“If roads were collapsing all across the United States, killing dozens of drivers, we would surely see that as a moment to talk about what we could do to keep roads from collapsing. If terrorists were detonating bombs in port after port, you can be sure Congress would be working to upgrade the nation’s security measures. If a plague was ripping through communities, public-health officials would be working feverishly to contain it.Only with gun violence do we respond to repeated tragedies by saying that mourning is acceptable but discussing how to prevent more tragedies is not. But that’s unacceptable.”
—Ezra Klein, Eleven facts about guns and mass shootings in the United States - Washington Post“The president has not signed one new free-trade agreement in the past four years. I will reverse that failure.”
- Barack Obama signed the biggest free-trade agreement since 1994.
- He’s responsible for 1/5th of all U.S. free-trade agreements.
But Mitt Romney “will not let [his] campaign be dictated by fact-checkers.”
State of the Union: Tip Sheets from the Pew Research Center
pewresearch.orgAre you watching the President’s address tonight? We’ve pulled together key Pew Research findings across 10 topics that Obama is likely to discuss. Get the data so you can follow along. Here are the highlights:
The Economy- The economy and jobs remain the public’s top two priorities for the White House and Congress.
- 57% of Americans (and 74% of Republicans) say that President Obama won the battle over the “fiscal cliff.”
- Americans took a dim view of the fiscal cliff deal, saying it would hurt: the economy (46%), people like themselves (52%), efforts to curb the deficit (44%).
- Read more about Pew Research findings on the economy
- 72% of Americans now say reducing the deficit is a top priority, up from 53% in Jan. 2009, including 84% of Republicans, 67% of Democrats and 71% of independents.
- Majorities of Americans oppose most deficit reduction measures, including reducing funding for education (77% disapprove), reducing transportation funding (67%) and reducing funding to help low-income people (58%).
- There are wide partisan gaps on many debt reduction proposals, including reducing military defense spending (+35 points Democrats) and reducing funding to help low-income people (+29 points Republicans).
- 74% say a combination of program cuts and tax increases is the best way to reduce the deficit.
- Read more about Pew Research findings on the debt and deficit
- The median income for a middle-income, three-person household fell to $69,487 in 2010 from $72,956 in 2000 (in 2011 dollars.) Median net worth among the middle-income tier fell 28% to $93,150 in 2010 from $129,582 in 2000.
- 85% of those in the middle class say it is more difficult today than a decade ago to maintain their standard of living.
- The middle class blamed their difficulties on: Congress (62%), banks and financial institutions (54%) and large corporations (47%).
- Middle-class adults say they are: Democrats (34%), Republicans (25%) and independents (35%); conservative (39%), moderate (35%) and liberal (22%).
- Read more about Pew Research findings on the middle class
- 51% of Americans say it is more important to control gun ownership, while 45% say it is more important to protect gun rights.
- 47% say mass shootings reflect broader societal problems, 44% call them isolated acts of troubled individuals.
- There is broad public support for background checks for private and gun show sales (85%) and laws preventing the mentally ill from purchasing guns (80%).
- There are large partisan divides on creating a federal database to track gun sales (35-point gap, Democrats favor), implementing a ban on assault-style weapons (25-point gap, Democrats favor) or having more teachers and school officials with guns in schools (33-point gap, Republicans favor).
- Read more about Pew Research findings on gun control
- 83% of Americans say that “we should pay less attention to problems overseas and concentrate on problems here at home,” up 10 points since 2002.
- 40% say the U.S. relies on military strength too much to achieve its foreign policy goals, 44% say about the right amount and 10% say too little.
- 63% say the U.S. should be less involved in Middle East leadership changes.
- Americans largely approve of the use of drones to target extremists, unlike most other nations surveyed.
- 71% say defending the nation from terrorism is a top priority.
- 60% support withdrawing troops from Afghanistan “as soon as possible.”
- Read more about Pew Research findings on foreign policy
- Americans now favor getting tougher with China (49%) over strengthening relations (42%) when it comes to economic policy.
- A median of 42% of countries now say China is the world’s leading economic power; 36% named the United States.
- Americans are more concerned about China’s economic strength (59%) than about its military strength (28%).
- 68% of Americans distrust China and 66% see it as a competitor.
- Chinese views of the U.S. have also turned negative (48% unfavorable, 43% favorable).
- Read more about Pew Research findings on U.S.-China relations
- 57% of Americans do not believe the changes in the Middle East will lead to lasting improvements for people living in the affected countries.
- 63% of Americans say they want the U.S. less involved in Middle East leadership changes.
- 63% of Americans say the U.S. does not have a responsibility to do something about the fighting in Syria.
- 50% of the public sympathizes more with Israel, 10% sympathize more with the Palestinians, 13% say neither side and 4% say both.
- Read more about Pew Research findings on U.S.-Middle East relations
- 39% of Americans say “dealing with illegal immigration” should be a top priority, ranking the issue 17th out of 21 issues.
- 42% of Americans prioritize both enhanced border security and a path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants.
- The total immigrant population has grown to 40.4 million in 2011, while unauthorized immigration declined to 11.1 million.
- 36% of eligible Mexican immigrants have become natural U.S. citizens, half the rate of of legal immigrants from all other countries combined.
- Net migration to the U.S. from Mexico fell to zero in 2011 and may have reversed.
- Read more about Pew Research findings on immigration
- 28% of Americans say global warming is a top priority, ranking the issue last on this year’s list of 21 policy priorities.
- 67% of Americans believe there is solid evidence of global warming, including 91% of liberal Democrats and 43% of conservative Republicans.
- 42% of Americans attribute global warming mostly to human activity, while 19% say it is mostly due to natural patterns.
- Read more about Pew Research findings on climate change
- 48% of Americans favor gay marriage and 43% oppose it.
- Younger generations express higher levels of support (Millennials, 63%; Generation X, 52%), compared with older ones (Baby Boomers, 41%; Silent Generation, 33%).
- The religiously unaffiliated express the highest levels of support (73%), while white evangelical Protestants express the lowest (19%).
- Support varies widely by region and is strongest in New England (62%) and weakest in the South Central (35%).
- Read more about Pew Research findings on gay marriage
Browse all of our State of the Union tip sheets:
Economy | Middle Class | Gun Control | U.S.-China Relations | U.S.-Middle East Relations | Immigration | Climate Change | Gay Marriage | Debt and Deficit | U.S. Foreign Policy
An Itsy Bitsy $716 Billion Medicare Q&A
From Kevin Drum:
Mitt Romney says that Obamacare cut $716 billion in Medicare spending. Is that true?
Yes it is. This is the most recent estimate from the CBO for the ten-year period from 2013-2022.
So seniors are getting screwed?
No, probably not.
Then who is?
Mostly hospitals and insurance companies.
How so?…
Read the whole thing here. Knowledge!
No, Mitt Romney, most federal oil subsidies do not go to "small companies"
Last night, he mentioned he’s open to ending oil subsidies. But here’s why it’s hard to trust Romney on this.
SOPA IS NOT REJECTED YET
GUYS *** NEWS FLASH
There’s a post going around that SOPA’s been rejected 52-46. This news story is from November 10th. There are no current news stories with any information on whether the bill has been rejected or passed.
I know that we’re all strung out about this Internet censorship deal. But in the name of journalism, can we please check our sources before I reblog something out of stupidity?
Thank you.
Bill Clinton fact-check
From factcheck.org:
Bill Clinton’s stem-winding nomination speech was a fact-checker’s nightmare: lots of effort required to run down his many statistics and factual claims, producing little for us to write about.
Republicans will find plenty of Clinton’s scorching opinions objectionable. But with few exceptions, we found his stats checked out.
Things You Can't Make Up: The Onion names Kim Jong Un 'Sexiest Man Alive,' Communist Party newspaper - missing the satire - runs with it
BEIJING — The online version of China’s Communist Party newspaper has hailed a report by The Onion naming North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as the “Sexiest Man Alive” — not realizing it is satire.
The People’s Daily on Tuesday ran a 55-page photo spread on its website in a tribute to the round-faced leader, under the headline “North Korea’s top leader named The Onion’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2012.”
Quoting The Onion’s spoof report, the Chinese newspaper wrote, “With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman’s dream come true.”
“Blessed with an air of power that masks an unmistakable cute, cuddly side, Kim made this newspaper’s editorial board swoon with his impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle, and, of course, that famous smile,” the People’s Daily cited The Onion as saying.
The photos the People’s Daily selected include Kim on horseback squinting into the light and Kim waving toward a military parade. In other photos, he is wearing sunglasses and smiling, or touring a facility with his wife.
People’s Daily could not immediately be reached for comment. A man who answered the phone at the newspaper’s duty office said he did not know anything about the report and requested queries be directed to their newsroom on Wednesday morning.
It is not the first time a state-run Chinese newspaper has fallen for a fictional report by the just-for-laughs The Onion.
In 2002, the Beijing Evening News, one of the capital city’s biggest tabloids at the time, published as news the fictional account that the U.S. Congress wanted a new building and that it might leave Washington. The Onion article was a spoof of the way sports teams threaten to leave cities in order to get new stadiums.
Two months ago, Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency reprinted a story from The Onion about a supposed survey showing that most rural white Americans would rather vote for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than President Barack Obama. It included a quote from a fictional West Virginia resident saying he’d rather go to a baseball game with Ahmadinejad because “he takes national defense seriously.”
I heard this on NPR yesterday and got a really good laugh. Fact checking is so important.
Mitt Romney: "Terrorism wasn't even mentioned in 2000 debates" -- only it was.
Mitt Romney, Oct. 22nd, 2012: “In the 2000 debates there was no mention of terrorism, for instance. And a year later, 9/11 happened. So we have to make decisions based upon uncertainty.”
Survey says…
Sen. Joe Lieberman, Oct. 5th, 2000: “In fact, this administration has begun to transform the American military to take it away from being a Cold War force to prepare it to meet the threats of the new generation of tomorrow, of weapons of mass destruction, of ballistic missiles, terrorism, cyber warfare.”
Vice President Al Gore, Oct. 17th, 2000: “In the Congress, in the House of Representatives, I served on the House Intelligence Committee and I worked hard to learn the subject of nuclear arms control and how we can diffuse these tensions and deal with non-proliferation and deal with the problems of terrorism and these new weapons of mass destruction. Look, we’re gonna face some serious new challenges in the next four years.”
Now, if Romney had said that terrorism hadn’t been mentioned in the 2000 debates by George W. Bush or Dick Cheney, he’d be right.
Sorry, Mitt. Your point about terrorism is more like errorism.
