In the world of Twitter, YouTube, and the 24/7 news cycle, these debates bare a much closer resemblance to a baseball season than to prize fights.  In other words, consistency is key and you can’t win it all in one night.  There are only two people who demonstrate consistency night-in and night-out, and that’s Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.

Paul is consistent only in the sense that he seems to be incapable of thinking clearly and wastes time that we could be spending getting to know the next GOP nominee.  And he’s 76-years-old.  The only reason you don’t know that fact is because none of his opponents are threatened by his candidacy enough to point it out.

Our only rock-steady debater is Mitt.  Though he’s rarely inspiring, he simply doesn’t give a bad answer and has a thoughtful response to every challenge.  Not only can he take a punch, he’s the only candidate who gets himself up for every go-round and is eager to engage.  Compare that with Rick Perry—clearly a good man and an effective Governor—who has done nothing in the past eight weeks to demonstrate that he could make his high school debate team, much less go toe to toe with Obama and then the world.  Tonight was the night where the giant Vaudeville cane should have come out to pull him off stage.

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From the Associated Press:

United against Barack Obama, Senate Republicans voted Tuesday night to kill the jobs package the president had spent weeks campaigning for across the country, a stinging loss at the hands of lawmakers opposed to stimulus-style spending and a tax increase on the very wealthy.

Forty-six Republicans joined with two Democrats to filibuster the $447 billion plan. Fifty Democrats had voted for it, but the vote was not final. The roll call was kept open to allow Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. to vote. The likely 51-48 eventual tally would be far short of the 60 votes needed to keep the bill alive in the 100-member Senate.

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Bloomberg and The Washington Post are scheduled to start trying to smear the candidates at 8pm EDT. Whomever “wins,” the GOP has already lost by allowing their enemies in the press to vet their candidates. Will the other candidates (and the moderators, of course) try to “finish off” Rick Perry or shift their attention to the surging Herman Cain? Will Romney or Cain ever criticize each other? Will Ron Paul still look at Iran and say, “meh, live and let live”?

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With Herman Cain grabbing top headlines at The Drudge Report and Gallup reporting that he has statistically tied Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination, the question is whether the math-genius-turned-businessman can really become the Godfather of America’s political system. Some smart new research says Cain can win the general — people have an open mind about him — but he needs to close the sale with those uncertain swing voters.

What was once seen as a second-tier candidacy has been catching fire. From 9-9-9 to that Florida straw poll, Mr. Cain has been building momentum. Now, a firm has created a clever experiment to figure out if he can really do well beyond the small purview of committed GOP primary activists. Evolving Strategies allowed respondents to view several key clips and overlaid a behavior game that allowed people to donate or take away money from a candidate. According to the group, it’s the first to have real information on how electable Cain is with the general audience.

Good news for Herman Cain supporters: he’s tested quite well.

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The Internet hacker collective known as Anonymous may be on a political collision course with the #Occupy movement that it helped launch.

The anarchist, anti-authoritarian nature of Anonymous could soon place it at odds with the #OccupyWallStreet protestors, many of whom pine for a “pure” democracy in which a consensus (not a majority) defines the rules.

That clash becomes more likely as #OccupyWallStreet begins taking marching orders (literally) from Big Labor, the Democratic Party, and the institutional left.

Recently, for example, a faction of Anonymous recently told MoveOn.org to “f#@ off” (language warning):

To understand the dynamic between Anonymous and #Occupy, it is necessary to examine the history of both. (more…)

My fellow Americans–and, I suppose, Canadians:

I regret to inform you that you are not the “99 Percent.”

The 99 Percent dislikes big banks, but also dislikes big government–and big messes.

The 99 Percent does not occupy property it does not own, public or private.

The 99 Percent does not steal from local businesses, does not attack police officers, does not storm national museums, and does not defecate in public.

Flyer at #OccupyWallStreet - the address for donations is a small building in Washington, DC shared by Code Pink and other "progressive" organizations

The 99 Percent does not rank people’s views based on their skin color, gender, or socioeconomic status.

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From AgWeek:

WASHINGTON — Despite his earlier statements that the Obama administration would let Congress write the next farm bill, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack commented Oct. 3 and 4 on several sections of the bill…

…Vilsack said in the interview he is reluctant to cut the food stamp program, saying that its budget authority already was reduced to pay for teacher salaries and to make settlements for farmers who had sued USDA for discrimination in the Pigford II case.

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From AFP:

US agents have foiled what has been called a “significant terrorist act” linked to Iran which called for the assassination of the Saudi US ambassador and other attacks, ABC News reported Tuesday.

The Justice Department scheduled an announcement at 1800 GMT on what it called “significant national security enforcement action.”

ABC said the plot included the assassination of the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, with a bomb and subsequent bomb attacks on the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington.

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It’s all about the Benjamins, baby!

Occupy Wall Street protesters asked “Wall Street banker” James O’Keefe for capital investing yesterday. They wanted funding for the “Constitutional World Federation” they are planning. Another protester goes into detail about funding for the Occupy Wall Street protest came from Almagamated Bank. They’re all for capitalism, but only if it benefits them.

James O’Keefe scores another win against the hypocritical left.
Via Project Veritas:

From NationalJournal:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is expected to give Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney his endorsement in the race for GOP nomination, a major coup for Romney that could help him solidify his front-runner status and build an aura of inevitability around his campaign.

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The Department of Energy bragged about giving a $1.2 billion loan guarantee to SunPower, a politically connected solar energy company, to create “10-15 permanent jobs,” raising critical questions as to if California SunPower is the next Solyndra in the ongoing Crony-Gate scandal.

Unlike Solyndra, which went bankrupt after receiving the loan from the government leaving taxpayer on the hook, SunPower’s deal is more complicated.  Many questions are being raised about how the company was able to obtain the loan and what they did after they got the money.  Questions include:

• How could the Department of Energy give a loan to a company that was under a shareholder suit alleging securities fraud and misrepresentations?
• The son of Rep. George Miller (D-CA) who was paid $178,000 to lobby on behalf of the company represented SunPower as a lobbyist.  Why did Rep. George Miller tour the SunPower facility – which is outside his congressional district – and what other official action did Rep. Miller take on behalf of the company that is represented by his lobbyist son?
• Did the company’s hefty political contributions to the Obama campaign and the DCCC play a role in the deal?
• Did U.S. taxpayers help pay for the company to open a facility in Mexico after the announcement of the loan?
• Was the U.S. government aware that company executives were in the process of selling a portion of the company to a French company – an action that was undertaken two weeks after the loan was awarded?  Did the loan allow insider’s to cash out leaving other investors holding on to the stock that has dropped by more than 60% since the loan was awarded?

Questionable Finances

In 2009, a year before the DOE awarded the loan, investors in SunPower filed a class action lawsuit against the company alleging SunPower and certain of the Company`s executive officers were in violation of federal securities laws.

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The Obama administration has cost so many Americans jobs, it’s a wonder more of those in it still have theirs. David Axelrod’s current job seems to be selling Obama’s jobs bill. But then, you can’t spell “jobs bill,” let alone sell it, without bs.

As the Senate prepares to vote on President Obama’s jobs bill, the Obama campaign released a memo by senior strategist David Axelrod that seems designed to give wavering senators reason to vote for the bill: it makes the case that “there is no Republican alternative that would create jobs now.”

Are Democrats poised to try and pass Obama’s jobs bill in pieces?

Senate Democrats are poised to bring Obama’s jobs bill to the floor for a vote Tuesday, but with passage facing long odds, party leaders may break the legislation into parts, hoping for greater success in smaller increments.

The AP has Romney in the hot seat for tonight’s debate. Perry has been moved over a seat in the arrangement to make room for Herman Cain. While more window dressing, than anything,  in  terms of the debate, it should prove interesting if a shift in the  current  race  dynamics shakes up anything in  addition  to the seating  arrangements. Stay  tuned.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — They’re coming to what is essentially his home turf — and they are ready to challenge Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney on the economy, the central issue to the former Massachusetts governor’s campaign.

Is this Perry’s now-or-never debate? If not,  it may be getting close. Bachmann is trying to assure supporters that her campaign isn’t floundering. Tough sell.

Uh-oh: Romney advisors met several times with White House staff during the debates over ObamaCare. Chances this topic comes up in tonight’s debate: 150%!

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Elizabeth Blackney discuss Michael Isikoff’s story detailing the relationship Romney’s team had with Barack Obama during the crafting of Obamacare, a brewing Romney crony capitalism scandal, and explore the buddy-buddy relationship Romney has with Herman Cain.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Michael Isikoff: White House used Mitt Romney health-care law as blueprint for federal law
Mitt Romney flip flops to the front of the GOP 2012 Presidential race
Perry Campaign: Romney’s Remedy
Romney’s distance from past decisions helps explain potency in current criticisms
Romney aide trades on political ties
Mitt Romney: Vote for me — or for Herman Cain

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Well, the hippies are still sleeping on the ground down by Wall Street, defecating who knows where, dragging their tarps from street corner to street corner and having sexual relations out in public. (I guess it’s kinda like Woodstock, minus the bad music.)

President Obama is still in their corner. He’s still trying to convince us that these freaks are simply giving voice to the “frustration” average Americans feel, while not admitting that these little socialists are the products of the very ideology and class-warfare that he’s been peddling under the guise of “hope and change” for three years now.

I wish he’d just come out and call them his comrades.

Now, enter Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain: he sees the hippies for what they are. Over the weekend he called them out for being “jealous’ Americans who “play the victim card” to get their hands on other people’s stuff.

Unlike Obama, Cain understands how business works: he knows what it’s like to work for living, to manage employees, and to have to make a profit. Thus he knows the only thing these dirty hippies are accomplishing is the destruction of someone’s bottom line.

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From HumanEvents:

How did a failing California solar company, buffeted by short sellers and shareholder lawsuits, receive a $1.2 billion federal loan guarantee for a photovoltaic electricity ranch project—three weeks after it announced it was building new manufacturing plant in Mexicali, Mexico, to build the panels for the project.

The company, SunPower (SPWR-NASDAQ), now carries $820 million in debt, an amount $20 million greater than its market capitalization. If SunPower was a bank, the feds would shut it down. Instead, it received a lifeline twice the size of the money sent down the Solyndra drain.

Two men with insight into the process are SunPower rooter Rep. George R. Miller III, (D.-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee and the co-chairman of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, and his SunPower lobbyist son, George Miller IV.

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From Reuters:

New York City’s securities industry could lose nearly 10,000 jobs by the end of 2012, according to a report by New York state’s comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, the Wall Street Journal said.

In a report due for release on Tuesday DiNapoli also said bonuses were likely to shrink this year, reflecting lower profits on Wall Street, the WSJ reported.

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From MSNBC:

Newly obtained White House records provide fresh details on how senior Obama administration officials used Mitt Romney’s landmark health-care law in Massachusetts as a model for the new federal law, including recruiting some of Romney’s own health care advisers and experts to help craft the act now derided by Republicans as “Obamacare.”

The records, gleaned from White House visitor logs reviewed by NBC News, show that senior White House officials had a dozen meetings in 2009 with three health-care advisers and experts who helped shape the health care reform law signed by Romney in 2006, when the Republican presidential candidate was governor of Massachusetts. One of those meetings, on July 20, 2009, was in the Oval Office and presided over by President Barack Obama, the records show.

“The White House wanted to lean a lot on what we’d done in Massachusetts,” said Jon Gruber, an MIT economist who advised the Romney administration on health care and who attended five meetings at the Obama White House in 2009, including the meeting with the president. “They really wanted to know how we can take that same approach we used in Massachusetts and turn that into a national model.”

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Lisa Fithian, the anarchist who is organizing #OccupyWallSt “direct actions” with unions and Democrats across the country, addressed several hundred evidently brainwashed activists at their “General Assembly” in Chicago on October 10, 2011.

She described the coordination between “community-based organizations” and unions across the country in a “fall campaign,” and described the racial speech codes that #Occupy enforces at its meetings.

Fithian actually called for white men to speak first at meetings, in order to create a racial solidarity that can unite all of #Occupy’s disparate groups. [Update: It was apparently unclear, even to the activists, whether Fithian used the pronoun "they" to refer to white men, or to everyone else.]

The cult-like crowd repeated almost every word.

Transcript:

Hello Occupy Chicago!

Hello Occupy Chicago!

My name is Lisa.

My name is Lisa.

I was on Wall Street September 17th.

I was on Wall Street September 17th.

I’ve had the pleasure to be involved [in] OccupySanFrancisco, OccupyLA, OccupyDC, and now OccupyChicago!

[Cheers] (more…)

#OccupyChicago: thousands of anarchists, union members, and Democrats–and not one American flag.

Just like the Tea Party!

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) was on hand. She addressed a mob outside the Hyatt Regency Chicago, where some activists apparently attempted to disrupt a meeting of the Mortgage Bankers Association. She then led them in one of five feeder marchers that combined into a sea of pot-smoking, bongo-drumming, flea-infested dreadlock lunacy outside the Art Institute of Chicago.

We caught up with Jan, and asked for her thoughts on the patriotism of the protest, since we could not find one American flag in her parade of nearly 1000 liberal loons.

Cross-posted at RebelPundit. Follow @RebelPundit on Twitter.