UP-FRONT INSPIRING RADIO/MOVIE NUGGET!!
Unfortunately, the Bob Edwards radio program is only available to SiriusXM subscribers. If you can download this program DO SO!! The discussion of this upcoming documentary is profoundly moving!! If you can see the documentary, DO SO!!
"Searching For Sugar Man" on PRI's Bob Edwards' Weekend program
"In 1970, a Mexican-American folk singer named Rodriguez released his debut album and hardly anyone noticed. ... Following the disappointments, Rodriguez decided to return to his reality - a modest life of hard work doing construction and demolition in Detroit. Amazingly, his music somehow made it to South Africa where the songs became an inspirational soundtrack for those deciding to stand up against Apartheid. ... In South Africa, Rodriguez became as well-known as Jimi Hendrix and Elvis Presley — and as far as these new fans knew, Rodriguez was just as dead."
Christian Right Historian David Barton in Freefall Over ‘Jefferson Lies’ (Michelle Goldberg) from the Daily Beast
"David Barton has been a hero to the right for claiming the founding fathers wanted a Christian nation. But now even his conservative peers are disowning his work."
Yeah, but I'll bet this third-rate historian made a BUNDLE during his brief tenure as conservative "hero." Isn't that usually the point for these writers and pseudo-scholars who go down this path?
If You Read This Book, You Will Not Get Married (Melissa Holbrook Pierson) from the Daily Beast
"A new memoir about divorce is so powerful, dark, and raw that you will run away from marriage just reading about it. Melissa Holbrook Pierson on the radical honesty of Rachel’s Cusk’s Aftermath."
AND NOW -- reactions to Romney's VP pick:
Mitt Romney will name Paul Ryan as his VP. Here’s what that means. (Ezra Klein) from the Washington Post
Check out Kelin's entire analysis!
"It’s not just that Romney now has to defend Ryan’s budget. To some degree, that was always going to be true. What he will now have to defend is everything else Ryan has proposed. Ryan was, for instance, the key House backer of Social Security privatization."
Additional point: the REST of the GOP (and their candidates) will have to defend the Ryan budget -- or the Tea Party wingnuts and the Romneybots will hear the reason why not! This pick will seriously divide the GOP as candidates in moderate/Democratically leaning states will feel pressure to tow the line.
Think this doesn't put Romney in a box, see here how Romney is ALREADY running away from the Ryan budget.
Mitt Romney: Paul Ryan Budget Is Not His, Candidate 'Putting Together His Own' (Sam Stein) from the Huffington Post
If you don't align with Ryan's budget, WHY did you pick him?!
"Within minutes of tapping Paul Ryan as his vice presidential nominee, presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney was distancing himself from the congressman's controversial budget, which includes steep cuts to government programs and changing Medicare into a voucher-like program."
Also see this item from earlier this year:
Catholic Bishops Say Ryan Budget Fails Moral Test from the Huffington Post
"A week after House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan claimed his Catholic faith inspired the Republicans' cost-cutting budget plan, the nation's Catholic bishops reiterated their demand that the federal budget protect the poor, and said the GOP measure "fails to meet these moral criteria.""
A Risky Rationale Behind Romney’s Choice of Ryan (Nate Silver) from the New York Times
"When is it rational to take a big risk? ... When a prudent candidate like Mitt Romney picks someone like Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate, it suggests that he felt he held a losing position against President Obama. "
Michael Tomasky on Romney’s Stunning, Terrible Choice of Ryan for VP (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"So much for Romney making a pick that says something about his own views (whatever they are). Instead, he feared what Bill Kristol might say and buckled under. As always."
Democrats say Ryan is an Enemy of the Middle Class (Aamer Madhani and Catalina Camia) from USA Today
With Mitt Romney's pick of Rep. Paul Ryan as his Republican running mate, Obama surrogates immediately sought to define the congressman as a wild-eyed ideologue set on slashing Medicare and other popular entitlement programs."
The Illogic of Romney Picking Paul Ryan for Vice President from US News and World Report
"He doesn't have a vision for America of his own so he decided to embrace someone else's. What then is the raison d'etre for a Romney presidency if it's a Ryan agenda?"
Rep. Paul Ryan VP Choice Draws Criticism From Some Conservatives (Howard Fineman) from the Huffington Post
The critiques from these conservatives are very interesting and largely on point.
"Despite general cheer among conservatives, some in that camp are apoplectic at Mitt Romney's choice of Rep. Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate, though they are reluctant to say so publicly. Here -- anonymously, by his request -- is a critique of the choice by one of the country's most prominent and influential conservatives, who sent this analysis to close friends:"
Why Ryan? (David Frum) from the Daily Beast
"This election—which Romney once intended to make a referendum on Obama's record—will now become a referendum on Paul Ryan's bold budget ideas. Why would Romney make such a choice and take such a risk? 5 hypotheses: ... Economic conditions are so tough—the Obama reelection proposition is so weak—that Romney may win anyway. But wow, the job just got harder."
Veepstakes, Finally Over (Craig Crawford) from his blog
"WI Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan to privatize Medicare is about as politically toxic as it gets. In picking this darling of conservative elites Romney is spread eagle on the third rail. Now we know he knows it. This decision shows just how insecure he is about holding his party’s base. He got bullied into this, the most telling sign yet that he is desperate."
Paul Ryan Choice Could Ignite Ideological War (Rick Klein) from ABC News
"Choosing Ryan is a tacit acknowledgment by the campaign that its initial assumptions about the race – that it’s a coin flip, that Romney’s biography and experience could speak for itself, that making the race a referendum on President Obama was enough – no longer apply."
With Paul Ryan, Romney Makes the VP Pick Obama Wanted (David Corn) from Mother Jones Magazine
"Romney has helped Obama in his No. 1 mission: shape the election not as a referendum on the sluggish economy but as a sharp clash between opposing sets of values and programs for the future."
Obama Team Salivates Over Ryan Pick (Major Garrett) from the National Journal
"... senior advisers to President Obama's re-election campaign believed, long before presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney picked Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate, that Romney had been oddly and helpfully "collaborative" in making the Obama case against him. ... From team Obama's perspective, the Ryan choice transforms this imagined and perceived collaboration into a virtual partnership."
We are Winning (Markos Moulitsas) from Daily Kos
"... being the Reality Based Community, the fact that we have to work hard all the way through Election Day doesn't prevent us from noting that yes, we're kind of kicking their butts."
The New Christine O’Donnells? Hard-Right Nominees Endanger GOP Senate Hopes from Talking Points Memo
"Two years ago, even as the Republican Party stormed into power in the House, a crop of hard-right Senate nominees flamed out and cost the party valuable seats. Now, it might be déjà vu as Democrats happily compare several new conservative Senate candidates to Christine O’Donnell, the tea party darling who infamously cost Republicans what should have been a surefire seat."
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