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Maybe this was a better place to repost this..sorry about that. This was in the comments of an NBC News story regarding the polls. Apparently she does a commentary every week..lots of fans.
Jody, Iowa
“And that’s the way it is”…..this week.
Congress adjourned last Friday; they won’t be back until after the November elections. The Senate adjourned because most of the dozens of bills left unfinished are spending bills which must originate in the House. Since GOPers can’t seem to find their way out of a paper bag, they might as well take 6 weeks off to try convincing voters they deserve another “do nothing but obstruct” term.
Before heading out of Dodge, a GOP Senator put a HOLD on cost of living increase legislation for disabled veterans and survivors/dependents of those killed. Seems the GOP’s idea of Support Our Troops is wearing flag pins and sticking patriotic magnets on their cars.
Mitt Romney used Friday’s “Take out the Trash Day” to release his 2011 tax returns. In the process he disqualified himself from being president since earlier Mitt said anyone who pays more than they owe isn’t qualified to be POTUS. Of course, he has three years to file an amended tax form to request return of what he overpaid to look good~he’s just hoping no one knows that!
GOPer Bill Kristol said Romney needs to focus on the next 4 years, not the last; then added the Obama administration has “pretty well” cleaned up the mess left for them! Finally, a republican admits their party left a mess, and that the Obama team has cleaned it up “pretty well”.
Missouri GOPTPer Todd “legitimate rape” Akin thumbed his nose at Mitt Romney and other GOP requests to drop out of the Senate race. Now, despite all the outrage expressed by the GOP at his remarks, they’re sending him lots of money!
The fictional “talking point” claiming President Obama skipped his daily intelligence briefings was promoted by a right-leaning group called the Government Accountability Institute. Seriously, that’s their name. Sounds official, even if the only research done concerns how best to tell a lie and spread it around!
Paul Ryan decided unions aren’t bad after all, at least when it comes to NFL referees. Of course, Ryan found a way to poke at President Obama with “I half think these refs work part-time for the Obama administration in the Budget Office.” Funny, I thought they seemed more like “Bushies”.
Mitt Romney’s “aircraft” safety regulations: “When you have a fire in an aircraft, there’s no place to go, exactly. And you can’t find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft because the windows don’t open. I don’t know why they don’t do that. It’s a real problem.” Guess getting sucked out the plane if a window was opened is less hazardous to one’s health~not to mention oxygen feeds a fire!
The Obama Team’s answer to Mitt’s “aircraft” safety regulation: Picture of President Obama looking out the window of Air Force One. “The pilot: Mitt Romney says aircraft windows should open. Obama: that was from The Onion, right?. Pilot: um, no, sir.”
In El Paso County, Colorado, a young woman registering voters asked people, “are you voting for Romney or Obama?”. When challenged, she said, “well, I’m actually trying to register people for a particular party. Because we’re out here in support of Romney, actually….we’re working for the County Clerk’s Office.” The Country Clerk was NOT pleased.
Scott Brown’s tax-payer funded Senate staffers appeared at an Elizabeth Warren rally and did the tomahawk chop while chanting. Nothing like some anti-American Indian bigotry to prove one worthy to be called Senator. Brown said he doesn’t condone the actions of his staff…ignoring, of course, that he began the attacks. Brown set the example; his employees followed his lead.
In Ohio, Mitt Romney said his “heart aches” for the jobless. Did his heart “ache” when, as Bain CEO, he closed plants and shipped the jobs to China?
Iowa GOP Gov. Branstad’s niece, Christine Branstad, is riding the state on the Retain Justice Wiggins bus; she’s no fan of conservative efforts to remove all Iowa Supreme Court justices because they didn’t like the Court’s decision that marriage defined as being between a man and woman was unconstitutional.
Dick Morris said he’s looked at the “real” poll numbers…buts he can’t divulge the results, the pollster or where he saw them. HA, if there were polls out there showing Romney with a lead, Mitt would be posting them on-line and buying billboard space!
Bill O’Reilly thinks Mitt’s problem is that he doesn’t look like a guy “who’d super-size his meal at McDonald’s.” Nope, that’s not the problem because President Obama looks even less like a guy “who’d super-size his meal”.
The Libyan Government has taken control of radical militias; four suspected militants were arrested in connection with the death of Ambassador Stevens and three others. Strange, not a word from Romney, Ryan, the GOP, and for that matter, little to no mention in the media. Instead, they’ll all busy nitpicking the semantics of the White House. No wonder serious problems remain unsolved; we cannot discuss rationally the reasons behind the killings or the reaction of Middle East countries to the anti-Islamic video–it has to be a who said what and when instead of WHY.
Mitt Romney says his Massachusetts health care law proves he has “empathy”. Poor, Mitt, he has yet to grasp that he cannot claim “empathy” based on his health care law while running away from it at the same time by declaring he will repeal ObamaCare which is a nationalized version of it.
The Florida GOP fired a Romney consultant’s voter registration vendor after it was caught submitting 108 questionable voter registration forms in Palm Beach County, the home of hanging chads and ground zero in 2000. Now the GOP really has some Voter Fraud to investigate–their own ACORN!
Another damaging video surfaced showing Mitt Romney happily stating that the goal of Bain Capital was to “…invest in start-up companies and on-going companies, then to take an active hand in managing them and hopefully, five to eight years later, to harvest them at significant profits.” That’s Vulture Capitalist lingo for leverage profitable firms into bankruptcy, steal the pension funds, and sell what’s left for parts~while his “heart aches” for those who lost their jobs when the “harvest” was done.
Iowa’s Early Voting at the polls started Thursday. Across the state thousands of voters cast their ballot. In Polk County, 70% of those casting ballots were registered democrats.
In his UN speech, Netanyahu beat the drums of war, drew a “red line”, AND brought out a prop which looked like Wiley Coyote’s round bomb with a fuse on top. Any moment I expected the Road Runner to streak across the stage…Veep Veep!
Earlier this week GBM posted some Mitt Romney-isms. This Jan 2012 one was too good not to repeat. It is just so George W. Bush. “I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America; that’s the America millions of Americans believe in. That’s the America I love.” Mitt even has a smirk.
The Bachmann “Chitspa” Award goes to the entire GOP who whined, complained, ranted about President Obama not doing bi-lateral meetings at the UN Session this week. It really is chutzpah for the GOP since they regularly dismiss the UN as useless and to be ignored!
Food for Thought: A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both~Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower, a republican, was a wise president, a good president with a Forward vision. It seems his party no longer values the truth or wisdom in his words and actions. The GOP values privilege while denigrating the poor; values money while demonizing those who struggle and have none; values giving more to the wealthy while denying food to the poor. The GOP has lost sight of its true, conservative principles while chasing the value of its privileges and the privileged.
Voter fraud from the right. And is Virginia for racist?
http://field-negro.blogspot.com/2012/09/voter-fraud-from-right-and-is-virginia.html
Down in Florida the GOP has a problem:
“Republicans on Thursday fired a vendor suspected of submitting 108 questionable new voter registrations in Florida’s Palm Beach County, ground zero for disputed ballots in 2000’s presidential race.
The Republican Party of Florida used Virginia-based Strategic Allied Consulting to help register and turnout voters in Florida, one of a shrinking handful of states President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are contesting. The Florida state party had paid the firm more than $1.3 million so far, and the Republican National Committee used the group for almost $3 million of work in Nevada, North Carolina, Colorado and Virginia.
“We have zero tolerance for any threat to the integrity of elections. When we were informed of an alleged incident we immediately cut all ties to the company,” RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer said.” [Source]
OK, it would be bad but not the end of the world if this was an isolated incident but…..
“What first appeared to be an isolated problem in one Florida county has now spread statewide, with election officials in at least seven counties informing prosecutors or state election officials about questionable voter registration forms filled out on behalf of the Republican Party of Florida.
Lux said there have been forms that listed dead people and were either incomplete or illegible. He met with local prosecutors on Friday, but added that his staff was still going through hundreds of forms dropped off by Strategic employees.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1rsd7mEDC0&feature=player_embedded
WOW That mean, old, lying, liberal media, sooo curel to Mittens! /SNARK
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bwa ha ha ha ha
LMBAO I know that’s right.
http://youtu.be/dzMHhFOdXCc
http://youtu.be/1pDsWLXTbDs
So beautiful!
Red white and blue going forward! Go Mrs. Harris!
I just love our ELDERS. Bless you, Mrs. Harris.
We were taught to respect our ELDERS and give honor to them.
Love FLOTUS, and the dress and shoes, she’s absoulutely STUNNING.
Obama to hit trail after debate
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/29/obama-to-hit-trail-after-debate/
(CNN) – President Barack Obama will hit the campaign trail following the Wednesday presidential debate, stumping in four states rated on the CNN Electoral Map as toss ups, according to schedules released by his campaign and the White House.
On Thursday, Obama will hold an event in the debate host city – Denver – then continue on to Madison, Wisconsin, to meet with supporters, his campaign said.
He will then return to Washington before holding events in Virginia and Ohio on Friday.
Dana Milbank: Meet Willard Mitt Romney, champion of the common man ….. When it comes to speaking up for the downtrodden, Romney isn’t just another man of the people. He is the Rolls-Royce of populists.
With evidence building that his prospects have been hurt by his dismissal of nearly half the country as moochers, Romney has been making it his job to worry about the 47 percent of Americans he famously said it wasn’t his job to worry about.
But when such an appeal is attempted by a man who has painstakingly crafted for himself a public image combining Scrooge McDuck and Thurston Howell III, there is bound to be a certain amount of awkwardness and inconsistency…..
…. Why the Baron of Bain would be making a late appeal to the downtrodden is obvious. The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that Americans regard Romney’s “47 percent” remarks negatively, 54 percent to 32 percent. Respondents who self-describe as independent, the all-important demographic, regarded the comments even more negatively.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-in-springfield-romney-plays-to-the-monied-masses/2012/09/28/d283de68-0966-11e2-a10c-fa5a255a9258_story.html?hpid=z3
Is Ryan A Drag On The Ticket?
Noam Scheiber believes so:
Back in late August, Obama led Romney on the question of who would handle Medicare better by 8 points in Florida and 10 points in Ohio; now he’s up 15 in Florida and 16 in Ohio. And the problems are especially acute among senior citizens, a group Obama has traditionally struggled with. A month ago, Obama was down 13 points in Florida among people 65 and older; today he’s up 4. On the specific question of Medicare, Obama was down 4 points among Florida seniors in August; today he’s up 5 points. …
The numbers for Ohio are similar: In August, Obama was down 8 among seniors in the state; today he’s up 1. A month ago Obama was down 6 points among Ohio seniors on the Medicare issue; today he’s up 6. The turnaround here is simply breathtaking.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/
I don’t begrudge Romney his great wealth, but I’m not interested in hearing what a great “businessman” he is because he knows how to avoid paying taxes. And I am not interested in putting in charge of Americas business a person who’s talent is limited to A)….avoidance of paying taxes….B)…destruction of jobs by closing businesses and sending American jobs overseas…..C)…spitting insults at the one person who literally saved the American automotive industry…arranged, at GREAT political risk to have Americas number one enemy killed…and who ended a war that was the single most foolish foreign intervention ever engaged in by America.
By almost any measure, and against all odds, President Obama has accomplished more in less than 4 years than his predecessor did in two terms….and unlike Bush, Obama did this in the light of day without scandal….except those dreamed up by a low life like Darrel Issa, himself a two bit thief.
It is my belief that, considering what Obama has accomplished while the entire treacherous membership of the republican party devoted their efforts to thwart his every move, his request for four more years in office is not only reasonable…it is exactly what America needs to get us back on track…..already well underway.
I see NOTHING in Romney’s background that would suggest he could improve, in any meaningful way, the work Obama has done and will continue, given the opportunity.
He has shown himself to be a liar. His choice for a running mate was an abomination, and the fact that he has chosen as his “advisers” many of the same imbeciles and war mongers that helped get us into a needless war that took the lives of more than 4.000 young Americans and as many as 100,000 Iraqi’s hardly inspires confidence. And it is becoming increasingly clear that Romney is eager to invade Iran…..without carefully considering the consequences.
Obama has earned a second term. America needs him to serve a second term!
Romney has earned a quick ride directly into political oblivion…..and doing so on his fancy dancing horse would be just fine!
LOL You must be PBO’s debate coach, Ed.
Before Debate, Tough Crowds at the Practice
By PETER BAKER and ASHLEY PARKER
Published: September 28, 2012
WASHINGTON — In a conference room at the Democratic headquarters, President Obama has been preparing for the debate next week, but the reviews of his staff are already in. Too long, they tell him. Cut that answer. Give crisper explanations. No one wants a professor; they want a president.
Hundreds of miles away in New England, Mitt Romney’s team has been working to make sure he avoids coming off as a scold. His sparring partner, Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, channeling Mr. Obama, has gone after him repeatedly, to the point of being nasty. The goal is to get Mr. Romney agitated and then teach him how to keep his composure, look presidential.
With more than 50 million people watching and the presidency at stake, the candidates will meet for their first debate on Wednesday at the University of Denver, and both are cramming like college students before an exam. But it is not enough to pore through the voluminous briefing books. Victory may come down to a single exchange, or a single impression, an answer that comes off as too edgy or, conversely, as too long-winded.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/29/us/politics/cramming-and-pruning-for-first-presidential-debate.html?_r=0
LOL Matthews cracks me up.
Michael Kaiser sends letter of apology for strong language in Honors dispute
By David Montgomery, Published: September 28
The Washington Post
Michael M. Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center, apologized for strong language that he used in a recent tense conversation with Felix Sanchez, chairman of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, when Sanchez criticized the lack of Latino artists receiving Kennedy Center Honors.
“I am writing to apologize for the language I used during our telephone call. It was an unfortunate choice of words, and I deeply regret using them in frustration during our conversation,” Kaiser wrote in a letter delivered by messenger to Sanchez’s office Thursday. Sanchez said he did not read it until Friday because he was away from the office.
Sanchez has previously quoted Kaiser as saying “f— yourself” and abruptly hanging up the telephone when Sanchez pressed his point in the Sept. 14 conversation.
Kaiser told The Washington Post last week that he had felt upset during the conversation because he understood Sanchez to be insinuating that he is a racist.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/michael-kaiser-sends-letter-of-apology-for-strong-language-in-honors-dispute/2012/09/28/125e9dc0-09a8-11e2-858a-5311df86ab04_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines
Ummm “f—yourself?” That’s how a president of a foundation/Company addresses clients?
Lil Eddie’s tryna soothe the savage beasts
On the Phone, Ryan Reassures the Right
By Robert Costa
September 28, 2012 9:51 P.M.
Paul Ryan has a new mission: reassuring conservative pundits.
In the past week, the Republican veep has called several conservative commentators. In those conversations, he has expressed confidence about the Republican ticket’s chances, fielded questions, and asked for frank assessments.
Ryan has made the calls one by one from the trail. The private press talks, which are ongoing, have often been lengthy and candid.
Sources close to the Romney campaign tell National Review Online that Ryan has reached out to George F. Will, the Washington Post columnist; Paul Gigot, the editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page; and CNBC’s Larry Kudlow, among others.
After weeks of mounting criticism from conservatives, Ryan reportedly felt compelled to respond in a friendly way to the Beltway buzz.
Republicans familiar with the calls say Ryan’s tone has been positive and upbeat, but he has acknowledged that the campaign has made some missteps.
A source close to the Romney campaign says the calls simply reflect Ryan’s warm relationships with many conservative media figures.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/328842/phone-ryan-reassures-right-robert-costa
Reblogged this on okieprogressive.
Rolling Calamity Update
On the eve of the debates, Romney hits an all-time high of personal unfavorables since January. The red line is his unfavorable number, the black his favorable. His previous high-point for general disdain was (yes!) 47.3 percent of Americans in February – back when evangelicals were still looking for someone else. So on that 47 percent number, Mitt, the feeling appears to be mutual.
On the black favorable line, you can see two jumps – when the GOP base rallies and then when the GOP-leaners try to like him.You can see them pulling for the college try. But the convention comes and … well … they see Clint Eastwood talking to a chair.
But notice the nose-holders never decline that much from February all year, and then the fall arrives and – the genuine, revved-up dislike intensifies sharply. Since the campaign started, Mitt Romney has never been disliked by more Americans – 49.4 percent, to be precise – than now. The personal dislike of him is unprecedented in recent presidential history.
Those debates had better be dynamite, hadn’t they?
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/
These debates will not help Romney. 3 nights in front of millions of people will not help Romney. Didn’t he try this in August in Tampa? We’ve already had a real close look at and heard from this man. BYE BOY!
Obama Blocks Chinese Firm From Wind-Farm Projects
BY DAMIAN PALETTA, KEITH JOHNSON AND SUDEEP REDDY
President Barack Obama on Friday took the rare step of blocking foreign investment in a U.S. company, invoking national-security concerns to prevent a firm owned by two Chinese nationals from acquiring four wind-farm projects in Oregon.
It marked the first time in 22 years that a U.S. president blocked a foreign acquisition in such a manner.
The firm, Ralls Corp., had sued the U.S. government to try to allow the acquisition to proceed. But the White House said Friday the wind-farm sites are all within or near restricted air space at the Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility Boardman in Oregon.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444712904578024590739979984.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Finally! Accountant explains Romney’s offshore accounts, blind trust, taxes, and more… in layman’s terms
Posted on Thursday, September 27, 2012, 11:00 am by GottaLaff
Today’s guest post is from my long time, dear friend, a TV writer-producer with an endless and impressive resumé, David Garber. If you’re anything like me, the minute you hear the words finances, taxes, or accountants, you start to glaze over. This explanation from an accountant friend of David’s helped me, so I hope it helps some of you, too:
A friend, who’s an accountant came over last night and I asked him if he could explain the Romney tax situation regarding foreign, off-shore banking, income, investments and such, based on the 2010 and 2011 Federal tax returns as we’ve seen them. He put it in English — instead of all these pundits trying to explain it with legal and accounting terms. I think now get it, and perhaps your readers would understand it when put in my friends words. By the way, I do have a BS in Business Administration, and I didn’t understand this until now.
The Cayman Island thing goes this way: (which by the way is legal, though to what degree legal and moral overlap in this will always be fodder for debate)
Mitt deposits money from business dealings around the world, some in the US, many in foreign lands into off-shore banks. (This is done through foreign corporations his ‘blind trust’ controls/owns. Some of these banks he uses, BTW, are just post office boxes or storefronts, not a bank like we in the states think of them.
He then takes out money from that account, but in a foreign currency — for example, Cayman Dollars.
When he brings that money into the states, it’s taxed at a lower rate and he’s given credit as if he’s bringing in a foreign investment.
Then he reconverts the currency into American money in his US banks but it’s already been taxed as a foreign investment and he gets to write off additional conversion charges so the reduced money is already taxed, free and clear. It’s coming from his foreign corporation.
Then he ships the American money to China (through his blind trusts investments) to purchase energy or other companies, takes an investment tax credit to further reduce his tax liability or redeposits it back into the Swiss or other foreign banks, which give him a premium interest rate because he’s using American dollars.
It’s all legal, but by doing this, he’s avoiding paying some American corporate taxes and getting a write-off against any money he stores here, accruing interest. He can even back foreign currencies against the dollar using that money, which again, isn’t illegal, just a bit immoral — an American hedging against the US dollar.
So goes the Romney cycle. By using the Caymans he avoids much of the US corp taxes which are around 37% and he still gets to write off the houses, boats, travel, meals, clothes, haircuts — just about everything he spends money on. It’s a write-off against his businesses here.
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2012/09/27/finally-accountant-explains-romneys-offshore-accounts-blind-trust-taxes-and-more-in-laymans-terms/
Good morning, Everyone:)
Good Morning, Rikyrah & Everyone! :-) It’s beautiful fall day in the Twin Cities.
Good Morning, 3Chics!
It’s drizzling rain here.