Fox Attacks Democrats For Attempting To Deal With Gender Wage Inequality

Fox & Friends attacked the Paycheck Fairness Act, legislation aimed at addressing the wage inequality between men and women, with Fox host Dan Perino claiming the legislation is just a "distraction." In fact, wage inequality is real: Study after study has found that women are paid less than men. Read More

Romney Aide Outlines Bold New Campaign Strategy of Stealing Credit For All Good Things

Mitt Romney gopher Eric Fehrnstrom is on a one-man mission to rescue political comedy this campaign season, bless his heart. First there was that time he gleefully marched out in front of the teevee camera to call his boss an Etch a Sketch, for being shifty. 

Now he is hilariously running around claiming that Mitt Romney is a terrible secret socialist who masterminded the popular auto industry bailout despite his extremely public stance against it. “His position on the bailout was exactly what President Obama followed,” Fehrnstrom said. It is a bit of a weird thing to say! READ MORE »

Sarah Palin Was Not A Terrible Horrible No-Good Veep Pick, Says Noted Pundit Bristol Palin

Bristol Palin’s blog ghostwriter has some important thoughts she would like to share, regarding whether Sarah Palin was a terrible horrible no-good very-bad choice for vice president and whether Mitt Romney should be as stupid as John McCain was. (No. Yes.) First, she totally links to TalkingPointsMemo, because that is a thing among all of them that Bristol Palin reads. Then Bristol Palin blows your mind by unaccountably claiming that Barack Obama did not invent the Recession even though he was president from 2000 to 2008. WHAT? Read it and weep, bitchez.

Then the economy melted down. You could feel people’s fear. You could see it in their eyes on the trail. McCain suspended his campaign to rush back to Washington to deal with the crisis. A lot of people criticized him, but he did what he thought was right. And guess what, the economy was melting down while Republicans were in charge.

READ MORE »

Whom Did Obama Murder Now? Breitbart’s Coroner, Probably

Uh oh you guys. A forensic technician for the Los Angeles coroner died and it might have been poison. And he may or may not have personally worked on Andrew Breitbart’s corpse. And it was the same day good ol’ Sheriff Joe “announced probable cause for forgery in President Obama’s birth certificate.” And this is all in the same story because? Can’t help you there, dudes. Just, you know, “WND.”

Medical examiners in Los Angeles are investigating the possible poisoning death of one of their own officials who may have worked on the case of Andrew Breitbart, the conservative firebrand who died March 1, the same day Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced probable cause for forgery in President Obama’s birth certificate. READ MORE »

Romney Campaign Takes Credit For Auto Bailout Success

TPM

Vice President Joe Biden reiterated the President’s bottom-line election-year pitch on Thursday: “Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive.” The opposite might be true, Biden said, if Mitt Romney had been president.

But top Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom is also giving credit to his candidate for the auto industry’s success. At a Saturday forum hosted by the Washington Post, Fehrnstrom said that Obama’s auto industry rescue was successful because it was exactly what Romney himself proposed.

“[Romney’s] position on the bailout was exactly what President Obama followed,” Fehrnstrom said. “He said, ‘If you want to save the auto industry, just don’t write them a check. That will seal their doom. What they need to do is go through a managed bankruptcy process.’”

“Consider that the crown jewel,” Fehrnstrom said. “The only economic success that President Obama has had is because he followed Mitt Romney’s advice.”

Romney’s position on the auto industry bailout is notoriously vague. His more recent declarations on the bailout have portrayed it as a single event in 2009, rather than what it was: a rolling series of emergency measures, many of which he opposed, during the final months of the Bush presidency and the initial months of the Obama administration which culminated in a managed bankruptcy process.

In 2008, Romney wrote a New York Times op-ed titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” in which he argued for a “managed bankruptcy” to help turn the industry around. “The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk,” he wrote.

Notably, Romney was opposed to direct government financing of the industry at a time when the capital markets were reeling and private financing had dried up. The dispute over government versus private financing of the bailout remains a key underlying difference between Romney and Obama’s preferred bailout measures.

When the Obama administration did force a managed bankruptcy process, Romney praised the President, calling it the “course I recommended a number of months ago” in a 2009 speech.

When the GOP presidential primary reached Michigan, the heart of the auto industry, Romney was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He had to distinguish himself from the President while persuading Michigan voters he wouldn’t have left the American auto industry — and their livelihoods — to fail. In February, he focused his criticism of the bailout on unions, penning a Detroit News op-ed in which he called the bailout “crony capitalism on a grand scale.” Romney was criticized by Michigan papers — including in editorials endorsing him — for his position on the bailout. The managed bankruptcy process would never have worked without government money behind it, the editorials reasoned.

Now, as the presumptive nominee, Romney seems to be backtracking to a version of his 2009 take on the bailout. And Fehrnstrom does have a point in that Obama did indeed seek a managed bankruptcy — though it’s weakened by Romney’s own vagueness on how to finance the process and the fact that he has changed his tune several times.

The Obama campaign, for its part, is not about to share credit with Romney. Obama campaign spokesperson Lis Smith told the Post that despite Fehrnstrom’s comments, Romney would have let the industry fail. “GM and Chrysler are in existence, creating jobs, and posting some of their most profitable quarters in history because President Obama bet on American workers,” Smith said. “If Mitt Romney had had his way, the American auto industry and the millions of jobs it supports would cease to exist.”

Obama Jokes About ‘Radical Agenda’ Planned For Second Term

TPM

President Obama, during his White House Correspondents Dinner speech, joked about the “secret agenda” he has planned for his second term:

“In my first term, I sang Al Green. In my second term, Young Jeezy. In my first term we ended the war in Iraq. In my second term, I will win the war on Christmas. In my first term we repealed the policy known as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. In my second term, we will replace it with a policy known as it’s raining men. In my first term, we passed health care reform. In my second term, I guess I’ll pass it again.

Romney To Students: Just Borrow $20 Thousand From Your Parents And Be An Entrepreneur!

Oh Mitt. Mittele. Bubbeh. Have you ever considered just not talking? Here you are, acting as a human Sominex, and telling an inspirational story about your buddy Jimmy John, and how he had a great idea for a business, so he just borrowed $20,000 from his parents, and the rest was history!

Are you old enough to remember when George H.W. Bush, well into his only term, had a photo op at a grocery store and was wowed by the electric scanner the checker was using? That was considered “out of touch” back then even though it maybe wasn’t very fair to expect POTUS to do his own grocery shopping. 

But here, Der Mittenmonster really seems to believe that everybody’s got 20 large lying around to pump into their kids’ hot app idea or weed delivery service. You’d think he would know better, since he’s been unceasingly slagging Bammerz for causing the US to go into such a terrible Depression by having been president from 2000 to 2008. Maybe Romney thinks “Depression” means the poor only have $30 big in checking? If you’re in financial difficulties, fellows, may I suggest cutting the chauffeur to part time, and perhaps R&Ring in Palm Beach instead of the Maldives? Oh well. Let us all eat horsey cake. READ MORE »

Orianthi - Voodoo Child

Motörhead - God Was Never On Your Side

Let’s All Point and Laugh at Mitt Romney Boring Students to Sleep

Here is a delightful screen grab of Mitt Romney somberly detailing his method for making sweet love to money as the college students seated behind him on stage slip into comas. READ MORE »

Romney’s Advice To Students: Borrow Money From Your Parents

Kaplan Becomes 14th Company To Drop ALEC

Kaplan Becomes 14th Company To Drop ALEC 

  In what is becoming a regular event, yet another company has dropped the American Legislative Exchange Council, the corporate front group that helped spread Stand Your Ground gun laws and voter suppression efforts. According to the Center for Media and Democracy, Kaplan, Inc., a for-profit education group owned by the Washington Post Company, has publicly announced that it will not renew its membership. ALEC has come under heavy scrutiny from progressive groups, such as Color of Change, that have been pressuring corporations like State Farm and AT&T to sever ties with the conservative group. See all the companies that have dumped ALEC here.

Lady Republicans Willfully Refuse To Recognize Phoniness Of ‘War On Women’ In VAWA Vote

“We face an abundance of hard choices,” said Ol’ Walnuts, John McCain, discussing the Senate’s vote to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. “Divisive slogans and declaring of phony wars are intended to avoid those hard choices and to escape paying a political price for doing so.”

 

It is good to know that the War on Women is divisive and phony (and anyway Obama started it)! Then about five seconds after McCain finished talking, 31 male Republican senators voted against reauthorizing VAWA (which provides funding for domestic violence shelters and law enforcement and all sorts of other special-interest nonsense, because it might cause somebody to stop beating Messicans and gays. READ MORE »

Democrats condemn GOP's plot to obstruct Obama as 'appalling and sad'

Ewen MacAskill in Washington 

Democrats have rounded on revelations about a private dinner of House Republicans on inauguration day in 2009 in which they plotted a campaign of obstruction against newly installed president Barack Obama.

During a lengthy discussion, the senior GOP members worked out a plan to repeatedly block Obama over the coming four years to try to ensure he would not be re-elected.

The disclosures – described as "appalling and sad" by Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod – undermine Republican claims that the president alone is to blame for the partisan deadlock in Washington.

A detailed account of who was present at the dinner on that January 20 night and the plan they worked out to bring down Obama is provided by Robert Draper in 'Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the US House of Representatives', published this week.

In his book, Draper opens with the heady atmosphere in Washington on the days running up to the inauguration and the day itself, which attracted 1.8 million to the mall to witness Obama being sworn in as America's first black president.

Those numbers contributed to a growing sense of unease among Republicans as much the defeat in the White House race the previous November. The 15 Republicans were in a sombre mood as they gathered at the Caucus Room in Washington, an upscale restaurant where a New York strip steak costs $51.

Attending the dinner were House members Eric Cantor, Jeb Hensarling, Pete Hoekstra, Dan Lungren, Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan and Pete Sessions. From the Senate were Tom Coburn, Bob Corker, Jim DeMint, John Ensign and Jon Kyl. Others present were former House Speaker and future – and failed – presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and the Republican strategist Frank Luntz, who organised the dinner and sent out the invitations.

The dinner table was set in a square at Luntz's request so everyone could see one another and talk freely. The session lasted four hours and by the end the sombre mood had lifted: they had conceived a plan. They would take back the House in November 2010, which they did, and use it as a spear to mortally wound Obama in 2011 and take back the Senate and White House in 2012, Draper writes.

"If you act like you're the minority, you're going to stay in the minority," said Keven McCarthy, quoted by Draper. "We've gotta challenge them on every single bill and challenge them on every single campaign."

The Republicans have done that, bringing Washington to a near standstill several times during Obama's first term over debt and other issues.

On the more immediate future, they discussed targets such as Charlie Rangel, chairman of the House ways and means committee, who Gingrich said was vulnerable over his personal taxes. They would also target Treasury secretary Tim Geithner, demonstrate united and unyielding opposition to the president's economic policies, and release negative ads against vulnerable Democratic members of Congress.

Draper quotes Gingrich at the end of the meal: "You will remember this day. You'll remember this as the day the seeds of 2012 were sown."

Axelrod, who is based at Obama's re-election campaign headquarters in Chicago, condemned the revelation as "sad, appalling but not terribly surprising".

Fox News Now Denying Deforestation

In a rant described by one scientist as "either incredibly ignorant" or "intentionally misleading," Fox News host Greg Gutfeld denied deforestation and distorted climate science. Read More

Scandal: Obama Campaign Mentioning Osama’s Death To Help Win Reelection

A CBS radio reporter sent White House press secretary Jay Carney, along with President Obama and Vice President Biden, to detention today. It’s called accountability, folks. Their crime: Mentioning the death of Osama bin Laden in speeches so often that it’s beginning to look like they’re using this for what experts call “political advantage.” If true, this would be… illegal… bad… something else… huh? READ MORE »

Democracy Canceled in Michigan Because of Incorrect Font Size on Form

Over two hundred thousand people in Michigan are unhappy about a state law that allows Republican governor Rick Snyder to declare martial financial law in struggling municipalities and bypass local governments by installing wee tyrant “emergency financial managers” who are allowed to void the official status of public unions, sell off public assets, declare dead cat carcass legal tender, etc. Whatever they want, as long as all the budget savings are immediately passed on in the form of corporate tax cuts.

 So the unhappy citizens all signed petitions to force the state to hold a public referendum on the law and then promptly submitted the signatures. What do you think of that, Republican members of the state body responsible for certifying the petitions? Let’s check the report: “Republicans cited the wrong font size on the title of the petitions circulated by Stand Up For Democracy, a coalition of groups that launched the petition campaign, as the reason for not approving the initiative for the ballot. Opponents gathered 203,238 signatures, roughly 40,000 more than needed to get a repeal question on the ballot.” READ MORE »

Only Mitt Romney Can Stop The Grave Soviet Threat

Former Reagan Navy Secretary John Lehman, a Romney surrogate, held a troubling conference call today that should terrify able-bodied, capitalist Cold Warriors everywhere: “We’re seeing the Soviets pushing into the Arctic with no response from us.” Filthy conniving Reds… you can never trust that Brezhnev. One day it’s detente, next day it’s “castrate Santa; torch the elves.” And yet Obama says nothing; mostly because it’s 2012. READ MORE »

After Previously Praising Her, Paul Ryan Now Disses Ayn Rand: ‘I Reject Her Philosophy’

THINK PROGRESS

In 2005, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) heaped praise on Ayn Rand, a 20th-century libertarian novelist best known for her philosophy that centered on the idea that selfishness is “virtue”. The New Republic wrote:

“The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand,” Ryan said at a D.C. gathering four years ago honoring the author of “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead.”

Ryan also noted in a 2003 interview with the Weekly Standard, “I give out ‘Atlas Shrugged’ as Christmas presents, and I make all my interns read it. Well… I try to make my interns read it.”

But today, Ryan is singing a far different tune.

From an interview with National Review’s Bob Costa this week:

“I reject her philosophy,” Ryan says firmly. “It’s an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview. If somebody is going to try to paste a person’s view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas,” who believed that man needs divine help in the pursuit of knowledge. “Don’t give me Ayn Rand,” he says.

It’s understandable why Ryan would back off his former political muse. She described altruism as “evil,” condemned Christianity for advocating compassion for the poor, viewed the feminist movement as “phony,” and called Arabs “almost totally primitive savages.”............

Romney, on immigration, rewrites some history

By Bob Egelko

It was only a couple of months ago that Mitt Romney told a Republican debate audience in Arizona that the state was a “model” for the nation on immigration. If elected president, he said, he would immediately drop the lawsuits that the Obama administration has filed “against Arizona and other states that are trying to do the job Barack Obama isn’t doing.”

That was then. This is now.

Romney, who has all but wrapped up the Republican nomination, told supporters recently that the party’s hopes in November were doomed unless it increased its appeal to Latinos.

Right away, campaign aides told the New York Times that Romney hadn’t been referring to Arizona’s groundbreaking immigration law — the one allowing police to demand identification from anyone they detain and suspect of being illegal immigrants — as a model for the nation. They said he actually meant the state’s requirement that employers check the legal status of job applicants on the federal government’s E-Verify computer database, something he’d also discussed in the debate.

In January, Romney had welcomed the endorsement of Kris Kobach, draftsman of the Arizona immigration law, and described Kobach as a member of his “team” that would “take forceful steps to curtail illegal immigration” and support the efforts of states like Arizona. Last week, the Romney campaign described Kobach as merely a “supporter.”

An Etch A Sketch moment, where the candidate recasts his views in hopes of appealing to a wider electorate? This bit of spin looks like it goes a step further, into the terrain of trying to rewrite the candidate’s own history.

First of all, the E-Verify requirement isn’t part of Arizona’s “show us your papers” immigration law, SB1070, which was the subject of a hearing Wednesday in the Supreme Court. E-Verify was part of a different law that the high court upheld in a separate case last year. And the suit challenging that law wasn’t filed by the Obama administration, but by business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which particularly objected to provisions revoking the licenses of companies that repeatedly hired illegal immigrants.

So when Romney in February denounced Obama’s suit against the Arizona law and promised to drop the case if elected president, he could only have been referring to the law that the administration is actually challenging before the Supreme Court, SB1070. That’s also the law that’s been a model for Alabama, Georgia and other states, and the one that Romney’s Arizona audience heard him proclaim as a model for the nation. Even if his campaign now denies it.

Bob Egelko is the San Francisco Chronicle’s legal affairs writer.

Conservative Media Now Attacking Obama's Proposal For Student Loan Relief

President Obama has urged lawmakers to provide relief on student loan debt by preventing interest rates for federally subsidized loans from doubling. Conservative media have responded by ignoring the economic benefits of such a program and instead claiming Obama is trying to "bribe" college students with "gimmicks" and "giveaway[s]" in an effort to get reelected. Read More

GOP Senators Beg Frugal Pentagon to Request More Expensive War Toys

A group of weepy warlords in the Senate including ol’ Jowls McGoo Joe Lieberman are busily soiling their Depends over a $487 billion planned reduction in defense spending over the next decade that was included in the White House fiscal year 2013 budget. 

But know who is not having a whiny meltdown over the proposed cuts? The people in charge of the military are not! Because they helped to design the cuts, along with the White House. And this is trying the patience of various Republican Senator humans and Joe Lieberman who refuse to have their naps until everyone goes back to the old system of military appropriations, where the Pentagon sends over its thirty-mile long list of every wish it ever had scribbled in blood collected from Afghan corpses and Congress says sure, the FDA does not really need to screen baby formula for arsenic this year. That system worked so well! READ MORE »

Crybaby Car Robber/Firebug Darrell Issa: Obama Administration ‘Most Corrupt In History’

Well, he would know, amirite? Anyway, you are probably wondering what Ol’ Good Government Bama did THIS time — aside from just cold unapologetically insisting on being a registered Democrat — and it is this: that awful Vegas boondoggle by those GSA idiots (which everyone agrees was terrible and ridiculous), and the investment in Solyndra, a green energy company that went bankrupt. And … that’s it? Yes, that is it. 

So the terrible and ridiculous (everyone agrees!) GSA event that cost in the realm of $800,000, and an investment in Solyndra that soured, puts Obama above the Teapot Dome scandal, above Abramoff, above Tricky Dick Nixon, and above St. Ronald Reagan’s Iran Contra, November Surprise, and 138 officials convicted of criminal misconduct? 

It is good to know we have such a fair-minded gentlemen not at all prone to histrionics and crying chairing the House Oversight Committee! READ MORE »

ALEC Says It Plans To Craft Legislation To Take Down State Renewable Energy Targets

THINK PROGRESS

Two leading conservative political organizations say they are stepping up coordinated efforts to repeal state-level renewable energy targets.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) — a “stealth business lobbyist” that works with corporate interests to help them write and implement “model” legislation — says it may soon start crafting laws designed to kill or weaken state targets for renewable electricity, heating and fuels.

ALEC has come under fire in recent weeks for its support of voter ID laws and the controversial Stand-Your-Ground law that opponents blame for the death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin. After progressive groups began an aggressive campaign to educate the public about ALEC, 13 companies have since pulled their membership from the organization.

Last July, Bloomberg News acquired tax documents showing that Koch Industries, Exxon Mobil and other energy companies paid membership fees to ALEC in order to help write legislation repealing carbon pollution reduction programs in states around country.

Bloomberg now reports that ALEC is looking to take aim at renewable energy programs in states:

ALEC, a group of state lawmakers and corporations recently criticized for its support of Stand-Your-Ground laws highlighted in the Florida shooting of Trayvon Martin, may write model legislation for state lawmakers to repeal or weaken the mandates later this year, said Todd Wynn, energy, environment and agriculture task force director for the group, in an interview. Stand-Your-Ground laws allows citizens to use force when threatened, even when they can retreat.
The group may also develop an “energy freedom” index that ranks states based on regulation, market intervention and taxes.

ALEC has already attempted to write legislation preventing targets for renewable energy on the federal level. As nothing substantive has happened nationally, it seems ALEC is now preparing to take its corporate-influenced legislation to the 29 states that actually have targets in place.

Along with promoting legislation to kill climate policies and renewable energy targets, ALEC also provided the framework for legislation currently moving through the U.S. House of Representatives that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating toxic coal ash.

According to the Center for Media and Democracy, Peabody Energy — the largest private coal company in the world — is a major underwriter for ALEC and sits on the organization’s Private Enterprise Board.

Americans for Tax Reform, the infamous anti-tax organization run by Grover Norquist, also says it is taking a more aggressive approach to opposing renewable energy targets. According to Bloomberg News, the group is urging its members to “speak out” against renewable energy promotion policies.

The organization has falsely claimed that such targets are costly to ratepayers.

In fact, no official analysis has found that state-level renewable energy targets specifically increase energy prices. While some states have seen increases in rates over the years, a recent analysis from the Center for American Progress found that clean energy targets had no statistically significant impact on those price changes.

Despite the real-world evidence that clean energy is increasingly cost-competitive and economically beneficial to states, the sector is under attack. The industry should be prepared for a more aggressive campaign from organizations like ALEC and Americans for Tax Reform on the state level.

Bill O'Reilly Omits Fox News In Criticizing "National News Programs" That Mislead Voters

http://mediamatters.org/research/201204250004
Declaring that he "has had enough" of "national news programs" that mislead American voters, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly said he will now aim to tell viewers "every time I see craziness in the national media during the campaign." However, the examples of "craziness" O'Reilly cited, including the myth that "Obama was not born in America," have all been promoted on Fox News -- something he did not mention................

Ann Romney: ‘I Love The Fact That There Are Women Out There Who Don’t Have A Choice’ And ‘Must Go To Work’

THINK PROGRESS

In an emotional speech about the difficulty of motherhood and life on the campaign trail, Ann Romney used an odd choice of words to discuss mothers who are forced to work while raising their children.

Ann Romney was at the center of a national discussion recently after a Democratic consultant charged that the would-be future first lady couldn’t possibly understand the plight of working mothers because she had the luxury to stay home and devote herself full time to raising her kids. The Romney campaign fired back, accusing Democrats of lacking respect for stay at home moms.

The issue was largely dismissed after a few days as a ginned-up “silly season” controversy, but Ann Romney’s comments last night at the Connecticut Republican Party’s Prescott Bush Awards Dinner could potentially reignite the issue. After discussing how she understands the challenges mothers face, Romney said, according to BuzzFeed:

Romney alluded to the fact that not all women can stay at home saying, “I love the fact that there are women out there who don’t have a choice and they must go to work and they still have to raise the kids. Thank goodness that we value those people too. And sometimes life isn’t easy for any of us.”

It seems Romney was trying to express empathy for women who don’t have the option to stay at home, as she did. But the comment that she “love[s]” that some women “don’t have a choice” and must work is unusual, to say the least, and could lead to a new round of charges that the Romneys don’t understand average Americans, given their enormous wealth.

Nearly two-thirds of women are the breadwinner or co-bread winner in their households. Nonetheless, the gender pay gap remains. And while Mitt Romney has broken with most Republicans to support the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, he has still not yet taken a position on the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Fox News' Sudden Love for Romney

The Daily Show
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I Can’t Quit You, Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney is doing his best to dump advisor and anti-immigration hardliner Kris Kobach as part of his post-primary repositioning. But Kobach isn’t going quietly.

Josh Marshall

Colbert Takes Down Fox News Over Fabricated Obama Quote

The Colbert Report
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Breitbart.com, Fox Nation Put Words In Van Jones' Mouth

Breitbart.com is misrepresenting statements by Van Jones about the public health benefits of environment regulation. Breitbart wrote that Jones "claimed the right is waging an open campaign and willing to kill children to weaken the EPA to create a new job," which is not at all what Jones said in the video that the sites used. Read More

MN GOP Takes Fiscal Conservatism To Logical Conclusion, Is Evicted For Not Paying Rent

One thing we at Wonkette HQ don’t “get” is the inescapable conclusion in American life that being “fiscally conservative” is somehow synonymous with being “fiscally prudent.” Case in point numero one: deadbeat Tea Party Congressman Joe Walsh, who is so fiscally conservative he lives in his office and refuses to pay child support! Case in point numero zwei: check-kiting gypsy Newt Gingrich buying his special lady so many whore diamonds and then stiffing that poor Las Vegas businessman (and everyone else) on his bills.

 Case in point all of the others: cutting taxes in the middle of two wars and conducting them off-book; threatening to default on our national debt by not raising the debt ceiling; and pretty much every other thing they have done since maybe Eisenhower. But the Minnesota GOP is something special in this regard: they are being evicted from their headquarters for owing almost $100 large in back rent! READ MORE »

Liberal Media Predictably In Tank for Liberal Candidate Mitt Romney

Ha ha, the Pew Research Center apparently paid researchers actual money to produce a study of election coverage bias when they could have just sent someone wandering down to the Kmart parking lot to ask the first person lumped atop a Hoveround with a “Sarah Palin 2016″ bumper sticker duct-taped to the back of it and gotten the same answer for free: the coven of liberal elites in the lamestream media are lately skewing positive in coverage of their beloved liberal elitist Harvard sap, Mitt Romney. In contrast, the media has taken a net overall crap on the campaign of constitutional rights-murdering Reaganite warlord Barack Obama since the start of the year. What gives? READ MORE »

Orly Taitz Losing Senate Race, GOP Racism Against White People to Blame

Here is a very important regional political update that you will not want to miss: famous dingbat and U.S. Senate candidate Orly Taitz has been snubbed for the endorsement of the California Republican Assembly. Orly Taitz has considered all the reasons why this might be the case, and Republican racism against white people is the obvious culprit. This mostly irrelevant wingnut endorsement has gone to some guy “Al Ramirez,” see. So let Orly Taitz, speaker of Spanish, go ahead and translate the taco talk for you: “Ramirez” is a Hispanic name. CONSPIRACY. READ MORE »

Romney Spokesman Erases Tweets Attacking Women

TPM

Richard Grenell, Mitt Romney’s brand new spokesperson on national security and foreign policy, has deleted hundreds of tweets in which he made condescending and sexist remarks about several women and Democratic politicians, including Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and Callista Gingrich. 

The Huffington Post looks at the extent of the scrubbing: 

On Friday afternoon, Grenell still featured a link to his personal site (http://www.richardgrenell.com) on his Twitter profile, which then showed that he had tweeted 7,577 times, according to a screenshot taken Friday by The Huffington Post. By Sunday morning, Grenell’s Twitter feed only listed 6,759 tweets and his personal site is no longer available. 

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who’s been a target of Grenell’s tweets, pointed out that his comments about women might not go over well with voters, wondering on her show if there’s “any sign that they understand that a long, string of really nasty, sexist tweets about Callista Gingrich’s appearance might be alienating to people who might otherwise consider voting for Mr. Romney.”

Grenell offered a general apology to Politico on Friday for making fun of the Gingriches and other prominent Americans, including many women: 

my tweets were written to be tongue-in-cheek and humorous but I can now see how they can also be hurtful. I didn’t mean them that way and will remove them from twitter. I apologize for any hurt they caused.

Apart from Grenell’s reputation for harsh remarks on Twitter, he has a reputation for being difficult with the press and dedicated posts on his now defunct personal website to lampooning members of the media. From HuffPo: 

Reuters veteran Irwin Arieff told The Huffington Post that he’s “appalled to hear that the Romney campaign has hired Mr. Grenell in any capacity.” In an email response, Arieff, who worked over two decades at Reuters, including seven years covering the U.N, said he found Grenell “to be the most dishonest and deceptive press person I ever worked with.”
“He often lied, even more frequently offered half answers or withheld information that would weaken his case or reflect poorly on his ideological point of view,” Arieff said. “He was always argumentative with the press, castigating reporters for asking questions he did not like, and calling them to criticize them for writing articles he did not like.”

Hitler finds out that Romney is the nominee

As Experts Agree Food Deserts "Do Exist," Right-Wing Media Use Flawed NY Times Article To Claim They Don't

A recent New York Times article highlighted two studies that the article claimed "question the pairing of food deserts and obesity" and may "raise questions about the efforts to combat the obesity epidemic simply by improving access to healthy foods." While right-wing media have seized on the article to claim that food deserts are a "make-believe" issue, food experts have called the Times article "sloppy" and have said the two studies it highlights are "definitely outliers," in the face of "over 50 studies" in the past three years finding "the opposite." Read More

Mitt Romney Hosted A Lovely Totalitarian Loyalty-Pledge Party Today

That Mitt Romney was such a care-free goofball when he was trying to win the nomination, never asking anything of anybody. He would like to thank all of those friendly folks across the country who turned his lil’ old aw-shucks candidacy into the powerhouse that it is today. Good times. But guess what? That primary phase is all over. From here on out, YOU WILL OBEY MITT ROMNEY OR DIE. HAVE YOU SIGNED THE PLEDGE, SLAVE? READ MORE »

CHART: How Obama And Romney Compare On Energy Issues

Romney Blames Obama For Plant That Closed During Bush Presidency

Mitt Romney is touring America for some reason, and on Thursday he was in Lorain, Ohio, at a National Gypsum plant that is no longer open, which he LOVES to do despite the fact that he was complicit in the closure of more things than many presidents. During this sadsack appearance the presumptive/uous Republican nominee said the reason that the plant is no longer open is President Obama and his failed somethings.

 Curiously, the plant actually closed in 2008, when George W. Bush was president. Then, referring to a speech that Obama gave before the financial crisis even rose up from the earth’s bog, Romney said that the President has clearly failed in his inability to, um, predict that that thing would happen, etc. READ MORE »

GOP Economics Explained In One Hilarious Graphic

Fast And Fallacious: Pavlich's Book On ATF Operation Filled With Falsehoods

In her new book, Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and its Shameless Cover-up, Townhall news editor Katie Pavlich offers up a number of false and misleading claims about the ATF's fatally flawed Operation Fast and Furious.

 In doing so Pavlich baselessly suggests that high-ranking Justice Department officials were aware of that operation's use of the tactic of gunwalking, in which agents knowingly allowed guns to be trafficked across the border to Mexico in order to identify other members of a trafficking network. Read More

Facts Bust Media Narrative That Obama Favored Health Care Over Economy

Media conservatives are pushing the narrative that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's attacks against President Obama over the economy will be effective because Obama favored health care reform rather than focusing on "fixing the economy." 

However, this narrative falters when confronted with the facts, including that Obama pushed through the first of many economic initiatives a month after he was elected -- more than a year before health care reform became law. Read More

Romney Firm Too Busy Firing People For Not Being Mormon To Create Those Jobs He Keeps Talking About

What kind of underwear do you have on? Are they magical? No? Outta here! Bain Capital, a job creating powerhouse established by America’s number one job creator Mitt Romney, is being sued by a group of people that claim they were fired for not being part of the Mormon church (LDS). This rogue group of secular sweat hogs were threatening the very foundation of ethics and morals Bain was built on. It was time to call out Romney Rooter and snake out these infiltrators of normalcy and make sure that the pains in Bain go mainly down the drain. READ MORE »

Mitt Romney To Give Commencement Address In Liberty ‘University’ Outhouse With Jerry Falwell’s Mother

Like it says dudes. His Lord High Hairgel Mittens Of Romney will put on his holy gown and tassel and get down and boogie with the common rubes of Jerry Falwell’s Liberty “University” for a commencement speech where he will undoubtedly say awesome shit like “some of my best friends own universities” and then tell all the chicks that it is cute that they went to college, did they get their MRS haha just kidding (no he’s not)? READ MORE »

Media Matters Daily Summary 04-18-12

Right-Wing Media Cover Up Senate Republicans' Obstructionism
Following the release of a report on the legislative business conducted by the Senate, conservative media have tried to cover up Republican obstructionism in order to label the Democratic-controlled Senate as "lazy" and "do-nothing." In fact, Senate Republicans have repeatedly used procedural tricks to block measures that would otherwise have passed the Senate. Read More

"Skin In The Game": Fox Calls For Tax Hikes On Working Americans While Protecting The Rich
Fox News personalities have repeatedly attacked the Buffett Rule, which would require the rich to pay their fair share in taxes. At the same time, Fox News personalities have pushed for tax increases on the poor, arguing that they should have more "skin in the game." Read More

Federal Study On Effectiveness Of Food Stamps Nearly Absent From TV News
On April 9, the U.S. Department of Agriculture published a study finding that food stamps reduced the "prevalence, depth, and severity" of poverty between 2000 and 2009 and that their effects were especially strong during the recession, thanks to the stimulus. Television news outlets have all but ignored this story-- it has been mentioned only once on broadcast and cable news programming since April 9. Read More

No Oxygen: Michigan Media Silent As State Passes ALEC Bill Limiting Compensation For Asbestos Victims
Last week, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) approved a bill that curbs the ability of asbestos-exposure victims to recover losses from some companies that are legally responsible. The bill was pushed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Crown Holdings, Inc., a Fortune 500 corporation trying to legislate its way out of compensating cancer and mesothelioma victims who were exposed to asbestos by a company it purchased. According to a Media Matters analysis, Michigan's two largest newspapers, the Detroit Free Press and the Grand Rapids Press, have been utterly silent on the bill from introduction to its passage. Read More

Fox Falsely Claims Obama Opposes "Giving The Middle Class A Tax Break"
Fox hosts attacked President Obama for his opposition to Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's Small Business Tax Cut Act, claiming the bill would give "the middle class a tax break" and "creates thousands of jobs." In fact, Obama has threatened to veto Cantor's bill specifically because it does not target the middle class; as experts have said, Cantor's bill would disproportionately benefit the wealthy and create few to no new jobs. Read More

Dodd-Frank Does Regulate Oil Speculation -- But The Financial Industry Is Suing To Block It
Fox News commentators have attacked the Dodd-Frank financial regulation law by falsely suggesting that it doesn't address oil speculation. In fact, Dodd-Frank does address speculation, and regulations on oil speculation have been issued. However, financial industry groups are suing to block them. Read More

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"Skin In The Game": Fox Calls For Tax Hikes On Working Americans While Protecting The Rich

http://mediamatters.org/research/201204180003

Fox News personalities have repeatedly attacked the Buffett Rule, which would require the rich to pay their fair share in taxes. At the same time, Fox News personalities have pushed for tax increases on the poor, arguing that they should have more "skin in the game."

Fox Attacks Efforts To Make The Rich Pay Their Fair Share In Taxes

Senate Republicans Block Legislation To Implement The Buffett Rule And Ensure The Rich Pay Their Fair Share. On April 16, a majority of senators voted in favor of legislation that would set a minimum effective tax rate for annual income in excess of $1 million. But Senate Republicans blocked the legislation with a filibuster. [Senate vote 65, 4/16/12]

On Fox, Krauthammer Said The Buffett Rule Is A "Gimmick" That "Won't Expand The Economy Or Spur Economic Growth." Media personalities on Fox have repeatedly attacked the legislation at issue. For instance, on the April 16 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Bret Baier, Charles Krauthammer dismissed the legislation as a "gimmick":

BRET BAIER: I think we are at a consensus on this panel. I want to take a live look at the Senate floor. There are 44 no votes on so-called Buffett rule. This is based on the billionaire investor Warren Buffett who advocates the wealthy pay the same tax rate of the subordinates and would impose 30 percent minimum rate on people earning more than $2 million a year. Then it would be phase phased in, that 30 percent minimum rate, on anybody earning $1 million a year. It will fail in the Senate since there are 44 no votes already. Significance here, what about this? And the president talking about it every stump speech.
[...]
BAIER: Charles, how do Republicans push back on what the Obama administration sees as a rich, political point?
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER (Fox News contributor): Well, first, to point out it's gimmick. Even the liberals are saying, even though the "Washington Post" some legislators admitted it's nothing but a gimmick, it will do nothing to help the deficit.
BAIER: But it's a $47 billion gimmick. They are coming out and saying over ten years, $47 billion could be used for x number of infrastructure jobs, whatever.
KRAUTHAMMER: Yes. I'm not sure that people buy that. If you point out this is dumbing of the capital gains tax. You have to make a case. It certainly won't expand the economy or spur economic growth as Obama pretends and he said now twice in the last week. If anything it will retard economic expansion. And decrease the number of jobs because it takes away investment and decreases the amount of investment. Historically in the last 60 years when you raise capital gains tax it retards growth, and when you lower it, it increases it. That's why Kennedy and Reagan had economic growth as a result of reducing the capital gains tax. That is not a sound bite unless you speak really quickly, but it's a case that can be made, and Republicans are going to have to do it. [Fox News, Special Report, 4/16/12, via Nexis]

The Five's Dana Perino Said The Buffett Rule "Won't Do A Single Thing." During the April 16 edition of Fox News' The Five, co-host Dana Perino pointed out that commentators and economists have called the Buffett Rule a "political gimmick," and suggested it "won't do a single thing." Furthermore, co-host Greg Gutfeld suggested that agreeing with the Buffett Rule would be "playing into class warfare":

ERIC BOLLING (co-host): I got to break in, Bob. I'll get back to you in a second.
FOX News alert -- you are looking live at the Senate floor where lawmakers are moments away from a vote on the so-called Buffett Rule.
Dana, the Buffett Rule. It's likely going to fail, but nonetheless.
PERINO: Well, roundly ridiculed across the board from the most liberal to the most conservative commentators and economists as a political gimmick that won't have anything to do -- it's amazing that Senator Reid has not done a single thing to call up a budget, even if it was for his political gimmick to show that they have ability to pass a budget. But they have time to do this which won't do a single thing. And across the board, everyone knows this.
GUTFELD: The thing that gets me, the real scoundrels in all of this is the patriotic millionaires, the people that have been pushing for these taxes, because their name suggest by patriotic millionaires, that if you don't agree with taxing the rich, playing into class warfare, you are not patriotic.
PERINO: Anti-American. [Fox News, The Five, 4/16/12, via Nexis]

O'Reilly: Obama Proposed The Buffett Rule "Because He's A Class Warfare Guy." From the April 13 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

BILL O'REILLY: Now, "The Wall Street Journal" says that if you do institute the Buffett Rule whereby no matter how you got you income, it would be taxed at 30 if you have over a $1 million in assets or in money coming in, it would only raise $4 to $5 billion a year. And then if you raised the marginal tax rate on high earners, that would raise some more money. Isn't that worthy that he get the debt down?
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER (Fox News contributor): It is ridiculous. It's a rounding error of a rounding error. Its lunch money, I did the math on this. The joint committee of taxation said yes we're bringing about $4 billion to $5 billion a year. So if you were to collect the Buffett tax for the next 250 years that's longer than the life of our republic. It would take in less than the deficit spending Obama engaged in last year alone. It's a triviality. It will do nothing about nothing. In fact --
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: So it's all about -- it's all about --
KRAUTHAMMER: -- misdirection. It's misdirection.
O'REILLY: Right, well it's working.
KRAUTHAMMER: It's misdirection, it's saying look over here at the -- it is working. Demagoguery often works.
O'REILLY: Yes let me just give you the stats here. Ok in the latest Gallup poll, they asked would you favor Congress passing a new law that would require households earning $1 million a year to pay 30 percent of their income in taxes: 60 percent yes; 37 percent no; 3 percent don't know. But among Independents, 63 percent yes and 33 percent no.
But I think the folks, just basically want -- they're buying the fair share argument the President is putting out. They're buying that.
KRAUTHAMMER: Why do you think the President proposed it in the first place?
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: Because he's a class warfare guy. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 4/17/12, via Nexis]

Fox's Stuart Varney: The Buffett Rule, Obama's "Latest Plan To Tax The Rich," Is "Class Warfare." During the April 14 edition of Fox News' Journal Editorial Report, guest host Stuart Varney attacked the Buffett Rule as "class warfare":

VARNEY: Welcome to the JOURNAL EDITORIAL REPORT. I'm Stuart Varney, in this week for Paul Gigot.
Well, you just heard President Obama invoking Ronald Reagan, and claiming that his latest plan to tax the rich is all about fairness. The president officially endorsed the so-called Buffett Rule in the swing state of Florida Tuesday, calling for a minimum 30 percent tax on those making more than a million dollars a year. His campaign clearly thinks it is a political winner, but is it good policy?
Let's ask "Wall Street Journal" columnist and deputy editor, Dan Henninger; columnist, Mary Anastasia O'Grady; assistant editorial page editor, James Freeman; and Washington columnist, Kim Strassel.
Dan, to you first. I call this class warfare. [Fox News, Journal Editorial Report, 4/14/12, via Nexis]

Fox's Ed Rollins: Obama Wanting To "Eliminate The Capital Gains Tax" And Wanting "Big Tax Reform" Is "Part Of This War Against The Rich" -- "This Is Class Warfare." From the April 13 edition of Fox News' Hannity:

SEAN HANNITY: Now, earlier today, the White House released President Obama's tax returns. And the numbers are already causing a problem for his reelection team. Now, in 2011, the Obama's reported income was about $790,000. And they paid roughly $162,000 in taxes. Now, here is the thing. The President has crisscrossed the country trying to sell his so- called Buffet Rule but based on how much money they made last year, this would not apply to the Obamas. And in their apparent attempt to minimize the criticism, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney put out a statement today which reads impart, "Under the President's own tax proposals including the expiration of the high income tax cuts and limitations on the value of tax preferences for high income households. He would pay more in taxes while ensuring that we cut taxes for the middle-class and those trying to get in it."
Joining me now with reaction, FOX News contributor Ed Rollins and from the FOX Business Network Nicole Petallides. You know what the dumbest thing is though in all of this, Joe Biden, 1.5 percent of income in charity. You know, how many years does he have to go through this criticism before he ponies up some money like the rest of America and donates.
NICOLE PETALLIDES (Fox Business): He should know better. His whole tax return is being scrutinized. He should give more at least while he is in office and be smart about it.
HANNITY: Bill Clinton at least gave some used underwear Ed, give something.
ED ROLLINS (Fox News contributor): It's a free big house from the government. So, he can give whatever his rent would be normally. The idiocy of this whole. This is political theater. You know, if the President wants to eliminate the capital gains tax which is where these people basically take it. Then stand up and say that. Say, I want a big tax reform, I want to do this and you get pillared. This is all part of this war against the rich. This classwarfare and the truth of the matter is, you can go back a few years ago, and Warren Buffett took $100,000 a year in salary, 150,000 in salary. If Warren Buffet wants to pay more in taxes, he can take all of it. [Fox News, Hannity, 4/13/12, via Nexis]

For more examples of Fox attacking the Buffett Rule and other attempts to require the rich to pay their fair share, click here, here, and here.

Meanwhile, Fox Calls For Working Americans To Put "More Skin In The Game"

Cavuto: Working Americans Should Put "More Skin In The Game." From the April 12 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto:

NEIL CAVUTO (host): It's more than that. What bothers me most about this, maybe because, as I said, I am FOX's resident nerd and I cover this sort of stuff. I did cover Ronald Reagan and the tax revolution closely. I guess that bespeaks both my age and my nerdiness and how long track it is.
But one of the things that I cannot stress enough to folks is this is not a right or left issue to me. This is a right or wrong issue that Ronald Reagan trying to address the idea that everyone have skin in the game, and that if you were either very poor and trying to dodge taxes or you were very rich and trying to dodge taxes, there should be nothing in our tax code that would allow that to happen.
And that is what he wanted to eradicate in 1985 and 1986. Now, I think it is worth pointing out that this president has not pointed out that talking about putting more skin in the game, half the filers in this country are not filing at all, because they don't owe any federal income taxes at all.
That is not to dismiss what they are paying in Social Security and Medicare-related taxes. I am not minimizing maybe the vast majority of them being wonderful Americans. I am saying that half the eligible filers in this country are not paying any federal income taxes in this country.
Yet the president has twisted this around to make it like a modern-day Ronald Reagan insult, and that is what is insulting. [Fox News, Your World with Neil Cavuto, 4/12/12, via Nexis]

Ingraham Suggested Romney Should Talk About "Making It Easier For Every Person To Pay Taxes And For Everyone To Have Skin In The Game." During the April 17 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham said the rich already pay "the lion's share of the tax burden" while "a lot of people ... pay nothing." She went on to say that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney "can talk about tax simplification and making it easier for every person to pay taxes and for everyone to have skin in the game." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/17/12, via Media Matters]

Frequent Fox Guest Amilya Antonetti Falsely Claims "Almost Half Of People Pay No Taxes At All," And Suggests A "Pay What You Use" Tax System So Everyone Contributes. During the April 17 edition of Fox Business' Cavuto, frequent Fox News guest Amilya Antonetti falsely claimed "almost half of people pay no taxes at all" but was quickly corrected by guest host Liz MacDonald saying: "federal income taxes." Antoneetti then suggested a new "pay what you use" or "pay what you purchase" tax system in order to get everyone to, no matter how small, pay taxes. [Fox Business, Cavuto, 4/17/12, via Media Matters]

For more examples of Fox calling for working Americans to pay their supposed "fair share," click here

However, Working Americans Already Have "Skin In The Game"

CBPP: Income Tax Number "Greatly Overstates The Share Of Households That Do Not Pay Any Federal Taxes." The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities wrote that the fact that nearly half of Americans don't pay any federal income tax "ignores the substantial amounts of other federal taxes -- especially the payroll tax -- that many of these households pay." CBPP continued: "As a result, it greatly overstates the share of households that do not pay any federal taxes. Data from the Urban Institute-Brookings Tax Policy Center show only about 14 percent of households paid neither federal income tax nor payroll tax in 2009, despite the high unemployment and temporary tax cuts that marked that year." [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 5/31/11]

Journalist David Cay Johnston: "When It Comes To State And Local Taxes, The Poor Bear A Heavier Burden Than The Rich In Every State Except Vermont." In an article outlining "a few points about taxes and the economy that you may not know," Reuters columnist David Cay Johnston, a former New York Times reporter who won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the tax code, wrote:

Data from the Tax Foundation show that in 2008, the average income for the bottom half of taxpayers was $15,300.
This year the first $9,350 of income is exempt from taxes for singles and $18,700 for married couples, just slightly more than in 2008. That means millions of the poor do not make enough to owe income taxes.
But they still pay plenty of other taxes, including federal payroll taxes. Between gas taxes, sales taxes, utility taxes and other taxes, no one lives tax-free in America.

When it comes to state and local taxes, the poor bear a heavier burden than the rich in every state except Vermont, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy calculated from official data. In Alabama, for example, the burden on the poor is more than twice that of the top 1 percent. The one-fifth of Alabama families making less than $13,000 pay almost 11 percent of their income in state and local taxes, compared with less than 4 percent for those who make $229,000 or more. [Willamette Week, 4/13/11]

CBPP: "86 Percent Of Working Households Pay More In Payroll Taxes Than In Federal Income Taxes." CBPP reported:

The reality is that the income tax is one of a number of types of taxes that individuals pay, both over the course of their lifetimes and in a given year, and it makes little sense to treat it as though it were the only one that matters. Some 86 percent of working households pay more in payroll taxes than in federal income taxes. In fact, low- and moderate-income people pay a much larger share of their incomes in federal payroll taxes than high-income people do: taxpayers in the bottom 20 percent of the income scale paid an average of 8.8 percent of their incomes in payroll taxes in 2007, compared to just 1.6 percent for taxpayers in the top 1 percent of the income distribution.

[Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 5/31/11]

For more on the truth about taxes, click here