Political Ruminations

Morning Quote: The Toledo Blade on Romney Lies About Military Voting in Ohio

Via Balloon Juice, an editorial from the Toledo Blade on the “Breitbart-Romney-Fox News lie” concerning military voting in Ohio, emphasis mine:

“The notion that President Obama—or any other rational politician—would seek to curtail the right to vote of servicemen and women is absurd. Yet Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is peddling that canard in an attempt to win votes in this critical battleground state. Ohio voters surely are too savvy to fall for such nonsense.

Last year, Ohio’s Republican-controlled General Assembly passed an election “reform” bill that needlessly limited the ability of some citizens—most of whom historically lean toward Democratic candidates—to vote. When Democrats promised to put a referendum on the new law on the Nov. 6 ballot, GOP lawmakers decided to rescind the restrictions rather than hand the other party an issue to energize voters.

One part of the law remains in effect, though, because it also was included in a separate law. That provision, in accordance with federal mandates, allows military members, their families, and civilians who live overseas to vote through the Monday before Election Day. Early voting for all other Ohioans ends the Friday before the election.

The Obama campaign sued Ohio to keep the early-voting ban from taking effect. But that didn’t stop Mr. Romney—and his friends at Fox News—from claiming that the suit was intended to disfranchise the soldiers, sailors, and airmen who defend the liberties—such as voting—that other Americans enjoy. The lawsuit seeks a return to the way things were in 2008, when 93,000 Ohioans cast their ballots on the final three days before the Nov. 4 presidential election. Early and absentee voting had been expanded in Ohio and other states after the 2004 presidential election, when long lines and broken equipment caused some people to wait hours to vote, while others simply gave up. Campaigning on distortions and half-truths is an insult to all Ohio voters—military, civilian, left, right, and center.”

Morning Quote: David Axelrod

Top Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod to Fox News host Chris Wallace who repeated the completely false Republican claim that the Obama administration is trying to prevent the military from voting early in Ohio, emphasis mine: 

“I absolutely do and the way you stated it and the way, frankly, Gov. Romney has stated it, is completely false and misleading! What that lawsuit calls for is not to deprive the military of the right to vote on the final weekend of the campaign -- of course they should have that right. What that suit is about is whether the rest of Ohio should have the same right.

And I think it's shameful that Gov. Romney would hide behind our servicemen and women to try and win a lawsuit to try and deprive other Ohioans of their right to vote. ”

According to Crooks and Liars “Ohio's Republican-controlled legislature last year enacted new voting restrictions that prevented most voters from casting early ballots after the Friday before the election. Members of the military, however, had their rights preserved, giving them until Monday to vote.” and the Obama Campaign is suing to restore that right to cast an early ballot just prior to the election to all voters in Ohio.

Morning Quote: Sarah Palin

Apparently the ignoramus Sarah Palin believes that she has a superior understanding of the Constitution as opposed to President Obama, or so she says in an interview on Fox News:

“ I would like to see governors be tough and opt out of this and exert “our” 10th Amendment rights and tell President Obama – who does not understand the Constitution, he even being a Constitution lecturer and supposed scholar in our Constitution – not understanding, probably never reading, nor absorbing the 10th Amendment to understand that states have rights. ”

I can’t think of much that’s more pathetic than this ignoramus big mouth rube trying to intimate that she understands the Constitution while President Obama, a Constitutional scholar, does not. News Hounds does a great job of tearing apart the entire interview , so make sure you go read it!

Fox News Channel "The Five" Lacking Serious People

Political pundit Bob Cesca describes the show and the panelists of said show, “The Five” (airs on Fox News Channel):

“The Five” — an obvious cable news knock-off of The View (and all of its imitators) in which four conservatives and one liberal (for balance) snark about the issues of the day. If Fox News was trying to create a show that would augment the intellectual stature of the usually moronic Fox & Friends, they totally succeeded.

The moderator of the show is serial race-baiter Eric Bolling and the panel consists of a Lazy Susan of cackling simpletons. Greg Gutfeld, whose previous credits include both Fox News Channel’s overnight show and The Huffington Post where he blogged about his calf muscles and made hilariously smart cracks about Cenk Uygur’s name, is evidently the designated jokester, dickbag and misogynist of the group. There’s also former Bush press secretary Dana Perino and legal analyst Andrea Tantaros. “Democratic strategist” Bob Beckel, who recently said “fuck” on the Hannity show, is the token liberal and, in keeping with Fox News policy, makes really weak points and often appears to be drunk. A perfect target for the conservatives on the panel.

Just in case you were wondering.

Adding...“a Lazy Susan of cackling simpletons” –bwahahahahaha

Quote of the Day

“There will be that zip-a-dee-doo-dah after the nominee is chosen. I guarantee there will be that enthusiasm. But to be brutally honest, with all due respect to governor Romney, who is obviously the frontrunner... he's not garnering a lot of that enthusiasm right now.”

Oh yeah, zip-a-dee-doo-dah says the Grifter Queen of the Frozen North, Sarah Palin, in an interview with Fox Business.

Palin seems to be  loving the sidelines where she has ample opportunity to poke both President Obama and her fellow Republicans with a stick.  And not that her fellow Republicans don’t deserve it, but her analysis is utterly without the possibility of redemption.

Adding...Palin also noted that she had voted for Newt Gingrich.

Adding again.......christonastick, would you people please stop calling this half-term grifter “Governor Palin”?

President Obama Mocks Fox Moron Correspondent

Said moron (known only as ‘Ed’) asked President Obama why he supports higher gas prices. Seriously. [these delusional Fox people are beginning to believe their own false talking points]

“Ed, just from a political perspective, do you think that the President of the United States going into re-election wants gas prices to go higher? Is there anybody here who thinks that makes a lot of sense? Here’s the bottom line with respect to gas prices. I want gas prices lower because they hurt families. ”

Watch:

Adding......Look to the right wing neocon drum beating re Iran for the cause of higher oil prices

Fox & Friends Spews Economic Lies

It’s important to read the full article, and push back on these GOP talking points/memes. Media Matters:

Co-hosts and guests on Fox & Friends advanced numerous economic falsehoods, including the claims that half of Americans "don't pay any tax"; that President Obama wants to fix the deficit only by increasing taxes; that most Americans do not favor tax increases as part of a deficit deal; and that Obama wants to "use the rich to fix his spending problem."

Stupid Quote of the Week

And unsurprisingly, it comes from Fox News’ Eric Bolling, emphasis mine:

“Whether [the Bush administration] did or didn’t [find the WMDs], America was certainly safe between 2000 and 2008. I don’t remember any terrorist attacks on American soil during that period of time.”

UPDATES: Sarah Palin - Paul Revere drama continued

After first making clear her lack of knowledge regarding American history, this would-be president proceeded to double down on the stupid, and defend her version of Paul Revere’s famous ride to Chris Wallace on Fox Network News.

CHRIS WALLACE: I gotta ask you about that real quickly, though. You realize that you messed up about Paul Revere, don’t you?

PALIN: You know what? I didn’t mess up about Paul Revere. Here’s what Paul Revere did. He warned the Americans that “the British were coming, the British were coming.” And they were going to try to take our arms so got to make sure that, uh, we were protecting ourselves and, uhm, shoring up all of our ammunitions and our firearms so that they couldn’t take them.

But remember that the British had already been there — many soldiers — for seven years in that area. And part of Paul Revere’s ride… And it wasn’t just one ride. He was a courier. He was a messenger. Part of his ride was to warn the British that were already there that, “Hey. You’re not going to succeed. You’re not going to take American arms. You are not gonna beat our own well-armed, uh, persons, uh, individual private militia that we have. He did warn the British. And in a shout-out, gotcha type of question that was asked of me, I answered candidly. And I know my American history.

Watch:

Correction of the historical FACTS via Think Progress:

VIDEO and Full Text Transcript: Thom Hartman on the Republican War Against Working People

A must see video, wherein Thom Hartmann completely destroys the Fox Business meme on entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security), and the Republican war against working people.

Watch (full text transcript after the jump):

Via Chez Pazienza

---

Thom Hartmann on the Republican War Against Working People FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT [transcribed by moi]

Any good war effort needs an effective PR strategy. A campaign to specify just who the enemy is, and why they should be defeated. How else do you rally support?

So when it comes to the Republican War on the working class, who do you think they turn to for help with messaging? Fox News..well, Fox Business Channel, actually, but close enough.

All this week, Fox is running segments named "Entitlement Nation: Makers vs Takers" . Take a look [Fox clips play].

Murdoch’s Tabloid Punks Mainstream Media

In the realm of the bizarre and stupid, did you happen to see the media blitz about the mom who was purportedly giving her 7-year-old daughter Botox injections? I did, I fell for it, and I was utterly furious at the mom, yelling at her on my television during an ABC broadcast.

Watch:

Today we learned that it was a scam, a hoax, a media invention. Media punking media. You’d think that the media would learn to investigate more carefully. From TMZ via Chris Weigant, emphasis mine:

TMZ has obtained a sworn declaration written by Sheena Upton, who claims she was recently approached by the British tabloid, The Sun, and asked "to play the role of Kerry Campbell" for a story called "I Give My 8-Year-Old Daughter Botox."
Upton now confesses The Sun paid her $200 adding, "I was provided with the story, instructions and a script to follow for a recorded interview."
After the story ran in The Sun, Upton says she was approached by "Good Morning America" and "Inside Edition" and claims she was offered  "a large fee" to appear on camera.  She went on both shows and re-told her story.
After the interview, child welfare officials took Upton's daughter away.
Upton now admits in her declaration, "The truth is I have never given my daughter Botox, nor allowed her to get any type of waxing, nor is she a beauty pageant contestant."
Upton says professionals agree with her declaration, because on May 17, she took her daughter to the UCLA Medical Center and says, "After my daughter received a full medical exam, the results indicated that she has not ever received treatments including Botox or other such injections."
We're told the UCLA reports were forwarded to child welfare officials, who then returned Upton's daughter to her, with the provison that a cousin would stay with her and the child for the time being.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the owner of “The Sun” is none other than Rupert Murdoch, also the owner of the much despised right-wing message machine, Fox Network.

Morning Quote

Yesterday, an unknown Secret Service agent posted the quote seen below to the Secret Service’ official Twitter account, at which point, it flew all over the Twitters within minutes. It was removed very quickly, like with in a minute or two, but not before it was turned in to screen captures.

Had to monitor Fox for a story. Can’t. Deal. With. The. Blathering.

 

UPDATES: Sarah Palin, Still a Fool

Sigh. I haven’t mentioned Palin in a long while on this blog because I just haven’t seen her as having much relevance since the shootings in Arizona when she made that ridiculous and offensive speech which thankfully seemed to point to ‘the end’ for Sarah politically.

So, anyway, just thought I’d get in a post…or two, just in case, and Palin provided the perfect excuse last night when she ranted about the “lamestream media” on Hannity.  My favorite quote - “There’s got to be the preparation on all the candidates’ parts for the gotchas. That’s what the lamestream media’s known for these days… Just have to be prepared for it and overcome it”. Can you even imagine this woman as ‘the president’? 

Watch Part I:

Watch Part II:

Ron Paul Calls Social Security and Medicare Unconstitutional

From Think Progress:

Appearing on Fox News Sunday this morning, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) defended his longstanding view that Medicare, Social Security (and pretty much everything else) violate the Constitution. At one point, Paul even claimed that letting Social Security and similar programs to move forward is just like permitting slavery:

WALLACE: You talk a lot about the Constitution. You say Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid are all unconstitutional.

PAUL: Technically, they are. . . . there’s no authority [in the Constitution]. Article I, Section 8 doesn’t say I can set up an insurance program for people. What part of the Constitution are you getting it from? The liberals are the ones who use this General Welfare Clause. . . . That is such an extreme liberal viewpoint that has been mistaught in our schools for so long and that’s what we have to reverse—that very notion that you’re presenting.

WALLACE: Congressman, it’s not just a liberal view. It was the decision of the Supreme Court in 1937 when they said that Social Security was constitutional under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.

PAUL: And the Constitution and the courts said slavery was legal to, and we had to reverse that.

Morning Quote: Jon Stewart

From his recent epic takedown of Fox News, Jon Stewart calls the Fox morons a “caricature of their own cartoon”.

This isn't even fun anymore. I barely even get angry about this, I just feel sorry for you guys now. It took longer to play that clip than it took to find it. We've actually started burying these tapes around the office just to make it sporting. It's almost impossible to express how ridiculous it and you all are at this point. It's beyond a caricature of your own cartoon.

Jon Stewart Eviscerates Fox News, No. 210

Stewart does an epic takedown of Fox News, arguably, in my opinion, the best takedown of Fox he’s done to this date.

Watch:

The Daily Show - Tone Def Poetry Jam
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Watch Part II:

Fox News Confirms That President Obama is a Citizen of the United States

It’s good to see that there are still some people of good conscience, even at Fox News. Shepard Smith:

Fox News can confirm that the President of the United States is a citizen of the United States, period.

Watch:

Now, Birthers, STFU. Forever.

Adding....I wonder if Shep had to threaten to quit or something. My guess is yes.

Adding again....pardon my naiveté. I have been told (by more than a few friends) that this doesn't matter. That Shepard Smith is slightly sane, and therefore the teabagger birthers will just ignore this. sigh....

Morning Quote: Mike Huckabee

Conservative Fox Network host Mike Huckabee blogs. And here he is, slamming Glenn Beck on said blog, for attacking Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, and then attacking Huckabee when he gave the First Lady’s campaign a little respect.

We Should Have Let Them Secede

From PPP, a poll result (pdf) that boggles the mind.

46% of these hardcore Republican voters [Republicans polled in the South] believe interracial marriage should be illegal.

Illegal. In 2011. Republicans aren’t racist. Nope.

Via Oliver Willis

Adding…….. from the realm of the truly bizarre, Fox Network hosts are outraged that Crayola has finally recognized that other skin colors do exist.

You'd think there was enough real news happening -- civil war in Libya, radiation fears in Japan, and the looming possibility of a government shutdown here in the U.S. -- that Fox & Friends wouldn't have to resort to bizarre, semi-offensive attacks on the "political correctness" of crayon companies.

Well, you'd be wrong. Today, the co-hosts devoted an entire segment to attacking Crayola's "multicultural" marker set. I'm really not making this up.  [continue reading]

Beck Says Media Matters Not Responsible for His Exit From Fox

Yeah, and I feel sure that StopBeck had nothing to do with it either. [/end sarcasm]

Watch:

Beck (from the April 5 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program) :

[If I leave Fox News} don't you ever believe that [Media Matters caused a victory].

For those of you who are just now finding out that Beck and Fox will be parting ways later this year, here’s the scoop from News Hounds. And The New York Times version.

Quote of the Week

Last night, at the Congressional Correspondents Dinner, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) made fun of Newt Gingrich for his flip flops on Libya, along with  his many wives, and then he got in a dig at Fox News. Amazing or just punked by a writer?

I was happy to see that Newt Gingrich has staked out a position on the war, a position, or two, or maybe three. I don’t know. I think he has more war positions than he’s had wives. [...]

There’s a big debate over there. Fox News can’t decide, what do they love more, bombing the Middle East or bashing the president? It’s like I was over there and there was an anchor going, they were pleading, can’t we do both? Can’t we bomb the Middle East and bash the president at the same time? How are we going to make this work?

Watch it:

One has to wonder if he wrote his own material, or got punked by a Lib speechwriter.

Via Think Progress

Fox News Morons

This.

Fox to Say Ciao to Glenn Beck in December?

According to David Carr at The New York Times, maybe.

He still has numbers that just about any cable news host would envy and, with about two million viewers a night, outdraws all his competition combined. But the erosion is significant enough that Fox News officials are willing to say — anonymously, of course; they don’t want to be identified as criticizing the talent — that they are looking at the end of his contract in December and contemplating life without Mr. Beck.

Or maybe not….

But the partnership, which has been good for both parties, may yet be repaired. On Wednesday’s show, Mr. Beck went to some lengths to demonstrate gratitude and fealty to Fox News.

“Two years ago, I was on a cable channel that no one was watching at the time, doing a show that no one was watching, and I was about to leave television. And then I had the opportunity to come and work here,” he said. “If you’re going to do news or commentary, the only place, I think in the world, the only place that really makes an impact is Fox.”

Can we take up a collection? I’d pay to have that filthy lunatic off the air.

VIDEO: Jon Stewart Calls Out the Fox News Hypocrites

Personally, I never, ever, ever watch Fox News. Watching the clips of people such as Megan Kelly, Bill O"Reilly, et al, is more than enough for me. It makes me feel like I need brain bleach. Gah....

Jon Stewart compares teachers to Wall Street and highlights the utterly disgusting hypocrisy of Fox.

Watch:

Via HuffPost

Morning Quote: Paul Krugman

Krugman on the media blackout of the protests occurring in Wisconsin, and on Saturday, in 65 other cities all over the country:

I don’t watch cable news, or actually any kind of TV news. But I gather that there’s a virtual blackout on the huge demonstrations in Wisconsin, except on Fox, which portrays them as thuggish and violent.

What that makes me think of is January-February 2003, when anyone watching cable news would have believed that only a few kooks were opposed to the imminent invasion of Iraq. It was quite spooky, realizing that hundreds of thousands of people could march through New York, and by tacit agreement be ignored by news networks whose headquarters were just a few blocks away.

And it’s even more spooky to see it happening all over again.

It seems surreal.

VIDEO: Shepard Smith on Wisconsin

Shep Smith and Juan Williams discuss Wisconsin, and Smith tells enough truth to get himself in trouble with the oligarchs, including his acknowledgement that it isn’t about the damn budget:

Shepard Smith, on the real reason Walker and the GOP are union-busting:

Bust the Unions, it’s all over (for Democrats).

Watch:

Digby:

This is why they are doing it, no doubt about it. In fact, the whole controversy about public employee unions is nothing more than one prong of their "defund the left" strategy. (If you wonder why the plutocrats are going along with efforts to cut Planned Parenthood and the like, that would be it. it's not like they care one way or the other --- rich women will always get abortions if they need them.)

Updates to the Ongoing and Increasing in Number Labor Protests

UPDATES TODAY:

> We already know that Walker was union-busting for political reasons, and at the Koch brothers bidding, but here’s what he could have done had he really been trying to deal with the budget:  "The state's entire budget shortfall for this year -- the reason that Walker has said he must push through immediate cuts -- would be covered by the governor's relatively uncontroversial proposal to restructure the state's debt. By contrast, the proposals that have kicked up a firestorm, especially his call to curtail the collective-bargaining rights of the state's public-employees, wouldn't save any money this year." H/T Steve Benen

> Jeff Cox, the Deputy Attorney General in Indiana who said he wanted to see “live ammunition” used on the Wisconsin protesters was fired.

> Scott Walker lied about campaigning on the collective bargaining issue: “I campaigned on (the proposals in the budget repair bill for Wisconsin) all throughout the election. Anybody who says they are shocked on this has been asleep for the past two years."

> WOO HOO! Indiana kills the bill! Senate leader says right-to-work bill is dead

> Calls to boycott Koch Industries (tea party sugar daddy/founder of fake grass roots movements tea party AND Wisconsin union busting ALSO sugar daddy to Justice Clarence Thomas) growing.

> Four Possible Endgames in Wisconsin

> AUDIO - It’s been confirmed that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has censored internet access in Madison, Wisconsin, by blocking a pro-union website.

> GOP Governors Unite Against Unions

> Feingold Calls On Walker To End His 'Assault On Wisconsin's Traditions'

> UPDATED: Fox Reverses Poll Results To Falsely Claim Most Americans Favor Ending Collective Bargaining

> Indiana Official On Wisconsin Protestors: ‘Use Live Ammunition’

> CONFIRMED:  Gov. Scott Walker Pwned By Koch Impersonator – Proves Himself to Be a Whore for the Oligarchs

> Yesterday New Yorkers protested at Fox News Headquarters, angered by their coverage of the Wisconsin protests.  via @thinkprogress

News on protests from yesterday

#wi #wiunion David Koch

Quote of the Day - @Shoq

Some of you reading this quote will think it’s hyperbolic. Let me assure you it isn’t. Wisconsin is just the first step in a well thought out plan by Republicans to destroy the Democratic Party by destroying the unions. Is this possible? Could this really happen? Yes, it could. Rachel Maddow explains how.

Shoq’s call to Democrats to fight:

No one was expecting this Battle of the Bulge for the Democratic party and our fading unions to come up in this way, or this suddenly. But here it is. And now, the big question is, will progressives finally fight hard, or just die quickly?  If you can't see what the GOP is doing with this issue, you simply don't get anything that's happened to  this tenation over the past 30 years in general, and certainly in the past five years since Fox News became the steering gear for the Republican Party's ship to nowhere. So just shut the [fck] up and get out of the way.

But if you do get it, then you realize that this can and should be a magic moment in our history. A moment where we can rise up and show this fetid teaparty army and their plutocratic puppet masters like David Koch and Sheldon Adelson that there is still a strong majority of sensible people in this country who know that a fair society is the only one that will ever survive long term.  And this generation of wrecking crew Republicans won't just delay that fair and just society. They will crush out any possibility of there ever being one. At least in this country.

And that would be a sad fail of unparalleled dimension. An easy win will have passed us right by due to our own apathetic lethargy and a mass delusion that all the horrible things happening to us were never quite as bad as they seemed. Our collective will to resist an obvious insurrection of selfishness will have failed to come alive at the very moment that it must, and the American experiment will probably die right here in the lab.

Not only can we win this fight, we must.

 

VIDEO: O'Reilly Interview With President Obama

The President won the day. O'Reilly is an A$$. Howard Kurtz has an excellent analysis of the interview, although he should have been tougher on O'Reilly, who was, in my view, openly antagonistic at times:

Maybe it was the setting, an afternoon chat in the White House on Super Bowl Sunday. Maybe it was the fact that Barack Obama’s team had just helped free two injured Fox News correspondents from Egypt. But Bill O’Reilly didn’t put any points on the board.

Watch:

 

Morning Quote - David Brock to Rupert Murdoch

David Brock, Founder and CEO of Media Matters, addresses the Fox connection with the Arizona shootings in this January 10 letter to Rupert Murdoch:

Dear Mr. Murdoch,

Since the early days of 2009, I have warned your network and others in the media about the very real dangers of extreme anti-government rhetoric and the stoking of fear.

I cautioned against Glenn Beck's proclamation that he was a "progressive hunter" and his statement that the government was full of vampires before he instructed his viewers to "drive a stake through the heart of the bloodsuckers." And against Palin revealing her 2010 "targets" with a map showing gun sights over 20 congressional districts, including that of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, urging followers to not "Retreat, Instead -- RELOAD." I said on national television that inducing fear, anger, and the use of violent imagery creates a climate of fear, suspicion, and paranoia that could lead to another Oklahoma City.

I hoped my warnings would be heeded. Instead, they were cast aside.

Even after evidence emerged in October that California gunman Byron Williams was inspired by Beck to attempt to assassinate progressive leaders and I pleaded for Palin to set an example by condemning her Fox colleague's violent and revolutionary rhetoric, Fox did nothing to address the situation. 

On Beck's radio show, he and Palin jovially mocked my concern. For seven minutes on air, the pair joked about my plea to tone down the rhetoric. Beck said it was "laughable," "sad," and compared me to the "smelly kid in third grade." Palin giggled and said I was "silly" and that my argument was "pathetic" and "desperate" before ultimately concluding, "I stand with you, Glenn."

Beck and Palin are two of Fox's most recognizable figures. Before this heartbreaking tragedy in Arizona, you were either unwilling or unable to rein in their violent rhetoric. But now, in the wake of the killings, your network must take a stand.

You have the power to order them to stop using violent rhetoric, on and off of Fox's air. If they fail to do so, it is incumbent upon you to fire them or be responsible for the climate they create and any consequences thereof.

My previous warnings were laughed off and ignored. For the country's sake, I hope you take them more seriously now.

Sincerely,

David Brock

Founder and CEO, Media Matters for America

Fox Bashes Unemployed

Would they have anything to bash if their own Dear Leader, George W. Bush, had not driven the economy in to the ground, creating all those unemployed people?

Not that their bashing of the unemployed is at all righteous in any case. Assbags.

 

Via Crooks and Liars

Quote of the Day: Gingrich Says Let Rich People Decide How Big They Want Their Tax Cuts to Be

This would be funny if it weren’t so Godawful pathetic. Gingrich on Fox News Sunday, via Think Progress:

What Republicans ought to do is say to people who create jobs, how many years does the tax code need to be extended for you to make an investment decision? I mean, the goal’s not to have an annual extension of the current tax code, and then have every business in the country trapped saying, “I don’t know.  I want to make a 20 year investment in a factory.” … There is a number, but I would have the business leadership of the country describe the number.

Yeah, good idea, Newty. Fox in the henhouse, and all that. Yet…..Gingrich, in the same segment, suggests that unemployment be reframed as a worker training program.

No money for the unemployed, but Paris Hilton, et al, should be able to decide how much of a tax cut they want.

Watch:

 

Gingrich’s proposal, to cut off unemployment benefits while giving a massive windfall to the most fortunate, is a recipe for skyrocketing unemployment.  The economy grows by nearly two dollars for every dollar spent on unemployment benefits “because recipients typically spend all of their benefit payments quickly.” The money “ripples through the economy into supermarkets, gasoline stations, utilities, convenience stores.” Flush with the revenue provided by these new consumers, those businesses are then able to hire additional workers and diminish the ranks of the unemployed.

Full story on Think Progress.

Video & Transcript: Alan Grayson Goes After Fox News Hosts/ Bush Era Tax Cuts for the Wealthy

Via Huffington Post:

Grayson took to the House floor to debate the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy with seven large cardboard slides, each complete with a color headshot of the person and a description of how prolonging the current tax rates for the top two-percent of income earners in the United States would benefit those individuals.

His argument: Fox News contributors such as Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Sarah Palin, as well as the previous president of the United States himself, support, and in some cases aggressively lobby for, the complete extension of the Bush tax cuts because they would pad their pockets with an additional six-figure (in Rush Limbaugh's case, seven-figure) sum each year.

"They want tax cuts for the rich because they want a tax cut for themselves," Grayson said. "Instead of placating these people and letting them spew out onto the airwaves their lies about the Bush tax cuts without ever revealing the fact that they stand to gain millions, millions of dollars each year from their selfish desire to take advantage of the rest of America, let's do this: Let's take that money and create jobs."

Watch:

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Madam Speaker, we've heard endless braying from the Republicans, time after time, demanding an extension of tax cuts for the rich in this country. They tell us that somehow extending tax cuts for the rich will somehow create jobs. When we've had tax cuts for the rich for nine years and I haven't noticed a lot of jobs being created in nine years.

Transcript and Video: Sarah Palin to Liberal Journalists…No Interviews

In a pre-recorded interview, which was no doubt pre-recorded so that Palin would have control over the editing and final publication, Palin denounced both journalism, and Katie Couric in particular, citing her own dubious qualifications as a journalist. I know. I’m gagging as I type.

Asked if she would do another interview with Katie Couric, her response was as follows, with annotation in blue italic being mine.

“Um, you know I would look forward to being even more open than I already am. uh, yeah, absolutely I'd be out there even more.”

“As for doing an interview though with a reporter who already has such a bias against whatever it is that I would come out and say. Why waste my time? No.”Okay then. I guess that this means she will not be doing interviews with any liberal journalists, only right wing journalists need apply. Gotta fight that bias, reporting of the truth, ya know.

“I want to help clean up the state that is so sorry today of journalism, and I have a communications degree. I studied journalism -- who, what, where, when, and why -- of reporting. I will speak to reporters who still understand that cornerstone of our democracy, that expectation that the public has for truth to be reported. And then we get to decide our own opinion based on the facts reported to us.” Um, she was never a journalist, and if her grades are any indication, she was never qualified to be one. Truth. A word that is the antithesis of Sarah Palin’s own persona.

“So a journalist, a reporter who is so biased and will, no doubt, spin and gin up whatever it is that I have to say to create controversy, I swear to you, I will not my waste my time with her. Or him.”Couric didn’t spin anything. Palin managed to hoist herself on her very own petard with her utter ignorance. She should have stayed home when McCain called.

This woman, this person, this Fox News creation, this utterly ignorant narcissist, wants to be our president.

Morning Quote: NYU’s Jay Rosen Talks About Fox News

On Fox, the news exists in order to generate controversy. Controversy exists in order to generate resentment. And the resentment is what generates ratings.

Via James Joyner

Roger Ailes Bashes NPR: They’re Nazis

Roger Ailes, bashing on NPR during an interview with Howard Kurtz, published by The Daily Beast:

They are, of course, Nazis. They have a kind of Nazi attitude. They are the left wing of Nazism. These guys don't want any other point of view.

They don't even feel guilty using tax dollars to spout their propaganda. They are basically Air America with government funding to keep them alive.

Sigh…. Why does the old, morbidly obese Ailes hate America?

It is of note that NPR stations receive less than 6% of their funding from the government. The network gets less than 2% of its funding from the government.

Save Us From the Idiots

Sheesh. Another right wing nutjob who is deluded as to Sarah Palin’s presidential prospects, not to mention her persona. Here comes Kate Obenshain, a regular panelist on Hannity, and she thinks that Sarah Palin could win over young and disillusioned Obama voters because she is articulate. Articulate. Pretty much the last word I would use to describe the shrieking harpy.

Those voters who came out in droves and voted for Barack Obama are disillusioned. They thought that they were voting for real hope and change. And now… they haven’t turned against him yet but they’re standing back, wondering what happened. And they are looking for an alternative. And someone like Sarah Palin or somebody who’s very articulate and compelling and has a positive, optimistic message can reach out, I think, very effectively to this newly engaged, younger…..

Via News Hounds

VIDEO: Michele Bachmann Claims That No Foreign Money is Being Used to Fund Candidates

Joining Karl Rove in his protests, the batshit crazy Bachmann [R-MN], was on Fox Business yesterday where she was all in a fury, railing at Democrats and the White House for asking the Chamber to disclose its donors. Bachmann said that the Chamber only funds candidates out of its political action pac, and that there are no foreign donors.

Bachman:

This is about as low as it goes. It’s more than just disingenious, it’s a flat-out, patent lie. The Chamber of Commerce, who has been accused of taking foreign contributions to spend on elections, is absolutely not doing that. They have a separate political action fund and they use that only from American donors.

 

Unfortunately for Bachmann, her claim is easily proven false.

The Chamber does indeed have a political action fund. However, its PAC has so far raised $161,000 and spent only $104,000. Yet, the Chamber itself has spent more than $12 million so far this election season (and plans to spend $75 million), largely helping Republican candidates.

See, the PAC is required to disclose donors and funds; thanks to the Citizen’s United ruling, corporations are not required to disclose, nor limited as to dollar amounts of contributions.

Prior to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, the Chamber would have had to run its political ads out of its PAC, contributions to which are disclosed. But the Court’s decision allows large corporations — such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns without publicizing their donors. [......]

America for Sale.

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RELATED POSTS: Update: Tracking the Aftermath of the Citizen’s United Ruling

Foreign Money Funding Republican Campaign Ads Against Democrats Via the US Chamber of Commerce

For all posts on the fallout from/aftermath of, the Citizen's United ruling, click here.

Krugman: So the Ministry of Propaganda has, in effect, seized control of the Politburo

Or, put another way, Fox Network has seized control of our political apparatus, and is using it to take this country to a very bad place. A scenario first predicted by those living in countries where Rupert Murdoch played his games prior to targeting us, such as the UK. Krugman:

A note to Tea Party activists: This is not the movie you think it is. You probably imagine that you’re starring in “The Birth of a Nation,” but you’re actually just extras in a remake of “Citizen Kane.”

True, there have been some changes in the plot. In the original, Kane tried to buy high political office for himself. In the new version, he just puts politicians on his payroll.

I mean that literally. As Politico recently pointed out, every major contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination who isn’t currently holding office and isn’t named Mitt Romney is now a paid contributor to Fox News.

Scary stuff. I will admit that it causes me to think about the regimes of other times. Krugman goes on to point out an undeniable truth about American conservatism. Emphasis mine.

Arguably, this shouldn’t be surprising. Modern American conservatism is, in large part, a movement shaped by billionaires and their bank accounts, and assured paychecks for the ideologically loyal are an important part of the system. Scientists willing to deny the existence of man-made climate change, economists willing to declare that tax cuts for the rich are essential to growth, strategic thinkers willing to provide rationales for wars of choice, lawyers willing to provide defenses of torture, all can count on support from a network of organizations that may seem independent on the surface but are largely financed by a handful of ultrawealthy families.

And what does speaking out against the malevolent network bring you if you are an employee? Ask David Frum.

As the Republican political analyst David Frum put it, “Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we are discovering we work for Fox” — literally, in the case of all those non-Mitt-Romney presidential hopefuls. It was days later, by the way, that Mr. Frum was fired by the American Enterprise Institute. Conservatives criticize Fox at their peril.

So the Ministry of Propaganda has, in effect, seized control of the Politburo. What are the implications?

Disheartening, to say the least.

Of Course We Knew That Rupert Murdoch Was a Fan of the GOP

People are acting like we didn’t actually know Murdoch’s political affiliation, and some have expressed surprise upon learning that Rupert Murdoch aka News Corp., made two very large political contributions to the GOP recently. Some have even been heard to say "now we know his political affiliation".

I mean, please. It isn't like we didn't know that Murdoch, the-creepy-man- who-probably-was-the-inspiration-for-Scream, supports Republicans. Just watch Fox Network on any given day. The affiliation is clear as day, if only from the lies and talking points gleaned from the right wingnuts. This "revelation" shouldn't surprise anyone.

News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, contributed $1 million this summer to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the business lobby that has been running an aggressive campaign in support of the Republican effort to retake Congress, a source close to the company told POLITICO.

It was the second $1 million contribution the company has made this election cycle to a GOP-aligned group. In late June it gave that amount to the Republican Governors Association.

The parent companies of other media companies such as Disney (which owns ABC) and General Electric (which owns NBC) have also made political contributions, but typically in far smaller chunks, and split between Democrats and Republicans. [……]

In this clip from Countdown, Keith Olbermann names Murdoch 'Worst Person' for his two blatantly political contributions to the GOP. Now that, I can get behind. The clip starts at 1:54.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

In closing, I can’t forget to thank our right wing SCOTUS for their activist ruling on Citizen’s United, which of course, made it possible for corporations to throw unlimited megabucks at specific parties or politicians.

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