Oops! The Cain Edition

With the GOP's proclivity for hokey sayings, it is surprising that they seemingly don't know my favorite: you can't polish a turd. Picking candidates who have no intelligence or experience and trying to teach, or cram, the foundational current events, civic, political science and international affairs knowledge simply does not work.

examples:

The entire Bush presidency

2008: Sarah Palin can not name a single magazine she reads on a weekly basis.

2012: Rick Perry can't name the third department he would dismantle if elected.

and the latest...

These aren't gotcha moments. This isn't accidentally misspeaking. This is someone who has no idea what he is talking about. This is someone who has no right being President. He is not the best representative of America or Americans.

"This Is The Proudest I Have Ever Been To Be An American"

How Does A Bumper Sticker Stop Genocide?

During Friday's morning's session with Lina Srivastava at the New York Influencer Conference , she posed this question to the audience during a discussion about the stages and methods behind raising awareness, engaging an audience and carefully guiding them through the spectrum of engagement to action. She went on to explain how raising awareness can be easy. Any worthwhile cause has a compelling story behind it, but telling the story about the systemic problem, being honest with the audience about how messy, complicated and tiring the actual solution will be is the challenge. When telling a story, it may be tempting to focus on the subject's similarities with the audience but one should tightrope the dichotomy of wanting to relate and being accurate and honest. Srivastava's urged the audeince to watch this TED talk which addresses the danger of telling a single story.

GOP Google Debate

Credit: AP Photo/John Raoux

RECAP:

• general consensus amongst audience and candidates: Support the troops unless they're gay

• Newt Gingrich thinks he is too smart to answer your dumb questions

• Perry's opposition to the border fence and support for giving illegal immigrants in-state tuition put him at odds with the conservative base

• Everyone seems to have forgotten Michele Bachmann is in the debate, including her. The few times she did speak she said nothing, but she gave good crazy eyes.

• Line of the night: "my neighbors dog has created more shovel-ready jobs than Obama"- Governor Johnson

• Romney is the most presidential, but the conservative base is reluctant to back him

*Editorial: The moderators of these debates need to do a better job insisting candidates move from general or evasive answers to direct questions.

FACT CHECKING:

Bachmann:

"Obama has lowest public approval rating of any president in modern time"

FALSE:

Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Gerald Ford all had lower approval ratings at some time during their terms.

Romney:

When Obama "addressed the United Nations in his inaugural address and chastised our friend, Israel, for building settlements, and said nothing about Hamas launching thousands of rockets into Israel."

FALSE:

during that speech Obama specifically talked about an Israeli girl who is scared at night that a rocket from Hamas-controlled Gaza will kill her.

Bachmann:

when questioned about her statement that the HPV vaccine "was potentially dangerous" she said, " I didn't make that claim nor did I make that statement"

FALSE:

roll the tape!

Global Population: 15% hungry, 20% overweight

According to a recent

Red Cross report

, the obese population now outnumbers the undernourished. One could interpret that to mean that the undernourished population has shrunk to a level where it is only natural that the scales tip but, with 925 million people undernourished, it is clear that we have a major problem with distribution and access to food. It is hard to imagine a greater injustice than more people dying of excess nutrition than hunger.

Try explaining this show:

Adam is in Hartford, CT, at Randy's Wooster Street Pizza Shop for its Stuffed Pizza Challenge. Two people must take down a pie made with 4 pizza doughs and packed with meats, cheeses and veggies - it weighs in at more than 10 pounds.

To these kids:

www.scoopgods.squarespace.com/