NOPE, IT’S MANURE ALL THE WAY DOWN: Given that Obama’s worldview is the inverse of Ronald Reagan’s, it’s no surprise, as Jonah Goldberg writes today, riffing on one of the Gipper’s favorite analogies, that there are no ponies to be found anywhere, amidst the craptacular Obamaconomy.

(Now, unicorns, on the other hand…)

YA THINK? Economic distress, not abortion, is what drives pro-Romney women.

Many women supporting presidential candidate Mitt Romney are not driven by contraception politics but by struggling household economies, despite Democratic expectations that they will build the gender gap by assailing the Republican as a pro-lifer driven to end abortion.

In interviews with female Romney supporters, most don’t think he will delve into abortion issues other than to limit federal funding if given a chance as president. Some pro-choice women even told Secrets that they are confident he won’t challenge that status quo because he hasn’t made it a centerpiece of his campaign.

Indeed. Plus: “They also expressed dismay that Romney’s effort to woo women to his administration when governor Massachusetts–highlighted by his Tuesday debate line ‘a binder full of women’–is being used against him.”

THE OBAMA DOCTRINE IS A FAILURE:   Douglas Feith & Seth Cropsey’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal document the utter failure of the Obama Doctrine (appeasement and apology to radical Islamists) in the Middle East.

GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT, AND THEY’LL COME OUT FOR IT IN DROVES: The infamous quip often attributed to Red Skelton when asked about the enormous turnout at despised Hollywood mogul Harry Cohn’s funeral is apropos today as well: “So This Is How Newsweek Dies… With Thunderous Applause.”

Although, I’m not sure if the “We Are All Socialists Now” cover was the moment of Newsweek’s slow descent into death; there were plenty of warning signs leading up to it.

KEEPING TRACK: CNN admits that Crowley’s disregard of the rules was intended to help Obama.

REPORT: CASTRO SUFFERS SERIOUS STROKE: “Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and his state of health is so precarious that he has trouble feeding, speaking and recognizing people, said a Venezuelan physician who assured El Nuevo Herald that he has access to firsthand sources and information,” according to the Miami Herald.

ANDREW MCCARTHY: It’s Not Just Obama’s Lies — It’s the Premise of Obama’s Lies.

Obama’s emphasis on the video as causation was so demonstratively false that detractors have focused myopically on the lying. This serves short-term political objectives: a president who richly deserves to lose is reeling with the election just 19 days away.

Nevertheless, long-term societal needs are being disserved. Focus on the administration’s serial lies has left unrefuted the obnoxious premise of these lies.

It is as though we have conceded that if the movie had actually triggered protests that led to violence (as Islamist protests are wont to do), responsibility for that violence would lie with the filmmakers. The culprit would be our culture of liberty and reason, not the anti-democratic culture of the Muslim Middle East.

That is dangerous nonsense.

Constitutionally protected speech can never be legitimized as a cause of violence. Period.

Related thoughts from Roger Kimball. “The Obama administration has been complicit in this attack on the First Amendment, subverting the law by resorting to extra-legal means to achieve the same ends. What happened to Nakoula Nakoula, the alleged producer of that internet video, is one example. Others are the bullying speeches administration officials, from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on down, have made and the Pakistani television commercials that, at U.S. taxpayer expense, criticize the video and its author.”

Indeed.

PJTV: Kruiser Control: WTF Is Al Sharpton Talking About? Plus, Americans Are Dying. Suboptimally.

SAUCER FULL OF SECRETS: Pics From Declassified Military Docs.

BINDERS:  Obama’s Debate Memes Highlight His Own Failures

MADNESS OR IDEOLOGY — WHO CAN TELL: Debates 2012: An Exercise in Liberal Pathology

POTEMKIN: China to spend £70 million sprucing up Nobel Prize winner’s hometown

OBAMA’S PROBLEM: Obama lacks an agenda to compensate for his lousy record. Yep. He made things worse, and he doesn’t have a plausible plan to make things better. So it’s binders and Big Bird and “war on women.”

DEBATE STUPIDITY OVER “AK-47s”:  A stupid question about AK-47s during the 2d presidential debate triggered (pun intended) equally stupid answers from both candidates.  Read this great piece by Charles C.W. Cooke in NRO to find out why. 

FISH RAISED ON PIG FECES:  Yuck.  Apparently, it’s a not-uncommon practice in Vietnam and other parts of Asia to feed farm raised fish on pig or geese feces.

Another reason to buy local.

THE LANDSLIDE COMETH?  ROMNEY AHEAD IN PENNSYLVANIA:  It’s not a typo.  A Susquehanna poll conducted Oct. 11-13 (before the 2d presidential debate) has Romney up, 49 to 45.

OBAMA THOUGHT HE WAS BAITING A TRAP: Says Neo-Neocon

HEH: Romney Spokesperson Mocks MSNBC For Paying Men More Than Women, Andrea Mitchell Agrees.

AND HYPE ON OBAMA: 15 things women most regret buying

OKAY THEN: Man slapped when he looks at Facebook ‘to increase productivity’

HATE: Obama’s Food Stampers Vow To Assassinate Romney if Elected.

ROGER KIMBALL ON NEWSWEEK GOING WEB-ONLY:

For many publications, the transition to digital-only format may be a prelude to a more final transition: oblivion. I suspect that may be the case with Newsweek, an organ whose news-dispensing function has long been superseded by other media, and whose opinion-dispensing function has seemed more and more silly as it hardened into a sclerotic recapitulation of “progressive” clichés.

Likely the brand will continue for a while in some legacy capacity to add a little historic atmosphere to the Daily Beast, but even that risks being hollowed out rather quickly, Mickey Kaus writes:

You think Barry Diller can afford to pay Howie Kurtz’s salary and Andrew Sullivan’s salary and Megan McArdle’s salary and Peter Boyer’s salary on the revenues from a website? I don’t.  The market is about to be flooded with high-priced talent jumping ship, or being pushed.

Speaking of which, “In Wake of Newsweek’s Demise, Time Editor Swears: We Won’t Be Next!”, Newsbusters paraphrases.

Henry Luce began publishing Time in 1923 — in a way, the idea foreshadowed blogs; his magazine’s name referred to both its goal of chronicling the passage of time, and its ability to save its readers time with its concise format.  Think they’ll still be publishing a regular print edition by the time their centennial edition rolls around? Me neither.

AT AMAZON, fall savings in Patio, Lawn & Garden.

Also, markdowns in snow removal gear. And generators and portable power. Winter is coming.

DON’T GET COCKY, KID: New Poll Shows Romney Ahead By 4 in Pennsylvania. “Every other Pennsylvania poll shows Obama ahead, though by a narrowing margin.”

OUR PEOPLE DIED, OBAMA LIED: American Crossroads: “Act of Terror.”