Throughout the 2012 Republican primary Democrats have worked tirelessly to paint Mitt Romney -- through a series of out-of-context snippets and unfair attack ads -- as a privileged bully who doesn’t care about poor people or animals. And to some degree, these distortions have been successful. After all, according to a recent ABC News poll, while voters trust Mitt Romney over President Obama on jobs and the economy; he trails The One in personal favorability by double digits. As a result, the Romney camp recently unveiled a short personal web video recounting his wife’s long struggle with multiple sclerosis. (H/T The Hill):

Even though this advertisement won’t completely erase the warped perception that Mitt Romney is a “vampire" capitalist who only cares about money, it shows that the GOP nominee is deeply devoted to his wife and family. Oh, and by the way, I do not think -- as some have suggested -- that the former governor refers to his wife as his “soul mate” and “a real champion and fighter” merely for political purposes. This is what he genuinely believes. That being the case -- the more voters learn about Romney’s role as a husband, for example -- the less “robotic” and out-of-touch he seems. These types of personal advertisements are a great way for Team Romney to introduce their candidate to the American people. And they appear to be working.

Former Democrat, Obama supporter and Congressman Artur Davis is making the switch to the Republican party. Davis is a former member of the Congressional Black Caucus and after watching for three years as the Democrats destroy this country and break promise after promise, he's had it.

While I’ve gone to great lengths to keep this website a forum for ideas, and not a personal forum, I should say something about the various stories regarding my political future in Virginia, the state that has been my primary home since late December 2010. The short of it is this: I don’t know and am nowhere near deciding.  If I were to run, it would be as a Republican. And I am in the process of changing my voter registration from Alabama to Virginia, a development which likely does represent a closing of one chapter and perhaps the opening of another.

And the question of party label in what remains a two team enterprise? That, too, is no light decision on my part: cutting ties with an Alabama Democratic Party that has weakened and lost faith with more and more Alabamians every year is one thing; leaving a national party that has been the home for my political values for two decades is quite another. My personal library is still full of books on John and Robert Kennedy, and I have rarely talked about politics without trying to capture the noble things they stood for. I have also not forgotten that in my early thirties, the Democratic Party managed to engineer the last run of robust growth and expanded social mobility that we have enjoyed; and when the party was doing that work, it felt inclusive, vibrant, and open-minded.

But parties change. As I told a reporter last week, this is not Bill Clinton’s Democratic Party (and he knows that even if he can’t say it).  If you have read this blog, and taken the time to look for a theme in the thousands of words (or free opposition research) contained in it, you see the imperfect musings of a voter who describes growth as a deeper problem than exaggerated inequality; who wants to radically reform the way we educate our children; who despises identity politics and the practice of speaking for groups and not one national interest; who knows that our current course on entitlements will eventually break our solvency and cause us to break promises to our most vulnerable—that is, if we don’t start the hard work of fixing it.

On the specifics, I have regularly criticized an agenda that would punish businesses and job creators with more taxes just as they are trying to thrive again. I have taken issue with an administration that has lapsed into a bloc by bloc appeal to group grievances when the country is already too fractured: frankly, the symbolism of Barack Obama winning has not given us the substance of a united country. You have also seen me write that faith institutions should not be compelled to violate their teachings because faith is a freedom, too. You’ve read that in my view, the law can’t continue to favor one race over another in offering hard-earned slots in colleges: America has changed, and we are now diverse enough that we don’t need to accommodate a racial spoils system. And you know from these pages that I still think the way we have gone about mending the flaws in our healthcare system is the wrong way—it goes further than we need and costs more than we can bear.

Taken together, these are hardly the enthusiasms of a Democrat circa 2012, and they wouldn’t be defensible in a Democratic primary. But they are the thoughts and values of ten years of learning, and seeing things I once thought were true fall into disarray. So, if I were to leave the sidelines, it would be as a member of the Republican Party that is fighting the drift in this country in a way that comes closest to my way of thinking: wearing a Democratic label no longer matches what I know about my country and its possibilities.

Full confession: you won’t find in my columns a poll tested candidate who could satisfy a litmus test.  Immigration is a classic example: I wince at the Obama Administration’s efforts to tell states they can’t say the word immigration in their state laws, and find it foolish when I hear their lawyers say that a local cop can’t determine the legal status of a suspect validly in their custody. At the same time, I wince when I see Latinos who have a lawful right to be here have to dodge the glare of so-called “self-deportation laws” that look too uncomfortably like profiling. (It’s a good thing Virginia hasn’t gone that path).  And while I haven’t written about the subject as much as I should have, I can’t defend every break in our tax code, or every special interest set-aside, as a necessary tool of a free market. And I can’t say every dollar spent on our weak and our marginal is a give-away: a just government is mindful of the places where prosperity never shines (and I give a lot of credit to an undisputed conservative, Mitch Daniels in Indiana, for saying so, and doing it at  the nation’s leading conservative political caucus at that.)

I was at the annual Truth The Vote Summit a month ago with Davis where he pledged his full support for Voter ID. During his speech, he held up his driver's license and said, "This is not a billy club." He also said opposition to Voter ID laws are built on a lie and that voting doesn't happen by snapping a finger.

"Where is this idea that if I have a right I have no responsibilities?" he said.

Quite the opposite of President Obama and Eric Holder, who are suing state after state for passing Voter ID laws in order to prevent voter fraud.

Never before seen footage of the late Andrew Breitbart with writer Lee Stranahan at CPAC 2011 has surfaced at Mediate. If you need a good laugh, watch them all, especially the first video when Andrew talks about why he is pro-life. Warning: some strong language.

It's official: Mitt Romney is the GOP nominee and will battle President Obama for the White House. Team Romney has released a new video, "The Promise of America," to kick things off.

It has almost been one year since Mitt Romney announced his campaign for president in Stratham, New Hampshire. As he clinches the delegates needed for the Republican nomination, we look back on this journey to restore the promise of America.

 

In a classy move, President Obama actually called Romney today to congratulate him on his victory.

Obama spoke with Romney by phone around 11:30 am ET, aides on both sides said. The president placed the call from the White House, reaching Romney in Las Vegas, where he was preparing to depart to California for a day of fundraisers.

“The president called Governor Romney to congratulate him on securing the Republican nomination,” Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a statement. “President Obama said that he looked forward to an important and healthy debate about America’s future, and wished Governor Romney and his family well throughout the upcoming campaign.”

A Romney campaign aide described the exchange as “brief and cordial,” adding that the governor “thanked the president for his congratulations and wished him and his family well.”

Mark his words: Obama said "healthy debate." We'll see how long that lasts.

Mitt Romney is gaining steam with female voters as President Obama continues his class warfare campaign tactics.

All Romney’s gains have come among women – up by 13 percentage points in personal popularity from last month, while Obama’s lost 7 points among women. (Views among men have been more stable.) Obama’s rating among women, 51 percent favorable, still beats Romney’s 40 percent – but again that margin is far smaller than what it was six weeks ago.

An ABC/Post poll last week found improvement for Romney in vote preferences among married women.

Why is Romney gaining with women? Two things. 1. Ann Romney 2. Focusing on economic growth and jobs.

Yes, you read that correctly. Somebody over at MSNBC actually thinks Vice President Joe Biden is one of the most dignified and greatest political leaders in America.

"Are you really going to throw Joe Biden under the bus?!"

"You're comparing him [Joe Biden] to the gaffetasticness of Donald Trump."

Yes, this Joe Biden.

In case you missed it: Swing State Voters Not So Hot on Biden.

First, he went 0-for-2 on budgets, and now, this: Senate Democrats blatantly don't care about President Obama's "To Do List," and what's more, they don't even know what's on it!

For background, this "To Do List" was a demagogue-tastic rhetorical device Obama threw around in a few speeches, starting with this year's State of the Union. In early May, he introduced the list itself, five "tasks" he charged Congress with completing, that he argued could conveniently fit on a Post-It note.

Among the proposals are tax credits for businesses who hire workers or increase wages, credits for businesses that bring jobs from overseas back to the United States, and a plan for mortgage relief that would allow homeowners who are current on their loans to refinance at lower rates, according to a White House official. Obama also wants Congress to extend and expand tax credits for clean energy production and create a veterans job corps.

As usual, he entreated voters to bug their Representatives and Senators about it -- the old, "Call them, tweet them, write them letters" mantra -- but it seems the American people didn't follow directions. As partisan as the Senate is, it seems there's agreement between both the Democrats and the Republicans: no one cares about the president's list. Really, when you see what some of these Democratic lawmakers had to say about Obama's agenda, you almost feel bad for him.

"Didn’t we do some things he wanted us to do?” asked Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.). “[Export-Import] Bank, that doesn’t count? That wasn’t on the to-do list?”

No. The president wanted that, too, but it’s not on the list.

“Do you have a copy of the to-do list?” Landrieu asked.

After a reporter told her what was on the list, she quipped, “We’re adding to that list by doing some great things.”

“I don’t have a copy of it; I’m sure my staff does,” said Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), when asked when the Senate might get to it.

“We’ve got June, July. We’ve got some time. What time frame did he put on that to-do list?”

When told the president said the to-do list could be done “now,” Casey joked, “Now is a very expansive term. It’s not even the summer yet.“

“Didn’t we just try to move on student loans. Wasn’t that on his list?” asked Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.).

No, that’s a separate priority.

“You’d have to ask Harry Reid” why the list hasn’t moved, Levin said.

As funny as this is, it's pretty revealing: Obama has lost his clout with the Congressional higher-ups in his own party. His disgraceful, debt-laden attempts at producing a budget failed so miserably that it seems they just won't take him too seriously when he suggests legislation.

Of course, this little rift between Congressional Democrats and the White House is hardly hostile -- quite the contrary! The lawmakers quoted in this Roll Call story kept insisting they were doing Obama's bidding, with student loans, the Export-Import Bank, etc. They're happy to advance the party's agenda; they're just not listening to what Obama's proposing anymore. Even Harry Reid won't play along with the "To Do List:"

When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) outlined his agenda for the June work period this week, only one item from Obama’s to-do list made the cut — a business tax cut package. That’s the item most likely to win GOP support, given that Democrats at this point plan to follow the lead of House Republicans and simply borrow the money to pay for it.

The president has become legislatively impotent; no one in his party will follow his directions, and of course, the Republicans are hardly going to take up his agenda. According to Sen. Cornyn, the Democrats, along with the Republicans, seem to think that the president is in all-out campaign mode, and no longer a participant in helping to set the agenda.

“The fact of life is none of us work for the president,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “What you see is the Senate’s legislative agenda being driven by the Senate, not by the White House. The president’s pretty much irrelevant, because he’s basically given up on governing and is campaigning.”

Obama's the Ugarte to the Senate's Rick: they might despise him, if they gave him any thought. Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is bipartisanship.

Speaking to reporters during a conference call Wednesday, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus applauded Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker for governing as he campaigned just one week ahead of the June 5 recall election.

"Courage is on the ballot and courage is right next to Scott Walker's name," Priebus said. "We need more people of courage to run for office in this country and to govern as they campaigned."

Priebus welcomed DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to the state, who is there for what he called a "token visit" and said he looks forward to seeing what their top notch ground game has in store for Tuesday considering the DNC and OFA have been "all over the map" when it comes to their support of Walker's opponent, Democrat Tom Barrett.

So what's the plan for Tuesday and how will the RNC ensure Walker comes out a winner next week? Twenty victory field offices have been set up in the state and the RNC has provided tools on their website for anyone around the country to get involved in the recall election. Not to mention, in just two months, the RNC has contacted 2.5 million voters and has focused on what Priebus sees as a priority: maximizing turnout.

After all, Tuesday's recall election results won't just impact Wisconsin, but the presidential election in November, as well.

"If Walker wins next Tuesday, which we're confident he will, Obama's going to have a much tougher road in Wisconsin this fall," Priebus said. "The confidence of job creators in the state continues to grow in the face of Obama's economy."

Yet the election isn't just affecting the Republican base. Democrats in the state aren't all on the same page, according to Priebus.

"There are a decent amount of Democrats that are being polled in focus groups that are saying, 'We may not be Republicans, but this recall stuff is out of control.' To have a recall over legislative disagreements even to many Democrats is absurd," Priebus said.

In terms of messaging, Democrats, the DNC and Barrett have been pretty mum when it comes to campaigning for collective bargaining rights, because it isn't a message that's working. 

"Democrats aren't talking about collective bargaining in this campaign because it's a dead dog loser," Priebus said.

Walker is currently leading Barrett significantly in the polls.

My, how time flies. Is seems like just yesterday that Wisconsin Democrats suffered consecutive electoral setbacks, only to press forward with their costly recall effort against Scott Walker, undeterred.  Now the big day is less than a week away, and liberals are already explaining why whatever happens won't really matter all that much:
 

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) insisted in a television interview that a loss for the Democratic candidate in the recall, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, wouldn’t have any implications for other races, such as the presidential election. “I think, honestly, there aren’t going to be any repercussions,” Wasserman Schultz said on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” program. “It’s an election that’s based in Wisconsin.”

Yeah, Debbie.  "Honestly."  Here's liberal columnist Steve Kornacki arguing essentially the same point:
 

So, given this polarized, high-interest climate, if the numbers end up breaking the GOP’s way on June 5, how could it not be some kind of harbinger for the fall? Actually, there’s a good reason to think it won’t be: The same polls that have Walker well-positioned to fend off Barrett don’t give Romney quite the same strength. The most recent public survey, released last week by St. Norbert College and Wisconsin Public Radio, put Walker ahead 50 to 45 percent in the recall race and Obama up 49 to 43 percent on the presidential side.

To his credit, Kornacki does point out that another poll showing the presidential race tied in the Badger State, at 46-46.  Even so, this surge in feigned ambivalence from the Left could be the surest sign yet that Walker's a lock for, um, "re-election."  I can't help but shake the suspicion that if Barrett shocks the world and wins, liberals will be overcome with the fresh realization that Walker's defeat is one of the most important indicators in American political history.  But for now, with things looking bleak, "meh" is carrying the day.  Make no mistake: The Left -- and especially organized labor -- desperately wants to oust Walker.  He campaigned as a conservative, has governed as a conservative, and has thrown the breaks on the nasty little taxpayer-funded union/Democrat gravy train racket that's been running for decades.  His reforms are working, and people are noticing, even in a state that hasn't voted for a Republican presidential candidate since before I was born.  If Walker's bold, riot-triggering reforms are affirmed by voters next week, it will be a very dark day indeed for a core Democrat constituency.  But is DWS right?  Would a Walker victory auger almost nothing about the presidential race?  I discussed that question on Neil Cavuto's Fox News show earlier in the week, and reached something of a split decision:
 

In short, the presidential year electorate in Wisconsin will differ from the group that turns out on Tuesday, probably to Barack Obama's benefit, but state Republicans are getting a whole lot of practice motivating and turning out their voters in droves.  Remember this?  Plus, George W. Bush barely lost Wisconsin twice; could Romney finally flip it red, in light the red tide that has swamped the state over the last two years?  We'll see soon enough.  Task one: Fortify Walker and give his important reforms an unambiguous vote of confidence.  The lasting impact of that outcome on future conservative reformers would be monumental -- regardless of whether Wisconsin becomes a swing state in November.

UPDATE - This just arrived in my inbox, via a pro-Walker group.  They're not bashful about making this a national issue and linking it directly to the presidential race:
 

Before the 2012 elections, conservatives need a reason to believe we can beat Barack Obama. That is why we are forwarding Scott Walker's latest email to you. With the Wisconsin Recall election on June 5th, Governor Walker needs our help.

UPDATE II - Here's Team Walker's latest ad against Barrett, who is coming under fire for the Milwaukee Police Department's apparent goosing of crime stats (via Ed Morrissey):
 

UPDATE III - For a recap on Friday's Walker/Barrett debate, the Standard's John McCormack has you covered.  I watched a fair amount of it on C-SPAN, too.  Barrett looked desperate, and Walker never broke a sweat.  My favorite bit was the Democrat's comments about ending the "civil war" in Wisconsin.  This from the nominee of the party that has been pushing expensive sore loser, do-over elections for two straight years.

Yesterday President Obama awarded radical open border advocate Dolores Huerta with the Medal of Freedom, the highest honor a civilian can receive. There's just one problem: Huerta is an honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America and likes to pal around with Hugo Chavez.

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is the largest socialist organization in the United States, and the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International. DSA's members are building progressive movements for social change while establishing an openly socialist presence in American communities and politics.

At the root of our socialism is a profound commitment to democracy, as means and end. We are activists committed not only to extending political democracy but to demanding democratic empowerment in the economy, in gender relations, and in culture. Democracy is not simply one of our political values but our means of restructuring society. Our vision is of a society in which people have a real voice in the choices and relationships that affect the entirety of our lives. We call this vision democratic socialism — a vision of a more free, democratic and humane society.

In this web site you can find out about DSA, its politics, structure and program. DSA's political perspective is called Where We Stand. It says, in part,

    We are socialists because we reject an international economic order sustained by private profit, alienated labor, race and gender discrimination, environmental destruction, and brutality and violence in defense of the status quo.

    We are socialists because we share a vision of a humane international social order based both on democratic planning and market mechanisms to achieve equitable distribution of resources, meaningful work, a healthy environment, sustainable growth, gender and racial equality, and non-oppressive relationships.

"Whether you are documented or not."

H/T Heritage

Lila Rose calls the battle to stop abortion “the greatest civil rights movement ever,” but it’s a fight the 23-year-old seems to be winning.

From Townhall Magazine's June feature, "A New Civil Rights Heroine," by Dan Gainor:

She’s a 5’4”, sweet 23-year-old who could easily look much younger with little effort. She’s also the bane of the pro-death crowd that wants abortion on demand—so much so that they’ve hit her, called her everything from a “b****” to a “c***” and more. The left-wing website Urban Dictionary defines her with a mixture of obscenities and labels her a “mockery of women’s lib.” Some opponent went so far as to create a website of phony porn shots of her.

She’s Lila Rose, the thorn in the side of Planned Parenthood and president of the pro-life group Live Action. And while all of that negative attention is challenging, it’s also a pretty good hint that Lila is winning.

But it’s a long battle, and the consequence is literally life or death.

and a respect for life. It’s written into our heart,” explains Lila. That love is why the tide is turning against abortion, she says.


Lila calls the battle to stop abortion and save the lives of millions of children “the greatest civil rights movement ever.”

toward protecting life. A March 2010 poll was headlined: ‘The New Normal on Abortion: Americans More ‘Pro-Life.’” The poll showed that all age groups were growing more opposed to abortion and “represents the third consecutive time Gallup has found more Americans taking the pro-life than pro-choice position on this measure since May 2009, suggesting a real change in public opinion.”

That doesn’t mean it will be an easy battle. Lila has been fighting for life since she first formed the non-profit Live Action nearly nine years ago. The group was first designed to spread the pro-life message to young people. But it has taken up a much more aggressive strategy—targeting abortionists at Planned Parenthood with several video stings that have cost that group funding and supporters.

One of those investigations exposed how Planned Parenthood would react to being told about the “trafficking of children.” As CBS News reported, “[A]ntiabortion group Live Action has released undercover video showing Planned Parenthood staffers all too eager to help purported teen sex workers get abortions and contraception.”

It was a story so salacious that the traditional media couldn’t ignore it—even CBS, which had not been eager to report on Live Action in general. ...

Although that story was covered, Live Action often has to work around liberal journalists. News outlets like The New York Times rarely report on the March for Life but give huge coverage to liberal causes. Lila is especially critical of the “lack of coverage of media” of the pro-life movement: “The worst thing is what I’ve seen CBS News do, or MSNBC or even CNN do, which is ignore.”

Lila is difficult to ignore, taking her fight to “The O’Reilly Factor,” “The Glenn Beck Show” and CNN. She’s also written for several major news outlets and received awards for her work from other pro-life groups.

But even in the midst of the fight, she revels in newfound friends, trying not to assume where anyone stands.

“I’m not surprised when anyone is pro-life,” Lila says.

She brightens as she tells of meeting a man on a plane who easily defied expectations.

“I was sitting next to this young man who anybody could stereotype as a certain kind of person—tattoos and piercings and crazy clothes and listening to hard metal and we started to talk about, ‘What do you do, where are you at,’ whatever,” she explains. “And he was, ‘That’s cool, that’s really cool, I’m pro-life.’ He starts talking about the story of his younger brother with a disability and they encouraged an abortion of and how he just brought love into his family.”

That’s the kind of story that gives her energy for the next battle, which will likely be soon.

“We’re going to have new investigations coming out in the next few months,” she promised. ...

A BOLD VISION FORWARD

If Lila has her way, abortion will go away. In an ideal world, she says, “I would immediately carve a constitutional amendment that human life begins at the biological beginning.” That would include a section “that protects all people’s right to life regardless of how they were conceived or anything like this.”

She doesn't hold back about what that would mean: “I would make sure abortion clinics were shut down, criminalized; abortion was criminalized, abortionists were criminalized—not necessarily the woman seeking an abortion because there’s a lot of manipulation and coercion that’s wrapped up in that.” She would then push a “public education campaign” to educate women on alternatives.

With pro-lifers now outnumbering those backing abortion, it’s a vision that isn’t impossible. But getting there will depend on millions of young people pushing an agenda for life.

On that front, Lila has some especially unhappy news for the abortion movement: “Half of the Live Action Facebook page are girls between the ages of 13 and 17.” That means more than 100,000 young women—”an army of these young girls who are on fire for life.

When asked who’s the next Lila Rose, she mentions these girls: “There’s thousands of them, tens of thousands.”

“They’re better than me,” she adds.

No wonder Lila is confident about the future: “There’s huge momentum right now for life.”

Read more of Dan Gainor's piece in the June isssue of Townhall Magazine.

Order Townhall Magazine today!

Rep. Allen West is never short on words and this time is no exception. During a town hall meeting in Florida recently, West was asked some questions about his past, in particular an incident that occurred while he was still on active duty in the Army serving in Iraq. A little background:

Intent on foiling a reported plot to ambush him and his men, Colonel West, a battalion commander, made a calculated decision to intimidate the Iraqi officer with a show of force. An interrogation under way was going nowhere, Colonel West said in an interview, and he chose to take the matter into his own hands.

''This could get ugly,'' he told his soldiers. But, he said, he imposed limits: ''This man will not be injured and he will not have to be repaired. There will be no blood and no breakage of bones.''

Still, Colonel West wanted the Iraqi policeman, Yehiya Kadoori Hamoodi, to think ''this was going to be the end'' if he did not divulge what he knew. So Colonel West presided over what he considered a time-sensitive interrogation that grew steadily more abusive until he himself fired a pistol beside Mr. Hamoodi's head.

So, in true West fashion he said, "If you want to go back talk about what happened nine years ago to me, let's talk about the President doing blow."

H/T The Shark Tank

After almost a full year on the campaign trail, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has finally been (unofficially) crowned the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.

Romney led the pack when he announced his second run for the White House last June, and he has watched his rivals for the nomination slowly trickle out as their own wins looked increasingly unlikely.

The delegates necessary to put him over the 1,144 necessary for the GOP nomination came in Texas, the lone state to vote this week. Romney entered the day 78 delegates away from the magic number, and on Tuesday CNN projected he would win the state's GOP presidential primary. 152 of the state's 155 delegates were at stake.

He has been the presumptive nominee for weeks, but will not be the official party nominee until the Republican National Convention, set to be held the week of August 27th in Tampa, Florida.

Romney launched his campaign on a warm day last June, telling his supporters gathered at a New Hampshire farm that "Barack Obama has failed America."

"From my first day in office my No. 1 job will be to see that America once again is number one in job creation," he said.

For fun, I've included the speech Mitt Romney delivered in Stratham, New Hampshire when he officially announced his candidacy for President of the United States.

FLASHBACK:

In the wake of a political scandal that many believed would derail Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren’s hopes of unseating Senator Scott Brown (R-MA), a series of new polls show the two rivals are once again locked in a statistical dead heat. Sure, the Harvard professor listed herself as an ethnic minority in a law school directory for nine years to “make friends” (even though she cannot produce a single shred of credible evidence proving she’s Native American), yet her suspicious behavior has not negatively affected her political prospects. In any case, as Guy reported last week, the Brown camp has actively sought campaign contributions during these tumultuous weeks at the expense of his challenger. Now, though, Scott Brown’s campaign seems to be pivoting in a different direction – touting his centrist credentials and bipartisan legislative record to galvanize the electorate.

At a time when Congress’s approval ratings have plummeted to historic lows, one of Senator Brown’s greatest strengths is that he’s hailed as one of the most bipartisan lawmakers in Washington. In fact, his latest television ad (which will air statewide starting on Tuesday), explicitly reminds voters that in 2011 he was ranked the second most bipartisan Senator in Congress.

This is an effective spot. In short, since at least 50 percent of Massachusetts voters are registered as Independents, I suspect his legislative record will appeal to a plurality of voters. Furthermore, I think it’s also smart to lay off the “fauxcahontas” controversy for the time being and focus on the issues. Two recent polls suggest voters in the Bay State care little about whether or not Professor Warren can back up her ancestral claims; they care about jobs and the economy. In truth, Senator Brown has a record of helping his unemployed constituents – including veterans – find work. That’s what he should be emphasizing over the course of the next six months, not the alleged character flaws of his opponent.

This was too easy. After watching Michelle's appearance on GMA this morning telling Robin Roberts that "Let's Move" is not Big Government, I knew all I had to do was wait until her next scheduled television appearance on the "View" to hear an opposing statement. Just like her husband, rhetoric can't hide reality nor the heart and muscle behind their personal (read: Big Government) agendas.

Note too how--like her husband--she takes personal credit for all the "change".

Steve Newton founder of the Silver Star Families of America just released the following statement regarding Chris Hayes insensitive comments on MSNBC this weekend…

Founder of the Silver Star Families of America Calls for Resignation or Termination of Chris Hayes

For Immediate Release

Missouri 5/29/12

An angry Steve Newton, Founder of the Silver Star Families of America, called on Chris Hayes to resign or be terminated for his recent comments on MSNBC on the fallen of the United States Military.

“Mr. Hayes comments that he is somehow “uncomfortable” with the word “hero” to describe our fallen Soldiers are reprehensible.  As with a lot of the pundits in Washington he seems unable to separate politics from the sacrifices of our military.”

He continued, “He seems to have no sense of the hurt his words will bring to the families and friends of those who have paid the ultimate price for his freedom.  I would strongly suggest another line of work for Mr. Hayes that might increase his empathy and his love of country---say in the military.”

The Silver Star Families of America is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to remember, honor and assist the wounded, ill, injured and dying of our Armed Forces.

www.silverstarfamilies.org [the website is currently slow due to increased traffic]

This post was authored by Gwilym McGrew.