Mr. Romney’s team has concluded that debates are about creating moments and has equipped him with a series of zingers that he has memorized and has been practicing on aides since August. His strategy includes luring the president into appearing smug or evasive about his responsibility for the economy.i.e. "look at that black man appearing smarter than me"
Shep Smith Apologizes For Fox’s Live Broadcast Of Post-Car Chase Suicide
Ann Romney's biggest concern if her husband becomes president would be his ability to maintain his "mental well-being," she said in an interview Thursday with KTVN in Reno, Nev.Not as much as I'd be worried about mine.
Dallas Morning News: "For all the talk about whether Mitt Romney should distance himself from George W. Bush -- and the policies of the last GOP White House -- a new survey shows that the former president actually has better favorability ratings than the Republican nominee."Bush's "favorability" rating undoubtedly went higher the moment he was no longer "the decider".
The most recent Bloomberg poll shows Bush with a 46% to 49% favorable rating as compared to Romney's 43% to 50%.
The arms race in CEO pay doesn’t help performance or retention, according to a new study.This is like 90 percent of CNBC programming so....
Outsized CEO pay has been a bone of contention for shareholders and a flashpoint for public discontent, but was always justified with the conventional wisdom that if a company doesn’t pay its top brass top dollar, they’ll go somewhere where they can earn more.
Charles Elson and Craig Ferrere, director and fellow, respectively, at the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, took aim at this long-held theory in a new paper, as reported by the New York Times last weekend.
Jim Drinkard, an Associated Press (AP) editor who oversees the wire service’s fact-checking work, said, “We had to have a self-imposed Michele Bachmann quota in some of those debates.”
After the session, Drinkard said that there wasn’t an actual numerical quota on Bachmann at the AP. It’s just that if the AP had gone back and vetted all her claims that looked dicey, the result would “overload” the debate story.Truly a great achievement in both politics and journalism.
The top reason Adelson gave for backing Romney and opposing President Barack Obama is "self defense," as Allen put it, referencing the probe into Las Vegas Sands Corp.
"Adelson said a second Obama term would bring government 'vilification of people that were against him.' He thinks he would be at the top of that list and contends that he already has been targeted for his political activity," Allen wrote.
Adelson's casino empire, the bulk of which is based in Asia, is being investigated for bribery and money laundering. He told Allen that Justice Department officials have been disparaging him in the press. "When I see what's happening to me and this company, about accusations that are unfounded -- that kind of behavior ... has to stop," he told Allen.So he's buying Mitt and expects him to stay bought.
Police will be taking soil core samples at a home in Roseville [Michigan] on Friday in search of the remains of missing Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, whose 1975 disappearance sparked one of the 20th century’s biggest mysteries. “We received information from an individual who saw something,” Roseville Police Chief James Berlin told the Free Press. “The information seemed credible, so we decided to follow up on it.”
One of the four former staffers charged in a petition fraud scandal that ended U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter's congressional career pleaded no contest Tuesday in court. Lorianne O'Brady, 52, of Livonia pleaded in 16th District Court to five misdemeanor counts of falsely signing a McCotter nomination petition as a circulator. She's to be sentenced Oct. 25 before Judge Kathleen J. McCann. Each count is punishable by up to 93 days in jail... Candidates must collect at least 1,000 valid voter signatures; McCotter's staffers claimed to have turned in 2,000, but just 244 were deemed valid due to forgery that was later found in previous election petitions as well.Three other former McCotter staffers face felony charges for similar behavior and one of them is in court today. So far this kind of voter fraud seems to be the only type that occurs, yet also the only one that doesn't exist in the mind of Republicans. It's enough to make you angry. So here's something to take your mind off of the subject. Mitt Romney talking about the sex-life of teenage boys. You're welcome. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]
President Obama’s support among Catholic voters has surged since June, according to a new poll, despite a summer that included the Catholic bishops’ religious freedom campaign and the naming of Rep. Paul Ryan, a Catholic, as the GOP’s vice-presidential candidate.
On June 17, Obama held a slight edge over Mitt Romney among Catholics (49-47 percent), according to the Pew Research Center. Since then, Obama has surged ahead, and now leads 54-39 percent, according to a Pew poll conducted on Sept. 16.
Among all registered voters, Obama leads Romney 51-42 percent, according to Pew.
Obama and Romney are essentially tied among white Catholics, which some pollsters call the ultimate swing group.
Public criticism of Mitt Romney’s race for the White House has risen sharply, with six in 10 Americans expressing a negative opinion of how he’s handling his campaign and a majority responding unfavorably to his comments on people who don’t pay income taxes.He's pretty much terminal, the "stench" is his putrification. Mitt Romney has been successfully (in large part by his own personality and actions) as being un-caffeinated Donald Trump, just as crazy, disconnected, and assholish. Romney fell right into the trap the Obama campaign set for him, scratch that, thanks to the tea-baggers he jumped into it feet first.
Sixty-one percent in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll hold an unfavorable view of how Romney’s handling his presidential campaign, up by 12 percentage points since mid-July. Far fewer, 35 percent, rate Romney’s performance positively, essentially unchanged.
Barack Obama’s ratings for handling his campaign are substantially better, 54-43 percent, favorable-unfavorable. And while ratings of Romney’s campaign have grown more negative, favorable ratings of Obama’s campaign efforts have gained 8 points since July.
Though Ryan had already decided to distance himself from the floundering Romney campaign, he now feels totally uninhibited. Reportedly, he has been marching around his campaign bus, saying things like, “If Stench calls, take a message” and “Tell Stench I’m having finger sandwiches with Peggy Noonan and will text him later.”Update:
Paul Ryan stood by helplessly, and in apparent pain, as Mitt Romney strayed from campaign talking points on President Obama’s tax record during a joint “reset” rally today in Ohio.
In the midst of remarks ridiculing the president’s handling of the economy, Romney said: “I admit this, he has one thing he did not do in his first four years — he’s said he’s going to do in the next four years, which is to raise taxes.”
During the primaries, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul offered a very different view of the presidents record, when she told the L.A. Times: “President Obama has raised taxes 19 times.”
Four Iowa television stations are refusing to air a TV ad from an animal welfare political group that criticizes U.S. Rep. Steve King for opposing federal legislation that would ban people from taking children to animal fights. Officials with KCCI-TV and WHO-TV in Des Moines, WOI-TV in West Des Moines and KCAU-TV in Sioux City today confirmed they have rejected the ad from the Humane Society Legislative Fund, based in Washington, D.C. The fund said today it is launching a TV ad campaign opposing King’s reelection to Congress on TV stations in the Sioux City, Des Moines and Mason City television markets. King is a Republican from Kiron in northwest Iowa.The reason is that the commercial shows the by-product of animal cruelty, the cruelty Steve King supports -- meaning they may allow the ad to run, as long as it is cleaned up...maybe with a Sarah McLachlan song?
I do believe in basic science. I believe in participating in space. I believe in analysis of new sources of energy. I believe in laboratories, looking at ways to conduct electricity with -- with cold fusion, if we can come up with it. It was the University of Utah that solved that. We somehow can’t figure out how to duplicate it.
Is anyone really surprised that Mitt Romney’s latest federal tax return shows most of his charitable giving has gone to the Mormon church and related organizations? These includes Mormon organizations that in recent years cannot charitably be described as anything but homophobic—whether funneling big bucks into state ballot measures to oppose gay marriage or into ‘ re-education’ to turn gays into straights. These stances are not very different from the Catholic Church, which, like Mormons, also opposed the Equal Right Amendment for women.Naturally, nobody but us "weird" liberals thinks this raises a question of how Romney would actually govern.
After Monday night’s game debacle , it safe to say that we haven’t seen the head of an organization damage their brand this badly since Nancy Brinker let Karen Handel herd the Komen cash cow onto the killing floor. That turned out real well now, didn’t it?
New Jersey currently suffers the second-highest foreclosure rate in the nation, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. However, WABC-TV's Jim Hoffer reports that more than a year after the Homekeeper Program was launched, the state has doled out only $4 million, of $300 million available, to 498 families -- while nearly 2,000 applicants have been denied.
Kathy Kiely, managing editor of the Sunlight Foundation...said around 78% of outside spending in 2012 – $365m of the total $465m – could be attributed to the "Citizens United effect"... Of $465m of outside money spent so far in 2012 $460.8m comes from Super Pacs, corporations and other groups which do not have to register as political groups. An additional $4.1m comes from "electioneering communications": advertisements or political activities that focus on issues and policies – the oil industry, for example – and encourage voters to support a candidate without mentioning any politicians by name.And what value it has produced, a series of slanders and cribbed edits that truly give us want any free society could want, more money allowing more screaming in defense of those with money. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Polling amongst NASCAR fans isn't looking good for Mitt Romney, who is behind Barack Obama by seven percentage points — 41% to 48%.
The poll, conducted by polling pollsters Zogby, showed that NASCAR's loyal fan base are actually in Barack Obama's corner, so to speak. The crosstabs show a small sampling, but those who identify as NASCAR fans prefer the president.
“I appreciate the fact that she is on the ground, safe and sound. And I don’t think she knows just how worried some of us were,” Romney said. “When you have a fire in an aircraft, there’s no place to go, exactly, there’s no — and you can’t find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don’t open. I don’t know why they don’t do that. It’s a real problem. So it’s very dangerous. And she was choking and rubbing her eyes. Fortunately, there was enough oxygen for the pilot and copilot to make a safe landing in Denver. But she’s safe and sound.”
If the Republican ticket loses in November, the rush by Mr. Ryan and other 2016 hopefuls to position themselves for the Iowa caucuses “is going to look like Best Buy the night after Thanksgiving,” said Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Republican Party of Iowa. “I hate to say this, but if Ryan wants to run for national office again, he’ll probably have to wash the stench of Romney off of him.”THAT. IS. BRUTAL.
James Murdoch will be given more responsibility over News Corp's U.S. television operations more than a year after he became a central figure in the company's telephone hacking scandal in the UK, two sources familiar with the matter said.via AmericaBlog
Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said Sunday that Mitt Romney's longstanding strategy of making this election a referendum on President Obama's first term will fail.I'm going to avoid anything from Dick Morris because if he's changed his usual reign of error I will start to get overly worried.
"They need to focus on the next four years," he said. "If this election is just about the last four years, that's a muddy verdict. Bush was president during the financial meltdown. The Obama team has turned that around pretty well. The Clinton speech at the convention was very important in that way -- how horrible was it four years ago."
Mitt Romney adviser Bay Buchanan reiterated the Republican campaign’s belief that half of Americans are dependent upon government, during an appearance on Meet Thee Press on Sunday. “We are in perilous times in this country. We are looking at financial ruin. We are looking at dependency. We’re a nation of people dependent on their government, and that is what Barack Obama gives us,”This matches the language of bi-partisan booze peddler Mary Matalin a few days later than called everybody that isn't paying "income tax" a "parasite" which makes Romney and Ryan exterminators. Good thing Ryan is talking about "death panels" again.
As fires blazed and protesters danced in the ruined compound of a vanquished jihadist militia, I watched as the citizens of the Libyan city of Benghazi staged a dramatic display of raw people power.Numbed by the murder of an American ambassador in their city, furious with jihadist militias lording it over them and frustrated by a government too chaotic and intimidated to react, ordinary Benghazians took matters into their own hands.
Elsewhere in the world jihadists staged fiery attacks on foreign targets. In Libya they were sent running by people power. A rally called to Rescue Benghazi on Friday night became the launch pad for a spontaneous retaking of the streets, and more – a retaking of the soul that saw this city become the cradle of last year's Arab spring revolution.
Ansar al-Sharia militia, blamed by many for the killing of ambassador Chris Stevens and three of his diplomats had last week deployed anti-aircraft guns around their Benghazi compound, fearing attack from drones and US warships. But the attack, when it came, was from a very different direction. Civilian. Unarmed. And with nothing more than the desperation of a population staring anarchy in the face.Good for them, ordinary people and Muslims.
When the former Massachusetts governor released his official 2011 tax return Friday, he (or whoever actually filled out the form) appeared to have mistakenly referred to the United States as a foreign country.To be fair, Romney thought his tax returns were really just about where his money is.
"If you have a foreign address," the tax return instruction reads, "also complete spaces below." In the space below, under "foreign country name," Romney's form reads "USA."
Several tax preparers confirmed to Whispers that "USA" should not have been written in that line—assuming the Republican presidential nominee is actually a citizen of the United States.
No word from Donald Trump yet if he wants to see the original long form version of the tax return.
John Boehner: GOP Won't Agree To Raise Taxes On Wealthy, Even If Obama Wins Reelection
Nielsen estimates that there are roughly 289.7 million TV viewers in the United States. Of those viewers, 14.7 percent watched Biden’s speech on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.
President Obama came in second with 13.7 percent. Mitt Romney ranked third with 12.5 percent. And former President Bill Clinton came in fourth with 10.9 percent.
"Social Security right now is a collectivist system, it's a welfare transfer system."
-- Rep. Paul Ryan in a 2005 audio recording talking about privatizing the "socialist-based system" of social security -- or as he jokingly said he preferred, "personalizing" it.
Mitt Romney’s campaign handed out $112,500 in bonuses to four of its top staffers, according to new disclosure records filed Thursday. Richard Beeson, Romney’s national political director, received a $37,500 payment on Aug. 31, in addition to his monthly salary of $13,750, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission. In addition, campaign manager Matt Rhoades, policy advisor Lanhee Chen and communications director Gail Gitcho each received $25,000 payments on the same date, filings show. The trio are also paid at the same rate as Beeson, which works out to an annual equivalent of $165,000.Meanwhile, this businessman who thinks he is superqualified because of his business background suddenly has a lot less money to spend then he thought for the rest of the campaign.
“Stop it. This is hard. You want to try it? Get in the ring,” she said. “This is hard and, you know, it’s an important thing that we’re doing right now and it’s an important election and it is time for all Americans to realize how significant this election is and how lucky we are to have someone with Mitt’s qualifications and experience and know-how to be able to have the opportunity to run this country.”Forget Rafalca, when this election's over, Ann Romney is going to require a 'therapy gimp'.
In a conference call with fellow evangelicals earlier this week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) shared his thoughts on the origins of the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state. Rather than tracing the idea to the nation’s founders, Perry warned of a more nefarious source: Satan... “Somehow or another there’s this, ya know, steel wall, this iron curtain or whatever you want to call it between the church and people of faith and this separation of church and state is just false on its face”Well, I've seen a lot of erroneous and flatulent interpretations of the "Founders" from the Right (see Barton, David) but they always come in the shape of putting folks like Madison and Jefferson way up high on the "pedestal of freedom" they built -- high enough to see all the slaves they owned. So I guess it is refreshing to hear of Madison being called an agent of Satan. That certainly is a new one. Rick Perry 2016. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]
"Lacquer the bronzer on with a trowel you filthy moocher"
Mitt Romney has had a light campaign schedule lately. He held his first rally in five days on Wednesday night.Obama maintains a more vigorous campaign schedule AND is also President.
The Romney campaign is skidding along on its axles and scraping its muffler. Soon it will be down to the dog on the roof.... But as I have been saying for a while now, Mitt Romney is a deeply flawed candidate who got the Republican nomination by beating a ludicrously weak field. Don’t believe me? You know who came in second? Rick Santorum. Newt Gingrich was third, and Ron Paul was fourth. That’s not a field; that’s a therapy group.Zing! But the best part is this part and I agree with it.
And there is another thing that troubles me even though some dismiss it as trivial. I am still bothered by Romney attacking that gay kid and cutting off his hair with a pair of scissors when they were in prep school. A ghetto kid does that and he gets booked for assault with a deadly weapon. But what does the son of a governor get? A law degree from Harvard. Republicans accuse Obama of wanting to wage class warfare, but who is more class conscious than Romney? I can summarize what Romney said to a bunch of wealthy donors at a May fundraiser: America is divided between the deserving rich and bums who want a handout. Vote for me, and I’ll keep you rich. Thank you very much. Enjoy the chicken.
"Why yes, the health insurance reform that Obama launched was inspired by my plan in Massachusetts and it has worked really really well, it's a great program and it was all my idea. But we cannot have nice things like that in the nation as a whole and it's called Obamacare, so I planned on fucking the country over about it the FIRST CHANCE I GET. FUCK IT, AND FUCK YOU AMERICA -- oh and vote for me!"
A spot featuring only the Israeli prime minister talking about Iran is set to hit the airwaves in select Florida markets tomorrow, a media tracking source confirms. The spot is the work of a c4 called Secure America Now - which, thanks to its tax status, doesn't have to disclose its donors. A Republican involved with the project said its airing in Miami, West Palm Beach and Ft. Myers. The flight is ultimately going to be $1 million, the official said - a media-tracking source said about $400,000 has been placed so far.How especially wise it truly is for a foreign leader, be it an ally or not, to advertise in the U.S. so as to have us get another war on. But I guess with Romney as the nominee Republicans are for outsourcing even American xenophobia. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]
"It's unfortunate when something gets misinterpreted like this or it gets taken out of context because if you really do listen to everything he does say, he's talking about what we're facing in America today," Romney said in the interview. According to Buzzfeed, the Romney campaign uploaded video of the interview to YouTube with the title "Ann Romney to FOX31: Mitt Doesn't Disdain the Poor" before quickly removing it.They quickly took it down huh?
"We use Ann sparingly right now so people don't get tired of her" - Mitt RomneyYAWN!
They suggest that the reports of debauchery were exaggerated. They admit that there were barely clad pretty women dancing at the party. But they don't understand the blow-back to Marc over the activities of his guests, who are consenting adults.
As one friend noted, "Marc was not in the pool."
Another friend sympathized with his plight. He said, "His wife cheats on him with the 23 year old tennis pro, so he lets off a little steam. Yet, he is the one that is vilified."
Conservative commentator Mary Matalin hailed Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” line on CNN as good news for Republicans.
“There are makers and takers, there are producers and there are parasites,” she said. “Americans can distinguish between those who have produced and paid in through no fault of their own and because of Obama’s horrible policies who cannot get a job or are underemployed. That’s what the campaign is about.”"Parasites"?
When I was back in my private equity days, we went to China to buy a factory there. It employed about 20,000 people. And they were almost all young women between the ages of about 18 and 22 or 23. They were saving for potentially becoming married.
And they work in these huge factories, they made various uh, small appliances. And uh, as we were walking through this facility, seeing them work, the number of hours they worked per day, the pittance they earned, living in dormitories with uh, with little bathrooms at the end of maybe 10, 10 room, rooms. And the rooms they have 12 girls per room.
Three bunk beds on top of each other. You've seen, you've seen them? (Oh...yeah, yeah!) And, and, and around this factory was a fence, a huge fence with barbed wire and guard towers. And, and, we said gosh! I can't believe that you, you know, keep these girls in! They said, no, no, no. This is to keep other people from coming in.
The president's foreign policy, in my opinion, is formed in part by a perception he has that his magnetism, and his charm, and his persuasiveness is so compelling that he can sit down with people like Putin and Chavez and Ahmadinejad and that they'll find that we're such wonderful people that they'll go on with us, and they'll stop doing bad things. And it's an extraordinarily naive perception.Yes, it is naive of Obama to think he has a "magical" effect on foreign leaders -- it's like he can shoot fiery death from the sky without any moral compunction. How unrealistic. Romney doesn't believe in that magic transforming bullshit.
"My own view is that if we win on November 6th, there will be a great deal of optimism about the future of this country. We'll see capital come back and we'll see — without actually doing anything — we'll actually get a boost in the economy."See, completely rational.
Mitt Romney will respond to the leaked video of comments he made at a fundraiser on Neil Cavuto's Fox News show at 4 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Fox News announced.Ah yes, FoxNews where Republicans under stress go to get hand-relief with a happy-ending.
“Romney’s comment is a country-club fantasy. It’s what self-satisfied millionaires say to each other. It reinforces every negative view people have about Romney.”
"My own view is that if we win on November 6th, there will be a great deal of optimism about the future of this country. We'll see capital come back and we'll see — without actually doing anything — we'll actually get a boost in the economy."Republicans believe in magic. Good job Christine O'Donnell.
At the dinner, Romney often stuck to familiar talking points. But there were moments when he went beyond the familiar campaign lines. Describing his family background, he quipped about his father, "Had he been born of Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot of winning this."Other than the technical response..."HE WAS!" I imagine this statement would have gone over REALLY well if he'd said it today before them, really well indeed.
Rep. Todd Akin’s wife, Lulli Akin, says the Republican Party’s attempts to push her husband out of the Missouri Senate race — over his false assertion that women who are raped rarely get pregnant — are like rape itself.
[Harvey] Weinstein (the movie mogul) told the BBC: “I witnessed Prime Minister saying to a group of people, myself included, that Mitt Romney had that unique distinction of uniting all of England against him with his various remarks. On behalf of my love of England, I have to support the President [Barack Obama] who is anything but making faux-pas.”Romney promised to bring back the relationship the U.S. and U.K. used to have, apparently he was thinking of the one that existed in the 80s, the 1780s.
A Romney official explained: "Mitt is a sticker - he stays with you. He had a reputation at Bain for sticking with people. They made a bad investment, he hung with them. … None of this is going to be fixed. This is the organization, and this is who Mitt is betting on to win. There aren't going to be further changes."Yeah, the man is world-reknown for not firing the people who fucking FIRE MASSIVE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE.
Ryan was chaffing at Boston constraining him from talking about and defending his policy ideas from Democratic attacks. Ryan wanted to be "unleashed," the Republican said. And Ryan’s latest campaign swing offers the clearest indication that he’s gotten his wish.
On Friday at the Values Voters Summit in Washington, D.C., Ryan offered a new gambit on offense, attacking Obama on social issues and income inequality in one fell swoop.“’We’re all in this together’ – it has a nice ring,” Ryan said, quoting a frequent Obama line. “For everyone who loves this country, it is not only true but obvious,” he said. “Yet how hollow it sounds coming from a politician who has never once lifted a hand to defend the most helpless and innocent of all human beings, the child waiting to be born.”When all else fails -- at least pull out the "abortion card" -- yeah, that'll convince that handful of wavering independents. One gets the feeling this plan was come up by the same adviser who blames Obama for abandoning Czechoslovakia.
Former presidential candidate Rick Santorum attacked the media and "smart people" for not being on the side of conservatives in a speech to the Values Voter Summit on Saturday.Yes, hard to believe the "smart" people oppose a party that has a membership of Rick Santorums in it.
"We will never have the media on our side, ever, in this country," Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, told the audience at the Omni Shoreham hotel. "We will never have the elite, smart people on our side."
President Barack Obama is closing extending his lead with Jewish voters, leading among registered voters 70-25 percent according to unreleased Gallup daily tracking poll data .Polling more accurate than the way the above was written.
The data, obtained through a Democratic source, shows Obama up from leading 64-29 in polling this spring — and on par with his 2008 performance at this point when he led 69-25 over John McCain in Gallup polling. The data is drawn from tracking polls taken between July 1 and September 10th.
Eighteen months into the office he reupholstered the two chairs in his sitting area. (“The chairs were kind of greasy. I was starting to think, Folks are going to start talking about us.”) Then he swapped out the antique coffee table for a contemporary one, and the bust of Winston Churchill lent to Bush by Tony Blair...Wait for it, the righties conveniently never mention this part
...for one of Martin Luther King Jr.
Advisers to Mitt Romney on Thursday defended his sharp criticism of President Obama and said that the deadly protests sweeping the Middle East would not have happened if the Republican nominee were president.
“There’s a pretty compelling story that if you had a President Romney, you’d be in a different situation,” Richard Williamson, a top Romney foreign policy adviser, said in an interview. “For the first time since Jimmy Carter, we’ve had an American ambassador assassinated.”So says a man who served in an Administration which saw Pentagon itself attacked -- or perhaps he has ignored all bumper-stickers and forgotten?
"What a tragedy, to lose such a wonderful, wonderful, uh...wonderful people that have been so wonderful."
Unemployment in Greece is going from bad to worse, as official figures released by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) on Thursday showed a 44 percent increase in the number of jobless in this year’s second quarter compared to the same period in 2011.Naturally, this requires more "austerity"!
The crisis engulfing Greece has deepened after two of the governing coalition parties resisted demands from Brussels for 50,000 public sector job cuts, and unions called a general strike for later this month.Surely we need that same "budget-cutting" magic on these shores.
One Republican official advising Romney's campaign on foreign policy and national security issues painted a picture of a Romney campaign more focused on ensuring Romney's evening statement made it into morning news stories than on waiting for details about what had happened.Romney, like most projectionists, is at his most hypocritical when repeating his mantra -- "America's the greatest, I'll never apologize for America" etc. Here he is ACTIVELY hoping for disaster so as to score political points for himself.
This official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid angering Romney's campaign, said that as word of violence spread, campaign aides late Tuesday watched tweets coming out of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo that were criticizing the filmmaker rather than condemning the attackers, and saw an opportunity to criticize Obama .
Reagan told a Los Angeles press conference, "This is a difficult day for all of us Americans. . . . It is time for us . . . to stand united. It is a day for quiet reflection . . . when words should be few and confined essentially to our prayers."I am obviously not a Reagan fan, but that is how a competent politician does it.
...earlier this evening the Times ran a story entitled “Behind Romney’s Decision to Attack Obama on Libya.” The byline was David Sanger and Ashley Parker. The big news out of the story was that Romney himself had been the driver of last night’s decision making.
Rising Hegemon
