user: Q:
Out-Clintoning the Clintons
The other day I briefly caught sight of—who else?—Donald Trump, on—what else?—“The O’Reilly Factor,” talking about the Middle East. The presumptive Republican nominee was airing his opinion that we “should have never gone into Iraq, but when we got out we should have kept the oil.”

Kept the oil? Like, slipped it in our pocket on the way out?

This wasn’t the first time Mr. Trump has expounded on this theme, and frequent...
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A:
Global View columnist Bret Stephens writes that we’re all semioticians now, trying to decode the meaning of Donald Trump’s doublespeak.


Jon Stewart swears he thinks voting is important. Apparently his viewers don’t.
Jon Stewart said on CNN on Tuesday that he hadn't voted in Tuesday's election, causing a stir given that the central notion of his entire show is that politics is funny but important. Later, on a live broadcast of "The Daily Show," Stewart apologized, saying he did vote. "I was being flip and it kind of took off, and I want to apologize," he said, "... because it sent a message that I didn't think voting was important or I didn't think voting was a big issue and I do and I did vote."

Stewart's embarrassment is understandable. While there's no denying that a surge of support for Republicans was going to make this a nasty election for liberals like Stewart, his viewers are part of the problem. We're talking about young voters, who sat out the election and helped cost Democrats votes.

According to Pew, 39 percent of Stewart's viewers are 18-to-39 years old and 36 percent of his viewers are 30-to-49 years old. Meanwhile, 16 percent of his viewers are 50-to-64 and just 7 percent are over 65. That's the youngest viewership of any major "news" audience except for "The Colbert Report."

This younger group, according to National Exit Polls released late Tuesday, trends Democratic. Democrats enjoyed a 54-to-43 advantage over Republicans in the 18-to-29 set and 5o-to-48 edge in the 30-44 age group.

Yet chronically, these voters sit out mid-term elections, and Tuesday was no different. The 2010 wipeout helped cripple President Obama's tenure, and the 2014 disaster is another huge blow.

It's actually a problem endemic to Democrats in mid-term elections: some of their most loyal supporters don't show up to the polls as much as they do in presidential elections. Obama has even called this a "congenital disease." This is not as much a function of Stewart's audience, however, as his viewers are male and better educated than many other news sources.

It's other groups - like non-married women and low-income people - who also sit out the mid-terms and cause Democrats so much trouble.

Zachary A. Goldfarb is policy editor at The Washington Post.
Please write a summary below.
"Daily Show" viewers -- young people -- sat out the election.


Q: NAACP watches for 'tea party' racism, stirs controversy

NAACP leaders have a message for the members of the tea party movement: We're watching you.

The civil rights group has partnered with three liberal media Web sites to form a "tea party tracker" intent on monitoring "racism and other forms of extremism" within the tea party movement.

The online project, which was developed and branded by the NAACP's new media staff, has already drawn strong criticism from tea party supporters, who have said repeatedly that racism plays no role in their movement.

Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau, said the project was started because NAACP leaders kept hearing from its members that they were seeing racist signs, T-shirts and commentary coming from the tea party movement.

"The site is set up to be utilized as a tool to track activities as they come up," Shelton said. "It is in some ways consistent with the kind of tracking that has been done of other extremist entities. I do not want to suggest that the tea party is a hate group, but there are some disturbing elements within."

The conservative Web site Daily Caller first reported the story about the site, which features a blog, breaking news section and the tagline "a watched pot never boils."

Brendan Steinhauser, director of federal and state campaigns for Freedomworks - which supports many tea party groups - called the ongoing conversation about racism and the tea party frustrating.

Steinhauser said liberal groups don't hold themselves to as strict a standard. For example, he said, at antiwar rallies during the Bush administration there were signs showing communist decals and supporting communist leaders Fidel Castro and Kim Jong Il.

"There's such a different standard we're held to," Steinhauser said. "Both sides have to self-police. We should all hold ourselves accountable."

The tea party tracker site is aggregating stories from Think Progress, Media Matters for America and New Left Media - which all promote liberal ideas, while criticizing conservatives and Republicans.

The tracker's launch comes a month and a half after NAACP members voted overwhelmingly to condemn "racist elements" within the tea party. Members of the conservative movement responded by saying that the civil rights group was "attempting to silence" the tea party with "inflammatory name-calling."

Conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart said the NAACP's resolution was the instigation for his release of a selectively edited video that made it appear that federal agriculture official Shirley Sherrod had discriminated against a white farmer. Sherrod was fired and condemned by the NAACP before the full video was released, which showed that Sherrod had actually helped the farmer and was telling a story of racial redemption. President Obama and NAACP officials apologized to Sherrod, who said she was targeted because the NAACP had called out the tea party.
What are the most important parts of this text?

A: NAACP leaders have a message for the members of the tea party movement: We're watching you.


US consumer spending weakest in eight months despite growth predictions
US consumer spending fell in September for the first time in eight months, suggesting the economy lost some momentum heading into the fourth quarter.

The Commerce Department said on Friday consumer spending declined 0.2% last month as demand for goods tumbled and services barely rose. Spending had increased by an unrevised 0.5% in August.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of US economic activity, to increase 0.1% in September.

When adjusted for inflation, consumer spending fell 0.2%. That was the first drop since April and followed a 0.5% rise in August.

The data was included in Thursday’s gross domestic product report, which showed the economy expanded at a 3.5% annual rate in the third quarter after a 4.6% pace in the second quarter.

The softer consumer spending at the end of the third quarter could add to expectations of slower growth in the final three months of the year. A report on Tuesday showed unexpected weakness in business spending plans for equipment in September.

But with gasoline prices at a near four-year low and faster job growth expected to boost wages, the slowdown in consumer spending could be temporary.

Income rose 0.2% in September after increasing 0.3% in the prior month. With income growth outpacing consumption, savings jumped to $732.2bn, the highest level since December 2012, from $702.0bn in August.

That lifted the saving rate to 5.6% from 5.4% in August.

Weak consumption kept a lid on inflation last month. A price index for consumer spending edged up 0.1% after slipping 0.1% in August. In the 12 months through September, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 1.4% for a second straight month.

Excluding food and energy, prices rose 0.1% for a third consecutive month. The so-called core PCE price index increased 1.5% in the 12 months through September.

Both price measures continue to run below the US central bank’s 2% inflation target.
Please write a summary below.


assistant: September fall in consumer spending suggests economy lost some momentum heading into the fourth quarter