Do you think those who made the decision to say nothing about Afghanistan among other things during the RNC are kicking themselves?

And I agree Greyson, I think this will be the most important election in my life time so far.

I thought it was a good speech. I whooped and hollered some. But I don't think he hit it out of the park.

Was that a rhetorical question? :D

The President's speech wasn't the barn-burner I thought it might be-that went to his wife, Clinton, and even Biden. But it was still a good speech, and overall this convention was better-run than the Republicans last week. Notice that no one remembers Romney's speech, but Clint Eastwood is the iconic image.

I personally think he was correct in moving the speech inside, but I admit that flap and the Jerusalem thing were ham-handed. Still, I think that will pass and overall they didn't lose any ground-and may well have gained some momentum.

Now it comes down to the debates, which I think the President still has an edge.

Restricting Access to Vote
 

Ohio is the largest swing state in terms of electorial votes up for grabs. Winning or losing this state could determine who will be the next president of the USA.



After Bucking Federal Judge On Early Voting, Ohio Secretary Of State Ordered To Appear In Court

By Aviva Shen on Sep 5, 2012 at 6:28 pm

Judge Peter Economus has set a hearing for September 13 to address Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted’s refusal to comply with the court’s ruling that the state must allow early voting on the three days leading up to the general election. Economus released a terse order Wednesday afternoon: “The Court ORDERS that Defendant Secretary of State Jon Husted personally attend the hearing.” The Obama campaign filed a motion earlier Wednesday asking the court to make Husted give way.

Husted issued a directive Tuesday stating that he would appeal the decision to restore early voting on those three days, claiming that changing the hours now would “only serve to confuse voters.” The directive “strictly prohibits county boards of elections from determining hours for the Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday before the election.”

Lynn Kinkaid, Director of the Butler County Board of Elections, which originally voted to hold weekend hours before Husted’s directive restricted them, told ThinkProgress the board is powerless to act against the Secretary of State’s directive. “I can’t imagine we would disobey a court order…he must have a good reason for it,” Kinkaid said. “He’s the big boss. I’m not going to second-guess my boss.”

Husted fired two Montgomery County election board members after they defied his directive and voted to hold weekend voting hours. Two other Ohio counties have asked Husted to reevaluate the voting restrictions.

Kinkaid recalled huge turnout in Butler County, which voted for McCain in 2008, on the weekend before the election: “There was a lot of people out there. We had them lined up two people, down the hall, out the door, over into the churchyard a block or two away. People waited for three hours.” By Kinkaid’s estimate, poll workers worked 36 hours of overtime that weekend.

There are several pending lawsuits against Husted’s office, including a recent suit by his Democratic predecessor, Jennifer Brunner, over his directive to limit voting hours. On Tuesday, the two fired board of elections members called for Husted’s resignation over a redistricting ballot issue.

http://thinkprogress.org/election/issue/

I thought he totally hit it out of the park!

He is so intensely articulate that his speeches sometime fall flat due to his affect. Last night was different in my eyes. He had more passion and even a little humor.

I still want to see him go all Bobby Kennedy on a crowd! That man could inspire a mountain to get up and cheer!

Did anyone else notice when he walked up to greet Michelle he gave her bum a little pat!!! I loved it! :)

Husted appeared before the Judge and BACKED DOWN! The order is rescinded and voters rights were returned.

I love it when the judiciary does its job.

Cheers
Aj

Come on you guys, the empty chair thing was just one moment in an otherwise stellar career. Seriously, "The Bridges of Madison County" was a superlative film, by far his best work. It was well-written, made me cry at times and really left me wanting more; I've seen it a dozen times! It was so romantic, so touching and really very realistic. I even have it on DVD and it's almost worn out. Oh. Uh, wait, wait, I think I got confused. Yeah, I did. I meant to say "Dirty Harry", yeah, that's it. "Dirty Harry". I love that flick. I've worn that sucker out!

I don't know why you are comparing acting and speaking at a political party's convention. I have never been a fan of Eastwood's. That macho type completely turns me off. He definitely does need to stick to acting. I don't care what he has done in Hollywood he should have never have done what he did.

His schtick was pathetic and extremely derogatory to President Obama as well as the Office of the President. He owes a big apology to President Obama but will never give it.

Anyway, President Obama had the best reply, "this seat is taken."

Clarification
 

*sighs*

It's not surprising you would dismiss Eastwood's stupidity his disrespect to The POTUS. Here's why I said what I said:

I was a fan of Eastwood, I grew up as a kid watching his old westerns, and bawled like a baby at the end of Gran Torino. Paint me shocked and surprised when I hear that he is going to be a speaker at the RNC, I am going to risk being honest the pit of my stomach dropped and I thought oh fuck here we go, please don't let this man that you have enjoyed in cinema be that guy who is going to be just like the other guys who are gathered in the name of hate..

I don't know if you view or viewed the RNC like I do, I am going to guess you don't since I am a Latina, Woman, Feminist, and I am part of the LGBTQI umbrella. What I watched as I looked into the sea of white, is a whole lotta fucking racism, hate, zealotry and then this man, who as a kid you thought was cool, then as an adult touched you in a current film get up on a podium and then that man takes your nose and smears it in shit like you are some kind of bad dog.

That man stood up there and DISMISSED OUR POTUS in a disgusting, racist, white hate demeanor that I just was at a loss for words. I did not know if I should feel bad that this man was making an ass out of not only him, his party, his family and this country or slap him off the fucking podium and tell him to take his shit elsewhere. I watched this man become one more white face in a sea of hate, dismissively point to an empty chair while he had a *pretend conversation* with the POTUS who is a Man of Color.


I am 43 years old, I know and recognize racism at it's ugliest and what Eastwood did on behalf of his political party was just that. Racism, he is now to me a part of the problem.

He's just to *me* another white guy, who's fathered 7 children by 5 different women trying to tell me, a non white woman who's body is hers yet he and his party think differently. I am a queer woman who he dislikes because he is all worried about the sanctity of the nuclear family while he hikes his leg up and pisses kids out like they are candy in a pez dispenser and yet he has the nerve to do what he did?

Here's what happened in I forgot to seperate character from reality when dealing with idiots like him who use their careers to make hated political statements. He's not the old guy from Gran Torino, he's not the bad ass on The Good The Bad and The Ugly.

He's Clint Eastwood, old white senile man, a Republican who was used and let himself be used at the cost of his public image to spew out some hate. That right there is what over rides it for me, it's hard for me to be around, look at, hear a racist especially a romanticized racist once they show their asses. The only thing he did for me was make it clear, he's part of that sea of white that wants nothing to do with the likes of me.

All because I am a Latina, Woman, Queer, Feminist....

So yeah, seriously.....


Oh and while he is doing this on that god damn podium looking *DOWN* at an empty chair telling a Man of Color this and that. THAT right there is racism Reader, and that shit right there PISSES me off and DISGUSTS me to no end. Kinda like when someone is like really? Why you gotta be mad at the dude he's Dirty Harry.

I can't afford forgetting who he really is, I am a little embarrased that I did.

You know, it would bother me less if the GOP hadn't spent most of the last decade arguing, quite frankly, that the merest hint that one might be considering the possibility, of thinking about entertaining the idea of disagreeing with the Bush the Younger as tantamount to treason. Back in '03 or '04 if one said that Bush was wrong about any subject matter, the GOP would paint that person as being the real and true leader of Al Qaeda even if Mr. Bush said something demonstrably, factually untrue. Yet, now, that a Democrat is POTUS anything this side of some statement that would have the Secret Service at your door is patriotic dissent. When we once again have a Republican POTUS, we'll be told that just as between 2001 and 2009, merely thinking that they are wrong will be evidence that one hates mother, babies, puppies and ice cream.

If the GOP has decided that one should only respect a legitimate POTUS and legitimacy derives from being a Republican, then they should at least *say* that. I would respect the Republican party much more if they would simply have the courage of their convictions and say what everyone knows they mean which is this; the office of the President should be respected when it is occupied by a Republican but not when occupied by a Democrat.

Cheers
Aj

Quite honestly, I'm not going to let Eastwood's very strange, Grandpa Simpson ramblings get in the way of enjoying his movies. For the most part, I find the political utterances of all but a very small sliver of actors to be worthless and I wish they would shut up. That applies regardless of political leanings.

I think that there are very few playwrights of the last half-century that can best David Mamet's (Glengarry Glen Ross) dialog work and he recently (last five years or so) lost his damn mind and has become an Obama-hating right-wing populist masquerading as a conservative. I *still* watch his work because he can write dialog like no one else. I love Samuel L. Jackson but find most of his political pronouncements vapid even though he's of my political tribe, more or less so I certainly see what you're driving at.

Cheers
Aj

Romney under friendly fire for his response to embassy attack in Libya
 

The Republican presidential candidate came under fire from Republicans and Democrats on Wednesday for politicizing the outbreak of deadly violence in the Middle East, including the breaching of the American Embassy in Cairo and an attack on the American Consulate in Libya, which claimed the life of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other diplomatic workers.

The danger for Romney is that his response to the Middle East attacks feeds into a consensus among the news media that his campaign to unseat Obama is in serious trouble. For the fourth time in recent months, prominent conservatives have gone public with fretting over the direction of Romney's campaign—a panic set off most recently by conservative radio host Laura Ingraham's suggestion Monday that if Romney can't beat Obama then the Republican Party should be "shut down." On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal editorial board piled on, suggesting Romney could lose the election because he's been too vague when it comes to explaining his policies.

"Mistakes like this happen when a campaign begins to feel under pressure," Schmidt told Yahoo News. "The Democrats had a more successful convention, the president's opened up a lead in the polls, there's been a lot of criticism by conservative commentators about campaign strategy. … They acted too quickly, too rashly, too politically—looking obviously for a way to change the narrative, the dynamic in the race."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/r...-election.html

There are no words...go ahead and watch
 

This is like pure schaudenfreude mainlined right into the body. Romney's had such a horrible week that I almost feel sorry for him. Almost.

Cheers
Aj

what if....


all the money spent on these campaigns was applied to the National Debt?

:fastdraq: