Real Monsters

Political Cartoon is by Mike Luckovich in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Swing State Polls

Here are some more new swing state polls. I don't know how accurate they are, but I present them for your perusal:

COLORADO

Public Policy Polling
Obama...............51%
Romney...............47%

Project New America Poll
Obama...............46%
Romney...............43%

WSJ/NBC/Marist Poll
Obama...............48%
Romney...............48%

FLORIDA

Project New America Poll
Obama...............47%
Romney...............45%

NEVADA

WSJ/NBC/Marist Poll
Obama...............50%
Romney...............47%

NORTH CAROLINA

Public Policy Polling
Obama...............48%
Romney...............48%

OHIO

CNN/ORC International Poll
Obama...............50%
Romney...............46%

PENNSYLVANIA

Rasmussen Poll
Obama...............51%
Romney...............46%

VIRGINIA

Newsmax/Zogby Poll
Obama...............49%
Romney...............47%

Fox News Poll
Obama...............45%
Romney...............47%

Divided

Political Cartoon is by Nick Anderson in The Houston Chronicle.

GOP Is Bad For Youth And Parents

This is just to remind voters that electing Republicans would not just be bad for the elderly, the poor & disadvantaged, the unemployed, and the middle class. It would also be disastrous for any youth wanting an education beyond high school -- and for the parents of those young people.

The Only "People" Who Like War

Americans Feeling Better Financially

The last debate was about foreign policy, and while it was interesting, it probably won't affect the election much either way. We have long known that this election is about jobs and the economy, which should surprise no one, since many Americans are still hurting from the Bush recession. The Republicans have blocked nearly all attempts by the Obama administration to improve the economy and create jobs. They did this because they wanted to shift blame for the recession economy onto President Obama -- and they thought they could do that if the economy didn't get better.

It doesn't look like that strategy is working for them -- at least not well enough to put all of the blame for the economy on President Obama. Repeated polls have shown that most people, even four years later, still place the blame for the recession squarely on the shoulders of President Bush -- not President Obama. And now there is a new poll that shows Americans are viewing their own financial situation more positively.

A new Gallup Poll, taken on October 22nd and 23rd of a national random sample of 1,065 adults, showed that for the first time since before the recession more people said their financial situation had improved in the last year than said they were worse off. About 38% said there were better off, while 34% said they were worse off and 26% said their financial position had not changed. This improving view of personal finances can only help the president in the coming election.

But the real boost for the president comes in the answer poll respondents gave to the next question on the poll -- whether they would be better or worse off a year from now. About two-thirds (66%) of all respondents said their financial position would be better next year than it is this year -- a higher number than at any other time in the Obama administration.

Traditionally, this is good news for a sitting president. Reagan was re-elected in 1984 with only 53% saying that, and Clinton was re-elected in 1996 with about 66% expecting to be better off the next year. And losing presidents had lower percentages -- with Carter having 36% in 1980 and George H.W. Bush having 51% in 1992.

It looks like Willard Mitt Romney is fighting against not only the last Republican president still being blamed for causing the recession, but also against a rising tide of financial optimism among a significant majority of Americans.

Another Empty Chair

Political cartoon is Steve Sack in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Equal Rights Includes Equal Pay

The Republicans (and their presidential candidate, Willard Mitt Romney) would have us believe that women have equal rights in this country. They say that making businesses pay women equal to men is unfair to those businesses, who simply pay less because women take so much time off from work to have babies and raise families. That is bull crap. The above chart shows the pay received by men and women only one year after college graduation -- long before any time is taken off for any reason.

If the pay is so unequal right out of college (where women make only from 77% to 88% of what their male counterparts earn for the same work), then it becomes obvious that the inequality is an endemic part of the system -- and cannot be justified by anything the women do (or don't do). Like it or not, unequal pay translates directly into unequal rights -- whether the lower pay is given to women, minorities, or for some other equally ridiculous reason.

This is just another way in which the Republicans don't believe in fairness. All people who have the same education and qualifications, and are doing the same job, should receive equal pay. To pay a person less because of sex or race is nothing less than theft.

Why do the Republicans continue to oppose equal pay for equal work? Because they have decided that corporate profits (and corporate campaign donations) are more important than constitutionally-guaranteed equal rights -- and that is just wrong.

Apologies

Political Cartoon is by David Fitzsimmons in the Arizona Daily Star.

Colin Powell On Obama And Romney

Colin Powell offered his views on the 2012 election and the presidential candidates on CBS This Morning last Thursday. Here is what he had to say:

"I voted for him in 2008 and I plan to stick with him in 2012 and I'll be voting for he and for Vice President Joe Biden next month." 

"When he took over, the country was in very very difficult straits. We were in the one of the worst recessions we had seen in recent times, close to a depression. The fiscal system was collapsing. Wall Street was in chaos, we had 800,000 jobs lost in that first month of the Obama administration and unemployment peaked a few months later at 10 percent. So we were in real trouble. The auto industry was collapsing, the housing was start[ing] to collapse and we were in very difficult straits. And I saw over the next several years, stabilization come back in the financial community, housing is now starting to pick up after four years, it's starting to pick up. Consumer confidence is rising." 

"Generally we've come out of the dive and we're starting to gain altitude. The unemployment rate is too high, people are still hurting in housing but I see that we're starting to rise up."

Powell said he saw "the president get us of one war, start to get us out of a second war and did not get us into any new wars. And finally I think that the actions he has taken with respect to protecting us from terrorism have been very very solid. And so, I think we ought to keep on the track that we are on." 

"The governor who was saying things at the debate on Monday night ... was saying things that were quite different from what he said earlier. I'm not quite sure which Gov. Romney we would be getting with respect to foreign policy." 

"One day he has a certain strong view about staying in Afghanistan but then on Monday night he agrees with the withdrawal, same thing in Iraq. On almost every issue that was discussed on Monday night, Governor Romney agreed with the President with some nuances. But this is quite a different set of foreign policy views than he had earlier in the campaign. And my concern ... is that sometimes I don't sense that he has thought through these issues as thoroughly as he should have." 

"As I listen to what his proposals are especially with respect to dealing with respect to our most significant issue, the economy, it's essentially let's cut taxes and compensate for that with other things but that compensation does not cover all of the cuts intended or the new expenses associated with defense."

Still Flip-Flopping

Political Cartoon is by Stuart Carlson at carlsontoons.com.

Swing State Polls

The swing state polls keep coming. Here are the latest:

FLORIDA

Gravis Poll
Obama...............49%
Romney...............50%

IOWA

Public Policy Polling
Obama...............49%
Romney...............47%

MICHIGAN

Foster McCollum Poll
Obama...............47%
Romney...............47%

NEVADA

Rasmussen Poll
Obama...............50%
Romney...............48%

Public Policy Polling
Obama...............51%
Romney...............47%

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Rasmussen Poll
Obama...............48%
Romney...............50%

Lake Research Poll
Obama...............48%
Romney...............45%

OHIO

Time Poll
Obama...............49%
Romney...............44%

SurveyUSA Poll
Obama...............47%
Romney...............44%

Rasmussen Poll
Obama...............48%
Romney...............48%

Lake Research Poll
Obama...............46%
Romney...............44%

VIRGINIA

Old Dominion University Poll
Obama...............50%
Romney...............43%

Newsmax/Zogby Poll
Obama...............49%
Romney...............46%

Public Policy Polling
Obama...............51%
Romney...............46%

WISCONSIN

Public Policy Polling
Obama...............51%
Romney...............45%

Detroit

Political Cartoon is by Clay bennett in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Misplaced Priorities

And guess which country spends nearly half of that money spent on the military -- the United States. It answers the question about why we still have poverty and food insecurity in this country -- because our politicians (who were elected by us) simply don't care about the poor. They would rather keep pumping money into the already bloated and extremely greedy military-industrial complex. We have the money to eliminate poverty, and we could do it without raising taxes. All we would have to do is cut a few weeks worth of spending out of the military budget (and we would still be spending far more on the military than any other country). Shouldn't we be ashamed of our decision that killing people is more important than giving them a helping hand?