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1.) Demagogic Democrats — In response to Mitt Romney naming Paul Ryan as his running mate, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee declared that they will lie about Ryan’s budget plan in House races this cycle. TheDC’s Alexis Levinson reports:
“When Mitt Romney chose Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan to be his running mate Saturday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had one message for Republican congressional hopefuls: ‘Bring it on.’ That’s how the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee began a weekend memo to supporters … Within hours of Romney’s vice presidential announcement, the DCCC had already blasted out similar attacks targeting ’70 vulnerable House Republicans’ for what the organization called a ‘Republican budget that ends Medicare.'”
Ryan’s plan, of course, does not end Medicare. In fact, it doesn’t even change it for ten years after implementation. But you know whose plan does end Medicare? Those who don’t support a plan that explicitly addresses America’s long-term unfunded liability problems embedded in Medicare and the other entitlement programs. That includes President Obama and his absurd budget “plan,” which his Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner admitted doesn’t even begin to address America’s long-term fiscal problems. But without entitlement reform, Medicare is unsustainable. So the reasonable question is: why does President Obama and most Democrats in Congress want to end it by not coming up with a serious plan to save it?
2.) “It’s a free. Fucking. Country.” — One gets the sense that Jamie Dimon isn’t particularly happy with the current regulatory regime — and, perhaps, President Obama himself. Geoffrey Malloy reports for TheDC:
“JP Morgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon vigorously defended the size and practices of his bank and other financial institutions in a recent interview published in New York Magazine, at one point nearly yelling, ‘It’s a free. Fucking. Country.’ … ‘We recently had an event with a hundred small bankers here, and 85 percent of them said they can’t challenge the regulation because of the potential retribution. That’s a terrible thing, okay? This is not the Soviet Union — this is the United States of America. That’s what I remember. Guess what,’ he said, nearly yelling, ‘It’s a free. Fucking. Country.’”
TheDC Morning doesn’t know Jamie Dimon, but he should try to speak more boldly. Just kidding — we don’t believe that’s humanly possible.
3.) Politics, Chicago-style — Some top Democrats could be in trouble, reports TheDC’s Matthew Boyle:
“Documents and a whistleblower affidavit obtained by The Daily Caller charge that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Illinois Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., and Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., participated in a possibly illegal effort to force 76 employees of an Illinois state agency to engage in political activity while on the taxpayers’ dime. According to the whistleblower, Jackson Sr. also encouraged the state workers to load first-generation and low-income college students up with student loan debt because Democrats in Congress, he allegedly promised, would eventually forgive all that debt down the road.”
4.) Judging Biden by his budget — In a campaign speech in North Carolina Monday, Vice President Joe Biden told a story about his dad telling him that you judge a person’s values not by what they say, but by examining their budget. Perhaps he should have kept that anecdote to himself, TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein (ME!) writes:
“Biden was suggesting that Paul Ryan’s House budget plan demonstrated that the Republican ticket didn’t have wholesome values. But Biden the elder was likely referring to people’s individual budgets — not a national budget plan. And Papa Biden’s test would demonstrate that his son’s values don’t include much compassion for the most needy Americans. According to the vice president’s 2011 personal tax returns, Joe Biden and his wife Jill earned $379,035. Of that hefty sum, the two contributed a paltry $5,540 to charity, or less than 2 percent of their income.”
5.) Poll of the Day: Romney up in first poll since July — Rasmussen Reports daily presidential tracking poll: President Obama 44%, Mitt Romney 47%. One third of respondents were polled before Paul Ryan was named as Romney’ s VP.
6.) Tweet of Yesterday — Jose Canseco: Yes time travel is possible. Will explain later.
VIDEO: Former Bill Clinton chief of staff Erskine Bowles raves over Paul Ryan and his budget plan