Chicago proper and its suburbs. Which he'd have to win by larger margins to win the whole state of Illinois, as the non-Chicago parts of the state are much more Republican.

Is this something?

I'll assume it's just a bit of a fluke unless another poll suggests Illinois is at least only a Lean Democrat.

Via @comradearthur. Even optimistic @conartcritic is skeptical here.

Update: Hot Air has updated to note PPP, a Democratic-client firm, is tweeting that Romney/Ryan are ahead in Wisconsin.

@conartcritic has long maintained that Wisconsin is a very good pickup opportunity, even before Ryan was added to the ticket.

Posted by: Ace at 10:17 AM | Comments (156)
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Every company comes to resemble the virtues or faults of its CEO.

I assume someone has said that before or it's like a business thing or something. It sounds like it should be.

his has produced a campaign being animated by one thing above all. It is not exclusively about hope and change anymore, words that seem like distant echoes even to Obama’s original loyalists — and to the president himself. It is not the solidarity of a hard-fought cause, often absent in this mostly joyless campaign. It is Obama’s own burning competitiveness, with his remorseless focus on beating Mitt Romney — an opponent he genuinely views with contempt and fears will be unfit to run the country.

Obama is sometimes portrayed as a reluctant warrior, sorry to see 2012 marked by so much partisan warfare but forced by circumstance to go along. But this perception is by most evidence untrue. In the interviews with current and former Obama aides, not one said he expressed any reservations about the negativity. He views it as a necessary part of campaigning, as a natural — if unpleasant — rotation of the cyclical political wheel.

Obama’s trash-talking competitiveness, a trait that has defined him since his days on the court as a basketball-obsessed teenager in Hawaii, was on display one night last February, when the president spotted a woman he knew was close to Sen. Marco Rubio in a Florida hotel lobby. “Is your boy going to go for [vice president]?” the president asked her. Maybe, she replied.

“Well,” he said, chuckling, according to a person who witnessed the encounter. “Tell your boy to watch it. He might get his ass kicked.”

Meanwhile, Stephanie Cutter and David Axelrod can't even talk to each other to decide what lies each will tell:

As Team Obama was gearing up to face Romney after the GOP primaries, Axelrod and Cutter — close friends who oversee the campaign’s massive messaging and communications operations — clashed over a minor incident that left them barely on speaking terms during a critical early part of the campaign.

The spark, according to people close to the situation: Axelrod suspected Cutter of taking a network TV appearance he had been asked to do. The conflict, well-known inside Obamaland but not outside the inner circle — was really the reflection of a grinding campaign, Cutter’s propensity for stepping on toes, and Axelrod’s elliptical and disorganized management style.

And:

Many of Obama’s advisers have quietly begun questioning whether they should have picked Wasserman Schultz, an outspoken Florida congresswoman, as his DNC chairwoman. She has clashed with Chicago over her choice of staff and air-time on national TV shows — and they think she comes across as too partisan over the airwaves.

They ran a poll on her; she comes in last. Now, here's something a bit alarming for Team Obama: David Gibbs is actually their most popular surrogate, then Stephanie cutter, than some "Psakai" or something I've seen mentioned but I've never seen on TV.

That's not a Yankees-style Murderers Row.

More stuff in the article. Actually worth a read in full.

Posted by: Ace at 09:24 AM | Comments (400)
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Posted by: andy at 08:53 AM | Comments (165)
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Oh, Lizzie ...

Iowahawk, as usual, nailed it in 140 characters or less:

Still no proof that anybody in Elizabeth Warren's family has ever ridden an Indian (@iowahawkblog)

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Happy Monday.

The Romney-Ryan campaign had a statement last night on Rep. Akin's idiotic rape comment: "Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin's statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape." Ugh.

Politico's Glenn Thrush has a report and a new ebook out on the flailing Obama campaign's personal rivalries. The ebook also has some interesting details on Obama's personal issues; for example, Obama was reluctant to play golf with Speaker Boehner, because he knew Boehner would beat him. Obama also told a Rubio supporter in Florida that Rubio should "watch it" because "he might get his ass kicked."

Yesterday in Pakistan: three drone strikes in 24 hours. The third strike was aimed at militants cleaning up after the first two.

More ugh. King of the Clowns Donald Trump will have a convention role. Everyone's mum about what he's doing, but here's the word: he won't be a speaker; instead he's doing some retarded skit about "firing" an Obama look-alike.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:53 AM | Comments (412)
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Less pain and blood in the urine = a pretty good Sunday. 

Bad Idea Jeans - 2012 Edition

Hey Let's Have a National Maximum Wage

A modest proposal from Gawker's Hamilton Nolan:

Let's have a maximum annual income of, oh, $5 million, pegged to inflation. All income above that would be taxed at 99 percent. Our precious national sports stars, celebrities, and corporate executives could still be fabulously wealthy. The daydreaming poor could still have a nice big number about which to hopelessly dream. Five million dollars a year. Five million! Anyone with $5 million can invest it conservatively enough to earn 5 percent a year and still be making $250K per year without lifting a finger. In other words, $5 million provides you with the means to live as a member of the one percent without ever touching the principal. It's everything that any reasonable person could ask for, financially speaking.

Hey Let's Impose a 75% Tax on 'the Rich'

That's the plan of new French president, François Hollande, to make the rich pay their 'fair share'.

The call to Vincent Grandil's Paris law firm began like many others that have rolled in recently. On the line was the well-paid chief executive of one of France's most profitable companies, and he was feeling nervous.

President François Hollande is vowing to impose a 75 percent tax on the portion of anyone's income above a million euros ($1.24 million) a year. "Should I be preparing to leave the country?" the executive asked Mr. Grandil.

Unsurprisingly there's now an exodus of French companies and executives to London.

Hey Let's Nationalize Facebook

This time from Philip Howard of Slate:

Over the last several years, Facebook has become a public good and an important social resource. But as a company, it is behaving badly, and long term, that may cost it.

...By "nationalizing Facebook," I mean public ownership and at least a majority share at first. When nationalizing the company restores the public trust, that controlling interest could be reduced. There are three very good reasons for this drastic step: It could fix the company's woeful privacy practices, allow the social network to fulfill its true potential for providing social good, and force it to put its valuable data to work on significant social problems.

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Made from footage of Paul Ryan's campaign appearance in Florida yesterday.

more...

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First time since her 200th birthday, in 1997.

The USS Constitution, named by President George Washington in 1797 is the US Navy's oldest commissioned vessel. Her first actions against the enemy were during the First Barbary War, but she distinguished herself even further during the War of 1812, when she defeated five British warships.

Her nickname is "Old Ironsides" but she doesn't have sides of iron, her two foot thick wooden hull withstood blasts from HMS Guerriere in her first engagement in the War of 1812. In that fight an American sailor supposedly exclaimed as Guerriere's shots bounced off her hull "Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron!"

In subsequent engagements during the war she defeated four more British warships, Java, Pictou, Cyane and Levant.

She is now a floating museum, berthed in Boston. I've visited it many times and it's always a treat. If you're ever around there, I recommend you take the time.

Today she sets sail for a short voyage.

Can't wait to see it.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 10:21 AM | Comments (202)
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Holy crap, it's the 19th *already*? Where did August go?

Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to the insouciant and deliciously piquant Sunday Morning book thread.

Books I Read When I Was Young

Some books just stay with you for your entire life. For whatever reason. It has nothing to do with the quality of the book or when you read it, something about it just sticks deep in your mind, and even years later, you find memories of it come bubbling up into your consciousness at odd and unexpected times.

I have two examples.

The first is Up the Down Staircase, which was a bestseller back in the 60s. It's a novel about a newly-minted New York City public school teacher's first year of teaching in a resource-poor, inner-city high school. What makes it interesting is that it isn't written in the usual narrative style, but is rather a collection of written documents and notes that a school teacher would see, i.e. official memos from the school administration, notes passed by students in class, completed homework assignments, items posted on bulletin boards, things found in a wastebasket, and letters written by the main character to her best friend who is an older and more experienced teacher. Woven into thie patchwork of seemingly random written materials are the story of what happens during this first tumultuous school year and the various characters that all play a role in it.

I believe that this is the only book that that the author, Bel Kaufman, ever wrote.

I have no idea why I remember this book so well. Looking back, though, it's amusing what was considered dysfunctional in the 60s vs. what is dysfunctional today.

They made a movie of Staircase back then, too, but I can't recommend it. The nature of this story is such that it absolutely depends on a very strong performace by the lead role, the young, book-learning-smart-but-naive teacher. If you don't have that, the movie will fail. They gave the part to an actress named Sandy Dennis, and even though this is a minority opinion (according to the glowing imdb.com reviews), I think she was absolutely dreadful and completely ruined the movie.

So there you are.

more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:59 AM | Comments (206)
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Get this kid an ID. more...

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