What is it with Republicans and outsourcing of our jobs?

Republican Congressman Dan Benishek doesn’t just lock his constituents out of his office. He also supports the outsourcing of American jobs to foreign companies. The Communications Workers of America aren’t having it and are running radio ads encouraging people to fight back.

Listen to their radio spot after the jump.

Say, Mitt, when will these guys take personal responsibility & care about THEIR lives?

With Mitt Romney bloviating about how half the country are tax cheats that feel “entitled” to things like food and healthcare and housing, I got to thinking about who else in the USA doesn’t pay taxes. Then I remembered a report by the Citizens for Tax Justice (pdf) that came out earlier this year. It was a report that showed 26 Fortune 500 companies — PROFITABLE Fortune 500 companies, I should add — that paid no taxes or actually got a rebate every year since 2008.

Major rant after the jump.

Are you ready to eat cake?

Like the rest, or at least 99.9%, of the country, I was appalled and offended when I watched the video tape of Mitt Romney at a fundraiser telling his super-wealthy benefactors that half the country thinks they are entitled to food and healthcare and housing and that he didn’t care about them. I was incensed that he would describe half of Americans as not being willing to take personal responsibility and care about their lives.

Yeah, that’s offensive, all right. It’s also completely unsurprising. Come on, be honest. Did you really think that Mitt Romney felt any other way about those of us who don’t make they kind of money he makes?

What was most offensive to me in that video was the guy asking the question. Follow me over the fold for more.

What does it tell you when your Representative is afraid of talking to his constituents???

A group of senior citizens recently tried to visit the Gaylord office of their U.S. Representative, Dan Benishek, to talk to him about his vote to kill Medicare. When they got to the office, it was locked with the blinds drawn and instructions to press the buzzer and state the nature of their business. They were eventually allowed in, one at a time while the others were forced to stand in the hallway, and then only because there was a reporter present.

Video and more after the jump.

You can’t even run a campaign, why would we trust you to run the country?

In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama was asked about his lack of business background by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen. He told Andreessen, “Watch how I run my campaign — you’ll see my leadership skills in action.”

This was good advice and it’s advice that we should take now when looking at the campaign of Mitt Romney. A killer article by Politico today shows just how absolutely failed Mitt Romney’s campaign is. If this is an example of Mitt Romney’s leadership skills, Americans of all political stripes should be given serious pause about his ability to lead the country.

More after the jump.

A true advocate for those with the greatest need

When I arrived at the campaign office of State Supreme Court candidate Bridget Mary McCormack just south of Dexter, I found her Skyping into a house party meeting Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She had just finished making her pitch to a room full of nearly two dozen potential supporters, who could be seen on the screen of her laptop, and was taking questions. When you’re running a statewide campaign for a position most people know little about and often ignore on the ballot, it’s this type of unconventional approach that could make the difference between who wins and loses the race for one of the three open spots on the Court. It’s also completely in line with the type of campaign that McCormack is running.

Click through for my interview with this terrific candidate and to find out more about her out of the ordinary campaign.

A massive crowd of 17…

One of several Romney campaign buses making the rounds in the USA made a stop on the campus of Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant this week and drew a teeming crowd of “about 17”. Michigan Victory Communications Director Kelsey Knight said, “We’re here in an effort to splash how strong our grassroots efforts here in Michigan.”

Mission not accomplished.

More after the jump.

This is getting comical

Faced with the unmitigated disaster that is Mitt Romney and his complete melt down on the national stage from a foreign policy perspective, conservatives are now rushing to his aid, throwing flak into the air in a laughable attempt to distract voters. They are now suggesting that because President Obama doesn’t need to have his security briefings read to him like his predecessor, he is responsible for the attacks on American embassies around the globe.

No, sadly, I am not kidding. Click through for details.

Well, this was totally predictable

Not that it takes any magical powers of divination to do so but, almost a year ago today, I predicted that if Mitt Romney won the Republican nomination for President, he should probably just skip Michigan:

It will be interesting to see if Romney dares to show his face in Michigan again after advocating for letting the Detroit auto companies die. If he does, I knew a few auto workers who will have a thing or two to say to him when he gets here.

Based on a poll released last night by the Detroit Free Press, I doubt we’ll see him back. The poll has President Obama opening a three-point lead in late August to a ten-point lead now.

Click through for details and more.

It’s so much worse than we thought it would be

Mitt Romney’s campaign is in death watch mode at the moment. Despite spending insane amounts of money on campaign ads in swing states, he now faces a 7-point gap in the Gallup daily tracking poll.

Additionally, Nate Silver gives him only a 20.3% chance of winning the election.

And then yesterday happened. That is when Mitt Romney completely lost his mind and the race.

All of the ugly details after the jump.

Couldn’t stop for even one day? REALLY?

Yesterday, political campaigns with any integrity at all pulled their ads and took a day off to honor Americans killed in the September 11th attacks 11 years ago. But not Pete Hoekstra.

Hoekstra continued to run is pathetic “Worst Senator” ad campaign which is nothing but a hypocritical attack on Senator Stabenow with no substance about what he represents.

The Stabenow campaign DID pull its ads for the day. In fact, the ad they are currently running here at Eclectablog was pulled until this morning after they contacted me and asked me to take it down for the day.

More details after the jump.