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Readers' Rep Deals Daily Deals LAT Store Sports Gear Travel Offers & Deals Legal Notices Membership Services Jobs Cars Real Estate Subscribe Rentals Classifieds Custom Publishing">Custom Publishing Place Ad In the News: pope benedict nfl Inglewood shooting Boy Scouts USC-Colorado rupert murdoch Advanced Search Advanced Search X include all of these words: include any of these words: include this exact phrase: exclude: Select a date range this week past 30 days past 3 months past year Create a custom date range From: To: George McGovern dies at 90 Sign up for alerts » This is the tax increase that middle-class families will supposedly face if President Obama is re-elected, according to the Romney-Ryan campaign. As the GOP candidate for vice president, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), put it Oct. 13, "President Obama refuses to get serious about spending. And given the president's preference to raise taxes, just to pay the interest on the debt that the president has racked up and proposed, a middle-income family will see their tax bill grow by $4,000 a year." The figure comes from a blog post published by the conservative American Enterprise Institute think-tank based on some AEI research, but the institute wasn't estimating the cost of specific Obama proposals. Instead, it was estimating how much of the taxes paid by those making $100,000 to $200,000 would go to paying interest on the national debt. By that measure, Romney and Ryan will "raise" tax bills by $2,732, FactCheck.org reported, adding, "That's nonsense, too."" width="600"/> Six numbers to ignore from the presidential campaign The presidential race has been replete with statistics and data tossed out by the candidates that purport to show something threatening or wrongheaded about their opponent's policies. Typically, they don't just make up their numbers; instead, they take research produced by someone else (often an ideologically friendly source), then apply their own spin. And in many cases, that spin takes the statistic so far out of context, it becomes misleading at best. Here are six examples of numbers frequently cited by the Obama and Romney campaigns that voters should either ignore or take with a very large grain of salt. --Jon Healey More... Gun control: Obama, Romney not fired up enough By Alexandra Le Tellier Gun control was among the many issues President Obama and Mitt Romney addressed at Tuesday’s debate in New York. Both candidates showed support for the 2nd Amendment -- though Reason’s Jacob Sullum thought Obama’s "acknowledgment of armed self-defense as a constitutional right" was "belated" and "halfhearted" -- but agreed that this country must curb its culture of gun violence.When I was in Chicago recently, a rather candid cab driver told me his son had been killed on Chicago’s streets. He said the city’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, promised to reduce violence when he was campaigning, but had failed to make good on his word. “Our kids are dying,” my cab driver told me. In the city’s toughest neighborhoods, he said it seems as though the cops don’t arrive to the scene of the crime until afterit’s been cleaned up and the ambulance has driven away. They’re afraid, he continued, guessing that the officers are reluctant to go... More... 1% logic: Charles Munger's real motive for undermining Prop. 30? By Ted Rall Charles Munger Jr., the Stanford physicist and GOP activist, donates $2.3 million to defeat Proposition 30, Jerry Brown's plan to raise taxes to avoid huge service cuts.ALSO:Attack of the MungersPhoto gallery: Ted Rall cartoonsEndorsement: Yes on Proposition 30, no on Proposition 38Follow Ted Rall on Twitter @TedRall More... Kid Rock and Sean Penn get past their (political) differences By Jon Healey The problem with the current members of Congress isn't that they're partisan -- it's a political institution, after all -- but that collectively they're dysfunctional. They've been flirting with self-inflicted disasters for two years, seemingly unable to solve obvious and surmountable problems until the damage has already been done. That's because too many lawmakers seem trapped in ideological silos, unable to acknowledge that folks on the other side might actually have the same goals, and incapable of finding mutually acceptable ways to reach them. The breakdown in the nation's capital reflects the sort of intellectual burrowing-in that's frequently on display in the comments section of this blog. People are not just certain they're right; they're convinced that those who disagree with them are evil, moronic or both. The result is a schizophrenic public sentiment about government. "I've never found bipartisan compromise to be so anethema to many of my constituents," Rep. Adam Schiff... More... After the debate, still debating the Benghazi attack By Michael McGough If one thing seemed clear after Tuesday’s presidential debate, it was that Mitt Romney had been caught in an embarrassing error over whether President Obama had referred to the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, as an act of terror. But Romney supporters are insisting that Romney was right after all.Here’s the key exchange:Obama: "The day after the attack, governor, I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened. That this was an act of terror, and I also said that we're going to hunt down those who committed this crime."DEBATE LOG: Second Presidential DebateRomney: "I want to make sure we get that for the record because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror."Obama: "Get the transcript.”Moderator Candy Crowley: "It -- it -- it -- he did in fact, sir."A Sept. 12 White House document titled "Remarks by the President on the... More... Struggling to fill in the blanks on Mitt Romney's tax plan By Jon Healey GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney could not have been surprised when his tax plan came under attack by President Obama at Tuesday night's debate. After all, both Obama and Vice President Biden had focused on the plan before, contending that there was no way it could work as Romney claimed.So why, then, did Romney stick to the same vague response? Not only that -- he punted on a telling follow-up question about how he'd respond if he could get some but not all elements of his plan through Congress.The exchange beganwith audience member Mary Follano asking Romney whether his tax plan would eliminate the tax deductions and credits for mortgage interest, charitable donations, dependent children and college tuition. Rather than giving a yes-or-no answer, he said one approach might be to limit the amount of deductions and credits a taxpayer can claim, but let him or her decide which ones to use. He also insisted that he wouldn't reduce the share of the tax burden paid by the top 5% of... More... Presidential debate: What climate crisis? A lot of hot air on energy By Dan Turner Watch news clips of Tuesday night's presidential debate and chances are that the back-and-forth between President Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney on energy policy will loom large -- not because of the policies under discussion, which were a rehash of old talking points, but because of the playground-style sniping ("Did not reduce drilling on federal lands!" "Did so!") that might have marked a new low point in the history of such debates. For anybody who cares which man was telling the truth in that embarrassing exchange (they both were, sort of), Politifact has a good analysis. I was more intrigued, though, by what the candidates didn't talk about.Not once was the term "climate change" uttered during the debate, despite the fact that Obama's energy policies don't make a lot of sense without reference to the carbon problem, and Romney's don't make any sense when one takes it into account. You'd think that would mean Obama, at least, would want to bring it up. Instead, he seemed to... More... Obama and Romney (heart) women. Who (hearts) them more? By Patt Morrison Gentlemen, gentlemen, there’s no reason to fight over us. Really.Well, in fact, I suppose there is.It was the undecided voters invited to the town hall at Hofstra University who were the nominal target audience of the presidential debate Tuesday night, but it was women -- the majority of voters and the gender gap that Democrats have relied on, and that Republicans hope to close -- who were being wooed by President Obama and GOP rival Mitt Romney.DEBATE LOG: Second Presidential DebateSo that’s naturally where some of the debate ended up, along with some of the post-game analysis.Obama’s stances on women’s issues are well known. He favors abortion rights, and the first act he signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to remedy pay discrimination against women. So when undecided voter Katherine Fenton asked about the wage gender gap, it was a pitch right over the plate for him. It’s clear where he stands, and it’s also clear where he thinks... More... Presidential debate: Times opinionators give this one to Obama By Alexandra Le Tellier President Obama came out swinging, noted editorial writer Jon Healey during our live commentary of Tuesday’s town hall-style debate. Harold Meyerson agreed: "He's fully awakened." Others on our panel, composed of opinionators from the left and the right, weren’t as impressed. Mickey Kaus, for instance, thought Obama missed an easy opportunity to offer a mea culpa and to "plea for a second term." Meantime, Doyle McManus praised Mitt Romney’s presence on the debate stage: "Romney is really good at this. His talking points are crisper. It's nice to be the challenger." Jim Newton thought otherwise: "Rare that I disagree with you, Doyle, but I think he seems tight and borderline snotty."So, ultimately, who won? Overall, they gave the edge to Obama. Here’s their instant analysis. (For further analysis, DoyleMcManus’ column will be live in the Opinion section later Tuesday night.)Jim Newton: It says too little to say that President Obama won this debate. He... More... Presidential debate Round 2: Fantastic theater but not decisive politics By Jon Healey President Obama's performance in Tuesday's second presidential debate was dramatically better than his outing in the first one earlier this month. Unfortunately for Democrats, Obama's Republican rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, didn't crumble in the face of the newly energized and forceful president. Instead, the debate at Hofstra University in New York played more like a brutal exchange of punches between heavyweights, ending with both men battered but standing. Intense throughout, even riveting at times, it was fantastic theater -- but not decisive politics.Unlike his reserved, accommodating approach in the first debate, Obama spent much of the night attacking Romney's record and proposals, forcing his rival to spend more time defending himself and less time dissecting Obama's presidency. Obama was also much sharper and quicker when responding to Romney's attacks.The more moderate-sounding Romney from the first debate was again on display, as he pledged his support for... More... A fresh round of questions for Obama and Romney By Jon Healey The questions asked at Tuesday night's presidential debate will be left to a coterie of undecided voters assembled by Gallup pollsters, so don't be surprised if they invite President Obama and his Republican opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, to pander to address concerns unique to their lines of work, their favorite causes or the problems they face as individuals. For example, that might include questions about whether the government is doing enough about cancer or Alzheimer's disease, or why Washington bailed out the big banks but not a local business whose line of credit dried up.Personally, I like those questions. They're a reminder of what people think government ought to focus on, as opposed to what Washington seems to spend all of its time on.Some inquiries are more illuminating than others, however. And the candidates covered some topics so thoroughly in the first go-round -- most notably Romney's proposed tax cuts and the two candidates' thoughts about Medicare... More... Advertisement Connect Recommended on Facebook Follow @latimes Opinion L.A. 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The figure comes from a blog post published by the conservative American Enterprise Institute think-tank based on some AEI research, but the institute wasn't estimating the cost of specific Obama proposals. Instead, it was estimating how much of the taxes paid by those making $100,000 to $200,000 would go to paying interest on the national debt. By that measure, Romney and Ryan will "raise" tax bills by $2,732, FactCheck.org reported, adding, "That's nonsense, too."" width="600"/>
Gun control was among the many issues President Obama and Mitt Romney addressed at Tuesday’s debate in New York. Both candidates showed support for the 2nd Amendment -- though Reason’s Jacob Sullum thought Obama’s "acknowledgment of armed self-defense as a constitutional right" was "belated" and "halfhearted" -- but agreed that this country must curb its culture of gun violence.
When I was in Chicago recently, a rather candid cab driver told me his son had been killed on Chicago’s streets. He said the city’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, promised to reduce violence when he was campaigning, but had failed to make good on his word. “Our kids are dying,” my cab driver told me. In the city’s toughest neighborhoods, he said it seems as though the cops don’t arrive to the scene of the crime until afterit’s been cleaned up and the ambulance has driven away. They’re afraid, he continued, guessing that the officers are reluctant to go...
Charles Munger Jr., the Stanford physicist and GOP activist, donates $2.3 million to defeat Proposition 30, Jerry Brown's plan to raise taxes to avoid huge service cuts.
ALSO:
Attack of the Mungers
Photo gallery: Ted Rall cartoons
Endorsement: Yes on Proposition 30, no on Proposition 38
Follow Ted Rall on Twitter @TedRall
The problem with the current members of Congress isn't that they're partisan -- it's a political institution, after all -- but that collectively they're dysfunctional. They've been flirting with self-inflicted disasters for two years, seemingly unable to solve obvious and surmountable problems until the damage has already been done. That's because too many lawmakers seem trapped in ideological silos, unable to acknowledge that folks on the other side might actually have the same goals, and incapable of finding mutually acceptable ways to reach them.
The breakdown in the nation's capital reflects the sort of intellectual burrowing-in that's frequently on display in the comments section of this blog. People are not just certain they're right; they're convinced that those who disagree with them are evil, moronic or both. The result is a schizophrenic public sentiment about government.
"I've never found bipartisan compromise to be so anethema to many of my constituents," Rep. Adam Schiff...
Here’s the key exchange:
Obama: "The day after the attack, governor, I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened. That this was an act of terror, and I also said that we're going to hunt down those who committed this crime."
DEBATE LOG: Second Presidential Debate
Romney: "I want to make sure we get that for the record because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror."
Obama: "Get the transcript.”
Moderator Candy Crowley: "It -- it -- it -- he did in fact, sir."
A Sept. 12 White House document titled "Remarks by the President on the...
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney could not have been surprised when his tax plan came under attack by President Obama at Tuesday night's debate. After all, both Obama and Vice President Biden had focused on the plan before, contending that there was no way it could work as Romney claimed.
So why, then, did Romney stick to the same vague response? Not only that -- he punted on a telling follow-up question about how he'd respond if he could get some but not all elements of his plan through Congress.
The exchange beganwith audience member Mary Follano asking Romney whether his tax plan would eliminate the tax deductions and credits for mortgage interest, charitable donations, dependent children and college tuition. Rather than giving a yes-or-no answer, he said one approach might be to limit the amount of deductions and credits a taxpayer can claim, but let him or her decide which ones to use. He also insisted that he wouldn't reduce the share of the tax burden paid by the top 5% of...
Watch news clips of Tuesday night's presidential debate and chances are that the back-and-forth between President Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney on energy policy will loom large -- not because of the policies under discussion, which were a rehash of old talking points, but because of the playground-style sniping ("Did not reduce drilling on federal lands!" "Did so!") that might have marked a new low point in the history of such debates. For anybody who cares which man was telling the truth in that embarrassing exchange (they both were, sort of), Politifact has a good analysis. I was more intrigued, though, by what the candidates didn't talk about.
Not once was the term "climate change" uttered during the debate, despite the fact that Obama's energy policies don't make a lot of sense without reference to the carbon problem, and Romney's don't make any sense when one takes it into account. You'd think that would mean Obama, at least, would want to bring it up. Instead, he seemed to...
Gentlemen, gentlemen, there’s no reason to fight over us. Really.
Well, in fact, I suppose there is.
It was the undecided voters invited to the town hall at Hofstra University who were the nominal target audience of the presidential debate Tuesday night, but it was women -- the majority of voters and the gender gap that Democrats have relied on, and that Republicans hope to close -- who were being wooed by President Obama and GOP rival Mitt Romney.
So that’s naturally where some of the debate ended up, along with some of the post-game analysis.
Obama’s stances on women’s issues are well known. He favors abortion rights, and the first act he signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to remedy pay discrimination against women. So when undecided voter Katherine Fenton asked about the wage gender gap, it was a pitch right over the plate for him. It’s clear where he stands, and it’s also clear where he thinks...
President Obama came out swinging, noted editorial writer Jon Healey during our live commentary of Tuesday’s town hall-style debate. Harold Meyerson agreed: "He's fully awakened." Others on our panel, composed of opinionators from the left and the right, weren’t as impressed. Mickey Kaus, for instance, thought Obama missed an easy opportunity to offer a mea culpa and to "plea for a second term." Meantime, Doyle McManus praised Mitt Romney’s presence on the debate stage: "Romney is really good at this. His talking points are crisper. It's nice to be the challenger." Jim Newton thought otherwise: "Rare that I disagree with you, Doyle, but I think he seems tight and borderline snotty."
So, ultimately, who won? Overall, they gave the edge to Obama. Here’s their instant analysis. (For further analysis, DoyleMcManus’ column will be live in the Opinion section later Tuesday night.)
Jim Newton: It says too little to say that President Obama won this debate. He...
President Obama's performance in Tuesday's second presidential debate was dramatically better than his outing in the first one earlier this month. Unfortunately for Democrats, Obama's Republican rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, didn't crumble in the face of the newly energized and forceful president. Instead, the debate at Hofstra University in New York played more like a brutal exchange of punches between heavyweights, ending with both men battered but standing. Intense throughout, even riveting at times, it was fantastic theater -- but not decisive politics.
Unlike his reserved, accommodating approach in the first debate, Obama spent much of the night attacking Romney's record and proposals, forcing his rival to spend more time defending himself and less time dissecting Obama's presidency. Obama was also much sharper and quicker when responding to Romney's attacks.
The more moderate-sounding Romney from the first debate was again on display, as he pledged his support for...
The questions asked at Tuesday night's presidential debate will be left to a coterie of undecided voters assembled by Gallup pollsters, so don't be surprised if they invite President Obama and his Republican opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, to pander to address concerns unique to their lines of work, their favorite causes or the problems they face as individuals. For example, that might include questions about whether the government is doing enough about cancer or Alzheimer's disease, or why Washington bailed out the big banks but not a local business whose line of credit dried up.
Personally, I like those questions. They're a reminder of what people think government ought to focus on, as opposed to what Washington seems to spend all of its time on.
Some inquiries are more illuminating than others, however. And the candidates covered some topics so thoroughly in the first go-round -- most notably Romney's proposed tax cuts and the two candidates' thoughts about Medicare...
Dan Turner has been an editorial editor or writer with the Times since 2004.
Catch up on the latest awards buzz.