Steph,

Romney was going to jump in the polls, in my view, because he was too low in before the first debate. Romney's levels are about what they were before any of the conventions. So he is back to summertime levels.

I believe in the accuracy of polls generally, but I thought the huge bump Obama got was a bit of a blip.

I believe in the accuracy of polls generally, but I thought the huge bump Obama got was a bit of a blip.

I was just feeling so much better with 538 showing Obama predicted to take over 300 electoral votes, and >75% odds of winning.

The numbers now freak me out too much.

Someone is either shooting a gun near my house, or there was a hell of a loud motorcycle backfiring

Has anyone heard about any gun control legislation being proposed recently, or should I just chalk up the anti-Obama ad I just saw to typical NRA fear-mongering?

I may have missed something but I think NRA fear-mongering.

Incidentally, count me as an "Obama is a lesser evil" guy rather than thinking he is pretty good and just stopped by the Republicans.

On foreign policy the President can do pretty much what he wants, and we are still in Afghanistan. The only reason we are not still in Iraq was that Bush signed a treaty that said we have to get out. On civil liberties, Obama has expanded government power to kill pretty much anyone the President says needs to be killed, has fought in the courts for the continued right to hold people without trial, to wiretap with (in practice no restrictions) and on and on. Plus Drone warfare.00

When it comes to domestic policy, yeah the Republicans blocked a lot of things. But Obama had continuously pushed for Social Security cuts. The catfood commission (i.e. Bowles-Simpson) was a Republican idea but Obama's. And he said even before he was elected that cutting "entitlements" was one of his goals. The administrations is still talking about "tweaks" - raising the retirement age and reducing cost of living adjustments. Now even if the effect of raising the retirement age is to cause people to wait longer to retire that is reduction in benefits. But most people retire as soon as they can which means that raising the retirement age lowers benefits. And cost of living rises faster for old people than the population as a whole not more slowly. So reducing cost of living adjustments is a benefit cut as well. And Social Security is one of the most miserly public pension plans among the rich nations. I will add that Obama, even when he came in with huge popular support, failed to push for a large enough stimulus. Maybe he could not have won, but he never even fought for as much as was needed. I could go on, but in my opinion Obama has been a cautious center-right President when we needed a Roosevelt. Does not mean I won't vote for him over the little man in the Monopoly set, but definitely a lesser evil, not an imperfect good.

My feelings towards Obama are always going to be sullied by the fact that he SENDS ROBOTS TO KILL PEOPLE.

On foreign policy the President can do pretty much what he wants, and we are still in Afghanistan. The only reason we are not still in Iraq was that Bush signed a treaty that said we have to get out. On civil liberties, Obama has expanded government power to kill pretty much anyone the President says needs to be killed, has fought in the courts for the continued right to hold people without trial, to wiretap with (in practice no restrictions) and on and on. Plus Drone warfare.00

I'm with you on all of that. I really hoped once we killed bin Laden, Obama would take the opportunity to declare "victory" and pull us the hell out. I'm also infuriated by him just sweeping the torture program under the rug. Yes, he put a stop to it, but an executive orders are ridiculously easy to overturn (which Romney has already said he wants to do, though he won't actually day he wants to restart the program. There's plenty of other Republicans chomping at the bit to do so, though.) and he let everyone involved walk without even a slap on the wrist.

The civil liberties, detention and assassination without oversight are equally disturbing, especially if the Bushies get their hands on the reigns again.

I am just about to be discharged from hospital. I am so hoping this was all worth it. I ended up being admitted, and the attending in Obs was dubious about the mythical episode where I reacted badly to meds, since he'd read back over a year and not found it. And the people that claim it have never been able to provide documentation, going as far as to say they're going for it, and never coming back.

His resident is putting a big old note right in the binder (again) that I have been closely monitored at the recommended doses, and came out of it peachy keen.

Hopefully this will at least forestall the this-is-never-done-this-way naysayers, Or force them to come up with more specific argument. Which is cool., Making them think again is also not a bad thing, I figure.

ita !, you're an ER urban legend! Congrats!

"This one time, in the ER, she complained of ITCHING with that dosage! ITCHING. A friend's cousin's sister's dogsitter's aunt's daughter was the attending that night and she SWEARS she saw her scratching. SO DON'T GIVE HER THE MEDS! Or baaaad things will happen..."

Medical sanity-ma, ita.

So now my friend has pivoted to ranting about government waste and corruption (which I agree is a problem) and the problems with current two-party system (again, I'm all for viable third party) so he's voting libertarian this year. Um, victory, I guess.

I still haven't had a real defense of Romney, yet.