****
President Obama speaking to an overflow crowd at Green Run High School:
****
… with former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and Senator Mark Warner
****
Coming up:
2:40: The President departs Norfolk, Virginia
3:05: Arrives Hampton
4:25: Delivers remarks at a campaign event at Phoebus High School, Hampton
5:30: Departs Hampton, Virginia en route to Roanoke, Virginia
6:20: Arrives in Roanoke
7:25: Delivers remarks at a campaign event at Roanoke Fire Station
8:50: Departs Roanoke
9:55: Arrives at the White House
****
First lady Michelle Obama at a luncheon in the East Room of the White House held in honor of the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Award winners
The Obama Diary 
Hey all
Hi darlin’! How are you today? Big hug!
Hey sweetie! Doing reasonably well thank you. And yourself? {{{Hachiko}}}
Staying out of the heat today. It’s 90+ here today! Tucker hates the heat, plus he’s got an upset tummy. Was up all night with him constantly going potty. 😦
Tough night. Been there. But he’s got his mom to make it all better.
Been there a 100 times! But all my dogs through my life proved way tougher than me, they’re hardy souls, love them!
So very true. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat and I’m doing it right now. Pearl hates thunder…….
Yes, mama’s here getting up with him each time. Rubbing his belly. 🙂 Big baby.
Awwww…{{{Tucker}}} Glad he has his mommy to help out! Can’t believe it’s so hot up there – keep cool, hon!
If it makes you feel not so alone…I was doing the same thing with MY dog last night! Got up twice with her…then ended up falling asleep on the couch. Throwing up, potty…who knows. All I know is that I will need a nap today!
Oh boy. I think it could be the heat. I don’t know. I also caught him eating something in the bushes. God only knows what it is. He has a VERY sensitive digestive system and I never give him anything out of the ordinary. I hope your baby feels better soon, DF.
Virginia Beach knows honesty and truthfulness when it’s (he’s) in their presence. He’s what we need in this country’s moment of truth: sink or swim time. #GOP and #mediarazzi don’t care about the rest of us! They’re setting up serfdom’s – literally. Haves control 98% of country’s wealth and resources and have-nots – pull yourselves up by your bootstraps.
Time for everyone to come together, pool resources and get proper IDs to vote. Take nothing for granted and make sure Congress turns blue and PBO gets deeper blue Senate – where all the power is. Make no mistake – #GOP wants Senate more than they want W.H. We have to deny them that so our country moves forward!
#Forward #ObamaBiden2012 #BlueSenate
Thank you, Linda. This is an excellent idea!
I wonder if Robme and Rush Limpballs got their rebate checks this month?
Eh. Just put something in the mail to you. 🙂 Did your friend turn up?
Yep. We had lunch, just dropped my car off for servicing, and now I am home. watching Rev Al’s show.
Cool. It’s important to maintain friendships. I miss watching Rev. Al. 😦
BTW, I’m sorry I missed your call. As a rule, I don’t answer blocked calls, one i really stick to now since the issue with the stalker.
I thought that was why. I will call you on my cell so you know who’s calling and you’ll have both numbers.
He’s still having trouble with base enthusiasm. Damn shame……NOT!
yardarm756, Dam!!!! What can we do to get the base Fired Up and Ready to Go? It’s ashame how that crowd sat there and didn’t open their mouth.
He really is Yardarm, looks like that overflow room was only needed because they couldn’t climb over all the empty seats in the main room. Drat. 😆
He really is. Can you see the frowns and snarls coming at him from the crowd? 😆
Look here!
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/13/dem-groups-document-dump-dishes-dirt-on-republican-vp-hopefuls/
“Veep Mistakes” is a project launched today by the liberal super PAC American Bridge 21st Century has released its extensive dossiers on three of the most buzzed-about politicos who could serve as possible running-mates to presumptive Republican nominee Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Ma). The book-sized documents about Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Florida’s Sen. Marco Rubio (R) are available as .pdf documents via the domain VeepMistakes.com. American Bridge specializes in “opposition research,” the art and science of gathering dirt on one’s political opponents.
The documents on each candidate come with an extensive library of video clips and meticulously detail each man’s failings and public embarrassments, then pinpoint their key weaknesses. Each features a “Top Hits” summary at the beginning of each book, and all three contain reams of research of each man’s positions, all designed to serve as a blueprint for taking them down in the fall.
Party time, Baby!
that’s so funny. I actually giggled evilly as I read this excerpt. hahahahhahhahahaha 😆
Me too:) They are NOT prepared for this…don’t care HOW much $$$ they have, they can not get in the way of the truth this time!
You know who looks really hawt.
Gunnite folks.
Good night, brother amk!! And FLOTUS looks great in anything she rocks! She gets my vote EVERYDAY OF THE WEEK!!!
Thanks amk, you made me blush 😆 Nite fella.
FLOTUS looking soooo cool in her white dress. 🙂
FLOTUS does look lovely in white.
Very chic and stylish. She hits it out of the park every time. I saw a video of her on TV and the outfit looks even better in motion. Especially the jewelry. It shone so brightly.
I just heard Catherine Crier on Ed’s show. Yesterday she decided to Google and she what she could find. In a Utah paper (don’t think she said which one) she found a SMALL article. The paper had done an interview w/Romney IN AUGUST of 2001. He stated that he wasn’t sure what he was gong to do…..maybe politics or something else……he hadn’t fully decided yet……….Again, AUGUST of 2001.
….going to do………btw, this was his plans for when he left Bain.
I listened to Ed and this is the site Catherine was talking about
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/859621/Public-service-for-Romney.html
Reminded me:) I love Tina:)
ROMNEY PRACTICALLY RAN UNOPPOSED DURING GOP PRIMARIES
The vetting that never happened
By Steve Benen
————————
Romney, however, practically ran unopposed. Yes, I realize he had challengers, but they were clownish, underfunded, and understaffed candidates who struggled badly to put Romney through his paces, and never even tried to assemble opposition-research teams. The former Massachusetts governor lost a lot of primaries and caucuses, but that was far more a symptom of his unpopularity and off-putting personality than his rivals’ strengths.
And so it falls to President Obama’s team to do what Republicans did not: shine a spotlight on scandals, controversies, unanswered questions, and secrets that Romney was supposed to address during the primaries, but which the other GOP candidates were ill-equipped to press.
With all of the recent questions surrounding Romney, Republicans can be forgiven for asking, “Why didn’t we know about this months ago?” The answer is, they should have, but Romney’s rivals weren’t up to the task.
—————————
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/13/12723268-the-vetting-that-never-happened
Brilliant!
LH, remember during the primaries when reporters kept asking PBO to respond to the Republican candidates and he said “when the last one is voted off the island and they’ve chosen their candidate, we’ll be ready.” Well, of course, he knew it would be Willard and was he ever ready. The president’s team have been building this campaign for a very long time and they were always set to come out fighting and never stop.
Yep. Willard ain’t ready.
Plus, whenever one of the gooper candidates did even just sniff around Mitt’s stink, they were severly admonished not to go there. Newt was rebuked (remember that vapid, open-mouthed Norah O’Donnell: “Are you calling Mr. Romney a liar?!?!” 🙄 Newt: “Yes.” LOL. Rick Perry was rebuked for talking about Willard’s financial background. Sick Rick had some fight in him, but not enough money — which is the God of the republican party, so he was out.
The TeaOP can’t act shocked or dismayed now at what’s coming out: in their usual, heavy-handed, top-down, next-man-in-line, authoritarian manner they crushed Willard’s opponents and the natural vetting process.
That must suck. 😆
Love the dress FLOTUS is wearing. Stunning!
She looks lovely doesn’t she Jackie.
I love the dress too. She looks lovely.
Happy Friday All!!!
I’ve been so busy wrapping up my old job and then getting ready for my move and starting my new job in North Carolina. I’ve been checking in every so often get a look at my President! BTW he’s mine all mine!
Hope everyone had a great day!! Have a good weekend 🙂
Best of luck with your new beginning pinkbunny92!
Yes! Happy New Journey:)
Welcome to the Tarheel State pinkbunny92.
YAY, pinkbunny!! Hope everything goes smoothly from this day forward!
And you absolutely MUST share!
Congrats on your new job in NC. I wish you luck in your move and your new job.
I hope the new jobs doesn’t work you to the bone like the last job. I used to get tired just seeing your updates! Good luck with the move and the new start. 🙂
It would be funny if it weren’t so damn pathetic! HOW’S THAT VOTER SUPPRESSION/ ID WORKING FOR YOU TX GOP???
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2012/07/13/oops-george-w-bushs-name-on-list-of-texas-residents-who-would-be-ineligible-to-vote/
(Reuters) – Attorneys for Texas on Thursday cited the appearance of former President George W. Bush’s name on a list of Texas residents who would supposedly be ineligible to vote in the state under a law requiring voters to show photo identification as evidence a Harvard University study of the measure was deeply flawed.
In a federal trial over the law, which has been blocked by the Obama administration, the lawyers for Texas argued the fact that Bush was on the list even though he certainly has a federal ID, showed the study wildly overestimated the number of Texas voters who would be unable to vote under the measure.
Texas lawyers told the court they also found the names of two members of the state legislature on the list.
Rick Perry…idiot extraordinaire!
This law needs to be thrown out the window. Those anti-voting laws are solely to keep people of color, seniors, and students away from the polls, however, now it is keeping their key demographic away….white men.
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2012/07/13/the-photo-mitt-romney-does-not-want-us-to-see/
Mitt LOVES Cheney! Cheney LOVES MItt!!
That photo is not at the recent fundraiser for sure. Look at Romney’s hair and face. He is much younger in this photo so it must have been an earlier event.
If I hear one more ‘analyst’ tell me the American people don’t ‘understand’ the Bain Capital story, I will break my TV. We understand LYING. Romney says he wasn’t at Bain, but there is DOCUMENTED evidence that he was. He is a LIAR. We understand completely.
Zekke, So what they are saying is we are stupid. I understand perfectly find, when I see those workers who lost everything they own thanks to Bain. As you said we understand lying, we understand putting profit over people, we understand when you said you created job 100,000 jobs, providing to be a lie.
Exactly. Isn’t campaigning a job interview? Mitt-The-Liar is telling us he was ‘incapable’ of running the olympics and keeping track of Bain business–at the same time. So why the F**K should we trust him to run our institutions, be head-of-state, run foreign policy, deal with the media?
Americans would understand plenty if so called “analysts” actually analyzed. Before media consolidation in the hands of right wing corporations, television reporters used to explain far more complicated things than Bain and we all got it. It doesn’t take a genius to see who doesn’t “get it” and it isn’t the American people.
Mitt Romney To Give Interviews To Major Networks
==================================
Romney will speak from Laconia, New Hampshire with reporters for CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox News and CNN Friday afternoon, with each segment possibly airing as soon as that night’s broadcast, the Romney campaign confirmed to TPM. Romney has typically been cautious in granting interviews, making his first appearance this election cycle on a non-FOX Sunday show just last month.
==================================
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/romney-cbs-nbc-abc-interviews-bain.php
More lies. Why should anyone believe anything he has to say? Why don’t he just release the tax returns??
Mitt Romney doesn;’t have to say a word, just release his tax returns. When Mitt give the interviews will his Mom, I mean his wife be there to hold his hand? Mitt knows he is in a pile of sh*t so he has to try to clean it up. Tell the truth Mitt, if you know what that is.
He will get all softball questions, no follow up, and be allowed to lie shamelessly about the President. The “reporters” have probably been given strict orders on what they are allowed to ask, and will not be allowed to deviate from those questions. They will happily comply.
You got it in one, Debz. This will be a love fest with the media doing everything in their power to coax coherent thought from Willard and then they will tell us that Robney was so great he turned the whole situation around for himself.
Excellent comment:
Nadeem Ahmed :
Question: When you signed the SEC fillings you were certifying that you had explicit knowledge that everything in the filling was accurate correct?
To say no is to admit he lied to the SEC, so he has to say yes.
Question 2: How can you certify that everything is correct without being involved?
Check and mate.
Twitter worthy! This is EXACTLY the questions that SHOULD be asked…but alas, there are no more logical, critical thinkers anymore…especially in the MSM. Seems so obvious…just like a TAX RETURN!! Speaking of tax returns…..
The fact that NPR last night had a news segment that characterized this Bain SEC scandal as “the Obama Administration offered no further evidence other than the filings”… well, the filings are the ONLY evidence needed! The GOP and the media are eroding all the trusted institutions of the United States. If the SEC filings are not enough to prove whether a CEO/Chairman/Sole Stockholder has accountability for the doings of his/her organization, then CEOs will have free reign to do whatever they like! It’s the same thing with the kangaroo congressional hearings with that Jamie Diamond last month – he lost billions because of lax management and oversight, and yet, he’s touted as a hero. Then, what’s the point of the congressional oversight?
It’s all quite disgusting.
Sorry, Mitt Romney, You Can’t Be Chairman, CEO, And President Of A Company And Not Be Responsible For What It Does…
Henry Blodget
—————————
So, enough with walking a fine line rhetorically.
Here are the questions that the Romney campaign needs to answer:
Was Mitt Romney “chairman, CEO, and President” of Bain from 1999-2002 (even if he had physically “left” and was spending 100% of his time running the Olympics)? If the answer is “yes,” then Romney is responsible for what Bain did during that period–full stop.
OR
Were the filings submitted to the SEC inaccurate?
The answer to those two questions cannot be “both.” It’s one or the other.
And if the answer is that Mitt Romney was chairman, CEO, and president of Bain for the years in which he has long tried to disavow any responsibility for what the firm did, the American public has every right to feel misled.
—————————-
http://www.businessinsider.com/sorry-mitt-romney-you-cant-be-chairman-ceo-and-president-of-a-company-and-not-be-responsible-for-what-it-does-2012-7
It dawns on me that every photo I see or video I watch with PBO holding a baby shows PBO making eye contact with the child. He may stay his distance at first till he gains their trust but he always relates to the child or gets down to the child’s level when engaging him/her. I notice this as I spent many years teaching elementary age children. PBO has an ability to relate to children.
When I see photos of Mitt Romney interacting with children or babies I see a person unable to gain their trust and interact with them. I see a person that immediately turns the child towards the audience that he is holding which in essence says look at me holding this child instead of relating to the child. I also see him bend slightly but not getting down to the child’s level when greeting a young child. Look at him shaking hands with the kids in the computer room like he has too shake each one’s hand without engaging meaningfully with any of them.
When I was in elementary school I remember going to a kids’ tv show that had a cowboy host that rode in local parades and was somewhat of a celebrity. He was thought of as liking kids. It turned out that during the commercials and before and after the show he asked his stage crew to “keep those kids away from me!” The vibe you had when being around this guy was totally different than the role his job represented. He seemed false, not genuine. This memory comes to me when I see Mitt Romney interact with kids, not all kids, just those that are not in his family or class.
Yup – Mitt’s just going through the motions, because those actions are what’s expected when you’re “running for office, for Pete’s sake”. He’s just doing whatever it takes to get to his destination: the White House.
With President Obama – he’s actually living through the moment. Those moments ARE the destination for him.
Romney will be doing interviews with everyone that has a goddamn news station today, this might end very badly I’m afraid.
Doing them on Fri. evening hoping that if anything does go bad it’ll get buried with the weekends trash when no one is paying attention and that the story will be over by early next week.
Melanie, don’t worry about this story being forgotten over the weekend, from this moment going forward it will always be Monday morning for the Romney campaign.
News Dump Day! I wonder if MItt knows that today is Friday the 13th???
LOL. Yep we’ll see if the media stays on this the way they stayed on Rev. Wright. Ultimately it will be OFA and our jobs to make sure it doesn’t die…
Not if they have Pre Question screening?
For example- Mark Halperin the page, has nothing about the President in Virginia the next 2 days. Nothing!!!
Oooopsie Doodle, the fire is now officially out of control. Radio silence from Team Romney:
Mitt Romney’s Shifting Bain Story
[snip]
Prior to taking leave to run the Olympics in 1999, Mr. Romney took a leave of absence from Bain Capital during his 1994 Senate campaign. Another Globe article published in 2002 contains a quote from a former Bain Capital executive named Marc B. Wolpow who said Mr. Romney remained in a very active role at Bain Capital while he was supposedly on a leave of absence for his Senate race.
“I reported directly to Mitt Romney . . . You can’t be CEO of Bain Capital and say, `I really don’t know what my guys were doing,’” Mr. Wolpow said of Mr. Romney role at the company during his leave.
Mr. Wolpow declined to comment on this story. The Politicker reached out to Mr. Fehrnstrom multiple times yesterday to see why his current explanation of Mr. Romney’s departure from Bain is different than the one he gave the Globe a decade ago but we have yet to receive a response.
http://politicker.com/2012/07/romney-bain/
WOW….it’s true. Once you tell “one” lie, you have to keep telling one after another. Robme’s lies are getting so twisted they’re starting to look like pretzels. Step right up and get your RobmeBain Pretzels.
Governor O’Malley gets it right again. Love him! 🙂
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley introduced a new line of attack on Gov. Mitt Romney today, saying the public should be suspicious of him because in 2008 Sen. John McCain considered the now-presumptive Republican nominee to be his running mate…but picked Sarah Palin instead.
“What about running for the office of the presidency this year makes it less important than the job that he didn’t get over Palin the last time around?” O’Malley asked BuzzFeed, referencing the 23 years of returns Romney allowed McCain to examine while he was being vetted but hasn’t released to the public.
Pressed in an interview at the National Governors Association meeting here whether there would be anything in those returns that would disqualify Romney from the presidency, O’Malley said he doesn’t know — and that’s why Democrats want to see them.
“But why would you pick somebody — why would you pick Palin over Romney?” he asked.
“His failure to release those is a bit of an implicit admission of…guilt,” he added, portraying Romney’s own individual wealth as the result of the trickle-down theories he advocates for the rest of the country. “There might not be anything illegal about any of it, but it’s certainly not a good economic theory — unless you’re a Romney.”
“When Mitt Romney had the opportunity to avoid paying taxes, he took full advantage of it,” O’Malley said. “It didn’t result in job creation here at home, it resulted in Swiss bank accounts, it resulted in shell corporations in the Bahamas, it resulted in Cayman Island accounts.”
http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/omalley-mccain-saw-romneys-tax-returns-and-he-c
What a great line: “McCain Saw Romney’s Tax Returns And He Chose Palin.”
I can’t even keep up with all the shit that’s coming out about Romney’s time at Bain.
p.s. admit it T.O.D., this is fun.
If you do good, good will follow you. My late mother said that karma used to come back and bite your children and your children’s children but now it comes right back and bite you in the ass. And that is what is happening to the evil man. He wrote his own script years ago when he first started out iin life and now he is getting his just payments. Karma as they say is a bitch.
Karma is a cruel bitch indeed.
PBO’s arrival: http://www.wvec.com/live-stream/Live-Video-Flash-Stream-B.html
Today’s softball pitchers: ABC: Jon Karl; NBC: Peter Alexander; CBS: Jan Crawford
When the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program was established as part of welfare reform in the 1990s, it was intended to give states flexibility to design effective programs to help parents move from welfare to work. Today, however, Federal rules dictate mind-numbing details about how to run a welfare-to-work program. Most States and experts agree that these aren’t helpful. Here’s one example: under current TANF rules, many states report that their caseworkers are spending more time complying with federal documentation requirements than helping parents find jobs. We need state workers spending less time filling out data reports and more time helping parents find employment.
The new policy we announced will allow states to test new, more effective ways to help parents successfully prepare for, find, and retain employment. States can apply for waivers of federal requirements that get in their way. These waiver applications will be available for public review.
This new flexibility will strengthen welfare reform rules and the effectiveness of state efforts to connect families with work. Waivers that weaken or undercut welfare reform will not be approved. Waivers that seek to avoid time limits or other federal restrictions on when assistance may be provided will not be approved.
The President just over rode Bill clinging welfare reform.
Shhh, don’t tell the conservatives!
This must be a result of the hearings that were held recently…..the people testifying made it clear the program does not work as it is right now…..
I guess the I phone spell check has Clinton as Clinging? Interesting…
Too late – Rush apparently already heard about it and was raging on his show this noon. He was saying it worked perfectly well the old way, which made me instantly suspicious. But – 20 seconds with Rush per day are my limit – so I didn’t listen any further.
The Robney Press Team is on the Payroll! This is their first big interview and if they do not do it to His Liking, no more interviews.
You see?
If these Presstitutes do not press him on his tax returns this will all be a big waste of time……
I would love to see Martin Bahir interview him.
I would love to see Martin Bahir interview him.
…and you KNOW that will never happen!! 😆 ;lol:
“Presstitutes” — I like it! 😆
Tweet that to Peter Alexander NBC news!
Still dripping…http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-one-of-the-clever-financial-tricks-that-mitt-romney-used-to-become-dynastically-rich-2012-7
While the world waits for Mitt Romney to stop being the only Presidential candidate in several decades to keep his tax returns secret, we’re left to try to solve the Romney money mysteries with the information we have.
One of those mysteries is how Romney accumulated $21-$102 million in his Individual Retirement Account.
snip/
Romney was “sole shareholder” of might just have been some of Bain’s individual investment funds, not the firm as a whole, and that there was another tool that Romney used to become rich that has nothing to do with founding and building companies–or, for that matter, just “making great investments.”
This other tool is a financial engineering trick.
And it appears to have been designed and used at least in part to avoid taxes.
Awaiting PBO’s arrival: http://wtkr.com/on-air/live-streaming/
Ok more stuff coming out saying that Romney admitted he was still at Bain in 2002 http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/07/13/romney_admitted_in_2002_he_never_cut_ties_to_bain.html
This is flipping hilarious, Jed Lewison turns the “chill the f&@k out, I got this” meme using Romney photos. Just brilliant.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/13/1109554/-Chill-out-everybody-Mitt-s-got-this?showAll=yes
That was funny!
Can someone Tweet those questions @49 to one of those interviewers today!!! ???? Thanks!*****************************************
I remember when the President had the Rev Wright flap. First was the Tv interviews, which did nothing to stop the news slam. Then, the Press Conference, same thing, cable ignored it.
It was not until the Race speech that cable stopped the every segment barrage!
This Robney stuff about Bain us eerily similar, albeit, not yet as powerful as the Good Reverand.
We shall see!
After the Race speech Wright did an interview with a respected journalist. I am not remembering whom. Then the Press invited Rev Wright to speak at their annual gathering and Rev. Wright went off again with worse rhetoric requiring Sen. Obama to disown him and leave his church.
Virginia is for lovers….lovers of Barack Obama! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
By BYRON TAU | 7/13/12 10:47 AM EDT
President Obama’s campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said Friday that the campaign “absolutely” was pushing the Bain issue to see Mitt Romney’s tax returns.
In an interview with Fox News, LaBolt was pressed on whether the campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s business record at Bain Capital were just a ploy
“Is that what the Obama team is after? Is it more tax records?” host Bill Hemmer asked.
“Mitt Romney is the most secretive candidate we’ve seen since Richard Nixon. Mitt Romney provided John McCain 23 years worth of returns when he was being vetted for vice president but he’s only shared with the American people one year worth of returns,” LaBolt said, saying they “absolutely” were pushing the issue to see the tax returns.
“Either Mitt Romney misrepresented his tenure at Bain to the SEC or he misrepresented it to the voters of Massachusetts,” LaBolt said. “If he released more documents, like further tax returns, we would know the extend of his involvement at Bain during this period, if he released board minutes, we’d know the extent of his involvement at Bain.”
So, Byron Tau’s story isn’t actually about the real story of Mitt’s lack of transparency and possible illegal, felonious actions – it’s about Ben Labolt asking for Mitt to be more transparent – as though it’s the asking for transparency that’s a crime.
Heads up everyone:
http://theobamadiary.com/2012/07/13/heads-up-president-obama-speaking-in-hampton-425-et/