dajafi wrote:I know this probably won't be the case just because the polls are so tough to move... but this Obama ad I linked to in the last thread feels like a kill shot to me.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/ ... marks.html

jeff2sf wrote:what do you find so powerful about that ad, daj? To me a person in the middle is going to look at that and largely say they don't identify with the faces. The main exception might be those old veterans in there.

The Obama campaign seized on TPC’s finding that Romney’s tax plan, even under very generous assumptions, raises taxes on the middle class, citing the paper in attack ads and stump speeches. The Romney campaign in turn dismissed the report, and numerous conservative economists and think tanks have written responses disputing its conclusions. The Heritage Foundation’s Curtis Dubay’s attempted debunking yesterday is just the latest.

It’s all a bit much for a technical report with the dry-as-bone title, “On the Distributional Effects of Base-Broadening Income Tax Reform.” So let’s take a step back. Given what the report actually said, have any of the studies responding to it debunked its conclusions? Not really. If anything, they highlight the priorities that Romney is going to have to compromise on to get tax reform done.

TenuredVulture wrote:I don't think Jeff knows many swing voters or people in the 47%. Maybe the guy who mows his yard or cleans his pool. His comments on what counts as work dovetail nicely with his comments about the people in the ad.

Doll Is Mine wrote:

RichmondPhilsFan wrote:Seriously, this conversation is ridiculous. Can we all agree that waiting tables is a (somewhat) physically demanding job and a difficult job for people who aren't good at multitasking, and leave it at that?

This.

jeff2sf wrote:what do you find so powerful about that ad, daj? To me a person in the middle is going to look at that and largely say they don't identify with the faces. The main exception might be those old veterans in there.

I usually don't appreciate ads like that which turn out to be really powerful/great, so I clearly know that I don't know.

mozartpc27 wrote:I
Monkeyboy, I of course agree with your politics in a broad way, but your hatred of Romney sometimes reaches fever pitch. That's fine, but I think you have to accept it, own it, and understand that others may occasionally call you out on it.

dajafi wrote:edit: Jonathan Chait explains better than I did why the ad is devastating.

And then, finally, there is a poetic justice in the substance of Romney’s self-immolation. This is not a random gaffe, a joke gone bad, or even a terrible brain freeze. It is Romney exposed for espousing a worldview that is at the heart of his party’s mania. The idea he summed up at that fund-raiser was a combination of right-wing fever dreams I’ve been analyzing since Obama took office — the Ayn Randism, the fact-free class warfare, the frantic rage at a changing America. The Republican Party is going down because its candidate was seen advocating exactly the beliefs that make the party so dangerous and repellant.

SK790 wrote:

dajafi wrote:edit: Jonathan Chait explains better than I did why the ad is devastating.

And then, finally, there is a poetic justice in the substance of Romney’s self-immolation. This is not a random gaffe, a joke gone bad, or even a terrible brain freeze. It is Romney exposed for espousing a worldview that is at the heart of his party’s mania. The idea he summed up at that fund-raiser was a combination of right-wing fever dreams I’ve been analyzing since Obama took office — the Ayn Randism, the fact-free class warfare, the frantic rage at a changing America. The Republican Party is going down because its candidate was seen advocating exactly the beliefs that make the party so dangerous and repellant.

Among the top five alcohol-related political contributors during the 2010 election cycle, no one donated a greater percentage of cash to Democrats than E. & J. Gallo Winery, the Center finds. Individuals connected to the massive Sonoma County winery, famous for such brands as Gallo and Turning Leaf, uncorked more than $256,700 in the 2010 election cycle, a full 93 percent of which went to Democratic candidates or party committees.

Gallo winery employees are also notably the top donor to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) over her career.

Democrats can in large part thank the Gallo family itself for the lift. Individuals from the family, which has owned the company since the 1940s, have given $1.58 million to Democratic candidates during the past two decades. The top donor from the family is the company's current president and chief executive, Joseph Gallo, the son of co-founder Ernest Gallo. Joseph Gallo has contributed nearly $400,000 of the family's total.

Through their employees and political action committees, other notable California wineries such as Puma Springs Vineyards, Hall Winery, Sutter Home and even the Wine Institute, an advocacy group representing California vineyards, have all contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic interests in recent years.

In particular, Molson Coors Brewing, which oversees the Molson and Coors beer brands has deep connections to the Republican Party. Of the more than $1.73 million the company has contributed to federal-level candidates and campaigns, 80 percent, or about $1.4 million, has benefited the Republican Party since the 1990 election cycle.

For the GOP, it's the brothers Coors, and in particular Pete Coors, the current chairman of the board for Molson Coors, that have their hand on the tap. During the past two decades, the brothers have combed to contribute about $309,500 to the Republican Party. About $290,000 of that amount came from Pete Coors, who once ran for U.S. Senate in Colorado as the GOP nominee, but lost to Democrat Ken Salazar in 2004.

Anheuser-Busch InBev is the multinational corporation that lays claim to the Budweiser, Becks, Stella Artois, Michelob, Labatt and Natural Light beer franchises. It's also the all-time producer of alcohol-related cash in the beer, wine and liquor industry, and the company has given fairly evenly to Democrats and Republicans during the past two decades . The company's strongest Republican years were between the 1998 election cycle and the 2006 election cycle, when the company's giving ranged between 51 percent to 62 percent. The company has since veered toward Democrats, giving 55 and then 60 percent of contributions to the party during the 2008 and 2010 election cycles.

And then there's Brown-Forman Corp., which owns two popular brands in Jack Daniels whiskey and Southern Comfort liqueur. The Louisville, Ky.-based company with operations throughout Appalachia has contributed slightly more to Democrats in recent years, but a wider look at the company's giving shows it has actually preferred Republicans in the long run. Sixty-seven percent of the company's PAC and employee-related contributions have supported federal-level Republican causes -- about $3.04 million since the 1990 election cycle.

jerseyhoya wrote:Breweries per square mile? What a dumb way to measure it.