http://twitter.com/#!/GregMitch/status/259295264991494144

Not long ago, pollster Scott Rasmussen was subjected to mockery by liberals on a daily basis because his polls showed a tight presidential race whereas other polls showed President Barack Obama leading GOP nominee Mitt Romney by a substantial margin. Here’s Andrew Sullivan a couple of months ago in a post titled, “Living In Rasmussen-Land“:

If Drudge is flagging a poll, you know almost instantly who has provided it. But no one has more completely swallowed the Rasmussen world’s alternate reality than John Hinderaker. He acknowledges that in the Rasmussen poll, there are more Republicans in the sample than in most others. But he runs with it anyway. Romney is clearly winning the race, it seems.

The Rasmussen effect is best seen by using various polling models and removing Rasmussen data to see what happens. So Pollster.com’s data, including Rasmussen, currently shows a national tie at 46.1 percent. Removing Rasmussen makes it Obama 47 and Romney 45.7. Small – but in a race this tight, not trivial. I generally remove Rasmussen from the poll of polls, because they are so openly biased in their sample.

Up until a day or two ago, left-wing Twitter users strongly agreed with Sullivan’s assessment:

Rasmussen is so bad –Obama wins 46% of conservatives and Romney gets 54% percent of liberals in their new Ohio poll. LOL! #p2

— Mike Nellis (@MikeNellis) October 11, 2012

@numbersmuncher why do you take Rasmussen seriously?He is a 100% republican partisan and pushes GOP on fox all the time.

— markus daszkal (@markusdaszkal) October 14, 2012

@rosierifka @rasmussenpoll Nothing spells credibility like the pollster trying to INFLUENCE the vote. Rasmussen is a joke

— Bonnie Hussein Obama (@BJHare) October 15, 2012

@anncali Ha. What a joke. Media is taking pollsters like Rasmussen seriously lately.

— Kyle (@LiberalCanuck) October 13, 2012

It’s business, but beware of republican bias polls: Rasmussen, Gravis, We Ask America, Purple Strategy & so many more.

— Ltd (@ltd1974Mba) October 16, 2012

Shun polls that are biased. Rasmussen is a propagandist pollster for conservatives.They will, and do, inflate results to favor Republicans

— Neil (@NPSusa) October 11, 2012

Note > NYT: Rasmussen Polls Were “Biased and Inaccurate” in 2010 – bit.ly/Rj7hI9 #gop #tcot #p2

— Mariano(@art2u2) October 11, 2012

Rasmussen skews polls, when you answer questions positive for #obama they cut you off 50% into call and end #poll. Happened to me last night

— HopeAndChange (@Time2Standup80) October 13, 2012

Today, however,  it’s a different story. With Gallup now showing Romney ahead by 7 points, liberals have decided it’s OK to cite Rasmussen (whose polls still show a close race) without LOLing:

The president is now tied in Rasmussen. As I predicted, the swing to him begins TODAY.

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) October 19, 2012

Early Vote OH: Rasmussen, a Republican pollster, found that Obama leads by 29 points (63/34) among those who have voted already. #OFAGOTV

— ronce (@ronce) October 19, 2012

Daily Kos: Obama bounce continues on Rasmussen! dailykos.com/story/2012/10/… via @dailykos

— Tracy S. Van Osdell (@sugerkat) October 19, 2012

Rasmussen is seriously all tied up today- 48% Obama, 48% Romney. Like never before this race comes down to OH & VA.

— Chris Golden (@chrisgolden) October 19, 2012

@czeev yep if O is doing better than Bush against Kerry — and he is according to Rasmussen. Trying to forget who won that one…

— Joe Trippi (@JoeTrippi) October 19, 2012

.@madlaw1071 @numbersmuncher actually when you read Rasmussen’s commentary — its not good for Romney: rasmussenreports.com/public_content…

— Joe Trippi (@JoeTrippi) October 19, 2012

I live in a world where Rasmussen polls make more sense than Gallup polls. Shoot me.

— Mike Nellis (@MikeNellis) October 19, 2012

Read more: http://twitchy.com/2012/10/19/liberals-gain-strange-new-respect-for-pollster-scott-rasmussen/