One of the realities of the internet is that it really is a battlefield for public opinion.  Trying to identify truth is such a difficult thing.  What I can absolutely guarantee you and what I think we all know to be true is that there are a lot of paid propagandists.  These people provide talking points and lies and they’re paid to do so.  People expect this during election season but the really nefarious groups do this regardless of the election calendar.  In some cases – these trolls use multiple profiles at the same time i.e. sockpuppets to create the impression that there is a growing consensus.  It’s human nature to swim where all the other fishes are swimming too.  It is for this reason that critical thinking skills will be critical in a functioning 21st century society.

This happens on Facebook, popular websites, twitter and message boards.

I had an interesting conversation with someone that I know who works in the intelligence industry; I can’t really disclose more just due to the sensitivity of their job.  And while that person would never disclose or talk about anything that was classified … I will always remember a conversation we had about information.  I said to this person, “The challenge is really trying to find the truth while sifting through the misinformation and disinformation.”  The response: “That’s the fun part.”

Trying to identify bullshit is tough sometimes.  It could be something like Freedomworks paying Glenn Beck and Newt Gingrich $1 million each to say nice things about their organizations (source) or it could be writers for the Wall Street Journal writing pro-Romney articles and failing to disclose they were on the Romney payroll at the time (source).  It could be the Obama campaign paying blogs money to focus on stories consistent with the Obama administration’s goals (this happens).  It could be Russia Today disseminating Russian propaganda interwoven through actual journalism not covered by the mainstream media.

It could be a journalist who is on the payroll of the CIA (yes this happens) or unknowingly provided misinformation that they share in their stories to further the aims of the federal government.  It could be a popular FB page that operates via guerrilla marketing techniques but is paid good money or wholly owned by a Democrat aligned group to bash corporatism or some other target (this happens).  It’s tough to know truth from fiction because the best fiction is the kind that is so thoroughly integrated into bits and piece of truth that it reads like The DaVinci Code.

But why would a supposed American ally – Israel – be paying bloggers to write pro-Israeli propaganda?  It isn’t to help benefit an election and it isn’t because they want to block American hegemony.  Israel or pro-Israeli groups pay people to give the perception that more people agree on supporting Israel than actually exist.  The topic of Israel brings raw emotions into the ring of public discourse, but what I’ve found over the past year or so is that there are far fewer supporters of Israel than the media would have us believe.

Israel depends on America to continue to give her $3 billion a year and they depend on Republicans and Democrats alike to support them.  70% of Jews vote for Democrats but evangelical Christians want to see Israel in full control by the Jewish people because the bible says it should be so.  And it is precisely because of these ideological and demographic realities that have allowed Israel to maintain strong support by both parties.

Let me say that I know from personal experience that Israel and pro-Israeli groups see this as war of information.  We wrote about how Israeli groups took down our website via a DDOS attack HERE; we were told to either take down certain articles critical of Israel or else.  We told them to go go fuck themselves.

But the tide may be turning.  Instead of paying bloggers to combat hate and frustration in the Arab world; they’re focusing on drawing in Europeans and Americans.  You REALLY should read this entire article “I was a paid internet shill: How shadowy groups manipulate internet opinion and debate“; an excerpt:

The rest of the day was taken up with training. Another staff member, a no-nonsense woman in her thirties, was to be my trainer, and training would only last two days. “You seem like a bright guy, you’ll get the hang of it pretty fast, I think,” she said. And indeed, the job was easier than I’d imagined. My task was simple: I would be assigned to four different websites, with the goal of entering certain discussions and promoting a certain view. I learned later that some of the personnel were assigned to internet message boards (like me), while others worked on Facebook or chatrooms. It seems these three types of media each have different strategy for shilling, and each shill concentrates on one of the three in particular.

My task? “To support Israel and counter anti-Israeli, anti-Semitic posters.” Fine with me. I had no opinions one way or another about Israel, and who likes anti-Semites and Nazis? Not me, anyway. But I didn’t know too much about the topic. “That’s OK,” she said. “You’ll pick it up as you go along. For the most part, at first, you will be doing what we call “meme-patrol.” This is pretty easy. Later if you show promise, we’ll train you for more complex arguments, where more in-depth knowledge is necessary.”

She handed me two binders with sheets enclosed in limp plastic. The first was labeled simply “Israel” in magic-marker on the cover, and it had two sections .The first section contained basic background info on the topic. I would have to read and memorize some of this, as time went on. It had internet links for further reading, essays and talking points, and excerpts from some history books. The second, and larger, section was called “Strat” (short for “strategy”) with long lists of “dialogue pairs.” These were specific responses to specific postings.

But this happens all the time with Israel.  In Israel – students are given $2,000 a month to spread propaganda online HERE:

The National Union of Israeli Students (NUIS) has become a full-time partner in the Israeli government’s efforts to spread its propaganda online and on college campuses around the world.

NUIS has launched a program to pay Israeli university students $2,000 to spread pro-Israel propaganda online for 5 hours per week from the “comfort of home.”

The union is also partnering with Israel’s Jewish Agency to send Israeli students as missionaries to spread propaganda in other countries, for which they will also receive a stipend.

This active recruitment of Israeli students is part of Israel’s orchestrated effort to suppress the Palestinian solidarity movement under the guise of combating “delegitimization” of Israel and anti-Semitism.

AIPAC does this HERE:

AIPAC teaches students the benefits of the relationship to the United States and shows them how to pass that message along to campus leaders. ”I knew why to advocate for Israel, but it was AIPAC that taught me how,” said Jesse Gabriel, 21. His cufflinks shining, the suave Gabriel, Berkeley’s student body president, explained that AIPAC showed him how to engage the “important people on campus,” including student leaders. At its first such conference this summer — the Saban National Political Leadership Training Seminar — AIPAC stressed three objectives for student activists: circulating pro-Israel petitions, bringing a member of Congress to campus and holding Israel forums. At the second Saban conference this weekend, AIPAC added three more objectives: having campus activists visit Congressional district offices, convincing campus newspapers to write pro-Israel editorials and getting faith-based groups on campus to issue statements of solidarity with Israel.

DeadlineLive pulls all these resources HERE:

Israeli students and demobilized soldiers get paid to pretend they are just regular folks and leave pro-Israel comments online. Israeli Foreign Ministry Deputy Elan Shturman is quoted from the Israeli Occupation Magazine saying:
Quote:

“Our people will not say: ‘Hello, I am from the hasbara department of the Israeli foreign ministry and I want to tell you the following.’ Nor will they necessarily identify themselves as Israelis,” he said. “They will speak as net-surfers and as citizens, and will write responses that will look personal but will be based on a prepared list of messages that the foreign ministry developed.”

Counterpunch’s Jonathan Cooke in “Israel’s Internet Wars” describes:
Quote:

a special undercover team of paid workers whose job it will be to surf the internet 24 hours a day spreading positive news about Israel. Internet-savvy Israeli youngsters, mainly recent graduates and demobilised soldiers with language skills, are being recruited to pose as ordinary surfers while they provide the government’s line on the Middle East conflict…About $150,000 has been set aside for the first stage of development, with increased funding expected next year.

Occupation Magazine states in “The Foreign Ministry presents: talkbackers in the service of the State”:
Quote:

“paid Internet talkbackers are being mobilized in the service of the State. The Foreign Ministry is in the process of setting up a team of students and demobilized soldiers who will work around the clock writing pro-Israeli responses on Internet websites all over the world,”

So – one thing you should ask yourself.  Why would Israel be trying to manipulate public opinion with Americans?  We certainly aren’t enemies but that isn’t the behavior of allies.  Reality on the ground is very hard to fake now.  The world knows what happens across the world in moments; we are all interconnected via the internet and it is very difficult to control the flow of information.  And it is precisely this challenge of trying to control information that is proving to be too much for Israel to handle.  This is no different for China who censor political speech and have to spend a tremendous amount of resources controlling what their citizens say or do.  It’s not a sustainable model, and one day soon the camel’s back will break.

Israel isn’t the only one doing this, but they seem to be the only allied country of America doing this.  That should concern all Americans.

In this ad – Mitt Romney plays the role of automobile champion.  He says he would do more for the auto industry, has a plan for the auto industry, Obama took GM & Chrysler into bankruptcy and then not so subtly tries to leave the viewer with the impression that Chrysler is moving to China.  Somehow the guy who wrote “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” and has openly denounced putting tariffs on Chinese products that have advantages due to unfair trade practices is now Mr. America; not only that – this ad continues with the lie that Chrysler is shipping off American jobs to China to build all Jeep models now.

Romney knows he’s screwed.  The election is in 9 days and there is no singular event that he can use to pivot.  He knows that he’s going to lose Ohio and he has to shake things up.  So – let’s look at his ad.

The ad says: “Fact checkers confirm his attacks on Mitt Romney are false.”

The Politifact article that he’s referring to gives Obama a “mostly false” rating for saying Romney ”would not provide government assistance to the U.S. auto companies, even if they went through bankruptcy.”  You can read that HERE.

Well – I’m not a happy camper that Politifact rated it this way but they rated it strictly off the wording.  Romney famously wrote an op-ed in the New York Times titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt”; you can read it in full HERE; an excerpt:

IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

He then goes on to explain how American workers at GM and Chrysler make too much in the way of salaries, pensions and benefits and that sums it up with a nice bow when he said, “But if this cost penalty persists, any bailout will only delay the inevitable.”  Very clearly – he said if American union workers don’t get restructured the car companies will not make it.

He then says this:

It is not wrong to ask for government help, but the automakers should come up with a win-win proposition. I believe the federal government should invest substantially more in basic research — on new energy sources, fuel-economy technology, materials science and the like — that will ultimately benefit the automotive industry, along with many others.

So – his focus on government assistance is for THE FUTURE.

And then he said:

The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk.

He says after going into bankruptcy – customers should receive guarantees on their warranties.  That’s it.  The problem is that GM and Chrysler couldn’t get financing … and they wouldn’t be able to afford Chapter 7 – they would have imploded.  They couldn’t afford to keep the lights on.  They even went to Bain Capital for financing and Bain Capital turned them down.  The NY Times writes HERE:

In fact, the task force asked Bain Capital, the private equity company that Mr. Romney helped found, if it was interested in investing in General Motors’ European operations, according to one person with direct knowledge of the discussions.

Bain declined, this person said, speaking anonymously to discuss private negotiations.

So – history proved Romney wrong … and he has been trying to conflate facts ever since.  For example – in this great interview with George Stephanopoulos – he gets called out for his bullshit.  Romney says very clearly in this video and he has said it before that GM and Chrysler went through bankruptcy and then Obama provided “support afterwards”.  That’s not true.  He wrote his famous letter in November of 2008; Bush gave the first round of bailouts to GM and Chrysler in December of 2008 to the tune of $17.4 billion (source).  Had Bush not done that – the car companies would have liquidated before Obama even took office.  And the net-net of it … he says what Obama did was wrong.  American auto workers would tend to disagree.  Watch the exchange:

And Romney says he’d be better for the car industry … well let’s look at how GM is doing under Obama courtesy of Northwestern University HERE:

Then after the GM and Chrysler success story became too big to deny … Romney simply took credit for the success.  Remember – he criticized the Obama administration’s actions and now he’s taking credit for them.  He actually said this HERE:

“I pushed the idea of a managed bankruptcy.  And finally, when that was done, and help was given, the companies got back on their feet.  So I’ll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry’s come back.”

And Romney certainly wasn’t for protecting American workers who manufacture tires “Made in the USA” when he told a group of people whom he referred to as “sophisticated people” that to put tariffs on Chinese tires would be a “defeating strategy and will yield ultimate decline and collapse”.  Obama won that case at the World Trade Organization; China lost.  Romney’s solution for the American tire industry was that American workers needed to be more productive which means they need to be paid more in line with the competition.

We shared this HERE; watch him say it yourself:

“And I understand that and they — and the corporations, it’s not just the unions by the way, it’s the corporate executives and the shareholders and all the wealth owners, capitalists behind the tire industry – are saying don’t let those foreign tires in here, it’s gonna hurt me. And it will — as those tires come in it does hurt them directly, and therefore what their response is, their immediate response is, don’t let them in. But if that’s what their response is, my experience is over time, they will lose out slowly but surely.”

“So putting barriers up, trying to put walls up, in my opinion is a defeating strategy and will yield ultimate decline and collapse. The alternative strategy, by the way, as you know is, to say, OK, those guys have figured out a way to make tires in a more productive way than we have, and we’re going to have to find another way to compete.”

Lastly – Romney’s ad implies that Chrysler is moving all of it’s Jeep manufacturing to China.  He made this claim the other day and has been sharply rebuffed by Chrysler and fact checkers.  The Romney campaign has failed to issue a statement acknowledging Romney’s false claims and they seemed to double up again in this ad.  They did this intentionally but not brazenly … likely due to the recent backlash associated with their lies.  As we wrote about this false claim from Romney HERE:

Detroit News has the story HERE:

Romney was apparently responding to reports Thursday on right-leaning blogs that misinterpreted a recent Bloomberg News story earlier this week that said Chrysler, owned by Italian automaker Fiat SpA, is thinking of building Jeeps in China for sale in the Chinese market.

The Bloomberg story, though accurate, “has given birth to a number of stories making readers believe that Chrysler plans to shift all Jeep production to China from North America, and therefore idle assembly lines and U.S. work force. It is a leap that would be difficult even for professional circus acrobats,” Chrysler spokesman Gualberto Ranieri said.

“Let’s set the record straight: Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China. It’s simply reviewing the opportunities to return Jeep output to China for the world’s largest auto market. U.S. Jeep assembly lines will continue to stay in operation.”

The Bloomberg story, however, sparked the confusion in the first paragraph of the story, saying Chrysler planned to return Jeep output to China “and may eventually make all of its models in that country.”

The movie – 2016: Obama’s America is a propaganda film produced by political hack Dinesh D’Souza  paid for by a Chicago billionaire named Joe Ricketts … the owner of the Chicago Cubs.  You can read all about that film HERE.  Some Republicans actually believe this crap and it is a real shame.  Well – now the movie is being provided for FREE via the nation’s 15th largest cable provider – Armstrong Utilities.  This movie will be available in parts of Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio and presumably Virginia; this is the first time in Armstrong’s history that it is providing an On Demand movie for free.  And it just so happens … the Chairman of the company is a huge financial backer of Mitt Romney and the Republican party.

And thanks to Citizens United – this company can spread whatever speech it wants because even though this is a donation to the Romney campaign in the form of goods and services …. that’s completely legal thanks to the Roberts court that determined money is speech and corporations are people.

The Pittsburgh City Paper brings us this story HERE:

Armstrong Utilities, the nation’s 15th-largest cable provider, operates in five states, including suburban and rural parts of western Pennsylvania. And recently, its homepage began notifying viewers of a “Free Movie Special” — an on-demand screening of the film, which was in theaters only a few weeks ago.

While much on-demand content is free, subscribers tell City Paper — and an Armstrong executive confirms — that this is the first time the cable provider has offered such a deal for a recently released feature film.

2016 has become a hit among conservatives, but has drawn fire from fact-checkers who argue that its central thesis is logically flawed and lacks evidence. The film, for example, accuses Obama of being “weirdly sympathetic to Muslim jihadists,” even as drone strikes and Special Forces operations have wiped out many terrorist leaders. And it suggests that Obama somehow inherited the beliefs of his father — who Obama by all accounts barely even knew.

Think Progress explains more about the company’s donations to Romney HERE:

On September 21, just days before the promotion began, Armstrong Chairman Of The Board Jay Sedwick gave the maximum $5,000 to Mitt Romney’s campaign and an additional $25,000 to the Republican National Committee.

Armstrong cable is available in over 50 cities and towns in 10 Ohio counties. Analysts believe the outcome in Ohio may determine the outcome of the election. Most current polls in the state are within the margin of error.

The Obama campaign actually put out this ad.  It’s a satirical look at what Romney’s priorities are versus what  they should be.  This is part of their transition out of debate meltdown for sure … but as with the Daily Show or other political comedy … the message behind the message is sound.

What do you want your elected officials focusing on?  He’ll keep $80 billion a year for the Bush tax cuts for the rich but he thinks times are so desperate that we need to cut spending on children’s programming for a couple of hundred million.

If you defund the treasury through tax cuts … you can’t pay for government.  But somehow – he’s going to increase the military budget by 25%?  PRIORITIES.

The Hill reports on this video HERE:

But the Obama campaign says Romney’s targeting PBS would do little and that the GOP nominee’s tax plans would actually worsen the deficit.

“When asked how he would cut the deficit, Romney’s answer is to eliminate PBS and ‘Sesame Street’ — an absurd solution,” said the Obama campaign in a statement announcing the video. “You would need to cut PBS more than 1,000 times to fill the hole in Romney’s budget promises!”

The Obama team also has charged Romney with pushing a $5 trillion tax cut that would shift the tax burden to the middle class and leave a larger hole in the deficit.

Romney, though, denies that figure, saying his plan would cut rates across the board and help reduce the deficit by increasing revenues through the elimination of tax-code loopholes favored by the wealthy.

Yes – Romney was LYING to Americans for the vast majority of the debate.  Character matters in a big way; Romney’s lack of character is disqualifying in my opinion.

The guy has realized that his plans are so unpopular that he has finally received approval by his base to etch a sketch to the center.  In other words – the ideas that he says he supported in the debate are completely at odds with everything he said before the debate and every fact checker called him out on it.

You can see Romney debating himself HERE.

I gave a simple explanation to prove his tax cuts will help the rich and cost the middle class HERE.

We compiled a list of various media responses to Romney at the debate HERE.  Spoiler alert – they said he was lying.

And for a Coup de grâce … you can see a very thorough fact check by IACWE … our most popular article ever thus far:

ROMNEY’S DEBATE STRATEGY: CREATE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE, PROMISE EVERYONE GETS A PONY

If you’re not familiar with AMPAD …. you need to read this HERE.  This video comes from the Obama campaign right before the first debate with Romney.

Bottom line – Bain Capital buys a profitable company under Romney’s leadership.  They load it with debt … force it to pay millions in management fees and then when it couldn’t handle the debt burden they were placed under …. Romney and his partners walk away with $100 million and all of the employees lose everything.

That’s the Romney legacy.  And Romney thinks Americans are envious of him for his wealth … instead of understanding that we just think he’s a heartless S.O.B. who would do anything for a nickel.  It’s a real crime what he did to AMPAD.  It isn’t a proud moment in American history.

More stories like that HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.

The rest of the election will have this video playing in swing states.  It’s absolutely brutal … and it is unedited.  Watch it.

Even if Obama wins in a landslide – we know that Romney is likely to win at least 45% of the vote.  Just consider that for a minute.  With all of the disasters that we have seen from the Romney campaign … for the lack of specificity and flip-flops and lack of a core anything.  Mitt Romney is the most unpopular presidential candidate in modern history.

But he’s still going to win 45% of America’s votes.  That is a real scandal.  I had lunch today with a couple of people …. white males … one in his 40′s and the other in his late 50′s and the older gentleman was singularly focused on the welfare issue.  He and so many like him have this belief in their core that Democrats want to just freeload and look for a government hand out.

The Romney campaign has continually pushed that line in this election with false ads but really – he’s just selling what people want to be sold to them.  There is a racial element to this election and when people are faced with reality versus their own ideology … there is just this disconnect that can only be explained as cognitive dissonance.

When truth doesn’t fit your reality … just believe whatever you want – that’s basically the conservative world view right now.  People are just out there right now.  They’re locked in to their ideology.  I wish we had a way to “shut that whole thing down”.

As I shared HERE:

Consider this for a moment…on the day that George W. Bush left office with:

#1 – 800,000 jobs  being lost EVERY SINGLE MONTH
#2 – 4 million people had lost their jobs in the past 12 months
#3 – He had just passed a $700 billion bailout with no accountability or transparency for TBTF banks
#4 – He passed a $35 billion bailout for Detroit which Republicans have criticized President Obama for
#5 – Two full scale wars with no end in sight
#6 – The Dow Jones had dropped from over 14,000 to 8,599
#7 – Millions of people had lost or were on the verge of losing their homes

Republican voters had a 75% approval rating of George W. Bush the last month George W. Bush was in office.

THINK ABOUT THAT.   

It’s getting ugly out there.  This advertisement is what you’d call a Twofer.  The Obama campaign has decided to tie Romney’s comments that 47% of Americans are victims who will not take responsibility for themselves because they’re just wanting to get by on the government doles … and interwoven it with Romney’s decision not to share his tax records before 2010.

It’s a smart move but it just goes to show you that this particular incident will remain THE issue unless something devastating happens in the debates or some other unforeseen world event like Israel attacking Iran which I’m confident Romney would completely screw up.  Early voting has opened in several states and more will soon follow … and that means the people watching these ads who are currently disheartened by Romney will be able to vote while the deluge of ads flows through.

And it is a deluge.  The reason Romney won’t share his tax returns from prior years is because the fallout from the many dead bodies he is hiding would be even more damaging than continuing to take this pounding that he has received for the past year regarding his unwillingness to share his tax information.  The ONLY reason he wouldn’t share it is because he’s hiding something.  Nobody takes this kind of political bruising unless the option is much worse.  Hello Rock.  Hard place is calling.

So Romney is really the LAST person who should be talking about anyone paying their taxes.  This guy has abused the tax system like his name was Ike Turner and he still has the gall to be offended by the common people who only pay payroll, sales, gas and real estate taxes …. but not income taxes.  Insert knife further.

Romney’s recent comments captured on undercover video that 47% of Americans are just unwilling to accept personal responsibility for themselves because they’re looking for a government handout doesn’t seem like that’s going away any time soon.  The video above is a compilation of responses in the media … and it’s BRUTAL.  Now – just take these types of spots and broadcast them all the time.

In a recent USA Today/Gallup poll HERE –  self described independents said they were less likely to vote for Mitt Romney after having seen the video by a 2 to 1 margin.  Funny enough – 44% of Republicans said Romney’s comments made them MORE LIKELY to vote for him.  Goes to show you just how far out there the conservative base really is unfortunately.  I don’t get it because he was talking about a lot of poor Republicans too.

And that’s a big deal because every vote is crucial; most Americans have already made up their minds and the very small swath of undecideds left in the swing states are going to be influenced by something like this.  Romney wasn’t just attacking an idea … he was attacking half of the American people.  Karma isn’t his friend.

And neither are his fellow Republicans.  Normally – Republicans hold the line when it comes to standing together no matter how bad something is.  They stood together on their plan to privatize Medicare.  They stood together in their defiance of regulations on banks.  They stood together to keep subsidies for oil companies.  They stood together to block tax cuts for the middle class if it didn’t include tax cuts for the rich.  They stood together to hold the economy hostage with the debt ceiling.  But they won’t stand with Mitt on this.

The Independent gives us some examples HERE:

“It’s time to admit the Romney campaign is an incompetent one,” Peggy Noonan, the conservative columnist for The Wall Street Journal, wrote bluntly. “It’s not big, it’s not brave, it’s not thoughtfully tackling great issues. It’s always been too small for the moment.” She went on: “An intervention is in order… Mitt, this isn’t working.”

“Romney seems to have contempt not just for the Democrats who oppose him, but for tens of millions who intend to vote for him,” wrote William Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard. Scott Brown, the Republican senator struggling to hold onto his seat in Massachusetts, moved to disown the top of his party’s ticket. “That’s not the way I view the world,” he said of Mr Romney’s observation. “As someone who grew up in tough circumstances, I know that being on public assistance is not a spot that anyone wants to be in.”

CNN has this HERE:

“The comments are very unfortunate,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. “It clearly isn’t helpful and it’s surprising that a disciplined candidate would make those kind of comments,” she said.

“I have five brothers and sisters. My father was an auto mechanic; my mother was a school cook. I have a very different view of the world and as a United States senator, I think I represent everybody and i think every vote is important,” said Nevada GOP Senator Dean Heller.

A day earlier, two other Republican Senate candidates — incumbent Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Linda McMahon of Connecticut– released campaign statements denouncing Romney’s comments.

I do not understand and I can not contemplate how ANYONE making less than 100k a year is willing to vote for the Republican party.

The only way Romney wins is to continue to push lies.  He has to lie to you in order to convince you to vote against your own interests.  Within the last month – Romney’s three biggest attacks on Obama:

• Taking Obama out of context on “you didn’t build that”
• Saying Obama stole $700 billion out of Medicare
• Telling people that Obama took the work requirement out of “Work for welfare”

Every single one of those was rated FALSE.  Flat out false.  Another word for that is LIE.  Romney is a liar and he wants to be the liar in chief.

The Romney campaign is financed mostly by very large financial interests – the oligarchs.  Even if you’re not a fan of Obama … it is time to send a message to those plutocrats.  Now – some aren’t as optimistic as I am regarding an Obama presidency but my response to that is simple … I know a lot more about this than you do.  I pay attention to this religiously and I have a brain that I utilize to its fullest extent.  I can appreciate those who are disillusioned but to all of the naysayers who said in 2000 that the election was not important and “they were all the same” didn’t understand how significant an election that was.

2012 is another election like that.  We are at a turning point.  And reform is slow.  President Obama is not Teddy Roosevelt.  Politics is like tectonic plates … and these plates are moving whether you see them or feel them … but they’re there and they’re moving just the same.  And they’re moving the right direction.  We are not where we need to be but voting for Romney or choosing not to vote at all will put this country on a disaster course.  The only person willing to raise taxes on the rich is Obama.  The only person willing to cut defense is Obama.  The only person willing to invest more money in education and infrastructure is Obama.  The only person not trying to tell women what they can and can not do with their vaginas is Obama.

Voting for Romney is like slitting your own throat.   You’re a fool if you do.  I don’t recommend it.

If you do not understand the obstruction … then you can read this excerpt from The Party of NO: New details on the Gop Plot to Obstruct Obama:

It reveals some of my reporting on the Republican plot to obstruct President Obama before he even took office, including secret meetings led by House GOP Whip Eric Cantor (in December 2008) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (in early January 2009) where they laid out their daring (though cynical and political) no-honeymoon strategy of all-out resistance to a popular president-elect during an economic emergency. “If he was for it,” former Ohio senator George Voinovich explained, “we had to be against it.” The excerpt includes a special bonus nugget of Mitt Romney dissing the Tea Party.

David Obey, then-chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, met with his GOP counterpart, Jerry Lewis, to explain what Democrats had in mind for the stimulus and ask what Republicans wanted to include. “Jerry’s response was: ‘I’m sorry, but leadership tells us we can’t play,’” Obey told me. “Exact quote: ‘We can’t play.’ What they said right from the get-go was: It doesn’t matter what the hell you do, we ain’t going to help you. We’re going to stand on the sidelines and bitch.”

Their simple calculation is that you’re too stupid to understand how Congress works and that at the end of the day – you’ll vote to replace Obama even though they threw a wrench into everything.  Are you stupid enough to fall for their plan?  Some think I’ve drank the Kool-Aid; the Kool-Aid tastes good.  Its not perfect but its better than poison Romney’s serving.