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Friday, August 3, 2012


First Thoughts: Team Romney's big ad-spending advantage


Team Romney’s big ad-spending advantage… This week alone, it’s outspending Team Obama nearly 2-to-1… And that advantage has been present for much of the past month… But it’s a different story on Hispanic TV… This week’s 10 hottest advertising markets… Obama hammers Romney on taxes… How does the Romney camp respond (beyond hitting the Tax Policy Center)?... On the trail: Romney stumps in Colorado, while Obama campaigns in Florida and Virginia… And what the Chick-fil-A controversy tells us.
Kacper Pempel / REUTERS
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivers foreign policy remarks at the University of Warsaw Library, July 31.
*** Team Romney’s big ad-spending advantage: While it’s technically correct that the Obama campaign is outspending the Romney campaign in TV advertising in the battleground states, you can’t say the same thing when adding all the outside groups. Right now, Team Romney -- the campaign, the RNC, and all the GOP-leaning outside groups -- is outspending Team Obama (campaign, DNC, outside groups) this week by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, $25 million to $14 million. That $25 million, in fact, is more than we’ve seen from one side during any other week this cycle. Here’s the full breakdown on this week’s ad spending (from July 30 to Aug. 5), according to data from SMG Delta: Obama $12.8 million, Crossroads GPS $9.7 million, Romney $8.1 million, Restore Our Future $3.8 million, RNC $2.5 million, Priorities USA $1 million, American Crossroads $940,000. Note that Crossroads GPS is outspending the Romney camp right now, and the Koch Brothers’ Americans for Prosperity has booked a multimillion buy slated to begin next week.


*** And it’s been that way for the past month: What’s more, Team Romney has enjoyed this ad-spending edge for much of the past month. Last week (starting July 23), for example, it was Team Romney’s $22 million vs. Team Obama’s nearly $15 million; the week before that (July 16), it was Team Romney’s $19 million vs. Team Obama’s $10 million; and the week before that (July 9), it was Team Romney’s $13 million vs. Team Obama’s $9 million. You have to go back to July 2 to see when there was true parity between the two advertising forces. So while some -- like Karl Rove in today’s Wall Street Journal -- might observe that the Obama campaign’s ad spending hasn’t really moved the needle, you could also make another argument. For the past month, Team Romney has enjoyed a sizable ad-spending advantage, and that hasn’t moved the needle, either. (And considering what’s popping inside some of the polls, you can make an argument that Team Obama appears to be, for now, getting more bang for its buck.)

                             isit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Time's Rick Stengel joins Morning Joe to discuss why this year's race for the White House will be both the most expensive campaign in history and the most negative campaign in history.
*** But it’s a different story on Hispanic TV: Yet one place where Team Obama has a definite ad-spending edge over Team Romney is on Hispanic media -- a total of $6.1 million to $521,000. Here’s the breakdown on Hispanic media to date: Obama campaign $3.6 million, SEIU/Priority USA $2.5 million, and Romney camp $521,000. By the way, this week is Romney’s first major expenditure on Hispanic TV; it had bought an occasional market here or there this summer, but this week marks the campaign’s first full entry into the Hispanic arena in a slew of states. In fact, here’s a current market-by-market snapshot of this ad spending for this week:
Orlando (Obama$68K, Romney $20K)
Denver (Obama $66K, Romney $21K)
Las Vegas (Obama $46K, Romney $16K)
Miami (Obama $37K, Romney $12K)
Washington DC (Obama $34K)
Tampa (Obama $31k)
Reno (Obama $24K, Romney $4K)
Colorado Springs (Obama $19K, Romney $4K)
Cleveland (Obama$10K, Romney $5K)
Raleigh (Romney $7K)
Columbus (Obama $5K)
Richmond (Obama $4K)
*** This week’s 10 hottest markets: And speaking of markets, here’s our weekly look at the 10 hottest advertising markets of the week (in terms of advertising points from July 30 to Aug. 5). The observations here: Three of the top 10 markets are in Ohio, including top-ranked Cincinnati (if you’ve ever wondered whatever became of your attack ads, they are living on the air in Cincinnati); three are in Virginia; two are in Nevada, including Las Vegas, which makes its first appearance on our list; and two are in Colorado, which comes back to our list after the Aurora shooting. Two battleground states NOT on this list: North Carolina and Iowa.


1. Cincinnati, OH (Obama 1600, Romney 1100, Crossroads 880, RNC 190, ROF 275)
2. Richmond-Petersburg, VA (Obama 1300, Romney 1200, Crossroads 895, RNC 215, ROF/200, Priorities/170)
3. Reno, NV (Crossroads 1500, Obama 1200, Romney 700, RNC 150, ROF 120)
4. Columbus, OH (Obama 1300, Romney 1000, Crossroads 700, RNC 200, ROF 200, Priorities 200)
5. Colorado Springs, CO (Obama 1250, Romney 975, Crossroads 620, RNC 240, ROF 225, Priorities 140)
6. Las Vegas, NV (Obama 1100, Crossroads 1100, Romney 775, RNC 200, ROF 120)
7. Cleveland, OH (Obama 1400, Romney 800, Crossroads 450, RNC 215, Priorities 200, ROF 150)
8. Norfolk-Portsmouth, VA (Obama 1100, Romney 1000, Crossroads 720, RNC 200)
9. Denver, CO (Romney 1100, Obama 700, Crossroads 575, RNC 300, ROF 300, Priorities 250)
10. Roanoke Lynchburg, VA (Obama 1000, Romney 900, Crossroads 700, RNC 200, Priorities/180)
*** Obama hammers Romney on taxes: On the campaign trail, the Romney camp is learning the lesson that if you don’t provide the details of your plan, then others will do that for you. And that’s precisely what Team Obama is doing with this new Tax Policy Center report. “They found that if Gov. Romney wants to keep his word and pay for this [tax] plan then he’d have to cut tax breaks that middle-class families depend on,” Obama said yesterday in Ohio, per NBC’s Ali Weinberg. “The average middle-class family with children, according to this study, would be hit with a tax increase of more than $2,000.” And today, the Obama camp is up with a new TV ad making this same point. It concludes, “Mitt Romney’s middle-class tax increase: He pays less, you pay more.” The Romney campaign’s response to this charge is particularly telling. First, it charged that the non-partisan Tax Policy Center is liberal and that one of the report’s co-authors worked in the Obama White House. (But it turns out that another co-author worked for George W. Bush.) Second, it says that the report underestimates the economic growth that will come with the tax reform, but that’s just an assumption and, well, it’s hard to do math based on assumptions. To their credit, the Tax Policy Center did their best to use any mathematical assumption they could in Romney’s favor and still came to the conclusion that they did.

*** How will the Romney camp respond? With this attack, the Romney campaign faces two choices. One, it could announce what tax loopholes it plans to close to pay for its tax cuts (so the Obama camp and Tax Policy Center aren’t doing it for the campaign). Or two, it could decide that its big tax cuts won’t be paid for. Well, it looks like Team Romney might be choosing Option 1. At 9:30 am, the campaign is hosting a conference call “to discuss Mitt Romney’s plan for a stronger middle class,” according to a press release. Will we see the offsets from this plan or in this conference call? And here’s a final point to make here: How the Obama campaign is hammering Romney on taxes is EXACTLY what it did to John McCain four years ago. Indeed, it’s striking that in last week’s NBC/WSJ poll, Obama held a two-point advantage over Romney (40%-38%) on which candidate would be better on taxes. If you’re the Republican Party -- whose entire modern identity has been built on lowering taxes -- you don’t want to be essentially even with Obama on this question.
*** Issues of substance, eh? A day after Romney got back from his trip to Europe and lamented to FOX that the media doesn’t want to talk about issues of substance -- outlining things like the economy, possible wars, the direction of Afghanistan, etc. -- Romney’s campaign and the RNC were focusing on other matters. Instead, they turned their attention yesterday (in emails and a conference call) to things like 1) a lack of transparency from the White House for Jim Messina having meetings at Caribou coffee, 2) the proposed closing of the base in Ohio Obama was flying into, and 3) accusations of bias from the Tax Policy Center. Wonder why David Brooks feels like this campaign has been all “intellectual stagnation?”

*** On the trail: Romney today holds his first campaign events since returning from his overseas trip. He stumps in Golden, CO (outside of Denver) at 1:15 pm ET and joins GOP governors (who are meeting in the state) in Basalt, CO at 5:50 pm ET… Obama, meanwhile, campaigns in Winter Park, FL (outside of Orlando) at 2:40 pm ET and then in Leesburg, VA at 7:40 pm ET… And First Lady Michelle Obama is in New Hampshire. 
*** Eat Mor Chikin: The controversy surrounding Chick-fil-A has certainly been a shiny metal object. But if anything, it does show how culturally divided this country still is. And it shows that social issues can surface at any moment. And it’s a reminder how easy it is for politicians to look like silly grandstanders. But, of course, that’s not new.
Countdown to GOP convention: 25 days
Countdown to Dem convention: 32 days
Countdown to 1st presidential debate: 62 days
Countdown to VP debate: 70 days
Countdown to 2nd presidential debate: 75 days
Countdown to 3rd presidential debate: 81 days
Countdown to Election Day: 96 days

Romney is Robin Hood in REVERSE.
"Mitt Romney's tax plan would provide large tax cuts to wealthy Americans and hike taxes on middle- and low-income households, according to an analysis by The Brookings Institution," the Boston Globe writes of the study conducted by the Tax Policy Center a joint project of Brookings and the Urban Institute. "The report published Wednesday estimated households with incomes over $1 million would receive average tax cuts of $87,117 under Romney's plan, while those earning $200,000 or less would pay higher taxes. … The Romney campaign dismissed the report as a 'liberal' study."
But that's not what the Romney campaign was saying awhile back. They cited this SAME non-partisan group as OBJECTIVE, Third-Party Anaylsis
It's a group the Romney campaign has cited. Talking Points Memo: "[T]he Obama campaign notes that Romney aides took a very different view of the group when they put out a similar analysis of Rick Perry's tax plan during the Republican primaries. Here's how a Romney press release in November described their work: Objective, Third-Party Analysis Showed Governor Perry's Plan Would Raise Taxes On Millions Of American Families – But He Doesn't Seem Interested In The Discussion."
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#1.17 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 9:38 AM EDT

Bill, Fairfax VA
Lech Walesa Endorses Romney
The highly respected Polish icon effectively endorsed Romney when he said: "I wish you to be successful...Gov. Romney, get your success – be successful." If I'm Romney, I'm kind of liking having a man like Walesa on my side. A man who was – and remains – a vibrant symbol of freedom in opposition to the oppression of his country by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Just the kind of man an American president-to-be would want to rub elbows with. No apologies for alleged past American sins during this encounter, just mutual admiration by two men who share some very important values.
Unfortunately, the MSM relegated this endorsement to below the fold status and focused instead on their preferred narrative of Romney's supposedly gaffe prone European trip. Indeed, their determination to manufacture this story line pushed them to shout out hostile questions to Romney during a solemn event near the Polish Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Good grief, can anyone one even imagine the press doing the same during an Obama visit to a similar venue?? The Romney aide who told those hopelessly disrespectful folks to "shove it" should get a medal.
Even more unfortunately, none of us should be surprised about all of this. The MSM is in the tank for Obama bigtime and will use their platforms to advance the cause of their man. Rich Lowry of National Review had a terrific take on this state of affairs: "We send people to journalism school for this? Why not just outsource the work to Media Matters and be done with it."
So the negative coverage by a clearly biased MSM will be an obstacle on Romney's path to the White House, but nothing that can't be overcome. These days, respect for the MSM is only a notch or two above approval for Congress so it's not clear that many folks are paying much attention to what these jokers have to say. That must really stick in the craw of those self important elitists, but those weasels have made their bed over a period of many, many years and now they have to sleep in it.
Be that as it may, I want to end on a more uplifting note so here's a quick quiz question that my friends on the right may enjoy: What's the biggest difference between Lech Walesa and President Obama? Answer: Walesa got his Nobel Peace Prize the old fashioned way – he earned it.
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#1.13 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 9:32 AM EDT

Ben-636050

Harry Reid is absolutely the sorriest excuse for a Senate leader this country has ever seen. This is sorority politics of the worst kind. How dare he make accusations without proof? What a pig. What an a$$hole! Invoking a person's father as to what he would think is as close to the ground as a snake belly.
Stay your ground Gov. Romney. This country needs someone who can "manage" money; can "lead" people; can turn a bad situation into a success. This country has seen none of this for the last four years. It's time for a change and the movement is afoot from the Tea Party; Christians and even the Black Pastor's. We have had enough.
ROMNEY 2012
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#1.3 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 9:14 AM EDT

Reposted from last week because it was collapsed, but was definitely within the Code of Honor
The Secret Man:
As the campaign unfolds, the issue that is most troublesome is how little we know about Mitt Romney. By withholding his tax returns we have little knowledge of his business acquaintances, his business investments, how he earned his money, how much tax he paid, and the purpose of his Cayman Islands and Bermuda tax shelters. All we do know is that the tax returns hold politically damaging information.
We don't know the names of Romney's political bundlers or the sources of these many million dollar contributions. We don't know who Romney is "beholden" to.
We don't know how Romney spent his time at Bain Capital. Much of his work was behind closed doors in private meetings. Bain computers became the employee's personal possession and the memory chips of the remaining computers were wiped clean.
Upon leaving his post as Governor of Massachusetts, Romney was criticized for failing to preserve internal records. Again, computers were void of internal emails, executive calendar appointments, financial information, and operational details.
Then we have the 2002 Olympics when Romney was chairman of the Olympic committee. Romney promised complete transparency of all documents including emails, appointment calendars, and other correspondence. But archivists say that most of the key records were destroyed under the supervision of a staffer as the flame was extinguished in Cauldron Park.
The remaining documents were sent to the University of Utah Marriott Library, and Gregory Thompson, curator, reported that the records were "scrubbed" before they reached the University of Utah. So the remaining 1,100 boxes of records will likely have little information regarding Romney's involvement in the Olympic Games.
It is possible that American voters could elect a person whom they know practically nothing about. If this were a movie, people would say the plot line is unfeasible, but here we are: A rich guy with many secrets and a tool of the conservative Tea Party. It's one thing to vote against Barack Obama, but it is
a risky matter to vote for someone you don't even know.
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#1.1 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 9:13 AM EDT


Yet another California city is filing for bankruptcy.
Does anyone else see a pattern here?? CA is the leftiest, most liberal state in the country and its local governments are the canary in the coal mine warning us that the philosophy of unlimited lefty govt spending is unsustainable. The state of CA is also in very bad fiscal condition and my prediction is it will soon be following its cities into bankruptcy court as well.
And what’s the standard operating procedure lefty liberal prescription for this situation??
JUST RAISE TAXES ON THE “RICH”!!
Unfortunately, Margaret Thacher nailed it when she said “The only problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money to spend”.
And without major changes in the fiscal nonsense in Washington, the philosophy of unlimited lefty govt spending is also going to bankrupt America.
San Bernardino, Calif., files for bankruptcy with over $1 billion in debts
By Tim Reid, Reuters
San Bernardino, Calif., filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday citing more than $1 billion of debts and making it the third California city to seek protection from creditors.
San Bernardino declared a fiscal crisis last month after a report said local government had tapped out its reserves and projected spending would top revenue by $45 million in the fiscal year that began on July 1.
The filing, made in the United States Bankruptcy Court, Central California District, states that the city has "more than $1 billion" in liabilities, and estimated that it has between 10,001 and 25,000 creditors.
It also states that San Bernardino, a city of about 210,000 residents 65 miles east of Los Angeles, has estimated assets of more than $1 billion.
A recent report by the city attorney said officials had falsified budget reports to the mayor and council for 13 of the last 16 years, hiding the scale of the city's debt.
"The bankruptcy filing was just to get the protection in place, to kick the process off," a city spokesperson said.
In the past two months, the cities of Stockton and Mammoth Lakes have also filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, a special bankruptcy provision for municipalities.
Stockton, which like San Bernardino has suffered from the housing crash that was particularly acute in southern California, filed for bankruptcy in June, becoming the largest U.S. city to do so.
Other cities in California are also in deep fiscal trouble and more could file for bankruptcy.
On July 17 the mayor of Compton, a city outside Los Angeles, said he had asked state auditors to look into unspecified "waste, fraud and abuse of public monies." That city could file for bankruptcy by September 1, its financial officials said.
In Victorville, also in southern California, auditors in January said there "was substantial doubt about the city's ability to continue as a going concern."
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#1.2 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 9:14 AM EDT


To Joe in Albany: The Federal Government is not giving as much money to the states, cities, etc. due to the Bush tax cuts. As long as the austerity measures go on, and the refusal of Republicans to add revenue to the Treasury, cities, and perhaps states, might have to declare bankruptcy.
It's like this. A politician runs on his promise to "cut taxes." When that actually happens, money has to be cut from the Federal Treasury, so states get less. The state politician runs on "we must cut taxes!" Therefore, States have to cut cities budgets. The City politician runs on "cutting your taxes." BUT he runs into a brick wall because there hasn't been any "trickle-down" to the city. So, balancing the city budget requires police, firefighters, and other city workers to have their budgets cut. Inflation alone causes prices to rise, making asphalt to repair potholes, gasoline price hikes, and the like to increase budget demands. This leaves the city to bear the brunt of the Federal cuts.
Therefore, when a politician says "I want your taxes to be cut," what he really is saying is "I want your taxes RAISED at the next lower levels of Government, OR your services cut.
Simple math. It takes taxes to make this country work.
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#1.18 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 9:39 AM EDT

Seems Republicans are very adept at spending all that corporate welfare and entitlement money, provided at taxpayer expense to those job creators and the rich and sleazy, to put their guy in charge.
Romney seems pretty confident he can get away with tax increases on the middle-class in the name of saving the middle class. Guess Grover will turn a blind eye to putting a little tax hurt on 'you people'.
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#1.19 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 9:39 AM EDT

The GOP/Corporate interests have to outspend the President at least 3 to 1. The GOP has no new ideas, nothing to run on, and a candidate no one likes so they only have two plays left in the Rove Playbook: go negative and rewrite reality. It's going to be a very tough sell no matter how much they spend. Most people realize that GOP control of Congress and the White House almost caused the second great depression, and all they're offering now is more of the same.
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#1.20 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 9:41 AM EDT

Last night I saw an interview with Tea Party candidate Cruz from Texas. I can't fathom why anyone would vote for him, but we're told he'll replace Kay Bailey Hutchinson. Judging from Cruz's rhetoric, the Tea Party has only one issue on their platform: cut government spending. What's funny is, they claim the Democrats led Republicans astray, lo these many decades. It's all the Democrats' fault we waged two wars and created a drug prescription bill while cutting taxes. It's all the Democrats' fault so much pork was sent to Alaska, and all those other red states. Now the Tea Party is riding in to foment "revolution." Oh what poppycock.
A Party with only one cause is a party on a mission to deliver the goods to it's special sponsers. The Tea Party is all about cutting investment in America in order to keep taxes low for the wealthiest. The old Republican Party, at least, was concerned with national security and protecting civil institutions. The old Republican Party encouraged higher learning, law and order, and other aspirations necessary to be a "shining city on a hill." The Tea Party is just about protecting tax cuts for the billionaires who think the country was created just for them.
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#1.21 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 9:43 AM EDT

The “death of the middle class” myth is debunked by Barry’s own intelligence analysts.
I have believed for a while now that America’s best days are seen in the rear view mirror as it becomes more like other former world powers like Spain, France and England which are now just socialist mediocracies. That doesn’t mean there won’t be a thriving middle class anymore, it just means the middle class will be thriving elsewhere on the planet. America has become become fat and lazy. Just take a stroll through any public forum like the mall, a grocery store or an airport and marvel at the number and size of the land-whales you see. It’s a metaphor for America as a country.
This article reinforces my decision years ago to reduce my retirement accounts investment exposure to US-centric companies and increase its exposure to US multi-national and foreign companies.
US intelligence predicts poverty plummet by 2030
By By KIMBERLY DOZIER – 4 days ago
ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — Poverty across the planet will be virtually eliminated by 2030, with a rising middle class of some two billion people pushing for more rights and demanding more resources, the chief of the top U.S. intelligence analysis shop said Saturday.
If current trends continue, the 1 billion people who live on less than a dollar a day now will drop to half that number in roughly two decades, Christoper Kojm said.
"We see the rise of the global middle class going from one to two billion," Kojm said, in a preview of the National Intelligence Council's global forecast offered at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
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#1.22 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 9:44 AM EDT

Bloomberg is reporting Iranian Oil LO$$E$, $133 MILLION a DAY, because of Sanctions put on them by President Barrack Obama. Also Saudi Arabia has Increased production to 10 million Barrels a day to help ease Oil prices worldwide. Also increased Domestic(American) production is the Highest in 13 Years.
You Betcha !
Occupy "Vegas Baby" !
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#1.23 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 9:45 AM EDT

Lech Walesa Endorses Romney
Oh dear!
This is what Mr. Me First Bill has been reduced to? lmao!
Ummm... is Mr. Walesa able to cast a vote for Willard?
Trust me, here in ChiTown which has the second largest Polish population outside of Warsaw - they will be voting for a second term for President Barack Hussein Obama!
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#1.24 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 9:46 AM EDT

I am looking forward to the first debate. I can see the moderator walking up to the podium, and saying: "Gentlemen...as you are both no doubt aware, the voters have made it clear that this election will be decided by one over-riding issue. So the first question is this: Are you pro- or anti- Chick-Fil-A?" ;-)
The controversy surrounding Chick-fil-A has certainly been a shiny metal object. But if anything, it does show how culturally divided this country still is. And it shows that social issues can surface at any moment.
It also shows what notoriously terrible spellers cows really are!
Happy Thursday!!!! Go Team USA!!
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#1.25 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 9:50 AM EDT

Amy -- Read this article. The Tea Party is telling Romney he better move far to the right.
"These guys [newly elected Tea Party candidates]" are going to force Romney to the right," said Andrea Shell, a spokeswoman for Tea Party group Freedom Works. "That is our entire mission."
Meanwhile, the HOUSE with many Tea Party members spent 18 months renaming Post Offices. In 18 months hey haven't come up with any credible JOBS BILLS, we now know why. JOBS were never their priority.
In the 18 months the 112 th Congress has been sworn in, the House has introduced 60 bills torename post offices. Thirty-eight have passed the House and 26 have become law. During those 18 months, the House has produced 151 laws, 17 percent of which have been to rename post offices, according toCongressional Democrats.
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#1.26 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 9:50 AM EDT

#1.22 edit: FR cut off the last two paragraphs of the article:
US intelligence predicts poverty plummet by 2030
By KIMBERLY DOZIER – 4 days ago
ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — Poverty across the planet will be virtually eliminated by 2030, with a rising middle class of some two billion people pushing for more rights and demanding more resources, the chief of the top U.S. intelligence analysis shop said Saturday.
If current trends continue, the 1 billion people who live on less than a dollar a day now will drop to half that number in roughly two decades, Christoper Kojm said.
"We see the rise of the global middle class going from one to two billion," Kojm said, in a preview of the National Intelligence Council's global forecast offered at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
"Even if some of the most dire predictions of economic upheaval" in the coming years prove accurate, the intelligence council still sees "several hundred million people...entering the middle class," Kojm said.
The National Intelligence Council analyzes critical national security issues drawing from all U.S. intelligence agencies. The unclassified global forecast, which is due out by the end of the year, tries to "describe drivers of future behavior" to help government agencies from the White House to the State Department plan future policy and programs, Kojm said.
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#1.27 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 9:51 AM EDT

Great to see a hero like Lech Walesa endorsing Romney. Funny, isn't it, how people who know what it's like to live under the boot of communism, can't stand modern-day lefties who would like to bring it back?
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#1.28 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 9:59 AM EDT

Does anyone else see a pattern here?? CA is the leftiest, most liberal state in the country and its local governments are the canary in the coal mine warning
More accusations from the Albanian Idiot as he attempts to sling bankruptcy filings by California cities as a fault of liberal leaders. Gee, from the idiots own post:
A recent report by the city attorney said officials had falsified budget reports to the mayor and council for 13 of the last 16 years, hiding the scale of the city's debt.
Could it be that falsified budget reports were implemented by the longest serving mayor, who happened to be a conservative republican?
Filing for bankruptcy has little to do with political leanings. More likely, it is the housing and economic crisis that befell the entire country starting in 2006 and peaking in 2008. When homes drop in value by over 75%, you can bet the city is going to fall on hard times alongside it's residents.
But hey, let the Albanian Idiot try to pin bankruptcy of California cities on political ideology, and let's point that finger where it all started, under the guidance and leadership of the Bush administration.
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#1.29 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 10:00 AM EDT

Team Romney -- the campaign, the RNC, and all the GOP-leaning outside groups -- is outspending Team Obama (campaign, DNC, outside groups) this week by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, $25 million to $14 million.
Or how the GOP and Friends are trying to buy the Presidency. It was much easier before all those pesky voting regs were passed. Hey, with a couple of shots of whiskey and the vote was yours.
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#1.30 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 10:02 AM EDT

Grover - is a Joke.
How can he make them pledge cut taxes when the house voted not to cut taxes. Seem a bit ironic to me.
Republican right wing nut jobs are losers
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#1.31 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 10:05 AM EDT

fo: and the refusal of Republicans to add revenue to the Treasury, cities, and perhaps states, might have to declare bankruptcy.
Notice where cities, and soon to be the state, have been declaring bankruptcy. Yeah, the great Conservative icon state of California. They can't keep there schools open, they can't build/fix any roads, they can't pay their welfare costs, but apparently they have $100 billion to spend on a high speed train to nowhere. California also has the highest tax rates in the country, and to solve that problem, they're raising them some more.
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#1.32 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 10:06 AM EDT

Romney's entire argument for making him president is basically "Obama's is president so the bad economy is all his fault. Vote for me because I made lots of money." While it's true that John McCain only released two years of tax returns, too, he wasn't running on his financial brilliance. He even said he wasn't that knowledgeable on economic matters, and gave nobody any reason to doubt him.
When making lots of money is all Romney is running on, then voters have every right to know exactly HOW he made all that money. I hope the Democrats keep hammering him on it and come up with more interesting explanations as to why Romney refuses to let anyone see his tax returns.
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#1.33 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 10:06 AM EDT

Ummm... is Mr. Walesa able to cast a vote for Willard?
Miss Feisty, in Chicago politics all things are possible.
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#1.34 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 10:08 AM EDT

LOL. Neither the donkeys or elephants are "in charge". who is "in charge" are the
wealthiest .01% of Americans, of which group Mitt Romney belongs to. they are laughing
all the way to the bank-err Cayman Islands because they have the poor old little people
making fun of each other all over internet boards and other earth bound cafe's and wal-
marts while they keep counting the money stolen from the US Treasury. BOTH parties, all
nationally recognized politicians, President Obama included, are making sure the
interests of "we the people" are trampled in the interest of making the rich richer. The
Oligarchs have hit on the right approach, they simply fund both sides of the "argument",
more or less evenly, let the minions go out and "fight" about the "issues" and ultimately
vote for and allow laws to be prosecuted in the name of "the people" for the good of the
"very few". THey have us all fooled; as Gore Vidal infamously stated, “It makes no
difference who you vote for - the two parties are really one party representing four
percent of the people”.
So, to correct you, it is not the modern day lefties, nor the neanderthal righties, it is the failed policies
of the elected leaders of American Government, and thus, the failure belongs to "we the
people". As Benjamin Franklin stated, "we have a Republic, if you can keep it". And, if
you are being honest with yourself, you will note the leaders of this concept may not
consider the current situation a failure, they may consider it exactly what has been
planned. Get ready, Malta awaits!
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    Vote for this comment.
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#1.35 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 10:11 AM EDT




Isaac Anthony is mad as hell about the idea of four more years with President Barack Obama, and he's fixin' to not be taking it anymore.
Anthony is the conservatively adorable, liberally mockable tiny tyke behind "6-Year-Old Gives 10 Reasons NOT to Vote for Obama!," a snappy little video put together by Patriot Update, a publication that bills itself as "Free Press for the Conservative Revolution."
Anthony's parents lined him up in front of a barbed-wire fence so that he could deliver his doctrine to the masses:
  • "He takes money from people who work hard, and he gives it to the people who don't work at all."
  • "He makes everybody wait in a long line to see the doctor."
  • "He thinks babies are a burden."
  • "He wants to keep people on welfare and food stamps so that they'll vote for him."
  • "He doesn't want Americans to drill for oil or mine for gold."
  • "He lets bad guys into our country."
  • "He wants to take guns away from good guys."
  • "Mr. and Mrs. Obama are not proud of America, but I am."
  • "He bows down to leaders from other countries—embarrassing."
  • "Nobody knows where he came from!"
The video's been quite popular as far as visibility goes. Since posting onto YouTube on Sunday, "10 Reasons" has already racked up more than 105,000 views.
But not everybody has been supportive of little Anthony's message—conservative Americans included. Over 1,250 people have disliked the video, while only 520 have cast their support.
"I'm a republican and I disapprove of this message," YouTuber animalman38 wrote in the video's comments. "Stop brainwashing and exploiting your kids and your personal political agenda. Let him be a kid and grow up to make his own decisions on politics."
"I think it is exploitation of kids either way," added todeck. "Its not cute or uplifting when adults from either party/ideology encourage or force children to do something they don't fully understand."
It's true that Isaac Anthony might not "fully understand" what goes on around the White House and Capitol Hill, but based on the way he grabs his toy pistol at the :59 mark, you'd be safe betting on the fact that this kid is not psyched to have a president who believes in the virtues of gun control.



Surinder Bratch · Seattle, Washington
Ten reasons NOT to vote for Republicans 
* They suck up all the money in my country for the wars 
* They want to throw poor Americans under the bus 
* They want to pollute the earth ruthlessly 
* They think they can bomb anyone in the world without any accountability 
* They want to give guns to our kids 
* They want to cut off funding for schools 
* They want to take away rights from American people to challenge corporate exploitation 
* They want to deny women the choice of pregnancy 
* Worst of all, they think they are the only Americans. 
I would much rather live like a human being sharing the planet with the rest of the world instead of supporting a group who wants to exploit everybody else in the world. Long Live Peaceful America!

Brenda Woodard ·  Top Commenter · WSU, Washington
How truly sad that that child has been lied to! His treasonous words are appalling. The poor child is completely brainwashed; President Obama has LOWERED taxes on middle class families! His medical plan taxes at 1% income OVER $200,000 that has NOT been taxed! All of the families who earn less than 200K yearly have already been taxed at around 17% BUT if you make a lot more money you are NOT taxed on that extra income. Everyone needs to pay their FAIR SHARE, that is NOT taking money from the working and giving it to the unemployed, the child is repeating lies. There is NO "welfare" people anymore, there are time limitations and work requirements that is the truth and perpetuating these lies just breeds hate, proven by this foul mouthed twit!
Notice that every line item is a lie? an outright lie! And seriously we need to teach our children about other cultures, bowing is a form of respect, just like Bush held hands with the Saudis, if a leader from another country refused to shake hands with our president we would offended, the same applies when our president visits another country, if bowing is the greeting then our leaders should bow.
Everyone knows Obama was born of a Kansas woman living in the state of Hawaii!
I am embarrassed that this child is so brainwashed and people support his asinine lies!



Romney will 're-introduce' policy plans to voters this fall



Most of Romney's fall campaign will involve "re-introducing a lot of the policy that came out a year ago," Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said on a conference call with reporters. The reason for that, he explained, was to remind them "of the governor's very detailed policy" now that voters are playing closer attention to the campaign.
Voters and reporters looking to Mitt Romney for new jobs proposals or additional details about his existing plans shouldn't expect many, the presumptive Republican nominee's aides said Thursday.
The conference call was organized to outline the jobs policies about which Romney will speak today in Colorado. But the five priorities mentioned on the conference call -- energy, trade, education, cutting the deficit, and freeing up businesses from regulation -- have generally been staples of the former Massachusetts governor's campaign for much of the past year.

Kacper Pempel / REUTERS
Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivers foreign policy remarks at the University of Warsaw Library in Warsaw July 31, 2012.
The question of specifics, though, has been one that has plagued the Romney campaign-- and it's not only Democrats who have voiced this criticism.
"The Romney campaign thinks it can play it safe and coast to the White House by saying the economy stinks and it's Mr. Obama's fault," the Wall Street Journal's right-leaning editorial board wrote in early July. "Thanks, guys, but Americans already know that. What they want to hear from the challenger is some understanding of why the President's policies aren't working and how Mr. Romney's policies will do better."
But the Romney campaign has generally brushed off these complaints as imprudent politics. Boston has clearly broadcast that they are satisfied with the plans they have offered. ("He doesn’t need to lay out new policies," Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, a surrogate of Romney's and potential running mate, told National Review Online earlier this week.)
The Romney campaign has been generally opaque in its approach to several issues that could conceivably expose their candidate to scrutiny, which could distract from their central narrative about Obama and the economy. For instance, the campaign's refusal to detail which tax deductions Romney would favor eliminating – to show how he’d prefer to balance the budget – mirrors his refusal to release more than two years of tax returns, to detail his exit from Bain Capital, or to lay out how his administration would be more transparent than Obama’s.
On each question, though, the Romney campaign has left open a void of detail, and the Obama campaign and Democrats have gladly stepped in to fill it.
The president himself trumpeted a report from the nonpartisan, independent Tax Policy Center about Romney's tax plan.
The study concluded that, based on the available details about Romney's plan, that it would threaten a higher tax burden on the middle class, because it disproportionately takes advantage of exemptions that would be eliminated to finance tax reform.
But the enduring story of the Romney campaign is its conclusion early in the campaign that little else will matter on election day aside from voters' conclusion about Obama's handling of the economy. They've bet that the broad contours of Romney's policy contours will be enough to sway voters, and that they can weather criticism about the specifics without any of that becoming fatal.
One of the authors was an economic adviser member of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers. But the other was the senior staff economist on President George H.W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers."That report you referenced is a joke," Fehrnstrom said of the center’s report on the call. "There are serious problems with the authorship of that study, and the methodology."
"The governor's plan essentially lays out the parameters that he wants to achieve," Jonathan Burks, the Romney campaign's deputy policy director, said on the call. "And within that, he would write a tax bill that achieves those goals. And so it's not a question of today, you know, we've got a 2,000-page tax plan that could be scored and demonstrated ... The details of how that would be accomplished would have to be worked out with Congress."
Republicans are quick to note that President Obama has offered few detailed proposals for his second term, and argue that the "American Jobs Act" first introduced by the White House last fall is only a re-hash of old policies.
But the Romney campaign's bet that it doesn't need to offer more detail opens the door to the Obama campaign and Democrats' efforts to turn the election into a choice between the president and Romney, even if it involves mischaracterizing elements of Romney's background – or inserting policy details that don’t exist -- that the GOP candidate won't define for himself.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) made an especially specious claim in that vein when he told the Huffington Post this week that a Bain investor -- who he did not name -- told him that Romney had paid no effective tax rate for a decade.
Fehrnstrom angrily condemned that suggestion during an appearance Thursday on Fox News, but there are no indications that the evidence Romney could offer to rebuff those charges will be publicly available anytime soon.



Centrist Dems fret about Warren's prime role at convention


Elizabeth Warren's plum speaking slot at next month's Democratic National Convention has prompted misgivings among some centrist Democrats, who worry the Massachusetts Senate candidate could turn off independent voters.
Democrats announced this week that they had tapped Warren, the former consumer financial protection czar who's challenging Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) this fall, to deliver a prime time address before a national television audience. A popular figure among progressive activists, Warren has built a reputation as an outspoken critic of the excesses of Wall Street — a kind of populism Democrats are hoping to showcase at their convention.
But some members of the party wonder if selecting a figure like Warren — whom Republicans have sought to characterize as an out-of-touch elitist and cloistered Harvard professor — might hurt the party on a national level. She will speak the evening of Weds., Sept. 5, before a famed centrist Democrat: former President Bill Clinton.
Altmire is among the dwindling ranks of the Blue Dog Coalition, the group of moderate Democrats in the House. These lawmakers typically hail from rural or working class districts and favor more fiscally responsible policies and permissive gun rights.“Having someone from the more extreme wing of the party, being given the primetime slot sends the wrong message to people in the middle who are legitimately up for grabs in this race," said Pennsylvania Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA).
They've seen their representation in Congress shrink, though. The caucus had 54 members before the 2010 midterm elections, which shrunk to 25 this Congress. At least seven of them — including Altmire, who lost a primary to a more liberal Democratic Rep. Mark Critz (PA) — won't be returning to Washington next year.
Altmire said that while Warren's progressivism might play well in Massachusetts, the party might be better-served by a different prime time speaker.
"If you’re trying to win over people from the center — moderates and centrists who could go either way — I would guess there are other faces you could put forward who would be better for that," he said.
Another retiring Blue Dog, Oklahoma Rep. Dan Boren, argued for better geographic representation in the convention's prime speaking slots.
“If we are going to become a big tent, we need language that speaks to fiscal responsibility, we need some speakers who are from the South, we are already winning in the coastal areas of the country,” Boren told NBC News. “if you’re going to speak to the 4 percent [of undecided swing state voters] you’re going to want somebody who can appeal to independents, I think it would be better to have somebody from more Middle America.”
But other Democratic moderates expressed a greater comfort level with Warren relative to some of their colleagues.
Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly (D), who won re-election by only 981 votes last cycle, called Warren a "very engaging speaker" who has a "real ability to speak to the lay person about what the underlining dynamics are in the economy."
That's precisely what Democrats are hoping to project with Warren's speech. From a working class background in Oklahoma, Warren speaks often about themes of opportunity and strengthening the middle class. To that end, Connolly said he thought Warren would “highlight advocacy for the middle class.”
Prime time speakers at party conventions are usually selected to help broaden the party's appeal to voters who don't adhere to strict political orthodoxies. The choice of San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro to keynote the Democratic convention is a good example of that.Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan (D) saw particular opportunity for Warren to appeal to women: "She will definitely speak to working class women, and I don’t think she’s going to turn anybody off. She comes across as pretty tough; I don’t see her coming off as a heady intellectual, it’s inner toughness about taking on the banks.”
One Democratic operative NBC News that Warren could do that, too, but, “she carries a risk."
"I’d say she’s high risk, high reward," said the operative. "People could relate to her down with the 'greedy guys' talk, or see her as polarizing and part of the problem.”
But another retiring Blue Dog, North Carolina Rep. Health Shuler, expressed concern that Democrats could risk seeming as though they're uninterested in moderates by putting Warren front-and-center.
“I hope in time, Democrats realize in order for us to appeal to more voters, we need to highlight more moderates, not show just the far left of the party but in fact give people an opportunity to see we are a big tent," he said, pointing to the GOP's struggles with the Tea Party as a cautionary tale. "That helps us with independents; we don’t want to be pushing out moderates just like the Republicans are doing.”