"A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men
from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government."
(Thomas Jefferson)


Saturday, October 27, 2012

ESPN Game Day Here in Norman Today for OU/Notre Dame Game

Kick-off is not until 7:00 p.m. tonight but getting ready to leave for campus around 1:00 to get a good parking place.  Last night saw all the campers in town -- more than were here for the Alabama game.  All week long it has been building here in Norman for the big game of two storied programs.

Our Defense is ready and waiting along with Landry Jones and the Offense plus our special teams where last week we had a punt return by Justin Brown and a kick-off return by Roy Finch for touchdowns which was the first time in history.

Bought my white sweatshirt at Fan OUtfitters which just opened in Norman for stripe the stadium tonight -- all this red gear I own and our section is white -- have my lucky red shirt under the white hooded OU sweatshirt.

This is the most people I have seen in Norman for a game day -- all 2600 rooms sold out and other places around Norman with hotels are clicking their heels.

Off to the game to see a big Sooner victory!

Boomer Sooner!

Lee Corso shooting off OU Ruffnecks rifle after picking:




Friday, October 26, 2012

Fox Military Analyst Counters Rest Of Network, Denounces "Second Guessing" On Benghazi Attack Response


Former NATO Ambassador Adds: "Keep Politics Out Of This"

Video››› ››› MEDIA MATTERS STAFF
From the October 25 edition of Fox News' Happening Now:


As I sat here watching this video of Retired Army General Jack Keane, Vice Chief of the US Army, 
 and Ambassador Nick Burns, former US Ambassador to NATO, who are both Fox Analysts, I was struck at the total dishonesty of the Fox host Jon Scott in trying to steer the conversation.

Although I have to admit that Jon Scott's comments why didn't they fly F-16's overhead and scare the the terrorist was classic. Guess they scared Scott when they flew over his head but we are talking about terrorist types that had planes flying overhead all the time during the uprising in Libya that took out Gaddaffi. What can you say to such stupidity -- thought the General was going to burst out laughing.

These two men put Country over the Republican Party and Fox News by telling the truth that politics needs taken out of the Libyan Consulate Attack.  When you listen, you discover how brave our security people were and how security forces from Tripoli got there to help evacuate those still alive who you never hear about.

Then there was the former Secretary of State Condi Rice interview throwing cold water on Fox Tabloid News Libya conspiracies:

With her reasoned response, Rice stands apart from other former Bush administration officials, including former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Both Rumsfeld and Bolton have repeatedly insisted that the Obama administration has performed a cover-up of the events in Benghazi. 

Condi Rice Pours Cold Water On ‘Benghazi-Gate’By Hayes Brown on Oct 25, 2012 at 1:07 pm
Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice broke with the majority of her party last night on Fox News, as she tried to hit the brakes on the right wing’s politicization of the recent attack in Libya. 
Host Greta Van Susteren asked Rice directly and repeatedly about a set of emails uncovered by Reuters. In what has been dubbed “Benghazi-Gate,” the conservative media has jumped on the emails as definitive proof that the Obama administration has been lying about what it knew and when in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attack on a diplomatic mission in Benghazi. Rice’s response was likely not what Van Susteren expected: 
RICE: But when things are unfolding very, very quickly, it’s not always easy to know what is really going on on the ground. And to my mind, the really important questions here are about how information was collected. Did the various agencies really coordinate and share intelligence in the way that we had hoped, with the reforms that were made after 9/11?
So there’s a big picture to be examined here. But we don’t have all of the pieces, and I think it’s easy to try and jump to conclusions about what might have happened here. It’s probably better to let the relevant bodies do their work.
Throughout the interview, Rice highlighted the difficulty that comes in a “fog of war” situation, with multiple stories coming in which need to be processed and verified. Her statements strongly align with the evolution of the Obama administration’s understanding of what happened in Benghazi. Rice also joined current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in dismissing the big picture importance of the emails from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, as a small portion of the overall communication between the mission and the State Department.
Read More at Think Progress and Media Matters about the biased reporting we are seeing about Libya from Fox Tabloid News.  You may ask why I call them Tabloid News -- the answer is pretty simple as they have as much credibility on reporting News as the tabloid news magazines you see in the grocery store. aisles.

When Roger Ailes who is President of Fox News Channel and Chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group decided to take Fox News from being more Fair and Balanced to being the Romney campaign second headquarters, for some of us it was the final straw with Fox.  They had so many Romney surrogates like Karl Rove and others giving Romney spin even during the primaries that it was obscene but they refused to acknowledge these Fox news contributors were Romney supporters/consultants.  According to Fox Tabloid News, Rove is just another analyst not the owner of a Super PAC and non-disclosure PAC supporting GOP candidates including ads for Romney which he has now scaled back to concentrate on the hard right GOP Senate races.  

It has been amazing to sit back and watch Fox News contributors go on the air along with Rush to give Romney and his team advice and the next day see a clip of Romney using those same words.  At first I thought I was imagining things but I wasn't.  Others picked up on the same thing

Check out these links from Fox Tabloid News and see why I call them Tabloid News now:
  • Fox Regular Michael Scheuer: "Democrats Are Very Good At Watching Americans Die" Video October 25, 2012 5:16 PM EDT
  • On Fox, Lars Larson Accuses Obama White House Of Watching Americans Die In Libya Blog October 25, 2012 6:19 PM EDT
  • O'Reilly "Speculat[es]" Obama Didn't Pay Attention To Benghazi Attack, "Even Though One Of His Ambassadors Was Murdered" - Video October 25, 2012 10:01 PM EDT
  • Fox's New Low: Accusing Obama Admin. Of Abandoning Americans To Die In Libya 
    Fox News hosts and contributors repeatedly suggested that the Obama administration made a "political decision" to allow Americans to be killed in the September 11 Benghazi, Libya, attack on an American compound. But U.S. agents and the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli rushed to the aid of the compound during the attack, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said that the attack was over before the U.S. military had sufficient information on which to act.

  • Thursday, October 25, 2012

    Colin Powell On Romney: ‘I Have Concerns About His Views On Foreign Policy’


    This morning when I heard that General Colin Powell had endorsed President Obama for reelection and voiced concerns about Romney views on Foreign Policy, I knew that my joining Republicans for Obama was the right thing for me to do.  I don't think there is anyone in the political scene that I admire more than General Powell.  He is honest and when he talks it is with a clear and concise voice.  I still have not come down from the ceiling that he was lied to on WMD's in Iraq by Cheney and Rumsfeld in order to hype the drumbeat to take out Sadaam.  General Powell apologized for giving a presentation to the UN that turned out to be flawed.  He took responsibility when it was the fault of the GW Bush foreign policy team.

    General Powell's background on foreign policy is second to none and when I saw his comments following Romney's describing Russia as America's "#1 geopolitical foe," I knew that I could never support Mitt Romney.  He was right about Romney then and it only got worse at the debate when Romney morphed from Bolton type hawk to me to agreeing with President Obama.
    Back in May, Powell took issue with Romney’s characterization of Russia as America’s “number one geopolitical foe.” “Come on Mitt,” Powell said, “think.” The former Secretary of State also said at the time that he was concerned with who is advising Romney on foreign policy. “I’ve seen some of the names and some of them are quite far to the right and sometimes I think they might be in a position to make judgments or recommendations to the candidate that should get a second thought,” he said.
    This headline of General Powell's concerns is probably the understatement of the year as no one knows what Foreign Policy position Romney is going to take just like on any other issue.  The Foreign Policy Debate after Romney attacks on President Obama about Libya was the strangest debate I have ever witnessed.  Romney just agreed with almost everything he had disagreed with on foreign affairs a short time earlier and then was irritated that Obama called him on it.  It looked like Romney agreed so much as he couldn't remember what he had memorized. Glenn Beck answer to why Romney lost the debate was he thinks "God Guided Romney lose the debate."  You cannot make this stuff up!

    General Powell explains his endorsement of President Obama and why he could not support Mitt Romney:
    Colin Powell On Romney: ‘I Have Concerns About His Views On Foreign Policy’By Ben Armbruster posted from ThinkProgress Security on Oct 25, 2012 at 10:00 am 
    Colin Powell 
    Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell endorsed President Obama’s re-election campaign this morning on CBS This Morning. Powell — who served as the top U.S. diplomat during the Bush administration — said the president would be better on the economy but he also had harsh criticism of Mitt Romney’s foreign policy, reiterating his concern about Romney’s neocon advisers and that the GOP presidential nominee essentially threw out all his past hawkish positions and played a moderate during this week’s foreign policy debate: 
    POWELL: Not only am I uncomfortable with what Governor Romney is proposing for his economic plan, I have concerns about his views on foreign policy. The governor who was speaking on Monday night at the debate was saying things that were quite different from what he said earlier so I’m not quite sure which governor Romney we would be getting with respect to foreign policy.
    O’DONNELL: What concerns do you have with governor Romney’s foreign policy? 
    POWELL: Well it’s hard to fix it, I mean it’s a moving target, one day he has a certain strong view about staying in Afghanistan but then on Monday night he agrees with the withdrawal, the same thing in Iraq and almost every issue that was discussed on Monday night, governor Romney agreed with the president with some nuances but this is quite a different set of foreign policy views than he had earlier in the campaign and my concern which I’ve expressed previously in a public way is that sometimes I don’t sense he has thought through these issues as thoroughly as he should have and he gets advice from his campaign staff that he then has to adjust or modify as they go along.
    ROSE: Are you concerned about the people that are advising governor Romney?
    POWELL: I think there are some very very strong neoconservative views that are presented by the governor that I have some trouble with.
    Watch the clip: 
    (snip)
    But Powell noticed the obvious during the presidential foreign policy debate this week. The Mitt Romney whose “instinct is to call to the Cheney-ites” on foreign policy issues was nowhere to be found. “Despite Romney’s momentary embrace of President Obama’s policies [during the debate],” CAP’s Matt Duss wrote this week, “we should still be concerned with the role that neoconservatives would play in a Romney administration.”

     Excerpt:  Read More at Think Progress Security
    General Powell has once again stepped forward with his concerns that mirror those of us who are Republicans who cannot support Romney on many fronts with foreign policy being of primary importance. Romney doesn't seem to care about Foreign Policy as evidenced by his lack of preparation for the National Security Debate.  He went from hawk to wimp in less than a week.  Now way do you want a wimp negotiating with other countries.  Guess he figures he could just call up Bibi and asked him what to do.  Once again Romney forgot to mention veterans like he did at the GOP Convention.  Foreign Policy and no mention of veterans?  Guess they are not wealthy enough to get noticed by Mitt Romney along with belonging to the 47% when they are in a war zone because they are not taxed.

    If you want Cheney, Bolton, and Rumsfeld back as advisers, then vote for Romney because that is the group that he looks to for his answers.  Do they want the Cold War back to make money?  Sure sounds like that along with Romney wanting $2T more for Defense to use to pay back his big defense contractor donors by giving them contracts for weapon systems that the DoD doesn't want.  This Country cannot afford Mitt Romney with his lack of foreign policy concern and his wanting to pay back donors for helping his campaign.

    Just Say NO to Mitt Romney on November 6th!




    Wednesday, October 24, 2012

    Romney's "Sketchy Deal" for Higher Education

     StudentDebtCrisis.org Email:
    With only two weeks left until Election Day, it is extremely important that voters be made aware of what a Romney/Ryan Administration would mean for higher education. That is why we put together a new video, detailing Romney’s “sketchy” attitudes on the topic. 
    For those voters who care about making higher education more accessible and affordable, Governor Romney's rhetoric on the campaign trail with respect to higher education has been shockingly tone-deaf and utterly detached from reality. 
    It should come as no surprise that StudentDebtCrisis.org believes that a Romney/Ryan Administration would be an unmitigated disaster in terms of making college more affordable, easing the burden of exorbitant levels of student loan debt, and going after for-profit schools for their fraudulent practices. 
    Because this is an issue that matters a great deal to us, we just released a brand new video highlighting Gov. Romney's ill-informed and wrong-headed positions regarding higher education.

    Republicans keep asking why students are deserting the Republican Party -- all they need to do is look in the mirror as they have gone hard left.  Most students could care less about social issues but they do care about student loans.  In today's Romney world all you have to do is ask your parents to put you through college and it is going to magically happen which is not the case in most families.  

    The Middle Class is making less while the rich get richer but now the wealthy Mitt Romney wants us to pay for college for our children and bankrupt the family because if you cannot pay for it, you shouldn't go to a non-profit college. There is one caveat to that scenario as it is okay to take out student loans to go to for profit universities who are owned by Romney's big donors.  

    It is mind boggling that Republicans are falling for Romney -- have they collectively quit using their brains to figure things out?  It is as plain as day but they act like that everything is okay and Romney is this great candidate some even comparing him to Reagan.  When some Republicans swallowed the Romney koolaid, they threw common sense out the window.

    Once again Romney has his facts wrong on the cost of for profit versus non-profit universities with non-profits being much cheaper.  It might be easier to say when he is right which is not very often it seems.  Easier to lie then tell the truth for Mitt Romney.

    Climate Deniers from CATO to Release Rip-Off Report

    Are the Koch Brothers doing to the Libertarian CATO what they are doing to the Republican Party by destroying both when it comes to honesty, integrity, and credibility?  I am not a big global warming supporter but I am also not a total skeptic either.  What I do know is when I see a report on any subject that has been ripped off and a few things added to support one side of an issue it is flat out wrong.  The dishonesty of the Koch Brothers is becoming legendary in the Republican circles from those who took off their blinders but now they are putting out falsified reports with no research -- just change a few words -- to justify their positions.

    When are people going to wake up that the Koch Brothers have their best interests at heart not the Country?  Are there no Republicans left with a backbone who will stand up to them?  Seems money from big donors is worth sacrificing honesty and integrity which we are see happening with today's Republican leadership.

    This is just another example of what is wrong with today's conservatives by releasing this Rip-Off Report.  Did the people at CATO not think that the USGCRP would recognize their report as being the basis for the rip off?  If they didn't, then they are stupid in addition to be dishonest and too lazy to do their own report.
    Climate Deniers To Release Rip-Off Report
    —By | Tue Oct. 23, 2012 11:36 AM PDT 
    Back in June 2009, the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) released a detailed 188-page report, "Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States," showing how climate change would affect different regions of the country. The USGCRP is at work on its next assessment right now, which is due out in 2013. But this week a climate-change-denying think tank is trying to muddy the water by releasing what it calls an "addendum" to the USGCRP report. 
    The Cato Institute, a "free-market" minded think-tank based in DC, plans to release its own "Addendum: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States" report. In addition to the title, the report's cover looks like the USGCRP report: 
    The Daily Climate

    The Daily Climate 
    The Daily Climate flagged the fake report on Monday, noting that the addendum "matches the layout and design of the original, published by the U.S. Global Change Research Program: Cover art, 'key message' sections, table of contents are all virtually identical, down to the chapter heads, fonts and footnotes." 
    While the real USGCRP report had grim predictions for many regions of the US, the Cato report claims that "observed impacts of climate change have little national significance." A draft version of the Cato report is posted online. It lists noted climate contrarian and Cato senior fellow Pat Michaels as the editor in chief. 
    Rick Piltz, who was a senior associate with the USGCRP for ten years before leaving amid Bush-era censorship in 2005, also covered the Cato draft on his blog, Climate Science Watch:
    Because of its misleading design and layout throughout, the Cato report can be characterized as a counterfeit, having nothing to do with the USGCRP or the authors of the original report. It was not subjected to the extensive review process that characterized the 2009 report, and its key findings are neither consistent with the original assessment nor with the analysis developed by the great majority of qualified scientists.
    UPDATE: Eleven members of the Federal Advisory Committee that wrote the 2009 USGCRP report have released a statement condemning the Cato report as "deceptive and misleading."
    At least someone has the nerve to call out the Koch Brothers owned CATO for their report that is "deceptive and misleading" while using the Government's report to change it enough to fit their narrative.  Koch Brothers along with Rove, Fox News, Drudge, and Rush are now running the Republican Party and wonder why some of us have finally had enough of their manipulations to dare go so far as to support Obama.

    After the debate when you saw Senators McCain and Portman lying for Romney, you knew this Republican Party had lost its way.  I had an email yesterday from the RNC I sent back with the note about how stupid do you think we are saying Romney won all three debates when he lost the last two.  Honesty and integrity has taken a real hit since the Libertarian wing led by the Koch Brothers has taken over the Republican Party.  This report is just another example of their influence and dishonesty.

    Tuesday, October 23, 2012

    Romney: “Syria is Iran’s only ally in the Arab world. It’s their route to the sea.”



    The minute that came out of Romney's mouth, I knew he had not prepared for the foreign policy debate because it isn't important to him.  He doesn't bother to read the papers prepared for him on foreign policy as the only thing that matters to Romney it seems is the economy and his wealthy friends getting wealthier.  Not someone I want as President.  I still cannot get over his said this again last night:
    Puzzling over this tonight from Romney: “Syria is Iran’s only ally in the Arab world. It’s their route to the sea.” 
    Late Update: Not the first time Romney has said this, apparently. More here.
    David Kurtz

    During the last night's debate when Romney talked about Iran's only route to the sea was Syria, I had a flashback to the GOP primary debate where he said the same thing and thought I must be imagining I heard it before, but I was right.  All these months later and no one has bothered to look at a map on the GOP side?

    From the Washington Post site, Romney has said it six more times since then and again last night.  Why didn't his staff correct him?  I put up the first map because it shows the very reason we are talking and not attacking Iran's nuclear reactors.  To go from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and out to the Arabian Sea, you have to through the Strait of Hormuz which for years Americans and our NATO allies along with other countries on the Persian Gulf have been afraid Iran might mine that Strait.  In June of this year, it was revealed that there was a buildup in the Persian Gulf by the US and its allies:

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, June 26 (UPI) -- In the wake of Iran's refusal to rein in its contentious nuclear program at talks in Moscow, the U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf is gathering pace, with four more Navy mine countermeasures ships arriving at the weekend. 
    The Avenger class vessels out of San Diego will join eight U.S. and British navy mine hunters deployed in the region. 
    Their main mission will be to keep open the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the only way in and out of the gulf, if the Iranians carry through on a threat to close the vital energy artery through which one-fifth of the world's oil supplies pass every day. 
    Iran is reported to have in excess of 2,000 sea mines, including advanced Russian weapons, that could be used to block the narrow, 112-mile strait.
    These could be used in conjunction with Chinese-designed anti-ship missiles and swarm attacks by fleets of armed speedboats manned by naval forces of the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps.

    Read more:  UPI



    The Air Force has joined the Navy buildup by increasing their resources in the Gulf with F-22 Raptors and F-15's moved to the region this summer.  Anyone thinking that we don't have a lot of resources in this region needs to look no farther then the fact that the Fifth Fleet of the US Navy headquartered in Bahrain.  We keep a carrier in the Persian Gulf at all times and another one in the Arabian Sea.
    The Fifth Fleet of the United States Navy is responsible for naval forces in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and coast off East Africa as far south as Kenya. It shares a commander and headquarters with U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT).
    Here is a map of the Middle East where you see that Iran does NOT border Syria and has plenty of access to water as its long coastline borders the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, and Gulf of Oman which connects to the Arabian Sea.


    These same maps were shown over and over again during Gulf War I and Gulf War II but Romney and his consultants (other then Bush national security people advising Romney) obviously never paid attention to the countries in the Middle East.  Yet for months Romney has been saber rattling against Iran and how we need to quit talking and attack Iran.  Even Senator Lindsey Graham wants talks to stop with Iran.  Wonder what he thinks of Romney today after he went out on a limb for him or Cong Peter King on Libya?  

    It is obvious that Romney didn't pay any attention during Gulf War I or II to what was happening in the region but now parrots what Fox News and Rush have to say.  That is no way to run foreign policy.  I went after McCain/Palin for not being ready on foreign policy but Romney/Ryan are even worse.  In fact, they are downright scary when you realize that Romney considers Russia our biggest geopolitical foe and thinks the World Court should indict the Iranian Leader for a speech:
    During Monday’s presidential debate in Boca Raton, Fla., Romney brought up the notion of indicting Ahmadinejad for his inflammatory statements against Israel. The Iranian dictator famously was quoted in a speech saying that Israel “must be wiped off the map,” though the translation was later revealed to be somewhat inaccurate
    “I’d make sure that Ahmadinejad is indicted under the Genocide Convention. His words amount to genocide incitation,” Romney said. 
    So now Romney wants Ahmadinejad indicted for speaking out even though the translation was inaccurate and this man wants to be President?  Give me a break!

    Then there is the little fact that once again Romney did not mention veterans last night but Obama did.  Imagine that after the uproar from the GOP Convention not mentioning veterans, that Romney did it again.

    When I first joined Republicans for Obama, I wondered if I was doing the right thing, but now I know it was the right thing to do.  Romney is not ready on any front to be President and his ability to lie without batting an eye could be a foreign policy disaster.  Mitt Romney does not have the character to be President and it is time for the American people to send him back to one of his mansions for good on November 6th.

    Monday, October 22, 2012

    Are Some GOP Members of Congress Morally Corrupt on Libya?


    Things must be getting desperate in Republican land in Congress as they see this election, slip, slipping away out of their grasp as the Libyan attack is blowing up in their faces:
    But now, a growing drumbeat of evidence has found that the administration’s claims were substantiated by the the intelligence community. Eyewitnesses in Benghazi initially told officials and reporters that “members of the group that raided the U.S. mission specifically mentioned the video, which denigrated the prophet Muhammad” and “found no evidence that it was ordered by Al Qaeda.”  
    They have no one to blame but themselves for their obstructionism, lies and lack of integrity in this election.  Trying to use a tragedy like Libya to score political points is exactly the reason that Republicans including Romney should not get people's votes on November 6th.  Many of today's Republicans have no integrity or honesty in this election.  Never thought I would be saying that along with Republicans have put ousting Obama and their party ahead of what is good for the Country.  Unfortunately, they have done just that with their obstructionist tactics and lies they have told about Obama.    How much farther along would the recovery be if the Republicans in the House and Senate had worked with the Democrats for the American people?  Love it when the GOP trashes Obamacare which was based on a Republican plan in the 90's and Romneycare but it is so bad they had to vote over 30 times to repeal costing the taxpayers around $50M all for the purposes of grandstanding leading up to this election.

    For Cong King (R-NY) to suggest that Obama had the intel documents doctored shows a gross lack of integrity and honesty.  If King wants the American people to think anyone can snap their fingers and change intel reports, he knows he is lying which make his comments even worse.  Those intel people at the highest levels are not for sale to anyone as they put America first something Republicans have forgotten in their quest to get a very flawed candidate Romney who cannot tell the truth elected.  Republicans have been morphing into pretzels lying about him and putting their credibility on the line for Romney which as we note is continuing today.  GOP has been saying for years that Obama never gets an intel briefing but that is an outright lie as I have discovered when talking to some people I have known for years who come out of that community.
    Reports have indicated that despite the intelligence community’s growing uncertainty about the impetus for the attacks, “intelligence officials didn’t feel they had enough conclusive, new information to revise their assessment” and did not communicate their doubts to Rice before her Sunday show appearances. This assessment was also reflected in Obama’s Presidential Daily Briefings. 
    This is simply stunning and make a lot of us who are Republicans question Republicans who have been elected in the House and Senate who put the Republican Party and its big donors over the American people.  For that alone, they deserve to lose control of the House and not take the Senate.  Democrats if they take control of the House are walking a thin line with the American voters who have had it with both parties in Congress.  Republicans promised transparency and working together if we elected them -- they didn't come close to delivering as they became obstructionist on almost everything.  What I have been seeing about Libya from Republicans in Congress is enough to know this group should never be in charge of committees in Congress.  Sad day for America when politics is put over Country.  Time both parties wake up and realize they work for the good of the American people not their parties.

    Are there no Republicans with backbones willing to stand up and call out people like Peter King whose comments are so despicable -- whether you like him or not, you are talking about the President of the United States which shows with today's Republicans it is all about scoring political points as the truth takes a big hit.
    SecurityGOP Jumps The Shark: Congressman Suggests Obama Doctored Libyan Intelligence To Win ReelectionBy Igor Volsky posted on Oct 22, 2012 at 12:01 pm


    Republicans blamed President Obama for the killing of four Americans in Libya within hours of the September 11 attack, attributing the violence to the administration’s supposed penchant for “apologizing” and failing to lead in the region. Within days, Republicans charged that Democrats, by arguing that the deaths were caused by a YouTube video disparaging the Prophet Muhammed, were covering up and misleading al Qaeda’s involvement in the deaths and called for U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s resignation. During a series of Sunday show appearances on September 16th, she pointedly argued that the attackers took advantage of a protest against the video to carry out the killings. 
    But now, a growing drumbeat of evidence has found that the administration’s claims were substantiated by the the intelligence community. Eyewitnesses in Benghazi initially told officials and reporters that “members of the group that raided the U.S. mission specifically mentioned the video, which denigrated the prophet Muhammad” and “found no evidence that it was ordered by Al Qaeda.” The CIA also believed that the clip acted as an accelerant for the killings, instructing both Obama and Rice that “The currently available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the U.S. Consulate and subsequently its annex.” The agency did not change its assessment until September 22. 
    The new evidence undermines the GOP’s accusations. But rather than back away from the blame game, they’re doubling down on their attacks against the administration. During an appearance on Fox News on Monday, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-NY) — who led the Republican effort to use the Libya incident as a way to weaken Obama’s foreign policy credentials — insisted that Obama should have questioned the intelligence community’s conclusions and suggested that he pressured the CIA to doctor its findings to fit his re-election narrative:
    KING: I want to find out why the president didn’t ask questions….Did they ask the State Department if they had any videos what occurred at the consulate that night? Why with all these threats leading up to September 11th and talking about terror attacks and how could they now be saying it was not a terror attack. I think they’re hiding behind the term intelligence community. To me shows the president did not look into what happened, did not inquire what happened, was willing to look at something face value. Why was the report at face value whether there was so much evidence in there showing it was terrorist attack. It cries out for explanation and investigation. [...] 
    Who are the individuals or the ones the president claim gave him this information? And did the president steer them in that direction? Was this is mind set by the administration that said Libya was great victory and Al Qaeda was on the ropes and no longer a threat to us?
    During an earlier appearance on Laura Ingraham’s radio show, King also suggested that Rice should have known that the intelligence presented to her was false and interrogated the assessments before appearing on that series of Sunday political talk shows. “She’s in the chain of command at the State Department,” he said. “Did she just take that information or did she go to the Secretary of State?”   
    Read More at Security at Think Progress.
    Talk to more people who think it is time for a viable third party with a center right philosophy with no social issues.  Reminder -- Contract with America in 1994 did not contain social issues.  This group of Republicans wants to do away with contraceptives being made available in addition to legal abortion.  We should be moving forward not backward in this Country.

    Don't know anything about the district of Peter King but after this, he should be voted out of office,  His credibility is shot and with it the Republican Party members of Congress who have gone over the cliff with the thought of a black man getting four more years as President.   It might even be worse if it was a woman because women are to be seen and not heard or an Hispanic who some Republicans consider less than human.  

    Along with Romney has come some of the most bigoted comments out of Republicans I have ever seen.  When Jeb Bush said his brother, Dad, and Reagan would not have been nominated by today's Republican Party he is telling the truth but then they probably would not have run to represent the nasty, bigoted, hard right we are seeing today.

    Think the Republican Party leadership is about to get the shock of their lives when the final results are in.  If they had any core values, they would ask themselves where they lost their integrity and honesty along with class in this election.  Only then, can the Republican Party start to be put back together.  If they are not willing to take the blame for going hard right and putting their big donors over the Country, then there is no hope for the Republican Party and some of us are going to have to find a new home.
     

    Sunday, October 21, 2012

    Why is a Republican Senator Defending Issa for Outing Libyans?


    Why is Senator Graham making a fool of himself over Libya by defending Issa?  First of all there is later data out to confirm what Susan Rice said that confirms the video was part of this but why let facts stand in the way.
    October 16: News reports begin to indicate that while the Benghazi attacks may not have grown out of a protest against an anti-Muslim film Rice said in her Sept. 16 remarks, the assault may have been both an act of terrorism and carried out in response to the video.
    Anyone who has ever been around the Intelligence Community knows that initial reports may not be the whole story.  That is nothing new but to declare the video had nothing to do with the attack isn't facing reality as the demonstrations started in Egypt due to the video and were spreading so a logical conclusion is that some terrorists took the opportunity to go after the consulate.  Did they know the Ambassador was in residence that night or were they after another facility on the compound?

    The very idea that any sitting Senator would approve of what Issa did by releasing these documents to the public that contained names of Libyans who have been helping us is outrageous.  It just proves that these Republicans in Congress will do anything they can to defeat Obama when it means going against their core values in order to support a dishonest and corrupt Mitt Romney.  Also proves that Fox News will do anything to support Republicans by changing subjects like Chris Wallace did.
    Durbin: Issa endangered Libyans with document dump to get ‘toehold’ for Romney (via Raw Story )

    By David Edwards 
    Sunday, October 21, 2012 12:37 EDT 
    Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) on Sunday ripped House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrel Issa (R-IL) for exposing the identities of Libyans who were working with the U.S. government in an effort to politicize the recent deaths of four Americans in Benghazi and get a foreign policy “toehold" for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. 
    During an interview on Fox News on Sunday, host Chris Wallace repeatedly ignored Durbin’s efforts to point out that Issa had dumped 166 pages of sensitive State Department documents without redacting the names of Libyan civilians.
    “Let’s ask the honest questions, let’s gather the evidence, let’s make sure we understand actually what did occur,” the Democratic senator told Wallace. “But jumping to conclusions — I mean, Darrel Issa does a documentary dump on his website of sensitive information about those in Libya who are helping to keep America safe. It shows the lengths many will go to try to politicize this tragic situation.”
    Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, however, praised Issa and Fox News for continuing to attack President Barack Obama for his handling of Libya before and after the attacks. 
    “Thanks God for media that will ask questions, thank God for some Republican control of one branch of government,” Graham opined. “If you left it up to this administration to inform the American people, we would still be believing this was a spontaneous riot spurred by a video.” 
    “I am totally convinced that this is going to go down in history as one of the most major breakdowns of national security in a very long time,” he insisted. “It’s exhibit A of a failed national security strategy.”
    For his part, Durbin said that it was “always easier to say the day after how you could have won that football game.”
    “This idea of Chairman Issa, saying that he’s going to dump the names in public of Libyans who are risking their lives to support America and keep us safe in an effort to get a political toehold in this election is unconscionable, it is unacceptable,” Durban observed. “I’m sure that Sen. Graham doesn’t support that.”
    “Well, let’s move on to the shifting story after the attack,” Wallace replied, declining to press Graham on the question of Issa’s document dump.
    Fox Tabloid News pundit Wallace refused to press Graham on his answer preferring to 'move on' so Graham didn't have to answer whether he supported outing the Libyans or not.  By his silence and support of Issa, he has answered that question that he agrees or he would have spoken out.  Shame on Senator Graham for putting Party over our Country and National Security.  He joins a long list of Republicans who have been obstructing and attacking the President for over 3 1/2 years but this is reprehensible out of someone with access to classified information and has been a member of the military.

    What country would want to work with the CIA if we are going to out their people?  Or is that what Graham and others want -- do away with the CIA and bring intelligence under the military which is bad idea.  They don't have the resources and the DoD is headed by a political appointee that leaves his job when a new President takes over while the CIA Director is a 10-year appointment like the FBI Director.  The CIA operates independently from the military but so many times they have reached the same conclusions from different avenues which is necessary to have an intelligence community that works.  I have no faith left in today's Republicans in Congress or in the flawed candidate representing the Republican Party.

    The obstruction and House Republicans cutting the budgets of security for the embassies should make everyone cringe at what they would do if Romney was President.  



    Saturday, October 20, 2012

    Congressmen Darrell Issa and Jason Chaffetz Break Their Oath on Libyan Investigation IMHO



      I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God. (Oath of Office of the Congress enacted in 1884)

    Yesterday Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) who is a Romney surrogate, released sensitive information on Libya.  Why is Issa investigating Libya instead of  Chairman Rogers of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence?  Is it because Rogers wouldn't allow public hearings or leak information on Libya because he always puts Country over Party?  That is not a trait that some of today's Republicans want as they will say and do anything including lying to get Romney elected.  This stunt by Issa should immediately remove the Libya investigation from Issa's Committee to Chairman Roger's Intel Committee because Issa and Chaffetz cannot be trusted with sensitive information:
    Issa uploaded scores of sensitive material and didn’t redact names of Libyan civilians or local leaders, exposing them to physical danger from the very people the Obama administration is investigating regarding the September 11, 2012 attacks. 
    If that does not break the oath of office that members of the Congress take, then I don't know what does.  This comes on top of the outing of a CIA base in Libya from this same Committee of Issa:

    Dana Milbank wrote Wednesday:
    Through their outbursts, cryptic language and boneheaded questioning of State Department officials, the committee members left little doubt that one of the two compounds at which the Americans were killed, described by the administration as a “consulate” and a nearby “annex,” was a CIA base. They did this, helpfully, in a televised public hearing.
    So Issa accomplished outing the location of a CIA base in their big show, but no doubt this will magically be blamed on Obama by Republicans. Dana Milbank wrote, “When House Republicans called a hearing in the middle of their long recess, you knew it would be something big, and indeed it was: They accidentally blew the CIA’s cover.” 
    So the committee investigating whether or not secrets were leaked is now leaking secrets. Will this clown show ever end? Oh, no. They even managed to out that their investigation might be looking into the wrong agency. It looks like it might be the CIA, not the State Department.

    This was pure politics with the debate on foreign policy coming up Monday night.  IMHO, the FBI needs to launch an investigation into Darrell Issa (R-CA) and his co-conspirator Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) who is a Romney surrogate:
    This week Chaffetz came through with the promises he made to his Mormon brother (Romney). Before a national audience, Chaffetz threw all sense of decency out the window when he started throwing every scrap of mud he could find at the White House, the State Department, and everyone in between.  
    These are the kind of people that are now Republicans in the House putting the Party and election of Romney over the Country.  Is that what Americans want from their House of Representatives?  I don't think so and if the Democrats take back the House, they can blame people like Issa and Chaffetz who cannot keep their mouths shut even foreign affairs and intelligence operations.  Some Republicans will do and say anything to make Obama a one-term President even if they have to lie which we are seeing daily.  Any member of the House or Senate that has been involved in obstruction and releasing information that should not have been made public needs to resign, but that would take class and honesty but most of today's Congressional Republicans have the class and honesty of a gnat.
    While Investigating Obama Over Libya, Darrell Issa Puts Libyans’ Lives at Risk
     
    House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) has placed several Libyans lives at risk in the course of investigating the alleged security issues regarding the deaths of four Americans in Libya on September 11, 2012. 
    Issa uploaded scores of sensitive material and didn’t redact names of Libyan civilians or local leaders, exposing them to physical danger from the very people the Obama administration is investigating regarding the September 11, 2012 attacks. 
    Speaking to The Cable, an administration official said, “Much like WikiLeaks, when you dump a bunch of documents into the ether, there are a lot of unintended consequences. This does damage to the individuals because they are named, danger to security cooperation because these are militias and groups that we work with and that is now well known, and danger to the investigation, because these people could help us down the road.” 
    This comes after Issa already outed a CIA base in Libya during the course of this (one of many) partisan witch hunt, allegedly based on concerns over security. As Richard Clarke explained, however, anyone who thinks that initial information is correct knows nothing about terrorism or combat. 
    Issa is doing the exact same thing his party did when we first discussed going into Libya and they were warned by their own party policy makers to stop giving aid to our enemies just because they wanted to cause problems for President Obama. 
    So, Darrell Issa has leaked important information while investigating alleged leaks of security — again. He is doing more damage in this investigation than our enemies could have hoped for. This is hardly Issa’s first go at hacking up a partisan witch hunt of this administration. 
    This isn’t just your typical Republican incompetence. The Republicans don’t care that they’ve endangered our work and civilians in Libya over their alleged concern over Americans killed in Libya.  
    They’re politicizing Libya and hoping that by leaking info that even Wikileaks wouldn’t have leaked (Wikileaks offered the State Department the chance to redact sensitive material unlike the Republican Party), they can stir up more chaos and violence in order to blame it on Obama before the election.  
    Let’s see. Wikileaks has been named an enemy of the state for their document dumping, and yet Republicans are still running wild after dumping unredacted documents that Wikileaks would not have without first running it past the State Department.  
    Read the entire Darrell Issa story at The Cable.
    To add fuel to the fire, it is the Republicans who have been cutting embassy security in the House budgets and then blame in on Obama for not increasing security:
    Remember when the House that Ryan built defunded security for consulates, even after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “warned that Republicans’ proposed cuts to her department would be “detrimental to America’s national security” — a charge Republicans rejected”:

    For fiscal 2013, the GOP-controlled House proposed spending $1.934 billion for the State Department’s Worldwide Security Protection program — well below the $2.15 billion requested by the Obama administration. 
    House Republicans cut the administration’s request for embassy security funding by $128 million in fiscal 2011 and $331 million in fiscal 2012. (Negotiations with the Democrat-controlled Senate restored about $88 million of the administration’s request.)
    Ryan’s 2014 budget cuts non-defense discretionary spending, “which includes State Department funding, would be slashed nearly 20 percent in 2014, which would translate to more than $400 million in additional cuts to embassy security.” 
    Maybe you don’t remember any of that because you were busy screaming “Valerie Plame!” today when you found out that in their (yet another) Darrell Issa led witch hunt with taxpayer money, Republicans accidentally outed the location of a secret CIA base. 

    Years ago when I worked for the Air Force, my boss used to get the daily intel paperwork from FTD from the Air Force listening posts and media overseas.  He would go through the report every morning highlighting with the 4-star Commander needed to see.  After he had highlighted the report, it went to the Commander.  We had a local Congressman who demanded to see the report but he was turned down as he didn't have the necessary clearance.

    Will never forget my boss saying that if they gave that report to any member of Congress not on Intelligence or Foreign Affairs, they might as well release to the media themselves.  That is exactly what happened when the Darrell Issa Committee was given information that should have stayed in Congress not been released.  This is the same Republican Investigation Committee that leaked the location of a CIA base in Libya.


    Never thought I would be saying this, but for the good of the Country and for our Federal employees around the world, it is time to throw out Republicans and bring back the Democrats to head the House.  What is a shame is that we have some good chairs like Chairman Rogers of Intel but we cannot afford two more years of Issa and his investigations and the Ryan budgets that cut necessary foreign operations to give the Defense Department money for weapons systems they don't want.

    The GOP has proven with their obstructionist agenda and now leaking this information including outing a CIA operation, that they should not be in charge of the House because with that comes Committee Chairs and Issa has no business ever being in charge of an investigative committee again.  IMHO Issa shouldn't be a member of Congress after his stunts for the last two years putting the GOP and Romney over the Country he swore in his oath to serve:

    The current oath was enacted in 1884:
      I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.


    Friday, October 19, 2012

    Romney, the Spoiled Brat, Unmasked Tuesday Night

    If you didn't think he was raised as a spoiled brat who everyone had to bow down before, this should do it from his wife about when she was dating others he was so upset it put him in the hospital and then she follows the lead of Romney that serving in a "Mission" is the same as serving in the Military.  The Romneys are part of the privileged class that the rest of us are here to serve.  When Ann Romney told the women of The View to ask her husband, I couldn't believe it because he refuses to go on The View.  They were stunned.

    The whole family needs brought down to earth from the lofty perch looking down at the rest of us.  Looks like they raised their sons to be the same entitled people as the two of them are with his oldest son wanting to go punch out Obama with absolutely zero respect for the Office of the President.  School yard bully comes to mind.  This was the next day he made those remarks not during the debate.  More low class out of the wealthy Romney Clan who as a good friend said are "perfect."

    These comments sums up what many of us saw in the saw in the debate from Willard Mitt Romney:
    Romney challenged the moderator, disrespected the President, and showed America he is rude, obnoxious, and a schoolyard bully borne of arrogance, entitlement, and inability to acknowledge authority.
    No-one really knows what shaped Willard Romney into the self-important, arrogant malcontent he is today, but it appears that between his life of wealth and entitlement coupled with his religious upbringing as a princely god-in-waiting, he was molded into a disrespectful bully who cannot bring himself to show deference to the President and in fact, treated him like an underling or worse; a cursed-by-god dark-skinned man unworthy of respect. 
    The last end of the paragraph above bothers me the worst when it says "a cursed-by-god dark-skinned man unworthy of respect" which unfortunately is what you take away from the comments of a lot of Republicans who speak out against Obama that he is not American, doesn't know or understand America, and try to make him seem almost less than human at times.  Their obvious racial overtones have not gone unnoticed especially when you realize that the Republican Party is now the home once again to the John Birchers and the white southern Democrat racist males who found a home in the Republican Party with the anti-illegal immigration crowd many of them who don't care if minorities are here legally or not as they all have to leave this country of whites where white males dominate.  There is also the faction in the Republican Party especially the Tea Party who do not believe women should vote or you have to own property to vote.

    It is the old barefoot and pregnant mentality we are seeing out of the GOP today with their attacks on women whose crime is to want equal pay or horrors of horrors want contraceptives paid for while the good old boys want to keep getting their Viagra for free.  The very idea that a black man is President makes them seethe with anger and thus some of the off the wall comments we are getting.  They are not treating women much better with their remarks calling women sluts, etc. like Limbaugh and even some GOP Congressmen and Senate candidates.

    Women will not be relegated to binders no matter how much Romney and others want that to happen.  Fox Tabloid News is trying to set women back years with their attacks on Candy Crowley, the moderator of the debate, for doing her job.  How dumb are they to redefine act of terror as not being terrorism all to defend Romney?

    Then there was the Alfred E. Smith dinner in NYC last night where Romney took the occasion to roast Obama which politicians do not do as it is about making fun of yourself and the other candidate.  Some of Romney's jokes made no sense.  But then there is this from a Romney supporter:

    The queers at MSNBC are "Very offended" by Romney's "Hateful, unprofessional jokes"
    These are the same people who compared Candy Crowley to Nazi's and John Wilkes Booth who shot Abraham Lincoln.  The lack of class from this group of Republicans leaves a lot of us cold and asking what happened to decency from the GOP?  The very fact that Romney used this dinner to Bash President Obama shows the total lack of character and class of the candidate:


    Romney Uses Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner As An Opportunity to Bash Obama
    This year, someone needed to tell Mitt Romney that you're supposed to make a few jokes about yourself at these events. He seemed to think it was a roast of President Obama and treated it more like another campaign stop, rather than a charity event. 
    I think the President did a lot better job of keeping things a little more light-hearted and with making fun of himself and his last debate performance in particular. 
    As people who read this blog know, I have been calling Mitt Romney a spoiled brat for sometime who thinks he is better then the rest of us.  Looks like I am not the only one who is seeing through Romney especially after the debate Tuesday night.   This idea of the Mormon Church that males are superior is stunning in today's world and makes me wonder why ANY woman would ever vote for Romney:
    Whether it is due to his cult’s belief that Mormon males are without fault and princely from the age of twelve, or because he was born into wealth and privilege, Willard had the look of disbelief that anyone on Earth dared to doubt, challenge, or correct his stunning lies and misinformation, and for the first time in the campaign, his vapid, soulless eyes showed emotion.
    Having a real problem understanding Republicans who are going out defending Romney -- makes no sense.  Do they think a man this flawed can be controlled when he meets foreign leaders and one of them disagrees with what he is saying?  For once, will Republicans in leadership positions put the Country over the Party by telling the American voters what they really think.  What some say in private about Mitt Romney is that he would be a disaster for this Country and you cannot trust the man as he has no core values?  Will they say it in public -- no way!  What are they afraid of?  The John Birchers, the Tea Party, big donors like the Koch Brothers and Adelson, the religious right, social conservatives, being called names, or are they just afraid of their own shadows and go along to get along.

    Even after Romney was exposed at the debate Tuesday night as being a bully and a total jerk, the RNC Chair said Obama lied not Romney.  What was he drinking as it was clear Romney was the liar?  Then there was former NY Governor Pataki defending Romney on Libya with comments that made me mute my TV.  The clincher for me came from Michael Steele saying Romney was right on Libya when it was proven wrong.  In this campaign, the pundits and Republicans who are speaking on the networks supporting Romney have the credibility of a gnat.  Takes you less than a minute to discover they are lying when you do the search.

    Despicable is the word that comes to mind that this group will take down a whole party to see a very flawed candidate from their Party become President.  Is it because they hate the fact that someone other then a white male is the President.  With their attacks on women this time, I have to believe a woman would be treated just like they are treating Obama which is like scum.

    This article speaks for me:

    Obama Exposed Romney as a Brat Who has Never Been Challenged or Corrected 


    One of the most difficult and under-appreciated jobs in America is being a public school teacher for myriad reasons, but none more than dealing with children whose parents coddle them from birth and inculcate them with the notion they can do no wrong. It is a disservice to children, and teachers, for parents to indoctrinate their child to believe that not only are they perfection exemplified, but that their excellence makes them immune to authority. Most teachers have experienced a student who refuses to follow instructions based on their deep-seated belief their superiority exempts them from following directions or adjusting to social norms.

    It was not surprising Willard stood and lied time and time again, it is what pathological liars do, but his insolence, rude behavior, and blatant disrespect for the President, moderator, and debate rules he agreed on was stunning. What Romney verified was that he presents symptoms of anti-social personality disorder that informs his “narcissism, extreme sense of entitlement, and intolerance for authority figures” that he put on display for 65-million Americans in Tuesday’s debate.

    One of the rules Romney agreed on was no questions from one candidate to the other, and Romney broke that simple rule often. It wasn’t just that he asked President Obama direct questions, he harassed him and at one point told the President “answer the question, answer the question” as if he was the authority figure and the President was his employee or a witness being grilled by a slimy defense attorney. In one exchange, Romney asked the President about oil drilling permits, and he interrupted and badgered the President by repeating the question 6 times before he stopped running his mouth, and then interrupted the President again and told him “you’ll get your chance in a moment, I’m still speaking.” It was, without a doubt, typical of an arrogant spoiled child used to bullying his parents that educators see from children who never learned social convention whether it is in a school setting, at home, or at family functions, but one never expected to see such rude behavior from a presidential candidate.
    Romney also attempted to bully and manipulate the moderator as he had done in the first debate, except Ms. Crowley is not Jim Lehrer and at one point she told Willard, “if I can have you sit down governor Romney;” it must have stung Romney to have anyone, much less a woman, tell him, in essence, to sit down and shut up. 
    (snip) 
    President Obama won the debate on Tuesday, and he won using facts and challenging every one of Romney’s lies and deceitful assertions. He also exposed Romney as a fraud because when his lies were stripped away, and the bully was smacked down, what was left was a sniveling little brat who has never been challenged or corrected. When he was confronted as a liar and bloviate incapable of showing deference to the President or debate moderator, he was exposed for what he really is; a bully that a school teacher would report as antisocial and in need of immediate intervention.
    No matter whether you like or detest the person who is President, you should respect the Office of the President.  It is obvious that Mitt Romney has little regard for anyone but himself as he is Mr. Perfect and how dare anyone question anything he says.

    Once again I am asking how Republican voters can vote for such a flawed candidate and think they are doing their civic duty?  Do they really want Romney representing the United States when he states Russia is our biggest geopolitical ally or that we have to take out the Iranian nuclear reactors.  He doesn't care about sending young men and women to war.  After all he is someone who demonstrated FOR the Vietnam War and then got a deferment from the Mormon Church to go to France on a Mormon Mission which the family equates to being in the military.  Republicans deserve to lose it all this time for giving us Willard Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, an Ayn Rand disciple, as the GOP candidates for President and Vice President.

    Thursday, October 18, 2012

    No Romney Binders Needed for Women Veterans!

    Joined Vote Vets sometime ago not knowing what to expect after learning about them from a good friend who is retired Air Force.  Discovered some really good former military candidates who are running in this election starting with the former Surgeon General under President Bush Richard Carmona who is running against the hard right Jeff Flake.  

    Because of years around the military, it makes a difference to me if they are a veteran especially today because of how the Republican Party is treating veteran candidates with lies ridicule, and deceit.  There are times that I cannot fathom Republicans today with their attacks which are just mean spirited on our men and women who are veterans who dare run against a Republican.  It is disgraceful and understandable that younger people who are getting out of the service are starting to become more Democrat because of the actions of today's Romney Republican Party.  

    This former Chief of the Medical Services at Ramstein AFB, GE speaks for me.  It is a huge hospital and unlike the world of the wealthy business people like Romney, the Air Force believes in promoting qualified women to positions of trust and responsibility based on their qualifications.  



    Romney made a total jerk of himself with his arrogant 'I am better than you attitude' as rules don't apply to Romney as he tried to bully not only the President but the Moderator Candy Crowley during the debate this week.

    Why is the Romney camp who refused to acknowledge our troops in Afghanistan at the GOP Convention being propped up by phony stories like this one below by Politico which should receive pants on fire for truthfulness.  Glad to see Vote Vets tell the truth about Politico which spun and lied with the story that veterans were retreating from Obama moving to Romney:
    So, Politico's story just isn't true. It's coming up with a thesis, and jamming a bunch of unreliable numbers in there to back it up, while completely ignoring contradicting numbers. I would be extremely interested to see polling done only of veterans and military families, with a responsible sample size. That would lead to a reliable thesis and more responsible reporting.
    After seeing the headline from Politico several weeks ago that Vets were retreating from Obama, I sent out in an email asking veterans I know if they had switched to Romney.  In keeping with the decorum of this site, I won't repost some of what they said.  Suffice it to say they did not agree with the article.  You can now add Politico to those shilling for Romney with a reporter willing to stretch the truth by a lot:.  Once again we get the facts from Vote Vets unlike the media site for Politico:
    Vets Retreating From Obama? Not So Fast
    By Jon Soltz | Huffington Post | View story in the original contextPUBLISHED: September 25, 2012 
    It's a provocative headline from Politico: "Veterans Retreating from President Obama."
    Provocative, but not exactly true. 
    First, in the spirit of disclosure, I talked with the reporter who wrote the piece for 45 minutes, and walked him through the many reasons that veterans (especially younger veterans) are supporting President Obama, and how their voice can sway key voters that progressives usually have trouble reaching. And believe me, from expanding funding for veterans care, to constructing new vets centers under the stimulus, to passing legislation to get veterans hired, to doing more to help vets with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries, to getting us out of Iraq, to killing Osama bin Laden, there's a lot that veterans like about the President. 
    I also explained that where older veterans tend to be white males and more conservative, the newer generation of veterans contains more Latinos, African Americans, and women -- demographics that heavily tilts towards President Obama. That likely means that we're in the midst of a real paradigm shift, as far as the veterans' community goes, and the political leanings of its members. I do not know why I wasn't quoted in the story, nor why none of the facts or stats or poll numbers I passed on were used. 
    Now on to the facts. 
    The writer says, "Back in May, Obama had the lead among Afghanistan and Iraq veterans. But a Reuters/Ipsos poll from September says that's evaporated, with Romney now up 48 percent to 34 percent." 
    What doesn't he say? That a Zogby poll from Sept 21-22 shows that President Obama leads Mitt Romney among veterans and military families, 54%-40%, and that lead expands to 56%-32%, when you include third party candidates, among all voters. 
    That May Reuters-Ipsos poll referenced above found a 44-37 lead for the President. 
    Considering that nearly every single poll has the President expanding his lead since then, it'd be reasonable to expect that the President's May 44-37 lead among veterans has expanded with the rest of the country, or at least remained about the same. Yet Reuters now says Mitt Romney has had an amazing 11 point bounce and the President has crashed by 10 points in a few months. Is it more likely that has happened, or veterans are more or less trending more towards the President with the rest of the polls, which would put him in line for that 54-40 lead among vets and military families that Zogby shows today? 
    Of course, this isn't the first time that there have been different poll findings regarding veterans. In May, when Reuters-Ipsos found that 44-37 lead among veterans for the President, here was Politico's headline: 
    "Mitt Romney has huge lead with vets, poll says"
    Yep, that's right. Politico ran with a Gallup poll, which showed Mitt Romney with a lead among veterans. 
    Polling today also shows President Obama is pummeling Mitt Romney on questions of who is a stronger leader and better on foreign policy and terrorism issues. In some polling among all voters, the gap between the President and Mitt Romney is as wide as 15 percent. But I'll do something that I rarely ever do. Quote a FOX News poll. It found:
    • Who is better on Foreign policy: Obama 54 / Romney 39
    • Who can better protect the US from terrorist attacks: Obama 49 / Romney 41
    • Who would be a stronger negotiator with foreign leaders: Obama 49 / Romney 43
    These are issues that military troops, veterans, and their families care deeply about. While those numbers don't break down veterans, I find it extremely hard to believe that the veterans community is so wildly out of line with the American public, at large, that they're flooding over to Mitt Romney, as the Politico article would have you believe. 
    Here's my point. The "polling" of veterans is incredibly inconsistent and unreliable. It's impossible to use any existing polls to show definitive veteran support for President Obama or Mitt Romney. The best we can do is guess where President Obama started with veterans, and presume veterans' opinions don't move in complete and utter contrast to the rest of the population. But guessing isn't good enough to write a story on. 
    Worse, when you start to pull veterans out of a larger pool of polling subjects, you're going to get wildly varying results. Because a small fraction of the population has served in war (and less than 1 percent in Iraq and Afghanistan), your poll sample will likely reflect that. Simply put, you're not polling strictly veterans as the full respondent sample, you're polling Americans and then yanking the veterans out, for a very tiny and unrepresentative sampling with incredibly unreliable results. And, if you're pulling just Iraq and Afghanistan veterans from that, the sample size will be even smaller and even more unreliable.  
    Excerpt:  Read More at Vote Vets.org
    What happens to polling as a whole when you put in a 3rd party candidate like former NM Governor Gary Johnson who is running on the Libertarian ticket?  Would be willing to bet a steak dinner that Obama's lead increases considerably.  Then there is Virgil Goode in Virginia running as a Constitution Party candidate who is a former Representative from SW Virginia.  Bet that same steak that he will pull big numbers away from Romney in VA.  I bet a steak dinner because that is for only blue collar according to Perino at  Fox Tabloid News when it was reported that Obama had steak for dinner before the debate.


    Can only guess at what TX/CO/OK ranchers are saying about that comment from Fox's Perino.  Kind of what I found from veterans I know would be my guess.