Today's edition of quick hits:
* The Dow Jones closed at a five-year high today, proving once again that President Obama just isn't effective as a radical socialist.
* Lanhee Chen, the Romney campaign's policy director, talked to Fox News this afternoon about the jobs numbers. Pressed on the unhinged Republican conspiracy theory, Chen would neither endorse nor condemn the nonsense, saying only, "I'm going to leave that speculation to other people and just say that we're going to address the numbers as they've been released."
* Incidentally, Fox News initially preferred to ignore the good news on unemployment, then shifted gears to trumpet the conspiracy theory.
* Well said: "[I]t's hard to see how it's helpful to Romney for undecided voters to be treated to the sight of fury and panic about improving economic news among those who want him to be elected president."
* Istanbul: "Turkey's prime minister said on Friday his country did not want war but warned Syria not to make a "fatal mistake" by testing its resolve, and its army retaliated for a third day running after more mortar rounds from Syria landed on its soil."
* More ugliness on Capitol Hill: "During today's pro forma session, Republican Speaker Pro Tempore Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., slammed his gavel, which signals the C-SPAN mics to cut off, over the protests from two Democratic House members."
* More economic news: "U.S. consumer credit rebounded strongly in August after posting its first decline in nearly a year in July, Federal Reserve data showed on Friday. The rebound would likely be interpreted as a short-term boon to growth, though it could bode ill for household balance sheets if it is not accompanied by a rise in real wages, which have been stagnant."
* Rick Santorum is on board with ending all federal funding of PBS, and explained his position as only he can: "I've voted to kill Big Bird in the past. I have a record there that I have to disclose. That doesn't mean I don't like Big Bird. You can kill things and still like them, maybe to eat them, I don't know."
* And in Des Moines, Iowa, someone spray painted in red on a large banner at President Obama's campaign headquarters, "Muslim lier." Yes, the vandal couldn't even bother to spell "liar" correctly.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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It took Maddow a really long time to get to the point about losing the first debate meaning nothing.
Ok, It has taken me a while to digest the spectacle that was the debate the other night. My first thought was OMG what the heck is going on! But once I thought about it, here is my impression:
All the Best!
4 more for 44
Rick Santorum...the intellectual equivalent to Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo....bouncing around the news networks just to leave his stain. He is irrelevant. A has been.....that never was.
Is this like, "If you love someone, let them go and if they don't come back hunt them down and kill them." ???
if you love someone, let them go and if they don't come back hunt them down and kill them.
Formatting gremlins
I was amused by your story tonight about bus loads of Alabamans storming the beaches of Virginia to "convert" people to the Romney cause. Shhhhh. Don't tell them that Virginia Beach is already a Republican stronghold. Maybe next they'll go west to Chesterfield County (where I pass so many Romney and Cantor signs on my way to teach in Chester, I often feel nauseous) and then they can go on to Waynesboro and Fishersville! Maybe the Republican missionaries like "preaching to the choir" with their really southern southern accents. The City of Richmond and Charlottesville are cities where Democrats and undecideds reside --south of NoVa anyways (the oh-so-populous north!) Virginia's blue now, hadn't you heard Alabama?
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France,
We shall fight on the seas and oceans,
We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, We shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,
We shall fight on the beaches,
We shall fight on the landing grounds,
We shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
We shall fight in the hills;
We shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”
That's an effin speech. They only had radio back then.
Am I the only person in America that doesn't personally know anyone that does not have a job that needs or wants one? Maybe I live in a sheltered bubble or just happen to have friends and family that are VERY lucky to have not lost jobs in the past few years. I KNOW there are folks out there without jobs, because I see it on the news... I'm just sayin'....
Am I the only one that thinks it's hilarious and perhaps the best definition of irony that the Republicans are so "concerned" about jobs and real actual jobs being created by the Obama Administration, yet they've blocked several job initiatives/bills that would result in jobs and many (including their current leader) would have actually made the unemployment rate higher by refusing to bail out the auto industry? I figure Obama should get credit for how many jobs he saved, too. But you know -- that would mean that the Republicans would have to admit that they really care that people are working. Which they don't. :)
Rick Santorum needs help, he should concentrate more on taking care of his own family. The only reason they want to oust PBS is because they can't buy it and they can't control it's content. Like what is being done with other news channels. Somethings should be left sacred, Do the Republicans have to get their dirty little hands on everything. .greedy and gluttonous they are. ..Oink, Oink. Time to feed the robotic pig.
Rachel Maddow is hot
Isn't it obvious? The unemployment rate has been kept artificially high for 4 years because Repulicans lied about being employed, just to make Obama look bad. Or, they purposely chose NOT to look for work, just to make Obama look bad. The Dems caught on to this trickery (finally!) and started lying they HAD jobs, just to make Obama look good. Oh, what crafty people we have in America!
Yet I haven't heard a word about the idea that the closing of Oil Refineries in America (something the Republicans (and 1%) definitely have control of) which is said to be the cause of a Major Gas Price Hike so close to the election could be a ploy to make Obama look Bad as being a possibility. Maybe, I'm not supposed to notice this.
Started working for a huge company, 10k+, over one year ago. We have been hiring hand over fist, temp, PT and FT personnel of all levels, blue/white collar positions.
Don't believe the numbers? Keep looking for those WMDs and stay away from the polls on election day.
The unemployment rate would be 6.4 percent if the republicans didn't stonewall the presidents jobs plan! It would have produced 2.1 million jobs for $44.7 billion a year; the$50 billion tax break for those earning over $250 k a year yields only 710k jobs; that's better than 3:1. Besides giving jobs to people who need them, including returning service men and women, the jobs plan gives a 300% better return on investment than tax breaks for the wealthy! And the money spent by recipients supports the 97% of small business owners who don't benefit from the republican wealth subsidy!
Good investment, no?