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Via Menzies House: A clear majority of Austrians support an anti-burka law, according to new poll results. The Austrian Independent reports: “Viennese public opinion agency Karmasin spoke with 500 Austrians to find that 71 per cent of them were in favour of such a law prohibiting wearing burkas in public places. Such veils cover women’s bodies expect a small gap for their eyes. Only 23 per cent spoke out against the introduction of such a bylaw, Karmasin found in its survey conducted for weekly magazine profil.” The seven in ten result isn’t surprising. Across right-leaning Europe, there is growing support...

A San Francisco State University instructor writes in Poynter today that the media is misrepresenting some basic features of the debate over the value of a college education. In reviewing recent coverage, Sarah Fidelibus argues that journalists are taking surveys out of context in making the case that a college education isn't worth young people's time and money anymore. The critique comes on the heels of a piece in the New Republic titled "Why the media is always wrong about the value of a college degree." In the latter article, Education Sector's Kevin Carey mocks media stories that profile woeful...

I want to elaborate, just a bit, on the point I made in my latest China Economic Review column about China’s high-speed rail investment, since it had to be cut short there due to space restrictions. Currently, China’s conventional rail system is stretched to capacity carrying two commodities: coal and people. And as Damien Ma, an analyst at the Eurasia Group, notes in a post today at The Atlantic, passengers takes politically priority over coal, requiring much of the nation’s coal to be transported by truck, leading to monumental traffic jams on China’s roads (including the famous 10-day, 62-mile backup...

Obama's tax-cut deal upsets many major donorsSome say they will withhold funds for the next election. Even if they come around before the campaign kicks into gear, the initial backlash could hurt early Democratic efforts to counter GOP-allied groups. By Matea Gold, Tribune Washington Bureau 4:39 PM PST, December 9, 2010 Reporting from Washington President Obama's advisors are confident that liberals dismayed by his agreement to extend tax breaks for the wealthy will forgive him by the time the 2012 election kicks into gear. But the current backlash on the left may intensify the immediate challenge Democrats face in building...

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Reuters) - A chastened President Barack Obama on Wednesday pledged to seek compromise with Republicans who won big in congressional elections and admitted he had lost touch with voters who delivered a "shellacking" to him and his Democrats. But on issue after issue, Obama gave little ground on his positions as the two sides gear up for negotiations over how to tackle the sluggish economy, the main reason the electorate has soured on his leadership

Japanese news today over here (newspapers above the fold, magazines, non-stop TV networks) are filled to the brim with news of Mr. Obama's humiliating defeat at the hands of the Republicans.Many of this is bringing Japanese up to speed as to how unpopular Mr. Obama really is, as for the last two years by and large they perpetuated the image of him being successful and popular (mostly in order to sell books and English instruction tapes using his speeches). What a rude awakening.Well, my favorite title is from this morning's Hokkaido Shimbun: Essentially: "Obama Agenda For "Change" Delivered Strong...

The Democrats suffered a debacle at the polls in the US on Tuesday -- and President Barack Obama is to blame. Once celebrated as a great communicator, the president has lost touch with the mood in his country. Now, he must re-invent himself. But can he succeed? On Thursday, US President Barack Obama will be leaving Washington behind. He is embarking on a trip to Asia, including a stop in Indonesia. The flight is a long one -- almost an entire day. But Obama lived for a time in Indonesia as a child, and the feeling of being at home...

SNIP The results from Indiana, Ohio and Virginia, where Democrats lost at least nine House seats, were particularly brutal for Mr. Obama, who even made a personal campaign stop last Friday...in a futile bid to rescue Rep. Tom Perriello. Mr. Obama won the White House in 2008 in part because he was able to sway voters in those states. Among those ousted were two committee chairmen, Rep. John M. Spratt of South Carolina and Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, who between them had 64 years of experience in the House. Republicans also picked up Senate seats in North Dakota, Indiana,...

SNIP The most pressing question as Mr. Obama picks through the results on Wednesday morning will be what lessons he takes from the electoral reversals. Was this the natural and unavoidable backlash in a time of historic economic distress or was it a repudiation of a big-spending activist government? Was it primarily a failure of communications as the White House has suggested lately or was it a fundamental disconnect with the values and priorities of the American public? “He will read the results carefully and hear the messages the American people are sending,” David Axelrod, the president’s senior adviser and...

Soon after Barack Obama's inauguration Sam Tanenhaus opined in The New Republic and later in a stylistic book, The Death of Conservatism, that liberalism had won a lasting political triumph in the 2008 elections and that conservatives were the wave of the past. Tanenhaus, who edits the influential Week in Review section of The New York Times, was expressing post-election conventional wisdom when he declared that conservative doctrine had "not only been defeated but discredited" by Obama's election... Another 2009 book, by the Democratic strategist James Carville, put the case bluntly. In 40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule...

Democrats fight to stay in office amid backlashBy Angela K. Brown, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 2, 11:04 am ET McGREGOR, Texas – Rep. Chet Edwards, an imperiled Democrat deep in the heart of Republican territory, finds exiting American Legion Post No. 273 slow going. Supporters and well-wishers keep stopping him. **SNIP** As the campaign becomes increasingly toxic for Democrats, none of it may matter. Some of the most senior Democrats in conservative districts are facing what could be their most difficult races: Missouri's 17-term Rep. Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and South Carolina's 14-term Rep....

Barack Obama’s Democratic party faces a series of dramatic defeats at every level of government in Washington and beyond in the November midterm elections, according to leading analysts and opinion polls. The University of Virginia’s widely monitored Crystal Ball will on Wednesday forecast sweeping setbacks on Capitol Hill and the loss of a clutch of state governorships on November 2. EDITOR’S CHOICE Obama struggles to convince voters - Aug-30Obama: Popularity peaks and troughs - Aug-26Opinion: Obama is right on China - Aug-30View from DC videos - Nov-11In depth: The Obama presidency - Aug-06In depth: US states of emergency - Jul-27It...

More good news for Republicans and bad news for Democrats keeps flooding in. Consider this morning’s polls reported in realclearpolitics.com. Mason-Dixon, polling for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, has Harry Reid up over Sherron Angle by only 45%-44%–a statistical tie. The mainstream meme has been that Angle is unelectable. This poll refutes that. She’s certainly not a sure winner, but she’s not a sure loser either. And Harry Reid, who has been on statewide ballots in Nevada going back to 1970, when he was elected lieutenant governor, is stuck under 50%. Next is Scott Rasmussen’s poll in the Florida governor race: Republican...

It has the making of a stunning political turnaround that could change the course of the United States for the next 10 years. The 2010 U.S. mid-term elections -- in which every seat of the House of Representatives, a third of the Senate and 36 governorships are up for grabs -- could see the start of the Republican Party's march back to power and propel a Republican into the White House, likely a relative unknown, two years later. The possible about-turn comes as economic growth falters and unemployment rises, and amid growing frustration over unchecked illegal immigration. "The 2010 elections...

A new poll shows that while Americans continue to feel they are losing their freedoms under President Obama's agenda of government takeover of private companies, health care and energy, they are beginning to fight back with public statements such as bumper stickers and political buttons. "This may well represent a mainstream rebellion of the masses who are tired of being cowed by a national mainstream media that has offered little objective criticism of the president," said Fritz Wenzel of Wenzel Strategies. The August WND Freedom Index poll was conducted Aug. 13-16 with an automated technology calling a random sampling of...

Voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on all 10 of the important issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports. The GOP has consistently been trusted on most issues for months now, but in July they held the lead on only nine of the key issues. Republicans lead Democrats 47% to 39% on the economy, which remains the most important issue to voters. Those numbers are nearly identical to those found in June. Republicans have held the advantage on the economy since May of last year. But for the first time in months, Republicans now hold a slight edge on the...

Influential Washington news site Politico has a major piece this morning revealing mounting fears among leading Democrats over worsening prospects for retaining control of the House of Representatives in this November’s mid-terms. According to Politico: Top Democrats are growing markedly more pessimistic about holding the House, privately conceding that the summertime economic and political recovery they were banking on will not likely materialize by Election Day. In conversations with more than two dozen party insiders, most of whom requested anonymity to speak candidly about the state of play, Democrats in and out of Washington say they are increasingly alarmed about...

Andrew Romanoff entered the presidential robo-calls/appearances derby today, with a late entry from former President Bill Clinton. Clinton also brought up a fairly unexplored topic in this campaign, mentioning Romanoff as “the top-line candidate.” Tuesday’s results in Colorado may well turn up an indicator of how much Democratic candidates want to be seen with Obama for the general election campaign.

Pollster John Zogby predicts President Obama will become "toxic" for Democrats on the campaign trail if incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet loses to state legislator Andrew Romanoff in Tuesday's Democratic primary in Colorado. In an exclusive Newsmax.TV interview, Zogby says a loss by Bennet, a favorite of the Democratic establishment who has received strong personal support from the president, would send a clear signal to other Democrats, sharply truncating Obama's coattails come November.