Donald Trump's first dance with the presidency

By Jack Brummet, Election 2016 Ed.

"First, The Donald tantalized us earlier this year, and his polling numbers went--briefly--through the roof. Then he dropped out, but left the door open just a crack. Over the last few months, many of the Republican Presidential wannabes have made the trek to his office (for what--money? his blessing?). The Washington Post had a great piece on their blog in early December titled "2012 Republican are kissing Donald Trump's ring. But why?" It seems that Donald Trump, like most of the rest of the American electorate, has found Republican Clown War sorely lacking in substance, in a viable candidate, a rational platform--lacking in just about everything. Now, Trump has switched his political affiliation to "Independent," and is possibly considering running again. At least that is what some staffers and a spokesperson say. No word on how this would affect his reality show, which could be subject to equal time provisions from other candidates if he did decide to run.
From today's Christian Science Monitor:

"Given his not-too-shabby polling numbers, deep pockets, and new-found status as a registered independent, business mogul Donald Trump is in a decent position to launch a third-party run for president of the United States.
"The snark on the street is that Mr. Trump, a temperamental fellow who has toggled his party affiliation before, dumped the Republican Party on Thursday in anger after only two in the large field of GOP presidential candidates agreed to attend a debate he was slated to moderate. Some Republican hopefuls had questioned whether it was ethical for Trump to host a debate while considering a potential presidential run himself.
"A Trump spokesman, however, said his boss dropped out of the debate and changed his party affiliation "to preserve his right to run for president as an independent."

If you do run, Mr. Trump, may we suggest that you sign up your old friend, the Ex-Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, as your running mate? With a double whammy like that, what could possibly go wrong?

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Mitt Romney Poses For Photographers After Lunch At The White House

Photo by Mona Goldwater, White House Correspondent

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all this is that election day and night posts on Facebook and Twitter

By Pablo Fanque, Mona Goldwater, and Jack Brummet

For my part, I could have lived with a Romney presidency, but I just don't think they ever let the real Mitt emerge (just a hunch).  I don't know if he broke back to the center too late or if it was just the fractured demographics.  I think the post mortems and finger pointing will be interesting to follow, and I suspect the GOP may come roaring back in the mid-terms (and of course they will if the economy is still moribund).
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From November 2008...Jack gets nostalgic about going to the election polls for the last time (Wash. went to mail ballots after this election).  http://jackbrummet.blogspot.com/2012/11/atit-reheated-end-of-polling-place.html
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If everything else breaks the way it looks like it might (and it has so far), my home state becomes the Bluest of The Blue. After the General Strike, Seattle (and Wash.) acquired a rep. In 1936, James Farley, a Postmaster under FDR, said "there are 47 states in the Union, and the Soviet of Washington." It looks like we're back.

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On top of news that Christie was Gov. Romney's first choice for Veep... /Pablo http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/83104.html

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If you don't vote, you can't beef. A lot of states have referendums and initiatives that may be more important than your President, Governor, Wardheeler, or Congressman. When people tell you that there is no difference between the two candidates or parties, don't believe them. Check it out and commit! xoxo /Pablo F/Mona G/Jack B

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Tim Eyman - How did we let him slip past us one more time? If we beat this guy, he's gone. But if not, he has a job for life, bullyragging and hectoring us for fun and profit.

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Paul Ryan returns to The House, probably as the budget chairman...

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Proud of Washington State tonight...this state broke ground today.

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But I want those 538 numbers--313 electoral votes. To vindicate Nate Silver.

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Nate Silver=92% likelihood now. No longer a nail biter? "Obama’s most likely margin of victory to be two or three percentage points,"

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Interesting Oregon resoundingly defeated their marijuana referendum after wins in other states. The PDX votes don't dominate the state?

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for three days mindless partisanship slumbered. . .

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I'm kind of sad we won't have Todd Akin to kick around anymore. Well, not really.

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"No question now that he's rapidly reaching the point where he's got his back to the wall, his shirttails on fire and the bill collector's at the door." - Dan Rather

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Remembrance of elections past. This is a shot of President Ford and his good friend "Joe" Garagiola on the '76 election night when the President was beaten by Jimmy Carter.

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In stark opposition to Nate Silver, Karl Rove's prognostications. He's no dummy, but it feels like he's whistling past the graveyard here or has been away from the news for a couple weeks...

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Chris Christie finally gets to meet his musical hero (and get a Jersey bear hug). /Mona G - ATIT Bi-partisanship Editor   http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bruce-springsteen-and-chris-christie-connect-through-hurricane-sandy-20121105

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KARL ROVE'S FINAL CALL : "Without twelve toss 

up states (MN, NV, CO, IA, WI, MI, OH, PA, NH, VA, NC, AND FL), Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are tied at 191 each. I predict Mr. Romney will win FL (29), NC (15), VA (13), NH (4), OH (18), IA (6), CO (9) and Mr. Obama will get MN (10), NV (6), WI (10), MI (16), PA (20). This brings Mr. Romney to 285 Electoral College votes and Mr. Obama to 253. These are just my base predictions and I still think several of these states are too close to call. For example, while I put them in Mr. Obama's column, I still believe NV, WI, and PA are in play and very winnable for Mr. Romney. If crowds at his recent stops in these states are any indication of his supporters' enthusiasm, Mr. Romney will likely be able to claim victory in these states as well." www.rove.com/election

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One thing we won't hear tonight are classic Dan Ratherisms. Daniel Kurtzman compiled this AMAZING list of Quotes from CBS Anchor Dan Rather on Election Night 2004. Just one night! this is only about 20% of what he said (you can find the whole list here...http://bit.ly/UvauBw).

"You hear that knocking? President Bush's re-election is at the door. ... This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex. ... If you had to bet the double-wide, you'd have to bet that he'd win. ... This race is humming along like Ray Charles. ... This race is shakier than cafeteria Jell-O. ... Turn the lights down, the party just got wilder. ... This race is tight like a too-small bathing suit on a too-long ride home from the beach. ... Only votes talk. Everything else walks. ... Spandex tight. ...

"Tight as the rusted lug nuts on a '55 Ford. ... Smelling salts for all Democrats, please. ... When the going gets weird, anchor men punt. ... Florida is the whole deal, the real deal, a big deal. ... hotter than a Laredo parking lot. ... This will have the people in Austin standing up like they got stuck with hat pins. ... The big burrito out there in California. ... None of this television mumbo jumbo: Let's get in there and count the votes. ... We've lived by the crystal ball. We're eating so much broken glass, we're in critical condition.'

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 short, sweet concession speech for Romney. He made it clear that this election is over. And that was the right thing to do. Props. #fb

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“@thehill: Washington becomes 1st state to legalize #marijuanahttp://bit.ly/RTPfZp  --> this should be an interesting battle/court fig

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“@thinkprogress: Chris Wallace helpfully reminds Karl Rove he wasted 325 million on this election”

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Where does The Tea Party go from tonight? They're kind of receiving a big time swirly. #fb

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McCaskill and Warren. Sweet.

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Remembrance of elections past 3. Harry Truman beats Dewey. The most famous American election photo of all time.

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Remembrance of elections past: George W. Bush (another two term President) and Karl Rove. pic.twitter.com/S6ALUMNP

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At one point we were heading down the road of public financing (remember the $1 campaign checkoff on your income taxes?), and I still think we should go there. I don't think it's really any more fair that Bloomberg, Forbes, Pelosi, Cantwell or Suzan Del Bene can dump millions into their own campaigns. What we do is we give the Presidential candidates $10 million each. Senators get $100K and representatives $50K. And they can do with it what they will. Hire a few staffers, take a few polls, print up some yard signs and bumper stickers and buy a bus to travel around the country. Sure, it's an incursion into the first amendment, but so is not yelling fire in a theatre or muzzling hate speech. Sure, we'll need to work out some of the kinks, and maybe amend the constitution. . .

---o0o---

Dan Ratherisms - from Election nights past

by Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

One thing we won't hear tonight are classic Dan Ratherisms. Daniel Kurtzman compiled this AMAZING list of Quotes from CBS Anchor Dan Rather on Election Night.

Click here to see the entire mother lode as compiled by by Daniel Kurtzman Quotes from CBS Anchor Dan Rather on Election Night "Do you hear that knocking...President Bush's re-election is at the door." "This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex.""His lead is as thin as turnip soup." "The presidential race is swinging like Count Basie." "This race is hotter than the Devil's anvil." "Ohio becomes like a sauna for the two candidates. All they can do is wait and sweat." "One's reminded of that old saying, 'Don't taunt the alligator until after you've crossed the creek.'" "This situation in Ohio would give an aspirin a headache.' '"Bush is sweeping through the South like a big wheel through a cotton field." "No question now that Kerry's rapidly reaching the point where he's got his back to the wall, his shirttails on fire and the bill collector's at the door." "This presidential race has been crackling like a hickory fire for at least the last hour and a half." "Let's see where it goes from here. Round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows." "We keep talking about Ohio if you've been tuning in and out or you put the baby to bed or you went to pop the cap on an adult, or otherwise, beverage..." "In southern states they beat him like a rented mule." "We had a slight hitch in our giddy up, but we corrected that." "In some ways, George Bush's lead is as thin as November ice." "John Kerry's moon has just moved behind a cloud, as far as Florida is concerned." On Kerry's chances: "To use a metaphor, he's gotta draw to an inside straight. But hey, sometimes you get lucky and hit that straight." "We don't know what to do. We don't know whether to wind a watch or bark at the moon." On how the results are affecting strategists: "It's one reason so many of them drink a lot." "This race is shakier than cafeteria Jell-O.""He swept through the South like a tornado through a trailer park." "This race is tight like a too-small bathing suit on a too-long ride home from the beach." "It's about as complicated as a wiring diagram to some dynamo." "This race is as tight as the rusted lug nuts on a '55 Ford." "The presidential race still hotter than a Laredo parking lot." "These returns are running like a squirrel in a cage." "Frankly we don't know whether to wind the watch or to bark at the moon." "We've lived by the crystal ball, we're eating so much broken glass. We're in critical condition." ---o0o---

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor


I voted.  You almost feel like you need a bath after voting these days.

It's the political, and pundit, and expert-fatigue--you can't help watching a train-wreck, and in many ways, this election has been one.  I, for once, am very glad it's nearly over.  I used to enjoy every minute of it.  But this year things got ugly.

It would be nice to have it decided Tuesday night, as opposed to a recount, or in the courts.  And then let Jeb-Rubio-Christie-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -Andrew Cuomo-and whoever else start running for 2016.

There's been a lot of nasty stuff back and forth from both parties (and the libertarian/green 3rd and 4th wings).  Now it's time for the jawboning to end; time to quit blaming the 1% or the 2% or the 47%; time for the bi-partisan solutions both candidates and parties claim they truly believe in.  I don't watch much TV, but I read that some cities/battleground states have literally had ten thousands of ads scream across their screens.  I know the ones I hear on the radio are pretty bad (particularly thinking of our local Governor's contest).  Just a short time to go now, and it's all over but the post-mortem and the finger pointing.  It can't some soon enough.  As long as your guy wins, and maybe even if he/she doesn't.

---o0o---

What did Ann Coulter do this time?

By Jack Brummet, ATIT Editor-in-chief

I missed a lot of news in the last eight days while I was in Moscow, I think. I'm seeing all this vituperation & castigation of Ann Coulter (not that she doesn't deserve it in her normal course of business). I saw some news of her using the "R" word re: BHO. Is that the uproar, or did she say something else/worse?

---o0o---

The Salt Lake City Tribune's stunning endorsement of President Barack Obama

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

"Obama has earned another term"

Is this a mindf***er of all mindf***ers, or what?  On October 19th, The Salt Lake City Tribune came out and endorsed Barack Obama for President.  Why?  They lead into their endorsement with a couple of paragraphs praising his earl good works, in particular for the state of Utah.  

"The Republican nominee’s political and religious pedigrees, his adeptly bipartisan governorship of a Democratic state, and his head for business and the bottom line all inspire admiration and hope in our largely Mormon, Republican, business-friendly state."

And, then, they get down to business:    

"In short, this is the Mitt Romney we knew, or thought we knew, as one of us." 

"Sadly, it is not the only Romney, as his campaign for the White House has made abundantly clear, first in his servile courtship of the tea party in order to win the nomination, and now as the party’s shape-shifting nominee. From his embrace of the party’s radical right wing, to subsequent portrayals of himself as a moderate champion of the middle class, Romney has raised the most frequently asked question of the campaign: "Who is this guy, really, and what in the world does he truly believe?"

They go on to praise The President's domestic and foreign agendas, lavishing praise on his foreign accomplishments, as well as his shepherding of stimulus money and the courage it took, as well as his masterpiece, The Affordable Care Act (and the political capital he expended to make it the law of the land).

The Tribune damns Romney's promises and statements as both pandering, and unrealistic.  The President would do well to study this editorial and quote from it liberally in next week's debate. Hats off to the Tribune for their honest and courageous editorial.  Read the entire piece here. 

The editorial is a worthwhile read because this is a 'paper from a state inclined to support Mitt Romney both because of his religion and conservatism, and his stewardship of their beloved Olympic Games.  And now, nearly two weeks before the election, The President should quote liberally from the Tribune in his debate with the Ex-Governor next week. 

Copyright (C) 2012 by All This Is That. All This Is That contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We make these materials available to advance the understanding of political, economic, literary, artistic, and social issues. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of copyrighted material as provided for by section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit for research, educational, and entertainment purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', please read and follow our Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license and attribute the work to All This Is That, along with our URL 

---o0o---

Moments and photos from Tuesday's Presidential debate

By Pablo Fanque and Mona Goldwater

Both Governor Romney and President Obama couldn't seem to get Lorraine Osario's name straight.  “Lorraina?" "Lorraine?” "Laurie?" “Lorena?”  Come on guys, is it that hard?

President Obama: "The day after the [Libya] attack, Governor, I stood in the Rose Garden, and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened, that this was an act of terror. ... And the suggestion that anybody in my team, whether the secretary of state, our U.N. ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own, Governor, is offensive. That's not what we do. That's not what I do as president. That's not what I do as commander in chief."

Mitt Romney: "I think it's interesting the president just said something which is that on the day after the attack, he went in the Rose Garden and said that this was an act of terror. You said in the Rose Garden the day after the attack it was an act of terror. It was not a spontaneous demonstration. ... I want to make sure we get that for the record, because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror."

President Obama: "Get the transcript."

CNN'S Candy Crowley, the moderator: "He did, in fact, sir."

President Obama: "Can you say that a little louder, Candy?" (Laughter, applause.)

Candy Crowley: "He did call it an act of terror. ... It did, as well, take two weeks or so for the whole idea of there being a riot out there about this tape to come out. You are correct about that."

A compilation of the interactions between the candidates and the moderator:

President Obama:  ”When I hear Governor Romney say he’s a big coal guy — and keep in mind when — Governor, when you were governor of Massachusetts, you stood in front of a coal plant and pointed at it and said, ‘This plant kills,’ and took great pride in shutting it down. And now suddenly you’re a big champion of coal.”

Mitt Romney:   "[An] important topic and one which I learned a great deal about, particularly as I was serving as governor of my state, because I had the chance to pull together a Cabinet ... I went to my staff, and I said, 'How come all the [candidates] for these jobs ... are all men?' They said, 'Well, these are the people that have the qualifications.' And I said, 'Well, gosh, can't ... we find ... some women that are also qualified?' ... I went to a number of women's groups and said, 'Can you help us find folks?' And I brought us whole binders full of women."

President Obama:  “Look, the cost of lowering rates for everybody across the board by 20 percent, along with what he also wants with eliminating the estate tax, along with what he wants to do with corporate changes in the tax code, it costs about $5 trillion. Governor Romney then also wants to spend about $2 trillion on additional military programs even though the military is not asking for them. That is $7 trillion. He also wants to continue the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthiest Americans; that’s another trillion dollars. That’s $8 trillion. Now, what he says is that he is going to make sure this doesn’t add to the deficit and he’s going to cut middle class taxes but when he is asked, ‘How are you going to do it? Which deductions, which loopholes are you going to close?’ He can’t tell you."

Mitt Romney: "Your rate comes down, and the burden also comes down on you for one more reason, and that is every middle-income taxpayer no longer will pay any tax on interest, dividends or capital gains. No tax on your savings. That makes life a lot easier."

President Obama:  "The suggestion that anybody in my team, whether the Secretary of State, our U.N. Ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we’ve lost four of our own, governor, is offensive. That’s not what we do. That’s not what I do as president, that’s not what I do as Commander in Chief."

Mitt Romney:  [To President Obama] "You'll get your chance in a moment."  Disrespecting the office?  

President Obama:  "When folks mess with Americans, we go after them."

President Obama:  "We haven’t heard from the governor any specifics, beyond Big Bird and eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood, in terms of how he pays for that.”

---o0o---

Heading into tonight's Presidential Debate, BHO snags the coveted Honey Boo Boo endorsement

By Mona Goldwater, Celebrity Politics Editor

From Politico:  "The reality star known as Honey Boo Boo has named her pick for president.

'Barack Obama,' seven-year-old Alana Thompson announced on Monday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

"To be fair, Thompson said that she didn’t know who Mitt Romney was. And she only chose Obama after learning that Romney snubbed her in a recent interview.

"Kimmel explained, 'They asked Mitt Romney if he preferred Snooki or Honey Boo Boo. And do you know what he said? He said he preferred Snooki.'"

Now that he has won the highly-coveted Honey Boo Boo endorsement, we are confident BHO will charge into the debate tonight with a fire in his belly.  And like it or not, with this in his pocket, he is going to win.

---o0o---

New York Post says Ryan was schooled by Joe Biden

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor


Our reader, Jeff Clinton, passed along this headline from this morning's New York Post.  He wrote: "Even Murdoch rags can’t spin this one..."

Copyright (C) 2012 by All This Is That. All This Is That contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We make these materials available to advance the understanding of political, economic, literary, artistic, and social issues. In some cases we satirize, parody, or lampoon materials from other sources. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of copyrighted material as provided for by section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit for research, educational, and entertainment purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', please read and follow our Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license and attribute the work to All This Is That, along with our URL (http://jackbrummet.blogspot.com). 

---o0o---

VP Debate night: Fuel for the Romney surge, or, a chance to overcome Democratic inertia and hand-wringing?

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

Tonight. Who knew this debate would blow up in importance like it has, with the potential to add fuel to Romney's surge or overcome the Democratic inertia and hand-wringing.

We have a lot of faith in Joe Biden, although, sure, in his last debate, he had a cream-puff lobbed his way (e.g., Sarah Palin v. Joe Biden VP Debate 2008). Go Joe!

---o0o---

Ex-Governor Romney backs down, weasels, retrenches, stonewalls, bobs and weaves, and dissembles

By Pablo Fanque, ATIT National Affairs Editor

Illustrations by Jack Brummet

OK.  The Ex-Governor came out on top in a couple of polls today.  But he did not get there by standing fast or holding his ground.  He arrived there by weaseling, backing down, retrenching, and dissembling.

In a handful of key zones, Mitt Romney has begun to position himself as a centrist.  He doesn't have to worry about the Tea Party anymore.  They are going to hold their collective noses and vote for him.  But as for the rest of us:  

1) He now says he won't deport young illegal immigrants given a chance to stay in the United States by Obama...kind of weaseling in sideways to The Dream Act..  

2) Mr. Romney is also playing catch-up on the Affordable Health Care Act; far from his earlier stance of running as rapidly and far away from it as he could, he is now playing up the health care program a/k/a RomneyCare (with its individual mandate) that was his biggest accomplishment as governor of Massachusetts.  

3) Rhetorically, he's backed down from his own tax plan.  In the first debate, it was hard to analyze the difference between his and BHO's tax plan.  Honestly, it's hard to tell just what his plan is now, but it's a fine one, he says.  "Trust me."

4)  He even admitted in the debate that government regulation “is essential.”  "I mean, you have to have regulations so that you can have an economy work,” he told us. The way he stated it in the debate implied, "Oh you silly people, this is what I had in mind all along."  And, 

5)  After all the bobbing, weaving, and stonewalling over the last couple of weeks, the contrite Ex-Governor told Fox News last Thursday that his comment about the “47 percent” of the electorate he wrote off as moochers, freeloaders, and just flat-ass lazy, when he met with campaign donors, was “completely wrong.”  You said a mouthful Governor. 

---o0o---

The Vice-Presidential Debate October 11, 2012

From 2012 Election Central:

Topic: Foreign and domestic policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Centre College in Danville, Kentucky (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan
Moderator: Martha Raddatz (ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent)

The debate will cover both foreign and domestic topics and be divided into nine time segments of approximately 10 minutes each. The moderator will ask an opening question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the question.

---o0o---

President Obama and Governor Romney fail to show up for first Presidential Debate

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

The two guys I really wanted to see show up for the debate tonight. Unfortunately, neither of them was able to make it.

One of the few things I liked about BHO's performance tonight was that he consistently took the high road, even when Gov. Romney left himself open for a hook. No zingers, but unfortunately no pyrotechnics.

A friend wrote tonight—and I'm crossing my fingers it's true—"My money is on Obama playing chess. He's sacrificing his pawn now, because it's Checkmate in two more moves."

I thought BHO was seriously off his game, but scored over and over on Mitt's lack of specificity. I thought Mitt was the most on his game he's been in a long time. He was peppy, smiling, and irritating.  All that debate prep obviously helped, but he relied far too much on "trust me."

Governor Romney on the other hand, rolled out his transformation to a centrist, almost Democratic position on the economy and taxes.  Now that the tea party wing of the GOP is only focused on getting BHO out of office, they don't seem to much care what he says.

Post-debate,  the team at MSNBC ranged from disappointed to livid. For my part, the one thing BHO most pointedly did not do was take a leaf from WJC's masterful speech at the Democratic convention:  folksy, passionate, fairly wonky, but real clear, and really forceful without being overbearing or lecturing. 

Next week we'll see crazy Joe mix it up with the slippery Paul Ryan. VP Biden is a great debater. BHO has two weeks to get his act together. I also believe that the decideds are softer than is commonly believed...at last a small percentage of them. And a small percentage in the right battleground state is all it takes to upset the applecart. I'm pretty sure BHO will come alive. But, hey, POTUS, there's no time like the present. People are voting. I vote in two weeks. 

---o0o---

Night of the Living Pelosi—the strangest political ad ever.

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor


Republican John Dennis in his contest with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has just released what is probably the most bizarre (but enjoyable) political ad ever,  with bonus zombie content

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Vote (and register to vote!!

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The Romney Campaign: it could be worse. No wait. Could it?

By Mona Goldwater, G.O.P.-Tea Party Editor

Sure, there are non-stop headlines about the implosion of the Romney-Ryan campaign, the brisk gaffe-a-day pace they've set, dwindling confidence ratings, and their plunging numbers in polls in the critical battleground states.  But looking at this illustration of the candidates that lost in the primaries, and bailed out, you realize that things could possibly be even worse for the GOP than they are today.

 ---o0o---

Mitt Romney endorses Affordable Care Act

By Pablo Fanque
National Affairs Editor

Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul, responding to a brutal new super PAC ad (the one showing a man who blames Bain Capital for his uninsured wife’s death), broke new ground for the campaign by praising Romney’s health insurance mandate.  Saul brought up her candidate's greatest legislative achievement--an almost explicit endorsement of the Affordable Care Act.

This is looking to be one of the most colossal Romney eff-ups yet in a campaign now increasingly littered with them.  No one on the left has a problem with this, but "the base," or, Ex-Governor Romney's core supporters, are outraged.  And this is on top of several other howlers this week.  Governor, all we can say is "keep on keepin' on."

---o0o---

FLOTUS Michelle Obama blows off the barn doors

By Pablo Fanque, ATIT National Affairs Editor



I have lived under eleven First Ladies, from Mamie Eisenhower to Michelle Obama.  A few of them I had a good vibe from but nothing like how I've felt about Michelle Obama--from day one. And tonight?  Wow.  FLOTUS blew the doors off the barn and rocked the house. Is this great, or what? Wisdom, grace, a little bit of fire, sadness, love, warmth and devotion, with a theme of compassion and giving running through it like a river.  

At long, long last, the Democratic office holders, who have been sitting on their hands, finally came out swinging. We hear often from people like David Axelrod and James Carville and other partisan surrogates from the inner circle. Tonight, we saw people who actually face voters themselves slough away their timidity and come out swinging. Mayors Castro and Rahm Emanuel, Governors Patrick and O'Malley, Ex-Governor Ted Strickland. Finally. At last. Standing fast. Standing tall.


Ed's note 1 [editor-in-chief jack]:
OK. It just gets better after tonight. Or is this just the celebratory Bourbon talking? From Day One, I've thought the first lady is critical to BHO's success. And she has never failed to be just awesome every step of the way.
Ed's note [2] - from Rahm Emmanuel's speech tonight:

"There was no blueprint for how to manual for preventing in global financial meltdown, an auto crisis, two wars and a great recession all at the same time. Believe me, if it existed, I would have found it."

"Each crisis was so deep and so dangerous. Anyone of them would have defined another presidency. We faced a once in a generation moment in American history, and fortunately for all of us, we have a once in a generation president."

 ---o0o---

Nuggets from Paul Ryan's GOP-Tea Party stemwinder last night

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor
Illustration by Jack Brummet

Paul Ryan delivered an energetic and interesting, but troubling speech, full of inspiration for the base, with virtually no substance. Ryan never talked about what the Romney-Ryan team will do, just that it will be different.

“We’re a full generation apart, Governor Romney and I. And, in some ways, we’re a little different. There are the songs on his iPod, which I’ve heard on the campaign bus and on many hotel elevators. He actually urged me to play some of these songs at campaign rallies. I said, I hope it’s not a deal-breaker Mitt, but my playlist starts with AC/DC, and ends with Zeppelin.”  

“College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life.”  

“After four years of getting the run-around, America needs a turnaround, and the man for the job is Gov. Mitt Romney.” 

'“With all their attack ads, the president is just throwing away money — and he’s pretty experienced at that. You see, some people can’t be dragged down by the usual cheap tactics because their ability, character and plain decency are so obvious — and ladies and gentlemen, that is Mitt Romney.” 

“It went to companies like Solyndra, with their gold-plated connections, subsidized jobs and make-believe markets. The stimulus was a case of political patronage, corporate welfare and cronyism at their worst.”  

“So our opponents can consider themselves on notice. In this election, on this issue, the usual posturing on the left isn’t going to work. Mitt Romney and I know the difference between protecting a program and raiding it. Ladies and gentlemen, our nation needs this debate, we want this debate, we will win in this debate. (On Medicare) 

"Obamacare, as much as anything else, explains why a presidency that began with such anticipation now comes to such a disappointing close.” 

“It all started off with stirring speeches, Greek columns, the thrill of something new. Now all that’s left is a presidency adrift, surviving on slogans that already seem tired, grasping at the moment that has already passed, like a ship trying to sail on yesterday’s wind.” 

“These past four years we have suffered no shortage of words in the White House. What’s missing is leadership in the White House. And the story that Barack Obama does tell, forever shifting blame to the last administration, is getting old. The man assumed office almost four years ago. Isn’t it about time he assumed responsibility?” 

“[Mitt] turned around the Olympics at a time when a great institution was collapsing under the weight of bad management, overspending, and corruption— sounds familiar, doesn’t it? 

“None of us have to settle for the best this administration offers, a dull, adventureless journey from one entitlement to the next, a government-planned life, a country where everything is free but us.”

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