The Commentariat -- Oct. 28, 2012

Nicholas Kristof: "... rape kits are routinely left untested in the United States.... The lackadaisical attitude toward much sexual violence is seen in another astonishing fact: Sometimes, women or their health insurance companies must pay to have their rape kits tested.... In 31 states, if a rape leads to a baby, the rapist can get visitation rights.... One way to start turning around this backward approach to sex crimes would be to support the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Registry (Safer) Act, a bipartisan bill in Congress that would help local jurisdictions count and test their rape kits."

Once again Maureen Dowd trashes all comers, but she's harder on Republicans today. And she does write this: "... rapists can assert parental rights in 31 states." Seems to be the theme for the day, & for me, both informative & shocking.

Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic:

1. [Richard Mourdick] believes that whenever conception occurs, God intended it and it is a gift.
2. He further believes that rape is one way in which conception sometimes occurs.
3. Thus he believes that conception through rape is a gift from God and furthermore intended by God.
4. Mourdock believes that life begins at conception.

    ... Thanks to contributor Diane for the link. Read Coates' entire post. As Diane writes, "Ta-Nehisi Coates dealt with the issue of the extreme pro-life position in a succinct, meaningful way. Taking down the flawed logic in a couple paragraphs."

Tom Friedman: "... you don't get to call yourself 'pro-life' and be against common-sense gun control.... You don't get to call yourself 'pro-life' and want to shut down the Environmental Protection Agency, which ensures clean air and clean water, prevents childhood asthma, preserves biodiversity and combats climate change that could disrupt every life on the planet. You don't get to call yourself 'pro-life' and oppose programs like Head Start...." CW: if you'd like to think Friedman got it right for once, you might want to skip the last major paragraph.

** Robert Pear of the New York Times: "The Obama administration will soon take on a new role as the sponsor of at least two nationwide health insurance plans to be operated under contract with the federal government and offered to consumers in every state. These multistate plans were included in President Obama's health care law as a substitute for ... the public option.... Supporters of the national plans say they will increase competition in state health insurance markets, many of which are dominated by a handful of companies."

Presidential Race

Nate Silver: "The FiveThirtyEight forecast model has found the past several days of battleground state polling to be reasonably strong for Barack Obama, with his chances of winning the Electoral College increasing as a result. The intuition behind this ought to be very simple: Mr. Obama is maintaining leads in the polls in Ohio and other states that are sufficient for him to win 270 electoral votes." ...

... "Fortune Favors the Brave." Paul Krugman: "... what the auto rescue and the bin Laden strike have in common is that they were both very courageous decisions -- decisions that could easily have gone wrong, that faced lots of second-guessing. You can criticize Obama for many things (and I have, and will in future), but he showed true grit when it mattered, and now seems likely to reap the reward.... If Romney has Big Mo, it looks like this:

John Heilemann of New York magazine: "... there is a small but nontrivial possibility that come November 7, we will find ourselves facing an outcome that would trigger a national political meltdown, in which a large portion of each side decries the election result as illegitimate." Heileman presents four possible nightmare scenarios. ...

... Josh Marshall of TPM on the "illegitamacy" of a president who wins the Electoral College but not the popular vote: "... to those making these arguments I would make the following points: Get over it and most of all STFU." ...

... Steve M. of No More Mr. Nice Blog agrees with Marshall.: "Yes, it's true that the Electoral College is ridiculous. But it's also true that both campaigns have been trying to win 270 electoral votes, not 50% of the popular vote plus 1 -- and Mitt Romney is on the verge of losing that contest. If this were a popular vote race, the candidates wouldn't be practically living in Ohio and other swing states...."

Welcome to Climate Change. Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "With Hurricane Sandy heading toward a collision with an early winter storm and expected to reach the East Coast late Sunday, Mr. Obama, more than his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, must figure how to marshal the government's response while also rallying votes ahead of the Nov. 6 elections. It is a delicate balance, made more so by the fact that some of the swing states necessary to Mr. Obama's re-election hopes -- Virginia, Ohio, New Hampshire -- are in the storm's projected path." ...

     ... Update. Steve Peoples of the AP: both presidential candidates have altered their schedules because of the East Coast storm.

Alex Mooney of CNN: "In the latest sign of just how tight both presidential campaigns view the race, President Barack Obama rallied voters on Saturday in New Hampshire -- a battleground state that carries just four electoral college votes. Obama carried the state by a 10 points four years ago, but his fortunes in the Granite State now are considerably more in doubt."

AP: "Vice President Joe Biden says Republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are fleeing from their record to appear more moderate than they are. Biden says the GOP ticket has backtracked on issues, ranging from a GOP budget he says would slash Medicare to a planned U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014. Biden said Romney and Ryan 'are counting on the American people to have an overwhelming case of amnesia.'"

The New York Times Editors endorse President Obama for re-election. Oh, and this about Willard: "Mitt Romney ... has gotten this far with a guile that allows him to say whatever he thinks an audience wants to hear. But he has tied himself to the ultraconservative forces that control the Republican Party and embraced their policies, including reckless budget cuts and 30-year-old, discredited trickle-down ideas. Voters may still be confused about Mr. Romney's true identity, but they know the Republican Party, and a Romney administration would reflect its agenda. Mr. Romney's choice of Representative Paul Ryan as his running mate says volumes about that."

Curtis Hubbard of the Denver Post discusses the editorial board's endorsement of President Obama & the makeup of Colorado's electorate. The endorsement, published October 19, is here:

... BUT the Des Moines Register buys the bullshit, endorses Romney, even though it was apparently not a unanimous recommendation. These people must read only one newspaper.

Frank Bruni: "I still think [President Obama will] win this thing, and I think he'll win it because he's a seriously intelligent, thoughtful leader more in tune and in touch with Americans' lives than his sheltered opponent is.... But this campaign has illuminated nothing so brightly as the limits of his magic, along with shortcomings that he would carry with him into a second term (should he get one) and would be wise to address."

For Salon readers who are somehow persuaded by Matt Stoller's nihilistic lnihilistic exhortation to vote for a third-party candidate because Obama & Romney are pretty much alike, Scott Lemieux of Lawyers Guns & Money responds: "[Stoller's] latest ridiculous argument in favor of throwing the election to Romney has all of the same transparent defects as his previous ones, the most notable being a lack of an argument for how throwing the election to someone who is far worse than Obama on most things and better on nothing will work any better than it did in 2000."

Governors' Races

Mike Baker of the AP: "Of the 11 states with gubernatorial elections in November, eight of them are currently led by Democrats. Each of the most competitive races is a GOP pickup opportunity. The numbers suggests that Republicans will soon claim 30 to 33 governorships after holding just 22 of those seats a few years ago."

Other Stuff

"Remember the Supremes." Jay Reeves & Mark Sherman of the AP: "The Supreme Court could say as early as Monday whether it will consider ending the Voting Rights Act's advance approval requirement that has been held up as a crown jewel of the civil rights era."

CW: contra Right Wing World conspiracy theorists journalists, Oliver Knox of Yahoo! News writes, "The White House on Saturday flatly denied that President Barack Obama withheld requests for help from the besieged American compound in Benghazi, Libya, as it came under on attack by suspected terrorists on September 11th. 'Neither the president nor anyone in the White House denied any requests for assistance in Benghazi,' National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor told Yahoo News by email."

Jason Deans of the Guardian: "Arthur Sulzberger Jr, chairman and New York Times Company, said in an internal email on Thursday that he was satisfied [incoming NYT CEO Mark] Thompson 'played no role' in the cancellation of BBC current affairs show Newsnight's investigation into the Savile sex abuse allegations in late 2011, when he was still director general. Thompson is due to begin his new job on 12 November. Thompson's knowledge of the Newsnight story and allegations about Savile has come under intense scrutiny since Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times public editor, published a blog on Tuesday saying it was “worth considering now if he is the right person for the job" in light of the scandal enveloping the BBC." CW: thanks for clearing that up, Pinch.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Massachusetts shut down another compounding pharmacy after a surprise inspection last week found conditions that called into question the sterility of its products, state officials said Sunday."

Guardian: "Detectives investigating the Jimmy Savile child sex abuse scandal have arrested Gary Glitter on suspicion of sexual offences in the first of what is likely to be a series of arrests of suspected associates of the late DJ. The glam rocker, who was a friend of Savile and appeared on his TV shows, was arrested at his London home early on Sunday by Scotland Yard officers..., which is following about 400 lines of inquiry involving 300 victims -- mostly young girls but also a few boys -- of alleged sexual exploitation by Savile and others."

AP: "As Hurricane Sandy barrelled north from the Caribbean -- where it left nearly five dozen dead -- to meet two other powerful winter storms, experts said it didn't matter how strong the storm was when it hit land: The rare hybrid storm that follows will cause havoc over 800 miles from the East Coast to the Great Lakes." The Weather Channel's main report is here. With video.

AP: "A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the west coast of Canada, but there were no reports of major damage.... [It was] the biggest quake in Canada since 1949.... The U.S. Geological Survey said the powerful temblor hit the Queen Charlotte Islands just after 8 p.m. local time Saturday at a depth of about 3 miles ... and was centered 96 miles ... south of Masset, British Columbia. It was felt across a wide area in British Columbia, both on its Pacific islands and on the mainland." ...

... Reuters: "A tsunami warning [triggered by the Canadian earthquake] for Hawaii has been downgraded to an advisory on Sunday, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said."

AP: "Syrian troops shelled rebellious suburbs of Damascus and clashed with rebel fighters in several other areas of the country Sunday, the third day of what was meant to be a four-day holiday truce...."

AP: "Lawyers have denied a report that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's family has amassed $2.7 billion in "hidden riches," a Hong Kong newspaper said Sunday. The New York Times said in a lengthy article Friday that most of the alleged wealth was accumulated by Wen's relatives after he rose to high office in 2002."

The Commentariat -- Oct. 27, 2012

The President's Weekly Address:

The transcript is here.

Presidential Race

Susan Saulny of the New York Times: "Many of the black voters who gathered [in front of the main polling site in Duval County (Jacksonville)] Saturday morning, the first day of early voting in Florida, had spent the night sleeping in tents and recreational vehicles near the elections office. Their plan was to 'Occupy the Polls' in an effort to raise awareness about changes to early voting this year that shorten the number of days for casting ballots."

Nate Silver: "Thursday was a busy day for the polls, with some bright spots for each candidate. But it made clear that Barack Obama maintains a narrow lead in the polling averages in states that would get him to 270 electoral votes. Mr. Obama also remains roughly tied in the polls in two other states, Colorado and Virginia, that could serve as second lines of defense for him if he were to lose a state like Ohio."

Another October Surprise. Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: "The White House is weighing the idea of a tax cut that it believes would lift Americans' take-home pay and boost a still-struggling economy, according to people familiar with the administration's thinking, as the presidential candidates continue battling over whose tax policies would do more for the country."

Stephanie McCrummen of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has told President Obama that she will stay in office until her successor is confirmed, but said in an interview that 'this is not an open-ended kind of time frame.'"

Kyle Clark of KUSA Denver interviews President Obama. He answers questions about Libya & that bullshitter guy:

Will Oremus of Slate: "Jim Lehrer didn't do it. Martha Raddatz didn't do it. Candy Crowley 'almost' did it. Bob Schieffer wishes he had been able to do it. Sway Calloway, a DJ and media personality known for giving rappers Eminem and Notorious B.I.G. their first radio airplay, finally did it. In an interview with President Obama that aired on MTV on Friday evening, Sway asked a question about climate change." Includes transcript of Obama's full response. Video segments of the full interview are here.

This One's for Kate. Jonathan Bernstein in the Washington Post: The number one thing at stake in this election is the Supreme Court. Bernstein is a genuine, certified political scientist.

David Remnick & Rick Hertzberg of the New Yorker discuss the presidential candidates with Dorothy Wickenden:

Steve Benen chronicles -- and refutes -- 36 lies in this week's edition of "Mitt's Mendacity." Benen begins with this (I've altered it slightly for brevity's sake):

St. Peter stands at the Pearly Gates, a huge wall of clocks behind him. A new arrival asks what the clocks are for. St. Peter says, "These are lie clocks. Every time a person lies, the clock hands move." St. Peter points out Mother Teresa's clock. The hands have never moved. Then he points to Honest Abe Lincoln's clock. The minutes hand had ticked twoice. "Where is Mitt Romney's clock?" the new arrival asks. "Romney's clock is in Jesus' office," St. Peter says. "He's using it as a ceiling fan."

"Memo from the Boss." Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times on employers urging their employees to vote for Mitt Romney, legalized by our favorite Supreme Court decision, Citizens United. "In these letters [to employees], the executives complain about the costs of overregulation, the health care overhaul and possible tax increases. Some letters warn that if President Obama is re-elected, the company could be harmed, potentially jeopardizing jobs.... Larry Gold, associate general counsel of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., said some of the recent employer letters, by hinting at the possible loss of employees' jobs, appeared to cross the line into improper coercion. Federal law and the laws of several states bar anyone from coercing or intimidating voters into voting a certain way." ...

... Wendy Gittleson of Addicting Information: Bishop David L. Ricken of the Green Bay, Wisconsin, Roman Catholic Diocese "warned his parishioners that their souls might be in danger if they vote for Obama.... Not only is the Bishop threatening his congregation's souls, he's threatening the community, by saying that the Church will withhold healthcare services." Includes copy of the bishop's full letter. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

Strange But True. Lee Ferran of ABC News: Romney bundler & billionaire Paul Singer holds Argentine naval ship, economy hostage.

Not surprisingly, in the last few weeks of the campaign Romney & Congressman Creepy have been drawing bigger crowds. But apparently not big enough! So they just photoshopped a buncha people into a "panoramic shot" of a campaign event for use in an official Instagram.

Congressional Races

Gail Collins: Indiana's Richard "Mourdock is the only Senate candidate for whom Romney has appeared in a TV ad, although there are lots of beleaguered Republicans who could use his help: the guy in Montana who had a fire on his property and then sued the local fire department that worked to put it out; the guy in Florida who used to do promotional work for 'Hooters'; the woman who's running against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in New York. She's against abortion even in cases of rape and incest, but, so far, very few New Yorkers know it because they have yet to learn more basic information, such as her name." ...

... Mark Leibovich of the New York Times profiles the Hooters guy, my own Congressman, Connie Mack IV a/k/a CoMa. If you'd like to know what species of lowlife the average GOP Congressman is, look no further than CoMa.

Ed Kilgore: "... the biggest defeat the Right has already suffered (other than the failure to recruit and/or unite behind a presidential candidate less weaselly than Romney) was to take a Senate victory for granted. They've got no one but themselves to blame for that mistake."

Right Wing World ...

... Is apoplectic to find that "we live in a fallen world destined for hell fire..., [where] people ... have no problem with the President of the United States, via a campaign ad, ridiculing virgins and comparing sex to voting." See yesterday's Commentariat for the "offending" video by Lena Dunham.

Other Stuff

Sabrina Tavernise & Andrew Pollack of the New York Times: "An FDA inspection of the New England Compounding Center, "whose tainted pain medicine has caused one of the worst public health drug disasters since the 1930s, found greenish-yellow residue on sterilization equipment, surfaces coated with levels of mold and bacteria that exceeded the company's own environmental limits, and an air-conditioner that was shut off nightly despite the importance of controlling temperature and humidity.... Instead of producing tailor-made drugs for individual patients, as the law allowed, the company turned into a major drug maker that supplied some of the most prestigious hospitals in the country, including ones affiliated with Harvard, Yale and the Mayo Clinic, all with minimal oversight from federal regulators."

John Cushman of the New York Times: "The United States is facing a year or more without crucial satellites that provide invaluable data for predicting storm tracks, a result of years of mismanagement, lack of financing and delays in launching replacements.... The project is run by the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, and NASA. The outside review team ... called the management of the program 'dysfunctional.'"

News Ledes

Washington Post: "The two big weather models that track storms came to a consensus Friday that the storm [Sandy] would turn inland somewhere to the east of the Chesapeake Bay and drench at least eight states as it drives across the Great Lakes into Canada. It is expected to turn into a blizzard before it gets there, dropping up to a foot of snow. Although Sandy's top winds diminished Friday and the National Weather Service downgraded it to tropical storm status at 5 a.m. Saturday, that loss of power was seen as temporary." The Weather Channel story is here.

Reuters: "Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has called on Muslims to kidnap Westerners, join Syria's rebellion and to ensure Egypt implements sharia, SITE Monitoring reported on Saturday, citing a two-part film posted on Islamist websites. The Egypt-born cleric, who became al Qaeda leader last year after the death of Osama bin Laden, spoke in a message that lasted more than two hours."

ABC News: Frank Tanabe, "a World War II veteran whose effort to vote from his deathbed inspired thousands, has died a week after casting his final ballot.... Honolulu elections officials say Frank Tanabe's vote will be counted unless they receive his death certificate before the Nov. 6 election and they're able to find his ballot from among the tens of thousands of ballots mailed in." (CW: sorry, late with this story.)

The Commentariat -- Oct. 26, 2012

Rerun from Yesterday Afternoon's Commentariat: My column in the New York Times eXaminer is on Steven Pinker's NYT post "Why Are States So Red and Blue?" Another column, by a professor of religious studies, Ira Chernus, also disagrees with Pinker, though Chernus is meaner than I am. I actually disagree with Chernus, too.

Presidential Race

Nate Silver: "Mitt Romney clearly gained ground in the polls in the week or two after the Denver debate. However, the FiveThirtyEight forecast finds a slightly favorable trend for President Obama over the past 10 days."

We're Not Racists, But We're Voting for the White Guy. Jon Cohen & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "The 2012 election is shaping up to be more polarized along racial lines than any presidential contest since 1988, with President Obama experiencing a steep drop in support among white voters from four years ago. At this stage in 2008, Obama trailed Republican John McCain by seven percentage points among white voters. Even in victory, Obama ended up losing white voters by 12 percentage points.... But now, Obama has a deficit of 23 percentage points, trailing Republican Mitt Romney 60 percent to 37 percent among whites, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News national tracking poll." ...

... Frankly, when you take a look at Colin Powell, you have to wonder whether that's an endorsement based on issues or whether he's got a slightly different reason for preferring President Obama.... I think when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being President of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him. -- John Sununu, Romney surrogate campaign chair

Yes, because "when you take a look at Colin Powell," the former Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs & a fellow Republican, all you can see is a black man. -- Constant Weader

Four years ago, when former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama, Rush Limbaugh led the charge, accusing Powell of only supporting the Democrat because of race. In 2012, the same argument is being pushed by the national chairman of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. -- Steve Benen

Washington Post Editors endorse President Obama for re-election:

... there is no way to know what Mr. Romney really believes. His unguarded expression of contempt for 47 percent of the population seems as sincere as anything else we've heard.... At times he has advocated a muscular, John McCain-style foreign policy, but in the final presidential debate he positioned himself as a dove. Before he passionately supported a fetus's right to life, he supported a woman's right to abortion. His swings have been dramatic on gay rights, gun rights, health care, climate change and immigration. His ugly embrace of 'self-deportation' during the Republican primary campaign, and his demolition of a primary opponent, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, for having left open a door of opportunity for illegal-immigrant children, bespeaks a willingness to say just about anything to win.... Rarely has a politician gotten so far with only one evident immutable belief: his conviction in his own fitness for higher office.

So voters are left with the centerpiece of Mr. Romney's campaign: promised tax cuts that would blow a much bigger hole in the federal budget while worsening economic inequality. His claims that he could avoid those negative effects, which defy math and which he refuses to back up with actual proposals, are more insulting than reassuring.

By contrast, the president understands the urgency of the problems as well as anyone in the country and is committed to solving them in a balanced way. In a second term, working with an opposition that we hope would be chastened by the failure of its scorched-earth campaign against him, he is far more likely than his opponent to succeed. That makes Mr. Obama by far the superior choice.

Douglas Brinkley interviews President Obama for Rolling Stone. ...

... Brinkley recounts a conversation between Rolling Stone editor Eric Bates & President Obama that took place after the interview wrapped up. In part, it went like this: "'Thought about lowering the voting age?' Bates joked. 'You know, kids have good instincts,' Obama offered. 'They look at the other guy and say, "Well, that's a bullshitter, I can tell."'" The Bullshitter Romney campaign is totally pissed. ...

... BTW, according to Paul Krugman, Romney is promising us a pony. I guess Obama misrepresented the source of the shit. Here's what else Krugman says: "... a slow job is better than a snow job. Mr. Obama may not be as bold as we'd like, but he isn't actively misleading voters the way Mr. Romney is. Furthermore, if we ask what Mr. Romney would probably do in practice, including sharp cuts in programs that aid the less well-off and the imposition of hard-money orthodoxy on the Federal Reserve, it looks like a program that might well derail the recovery and send us back into recession."

Horror Story. Tim Egan foretells how a Romney presidency would go.

"Winners & Losers." Would Mitt Romney really make better choices than President Obama has? --

... Oh, There's This. Callum Borchers of the Boston Globe: "Mitt Romney testified under oath in 1991 that the ex-wife of Staples founder Tom Stemberg got a fair deal in the couple's 1988 divorce, even though the company shares Maureen Sullivan Stemberg received were valued at a tenth of Staples' stock price on the day of its initial public offering only a year later.... 'In my opinion, [$2.25 was] a good price to sell the securities at,' Romney ... testified in June 1991. But on April 28, 1989, barely a year after Sullivan Stemberg sold more than half of her shares on the premise that they were worth less than $2.50 apiece, the company made its initial public offering at $19 per share and ended its first day at $22.50." ...

... Elizabeth Amon of Bloomberg News: "... Mitt Romney, as a board member of Staples Inc., voted to set a low price on the stock and create a new class of shares as a 'favor' to its co-founder who was involved in a divorce. Romney, in testimony in 1991 in the divorce case of Staples co-founder Tom Stemberg, said the special class of Staple shares was created because Stemberg 'needed a settlement with his wife.'" ...

... Julie Pace & Steve Peoples of the AP: "... Mitt Romney is ... facing continued pressure to break his silence on a GOP Senate candidate's statement that any pregnancy resulting from rape is 'something God intended.' ... [Romney] is also trying to move past new questions about his role in a key supporter's divorce. Court documents released Thursday reveal that Romney created a special class of company stock for Staples founder Tom Stemberg's then-wife as a 'favor.'"

New York Times Editors: during the final two weeks of the campaign, "Mr. Romney is providing nostrums instead of policies.... By comparison, Mr. Obama, though he waited too long to begin providing specifics on his second-term agenda, has decided to spend the last two weeks describing them."

Nicholas Confessore & Derek Willis of the New York Times: "President Obama and Mitt Romney are both on pace to raise more than $1 billion with their parties by Election Day, according to figures released by the campaigns on Thursday."

Karl Rove, Social Welfare Missionary. S. V. Date of NPR: "Karl Rove's tax-exempt Crossroads GPS group just months ago said it was only interested in advancing issues, not engaging in electoral politics. This week, it began running a minute-long ad telling viewers to vote for Republican Mitt Romney -- and it doesn't mention at all those very issues it had been saying were central to its mission." CW: Read the whole post; sounds like the IRS may have some bad news for Brother Karl and his secret mega-donors. Thanks to contributor Diane for the link. ...

... BUT none of his lyin' ads is as terrific as this one. Thanks to contributor Lisa for the link:

... AND The End of Virginity. Filmmaker/actor Lena Dunham tells about her "first time":

Greg Sargent has a useful piece on early voting & why the Obama campaign is urging its supporters to vote early. Early voting starts in Florida Saturday, & we just got our sample ballots Thursday. My husband & I will be voting during the next week. Especially if you live in a Voter Suppression state (like mine), I think it's a good idea to try to vote early in case you encounter an impediment & need time to clear it up. ...

... President Obama voted Thursday in Chicago:

** Writing in the New York Times, Joe Stiglitz, Dean of the Dismal Science, gives depressing a lecture on income inequality in the U.S. & why Mitt Romney will make it even worse. CW: most Reality Chex readers already know all this, but it's helpful to see the story summed up in one piece.

About Those Battleships. David Axe of Wired: "A bigger maritime force has the possibility of personally enriching one of [Mitt Romney]'s top advisers. In fact, it already has.... For one of Romney's most important advisers on Navy issues, a man who oversaw a massive naval expansion for Pres. Ronald Reagan, there's more at stake than U.S. national security. John Lehman, an investment banker and former secretary of the Navy, has strong and complex personal financial ties to the naval shipbuilding industry. He has profited hugely from the Navy's slow growth in recent years -- raising the prospect that he could make even more if Romney takes his advice on expanding the fleet." Thanks to reader Kay S. for the link.

Michelle Obama appeared on Jimmy Kimmel's show last night. You can watch her appearance, divvied into 93 segments, here.

Congressional Races

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The Indiana Senate candidate Richard E. Mourdock's reintroduction of rape and abortion into the political dialogue this week is the latest in a series of political missteps that have made the Republican quest to seize control of the Senate a steeper climb. Once viewed as likely to win the Senate, Republicans are now in jeopardy of losing seats in Massachusetts and Maine." CW: yes, indeedy, it's just a "misstep" to accidentally reveal you're a misogynist loon. ...

... CW: Sorry to O.D. on Stewart today, but this is why satire & "fake news" is more informative than the New York Times (and of course Joe Scarborough):

Other Stuff

Mark Clayton of the Christian Science Monitor: "In four key battleground states -- Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, and Colorado -- glitches in e-voting machines could produce incorrect or incomplete tallies that would be difficult to detect and all but impossible to correct because the machines have no paper record for officials to go back and check." CW: I suppose Chuck Todd thinks the Christian Science Monitor is spreading crazy conspiracy theories.

File This Under "Things You Don't Expect to Find on the Front Page of the New York Times." Joseph Goldstein: "In one of the most disturbing and unusual arrests involving a police officer, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents took Officer ... Gilberto Valle, a six-year veteran of the New York Police Department..., into custody on Wednesday, after they uncovered several of his plots to kidnap, rape, cook and eat women. 'I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus,' he wrote to a co-conspirator in one electronic communication intercepted by law enforcement authorities. 'Cook her over a low heat, keep her alive as long as possible.'"

How to Fire a CEO. Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Susanne Craig of the New York Times: "Vikram Pandit's last day at Citigroup swung from celebratory to devastating in a matter of minutes. Having fielded congratulatory e-mails about the earnings report in the morning that suggested the bank was finally on more solid ground, Mr. Pandit strode into the office of the chairman [of the board] at day's end on Oct. 15 for what he considered just another of their frequent meetings.... Instead, Mr. Pandit ... was told three news releases were ready. One stated that Mr. Pandit had resigned, effective immediately. Another that he would resign, effective at the end of the year. The third release stated Mr. Pandit had been fired without cause. The choice was his."

Keith Bradsher of the New York Times: "The Chinese government swiftly blocked access early Friday morning to the Chinese-language Web site of The New York Times from computers in mainland China and intermittently halted most access to the English-language site as well after the news organization posted an article in both languages describing wealth accumulated by the family of the country's prime minister."

News Ledes

AP: "Just two days after announcing he won't run in spring elections, former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to four years in prison Friday in a verdict that could see him barred from public office for five years.... The court, which began hearing the case in 2006, also said Berlusconi could not hold public office for five years or manage any company for three years.... In a statement, Berlusconi's lawyers ... said they would appeal."

AP: "'Frankenstorm' is looking more ominous by the hour for the East Coast, and utilities and local governments are getting ready. Meteorologists expect a natural horror show of high wind, heavy rain, extreme tides and maybe snow to the west beginning early Sunday, peaking with the arrival of Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday and lingering past Halloween on Wednesday."

AP: "The U.S. economy grew at a slightly faster 2 percent annual rate from July through September, buoyed by more spending by consumers and the federal government."

Washington Post: "The 'fiscal cliff' is still two months off, but ... is already reverberating through the U.S. economy, hampering growth and, according to a new study, wiping out nearly 1 million jobs this year alone. The report, scheduled for release Friday by the National Association of Manufacturers, predicts that the economic damage would deepen considerably if Congress fails to avert the cliff, destroying nearly 6 million jobs through 2014 and sending the unemployment rate soaring to near 12 percent." CW: so if the government is superfluous to the vaunted market economy, why do manufacturers claim the so-called fiscal cliff would wreak havoc?

AP: "In a stirring tribute Thursday to former Sen. George McGovern, Vice President Joe Biden hailed the onetime presidential nominee as the 'father of the modern Democratic Party' for his forceful stand against the Vietnam War and for helping open the party to more women, young people and minorities."

Reuters: Fighting in Syria killed several people on Friday as a ceasefire brokered by international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to mark a holy Muslim day frayed almost before it had begun."

Reuters: "A suicide bomber killed at least 40 people in a mosque in Afghanistan's relatively peaceful north on Friday as worshippers gathered for prayers marking the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.... The attack in Maimana, capital of Faryab province, also wounded 40...."

Reuters: "President Vladimir Putin flatly rejected on Thursday Western criticism of the imprisonment of the Pussy Riot punk protest band, saying its three female members deserved their fate because they threatened the moral foundations of Russia."