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President Obama arrives to attend two campaign events at a private residence on July 27 in McLean, Virginia
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Tally? Deep breaths, okay?
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The Guardian: Mitt Romney’s campaign is scrambling to limit the damage from his gaffe-strewn visit to London – which has drawn mocking put-downs from the city’s mayor and the British prime minister, and “Mitt the twit” headlines in the UK – by saying that Americans don’t care what the foreign press prints.
But the attempt to downplay the debacle made little headway in the face of a barrage of critical coverage in the US, which portrayed the Republican presidential candidate as incompetent and undiplomatic, and stinging criticism from American Olympic legend Carl Lewis, who suggested that Romney should not be allowed to travel abroad.
…. The New York Daily News called Romney’s visit to the UK “flub-filled”. “At this rate, Mitt Romney may provoke an international incident with the United Kingdom by the weekend,” it said.
…. Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, …. said the near farce of Romney’s trip will reinforce doubts in the minds of some voters about his fitness for the presidency.
“The image is somewhat that he’s not ready for prime time. It’s London for God’s sakes. You have to try to mess up a foreign debut in Great Britain if you’re an American candidate for president. It looks terrible. He was a gaffe machine. It wasn’t just a single gaffe. Every time he opened his mouth he created another gaffe,” he said.
More here
NYT: …. Mr. Romney has misspoken before, despite his highly disciplined, analytical and cautious campaign. But it may be the very consultant-cool personality of his campaign that has helped propel Mr. Romney’s Olympic-size gaffe.
…. The aftermath was swift and vicious, with the British press devouring Mr. Romney like a pile of mushy peas. His campaign was slow and flat-footed in recognizing it had a problem, and unable to improvise a quick response.
Instead, staff members were forced to watch as David Cameron, the British prime minister, offered a tart and public rebuke on Thursday. “Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere,” Mr. Cameron said, an obvious allusion to the Games Mr. Romney oversaw in Salt Lake City.
Afterward, the campaign said that Mr. Romney had misspoken because he was tired and jet-lagged… Two British television networks led with the gaffe on their nightly broadcasts (a third ran it second), and Mr. Romney awoke to British headlines proclaiming him a “party-pooper” and “Mitt the Twit.”
More here
Washington Post: Mitt Romney’s Friday was better than his Thursday. He did very little.
…. Romney’s missteps have drawn extensive mockery in Britain and public consternation from both Republicans and Democrats in the United States, and his campaign advisers were at a loss Friday to put a positive spin on the story — other than to look ahead to the next two stops on his tour.
…. As a result, there is now immense pressure on him to find better footing in Israel and Poland…
… in the absence of any new biographical narrative or policy pronouncements, the media coverage of Romney’s trip has centered on his Olympics gaffe — and the result has been brutal for the candidate.
Even some Republicans acknowledged the damage Romney’s comments had caused. “You have to sort of shake your head,” former George W. Bush strategist Karl Rove said Friday on Fox News. But Rove said he did not think it was “a big deal,” adding that Romney “walked it back adroitly, but nonetheless the damage was done.”
More here
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Gallup: While Republicans may look favorably on Romney’s visit to Israel, another group with keen interest in U.S.-Israeli relations — Jewish Americans — solidly backs Obama in the election.
Gallup Daily tracking from June 1-July 26 finds Jewish registered voters favoring Obama over Romney by 68% to 25%. That is essentially the same as Gallup’s prior update on Jewish voting preferences.
Although one goal of Romney’s Israel visit could be to attract greater support among Jewish voters in the U.S., Jewish Americans have been a traditionally strong Democratic group, so they are unlikely to become much more supportive of Romney regardless of the outcome of the trip.
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Morning everyone 😉
The Obama Diary 
Morning all
Good Morning Ms Chips! Good Morning TODobots! Good Morning soon-to-be-TODobots! Good Morning TOD lurkers! 😆 😆 Did I miss anyone? Congrats, Africa.
Thanks, VC.
Morning CHIPS, TOD, africa, vcprez, everyone, and congratulations africa for #1!
Thanks, Hope.
Hellooooooooooooooooooooo Hopefruit 😉
Morning Africa! Morning everyone.
I absolutely love the look on her face and the joy in her eyes. So much beauty and warmth, it just knocks your socks off.
Hey Chips. It is a beautiful morning for me in more ways than one. I get this picture of FLOTUS, a breath of fresh air. And yesterday I got the best news in a long, long time.
More than 20 years ago, I was attacked and assaulted by a young man as I entered my front door. The case went cold for those many years, than about a year and half ago I got a call from a cold case detective. They had caught my assailant who had hurt another little girl, very very young. They wanted me to travel to Maryland to testify. I refused for a long time, but thought about the little girl. Last Sunday they flew me up and I testified on Tuesday with my assailant sitting right there in court.
Yesterday I received a call from the prosecutors. He was found guilty on two counts and another for robbery. He took my purse too. In December they will fly me back up for a victim impact statement at sentencing.
This was a difficult journey for me. But it is a BIG RELEASE NOW, just knowing the bastard is going away.
I cried for the last time about this yesterday, but happy tears for me and the little girl.
{{{{{{{{africatimes2}}}}}}}}}
Africa,
I’m so proud of you overcoming your fears and putting this sick bastard behind jail. When you get a chance to testify at the sentencing phase, channel your fear and anger in cold, righteous words to become the hammer to his nail.
I’m sure you feel such a burden lifted from your soul and we here at TOD rejoice for you and for the little girl. You have become a role model of sorts for that little girl – showing how you overcome a brutal assault and live your life to the best of your ability. She will have that knowledge as she prepares on a difficult journey.
I pray for you both and again, congratulations on the resolution of a 20 year long and difficult journey – may you both continue to prosper and flourish!
Namaste, africa. {{{{Hugs}}}}
(((((((((((((Africa))))))))))))))….
how courageous you are…….and how proud we are of you….
May the Creator give you special blessings……
Massively courageous and compassionate on your part, Africa. That little girl will rest more easily and begin her healing now, too. Blessings to you.
We are in awe of your courage and determination to do the difficult but right thing for yourself, that little girl, and all victims of such violence. Be at peaceafricatimes2.
Oh (((((africa)))))) – you are so brave, serious loving hugs for you and the ((((( little girl))))). You’ve protected many little girls by your courageous action.
Fantastic. You did the right thing and it was brave of you. Glad he’s finally being put away — there were undoubtedlt others in the last twenty years and there would have been more in the future. You put a STOP to it.
so proud of you africa! and so glad the man is caught and convicted. these creeps rely on our fear and shame and silence. also, how amazing there are cold case detectives now, cleaning up old business like this!
Wow. Hi Chips, everyone. It’s been a long time. But I am so proud of our FLOTUS. She went across the pond and made us all proud, as usual. She is poised and a personification of grace.
I agree. I’ve no beefs with her predecessors, and I go back to Nancy Reagan, although I did admire Betty Ford. But Michelle is so beautiful, in looks, intelligence and charm. We’re luck to have her, and Barack.
I go back to Bess Truman! (She looked just like my Grandma.) Michelle is just in a league of her own.
Bronze!
And congrats, Africa!
Thank you Up.
You’re welcome!
GM folks, GM Chips. Back home.
So how did mitt the twit y’day ? Any more gaffes ?
Morning amk! Good to hear you’re home in one piece (I presume?).
As the Washington Post put it, “Mitt Romney’s Friday was better than his Thursday. He did very little.”
The trip’s going swimmingly, eh?
After further review…no bronze for me. Or soup for that matter.
Happy Saturday, everyone.
You too Hachikō.
I have a beef with the NYT article. It starts out with the sentence, “Mr. Romney has misspoken before, despite his highly disciplined, analytical and cautious campaign.” Highly disciplined and analytical? In whose book? I’m so sick of this media trying to bolster Willard in which ever way they can.
Heh. heh. Sure, if highly disciplined, analytical and cautious now means:
– etch-a-sketch
– Believe in Amercia
– Heckling Obama supporters
– fail at basic algebra
– Retroactively retired
– #RomneyShambles
and I’m sure there’s tons more. Have the media always been this bad and we just never noticed?
HAHAHA..yes we could spend the whole day listing all the spectacular FAILS and still not be done, but the media seems to be even worse this year than they’ve ever been!
I signed in to write exactly what you wrote Hopefruit…
‘Mr. Romney has misspoken before, despite his highly disciplined, analytical and cautious campaign. But it may be the very consultant-cool personality of his campaign…’
This entire sentence absolutely untrue and continues to push a completely false narrative that exposes the NYT and the general American media for the egregiously dishonest, manipulative God complex it perpetually exhibits…
They will not frame and decide this election, try as they may…
We the ordinary citizens will…
And Barack Obama will be re-elected in spite of the NYT and the American media…
That’s a promise…
It was a peculiar assessment of his campaign alright, Hopefruit. If “highly disciplined” means rarely allowing Willard be interviewed by anyone but Fox, then o….kay. Analytical? Huh?
or highly disciplined for not releasing his taxes…
Ha, yes!
these beginning sentences also bothered me a great deal. I asked myself: which disciplined, analytical, cautious campaign are these people talking about???
And this is exactly how Romney has managed to get to this point despite being a callous, unethical arrogant jerk. He always had people who were willing to excuse away his inadequacies, or paint them as strengths because his money and wealth were worshiped by whomever he came into contact with. Right now the MSM is kissing his toenails and all the rotting fungus beneath them, but we the ordinary voters will not be hoodwinked into voting to advance the corporate media’s agenda. NOT THIS TIME!
Disciplined? If you call repeating the same reason for not releasing his tax returns disciplined- okay. Disciplined usually connotes a positive, not so with this.
Analytical? I guess determining to lie about ones competitor’s words and meaning behind the words instead of just presenting what you believe in as analyzing that telling the truth won’t get you what you want then okay again.
Cautious? If by being cautious you mean not answering questions directly or interviewing with anyone because you might make a mistake or say something that may lose you votes- okay again.
In the above context those three words: disciplined, analytical, and cautious do not transfer to the ideals we have in our politicians asking us to vote for them. Transparent, truthful, and available are better political virtues. These last values are embodied in our own current President.
Their whole Campaign is to Mind Fuck us all! They are truly playing some mind games.
Their answers to everything, are the Talking points we use against them.
Notice that sometime. It is designed to confuse People.
Hope, I thought the same thing when I read the article. What is disciplined about lying and not being forth coming about anything, including his taxes?
Especially galling, Hf, since the most disciplined and analytical campaign in history is being run from Chicago by the president’s team. Of course the Chicago team also has the warm, charismatic, beautiful and people-loving President Obama at the head of it. the folks in Chicago have the silk purse. The R-moneyites are struggling with the cow’s ear.
You’re spot on Jackie! The Romney Camp has no ideas of it’s own. Apart from the lies, half-truths, evasions, etc., almost every “strategic” move in this travesty of a campaign has been a dishonest rip off from the Obama campaign playbook, e.g., “Grab-a-bite-with-Mitt” fundraiser, the campaign store, traveling to foreign countries, trotting out Miss Ann as his “secret weapon” and acting like their five sons are still young children. Then they lie, distort, distract…
All this while being aided and abetted wholeheartedly by the media.
And so, if a billion dollars =1,000million, and London just put on a fantastically well done show for a (mere) 43million, (despite NBC and the terrible horrible ad-filled reporting) WHERE in the world is the remaining 957million We The People spent in Salt Lake City? Someone has some explaining to do, I reckon. Infrastructure, or no infrastructure, roads to nowhere (except Myth’s property), I truly hope more people realize there are questions to be answered, and not let the likes of Karl Rove tell us ‘it’s no big deal’.
I saw that too and felt the same way. But my response was a heated “bullshyte”
lol
Whyever, hopefruit, would you have a beef with the nyt article about romney’s campaign being “disiplined”?! ‘Cause it’s BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT?
Unless it meant that willard has gotten away with his LIES in the US but in England even the rw rags are having none of his Twitness?
Agreed.
What GOP and Mitt fails to realize is that the folks in Israel don’t vote in the U.S. And even if they did, I think many there know that the GOP are using their cause to get ahead. And I bet many see Mitt and see through his corelessness. He will take any side, do or say anything to sit inthe oval office.
Adelson plans to spend 20 million in South Florida trying to disaster the Jewish vote from the President. That needs to be addressed.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz district. Seeing how the People down there know her, maybe She should get more involved. I am wondering when we are going to start seeing Her on a regular basis?
I think I saw a tweet from her yesterday pointing out the this gallup poll. But yeah, it is disgusting that this guy, who appears to be corrupt is trying to buy the election with his distortions.
yall spent so must time responing to what mitt is doing. Mitt is not the problem the media is the problem. If mitt win it will be the media doing not mitt. You all are looking at peanut which is Mitt, he’s not the big fish, the fight is not with Obama and Mitt, It Obama vs Media.
Attack the Media people, We have to bring them down, Mitt can do and said what ever the hell he want, because the Media got his back. Open your eyes and see the fight is Obama vs Media not Mitt. Attack the media every day every hour every min. Let them know we’ll not blind to what they are doing. We have to get the word out that the Media is trying to become the(smile) POTUS by electing Mitt. They are pushing MItt down our throat.
You’re right dun. Most of my negative posts on this blog and elsewhere are directed squarely at the media. And that includes some of the MSM pundits and columnists that are supposedly on “PBO’s side” whatever that means.
Not responding to Mitt, but mostly taking on a lazy media that refuses to cover him, on the contrary.
“Mitt is not the problem the media is the problem.” I agree with you 100%, dun!
Good day TOD, Chips
Hiya ourmanflint.
Arab Spring Comment Was a Romney Love Letter to the Israeli Right Wing
by Michael Tomasky Jul 28, 2012 4:45 AM EDT
If you speak neocon, Romney’s Israel Hayom interview was crystal clear: the Islamist-electing Arab Spring was all Obama’s fault—because he failed to promote Bush’s freedom agenda. It’s all a message to Israel, says Michael Tomasky.
——————————————————
In other words, democracy for Arab people is OK, maybe, provided American liberals and Democrats don’t get any credit for helping the cause along, and most of all provided the democratization process causes the Israeli right wing no discomfort. Both conditions, especially the second, render the whole project a nullity.
.
.
Romney may not know what he’s saying when the topic is Britons’ collective will or “varmint” hunting or the quality of cookies served by working-class Pennsylvanians. But he knew exactly what he was saying in that interview, and the results are sadder to contemplate than his famous errors.
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/28/arab-spring-comment-was-a-romney-love-letter-to-the-israeli-right-wing.html
This is incredibly important, Ladyhawke.
“Afterward, the campaign said that Mr. Romney had misspoken because he was tired and jet-lagged.” Imagine that. This is the excuse for Mitt’s Olympic-sized gaffes?
President Obama hops on a plane criss-crossing the country and the globe, and does not result to insulting the people he visits. This man is definitely not ready for prime time.
Feel free to share.
That assumes that someday he MIGHT be ready for prime time. I suggest that Mitt’s time is “Never.”
Is “Never” good for you?
‘never’ is the very best time for me to welcome a myth presidency!
and do the rethug apologists and spin specialists even realize how stupid they sound–‘he was tired’? i hope that little hint about this candidate’s abilities gets the attention it deserves.
willard romney always misspeaks..is that their excuse for his whole miserable life? He’s “tired”…so he LIES about President Obama, Viciously? He’s Fucking Tired?
Here we go again. He wakes up, thinking about The President and how he can be Caustic!
Go look at his timeline. Several tweets, snarky toward POTUS and favorable toward Hatch!
someone suggested earlier that they respond to mark knoller’s snark with a positve or sarcastic comment.
that is true….i just did
Excellent response, Mary!
Perfect response Mary…
Thank you…
Yes, Mark, this is exactly what presidents are supposed to do when you’re working on behalf of the American people.
Tell MK that the President wants ALL to get the tax break on the first $250,000. The hike is only for the income over $250,000.
(By wording it about the middle class and rich they paint it as a class bias rather than a money issue.)
The President sees the value in using the taxes to both pay down the deficit and help with the economy by building jobs in infrastructure repair.
(I’m not so good at condensing down and don’t tweet.)
OG, Mark isn’t interested in the facts, monetary or otherwise. He is one of the members of the WH Press Corps so if anyone should know the President’s intent, he should. Mark’s had it clarified for him almost daily by the Press Secretary. Whenever I do answer him with a tweet I’m just hoping that someone in his Time Line might be nudged; I have no great hope of reaching Mark himself.
Well, he certainly wasn’t digging in to face the Hun, Mark!
Yes, I gave it to him as good as he dished out this morning.
He needs to be monitored and pushed back on. He certainly has a lot of followers!
Tell me guys, before Pres. Obama, was Mark Knoller a credible reporter? Does anyone know, because he sure isn’t now.
I truly like this response…because this shows the dishonesty of his response…in fact this what they do all the time…give GOP talking points wide play under the guise of being fair and balance…
Hilarious if you think that “small businesses” are in the top 2%.
For me, I always wanted to be rich enough to be able to complain about those Democrats in the White House. Actually, we did make that kind of money for a couple of years back in the 1990s and I was happy, happy, happy to be able to pay higher taxes because we still got to keep a lot. 😉
Good morning TODers. Beautiful photo of FLOTUS. I felt the hug from Mr. David B. through FLOTUS. Love recognizes love. Isn’t it amazing what a heart feels.
Hello Mae. Long no see and welcome back! Yes, our FLOTUS is LOVED, admired and respected wherever she goes. I’m so proud of her. I really do hope she gets to represent us again at the games in RIO in 2016!!
Why are so many of these old privileged white men in the Republican party still living in the past? It’s Russia, not the Soviet Union. It’s the United Kingdom, not Great Britain. They need to change the setting on the retroactive machine to ‘PRESENT DAY.’
Because that is when they dominated. Think about this- if 20% MORE of AA and Hispanic poulations voted, the GOP would never win another Election. True story, and they know it!
I think it’s another dog-whistle. They’re still Communists, they’re still The Enemy, we’re still fighting the Cold War.
I like the Cycling in the Olympics. The English Countryside is just Beautiful!
Who’s in the top spot right now? The race ends in a couple hours so I will tune in closer to the finish. I also want to DVR the women’s BB, and the swimming & men’s gymnastics. Won’t get any work done at this rate!
I want to go on record that I *do not* look forward to Romney’s visit of Israel.
In the UK, the most damage he could do was to his own image, and the British Press was fast and furious on it.
Opening his mouth in Israel might lead to things *actually* being blown up.
I always find it interesting that the GOP never say why they love Israel so much. These evangelicals they’re pandering to aren’t fond of Jews, but they looooove Israel and want our kids to die to protect it if necessary. Why? I dare one reporter to provide that bit of info during their coverage of Romney’s visit to Israel.
Me too. I am very curious to see just how the media is going to treat this Romney visit. My expectations are quite low already, but I’m leaving room for the possibility that they may be actually too high…
Look up Mageda!
I know why. I just wonder if the warmongering tcots know why. Some twisted stuff. I imagine Israelis go along with it for what they can get from America.
Christianists believe the Jewish people/Israel has to retake the Templr Mound from Muslims and rebuild the Jewish temple before Jesus will return. They are supporting Israel only up to the point that Jesus returns. THEN they will relish their destruction.
Chips, this is my favorite #RomneyShambles cartoon: http://pinterest.com/pin/6755468161874239/
No one watching the President’s weekly address can fail to know the real state of affairs at this point in time. That was clear and ‘fair’, and lets us know what the next steps really are. I like the way Mr. President is presenting his platform by revealing each building block in his own way/style, leaving little doubt that he, unlike his opponentS, has a plan/goal. Obama/Biden 2012! Nothing else will work, America!
Alaska is also challenging the Presidents elligibility on the Ballot! Sigh!
Oh lord. It never ends.
Epic Rant about NBC and the MSM
Here is just an excerpt from this piece titled “Rant: Why NBC and The American Media Are An Embarrassment” :
// And that’s exactly how NBC decided to spend the first minutes of their Olympic coverage — by having Bob Costas and Tom Brokaw play the role of faux concern troll. Because if Mitt Romney says London is unprepared, and London says Mitt Romney is full of shit, we better turn to Tom fucking Brokaw to mediate the situation. He’s our antiquated fact-checker.
If that weren’t enraging enough, NBC then spent the next half hour insulting our intelligence by pretending the opening ceremony hadn’t already occurred three hours earlier. Once NBC was done shoving Ryan Seacrest, Justin Beiber, and other mind-numbing, pre-game style speculation down our throats and finally began airing the tape-delayed ceremony, things got even worse.
Co-anchors Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira spent the next several hours cracking the Macy’s Day Parade equivalent of fart jokes concerning everything from the dramatic opening ceremony, to the names of some the nations in attendance, to the uniforms worn by some of the athletes, to the demeanor of Queen Elizabeth. And that was between the more than a dozen commercial breaks to sell us boner bills, luxury cars, and anti-Obama attack ads.
Professional pontificator and obvious Romney fanboy Bob Costas also chimed in to say that no matter what your political ideology is, you “have to admit Romney saved the Olympics.” //
http://bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2012/07/rant-why-nbc-and-the-american-media-are-an-embarrassment.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
I agree completely with that review. Lauer and Viera made unneeded, unwanted mindless comments throughout. I see NBC is taking on heavy criticism for the tape delay. NBC made some stupid defensive explanation—–that covering the Olympics is complicated—wha?—and the opening ceremonies had to be put in context—wha? As if—-Lauer and Viera provided any kind of insightful context.
Thank you, Mr. Bob Cesca. I couldn’t agree more, and admit to being so fed up with the caliber of reporting, laced with nauseating ads, more ads than coverage, I turned it off and missed the entrance of the teams after Austria…. It was exhausting to watch. I do think London did a fabulous job with the opening, and they and we, as American viewers, deserve better televising.
Don’t worry, Politico will have a story up, spinning the coverage as great for the first lady and only so so for Robney.
Bet?
Being lazy at heart, I tend to go for what I consider as the simplest solution to each problem. Less need to put myself out or get angry! So my question is, why would anyone wait to watch NBC, watch it all the way through then complain, when it would be easier to watch the stuff ‘live’ online and not turn NBC on at all? To my simple mind NBC would smarten up right quickly if their viewership dropped significantly because people ignored their attempt to control WHEN and what they saw. TODobots shared two or three links here last night and I was able to follow the stuff live on my laptop even though I’m in a ‘foreign’ land. What am I missing?
By the time I got home from work, it was 2:00am in London, no access to teevee or computer during the work day, and the iPad does not support live streaming.
Wanted to see it on a bigger screen than my laptop.
i did watch it on TV…i had trouble navigating thru the myriad of links on the website…hahahaha…it became easier to just turn on the TV….
So now I’ve learnt that sometimes depending on NBC is unavoidable and I shouldn’t move too far west, or south, for that matter. 😉 I guess NBC depends on the fact that for some there is little choice. That’s too bad.
You are so right, VC. That is why these networks buy up the sole rights to televise, it is such a scam. I’ve never had cable, don’t want cable, as I so very seldom watch teevee, even PBS anymore, although I do make a monthly donation to support PBS, beside some of the programming is so excellent. Anyway, I find this low-bar reporting of these marvelous games a perfect reason to remind NBC why I don’t turn on the television anymore! 🙂
Excellent rant by Bob Cesca! I’ve been saying it over and over again, the so called U.S. mainstream media are the problem.
Raise your hand if you think politically interested viewers need to hear from Dick Cheney once again? (this Sun. on This Week with George S.) I keep sighing at almost every bit of news I see. If I were the least bit paranoid, I would swear that there is some giant media conspiracy to do everything they can to try to harm President Obama’s re-election chances.
You are not paranoid dotster — our concerns are duly warranted, and especially after seeing how the British press covered Romney and his glaring flaws were readily exposed by their coverage, it convinced me even further that our MSM is bought and paid for, and they clearly have an anti-Obama agenda. What is driving it is not clear, but it’s not just our imaginations working over time.
Totally! The next warning is a change in party ID to favor Willard. Little hints have madee believe it is coming!
Corpracracy! (sp?)
The definition of American Borat is now official:
They got the baggy wrong.
LMAO!!!! Miss Pat you kill me!
uhmmm. well. cough! uhmmm
He looks so damn good. Yummy.
Now that’s a President.
I hope you’re NOT referring to the picture of “Borat” Willard that Hachiko posted above! 🙂 🙂
Lol Ewww.
agreed, kay, and i really like his summer suit–we see him in the serious navy so much, but he’s very handsome in the taupe, too.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/07/27/600341/gop-fast-track-taxes/
House Republicans next week intend to vote on a plan that would both extend all of the Bush tax cuts — including those on income in excess of $250,000 — and fast-track “tax reform.” If the House GOP bill were adopted, tax reform legislation would “have special protections in the U.S. Senate, limiting the opportunities for lawmakers to use blocking tactics.”
But the GOP bill only calls for a certain kind of tax reform — specifically that which would benefit the rich and corporations.
Morning in America…Republicans still giving the finger to everyday Americans.
Hey guys, can you make out our own Lunar_Sea in this picture: https://twitter.com/marabout40/status/227102363494780928 I just realized how well her attire made her blend into to rocks around her. 🙂 She drove all the way up from Burnham (2-hour drive one way) to see me last week. She stayed in town Friday night and we tried to go see the new Batman movie and her tire blew right out. We had to wait for AAA to come rescue us, then the next day she had to spend a pretty penny to replace a tire that was just a couple months old. I felt so bad. Her kind gesture to come and rescue me for the weekend turned out to be very expensive. The next day we went to the beach with Tucker and had a lovely time there. That’s where I took the picture. 🙂
And here’s The Flying Weim https://twitter.com/marabout40/status/227102457715646464 😀
Beautiful photos. And Tucker looks great. Lunar Sea is well camouflaged.
{{{Taiping}}} 🙂
Too early in the morning for my eyes to see LunarSea:) I found her! How wonderful that she came to spend time with you…a friend for life. And that Tucker…adorable!
Yes, LunarSea is a wonderful person. I love when she comes to visit (this is her 3rd visit) and takes me on her nature tours. She is a walking encyclopedia of trees, flowers, plants. 🙂
Yes. That is a beautiful photo I’ll have to look closer, I didn’t see Tucker. How are you Hachiko? I love the wallpaper in the background.
Hi darling. I’m ok. Trying to spend some time outdoors today. I’ve been cooped up in the room all week.
I see the UK is rid of Mitt the Twit—–he and Miss Ann (ewwww) are on board for flight to Tel Aviv. “He didn’t acknowledge the press.” (per usual) (but they still seem willing to defend him till the death)
They don’t like Willard! So, if they favor Him, they must hate the President. Why? What did he do?
He was born black and insists on acting like a President.
Wait a minute…Queen Ann is going to Israel when her horse is in the Olympics? That’s so weird to me…is she going to hold his hand? Just very odd that she’s there…
The horsey must not be dancing till next week—–she’ll be back, never fear.
I think he asked her to go and for the reason you mentioned. He needs her to keep him in check.
and to make sure he takes his nap, so he doesn’t get too tired.
what happened to the dancing horse ?
Serena is on the Bravo channel in her singles match! They just Showed Michelle in the Crowd, saying she is sitting in Venus Williams Box.
I saw all of that, you didn’t! And the Annoucer spoke well of the First lady, still talking about Her and the opening ceremonies.
On Bravo channel now!
I’m glad they noted “Michelle in the Crowd”. I have noticed almost no coverage of her presence in the news. A 3 second glimpse at opening ceremonies, and that’s been about it, other than what we see here. Bob Costas spent time praising Willard’s Olympics expertise after the camera landed on he and Miz Ann. And for Michelle, I think all they said was, “And there’s the First Lady.”
I bet you, judging on the Praise Willard receives from the MSM, that they Come out during the Olympics and pronounce their support for Marriage equality.
Peter Alexander is another Reporter in denial. Now, of Course, if they were Of the Female species, then I would say the same exact thing, that they have a Crush on Willard!
I am serious!
That is great! I am sure the US athletes appreciate it. And Michelle always gives bear Hugs. She loves hugging People!
Having had the grand luck and honor of securing a hug from PBO and his sister Maya, my next mission in life is to get a hug from FLOTUS. LOLz.
“securing a hug from PBO…”
meta, please don’t rub it in. 🙂 🙂 🙂
I know, eh? And pushing for a trifecta when most of us haven’t even been close to a single!! 😆 😆
Surprisingly, there is almost no one at that match. Little interest in early matches, I guess.
Now that Salon has lost Glenn Greenwald to the Guardian, I feel much better about linking to Salon. This is a interesting analysis of the Mitt-bot:
“People are asking, “What’s with Mitt Romney’s trip to the London Olympics?” He has made so many gaffes that the Daily Mail’s political editor asked, “Do we have a new Dubya on our hands?”
That question is most important for the American voter. What drove Dubya were anxiety and fear, much of which he masked with his tough-guy swagger and rhetoric – and with his disarming sense of humor. When asked direct questions by the press, however, Bush would often freeze like a deer in the headlights. His slips of the tongue became the stuff of talk-show hosts, magazine articles and even books.
Now we have Mitt Romney, the putative Republican candidate for president in the 2012 election. His gaffes are different from the 43rd president’s; they don’t involve mispronouncing words or frequently issuing nonsensical sentences. They are more social gaffes, ones that seem to be made without much thought – if any. Bush was trying to say things he couldn’t say. Romney is not trying to say anything in particular, other than answer questions or make comments when called upon to do so. In fact he is too casual, and what comes out is often carelessly hostile. ”
http://www.salon.com/2012/07/28/why_mitt_screws_up/
“All he knows how to do is knock competitors out of the rink. He’s the Tonya Harding of presidential contests.”
Ah…the “family values” crowd..http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/07/27/strip_clubs_ready_to_cash_in_on_gop_convention.html
The New York Times reports Tampa’s “well-known strip clubs have joined the welcome wagon” for the Republican national convention.
“Angelina Spencer, the executive director of the Association of Club Executives, which serves as a trade association for strip clubs, said an informal survey of convention business in New York and Denver had determined that Republicans dropped more money at clubs, by far.”
Sadi Spencer: “Hands down, it was Republicans. The average was $150 for Republicans and $50 for Democrats.”
Love the T& A. Figures. That’s probably all they think women are good for.
of course, these are the same guys who think birth control is an aspirin between your knees. possibly they’re just so awful, no woman will let them near unless they pay.
Woohooo Serena!
I found Bush’s free-dumb agenda. Try not to laugh…..
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/freedomagenda/
Important warning from Charles Blow…http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/28/opinion/blow-wheres-the-outrage.html?_r=2&ref=opinion
lack of enthusiasm at this critical juncture in the election is disturbing for Democrats.
First, there’s the specter of the oligarchy lingering over this election, which disproportionately benefits Republicans. According to a report by Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont, “So far this year, 26 billionaires have donated more than $61 million to super PACs, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. And that’s only what has been publicly disclosed.” That didn’t include “about $100 million that Sheldon Adelson has said that he is willing to spend to defeat President Obama; or the $400 million that the Koch brothers have pledged to spend during the 2012 election season.”
During a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, Sanders put it this way: “What the Supreme Court did in Citizens United is to say to these same billionaires and the corporations they control: ‘You own and control the economy; you own Wall Street; you own the coal companies; you own the oil companies. Now, for a very small percentage of your wealth, we’re going to give you the opportunity to own the United States government.’ ”
Their is no lack of enthusiasm. It’s a myth, purported by Rove himself, no doubt.
Half of what the GOP does, is to play the media. The Media Pundits are so misinformed, it’s scary!
I too agree that there is more enthusiasm on our side, for our president, than for Mittens We love our president and it shows at his rallys
and they don’t even like Mitten and he has to bus in some paid attendants for his rallys. So I think they are trying to mess with people’s minds. As if don’t believe your eyes and our hearts. I’m just saying….
Charles Blow is citing a single Gallup poll which I have serious doubts about. This “enthusiasm” meme is the MSM’s concern troll strategy of the year. Ignore everything else but take one probably skewed poll and make a false narrative from it. These polling data simply do not comport with what we see about PBO’s crowds, and the long lines people endure just to see/hear him. Nor do they not comport with the amounts of small donations that the President has so far received relative to that for Romney (who gets his money from a handful of multi-millionaires/billionaires).
The Democrats who are going to vote are out organizing, recruiting, and not sitting at home waiting to be polled by Gallup. Those who are answering the phones are probably conservative and/or older DEMS who don’t have anything much to be excited about in the first place. I have NEVER been polled by Gallup, although I’ve been polled by a variety of other outfits (including Quinnipiac). I wonder if anyone on this blog has been polled by Gallup in the last 5 months.
Finally, the MSM knows perfectly well that you don’t get people excited and fired up by pointing out to them how unenthusiastic they are…and then pushing a laundry list of how the “other side” is doing better than their side. That actually does the opposite. It depresses people even more and makes them feel defeated prematurely. All this talk about Citizens United is designed to do just that – make people feel that their efforts are in vain – after all, who can compete with billionaires? I call BS on that strategy. PBO hiimself has said that we’ve been outspent before, and have been written off before, but we’ve defied conventional wisdom, and negative ads and money can’t buy elections.
I was polled by Gallup a couple of weeks ago. They asked about 100 questions and lots of rankings on a scale of 1 to 10. Lots of personal questions also, household income, religious belief, education etc. I noticed that the poll results from the date I was polled were not released. The next results announced were from later dates, where they could announce some “bad news for Obama”. I decided my loud shouts of 10 !!!!!—–on all questions re. Obama—–messed up their desired results and they were tucked away. 🙂 They asked if they could call again, and I agreed, likely hoping that my 10’s had slipped to 9 or something, so they could announce further bad news for Obama.
1) personal reality, 2) social realilty), 3) academic relaity. We share our personal realities here with one another. We also have a joint or shared reality within our “group.” However valid these are (on the individiual and social group level), they are rarely consistent with academic reality. They often involve “groupthink.”
We also have a tendency to attack the messenger when we are presented with undesirable information. We can certainly challenge the sampling methods of the population of voters considered in the poll. But we should not confuse our own experiences in conversations or phone-banking with the reality of the whole. Be ye therefore wise as serpents are wise. Serpents were one of the primary symbols of the Great Mother goddesses, which is why the proto-Hebrews reviled them so much. They were associated with the wisdom (Sophia) of the great goddesses. I doubt that PBO’s re-election committee is dissing any of these polls, but examining them for any and all bits of useful information. Most polls do show less enthusiasm for PBO than four years ago, which is to be expected. My challenge is to thoughtfully share my enthusiasm in a manner that is constructive for the campaign.
If the messenger is not credible or acts like a propaganda arm of one party it needs to be exposed, and attacked if necessary. It seems to me that you completely discount the intelligence of people who point out the blatant bias of the media.
That’s the same thing the media said in 2010. When all was said and done, they (pollsters)looked at the numbers and found out that the Dems came out and voted, but the mushy middle went for the Repubs.
I chose the dKos link so I didn’t have to link to the Daily Mail. This is a serious must-read. Romney’s camp is doubling down.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/28/1114494/-Romney-Campaign-London-Mayor-Eccentric-and-Odd-and-Romney-Not-Briefed-for-Magnitude-of-Trip
Thx 57…romney’s sytle is to insult and viciously when it comes to PObama and the intelligence of the American people.
I read that the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is a Conservative…imgagine what Ken Livingston would have said!
Gooooooooooood Morning..Chipsssss……GM …everyone…in TOD land….i really enjoyed the opening ceremonies….of the Olympics…trying to navigate the Olympics website…it isn’t easy…
that might be better than listening to the on air pundits talk about how doomed the President is…i have grown so weary of the polls…the spin…later this afternoon…my sister and I plan to do some volunteering…i did not think she would go…but i just asked her…i was inspired by the video of the First Lady…
altho many of the people that i meet in my community do not know what the pundits are saying….they similarly do not always know what the President has accomplished…that is why i feel that it comes down to the ground game…
one thing that is being discussed is the PA voter registration laws…and not being able to vote…i heard more than one person say that they will get arrested that day…if they are not allowed to vote….
Image that….getting arrested…..
Forwardddddddddddd>>>>
Great piece! http://wattree.blogspot.com.br/2012/06/beneath-spin-eric-l.html
Republican Greed and Fiscal Irresponsibility: A Brief Look at the Facts
Am I the only one becoming nauseous over the Republican Party’s claim that they’re the party of fiscal responsibility? And what about their claim that they’re the only ones qualified to save the American middle class, or that they’re the nation’s job creators, and that they have a plan to rebuild our economy? Well, since we don’t want to go back and forth with a lot of partisan bickering over this issue, let’s just take a brief look at the Republican resume. A cursory look at the facts will tell the true story.
He proceeds to enlighten from here…
Romney aide starts to hang Israeli flag on charter flight, but decides against it and puts it away. yfrog.com/ocuskllij
This was from a CBS pool reporter on Romney’s plane. I can’t seem to copy the tweet. Still working on properly copying the link to the picture.
Pander much? Romney and his team are trying too hard. It’s embarrassing.
That’s the “disciplined and analytical” campaign that the NYT proudly boasts about!!!
OMG, that is whack.
Thanks! For some reason I couldnt copy this tweet. Guys look at the photo. What the hell is wrong with Romney?
New post everyone:
http://theobamadiary.com/2012/07/28/game-set-match-2/
one thing I see is that not only is mitt the entitled pathological serial liar not ready for prime time, but also the response of his campiagn to crises and in counter -punching is often slow.
I guess they have become so comfortable with the MSM carrying their message that they are often caught flat-footed