Last May, in a much-touted speech in Iowa, Romney used language that was literally inflammatory to describe America’s federal borrowing. “A prairie fire of debt is sweeping across Iowa and our nation,” he declared. “Every day we fail to act, that fire gets closer to the homes and children we love.” Our collective debt is…
Category: Election 2012
Obama Up by 4 Points Among Likely Voters (58% of Americans Say He’d Take Romney in a Fight)
With fifty-four days to go, voter opinions are coming into focus, and Esquire and Yahoo! News have joined forces to examine how voters view the presidential candidates and how President Obama and Mitt Romney conduct themselves: Who do you trust to take us to war? Who better understands American families? Who’s a bigger liar? What…
Romney Asked VP Shortlisters for Ten Years of Tax Returns
As part of its vetting, the Romney campaign required at least some of the candidates on the short list—including the eventual winner of the GOP veepstakes, Ryan—to submit fully 10 years of tax returns, according to a knowledgeable source. The requirement was consistent with the past practices of both Republican and Democratic campaigns. Indeed, in…
The Romney campaign gets desperate
When campaigns are losing, they get desperate. And when they get desperate, they make riskier political decisions. And so, Tuesday night, the Romney campaign made a risky decision. They released this statement: I’m outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in…
Pizza Shop Owner Scott Van Duzer on Bear-Hugging President Obama
What’s your reaction to the angry people who are flooding your restaurant’s Yelp page with bad reviews because you hugged the president? You see the good and bad in people. That’s what’s wrong with our country. I tell people, whether you’re Republican or Democrat, he’s both of our president. He should be treated with respect,…
Romney’s Insensitivity To LGBT People: ‘I Didn’t Know You Had Families’
David Wilson and Julie Goodridge, two of the plaintiffs whose case led to the legalization of marriage equality in Massachusetts, described meeting with Romney to discuss their experiences. According to Wilson, “it was like talking to a robot. No expression, no feeling.” At one point, Romney remarked, “I didn’t know you had families.” Goodridge recalls…
The GOP Throws a Tampa Tantrum
A major American political party, shorn of all moderating influence, has finally, unalterably, gone insane. The striking thing is how many of the estimated 15,000 journalists who were with me in Tampa for the 2012 convention were missing this story of a lifetime—one sixty years in the making. To be fair, the dramaturgy confused a…
Ann Romney Contradicts RNC Speech, Admits Privilege
A decidedly off-message statement from Ann Romney on Sunday’s Meet the Press was overlooked by the media, since everyone focused on Mitt Romney’s false claim that he would make sure people with prior conditions can purchase health insurance. Ann Romney made a noteworthy admission in the same interview, and the Progressive Change Committee is launching…
Romneys Shifting Stance On Health Law Makes Waves
The GOP presidential nominee’s comments Sunday that he would keep parts of the health law triggered questions about how he would cover those with pre-existing conditions, and reinforced doubts within his own party about his commitment to repealing the overhaul. Campaign aides attempted to clarify the comments. The New York Times: It Will Be Tricky…
Romney Says He Supports Popular Obamacare Provisions On NBC, Quietly Reverses Hours Later On Conservative Website
This morning on NBC, Mitt Romney said that “there are a number of things that I like” about Obamacare and suggested he would retain: 1. The guarantee that insurance companies couldn’t discriminate against people with pre-exisiting conditions, and 2. The provision that allows young adults to stay on their parents plan. Watch it: Just hours…
Obama Fundraising Edges Out Romney In August : NPR
President Obama and Democrats pulled slightly ahead of Mitt Romney and Republicans in monthly fundraising in August for the first time in four months. Obama raised more than $114 million in August, and Romney brought in just over $111 million. The two campaigns announced their fundraising numbers early Monday. It’s a sharp increase for Obama,…
Republicans, the Post-Truth Party
The acceptance speeches by Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney at the GOP convention were only slightly more grounded in reality than Clint Eastwood’s conversation with an empty chair. Ryan is infamous for his pack of lies, from the attempt to blame President Obama for the closing of a Wisconsin GM factory that began shutting down…
Michelle Obama’s DNC Speech Written at 7 Grade Levels Above Ann Romney’s
The First Lady’s speech Tuesday was written at a 12th grade level – the highest in history among the wives of presidential nominees and far above Ann Romney’s lowest mark of a 5th grade level Although her husband has delivered some of the simplest State of the Union speeches over the last 75+ years –…
GOP Nominee Ryan: I Didnt Vote For The Defense Cuts I Voted For
Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan has gotten in hot water before for criticizing President Obama for the very same defense cuts that he voted for in 2011. When confronted with this incongruity today on Face The Nation, Ryan simply denied that he ever voted for the cuts, telling an incredulous Norah O’Donnell that he didn’t actually vote…
A Tale of Two Conventions
Not too far from the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, a local art gallery is featuring an exhibit called “Divided State of America,” but it’s not necessary to trek to this space to contemplate the deep divisions within the nation. You need only spend a few nanoseconds at the Democratic presidential convention, after experiencing a…
The night Democrats reclaimed “Obamacare”
There’s been a major development in health-care politics over the last few months. The Obama administration and the Republicans came to an agreement on health reform. Not the law itself — they’re still at each other’s throats over that. But they finally agree on how to refer to it. Nowadays, both sides are calling it…
The Federal Bailout That Saved Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney likes to say he won’t “apologize” for his success in business. But what he never says is “thank you” – to the American people – for the federal bailout of Bain & Company that made so much of his outsize wealth possible. According to the candidate’s mythology, Romney took leave of his duties…
Since When Did Paul Ryan Become a Liar?
Ryan seems to have fallen victim to circumstances he didn’t quite foresee. The Romney campaign has spent the last several weeks practically daring the national press corps to call out its lies. Well beyond the usual exaggerations of a national campaign, Romney has built its entire message around two accusations — “you didn’t build that”…
A very strange argument for Mitt Romney
Here is what Romney, so far in this campaign, has said. No changes to any entitlement programs for any seniors for the next 10 years. No specifics on how quickly his Medicare vouchers will grow for future seniors. No specifics on which tax breaks he’ll eliminate in order to offset the multi-trillion dollar cost of…
The US Chamber of Commerce’s Multimillion-Dollar Attack Plan
Watchdog groups believe the strategy in 2012 is similar to that of 2010: the Chamber goes into a district, blitzes it with attack ads to soften up the opposition and then steps back to let other deep-pocket groups come in. The intent is to force Democrats to play defense across the board, thus spreading their…