Amen SIV, who would buy a flavor they don't like just because of the impression holding the cup gives?... A bit like pining for a Gov full of social programs and then grousing about your taxes.. Hey, wait a minute...
Made mention of the 7-11 thing about a week or 2 ago on a different thread, as an off-topic comment:
At 7-11, coffee drinkers can choose between an Obama cup and a McCain cup. Obama is crushing McCain with 60 percent of the popular vote in the great cup buy-up. He is also winning in every state where 7-11 exists, except New Hampshire.
Odd thing was, that in the 7-11 I was going to, on Boggy Creek road in Orlando, FL, the McCain cups were not being stocked equally with the Obama cups. I attributed it to sloppy stock ordering habits.
Granted, that is just one store of many (7-11 around Orlando is like Starbucks in DC or NYC it seems), but if it is hard to find a McCain cup and the Obama cups are blue, like some of the other cups in the store, perhaps this method should be taken with a grain of salt.
Lefiti,
I'd love to see how Libertarian cotton candy would do against Welfare State brownies.
How about Welfare State Liberty Lemons vs. Libertarian Hash Brownies? 😉
Reason should start selling Bob Barr, McCain and Obama covers for the same issue.
I also get my morning coffee from 7-11. One day I was filling up my cup when I noticed the words "John McCain" on the side. This struck me as outrageously weird - 7 freaking 11 is campaigning for the GOP? In *2008*? Are they out of their minds? They'll never sell another Slurpee again!
I must've had a really confused look on my face, because the stooge behind the counter suddenly piped up: "We've got an Obama cup, too, if you'd prefer!" I didn't have a preference, and strolled out of there with my solid red Republican cup of coffee.
Point is, I doubt most 7-11 coffee drinkers give a toss one way or another.
The O-Chili-bama Burrito: Mexican rice, turkey chili, tortilla strips, jalape?o peppers, sour cream, and shredded lettuce, rolled in a warm flour tortilla, smothered with velvety queso and garnished with fresh salsa and green onions.
This is exactly what is wrong with America!
Turkey fargin' chili? And it's winning?
No Mexican or Texan worth his frijoles would touch turkey chili.
In related news: Raw Acorns are consumed more than 5,000x as much, by unit, by Americans than all of the Republican and Libertarian foodstuffs mentioned above.
ACORN certifies that no trickery was involved in this metric and, if there was, they are sorry and will be giving the tricksters a good talking to before the next election. Unless the trixters miss their quotas and get fired.
You, sir, are a cancer on the body politic.
Why? I can pretty much guarantee I'll never vote for a Democrat in a national election (let's pull a number out of nether regions and say 99.9%). Some one who has risen to national stature in the Democratic party is in all likely hood not somebody who holds any views I could stomach. So does stating that make me a "cancer" on the body politic? Of course one has to factor in the fact that one could replace Democrat with Republican and get almost the same answer if you modify the percentage down to say 92% - I'd vote for Ron Paul, Jeff Flake, and that guy Radley was talking about the other day (Georgia?). And you have to factor in the fact that I normally don't vote for anybody (or default to the libertarian if I'd rather go to the voting booth than go home and take the dogs for a walk and have a beer).
Point being, I can state with near certainty that I won't/will vote for somebody based on their party affiliation. Does that really make me a cancer? A 'fat little lump' perhaps?
-K
Politics be damned. I will never vote for turkey chili over mesquite chicken.
QFMFT.
For similar reasons, I'm inclined to believe that the ice cream poll was pure politics. There's no way in hell peanut ice cream could win over chocolate ice cream, even if white chocolate isn't really chocolate (it's not). Not only are these obese people fat, they're also underhanded and dishonest.
Obama has just taken over the lead at CalTort...
Obama - 2,347 (51%) * McCain - 2,280 (49%)
TWC,
Turkey fargin' chili? And it's winning?
I sometimes like chicken chilli, but I am with you on turkey chilli. NFW!
Reason should start selling Bob Barr, McCain and Obama covers for the same issue.
Obama covers at 78%
lmnop,
methinks you have confused socialism with communism.
Karl --
I scorn people who make up their minds before even cursory observation.
I am an empirical shill, if it makes you feel any better. My reaction would have been the same if your sentence had read:
I knew that I would vote Democrat before I knew who the candidates were...
It cost me $3.12 to vote for Mr. Barr the other day. Letter was delivered to the Knox County election authorities yesterday, mailed Monday.
And I didn't even get a pepperoni slice!
Obama is also beating McCain in the traditional Halloween mask sales race.
Of course, that may just mean more people prefer Obama's Frankenstein looks to McCain's Igor.
Has anyone gone into 7-11 and DEMANDED coffee in a Barr cup?
methinks you have confused socialism with communism.
That would be a type-token confusion, since communism is a sort of socialism.
But, no, I meant socialism. Regulation of different contractual or social relations is not socialism, whatever else it may be, unless that regulation boils down to actual public ownership of most/all assets and property.
Point being, I can state with near certainty that I won't/will vote for somebody based on their party affiliation. Does that really make me a cancer? A 'fat little lump' perhaps?
As another lump of cancer, I can assure you that I knew four years ago I was voting for Bob Barr and he was still a got dam has been Republican.
As for voting Dem? Once somebody produces an actual specimen of a libertarian Democrat, I'll consider it. Then again, I'm still waiting to see a living Jackalope.
lmnop,
Socialism is state control of means of production, whether an extreme level by state ownership (like, say, with, oh, BANKS) or to a lesser level via extensive regulation (I will let minor regulation pass).
Universal health care would fall into one of the other, depending on how it is done. Either way, it is still socialism.
As is Amtrak.
I scorn people who make up their minds before even cursory observation.
Please don't hate me. 😉
It isn't a case of cursory observation. It is a case of behavioral observation. Any way you slice it (politically) things will be worse in 15 years regardless of who is elected. That doesn't mean our lives will be worse because we Americans are capable of great things when it comes to avoiding The Man. Except the Catchies among us.
Second, and more important, I will always vote for the person whose philosophies of governance most closely match my own. That isn't going to be John McCain or Barry Obama.
Third, a cursory examination of the GOP and DEM party platform at any given time will reveal they are a bunch of schmucks whose intent is to do things to you that you won't like.
robc,
As is Amtrak.
[Socialist voice]
But Amtrak is for the good of all of the people! The only reason it does not stop in little towns is because of the evil railroad barons and their desire to haul freight instead of people. Quite simply, they hate people so they don't want to pick people up. They even kill hobos! They are hobophobic Capitalist pigs they are.
However, thanks to the Progressive members of Congress, Amtrak still services the tolerant and reasonable people of gun-free cities who understand what social justice is all about.
[/Socialist voice]*
*My Socialist voice sounds like that guy with the big afro who used to have the painting classes on PBS.
I voted for Bob Barr in Orlando by ordering Krystal Combo #1 with cheese.
Here in Northern VA I do it by having sushi at least once per day.
It cost me $3.12 to vote for Mr. Barr the other day. Letter was delivered to the Knox County election authorities yesterday, mailed Monday.
And I didn't even get a pepperoni slice!
When you vote for Barr, you get a cheese sandwich with cheese made from mother's milk.
Guy, I'll give you Amtrak/Socialism but I'll never acquiesce to chicken chili.
My philosophy is simple. If it isn't good for you there is no point in dressing food up in whore's, er, chicken's clothing to feel better about eating it. 😉
If you must put something on your bread, it may as well be butter. At least it tastes good.
The key to that is to eat moderately. But if you're going to eat artery clogging goodies, you should make it well worth your while.
Lefiti,
Mother's makes some decent car wax, but I would not want a sandwich made of it.
you get a cheese sandwich with cheese made from mother's milk.
I think in order to appreciate that one should have actually tasted mother's milk.
It comes in a great container and the product is fab for kiddos but there is a reason we get our milk from cows.
*My Socialist voice sounds like that guy with the big afro who used to have the painting classes on PBS.
I also do a mean Julia Child!
But I don't want to leave the country. But I'm so small, and Guy Montag's Overdeveloped Masculinity won't let me choose!
Mother's makes some decent car wax, but I would not want a sandwich made of it.
That is approaching a thread winner. 😉
Okay, caramel is written all over this page, so why don't we have ads for hottie 'mixed-race' chicks who want to date?
Who is with me for starting a Caramel-Cuties dating site!
Hey, no public animas. That's just gross.
Not sure which silly troll wrote that, but I am only in touch with my femenine side when I am brandishing a firearm.
How do you touch your feminine side with a gun?
Does it tickle? Is it a thrill?
We wait with bated breath.
Whirl of Change ("Peanut-nougat ice cream whirled with chunks of chocolate-covered peanut brittle and a caramel ribbon")
Also, instead of paying for it, you find the richest person in the store and take his wallet at gunpoint while telling him paying for your ice cream is patriotic.
Oh, and you have give Bill Ayers a lick.
My Socialist voice sounds like that guy with the big afro who used to have the painting classes on PBS.
I and my happy tree friends trancend politics.
TallDave,
Oh, and you have give Bill Ayers a lick.
[Socialist voice]
We should support our domestic freedom fighters in every way possible. Just pretend it is a big fluffy cloud if you are so homophobic as to refuse to share intimacy with another man.
[/Socialist voice]
I and my happy tree friends transcend politics.
"That there happy little tree will be our little secret.
And if you tell anyone else about it I will come to your house and I WILL CUT YOU!"
Of course Obesity is going to win, it ALWAYS wins! the American Sheeples appetite is unstoppable.
JIff
http://www.online-privacy.cz.tc
Sir Alphabet:
I am an empirical shill, if it makes you feel any better. My reaction would have been the same if your sentence had read:
Twas not my sentence. I was simply observing that I can, with near certainty, guarantee that I will not/will vote for somebody based on their party affiliation, to the degree that I do vote. I do not need to make more than a cursory observation to realize that, in all cases I have observed carefully, no Democrat running for national office will get my vote. It can be said with almost the same level of certainty that no Republican will. I do not think that makes one a cancer on the body politic. If every time I touch open flame I get burned, I think it's perfectly valid to say with near certainty that I will no longer touch open flames. Deriving specific knowledge from generalizations is a powerful tool in humans ability to make decisions based on limited knowledge and avoid investing valuable time and effort to gather redundant information.
If you had asked me before the Dem nomination was secured, I would have said there is no way I'll vote for the eventual Democratic nominee. I was right, and would have been right regardless of the outcome. Not a cancer, simply a wise investment of time and effort.
-K
Not only are these obese people fat, they're also underhanded and dishonest
Finally, Smacky comes out strong against the Obese and their delicious filling agenda.
My local 7-11 has a Ron Paul cup... it holds up to 2 liters of your favorite beverage and is MADE OF SOLID GOLD. They let me look at it.
You, sir, are a cancer on the body politic.
Nope, I live in Maryland. If a Dem wins the Prez, then I'll live under a:
- Democrat prez
- Democrat VP
- Democrat Senate
- Democrat House of Reps
- Have two Maryland Democrat senators
- Live in a district gerrymandered (MD3) to be a permanent Democrat Representative District
- Have 5 out of 7 Democrat Representatives (maybe 6 out of 7 come the New Year)
- Democrat Governor (and a particular John Edwards empty suited clone douche bag he is)
- Democrat Lt. Governor
- Democrat State Senate majority (maybe a super majority, I can't remember offhand)
- Democrat House of Delegates majority (maybe a super majority, I can't remember offhand)
- Live in a State senate district represent by a Democrat and gerrymandered to remain that way
- Live in a State Delegate district resented by a Democrat and gerrymandered to remain that way
- Democrat State Attorney General
- Democrat State Treasurer
- Democrat State Controller (Only light in the heaven because he wants the Governor's job)
- All other statewide posts are Democrats
- Democrat County Executive (I voted for him, the Republican was an real dipshit)
- Four out of five County Council Members are Democrats
Is this a recipe for inefficiency, rent seeking and corruption or what?
I was in Florida for business earlier this week. I bought a two coffee's while I was there. Both times I had a regular 7-11 coffee cup. Did that mean I voted for Barr twice?
As an aside, I walked into the 7-11 at Rt 520 & the beach in Cocoa Beach on Monday morning about 7am-ish. There was blood all over the place. Appearently, a woman that was a regular customer was coming to get her morning coffee. Two guys jumped out of a car, beat the shit out of her and stole her purse. Come Nov 5th after an Obama win that kind of stuff won;t happen again.
Twas not my sentence.
My apologies for the misattribution.
However, my scorn still mostly remains. How do people who *know before looking* and *don't ever look* handle realignments like the dos-?-dos that the Donkeys and the GOP pulled in reaction to the Civil Rights Act and sundry other pieces during the early 70s?
TWC @ 1:28
via EJM @12:52:
"it's Obama with 1,904 (48%), to McCain's 2,063 (52%)."
Whichever party has chorizo in their burrito wins.
This is the kind of thing that The Bilderbergers don't want the people to know.
Ombudsman, you may have missed my update at 1:30 p.m.; TWC likely saw (but didn't specifically mention) the updated stats before I did.
I tried Whirl of Change. The nougat sold me. It wasn't my idea to go to Baskin Robbins though. I went along to be polite, and on the assumption that even mediocre ice cream is good to eat.
Elemenope @ 4:40pm:
I tell you what. When in the course of the evolution of politics, the national Democratic party runs a pro gun, pro SS privatizing, pro end the WOD, pro free trade, pro free market, pro lower taxes, pro school choice, non interventionist candidate who doesn't resort to populist class warfare rhetoric, I'll stop making blanket statements like "I'll never vote for a Dem on the national stage". Hell, I'll reconsider for someone who can claim 3 or 4 of those. The fact is that the current Democratic party will not, in fact likely can not, field a candidate for national office that can lay claim to even a few of those positions. So I save myself time and effort better spent elsewhere.
-K
EJM @ 6:21
1) I did miss the update.
2) America is indeed DOOOOOOMED
Jesus fucking Christ you have to be fucking kidding me...Obama is hard to make fun of? My asshole.
MayorOmalleySuxs wrote:
- Democrat prez
- Democrat VP
- Democrat Senate
- Democrat House of Reps
- Have two Maryland Democrat senators
- Live in a district gerrymandered (MD3) to be a permanent Democrat Representative District
- Have 5 out of 7 Democrat Representatives (maybe 6 out of 7 come the New Year)
- Democrat Governor (and a particular John Edwards empty suited clone douche bag he is)
I'll trade your Edwards clone for Blago. No?
Uh, didn't think so.....