Sniffing Your Political Soulmate: Diet Could Be A Confounding Variable

The WaPo poses a puzzle and AllahPundit has fun with it, so I'll chime in. The WaPo:

Study: Liberals and conservatives sniff out like-minded mates by body odor

Conservatives and liberals do not smell the same to potential mates. According to a study published this month in the American Journal of Political Science, people can literally sniff out ideology — and this may explain why so many couples share political beliefs. Or, as the study’s title says, “Assortative Mating on Ideology Could Operate Through Olfactory Cues.”

Researchers led by Brown University political scientist Rose McDermott found that, to a small but significant degree, people prefer the body odor of those who vote as they do.

There may well be some fundamental biology at work [study]. However, let me note that:

(a) Liberals and conservatives seem to make different food choices - a shocker to anyone familiar with the granola crunching libs, red-meat conservatives, and libertarian Paleos, not to mention anyone watching the wars erupt in the NY Times comments section on any diet-related article.

(b) food choices can affect a person's body odor [study] (I score that in the Thank Heaven For Science category, somewhere near "water is wet").

I will now give free rein to my common sense and assert that:

(c) people are more likely to favor (or less likely to be annoyed by) a body odor similar to their own.

The study described by the WaPo makes no mention of controlling for the normal diet of the hard-core liberals and conservatives providing the odor samples, so a potentially confounding variable was ignored.

Well. More Research Needed!

Comments

[Other than your odor.]

So it's sniff and scratch?

[Marlene]

One of the small farmers down the road spread cow manure on his fields yesterday and the smell is wafting thru the air this morning. Ha,I can smell sh*t a mile away!

[James D.]

AliceH posted in the previous thread:

I'm skeptical Obama worries about risk to soldiers in a "boots on the ground" operation. I think maybe he's still PO'd that there's more to getting OUT of Iraq and Afghanistan than marching troops onto planes and flying home.

I'm not skeptical at all. I'm firmly convinced that Obama doesn't worry in the slightest about risk to soldiers (or to any of the citizens he has sworn to protect and defend, for that matter).

[GMax]

Could it be that liberals just stink?

[AliceH]

JamesD - I meant to imply he's not concerned about the political risk of boots on the ground, either. He doesn't like decisions, and really really hates decisions that he can't reverse when events (or polls) alter conditions.

[Threadkiller]

This explains Mooch's school lunch programs.

[Threadkiller]

Making scent friends

[henry]

Conservatives are more likely to bathe, its easy to smell the progs.

[Threadkiller]

"When we get there, Mooch, I need you to make sure he is a friend."

(Right click...)

[Ignatz]

Interesting article on how the founders first envisioned picking and removing a president.
But it was changed and they seem to have passed it to find out what's in it.

[Jane]

Okay, I'm totally in love. He's mine Ann, get your hands off him!

[Jeff Dobbs]

Researchers led by Brown University political scientist Rose McDermott

But . . . by any other name would she smell as sweet?

[Ignatz]

Are you referring to her headgear, TK, or whatever it is she's doing with her hands down in her nether regions?

[Jane]

Interesting to watch Elijah Cummings pretend he gives a shit - oh that's now changed.

[Ignatz]

The occupooper, the short guy with the fez or Barry, Jane?
I'm thinking Ann will be quite happy to give way no matter who you mean. :)

[Jeff Dobbs]

I have long told of my frustration on comments that give little or no context to what it is the commenter is talking about.

For example, I have no way to know if Jane's 10:12 is in reference to TK's 9:53 or his 10:01.

[jimmyk]

I'm sure the object of Jane's affections is Trey Gowdy, or someone at the hearings.

[peter]

to no avail apparently hit

[Threadkiller]

Her scent-tilla of evidence gland, Ig.

[Ignatz]

I have long told of my frustration on comments that act like the immediately preceding comment wasn't there. :)

[Miss Marple]

So, the panel that did the security review is reporting that their recommendations were partially declined.

[Danube on iPad]

It is quite delightful to see this asshole in trouble:

http://dailycaller.com/2014/09/16/report-cnns-fareed-zakaria-accused-of-plagiarism-yet-again/

[Ignatz]

I probably should know this without asking, but 'security review' of what, MM?

[Miss Marple]

What was apparently declined was the appointment of an undersecretary of diplomatic security and a prohibition on waiving security requirements without a detailed review. (I may have misheard the last thing. I am not as good a transcriber as daddy.)

[Miss Marple]

I am sorry Ignatz. The security review done by a panel after Benghazi.

I think it was a panel of outside security experts and retired FBI and such.

[Jane]

My reference is to Trey! Sheesh! Get with the program. Ann and I have been battling over him for months!

[Ignatz]

Ah, the hearings. Never mind.

[Miss Marple]

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/russia-free-syrian-army-no-longer-exists-rebels-are-coordinating

This is why it is a bad idea to arm them. McCain is too gullible.

Of course, Russia could be lying, and I am the gullible one instead.

Gives me a headache.

[Ignatz]

I think we need a Benghazi hearings thread. )

[Jeff Dobbs]

Ig:
I have long told of my frustration on comments that act like the immediately preceding comment wasn't there. :)

I would like to apologize for not acknowledging that Ig beat me to the bunch, but I won't. That's just how I roll, and plus he used an emoticon. ::grin::

[Jeff Dobbs]

I've thought it through and Jane was definitely referencing the 9:53.

[Jane]

From Twitter!

Lee Stranahan ‏@stranahan 1m

#BenghaziSelectCommittee Strategy is clear : distract Americans through polite rule following wonkery into a morass of boredom. #Winning.

[jimmyk]

You can't say I don't know the JOM cat-fighting playbook, even if I sometimes need help with narc's and CH's references.

[rse]

New post up.

http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/gaining-access-to-and-then-guiding-each-students-subjective-perception-of-reality-to-change-the-here-and-now/

I think the comment upthread about coming here to colonize fits in with what the schools plan to nurture. It's why making personal perception the focus of K-12 is dangerous to any kind of stable reality or anyone's future prosperity.

[Miss Marple]

So, we have hearings going on at the same time on both Benghazi and the ISIS threat. So since they are competing networks either do not cover at all or relagate to split screen with discussion over the pictures, so you don't know what's being said.

Hearings are on C-SPAN3, which is not seen by a lot of people.

1. Why isn't Boehner controlling hearing times?
2. C-SPAN is not impartial. (Big news, I know.)
3. Miss Marple is Not Happy.

[Gamom]

I am relegated to checking online between teaching my classes - so please continue to comment on the hearings MM and others - Thanks!

[Dave (in MA)]

Jon Papelbon got suspended for 7 games for doing the same thing.

[Rick B]

Likely voters confirm the hypothesis progs stink. The CBS/NYT poll confirms the previous Fox poll and the results are markedly higher than the CBS/NYT poll results of Sept 14, 2010.

[NK]

RCP shows Rasmussen with the biggest sample and outlier result. Just don't get that.

[AliceH]

Andrew McCarthy write up on Trey Gowdy's opening remarks - very good read!

[Bori]

@Gmax

"Could it be that liberals just stink?"

In one particularly illustrative case, a participant asked the experimenter if she could take one of the vials home with her because she thought it was “the best perfume I ever smelled”; the vial was from a male who shared an ideology similar to the evaluator. She was preceded by another respondent with an ideology opposite to the person who provided the exact same sample; this participant reported that that vial had “gone rancid” and suggested it needed to be replaced. In this way, different participants experienced the exact same stimulus in radically different ways only moments apart."

You might be unto something, there.

[jimmyk]

Dave @10:55, same as what/who? I trust no one here did what JP did, though Another Bob accused some of doing something related the other night.

[Holly]

Cross posting. Clarice's link from last night about Cardinal Burke is disturbing, particularly since Gus confirms the demotion. Anyone else have a take on what's going on?

"Gus, looks like your friend Cardinal Burke has been demoted:http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350870?eng=y

Posted by: clarice | September 16, 2014 at 08:32 PM"

[Dave (in MA)]

jimmyk, for grabbing his junk in public, just like FLOTUS in the 10:01 (which you can't see unless you copy the URL of the photo and view in a separate tab/window).

[Rick B]

NK,

Both Rasmussen and Gallup are trying to recover from their complete and abject failure in 2012. Their LV screens were flat wrong and I'm very unsure as to what weight should be given to either as they try and "fix" something which I presume to be somewhat less than obvious. I'm sure both are trying as hard as they can but I sincerely doubt their efforts to have more validity than a simple average of the CBS/NYT polling and Fox polling. Gallup has withdrawn from publishing generic ballot results and Rasmussen should do so as well until election results provide evidence they have discovered the source of their errors.

[jimmyk]

Got it, Dave--I knew what JP had done, I just didn't pick up on what you were referring to. At least neither of them did what this guy did:

Cops: Teenager Rubbed His Junk On Patron's Pizza

[Extraneus]

Got it, Jimmy. Order pizza earlier.

[jimmyk]

And, remaining in the gutter for another post, for those of us men who are getting to be of a certain age, there is hope:

http://stuppid.com/grandfather-busted-prostituting-himself-young-women/

[Dave (in MA)]

The left's preferred methods of "sustainable" transportation are more likely to have them coming into contact with stinky wino fluids or secreting fluids of their own during their daily commutes.

[jimmyk]

Shocking that the government is not enforcing the requirement that insurance companies not use federal dollars to cover abortions, notably for 404Care plans:

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/curtis-houck/2014/09/16/networks-ignore-government-report-obamacare-plans-cover-abortions

[Dave (in MA)]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/71-magnitude-earthquake-strikes-off-guam/story?id=25557969

No reports of capsizing yet...

[Dave (in MA)]

Re: Dave (in MA) | September 17, 2014 at 11:48 AM...

Of that subset that have reasons to have a daily commute, that is. This wouldn't include the trust fund and EBT Card sectors.

[GMax]

Did you know Scott Rasmussen no longer has anything to do with Rasmussen Reports? He sold out and moved on, and I have suspected the buyer might not be as objective as even Tommy Jensen over at PPP who oozes love for Democrats in commentary and sometimes in results as well. Their polling has shown stronger support for Zero than even NBC polling and no one else is anywhere close to them on that measure.

[Miss Marple]

Ugh. Obama is on my TV trying to act all military and gung-ho. Very fake. CLICK.

[GMax]

Rasmussen out with this one:

Walker picks up 48% of the vote to Democrat Mary Burke’s 46% in a new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Wisconsin Voters. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate in the race, while another three percent (3%) are undecided

[Porchlight]

So it was a convenience sample. They clearly had a hard time recruiting conservatives.

"The sample is slightly more female and liberal, although we made every effort to recruit equal numbers by sex and across the political spectrum, including contacting every Republican club at five universities in the greater metropolitan area and asking the conservative subjects we ascertained to contact any of their ideological compatriots and encourage them to participate in the study."

[peter]

GMax, I speculated on here months ago that Rasmussen had gone corrupt after Scott Rasmussen sold the name.

[MarkO]

Polling?

Is there any discussion of the winning issue for the mid-terms? It's ObamaCare and it has disappeared from view. What's up? Obama killing terrorists and fighting Ebola for the good of mankind.

The GOP are fools.

DOOM™®

[Jane]

So it seems Gregory Starr was called by the democrats so they could ask questions to someone on their side.

[Jane]

Re: polling. Since very few people have land lines -at this point, what difference does it make?

[rich@gmu]

good grief ... thought I strolled into the horde reading the comments.

On topic: progs stink, who knew?

[Danube on iPad]

I have noticed for months that Ras has been an erratic outlier.

[rse]

Just got an alert Tom Harkin is going down to the Senate floor in about 15 minutes to push the US Senate to ratify the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities by unanimous consent.

I guess he is betting it can be sold as hating the poor, crippled, and unfortunate not to go along. The wording of that treaty essentially makes academics a violation of the rights of the learning disabled and therefore impermissable for anyone.

The average Senator or staffer does not know that, but every political radical globally using the schools as the way in does.

[rich@gmu]

Posted by: Porchlight | September 17, 2014 at 12:19 PM-

wonder if they paid the participants?

[Ignatz]

--On topic: progs stink, who knew?--

According to the study, just about everybody, including the progs.

[Threadkiller]

If Bret Bair, Ed Henry, Jonathan Karl, etc weren't so concerned about ridicule, MarkO, they certainly would be asking about that.

[rich@gmu]

DOOM™©®

[rich@gmu]

you stink Iggy.

[Jane]

Gregory Starr is full of shit.

[GMax]

Most polling companies these days sample from both landlines and cell phones. It used to be a big concern if cellphones were not included as it would destroy the equal chance of a population being selected and might skew every poll to older voters who are more likely to have land lines.

[Appalled]

Y'know, I have this visual of both Rich and MarkO in my head -- a younger guy, but still hunched over, with the giant black cloud over his head (emblazoned with "DOOM"). And every time someone tries to take that black cloud away form him, he demands a fee for using his trademark....

[rich@gmu]

Posted by: MarkO | September 17, 2014 at 12:22 PM-

why would they want to do that? the chamber of commerce wants some sort of "fix" (ie medicaid for all) not repeal.

[GMax]

Peter

I suspect that Rick has it pretty close to being correct, they are embarrassed by past results and are trying adjust out an error they can not find, but at least a part of me wants to believe its really another Soros funded corruption of our system. If so, they are likely to be handed their heads based on what everyone else is finding...

[jimmyk]

Gmax, do pollsters have broad access to cell phone numbers? I've managed to keep mine pretty private, so I virtually never get unsolicited calls. I thought that was more the rule. Whereas I don't even answer my landline any more unless I know who's calling, since otherwise it's fundraising or polling. So I wonder whether they can really get a good cross-section of cell phone users.

[GMax]

Most of them use random digit dialing to pick up cell phones.

[Rick B]

Nate Silver had the sense to quit prior to his model failing. Rasmussen quit after his failed. Gallup reduced their political polling after their failure - they don't really need the failure stench impacting their peddling in other areas.

With contempt for the President still wildly exceeded by contempt for our elected prostitutes in general, I find it difficult to believe that even LV polling has a chance to provide results which will prove any closer to reality than did Rasmussen or Gallup in 2012. I would also note that averaging error ridden polls is also a form of modeling. I'd put the averaging model right in with climate and econometric modeling wrt utility outside of Rainbow Unicorn Reality.

[GMax]

From the Iowa polling of this AM, here is what Quinny tells us about their sample:

PHONE DISTRIBUTION
Cell only 29%

Land Line only 6

Both, cmp from cell sample 21

Both, cmp from land sample 44

[sbw]

They clearly had a hard time recruiting conservatives.

I refuse to answer polls.

[rich@gmu]

Appalled-

is my camera on my laptop? YIKES!!!

hunched over, indeed. partial tear of my rotator cuff and a pretty badly pinched nerve in my neck. When I fuck up I never do it half assed, I put the whole ass into it.

for my DOOM-I've been mostly out of work for the last 6 months and have been unable to even get a call back on my resume and cover letters for anything decent. I was the only one in my family working for the previous year too so I really have nothing else to fall back on now. I've had to quit school, move out of my apartment, and managed to get fired from this last job I had for attendance issues (ie the day I was getting the ultrasound for my torn rotator cuff natch, did work about 95% of the available hours though), for a job that was shit and paid me about 1/4 what I was making previously.

Why should I give a shit that the GOP is polling well in this cycle? As soon as they have some space they are going to ram through an amnesty and fuck up health insurance even more. Nor does it solve my immediate problems.

[rich@gmu]

and I always thought that the "getting fired because of an appointment" was a bit of an old wives tale and there was more to the story.

Nope. had an appointment and the contract agency called me up and said not to go back, the company was letting me go for attendance issues.

Oddly he let someone who started a week after me take a weeks long vacation too.

[rich@gmu]

but at least the GOPe will win a few seats in the Senate and maybe the House (I doubt it, or that it will ultimately matter much if they do).

[James D.]

Geez, Rich.

That's outrageous. Shoot me your resume - I'll see if anybody I know might know of anything.

[jimmyk]

So this NYT reporter is either a Harf-level doofus, or has gotten the word to make light of SloJoe's "Shylock" remark. Or more likely, both. (h/t AliceH)

Michael Barbaro ‏@mikiebarb

Raise your hand if you were not familiar with the word "Shylock" before it became a controversy in past 24 hours?

Does the NYT no longer require high school degrees for its reporters?

[jimmyk]

And the best response to @mikiebarb:

@mikiebarb wonder if you asked that about macaca.

[Captain Hate]

Damn rich, sorry to read about that. You're not the only person with a crummy work situation but I just don't like talking about it here.

Any satisfaction I get out of November will be strictly from wanting the donks to all die in a burning building. The GOP is barely preferable.

[rich@gmu]

Price of Ground Beef Breaks $4...

looks like I'll scratch some hamburgers off my menu for the week.

[Threadkiller]

"Barack Obama's birth certificate: Where is truth and clarity?"

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/17-09-2014/128547-barack_obama_birth_certificate-0/

What a twist.

[rich@gmu]

CH-

I probably shouldn't write about it here either. It definitely doesn't make me a gentleman.

But I gotta vent somewhere.

JamesD-

Thanks. Check your email.

[Danube on iPad]

"they certainly would be asking about that"

Asking whom about what?

[Danube on iPad]

Good one, jimmyk.

Frank Newport, president of Gallup, wrote a post-election piece about what they believed was the source of their error and what they had done to try to eliminate it.

[sbw]

I'm sure someone else must have suggested the adjective Harf-assed.

[Danube on iPad]

Breitbart:

"Although state polling shows the GOP slipping some in the Republican quest to win the U.S. Senate, a New York Times/CBS News poll reveals that President Obama is polling worse than George W. Bush on issues important to voters, while the GOP is gaining strength. On the question of overall job approval, Obama has tied his all time low of just 40%, with 50% disapproving. On the issue of foreign policy, Obama has hit an all-time low of 34%, with 58% disapproving. At this same time in his presidency, President Bush sat at a little better 37% approve, 56% disapprove."

[Danube on iPad]

Dan McLaughlin, via Hot Air:

"It is mid-September, with just over seven weeks to Election Day, and as discussed below, all the fundamental signs show that this is at least a mild Republican “wave” year. A review of the mid-September polls over the last six Senate election cycles, all of which ended in at least a mild “wave” for one party, shows that it is common for the “wave party” to win a few races in which it trailed in mid-September – sometimes more than a few races, and sometimes races in which there appeared to be substantial leads, and most frequently against the other party’s incumbents. Whereas it is very uncommon for the wave party to lose a polling lead, even a slim one, after mid-September – it has happened only three times, one of those was a tied race rather than a lead, and another involved the non-wave party replacing its candidate on the ballot with a better candidate. If these historical patterns hold in 2014, we would therefore expect Republicans to win all the races in which they currently lead plus two to four races in which they are currently behind, netting a gain of 8 to 10 Senate seats."

[lyle]

This is what the go-along-to-get-along-GOPe is dealing with:

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2014/09/15/Pelosi-Ties-GOP-to-Ray-Rice?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=breitbarttv

[Porchlight]

Sorry to hear that, rich. Hope it turns around for you soon. Texas has lots of jobs. :)

[Threadkiller]

Asking whom about what?

Full quote:

"If Bret Bair, Ed Henry, Jonathan Karl, etc weren't so concerned about ridicule, MarkO, they certainly would be asking about that."

I'm certain you can figure out the answer.

[Thomas Collins]

Oh, no! I'm losing it! In fact, I'm lost! I have no idea which comments weren't referencing which other comments in the colloquy above. H&R, I am officially applying to be a specially protected JOMer, exempt from all slings and arrows for comments that indicate a lack of understanding of thread flow! :-))

Except that lyle can continue to tweak me for appropriating his sushi table!

[lyle]

Tweaking will--nay, must--continue, TC. I zealously guard my scoops, especially nekkid sushi table ones. Who in all right consideration can blame me? ;)

[AliceH]

slings and arrows [1]

Great phrase! Wonder if Michael Barbaro[2] is familiar with it?

[1] see comment Posted by: Thomas Collins | September 17, 2014 at 01:57 PM
[2] see comment Posted by: jimmyk | September 17, 2014 at 01:12 PM

[Danube on iPad]

"I'm certain you can figure out the answer."

Nope. But never mind.