The Morning Flap: October 22, 2012

President Obama and Governor Romney campaign prior to tonight’s debate

These are my links for October 19th through October 22nd:

• Third Obama-Romney debate sets stage for final campaign push– resident Obama and Mitt Romney face each other on-stage for the last time on Monday evening, when they meet at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., for their third televised debate.The importance of the occasion cannot be overstated. With the presidential race balanced on a knife-edge, this will be the last big set-piece of the campaign.A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Sunday showed the race tied, Obama and Romney each claiming the support of 47 percent of likely voters.Never again will either man have the chance to reach an audience anywhere close to the likely viewership of around 60 million people. A particularly strong performance, or even a single memorable gaffe, could decide the outcome on Election Day.
• Nevada needs a change now; elect Mitt Romney president | Reno Gazette-Journal– The Gazette-Journal recommends a vote for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for president of the United States.It wasn’t an easy decision. A recommendation against an incumbent can’t be taken lightly.President Barack Obama inherited a ghastly mess when he took office in January 2009. He demonstrated a clear understanding in his inaugural address, when he stated, “That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened …”Nevada was the state hit hardest by the great recession, and four years later, the state continues to lag well behind the others as the U.S. economy shows signs of slow improvement. Its unemployment rate remains worst in the nation; the foreclosure rate, while no longer No. 1, is still among the worst; and the tourism industry continues to struggle. And because of that, public services have been decimated and our schools, in particular, are failing to meet the needs of a state determined to diversify its economy.
• Monday’s Debate Puts Focus on Foreign Policy Clashes – NYTimes.com – Monday’s Debate Puts Focus on Foreign Policy Clashes #tcot
• Presidential debate 2012: Obama desperate to turn around ailing campaign as Mitt Romney rockets in polls – President Barack Obama has a final chance in Florida tonight night to halt Mitt Romney’s late surge and stave off a re-election defeat after plummeting in the polls after his disastrous first debate performance. Obama leads by a wafer-thin 0.2 per cent nationally in the RealClearPolitics poll of averages. But he is down seven in the Gallup tracking poll, down two in the Rasmussen poll and has seen his leads in Florida and Virginia disappear and his Ohio advantage whittled down to almost nothing
• Anatomy of a failed foreign policy– As he runs for re-election, President Obama has tried to portray his foreign policy as a success. A closer look suggests a different picture.Let us begin with a list of areas where US foreign policy has either stalled or suffered setbacks.Encouraged by a perceived weakness on the part of the Obama administration, Russia has cast itself as an adversary, adopting an aggressive profile in regions of vital US interest. A clear signal in Moscow’s change of attitude has come with the installation of S400 missiles close to the Caspian Basin and of long-range missiles in Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave next to Poland.For its part, China has sped up its military buildup and flexed its muscles against Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam. Beijing has also accelerated the building of a blue-water navy to challenge the US in the Pacific and Indian oceans. And, by undervaluing its currency, China has continued what amounts to low-intensity economic warfare.Efforts on North Korea have faded away, as Pyongyang pursues its quest for a nuclear arsenal with impunity.

  Iran? The facts speak for themselves. On Obama’s watch, Iran has increased its uranium-enrichment capabilities more than tenfold and hardened its defiant rhetoric. The mullahs are also pursuing an aggressive policy in Syria, while doing as much mischief as they can in Bahrain.

  US relations with Israel, America’s closest ally in the Middle East, are at low ebb with Obama’s decision to snub the Israeli prime minister during the latter’s visit to New York.

• Monday’s Debate Puts Focus on Foreign Policy Clashes– When President Obama and Mitt Romney sit down Monday night for the last of their three debates, two things should be immediately evident: there should be no pacing the stage or candidates’ getting into each other’s space, and there should be no veering into arguments over taxes.This debate is about how America deals with the world — and how it should.If the moderator, Bob Schieffer of CBS News, has his way, it will be the most substantive of the debates. He has outlined several topics: America’s role in the world, the continuing war in Afghanistan, managing the nuclear crisis with Iran and the resultant tensions with Israel, and how to deal with rise of China.The most time, Mr. Schieffer has said, will be spent on the Arab uprisings, their aftermath and how the terrorist threat has changed since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. No doubt the two candidates will spar again, as they did in the second debate, about whether the Obama administration was ready for the attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed J. Christopher Stevens, the American ambassador, and three other Americans. Mr. Romney was widely judged to not have had his most effective critique ready, and this time, presumably, he will be out to correct that.
• Obama Campaign Borrows $15M from Bank of America– Obama For America took out a $15 million loan from Bank of America lastmonth, according to the campaign’s October monthly FEC report. The loan was incurred on September 4 and is due November 14, eight days after the election. OFA received an interest rate of 2.5% plus the currentWarren Buffett, Obama donor and namesake of the infamous “Buffett Rule,” invested $5 billion in Bank of America last year in an effort to help the ailing financial institution. Last month, two weeks after OFA took out the loan, Bank of America announced a plan that would lay off 16,000 workers by the end of theObama has a complicated relationship with Bank of America. The bank contributed $20 million toward the cost of the Democrat National Convention earlier this year. Bank of America stadium, home to the Carolina Panthers, was supposed to host Obama’s acceptance speech. At the last moment, the campaign switched to a significantly smaller venue. The campaign claimed that an impending storm would not allow the President to deliver his address. Many questioned whether move was made because the campaign was having trouble filling such a large stadium.
• First Weekend Of Early Voting Favors Obama In Battleground Nevada – NationalJournal.com – RT @nationaljournal First weekend of early voting favors Obama in Nevada #tcot
• Obama vs. Romney: How they plan to win– It’s momentum vs. the map.With a little more than two weeks left until judgment day, Barack Obama’s campaign is embracing a fundamentally defensive strategy centered on winning Ohio at all costs — while unleashing a new barrage of blistering attacks against Mitt Romney aimed at mobilizing a less-than-fired-up Democratic base.A surging Romney is suddenly playing offense all over the map, and the upward movement since the Denver debate gives him the luxury of striking what his advisers — and more than a few Democrats — think is a more positive, presidential, “Morning in America” tone.In contrast to the grind-it-out Obama strategy, Romneyland’s working theory is that the momentum shift since Denver is a late-breaking, decisive wave that gives them the chance to not just win but win big.But if Obama is currently on the ugly end of Big Mo, Romney finds himself hobbled by previous mistakes, namely a failure to develop competitive ground operations — or even a baseline of competitive advertising — in potential battlegrounds such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, which are becoming more competitive.
• Josh Kraushaar’s post on Capitol Hill Insiders | Latest updates on Sulia – RT @HotlineJosh Mitt’s momentum: Romney leads Obama, 49 to 47 % in Politico/GWU poll. Leads 50-48 in 10 swing states.
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2012-10-21 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2012-10-21
• Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2012-10-21 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2012-10-21 #tcot
• My Daily Twitter Digest for 2012-10-21 – Locum Tenens (Temporary) Dentist – Gregory Cole, D.D.S. – My Daily Twitter Digest for 2012-10-21
• Day By Day October 21, 2012 – Storybook Endings – Flap’s Blog – Day By Day October 21, 2012 – Storybook Endings #tcot
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2012-10-20 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2012-10-20
• Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2012-10-20 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2012-10-20 #tcot
• My Daily Twitter Digest for 2012-10-20 – Locum Tenens (Temporary) Dentist – Gregory Cole, D.D.S. – My Daily Twitter Digest for 2012-10-20
• Day By Day October 20, 2012 – Pussies – Flap’s Blog – Day By Day October 20, 2012 – Pussies #tcot
• Trooth.Com Sends Picketers to Protest Outside the Office of Dr. Wisdom Teeth – Flap’s Blog – Sends Picketers to Protest Outside the Office of Dr. Wisdom Teeth #tcot
• Gregory Flap @ Ronnie’s Diner – 9 miles finished with the Los Angeles Roadrunners – – now Ronnie’s! (@ Ronnie’s Diner) [pic]:
• Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2012-10-19 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Digest for 2012-10-19
• Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2012-10-19 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Blog @ Flap Twitter Daily Digest for 2012-10-19 #tcot
• My Daily Twitter Digest for 2012-10-19 – Locum Tenens (Temporary) Dentist – Gregory Cole, D.D.S. – My Daily Twitter Digest for 2012-10-19
• LAPD Probing into Twelve Unsolved Murders Linked to the Charles Manson Family – Flap’s Blog – LAPD Probing into Twelve Unsolved Murders Linked to the Charles Manson Family #tcot
• RealClearPolitics – Opinion, News, Analysis, Videos and Polls – Obama retakes the lead in the RCP average 47.1% Vs. Romney 47.0%. Can it get any closer? #tcot
• New Hampshire – 2012 President – Obama 48%, Romney 49% (Public Policy Polling 10/17-10/19) – RT @pollsterpolls: New Hampshire – 2012 President – Obama 48%, Romney 49% (Public Policy Polling 10/17-10/19)
• Iowa – 2012 President – Obama 48%, Romney 49% (PPP 10/17-10/19) – RT @pollsterpolls: Iowa – 2012 President – Obama 48%, Romney 49% (PPP 10/17-10/19)
• San Bernardino stops payments to CalPERS, owes pension fund $5.3 million– The city of San Bernardino has stopped making its required payments to CalPERS since filing for bankruptcy and owes the big pension fund $5.3 million, CalPERS said today.San Bernardino’s missed payments creates a bizarre new twist in the unfolding political and financial drama over cities’ pension obligations. It raises significant questions about whether cities can use their financial problems to justify getting out of their obligations to the powerful pension fund.CalPERS spokesman Brad Pacheco said the pension fund has been talking to the city about the missed payments. “If we can’t resolve the missed payments…CalPERS will assert its rights and remedies available under the law,” he said. Ultimately, the San Bernardino pension program could be terminated, and the dollars contributed by the city to CalPERS over the years would be put into a special fund. No more money would be contributed, and the pension program for city workers would depend entirely on how that remaining pool of money is invested.Pacheco said that, because of grace periods, the city’s delinquency totals $1.2 million.
• Aspen Dental Sued for Unlawful Corporate Practice – Flap’s Blog – Aspen Dental Sued for Unlawful Corporate Practice #tcot
• Breaking: Trooth.Com Sends Protesters to Picket Outside Dr. Wisdom Teeth – Breaking: Sends Protesters to Picket Outside Dr. Wisdom Teeth
• The Morning Flap: October 19, 2012 – Flap’s Blog – The Morning Flap: October 19, 2012 #tcot
• Trooth.Com – The David Nicholls DDS Interview Part Four – Flap’s Blog – – The David Nicholls DDS Interview Part Four #tcot
• ‘Hating Breitbart’ to open this weekend (Sneak Peek) | Washington Times Communities – ‘Hating Breitbart’ to open this weekend #tcot
• Day By Day October 19, 2012 – Smackdown – Flap’s Blog – Day By Day October 19, 2012 – Smackdown #tcot