Romney’s Arrest Record, Akin’s Discrimination Endorsement, and More

An October Surprise:

Did you know Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has an arrest record? Or that he played loose with the facts about it more than a decade later? He does, and he did. Here’s the back story: Romney was arrested in 1981 for disorderly conduct after he defied a police officer’s order not to launch his motorboat because his license appeared to have been painted over (you can read the full details here). Reports of his arrest surfaced when Romney ran for Senate against Ted Kennedy in 1994. But there’s a new twist on the story. Apparently, Romney wasn’t completely honest about the incident. A recently discovered copy of a 1981 police blotter report reveals that Romney did not divulge that the boat he was operating was unregistered. Romney also claimed he had been released without bail, but that’s also not true according to the report. (Read more)

Not Good TV: Paul Ryan has a new argument for why he wouldn’t give specifics of Mitt Romney’s tax plan during an interview with Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.” Evidently, the plan’s details will bore you. “I like Chris; I didn’t want to get into all of the math on this because everyone would start changing the channel,” Ryan explained Monday, once again not offering up any particulars. (Read more)

Suspect Surveys: With recent polling data showing that Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is in pretty bad shape, Republicans have come up with a new talking point: The data from the polls are wrong. Guess we’ll find out whether that’s true or not next month. (Read more)

Chavez Chooses: Here’s one endorsement President Obama probably does not want. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Monday announced he was supporting Obama’s re-election campaign. And what’s more, Chavez believes Obama would vote for him if the American president lived in Venezuela. It’s basically a Mitt Romney ad in the making. (Read more)

More Akin Sexism: Todd Akin, the man famous for saying women have ways to avoid getting pregnant if they are victims of “legitimate rape,” is now arguing that it’s cool for employers to pay women less than men. Said Akin: “I believe in free enterprise. I don’t think the government should be telling people what you pay and what you don’t pay. I think it’s about freedom.” In other words, Akin is basically saying it’s OK for employers to discriminate based on immutable traits such as gender, because, hey, that’s freedom. And this is the candidate the GOP is endorsing in the Missouri Senate race. (Read more)

Video of the Day: The video game “Mortal Kombat” gets a political makeover, featuring officials such as Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum fighting each other to the death. Check out the first installment of “Political Kombat ’12.”

Bonus Video of the Day: Republican John Dennis, who has virtually no chance of winning in his congressional race against House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, has released a bizarre (and hilarious) new campaign ad featuring a fake Pelosi and … zombies.