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The Morning Flap: April 5, 2012

April 5, 2012 /

These are my links for April 5th from 05:01 to 06:04:

  • Paul Ryan’s rapidly-improving vice presidential prospects – It did not go unnoticed — at least by the Fix — that Ryan was also chosen to introduce Romney on Tuesday night as the former governor celebrated his victory Wisconsin primary victory in Milwaukee. (Does this guy know how to party or what?)And, Ryan’s introduction featured just the sort of attack-dog rhetoric against President Obama that the vice presidential nominee will be called on to offer up throughout the fall campaign. Ryan’s best zinger on Obama? “He is going to try to divide us to distract us,” the Wisconsin Republican thundered from the podium.While it’s clear that Ryan’s stint on the stump amounted to a sort of vice presidential tryout, it’s actually something that President Obama said in a speech on Tuesday in Washington that convinced us that Ryan deserved to be in the top-tier of the veepstakes.
  • The Hispanic Gap – Even as the Hispanic population has boomed, the rate of Hispanic voter-participation has not kept pace. The Census Bureau estimates there are 31.8 million Hispanics over 18 years old in the U.S., 21.3 million of whom are citizens. Hispanic population grew by 15.2 million over the last decade, accounting for more than half the nation’s total population growth during those 10 years, the Census Bureau reported. But only 10.9 million — a paltry 51.6 percent — are registered to vote.That’s far fewer than the 62.8 percent of black Americans and 68.2 percent of non-Hispanic whites who are registered to vote, according to the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. And consider the ramifications: The Census Bureau reports there are at least 6 million Hispanics who said they are not registered to vote. That’s more than half the margin by which President Obama beat John McCain in 2008.
  • DREAM Act-er lauds Rubio’s DREAM Act, raps Democrats for playing politics – Ruben Navarette Jr., an often-critical analyst of Sen. Marco Rubio’s policies and stances (or lack thereof) on immigration, says the Florida vice-presidential shortlister might be on to something by proposing a small step in helping some (but not many) illegal immigrants attain legal residency (though not guaranteed) citizenship.In short: Bad news for Democrats, who have made the more-expansive DREAM Act, which Rubio has bashed for allowing too much “amnesty,” into a cudgel to batter Republicans when it comes to the Hispanic vote.
  • Shelby Steele: The Exploitation of Trayvon Martin –
  • Bam blasts, Mitt laughs – Ryan wants it held to the growth rate of the overall economy, plus 0.5 percent; that’s exactly the same rate Obama says his bureaucratic cost-controls (under the ObamaCare law) would produce. (For the record, the Congressional Budget Office is exceedingly doubtful that Obama’s rationing plan can deliver.)The rest of Obama’s speech was no better or more accurate. For instance, he predictably and perfunctorily hammered Republicans for wanting to cut tax rates for wealthier Americans. Not only does the class-warfare pitch leave out how Romney would cut rates for all Americans —including US corporations, which as of April 1 pay the highest tax rate among advanced economies —but also that Romney would at the same time scale back tax breaks so that wealthier Americans would pay the same total share of income taxes.It would sure be incredibly convenient for Obama if his Republican opponent were really proposing to cancel Medicare and cut taxes only for millionaires and billionaires. Even the Democrats’ all-time loser consultant, Bob Shrum, could win that campaign. But that’s not the reality in 2012.

    Maybe someone should tell Obama’s speechwriters.

  • Marine sergeant files suit to block his dismissal for anti-Obama Facebook posts – Sgt. Gary Stein, the Marine facing dismissal for posts he made on Facebook criticizing President Obama and saying he would not follow orders, has filed a federal lawsuit to stop his discharge, saying his First Amendment rights had been violated.Stein filed his lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Tuesday with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union and U.S. Justice Foundation, which seeks to delay his administrative hearing, scheduled for Thursday, and stop the Marines from discharging him.Stein says the posts he made on his “Armed Forces Tea Party” Facebook page — where he called Obama a “domestic enemy” and said he would not follow some orders — were not made as a uniformed Marine.