Visual source: Newseum
Katrina vanden Heuvel:
Last month, Washington Post columnist Steve Pearlstein wrote that if you wanted to come up with a bumper sticker that defined the Republican Party’s platform it would be this: “Repeal the 20th century. Vote GOP.” With their unrelenting attempts to slash Social Security, end Medicare and Medicaid and destroy the social safety net, Republicans are, indeed, on a quest of reversal. But they have set their sights on an even bolder course than Pearlstein acknowledges in his column: It’s not just the 20th century they have targeted for repeal; it’s the 18th and 19th too.
HuffPo:
Texas governor Rick Perry went after fellow GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" Tuesday night, accusing the Republican front-runner of saying whatever was politically expedient to get elected.
In response to a question about whether there was strain between the two men, Perry said he felt Romney changed his stance on a number of major issues.
"You can't be for banning guns and then all of a sudden you're, you know, for the Second Amendment," Perry said. "You can't be for the issue of abortion, then you're pro-life... I mean you can't be on both sides of these issues."
Romney's flip-flopping is catching up to him.
WSJ:
Rick Perry and conservatives are beating up on Mitt Romney after he declined to take a stand on an Ohio state referendum that would curtail collective bargaining rights for public employees.
The U.S. isn't Texas, and Perry's mean-spirited attacks won't necessarily win him the nomination. But here's something to consider: whoever wins the GOP primary is damaged goods. That the media hasn't said that yet is part of their longstanding bias against truth telling and honest reporting.
See new Q poll:
Former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain has jumped to the front of the line among GOP presidential contenders with 28 percent support among Ohio Republicans. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is second with 23 percent, while Texas Gov. Rick Perry is almost at the bottom of the pile with 4 percent.
Eugene Robinson on the new global warming data ending the so-called controversy and burying the skeptics:
It is true that Muller made no attempt to ascertain “how much of the warming is due to humans.” Still, the Berkeley group’s work should help lead all but the dimmest policymakers to the overwhelmingly probable answer.
We know that the rise in temperatures over the past five decades is abrupt and very large. We know it is consistent with models developed by other climate researchers that posit greenhouse gas emissions — the burning of fossil fuels by humans — as the cause. And now we know, thanks to Muller, that those other scientists have been both careful and honorable in their work.
Nobody’s fudging the numbers. Nobody’s manipulating data to win research grants, as Perry claims, or making an undue fuss over a “naturally occurring” warm-up, as Bachmann alleges. Contrary to what Cain says, the science is real.
It is the know-nothing politicians — not scientists — who are committing an unforgivable fraud.
Behind the Numbers:
The popularity of the flat tax idea -- and the lukewarm Republican reception of “9-9-9” -- may help Perry reach out anew to the strong conservatives who fueled his quick rise in the nomination contest, but also seemed to desert him in favor of Cain over the month of September.
That still doesn't mean Perry is going anywhere.
NY Times:
Gov. Rick Perry’s plan, which includes a flat tax, would eliminate estate and capital gains taxes, and lower the rate wealthiest Americans pay on their income.
A big, fat tax break for the wealthy! Please, can't Perry be the nominee?
Jonathan Bines translates "speaking Republican" into plain English. Some examples:
° Compromise: (uncommon) A form of political suicide.
° Coast (East): A very bad coast of the continental United States.
° Coast (West): Another really inexcusable coast.
° Communism: The belief that the government should ever do anything.
° Condescending: Accurately informed.
Charlie Cook:
President Obama has plenty of dangers ahead and the electorate is uneasy, but so far, no wave seems to be cresting in 2012.
