Tag: 2012 Election

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Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan – where are the specifics?

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan say they can balance the budget and fix the economy in part by removing some “tax loopholes.”

Many of these “tax loopholes” are the biggest tax deductions middle class America gets: mortgage interest deductions, state and local tax deductions… But Mitt Romney and company won’t say what “loopholes” they’ll “close.”

If you buy a home this year for $100,000 with a mortgage – under current law, middle class America would get something like a $6,000 tsx deduction.

How do you feel about losing that?

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Paul Ryan can’t explain his votes to cut defense spending

On Sunday’s Face the Nation, Norah O’Donnell took Paul Ryan to task regarding his past voting record when it came to cuts in defense spending. Reminding Ryan that he’s criticizing the president for a measure that he, too, voted for, O’Donnell pressed the GOP vice presidential nominee on his stance.

O’Donnell noted that Mitt Romney said Republicans were wrong to agree to a debt deal last summer that included automatic cuts to defense spending. “He’s talking about you because you voted for those cuts, correct?” she asked Ryan.

“I did,” Ryan said, adding that he voted for them because he was working to reach common ground with the president and Democrats to “get a down payment on deficit reduction.”

O’Donnell reiterated that the defense cuts are part of the Budget Control Act, and that Ryan voted for that act. She then dug up a statement Ryan put out following the legislation, in which he called it a “victory” and a “positive step forward.”

“So, you voted for defense cuts, and now you’re criticizing the president for those same defense cuts that you voted for and called a victory,” she pressed. Ryan disagreed, again noting that the House passed a bill to prevent the cuts, but the Senate didn’t do anything about it.

vis Mediaite

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Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan plan to cut tax “loopholes” – but won’t say which ones

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan made the rounds of news talk shows to say they plan to cut “tax loopholes.”

BUT they won’t say which ones.

Will it be the mortgage interest deduction? That is one of the biggest tax deductions available to the middle class.

Charitable deductions? Same thing.

State and local taxes? Same thing.

Losing those deductions amounts to a big tax hike on the middle class.

If you buy a home this year, the next few years provide large tax cuts in mortgage interest deductions. Thousands of dollars. How do you feel about losing a $6,000 tax deduction? $10,000 tax deduction?

The Romney/Ryan “plan” is to not tell you what you’re voting for. I think most middle class tax payers would like to know WHAT Romney/Ryan plans to cut before they vote for them.

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Ohio: President Obama up by 5 points over Romney

A new Public Policy Polling survey in Ohio finds President Obama leads Mitt Romney by five points, 50% to 45%.

This is huge folks.  Ohio will be the center of the election from here on out.

No Republican has ever been elected President without winning Ohio.  If President Obama takes Ohio, Romney’s path becomes possible but very difficult.

Also, if President Obama takes Ohio, his path becomes much easier.

Watch Ohio.

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President Obama and the Pizza man

This AP photo is making the rounds on social media today. HuffPo has the story:

In Florida for his bus tour on Sunday, President Barack Obama made an unannounced stop at Big Apple Pizza and Pasta in Ft. Pierce. There, the shop’s owner, Scott Van Duzer, lifted the president off the ground: Obama entered the shop saying, “Scott, let me tell you, you are like the biggest pizza shop owner I’ve ever seen,” according to a White House pool report.

Van Duzer, 46, is a big guy: He is 6′ 3″ tall and weighs 260 pounds. After Obama was lifted up, he said “Look at that!” Man are you a powerlifter or what?” He continued, according to the pool, talking about Van Duzer’s big muscles. “Everybody look at these guns,” he said. “If I eat your pizza will I look like that?”

According to the above-linked story, Van Duzer is a lifelong registered Republican who voted for Obama in 2008 and plans to do so again.

(h/t JoeMyGod)

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Poll: Gallup Poll shows big bounce for President Obama coming out of 2012 DNC

Gallup has posted its latest poll findings today and found a big bounce for Obama from this year’s convention.

They show a very strong one-day 3% hike in his approval rating to 52%–his highest mark in many months.  This means that he gained 7% in the past three days.

In addition, the new numbers show a 48%-45% lead over Mitt Romney.  That’s a change of 3% from last week. 

And that’s a 7-day poll average with only the first couple days of the DNC factored in, so it should go up a bit more over the next few days.