Progressive Breakfast

Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to effect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security.

MORNING MESSAGE: Romney's Final Lie

OurFuture.org's Dave Johnson: [1] "Mitt Romney told a lie Friday, scaring Ohio's Jeep workers with a claim that Jeep is shutting down US manufacturing and moving it to China. Now he is doubling down on this lie with a new ad. He is calculating that the lies will scare enough poorly-informed people to vote his way, never mind the truth. If we elect a president based on a campaign of flat-out lies, deception and misdirection what kind of country will we have as a result?"

Backlash From Jeep Lie

Romney bets on wildly misleading claims in last ditch effort to win OH. NYT: [2] "His effort to do so is now intently focused, at times including statements that stretch or ignore the facts, on knocking down what is perhaps the most important component of President Obama’s appeal to blue-collar voters in Ohio and across the industrial Midwest: the success of the president’s 2009 auto bailout ... Democrats are hoping that Mr. Romney’s latest move will draw a backlash in a city [Defiance] so dependent on Jeep, which has announced plans to add 1,100 jobs to an assembly plant here that is currently being refitted for the next iteration of what is now called the Jeep Liberty."

Obama campaign fires back hard. Yahoo! News: [3] "The Obama campaign released a commercial rebutting the allegation, while Vice President Joe Biden and former president Bill Clinton denounced the former Massachusetts governor's commercial as, basically, a lie. 'Now it turns out that Jeep is reopening in China because they made so much money here they can afford to do it,' Clinton said at a Youngstown, Ohio, rally. 'They put out a statement today saying that it was the biggest load of bull in the world that they would consider shutting down their American operation.'"

Romney Meets With FEMA. Licks Chops.

Romney speaks with the agency he pledged to dismantle. CNN: [4] "Mitt Romney spoke Monday with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Administration ... Romney's comments about FEMA, made at a CNN Republican primary debate in June 2011, received renewed attention Monday. At the time, Romney said he favored states taking on a large role in disaster relief. 'Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction,' he said."

The Ryan budget which passed the House devastates funding for weather forecasting. Econobrowser cites earlier CBS report: [5] "The GOP budget plan that passed through the House last month aimed to cut funding for a tsunami warning center that issued a slew of warnings around Japan's devastating earthquake. The budget, which proposed about $60 billion in budget cuts, would slash funding for the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)."

In May House Republicans voted to slash disaster relief. ThinkProgress: [6] "The House Republicans’ Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act of 2012, which was passed without a single Democratic vote, called for zeroing out funding for the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), a program that provides funding to state and local governments to aid needy children, adults, and the disabled. As the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities noted, the SSBG also offers assistance for disaster relief ... Republicans last year held disaster relief funding hostage several times, demanding offsetting budget cuts. They also attempted to slash disaster funding in a 2011 continuing resolution."

Yet FEMA is well-budgeted this year. Politico: [7] "Nearly $7.8 billion is available for storm response through FEMA’s disaster relief fund, congressional aides said Monday. That includes more than $7 billion set aside in the stopgap spending bill that funds the federal government through March, as well as money designated for disaster relief carried over from last year that was not spent. On top of that — thanks to the debt limit deal last year — FEMA can tap a several billion dollars in additional emergency funds without turning to Congress for extra money."

Sandy threatens "rickety power grid." Time: [8] "The U.S. power grid is delicate even under the best of times—a 20th century technology charged with keeping a 21st century charged. There’s hope that new smart grid advancements—including distribution automation and smart meters that can keep utilities appraised of problems in real times—will make the grid more resilient in the future. But for now, as Sandy socks the East Coast, all we can do is hope that the lights stay on."

Economy expected to withstand Sandy. AP: [9] "...for the overall economy, damage from the storm will likely be limited. And any economic growth lost to the storm in the short run will likely be restored once reconstruction begins, analysts say. Americans may even spend more before the storm when they stock up on extra food, water and batteries."

Romney's Bain

Romney can't shake Bain in final week. Politico: [10] "...several of the Democrats’ top independent spenders are leaning hard into the Bain message, eschewing a pure policy message for a gut-punch reminder ... Democratic pollster Geoff Garin, who advises Priorities USA, said Bain ads have the potential to cut through the fog of commercials from both sides that’s currently cluttering the airwaves with statistics about taxes, job creation, health care and more."

No evidence Romney can usher in bipartisanship. Politico: [11] "...the likelihood of Romney and Ryan locking arms with 'good Democrats,' as Romney put it this week, to solve the nation’s problems is dubious given the GOP nominee’s legislative priorities ... if Romney makes good on his pledge to roll back the health care overhaul — which he almost certainly must in some way given his insistent campaign rhetoric and likely pressure from conservatives — that will hardly foster the bipartisan atmosphere that Romney has recently lauded."