Chad’s Morning Brief: The Campaign is Back On, Dallas Officials Want to Eliminate Childhood Obesity by 2020, & More

Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of October 31, 2012. Give us your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11 am.

1. The Campaign is Back (link)

The break in campaigning is officially over. Election Day is just 6 days away and both the Romney and Obama campaigns are hitting the campaign trail today.

Both campaign have been wrestling with how to best balance the demands of a presidential race and the need to project the appropriate sensitivity as the Eastern seaboard grapples with the aftermath of the storm.

Romney, sensing the need to make up ground in the crucial battleground states — and wary of losing momentum — will continue his aggressive campaign schedule through the final six days of the election. The president, meanwhile is both handicapped and helped by a day job that will likely restrict his ability to travel or campaign openly but will also provide him multiple opportunities to seize the power of the presidency.

Strategists from both sides suggest that if the president's response to the storm is seen as effective, it could buoy Obama in the campaign's waning hours.

And Obama won't be without representation on the campaign trail. Vice President Biden is scheduled to campaign in Florida on Wednesday, while former President Clinton will travel to Minnesota and Colorado on Tuesday, for a total of four events on behalf of the president.

Romney will spend most of the day in Florida trying to maintain momentum in that state. Good for the Romney campaign to get back into full swing today. As I said earlier, only 6 days until election day which means about only 5 days of real campaigning. The race is still very close and Romney can't sit on the sidelines too long.

2. Dallas Wants to Get Rid of Childhood Obesity (link)

Dallas leaders unveiled a plan yesterday to eliminate childhood obesity in Dallas by 2020. So in about 7 years. According to the Dallas Morning News:

“Teaching children how to eat well and live healthy is the key to preventing and reversing childhood obesity,” said Eduardo Sanchez, vice president and chief medical officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas.

Mayor Mike Rawlings spoke about his goal to help Dallas have the healthiest kids in America through a number of youth health initiatives. He believes that Charting the Course for a Healthy Future is the first step to achieving this goal.

“What we do today plants the seed for the future,” the mayor said. “We are talking about health, and it doesn’t happen overnight, but it does happen.”

Those involved in the initiative say the coalition needs $447,000 to implement and evaluate the first year of the plan, and the panel encouraged other organizations to get involved.

“This forum is not only a call to action, but a call to arms to join us,” Sanchez said. “This is about comprehensive sector by sector, individual by individual, and together we can do this.

I guess a real plan wasn't talked about, just the hopes and dreams and of course the part about handing over money. How long until the City of Dallas takes this whole thing over and becomes a mini-NYC. Wouldn't surprise me in Dallas started down the road New York City is currently on.

Sure, childhood obesity is bad but unless you act like NYC you won't put a dent in it within 7 to 8 years. Even if you became NYC you couldn't. It all starts at home, not the government mandating things.

3. Facebook Covering for Obama? (link)

It appears as though Facebook is now censoring in order to protect President Obama. According to Breitbart:

Over the weekend, Facebook took down a message by the Special Operations Speaks PAC (SOS) which highlighted the fact that Obama denied backup to the forces being overrun in Benghazi.

The message was contained in a meme which demonstrated how Obama had relied on the SEALS when he was ready to let them get Osama bin Laden, and how he had turned around and denied them when they called for backup on Sept 11.

I spoke with Larry Ward, president of Political Media, Inc -- the media company that handles SOS postings and media production. Ward was the one who personally put the Navy SEAL meme up, and the one who received the warning from Facebook and an eventual 24 hour suspension from Facebook  because Ward put the meme back up after Facebook told him to take it down.

4. MSNBC Attacks Romney for Helping Victims (link)

Mitt Romney spent the day yesterday encouraging people to donate to the Red Cross and even had his campaign collect food and supplies to send to victims of Hurricane Sandy. Naturally, MSNBC had a problem with this.

After introducing his Obama-supporting guests Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Lehigh professor James Peterson, host Martin Bashir played a clip of the President speaking at the Red Cross headquarters in Washington Tuesday.

When the clip concluded, Bashir said, “Mayor Reed, so the Red Cross knows what it’s doing. Did he, did you detect perhaps a subtle dig there on Mr. Romney who spent today going against the guidelines established by the Red Cross and holding a campaign rally in Ohio that was dressed up like a charity drive collecting food and other supplies when the Red Cross expressly asked people not to do that?”

Imagine that. A presidential candidate who gives millions of dollars a year to charity does a storm relief event in Ohio, and an MSNBC anchor is disgusted by it because the Red Cross would prefer people donating cash.

Yet according to the Washington Post:

The stop was billed as a “storm relief” event, and attendees were asked to bring non-perishable foods and other items for those affected by the storm. Long white tables to one side of the cavernous James S. Trent Arena were piled high with flashlights, batteries, diapers, toothbrushes, mini-deodorants, fleece blankets, cereal, toilet paper and canned goods.

Two large TV screens at the front of the venue bore the logo of the American Red Cross and the message: “Sandy: Support the Relief Effort. Text ’REDCROSS’ to 90999 to make a $10 donation.”

 

So besides the food and supplies that Ohioans generously donated, two large television screens asked participants to send money to the Red Cross.

But this didn’t make Bashir happy. Ditto his Obama-supporting guests.

“I think that this is just another moment where you see the clear striking difference between a president who has a heart for the American people and someone who simply wants to be president of the United States,” said Mayor Reed.

“Indeed,” replied Bashir who then asked for Peterson’s input.

“I would agree,” echoed Peterson. “It’s compassion that shows through in times like these. It’s humanity that shows through in times like these, and it just seems clear that the President, in addition to stepping up and doing what he does as Commander-in-Chief, demonstrates compassion in these remarks and in his approach to this kind of serious disaster.”

“All we’ve seen from Romney and from his surrogates is all kinds of politicizing and misdirection,” Peterson continued, “and I think the American people in this sort of disastrous moment can really see in bold relief the differences between President Obama and former Governor Romney.”

So having a storm relief event with tables “piled high with flashlights, batteries, diapers, toothbrushes, mini-deodorants, fleece blankets, cereal, toilet paper and canned goods” along with two large television screens calling for donations to the Red Cross demonstrates a lack of compassion on MSNBC.

The Romney bashing continued on for a while afterwards with MSNBC lining up guest after guest to bash Romney for helping the victims.

Pathetic.

Other Top Stories:

Up to 50 Green Obama Backed Companies in Financial Trouble or Bankrupt

The Maybe States: Three Blue States That Could Turn Red

A GOP Tsunami?

These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11 am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.