Terrorist Planning attack on Food?

The group behind last year’s failed Christmas Day bombing and the recent attempt to send two explosives-laden packages to the United States wants to attack U.S. food supplies, but U.S. authorities don't believe the group has the capability to do so, Fox News has learned.

A source with knowledge of the situation said authorities obtained information “a while ago” indicating a possible plot by associates of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to target food at hotels and restaurants inside the United States, perhaps slipping harmful agents into salad bars or buffets.

“We don’t have a specific target or time frame, just the intent,” the source said.

Nevertheless, the source said, authorities are not convinced that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – or AQAP – has the capability to actually carry out such an attack.

An administration official agreed, and a Department of Homeland Security official, who declined to discuss the specific threat information, echoed that in a statement to Fox News. - Fox News Story

Nebraska Gets the Shaft by Officials

He screamed, cursed, stomped, pointed and roared at the men in the striped shirts. But after the costliest of Nebraska's school-record 16 penalties, a dubious roughing-the-passer call that helped give Texas A&M a go-ahead field goal, NU head coach Bo Pelini glanced briefly to the heavens, as if to ask the pigskin gods: Are you done yet?

The Huskers' faint hopes for a BCS national title berth certainly are, as they lost 9-6 to the Aggies in front of a school-record 90,079 fans at Kyle Field in College Station. Nebraska (9-2 overall, 5-2 in the Big 12) committed 16 penalties – including several personal fouls – for 145 yards. Pelini himself picked up the second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of his career for appearing to call the side judge a name. Officials flagged A&M – normally one of the nation's most penalized teams – only twice.

“You guys can make your own deductions,” Pelini said afterward. “All you gotta do is look at the numbers.” - NE StatePapers.com

County Approved fixing Deadly O'Donnell Park

MILWAUKEE - County supervisors approved funding to repair O'Donnell Park after the deadly concrete collapse.

The collapse, which happened during Summerfest, took the life of 15 year old Jared Kellner. He was walking near the O'Donnell Park parking garage when a large concrete slab fell on top of him. The slab was hanging on the building as part of the decorative facade. The garage has remained closed since the incident.

In the 2011 Milwaukee County budget, supervisors opted to spend $6.5million to remove all of the other concrete panels on the structure's facade and put a coating on the building. The funding also covers other repairs to the parking garage's structure. - 620 WTMJ

Retired Cop accused of Beating and Sexual Assault

RHINELANDER, Wis. (AP) -- A retired Rhinelander police officer is accused of beating and sexually assaulting a woman.

Sixty-one-year-old Greg DeRosier faces trial in Oneida County on charges of third-degree sexual assault, battery and intimidating a witness. The woman told investigators DeRosier was at her house Oct. 3, became angry and beat her. She says DeRosier then ordered her to the bedroom where he sexually assaulted her. The Daily News reports the woman says DeRosier warned her that if she contacted police "there would be a price to pay."

Defense attorney Jeff Jackomino asked the woman during cross-examination in court why she didn't yell for her teenage daughter during the attack because she was in the home at the time. Jackomino also asked the woman why she waited several days before calling police. - WTMJ 4

Lawrencia Bembenek - Innocent?

Could Lawrencia Bembenek be innocent? As she clings to life outside of Portland, Oregon, we explore the evidence.

Bembenek was convicted of killing her husband's ex-wife. She later escaped from prison, was captured in Canada and was brought back to Wisconsin. She pleaded "no contest" to second degree murder, was sentenced to time served and released.

But before she dies, she wants to clear her name. - WTMJ 4

New Book Blasts Obama's Gulf Oil Spill Response

NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal uses a new book to portray President Barack Obama as disconnected from the Gulf oil spill, charging that he was more focused on the political aftermath than the actual impact of the crisis.

Jindal recounts a pair of private conversations with the president that paint him as consumed with how his actions were being perceived.

On Obama’s first trip to Louisiana after the disaster, the governor describes how the president took him aside on the tarmac after arriving to complain about a letter that Jindal had sent to the administration requesting authorization for food stamps for those who had lost their jobs because of the spill.

As Jindal describes it, the letter was entirely routine, yet Obama was angry and concerned about looking bad.

"Careful," he quotes the president as warning him, "this is going to get bad for everyone."

Nearby on the tarmac, Jindal recalls, then-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was chewing out his own chief of staff, Timmy Teepell.

“If you have a problem pick up the f——n’ phone,” Jindal quotes Emanuel telling Teepell.

The governor asserts that the White House had tipped off reporters to watch the exchange on the New Orleans tarmac that Sunday in May and deemed it a “press stunt” that symbolized what’s wrong with Washington. - Politico Story

Obama Re-Election Map Not Looking so Good

Two years after his dramatic expansion of the electoral map paved the way to a landslide win, President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign appears likely to resemble the political trench warfare that marked the 2000 and 2004 presidential races.

Last week’s midterm elections saw the trio of conservative-leaning states Obama captured in 2008 — Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana — return to their Republican tendencies while more traditional swing states also broke sharply toward the GOP. - Politico Story

GOP looking form Dem Help in Health Care Fight

Newly empowered congressional Republicans plan to chip away at the health care reform law next year — and they're hoping a handful of at-risk or moderate Senate Democrats will help them out. (See: Republicans Push Health Care Repeal)

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin won a Senate seat vowing to repeal "the bad parts of Obamacare," and Republican aides say they'll hold him to it. Republicans are also eyeing Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Jim Webb of Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana — Democratic senators in red or reddish states who will face voters in 2012. (See: Republican Party Eyes Choking Health Law Funding) - Politico Story

Lets Hear it for Gibss. Good Job

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs threatened to pull President Obama from a meeting with India’s prime minister on Monday when security attempted to restrict the number of U.S. reporters

allowed into the event.

The meeting between Obama and Prime Minister Manmoham Singh proceeded as planned after Indian officials relented.

It was arranged beforehand that eight reporters from the White House press pool would be admitted to the meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, but Indian officials tried to cut the number from eight to five just before the photo-op.

Several U.S. officials pushed to have all eight pool members let in, but it wasn’t until Gibbs said that he was serious about pulling Obama from the event that the whole group was admitted.

“That whole group is going in because they’re going in with me,” Gibbs insisted. - FOX News Story

It is not often that I back anything that Robert Gibbs does, but this was a good job. Pat on the back for Gibbs.

Democrats Blame White House for Losses

The bodies aren’t even cold yet in the House, but the Democratic Party has already opened up a bitter debate over who’s to blame.

The party’s bloodied moderates Wednesday released two years of pent-up anger at a party leadership they viewed as blind to their needs and deaf to the messages of voters who never asked for President Barack Obama’s ambitious first-term agenda.

Liberals pushed back hard: The problem, they say, was those undisciplined moderates, who won delays, unsightly compromises and a muddled message from a too-accommodating administration.

Yet a third group of Democratic politicians and operatives blamed not policy but a failed sales job for the party’s woes.

One thing all sides agree on: The White House blew it. - Politico Story

Calls for White House Shake up Increase

Some of the calls for a White House shake-up are now coming from inside the building.

Frustrated current and former West Wing staffers, speaking on condition of anonymity, told POLITICO they hoped Tuesday night’s humbling losses would persuade President Barack Obama to pursue a much more sweeping fix than just the “natural” post-election churn of personnel his administration has insisted will take place.

Many of those changes are already being seriously considered, among them replacing Political Director Patrick Gaspard with a former top aide to Rahm Emanuel; replacing Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, who is expected to move to Obama’s 2012 campaign, with Legislative Affairs Director Phil Schiliro; and possibly giving White House energy czar Carol Browner expanded policy responsibilities. - Politico Story

GOP to Control Redistricting Map

A bad night for Democrats Tuesday got even worse at the local level: Republicans were on the verge of winning nearly all 17 of the state legislative chambers they had originally set out for on Tuesday, some for the first time in decades, a shift that puts the GOP in the driver’s seat when the congressional redistricting process begins early next year.

The GOP gains were most significant in the Midwest, where the party picked up state House majorities in the Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and were within striking distance of capturing legislatures in the highly-prized electoral battlegrounds of Michigan and Wisconsin. But Republicans also gained control of both chambers of the New Hampshire and North Carolina legislature, and took the Alabama legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. - Politico Story

The Fall of Nancy Pelosi

In the final days before the election that ended her hold on power, Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted Democrats would keep the House and proclaimed no regrets.

“I didn’t come here to keep a job. I’m here to do a job,” she told an adoring crowd in San Francisco.

The statement was vintage Pelosi, reflecting the unbowed and uncompromising attitude that won her the speaker's gavel and the defiant stubbornness that helped her lose it. - Politico Story

Voters Restore Balance to Washington

Voters Tuesday tore apart the complex map of America President Barack Obama proudly displayed after his 2008 victory, driving Democrats from office in rural areas, the suburbs and virtually the entire South — and unseating a generation of powerful Democratic centrists. - Politico Story

Black Panthers at it Again?

PHILADELPHIA - Fox 29 News spotted Tuesday a member of the New Black Panther Party standing outside of a local polling place where voter intimidation was reported two years ago.

The man was seen outside the polling place in North Philadelphia was wearing a pin that indicated his party affiliation, along with a black hat, sunglasses and leather coat. - MyFoxPhilly

Democrats Blame Money on Losses - Really?

To hear top Democrats tell it, the party is being wildly outgunned this year in the fight for campaign cash as Republicans rely on outside groups to funnel money to GOP contenders.

But the numbers tell a different story.

It’s true that conservative third-party groups are outspending their Democratic rivals. But the Democrats still have a sizable cash advantage in their party committees – making this year’s elections a lot more of a fair fight than Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi let on.

So far, the latest figures show that the Democratic Party machinery has outraised its Republican counterpart in this campaign cycle by almost $270 million.

And even when outside spending on television advertising and direct mail is added to the mix, Republicans still haven’t closed the gap.

The money race totals come to $856 million for the Democratic committees and their aligned outside groups, compared to $677 for their Republican adversaries, based on figures compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. - Politico Story

Pelosi's Private Jet - We Pay for it

No, Nancy Pelosi doesn't routinely fly around in an Air Force One-sized jet.

Yes, she extends the Speaker Shuttle perk to her family and colleagues.

The next speaker will control the House of Representatives, and with it one of the biggest perks in politics: free flights on luxury jets that are the military versions of a Gulfstream V. Well, they're free to the speaker, but paid for by your tax dollars.

How much? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office says it doesn't receive "comprehensive cost estimates." Military documents indicate a one-way flight for the current speaker (between Washington D.C. and California) costs, on average, $28,210.

Figuring out the details about the so-called "Speaker Shuttle" service and how it's been used isn't easy. The information is undeniably public in nature, but it's not readily-available. Our attempts to contact the office of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert went unanswered. Pelosi's office provided some information, but a spokesman told us the office simply don't keep track of what types of planes Pelosi flies where and who's aboard.

The military does track all of that, but getting the answers requires filing a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request. It can take months for a FOIA response to be answered, and then the material provided is jumbled chronologically and often incomplete. - CBS News Story

Obama - "punishing our enemies"

Laura Ingraham said Obama’s comments about "punishing our enemies" was not something the man occupying the Oval Office should say and called it un-presidential on "GMA" this morning.

“He is the president, George. He is the president of all the people,” she told me.

President Obama told Univision recently,“If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're going to punish our enemies and we're going to reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,' if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's going to be harder."

“I know that everyone is rough and tumble in this campaign. But he is still the president,” Ingraham said. “And the fact of the matter is there is a national revolt going on against many of the policies that he and Nancy Pelosi pushed through against the will of the people, number one health care reform. That is not an enemy of the country those are the people of the country.” - ABC News Story

Friday, October 22, 2010 - Shows - The Sean Hannity Show

Friday, October 22, 2010 - Shows - The Sean Hannity Show

Legal Questions Over Blumenthal's Campaign?

A source this morning forwards on an email this morning from inside Attorney General Dick Blumenthal's campaign for Senate, in which his aides discuss tarring Linda McMahon in cooperation with Planned Parenthood.

The email's subject line is: "Worst of WWE + women photos."

"Hey all--Grossman is looking for mysoginistic photos of women and WWE. Planned Parenthood wants to hit LM hard on it," press staffer Marcy Stech emailed seven other aides to the campaign and the State Democratic Party. "What do we got?"

"Grossman" is the Democratic consultant Andrew Grossman, and the email seems to raise the question of whether the campaign is coordinating with Planned Parenthood, an outside group.

Blumenthal spokesman Ty Matsdorf said there's no co-ordination, and that the request was simply for an image that would be circulated on Twitter or in a press release, but not in a paid ad campaign of any sort. - Politico Story

Democrats Take out $17 Million Credit for Election

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has taken out a $17 million line of credit for use in the final weeks of the campaign, signaling the party leadership’s commitment to having the money to counter an onslaught of millions of dollars in pro-Republican TV ads.

The new line of credit was disclosed in a DCCC report filed Thursday night with the Federal Election Commission. - Politico Story

I know that it is shocking that they can't keep on a budget even while trying to get elected.

British Government Cutting Deficit - Must Read for America

LONDON (AP) — Fighting record debt, the British government on Wednesday outlined the largest cuts to public spending since World War II — slashing benefits and thousands of public sector jobs with an austerity plan aimed at restoring the nation's finances.

After the country spent billions bailing out indebted banks, and suffered a squeeze on tax revenue and an increase in welfare bills, Treasury chief George Osborne staked the coalition government's future on tough economic remedies.

Osborne confirmed there would be 81 billion pounds ($128 billion) in spending cuts through 2015, which he claims are necessary along with some tax increases to wipe out a spending deficit of 109 billion pounds ($172 billion).

As many as 500,000 public sector jobs will be lost, about 18 billion pounds ($28.5 billion) axed from welfare payments and the pension age raised to 66 by 2020, earlier than previously planned.

Even Queen Elizabeth II will take a hit, asked to trim the budget the government provides for her palaces and staff by 14 percent.

"It is a hard road, but it leads to a better future," Osborne said, preparing the public for hardship as he seeks a balanced budget within four years.

Osborne stood on the floor of the House of Commons for more than an hour and ruthlessly dismantled program after program built during the Labour government's 13-year reign, saying Britain must "confront the bills from a decade of debt." - AP Story

Democrats Turn on Conway after Paul Attacks

Mortgage Loan Modification Unfair?

It was quite a riveting sight recently at Cal Expo in Sacramento, the latest stop for the "Save The Dream" tour put on by NACA -- Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America. Thousands of struggling homeowners waited in line overnight in hopes of holding on to the American dream, by making their monthly payments more affordable.

"If I get the loan re-modification today, it will give me the security, knowing that me, my husband, and my five kids will have a home," said Shari Lewis, who bought her Elk Grove, Calif., home in 2001, only to find herself drowning in debt nine years later. But on this day, her luck changed.

After meeting with lenders, Shari was able to significantly lower her mortgage payments, and keep her five-bedroom suburban home.

She credits NACA, a federally-funded nonprofit that's been holding huge marathon events to help homeowners facing foreclosure.

"People are able to come here, and in the same day, restructure their mortgages saving $500, sometimes over $1,000 a month," says NACA's charismatic leader, Bruce Marks.

We saw another homeowner, Althena Peet, actually embrace her lending counselor, tears streaming down her face. "My monthly payments were $1,888 per month, and its down now to $687.64. That's with 2 percent interest. I just can't believe it," Peet exclaimed. - FOX News Story

Stimulus Money only Helped Temporarily

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The federal stimulus program saved a senior center in Providence, R.I., from certain death last year.

But the salvation proved fleeting.

Now that the stimulus funds have run out, the Fox Point Senior Center may be forced to close its door this winter, leaving its 140 members with no place to go for a hot meal, socializing and exercise. As it is, there's only one staffer left to handle all the center's programs and seniors' needs.

"The stimulus was a Band-Aid to get us through the last year," said Melanie Borges, the center's director and sole employee. "But now we're back to scrambling."

Stimulus recipients across Rhode Island and the nation are struggling to survive now that the federal funding is running dry. States are already warning of even harsher spending cuts next July, when they have to balance their budgets without the extra help from Washington, D.C. - CNN

Early Voting in Nevada not good for Reid

Early-voting numbers out of Nevada’s two biggest counties could spell trouble for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in his tough contest against Republican Sharron Angle.

In Reno’s Washoe County and Las Vegas’s Clark County, Republican turnout was disproportionately high over the first three voting days, according to local election officials. The two counties together make up 86 percent of the state’s voter population.

The sparsely populated counties outside Clark and Washoe, which have yet to report complete early-voting results, are strongly Republican.

Some 47 percent of early voters in the bellwether Washoe County so far have been Republicans, while 40 percent have been Democrats, according to the Washoe County Registrar. Nearly 11,000 people had voted in Washoe over the first three days of early voting, which began Saturday.

Voter registration in the county is evenly split, 39 percent to 39 percent. The disproportionate turnout is a concrete indication of the Republican enthusiasm that is expected to portend a nationwide GOP wave.

In Clark County, which is heavily Democratic, more Democrats than Republicans have voted, but Republicans are outperforming their share of the electorate. - Politico Story

Obama taking the Easy Road in Campaigning

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin is taking a political battering, thanks to his support of Barack Obama, so he’s uniquely qualified to offer counsel on what many think is the president’s central political problem - his failure to connect with white working-class voters.

His advice: Go to where they live and work. Listen. And don’t talk down to them.

“If I were him, I’d start going to the places where people don’t like you that much,” says Manchin, who is locked in a close race to replace Robert Byrd in the Senate and struggling mightily to shrug off his opponents’ description of him as Obama’s “rubber stamp.”

“You can’t win if you only go where you are comfortable,” added Manchin, who was speaking to POLITICO a day before Obama appeared in a place that was very much in his comfort zone - before a crowd of 35,000 admirers at Ohio State University.

In the two weeks before the Nov. 2 midterms, Obama has focused on helping his party energize its demoralized base, travelling to seven states that delivered him double-digit margins of victory two years ago and to comfortable venues like big city stadiums and university campuses. But in the process he is also re-living one of the few unsuccessful phases of his campaign – the spring of 2008, when Sen. Hillary Clinton struck a chord with white blue collar voters in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. - Politico Story

Obama Attacks GOP - Dems blame Obama

Democrats enter the homestretch of the 2010 elections complaining vocally about the flood of Republican money, much of it anonymous, pounding their candidates.

But as the White House points the finger at outside Republican groups, many Democrats point the finger back at the White House, which dismantled the Democratic Party's own outside infrastructure in 2008 and never tried to rebuild it.

The blame certainly isn't President Barack Obama's alone. The rich Democrats who would traditionally give to such groups are — like Democrats at large — demoralized, particularly by the defeat of climate change legislation. They're disheartened by the conservative revival. And they're resigned to a Republican victory in November. - Politico Story

Race for Rep. Obey Seat in Wisconsin in Top 12 Must Watch

12) WI-07: State Senator Julie Lassa (D) faces district attorney and former Real World cast-member Sean Duffy (R) in a barn-burner for the open House seat vacated by Democratic Rep. Dave Obey in northwestern Badger State. Duffy was the target of the DCCC’s first independent expenditure ad of 2010, in a sign of how high this district ranks on Democratic priority lists.

Politico Story

Democrats Having a Bad Election

More bad polls. More bad fundraising numbers. More dreary talk on the Sunday shows.

It added up to a brutal weekend for Democrats, as the consensus among election analysts, already bearish on the party’s prospects, took a turn for the worse over the past 48 hours.

In the eyes of the experts, the House Democratic majority most likely won’t survive Nov. 2, with political handicappers expanding their predictions to envision the possibility of a Democratic wipeout.

Analyst Stu Rothenberg pegs the number of competitive seats at 100. Charlie Cook says it's 97. Virtually all of those seats are held by Democrats.

Rothenberg is predicting a likely Republican gain of 40 to 50 seats, with 60 seats possible. Republicans need a net pickup of 39 seats to take the House.

One House Democrat, reflecting widespread conversations with his colleagues, guessed Sunday that his party will lose 50 seats. Many, he said, are calling with urgent pleas for more contributions. - Politico Story

Obama - Americans are not thinking straight when it comes to election

Americans are so "scared" they're not thinking straight about the upcoming elections, President Obama said over the weekend, as he sought to explain why voters are turning to Republican candidates.

The president, speaking at several rallies and fundraisers as part of his final get-out-the-vote stretch, said Republican candidates

are "playing on fear" and suggested voters are falling for it. He said Americans have every reason to be worried, but lamented that "facts" aren't doing his party any good this year.

"People out there are still hurting very badly, and they are still scared. And so part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now, and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time, is because we're hard-wired not to always think clearly when we're scared," Obama said at a Democratic fundraiser Saturday in Boston. "And the country is scared, and they have good reason to be." - FOX News Story

Obama Team Admits they have no Evidence of Foreign Money

With its baseless charge that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is using foreign money to influence the November elections, the Obama administration and its liberal allies have opened up a can of worms they may come to regret.

The accusations that foreign corporations are funding Republican attack ads have been widely panned. Even President Obama and his top aides have admitted they have no proof to back their allegations against the Chamber and conservative campaign groups such as American Crossroads (Obama said the Chamber's money "could" be coming from foreign-owned corporations but "we don't know.") Now the Democrats' calls for investigations into these groups could backfire -- leading to closer scrutiny of the sources of funding for Democratic attack ads. Labor unions are spending millions to tar Republican candidates -- and they take in far more foreign cash than the Chamber. If the GOP takes control of Congress, investigations into how organized labor funds its political efforts could be forthcoming. - Washington Post

CVS Pharmacy Lets Woman have Asthma Attack and watches

A New Jersey woman suffering an asthma attack was denied an inhaler at a pharmacy

because she was $1.99 short, MyFoxNY.com reported.

Katherine O’Connor and her boyfriend were walking home from McDonald’s in Garwood, N.J., Thursday morning when she had the asthma attack, but she did not have her inhaler with her. She went to a nearby CVS, hoping to get a refill on her inhaler prescription.

But, O’Connor was denied the refill because she did not have enough money to pay for the prescription. The medicine cost just over $21, and the couple was short $1.99.

"I had exactly a $20 bill. It came to $21 and change," said O’Connor’s boyfriend, Jack Brown. "I offered him my cell phone, my wallet. I said, ‘I live right around the corner.’ I come in here all the time."

Brown begged the pharmacist to give his girlfriend the inhaler, as she was on the floor wheezing, but the pharmacist would not give in, he said.

Brown called a friend who is a paramedic, who showed up immediately and treated O’Connor.
When questioned about the incident, a store manager had “no comment.”

“The well-being of our customers is our highest priority and we are looking into this matter,” said a statement from CVS corporate offices. - FOX News Story

I Want Your Money - Movie Trailer

DNC Continues Attack on GOP - Another Watergate?

Karl Rove claims that contributions to his organizations Crossroads GPS and American Crossroads have surged since Democrats attacked him for failing to disclose the group's donors. When I asked Tim Kaine about that this morning on "GMA" he said Rove may be right.

“That should trouble folks. And look the polling I’ve seen suggests the American public cares deeply about this,” the DNC chairman told me. “The prospect of shadowy groups being able to put money in secretly to buy elections, to bypass the rules that the candidates have to follow in terms of disclosing their donors, should worry everybody.”

Kaine also stood by his claim that failure to disclose these donations smacks of Watergate – despite offering no evidence that any laws have been broken.

“Watergate was a scandal that involved a number of things including campaign financing that was being done with dollars bills in sacks handed over to the committee to reelect the president,” he said.

“And the Republicans have made, I believe, a concerted effort to divert as much campaign funding as they can into non-reporting entities aided by the Supreme Court decision, the Citizens United, so the American public will not know who is funding the campaign,” he added. - ABC News Story

Problem with this whole attack, is that the Democrats including Obama did the exact same thing in every election in the last decade. The only difference from then, is now the GOP has not only caught up to them, they have surpassed them.

Sen. Candidate Hits nail on head about Financial Collapse

Government action, beginning with federal legislation passed 33 years ago to help low-income people buy homes, was the cause of the economic collapse, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson said Wednesday.

Johnson told Journal Sentinel reporters and editors, as well as its Reader Advisory Committee, that the seeds of the collapse began in 1977 with passage of the Community Reinvestment Act.

"What caused this economic downturn, collapse, was pretty much government action," Johnson said. "It wasn't helped by the big banks. I always refer to it as caused by Washington, propelled by big banks and paid for by the American public."

Decades after its passage, the federal law that helped low-income and disadvantaged people get loans to buy their own homes continues to be hotly debated. The federal law applied only to depository institutions, not private, unregulated mortgage lenders.

In Johnson's view, the law "started forcing banks to make loans to people who couldn't afford to pay them back . . . "

Asked if the banks were forced to lend to people who couldn't afford it, Johnson said: "They threatened to bring the Department of Justice in to, I guess, to prosecute banks that would be accused of redlining. Not making loans to people in certain areas."

Johnson said the law made it easy for banks to lend money.

"We'll have Fannie (Mae) and Freddie (Mac) guarantee those things so you can sell those things on the open market," Johnson said. "What does that do to a bank? First of all, if I don't make those loans, I might have Department of Justice action taken against me. But if I make the loan, I can get all of the origination fees on it, I can make a lot of money and, by the way, I don't have to incur any of the risk. The last thing you want to do when somebody is trying to make a loan is remove the risk of making the loan. You don't throw out all constraints. . . . So what that did, that was the cause of the housing bubble." - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

WI - Johnson vs Feingold part 2

After stumbling a bit in his first ever political debate last Friday, GOP Senate hopeful Ron Johnson put in an impressive performance tonight. It was a stunning improvement actually. He was energetic without seeming anxious, very well-prepared and deliberate in his speech — he looked like a politician ready to go to Washington. Sen. Feingold stuck to his guns and once again proved himself an experienced debater, even if most Wisconsin voters have long soured on the substance of his message. The debate had a more open format and this played to Johnson’s advantage. That is, he didn’t try to rush his answers and made his points clearly and concisely during the follow ups to the initial questions.

Perhaps the debate’s most compelling exchanges centered on freedom of expression. When Johnson asked Feingold why he did not vote to condemn MoveOn.org’s “General Betray Us” ad, Feingold cried “free speech,” arguing that the Senate has better things to do than pass meaningless resolutions. Several minutes later, Feingold — echoing a tactic that many embattled Democrats are using lately — accused Johnson of benefiting from the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United, what Feingold called “one of the worst decisions in the history” of the court. He called on Johnson to ask third party groups spending on his behalf to stop. Johnson, referencing Feingold’s earlier defense (and drawing laughter), claimed that these groups also “have a right to free speech.” This turned into a bit of a testy back-and-forth with neither candidate backing down. Johnson missed a golden opportunity, however, to point out the almost $600,000 that MoveOn.org has recently raised on Feingold’s behalf, and to ask him if they should stop their activity as well. Count on hearing about it in the next debate.

Johnson scored big on a counter to one of Feingold’s standard lamentations — ‘woe is me, the lonely independent voice in a Congress of partisans,’ etc. — by bringing up Feingold’s (decisive) votes on the stimulus package and health-care reform, two highly partisan efforts. Feingold responded that the stimulus wasn’t partisan because the two Maine Republicans voted for it, and this seemed to cause a bit of a commotion in the crowd and considerable laughter, as Johnson fittingly threw a look of disbelief in Feingold’s direction. This was an absolute low point for Feingold and exposed his biggest weak point. He looked more than ever like a vulnerable incumbent fighting a losing battle. - NRO Story

Obama Pushes for Funds for Infrastructure - Wasn't that what the Stimulus was for?

In a speech in the White House Rose Garden this morning, President Obama pushed for bipartisan support of increased funding for transportation initiatives, and emphasized that a "fundamental overhaul" of the country's "woefully inefficient" transit system was necessary to reduce unemployment and remain competitive on an international level.

The president, speaking alongside former Secretaries of Transportation Samuel Skinner and Norman Mineta and Secretary of Treasury Timonthy Geithner, said that the six-year initiative - which has been pegged at approximately $50 billion - would not only repair and modernize U.S. roads, rails, and air systems, but also provide much-needed work opportunities for hundreds of thousands of Americans.

"We can no longer afford to sit still," Mr. Obama said, pointing out that the average American pays twice as much annually on transportation as on food. - CBS News Story

Wasn't that what the Stimulus was to do? I thought that we were going to use a lot of those funds to get shovel ready projects going. It was suppose to help the economy and fix the infrastructure in one swoop. Guess that didn't work. Why not throw more money at something that's not working? That sounds like a great idea. Then we can put more money into it when that doesn't work.

Democrats & Liberals Attacking Businesses over Campaign Donations

f at first you don't succeed, get some friends in high places to shut your opponents up. That's the latest Washington power play, as Democrats and liberals attack the Chamber of Commerce and independent spending groups in an attempt to stop businesses from participating in politics.

Since the Supreme Court's January decision in Citizens United v. FEC, Democrats in Congress have been trying to pass legislation to repeal the First Amendment for business, though not for unions. Having failed on that score, they're now turning to legal and political threats. Funny how all of this outrage never surfaced when the likes of Peter Lewis of Progressive insurance and George Soros helped to make Democrats financially dominant in 2006 and 2008.

Chairman Max Baucus of the powerful Senate Finance Committee got the threats going last month when he asked Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman to investigate if certain tax exempt 501(c) groups had violated the law by engaging in too much political campaign activity. Lest there be any confusion about his targets, the Montana Democrat flagged articles focused on GOP-leaning groups, including Americans for Job Security and American Crossroads.

Mr. Baucus was seconded last week by the ostensibly nonpartisan campaign reform groups Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center, which asked the IRS to investigate whether Crossroads is spending too much money on campaigns. Those two outfits swallowed their referee whistle in the last two campaign cycles, but they're all worked up now that Republicans might win more seats. Crossroads GPS, a 501(c)(4) affiliate of American Crossroads supported by Karl Rove, is a target because it has spent millions already in this election cycle.

Last Tuesday, the liberal blog ThinkProgress, run by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, reported that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had collected some $300,000 in annual dues from foreign companies. Since the money went into the Chamber's general fund, the allegation is that it could have been used to pay for political ads, which would violate a ban on foreign companies participating in American elections. The Chamber says it uses no foreign money for its political activities and goes to great lengths to raise separate funds for political purposes.

That didn't stop President Obama from raising the issue in a Maryland speech last week, saying that "groups that receive foreign money are spending huge sums to influence American elections." Within hours of the ThinkProgress report, the bully boys at MoveOn.org asked the Department of Justice to launch a criminal investigation of the Chamber. In a letter to the Federal Election Commission, Minnesota Senator Al Franken expressed his profound concern that "foreign corporations are indirectly spending significant sums to influence American elections through third-party groups." From the man who stole his Senate election in a dubious recount, this is rich. - WSJ Story

Tom Barrett Ad False and Misleading

Stem cells hold the potential to treat, and even cure, some of our most deadly and debilitating illnesses, including heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s and diabetes. To make the cells do their magic, research is needed — and the University of Wisconsin has been at the forefront of that work.

But for many people, there is a tension between conducting such research and protecting the sanctity of human life. The dilemma confronts not only scientists, but politicians, who are able to set government funding priorities and even place limits on the work scientists do.

As in 2006, stem cell research has become an issue in the race for governor.
Just as outgoing Gov, Jim Doyle did four years ago, Democratic nominee Tom Barrett is running a TV ad that paints his Republican opponent — Scott Walker — as extreme on the issue.

The ad features a mother talking to the camera about her son, who has juvenile diabetes. She describes how stem cell research "gives our family hope, hope for a cure," and she continues with a blunt declaration:

"Scott Walker says he would ban stem cell research in Wisconsin. That’s right, ban it."

It is the mother making the statement. But as the candidate, Barrett is responsible for the content of the ad. Indeed, as the mother speaks, the words "Scott Walker says he would ban stem cell research" appear on the screen. - PolitiFact Wisconsin

As Obama Meddles in Races across Country, Accuses Rove of Same

Trying to keep his former Senate seat out of Republican hands, President Barack Obama singled out former Bush administration advisor Karl Rove Thursday night for meddling in the race through special interest-funded attack ads.

“Right here in Illinois, in this Senate race, two groups funded and advised by Karl Rove have outspent the Democratic Party two-to-one in an attempt to beat [Democratic nominee] Alexi [Giannoulias] – two-to-one. Funded and advised by Karl Rove,” Obama said at a fundraiser for Giannoulias in Chicago.

Obama also continued his cloaked assault on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – “one of the largest groups paying for these ads” – citing a recent report that showed some of the group’s money has come from foreign companies.

The president is trying to use the issue to energize Democrats less than a month before the election. Calling it “a threat to our democracy,” Obama urged the Chicago crowd to turn out to vote in 2010 like they did in 2008 when he was elected. - Politico Story

Dems Cheating the System to Steal NJ Election

On a balmy evening last May, about three dozen members of the South Jersey Young Democrats convened at the Camden County Democratic Committee Headquarters in Cherry Hill.

Freeholder Jeffrey Nash warned the assembled crowd of party volunteers and legislative aides that the sour economy would make the coming election season difficult for the Democratic majority.

He told the young activists they had to get out the vote for Democrats in the fall.

Then Steve Ayscue -- a paid CCDC consultant -- took the floor with a bearded, flame-haired man few had seen before. The latter was Geoff Mackler, dispatched from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to lead freshman Rep. John Adler's re-election campaign.

Ayscue and Mackler had a plan to ensure Adler's victory. They just needed volunteers.

Internal numbers-crunching showed the difference between Adler and his Republican opponent -- then undetermined -- would hover around 5 percent. To give Adler an edge, Ayscue had recruited a then-unidentified man to run as a third-party candidate.

That candidate would act as a conservative spoiler to confuse voters and pull votes from Adler's eventual Republican challenger. But first he had to get on the ballot. With the filing deadline just weeks away, CCDC needed volunteers to hit the streets and collect signatures -- fast. - CourierPost Online

Obama Administration Accused of Inflating Terror Threat for Political Gain

Senior Pakistani diplomats and European intelligence officials have told The Guardian newspaper that President Obama's administration has deliberately exaggerated the current terror threat to European cities from militants in Pakistan for political reasons.

"I will not deny the fact that there may be internal political dynamics, including the forthcoming midterm elections," Pakistan's high commissioner to Britain, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, told CBS News in London, mirroring comments he made to The Guardian. "If the Americans have definite information about terrorists and al Qaeda people, we should be provided with that and we could go after them ourselves."

Hasan, whose job is equivalent to that of ambassador, has a reputation for making controversial, sometimes incendiary comments, but he is a veteran diplomat with close ties to the Pakistani political leadership.

"This terror threat could be a mole hill that has been made into a mountain," Hasan told CBS in a telephone interview Friday morning.

He called the widely reported threat of "commando-style" sieges being planned for London and other major cities in France and Germany, "a mixture of frustrations, ineptitude and lack of appreciation of ground realities," on the part of U.S. officials seeking to justify a dramatic increase in drone missile strikes against militant targets on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan. - CBS News Story

More Fallout for Obama Administration on BP Spill

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration blocked efforts by government scientists to tell the public just how bad the Gulf oil spill could become and committed other missteps that raised questions about its competence and candor during the crisis, according to a commission appointed by the president to investigate the disaster.

In documents released Wednesday, the national oil spill commission's staff describes "not an incidental public relations problem" by the White House in the wake of the April 20 accident.

Among other things, the report says, the administration made erroneous early estimates of the spill's size, and President Barack Obama's senior energy adviser went on national TV and mischaracterized a government analysis by saying it showed most of the oil was "gone." The analysis actually said it could still be there.

"By initially underestimating the amount of oil flow and then, at the end of the summer, appearing to underestimate the amount of oil remaining in the Gulf, the federal government created the impression that it was either not fully competent to handle the spill or not fully candid with the American people about the scope of the problem," the report says.

The administration disputed the commission findings, saying senior government officials "were clear with the public what the worst-case flow rate could be." - Newsradio 620

Investigative Panel Faults Obama Response to BP Oil Spill

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration's response to the BP PLC oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was affected by "a sense of over optimism" about the disaster that "may have affected the scale and speed with which national resources were brought to bear," the staff of a special commission investigating the disaster found.

In four papers issued Wednesday by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, commission investigators fault the administration for making inaccurate public statements about a report on the fate of oil spilled by a BP well in the Gulf of Mexico.

The paper faults the administration for taking "an overly casual approach" in calculating, during the spill's second week, that between 1,000 and 5,000 barrels of oil were flowing in to the Gulf.

That estimate—which the government later revised to between between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels a day—was based on a one-page document prepared by a government scientist within six days of the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, according to a commission staff paper. - WSJ Story

Sen. Murkowski Threatens Stations not to Air Tea Party AD

UNEAU, Alaska -- U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski's campaign is warning Alaska broadcasters not to air ads by a national tea party group that the campaign says are "littered with lies and intentional mischaracterizations" about her and her write-in campaign.

Attorney Timothy McKeever, in a letter to broadcasters Monday, said they are under a "legal and moral obligation" not to air the new ads from Tea Party Express, which is supporting Joe Miller, the political upstart who defeated Murkowski in the August GOP primary.

A Tea Party Express spokesman said his initial reaction is that the group stands behind the ads. - FOX News Story

Corruption in Milwaukee City Hall

Even in the best of circumstances, it's hard to beat City Hall.

But try taking on the bureaucracy in court when a city agency is doling out cash to a firm co-owned by the judge.

That's the situation faced recently by a Milwaukee nightclub.

In truth, the owners of Texture were doing quite well in their legal squabble with the city.

In August, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Charles Kahn Jr.ruled that the Common Council had exceeded its authority by refusing to renew the liquor license for the Walker's Point nightclub. Kahn even called into question the process the city uses for issuing alcohol and liquor licenses.

"This undid years of city practice," said David Halbrooks, a former assistant city attorney who represents the nightclub.

It was an unexpected outcome for a dance club with a questionable track record.

But the victory didn't last long.

On Sept. 15 - a month after the court ruling - a city committee awarded a $50,000 grant to a firm owned by Kahn and his wife to fix up the front of a building they own. Kahn's wife had submitted the application two weeks earlier.

The veteran judge immediately disclosed the conflict.

Kahn explained that he would recuse himself from the case because he and his wife got the grant, in effect, from the defendant. The only way he'd consider staying on, he said, was if he was asked to do so by the opposing parties.

The nightclub owners, who had received the favorable ruling, agreed.

They said they trusted the judge to remain impartial.

City attorneys balked.

They did so even though it was a city agency that created the conflict by awarding the grant.

The result: Kahn is off the case - and Milwaukee officials are off the hook. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Milwaukee Mayor Makes up Headlines for Attack Ad

It may be a politician’s dream to determine the headlines that go on the front page of the morning newspaper.

In a new attack ad, Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Tom Barrett makes it a reality, using purported replicas of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to slam rival Republican Scott Walker for "mismanagement" of Milwaukee County.

The 30-second TV spot offers a trifecta of complaints: wasted money, exploding debt and shoddy oversight of county operations. The ad aims to undercut a main Walker selling point -- his fiscal management as Milwaukee County executive.

In the ad, the narrator declares "the headlines ... tell the story."

But do they?

Instead of using shots of actual newspapers, Barrett’s ad creates a computer-generated version of the Journal Sentinel’s front page and places various headlines at the top of the page -- regardless of where the stories actually appeared. There are a host of other tricks involved: Headlines and allegations are mismatched for effect and photos of Walker are added to amplify his role and responsibility in each item.

In response, Walker has issued a statement saying he is "exploring legal action" based on the ad. The Journal Sentinel has complained to the Barrett campaign about the false and misleading headlines associated with its trademark, said Editor Martin Kaiser. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Don't Expect to see this again

Obama Attacking FOX News again

THAT ‘DESTRUCTIVE’ NEWS CHANNEL: President Obama tells Rolling Stone in an interview that Fox News has a political perspective that is “destructive” to the country.

Here’s the full quote:

“The golden age of an objective press was a pretty narrow span of time in our history. Before that, you had folks like Hearst who used their newspapers very intentionally to promote their viewpoints. I think Fox is part of that tradition. It is part of the tradition that has a very clear, undeniable point of view. It's a point of view that I disagree with. It's a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world. But as an economic enterprise, it's been wildly successful. And I suspect that if you ask Mr. Murdoch what his number-one concern is, it's that Fox is very successful.” - Politico Story

I guess he hasn't taken a look at the politics of MSNBC, CNN, many of the Main Steam News agencies. Oh wait, they lean far toward his point of view. The problem he is facing is that FOX has a huge following which means many in America follow more closely to their viewpoint than the others.

Obama Trying to Sell his Agenda to Democratic Voters

(CBS/AP) Admonishing his own party, President Barack Obama says it would be "inexcusable" and "irresponsible" for unenthusiastic Democratic voters to sit out the midterm elections, warning that the consequences could be a squandered agenda for years.

"People need to shake off this lethargy. People need to buck up," Mr. Obama told Rolling Stone in an interview to be published Friday. The president told Democrats that making change happen is hard and "if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren't serious in the first place."

The midterm elections are in five weeks and polling shows that Republicans, out of power at the White House and on Capitol Hill, have a much more excited base of supporters than Democrats. Mr. Obama, campaigning this week in four states, is in a sprint to restore the voter passion that helped him win office.

Yet in his attempt to light a fire under supporters, Mr. Obama comes across as fired up himself about how many backers fail to acknowledge the progress he sees. He said the glass-half-empty view among many progressive voters can be a debilitating force that distracts them from the real worry: Republicans.

The GOP is poised to win seats in the House, if not control of the chamber, and gain ground in the Senate, too.

"It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in this midterm election," Mr. Obama said.

The president has been telling Democrats to "wake up" and recognize that he and the Democratic-run Congress have delivered on promises, from a new health care law to tougher rules for Wall Street to more aid for college students. Mr. Obama wants disenchanted supporters to see that Republican wins in November would undermine the ability of Democrats to get the unfinished business done, from climate change legislation to allowing gays to serve openly in the military.

What emerges in the magazine story is a stern, lecturing tone from Mr. Obama. - CBS News Story

Obama Seeking Expansion in Wiretapping Authority

The Obama administration is developing plans that would require all Internet-based communication services -- such as encrypted BlackBerry e-mail, Facebook, and Skype -- to be capable of complying with federal wiretap orders, according to a report published Monday.

National security officials and federal law enforcement argue their ability to eavesdrop on terror suspects is increasingly "going dark," The New York Times reported, as more communication takes place via Internet services, rather than by traditional telephone.

The bill, which the White House plans to deliver to Congress next year, would require communication service providers be technically capable of intercepting and decrypting messages, raising serious privacy concerns, the Times said.

The proposal has "huge implications" and poses a test to the "fundamental elements of the Internet revolution," vice president of the Center for Democracy and Technology, James Dempsey, told the Times.

"They basically want to turn back the clock and make Internet services function the way that the telephone system used to function," he was quoted as saying. - FOX News Story

A significant majority of voters are considering voting against President Barack Obama in the 2012 election, expressing sour views of his new health care law and deep skepticism about his ability to create jobs and grow the sluggish economy, according to the latest POLITICO / George Washington University Battleground Poll.

Only 38 percent of respondents said Obama deserves to be reelected, even though a majority of voters hold a favorable view of him on a personal level. Forty-four percent said they will vote to oust him, and 13 percent said they will consider voting for someone else. - Politico Story

NY Times trying to Sway the Election

The heat is on Republican leader John Boehner.

Liberal media outlets are trying to smear the highest-ranking Republican in the House just weeks before the midterm elections with a deal-breaking scandal before he has a chance to take the speaker's chair from Nancy Pelosi.

A blogger from liberal Web site The Daily Kos pierced through Boehner's security detail at yesterday's unveiling of his leadership policy "Pledge to America" to ask if he was sleeping with a lobbyist from the Printing Industries of America.

The congressman ignored the pesky blogger with a flip camera and kept moving to his fleet of black Suburbans.

AP

John Boehner

The lobbyist who was named in the confrontation and then was contacted by he Daily Kos blogger Lisbeth Lyons denied the accusations. "As you can imagine, I was stunned by such a question," Lyons said. "I found it to be highly insulting, particularly as a female political professional, as well as unfounded. Beyond that, I have no further comment on the matter."

Insiders on Capitol Hill are buzzing about an upcoming New York Times exposé that will detail an alleged Boehner affair. Sources say the Times is looking for the right time to drop the story in October to sway the election, similar to how the Times reported during the 2008 presidential campaign on an alleged John McCain affair that supposedly had taken place many years before and that was flatly denied by the woman in question. - NY Post Story

Here we go again. Media outlets that are trying to help win the election. My guess is that this will be just like the McCain story they ran. No founded evidence, just a bunch of stories to get people to doubt. They don't care if it is true or not.

DOJ Ignoring Civil Rights Claims by White Victims?

The Justice Department is ignoring civil rights cases that involve white victims and wrongly abandoned a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party last year, a top department official testified Friday. He called the department's conduct a "travesty on justice."

Christopher Coates, former voting chief for the department's Civil Rights Division, spoke under oath Friday morning before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, in a long-awaited appearance that had been stonewalled by the Justice Department for nearly a year.

Coates went in depth about a controversial decision to dismiss charges against New Black Panther members after they were videotaped outside a Philadelphia polling place in 2008 dressed in military-style uniforms and allegedly hurling racial slurs while one brandished a night stick.

The case has drifted in and out of the limelight over the past year as the commission has struggled to investigate it. Ex-Justice official J. Christian Adams fueled the controversy when he testified in July and accused his former employer of showing "hostility" toward cases that involve white victims and black defendants.

Nearly three months later, Coates backed up Adams' claims. In lengthy and detailed testimony, he said the department cultivates a "hostile atmosphere" against "race-neutral enforcement" of the Voting Rights Act. - FOX News Story

Democrats Hold Tax Cuts until After Election

Senate Democrats huddled behind closed doors for one hour on Thursday trying to figure out what to do about the expiring Bush tax cuts. With no consensus emerging, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., decided to postpone a vote until after the election.

"Democrats believe we must permanently extend tax cuts for the middle-class before they expire at the end of the year, and we will.," Reid spkesman Jim Manley said in a written statement that blamed the GOP for the delay. "Democrats will not allow families in Nevada and across the country to suffer or be held hostage by Republicans who would rather give tax giveaways to millionaires and corporations that ship jobs overseas. We will come back in November and stay in session as long as it takes to get this done."

Sen Chris Dodd, D-CT, told reporters, "I think there are strong views being held. I, for one, subscribe to the notion that we ought to have a vote to extend the tax cuts for those that really need them and stop those for the ones who don't," Dodd said, but he quickly added, "There's a mixed view. Tax policy is not our strongest political argument with the national public. We know that. It's a divided caucus. That's not uncommon." - FOX News Story

This is all convenient for the Democrats. They are blaming the Republicans for holding up the Tax Cuts, but the truth is that many Democrats know that a vote right now would spell doom for them. So their plan is to blame the Republicans and then hold the vote after the election when they have nothing to lose.

Obama's Actions Mystifying?

I don't often expect to find myself supportive of President Barack Obama. But I didn't think I'd be as mystified by his actions over the past few months as I have been.

Mr. Obama and his team won a well-deserved reputation during the 2008 campaign for message discipline and a keen appreciation for how Americans would receive his words and actions.

That's why it's so surprising that, in just 20 months, Mr. Obama has lost control of his presidency's narrative. He has done things that are inexplicable, creating the impression of a White House that is clueless, rudderless and arrogant.

For example, what was to be gained by the president attacking the largely unknown House minority leader, John Boehner, last week? Set aside the unfairness of the charges and focus only on the efficacy of the president lowering himself that way.

There is far too little time before the midterm election to demonize Mr. Boehner as President Bill Clinton so effectively did to Speaker Newt Gingrich in the 1990s. That took a concerted White House effort over nearly two years that cost tens of millions of dollars for ads.

And does Mr. Obama think this will make it easier to work with Mr. Boehner after Nov. 2 if Republicans take the House and he becomes the speaker? After all, one of the public's biggest disappointments with this president is that he has failed miserably in his promise to change the political tone.

Mr. Obama's personal attacks on the GOP leader may be therapeutic for him and send a thrill up the leg of left-wingers, but it has cost him (and his party) dearly with independents and college-educated voters. In a little more than a year and a half, the president has lost a third of his support among independents, many of whom are ready to punish Democrats at the polls.

Then there's this oddity: Why did the president raise the issue of tax cuts so close to the election? Americans now trust the GOP over Democrats on taxes by 52% to 36%, according to the Aug. 23-24 Rasmussen survey. - Rove.com

Dueling Polls on Bush Tax Cuts

A majority (51%) of U.S. voters now support extending the so-called Bush tax cuts for all Americans including the wealthy, even as the House Republican leader indicates he is willing to compromise with President Obama and not include wealthy taxpayers in the tax cut extension. - Politico

While leaders in Washington remain divided over whether to let the Bush tax cuts expire for the wealthiest Americans, as President Obama has proposed, just over half of Americans think it is a good idea, a new CBS News/ New York Times poll shows. - CBS News