Rise and Shine

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11:45: The President departs the White House

1:20: Delivers remarks at a campaign event (Private Residence, Owings Mills, Maryland)

2:35: Attends a campaign event (Hyatt Regency, Baltimore, Maryland)

3:45: Delivers remarks at a campaign event (Hyatt Regency, Baltimore – Live Coverage)

4:45: Departs Baltimore

5:20: Arrives Philadelphia

6:10: Attends a campaign event (Franklin Institute, Philadelphia)

7:45: Delivers remarks at a campaign event (Franklin Institute – Live coverage)

9:05: Delivers remarks at a campaign event (Franklin Institute)

10:20: Departs Philadelphia

11:20: Arrives at the White House

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Washington Post: “Today, government at all levels consumes 37 percent of the total economy or GDP. If Obamacare is allowed to stand, government will reach half of the American economy.” — Mitt Romney, economic speech, June 7, 2012

This is a startling assertion by the presumptive GOP candidate, which he has made in several forms in recent weeks.

David Corn of Mother Jones first spotted it when Romney made a victory speech in New Hampshire, arguing, “With Obamacare fully installed, government will come to control half the economy, and we will have effectively ceased to be a free enterprise society.” Corn quoted a number of economic experts finding fault with Romney’s reasoning, such as former Ronald Reagan advisor Bruce Bartlett saying “this analysis is so stupid it is hard to know where to begin.”

FactCheck.org then weighed in when Romney had tweaked the language somewhat, but also found it wanting, saying it was “a pure partisan fantasy” and “patently false and misleading.”

With such harsh reviews, one would think that Romney might drop the assertion from his speeches. But now a new iteration has appeared, so we will examine it.

More here

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Cagle

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Bloomberg: Employers in the U.S. said they planned to boost hiring in the third quarter, a survey showed.

Manpower Inc. (MAN)’s employment index for the period from July through September climbed to 11 percent, the highest reading in four years, from 10 percent in the second quarter, the Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based, staffing company reported. The measure was at 8 percent a year earlier.

For the first time since 2008, employers held positive outlooks on hiring in consecutive quarters in all four regions of the country and in all industries. The figures may ease concern that the job market is faltering after Labor Department data showed employment rose in May at the slowest pace in a year.

More here

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Cagle

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President Barack Obama talks with Betty White in the Oval Office, June 11, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Morning everyone 😉 I’m about, oooooh, five days behind on answering emails, but I promise I’ll get around to them asap. Thanks to you all for getting in touch. Things are still a bit bonkers busy on the work front, so I haven’t been able to chat the last few days, but hoping to get back to normal soon-ish.

Can’t wait to hear the President speak today, CNN and CBS have his 3:45 and 7:45 speeches in their live streaming schedules.

oh no…..

JonHuntsman.com

Oh dear. According to Steve Benen, Huntsman’s people forgot to register JonHuntsman.com – so when you visit the site the image above greets you, ie that glowing letter Hunstman wrote the President when he accepted the position of Ambassador to China.

And …..

ABC: Every detail of Jon Huntsman’s long-awaited campaign launch was meticulously planned, except of course for one minor detail: the misspelling of the candidate’s name. Members of the media were handed a press pass that read “John Huntsman for President” – adding an unnecessary H in the candidate’s first name. Huntsman’s staffers promptly scrambled to remove the passes from reporters before they caught the snafu.

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Steve Benen: …. worse, visitors to Huntsman’s online donation page this morning saw this message alongside the contribution form:

If you prefer you can contact us by mail or by telephone.
Jon Huntsman for President
123 Main Street
Charlotte, NC 12345
(123) 456-7890

All of this is wrong, and was obviously just put in as placeholder text the campaign forgot to replace. As Jamison Foser noted, “So far today, Huntsman campaign has gotten his name, phone number & address wrong. That’s a rough day in first grade.”

That’s not all. The Huntsman campaign picked a location for the kick-off speech where the Statue of Liberty would be in the background, but put the television cameras in such a place where the Statue of Liberty wasn’t seen by viewers at home. Some pundits knocked the new candidate for a “bland, uninspiring speech,” and the cable networks didn’t stick with his remarks very long.

Well, at least Huntsman had a good crowd for the campaign launch, right? Wrong. Only “about a hundred” people showed up, and roughly 60 of them were political reporters…..

More here

ah, facts are stubborn things…..

You know all those Teapublicans and their media buddies who are complaining about the amount of time the President takes off?

In fairness to them, they were just as critical of President Bush. And they concede that he took waaaaaaaay more time off than President Obama. Ho ho, kidding …. they tend to, um, overlook these pesky facts and figures:

President Obama (over two years)

Vacation trips: 10 (spanning 58 days)

Trips to Camp David: 15 (spanning 35 days)

Total over two years: 93 days

** Percentage days ‘off’: 12.7 **

George W Bush (over eight years)

Trips to Camp David: 149 (spanning 487 days)

Trips to his Texas ranch: 77 (spanning 490 days)

Trips to his parents’ home in Maine: 11 (spanning 43 days)

Total over eight years: 1020 days

** Percentage days ‘off’: 34.9 **

Source: CBS/Mark Knoller – President Obama ‘By The Numbers’ here; Bush ‘By The Numbers’ here

 

But, but, but: what about all the golf President Obama plays?!

Well, if he, say, played Monday to Friday or canceled his State of the Union speech or postponed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks so he could play an extra round, I’d understand the Teapublican OUTRAGE (capital letters are important when you’re talking OUTRAGE).

But…. he plays at weekends and during his vacations. He’s active, fit, healthy – you know, good things. Bush spent most of his time off (over a third of his Presidency) watching sport on TV, sometimes getting so excited he choked on pretzels. I dunno, do Teapublicans believe pretzel-choking on the couch to be a more noble Presidential pursuit?

But, but, but: when Bush was at Camp David he was still working! Presidents are never off duty!

Okay, let’s do a deal – we’ll deduct the Camp David days … for both Presidents.

Deduct the Texas ranch trips too!

No.

But, but, but: what about the cost of President Obama’s trip to Hawaii?!

That once-a-year-trip? Teapublicans? Do you really want to go there? No, no, I don’t mean Hawaii, I mean the cost thing.

Source

So, President Obama? Get yourself to the golf course: now. And enjoy your time off, you deserve it. 😉

(Although….honestly Mr President, I just don’t see how this golf thing can be relaxing)

it’s a fair cop

President Obama shakes hands with PC Michael Zamora as he walks back to 10 Downing Street with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown after giving a news conference at the Foreign Office in London, Wednesday April 1, 2009.