evening all

Steve Benen: ….. the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein asked whether Romney supports the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and the campaign aides, after a painfully long delay, had no idea.

These weren’t trick questions. This was, after all, a call about women’s issues. It was organized by the Romney campaign, so it’s not as if these staffers could say they were caught off guard by extraneous and unrelated issues. Presumably, these folks prepared for their own telephone press conference.

Romney has cited a misleading statistic, and his aides couldn’t defend it. Romney has said current policies are keeping women from getting more jobs, and given three separate chances to say something coherent, his aides couldn’t explain what would change if the former governor is elected president. Were they not expecting these kinds of question?

…. Welcome to the general election, Mitt. I think you’ll find it’s a little more difficult than going up against Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum.

More here

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TPM: Mitt Romney’s having a terrible time turning the tables on Democrats. But his camp’s claim that President Obama is the one waging the “real war on women” is best debunked visually.

….. male employment and female employment have nearly returned to the levels they were at when Obama took office. And if Obama is waging a war on women, he’s doing a poor job of it. Despite these setbacks, female labor force participation remains near its historic high.

More here

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Greg Sargent: I’m glad to see that there’s been a moderately aggressive media response to Mitt Romney’s latest falsehood: The claim that 92 percent of the people who have lost jobs on Obama’s watch are women.

The argument, which his campaign is now making regularly, is central to Romney’s effort to win back women who were apparently alienated by the primary.

The assertion has now been debunked by Politifact, the Post’s Glenn Kessler, and NBC’s Domenico Montanaro.

More here

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ThinkProgress: As part of its bizarre strategy of blaming President Obama for the GOP’s “war on women,” the Romney campaign released statements today from two Republican Congresswomen, Reps. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA). The statements correctly note that women have been hit particularly hard by job losses in recent years, but misleadingly lay the blame for those losses on Obama, just as Romney himself has been doing recently.

…… their concern for pay equity and women in the workplace must be a recent development. Both congresswomen voted against the landmark Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009…..

More here

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Buzzfeed

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Don’t miss Liberal Librarian’s latest post at The People’s View: The “Reagan Rule” and the GOP crackup

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Thanks Dotster

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PPP: Barack Obama’s opened up a 13 point lead on Mitt Romney in Colorado at 53-40. He’s gained 11 points in the state since December when he led just 47-45.

The formula for Obama’s gains is the same in Colorado as it is everywhere. He’s getting more popular and Romney’s getting less popular. In December only 45% of voters approved of the job Obama was doing to 50% who disapproved. Now he’s on positive ground with 50% giving him good marks to 47% who think he’s doing a poor job. The main thing that’s changed is Democrats really rallying around him. In December he was at 76/18 with them, but now it’s 89/8. The party is getting a lot more unified as the election comes closer.

Romney’s headed in the other direction. His net favorability has gone from -18 (35/53) to an even worse -29 (31/60) …. he’s extremely unpopular with independents at 25/65.

More here

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PPP: Mitt Romney may have effectively wrapped up the GOP nomination with Rick Santorum’s withdrawal yesterday, but PPP’s newest North Carolina poll really shows how much Romney was hurt by the process with Barack Obama as the ultimate beneficiary.

President Obama now leads Romney by 5 points in North Carolina, 49-44. That’s the largest lead we’ve found for him in monthly polling dating back to November of 2010. Obama has a 51-38 advantage with independents and is particularly strong with women (54-39), African Americans (90-7), voters under 30 (61-33), and folks in the Triangle (60-33).

The Republican nomination process has taken a huge toll on Romney’s image in North Carolina. In February of 2011 voters in the state were almost evenly divided on him with 37% rating him favorably to 39% who had a negative opinion of him. Now that spread is a dreadful 29/58….

He was actually popular with independents at 45/36 last winter, now he is incredibly unpopular at 25/62.

More here

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ThinkProgress

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ThinkProgress: According to several experts in Florida law, Sean Hannity could be compelled to testify about his conversations with George Zimmerman. Tamara Lave, a professor of criminal law at the Universtiy of Miami who also practiced as a public defender for 10 years, told ThinkProgress it’s a “no brainer.”

Under Florida Law, there is a “qualified privilege” for journalists that protects their conversations with sources. But this privilege can be overcome, per Florida Evidence Code 90.5015….

More here

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2008

Don’t forget Michelle Obama on The Colbert Report tonight

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Florida Atlantic University, April 10

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People look at their pictures with First Lady Michelle Obama as Mrs. Obama continues to greets guests at the Joining Forces Community Challenge event on the South Lawn of the White House, April 11. (Official White House Photo by Sonya N. Hebert)

a word from japa: having his back

by Japa

It is pretty much a given in this community that President Obama has our back covered. He is out there every day working to help preserve the middle class.  In fact, he is working to the utmost not only to preserve the middle class against an onslaught unprecedented in our history, but to also expand the middle class. There are some on the left who view him as a corporatist who hasn’t done enough, but they miss the point.

I can state without hesitation that enough hasn’t been done and that a lot more needs to be done. And I know someone else who would say the same thing, our President. Yet, saying that is not the same as saying he hasn’t done enough. I quite honestly cannot think of anything he could have done that would have gotten us further than we are now. He has, rightfully so, chosen to follow constitutional principles rather than go the dictator route. And in making that choice he has acknowledged that he cannot get everything done he would like to see done. Most of the things needed to accomplish what he and most people in the progressive community want to see done requires Congressional action.

People on the left talk about FDR a lot and even LBJ with his accomplishments in producing The Great Society. Yet those same people forget the huge, historically huge, Democratic majorities both of those Presidents had to work with. Does anyone really doubt that if then President had had 68 Democratic senators that we wouldn’t have seen a public option?  Does anyone really doubt that if he had over 70 senators the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy wouldn’t have been rolled back? Does anyone really doubt that if he had had over 300 members of the House and those senatorial numbers that the financial regulation bill wouldn’t have been even stronger than it was?

Full post here

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There’s a permanent link to this post in the sidebar on the right, just look for:

on cloud nine

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You unfortunate people must dread when the blog hits the next million because it usually means you being pinned against a wall and threatened, in a particularly menacing kind of way, unless you mark the occasion by donating $$s to Obama/Biden 2012…. when $$s are in short enough supply and you donate already.

But …… and it’s a HUGE but ….. if you can – and if you’d like – maybe you could donate $9 today, just to kick-start our all-night celebrations? (UTAustinLiberal will bring the champagne later, and amk has promised tasty treats. VC will sing, but don’t let that put you off).

Anyone who donates more than $9 will get a photo of Newt in his mankini sent to them by email.

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This is the link

Again, if I show up as a lady called Barb, or as an employee of a chap in Alabama, that’s not me (I’ve never even been to Alabama) …. the gremlins are still playing with my OFA account, they’re probably Willard supporters.

Absolutely no worries if you can’t donate right now, or if you already donate to another fundraiser – the $$s are all going to the same place.

Nine million thanks everyone 😉

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PS I am actually being a bit presumptuous – we’re only on 8,995,887 hits as we speak, and it could be that we won’t hit 9 million until Malia is being sworn in as President. But just in case we hit the mark in the next hour or three…..

mitt’s big oil buddies

‘the reagan rule’

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heads up: pbo speaks on the buffett rule

White House live

CNN live streaming

rise and shine

President Barack Obama high fives a young boy outside an event in Palm Beach Garden, Fla., April 10, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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President Obama returns to the White House after a visit to Florida, April 10

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**** 10:15 AM ET: President Obama delivers a statement on the Buffett Rule ****

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EJ Dionne: Conservatives are not accustomed to being on the defensive. They have long experience with attacking the evils of the left and the abuses of activist judges. They love to assail “tax-and-spend liberals” without ever discussing who should be taxed or what government money is actually spent on. They expect their progressive opponents to be wimpy and apologetic.

So imagine the shock when President Obama decided last week to speak plainly about what a Supreme Court decision throwing out the health-care law would mean, and then landed straight shots against the Mitt Romney-supported Paul Ryan budget as “a Trojan horse,” “an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country,” and “thinly veiled social Darwinism.”

….. Romney pronounced himself appalled …. yet could neither defend the cuts nor deny the president’s list of particulars, based as they were on reasonable assumptions. When it came to the Ryan budget, Romney wanted to fuzz things up. But, as Obama likes to point out, math is math.

And when Obama went after the right’s willingness to use the power of the Supreme Court for ideological purposes, conservatives were aghast – and never mind that conservatives have been castigating activist judges since at least the 1968 presidential campaign….

More here

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Cagle

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Paul Krugman: Oh, boy. It turns out that the WaPo featured on its front page a report by Charles Blahous of the (yes, Koch-funded) Mercatus Center – although the Post describes him as a Medicare trustee, giving the impression that this is somehow an official document – claiming that the Affordable Care Act will actually increase the deficit. Jonathan Chait does the honors…..

….. this is basically a sick joke that doesn’t pass the laugh test. Unfortunately, it seems that some news organizations don’t have mandatory laugh-testing.

More here

Steve Benen: ….. The problem, which the Post article didn’t mention, is that Blahous’ research falls apart under scrutiny. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ Paul N. Van de Water easily dismissed the Republican’s report.

…. I can appreciate the fact that these budget figures can seem complex, but certainly a guy who worked on entitlement policy for Bush/Cheney should understand the basics here, and the basics tell us that Obama’s health care law helps lower the national debt. Whether the right finds this inconvenient or not is irrelevant.

More here

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ET can exclusively reveal that George Clooney is hosting a fundraiser for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign – but there’s one thing he won’t do to help the president.

Clooney tells ET, “I’m proud to do whatever I can to support the President… as long as no one asks me to sing.”

… Clooney will host the president and about 150 supporters at the event on May 10 at his home in Los Angeles, California …. tickets will run $40,000 each, with proceeds going to the Obama Victory fund, a joint fundraising committee of Obama for America, the Democratic National Committee and several state Democratic parties.

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Morning everyone 😉