“[Tonight’s] debate is about foreign policy. Spoiler alert: we got bin Laden” – Barack Obama

Don’t you get the feeling that, as a child, Mitt Romney was playing with priceless antique World War I army statues while the rest of the kids were playing with little plastic army men? What he knows and understands — or rather DOESN’T understand — about foreign policy is betrayed every time he says something or does something related to it.

His bluster while our embassy staff members were being murdered served no purpose other than to make him look stupid and the country look weak. Typically, when our country is under attack, everyone pulls together and presents a united front. Not Mitt Romney. He couldn’t wait to get in front of journalists and cameras to show the world how weak we are.

Atta boy, Mitt. You’re a real team player there, pal.

Much more after the jump.

“I’m doing it the hard way but I’m doing it the RIGHT way…”

I first met Democratic candidate Democratic candidate Betsy Coffia at the Vagina Monologues rally at the state Capitol last summer. Even in the cacophony of hundreds of fired up women dressed in bright pink, Coffia stood out with her energy and fire. It’s a passion for making positive change that she’s bringing to her unique campaign in Michigan’s 104th State House district, a traditionally Republican area that includes Traverse City that she’s trying to turn blue.

Coffia is running her campaign, as she did her primary, without taking any money from PACs, Super PACs or from out of state. Read my interview with Coffia and find out more about her exciting campaign after the jump.

Not that this comes as any surprise or anything…

Here’s an interesting thing to ponder. When you have a look at the Politifact rulings on statements made by President Obama & Vice President Biden vs. the statements made by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, it becomes immediately obvious who lies the most.

For statements that were ruled to be “True” and “Mostly True”, it’s Obama and Biden at 45.0%, Romney and Ryan at 29.1%. When it comes to “False”, “Mostly False” and “Pants on Fire”, it’s Romney and Ryan at 43.9% and Obama and Biden at 28.8%. In fact, Romney and Ryan have over 4 times as many “Pants of Fire” lies as the President and Vice President. Mitt Romney himself has well over half of the total amount of “Pants of Fire” lies (58.6%) of all the candidates combined!

Charts and data after the jump.

Plutocrats never lose, it’s just a matter of how much they win

Greg Palast has a article in The Nation this week that should be blowing the lid off the Romney campaign. Sadly, it’s getting scant attention. The article, “Mitt Romney’s Bailout Bonanza”, shows how hedge fun managers manipulated the rescue of the auto industry in order to cash in heavily and earn millions in profits, paid for entirely by the American tax payers. In the process, they stripped workers of both their pensions and their union protections.

The sad part is, if we hadn’t bailed out Chrysler and GM, these vulture capitalist friends of Mitt Romney probably would have figured out a way to cash in even more.

The all-powerful yet strangely ineffective POTUS…

Washington, D.C. – In an unprecedented display of raw power, President Barack Obama “cooked the books” in 41 of the 50 states to make it appear as if their unemployment rates had dropped in the past month. Republicans are shocked by this blatant political move and left Democrats wondering what the hell took him so long.

House Speaker John Boehner issued a statement saying, “There’s no way in hell “that one” could have reduced the unemployment rate. I mean we have done absolutely everything in our power to ensure he couldn’t make a single move that would help the economy or American workers. It’s simply not possible. Also, Obamacare.”

More after the jump.

Fired up! Ready to go!

We’ve spent a LOT of time talking about this election but now it’s time to take our conversation to the streets and Get Out The Vote (GOTV)!

A recent Gallup poll showed that President Obama is UP over Mitt Romney among registered voters. But, here’s the thing: he’s DOWN by several points among likely voters. That’s where YOU come in. The fact is, if we get our Democratic-supporting voters to the polls, we win. Period. And we don’t just re-elect President Obama. We ensure our Democratic candidates up and down the ticket a victory, too.

The best bang for your buck in terms of GOTV is the Obama for America (OFA) campaign. Details on WHY you should get involved and HOW to get involved after the jump.

The following guest post is by Chad Cyrowski and my good pals at Progress Michigan. They have done the research and put together a fine voters guide for some of the ballot initiatives on the Michigan 2012 ballot along with a new website to help you get informed. I endorse their selections.

– Chris

31 myths in 41 minutes.

That’s how many times Mitt Romney lied, stretched, and fabricated his own truth in the last debate. He even lied about his infamous “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” prescription for Michigan’s auto industry.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In Michigan, well-heeled special interests backed by large corporations and wealthy individuals will spend millions of dollars on slick TV ads to get your support. So the Michigan League of Responsible Voters is taking their case directly to Michigan’s voters with a no-nonsense ballot proposal guide. Be responsible. Get informed. Check it out at LeagueOfResponsibleVoters.org.

Much more after the jump.

There’s someone on the ticket who is more anti-women than Mitt Romney. It’s Paul Ryan.

Mitt Romney’s insulting, anti-woman positions are enough to disqualify him from the presidency for most thinking people. The fact that he can’t even be arsed to tell us whether or not he would have supported the Lily Ledbetter Act had he been president in 2009 tells you absolutely everything you need to know.

But there’s another person on the 2012 ticket who is even worse on women’s issues than Mitt Romney. That’s Paul Ryan.

Information about the hard conversation you will need to have with your daughters if Romney & Ryan are elected after the jump.

Like father, like son. Only worse.

I’m a firm believer that you can tell a lot about a parent by looking at their kids. In the case of Tagg Romney, eldest son of Mitt Romney, the story is very telling.

Yesterday, when asked how he felt about watching President Obama go after his father during the last debate, Tagg Romney said he wanted to, “jump out of [his] seat and … to rush down the debate stage and take a swing at him”.

Victims of an $8 billion Ponzi scheme run by Tagg’s business associates, however, may want to take a swing at him.

Full details after the jump.

“I’m a participant in life.”

Fred Upton has been in Congress since 1987 representing the parts of southwestern Michigan. During that time, the Whirlpool heir has distinguished himself as a far-right conservative Republican on nearly every issue you could name.

Mike O’Brien, a former Marine and Missouri farmer, is challenging Fred Upton in Michigan’s 6th Congressional District. The gridlock imposed on Congress by Republicans unable and unwilling to compromise to affect change combined with Upton’s anti-environment, anti-women, anti-senior votes over the past several years, O’Brien felt there was both a need for change and a real possibility of victory. According to recent polling done by his campaign, he’s absolutely right.

My interview with Mike O’Brien after the jump.

Well, that didn’t help…

A recent poll showed that Mitt Romney had closed the gap with American women voters. Not too many serious observers believed it but, whether it was true or not, he completely reversed any movement toward him by women in his debate with President Obama last night.

From his “binder full of women” gaffe to his comment about women needing to get home to make dinner, Romney seemed to almost go out of his way to offend women.

Much more after the jump.