Incompetence.

In other words, “Hey, let’s keep talking about Bain Capital!”  Mitt Romney proudly rolled out Bain’s investment history, in which their businesses succeeded in boosting profit and viability in 80% of the cases — keeping in mind that private-equity firms and especially Bain tend to focus on already-troubled firms.  Only 5% of their bets resulted [...]

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A tale of two tales.

One presidential campaign uses the slogan “Forward.” It’s even in their campaign ads, which is a good thing, because otherwise one might be confused about which campaign looks forward at all.  Via Guy Benson, the Obama “Forward” campaign’s new ad continues the ball-spiking over last year’s Osama bin Laden raid: Like Guy, I have no [...]

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"A little bit less intriguing..."

No one really thought Barack Obama had a chance in Arizona, did they?  Not only does the state have a distinctly conservative electorate, it also has a rather strong Mormon presence on which Mitt Romney will draw for support.  Democratic pollster PPP throws a large dash of cold water on Democrat dreams of a surprise [...]

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Instead ...

Barack Obama’s campaign had planned all the way back to September to attack Mitt Romney for his wealth.  The “Buffett Rule” and constant references to income inequality were more than just a dogwhistle for Occupiers to launch their protests last fall.  It was a strategy to shape the battlefield for a political attack that Team [...]

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Revisions.

Consistency, thy name is … the weekly initial jobless claims from the Department of Labor.  Once again, the report shows a slight decline from last week’s figures.  Once again, that slight decline comes courtesy of an upward revision in last week’s numbers, the 62nd time in 63 weeks that the revisions have gone in the [...]

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Incumbent below 50% in Florida, Virginia, and Ohio.

NBC and Marist polls in three key states won by Barack Obama in 2008 show that the incumbent is far from making the sale in 2012.  Mitt Romney has gained significant ground in all three states, seen as must-wins by both campaigns, but still trails for the moment in Florida, Virginia, and Ohio: President Barack [...]

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Demons.

Are “job destroyers” sitting on President Obama’s jobs council? There could be, if you believe the argument from Democrats and the Obama campaign that private equity executives are profit seekers who often run roughshod over workers, companies and communities. Two Obama-appointed members of the White House Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, an advisory committee, are [...]

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Again.

In a recent analysis on Market Watch, Rex Nutting says Americans who think there has been a large increase of federal spending under President Obama’s watch are wrong. From the analysis: Over Obama’s four budget years, federal spending is on track to rise from $3.52 trillion to $3.58 trillion, an annualized increase of just 0.4%. [...]

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The blind leading the blind.

Via the office of GOP Rep. Tim Griffin, who’s having no end of fun with this on his Twitter account, go take a peek at some of the valuable insights about thrift that the Five Trillion Dollar Man is now passing on to America’s youth. I held it together for most of the presentation but [...]

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Terrific.

A nifty example of a Republican pol with his eye on higher office using Birtherism to pander to the most passionately anti-Obama members of his base. Note how fine a line he’s walking here. He says he believes/hopes that O was born in Hawaii and hasn’t questioned the authenticity of the birth certificate — he [...]

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Hmmmm.

Does The One still have this sort of influence even among his base? C’mon. I know he’s “the Lightbringer” or whatever, but no one’s morals are changing overnight just because Obama finally mustered the meager political courage needed to drop his ancient charade on SSM. Or are they? Overall, 53 percent of Americans say gay [...]

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Plus, the "job destroyers" on Obama's own jobs council.

After a few days fighting the Bain wars, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney pivot today — but in telling directions.  While Obama tries talking about senior citizens and veterans, Romney pulls the debate right back to the economy in his new ad, “Stories from the Obama Economy,” which could have been shortened to just [...]

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Turnaround artists.

Remember when the media kept insisting that the unity problem in the presidential election belonged entirely to Mitt Romney and the GOP?  Good times, good times.  The Hill reports this morning that Team Obama’s strategy of demonizing Bain Capital has two high-profile members of the Democratic Senate Caucus backing away from their party leader: Some [...]

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Lobbying.

I know, I know … who would have ever guessed that a blockbuster film about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and was scheduled to open just before the election might have been used for political propaganda?  Well … everyone did, including Maureen Dowd last August when the film’s schedule and subject matter came [...]

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Lobbying.

I know, I know … who would have ever guessed that a blockbuster film about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and was scheduled to open just before the election might have been used for political propaganda?  Well … everyone did, including Maureen Dowd last August when the film’s schedule and subject matter came [...]

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An LBJ moment?

Barack Obama  had no national primary challengers in his second nomination race in most states, including Kentucky.  Who knew it would still be a tough choice for voters?  Kentucky voters in the Democratic primary preferred the empty slot to the empty suit, apparently: About two out of every five Democratic voters in Tuesday’s presidential primary [...]

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Oh my.

Time for another whodunit, or more accurately, whatdunit in this presidential election.  Two months ago, Quinnipiac gave Barack Obama a statistically significant if not entirely comfortable seven-point lead in the key swing state of Florida at 49/42.  Now, after two months of Bain attacks, gay marriage flip-flops, a visa to the daughter of Cuban dictator [...]

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“Obama’s chances for re-election ... are no better than 50-50.”

Gotta blog it since it’s the big national poll of the day, but the results are mainly uninteresting and subject to a sample skew. Last month’s WSJ poll had it 43D/39R/14I if you included leaners. The new poll: 44D/36R/16I. The spread between Democrats and Republicans has increased by four points since April — and yet [...]

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Upset?

Tonight’s the big night. If you read this post last week, you already know why. The odds of O actually losing this race are somewhere south of one percent, I’d guess, but they’re not absolute zero. Remember, a poll taken in Arkansas’s Fourth Congressional District roughly 10 days ago had The One leading attorney John [...]

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Cover up.

New from the RNC. First watch the clip, then enjoy Hopenchange spokesman Ben LaBolt stooping to spin this lame: “As Mayor Booker has said, the campaign did not reach out and ask him to record a video,” LaBolt told me. “Campaign officials also had not reached out directly to Mayor Booker yesterday [or Sunday], but [...]

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“Honestly, at the time I wanted to laugh at her, because I’ve been taught all my life that nobody can take your opinion.”

The follow-up to yesterday’s viral vid du jour. It’s nice that this kid is getting some TV time for exposing his teacher but the Fox News interview doesn’t do justice to how savvy he is. For that, read the Salisbury Post: “I didn’t think that it was going to be like this, but honestly I’m [...]

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Warner backpedaling from Bain attacks now.

You get three guesses … and the first two don’t count. An analysis by The Hill of data from Open Secrets shows that Barack Obama got more than $3.5 million from donors who work in private-equity or hedge-fund firms in 2008, almost twice as much as John McCain raised in the same industry: President Obama [...]

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Looks like ...

Will the strategy of highlighting Mitt Romney’s track record at Bain Capital do more to damage the Republican nominee, or Barack Obama?  A poll released yesterday by Rasmussen suggests that it might do more damage to Obama’s re-election efforts than it will to his challenger.  Only 33% of a sample of 1,000 likely voters say [...]

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The despair of oppressive dependency.

My father loves to tell people that the difference between humans and animals is that animals don’t let their offspring back in the nest once they’ve been kicked out. Dad speaks from personal experience; I moved in with him for a while when I had a bout of unemployment and underemployment back in the late [...]

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The despair of oppressive dependency.

My father loves to tell people that the difference between humans and animals is that animals don’t let their offspring back in the nest once they’ve been kicked out. Dad speaks from personal experience; I moved in with him for a while when I had a bout of unemployment and underemployment back in the late [...]

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"We're not questioning the private equity business, in general." "But you are!"

Anderson Cooper interviewed Obama super-PAC chief Ben LaBolt on the new Bain Capital attack strategy, and the only enlightenment that results from the exchange is an understanding of why LaBolt no longer works in the White House media room. LaBolt refused to even acknowledge Cooper’s repeated questions of how Barack Obama and his team can [...]

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We could use some Badgers.

If Wisconsin turns into the Left’s Waterloo two weeks from today, Mitt Romney’s campaign may take a fresh look at making it Barack Obama’s as well.  The Wall Street Journal analyzes the impact that a defeat in the Badger State will have on Democrats and the unions, and the new talk of Wisconsin being the [...]

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Ix-nay on the ain-Bay, arack-Bay.

Ed Rendell joins Harold Ford and Cory Booker as critics within Barack Obama’s own party of his electoral strategy of demonizing private equity.  In a BuzzFeed article that focuses on the larger disconnect between Obama and Democratic Party institutions, Zeke Miller gets the former Democratic governor of Pennsylvania — a state critical to Obama’s re-election [...]

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... in a sample with Republicans at only 22%.

The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll shows Barack Obama only three points ahead of Mitt Romney, 49/46, within the margin of error.  The poll also shows Obama’s advantage among women dissipating, and the President falling further behind his challenger on the economy.  All of this is rather amazing, given the manner in which Republicans keep [...]

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"Sabotage."

In Washington, there’s an old cliche: A gaffe is when a politician is accidentally honest. That’s what happened to Newark (N.J.) Mayor Cory Booker during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. Booker, who is widely regarded as a fast riser in Democratic politics, veered badly off message when he defended Bain Capital [...]

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