It’s okay not to wait until all the facts are in if you’re a Republican and the president is a Democrat. And you don’t have to quote the president accurately, either:
SOLEDAD O’BRIEN (HOST): The one thing I’m debating with you is just specifics. When you quote someone or you paraphrase them the only thing I ask is that you get that accurate. That’s all I ask.
GIULIANI: We’re also entitled to interpret what the president is saying without this, like, massive defense of everything he says…Excuse me if being the fact that I’m a Republican, I don’t give them as you do, all the benefit of the doubt.
The big story now, in the Republican circles at least, seems to be the tragedy that happened in Benghazi Libya on September 11th 2012 when four Americans including Ambassador Chris Stevens were killed. The Obama administration originally said that the attack on the Embassy was the result of a hateful video against Islam, a video that caused violent uprising in many Islāmic nations.
After an investigation, it was determined that the American Embassy was the target of a terrorist attack. It was also revealed that the Embassy may have requested extra security before the attack happened.
Republicans led by Mitt Romney, saw some political benefit in attacking the Obama administration for not “providing the necessary security” the Embassy requested, and they have harped on this over the last few weeks. But a new report is shedding more light on this claim and the reason more security wasn’t sent to Benghazi.
It seems that Republicans, including the Republican vice president candidate Paul Ryan, voted to cut funding to the very department responsible for paying for extra security. The New York Times reports;
The ugly truth is that the same people who are accusing the administration of not providing sufficient security for the American consulate in Benghazi have voted to cut the State Department budget, which includes financing for diplomatic security. The most self-righteous critics don’t seem to get the hypocrisy, or maybe they do and figure that if they hurl enough doubts and complaints at the administration, they will deflect attention from their own poor judgments on the State Department’s needs.
But as part of the Republican majority that has controlled the House the last two years, Mr. Issa joined in cutting nearly a half-billion dollars from the State Department’s two main security accounts. One covers things like security staffing, including local guards, armored vehicles and security technology; the other, embassy construction and upgrades. In 2011 and 2012, President Obama sought a total of $5 billion, and the House approved $4.5 billion. In 2009, Mr. Issa voted for an amendment that would have cut nearly 300 diplomatic security positions. And the draconian budgets proposed by Mitt Romney’s running mate, Representative Paul Ryan, would cut foreign affairs spending by 10 percent in 2013 and even more in 2016.
There are a lot of polls out there and after the first presidential debate a majority of them showed Mitt Romney gaining ground and even overtaking the President. But now, just one day before the second debate between Romney and Obama, these polls are moving once again in the President’s direction.
A new Washington/ABC poll shows the numbers are back to what they were before the first debate:
Likely voters in the new poll split 49 percent for Obama to 46 percent for Romney, basically unmoved from the poll two weeks ago, just before the two candidates met in Denver for their first debate. On topic after topic, the survey portrays an electorate that remains deeply divided along partisan lines and locked in its views…
Nearly two-thirds say they do not need any more information before Election Day, and barely one in eight is undecided or says there is a chance he could change his vote. Even as voters overwhelmingly perceive that Romney won the first debate, the vast majority say their opinion of the president did not shift as a result.
Morgan Freeman lends his famous voice to the Re-election campaign for President Obama. In the ad below, Mr. Freeman spoke about where we were as a country when President Obama took office, where we are now and where we must go in the future.
“the last thing we should do, is turn back now,” Mr. Freeman said, as the ad comes to an end.
Better yet, you probably thought that it started the day or two after the Denver Debacle on October 3. Nope. It actually began on September 26th, was accelerated, and probably prolonged, by the debate, and is now winding down, approximately two weeks later. It was a long bump by historical standards and was immediately preceded by Obama’s long convention bump.
The numbers? Obama was leading by about 50-42% when Romney’s bump began, and it’s ending with Mitt behind by 48-46%, which represents about a 3.5% improvement. That’s an impressive achievement for Mitt, given that he was all but written off by the national media and some influential people in his party. I don’t know why. This race was always going to be close and gaffes and debate horrors were not going to change that dynamic.
As for the electoral college, Mitt has again made gains by taking a lead in North Carolina, but that’s about it. Recent polls have shown him leading in Florida, Colorado and New Hampshire, but he’ll need a more sustained run of polls with him ahead to convince me that he’s got a solid margin. In addition, the electoral math is more difficult for Romney than the president. Even if he wins Ohio, Florida and Virginia, he’ll still need to win one of New Hampshire, Colorado or Iowa. None of those states is even remotely a given for him, with Ohio being the most difficult due to Mitt’s opposition to the auto bailout.
This brings us to Tuesday’s debate. It’s not possible for Mitt to do any better than he was perceived in Denver, mainly because he’s likely to get serious opposition from Obama. The best he can hope for is a small victory, but even that would be a loss because Obama’s performance will probably enthuse the Democrats to the point where the polls begin to rebound, much as they did towards Mitt after the first debate. If Obama is the clear winner, then his numbers should recover more substantially. Where will they land? If that scenario does indeed occur, I could see Obama ahead by 1.5-2.5% by next Sunday.
Mitt Romney is known for attacking President Obama on China’s Trade policies. He often tells his audiences that the President is not strong on China and if he were president, he would “crack down” on China’s unfair policies.
But what is Mitt Romney doing while the company he started – Bain Capital – is currently firing Americans and sending their jobs to China? Absolutely nothing.
Right now, as in today, Bain Capital is outsourcing jobs from Sensata Tech in Freeport Illinois. And to rub salt in the wounds of the American employees of Sensata, Romney’s Bain Capital brought workers from China to Sensata, and told the Sensata’s employees to train their Chinese replacements.
And get this – Romney’s Bain even replaced the American flag at the plant with a Chinese flag!
Thinking that Romney would stop this outsourcing of their jobs and keep the factory open, the employees at Sensata made a personal appeal to Mitt Romney, but so far, the Republican nominee for president has done nothing and refuses to meet with the employees. Instead, his campaign is blaming President Obama.
Curt Cashour, a spokesman for the Romney campaign had this to say;
“Governor Romney has not worked at Bain Capital for over a decade, but for four years President Obama has been presiding over an economy that is creating too few jobs and sending more jobs overseas. Despite the President being invested in Sensata through his personal pension fund, and the government owning a major Sensata customer in GM, President Obama has not used his powers to help this situation in any way.”
Outsourcing these jobs mean cheaper labor in China, thus, more money for Bain and their investors, including Mitt Romney. The New York Times had a report explaining why an intervention from Mitt Romney is highly unlikely.
Mr. Romney also has millions invested in a series of Bain funds that have a controlling stake in Sensata Technologies, a manufacturer of sensors and controls for vehicles, aircraft and electric motors that employs 4,000 workers in China. Since Bain took over the operation in 2006, its investment has quadrupled in value. Bain continues to own $2.6 billion worth of Sensata’s shares.
Two years ago, Sensata bought an operation that made automobile sensors in Freeport, Ill. At the first meeting with the plant’s 170 workers, Sensata managers announced that by the end of 2012 all the equipment and jobs would be relocated, mostly to Jiangsu Province. Workers have staged demonstrations, pleading for Mr. Romney to intervene on their behalf.
Chinese engineers, flown to Freeport for training on the equipment, described their salaries as a pittance compared with Freeport wages. Tom Gaulrapp, who has operated machines at the factory for 33 years, said he fears he will go bankrupt after he loses his job on Nov. 5.
“This goes to show the unbelievable hypocrisy of this man,” he said of Mr. Romney.“He talks about how we need to get tough on China and stop China from taking our jobs, and then he is making money off shipping our jobs there.”
So of course he is not going to stop this outsourcing from happening. But if you listen to Romney on the campaign trail, he still claims that he “will be tough on China.”
With a little over three weeks to go in the election and the polls dramatically tightening, Bruce Springsteenhas decided to hit the campaign trail in support of President Barack Obama. Springsteen will campaign alongside Bill Clinton at a campaign rally in Parma, Ohio on Thursday, October 18th. That same day, he’ll appear at another event in Ames, Iowa.
“Bruce Springsteen’s values echo what the President and Vice President stand for: hard work, fairness, integrity,” said Jim Messina, Obama for America’s campaign manager, in a statement. “His appearances will help with our get out the vote effort in these critical swing states and we are thrilled with his ongoing support.”
“Every year around this time, American car companies start rolling out their newest, shiniest models, hoping to entice you into buying one. It’s Detroit’s chance to show you what they’ve been working on – the latest and greatest. And this year is no exception. They’ve got some pretty good-looking cars coming out.
But something is different this time around – and it starts with the auto companies themselves.
Just a few years ago, the auto industry wasn’t just struggling – it was flatlining. GM and Chrysler were on the verge of collapse. Suppliers and distributors were at risk of going under. More than a million jobs across the country were on the line – and not just auto jobs, but the jobs of teachers, small business owners, and everyone in communities that depend on this great American industry.
But we refused to throw in the towel and do nothing. We refused to let Detroit go bankrupt. We bet on American workers and American ingenuity, and three years later, that bet is paying off in a big way.”
Move along folks, there’s nothing to see here. Just another story pointing out something you’ve all heard before and know for a fact – that Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate and his running mate Paul Ryan, both lie.
In this posting, you’ll see Paul Ryan denying that he requested Stimulus funds, only to admit that he did in fact, asked for funds on two different occasions. This admission came when Ryan’s back was against the wall in the vice-presidential debate.
The right-wing is having a hissy fit today. Just moments after the vice presidential debate ended, the Republican talkers received their talking-points and hit the waves with one intent – trying to fool their followers into thinking that Paul Ryan won the debate. Personally I missed the debate because of some other pressing issues I had to deal with, but if the Republican fallout is any indication, Vice President Joe Biden cleaned the stage with Paul Ryan.
Fifty percent of uncommitted voters who tuned into Thursday night’s vice presidential debate in Danville, Ky., said they see Vice President Joe Biden as the winner over Mitt Romney’s GOP running mate Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., according to an instant poll taken by CBS News.
Of the 431 polled immediately following the debate, 31 percent deemed Ryan the winner, and 19 percent said they felt it was a tie. Party-wise it’s a switch from last week’s presidential debate, which uncommitted voters handed easily to Romney over President Obama.
Both Biden and Ryan gained ground on relatability and knowledge. The percentage of voters who say they believe they can relate to Biden spiked from 34 percent before the debate to 55 percent; 48 percent think Ryan is relatable, up from 31 percent before the debate. Meanwhile, after watching the two candidates debate, 85 percent of those polled think Biden is knowledgeable about the issues; 75 percent say that about Ryan.
Ryan, though, faced a loss among voters’ opinions of which candidate would be an effective president, if necessary. Before the debate, he led Biden 45 percent to 39 percent; after the debate, 56 percent of those polled said Biden would be an effective president, with fewer – 49 percent–saying the same about Ryan.
[I am] a combat veteran of two tours in Vietnam with twenty-two years of service as a Republican member of the U.S. House and Senate, I endorse President Barack Obama for a second term as our Commander-in-Chief. Candidates publicly praise our service members, veterans and their families, but President Obama supports them in word and deed, anywhere and every time.
As a Vietnam vet, one of the reasons I support President Obama is because he has consistently shown he understands that our commitment to our servicemen and women may begin when they put on their uniform, but that it must never end.
This decision is not easy for any lifelong Republican. In 2008 I voted for Barack Obama, the first time I ever voted for a Democrat, because the Republican Party was drifting toward a dangerous path that put extreme party ideology above national interest. Mitt Romney heads a party remaining on that dangerous path, proving the emptiness of their praise as they abandon our service members, veterans and military families along the way.
What really set me off was Romney’s reference to 47% of Americans to be written off – including any veteran collecting disability like myself, as a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) veteran.
A Wisconsin state lawmaker endorsed by Paul Ryan has come under criticism for suggesting that “some girls rape easy.” While discussing a case in which “a 17-year-old high school senior was charged with sexual assault for having sex with an underage girl in the school’s band room,” State Rep. Roger Rivard (R) told the Chetek Alert newspaper in December that his father taught him that some girls will portray a sexual encounter as rape if they become pregnant. He is now claiming that those remarks were taken out of context and has issued a statement condemning sexual violence:
On Wednesday, Rivard told the Journal Sentinel the article did not provide full context of his comments and that his father’s exact words had been slightly different from how they appeared in the Chetek Alert.
He told the Journal Sentinel that his father had advised him not to have premarital sex, and he took that seriously.
“He also told me one thing, ‘If you do (have premarital sex), just remember, consensual sex can turn into rape in an awful hurry,’ ” Rivard said. “Because all of a sudden a young lady gets pregnant and the parents are madder than a wet hen and she’s not going to say, ‘Oh, yeah, I was part of the program.’ All that she has to say or the parents have to say is it was rape because she’s underage. And he just said, ‘Remember, Roger, if you go down that road, some girls,’ he said, ‘they rape so easy.’
“What the whole genesis of it was, it was advice to me, telling me, ‘If you’re going to go down that road, you may have consensual sex that night and then the next morning it may be rape.’ So the way he said it was, ‘Just remember, Roger, some girls, they rape so easy. It may be rape the next morning.’
“So it’s been kind of taken out of context.”
Ryan endorsed Rivard on August 9, just two days before he was selected to be Mitt Romney’s running mate. “Roger needs to be reaffirmed to get this job done and fix the State of Wisconsin,” Ryan said.
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