Time for Mitt to GIT on back to the world of making it rain $$$$$$$. It’s all he’s good at accomplishing and to the detriment of others.
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http://twitter.com/utaustinliberal/status/246321572674162688/photo/1
Romney’s Media Problem
by BooMan
Thu Sep 13th, 2012 at 04:04:10 PM EST
If the Romney campaign would ever stop lying, obfuscating, refusing to talk about his proposals, and insulting everyone, the press would probably revert back to cutting him an inordinate amount of slack. It seems that Boston is stunned at the aggressively negative reporting their campaign is receiving. Maybe some progressives are stunned by it, too, as we’ve been conditioned to believe that the press will always employ “they both do it,” “he said, she said” journalism. In the past, the press has been quick to back down in the face of concerted conservative backlash. But that’s not working anymore. Part of it is that no one likes Mitt Romney. Part of it is that no one fears Mitt Romney. Part of it is that the conservative base isn’t as aggressive about defending Mitt Romney as they were about protecting George W. Bush.
But the main problem is that Mitt Romney is simply lying almost every time he opens his mouth and he isn’t supplementing those lies with any substance. Literally, the only thing to discuss after Romney speaks is whether what he just said was fair or accurate, and it never is. He isn’t even offering a theory about how his tax cuts would help the middle class or how his Medicare voucher plan would save the program. He won’t talk about any of it in any kind of detail. If he won’t even defend his own platform, how can he expect the press to do it for him?
And the reaction from his campaign to all this negative press is to insult the press and New York and DC, which then makes it personal. You know, giving a press conference yesterday while the people in the District were mourning the loss of four of their people was grossly insensitive. Every Village reporter acted very offended by that. Even Peggy Noonan and Mark Halperin were appalled. You can’t go to England and insult their preparations for the Olympics or go to someone’s house and insult the food they’ve offered you, or politicize the death of a high-ranking State Department employee without those communities thinking you are a jerk. And they will treat you accordingly…with contempt.
John McCain knew how to get absurdly good press coverage. He gave reporters access and fed them well and treated them respectfully. Romney does none of those things.
If he thinks now is the time to make war on the media, he’s a fool. But it’s too late to fix his relationship with the media. He screwed that pooch.
http://www.boomantribune.com/
September 13, 2012 12:56 PM
QE3 Arrives, With Trumpets
So in its usual bland language, the Federal Reserve Board announced a third round of “quantitative easing,” but accompanied with “guidance” towards future monetary policy that’s a lot more expansive than most people expected. I’ll let a very excited Matt Yglesias explain:
QE3 is here, and it’s pretty big. They’ve announced a form of “open-ended” quantitative easing in which the central bank commits to “purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month.”
But there’s something much much much more important here than the numbers. It’s the guidance. It’s not the Evans Plan and it’s not Nominal GDP Level Targeting but it’s good and it’s right here (emphasis added):
“To support continued progress toward maximum employment and price stability, the Committee expects that a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy will remain appropriate for a considerable time after the economic recovery strengthens. In particular, the Committee also decided today to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and currently anticipates that exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate are likely to be warranted at least through mid-2015.”
This isn’t my dream of super-clear forward guidance, but it’s a huge step in the direction of Krugman/Woodford style precommitment. The key thing is that they’re no longer saying that accommodative monetary policy is conditional on the recovery being weak. Instead, interest rates will stay low for a while even after the economy recovers
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/
New twists in the welfare lie
By Steve Benen
Thu Sep 13, 2012 3:39 PM EDT.
After a brief reprieve, the racially-charged Romney/Ryan welfare lie made a furious comeback last week, and will probably remain an important part of the Republican campaign strategy through Election Day.
But the story is not without some new twists. On Capitol Hill, for example, House Republicans are pushing new legislation intended to block the Obama administration’s waivers. It’s obviously a cheap election-year stunt, but the underlying message is pretty remarkable, even for the congressional GOP — they want to prevent governors from having flexibility in trying welfare-to-work programs that don’t weaken work requirements.
It’s not just counter to conservative principles, it’s childish — to spite the president, House Republicans want to take experimentation power away from Republican governors.
And it gets worse. MSNBC’s Zach Roth reports today on the even deeper cynicism.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/13/13847677-new-twists-in-the-welfare-lie?lite
September 13, 2012 5:44 PM
The Phantom Director
This story has been coming into focus for at least a day (with considerable help from Sarah Posner and Jeffrey Goldberg), but now the FBI is confirming that the supposed California Israeli-American “Sam Bacile” who was said to be responsible for the nasty video pastiche Innocence of the Muslims doesn’t exist, and the name appears to be a pseudonym for a Coptic Christian living in California, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. This dude has a rap sheet that includes a federal bank fraud conviction and a string of aliases. His compadres in making the “movie” appear to be an another Copt living in America, who claims he wasn’t aware of passages that went beyond documenting persecution of his coreligionists, and a shady but talkative California wingnut who’s spent a lot of time leading “protests” at mosques, Mormon temples and abortion clinics. Then, of course, there’s the wonderful Terry Jones, the Koran-torching Florida cleric who claims not to have played any role in the flick’s production, but promoted it probably more than anyone other than Middle Easter radical Islamists.
I’m sure a lot of Jews are relieved to be freed of association with “Sam Bacile,” and from the laughable claim that this piece of crap video was produced via multi-million-dollar Jewish financing. But this is a real problem for Copts, who face real persecution in Egypt. Coptic leaders there and in the U.S. have hastened to condemn the anti-Islamic slurs.
The whole mess is a reminder of how easy it is to cause big trouble with bigotry in the YouTube era. Past famed examples of troublesome anti-Islamic “insults” (e.g., Rushdie’s Satanic Verses and the Danish cartoons of the Prophet) were published by respectable outlets and actually read by their intended audiences. But it’s not clear whether much of anyone saw the amateur idiocy of Innocence of the Muslims before the trailer was translated into Arabic and sent like a germ warfare missile onto computer screens in the Middle East.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/
After Romney’s debacle, GOP blames press
By Steve Benen
Thu Sep 13, 2012 2:35 PM EDT.
Mitt Romney’s handling of events in Libya and Egypt backfired in a big way. How will the Republican campaign and its allies put this behind them? By blaming news organizations and media professionals who were bothered by his dishonest incompetence
As Mitt Romney finishes his second week of dismal news coverage — with slipping polls and a combustible international crisis driving the narrative that the campaign is flailing — the campaign’s frustration with the media that covers it is approaching the boiling point. […]
[F]rustration is building behind the scenes, egged on by a conservative media and Twitter conversation that has blamed the media for accusing Romney of a premature response to the crises in Libya and Egypt.
To say that the right is coalescing around this anti-media argument would be an understatement. The Wall Street Journal editorial page, Ari Fleischer, Erick Erickson, John Podhoretz, Rich Lowry, Philip Klein, and others are all pushing a very similar line: the media has been unfair to Romney
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/13/13847117-after-romneys-debacle-gop-blames-press?lite
Romney is the only one to BLAME for his blatant self-aggrandizement, smug ineptitude.
Pastor: lynching photo shown to urge people to vote
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – A sign urging people to vote is sparking a lot of conversation on the city’s east side.
The sign sits in front of Greater St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church on East 38th Street.
The sign reads on top, “Vote,” but it’s the imagery that has people talking.
One side of the sign shows slaves in chains, with the wording beneath it “Lest we forget.”
The other side of the sign shows the historical image of the lynching in Marion of two black men in the 1930’s.
“It’s to let people know there’s been a price paid for the privilege of voting. Often times people get complacent and don’t realize that people made a sacrifice, matter of fact, the ultimate sacrifice for such a privilege,” said Pastor Joy Thornton with Greater St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church.
http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/local/marion_county/pastor-lynching-photo-shown-to-urge-people-to-vote
Actress Kathy Bates recovering from double mastectomy
By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 5:46 PM EDT, Wed September 12, 2012
(CNN) — Actress Kathy Bates is recovering after having a double mastectomy, a publicist confirmed Wednesday.
Bates, nominated for an Emmy for her lead role in the TV drama series “Harry’s Law,” was diagnosed with breast cancer two months ago, the actress tweeted.
Her publicist said she hasn’t had to undergo chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
don’t miss my breasts as much as I miss Harry’s Law. ;-) Thanks for all the sweet tweets. Y’all kept me going,” Bates tweeted.
Bates, 64, is best known for winning an Academy Award for Best Actress in the 1991 movie “Misery.”
She earned Academy Award nominations as Best Supporting Actress for “Primary Colors” and “About Schmidt.”
The Emmy Awards are September 23. Bates also is nominated in the Outstanding Guest Actress category for a guest appearance on the comedy “Two and a Half Men.”
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/12/showbiz/kathy-bates-double-mastectomy/index.html
prayers for you Ms. Bates.
September 13, 2012
The next question for Mitt Romney
The Romney campaign’s echoing hollowness on foreign policy may–or rather should–soon replace all the talk of the Romney campaign’s astonishing political amateurism. The NY Times, in a minor state of shock, quotes a senior staffer:
Mr. Romney’s camp was surprised by the blowback. “While there may be differences of opinion regarding issues of timing … I think everyone stands behind the critique of the administration, which we believe has conducted its foreign policy in a feckless manner.”
Yesterday, after posting a hard-copy litany of those possible “differences” from downright despondent Republicans–the Romney camp’s ploy was an “utter disaster,” “[un]presidential,” “incompetent” and “just unbelievable”–BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith mentioned in a television interview that Romney has been, and almost certainly will remain, strikingly silent on actual alternatives to President Obama’s “feckless” foreign policy.
Because there aren’t any, really. And even the feckless Mitt Romney knows it.
http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2012/09/the-next-question-for-mitt-romney.html
Putin thankful for Romney rhetoric
By Steve Benen
Thu Sep 13, 2012 12:33 PM EDT.
In March, Mitt Romney said Russia is “clearly” the nation’s “number one geo-political foe,” a comment that’s been widely ridiculed in a variety of circles. As Rachel noted last night, soon after Romney’s comment, Colin Powell said on MSNBC, “Come on, Mitt, think.”
But on the other side of the Atlantic, there’s apparently one person who was delighted by Romney’s rhetoric. His name is Vladimir Putin.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/13/13845859-putin-thankful-for-romney-rhetoric?lite
Unfit to Lead
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 | Posted by Deaniac83 at 12:33 PM
Mitt Romney knows what to think of the tragic violence in Libya and Egypt that left multiple American diplomats dead: it’s good for him politically. While President Obama was reassuring and securing American personnel in the aftermath of this attack, Mitt Romney was busy taking political advantage of it by touting an embassy statement condemning religious incitement released hours before the attacks. I guess that serves one purpose: we already knew that Mitt Romney never cared about Americans who serve in harm’s way (hell, he never even mentioned the service of soldiers serving in Afghanistan in his acceptance speech at the RNC), now we also know that Mitt Romney is in favor of religious incitement.
Mitt Romney’s politicization of this tragedy was so brazen that even Republicans are running away from it.
Congressman Mike Rogers, a Republican from Michigan and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, avoided Romney’s same level of criticism on the show, appearing to call for a pause in the political rhetoric for a few days.[…]
Rogers added, “I’m not exactly sure what Gov. Romney was specifically talking about. I think probably what you saw there was the frustration with a foreign policy that probably is a little out of kilter of where the governor would be when it comes to the Middle East. I think that’s probably what you’re seeing there.”
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2012/09/unfit-to-lead.html
Posted at 02:05 PM ET, 09/13/2012
How will Republicans respond to Fed action?
By Greg Sargent
So QE3 has landed:
The Federal Reserve on Thursday opened a major new offensive in the battle to reduce unemployment, launching its most extensive effort to stimulate the economy in years.
The Fed announced a new round of bond purchases targeting the mortgage market, saying it would purchase $85 billion in bonds per month through the rest of the year, and then $40 billion per month until the economy doesn’t need the support anymore.
This puts Republicans in an interesting spot. How do they criticize this move? Here’s Drudge’s headline, implying that the Fed is conspiring to help Obama win reelection:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line
Posted at 12:08 PM ET, 09/13/2012
Top Romney adviser: `Apology’ statement fit our narrative, so we ran with it
By Greg Sargent
In a post that’s generating some attention today, Josh Marshall pointed out that last night’s New York Times story detailing the Romney camp’s step-by-step thinking on the Embassy attacks was replaced with another version that was missing key reporting. The new version removed a quote from a top Romney adviser in which he was perhaps overly candid about what motivated the Romney camp to put out its statement claiming Obama “sympathized” with the attackers.
I’ve determined what happened here. I’m not particularly interested in criticizing the Times over this; stories get rewritten all the time. What is more interesting to me is that it is now very clear who that adviser was.
In short, it’s now clear that top Romney policy director Lanhee Chen basically confirmed to the Times — even though he was not quoted on record doing so — that the Romney camp attacked Obama in the way it did because it fit the campaign’s predetermined narrative.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line
Posted at 11:18 AM ET, 09/13/2012
What Romney has to do to win this election
By Jamelle Bouie
It’s clear that Obama is still riding on the strength of a post-convention bounce, judging by the new Fox News poll and his still-solid performance in the Gallup tracking poll. Because Obama’s recent gains come from Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, there’s a chance he will retain a portion of his bounce through the fall. These aren’t undecided voters as much as they are people who have been brought back into the fold, and if the Republican convention wasn’t enough to change their loyalties, it’s hard to imagine anything — save a sudden economic downturn — that would shift their position.
So Romney faces a critical question—what can he do to take the lead and keep it? Romney’s original message (“Obama has failed on the economy”) has not swayed undecided voters, and his new approach (a full spectrum attack on the administration) has already backfired. Moreover, as Greg points out, the campaign’s various attacks reflects the picture of Obama held by conservatives, but not the one held by most of the public. Undecided voters don’t think Obama is out to undermine the United States, and attacks that rely on that frame are bound to fail.
Team Romney could try the positive approach, but the RNC was an extended commercial for the former Massachusetts governor, and it wasn’t enough to move voters in his direction. What’s more, attacks by the Obama campaign have taken their toll — voters now see Romney as distant, aloof and most concerned with the interests of the rich.
Politico airs suggestions from various Republicans as to what Romney should do going forward. The best advice, which comes from Newt Gingrich, is for Romney to go into more detail about his goals and policies. “I think the question is can he clarify and make clear what he’s trying to accomplish?” Newt said. “Romney’s got to make the case in a compelling way for a Romney recovery.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line
Posted at 09:13 AM ET, 09/13/2012
The Morning Plum: Has Obama neutralized Romney’s advantage on the economy?
By Greg Sargent
For much of the presidential race, polls have shown that Mitt Romney has led Barack Obama on the question of who would do a better job handling the economy — one of the central questions driving this election. I’ve speculated that Obama’s best hope may be to fight Romney to a draw on the economy and broaden the election to turf more favorable to him.
Well, we now have four national polls that show Obama and Romney tied on the question — perhaps suggesting a potentially signfiicant shift in the race’s dynamics:
* The new Fox News poll shows Obama and Romney exactly tied at 46-46 on who would better improve the economy and create jobs.
* This week’s CNN poll finds Obama and Romney in a statistical tie, 50-49, on who would better handle the economy.
* This week’s Post poll finds Obama and Romney in a statistical tie, 47-45, on the same question.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line
Romney Politicizing the Death of Americans In Libya. Political Message Point Revealed. Shame On You Romney!!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
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This is a person that is running to be a commander-in-chief failing just about the simplistic leadership test. Who in their right mind and intelligence running for the Presidency of the United States would use a tragedy such as this for political gain instead of being a voice of reason? Only an impulsive politician who has no foreign policy experience except hiding his money in foreign counties to avoid paying taxes would chose this path in the quest to be a President and that is poor judgement that will disqualify anyone from being a commander-in-chief.
After the aftermath that took four Americans life including the US Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, over a film that ridicules Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, President Obama made a statement condemning the outrageous attack in Benghazi while praising the four Americans as hero’s who have “exemplified America’s commitment to freedom, justice, and partnership with nations and people around the globe.” The President ordered an increased security to ensure that there is no similar fallout in other parts of the world and to protect American diplomatic personnel around world.
However, Mitt Romney rushed out to attack President Obama and his Administration with his statement saying the Administration is “sympathizing” with the attackers and apologizing “for American values.” which by the way was greeted with harsh criticism from every corner of the media including some Republican pundits except of course who else but Rush Limbaugh.
But this is what really took place and how bad Mitt Romney got all this wrong:
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2012/09/romney-politicizing-death-of-americans.html
Bernanke Goes Big
The Fed just announced a sizable “open-ended” quantative easing program, citing concerns that, without policy action, the economy might be too weak to “generate sustained improvement in labor market conditions.” It also said it would keep interest rates low through 2015. For context, Tim Duy set the Fed’s bar yesterday:
[T]he Fed needs to link open-ended policy explicitly to the economy, thereby removing the uncertainty associated with the previous arbitrary programs. I think anything less should be viewed as a dissappointment.
Weisenthal explains how today’s Fed plan achieved this:
The Federal Reserve decision is out, and it’s a biggie…. Whereas in the past the Fed always announced a specific amount of QE, this time there will be no stop until the Fed is happy with the pace of recovery.
Yglesias zeroes in on the guidance (i.e. the explicit plan to keep rates low):
But there’s something much much much more important here than the numbers. It’s the guidance…. The key thing is that they’re no longer saying that accommodative monetary policy is conditional on the recovery being weak. Instead, interest rates will stay low for a while even after the economy recovers. In other words build that apartment building right now.
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http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/09/the-fed-acts-still-writing.html
Romney’s Chief Ally, Ctd
Joe Klein took Netanyahu to task yesterday on Morning Joe, in a few moments that made Bob Wright’s day:
Money quote:
I don’t think I’ve ever, in the 40 years I’ve been doing this, have heard of another of an American ally trying to push us into war as blatantly and trying to influence an American election as blatantly as Bibi Netanyahu and the Likud party in Israel is doing right now. I think it’s absolutely outrageous and disgusting. It’s not a way that friends treat each other. And it is cynical and it is brazen. And by the way, a little bit of history here: In December of 2006, George W. Bush went over to the Pentagon, met with the joint chiefs of staff and asked them, “What do you think about military action in Iran?” They were unanimously opposed to it. And as far as I know, the United States military, the leaders of the United States military, are unanimously opposed to it to this day. This is a fool’s errand. It would be a ridiculous war with absolutely no good coming of it.
Klein elaborates at his blog:
Netanyahu is doing two things that should be intolerable for any patriotic American: he is a foreigner trying to influence our presidential campaign and he is a foreigner trying to shove us into a war of choice in a region where far too many Americans have already died needlessly. The Romney campaign–as well as AIPAC, the AJC and every other American Jewish organization–should make it clear to Netanyahu that his interventions into our political process and policy-making are not welcome here.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/09/he-wants-us-to-do-his-dirty-work.html
Why Romney’s Desperate, Ctd
On Nate Silver’s model, if the election were held today, Romney would have an 8.4 percent chance of winning, compared with Obama’s 91.6 percent. Romney’s chances were 32.3 percent a week ago. That’s not a decline; it’s a free-fall.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/
What white feminists get wrong about first lady Michelle Obama
Opinion
by Tami Winfrey Harris, Clutch Magazine | September 13, 2012 at 10:10 AM
It does my heart good to see women of all races embrace Michelle Obama. It is too rare indeed for a brown-skinned woman, a descendant of slaves, a product of Chicago’s South Side, to be lauded on an international stage. Considering the heavy burden of stereotype still faced by black women, I cheer a little each time the First Lady gets some shine for her strength and smarts. But I note that in their eagerness to identify with Obama and make her emblematic of modern women, some mainstream feminists unwittingly erase a key part of her identity–her blackness–and deny the experiences and histories of many African American women in the process.
In her much-talked-about speech, last Wednesday, at the Democratic National Convention, Obama said her most important role is “mom-in-chief.” In analysis, this pronouncement along with the fact that Obama declined to talk about her own impressive career, was found disappointing by many in the white feminist chattering class.
Lisa Belkin wrote at the Huffington Post:
Maybe that is why it was so jarring to hear again last night. So much about the context has changed — the Republicans are being accused of launching a “war on women”; the word “mom” is being used as shorthand for a sweet lady who knows her place; Michelle Obama has spent four years showing us that she is a mother, yes, but also a force of nature. All this makes the phrase feels loaded and out of place.
Jessica Valenti tweeted: “I long for the day when powerful women don’t need to assure Americans that they’re moms above all else.”
Slate’s Hanna Rosin tweeted: “ok ‘mom in chief’ is not where i thought that sentence was headed. it was so soaring just before that.” Rosin went on to voice her discomfort with the phrase and Obama’s speech that seemed to put her own accomplishments on the back burner during Slate’s “Double X Gabfest,” where she was joined by Noreen Malone, who wrote about Obama’s speech for The New Republic:
It’s a true and universally resonant sentiment. After all, Mrs. Obama is far more in the thick of raising kids than is Mrs. Romney. But I can’t help thinking of the martial roots of that “-in-chief” designation: the “mommy wars” that have been battled in the press over the last decades take as their baseline assumption that working moms and stay-at-home moms see their choices as in opposition. Generals Ann and Michelle want to broker a peace—one that’s awfully helpful politically; both need all the women—but it’s a little depressing that both see fit to do so by whitewashing out their own experiences for the sake of bland universality. After all, way back in 1996, even after taking a beating in the press for being a little too careerist, Hillary Clinton didn’t shy away from making a direct plea on behalf of working parents, and talking about how that experience informed her husband’s platform.
Rosin wasn’t the only Slate writer unimpressed by Michelle Obama’s “mom-in-chief” line. In an article on Slate’s XX women’s blog, Libby Copeland ponders: “Why Are Presidential Candidates’ Wives All the Same?”
……………………….
Copeland’s analysis of what the public will accept from political wives has merit, but it is impossible for Michelle Obama to occupy the same space in this discussion as her forebears. She is a black woman. While white women have historically been thought, by default, to be possessed of ideal femininity, (sexistly) defined as demure, sacrificing, quietly strong, beautiful and maternal, black women have not. The picture of black woman as Sapphire; welfare queen; baby mama; ball-buster; unmarriageable harpy who is too black, too fat and too nappy can be seen lurking behind much of the right’s–and some of the left’s–criticism of Michelle Obama. (Not only that, but Sapphire qualities are already being thrust upon the Obama’s youngest daughter, Sasha, who the media is fond of imbuing with a sort of two-snaps-up-in-a-circle sassiness.)
White feminists who acknowledge Obama’s blackness, and the stereotypes attached to it, believe her “momification” is a shrewdly calculated answer to attacks on her as “Stokely Carmichael in a dress.” In her article, Malone endorses a similar analysis by Rebecca Traister in Salon. It is as if even these smart women cannot believe that, alongside strong, black womanhood, Michelle Obama might have a nurturing, maternal side that is not politically manufactured, but a part of who she is.
http://thegrio.com/2012/09/13/what-white-feminists-get-wrong-about-first-lady-michelle-obama/#s:first-family-sasha-malia-president-obama-michelle-16×9
Scott Brown, Wall Street’s Hope to Stop Elizabeth Warren
…When asked why he thought Wall Street had become so active on behalf of Brown, Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank says: “Two words: Elizabeth Warren.”
“She makes everybody feel good about financial reform because of her résumé—Harvard, former bankruptcy attorney. You think she gets Wall Street. But she’s never taken risk,” says Lawrence McDonald, a former Lehman trader and co-author of A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers, who recently hosted a Brown fundraiser on Cape Cod. “In every financial crisis, you have a pendulum that swings, and she literally is that pendulum.”
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-13/scott-brown-wall-streets-hope-to-stop-elizabeth-warren
Behind Romney’s Welfare Attacks, America’s Top Poverty Denier
The false ads are inspired by a man with a long history of minimizing the struggles of the poor.
In recent weeks, a Mitt Romney campaign ad has flashed across television screens blasting President Obama on the issue of welfare. The ad claims Obama “gutted” the requirement in the 1996 welfare reform law that recipients look for work in exchange for government support. Media fact-checkers quickly debunked Romney’s attack—PolitiFact rated it “Pants on Fire”—and Obama’s campaign lashed back with a TV ad of its own. Yet Romney stuck with the welfare attack on the stump, and Romney aide Ashley O’Connor said the ad was the campaign’s most potent of 2012.
Romneyland didn’t whip up the bogus welfare attack on its own. It relied instead on the work of Robert Rector, a senior researcher at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, DC.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/mitt-romney-welfare-obama-robert-rector
Analysts say that without the law – which Romney promised to repeal in its entirety – the number of uninsured Americans would have increased. http://bit.ly/QeroGt
· “Attention Obamacare haters,” writes Jonathan Cohn, “the law you despise appears to be working.” http://bit.ly/Pe7QAf
The Center for American Progress found that Romney mega-donor Sheldon Adelson could $2.3 billion under Romney’s tax plan: http://bit.ly/PmwHQA
Thanks to Obamacare, the percentage of Americans without health insurance is shrinking. In its annual report, the Census Bureau reported yesterday that the number of people without health coverage fell by more than 1 million, a drop that health experts largely attributed to the Affordable Care Act.
· Truth Team has a new post up on how Obamacare is working to help Americans get and keep affordable health insurance: http://bit.ly/QIEn2X
· The New York Times breaks down the numbers: http://nyti.ms/TOKDJ2
Independent, nonpartisan experts have found that their plan could only be paid for by limiting tax deductions like the mortgage interest deduction, which would raise taxes on middle-class families with kids by an average of $2,000 a year. OFA Policy Director James Kvaal breaks it down:
http://bit.ly/TOKk18
· Steve Benen on Romney’s startling lack of specifics: http://on.msnbc.com/RMhC0
· Steve Kornacki highlights how even Republicans are starting to take issue with Romney’s vague, impossible promises: http://bit.ly/NqklKK
WHERE ARE THOSE TAX RETURNS, MITT ROMNEY?
Romney’s stonewalling has fueled intense speculation about what he could be hiding. The Atlantic breaks down some of the theories: http://bit.ly/Sgxe6Y
Hey, Ametia!
Love love Lizz Wright’s rendition of “Old Man”.
Lizz is the TRUTH! Glad you’re enjoying her.
Romney Cites His Money’s Experience Abroad
NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—One day after he was roundly criticized by both parties for his comments about Libya, Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney attempted to burnish his foreign-policy credentials today, telling reporters that “no one has spent more time overseas than my money has.”
Read more at newyorker.com. http://links.newyorker.mkt4334.com/ctt?kn=16&ms=NDc2NDQyMgS2&r=MjczNzc1MzAwMzUS1&b=0&j=Mjg2NjI1NTMwS0&mt=1&rt=0
Rumsfeld’s misguided, self-defeating standards
By Steve Benen
Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:17 AM EDT.
When it comes to this week’s unrest in Libya, Egypt, and elsewhere, it’s hard to understand the exact nature of the right’s criticism of President Obama. I’m still not altogether sure what it is they think they don’t like about the White House’s actions.
Some bigoted video gets put on the Internet, which provokes protests in Muslim countries, which may have led some violent opportunists to exploit protests for violent ends. In conservatives’ minds, at what point in this scenario did the president make a mistake?
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld — remember him? — shed new light on the right’s thinking yesterday, arguing that the events in Libya and Egypt were the result of “perceived American weakness.”
It’s a ridiculous argument, but at least I understand the train of thought. That rascally Obama, after ordering the strike that killed bin Laden, decimating al Qaeda, and helping topple the Gadhafi regime, has signaled American “weakness” abroad, which in turn encourages anti-American protests at our diplomatic facilities. After all, the argument goes, people wouldn’t dare protest if they perceived America as strong, right?
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/
Romney Asked VP Shortlisters for Ten Years of Tax Returns
Source: The Daily Beast
Should the American people be entitled to as full an account of Paul Ryan’s taxes as the Romney campaign? New information about the vice-presidential selection process may revive interest in the issue as a flashpoint in the presidential campaign.
As part of its vetting, the Romney campaign required at least some of the candidates on the short list—including the eventual winner of the GOP veepstakes, Ryan—to submit fully 10 years of tax returns, according to a knowledgeable source.
-snip-
In response to questions about the 10-year requirement, Romney campaign press secretary Andrea Saul declined comment. “We do not discuss the VP selection process,” she wrote in an email.
But the revelation that Romney aides demanded that its veep candidates be more forthcoming with their own campaign than with the American public drew predictable scorn from Team Obama. “Mitt Romney needs to answer one question: if he needed ten years of returns to decide on a vice presidential candidate, don’t the American people need the same to make their choice for president?” asked Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for the Obama campaign.
-snip-
Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/13/romney-asked-vp-shortlisters-for-ten-years-of-tax-returns.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFokFK4NTSE&feature=player_embedded
ONE WORD: VOTE!
someone at TOD attended a fundraiser with Valerie Jarrett:
by Rita
Attended an event in San Francisco yesterday where Valerie Jarrett was the speaker. It was held at the Laborer’s Local 261 center, a beautiful location. The event was a Victory Fund celebration organized by the Americans with Disability (Bay Area, I presume?), who have raised $180K for President Obama’s campaign. It was a very cordial, well-attended event. But Valerie was a revelation. I know that she’s referred to as the President’s right hand, that she has his ear, and his back , but she is also a wonderful person in her own right. A Stanford educated lawyer (yay, Bay Area!), she has worked tirelessly for people with disabilities. Her first internship was in Chicago, advocating for children with disabilities.
Valerie is a dynamic speaker! She recounted how she met the President and First Lady 21 years back, when she was trying to recruit both of them to Mayor Daly’s campaign. She said that she was struck, even then with the inherent decency in both of them. She spoke forcefully in support of the Affordable Care Act and how events in the President’s own life, his mother’s suffering from cancer and her insurance woes, and his younger daughter Sasha’s grave illness as a child, made this piece of legislation so very important.
She recounted how the President said that when Sasha was so sick, he couldn’t breathe, like the world was closing in on him, but the fact the they had good health insurance was such a blessing. He thinks about parents who do not have that luxury and how important it is to stop the ACA from being repealed (won’t happen, PBO will be re-elected!!!). She also said that making sure the ADA is strengthened and followed is very important to the President. He believes firmly in the principle that everyone, including those with disabilities, want to achieve their maximum potential. And something I didn’t know, that he had promised to hire 100K people with disabilities into his administration in 5 years, and that they were well on the way to completing that goal.
All in all, a wonderful evening. And, did I say there was food… and wine?
Thanks for sharing this post. Love hearing Americans share their own experiences . Nothing like getting it firsthand from the people who where there!
Ms. Jarrett is a force for good, and a valuable asset to PBO’s admin.
Gail Collins (NYT): Mitt’s Major Meltdown ….. Mitt Romney broke our deal.
Perhaps he didn’t know he’d made it, although, really, I thought it was pretty clear.
He could do anything he wanted during this campaign as long as he sent out signals that once he got in the White House he was not likely to be truly crazy.
…. It didn’t seem to be a lot to ask, but when the crisis in the Middle East flared up, Romney turned out to have no restraining inner core. All the uneasy feelings you got when he went to London and dissed the Olympic organizers can now come into full bloom. Feel free to worry about anything. That he’d declare war on Malta….
……We’re stuck with the task of evaluating Mitt Romney, who went for a cheap attack at a time when any calm, mature adult would have waited and opted for at least a brief show of national unity.
…. Two months to go and we’re rethinking our presumption that the Republican primary voters picked the most stable option.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/opinion/collins-mitts-major-meltdown.html?_r=1
When failure is a team effor
By Steve Benen
Thu Sep 13, 2012 8:00 AM EDT.
Romney and his campaign team linked arms and screwed up together.
Towards the end of Mitt Romney’s press event yesterday on developments in Libya and Egypt, a reporter asked the Republican whether he would have issued a false and accusatory statement, during a crisis, if he’d realized four Americans were being killed.
“I’m not going to take hypotheticals about what would have been known what and so forth,” he said. “I — we responded last night to the events that happened in Egypt.”
Now, part of this is plainly untrue — the response also reflected the developments in Libya — but the “I – we” line stood out for me. Romney’s first instinct was to take ownership of the scurrilous attack, but his second instinct was to broaden responsibility — he and his team said this.
Any chance some random staffer made a late-night screw-up, issuing an offensive statement before the facts were in? Apparently not — the New York Times published this fascinating piece late yesterday.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/13/13842506-when-failure-is-a-team-effort?lite
Did Adelson engineer Obama-Netanyahu crisis?
Matti Golan
It is as if Sheldon Adelson is prepared to do almost anything, in addition to donating money, for President Barack Obama to be ousted from office.
13 September 12 10:56, Matti Golan
What is the connection between the Netanyahu-Obama-Romney triangle and the latest Iran controversy? Is the answer peace in Israel and the world, or is the connection Sheldon Adelson?
Fact: Adelson is one of the biggest donors and supporters of Republican candidate for president Mitt Romney. Adelson is investing not only money, but a lot of passion and desire as well. He is acting like a man for whom the ouster of President Barack Obama from office is more important than his health; as if it is the last thing that he wants to achieve in his life. It is as if he is prepared to do almost anything, in addition to donating money, for that to happen.
….Netanyahu for Adelson-Romney
Fact: Adelson is the biggest patron of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (and of his family). Adelson believes that Netanyahu’s leadership is essential for the existence of the Jewish people. He does not merely think this; he acts on it. Donations? That’s obvious. But he does for Netanyahu something that no other rich man has probably ever done for the candidate he supports: Adelson established a newspaper for Netanyahu (and his family). Adelson bought journalists to write only praise for the prime minister (and his family); journalists, who after all of Netanyahu’s talk, “explain” how right he is. Journalists who cannot, in other words do not dare, find any flaw in Netanyahu’s deeds and decisions. Nothing.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000784906&fid=4111
I said this yesterday. I smell Sheldon Adelson’s funky paws all over this shit. Do they really think they can pull this off without SMART Americans figuring out their fuckery?
found in comments at POU:
MonieTalks
Yep….I see where this is going. PBO said there was never any talk of a meeting beforehand with PM Netanyahu…and I believe them.
But check this….. the new line of attack in Israeli newspapers is that the President will be attending a comedy show (he has an scheduled appearance on David Letterman in NY during his time in NY for UN General Assembly meeting in NY), instead of meeting Netanyahu.
http://presstv.com/detail/2012…
When have you heard PBO snub any other leader during this entire presidency?
This shit was orchestrated by Romeney-Adelson-Netanyahu. Netanyahu needs to show some damn receipts about this damn meeting that only he remembers ….uh huh. A whole bunch of shit stinks
ALL.OF.THIS. Keep digging folks, because the MEDIA is NOT our friend.
Sep 13, 2012
Obama raps Romney for ‘politics’ during crisis
President Obama continued to criticize Mitt Romney for what he called an inappropriate and premature response to protests in Egypt and Libya.
“This wasn’t the time for politics,” Obama said in an interview with Telemundo, the Spanish language television network. “I have observed that there’s a tendency to shoot before you aim
“As President, Obama added, “my obligation is to focus on security for our people, making sure that we gather all the facts, making sure that we’re advancing American interests and not having ideological arguments on a day when we’re mourning.”
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/09/13/obama-romney-telemundo-libya-egypt/70000246/1#.UFHM_hjzd1Q
Good Morning, Everyone! :-)
Good Morning, Ametia, SG2 and Everyone:)
Hola!
Hola! Backatchoo! :-) Left you a message last night
September 12, 2012 11:56 AM
Romney’s reprehensible reaction to the violence in Libya and Egypt
A couple of days ago, I wrote here at the Rumble that Mitt Romney was one of the worst national politicians I’d ever seen.
I spoke too soon; it’s even worse than I thought. His reaction to the violence in Egypt and Libya over a film mocking the religious beliefs of Muslims is truly one of the most brain-dead political acts that I’ve ever witnessed – and it speaks volumes about his personal character and fitness for the nation’s highest office.
Let’s start by getting the facts straight. The Romney campaign has reduced itself to arguing with this statement from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, issued yesterdray:
The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.
At the time this statement was released, the U.S. embassy was under siege from protesters and was trying to pacify crowds and prevent violence from occurring. Even if one disagrees with this sentiment, the rationale behind releasing it is not difficult to understand.
SNIP
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/the_rumble/2012/09/romneys-reprehensible-reaction-to-the-violence-in-libya-and-egypt