HAPPY HUMP DAY, EVERYONE!
MY HEART
FROM TPM: HIS TRUE COLORS
As noted, we have two simultaneous crises washing over Washington tonight from the Middle East. First, the US-Israel blow up, which I discussed below. Next, riots which escalated into full-scale attacks on US embassies in Cairo and Benghazi, triggered by another stunt by Quran-burning ‘pastor’ Terry Jones down in Florida.
A State Department officer was actually killed in the attack on the compound in Benghazi.
In the midst of this, the Romney campaign put out this statement …
“I’m outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi. It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.”
So Romney jumps to politicize a genuine crisis in which a Foreign Service Officer has been killed. And the attack itself is based on a falsehood. The reference is to a statement released by the Embassy in Egypt which in fact came out before the attacks took place. The entire thing is based on a lie. Here’s our full story.
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Letterman to be among Kennedy honorees
Star Tribune
David Letterman is among this year’s Kennedy Center Honorees, CBS announced Wednesday. The late-night veteran will be feted alongside actor Dustin Hoffman, bluesman Buddy Guy, ballet dancer Natalia Makarova and rock group Led Zeppelin at the 35th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, at the gala, broadcast on CBS on Dec. 26.
“With their extraordinary talent, creativity and tenacity, the seven 2012 Kennedy Center Honorees have contributed significantly to the cultural life of our nation and the world,” said Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein.
He praised Letterman as “one of the most influential personalities in the history of television, entertaining an entire generation of late-night viewers with his unconventional wit and charm.” Letterman joins a short and rarefied list of comedians who’ve received the honor, including Carol Burnett, Steve Martin, Bob Hope and Johnny Carson.
Read more: http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/169551946.html?refer=y
Romney losing lead among men
By Niall Stanage – 09/11/12 08:23 PM ET
Mitt Romney’s advantage among male voters has all but disappeared since the Democratic National Convention.
The pattern will likely spell doom for Romney unless it represents an entirely transient “bump” for President Obama — which it might.
Several polls released in recent days show Obama displaying new strength among male voters. Romney needs to win the male electorate by a wide margin to overcome the chronic disadvantage the GOP faces with respect to women.
A CNN poll released Monday showed Obama moving into a small lead among men, besting Romney 48 percent to 47. The finding was especially notable because CNN, in a poll conducted about a week prior, had shown Romney holding a 12-point lead among men (55 percent to 43).
On Tuesday, an ABC News/Washington Post poll found Obama enjoying a 3-point edge among men.
In a memo accompanying the poll’s release, its authors, Langer Research Associates, noted that “Obama’s support has reached a new high among men” — higher than at any point during this election cycle.
In addition, a new poll from the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling organization found that Obama has a 1-point lead among men, taking 47 percent to Romney’s 46.
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/248897-romney-losing-lead-among-men
EXCLUSIVE: Florida To Restart Voter Purge Prior To Presidential Election
By Judd Legum and Josh Israel on Sep 12, 2012 at 3:40 pm
Local election supervisors were informed this week that Florida plans to restart its controversial voter purge prior to the November 6 election. In a detailed PowerPoint presentation obtained by ThinkProgress, Governor Rick Scott’s Department of State lays out the plan.
The initial purge effort, conducted in May, informed hundreds of fully eligible U.S. citizens that Florida believed they were ineligible to vote. Among those targeted was a 91-year-old World War II veteran.
Election officials were told to expect a revised lists of voters for possible removal in two to three weeks but “not later than October 15, 2012.”
The presentation outlines a proceedure to “update” their flawed purge list by cross-checking it against a federal Department of Homeland Security database (SAVE). This task is apparently being done by hand and has not been completed since there is “no established automated process yet.”
The Florida Department of State acknolwedges that, in many cases, the federal SAVE database will not establish definitively whether or not someone is a U.S. citizen. In that case, they are directing election officials to mail them letters to “re-affirm registration status” and “remind them of eligibility requirements and that it is illegal to be registered and vote when someone is not a U.S. citizen.”
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/09/12/839261/exclusive-florida-to-restart-voter-purge-prior-to-presidential-election/
Poll: Obama widens Michigan lead over Romney to 10 points after convention
Source: Detroit Free Press
President Barack Obama, fresh off a Democratic National Convention in which the turnaround of Michigan’s signature auto industry played a central role, heads into the final 2 months of the campaign with the state’s voters solidly behind him.
A poll done by EPIC-MRA of Lansing for the Free Press, WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) and other media partners showed Obama with a commanding 10-point lead over Michigan-born-and-raised Mitt Romney, whose chances in the state may have been seriously hurt by last week’s Democratic convention in Charlotte.
Democrats made the 2009 rescue of General Motors and Chrysler — and the jobs it saved nationwide — a central theme of the convention, with autoworkers, UAW President Bob King and former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm among the speakers.
“When the whole theme for the Democrats is Osama bin Laden is dead and GM is alive … that’s got to help in Michigan and Ohio and a couple other states as well,” said EPIC-MRA pollster Bernie Porn. . .
Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20120912/NEWS15/120912090/obama-widens-lead-over-romney-to-10-points-michigan?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
Obama Gets A Gigantic Bounce In The New Fox News Poll
Source: business insider
President Barack Obama got another huge post-convention bounce in a new poll, this time from a Fox News, which shows him leading Mitt Romney 48-43 among likely voters.
The poll gives Obama a 6-point swing from the last Fox News survey, which gave Romney a single-point lead.
There were other positive signs of a bounce for Obama, too. Here are the highlights:
-Obama supporters have closed the enthusiasm gap in the poll and are now just as likely as Romney supporters to say that their candidate winning is extremely important.
-His net favorability rating had a 5-point swing, and he’s now viewed 10 points more favorably than unfavorably.
-His approval rating ticked up to an even 50 percent among likely voters, up from just 46 percent in the last poll.
-On protecting Medicare and making sure it’s there for future generations Obama leads Romney by 11 points.
-On taking the country in the right direction and handling the economy — two issues he’s trailed Romney in other polls — he is now tied with Romney.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/fox-news-poll-obama-vs-romney-2012-9
Source: TPM
Paul Ryan And Todd Akin Will Both Appear At Values Voter Summit
They won’t share a stage, but Paul Ryan and Rep. Todd Akin will share the same spotlight at the Values Voter Summit this week.
The summit is sponsored by Akin’s most prominent remaining supporter, the Family Research Council. And with the annual confab only days away, FRC President Tony Perkins said his group is not about to keep its star candidate away from its signature event.
Ryan speaks Friday on the Values Voter main stage. Akin won’t get the same honor, Perkins told an audience at the National Press Club Wednesday, but he will make more than one appearance.
“Unfortunately we have a waiting list of those who want to speak,” Perkins said. “We’ve had to turn away members of Congress. But he will be there participating in one of our events and speaking at, I believe, our political action committee reception Friday afternoon.”
Read more: http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/todd-akin-values-voter-summit.php
Romney fails critical leadership test
By Steve Benen
Wed Sep 12, 2012 10:12 AM EDT.
.
We talked earlier about the violent protests that killed four Americans in Libya, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. Politically, Mitt Romney, relying on false information, called the Obama administration’s response “disgraceful,” and accused the administration of “sympathiz[ing] with those” who killed U.S. officials abroad.
It seems as if Romney has finally gone too far. NBC News’ First Read called out “one of the most over-the-top and (it turns out) incorrect attacks of the general-election campaign,” which looks “worse and worse” as more information comes to light
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/12/13828189-romney-fails-critical-leadership-test?lite
A ‘Lehman moment’
By Steve Benen
–
Wed Sep 12, 2012 12:42 PM EDT.
Romney tried his hand this morning at smearing with a smirk.
It’s been largely forgotten, but in the spring, there was a difficult diplomatic incident involving Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng. While delicate negotiations were underway, Mitt Romney jumped in, condemned U.S. officials during their tense diplomatic talks with China, and blasted the “day of shame for the Obama administration.”
Soon after, the criticisms looked ridiculous, and even Bill Kristol said Romney appeared “foolish.” The Republican candidate, unconcerned with the international implications, thought it’d be smarter to attack first, then get the facts, and then think it through.
Sound familiar?
When a campaign is struggling and starts to feel as if defeat is likely, the candidate and his or her aides start getting antsy, wondering how to shake things up. It’s a dangerous dynamic — the desperation starts clouding judgments, leading to unnecessary risks that do far more harm than good.
Romney’s decision to attack President Obama over Guangcheng fits the model, but the smear involving violent mobs in Libya and Egypt is worse — not only is it practically a textbook example of a gamble gone horribly awry, but it’s unfolding in the campaign’s final stretch
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/12/13830415-a-lehman-moment?lite
Jeffrey Goldberg@JeffreyGoldberg
Would anyone in the Jewish Twittersphere who has ever met ‘Sam Bacile’ please speak up.
Unfit For Government, Ctd
Goldblog defends Obama against Romney’s now-conscious, repeated lies:
The “sympathy” was expressed not by someone in the administration, but by a tweeter in the besieged embassy in Cairo. The fact that the tweets were written in fear doesn’t excuse them (it does make them understandable), but it is ridiculous to blame Obama for them.
Kornacki echoes Jeffrey:
The foolishness of Romney’s reaction is glaring. Pretending that the statement from the U.S. embassy in Cairo was anything other than a completely understandable and reasonable attempt by its occupants to save their own lives borders on disgraceful. Romney’s implication that the statement was issued at the height of the attacks is also false; it was actually released earlier in the day, a preventive measure aimed at keeping the protests from turning violent.
Tomasky’s take:
Once again, the Romney pattern holds: pander to the right, issue an irresponsible statement, before Romney and his people even know whether this violence is going to spread, and prove that they will try to use even the violent deaths of four diplomats to political advantage. This isn’t an aberration. We’ve seen enough to know that this is his character.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/09/romney-tries-to-exploit-a-tragedy-fails.html
Unfit For Government, Ctd
Buzzfeed rounds up incredulous bipartisan reactions to Romney’s latest blunder:
“They were just trying to score a cheap news cycle hit based on the embassy statement and now it’s just completely blown up,” said a very senior Republican foreign policy hand, who called the statement an “utter disaster” and a “Lehman moment” — a parallel to the moment when John McCain, amid the 2008 financial crisis, failed to come across as a steady leader… “I guess we see now that it is because they’re incompetent at talking effectively about foreign policy,” said the Republican. “This is just unbelievable — when they decide to play on it they completely bungle it.”
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/09/unfit.html
John Lundin@johnlundin
A Jewish idiot makes a film, a Christian idiot promotes it, Muslim idiots kill over it, and Republican idiots condemn Obama.
Unfit For Government, Ctd.
A money quote from veteran diplomat in Democratic and Republican administrations, Nicholas Burns:
“I was, frankly, very disappointed and dismayed to see Gov. Romney inject politics into this very difficult situation where our embassies are under attack, where there’s been a big misunderstanding in the Middle East, apparently, about an American film, where we’re trying to preserve the lives of our diplomats. This is no time for politics. I just think that Gov. Romney has, in a very unwise way, injected himself into a situation where he clearly doesn’t have all the facts.”
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/09/unfit-1.html
Unfit For Government
The obvious responsible thing to do when American citizens and public officials are under physical threat abroad and when the details are unknown, and events spiraling, is to stay silent. If the event happens on the day of September 11 and you are a candidate for president and have observed a political truce, all the more reason to wait to allow the facts to emerge. After all, country before party, right? American lives are at stake, yes? An easy call, no?
But that’s not what the Romney camp did. What they did was seize on a tweet issued by someone in the US Embassy before the attacks in order to indict the president for “sympathizing” with those who murdered a US ambassador after the attacks. Unfuckingbelievable. Here’s the embassy statement from earlier in the day that set off the neocons:
…………………….
These people are simply unfit for the responsibility of running the United States. The knee-jerk judgments, based on ideology not reality; the inability to back down when you have said something obviously wrong; and the attempt to argue that the president of the US actually sympathized with those who murdered his own ambassador in Benghazi: these are disqualifying instincts for someone hoping to be the president of the US. Disqualifying.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/09/unfit-for-government.html
FIRST ON CNN: Romney camp tries to manage fallout from Libya response
De Pere, Wisconsin (CNN) – Facing criticism for its aggressive and politically-charged response to Tuesday’s violent attacks on the American embassies in Egypt and Libya, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is quietly advising Republicans how to respond to questions about the campaign’s handling of the episode.
In talking points currently being pushed to Republican leaders and top surrogates, the Romney campaign recommends attacking President’s Obama “foreign policy of weakness” and dismissing questions about how the campaign responded to the crisis last night.
A sample response, as proposed by the Romney campaign officials in Boston:
“Did Governor Romney ‘jump the gun’ last night in releasing his statement?”
“No. It is never too soon to stand up for American values and interests.”
Read the full list of message points from the Romney campaign, provided to CNN by a GOP source, below:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/12/romney-camp-tries-to-manage-fallout-from-libya-response/?hpt=po_c2
@sullydish Romney’s statements on embassy crisis are disqualifying instincts for someone hoping to be POTUS. Disqualifying: Unfit For Government
From Fallows at Atlantic earlier this morning:
*Update I have just seen Jeffrey Goldberg’s report on an immediate response from the Romney camp. That is revealing and not encouraging. On the other hand, I am watching Fox & Friends right now to see how they are presenting things. They’ve just finished with a foreign-policy expert who urged Romney to stand down for a day or so. She says, “I am a hawk, but this is not the time to politicize the issue
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/three-quick-points-on-the-libya-killings/262263/
This fucker is TOAST! Can you post the links on the unfit mitt thread, please? thanks!
Hill GOP leaves Romney out on limb on Libya
By SCOTT WONG | 9/12/12 10:56 AM EDT
Senior Republicans on Capitol Hill are leaving GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney out on a limb after he criticized President Barack Obama’s “disgraceful” handling of the assault on the U.S. embassy in Libya, which led to the death of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens
Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee who personally knew Stevens, refused to assign any blame to the Obama administration.
“My heart is with Mr. Stevens, my former staff member, my friend,” Lugar told POLITICO on Wednesday. As a Pearson Fellow to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Stevens served as a staffer for Lugar in 2006. Lugar helped shepherd Stevens’s nomination as ambassador through his panel earlier this year.
“I’m not going to make any comment about the political. None,” the senator added.
While Romney was very critical of Obama in a morning statement on the Libya attacks, senior Republicans across the board avoided criticizing the administration shortly after Stevens’ death was announced.
Obama didn’t even get a mention in most GOP press statements blasted Wednesday morning.
“We mourn for the families of our countrymen in Benghazi, and condemn this horrific attack,” House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement Wednesday.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81103.html#ixzz26HYyuuyV
When you’ve lost Dick Halperin???
From TPM, quoting Halperin’s page:
Unless the Romney campaign has gamed this crisis out in some manner completely invisible to the Gang of 500, his doubling down on criticism of the President for the statement coming out of Cairo is likely to be seen as one of the most craven and ill-advised tactical moves in this entire campaign.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/09/not_excellent_news_for_mitt_romney.php
comment from POU:
JojoRazeCollapse
When Mark Halperin is saying you need to have a seat, it’s over.
Why not let this play out and then critique after? A candidate Obama would have never done this and wouldn’t have been allowed by the press to do this.
This is just so craven and mean-spirited on Romney’s part. You don’t know the facts and American lives are in jeopardy and you can’t sit down and shut up. TPM is right when they said this is how you know somebody isn’t ready.
Foreign Policy Hands Voice Disbelief At Romney Cairo Statement
“Bungle… utter disaster…not ready for prime time… not presidential… Lehman moment.” And that’s just the Republicans.
Mitt Romney’s sharply-worded attack on President Obama over a pair of deadly riots in Muslim countries last night has backfired badly among foreign policy hands of both parties, who cast it as hasty and off-key, released before the facts were clear at what has become a moment of tragedy
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/foreign-policy-hands-voice-disbelief-at-romney-cai
Desperate Sociopaths and their Media Enablers
By mistermix September 12th, 2012
The US Ambassador to Libya and three other diplomats were killed last night during a mob attack on the embassy in Benghazi. The embassy in Cairo was also attacked. Both riots were over 9/11 and a stupid amateurish movie trailer produced by an Israeli Jew living in the US who holds the subtle, thoughtful position that “Islam is a cancer”. The movie portrays Mohammed as a philanderer who approved of child sexual abuse.
Before any of the violence occurred in Cairo or Benghazi, the US embassy in Cairo issued a statement condemning the film saying, in part, “we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions”. After the attack, the Obama Administration issued a statement condemning the attacks. Here’s the GOP response:
That tweet was after the Romney campaign issued a statement saying that the Obama Administration’s first response was to “sympathize with the attackers”. The statement also criticized the Cairo embassy’s efforts before the riots to defuse the crisis by using Twitter to emphasize the statement.
These assholes just don’t care about the consequences of the lies they tell, if they think it will move Romney in the polls. And, of course, the MSM is going to give them a big old pass. Here’s the Times:
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2012/09/12/desperate-sociopaths-and-their-media-enablers/
A ‘Lost Decade’ for the Middle Class Caused by Conservative Policies
By Isaiah J. Poole
The latest edition of the Economic Policy Institute’s “State of Working America” report, out today, documents in sharp detail what has been for the middle-class economy a “lost decade” in which working people have fallen behind. But what’s more disheartening is its prediction that without radical change “nearly two decades likely will pass before American incomes regain lost ground and return to their 2000 levels.”
The report makes clear what has been robbed from low- and middle-income people as a result of conservative policies that have their roots in the early 1980s, as the country turned from balanced growth policies in which labor and capital profited more or less in tandem to government policies that advantaged corporations and the wealthy at the expense of workers.
As a result of these policies, the report notes, “the business cycle preceding the recession [of 2008-2009] was already shaping up as a lost decade for American incomes,” with median household incomes falling 6 percent during that period. But when the Great Recession hit, median income of working-age families fell another 7.1 percent between 2007 and 2010.
http://www.nationofchange.org/print/26586
Is this who we want in the Oval Office taking a 3am call?
Jay-Z & Beyonce’s Obama Fundraiser: Hip-Hop’s Royal Couple Will Host President At 40/40 Club
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/11/jay-z-beyonce-obama-fundraiser_n_1874623.html?ir=Black+Voices&ref=topbar
Further evidence Jay-Z and Beyonce are hip-hop royalty: The couple will host Barack Obama at Jay’s own 40/40 Club.
The president is stopping by for a dinner, where Page Six reports he’ll be joined by 100 friends who will have each paid $40,000 for the honor.
The couple’s friendship with Obama goes all the way back to the president’s inauguration. Jay-Z and Beyonceperformed at a tribute concert honoring the newly elected commander-in-chief on the night before Obama took his oath of office.
Ah Sookie SOOKIE now!
Steve Benen: ….
The Romney campaign, which dismissed foreign policy as a “distraction” yesterday, now hopes to exploit the violence to advance Mitt Romney’s political ambitions.
…. I genuinely want to know what kind of person sees a foreign attack on Americans – an attack that has reportedly led to four U.S. deaths – and thinks it’s acceptable to lie about the violence to gain a few points in the polls. The campaign isn’t going Romney’s way right now, but is that an excuse to exploit the death of Americans with cheap rhetoric? In the face of violence abroad, this was Romney’s first instinct?
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/12/13825989-americans-attacked-in-libya-four-reportedly-killed?lite
Romney is a small, pathetic, dangerous CRETIN.
I smell Sheldon Adelson & Romney’s shit all over this latest Bibi bruh ha ha ha, Fuck the 3 of them!
Steve Kornacki (Salon): Mitt’s shameful Libya statement
That it’s fundamentally dishonest hasn’t stopped Mitt Romney from repeating his central critique of Barack Obama’s foreign policy over and over – the idea that the president “went around the world and apologized for America.” So it shouldn’t be surprising that Romney’s response to the attacks on U.S. diplomatic installations in Egypt and Libya was rooted in the same caricature of Obama as apologizer-in-chief.
…. The foolishness of Romney’s reaction is glaring. Pretending that the statement from the U.S. embassy in Cairo was anything other than a completely understandable and reasonable attempt by its occupants to save their own lives borders on disgraceful. Romney’s implication that the statement was issued at the height of the attacks is also false; it was actually released earlier in the day, a preventive measure aimed at keeping the protests from turning violent.
http://www.salon.com/2012/09/12/mitt%E2%80%99s_shameful_libya_statement//
White House confirms U.S. ambassador to Libya killed in attack
The White House has confirmed that Ambassador John Christopher Stevens and three other American diplomats were killed Tuesday in an assault on the American consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi.
In a statement, President Obama “strongly condemned” the attacks.
“I have directed my Administration to provide all necessary resources to support the security of our personnel in Libya, and to increase security at our diplomatic posts around the globe.”
Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/news-agencies-us-ambassador-to-libya-killed-in-attack-outside-consulate/2012/09/12/665de5fc-fcc4-11e1-a31e-804fccb658f9_story.html
Afghanistan says it bans YouTube so ‘offensive video about Prophet Muhammad’ can’t be viewed
Source: CNN
Afghanistan says it bans YouTube so ‘offensive video about Prophet Muhammad’ can’t be viewed – @Reuters
Read more: http://www.breakingnews.com/item/ahZzfmJyZWFraW5nbmV3cy13d3ctaHJkcg0LEgRTZWVkGOXWjgoM/2012/09/12/afghanistan-says-it-bans-youtube-so-offensive-video-about-prophet-muh
Good Morning, Everyone! :-)
Good Morning!
Howdy, SG2. Where’s the coffee? LOL