a promise kept

Night everyone, see you tomorrow.

****

PS

Donna, thank you!

altogether now……

Thank you hgerhard!

😆

evening all

****

Time: …. Admiral William McRaven speaks respectfully of Bush as Commander in Chief, saying he “made some very, very tough decisions.” About Obama, without a question to prompt him, he waxes lyrical and at length. The planning and decision-making for the bin Laden raid, he volunteers, “was really everything the American public would expect from their national leadership.”

“The President was at all times presidential,” he says. “I would contend he was the smartest guy in the room. He had leadership skills we’d expect from a guy who had 35 years in the military.”

Full article here

****

TPM: …. in a new poll from Public Policy Polling President Obama bests former Mitt Romney 48 percent to 42 and Newt Gingrich 50 to 43 in Virginia … Only 31 percent see Gingrich favorably against 55 percent, and it’s nearly as bad for Romney at 33 – 52.

****

Mediaite

Crikey, Fox really don’t like Romney, do they?

****

****

Jonathan Freedland (The Guardian): Whoever wrote the political rulebook needs to start rewriting it …. in the US Barack Obama is mired in horrible numbers – except for the ones showing him beating all-comers in the election now less than 11 months away. Even though the US economy is slumped in the doldrums, some of the country’s shrewdest commentators make a serious case that Obama could be heading for a landslide victory in 2012.

How to explain such a turnaround? In the United States, at least, there is one compellingly simple, two-word answer: Fox News.

…. it is Fox that is, in effect, picking the party’s nominee to face Obama next November …. If one is to flourish rather than wither in the Fox spotlight, there are several articles of faith to which one must subscribe – from refusing to believe in human-made climate change, and insisting that Christians are an embattled minority in the US, persecuted by a liberal, secular, bi-coastal elite, to believing that government regulation is always wrong, and that any attempt to tax the wealthiest people is immoral. Those who deviate are rapidly branded foreign, socialist or otherwise un-American.

….It was this process that led the former speechwriter David Frum to declare last year: “Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us – and now we’re discovering we work for Fox.”

…. The extremism, anger, paranoia and sense of victimhood that Fox incubates are all unhealthy for the United States. But it’s inflicting particular damage on the Republican party, which could well lose a winnable election because of its supine relationship to a TV network. It turns out it is not liberals who should fear the Fox – it’s conservatives.

Full article here

home (updated)

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama return to the White House after a visit to Fort Bragg

“welcome home” (updated)

****

****

****

A hand that might possibly never be washed again:

nc bound

President Obama, followed by White House Chief of Staff William Daley, walks out from the Oval Office before his departure to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina

President Obama and first lady Michelle arrive at Pope Army Field in Fort Bragg, N.C.

rise and shine

From an interview with VP Biden in Esquire:

“What I haven’t seen before is the intensity of the desire on the other side to see to it that Barack Obama is not president again. There seems to be a willingness to put that ahead of what might be a short-term – or a long-term – benefit to the American people.”

On the Presdsent: “What I’m amazed about is the guy’s courage. The decisions the president makes day in and day out are decisions that nobody sees. Trust me, if you had to make only one of those decisions, you’d be telling your grandchildren about it. … I would argue that this president has had more land on his plate from the day he got in office than any other president – including Franklin Roosevelt.”

On Mitt Romney’s faith: “When my son was a senior, I was asked to do a speech at Georgetown University,” Biden recalled in an interview with the magazine. “Father O’Donovan asked me to speak on how faith informs my public service. I’d never talked about my faith publicly. I mean, I acknowledge that I’m a practicing Catholic, but I don’t think it’s anybody’s business, nor do I think it should matter to anyone. That’s why I’m so angry about the way they’re treating Romney. Who I’m not crazy about, but…”

More here

****

Today:

10:05: The President and First Lady depart the White House en route to Joint Base Andrews

10:20: Leave Andrews for Ft. Bragg, N.C.

11:25: Arrive in Ft. Bragg

11:55: The President and First Lady deliver remarks to the troops

12:50: Depart Ft. Bragg

2:05: Arrive at the White House

5:00: The President attends a campaign event

****

Kathleen Sebelius: As a parent, nothing gives us more peace of mind than knowing that our children can pursue their dreams without unfair limitations. This is why I’m excited to announce that millions more young adults in America now have health insurance coverage thanks to the health care law – enabling them to pursue their goals without worrying about what will happen if they get sick.

The provision in the law allowing young adults to remain on their parents’ health insurance until age 26 has resulted in 2.5 million young people gaining coverage, according to analysis based on new data released today by the National Center for Health Statistics.

More here

****

Morning everyone 😉

I’ll catch up with the news – soon-ish