YOUNG REPUBLICANS ORGANIZING MEETING SCHEDULED

Humboldt County’s Republican Central Committee will conduct an orientation and organizational meeting for a new chapter of the California Young Republicans Federation.

The meeting will take place at 6 p.m., Monday, September 12 at Republican Headquarters, 311 Fifth Street, Eureka. All Republicans between the ages of 18 and 40 are invited and are eligible to join the YR unit. Refreshments will be served.
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◼ YOUNG REPUBLICANS ORGANIZING MEETING SCHEDULED

George W. Bush Flight 93 Memorial Speech

“I called out what he was doing had nothing to do with education,’’ Lewis said. She said she told him, “So this is not about education. This is about safety. ... This is babysitting and warehousing.”

◼ Teachers union president says Mayor Emanuel ‘exploded’ at her - Chicago Sun Times

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis says Mayor Rahm Emanuel “exploded” at her during a conversation in his office about his signature longer-school-day effort, pointing his finger at her, yelling and telling her, “F--- you, Lewis.”

“I just want to call it immense disrespect for me and the Chicago Teachers Union,’’ Lewis told the Chicago Sun-Times Friday. “I didn’t appreciate the way he talked to me.

The unhappy warrior

◼ Barack Obama looked and sounded angry in his speech to the joint session of Congress. - Michael Barone/Washington Examiner

He bitterly assailed one straw man after another and made reference to a grab bag of proposals which would cost something on the order of $450 billion—assuring us on the one hand that they all had been supported by Republicans as well as Democrats in the past and suggesting that somehow they are going to turn the economy around....

I don’t think these proposals have the potential to turn around the careening economy, I don’t think many of them will become law and I don’t think this campaign initiative is likely to prove successful. From the demeanor and affect of the unhappy warrior at the podium last night, I suspect he may feel the same way.

PBS alters transcript to hide Obama gaffe

◼ At one point Mr. Obama made a major gaffe; he identified Abraham Lincoln as the founder of the Republican Party. - American Thinker

The New York Times transcript has the following quote:

"We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the leader who saved our Union. Founder of the Republican Party. But in the middle of a civil war, he was also a leader who looked to the future -- a Republican President who mobilized government to build the Transcontinental Railroad -- (applause) -- launch the National Academy of Sciences, set up the first land grant colleges. (Applause.) And leaders of both parties have followed the example he set."

But how does it appear in the PBS transcript? (screenshot at the link)

"We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the leader who saved our Union. But in the middle of a Civil War, he was also a leader who looked to the future - a Republican president who mobilized government to build the transcontinental railroad; launch the National Academy of Sciences; and set up the first land grant colleges. And leaders of both parties have followed the example he set."

◼ Surprise! Media covers Lincoln gaffe - uncovering 2008 coverage of an identical gaffe - HotAir

Tom Maguire finds Time Magazine having to correct the record on Lincoln:

He gives a good speech, but he’s loose with the facts. He called Abraham Lincoln the “founder” of the Republican Party. Nope. Lincoln was not the founder of the party; he wasn’t even the first Republican nominee (John Fremont was, in 1856). Lincoln was, of course, the first Republican to be elected president.

Great work by Time, huh? Only this piece wasn’t written this week. It was written in September 2008, and fact-checked Mike Huckabee, not Barack Obama. And guess who wrote this historical correction? Time Magazine’s Jay Carney … who now works at Barack Obama’s press secretary.

Valerie Jarrett: No Jobs Bill Yet; "The President Is Going To Draft The Legislation"

◼ Jarrett implies the complete jobs bill has not been fully written yet, however it will be by next week and the President will submit it to Congress for cost scoring. - Real Clear Politics

Democrats push a higher rural fire fee in California

◼ Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative Democrats are pursuing a firefighting fee on rural homeowners significantly higher than the $90 charge passed last week by California's fire board. - Sacramento Bee

The new proposal would impose a minimum of $175 on the first building and $25 on each additional structure. It would also assess a land fee starting at $1 per acre for the first 100 acres.

Homeowners who live in fire districts, which includes 94 percent of the roughly 730,000 rural structures being charged, qualify for a $25 discount.

Deal to delay tax collection by Amazon.com clears Legislature

◼ A last-minute deal to avoid a referendum on a new online tax collection law has won approval in the state Legislature. - Sacramento Bee

The bill gives retailers like Amazon.com a one-year reprieve on collecting the taxes while they lobby for a federal collection measure.

The legislation, introduced via amendment on the final day of the legislative session, was the result of a deal hammered out between legislative leaders, Amazon and brick-and-mortar stores. Assembly Bill 155 puts the law on hold until at least Sept. 15, 2012 -- the delay could be extended until 2013 if Congress enacts a federal online sales collection law by next summer. In exchange for the delay, Amazon has agreed to drop its effort to ask voters to overturn the tax law, which was approved as part of this year's state budget package.

9.11: We'll Never Get Over It, Nor Should We

◼ You've got to be loyal to pain sometimes to be loyal to the glory that came out of it. - Peggy Noonan at The Wall St. Journal

Herman Cain. 9.11 Tribute

The new conventional wisdom on 9/11: We have created a decade of fear. We overreacted to 9/11 — al-Qaeda turned out to be a paper tiger; there never was a second attack — thereby bankrupting the country, destroying our morale and sending us into national decline.

◼ The 9/11 ‘overreaction’? Nonsense. - Charles Krauthammer/Washington Post

The secretary of defense says that al-Qaeda is on the verge of strategic defeat. True. But why? Al-Qaeda did not spontaneously combust. Yet, in a decade Osama bin Laden went from the emir of radical Islam, jihadi hero after whom babies were named all over the Muslim world — to pathetic old recluse, almost incommunicado, watching shades of himself on a cheap TV in a bare room.

What turned the strong horse into the weak horse? Precisely the massive and unrelenting American war on terror, a systematic worldwide campaign carried out with increasing sophistication, efficiency and lethality — now so cheaply denigrated as an “overreaction.” read the rest...

◼ The ugly gash of 9/11 - Michael Gerson/Washington Post
◼ An Economic Lesson from 9/11, How capitalism helped save lower Manhattan - Ira Stoll at Reason.com

Rick Perry in Orange County

Usually, the press gallery is standing-room-only; this time, only 26 of 90 seats were claimed by the deadline.

◼ The irrelevancy of the Obama presidency - Dana Milbank/Washington Post

◼ White House floods reporters’ inboxes after Obama’s jobs speech - Chris Moody/The Ticket

The White House really wants you to know that the $447 billion jobs plan that President Obama outlined in a speech to a joint session of Congress Thursday night has support--that is, from unions, liberal groups and other Democrats.

The White House Press Office sent nearly 50 e-mails to reporters overnight with statements of support from the president's allies, including The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Democratic lawmakers, The Center for American Progress, the mayor of San Francisco and members of Obama's own Council on Jobs and Competitiveness....

Reporters, to say the least, took note.

"The White House Press Office has vomited all over my inbox," wrote Talking Points Memo's Callie Schweitzer.

"White House Press Office says Malia and Sasha support Obama's jobs plan," cracked Washington Examiner opinion columnist Phil Klein.

Drudge: JOBS PLAN TANKS

◼ Stocks on Wall Street declined sharply on Friday and bond prices soared after a speech by President Obama on jobs added to the uncertainty already weighing on financial markets over European sovereign debt and the weak economic recovery. - NYT

NYT: Sarah Palin's Ideas Cross the Political Divide

◼ Let us begin by confessing that, if Sarah Palin surfaced to say something intelligent and wise and fresh about the present American condition, many of us would fail to hear it. - Anand Giridharadas/New York Times

But something curious happened when Ms. Palin strode onto the stage last weekend at a Tea Party event in Indianola, Iowa. Along with her familiar and predictable swipes at President Barack Obama and the “far left,” she delivered a devastating indictment of the entire U.S. political establishment — left, right and center — and pointed toward a way of transcending the presently unbridgeable political divide.

The next day, the “lamestream” media, as she calls it, played into her fantasy of it by ignoring the ideas she unfurled and dwelling almost entirely on the will-she-won’t-she question of her presidential ambitions.

So here is something I never thought I would write: a column about Sarah Palin’s ideas.

◼ Sarah Palin may be the one liberals have been waiting for - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion
◼ Why doesn't the word "Alaska" appear in this NYT column perceiving that Sarah Palin has some ideas liberals should like? - Althouse
◼ NYT shocked, shocked to find Palin has anti-establishment principles - HotAir
◼ Predicting Palin from Primary to Presidency - Valley of The Shadow

'Pass This Jobs Bill' Remix

◼ facebook.com/GwinnettRepublicans

In the text of the speech last night given to a joint session of Congress, Obama was supposed to make a single reference to Abraham Lincoln

◼ Unfortunately, Obama felt the need to take a partisan shot at his opposition, and in doing so, offered up a historic flub - Ed Morrissey/HotAir



Er, not quite. Lincoln wasn’t even the GOP’s first Presidential nominee; the first Republican nominee was John C. Fremont in 1856. As the Independence Hall Association recalls, the actual founders of the Republican Party are “Northern leaders such as Horace Greeley, Salmon Chase and Charles Sumner.” Lincoln joined early, as did other anti-slavery Whigs whose party was unraveling at the time, and Lincoln came in second for the 1856 vice-presidential nomination, but he was not a founder of the party. By the time he became a factor in the GOP, the party had already taken a majority in the House of Representatives (1855); it also carried 11 states and 114 electoral votes in the 1856 election that sent Democrat James Buchanan to the White House.

Next time Obama wants to lecture Republicans on their own history, maybe he should take the time to learn it first.

◼ Palin knew Revere better than Obama knew Lincoln - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion
◼ "It’s even worse, because Palin’s (accurate) comments were made in an on-the-fly interview whereas Obama’s were in a prepared speech." - Althouse
◼ Obama: Lincoln Launched the Era of Big Government - White House Dossier
◼ The Abe Lincoln Gaffe - John Hayward at Human Events

A reader very concisely makes some further, and devastating, points about the history of the transcontinental railroad:

Obama fumbled a few times historically. Lincoln's government did not build the transcontinental railroad. Government started laying the groundwork going back to the 1850s, but the private sector did the job.

Government involvement in the railroads led to some of the worst scandals in American history to that point, notably the Credit Mobilier scandal. So citing government linkage with railroads really undermines the big government case.

Also, it was Congress that initiated the Morrill Land Grant Act, which Obama seemed to want to paint as a creature of presidential power.

◼ PBS alters transcript to hide Obama gaffe (with screenshot) - American Thinker

RNC Chairman Priebus Statement On Obama's Jobs Speech

A Stale Speech

◼ Why all that straw-man caricaturing ad nauseam, when after three years it is well beyond old and stale and, what’s more, Obama has a desperate need now for bipartisan support? - Victor Davis Hanson for National Review

Allen West: “Did I really need to have a speech for this? You could have given me the American Jobs Act and allowed me to read it and understand it; give it to the CBO, let them evaluate it. Now he’s put the cart before the horse, telling people we need to pass something that none of us have seen. In fact, we knew nothing about this since the speech didn’t come out until 7 p.m. We didn’t have an opportunity to really read and understand these points and proposals.”

◼ “This presidency is absolutely in real trouble,” he concludes. “What I heard at the end was a real sense of desperation. He kept talking about 14 months, we need to do this now, but where was that sense of urgency 34 months ago?” - National Review

Watch the speech on C-SPAN

◼ HERE

cspan on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

◼ American Jobs Act: point by point - White House summary of President Barack Obama's $447bn proposed jobs package - Guardian.co.uk

Time to play Big Speech BINGO! 4:00 PM PT

◼ Back by popular demand…to help you get through the “Jobs Speech” on Thursday night (7:00 p.m. Eastern), Americans for Tax Reform once again presents Obama BINGO! Use the cards to check off terms and phrases likely to be used by President Obama.
◼ Bingo Card #1
◼ Bingo Card #2
◼ Bingo Card #3
◼ Bingo Card #4
◼ Bingo Card #5
◼ Comprehensive List of Obama Tax Hikes

Hash tag: #ObamaBingo

Herman Cain Takes On Entire MSNBC Roundtable After Debate

__________________
Herman Cain

(Note: Cain is right. Sharpton is wrong. ◼ Civil Rights Act of 1964 - ◼ Voting Rights Act of 1965 ) ◼ VIDEO: Herman Cain Smacks Around Liberals in MSNBC Post-Debate Panel - the Other McCain

Obama's blaming Congress tires Democrats

◼ Obama spent much of the past month beating up on one of the country’s least popular institutions: the United States Congress. This isn’t going over well with Democrats, who still run the Senate side of the Capitol and are tired of getting picked on by a president from their own party. - Politico

What The Heck Is The "Chilean Model"?

◼ Last night at his party's debate, GOP Presidential nominee Herman Cain shared his views on social security. He said that he advocated the "Chilean model." Which prompted most people to say, huh? - Business Insider (image source)

...(H)ere's how they do social security in Chile according to Cato.org. Workers are given the choice as to whether they would like to stay in a pay-as-you-go plan (like we have in the U.S.) or a new system in which they can put their entire payroll tax into a retirement account. That way, they can benefit from compound interest.

◼ Chile's Social Security Lesson For The U.S. - CATO Institute

When did they announce?

Fox and Friends’ Gretchen Carlson and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on President Obama’s highly-anticipated jobs speech

◼ Obama to call for urgent steps on economy - Reuters
◼ Obama's jobs plan may top $400 billion - CBS News
◼ Obama: $43m more for ‘wind energy’ green jobs - Daily Caller

Governor Jerry Brown Takes Surprise Shot at Nanny State

◼ In a Nixon-to-China moment, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown reminded voters - and his party leaders - that they voted in a different type of Democrat last November. - Fox&Hounds

"I'm concerned about the continuing and seemingly inexorable transfer of authority from parents to the state," the governor wrote. "Not every human problem deserves a law."

Barone: The Republican candidates performed well at last night's debate

◼ The Reagan Library/MSNBC/Politico debate - Michael Barone/Washington Examiner

The biggest mystery about the Reagan Library/MSNBC debate last night is why the Reagan Library allowed MSNBC to be the co-sponsor. Brian Williams, whom I haven’t watched much in recent years, seems to have been drinking liberally of the MSNBC kool-aid; many of his questions were so steeped in liberal distaste for Republican positions that it was embarrassing....

◼ Perry's glaring weaknesses in last night's - David Freddoso/Washington Examiner◼ The process of political fusion turned out to be a bit unpredictable. - John Hayward aka Doctor Zero for Human Events

Breaking: FBI Raids Headquarters of Obama-Connected Solyndra Energy…

◼ FBI agents executing search warrant at Solyndra - San Jose Mercury News, via weaselzippers

Just days after the company filed for bankruptcy protection, federal agents swarmed around the Solyndra facilities in Fremont to execute a search warrant.

FBI agents were joined by officials from the Department of Energy's Office of the Inspector General in the early morning operation.

Officials would say little about the search, which seemed to center on the Solyndra buildings on Page Avenue off Interstate 880.

"Everything is under seal," said Julianne Sohn, a spokeswoman for the FBI.

◼ FBI at Solyndra Headquarters - nbcbayarea via Drudge

How did Solyndra get a sweetheart interest rate?

◼ How did Solyndra get a sweetheart interest rate? - HotAir

The White House has to explain why it overruled the FFB’s auditors and ignored the warnings from appraisers while fast-tracking over half a billion dollars to a teetering company at loan rates far below what FFB charged other companies. Obama also needs an explanation of why his bundler George Kaiser will get his capital back before taxpayers see the first dime of that $535 million that got destroyed in Solyndra’s collapse. If they don’t have a legitimate explanation for these, then Congress may need to start issuing subpoenas to get answers, because right now it looks very much like Obama used taxpayer money to try to bail out a key campaign donor and left us all holding the bag.

◼ Solyndra officials made numerous trips to the White House, logs show - Daily Caller

Not only does the now-bankrupt solar energy firm Solyndra have a cozy financial relationship with the Obama administration, company representatives also made numerous visits to the White House to meet with administration officials, The Daily Caller has learned.

When Gold Turns to Dross

◼ When Gold Turns to Dross - Peter Hannaford for The American Spectator

California is still a land of political surprises--outlandish, foolish, and mischievous ones. Consider the latest:

The state legislature is about to pass a bill (AB 889) requiring that adult babysitters (age 18 and up) be paid the minimum wage, overtime pay and worker's compensation insurance. In addition, they must have a break every two hours, plus a meal break. This means parents will have to hire two babysitters at the same time, one on duty, the other to take over during the breaks. It's the Nanny State run wild, for the sitters would have to keep time sheets and the parents who engage them would have to issue paychecks, keep payroll records, and pay an employer's share of payroll taxes. Outraged parents in the state have dubbed it "The Babysitter Bill."

Redwood Alert: September issue

September 2011 HRWF Redwood Alert

After the debate: Notable moments and reactions

                                                AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

◼ In wide field, it’s Romney vs. Perry
◼ Gingrich Slams Moderators, Media For Trying To Create Infighting - Real Clear Politics

◼ Why the Reagan Library GOP debate sucked - Michelle Malkin

Readers want to know who I thought “won” the GOP debate at the Reagan Library last night.... My answer: Twitter.

◼ Notes from the Spin Room – perils of the “P-word” (Ponzi, not Perry) - Roger L. Simon at Pajamas
◼ Perry vs. Romney - Redstate

◼ GOP Debate Transcript - Pajamas Media

NBC News - Politico 2012 Presidential Candidates Debate - Watch it here!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

◼ Live Streaming Video
◼ A Politico link that seems to be working

If the embed, or the link above isn't working - try this link: ◼ September 7th GOP Debate Live Stream at CDNews

LIVE BLOGGING:
◼ Protein Wisdom
◼ HotAir
◼ Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion
◼ Ace of Spades

We'll post the recorded version as soon as it is available.

YOUNG REPUBLICANS ORGANIZING MEETING SCHEDULED

Humboldt County’s Republican Central Committee will conduct an orientation and organizational meeting for a new chapter of the California Young Republicans Federation.

The meeting will take place at 6 p.m., Monday, September 12 at Republican Headquarters, 311 Fifth Street, Eureka. All Republicans between the ages of 18 and 40 are invited and are eligible to join the YR unit. Refreshments will be served.
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◼ YOUNG REPUBLICANS ORGANIZING MEETING SCHEDULED

DEBATE TONIGHT!

◼ POLITICO-NBC News Republican Candidates Debate details

WHEN: Begins at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Wednesday, Sept. 7.

WHERE TO WATCH: POLITICO will be livestreaming the debate online – with a pre-debate show from the Library beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET and post-debate analysis immediately following. Watch it at: politico.com/reagandebate or on the POLITICO iPad app. The debate will also air live on MSNBC and re-air on CNBC and Telemundo.

DEBATE LOCATION: At the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, as a part of the Reagan Centennial Celebration.

MODERATORS: POLITICO Editor-in-chief John F. Harris and NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, with questions from Telemundo's Jose Diaz-Balart.

QUESTIONS FROM READERS: POLITICO has been soliciting questions from readers for the last few weeks and will incorporate them into the debate.

COMPLETE COVERAGE: ◼ At politico.com/2012 and ◼ on Twitter, #reagandebate.

It will be Rick Perry’s first Presidential candidates debate. The eight candidates taking part in the debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California are Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, Michelle Bachman, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.

◼ MSNBC Preps for Republican Debate - Mediabistro (image source)

MSNBC has also moved some of its programming to California for the week, including “Hardball,” which will air live editions at both 5 and 7 PM ET.

Following the debate around 9:45 PM ET, MSNBC’s primetime anchor lineup of Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz and Lawrence O’Donnell will host a post-debate analysis roundtable until 12 AM ET.

The decision is an interesting one. The debate itself is sponsored by NBC News, with “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams co-moderating, but it is airing first on MSNBC, which has moved toward opinion programming in primetime. The current programming lineup will effectively have a non-partisan debate flanked on either side by partisan programming.

◼ Debate presents crucial GOP test - Politico

Jon Huntsman's new ad: #1 v #47

Huntsman has already unveiled his economic and jobs plan, and he is the first to do so before Obama’s speech on Thursday. This 12-page plan was lauded by the Wall Street Journal, which described it as “better than anything so far from the GOP field.”
__________________
Jon Huntsman

See? It is a lack of “political skills” — a failure attributed to Obama personally – that liberals identify as an excuse, rather than daring to think the unthinkable: Obama is failing because liberalism doesn’t work.

◼ They can’t allow themselves to think that, because if they did, they wouldn’t be liberals anymore. - The Other McCain

NBC's Chuck Todd: "Our Pollsters Are Concerned" With Obama Approval

◼ link - Real Clear Politics
◼ Discussion at Lucianne

Sound Familiar?

Barack Obama has lost the Hamptons.

◼ Over the Labor Day weekend, I went to a number of events in the Hamptons. At all of them, Obama was discussed. At none of them — that’s none — was he defended. That was remarkable. After all, sitting around various lunch and dinner tables were mostly Democrats. Not only that, some of them had been vociferous Obama supporters, giving time and money to his election effort. They were all disillusioned. - Richard Cohen/Washington Post

Frankly, I was surprised. The Hamptons are a redoubt of New York liberalism. It is to campaign money what the Outer Banks are to fishermen. I expected more than a few people to defend the president. No one did. Everyone — and I do mean everyone — expressed disappointment in him as a leader.

How Obama protects the Teamsters

◼ Michelle Malkin's column today sheds light on the longstanding bromance between Barack Obama and the Teamsters. I especially want you to have all this information handy when Obama complains on Thursday about all the infrastructure that’s still not getting built despite the $230 billion in porkulus money set aside for construction projects.

California taxes away jobs while Texas adds them

◼ So why are businesses flocking to Texas and fleeing California? Well, as a recent headline from The Economist put it, in California "They paved paradise and put up the parking taxes."

"Texas created 129,000 new jobs in the last year -- over one-half of all the new jobs in the U.S. In contrast, California lost 112,000 jobs during the same period," according to "Texas vs. California: Economic growth prospects for the 21st Century," a new report by the Texas Public Policy Foundation released in October.

Texas is home to 64 Fortune 500 companies -- more than any other state in the union. (California has 51 and New York has 56.) For five years in a row, Texas has topped Chief Executive magazine's poll of the best state to do business.

Meanwhile, California is ranked dead last in the Chief Executive's survey. California state treasurer Bill Lockyer even went so far as to pen a Dec. 20 op-ed in the Los Angeles Times denying "the claim that we have a hostile business climate."

Networks Ignore Religion Ban at Ground Zero Ceremony

◼ The major news networks love 9/11 stories. But there's one 9/11 story they won't touch: the exclusion of any religious participation from the Ground Zero memorial service during the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. - Newsbusters

Mayor Bloomberg has vetoed the presence of religious speakers at the site of Ground Zero during the memorial ceremony on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, provoking a firestorm of criticism among religious leaders. But the three mainstream news networks - ABC, CBS, and NBC - have completely ignored the story.

Rush: Obama's Jobs Speech Will Be Just Another Campaign Attack on GOP

◼ " I haven't bothered you with them but I've got Obama sound bites from the Hoffa thing yesterday and he was on a roll, boy, he was out there ripping into Republicans left and right and how they're obstructionists and we're gonna find out who's in this for who, we're gonna find out what Republicans are willing to work with me on putting Americans back to work and all that. "

You know, Republicans will be lucky if Obama doesn't call them names during this speech. The whole purpose of this speech is for Obama to ream the Republicans as obstructionist. I haven't bothered you with them but I've got Obama sound bites from the Hoffa thing yesterday and he was on a roll, boy, he was out there ripping into Republicans left and right and how they're obstructionists and we're gonna find out who's in this for who, we're gonna find out what Republicans are willing to work with me on putting Americans back to work and all that.

"I just don't believe this guy anymore, and it's become almost painful to listen to him."

◼ He's lost Matt Taibbi. - Obama and Jobs: Why I Don't Believe Him Anymore - Rolling Stone

"...it was either sit underneath a full-volume broadcast of our fearless president bellowing out his latest hollow promises, or the hellish alternative: retreat to gates full of screaming five year-old children... I ended up choosing the screaming children."

Bachmann shakes up campaign staff

◼ Ed Rollins steps down from day-to-day duties - CBS

Herman Cain's new ad

__________________
Herman Cain

Obama ratings sink to new lows as hope fades

◼ More than 60 percent of those surveyed say they disapprove of the way the president is handling the economy and, what has become issue No. 1, the stagnant jobs situation.

Rush: Obama's Jobs Speech Will Be Just Another Campaign Attack on GOP

◼ " I haven't bothered you with them but I've got Obama sound bites from the Hoffa thing yesterday and he was on a roll, boy, he was out there ripping into Republicans left and right and how they're obstructionists and we're gonna find out who's in this for who, we're gonna find out what Republicans are willing to work with me on putting Americans back to work and all that. "

You know, Republicans will be lucky if Obama doesn't call them names during this speech. The whole purpose of this speech is for Obama to ream the Republicans as obstructionist. I haven't bothered you with them but I've got Obama sound bites from the Hoffa thing yesterday and he was on a roll, boy, he was out there ripping into Republicans left and right and how they're obstructionists and we're gonna find out who's in this for who, we're gonna find out what Republicans are willing to work with me on putting Americans back to work and all that.

DNC Chairwoman Wasserman Schultz's 'Civility'?

Texas Governor Rick Perry: Fires Have Destroyed 1,000 Homes

◼ Will miss Debate - HotAir

Polls show voters prefer GOP Hill majority

◼ (B)uried in the Journal/NBC poll is a contradictory nugget: Registered voters, by a 47 percent to 41 percent spread, would rather have Republicans in charge of Congress. That’s the highest level of preference for Republican control since the question was first posed 15 years ago. - Politico

“Nothing that exists in the public record today represents the kind of numbers or momentum Democrats would need to pivot and take control of the House,” said Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies, whose firm teamed with Hart Research to conduct the Journal/NBC poll.... The control-of-Congress result could be a blip, an anomaly. Or, it could end up being a data point that helps explain a Republican victory in the 2012 congressional elections.

GOP to Obama: Let's meet

◼ House Republican leaders are asking President Obama to convene a bipartisan meeting at the White House ahead of his Thursday address on job creation. - Kara Rowland/Washington Times

In a letter to Mr. Obama Tuesday, House Speaker John A. Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor said such a meeting would allow both parties to move beyond the rhetoric of bipartisanship and actually work together on measures that would spur job growth.

"Obviously achieving bipartisan agreement on these and other initiatives requires more than just one side declaring a proposal to be 'bipartisan,'" the Republicans wrote. "It requires that we work together. As such, we would suggest that prior to your address to Congress you convene a bipartisan, bicameral meeting of the congressional leadership so that we may have the opportunity to constructively discuss your proposals."

Poll illustrates California voters' anger

◼ Nearly 3 in 4 say the country is on the wrong track, and nearly half favor slashing government spending — a potentially dismal finding for President Obama, who will unveil a jobs plan this week. - Shane Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times

With California unemployment mired at 12%, the electorate is clearly dissatisfied with the status quo. Nearly 3 in 4 voters say the country is on the wrong track, up sharply from the 55% who felt that way in November 2009.

"We're going to hell in a handbasket, what can I say," said Esther Morales, 68, a Republican poll respondent who lives in a retirement community in Indio. She scoffed at the term "retirement," however, pointing out that most of her neighbors still have to work odd jobs to make ends meet: "We're on the fast track to nowhere."

Dissatisfaction with the nation's trajectory topped 60% across every age range, party, region and level of education, and among women and men. But sharp disagreements remain over how the federal government should guide the country away from the recent recession. And neither side wants to give ground.

Ron Paul: Trust

__________________
Ron Paul

Too many politicians are simply addressing the economic symptoms instead of fighting the underlying disease. The path forward is through reform. . . . In the meantime, good union brothers and sisters, don’t let Hoffa tell you what to do. He doesn’t represent the real interests of working men and women. He’s not doing you any favors. He’s just living off your paychecks.

◼ Sarah Palin Shows Her Union Card - The Other McCain
◼ On Facebook
__________________
Sarah Palin

LABOR LEADER CALLS FOR WAR ON REPUBLICANS

Hoffa: 'President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches out '...

◼ WH: No Comment...
◼ DNC CHAIR AVOIDS...

◼ Jake Tapper grills Carney: Why isn’t it fair to blame Obama for Hoffa’s remarks? - HotAir
◼ White House refuses to condemn Hoffa's violent rhetoric - Real Clear Politics

Obama's job approval rating has sunk to a low of 44 percent, a 3-point drop since July. His handling of the economy stands at a low of 37 percent. And only 19 percent believe the country is headed in the right direction

◼ Obama hits all-time lows, according to NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll - MSNBC via Drudge

Catastrophic fires burn thousands of acres, force evacuations across Central Texas

◼ Fires in Bastrop County, Spicewood, Steiner Ranch, Pflugerville, others driven by wind and dry conditions. - Statesman.com

◼ This is the current Texas wildfire situation. - redstate

◼ At last minute, Perry pulls out of DeMint forum - Byron York/Washington Examiner

According to several sources familiar with events, the chairman of Perry's campaign in South Carolina, former Republican party chief Katon Dawson, called organizers this morning to say that Perry needs to return to Texas to deal with quickly-spreading wildfires.

On Labor Day, we take time to celebrate centuries of American hard work and ingenuity.

◼ RNC Chairman Priebus Labor Day Statement

“On Labor Day, we take time to celebrate centuries of American hard work and ingenuity. Since our country’s earliest days, the American people have been innovators and entrepreneurs, building the most powerful economy in the history of the world.

“Our workforce drives our economy and makes us great. As we reflect today on the success of the American way of life, we know that our best days are still ahead as long as we promote America’s greatest resource: our people.

“But this Labor Day, far too many Americans are out of work and struggling to make ends meet. We must commit ourselves to helping job creators hire the rich talent forced to the sidelines in this economy. While the President champions regulations, mandates and tax hikes, Republicans across the country have stood up for American workers by supporting pro-growth initiatives.

“With the right priorities, we will get Americans back to work and restore the American Dream.”

DeMint's Palmetto Freedom Forum: Grilling the GOP Candidates

◼ Jim DeMint, Steve King, and Robert George want to get to first principles. - National Review

For most of the GOP presidential field, Labor Day this year will be a grilling day. But instead of flipping some burgers in the backyard, the candidates will face grilling of another sort: tough, serious questions at the Palmetto Freedom Forum in South Carolina.

The event, the product of a partnership between conservative kingmakers Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) and Rep. Steve King (R., Iowa), is designed to prod the candidates into going beyond their standard sound-bite responses....

◼ DeMint's Candidate Forum - Ace of Spades

Best part of this 3 questions in? Questions actual Republicans care and think about.

◼ Palmetto Freedom Forum VIDEO – Sept. 5, 2011
This video has been posted in 8 parts. You can start viewing with the first segment, and following segments will load automagically. (No embed available yet)

LABOR LEADER CALLS FOR WAR ON REPUBLICANS

◼ Jimmy Hoffa: 'President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches out ' - Real Clear Politics

Obama addressed the crowd shortly after Hoffa.

SARAH PALIN IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

◼ Robert Stacy McCain has has updates throughout the day...
◼ Fear and Loathing in Manchester: Palin Offers No Sympathy for the Media Devil
◼ Palin, not even in the race, draws double the size crowd as Romney - Sarah B. Boxer/CBS

◼ Yesterday: Sarah Palin runs half-marathon incognito in Iowa - Robin Abcarian/LA Times

◼ Labor Day Weekend–Sarah Palin parts the clouds - tygrrrrexpress.com

◼ Despite torrential rains, Sarah Palin lit up the Iowa sky and lit into the failed Obama presidency. - Eric Golub at the Washington Times

◼ Watch Governor Palin in New Hampshire (Update: link to full speech has been added) - students4palin.com

◼ http://sarahpac.com/
◼ Her Official Statement

Closed primaries and “radicalization”

◼ In what is probably a healthy development, we seem to be moving toward a somewhat more standardized system of primaries rather than caucus arrangements. - HotAir

(Democrats will have 37 primaries next year and Republicans 42.) But the other question which is still clearly in flux is whether those primaries should be open – allowing independents, or even members of the opposition, to participate – or closed to party members only.

◼ How closed primaries further polarize our politics - Mark A. Siegel/Washington Post

The hybrid model used in New Hampshire allows registered independents, who often determine general election outcomes, to participate in the Democratic or Republican primary while protecting each major party from crossover by the other. If expanded to all states, such a system could moderate American politics: It would produce candidates who would fare better in general election contests and elected officials who are more flexible and willing to compromise across party lines. This simple change could help restore civility to our politics, perhaps creating room for bipartisan solutions to our country’s great problems, and revive faith in the American political system.

Barone: Speech fiasco an 'audacity of weakness'

◼ Democrats have criticized Obama on the speech scheduling flap. James Carville said he was "out of bounds." Salon.com's Cent Uygur sensed "the audacity of weakness." It reminds me of a phrase describing a character in the 1980s TV series Dallas" -- "blustering, opportunistic, craven and hopelessly ineffective all at once." - Michael Barone/Washington Examiner

Not such a big deal, some people are saying. I disagree. I think it illustrates several of the weaknesses of this presidency....

Before last week, presidents and congressional leaders always agreed privately on scheduling presidential addresses to joint sessions before any public announcement was made. But it appears that no such agreement was made here, just a brusque announcement that had to be retracted.

Another weakness on display was contempt for public opinion. White House press secretary Jay Carney said it was just "coincidental" that the president wanted to speak at the same time as the Reagan Library debate. It was just "one debate that's one of many on one channel."

...A third Obama weakness is his propensity to charge his political opponents with playing politics when he is doing exactly that himself. In previewing this latest jobs-and-the-economy speech, Carney said that Obama will make the case "that politics is broken, and that politics is getting in the way of the very necessary things we need to do."

This from the president who has brushed aside one bipartisan initiative after another... An excellent piece, well worth reading in its entirety

Lauren Bush walks down the aisle in dress designed by father-in-law Ralph Lauren in sunset nuptials overlooking Rocky Mountains

◼ The first details of the details of the nuptials, joining two of America's iconic families, emerged, as the guests prepared to celebrate the marriage this evening with a rodeo.
The bride, who becomes Lauren Bush Lauren, wore an intricately embroidered Victorian-style gown designed by her father-in-law Ralph Lauren. - Daily Mail

Maureen Dowd: "The days of spinning illusions in a Greek temple in a football stadium are done. The One is dancing on the edge of one term... The White House team is flailing — reacting, regrouping, retrenching. It’s repugnant."

◼ One and Done? - Maureen Dowd, New York Times

Obama is still suffering from the Speech Illusion, the idea that he can come down from the mountain, read from a Teleprompter, cast a magic spell with his words and climb back up the mountain, while we scurry around and do what he proclaimed.

◼ Can a president truly become irrelevant? - HotAir
◼ A President Adrift - The Daily Beast

Robert Redford on Obama: 'Like So Many Others I'm Beginning to Wonder Just Where the Man Stands'

◼ Barack Obama's Hope and Change ether appears to be wearing off on Robert Redford. - Newsbusters

In reality, what Americans from all walks of life are learning - even Hollywoodans! - is the man they fell in love with despite his record or lack thereof really has no core beliefs or deeply-held positions.