Robin Haraway, Millington, TN:

“Sir, I firmly believe that you were sent to our nation through Divine Providence and I believe that you are the man to preserve our Republic for our children. Remember, you have overcome many adversities in your life. You have pulled yourself up by your bootstraps through sheer determination and honesty. You were delivered from cancer. My prayers are for strength and guidance for you and your beautiful family this weekend.”

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For the past couple of years, President Obama has chided the GOP for seeking to balance the budget on the backs of the poor and working class. In seeking to reduce the deficit through cuts to social programs alone, while leaving the tax rates of the richest Americans untouched (or even lowered), the GOP has shown a naked allegiance to the wealthiest Americans and a willlingness to inflict untold pain on all the rest.

Well it would appear that the GOP has heard the President’s complaints and has responded by offering compromise legislation that asks both poor and rich alike to sacrifice in the name of balancing the budget. Faced with mounting criticism of their refusal to back an extension of the payroll tax cut that affects mostly working Americans, the GOP has offered up a plan to pay for the cut while not adding further to the nation’s deficit. Federal workers, almost all of them middle income earners, will see their pay frozen through 2015, while 10% of them will lose their jobs altogether. The rich will also share in the pain, with millionaries and billionaires excluded from collecting food stamps and unemployment benefits. Yeah… let me repeat that last part: millionaires and billionaires are being asked to share in the pain by giving up their right to collect food stamps and unemployment benefits…. not, it doesn’t get any better the second time you say it. Read more »

Bret Baier interviews Mitt Romney [Fox]

Bret Baier: Mitt Romney called questions ‘uncalled for’ [Politico]

Not note perfect but nice baroque flute and double manual harpsichord:

“My wife did not know about it, and that was the revelation. My wife found out about it when [Ginger White] went public with it… My wife and I have talked about it, and I have explained it to her. My wife understands that I’m a soft-hearted giving person.” [New Hampshire Union-Leader]

Josh Romney on the Mittens Family Thanksgiving: “We got to stay at my parents’ place; they have a two-bedroom house, uh, pretty small.” The two-bedroom La Jolla beachfront shack contains only 3,000 square feet. [TPM]

“Sanitation officials said Wednesday that they expect to haul away 30 tons of debris from the Occupy L.A. encampment — everything from clothing to heaps of garbage to oddball curiosities left behind by the protesters who lived at the City Hall tent city for two months.” [LAT]