I'm tired of Bronco Bamma Too

Post Your GPOY, Obama

When you want America to know that you really, really, really care, you gotta look important and you gotta make sure your photographer is ready to take the important shot. Then you can post your GPOY (Gratuitous Picture Of Yourself).

Obama shows us how it's done:

He works hard for you. Sometimes.

The only thing that beats the obligatory map GPOY is the GPOY from the Situation Room:

But Obama forgot his Benghazi GPOY!

A (Very) Young Voter Explains Her Support for Romney

The conservative antidote to the puerile Lena Dunham:

Would you mind telling us why you choose Romney?

...First of all, I believe in the United States Constitution wholeheartedly. Obama has done many, many things under his term that should have been deemed unconstitutional. He wants to change this country and that’s not what I’m looking for.  

I would consider myself mostly Libertarian. I wanted Ron Paul in the beginning but seeing as he is no longer in the race Romney has my vote. Gary Johnson, not for me. I don’t believe in giving illegal aliens amnesty as Obama and Johnson do. I agree with Romney on his stance with adults being deported but children born here getting the chance to become a citizen.  

Next, I don’t like the Affordable Care Act also commonly known as Obamacare. I think it needs to be repealed immediately because it’s a stepping stone in the process to universal health care. Yes, free health care for everyone is GREAT in ideology. But nations do not thrive with that. Elderly will be denied the care they need. People won’t have the right to either buy into or not buy into health care. Yes, I think it’s foolish for a person to not buy into health insurance but it is their right as an American to do as they please. 

Leading into birth control I don’t think it should be free. There is no reason that an adult woman cannot afford the average hormonal birth control pill (most are never above twenty dollars - mine costs twenty two if I didn’t pay through health insurance coverage) if they prioritize their finances maturely. I certainly don’t believe that employers should provide contraception for their employees. That’s ridiculous to me.  

Aside from those issues, gun laws. I don’t want stricter gun laws. The second amendment was created so we CAN protect ourselves from our government and in self defense against criminals.  

As for jobs Obama is doing terribly. 23 million out of work and he says it’s getting better? I don’t think so. I trust that Romney can get the jobs increasing again. After all he is a businessman. Obama is just a lawyer who knows how to work around the laws to get what he wants.  

On the economy, I think Romney has a great plan. Cut spending. We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. In the whole defense on PBS and him wanting to cut it. PBS doesn’t need the subsidies. They make a third of a billion dollars in revenue. They’ll do just fine on their own...

Read the rest.

The optimism that Obama’s supporters project is unfounded

Bob Krumm:

The optimism that Obama’s supporters project is unfounded in hard data and historical precedent.  Against the numbers, his fans point to GOTV, state polls that buck the national norm, and magical statisticians who assure them that all is well.  The only thing missing is the inevitable last minute appeal to the ghost of Harry S. Truman.

Read the rest: Obama optimism: why it is unfounded

UPDATE: Barring an unprecedented shift, Barack Obama is unlikely to win the popular vote.

UPDATE II: Put a fork in Obama (but as Glenn Reynolds would remind us, don't get cocky).


*image credit

Tragedy: Voters thinking for themselves, ruining Obama's reelection prospects

This is funny:

On Twitter and blogs the debates were scored minute by minute by grandma, the kids and everyone else in the living room. And stars from Hollywood to media personalities, and politicians joined in the fun with the folks at home. The whole nation competed for the best one-liners, the perfect put-down or come back as the debate was taking place... 

The power of social media to create a distorted, avalanche of public opinion about what happened during a debate can be best seen in the first contest between Gov. Romney and President Obama... 

The perception that coalesced around that first debate turned the election from a likely Obama win to a dead heat. It was as if he had garbled his words, lost his thoughts and made factual errors – none of which occurred...

The perception that Romney won the first debate was a byproduct of this new media experience.

More bad news for Juan: On November 6, there will be another "distorted avalanche of public opinion" – and grandma, the kids and everyone else will be tweeting all day and all night long. It's still a democratic republic, bud.

*image credit

Obama, Small and Hunched

Body language tells 55% of the tale, and as Adrienne points out, Obama is telling the story of  "petty, mean-spirited loser."

If Romney Wins...

Conservatives' work is never done:

CALLER:  Too many Republicans apologize for wanting conservative fiscal policy, and we gotta stop apologizing for that, and I think we're there now.
RUSH:  Well, that's yet to be seen, but we're on the right road in that regard.  Look, I don't want to go there now.  I'm gonna do that after the election, but there are challenges....  

...if Romney wins, there will be a competition in the Republican Party for people who want to take credit for it.  Basically you're going to have two factions.  One faction will be the Republican establishment, which will say their strategy of moderation, cooperation, reaching across the aisle, not scaring the independents, Romney's first debate performance, that's what did it.  

The other faction will be the Tea Party and conservatives who will say, "If you guys don't wake up and realize that what won this election for you is this far-left agenda of the Democrat Party scaring this country to the point that people didn't want any more of it, if you don't realize what that means, you're gonna have to go back to the 2010 midterms. If you want to understand why Romney won this election, go back to the 2010 midterms.  Everything Obama stands for was rejected and there wasn't a Republican on the ballot then." 

CALLER:  That's right.  I agree. 

RUSH:  But that's for down the road.  That may not even materialize.  But if it does, that will be the... you know, even in the best families, there are arguments and there are disagreements, and it'll be the case here in due course.  But if Romney wins, there will still be a lot of work to do. 

Why a Conservative Voted for Obama (emphasis added)

Obama's Communication Skills Are Not Optimal

"Echoing" your interviewer is not always the best way to make an important point:

President Barack Obama, during an interview shown on Comedy Central, has responded to a question about his administration's confused communication after the Benghazi attack, by saying: 'If four Americans get killed, it’s not optimal.' 

...Stewart asked: 'Is part of the investigation helping the communication between these divisions? 'Not just what happened in Benghazi, but what happened within. 

'Because I would say, even you would admit, it was not the optimal response, at least to the American people, as far as all of us being on the same page.' 

Obama responded: 'Here's what I’ll say. If four Americans get killed, it’s not optimal.'

Stewart was being respectfully circumspect by using the phrase "not optimal." Obama acted stupidly by parroting those words to whitewash the failures of his response to the Benghazi attack.

*Image credit: Alexa Shrugged

Obama knew it was a terrorist attack all along... but he flew to Vegas the next day for fundraising anyway?

So during the debate (10-16-2012), Romney and Obama sparred over Obama's reaction to last month's 9-11 anniversary terror attack on the U.S. embassy in Egypt.  Romney pointed out that Obama's reaction to the attack was to fly off blithely the next day to raise money for his campaign -- as if that act of war in Egypt had never happened.

Romney also pointed out that the O administration took two weeks to emphatically state that the attack on the U.S. embassy was indeed a pre-meditated terror attack and NOT merely a spontaneous outbreak of ordinary criminal activity.

IN HIS OWN "DEFENSE," Obama stated that he actually knew it was a terror attack all along, and the CNN "moderator" conveniently backed Obama up on that.

While Obama did make a generic remark about terrorism shortly after the attack in Benghazi, Egypt, for two weeks the O administration sent a flurry of mixed signals about whether the violence was a terror attack or not.

The question is still unanswered: If Obama knew from the very beginning that the violence in Benghazi on 9-11-12 was a terrorist attack, why did he jet off to Las Vegas the next day for a fundraiser?

Why did it take the rest of the O administration two whole weeks to get up to speed?  (Was it because Obama was virtually AWOL, preoccupied by the election campaign?)

If Obama knew that this attack was a premeditated act of terrorism, as he now suggests, his actions immediately following the attack (and for the next two weeks) are utterly incomprehensible. Let's make sure that this point is not lost in all of the post-debate "fact checking."

*post edited for clarity; image hat tip: Joshuapundit

How to Vote for Gary Johnson

Hat tip: Red-Blooded America

Ryan vs. Biden: By the Numbers

[POLL RESULTS] Who do you think won the VP Debate? Paul Ryan: 56%, Joe Biden: 36%, Neither: 8%. #CNBC2012
— CNBC (@CNBC) October 12, 2012

BREAKING: CNN-ORC post-debate poll of Registered Voters: 48% said Ryan won. 44% said Biden won. Sampling error: +-5%. #CNNDebate
— Sam Feist (@SamFeistCNN) October 12, 2012

According to the #CNNDebateClock, Biden spoke for 41:32 minutes; Ryan clocked in at 40:12. #cnndebate on.cnn.com/T9RVSG
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) October 12, 2012

FACT: Final Count: Biden interrupted 82 times during the entire debate.
— Joe Pounder (@PounderFile) October 12, 2012

The eloquent and persuasive Joe Biden:



Update: Linked at Right Coast Conservative. Thanks!

Stacey Dash: The Content of His Character

Stacey Dash on Romney: ‘I Chose Him Not By the Color of His Skin But the Content of His Character’

Also of note, earlier in the interview, Dash told Morgan that she's a Democrat who voted for Barack Obama in 2008. She's voting for Romney now "because of the state of the country and I want the next four years to be different."

More:

Civility alert: Obama supporters urge Stacey Dash to kill herself

Samuel L. Jackson: Is Stacey Dash crazy? Paul Ryan thanks Dash for support

Vile: Racist Obama supporters attack Stacey Dash

Citizens speak out in support of actress Stacey Dash

Hat tip: Tumblr

UPDATE: Linked at The Other McCain. Thanks!

EXCLUSIVE PHOTO FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE... Update: Video highlights

Video highlights from the debate:


Hat tip: The Captain's Log

10 Best lines...

...from Mitt Romney in last night's debate:

9.  "You said you get a deduction for taking a plant overseas. Look, I’ve been in business for 25 years. I have no idea what you’re talking about."

8.  "Mr. President, you’re entitled as the president to your own airplane and to your own house, but not to your own facts."

7.  "We have to work on a collaborative basis, not because we’re going to compromise our principle, but because there’s common ground."

6.  "You put $90 billion into green jobs... That would have hired 2 million teachers. $90 billion."

5.  "I wouldn’t designate five banks as too big to fail and give them a blank check. That’s one of the unintended consequences of Dodd-Frank."

4.  "I will eliminate all programs by this test, if they don’t pass: Is the program so critical it’s worth borrowing money from China to pay for it?"

3.  "The problem with raising taxes is that it slows down the rate of growth. And you could never quite get the job done. I want to lower spending and encourage economic growth at the same time."

2.  "I think it’s, frankly, not moral for my generation to keep spending massively more than we take in, knowing those burdens are going to be passed on to the next generation and they’re going to be paying the interest and the principal all their lives. And the amount of debt we’re adding, at a trillion a year, is simply not moral."

1.  "The president has a view very similar to the view he had when he ran four years, that a bigger government, spending more, taxing more, regulating more -- if you will, trickle-down government -- would work. That’s not the right answer for America."

Honorable mention:

Licking Their Wounds

For many of Obama's supporters in the liberal-dominated news media, Obama's poor performance was too bad to spin. Here are some soul-searching, wound-licking reactions from Twitter:

Think of first debate as a physics experiment: We now know what happens when a low-energy moderator collides with a low-energy president.
— Walter Shapiro (@waltershapiroPD) October 4, 2012

25 percent thinking Obama won seems very high.
— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) October 4, 2012

I'd be surprised if tonight didn't move the head to head polls some (in Romney's direction)
— Nate Silver (@fivethirtyeight) October 4, 2012

The main impact of Romney's good night: The caricature of him created by 47% video and his lousy campaigning is superseded.
— michaelscherer (@michaelscherer) October 4, 2012

My sources tell me everyone on JournoList got together and decided to agree that Romney won this debate.
— Michael Roston (@michaelroston) October 4, 2012

The fate of the Obama campaign rests with Joe Biden. He's actually good at debates, though!
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) October 4, 2012

Next debate, Obama would do better if he debated in auto-tune.
— Michael Roston (@michaelroston) October 4, 2012

67% of people in CNN poll say Romney did the best job. Highest # in history of the poll.
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) October 4, 2012

Next time Obama should prep for debate against Romney, not Eastwood.
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) October 4, 2012

my boys from NY--not political pros, and all Dems--think Romney won. This bodes well for Mitt.
— Ben Adler (@badler) October 4, 2012

Note that lib opinion journalists aren't blaming pollsters or press for what happened tonight. Libs don't deal in denial way RW does.
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) October 4, 2012

John Kerry won the first debate against Bush almost as resoundingly as Romney did tonight, right?
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) October 4, 2012

If the Obama campaign was worried about Dems being overconfident going into the final stretch, tonight should allay those fears
— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) October 4, 2012

But spinning is what these guys do best...

Heh RT @craigh_crawford Always easy to tell which side lost a debate: they say debates don't matter. And they're right
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) October 4, 2012

Show me actual voters who changed their minds & I'll believe Romney "won the debate" in any significant way. Beware punditry noise.
— Todd Gitlin (@toddgitlin) October 4, 2012

Jim Lehrer's choice of questions/topics was a f'ing travesty. That was the worst aspect of the debate by far.
— David Roberts (@drgrist) October 4, 2012

Jim Lehrer Gets Pwned and Why We All Lose in Post-Truth Politics thenation.com/blog/170351/ji…
— Richard Kim (@RichardKimNYC) October 4, 2012

There's no way @crowleycnn does not DESTROY as moderator in Prez. Debate #2. She's got game.
— NickBaumann (@NickBaumann) October 4, 2012

Yeah, I though Romney "won" -- by dodging details and misrepresenting positions tnr.com/blog/plank/108… #denverdebate
— Jonathan Cohn (@CitizenCohn) October 4, 2012

If nothing else, Obama's performance tonight shows the utter futility of the RW attempt to paint him as an angry radical. Dude is boring.
— David Roberts (@drgrist) October 4, 2012

The hands-down winner of the 1st debate was Twitter. But we knew that going in.
— Micah Sifry (@Mlsif) October 4, 2012

Final word:

To be a killjoy for a moment: ultimately, this debate comes down to what people not snarking on Twitter think.
— Alex Koppelman (@AlexKoppelman) October 4, 2012

Did Obama Lose The Debate? Ask a Liberal...

Romney crushed Obama. Exhibit A:


Oh, and that 47% malarkey? Be careful what you ask for. Think: bitter clingers.

Another lib quote via LegInsurrection:

Romney is relaxed and empathetic, while Obama comes across as a constipated professor. C'mon, Mr. President! #Debates
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) October 4, 2012

Photos: Paula Broadwell Nude? (David Petraeus Affair) Update: Paula Broadwell's Husband

Paula Broadwell photos... More added when available: