Douglas Bloomfield's blog

There has been a surge in arms sales by China to sub-Saharan African nations, most notably cheap assault rifles and ammunition, in possible violation of U.N. sanctions, the Washington Post reported. 

The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) and the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) are partisan groups whose mission is to build Jewish support for their respective parties, and that's usually done by ripping into the other side.

Lately they've been trading insults over some endorsements and over who's getting video – but not in-person -- time at the conventions.

I was for it before I was against it.

Remember how that line was used so effective in the 2004 election to pummel Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry for having changed his positions on an issue?

Now it is Rep. Paul Ryan's turn.  The Wisconsin congressman, who is running for vice president this year and hedging his bets by running also for reelection to his House seat, is the one being accused of  flip-flopping.

Republicans' problems with women voters got a whole lot worse this week when a Republican congressman insisted he didn't do "anything morally or ethically wrong" when he referred to "legitimate rape." Under intense pressure, he later apologized for use of that phrase but held fast to his opposition to all abortions, even in the case of rape and incest.

I'm shocked. Shocked.  A congressman went skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee. It's an outrage.

Not the late night swim.  The big kerfuffle is an outrage. 

Have we become so puritanical that we hound public officials out of office for minor indiscretions? Or just hypocritical?

Mitt Romney now says those who think he doesn't pay enough taxes should include his charitable giving - much to his own church and all of it already taken as tax deductions - because that would boost his effective tax rate from 13 percent to above 20 percent.

Does he really think his taxes are a charitable gift to the government?  Is he that arrogant or does he just think we're that gullible?

Mitt Romney and his Super Pac backers spent tens of millions of dollars trashing all of his Republican opponents throughout the primaries and with devastating effect.  Just ask Newt Gingrich who complained bitterly about the $15 million worth of Romney attack ads in Florida alone that knocked him out of the running.

In the process of vetting Paul Ryan and other possible vice presidential running mates, Mitt Romney asked them to submit "several years" of their tax returns, according to former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who didn't make the cut.

That's something Romney refuses to do for those vetting him for President – the voters.

1.     Romney carefully vetted all his candidates for running mate, in stark contrast to McCain's example. Ryan won't outshine the top of the ticket and is unlikely to go rogue.

2.     Ryan will energize the base by bringing undisputable conservative credentials for Tea Partiers who don't fully trust Romney.

3.     Ryan plants the ticket solidly on the right because, unlike Romney, he has strong conservative creds on guns, abortion, health care reform, warrantless wiretaps, gay rights.

Does billionaire Sheldon Adelson have the courage to face his critics and debate the issues of this campaign or does he prefer to hide behind his high-priced lawyers and try to intimidate his critics into silence with threats of costly litigation?

A day after the casino mogul sued the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) for $60 million for libel, the group's lay leader called on the litigious billionaire to drop his "silly" suit and debate him on the issues instead.