DOAKS

Good afternoon. Just got back from reading the Journal. Poolside. I hope you are sitting in an uncomfortable office cubicle.

The Wall Street Journal came out with their first magazine. I still haven’t read it. A bit too glossy for me. Too many photos. If I wanted to feel dumb, I could just buy US Weekly or simply look in the mirror.

Saturday’s Journal, in the Corrections & Amplifications Column (many liberals would opine that the entire paper fits into this category), there was the following mea culpa:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is 44 years old. An article on the governor in the Fall 2008 edition of WSJ. magazine that was included with some copies of the Sept. 6 Journal incorrectly said she is 45.

Yes. This is a minuscule error. FYI, my WSJ Magazine copy was among the “some” (botched) batch. However, remember, the elections will soon be upon us. And lots of attention has been directed at Palin’s youth. Therefore, mistaking Sarah Palin’s age is a matter of significance, albeit even just one year older!

A few weeks back, I blogged about a WSJ front page that juxtaposed a picture of Obama with the word “Muslim”. No doubt this was NOT intentional. Still, people need to be very sensitive. And pay attention to the nuances.

Here’s what I really don’t get; fine. The age was wrong. You made mention of it in your correction section. But why does the ONLINE version still say Palin is 45? This isn’t a print copy…which would make it too late to fix. For heavens sake, this is the web version.

To the folks at the Journal: details!

Just how popular is Sara Palin these days? Yesterday, overstock.com, OSTK, had the Palin book, Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down, in stock.

No more. Today, the book has SOLD OUT.

So, with no choice, I did the next best thing. I headed over to Amazon.com, AMZN, to buy the book. Guess what? The book is NOT in stock on Amazon.com either. However, I was able to pre-order it on Amazon. Cost is $8.77 AND I have Amazon Prime.

Currently on Amazon, Sarah, is #10 in book sales! Not bad for an known. Meanwhile, Barack Obama’s Audacity of Hope is further down @ #29 on the best seller list. Talk about change of momentum.

A bit of irony; the book immediately preceding Palin’s bio is the Stephanie Meyer novel, book 2 of the Twighlight Saga. Book title? New Moon! New moon indeed for the Republican party.

Since the inception of the famed Kippah Polls, the McCippah as retained a consistent lead over the Obamica. Until last week. Yippers.

Yesterday, a writer asked me if the Obama Kippahs gained traction thanks to the DNC. I checked the numbers. Indeed, the convention put the Obamica ahead last week.

These numbers are not a total tally. It’s based on Kippah orders since the start of last week. When the history books are written about the politcal kippahs, this convention momentum will be referred to as the great convention kippah bounce.

Since last week, 60% of orders are for the Obamica; 40% for the McCippah.

The graphic depicts the changing tide; Hurricane Gustav, Gracious Hillary and Obama taking control in Denver.

In general, people were always surprised that the McCippah was outselling the Obamica, since Jews typically vote Democract.

Three possible explanations I keep hearing as to why this occured

1 - Democratic Jews have less money to spend after donating so much of their savings to the Obama campaign
2 - Republican Jews tend to be more religious; hence the Kippah
3 - Democratic Jews, while the majority, are akin to the girl with the natural beauty that doesn’t even need makeup. Makeup = Obamica Kippah Whereas the Republican Jew, the minority, has a tougher battle and needs the reinforcement…

Will the McCippah reclaim the title after the RNC this week?

You think the title of this post is complicated? Wait til you meet me in person….

The Palin and Obama drama reminds me of the latest browser wars. Here’s how: for the past few years, Firefox has been the darling of the browser world. Mozilla has about 20% of market share. Forget about the fact that IE has more than 70% of internet users. It’s more about the “who”. Firefox is often preferred by the tech savvy/the younger generation/the influencers. Microsoft is aware of this. And they’re not standing still…in a Microsoft sort of way. Which means, to the naked eye, they aren’t doing much.

Even to the fully-clothed eye, the question remains; can Microsoft ever be cool again.

Last week, out of nowhere, Internet Explorer was cool again. Version 8 of IE offered a neat feature, dubbed the porn mode. More here. Basically, a feature that allows you to customize the history of your browsing. Not only was this a good idea, it’s also sort of counter-Google, since Google wants to know everything about your web browsing habits. Especially after acquiring Double Click.

It was working. Microsoft was cool again. For a few days. I changed my Facebook status to “How Microsoft got its groove back”.

The honeymoon was short lived. Over the weekend, word “leaked” that Google was launching their own browser called Chrome. Google hopes to challenge IE and Microsoft. End of the IE 8 story. Everyone jumped on the Google browser. Google products get people excited. Microsoft products do not.

And this my friends reminded me of the Palin/Obama saga. Last week, the Obama team got a ton of press. The DNC wasn’t a failure of disunity, which means that it was a success for the Democrats. Then on Friday, team McCain announced that Sarah Palin would be VP. The media charged. McCain/Palin ruled the discussion for a few days.

That honeymoon was also cut short. News of Palin’s daughter has once again put a damper on the McCain PR party. And the Republicans are pining for the days when press was a scarcity.

P.S. For fun, I created a browser war website, IE versus Firefox. It needs updating ASAP!.

Just finished reading today’s WSJ. Of course, like everyone else, they were dead wrong about the McCain’s VP choice, suggesting Romney, Pawlenty & LieberJew.

I didn’t post on Obama choosing Biden for a few reasons:

1) My Bubby was wrong and I didn’t want to dwell on that

2) Biden was a predictable choice; bringing to the table the experience that Obama lacks

Sarah Palin is different. IMO, she is a safer choice than the three former VP candidates:
- Romney was too Mormon for some
- Pawlenty was too bland for the party that needs a star injection
- Lieberman was too Democrat for many

Moreover, agree or disagree with McCain’s choice, Sarah Palin will get a ton of media exposure, which the McCain camp desperately needs. Why?

1- She is female
2- She is gorgeous
3- She is an unknown which makes it all the more compelling of a story

McCain also lacks “youth”, which Palin will more than compensate for.

The criticism coming out from Obama camp about Palin is a regurgitation of the stuff that was being aimed at Obama; the lack of experience, relying on the race card (gender in Palin’s case) and good looks (what a moronic insult!).

The difference is; Obama is running for President. Palin is running as VP. Big difference. People don’t vote for VP’s. They vote for Presidents.

Here’s the dealio; the Obama camp is in a serious catch 22; their attempts to belittle Palin will only reflect negatively on them. Remember, the Democrats are known as the progressive party. Yet, Hillary was not chosen as Obama’s VP, even though that would have made an unbeatable ticket. It was the Republican party that chose a female VP candidate!

Furthermore, to chastise Palin for lack of experience is to define the word “hypocrisy”! Personally, the Democratic party would be much better off NOT bringing up the experience card. Remeber, even Democratic VP Joe Biden said that Obama doesn’t have the necessary experience…

FYI, there is an ongoing investigation into Palin which the Democrats will be quick to point out. Fair enough. But again, Sarah Palin is a VP candidate. Not a presidential candidate. And it will not hurt her or McCain more than the Reverend Wright mess or the Rezko allegation.

A few moths ago, Barack Obama was in Florida. During his visit, Obama visited a synagogue to court the Jewish vote. And maybe even to catch a Minyan for Mincha.

The chosen synagogue was Bnai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton, a conservative outfit. FYI, Jewish conservative. Nothing to do with the conservative political party. If anything, the opposite would be true. If anything.

Anyways, Rabbi Pinny was in attendance and was photographed by a Getty shutterbug.

Unfortunately, the event occurred about 3 months BVK (before VanityKippah.com). Otherwise, I’d have made sure that Rabbi Pinny would be wearing an Obamica!

Just got off the telephone with my grandmother in Montreal. FYI, this is my Bubby that was famous on YouTube. Article.

Anyways, my grandmother thinks that Obama, who reminds her of Frank Sinatra, will choose Al Gore as a running mate. She feels this will give Obama an edge over McCain.

My Bubby does not have a computer. In fact, her first question about VanityKippah.com was “how many people are calling the site?”. Kid you not. Still, Drudge is running an Obama VP poll and the highest percentage of votes is for ” wildcard”. Gore’s name is not on the list of choice. But he fits right into the wildcard category.

Here’s a true story about my grandmother; she once mentioned to me that my uncle’s interest was piqued by a woman in her building. I thought my Bubby had lost her mind. A year lady, my uncle married this woman.

Cool fact: my grandmother was a classmate with Henry Kissinger in Furth, Germany.

Another week. Another poll result. Last week, we introduced the Kippak Poll. This week, we have the second installment.

To date, the McCain Kippah, the McCippah is outselling the Obamica, the Barack Obama Kippah, 52% to 48%.

Does this mean anything? I have no idea. A few possible explanations for the McCippah lead can be found here.

What do you think? Does this shed any light on the Jewish vote?

Next week, I will break things down by male and female orders. Maybe even throw in some data on conversion rates and page views.

I have not decided who to vote for yet. I’m waiting for the candidates to make up their minds before I make up mine. In a way, I wish Mariah Carey was running, so I could just vote for her and be done with it.

As I type this in a Tully’s Coffee shop with them free wi-fi, I am wearing my Obamica. Last week, I wore my McCippah. Basically, my point is, I am non-partisan. For now.

This morning, I went to fetch my Wall Street Journal for my dog. Truthfully, I have no dog. But the image of me holding a paper in my mouth and delivering it to man’s best friend is amusing.

Barack Obama has been “accused” of being a Muslim. I’ve received these moronic emails with Obama is a Muslim propaganda. Such stupidity.

1) It’s not true. So what about his name? Whoopi Goldberg isn’t Jewish.
2) Why would it even make a difference to me if he was Muslim? Or Catholic. Or Jewish. He’s not running to be my Rabbi. Or Priest.
3) Obama was forced to resign from his CHURCH because of his PASTOR. He is still getting negative flack for it. You can’t criticize him for attending a Christ oriented Church and then simultaneously float baseless allegations of him being Muslim. It’s too confusing!

Anyways, check out the front page of today’s WSJ.

Notice how Barack Obama’s photo is directly above the article titled “Muslim Land Joins Ranks of Tigers”. To be fair, the Journal has been updating their format; splashing pictures on the cover page, with the corresponding articles appearing in between the pages of section A.

Still, talk about subliminal messaging. The first thing that crossed my mind when I stooped down to pick up the paper was that the word “Muslim” was associated with the Obama picture. I’m sure people will be quick to point out that the WSJ is now owned by News Corp, the same folks that own Fox News….you get the drift.

Personally, Rubert Murdoch loves Obama. And he is not a politician. He’s a successful businessman.

Still, one would think that the Journal should be a little more careful when it comes to the juxtaposition of a very sensitive issue.

What do you think?

P.S. I had to schlepp out to Kinkos to scan the image!

Good afternoon. The sun is beginning to break through the penetrable clouds of the Seattle skyline. Hence, I will keep this post brief, though my personal preference is boxers. Kidding.

Ever since this site launched, I’ve been constantly asked the same question: Which Kippah is selling more; the McCippah or the Obamica?

The Jewish population in the US is rather small at about 2.5%. Perhaps less. Still, lots of Jewish folk reside in Florida, including my nephew. And Florida is an important state. With the notorious history of the knocked-up chad. There’s also a nice amount of Jewish voters in other states with sizable electoral votes: California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Massachusets.

Jon Stewart is also Jewish. I’m just saying.

So, there are the Zogby polls and the Rasmussen polls. Today, I introduce the Kippah Polls.

The site has been live for a week. To date, the McCain Kippah leads the Obama Kippah; 56% to 44% in total sales.

As time progresses, I will be able to break down these figures by State and by male/female purchases.