Let’s take a peek inside the Liberal Asylum, shall we?

A couple of articles this week struck me as decent summaries of the Obama/Democrat status.   Courtesy of Rick Wilson and Richochet:

The conventional wisdom this morning is that the debate was a tie. That conventional wisdom is (as is so often the case) dead wrong. Biden played to his base, trying to dig Obama out of the hole he’s been trapped in since last week’s debate trainwreck. Ryan played to the center, to the swing and to the late-engagers. The post-hoc coverage won’t factor into their decisions: the pictures and Biden’s mugging, drunk-uncle affect will. (Also, Biden opened several new, Costco-scale cans of worms for the Administration on the Libya scandal.)

In short, Biden did nothing to reset the race, and the edge of panic is still there in the Obama campaign.

When edifices – particularly political edifices built around the myth and personality of one man – collapse, they collapse suddenly. The center does not hold. The man dragged from the spider hole isn’t a dictator, he’s a prisoner. The Master of the Universe hedge fund manager who’s really just a Ponzi schemer gets booked at Rikers like the rest of ‘em. The spell cast by power, once broken, is hard to restore.

(And no, I’m not comparing Obama to infamous war criminals. I’m examining the way people view organizations centered on a leader, not on an idea, and why they’re ultimately fragile.)

In the case of the Obama Personality Cult, we believed the Maximum Leader was more brilliant, more charismatic and more skillful than our own candidate. Sure, he was wrong on the issues, a disaster from start to finish, but we still felt a sense of intimidation. That changed last week, as I outlined here.

Next.  Evidence the Democrats are in The Last Days of Pompeii Mode:

This is how Democrats felt in 2008, with Howard Dean and Donna Brazile convincing them that they could dominate the country demographically by streamlining the party into one of “blacks, urban elite, college voters, Jews, Muslims, gays, and women who want to kill their babies”.  The Clintons’ Democrat Leadership Council (a “DLC”, but not the one that Barack Obama belonged to) would be purged from the party and anyone Obama saw as “bitter, clinging” would be shown the door because Donna Brazile, in particular, felt these people were no longer wanted or needed for Democrats to win.  Brazile, it should be noted, is also the rocket scientist who advised Al Gore not to use the Clintons in the 2000 election when Bill wanted to be deployed to bring home Arkansas and Tennessee for Gore (two states Gore lost…which would have landed him in the White House if the Clintons had campaigned aggressively in just those TWO STATES).

For most of the last four years now, the Ministry of Truth (Minitru for short) that is the national media has been trumpeting a “Golden Age of Hope and Change” with Democrats remaining in power essentially “forever” because “demographics are on their side!”.  This is similar to how others in history have declared their inevitable holds on power were destined to last generations…when in actuality these totalitarians have tended to collapse within just a few years of gaining a stranglehold on their countries in the modern era.

Democrats were absolute fools to believe Donna Brazile and Howard Dean back in 2008. Deciding to push Barack Obama to the presidency and give the Left absolute control over the country was a fatal error that’s going to be corrected on November 6th.  Minitru insists this is not happening, and continues to pretend that Democrats will hold power for many years to come.  The volcano is rumbling, and these people are still lounging on couches and eating their grapes, completely oblivious to what’s going to happen in just three weeks now.

Go check out both articles.  They’re correct.  As was Clint Eastwood.

Obama is Toast Marathon V4.11

…and heeeeeerrrrrrre’s Barry the Toasted Marxist.
Why Mitt will Win.

Start with the polling. It appears that the bulk of the Obama post-convention bounce has been in blue states where his left-oriented convention stirred up the enthusiasm of an already committed group of voters. Among likely voters identified in the Washington Post poll — taken after the conventions — Obama holds a slim, 1-point edge. And an analysis of Rasmussen’s state-by-state likely-voter data indicates a tie in the battleground states (according to Breitbart).

But it’s not really a tie at all. All pollsters are using 2008 models of voter turnout. Some are combining ’04 and ’08 but skewing their samples to ’08 numbers. African-Americans cast 11 percent of the national vote in ’04, but their participation swelled to 13 percent in ’08. These 2 million new black voters backed Obama overwhelmingly. Will they come out in such numbers again? Will college and under-30 voters do so as well? Will Latino turnout be at historic highs? All these questions have to be answered in the affirmative for the polling samples so widely published to be accurate.

For example, when a poll shows an Obama lead among likely voters of, say, 47 percent to 45, it is based on an assumption that blacks will cast 13 percent of the vote. But the lack of enthusiasm among Obama’s base for his candidacy and their doubts about the economy make an 11 percent black turnout more likely. In this event, Romney would actually win 46 percent to 45.

The Empty Chair is Losing.

President Obama is headed to defeat in November, and it won’t be close.  Forget about the polls, and forget about the cadre of delusional Democrats who can’t stop telling us how great and successful the last three and a half years have been.  Slick Willy can shill all he likes, but seriously, he’s preaching to the choir, because the only ones believing his shtick are bought and paid for sycophants, crony capitalists, and members of the mainstream media. 

Can you think of a single person who didn’t vote for Barack Obama in 2008 but will vote for him this time around?  Yet it is easy to find former minions admitting to the dissolution of their belief in the primacy of the “one.”  These people will not vote for him again — and they are legion.

72% in poll say Obama economic record to be key factor in their vote

The Washington Post/ABC News poll released Monday showed that 72% of registered voters surveyed said President Obama‘s handling of the economy would be a major factor in their vote this November.

The issue easily topped other flash points in the race between Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney.

Exactly half of registered voters in the poll said the plan by Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, to restructure Medicare would be a major factor in their choice. Likewise for the difference between Democrats and Republicans on women’s issues, highlighted by recent controversial comments about rape by Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.).

Just 20% of respondents said Romney’s position on releasing his tax returns would be a major factor. Democrats have pushed Romney to release more than two years of his returns.

Der Spiegel: ‘Obama’s Middle East Policy Is in Ruins’

US embassies in the Muslim world were on high alert Friday following days of violent protests against an anti-Islam film. Germany, too, closed several embassies in fear of attacks. Some German commentators argue that the violence shows that Obama’s Middle East policies have failed.

That’s all for today.

Obama is Toast Marathon V3.9999

Heeeeerre’s Barack the Toasted Marxist:

Dem pollsters: Obama thrill is gone, turnout jeopardized

As buoyant Democratic delegates head home from their three-day convention here to nominate President Obama for a second term, party officials and advisors are sweating the reality that the 2008 hope and change thrill is gone–and so might be Obama’s voting majority.

While Obama and Mitt Romney remain locked in public polls, several Democratic officials are worried that three groups that pushed Obama over the finish line in 2008–younger voters, seniors and “Walmart” white women–are as frustrated as other groups about the economy and Obama’s failure to change Washington and might stay home.

In other words, they say, the polls lie. Yes, when called by pollsters, the nation is split, but the GOP appears more eager and willing to follow through and vote than the Democrats.

Those Jobless Numbers Are Even Worse Than They Look

The alarming numbers proliferate the deeper you look: 40.7% of the people counted as unemployed have been out of work for 27 weeks or more—that’s 5.2 million “long-term” unemployed. Fewer Americans are at work today than in April 2000, even though the population since then has grown by 31 million.

We are still almost five million payrolls shy of where we were at the end of 2007, when the recession began. Think about that when you hear the Obama administration’s talk of an economic recovery.

Obama’s electoral problem, in one simple chart.

To judge from his schedule, Obama has given up on North Carolina

President Obama, aside from his appearance at the Democratic National Convention, has not campaigned in North Carolina since April of this year.

“I don’t have a scheduling update for you on that or any specific announcements to make,” Obama for America spokeswoman Jen Psaki said when asked if Obama would campaign in North Carolina any time soon. The reporter who asked the question said “I think the last event he held there, aside from the convention, was April 24th” — when he visited the University of North Carolina campus to talk about student loans.

Democrats Said to End Convention $15 Million Short

Democrats ended their convention in Charlotte $5 million short of their budget even after being forced to draw down a $10 million line of credit from Duke Energy Corp. (DUK), according to a Democratic Party fundraiser.

That will leave a $15 million bill that eventually will have to be paid by President Barack Obama’s campaign or the Democratic National Committee, according to the fundraiser, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Awful August jobs report: The beginning of the end of Obama?

The job numbers will likely harden the perception that the president is in over his head. The voters do not see a “recovery.” A call for “more time” is unconvincing if one has the sense neither that four nor 40 years would make a difference under this president.

Romney will continue to hammer away at the president’s failures. But he would be wise to push (as he is doing in 15 new ads in eight states) his own plans for middle-class Americans, and most especially domestic energy development. Voters are certain things are bad; they now need to be reassured Romney will be better. With these jobs numbers the public might well conclude: How could he do any worse?

The Democrats’ Soft Extremism…Obama is out of ideas, and Clinton’s speech was unworthy of him.

Barack Obama is deeply overexposed and often boring. He never seems to be saying what he’s thinking. His speech Thursday was weirdly anticlimactic. There’s too much buildup, the crowd was tired, it all felt flat. He was somber, and his message was essentially banal: We’ve done better than you think. Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?

There were many straw men. There were phrases like “the shadow of a shuttered steel mill,” which he considers writerly. But they sound empty and practiced now, like something you’ve heard in a commercial or an advertising campaign.

It was stale and empty. He’s out of juice.

>snip<

There was the relentless emphasis on Government as Community, as the thing that gives us spirit and makes us whole. But government isn’t what you love if you’re American, America is what you love. Government is what you have, need and hire. Its most essential duties—especially when it is bankrupt—involve defending rights and safety, not imposing views and values. We already have values. Democrats and Republicans don’t see all this the same way, and that’s fine—that’s what national politics is, the working out of this dispute in one direction or another every few years. But the Democrats convened in Charlotte seemed more extreme on the point, more accepting of the idea of government as the center of national life, than ever, at least to me.

>snip<

Something else, and it had to do with tone. I remember the Republicans in Tampa bashing the president, hard, but not the entire Democratic Party. In Charlotte they bashed Mitt Romney, but they bashed the Republican Party harder. If this doesn’t strike you as somewhat unsettling, then you must want another four years of all war all the time between the parties. I don’t think the American people want that. Because, actually, they’re not extreme.

10 surprises at the conventions

1. Clint Eastwood’s remarks were more memorable and more effective than President Obama’s. The empty-chair metaphor never seemed so apt as during the Obama drone-a-thon.

2. The press, even liberal commentators, admitted that Obama had bombed. Sure, there were bitter-enders who claimed all was fine, but the cable TV talking heads and the vast majority of columnists were brutally honest. MSNBC personalities were downright glum.

3. Knowing the president has a problem with pro-Israel voters, the Obama campaign made a mess for itself by fiddling with platform language and then allowed the matter to fester for two days. The display of booing and confusion when the language was reinstated may be the most memorable thing about the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Even more surprising, Obama did not mention Jerusalem and gave short shrift to both Israel and Iran in his speech.

4. The gap between the GOP bench (including Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Marco Rubio, Gov. Bob McDonnell and Artur Davis) and the Democratic bench is striking.

Go read the rest.

 

Obama is Toast Marathon V3.14159

It’s Saturday morning… time to smell a little toasted Marxist.

Obama in High Seas:

Let us come to the point. Obama is reaching out to his very own special constituency. It is composed of those who believe that the Republicans would put up as their candidate for the presidency a person who in his business life would engage in fraud, tax evasion, even murder. Mr. Obama is casting his net for the moron vote. I do not believe that there are enough morons out there to reelect him.

University of Virginia declines Obama’s request to speak:

A University of Virginia spokeswoman says President Barack Obama will not be at the university when he comes to Charlottesville on Wednesday.  In a statement released Friday, it was confirmed that the university declined the president’s request to speak at UVA.

Hmmm.  Barry has lost that 2008 feeling.  4 years ago, a university would have jumped through logistical hoops of nightmares to host His Majesty.

Obama likeability declining, trails Romney by 9 in economy.

Obama still leads Romney on most of the personal-quality questions, but those leads have shrunk during the summer.  Most importantly, on the two issues of most import to voters — as found by Gallup in July — Romney has significant leads over Obama.  On the economy, voters trust Romney more than Obama by a nine-point margin, 52/43.  On the federal budget deficit, Romney leads by 15 points, 54/39.  Those two issues came in first and third in July, with the second-place issue of corruption not polled for today’s release.

Hollywood bailing on Obama and Democratic convention.

And it seems the majority of Clooney’s high-powered Hollywood counterparts are also passing on the 2012 convention – a far cry from 2008’s showdown in Denver, Colorado which attracted dozens of A-listers including Oprah Winfrey, Sarah Silverman, Fallout Boy, John Legend, Cyndi Lauper, Ashanti, Fran Drescher, Ashley Judd, Rage Against the Machine, Aisha Tyler, Anne Hathaway, Susan Sarandon, Jon Hamm, Cash Warren, Jessica Alba, Fergie, Will.i.am, Kanye West, Matthew Modine, Kerry Washington, Stevie Wonder, Rosario Dawson, Jennifer Hudson, Shawn Johnson, Forest Whitaker, Star Jones, Wilmer Valderama, Daniel Dae Kim, Kelly Hu, Jamie Foxx, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Chevy Chase,  Richard Dreyfuss, Melissa Etheridge and Pharrell Williams.

Just to name a few.

We reached out to reps for all of the above in an attempt to find out if these stars would be attending the DNC again this year. A majority did not respond, but of those who did, few will be making a return trip.

Looks like Obama’s box office numbers put him in the flop category with Hollywood.

Romney on the rise.

First, and unpredictably, the pick strengthened Romney’s support among seniors. It was thought Ryan’s budgetary plans for Medicare would frighten seniors, but Romney spent a week hammering home that under his plan Medicare would not change for anyone over 55 — whereas Obama had already stripped $716 billion from Medicare to pay for other aspects of ObamaCare.In Florida, to take the most potent example, Romney’s support among the elderly has boomed.Then there’s the effect of the pick on Ryan’s home state of Wisconsin. There has been a surge toward Romney since the Ryan pick, and the state is now generally considered a toss-up. On June 11, Obama was up by 4.4 points in the RCP average; as of today, that’s 1.4 points.

In a very close race, Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes — votes that electoral-college fanatics playing with all kinds of scenarios to get Romney to the 270 he needs to win have consistently assigned to Obama — could be decisive.

Even more telling is what Wisconsin polls suggest about Obama’s standing nationwide. If things go badly for him in the fall, Wisconsin will have been the great harbinger, beginning in 2010.

Economic Model Predicts Romney Landslide?

The forecast was made by two professors at the University of Colorado who used economic data and unemployment figures from each state to predict a Republican win come November.Political science professors Kenneth Bickers and Michael Berry’s study predicts 218 electoral votes for President Barack Obama and 320 for Republican Mitt Romney with the Republican candidate winning every seat currently considered to be on the fence.

WE are building it, Mr. President.

Mr. President, you owe my family and every small business person in this country an apology. It’s time to wipe that wise ass smirk off your face and stop insulting us and begin to work to get this country going again. I’ve even got a suggestion for you that might help you get our economy going again. Hire some people who have actually started and run a small business successfully. Now I realize you don’t know any people like that so just give me a call. I can provide the names of hundreds of folks who know what it takes to make a profit. Okay, I know you are thinking “profit”, what is this guy talking about? Mr. President, that’s the left-over part of our sales that you and your friends tax so you can get your paycheck. Okay, I know that’s a little complicated. Let’s try this one: think of the relationship of a parasite to a host. Business people are the hosts.

Good one, go read all of it.

Oklahoma:

Texas:

The Amazon Election Heat Map…. is red hot!

57% of books sold are ‘red’ books…. 43% are blue…like poor sad Barry.

Hundred’s of Ohio Coal Miners stand in line to see Romney:

Just like the Chik-Fil-A entrance poll on National Chil-Fil-A-Palooza, this long line doesn’t bode well for Sir Lies-A-Lot.

Not the Behavior of a Winning Campaign.

Hysteria creeps into campaigns when the campaigns know they are losing. When George H. W. Bush saw the election slipping away in 1992, he took to referring to Bill Clinton and Al Gore as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. The invective went up as his poll numbers went down.Barack Obama and the Democrats are going to throw in the towel on the tradition of sitting on the sidelines during their opponent’s political convention. In the past, the parties did this with each other. Not now. The Obama campaign cannot afford to. It is too close and polling is about to shift from registered voters to likely voters, which will generate negative numbers for him. He must surrender another tradition to engage in more hyper partisan mudslinging because he is losing.More and more polls are showing Mitt Romney trending upwards in swing states. More and more polls are showing Americans growing more pessimistic about the economy. More and more economists are starting to worry about the economy. Gas prices and milk prices are going up while take home pay is going down.

>snip<

And that gets us back to the media. At what point will they finally start asking if Barack Obama needs a campaign shake up? Because if it was Mitt Romney in the same boat, they sure as hell would. In fact, there have already been two different media cycles about Romney needing a campaign shake up and not one about Barack Obama.Why? The simple truth remains the vast majority of the media is more sympathetic to and friendly with Team Obama and would hate to ruffle the feathers of friends. It’s one of the greatest thing Mitt Romney has going for him right now.

One comment about Eric’s last sentence: BINGO!  I’ve had numerous discussions with people on the right fretting about the MSM bias and I’ve repeatedly had to remind them that we’re witnessing a paradigm shift in media power.   2008 was the last election where the MSM could cover for the Democrats.  In 2010, it shifted and now it has become a liability for the Dems.

Don’t believe me?  Ask Debbie Wasserman-Shultz how her last couple of outings with Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper went.  On CNN.  Alternate media has attained a critical mass and the Dems are going to learn how to play defense on a national level now.

Obama is Toast Marathon v2.73

……and AWAAAAAY we go….

Obama campaign: Romney fundraising edge means ‘we’re in trouble’

President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign warned supporters in an email plea for cash on Monday that Mitt Romney’s vast fundraising edge means “we’re in trouble” with scarcely three months to go before Election Day.

“We got beat three months in a row,” the campaign said in the unsigned message. “If we don’t step it up, we’re in trouble.”

Poll: More Obama voters than McCain voters are switching parties this year

President Barack Obama is having more difficulty keeping 2008 supporters on his side than Mitt Romney is having holding onto John McCain voters, according to a new Gallup poll.

Krauthammer: Romney Will Win, Obama “Has Nothing To Run On”

I then continued to say that the election is not being held tomorrow and it’s going to be held in November and Romney’s going to win and I gave the reasons why that’s true.

Obama’s Romney Revulsion Poses Risks for Reelection

How much of the unprecedented negativity of Obama’s re-election bid stems from personal animus and how much is the cold calculation of politics? Who knows, but those kinds of resentments often drive people to lose perspective.

The other danger is what animus like what Obama feels toward Romney does to the culture of a campaign.

The Incredible Shrunken Economy

Overall, the economy actually lost 1.2 million jobs in July, which in historical context is at least somewhat fewer than the past several years, but still more than were lost in July 2004, 2005, or 2006. Oddly, the private sector’s July raw employment increase is better than anything seen in the previous decade, but basically no better than last year, which at the time impressed no one.

The Obama recovery isn’t worse than just the Reagan recovery, but also worse than the Teddy Roosevelt and Grover Cleveland recoveries

No Federal Reserve stimulus. No $800 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. And yet, 100 years ago, the U.S. economy somehow managed to recover after two nasty downturns, each marked by a banking crisis.

Maybe we’re not doing it right.

Barack Obama Runs On Empty And Toward Defeat

Because of my time in Washington and past positions there, I also know and am friends with quite a few journalists. I speak with many on a regular basis, and it’s safe to say that the majority of them lean left politically.

That said, in off-the-record conversations with my left-leaning journalistic friends, not one believes Obama is going to win re-election. Not one. While most believe Mitt Romney to be a weak candidate, they are still convinced that he will comfortably defeat Obama on Nov. 6.

These liberal and jaded journalists privately admit that Obama has been exposed for what he is: an overhyped, self-invented candidate with no real-world experience who has been frozen into inaction by the enormity of the office he holds.

Obama Is Going to Lose

That’s not a good number for an incumbent. If there is one politician in America everybody knows and has heard and has an opinion of, it’s the president, Barack Obama. The general rule of thumb for someone seeking re-election is that he is in some trouble if he’s under 50 percent.

Rising gas prices return to haunt Obama

Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said pump prices will be part of their political messaging, alongside other staples like jobs data. “We are going to be talking about every economic factor,” she said.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, meanwhile, vows to hit vulnerable Senate Democrats – such as Claire McCaskill (Mo.) – and Obama over the prices.

Is Obama Slipping?

In the past few days, some of these same news organizations have released polls purporting to show that Obama has pulled into a significant lead in several key states. But if you look deeper, you always find that the pollsters have over-sampled Democrats. It is no surprise that if a pollster asks 32% Democrats and 18% Republicans whom they favor for president, the Democrat will come out ahead. Strange as it seems, I think the pollsters and the news organizations they work for are doing this on purpose, in hopes of buoying Obama’s candidacy. Otherwise, wouldn’t they occasionally over-sample Republicans?

So one has to pierce through a lot of clutter to get any real sense of how the race is going. Given that actions speak louder than words, one thing you can do is look at where the candidates are spending their money: nearly all of Obama’s campaign spending (and Romney’s too) is directed at states that Obama carried in 2008. This means that notwithstanding the media cheerleading, Obama is playing defense, not offense.

The Real Poll Numbers

Romney is currently leading in every state McCain carried plus: Indiana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Nevada, North Carolina, and Colorado. If he carries these states, he’ll have 228 electoral votes of the 270 he needs to win.

To win the election, Romney would then have to carry Florida where he trails by two points, and either Virginia (behind by two) or Ohio where he’s down by only one.

If he carries all three of these states and also wins all the others where Obama is now at 50% or less – Iowa, New Mexico, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey — he will get 351 electoral votes, a landslide about equal to Obama’s 363 vote tally in 2008.

Could the DNC be making North Carolina more red?

But polling shows people aren’t as fired up this time around. High-profile Democrats and labor bosses are actively encouraging members of Congress and supporters to skip the three-day affair, which was a four-day affair until underwhelming fundraising and the fear of underwhelming crowds forced Dems to cancel a festival at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

And, as Democrats slink reluctantly into their convention, what was supposed to be a triumphant moment for the Tar Heel State may become an embarrassing misfire, no matter how much Democratic officials, including the mayor of Charlotte, try to play it cool.

Chik-fil-A-Quake: What the Media Didn’t Say

It’s clear many diners intended to rebuke bullying politicians and the un-American idea that approved political views are required for permission to be in business. Does this resentment go further, and reflect anger at transgressed lines between private and public management, corporate and government bedfellows sharing money, policies, and favors?  Is that resentment building toward a November eruptian?

The previous versions of Obama the Toasted Marxist are here, here and here.

Some R&R? Count Me In!

Romney/Ryan?  Romney/Rubio?  Sounds like a couple of winners to me.

O’s mission failure

Courtesy of John Podhoretz:  Ugly part:

Low interest rates here at home were theoretically supposed to serve as a  spur to new investment in manufacturing and the restocking of inventories, since  they make doing all that much cheaper. But the decline in foreign markets has  made new spending pointless at the moment.

“I don’t see anything that suggests any major change over the next couple  months,” said Bradley Holcomb, the chairman of the panel that measures  manufacturing activity.

Today, jobs numbers for July come out, and they’ll likely be at best a slight  improvement over June’s incredibly anemic 80,000 new jobs.

Urban centers are feeling the worst of it. The Labor Department reported  yesterday that unemployment rates rose in 332 large metropolitan areas — and  declined in only 29.

We’re now five years into our economic woes, with the mild recovery of  2010-2011 now giving way to something that looks perilously like stasis. Like  Japan.

“The recession which kicked off Japan’s ‘lost decade’ lasted from 1991 to  1993,” notes Michael Feroli, an economist at JP Morgan. “Including the recovery  experience from that recession is sobering: We are currently faring worse than  Japan at the same point in their lost decade.”

 Vote out the Idiocrats in November.

Obama’s October Surprise?

“I’m out of cash, please help.”

Obama is Toast Marathon V2.4

Why are my fingers all happy and jazzed when I do the Toast Posts?

Poll shows Obama character-attack strategy flopping

Barack Obama’s campaign has spent tens of millions of dollars attempting to paint Mitt Romney as an unsavory businessman, a clueless tycoon, and even accused him at one point of being a “felon.”  Team Obama needed to make Romney toxic early, while it had a large advantage in primary-campaign cash, in order to avoid having to defend Obama’s economic record.  So how did that strategy work out?  After three solid months, a new poll by The Hill shows Romney holding a narrow edge on character issues over the incumbent President

Gallup: Voters don’t share Obama’s class-warfare priorities

Obama and his campaign have tried offering distractions such as same-sex marriage, contraception mandates, and hiking taxes on the rich.  According to the latest Gallup survey, Obama’s effort has missed the mark entirely

Morgan Stanley strategist: Wall Street’s betting on a Romney victory

“To us, the biggest bull case for US equities is based on the huge cash balances and the potential belief that they will be more actively and productively deployed. The biggest possibility here would be Romney winning the presidential election.”…

A double-dip by Election Day?

Recognizing this vicious cycle isn’t exactly rocket science — though it seems to be lost on the president and his economic team, such as it is. Tim Geithner, the Treasury secretary for the past four years, seems oblivious — or at least powerless to get Obama to back policies that might get businesses to hire again.

Maybe that’s because the real administration power on these issues is senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, who shares the president’s most absurd economic theories, like the virtues of raising taxes on job-creating small businesses even in a time of economic distress.

Then again, why would Obama and his “brain trust” enact policies that, in succeeding, would refute their failed vision? They’ve have more pressing matters at hand. Winning the election comes before dealing with an economy that’s headed for the cliff.

Note: I’m not crazy about another recession but I’m taking the silver lining here…  this could push the Democratic party to the point of several years of political irrelevancy ala Jimmah Carter.

Key Pro-Israel Obama Ally Abandons Him

“I wouldn’t want to try to sell Obama to the Jewish community in this environment,” said Aaron Miller.

Declining Views of the Economy Put Obama’s Reelection at Risk

In the summer of 2009, 58 percent thought the economy would be stronger within five years. By the summer of 2010, only 50 percent had such long-term optimism. By last summer, just 46 percent were that upbeat. And now only 40 percent think the economy will be stronger in five years.That’s a pretty depressing trend. 

Rasmussen: Romney up by 3:

GOP Edge in Swing States

If the election is a landslide, as many conservatives, including me, believe, then these thirteen swing states will not matter.  Obama will likely get stuck with a group of northeastern states and a smattering of others.  If the election is close, however, those dozen states will likely decide the election.Almost wholly overlooked in the election is an advantage which Mitt Romney will have in those thirteen states which could well be decisive: heavyweight political muscle in the state governments.  This is a consequence of the sweeping nature of the 2010 Republican landslide.

Fingers are tired.  But happy.

Get in line, peon: Solyndra investors to get paid before taxpayers

Cronyism 101:

The House Energy and Commerce Committee released a report today on the Energy Department’s decision to subordinate taxpayers to private investors in the ill-fated Solyndra project. That is, the taxpayers would have to wait in line behind the private investors and let them recoup all of their losses first. Only after that could taxpayers could get any money back – assuming there would be any money to recoup at this point. In this case, that would be a reported $328 million of the $335 million federal loan guarantee to Solyndra.

This is significant because the plain language of the department’s own rules for loan guarantees states that taxpayers must not be subordinate and instead must come first. The committee’s report argues that Energy Department officials made a spur of the moment decision to violate this standard as part of a desperate attempt to keep the company afloat, then scrambled after the fact to justify their action…

Taxpayers getting hosed coming and going.