Rick Santorum Cancels Monday Events
National Review Fires Controversial Columnist
Obama & Ann Romney’s Dueling Family Portraits
TPM Editors’ Blog Opinions, Context & Ideas from TPM Editors
Doubling Down
MEK supporters, including Mitt Romney adviser Mitchell Reiss joke about being “potential criminals” at event in Washington on Friday.
Mind The Gender Gap
The dueling family portraits of Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.
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BREAKING
F-18 crashes into apartment building in Virginia Beach. All the latest in our TPM Livewire.
Mitt’s Gain
He’s had a hard few weeks, heck a hard few months. But today’s tepid jobs report comes at just the right time for Mitt Romney, allowing him to get back into an argument about the economy versus President Obama.
Conceding The Obvious
In Wisconsin, Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus is forced to accept that she is not very good at conducting elections.
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Not 2008
A favorite bit of spin for those wanting to suggest that Mitt Romney hasn’t been damaged by an unexpectedly difficult primary has been that Obama and Clinton duked it out for months in 2008 – and the Democrats emerged stronger for it. Here’s why that comparison is so obviously inappropriate.
Very Weak
As you can see, a very disappointing jobs report today. And it’s a reminder that both presidential candidates’ fate remains tied to the trendline of the economy, something neither can control.
We Have a Winner
This is quite possibly the most moronic non-scandal in history, and Dear Lord, there’s competition. I’m amazed that even Politico fell for it. The scandal is that a Jewish Congresswoman (who’s also head of the DNC) hired a Jewish staffer who, years ago, with other Jewish friends, made jokes about Jews that appeared on her Facebook page. And because of this President Obama hates Israel and wants it to be plowed under by Iran. And also make the memory of Golda Meir wear a hijab. As Socrates* said, life is hard. Especially if you’re stupid.
Maybe Just Settle?
Current TV delivers thermonuclear response to Keith Olbermann’s lawsuit. You’ve really got to wonder what either party thinks they’re going to get out of this self-inflicted bloodbath.
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No Criminal Mastermind
The man who says he attacked a Wisconsin Planned Parenthood office because “they’re killing babies” was no great planner .
Crimson Tide
Mitt Romney holds several degrees from Harvard. He also governed the state that the venerable institution calls home. All of which makes it amazing that he continues – with a straight face – to use it as some sort of elitist cudgel.
This Should Help Things
RNC Chair Reince Priebus says the “war on women” is a media invention as silly as a “war on caterpillars.”
Supreme Silliness Pt II
From the party who perfected cries of “judicial activism!”… Brian Beutler on Mitch McConnell’s speech today lighting into President Obama’s comments on the Supreme Court.
Excellent News For Newt Gingrich
Newt’s think tank goes belly up.
Leave Scott Walker Aloooone!
Scott Walker: my enemies have targeted my kids on Facebook.
My Wife Has Many Women Friends
Mitt Romney isn’t worried about his low favorability ratings with women – his wife Ann ”reports to me” on what they care about, he says.
Don’t Tell, Don’t Tell
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) doesn’t care if you’re gay – he just doesn’t want to hear about it, ok?
‘Crowdfunding’
How you’ll soon be able to invest directly in startup companies.
Can’t Go Home Again?
A new PPP poll suggests Rick Santorum’s home state of Pennsylvania won’t offer the salvation he’s looking for.
Up And Running
American auto manufacturers had a huge month in March – another promising sign of economic recovery, but also a powerful symbol of the success of government intervention. Brian Beutler and Carl Franzen report.
Romney Advisor Mitchell Reiss Backs ‘Terrorist’ Group
Mitchell Reiss, a foreign policy adviser to Mitt Romney, on Friday once again spoke out on behalf of the MEK.
An Incomplete Guide To John Kerry, Red Sox Fan
There's a long history of Sen. John Kerry's completely awkward relationship with the Boston Red Sox.
Most Recent Latest news stories from TPM reporters
Today On The Trail: April 8, 2012
Here are ten things you need to know today. Sunday shows line-up: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) will be on NBC’s Meet the Press; Newt Gingrich, Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Kent Conrad (D-ND) will be on Fox News Sunday; DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz will be on CNN’s State of the Union; Pastor Rick Warren will be on ABC’s This Week; an interview with Cardinal Timothy Dolan on religion and politics will air on CBS’s Face the Nation. Santorum cancels all Rick …
Today On The Trail: April 7, 2012
Here are 10 things you need to know today. Republicans engage on gender gap: After more than a month of polls showing a growing gender gap with women favoring Democrats, Republicans are now actively trying to win some back. Likely GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s campaign has used his wife Ann as a helpful spokeswoman for the cause, while Romney himself and other surrogates have tried to move the conversation from the debate that formed around social issues during the beginning…
Is New Google Maps ‘Floor Plan’ App Cause For Concern?
A new mobile app from Google Maps is hitting a little too close to home for some users: The app, unveiled Thursday exclusively for Android users in the U.S., is called the Google Maps Floor Plan Marker. And the mouthful of a name belies a very simple premise: Google wants business owners to begin uploading detailed floor plans of the interiors of their “venues” so that anyone can see them on Google Maps. As Google wrote in a blog post describing the new app: The information you…
The Day In 100 Seconds: Buzzkill
If President Obama was expecting another 200,000 jobs added in March, he (and all the economists who predicted exactly that) were left sorely disappointed by the mere 121,000 jobs added last month. Mitt Romney was quick to pounce on the news, perhaps a more effective talking point than attacking the President for attending Harvard, a university Romney and three of his own sons attended.
Romney Advisor Mitchell Reiss Backs ‘Terrorist’ Group, Jokes About Being ‘Potential Criminal’
Mitchell Reiss, a foreign policy adviser to Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, on Friday once again spoke out on behalf of an Iranian opposition group the U.S. considers a terrorist organization. Reiss, a former State Department official, appeared alongside other former U.S. officials like former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Attorney General Michael Mukasey at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C. to support removing the People’s Muhajedin Organization of Iran, or…
An Incomplete Guide To John Kerry, Red Sox Fan
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), like so many baseball fans, greeted the arrival of another baseball season with a tweet.
But his Red Sox-related micro-missive on Thursday – a mash of smack talk and contextual information at the completely the wrong time – was a bit of strike out. Sort of like someone breaking in to make a joke about a known story before the story is over. It was just weird.
Obama, Ann Romney Paint Dueling Family Portraits
Mitt Romney’s latest campaign video, simply titled “Family,” has a decidedly retro feel – and not just because it consists mostly of silent Super 8 footage and old yellowing family photographs featuring some spectacular ’70s fashions. The whole image projected in the video by narrator Ann Romney, Mitt’s official Female Ambassador, is evocative of a different era – she describes waiting at home with her sons for Mitt to return from work, at which point he’d become child-like himself …
The Female Economic Divide Between Obama And Romney
President Obama and Mitt Romney both addressed women and worked to win their votes this week. Their responses to what Democrats argue is a continuing “war on women” could not have been more different: Obama believes women have unique and specific economic desires from their economy. Romney says women need no tailor-made policies; what’s already in his policy platform is enough to close the gap in the polls among women. With the contraception battle fading on the national level (and…
SOPA Opponents Fear New Anti-Piracy Legislation Is Coming
Updated 4:20 pm ET, Friday, April 6 Advocacy groups that led the fight against the failed anti-online piracy bills the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (IP) have begun to mobilize their forces anew, anticipating that lawmakers, backed by Hollywood lobbyists, will attempt to resurrect the bills or launch comparable new legislation in an effort to crack down on piracy. The sudden regrouping comes three months after a successful, massive one-day protest by millions…
Broccoli Lobby Won’t Target Supreme Court
The broccoli lobby is sitting this fight out. Opponents of President Obama’s health care reform law have questioned whether the government, after requiring people to buy health insurance, could eventually mandate that people buy broccoli. “Could you define the market – everybody has to buy food sooner or later, so you define the market as food,” Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said during last week’s oral arguments on the health law, echoing the GOP talking points againstWall…
OpenStreetMap Celebrates Wikipedia Defection From Google Maps
Google Maps lost another high-profile customer on Thursday when Wikipedia announced that it would be switching to OpenStreetMap (OSM), a free, crowdsourced alternative mapping project based in the UK, for use in Wikipedia’s new mobile apps. “For OSM, we see this as validation – another of the world’s biggest sites has decided that OSM data is worth switching to,” said Richard Fairhurst, an OpenStreetMap foundation board member, in an email to TPM. “We’re sure it will bring more…
Colbert: The Economy Is Not Getting ‘More Better Any Faster’
America’s greatest days are still ahead, Stephen Colbert said on Thursday. That’s why, every so often, he likes to remind viewers that they are not. “Otherwise Barack Obama might get credit for it.” So imagine Colbert’s surprise when he turned on Fox News and faced his worst fear: good news. Weekly jobless claims fell last week to a four-year low, Fox News cheered. “I thought we were friends,” Colbert said. “A lot of us are working very hard to remind America that (Obama) is…
Waukesha County Clerk Nickolaus Steps Aside For The Recall Elections
Updated April 6, 2:30 p.m. ET Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus has announced that she is stepping aside from her office’s main duty of election administration, in the wake of continued problems with vote counts that have become a center of controversy in this stronghold for Wisconsin Republicans. This past Tuesday, Waukesha’s full vote count was delayed into Wednesday – actually boosting Mitt Romney’s final lead from five points up to seven points, when all was completed…
Weak Jobs Report Is Mitt Romney’s Gain
Breaking a streak of solid to strong job growth, March’s employment numbers came in below expectations with 120,000 new jobs and a surprisingly large number of workers leaving the labor force altogether.
The disappointing figure is a worrisome bump in the road to recovery that comes as many economists, business leaders and investors were growing more optimistic that the economy had entered a self-sustaining cycle of growth.
Jon Stewart To Obama: Quit Asking Me For Money
Jon Stewart’s inbox is overflowing … with emails from President Obama’s campaign. The message is always the same: give me your money. On behalf of pretty much everyone, Stewart said on Thursday, “Stop it.” Especially the subject lines like “Hey” and “Dinner?” “You don’t need to address anyone as ‘hey’ to be cool,” Stewart said. “You’re the president, that’s pretty fuckin’ cool.” The subject line should pretty much just be: “From the President: Me,” Stewart said. But really, Stewart …
Today On The Trail: April 6, 2012
Here are ten things you need to know today. Dems continue to push “War On Women”: Amidst a large gender gap in national polling between President Obama and likely Republican nominee former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the Democratic National Committee continues to needle their Republican counterparts’ “anti-women’s health agenda.” Responding to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus’s statement that such an agenda is “fiction,” DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz …
One Company Ready To ‘Crowdfund’ After JOBS Act: Rock The Post
President Obama signed a bill Thursday afternoon that makes crowdfunding the law of the land. The Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act allows, for the first time ever, members of the public to invest in private startup companies using the Internet and social media. But it could take up to a year before the law actually takes effect as the Securities and Exchange Commission reviews the law and suggests changes in its final implementation. Still, whenever that happens, one…
Former Officials To Appear At D.C. Event On Behalf Of ‘Terrorist’ Group
Eight former U.S. officials will appear at a Washington, D.C. event on Friday in support of an Iranian opposition group labeled a terrorist organization by the United States, all in the midst of a federal investigation into speaking fees paid for appearances at previous conferences. An unknown number of former officials who have spoken at events in support of the People’s Muhajedin Organization of Iran, or MEK, have been subpoenaed by the Treasury Department. Former Attorney General…
The Silly Spin Of A Damaging Primary
Republicans have often spun Mitt Romney’s inability to fully shake Rick Santorum as not unlike the classic 2008 Democratic primary process that ended up with President Obama the victor. Wishful thinking. Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus has maintained that the elongated primary process is good for his side. In a March interview, Priebus offered a defense of the race, directly citing headlines from 2008 reports on the Democratic primary and concluding that it only helped…
White House Says GOP Budget A Disaster For Women
The Obama administration is hoping for a Friday three-fer. Amid a political fight over women’s rights that has caused GOP support among women to collapse; a Friday jobs report expected to show that the economy continues to grow rapidly; and an election year fight over the Republican Party’s controversial budget, the White House will host a forum on women and the economy – to highlight the administration’s accomplishments in the area of women’s rights, particularly in contrast with…
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