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Nov. 6 Can’t Come Soon Enough–for Republicans

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Ordinarily, the leading candidate in a campaign wants election day to come as soon as possible. In most years, this axiom would suggest the DEMs and President Obama wish November 6 were tomorrow. While that may still be the case, to a degree, I see another dynamic possibly at play right now.

Judging by the way several Republican Senate candidates–think of Tommy Thompson (WI), Richard Mourdock (IN), Connie Mack (FL), and Josh Mandel (OH)–are seeing their support collapse and/or remain anemic, I think the Repub establishment wishes the big day were this Tuesday, instead of the Tuesday six weeks from now. They would almost certainly lose the presidential election if it were held this week, but this would at least limit their congressional losses. Instead, with Mitt Romney currently veering from bad to worse in national and state polling, there is an increasingly probability that DEMs will retain or increase their Senate majority. Lurking behind this scenario is the one that until now has been spoken of by only a few pundits, while remaining unmentioned–if not unthinkable–for national Republicans: they could also lose their House majority.

I know that the 2010 congressional redistricting done in many states was designed by Republican partisans to make the possibility of losing their House majority extremely remote, but if Romney does poorly in the debates and if his support tops off in the mid-40%s, and if Republican voters see him as a national embarrassment and become demoralized about voting, a big DEM wave really could build over the next month.

All of this is conjecture, of course, and I’ll quickly concede that the outcome of the presidential election is itself far from certain. Still, with many observers pointing out that pressure is growing on Romney and his advisors to try to force a ‘game-changing’ moment in the first debate, it strikes me at least as probable that clumsy Mitt may over-step or over-react to something said by  President Obama or the moderator. Remember how they over-reacted to the tragic news from Libya a few weeks ago? Mitt thought he had a political opportunity there too, and look how that turned out in political terms–a disaster for Mitt and Republicans.

As to the current polling mentioned above, click on the adjacent screenshot of a Sept. 24th blog post from Taegan Goddard’s politicalwire.com, with six swing state polls, or visit Taegan’s site for more of his comprehensive coverage:

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“Con-text” is Everything

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Via politicalwire.com, a satirical take on the Romney campaign’s continuing penchant, from the beginning of the year, for quoting snippets of remarks by President Obama, and then trying to make a big deal out of the distorted meaning. It was seen again today, once it was proven that the big deal Romney’s been trying to make over remarks that  Illinois State Senator Barack Obama made in 1998 about “redistribution” were really innocuous, and balanced with mentioned of “competition” and “the marketplace.” This bit of campaign skullduggery, quickly exposed by NBC, earned 4 Pinocchios from Glenn Kessler, fact-checker at the Washington Post.

Here, the Obama camp turns the tables and with a wink, knowingly–admittedly–takes Mitt out of context to show how nakedly dishonest his campaign really is. I found it quite funny. If the video has a name, it must be titled, “Con-text.” I like the way the DEMs are ridiculing and mocking Mitt. He is a joke, after all.

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A Human Rights Hero Visits D.C./Part II

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A second photo I might’ve thought I’d never see.

As a bookend to the pictures of Aung San Suu Kyi with President Obama and Hillary posted here:

Last winter in NYC editor and Fb friend Shaun Randol of The Mantle: A Journal of Progressive Critique invited me to an opening for an exhibit of Burmese artists. They were all savoring the winds of change, but warily. After all, the Burmese generals might yet lower the boom again. So glad to see the improvement in Burma has not receded. The normalization of conditions for human rights in Burma, after so many years of iron military rule, is amazing. So glad she is freed to be a political player in Burma, and to travel again. What an example of reconciliation she and her country may together provide. I wrote a blog piece about that exhibit, here for you to click on next, w/many images of the art that night.

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What Mitt Romney Thinks of Obama Voters

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Late Monday Update: This link is to the entire Mother Jones piece by David Corn that unearthed the video of Mitt Romney disparaging Obama voters. Corn’s piece is excellent reporting, and goes well beyond the video that has so quickly become notorious, and emblematic of Romney’s disdain for close to half the country.
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This afternoon Taegan Goddard’s PoliticalWire.com has posted shocking audio and video of Mitt Romney, at a fundraiser, characterizing Obama voters in a most denigrating way. The whole clip runs about 2 minutes. Here’s an excerpt quote from PoliticalWire.com:

Said Romney: “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.”

He adds: “My job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
Here’s the clip:

This feels like a kind of bombshell.

Sometime after it appeared on politicalwire.com, the Obama Campaign sent out these remarks:

STATEMENT ON ROMNEY’S BEHIND CLOSED DOORS REMARKS

CHICAGO – “It’s shocking that a candidate for President of the United States would go behind closed doors and declare to a group of wealthy donors that half the American people view themselves as ‘victims,’ entitled to handouts, and are unwilling to take ‘personal responsibility’ for their lives. It’s hard to serve as president for all Americans when you’ve disdainfully written off half the nation.” – Jim Messina, Obama for America Campaign Manager

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A Presidential Barn Burner in Las Vegas

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As you’ll see in this 1:30 video, President Obama brought his ‘A’ game to the campaign trail today. In Las Vegas to give a speech on the differences between Mitt’s education policy and that of his administration, he hit a crescendo of tasks that remain undone after one term in office, and he exhorted everyone to help get him, and us, the second term he needs to carry on the job toward completion. H/t TPM and Benjy Sarlin for getting up the video and the story so quickly this afternoon.

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Hoist on their Own Petard

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Isn’t it the pinnacle of cynical political mendacity for establishment Republicans and Mitt Romney to try and shove Todd Akin out of the Missouri Senate race? First of all, he won a democratically contested primary just a few weeks ago. He got the most votes. Second, they’re not doing it because they find the views he expressed about rape and abortion objectionable. Instead, they’re trying to force him out because his ugly remark was stupid and puts them in bad odor politically. They’re trying to run away from this situation the same way they ran away from Mark Foley in the scandal involving  under-age congressional pages a few years ago. For them it’s all about appearances and how they look to women voters. It’s monumentally cynical because over the years they have clearly demonstrated how little regard they actually have for protecting women’s reproductive choices. Meantime, establishment types like John Cornyn and Mitch McConnell (who relishes the prospect of becoming Senate Majority Leader in 2013, but who may see it slipping away) have a problem on their right wing with the Family Research Council and other fervent anti-choice types increasingly alienated because of the pressure on Akin. Now that it seems clear Akin’s going to stay in the race, I expect to see a growing division at the Republican Convention among establishment types and social conservatives. It’s been reported today that the platform for their big shindig includes a plank devoted to denying access to abortion in all circumstances.

For this political observer, it’s going to be fascinating to observe them try to reconcile the conflicts in their party, and watch the gender gap continue to widen in President Obama’s favor in the presidential race. I think their Tampa convention next week may in its impact on the country come to resemble the 1992 tilt when Pat Buchanan ruined George H. W. Bush’s show, shocking the country with his noxious nativism.

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Publishing People for Obama Fundraiser, June 18

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I had a great week in Toronto, covering the North by Northeast festival (NXNE) for this blog, and working with my client Speakerfile, but when I booked the trip in late May, I deliberately scheduled my departure for mid-afternoon on the Monday, June 18, with a hoped-for return landing at LaGuardia before rush hour. This was designed to give me some time in Toronto that workday, while also allowing me to make it to the Publishing People for Obama reception and undraiser that was being held that evening from 6-8 in the Midtown Loft at Fifth Avenue and 29th Street. I lucked out last Monday. Though the day was extremely hot and hazy in Toronto and only a bit less so in NY, there were no thunderstorms messing up the northeast corridor and nothing delayed my departure and rapid return home to Manhattan.

Since I had not flown in a sportcoat and dress shirt, I wanted to change in to an outfit that would come close to business attire, or semi-business attire. How was I going to do this? In the back of a livery cab? I didn’t think so. I lucked out again and had a funny sort of sitcom moment when I found a “family restroom” at LaGuardia, with a door I could lock and then dig into my luggage for my toothbrush and a suitable change of clothes. So far as I know, I didn’t inconvenience any desperate parent with a baby in need of a diaper change–at least no one banged on the door begging entrance, nor did any airport guard see me go in and out of this inner sanctum of airport privacy.

With luggage in tow, I reached the loft space, showed my passport at the front table (since it was handy) and stowed my stuff in a nearby coat closet. (I’d wondered if a security detail would want to inspect my belongings, but luck prevailed again and no one did). Unencumbered at last, I began greeting publishing friends who had also donated to the president’s reelection campaign via our organizing committee and, like me, were eager to hear from our guest speaker, presidential advisor David Plouffe, and later Rosanne Cash, the evening’s entertainment. I saw the event co-hosts Barbara Lowenstein, Roger Cooper, Tom Dunne, and Bob Miller. Over the next few minutes I saw and spoke with Will Schwalbe, whose second book, The End of Life Book Club will be out this fall; Fauzia and John Burke, of the indie publicity firm FSB Associates, which set up the Facebook page for the event; Linda Johns and George Gibson, of Bloomsbury Publishing, as well as Peter Ginna, of Bloomsbury; Mike Shatzkin and Martha Moran, longtime book biz friends going back to my bookstore days; book packager and publishing consultant David Wilk, and his wife Laura, a watercolor artist;  Brian DeFiore, Irene Skolnick, Deborah Schneider, Scott Waxman, and Alice Fried Martell, all literary agents with their own agencies; Michael Coffey, co-editor of Publishers Weekly, and his wife Rebecca Smith, a sculptor; and Marc E. Jaffe, a publishing advisor whom I hadn’t seen in ages. It should also be said that many people from outside of New York donated, but didn’t attend the event. Thanks to them all too!

Many of these people I saw up on the rooftop, where we enjoyed a great view of the Manhattan skyline all around us, including the Empire State Building at 34th Street, which seemed close enough to touch. Soon, with the evening’s program approaching we were urged to head back downstairs to the main room, which by now had become very crowded. Pretty soon there were so many familiar faces I couldn’t keep track of who I was seeing. The space got full very fast.

Plouffe is slender and perhaps around 5′ 10″. He has thin hands and long fingers on a slight frame, with a rather bird-like profile. He spoke for about twenty minutes, and then took a half-dozen questions. He thanked us all for contributing to the campaign, and said he believes it’s going to be a close election, and tougher to win than in 2008. He referred to the possibility that Mitt Romney could win, though he also expressed confidence the president will be re-elected. He said only one president has ever been re-elected amid an economy overcoming a depression or recession as severe as the one we’ve endured. That was FDR, in 1936. Plouffe also talked about the veritable flood of Super Pac money flowing against the president and other Democrats, and observed that at times it feels as if their opponent isn’t Mitt Romney, but all the Super Pacs. He pledged that the campaign will do everything possible to remind the American people of how damaging the stated policies of Mitt Romney and the Republican congress would be for the country. He said there is still much that the American people has to learn about Romney–for instance, he said that barely 50% of the country even knows he served as a governor, or what his record was while in office. He promised the campaign will draw sharp contrasts between the president and Romney whenever possible. He asked for our help, and our time as volunteers, for instance by making calls to swing states, or visiting them if you’re able to do so. In 2008 I made calls to Ohio (the state I was born), Virginia, Colorado, and Pennsylvania and will do so again. // more . . . // Click through for entire post and all photos and captions.

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From the Annals of Republican Chutzpah

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With the first anniversary of the killing of Osama Bin Laden approaching on May 1-2, the NY Times reports on the emerging right-wing line, that the Obama administration is supposedly “politicizing” the killing of Osama Bin Laden. This might be funny if weren’t so offensive, considering how after 9/11 the Bush administration relentlessly capitalized on raw emotions, national grief, and fear of terrorism to gain political advantage over Democrats. Refresh your memory with this Karl Rove quote from a Washington Post article on January 18, 2002:

“We can go to the country on this issue because they trust the Republican Party to do a better job of protecting and strengthening America’s military might and thereby protecting America,” Karl Rove said at the Republican National Committee meeting here.

That Rove quote was an early indicator of how they would manage the 2002 mid-terms. Or, just recall the staging of the 2004 Repub convention, held right here in New York City, when Mayor Giuliani and other pols fetishized the attacks, even while they were beginning to deny compensation and benefits to Ground Zero recovery workers who were already falling ill from their work on the toxic pile.

Today’s Times story, under the headline, Obama Trumpets Killing of Bin Laden, and Critics Pounce, allows Repub mouthpieces to give ridiculous quotes like the one below, in response to the fact that this week President Obama did an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams in the White House Situation Room, where the president and other administration officials monitored the raid on Osama’s Pakistan compound:

Tony Fratto, a deputy press secretary under Mr. Bush, said that it was “unseemly” to use the room for such a purpose. “I don’t believe it ever would have occurred to us to conduct an interview in the Situation Room,” he said, “and don’t believe we would have considered it appropriate.”

Worse, John McCain also tries to diminish the president:

“The one decision he got right into a pathetic, political act of self-congratulation. Shame on Barack Obama for diminishing the memory of September 11th and the killing of Osama bin Laden by turning it into a cheap political attack ad.”

Let’s be clear about what’s happening here. The Republicans are panicked that their prior political advantage on this issue has been eroded and they’re desperate to minimize what is clearly going to be an advantage for President Obama over Mitt Romney in his re-election bid. The only question is how big an advantage it will be, especially considering Romney’s George W. Bush-like line from April 2007 spoken during the Republican primary campaign of that year, ““it’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.” That line led to criticism from Republican pundit Byron York: “We have already spent billions and gone to a lot of effort to try to get bin Laden … it would be worth still more money and still more effort to kill the man behind 9/11.”

I also find it amusing that the right-wing often claims that Democratic presidents somehow sully or diminish the office. Remember FBI agent Gary Aldrich’s claims about the Clintons supposedly disrespecting the office, or the claims of incoming Bush staffers (later proven untrue) that outgoing Clinton admin officials had sabotaged White House phones and computers during the transition in 2001? This is also the theme to the right-wing recycling of claims this week from the 2008 campaign that  President Obama is merely a celebrity, with a racial subtext tossed in.

The Times story by Peter Baker and Michael D. Shear does far too little to remind readers of Republican conduct in this area, failing to point out the historical hypocrisy that the right-wing is dealing in here. If you feel as I do, please share this commentary widely.

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