Half the Country Says Thanks to the Other Half For Screwing Us All

Sorry, been silent awhile because I just couldn't stomach writing about the mess that occurred in early November when Obama won reelection. Well that and the fact that my factory got the shit kicked out of it by Sandy and I been working a lot of trying to put it back together.

So here are my thoughts on the various issues regarding the election:

Why Obama Won:
We've become what liberals have been hoping for for decades; a nation that wants shit for free. The recession hit, unemployment was extended to 99 weeks, lazy people realized after two years how to live off the government teat and they don't want to go back to the grind. In essence, they love free shit and voted for the dude who would give them more. They couldn't care less that it's me, you and every other hard working person paying for it. It's an alien mindset to me but I see people like this all the time; they work for a few weeks (usually poorly and only long enough to get unemployment benefits again), work an angle to get laid off or fake an injury and then sit home and watch Jerry Springer. The former Land of the Free and Home of the Brave is now the land of the moocher and home of the taker.

Why Romney Lost:
Dude is plastic. Dude is rich. Dude is a Mormon. Dude doesn't sound sincere. Dude is to moderate. Dude never won over conservatives. Dude said he would rein in spending and the moochers mentioned above hate that. Dude scared the hell out of women.

What It Means: 
Short answer: we, our military, Israel, your bank account and your savings are all fucked for the short term. Obama is taking it as a mandate and he doesn't have to answer to anyone now. Best case: we have a 2014 that mirrored 2010 and put some more of a check on him. Worst case: One or more of the conservatives on the Supreme Court retire, the Dems win the House in '14 and this asshole goes all psycho communist for the duration of his term. Think I'm joking about the communist crack? The house organ for the former Soviet communist party even says we're complete idiots for reelecting this fucking moron and calls Obama a "communist".

What You Can Do:
Write your congressman. Write your newspaper. Enlighten people (if some mindless Obama voter suddenly wonders why they are suddenly $3,000 lighter in the wallet, explain that he needs to pay for all the stuff you reelected him to do...and then flatten their tires or bust their fucking tail light---I kid).

American isn't gone...yet. I would like to say those who reelected Obama are fellow Americans but they aren't, they are "progressives" and liberals first and Americans second. They care only about ideology and moving ever forward in that direction.

These are dark times but so were the late 1970's and we got Reagan out of that. Hang tough my friends.

An Open Letter to Independents and Moderate Democrats

To my fellow Americans who still believe that America is the greatest nation ever created on Earth: You may call yourself an Independent or a Reagan Republican or anything but a liberal, let me try to sway you.

Let's look at the what may make you vote one way or the other--what are the issues that matter and let me try to persuade you to rethink your vote for Obama.

Gay Marriage: You may be one who believes that a man and a man should be able to get married or at least have a legal civil union. Romney does not believe that on religious grounds. But Obama did not believe that until it became politically expedient for him to do so. The media spun it as "evolving" but Obama is a political animal and he thought it would give him an edge (even the ultra far left Nation didn't believe this BS). So think about it, do you really want to vote for a guy who changed his core belief simply to gain political points or a guy who sticks to his beliefs?

Foreign Policy: The Obama camp has spiked the ball so many times over killing bin-Laden that it's completely out of air. Really, tell me any president who wouldn't have made the call to go after the man who killed 3,000 Americans. That wasn't a difficult decision to make--yes, it could have backfired if it didn't work or the SEAL's failed but it didn't and Obama is hailed as some tough guy who makes tough decisions. I'm sorry but a tough decision would have been sending in the SEAL's to rescue an ambassador and two SEAL's who fought for 8-hours defending the ambassador's life.

Abortion: If this is the sole issue you vote on then you have to rethink your priorities. "Reproductive rights" are not an issue in this election. Believe me, if Mitt Romney were elected, Abortion would be far down the list after the economy, jobs, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, the global war on terror, the deficit, the debt, the failing manufacturing sector, etc. It's the law of the land and will continue to be so. Liberals and some Democrats think evangelical christian run the party, that's so wrong as to be ridiculous. Evangelicals have as much say over the GOP as African-Americans and Jews do over Democrats. Yes, they are pandered to during elections but largely forgotten when implementing actual policy.

Spending: Yes, I know the GOP was not really good for the nation's pocketbook when they held the purse strings but Obama is worse by a factor of ten. We cannot keep spending, it's not sustainable. Programs like Social Security and Medicare will cease to exist if they are not overhauled and some tough decisions are made. Obama has stolen $700-billion from Medicare to make Obamacare "revenue neutral' but it's all smoke and mirrors.

Healthcare: Anyone who has actually taken the time to study Obamacare knows there's no way all the happy promises Obama made can really be true. The cost is exorbitant and the quality of care will deteriorate to the point we will have two tiers: those who are forced into Obamacare and those who pay for their own, better care. This is a multi-trillion dollar boondoggle and is destined to be the biggest governmental failure ever.

Jobs: Here we sit at 7.9% unemployment (of course the real number is much higher but smoke and mirrors, etc) and a federal bureaucracy that stifles expansion and growth. Real wages are plummeting and a great many people are now working at jobs much below what they were trained for. We will have an entire generation of young people who are four years late in joining their chosen field of work.

I could go on but you get the picture. What's the most important thing to you and your family? Can we really afford another four years like the four we just suffered through? That's the real question you answer when you select one candidate or the other.

How Sandy Can Affect the Election

Sandy's gonna be a bitch and she's gonna stick around a little while making life miserable for pretty much everyone from DC to Boston. How could affect the outcome of the presidential election?

Let's suppose there's widespread power loss through the northeast. Let's further suppose that it takes three, four or even seven days to get power back on. People will want to blame someone and the easiest person will be Obama. No, it wont be Obama's fault but Katrina wasn't Bush's either and he was stained from that until he left office.

Let's discuss a couple of hypotheticals:

Romney will have the luxury of not being in a place of power and thus unable to help in any way. Yet he will be able to visit damaged areas and look presidential while critiquing Obama's actions. The media will side with Obama but he will get the blame. Add to that the fact that the last areas to get power back will be suburban and rural areas where more Republicans and undecideds live. The longer they go with power, the more pissed they'll be and the the more likely to go Romney. This will be especially important in Pennsylvania where the Philly suburbs such as Chester, Montgomery and Bucks and more rural counties like Pike and Lancaster may help swing the state to Romney--a state currently leaning Obama.

What about the rest of the nation watching the pictures of devastation from massive flooding? Will that affect votes?

This will not have an affect on MD, NJ, NY, CT, RI or ME since they are firmly for the president but it may swing some popular votes Romney's way.

Scenario two:

Power is out for long periods and electronic voting machines cannot be used in many rural areas. How does that play out? Is it legal for electronic voting machines to be used in Philadelphia when they can't be used in Potter County? That's a state decision and Governor Corbett will be scrutinized whatever way he chooses to go.

What about absentee ballots? Travel is going to be restricted for a few days and the US Postal system is not what it once was. Will an extension be granted?

This is uncharted territory and could swing this election after a year of hard campaigning (or in Obama's case, four years). Next week will be downright surreal.

The State of the Election

Amazing. For those of us junkies who follow politics as closely as the NFL, it's stunning that the last two years of covering daily events has led us to the last two and a half weeks.

Obama instituted what we can all hope will not become the normal: the eternal campaign. From January 20, 2009 we've borne witness to an administration that was more focused on reelection than anything else. It's left us in a hole that will make the alleged one left that obama always bitches about  by George W. Bush seem positively shallow.

So where are we now? What is the state of the election this close to voting day?

In my opinion, it's positive on many fronts. The RCP electoral map finally shows what I believe to have been the true nature of this race for months but biased polling kept hidden--Mitt Romney is in front. And note, that's not including Florida and Virginia in Romney's column. Polling in both those states show Romney ahead.

That's a pretty clear path to the nomination and one in which Obama never saw coming. Granted, Virginia could go the opposite way with the northern part of the state chock full of government employees who fear for their jobs and that trumps all.

But what about Pennsylvania? Ohio? Wisconsin? Or incredibly, Michigan--a state where Obama used our tax dollars to prop up union supporters at the cost of investors simply to gain an electoral advantage and they don't seem to be returning the favor as vehemently as expected.

The polling is still tightening up as the polling firms that were biased towards Obama need to save face or look really ridiculous at the end. I'm guessing that within the next two weeks, every state i listed above is a tie.

And what of an October surprise? I'm guessing the Obamatons have nothing up their sleeve or they wouldn't be glomming onto inane phrases about "binders". At the same time, Obama still hasn't answered the raging questions on Benghazi and the deaths of four Americans. Let's see; binders of women versus a dead ambassador that was covered up, I'm banking on the American people to see through the rhetoric and make an adult decision on who should lead us going forward.

However, the wild card is the utter stupidity of some voters that could turn the tide for Obama. To give you just one glaring example, I give you this:

Romney Doesn't Need Medvedev to Transmit Anything to Vladimir, He'll Tell Him Himself

Awesome.

Remember when Obama was caught on an open mic telling Russian President Dimitry Medvedev that he would have more latitude to make deals with him after the election?



I think my favorite part of that was when Medvedev said "I will transmit that information to Vladimir" with an accent that sounded like Boris and Natasha.

Well, Romney decided that he wasn't going to sneak around about it and he wasn't going to pussy foot it, he put Russia on notice today:

The size of our Navy is at levels not seen since 1916. I will restore our Navy to the size needed to fulfill our missions by building 15 ships per year, including three submarines. I will implement effective missile defenses to protect against threats. And on this, there will be no flexibility with Vladimir Putin. And I will call on our NATO allies to keep the greatest military alliance in history strong by honoring their commitment to each devote 2 percent of their GDP to security spending. Today, only 3 of the 28 NATO nations meet this benchmark.

Emphasis mine.

You may recall, Obama sold out two of our strongest former SSR allies in Poland and the Czech republic by cutting off the missile defense program those great nations spent huge political capital agreeing to. That was a great insight into Obama's governing philosophy as was the above exchange with Medvedev. Obama was showed he was willing to cast aside true allies to placate fake ones and it sent a clear message to all of those who we rely on to take a second look at their relationship with us.

Four years ago, Obama was feted by the media after he gave a weak speech in Berlin. The speech was designed to show that Obama had foreign policy credibility. He's done everything in his power to squander what cred he accumulated there.

Reading the rest of that paragraph block quoted above, i like that he gets that we need to project power and the best way to do that is to have a big, strong navy. I also like that he's serious about making NATO nations honor their commitments. Britain has been strong as have others but the Bear is not happy playing second fiddle and a rejuvenated alliance is good for all concerned.

No Way to Spin That Beat Down

Last night, I asked my wife to sit and watch the debate and made it a point to say nothing while it all played out. I said to her to just give me her honest opinion when it was over. Now, my wife is essentially apolitical, a fiscal small c conservative but a social center lefty. She pays the bills and wants less taxes to be taken but overall is pretty middle of the road.

So I sat there quietly--no small feat for me--because I usually holler at the TV during the debates. I didn't want to sway her even a little. About 9:30 she turns to me and says "Romney is kicking Obama's ass".

If my wife had that opinion, I'm guessing a great many others did as well. It was such a beat down that the only people I heard even remotely insinuate that Obama won were Juan Williams and David Axelrod (and I'm not really sure about him). Hell, Stephanie Cutter was left with only one play and that was to call out Jim Lehrer. Oh yeah, Al Gore blamed the altitude, what a fucking douche that dude is.

I can't recall ever seeing a take down like we saw last night. Mitt came in with a plan and Obama looked stunned that he was actually required to be there and answer to a mere Republican. Think about it, who has Obama had to answer to or who has told him he was wrong on any issue in the last four years? No one, including the media or his advisors. The media kisses his ass, his advisors kiss his ass, members of his party kiss his ass and the GOP establishment has been marginalized by the racial card (excepting Allen West).

So the shock Obama must have felt to have Romney come in and tell him he has failed the country was something to see. Obama looked peeved that he even had to be there and even more pissed that he now has a record to defend that is indefensible.

This should give Romney a nice little boost in the polls and more importantly, it shifts the momentum to Romney in a big way. 68-million people watched last night. Of those, perhaps 3 or four million were undecideds. Romney may just have stole them last night in what typically is the most-watched debate. I imagine many moms who watched that may have only heard that Romney wants to ban abortion and cut school funding were impressed by him. They may have been inclined to vote Obama but after seeing that ass-kicking last night may just go the other way.

Shocker! Obama Believes in Redistribution

I know this will surprise many of you but yes, BHO believes that taking from the so-called rich and giving to the poor is the way the world should be. I mean, he hid it pretty well with his war against the "rich" (meaning those making over $150,000 per year), Obamacare, his drive to make as many people dependent on the government as possible and his run-in with Joe the Plumber. But now we have it all out in the open:


Obama's classics always come behind closed doors such as his "bitter clingers" comment (a comment that was way more offensive). He, like all libs cannot say what they actually believe because people would look at them as if they were nuts. Americans work hard, make profits and rely on their own skill and intellect to get ahead and provide for their families, redistributionism is as un-American as arresting a guy who made a bad movie that pissed off some religious zealots...uh, wait...

 That's why I'm all for Romney saying "hell yes I said that the 47% who don't pay taxes will never vote for me." That will resonate with people who actually get their ass out of bed in the morning, drive to work, pay taxes, support those who don't and get pummeled by high gas and food prices because of Obamanomics. Of the 47%, I'm sure there are a good amount who are embarrassed that they are not paying taxes and want to make enough to do so.

 This race just became the fight of the century with two ideologies battling. One is the side of big government, handouts, enslavement to the state, reduced wages for everyone, insanely high taxes, chronic double digit unemployment and an economy headed over the abyss while the other is one of limited government, reduced taxes, more jobs, higher wages and greater American success. I know what side I'm on and if Romney can articulate it during the debates he'll win this election going away.

Obama Tries to Slow Romney Momentum

Coming off a very successful convention, the Romney campaign seems to be building a little momentum at just the right time. Both Gallup and Rasmussen have him leading and the stated goal of humanizing Mitt seems to have worked with overflow crowds turning up to hear him.

Now is not the time to get cocky, though. The DNC convention starts this week and while they have a aged and all around lame lineup when compared to the GOP, they will be going hard at Romney and Ryan and the media will play it up with even less apprehension then normal.

Nothing is more dangerous than a cornered animal and Romney has essentially boxed Obama into that corner. his people will be scratching and spitting because they will be out of jobs, scorned as the most-inept administration ever if The One loses. Expect the race card to be tossed every minute and expect the lies to continue unabated.

You will hear about Paul Ryan's "exaggerations" and Romney's dog. You will hear about the evil Bain Capital and the jobs supposedly lost. You will hear angry old liberals driveling on about the evil GOP and the god-like man they are there to renominate. What you will not hear is anything about the economy, jobs and/or Afghanistan or Gitmo.

It will be a freak show and the American people will tune out or be turned off by it. This is Obama's chance to energize his base and turn moderates to his side but in the end I believe the hate, race-baiting and vitriol will only succeed in turning people against the administration.

And by the way, you are a racist for even reading bad things about Obama.

Romney/Ryan 2012

Mitt has made his pick and I think he chose...wisely. He did it via iPhone app too.

I wrote a couple of months ago why I liked Ryan and haven't changed my mind. Paul Ryan is a smart conservative who knows his positions inside and out and knows policy better than anyone. He also has a beautiful family, has no baggage that I've heard about, speaks with calmness and confidence, has been beat up by the media and interest groups and has the scars to prove it and is an all-around nice guy. Plus he's an outdoorsman and unlike Palin, they won't be able to demonize him for taking down big game.

That said, some of the aspects of this pick that the media will harp on are the following:

• He's white
• He's unabashedly conservative
• He's white
• He wants to seriously cut spending top-to-bottom including social security
• He's really white
• He's religious
• He's the whitest white man in America

Race will play a huge part in this because Paul Ryan has a plan and that plan is a good one. Obama has no plan, his budget got panned unanimously. Since the media can't hit Ryan for being either dumb or reckless, they will hit him as cold and unfeeling. We will see a multitude of stories where old people will have the shit scared out of them by Ryan's plan as described by the media. Fortunately, Ryan now has a platform whereby he can fight back against the media horde that has mischaracterized his ideas from day one. Hilariously, we see the New Yorker come out of the gate with this story saying that Ryan is not a good pick because he has no private industry experience. Funny because either do Obama nor Biden.

I like the pick and now we get set for a true race pitting fiscal conservatives against pseudo socialists. Keynes, Krugman and Obama vs. Hayek, Milton Friedman and Paul Ryan.

Update: Byron York has it right. This will be an election of ideas and no one has ideas like Paul Ryan for fixing what is wrong. He articulates those ideas in clear terms and doesn't mince words when it comes to discussing the dire fiscal situation we are now in under Obama. The left will try to demonize him at every turn but Ryan has seen it before and always keeps his cool. Two clear sides fighting for the soul of America; pass the popcorn.

Romney, Obama and the Wimp Factor

Newsweek magazine (the magazine that was sold for a whopping $1) stayed true to their liberal form and released this cover:

This would be renowned failure Tina Brown's idea of how to get people to buy this irrelevant rag and generate some buzz. And buzz it did generate but it may not be the kind that Ms. Brown and her liberal friends anticipated. 

When one compares Romney to Obama and the comparison is on who is wimpier, the needle definitely points way more toward BHO than Mitt. Some cases in point:

Does a non-wimp sell out all his friends like Obama did to Bill Ayers, Rev. Wright or his own grandmother? Doe a real man allow a former president to take over a press conference and steal the show? Does a real man blame everyone else for their own failures and take no responsibility for anything? Does a real man allow a non-elected friend with zero national experience make all the important decisions for him? Should I continue? 

The man the $1 mag calls a "wimp" built a business, put on a world class event, amassed millions in a cut-throat business and has been through two hard fought primaries. 

Why I even acknowledge Newsweek I'll never know since they get roughly the traffic af this blog and are worth slightly less. 

Treach has more.

Condi Rice For VP?

Drudge has the scoop:

Late Thursday evening, Mitt Romney's presidential campaign launched a new fundraising drive, 'Meet The VP' -- just as Romney himself has narrowed the field of candidates to a handful, sources reveal. 
And a surprise name is now near the top of the list: Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice! 
The timing of the announcement is now set for 'coming weeks'.

 Not a real big surprise as she is highly intelligent and accomplished, has been vetted and will whoop Biden's ass in the debates.

I wrote about a Condi VP run here.

Look, a Bunny!

It's getting old but that's the reason for it. Obama has amassed unprecedented debt, led during the greatest period of prolonged unemployment since WWII and enacted Obamacare, a program the country deeply distrusts. In other words, every single things he's done as president is unpopular to the extreme and he can't risk running on any of it.

So now we have the daily barrage of stories--gleefully presented as "scoops" by the media--about what an awful guy Mitt Romney is and he's a shady rich guy at that. Of course, we have the vile Mormon stories (funny that they never could bring themselves to discuss the views of Rev. Wright) to add to the fun and a good deal of unhinged racial undertones (or overtones) as well. The stories don't have to be factual, just lay the seed of doubt and to hell with any hypocrisy.

The whole campaign can be summed up in one sentence: The media and Obama are in cahoots to report one bad story about Romney a day and hide bury news that would be harmful to Obama's reelection. It doesn't have to be true and it doesn't have to be what anyone would consider a big deal, it just has to be out there front and center on a daily basis. If any one so much as mentions any of the failed Obama policies, just scream "look, a bunny!" and change the subject.

With respect to Romney, he's handled it well, letting his surrogates and the conservative media and blogosphere point out the hypocrisy and set the record straight but eventually Obama will have to answer to the people and, as I heard someone say on Cavuto today, "people care more about their own bottom lines than Mitt Romney's".

Obama's Attacks On Mitt Have Failed

It wasn't so long ago we heard that Obama was going to raise a billion dollars and use it to destroy whomever his opponent happened to be. These were the days when the media was still happily nestled in their cocoon and just knew that with their help and the greatest of Obama, a second term was a lock.

Fortunately for those of us who have actually been paying attention, Obama started falling back to the pack. Sure, compared to the slimy Gingrich or the kinda strange Santorum Obama seemed like a shoe-in.

But now that the GOP is settled and Obama has an actual challenger, the American people are taking a look and with a mix of "Mitt's not too bad" and "Damn, this economy still sucks" they have decided that Hope and Change (TM) is, in fact, not really for them.

Obama enjoyed a huge money advantage for the start of the campaign and to hear his sycophants in the media tell it; the dude was gonna keep right on a rollin.

Then an interesting thing happened, former big business Obama supporters decided that the guy they once supported was kind of a hypocrite. He took their money to the bank but when push came to shove he didn't have their back. Instead he went on rampages and made them the target and cause of every calamity he created.

So now, we have an interesting intersection of time and place.

Obama hammered Romney as the rich guy who was out of touch and labeled him everything from an "outsourcer" to a "job destroyer". That, thought the Obamaites was a good angle to hit Mitt from. The paid for ad after ad trying to bring him down and the media dutifully attacked him and his wife at every opportunity.

It didn't work:

For all the attention paid to the effectiveness of President Obama's Bain-themed attacks, it's remarkable how Obama has been stuck right around 47 percent for a very long time.  As the Washington Post's Chris Cillizzadocumented, the president's team has handily outspent Romney and his allied super PACs, pouring in $91 million into eight swing states in an early spending barrage intended to make Romney seem an unacceptable challenger.  But for all that effort, the numbers haven't moved much at all: The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll out today shows the race deadlocked at 47 percent. Yesterday's USA Today/Gallup swing state poll showed Obama statistically tied with Romney, the exact same result the survey showed one month ago. 

Obama shot his load. He thought he'd come out swinging in the first round and pull a Sugar Ray Leonard or Mike Tyson and flatten Romney before he could defend himself. Instead, Romney absorbed the blows ala Rocky and stayed the course.  He jabbed and changed the flow slowly but surely.

And here we sit with four or so months to go and Romney is alive and ready to go the distance.

Why are they failing? They are failing because the economy is still in the shitter and unemployment is still over 8%. They failed because Obama is aloof and people don't connect like the media said they did. They've failed because they look at this career politician and don't see hope or change but reckless ambition wrapped in horrid ideology. They see him pandering to celebrities who they have can'y even comprehend having anything in common with.

Let's hope they still feel the same come November.

Man Who Won't Release Any Important Documents Calls For Rival to Release His

The hypocrisy is thick here:

The campaign released a new video that slams Romney for alleged reliance on tax havens, signaling a strong push to capitalize politically on a Vanity Fair magazine story about Romney’s holdings outside the U.S.

So the man who won't release any school transcripts, his SAT score, information on exactly how he managed to get to Harvard or Columbia or about when he spent an inordinate amount of time "choomin" and just about any other document that will give us insight into his youth is asking for Romney to release his records.

Romney's advocates have a nice talking point here; every time some Obama supporter mentions Romney's taxes, they should counter with "when is Obama going to release his grades from college" or something of the like. Romney need not get involved and the media will back Obama as always and ask him if it's something he supports asking these questions and he can stay above it all by saying simply they have a point but he wouldn't ask such a question...until he has to.

Condi Rice For VP?

By all accounts, Condoleezza Rice impressed many at the Romney pow wow (note: ABC focused on the money aspect and the Condi quote is shoe-horned in but this has been reported many places):

Many of those same attendees said the star speaker of the weekend was former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who received and a standing ovation.  Ambassador Charles Cobb, who served as ambassador to Iceland from 1989 to 1992, said Rice was “spectacular” and described her as a “very bright, sophisticated, articulate lady.”

Not unexpected as Rice, the first African-American woman to serve as Sec State, is highly accomplished and has a strong resume. She served the country well as both National Security Advisor and her last governmental position at State.

Impressively, no books have been written talking of her poor leadership as is often seen after a Republican leaves a liberal bastion such as Foggy Bottom and her story is impressive. Serving under Reagan and Bush 43, Provost at Stanford, an accomplished musician and expert on Russian affairs.

I really want her to get the nod so I can watch her destroy a hugely over matched Joe Biden in the debates.

From a strategy standpoint, Rice is attractive, may tear away some of the African-American vote if she can explain to that particular community that has been devastated by the highest unemployment in the nation that it was Obama's policies that left them behind and shores up Romney's foreign policy credentials.

I previously touted others but Condi is getting a second look from me. The fact that she was at this event shows she's still willing to be a player and even if she's not selected would be perfect to help the Romney campaign as an advisor.

Can the GOP Win It All?

Is it possible that the GOP can win the presidency and the Senate while holding the House? Yes.

Romney is running a nice campaign, hitting back at the Obama campaign on each and every point raised and doing it rapidly. They've managed to keep the president off balance and unless we see a major turnaround in the economy, Obama will likely have one hell of an uphill battle.

In the House, the idea that Democrats can win even half the seats needed is difficult to imagine. While congress currently wallows in historically low approval numbers, they are mired equally. This could change if the Bush tax cuts and other economic concerns drag on and decisions aren't reached. Nate Silver discusses this today.

But what about the Senate? Could large turnout and an energized base help the GOP win in states like Florida and Virginia? Possibly. Real Clear Politics has the Dems with the advantage but there are 8 tossups and one likely GOP pick up in Nebraska of an open seat. Of those eight tossups, only 2 are Republicans and of those, Tester and McCaskill are very winnable. If Elizabeth (Fauxcahontas) Warren keeps running the worst race ever, Scott  Brown will hold his seat.

A great deal can happen in the next few months but the possibility exists that a GOP ass-whipping could occur and that would give a President Romney 24-months to start undoing the damage inflicted over the last three and a half years.

The Obamateur Strikes Again

So The One decides that he's just not been getting enough air time lately and calls a press conference ostensibly to discuss his next failed plan on improving the economy. Those of us on the right feel giddy elation when we hear he's doing one of these because he always says something stupid that he has to explain away later (Beer summit anyone?).

So he comes out and blames the oft-used but never defined "headwinds" excuse?

Yes. Blame Bush ATM's and everything else but himself? Yes. But then he said this:

 President Obama: The truth of the matter is that, as I said, we created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months, over 800,000 just this year alone.
The private sector is doing fine. Where we're seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government. Oftentimes cuts initiated by, you know, Governors or mayors who are not getting the kind of help that they have in the past from the federal government and who don't have the same kind of flexibility as the federal government in dealing with fewer revenues coming in.

The private sector is doing fine, 8.2% unemployment with tens of millions not being counted and a lagging GDP and Obama says everything is just groovy. I guess it looks that way from Pennsy Ave and from the podium at all the celebrity fundraisers he's been doing. They see no discernible reduction in their quality of life.

Romney jumped all over it and had video out within hours and a coordinated response that is making the GOP faithful feel all warm and fuzzy.

So is this the gaffe that will change the election? Perhaps, and I'm sure there will be more but the simple fact he walked it back within hours says all you need to know about how this looked. sounded and affected the message delivery the Obamabots are trying to get out there.

Much of this shamelessly borrowed from Treacher.

Romney Carries Torch Lit By Christie and Walker

For years they called social security the "third rail" of politics meaning whoever stepped there would suffer badly. George W. Bush boldly went there but learned quickly it was a battle he didn't have the will to fight with everything else he was dealing with.

But over the last five years or so, the real hornets nest was shown to be teachers unions. Governor's for years had given the teachers representatives contracts that were grossly unfair to those paying for them--taxpayers. They were afraid to get hit with the "enemy of kids" card, which can hurt even more than the race card. Every governor or local official who even remotely took a stand was branded as anti-children or anti-education and quickly backed down with their tail between their legs.

Enter Chris Christie who actually ran on a platform of reforming education and taking on the unions like the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA). But Christie is a man of his word and didn't back down but charged forward. He was vilified and the unions ran ad after ad. Out of spite, schools began charging for all activities--some up to $300 per year--stating they couldn't afford to cover the costs. Christie cut funding for schools and made them adapt by streamlining. He battled daily and became a You Tube sensation every time he smacked down someone who debated him.

Christie restored some fiscal sanity to a state that had seen none in decades.

Then we were introduced to Gov. Scott Walker who also campaigned on the union-busting platform. He had union ingrates sleeping in the Capitol building protesting his every move. They eventually got enough signatures from homeless dudes and dead people to force a recall. Unfortunately for the unions and assorted other idiots, he saved the state a billion bucks and appears headed to victory.

Now Romney is taking on the unions and we're about to see how this successful strategy plays out on a national scale:

And he declared war on teachers unions, saying they “are the clearest example of a group that has lost its way.” He said Mr. Obama is too beholden to the unions to be able to reform the school system.
“President Obama has been unable to stand up to union bosses — and unwilling to stand up for kids,” Mr. Romney said, accusing the president of putting the unions’ campaign donations ahead of the needs of students those teachers are teaching.

This came during a speech on education in which he talked about the good things charter schools are doing for all children. The unions abhor charter schools so Romney effectively just declared war. Not that they would've supported him anyway but this was overt and he's evidently decided that this is a winning issue after seeing how well it resonated with many people.

What Are All These Polls Telling Us?

November is a loooong way out and a zillion things can happen but I'm seeing a resemblance to 2010.

Let's start with the NYT/CBS poll that is an interesting sampling; they called back people they had talked to a month earlier to see what shift, if any, they could discern. A change did indeed occur and it wasn't good for Obama.

Romney picked up 3% of women while Obama lost 5%. So much for the alleged GOP war on women. He also picked up 4% in the moderate category and that's the group that will win it while Obama lost 5%.

Of course, the Obama people discredited the polls "biased", which is amusing considering it's the NY Times who is deep in the mud for Obama and CBS who is still pissed that the right destroyed Rather and the credibility of the network back during Rathergate.

Now today we see that a guy who was forced into a recall because he took on the unions in a deeply union state winning in a poll conducted for the uber-leftwing Daily Kos:

The latest poll by Daily Kos/Public Policy Polling shows Wisconsin governor Scott Walker leading Democratic challenger Tom Barrett 50% to 45% in the state's gubernatorial recall race. Those are theexact same numbers PPP found prior to the Democratic primary and the exact same results Rasmussen found when it polled the race last week immediately after the Democratic primary. 

John McCormack nails it when he writes that the Democrats have all but abandoned this race. Why spend money on a campaign that was supposed to be a shoe in when the leader of your party is in serious straits?

These are just two polls among dozens but they do paint a picture of Romney fending off the Obama attacks, which is always easier for the challenger, especially when the incumbent has the record Obama does. Anything can happen as they say.

I leave you with yet another ad that shows Romney is not getting sucked into the daily sideshows Obama is trying to entangle him in:

GOP Ups Its Game This Cycle

In the 2008 election cycle, the Democrats had rapid responses to everything the GOP did. The presidential election in particular showed just how well their strategy worked. In conjunction with the MSM, the DNC and other organizations destroyed Republicans. Just think how they marginalized Sarah Palin ("I can see Russia from my house") and destroyed her as a viable candidate. The GOP couldn't respond fast enough and get many points to stick.

But this cycle, I'm seeing a concerted effort to keep the conversation right where it should be; on Obama's record and the state of the economy.

While the MSM goes on about Romney strapping his dogs' carrier to the roof of his car, Jim Treacher reads his book and posts that Obama ate dog so now let's get back to talking about jobs and the economy. The WaPo puts out a hit piece saying Romney allegedly bullied a kid 50 years ago in high school and blogs counter immediately with Obama's many youthful indiscretions.

The latest example is this new ad:




It took less than one day for the RNC to get this clip out. That's rapid reaction and highly effective.

The right-leaning traditional media in a synchronized effort with new media is on their game and highly motivated this time around and could be the ace in the hole for Romney.

Exit question: Is there anyone who has kept the Dems on the defensive more than Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller and in particular the aforementioned Treacher?