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Subscribe to RSSAs President Obama and Mitt Romney campaigned heavily in the battleground state of Ohio on Thursday, new polls show neck-and-neck race in Colorado with both candidates tied at 48 percent; meanwhile in Nevada, the president still holds a slight advantage. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has appropriated for himself one of President Barack Obama's most potent lines of attack throughout this election.
If there is a candidate who represents the status quo and whose plans for the next four years are hazy, it's Obama, as Romney tells it.
It's the same charge the Obama campaign has used against Romney -- with great effect -- for most of 2012. But in a stroke of irony, the Republican nominee has turned the attack back toward the president, with a degree of success.
"This election is a choice between the status quo," Romney said during a major speech on Friday in Iowa, "or choosing real change."
Governor Mitt Romney addressed a crowd of supporters in Ames, Iowa, touting himself as a candidate of change and promising to "bring that kind of change, real change to our country."
The former Massachusetts governor has stumped for most of this week by calling himself the candidate of "big change," claiming for himself the mantle of "change" that Obama had first powerfully represented in 2008.
Moreover, Romney has begun ridiculing Obama's plans for a second term as thin and vague at best.
"You see the President’s campaign is slipping, the president’s campaign is slipping because he can't find an agenda. He's been looking for it -- there's only 12 days left," Romney said at a rally Thursday in Ohio. "He hasn't had a chance to defend it or to describe it to the American people in our debates and so the American people now have to recognize that given the big challenges and the big election we have it's time for a big change."
NBC's Chuck Todd and David Gregory weigh in on the candidates' closing arguments as the presidential race comes down to the wire. Their messages: Mitt Romney promises change while President Obama argues for trust.
If Romney's offensive seems familiar, that might be due to its similarities to many of Obama's own attacks on the Republican nominee.
The president, for instance, has sought throughout the campaign to link Romney to former President George W. Bush, arguing that little has changed in Romney's proposals from the last Republican to inhabit the White House.
"We can’t afford to go backwards to the same policies that got us into this mess; we’ve got to go forward with the policies that are getting us out of this mess," Obama said yesterday at a rally in Virginia.
Charlie Neibergall / AP
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivers his speech on the economy during a campaign stop at Kinzler Construction Services, Friday, Oct. 26, 2012, in Ames, Iowa.
And Obama mocked Romney's jobs plans as nonsensical and insubstantial, much as Romney has begun to do of Obama's second-term agenda.
"I’ve got a plan that will actually create jobs, not just talk about creating jobs -- a plan that will actually create middle-class security, not just use the words but not deliver on the promise," Obama said at the same rally in Richmond. "Unlike my opponent, I’m actually proud to talk about what’s in my plan, because the arithmetic works."
But Romney has been able to turn these criticisms back against Obama precisely because voters suggest that they are seeking change, even if Obama is re-elected. Sixty-two percent of registered voters, for instance, said in this week's NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that Obama should make "major changes" in a potential second term.
Obama's campaign also produced a new, glossy pamphlet -- which packages many of Obama's existing jobs proposals, which have met defeat on Capitol Hill -- in a glossy pamphlet. Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan ridiculed it as a "comic book" during a rally Thursday in Virginia.
"President Obama really hasn’t given us a vision for a second term agenda. Just a couple of days ago he came up with a slick new brochure, with less than two weeks left to say, 'Oh I do actually have an agenda,'" he said. "It is ... a slick re-packaging of more of the same."
That Obama hasn't laid out much of a comprehensive second term agenda -- combined with the overall thirst for "change" among many voters -- has only aided Romney and Ryan's ability to sidestep many of the questions about their own plans that had dogged the Republican ticket for much of the election. When asked about the difficult arithmetic or politics underlying Romney's proposals, Republicans are arguing in the closing days of the election that Obama has hardly offered better.
In an interview on Friday with radio host Michael Smerconish, the president dismissed Romney's claim to "big change" -- by again voicing his familiar criticism of Romney.
"What Gov. Romney's offering is a return to policies that have failed us in the past," Obama said. "He's now talking about them as 'big changes.' They're not big changes; they're a repeat, a relapse, of things that haven't worked for American families for over a decade now."
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ok, its like this people....
has anyone ever sat down to play a hand of spades, for some poor sap that was totally clueless on how to play his cards, only to go into the negative? Now you must use all your skills to get out of the hole, just to get back on board, now you begin playing to win.... this is what the president assumed behind Bush !!! Everyone cries out "why are we still talking about Bush", good you asked, because this is his mess that numerous presidents will be clearing up for years to come, no matter who's in office...
Now folks are considering a cheap imitation of an evasive, ever changing, cheap imitation knockoff, Obama wish-he-could-be... pandering to the masses, changing to the enviroment in which he occupies (kinda like a chameleon, hmmm)...
Why settle for a fraud, when you can just vote for the real deal Obama, and eliminate the excess such as the GOP have done with Romney for the past 6 years....
Walter De Vries, who worked for the senior Mr. Romney throughout the 1960s, wrote that Mitt Romney's bid for the White House was "a far cry from the kind of campaign and conduct, as a public servant, I saw during the seven years I worked in George Romney's campaigns and served him as governor."
"While it seems that Mitt would say and do anything to close a deal – or an election," he wrote, "George Romney's strength as a politician and public officeholder was his ability and determination to develop and hold consistent policy positions over his life."
WHOA! It's gotta be a slap in your face when the guy who was an aide to your father publicly humiliates you. Well, I guess it's not the old saying, "Like father like son." Mitt is certainly not his father's son with all his back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.....DIZZY. Mitt can spell leadership, but can't personally define such.
Liberals are really reaching back -
Lawrence Odonnel on MSNBC is playing Reagan tapes implying some gay double meaning.
WHAT A POS!!
I hate to break it to you fools, but neither one is really qualified to be president. But Romney is the WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN TO US.
you have to expand that statement a bit to be taken seriously.
Not all change is good - Romney argues the same tired trickle down deficit laidened bankrupt theories only double.
Following the same failed policies of Obama deeper down the rabbit hole leads to bankruptsy as a certainty.
What's the difference between God and Obama?
God doesn't think he's Obama.
Nor is he an arrogant SOB.
Why are republicans the racists, haters, liars, attackers and people who are in the middle class and stupid enough to think any republican will give a darn about anything pertaining to them.
Because thats all they can do when the facts are against them :)
Where are the democrats shouting so loudly "Hope and Change" with Obama just four years ago?
I'll bet on election day they cast their vote for Romney.
You are not talking about my God.............Because my God gave us an excellent president who has done right by his oath of office.
Christians don't vote for liars................Romney tells lies everyday
Obama/Biden 2012 FORWARD FOR THE LOVE OF AMERICA
What is the difference between Candidate Obama and President Obama?
Yes We Can became Yes You Will
I am surprised Obama is campaigning in Wisconsin? I thought it was an unquestionable blue state. I guess the voters in that state are still pissed off at Obama for flying over the state, not once but twice, during the week of the recall election without stopping to gen up the base. Big Labor spent a fortunate and lost with no help from Obama.
Im surprised that Ryan can't even get a majority in Wisconsin. He is from there right? Romney can't even get a majority in Michigan and Mass. What does this tell you?
Obama - WIN IN ELECTORAL COLLEGE
Road,
There are several States where the Brown Clown thought he had them all sewn up but he doesn't have the same turn out that he had last election. All his chearleading had the Public all whipped up into a frenzy with all his promises. He didn't come thru on ANY of them. If you go back & listen to all the things he ran Bush down about, he turned around & did the same things & even worse. All these Leftards are going to blow a gasket when we get our Nation back. It's going to be great.
LOL no you rightards are going to blow a gasket when Obama wins. Youre whole life is going to go up in smoke when SCOTUS rules in favor of equal marriage too. :)
AboutTime,
Come back in 10 days and let's celebrate.
Road Warrior-1005773===That was something. All of the unions dues gone with no real gain for them. The State of Wisconsin was the biggest winner.
We will. When Obama is re-elected, and our civil rights are not in danger of being destroyed.
ItsAboutTime-3704531===Are you from Wisconsin? Progressive legislation at the expense of the future generations. Shame on you. Find a good job and keep it you have a lot of taxes to pay in your lifetime.
I have an outstanding job, one that I worked for years to get, keep and continue growing in. I am not from Wis, but I am from the midwest, and we know a liar when we see one like Romney. We respect the constitution and do not force our religious beliefs on OTHERs
ItsAboutTime-3704531
What is equal marriage? Is that some kind of new queer thing? Does your whole life revolve around Gay stuff & being sodomized?
LOL. Its called 14th Amendment - Marriage is a CIVIL RIGHT. Does your whole life revolve around being so threatened by a gay male that you have to try to equate it to being sodomized? I bet you are a christian bible thumper aren't ya? Bet you have been and committed SODOMY in the eyes of god right?
Soon enough, your right to discriminate against two consensual adults of the same sex will be legally married in the entire United States. When it happens, there will be nothing you can do about it :)
For the people that were born after 1976, this will show you that its all the same with Archie Bunker on Democrats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fqCS7Y_kME&feature=endscreen&NR=1
Romney is a flim-flam man who has had every position from every angle on every position. He is not a principled man who has plans that are for all Americans to prosper. Romney is a right wing one percenter for the one percent. So are most of the republicans in our government. They are for ending Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Keep supporting progress and policies that protect our environment and protect the Clean Water Act. Tommy Thompson talks about how great it would be to end Medicare and Medicaid. This old goon wants to get back into our government for more greed and corruption.
Vilavilavila===I can not account for your lack of information but Obama and Company have already started cutting into the entitlement plans you mentioned to pay for Obama-Care. Get with the program your missing out on the good stuff like saving Medicare-Medicaid and Social Security. Add this piece of information to your education. Obama has over spent every President that came before him and you get to pay the bills. The Baby Boomers are retiring and there are millions of them. That will more than likely include your Parents or Grand-Parents. Foolish young kids.
Its all about his COLOR for some of you people isn't it? Always was, wasn't it??
You've been sold a pig in a poke by FOX and you just don't realize it...You like the colors and music from your high school days and you swallow it like big fat dumb trout after a mepps
Its Turd Blossom....George W Bush's Guy right behind the curtain just like the Wizard of Oz
If Romney is elected we will be in another War, your girlfriends won't be able to get an abortion and the Banks will take your ATM charges from 3 to 5 bucks... thats just the start too....and all you can say is is Benghazi Bengazi Bengazi....cause thats ALL THEY GOT
Skymoose,
Yes it is because he is BLACK. We are all RACIST.
Deerhunter finally cops a plea and tells the truth.
I always tell the truth, what is your point?
girlfriends won't be able to get an abortion????, tell your girlfriend to keep her panties on, and closed your bank account......
George Bush (From behind a tree) "Romney, can I come out yet?"
Romney says "Not yet George, we are still pretending that your terms never existed"
Obama/Biden 2012
C'mon, say something positive your Guy will do....specifically, what about something He's done?
Think he'll declare a "Mitt Romney Day?"
The Bush-led Great Recession was costing the economy nearly 800,000
jobs per month by the time President Obama took office. But by the end of
his first year, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act created and
sustained 2.1 million jobs and stimulated the economyby 3.5%.
http://reut.rs/i46CEE
Why didn't Willard say Chrysler is added 1500 jobs to its plant in Michigan all the while saying Chrysler is moving the Jeep plant to China..
I firmly believe that it boils down to deep seated racism ..... the elite and their lower class base can not stand the thought of a Black Man who has done a VERY competant jop trying to save this country from the desaster the former government got us into. They will do ANYTHING, say ANYTHING, stoop to depths never known in our history to get ANYONE that is not Black into the White House. So they ignore the lies, revert to name calling and total disrespect for the office of President and the purpose of the founders of this country, invoke the bible and their form of chrisitanity, etc., etc.! "This Election, in my view, is a Fight For The Heart And Soul Of America." (Biden) I (JRM) say, "Yes, we can ! Yes, we MUST! OBAMA / BIDEN 2012!!!!!!"
Yep we don't like black people. That's it. Your like a detective or something. Does that make you feel better.
Oversaw the creation of more jobs in 2010 alone than Bush did in eight
years.
http://bit.ly/hrrnjY
The exact SAME people are going to be on Romneys team....most already are....h e l l o
Hey Numbskull, Bush had an average unemployment of 4.71%. You did not have much job creation, why? BECAUSE EVERYONE IS EMPLOYED IDIOT.
UNEMPLOYMENT
Bush - 4.71% (Average) : Obama - 9.4% (Average) - 8.1% Current
( Source: www.bls.gov )
Bush added %5.3 Trillion to the GDP. Obama? A measly $1 Trillion. That will barely cover the stimulus, it will not cover the deficit.
Try taking some economics.
Romney is a Fibbing Flip-Flopping PHONY!
Along with Democrats, and almost no Republicans, President Obama implemented an auto
industry rescue plan, and saved as many as 1 million jobs.http://bit.ly/ibhpxr
Many are of the opinion that he saved the entire auto
industry, and even the economy of the entire Midwest. http://bit.ly/gj7mt5
This resulted in GM returning to its place as the top car company in the
world. http://lat.ms/zIJuQx Willard Romney, on the other hand,
advocatedfor the entire industry to go belly-up. http://nyti.ms/k0zp
Did you know that G.M. has informed the congress of their intent of moving all their manufacturing off shore?
Mostly to China.
President Obama is proud of his bailout of General Motors. That’s good, because, if he wins a second term, he is probably going to have to bail GM out again. The company is once again losing market share, and it seems unable to develop products that are truly competitive in the U.S. market.
Right now, the federal government owns 500,000,000 shares of GM, or about 26% of the company. It would need to get about $53.00/share for these to break even on the bailout, but the stock closed at only $20.21/share on Tuesday. This left the government holding $10.1 billion worth of stock, and sitting on an unrealized loss of $16.4 billion.
Right now, the government’s GM stock is worth about 39% less than it was on November 17, 2010, when the company went public at $33.00/share. However, during the intervening time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen by almost 20%, so GM shares have lost 49% of their value relative to the Dow.
It’s doubtful that the Obama administration would attempt to sell off the government’s massive position in GM while the stock price is falling. It would be too embarrassing politically. Accordingly, if GM shares continue to decline, it is likely that Obama would ride the stock down to zero.
Link to article on moving production to China, please. Your candidate lied today about a similar story about Chrysler...so you can understand our skepticism.
Mitt Romney used the expression “Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose” plagiarizing a TV show, "Friday Night Lights".
Now he's plagiarizing President Obama's 2008 campaign slogan.
Plagiarism defined;
an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author's work as one's own.
Why is anyone rallying behind this guy!?!
Obama / Biden 2012
President Obama signed the Democratic-sponsored Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act
giving the federal government more tools to investigate and prosecute
fraud in every corner of the financial system, and create a bipartisan
Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to investigate the financial fraud
that led to the economic meltdown.
http://abcn.ws/g18Fe7
President Obama, against the wishs of many in his Cabinent....waxed Osama Bin Laden's A**
I hate to say this but I see that most of the posts here are simply a joke My god it still goes on and on and on Finger pointing and Blaming Bush for this administration failures and it never takes the blame for anything , I remember O's speeches in 2008 and looking back now it is just sad. 2 obama quotes stick out
!)
"I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values. And that's to be expected. Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big election about small things. " Yup that is what Obama is currently . 2) his remark in a interview with Matt Lauer Where he says He would have everything straightened out in 1 term if not, there would be a one term proposition " Now If all you left wing kool-aid drinkers look it up and listen closely you will see he hasn't a clue he proved it in the last 4 yrs and on top of it The Dems has control of the house ans congress for the 1st 2 yrs And to the One poster who said that Romney never served his country and isn't fit be president well damn did Obama serve?? listen to your own drivel .
Love it when the Pres gets crap tossed back at him and he doesn't have a teleprompter, prepared statement to answer a predetermined question, or any of his yes people around him. Of course there is the standard answer to all... "Let me just say, it was Bush".
Love it when R$mney says "I meant to say this, but I really said that, no I really thought I said that, and 1 week later, I never said that"
No, that is a lot more Obamarish. "I'll answer that in just a minute... but first let me say.." He never answers anything!
Check it out. Utah Paper endorsed President Obama instead??
http:// www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2012/10/19/salt-lake-city-tribune-backs-obama.html
The "Trib" is owned by MediaNews Group, who's CEO is a staunch Liberal, William Dean Singleton, a HUGE Obama supporter. . He is the chairman of the board of directors of the Associated Press, on which he has sat since 1999. He is also the founder, vice chairman and chief executive officer of MediaNews Group, the fourth-largest newspaper company in the United States in terms of circulation, with 53 daily papers totaling 2.7 million subscriptions daily and 3 million on Sunday. Additionally, he has been publisher of a number of MediaNews' dailies, including the Denver Post, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Detroit News.
Singleton was a pioneer in "clustering"—developing groups of newspapers that centralized a variety of functions, including production, ad sales, business operations and, in some cases, editorial. An example of this was the Alameda Newspaper Group in suburban San Francisco, where in the mid-1990s, a central newsroom in Pleasanton, California, did all the copy editing, layout and page makeup for five daily papers. Upon acquiring the diverse group of papers, Singleton consolidated several news sections (such as sports and features) to one local office away in order to streamline work.
Did you not know? Singleton is no Mormon. The Trib is a biased paper.
He's a BISHOP in the LDS/Mormon church
The book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith....who at 14 found solid gold tablets in his backyard and translated them from an Alien launguage in the middle of the night in his parents attic...After the translation, the tablets were misteriously lost forever....THATS who this Guy follows...He beleives HE is a Latter Day Saint...hello