Obama increases lead among Latinos

post from Daily Kos on 18 July 2012 11:40:39 AM. © Daily Kos

Chart of Latino Decisions polling of national Latinos. Latest survey has Obama leading Romney 70-22 among Latinos. More bad news for Romney:

The poll, commissioned by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and America?s Voice, illustrates an increase in support for President Obama, and comes after a month of outreach to Latino voters, starting with the June 15 Dream announcement, appearances by the President and Vice President at NALEO and NCLR conferences, and comments opposing Arizona?s SB1070 immigration law.

Obama is winning 13 percent of Latino Republicans, while losing just two percent of Latino Democrats. Latino independents are opting for Obama at a 60-25 clip. In the battleground states, it's even slightly better for Obama: 71-21.

There's a reason this matters, and it comes down to this:

This chart assumes the same rate of Latino turnout in 2012 as in 2008. The first column is the percentage of the state that is Latino, and the second is the percentage of the electorate that was Latino. As you can say, my community has had serious turnout problems. But even with their crappy turnout, if they end up opting for Obama 80-20 (which is very much possible at current trends), the damage it does to Romney's chances is obvious.

Expect these numbers to continue moving in Obama's direction as 1) he hits Latino media more aggressively, and 2) immigration ends up a topic in the debates. Given that the only response from Romney is "my son speaks Spanish!", he has zero room to grow.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/tLT4TN0d5Sg/-Obama-increases-lead-
among-Latinos

Digg this

Fox's Van Susteren: Obama Hasn't Said We're
Distorting His Comments So "It's Safe To Assume" Fox's Representation Is Accurate

post from Media Matters for America - Latest Items on 18 July 2012 11:32:05 AM. © Media Matters for America - Latest Items

From the July 18 edition of Fox News' On the Record with Greta Van Susteren:

Previously:

REPORT: Fox News Spends Two-Plus Hours Distorting Obama's Small Business Comments

Echo Chamber: Fox And Romney Tag-Team False Small-Business Attack On Obama

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.mediamatters.org/~r/mediamatters/latest/~3/RaE-RECD9z8/187229

Digg this

Let's Play Medalball!

post from FiveThirtyEight on 18 July 2012 11:30:54 AM. © FiveThirtyEight

The sports in which smaller, financially strapped nations could invest their energy and resources to maximize their Olympic medal count.

Read The Full Article:
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/lets-play-medalball/

Digg this

3 Stocks that Could Have a BIG Earnings Surprise
Very Soon

post from Jutia Group on 18 July 2012 11:30:00 AM. © Jutia Group

There are few things that can light a fire under a stock like an earnings surprise. When a company chimes in with a big earnings surprise, analysts and portfolio managers update their models, . . . → Read More: 3 Stocks that Could Have a BIG Earnings Surprise Very Soon…

Read The Full Article:
http://jutiagroup.com/20120718-3-stocks-that-could-have-a-big-earnings-surprise-v
ery-soon/

Digg this

Comic Conspiracy Theories With Rush Limbaugh

post from Media Matters for America - Latest Items on 18 July 2012 11:26:57 AM. © Media Matters for America - Latest Items

Limbaugh Conspiracy

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.mediamatters.org/~r/mediamatters/latest/~3/wVB4EmjZoM0/187200

Digg this

The Full Breitbart

post from Talking Points Memo on 18 July 2012 11:20:58 AM. © Talking Points Memo

If I'm understanding this right the Romney campaign has decided that the economy isn't going to do it. So they're shifting toward a campaign centered on cocaine, Tony Rezko, Reverend Wright, etc. In other news, Romney team threatens to slip...[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Talking-Points-Memo/~3/hDdF0BfwLl0/story01.htm

Digg this

This entrepreneur didn't build what I did
single-handedly

post from Daily Kos on 18 July 2012 11:02:47 AM. © Daily Kos

Mitt Romney addresses supporters on June 15, 2012 at New Hampshire's Scamman Farm Wrong. (Mitt Romney campaign)President Barack Obama, stating the obvious:

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

It's a no-brainer. Yet Mitt Romney, idiot, is offended:

I don't think anyone could have said what he said who actually started a business or been in a business. And my own view is what the president said was startling and revealing. I find it extraordinary that a philosophy of that nature would be spoken by a president of the United States.

I've started a business. Two, in fact. Kos Media, parent of Daily Kos, has 20 full-time and a handful of full-time equivalents. Vox Media has close to 150 employees.

And guess what? I couldn't do what I did without employees and readers (i.e. "customers") educated in public schools and universities. I couldn't do what I did without the government-created internet. I couldn't do what I do without my employees being able to drive to work in government-funded roads and public transportation systems. I couldn't do what I do without a government-regulated securities system that allows investors to engage with clearly delineated rules and protections.

The list goes on and on.

What's breathtaking is the arrogance and hubris of a legacy rich fuck who thinks that any single person can build any business without the help of a government-created, government-funded or government-regulated entity. I'd love to see ONE example of that magical entrepreneur. Just one.

You need that first good idea. No one doubts that. And the successful entrepreneur will get a lifelong of accolades for that idea. But that, in no way, suggests that any business is built by one person, and without any government help. Claiming otherwise simply flies in the face of all evidence, reason and common sense.

Which, of course, is par for the course for the Republican Party.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/k_rr8c1jNO4/-This-entrepreneur-did
n-t-build-what-I-did-single-handedly

Digg this

Chris Christie skips chance to 'rile up' House
Republicans

post from Daily Kos on 18 July 2012 11:02:10 AM. © Daily Kos

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (L) speaks at a campaign rally with Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in Exeter, New Hampshire January 8, 2012. REUTERS/Brian Snyder (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) (Brian Snyder/Reuters)New Jersey governor and designated Republican Bully of the Year Chris Christie was a no-show at a House Republican Conference meeting Wednesday, according to reports.

Christie was slated to rile up GOP lawmakers ahead of the November election - a role he has filled before.

But with the Republicans going unriled by Christie, they might not fully maximize their asshole skills. Luckily for their party, some of them brushed up on their sneering skills with Dick Cheney on Tuesday.

Supposedly Christie was running late because he was stuck at a Romney fundraiser, but I'm betting he bailed when he heard his limo might not be able to take him all the way up to the door of the meeting.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/gAvjTO1ONjA/-Chris-Christie-skips-
chance-to-rile-up-House-Republicans

Digg this

GOP Voter Obstruction Act 23 Permanently Halted
by Judge

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MalContends/~3/h-7gjJPHYmI/gop-voter-obstruction-a
ct-23.html

Digg this

Sen Bill Nelson Blames DISCLOSE Act Failure On
GOP Corruption

Sen. Bill Nelson Blames DISCLOSE Act Failure on GOP Corruption

Click here to view this media

For the past two days, the Senate has been debating the DISCLOSE Act, bringing it up for a vote to end the filibuster twice. To Senate Democrats' credit, they've decided that if debate will not be closed, they will actually debate. They held a midnight vigil until 1:00 AM to debate it and have been debating it for the balance of today's session, leading up to a second cloture vote at 3:00 PM, which once again failed along pure partisan lines -- 53-47.

When yesterday's vote failed, Harry Reid stood up and got about as forceful as I've ever heard him, saying that if they can't get this bill passed "17 old angry white men will wake up the day after the election and realize they've bought the country."

During the debate leading up to the second failed vote today, Florida Senator Bill Nelson got even more specific than that. Here's the punch line:

This vote is coming at 3:00. We're not going to get it. It's going to be the same vote, 53-47. Why?
Because these outside, unlimited source of funds that are not disclosed are affecting elections and it is achieving the result.

Translated, Senator Bill Nelson just called the Republicans out for their corruption, on the record, on the Senate floor. He did not use the word "corruption", but "affecting elections" is code for that.

Bill Moyers gets specific, naming names:

One of the DISCLOSE Act's biggest opponents isn't buying that argument. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who used to say, "We need to have real disclosure," has changed his tune. Now that conservatives and the GOP are able to haul in the big bucks, he claims that divulging the identity of corporate donors would be the equivalent of creating an "enemies list," like the one Richard Nixon kept to punish his foes and settle political scores. Here's what McConnell said in a speech at the conservative American Enterprise Institute last month:
This is nothing less than an effort by the government itself to expose its critics to harassment and intimidation, either by government authorities or through third party allies... That's why it's a mistake to view the attacks we've seen on 'millionaires and billionaires' as outside our concern. Because it always starts somewhere; and the moment we stop caring about who's being targeted is the moment we're all at risk.
McConnell's not the only one -- every Republican voted to kill the DISCLOSE Act, including fourteen who just a couple of years ago supported it. Groups like Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty smell an un-American conspiracy lurking behind the demands for disclosure. So do the National Rifle Association and FreedomWorks -- the Tea Party organizers originally funded by David Koch -- each of which warned senators that their votes on the DISCLOSE Act will be included in the scorecards they keep, recording each ballot they don't approve like pins in a voodoo doll.

Here's Mitch McConnell whipping a 180 so fast your head spins like Regan in The Exorcist:

McConnell: DISCLOSE Act Designed to Punish People Supportive of Republicans

Click here to view this media

Of course, pointing out their corruption doesn't mean much as long as they get to remain corrupt. Still, it's on the record (as are they), and they should be held accountable before the voters for their hypocrisy and destruction of the republic in order to serve the oligarchs.