Cavuto: Who Will Step Up in This Crisis?

Mark Steyn: Empathy thrown under Obama's bus

◼ Mark Steyn's latest at the OC Register

Rick Perry, governor of Texas, has only been in the presidential race for 20 minutes but he's already delivered one of the best lines in the campaign: "I'll work every day to try to make Washington, D.C., as inconsequential in your life as I can."

This will be grand news to Schylar Capo, 11 years old, of Virginia, who made the mistake of rescuing a woodpecker from the jaws of a cat and nursing him back to health for a couple of days, and for her pains, was visited by a federal Fish & Wildlife gauleiter (with accompanying state troopers) who charged her with illegal transportation of a protected species and issued her a $535 fine.

Don’t max out your credit cards. If you do max out your credit cards, cut them up and pay them off. Don’t count on “new revenues” (like a better job you don’t have, or a tax hike) to bail you out. And above all, if you’re maxed out already, don’t apply for more credit. Stop digging your hole.

◼ This just became the Suze Orman election. - Rod Martin/Daily Caller

You know this. Everyone knows this. These are our modern day Proverbs.... And therein lies the problem for Barack Obama.

Mr. Obama shouldn't be faulted for wanting to rest, relax and spend whole days with his family. But the timing of this vacation is incongruent, and so is the location.

◼ The President's Island Retreat - Is his visit to Martha's Vineyard a sign that he's giving up? - Peggy Noonan for The Wall St. Journal

...How could he not be depressed? He has made big mistakes since the beginning of his presidency and has been pounded since the beginning of his presidency. He's got to be full of doubts at this point about what to do. His baseline political assumptions have proved incorrect, his calculations have turned out to be erroneous, his big decisions have turned to dust. He thought they'd love him for health care, that it was a down payment on greatness. But the left sees it as a sellout, the center as a vaguely threatening mess, the right as a rallying cry. He thought the stimulus would turn the economy around. It didn't. He thought there would be a natural bounce-back a year ago, with "Recovery Summer." There wasn't. He thought a toe-to-toe, eyeball-to-eyeball struggle over the debt ceiling would enhance his reputation. The public would see through to the dark heart of Republican hackery and come to recognize the higher wisdom of his approach. That didn't happen either.

Nothing worked! And nothing's going to work. He's the smartest guy in the room, but he's got the reverse Midas touch. Everything he touches turns to—well, unsatisfying outcomes....

Mr. Obama shouldn't be faulted for wanting to rest, relax and spend whole days with his family. But the timing of this vacation is incongruent, and so is the location.

Rep Thad McCotter plays Who on WHO

Who runs the White House? David Plouffe, whose job it is to make sure that every word, every action of the president is calculated for electoral gain rather than the country’s needs.

◼ Disillusioned Democrats for whom? - Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post

This is one of the most forceful and devastating critiques I’ve seen of a president in over his head:

“We’re almost three years into this administration, and there’s never been a plan. And that’s what everybody feels. And the president didn’t lead. He waited. The quintessential image, sadly, of an administration that I supported and hoped for much better, is the president waiting by the phone to hear what Congress calls to tell him. It doesn’t work in this country that way. It’s not a matter that it’s August. It’s a matter that it’s August 2011. So we’ve been drifting for a very long time. And we’ve been drifting down. And we had a short-term plan that failed. A short-term stimulus that was supposed to get the economy back on track, but it failed. And now we have nothing behind it. And we have no agreements, and we have no leadership. And, frankly, I do think it’s pretty odd the president’s on vacation right now. Normally I wouldn’t care about such things, but the world markets are in deep crisis. It’s no joke. This isn’t just an up-and-down little blip. This is a very serious situation.”

It is all the more devastating because it comes from liberal economist Jeffrey Sachs, no slouch at Harvard and no conservative stalking horse.

Krauthammer on Obama’s ‘Hope & Change’: ‘Where the hell has he been the last 2 1/2 years?’

◼ “[H]e came in on ‘hope and change’ and he said he would change the way Washington works,” Krauthammer said. - Daily Caller

“And we just heard him in the sound bite you opened the show with running against Washington. Where the hell has he been the last two and a half years? He is Washington, he is the president’s. He pretends that somehow he hovers above all of this and it is Washington that is holding America back. In fact what he did is he spent $1 trillion on the stimulus that did not succeed.”

Leading South Carolina Republicans endorse Rick Perry for 2012

◼ Texas Gov. Rick Perry has picked up two important endorsements in South Carolina for his 2012 presidential campaign. - Jim Davenport/Washington Examiner

Longtime state legislator David Wilkins, who played a big role in George W. Bush's White House races, says he's signing onto Perry's bid. And Harvey Peeler, majority leader in the state Senate, is jumping on the Perry bandwagon, too.

How do you say pathetic in Californian?

◼ Number of Green Jobs Fails to Live Up to Promises - NYT

In the Bay Area as in much of the country, the green economy is not proving to be the job-creation engine that many politicians envisioned. President Obama once pledged to create five million green jobs over 10 years. Gov. Jerry Brown promised 500,000 clean-technology jobs statewide by the end of the decade. But the results so far suggest such numbers are a pipe dream.

◼ Warning: jobs of The Onion writers at risk - Michael Barone/Washington Examiner

Yes, the house organ of Team Obama (according to the president himself the other day) reveals that the approximately $100,000,000 in stimulus money spent on weatherizing houses in California succeeded in producing just 538 jobs and that $59,000,000 in federal, state and private money devoted to producing “green jobs” in California has led to 719 job placements in a state of 37,000,000.

How do you say pathetic in Californian? That’s about $185,000 per weatherization job and $82,000 per “green job.” I suppose charlatans like the former White House “green jobs” aide Van Jones would argue for switching the weatherization funds to “green jobs.” But of course the more sensible conclusion is to stop wasting this money altogether.

PPP: Dems' enthusiasm gap is back

◼ Only 48% of Democrats on our most recent national survey said they were 'very excited' about voting in 2012. On the survey before that the figure was 49%. - David Freddoso/Washington Examiner

It had seemed earlier in the year like Democrats had overcome the 'enthusiasm gap' that caused so much of their trouble in last year's elections. But now 54% of Republicans say they're 'very excited' about casting their ballots next year, indicating that the problem may be back.

◼ There's been plenty of bad news for Barack Obama this month in the form of his approval numbers, but our polling finds that his problems go deeper than that. Democratic enthusiasm about voting in next year's election has hit a record low this month. - publicpolicypolling

Rove: Palin will run

◼ Former Bush advisor Karl Rove says he believes former Alaska governor Sarah Palin will enter the Republican presidential race sometime around Labor Day. Appearing on Fox News Saturday morning, Rove said Palin "has a schedule next week that looks like that of a candidate, not a celebrity." Rove also cited a new campaign-style video Palin has released on her recent visit to the Iowa State Fair as evidence Palin is gearing up for a run. - Byron York/Washington Examiner (image source)

...Rove has long expressed skepticism about whether Palin can win using a non-traditional campaign strategy. Back in May, Rove told Fox's Greta van Susteren, "I don't think she thinks the rules apply to her. She doesn't need to have the traditional trappings of a presidential campaign. No finance committee, she can raise the money. She doesn't need to go and shake a lot of hands in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina."

Obama Administration Grants De Facto Amnesty to Many Illegal Immigrants

◼ House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said the shift is the administration's "plan to grant backdoor amnesty to illegal immigrants."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said the shift is the administration's "plan to grant backdoor amnesty to illegal immigrants."

"They have created a working group that appears to have the specific purpose of overruling, on a `case-by-case' basis, an immigration court's final order of removal, or preventing that court from even issuing such an order," Smith said in a statement. "The Obama administration should enforce immigration laws, not look for ways to ignore them. The Obama administration should not pick and choose which laws to enforce."

Fellow Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul said the plan circumvents Congress.

"It is just the latest attempt by this president to bypass the intended legislative process when he does not get his way," McCaul said. "The fact that we have a backlog and prioritize deportations is nothing new. This policy goes a step further granting illegal immigrants a fast-track to gaining a work permit where they will now unfairly compete with more than 9 percent of Americans who are still looking for jobs."

“There's simply not enough wealth in the community of the rich to erase this country's problems by waving some magic tax wand”

◼ Warren Buffett’s Taxing the Rich Won't Solve Deficit, Says Tax Foundation - CNS News

“Even taking every last penny from every individual making more than $10 million per year would only reduce the nation's deficit by 12 percent and the debt by 2 percent,” the non-partisan Tax Foundation’s David Logan writes.

White House, Senate Democrats clash over campaign cash

◼ Senate Democrats are increasingly concerned that President Barack Obama’s campaign money machine is sucking up so much cash that it will cut into the party’s aggressive campaign to hold on to the Senate next year, several Democratic sources say. - Politico via Drudge

Think Progress’s cub reporter Lee Fang tweeted a complaint that Lichtblau had plagiarized his blog post: “lhfang (Lee Fang): Hey @EricLichtblau & @thepubliceditor your NYT Issa piece looks awfully familiar...”

◼ DARRELL ISSA: Setting the record straight - Powerline

The New York Times hates Issa because, as Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, he has launched several investigations of wrongdoing that have embarrassed the Obama administration. So ace reporter Eric Lichtblau, no longer occupied with illegally leaking national defense secrets now that a Democrat occupies the White House, went looking for dirt on Issa....

We have written a number of times about how the relatively respectable left-wing organs, like the New York Times, the Washington Post and MSNBC, rely on the far-left blogosphere for material. They monitor the crazy stuff that the Daily Kos, Democratic Underground, Think Progress, etc., spew out, and if they see something they think they can turn into a plausible story, they steal it.

That is what happened here. It started at Think Progress, where cub reporter Lee Fang wrote an article in March claiming that Congressman Issa had secured earmarks for highway construction that benefited properties he owns in his San Diego district. Lichtblau picked up Fang’s “research” and amplified it in a hit piece in the Times. Of course, as we have often noted, one of the problems with lifting stories from the fever swamp is that they generally turn out to be wrong.

◼ NYT – trusted?/ripped off?/betrayed by? – ThinkProgress over Darrell Issa?

- ThinkProgress wrote some sloppy, badly researched hit pieces on House Oversight Chair Darrell Issa (R);
- Eric Litchblau of the New York Times apparently turned them – without attribution – into a extremely sloppy, badly researched hit article on House Oversight Chair Darrell Issa (R);
- and Issa’s office spent a leisurely afternoon blowing large holes in the Times’ story.

Among other things, apparently Litchblau misstated prices of buildings purchased, got business relationships wrong, woefully overestimated profits, and generally demonstrated why math is hard. At least, it’s hard for New York Times reporters – and the left-wing shills that they apparently rip off.

◼ The factually challenged post at "Think Progress" - Exclusive: Issa Secured Nearly $1 Million In Earmarks Potentially Benefiting Real Estate That He Owns
◼ The factually challenged hit-piece by Eric Lichtblau in the New York Times: A Businessman in Congress Helps His District and Himself

OBUMMER SUMMER

◼ THOUSANDS LINE UP FOR JOBS - ABC (photo source)
◼ U.S. Stocks Sink as Treasury Yields Fall - Bloomberg
◼ DOW down another 419.63 - WSJ
◼ JOBLESS CLAIMS UP - Bloomberg
◼ GOLD BOLTS ABOVE $1,800 - CNN Money
◼ GALLUP: Americans satisfied with 'the way things are going' -- 11%!
◼ MORGAN STANLEY: US, EU 'DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO RECESSION' - CNBC - all via Drudge

All of which is sort of an aside to the question of why MSNBC, which purports to be a news network, seems to have devoted itself to a politician’s re-election.

◼ Chris Matthews: Exceptionally Idiotic - The Other McCain

Palin in Iowa (Video)

◼ Video: New SarahPAC clip looks suspiciously like an Iowa campaign ad - HotAir
◼ Palin in Iowa Video – No one does it better - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion
◼ Iowa Passion (Who knew IA had passion) For Palin. New Ad:) - Anne at Backyard Conservative
◼ If Sarah Palin Isn’t Running for President, Why Is She Releasing This Iowa Video? - The Other McCain

These questions seem to multiply, the more I think about it. For example, if Palin used her Sept. 3 speech at Waukee to declare herself a candidate, would that secure here an invitation to the Sept. 7 Simi Valley debate? Or the Sept. 12 Tampa debate?

Zogby: Voters Might be Tuning Obama Out

◼ Both the stock market and President Obama's poll numbers are tanking. So Obama has gone into campaign mode...- Paul Bedard/US News (image source)
◼ zogby.com

None of the candidates got much of a chance to explain their non-verbal responses, but the answer is that this question is a political non-sequitur. We could pass a deal that had a 100:1 ratio of cuts and increases and it would still not address the reason why the US is rapidly expanding its debt, and why we are headed for a fiscal trainwreck within a generation.

◼ Why the 10:1 cuts-to-revenue-increases question is a policy non-sequitur

Iowa Tea Party “Restoring America Rally” moved to bigger location

Tea Party “Restoring America Rally” being held in Iowa on Sept. 3rd with Sarah Palin as keynote speaker has been moved to another location due to capacity and parking concerns. Moving to another outdoor site south of Des Moines that has capacity for 20,000 or so…

Herman Cain: Water

__________________
HermanCain.com

“Here your mom was asking about evolution, and you know it’s a theory that’s out there, and it’s got some gas in it. In Texas we teach both creationsim and evolution in our public schools,” Perry said. “Because I figure you’re smart enough to figure out which one is right.”

◼ Among the protestors at this morning’s meet and greet in Portsmouth, N.H., a mother used her child as a prop to confront Rick Perry about his beliefs on evolution and science. - Sister Toldja

◼ Rick Perry, quote machine: Companies come to Texas because "they love the smell of freedom." - Politico
◼ Top 10 Perry one-liners (so far) - midwestdemocracyproject.org

Rick Perry: "In my perspective we have spent the last two-and-a-half years in a grand experiment with the American economy and it has been a terrible, terrible disaster."

“The rhetoric will probably get heated. I’m going to be outspoken, I’m going to be passionate, I’m going to be calling it like I see it,” Perry told the Herald in a one-on-one interview, as he shrugged off Obama’s recent scolding that he should be “more careful” about what he says.

“And if I hurt the president’s feelings, well, with all due respect, I love my country and I love future generations more than I care about his feelings,” the 61-year-old governor added. ◼ Texas Gov. Rick Perry, campaigning in the Granite State next door to Mitt Romney’s home state and Barack Obama’s preferred vacation spot, fired broadsides at both of his top rivals yesterday — with a jab at Romneycare and an unrepentant vow to keep speaking his mind no matter what the president thinks about it. - Hillary Chabot/Boston Herald

Wall St. Journal: Perry Raised Right Issues on Fed

"If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don't know what y'all will do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas," Perry said to laughter from supporters in Iowa.

"Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous, treasonous in my opinion," he said.

◼ Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry has taken a lot of heat from Democrats and Republicans alike for his incendiary criticism of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. But The Wall Street Journal, while admonishing Perry’s choice of words about Bernanke, defends the substance of his dissatisfaction with the Fed. - Dan Weil/Newsmax
Perry suggested Bernanke would be “almost treasonous” to ease monetary policy further and that Texans would treat him "pretty ugly."

◼ Perry's Public Service - Behold, a hard-money Texas politician. - Wall St. Journal

◼ White House denounces Perry - Reuters

The White House responded by saying it is important for the Fed to remain independent, and jabbed back at Perry, who on Saturday entered the race for the Republican nomination to face Democratic President Barack Obama. Perry is already considered one of the strongest candidates for the Republican nomination.

"I certainly think threatening the Fed chairman is not a good idea," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

Donald Trump: "Our president is grossly incompetent. He doesn't know what he's doing. The world is laughing at us. It's very, very sad."

◼ Trump: "Our President Is Grossly Incompetent" - Real Clear Politics

Jerry Brown...who sees his job as managing decline, choking paradise with taxes, regulations, and a stupefying number of state commissions, and driving the productive class away

◼ All the Leaves are Brown - Ed Driscoll/Pajamas Media
◼ California Dreamin’ - Michael Walsh/National Review Online

Warren Buffett's Tax Dodge - The billionaire volunteers the middle class for a tax increase.

◼ Mr. Buffett is repeating his now familiar argument this week, coinciding with Mr. Obama's Midwestern road trip on the economy. Since the media are treating Mr. Buffett as a tax oracle, let's take a closer look at some of the billionaire's intellectual tax dodges. - Wall St. Journal

,,,The double tax oversight.... What he doesn't say is that much of his income was already taxed once as corporate income, which is assessed at a 35% rate (less deductions). The 15% levy on capital gains and dividends to individuals is thus a double tax that takes the overall tax rate on that corporate income closer to 45%.

• The middle-class bait-and-switch. Like Mr. Obama, Mr. Buffett speaks about raising taxes only on the rich. But somehow he ignores that the President's tax increase starts at $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples. Mr. Obama ought to call them "thousandaires," but that probably doesn't poll as well.

The President needs to levy his tax increase at such a lower income level because that's where the money is.

◼ The Real Reason Warren Buffett's Taxes Are Low - Peter J Reilly/FORBES
◼ Warren Buffett's Very Strange Tax Argument - Tim Worstall/FORBES
◼ Obama says Warren Buffett is right about taxes - Yahoo

◼ Buffett's Piece: Stop Coddling the Super-Rich ran in the New York Times, and coincided with Obama's Magical Misery Tour

◼ FLASHBACK: It was reported that Other BIG Obama donor paid NO INCOME TAX: General Electric Paid No Federal Taxes in 2010 (Video) - ABC

For those unaccustomed to the loopholes and shelters of the corporate tax code, GE's success at avoiding taxes is nothing short of extraordinary. The company, led by Immelt, earned $14.2 billion in profits in 2010, but it paid not a penny in taxes because the bulk of those profits, some $9 billion, were offshore. In fact, GE got a $3.2 billion tax benefit.

◼ That account is also disputed: The truth about GE’s tax bill - Allan Sloan and Jeff Gerth/Washington Post

COUNTY: Supes choose least radical district changes; board directs staff to make revisions

◼ Supes choose least radical district changes; board directs staff to make revisions - Warning, Paywall: Times Standard now wants to charge you if you view more than 5 articles a month online. Clicking this link will count as one.

A board-appointed committee introduced three plans Tuesday. The supervisors chose plan 2A, which includes Blue Lake moving into the 3rd District while leaving Fieldbrook and Glendale in the 5th; splitting the 1st and 4th districts down Harris Street; and moving the Tompkins Hill area to the 1st.
The plan also moves Weott into the 1st District, which Southern Humboldt residents at Tuesday's meeting opposed. The supervisors ultimately directed staff to create a plan with Weott back in the 2nd District....

The board also asked staff to draw up a plan that would incorporate the suggestions of McKinleyville resident and Security National employee Brian Mitchell, whose changes would keep the 1st and 4th District lines closer to what they are currently.

Mitchell suggested moving some precincts that had been put in the 4th District back into the 1st District. He said this would keep the city of Eureka's 4th Ward boundaries within one supervisorial district and reduces the number of residents who would have their elected county official change.

The board hopes to make a final decision at its Sept. 13 meeting in order to meet a Nov. 1 deadline. Copies of the maps will be placed at public libraries throughout the county to ensure residents who don't have Internet access can view them.
Smith said he is glad residents are starting to pay more attention to redistricting and hopes more input will come in before the lines are finalized.

”I was disappointed that we didn't have more input early on, but I think people didn't understand how critical these changes are,” he said.

◼ That Redistricting Work Plan in Full. - More at Lost Coast Outpost (and one we will be linking to more what with the Times Standard's paywall being erected.)
◼ Local Redistricting Hearing Coming Up. Preview the Plans - nice set of maps and good coverage at Lost Coast Outpost

"This Is The Most Grievous & Exaggerated Example Of Candidate Picking I've Ever Seen!"

New Low of 26% Approve of Obama on the Economy - 71% DISAPPROVE

◼ Ratings on Afghanistan and foreign affairs have also declined - Gallup

On Day 938 of his presidency, Obama says he'll have a jobs plan in a month or so

◼ When in trouble, give a speech. Say, early September. Before all this Rick Perry 40% of the nation's jobs come from Texas stuff really gets going. - LA Times

Obama to lay out new jobs plan - After his $50,000 + Martha's Vineyard vacation

◼ OBAMA TO LAY OUT JOBS PLAN -- AFTER VACATION... - AP

Republican White House contender Mitt Romney, campaigning in New Hampshire, needled Obama for showing up with too little and too late on the economy.

"But we appreciate the fact that he's going to devote some time to it," Romney said. "Not just going to be on the bus tour, not just going to be vacationing in Martha's Vineyard, but giving some thought to the American people."

◼ Bus tour, Commiserates with jobless, then off to the Vineyard... - Daniel Ruth/St. Petersburg Times

Imagine sitting around the Oval Office discussing presidential travel plans and someone says: "Hey, I've got a great idea. Let's have the president travel to the Midwest for several days talking to people about jobs, their struggles with unemployment and basically how fouled-up everything is and then POTUS can leave for his vacation on a 28-acre compound in tony Martha's Vineyard."

◼ Trump: Obama 'Takes More Vacations Than Any Human Being I've Ever Seen' - FOX

Black caucus: Tired of making excuses for Obama

◼ Maxine Waters...members of the CBC are becoming increasingly tired and frustrated by Obama's performance on the issue of jobs... - Byron York/Washington Examiner
◼ Top Black Dem On Obama Bus Tour: "He's Not In Any Black Community" (VIDEO) - Real Clear Politics via Drudge

Rick Santorum's new ad

Obama blames blogs, Fox News for political vitriol

◼ "It used to be that everybody was sitting there watching Walter Cronkite, now everybody is on their own little blog or on their own separate news forum. If you're a Democrat you're reading the New York Times, if you're a Republican, you're watching Fox News. . . people don't listen to each other much." - Charlie Spiering/Washington Examiner

Obama: I reversed recession until 'bad luck' hit

◼ "We had reversed the recession, avoided a depression, gotten the economy moving again," Obama told a crowd in Decorah, Iowa. "But over the last six months we've had a run of bad luck." Obama listed three events overseas -- the Arab Spring uprisings, the tsunami in Japan, and the European debt crises -- which set the economy back. - Byron York/Washington Examiner

GOP operatives fear lasting Ron Paul problem

◼ The criticism came not just from Democrats or so-called Eastern elite RINOs... - Byron York/Washington Examiner
◼ Ron Paul matters, like it or not - David Freddoso/Washington Examiner

Ron Paul's new ad

Ron Paul

Perry 29%, Romney 18%, Bachmann 13%

◼ Texas Governor Rick Perry, the new face in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, has jumped to a double-digit lead over Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann with the other announced candidates trailing even further behind. - Rasmussen

Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who was a close second to Bachmann on Saturday, has the support of nine percent (9%) of Likely Primary Voters, followed by Georgia businessman Herman Cain at six percent (6%) and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with five percent (5%). Rick Santorum, former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, and ex-Utah Governor Jon Huntsman each get one percent (1%) support, while Michigan Congressman Thaddeus McCotter comes in statistically at zero....

Seventy percent (70%) of primary voters continue to agree with Romney’s assertion at a debate in June that any one of the Republican candidates would make a better president that Barack Obama. Twenty percent (20%) disagree...

A generic Republican continues to lead President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election matchup.

BBC: Obama's battle bus no symbol of hope

◼ Big, blocky, black, with painted-out windows, it looks more like a police mortuary van than a symbol of hope arriving on your street. - BBC

The president's strategy is to hold his opponents' party up to the light and cast them as the wreckers, the partisans, the obstructionists preventing American recovery.

It is a fair strategy, delivered without much verve. Mr Obama is good only when he has to be, and today felt more like a practice run than anything else.

Neither inspirational nor angry enough, he needs something fresher - and to find another mode of transport than the battle bus from Mordor.

◼ Obama's 1.1 Million Dollar Green Magical Misery Tour Bus Powered by Wind & Batteries (Not) - Bread Upon The Waters
◼ The Greyhound To Nowhere - RedState



◼ If Obama’s Not Campaigning, Why is He Campaigning? - White House Dossier

White House officials have been insisting for a couple of weeks that Obama’s bus tour through the Midwest has nothing to do with campaigning. It’s just a way to get the president among the people, especially, um, the people in presidential battleground swing states. This is an official trip, paid for by taxpayers, while the DNC sits on its wallets, so he can’t be campaigning, right?

Well, Obama was in Minnesota yesterday and in Iowa today, two must-win states for him in 2012. And he’ll go to two places in Illinois tomorrow for cover – since Illinois is an easy win for him – but both towns are within shouting distance of Davenport, Iowa and should pick up some coverage from the swing state too.... But the best way to see if he’s campaigning is to see if he’s campaigning. read the rest

How The Media Covered Obama's 39 Percent Approval Rating (vs. Bush's)

◼ You can listen to Rush LIVE ONLINE everyday at WABC.com - CLICK on the LISTEN LIVE button.

(S)he has tapped into the still-smoldering infuriation across middle America. Along with Mr. Paul, she owns the ideas that will drive 2012. Her stances are the cornerstone of the Republican platform of 2012. No one else in the race speaks to the heartland as she does, strips down the past three years of bailouts, buyouts and baldfaced lies of Mr. Obama.

◼ Maybe Iowa straw poll not so pointless after all - Joseph Curl/Washington Times

Once a fringe candidate, Paul shaping 2012 race

◼ Ron Paul, once seen as a fringe candidate and a nuisance to the establishment, is shaping the 2012 Republican primary by giving voice to the party's libertarian wing and reflecting frustration with the United States' international entanglements. - AP

"I believe in a very limited role for government. But the prime reason that government exists in a free society is to protect liberty, but also to protect life. And I mean all life," he told a raucous crowd on Saturday....

Four years ago, Paul sought the GOP nomination while talking about economic policy, liberty and the Federal Reserve. Since then, the tea party has risen and seized on those issues, and some regard Paul as one of the movement's godfathers.

"The country's bankrupt, and nobody wanted to admit it. And when you're bankrupt, you can't keep spending," Paul said Thursday during a Fox News Channel debate.

He may lack the broad appeal that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney or Texas Gov. Rick Perry are claiming, but Paul's finish Saturday indicated he could compete.

Romney mocks Obama 'Magical Misery Tour' of midwestern swing states

◼ Mitt Romney slammed President Barack Obama in advance of the president's bus tour of midwestern states Monday, derisively calling it the "Magical Misery Tour," a play on the iconic 1967 Beatles album "Magical Mystery Tour." - NY Post

"During his Magical Misery bus tour this week, it is unlikely President Obama will speak with unemployed Americans, to near-bankrupt business owners, or to families struggling to survive in this economy," the campaign said in a statement released prior to Obama's arrival in Minnesota Monday.

"He is more interested in campaigning in swing states than working to solve the economic crisis that is crushing the middle class," it continued. "Turning this economy around will require real leadership and the experience of someone who has actually worked in the private sector."

"The president is in actually remarkably good shape, given that he is still struggling to help pull our economy out of the Republican -- the Republican recession that he inherited...."

◼ so says the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Debbie Wasserman Schultz on CBS's "Face the Nation" when asked if Obama was in political trouble. - The Hill

Democrats are betting that the conservative strand that's dominating the GOP right now will advantage the president in 2012.

"Right now, they have a collection of candidates for president who are busy trying to out-right-wing each other," Wasserman Schultz argued. "Essentially, they are all so similar that they might as well be Legos; they're that interchangeable."

Hillbuzz asks: Do you know an economist or someone expert in economics?

◼ We need to interview an economist or someone who considers her or himself to be an expert in the field of economics. - Kevin DuJan

We’re also looking to interview anyone who is currently or who at one time used to be a teacher in the public school system.

Anyone who is a parent with children in public high school would be interesting to interview as well.

If you are interested, or have anyone in mind who we can talk to, drop us a line at --- Email: HillBuzz@gmail.com

Tim Pawlenty to Michelle Bachmann:

Congratulations Congresswoman Bachmann on your win tonight in the Ames Straw Poll. Our campaign needed to show progress and we did just that. Thanks to everyone for their hard work. This is a long process to restore America -- we are just beginning, and I'm eager for the campaign. ◼ Tim Pawlenty on Facebook

And – Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has issued the following statement in response to Governor Tim Pawlenty’s decision to drop out of the race for the Republican nomination for president:

“This morning I spoke with Governor Pawlenty to express my respect and admiration for him, and to wish him and his family well. Running for the presidency requires enormous self-sacrifice. Governor Pawlenty brought an important voice and ideas to the campaign, and he served the people of Minnesota and our country well. Our party and our country are better as a result of his service and commitment.”

Hot Air Approval Survey: August Results

◼ Paul Ryan tops the approval list this round, followed by Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, John Bolton and Herman Cain.... Sarah Palin again won the overall question of who readers would want as the nominee. Michele Bachmann topped the question for the preferred candidate among declared candidates, followed by Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, Tim Pawlenty and Newt Gingrich. ... some interesting data at the link.

Rasmussen: -22

◼ Rasmussen: Twenty-two (20%) of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -22

Gallup: Obama Approval Drops Below 40

◼ Gallup Obama Job Approval 39% - Disapprove 54%

Tim Pawlenty quits race for president after disappointment in Iowa

◼ "We needed to get some lift to continue on and have a pathway forward and that didn't happen, so I'm announcing on your show that I'm ending my campaign for president," the former governor said on "This Week." - twincities.com

"I wish it would have been different, but obviously the pathway forward for me doesn't really exist, so we're going to end the campaign," Pawlenty told ABC's Jake Tapper.

◼ Mike Huckabee Encourages Tim Pawlenty To Stay In Race No Matter What - Huffington Post
◼ Tim Pawlenty Quits! - The Other McCain