Top Items:
James Taranto / Peggy Noonan's Blog:
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 …
RELATED:
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.”
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 …
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, The Caucus, USA Today, Talking Points Memo, American Spectator, Althouse and The Daily Caller
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.
Benny Johnson / TheBlaze.com:
IS THE SECRET VIDEO OF ROMNEY AT FUNDRAISER REALLY UNEDITED? WE MAY HAVE PROOF OTHERWISE — Tuesday afternoon, the site Mother Jones released what was described as the “full,” “raw and uncut” video of Mitt Romney's comments at a private campaign fundraiser, which has drawn immense criticism from both sides.
Discussion:
CNN, BREITBART.COM, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Mahablog, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Pat Dollard, Red Alert Politics, americanthinker.com, Swampland, The PJ Tatler, Washington Post, Business Insider, Election 2012, The Moderate Voice, Moe Lane, Mother Jones, Truthdig, Twitchy, Donklephant, Los Angeles Times, BBC, ABCNEWS, Washington Wire and iOwnTheWorld.com, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
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:
GOP 12, Wonkette, Examiner, emptywheel, The Lonely Conservative, Wizbang, The Spectacle Blog, Mediaite, Patterico's Pontifications, Conservatives4Palin, NewsBusters.org blogs, JOSHUAPUNDIT, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, Washington Wire, Dave Winer, Gawker, Mashable!, Taylor Marsh and Red Alert Politics
Dylan Byers / Politico:
Romney video missing ‘one to two minutes’ — The videos of Mitt Romney's remarks at a May fundraiser, released in full by Mother Jones yesterday, omit “one to two minutes” of the candidates remarks, the journalist who obtained the video told POLITICO. — The omission comes between parts …
Discussion:
Naked DC, The Hill and First Read
Mark McKinnon / The Daily Beast:
Mark McKinnon on Why Time Is Running Out for Mitt Romney
Discussion:
Mario Piperni dot Com, Boston Globe and The Hill
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:
CNN, GOP 12, ABCNEWS, Firedoglake, The Fix, Washington Post, Ballot Box and The Hinterland Gazette
RELATED:
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:
The Daily Caller, The Fix, National Review, First Read and The Daily Dish
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Obama 48%, Romney 46% in Swing States
Discussion:
Hot Air, AEIdeas, Politico, americanthinker.com, Ballot Box and CNN
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:
Politico and Prairie Weather
RELATED:
Reuters:
Romney woes jangle GOP nerves
Discussion:
The Maddow Blog, Politico, Daily Kos and TheBlaze.com
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 »
RELATED:
Nicola Clark / New York Times:
French Magazine Runs Cartoons That Mock Muhammad
Discussion:
BBC, Hit & Run, Blazing Cat Fur and The Hinterland Gazette
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, UrbanGrounds, The Lonely Conservative, The Heritage Foundation and Washington Free Beacon
Associated Press:
AP-GfK poll reveals demographic divides driving close contest for the presidency — The presidential race remains a tight contest, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll, but beyond that near-even split on the vote lie shifting public views of the nation's outlook and an electorate beginning …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Outside the Beltway and Hot Air
RELATED:
Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:
GOP Congressional Candidate Says Mideast Turmoil Is Because Of ‘Girly Men’ In The White House — A Republican congressional nominee laid the blame for turmoil in the Middle East on “girly men” in the White House. — North Carolina State Sen. David Rouzer (R), the GOP nominee …
Discussion:
Mediaite and The Raw Story
the MoJo / MoJo Articles:
Full Transcript of the Mitt Romney Secret Video — Additional highlights include Romney mocking immigration and pondering how he'd exploit a pre-election hostage crisis. — Below is a complete transcript, produced by Mother Jones, of the entire unedited Romney videos that we published on Tuesday.
Discussion:
Questions and Observations, BillMoyers.com, Mediaite, World, Althouse, Mother Jones and JOSHUAPUNDIT
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:
The Hinterland Gazette, Swampland, Mediaite, Crooks and Liars 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:
The New Republic and ABCNEWS
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Obama on Letterman: President avoids debt number — David Letterman professes at one point in his discussion with President Obama to be “completely ignorant about politics.” Such a shortcoming, you might suppose, would disqualify the “Late Show” host from quizzing the president on the issues of the day.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Wake up America, The PJ Tatler and Ricochet Conversations Feed
Barbra Streisand / The Huffington Post:
Obama vs. Romney: A Clear Choice … Elections 2012 , Barack Obama , Mitt Romney , Barack Obama 2012 , Elections 2012 , Mitt Romney 2012 , Obama Reelection , Politics News — In this election, the people of America have to make a choice between two candidates with very different values …
Discussion:
“The Lid” and NewsBusters.org
Esquire:
(Plus: Americans Trust Obama Over Romney in War) — There is a strong and pervasive sense among critics, pundits, and all-purposed commentators right now that Mitt Romney is on his way to losing this thing. That he is taking a highly winnable situation — an incumbent president …
Discussion:
The Hill and Weasel Zippers
Senior Data Journalist, NY — 
Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — 
Oil Reporter, Singapore — 
Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — 
Business Reporter, SC — 
State Government Reporter, WA — 
Climate Crisis Columnist — 
Multimedia Journalist, CA — 
Community Engagement Mgr., DC — 
Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — 
Staff Writer - Business, NY — 
Team Editor - Opinion, ON — 
Assistant Correspondent, DC — 
Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — 
Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — 
Lead Business Reporter, TN — 
Managing Editor, WA — 
Private Credit Reporter, NY — 
Trending News Reporter, TX — 
City Correspondent, London — 
Legislative Reporter, CA — 
Reporter, PA — 
Visual Editor, Remote — 
Staff Writer, MI — 
Senior Political Reporter, DC — 
California Playbook Writer, CA — 
National Investigative Reporter, NY — 
Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — 
Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — 
Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — 
Coordinating Editor, OR — 
Editor, Remote US — 
Business Reporter, WA — 
Editor-in-Chief, AZ — 
