It was a long road back, but President Obama is now back in positive territory in our TPM Poll Average. The shift comes on the heels of a completed Iraq withdrawal, a legislative win on the payroll tax cut before Christmas, and perhaps most importantly, good economic numbers in January and early February. The President’s…
Category: Election 2012
GOP Construction of a Fictional “Obama” Has Taken a Turn to the Absurd
Contrary to the fictional stories told by Republicans, the president has cut taxes (taxes are lower under Obama than they were under Ronald Reagan, and the tax burden on Americans is the lowest it’s been since 1950), raised the military budget, been more aggressive in fighting Islamist militants than his predecessor (bin Laden and numerous…
Second White Nationalist Appearing At CPAC
Though gay conservatives arent welcome at the Conservative Political Action Confrence this year, at least two white nationalists are appearing at the yearly conservative confab. One is Peter Brimelow, founded of the nativist site VDARE which publishes the works of white nationalists like Jared Taylor, and the other is Robert Vandervoort, who runs a group called…
All measures of unemployment are falling
Mitt Romney is in a tough political spot: He can’t seem unhappy about a falling unemployment rate. But he can’t be too laudatory about an economic recovery that appears to be strengthening on President Obama’s watch. And so he’s embraced a third option: arguing that “if you take into account all the people who are…
Obama holds edge over Romney in general election matchup, poll finds
Boosted by improved public confidence in his economic stewardship, President Obama for the first time holds a clear edge over Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in a hypothetical general-election matchup, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Romney, who notched his second consecutive victory Saturday by easily winning the Nevada caucuses, continues to solidify…
Nevada Republican Voters Asked: What Would It Take For You To Support Barack Obama?
In order to understand how deeply ingrained Republican hatred for President Barack Obama truly is, you need only ask one question: What would the president have to do to win your support? It’s rhetorical. There is nothing the president could do, save become a Republican himself, to placate many angry Republican voters. But when asked…
Did Obama make the economy worse? Not according to most statistics
For example, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office found that the economic stimulus Obama signed into law added — in the 4th quarter of 2009 — between 1 million and 2 million employed workers and boosted the GDP between 1.5% to 3.5% higher than it would have been without the stimulus. In addition, a more recent…
Why Millions of Americans Have No Government ID
Several states have tightened voting requirements, making it mandatory to show a form of government-issued photo ID before casting a ballot. But millions of Americans don’t have a government ID. Host Michel Martin talks with NPR’s Corey Dade about who is least likely to have one and why. READ/LISTEN: via Why Millions of Americans Have…
Romney Serenades Crowd
I don’t usually like to comment on the GOP all that much, but this was just a bit too weird. Not the song itself, but the act of singing it seemed awkward and out of place. Watch the video here:
Democrats prime recruits to try to take back the House
Just 15 months after taking a thumping in the 2010 midterm elections, House Democrats have seized on the current anti-Washington fervor and are confident they can win the 25 seats they need to regain control of the House. Vice President Joe Biden made a bold prediction on Friday, telling House Democrats at their annual retreat…
An Argument Obama Can Win
There are some Republicans who can’t wait to take the issue of Buffett’s tax rate vs. Bosanek’s head-on. They are eager to argue that one of the world’s richest men deserves to pay a lower rate because his income derives from job-creating investments. These Republicans presumably consider his secretary a mere salaried employee who spends…
Five policies to watch from Obama’s State of the Union
Obama proposed much more policy, of course. You can see it all in Wonkblog’s policy-only edit of the speech. But the caveat to almost every idea he offered is the same: Most all of them require congressional cooperation. Cooperation the Obama administration is not likely to get. All tax bills, for instance, must originate in…
Tax rates of presidential candidates, in one chart
Late on Monday, Mitt Romney released his 2010 tax returns, showing that he paid 13.9 percent of his income in federal taxes. His rate is relatively low because most of his money comes from investment income, which is taxed at a lower rate than wages. But how does Romney stack up to previous presidential candidates?…
Perrys standing diminished in Texas
Rick Perry had fallen so far by the end of his Presidential campaign that its not even clear he could have defeated Barack Obama in Texas. Our poll of the state last weekend found Perry leading Obama just 48-47, including a 51-44 deficit with independents. Perry had led Obama by 7 points on a September…
Mitt Romney’s Big Obama Jobs Lie
At the Fox News/Wall Street Journal debate Monday night in South Carolina, GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney made a breathtakingly bogus claim about President Obama’s jobs record. “We have a president in office three years,” Romney claimed, “and he does not have a jobs plan yet.” Romney is either suffering from selective amnesia or is trying…
Romney’s Father Was Illegal Mexican Immigrant
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney may be in the lead in the Palmetto state, but that doesn’t mean South Carolinians necessarily like him. During a Fox News debate at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center on Monday, the Republican audience booed loudly after being told that Romney’s father was born in Mexico. In a report last…
Fox Promotes Dubious Claim That 900 Deceased People Voted In SC
But Election Official Who Introduced The Statistic Reportedly Said Absentee Ballots Or Data Errors Could Be The Cause Palmetto Public Record: DMV Director Schwedo “Said Those 900 Voters Could Easily Have Voted Absentee Before Their Deaths.” From a January 12 Palmetto Public Record (SC) article: Supporters of the new Voter ID law are alleging fraud…
GOP Candidate Passed Off ‘Home Economics’ Degree As ‘Economics’ Degree
Missouri gubernatorial candidate Dave Spence liked to tout his “economics” degree on his website and at campaign events — but in reality his degree was less about bookkeeping and more about housekeeping. Until Thursday, Spence (R) had claimed on his campaign website that he “earned a degree in Economics” from the University of Missouri (screenshot…
“You don’t have to convince me, senator, I don’t think you’re a bigot.”
Earlier this week, the former Pennsylvania senator was caught on video telling a crowd in Iowa that he didn’t “want to make black people’s lives better by giving them other people’s money.” In an interview on Fox News Wednesday, Santorum told Bill O’Reilly that everyone just misheard what he said. via Santorum: I never said…
GOP Candidates Double Down on Race Card
Speaking to a crowd at New Hampshire on Thursday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich suggested that African Americans would rather collect food stamps than find employment. “I will go to the NAACP convention, and tell the African-American community why they should demand paychecks instead of food stamps,” he said, according to Slate journalist Dave Weigel….