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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (668554)	8/22/2012 12:51:26 PM
From: bentway	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1580261

SIREN: Top Republican operatives, who at the beginning of the week had been hopeful that some Christian conservative group might give Todd Akin a job and get him out of the U.S. Senate race in Missouri, NOW FEAR HE WILL STAY IN AT LEAST INTO THE TAMPA CONVENTION NEXT WEEK, although they remain hopeful he will bow out before the Nov. 6 election. A well-wired Republican, on the state of play : "He just put down his last $250,000 on a statewide ad asking for forgiveness. That will run until the 27th and then I'm sure he will do a poll. And then we will see if he will do the right thing or not. ... Over the last 48 hours, you have seen the full weight of the GOP artillery be brought down on Akin - a coordinated effort from the presidential ticket to almost every senator and Senate candidate, down to state senators in Missouri. You have also seen many top conservative voices actually agree, too -- Hannity, Levin, Coulter, Rush, National Review, Weekly Standard ... And in any normal situation that would work. But Akin has been in a bunker. Holed up at his political consultant Rex Elsass's office in Ohio with his family. "So I expect largely the big guns will fall silent -- everyone has made their thoughts very clear. He will emerge from that bunker and go back to Missouri, and soon realize the money has dried up and even fellow conservatives are very unhappy with him. So while things may get a little quiet from the top, the drumbeat at the local level will continue. More local officials in Missouri will call on him to do the right thing. Everyone but Akin right now recognizes that he is putting a Republican majority at risk. He could even put Missouri into the Obama column. ... "[T]he pro-life movement has a very adult moment in front of them. While many leading conservatives have spoken up in the last two days, many pro-life leaders have not. With possible SCOTUS vacancies in the next few years, are they really willing to roll the dice and stand with someone who will most assuredly lose, and in doing so very well keep the Senate in Harry Reid's hands?" SARAH PALIN tells Greta Van Susteren on Fox News' "On the Record": "I'm suggesting that he get out." YouTube bit.ly EMAIL DU JOUR, from smart Dem., with subject line "I wonder": "If GOPers are scrambling to change convention line up or speeches/videos to close gender gap post-Akin." REP. TODD AKIN, to Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today," on what he told Paul Ryan yesterday when he called and asked him to get out of the Missouri Senate race: "I told him that I was gonna be looking at this VERY seriously, trying to weight all of the different points on this, and that I would make the decision. Because it's not about me. It's about trying to do the right thing, and standing on principle. ... "The people of my state didn't elect somebody who was perfect - they knew I wasn't perfect. ... The comments were misspoken there, particularly on the word 'legitimate.' I don't think that's the case. ... This is NOT about me. This is not about my ego. But it is about the voters of the state of Missouri. They have chosen me because of principles I stand on, and putting principle over politics. I believe that they stand with me on a whole host of issues." --AKIN tells ABC's "Good Morning America" that he will respect request of RNC Chair Reince Priebus and NOT attend convention in Tampa. (hat tip: Tim Mak and Katie Glueck) TOP STORY - Boston Globe banner, "GOP plank opposes all abortions: Romney took view in past, supports exceptions now; party stance adds to furor over Akin's rape comments," by Callum Borchers: "The Republican platform committee approved language on Tuesday seeking a constitutional amendment that would ban abortions with no exceptions for rape, incest, or danger to the life of a pregnant woman, a position Democrats quickly labeled the 'Akin Plank' ... The wording of the GOP's call for a 'human life amendment' is no different from what the party approved in 2004 and 2008, but proponents and opponents alike greeted it with renewed zeal ... after Akin." -- [R]ebuke from Scott Brown," by Boston Globe's Glen Johnson and Noah Bierman: Sen. Scott "Brown, a Massachusetts Republican locked in a close reelection campaign with Democrat Elizabeth Warren and eager to demonstrate his political independence, sent a letter to party Chairman Reince Priebus urging a more accommodating position." bo.st --MIKE BARNICLE on "Morning Joe," re the Republicans: "They're doing everything they can to shoot themselves in the head ... talking themselves right out of winning the election." --MIKA BRZEZINSKI: "I kind of feel sorry for the Republican Party at this point, because this guy has made a joke of them. ... They look STUPID - they look incredibly stupid. And I'm not sure what they can do about this disaster of a candidate, and maybe they've done everything they CAN do. "I think Mitt Romney should have done more, and I said it yesterday on the set. He should have spoken for the women in his life, and he should have spoken from the heart. And he should have been DEEPLY insulted for them, that somebody like this can have such an important role in our country's future. Because obviously ... the makeup of the Senate is going to be one of the key stories that shape our political future. "So I think it's pathetic. They look like they're losing. ... I do think that this has a direct link to Paul Ryan. And right now the question I'm asking myself: ... Paul Ryan, who I thought was a GOOD choice for the national conversation, is Paul Ryan a bad choice, or just a choice that's being handled badly? ... It's an embarrassing time for the party. It really is." --"Ryan Opposition to Abortion Consistent With Akin's No Exceptions," by Timothy R. Homan and Steve Walsh: "Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan has cosponsored 38 anti-abortion measures, including some that make no allowance for rape. ... The cosponsorships include bills that would restrict government funding and declare that states have the right to protect life beginning at fertilization. ... Ryan hasn't authored any abortion-related bills during his time in Congress." bloom.bg

To: i-node who wrote (668554)	8/22/2012 1:09:40 PM
From: bentway	Respond to of 1580261

Ryan's controversial Social Security plan he doesn't discuss By Tami Luhby @CNNMoney August 14, 2012: 1:18 PM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Representative Paul Ryan has long wanted to let Americans invest part of their Social Security taxes in private investment accounts. After legislation he co-sponsored in 2005 went nowhere, Ryan included a detailed plan to privatize Social Security in his budget proposal in 2010. Under that plan, he would allow workers to funnel an average of roughly 40% of their payroll taxes into personal retirement accounts. Mitt Romney, who chose the Wisconsin lawmaker as his running mate on Saturday, has also voiced support for private accounts. He has said he likes the idea of allowing people to put some of their funds in accounts with higher returns than Social Security. "Personal accounts will be a big plus," Romney said at a town hall meeting in 2007. The thinking is that people would gain control over a portion of their retirement savings and be able to build bigger nest eggs by investing in stocks. Another plus: They could pass the accounts along to heirs. But neither Ryan nor Romney have said much about private Social Security accounts lately. Ryan dropped it from his more recent budget proposals, while Romney doesn't mention it on his campaign Web site. Adding private accounts to Social Security has been a hugely controversial issue for many years. President George W. Bush's effort to create such a system in 2005 went down in flames in the face of Democratic resistance. Since then, there haven't been any serious attempts to open the retirement program to the stock market. And, of course, the market's roller coaster ride of recent years soured many Americans' view on the idea. "Because of the ups and downs of the market, people see taking their Social Security nest egg and investing it in the market as a risky proposition," said Dan Adcock, director of government relations and policy for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. Related: 5 things to know about Ryan's economics There's another reason why many supporters of private accounts have fallen silent in recent years ... that's because Social Security is no longer running a surplus. When the system was taking in more funds than needed, it could afford to let people direct some of their payroll tax towards individual accounts. But now that the surplus has ended, the system needs all the payroll tax money to pay benefits to current retirees. So private accounts became less desirable because any diverted funds would have to be paid by the federal government. "There is no spare money anymore," said David John, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. That didn't stop Ryan from suggesting it be done. His budget plan unveiled in 2010 called for allowing Americans to open private accounts starting this year. "Due to the higher rate of return received by investments in secure funds consisting of equities and bonds, these accounts would allow workers to build a significant nest egg for retirement that far exceeds what the current program can provide," he wrote in the proposal. Starting a private account would be optional, and their contributions would be guaranteed if the market goes south. The accounts also could be passed down to heirs. More recently, however, Ryan scaled back his plan. In the budgets he proposed this year and last, he now cites ideas put forth by the President Obama's bipartisan fiscal commission, on which he served, that would strength Social Security. These include raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for wealthier retirees. Romney's campaign website lists the same recommendations. Asked about the change, a Romney spokesman said the candidate has "a comprehensive plan to save Social Security with commonsense reforms."