Medi-Whore D'oeuvres

"Romney’s association with Bain Capital, which seems to be hurting him in the industrial Midwest, his identification with the rightwing Republican stands on abortion and immigration, and, perhaps, the ineptitude of his campaign. But in public opinion surveys, what has jumped out for months is the large advantage that Obama enjoys over Romney on questions related to character and personality.
In the same poll that Gallup found voters preferring Romney on the economy, it found that Obama enjoyed a 23 percentage-point edge on who is more 'likeable,' a 16 point advantage in 'who cares about the needs of people like you,' and a 12-point edge in who is more 'honest and trustworthy.'Other polls show similar results. In four polls conducted from April 8 through September 9, The Washington Post and ABC found that voters by over two-to-one margins thought that Obama 'seems the more friendly and likeable person.'Civics teachers may wring their hands about it—all these voters who supposedly make up their minds based on imaginary beers with people they’ll never personally meet—but these kind of considerations can prove decisive. If the 2000 election had been decided entirely on specific policy grounds, Vice President Al Gore probably would have won fairly easily. But George W. Bush enjoyed a consistent edge on character questions. According to Gallup polls in October 2000, voters found Bush more likeable by 60 to 31 percent and more honest and trustworthy by 47 to 33 percent. In the 2004 election, Bush enjoyed a similar edge over challenger John Kerry. After the October 13 debate, CNN/Gallup found voters preferring Kerry on every measure except one: who was “more likeable.” Bush, not Kerry, went on to win the election." (TNR)

"President Obama holds leads over Mitt Romney in Ohio, Florida and Virginia, according to a new poll. Obama has a 7-point lead over Romney in Ohio, and 5-point advantages in both Florida and Virginia, according to the NBC News, Wall Street Journal and Marist Poll. All three states are basically must-wins for Romney. His path to victory would be severely complicated if Obama wins any of the three states. With victories in two of the states, it would likely be mathematically impossible for Romney to overtake Obama in the race for 270 electoral votes. The poll shows Obama with 50 percent support in Ohio compared to 43 percent support for Romney. Six percent are undecided. In Florida, Obama gets the support of 49 percent of those surveyed compared to 44 percent for Romney. This result is particularly disappointing at this stage of the campaign for Romney." (TheHill)

"James Rosenquist was born in 1933 in Grand Forks, North Dakota and trained at the Art Students League. He is one of the most celebrated artists of our time. Known for his leadership in the American Pop Art movement, Rosenquist began his career as a billboard painter in New York City. This experience inspired him to work on a large scale. With bright Day-Glo colors and a sleek aesthetic, Rosenquist's early work juxtaposed fragmented images derived from advertising to create enigmatic, thought-provoking narratives that foster a dialogue about consumer culture. The artist's latest exhibition at Acquavella Galleries features eleven paintings — two of which are monumental in scale — that reflect his continued interest in time and outer space. The opening night party kicked off the fall art season. On hand to celebrate this legendary, warm-hearted man were his daughter Lily Rosenquist along wiith Caroline Kennedy, Ed Schlossberg, and their daughter Rose; Agnes Gund; sculptor Tom Otterness and his wife, experimental film-maker Coleen Fitzgibbon; artists Ray Smith, Sheila Berger, Adrienne bon Haes, and Christo; and Whitney Director Adam Weinberg." (NYSocialDiary)

"So why the beef in Berne? Easy! City busybodies, mostly socialists who think like Balzac did—that all great fortunes derive from great crimes—believe that foreign residents should pay higher taxes, totally ignoring the fact that we not only pay high Swiss federal taxes in the form of a forfait, as it’s called, but also local ones. A forfait is a deal struck between the Swiss and the foreigner. The Swiss tell you how much they think you should pay, you try and argue a bit, then a deal is struck. The city slickers want to break the agreement, hoping to out-Hollande that great French clown Hollande.
When I speak with the village people, their reaction to those who wish to change the system is not one I can accurately report in a family magazine. I have yet to find one local who fails to froth at the mouth when I mention Berne and its interference. Here we thought we were enjoying democracy at the village level, with peasants and artisans and innkeepers thinking they were masters of their own destinies, and suddenly Karl Marx emerges from the ashes and is about to ruin a nearly perfect little society. I am among the few that reported the harm Bernie Ecclestone did when he bought the Hotel Olden—a very old and traditional local inn—and turned it into a boutique hotel for the rich and very ugly. The locals were priced out and some of us older hands made sure the dwarf knew it. (He just bought a second chalet for his rather unattractive daughters.) But that is neither here nor there." (Taki Theodoracopulos)

"We made the official decision to go open during a crippling blizzard that left me stranded in our nation’s capital, where I’d gone to visit a friend. Standing alone beside a birch-bark canoe in the lobby of the Smithsonian’s Native American History Museum, watching masses of white flakes swirl and smash into the ceiling-high windows, I called Ryan. It was nine-thirty in the morning, and the museum was deserted. My galoshes squeaked against the freshly cleaned marble floor. 'I love you. I am miserable,' I said. 'And I think we should try (an open marriage), or something like it.' And without any hesitation, he agreed. Later that night, under the auspices of sloe gin in Adams Morgan, my friend’s very attractive, russet-haired colleague followed me into the (one-person!) ladies room, where we had a super-hot hookup. I took the Chinatown bus back to New York feeling better about my sexual self than I’d felt in years, although I was still apprehensive about how this would all turn out. Ryan and I continued to have sporadic, once-every-few-months sex while I sought extramarital prospects in bars, through friends, and on the Internet. Dating was never something that I wanted at the forefront of my life, but at the dawn of our openness, I craved experiences, seeing potential fuck buddies in my periphery everywhere I turned. This soon tapered off, and I became more realistic and also more discriminating." (TheCut)