Biden/Ryan VP Debate Tonight!
Posted by Michelle Moquin on October 11th, 2012
Good morning!
It is a rarity that I watch daytime television but when Rachel Maddow is on The Ellen Show, it causes me to pause my daily routine and take a minute to check out two of my fave girls. Although there wasn’t much substance to the interview, I still enjoyed the chitchat and seeing them….Especially Maddow, in a more relaxed environment. Ellen…she’s always in a relaxed environment having a good time.
Although, I thought I might see a different, more personal side of Maddow, she was still the political animal that I expected she would be. I mean, after a few words said about dancing with her dog, (Anyone who dances with their dog, and shows love to her four-legged as much as Maddow does, gets big kudos from me) politics was the prime topic. But then of course it would be – we are about to have the most important election of our lives. So that was perfectly fine with me. I enjoy Maddow any way I get her. I mean…who else thinks of election time as Christmas, besides Maddow? Well…lately, actually me. Oh…And I do dance with my dog Lucy too. :)
So speaking of politics…tonight is the Biden/Ryan debate, and I am right there with Maddow – “Excited!” And from what I’ve heard the VP debate in the past has been viewed by more people, than even the presidential debates. Should be illuminating and interesting to say the least. Tune in tonight 8:00 PM Eastern time to catch the chitchat beforehand.
Topic: Foreign and domestic policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Centre College in Danville, Kentucky (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan
Moderator: Martha Raddatz (ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent)The debate will cover both foreign and domestic topics and be divided into nine time segments of approximately 10 minutes each. The moderator will ask an opening question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the question.
To get you in the mood of what to expect from him this evening, here’s a clip of Ryan, the LSOS, last month, but believe me, nothing has changed:
Norah O’Donnell Grills Paul Ryan Over Defense Spending Cuts
CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell put Paul Ryan’s feet to the fire for criticizing President Obama for defense spending cuts after he supported them himself.
Mitt Romney’s “Meet the Press” appearance put the cuts back in the spotlight on Sunday. The candidate said that Republicans made a “mistake” when they agreed to a debt ceiling deal that would decrease defense spending by $500 billion over the next ten years.
O’Donnell did not give Ryan on an easy pass on the issue. “He’s talking about you because you voted for those cuts, correct?” she asked him.
Ryan said that he voted for the cuts because he was trying to find “common ground” with the Democrats to reduce the budget deficit. He added that he wrote a bill that would have reduced spending elsewhere and prevented “the president’s irresponsible, devastating defense cuts.”
O’Donnell continued to press Ryan, saying that the defense cuts were part of the Budget Control Act and that he supported the act. She went a step further and quoted him calling the legislation 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,” O’Donnell said.
“The goal was never that these defense cuts actually occur,” Ryan responded. He said that he supported a sequestration measure, which would have triggered automatic cuts if the supercommittee did not reach a deal. O’Donnell said that the act also contained $1 trillion in immediate cuts, including the defense cuts.
“And you also voted for those, and now you’re saying you didn’t vote for them?” she asked. He said that the Obama administration proposed $478 billion in defense cuts, in addition to cutting about $500 billion in defense from the sequestration.
“Right. A trillion dollars in defense spending, and you voted for it!” O’Donnell shot back.
“No, Norah. I voted for the Budget Control Act.”
*R*Y*A*N*L*S*O*S
Readers: Feel free to do your own fact checking. For years now I have had the link, “On The issues” as well “Factcheck.org” posted in the lefthand side of my blog to make it easy for you. A resource that is a must, especially during this time.
Steven: Thanks to your friend for the list, and you for posting it here. Those are some scary reminders. We need to get the energy, inspiration, and HOPE going like it was in 2008, and of course we need to do all we can to prevent the election from being stolen…again.
Blog me.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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October 11th, 2012 at 10:34 am
Those of you who left the meeting in anger and or frustration need to continue open communication channels. Otherwise we will be forced to air our differences over an open medium.
We realized that that is the purpose of some. Ones who feel that our cattle have the right to be involved in decisions that affect their lives. I belong to the overwhelming majority that feel otherwise.
However, to gain access to those who would force us to use this medium we will discuss some matters here.
Those of you who reside on Phobos and have jealously guarded your existence from earthlings for decades are up in arms again about the recent Mars probe.
You should be aware of the intention of the Mars Council and the Earth Council to not see repeated the incident in which you caused the Russian satellite to break up and destroy buildings in the SF Bay area.
We will accept ones like the 1996 controlled explosion. That means that now that the US has been alerted to the value of a probe of Phobos, you will not engage in destruction of their probes without first getting permission from at least one of the above Councils.
Failure to do so will elicit an appropriate response.
11s/2
October 11th, 2012 at 11:44 am
GOOD AFTERNOON TO EVERYONE!
The Romney-Ryan ticket has another opportunity tonight to separate itself from Obama-Biden if Paul Ryan puts in a good debate performance. He doesn’t need to put up a Romney-like showing, but must win on a few key points, namely entitlements and the ballooning federal budget. A preview story from Julie Ershadi is below. We will have full debate coverage beginning a little bit before 9 P.M. with a running Twitter feed that will provide up-to-the-minute analysis from our editorial team and other political thinkers, policy makers and campaign surrogates.,
Internal Obama polls show that the president is losing support in some key battleground states and that several states are within the margin of error at this point. John Gizzi’s story on the latest in Pennsylvania is new today. The Romney campaign is in Pennsylvania with a strong GOTV presence and will certainly not write off the Keystone State.
The House hearing on the Benghazi terror attack was one for the ages yesterday. Hope Hodge has the full report below.
Talk to you all tomorrow,
– Adam Tragone, Managing Editor
October 11th, 2012 at 11:54 am
I can’t wait to watch this LSOS, though I wish Hilary was representing Dems, Biden doesn’t do so well in debating forums. We shall see…
October 11th, 2012 at 12:59 pm
Hi everyone. Happy International Coming Out Day!
I hope anyone LGBT suffering in silence is able to find the strength today to crack the closet door and come out. For alot of us, it isn’t that we are afraid to come out to others, it’s that we are still struggling with the idea within ourselves. Please don’t feel alone in that.
LOVE yourself today. Step into the light if you can. Like me, you may feel an immediate sense of peace and a load of guilt and shame off your shoulders when you do.
“Burst down those closet doors once and for all, and stand up and start to fight.” – Harvey Milk
We’re here and we’re Queer!
Much love to all,
/SB
October 11th, 2012 at 1:06 pm
…and I want to wish Joe Biden good luck tonight. I sure hope he is able to keep his foot out of his mouth.
/SB
October 11th, 2012 at 3:13 pm
Happy International Coming Out Day Social Butterfly. I came out 16 years ago and the funniest reaction was my Dad who asked if it was because he took me to Hooters and The Gym all the time. Of course not Hooter’s girls weren’t my type haha:) I was fortunate to face virtually no harassment or discrimination growing up. May one day soon every child in every country that realizes they are LGBT be free to be who they are and NOT one more lose their life to suicide because of bullying!!!
October 11th, 2012 at 3:30 pm
This is incredible Social Butterfly. My mother loves this blog she called me and asked me to read it and call her back. I did and I said “yes, mother I am gay.”
She was silent for a moment and then she said, ” I suspected it for the last two years. Now, when are you going to dump that asshole Martin?’
We laughed for a few minutes. And told her that I had dumped him over a year ago, but I was too afraid to introduce her to Maddie, my other half.
She asked me if Maddie was there and I said yes. Then she said. “now’s as good as later.”
Long story short. It was not like I feared. Mom said reading that crazy Michelle, made her wish she had a better relationship with me.
Michelle, you have a new fan. If moms thinks you are all that, I love you already.
Rene
October 11th, 2012 at 3:33 pm
Social Butterfly, please forgive my bad manners. I want to thank you so very much for standing up for us scared cats. We need all the encouragement available.
Mom said if anyone in the family doesn’t want to speak to me they don’t want to speak to her. I love my moms.
Love you Mom
Rene
October 11th, 2012 at 3:45 pm
Just so you know I got your message.
————————
Those of you who rejoice over the ruling by a lower court decision in March which required nonprofit groups running phony “issue ads” to disclose their donors, it’s been overturned by BAPF judges on the appellate level. So the criminals are back at it.
David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity (AFP) shifted to ads expressly calling for President Obama’s defeat in the November 2012 elections rather than name their donors. At the time, they claimed the change in tactics was only because the president’s record was “disastrous.”
But now that they have paid for the decision to be overturned, AFP can again run issue ads again while keeping their funders secret. They have reverted to their old strategy of claiming to be a non-profit organization calling for the president’s ouster.
Mike, TM
October 11th, 2012 at 3:47 pm
Bill Moyers’ special “The United States of ALEC” aired nationwide this past weekend on his PBS show “Moyers & Company.”
The documentary threw a spotlight on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and featured the work of the Madison-based Center for Media and Democracy and its award winning “ALECexposed” project.
ALEC sleuth Mark Pocan and Nation reporter John Nichols also are featured and the topics address include, extreme gun laws, education, prisons and the Wisconsin Uprising.
Check out the full documentary:
http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-united-states-of-alec/
October 11th, 2012 at 3:57 pm
For those of you not familiar with ALEC, it is an organization of $billionaires who collude with state legislators to write laws and remake America one state at a time.
Judges are being appointed that will always rule in favor of the corporations. Many of the awards that are hard fought and won on the superior court level get over turned in favor of the corporations on the Appellate level because the judges are BAPF.
Now the emphasis is on controlling all law at the Superior Court level. There will be no justice. They are limiting the Class Action powers and money lawyers can get practicing Class Action Law to force the individual to have to take on a corporation with his/her pocket money.
That is a no win situation because the Corporations can keep the little guy in court for years until his pockets are bone dry while they get to write off their legal fees tax wise.
They are getting the courts to charge huge fees for filing court actions so as to make it even more expensive for an individual to fight the big money.
One day you will wake up to Corporate America, and that will be that.
Robert, rt
October 11th, 2012 at 8:23 pm
When I read that the white woman vote had drifted towards Mitt. I realized that my anger towards you Mr. Roberts, RT for saving my group was the dumb as a box of rocks group on this planet was wrong.
Most of my white sisters are indeed dumb as a box of rocks if they are going to vote for Romney.
Ellen
October 11th, 2012 at 9:44 pm
It was a man and a kid.
October 11th, 2012 at 9:45 pm
He got schooled.
October 11th, 2012 at 9:47 pm
Vice presidential debate moderator Martha Raddatz pressed Republican hopeful Paul Ryan on his ticket’s promise to cut all federal income tax rates 20 percent without increasing the budget deficit or increasing the tax burden on middle-class earners. The Tax Policy Center has said the Republican math doesn’t work.
“Let’s talk about this 20 percent,” Raddatz said. “You have refused to offer specifics on how you pay for that 20 percent across-the-board tax cut. Do you actually have the specifics or are you still working on it and that’s why you won’t tell voters?”
Ryan said that his plan would deny loopholes and deductions for millionaires, and that a Romney administration would work with Congress. Raddatz asked, “You guarantee this math will add up?”
“Six studies have verified that this adds up,” Ryan said.
But not all of the six studies are actually studies. Three of them are blog posts or op-eds, and one was paid for by Romney for President Inc.
October 11th, 2012 at 9:50 pm
Wisely choosing one’s partner is a leadership talent.
The last few Republican nominees for President have not been able to account for such talent, to say the least.
October 11th, 2012 at 9:50 pm
She was biased. Obaamaa went to her wedding!
But Ryan won.
October 11th, 2012 at 9:50 pm
Joe Biden was smug and rude. I guess when you have absolutely nothing of substance to offer, that is what you are left with.
October 11th, 2012 at 9:51 pm
Joe and the media insider have never looked more “progressive”.
After 20 minutes of fair time and no interrupting was producing the facts/whoo.pin it was time for the double team.
Even with the 2 on 1 from then on, at best it was a tie.
Honorable Paul…great job!
October 11th, 2012 at 9:52 pm
Ryan might call himself a Catholic but he sure didn’t learn what they teach you in Catholic school.
Lying is bad.
October 11th, 2012 at 9:52 pm
Debate performance rankings so far:
1st – Joe Biden
2nd – Martha Raddatz
3rd – Mitt Romney
4th – Paul Ryan
5th – Barack Obama
6th – Jim Lehrer
The President has some work to do
October 11th, 2012 at 9:58 pm
Republicans have been bragging about their skills. You guys better take not we are just getting warmed up.
OBAMA 2012 -THEN HILLARY 8 YEARS
October 11th, 2012 at 9:59 pm
Smokin’ Joe cleaned the twit’s clock.
October 11th, 2012 at 9:59 pm
I noticed all the rightwingers are saying that the moderator and Joe Biden were rude. Yeah, how dare they not just take Ryan at his word like good little soldiers?
October 11th, 2012 at 10:08 pm
I have a few very good latino and one best friend who is black. When they visit me at my home, the males can’t wait for them to leave so they can rag on them.
Debbie my black friend one day said to me that the chasm between Obama and the white male vote is so vast that Obama couldn’t buy a white vote with real money.
We all laughed when she said, it. I won’t quote any of the slurs my male relatives uses when my girlfriends leave, but she was right. Most white males I know are voting their penises.
The short vote goes to Romney.
Paula
October 11th, 2012 at 10:17 pm
What a rude, crude, sad, old man. Hope he enjoys his retirement Just sent another $50 to Romney.
October 11th, 2012 at 10:18 pm
a know, I’m seeing some of these interviews with undecided voters …. and I can’t help but think these people really shouldn’t be voting.
A lot of these folks are simply ignorant both on the issues and on the positions of the candidates. The idea that its these people might decide the fate of our nation scares the heck out of me sometimes……
October 11th, 2012 at 10:19 pm
Nothing like a guy laughing when it’s appropriate during a debate. I was laughing with Joe. And at the other guy.
October 11th, 2012 at 10:21 pm
Biden: Believes in separation of church & state. Will not force personal religious beliefs on others. Pro-choice. Pro-women
Ryan: Will impose his effed up religious views on the wombs of America
This catholic is voting for Obama.
October 11th, 2012 at 10:24 pm
White america will vote their own best interest away in the interest of race.
October 11th, 2012 at 10:35 pm
Jesus, that isn’t the half of it. White America was 100% okay with the government using Affirmative Action to benefit the white race by reserving ALL the seats in State tax supported State Universities for whites only for 200 plus years.
But any attempt to bring a little, and I mean a little, to the results of that cruelty is suddenly racist. The STARK is about to reverse that little attempt to make up for two centuries of being the Local, State, and Federal Government.
Fuck them. There time will come. If I live to see it, I will not be generous.
Paul
October 11th, 2012 at 10:51 pm
Not all white women are stupid. My mother and I were watching the undecided focus group and she went ballistic when the old white woman said she had made up her mind to vote for Romney.
Mom said you are voting for a party that will put Medicare on a voucher program. Then she turned to me and said there’s a woman who is voting race. She lied when she said she was undecided. She was always going to vote the solid white ticket.
I hugged my mother. She had raised her children to think independently. I was so proud of that white woman.
Take that Robert, rt
Julie
October 11th, 2012 at 10:54 pm
BLACKS HAVE AND DO NOT BENEFIT FROM AFFIRMATIVE ACTION…AFFIRMATIVE ACTION GIVES BLACKS OPPORTUNITIES THEY WOULD OTHERWISE WOULD NOT HAVE. DUE TO RACE AND HISTORICAL JIM CROW LAWS.
October 11th, 2012 at 10:56 pm
Sotomayor started Wednesday morning by asking Rein why Fisher belonged in court at all if the university said she was not qualified for admission regardless of racial preferences and she had already finished her undergraduate degree elsewhere.
That question, of course, was directed more toward her conservative colleagues, who had made the decision to take the case with full knowledge of its procedural faults.”
THIS. I don’t support affirmative action personally, but the principles of standing in our courts require that the plaintiff (Ms. Fisher) has to show that she was harmed by the policy.
Conservative justices (like Scalia) relied on the standing doctrine to reject cases in the past, but of course that was when they wanted to stop lawsuits against an EPA accused of not protecting the environment enough. (Massachusetts v. EPA, Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife).
It’d be great if we could count on the conservatives consistently applying principles of standing, but I’m not holding my breath.
October 11th, 2012 at 10:57 pm
It would be great if supreme court justices were non-partisan and focused solely on the laws of the land.
October 11th, 2012 at 10:58 pm
So… an average student, who doesn’t stand out in any way doesn’t get in to her school of choice and it’s somehow a crime against Whites? She wasn’t even top ten percent, so why the hostility?
She didn’t get in because she didn’t deserve too…
October 11th, 2012 at 10:59 pm
Not getting in must’ve been quite the shock to her white privileged self.
October 11th, 2012 at 11:00 pm
Sometimes conservatives decry the way that liberals and other ne’er-do-wells have destroyed American society, with things like the women’s vote, feminism, unions, and other such liberal affronts to their idea of “America”.
The census data shows clearly that in future generations the population of this country will gradually transition from predominantly white to predominantly people of hispanic and other cultural heritages.
In order to ensure that America maintains her competitive edge and remain a leader in innovation, science and economic viability, we need to have as many people as possible with the appropriate level of eduation and knowlege to do so.
Based on the demographic data, it means that a large portion of the non-white population of America needs to be educated at a much higher level.
As the conservatives use the legal system to place barriers to advanced education, and other items in the path of current minorities in America. They are essentially and systematically dismantling the most essential element of our future success, AN INTELLIGENT WELL EDUCATED POPULUS. A win for them in this regard is a LOSS for America.
October 11th, 2012 at 11:01 pm
We have a black president, therefore racism doesn’t exist. I am conservative and my IQ is 72.
October 11th, 2012 at 11:02 pm
This is why Obama needs to be elected President.
It’s possible that over the next four years the Court could swing to a 6-3 liberal (well, left-of-center) majority.
Ginsburg and Breyer are 79 and 74, respectively.
Scalia and Kennedy are both 76.
If Romney were to be elected, the conservative majority would likely increase to 7-2. ..And there goes the country.
October 11th, 2012 at 11:14 pm
We don’t have a black president we have a multi racial president he covers the rainbow well almost , Obama 2012 .
October 11th, 2012 at 11:19 pm
Are you tired of the white pundits saying looking at Ryan “he is a likable guy.”
Sure he is a likable guy if you are a white guy, but to the rest of us he is a bullshitting asshole.
October 12th, 2012 at 8:58 am
Okay Howie if you are there what are they G9i11s/02 Says:
October 11th, 2012 at 10:34 am
Talking about
October 12th, 2012 at 10:24 am
Does Having Kids Make You Sick?
Having children seems like it would raise your risk of getting sick, doesn’t it?
Think for a minute about kids and all the gross stuff that they do until they’re old enough to know better.
They touch all sorts of dirty objects and then stick their fingers into their mouths…they wipe their noses with their wrists…they eat food after it hits the ground…just to name a few unhealthy behaviors.
And then they touch you all over, cough into your face and sneeze on your food.
That’s why a lot of people think that parents get sick more often than other adults.
But a new study, surprisingly, shows exactly the opposite.
AH-CHOO!
The research found that parents of children of any age are, on average, less likely to catch colds when they’re exposed to the viruses that cause them, compared with nonparents.
In the study, parents and nonparents ranging in age from 18 to 55 were first screened for general health. Anyone who was sick was excluded. Remaining participants were given nasal drops that contained a cold virus. Over the following week, researchers took nasal cultures and examined symptoms for signs of infection.
The researchers discovered…
Parents of children of any age were, on average, about half as likely to catch colds as nonparents. .
In fact, parents of three or more kids of any age had an even lower chance of becoming sick—a 39% chance—than parents of just one or two kids (who had a 52% chance).
In case you’re wondering, there were no differences found between mothers and fathers. And these associations were independent of race, body mass index, gender and employment or marital status.
Now, I realize that if you’re childless, you’re not going to suddenly start planning a family because of this news, but these are certainly surprising stats, aren’t they?
ONE EXCEPTION TO THE RULE
Interestingly, parents in one particular subset weren’t any more protected from colds than nonparents. The study found that younger parents (those ages 18 to 23), on average, didn’t have as much protection from colds as older parents (those age 24 to 55). Younger parents were just as likely to catch colds as nonparents of the same age, on average.
You might be thinking, like I did, that it could be because young parents likely have young kids. And perhaps these young parents don’t yet have immune systems that are diverse enough to combat all the new germs that their young kiddies are dragging into the house.
It’s hard to know for sure, because one limitation of the study is that the researchers didn’t measure the ages of the children of the participants—only the participants’ ages. But researchers did reveal a finding that pokes a hole in my theory.
Parents of any age who had relatively low antibody levels before exposure to the virus (and therefore, lower immunity to the virus) were still less likely to get colds, compared with nonparents of any age who had relatively low antibody levels.
PARENTHOOD PROTECTS
Lead author of the study, Rodlescia Sneed, MPH, PhD student, added that although only cold viruses were studied, the immune system generally responds in a similar way to most infections. Therefore, the growing immunity to cold viruses that parenthood appears to provide may also hold true for other viral infections and other types of diseases.
So in case you needed another reason to hug your children, go give them a squeeze and thank them for helping to keep you healthy!
Source: Rodlescia Sneed, MPH, PhD student of social and health psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.
She is lead author of a study reported in Psychosomatic Medicine.