memeorandum: Chicago Teachers' Union Votes to End Strike (New York Times)

12:10 PM ET, September 19, 2012

Top Items:

Time for an Intervention — What should Mitt Romney do now? He should peer deep into the abyss. He should look straight into the heart of darkness where lies a Republican defeat in a year the Republican presidential candidate almost couldn't lose. He should imagine what it will mean for the country …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, American Prospect, ABCNEWS, Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Whiskey Fire, The Maddow Blog, The Page, Mediaite, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Business Insider, Taylor Marsh, US Politics, The Daily Beast, Wonkette, alicublog, Jesus' General and Brad DeLong

Michael Barbaro / The Caucus:

A Mood of Gloom Afflicts the Romney Campaign — SALT LAKE CITY - Mitt Romney's traveling press secretary walked to the back of the candidate's plane midflight on Tuesday and teasingly asked a pair of journalists in an exit row if they were “willing and able to assist in case of an emergency.”

Discussion: New York Magazine, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Lonely Conservative, New York Times, Ballot Box, Hit & Run, Politico, Reuters, ABCNEWS, Connecting.the.Dots, Daily Kos, Wonkette and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »

Michael Falcone / ABCNEWS:

Romney Tapes Give Way To The Not-So-Calm After The Storm (The Note) — NOTABLES: — ROMNEY TAPES GET THE SUPER PAC TREATMENT: That didn't take long. The pro-Obama super PAC, Priorities USA Action, is quick out of the starting gate this morning with a new television ad featuring footage …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Albuquerque Journal, USA Today, Talking Points Memo, Althouse and The Daily Caller

Mitt Romney / USA Today:

I'll deliver recovery, not dependency — Since our founding, America has promoted personal responsibility, the dignity of work and the value of education. Those values made our nation the hope of the earth and our economy the envy of the world. — Efforts that promote hard work …

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, Wake up America, AEIdeas, The Future of Capitalism, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Daily Kos and Election 2012

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

Critical audio gap in “complete” Romney tape released by Mother Jones (Update - Corn responds, 1-2 minutes missing) — David Corn of Mother Jones released the “complete” audio and video of the secretly recorded Mitt Romney speech at a private fundraiser. — Yet the complete audio and video is not complete.

Discussion: Examiner, The Spectacle Blog, MoJo Articles, Patterico's Pontifications, JOSHUAPUNDIT, NewsBusters.org blogs, ABCNEWS, Washington Wire, BBC, Gawker, Wonkette, Mashable!, Mediaite and Taylor Marsh, more at Mediagazer »

Mitt Romney for President of the United States …:

MEMORANDUM — Location — To: Interested Parties — Re: Two Visions for America — 48 days remain until Election Day. As the choice voters face comes into greater focus, the different visions that Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have for America are becoming more sharply defined.

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Daily Beast and Daily Kos

Benny Johnson / TheBlaze.com:
IS THE SECRET VIDEO OF ROMNEY AT FUNDRAISER REALLY UNEDITED? WE MAY HAVE PROOF OTHERWISE

Michelle Malkin:
Romney's “secret video” and the Dem politics of “Squirrel!”

Discussion: Associated Press, Media Decoder, his vorpal sword and THEROOT.COM, more at Mediagazer »

Susan Page / USA Today:

Poll: In 2-point presidential race, Romney trips over 47% — The good news for Republican challenger Mitt Romney: After three rocky weeks, he remains within striking distance of President Obama in the battleground states that matter most. The bad news: His latest misstep could upend that.

Discussion: National Review, First Read and The Daily Dish

ap-gfkpoll.com:

AP-GfK Poll: Obama job approval numbers back up above 50 percent, but race with Romney still tight — WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are feeling markedly better about the country's future and about Barack Obama's job performance, but the president's re-election race against Republican Mitt Romney remains …

Discussion: Sweetness & Light

Associated Press:
AP-GfK poll reveals demographic divides driving close contest for the presidency

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Outside the Beltway and Hot Air

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Obama 48%, Romney 46% in Swing States

Discussion: Politico, americanthinker.com, Ballot Box and CNN

Quinnipiac University:

Obama Hits 50% In Wisconsin, Virginia; Colorado Is Close, Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS News Swing State Poll Finds — Watch Video: Assistant Director Tim Malloy discusses poll results — Clip Information and Download: — FLV File - For Website (1920x1080 / 189.1MB)

Discussion: Firedoglake, GOP 12, Washington Post and Ballot Box

Christian Heinze / GOP 12:
AP: Obama 47% Romney 46%

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

New York Times:
Obama Holds Edge Over Romney In Wisconsin, Poll Shows

Discussion: Washington Wire, The Caucus, The Fix and Prairie Weather

FRANCE 24:

France to close embassies in fear of cartoon backlash — France announced Wednesday it will close 20 embassies across the Muslim world on Friday after French weekly Charlie Hebdo published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed naked, amid growing unrest over an anti-Islamic film that has left dozens dead.

Discussion: Babalú Blog, The Gateway Pundit, Gawker, The Lonely Conservative and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »

Nicola Clark / New York Times:
French Magazine Runs Cartoons That Mock Muhammad

Discussion: BBC, Blazing Cat Fur and The Hinterland Gazette

Reuters:
French Weekly Publishes Muhammad Cartoons

Discussion: CNN, BuzzFeed and The Daily Beast

Nicholas Vinocur / Reuters:
French weekly fuels Mohammad row with cartoons

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and emptywheel

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:

CNBC Poll: 75% Agree With Romney's 47% Comments — UPDATE: The number of people who have taken the CNBC poll has doubled, bringing those who agree with Romney's comments to 76 percent. — As the faux outrage over Mitt Romney's “47%” comments continue to barrel through the airwaves of the old media …

Discussion: Hit & Run, UrbanGrounds and Nice Deb

The Onion:
Romney Apologizes To Nation's 150 Million ‘Starving, Filthy Beggars’

Discussion: The Raw Story and US Politics

Jesse Helfrich / The Hill:

Romney's missteps could cost party the Senate, strategists say — Republicans believe Mitt Romney's mistakes could prevent them from winning back the Senate. — Romney's failure to close the gap with President Obama less than 50 days before the election, as well as a variety of high-profile gaffes …

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Reuters:
Romney woes jangle GOP nerves

Discussion: Politico, Daily Kos and TheBlaze.com

Robert Costa / National Review:

Romney Campaign Borrowed $20 Million — Before the Republican National Convention, Mitt Romney was the Republican nominee in all but name. By law, however, he could only spend primary donations until he officially became nominee. To increase cash flow during the interregnum, the Romney campaign borrowed $20 million.

Discussion: The Hill, The Fix, First Read, The Caucus, Washington Post, New York Magazine and Election 2012

Daniel Strauss / Ballot Box:
Romney campaign memo: Obama's vision is ‘a government-centered society’

Discussion: CNN

Joan Walsh / Salon:

Does Paul Ryan regret his choice? — Calling Mitt's 47 percent comments “obviously inarticulate,” the would-be VP sounds resentful — Paul Ryan didn't sound like Mr. Loyalty when commenting on Mitt Romney's cruel comments about the 47 percent of Americans who pay no taxes Tuesday to a Reno television station.

Discussion: The Maddow Blog

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:

Mitt Romney's ‘Severe Conservatism’ — “I was a severely conservative Republican governor,” Mitt Romney told the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February 2012. — Severely conservative? — Conservatives snickered. “I may be a little giddy here,” Rush Limbaugh said.

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, emptywheel, The Reaction, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Post, The Daily Dish, The Week, The Huffington Post and Politico

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:

CRS report: number of able-bodied adults on food stamps doubled after Obama suspended work requirement … Obama administration officials have insisted that their decision to grant states waivers to redefine work requirements for welfare recipients would not “gut” the landmark 1996 welfare reform law.

Discussion: Moonbattery, The Heritage Foundation, UrbanGrounds and Washington Free Beacon

Rick Ungar / Forbes:

Chicago Teachers Suspend Strike — But Who Won? — . (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife) — The membership of Chicago's striking teachers union has voted overwhelming to suspend their strike and go back to work effective Wednesday morning. — The vote, with 98 percent in support of suspension …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Chicago Tribune

New York Times:
Chicago Teachers' Union Votes to End Strike

Discussion: Guardian, Via Meadia and New York Magazine

Katie Glueck / Politico:

Pat Buchanan: President Obama a ‘drug dealer of welfare’ — President Barack Obama is a “drug dealer of welfare,” conservative commentator Pat Buchanan charged in an interview with Fox News's Greta Van Susteren Tuesday night. — “Barack Obama is a drug dealer of welfare,” he said, speaking on “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.”

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Hinterland Gazette

BuzzFeed:

Ann Romney: Mitt Doesn't Disdain The Poor — The saddest rapid response... The Romney campaign just uploaded a video with the title “Ann Romney to FOX31: Mitt Doesn't Disdain the Poor.” UPDATE: Apparently the campaign has removed the video from their official account. — Zeke Miller — an hour ago

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Mediaite, Swampland and US Politics

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Sept. 18: Obama's Bounce Erodes in Two Tracking Polls — President Obama has been on the decline in the FiveThirtyEight forecast. On Tuesday, his chance of winning the Electoral College dropped to 72.9 percent, from 74.8 percent on Monday. Mr. Obama is now well off his peak in the forecast …

Discussion: ABCNEWS