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ThinkProgress: The federal government’s ability to respond to natural disasters, like Hurricane Sandy currently bearing down on the East Coast, would be significantly hindered under a Romney-Ryan administration.
At least three times, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have publicly demanded that the federal government only disburse disaster relief funding if Congress agreed to offsetting budget cuts elsewhere. This would hold desperately-needed disaster relief funding hostage unless Congress agreed to cuts elsewhere in the budget, an extraordinarily difficult prospect even in normal circumstances.
More here
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Romney campaign heads explode:
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Rolling Stone (Thanks Collegekay)
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Michael Tomasky: F-You Dishonesty: Romney and Jeep
There’s basic dishonesty and then there’s f-you dishonesty – dishonesty so blatant, so consciously abusive of facts that everyone knows, that it deserves a category of its own. Kato Keilin: dishonesty. O.J.: f-you dishonesty.
Romney’s new ad about Jeeps and Italy is f-you dishonest….
Full post here
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Bill Keller (NYT): The No Agenda Myth…
…. With Obama, we can anticipate that the unfinished business of universal health care and the re-regulation of the Wall Street casino will be finished. We can expect investments in education, infrastructure and innovation, followed by a gradual, balanced attack on deficits that includes higher taxes on the wealthiest …. We can expect the Pentagon, after winding down two wars, to bank a peace dividend ….. The fact that these objectives represent a continuation of his first term does not mean he is aiming low. These are ambitious goals.
If Romney is elected…. we can fairly expect a rollback of universal health care in favor of the rough marketplace, and at least a partial dismantling of regulations on banks, extractive industries and whatever other industries squeal about job-killing red tape. We can expect a lowering of the safety net, especially a retrenchment of Medicaid and a marketization of Medicare. His deficit plan will rely on draconian spending cuts and on the supply-side superstition that tax cuts automatically produce growth …. You can expect another Scalia or two on the Supreme Court, the defunding of Planned Parenthood and a social agenda aimed at appeasing the evangelical base….
There’s more, but you get the idea. Two agendas; compare and contrast…..
Full article here
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Detroit News: Chrysler Group LLC reported a net profit of $381 million for the third quarter of 2012 on Monday, up 80 percent from the $212 million profit the company reported for the same period a year ago.
It was further proof that the Auburn Hills automaker’s recovery is continuing, and should help offset the losses that its Italian parent company, Fiat SpA, is expected to announce on Tuesday.
…. Monday’s results mark the third consecutive quarter of solid profitability for the company…
…. Since emerging from bankruptcy in 2009, Chrysler has not only returned to solid profitability, but also announced investments of more than $4.5 billion in the United States and Canada, repaid its government loans in full with interest six years ahead of schedule and launched 18 new or refreshed cars and trucks.
More here
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Orlando, October 28 (Scout Tufankjian for Obama for America)
‘POTUS: Accept no substitutes’ (Tumblr)
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Today:
11:25: The President departs Joint Base Andrews
1:40: Arrives Boca Raton, Florida
9:0: The Debate
Tuesday: The President will travel to Delray, Florida and Dayton, Ohio for campaign events. He will return to Washington, DC in the evening.
Wednesday: He will travel to Iowa, Denver and Las Vegas for campaign events. He will also tape an appearance on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show.
Thursday: Campaign events in Tampa, Fla., and Richmond, Va. The President will then travel to Chicago to cast his vote under Illinois early voting rules before finishing with a grassroots event in Cleveland.
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USA Today: President Obama plans to visit seven states in the three days after Monday night’s foreign policy debate with Republican challenger Mitt Romney in Boca Raton, Fla.
The morning after the debate, Obama will hold a rally in nearby Delray Beach, Fla., before flying on to an appearance in Dayton, Ohio….
On Wednesday and Thursday, he will make a blitz of six battleground states: Davenport, Iowa; Denver, Colo.; Las Vegas; Tampa; Richmond; Va.; then back to Ohio for an event in Cleveland.
Obama will make a sentimental stop Thursday in his hometown of Chicago, where he will cast an early vote for himself.
The president will be accompanied on his trip by NBC News anchor Brian Williams and a camera crew who will put together reports “taking viewers behind the scenes with rare, exclusive access and multiple interviews with the president.”
More here
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Today:
11:30: VP Biden delivers remarks at the J. Babe Stearn Community Center in Canton, Ohio
3:15: VP Biden speaks at Lorain High School in Canton, Ohio
Examiner: As President Barack Obama prepares for his third and final presidential debate First Lady Michelle Obama will be rallying supporters at Broward College in Davie. The First Lady will speak to grassroots supporters Monday afternoon in the George Mayer Gymnasium on Broward College’s Central Campus in Davie. It is tentatively scheduled for 3 p.m. (local time)
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The New Yorker: … The choice is clear. The Romney-Ryan ticket represents a constricted and backward-looking vision of America: the privatization of the public good. In contrast, the sort of public investment championed by Obama — and exemplified by both the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Affordable Care Act — takes to heart the old civil-rights motto “Lifting as we climb.” That effort cannot, by itself, reverse the rise of inequality that has been under way for at least three decades. But we’ve already seen the future that Romney represents, and it doesn’t work.
The reelection of Barack Obama is a matter of great urgency. Not only are we in broad agreement with his policy directions; we also see in him what is absent in Mitt Romney — a first-rate political temperament and a deep sense of fairness and integrity. A two-term Obama Administration will leave an enduringly positive imprint on political life. It will bolster the ideal of good governance and a social vision that tempers individualism with a concern for community. Every Presidential election involves a contest over the idea of America. Obama’s America—one that progresses, however falteringly, toward social justice, tolerance, and equality—represents the future that this country deserves.
Read the full endorsement here
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Thank you Donna
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President Obama goes comedy-book shopping:
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Paul Krugman: The U.S. economy finally seems to be recovering in earnest, with housing on the rebound and job creation outpacing growth in the working-age population. But the news is good, not great – it will still take years to restore full employment – and it has been a very long time coming. Why has the slump been so protracted?
The answer – backed by overwhelming evidence – is that this is what normally happens after a severe financial crisis. But Mitt Romney’s economic team rejects that evidence. And this denialism bodes ill for policy if Mr. Romney wins next month.
…. Obviously, Republicans like claiming that it’s all Mr. Obama’s fault, and that electing Mr. Romney would magically make everything better. But nobody should believe them.
…. the Romney team is willfully, nakedly, distorting the record …. once politicians start refusing to acknowledge inconvenient facts, where does it stop? Why, the next thing you know Republicans will start rejecting the overwhelming evidence for man-made climate change. Oh, wait.
Full article here
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Thank you Desertflower!
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Morning everyone 😉
Salt Lake Tribune: …. From his embrace of the party’s radical right wing, to subsequent portrayals of himself as a moderate champion of the middle class, Romney has raised the most frequently asked question of the campaign: “Who is this guy, really, and what in the world does he truly believe?”
The evidence suggests no clear answer, or at least one that would survive Romney’s next speech or sound bite. Politicians routinely tailor their words to suit an audience. Romney, though, is shameless, lavishing vastly diverse audiences with words, any words, they would trade their votes to hear.
…. If this portrait of a Romney willing to say anything to get elected seems harsh, we need only revisit his branding of 47 percent of Americans as freeloaders who pay no taxes….
…. our endorsement must go to the incumbent, a competent leader who, against tough odds, has guided the country through catastrophe and set a course that, while rocky, is pointing toward a brighter day. The president has earned a second term. Romney, in whatever guise, does not deserve a first.
Full endorsement here
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Two-year-old Sacha Marzett waits in line to attend a campaign rally with her mother Lazette Marzett and friend Catherine Ignacio at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia (Chip Somodevilla/Getty)
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Tampa Bay Times: Four years ago, Barack Obama offered an inspiring message of hope and change to an uneasy nation bogged down in two wars and facing economic collapse. The rosy idealism quickly gave way to the harsh realities of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The recovery has proven more difficult than anyone imagined. But conditions would be far worse without the president’s steady leadership. This is not the time to reverse course and return to the failed policies of the past. Without hesitation, the Tampa Bay Times recommends Barack Obama for re-election as president.
…. We wish the economic recovery was more vigorous, and we would like the president to present a sharper vision for a second term. But Obama has capably steered the nation through an incredibly difficult period at home and abroad, often with little help from Congress. The next four years will not be easy for whoever occupies the Oval Office, but Obama has been tested by harsh circumstance and proven himself worthy of a second term.
For president of the United States, the Tampa Bay Times recommends Barack Obama.
Full endorsement here
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George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia (Chip Somodevilla/Getty)
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Winston-Salem Journal: Americans have a clear choice between two presidential candidates with starkly different ideas for spurring the economy, providing for the health of our people, defending our interests abroad, educating our children and protecting our environment. We believe that President Barack Obama’s progress on these issues merits him a second term in the White House.
Four years ago on this page, we endorsed Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona over Obama. We wrote that we were impressed with Obama, but McCain would “bring the Iraq war to a successful conclusion, work to end American dependence on foreign oil, reduce America’s output of climate-changing gases and begin the rebuilding of our economy.”
The Democratic president has done all those things and more. He is calm under pressure and courageous in standing up for the rights of all Americans, including the poor, veterans, the elderly, women, gays and immigrants. In contrast, we’ve sometimes found it hard in the last few weeks to tell just what Obama’s challenger, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, really stands for.
…. Obama has a keen vision that he has worked hard to achieve, against considerable obstacles and often courageously. But the goal is in sight: An America respected worldwide as much for its prosperity as its defense of liberty and justice.
The Journal editorial board endorses Barack Obama for president.
Full editorial here
Thank you DesertFlower and amk
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You can see last week’s brilliant endorsement from the St Louis Post-Dispatch here
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Kansas City Star: Barack Obama volunteer Marilynn Wadden rang more than a dozen doorbells in her first hour canvassing a tidy neighborhood here before stopping to take stock of her progress… If the race is close here and elsewhere, the outcome may come down to how well Obama volunteers like Wadden do their jobs – compelling everyone they can to go to the polls…
…. even Republicans acknowledge that Obama has an advantage on the ground in most if not all of the most hotly contested battleground states. In Iowa alone, Obama has 67 offices to Romney’s 13.
…. Obama backers refuse to cede ground in their quest to turn out every voter they can.
Not registered to vote? Obama’s team can help. Registered but not sure about plans on Election Day? Obama’s campaign can mail you a ballot. Forget to return the ballot? Obama’s volunteers offer a reminder. Need a ride to the polls? Obama’s volunteers can drive.
Obama’s volunteers appear to be having impact. Democrats report an almost 4-to-1 advantage among voters asking for ballots by mail in Iowa.
The vigor among the ranks appears to grow as Election Day nears.
“It’s our time to go out and lace up our sneakers, put on our walking shoes,” Norma Comstock, 71, a leader in the campaign’s Sioux City office, said recently as she gave her fellow volunteers a pep talk. “This isn’t a sure thing. We’ve got to fight every day between now and Nov. 6 so President Obama can keep fighting for us.”
More here – thank you BWD
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Reuters: President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are neck and neck in opinion polls, but there is one area in which the incumbent appears to have a big advantage: those who have already cast their ballots.
Obama leads Romney by 59 percent to 31 percent among early voters, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling data compiled in recent weeks.
The sample size of early voters is relatively small, but the Democrat’s margin is still well above the poll’s credibility interval – a measurement of polls’ accuracy – of 10 percentage points
More here
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Mooooooooorning everyone, it’s a beeeeeeeautiful day! Thanks to everyone for the brilliant links, so much terrific news. It’s the usual Sunday for me, a bit busy, but I’ll be dropping in and out 😉
The San Francisco Examiner: … Four years ago, under a different owner, The San Francisco Examiner endorsed John McCain and Sarah Palin for president. Happily, the nation’s voters had a better idea. Today, as a different paper under new ownership, we wholeheartedly endorse Barack Obama and Joe Biden for a second term so that they can move forward with reforms this country needs.
A president’s second term is an opportunity to implement his legacy agenda. Nothing we have seen suggests that Barack Obama will be content to rest on his laurels in the next four years.
Full editorial here
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Today (all times ET):
12:25: President Obama departs San Francisco
4:20: Arrives in Columbus, Ohio
4:30: Michelle Obama speaks to grassroots supporters in Loudoun County, Va. (CNN have this listed for live streaming, but for 5:20 – will check)
5:00: President Obama delivers remarks at a campaign event at Ohio State University in Columbus
7:15: Departs Columbus
7:30: Michelle Obama attends a campaign fundraising event in McLean, Va.
8:40: President Obama arrives at the White House
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Miami Herald: From a Florida Democratic Party email: …. September is the 8th consecutive month that Democrats have out-registered Republicans …. registered 18,063 more voters than Republicans, beating them by 16-percent …. they had a nearly 30-percent registration advantage with Hispanics. Overall, Democrats are beating Republicans in Hispanic registration by roughly 10-points.
In September, Democrats had a 21-percent registration advantage with women. Overall, Democrats are beating Republicans in women registration by roughly 10-points….
Florida’s September voter registration data shows Democrats’ most impressive month yet: we’ve out-registered the GOP in Florida by over 16-percent in September, with over 43,000 new Democrats on the rolls.
Florida Democrats have built the strongest, largest ground game this state has ever seen – we are entering the final month in a strong position to win Democratic victories up and down the ticket.
Thank you for your handwork and support. We’ve got 29 days to bring it home and we can’t let up now.
More here
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Here’s a poll that probably won’t get much attention 😉
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Deaniac83 (The People’s View): Last week, we talked a little bit about the Right’s attempt to play the refs by complaining that pollsters were polling too many Democrats – where in fact, the numbers were justified by both the Democrats’ registration advantage and last presidential election’s voting patterns. So what did our national media and pollsters do? They quickly groveled at the feet of the loud screeching noise-makers, of course.
Today, for example, there is a Pew poll out showing Mitt Romney has taken a lead in national polling of likely voters, 49-45, a full 11-point swing since the same poll from two weeks ago. Did the debate make all the difference? Don’t be silly. Here’s what really happened: Pew polled fewer voters altogether, and, they acquiesced to the wingnut browbeating and entirely took away the Democratic registration advantage documented in actual voting in 2008, registration data, and well, their own previous polling. Here, in a nutshell, is what really happened….
See here
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President Obama embraces United Farm Workers President Arturo S. Rodriguez as he arrives to speak at the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, Oct. 8, 2012 (AP/Carolyn Kaster)
Thousands packed the grounds at La Paz to hear President Obama announce the establishment of the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument
(Felix Adamo/The Californian)
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Dana Milbank: …. Scrubbing one’s brain clean of previous positions has been Mitt Romney’s stock in trade. In fact, his foreign-policy speech Monday to the Virginia Military Institute was one long gargle-and-rinse of the candidate’s previous positions.
Last year, Romney called the Obama administration’s intervention in Libya “mission creep and mission muddle.” On Monday, he accused Obama of declining to use “America’s greatest power to shape history”…. Last year, Romney said American troops “shouldn’t go off and try to fight a war of independence for another nation …. On Monday, he spoke of that same conflict as a matter of the utmost national importance…. Last year, Romney reversed his earlier support for the Iraq war …. On Monday, he was back to his original view….
Just a few months ago, Romney said “there’s just no way” to achieve peace between the Israelis and Palestinians because Palestinians are “not wanting to see peace.” …. On Monday, he said he would “recommit America to the goal of a democratic, prosperous Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security” with Israel.
Rub-a-dub-dub! Four positions got scrubbed.
Full article here
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NYT Editorial: Mitt Romney mounted a big foreign policy display on a flag-draped stage at the Virginia Military Institute on Monday, serving up a lot of tough-sounding sound bites and hawkish bumper stickers, some of them even bumping up somewhere close to the truth, to give the appearance that he would be stronger and more forceful on international affairs than President Obama.
He seems to consider himself, ludicrously, a leader similar to the likes of Harry Truman and George Marshall, and, at one point, he obliquely questioned Mr. Obama’s patriotism. The hope seems to be that big propaganda, said loudly and often, will drown out Mr. Obama’s respectable record in world affairs, make Americans believe Mr. Romney would be the better leader and cover up the fact that there is mostly just hot air behind his pronouncements.
…. Americans deserve an intensive, textured and honest discussion on foreign policy. They did not get it on Monday. Mr. Obama should respond, forcefully, to Mr. Romney on these issues, even before their next debate on Oct. 16, which will include issues of foreign affairs.
Full editorial here
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Keep on tweeting this:
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The Fact Checker (Washington Post): We will leave analysis of the GOP presidential nominee’s major foreign-policy address to the pundits, though we were pleased to see that he did not repeat his frequent claim that Obama “apologized” for America — a phrase we and other fact-checkers have long debunked.
Still, we were interested in his assertion about the size of the Navy. Is the Navy really in the worst shape it has been in 96 years?
…. The Pinocchio Test: This is a nonsense fact. In his counting of ships, Romney equates gunboats with aircraft carriers and torpedo boats with nuclear-powered submarines. For such an important speech, one would think the candidate would resolve to use the most relevant facts possible.
Full post here
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President Obama at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, Oct 8 (Max Morse/Getty)
The speech will be available at C-Span some time today
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(Christopher Dilts for Obama for America)
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Happy birthday Bo!!
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Morning everyone 😉
St Louis Post-Dispatch: Four years ago, in endorsing Democrat Barack Obama for president, we noted his intellect, his temperament and equanimity under pressure. He was unproven, but we found him to be presidential, in all that that word implies.
In that, we have not been disappointed. This is a serious man. And now he is a proven leader. He has earned a second term.
Mr. Obama sees an America where the common good is as important as the individual good. That is the vision on which the nation was founded. It is the vision that has seen America through its darkest days and illuminated its best days. It is the vision that underlies the president’s greatest achievement, the Affordable Care Act. Twenty years from now, it will be hard to find anyone who remembers being opposed to Obamacare.
He continues to steer the nation through the most perilous economic challenges since the Great Depression. Those who complain that unemployment remains high, or that economic growth is too slow, either do not understand the scope of the catastrophe imposed upon the nation by Wall Street and its enablers, or they are lying about it.
To expect Barack Obama to have repaired, in four years, what took 30 years to undermine, is simply absurd. He might have gotten further had he not been saddled with an opposition party, funded by plutocrats, that sneers at the word compromise. But even if Mr. Obama had had Franklin Roosevelt’s majorities, the economy would still be in peril…..
….. The question for voters is actually very simple. The nation has wrestled with it since its founding: Will this be government for the many or the few?
Choose the many. Choose Barack Obama.
Full editorial here
Thanks to @jidts07
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And then there’s this guy….
President Obama signs the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 at the U.S. Department of Interior, Dec. 22, 2010
The Hill: The nation’s largest gay-rights groups endorsed President Obama for reelection, praising him for historic accomplishments for the LGBT community. The Human Rights Campaign posted a page on its website Thursday …. offering its endorsement of the president.
“From signature achievements like passage of the law to end ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ to administrative changes throughout government, President Obama has done more to improve the lives of LGBT people than any President in history,” the group said. “The following is a compilation of many of the actions taken by the Administration on LGBT issues.”
Obama had for some time faced scrutiny over the extent of his administration’s promises on gay rights but won a significant amount of praise for delivering on its promise to repeal “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian service members, late last year.
HRC’s endorsement, which comes at an especially early point in the cycle, should go some lengths to quieting criticism of Obama, who’s on the record as being against same-sex marriage but has acknowledged his viewpoints are “evolving.”
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See the endorsement at The Human Rights Campaign website (here) and the incredible list of this administration’s equal rights legislation and policy changes
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Thank you Proud 😉
Obama White House.gov WH Tumblr The People’s View Smartypants Steve Benen
The Obama Diary 
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