National

Let's see, do I have this right? ... Presidential candidate is an unpopular, secretive douche nozzle who cheats on his taxes and ties dogs to car luggage racks? [Check!] Social welfare policies are hated by Americans, especially seniors that vote in disproportionate numbers? [Check!] Have given up on "family values" in favor of "fetus values" in apparent attempt to turn away votes from all women? [Check!] Continued slavish devotion to utterly failed, and transparently fraudulent "tax cuts for the wealthy create jobs" economic policies? [Check!] So where does this leave us?

.... in addition to planning and carrying out lots of other mayhem. I haven't heard this on the news, but saw it online. Information still seems to be coming in, but the short story is that Army soldiers at Ft. Stewart in Georgia bought about $87K in guns and bomb-making materials, killed two people who looked like they were going to talk about the group and were working out a plan to overthrow the government and assassinate President Obama.

In a leaked party platform circulating on the eve of their convention, Republicans reveal in candid detail how they intend to upend Medicare. The platform, snagged by Politico on Friday night after the Republican National Committee accidentally posted it to its website before taking it down, is scheduled to be approved at the convention early this week. The text details the privatization policy that GOP lawmakers have supported for years, and that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are selling as necessary to “save” Medicare. But in an unusual twist, it addresses the specific aspect of the proposal that makes it a departure from what Americans know as “Medicare.”

If my wishes counted for anything, suffice it to say that this world would be a different place.

The Renegade Raging Grannies sing everything you need to know about Legitimate Rape. Love these ladies and want to be one of them one day!

There was a lot of polling information this week, and there is more below, although today, it doesn't change any state from red to blue or vice versa. This morning, I decided to focus on some internals of recent polls, and some forecast models. First, Charlie Cook said yesterday that, with the unemployment rate at 8% and with two thirds of the country thinking we are going in the wrong direction, then how in the hell is President Obama winning this election? There is quite an easy answer, and I will let fellow GW alum John Sides explain. Here's the new Map, showing Missouri becoming a Strong Romney state, which is the only change from yesterday.