Last Call

Dear God, just no.

In the final days of the campaign in Ohio, the stops have been pulled out in the scramble to eke out a win. And that means one super PAC calling on African Americans to vote against President Obama because Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves.

Cable viewers in several markets across the state are being treated to ads by an obscure self-described “alternative conservative” super PAC called the Empower Citizens Network. One of the group’s ads accuses Obama and Democrats of imploding the economy by forcing mortgage companies to lend to “unqualified borrowers” while the Soviet national anthem plays. Another promises welfare recipients that “Republicans can save your money source” by reducing regulations on business.

And then there’s the ad which one viewer told TPM is airing in the Columbus area on cable. Our source caught it a couple of times on MSNBC. That ad is the Empower Citizens Network spot that tells African Americans it’s a “lie” that Democrats support them and cites the Emancipation Proclamation as evidence. 

Ahh yes, the "Listen up you stupid black people, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican!" argument.  Which might be successful except for all the Republicans since Abraham Lincoln being assholes, particularly Nixon, Reagan, and Bush and son.  So we're going to go with "No, stop being a condescending jagoff."

Nice try, however.  Next time, try not to pass laws that make it harder for African-Americans to vote at all in an obvious attempt to disenfranchise us, shall we?

We Interrupt Your Chris Christie Lovefest...

...for the fact that just a week before Hurricane Sandy completely slagged his state and he came crawling on his hands and knees to praise the man, this is what Chris Christie thought of the President.



Just some perspective on what the "bipartisan" Christie really thinks.  The guy went down to Virginia to stump for Romney and called the President "useless" and "arrogant".

But he sure came hat in hand when New Jersey needs millions, maybe billions in federal government dollars to clean up from this mess.  You sure need the federal government now, don't you, Chris?

Trust me.  People will remember.

ODS Is All They Got Left

The Romney plan to win Ohio?  Obama Derangement Syndrome, sold door-to-door.  Meet Jim Lewis, who's happy to show you his Glock with his concealed carry permit.

Lewis and his fellow activist Ann Becker are a new breed of canvassers going door to door along a sloping street full of modest and mostly well-kept homes in this declining steel town in Butler County. This is the first presidential election since the founding of the Tea Party movement which aims to reduce the size of U.S. government.

The two activists are not beholden to any campaign - some would say they are a rogue force - nor do they mention Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney by name.

While they differ with former Massachusetts governor Romney on many policies and suspect his conservative credentials, they are working independently to help him win over undecided voters in swing states such as Ohio.

Fiercely opposed to the reelection of Democratic President Barack Obama, conservatives are trying to employ technology they used successfully earlier this year in a recall vote in Wisconsin to help Romney overcome Obama's narrow Ohio lead in the polls.

Conservative group American Majority Action trains volunteers such as Lewis and Becker to target "low-propensity" voters, or people who are not very interested in politics. They use Gravity, a mobile get-out-the-vote app that aims to filter out regular Republican voters and those who have already voted.

"I'm not doing this for Romney or the Republicans," said Chris Littleton, who is training some 50 volunteers to use the app. "I'm doing this because I'm against Obama."

And in the end, that's all they have.   I'm against Obama.  It doesn't matter what Romney's policies actually are:  I'm against Obama, he says.

You should demand more from your ability to vote.

Gmail Beats Hotmail For #1

Google's Gmail is top dog in e-mail, according to ComScore, which tracks Web site traffic.

In data for October released by ComScore, Gmail saw 287.9 million unique worldwide visitors during the period, edging out Microsoft's Hotmail, which finished with 286.2 million unique visitors. The findings were first reported by GigaOm.

Yahoo still leads in the US and by a large amount.  Frankly, I'm surprised.  I'm also surprised Google is just now passing for number one.  I thought that happened sometime ago and had been verified.  I have nothing against Hotmail or Yahoo, but I have used every major (and most minor) services out there and nothing ever compared to Gmail.  It hooked me immediately, it was the rest of Google's services that took time to win me over.

What say you, readers?  Am I missing some awesome Hotmail or Yahoo feature?  Or is it more a not-Google thing?

Rock Solid Halloween Costume

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was mostly ready for his Halloween costume, but seriously... this is great.

Thank you, TMZ!

Unleash Joe Biden: Equality Edition

Joe Biden's campaign stops are always amusing...and very informative as well.

Vice President Joe Biden said transgender discrimination is "the civil rights issue of our time" during a visit to a Florida field office on Tuesday, according to pool reports.

Biden was meeting with volunteers at an Obama for America office in Sarasota, Fla., when he singled out one woman "who he thought had beautiful eyes," reads the pool report. The woman said something to Biden that was inaudible to the pool reporter, but Biden responded to her by saying it was the "civil rights issue of our time."

The woman, Linda Carragher Bourne of Sarasota, later said her daughter was Miss Trans New England and that she had asked Biden if he would help them.

"A lot of my friends are being killed, and they don't have the civil rights yet. These guys are gonna make it happen," Bourne told the reporter.

Good for Joe...because he's right.  The T in LGBTQ often gets overlooked.  Joe Biden and his boss?  These are the guys leading the fight on this.  Mitt Romney sure as hell would never say anything like this.

The vice president has been an ally to the LGBT community. He told gay rights advocates in August that they are "freeing the soul of the American people." Most notably, however, he got out in front of President Barack Obama in May when he unexpectedly announced that he is "absolutely comfortable" with same-sex marriage. Obama, at the time, was still "evolving" on the issue. 

Pretty sure Joe's ahead of the game on this one too...but it's a good thing.

Food For Thoughtless

Mitt Romney is the most fakiest fake faking fake person ever.  Remember that "canceled campaign event" that became a "storm relief event" in Dayton on Tuesday?

The plan was for supporters to bring hurricane relief supplies to the event, and then deliver the bags of canned goods, packages of diapers, and cases of water bottles to the candidate, who would be perched behind a table along with a slew of volunteers and his Ohio right-hand man, Senator Rob Portman. To complete the project and photo-op, Romney would lead his crew in carrying the goods out of the gymnasium and into the Penske rental truck parked outside.

But the last-minute nature of the call for donations left some in the campaign concerned that they would end up with an empty truck. So the night before the event, campaign aides went to a local Wal Mart and spent $5,000 on granola bars, canned food, and diapers to put on display while they waited for donations to come in, according to one staffer. (The campaign confirmed that it "did donate supplies to the relief effort," but would not specify how much it spent.)

Shut.  The front.  Door.

Just another photo op for Mitt, who wouldn't know how to handle a disaster if one landed on his face.  Case in point:  his campaign.

This guy's about as Presidential as a used car salesman.

StupidiNews!

• The US death toll from Sandy is up to 56, with 124 dead across North America from the storm as millions remain without power for a fourth day.
• Four people were wounded in a late night shooting on the campus of the University of Southern California, with the suspect now in custody.
• California Democrats want a probe into possible campaign finance law violations by former GOP Lt. Gov. Luis Maldonado, now running for Congress.
• Sandy's impact on the Northeast may cost the country a half a percentage point in GDP growth in the 4th quarter.
• Google's Nexus 7 tablet has done well in sales, but not as well as the search giant was hoping against new tablets from Amazon and Apple.