- From AnnArbor.com, a report on a letter published in the Detroit News/Detroit Free Press by Mitt Romney where he skewers President Obama for not having any business experience. We love the part where the reporter notes that Romney wrote an editorial in the NYT at the depths of the auto crisis in 2008 entitled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." Does that reflect good business sense? We wonder, what chance has he of winning Michigan?
- Might be a little early to crow, but news from the Commerce Department today says in the last quarter the economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.8% up from the previous quarter by 1%.
- Talking Points Memo with a followup to the State of the Union address, stated, "President Obama’s State of the Union address was premised on two political bets: that there’s a broad national appetite, spanning conservative and liberal ideologies, for certain populist reforms; and that Republicans in Congress are too deeply committed to opposing his agenda to back those reforms." Read more here: "State Of The Union: Obama’s Point-By-Point Romney Refutation".
- Find the The President's State of the Union speech, 2012 here. A battle cry for the 2012 Campaign?
- Jonathan Atler, at the Washington Post tries to dispel "Five myths about Barack Obama" and we think he almost accomplishes the task (with the exception of #3 that we think doesn't even belong on the list).
- Now, here's a headline in the Washington Post we didn't expect to see: "Romney and the rest are far to the right of Bush."
- Talking Points Memo's Brian Beutler reveals why Romney says "income inequity...has no place in our political debate" because it's going to be a central theme of President Obama's campaign.
- This is what it's all about folks. Ruth Marcus at the Washington Post reminds us what the Presidential and Legislative campaigns really are all about.
- Okay, this you've got to see. Talking Points Memo has a piece on "Mitt-isms" some of which are a stitch. "I'm also unemployed" takes the cake as far as we're concerned.
- We think this article is a little unusual, but for those few of you who might have a little bit of geek, here's an opportunity to discover something about our elected officials that might end up turning one of them out of office, but like anything rewarding, it'll take you a lot more work than we're willing to devote ( although we've downloaded a .zip file we can hardly wait to open).
- According to the Washington Post, the government managed to get a few things right in 2011, in spite of one of the most acrimonious years in government, at least in our memory.
- If you at any time have thought that Ron Paul does make some sense, then you need to read Josh Marshall's brief piece on his blog, TPM, entitled "Plain Sight Watch." We remember reading about the statement when Paul said it but confess we thought nothing of the implications. The fact that Paul is a front-runner in Iowa gives me pause--how many of his supporters are simply beguiled by his words, but more important, how many interpret his comments such as the one cited above as Marshall parsed it?
- "A Brainpower Revolution" by Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post looks at the payroll tax extension episode and says, "It’s crazy to have spent so much brainpower and energy on a skirmish that was purely tactical, while blithely ignoring the enormous challenges we face. It would be difficult to squander all of our nation’s tremendous advantages. At present, however, we seem to be doing our best." The rest of the article casts a critical eye over the "trench warfare" that has resulted and the likelihood of extracting ourselves from the mess we're in. A must read.
- Paul Krugman in the New York Times notes what he believes will be the tone of a Romney campaign if he's nominated. Read it and wonder if President Obama's election team is prepared for a "Post-Truth Campaign."
- The mayor of the city of Troy, MI, a Tea Partier, made the New York Times with her decision to refuse stimulus money for "a long-planned transportation center" that "would help Troy become a transportation node on an upgraded Detroit-to-Chicago Amtrak line". Now, a major employer in the city has suggested they'd no longer expand their holdings there, AND the local Chamber of Commerce indicated their displeasure with the Mayor's decision. Do we smell smoke (coming from the ears of the general public)?
- This article, "House Republicans’ risky political bet on the payroll tax", by the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, hints that the House Republicans may be playing with fire.
- Here's an article in The Guardian on "How Fox News is helping Barack Obama's re-election bid" that we found compelling.
- We don't usually make a MUST READ claim, but if the Paul Krugman opinion essay, "Send in the Clueless" for the NYT on the nature of the possible next President of the United States, doesn't make one get out and work in the next election, what will?
- Okay, this Scientific American article really strays from the political arena, but if you've ever wondered what the heck the "Higgs Boson" means to all of us but were put off by the whole CERN Large Hadron Collider thing, this is the read for you (as it was for me).
- If you want the low-down on what actually happened to the "super-committee," then read this report in the Washington Post by Congressman Chris Van Hollen from Maryland.
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