Month: August 2012
Congress’ Approval Hits All-Time Low — Again
10%
Of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, tying the lowest reading ever, while 83% disapprove, according to a new Gallup poll. Meanwhile, a new DailyKos/Public Policy Polling survey finds 60% think it’s the worst Congress in history.
Obama Says Something Nice About Romney
He seems to have a great family. And I really think he had a great health care plan when he was in Massachusetts. Seems to be working really well — One of the reasons why we set up the same kind of plan nationally and we’re implementing it right now.
— President Obama, quoted by Politico, when asked to say something nice about Mitt Romney.
Majority of Non-Voters Backs Obama
2 to 1
Percentage of people who are eligible to vote but aren’t likely to do so who back President Obama’s re-election over Mitt Romney, according to a nationwide USA Today/Suffolk University Poll. “Two-thirds of them say they are registered to vote. Eight in 10 say the government plays an important role in their lives. Even so, they cite a range of reasons for declaring they won’t vote or saying the odds are no better than 50-50 that they will: They’re too busy. They aren’t excited about either candidate. Their vote doesn’t count.”
Fox News fact check: ‘Ryan budget plan doesn’t actually slash the budget’
This is from Fox News — yes! the Republican Party’s own propaganda network:
Here are a few little-known facts about Paul Ryan’s supposedly slash-and-burn budget plan.
- Government spending increases almost every year over the next decade.
- Tax and other revenue rises year after year.
- The 10-year deficit is still $3 trillion.
Romney’s Requirement Would Disqualify Ryan
3 years
Of business experience — the qualification all presidents should be required to have, according to Mitt Romney. BuzzFeed notes the requirement would disqualify Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, who has spent his career in government as a congressional staffer and congressman since graduating college.
Republican Case Study on How Congressional Candidates Can Counter the ‘Ryan Effect’
Now that Mitt Romney has named Paul Ryan as his running mate, the Democrats will position him as every Republican congressional candidate’s running mate. The NRCC has already issued an interesting case study video of how to counter the Democrats. Hey Democrats, are you watching? Please?
With Congressman Ryan on the Ticket, Obama Is Positioned to Run Against the Least Popular Political Group: The Republican House
In the 1996 presidential campaign, the Clinton-Gore reelection team unilaterally made House Speaker Newt Gingrich Bob Dole’s de facto running mate, shunting aside Dole’s real vice presidential choice, Jack Kemp, a moderate centrist.
In a series of campaign ads like the one above, the reelect team were successful in tying the speaker — one of the least popular and most divisive figures in politics then (as now) who had shut down the federal government on two separate occasions a few months earlier — to Dole in part because Dole was the majority leader in the Senate, Gingrich’s counterpart in the leadership of the upper body. Dole’s association with Gingrich became so onerous that he resigned from the Senate in June 1996 to focus full time on the campaign. Even so, Clinton walloped him, winning by 8.5 percentage points in November.
