House Republicans have real reason to fear Paul
Ryan

post from Daily Kos on 22 August 2012 02:37:02 PM. © Daily Kos

Paul Ryan holds up a copy of his Budgets have consequences.We already knew that Paul Ryan was coolly received by 18 percent of the most right-wing Republicans in the country. So if they couldn't get 100 percent of their most reliable wingnuts, what did that portend for their chances with seniors who aren't batshit crazy?

Now we know.

Even before Mitt Romney named Paul Ryan to the ticket, our Battleground polling results indicated an erosion of support for Republicans, largely based on Paul Ryan?s plans for Medicare and entitlements. The advantage Republicans held among seniors in 2010 has been completely decimated. Across these Republican districts, incumbents now hold just a two-point lead with voters over age 64?a group Republicans won by 18 points in 2010.
Not surprisingly, the leading factor in this shift away from the GOP is Paul Ryan?s war on Medicare. By a decisive six-point margin, voters in these districts now say they trust Democrats more than Republicans when it comes to Medicare. Among voters in the 27 most competitive Republican battleground seats, Democrats now hold an 11-point advantage on Medicare.

The GOP's best hope to weather their votes for the Ryan budget was to make sure that Paul Ryan remained an obscure personality. Democrats could scream all they wanted about Politician X's "vote for the Ryan budget," but if the response was "Ryan who?", they'd be in the clear.

Mitt Romney destroyed that hope. Everyone knows, or will soon know, who Paul Ryan is. That's why Republicans panicked at first hearing the news about Ryan, and why they continue to have reason to panic today.

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e-real-reason-to-fear-Paul-Ryan

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Hurricane Isaac Could Cancel Republican
Convention

post from Firedoglake on 22 August 2012 02:30:45 PM. © Firedoglake

it turns out that Tropical Storm Isaac, currently in the Atlantic, should become a hurricane by Thursday, and by some estimates could get on a course to hit Tampa next week, when the conventioneers come to town.[...]

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Akin Intimates That Women Fake Rape to Get
Abortions

post from Firedoglake on 22 August 2012 02:00:22 PM. © Firedoglake

The deadline for easily withdrawing from the Missouri Senate race has come and gone, and Akin remains "in it to win it," defying even a call by the presumptive Vice-Presidential nominee (and a friend from the House Budget Committee, as well as a partner[...]

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NOMs Brian Brown Debates Dan Savage On Marriage
Equality Without Once Acknowledging Same-Sex Families

post from ThinkProgress on 22 August 2012 01:52:49 PM. © ThinkProgress

The anticipated debate between “It Gets Better” Project founder Dan Savage and the National Organization for Marriage’s Brian Brown, which came about after Savage made provocative statements noting that the Bible supports the practice of slavery, is now online for all to view. Savage and his family hosted Brown for dinner in their home, and [...]

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gress0Borg0Clgbt0C20A120C0A80C220C7281510Cbrian0Ebrown0Edebates0Edan0Esavage0Eon0Emarriage0Eequality0Ewithout0Eonce0Eacknowledging0Esame0Esex0Efamilies0C/story01.htm

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Romney campaign clinging to fantasy that Ann can
make voters not hate Mitt

post from Daily Kos on 22 August 2012 01:41:01 PM. © Daily Kos

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann react while onstage during his Illinois primary night rally in Schaumburg, Illinois, March 20, 2012. REUTERS/Jeff Haynes (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) You're pinning all your presidential hopes and dreams on little ol' me?Bwahahahahahahahaha:

Ann Romney in Charge of Conveying Mitt's Warm and Fuzzy Side

And that's just the headline! But it gets better. So much better:

His biggest problem is that regular voters don?t like him as much as Obama. That's especially true of women, and that?s why the stakes are high for Ann Romney?s speech on the crucial opening night of the convention.

Too bad the speech won't be televised:

The three major television networks -- NBC, ABC, and CBS -- are not airing primetime coverage of the RNC on Monday, the opening night of the convention and the night that Ann Romney has been scheduled to deliver the keynote address.

That better be one hell of a speech if it's going to save Mitt Romney's ass without anyone actually seeing it. As if that weren't enough pressure, the expectations for what Ann's speech is supposed to accomplish couldn't be higher:

Aside from the nominee himself, no one can make a more personal and heartfelt case for his candidacy than the mother of five sons and breast-cancer survivor currently battling multiple sclerosis. Who better to reassure women that Romney is on their side than his attractive, personable mate of 43 years?

Ann has been tasked with convincing the 52 percent who think Obama is better for women to join the measly 24 percent who think Romney is. But no pressure, Ann. Well, maybe a little pressure:

In countering the "war on women" line of attack waged by Democrats, Ann Romney may be her husband?s best weapon.

Oh, sure. Ann Romney "may" be the best person to explain to all the lady voters why they're wrong about Mitt. After all, she is officially Mitt's chief adviser on lady things. Except the campaign doesn't believe she's very good at it, as Andrea Mitchell reported:

We should point out that we have been trying to get the Romney campaign to join this debate today, and they have said that they don't have an appropriate spokesperson, but we will keep trying.

Hard to imagine why the campaign doesn't think Ann is the best spokesperson on lady issues when her pitch to women is:

I love the fact that there are women out there who don?t have a choice and they must go to work and they still have to raise the kids. Thank goodness that we value those people too. And sometimes life isn?t easy for any of us.

But no matter; the campaign is hoping Ann can work her magic anyway:

Romney makes her husband a better candidate, staffers say, by helping him relax and stay focused. Women in the crowd swoon when the buttoned-down corporate executive lovingly introduces his ?sweetheart? at campaign events. ?It?s a great love story,? Schriefer said. ?These two people have been married more than 40 years, and they are as much in love as they were at 16.?

Staffers can say that all they want. But the electorate is pretty lukewarm on Ann?as opposed to, say, Michelle Obama.

But since Mitt is so damned unlikable, the campaign really has no choice but to hope Ann can save him.

Good luck with that, Romneyland. You're going to need it.

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ing-to-fantasy-Ann-can-make-voters-not-hate-Mitt

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House Majority Leader Has Voted With Akin On Over
30 Pieces Of Anti-Abortion Legislation

post from ThinkProgress on 22 August 2012 01:40:36 PM. © ThinkProgress

Although Republican lawmakers are attempting to distance themselves from Todd Akin’s (R-MO) false assertion that “legitimate rape” doesn’t lead to pregnancy, the uncomfortable truth is that Akin’s extreme views are very much in line with the mainstream Republican party’s. Just as the official Republican Party platform corroborates Akin’s belief that abortion should be illegal even [...]

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gress0Borg0Chealth0C20A120C0A80C220C7279910Chouse0Emajority0Eleader0Ehas0Evoted0Ewith0Eakin0Eon0Eover0E30A0Epieces0Eof0Eanti0Eabortion0Elegislation0C/story01.htm

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REPORT: How American Schools Are Short-Changing
Students Of Color

post from ThinkProgress on 22 August 2012 01:30:33 PM. © ThinkProgress

Schools with predominately minority student populations receive far less funding than schools with mostly white students thanks to a loophole in federal school funding laws, according to a report from the Center for American Progress released Wednesday. The report, titled “Unequal Education,” studied the different levels of per pupil funding in America’s public schools and [...]

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gress0Borg0Ceducation0C20A120C0A80C220C7264610Creport0Ehow0Eamerica0Eis0Eshort0Echanging0Estudents0Eof0Ecolor0C/story01.htm

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If You Own Housing Stocks, Then its Time to Sell

Bubbles never end with skepticism.

Think about housing in 2006. Everyone in the world wanted to buy real estate because never went down.

Until it did.

And how about . . . → Read More: If You Own Housing Stocks, Then it’s Time to Sell…

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http://jutiagroup.com/20120822-if-you-own-housing-stocks-then-its-time-to-sell/

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Beating Todd Akin, but not beating him too hard

Todd Akin screenshot Todd Akin (R-Dumbfuckistan)Democrats are about to walk a tightrope in Missouri: They want to take advantage of Todd Akin's pile of steaming fail to save the Senate's most endangered incumbent in Sen. Claire McCaskill. On the other hand, if Akin's numbers fall too far too quickly, the chances that he bails and allows Republicans to replace him with a Not-Akin increases.

The magic deadline wasn't yesterday?that was just the date that Akin could quit with zero hassle. He actually has until Sept. 25 to quit, as long as he gets a court order (which would be a routine matter) and he pays for the reprinting of ballots. The Missouri Republican Party, national Republicans, and Karl Rove would all happily chip in to cover those costs. And despite his defiance this week, he has refused to rule out reconsidering.

When asked by host George Stephanopolous if he would stay in past a final Sept. 25 deadline to withdraw, even if it looked like he was going to lose, Akin hesitated a bit.
?Well, George, I?m never going to say everything that could possibly happen; I don?t know the future.? He added, ?I believe that we can win this race.?

As I've repeatedly said, the state's demographics favor Akin. So if Democrats soft-pedal it for the next month, they could continue to play rope-a-dope with Akin, and then hit him hard as soon as the hard deadline passes.

Then, watch the NRSC and Karl Rove toss aside their promises to stay out of the race because no way they concede this state, not with Claire McCaskill's woeful numbers.

The one wild card?and it's something we haven't seen before?is the full-court press from the conservative movement to discard Akin. Normally, conservatives rally around their heroes when targeted by the media and Democrats. Had the GOP done that, Akin would be riding strong. But with everyone outside of the hardline anti-choice group falling in line and demanding Akin quit, conservatives may yet abandon him early.

Keep in mind, Akin won his primary without any establishment support, and without the help of the Sarah Palins of his party. He owes no one anything, thus no one has leverage with him. He won by rallying his core supporters?evangelical conservatives. If he loses that crowd, the game is up. The question is whether they give a crap what Sarah Palin and Sean Hannity think.

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-not-beating-him-too-hard

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Republican Partys Embrace of Privatizing Medicare
via Vouchers is Now Complete

It has been a long road, but the Republican Party's embrace of the idea of privatizing Medicare via a voucher system is now complete. The GOP will add Paul Ryan's plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program to their official party platform, based on a[...]

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