DJ, spin that stuff!

---

Paul Ryan interview:

QUESTION: Should abortions to be available to women who are raped?

RYAN: Well, look, I’m proud of my pro-life record. And I stand by my pro-life record in Congress. It’s something I’m proud of. But Mitt Romney is the top of the ticket and Mitt Romney will be president and he will set the policy of the Romney administration.

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Think Progress headline:

Ryan Refuses To Say Abortions Should Be Available To Women Who Are Raped

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I’m surprised they didn’t ask him if he stopped beating his wife.

Obviously the Democrats hope to make this election about abortion. They would rather talk about anything but the economy.

But is that a good strategy?

Are the Democrats Delusional On Abortion?

The Democrats apparently think they have hit the jackpot with Todd Akin’s moment of stupidity, but I’m not so sure. How, exactly, are they going to take advantage of Akin’s blunder? By talking ceaselessly about abortion. At the Washington Examiner, Paul Bedard headlines: “Dem Convention becomes anti-Akin affair.” That is a serious mistake. The Democratic convention should be an anti-Romney affair.

[...]

We can only pray that this report is true, and that the Democrats devote all three days in Charlotte to discussions of abortion rights, rape and contraception. If there is one thing we can say with certainty this year, it is that the overwhelming majority of voters don’t want to hear about the social issues. They want to know how we are going to climb out of the four-year economic funk that has been the Obama administration. If undecided viewers tune into the Democratic convention and hear all about abortion, and tune into the Republican convention and hear all about the economy, Romney will win in a landslide.

And, by the way, Republicans should help drive this contrast by saying nothing–and I mean, absolutely nothing–about any social issue. They should talk the economy non-stop, with occasional digressions into foreign policy. If they are asked about abortion, they should chide the reporter for asking about a topic that is of little interest to voters and that, by the way, the president, vice president, senators and congressmen have no ability to do anything about, and give an answer about the economy. If the Democrats want to define themselves to voters as the party of abortion and gay marriage, please, God, let them do so!

---

This is where message discipline and sticking to your game plan become important. The Obama campaign and the media (but I repeat myself) are trying desperately to change the subject. They are grossly exaggerating Ryan’s record, trying to force him to defend himself.

But there is an old axiom – “If you are explaining, you’re losing.”

R&R need to hang tough, stick with their strategy and keep their eyes on the prize.

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Paul Ryan?

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FOX:

Romney has picked Paul Ryan as running mate, Republican source tells the AP

Mitt Romney has tapped Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan to be his running mate, The Associated Press reports.

A Republican with knowledge of the development confirmed the selection to the AP, hours ahead of an official announcement at 8:45 a.m. during a campaign stop Saturday morning in Norfolk, Va. Romney will then launch his “The Romney Plan For A Stronger Middle Class” bus tour.

The selection comes roughly two weeks before the start of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, and gives Romney plenty of space to rally the party behind his pick before the official nomination.

---

If it’s not Ryan this was a pretty good fake-out. Assuming the story is correct we’re about to find out more than we ever wanted to know about the Congressman from Cheeseheadland. This topic should dominate political discussions for the next few days.

Ryan has been on most speculation lists, but he was not necessarily the favorite. But there is no perfect pick, every candidate has strengths and weaknesses.

What do you think?

UPDATE:

I have to confess that I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about Romney’s VP pick or researching the candidates. My reason is simple – I’m lazy.

My opinion wasn’t going to affect Mitt’s decision, and I knew that once he made a selection we were going to get well acquainted with that person.

I am absolutely sure that Ryan was carefully vetted including asking him about any possible dirt that can be thrown his way. If Ryan has any secrets they won’t be secret much longer.

I am also sure that Romney consulted with various power brokers in the GOP and got tentative approval from most or all of them. One of the major problems with Sarah Palin was that the GOP establishment despised her. While I consider that a good thing, Mitt can’t afford to alienate any factions in his party.

One more thing I am sure of – the media has stories, biographies and opinion columns written and waiting for the official announcement so they can publish them. Some will be positive, some will be negative. That was one of the best parts about Sarah Palin – the media was caught completely flat-footed when she was nominated.

Today should be a busy day.

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UPDATE II:

I am proud to announce @PaulRyanVP as my VP. Stand with us today. mi.tt/Romney-Ryan #RomneyRyan2012—
Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) August 11, 2012

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Don’t be an Eeyore

“Ohhh-kayyy”

---

I absolutely despise perkiness, especially in the morning. But I don’t much care for Eeyores either. Jeebus, take some Prozac or something.

The past few days I keep seeing more and more people wetting their pants because they think Mitt Romney is losing. They are worried about recent polls and nasty ads from the Obama campaign. GET A FUCKING GRIP, PEOPLE!

A presidential election is like the Super Bowl of politics. It’s the biggest game there is. But it’s not even halftime yet. In fact, the players are just warming up. There is no reason to talk about firing the coach and replacing the quarterback just yet.

What’s that you say? What about Michael Dukakis and John Kerry? Didn’t they lose in August?

Michael Dukakis and John Kerry were really bad candidates. They make Mitt look like Bill Clinton. They ran lousy campaigns too. Can you remember any highlights from their campaigns? Any stirring speeches, slogans or themes? Or is all you can remember the gaffes and mistakes they made?

Mitt Romney has been planning this campaign for a long time. He’s got a plan, he’s not just winging it. But there is a military axiom that says “no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”

He’s taking on a formidible foe – an incumbent POTUS with a huge war chest. It was inevitable that the Republican nominee would face a heavy initial assault. While Romney was spending time and resources winning the GOP nomination, Obama coasted through unchallenged. He’s been able to use the money he raised for the primaries to go after Romney, while Mitt can’t touch the money he raised for the general campaign until after the RNC convention.

Let’s have a little faith. Mitt has a plan and lots of resources. Obama has failed to knock him out despite having the media in his pocket and spending money like he controls the Treasury. Don’t trust opinions or polls.

Here are some facts to consider:

1. Obama and the Democrats are having money troubles. They had to reduce the DNC convention to three days and they are worried about attendance.

2. Not a single state won by John McCain in 2008 is in play for Obama this year. Several states won by Obama are either leaning toward Romney or within reach.

3. Unemployment remains high, the economy is sluggish (at best) and there is no relief in sight.

4. Obama doesn’t have a positive record to run on. His signature achievements (Obamacare and the stimulus) are both very unpopular.

Barack Obama wants you to believe he is unbeatable. Mr. Hope and Change wants you to give up any hope for change. HE IS TRYING TO PSYCH YOU OUT!

Alea iacta est (“The die has been cast”). This race is going to be between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Pull on your big boy/girl panties and deal with it.

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“He either fears his fate too much,
Or his desserts are small,
Who dares not put it to the touch,
To win or lose it all!”

James Graham, 5th Earl of Montrose

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Jill Stein – seriously?

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Around Left Blogistan you can find a number of non-Koolaid drinking lefties who are planning to vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. So I figured we should take a closer look at her.

From her campaign bio:

Dr. Jill Stein is a mother, housewife, physician, longtime teacher of internal medicine, and pioneering environmental-health advocate.

[...]

Jill was born in Chicago and raised in suburban Highland Park, Illinois. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1973, and from Harvard Medical School in 1979. Jill enjoys writing and performing music, and enjoys long walks with her Great Dane, Bandita. Dr. Stein lives in Lexington with her husband, Richard Rohrer, also a physician. She has two sons, Ben and Noah, who have graduated from college in the past few years.

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Well, it appears that Ms. Stein meets the constitutional requirements to be president. She is a natural born citizen, she is over the age of 35 years and she has been a resident for over 14 years. She is a little weak on practical experience though.

She has run for political office several times in the past, but so far she has only won two terms as a city of Lexington Town Meeting Representative. She was also appointed co-chair of a local recycling committee.

What about her political positions? According to Wikipedia:

Along the lines of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal solution to the Great Depression, Jill Stein advocates a “Green New Deal”[34] in which renewable energy jobs would be created to address climate change and environmental issues with the objective of employing “every American willing and able to work”.[34] Citing the research of Dr. Phillip Harvey, Professor of Law & Economics at Rutgers University, as evidence of the successful economic effects of the 1930s’ New Deal projects, Stein would fund the plan with a 30% reduction in the U.S. military budget, returning US troops home, and increasing taxes on areas such as capital gains, offshore tax havens and multimillion dollar real estate. Stein plans on impacting what she sees as a growing convergence of environmental crises in water, soil, fisheries and forests, through the creation of sustainable infrastructure based in clean renewable energy generation and sustainable communities principles such as increasing intra-city mass transit and inter-city railroads, creating ‘complete streets’ that safely encourage bike and pedestrian traffic and regional food systems based on sustainable organic agriculture.[34]

---

If you want the long version you’ll have to go here to read it.

Now let’s get to the practical stuff. Jill Stein ain’t gonna win. If you vote for her you’re doing it as a protest. That’s okay, casting a protest vote is a legitimate option. You own your vote and you can do whatever you want. But Jill Stein ain’t gonna win.

But let’s say that a week before the election Barack Obama and Mitt Romney get caught together in an airport men’s room stall with a live boy and a dead hooker and Stein narrowly defeats Rocky Anderson for an Electoral College win. Then what?

The House and Senate would still be controlled by Jackasses and Pachyderms. Would “President” Stein even be able to fill out her Cabinet with qualified Greens? What about the rest of government?

Would a Green POTUS be able to enact any part of the Green platform? Who would she rely on for advice? How would she react if Iran obtained nuclear weapons and threatened Israel or Russia invaded Poland?

Ask yourself this question – would you really feel comfortable with Jill Stein (or any other current third-party candidate) sitting in the Oval Orifice for the next four years?

Think about it, then vote your conscience.

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Media now vetting Romney supporters

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ThinkProgress:

Romney’s ‘We Did Build This’ Events Feature Businesses Built With Government Subsidies And Contracts

Today, the Romney campaign is hosting an entire series of campaign events based on President Obama’s misinterpreted comment about small businesses. While Obama’s full speech made a “no man is an island” argument, the Romney campaign has seized on the quote, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that” as evidence of Obama’s disdain for small business owners.

Romney, ignoring the fact that he has echoed this same sentiment on multiple occasions, organized 24 “We Did Build This” events in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Virginia, Ohio, Iowa, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Nevada. At each event, local business owners are speaking about their self-sufficiency in running a business and how government is hindering their growth.

But, like the New Hampshire business owner showcased in Romney’s attack ad on the issue, many of these business owners have received significant support from the government, a ThinkProgress analysis finds.

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The Obama campaign’s internal polling must be really ugly because they are screaming like stuck pigs. I’m surprised that no one has tried claiming (yet) that quoting Obama (verbatim and in context) is racist.

So what damaging information has the Obama campaign ThinkProgress uncovered? Here are some examples:

Midwest Tapes, a media distributor of Holland, Ohio, was showcased at a local event and received stimulus funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Midwest Tapes has been contracted by the Department of Defense since 2008, earning a cumulative $13,659.

Columbus Truck and Equipment was featured in a neighboring event and has received $6,643 in contracts with the Department of Defense.

An Iowa event featured Competitive Edge, Inc. which was contracted by Veterans Affairs for $3,543 to make informational refrigerator magnets.

Shocking!

According to the Obama campaign ThinkProgress anyone who has ever benefited from a government loan or contract owes their success to the government. I’m surprised they didn’t report on how many of the small business owners attended public schools or got Stafford loans.

From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

On the other hand, here’s a story you won’t see at ThinkProgress:

Busted… Team O Plants 3 “Surprised” Veterans at Out-of-the-Way Diner to Speak With Obama – Then Releases Their Bios

What a coincidence! Obama just happened to find three friendly veterans in a booth at a Portland diner this week.
It was a “surprise stop.”

[...]

But then the truth eked its way out—-
The three veterans were not regulars.
They just happened to be sitting in a booth at the diner when Obama popped in.
Victoria Taft has more, via Orbusmax:

“No, they were not regulars.” The waitress who served President Obama, Mary, told me the veterans with whom the President discussed “health care” were not regulars. “Well, maybe one of the guys came in here before…”

In fact, the Obama Campaign even had a copy of their bios on hand.
And, one of the veterans just happens to be an Obama for America volunteer!

---

I’m sure it was just a coinky-dink.

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How should you vote?

---

(This started as a comment at Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy on a post referring to Lola-at-Large’s post this morning.)

---

Lola spent a lot of time and thought on her decision to endorse Mitt Romney. Was it well reasoned or merely rationalized?

Who can say?

Lola and I are internet friends – we have never met in real life. But we have been acquaintances for several years now. I believe her heart is in the right place and her intentions are good. I have absolutely no reason to suspect she is anything other than she claims to be.

I live in a blue state so I don’t have to choose between Obama and Romney. I can sit back knowing my vote won’t matter. I’m an idealist wrapped in the armor of cynicism. Each election I long for a hero but ultimately find myself trying to choose the lesser of two evils.

But I cannot gainsay anyone who votes their heart after careful contemplation. What more can we ask of someone?

As for “left” and “right,” they don’t seem to have much meaning anymore. For many people they are not ideologies, they are partisan identifiers.

There are a lot of reasons you can base your voting decisions on. Ideology is just one. You could base your vote on character, competence, experience, race, gender, party loyalty and/or religion. You could choose based on a single issue or on how the candidates stand on a combination of issues. Some reasons are better than others. You can cast your vote for which candidate is the coolest or smartest. You can take the advice of a person you trust or rely on your children or some celebrity to make the choice for you.

Lose your illusions. All candidates are human and therefore imperfect. You have to take the good with the bad, just make sure the good significantly outweighs the bad.

To me the three most important issues to base a vote on are character and competence. Ideology is important but it’s only a factor if the candidate passes the first two tests. Barack Obama has failed both of them.

In the past I chose party first and ideology second. Never again will I vote for a party. Four years ago I cast my vote for McCain/Palin. I have never felt a moment of regret or shame for that vote.

It wasn’t the choice I wanted, it was the only choice I had.

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No More Mister Nice Guy

---

Via Hot Air:

In speeches from Des Moines to Dallas, Romney has always been careful to hedge his tough digs at Obama with a civil nod toward the president’s moral character: “He’s a nice guy,” the Republican has often said. “He just has no idea how the private economy works.” But Tuesday’s speech included no such hedge — and one campaign adviser said there’s a reason for that.

“[Romney] has said Obama’s a nice fellow, he’s just in over his head,” the adviser said. “But I think the governor himself believes this latest round of attacks that have impugned his integrity and accused him of being a felon go so far beyond that pale that he’s really disappointed. He believes it’s time to vet the president. He really hasn’t been vetted; McCain didn’t do it.”

Indeed, facing what the candidate and his aides believe to be a series of surprisingly ruthless, unfounded, and unfair attacks from the Obama campaign on Romney’s finances and business record, the Republican’s campaign is now prepared to go eye for an eye in an intense, no-holds-barred act of political reprisal, said two Romney advisers who spoke on condition of anonymity. In the next chapter of Boston’s pushback — which began last week when they began labeling Obama a “liar” — very little will be off-limits, from the president’s youthful drug habit, to his ties to disgraced Chicago politicians.

“I mean, this is a guy who admitted to cocaine use, had a sweetheart deal with his house in Chicago, and was associated and worked with Rod Blagojevich to get Valerie Jarrett appointed to the Senate,” the adviser said. “The bottom line is there’ll be counterattacks.”

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Nice guys finish last.

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Is Stericycle the next big smear?

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Jim Geraghty:

The Obama Attack Coming Down the Road: Stericycle?

A reader noticed this fascinating line at the bottom of a CNN.com report on the falsity of the Obama campaign’s attacks about Bain:

And inside both Bain and the Romney campaign, there is a strong belief that either the Obama campaign or a Democratic ally wants to use another Bain investment against Romney late in the campaign but cannot do so with any credibility under the February 1999 departure scenario.

The investment in question: Stericycle, a medical waste company that, among other things, disposed of aborted fetuses.

How could the Stericycle investment be used against Romney?

Bain’s involvement in a company that disposed of aborted fetuses could make a powerful final week direct mail piece or attack ad on Christian radio. And in a close election, turnout of the religious right is one of the keys to a Romney victory in November.

Bain negotiated the Stericyle investment deal in November 1999, nine months after Romney said he left.

---

Now you see why the Obama campaign and the media (but I repeat myself) are so desperate to convince people that Romney was running Bain until 2001. I first saw mention of Stericycle the other day on a Kool-aid blog. The people discussing it were very excited and hopeful.

But wait! There’s more!

UPDATE: More useful information from Steven Ertelt of LifeNews.com here. Among the highlights:

Bain Capital sold off 40 percent of its shares in Stericycle in 2001 and sold the rest by 2004.
Stericycle apparently began contracting with abortion clinics in 2007.
The pro-life community only became aware of Stericycle’s role in abortion clinics, and campaigning against its work, in 2011.

Despite the fact that the timeline contradicts the smear, I’ll bet you a doughnut that somebody tries to discourage pro-life turnout by telling likely pro-life audiences that Mitt Romney “profited from abortions” this autumn.

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This will be one of those covert op type smears spread through tabloids “push-polls” and untraceable chain emails, just like the lies about John McCain’s black love child and Sarah Palin’s affair with Todd’s business partner. Nobody from the Obama campaign will dare mention it on the record.

Cuz they keep their hands clean.

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I get mail

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I was cleaning out my spam filter and found this:

Myiq2xu, please click here to sign the petition from Daily Kos and Democracy for America telling Mitt Romney to release all of his tax returns. We’ll deliver the signatures to Romney’s campaign HQ in Boston, and do it in front of the press.

Mitt Romney argues he would be a good president because of his experience at Bain Capital. However, evidence is piling up that he made millions at Bain by firing American workers, outsourcing jobs, and keeping his money overseas.

Romney could shed some light on this by releasing multiple years of his tax returns, as every major presidential candidate has done for decades. This practice was actually pioneered by Romney’s father, George, who released 12 years of tax returns when he ran for president in 1968.

However, Mitt Romney has only released one year of his tax returns, increasing suspicion he got rich mainly by dismantling the American middle class. He is starting to take a pounding for it in the media, too. We can help fuel that media narrative with this petition, and put Romney’s campaign in a hole from which it can never recover.

Please, click here to sign the petition to Mitt Romney demanding that he release all of his tax returns. We’ll work with out partners at Democracy for America to deliver the signatures to Romney’s campaign headquarters, and do so with the media watching.

Keep fighting,
Chris Bowers
Campaign Director, Daily Kos

P.S. Please chip in $3 to help keep Daily Kos strong.

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Where the hell did people get the idea that this whole fauxrage was a “self-inflicted wound” by Romney?

Is it fair game politically? Sure, why not? But is this an important issue? Not really.

I would rather see the documents that Eric Holder is hiding.

BTW – How much you want to bet that the Obama campaign has already seen Romney’s tax returns? All it would take for them to get them is a phone call. That would be totally illegal of course.

But you know they did it. And if there was anything bad in there they would have leaked it to the media.

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Angienc tells it like it is on Bain

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From the comments here at TCH:

angienc said:

I’m sorry this hand-wringing & hysteria is misplaced. I get it from the MSM because they — even the so-called conservative pundits — are all pulling for Obama. However, all over the internet there is panic that he Romney campaign is a “disaster” and needs to “get its act together.” Um, the one that is out raising Obama right now to the extent that Obama is trolling for wedding gifts? Or the one that, despite Obama spending $100 million on these Bain attack ad buys in swing states is *still* statistically tied with the INCUMBENT president in JULY? (And the fact that Obama is the incumbent is a huge deal — even if the MSM wasn’t so blatantly acting as the PR team for Obama. July 1980 Carter was ahead of Reagan by 9 points & stayed ahead of Reagan all the way until the 2nd debate — and Carter wasn’t outspending Reagan 3-1 in JULY when no one but us political junkies are paying attention).

The MSM & Team Obama love to talk about this pack of lies about Bain because it takes the focus off of the real issue — the economy. And while everyone in Team Obama & the MSM seem to be unaware that Obama has been POTUS for 3.5 years, the rest of us aren’t. Remember when Obama said the private sector was “doing fine” and Team Obama & the MSM turned around & jumped on Romney saying we don’t need more fireman, police & teachers, misrepresenting that Romney wanted to *fire* them? Everyone thought it was the end of the world then, too. Or how about Romney on a jet ski — that was his Kerry wind surfing moment the MSM told us — it was over, Romney was “too out of touch” with the average person (of course, only Team Obama is stupid enough to try to sell jet skis as being elitist — everyone else knows they are as redneck as it gets). Where’s that now? Yeah, the same place this Bain business will be before the convention when people actually *do* start paying attention — forgotten. The only reason slightly more people don’t see the difference between the Bain fake attack & the other other two fake attacks is that people don’t actually understand SEC filing requirements so they *think* maybe something is there so it’s bringing out the ABR people from the primaries as well as the Obots– trust me, there is nothing there.

Plus, two very important things: (1) By law, Romney can’t spend a lot of the money he’s raised until he is the official nominee at the convention. Him wasting money on counter ads against ads that *are not working* ($100 million spent by Obama on these in swing states & he hasn’t moved the needle in skewed, outrageously over-weighted Dem polls) is not wise. Better to save his power for when it will have the most impact. (2) For all his faults, Romney didn’t get to retire in his 40s with $250 million in the bank & then go to work — for free — to save the Utah Olympics & serve as governor of MA (as a Republican!) by failing to see early warning signs or by being impatient. The pundits — who to a one on both sides of the aisle were gaga over Obama in 2008 & who were predicting that Obama was a “lock” for re-election as of February 2012 so the GOP should just forget trying to beat him & just concentrate on trying to win Senate seats — have never had the success Romney has & have never actually worked on a presidential campaign (some have worked for a sitting president, but that’s a very different thing). Does Romney look like he’s panicking? Does Karl Rove look likes his panicking? Obama is the one panicking going so negative, so early & on something that is so totally untrue that even the Washington Post & CNN — no Romney fans they — have declared Obama “is blowing smoke.” But despite the MSM cries of “look how rich Romney is!” people are *not* looking at 42 straight months of unemployment more than 8%, friends & family out of work, national policies that are a disaster & thinking “what was Romney doing 14 years ago” or “at least Obama doesn’t have a Swiss bank account.”

The last thing Romney needs to do is allow the Obama team & the MSM to dictate how he runs his campaign. The more he tries to defend himself or gives in on releasing records (which is what they want), the more they will find to attack Romney. Yes, Romney needs to confront Obama & the MSM — but he is going to *have* to do that at the debates, when the public can see it in real time & without giving the MSM a chance to spin it. Look at how the MSM distorted the “we don’t need more firemen” thing. Look at how the MSM is spinning Romney’s very clear response to the “felon” attack – Romney clearly said he was proud of both his work at Bain & the work Bain did after he left but this is all a distraction from the Obama campaign to take the focus off of the real issues — the economy. And the MSM is declaring that Romney “is running away from Bain like a scalded cat!!!!” Basically, the opposite of what Romney said. Further, Romney was very forceful in saying that the felon attack was disgusting & beneath the office of the president, and that Obama should apologize & reign his team in and he further stated that when he clinched the nomination Obama called him to congratulate him on the win & said he looked forward to a serious discussion on the issues facing this country and instead all he’s gotten from Obama was negative personal attacks because he can’t run on his record. That’s about as close as you can get with calling the POTUS a filthy, dirty rat who will say anything to get re-elected & who is running away from *his* record. And what is the MSM saying? They ignored almost everything Romney said (especially the “distraction” part) and declared that Romney “whined for an apology.” (I saw Megan Kelly on Fox at lunch time today mimicking Romney with a high pitched “I want an apology!” voice — the *new* meme is that both Obama *and* Romney are distracted by minutia for the love of God!). Pfft. I’m disappointed that people seem to buy it — Romney doesn’t expect an apology from Obama — Romney knows exactly who Obama is the same as we do — Romney said that to show voters how low Obama is. And Obama is the one looking like a punk while Romney looks like the guy keeping his head. The *only* time Romney can confront Obama and the MSM face to face is at the debates because that is the only way he can cut the MSM out of spinning what he says.

As for the thread the bainers are clinging to, as I’ve already explained in previous threads, they don’t understand property rights. They do not understand how a private equity, privately held (i.e., not publicly traded) company works. Romney didn’t receive any “salary” from Bain as CEO — he withdrew funds from his *own share* of Bain — that is, he took some of his *own money* invested in Bain out. Those SEC docs where he is listed as “CEO” is Bain VI — all the partners investments are formed into their “own” company (hence, the Roman numerals to distinguish them). Romney drew his *own* money from his *own* company. Bain VI had nothing to do with “running Bain” other than Romney’s funds were used for the investments Bain made. That is why he is also listed as the “sole shareholder” in Bain VI. An analogy would be if you withdrew money from your 401(k) — that is *your* money in there that you have invested. If you withdraw it, you are not being paid a *salary* from your 401(k). Romney didn’t remain as the “nominal CEO” of Bain — he remained the *owner* of his investment in Bain. You would not take his name off of that investment until he actually sold his share in Bain.

See, explaining all this isn’t very helpful & really does take the issue way off track. It wouldn’t do any good to try to because (1) the average guy doesn’t care and (2) the *fact* is that the MSM & the people in the Obama campaign *do* understand it* & they are misrepresenting it anyway.

*I will accept that Mother Jones & Talking Points Memo — where the story the Boston Globe printed actually originated — don’t understand *any* of this, because they’re a bunch of morons.

(Edited to fix a typo)

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Dueling campaign ads

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Both ads literally use the other’s words against him. What do you think? Which one is more effective?

This is an open thread.

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When all else fails, make shit up

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Liberal group calls Romney too white for blacks to like

In advance of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s speech Wednesday to the NAACP, a liberal group headed by a former New York Times reporter and ex-Media Matters executive have produced a video “satire” that claims blacks don’t like Romney, who they dub so white he makes “Wonder Bread look like pumpernickel.”

The YouTube from “The Message,” an online “media hub,” is described as a satirical video of Romney getting advice on what to say to the civil rights group. Or, as they said in a release, the video “lacerates Romney and his advisors as they prepare for his speech to NAACP in Houston on Wednesday.”

The lead “advisor” in the video is described as the brainchild of the 1988 Willie Horton ads and the 2004 swift boat campaign. He states bluntly that “blacks don’t like us and we’re about to give a speech to a whole lot of them.”

He also says to the candidate, “you are so white, you are extremely white, you make Wonder Bread look like pumpernickel,” before advising the Romney actor never fully seen to “go on out there and get all Mormon, Martin Luther King on them, you’re going to be great.”

According to a news release, The Message said it plans to use videos to “say things that Democrats are afraid to say, connect with young voters-many of whom are alienated by today’s political climate, and give smart and insightful voices an opportunity to contribute to the debate.”

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Taking a page from SNL, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, they will use “satire” to make up things that really didn’t happen.

Ha ha, Sarah said “I can see Russia from my front porch!” How stupid is she?

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Running on empty

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Politico:

Obama raises $71 million in June

In an email to donors, the Obama campaign announces that it has raised a combined $71 million in June with the DNC and various state parties.

From Chief Operating Officer Ann Marie Habershaw:

Well, I’ve got some good news and some bad news.

Good news first: June was our best fundraising month yet. We exceeded expectations — more than 706,000 people like you stepped up and pitched in for a grand total of $71 million raised for this campaign and the Democratic Party.

Bravo. That’s seriously impressive.

Bad news? We still got beat. Handily. Romney and the RNC pulled in a whopping $106 million.

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Did Obama do anything except fundraise last month? I’m pretty sure he even missed a couple rounds of golf so he could beg for money.

Don’t forget, last month was his heavily hyped Anna and Sarah fundraiser.

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Mo’ Money

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Exclusive: President Obama Asks Campaign Donors to Send Him More Money

President Obama sounded weary and maybe a tad worried late Friday during a rambling conference call with campaign donors whom he repeatedly begged to send money—and send it now.

“The majority on this call maxed out to my campaign last time. I really need you to do the same this time,” the president said in a highly unusual (and presumably legal) fundraising pitch from Air Force One on his way back to Washington from Colorado Springs, where he’d been assessing the terrible damage caused by uncontained wildfires. A special phone on the government aircraft is dedicated to political calls that are paid for by the campaign.

“I’m asking you to meet or exceed what you did in 2008,” the presidential pitchman continued, speaking to donors who were invited to dial in based on their contributions during the last election. “Because we’re going to have to deal with these super PACs in a serious way. And if we don’t, frankly I think the political [scene] is going to be changed permanently. Because the special interests that are financing my opponent’s campaign are just going to consolidate themselves. They’re gonna run Congress and the White House.”

The president’s 18-minute pleading—a recording of which was provided to The Daily Beast by an Obama contributor—hardly sounded like a man doing a victory lap after Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling upholding Obamacare, as the Affordable Care Act has come to be known. Or, for that matter, like a candidate who has been beating his Republican opponent in recent polls of key battleground states.

[...]

“In 2008 everything was new and exciting about our campaign,” Obama said. “And now I’m the incumbent president. I’ve got gray hair. People have seen disappointment because folks had a vision of change happening immediately. And it turns out change is hard, especially when you’ve got an obstructionist Republican Congress.”

But lest any of his donors believe the president sounded depressed, Obama quickly added: “Nevertheless, we’ve gotten more done in the last three years than most presidents do in eight years … I just hope you guys haven’t become disillusioned. I hope all of you still understand what’s at stake and why this is so important … I still believe in you guys, and I hope you still believe in me and the possibilities of this campaign.”

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Remember four years ago when raking in big bucks was “proof” that Obama was the superior candidate?

You have to admit though, Obama really has caused more damage in three years than most presidents manage to do in eight.

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Really bad optics UPDATED – HOAX

Obama Campaign Celebrates Independence Day … with Fundraiser in Paris

Apparently tiring of US soil as a source of campaign dollars, the Obama campaign is headed overseas — with its celebrity friends in tow. The European Obama campaign starts next week in Paris on July 4 with a reception organized by various fundraising heavy-hitters. Independence Day fundraisers in Paris – now that’s a flag-waving campaign.

The Obama campaign will host events in Geneva, Switzerland in August as part of their “European outreach effort.” George Clooney will headline a fundraiser there, with 150 tickets going for $20,000 per piece. There’s even more to the bargain: if you go as a couple, the second ticket is half-off!

With the Obama campaign’s increasingly desperate campaign emails begging for cash from the American people, perhaps the campaign thinks they’ll find more fertile soil outside the country. Especially in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling that upholds Obama’s European-style healthcare plan, Obama’s hoping to cash in on like-minded folks abroad. Americans don’t believe that Obamacare is a triumph; they see it as a massive net negative, sucking our coffers dry and handing us long-term rationing in return. Europeans, however, know nothing else. The entitlements have already kicked in. What better place to ask for campaign cash?

That also may be the only place Obama can still find cheering throngs.

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WTF are they thinking? Isn’t there anyone in the White House willing to say “I think that would be a mistake?”

The Fourth of July is the most patriotic holiday of the year, and Obama is gonna spend it in France? I’m not knocking the frogs, and I’m sure that most of them are nice people, but they aren’t Americans.

Does Obama want to lose?

This is the kind of thing that bypasses the higher brain and goes right for the emotions, and not in a good way. It just feels unamerican. It would look bad enough anytime, but on Independence Day?

But what do I know, I’m just a bitter blogger.

UPDATED: This story is a hoax. I apologize to anyone who was misled.

Teh Klown

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Repeal Obamacare

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Election day is November 6th.

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Democrats – now with 2% less evil!

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Garry Wills:

The Curse of Political Purity

Obama was never a prince. None of them are. The mistake behind all this is a misguided high-mindedness that boasts, “I vote for the man, not the party.” This momentarily lifts the hot-air balloon of self-esteem by divorcing the speaker from political taintedness and compromise. But the man being voted for, no matter what he says, dances with the party that brought him, dependent on its support, resources, and clientele. That is why one should always vote on the party, instead of the candidate. The party has some continuity of commitment, no matter how compromised. What you are really voting for is the party’s constituency. That will determine priorities when it comes to appointments, legislative pressure, and things like nominating Supreme Court justices.

To vote for a Democrat means, now, to vote for the party’s influential members—for unions (including public unions of teachers, firemen, and policemen), for black and Latino minorities, for independent women. These will none of them get their way, exactly; but they will get more of a hearing and attention—“pandering,” if you want to call it that—than they would get in a Republican administration.

To vote for a Republican means, now, to vote for a plutocracy that depends for its support on anti-government forces like the tea party, Southern racists, religious fanatics, and war investors in the military-industrial complex. It does no good to say that “Romney is a good man, not a racist.” That may be true, but he needs a racist South as part of his essential support. And the price they will demand of him comes down to things like Supreme Court appointments. (The Republicans have been more realistic than the Democrats in seeing that presidential elections are really for control of the courts.)

The independents, too ignorant or inexperienced to recognize these basic facts, are the people most susceptible to lying flattery. They are called the good folk too inner-directed to follow a party line or run with the herd. They are like the idealistic imperialists “with clean hands” in Graham Greene’s The Quiet American—they should wear leper bells to warn people of their vicinity.

The etherialists who are too good to stoop toward the “lesser evil” of politics—as if there were ever anything better than the lesser evil there—naively assume that if they just bring down the current system, or one part of it that has disappointed them, they can build a new and better thing of beauty out of the ruins. Of course they never get the tabula rasa on which to draw their ideal schemes. What they normally do is damage the party closest to their professed ideals. Third parties are run by people who make the best the enemy of their own good and bring down that good. Theodore Roosevelt’s’ Bull Moose variant of his own Republican Party drained enough Republican votes to let the Democrat, Woodrow Wilson, win. (His voters, believing he would not “send our boys to war,” saw the prince become a frog in World War I.) George H. W. Bush rightly believes he was sabotaged by the crypto-Republican Ross Perot, who helped Bill Clinton win. Ralph Nader siphoned crucial votes from Al Gore to give us George W. Bush.

All these brave “independents” say that there is not a dime’s worth of difference between the two parties, and claim they can start history over, with candidates suddenly become as good as they are themselves. What they do is give us the worst of evils. If Professor Unger gets his way, and destroys President Obama, he will give us a Romney deeply in political debt to the party he slimily wooed all through the primaries. He will be in a position to turn the Supreme Court from a mainly reactionary body to an almost entirely reactionary one.

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Hmmm. I’m not a teacher, fireman, policeman, black, Latino, or a woman. Is there a party where I can be an influential member too?

Seriously though, I tried that “always vote on the party” thingie for over twenty years. It didn’t work out so well. When you vote for the lesser of two evils, you’re still voting for evil.

If enough people voted for a third party, it wouldn’t be a third party any more. As for not voting, if someone gave you a gift certificate for a store that didn’t sell anything you wanted, why would you bother to go shopping?

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Obama the Myth

Barack Hubris Obama

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Matthew Continetti:

I can’t be the only person in America who, at about minute 35 in President Obama’s almost hour-long “framing” speech in Cleveland Thursday, wanted to tell the president, as the Dude famously screams at Walter Sobchak in The Big Lebowski, “You’re living in the past!”

Obama’s overly long, repetitive, and by turns self-pitying and self-congratulatory address was so soaked through with nostalgia that MSNBC should have broadcast it in sepia tones. The speech—which even the liberal Obama biographer Jonathan Alter called one of the president’s “least successful” political communications—revealed an incumbent desperately trying to replay the 2008 election. But no oratory will make up for a flawed record and a vague, fissiparous, and unappealing agenda.

The president himself forced this abrupt re-launch of his reelection campaign. After a bad week that began with terrible job numbers, proceeded to Scott Walker’s victory in the Wisconsin recall, and culminated in awful fundraising news, Obama tried to recover last Friday by addressing the press on the state of the economy. Except things went horribly wrong. The president uttered six words—“the private sector is doing fine”—that not only will plague him for the rest of the campaign, but also perfectly captured his complacent attitude toward all things outside the realm of government.

The moment prompted a burst of panic throughout the Democratic hive mind, with media types clucking their tongues at the president’s campaign and party strategists questioning the salience of his message. Yesterday’s event in Ohio was thus intended to serve as a sort of domestic analogue to President Obama’s “reset” with Russia. By the looks of things, it will prove to be just as unsuccessful.

The very idea that Obama has the ability to shape his political fortunes through rhetoric is a backwards-looking myth. It is part of the pop narrative of Obama’s 2008 candidacy, in which the young freshman senator was able to rescue his moribund campaign from the evil Clinton machine by giving a single speech at a Jefferson-Jackson dinner in November 2007. More likely it was Obama’s antiwar stance in an antiwar party that gave him the edge in the Iowa caucuses the following January, but that has not stopped the president or his supporters from having an almost theological attachment to his oratorical prowess.

The evidence in this case, however, is decidedly on the side of the nonbelievers. The Washington Post counts over 500 speeches or appearances where the president has mentioned health care, but his overhaul remains remarkably unpopular. The president’s campaign appearances on behalf of Creigh Deeds in Virginia, Gov. Jon Corzine in New Jersey, Martha Coakley in Massachusetts, and Rep. Tom Perriello in Virginia were unsuccessful, which may have been why he didn’t even bother to campaign in Wisconsin for Tom Barrett (who lost anyway). A televised address last July did not win Obama his lusted-after tax increase on the rich, nor did remarks to a joint session of Congress win passage of his American Jobs Act. Eleven “major” speeches on the economy have not generated a full recovery or prevented economic indicators from backsliding. Indeed, one of President Obama’s few accomplishments has been to prove, definitively, the worthlessness of the bully pulpit.

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As we all realized four years ago, Barack Obama is a political myth. Oh, there is a real man behind the myth, but he has little in common with the demi-god who ran for President.

Obama the Myth is a history changing, once in a generation leader. He is a gifted orator, a Jedi Master of politics and the smartest man to ever occupy the Oval Office. He brings people together, inspires them and guides them to a better tomorrow. He farts Skittles and pees rainbows.

One term is too many

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Shamelessly stolen from Legal Insurrection:

Progressive Harvard Law Prof: Obama “must be defeated”

“President Obama must be defeated in the coming election,” Roberto Unger, a longtime professor at Harvard Law School who taught Obama, said in a video posted on May 22. “He has failed to advance the progressive cause in the United States.”

Unger said that Obama must lose the election in order for “the voice of democratic prophecy to speak once again in American life.”

He acknowledged that if a Republican wins the presidency, “there will be a cost … in judicial and administrative appointments.” But he said that “the risk of military adventurism” would be no worse under a Republican than under Obama, and that “the Democratic Party proposes no new direction.”

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“He has spent trillions of dollars to rescue the moneyed interests and left workers and homeowners to their own devices.”
“He has delivered the politics of democracy to the rule of money.”
“He has disguised his surrender with an empty appeal to tax justice.”
“He has reduced justice to charity.”
“He has subordinated the broadening of economic and educational opportunity to the important but secondary issue of access to health care in the mistaken belief that he would be spared a fight.”
“He has evoked a politics of handholding, but no one changes the world without a struggle.”

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I am a liberal Clinton Democrat. My opposition to Obama is not because he is a socialist or too left-wing. My opposition to Obama is based on the fact that he is a corrupt crony capitalist and a puppet of the wealthy special interests.

He sometimes talks like a Democrat, but he walks like a Republican.

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If Obama gave a speech and nobody watched, did he make a sound?

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Apparently Obama gave a speech today. It was supposed to jumpstart or “reboot” his campaign.

I keep picturing his aides yelling “Clear!” as he walked out on stage.

This is what we call a total disaster ladies. I’m going to ask you to smell your armpits. That’s the smell of failure and it’s stinking up my office. – Sue Sylvester

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