Dow Breaks 14,000 For First Time Since 2007

Imagine this under a newly elected Mitt Romney…

….

From NPR:

The closing number marks the first time the stock market measure has broken that barrier at the end of the trading day since October 2007.

“Debates don’t matter” – usually.

The now-cast of Nate Silver has dropped Obama from a 95% chance of win to a 55% chance of win.

Maybe Obama was too much exposed as a conflict avoider in the first debate – and maybe the onslaught against Romney’s character this summer backfired. 

In foreign policy speech, Romney will encourage military spending, Syria intervention

This could sound like Romney might be losing some support very quickly again.. more wars in the Middle East is probably not a huge vote winner among moderates in the swing states.. And huge Tax Cuts and new wars could also reinforce the impression of “More Bush” in a Romney Presidency. 

In foreign policy speech, Romney will encourage military spending, Syria intervention:

By NBC’s Garrett Haake

Follow @GarrettNBCNews

 PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – In a major foreign policy speech Monday Mitt Romney will attempt to portray himself as a leader firmly in the peace-through-strength tradition of Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan, while casting President Barack Obama as an ineffective leader on a dangerous and constantly-evolving world stage.

Romney will deliver a 30-minute address, titled “The Mantle of Leadership,” later Monday at the Virginia Military Institute, his 10th address on the topic of foreign policy since summer 2011.

The former Massachusetts governor’s speech, like the others before it, will focus on a vision of peace through strength. It will include new details on how Romney would address current global hotspots and repeat regular stump speech staples – such as the importance of averting planned defense cuts, expanding and reinvesting in the U.S. military and working closely with allies abroad, especially Israel.

(..)

Democrats fired back preemptively at that characterization.

“Mainstream foreign policy isn’t what Mitt Romney is putting forward: having plans to start wars but not end them; wanting to keep 30,000 U.S. troops in Iraq indefinitely; exploding our defense spending to levels the Pentagon has not asked for, with no way to pay for it; insulting our allies and partners around the world on the campaign trail; and calling Russia our number-one geopolitical foe,” Obama campaign spokesperson Lis Smith said in a statement Sunday. “If that’s where Mitt Romney thinks the mainstream is, he needs to find a better compass.” (…)

(Via First Read)

Mitt Romney Spain Quip Adds To Foreign Policy Troubles

This was lost between the job numbers and Obama’s reluctant debate participation – but it’s a reminder of Romneys earlier international gaffes and his habit of thoughtless comments. Just like he has rallied a united conservative Britain against himself after the Olympics, he’s now making new enemies in Europe – very unnecessarily.

Mitt Romney Spain Quip Adds To Foreign Policy Troubles:

By BRADLEY KLAPPER 10/07/12 10:35 AM ET EDT 

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks during his debate with US President Barack Obama at Magness Arena at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado, October 3, 2012. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/GettyImages)

WASHINGTON — If Mitt Romney becomes president, he might need a crash course in Diplomacy 101.

He irritated Britons and Palestinians during a summer tour abroad and has declared Russia to be America’s No. 1 geopolitical foe. Just last week, the Republican candidate, who plans a foreign policy speech Monday, raised eyebrows in Spain by holding it up as a prime example of government spending run amok.

That left Spaniards confused, and threatened to reinforce Romney’s perceived handicap in international affairs, precisely at a time when lingering questions over the Sept. 11 attacks against the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, has President Barack Obama on the defensive.

“I don’t want to go down the path of Spain,” Romney said Wednesday night during the first presidential debate. He argued that government spending under Obama has reached 42 percent of the U.S. economy, a figure comparable with America’s NATO ally. “I want to go down the path of growth that puts Americans to work.”

The remark was Romney’s latest to cause international offense during a campaign that much of the world is closely monitoring. (..)

Spanish reaction to Romney was swift.

“What I see is ignorance of what is reality, but especially of the potential of the Spanish economy,” said Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria.

Maria Dolores Cospedal, leader of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s Popular Party, noted that “Spain is not on fire from all sides like some on the outside have suggested.” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo called it “very unfortunate that other countries should be put up as examples” when the facts are skewed. (…)

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Chronicling Mitt’s Mendacity, Vol. XXXVII

Steve Benen compiles a great list over all the errors and inaccuracies done by candidate Romney lately…  and some of this stuff is really way out in the Bachmann territories…

Chronicling Mitt’s Mendacity, Vol. XXXVII – The Maddow Blog:

By Steve Benen

 -

Fri Oct 5, 2012 2:45 PM EDT

Joe Conason watched the presidential candidates’ debate this week, and had a reaction I could relate to.

“‘It’s not easy to debate a liar,’ complained an email from one observer of the first presidential debate — and there was no question about which candidate he meant. Prevarication, falsification, fabrication are all familiar tactics that have been employed by Mitt Romney without much consequence to him ever since he entered public life,” Conason wrote.

“I think [President Obana] was so surprised, he thought Romney was just flat-out lying,” Gergen said. And if the president was thinking that, he had good reason to.

Consider, for example, the 38th installment of my weekly series — easily the longest of 2012 — chronicling Mitt’s mendacity.

1. In reference to the unemployment rate, Romney said, “The reason it’s come down this year is primarily due to the fact that more and more people have just stopped looking for work.”

That’s not true.

2. On Fox News last night, Romney said in reference to the president, “[W]hat I find so offensive about his tax plan is by raising taxes on small business, as he does, he will kill jobs.”

In reality, Obama has repeatedly cut taxes on small businesses — by some counts, 18 times — and if given a second term, his tax plan would have no effect on 97% of small businesses.

3. Speaking yesterday at the Colorado Conservative Political Action Committee Conference, Romney said, “this sequestration idea … came out of the White House.”

No, it didn’t. This sequestration idea emanated from House Republicans.

4. In the same speech, Romney said Obama “spending more and more, borrowing more and more, putting us on a road to Greece.”

That’s painfully untrue.

5. In Wednesday night’s debate, Romney said, “I don’t have a $5 trillion tax cut. I don’t have a tax cut of a scale that you’re talking about.”

Independent analysts determined the proposed across-the-board rate cut would cost $5 trillion.

6. Romney said, “I’m not going to reduce the share of taxes paid by high-income people. High-income people are doing just fine in this economy.”

That’s not true. The wealthy would receive a massive, disproportionate tax break under the Romney plan.

7. Romney said, “[G]asoline prices have doubled under the president.”

To blame gas prices on the president’s policies is ridiculously untrue.

8. Romney said, “I’m not going to cut education funding. I don’t have any plan to cut education funding and grants that go to people going to college.”

That’s a lie.

Obama campaign’s response to the new mendacious Mitt: Facts

Obama quickly hits back in seven key swing states after the first debate last night, and Romney might have a growing problem on his hands – after starting out with claims like “I’m not going to cut taxes”…

There are more rounds coming up before the finals on November 6th…. 

Obama campaign’s response to the new mendacious Mitt: Facts – The Plum Line – The Washington Post:

By Greg Sargent

The Obama campaign is already going up with a new ad in the seven key swing states hitting Mitt Romney for misleading people about his tax plan last night. The spot is a first glimpse into how the Obama campaign will adapt to the Romney we saw at the debate, after the President got caught badly flat-footed in his crosshairs:

 The ad’s approach is straightforward: It corrects Romney’s obfuscations with facts. It shows Romney claiming his plan won’t cut taxes by $5 trillion, then points out that the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that it would, in fact, cost $4.8 trillion over 10 years.

“Why won’t Romney level with us about his tax plan, which gives the wealthy huge new tax breaks?” a narrator asks. “Because according to experts, he’d have to raise taxes on the middle class — or increase the deficit — to pay for it. If we can’t trust him here…how could we ever trust him here?” During that last line, you see Mitt on the debate stage, and then a shot of the Oval Office. (…)

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Romney’s claim on pre-existing conditions

One thing was the taxes… the other was this… on health care..

Romney’s Sick Joke:

OK, so Obama did a terrible job in the debate, and Romney did well. But in the end, this isn’t or shouldn’t be about theater criticism, it should be about substance. And the fact is that everything Obama said was basically true, while much of what Romney said was either outright false or so misleading as to be the moral equivalent of a lie.

Above all, there’s this:

MR. ROMNEY: Let — well, actually — actually it’s — it’s — it’s a lengthy description, but number one, pre-existing conditions are covered under my plan.

No, they aren’t. Romney’s advisers have conceded as much in the past; last night they did it again.

I guess you could say that Romney’s claim wasn’t exactly a lie, since some people with preexisting conditions would retain coverage. But as I said, it’s the moral equivalent of a lie; if you think he promised something real, you’re the butt of a sick joke.

And we’re talking about a lot of people left out in the cold — 89 million, to be precise.

Furthermore, all of this should be taken in the context of Romney’s plan not just to repeal Obamacare but to drastically cut Medicaid.

So enough with the theater criticism; Romney needs to be held accountable for dishonesty on a huge scale.

(Via Paul Krugman)

Romney’s Test: Sustaining Momentum From Strong Debate

The debate was painful to watch… if you sympathize with Obama…

and Obama has been terrible before… but Romney might have put him off with the out of box flip-flops like “no tax cuts from me”… with a straight face..

How big is the damage in the Swing States.. maybe enough to make problems… in Florida… Virginia.. Iowa…

But let’s see..

And it might be sharp ammo for the two next debates… the inconsistencies between the Romney campaign and his first debate..

But Romney was very strong and professional…Obama weak and fumbling… a bit stern…. and there is a possible cause of concern there.. that a feeble and off-his-game President probably is part of the lack of energy and pace in the economic recovery too….. even if the alternative in November will be a lot worse….

Romney’s Test: Sustaining Momentum From Strong Debate – NationalJournal.com:

DEBATE ANALYSIS

The GOP nominee has interrupted the narrative that he’s losing. Now he has to keep it that way.

By Beth Reinhard

Updated: October 4, 2012 | 6:35 a.m.
October 4, 2012 | 6:00 a.m.

AP Photo/Eric Gay

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney speaks during the first presidential debate with President Barack Obama at the University of Denver, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012, in Denver.

More on the First Debate

DENVER — Republican nominee Mitt Romney hit his stride Wednesday night. Where President Obama was flat, Romney was energetic. He was also prepared, aggressive and at times, persuasive.

But the real challenge starts now.

Time and time again over the course of this campaign, Romney has surged only to step on his own momentum. And with 33 days before Election Day and early voting well underway, Romney has got to massage a solid debate performance into a winning streak.

“There’s zero room for error because he’s already behind,” said Patrick Murphy, a Colorado-based Republican strategist. “It could be end of the Barack Obama momentum or the beginning of Romney momentum.”

It could be. But Romney has got to seize his most pointed attacks from the debate – interrupting the president to remind him “but you’ve been president for four years!” – and hit that message hard, again and again. Romney should keep up the poignant references to ordinary, struggling people – the jobless Dayton woman who “grabbed his arm,” the Denver mother who lost her home, the overtaxed small electronics business owner in St. Louis – as way to diffuse the widely held perception that he’s out of touch with ordinary people. (….)

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