Former President Bill Clinton campaigned in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District for Christie Vilsack a few days ago — this ad puts his tour in 30 seconds.
Clinton’s endorsement for Christie Vilsack, Iowa’s 4th Congressional District
October 19, 2012
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2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, Politics | Tagged: 2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, 4th Congressional District, Bill Clinton, Christie Vilsack, Iowa, Politics | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
What about National Parks as an issue in the 2012 elections?
October 16, 2012National Parks really are a tiny part of the federal budget. Consequently, they get overlooked, and that could be bad.
How are your Congress and Senate candidates standing on these issues?
Romney’s “energy plan” calls for opening up the National Parks for oil and gas exploration and drilling, even the Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania Bet that’s not mentioned by anyone in the debate tonight.
Which one is your favorite unit of the National Park System? What’s your favorite family story from visiting the parks? How are you going to vote in November?
Graphic from the National Parks Conservation Association:
From the National Parks Conservation Association
More:
- Park Advocate, blog from NPCA
- The view from Acadia: Invest in national parks and Maine jobs (bangordailynews.com)
- GOP Congressman Says Romney Would Sell National Parks (addictinginfo.org)
- OBAMA: My Administration Continues To Open Millions Of Acres For Oil And Gas Exploration (businessinsider.com)
Leave a Comment » | 2010 Elections, 2012 Campaigns, Conservation, Economics, National Parks, Outdoor Recreation | Tagged: 2012 Campaigns, Conservation, Economics, Federal Budget, Flight 93 National Memorial, National Parks, Outdoor Recreation | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
12 million jobs — but not until when?
October 16, 2012Oy.
It’s extraordinary to consider with just three weeks until Election Day, but Mitt Romney’s central argument to voters has been exposed as a total fraud.
Greg Sargent added, “Let’s recap what Kessler has discovered here. The plan that is central to Romney’s candidacy on the most important issue of this election — jobs — is a complete sham. This is every bit as bad — or worse — than Romney’s claim to have created 100,000 jobs at Bain, or his vow to cut spending by eliminating whole agencies without saying which ones, or his refusal to say how he’ll pay for his tax cuts.”
Obama’s budget NOW creates 12 million jobs in the next four years, according to projections. Romney? He stretches it out to ten years, but reduces the job creation, so it’s 2.5 times as long to get the same number of jobs. Say what? Romney’s plan reduces the number of jobs created by cutting the rate at which they are created.
Read more at Rachel Maddow’s blog, with links to the actual studies. Maddow links to Greg Sargent’s blog, The Plum Line, at The Washington Post. 12 million jobs, Mitt Romney, economy, Bain Capital
More:
- Four Pinocchios for Romney’s jobs plan claims
- Mitt Romney’s jobs plan math is as bogus as his tax plan math (dailykos.com)
- New ad won’t let Ohio and Virginia voters forget Romney’s 47% comments (dailykos.com)
- This debate is about the real track record (newstatesman.com)
- Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: What every voter needs to know about Mitt Romney’s super-secret tax plan (dailykos.com)
- Romney Loses His Advantage on the Economy (politicalwire.com)
- Greg Sargent: Mitt Romney’s Bush conundrum (washingtonpost.com)
Leave a Comment » | 2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, Campaigns, Economics, Elections, Employment | Tagged: 2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, Barack Obama, Economics, Employment, Greg Sargent, Job creation program, Jobs, Mitt Romney | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Veterans speak out: We’re not just laundry
October 6, 2012From the Truman National Security Project, a video featuring testimony from veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan especially, questioning whether Mitt Romney has what it takes to be Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. armed forces:
This is rather the opposite of “swift boating,” isn’t it? An established organization active on national security issues, with a distinguished staff and board of directors, working on a shoe-string, with identified spokesmen.
The Truman Project’s blog lays out the case for President Obama’s election with respect to his initiatives on behalf of veterans. As much as I would prefer to see those positive achievements emphasized, campaigns don’t really allow much time for careful, thoughtful explanation.
Will there be any effect from this advertisement? What do you think?
More:
- “New ad questions Romney’s ability to serve as commander-in-chief,” Think-Progress; “The one minute video first highlights Romney’s various foreign policy fumbles throughout the campaign, including his confusing Afghanistan policy, his failure to mention the war there and commemorate U.S. troops in his RNC speech, and his campaign’s reluctance to talk about national security. ‘You have shown us from London to Libya that you are over your head,’ an Army vet says, with the ad closing with three other vets saying they don’t trust Romney to lead the military.”
- Reuters: “Swing state ad from hawkish Democrats hits Romney on foreign policy” – “There are more than 20 million American veterans, 15.8 million of whom cast ballots in the 2008 election cycle, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Many veterans live in states key to Obama’s re-election, such as Ohio, where there are more than 900,000 veterans, according to Department of Veterans Affairs data.”
- Veteran unemployment rate dips, but crisis deepens for ex-military women (usnews.nbcnews.com)
- Veterans retreating from Obama (politico.com)
- Mike Breen, North Hampton vet, speaks out with Truman Project; Seacoastonline; [From the article]: Contrast that with the “dead silence” at the Republican National Convention on the topic of the troops, and [New Hampshire Attorney General Phil McLaughlin] said the positions of the two candidates could not be more clear. “It’s as though (to Republicans) there were no Iraq. It’s as though there were no Afghanistan. It’s as though there were no veterans,” he said.
1 Comment | History, National Security, veterans, War on Education | Tagged: 2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, Commander-in-Chief, foreign affairs, History, Iraq, National Security, Politics, Truman National Security Project, veterans | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
If President Obama could visit your kitchen table . . .
September 29, 2012From the Obama campaign:
During the last weeks of this campaign there will be debates, speeches and more ads. But if I could sit down with you in your living room or around the kitchen table here’s what I’d say:
When I took office we were losing nearly 800,000 jobs a month and were mired in Iraq. Today I believe that as a nation we are moving forward again. But we have much more to do to get folks back to work and make the middle class secure again.
Now, Governor Romney believes that with that even bigger tax cuts for the wealthy and fewer regulations on Wall Street all of us will prosper. In other words he’d double down on the same trickle down policies that led to the crisis in the first place. So what’s my plan?
First, we create a million new manufacturing jobs and help businesses double their exports. Give tax breaks to companies that invest in America, not that ship jobs overseas.
Second, we cut our oil imports in half and produce more American-made energy, oil, clean-coal, natural gas, and new resources like wind, solar and bio-fuels—all while doubling the fuel efficiencies of cars and trucks.
Third, we insure that we maintain the best workforce in the world by preparing 100,000 additional math and science teachers. Training 2 million Americans with the job skills they need at our community colleges. Cutting the growth of tuition in half and expanding student aid so more Americans can afford it.
Fourth, a balanced plan to reduce our deficit by four trillion dollars over the next decade on top of the trillion in spending we’ve already cut, I’d ask the wealthy to pay a little more. And as we end the war in Afghanistan let’s apply half the savings to pay down our debt and use the rest for some nation building right here at home.
It’s time for a new economic patriotism. Rooted in the belief that growing our economy begins with a strong, thriving middle class. Read my plan. Compare it to Governor Romney’s and decide for yourself. Thanks for listening.
Read the President’s plan: http://OFA.BO/SAzDgd
6 Comments | 2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, Campaigns, Economics, Elections, Politics, President Obama | Tagged: 2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, Economics, Politics, President Obama | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Elizabeth Warren: Grace under pressure (we need this woman in the Senate)
November 14, 2011Here’s a woman who keeps her wits about her; no wonder Scott Brown is scared by Elizabeth Warren’s campaign:
Vodpod videos no longer available.According to the story at Huffington Post:
BROCKTON, Mass. — Moments into a speech before volunteers here Wednesday evening, Elizabeth Warren was interrupted by a Tea Party supporter who hurled a gender-based epithet at the Senate candidate. The man, who said he’d been unemployed since February 2010, objected to Warren’s expressed affiliation with the frustrations of Occupy Wall Street, and argued that the Tea Party has been protesting Wall Street excess for longer than the nascent global movement.
The crowd tried to shout the man down, but Warren told her supporters to let him speak. “No, no, it’s alright. Let me say two things,” she said. “I’m very sorry that you’ve been out of work. I’m also very sorry that the recent jobs bill that would’ve brought 22,000 jobs to Massachusetts did not pass in the Senate.”
There’s more. The man called her “a socialist whore;” just to irritate the Tea Party and Republicans, probably, Warren’s organization let the guy wander away, no Tazer, no fight, no handcuffs. Warren addressed his issues and the issues that his presence highlighted. Civil discussion of serious matters.
This is a case of Elizabeth Warren modeling the way on bringing civility to political discussion.
Other candidates, are you paying attention? Voters?
We need this woman in the Senate, even if you’re not from Massachusetts.
More:
- Reuters story on Warren’s first campaign debate, back in September
- CBS News report: Warren said, “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own”
Can somebody find the URL of Warren’s campaign site? News is crowding it out of searches I do. Elizabeth Warren for Massachusetts site
6 Comments | 2012 Campaigns, 2012 Elections, Dissent, Politics | Tagged: 2012 Campaigns, Civility, Dissent, Elizabeth Warren, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 