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Today (all times ET):
11:0: President Obama departs the White House
1:35: Arrives Des Moines, Iowa
2:20: Delivers remarks at a campaign event at Living History Farms, Urbandale, Iowa
4:25: Departs Des Moines
5:10: Arrives Sioux City, Iowa
7:30: Delivers remarks at a campaign event at Morningside College, Sioux City
9:20: Departs Sioux City
10:40: Arrives Denver
(Will double-check the schedule, not 100% sure about the times)
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Des Moines Register: Barack Obama’s election-year effort to rock the vote in Iowa continues this afternoon in Urbandale, where he’ll literally be rockin’ the suburbs.
The president’s second visit to the state this week will resemble a summer music festival, treating an outdoor crowd at Living History Farms not only to a political speech but also performances by indie band the National and alternative-rock hero Chris Cornell.
More here (thanks Dotster)
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NYT: Republicans in Texas and Florida have been in the vanguard of the pernicious, widespread efforts to suppress voting by Hispanics and blacks. Fortunately, federal courts are seeing these efforts for what they are: a variation on the racist laws that disenfranchised millions before those tactics were outlawed by the Voting Rights Act.
A three-judge panel of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday unanimously rejected Texas’s voter ID law, which required court approval to take effect. The court described the law, known as SB 14, as “the most stringent in the country.”
More here
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ThinkProgress: Yesterday, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney visited Louisiana, where much of the state was flooded due to Hurricane Issac. While visiting the Pelican State, however, Romney had some odd advice for one victim of the hurricane who had lost her home due to the flooding. According to Jodie Chiarello, a suddenly homeless resident of the state, Romney advised her to “go home and call 211.” 211 is a telephone number in Louisiana that provides information to residents about health and human services programs.
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Dana Milbank: At this week’s Republican National Convention, a pair of attendees found a novel game to play: They threw nuts at a black camera operator for CNN and told her, “This is how we feed animals.”
Convention officials evicted the tossers, who, like almost all of the delegates in the Tampa Bay Times Forum, were white. The Romney campaign condemned the antics as “deplorable” and “reprehensible.”
It’s good to know that some behavior on the far right exceeds Mitt Romney’s tolerance, but this episode of “animal” feeding was, well, peanuts compared with the broader issues restraining racial politics in the party. In his acceptance speech Thursday night, Romney became more than the Republican Party’s nominee for president; he became its zookeeper. To win the presidency and to become successful in the Oval Office, Romney must keep the animals in his own party in their enclosures — and that’s no easy task.
Full article here
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ThinkProgress: As Republicans gathered for the final day of their national convention here in Tampa, a small but vocal group of doctors, medical students and patients marched in the heat to deliver thousands of petitions in support of the Affordable Care Act.
One of the marchers, Kenya Wheeler, was a grad student last year when he was diagnosed with CNS lymphoma, a form of blood cancer in his brain. Despite being covered through his university’s insurance plan, Wheeler quickly hit the lifetime cap on his coverage. On Thursday, he marched as a representative for thousands of other patients who stand to benefit when the lifetime cap provision of Obamacare goes into effect in 2014.
More here (Thanks Desertflower)
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NYT: For all the finger-pointing about Clint Eastwood’s rambling conversation with an empty chair, the most bizarre, head-scratching 12 minutes in recent political convention history were set in motion by Mitt Romney himself and made possible by his aides, who had shrouded the actor’s appearance in secrecy.
…. Eastwood’s convention cameo was cleared by Mr. Romney’s top message mavens, Russ Schriefer and Stuart Stevens, who drew up talking points that Mr. Eastwood included, in his own way. They gave him a time limit and flashed a blinking red light that told him his time was up. He ignored both. The actor’s decision to use a chair as a prop was last-minute, and his own.
“The prop person probably thought he was going to sit in it,” a baffled senior aide said on Thursday night.
Mr. Eastwood’s rambling and off-color appearance just moments before the biggest speech of Mr. Romney’s life instantly became a Twitter and cable-news sensation, which drowned out much of the usual postconvention analysis that his campaign had hoped to bask in.
It also startled and unsettled Mr. Romney’s top advisers and prompted a blame game among them. “Not me,” an exasperated-looking senior adviser said when asked who was responsible for Mr. Eastwood’s speech. In interviews, aides called the speech “strange” and “weird.” One described it as “theater of the absurd.”
Full article here
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There’s an extraordinary piece in the Washington Post today by their supposed fact-checker, Glenn Kessler. Here’s a taste:
“For all the outrage (on the left) about misrepresentations and misinformation in Rep. Paul Ryan’s speech accepting the Republican nomination for vice president, my reaction was: par for the course…. We are, of course, talking about a political convention. The whole point is for the party to put its best foot forward to the American people. By its very nature, that means downplaying unpleasant facts, highlighting the positive and knocking down the opposing team….
…. Ryan was so quickly labeled a fibber by the Obama campaign that one suspects it was a deliberate effort to tear down his reputation as a policy expert, similar to using attacks on Romney’s Bain Capital record to undermine his reputation as a skilled business executive….”
I don’t even know where to start with this, a ‘fact-checker’ who dismisses Ryan’s mangling of the ‘facts’ – ie lies – as “par for the course” because the Democrats will probably lie next week too? What?
And Ryan’s lies were simply about him putting his “best foot forward to the American people” and “downplaying unpleasant facts”?
And look at that line again: “Ryan was so quickly labeled a fibber by the Obama campaign that one suspects it was a deliberate effort to tear down his reputation as a policy expert”
This is just mindblowing from a Washington Post reporter held up to be Mr Impartial. Ryan’s speech was packed with lies, that has been proved repeatedly, yet Kessler’s more fixated on the fact that the Obama campaign called him out on his lies in a devilish plot to “tear down his reputation as a policy expert“?
‘Journalism’ doesn’t get much more dishonest or disgusting than this.
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“But for the sacrifices you made, and the courage of the President, all those GM plants would have closed. The 200,000 auto workers who’ve been added to the employment rolls would not be working. And a million jobs would have been lost.”
- Vice President Biden on the auto industry recover
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Morning everyone
Hi Tod!
Good Morning and to all the Todders!
Have a great day. I am on the other threads catching up (August 31). Soooo much to read! I may not catch up for some time!
Morning all, Morning chips, Congrats Proud!!
Thanks
Good morning, glories.
No way. Good morning. Now, I have to go outside and do yard work. Later friends……
Okay….so not first. Oh well, doesn’t matter. Important thing is we are all here, alive and enjoying God’s creation.
Hate to start the morning off with stupid but this can’t go unnoticed:
Did anybody ask Friar Toad what he meant by diversity? Old and older? White and whiter? Tall and short? Ugly and not so ugly? Racist and abominably racist? I don’t get it, Chuckie.
That article is about trying to diminish the Mayor who is speaking because they know he is an effective speaker.
G’day all o’ y’all! Thank you to everyone who donated to Obama~Biden 2012 via my page…. How fun to wake up and see that thermometer rising! I’m working all weekend (that is news?) but should be able to lurk a bit, and try to keep up! Have a great day! {{{{{{{{Chips}}}}}}}
{{{{{TOD}}}}}
Rock n’ roll in Urbandale
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120901/NEWS09/309010041/Obama-will-rock-and-roll-today-in-Urbandale?Frontpage
Based on the campaigning schedule here is what I see: the Obama campaign is basically in sync with Nate Silver’s projections and is going hard after Iowa, Colorado and Virginia. Those are the only ones light blue which need to turn solid blue. Nate is predicting Romney takes Florida but even without Florida Obama has 307 to win.
(Personally I don’t think Romney will win Florida but I remember Plouffe in 2008 talking about it’s about 10X more expensive to advertise in Florida compared to other swing states because of the many large cities with their own TV/radio markets.) So rather than pour millions of donations into Florida they are just going to work harder in other states and assume they might not get Florida. If they get 2 of these 3– Colorado, Iowa and Virginia – they don’t need Florida.
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/
Smart spending. If even after that horrible gov, the seniors still vote for rethugs, they deserve what’s coming to them.
Amk, did I see you’re on your travels again? Burt sert hunting?
Yup. Leaving to Mandela land in another 7 hours and from there to burt sert thingy land.
Be prepared for the October sert-prise.
I don’t suppose amk will have time to think of us…..
Pamela, he couldn’t forget us even if he tried.
How could I forget the wimmin? Not.Gonna.Happen. So you can stop your party preparations.
Hope you have a safe, interesting and fun journey, amk.
Thank you, Bob.
Hold the fort for me while I am gone and don’t let the wimmin ……
Another big hug from me amk also. Have a beautiful and safe journey. (((((((Will me you, but you know that, Right?)))))))) Be joyful in your space. Hurry back to us. We will save the party for your return, but we have so many parties to plan, you know, and we will need your expertise for the Big One for POB. So enjoy and hurry back. HZ
They spend smart and they spend wise. Their multiple paths to 270 is proving fruitful.
Kessler is obviously a Ryan supporter.
Agreed….
And I have proof by way of an e-mail from him admitting that he in fact got the ” Lie of the Year ” wrong when he said the Democrats were claiming the Ryan budget would affect current Seniors.. He claimed it would not..
I proved it would because of the cuts to Medicaid for Seniors in nursing homes and the repeal of ObamaCare would re-open the donut hole and re-instate copays.
Good morning Chips and TOD ohana<
Now that the Hateful Hordes have left Fla. we have to fumigate the place to let in the sunshine of what will be a Sunshine State victory for PBO in November.
Thanks so much to everyone for sparing me direct contact with these awful people but allowing me to stay informed. All of you were awesome with the info. links, tweets, FB, etc added to this one-of- a-kind, remarkable site guided by the great Chips.
Been busy with a re-model while dodging the rain and beginning the school year, so I have mostly been lurking and donating in the late evening. Looking forward to our convention; already smiling and pumped up.
have a great day everyone and keep the faith.
Unbelievably Willard tells a La. woman who lost her home to Isaac flooding to “go home and call 211″ (the public service number). Gee thanks, Willard. No home to go home to. What brilliant advice!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/01/mitt-romney-211_n_1848432.html
It’s shocking that after 8 years of running for President, he isn’t better prepared to answer these types of questions for which he’ll be responsible if he steals the election.
prolly glenn effin’ kessler couldn’t find an rethug who would agree that ryan is a sociopath liar. Amazing that wapo still pays him.
Morning everyone,
I had to read the Glenn Kessler article twice…..I knew he was bad but this is disgusting.
So it’s not big deal because it was a convention….okkkk
This guy is a RWer…..there’s no objectivity whatsover, he’s the same as his collegue Jennifer Rubin.
”Ryan was so quickly labeled a fibber by the Obama campaign that one suspects it was a deliberate effort to tear down his reputation as a policy expert”
Policy expert my *** but does this idiot knows that it’s not only the Obama campaign?
This idiot should get fired today……he is making a mockery of all this.
I hope he gets some major pushback about his BS.
Morning ChristiMTL, I just can’t get over that article, there were just so many lines in it that made me howl “WTF?!” Incredible stuff.
Morning everyone
Hey Chips, I’m actually very disgusted by this….he doesn’t mention that they repeat the same lies over and over again, it wasn’t just at the convention.
”Both political parties will stretch the truth if they believe it will advance their political interests.”
The false equivalency BS again…..they don’t stretch the truth, they lie
Some fact checker!
Anything to help the Romney camp.
Made it as simple as possible …
… given that he’s clearly impaired …
And Kessler is a FACT CHECKER.
The event start times jive with Iowa TV stories.
While checking these out, I came across reports of a GOP rally in Sioux City Friday bemoaning the fact that last June when he took his bus trip through Eastern Iowa, that he did not pay a visit to flooded Sioux City and how it took 4 months for the businesses to recover. However one story stated that President Obama did include it in a disaster area declaration which made federal funds available, which, of course, would have helped those businesses recover. That did them a lot more good than a personal visit would have. Nitpicking as usual.
Sioux City is Steve King’s District……he stayed in DC while his District was flooding….
Did they mention that ?
The President is doing more for them than their own GOP representatives.
df, from the previous thread – thanks so much for that article on the RNC convention. Great read.
Fantastic read, meta. Thanks.
Long read, but definitely worth it!
Good morning Chips & everyone …
photo/1
What is his point? I don’t get it?
Lots of doughnuts for Mr… ” I am as tall as I am wide ” Knoller…..yum…yum…
For real.
Mark Knoller if you ever see him at a White House press briefing keeps a little notebook. In these notebooks he writes down stats about all Presidents.. So if you ask him how many times GWB took vacations in Texas he will look in his tiny, tiny, tiny books and give you those facts…
I think he has a little tiny, tiny and that’s why he writes in the tiny book.
I’m with you on that.
Why is he double counting CO?
Yeah, he’s soooo bad. I can’t believe he is considered a journalist. I think he meant 5 in Iowa.
This may be the most excellent, most insightful piece of political writing I’ve ever read——what it was like being stuck with 50,000 Repubs at the convention in Tampa. Must read, and I’m not exaggerating.
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/stuck-in-a-room-with-mitt-romney/Content?oid=14623016
Thank you, dotster! I posted this over on the last thread…and here again. It was THE BEST PIECE EVER! It is a MUST READ>>>>
Oh sorry, I didn’t see your earlier heads up—–best ever!
Thanks for the linkl; really enjoyed the article.
The President should have a slide Show of the First new deal, Hoover Dam, Golden Gate Bridge etc. Then, he should show photos of what the Stimulus accomplished, all the while saying- All the American People Built that.
Great suggestion…..send this to someone where it counts…..you probably already have.
http://www.louisiana211.org/About_2-1-1.html Check this link for the number that Romney wanted the homeless woman to call. Notice all the things that would be ELIMINATED for these citizens under Romney…..it makes his comment even DOUBLY CALLOUS.
Yes, 211 is essentially a health & human services directory, which doubtlessly, #BirtherMitt has minimal knowledge. That he told a HOMELESS woman to go HOME and call … well, that has been duly noted by many as not just clueless but disgustingly heartless. It may also be an indication that #BainMitt’s Medical records should get the same scrutiny as his tax returns.
photo/1
Whhheeeeeeeeeee!!
Amk, I love it.
Oh that one is so sweet amk! I owe you big time. You just gave me energy to finish getting dress and go out in this heat and pick up my medications.
You push that pain back in the grateful body, and you gave me the natural dose of “Laughter.” At no cost!!
Thanks to you. Mr. President for bringing me ACA. One less med to pay less for. thanks to my beautiful pharmacist, amk. (((((((((((( Thanks amk))))))))))))) You just lifted my ‘soul’ space’ with much joy. Really. HZ
Now this is a, ” I heard you laughing from the street over!”
I’m bringing this over from the last thread. It really is A MUST READ!!!
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/stuck-in-a-room-with-mitt-romney/Content?oid=14623016
when you really think about what is being said at this convention, you realize that all the red, white, and blue bunting and clothing and video imagery is a put-on. All the talk about patriotism, about supporting the troops, is just lip service. This is the most unpatriotic crowd I have ever been a part of. What they are against is community. Every sentence is devoid of empathy. Every finger-wag is aimed directly at an American who can’t afford health insurance, who hasn’t had a raise on their minimum-wage job in four years. Even as they rail against a statement that the president never really made, they are talking about tearing America down and leaving something meaner and greedier in its place. They’re radicals—radicals who’ve gone over the edge and are trying to make their radicalism mainstream.
But is that really true? Are they the monsters I think they are when the lights are down and the demagogues are predictably spreading their demagoguery? They roar like monsters in the darkened halls of the Forum, but I look at the people around me, milling forward in the embrace of waist-high concrete barriers to their left and right, trying to get back to their cars, or their buses, or their hotels. They’re grumbling about the blisters caused by their good pair of shoes. They’re hungry. They’re tired. But they are unmistakably human beings. That bald man whose wattle hangs down over his shirt like a meaty necktie, that woman whose perm looks as arid and dry as a tumbleweed. These are peoples’ grandparents. Real human beings will weep when they die (and for most of this ancient crowd, the day that they die will probably be sometime soon). They’re scared of the imaginary world of the 1950s in their heads dying forever, and the problem is that scared people make dumb choices.
Awesome and scary story. I posted it on Facebook. Thanks!
Thanks,dd….:)
Lesson about using a chair . . .
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k196/DeSwiss/New%20Stuff2/howtoo.gif
AMK should get some first hand intel, from all the Aftican Nations he visits, and then turn that report into the State Department. I bet, they would really appreciate it. Hell, they may even pay you.
jovie, who do you think the james bond movies are based on ?
Hey?
Interview for VP: “Can you LIE?” Ryan even lies about his running
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/08/paul-ryan-marathon.html
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/31/immigration-and-lgbt-activists-attacked-at-romneyryan-event/
Joe Kennedy supports Cape Wind-
http://mobile.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/09/01/joseph_kennedy_iii_breaks_from_familys_position_declares_support_for_cape_wind/
That is wise.
Good for him! I wish I could vote in his district.
Paul Ryan’s campaign walked back comments the VP nominee made about running a marathon.
“I had a two hour and fifty-something” marathon, Ryan said last week an interview. “I hurt a disc in my back, so I don’t run marathons anymore.”
But the Ryan campaign confirmed to Runner’s World that he has only run one marathon, the 1990 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota, which he finished in just over 4 hours.
“The race was more than 20 years ago, but my brother Tobin—who ran Boston last year—reminds me that he is the owner of the fastest marathon in the family and has never himself ran a sub-three,” Ryan said in a prepared statement. “If I were to do any rounding, it would certainly be to four hours, not three. He gave me a good ribbing over this at dinner tonight.”
The admission comes after wide speculation that Ryan had exaggerated his marathon time. Running a sub-3 hour marathon means averaging under 7 minutes per mile for the entire race, a possible but extremely impressive feat. As the New Yorker’s Nicholas Thompson put it, “It’s the difference between racing and running.”
This isn’t the first time Ryan has come under fire this week for stretching the truth. His RNC speech was chastised for misleading claims about Medicare and the 2008 closing of a Wisconsin plant.
The running fib “sounds trivial,” wrote the New York Times’ Paul Krugman. “But I remember the 2000 campaign, when Al Gore was constantly hounded by claims of fibbing on trivial issues — claims that, by the way, were all, as far as I could tell, fabricated. These alleged fibs supposedly showed some deep defect in his character. So if Ryan is making false claims about his physical prowess, this is absolutely fair game.”
—-
I cannot imagine being married to a pathological liar…..
More here at Runners World:
http://news.runnersworld.com/2012/08/31/paul-ryan-says-hes-run-sub-300-marathon/
Love your tweets, edwina!
Thank you so much,Jacqueline, I am on a campaign to shame the enablers and apologists in the media who overlook and defend the GOP lies. Could be that some of the journalists(Halperin, I am looking at you) have a firewall up to block any feelings of shame and/or journalistic responsibility but a girl has to try.
Sorry, for the re-post, somehow it went to the bottom. Chips, could I trouble you to delete the one at the bottom of this post. Thanks
I saw this reply earlier, so thanks – keep up the good work!
OUCH! Which goes to the AMAZING piece here!!
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/stuck-in-a-room-with-mitt-romney/Content?oid=14623016
I love the articles that surround it – makes the lack of diversity even more stark.
Margaret and Helen have something to say!
http://margaretandhelen.com/2012/08/31/i-wonder-if-clint-eastwoods-imaginary-friend-speaks-to-michele-bachmanns-imaginary-friend/
df, those two are a hoot!!! and, they know their stuff ….
I LOVE THEM!! I turned my girlfriend on to them…now SHE shows ME when they’ve written a new piece:) And she passes them along! Smart ladies, Margaret and Helen….Thanks, Bob! Did you have a good birthday celebration? I certainly had a good celebration FOR YOU!!
YUM!
Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini has described the Roman Catholic Church as being “200 years behind” the times.
The cardinal died on Friday, aged 85.
Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera has published his last interview, recorded in August, in which Cardinal Martini says: “The Church is tired… our prayer rooms are empty.”
Martini, once tipped as a future pope, urged the Church to recognise its errors and to embark on a radical path of change, beginning with the Pope.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19451439
They should have made him Pope 50 years ago …
Our good friends at the VFW really do need to recognize that President Obama is the most aggressive & productive advocate for Veterans since President George H.W. Bush made the VA a Cabinet level position.
New FLOTUS buttons!!
http://store.charlottein2012.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=CHS&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=C0208&Attributes=Yes&Quantity=1
I was wearing my Vote 2012 button with the cool PBO swagger photo on it and the cashier (female) at the grocery store WENT OFF on the Republican Party and women’s rights. It was really incredible!
Personally, I think when people see the buttons and the bumper stickers, it reassures them that the world hasn’t gone crazy! There are so few places where you can hear the real opinions of the people who are still working for the Obama-Biden re-election – all we hear is the racist and hateful talk from the GOP, and the pandering by the pundits. When people see the outward support, they get reassured. I know that whenever I pass a car with a 2012 or Obama-Biden bumper sticker, I ride along side them so the cars behind can see both our stickers, and then I try and pass the driver with the sticker and let him/her see mine and get pumped up at the company. I seem to be getting more and more opportunities to do that, since I’m seeing more and more bumper stickers out there.
Thank you so much, I am on a campaign to shame the enablers and apologists in the media who overlook and defend the GOP lies. Could be that some of the journalists(Halperin, I am looking at you) have a firewall up to block any feelings of shame and/or journalistic responsibility but a girl has to try.
New post everyone:
http://theobamadiary.com/2012/09/01/what-its-like-to-be-trapped-with-50000-republicans-at-the-rnc/
Ryan to bracket Dem Convention.
good luck with that.
Love how MHP just went off about how the poor are discounted in this country by the super rich – and the fact it’s not the rich who are the “risk takers” – IT’S THE POOR! Melissa lost it, and I’m so glad about that. Hope video of her yell goes viral.
Good for her.
Well, happy to see MHP doing her job:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/01/1126732/-Melissa-Harris-Perry-putting-risk-into-perspective
Good Morning, Afternoon, TOD Family. So happy to be a part of this beautiful family. Thanks for lifting my heart with thanksgiving.
(((((((( Love and Hugs to my Chips)))))))))) I am happy now that I had my first reading session. Getting meds., have a rest period to prepare for a gathering of planning for a community group.
Pray and think good thoughts for me. We are going to be aggressive and put the goodness within our hearts out in our spaces, feets of determination walking in faith to get many registered, hands and facts to share with convictions and good conscience, and we will prevail. FORWARD. I love you all. ((((((Hugs 2 U All))))))HZ