The Economist: Why a Benghazi Cover-Up Makes No Sense

ABC News airs audio of Romney's "gift" comments and makes fun of him for only writing one speech

Democratic Solution to the Filibuster: Make Them Talk

Romney Claims He Lost Because of Obama "Gifts"

Source: New York Times

A week after losing the presidential election to President Obama, Mitt Romney blamed his overwhelming electoral loss on what he said were big “gifts” that the president had bestowed on loyal Democratic constituencies — including young voters, African-Americans and Hispanics.

In a conference call on Wednesday afternoon with his national finance committee, Mr. Romney said that the president had followed the “old playbook” of wooing specific interest groups — “especially the African-American community, the Hispanic community and young people,” Mr. Romney explained — with targeted gifts and initiatives.


Read more: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/romney-blames-loss-on-obamas-gifts-to-minorities-and-young-voters/

Where were you at this time last week?

Since it's been almost exactly a week since the networks projected President Obama's re-election, I figured it would be fun to share election night stories. Here's mine:

My boyfriend and I decided to watch the results in my apartment along with one of his friends. I had just gotten back to my apartment two days earlier, having been exiled for a week due to the lack of power and transportation after Sandy. Shortly after they called the election they showed the Empire State Building and we decided to go outside and see for ourselves. So we walked a few blocks until we had a good view, and we were going to go back home and drink champaign, but we heard people yelling in Washington Square Park, so we decided to go and yell with them. As more people gathered I started yelling "four more years" and a bunch of people joined with me. Then we went home and drank champaign, then decided to go to Times Square. It wasn't as crazy as it seems like it was earlier in the night, but watching the president's speech with the crowd there was still pretty awesome. This may be the only election I am in New York for, so I figured I had to experience it. The only thing I wish I had done that we didn't was go to Rockefeller Center to see the skating rink with the electoral map...somehow I wasn't aware of that. Oh well.

Amazingly, I was neither hungover or hoarse the next day, despite drinking almost three glasses of champaign and screaming my head off. I was pretty tired though.

Looks like Obama's got the hang of tough negotiating this time

A fundamental principle of negotiating is to start out asking for more than you expect to get. That was the big mistake he made in 2009-2010 with this stimulus and especially health care. Now that he knows what kind of opposition he is up against, it looks like he's gotten the message (I hope!):

Could/would Deval Patrick run against Scott Brown if Kerry becomes SOS?

I know a lot of people have expressed concern about the risk of Scott Brown taking Kerry's Senate seat if he gets tapped for the cabinet, but I think if Governor Patrick ran we would be in good shape. His approval ratings have recovered in MA and we have not had any black senators since Obama became president. I don't know if he would run, since he still has 2 years left as governor. But if he did I think he could win and it would be great to have him as a senator. Has he given any indication whether he would consider it?

Even if he didn't, aren't there plenty of other Democrats who could run and win the seat? What about Niki Tsongas, or Ed Markey, or Mike Capuano? I find it hard to believe that in a state as Democratic as Massachusetts there is nobody who could beat Scott Brown in a special election. But I haven't lived in Massachusetts since I was 2, so maybe I am missing something.

FirstRead: Republicans Got Crushed on the Issues Too

The Republicans' Electoral Map Problem

Interesting article. I wish the author had addressed how 2000 happened if we have such an electoral advantage. I did read recently that some pundits in the runup to 2000 thought Gore might win the electoral college but lose the popular vote.

Regardless of who it advantages, I still want to repeal the Electoral College. It's unfair and it causes half the country to be completely ignored and arguably disadvantaged in policy as a result of tendencies by presidents and legislators who might want to run for president to favor swing states.

Instead of boycotting Applebee's...

At first glance, our instinct is to boycott Applebee's because of what the owner said about laying people off to avoid paying for health insurance. However, if we do that we hurt the workers even more, and if Applebee's goes out of business, the story won't be the boycott, but that Obamacare drove them out of business. So I have an idea: instead of boycotting, we should eat at Applebee's and order in such a way that supports the workers more than the business, by ordering the lowest-profit margin items, drinking water, and leaving a generous tip.

I did a little bit of research on restaurant profit margins, and in most cases, items such as steak and seafood are "lost leaders", where the restaurant doesn't make very much but uses to draw people in. This is particularly true in recent years, with rising costs of raw materials. On the other hand, pasta dishes tend to be a big money-maker for restaurants, since pasta is so cheap. And it goes without saying that restaurants make much bigger profits on drinks than they do on food (including soft drinks). According to a friend who worked in a restaurant, appetizers tend to also be high profit items. Here is a list of which items in restaurants tend to be high or low margin.

One way to spot which items are the highest margin is where they are placed on the menu. Anything in a box is designed to highlight the highest margin. Additionally, items in the top-right corner or middle of menus tend to be high margin, because studies have shown that is where the eyes gravitate first. So if you eat at Applebee's, avoid anything in a box or the top-right corner. On some longer restaurant menus, the low margin items are often placed on the last page.

In some, my suggestion is that instead of boycotting Applebee's, we should go there and:
1) Order only water - no other drinks. If you must order another drink, order one with free refills and get several refills.
2) Not order appetizers
3) Order low-profit entrees such as steaks and seafood
4) Tip generously
5) Include a note that you are tipping an extra few dollars to cover the cost of health insurance for the workers, and would be happy to do so every time

I know it's a bit of an unconventional approach, and there are plenty of other reasons not to eat at chain restaurants. I also know some of you are vegetarians. But for those who currently eat at Applebee's, this might be a better approach than boycotting, because it will send a message without hurting the workers.

Thoughts? In particular, I would appreciate information from people who have worked in restaurants (especially restaurants similar to Applebee's) about what items are the most and least profitable.

ON EDIT: For Papa John's, I was thinking maybe we could start a campaign to add 14 cents to each order with a note that we support Obamacare and are willing to pay the extra 14 cents.