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This is not at all a prediction of the likely electoral college outcome, but it is an illustration of how difficult it will be for Mitt Romney to win the election. Obama is currently leading in most or all polls of Nevada, Colorado, Virginia, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, New Hampshire, and Virginia. He has several ways to win without Ohio, but Romney has virtually none. However, winning in Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio, among the swing states, is enough for victory. Note that I have pessimistically even given Romney an electoral vote in Maine, and that I gave him New Hampshire too, another place where Obama is ahead in the polls. It takes 270 electoral votes to win the Presidency.
UPDATE: An excellent article from Talking Points Memo explains the history of the bizarre fake controversy. You might want to read this, particularly to compare the quotes of Paul Pillar in this article to the quotes from Pillar in the McClatchy article linked below.
Here is my quick take on the subject, written before I had read the TPM article above.
This is a responsibly written article from McClatchy’s Washington, DC bureau about the mixed statements over a 10 day period from the Obama administration. I recommend reading it, and then ask yourself, is this a controversy of the proper caliber to take down a President of the United States in a scandal? It is a loser.
My best guess as to why the administration (almost entirely done by only one person, the UN ambassador) began to put out mixed signals, is because they were afraid of a GOP attack claiming that diplomatic security had been inadequate. To the Administration’s complete surprise, the GOP never united around such an attack, instead preferring to concoct a conspiracy theory that Obama was hell-bent on “apologizing” to the Muslim world for the murder of our personnel. However, Obama had already completely covered himself by making the “Act of terror” statements in the days immediately after the attack. Essentially, the Obama administration finessed any possible controversy by giving the GOP enough rope to hang themselves with (insisting that Obama was on the side of protesting Muslims instead of criticizing poor security precautions in Libya). Once they realized their conspiracy “Obama apologized for the deaths of our personnel” angle was a loser, the GOP wanted to have a “do-over” in which they turned the mixed signals from the Administration into a controversy of its own; but it was too late. Finally, and most importantly of all, Romney shot off half-cocked and poorly briefed during the debate, causing the ENTIRE issue to blow up in his face spectacularly.
Now, why are McClatchy and AP today writing even MORE stories about it? This story (above) is essentially a post-mortem story on its surface, but the reason it is being printed at all is because on right wing media there is no talk of any other topic, period, since the moment Obama slapped Romney down on it, 3 days ago. Romney and the GOP set a trap for themselves, and then fell straight into it. At this very moment they are still screaming at the top of their lungs (don’t believe me? Turn on your AM radio RIGHT NOW THIS SECOND, spin the dial, and you will hear someone defending Romney and attacking Obama over this incident. They are STILL SNARED IN THE TRAP, and the foreign policy debate is on MONDAY.
Springsteen is the real deal. He needs to go to Youngstown and help out the soup kitchen whose donations have been ruined by Paul Ryan’s political stunt. Go to 36:30 in this video to see Clinton introduce Bruce.
Yet every time they hire another part time worker without health care, they are credited with “job creation.” We practice what we preach here, narus.info boycotts Walmart 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Soon marriage discrimination will be history. This has the potential to catapult gay marriage (which was never mentioned in either Presidential debate or the Vice Presidential one) to the surface in the Presidential campaign.
I urge everyone who reads this blog to watch this entire video. The information is not time-sensitive, you could read it a month from now and it would still be relevant.
Just for the record, President Obama was directly and specifically talking about Ambassador Chris Stevens and the other Americans killed in Libya when he said those words on September 12, 2012.
Along with his colleagues, Chris died in a country that is still striving to emerge from the recent experience of war. Today, the loss of these four Americans is fresh, but our memories of them linger on. I have no doubt that their legacy will live on through the work that they did far from our shores and in the hearts of those who love them back home.
Of course, yesterday was already a painful day for our nation as we marked the solemn memory of the 9/11 attacks. We mourned with the families who were lost on that day. I visited the graves of troops who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan at the hallowed grounds of Arlington Cemetery, and had the opportunity to say thank you and visit some of our wounded warriors at Walter Reed. And then last night, we learned the news of this attack in Benghazi.
As Americans, let us never, ever forget that our freedom is only sustained because there are people who are willing to fight for it, to stand up for it, and in some cases, lay down their lives for it. Our country is only as strong as the character of our people and the service of those both civilian and military who represent us around the globe.
No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done.
With paint guns in humvees on Arizona’s streets. The commander of Arizona’s National Guard should be forced to resign in scandal and heads should roll throughout the organization.
