memeorandum: Romney, Ryan Refuse To Identify Tax Loopholes They'd Close (Sahil Kapur/Talking Points Memo)

5:25 PM ET, September 9, 2012

Top Items:

Romney, Ryan Refuse To Identify Tax Loopholes They'd Close — In separate interviews Sunday, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan refused to identify which tax loopholes they would close in order to pay for their large tax cuts. — On NBC's “Meet The Press,” Romney dodged multiple questions …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, Outside the Beltway and Hullabaloo

Travis Waldron / ThinkProgress:

Romney Says His Plan To Cut Taxes On The Rich Doesn't Actually Cut Taxes On The Rich — On Meet The Press this morning, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney claimed that his tax plan — which provides a 20 percent tax cut for all Americans — would not “reduce the tax burden” …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Political Carnival

Zack Beauchamp / ThinkProgress:

Ryan: I Didn't Vote For The Defense Cuts I Voted For — Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan has gotten in hot water before for criticizing President Obama for the very same defense cuts that he voted for in 2011. When confronted with this incongruity today on Face The Nation …

Discussion: The Raw Story

Jeremy Herb / The Hill:

Ryan defends vote for sequestration deal — GOP vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Sunday defended his vote for the Budget Control Act (BCA) that set sequestration in motion, even as Mitt Romney called it a “big mistake” for Republican leaders to accept the deal.

Discussion: CNN

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
Romney Rips Paul Ryan: Calls Running Mate's Vote For Defense Cuts ‘A Big Mistake’

Discussion: The Raw Story, Wall Street Journal, Crooks and Liars, Press Pass and Washington Wire

ABCNEWS:
On ‘This Week’: GOP Vice Presidential Nominee Paul Ryan

Discussion: Politico and The Political Carnival

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Sept. 8: Conventions May Put Obama in Front-Runner's Position — On Friday, we began to see reasonably clear signs that President Obama would receive some kind of bounce in the polls from the Democratic convention. — Mr. Obama had another strong day in the polls on Saturday …

Discussion: American Power, The Atlantic Online, The Daily Dish, Little Green Footballs, Marbury, Business Insider, mmicdata.rand.org, Balloon Juice, Outside the Beltway, The Reaction and Booman Tribune

Politico:

State of the race: Advantage, Obama — President Barack Obama heads out of the national political conventions with a much clearer path to winning, top advisers to Mitt Romney privately concede. — The Romney campaign, while pleasantly surprised by Obama's lackluster prime-time performance …

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos, Via Meadia, The Reaction, The Page, Taylor Marsh and Taegan Goddard's …

Erik Wasson / Ballot Box:
Poll: Obama opens up four-point lead on Romney nationally

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Scared Monkeys, Ed Driscoll, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! and CNN

Jeff Spross / ThinkProgress:

Flabbergasted Rand Paul Learns Public Employment Decreased Under Obama — One of the least appreciated but easily-confirmed facts about the current state of the American economy is that the number of Americans employed by the government has gone down under President Obama.

Paul Krugman:
Government Employment — During today's round table on ABC …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Jeremy Herb / The Hill:

Gov. Brown renews fitness test challenge against Christie — California Gov. Jerry Brown still wants New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to take him up on a three-part fitness challenge. — Brown renewed his call Sunday to battle Christie in a 3-mile race, chin-up and push-up contest during an interview on CNN's “State of the Union.”

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Patterico's Pontifications, Politico and CNN

Erik Wasson / The Hill:

Ann Romney: Mitt unfairly ‘demonized’ — GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's wife Ann said that her husband has been unfairly ‘demonized,’ during a joint appearance on NBC's Meet the Press aired on Sunday. — Ann Romney said she took to the GOP convention stage to convey that her family …

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement and Politico

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

Mitt Romney: I'll Keep The Good Parts Of ‘Obamacare’ — Mitt Romney said Sunday that he likes parts of ‘Obamacare’ and will keep key provisions involving pre-existing conditions and young people. — “I'm not getting rid of all of health care reform. Of course there are a number of things …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and No More Mister Nice Blog

Carmine Gallo / Forbes:

Jeff Bezos And The End of PowerPoint As We Know It — Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos addresses a press conference to introduce new Amazon and Kindle products in New York, September 28, 2011. (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife) — The next time you deliver a PowerPoint presentation that matters …

Discussion: Althouse

The Right Scoop:

Biker chick sits on Biden's lap while Obama lifted in the air by restaurant owner — Boy, what these guys will do for votes. Consider this your open thread for Sunday. UPDATE: OK Biden, this is a little much:

Discussion: The Jawa Report and protein wisdom

Dylan Byers / Associated Press:

Smoke and mirrors at CBS's Face The Nation — Today's listing for CBS's Face The Nation. — Viewers flipping through their cable listings this morning may have noticed that while NBC's ‘Meet The Press’ had an exclusive interview with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney — a big get …

Discussion: TVNewser

CNN:

Medicare takes center stage for Obama campaign in Florida — Melbourne, Florida (CNN) - In the senior-heavy coastal city of Melbourne on Sunday, President Barack Obama, armed with a new study, continued to hammer the Republican plan to reform Medicare. — He highlighted a Harvard analysis …

Discussion: Politico, The Reaction and Ballot Box