Wednesday Open Thread [10.10.12]

Filed in Open Thread by on October 10, 2012

What election is Michael Scherer talking about? Go read the whole thing if you are a bed wetter right now.

Throughout much of September, polls showed the incumbent President with a clear lead, sometimes as much as eight points nationally. Then he lost the first debate, and things began to change. First, the national polls showed a tie, then a slight advantage for the challenger, albeit inside the margin of error. After the second debate, CNN reported that the challenger “appears to be holding the ground he gained against [the President] after the first presidential debate, according to a recent poll.”

Josh Marshall: “I think with a few more sharp cuts and some of that foreboding voiceover work something like this could be a pretty lethal campaign ad for the Obama folks.” Indeed.

“We weren’t geniuses last week and we’re not stupid this week. It’s going to be a tight race. We’ve always said that.” — An unnamed Obama adviser, in an interview with Mark Halperin, while adding that “we have more routes to win than he does.”

“That’s my party: Irrational overconfidence followed by irrational despair.” — Democratic consultant Jim Jordan, quoted by Politico, on the growing angst among Democrats as Mitt Romney surges in the polls.

Nate Silver mulls over the latest presidential race polls at Five Thirty Eight, and says, “Mitt Romney remains in a considerably stronger polling position than he was before last Wednesday’s debate in Denver. But the polls released on Sunday did not tell quite as optimistic a story for him as those in the debate’s immediate aftermath…Based on the numbers that the tracking polls published on Sunday, however, Mr. Obama’s lead was down to just 1.7 percentage points on average — a net shift of 2 points toward Mr. Romney since the debate…If the polls settle in at showing something like a 1- or 2-point lead for Mr. Obama by this point next week, that would be reasonably well in line with where our model and others think that the election “should” be based on economic trends; it would no longer be as appropriate to think of Mr. Romney as being an underachieving candidate.”

Finally, here is a video of Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia kicking her opposition’s ass:

Read the full story here.

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  1. pandora says:

    Mother of Navy Seal Romney’s been using as a political prop speaks out:

    “I don’t trust Romney. He shouldn’t make my son’s death part of his political agenda. It’s wrong to use these brave young men, who wanted freedom for all, to degrade Obama,” said Barbara Doherty, Glen’s mother.

    There was no response from the Romney camp.

  2. pandora says:

    Oops, spoke too soon. There was a response from Romney… He ignored the mother’s request and continued to use her son in his stump speech.

  3. cassandra m says:

    Human life begins at conception unless a teajadi is a party to the conception.

    Hypocrites one and all:

    A Tea Party Republican congressman who has backed anti-abortion legislation has been revealed to have pressured a mistress to get an abortion of her own.

    The Huffington Post reported Wednesday that Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), a former physician, had an affair with a patient that resulted in him pressuring the unidentified woman to get an abortion in September 2000.

  4. Jason330 says:

    What a low life. (That’s a blanket condemnation of every Republican mentioned above.)

  5. pandora says:

    The abortion thing is typical Republican. My abortion is different. My fill in the blank (social security, medicare, medicaid, food stamps, government assistance) is different. Not only different, but worthy, necessary and moral.

  6. pandora says:

    Update: After not responding the mother’s initial request, Romney now says he won’t tell the story of Doherty anymore. Guess he changed his mind since this was becoming a story.

    So… ignore actual mother’s request.
    Change your tune after political prop turns into political liability.

  7. anon says:

    The abortion thing is typical Republican. My abortion is different. My fill in the blank (social security, medicare, medicaid, food stamps, government assistance) is different. Not only different, but worthy, necessary and moral.

    Why drag Sher Valenzuela into this? Heh.

  8. pandora says:

    LOL! Didn’t mean to, but now that you mention it…

  9. cassandra_m says:

    Nate Silver is on Fresh Air on NPR right now talking about polling.

  10. FatherThyme says:

    Finally, here is a video of Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia kicking her opposition’s ass:

    ..and yet the PM’s choice for speaker still resigned in disgrace the next day, even after she forced every female Labor member to go on record supporting him.

    Go team!