United Liberty

Remember when Democrats thought that Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan would be easy for them to tear down because of his reasonable proposal to reform Medicare? They’ve certainly tried to demagogue the issue — take, for example, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz attempt during the summer on CNN when she was educated by Wolf Biltzer.

But new polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that the attacks haven’t worked, as Romney has narrowed the gap with President Obama on Medicare:

Mitt Romney has pulled even with President Obama when it comes to the question of whom voters trust on Medicare, according to a new poll.

October’s Kaiser Health Tracking poll found that in one month, Romney brought Obama’s lead on Medicare issues from 16 points down to 5, a gap that was not statistically significant in the poll.

Those figures represent the leanings of likely voters. Among seniors, Kaiser found that Romney leads Obama on Medicare by 5 points (48 percent to 43).
[…]
Kaiser found that 61 percent of likely voters and 72 percent of seniors oppose converting Medicare to a premium-support system. Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), have endorsed plans to partially privatize the program, giving future seniors a fixed dollar amount to buy coverage from traditional Medicare or on the private market.

Opposition to premium support is stable among non-seniors, though Kaiser cited other research that found opinion on the issue to be “quite malleable” and disposed to “persuasive messaging.”

Could Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) be in trouble? It seems like stretch to take out the chair of the Democratic National Committee, but a recent poll shows her Republican challenger, Karen Harrington, within 5 points, via Javier at the Shark Tank:

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz might want to consider heading back down to South Florida to defend her congressional seat if she’s hoping to get re-elected.  Karen Harrington, Wasserman Schultz’ Republican opponent has just released an internal poll she commissioned that has her well within striking distance of Wasserman Schultz.

The Gravis Strategies poll of 385 likely voters in the Democrat-leaning 23rd congressional district in Florida has Harrington a mere 4.5% points behind Wasserman Schultz- within the 5% margin of error.  The D+11 congressional district is in a traditional South Florida Democratic stronghold, but Republicans and Independents combined outnumber Democrats.

DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz (DWS) has ignited a firestorm by claiming that a conservative columnist misquoted her.  The Washington Post, far from anything approaching a conservative news agency, summed it up well:

Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s false accusation of a misquote

“That comment was reported by a conservative newspaper. It’s not surprising that they would deliberately misquote me.”

— Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz during Fox News interview, Sept. 4, 2012

Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Tuesday denied a report from Washington Examiner columnist Philip Klein, who quoted the Florida congresswoman as saying that Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren described Republican policies toward Israel as “dangerous” for the Jewish state.

The problem?  Well, you see, Klein didn’t misquote her at all.  In fact, Klein has actually posted audio, noting:

Below, find the audio of what she said on Monday, which I’m confident demonstrates that I quoted her accurately in my story. The relevant part starts around the 28-second mark.

After listening to the audio, you can check out the clip above of her on Fox News saying she was “deliberately” misquoted, and judge for yourself.

I had an epiphany this week. Dyed-in-the-wool Liberals think I’m a bad person. I don’t mean they just disagree with me; they truly think I am evil. While I believe most liberals to be generally well-meaning, but misguided or uninformed, many think of me as a hateful person who revels in human suffering and who cares only for myself. They see my calls for budget cuts as proof that I don’t care about the poor, and am fine with old people starving and dying in the streets. They see any criticism of President Obama’s policies as proof of racism. They see my opposition to anti-global warming legislation and regulation as prima facie evidence that I don’t care for the environment.

This is nothing new, of course. It is stuff you hear all the time. But I guess I always assumed it was over-the-top, hyperbolic rhetoric meant to fire up their base. I am no stranger to hyperbole. My Facebook debates with my liberal friends are replete with it, my comments often marinated in sarcasm. It’s part of the fun of debating liberals; taking the truth and giving it a conservative, candy-coated shell. Yet at the end of the day, we all know that the core of our comments represent our true beliefs, but those beliefs are sprinkled with a heavy helping of trash-talking.

My epiphany came in the form of the unscripted comments of one David Chalian, unaware he was speaking near an open microphone. No run-of-the-mill Occupy protestor, Chalian was the Washington Bureau Chief for Yahoo! News, former political editor for PBS Newshour, and faculty member at Georgetown University. This is a seasoned political media member, which makes his comments all the more shocking.

Democratic National Committee chairperson apparently doesn’t think that accuracy really matters, so long as Team Blue gets the win in the long run.  Now, why would I say such a thing?  Well,it stems from a fundraising email that Debbie Wasserman Schultz sent out where she says this:

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are now, incredibly, saying they don’t agree with the policies of the party whose nomination they’re about to accept, but guess what? The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that the platform was, and I quote, “written at the direction of Romney’s campaign.”

This is some pretty unbelievable stuff, even by Mitt Romney standards.

It’s up to us to make sure voters see through this and know just how dangerously wrong for women these candidates are — but we can’t do it without your help. Donate $3 or more today.

Quote courtesy of Townhall.com

The above quote deals with abortion, and particularly with Romney and Ryan’s stances on abortion.  Romney in particular does agree with some exceptions to an abortion ban.  Three of them, as a matter of fact: Rape, incest, and the life of the mother.  However, Wassermann Schultz says that the GOP platform - you know, the same one with a call for a constitutional amendment banning abortion? - was “written at the direction of Romney’s campaign.”

Democrats like accuse Republicans of being “extreme” in their views on the economy, especially when it comes to Rep. Paul Ryan’s budgets, 2010’s “Roadmap to America’s Future” and the more recent “Path to Prosperity.” This was also a criticism thrown at the Tea Party at the height of the movement before the mid-term election two years ago.

But many Democrats openly embraced Occupy Wall Street, a protest that started last year and spead to many cities in the United States, but has since all but disappeared. Occupy Wall Street lived in collectives, often taking up space in a public park, frequently running into health issues and using violence to spread their message.

In a powerful new video from Karen Harrington, who is running in FL-20, looks at her opponent, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and her support of the Occupy Wall Street protesters:

H/T: The Shark Tank

As expected, the attacks on Paul Ryan’s budget proposals are well under way. Specifically, President Obama’s campaign is attacking Ryan’s Medicare reform plan, which was a plan pieced together with Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon.

The proposal would offer a competing plan different than the current “fee-for-service” model, by giving new enrollees — those younger than 55-years-old — the option of a voluntary voucher program to purchase health insurance. Nothing would change for seniors already in the system.

But President Obama is already demagoguing the issue, claiming that the Ryan-Wyden plan would have hurt Medicare, which is our most costly long-term entitlement, and refuses to acknowledge that his own health care law cuts more than $700 billion from the government-run health insurance program for seniors.

During an interview with Wolf Blitzer yesterday, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) tried to tear down Ryan, who was picked by Mitt Romney as his running mate, claiming that the plan is “extreme” and would hurt seniors. Blitzer came back at Wasserman Schultz’s talking points about Ryan’s proposal, noting that anyone over 55 would not be affected in any way and that the traditional “fee-for-service” option would still be available for those who want it.

Here’s the video:

Over the last week, Mitt Romney has received a storm of criticism over his personal wealth, including his off-shore bank accounts. This is in addition to the litany of ads being run by Team Obama and similarly-minded PACS hitting Romney for his time at Bain Capital and off-shoring (and, in some cases, for things that went on a Bain after Romney had left the firm).

Chris Barron probably said it best on Monday by pointing out that off-shore accounts have become the “new gay marriage.” That’s a interesting, yet profound statement. A few years ago, Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) found himself in the middle of a scandal when it was alleged that he solicited sex in an airport restroom. The scandal was odd given that Craig frequently pushed the “pro-family,” anti-gay rights line. Craig eventually pled guilty to the charges and resigned from the Senate in disgrace.

Craig’s personal life would normally be irrelevant, but it is incredibly hypocritical for someone to preach a socially conservative agenda while at the same time engaging in the behavior they so frequently condemn.