WHAT ROMNEY / REPUBLICANS STAND FOR———————————————

Romney gives Obama an “F” across the board – In an interview with CBS News political correspondent Jan Crawford, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said he would give President Obama an “F” in every area, including foreign policy and the economy. After being asked what grade he would give the president, Romney quickly responds: “Oh, an ‘F,’ no question about that,” adding that the grade applies “across the board.” Crawford followed up by asking about foreign policy and mentioned the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden last year, but Romney avoided addressing bin Laden’s death and pointed to Iraq and the political uprisings in the Middle East. – CBS | image: 2che

Romney “supporters” heckle David Axelrod in Boston – Thus, there was a rough precedent for what David Axelrod did today, which was to come to Boston to talk about Willard Romney’s record as governor of the Commonwealth (God save it!). The difference is, of course, that Dukakis ran on his record as governor here and, from the available evidence presented by the Romney campaign, Willard never set foot in the place. […] it’s still odd to me that the primary story of the day was not the fact that a former governor would rather eat dirt than admit he ever was governor here, but, rather, that he can hire people to yell on the sidewalk. Odd. — Charles P. Pierce | image: tshirthell.com

Boehner poised to raise student loan interest rates — Boehner told the House Republican Conference Thursday morning that it was unlikely Congress would be able to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling before the end of the month, but he blamed the Senate, since the lower chamber has already passed a bill. He dubbed the fight “phony,” and urged his members not to fall victim to what he considers a manufactured tussle. First, the issue isn’t “phony” at all to those affected by it. [...] Second, blaming the Senate is silly. The House passed its version, but paid for it by cutting access to breast cancer and cervical cancer screenings. Senate Democrats offered an alternative, paying for the lower rates by closing a tax loophole that currently allows some very wealthy people to shield some of their earnings from the payroll tax (the S-corp provision). Republicans killed the proposal with yet another filibuster. As far as Boehner is apparently concerned, it’s either the House version or nothing, which means student loans interest rates will likely double just 30 days from now. — Maddow Blog

• Boehner: “Let’s call bulls— bulls—. This election is about jobs, jobs, jobs.” — POLITICO

• Boehner and his caucus will demonstrate their laser-like focus on jobs with a vote on another anti-abortion bill. – TPM

• House fails to pass not-’jobs, jobs, jobs’ abortion bill, on purpose — The House voted on their anti-abortion bill [yesterday], the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, or PRENDA, the one that would prohibit the abortion practice that doesn’t happen in America, gender and race selection, or as David Waldman calls it, PRETENDA. It failed 248-165. It failed because Republican leadership wanted it to fail. They brought it up under suspension of the rules, which meant it had to have a two-thirds majority to pass. Why would they do that? David explains: Republicans may think they get the best mileage out of this bill by selling it as compelling and necessary, and then setting it up to fall short, for which they can then blame Democrats. — Daily Kos

RSC to Obama: No debt hike without tax cuts for the wealthy, austerity for everyone else – The lawmakers write in the letter that they want to “underscore our strong support for Speaker Boehner’s recent comments on raising the nation’s debt ceiling … tying a debt limit increase with common-sense reforms is a necessary first step to solving the nation’s fiscal imbalance.” The letter, authored by Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.), also warns that with China holding nearly 23 percent of the nation’s debt, it is time to curb U.S. reliance on “communist creditors.” The RSC boasts 164 members, but it is not yet clear how many will sign the letter. – Roll Call News

Scott Walker mistakenly admits that he is a target in the John Doe criminal corruption probe – Walker, in a rare moment of candor, stated to reporters that he would not use the criminal defense fund to pay for the legal defenses of his aides, who have been charged with crimes ranging from child enticement, to theft from veterans and the families of fallen soldiers, to misuse of taxpayer resources to illegally campaign for Scott Walker, and would instead use the funds for himself or his campaign. Wisconsin law is very clear: an elected official can only establish a legal defense fund if they, or their agent, are under investigation for, charged with, or convicted of violations of Wisconsin’s campaign finance and election laws. Nothing provides for an elected official creating a legal defense fund for the sole purpose of campaign compliance, assisting the prosecution or aiding an investigation, as Scott Walker claims he is doing. Since he is not paying for the defense of an agent acting on his behalf, it is now clear that Scott Walker is under investigation. – Wisconsin Politics

• “I have a police department that arrests felons. He has a practice of hiring them.” — Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett (D), quoted by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, bringing up an ongoing secret investigation of Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) aides in last night’s debate. via 

WHAT THE PRESIDENT / DEMOCRATS STAND FOR ————————————

Click for larger: via Brian McFadden —

THE STIMULUS: Still working – A new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report estimates that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) increased the number of people employed by between 200,000 and 1.5 million jobs in March.  In other words, between 200,000 and 1.5 million people employed in March owed their jobs to the Recovery Act. [...] In addition to saving and creating jobs, ARRA has increased the number of hours worked, CBO has concluded. That is, without ARRA, many full-time workers would have been reduced to part-time status and fewer would have worked overtime. — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

A new Kaiser Foundation finds people think President Obama would be better for women than Mitt Romney on a host of issues, including who’s looking out for their best interests, who’d be best to deal with the future of the health-care law, education, and even national security. But the one place where Obama doesn’t enjoy big leads is on the federal deficit. On who looks out for the best interests of women, Obama leads 52-26%. Among women voters, it’s 59-25%. But on who’s best to deal with the deficit, Obama and Romney are essentially tied, with Obama getting the narrow edge, 40-39%, hardly a good sign for an incumbent president. That vulnerability is one reason the Romney campaign has been pushing the issue. Even on jobs and the economy, President Obama has a 10-point lead. – MSNBC

Report: Few Workers Would Be Affected By Change That Ensures 75 Years Of Full Social Security Funding – Currently, the payroll tax — which funds Social Security and Medicare — is only applied to an individual’s first $110,100 in wages, meaning that middle-class and low-income workers pay the tax on their entire income, while the wealthy pay it on only a fraction. As CEPR found, just 6.8 percent of workers would be affected if the cap were eliminated […] Eliminating the payroll tax cap would ensure Social Security could pay full benefits for nearly 75 years. However, this simple solution is ignored by conservatives, who would rather take the more regressive step of raising the retirement age, or simply privatize the program. And it certainly doesn’t help that the mainstream media consistently misinforms the public about Social Security’s financial health, ginning up a “crisis” while ignoring that one simple step would wipe the crisis away entirely. – ThinkProgress

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) predicts the Affordable Care Act will be upheld 6-3 — “Me, I’m predicting 6-3 in favor,” Pelosi said at the Paley Center for Media in New York on Tuesday. “But we’ll see. It’s a lesson in civics, and I respect it. I respect the court and judicial review.” — Business Insider

BREAKING: Justice Department Demands Florida Stop Purging Voter Rolls – The Justice Department sent a letter to Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner Thursday evening demanding the state cease purging its voting rolls because the process it is using has not been cleared under the Voting Rights Act, TPM has learned. DOJ also said that Florida’s voter roll purge violated the National Voter Registration Act, which stipulates that voter roll maintenance should have ceased 90 days before an election, which given Florida’s August 14 primary, meant May 16. – TPM

“You can chant down speakers, my friend, but it’s hard to Etch-A-Sketch the truth away.” —   David Axelrod, quoted by National Journal, on being shouted down by Mitt Romney supporters at a rally in Boston. via

barackobama: Just call him Mr. 47 Out of 50.