Welcome, friends. The purpose of this regular series is to promote enthusiasm and action among Daily Kos members. Romney will very likely out-fundraise President Obama. However, we believe that we can still win if (1) we can remain competitive financially, and (2) we volunteer our time and energy (GOTV, canvassing, phonebanking, LTE, ...).
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You've heard the refrain: "Tax and spend liberals." That was then. Today, the Obama Campaign launched a multi-faceted attack on
American Conservatism targeting the core issues of taxation and earned benefits, specifically Medicare. I viewed this Medicare ad for the first time on youtube early this morning when it had a total of 322 views. I knew it when it was just a baby. I expect it to grow big and strong.
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Besides that massive ad buy on commercial television stations in Swing States, the Obama Campaign is pushing on the social media front. This is a video from the Obama/Biden "Truth Team" featuring Stephanie Cutter gutting Mitt Romney and his precious little white board:
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I viewed the video for the first time in Vyan's diary and then had to watch it a second time. Why? Because I realized that Stephanie Cutter was hitting extra hard. In only 2:58 of video airtime, you can make up this word wall:
TRUTH TEAM, truth, FLAT OUT LIE, distorted, SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT, truth, not true, ROMNEY WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE, truth, ridiculous, NOT ONE OF THE CLAIMS ON ROMNEY'S WHITE BOARD WAS TRUE, Romney claims.
The Obama Campaign also tightened the screws on Team Vulture and Voucher vis-à-vis their "income tax issue." OFA Campaign Manager Jim Messina sent the following to his counterpart, Matt Rhoades, in the Romney flustercluck:
August 17, 2012
Matt Rhoades
585 Commercial Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02109
Dear Matt:
I am writing to ask again that the Governor release multiple years of tax returns, but also to make an offer that should address his concerns about the additional disclosures. Governor Romney apparently fears that the more he offers, the more our campaign will demand that he provide. So I am prepared to provide assurances on just that point: if the Governor will release five years of returns, I commit in turn that we will not criticize him for not releasing more--neither in ads nor in other public communications or commentary for the rest of the campaign.
This request for the release of five years, covering the complete returns for 2007-2012, is surely not unreasonable. Other Presidential candidates have released more, including the Governor's father who provided 12 years of returns. In the Governor's case, a five year release would appropriately span all the years that he has been a candidate for President. It would also help answer outstanding questions raised by the one return he has released to date, such as the range in the effective rates paid, the foreign accounts maintained, the foreign investments made, and the types of tax shelters used.
To provide these five years, the Governor would have to release only three more sets of returns in addition to the 2010 return he has released and the 2011 return he has pledged to provide. And, I repeat, the Governor and his campaign can expect in return that we will refrain from questioning whether he has released enough or pressing for more.
I look forward to your reply.
Jim Messina
Obama for America Campaign Manager
This letter is probably going to get the chickens over at Vulture & Voucher clucking away. (BREAKING:
It did. I swear if you held up a bullseye with a picture of Romney taped to the front, they'd still shoot arrows at it). The only thing that President Obama, Vice-President Joe Biden, OFA and the Democratic SuperPACs haven't done is some good, old-fashioned, old-school advertising:
In other Obama news, the Democratic SuperPAC, Priorities USA Action, debuted a new campaign ad attacking Romney for his tax rates: Past, present and future. In the video, you see Romney talking about his 13% tax rate -- which is bad enough -- but the Democratic SuperPAC takes it a step further to note that under Paul Ryan's proposed budget and tax plan, Romney would pay only 1% in taxes.
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In Obama surrogate news, the award for "Surrogate of the Day" belongs to Governor Ed Rendell for his appearance on Tamron Hall's NewsNation MSNBC show. In discussing Paul Ryan's multiple lies about requesting stimulus relief for his district, the former Pennsylvania governor noted that Ryan should have read his book, "A Nation of Wusses," because one of the examples in the book of politicians who said one thing then did another was Paul Ryan voting against stimulus payments only to ask for them later. Rendell wrote about the very same green energy stimulus requests that Ryan somehow forgot!
Finally, in news of government working, President Obama, who apparently sleeps between 2:55 am and 2:59 am, got something important done today. Looking under seat cushions around Washington, D.C., the President found nearly half-a-billion dollars in unspent earmark expenditures that he could use to put Americans back to work and fix a few of our infrastructure problems. The White House announced:
WASHINGTON, DC – The Obama Administration today announced that it won’t allow infrastructure funds to sit idle as a result of stalled earmark projects at a time when hundreds of thousands of construction workers are looking for work. U.S Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is making over $470 million in unspent earmarks immediately available to states for projects that will create jobs and help improve transportation across the country.
“My administration will continue to do everything we can to put Americans back to work,” said President Barack Obama. “We’re not going to let politics stand between construction workers and good jobs repairing our roads and bridges.”
So, we get a mini-stimulus, but I'm still waiting for reporters to ask Congressman Paul Ryan when he's going to introduce a clean jobs bill. It would also be nice if each time Romney mentioned the word "jobs", a reporter asked him what pressure he's put on Republicans in Congress to pass a clean jobs bill. (In a show of solidarity with their witless leader, Republican members of Congress
buckled under the Romney pressure to extend the recent Student Loan legislation -- because Mitt wanted it. I guess he's just not as keen on jobs.).
Link to Transcripts and Documents.