ATTACK FAIL: Government Union’s Pro-Obama ‘Garbage’ Attack Ad Backfires.

"WHAT THE ... could possibly go wrong?"

THE COST OF OBAMA’S DEBT: $4,000 in Middle-Class Tax Increases. Frankly, I'm surprised that the amount of income taxes required for debt service hasn't made news earlier.

POLITICO: Romney Up 4 in 'Toss Up' States. Not good news for Team Obama.

LIBYA: When these two news stories broke after the Benghazi terror attack, I began to think that perhaps a turning point had finally been reached.

Today I'm not so optimistic.

IT'S TIME FOR 'truthaganda'.

REYNOLDS' LAW: “Subsidizing the markers of status doesn’t produce the character traits that result in that status; it undermines them.”

Reynolds' Law isn't limited to politics, as I pointed out in a couple of green energy posts back in 2009.

HAS QUANTUM COMPUTING ARRIVED? Physicists Build First Single-Atom Quantum Bit in Silicon.

PASTORS PLEDGE TO DEFY IRS, preach politics from pulpit ahead of election.

It's a good idea; the whole idea of 'tax-exempt' organizations needs to be challenged.

'SURGICAL' DRONE STRIKES may be satisfying, but they aren't necessarily effective.

MICHAEL WALSH: The Silence of the Lambs.

I'd recommend LTG Russel Honore's stuck on stupid approach.

THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN'S 'LADY PARTS' AD: can they possibly be more demeaning toward women?

Much more here.

COMEDY GOLD: Think Progress, an ultra-liberal web site, self-identifies as 'malware' on Twitter.

THE DEBATES: Image is Everything.

Image proved extremely important in 1960 when GOP Vice President Richard Nixon and Massachusetts Democrat Sen. John F. Kennedy dueled in the first-ever televised presidential debate. It was a break-through TV moment because the American people had never seen presidential candidates face off. While both candidates were equally matched in delivering their message, Nixon, who was ahead in the polls, failed to deliver a strong image on camera. ... Kennedy, on the other hand, spent hours practicing his message as well as his image. He knew exactly where to look, how to sit and when to smile. ...

It’s not just preparation that affects a candidate’s image during the debates, however. Networks play a subtle and often invisible role.

Through the art of video production, one candidate can be portrayed more favorably than the other. On October 7, 2008, then-Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain met for the second of three presidential debates. The format was a town hall debate. Both men roamed the floor and locked eyes with the audience members who asked questions. Numerous cameras were placed around the room to capture the candidates regardless of where they stood.

While equal time was given to each man for questions, the audience, when viewing the televised debate, experienced subtle differences in the camera angles for each candidate. Typically, when Obama spoke, the camera displayed a close up, eye-level image, filling the frame with his upper chest and face. This presented to the viewer a strong image of Obama. In contrast, when McCain spoke, the camera often showed a waist-up, medium shot, filling the frame with as much background as McCain himself. These shots made McCain appear small, which was exaggerated from time to time by camera angles that looked down on him. In addition, because of the wide shots of McCain, Obama had more face time on camera, as he was often shown in the background when McCain answered a question.

On October 3, the broadcast networks will air the first of three presidential debates between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Will the candidates be ready for the spotlight? Will the networks present an unbiased view, free of image manipulation through camera angles and lighting subtleties? While these are questions yet to be answered, one thing is for sure. The lesson learned in 1960 will once again prove true—image really is everything.

From a Townhall magazine email.

JOURNALISTS? Or Democratic operatives with bylines?

OBAMA CAMPAIGN: Video touted on Drudge Report a 'desperate attack'.

CHEAP SHOT: MSNBC host questions Romney's mental health. It's MSNBC, so what should you expect? If I were a reputable journalist, I'd be afraid to appear on MSNBC.

A GUIDE to the Obama administration’s five major scandals. Will any one of them be discussed during the Presidential Debate tonight?

PAUL GREENBERG: when a gaffe is not a gaffe.

Americans keep saying we want our politicians to level with us, tell us what they truly think, not just go down the familiar list of talking points, giving us the usual collection of platitudes and hoping to be all things to all people. But when a presidential candidate does come right out with it, and tell it with the bark off, we are shocked, shocked.

Cognitive dissonance: it's only a gaffe when it comflicts with cherished political beliefs.

NEW 2012 DEMOCRAT SLOGAN:

A GOOD QUESTION.

UNDER OBAMACARE, what will be considered essential health care? I think you can safely expect everything that can remotely be considered health care will be stuffed in -- with the exception of tort reform.

IN A SECOND TERM, Obama will double down on green failure.

IT'S GETTING CROWDED UP THERE.

PUT DOWN THAT CELL PHONE. You may be breaking the law. The regulatory environment has gotten so oppressive that it's almost impossible not to break the law.