Monday, September 17, 2012

Romney's Toast




It was a huge news day today when Mother Jones’ David Corn broke the story of a secret Mitt Romney video recorded at one of his millionaire fundraisers. In the video Romney said that 47% of Americans will vote for Obama because they are “dependent upon government.” He goes on to say that these 47% of Americans “believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what.”  After this he finally tells his millionaire donors: “My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” Once the story broke on Mother Jones it was picked up by Huffington Post and then The Washington Post and the New York Times and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and then pretty much everyone. A link to the original Mother Jones article was even tweeted by the official Barack Obama twitter page to its 19 million followers. In the tweet Obama's 2012 re-election campaign manager, Jim Messina said of Romney: "It’s hard to serve as president... when you’ve disdainfully written off half the nation.”  Later on the Rachel Maddow show, David Corn made an appearance and revealed when and where the secret Romney video was recorded and who sponsored the event. Finally, before midnight, Romney responded to the leaked video in a press conference and said his recorded remarks were 'not elegantly stated,' but he didn’t back down. What a day! My thoughts on all the controversy: Romney’s Toast.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

J. Christopher Stevens



J. Christopher Stevens, the U.S. Ambassador to Libya was killed Tuesday night in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Stevens was a career diplomat, a graduate of Berkeley and a former Peace Corps volunteer. He was the first U.S. ambassador killed on duty since 1979. In an emotional response to the attack, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton gave tribute to Stevens and reminded us all, "We must be clear-eyed, even in our grief. This was an attack by a small and savage group, not the people or government of Libya." Clinton further said of Stevens, "Chris was committed to advancing America's values and interests, even when that meant putting himself in danger," in a statement posted on the official Facebook page of the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli. President Barack Obama said in a statement on Wednesday that Stevens was a "courageous and exemplary representative of the United States.” Presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney politicized the tragedy and smeared the President in a statement he made Wednesday morning before cameras.