Month: October 2012
Hey, Fox and Drudge: Here’s Video of Mitt Romney Attempting a Southern Accent From March – Not Five Years Ago
The Daily Show
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The right-wing-o-sphere is ablaze over a five-year-old non-secret video being promoted by Fox News et al as a devastating “October surprise” bombshell that shows then-Sen. Obama addressing a historically black college in Virginia in what is actually a fairly passable Southern accent.
And yes, affecting an accent that is not one’s own in an attempt to appeal to a particular audience is pandering — but it’s also something almost all politicians do. See for example the video above from March — seven months ago — in which Jon Stewart skewers Mitt Romney for attempting to use Southernisms to appeal to white voters in the Deep South during the Republican primaries.
The Inconsequential Independent
These days his name recognition is just above zero.
And one might think that time would’ve mellowed the fellow.
Though he refuses to endorse —
Out of meanness, of course,
But who really wants an endorsement from Ross Perot?
Obama Campaign Down-Sizing Its Ideas
There’s a reason they’re playing down the audacity of their first term and deemphasizing the policies that they think would do the most to help in a second. The American people, their research shows, are tired of audacity and skeptical of big ideas. They’re willing to believe Obama has done about the best job he could have been expected to do given the collapse of the global economy and the intransigence of the Republicans. But if they’re going to believe that, they’re also not willing to believe that he’s got all the answers now, or that his next big idea is the one that will really turn all this around. If they’re going to lower their expectations, he needs to be more realistic in his promises. … And so the Obama campaign is downsizing its ideas, at least for the remainder of the campaign.
— Ezra Klein, writing in the Washington Post.
Ryan’s Reputation in Ruins
Ryan is still an extremely skilled bullshitter — vastly better at it than Romney. But he’s actually seeing, for the first time, questions that attempt to pry information out of him, rather than the batting practice lobs to which he’s accustomed. He’s going to emerge from the race with his legend punctured.
—Jonathan Chait, writing in New York Magazine.
Obama Leads Among Women, Blacks
49% to 45%
Spread by which a new Quinnipiac poll finds President Obama leads Mitt Romney nationally among likely voters. Key findings: The president leads 56% to 38% among women and 94% to 2% among black voters. Men back Romney 52% to 42% while white voters back him 53% to 42%.
Voters Pick Obama to Win First Debate
51% to 29%
Spread by which a new Pew Research survey finds that a majority of voters think President Obama will do better than Mitt Romney in Wednesday’s presidential debate. Also interesting: A substantial majority of voters plan to watch the debate: 62% say they are very likely to watch, another 21% say they are somewhat likely.
Republicans Cease Voter Registration Drives in Swing States Six Weeks Before Election Due To Charges of Massive, Widespread Fraud
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The fake ACORN voter registration scandal was cooked up by the Breitbart wing of the GOP. Now that the Republican Party has a real voter registration scandal on their hands, we know what to expect from Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly et al: Crickets.
Details from Bloomberg:
Romney Down by 28 Points in State Where He Was Governor
Sure, Massachusetts is a blue state, and the last time it voted for a Republican candidate for president was in the 1984 Reagan 49-state landslide, but Mitt Romney was Massachusetts’ governor not so very long, and the fact that he is down [PDF] by 28 percentage points — 60 percent for the president and 32 percent for Romney — in the latest statewide poll is yet more evidence that the more voters get to know Mitt Romney, the less they like him.
