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1.) Elton John, conservative lover? — First he played Rush Limbaugh’s wedding (albeit for an estimated $1 million), now Elton John is going around praising George W. Bush. TheDC’s Nicholas “Hot Mic” Ballasy reports:
“Elton John praised former President George W. Bush and ‘conservative American politicians’ for pledging millions of dollars to ‘save the lives of Africans with HIV.’ … ‘We’ve seen George W. Bush and conservative American politicians pledge tens of billions to save the lives of Africans with HIV. Think of all the love. Think of where we’d be without it, nowhere, that’s where. We’d be nowhere at all,’ John said at the International AIDS conference in Washington on Monday.”
What next? Play a Romney fundraiser?
2.) An overly-inflated sense of self importance — Thy name is Gary Johnson, who claims he is forcing the president’s hand on certain issues. TheDC’s Steven Nelson reports:
“Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson claimed credit for President Barack Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage in a Monday interview with The Daily Caller, but also said that Obama’s position should not satisfy voters who support gay marriage. Before his pivot on the issue in May, Obama held the same position as presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Johnson had made same-sex marriage a central part of his campaign, distinguishing himself from the two major party candidates.”
To President Obama, Gary Johnson is the mechanic who makes sure the White House bowling alley works properly.
3.) Obama attacks Romney for foreign trip — President Obama’s team is confused about how to attack Mitt Romney for taking a trip abroad during the campaign, but they sure don’t seem to think it is appropriate, reports TheDC’s Neil Munro:
“President Barack Obama’s campaign team is throwing everything and the kitchen sink at Mitt Romney’s foreign-policy trip this week. Romney is being too political but also not political enough, too aggressive and but also too timid, and will visit too few countries while holding too many fundraisers, according to three of Obama’s supporters during a July 23 telephone press conference arranged by the president’s re-election campaign … Obama’s aides used the July 23 press event to slam Romney for politicizing foreign-policy issues. ‘This isn’t the time for anyone to be playing politics with our policy in the region,’ said Colin Kahl, who formerly served as Obama’s deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East.”
After his Evita-esque Rainbow Tour of the world as the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008, Obama may not be in the best position to criticize Romney for visiting a few countries abroad during the campaign.
4.) Trouble brewing — You may be shocked to know that there is financial waste in the government. TheDC’s Matthew Boyle reports:
“A scandal involving $57 million in government contract dollars is set to rock the Federal Protective Service, a small agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Congressional Democrats and Republicans have criticized the service in recent years, and both law enforcement reform organizations and labor unions have excoriated its managers for their handling of a 2008 project plagued by scheduling delays, cost overruns and conflicts of interest.”
With that kind of money we could have purchased at least 3-extra toilet seats for the Department of Defense.
5.) Poll of the Day: Romney closing on Obama in Minnesota? — KSTP/SurveyUSA poll of Minnesota: President Obama 46%, Mitt Romney 40%. Public Policy Polling conducted the last poll of Minnesota at the beginning of June. It showed Obama up over Romney by 15 percentage points.
6.) Tweet of Yesterday — John Tabin: Aurora does in fact appear to be in Colorado RT @jimgeraghty: So, what did ABC News get right in their coverage of the Aurora shooting?