Latino Decisions Tracking Poll: Latino voters highly engaged

October 23, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: In this week's Latino Decisions Tracking Poll, Latino voters highly engaged in presidential election, support for Obama rises: The impreMedia-Latino Decisions tracking poll latest results reveal a high level of interest and engagement by Latino voters in the upcoming congressional and presidential elections. [ Full wave 9 results here ] More than … Read more

CD 2 Congressional debate tonight at the U of A

October 23, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Democrat Ron Barber and Republican Martha McSally will debate tonight at the University of Arizona. The two candidates for Congressional District 2 will be on stage from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Arizona Student Union Memorial Center Grand Ballroom on the UA campus, 1303 E. University Blvd. The doors open at … Read more

Dr. Richard Carmona leads by four points in new poll

October 23, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Politicos pooh-poohed last week's Rocky Mountain Poll (Behavioral Research Center .pdf) showing Dr. Richard Carmona up by four points over Rep. Jeff Flake. I have heard through channels that Republicans have an internal poll showing Carmona up by five points over Flake — yeah, they won't be releasing their poll. The Carmona … Read more

Jonathan ‘Payday’ Paton collecting from his payday lender pals

October 23, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Jonathan "Payday" Paton has frequently bristled at being a lobbyist for the Payday Loan industry. He even recently got some assistance in this regard from Arizona Republic(an) columnist apologist Laurie Roberts who wrote Payday Paton ads factual, but are they true? Spoiler alert: according to Ms. Roberts, because Paton was not an obscenely paid lobbyist this somehow makes a difference. That's some situational ethics you got there, Ms. Roberts.

This subsequent reporting in the Arizona Republic begs to differ. Paton tied to payday lending.

Let's hear from someone in the trenches who has had to actually deal with the consequences of Payday Lenders exploiting people in dire financial circumstances, Navajo County Attorney Brad Carlyon, who sent this e-mail today on behalf of the Ann Kirkpatrick campaign:

Character matters.

That’s why I find it especially galling that Jonathan Paton, a lobbyist who worked for the payday-loan industry – a man who fought to keep an exploitative industry alive — is flooding our airwaves and mailboxes with character attacks on Ann Kirkpatrick.

As the Navajo County Attorney, I know how bad the payday-loan industry was for our communities. The voters agreed with me, and in 2010 they voted by an overwhelming 2-1 margin to end predatory payday loans in Arizona – forever.

The initiative they voted down was known as Prop. 200. At the time, a lobbying firm called Copper State Consulting was being paid to run the Prop. 200 campaign in hopes of keeping the payday-loan industry alive in perpetuity. Their strategy? Call it “reform.”

But editorial boards across our state called it what it really was: A “cruel hoax.” “Shameful.” And plenty more.

And here’s where things get awfully sketchy: As a sitting lawmaker, Jonathan Paton was also on the payroll of Copper State Consulting. He even wrote a ballot argument in favor of Prop. 200. In other words, Paton fought for this “cruel hoax” under the guise of "reform." All to help his old payday-loan bosses.

And now those payday-loan bosses are returning the favor. This past weekend, The Arizona Republic wrote a story with the headline: “Paton tied to payday-lending industry  – Says he didn’t lobby for industry but records show payday money has been a fixture of his career.”

Romnesia on auto rescue, but ‘Detroit remembers’

October 23, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Conservative media talking heads were furious with CNN's Candy Crowley after the second presidential debate for real-time fact checking Willard "Mittens" Romney during the debate about the White House response to Libya and making Mittens look like a fool.

CBS's Bob Schieffer would have done the voters of this country a favor last night if he had followed Candy Crowley's lead and real-time fact checked Romney on this exchange during the debate, especially since both candidates invited it:

Romney stated that he was for "government guarantees" for the auto industry after it came out of a managed bankruptcy.

Obama said to Romney, "You were very clear that you would not provide government assistance to the U.S. auto companies even if they went through bankruptcy. You said that they could get it in the private marketplace. That wasn't true."

Romney said in response, "You're wrong," three times. The Republican concluded, "People can look it up."

Obama stated, "Detroit remembers."

So Steve Benen looked it up. Obama is right. Setting the record straight on the auto rescue:

Romney told viewers last night that his position was that American auto makers "can get government help and government guarantees" as part of the bankruptcy process.

Depending on how generous one is inclined to be, this is either a lie or a stunning case of "Romnesia."

Obama campaign ad: ‘Determination’

October 23, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Ed Kilgore writes at the Political Animal Blog that:

[T]he Obama campaign is releasing a 20-page booklet advertised as a “plan for jobs and middle-class security,” to be heavily distributed and then flourished at campaign rallies. After all, the MSM believes Obama has no second-term agenda (though it’s unclear they’d recognize one unless it is their own consensus preference, the Bowles-Simpson Report), and the Romney campaign has made that part of its own presentation of Moderate Mitt From Massachusetts, The Man With The Five-Point Plan.

The Obama campaign released a new ad today entitled "Determination" designed to address this media villager complicity in failing to inform voters. Description of ad:

Read the President's plan: http://www.barackobama.com/plans

There's just no quit in America and you're seeing that right now. Over five million new jobs, exports up forty one percent, home values rising, our auto industry back and our heroes are coming home.

We're not there yet. But we've made real progress and the last thing we should do is turn back now.

Here's my plan for the next four years: Making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom; boosting American-made energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where we can, and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. And ending the war in Afghanistan, so we can do some nation-building here at home. That's the right path.

So read my plan, compare it to Governor Romney's and decide which is better for you. It's an honor to be your President and I'm asking for your vote. So together we can keep moving America forward.

Video below the fold.

Romney badly fails the commander-in-chief test

October 23, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I am frequently reminded of the 2000 election in which it was said about George W. Bush that the nation was at peace and prosperity, give the kid a chance, what could go wrong? Yeah.

The New York Times editorial opinion today is a brutal assessment that Willard "Mittens" Romney badly failed the commander-in-chief test on Monday night. "Mittens" is woefully unprepared. The Final Presidential Debate:

Mitt Romney has nothing really coherent or substantive to say about domestic policy, but at least he can sound energetic and confident about it. On foreign policy, the subject of Monday night’s final presidential debate, he had little coherent to say and often sounded completely lost. That’s because he has no original ideas of substance on most world issues, including Syria, Iran and Afghanistan.

During the debate, on issue after issue, Mr. Romney sounded as if he had read the boldfaced headings in a briefing book — or a freshman global history textbook — and had not gone much further than that. Twice during the first half-hour, he mentioned that Al Qaeda-affiliated groups were active in northern Mali. Was that in the morning’s briefing book?

At other times, he announced that he had a “strategy” for the Middle East, particularly Iran and Syria, and really for the whole world, but gave no clue what it would be — much like his claim that he has a plan to create 12 million jobs and balance the budget while also cutting taxes, but will not say what it is. At his worst, Mr. Romney sounded like a beauty pageant contestant groping for an answer to the final question. “We want a peaceful planet,” he said. “We want people to be able to enjoy their lives and know they’re going to have a bright and prosperous future and not be at war.”

He added that the United States “didn’t ask for” the mantle of global leadership but was willing to wear it. We wondered what Ronald Reagan would have thought of that.

Mr. Romney’s problem is that he does not actually have any real ideas on foreign policy beyond what President Obama has already done, or plans to do. He supports the planned withdrawal from Afghanistan — and was quick to insist on Monday night that he would pull out by 2014. He thinks there should be economic sanctions on Iran, and he thinks the United States should be encouraging Syrian opposition forces that seem moderate. Mr. Romney said he would work with Saudi Arabia and Qatar on this, but those governments are funneling arms to the jihadist groups that he says he abhors.

The president kept up the attack at virtually every opportunity, showing no sign of the oddly disconnected Barack Obama who lost the first debate. When Mr. Romney called for spending more money on the military than the United States can afford or the military wants, Mr. Obama moved in: “You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets.” Mr. Romney tried to revive the Republican claim that Mr. Obama conducted an “apology tour” at the start of his presidency, which Mr. Obama correctly called “the biggest whopper” of a campaign that has been filled with them. And he took a dig at Mr. Romney’s recent world travels. “When I went to Israel as a candidate,” he said, “I didn’t take donors, I didn’t attend fund-raisers.”

Mr. Romney tried to say that the president had “wasted” the last four years in trying to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program. But Mr. Obama said, “We’ve been able to mobilize the world. When I came into office, the world was divided. Iran was resurgent. Iran is at its weakest point, economically, strategically, militarily.”