2012 Election

[American Patriot]

Obama calls House GOP budget plan a Trojan horse for 'radical' change

KEN THOMAS Associated Press First Posted: April 03, 2012 - 7:20 am Last Updated: April 03, 2012 - 7:21 am

WASHINGTON — In an election-year pitch to middle-class voters, President Barack Obama is denouncing a House Republican budget plan as a "Trojan horse," warning that it represents "an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country" that would hurt the pocketbooks of working families.


Obama, in a speech to newspaper executives, is sharply criticizing a $3.5 trillion budget proposal pushed by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., which passed on a near-party-line vote last week and has been embraced by GOP presidential hopefuls. The plan has faced fierce resistance from Democrats, who say it would gut Medicare, slash taxes for the wealthy and lead to deep cuts to crucial programs such as aid to college students and highway and rail projects.


"It's a Trojan horse. Disguised as deficit reduction plan, it's really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country," Obama said in excerpts of his speech released Tuesday. "It's nothing but thinly veiled social Darwinism."


Obama's message comes as Republican Mitt Romney looked to solidify his grip on his party's presidential nomination in primary contests in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C. The White House has appeared increasingly focused on Romney, with Obama's campaign criticizing the former Massachusetts governor by name in an energy ad as the president's team seeks to frame the election as a referendum on the economic security of middle-class voters.


White House advisers billed the speech — to be delivered during The Associated Press luncheon of editors and publishers — as an important marker for the president as he seeks re-election. Senior administration officials said the address would build upon themes the president delivered in Kansas last fall, in which he called the nation's economic challenges a "make-or-break moment" for the middle class, and in his State of the Union address, in which he laid out his election-year agenda.


Ryan's proposal aims to slash the deficit and the size of government while offering sharply lower tax rates in return for eliminating many popular tax breaks. GOP front-runner Mitt Romney and his Republican rivals have said they would support Ryan's budget plan, which has little chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate but lays out the GOP's fiscal priorities.


President Barack Obama gestures during his joint news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Monday, April 2, 2012, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Obama was making the case that whoever wins the White House will face an economy still recovering from the "worst economic calamity since the Great Depression" and many Americans will still be looking for jobs and lacking financial security. By next year, "a debt that has grown over the last decade, primarily as a result of two wars, two massive tax cuts and an unprecedented financial crisis, will have to be paid down," Obama says in the prepared remarks.
He argues that Ryan's budget plan would stall the economic recovery. "By gutting the very things we need to grow an economy that's built to last — education and training, research and development — it's a prescription for decline," he says.


On taxes, Obama is also expected to call for economic fairness encapsulated by the so-called "Buffett Rule," arguing that the wealthy shouldn't pay a smaller share of their income in federal taxes than middle-class taxpayers. Many wealthy taxpayers earn investment income, which is taxed at 15 percent, and Obama has proposed that people earning at least $1 million annually — whether in salary or investments — should pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes.


Obama planned to note that "broad-based prosperity has never trickled-down from the success of a wealthy few. It has always come from the success of a strong and growing middle class."


The focus on tax reform has brought attention to the effective tax rate of Romney, a millionaire who is paying 15.4 percent in federal taxes for 2011 on income mostly derived from investments. The top nominal rate for taxpayers with high incomes derived from wages, not including investments, is 35 percent.


In advance of Obama's speech, political adviser David Axelrod charged that Romney is "just in a time warp," saying the former Massachusetts governor "seems to look at the world through the rear-view mirror." He said Romney subscribes to a Cold War-era belief that Russia is America's greatest foe in the world and would return the country to outmoded economic policies that led to the near economic meltdown in the fall of 2008.


"I think he must watch Madmen and think it's the evening news," Axelrod said in an appearance on "CBS This Morning." He said that Romney "wants to go back to the same policies that got us into this disaster."
Obama was speaking at a luncheon of 900 editors and publishers following The Associated Press' annual meeting. William Dean Singleton, outgoing chairman of the AP Board of Directors and chairman of MediaNews Group Inc., will pose questions to Obama following the president's remarks.

[American Patriot]

Radical change huh? Wtf did he TRY to do?

[vector7]

Michael Savage: Why is Obama confident of election outcome? How Obama has ensured his re-election..3:13 video

[Ryan Ruck]

Looks like Santorum is dropping out...

[American Patriot]

It was a matter of time. He's no got enough delegates.

These fools are saying how "Romney" is the only guy to do it... because we can't have another Reagan I guess.....

[Ryan Ruck]

Yep, Romney it is.

Guess the best we can hope for is a Conservative VP.

[Ryan Ruck]

[American Patriot]

lol
yep that's about it.

[American Patriot]

Obama-Romney showdown starts with a harsh tone


By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press – 46 minutes ago
MENDENHALL, Pa. (AP) — The 2012 presidential general election has begun. It won't be pretty.


Tuesday marked Day One, in essence, of the contest between the two virtually certain nominees, Republican Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama. Rick Santorum's departure removed the last meaningful bump from Romney's path to the GOP nomination. Romney and Obama wasted no time in portraying the voters' choice in dire, sometimes starkly personal terms.


With Obama saddled with a still-ailing economy and a divisive health care law, and Romney riding a wave of blistering TV ads, the fall election is unlikely to dwell on "hope," ''change" and other uplifting themes from four years ago. Much of the nation's ire then was aimed at departing President George W. Bush, and Obama had no extensive record to defend.


The landscape is much different now. Americans face nearly seven months of hard-hitting jabs and counterpunches between the two parties' standard-bearers.


Romney, the former Massachusetts governor making his second presidential bid, attacked Obama with gusto Tuesday in his two public events that followed Santorum's surprising announcement.


Campaigning in Pennsylvania, where an April 24 GOP primary is suddenly less important than its likely role as a battleground state this fall, Romney portrayed Obama as a weak leader who apologizes for America's greatness and prefers European-style socialism over robust free enterprise. Obama's allies call such claims nonsense.


"The right course for America is not to divide America," Romney told a GOP dinner gathering in Mendenhall, near Philadelphia. "That's what he's doing," he said of Obama. "His campaign is all about finding Americans to blame and attack, and find someone to tax more, someone who isn't giving, isn't paying their fair share."


He said Obama prefers "a government-centered society."


Obama, campaigning in Florida, said the choice this fall will be as stark as in the 1964 contest between Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater, which resulted in one of the biggest Democratic landslides ever. That election included dramatic and controversial moments, such as Goldwater's defense of "extremism in the defense of liberty" and a devastating TV ad suggesting a Goldwater presidency would lead to nuclear war.


Obama didn't mention Romney by name. His top aides have shown less restraint, however.


The Obama campaign posted a YouTube video on Wednesday, the day after Santorum's withdrawal, noting that "as Republicans settle on a nominee," there are things voters should remember about the Romney campaign.


The presentation proceeds with video clips of a slew of Romney statements, including his pledge to see the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortions overturned, his statement saying he'd rather see Detroit go bankrupt before backing a government bailout, his assertion that "corporations are people, my friend," and his declaration that he was an "extremely serious conservative" governor of Massachusetts.


Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in a statement after Santorum's withdrawal: "It's no surprise that Mitt Romney finally was able to grind down his opponents under an avalanche of negative ads.



But neither he nor his special interest allies will be able to buy the presidency with their negative attacks. The more the American people see of Mitt Romney, the less they like him."


Other Obama campaign officials have mocked Romney's wealth and called him out of touch with average Americans.
Romney and his allies, including a potent super PAC, have proved their ability to raise millions of dollars to air brutally effective attack ads, which crippled Santorum and Newt Gingrich in the GOP primary contests. Obama will raise many millions, too, and few doubt that he will hit Romney hard.
On Tuesday, Romney made clear that he will go after Obama's character as well as his record. In speeches in Mendenhall and Wilmington, Del., Romney said Obama isn't merely inept at economic policy, he actively dislikes business.
Obama "is clearly trying to hide from us what he intends to do," Romney said in Wilmington. "He's going to hide. And it's my job to seek."
Romney made similar remarks last month. Now, with Santorum off the stage and Gingrich and Ron Paul hardly a factor, there are no intra-party distractions to dilute such comments. Romney and Obama are fully engaged, one-on-one, at a much earlier stage than in 2008, when Obama had to parry Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton throughout the summer before fully turning to Republican John McCain.
Even then, Bush's unpopularity helped fuel Obama's campaign and deflected some of the anti-GOP sentiment away from the actual nominee.
This time, the incumbent president is on the ballot, with unemployment above 8 percent. The tea party, which didn't exist in 2008, is a potent and unpredictable force.
And Romney suddenly is free of meaningful primary worries. That leaves him able to focus the full force of his fundraising and campaigning skills against Obama.

[vector7]

Idiots who voted for Obama

[Ryan Ruck]

Generic Congressional Ballot: Republicans 46%, Democrats 36%

Republicans, as they have for nearly three years now, continue to lead Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot, this time for the week ending Sunday, April 15.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 46% of Likely U.S. Voters would vote for the Republican in their district’s congressional race if the election were held today, while 36% would choose the Democrat instead. This is the largest gap between the two parties since the beginning of 2011. It also doubles the gap found a week ago when the Republican led by five points, 45% to 40%.

The national telephone survey of 3,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports from April 9-15, 2012. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 2 percentage point with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Pt only You must be a Rasmussen Reports Reader or Platinum member to continue reading this article. Log in below or subscribe now for access to all of our site’s content and membership benefits, including in-depth poll results, exclusive trend data, analysis from Scott Rasmussen, historical data and more.

[vector7]

Kiss of death: Jimmy Carter says he’d be “very pleased” to see Romney as GOP nominee

posted at 8:03 pm on September 15, 2011 by Allahpundit



Alternate headline: “Rick Perry wins GOP nomination.”

“I’m not taking a position, but I would be very pleased to see him win the Republican nomination,” Carter said on an interview on MSNBC set to air Thursday night.

Carter also said he appreciated that Rep. Bachmann (R-Minn.) worked on Carter’s presidential campaign in 1976. Bachmann has mentioned how she was a Democrat during college but switched parties after because she disagreed with certain foreign and domestic policies of the left.

“I know, and I appreciate that she helped me out!,” Carter said.

Carter expressed confidence that Obama would be reelected.

Just to make this extra squirm-inducing for Romney, when I googled Carter looking for more details on this interview, the first thing that popped up was him saying two days ago that he supports the Palestinians’ statehood bid at the UN next week. Of course. Oh, and this isn’t the first time he’s praised a Republican candidate this year.

Back in May, he also had high praise for — ta da — Jon Huntsman, whom he said is “very attractive to me personally.” According to the most recent Gallup poll, Huntsman’s also the only candidate in the field whose “positive intensity” score is actually …

negative. Dude, one word: Gamechanger.

The only good news for Mitt is that this isn’t the biggest quasi-endorsement of the day. Via the Daily Caller, here’s the one that deserves the headlines — the man who writes the songs that make the whole world sing throwing his support to The Only Man Who Can Save America. Paul, in fact, was one of five candidates to whom Manilow maxed out his donation in 2007. The other four were Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and even Joe Biden.

Go figure. Here’s the text of the bill he was on the Hill today to support. Exit question: Is Ron “Dr. No” Paul really going to vote for that?

[American Patriot]

Some guy just pulled out of the Presidential race.

I think they said his name was "Newt". Anyone ever heard of him?


/sigh

[vector7]

Soros, other major donors prepare to inject $100M into groups supporting Democrats

Published May 08, 2012
NewsCore


Nov. 3, 2011: George Soros smiles before a speech at the Central European University in Budapest. (Reuters)

WASHINGTON – Up to $100 million from major Democratic donors could soon be injected into independent groups supporting the party's fall campaigns, The New York Times reported.

In a slight twist, however, the money is likely to be directed toward campaigns focused on grass-roots organizing, voter registration and Democratic turnout -- in a bid to stay away from negative advertising campaigns.

Among the big liberal donors preparing to enter the campaign is financier George Soros, who will tip $1 million into the coffers of both America Votes, a group coordinating activities for left-leaning organizations, and American Bridge 21st Century, a super PAC involved in research on election-related topics.

The $2 million worth of donations will be the first significant contributions made by Soros this year.

"George Soros believes the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United opened the floodgates to special interests paying for political ads," Soros' spokesman Michael Vachon told the Times, referring to a case pushed by the conservative organization, resulting in a ruling that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent political expenditures by corporations and unions.

"There is no way those concerned with the public interest can compete with them. Soros has always focused his political giving on grass-roots organizing and holding conservatives accountable for the flawed policies they promote. His support of these groups is consistent with those views."

Robert McKay, the chairman of the Democratic Alliance -- a group of big-spending liberal donors -- told the Times $100 million was expected to be tipped into the campaign by members of his group. Some of it will go towards advertising, but most would be spent on organizing and research, he added.

Click here for more on this story from The New York Times.

[American Patriot]

Herman Cain, a former Republican presidential frontrunner whose campaign lost its steam amid allegations of sexual misconduct, endorsed Mitt Romney’s White House bid Wednesday. He had previously thrown his support behind fellow Georgian Newt Gingrich.


“I’ve met with [the former Massachusetts governor] privately and now I’m telling everyone publicly, if Mitt Romney wasn’t your favorite candidate for the Republican nomination: Get over it! We need unity to take back the White House, the Senate and keep control of the House of Representatives,” Cain said in a statement.


At a Washington press conference, he said that Romney “gets it right on the big issues” and Obama “gets it wrong.” Cain also couldn't resist taking a not-so-veiled dig at Obama and said his “endorsement evolved.”


He was referring to the evolution the president said he underwent before publically advocating for marriage equality last week.

BET Politics - Your source for the latest news, photos and videos illuminating key issues and personalities in African-American political life, plus commentary from some of our liveliest voices. Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

[vector7]

53,000 Dead Voters, 2,600 Ineligible And 182,000 Illegal Voters Found In Florida

May 17, 2012 No Comments ›› American Infidel

Excerpted from FOX NEWS: TAMPA, Fla. – Florida’s local election supervisors on Wednesday sounded skeptical, and even distrustful, of a push by the state to remove thousands of potential non-U.S. citizens from the voting rolls just months before the critical 2012 elections.

The supervisors, meeting at their annual summer conference, peppered state election officials with questions about the list of more than 2,600 people who have been identified as being in Florida legally but ineligible to vote. That list was sent to supervisors recently, but state officials have also said there may be as many as 182,000 registered voters who may not be citizens.

The questions about voter eligibility surface as the state continues its months-long efforts to scrub the rolls, including asking supervisors to remove more than 53,000 dead people discovered by comparing voter rolls to federal Social Security files. This was the first time the state checked the files. It was allowed under a controversial election law that passed the GOP-controlled Legislature last year.

State election officials want the state’s 67 county election offices to reach out to those on the potentially ineligible list, determine their citizenship status and remove them from the rolls if they are not U.S. citizens.

But election supervisors – including Democrats and Republicans – asked a range of questions about the level of proof that state election officials had regarding the citizenship status of voters which was culled by comparing voter registration lists to a state driver’s license database. They said they wanted more information before they purge someone from the voting rolls.

“I’m feeling really uncomfortable about this,” Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes told officials with the state’s Division of Elections.

Brian Corley, the Pasco County elections supervisor, questioned the timing of the push, noting that election officials were first given a list of potential ineligible voters from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles roughly a year ago.

Corley pointed out how two voters on the department’s list given to him wound up being born in Ohio and Massachusetts. One of the names wound up on the list of non-U.S. citizens because the driver’s license number used to check citizenship had one number wrong on it.

“We want our voter rolls to be accurate, obviously no one wants someone to vote who isn’t a citizen,” Corley said. “But at the same time we are the ones fielding phone calls from voters saying `Why are you questioning my citizenship?”

Added Gertrude Walker, the St. Lucie County elections supervisor: “We don’t have confidence in the validity of the information.”

Gisela Salas, director of the state Division of Elections, said that the delay in giving supervisors the potential match list was because the state was trying to verify the information before it handed it over.
Florida has asked for access to a federal database maintained by the Department of Homeland Security but so far the U.S. government has turned the state down.

There are currently more than 11 million active registered voters in the state, but a few thousand votes could make the difference in what is expected to be a tight race between President Barack Obama and GOP presumptive nominee Mitt Romney. The 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore was decided by just 537 votes in the Sunshine State.

Florida law requires voters to be a U.S. citizen residing in the state.

Florida also does not allow someone to vote if they are a convicted felon and have not had their civil rights restored.

The state has been responsible for helping screen voters since 2006 when it launched a statewide voter registration database. The state database is supposed to check the names of registered voters against other databases, including ones that contain the names of people who have died and people who have been sent to prison.

Prior to the launch of the database, Florida had come under fire for previous efforts to remove felons from the voting rolls, including a purge that happened right before the 2000 presidential election. An effort to remove felons back in 2004 was halted after it was discovered that the list drawn up by the state had errors.

Several supervisors pointed out they now get a packet of background information before they remove a convicted felon from the rolls. They wanted to know if the state would start providing the same level of detail with both deceased voters and those deemed not to be U.S. citizens.

Maria Matthews, the assistant general counsel for the Division of Elections, acknowledged that the state’s list may not be “foolproof” but she said that in the end it is up to local supervisors to determine if a voter should be purged.

“We do not make the determination, that is what you get paid for,” Matthews told supervisors.

Some supervisors such as Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho – recalling past attempts to remove voters – said he would move slowly before purging anyone.

“Caution is a good code to live by in the election world these days,” Sancho said.

[American Patriot]

looks like Obama won Florida already

[Ryan Ruck]

Democrats Are Dreading A Wisconsin Wipeout

May 21, 2012

Given current polling, it is not surprising that Democrats in Wisconsin are freaking out. The Wall Street Journal reports: “With little more than two weeks until Wisconsin’s gubernatorial recall election, some Democratic and union officials quietly are expressing fears that they have picked a fight they won’t win and that could leave lingering injuries.” No one is bothering to claim a Scott Walker victory would be insignificant:

The election has taken on significance beyond Wisconsin state politics: Organized labor sees the battle as a major stand against GOP efforts to scale back collective-bargaining rights for public-sector workers, as Mr. Walker did after taking office in 2011. Some Democrats now fear mobilizing Republicans to battle the recall could carry over to help the party — and Republican Mitt Romney — in November’s presidential election...

For the left-leaning groups that have spent months trying to oust Mr. Walker, a loss would be a deflating end to a process that began with unions and their allies gathering more than 900,000 signatures to force a recall.

From the start, some in the Democratic Party worried that a Wisconsin recall could drain needed resources, fire up the conservative base and ultimately make it more difficult for Mr. Obama to win the state.

As you might expect, the finger-pointing is well underway on the side that is likely to lose. (“Top Democrats now say that when labor groups first raised the specter of a recall, the party’s officials urged their allies in Wisconsin to reconsider.”)

Time magazine, under a headline “Why the Coalition Trying to Recall Scott Walker Is Splintering,” likewise reports that “the campaign to recall Walker is sputtering, and the governor has pulled ahead in the polls with a little over two weeks to go until the June 5 election.” It seems that the Republicans out-organized organized labor:

To protect their imperiled star, the GOP has assembled a solid ground-game buoyed by robust fundraising and a clear economic message. By contrast, Walker’s opponents are a fractured force: a loose constellation of Democrats, political-action committees, and labor groups with overlapping goals but spotty coordination. The Democrats have been unable to drive a consistent message, careening from collective bargaining to Walker’s purported dishonesty, the “war on women” and jobs and education.

All of this bodes well for Walker and ultimately for Republicans on the ballot in November, including Mitt Romney and the eventual U.S. Senate nominee. Really, is Obama’s message any clearer than that of the recall forces? In the meantime, Republicans are organized, energized and well aware that if they can put Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes in Romney’s column, suddenly he’ll have many more options to get to 270 electoral votes.

[Ryan Ruck]

4 In 10 Democrats Desert Obama In Arkansas, Kentucky Primaries

May 22, 2012

Four in ten Democratic voters chose someone other than President Obama on Tuesday in primaries in Arkansas and Kentucky.

In Arkansas, John Wolfe — a perennial, long-shot candidate — took 41 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, with 71 percent of precincts reporting. Obama came in just under 60 percent. The Associated Press did not call the race for Obama until close to midnight.

And in Kentucky, 42 percent of Democrats chose "uncommitted" rather than cast a vote for the incumbent president. Obama took 58 percent, with 99 percent of precincts reporting.

With turnout low, Obama did get more total votes than presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who won his primary with almost 67 percent of the vote. Obama had more than 118,600 votes to about 117,100 for Romney.

Obama's nomination for a second term by the Democratic Party has never been in danger. But the large number of defections is bad optics for Obama, highlighting widespread discontent with his administration among Democrats who come from conservative states.

A felon incarcerated in Texas took 41 percent of the vote from the president when Democrats in West Virginia cast ballots in the primary earlier in May.

The results in both Kentucky and Arkansas were not unexpected; both are solid red states. In 2008, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) won Kentucky with 58 percent and Arkansas with 59 percent.

[Ryan Ruck]

Rough Night… Obama Loses 36 Arkansas Counties to Unknown Democrat – Loses 67 Kentucky Counties to “Uncommitted”

May 23, 2012

It was a rough night.

With 89% of counties reporting, Barack Obama lost 36 Arkansas counties to newbie candidate John Wolfe in Arkansas.



(Obama counties in green)

John Wolfe won 41.5% of the Democrat vote in Arkansas.

In Kentucky, Barack Obama lost 67 counties to “uncommitted.”



(Obama counties in Kelly Green)

Obama only won 52 counties out of 120 in Kentucky with 99% reporting.

And Mitt Romney won a larger percentage of the vote in each state than the sitting president.

ABC-Yahoo reported:

In Arkansas, results are still in the early stages of being counted, but with 33 percent of precincts reporting, Obama has 61.5 percent of the vote, and his Democratic challenger, John Wolfe, a lawyer from Tennessee, has 38.5 percent. Romney, comparatively, has received 69.5 percent of the vote, the AP reported.

Hat Tip Mad Hatter