rise and shine

Mediaite

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Greg Sargent (Washington Post): Romney’s claims about jobs continue to crumble: A colleague emails: “Can you remember another time a candidate did as much damage to himself as Romney has done in the last 24 hours? I cannot.”

In that amount of time, two things happened. First, Romney has provided Dems with the perfect fodder for misleading but potentially devastating attacks on his primary vulnerability – his corporate past, which Dems will paint as emblematic of the predatory and unfettered capitalism that has produced untold economic misery for millions.

And second, the national political press – and even some leading Republicans and conservatives – have come around to the conclusion that the foundation of the whole case driving his candidacy, his career as an alleged “job creator” at Bain Capital, is based on a series of claims that are entirely untenable.

Here’s the latest, from Glenn Kessler, who weighs in with an epic fact check of Romney’s claim that he created over 100,000 jobs at Bain, and concludes that it’s unsupportable on every level…..

More here

Glenn Kessler

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Greg Sargent: Conservative doubts rising about Obama: A key dynamic to watch: The assault on Romney’s Bain years is causing rising alarm in conservative circles. Jonah Goldberg gives voice to the worries, suggesting we now know that Romney really may not be as electable in a general election against Obama as we keep hearing.

Key footnote: Goldberg suggests that rising doubts about Romney’s electability may be what triggers a brokered convention.

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The front page of the New Hampshire Union Leader website today:

😉

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Morning everyone 😉

oh mitt, you’re making it too easy

The context: “I want individuals to have their own insurance. That means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy. It also means that if you don’t like what they do, you could fire them. I like being able to fire people who provide services to me. You know, if someone isn’t giving the good service, I want to say, I’m going to go get someone else to provide this service to.”

Even if the context lessens the stupidity of the remark, I’d guess Romney’s people are now on their 15th bottle of brandy. How many ads do you think will quote Mr Bain saying “I like being able to fire people”?!

the gop…..

Rep Steve King (R-Iowa), June 2: “Labor is a commodity, just like corn or beans or oil or gold.” (Full C-Span video here)

And lest we forget….

Thanks Michele

‘obama’s rivals now look like lilliputians to his gulliver’

Jonathan Freedland (The UK Guardian): Last week, when Barack Obama released his birth certificate to silence those who had long questioned his American identity, he explained that he did not normally respond to such nonsense because “you know, I’ve got other things to do”. Now we know that those “other things” included meticulous planning for an event that could well transform his presidency, reshaping both the way he is seen and the foreign policy he pursues.

… the success of the operation in Abbottabad now makes Obama’s rivals look small indeed, Lilliputians chasing wild fantasies while Gulliver deals with the things that matter. He has rendered even more laughable Donald Trump’s declaration that “I feel proud of myself” for flushing out the proof of Obama’s Hawaiian birth. The president has shown what a true achievement looks like.

For, like it or not, no trophy mattered more to American public opinion … Obama’s role in slaying the dragon may not make him a national hero, but it will take a special kind of stupidity for Republicans to question his patriotism now.

The killing in Pakistan will bury another criticism, rarely articulated explicitly: the suggestion that Obama was somehow insufficiently tough, insufficiently macho, to be America’s commander-in-chief … Crude though it may be, Obama just passed that test with flying colours of red, white and blue.

He did it, though, his own way … he avoided the crass cowboy talk that was a hallmark of the previous administration: the official statement of Saddam’s capture began with the words “We got him”. Obama’s style was, by contrast, measured and steady, recalling 9/11 and speaking movingly of the images of “that September day” that the world did not see, starting with “The empty seat at the dinner table”.

From now on Obama will be viewed slightly differently at home and abroad, his coolness understood to be unflappable and poker-faced, rather than chilly and professorial. One former foreign minister who has seen the president up close believes that Bin Laden’s scalp will lead other world leaders to conclude that, to paraphrase Teddy Roosevelt, “Obama may speak softly – but he carries a big stick”…

…he has scored a valuable victory, one that lifts his own standing but also arrests the gloomy, declinist mood that has gripped some in his country, convinced that American power is on the slide. He has done in two years what his predecessor failed to do in eight. But Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” banner should stay in the White House basement: al-Qaida remains, the war in Afghanistan is not over, and there is still so much more work to do.

Full article here

stay classy, brad watson

This a clip of the interview the President did yesterday with WFAA-TV of Texas

Does this Brad Watson creature usually treat Presidents with that much disrespect and contempt, if he’s ever interviewed one before, or might he have a particular problem with President Obama?

In his (written) report on the interview (here), Watson said: “After the interview, Obama pointed out that he doesn’t like an interviewer challenging his comments. “Let me finish my answers the next time we do an interview, all right?” he said.”

You can hear the exchange at the end of the interview – where does the President say “he doesn’t like an interviewer challenging his comments”? He doesn’t. Watson speaks over the start of the exchange, in which the President says “… let me finish my… questions”, then says: “Let me finish my answers the next time we do an interview, all right?”

So, Watson lied. The President did not object to his comments being challenged, only to not being extended the courtesy of the chance to finish his answers.

But Watson lies to give the impression that the President cannot handle being ‘challenged’ by hard-hitting, truth-seeking reporters of his magnificent quality. And, as we all know, the President has soooooo little experience of being challenged. 🙄

I’m just surprised Watson didn’t ask: “Where’s your birth certificate, boy?”

You can contact the channel here or at feedback@wfaa.com or on 214-748-9631

There’s also an email address on the site for Watson (bwatson@wfaa.com) but I’m not sure there’s much point in contacting him directly – it would probably get lost in the avalanche of congratulations from Teabaggers.

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The President also did interviews yesterday with WRAL Raleigh (see here – thank you Donna), WTHR Indianapolis and KCNC Denver.

you’re likeable enough, mr president ;-)

Aug. 8, 2010: “We were walking through a locker room at the University of Texas when White House Trip Director Marvin Nicholson stopped to weigh himself on a scale. Unbeknownst to him, the President was stepping on the back of the scale, as Marvin continued to slide the scale lever. Everyone but Marvin was in on the joke.” (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Time: Three out of four American voters – 74 percent – like President Barack Obama, but a narrow majority disapproves of his policies, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today….

Given four choices to describe their feelings about Obama, American voters say:

* 41 percent like him personally and like his policies;
* 33 percent like him personally, but don’t like his policies;
* 1 percent like his policies, but don’t like him;
* 19 percent don’t like him or his policies.

Meanwhile, read these figures and weep, GOP:

…voters oppose cuts in the growth of entitlement programs to reduce the budget deficit:

* 70 – 25 percent against cutting Social Security;
* 72 – 25 percent against cutting Medicare;
* 59 – 37 percent against cutting Medicaid.

By 64 – 32 percent, voters say raising income taxes on those earning more than $250,000 should be part of any budget deal.

By 49 – 40 percent, voters oppose cutting federal funding for National Public Radio and by 53 – 43 percent they oppose cutting it off for Planned Parenthood.

2010 …. july to august …. picture perfect

January to February video here

March to April video here

May to June here

magnificent

…at the “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” rally, Washington, October 30

Thanks to globalcitizenlinda for the link to the photo

barking up the wrong tree

President Barack Obama in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

a year ago today … “that looks like me, look at those ears!”

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President Barack Obama tours the Pyramids in Egypt, June 4, 2009