The American people deserves to know all there is to know about the candidates running for President. But the Republican nominee, Mitt Willard Romney, is still trying to hold out, hoping against all hopes that his tax issues would just go away. But not if Team Obama has anything to do with it.
The President’s re-election campaign has come out with another ad explaining to middle class Americans what it will mean if Mitt Romney and his billionaire friends get another tax cut – “… you pay more!”
A few new polls over the past couple of days continue to indicate a close race nationally and an increasing lead for president Obama in many of the key swing states. Mitt Romney has had a rocky week stemming from his overseas trip, where gaffes, not policy, became the main story.
The main headline poll from today comes courtesy of Quinnipiac/The New York Times/CBS News and shows Obama with leads in Florida (51-45%), Ohio (50-44%), and Pennsylvania (53-42%). The poll was of likely voters and was conducted during the last week of July.
On balance, the poll results are good news for the Obama campaign, which has faced rather dismal economic numbers and the president’s negative approval ratings. Most Americans polled also say that the country is on the wrong track.
So why is Obama still ahead? Much has been made of the likeability factor and the political ads that the Obama campaign has been running in the swing states that are savaging Romney’s business experience and his decision not to release more than two year of tax returns. These are not necessarily the kinds of issues that win or lose elections, but they are successful tools in defining an opponent who has not yet defined himself. Once the conventions are over and the real campaigning starts, the side issues will probably fade and Romney’s disparaging of the London Olympics will go the way of his wife’s Cadillacs and the size of trees in Michigan. Obama will have to defend an economy that is barely growing and a growing sense that perhaps the United States needs a new direction.
This poll’s party breakdown is solid in Florida, slightly favors Democrats in Ohio and undercounts Democrats in Pennsylvania, so the Ohio numbers might be overstated, but the other state figures are probably as reliable as a 95% confidence rate can establish.
For example, Q/NYT/CBS has party affiliation in Florida as D 42/R 36/I 20 while the latest figures from Florida show a D 41/R 36/I 23. Pretty good.
In Ohio, the poll has D 42/R 35/I 20 while the actual breakdown is D 36/R 37/I 27, so there’s a bit of a Democratic overstatement.
In Pennsylvania, the poll has D 46/R 40/I 11 and the actual voter registration shows D 51/R 37/I 12. This undercounts Democrats and overcounts Republicans, meaning that if Romney wants to win here, he’ll need a more concerted effort. It’s not out of the question, but time is of the essence.
In all three states, Barack Obama’s favorable ratings are in the low 50’s, while Romney’s are in the high 30s and low 40s. Florida and Pennsylvania voters say that their state’s economy is getting worse, while Ohio voters say theirs is getting better (which it is, statistically).
The complete results are here.
Another poll, this time out of Michigan (EPIC-MRA for the Detroit Free Press), shows the president ahead of Romney by 48-42%, a result that is in line with other pollsters, notably Rasmussen, and seems to suggest that Michigan will stay blue this year. As is the case with most state polls, the fact that Obama is running at under 50% in a reelection year has to concern him, especially since he’s been running hard on his saving Detroit’s automobile industry. The issue with this poll is that it doesn’t have any breakdowns associated with it, so it’s difficult to assess how accurate the methods and results are. That it mirrors other recent Michigan polls is helpful, but it would be nice to see some internal numbers.
The best news for Romney comes from Arizona, where a new PPP Poll has him ahead 52-41%, and a Rasmussen Poll of Missouri showing Mitt with a 50-44% lead.
We are fast approaching events which will have more profound effects on the race, with Romney’s Vice Presidential pick, the GOP Convention later this month and the Democratic Convention in September. It will be interesting to see how these affect the race. I suspect that Romney will gain enough of a bounce to make the swing states more competitive.
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President Obama used this week’s presidential address to continue his push on Congressional Republicans who are determined on raising taxes on the middle class come January.
Republicans have said, once again, that they will not cut taxes for hardworking middle class Americans if their friends in the richest 2% can’t get their taxes cut as well.
The President:
Now it comes down to this: If 218 Members of the House vote the right way, 98% of American families and 97% of small business owners will have the certainty of knowing that their income taxes will not go up next year.
But right now, that’s not the case. Instead of doing what’s right for middle class families and small business owners, Republicans in Congress are holding these tax cuts hostage until we extend tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
Thanks to a certain “news” station, President Obama’s Faith is still a puzzle to many Americans… or maybe they prefer to keep it a puzzle. Although there are well documented examples of the President’s Christian belief, there are still people out there who think Mr. Obama as a Muslim and others claim they simply do not know what his religion is.
We will chalk up this dumbing down of Americans to the good ole boys over at Fox News. With News stations like Fox, who needs a propaganda machine?
Forty-nine percent of voters identify President Obama as a Christian, a new poll says, and the others say that they don’t know or that he is a Muslim.
“Nearly four years into his presidency the view that Barack Obama is Muslim persists,” says the survey from the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life.
According to the poll on religion and politics, 17% say Obama is a Muslim, while 31% say they do not know his religion.
“Fewer say Obama is Christian — and more say he is Muslim — than did so in October 2008, near the end of the last presidential campaign,” Pew reported. “The increase since 2008 is particularly concentrated among conservative Republicans, about a third of whom (34%) describe the president as a Muslim.”
For the first time in his administration, President Obama directly address guns and the violence that is caused when irresponsible individuals get their hands on a weapon. Mr. Obama spoke at the National Urban League Convention and mentioned the recent shooting in Aurora Colorado where 12 people were killed in a movie theater.
The President acknowledged the difficult road ahead given the fact that this Congress and previous Congresses are and were in the pocket of gun lobbyist.
Mitt Romney sat down with CNBC’s Larry Kudlow, and made a curious observation. He said voters who want a strong economy should vote for him, but Americans “ought to give, whichever president is going to be elected, at least six months or a year to get those policies in place.”
At first blush, that may sound fairly reasonable. A president takes office, he or she needs time to put a team in place, craft an agenda, and get to work. What’s more, we generally don’t see the results of economic policies immediately; the agenda needs time to take effect. In Romney’s mind, six months to a year seems fair.
But let’s go ahead and apply this standard to President Obama, who took office in the midst of the worst global economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. Hey, look, here’s a new chart I put together.
So according to Mittens, President Obama is doing pretty good. Six months after he was sworn into office, almost three million jobs were created. And in February 20, 2010 – one year after the President took office, almost 4 million jobs were created.
Contrast that to George Bush, who spent 8 years in office to see a little over 3 million jobs created.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul will shrink rather than increase the nation’s huge federal deficits over the next decade, Congress’ nonpartisan budget scorekeepers said Tuesday, supporting Obama’s contention in a major election-year dispute with Republicans.
About 3 million fewer uninsured people will gain health coverage because of last month’s Supreme Court ruling granting states more leeway, and that will cut the federal costs by $84 billion, the Congressional Budget Office said in the biggest changes from earlier estimates.
Republicans have insisted that “Obamacare” will actually raise deficits — by “trillions,” according to presidential candidate Mitt Romney. But that’s not so, the budget office said.
The office gave no updated estimate for total deficit reductions from the law, approved by Congress and signed by Obama in 2010. But it did estimate that Republican legislation to repeal the overhaul — passed recently by the House — would itself boost the deficit by $109 billion from 2013 to 2022.
The new ad by the Obama campaign takes the focus off Mitt Romney’s vulture career at Bain Capital for the moment, and looked instead at the difference between candidates. The President explains what a Romney presidency would be like, saying that Romney would take us back to the same “Trickle-Down Economic concept,” tired (and failed) by George Bush.
10:44 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Well, let me, first of all, say how grateful I am for all of you being here, and how much we appreciate everything that you’ve done. I know that there are a lot of people here who have been so engaged in the campaign, have sacrificed so much, people who’ve been involved back since 2007. (Applause.) And so I want all of you to know how appreciative I am.
And I know many of you came here today for a campaign event. I was looking forward to having a fun conversation with you about some really important matters that we face as a country and the differences between myself and my opponent in this election. But this morning, we woke up to news of a tragedy that reminds us of all the ways that we are united as one American family.
By now, many of you know, many of you have heard that a few miles outside of Denver in a town call Aurora, at least 12 people were killed when a gunman opened fire in a movie theater, and dozens more are being treated for injuries at a local hospital. Some of the victims are being treated at a children’s hospital.
We’re still gathering all the facts about what happened in Aurora, but what we do know is that the police have one suspect in custody. And the federal government stands ready to do whatever is necessary to bring whoever is responsible for this heinous crime to justice. (Applause.) And we will take every step possible to ensure the safety of all of our people.
We’re going to stand by our neighbors in Colorado during this extraordinarily difficult time. And I had a chance to speak with the Mayor of Aurora as well as the Governor of Colorado to express, not just on behalf of Michelle and myself, but the entire American family, how heartbroken we are.
Now, even as we learn how this happened and who’s responsible, we may never understand what leads anybody to terrorize their fellow human beings like this. Such violence, such evil is senseless. It’s beyond reason. But while we will never know fully what causes somebody to take the life of another, we do know what makes life worth living. The people we lost in Aurora loved and they were loved. They were mothers and fathers; they were husbands and wives; sisters and brothers; sons and daughters, friends and neighbors. They had hopes for the future and they had dreams that were not yet fulfilled.
And if there’s anything to take away from this tragedy it’s the reminder that life is very fragile. Our time here is limited and it is precious. And what matters at the end of the day is not the small things, it’s not the trivial things, which so often consume us and our daily lives. Ultimately, it’s how we choose to treat one another and how we love one another. (Applause.)
It’s what we do on a daily basis to give our lives meaning and to give our lives purpose. That’s what matters. At the end of the day, what we’ll remember will be those we loved and what we did for others. That’s why we’re here.
I’m sure that many of you who are parents here had the same reaction that I did when I heard this news. My daughters go to the movies. What if Malia and Sasha had been at the theater, as so many of our kids do every day? Michelle and I will be fortunate enough to hug our girls a little tighter tonight, and I’m sure you will do the same with your children. But for those parents who may not be so lucky, we have to embrace them and let them know we will be there for them as a nation.
So, again, I am so grateful that all of you are here. I am so moved by your support. But there are going to be other days for politics. This, I think, is a day for prayer and reflection.
So what I’d ask everybody to do, I’d like us to pause in a moment of silence for the victims of this terrible tragedy, for the people who knew them and loved them, for those who are still struggling to recover, and for all the victims of less publicized acts of violence that plague our communities every single day. So if everybody can just take a moment.
(Moment of silence.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. I hope all of you will keep the people of Aurora in your hearts and minds today. May the Lord bring them comfort and healing in hard days to come.
I am grateful to all of you, and I hope that as a consequence of today’s events, as you leave here, you spend a little time thinking about the incredible blessings that God has given us.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, Obama! (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. God bless the United States of America.
Recently, President Obama made a statement that is now being attacked by the Republicans and Mitt Flip Romney alike. The President said that successful businesses did not become successful solely on their own efforts, but owes their success in part to the help of others like employees, the roads leading to their buildings, the internet and more factors that help bring products and consumers.
What the President said made absolute sense. He was not talking about the initial idea or the investment a business owner makes, he was talking about the community that comes together to make entrepreneurs profitable. Even Mitt Romney thought what the President said made perfect sense and he too started repeating the President’s words… until he realized he could do some selective editing and use those words to attack Mr. Obama.
The video below shows the lying hypocrisy of Mitt Romney.
Mitt Romney is demanding an apology from President Obama for what he claims are actions that are beneath the dignity of his office. Romney was referring to suggestions by President Obama’s Deputy Campaign Manager – Stephanie Cutter, that Romney may have violated the laws and indulged in criminal activities for lying to the SEC.
This was too much for the apparent morally advanced Mitt Flip Romney. He went on five different television news shows on Friday denying all connections with Bain Capital during the time Stephanie Cutter mentioned. Furthermore, Romney wants the President to apologies to him for “the kinds of attacks that are coming from his team.”
“The president needs to take control of these people. He ought to disavow it and rein in these people who are running out of control. He sure as heck ought to say that he’s sorry for the kinds of attacks that are coming from his team.”
So naturally, the President’s campaign team put this video together as an answer to Romney’s pleas.
It only makes sense, right? If Republicans and Democrats agree that the middle class should continue their tax cuts in January, then they should both come together now and pass an extension to the Tax law for the middle class. Where the two parties have a problem has to do with the tax cuts for the rich – those making more than $250,000.00 a year. Republicans want those taxes extended, President Obama and the Democrats want those tax cuts ended.
The message the President gave in this week’s Presidential Address was one of compromise: Let’s work together on the tax cuts for the middle class because we believe those taxes should be extended then deal with the rich at a later date.
The only place we disagree is whether we keep giving tax cuts to the wealthiest 2% of Americans. Republicans in Washington want more of those tax cuts. With the deficit we have, I don’t think we can afford them.
But even if we disagree on the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, we all agree that no American should pay more taxes on the first $250,000 of their income. So let’s at least agree to do what we all agree on. That’s what compromise is all about. Let’s not hold the vast majority of Americans and our entire economy hostage while we debate the merits of another tax cut for the wealthy. Let’s skip the unnecessary drama, the needless delays and all the partisan posturing and let’s just do the right thing for the people who sent us here to serve.
