One of my favorite movies, Sneakers, is 20 years old this year, and I'm glad to see that it has a solid, if not small, fan base. For those who haven't seen it, it is a caper movie with an amazing cast, script, and score. Despite a cast which included Robert Redford, James Earl Jones, David Straitham, Sidney Poitier, … Read More
Strange Homage
So I read this, this morning: The AP reports that both presidential candidates are setting aside their attack ads for the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I don't quite understand this form of tribute — "It's 9/11… so we'll resume the name calling, lying and smearing tomorrow?" I think we can all be joined in our common acknowledgement of the … Read More
God God God God God God
I think what Obama needs to do is to wake up every morning, go to the Oval Office, tap in to all the TV network feeds, sit and look sternly at the television camera, and chant "God God God God God God God God. Have a nice day." Because, for some unknown (comical) reason, the wingnuts bounce off the wall … Read More
Our Stupid (Republican) Electorate
Public Policy Polling asked a question of Ohio likely voters – namely, who was more responsible for Osama bin Laden’s death: Barack Obama or Mitt Romney? In what some… have called “the greatest thing ever,” a full 15 percent of Ohio Republicans surveyed said Romney deserved more credit than the president. Another 47 percent said they were “unsure.” ….Oh, dear. … Read More
Romney Campaign Memo Says Don’t Panic
I'll post the full memo below the fold, but the fact that this memo is there is a bad sign for Romney. As Wonkette noted, it sounds like the Facebook statuses you put up right after a breakup to insinuate that you are balls deep in hot persons and laughs and fun and rainbows. For some reason, the memo invokes the … Read More
Bouncy Bouncy
Well, the daily tracking polls of Gallup and Rassmusson (as well as other polls) indicate there was a definite Obama bounce from the convention last week, despite blah economic numbers coming out last Friday. There are two state polls that I wanted to note: one from Ohio, and one from North Carolina (released a few minutes ago). Both are from … Read More
Wrong Answer
Fox News’s Brett Baier told Romney that “several speakers” at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte this week criticized the GOP presidential nominee for the omissions (actually it was right-wing foreign policy leader Bill Kristol who started the attacks) and asked him if he had any regrets. “I only regret you’re repeating it day in and day out,” Romney said, adding … Read More
DNC, Day Three: Obama-Nation
Well, what can I say that hasn't been said? Not his best, but Obama's "not his best" beats Romney by a mile. Obama's fire as a candidate gave way to the rooted earth of a man who IS president (as he reminded us). He reminded us that the job is hard and for serious people, implying that Romney is not … Read More
The “Net Job Loss” Lie
This is the graph: The red lines represent when Bush was president; the blue is for Obama. These are the monthly job gains/losses for each month since January 2008 to last month. Romney and company would like to tell you that, if you take all the job gains under Obama (where it goes up) and add them to the job … Read More
Strange GOP Attempts To Court Woman
These two ads are trying to address the gender gap. They both are based on the premise that women vote for Obama because he is their boyfriend. Isn't the premise of the ads a little demeaning to women? It's saying "You only like Obama because you of your feeeelings". Here's a thought, Republicans: maybe women vote for Obama … Read More
DNC, Day Two: The Big Dog
In case you missed it: Almost universally, this speech was praised. Even conservative Rich Lowry at NRO wrote: I suspect the most effective part was near the beginning when he said no president could have turned around in four years the economy that President Obama inherited. He’s a great political litigator and although the speech went on way too … Read More
Earthquake in Costa Rica
I probably wouldn't normally report on this, but I was just there last year. A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck at 10:42 a.m. ET at a depth of about 25 miles and about seven miles southeast of Nicoya, a town of some 15,000 people on a coastal area on the Pacific about 90 miles from the capital San Jose. 7.6 is very strong, … Read More
Well, Damn
Looks like my credientials are no good: Obama acceptance speech moved indoors By NBC's Mark Murray First Read has confirmed that Democrats are moving their convention — including President Obama's acceptance speech — indoors for Thursday night at the Time Warner Cable Arena. Thursday's events had originally been scheduled to take place at Bank of America Stadium, where the Carolina … Read More
DNC, Day One
I only caught bits and pieces on the radio, mostly of Michelle's speech. The latter was moving — she is hands down the best First Lady speaker this country has ever seen (and I put Hillary Clinton in that category). CBS reported that she wrote it herself, and worked on it for more than a month. UPDATE: Michelle Obama's speech … Read More
Dumbest PAC Ad (So Far)
Did you know that Obama is going to send the troops to force you to gay marry? Apparently so, according to this ad from a pro-Romney super PAC with ties to evangelist Gary Bauer. The Campaign for American Values ad attacks President Obama for his support of marriage equality. In the ad, called “New Morning,” an opposite sex couple expresses concern that … Read More