Rush Limbaugh Attacks Fox News GOP Debate: ‘They Want Approval From The Mainstream Media’
August 13, 2011 No CommentRush Limbaugh usually goes to bat for Fox News and defends them from their rank conservative agenda or takes the credit that they use his very own talking points to attack Obama with , but after the debate he had a different opinion entirely. He was really upset that the candidates were tearing themselves apart because Fox wanted them to so they could receive pats on their backs from the MSM. He was also outraged that the moderators and producers took some time to decide what questions to ask the candidates and not letting it be completely spontaneous—kinda like his radio show. He doesn’t bother producing segments. It’s all off the cuff. See, everything on TV is scripted so if the producers of any debate take their time to try and craft a comprehensive show, it’s phony. That’s RushBo logic. Limbaugh: “They Want Approval From The Mainstream Media” I guess he felt bad for his pal Newt. Gingrich would rather talk about gutting government regulations rather than answer questions from Chris Wallace about why his staff has been quitting or that his campaign is in debt. Hey, I wanted to know where the Tiffany’s questions were? Don’t fret Rush, he had Hannity run to his rescue afterwards. Hannity: Newt’s Gotcha Question Shows Double Standard Wallace pointed out to Gingrich that, in June, he suffered a huge staff exodus. “How do you respond to people who say that your campaign has been a mess so far?” he asked. Gingrich was highly displeased by the question, and he turned on Wallace. “I took seriously Bret’s injunction to put aside the talking points,” he said, referring to a request Wallace’s co-host Bret Baier had made at the outset of the debate. “And I wish you would put aside the gotcha questions…I’d love to see the rest of tonight’s debate asking us about what we would do to lead America…instead of playing Mickey Mouse games.” [h/t Huffington Post ] And of course, Sean Hannity was appropriately concerned for poor Newt, but evidently that concern obliterated his short-term memory. HANNITY: You know, I don’t mind hard questions. I think they’re important. As I was watching tonight’s debate, you know what ran through my mind? In all the time that President Obama ran, he didn’t experience one of these moments that I can really think of. So the double standard is clear. Wallace responded on Fox & Friends to Newt’s continued conservative whine. On Friday, Wallace didn’t mention Hannity’s criticism. He told “Fox and Friends” that he was simply doing his job. “Welcome to the NFL,” he said. “We’re talking about presidential politics. It isn’t beanbag.” Gingrich, he suggested, was just unhappy to be asked a tough question. “I’m sorry Speaker Gingrich was unhappy,” he said. “…I guess it was something about shooting the messenger.”.
Continue reading …Oops! What is it about the Republican party that attracts so many closeted men? Emails shared with The Indianapolis Star suggest that state Rep. Phillip Hinkle — responding to a local posting on Craigslist — offered a young man $80 plus tip to spend time with him Saturday night at the JW Marriott hotel. The emails, sent from Hinkle’s publicly listed personal address, ask the young man for “a couple hours of your time tonight” and offer him cash up front, with a tip of up to $50 or $60 “for a really good time.” The email exchange is in response to the Craigslist posting in which the young man — who lists his age as 20 in the ad but says he is 18 years old — says, “I need a sugga daddy.” The young man told The Star that they met, but that he tried to leave after the man told him he was a state lawmaker. He said the lawmaker at first told him he could not leave, grabbed him in the rear, exposed himself to the young man and then later gave him an iPad, BlackBerry cellphone and $100 cash to keep quiet. When contacted by The Star about the emails, Hinkle, a Republican who represents portions of Pike and Wayne townships, did not contest the emails but said, “I am aware of a shakedown taking place.” Asked what he meant by shakedown, Hinkle would not elaborate. He directed further questions to his attorney. Hinkle’s lawyer, defense attorney Peter Nugent, said he was unable to say what Hinkle meant by a “shakedown.” Nugent said he is investigating the situation, but he does not know what happened Saturday. Nugent said he has not filed a police report and does not yet know whether he will. It’s interesting how frequently the men in these encounters go out of their way to tell their partners about being elected officials, or clergy members. It’s almost like they’re seeking absolution…
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Click here to view this media Republican presidential candidates are having a tough time on the “Soapbox” at the Iowa State Fair this week. A flustered Mitt Romney told an angry crowd Thursday that he wouldn’t raise taxes on big companies because ” corporations are people .” Tim Pawlenty took to the very same stage Friday where a gay man named Gabe confronted him about his stand against marriage equality. “I want to address one concern of mine and this is you have not had the courage to stand for me and my friends,” Gabe told Pawlenty. “As a member of the GLBT community, you have not stood for us and that is really hard for me. As someone who supports the [anti-gay] National Organization for Marriage, someone that stands for the definition of marriage between one man and one woman, I thought our country was about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for everyone. No exceptions. So, Tim Pawlenty, I want to know, when will you stand up for me?” “That is what I want to know from you today because you are discriminating against me and it hurts. It really does.” “I understand we have a difference of opinion on this issue,” Pawlenty replied. “The relationship between a man and a woman in a traditional marriage is important to our country, our society, our culture. I think it should remain elevated, not just in our words but under our laws. And that’s why I have supported laws — in fact, have authored laws — to maintain marriage as between a man and woman.” “I support that you have your moral values,” Gabe said, not backing down. “But that is something that is hurting my future and how I get to live my life. And that is something that someone that talks about government getting out of your lives, why does government get involved in our marriages?” “We’re just going to have a respectful disagreement,” the candidate said. “Do you think I’m a second class citizen?” Gabe asked. “We’re just going to have a respectful disagreement, sir,” Pawlenty repeated.
Continue reading …11th Circuit Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down The Affordable Care Act’s Individual Mandate
August 13, 2011 No CommentRepublicans are always happy when any attempt to help ordinary people is struck down by the corporate-owned courts. So this one’s almost certainly going all the way to the Supreme Court! Reporting from Washington— A federal appeals court struck down a pillar of President Obama’s national healthcare law, ruling Congress does not have the power to require all Americans to buy insurance and setting the stage for a Supreme Court decision ahead of the 2012 election. The 2-1 decision is a victory for Republican leaders in 26 states who challenged the law last year, testing whether the signature accomplishment of Obama’s presidency would stand. The Atlanta-based judges echoed the complaint that the mandate represents an “unprecedented” expansion of federal power. “The individual mandate is breathtaking in its expansive scope,” two judges of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in their 207-page majority opinion. Even during the Great Depression or World War II, “Congress never sought to require the purchase of wheat or war bonds, force a higher savings rate or greater consumption of American goods,” they observed. Though Congress may regulate those who buy insurance, it may not regulate those who “have not entered the insurance market and have no intention of doing so,” they said. The Atlanta-based court has a conservative reputation and had been seen as the best forum for those challenging the law. The majority was made up of Chief Judge Joel Dubina, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, and Judge Frank Hull, a female appointee of President Clinton. The dissenter, Judge Stanley Marcus, was also a Clinton appointee. So before it makes its way to the Supreme Court , a few other cases have to be settled: This turns the attention to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is expected to rule on a health-care challenge sometime this month or next. A three-judge panel neard oral arguments in the case, which consolidates challenges brought by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and Liberty University, on May 10. All three are Democratic-appointees: Judges Andre Davis and James Wyan, both picked by President Obama, and Judge Diana Motz, chosen by President Clinton. “The feeling was the panel in the Fourth in the argument was relatively solicitous of the government’s position,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, who follows the Fourth Circuit closely. “Most people believe the judges will uphold the individual mandate and uphold the statute broadly.” There are also two other cases in the mix. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Cincinnati, ruled in June that the law was constitutional. The plaintiff in that case, the Thomas Moore Law Center, has already filed an appeal against that decision. Another case, in the D.C. appellate court, is scheduled for oral arguments on Sept. 23. No matter how the two undecided cases go, there’s enough disagreement already for the case to be taken up by the Supreme Court, which opens its next term in October. Many expect that the Supreme Court will consider the case this term, which means it has to issue a decision no later than June, 2012. Supreme Court experts expect the justices will take up oral arguments for the case in late spring, leaving enough time to issue a decision in June – right as the presidential election gets into full swing .
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Click here to view this media A planned protest of Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) fizzled Thursday after officials reportedly cut cell phone services at some stations. BART spokesman Linton Johnson told a KTVU reporter, who had noticed the disruption, that the public relations department had suggested that phone service be shut down. Another BART spokesman, Jim Allison, reportedly admitted that the tactic had been “part of a larger strategy.” But Allison later claimed that he had been mistaken and phone service was not blocked. “I haven’t been able to find another incident in which this has happened,” criminologist Casey Jordan told CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux Friday. “I think perhaps it is unprecedented, and yet that’s how these legal issues come to light and get debated. Whether it’s legal or not it hasn’t been tested in the courts. Public safety exceptions to or encroachments on our personal freedoms do happen.” “A lot of people are wondering, what happened to freedom of speech, assembly without government interference that’s protected by the First Amendment?” Malveaux asked. “They didn’t try to shut down the protest. They simply turned off the cell service so it couldn’t become viral,” Jordan explained. “It really is just a cost/benefit analysis of where your freedom of speech begins to threaten the public safety.” The group No Justice, No BART had called for the protest following a string of killings by BART police. “We are fighting for justice for Charles Hill, Oscar Grant, Fred Collins, Bruce Seward, Jerrold Hall, Robert Greer, and all victims of BART police violence and murder,” the group said. “We demand that BART disband its murderous, inept, corrupt police department.” Cross posted at Raw Story
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This fall, the Showtime movie channel will air its sixth season of “Dexter,” their show glorifying a just serial killer. They recently finished a fourth season of a show called “Californication,” which debuted in 2007 with a dream sequence in which the lead character receives oral sex from a nun in a church. So it might seem surprising (or….perhaps not) that Showtime's new promotional package for the fall wraps Showtime characters around…Christianity. The new slogan is “Showtime Saves.” The low point in this perverse campaign is the visuals of the murderous Dexter character with golden-sunshine rays of holiness. Their St. Dexter the Just Serial Killer routine matches the trailer for Season Six, in which Dexter beats in the head of a man with a Jesus tattoo on his chest. This Christian (smirk, sniff) killed his wife rather than undergo a messy divorce, which makes Dexter the righteous judge and jury. Before he's whacked with a hammer, the wife-killer screams “God is a mighty fortress! And I have been washed in the blood of the Lamb! And He will protect me!” In Hollywood, or at least at the CBS Corporation, which owns Showtime, it seems the only good Christian is a dead, hypocritical Christian. As the website MediaReallyMatters.com proclaimed to CBS: “the God you describe is not the benevolent and loving God millions of us know and worship – and your sacrilegious promotions twisting his words to promote your lowlife shows are not at all clever or funny to millions of Americans.” The trailer also features clips of Dexter with the soundtrack of the old Depeche Mode pop song about “your own personal Jesus, someone to hear your prayers, someone who cares.” Next to blood splatters, the red text on screen reads “This fall, he'll make you a believer.” Underneath the official Showtime promotional video on YouTube, it promises “Get ready for the most rapturous season yet.” While that pop song lyrically proclaims “reach out and touch faith,” that's not exactly what “Dexter” is about. In Season 2, Dexter proudly proclaimed his atheism in a narration at a church: “If I believed in God — If I believed in sin — this is the place where I'd be sucked straight to Hell… if I believed in Hell.” In a second Showtime promo, as the Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah” plays, Dexter walks past religious statues, including the Virgin Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and wonders (or teases): “Maybe it's not a need, but a calling. After all, I rid the world of evil people. If they didn't exist, neither would I. Is it possible I serve a higher purpose?” At that point, the camera frames Dexter with angel wings behind him. It is blatant anti-Christian (and especially anti-Catholic) bigotry. And for those at Showtime with the smug looks on their faces, allow me to show what cowards you are: never in a million years would you mock the prophet Mohammed like this. Showtime is taking their pseudo-biblical slogans on the road. Take
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Reporter Ethan Bronner brought a typical liberal issue to the forefront on Friday’s front page: “Protests Force Israel to Confront Wealth Gap.” Tent-city protesters have “shaken” Israel with their call for fairly distributed wealth. Bronner never identified the protesters as left-leaning in any way. They were merely championing a cause with “strong populist resonance.” These large protests are a story, but no one in this article really questioned the protesters or suggested this was a very political campaign against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Eugene Kandel, Netanyahu’s chief economic adviser, was interviewed, and he stressed agreement with the notion that “large and leveraged business groups can slow growth, cause instability, and hinder competition.” Daniel Doron, director of the Israel Center for Social and Economic Progress, defined as a “pro-market research organization,” sounded like a liberal American Democrat. He complained that privatized Israeli assets being abused: “Today, the whole Israeli economy is built on rapacious elites fleecing consumers.” That sounds more like Bill Moyers than “pro-market” Milton Friedman. Bronner channeled the protester demands: The “tycoons,” as they are known even in Hebrew, are suddenly facing enraged scrutiny as middle-class families complain that a country once viewed as an example of intimate equality today has one of the largest gaps between rich and poor in the industrialized world. The tent-city protesters, who have shifted the public discourse by demanding affordable housing and other essential goods, issued a document this week calling for a new socioeconomic agenda. Topping their goals: “minimizing social inequalities.” In an earlier story on the protests, on July 31 , Bronner was more forthcoming that the protests were “a possible opening for the defeated left.” Bronner’s new story underlined that while some believe the income gap has gotten short media shrift, other outlets have thrown it at Netanyahu: Guy Rolnik, editor of The Marker, a financial daily owned by Haaretz that has attacked concentration of wealth, said the issue had gotten short shrift in the media because of who owned the companies and fears of losing advertising. Often newspapers seem to be the tools of moguls battling one another as well as certain political figures. A television journalist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the matter, said his station would probably not do a program on wealth concentration to avoid upsetting the station's owners. But many of the moguls are somewhat to Mr. Netanyahu's left on foreign policy, and their newspapers can be merciless on him. Other newspapers accuse the prime minister of being in bed with the rich. Still others say his focus on the tycoons is an attempt to draw attention away from the cost of settlements and his failed peace policies. That sounds a bit more like America, where wealthy liberal newspaper owners often rail against maldistribution of wealth from the left.
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Click here to view this media Mitt Romney defended his record at Bain Capital and claimed that “overall, in those hundred businesses we invested in, tens of thousands of jobs — net/net — were created. Romney also pushed back at criticisms of his record on job creation while Governor of Massachusetts. There’s an extensive article at Bloomberg on Romney’s record at Bain which would beg to differ with that assumption — Romney as Job Creator Clashes with Bain Record of Job Cuts . From the article, it seems one of his former directors made that same claim, but supplied no numbers to back it up. Preserved Jobs Geoffrey Rehnert, a former managing director at Bain who worked for the firm until 1999, said that while Bain was focused on making money, its strategy was to create businesses that created jobs. Rehnert, who is now co-chief executive officer with Wolpow at Audax, said he’s “certain that Bain Capital was a net creator of jobs by a wide margin,” while he had no data to support that. At a minimum, Wolpow said, Bain helped preserve jobs that otherwise might have been lost. Bain and the campaign didn’t respond to requests for job creation estimates. A Bloomberg News review of several Bain deals during Romney’s tenure showed that workers in some firms had indications their jobs might be in jeopardy soon after Bain moved into management. In other cases, pink slips arrived after Bain and its investors had collected their profits and left debts behind. Interviews with former employees and executives at Bain and companies it controlled, along with a review of Bain’s activities described in public documents and news accounts, paint a picture of an operation that wasn’t focused on expanding employment. Instead, Bain’s mission, like most private equity firms, was to generate gains for its investors. Think Progress has more on Romney’s record on job creation while he was Governor — Romney Gives Obama A Failing Grade, But Massachusetts Ranked 47th In Job Growth While He Was Governor : Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) is focusing the early part of his presidential campaign on the economy, slamming Obama’s performance while touting himself as an experienced job creator. But while he assigns Obama a failing grade on his job performance thus far, reports from his time as governor show that Romney’s record as a job creator isn’t as strong as he would like voters to think. Massachusetts, which Romney governed from 2003-2007, ranked 47th among the 50 states in job creation numbers during his tenure. What Romney leaves out of his stump speech, however, is just how bad his state’s job creation statistics were during his four years as governor. Different job creation studies rank Massachusetts in the bottom four states during Romney’s administration. A study by the independent think tank MassINC ranked the state 49th in job creation from 2001-2007, ahead of only Michigan. And according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Massachusetts ranked 47th, ahead of only Michigan, Ohio, and Louisiana. Michigan and Ohio, both located in the Rust Belt, faced heavy job losses due to the flight of manufacturing jobs from the Midwest. Louisiana, meanwhile, lost hundreds of thousands of jobs in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. During Romney’s period as governor, Massachusetts’ job growth was just 0.9 percent , well behind other high-wage, high-skill economies in New York (2.7), California (4.7), and North Carolina (7.6). The national average, meanwhile, was better than 5 percent.
Continue reading …Richard Viguerie, the king of mail order conservatism from the Goldwater days wasn’t impressed with the stable of GOP candidates last night. Via my inbox: Manassas, VA — Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, issued the following statement regarding the Republican presidential debate in Ames, Iowa: “The Republican debate was missing the big ideas that were the hallmark of Ronald Reagan’s successful campaigns and presidency. “There are two things a candidate must do to win the Republican nomination for President. “First, the candidate must convince Republican primary voters that he or she is a committed conservative. They don’t have to be the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan, but they do have to be convincing as the conservative standard bearer. “Second, that person has to convince Republican primary voters that he or she can defeat Barack Obama. “None of the eight on the stage tonight can, as yet, pass both tests.” I guess Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich didn’t talk about raising taxes enough for Richard. And if the tea party wants to be more like Reagan they should probably run on the promise to raise the payroll tax to about $160,000 a year to offset the cost of living increases so Social Security will thrive for decades longer than it will now. In 1983, for example, he signed off on Social Security reform legislation that, among other things, accelerated an increase in the payroll tax rate, required that higher-income beneficiaries pay income tax on part of their benefits, and required the self-employed to pay the full payroll tax rate, rather than just the portion normally paid by employees. Will Bunch lists five other myths about the Gipper’s legacy. Facts do matter.
Continue reading …Republicans Who Lost in Wisconsin Were Just ‘Two Old White Guys,’ Says Ed Schultz Producer
August 12, 2011 No CommentWhen it comes to gratuitous references to race, it doesn't get more gratuitous than this. James “Holmy” Holm works as a producer for Ed Schultz on his radio and MSNBC shows. In addition to that, Holm often accompanies Schultz on his radio program and espouses his views on politics and the news of the day. (audio clip after page break) Schultz and Holm were talking on Wednesday about the previous day's recall elections in Wisconsin that targeted six incumbent Republican state senators. Badger State Democrats needed to win at least three of the races to gain control of the state senate; they fell short by one. Here's how Holm described the two Republican state senators who lost their elections, after Schultz complained about outside money that poured into the state to affect the outcome of the recalls (audio) — HOLM: But the thing that's bothering me the most this morning as I wake up and read the headlines, listen to the radio, watch a little bit of television … SCHULTZ: That this is all about (Wisconsin Gov. Scott) Walker's victory. That's hogwash! HOLM: … This is a resounding win for Scott Walker, it validates everything he's tried to do to crush the workers of Wisconsin, this is the model for the country — that couldn't be further from the truth. Scott Walker's policies last night cost two old white guys their jobs. And there's no doubt about it, those two people were Republican senators. And being white, male and no longer young makes them utterly contemptible as far as Holm is concerned. The late Boston radio host David Brudnoy coined a term for that cross section of humanity so reviled by Holm (and, oddly enough, much resembling him) — the pale penis people. It's worth noting that the two state senators maligned by Holm — Randy Hopper and Dan Kapanke — were not the only Caucasians to run in the recalls. So were all 10 other candidates, incumbents and challengers both. This did nothing to prevent Holm from playing the race card, especially with a losing hand. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I find it offensive when people are judged by the color of their skin and not the content of their character. Incidentally, aren't “old white guys” a huge proportion of Social Security recipients that liberals like Holm often claim they're deeply concerned about? Roughly half, safe to say. Based on his previous remarks on Schultz's radio show, I believe Holm is in his 40s — as is Hopper, 45, more than a decade younger than Schultz, who turned 57 in January. Kapanke is 63.
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