And they keep on coming…courtesy of Instapundit:

MITTMENTUM: Four Years After Endorsing Obama, The New York Daily News Endorses Romney. “Four years ago, the Daily News endorsed Obama, seeing a historic figure whose intelligence, political skills and empathy with common folk positioned him to build on the small practical experience he would bring to the world’s toughest job. We valued Obama’s pledge to govern with bold pragmatism and bipartisanship. The hopes of those days went unfulfilled. . . . The regrettable truth is that Obama built a record of miscalculations and missed opportunities.”

Well, I saw this coming.

UPDATE: Also Newsday. “Had Barack Obama done the job of president with the same passion and vision he displayed in seeking it, he would likely deserve another term. He did not. . . . Romney’s potential to put America back to work earns him our endorsement.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Another Romney endorsement from the Madison Wisconsin State Journal.

The Palm Beach Post, the only major South Florida daily left to endorse a presidential candidate, “voted present“. Considering how liberal that paper is, it’s essentially a Romney endorsement.

UPDATE on yard sign count: Romney 56, Obama 32. More Obama signs in the past week but still heavy on the Romney side.

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In his “closing speech” in Ohio yesterday, President Obama mentioned that the “best revenge is voting“, in response to boos from the smallish crowd in NE Ohio. Obviously, that statement is getting some comment and criticism. A November surprise?

Revenge, for what? Only Obama knows for sure, but I will say without question that the statement and his unscripted choice of the word “revenge” is a clear reflection of the attitude of a man who hasn’t had too many big tests in his adult, professional life and suddenly feels threatened in the face of a severe challenge. We saw it in the petulance Obama displayed in the October debates. We surely have seen a lot of it in Obama’s governing style over the past 4 years. We see it in a LOT of his most ardent and passionate supporters.

It’s an angry, almost-defiant-but-ultimately-petulant frame of mind from a president who doesn’t have a record to run on.  Perhaps anger and petulance works when you’re community organizing, but not when you’re president of a divided nation. His whole campaign has been that way, from the fabricated war on women to contraception to “binders” to “loins”…it almost seems like a joke except for the fact that at least 47% of the nation is ready to vote him into a second term.

We’re an angry nation, and perhaps that’s why Obama’s revenge comment will resonate positively with many people. This is even more reason to elect Mitt Romney, because for all his imperfections, one thing he has proven in his adult and professional life is an ability to lead positively and bring folks together in less-than-ideal circumstances.

Romney is a leader. Obama is a divider in the purest sense of the word.

The distinction is clear.

The choice is even clearer.

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Add the Des Moines Register and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel to the list of newspapers who have a track record of endorsing Democratic Party presidential candidates who have endorsed Gov. Romney. In the case of the Register, it’s been 40 years since they last endorsed a Republican.

The Des Moines Register’s endorsement offers the best explanation, IMO:

Consumers must feel more confident about their own economic futures to begin spending on the products and services that power the economy. A renewed sense of confidence will spark renewed investment by American companies. Industry will return to full production and hiring will begin again.

That should come with Mitt Romney in the White House.

There is not a lot of difference between the two candidates’ short-term economic plans, as both are heavy on a promise of tax cuts for the middle class but short on details. Romney’s plan, however, goes beyond helping the middle class with tax breaks.

Throughout the campaign, he has expressed faith in the private sector to fuel a more robust economic recovery if it has more confidence that the federal government will not be an obstacle. Romney has a strategy for job growth through tax and regulatory relief for small businesses, encouraging all forms of domestic energy production, education that prepares graduates with job skills, expanding foreign trade and reducing the burden of federal deficits.

The Sun-Sentinel:

We believe Romney’s past performance is a predictor of his future behavior. He’s proven himself to be a successful businessman. He rescued the 2002 Winter Olympics from scandal and mismanagement. He worked with a Democrat-dominated legislature as governor of Massachusetts to close a $3 billion budget deficit — without borrowing and raising taxes.

The Miami Herald, on the other hand, goes for Barack Obama. To Myriam Marquez and the esteemed editorial board of our fair hometown paper, it’s really NOT about the economy, smarty pants:

He has taken so many contradictory positions on important issues — abortion, immigration, even Obamacare (first he said he would repeal it; then he said he would keep the parts most people like) — that he could take any action he chooses once in office and claim that it fulfills a campaign promise he made at one point or another. He has run on his record, and he has run from his record.

That’s not an issue for the president. Not all Americans like what he stands for, but they know who he is. He has championed the middle class and has a larger, more tolerant notion of America that includes closing the inequality gap and evening the playing field, as exemplified by making an equal-pay-for-women bill the first law he signed. He has fought for the DREAM Act on behalf of the immigrant youths brought here by their parents, and he wants a Supreme Court that will continue to support Roe v. Wade. That’s crucial.

I guess the “tolerance” Mr. Obama supposedly exhibits doesn’t include tolerance for Catholics to exercise their consciences. But I digress…

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My soon-to-be 11-year-old daughter asks me in the car the other day: “Is Mitt Romney going to take away women’s rights?”. My answer, “of course not” was followed by dismay that a child would have those kind of doubts about a presidential candidate. We’re not just talking about who has a better economic plan or foreign policy, where reasonable people can disagree.

We’re talking about basic human rights.

Where would that question come from, besides from her friends at school?

One would think: she’s only 11 so she doesn’t have a full understanding of the issues. Perhaps so, but kids are much more perceptive than they’re given credit for. After all, President Obama has been tagging his opponent with the fabricated “War on Women” from day one. His administration makes a big deal about “binders”, alleges that Romney doesn’t hire women or pays them close to nothing, and states falsehoods about Planned Parenthood providing mammograms. The misleading ads are all over TV and radio, such as the one PolitiFact points out in this article and labels a big part of as a “pants on fire” lie.

Yes, Mitt Romney supports restrictions on abortions, but not on ALL abortions. So do most Americans according to a recent CNN poll. Yes, Mitt Romney wants to de-fund Planned Parenthood, an agency that performed over 300,000 abortions in the United States in 2010 and does NOT perform mammograms. No, Mitt Romney does not want to eliminate contraception, just not require companies and their insurance companies to provide it as the Obama administration is forcing them to.

I’m not a big fan of political ads from any candidate or party, but this one by the Romney campaign to debunk the anti-woman’s rights attacks is a good and effective one and needs to be seen.

For the record, I am personally against all abortion. I also realize that cases of rape and health of the mother are tough and require lots of thought and reflection. In the end, any policy that drastically reduces the number of human fetuses being killed is a step in the right direction.

In the end, all this is a concerted effort by Obama to paint Romney as not just against abortion, but against the rights of women in general.

I’m not naive enough to pretend that no politician, including Mitt Romney, is above misleading political ads. They all do them and “approve the message”. While we can grudgingly put up with lies and distortions from both sides on other issues, when it comes to human dignity, that’s where I draw the line.

President Obama should be ashamed of his efforts to maliciously deceive girls and young women by painting his opponent as being something as vile as being anti-woman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jXQL9WLKXMo

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Photo Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

After the second presidential debate Tuesday night, many people, myself included, were left scratching our heads at Gov. Romney’s Libya flub. After all, he had the facts on his side and Pres. Obama on the ropes but let him dance off unscathed.

Well. Sort of. Problem for Team Obama and its supporters is that there’s another debate, one on foreign policy. One that will no doubt feature Libya and not just for a couple of minutes.

It’s a clear opportunity for Romney to finish the job, close the deal. All he has to do is to look the president straight in the eye and clearly, calmly but firmly say (in so many words) what Charles Krauthammer mentioned in his latest column:

You are offended by this accusation, Mr. President? The country is offended that your press secretary, your U.N. ambassador and you yourself have repeatedly misled the nation about the origin and nature of the Benghazi attack.

The problem wasn’t the video, the problem was policies for which you say you now accept responsibility. Then accept it, Mr. President. You were asked in the last debate why more security was denied our people in Libya despite the fact that they begged for it. You never answered that question, Mr. President. Or will you blame your secretary of state?

Say it. Deliver it, Gov. Romney. Do so and it’s pretty much over. Don’t ask him a question as you misguidedly did so many times in the last debate. Tell him. Whatever little momentum Obama has left will go out the window of Lynn University’s debate hall. No talk of binders or fabricated wars on women will be able to save his campaign. Sayonara. Adios. Au revoir. Arrivederci.

Do it, Gov. Romney. We know you can.

BTW…the yard sign counter is up to 23-9 for Romney.

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My first post in two months couldn’t come at a more interesting and critical time for the presidential campaign. While the latest polls are showing increasingly positive signs for Governor Mitt Romney at the right time, let’s take a sidestep and look at another way of gauging voter preference.

The almighty campaign yard sign.

OK, so it’s not exactly Rasmussen or Gallup. Heck, it’s not even NBC News! But I dare we consider the yard sign count as a measure of voter enthusiasm.  Over the past couple of weeks I’ve noticed a lopsided edge in Romney signs over Obama signs in my neighborhood. A little background: I live in SW Miami-Dade County, specifically in South Kendall. The four voting precincts that encompass my neighborhood (basically the area west of the Florida Turnpike and south of Kendall Drive) voted 55/45 in favor of President Obama in 2008 and 52/48 in favor of John Kerry in 2004. Not exactly a Republican/Conservative stronghold. Actually, it’s quite diverse demographically with various Hispanic groups mixed with Caribbean blacks and non-Hispanic whites. It’s also pretty evenly split among party lines. My precinct, 769, was featured by WLRN on Election Day 2008 as a “battleground precinct” because we’re almost evenly split between Democrats, Republicans and Independents.

So I thought: why not count the number of yard signs and see how they stack up for each candidate? Over the past couple of days, I’ve driven around the many streets in my neighborhood and taken count. So far I’m at 21 Romney/Ryan signs and 8 Obama/Biden signs (I count houses, not the actual signs as a few have two signs per yard). Of course, this isn’t a scientific poll by any stretch, nor do I present it as such. However, I do present it as an indicator of voter enthusiasm. It’s been noted nationwide, especially in key battleground states, that there’s an “enthusiasm gap” favoring Mitt Romney. My very informal survey is a small reflection of this. Call them “for-sure voters“, if you will.

Let’s put this another way: in 2008, I recall the yard sign count being quite even between McCain and Obama. It’s not even close so far this year. Again, keep in mind that the Democrat candidate has carried the precincts in this area the past two presidential elections.

I’ll continue to scour the fair, tree-lined streets of South Kendall to get the best count possible and provide updates. In the meantime, something to chew on.

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