Scene: The Oval Office. Election night. Most of the President’s senior campaign staff are present. Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett and Jim Messina are gathered around the desk, poring over a map. Messina: “Our early-voter efforts haven’t quite performed as we’d hoped in Ohio and Virginia. Romney’s troops have fought harder than we expected and have been focusing their efforts on less-likely supporters while holding their most enthusiastic voters in reserve
November 2012
November 1, 2012
“I am Chris from the dead” [Darleen Click]
What can be said about the “quality” of an “investigation” of the Benghazi massacre when reporters from Foreign Policy discover documents amid the ash and rubble one month AFTER the FBI was there? When we visited on Oct. 26 to prepare a story for Dubai based Al Aan TV, we found not only Stevens’s personal copy of the Aug. 6 New Yorker, lying on remnants of the bed in the
November 1, 2012
“Two U.S. officials tell Eli Lake that the State Department never requested military backup the night of the attack.”
Okay. But it’s not like the President or the Defense Secretary weren’t aware of what was happening. Why didn’t they request military backup? Worse still, did they actually scuttle plans for a military response and rescue mission, as has been rumored? Because if this report is accurate, assets were being moved into place and contingencies planned for. Meaning that at some point, the calculation was made not to chance a
November 1, 2012
“EPA Regs To Destroy 887,000 Jobs Per Year, Senator Says Citing New Study”
CNS: EPA regulations the Obama administration is scheduled to unleash in its second term would destroy up to 887,000 jobs a year, Sen. James Inhofe announced today. Citing the results of a new study released today by the National Economic Research Associates (NERA), Sen. Inhofe described the crushing effects on jobs and family income of the coming EPA regulations: “Earlier this month I released a Senate oversight report detailing the
November 1, 2012
“Hobby Lobby set to argue to block health care law”
Which might work, right up until the moment Chief Justice Roberts figures out a way to turn “hobby” into ” individual” and “lobby” into “tax.” And it can be done, I’ve seen it! USA Today: An arts and craft supply chain that wants to block enforcement of part of a new health care law that requires employers to cover insurance costs for the morning-after pill and the week-after pill is
November 1, 2012
“Obama Administration Mandates Oil Firms Hire Sea Turtle Observers”
Whatever compliance the federal government can demand, provided it problematizes private industry and hurts profit margin, is noble and “fair” and good. If you can’t redistribute wealth directly, you collect it at the federal level and then redistribute it. Mostly to key donors, bundlers, and important union bosses and their respective industries. That may not be precisely socialism, but what it is, precisely, is liberal fascism. And that’s because liberal
November 1, 2012
“Back to 8%? | Why the October unemployment rate might be a November surprise”
Jim Pethokoukis: There’s little time left in the 2012 presidential campaign for a momentum-shifting “game changer.” But tomorrow’s job report might be just such an event. The major — and somewhat mysterious — drop in the unemployment rate last month, to 7.8% from 8.1%, gave a much-needed political boost to the Obama campaign. On the surface, it showed a labor market suddenly gaining Wolverinesque healing abilities. It also stripped GOPers
November 1, 2012
November fundraiser post: this is is, kids, the last fundraiser before we know our country’s fate [sticky; new posts below; DAY BEFORE ELECTION DAY UPDATE]
I’ve done as much as I can to turn people away from our ongoing national nightmare. So I guess we’ll know in less than a week if all of our efforts here were in vain. I admit, we do tend to shout into the abyss from time to time. Incidentally, a troubling omen: the people who moved in to the house next to ours yesterday — renters — have an
November 1, 2012
my first brief conversation with Senator Bob Menendez’s old man dick
me: “So…”* Senator Menendez’s old man dick: “Yeah, whatever. Like you wouldn’t have done the same thing.” me: “Maybe. But dude, you seriously shortchanged them?” Senator Menendez’s old man dick: “I didn’t do any such thing. I’m just an old dick who when given the opportunity went ahead and got me some. Anything else, take it up with the old man heart. Though I have to be honest, it’s a
November 1, 2012
“White House data supports Romney claim that Obama will raise debt to $20 trillion”
Wait, this was in doubt? I must be running with a strange and magical crowd that can see the future. Maybe we’re like wizards or some shit.