“Now he's runnin' around talkin' like he's Mr. Coal,” Obama says.

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign rally at Cornell College in Mt Vernon, Iowa, October 17, 2012.

Image by Jason Reed / Reuters

ATHENS, Ohio — President Barack Obama mocked his opponent Mitt Romney's efforts to appear more down-to-earth, noting his recent embrace of coal on the campaign trail.

"Now he's runnin' around talkin' like he's Mr. Coal," Obama told a crowd of 14,000 students and residents at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. "Come on. Come on. You know that's not on the level."

"Does everybody actually look at that guy and say, man, he’s really into coal," Obama asked, as the crowd shouted "No!"

In coal country in Southeast Ohio, Obama noted that Romney seemed uncomfortable in a recent ad taped about coal, adding that it came out that many of the coal miners were forced by their bosses to attend the rally with the former Massachusetts governor.

Repeats Romney's statement that on September 12, Obama didn't call the Benghazi attack a terrorist attack. But he called it an “act of terror” on the 13th — comments the video excludes.

Source: youtube.com

This was a real question posed to Kirsten Gillibrand and Wendy Long, two women running for U.S. senate in New York, during their only debate.

Source: policymic.com  /  via: @quasimado

Tagg took serious issue with the president calling his dad a liar.

Ann Romney, right, is seated with Tagg Romney, center, and Craig Romney before the start of the first presidential debate.

Image by Charles Dharapak / AP

Tagg Romney did not like it when President Obama accused his dad of dishonesty during Tuesday night's debate.

In an interview with a local North Carolina radio station Wednesday, the candidate's eldest son was asked what it was like "to hear the president of the United States call your dad a liar."

"Jump out of your seat and you want to rush down to the stage and take a swing at him," Tagg responded, laughing. "But you know you can't do that because, well, first because there's a lot of Secret Service between you and him, but also because that's the nature of the process."

He went on, "They're gonna try to do everything they can do to try to make my into someone he's not. we signed up for it, we've gotta try to kind of sit there and take our punches, and then send them right back the other way."

Tagg was also asked how his father feels before the high-stakes presidential debates.

"Are you kidding? He's terrified before he gets out there!" he responded, before correcting himself, "Terrified is too strong a word. but you know, like anybody, he gets butterflies a little bit. And then once he's in it, two or three minutes, he's forgotten about the nervousness."

Anonymous attack roils Libertarian circles.

Image by Jim Mone,File / AP

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson has found himself the victim of an anonymous Internet smear campaign accusing top aides of embezzling funds.

With just a few weeks before election day and his campaign making no significant progress, an email has begun circulating in libertarian circles accusing campaign manager Ronald Nielson of syphoning nearly 90% of the campaign's $2 million to his consulting firm and charges Johnson has not paid for any radio or TV ads, direct mail or paid staff.

But the email's claims are dubious: according to the campaign Johnson has several paid staffers and the campaign has distributed 60,000 yard signs, 165,000 bumper stickers, 670,000 brochures and flyers, and has aired almost 1,000 radio spots. The campaign has also been regularly sending out direct mail to voters and routinely organizes campaign events.

The email, which is signed by an apparently fictional person named Eric Stevens of Twinsburg, Ohio, also implicates Roger Stone, the longtime operative who became an advisor for Johnson earlier this year.

"How much is "former Republican" Roger Stone being paid? The FEC reports don't say but you can bet it's plenty. This mercenary doesn't come cheap," the email says.

Joe Hunter, a spokesman for the Johnson campaign, said that he was familiar with the email, but "I have no idea where that particular one is coming from."

Reached by email, Stone said "I have been paid zero by the Johnson campaign."

"Questions about the FEC filings should be directed to the campaign," Stone said. Nielson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The campaign's general counsel Alicia Dearn said that "FEC reports show that money raised for the general campaign is going to the general campaign."

"Those line items show money going to pay for all of our staff, advertising, media buys, campaign materials, travel and events, and necessary services," Dearn said in an email.

She added that the email "seems to be from a fake person." Stevens doesn't exist in that area in the phone book or on Facebook.
Additionally, "the Libertarian Party of Ohio has never heard of Eric Stevens," Dearn said, noting that the email address did not originally exist when the it first appeared, and has only recently been registered anonymously.

"This email lacks all credibility and is libelous." Dearn said.

Still, the email does generally point to the fact that much of Johnson's expenditures are in fact going to firms that appear to be connected to his aides.

According to Federal Election Commission reports, a large portion of the campaign's disbursements went to "Political Advisors" or "Politcal [sic] Advisors," with the address of 781 East South Temple Street in Salt Lake City.

No businesses are listed at 781 — but 731 East South Temple Street is the address of the Johnson campaign, according to its website, and also the address of Nielson's communications firm. A call to the number listed for the building led to a voicemail for Natalie Dicou, a Johnson and Libertarian Party spokeswoman.

The September monthly report, for example, lists "Politcal [sic] Advisors" as receiving $229,563.42, by far the biggest expense that month. In the reports, the Political Advisors expenses are for "Media Buys. Candidate Travel and Advisory Services." The report doesn't itemize specific vendors for these services.

The email, which has been popping up on libertarian sites like the Daily Paul, ends with a warning: "Lee Wrights and Bill Still and Karl Denninger tried to warn us. The great Libertarian opportunity of 2012 will be squandered."

Wrights and Still vied at one time to be the Libertarian Party candidate this year.

Stone, a lifelong Republican, changed his affiliation to Libertarian in February 2012. He became involved with the Johnson campaign in March to help Johnson get federal matching funds, telling BuzzFeed at the time that he was a volunteer.

Full text of the email:

Dear Fellow Libertarian,

What in the world is going on?

Governor Gary Johnson's campaign has raised - and spent - more than $2 million yet has not a single TV or cable news ad!

Johnson has even received over $340,000 in Federal matching funds.

Johnson's campaign has no network TV ads, no cable ads, no Facebook ads, no Google ads, no real radio ads, noheadquarters no voter mail, no paid staffers other than some guy named Charles Frohman who is paid a measly $2000 a month.

His Campaign bank account is empty. Where is the money going?

The official campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show 90% of the money raised has been paid to a company owned by Johnson's campaign "Senior Advisor" Ronald Nielson.

You can get Gary Johnson campaign materials like T-shirts, bumper stickers and yard signs - things the Romney and Obama campaign give out for free - if you want to BUY them from the campaign.

What kind of a campaign is this?

Johnson talks a lot about the need for transparency in government. Where is the transparency in his campaign?

Gary Johnson's campaign finances are about a transparent as the Federal Reserve bank!

The official spending reports the FEC requires don't show anything - other than huge payments to Johnson's consultants.

The GaryJohnson2012 website says the campaign has raised $635,000 to "put the campaign on TV". So where are the TV commercials? Isn't this false advertising? Some contributor should sue!

How much is "former Republican" Roger Stone being paid? The FEC reports don't say but you can bet it's plenty. This mercenary doesn't come cheap. Are Stone and Nielson splitting the money and leaving Johnson's campaign bankrupt?

According to the most recent Federal filing the campaign bank account is virtually empty! Where did the money go ?

The Green Party Candidate Jill Stein is has TV ads on CNN and MSNBC and she has raised far less money than Gary Johnson.

The campaign ran a handful of radio ads on libertarian radio programs. How much did they really cost ? Who knows? Johnson's campaign fiance reports don't say. Don't listen for a Gary Johnson radio ad on Rush Limbaugh or Mark Levin - you won't hear one.

Don't look for radio or TV ads in the swing states like Nevada, New Hampshire, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia or even New Mexico. Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate has ads on the air in some of those states but not Gary Johnson.

We in the Libertarian Party did not nominate Gov. Gary Johnson so his Republican consultant buddies can rip-off Libertarian donors and line their pockets.

How can Governor Gary Johnson have an impact in this election and put the Libertarian Party on the map if his top advisors are going to pocket all the campaign money? How do we score if the campaign never gets on TV ?

Where the $2 million dollars go? Ask Gary Johnson next time he has a Town Meeting. What has his campaign spent $2 million on?

The Libertarian Party paid to get Johnson on the ballot in 47 states! The Libertarian Party has let the Johnson campaign mail it's donor list.

Why should any libertarian or Gary Johnson supporter give another cent if the money is just going to be stolen? Governor Johnson talks a lot about ethics and integrity. Where is the integrity in ripping off your own campaign donors?

How does Gary Johnson justify a campaign that takes in $2 million but never buys any media? How does Governor Johnson justify campaign filings that hide his expenditures rather than report them?

What ever you do, don't give another penny to Gov. Gary Johnson's campaign. It will just end up in the pockets of Johnson's "advisors"

Lee Wrights and Bill Still and Karl Denninger tried to warn us. The great Libertarian opportunity of 2012 will be squandered.

What a pity.

Eric Stevens
Twinsburg, Ohio

A new meme born out the intense stare of Mitt's son during the Presidential debate, Tuesday. Tagg said he wanted to take a swing at Obama . Josh looks like he wants to do much worse. Some NSFW language.

Not surprisingly, the Patrick Bateman references are numerous.

View Entire List ›

Source: quickmeme.com

The former Massachusetts Governor touted hiring “binders full of women” for his cabinet, but many were donors to his gubernatorial campaign.

Mitt Romney sits with his former Chief of Staff Beth Myers.

Image by Brian Synder / Reuters

Mitt Romney answered a question at the presidential debate Tuesday on how he would close the gender pay gap by telling how he filled his cabinet with women appointees using "binders full of women" provided by women's groups.

But a cross reference of Romney's very senior positions held by women, his senior staff and cabinet heads, show that 5 of 8 positions were filled by campaign donors, suggesting that Romney did indeed surround himself with female executives, but that the outside advice had a limited effect.

Jane Wallis Gumble, who served as Romney's director of Department of Housing and Community Development, donated $300.

Beth Lindstrom, who served as Romney's director of the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, donated $1000.

Jennifer Davis Carey, who served as Romney's Secretary of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, donated $500.

Cindy Gillespie, who served as Romney's Chief of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, donated $500. Gillespie worked with Romney on the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics according to Romney's book Turnaround.

Beth Myers, who served as Romney's Chief of Staff, donated $500.

A quick reversal of spin-room bravado. “You'd think an 'offensive' would include more than a web video,” snipes an Obama aide.

Image by Alex Brandon / AP

LEESBURG, Va. — In the post-debate spin room Tuesday night, Romney campaign aides and surrogates tried to make up for a botched exchange on the Libya attacks by promising to aggressively prosecute President Obama's handling of the situation — but 36 hours later, no such prosecution has materialized.

Instead, Mitt Romney spent the next day on the stump criticizing the president for his lack of a second-term agenda, and conspicuously avoiding the Libya issue.

Asked why the issue was absent from Romney's public remarks, senior adviser Kevin Madden told BuzzFeed the campaign decided to focus their post-debate Virginia swing on exposing Obama's lack of specific proposals, and challenge him on gas prices and the economy.

"We used [Wednesday] to remind voters that if President Obama had a record to run on he would do so, but he doesn't so he can't," said Madden, adding, "Voters have a choice between Governor Romney, who has a plan to fix the economy and address concerns like gas prices, and President Obama, who hasn't even presented voters a second term agenda. We want to continue to drive that fact with swing voters."

But another campaign official, granted anonymity to discuss strategy, said their plan to re-litigate the Libya issue was postponed when instant polls and focus groups immediately after the debate showed Romney winning exchanges about the economy, deficit, and gas prices. In the time between the Tuesday night spin room, and the candidate's Wednesday morning rally, Romney's team decided they would build on their momentum in those areas, rather than play defense on foreign policy, the official said.

Madden said Libya will "remain an issue because of the unanswered questions about the attacks on our consulate are there."

And, indeed, the first signs of pushback appeared Wednesday night, when the Romney campaign released a web video arguing that it took Obama two weeks to fully embrace the notion that the Libya attacks were an act of terror.

And a campaign official also said Romney would come to next Monday's foreign policy debate prepared to question Obama on his version of events, and challenge the administration's reaction in the aftermath.

But one Obama campaign aide dismissed the fledgling efforts as "weak," and called Romney's avoidance of the issue on the stump a clear concession that it's a losing argument for him.

“It was foolish, and a sign of panic when the Romney campaign said that they’d go on the offensive on Libya — all it would do is highlight the weakest moment of the debate for Romney," the aide said, adding, "You'd think an 'offensive' would include more than a web video."

“[W]e conclude that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act violates equal protection and is therefore unconstitutional.” The Second Circuit Court of Appeals, out of New York, is the second federal court to hold the 1996 federal definition of “marriage” unconstitutional, but Supreme Court appeals are pending.

Edith Windsor is challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Source: s3-ec.buzzfed.com

The Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 law that defines "marriage" and "spouse" under federal law as only pertaining to marriages between one man and one woman, is unconstitutional, the federal appeals court out of New York ruled on Thursday.

The 2-1 opinion of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Edith Windsor's case came just three weeks after the three-judge panel heard oral arguments from the lawyers in the case. It is the second appeals court to hold the law unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court has several requests pending to resolve the constitutionality of the law.

The opinion — authored by the conservative chief judge of the Second Circuit, Dennis Jacobs — is another blow to the House Republican leadership, which has been defending the law since the Obama administration determined that the law is unconstitutional in February 2011.

Beyond striking down the law itself, the most significant development in today's ruling is that the Second Circuit held that laws that classify people based on sexual orientation, like DOMA, should be subjected to a heightened form of scrutiny when courts examine the government's claimed reasons for such laws. The holding that "intermediate scrutiny" applies makes the Second Circuit the first federal appeals court to do so. The First Circuit did not apply heightened scrutiny in its earlier decision striking down DOMA.

The Second Circuit, however, held:

In this case, all four factors justify heightened scrutiny: A) homosexuals as a group have historically endured persecution and discrimination; B) homosexuality has no relation to aptitude or ability to contribute to society; C) homosexuals are a discernible group with non-obvious distinguishing characteristics, especially in the subset of those who enter same-sex marriages; and D) the class remains a politically weakened minority.

Chief Judge Jacobs, appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush, was joined in his opinion by Judge Christopher Droney, an Obama appointee. The opinion, at points, is almost strident in its support for its conclusions. As to the history of discrimination, for example, he wrote:

It is easy to conclude that homosexuals have suffered a history of discrimination. Windsor and several amici labor to establish and document this history, but we think it is not much in debate.

Referring to the House Republican leadership, which is defending the law in court because it holds a 3-2 majority on the House's Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, Jacobs wrote:

BLAG argues that, unlike protected classes, homosexuals have not "suffered discrimination for longer than history has been recorded." But whether such discrimination existed in Babylon is neither here nor there. BLAG concedes that homosexuals have endured discrimination in this country since at least the 1920s. Ninety years of discrimination is entirely sufficient to document a "history of discrimination."

As to political powerlessness, one of the more hotly debated point at oral arguments, the majority opinion is again direct:

The question is not whether homosexuals have achieved political successes over the years; they clearly have. The question is whether they have the strength to politically protect themselves from wrongful discrimination.

When discussing successes that lesbian, gay and bisexual people have had in getting elected to public office, however, Jacobs also provided some nuanced analysis (although not expressed in the language used by LGBT advocates):

It is difficult to say whether homosexuals are "under-represented" in positions of power and authority without knowing their number relative to the heterosexual population. But it is safe to say that the seemingly small number of acknowledged homosexuals so situated is attributable either to a hostility that excludes them or to a hostility that keeps their sexual preference private—which, for our purposes, amounts to much the same thing.

Once the court determined that intermediate scrutiny applied — which requires the government to show that the law is "substantially related to an important government interest" — the court quickly dismissed the reasons given by the lawyer for the House Republican leaders, Paul Clement. It noted, even, that Clement "all but conceded that these reasons for enacting DOMA may not withstand intermediate scrutiny."

Of the reason primarily advanced by Clement, that Congress had the right to pass a law aimed at maintaining "uniformity" on marriage, the court held:

Because DOMA is an unprecedented breach of longstanding deference to federalism that singles out same-sex marriage as the only inconsistency (among many) in state law that requires a federal rule to achieve uniformity, the rationale premised on uniformity is not an exceedingly persuasive justification for DOMA.

After dismissing the other reasons advanced by the House Republican leaders, the court concluded: "[W]e hold that Section 3 of DOMA violates equal protection and is therefore unconstitutional."

The dissenting opinion came from Judge Chester Straub, a Clinton appointee, who argued that a 1972 Supreme Court decision in which the court found that a same-sex couple denied a marriage license in Minnesota did not raise a "substantial federal question" in their constitutional challenge bound him in this case because the Supreme Court had never overruled the case.

Similarly, he argued that the court was wrong to apply heightened scrutiny because the Supreme Court has not done so. Under the lowest form of scrutiny, called rational basis, Straub wrote that the law should be found to be constitutional because "DOMA centers on legitimate state interests that go beyond mere moral disapproval of an excluded group."

Both the American Civil Liberties Union and their outside counsel, Paul Weiss's Roberta Kaplan, have asked the Supreme Court to review this case, as has the Department of Justice.

Windsor - Majority Opinion

Windsor - Dissent

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At a town hall, Gov. Christie pushes back against a voter who complains Newark residents are leeching her tax dollars. “Give the microphone back.”

Via: youtube.com

At a town hall in West Milford, N.J., Tuesday, a member of the audience told Gov. Chris Christie that it was unfair that her town — West Milford — is burdened by higher taxes while people in Newark "sit out there on their stoops in the summer time, smoking pot, drinking booze...on food stamps and welfare."

The woman argued that Newark uses West Milford's water, and should therefore pay a usage charge of "a dollar or two dollars to the millions of people who are using our water."

The question was received with some applause, but Gov. Christie painted the West Milford woman's comment as a class-based attack.

"Give the microphone back," said Christie. "I was with you for most of your talk....but let me just say this. It is unfair, with all due respect, to characterize every person who lives in Newark — because that's what you just did — as sitting on their stoops and smoking pot and collecting food stamps. I've spent a lot of time in Newark, and I know that every family is not like that."

Christie told the town hall that the state would not succeed "by pitting New Jerseyans against New Jerseyans. It may get a lot of applause, but we don't win that way," he said. "When we do, we lessen each other, and we're better than that."

In Romney's failed 1994 bid for Senate, Ted Kennedy hit Romney for the lack of women at Bain Capital in an ad. Romney responded in a debate by mentioning the highest paid employee at Bain was a women and the chairman of the board was a women.

Kennedy 1994 Ad: "As head of Bain Capital Romney only hired one women out of 40 top managers."

Source: youtube.com

Romney responded in a debate: "My entire life has been one of working with women and helping women through the glass ceiling."

Source: youtube.com

The ad edits out that Romney was speaking of a hypothetical situation where it was the consensus of the country to ban abortion. Romney adds “that's not where we are today. That's not where America is.” Romney reiterates in the 2007 debate that his position was to return the abortion issue to states, which is also not shown in the Obama campaign ad.

Source: youtube.com

Romney's 2007 remarks.

Source: youtube.com

The stars of TLC's “19 Kids and Counting” stump for the Missouri Congressman defined by his “legitimate rape” comment. “We know how tough it is to be a candidate.”

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — The Duggar family, reality stars from the TLC show "19 Kids and Counting," barnstormed rural Missouri on Tuesday and Wednesday in support of Rep. Todd Akin's bid for U.S. Senate.

If the von Trapp children had hit the campaign trail, it might have looked something like this.

The first of the events Wednesday was held in a community center in Farmington, Mo., where so many people showed up, roughly 150, that the Duggars gave up their chairs. ("We won't be sitting much anyway," Jim Bob Duggar told the crowd.) Some families were still left standing; none seemed to mind.

The family, who double as national stars of the anti-abortion movement, stopped later in Poplar Bluff, Mo., just north of Missouri's Bootheel, where they were met with a slightly smaller crowd. A local family, among Akin's most committed donors, hosted the event at the medical testing facility they own.

At both stops, the children, joined occasionally by their parents, performed a seven-song set, which included a mashup of "America the Beautiful" and "My Country Tis of Thee." A religious song, sung to the tune of "Edelweiss," capped the recital.

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, the heads of the Duggar clan, told their audiences that they had met the Akins in Rolla, Mo., roughly one month ago. "And we just fell in love with them," Jim Bob Duggar said. "They are such a precious couple."

But their presence was also the latest mark of the backlash in the Evangelical Christian community that has kept the embattled Missouri candidate in the race for Senate after a remark about "legitimate rape" and pregnancy positioned him far outside the mainstream abortion argument.

And Jim Bob Duggar is not new to politics: He was elected to serve as a state representative in Arkansas and, later, lost a Republican primary race for U.S. Senate.

"We know how tough it is to be a candidate," he said. "It's a lot easier to help a candidate than to be the candidate yourself."

When Jim Bob lost his Senate race, a photo of his family at the polls ran in The New York Times, leading to national interest in his family and, ultimately, a television show. When Akin won a hotly contested Republican primary for Congress in 2000, Duggar said, that was also "God's providence."

"The day of the election, there was a downpour of rain," Jim Bob Duggar said, "and he ended up winning by 56 votes."

"Wow," the crowd whispered in unison.

And so it would be again, the Duggars said, if Akin's supporters urged their friends and members of their church to vote.

As they ended their speech, the Duggars moved to sit down and sign autographs. Akin supporters lined up, filing past yard signs for the candidate, their attention trained on meeting the reality television stars.

The Boss returned to the trail for the President, talking about universal health care, Wall Street regulation, and abortion.

Via: youtube.com

Bruce Springsteen, who campaigned for President Obama four years ago, headlined his first 2012 campaign event with President Bill Clinton Thursday in the key swing state of Ohio.

Introduced by Clinton as "the coolest guy I ever met," Springsteen gave brief remarks during a solo acoustic set, in which he played five tracks and one new song — "Forward, and Away We Go" — which he wrote around President Obama's campaign slogan, "Forward."

Speaking in the city of Parma, Springsteen recalled Obama's election night in 2008. "It was an evening when you could feel the locked doors of the past finally being blown open to new possibilities. But then comes a hard daily struggle to make those possibilities real," said Springsteen.

"I came here today," he continued, "because i'm thankful for universal health care, the lack of which was for so long an embarrassment to our country; I'm thankful for a more regulated Wall Street; I'm thankful GM is still making cars... I'm here today because I'm concerned about women's rights. I don't have to tell you the dangers to Roe v. Wade under our opponent's policies."

Springsteen is also expected to appear at an Obama For America event in Ames, Iowa, this Thursday.

Contrary to Fox News' current lead story, Obama has been asked about his religion on the daytime talk show. He did so in an interview in March 2008.

FoxNews.com's current splash.

Via: foxnews.com

The View segment on Obama's faith and Reverend Wright in March 2008.

Source: youtube.com

Not holding our breaths. [Updated]

The mysterious "October Surprise" promised on a viral website — and promoted by a BuzzFeed user on our site — could be no more than a stunt.

On Thursday, a community user posted on BuzzFeed promote an "October Surprise" involving the presidential election, showing a blurred-out document and linking back to OctSurprise.com. (BuzzFeed deleted the post.) The website features a countdown clock to October 21st and a Twitter account.

A reverse IP search shows that the website belongs to Anthony Maro of Chicago, Illinois. The person who posted the website's link on BuzzFeed is Jeff Hopwood, one of Maro's coworkers at Discovery Communications, the company that encompasses the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, and other brands.

Hopwood and Maro didn't respond to requests for comment.

Internet forums hold another clue to the pair's history: "The Greatest Rickroll Ever," a prank in 2007 in which Maro and Hopwood are rumored to have been behind a site called Radioheadlp7.com and started a similar countdown, promising new information on that year's much-hyped Radiohead album when the timer ran out.

When the timer ran out, users were rickrolled -- a popular Internet prank at the time that involves putting a video of Rick Astley behind a link purporting to be something else. Radiohead denied being a part of the stunt.

Hopwood told the New York Observer that he was "slightly involved" and that the site had been made by “a group of developers that I’m friends with." He said he didn't know what was in the blurred document.

Hopwood denied that the stunt could have anything to do with marketing for Animal Planet's "Decision 2012."

Update: Hopwood got back to BuzzFeed in an email, saying "While trying to not sound too coarse, the response to our site has been a bit overwhelming and we'd need a pretty good reason to answer any of these questions right now."

"There's some concern about safety, etc," Hopwood said. "We expect that the end of this is nearer than our site would suggest."

Hopwood also said that the "response has been incredible," and that "We're hoping voters and all of the campaigns are paying attention and we are looking forward to the final reveal!"

Update II: Hopwood called BuzzFeed back a few minutes ago. He said he didn't know what was going to happen when the clock on October Surprise runs out.

"I was hoping you could give me some insight on that," he said. "I can’t rickroll anybody anymore."

He said his employers didn't know about the site — "No, yeah I‘m kind of worried about that, so I’m going to try and shut the thing down."

That and other revelations from StumbleUpon's data mine. Republican and Democrats differ on pop culture, media, and entertainment as much as they do on their candidates.

To identify Democrat and Republican preferences for important topics such as Shakespeare plays, podcasts, and action movies, the social service StumbleUpon has sifted through data for more than 25 million of its users who rated either pro-Obama or pro-Romney content.

Below, some of its best finds:

Human Rights Campaign shows its dissatisfaction with the House Republican leadership. Group also looks outside Congress to argue that Congress is lagging behind national public opinion.

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“The bullets are aimed at you,” Biden warned..

“Today’s over-the-top rhetoric by Vice President Biden is disappointing, but not all that surprising. In the absence of a vision or plan to move the country forward, the Vice President is left only with ugly political attacks beneath the dignity of the office he occupies. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will bring serious leadership to Washington that will focus on an agenda of job creation and economic growth that benefits all Americans.” - Brendan Buck, Romney-Ryan Spokesman

Source: youtube.com

“My ability to fulfill my duties is compromised.”

Via: healthyyouthva.org

Virginia's Health Commissioner Karen Remley resigned Thursday, saying that restrictions on abortion clinics recently passed in her state have made it impossible to do her job.

The resignation caps off a battle between the state's health board under Remley, appointed by former Democratic governor Tim Kaine, and the state's current Republican administration.

The regulations, passed by the Virginia Board of Health last month, include minimum widths for hallways, and specific requirements for ventilation systems and covered entrances. Supporters of the new regulations say they're necessary to protect women's health, but opponents have charged that they're really an effort to put clinics out of business.

In her resignation email, Remley said that the clinics would stay open: "as of today all twenty abortion facilities eligible for licensing have been inspected, plans of correction received and approved, and within the next few days all will be licensed for the coming year." However, she said that the new restrictions had "created an environment in which my ability to fulfill my duties is compromised and I can no longer in good faith continue in my role. I have submitted my resignation from the position from State Health Commissioner effective today."

The restrictions had touched off a protracted battle between the Virginia Board of Health and the state's Republican Governor Bob McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. The board had initially approved the restrictions but voted to apply them only to new clinics — Cuccinelli then threatened that if they excluded existing clinics, they could be personally liable for the legal fees in any lawsuits that resulted.

McDonnell has appointed Deputy Health Commissioner Maureen Dempsey as interim Health Commissioner. He accepted Remley's resignation in a statement that made no mention of the abortion restrictions. Former governor Kaine also released a statement on Remley's resignation, saying, "It’s unfortunate that a political focus on limiting women’s access to health care has prompted her resignation after many years of diligent and faithful service to the Commonwealth." Kaine is currently running for Senate — Remley's resignation, and the clinic restrictions more generally, could be an issue in his campaign.

Update: Cianti Stewart-Reid, Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, says the clinic restrictions are "onerous" and "don't directly affect the healthcare services being provided by our health centers." She added, "with 18 days to go until the election, Dr. Remley's resignation brings to forefront again that women's health is vitally important in this election. The candidates Mitt Romney and George Allen [Kaine's opponent in the Senate race] have dangerous policies toward women's health." The Virginia Society for Human Life, an anti-abortion group that praised the restrictions, has not yet responded to a request for comment.