More than four years ago, decked out in his trademark yellow cap and shirt, Larry Gibson famously waited his turn at a political rally in Beckley, W. Va., and finally got the chance to ask then-presidential candidate Barack Obama whether he would defend the land and people of central Appalachia.

Few people in our country were so fearless in the face of political pressure, bankers, Big Coal backlash and even death threats; and fewer people had the inspiring impact of this determined mountaineer, who had spent the last two decades crisscrossing the country, leading protests and beseeching power brokers to defend his Appalachian mountains from reckless strip mining operations.

His message was simple and to the point: Love them or leave them, just don't destroy them.

Today, working on his beloved Kayford Mountain homeplace -- the symbolic sky island surrounded by nearly 8,000 acres of mountaintop removal devastation that has served as an important training ground for a generation of activists, educators and chroniclers -- 66-year-old Larry Gibson reportedly died from a heart attack, as committed as ever as one of the most indefatigable, cherished and courageous spokespeople in the movement to abolish mountaintop removal mining.

And still waiting for Washington, D.C. to end to one of the most egregious human rights and environmental crimes in the nation.

And still waiting for an uprising in the hills of Appalachia, and the halls of Congress and the White House to join him on the frontlines of social justice.

Larry Gibson, photo courtesy of Vivian Stockman, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition

"I never wanted to become an activist, but I had to," Gibson told interviewer Taylor Lee Kirkland in 2009. He continued:

If I hadn't I would have been torn off this mountain a long time ago. There are thousands of people around the world who have heard me speak since I started this work, but honestly I wish to God no one knew my name. I wish I didn't have to leave my home and talk to people about mountaintop removal. Last year I traveled eight months out of the year talking to people about this stuff. But I know I have to bring this message to the world and I'm gonna fight for justice in every way I can. We have to have an uprising. This isn't an uprising that can be bought with money, but one that's coming from the hearts of honest and hardworking people.

As the news of Gibson's tragic loss spreads tonight, thousands of students, educators, activists, Washington wonks and policy analysts, and journalists and filmmakers from around the nation and world continue to release statements and post photos of how one mountaineer changed their lives in his pursuit for justice on Kayford Mountain, and his patience in greeting everyone at this homeplace.

"I spent the day with Larry on Thursday," acclaimed photographer Paul Corbit Brown emailed me. "To say he had an enormous impact on all of our lives wouldn't be enough. To say he was a hero wouldn't be enough. To say he changed our lives wouldn't be enough. To say has was deeply loved and will be missed wouldn't be enough. But let me tell you what was on his heart just days ago. He stressed that this fight was never about him or his mountain alone. It was, and is, about all of us and our shared future. It is about the thousands of young people that he called his kids. It is about those not yet born. It wasn't about Larry Gibson and a mountain. He wanted to be a voice for all people and the mountains and homes they love. He wanted to speak for Justice and to inspire those too frightened to speak. And even those who called Larry an enemy and wished to do him harm, he spoke of them, still, as "his People." Rest in Peace, Larry. It was only appropriate that you should be on your mountain when you left this world. You can rest assured that we who you left behind will not rest until we finish the work you so passionately and courageously began."

"Larry was one of the strongest, kindest, most dedicated peaceful warriors for justice I've ever known in my life," said Rory McIlmoil, a West Virginia-based coal and clean energy analyst. "And that no matter who you were, or which side you were on, Larry's smile, his laugh, and his compassion would remind you that we're all human and that we should care and fight for each other. I'm definitely going to miss Larry Gibson."

"The world is better for all Larry did to try to ensure a future hope for besieged and blasted generations of Appalachia," said Bob Kincaid, president of the Coal River Mountain Watch board. "At Kayford Mountain, he was among the first to show the world the ravages of Mountaintop Removal, making real and immediate and undeniable the coal industry's most dirty secret. Where I'm sure he is, I know the waters run clear and cool, and the air is no longer choked with dust, and Larry smiles in leisure well-earned."

"For those who love mountains, Larry was a god," wrote Rob Perks, with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, D.C. "There was no one like him, a man who literally put his life on the line to keep the coal industry from stealing our shared legacy. His spirit will live on in our continued fight to end The travesty of mountaintop removal."

"Larry's endlessly inspiring efforts and words are exemplary of a true hero," noted Chelsea Marie Ritter-Soronen, a St. Louis-based artist who took part in Mountain Justice and direct action protests in West Virginia. "Like many, I'll never forget the first time I heard him speak about mountaintop removal, it simply changed my life."

Steve Huntley, Chicago Sun-Times
Hope needs more time. That was President Barack Obama's message in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night. But a country that was forced to live on hope for four years and rewarded with dreary unemployment, falling middle class income and depressed home values may not be ready for another dose of lofty national goals based on nothing more than oratory.

Our presidential nominees have emerged from their taxpayer-subsidized conventions accomplishing a principal goal: To ignore the $6 billion per month that taxpayers are spending in Afghanistan and the average of one U.S. soldier killed there every day this year.

nstead, we got to see Eva Longoria strangely petting Jessica Alba's upper right arm. I am not familiar with either of these people but Democratic strategists now say that millions of white working class men will now vote for Barack Obama because of this.

Republican operatives are seeking depression therapy because it never occurred to them to feature two women touching each other provocatively. Best they could have done might have been Clint Eastwood and Tom Selleck in some sort of man love moment that would appeal to women voters -- perhaps Eastwood gently stroking Selleck's forehead with a butter knife would have done the trick.

The upshot? Longoria's petting moment rivals Eastwood's empty chair -- as a distraction all the more welcome to both parties wanting to talk about anything that doesn't matter.

President Barack Obama heads out of the national political conventions with a much clearer path to winning, top advisers to Mitt Romney privately concede.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- It's that birther thing again.

President Barack Obama was at an Orlando sports bar, snapping a University of Florida Gators' sign, sipping a pint and working a crowd when he walked up to a table with five children. One adult pointed to one of the boys, 7-year-old Andre Wupperman of Orlando, and informed the president that the boy was born in Hawaii, the president's native state.

Delighted, the president greeted the boy with a "shaka" sign, the pinky and thumb gesture typical of Hawaiian culture. The boy gestured back.

"You were born in Hawaii?" the president said. Then he asked teasingly: "You have a birth certificate?"

The patrons at Gator's Dockside, clearly aware of the discredited claims that Obama was not born in the United States, broke up laughing.

But It appears that when it comes to birther jokes, there are political rules about who is entitled to make them.

Last month, Obama's presidential rival, Mitt Romney, caught a blast from the Obama campaign when he was campaigning near his own Michigan birthplace and quipped that "no one's ever asked to see my birth certificate."

Romney later insisted the remark was just a joke and not meant to question Obama's citizenship. But Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt denounced the remark.

This time, Obama aides helped flesh the joke out. They made sure reporters with the president knew the young boy's name, age and residence.

SEMINOLE, Fla. -- President Barack Obama on Saturday pronounced Republicans "dead wrong" in calling America a country in decline, offering a rebuttal to the "naysayers" who drew attention to the nation's staggering debt and anemic job growth.

Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney clawed for advantage in a post-convention push through some of the most closely contested states that marked the opening of the homestretch of the tight race.

Obama told a spirited rally that America's "basic bargain" is at stake in the election, the promise that "if you work hard it will pay off." He pledged to make education more affordable, reduce dependence on foreign oil and slash deficits "without sticking it to the middle class" if he gets another term.

Romney, who spent much of the week preparing for debates and laying low during the Democratic convention, was back in motion with a planned Virginia Beach rally and visit to a NASCAR rally in Richmond, Va.,

Virginia and Florida are two of a handful of states that could determine the outcome of the election.

Obama reached for some Ronald Reagan-like optimism in hard times, telling his audience that much about America is essentially right.

"When our opponents say this nation is in decline they are dead wrong," he said. "This is America. We still have the best workers in the world and the best entrepreneurs in the world. We've got the best scientists and the best researchers. We've got the best colleges and the best universities."

He went on: "We are a young nation with the greatest diversity of talent and ingenuity from every corner of the globe so no matter what the naysayers may say for political reasons, no matter how dark they try to make everything look, there's not a country on Earth that wouldn't gladly trade places with the United States of America."

Days earlier, GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan noted that the national debt was reported to have passed $16 trillion on the first day of the Democratic convention. "That's a country in decline," Ryan said.

Unemployment remains stubbornly high, clocking in at 8.1 percent on Friday and keeping joblessness and economic weakness on the boil as top campaign issues.

Obama opened a two-day bus tour in Florida, campaigning in a state with the highest elderly population and an unemployment rate of 8.8 percent, higher than the national average.

As both candidates enter the final two-month sprint to the election, Romney is casting Obama as an inept steward of the nation's post-recession recovery. It's a portrayal Obama has been fighting for months as the unemployment rate sticks stubbornly above 8 percent.

On Friday, the government reported that employers added just 96,000 jobs in August and that, aided by frustrated job hunters giving up, the jobless rate dropped only marginally from 8.3 percent the month before.

"He gave them no confidence whatsoever that he has any plan to make America's economy start to create the jobs it ought to be creating," Romney said Friday, critiquing Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.

Obama is countering by presenting himself as a champion of the middle class and by repeatedly decrying Romney's economic remedies as failed throwbacks that would further endanger the economy.

But Obama is also eager to turn the debate away from the economy and on to issues that favor Democrats. Obama repeatedly reminds audiences that Romney's running mate has proposed to overhaul Medicare, the government health program for older Americans, with a voucher-like system that could cost beneficiaries more out of their pocket.

Obama's team says the Medicare argument could help attract undecided voters approaching retirement age, more so than elderly voters whose political views are already set.

Obama's visit to Florida is his first since Romney and the GOP held their convention in Tampa last month. With 29 electoral votes, the state is a lynchpin in both candidates' strategies for winning the election.

Romney and Obama are deadlocked in Virginia, where the Democrat is strong in the northern suburbs of Washington, D.C., and Romney does better in the south and rural areas.

Romney sees working-class white voters, who have at times voted for moderate Democrats such as Sen. Mark Warner, as ripe for picking. Polls suggest those voters prefer Romney over Obama. Romney's NASCAR visit was a nod to this potentially pivotal voting bloc in Virginia, as well as Ohio, Florida, Iowa and other battlegrounds.

Romney aides say the Republican can win support by going after Obama for looming cuts in the military that could be factors in Norfolk and Hampton Roads. At issue are threatened deep spending cuts that were designed to force Congress to negotiate a debt-reduction package. But Congress has not acted and the cuts are set to kick in in January. Obama has opposed the depth of the cuts but has said Republicans need to adopt a plan that includes increases in revenue.

Romney faces similar challenges of his own in northern Virginia, where his pledge to cut 10 percent of the federal workforce affects local jobs.

___

Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont in Belmont, Mass., and Matthew Daly in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

Greg Sargent, Washington Post
On Tuesday, Michelle Obama talked about who Barack Obama is and where he came from. On Wednesday, Bill Clinton talked about where the country and the economy have been and how we struggled to get to where we are now. As Chuck Schumer put it earlier today, those two performances teed up Barack Obama to devote tonight's speech to talking about the future.In a bit of a surprise, Obama's speech "” which had little in the way of soaring rhetoric and stuck to a direct and sometimes pleading tone "” spent little time defending his economic record. That...

George Will, Washington Post
With two extravagant entertainments under way, it is instructive to note the connection between the presidential election and the college football season: Barack Obama represents progressivism, a doctrine whose many blemishes on American life include universities as football factories, which progressivism helped to create.Higher education embraced athletics in the first half of the 19th century, when most colleges were denominational and most instruction was considered mental and moral preparation for a small minority — clergy and other professionals. Physical education had nothing...

Ryan Lizza, The New Yorker
The reviews of Barack Obama’s speech to the Democratic National Convention are lukewarm, and I think I know why. There was an odd mismatch between Obama’s claim about the enormous stakes of this election and his own preview of what he would do if reëlected. The political cliché of this election is that Obama wants the campaign to be a choice between two competing visions for the country, while Romney wants it to be a simple referendum on Obama’s tenure in office. Here’s how Obama framed what’s at stake:

By Jeff Mason and Sam Youngman

IOWA CITY, Iowa/NASHUA, N.H., Sept 7 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama charged back onto the campaign trail on Friday and faced a withering attack from Republican rival Mitt Romney over disappointing new U.S. jobs numbers as the candidates sought to emphasize their differences in states crucial to the battle for the White House.

Just hours after basking in his supporters' adulation at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, Obama was hit by a stark reminder of the challenge he faces convincing voters to give him a second term despite stubbornly high unemployment on his watch.

As the candidates launched the final two-month drive to Election Day, the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Obama getting at least a small bounce from his convention, taking a narrow lead of 46 percent to Romney's 44 percent among likely voters. Romney previously led by 45 percent to Obama's 44 percent.

The latest polling was conducted before the Labor Department reported on Friday that U.S. employers added a lower-than-expected 96,000 jobs in August - which could ensure that any "bump" in popular support for Obama is limited and brief.

The grim economic news dimmed the afterglow from the convention where Obama on Thursday night accepted his party's nomination and appealed to Americans for more time and patience to finish his economic agenda.

Pouncing on the jobs data to slam Obama's handling of the economy - the top concern of voters - Romney called the figures "another disappointing, sad report."

Romney said that Obama "just doesn't know what it takes to get America strong again. And I do. And I'm going to bring it back," Romney said at a rally.

While noting the private sector had now generated jobs for 30 straight months, Obama acknowledged: "It's not good enough. We need to create more jobs faster."

At the same time, he pointed out that Republicans in Congress had blocked much of his jobs plan and accused Romney of making promises to revitalize the economy but not telling voters how he would do it.

"I honestly believe this is the clearest choice that we've had in my lifetime," Obama said at a later rally. "It's a choice between two fundamentally different visions of our future, where America goes."

Obama took to the campaign trail with his wife, Michelle, and Vice President Joe Biden and his wife a day after his nationally televised acceptance speech capped two weeks of back-to-back nominating conventions for Democrats and Republicans.

Obama's acceptance speech drew the largest television audience of this year's political conventions and ranked as the biggest political moment ever on social media site Twitter.

The end of the conventions opened the last phase of a White House battle that polls show is essentially deadlocked amid deep voter anxiety about the economy.


BACK TO CAMPAIGN TRAIL

The latest jobs data could give a boost to Romney, the former head of a private equity firm who has made his business experience the centerpiece of his campaign.

He argues he is uniquely qualified to create job growth and says Obama is not up to the job. The Obama campaign has sought to undermine Romney's argument by pointing out some firms he invested in ended up cutting jobs or shipping them overseas.

Obama, who entered office during the darkest days of the 2007-2009 recession, has brought unemployment down from a peak of 10 percent in his first year, but has been unable to crack the 8 percent barrier - a fact that Romney's camp has stressed.

"This is not even close to what a recovery looks like," Paul Ryan, Romney's vice presidential running mate, told CNBC.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the Romney-Ryan approach was not the answer, saying that would mean "going back to the same policies that led us to the crisis that we've been going through to begin with."

The unemployment data still raise doubts whether Obama will get anything more than a limited - and short-lived boost - from the convention.

Obama senior adviser David Plouffe sought to play down expectations, saying he did not expect any major shift in voter sentiment. "We come out of the convention with momentum. That doesn't mean the race is going to change significantly," he told reporters traveling with Obama.

SWING-STATE TOUR

Obama and Romney campaigned on Friday in the toss-up states of New Hampshire and Iowa, which could be critical to piecing together the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.

They are among eight to 10 battleground states that are likely to decide the election, a list that also includes Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Colorado, Nevada and Wisconsin.

Those states have been flooded by tens of millions of dollars in TV ads by the campaigns, and hundreds of millions more from outside groups allied with the two candidates.

Obama is spending the weekend on a bus tour of Florida, while Romney heads to Virginia for campaign events on Saturday.

Obama dismissed Romney and Ryan as foreign policy neophytes and mocked the Republican nominee for offending British leaders by criticizing London's handling of the Olympic Games while on an overseas trip there.

Seeking to turn the tables on Obama, Romney said on Friday he had only been speaking to the British in a straightforward way, and faulted the president for what he said was a failure to talk tough enough with China about trade and currency practices.

"The message from last night was that the president's plan is four more years of the four last years. And I don't think the American people want four more years of the four last years," Romney said.

Democrats said they were pleased with the three-day convention, which they say could help reignite supporters' enthusiasm.

The next big event on the political calendar is the first of three presidential debates on Oct. 3 in Denver.

The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True | Bill Clinton says the president let students pay 'clear, fixed, low' rate for loans

Former President Bill Clinton told delegates to the Democratic National Convention that there was an Obama policy they needed to share with "every voter." Health care? Jobs? No — changes to student loans. Clinton got down into details in his Sept. 5, 2012, speech to nominate President Barack Obama for a second term. Student loan legislation under Obama, he said, "lowers the cost of federal student loans." "And even more important," he told them, "it gives students the right to repay those loans as a clear, fixed, ...

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Michael Goodwin, New York Post
The system is rigged. America is unjust. Opportunity is dead. You didn’t build that. Dammit, where’s mine? Oh, and Republicans are the people who rigged the system. They’re trying to take away your rights to vote, to health care, to education, to housing. They hate women, gays and immigrants. They don’t pay their fair share and they’re un-American.Barack Obama lights candles, Mitt Romney spreads darkness, and Osama bin Laden is dead.

President Barack Obama accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party with a humble, values-oriented appeal to the voters who elected him in 2008. At one point he quoted President Abraham Lincoln, "While I'm proud of what we've achieved together, I'm far more mindful of my own failings, knowing exactly what Lincoln meant when he said, 'I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go.'

Expectations soared when the president was elected four years ago on a campaign filled with the promise of "hope and change." To those who may be disappointed in his first term, the president said, "Hope has been tested - by the cost of war; by one of the worst economic crises in history; and by political gridlock that's left us wondering whether it's still possible to tackle the challenges of our time."

Saying it wouldn't be easy, the president said this election was a choice between two visions, "Our problems can be solved. Our challenges can be met. The path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a better place. And I'm asking you to choose that future." President Obama said his opponents wouldn't tell you their plan, except cut taxes and roll back regulations. "Have a surplus? Try a tax cut. Deficit too high? Try another." The president joked, "Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations, and call us in the morning!" He concluded, "We've been there, we've tried that, and we're not going back. We're moving forward."

The president highlighted his record of adding jobs, bailing out the auto industry, investing in education, energy, dealing with the environment, national security, and taking on the deficit. He pointed out that his opponents have no foreign policy experience. "After all, you don't call Russia our number one enemy - and not al Qaeda - unless you're still stuck in a Cold War time warp," the president said. " You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can't visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally."

The president offered an alternative, "In a world of new threats and new challenges, you can choose leadership that has been tested and proven. Four years ago, I promised to end the war in Iraq. We did. I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11. We have. We've blunted the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan, and in 2014, our longest war will be over. A new tower rises above the New York skyline, al Qaeda is on the path to defeat, and Osama bin Laden is dead." The president then thanked the U.S. military for their service in his address, a glaring oversight by Mitt Romney last week.

President Obama said he will never turn Medicare into a voucher, referring to Rep. Paul Ryan's plan. He said he will not turn Social Security over to Wall Street. He also said, "I refuse to ask middle class families to give up their deductions for owning a home or raising their kids just to pay for another millionaire's tax cut." The president reaffirmed his position on raising taxes on the wealthy. And, answering a Republican theme, he said, "We don't think government can solve all our problems. But we don't think that government is the source of all our problems - any more than are welfare recipients, or corporations, or unions, or immigrants, or gays, or any other group we're told to blame for our troubles."

President Obama's speech set out a sharp contrast with his opponents. He humbly asked for American's support, "If you believe in a country where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules, then I need you to vote this November."

President Obama followed powerful speeches by Vice President Joe Biden and Senator John Kerry, who was defeated in his 2004 run for President by President George W. Bush.

The vice president spoke to the middle class and to those families who are struggling. He identified and connected with them by relating his and President Obama's family history. He then attacked Mitt Romney for opposing President Obama's rescue of the automobile industry. Romney said they should be allowed to go bankrupt.

Biden then rallied the house with his oft repeated line, "Osama bin-Laden is dead and General Motors is alive!" He excoriated the Republican ticket on Medicare. Saying the opposition didn't tell their audience that; "The plan that they have already put on paper would cut for benefits for more than 30 million seniors." He continued, "it would cause it to go bankrupt by 2016."

On the deficit, the vice president said of the Republicans, "They didn't tell you they rejected every plan put forward by us, or the Simpson-Bowles commission to reduce the debt." He then jabbed Romney's talk of a "jobs tour", saying, "With his support for outsourcing it's going to have to be a foreign trip."

He emphatically insisted "America is not in decline," and that it has never been a good bet to bet against the American people!" In a very emotional moment, he recognized the "incredible debt we owe" the American military dead and wounded. "We must never forget their sacrifice!"

Earlier, Senator Kerry was brutal in his criticism of Mitt Romney. On foreign policy, he said, "He has all these neo-con advisors who know all the wrong things about foreign policy. He would rely on them--after all, he's the great outsourcer." Then he added, "This is not the time to outsource the job of commander in chief."

Playing off the "Are you better off?" riff that is used by Republicans, Kerry said, "Ask Osama bin Laden if he is better off now than he was four years ago," to a rousing ovation. In response to Republican criticism that President Obama has let Israel down, the senator noted that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has said of the U.S. under Mr. Obama's leadership, "our security cooperation is unprecedented."

Finally, in a stinging shot at Mitt Romney's failure to mention American troops in his acceptance speech, Kerry said, "No nominee for president should ever fail in the midst of a war to pay tribute to our troops overseas.'

The Democratic Convention was authentic, warm and stirring, thanks to memorable speeches by First Lady Michelle Obama, Mayor Julian Castro and President Bill Clinton. It overshadowed last week's Republican Convention, which was short on specifics and solutions. But will it be enough to help President Obama overcome a sluggish economy and high unemployment? Will voters take the president at his word, "America, I never said this journey would be easy, and I won't promise that now. Yes, our path is harder - but it leads to a better place."

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Journalists here are honing in on Vice President Joe Biden's criticism of the GOP for not supporting any of the deficit-reduction proposals over the past year, noting that President Barack Obama did not embrace a report put out by the co-chairs of the Simpson-Bowles panel.

ABC's Jake Tapper, for instance, called the following, from Biden, an "incredible line."

"In Tampa, they talked with great urgency about the nation’s debt. And the need to act, to act now. But not once, not one single time, did they tell you that they rejected every plan put forward by us -- by the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles Commission they referenced, or by other respected outside group -- to reduce the national debt. They were not for any of them. Why? Because they're not prepared to do anything about the debt if it contained even one dollar, not exaggerating, even one dollar -- one cent -- in new taxes for millionaires. Folks, that’s not courage. And that’s not fair," Biden said.

But focusing on the White House decision to not publicly embrace a plan that was rejected by the commission itself -- including by all three House Republicans, led by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) -- is a textbook case of the media missing the story.

The problem with Biden's statement isn't that it's false. The problem is that it's true. With unemployment above 8 percent and the economy sputtering along, cutting government spending would have slowed growth further. Obama's 2011 focus on the deficit over job creation was a failure on every level, failing to reach a deal and turning the focus away from job creation.

The White House, contrary to media carping, did, in fact, desperately pursue a "grand bargain" that would dramatically trim the deficit, the sort of deal Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles were pursuing. In so doing, the Obama administration was willing to raise the Medicare retirement age and agree to a host of other cuts to social programs that would have caused real pain, in exchange for a disproportionately small amount of tax hikes.

Obama's pursuit of this deal led him to push the Senate to create a commission to hash one out. When Senate Republicans bailed on it, he created one by executive order. That panel -- Simpson-Bowles -- rejected the co-chairs' conclusions -- meaning there was no actual report for the president to support.

But Obama didn't give up, agreeing with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to dramatically cut spending in exchange for limited revenue increases. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group in the Senate was also working on a deficit-reduction deal.

Obama publicly backed the deal -- the kind of public support journalists are now saying was lacking.

As soon as Obama got behind the bargain, the GOP fled.

As the Washington Post reported, "Coburn was 'shocked,' he said later, when he saw Obama's remarks that day on television. His effusive praise for the Gang of Six, Coburn believed, was a tactical mistake that revealed Obama's inexperience in the ways of Washington. It signaled to skittish conservatives that a tax hike was on the way. Obama's announcement, Coburn said in an interview, 'absolutely killed anything we were doing with the Republicans.'"

To conclude from the White House failure to support Bowles-Simpson in public, after it had been rejected by the panel itself, that Obama didn't support a grand bargain is to ignore everything else the administration had done, even in the face of liberal criticism, to demonstrate otherwise.

Even after the collapse of Simpson-Bowles, Obama didn't give up his push for a grand bargain.

To the chagrin of progressives, he reiterated his support for such a deal during tonight's speech. "I'm still eager to reach an agreement based on the principles of my bipartisan debt commission," he said. Obama's support for a grand bargain, even in the face of relentless progressive opposition, it has not wavered, despite the media's confusing response to Biden's claim.

Adam Green, head of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, immediately pushed back on Obama's restated support of a deficit deal.

"Mitt Romney must not become president. But it's unacceptable for a Democratic president to pull the wool over supporters' eyes by talking blandly about a 'bipartisan commission' that actually proposed extreme cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits -- and lowering corporate tax rates," Green said.

The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True | Obama says Romney called Russia our ‘No. 1 enemy’

President Barack Obama reminded Americans in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention that he’s also the nation’s commander-in-chief who has made tough decisions in wartime and negotiated delicate diplomatic situations. His opponent, Obama said, is "new to foreign policy" and will drag the country back into old conflicts. "After all, you don't call Russia our No. 1 enemy -- not Al-Qaida, Russia -- unless you're still stuck in a Cold War mind warp," Obama said, alluding to Republican rival Mitt Romney. We wondered if Romney really did say ...

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The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True | Barack Obama said he's cut taxes for 'middle-class families, small businesses'

In his speech at the Democratic National Committee in Charlotte, N.C., President Barack Obama mocked Republicans for turning to tax cuts as the solution to every problem. "Have a surplus? Try a tax cut. Deficit too high? Try another. Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations, and call us in the morning!" Obama said. "Now, I’ve cut taxes for those who need it – middle-class families and small businesses.  But I don’t believe that another round of tax breaks for millionaires will bring good jobs to our ...

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The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True | Obama says his budget plan will cut deficits by $4 trillion

Editor’s note: After we published this item, we were alerted that our description of the position of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget contained incomplete information. We reviewed that description, interviewed the committee’s staff again, made changes, and re-published our report on Sept. 19, 2012. The text of our original report is archived here. The ruling remains Half True.     Republicans have used the government’s growing deficits as a cudgel to drive Democrats out of office. The strategy worked well in 2010 and, with the nation’s total debt having hit $16 trillion, they are ...

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The Truth-o-Meter says: True | Barack Obama says U.S. has gained a half-million manufacturing jobs

During his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., President Barack Obama touted recent growth in manufacturing jobs. "After a decade of decline, this country created over half a million manufacturing jobs in the last two and a half years," Obama said. Because of the wording of his claim, we are examining whether the numbers are right, not whether Obama's policies were instrumental. To check the numbers, we turned to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the federal government’s official source for employment numbers. We used seasonally adjusted statistics ...

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The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True | Granholm says Romney's response to auto crisis was 'Let Detroit go bankrupt'

Judging by the number of times they have brought it up in Charlotte, N.C., Democrats are ecstatic about the resurgence of the American auto industry. They offer it as slam-dunk proof that government intervention can revive, not stifle, private enterprise. Jennifer Granholm, former governor of Michigan, took her moment at the podium and got the crowd roaring as she touted President Barack Obama's response to the crisis. "He organized a rescue! He made the tough calls! And he saved the American auto industry! And you know, you know...Mitt Romney saw the same crisis and you know ...

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The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False | Rahm Emanuel says Romney asked for welfare work waiver in Massachusetts

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, President Barack Obama’s former chief of staff, jumped into the fray over welfare work requirements during an appearance Sunday on Meet the Press. Emanuel also served as a senior adviser to President Bill Clinton during welfare reform in 1996. The reform law transformed welfare from an indefinite entitlement to temporary assistance that required people to eventually join the workforce. That’s what the changes Obama announced this summer are also aimed at, Emanuel said, by giving states flexibility in how they move welfare recipients into employment. The work rule ...

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The Truth-o-Meter says: True | UAW president Bob King says auto industry has gained 250,000 jobs since mid-2009

One of the big themes of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., has been a celebration of what President Barack Obama did to help the automobile industry when it was teetering on the edge of financial collapse in early 2009. Bob King -- president of the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the UAW -- emphasized that point in his speech to the convention on Sept. 5, 2012. "President Obama took action, putting together a rescue team, demanding real change and real sacrifice from ...

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Betsy Reed, The Nation
It’s been well established by now that the Romney campaign ads accusing President Obama of gutting welfare reform by waiving its work requirement are invented out of whole cloth (cloth, it’s been noted, with an insidious racial design). Not only has Obama maintained the deeply flawed program created by President Clinton’s 1996 welfare law; but Republican governors requested the technical waivers their party now finds so deplorable.The “Barack Obama, Welfare King” attack line is downright perverse when you consider how Obama failed to fix the...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Tens of thousands of the most loyal Democratic activists won't get to watch President Barack Obama's big convention speech on Thursday, after organizers decided to move the stadium event indoors into a smaller venue due to predictions of severe thunderstorms. To make up for it, the president held a conference call with the shut-out convention-goers to apologize and encourage them to stay engaged.

"I just want to begin by saying how much I regret that we're not all gathering together in one place to deliver my acceptance speech tonight," Obama told individuals on the call who had credentials for Bank of America stadium but won't be able to get into the new venue, Time Warner Cable Arena.

"My main message is we can't get a little thunder and lightning get us down," he said, "we're going to have to roll with it."

The president said the decision to move the speech was made because of the "safety issue" holding it outdoors would pose, not only for attendees, but also for the first responders, law enforcement and individuals working at the venue.

"I know it's disappointing," he added. "I've got to tell you, I saw some of my key staff who had come down here and they've literally been working nonstop for months just getting the logistics of this all put together. Obviously they were a little bit crestfallen, and I know it's especially disappointing to for a lot of you who worked hard to get your tickets to the event and traveled or planned to travel at your own expense to be here."

The Obama campaign is instead organizing watch parties around Charlotte so that shut-out supporters will be able to gather and watch the big event on Thursday night -- albeit not in person.

Bank of America Stadium holds about 75,000 people, compared to the 20,000 who can fit in the Time Warner Cable Arena.

There's no doubt that many volunteers and supporters were incredibly disappointed when they heard the bad news on Wednesday.

"I'm so mad at this point that I don't want to do anything," Vickey Price, 49, told The Huffington Post outside the convention center on Wednesday. Price traveled from Raleigh, N.C. after she earned her ticket through the Obama campaign's 9-3-1 volunteer program. Supporters in North Carolina had to volunteer nine hours, in three shifts, for the chance to win one ticket.

"It made me want to rethink my vote just because I was told one thing, and I get here, and there's something else," she added. "To me, don't do that to the American people, who will do their best to put you in office. You just have to be careful when you disappoint such a huge crowd."

Other would-be attendees, while also disappointed, were a bit more forgiving.

"Shit happens," said Rosalind D. Harris, 62, from Denver, Colo.

Glencile Greenlea, 56, from Montgomery, Ala., said the trip was still well worth the time and money because of all the people she had met while in Charlotte.

On Thursday morning, the AFL-CIO announced that it was giving up the 26 passes it had into the arena so that other convention-goers would be able to get in to see Obama's speech.

While speaking with supporters, Obama said he was excited about how the convention was going so far.

"Michelle -- what can I say. I'm a little biased, but she was unbelievable," he said, referring to the First Lady's speech that brought the house down on the first night of the convention.

He said that former President Bill Clinton "broke down the issues as effectively as anybody could" and called San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro "an incredible talent."

The Truth-o-Meter says: True | Clinton says Ryan attacked Obama for Medicare cuts reflected in Ryan's own budget

Bill Clinton used his nominating address at the Democratic National Convention to respond to the Republican critiques leveled at President Barack Obama during the GOP’s Tampa convention. But there was one attack in particular, he said, that "takes some brass." "When Congressman (Paul) Ryan looked into that TV camera and attacked President Obama's Medicare savings as, quote, the ‘biggest coldest power play,’ I didn't know whether to laugh or cry," Clinton said in his Sept. 5, 2012, speech in Charlotte, N.C. "Because, that $716 billion is exactly, to the dollar, the same amount of Medicare savings ...

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