Happy Hour over: Fundraising firm drops Bachmann

RAW STORY

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who can't seem to hold onto a chief of staff for more than a year at a time, has now lost her fundraising firm as well.

According to a report which first appeared in Roll Call on Wednesday, "The Gula Graham Group, a Republican fundraising and consulting firm, ended their three-year relationship with Bachmann last week."

The Gula Graham Group arranges fundraising events for a select group of Republican members of Congress, like the "Happy Hour" they put on for Bachmann last spring at the Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar with an admission fee of $500 per attendee.

The firms's co-founder, Mike Gula, told Roll Call, "I can confirm that the Gula Graham Group no longer works for Congresswoman Bachmann. We chose to go in a different direction."

Bachmann also lost her chief of staff, Michelle Marston, just last month. “I’m just not talking about it, and frankly I don’t think there’s a story here,” Marston told Politico at the time. A conservative Republican member of the House, however, suggested the real problem was that “when your captain’s crazy, it’s time to find a new ship.”...............

Jon Stewart on the Final Tea Party of the Year

Video: Michele Bachmann's Prophetic Visions

Media Matters Daily Summary 12-17-09

Scarborough falsely suggests Lieberman is in line with public opinion on health reform
On MSNBC, host Joe Scarborough stated, "Yes, Joe Lieberman's holding up a piece of legislation, but Joe Lieberman is not standing in the way of a piece of legislation that America wants. I've yet to see a poll over the last two or three months that show Americans want health care reform in any form." However, Lieberman has indicated that he will support the Senate health care reform bill after demanding that it exclude both a public health insurance option and an expansion of Medicare to uninsured Americans aged 55-64 -- two policies that are broadly popular among the American public according to recent polls. Read More

Quick Fact: IBD advances dubious rumor that WH threatened Nelson with base closure
An Investor's Business Daily editorial advanced the dubious rumor that the White House is "threatening" to close Nebraska's Offutt Air Force base if Sen. Ben Nelson "doesn't fall into line" in supporting health care reform. In fact, both Nelson and the White House have denied the rumor, which the IBD editorial did not note. Read More

Goldfarb struggles to preserve his disintegrating White House base threat story
In a December 16 post, Weekly Standard blogger Michael Goldfarb defended the accuracy of his report that the White House is "threatening to close" Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base "to extort" Sen. Ben Nelson's vote on health care reform -- denied by both the White House and Nelson's office -- by pointing to a request by 20 Republican senators for a congressional investigation of his report. But a Nebraska newspaper reported on December 17 that Nelson's fellow Nebraska senator, Mike Johanns, said he signed on to the request even though he doesn't believe Goldfarb's story is true and Goldfarb's blog post follows his retraction of his prior claim that White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel had personally issued such a "threat." Read More

Who's behind the right's base closure smear?
The right-wing media are accusing the Obama administration of playing politics with national security. But by using a trumped-up allegation peddled by a discredited former McCain aide to smear the White House, Obama's critics are guilty of the politicization of the military they claim to denounce. Read More

Fox & Friends deceptively cropped Dean's comments, disappearing public option references
In purporting to air Howard Dean's comments opposing the Senate health care bill, Fox & Friends omitted his statement that the "problem" with the bill is that with the removal of the public option, "we are now committed to a solution using the private insurance companies." At no point in the segment - during which Dean's opposition to the bill was repeatedly conflated with that of the tea party attendees - did Fox draw a connection between Dean's opposition to the bill and the removal of the public option from the bill. Read More

Ignoring Dean, Matthews claims that "netroots" critics of health care reform "never ran for office"
On his MSNBC show, Chris Matthews attacked what New York magazine writer John Heilemann called "the Democratic left" who have "trash[ed] the health care bill and attack[ed] the president; Matthews stated: "I don't consider them Democrats. I consider them netroots," and added, "I think a lot of those people are troublemakers who love to sit in the back seat and complain. They're not interested in governing this country. They never ran for office, they're not interested in working for somebody in public office." In fact, Howard Dean, who, as The New York Times reported, "has urged the Senate to scrap the bill and start from scratch," ran for president in the 2004 Democratic primary after having served for more than 11 years as governor of Vermont. Read More

Hannity falsely suggests Clinton "promis[ed]" U.S. would pay $100 billion per year to address climate change in developing countries
Sean Hannity suggested on his radio show that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had "promis[ed]" that the United States would pay $100 billion "every year" to address climate change in developing countries. But Hannity's claim was immediately contradicted by an audio clip of Clinton's speech that he then aired on his show, in which Clinton said the U.S. "is prepared to work with other countries toward a goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion a year" [emphasis added]. Read More

Landrieu And Dean Duel On Hardball

TPM

In a heated debate over the Senate health care bill with former DNC chairman Howard Dean on Hardball tonight, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) said, "There are things I don't like about the bill, but this is the closest we've come in 40 years to doing something good for the American people, and we shouldn't get weak-kneed at this moment."

Dean, who's lambasted the current health care bill, argued that the bill put Americans' money in the pockets of the health insurance industry.

He also addressed issues surrounding Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who has blocked Democrats' efforts to include a public option and Medicare buy-in in health care reform.

Lieberman is not the issue. He can do what he wants. This is about having a health care bill for America. If we were Republicans this bill would be done.

Landrieu retorted that the Democrats "are tough enough," and that, "there is plenty of reform left in this bill and there is still plenty left to fight for." Landrieu said the bill strengthens Medicare and provides free preventative care for the first time.

In my state alone, one million people that do not have insurance today will have health care coverage. That's something to fight for.

Landrieu also acknowledged criticism that goodies for her home state were stuffed into the bill to help ensure her support. Landrieu insisted that no one could "buy my vote."

Here's some video of their exchange.

White House Hits Back Against Right-Wing Rumor-Mongering

TPM

The White House has again denied the dubious claim by Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity that the Obama Administration threatened Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) with closing Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base if he does not support health care reform.

Weekly Standard columnist Michael Goldfarb got the rumor mill started when he wrote a post citing "a Senate aide" who claimed "the White House is now threatening to put Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base on the BRAC list if Nelson doesn't fall into line" on health care reform.

As Media Matters points out, Hannity, Limbaugh and Beck all latched onto Goldfarb's post, and propagated the claim on their respective radio shows. Today, Beck said of the report: "I don't even know what category that fits in -- high crimes?" Yesterday, Hannity called it "another example of how the administration is playing politics with national security. That's how bad it's got." Limbaugh, for his part, referred to "Dingy Harry and Obama," and said that if they get Ben Nelson's vote for this, Obama's "finished."

Meanwhile, both Nelson and the White House have denied the report. A Nelson aide said "the rumor is not true." He continued: "This misinformation is coming from inside-the-Beltway partisans who only want to derail health care reform."

The White House released its own statement, which said:

Proving that they will leave no stone unturned in their efforts to undermine health reform, some blogs opposing reform are now trafficking an absurd rumor that Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base is being threatened over Senator Ben Nelson's vote on the Senate reform bill.

To be perfectly clear: these rumors are completely baseless and false.

And in a statement sent to TPM today, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer reiterated the denial:

This rumor is absolutely false, as the people spreading it well know. This is nothing but a cynical, crass political game that is designed to maintain the status quo. Let's be clear: the people spreading these falsehoods think nothing is wrong with a system under which families and businesses continue to bear the brunt of skyrocketing costs, insurance companies are allowed to discriminate and drop at will, and thousands of Americans lose their coverage every single day.

ThinkFast: December 17, 2009

THINK PROGRESS

Former Gov. Howard Dean writes in the Washington Post, “If I were a senator, I would not vote for the current health-care bill. … Washington has decided, once again, that the American people cannot be trusted to choose for themselves.” But Paul Krugman defends the bill as “a big step toward greater security for Americans and greater social justice.”

Trying to stave off liberal criticism, White House senior adviser David Axelrod told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Dean’s criticisms of health care reform are “predicated on a bunch of erroneous conclusions” and that for progressives to torpedo the legislation “would be a tragic, tragic outcome.”

Liberal groups and labor unions “have pulled back from calls to kill the Senate healthcare bill” while progressive senators “are coalescing behind the legislation, tailored to centrist demands.” But House Democrats and other liberal groups are “hoping to win a few concessions in conference.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will not be rallying votes for President Obama’s troop increase in Afghanistan, telling reporters “that she is finished asking her colleagues to back wars that they do not support.” “The president’s going to have to make his case,” said Pelosi. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) plans to introduce a resolution next month calling for an immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

Two senior U.N. officials have said that soon after it was becoming clear that major fraud took place in Afghanistan’s presidential election in August, the number 2 U.N. official there, American Peter Galbraith, “proposed enlisting the White House in a plan to replace” Hamid Karzai as Afghan president. Karzai “became incensed when he learned of the plan” and Galbraith was fired weeks later.

The House approved a $154 billion package yesterday “aimed at stimulating the labor market with a combination of infrastructure projects, aid to states and funding for several safety-net programs.” No Republicans voted for the plan, which passed with a 217-212 vote. The Senate won’t take up the legislation until next year.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today proposed that “major economies including the U.S. come up with $100 billion a year over the next decade for developing nations to fight climate change.” She also reiterated that there “should be no doubt about the commitment of the United States to reach a successful agreement in Copenhagen.”

Following a lawsuit by the Electronic Freedom Foundation, the Justice Department has released documents showing that it improperly collected information on Americans who were no threat to national security in a series of reports. The Department of Justice has ordered the reports to be destroyed and has ordered the author to undergo remedial training.

In an 8 to 1 vote yesterday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted in favor of “legislation extending employee benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.” The bill will “place partners of same-sex federal employees on the same footing as spouses when it comes to benefits” such as including health insurance, retirement and disability plans, and workers’ compensation.

And finally: Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has some advice for Tiger Woods: “Hang in there.”

Follow ThinkProgress on Twitter.

Media Matters Daily Summary 12-16-09

Quick Fact: Morris revives Al Gore "invented the Internet" and Love Story smears
On Fox & Friends, Dick Morris again falsely suggested that Al Gore said he "invented the Internet" and that "he's the guy after whom [Erich Segal's 1970 romance novel] Love Story was written." Contrary to Morris' suggestion, Gore never said he "invented the Internet" or claimed that Love Story was written about him. Read More

Columnist Shapiro falsely smears Obama nominee as "alleged former spy for Fidel Castro"
In a smear piece attacking the National Council of La Raza, columnist Ben Shapiro falsely described Mari Del Carmen Aponte, a former board member of the group whom President Obama nominated to be U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, as "an alleged former spy for Fidel Castro." In fact, the FBI reportedly cleared Aponte of allegations that she had been recruited as a Cuban spy. Read More

Health Care Misinformer of the Year: Betsy McCaughey
Media Matters for America presents its first-ever Health Care Misinformer of the Year award to Betsy McCaughey.
Read More

Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh run with dubious rumor that White House is threatening Nelson with Air Force base
In a December 15 post, Weekly Standard blogger Michael Goldfarb reported the claims of an unnamed "Senate aide" who allegedly said that the White House is "threatening to close" Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base "to extort" Sen. Ben Nelson's vote on health care reform. The rumor has since been denied by both Nelson's office and the White House, but Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh have nonetheless seized on Goldfarb's blog post and advanced the dubious allegation. Read More

Rewriting history, Limbaugh described both Bush presidencies as "eight years of prosperity"
On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh described both George W Bush and George H.W. Bush's presidencies as being "eight years of prosperity." In fact, economic recessions occurred during both Bush administrations. Read More

Shapiro's column filled with false, misleading attacks on NCLR
Syndicated columnist Ben Shapiro made numerous false and misleading attacks on the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), which he called "a radical and in some cases quasi-criminal group." He falsely smeared former NCLR board member Mari Del Carmen Aponte as "an alleged former spy for Fidel Castro"; falsely claimed that a statement urging Hispanics to "[reclaim] the land of their birth" was a "founding document" of NCLR; baselessly asserted that a proposed federal education funding increase was part of an effort "to funnel money quickly and furiously into NCLR coffers"; and ignored evidence contradicting claims of a "kickback scheme" involving an NCLR affiliate. Read More