Trick or Treat Cartoon of the Day

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An even scarier thought: if this dishonest, untrustworthy plutocrat becomes the 21st century's Richard Nixon, we're screwed as a nation.

(cartoon: Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Willard Romney Fails the Character Test

Compare and Contrast

Shameless plutocrat Willard "Mr. Mo' Shambles" Romney doubled down this morning on his vile charge that President Obama sympathized with the attackers of our facilities in Libya and Egypt. Here's a screenshot of a smirking Willard concluding his disastrous press conference this morning, keeping in mind that U.S. diplomatic officials have been killed in the past 24 hours:

Contrast that image with what a President really looks like:

The reaction has not been kind to shameless Willard, not only from the press, but from his fellow Rethuglicans. Imagine him as Commander in Chief, and your blood will curdle.

Jon Stewart on Willard Romney's Imaginary America

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"The Do-Over"

BONUS: MoDo at the NY Times thinks it's too late for Mr. Shambles.

Saturday All-Rethugs and Ryan Reading

Culling from a slew of options today, we offer you some of the best:

-- Charles Blow on the despicable Romney/ Ryan/ Rethuglican campaign;

-- Matt Miller on exposing Paul "Brown Nose" Ryan as a phony fiscal conservative;

-- Lisa Miller on Brown Nose's Catholic/ Randian problem; and

-- Paul Krugman on who Willard was really targeting in picking his Brown Nose, and more on the fakery of the Ryan/ Romney/ Rethug "budget plan."

That should keep you rascals busy for a while.

Suggested Reading

Here are some worthy articles you might have missed in the past few days that are worth taking a look at:

-- Michael Grunwald on 5 myths about the stimulus. Think about these every time you see a Romney/ Rove ad about the "failed stimulus" and its "wasteful spending."

-- Ezra Klein on the Romney/ Ryan Medicare budget fraud. Recall Klein's explanation of how, when you hear Romney/ Rove attack Obama's proposals cutting Medicare funding by $700 billion, the Rethugs plan to cut the same amount, but in a way that would shatter the system.

-- Matt Miller on Ryan's radical budget plan and the disconnect in the fawning media narrative.

-- Lest you think it's only progressives carving up the Rethuglican/ Ryan budget, check out what St. Ronnie of Hollywood's OMB Director, David Stockman, thinks about Brown Noser's handiwork. It's not pretty.

"Mathematically Impossible"

Middle class tax increase. That's the conclusion that must be drawn from outsourcing pioneer Willard "Soak the Middle Class" Romney's reverse Robin Hood tax policy, as discussed by Ezra Klein today. The non-partisan Tax Policy Center conducted an exhaustive evaluation of Willard's plan to cut taxes for millionaires while purportedly reducing the deficit. They tried to give the plan a fair shake, but as Klein notes,

"The numbers never worked out. No matter how hard the Tax Policy Center labored to make Romney’s promises add up, every simulation ended the same way: with a tax increase on the middle class. The tax cuts Romney is offering to the rich are simply larger than the size of the (non-investment) deductions and loopholes that exist for the rich. That’s why it’s 'mathematically impossible' for Romney’s plan to produce anything but a tax increase on the middle class." (our emphasis)

Willard's campaign response? No rebuttal, just trying to smear the messenger, whom the campaign had earlier praised for its "objective, third-party analysis." As Klein continues,

"The Romney campaign has not provided good answers to the questions raised by its own math. But we already knew the Romney campaign didn’t have good answers. If Romney had good answers, he would have made good on his rhetoric and put his plans on the table."

I think that's another way of saying "Put up or shut up, Willard."

Thursday Reads

On Willard's dodging;

On Rethuglicans drowning; and

On good news downplaying.

Willard Romney, Man of the People Headline

"Romney plans posh weekend donor retreat featuring Rove and V.P. hopefuls" -- today's Kaplan Daily. Among the invitees is Karl "Turdblossom" Rove, Crossroads GPS Super Pac head, who of course won't be coordinating with the Romney campaign at the event because that would be against campaign finance laws (riiiiight!).

Cartoon of the Day -- Etch-a-Sketch Mitt Edition

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(Tom Toles, via gocomics.com)

Cartoon of the Day -- Etch-a-Sketch Mitt Edition

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He'll have to do a lot of shaking to get rid of those pictures...

(Mike Luckovich, via gocomics.com)

Quote of the Day

"Why are people trying to turn these comments into something craven? He’s just saying that a candidate will say anything to get the nomination, then say anything to get elected, then say anything to get a second term, then stand on principle … for six months, until he’s a lame duck. You know, courage." -- Steven Colbert, commenting on last week's gaffe by Willard "Sketchy" Romney communications director Eric Fehrnstrom comparing his candidate's post-nomination positions to his current ones as like an "Etch-a-Sketch" process.

Empty Suit

Here's Dana Milbank's interesting catch on Willard "Sketchy" Romney's response to the Etch-a-Sketch mega-gaffe:

"Consider Romney’s response when asked about his aide’s claim that the general election would be like an Etch a Sketch, erasing conservative positions he took in the primaries. 'I’m running as a conservative Republican,' the candidate told a group of reporters Wednesday after his town-hall event in suburban Baltimore. He didn’t say he is a conservative Republican; he said he’s running as one. As if this is a persona for this particular campaign."

So many times, Sketchy's spontaneous comments have betrayed his true thoughts ("Corporations are people," "I'm not concerned about the very poor," and the comment that $374,000 in speaking fees isn't a lot of money). Once again, he's exhibiting his persona as opportunistic, tactical, dishonest, and untrustworthy.

(photo: "Ask Mitt Anything" and he'll tell you what he thinks you want to hear...for now)

Mendacious Mitt

(Clay Bennett, via gocomics.com)

By now, it's become a political cliche that Willard "Flip-Flop/ Mendacious Mitt" Romney is a chameleon, a core-less, soulless mannequin who'll be whomever you want him to be and say whatever you want him to say, just so you'll please vote for him. Steve Benen has a piece this morning on the baldfaced lying of Mendacious Mitt, the empty vessel who has a hard time telling the truth.

Class Warfare and Mendacious Mitt Sunday Cartoons

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(Clay Bennett and Mike Luckovich cartoons via gocomics.com)

Flip-Flop Mitt's Dishonest Ad -- And The Response

Willard "Muff/ Mittens/ Flip-Flop Mitt" Romney's campaign released its first ad ("Approved by Mitt Romney"), and as one would expect from a Rethug, it's a misleading and mendacious pile of poo. Among the cherry picked quotes and nonsensical "facts," it shows an edited snippet of President Obama in 2008 quoting his then-opponent Sen. John "Walnuts" McCain saying "If we talk about the economy, we're going to lose." But the dishonest little squats in the Romney campaign want you to think they're Obama's words. When called on it, they've responded to criticism by saying the ad is not "out of bounds." Well, two can play that tune, homey. Here's the Flip-Flop ad, followed by one Think Progress put together to show how easy it is to mislead when playing by Flip-Flop Mitt's standards:





Believe in America, yes; in Flip-Flop Mitt? Not so much.