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Subscribe to RSSAs Obama and Romney have lunch at 12:30 pm ET, not everyone is moving on from the ’12 race… Romney chief strategist Stu Stevens explains Romney’s loss by essentially suggesting Obama was black and poor people voted overwhelmingly for him… As it turns out, Obama’s victory was more decisive than Bush’s in ’04… Tom Cole and the cover he gives to John Boehner… NYT: Other Benghazi-related questions get lost in all the attention on the talking points… 112th Congress on track to be least productive Congress since 1947… And the importance of Virginia and its gubernatorial contest.
*** Moving on? At 12:30 pm ET today, President Obama holds a private lunch with Mitt Romney -- their first meeting since the election and just seventh overall according to our count. The lunch allows both men to bury the hatchet and show that this country is able to move beyond its elections. But not everyone is moving on. In a Washington Post op-ed published yesterday, Romney chief strategist Stu Stevens defended Romney and his campaign. “Over the years, one of the more troubling characteristics of the Democratic Party and the left in general has been a shortage of loyalty and an abundance of self-loathing. It would be a shame if we Republicans took a narrow presidential loss as a signal that those are traits we should emulate.” It was more than appropriate for Stevens to write about Romney and the campaign after the election; in fact, Stevens speaks today at Harvard along with the top officials from the Obama campaign to discuss the 2012 race. But what’s especially striking about Stevens’ op-ed is that it doesn’t contain an iota of introspection about why the Romney campaign was unable to win a winnable race. It was an odd tone for Stevens to strike, and it will be curious to see if he’s just as defiant today at Harvard.
After a hard-fought election, President Obama fulfills his promise to engage with Mitt Romney, hosting him for a one-on-one lunch at the White House. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
*** Explaining Romney’s loss -- Obama was black and poor people voted overwhelmingly for him: Indeed, the entire piece appears to rationalize that the campaign’s strategy was right. (And for the reporters who received emails from Stevens during the campaign, the tone was very, very familiar.) In the op-ed, Stevens essentially suggests Romney lost because poor people overwhelmingly voted for Obama. “On Nov. 6, Romney carried the majority of every economic group except those with less than $50,000 a year in household income. That means he carried the majority of middle-class voters.” Yet that analysis ignores that those making less than $50,000 represented 41% of the electorate in 2012, and many of those people probably would argue that they’re in the middle class. Stevens also seems to argue that Obama won because he’s a black man whose campaign and party raised $1 billion. “[H]e was a charismatic African American president with a billion dollars, no primary and media that often felt morally conflicted about being critical. How easy is that to replicate?” But that also leaves out the fact that Romney was a white man who had a famous name in American politics and whose effort also raised close to $1 billion. By the way, there’s a lot of contradictory evidence to suggest the president carried the middle -- the swing suburban counties. In every swing state, the largest major suburban county tipped to the president.
President Barack Obama plans to fulfill the promise he made on Election night to engage with Mitt Romney by meeting him for lunch on Thursday. The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd reports.
*** Obama’s victory was more decisive than Bush’s in ’04: And here’s one final observation about the 2012 race. Per the excellent work by the Cook Political Report’s David Wasserman, Obama’s national lead over Romney continues to expand as votes keep on coming in. It’s now Obama 50.9%, Romney 47.4%. That’s a bigger (and more decisive) margin than Bush’s victory over John Kerry in 2004 (which was Bush 50.7% and Kerry 48.2%). What’s more, the president’s lead has grown to close to 3 points in Ohio, 4 points in Virginia and 6 points in Colorado. One doesn’t win Colorado by six points without winning swing voters; there isn’t a big-enough Democratic base to make that argument.
Mike Segar / Reuters
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney arrives to deliver his concession speech during his election night rally in Boston, Massachusetts, November 7, 2012.
*** Cole gives cover to Boehner: In today’s “fiscal cliff” news, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is meeting individually with top Democratic and Republican congressional leaders. Bloomberg News: “Geithner will meet separately with each of the four top leaders in Congress: House Speaker John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Rob Nabors, the administration’s director of legislative affairs, will accompany Geithner.” And speaking of Boehner, GOP Rep. Tom Cole -- who on Tuesday said that Republicans should extend the Bush tax cuts for only those making $250,000 or less -- did a big favor for the House speaker. Why? It gives him A LOT more space to cut a deal with the Obama White House. After all, when is the last time that a conservative (albeit an establishment) House member go to the left of Boehner? Bottom line: Cole’s move gives Boehner more negotiating flexibility than he had previously. Also, don't miss David Gregory's interview with former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair, who is very critical of Geithner.
*** Other Benghazi-related questions get lost in all the attention on the talking points: For weeks now, there’s has been so much attention on Susan Rice and those CIA-drafted talking points about the attack on the Benghazi consulate. And after more critical comments from GOP senators, Obama showered praise on Rice during a photo spray of his cabinet meeting yesterday. “Susan Rice is extraordinary. I couldn’t be prouder of the job that she’s done.” But the New York Times makes a pretty good point: Lost in all of the attention over the talking points are bigger and perhaps more important questions. “Were requests for greater security for diplomats in Libya ignored? Even if Al Qaeda’s core in Pakistan has been decimated, what threat is posed by its affiliates and imitators in other countries where they have taken refuge? How can crucial diplomacy be conducted amid the dangerous chaos that has followed the toppling of dictators across the Arab world?” Also, while this hasn’t been the best P.R. week for Rice, it does look like she can survive a confirmation process. The person who may have had a worse week in these meetings? CIA acting dir. Mike Morrell. He could end up the real political loser in all this.
*** Do-Nothing Congress? NBC’s Kyle Inskeep notes that this 112th Congress is headed to achieve a dubious distinction: the least productive Congress since the 1940s. With just weeks left, this Congress (2011-12) has passed just 196 bills into law (and many of those have been ceremonial pieces of legislation, like the naming of courthouses). The previous low was set by the 104th Congress (1995-96), which passed just 333 bills into law. So to avoid earning the distinction as the least productive Congress since 1947, 138 bills must move through the House and Senate before the end of the session next month -- an unlikely feat. Then again, reaching a deal on the fiscal negotiations would be a big legislative accomplishment. Also, there are plenty of conservatives who would argue that NOT passing bills actually means this was a productive Congress. It’s all eye-of-the-beholder stuff.
*** The importance of Virginia its gubernatorial race: Virginia has arguably become the most important swing state in the country (in the past two presidential elections, the state has exactly matched the national popular vote). And Virginia’s off-year gubernatorial contest has recently set the tone for the party of out of power. In 2005, Tim Kaine (D) won his race by appealing to independents and the suburbs -- a model the Democrats replicated in 2006 and 2008. In ‘09, the socially conservative Bob McDonnell (R) focused like a laser on the economy, which congressional Republicans followed in ’10 and even Romney tried to replicate in ‘12. Yet here’s the conundrum for Republicans in 2013: The very conservative and outspoken Ken Cuccinelli is going to be the face of the GOP next year. Now it’s more than possible that Cuccinelli runs a strong race that national Republicans will copy in 2014. Or it’s also possible that his candidacy reinforces some of the negative stereotypes that the party wants to erase. By the way, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling -- whose exit cleared the way for Cuccinelli’s nomination -- isn’t going away quietly. Per the Roanoke Times, he isn’t ruling out a gubernatorial bid as an independent.
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Democrats, I'm delighted to read your posts and look forward to your Cirque du Jerque when I'm in Vegas.
I must say I am not bothering to move on after the disasterous November 6th results. This is the first time in history a President was re-elect after failing on so many levels. I am no longer watching the news. Nor am I ever voting again. Welcome to the United Socialist States of America.
You really shouldn't say you will never vote again. What if Larry the Cable Guy runs in 2016? Or even better, Sarah Palin?
I must say I find the fact that you are never going to vote again very comforting.
Short memory: Bush, his 911 failure two unpaid wars and the destruction of the economy yet re-elected
OK, enough of rubbing it in. This is actually a good jesture on the President's part. But I do have to wonder, if Mitt had won, would he have done the same?....NAWWWWW, he was not gonna win! Hehehehehee!!!
I'd like to point-out that rational conversation is made difficult here because of your endless Orwellian changes to our language. For example, if we still had private property rights, our voluntary gift to those in need would be a charitable contribution. In the world of NewSpeak, we have no underlying right to our own property, we are merely stewards of the community, and so we can't be making a voluntary gift. We are merely "giving back," i.e., the property was always owned by others and we are the ineffectual drones who must return it. This 1984-gibberish infects all discussion on NBC, so it's a surprise when anyone makes a point you don't like. Finding the language to express disagreement with you takes extra time and effort.
Peikovian,
Bullseye. Orwellian is spot on. If you control the media you control the drones. Of course people like Fiesty couldn't understand 1984 because, well there's just not enough pictures in the darn book, but anybody else that's read it and has a brain can see we are there.
And as far a charity goes it's hard to justify this year as apparently my government needs more charity in order to keep its doors open. Sorry all you poor people that are hungry. Obama needs another 50k a week vacation and he's asking us to pony up...
At dinner last night two couples at an adjacent table were discussing the election. One of them stated she could not understand how Obama won our county, but "there must be a lot more people on welfare" than she realized, because "anyone with a job would have voted for Romney".
My county based on the most recent numbers: 89% white, the per capita income over 4 times the national average, registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by 6:5 ratio, the unemployment rate about 2.5% below the national average, the % living in poverty less than half the national average.
Obama carried the county by a 5:4 margin, but apparently all the "welfare" people away the people with jobs.
Obama won the top 10 states in education by wide margins. Romney won all of the bottom 10 states in education except Nevada. The republicans already knew this and are doing everything they can to cut funding for education. And Romney won big in the deep south. There just weren't enough hillbillies and rednecks to put him over the top.
Obama carried 50.8% of the 58.7% of voters who bothered to show up. That plurality is typical. Even the greatest landslide of support (60%) out of a record-breaking turnout (80%) elects a candidate with 48% approval. The genius of the system is in its checks-and-balances, because the President both guides and is governed-by the will of the Congress, and both are restricted by judicial review. Pages and pages of NBC emails show that Democrats would like one-party rule to "finish the job," when the true meaning of that demand is to end the Constitutional framework of our government.
Yup, the democrats are out in full force. Good for you guys. You won. You have it all. Show us the way good people. Apparently you're smarter, better at business, kinder, more compassionate, tolerant, accepting. Of course you can't deduce that from reading the comments above but I'll give the other democrats that don't post here the benefit of the doubt. You've got California and it looks like your really turning it around from those lame republicans who have run it into the ground. Why next year there'll be no unemployment there, great grades for all of the school children, no crime, and everyone will enjoy a union wage job with free benefits.
You go guys! We'll be watching to see how it's done. I'm so glad you're now in charge. Heck, I've even pitched in with some of my healthcare plan you just took away this year and some higher taxes starting Jan 1.
Lead, Follow, or GET OUT OF THE WAY!
One MUST be totally delusional or psychotic to be a republicon these days.
The gop looks more like an organized crime syndicate than a political party. These clowns are the most corrupt bunch of criminals calling themselves politicians and real Americans in United States history. And that says lots after the Nixon and reagan crime eras.
Just look at the republicans that ran in the primary. Rick Perry was the favorite, then Herman Cain, then Newt Gingrich and then Romney. It was a sad bunch. But then, who would choose to be a republican after what Bush did to this country and to the world economy?
Sorry PP 2012 if your comparing organized crime syndicates to politicians, I think Chicago has thrown quite a few of their democratic politicians in jail for, well just being really bad guys...
...and as far as a republican being psychotic, again my friend, the ball is in your court. Maybe stop the name callin' and show us how real civilized people do it. For a group of people that deem themselves so tolerant I don't see any of it. All I read on this forum is utter hate, even though your guy won. Still the hate. Shouldn't you be happy? Teach me Oh wise one. I want to learn...
You are all chewing your way INTO Shawshank. Enjoy your new friends.
Notice how pissed off the Teabaggers/Rightwingers are these days? Don't you just love it!
Hey war vet major hassan is a vet now too, sounds like you served under him???
I love it when Socialists and Anarchists play naked leapfrog in a men's prison. Obama voters are fresh meat.
Uh, you left out Marxist, Bolsheviks and Trotskyites fella. What would you losers do if you couldn't impune the patriotism of those who disagree with you. It's called demagouger, I suggest you look it up.
You Rightwingers please feel free to leave America as todays America is becoming more Moderate and more multi-cultural. I know you people hate that true fact. If I had a time machine i have the perfect place for your kind: 1940s Nazi Germany. You'd love it there! Hate,bigotry and racism was highly encouraged! You would look so smashing in a brownshirt with Swastikas!
I kind of like the white sheets and hoods. But they are more difficult to keep clean.
As I have mentioned Tony. You've got California. Make it a gem. Make it the best state in America with the most tolerant, educated, diverse, respectful society. There's no blaming the republicans there. The democrats have had it for a long time but now you have it all. Lead the way. We're watching...
Now Mitt has more time to break up American companies and send American jobs overseas.
His son Tagg is in that business and Romney has taken an office near him.
Teddy Roosevelt said:
That's why we aren't moving on.
Teddy Roosevelt bares exactly ZERO resemblance to today's Republicans. He was a true Republican who was pro worker and anti monopolized businesses that held a strangle hold on the general public. He also created the first income tax and it as a GRADUATED tax system, collecting greater percentages from those at the top.
Teddy Roosevelt attacked the private property rights of American citizens, based on a theory that succeess was excess. He was wrong.
Peikovian, you're right! And he wasn't all for that "little guy" as the history books would like to believe. he regulalrly parlayed with the barons in this country.
Is Tags middle name Price? that would be so appropiate!
So interesting to hear from the mind of a 12-year-old, with the bullying power of an old cnt.
Peikovian, you're back to the childish tit-for-tat... You actually showed some erudition in a few posts (240, 242) even if your conclusions are wrong.
And you're wrong if you think that all Democrats want to see the GOP destroyed; we just want to see this incarnation of it gone. Reform would be a good thing; where are your Eisenhowers, Dirksens, Rockefellers, Doles of today? You can't keep purging moderates out of your party and expect to attract mainstream voters as was demonstrated in this election. The GOP insistance on idealogical 'purity' and pandering to the religious extremists is driving away the few voices of reason you still have. This is what is truely 'Orwellian', the GOP insistance that there's no room for competing views within the party; this is a hallmark of totalitarian government.
America needs a vibrant two-party system. The GOP lost because of their tone-deafness to the aspirations of the 'minorities' you're trying to dismiss. As was pointed out, they get vote too. Ditch the 'social conservatives' with their narrow, religion-based agenda and the southern racists, and return to being a fiscally responsible party that's willing to compromise and isn't beholden to the monied interests but is trying to help all americans. We will welcome you back....
Godfather's pizza on the menu? Nein Nein Nein! So many funny memories. Thanks GOP.
Looking forward to a pizza made with gubmint cheese that no Democrat can afford due to hyperinflation.
Governor Chris Christy, that's hyperinflation!
Democrats should adopt the methods of the Spartans. Share wives and colons, then report back to us.
The President is still the President. He won. He carried the wealthiest states on both coasts and a few in the middle of the country. Time to move on.
Wealthest states like California and New York that are near to needing a bailout themselves!
The meeting was a waste of time. The country voted for socialism. That's what we've got for the next four years, unless the country goes down the tubes first.
Next 12 years for starters hopefully. Hillary 2016 and beyond.
Wish we could get rid of socialist programs such as those that subsidize Big Oil and AgriBusiness.
The country voted AGAINST the GOP socialism. The redistribution of wealth from the lower/middle class to the rich and corporations.
It doesn't matter if Rice told these GOPThugs that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. They would still say she's lying! They don't concern themselves with facts; facts just get in the way! I hope they continue in this way; the Republican party will join the Whigs, and some years from now, everyone will say "WHO?"
First, the middle class is not everyone making over $50,000. In fact, the middle class is made up of people who make under $50,000 far more than people that make over $50,000. It shows how ill-conceived the rom;nut's campaign really was. The median income in the US is $50,000. In order to get to that amount there must be dollar for dollar the same amount of income on each side of that figure. Reality and math dictate that there are fewer people making over $50,000 and more people making under $50,000 in order for this amount to be equal on each side of the equation.
if someone makes less than 50k per year they have no one to blame but themselves unless they are just stupid or a vegetable.
@G-9, and what happens when the under 50K decides to use their muscle to get things fixed? The masses outnumber the uber rich by quite a few. And if we go over the "fiscal cliff" and inflation really hits, well people most likely will get madder and madder. Not saying they will, but it's human nature.
And when they lash out, look out, because I can see happening here as what happened in France a long time ago. "Let them eat cake." Well, that slogan could be the rally cry. It would be one hell of a mess.
Sally Ann what happens if we do like just happened in Great Britain. They raised the top marginal rate to 50% and 2/3s of millionaires left the country.
What will you do for revenue then?
they will ask obama to pick money off his money tree.....
I see Larry is off his meds again....
Larry, your above comments above only show your ignorance (yet again). First, the median wage as of 2011 (http://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/central.html) is only $41K. Half wage earners made more, half less. The average wage is only $27K, showing the income inequality that exists. So by your reckoning, more than half of all americans 'are just stupid or a vegetable'. But that is the GOP attitude, so why you wonder that you lost the election is still a mystery to most of us.
Second, your statement that if the top tax rate is increased all the millionaires will leave the country and stop paying taxes is false. If the income is earned in the US, you still have to pay US income taxes on it. That's true even if you're a foreign national. And if you're a US citizen and return to the US in less than two years (for anything more than the briefest time), your overseas income is taxable. So the only way to fully escape US taxes is divest yourself of all US investments, stay out of the country permanently, or give up your US citizenship and all US investments.
Seeing how the overseas choices with 'better' tax rates for the uberrich are all pretty much third-world countries, I doubt if there will be much of a stampede....
"Larry, your above comments above only show your ignorance (yet again)."
The most holy and reverend Larry never allows facts and reality to stand in the way of his endless pontificating on subjects he knows next to nothing about.
Larry continues his constant flow of nonsense, tripe and lies. He even claims to have earned the hat he wears in the avatar. He only service he has provided for America is when he goes back downstairs to his mothers basement!
The Republicans and tea party campaigned for four years to keep Obama from being a 2ND term President. The money spent well over a $1 billion; thousands of manhours constantly sowing hatred and fear. My adventure over the last four years was watching Fox News(haha), and listening to right wing talk radio. My original thought was (they're) scaring white people for fun and profit. Hypocrisy, halftruths, and lies became the template for perspective. With many voices, we spoke. In accents from far lands, we spoke. Our vote spoke for us, Congradulations Mr. President; forward into a brighter future for all Americans.
A real Red Dawn scenario that Americans need to be aware of.
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread902191/pg1
Americans played and worked when 9.11.01 happened. America weeped and cried and became America once more going back to playing and working and forgot about 9.11.01.....then Red Dawn happened.
Will Red Dawn happen? Only if Americans do not plan and think that we are safe. The next attack on America will not come in the form of terrorist attacks. The next major attack will the be the Big One.
and when and if we are attacked in such a manner, this ass obama will apologize....
Dwighttruth: So, let's press on and give the military billions of $$$ they have publicly stated they don't need. That'll fix any threat against the US, huh?
What a PUNK!
Election proves a few things:
1. You can buy the office by giving away entitlements to Black colleges, Women, and free passes for illegals.
2. Higher education seems to produce over educated idiots like Obama that could not pass a 3rd math SOL test since they can not understand you can not spend your way out of debt.
3. When you can not beat the worse president of our life time it is time to dissolve the Republican party.
JEFF, Angry much fella??? Get used to it pal, because Obama is your president for the next 4 years and two months. And god help you if Hillary decides to run in 2016, it will be a romp for Democrats against your band of religious, bible thumpinig bigots, who think the earth is 6,000 years old and think they know far more about climate change than 95% of the world's leading scientists know. The 5% who don't acknowledge it are bought and paid for by Exxon/Mobil.
Boy, it must really suck to be a Righty these days. You dimwits can't even buy a break now can you? And you've got some stones saying that Obama is the worst president in our lifetime when we just had 8 years of a semi-illiterate schmuck of a goober who dragged us into 2 wars that never end, both unfunded and were that not enough then proceeded to take the Clinton economy and destroy it, bringing our nation to it's knees.
Sure hope you'll be tuning in for the Inauguration, I wouldn't want you to miss a moment of it. LOL
he ain't my president..........he is a fraud and a traitor...
Angry - Yes that anyone would follow a party and at this is time is debatable as to which party is worse Democrats giving Obama a 2nd change over Hilliary ( althought both her and Obama failed to answer the 3am call from Liyba) or Republicans for not beating the worse president ever.
As for the economy - just like the UAW did not kill the US auto industry overnight and the actions taken by past presidents including Clinton came to an end just like just like what is going to happen when Obama bankrupts the country with his spending.
As for Romney if Obama wanted to talk I would have him track me down.
"When you can not beat the worse president of our life time it is time to dissolve the Republican party."
Sorry Jeff, maybe you believe that Fox cable news crap, but the analyists are saying that the middle class votes from Americans were appreciable. One thing is for sure in life... you will never convince a fool.
You're a moron!