If You Have To Say It

Tea Partiers are congregating in Philadelphia today for a 'Uni-Tea Rally' aimed at spotlighting the diversity -- racial and otherwise -- of the Tea Party movement.

Yeah, they're racially diverse. And Nixon wasn't a crook.

Highly Effective

Earlier this week, two leading economists released a study that “empirically proved” that the government’s response to the Great Recession, including the stimulus bill, prevented the loss of “some 8½ million jobs.” The study’s authors — former McCain economic adviser Mark Zandi and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Blinder — concluded that “there is little doubt that in total, the policy response was highly effective.”

GOP public policy caused the meltdown. The Democrats turned it around. Go back to Republican policies. Suffer another meltdown. People will get it if you say it. A lot. Thank you.

It's Their Party

Politico reports that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who many previously thought would co-sponsor comprehensive immigration reform this year, is considering radically changing the 14th amendment instead.

Various extreme elements of the GOP have called for this since Obama became president, including the far right Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce, sponsor of the controversial Arizona immigration law. He's calling his proposal the "Anchor Baby Bill." We know the Republican party is clearly hostile to much of the constitution. But the news their most moderate Senator is now on board shows it's a terminal condition.

He's Still a Senator?

In a statement raising the specter of Sarah Palin’s mythical “death panels,” Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) attacked the FDA for revoking its approval of the breast cancer drug Avastin after it determined that the drug does more harm than good: “I shudder at the thought of a government panel assigning a value to a day of a person’s life,” Vitter said in the news release. “It is sickening to think that care would be withheld from a patient simply because their life is not deemed valuable enough. I fear this is the beginning of a slippery slope leading to more and more rationing under the government takeover of health care that is being forced on the American people.”

And we shudder at the thought of what was up with the diapers and the prostitutes. Other than that nobody has a clue what the hell he's talking about. With the death panels they were doing work for the insurance companies. Now it looks like they're doing work for the drug companies.

Race War

On the July 12 broadcast of his Premiere Radio Networks show, Glenn Beck warned his audience that the "left" wants "a race war ... and our government is going to stand by and let them do it."

During the July 16 edition of his television show, Beck stated that progressives "need anger in the streets" and "they need a race war or any kind of war pulling each other apart." He then said, "Divided we will fall. They know it."

On the July 19 edition of his radio show, Beck told his listeners: "They must have the race riot. They must have the races pitted against each other. They're pitting us against each other in every step of the way. It is the Balkan plan. They are making us into the Balkans."

Progressives don't need a race war but it seems Beck sure does. That's three mentions in a week. The Southern Strategy lives on.

More Crazy Than That

At its state convention in Des Moines last month, the Iowa GOP adopted a new party platform that includes the repeal of mandatory minimum wage laws, the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education, and even clarification on the definition of manure. Out of the “387 enumerated planks and principles,” Newsweek’s Jerry Adler found the most “startling” section of the platform calls for “the reintroduction and ratification of the original 13th Amendment.” By this they seek to strip Obama of his citizenship (for accepting the Nobel Prize) and thus disqualify him from the Presidency.

Well, hell, at least these nutjobs finally seem to be admitting President Obama is indeed a citizen. Disturbing though that it's only through the introduction of an even more insane and extreme idea.

Says He Has Racist Friends

Last night, in an interview with TPMDC, former Reagan administration official Jeffrey Lord said the entire Democratic party is the true repository of racism in the United States."I have felt for a long time that my friends on the American left, in the Democratic party have just had this atrocious history with racial issue," Lord said.

If this guy worked in the Reagan administration he's sure to be aware of successful Republican plan to build their base with racists. We used to have a bunch of racists in the Democratic party but they all left to join the Republican party (well, except for Robert Byrd and he's no longer with us). But this guy needs to be careful. Part of the Southern Strategy was to let everybody know the right is racist, lest some folks not get the message and remain in the Democratic party. Telling them now that it's actually the Dems who are racist may undo some of their hard work.

One Nation Under Oil

House and Senate Democratic leaders Tuesday rolled out their big “spill bills” — the main legislative responses to the Gulf oil spill. The proposals are packed with aggressive offshore drilling reforms that Republicans have long fought and were immediately met with push fierce back from the GOP and the oil industry.

Yes, to this day the GOP still thinks we should have less regulation. John Boehner (R-OH) thinks we should have none. This along with today's news that another million gallons have spilled, this time in a river, is just the latest reminder "the GOP and the oil industry" are not fit to make the rules.

What's Changed

This Thursday, SB-1070, Arizona’s radical new immigration law, will go into effect. Yet a new investigation by local Arizona TV news station CBS 5 finds “two of [Governor] Brewer’s top advisers have connections” to private prison giant Corrections Corporation of America. The corporation currently “holds the federal contract to house detainees in Arizona.” CBS 5 notes that the company currently bills $11 million a month to the state of Arizona and that, if SB-1070 is successfully implemented, its profits would be significantly padded as it would take responsibility for imprisoning immigrants arrested by Arizona police.

For anybody wondering what's changed since Bush was president that would prompt the Republicans in Arizona to pass such a law now, we would remind that a Democrat is now president and Brewer was just appointed governor last year. And nothing really other than that.

Chum

House Minority Leader John Boehner, after a July 16th meeting with business and trade group lobbyists, announced a new idea: A moratorium on all new federal regulations, for a year.

Transnational corporations are like sharks. We don't blame sharks for hunting. That's just what they do. Part of government's role is to protect us from the sharks. But when the government just throws us to the sharks, then they just eat us up. Which apparently is what will happen if the GOP recaptures the Senate in November. More financial meltdowns, Enrons, and oil catastrophes are sure to follow speaker Boehner.

The GOP's Little Black Book

Senate Democrats pledged to hold a Tuesday vote on broad changes to campaign finance disclosure, despite a growing belief that the party lacks the votes necessary to break a Republican filibuster.

So the Republicans on the Supreme Court have basically decided it's perfectly legal for anybody to spend unlimmited money to buy our government. Now the Democrats want to pass a law that would at least let the American people know who's buying our government. And of course the Republicans in the senate are filibustering the bill. Seems the whores don't want anybody to know who's in their little black book. Only with less Republicans will we be able to find out.

Dumbasses

Only "dumbasses" in the Tea Party movement question President Barack Obama's citizenship, according to Ken Buck, one of Republican Senate candidates in Colorado.

A poll in January found 71% of teabaggers have questions about Obama's citizenship so Buck just said most people in the Tea Party are dumbasses. But actually they're all dumbasses because it's the corporation that's sponsoring their supposedly populist movement and 80% of them vote GOP (which is all about the super rich and the corporation). They're even pretty much exactly wrong about the central premise underlying the event after which they have named their movement, and as a result, are actually supporting public policy the original Tea Partiers were protesting against.

Reversing Reaganomics

Washington (CNN) -- Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says the Obama administration will push for letting tax cuts for wealthy Americans expire while extending them for the rest of the nation.

Reaganomics, which is basically today's standard GOP policy, has devastated this county. It's decimated the middle class and destroyed our manufacturing base. On just about every economic and fiscal measure history has judged it a national disaster. Under Clinton we had briefly turned ourselves around only to resume the decline in 2000. Good on the Democrats for again trying to do right by the county.

The Party Of No Good

Yesterday, Think Progress caught up with RedState founder Erick Erickson and asked his thoughts on the “Party of No” moniker. Erickson took the GOP to task for clouding the issue. He advised them to “stop lying” about being the “Party of No” because “everyone knows you are”:

TP: They are saying, if you accuse them of being the party of no or not having ideas, they will say “oh no!”

Erickson: That’s such crap. Say you’re the “Party of No.” Of course you are. Everyone knows you are. Stop lying.

"The Party of No" is just lame Democratic messaging. It's soft and slogany. It's cute. We don't need cute. We need hard. Anyway, the Republicans are proud of the label. The GOP isn't the party of no. They're the party of national disaster. They're the party of going back to the policy that gave us the catastrophic results we're just now starting to recover from. That's much worse.

97% Full Of Shit

Salon: The IRS filing of American Crossroads, an outside 527 group that was conceived by Karl Rove and ex-RNC chair Ed Gillespie, gives a good taste of who is funding the GOP effort to make big gains in the House and Senate come the fall. … Chaired by another ex-RNC chair, Mike Duncan, American Crossroads has pledged to raise $50 million to beat Democrats in the midterms and has been seen by some as a competitor to the Republican National Committee itself. And despite the group’s description of itself as “grassroots,” Salon’s review of its IRS filings show that four billionaires have contributed 97 percent of the $4.7 million it has raised to date. There are no limits on how much corporations, unions, and individuals can donate to 527 groups.

This pretty well reflects GOP public policy. Claim to be about the simple people but 97% about taking care of the billionaire. From tax cuts for the super-wealthy and the corporation, to outsourcing, deregulation, and on and on, GOP public policy is about short term gain for the super rich. These billionaires will get what they pay for.

You Can Leave, The State Stays

Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN), who is running in a heated three-way Republican primary for governor of Tennessee, has a dire warning about the new health care reform law: If a new Congress and president aren't elected in order to repeal the bill, states might just have to secede. "I hope that the American people will go to the ballot box in 2010 and 2012 so that states are not forced to consider separation from this government," said Wamp, who has also promised to refuse to implement the law at the state level if he is elected, in an interview with the Hotline.

The call to arms among angry conservative white people is getting more shrill. It seems Sherman's march to the sea didn't do the trick. This crowd already betrayed the country once. Perhaps if we had dealt with them more harshly back then we would wouldn't have their philosophical descendants threatening us today. Anyway, so we can avoid again going to war against those who would betray the United States, we enthusiastically invite these people to leave the country. The states however will be staying.

All We Should Do

According to Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., Republicans should exercise their power to subpoena and hold continuous hearings should they recapture the house in November. Speaking to a gathering for the GOP Youth Convention on July 22 in Washington, D.C., she emphasized this point saying "I think that all we should is issue subpoenas and have one hearing after another."

This almost seems like one of our caricatures of the GOP. It isn't. She actually said that. Despite their best efforts to hide their agenda some Republicans still let slip their plans. They investigated non-stop and eventually impeached Bill Clinton and they weren't half as crazy and extreme back then as they are now. Scary stuff.

The More Important Point

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Wednesday that despite all their public criticism, Republican lawmakers tell him in private that they think the administration's stimulus package has been a success. "I believe the economic recovery plan has worked," LaHood said, in an interview with the Huffington Post, "and I've had Republican members tell me that when I've gone in and done projects or been with them or visited them in their offices... They know that we have dollars that have put people to work."

Whatever you want to say about the stimulus it was put in place because we were in economic meltdown. If we had not implemented the Republican party public policy that caused the meltdown we wouldn't have needed to even think about if the stimulus would work, or if it did work, or whatever. All we would have had to worry about was how to spend the surpluses created by the last round of Democratic public policy.

Getting Right With Their Maker

Last week, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan called for allowing the Bush tax cuts he championed in 2001 to fully expire, as scheduled, at the end of the year. In may he told Henry Waxman that Republican economic and regulatory policy was not effective given "the way the world works."

As he nears the end of his life Mr. GOP as he's known is getting some stuff off his chest. We appreciate it. We would have appreciated it much more 10 years ago but anyway...

Glenn Beck U

The Tides Foundation, which prosecutors in California say was among the targets of the anti-government unemployed carpenter Byron Williams before he got into a chaotic shootout with several law enforcement officers Sunday, is also a favorite topic of Fox News host Glenn Beck. "These people are bullies, these people are thugs" Beck has said of the group.

We have no information that this guy's a Glenn Beck fan. But we wouldn't be surprised if he was. Nobody would. And that makes it about much more than one nutjob.

Can't Be Trusted

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said early Wednesday that he will review the case of Shirley Sherrod, who resigned under pressure Monday after an edited video clip of her appeared on a conservative website and later on Fox News.

Breibart is the guy that sponsored the fake James O'keef pimp scam that took down ACORN. Now he's again conspiring with his partners in crime, Fox News to try and deflect attention away from the growing national realization that the Republican party is terminally racist. And, as if it couldn't get any worse, they're doing so by ruining the livelihood of this woman. Sherrod lost her job because Fox and Breibart basically lied. They simply can't be trusted to tell the truth. Not about the need to go to war in Iraq, not about who drove us over a financial cliff, not about who's responsible for filling the gulf with oil, and not about this.

Criminal Solicitation

Prominent conservative media critic Dan Gainor has offered $100 to the first member of Congress who punches "smary [sic] idiot" Alan Grayson (D-Fl.)

"A person is guilty of solicitation to commit a crime if, with the purpose of promoting or facilitating its commission, he commands, encourages or requests another person to engage in specific conduct which would constitute such crime or an attempt to commit such crime or which would establish his complicity in its commission or attempted commission. It is immaterial that the actor fails to communicate with the person he solicits to commit a crime if his conduct was designed to effect such a communication."

If this guy's not arrested, what would there be to deter somebody from, let's say offering 10,000 dollars to take a baseball bat to Dan Gainor's head?

A Date With St Peter

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) told Raw Story and other reporters on a conference call late Monday afternoon that GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is compelling his colleagues to block the extension of unemployment benefits in an effort to prevent economic recovery and tarnish Democrats ahead of the November elections. "They voted for Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, charged it to our grandchildren, didn’t pay for it," he said. They "voted for the giveaway or bailouts to drug and insurance companies in the name of Medicare privatization, charged it to our grandchildren, didn’t pay for it. And now they’re saying, because these are laid off workers who have done the right thing for most of their lives and now need some help, that we can’t provide it for them. It’s terrible public policy."

We would add they started two horrific, devastating, and expensive wars, and didn't pay for it. They will though. If there is a God in heaven and a place called hell, they will.

Republican Candidates

Ryan J. Murdough, a Republican candidate for the New Hampshire State House, has no qualms about expressing his views on race. “It is time for white people in New Hampshire and across the country to take a stand,” Murdough wrote in a letter to the Concord Monitor titled “We must preserve our racial identity."

Not a surprise coming from the party that deliberately built their base with racists. Since we've never been and will never be an all white country the only way for them to be happy and for the rest of us to be safe is for these horrible people to get the hell out.

Crimes Against Democracy

Last week , Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) was on Lou Dobbs’ radio show agreeing with Dobbs’ statement that President Obama is “awfully close” to violating his “oath to protect the Constitution of the United States” by not completely securing the border.

By that they mean impeachment. This is wrong on multiple levels. First of all they didn't utter a peep when Bush was in office and the border was worse than it is now. Second, we're getting damn sick of these people trying to undo elections. First they did it to Clinton and now they're looking for any excuse to do to Obama. If there's not a law against impeaching a president for partisan political reasons there damn well should be. They need to pay price for the damage they do to our democracy when they behave that way. Prison would be would be a good deterrent.

No Need To Ask

GREGORY: Senator, I’m sorry, I’m not hearing an answer here on specifics. What painful choices to really deal with the deficit — is Social Security on the table? — what will Republicans do that will give them, like ‘94, there was the Contract with America, what are voters going to say, hey, this is what Republicans will say yes to.

CORNYN: Well, the president has a debt commission that reports December the first, and I think we’d all like to see what they come back with.

GREGORY: But wait a minute, conservatives need a Democratic president’s debt commission to figure out what it is they need to cut?

Rich Lowry, the editor of the conservative National Review, called Cronyn and Sessions’ performance “disappointing” on Twitter, writing, “a consensus GOP agenda” is “badly needed…so these guys have something to say.”

They won't articulate their public policy lest people be reminded of the devastating results. But we already know it all to well, tax cuts for the wealthy and the corporations, wars, deregulation, selling out to big oil and big banks, making it harder for people to vote, cutting education, etc. The only way they can get elected is to shut up and hope we forget.

These Little Piggies

A pair of University of California, Los Angeles professors tracking subtle socioeconomic responses to detailed consumer information about power consumption have effectively pinpointed something oft' joked of by so-called "liberals" but never genuinely proven until now: conservatives, by and large, have no taste for conservation.

Whatever the reason, as Raw Story implies, this just proves what everybody already knows, conservatives are hostile to conservation. Their philosophy is not only a big middle finger to future generations but a chainsaw to God's great green earth. Here's hoping mother nature takes into account party affiliation when she strikes back.

Body Count

PHOENIX — The number of deaths among illegal immigrants crossing the Arizona desert from Mexico is soaring so high this month that the medical examiner's office that handles the bodies is using a refrigerated truck to store some of them, the chief examiner said Friday.

We know conservatives get off on body counts. This more than likely thrills them to, uh...well, death. We recommend they enjoy it while they can. St Peter won't share their joy.

We'll Tell You When It's Too Late

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) told a radio show Thursday that the GOP shouldn't give too many specifics on its own policies -- or those policies could be used against them. "I don’t think we have to lay out a complete agenda, from top to bottom, because then we would have the national mainstream media jumping on every point trying to make that a campain issue," he said.

Shorter Peter King: Our policy ideas are radioactive and we know it... They literally told Rand Paul to shut up. Sharon Angle makes news every time she opens her mouth. But all they're doing is articulating the GOP philosophy. King realizes this and has taken note of the reaction. Thus his plea to get the rest of his party to keep it a secret.

Conservatism

A new report from the Kansas City Star exposes the racist nature of the Tea Party.

We're not going to waste time calling the Tea Party a bunch of racists. They do a fine job indicting themselves. But it must be said the Tea Party is just another name for the most conservative Republicans. In fact a study by the New York Times found the 18 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45. The Washington Post calls it at 80% GOP. The most significant difference? They hold more conservative views on a range of issues than Republicans generally. That conservatism is the gold standard of the Republican party should give all voters who are not of the Tea Party variety long pause.

Family Values

West Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Micheli wrote a letter to a Natrona County District judge on behalf of a Bar Nunn man convicted of brutally raping a woman in her Casper home last December. McDowell "pleaded guilty last month to breaking into the 25-year-old victim's west Casper residence, striking her repeatedly, then raping her before leaving her bound and naked on her living room floor," a crime for which he was sentenced to 60 years to life. Michelis, who taught McDowell as a teenager in Sunday School, said in the letter that McDowell was "an outstanding young man" who was a good friend to their daughters.

An outstanding young man he says? Hell, he should have murdered a few people along the way. Micheli might have nominated him for sainthood.

Heil Brewer

The Soutern Poverty Law Center: This morning, the white supremacist political party American Third Position (A3P) proudly announced its donation to the fund recently established by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to defend that state’s controversial new immigration law. “The American Third Position has just made a triple-digit donation to Arizona’s Border Security and Immigration Legal Defense Fund,” the group announced in an E-mail alert. In describing its own mission, A3P says it “exists to represent the political interests of White Americans.”

Just to recap, on the one side we have Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, The Republican Party, the white supremacists, and the Nazis. On the other side we have President Obama, the Democrats, every minority group in the country and pretty much the rest of the world. Which side are you on?

Raw Headlines

Headline: Beck sides with Nazis, claims Jews, not Romans killed Jesus

That is one rock solid headline. We would only add that this says as much about his audience, the GOP base, than anything else. Anybody who doesn't share this Nazi ideology would do well to consider the company they keep come November.

Praise Be Obama

To the relief of millions of people along the Gulf Coast, the big, billowing brown cloud of crude at the bottom of the sea disappeared from the underwater video feed for the first time since the disaster began in April, as BP closed the last of three openings in the 75-ton cap lowered onto the well earlier this week.

After they deregulated the oil industry, kept us away from clean energy, and destroyed any government agency capable of preventing or responding to a drilling disaster, and as a result BP filled the gulf with oil, all the Republicans blamed Obama. So now we're sure they're rushing to the microphones to tell us Obama is a hero for stopping the leak. Right? (insert cricket chirping twice) Guess not....

More Of This Please

"There's only one kind of job Republicans care about saving or creating: their own," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in a statement. "To advance their political prospects, Republicans are pushing a job-killing agenda that America can't afford: protecting tax breaks for CEOs who ship jobs overseas, while blocking tax cuts for small businesses and middle-class families. "

This is good. The rest of Democrats need to use the same kind of language and it needs to be repeated constantly. There's plenty of evidence to support this kind of attack. Vote GOP - our job is to send your job to Punjab.

They Don't Make Projectors That Big

Tea Party Express spokesman Mark Williams: "Racists have their own movement. It's called the NAACP."

Actually the evidence says it's called the Republican party. Tool.

God Complex

Over the weekend Republican Senate candidate Sharon Angle told the founder of the Christian Coalition that her campaign was part of God's plan.

Anybody who says God wants them to run for senate is not only unfit to hold public office but also more than a couple noodles short of a full spaghetti dinner. This woman shouldn't even be allowed into the halls of congress on a sightseeing tour. Let her stand outside with a big sign that says "God hates fags" like the rest of the bat shit crazy street preachers.

Posts That Write Themselves

Headline: Cheney gets pump to help blood flow

More proof Dick has no heart.

Nazis, the KKK, Fred Phelps and radical Muslims

Right-wing U.S. shock jock Michael Savage is still banned in Britain. A new coalition government led by Prime Minister David Cameron has decided to continue preventing the conservative radio host and author from entering the country, over comments the prior government felt were violent and threatening. His name appears on a list of 16 individuals the government considers to be a threat to public safety. Others banned from entering the island nation include Nazi sympathizers, a grand wizard in the Ku Klux Klan, "God hates fags" preacher Fred Phelps and an array of radical Muslims.

The most conservative Republicans have made quite a name for themselves around the world. That's some company they keep. It's just a failure of Democratic messaging that they're not viewed the same way here in the US.

Speaking Of Hitler

A new billboard by the North Iowa Tea Party features a photo of President Obama, flanked by pictures of German dictator Adolph Hitler and Communist leader Vladimir Lenin. The billboard features phrases like “Live Free or Die” and “Radical leaders prey on the fearful and naive.”

For 40 years the Republican party has been a haven for racists and bigots. They used the self named "southern strategy" to deliberately build their base with racists. To this day the party constantly glorifies the confederate effort to destroy the United States in order to keep slavery. Nixon's Jew Hunter is still a star of the GOP. David Duke is a Republican. White supremacist groups are all right-wing. And the preeminent right wing political family of our time, the Bush family, got rich underwriting the Nazi war machine. We could go on all day. Thankfully we don't have to. It only takes 4 or 5 sentences to make a compelling case the Republican party is racist through and through and stuff like this billboard is just a classic and massive case of projection

Jesus Christ Was a Republican

Ed Martin, a Republican candidate for Congress in Missouri, said in a radio interview with a conservative talk show host that President Obama and Rep. Russ Carnahan are trying to interfere with America's freedom to worship. Martin also has taken a swipe at Carnahan's sister Robin Carnahan, suggesting she is doing the "devil's work" as Secretary of State.

This is beyond ridiculous... until you consider who it's coming from. Large swaths of the GOP can't stand democracy and would rather run run a theocracy. 1 in 4 Republicans believe Obama may be the anti-Christ. Many more believe our founding fathers intended a Christian nation. Some, including the people Rand Paul speaks to even want the constitution replaced with the bible.

Bad Angle

During a recent appearance on conservative host Alan Stock’s radio show, a caller asked Republican Sharron Angle, who’s running for Nevada’s U.S. Senate seat against Harry Reid (D), “if she would have intervened on behalf of MGM Resorts’ CityCenter complex the way Senator Reid did. In 2009, CityCenter experienced financial struggles during its construction. The project’s bankruptcy appeared imminent. Reid called several banks on MGM Resorts’ behalf, and the project averted bankruptcy.” Angle told the caller that she would not have done so, saying it "would have actually injured the economy of other businesses." Her response has generated significant controversy in Nevada. A spokesperson for MGM Resorts responded, “Ms. Angle’s statement is ridiculous on its face. Senator Reid’s support of our significant private investment in Las Vegas came during our company’s darkest hour. He saved, not only 10,000 construction jobs and 12,000 permanent private sector jobs at CityCenter, but the jobs of 50,000 employees at our other resorts that would have been jeopardized had our company followed CityCenter into bankruptcy.”

Angle is just coherent enough for people to know she's dangerous. She's previously said jobs in her home state would not be her concern should she be elected to the senate. Here again she makes that clear. When pressed further she goes on to get herself caught in a lie.

Inner City Outreach

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has made her latest pronouncement on the evils of the Obama administration -- that they are "turning our country into a nation of slaves."

Wow. Ok so the white woman from the party that is fully backed by the corporation, who's base is the confederate south, which has not one single black representative in congress is trying to score cheap political points by making insulting and ridiculous equivalencies to slavery. Nice

The Greatest Threat

U.S. Senate hopeful Ken Buck said, “The other day my good friend and supporter, Tom Tancredo, said that the greatest threat to this country is the man who occupies the White House, Barack Obama. There is a lot of truth in what Tom Tancredo says.” [...]“The greatest threat folks is not a single man, but rather the progressive liberal movement that is going on in this country. It is the $13 trillion of national debt; it is a huge threat to our security and financial system; Obamacare, cap and trade, card check, our disintegrating relationship with Israel. It is a huge threat to this county.”

If the debt is our greatest threat then clearly electing Republicans is suicide.

Crazy Base

Georgia Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) said “maybe” Obama is “purposeful[ly]” giving a “poor response to this oil spill” so he "could promote his energy tax."

That's right. Those of us who care about the environment are deliberately trying to destroy it in order to save it... or something. And we should trust people like Rep. Broun who's policies are actually responsible for destroying the environment to tell us that is the case. As ridiculous as this sounds some people will believe it. A recent survey showed 24% of Republicans think Obama may be the anti-Christ. Broun has those voters in the bag, but anybody else thinking about voting GOP should consider the company they keep.

Your Huckleberry

BISMARCK – North Dakota’s Democratic Party is outraged over the discovery of anti-President Barack Obama posters hanging in a state agency’s office calling the anti-President Barack Obama posters “outrageous” and “obscene.” North Dakota Republican Party Executive Director Adam Jones responded: “It’s pretty clear the Democrats don’t want to talk about the federal deficits, bank bailouts, takeover of the automobile industry, health care, high unemployment, cap-and-tax of utility companies and an overall expansion of government.”

This Democrat does. The Republican Party turned Clinton's surpluses into record deficits with illegal wars, bad economic policy, and tax cuts for the super rich. We had to bail out the banks because the GOP deregulated the financial sector and let their robber baron "base" loot the financial system. And we had to bail out our auto manufacturing base because the Republicans crashed the economy and caused a credit freeze. On jobs, the Democrats historical record and short term performance is far superior to the GOP. And last, we had to expand government because it was clear their vision of small government owned by the corporation was causing world wide economic meltdowns, destroying our cities, and filling the oceans with oil. Did we miss anything? Oh yeah, the posters in Bismark are bullshit too.

The Lowest Form

Too many republican leaders are acquiescing to a poisonous "demagoguery" that threatens the party's long-term credibility, says a veteran GOP House member Rep. Bob Inglis. He suggested in interviews with The Associated Press that tea party favorites such as former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and right-wing talk show hosts like Glenn Beck are the culprits. He cited a claim made famous by Palin that the Democratic health care bill would create "death panels" to decide whether elderly or sick people should get care. "There were no death panels in the bill ... and to encourage that kind of fear is just the lowest form of political leadership. It's not leadership. It's demagoguery" he said.

Most of the GOP was in on the scare grandma with death panels propaganda campaign. Some of them liked it so much they're trotting it out again. It's of note this comes to us from one of their own who was thrown out, we suppose, for not being enough of a liar.

No Joke

Media Matters: Following President Obama's recent visit to Smith Electric Vehicles (SEV U.S.), right-wing media have criticized the start-up electric truck company, which received stimulus grants in 2009 and 2010. For instance, Fox called the company a "Total Joke" and claimed that SEV U.S. "has not been able to hire any new people in the last year," when in fact, SEV U.S. has hired 50 workers since starting production in October 2009.

Republicans would rather turn our oceans to oil, bake the globe, and fund terrorists with oil dollars than allow us out from under the boot of oil addiction.

A Constitutional Ban on the Constitution

Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) has been touring his northeast Georgia district as part of the Republican Party’s “America Speaking Out” tour, discussing his ideas with his constituents. During a stop in Athens, Georgia, the congressman endorsed repealing the 16th and 17th amendments to the constitution.

There are not too many parts parts of the constitution left that one Republican or another hasn't recently gone on record as being against. Democrats need to start asking the question: do Republicans stand with the constitution or against it.

Whack Job

On the eve of his declaration that many marriages in Virginia are invalid The Washington Note says of Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli: At this point, the list of Cuccinelli's excesses is getting pretty long. Virginia's AG has, after all, been palling around with radicals, recently considered a literacy test for some Virginians wishing to vote, questioned President Obama's citizenship, rescinded legal protections for gays at Virginia universities, argued publicly that it doesn't cost the public any money when he and his office work on a frivolous lawsuit, launched a bizarre climate change witch hunt, and, of course temporarily added a modesty shield to Virginia's great seal.

Ken Cuccinelli is a young and rising star in the GOP. He's also insane. Which says as much about the party as it does about Mr Cuccinelli.

Clearly Dangerous

Nevada GOP Senate Nominee Sharron Angle on the BP compensation fund:

Yesterday:

A caller said that Obama had "basically extorted $20 billion from a private company," and asked Angle what she thought of "the $20 billion slush fund."

"Government shouldn't be doing that to a private company," Sharron Angle replied. "And I think you named it clearly: It's a slush fund."

Today:

"Having had some time to think about it, the caller and I shouldn't have used the term slush fund; that was incorrect."

So basically this women will sue you to keep her positions a secret and when she does let one slip it's so horrible she has to immediately take it back. Nice. Everybody and their mother knows damn well what she "clearly" said yesterday is exactly how she "clearly" feels. That her instinct is to shill for the corporation is dangerous. That she's trying to take it back today is pathetic.

A Government For The Lobbyists, By The Lobbyists...

Roll Call reports that Minority Leader John Boehner has invited “senior Republican lobbyists and top officials from several large trade groups” to a meeting at Boehner’s office to discuss “their suggestions for a new GOP agenda”

This makes Dick Cheney letting Enron and Tony Hayward write energy policy from the Whitehouse seem almost quaint. Boehner is letting the corporation set the agenda for the peoples house. At least that will be the case should the GOP win control in November.

The Big Lie

J. Christian Adams, the former DOJ attorney, is making the rounds of Fox and CNN whistle-blowing about the Obama DOJ's refusal to bring voter intimidation cases against blacks over the New Black Panther case from election day 2008. Adams was one of the attorneys US Attorney Bradley Schlozman hired when he was purging the Civil Rights Division of female, minority and non-right wing attorneys and replacing them with "good Americans."

The GOP has spent millions on bogus voter fraud investigations and the only case of individual voter fraud they've come up with is Ann Coulter. This is no different. It's part of their strategy to to game elections by voter intimidation, disenfranchising mostly poor and minority voters and destroying legitimate grassroots organizations like ACORN. And as one is taught to do when guilty of big crimes, they accuse others of doing the same thing. Here's hoping voters see the truth before it's too late.

Good Public Policy To The Power Of Three

CBO: Climate bill would cut the deficit by 19 billion dollars.

So not only would we have a chance of saving the world but Democratic environmental policy is also good economic and fiscal policy. Republicans of course, are against it.

Projection

O’Reillly last night on The Factor : But my contention is that Ruth Bader Ginsburg in particular — and I’m trying to convince Megyn Kelly of this — doesn’t care about the Constitution. That all of her rulings are based upon her personal belief system about what is good and bad for American society.

He has no evidence for that. There is however plenty of evidence the Republican party doesn't like the constitution and a significant part of it wants it replaced with the bible. They're not too keen on democracy either. Makes one wonder if perhaps they might feel more at home in another country.

Unfiltered

Last month, former Virginia Senator George Allen spoke at a luncheon of the conservative Heritage Foundation about how Republicans "need to use the new media ... so we get our ideas, our solutions, out to folks unfiltered." He went on to cite Fox News as the one television news source that could be counted upon to pass along the Republican message without filtering.

Ah yes, Fox News, co-owned by Rupert Murdoch and the Saudi Royal Family, bringing you the news exactly the way the Republicans like it. Here's the deal, the GOP got their Iraq war mongering out exactly the way they wanted it. It didn't end well. Anyway, we have our complaints about CNN but one of them isn't that they're co-owned by a state sponsor of terrorism.

$2.13/hr

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Minnesota GOP candidate for governor Tom Emmer proposed cutting the minimum wage for service workers who receive tips, such as bartenders and waiters. In order to justify the cut, Emmer said that some of these employees earn “over $100,000 a year,” and even make more than the people who employ them.

So because a select few, undoubtedly at the super exclusive places these guys frequent, make $100,000 a year, and the owners aren't rich enough, they want to cut the minimum wage for the vast majority of bartenders, waiters, host staff, and busboys who are struggling just to get by to 2.13/hr. And while we're sure any place with sales at a level where the servers are making 100k in tips is not owned by people making less than the staff, if he wants to, Emmer should feel free to ask the owners about it when they come to visit with him at his usual table. Actually, given Emmer's public policy proposals, it's pretty clear they've already discussed it.

Blood Money

HEADLINE: Democratic campaign committees losing big Wall Street donors

So since Democrats went to bat for the country in order regulate the robber barons on Wall Street and Republicans fought hard to keep letting the robber barons loot the financial system, Wall Street is not sending their blood money to Democrats.

The Right To Remain Silent

Republican Nevada senate hopeful Sharron Angle has threatened to sue Harry Reid's campaign for publishing her old positions.

Last we wrote about Attila the Hun she was running from the local news and their questions about her positions. Now she's sending cease and desist orders to keep them a secret. Let's be clear, Sharron Angle is today's GOP. And even they know their positions are too toxic to even be discussed in public.

Michele Bachmann (R-OI)

At a Heritage Foundation luncheon luncheon last week Michele Bachmann (R-MN) said this: "[BP] shouldn't have to be fleeced and made chumps to have to pay for perpetual unemployment and all the rest. They've got to be legitimate claims. The other thing we have to remember is that Obama loves to make evil whatever company it is that he wants to get more power from. He makes them evil, and what we've got to ask ourselves is: Do we really want to be paying $9 for a gallon of gas? Because that could be the final result of all this."

Well that and ruined oceans, ruined lives, and the greatest wildlife die off in human history. As for the price of gas, great. Gas in Europe has been double the price it's been here for decades. And that has set Europe on the path to a future of clean energy and energy efficiency. Only a Republican who's representing big oil would describe that as evil. Last, if she was really worried about tax payers having to pay more for anything she wouldn't be stealing their money with her family faith based healing business.

Idiot Tea

In 1773 Parliament passed the Tea Act, which gave the English East India Company a monopoly on the importation and distribution of tea into the colonies. Direct shipment from India allowed the company to avoid paying the tea tax required of tea shipped from England. American shipping lines and local merchants objected and the eventual result was the Boston Tea Party.

The Boston Tea Party was about fighting the powers that be because they sold the people out to the corporation and then gave the corporation a tax break. Now the corporation markets the tea party to the people and some of them are dumb enough to buy it. Happy 4th of July.