The vetting that never was.

As you probably know, an author named David Maraniss has contacted one of Obama's old girlfriends. Turns out he claimed events and conversations occurred with her that she says never happened; but then, his book claims that some characters may be composites. (Wiggle room for anytime Bill Ayers made something up, or talked about his own experiences.)

Is this important? Tim Stanley thinks so.

What stands out from the composite story isnÂ’t that Obama amalgamated characters, itÂ’s that the press hadnÂ’t noticed until now. As with the dog story, this confirms the suspicion that the mainstream media gave Obama a free pass in 2008 and declined to check too deeply into his background.

...

Why didn’t we know all these details four years ago – even though some of them were published in a best-selling autobiography that was sold to us as if it was a fifth gospel? And yet we knew everything there was to know about Sarah Palin, despite the fact that she was in the race for a much shorter space of time than Obama – and only running for veep.

That’s the significance of the canine and composite revelations – both of them, aside from their delightful “dish” factors, not really revelations at all. That we are only discussing them this late into Obama’s career suggests that the vetting that should have happened four years ago was unforgivably neglected. But, hey, it’s never too late to start.

Posted by: Ace at 12:09 PM | Comments (210)
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Gallup: Up to 8.6%.

ADP: Hiring slowed significantly in April (and wasn't very good in March).

The four-week moving average of initial jobless claims rises to its highest level since December.

And the Obama-controlled Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its April employment figures tomorrow.

Anyone suspect another large number of Americans may be non-personed off the labor rolls entirely, so that Obama can claim that the unemployment rate remained steady or even fell?

CNN Notes the "Invisible" Jobless: With the headline--

The 86 million invisible unemployed

There are far more jobless people in the United States than you might think.

While it's true that the unemployment rate is falling, that doesn't include the millions of nonworking adults who aren't even looking for a job anymore. And hiring isn't strong enough to keep up with population growth.

As a result, the labor force is now at its smallest size since the 1980s when compared to the broader working age population.

This is CNNMoney. We'll see if it percolates over to CNN's broadcast division. I doubt it.

Via @gaypatriot

Posted by: Ace at 11:22 AM | Comments (279)
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This is no prank. A brick thrown from a roof has a lethal amount of kinetic energy. I'm surprised the victim is able to get back to his feet at all.

Meanwhile, thanks to publicity by some in the new media, the Occupy "drum scum" who bashed a female police woman over the head has been id'd and arrested.

And via Morgen Richmond and Gateway Pundit, Juan Williams claims that "interrupting members of Congress, being rude to them" is morally equivalent to the Occupiers' violence and chaos.

In what f'ing country does Juan Williams believe we live in, in which "being rude" to members of Congress is a crime equivalent to riot?

"Mostly Peaceful:" AllenG/Dedicated Tenther informs me it's a style guide violation to not call a rioter "Mostly Peaceful" per Jammie Wearing Fool's most excellent joke.

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Posted by: Ace at 10:28 AM | Comments (177)
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I was just talking about this yesterday with someone (not anyone in some kind of campaign).

I don't know.

Since [Romney wrapped up the nomination for all practical purposes], three stories have dominated the political news cycle. The first came when Hilary Rosen, a Democratic operative, said Ann Romney "never worked a day in her life." The next came when the Romney campaign promoted a Daily Caller story recounting that Obama had eaten dog as a child in Indonesia. The most recent came as Obama decided to spike the football before the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's killing, releasing an ad suggesting Romney wouldn't have made the same call.

In all of these cases, the Romney campaign has taken the bait, reacting to whatever Team Obama has decided to make an issue.

I honestly don't know about this. A few weeks ago I declared that we mustn't get drawn into Obama's distractions -- I was speaking of the Hilary Rosen kerfuffle -- even when we can "win" them, because even fighting on those grounds is a loss.

Our path to victory, I said, is keeping it on the economy and Obama's failures and incompetence. Period.

And then, having proclaimed that, I spent the entire day on the Hilary Rosen affair.

I don't know. I get what Klein is saying, but the media sets the national conversation at Obama's direction. Yes, I agree with him that the Optimal Option is to focus on precisely what we wish to focus on -- but is that option actually on the table?

I'm also reminded of football. Or boxing. Or any sport. Yes, we might have a plan. We would prefer to execute that, and only that. But the opponent has a plan too, and we also have to react to the opponent's moves.

I really have no idea.

I guess the right thing to do is defend/rebut and then, always, pivot to our preferred narrative -- the narrative about America being in a Depression (per New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning Princeton economist Paul Krugman) and how Obama's lack of boldness and vision keeps us in such (also per New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning Princeton economist Paul Krugman).

Quotes: Formerly Known as Skeptic offers these--

There are two military axioms which I think sum this up nicely: 1) "No plan survives first contact" (sometimes stated as "the enemy gets a vote") and 2) "You have to have a plan to deviate from" (one of my favorite sayings BTW).

And now it's one of mine.

It's Spring: On Twitter, @baseballcrank argues you can't win elections in the Spring; you can only lose them, and Romney's current goal is to refuse to permit Obama to define him. He says he agrees on the ultimate strategy -- economy, economy, economy -- but not right now.

That's true. Right now most of the politically-uninterested types are still forming opinions.

Posted by: Ace at 09:18 AM | Comments (285)
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The Right Sphere collects up some headlines:

Ann Romney’s Pricetag Problems – MSNBC

Ann Romney’s $990 Shirt – Worth It? – Politico

Ann Romney Wears $990 Silk T-Shirt on CBS – Ed Schultz

Designer of Ann Romney’s $1K Shirt Says It’s Off The Rack – ABC

Those are just a few headlines. Notice they all make a reference to price? Of course they do. ThatÂ’s the point. Making you think Ann Romney and her husband are greedy pigs is going to be something you see a lot of over the next 6 months. ItÂ’s all they have.

Now, letÂ’s look at a few headlines surrounding Michelle ObamaÂ’s fashion choices:

Michelle Obama’s State Of The Union Dress – Politico

Congressional Spouses Join First Lady At Food Bank – NY Times

Michelle Obama Volunteers At Food Bank – MSNBC

First Lady Dons Colorful Dress At Correspondents Dinner – ABC

Click the link to find out how much Michelle Obama's clothes cost.

$2700 Sweaters?!!? That darned Ann Romney and her super-luxe wardrobe.

via @bucksright

Posted by: Ace at 08:47 AM | Comments (175)
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High cheekbones! Ayiyiyi, the discrimination suffered by those with high cheekbones!

Pictured: Elizabeth Warren's beloved grandfather.

Plus, she said she only listed herself in minority directories to make friends with other minorities (like herself).

Really? You said you were part Indian to find other people who were part Indian?

“I listed myself in the directory in the hopes that it might mean that I would be invited to a luncheon, a group something that might happen with people who are like I am. Nothing like that ever happened, that was clearly not the use for it and so I stopped checking it off,” said Warren.

...

“The only one as I understand it who’s raising any question about whether or not I was qualified for my job is Scott Brown and I think I am qualified and frankly I’m a little shocked to hear anybody raise a question about whether or not I’m qualified to hold a job teaching,” she said, pushing to put Brown on defense. “What does he think it takes for a woman to be qualified?”

You wanted them to call you?

Did you ever take any active measures to seek them out yourself?

Allah absolutely nails this.

Riddle me this. If it was all about making Native American friends in order to get in touch with her roots, why’d she keep up the “minority” listing in that professional directory for fully nine years (1986-1995)? She says she stopped checking it off because the hoped-for socializing never happened, but that’s not a conclusion that should take nine years to arrive at. Also, if she was serious enough about discovering her Cherokee ancestry that she’d describe herself as minority in a faculty listing, she must have been reaching out to the Cherokee community in her spare time too. Makes no sense that the professional listing would be her only attempt to befriend this group of people. So what else did she do in that vein? If the answer’s “nothing,” then it becomes awfully hard to believe this was anything more than her way of adding a diversity credential to her CV.

Precisely. There are lots of American Indian social groups. While Elizabeth Warren was listing herself as an American Indian, in hopes someone would notice this and ring her up, dozens of American Indian groups in Oklahoma, and then Massachusetts, were listing themselves, with all their contact information readily available.

Did she ever reach out to her, ahem, fellow Tribespeople?

Is she pretending that she's unaware that there are all sorts of Indian social and professional groups around, all just a phone call away?

Actually, her claim doesn't make sense even on its face.

Suppose you're black. You say so in the back of your Law School Factory directory.

Do you really imagine many black people are going to call you out of the blue and say "Let's discuss our shared heritage over tea?"

Does this happen? Do minority groups cold call?

Or is it their SOP to list themselves, arrange meet-ups and conferences, etc., and then expect that people who are interested in the club will show up voluntarily at some point?

I suppose they might try calling prominent minorities, to get them to join and give speeches, but that's in service of further publicizing the group.

Do they cold-call obscure professors from the Oklahoma University Law School's directory?

I rather think they don't, and I rather think that Elizabeth Warren is lying.

And that makes me sad.

How come you never call me, Elizabeth?

Update: Okay, DrewM did this yesterday.

It's not a repost-- it's a recontextualization.
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Posted by: Ace at 08:19 AM | Comments (212)
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Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post are reporting an off-the-record meeting of Mitt and Ann Romney with various and sundry representatives of the online right yesterday.

This is a weird thing, because even the fact that it occurred is off-the-record, and yet a big website, and also Buzzfeed, are reporting it. I don't want to say anything about it, but I also think it's absurd to embargo things that most people know now.

That said, I won't comment on it. Unlike some, I don't feel the need to help liberal reporters and websites get hits, and I don't want to promote myself by putting out stories.

I have to note, defensively, that BuzzFeedBen is greasing me a little, calling me a "virtuoso," which is the sort of nice thing you say about a source.

But BuzzfeedBen knows I didn't talk to him, and I hereby authorize him to reveal any and all communications I've had with him about this (of which there are none).

Alternately... I suppose it could be highligting me, because I curse a lot and that might be a problem for some voters or something.

Posted by: Ace at 07:26 AM | Comments (256)
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The Life of Julia -- how Obama promises to fix things for the subset of women requiring a Strong Man in their life but who don't have one.

Is it just me or is there something fundamentally inconsistent with the concept of Strong, Independent Women and paternalism?

Here's Julia at age 23:

Under President Obama: Because of steps like the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Julia is one of millions of women across the country who knows she'll always be able to stand up for her right to equal pay. She starts her career as a web designer.

Under Mitt Romney: He has refused to say whether he would have vetoed or signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

At age 27 (Obama seems to be president throughout Julia's life)...

Under President Obama: For the past four years, Julia has worked full-time as a web designer. Thanks to Obamacare, her health insurance is required to cover birth control and preventive care, letting Julia focus on her work rather than worry about her health.

Under Mitt Romney: Romney supports the Blunt Amendment—which would place Julia's health care decisions in the hands of her employer—and repealing health care reform so insurance companies could go back to charging women 50% more than men.

We used to use presentations like the one Obama offers to women for purposes of illustrating the activities and amenities at Care centers for the mentally retarded, insane, or elderly.

Tell us about the tapioca, Papa.

Who The Hell Is "Julia," And Why Am I Paying For Her For Her Whole Life? Because Obama has decided we're now each responsible for 300 million new family members-- congratulations! You're having 145 million boys and 155 million girls!

Posted by: Ace at 06:52 AM | Comments (211)
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The Combating Terrorism Center at Westpoint has released some of the documents seized during the UBL raid this morning along with English translations and expert commentary. An ODNI spokesman told the Washington Times that the documents chosen for release were vetted to make sure they betrayed no operationally sensitive information. The spokesman also said that the timing is not part of Obama's victory lap, but merely necessitated by the length of time it took to choose which documents to release and translate them.

The CTC's report, "Letters from Abbottabad", is available here (PDF). The letters themselves, with English translations, were up on the CTC website briefly, but appear to have been taken down as I write this. Kinda thinking I should have DLed them when I saw them. Maybe check back later for those, if you're interested.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:16 AM | Comments (150)
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Good morning to the horde! Filling in for Gabe this morning, who is getting something called sleep, I can offer you all a new poll out of Quinnipiac that has shown Mitt Romney bouncing back hard (from their previous round) in Florida, leading the President 44-43. He has also cut his deficit in Ohio to just two points, 42-44, making this the closest match-up there in months. Per the university Obama does manage to pull ahead further in Pennsylvania, nearly reversing last month's results. Always an odd man out in their releases. Overall, however, looks like Mitt Romney has improved his standing in several critical states, mostly thanks to now clinching the nominee and reducing the not-Mitt Republican vote, but Quinnipiac suggests another factor has come into play:

Romney's ability to cut into the president's leads in Ohio and Florida reflects ...changes in the political environment: ...voter optimism about the economy has leveled off, reflecting economic statistics over the past month and the public reaction to them.

Posted by: CAC at 02:30 AM | Comments (277)
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