President Obama told the AP that the moment that could finally shake up a close president race “could come in the three debates Obama and Romney hold in October. The president said Romney could run into trouble because of arguments that are not backed up by facts, citing a widely debunked television ad campaign in which Romney accuses Obama of gutting the work requirement in the federal welfare law.”
Said Obama: “It will be a little tougher to defend face-to-face.”
“I can’t speak to Governor Romney’s motivations. What I can
say is that he has signed up for positions, extreme positions, that are
very consistent with positions that a number of House Republicans have
taken. And whether he actually believes in those or not, I have no doubt
that he would carry forward some of the things that he’s talked
about.”
— President Obama in an interview with the Associated Press.
A new DNC video celebrates the marriage of Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and other Republicans to the theme song of The Brady Bunch.
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“Aside from the sheer biological ludicrousness of Todd Akin’s ideas on female physiology, one unsettling subplot to the debacle is his presence on the House of Committee on Science, Space and Technology,” Wired reports.
“That’s right: A man who, to put it gently, ignores what science tells us about how babies are made, helps shape the future of science in America. It would be shocking, but for the fact that many of the committee’s GOP members have spent the last several years displaying comparable contempt for climate science… But in both cases, there exists a factual proposition that can be studied through observation and hypothesis-testing — and it’s the scientific method itself that’s ultimately under attack in the House science committee.”
“I can’t say I’m looking forward to heading to Tampa. I mean, you know it’s hot and humid down in August in Tampa. I mean, you imagine me down there? You know they’re gonna have to put me in a freezer for a couple days to make sure I’m in the right situation when I get up on that stage. So I hope they have one of those freezers where they hang meat.”
— New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), quoted by the Philadelphia Inquirer, on his keynote speech at the Republican convention.
A new Philadelphia Inquirer poll in Pennsylvania finds President Obama with a big lead over Mitt Romney, 51% to 42%.
A new Mason-Dixon poll in Missouri finds Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) now significantly ahead of Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) in the U.S. Senate race, 50% to 41%.
In the presidential race, Mitt Romney leads President Obama, 50% to 43%.
The Obama campaign hammers Mitt Romney in a short new video: “American doesn’t need a birther-in-chief.”
Michael Barone has a great look back at when national political conventions actually meant something.
“The national conventions are diminishing in importance, but I would be sorry to see them go extinct. I always feel a twinge of sadness when they adjourn and the maintenance people start popping the balloons and folding up the chairs. There’s something awesome about being part of an American political tradition that goes back to the 19th century.”
Mike Huckabee harshly criticized establishment Republicans who have tried to force Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) from the Missouri U.S. Senate race, CNN reports, and at one point compared the National Republican Senatorial Committee to “union goons” who “kneecap” their enemies.
Said Huckabee: “This is unprecedented, to see to this orchestrated attempt to humiliate and devastate a fellow Republican.”
“At one point, Huckabee mused about whether Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney affected his poll numbers in Missouri by not coming to Akin’s defense.”
The RNC is “making big changes to the lineup of speakers at the convention next week in Tampa to ensure that broadcast networks cover Ann Romney’s speech,” the Weekly Standard reports.
“Among the changes most seriously under consideration: moving Marco Rubio to Tuesday night and having Mrs. Romney speak Thursday night in the spot originally reserved for Rubio. Mrs. Romney’s speech was initially scheduled for Monday night, but the big three television networks won’t be covering the convention that night, so the Romney campaign and Republican officials have scrambled over the last several days to ensure her speech gets the widest coverage possible.”
A new CNN/Opinion Research poll shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney by just two points among likely voters, 49% to 47%.
Josh Marshall: “If you look at the number for registered voters it’s a 9 point Obama margin. What that means is that President Obama has actually gained a bit of ground (obviously within the margin of error) on last week’s eye-popping poll showing him with a 7 point lead over Mitt Romney. But it also shows that turnout and propensity to vote are going to be the whole game going into November.”
“I’m very proud of my pro-life record, and I’ve always adopted the idea that, the position that the method of conception doesn’t change the definition of life.”
— Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), in an interview with WJHL-TV, when asked if a woman should be able to get an abortion if she’s raped.
John Avlon: “The one-time Party of Lincoln boasted the first African-American, Asian-American, Native-American, Hispanic, and popularly-elected woman senators. Now polls show Romney-Ryan will get virtually no black votes.”
“But ’twas not always thus for the GOP. Dust off your history books and you will see Republicans once had a virtual lock on the minority vote — and minority elected officials. The legacy of Lincoln was alive and well until not so long ago. Which makes the retreat of recent decades both unfortunate and ill-timed.”
President Obama responds to Mitt Romney’s joke about his birth certificate with a simple tweet:
Song of the day: Born in the U.S.A. OFA.BO/irL3ZV
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 24, 2012
New York Times: “Politicians sometimes think they can get away with saying something profoundly offensive or just plain stupid by acting like it was a joke. It never works, just like it didn’t work today when Mr. Romney shamelessly played the birther card in what seems like an increasingly desperate campaign against President Obama.”
A new OnSight Public Affairs poll in Colorado finds President Obama leading Mitt Romney by four points, 48% to 44%.
“No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate — they know that this was the place we were born and raised.”
— Mitt Romney, campaigning in Michigan.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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