Reports: Obama Will Attack Romney on Bain During Tuesday's Presidential Debate

Shoot, I'm surprised O didn't lay down some Bain attacks in the first debate.

He's got nothin' but smears, in any case. What's to stop him now, when he's down in the polls?

Ed Henry reports, at Fox News, "Obama camp tips hand on debate, hints president will attack Romney on Bain":

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – As President Obama began to hunker down at a plush resort here for three full days of debate prep, his campaign team signaled the incumbent may steal a page from Vice President Joe Biden and show a more aggressive tone in Tuesday's second face-to-face showdown with Republican Mitt Romney.

"Gov. Romney has been making pitches all of his life and he knows how to say what people want to hear whether that was during his time at Bain or during the dozens of town halls he did during the primary," Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Saturday. "His running mate also left him vulnerable on a number of issues -- admitting there was a $5 trillion tax cut, after he denied it, but again failing to explain how they would pay for it, leaving women worried about their ability to make choices about their own health care and failing to articulate their plan for winding down our presence in Afghanistan."

It's significant that Psaki previewed the president's next clash with Romney with an immediate mention of his time at Bain, a word Obama never mentioned during the first presidential debate, in Denver.

Senior campaign adviser David Axelrod said on "Fox News Sunday" that Obama is making “adjustments” before the debate and plans to be more aggressive.

Axelrod also referred to Romney's investment capital career before entering politics.

“We expect Governor Romney will have a great debate too," he said. "He is a great salesman. That is what he did as a professional, he is very good at it.” Later Sunday, Psaki noted women's health-care issues were left out of the first debate, which appeared to suggest Obama would raise the topic this time.

"The American people should expect to see a much more energized President Obama making a passionate case for why he is a better choice for the middle class," she told Fox News. "He will continue to hold Mitt Romney's feet to the fire on the facts about his policies, whether that is his 5 trillion tax cut plan that will leave the burden on the middle class, his plans to voucherize Medicare or his belief that women should not be able to make choices about their own healthcare."

O's going to be crushed tomorrow. Bringing up Bain's going to make it worse, since Romney will step up and slam "The One" as a bloody f-king liar.

 More at the link.

Added: At Mediaite, "Leaked Document Shows Debate Ground Rules Agreed Upon By Obama And Romney Campaigns." (Via Memeorandum.)

The Benghazi Attack: No More Lies

At the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Regarding the circumstances surrounding the terrorist attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya last month that left this nation’s ambassador and three others dead, the Obama administration is:

a.) lying
b.) stupid
c.) living in a parallel universe, or
d.) all of the above

Go to the head of the class if you chose “all of the above.” We’re all familiar with the administration’s first narrative of the Sept. 11 incident — it was the spontaneous reaction of a rioting mob upset over a low-budget anti-Muslim film. But that fiction began to unravel almost immediately.

There was no “protest,” only well-armed terrorists in a well-coordinated attack. Yet for weeks the White House stuck to its lie. And even now, after being forced to concede its tall tale was fact-bereft, many of Obama’s acolytes have not stopped lying.

Among the latest, during Thursday night’s vice-presidential debate, Joe Biden insisted that the consulate did not request additional security. That’s a lie, as the congressional testimony of four State Department officials proves.

Then there’s Obama campaign mouthpiece Stephanie Cutter, insisting that the unbelievable Benghazi attack narrative is an issue only because the Republican presidential ticket has made it one. How stupid is she and how stupid does she think the American people are?

Caught up in its repeated lies, the Obama administration has created a parallel universe. Where and when does it end?

In the polling booth on Nov. 6.

New USA TODAY/Gallup Swing States Poll Shows Romney Up by Four Among likely Voters

This is big, at USA Today, "Swing States poll: Women push Romney into lead":

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney leads President Obama by four percentage points among likely voters in the nation's top battlegrounds, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, and he has growing enthusiasm among women to thank.

As the presidential campaign heads into its final weeks, the survey of voters in 12 crucial swing states finds female voters much more engaged in the election and increasingly concerned about the deficit and debt issues that favor Romney. The Republican nominee now ties the president among women who are likely voters, 48%-48%, while he leads by 12 points among men.

The battle for women, which was apparent in the speakers spotlighted at both political conventions this summer, is likely to help define messages the candidates deliver at the presidential debate Tuesday night and in the TV ads they air during the final 21 days of the campaign. As a group, women tend to start paying attention to election contests later and remain more open to persuasion by the candidates and their ads.

That makes women, especially blue-collar "waitress moms" whose families have been hard-hit by the nation's economic woes, the quintessential swing voters in 2012's close race.

"In every poll, we've seen a major surge among women in favorability for Romney" since his strong performance in the first debate, veteran Democratic pollster Celinda Lake says. "Women went into the debate actively disliking Romney, and they came out thinking he might understand their lives and might be able to get something done for them."

While Lake believes Obama retains an edge among women voters, the changed views of Romney could be "a precursor to movement" to the Republican candidate, she says. "It opens them up to take a second look, and that's the danger for Obama."

More at the link.

And at Memeorandum.

Video Credit: The Other McCain.

Scarlett Johansson in New Cruella de Vil-style Photo Shoot

This is amazing.

At London's Daily Mail, "ScarJo goes Goth: Cleavage-baring Scarlett Johansson has Cruella de Vil-style hair and a nose ring as she celebrates the 90s in new W shoot."

And check W Magazine for the full shoot, "FOUR ACTRESSES INHABIT FOUR DECADES OF FASHION."

Also photographed is Keira Knightley, Mia Wasikowska, and Rooney Mara.

Link-Starve BuzzFeed!

Man, that'd be harsh, although Professor Reynolds denies he was going to starve BuzzFeed for traffic.

See Althouse, "Instapundit threatens to link-starve BuzzFeed."

And Instapundit replies, "I WASN’T “THREATENING TO LINK-STARVE BUZZFEED”":

I don’t do boycotts, generally. But they seem to have wider ambitions than being a poor man’s ThinkProgress, and if they convince everyone to the right of Kos that they can’t be trusted, that’s what they’ll become. Lost trust can cost.

Keep in mind this is all about that "dog-whistle" Photoshop I blogged previously. The commentary on this was up over the weekend and I missed it, but it's worth updating. (And Doug Ross and The Other McCain both linked. Thanks!)

And remember, conservatives have exhaustingly repudiated racism, seen again and again in signs like the one above. Althouse has more, "Shameful, lowly race-baiting... but who's doing it?"

That said, Dan Riehl has this, "In Defense of Buzzfeed."

I'll have more later, so tune back in...

Malala Yousufzai Airlifted to Britain

It's a good thing. She was as good as dead if she stayed in Pakistan.

At the New York Times, "Schoolgirl Wounded by Taliban Is Airlifted to Britain":

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – The Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot by the Taliban last week for advocating girls’ education has been flown to Britain for emergency specialist care, the Pakistani military said on Monday.

Malala Yousafzai, 14, left an air base in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where she was being treated for head wounds in a military hospital, on an air ambulance sent from the United Arab Emirates.

In a statement, the military said she would receive immediate treatment for her skull, which was fractured after a bullet passed through her head, as well as “long-term rehabilitation including intensive neuro rehabilitation.”

Malala will be treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in central England, a center which has specialized in the treatment of troops wounded in Afghanistan, Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said in a statement quoted by The Associated Press.

Pakistan said it would pay for her treatment.

A Pakistani military intensive care specialist accompanied her on the flight, which by midmorning Monday had stopped in the United Arab Emirates for refueling en route to Britain.

The mercy flight produced a sigh of relief of sorts among Pakistanis who have kept an anxious national vigil for Ms. Yousafzai since she was shot by a militant gunman last Tuesday as she returned from school in Mingora, the main town in the Swat Valley, in northwestern Pakistan.

The daughter of a schoolmaster, Ms. Yousafzai had become known for her eloquent and impassioned advocacy of education and children’s rights in the face of Taliban threats, which made her a potent symbol of resistance to the militants’ extremist ideology.

Actually, families better keep their kids close. I expect this is the beginning of a new reign of terror. See Der Spiegel, "Schoolgirl Shooting: Pakistanis Fear Resurgent Taliban in Swat Valley."

How Lincoln Emerged in the Stratosphere of Greatness

From Conrad Black, at the New York Sun, "As Daniel Day Lewis’ Portrayal of the 16th President Is About To Hit the Silver Screen, Our Columnist Offers an Assessment of the Original" (via Ed Driscoll at Instapundit):

The mighty American star system has elevated and demoted thousands of people over the 236 years since the propagandistic arts were first torqued up in the Declaration of Independence. But the supreme champion of the American personality cult has been Abraham Lincoln. Given the hyperbole which frequently attaches to much-admired Americans, there is a temptation to assume that Lincoln could not possibly deserve the stratospheric elevation he has received. But he does.

Lincoln was born on the Sinking Spring Farm in Hardin County, Kentucky, on February 12, 1809, received only about a year of formal education, and moved with his family to the frontier country of Indiana, and then, at 21, to Illinois. He largely educated himself as a voracious reader, worked at a variety of jobs, had his first, disturbing, look at slavery on a trip down the Mississippi in 1831, and toiled in a law office until he became a member of the Illinois Bar in 1836.

His mother died when he was young and he had little rapport with his father. But he got on, was a tall and rugged man, companionable, and a fine raconteur with a good sense of humor, who gradually built up his legal practice and became a leading attorney.

He was troubled by slavery as fundamentally wrong: “I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our Republican example of its just influence in the world.” This seems an obvious position to hold now, but America was largely founded and built by slave-holders. Although Lincoln did not at first consider African Americans to be equal in talent and intelligence to Caucasians, he eventually amended that view, when he came to know more of them.

Lincoln came gradually to believe that the incongruity to proclaimed American values, and the outright evil of slavery, were so profound that the nation could not survive. He was for, above all, the preservation of the Union, and favored various methods of curtailing and gradually eliminating slavery. These included support for the original idea of paying for the emancipation of slaves and their voluntary return to Africa, to the purpose-created country of Liberia.

Continue reading.

I haven't been this excited about a new movie in a long time. Abraham Lincoln is my favorite president. The more I read about him the more fascinated I become. And I love sharing things like the Gettysburg Address with my students, especially because they too are fascinated by him, and of the sacrifice that he eventually made for the preservation of American democracy.

The trailer is in theaters. My oldest boy and I saw "Taken 2" over the weekend and we watched it. Daniel Day Lewis, when viewed at some angles, looks like he's Lincoln himself. It's an amazing likeness. I'm excited.

Obama Surrogate: Benghazi Never Asked For More Security

Via Breitbart:

Also at Gateway Pundit, "Obama Campaign: Come On, Benghazi Was Only A Compound (Video)."

Nigel Farage Discusses Euro Crisis With Neil Cavuto on Fox News

Via Theo Spark:

Dana Loesch Documents TSA Harassment

She tweeted the whole encounter.

Dana recited TSA rules, posted at the website, which indicate the right to a public screening. But she was still denied.

The full report is at Twitchy, "TSA nightmares: Dana Loesch tweets another outrageous account of harassment."

Felix Baumgartner Breaks Sound Barrier

At Fox News, "Fearless Felix Baumgartner Safely Lands Record Breaking 24-mile Leap to Earth."

Also at the New York Times, "Felix Baumgartner Was Just Thinking About Coming Home." (At Memeorandum.)

Islamofascists Protest 'Age of Mockery' at Google's London Headquarters

They're bleedin' idiots.

At Telegraph UK, "Muslims protest 'age of mockery' as thousands descend on Google HQ." (Via Memeorandum.)

Plus, check the video at Blazing Cat Fur, "Muslim Fanatics Demand Google Bow to Their Insanity."

Questions About the Libya Attack

From the editorial page at the Los Angeles Times, "Re U.S. was urged to add Libya guards, Oct. 11":

It has become increasingly clear that the Obama administration (which I formerly supported) was perfectly willing to make our freedom of speech, rather than its own ineptitude and lack of vigilance, the villain in the recent attack on our Libyan consulate.

That our United Nations ambassador, Susan Rice, went on political shows on TV spreading distortions and untruths regarding the atrocity in Benghazi is an obscenity.

Michael Jenning
Van Nuys

Notice that Mr. Jenning is a "former" supporter of the president, a more common designation than the Democrat media is letting on.

But see also John Hinderaker, "What Happened In Benghazi" (via Memeorandum).

And at Atlas Shrugs, "Obama's #savage cover-up of an act of war against America: What really happened in Benghazi."

I'll have more shortly ...

'the' or 'The'? Editors Won't Let It Be

I think of this every time I post a music video. Is it, for example, "the" Wallflowers or "The" Wallflowers?

More on that att the Wall Street Journal, "Editors Won't Let It Be When It Comes to 'the' or 'The': Wonky Wikipedia Debate: Whether Beatles Article Merits Capital 'T'":

The Beatles once sang, "Have you heard the word is love?" In a Wikipedia war raging around the group, the word is "the."

For some eight years, editors at the online encyclopedia have been debating whether the article "the" should be uppercased when referring to the band. Is it "the" Beatles or "The" Beatles?

The lowercase faction says the Wikipedia manual of style and external style guides are on its side.

The uppercase faction says that trademarks should be capitalized and that the official Beatles website uses an uppercase definite article.

The dispute has become so contentious that some Wikipedia editors have been banned from participating. "Discussions on this page may escalate into heated debate," warns the internal "Talk" page where editors discuss changes to the Beatles entry.

"Please try to keep a cool head when commenting here."

Now, Wikipedia is trying to settle the question with a community poll, where readers will get to decide which case will prevail. The poll is expected to close Monday. Currently, the Beatles entry mainly sidesteps the issue by avoiding the name of the group in mid-sentence. Still, there are a couple of instances where "the" is lowercased.

The two surviving Beatles aren't singing out on the question. Paul McCartney's agent said the former Beatle wouldn't be available for an interview. Ringo Starr's agent said she doubted she could reach her client quickly enough.

Lowercase advocates point to a handwritten 1970 letter from Beatle John Lennon, who was murdered a decade later, that uses a small "t."

If Mr. Lennon were alive today, "he would have a good laugh at all the 'fans' who think that a lowercase 't' is somehow a disgrace to the band," says Gabriel McFadden, an editor who calls himself "the leader of the lowercase faction." He won't reveal his location because he says he has been "cyberstalked" over the dispute.

Different publications have different capitalization rules. The Wall Street Journal uppercases the "the" in its own name but lowercases it for other publications. As for the musical group, it is "the" Beatles.

I wrote "the" Wallflowers yesterday, so I guess I'll just keep it at that.

More from WSJ at the link.

Sunday Cartoons

Via Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – One Heartbeat Away."

I don't see Wordsmith's "Sunday Funnies" up yet, but I'll update (from Flopping Aces).

But see Jill Stanek, "Stanek Sunday funnies: “Joe just being Joe” edition."

And Nate Beeler's cartoons are at Cagle.

More later...

Rosie Jones Filming BigD Peanuts 2013 Calendar (VIDEO)

Lovely.

And there's more from yesterday at the Sun's Page 3, "2013 looks Rosie!"

Space Shuttle Endeavor Completes Move to California Science Center

The Los Angeles Times has had pretty amazing coverage of the shuttle Endeavor. I love this picture below, from the front page of today's paper. The caption reads, "TRAYMOND HARRIS, left, and Ryan Hudge play basketball as the shuttle Endeavor passes by in Inglewood on Saturday." And here's the report there, under the photograph, "Shuttle crawls obstacle course."

ABC News 7 had live coverage of the final stage of the move today, and the here's the update at the Times, "Endeavour within sight of Exposition Park."

And from yesterday, "Space shuttle Endeavour rolls on toward its new home."

Former Senator Arlen Specter Has Died

The New York Times reports, "Arlen Specter, 82, Dies; Former Senator From Pennsylvania."

And at WND, "FORMER SEN. ARLEN SPECTER DIES AT 82: Chief architect of 'single-bullet theory' in JFK assassination."

That So-Called Racist Mitt Romney 'Dog-Whistle' T-Shirt is Almost Certainly Photoshopped

I personally don't believe that someone would wear a shirt like that to a Mitt Romney rally. I attended dozens of tea parties on 2009-2010, and I only once saw controversial posters, at the protest against Nancy Pelosi at the Orange County Airport --- and I denounced those in a series of posts identifying the San Diego organizer, Roger Ogden, who later apologized for the misunderstanding and claimed his posters were not racist.

This story was all over Memeorandum yesterday, most conspicuously at Crooks and Liars, where the hopelessly idiotic Dave Neiwert claims this one, utterly suspicious t-shirt "proves" Mitt Romney's running a "dog-whistle" campaign. But the photo, which is licensed to Getty Images, got traction at more reputable outlets, such as New York Magazine, "Check Out This Mitt Romney Supporter’s Horrendously Racist Fashion," and originally at the much-less reputable BuzzFeed, "Man At Romney Rally Wears Mindblowingly Offensive Shirt."

Well, it goes without saying that some folks aren't having it --- Robert Stacy McCain, for example, "False-Flag Troll, IRL":

I can pretty much guarantee that this man photographed at a Romney rally in Lancaster, Ohio, is not in fact a Republican, but rather is a plant sent out by the Democrats as a dirty trick.

Clue #1: Wearing a “Romney/Ryan” sticker on the back of his T-shirt. Nobody does this. Nobody.
Clue #2: It’s kind of chilly in Ohio this time of year, and the guy’s wearing only a T-shirt, while those around him are wearing coats.
My guess is that this guy also wore a coat when he entered the rally, then stationed himself toward the back of the crowd (in front of the riser where the press photographers are stationed) and then removed his coat to expose the T-shirt, with the explicit purpose of having it photographed.
. . . aaanndd, Clue #3: No name? A press photographer is going to take a picture like this and make no effort to ID the guy? Nuh-uh.

Actually, it's even less credible.

See Wordsmith's post at Flopping Aces, "Racist Romney/Ryan supporter in Lancaster, Ohio?" Click through for the analysis, but bottom line: Wordsmith's calling bullshit. And what's more, one commenter says that he went through the Getty photographer's slideshow from the Romney/Ryan rally and there are no crowd images, or any other images, with this man wearing that particular t-shirt. But most interestingly, one commenter links to a "photo forensics" site that claims to have a date-stamp for the digital file as "Profile Date Time 2012:01:25 03:41:57" (here).

If the "forensics" data is accurate, the photo's from January of this year, and thus is not only Photoshopped but is also not a picture from a recent Romney/Ryan rally in Ohio.

But again, the main reason this as a completely manufactured controversy is the past record of conservatives utterly rejecting any racist paraphernalia at campaign events and tea parties. Where there's been racism it's been completely repudiated. When the famous photo of so-called Texas tea party "leader" Dale Robertson emerged, the absolute renunciation was swift. Newsbusters has the flashback, "TPM Trumpets Racist Rebuffed by Tea Party Groups as 'Prominent' 'Leader'." And of course folks will remember that the leftist media was jonesing for racist tea-partiers so badly that it had to invent them, for example, Contessa Brewer, "Guy With AR-15 at Obama Rally Was Black Dude: MSBNC Kinda Leaves That Part Out."

The so-called racist Mitt Romney "dog-whistle" t-shirt is almost certainly a scam. It's bogus. We've seen this movie before and the ratings are in: total flop. The "race card" doesn't work anymore, if it ever really did. The left's goal is to falsely delegitimize criticism and silence dissent. This photo below, seen early in the tea party era at Gateway Pundit, captures what's really going been going on with race on the right:

I'll update if more information becomes available, but I'll tell you again, it's a scam. Just one look at that "Romney/Ryan" picture and you can see that's an obvious Photoshop.

Donna's Diner in Elyria, Ohio

I don't worry about the national polls. My biggest concern is Ohio. And while I discount PPP's Democrat-leaning surveys (the poll's a Daily Kos joint, with new numbers out today having Obama up by 5 points, unrealistically), I'm not sure if the first debate was enough to give Romney a decisive advantage there. Things look pretty good at RCP's polling average for the state, and even there the NBC/Marist poll along with PPP is skewing the average to the Democrats.  And more on these two polls at AoSHQ, "Pollsters: 1/5 of Ohio Vote Already In! Me: Bull."

In any case, more later on the polling numbers --- especially a week or so from this Tuesday and the next presidential debate. Meanwhile, here's a ground-level report from Ohio, at the New York Times, "At the Corner of Hope and Worry":

ELYRIA, Ohio

Another day begins with a sound softer than a finger-snap, in an Ohio place called Elyria. In the central square of this small city, the gushing water fountain applauds the early-morning chorus of sparrows. A car clears its throat. A door slams. And then: click.

The faint sound comes as 7:00 flashes on the clock of the Lorain National Bank building, looming over the square. The pull of a string — click — has sent life pulsing through a neon sign, announcing to all of Elyria that, once more, against the odds, Donna’s Diner is open.

Its proprietor, Donna Dove, 57, ignites the grill that she seems to have just turned off, so seamlessly do her workdays blend into one endless shift. She wears her blond hair in a ponytail and frames her hazel eyes with black-rimmed glasses that tend to get smudged with grill grease. She sees the world through the blur of her work.

A dozen years ago, Donna found a scrap of serendipity on the sidewalk: a notice that a local mom-and-pop restaurant was for sale. After cooking for her broken family as a child, after cooking for county inmates at one of her many jobs, she had come to see food as life’s binding agent, and a diner as her calling. She maxed out her credit cards, cashed in her 401(k) and opened a business to call her own.

Donna’s Diner. Donna’s.

You know this place: It is Elyria’s equivalent to that diner, that coffee shop, that McDonald’s. From the vantage point of these booths and Formica countertops, the past improves with distance, the present keeps piling on, and a promising future is practically willed by the resilient patrons.

It is where the recession and other issues of the day are lived as much as discussed. Where expectations for a certain lifestyle have been lowered and hopes for salvation through education and technology have been raised. Where the presidential nominees Barack Obama and Mitt Romney each hope that his plan for a way back will resonate with the Donna Doves, who try to get by in places like Elyria — where the American dream they talk about can sometimes seem like a tease.

Continue reading, on some of the hardship Donna and her patrons are facing, and then this:

The fresh aroma of coffee face-slaps the air. Soon the Breakfast Club regulars, that gaggle of Elyrian past and present, will be here to renew their continuing discussion of what was, is and isn’t in this city of 55,000. The presidential election sometimes serves as a conversation starter, like a curio placed between the salt and pepper shakers.

The talk will continue as yolk stains harden and refills turn tepid. Their Ohio is a swing state, after all, and their Elyria sits precariously on that swing. More Democratic than Republican, it has several global companies and the memory of many more; an embattled middle class and encroaching poverty; and the faint sense that the Next Big Thing better arrive before even its beloved park fountain, visible from the diner’s front window, gets shut off...