memeorandum: Romney's Pre-Existing Politics (Wall Street Journal)

2:05 PM ET, September 11, 2012

Top Items:

Among likely voters, Obama-Romney close — Last week's Democratic National Convention helped President Obama improve his standing against Republican Mitt Romney, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, but did little to reduce voter concern about his handling of the economy.

Rasmussen Reports:

Job Creation? 47% Trust Obama, 45% Romney — Following another dismal jobs report, voters overwhelmingly rate job creation as important to their vote but are almost evenly divided when it comes to which presidential candidate they trust more on the issue.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Taylor Marsh and Althouse

Dean Chambers / Examiner:
Mitt Romney would lead eight in unskewed data from newest CNN/ORC poll

Discussion: Jammie Wearing Fools, Hot Air, Questions and Observations, Scared Monkeys, iOwnTheWorld.com, CNN and The Gateway Pundit

tipponline:
Race Tightens As Obama Advantage Narrows To 2 Points

Discussion: Examiner, No More Mister Nice Blog, FiveThirtyEight, The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers and GOP 12

Gregory J. Krieg / ABCNEWS:
Poll: Americans Pick President Obama Over Mitt Romney for Dinner Date

Discussion: Taking Note, Politico, Mediaite and Jammie Wearing Fools

Jonathan S. Tobin / Commentary Magazine:
Poll Shows Obama Getting Lowest Jewish Support Since Carter

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Israel Matzav and americanthinker.com

Evan Vucci / ABCNEWS:
Obama Gains a Convention Boost - But Not Among Likely Voters

Discussion: The Caucus and Mother Jones

Washington Post:
Obama, Romney run close among likely voters after conventions

Discussion: Examiner, National Review, Washington Examiner, GOP 12, AEIdeas, The Fix and The Daily Dish

Kurt Eichenwald / New York Times:

Op-Ed Contributor: The Bush White House Was Deaf to 9/11 Warnings — IT was perhaps the most famous presidential briefing in history. — On Aug. 6, 2001, President George W. Bush received a classified review of the threats posed by Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, Al Qaeda.

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:

How Mitt Romney Is Losing The Debate Expectations Game — He's practicing hard, his aides say! Obama's camp pretends to panic. — Romney with Senator Rob Portman, who is playing President Barack Obama in debate prep, earlier this month. — Image by Brian Snyder / Reuters

Discussion: GOP 12 and Mediaite

Reuters:

The Kerry-ization of Mitt Romney — Mitt Romney is getting the full John Kerry treatment on national security — and some top Republicans are alarmed by what they see as his ham-handed response to it. — Romney — whose convention speech didn't include a salute to the troops or a reference to Afghanistan …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Jim VandeHei / Reuters:

GOP to Mitt Romney: You're so vague — Leading conservatives are offering blunt advice to Mitt Romney: Quit ducking details, start engaging in a real and specific war of ideas with President Barack Obama — or lose. — Here's just a sampling of the past 24 hours:

Discussion: Daily Kos

BuzzFeed:

Obama's Plan To Use National Security To Beat Romney — Obama's decision to play offense on foreign policy marks a “real, significant shift” in our politics, says an Obama advisor. Just another “shiny object,” a Romneyite fires back. — One of the most aggressive parts …

Discussion: Wonkette, Daily Kos, Marbury and Taylor Marsh

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Conservatives: Romney's Policy Secrecy Will Be His Downfall

Discussion: American Prospect, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Paul Krugman, Slate and The Hinterland Gazette

Brent Budowsky / Pundits Blog:
Romney's Osama bin Laden problem

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Julie Pace / Associated Press:
Both campaigns eschew politics on 9/11 anniversary

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

ABCNEWS:

Paul Ryan on Chicago Teachers' Strike: ‘We Stand with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’ — PORTLAND, Ore. — Paul Ryan crossed party lines and voiced support for one of President Obama's biggest backers today, saying, “We stand with Mayor Rahm Emanuel” in his fight with Chicago's teachers …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Progressive Change …, Firedoglake, Guardian, The Raw Story, Politico, The Hinterland Gazette, Lawyers, Guns & Money and CNN

Rick Perlstein / Salon:

Stand against Rahm! — First Wisconsin. Then Occupy. Now Chicago. The teachers' strike is the next chapter in the fight against plutocracy — CHICAGO — I was awoken by honking car horns yesterday morning, and couldn't have been happier for the fact.

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Taylor Marsh, The Daily Beast, Outside the Beltway and Washington Post

Steven Greenhouse / New York Times:

In Standoff, Latest Sign of Unions Under Siege — The high-stakes strike by 26,000 public school teachers in Chicago is only the latest episode in which the nation's teachers' unions have been thrown on the defensive in the face of demands for far-reaching changes.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, CBS Chicago, Taylor Marsh, Jared Bernstein and Via Meadia

Charles Lane / Washington Post:
Students are victims in Chicago fight over clout

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Best of the Ed Blogs, EAGnews.org, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Illinois Review

Dylan Matthews / Washington Post:
Everything you need to know about the Chicago teachers' strike, in one post

Discussion: The American Conservative, Chicago Sun Times, Hot Air, The Daily Dish, Daily Kos, newsfeed.time.com and Belmont Club

Chicago Tribune:
Chicago teachers strike updates: 'It's a national embarrassment'

Discussion: The Glittering Eye, naked capitalism, Politico, Rush Limbaugh, Firedoglake, Lynn Sweet, Doug Ross, Truthdig, Teacher X and The Hill

Jamie Weinstein / The Daily Caller:

Cheney responds to Obama's reportedly poor intelligence briefings attendance — Former Vice President Dick Cheney took a shot at President Barack Obama late Monday night after it was reported that the president has attended fewer than half of his daily intelligence briefings.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Hill, Wonkette, Scared Monkeys, The Maddow Blog, AEIdeas, The Raw Story, Weasel Zippers, The Lonely Conservative, Government Accountability …, “The Lid” and Doug Ross

Byron Tau / Politico:
Cheney knocks Obama on bin Laden, intel briefings

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and The Daily Caller

Barak Ravid / Associated Press:

Netanyahu: Those that refuse to set red lines for Iran can't give Israel red light — Netanyahu launches unprecedented attack on U.S. government; diplomats tell AP that IAEA has new intelligence that Iran advanced its work on nuclear warhead. — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Photo by Olivier Fitoussi

Discussion: Mondoweiss, The Atlantic Online and Atlas Shrugs

George Jahn / Associated Press:
AP Exclusive: New intelligence on Iran nuke work

Discussion: emptywheel and The Daily Beast

Fox News:

EXCLUSIVE: Parents of SEAL Team Six member say unit endangered by Obama administration statements — Identifying the Special Operations Force behind the Usama bin Laden raid amounted to placing a target on the back of the team members as well as their families, according to the parents of Aaron Vaughn …

Discussion: Politico, The PJ Tatler, The Right Scoop and The Gateway Pundit

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:

Biden recalls own loss while marking ‘bittersweet’ 9/11 anniversary — Vice President Joe Biden drew on the sorrow of his own personal losses as he addressed the memorial marking 11 years since United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a Pennsylvania field. — “It is a bittersweet moment …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Jammie Wearing Fools

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:

Moody's: Congress must reach fiscal deal to avert downgrade — Moody's Investors Service warned Tuesday that Congress will need to strike a deal on the “fiscal cliff” to avoid a second downgrade to the nation's credit rating. — The rating agency said that budget negotiations in 2013 …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Mike Konczal / Business Insider:

The Complete Guide To America's Jobs Crisis And The Failure Of Monetary Policy Using Animated Gifs — The following guest post is a complete description of America's jobs crisis and the failure of monetary policy policy to address it. — Author Mike Konczal helpfully uses animated .gifs …

Discussion: Slate and Unfogged

Robert Mankoff / From the Desk of Bob Mankoff:

Nipplegate — The New Yorker has a Facebook page, which a lot of you like, or maybe it's just one person with a lot of time on their hands, liking the page over and over again. But in any case, it's a whole lotta like. We like that. — What we don't like is that we got temporarily banned …