Des Moines Register Taken Over by Fox News (updated)
by claudsam
There is something profoundly disturbing when the endorsement of one of America's most respected newspapers boils down to a Fox News view of the world with all it's contorted logic and bizarre faith in austerity to solve America's economic problems.
The Des Moines Register endorsed Romney because it claims that Romney will somehow magically restore confidence in the American economy and will solve America's deficit crisis -- ignoring the fact that Romney's policies will add trillions of dollars to the deficit.
Why is is so hard for smart people to understand what is going on in our economy? We have consumers who are buried under debt exacerbated by the financial crisis and the burst housing bubble. We have corporate America unwilling to invest their money because consumers aren't spending. We have a global economic slowdown which drags down our ability to export more goods and services.
With these pillars of economic growth dragging, there is only one institution capable of investing in the economy to promote growth: Government.
Ironically, the DMR seems to get this. They praise Obama for pushing for the stimulus bill that prevented another Great Depression. But in the same sentence they reject the notion of continued government investment to keep the economy afloat -- "the time is past for more government stimulus."
Really? Okay, DMR, care to offer any evidence to support your supposition? If your logic holds, are we then to go along with the austerity cuts built into the sequestration that Republicans and Democrats agree would risk another economic recession? And, does anyone find it interesting that some of the same people who say that the government doesn't grow the economy or put people to work are also saying that sequestration would cripple our economy.
But the DMR takes this contorted logic a step further by completely ignoring the fact that Romney's own proposals would make our deficit crisis A LOT worse. Romney doesn't even pretend to offer ways to pay for $2 trillion in additional defense spending. And he has failed to identify any specific ways he would pay for $5 trillion in new tax cuts, mostly for the very rich.
Does the DMR think adding $7 trillion to the deficit is a good idea? We don't know because they don't confront the question.
The DMR claims that Romney was an effective governor of Massachusetts? Really? Did they ask the residents of Massachusetts who gave Romney at 34% approval rating when he left office after just one term, the lowest approval rating of any Mass governor in recent memory?
The DMR suggests Romney had to work with the Democratic legislature in Mass. Really? Did the DMR care to ask the Dems in Mass how Romney vetoed more than 800 bills passed by the Mass legislature and that the legislature voted to override more than 700 of those vetoes?
The DMR praises Romney's business experience, but offers not one word on the "vulture capitalism" that even Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum attacked.
The DMR suggests that somehow Romney will reject the extremists in his own party on social issues. But there is ZERO evidence in the public record to suggest that Romney is a moderate on social issues. Indeed, his choice for a running mate is a carbon copy of Todd Akin and Richard Mourock on social issues.
I could go on, but I'm too tired. I expect this nonsense from Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. But the Des Moines Register is supposed to be a place of rational thought. Apparently no longer.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/27/1151360/-Des-Moines-Register-Taken-Over-by-Fox-News
Updated to add:
“It’s surprising that the Register would endorse Mitt Romney given that he wants to kill the wind energy tax credit so critical to Iowa’s economy, increase our deficit, and cut education funding important to creating jobs. His embrace of the GOP’s extreme wing throughout this campaign will certainly make it hard to work across aisle. Meanwhile, President Obama has a concrete, detailed plan for moving America forward, getting folks back to work and strengthening the middle class by making smart investments in energy, education and training, growing small businesses, promoting technology and innovation, and reducing the deficit in a bipartisan way.”
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/1151360/48132222#c7
Note:
= new reply since forum marked as read
Hi flamingdem,
I am very confident that Obama will take Iowa and here are my reasons:
--Obama has almost always led in the polls. When he hasn't, he has been a point or two behind. However, most of the current polls show Obama ahead in Iowa by a few points.
--There is more excitement and enthusiasm for Obama than Romney. I went to an Obama rally and there were 10,000+ people there. In Davenport last week, there were reportedly 15,000+ people. Romney spoke in Ames, Iowa on Friday. I posted shots of the crowd. It looks like there were maybe 1,000-1,500 people there.
--Obama's ground game is phenomenal in Iowa, and is in-part due to Iowa's "first in the nation" status. Obama won those caucuses that led up to the 2008 election and he instilled a ground game in Iowa that never really left. He's got twice as many offices in Iowa, as Romney does. The ground game really is amazing. In 2008, I had Obama volunteers calling me, in my driveway and Obama even called me himself because our local field officer told him that I was undecided. How's that for target marketing?? That ground game is just as strong today and even better at targeting voters. I'm actually a registered Republican. I have not had ANY calls to volunteer or attend Romney events in the past month. Obama's team calls me all of the time. They called me Thurs to ask me if I've voted and they told me exactly where to go. They asked if I would like to volunteer, and someone called me from the OFA office within 24 hours.
--Also, Obama has been incredibly creative this year with GOTV. In Iowa, you can get any site (a grocery store, a college campus, even a parking lot) to be a satellite polling place. All you need is 100 signatures. These satellite polling places are convenient sites where people can vote without traveling to their polling place. I saw one at a Hispanic grocery store the other day. Apparently, the Obama campaign has 56 satellite polling places on college campuses throughout Iowa. That's HUGE. College students overwhelmingly vote Obama, but they're busy and turnout can be a problem with this demographic. Obama is taking it to them!
I assume that Obama has many other satellite polling places. The article I read on this phenomena focused on the college sites and also the Hispanic grocery store site. The article also quotes a Republican, and their interest in setting up these sites seemed very inadequate. I don't think the Romney campaign capitalized on this granular tactic.
--I know it's going to be close, but flamingdem--I know my state. There are large blocks of Evangelical voters. They will turnout in high numbers. However, the people of Iowa are hyper-politically aware. We take our "first in the nation" status very seriously. So many people are plugged into politics. You can damn well bet that the Democrats understand very well what a Romney presidency would mean. Many suggest that Obama has disappointed and many Dem voters might not be as passionate to vote for him. I never bought into that, but I can tell you that Iowans understand the stakes. Dems will be at the polls motivated equally to vote for Obama and to cast a vote against Romney. There is a huge progressive contingent. Remember, we have gay marriage! 
--And last but not least, the current absentee and early voting numbers are terrific. 420,000 Iowans have cast absentee ballots or voted early. 44 percent of all ballots cast thus far were Democrats, 30 percent were Republicans (the remaining were Indies). That is a terrific advantage. Given Iowa's past voting statistics--that means aprox 30 percent of Iowans have all ready voted. To be ahead by 14 percent with 30 percent of the vote in--is tremendous!
There you go! That's my opinion. Here are some links if you are interested in further info! 
NPR article on Iowa's satellite voting offices:
http://www.wbur.org/npr/163560324/vote-while-you-shop-pop-up-poll-sites-sweep-iowa
Terrific article on Obama's ground game, and how it towers over Romney's ground game (cool chart showing Obama's advantage with field offices in three swing states). My favorite quote from this article:
"These basic characteristics were repeated in all the offices I visited: The Obama offices were devoted almost entirely to the president's reelection; the Republican offices were devoted almost entirely to local candidates, with little presence for Romney."
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/10/obamas-edge-the-ground-game-that-could-put-him-over-the-top/264031/
