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The Stretch Run
Townhall.com ^ | November 2, 2012 | Hugh Hewitt

Posted on 11/02/2012 4:43:45 AM PDT by Kaslin

You want good news about the election? Start with Rove.

You want to scare yourself even though Halloween is over? Read Sons of Cincinnatus.

Nate Silver predicts that there is a 87.342% chance you will read both because people following this election read everything.

The misery in New York and New Jersey is a backdrop that is definitely impacting the election, but not in the way the president's partisans hope. People are suffering as they have suffered for four years under his various incompetencies. He showed up for a day and left, and millions of people are still miserable: His presidency in a nutshell. It is doubtful that Hoboken will become Obama's Superdome, but the helicopter trip is the easy thing. Does the region spring back to life? Not if the president is in charge. Think the Gulf oil spill and the Stimulus. This is anot a leader who gets things done. This is a leader who explains why he couldn't get things done.

The president is also increasingly a leader who cannot figure out how not to step in it. When the president spoke of "leaving no American behind" who were hurt by Sandy, and of imposing a "15 minute rule" so that all calls for help post-Sandy would be returned by his officials within a quarter hour, he of course set off Benghazi alarms. Either pledge would have saved lives at the consulate, and Americans know this even though the MSM continues to keep its shiled wall around the president largely intact. Michael Walsh reviews the Benghazi record at PJ Media today, even as every bit of new information raises new questions.

As we head into the final 120 hours of the campaign, the focus is, as it should be, on all of the president's miserable record, not just his catastrophic failure in Libya. Mitt Romney cleared his many hurdles and has established himself as a very good candidate and man, a competent, caring, intergity-filled throwback to the days when elected leaders brought records to the table not glossies. His surge has been powered by his undeniable skills set, and as voters survey the various messes at home or abroad, the appeal of a fresh start led by a man of action and decency increases and increases.

This is the real Mittmentum.

Against him and behind the president is arrayed an army of special interest and rent-seekers, folks with stakes in the continuation fo the status quo, no matter how awful it might be for the country as a whole. Folks who can say "I've got min eand you aren't taking it away." This is a large number, but some slice of them are patriots and deeply disappointed with their party and the gang that leads it in Chicago. Like the millions of teachers who hate their unions, there will be a new wave of "Romney Democrats," and they will surprise.

So as the estimable Hannity likes to say, "Let not your hearts be troubled." Things look and feel very, very good for Team Romney as we head into the stretch, and the massive --truly massive-- GOTV run by Team Romney and folks like Citizen Link and various other pro-Romney groups is uncoiling.

Watch the Romney rally at Denver's Fiddler's Green Saturday at 3. Like the massive rallies across Ohio this week, Romney-Ryan is generating enormous turnout and bursts of volunteer effort that resemble nothing so much as the president's long ago and faraway campaign of 2008. The hope for change is all on Mitt Romney's side.

I spent all of yesterday's show asking for first-time callers only to respond to the question: If you had to pick either Obama or Romney to oversee every aspect of the reconstruction of the post-Sandy northeast, which man would you choose?

Scores and scores of callers from across the regions of the country, including one flood victim in New Jersey, called in to state the obvious choice --Romney-- and for the obvious reasons: His record of fixing things and his experiences in accomplishing goals. One fellow, a memorable caller, Sebastian, called to insist it would be Obama, and he began by stating his record showed he got things done. I asked about the Gulf oil spill and his argument collapsed into memorable ahum-ahum-ahum.

That's the reality of this election: Obama's massive record of failure. The condensed version of why one votes for Romney and against Obama is here, the longer, footnoted version is here. Most people have internalized both. They know the president cannot do his job. They know it isn't working.

To quote Clint: "[W]hen somebody does not do the job, we got to let them go."

Mitt Romney is standing, stage right, ready to launch another "Fresh Start" era. We have done that before and it worked out pretty good.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 11/02/2012 4:43:50 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

The irony is that the storm ridden areas of the North east have people miserable. Miserable people vote for change. All that hard planning and effort Obama and his handlers have spent remaining visible, only work to remind people what they want change from. Obama.


2 posted on 11/02/2012 4:48:41 AM PDT by Usagi_yo
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To: Kaslin

The irony is the voters now underwater are... Obama voters!

Go figure.


3 posted on 11/02/2012 4:50:34 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: Kaslin

bttt new tagline too


4 posted on 11/02/2012 4:59:07 AM PDT by Principled (This is anot a leader who gets things done. This is a leader who explains why he didn't)
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To: Kaslin

Even Sandy now has become Obama’s “Katrina”. Stick a fork, Obama is finished.


5 posted on 11/02/2012 5:02:59 AM PDT by Biggirl ("Jesus talked to us as individuals"-Jim Vicevich/Thanks JimV!)
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To: Kaslin

Amazing he has not yet blamed Sandy on GWB.


6 posted on 11/02/2012 5:10:11 AM PDT by originalbuckeye
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To: originalbuckeye

Jeb Bush had no business letting that hurricane get past Florida.


7 posted on 11/02/2012 5:11:27 AM PDT by Sir Francis Dashwood ("Arjuna, why have you have dropped your bow???")
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To: Usagi_yo

I see no one mentioning this. NY is a “lock” for democrats every election. 33 electoral votes locked up. Why? Because the entire state of NY votes across the board for democrat president candidates? No. It’s because NY City votes heavily democrat and carries the rest of the (conservative Catholic) state with it. So what happens when a big storm knocks out power in the NYC area and suppresses voter turnout? What kind of a surprise would it be on election night if 33 “locked” electoral votes went to Romney? That’s a 66 EV swing!

New Jersey will also be affected, just not sure how that will shake out.


8 posted on 11/02/2012 5:12:47 AM PDT by JohnEBoy
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To: Biggirl
As we head into the final 120 hours of the campaign, the focus is, as it should be, on all of the president's miserable record, not just his catastrophic failure in Libya. Mitt Romney cleared his many hurdles and has established himself as a very good candidate and man, a competent, caring, intergity-filled throwback to the days when elected leaders brought records to the table not glossies. His surge has been powered by his undeniable skills set, and as voters survey the various messes at home or abroad, the appeal of a fresh start led by a man of action and decency increases and increases.
I love this because it's completely true. Agree with him on every issue or not (few do), Americans see that Romney is fundamentally sound, trustworthy, competent and high in character. Not at all what the Dems have tried to paint him as.

Contrast that with having to maintain your belief in the empty suit poser and crazy Joe Biden. Nasty pieces of work, both of them. No wonder they're bitter.

9 posted on 11/02/2012 5:18:23 AM PDT by JustaCowgirl (Storm the heavens with your prayers for Mitt Romney tonight.)
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To: JohnEBoy

New Yorkers seem to be spoiled. Many in middle America have had fies, tornadoes, flooding and hurricanes. We know how to take care of our own. Thank God we don’t have a Bloomberg to add to the mix.


10 posted on 11/02/2012 5:20:40 AM PDT by JFC
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To: Kaslin; Usagi_yo; goldstategop; Principled; Biggirl; originalbuckeye; Sir Francis Dashwood; ...
So as the estimable Hannity likes to say,...

Adjective

estimable (comparative more estimable, superlative most estimable)

1. Worthy of esteem; admirable.
Maybe for his hair and boyish good looks, maybe.

2. (archaic) Valuable.  
To his wife and kids, yes. To the intellectual debate? No.

3. Capable of being estimated.  
Ok. Ok. Number three is he!!

11 posted on 11/02/2012 5:25:35 AM PDT by sam_paine (X .................................)
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To: Kaslin

“Nate Silver predicts that there is a 87.342% chance . . . “

Anybody who actually publishes a prediction to 5 significant figures has no real understanding of what numbers mean, and as a corollary, I suspect, has little idea how to actually use them.

So whether his data actually justify an 87% probability, or a roughly 90% probability, I’d guess they are, like his presentation of them, impressive looking, but largely a product of fundamental ignorance.


12 posted on 11/02/2012 5:57:47 AM PDT by Stosh
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