Tracy Lawrence (born January 27, 1968) is an American country music artist. He started at a country music restaurant called “Live At Libby’s” where owner Libby Knight would help local talent find their way into country music. Lawerence signed to Atlantic Records in 1991, Lawrence debuted that year with the album Sticks and Stones, which produced his first chart single and first Number One hit in its title track.[2] Five more studio albums, as well as a live album and a compilation album, followed throughout the 1990s and into 2000 on Atlantic before the label’s country division was closed in 2001. Afterward, he recorded for Warner Bros. Records, DreamWorks Records, Mercury Records Nashville and his own label, Rocky Comfort Records.
All you Cowgirls and Cowboys, 3Chics is going to showcase some country music this week, so put on your boots, hats, big belt buckles and get to steppin. Sing along and let the sound haaannnng out there! :)
This devious, lying, deceptive MOFO right chere:
Romney Uses Choice Language To Further Muddle His Position On Women’s Health
By Tara Culp-Ressler on Oct 15, 2012 at 4:45 pm
Throughout the past week, Mitt Romney has attempted to obfuscate his record on women’s health issues. Last Tuesday, he said he isn’t familiar with any anti-abortion legislation in his proposed agenda, despite being on the record as supporting at least three pieces of anti-abortion legislation — a statement which the Romney campaign worked quickly to backtrack, saying that Romney’s new abortion position is “completely consistent” with his record. In fact, Romney’s record on abortion has been everywhere on the map.
And a Virginia mailer from the Romney campaign may serve to further confuse voters about where Romney stands on abortion issues, as it proclaims that a Romney presidency will protect health care “choice”:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/10/15/1016321/romney-choice-language/
http://youtu.be/0QsbrmwtWWU
Deaniac is not letting up on Nate Silver.
………………….
No, Nate Silver, There’s No “State-National Poll Stalemate”
Monday, October 15, 2012 | Posted by Deaniac83 at 4:56 PM
This weekend, I called out Nate Silver of 538 fame for his actual abysmal record of predicting contested, close state-wide races in federal elections. It seems though that Nate might be aware of the pitfalls of his model that unquestioningly counts all polls, no matter how out-of-whack and skewed they are, on the assumption that the biases in the polls eventually average out (which, given the right’s astroturf polling, is not likely). So, he has come up with a new CYA strategy: claim that there is a “state-national poll stalemate.”
For the last week or so, we have been hoping to decode a confusing polling landscape. President Obama still appeared to hold a narrow Electoral College lead on the basis of state-by-state surveys, while national polls were suggestive of a tie or perhaps the slightest edge for Mitt Romney.
If the current polls hold, predicting the election outcome will boil down to making a series of educated guesses about the relationship between state and national polls, and between the Electoral College and the popular vote.
Here, I’ll decode it for you, Nate: stop including every cooked up poll in your “analysis” and have a look at the internals and demographics. Figure out if a given poll warrants inclusion given the The “likely voter” models, especially of national polls and state polls conducted by national pollsters, are drastically out of whack with their own registered voter numbers, as well as actual turnout demographics of the 2008 elections. If you take out this large right-skewing effect, or stop including every astroturf poll in your model (not to mention account for the clobbering Mitt Romney is receiving from the early vote), you will see that there is no “stalemate” here.
Secondly, national pollsters, are underestimating the likelihood of the minority vote, especially the Hispanic vote. And it isn’t like Nate Silver is completely unaware of this happening. The Tuscon Citizen, citing a poll from Latino Decisions showing President Obama picking up a staggering 80% share of the Hispanic vote, documented Nate Silver’s own work in determining the extent of this discrepancy:
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2012/10/nate-silvers-mythical-state-national.html
Good for Deaniac. Nate’s a huge disappointment. I used to have a crush on this fool. He’s sold his Soul to the NYTs.
Charity president unhappy about Paul Ryan soup kitchen ‘photo op’
By Felicia Sonmez , Updated: October 15, 2012
The head of a northeast Ohio charity says that the Romney campaign last week “ramrodded their way” into the group’s Youngstown soup kitchen so that GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan could get his picture taken washing dishes in the dining hall.
Brian J. Antal, president of the Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society, said that he was not contacted by the Romney campaign ahead of the Saturday morning visit by Ryan, who stopped by the soup kitchen after a town hall at Youngstown State University.
“We’re a faith-based organization; we are apolitical because the majority of our funding is from private donations,” Antal said in a phone interview Monday afternoon. “It’s strictly in our bylaws not to do it. They showed up there, and they did not have permission. They got one of the volunteers to open up the doors.”
He added: “The photo-op they did wasn’t even accurate. He did nothing. He just came in here to get his picture taken at the dining hall.”
Ryan had stopped by the soup kitchen for about 15 minutes on his way to the airport after his Saturday morning town hall in Youngstown. By the time he arrived, the food had already been served, the patrons had left, and the hall had been cleaned.
Upon entering the soup kitchen, Ryan, his wife and three young children greeted and thanked several volunteers, then donned white aprons and offered to clean some dishes. Photographers snapped photos and TV cameras shot footage of Ryan and his family washing pots and pans that did not appear to be dirty.
According to a Romney aide not authorized to speak publicly about the event, the campaign followed its usual protocol for impromptu, on-the-road stops by candidates: A staffer was dispatched to the St. Vincent De Paul Society ahead of Ryan’s visit Saturday morning and spoke with a woman in charge on site, who said that it would be fine for the congressman to stop by. The campaign did not contact Antal ahead of the visit.
The woman on site told the Romney staffer that some of the volunteers had already left, but that most were happy to remain until Ryan arrived, according to the aide. After Ryan left the soup kitchen, the woman approached a campaign staffer and expressed gratitude for Ryan’s visit, the aide said.
Chris Maloney, Ohio communications director for the Romney campaign, said that the visit by Ryan had been intended to highlight the work of the soup kitchen volunteers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/10/15/charity-president-unhappy-about-paul-ryan-soup-kitchen-photo-op/?print=1
OMG! Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney are so embarrassing! They have no honesty whatsoever! Faking a soup kitchen photo? GTFOOH!
LIL Eddie
Report: Charity President Objects To Paul Ryan’s Soup Kitchen Photo Op
Source: Talking Points Memo
Brian J. Antal, the president of an Ohio charity for the homeless, is objecting to a photo op staged by the Romney campaign on Saturday that featured vice presidential running mate Paul Ryan washing pots and pans that had already appeared to be clean, Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post reports:
“We’re a faith-based organization; we are apolitical because the majority of our funding is from private donations,” Antal said in a phone interview Monday afternoon. “It’s strictly in our bylaws not to do it. They showed up there and they did not have permission. They got one of the volunteers to open up the doors.”
He added: “The photo-op they did wasn’t even accurate. He did nothing. He just came in here to get his picture taken at the dining hall.”
…..
“Had they asked for permission, it wouldn’t have been granted. … But I certainly wouldn’t have let him wash clean pans and then take a picture,” Antal told the Post.
Read more: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/report-charity-president-objects-to-paul-ryans-soup
300,000 professional fire fighters endorse President Obama
http://www.firefightersforobama.com/index.cfm?Section=28&PageNum=224
Who We Are and What We Stand For
We are 300,000 professional fire fighters and paramedics who stand up for the public’s safety and for ourselves at work. We support candidates who support us to make sure we can do our jobs safely while we protect the public.
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have consistently shown their commitment to the safety of the nation’s citizens and our neighborhoods by increasing funding for critical programs that have kept thousands of fire fighters and paramedics responding to calls and provided the equipment we need to protect our communities during some of the toughest economic times this country has ever experienced.
Mitt Romney repeatedly attempted to cut local aid to communities while governor of Massachusetts, and has stated that he opposes and would zero-out the federal programs that provide funding to communities to keep fire fighters working and for life-saving equipment and apparatus. He also claims that America “doesn’t need more firemen, more policemen or more teachers.”
The IAFF has endorsed President Obama and Vice President Biden for re-election because they have the strongest record on fire fighter issues, the safety of our citizens and the security of our homeland.
Whelp! Romney said we don’t need no more stankin’ teachers, policemen, and firefighters. So they must of gotten his message.
Remember this?
Come on with it Clarie! We can see where tomorrow night’s debate is going.
Apology for Obama-to-Kenya Comment
http://news.yahoo.com/tommy-thompsons-son-apologizes-back-kenya-obama-184733649–abc-news-politics.html
The son of Senate candidate and former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson has reportedly apologized for his back-to-Kenya reference to President Obama that drew laughter and light applause during a brunch attended by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus in Rep. Paul Ryan’s district.
In a video from Sunday’s Republican Party brunch posted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jason Thompson said, “We have the opportunity to send President Obama back to Chicago, or Kenya.”
One woman in the video can be heard saying, “We’re taking donations for that Kenya trip.”
The former governor later spoke to his son about the remarks and Jason Thompson apologized, according to Politico.
____________
LOL There you go!
Romney Is Attacked by His Father’s Longtime Aide
By MICHAEL BARBARO
A longtime aide to George W. Romney issued a harshly worded critique of Mitt Romney, accusing him of shifting political positions in “erratic and startling ways” and failing to live up to the distinguished record of his father, the former governor of Michigan.
Walter De Vries, who worked for the senior Mr. Romney throughout the 1960s, wrote that Mitt Romney’s bid for the White House was “a far cry from the kind of campaign and conduct, as a public servant, I saw during the seven years I worked in George Romney’s campaigns and served him as governor.”
“While it seems that Mitt would say and do anything to close a deal – or an election,” he wrote, “George Romney’s strength as a politician and public officeholder was his ability and determination to develop and hold consistent policy positions over his life.”
……………..
Mr. De Vries continued, “George would never have been seen with the likes of Sheldon Adelson or Donald Trump.”
Read more: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/romney-is-attacked-by-his-fathers-longtime-aide/
Mitt Romney Campaign Raises $170 Million In September
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/15/mitt-romney-raises-170-million-september_n_1968162.html#comments
WASHINGTON — The Romney campaign raised $170 million in September and now has more than $191 million in cash on hand, it reported on Monday, putting it in a solid position for spending in the final weeks leading up to the election.
The New York Times first reported the fundraising figure, which the Romney campaign revealed in an email to top donors and fundraisers. In that email, the campaign asked donors to help them bring in even more this month, the Times reported.
do you actually believe this?
I know I don’t
HELL NO! He borrowed it. And I don’t believe these close-tied polls either, especially the ones popping up about Romney leading with women in swing states. IT’S AMOFO LIE.
do you actually believe this?
LOL
SG2: I don’t believe for a second that Mitt Romney raised $170 million dollars. He may have BORROWED it but he didn’t raise that much!
http://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/257947257339510784/photo/1
Great sign,good message.Wonderful family,Love Em
I want this RAT BASTARD defeated for good.
Romney Bounce Fades, Obama Leads on All Fronts
Posted on 10/15/2012 at 9:27 am by Bob Cesca
Kevin Drum:
A new ABC/Washington Post poll is out, and it shows Obama ahead nationally among likely voters 49%-46%. That’s not too surprising, but what is surprising is that the poll shows no post-debate surge for Romney. Obama was ahead by two points on September 29 and he’s ahead by three points today.
Furthermore, and relating to my column today, the president is safely ahead in all issue areas (minus the deficit which he’s reduced) including the “crisis” category.
http://bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2012/10/romney-bounce-fades-obama-leads-on-all-fronts.html
Tom Brokaw is Worthless
Posted on 10/15/2012 at 12:34 pm by Bob Cesca
Here’s Brokaw on Meet the Press saying the deficit “happened on [Obama’s] watch”:
This is an abortion of the facts.
First, as I’ve been screaming about for months, the president has reduced the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars from what he inherited from the Bush administration.
Second, I’ve had it with the impotent Meet the Press crowd continuously repeating common wisdom or “what the American people think” as if it was fact. For fuck sake, people, report on the facts as they exist instead of the fiction that people and polls believe to be true. Just because people think the deficit is skyrocketing doesn’t make it so! It’s your responsibility to inform them of reality!
President Obama has CUT THE DEFICIT. Full stop.
http://bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2012/10/tom-brokaw-is-worthless.html
Brokaw is a GOP water-carrying, washed up, decrepit POS. Full stop.
Kaiser: Vouchercare Means Higher Premiums
Posted on 10/15/2012 at 1:30 pm by JM Ashby
The Kaiser Family Foundation took a veiled swipe at the Romney campaign today behind the cloak of a disclaimer, concluding that 60 percent of Medicare recipients would see higher premiums under a privatized system. A system similar to the one Romney is running on.
The Romney campaign is echoing the disclaimer contained in the Kaiser study and claiming that you shouldn’t associate this study with Romney’s healthcare plan because his healthcare plan isn’t specific enough to draw conclusions from.
That’s convenient, isn’t it? Is there an echo in here? Romney’s tax plan lacks specifics too.
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan appear to be sticking by their plan to privatize Medicare if they’re elected, and according to the Kaiser study privatizing Medicare would lead to higher premiums. If Team Romney wants to dispel the study’s findings, they should offer specifics.
Don’t hold your breath waiting.
http://bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2012/10/kaiser-vouchercare-means-higher-premiums.html
Lobbyists ready for a comeback under Romney
By: Anna Palmer
October 15, 2012 01:56 PM EDT
President Barack Obama’s gone further than any president to keep lobbyists out of the White House — even signing executive orders to do it.
But the mood on K Street is brightening.
Industry insiders believe that Mitt Romney will unshackle the revolving door and give lobbyists a shot at the government jobs their Democratic counterparts have been denied for the past four years, a dozen Republican lobbyists said in conversations with POLITICO.
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=955824CF-27F0-4A47-A7B6-F95F16280214
October 15, 2012 10:43 AM
Chicken Little May Be Right
By Ed Kilgore
One of the memes you are going to definitely hear a lot of if the presidential contest stays close and if the turnout machines and ad campaigns ratchet up interparty hostilities to whole next levels of hate and fear is that it really just doesn’t matter who wins. After all, between the features of our system that inherently frustrate political majorities and the objective difficulties of the problems the country faces, it’ll be Gridlock City either way. This observation, of course, is often paired with an injunction that both parties bend to some sort of Bowles-Simpson magic, but the underlying sense is that both parties are equally incapable of governing without pixie dust of some sort. (There is, of course, a very different school of thought that the election doesn’t matter because both candidates are advocates of the same basic ideology of corporate neoliberalism, but that won’t get any airing in the MSM).
Jonathan Chait, however, begs to differ, in a long and persuasive piece on the post-election plans of both candidates.
Like me, and most other liberal writers, Chait views all the recent talk from RomneyLand about “working with Congress” to come up with a detailed agenda as a complete charade designed to convey an attractive bipartisanship and disguise unpopular policy positions. The actual plan is the precise opposite: quickly enact an agenda that’s already been drafted and passed by the House.
True, if Republicans fail to win a Senate majority, this scenario gets a lot trickier, but as I argued last week, it’s more likely that a Romney administration and GOP congressional leaders would search to the ends of the earth for ways to buy a couple of Democratic senators instead of rethinking an entire strategy for a legislative revolution under the command of a Republican president deeply distrusted by conservatives.
Chait is more provocative in arguing that Obama has a post-election agenda as audacious as Romney’s: using the Big Stick of the “fiscal cliff” to force the GOP to choose between courses of action they’d otherwise never accept.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_10/chicken_little_may_be_right040498.php
Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 10/15/2012
TheWashingtonPost
How Romney can win — and how Obama can avoid it
By Greg Sargent
One thing Obama urgently needs to prevent during tomorrow’s debate is this: He can’t allow Mitt Romney to become the candidate of change in this race. And that may be in the process of happening.
In an interview this morning, Dem pollster Stan Greenberg said he had identified a key reason Romney’s last debate performance was a success. To wit: Romney successfully grabbed the mantle of change agent, even as Obama came across as the candidate of the status quo.
“The danger for Obama is that Romney would become the candidate of change,” Greenberg said. “Obama has the chance in this debate to undermine that.”
Greenberg is releasing new research today backing up that point — and counseling Obama on how to prevent it from happening. Greenberg says dial sessions he conducted during the debate indicated that independents and unmarried women — two key constituencies — were unmoved when Obama talked about the progress of the last four years or when his surrogates said variations of: “Give him more time to finish the job.”
Greenberg says this risks painting Obama as the candidate of the status quo — and that this is dangerous even if people believe the economy is recovering. Greenberg’s national polling shows that people believe the middle class’s problems run so deep that recovery alone isn’t enough — large majorities say our problems can only be solved with “major changes.”
Romney is successfully exploting this, Greenberg says, with his heavy emphasis on his five point plan for the middle class, which also tests well in his polling. Romney has also made gains by contrasting that with the notion that continuing the status quo is unacceptable: “We can’t afford another four years like the last four years.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/how-romney-can-win–and-how-obama-can-avoid-it/2012/10/15/4a44c2ea-16d3-11e2-9855-71f2b202721b_blog.html
Obama can win, if the media reports instead of distorts, call Mitt Romney out on all his lies, and every registered voter gets to the polls and votes for him.
The wrong issue for the wrong candidate
By Steve Benen – Mon Oct 15, 2012 10:43 AM EDT
Late Friday afternoon, the Treasury Department published the official report on the U.S. budget deficit for the most recent fiscal year: $1.089 trillion. While that’s obviously still a very large budget shortfall, the deficit is $200 billion smaller than it was last year, and is nearly $300 billion smaller than when President Obama took office.
To add a little historical context to this, over the last four decades, only two presidents have reduced the deficit this much, this quickly: Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Despite this fact, the new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney on every major policy area except one: deficit reduction. It’s an advantage the Republican is eager to exploit.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/15/14452120-the-wrong-issue-for-the-wrong-candidate?lite
October 15, 2012 12:10 PM
Debt-a-Ganza
You never know if this sort of thing is just misdirection, but CNN’s Peter Hamby is reporting today that the “message of the week” for the Romney campaign is very heavy on the debt-and-deficit angle of attack on Obama:
The talking points have the usual blah-blah about Obama’s profligate fiscal policies and responsibility for deficits and debt. A slightly novel twist is the effort to quantify debt service as a “tax increase” (four Gs per taxpayer, Team Mitt somehow says). The suggested rap also is a bit more explicit than is usually the case in making the conservative argument that cutting government spending (a counter-stimulative maneuver by any estimation) will magically lift the economy.
But what I find interesting is that the Romney campaign is hyping Mitt’s own “positive” debt reduction agenda, which is basically the Ryan Budget:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/index.php
October 15, 2012 9:35 AM
Defining the Horse Race’s New Normal
By Ed Kilgore
After two weeks of turbulence and furor over highly contrasting measurements of the presidential contest—not just by polls, but via CW—today’s new WaPo/ABC and Politico/Battleground/GWU national surveys arrive today with the sodden weight of superficial authority. The former puts Obama up by 3 points (49/46) among LVs; the latter has him up 49/48. But perhaps more importantly: In both cases, the numbers are virtually identical to those taken by the same firms before the first presidential debate.
The powerful suggestion is that the “Romney surge,” at least in national polls, is over, and we’re looking at a contest in which Obama maintains a small lead—not one in which excited conservatives are about to snake-dance to the polls to lift Mitt to a smashing victory over a dispirited president and his demoralized troops.
And this, for better or worse, is going to be the background that will frame MSM coverage of tomorrow night’s second debate. Yes, there will be an enormous amount of talk about Obama’s “energy level,” setting an extremely low threshold for estimates of the president’s engagement in his own campaign that he ought to be able to manage to his advantage. Mitt Romney, meanwhile, will have to find ways in a less than ideal debate format to reinforce the fragile new impression that he’s the guy who governed Massachusetts from 2003-2007 rather than the guy he’s been almost every moment since.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_10/defining_the_horse_races_new_n040497.php
October 15, 2012 12:55 PM
Vote For the Fraud. It’s Important.
By Ed Kilgore
Sometimes a candidate receives an endorsement that’s not exactly worth the collateral damage. That may be the case with infotainment celebrity Piers Morgan, whose assessment of Mitt’s Romney’s candidacy at the Daily Mail today had one of the more interesting headlines of Campaign /12: “He’s one of the least principled politicians I’ve met. But I believe Mitt Romney might just save America.”
If you actually read Morgan’s column, he spends a lot more time on the first proposition than the second. In fact, he never says anything about Romney “saving America,” but instead offers the usual lame combo platter of asserting that Obama’s failed on the economy, and Mitt did a real good job running the Salt Lake City Olympics. I know if I’m hiring someone to do the most important job in the whole world, a resume line from more than a decade ago is the first thing I’d look at, too.
In any event, the only precinct of the wingnutosphere that’s gone to the trouble of drawing attention to Morgan’s “endorsement” is Breitbart.com, where it was spun as a sorta-lefty (sic!) public figure succumbing to the irresistible logic of the GOP candidacy.
But if you think about it for a moment, Morgan is only offering a slightly exaggerated version of what is becoming the classic Beltway Centrist case for Mitt: the guy you’ve watched slavishly pandering to the conservative movement for the last five years (since his first presidential run began) is a complete fraud, a tower of mendacity so high that it peeks through the clouds. And that’s why he’d be a great president!
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_10/vote_for_the_liar_its_importan040507.php
Gary Johnson makes the GOP nervous
By Steve Benen – Mon Oct 15, 2012 11:30 AM EDT.35
Given how very close the 2012 presidential race has become, a candidate like Gary Johnson, on the ballot in 48 states, may very well make a difference.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/15/14452934-gary-johnson-makes-the-gop-nervous?lite
Posted at 12:31 PM ET, 10/15/2012
TheWashingtonPost
Why African Americans are sticking with Obama
By Jamelle Bouie
One of the striking things about President Obama’s position in this election, as noted by NBC News this morning, is his persistently high support among minority groups. He continues to win two-thirds of Latino voters, and almost 90 percent of African Americans.
This despite the fact that, among all demographic groups, African Americans were hit hardest by the Great Recession, and have seen the least improvement in the recovery. Unemployment among African Americans has hovered at 14 percent since 2009, and the wealth gap between blacks and whites has only grown. Over the last three years, black income has fallen by 11.1 percent — twice the 5.2 percent decline of white households — and the net worth of black households has fallen by huge amounts.
This raises a question: Why are African Americans so loyal to a president who hasn’t done much to improve their immediate economic situation? One answer, suggested by Associated Press writer Jesse Washington, is that it’s racial loyalty. He quotes one man as admitting that he supported Obama over Hillary Clinton in 2008 because he was black.
The main problem with this explanation is that it ignores the reality of high African American support for Democrats. Over the last three decades, blacks have shown overwhelming support for Democratic candidates. Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and John Kerry received more than 85 percent of the African American vote, with Dukakis hitting 90 percent. It’s true that Obama overperformed among African Americans — but that had more to do with the national mood; Obama overperformed with all voters.
Beyond that, “racial loyalty” doesn’t do much to explain the general relationship between black voters and black politicians. If African Americans were supporting Obama because he was black, you’d also expect them to show similar support for Allen West, Condoleeza Rice, Tim Scott, Herman Cain, and other black Republicans. Of course, the truth is that black Republicans have little support among African Americans: Which, again, speaks to the fact that blacks are Democratic partisans more than anything else.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/why-african-americans-are-sticking-with-obama/2012/10/15/78c70596-16d9-11e2-a346-f24efc680b8d_blog.html
The majority of these shuckin & buckin negroes are the very reason I would never vote for them. They’re sellouts and they do not represent my nor my family’s better interests.
Who the fuck would vote for anyone in the Republican Party in its current state of racial bigotry, misogny homophobia, and Islamaphoia?
Keeping reproductive health at the forefront
By Steve Benen – Mon Oct 15, 2012 1:17 PM ED
.As Mitt Romney has closed the gap against President Obama in the polls — and in some cases, inched ahead — the enormous gender gap that benefited the incumbent has dwindled, too. It appears, then, that the president and his allies are eager to keep women’s health and reproductive rights in the spotlight, hoping to remind women voters what’s at stake from a progressive perspective.
The Obama campaign unveiled this new spot over the weekend, which will air in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, and Virginia. If my count is correct, it’s the sixth television spot Obama has unveiled on this issue in recent months
http://youtu.be/1eQGoQSOOM4
For those who can’t watch clips online, the voiceover tells viewers, “As you’re making your decision, maybe you’re wondering what to believe about Mitt Romney. Well, when it comes to protecting your access to birth control, and the basic women’s health care services Planned Parenthood provides, one thing we must remember, is this: ‘I’ll cut off funding to Planned Parenthood.’
“He’ll cut it off. Cut us off ‘Planned Parenthood. We’re going to get rid of that.’ Women need to know the real Mitt Romney.”
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/15/14454940-keeping-reproductive-health-at-the-forefront?lite
DCCC Backs Bachmann’s Opponent In MN
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/dccc-backs-bachmanns-opponent-in-mn
National Democrats believe Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) could lose this fall. Bachmann, one of the top tea party Republicans facing national efforts to defeat them from progressive groups this year, is now on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Red to Blue” district target list.
On Monday the DCCC announced it will throw its weight behind businessman Jim Graves, who has mounted a well-funded campaign targeted at highlighting Bachmann’s national profile as a divisive figure. Democrats in Washington like what they see, and now promise Graves support from the national party.
“During Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s career in Washington, she has been more focused on being a national right-wing celebrity than on delivering for the Minnesota families she represents,” DCCC chair Steve Israel (NY) said in a statement. “Voters are experiencing buyer’s remorse with Congresswoman Bachmann and her relentless desire to put ideology over solutions.”
________________
GTFOOH, Bachman!
She’s running scurred and in a shitload of trouble in her district. Folks are tired of this bitch.
Enough of this bee.itch.
Jay-Z: The Power of Our Voice
Posted at 01:43 PM ET, 10/15/2012
Unmasking Mitt Romney as an economic sham
By Greg Sargent
Everyone is linking to former Reagan budget director and private equity investor David Stockman’s brutal dissection of Mitt Romney’s claim that his Bain years have equipped him to be a job-creating juggernaut of a president:
This is the case that the Obama campaign has made for months, mostly in the form of a relentless barrage of ads slamming Romney over Bain layoffs and offshoring. But Obama really needs to deliver some form of it at tomorrow’s debate. More broadly, Obama needs to figure out a way of unmasking not just Romney’s claims to job-creation prowess, but also the particulars of his five point plan for the middle class, as a bill of goods
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line
Pro-Romney CEOs forgo subtlety as part of campaign push
By Steve Benen – Mon Oct 15, 2012 9:28 AM EDT.
Plenty of eyebrows were raised last week when David Siegel, the CEO of a large timeshare company, sent a lengthy written tirade to his workers, telling them President Obama’s re-election would “threaten your job.” Siegel has long been a major Republican backer, including having boasted that he was “personally responsible” for George W. Bush’s 2000 victory, thanks to efforts Siegel said “may not necessarily have been legal.”
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/15/14450886-pro-romney-ceos-forgo-subtlety-as-part-of-campaign-push?lite
this punk ass bitch here:
Mitt Romney ‘View’ Appearance: Republican Presidential Candidate Cancels On ABC Talk Show (VIDEO)
Barbara Walters announced on Monday’s “View” that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney canceled on the ABC daytime talk show. His wife Ann will still appear on Thursday’s show.
Through a campaign spokesperson, Romney announced that he would visit the program in October after devastating comments made during a fundraising event were released through a secretly recorded video. Romney called the ABC talk show “high-risk” and said that co-host Whoopi Goldberg had a particularly sharp tongue.
While his comments about the roughly 47 percent of Americans who do not pay taxes made headlines, his remarks about the ABC daytime talk show raised some eyebrows as well.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/15/mitt-romney-view-appearan_n_1967123.html
Mitt, that’s a punk a** move to cancel the view. How can you stand up to Ahmadinejad when you’re scared of Whoopi?
Buyout Profits Keep Flowing to Romney
Yet when it came to his considerable personal wealth, Mr. Romney never really left Bain.
In what would be the final deal of his private equity career, he negotiated a retirement agreement with his former partners that has paid him a share of Bain’s profits ever since, bringing the Romney family millions of dollars in income each year and bolstering the fortune that has helped finance Mr. Romney’s political aspirations.
The arrangement allowed Mr. Romney to pursue his career in public life while enjoying much of the financial upside of being a Bain partner as the company grew into a global investing behemoth.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/us/politics/retirement-deal-keeps-bain-money-flowing-to-romney.html?pagewanted=all?src=tp&_r=0
Warren Raises $12 Million In Third Quarter, Beating Brown’s Haul
Pema Levy – 9:34 AM EDT, Monday October 15, 2012
Elizabeth Warren raised an impressive $12.1 million in the third quarter in her bid to unseat Republican Sen. Scott Brown, her campaign announced Monday. September was her strongest fundraising month, bringing in $7 million last month. These big numbers put her in a good position going into the final weeks of the campaign. The campaign did not indicate how much it has in cash-on-hand.
From the campaign:
The most recent quarter also saw a continuation of the strong grassroots support she’s received throughout this campaign – more than 80% of donations were $50 or less and more than half were $25 or less. More than 53,000 residents of Massachusetts have contributed to her campaign and more than 100,000 donations were made in Massachusetts. September was also the single best month so far of the campaign with more than $7 million raised in that month alone.
Sen. Brown raised $7.45 million in the third quarter, his strongest quarter thus far, according to the Boston Globe, and has $10.2 million cash on hand.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/warren-raises-12-million-in-third-quarter
Huffington Post Publishes Memo With Walmart’s Secret Strike Strategies
October 14, 2012
By Elisabeth Parker
While Walmart’s management publicly dismisses recent strikes and demonstrations as mere “publicity stunts,” a confidential internal memo leaked to the Huffington Post reveals that their associates’ activism has them running scared. Looming threats of massive, nationwide strikes on “Black Friday” — the day after Thanksgiving and the most profitable shopping day of the year for retailers — might also have something to do with Walmart’s sudden concern. The memorandum, marked confidential, is entitled “Response to Walkout/Work Stoppage — Salaried Management Talking Points,” and is available from the Huffington Post Web site as a PDF file. The memo was sent out to salaried (managerial, non-hourly) employees on October 8th, and provides seven pages worth of detailed instructions on how store managers should handle striking employees and the media
Like the proverbial duck — who presents a placid appearance above water while paddling frantically underneath — Walmart’s upper echelons are more disturbed by their associates’ series of rebellions than they let on. The memo’s opening paragraph reveals a high level of concern and a company that views itself as increasingly under siege:
“As you know, activists or union organizers have been trying for years to stop our Company’s growth and to damage our relationship with our customers and members. One of the activists’ or union organizers’ tactics is to try to disrupt the business by urging our associates to participate in a walkout or other form of work stoppage.”
In contrast with the harsh anti-labor tactics for which Walmart is well-known, the October 8th memo urges management to avoid retaliation and violating workers’ legal rights, and to even allow striking associates to return to their usual shifts. Store managers are instead urged to use the tellingly-acronymed FOE strategy, which exhorts them to show empathy towards errant associates while sharing Facts, Opinions, and personal Experiences. As if telling workers that “I don’t think a walkout is a good way to resolve problems or issues” can fix their inability to afford housing, food, and healthcare — or keep GOP legislators from taking away food stamps and other programs that help them barely get by
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/10/14/huffington-post-publishes-memo-with-walmarts-secret-strike-strategies/
Have you seen these billboards? http://ColorOfChange.org launched a campaign
http://bit.ly/QIIwlX
Just weeks before election day, voter intimidation billboards have popped up in Black and Latino neighborhoods in Ohio and Wisconsin. The billboards threaten voters with lengthy prison time and enormous fines if they commit “voter fraud.” It’s a clear tactic to frighten people of color and keep us away from the polls.
This weekend, ColorOfChange launched a campaign calling on Clear Channel, the hosts of the billboard, to take down the signs immediately.
THANK YOU, MR. GLEN!
When the President took office, we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. Now businesses have added 5.2 million private sector jobs over the past two and a half years, the unemployment rate is at its lowest level since January 2009, and consumer confidence is at a five-year high. Obama for America has released a powerful new ad, “Main Street,” in which Americans from across the country discuss the economic progress they’ve seen in their communities thanks to President Obama. President Obama understands there’s more work to do to get Americans back to work and restore economic security for the middle-class, but the hard-working Americans in OFA’s new ad are sticking with the President because they know his plans are building an economy meant to last – from the middle out, not the top down:
In the final 30 days of the election, the DNC is running down 30 ways President Obama is helping move this country forward.
Reason # 9: Building a clean energy economy. http://OFA.BO/FeqHro
Newspapers across the country are beginning to publish their endorsements.
“Obama has a keen vision that he has worked hard to achieve,” says the Winston Salem-Journal, which endorsed John McCain in 2008: http://OFA.BO/5TCn3b
The Philadelphia Inquirer: “Obama will do a better job” http://OFA.BO/6cVmci
Sister cries out, from her baby bed.
Brother runs in with feathers on his head.
Mama’s in her room learnin how to sew.
Daddy’s drinkin beer listenen to the radio.
Hank Williams sings Kaw-Liga and Dear John
Time marches on, time marches on.
BTW, I want me a pair of those blue leather Cowgirl boots.
;)
At The Vice Presidential Debate: Ryan Told 24 Myths In 40 Minutes
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/10/12/1002021/at-the-vice-presidential-debate-ryan-told-24-myths-in-40-minutes/
Paul Ryan spoke for 40 of the 90 minutes during Thursday night’s vice presidential debate and managed to tell at least 24 myths during that time:
1) “It took the president two weeks to acknowledge that [the Libya attack] was a terrorist attack.” Obama used the word “terrorism” to describe the killing of Americans the very next day at the Rose Garden. “No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for,” Obama said in a Rose Garden statement on September 12.
2) “The administration was blocking us every step of the way. Only because we had strong bipartisan support for these tough [Iran] sanctions were we able to overrule their objections and put them in spite of the administration.” Even the Israeli President has effusively praised President Obama’s leadership on getting American and international sanctions on Iran, which have significantly slowed Iran’s progress.
3) “Medicare and Social Security are going bankrupt. These are indisputable facts.” [T]he possibility of Medicare going bankrupt is — and historically has been — greatly exaggerated. In fact, if no changes are made, Medicare would still be able to meet 88 percent of its obligations in 2085. Social Security is fully funded for another two decades and could pay 75 percent of its benefits thereafter. There is also an easy way to ensure the program’s long-term solvency without large changes or cuts to benefits.
More…
No surprises here. I’m sure Ryan had major “crotch burn” from his pants on fire performance.
Charlie Crist stumps for Obama in OH
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/charlie-crist-stumps-obama-oh
We’re a bit late posting this but former Gov. Charlie Crist hit the trail in Ohio Saturday, campaigning in the Columbus and Cincinnati areas for Barack Obama alongside former Democratic Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland. They received loads of TV coverage while bracketing Mitt Romney campaign events in the Buckeye State.
At one rally, Crist blamed congress for the slow jobs recovery: “He wanted to do everything he could. He was imploring the congress to help people – real people, all of them, 100 percent – and the congress just said no.”
To a TV interviewer, Crist spoke how much the stimulus package helped Floridians: “I understood and saw as governor of Florida, this great man, this great president, came to Florida even though I was a Republican at the time, helped us with out teachers, our firefighters, our law enforcement officers.”
Koch Industries warns 45,000 employees of “consequences” if they don’t vote for Republicans http://thkpr.gs/Ts55ue
Please boycott these Koch products.
Dems for Progress@demsforprogress
only two presidents have reduced the deficit this quickly: Clinton and #obama at http://bit.ly/P4HCDY .
SHAMEFUL. Where are the nuns? they should pummel Lil Eddie for this outrageous pretense.
LOL Now this is brilliant!
LOVE THIS
Top Romney Surrogate Says Romney ‘Should Be Exploiting’ Libya Incident For Political Gain
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/10/15/1010951/top-romney-surrogate-admits-gop-is-exploiting-libya-incident-for-political-gain/ …
Pennsylvania ads falsely claim ID is still required to vote http://thkpr.gs/QhtXEn
Mofos know Romney can’t win without PA or OH. And guess what,; HE.WON’T.WIN.
Paul Ryan, we see you. How’s that stimulus money working?
Ryan hurts Romney on Social Security, flunks commander -in-chief- test
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/49397164#49397255
Video: Shot fired at Obama Colorado headquarters.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/49397164#49397164
October 14, 2012 7:01 PM
Most outrageous lie I’ve heard all week (and maybe all year) …
By Kathleen Geier
is this, from an editorial in The Economist:
no Wall Street financier has done as much damage to American social mobility as the teachers’ unions have
How is this wrong? Let me count the ways. First of all, there’s the idea that teachers’ unions have a negative impact on student achievement. All too predictably, the Economist lazily does not provide a shred of empirical evidence to back up this claim. In fact the impact of teacher unionization on student achievement ranges from positive (see here and here, for example) to “mixed and inconclusive” (see here).
Secondly, there is no evidence whatsoever that, in and of itself, greater student achievement will magically make our society more equal. Student achievement in the U.S. has actually been making modest gains, but economic inequality continues to skyrocket. Social mobility has also been in decline.
Finally, the idea that the financialization of our economy has had no impact on economic inequality is totally bogus. There is an abundance of evidence out there that clearly demonstrates a strong association between the increasing financialization of our economy and growing inequality. And social mobility is demonstrably positively associated with economic equality.
Honestly, I wish our neoliberal elites who, in the name of “the children,” try to paint teachers’ unions as the root of all evil would just come right out and admit it: they despise unions, because they hate the idea of those grubby nonelite workers making decent money and having any real power in the workplace. At some level, I think these types just don’t like democracy very much. If they were truly interested in improving the lives of children, particularly underprivileged children, they would be ardent supporters of strong unions. Throughout history and across the globe, a powerful labor movement is perhaps the most effective anti-poverty program the world has ever known.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_10/most_outrageous_lie_ive_heard040493.php
The Reasons Why Joe Biden Won the Debate
Sunday, October 14, 2012 | Posted by TiMT at 8:46 PM
Crossposted from ThisIsOurTime Blog
Last Thursday at the Vice Presidential Debate, Joe Biden came out swinging, fact checking Paul Ryan on the spot, not letting him go unchecked with the same lines of lies and misrepresentation that was evidenced during the last Presidential debate by his boss, Mitt Romney. The performance of Vice President Joe Biden was aggressive, rightly dismissive and very persistent that he looked and spoke like he had this fierce urgency of putting the Romney/Ryan campaign into shreds and I must say he certainly has out performed above and beyond what critics thought would be soft exchange.
Joe Biden clearly won the debate simply because he was sincere, had passion and conviction, he knew and lived most of what he was talking about and more than anything he was not artificial and aloof like his debating “friend” from the other side was. The contrast couldn’t be any clearer on issue after issue as Joe Biden showed the difference between the look back and stay in the ditch plan of Romney/Ryan and the moving forward plan of the President.
Biden didn’t waste one minute going after Romney’s record from the get go. He started with dismantling the bogus assertion that Romney cares about 100% of America as he hammered Romney’s denigration that American people would never “take personal responsibility” exposing the behind close door billionaire and millionaire private meeting where Romney said, he doesn’t worry about the 47% Americans” showing that the Romney/Ryan ticket is disconnected and don’t understand the middle class.
On Medicare, Biden clearly made Paul Ryan drink, drink and drink more water as he hammered the fact that the Romney plan is a plan to privatized medicare pointing out Ryan himself has called it a voucher program that will put seniors in the hole as per the analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that found the out-of-pocket costs to seniors would be $6,350 more than the traditional medicare as the Romney/Ryan plan favor premium support that will turn Medicare from a defined benefit into a defined contribution program.
Of course, Ryan tried to put fear in the minds of seniors claiming under the President’s plan, $716 billion is cut from medicare benefit –a claim that fact-checking watchdogs and others have called misleading. However, Vice President Biden was right there to debunk the lies in a very forceful manner talking to the camera asking seniors how their medicare plan has worked for them or if they have been denied any benefits and to judge for themselves while indirectly telling the American people the guy next to him is lying to them reminding them that the $716 billion cut will only effect Hospital reimbursement rates for hospitals and private health insurance companies by cutting the huge profit hospitals and insurance companies are making off of Medicare and that no benefit or service is cut from their plan. Biden also mentioned that seniors to check with one of the largest non-profit senior’s healthcare advocate, AARP, and what members of the AARP have to say on the matter in addition to looking at their existing plan and how ObamaCare has reduced their out of pocket expenses.
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2012/10/the-reasons-why-joe-biden-won-debate.html
Posted at 08:52 AM ET, 10/15/2012
The Morning Plum: Romney’s ‘47 percent’ problem just won’t go away
By Greg Sargent
The presidential race is a genuine dead heat. Mitt Romney could very well win if Obama doesn’t perform well in the remaining debates. Romney enjoyed a genuine post-debate surge and polling guru types say his bump is durable. That said, the new Post/ABC News poll suggests a few things about what Romney didn’t accomplish at the debate, too.
The Post poll finds Obama leading Romney by 49-46 among likely voters, a dead heat, and by 50-43 among registered voters — both basically unchanged since before the Denver showdown. It shows Romney’s image has improved significantly, at least in a general sense: More than twice as many people say their opinions of Romney improved since before his strong debate performance.
But here are the things Romney’s debate performance did not change:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line
Candy vs. spinach
By Steve Benen
Mon Oct 15, 2012 8:00 AM EDT.
At last week’s vice presidential debate, after Paul Ryan mentioned his ticket’s tax-cut plan, moderator Martha Raddatz asked the congressman a pointed question: “Well, let’s talk about this 20 percent. You have refused, again, to offer specifics on how you pay for that 20 percent across-the-board tax cut. Do you actually have the specifics? Or are you still working on it, and that’s why you won’t tell voters?”
Ryan, true to form, hedged. Raddatz added, “No specifics, again,” which the Republican responded to with no details at all.
The issue came up yesterday on “Fox News Sunday,” with Chris Wallace posing a similar question to Romney campaign advisor Ed Gillespie.
Towards the end of the clip, you’ll see the host and the surrogate get into a mini-debate over the ideology of the American Enterprise Institute — which matters, but is tangential to the two main points here.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/15/14449239-candy-vs-spinach?lite
Portman will reject your reality and substitute his own
By Steve Benen
Mon Oct 15, 2012 8:35 AM EDT.
We talked last week about an unexpected challenge for Republicans: the party was heavily invested in attacking President Obama for an unemployment rate above 8 percent, and found itself in an awkward position when the jobless rate dropped to 7.8 percent.
How the GOP and Romney/Ryan deal with these improving conditions is of great interest, since the results may help dictate the 2012 election. On ABC yesterday, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) offered a great example of how not to deal with the facts.
http://youtu.be/xWaxHehhFuo
For those who can’t watch clips online, Jake Tapper noted a clip from the vice presidential debate in which Paul Ryan said the unemployment rate is going up “all around America” — an argument that happens to be wrong. The host asked Portman a simple but important question: “Now, senator, this has been weak economic recovery, without question, but it is a recovery, and unemployment is going down, just as a factual matter. Why would Congressman Ryan, in defiance of facts, suggest otherwise?”
To which Portman responded:
This is genuinely remarkable. Ryan was caught presenting a false claim to the nation, and asked to explain why, one of the Romney campaign’s leading surrogates told a national television audience, in effect, “The lie is accurate.” When the book is written on the evolution of post-truth politics, this anecdote should be in the first chapter.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/15/14449897-portman-will-reject-your-reality-and-substitute-his-own?lite
Woman Gets Called Out For Calling Obama A Communist; Can’t Explain What A Communist Is
http://youtu.be/2E87gciwebw
Arthur Allen Email: CEO Of ASG Software Solutions Asks Workers To Vote For Mitt Romney
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/14/arthur-allen-romney-email_n_1963965.html#comments
Arthur Allen, CEO of ASG Software Solutions, emailed employees about voting for Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, suggesting their jobs may be at stake if they don’t.
In the email, obtained by MSNBC’s “Up w/ Chris Hayes,” Allen asked his employees to “give us one more chance to stay independent by voting in a new President and administration,” noting that “that chance goes away” if Obama stays in office.
“If we fail as a nation to make the right choice on November 6th, and we lose our independence as a company, I don’t want to hear any complaints regarding the fallout that will most likely come,” Allen wrote to workers at ASG, a company that has over 1,000 employees and 70 offices.
Mitt Romney Sign Vandalized With Racial Slur
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/12/mitt-romney-sign-iowa-slur_n_1962605.html?utm_hp_ref=politics#comments
A University of Iowa student who supports Mitt Romney was disappointed to find this morning that his Romney/Ryan yard sign had been vandalized.
The Daily Iowan reported that the sign, located on the corner of Market and Lucas streets, was seen Friday morning with the words “I [heart symbol] N*****s”, “Obama”, “99% F**k”, “1% F**k” and “Rich forever” scribbled on the sign. The large R for Romney was also removed
______________________
I’m not falling for it. Romney supporters did it themselves.
but, nothing about the guy with the shirt talking about putting the White back in the White House.
Morning, Chics! SG2 has a sad this morning. The Texans lost.
Good Morning, SG3 & Everyone! :-) Awww whassamattau? Next game the Texans will come out and do the thang.
Good Morning, Ametia, SG2 and Everyone :)
Sorry about the Texans, SG2 :(