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The Morning Flap: March 5, 2013
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is interviewed on Fox News and discusses his new immigration book
These are my links for February 28th through March 5th:
- Jeb Bush’s False-Flag Operation – Jeb Bush generated quite a bit of publicity for his new book yesterday by suggesting that amnestied illegal immigrants should not be eligible for citizenship. Instead, he’s suggesting they be given some kind of permanent status that would provide them work cards, Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses, and the right to travel abroad and return, but not allow for eventual naturalization — in effect, a kind of permanent guestworker program or a green-card-lite, rather than an actual green card. This is consistent with suggestions from other pro-amnesty Republicans, including Senator Rubio and a group of House members working up an amnesty deal.Unfortunately, it’s a trick.
- A Market Solution to Immigration Reform – Since the recession formally ended in June 2009, the American economy has been growing at a rate of 2%, about one percentage point below its long-term average. To improve this performance, the U.S. needs more people with skills, vision and a drive to improve themselves—qualities that lead to innovation, business creation, increased employment and higher wages. One quick way to get such people is through immigration. A market approach would do this.We propose that, instead of the current maze of rules and formulas, the U.S. should sell the right to become a citizen. Setting a price of perhaps $50,000 would attract those who place the highest value on citizenship.
- Jeb Bush’s Poorly Timed Flip -Flop on Immigration – Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s new book was aimed at nudging a reluctant Republican Party toward reforms that would allow illegal immigrants to live and work without fear of deportation.But by recommending only legal residency and backing off his past support for citizenship, Bush is throwing cold water over a fledgling deal in the Senate, denting his own reputation as a bold policymaker and stoking speculation that he will run for president in 2016.None of those things were supposed to happen.The stunning reversal by one of the Republican Party’s leading champions of immigration reform and Hispanic outreach, at least in part, comes down to a colossal political miscalculation.When Bush and coauthor Clint Bolick were writing the book during the 2012 presidential campaign, the GOP was veering far to the right. Republican nominee Mitt Romney had staked out a hard-line position against illegal immigration, blasting his primary rivals as pro-amnesty and promoting “self-deportation” for undocumented workers. Bush sent the book to the printer before Christmas – weeks before a handful of Senate Republicans embraced a sweeping overhaul that, like the proposals backed by Bush’s brother, former President George W. Bush, would allow illegal immigrants to earn citizenship.
In other words, Bush’s party unexpectedly moved a lot faster than the book-publishing world.
- Video: Jeb Bush Promotes Comprehensive Immigration Reform
- Obama job approval tumbles After Sequester Debate – President Obama’s job approval rating took a hit over the weekend, falling to its lowest level in the Gallup three-day average since his reelection.His approval rating was 46 percent between Feb 29 and March 2, down from 53 percent a week earlier.The drop comes after Obama and Congress failed to reach a last-minute deal and automatic sequester cuts kicked in across the government on Friday.His disapproval rating also jumped to its highest level since November, hitting 46 percent over the weekend, up from 40 percent a week earlier.
- Ashley Judd’s War With Kentucky’s Coal Industry Could Doom Candidacy – Comments Ashley Judd made in 2010 comparing the mining practices of Kentucky’s coal industry to rape could sink her much buzzed-about Senate candidacy before it even begins.In a 2010 speech to the National Press Club in Washington, Judd called mountain top removal — the controversial but principal type of surface mining in Appalachia that involves the removal of mountaintops to extract coal — “the state-sanctioned, federal government-supported, coal industry-operated rape of Appalachia.”Coal mines employe more than 19,000 people through
the year in Kentucky according to a report from the state, and the mining directly contributed approximately $4 billion to the state’s economy while accounting for 1 percent of the state’s employment. Kentucky’s economic reliance on coal ranks in the top three in the United States, behind only West Virginia and Wyoming.Judd’s use of rape to define the mining practice wasn’t a slip of the tongue. Later in her speech she doubled down on her remarks. - Tag-teaming Obama – John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are currently mopping the floor with Barack Obama – Don’t tell the Tea Party, but the tag team of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are currently mopping the floor with Barack Obama.The president convincingly won a second term in November, but since that time, the congressional Republican leadership has outfoxed, outmaneuvered and plain out-strategized him on just about every issue.
- What’s Jeb Bush up to?
- Wait: Jeb Bush now opposes a path to citizenship for illegals? – So his plan is DOA in Congress, but he knows that already. The point here isn’t to float a viable compromise that might make comprehensive reform more salable to the base, it’s to give Bush a way to hit Rubio from the right in the primaries two years from now — which is ironic, because in another segment this morning, Bush told Lauer that Romney got in trouble with Latino voters by tacking a bit too far right on immigration in the debates in 2011. I assume he thinks he’s built up enough cred with Latinos over the years that backing away from a path to citizenship now won’t cost him many votes. We’ll see.
- Jeb Bush pushes back against pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants – Former Florida governor – and potential GOP presidential candidate – Jeb Bush said this week that a pathway to citizenship should not be a component of an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system.Bush, a Spanish-speaker who’s wife is Mexican-born, has long-been viewed as one of the more liberal-minded GOP leaders when in comes to immigration policy, warning Republicans for years that they oppose significant reform at their own political peril.
- Official Website for IMMIGRATION WARS by Jeb Bush & Clint Bolick – RT @JebBush Honored to work w/my friend Clint Bolick. #ImmigrationWars hits shelves tomorrow.
- Ow.ly – image uploaded by @JebBush – RT @JebBush Honored to work w/my friend Clint Bolick. #ImmigrationWars hits shelves tomorrow.
- Doctors report first cure of HIV in a child – Doctors report first cure of HIV in a child #tcot
- Exercise, less sitting time, linked to better sleep
| Reuters – Exercise, less sitting time, linked to better sleep #tcot - Journaling helps woman lose half her body weight – CNN.com – Journaling helps woman lose half her body weight #tcot
- Republican Consultants Plot New Tech-Savvy Infrastructure – After last year’s blowout election, the Republican digital strategist Patrick Ruffini went on a not-so-secret mission to find out how to fix what was wrong with his party. “In less than 12 hours, the #infiltration begins,” he tweeted, the day before the start of RootsCamp, an annual conference for Democratic digital, data and grassroots strategists that is held by a liberal non-profit group called the New Organizing Institute.What he found at the event came as a sort of revelation: A vast liberal brain trust bursting with young talent who had advanced far beyond Republicans in the art and science of using data, analytics and voter outreach. He live-tweeted his observations, and then began meeting with other young strategists in his party, like Katie Harbath, who handles Republican campaign outreach for Facebook, Kristen Soltis Anderson, a pollster at the Winston Group, and Reihan Salam, a political columnist for the National Review.
- Chris Christie will have an uphill battle for the 2016 nomination – Also of note?Wall Street Journal columnist and deputy editor, Daniel Henninger , claimed Christie has an “uphill battle” for the 2016 nomination, thanks to his conservative competition.”This is going to be a different group of people that Chris Christie will be competing against, and he’ll be competing as a governor from the liberal Northeast.I think it’s an uphill battle.”Finally, one more thing of note?
Gigot pointed out that New Jersey’s 9.6% unemployment rate was “one of the worst records in the country.”
- Tim Carney: Health industry pushes GOP states toward Obamacare | Mobile Washington Examiner – Health industry pushes GOP states toward Obamacare #tcot
- Health industry pushes GOP states toward Obamacare – Republicans around the country railed against President Obama’s health-care law for four years, but in recent weeks, GOP governors and state legislators have embraced some of the bill’s provisions.
How did Republicans learn to stop worrying and love Obamacare?
In a word: industry.Hospitals, insurers and drug companies have lobbied in state capital after state capital, leaning on Republicans until they agreed to create insurance exchanges or expand Medicaid as Obamacare prescribed. - Moderate Ex-Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado “seriously” considers run against Jerry Brown | Politics Blog | an SFGate.com blog – Moderate Ex-Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado “seriously” considers run against Jerry Brown
- Allysia Finley: The Reverse-Joads of California – WSJ.com – The Reverse-Joads of California
- Gallup Poll: Asian voters lean Democratic, but are not strongly committed – A new poll found that Asian-Americans lean Democratic, but that they are not strongly committed to either the GOP or the Democratic Party.Fifty-seven percent of Asian-Americans lean Democratic, compared with 28 percent who lean Republican and 13 percent who are independent, according to a Gallup poll released Monday. The remaining are undecided or did not respond.
- Untitled (http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/03/5229747/cancer-stole-her-voice-but-tv.html#mi_rss=Opinion?utm&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed&u – Untitled (… #tcot
- (500) http://flapsblog.com/2013/03/04/flaps-blog-flap-twitter-daily-digest-for-2013-03-03/ – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-03 #tcot
- Untitled (http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/03/5229747/cancer-stole-her-voice-but-tv.html#mi_rss=Opinion?utm&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter) – Untitled (… #tcot
- Untitled (http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/03/5229747/cancer-stole-her-voice-but-tv.html#mi_rss=Opinion?utm&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter) – Untitled (… #tcot
- At state convention, Republicans try to chart a new way forward – latimes.com – At state convention, Republicans try to chart a new way forward
- Calif. GOP seeks answers for turning party around – San Jose Mercury News – California GOP seeks answers for turning party around
- Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-02 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-02 #tcot
- CA GOP Convention delegates urge retired congressmen to help party’s finances | CalWatchDog – CA GOP Convention delegates urge retired congressmen to help party’s finances
- Gregory Flap @ Glendale-Hyperion Bridge – Finished the almost 10 miles of hills at Dodger Stadium. Now, some good food at Walt’s studio. [pic]:
- Gregory Flap @ Dodger Stadium – Getting ready for hill training with LA Roadrunners (@ Dodger Stadium w/ 3 others) [pic]:
- Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-03-01 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-03-01
- Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-01 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-03-01 #tcot
- Joshua Treviño Admits to Shilling for Malaysia – Conservative commentator Joshua Treviño admitted today that he’s spent years doing down-low PR work for the government of Malaysia, and received $389,724.70 for the trouble. Some of that, but not most, was paid to writers who wrote negative pieces about the country’s opposition leader for the likes of the Huffington Post, National Review, and RedState. BuzzFeed’s Rosie Gray, in a report on the scam this afternoon, picks up where her boss Ben Smith left off. In 2011, Treviño told Smith, “I was never on any ‘Malaysian entity’s payroll,’ and I resent your assumption that I was,” which he now admits was a lie. But he’s not particularly sorry.
- Covert Malaysian Campaign Touched A Wide Range Of American Media – A range of mainstream American publications printed paid propaganda for the government of Malaysia, much of it focused on the campaign against a pro-democracy figure there.The payments to conservative American opinion writers — whose work appeared in outlets from the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner to the Washington Times to National Review and RedState — emerged in a filing this week to the Department of Justice. The filing under the Foreign Agent Registration Act outlines a campaign spanning May 2008 to April 2011 and led by Joshua Trevino, a conservative pundit, who received $389,724.70 under the contract and paid smaller sums to a series of conservative writers.
- Political Cartoons / So, you think Obama is over-hyping this sequestration thing? – So, you think Obama is over-hyping this sequestration thing? via @pinterest
- Twitter / SpaceX: LIFTOFF of Falcon 9 and #Dragon … – Beautiful! RT @SpaceX LIFTOFF of Falcon 9 and #Dragon to the International Space Station
- Twitter / NASA: Liftoff of the @SpaceX Falcon … – RT @NASA: Liftoff of the @SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and #Dragon spacecraft to the #ISS!
- Watch Live: SpaceX’s Dragon Blasts Off to Space Station | Wired Science | Wired.com – RT @wired: Watch Live now: SpaceX’s Dragon Blasts Off to Space Station
- Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-02-28 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2013-02-28
- Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-02-28 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2013-02-28 #tcot
- ASICS Support Your Marathoner – I’m running the 2013 Los Angeles Marathon sponsored by ASICS. Cheer me on at via @ASICSamerica
- Club for Growth President Chocola: ‘Sooner or Later, They Won’t Want You to be their Speaker’ – I will be surprised if Boehner survives as Speaker more than through the summer.
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The Morning Flap: October 11, 2012
These are my links for October 9th through October 11th:
- Biden: ‘You Ever See Me Rope-a-Dope?’– Joe Biden, on his way to tonight’s vice presidential debate in Kentucky, asks the press, “You ever see me rope-a-dope?”From the pool report:Vice President Biden arrived at about 10:50 a.m. at New Castle Airport. He climbed out of a gray SUV, greeted some military (see below) and then walked toward the press gathered near the wing.Asked about tonight’s debate he said, “Looking forward to it.”
Asked about his strategy, whether it was rope-a-dope, he responded:
“You ever see me rope-a-dope?”A bunch of Bidens are joining the VP, including: sons Hunter and Beau, daughter Ashley, sister Valerie. Debate partner Rep. Chris Van Hollen and former Sen. Ted Kaufman are on board, as is Shaleigh Murray, who played moderator Martha Raddatz in debate practice.
- GOP Turnout Effort Tests Obama Campaign’s Prowess– Republicans are narrowing Democrats’ organizational advantage in critical swing states, but the latter say they are on track to improve upon President Obama’s 2008 early-vote count.Now that the election has moved full-throttle into get-out-the-vote mode, both campaigns are tracking the daily tabulation of absentee ballots requested in key battlegrounds along with the number of early votes already cast. In half of the most critical swing states — Colorado, Florida and North Carolina — Republicans have requested more absentee ballots than have their counterparts. And in Nevada, the two sides are nearly even.
- ObamaCare: Health Care Direction Awaits Verdict of Presidential Race– Joyce Beck, who runs a small hospital and network of medical clinics in rural Nebraska, is reluctant to plan for the future until voters decide between President Obama and Mitt Romney. The candidates’ sharply divergent proposals for Medicare, Medicaid and coverage of the uninsured have created too much uncertainty, she explained.“We are all on hold, waiting to see what the election brings,” said Ms. Beck, chief executive of Thayer County Health Services in Hebron, Neb.When Americans go to the polls next month, they will cast a vote not just for president but for one of two profoundly different visions for the future of the country’s health care system. With an Obama victory on Nov. 6, the president’s signature health care law — including the contentious requirement that most Americans obtain health insurance or pay a tax penalty — will almost certainly come into full force, becoming the largest expansion of the safety net since President Lyndon B. Johnson pushed through his Great Society programs almost half a century ago.If Mr. Romney wins and Republicans capture the Senate, much of the law could be repealed — or its financing cut back — and the president’s goal of achieving near-universal coverage could take a back seat to Mr. Romney’s top priority, controlling medical costs.
Given the starkness of the choice, historians and policy makers believe this election could be the most significant referendum on a piece of social legislation since 1936, when the Republican Alf M. Landon ran against Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal programs. (Nearly eight decades have passed, but the debate sounds strikingly familiar: Landon described the Social Security Act, passed in 1935, as “the largest tax bill in history” and called for its repeal.)
- California gas prices are a warning– California’s record gasoline prices and long service station lines are a warning to all of us about what green energy can do to our pocketbooks.On Monday, California gasoline cost $4.67 per gallon, compared with the $3.81 U.S. average. California’s environmental standards are the most stringent in the country, and Californians are paying the price.The price spike started with an August fire in Chevron’s Richmond refinery. Then, two other refineries, operated by Tesoro and Exxon Mobil, went down for maintenance. Because California requires different blends of gasoline from other states, and pipelines across the Rockies are limited, gasoline can’t be shipped in from elsewhere.On Sunday, in an attempt to lower gasoline prices, Gov. Jerry Brown suspended the environmental regulations that kept California prices above those in the rest of the United States.
- Hating Breitbart – The Documentary in Select Theaters Soon – Hating Breitbart – The Documentary in Select Theaters Soon #tcot
- Rove: The Dividends of Romney’s Debate Victory– How big an impact did Mitt Romney’s performance in last week’s debate have? Huge. Mr. Romney not only won the night, he changed the arc of the election—and perhaps its outcome. Surveys have him leading the RealClearPolitics average of polls for the first time since securing the GOP nomination in mid-April.Prior to Oct. 3, Mr. Romney trailed President Barack Obama by an average of 3.1 points in national polls tallied by RealClearPolitics. Since the debate, Mr. Romney now leads Mr. Obama in the RCP average by a point, 48.2% to 47.2%, and the bounce is likely to grow. By comparison, Sen. John Kerry was widely seen to have bested President George W. Bush in the first 2004 debate (held on Sept. 30 of that year), but he never led in the RCP average in October.In seven of the past nine presidential debate series, the challenger has gained more in the polls than the incumbent (or the candidate of the party in power). The first debate generally frames the series and establishes whether the bounce will be large or modest. Mr. Romney’s bounce is significant.
- Greek Unemployment Rises Above 25 per cent– The unemployment rate in Greece rose to 25.1 percent in July, from 24.8 percent the month before, as the financial crisis continued to destroy jobs.Greece’s statistical authority says in a statement Thursday that 1.26 million Greeks were jobless in July, with more than 1,000 jobs lost every day over the past year.In the worst-affected 15-24 age group, unemployment was 54.2 percent.In July 2008, a year before Greece’s acute financial crisis broke, there were only about 364,000 registered unemployed.
Greece is surviving on international bailout loans, granted on condition of harsh austerity measures to curtail the country’s large budget deficits. The economy is set to enter a sixth year of recession in 2013.
- CBS 5 Poll: Romney Gains 8 Points On Faltering Obama In California– The effects of President Barack Obama’s falter in the first debate with Mitt Romney are not just being felt in battleground states, according to KPIX-TV CBS 5?s latest tracking poll of California which shows Romney slicing eight points off Obama’s lead.Obama had led by 22 points in the CBS 5 tracking poll released four weeks ago. Obama now leads by only 14 points, an 8-point improvement for Romney. At the same time, the poll found U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s support for her re-election bid remained largely unchanged, month-on-month, suggesting that the erosion in Democratic support is not across-the-board, but contained to Obama. Unclear is whether the Obama erosion is fleeting or long-lasting.
- Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-10-11 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-10-11
- Poll: Most troubled by Libya claim – Kevin Robillard – POLITICO.com – RT @politico Poll: 46 percent of voters disapprove of how Obama is handling Libya: #tcot
- AP IMPACT: Cartels flood US with cheap meth – Another Obama failure RT @AP Mexican meth pours into US cities, negates effort to curb US drug production: #tcot
- @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-10-11 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-10-11 #tcot
- “The Lid”: UPDATE: Video of Lara Logan’s Obama is Lying Speech – RT @yidwithlid: @ali Video of Lara Logan’s Obama is Lying to Us About the Middle East Speech
- Good Oral Hygiene Prevents Tooth Loss | Josie Dovidio, DDS – RT @SimiDentist: Learn how to keep your teeth into your golden years.
- Vice President Debate Moderator Martha Raddatz Has Ties to Obama – Vice President Debate Moderator Martha Raddatz Has Ties to Obama #tcot
- Video: The Obama White House Disinformation Campaign On Libya – Flap’s Blog – Video: The Obama White House Disinformation Campaign On Libya #tcot
- Capitol Alert: Molly Munger opens separate committee to attack Prop. 30 – Tax increases are both going to fail RT @CapitolAlert: Molly Munger opens separate committee to attack Prop. 30
- Bill Clinton works Las Vegas crowd, criticizing Romney for Obama – latimes.com – Bubba Bill Clinton mocks Mitt Romney in order to save Obama’s ass in Las Vegas #tcot
- 11 Of Lance Armstrong’s Teammates Testified Against Him To The USADA– The USADA is releasing a full report of evidence that Lance Armstrong was doping during his cycling career.Eleven of Armstrong’s former teammates testified against the seven-time Tour de France winner saying he used performance enhancing drugs.The teammates who testified against Armstrong were: Frankie Andreu, Michael Barry, Tom Danielson, Tyler Hamilton, George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer, Stephen Swart, Christian Vande Velde, Jonathan Vaughters, and David Zabriskie.
- Lawyer who filed complaint has ties to multiple anti-ALEC groups– The lawyer who filed an IRS whistleblower complaint against the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) on behalf of a shadowy organization known as “Clergy Voice” has ties to Common Cause, the liberal government watchdog group and renowned ALEC foe.Marcus Owens, former director of the Exempt Organizations Division of the IRS from 1990 to 2000, filed a whistleblower complaint in July against ALEC, alleging the group was violating IRS tax law.“ALEC has deliberately and repeatedly failed to comply with some of the most fundamental federal tax requirements applicable to public charities,” Owens wrote in his complaint against the influential free-market group. “The information in this submission also suggests, quite strongly, that the conduct of ALEC and certain of its representatives violates other civil and criminal tax laws and may violate other federal and state criminal statutes as well.”As reported by the Free Beacon, the “grassroots” movement against ALEC is a well-coordinated campaign orchestrated by well-funded and often secretive progressive groups.
- Frank Schubert and the Fight Against Gay Marriage – NYTimes.com – One Man Guides the Fight Against Gay Marriage: Frank Schubert #tcot
- Wynn On Obama: “I’ll Be Damned If I Want To Have Him Lecture Me” | RealClearPolitics – Las Vegas’ Steve Wynn On Obama: “I’ll Be Damned If I Want To Have Him Lecture Me”
#tcot - Review & Outlook: Big Bird, Small President – WSJ.com – Big Bird, Small President – As of fiscal 2011, Sesame Workshop had assets of $289 million #tcot
- Pelosi offers debate advice to Biden – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room – This ought to be good! | Pelosi offers debate advice to Biden #tcot
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: October 10, 2012 – The Morning Drill: October 10, 2012
- Barack Obama, VP debate moderator wedding guest– President Barack Obama was a guest at the 1991 wedding of ABC senior foreign correspondent and vice presidential debate moderator Martha Raddatz, The Daily Caller has learned. Obama and groom Julius Genachowski, whom Obama would later tap to head the Federal Communications Commission, were Harvard Law School classmates at the time and members of the Harvard Law Review.After TheDC made preliminary inquiries Monday to confirm Obama’s attendance at the wedding, ABC leaked a pre-emptive statement to liberal-leaning news outlets including Politico and The Daily Beast Tuesday, revealing what may have been internal network pressure felt just days before Raddatz was scheduled to moderate the one and only vice-presidential debate Thursday night.
- Day By Day October 10, 2012 – Close Enough for Government – Flap’s Blog – Day By Day October 10, 2012 – Close Enough for Government #tcot
- Obama Campaign Stands By Big Bird Ad – NationalJournal.com – RT @nationaljournal Obama campaign appears to be standing by its Big Bird ad. #tcot
- Suffolk pollster: We’re not polling Florida, Virginia, or North Carolina anymore, because Romney’s going to win them « Hot Air – RT @TabithaHale Suffolk pollster: We’re not polling FL, Virginia, or NC anymore, because Romney’s going to win them
- Jack Welch: I Was Right About That Strange Jobs Report– Imagine a country where challenging the ruling authorities—questioning, say, a piece of data released by central headquarters—would result in mobs of administration sympathizers claiming you should feel “embarrassed” and labeling you a fool, or worse.Soviet Russia perhaps? Communist China? Nope, that would be the United States right now, when a person (like me, for instance) suggests that a certain government datum (like the September unemployment rate of 7.8%) doesn’t make sense.Unfortunately for those who would like me to pipe down, the 7.8% unemployment figure released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) last week is downright implausible. And that’s why I made a stink about it.Before I explain why the number is questionable, though, a few words about where I’m coming from. Contrary to some of the sound-and-fury last week, I do not work for the Mitt Romney campaign. I am definitely not a surrogate. My wife, Suzy, is not associated with the campaign, either. She worked at Bain Consulting (not Bain Capital) right after business school, in 1988 and 1989, and had no contact with Mr. Romney.
The Obama campaign and its supporters, including bigwigs like David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs, along with several cable TV anchors, would like you to believe that BLS data are handled like the gold in Fort Knox, with gun-carrying guards watching their every move, and highly trained, white-gloved super-agents counting and recounting hourly.
Let’s get real. The unemployment data reported each month are gathered over a one-week period by census workers, by phone in 70% of the cases, and the rest through home visits. In sum, they try to contact 60,000 households, asking a list of questions and recording the responses.
- State Dept reveals new details of Benghazi attack– All was quiet outside the U.S. Consulate as evening fell on Benghazi and President Barack Obama’s envoy to Libya was retiring after a day of diplomatic meetings.There was no indication of the harrowing events that night would bring: assailants storming the compound and setting its buildings aflame, American security agents taking fire across more than a mile of the city, the ambassador and three employees killed and others forced into a daring car escape against traffic.Senior State Department officials on Tuesday revealed for the first time certain details of last month’s tragedy in the former Libyan rebel stronghold, such as the efforts of a quick reaction force that rushed onto the scene and led the evacuation in a fierce gun battle that continued into the streets. The briefing was provided a day before department officials were to testify to a House committee about the most serious attack on a U.S. diplomatic installation since al-Qaida bombed the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania 14 years ago.The account answers some questions and leaves others unanswered. Chief among them is why for several days the Obama administration said the assault stemmed from a protest against an American-made Internet video ridiculing Islam, and whether the consulate had adequate security.
- Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-10-10 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-10-10
- State Department: No video protest at the Benghazi consulate– Prior to the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi late in the evening on Sept. 11, there was no protest outside the compound, a senior State Department official confirmed today, contradicting initial administration statements suggesting that the attack was an opportunistic reaction to unrest caused by an anti-Islam video.In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, two senior State Department officials gave a detailed accounting of the events that lead to the death of Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The officials said that prior to the massive attack on the Benghazi compound by dozens of militants carrying heavy weaponry, there was no unrest outside the walls of the compound and no protest that anyone inside the compound was aware of.
- The liberal media loved Obama to death – It was in Denver one week ago that the long-running romance between Barack Obama and the national press — aka the “Slobbering Love Affair,” as Bernard Goldberg put it — hit the wall. The motel bill, unpaid these many long months and ages, at long last came due.
It had been the real thing, not a commonplace fling with your generic Democrat, but the love of a lifetime, the genuine article, the sum of all dreams: He was not just a Democrat, he was also a liberal. He was not just a liberal, he also biracial, also multinational; also hip, cool, and clever. He was themselves as they wanted to be. Like them, he was gifted at writing and talking (and, as it turned out, not much beyond that), like them, he stood up for Metro America; like them, he viewed the people outside it with a not-very-measured disdain. “I divide people into people who talk like us and people who don’t talk like us,” said David Brooks, speaking for all of them. “You could see him as a New Republic writer … he’s more talented than anyone in my lifetime … he IS pretty dazzling when he walks into a room.”Dazzled indeed, they turned on their old flames, Bill and Hillary Clinton. They dumped John McCain, with whom they had flirted; and when Romney appeared — rich, square, and looking like Dad in a mid-50s sitcom — it was clear the long knives would be out. - The LEFT melts down over Obama Debate Performance– Let me suggest something that many conservatives realized after the debate: Obama did not do that badly. For Obama. He was the same listless, droning, exhausted-of-ideas scold we have seen for at least two years now (and maybe three).He was Obama. This is what he is. He is not quick-witted. He is not, as I think I saw Mickey Kaus note, a wonk. He has never been a wonk, a detailed-policy guy.He is a guy who speaks vacuously of hopes and dreams and change and fairness.He always has been.
The problem, for the liberals, is not Obama. This is what you bought. This is your guy. It wasn’t his A game, but it was something close to his B+ game.
The problem was Romney, who was commanding, fluent, reasonable, articulate, sharp-witted, warm, occasionally funny, full of ideas, full of facts, full of thoughtful, detailed criticisms of Obama policy (who the hell expected him to bring up, as an afterthought, Dodd-Frank’s failure to specify what a “reasonably qualified” mortgage applicant was, and how that chilled lending? Obama sure didn’t!), and, therefore, ultimately, full of qualification for the job and yes, full of gravitas.
That’s the problem.
Not Obama. I repeat: This is who Obama is. He has never been this brilliant intellect and keen policy analysts liberals have, in their BubbleWorld, dreamed him as.
- After Debate, Obama Protection Dam Breaks– President Obama might think sagging polls are his biggest post-debate problem. But it’s really people like Buzz Bissinger, Stacey Dash and Bill Maher showing it’s now acceptable in polite society to attack The One.In an eye-opening piece Monday on the Daily Beast, “Friday Night Lights” author and lifelong Democrat Buzz Bissinger announced he was voting for Romney.The tipping point, he wrote, “was last week’s debate in Denver,” which showed Obama out of energy and out of ideas. Obama is “no longer the chosen one. He is just too cool for school in a country desperate for the infectiousness of rejuvenation.”
- Angst grows among Obama supporters– First came the nausea. Then came the anxiety.After months of watching Mitt Romney twist in the media glare, a growing number of President Barack Obama’s supporters — though confined for now to a noisy minority of liberals — are peering into the Obama-might-actually-lose abyss for the first time after last week’s disastrous first debate.
- ‘E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial’ Turns 30 – Speakeasy – WSJ – RT @WSJ “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” was released 30 years ago It remains the 4th most successful U.S. film of all time
- NASA – NASATV – RT @NASA on @SpaceX #Dragon capture: “Looks like we’ve tamed the Dragon. We’re happy she’s on-board with us.”
- Rep. Issa closes in on Clinton on Libya– Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is setting his sights on his biggest political target yet: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is treading more carefully than he did with his investigation of Attorney General Eric Holder and the Fast and Furious gun-tracking program, which led to a House vote placing Holder in contempt.Issa has not called on Clinton to testify at a hearing Wednesday morning meant to investigate security lapses at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.Issa’s staff has also praised Clinton for vowing to cooperate with the investigation of how an attack on the consulate left U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other American diplomats dead.
“After dealing with the Department of Justice’s stonewalling in Operation Fast and Furious, the State Department and Secretary Clinton have been a breath of fresh air,” said Frederick Hill, a spokesman for Issa, in an interview with The Hill. “They pledged their cooperation when we
- Josh Kraushaar’s post on Election 2012 | Latest updates on Sulia – Pres. Obama himself incorrectly blamed Libya attacks on video 9 days later in Univision forum, AFTER Susan Rice
- @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-10-10 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-10-10 #tcot
- RealClearPolitics – Election 2004 – General Election: Bush vs. Kerry – RealClearPolitics – Election 2004 – General Election: Bush vs. Kerry #tcot
- Obama Steps Into It with Big Bird Campaign Ad – Flap’s Blog – Obama Steps Into It with Big Bird Campaign Ad #tcot
- Biden: ‘You Ever See Me Rope-a-Dope?’– Joe Biden, on his way to tonight’s vice presidential debate in Kentucky, asks the press, “You ever see me rope-a-dope?”From the pool report:Vice President Biden arrived at about 10:50 a.m. at New Castle Airport. He climbed out of a gray SUV, greeted some military (see below) and then walked toward the press gathered near the wing.Asked about tonight’s debate he said, “Looking forward to it.”