Rick Wilson, Ricochet
Watching the final debate, the more I considered Barack Obama's deplorably non-presidential affect and attitude; his reliance on corny, crudely-made zingers; and his almost pathological string of lies and distortions, the more it struck me that, at some level, he knows this is over. His speeches since then show an edge that belies the old "No Drama Obama" who was going to heal the bitter partisan divisions of the past.The aura of a losing campaign is unique, and Ross Douthat pegged it today:Losing campaigns have a certain feel to them: They go negative hard, try out new...
Holes in the Obama Battleship
On October - 26 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
Jonah Goldberg, National Review
In the third and final debate, Barack Obama scored huge points with the media, college kids, and die-hard liberals — in other words, his base — when he mocked Mitt Romney’s concern about our historically small Navy.“But I think Governor Romney maybe hasn’t spent enough time looking at how our military works,” the president said. “You — you mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our...
In the third and final debate, Barack Obama scored huge points with the media, college kids, and die-hard liberals — in other words, his base — when he mocked Mitt Romney’s concern about our historically small Navy.“But I think Governor Romney maybe hasn’t spent enough time looking at how our military works,” the president said. “You — you mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our...
America Has Finally Seen the Real Obama
On October - 26 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
Peggy Noonan, Wall St Journal
We all say Ohio, Ohio, Ohio. But it's all still Denver, Denver, and the mystery that maybe isn't a mystery at all. If Cincinnati and Lake County go for Mitt Romney on Nov. 6 it will be because of what happened in Denver on Oct. 3. If Barack Obama barely scrapes through, if there's a bloody and prolonged recount, it too will be because of Denver.
We all say Ohio, Ohio, Ohio. But it's all still Denver, Denver, and the mystery that maybe isn't a mystery at all. If Cincinnati and Lake County go for Mitt Romney on Nov. 6 it will be because of what happened in Denver on Oct. 3. If Barack Obama barely scrapes through, if there's a bloody and prolonged recount, it too will be because of Denver.
Obama Now Counting on Ground Game
On October - 25 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
Jennifer Epstein, Politico
President Barack Obama’s campaign is confident that its ground game will produce the winning margin in November — but while they’re well ahead of Mitt Romney, things are a lot tougher than they were in 2008.
President Barack Obama’s campaign is confident that its ground game will produce the winning margin in November — but while they’re well ahead of Mitt Romney, things are a lot tougher than they were in 2008.
Let Freedom Ring: Says GM used taxpayer dollars to prop up operations in China.
On October - 25 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
The Truth-o-Meter says: False | Ad claims GM used bailout money to boost China operations
If there is one economic success that President Barack Obama likes to tout, it is the recovery of the American auto industry. An ad now circulating on the Web aims to strip Obama of that accomplishment. It is called Chinese Motors and accuses General Motors, and by extension, Obama, of parlaying American taxpayer dollars to create jobs in China. The ad comes from Let Freedom Ring USA, a group that fuses religious and fiscal conservatives. The group’s president Colin Hanna said he has spent $7 million dollars to have the ad show up 300 ...
>> MoreWhy the Race Really Has Changed
On October - 24 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
Christian Heinze, The Hill
Some contrarians have suggested the Romney-Comeback-Narrative is overblown, and that except for a brief bounce after the first debate, the race is where it was since the general election effectively began in April.There are so many ways (including all sorts of intangibles) that's wrong, but let's just look at the basest measure of all.According to RCP's chart of polls, the last time Barack Obama hit 50% in a national poll was September 30 when CNN gave him a 50%-47% lead over Mitt Romney.In September, he hit that mark ten times. He's yet to do it even once this month. You...
Some contrarians have suggested the Romney-Comeback-Narrative is overblown, and that except for a brief bounce after the first debate, the race is where it was since the general election effectively began in April.There are so many ways (including all sorts of intangibles) that's wrong, but let's just look at the basest measure of all.According to RCP's chart of polls, the last time Barack Obama hit 50% in a national poll was September 30 when CNN gave him a 50%-47% lead over Mitt Romney.In September, he hit that mark ten times. He's yet to do it even once this month. You...
Barack Obama: "The sequester is not something that I've proposed. It is something that Congress has proposed."
On October - 24 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False | Barack Obama says Congress owns sequestration cuts
In their final debate before the election, President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney each said they would be the staunchest supporter of the military. Said Romney: "I will not cut our military budget by a trillion dollars, which is a combination of the budget cuts the president has, as well as the sequestration cuts. That, in my view, is making ... our future less certain and less secure." Obama responded by saying Romney was assigning blame in the wrong place. "First of all, the sequester is not something that ...
>> MoreThe Left Was Easily Confused by Reagan, Too
On October - 23 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
James Taranto, WSJ
Mitt Romney missed a golden opportunity during last night's debate. "The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back," Barack Obama said. The perfect comeback would have been: "Oh yeah? Well, the ocean called, and they're running outta ships!" True, Romney delivered a version of this zinger, but much later. His timing was all wrong.Oh well, maybe Romney can arrange another meeting with the president and get it right this time. We understand Obama will be in Ohio.Obama went on to tell Romney: "You seem to want to import the foreign policies of...
Mitt Romney missed a golden opportunity during last night's debate. "The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back," Barack Obama said. The perfect comeback would have been: "Oh yeah? Well, the ocean called, and they're running outta ships!" True, Romney delivered a version of this zinger, but much later. His timing was all wrong.Oh well, maybe Romney can arrange another meeting with the president and get it right this time. We understand Obama will be in Ohio.Obama went on to tell Romney: "You seem to want to import the foreign policies of...
Tagg Romney Apologizes To Obama
On October - 23 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
MORRISON, Colo. -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's son Tagg has apologized to President Barack Obama for saying in a radio interview that he was tempted to "take a swing" at the president for criticizing his father during a debate.
Tagg Romney on Monday walked up on stage with other family members after the third presidential debate, where cameras showed him shaking hands and exchanging words with Obama. After the second presidential debate, Tagg told a radio interviewer it made him angry when Obama questioned his father's honesty.
Tagg Romney said, quote, "You want to rush down to the debate stage and take a swing at him."
A Romney campaign official confirmed Tuesday that Tagg apologized for the remark. The official was not authorized to discuss personal matters and thus demanded anonymity.
Barack Obama: Says Romney said "we should ask Pakistan for permission" to take a shot at Osama bin Laden.
On October - 23 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True | Obama claims Romney said "we should ask Pakistan for permission" to take out Osama bin Laden
In an attempt to portray Mitt Romney as "all over the map" on foreign policy, President Barack Obama said the candidate once argued that the United States "should ask Pakistan for permission" to strike Osama bin Laden. "When it comes to going after Osama bin Laden, you said, well, any president would make that call," Obama said at the debate in Boca Raton, Fla. "But when you were a candidate in 2008, as I was, and I said if I got bin Laden in our sights I would take that shot, you said we shouldn't move ...
>> MoreMitt Romney: Says Barack Obama was silent on Iran "when the students took to the streets in Tehran and the people there protested, (and) the Green Revolution occurred."
On October - 23 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False | Mitt Romney says Barack Obama was silent about the protests after the 2009 Iran election
While much of the foreign policy debate was about what President Barack Obama has said and done, Mitt Romney leveled a charge about an area where he said Obama had been silent. "And then, of course, with regards to standing for our principles, when the students took to the streets in Tehran and the people there protested, the Green Revolution occurred, for the president to be silent I thought was an enormous mistake," Romney said during the Oct. 22 foreign policy debate at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. Later in the ...
>> MoreObama Reasserts Command in Boca
On October - 23 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
Alec MacGillis, The New Republic
If you had somehow managed to avoid the entire presidential campaign for the past few weeks - had, say, gone to fight with the rebels in Syria - and returned to see the final presidential debate, you would probably assume that Barack Obama was cruising to reelection. You would see an incumbent president confidently and proudly holding forth about how he had managed to rebuild the country's standing in the world, gotten us out of one war and halfway out of another, and, not without some difficulties, helped usher in a new era in the Arab world. You would see a challenger pulling punches,...
If you had somehow managed to avoid the entire presidential campaign for the past few weeks - had, say, gone to fight with the rebels in Syria - and returned to see the final presidential debate, you would probably assume that Barack Obama was cruising to reelection. You would see an incumbent president confidently and proudly holding forth about how he had managed to rebuild the country's standing in the world, gotten us out of one war and halfway out of another, and, not without some difficulties, helped usher in a new era in the Arab world. You would see a challenger pulling punches,...
Romney Passes the Test and Marches Onward
On October - 23 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
Toby Harnden, Daily Mail
If you had been on an extended vacation for the past four years, you would have been forgiven for watching this debate and thinking you were viewing a President Mitt Romney being challenged by a pretender called Barack Obama.It's not that Obama did not have command of foreign policy issues or did not make some telling points against an opponent who was vague at times and occasionally uncertain. But Obama clearly came into the debate believing he had to score points and change the dynamic of the race.
If you had been on an extended vacation for the past four years, you would have been forgiven for watching this debate and thinking you were viewing a President Mitt Romney being challenged by a pretender called Barack Obama.It's not that Obama did not have command of foreign policy issues or did not make some telling points against an opponent who was vague at times and occasionally uncertain. But Obama clearly came into the debate believing he had to score points and change the dynamic of the race.
Obama Foreign Policy: The Truth Isn’t Pretty
On October - 23 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
Dimitri Simes, Nat'l Interest
Governor Mitt Romney has a real opportunity to win Monday night's foreign-policy debate with President Barack Obama. But to prevail, he will need to disregard the suggestions of some of his neoconservative foreign-policy advisers, who are out of touch not only with international realities but also with the realities of American politics.Accusing the man who is justly credited with ordering Osama bin Laden's killing and with ousting the Qaddafi regime in Libya of being a weakling who is constantly apologizing for the United States has little traction with most voters, including...
Governor Mitt Romney has a real opportunity to win Monday night's foreign-policy debate with President Barack Obama. But to prevail, he will need to disregard the suggestions of some of his neoconservative foreign-policy advisers, who are out of touch not only with international realities but also with the realities of American politics.Accusing the man who is justly credited with ordering Osama bin Laden's killing and with ousting the Qaddafi regime in Libya of being a weakling who is constantly apologizing for the United States has little traction with most voters, including...
Mitt Romney: "The president said he was going to create daylight between ourselves and Israel."
On October - 22 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True | Romney says Obama wants ‘daylight’ in U.S.-Israel relationship
Mitt Romney frequently criticizes President Barack Obama’s stance on Israel, saying the president doesn’t hold the Jewish state in a tight enough embrace. "The president said he was going to create daylight between ourselves and Israel," Romney said in a foreign policy-focused debate, the final one of the presidential election. We decided to dig into the origin of that statement and check whether Romney’s characterization is accurate. What Obama (reportedly) said The "daylight" comment stems from a July 15, 2012, story in the Washington Post about ...
>> MoreGinnie Love: Race in America With Renowned Anti-Racist Author and Educator Tim Wise
On October - 22 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
Tim Wise has been writing and lecturing on white privilege and race in America since the '90s. His articulate manner of introducing his audience to the truths of a nation built on maladaptive cultural norms and prejudices appears effortless while being strongly effective. I had a chance to sit down and have a conversation with Tim over the summer and two of his books, Between Barack and a Hard Place and Dear White America are timely discussions on a country that, while it wishes to neatly tuck away racism and white privilege as a thing of the past, continues to subconsciously and overtly demonstrate the need for Tim Wise and his message.
Benghazi and the Scandal-Obsessed GOP
On October - 21 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
Jonathan Bernstein, Salon
Why did Mitt Romney embarrass himself on Libya in this week’s debate? One possibility: Because he, and the Republican Party in general, have opened up an alarming policy deficit between themselves and Barack Obama and the Democrats.What I mean by that is that Romney, Republicans and conservatives have, in case after case, simply given up on crafting viable public policy. That wasn’t always the case. When Ronald Reagan took office, conservative think tanks were ready with a host of ideas for transforming what government did and the way it did it. As recently as the 2000...
Why did Mitt Romney embarrass himself on Libya in this week’s debate? One possibility: Because he, and the Republican Party in general, have opened up an alarming policy deficit between themselves and Barack Obama and the Democrats.What I mean by that is that Romney, Republicans and conservatives have, in case after case, simply given up on crafting viable public policy. That wasn’t always the case. When Ronald Reagan took office, conservative think tanks were ready with a host of ideas for transforming what government did and the way it did it. As recently as the 2000...
Obama’s Welfare Explosion
On October - 20 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
Larry Kudlow, CNBC
With the unprecedented budget explosion of means-tested, welfare-related entitlements, does Team Obama think it can buy the election?It's a cynical question. But I wouldn't put it past that cynical bunch.Remember Harry Hopkins, Franklin Roosevelt's close aid? It was Hopkins who argued tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect. Sound familiar? And if I'm not mistaken, the high-tax, anti-rich, big-spending, redistributionist FDR is one of Barack Obama's idols.
With the unprecedented budget explosion of means-tested, welfare-related entitlements, does Team Obama think it can buy the election?It's a cynical question. But I wouldn't put it past that cynical bunch.Remember Harry Hopkins, Franklin Roosevelt's close aid? It was Hopkins who argued tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect. Sound familiar? And if I'm not mistaken, the high-tax, anti-rich, big-spending, redistributionist FDR is one of Barack Obama's idols.
Gallup vs. the World
On October - 19 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
Nate Silver, New York Times
Our regularly scheduled forecast update for Wednesday slipped through the cracks. The FiveThirtyEight forecast was not much changed based on Wednesday’s polls, however, with Barack Obama’s chances of winning the Electoral College increasing incrementally to 65.7 percent from 64.8 percent.We’ll catch up with Thursday’s polls with the next update. In the meantime, I’m going to focus on one particular survey, the Gallup national tracking poll.The Gallup national tracking poll now shows a very strong lead for Mitt Romney. As of Wednesday, he was...
Our regularly scheduled forecast update for Wednesday slipped through the cracks. The FiveThirtyEight forecast was not much changed based on Wednesday’s polls, however, with Barack Obama’s chances of winning the Electoral College increasing incrementally to 65.7 percent from 64.8 percent.We’ll catch up with Thursday’s polls with the next update. In the meantime, I’m going to focus on one particular survey, the Gallup national tracking poll.The Gallup national tracking poll now shows a very strong lead for Mitt Romney. As of Wednesday, he was...
Barack Obama: "George Bush never suggested that we eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood."
On October - 19 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True | Barack Obama says George W. Bush never sought to defund Planned Parenthood
During a town hall presidential debate in which audience members got to ask the questions, one woman asked Mitt Romney how he would differ from the last Republican to occupy the White House: George W. Bush. "Since both you and President Bush are Republicans, I fear a return to the policies of those years should you win this election," said undecided voter Susan Katz. "What is the biggest difference between you and George W. Bush, and how do you differentiate yourself from George W. Bush?" Romney detailed several ways he would depart from ...
>> MoreMitt Romney: "Regulations have quadrupled. The rate of regulations quadrupled under this president."
On October - 18 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
The Truth-o-Meter says: False | Romney says federal regulations quadrupled under Obama
During the town hall presidential debate, Mitt Romney accused Barack Obama of strangling small businesses with too much regulation. That's been a popular theme with Republicans and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who have complained about a "tsunami" of new regulations under Obama since 2010. Asked by one of the town hall participants about outsourcing, Romney gave his prescription for keeping jobs in the United States. First he spoke about the corporate tax rate, which he believes is too high and prevents job creation. Then he turned to regulations. "Regulations ...
>> MoreThe Un-President
On October - 18 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
Daniel Henninger, Wall Street Journal
Conventional wisdom holds that Barack Obama "lost" in Denver because he lacked intensity. He brought his A-game to Hofstra this week. There's still a problem. The most significant event in the 2012 presidential election remains the Romney miracle bump after the first debate. If Mr. Romney wins the election, analysts and scholars will spend years picking apart the Denver debate the way they have the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debate.
Conventional wisdom holds that Barack Obama "lost" in Denver because he lacked intensity. He brought his A-game to Hofstra this week. There's still a problem. The most significant event in the 2012 presidential election remains the Romney miracle bump after the first debate. If Mr. Romney wins the election, analysts and scholars will spend years picking apart the Denver debate the way they have the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debate.
Don’t Be Fooled, That Debate Helped Romney
On October - 17 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
Erick Erickson, RedState
I think Mitt Romney won the debate, but not by much. He flubbed a few good opportunities to really score decisive blows on the President, but definitely drew more blood. The CNN polling and CBS News polling confirm it. While more thought Barack Obama won the debate, largely because his last performance was so bad, clear majorities outside the margin of error thought Mitt Romney would be best on the economy, jobs, the deficit, etc. That suggests Romney did win, but people viewed Obama’s debate performance as an improvement over the first one. In fact, while other areas of the debate...
I think Mitt Romney won the debate, but not by much. He flubbed a few good opportunities to really score decisive blows on the President, but definitely drew more blood. The CNN polling and CBS News polling confirm it. While more thought Barack Obama won the debate, largely because his last performance was so bad, clear majorities outside the margin of error thought Mitt Romney would be best on the economy, jobs, the deficit, etc. That suggests Romney did win, but people viewed Obama’s debate performance as an improvement over the first one. In fact, while other areas of the debate...
Barack Obama: Says his administration has created "5 million jobs … over the last 30 months in the private sector alone."
On October - 17 - 2012 ADD COMMENTS
The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True | Barack Obama says his administration has created 5 million jobs
Early in the second presidential debate at Hofstra University, President Barack Obama answered a question from a young voter seeking reassurance that he will be able to find a job after he graduates. Obama responded in part, "And what I want to do is build on the 5 million jobs that we've created over the last 30 months in the private sector alone." Job-creation statistics have been bitterly contested terrain between the campaigns this election cycle, with each trying to frame the question in a way that paints their side most favorably. ...
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