Pretty Flight For Some White Guys

The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll has some pretty grim crosstab news for the Obama campaign:  Mitt Romney has a massive 33-point lead among white male voters.

The clearest loss for the president is among white men. In 2008, Obama lost white men by 16 points, according to the exit poll. This year, Obama trails Romney double that margin — 33 points — larger than any deficit for a Democratic candidate since Ronald Reagan’s 1984 landslide win over Walter Mondale.

After splitting their votes 47 percent for Obama and 49 percent for McCain in 2008, whites who identify as political independents now favor Romney over Obama, 59 to 38 percent. Nearly half of all of those who supported Obama in 2008 but Romney in 2012 are white independents. (Overall, whites make up more than 90 percent of “switchers.”)

A key element of Romney’s advantage among all whites is that by 55 to 39 percent, more white voters say he, not Obama understands the economic problems people in this country are having. Among whites without college degrees, Romney is up 58 to 35 percent on this score, expanding what was a narrow gap just a few weeks ago. This advantage comes even as 44 percent of white voters say Romney, as president, would do more to favor the wealthy; 38 percent say he would do more to for the middle class.

Do you see now why the Romney campaign has been blaring the race air horns for the last five months, portraying the President as a con artist and a thug who cares more about minorities and women than white men?

Romney's been able to come in behind the President and sell himself as the candidate of middle-class white male America.  And guess what?  Still enough middle-class white male voters to give Romney the win.  He's just credible enough to be a viable alternative to the President, and that's all these switcher voters need.

Having said that, the electoral college math still favors the President.

The way the term “momentum” is applied in practice by the news media, however, it usually refers only to the first part of the clause — meaning simply that a candidate has been gaining ground in the polls, whether or not he might continue to do so. (I’ve used this phrasing plenty of times myself, so I have no real basis to complain about it.)

But there are other times when the notion of momentum is behind the curve — as it probably now is if applied to Mitt Romney’s polling.

Mr. Romney clearly gained ground in the polls in the week or two after the Denver debate, putting himself in a much stronger overall position in the race. However, it seems that he is no longer doing so.

If Romney is winning states like Alabama and Kentucky by 25 points instead of 15, it's not going to make a damn bit of difference in the electoral math unless there's gain in states like Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.  And right now, the President is continuing to hold on to those states by 3-5 points.

It's going to be a close race.  But electorally, I still see the President winning.

Grinding Out The Ground Game

The Atlantic's Molly Ball foresees an election so close that the President's Obama For America turnout operation could very well be the difference between a win and a loss.

Four years ago, Barack Obama built the largest grassroots organization in the history of American politics. After the election, he never stopped building, and the current operation, six years in the making, makes 2008 look like "amateur ball," in the words of Obama's national field director Jeremy Bird. Republicans insist they, too, have come a long way in the last four years. But despite the GOP's spin to the contrary, there's little reason to believe Romney commands anything comparable to Obama's ground operation.

And this time, Obama may actually need it.

Though he trounced John McCain organizationally four years ago, the irony was that Obama didn't really need his sophisticated field organization. Riding a wave of voter enthusiasm and Bush fatigue, and crushing McCain with fundraising and TV ad spending, Obama almost certainly would have won the 2008 election anyway. The political operative's rule of thumb is that organization can increase your share of the vote by two percentage points; Obama won the national popular vote by seven points. One academic study looked at Obama's edge in field offices and concluded they probably put a couple of extra states in his column, but he would have won without them.

This year is different. The polls are so close that a lively partisan meta-fight has broken out over which side actually has the upper hand going into the final stretch, with Romney claiming momentum is on his side, while Obama clings to slim leads in enough swing states to take the Electoral College. In an election that's tied in the polls going down to the wire, Obama's ground game could be crucial.

In the closing days of the race, "we have two jobs," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said Tuesday. "One, to persuade the undecideds, and two, to turn our voters out." The former is the job of the president and his TV and other media ads. As for the latter, "That's the grassroots operation we've been building for the last 18 months." 

I've said all along that this election will come down to turnout, turnout, turnout.  Molly Ball agrees.  I'm putting my money on OFA making the difference in Ohio, Virginia and Colorado to get the win.

The Weirdest Thing To Come Out Of Maine Since Stephen King

SKOWHEGAN, Maine — A 10-year-old girl charged in the death of an infant in Maine is due in court.

The youngster is scheduled for her initial court appearance Monday in District Court in Skowhegan on a juvenile manslaughter charge.

The girl is charged in the July 8 death of 3-month-old Brooklyn Foss-Greenaway, who was staying overnight in the girl's home in Fairfield in the care of the girl's mother.

The state hasn't released the cause of death but Brooklyn's mother was told that her daughter had ingested medication and had been suffocated.

It would seem to be a no-brainer that she was the youngest to face such charges.  But she is only the youngest in thirty years, which makes me wonder what the hell is in the water in Maine.

 

Woman Fakes Out Cops By Saying Kid Locked In Car

Locked out of her car earlier this month, Brenda Crosdale, 49, called 911 and claimed that an infant was trapped in the vehicle.

But when a sheriff’s deputy responded to a “priority one lockout” at Crosdale’s Florida home at around 9 AM on October 6, he “saw no child” inside vehicles parked in the driveway.

When Deputy Michael Cavanaugh asked a male on scene about the whereabouts of the infant, the man replied, “Brenda only said that to get you guys here quicker.”

We have people who can't figure out kids left in cars is a deadly situation, and people who make up kids to get a faster police response.  I would like to beat them with the same ball bat.

The Abdication Of Cowards

Nick Gillespie and his team at Reason magazine are happy to let you know that their glibertarian purity pity party means they are A) better, more principled people than the rest of us suckers, and B) they're not losing an ounce of sleep over this election either.  By my count, there's:

• 19 votes for Gary Johnson,
• 8 people not voting at all, and
• 1 "none of your business".

Not a one of them believes their vote will count or matter in the least in the larger scheme of things, or that voting will basically ever matter in their lifetimes, because Obama and Romney are essentially the same, as all candidates have been the same since forever and why do you sheeple vote, anyway?  They're all for legalization of pot however.

On the other hand, it's not like any of the folks at Reason have to worry about any of the crazy nonsense the GOP will pull on women, minorities, the LGBT community or the poor should they get into power.

All of them seem to think Romney would be a better choice than Obama for some reason, however.  I wonder why that is.

Direct To Cable Derangement

At least one cable TV company covering the important swing states of Pennsylvania and Ohio is offering the odious Dinesh D'Souza smear job movie on the President for free to its customers, just weeks after it was in theaters.

A major cable provider is offering a notorious anti-Obama movie to all its subscribers for free. The company, Armstrong Cable, operates in six states including Pennsylvania and the critical swing state of Ohio. The move comes just days after the Armstrong’s Chairman of the Board donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Romney campaign and the Republican National Committee.

The film, “2016: Obama’s America,” has been widely panned by fact checkers. Written and narrated by conservative author Dinesh D’Souza, it claims Obama’s “worldview…was largely shaped by the anti-colonalist, anti-white and anti-Christian politics of Obama’s supposedly radical Kenyan father,” who was largely absent from his life. The point of the movie, according to a review in the Washington Post, is to convince viewers “that Obama hates America.” It was panned as “fear-mongering of the worst kind.”

Armstrong recently started offering the movie for free, on demand, to all of its subscribers. 

Now gosh, why would a cable TV company be giving away  anti-Obama propaganda here for free right now in places like Pennsylvania and Ohio?  I certainly can't think of a reason a cable TV company would be so generous, do you?

What?  Trying to influence swing state voters before the election with a awful, hate-filled hatchet job on the President for no charge?  Can't imagine why any conservatives would choose to do that, huh.

StupidiNews!

• The Justice Department is suing Bank of America for $1 billion over a subprime mortgage fraud program known internally in the bank as "the Hustle."
• Texas's GOP Attorney General says he will direct law enforcement to arrest international election monitors in the state, saying they have no jurisdiction or authority.
• Hamas is claiming responsibility for a rocket attack into southern Israel, just one day after the Emir of Qatar became the first head of state to visit Gaza in 5 years.
• Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta has gotten two years in federal prison for insider trading, with his sentence beginning January 8th.
• The collapse of online-gaming darling Zynga continues as the embattled company posted a $52 million loss for the third quarter.

Last Call

As many people suspected, Tagg Romney's comments to the President after Monday's debate (you know, where his dad got his ass handed to him) were in fact an apology for last week's little petulant joke about taking a swing at POTUS.

Tagg Romney, Mitt Romney's oldest son, apologized to President Barack Obama Monday for saying he wanted to "take a swing" at him during contentious presidential debates.

Obama and Tagg Romney were seen speaking on the stage after Monday's final presidential debate, held at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. Two Obama aides said the conversation included an apology for the remark, made last week during a radio interview.

How magnanimous of him.

Asked about the original comments on Thursday, Romney campaign spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said Tagg Romney was "joking about how frustrating this process can be for family."

It's hard being the Romneys, you know.  Ridiculously rich and entitled to the point of nobility. So difficult to control their barely veiled contempt at the man currently in the office their father is clearly entitled to by dint of being Mitt Romney.

So very difficult indeed.

Feature, Not A Bug

Good news ladies, yet another Republican senate candidate here in the Midwest wants you to know that should you get raped and conceive your rapist's baby, God meant for that to happen.

The latest entrant into the Republican rape insensitivity bake-off is Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock, who said tonight that “even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.” He, of course, joins fellow Senate candidate Todd Akin, with his now-canonical “legitimate rape” comment, and Rep. Joe Walsh, running for election in Illinois, who claimed there was no reason a woman would ever need an abortion to save her life or preserve her health. The trailblazer was Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle, who failed to unseat Harry Reid in Nevada two years ago, and famously said that if a hypothetical teenager was raped and impregnated by her father, it was an opportunity to turn “a lemon situation into lemonade.”

Of course now Mourdock is trying to weasel out of it, just like Todd Akin.

“I spoke from my heart. For speaking from my heart, for speaking from the deepest level of my faith, I cannot apologize,” he said. “I would be less than faithful to my faith if I said anything other than life is precious, I believe it is a gift from God. I believe that God would never want anyone harmed, sexually abused, raped. I believe it’s wrong when people want to take what I said and twist it. And if in any way people came away with the wrong meaning, then for that I do apologize.”

One reporter asked Mourdock to clarify that he wasn’t apologizing for the remarks themselves but instead expressing regret for how they were heard.

“That’s correct,” Mourdock said.

I apologize you stupid libtards misheard me. It's a gift from God, because shut up and stop having sex, you filthy libtard hussy.

By the way, Mitt Romney refuses to withdraw his endorsement of this assclown.  That should tell you everything you need to know about Romney as President, right?

Trumped-Up Tyrant

The Donald's big "announcement":  He'll write a $5 million check to the charity of President Obama's choice if POTUS releases his college transcripts and passport info, both of which are somehow supposed to prove that the President is not really a US citizen or something.

"I have a deal for the president, a deal that I don't believe he can refuse, and I hope he doesn't. If Barack Obama opens up and gives his college records and applications and if he gives his passport applications and records, I will give to a charity of his choice - inner city children in Chicago, American Cancer Society, AIDS research, anything he wants–a check immediately for $5 million," Trump said.

He added that the check will be written "within one hour" of the documents' release and set a deadline of 5 p.m. on October 31, one week before Election Day…and also right as children are heading out the door to begin trick or treating on Halloween.

"Frankly it's a check that I very much want to write," he said. "I absolutely would be the most happy of all if I did in fact make this contribution through the president to the charities."

Uh-huh.  Nice little piece of extortion right before the election when the President tells Trump to eff off.  Gosh, what is he hiding, don't the American people deserve to know, blah blah blah.

In other words, Trump has nothing and never did.  Surprise, right?

Do You Want Fries With That Stupidity?

FAIRBORN — An assistant manager at an Arby’s, who slipped out of a drive-thru window to get away from an armed robber who invaded the store early Friday, has been fired.

Mary Archer learned of her fate less than 24 hours after a man with a knife slipped into the business, 1130 E. Dayton Yellow Springs Road, at about 12:45 a.m.

She signed the paperwork her supervisor gave her, which stated that she had broken the corporation’s safety and security policy because she was alone in the fast food business when it was robbed.

Archer says she had worked for Arby's for twenty-two years, and would not be interested in having her job back.  After all of those years, to be fired for closing and escaping a robber is insane.  That two decades of service isn't factored in shows what happens when businesses use zero tolerance policies to absolve them of the responsibility of thinking.

Bigger Stupidity In Texas

SAN ANTONIO -- A San Antonio woman is facing charges after police say she faked her own kidnapping to get a day off from work.

An officer on patrol went to check out a car parked near Ray Ellison and Five Palms around 6:30 p.m. on October 10th. When the officer looked inside the car, he spotted 48-year-old Sheila Bailey Eubank bound with rope.

An arrest warrant affidavit states Eubank told police a man jumped into her car around 6:15 a.m. while she was at a Security Service Federal Credit Union ATM near Loop 1604 and Bandera Road. Eubank said the man held her an knife point and forced her to drive him to various locations for what she believed were drug deals. She told officers he then assaulted her, tried to choke her with a rope, and then tied her up and left her in her car.

However, officers discovered a lottery ticket in Eubank's purse that was purchased that day during the hours she claimed she was being held. Investigators reviewed surveillance video from the store where the lottery ticket was purchased and found out she had entered the store by herself and appeared "healthy, unhurried, and pleasant with the clerk."

This is what sick days are for.  What bothers me about this is idiots like this woman are loose everyday, among the rest of us.  You never know when they will reach their potential for stupidity, but rest assured those around them are at risk.

Apology Not Accepted

When you get called out by MSNBC's resident Village grande dame Andrea Mitchell of all people for lying in the last two weeks of the campaign, you know you've told something that not even she can spin in your favor.  GOP talking head Jim Talent found this out the fun way.

“He goes and does an apology tour,” the former senator continued. “And then last night he denies it was an apology tour.”

“Excuse me, Senator,” Mitchell interrupted. “I have fact checked the so-called ‘apology tour’ and it just didn’t happen.”

“Yeah, he went to four different cities, said America had dictated,” Talent insisted, before pivoting to say that the president had “resisted sanctions against Iran.”

“I’ve been covering the Iran sanctions at the U.N. in the P5-plus-1,” Mitchell noted. “After that initial attempt… to reach out and give Iran a chance to try to have an engagement — after that initial attempt, there was nothing but a move at the United Nations by Secretary [Hillary] Clinton to try to bring all of the allies aboard. The allies were demanding, ‘Make an overture, then we’ll be with you.’ And they ended up with the toughest sanctions ever.”

Oops. It seems Mrs. Alan Greenspan actually has her limits on the lies she's willing to tolerate by the GOP.  Who knew such a thing was even possible?

Gaffe Control To Major Mitt

Take your press blackout pills and put your helmet on.  If Miitt doesn't have to answer questions for the last two weeks of the campaign, he can't screw it up, can he?

The Romney campaign is not committing to granting any network interviews in the final two weeks of the campaign.

Kevin Madden walked to the back of Romney’s plane Tuesday afternoon on the flight from Palm Beach to Las Vegas to talk about the debate. A television correspondent noted that President Barack Obama is sitting down with Brian Williams and Jay Leno this week and wondered if the Republican nominee will give an interview to a network.

“Look, one of the great things about the debates were we got a chance to talk directly to the American people about the issues that they care about. Over the next 14 days, Gov. Romney is looking forward to meeting with as many voters in these critical swing states and delivering them his closing argument about why he would be a better president. I don’t have anything for you on scheduling yet, but I’ll let you know as we update it.”

It may be the smartest tactical move the Romney squad has made in the campaign, frankly.  If he doesn't open his mouth, his silver foot can't be inserted into it.

But of course, the larger question is why Mitt's so afraid of that happening...and why the press is letting him get away with it.

StupidiNews!

• The Dow took a 240-point nosedive on Tuesday as a series of major corporate earnings misses for the third quarter deflated the markets.
• House Democrats are calling on the Department of Justice to investigate possible GOP voter registration fraud in Virginia.
• Penn State climate scientist Michael Mann is suing conservative magazine National Review and a sponsored think tank for defamation.
• Apple unveiled the much anticipated iPad Mini to consumers on Tuesday, trying to compete with the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HD.
• A new study in the journal Nature indicates pesticides can have far-reaching detrimental effects on bee colonies.