++Gun registries will be hacked by China and then given to Mexico, according to Wayne La Pierre.
++Paul Ryan has to close over 6.5 trillion in tax loopholes to balance his budget in ten years.
++John Boehner agrees with Paul Krugman that we don't have a debt problem for ten years.
++Pope Francis really was for Argentina in the Malvinas war with Britain.
++A majority of Americans now think the Iraq War wasn't a good idea. Paul Wolfowitz claims it was badly managed. David Frum regrets it but not the phrase "Axis of Evil", his lonely contribution to the debate.
++The RNC released a report that a majority of Americans find Republicans scary.
++At CPAC the diversity panel debated the merits of slavery.
++Because they need some outreach, Republicans will support immigration reform. Both the Senate and House committees have completed their work.
++President Obama is going to end global warming by executive order according to the National Review.
++The Obama Administration is trying to feed alternative energy futures in pension funds for the military.
++David Pflouffe says that Hilary Clinton is the strongest candidate on either side for 2016.
++Hillary Clinton came out today and endorsed same sex marriage.
++ Over two-thirds of Southern Baptists believe same sex marriage is inevitable. What's nice is that over 3/4rds of those responding did not believe they should face discrimination in either accommodations for the celebration or hotel rooms.
++Evangelist Rick Bell came out and endorsed same sex marriage.
++Pope Francis does not. But he did choose the name after St. Francis of Assisi not the founder of the Jesuits. Interestingly he said he thought of all the wars when he chose the name, not the issue of poverty. Economically Pope Francis seems to be a Peronista. His first public speech called on the Church to serve the poor.
++Hugo Chavez will not be embalmed because the Russian technicians say he would have to stay 6-8 months in Russia for preparations.
++Vice President Madura wants President Obama to stop plotting against his opponents. The previous day he said that Otto Reich was planning to kill his opponent. Previous to that he said President Obama gave Hugo Chavez cancer.
++Pope Francis' parents fled to Argentina to escape Mussolini, the hero of Father Koch, the man who founded the Koch fortune.
++Cliff Kincaid told the CPAC audience that the Vatican had been infiltrated by Marxists and President Obama and George Soros had been manipulating the Papal Conclave.
++Iran has launched their first home-grown Destroyer into the Caspian City, a stunt which will please Vladimir Putin.
++Bibi Netanyahu is on his best behavior for President Obama,stopping settlement construction on the West Bank.
++Annie Leibowitz did her magic on Michelle Obama for this week's Vogue magazine.
++John Boehner, the second highest Catholic in the U.S. government, turned down the White House offer to send him and Joe Biden to the Vatican to greet the new Pope.
++Rob Portman decided to endorse same-sex marriage after his son came out. He assured his audience that the Romney camp said that he had not been turned down for Vice President because his son was gay. Wanna Bet. His announcement brought condemnation from conservatives who said that family matters should never change one's principles like in the case of, say, Dick Cheney who actively campaigned for same sex marriage in Maryland.
++Willard Romney told CPAC not to be pessimistic because the best is yet to come or some such pablum.
++Bill Kristol attached Rand Paul's criticism of John McCain and Lindsey Graham as ignoring 50 years of GOP foreign policy. The problem with Kristol's Weekly Standard piece was that it equated war with foreign policy.
++The Guardian and BBC magazine printed LBJ's tapes about Richard Nixon sabotaging the Vietnam peace talks in 1968. The tape was the subject of the quest of the Plumbers who brought about Watergate. Nixon feared that it would get out that he committed treason and had the Plumbers go to the Brookings Institute. Robert Parry did a good piece on this for the Alternative News Consortium.
++Rand Paul continued his family's tradition of winning the CPAC Straw Poll,edging out Marco Rubio and Rick Santorum.Conservatives will have to square the younger libertarians with the Tea Baggers. Not pretty.
++The big brouhaha on the Drone attacks may have come too late. It looks like this year's drone attacks are far less than last year and that the Administration is now trying to create a legal regime for future Presidents.
++The Right is upset that President Obama's endless campaigning will make him look like a Washington insider. Okay. Isn't that better than a Kenyan Muslim Socialist?
++But never fear Dinesh DeSouza is coming back to your screens with a second film about how Obama is destroying America. This should be as good as his last.
++The Easter Egg Hunt will take place at the White House despite sequestration. It is funded privately.
++George Will says that the issue of procreation is what will make the Supreme Court reject same sex marriage. Come again.
++Fans--like me--of Bayard Rustin are urged to sign onto the White House petition to award Bayard on his 101th birthday The Medal Of Freedom. DOJ had previously wanted to honor Bayard but after thousands and thousands of pages of wiretaps that seemed inappropriate unless accompanied by an apology.
++A young experimental percussionist who happens to have my last name surpassed his goal of raising funds for his debut album on kickstarter,com. Way to go!
++Jack DeJohnette, Jazz great, played at the Kennedy Center as part of his 70th Birthday Tour. Great and I hope the young percussionist has as accomplished a career.
++According to John Thanis in his Vatican Diaries, Pope Benedict secretly drilled into St.Paul's tomb to see whether any body was there. It was. Now who it was is open to debate.
++There must be a congressional recess because I haven't heard any nonsense all day.
Showing posts with label Rob Portman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rob Portman. Show all posts
Monday, March 18, 2013
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Pollpalooza
++Feel free to observe the drip, drip of the Romney tax story on the various internet sites. This story is not going to go away soon and will not have a happy ending. Donald Trump and Steve Forbes in their own ways have proposed that Romney release his tax returns in return from documents of Obama's on his college career and other items. Steve Forbes was candid in saying that he didn't understand how someone who has been running for President so long could be caught so flat-footed. The problem with their proposal is that it will make Romney look like a birthed and chase away the independent voter who could care less what name Barack Obama went to school under. This theme has gotten new juice for the GOP because libertarian Wayne Allard Root, who claims to have gone to Colombia in the same class as President Obama says no one remembers him there. Root pulled this last election and got nowhere but seems willing to try it again.
++The Romney campaign wants to turn the conversation to their Veep pick. Yesterday Drudge had everyone hopping with the prospect of General Petraeus being tapped by Mitt Romney. In my opinion, that actually would be a game-changer. Petraeus, a former Rhodes Scholar and named one of Time magazine's 100 most important personalities, would force the Obama campaign to rethink its strategy. The choice would actually signal that Romney isn't afraid of having an equal nearby. Almost everyone, including his partners at Bain, say that Romney basically has been surrounded by yes-men his whole career and that many of his mistakes can be contributed to a very rigid CEO model of operation. Petraeus would also have erased the double digit lead by Obama in the field of foreign affairs and national security. The choice also would have given comfort level to the Republican establishment, which quietly is critical of the Romney campaign so far. The problem is that Petraeus has an excellent relationship with President Obama and is a self-proclaimed Rockefeller Republican. But alas, the buzz was killed when General Petraeus issued a statement late in the afternoon he did not want to run for any office in the near future.
++Which boils the field down to safer picks. Conservatives are pleading with Romney to solidify his base by picking Paul Ryan. But the Wisconsin congressman is simply too toxic with his proposals to turn Medicare into a voucher system and cut entitlement programs while increasing defense. Romney has danced close to the Ryan Plan but recently has sought to distance himself from its more outrageous proposals.
++So Nate the Great appeared on the Last Word and pointed out that Rob Portman's Wikipedia entry has been changed over 100 times in the last few days and is now locked, suggesting that Portman is the overwhelming choice. Today conservatives wrote op-ed pieces pleading with the Romney campaign not to pick Portman, who is a Washington insider with very close ties to both Bushes.
++Tim Pawlenty is mired in tax problems of his own,which would only magnify the Romney tax issue.
++Obviously, the Romney campaign desperately needs Ohio so Portman is very high, if not essential to his possible election. At 57, he looks and sounds like a reasonable technocrat but would not add any excitement to the campaign. The negative is that he is associated with both Bush Administrations and is almost totally an economics man.
++So let's get to the polls:
Electoral College. Princeton Consortium, which matched Nate Silver in 2008 for accuracy, has 300 safe EVs for Obama, 191 safe for Romney with 47 toss-ups. Without toss-ups, the EC vote is 332 to 206 for President Obama.
TPM today has 323 EC for Obama and 191 for Romney. Virginia is now considered "lean Obama", while Colorado is a "toss-up".
++National polls: Reuters/Ipsos Obama 49 and Romney 42 with Obama being better on both the economy and taxes.
PPP is Obama 48 to Romney 46.
ARP on voters over 50: Obama 47, Romney 47. Baby-boomers favored Romney by 7, retirees Obama by 4. Males Romney, women Obama.
State polling:
Cap/Corr/Granis on Virginia Obama 44 Romney 40. But over 50% want Romney to release his taxes.
Qunnipiac Virginia Obama 49 to Romney 45.
Quinnipiac Colorado : Romney 50 and Obama 45
PPP Colorado: Obama 49, Romney 43
Rasmussen Colorado: Obama 47, Romney 47
PPP North Carolina: Obama 49, Romney 46
Quinnipiac Wisconsin: Obama 51, Romney 45
Marquette Wisconsin: Obama 50, Romney 45
++So little has changed but the campaigns are heating up and Republicans are fighting over who will be allowed to speak at the Convention.
++The Romney campaign wants to turn the conversation to their Veep pick. Yesterday Drudge had everyone hopping with the prospect of General Petraeus being tapped by Mitt Romney. In my opinion, that actually would be a game-changer. Petraeus, a former Rhodes Scholar and named one of Time magazine's 100 most important personalities, would force the Obama campaign to rethink its strategy. The choice would actually signal that Romney isn't afraid of having an equal nearby. Almost everyone, including his partners at Bain, say that Romney basically has been surrounded by yes-men his whole career and that many of his mistakes can be contributed to a very rigid CEO model of operation. Petraeus would also have erased the double digit lead by Obama in the field of foreign affairs and national security. The choice also would have given comfort level to the Republican establishment, which quietly is critical of the Romney campaign so far. The problem is that Petraeus has an excellent relationship with President Obama and is a self-proclaimed Rockefeller Republican. But alas, the buzz was killed when General Petraeus issued a statement late in the afternoon he did not want to run for any office in the near future.
++Which boils the field down to safer picks. Conservatives are pleading with Romney to solidify his base by picking Paul Ryan. But the Wisconsin congressman is simply too toxic with his proposals to turn Medicare into a voucher system and cut entitlement programs while increasing defense. Romney has danced close to the Ryan Plan but recently has sought to distance himself from its more outrageous proposals.
++So Nate the Great appeared on the Last Word and pointed out that Rob Portman's Wikipedia entry has been changed over 100 times in the last few days and is now locked, suggesting that Portman is the overwhelming choice. Today conservatives wrote op-ed pieces pleading with the Romney campaign not to pick Portman, who is a Washington insider with very close ties to both Bushes.
++Tim Pawlenty is mired in tax problems of his own,which would only magnify the Romney tax issue.
++Obviously, the Romney campaign desperately needs Ohio so Portman is very high, if not essential to his possible election. At 57, he looks and sounds like a reasonable technocrat but would not add any excitement to the campaign. The negative is that he is associated with both Bush Administrations and is almost totally an economics man.
++So let's get to the polls:
Electoral College. Princeton Consortium, which matched Nate Silver in 2008 for accuracy, has 300 safe EVs for Obama, 191 safe for Romney with 47 toss-ups. Without toss-ups, the EC vote is 332 to 206 for President Obama.
TPM today has 323 EC for Obama and 191 for Romney. Virginia is now considered "lean Obama", while Colorado is a "toss-up".
++National polls: Reuters/Ipsos Obama 49 and Romney 42 with Obama being better on both the economy and taxes.
PPP is Obama 48 to Romney 46.
ARP on voters over 50: Obama 47, Romney 47. Baby-boomers favored Romney by 7, retirees Obama by 4. Males Romney, women Obama.
State polling:
Cap/Corr/Granis on Virginia Obama 44 Romney 40. But over 50% want Romney to release his taxes.
Qunnipiac Virginia Obama 49 to Romney 45.
Quinnipiac Colorado : Romney 50 and Obama 45
PPP Colorado: Obama 49, Romney 43
Rasmussen Colorado: Obama 47, Romney 47
PPP North Carolina: Obama 49, Romney 46
Quinnipiac Wisconsin: Obama 51, Romney 45
Marquette Wisconsin: Obama 50, Romney 45
++So little has changed but the campaigns are heating up and Republicans are fighting over who will be allowed to speak at the Convention.
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