Ed Balls issues warning that UK recovery has stalled as gloomy retail figures are released Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, has called for an emergency temporary cut in VAT to “jump-start” Britain’s “flatlining” economy that is performing at a slower rate than its major competitors. As new figures showed retail sales fell by twice the expected rate in May, by 1.4%, Balls accused the chancellor, George Osborne, of endangering the economy by embarking on a “rash and headlong lunge” at rapid deficit reduction. The shadow chancellor said there was still time to slow the pace of deficit reduction by reversing, on a temporary basis, the 2.5% increase in VAT introduced in January by Osborne. Increasing VAT from 17.5% to 20% was one of the main early measures of the chancellor’s plan to eliminate the structural deficit by 2015. In a speech at the London School of Economics, Balls called for a rethink. He said: “My suggestion to George Osborne is that, while he will not agree to reverse his mistaken VAT rise permanently, he should now reverse it temporarily until the economy is growing strongly again … Slowing down the pace of deficit reduction with a temporary VAT cut now would give the flatlining economy the jump-start it so urgently needs, boost jobs and be a better way to get the deficit down for the long term.” The intervention by Balls, which came as the gloomy retail figures were released, was quickly rejected by the government, which said that reversing the VAT increase would cost £12bn a year. At a question and answer session in Lincoln, David Cameron responded to those calling for tax cuts and more government spending and investment. “All you would be doing, if you did that, is making the problem of your deficit, of your overdraft, worse,” he said. Balls, in his first setpiece lecture since his appointment as shadow chancellor in January, was seeking to reframe the debate on deficit reduction. He accused Osborne of refusing to countenance an alternative so he could: • Blame Labour for failing to face up to tough decisions if the coalition plan worked. Balls said the plan to eradicate the structural deficit in this parliament “was primarily about electoral politics – rapid tax rises and spending cuts chiefly designed to fit a political timetable that gets the pain over early [and] makes Labour take the blame”. • Claim Labour would not have made any difference if the plan failed. Balls signed up to Alistair Darling’s plans to halve the deficit over four years when he was appointed shadow chancellor in January. The Treasury said the Darling plan would have led a re-elected Labour government to deliver about 85% of the cuts introduced by the coalition. Labour, according to the Treasury, would have cut £7 in every £8 proposed by the coalition, leading to £14bn in cuts this year compared with £16bn by the coalition. Balls remains committed to the Darling plan, although he believes it will become increasingly irrelevant. For the moment, he is challenging the chancellor to adopt the VAT cut as a middle course between the Darling and coalition plans to provide a stimulus. Balls said a failure to acknowledge that the recovery had stalled, after a reasonable performance in the first half of 2010, risked inflicting permanent damage on the economy. He said the “scale of the fiscal hit to demand and growth in Britain this year is unprecedented”, adding that, a year ago, the Office for Budget Responsibility “forecast growth of 2.6% in 2011 – they now predict just 1.7%”. He said: “Months – or years – of slow growth aren’t something that will be quickly repaired. It risks leaving a permanent dent in our nation’s prosperity – relative to how prosperous we might have been and how prosperous we are relative to other countries. Because economic history also teaches us that economies don’t simply bounce back to where they would have been.” Balls offered no apology for Labour’s spending either ahead of or during the banking crisis to prevent recession tipping into depression. He admitted he was still relatively isolated in his view that the markets would tolerate a less aggressive approach to the deficit and said it was too early to say whether his judgment, or that of Osborne, would be proved right. The shadow chancellor said the economic evidence so far was pointing in his direction, arguing: “Looking at growth across the EU over the last six months compared to the previous six months, we have gone from the top end of the economic growth league table to fourth from bottom, with only Denmark, Greece and Portugal below us. “Unemployment forecasts for the next four years have all been revised upwards. Inflation forecasts for the end of 2011 have risen sharply from 1.6% to 4.2% with a further increase next year, and the result of this slower growth, higher unemployment and higher inflation is that the government will have to borrow a further £46bn more than forecast after the spending review.” Balls expressed astonishment that Osborne had not thought more carefully about the “fork in the road” when he came to office last May: “He did not hesitate in making a rash and headlong lunge down the path of rapid deficit reduction.” The shadow chancellor was scathing about Osborne’s claims last year, as he hardened his deficit reduction plans, that Britain was facing a Greek-style sovereign debt crisis. Balls said: “That must have been the first time in history that a British chancellor has looked not to America, France or Germany, but to Greece, Portugal or Ireland for economic insights … We have the longest-term bonds of any country, which means we need to raise much less each year and are not so subject to short-term moods in the markets.” Nick Clegg, who campaigned during the general election against the “bombshell” of raising VAT, dismissed the speech. The deputy prime minister said: “The Labour party is now perilously close to terminally and permanently losing the confidence of the British people on the economy. “There appeared still to be no recognition whatsoever of the responsibilities of government when Labour was in power for 13 years, no recognition of the extent of the economic rebalancing exercise needed to get the country back on a sustainable footing, endless reference to a Plan B which to me means ‘bankrupt’ – intellectually bankrupt, fiscally bankrupt and politically bankrupt.” Treasury sources said: “This speech marks a step back for Labour and for Ed Balls. Rather than owning up to mistakes in the past and showing that he understood what went wrong, he said he is sticking to his strategy. “If he had delivered the speech David Miliband was intending to deliver as Labour leader, and acknowledge the scale of the deficit under Labour, then that would have shown the party is getting its act together.” Economic policy Economics Ed Balls George Osborne Nicholas Watt Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Ed Balls issues warning that UK recovery has stalled as gloomy retail figures are released Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, has called for an emergency temporary cut in VAT to “jump-start” Britain’s “flatlining” economy that is performing at a slower rate than its major competitors. As new figures showed retail sales fell by twice the expected rate in May, by 1.4%, Balls accused the chancellor, George Osborne, of endangering the economy by embarking on a “rash and headlong lunge” at rapid deficit reduction. The shadow chancellor said there was still time to slow the pace of deficit reduction by reversing, on a temporary basis, the 2.5% increase in VAT introduced in January by Osborne. Increasing VAT from 17.5% to 20% was one of the main early measures of the chancellor’s plan to eliminate the structural deficit by 2015. In a speech at the London School of Economics, Balls called for a rethink. He said: “My suggestion to George Osborne is that, while he will not agree to reverse his mistaken VAT rise permanently, he should now reverse it temporarily until the economy is growing strongly again … Slowing down the pace of deficit reduction with a temporary VAT cut now would give the flatlining economy the jump-start it so urgently needs, boost jobs and be a better way to get the deficit down for the long term.” The intervention by Balls, which came as the gloomy retail figures were released, was quickly rejected by the government, which said that reversing the VAT increase would cost £12bn a year. At a question and answer session in Lincoln, David Cameron responded to those calling for tax cuts and more government spending and investment. “All you would be doing, if you did that, is making the problem of your deficit, of your overdraft, worse,” he said. Balls, in his first setpiece lecture since his appointment as shadow chancellor in January, was seeking to reframe the debate on deficit reduction. He accused Osborne of refusing to countenance an alternative so he could: • Blame Labour for failing to face up to tough decisions if the coalition plan worked. Balls said the plan to eradicate the structural deficit in this parliament “was primarily about electoral politics – rapid tax rises and spending cuts chiefly designed to fit a political timetable that gets the pain over early [and] makes Labour take the blame”. • Claim Labour would not have made any difference if the plan failed. Balls signed up to Alistair Darling’s plans to halve the deficit over four years when he was appointed shadow chancellor in January. The Treasury said the Darling plan would have led a re-elected Labour government to deliver about 85% of the cuts introduced by the coalition. Labour, according to the Treasury, would have cut £7 in every £8 proposed by the coalition, leading to £14bn in cuts this year compared with £16bn by the coalition. Balls remains committed to the Darling plan, although he believes it will become increasingly irrelevant. For the moment, he is challenging the chancellor to adopt the VAT cut as a middle course between the Darling and coalition plans to provide a stimulus. Balls said a failure to acknowledge that the recovery had stalled, after a reasonable performance in the first half of 2010, risked inflicting permanent damage on the economy. He said the “scale of the fiscal hit to demand and growth in Britain this year is unprecedented”, adding that, a year ago, the Office for Budget Responsibility “forecast growth of 2.6% in 2011 – they now predict just 1.7%”. He said: “Months – or years – of slow growth aren’t something that will be quickly repaired. It risks leaving a permanent dent in our nation’s prosperity – relative to how prosperous we might have been and how prosperous we are relative to other countries. Because economic history also teaches us that economies don’t simply bounce back to where they would have been.” Balls offered no apology for Labour’s spending either ahead of or during the banking crisis to prevent recession tipping into depression. He admitted he was still relatively isolated in his view that the markets would tolerate a less aggressive approach to the deficit and said it was too early to say whether his judgment, or that of Osborne, would be proved right. The shadow chancellor said the economic evidence so far was pointing in his direction, arguing: “Looking at growth across the EU over the last six months compared to the previous six months, we have gone from the top end of the economic growth league table to fourth from bottom, with only Denmark, Greece and Portugal below us. “Unemployment forecasts for the next four years have all been revised upwards. Inflation forecasts for the end of 2011 have risen sharply from 1.6% to 4.2% with a further increase next year, and the result of this slower growth, higher unemployment and higher inflation is that the government will have to borrow a further £46bn more than forecast after the spending review.” Balls expressed astonishment that Osborne had not thought more carefully about the “fork in the road” when he came to office last May: “He did not hesitate in making a rash and headlong lunge down the path of rapid deficit reduction.” The shadow chancellor was scathing about Osborne’s claims last year, as he hardened his deficit reduction plans, that Britain was facing a Greek-style sovereign debt crisis. Balls said: “That must have been the first time in history that a British chancellor has looked not to America, France or Germany, but to Greece, Portugal or Ireland for economic insights … We have the longest-term bonds of any country, which means we need to raise much less each year and are not so subject to short-term moods in the markets.” Nick Clegg, who campaigned during the general election against the “bombshell” of raising VAT, dismissed the speech. The deputy prime minister said: “The Labour party is now perilously close to terminally and permanently losing the confidence of the British people on the economy. “There appeared still to be no recognition whatsoever of the responsibilities of government when Labour was in power for 13 years, no recognition of the extent of the economic rebalancing exercise needed to get the country back on a sustainable footing, endless reference to a Plan B which to me means ‘bankrupt’ – intellectually bankrupt, fiscally bankrupt and politically bankrupt.” Treasury sources said: “This speech marks a step back for Labour and for Ed Balls. Rather than owning up to mistakes in the past and showing that he understood what went wrong, he said he is sticking to his strategy. “If he had delivered the speech David Miliband was intending to deliver as Labour leader, and acknowledge the scale of the deficit under Labour, then that would have shown the party is getting its act together.” Economic policy Economics Ed Balls George Osborne Nicholas Watt Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Acting IMF chief threatened to trigger sovereign default if Berlin failed to come to rescue of Greece Germany was forced to agree to bail out Greece for the second time in a year under strong pressure from the International Monetary Fund following the resignation last month of its head, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Guardian has learned. Under its acting chief, the American John Lipsky, the IMF has taken a more hardline stance and it warned the Germans in recent weeks that it would withhold urgently needed funds and trigger a Greek sovereign default unless Berlin stopped delaying and pledged firmly that it would come to Greece’s rescue. Senior officials and diplomats in Brussels confirmed that the IMF threat to pull the plug on its funding – in stark contrast to the more emollient line of Strauss-Kahn – had been defused because of a German climbdown. As political turmoil continued in Greece on Thursday, with the prime minister, George Papandreou, scrambling to form a new government, the stage was being set for a political struggle between Europe’s powerbrokers over the fine print of the proposed new €100bn-plus rescue of Greece. Berlin is deeply at odds with France and with the key EU institutions – the European Central Bank (ECB), the European commission, the presidency of the EU and the head of the eurozone, Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg – over the terms of a new deal. While conceding the need for the new bailout, Berlin is insisting that the banks and other private creditors holding Greek debt suffer losses as part of the rescue plan, which is expected to amount to €125bn (£110bn), or about €90bn if the Germans succeed in forcing losses on holders of Greek bonds. Although international markets enjoyed a calmer day on Thursday, Juncker believes that imposing losses on investors could trigger a European version of the Lehman Brothers bank collapse – a so-called “credit event”. Juncker said: “It’s a really ugly situation. The [German] idea is dangerous. It could provoke the gravest risk, that all three rating agencies declare a credit event and then there are big contagion risks for other countries.” Nout Wellink, a member of the ECB’s governing council, warned that the EU bailout fund would have to double to €1.5tn if Greece fails to pay its debts and spreads financial turmoil to other countries. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy goes to Berlin on Friday for a summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with the aim of stitching up a compromise. Under Greece’s current €110bn bailout, shared by the EU and the IMF, a fifth tranche of €12bn is to be disbursed next month. Publicly, the IMF had been threatening to withhold its share of the money unless Greece’s funding gap for 2012 is closed. But Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for monetary affairs, said on Thursday that the EU and the IMF had agreed to throw Greece the €12bn lifeline by next month to forestall a default. Privately, sources said that Lipsky challenged the Germans on the fringes of a G8 summit in France almost three weeks ago and demanded that Berlin guarantee Greece’s borrowing requirements and put a figure on the pledge. The IMF ultimatum came a week after Strauss-Kahn, a former French presidential contender, resigned as IMF chief following his arrest in New York on charges of attempted rape and sexual assault of a hotel chambermaid. Berlin blinked, according to participants in the negotiations, and 10 days after the IMF challenge, the Merkel government admitted for the first time that Greece would need a new bailout. But it stoked further controversy by demanding that Greece’s private creditors take losses on their loans. Before a series of crucial EU meetings starting this weekend, Berlin looks increasingly isolated in its demands, spelling trouble for Merkel at home, where the rescue of spendthrift eurozone countries is deeply unpopular. Merkel’s junior coalition partner, the liberal Free Democrats, on Thursday reiterated the need for the banks to take some of the pain in the Greek crisis. The rescue scenario is also hostage to developments in Greece, with European leaders anxiously eyeing the political turmoil in Athens and questioning whether Papandreou would be able to deliver on his side of the bargain: savage spending cuts and tax increases aimed at raising €28bn, combined with a €50bn privatisation programme. “We expect the Greek parliament to endorse the economic reform programme as agreed by the end of June,” said Rehn. “We will not let the euro area face any kind of catastrophe.” But senior officials in Brussels worried that time was running out. Papandreou’s attempt to form a new government, win a vote of confidence and then drive the austerity package through parliament could take longer than scheduled, jeopardising the planning in European capitals. European debt crisis IMF Europe Greece Germany Ian Traynor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Acting IMF chief threatened to trigger sovereign default if Berlin failed to come to rescue of Greece Germany was forced to agree to bail out Greece for the second time in a year under strong pressure from the International Monetary Fund following the resignation last month of its head, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Guardian has learned. Under its acting chief, the American John Lipsky, the IMF has taken a more hardline stance and it warned the Germans in recent weeks that it would withhold urgently needed funds and trigger a Greek sovereign default unless Berlin stopped delaying and pledged firmly that it would come to Greece’s rescue. Senior officials and diplomats in Brussels confirmed that the IMF threat to pull the plug on its funding – in stark contrast to the more emollient line of Strauss-Kahn – had been defused because of a German climbdown. As political turmoil continued in Greece on Thursday, with the prime minister, George Papandreou, scrambling to form a new government, the stage was being set for a political struggle between Europe’s powerbrokers over the fine print of the proposed new €100bn-plus rescue of Greece. Berlin is deeply at odds with France and with the key EU institutions – the European Central Bank (ECB), the European commission, the presidency of the EU and the head of the eurozone, Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg – over the terms of a new deal. While conceding the need for the new bailout, Berlin is insisting that the banks and other private creditors holding Greek debt suffer losses as part of the rescue plan, which is expected to amount to €125bn (£110bn), or about €90bn if the Germans succeed in forcing losses on holders of Greek bonds. Although international markets enjoyed a calmer day on Thursday, Juncker believes that imposing losses on investors could trigger a European version of the Lehman Brothers bank collapse – a so-called “credit event”. Juncker said: “It’s a really ugly situation. The [German] idea is dangerous. It could provoke the gravest risk, that all three rating agencies declare a credit event and then there are big contagion risks for other countries.” Nout Wellink, a member of the ECB’s governing council, warned that the EU bailout fund would have to double to €1.5tn if Greece fails to pay its debts and spreads financial turmoil to other countries. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy goes to Berlin on Friday for a summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with the aim of stitching up a compromise. Under Greece’s current €110bn bailout, shared by the EU and the IMF, a fifth tranche of €12bn is to be disbursed next month. Publicly, the IMF had been threatening to withhold its share of the money unless Greece’s funding gap for 2012 is closed. But Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for monetary affairs, said on Thursday that the EU and the IMF had agreed to throw Greece the €12bn lifeline by next month to forestall a default. Privately, sources said that Lipsky challenged the Germans on the fringes of a G8 summit in France almost three weeks ago and demanded that Berlin guarantee Greece’s borrowing requirements and put a figure on the pledge. The IMF ultimatum came a week after Strauss-Kahn, a former French presidential contender, resigned as IMF chief following his arrest in New York on charges of attempted rape and sexual assault of a hotel chambermaid. Berlin blinked, according to participants in the negotiations, and 10 days after the IMF challenge, the Merkel government admitted for the first time that Greece would need a new bailout. But it stoked further controversy by demanding that Greece’s private creditors take losses on their loans. Before a series of crucial EU meetings starting this weekend, Berlin looks increasingly isolated in its demands, spelling trouble for Merkel at home, where the rescue of spendthrift eurozone countries is deeply unpopular. Merkel’s junior coalition partner, the liberal Free Democrats, on Thursday reiterated the need for the banks to take some of the pain in the Greek crisis. The rescue scenario is also hostage to developments in Greece, with European leaders anxiously eyeing the political turmoil in Athens and questioning whether Papandreou would be able to deliver on his side of the bargain: savage spending cuts and tax increases aimed at raising €28bn, combined with a €50bn privatisation programme. “We expect the Greek parliament to endorse the economic reform programme as agreed by the end of June,” said Rehn. “We will not let the euro area face any kind of catastrophe.” But senior officials in Brussels worried that time was running out. Papandreou’s attempt to form a new government, win a vote of confidence and then drive the austerity package through parliament could take longer than scheduled, jeopardising the planning in European capitals. European debt crisis IMF Europe Greece Germany Ian Traynor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Acting IMF chief threatened to trigger sovereign default if Berlin failed to come to rescue of Greece Germany was forced to agree to bail out Greece for the second time in a year under strong pressure from the International Monetary Fund following the resignation last month of its head, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Guardian has learned. Under its acting chief, the American John Lipsky, the IMF has taken a more hardline stance and it warned the Germans in recent weeks that it would withhold urgently needed funds and trigger a Greek sovereign default unless Berlin stopped delaying and pledged firmly that it would come to Greece’s rescue. Senior officials and diplomats in Brussels confirmed that the IMF threat to pull the plug on its funding – in stark contrast to the more emollient line of Strauss-Kahn – had been defused because of a German climbdown. As political turmoil continued in Greece on Thursday, with the prime minister, George Papandreou, scrambling to form a new government, the stage was being set for a political struggle between Europe’s powerbrokers over the fine print of the proposed new €100bn-plus rescue of Greece. Berlin is deeply at odds with France and with the key EU institutions – the European Central Bank (ECB), the European commission, the presidency of the EU and the head of the eurozone, Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg – over the terms of a new deal. While conceding the need for the new bailout, Berlin is insisting that the banks and other private creditors holding Greek debt suffer losses as part of the rescue plan, which is expected to amount to €125bn (£110bn), or about €90bn if the Germans succeed in forcing losses on holders of Greek bonds. Although international markets enjoyed a calmer day on Thursday, Juncker believes that imposing losses on investors could trigger a European version of the Lehman Brothers bank collapse – a so-called “credit event”. Juncker said: “It’s a really ugly situation. The [German] idea is dangerous. It could provoke the gravest risk, that all three rating agencies declare a credit event and then there are big contagion risks for other countries.” Nout Wellink, a member of the ECB’s governing council, warned that the EU bailout fund would have to double to €1.5tn if Greece fails to pay its debts and spreads financial turmoil to other countries. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy goes to Berlin on Friday for a summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with the aim of stitching up a compromise. Under Greece’s current €110bn bailout, shared by the EU and the IMF, a fifth tranche of €12bn is to be disbursed next month. Publicly, the IMF had been threatening to withhold its share of the money unless Greece’s funding gap for 2012 is closed. But Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for monetary affairs, said on Thursday that the EU and the IMF had agreed to throw Greece the €12bn lifeline by next month to forestall a default. Privately, sources said that Lipsky challenged the Germans on the fringes of a G8 summit in France almost three weeks ago and demanded that Berlin guarantee Greece’s borrowing requirements and put a figure on the pledge. The IMF ultimatum came a week after Strauss-Kahn, a former French presidential contender, resigned as IMF chief following his arrest in New York on charges of attempted rape and sexual assault of a hotel chambermaid. Berlin blinked, according to participants in the negotiations, and 10 days after the IMF challenge, the Merkel government admitted for the first time that Greece would need a new bailout. But it stoked further controversy by demanding that Greece’s private creditors take losses on their loans. Before a series of crucial EU meetings starting this weekend, Berlin looks increasingly isolated in its demands, spelling trouble for Merkel at home, where the rescue of spendthrift eurozone countries is deeply unpopular. Merkel’s junior coalition partner, the liberal Free Democrats, on Thursday reiterated the need for the banks to take some of the pain in the Greek crisis. The rescue scenario is also hostage to developments in Greece, with European leaders anxiously eyeing the political turmoil in Athens and questioning whether Papandreou would be able to deliver on his side of the bargain: savage spending cuts and tax increases aimed at raising €28bn, combined with a €50bn privatisation programme. “We expect the Greek parliament to endorse the economic reform programme as agreed by the end of June,” said Rehn. “We will not let the euro area face any kind of catastrophe.” But senior officials in Brussels worried that time was running out. Papandreou’s attempt to form a new government, win a vote of confidence and then drive the austerity package through parliament could take longer than scheduled, jeopardising the planning in European capitals. European debt crisis IMF Europe Greece Germany Ian Traynor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Michele Bachmann hides religious extremist views and wins CNN GOP debate, but that’s about to change
June 16, 2011 No CommentI had to laugh after reading the Villagers proclaim Michele Bachmann the winner of CNN’s GOP debate in NH simply because she was able to present herself as somewhat normal. And as many others wrote, she stole the spotlight because she announced on the podium that she was indeed running for President. Wouldn’t any normal person viewing the debate have thought she was already running since she was part of the debate? Michele Bachmann’s star turn Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann came into Monday night’s presidential debate in the Queen City as an unknown commodity. She left it as the most talked-about candidate in the 2012 GOP field. Bachmann stole headlines at the start by announcing that she had filed to run for president — skipping the exploratory phase entirely — and then proceeding to command the stage in the first hour of the CNN-sponsored debate with quotable answers on every question asked of her. The crowd assembled at Saint Anselm College broke into spontaneous applause after several of Bachmann’s answers. And others were impressed that she has 23 foster children. It’s a good thing to be a foster parent, but if anybody in the Beltway Media paid attention earlier, they would have known that and probably reported on it when she started making noises about jumping in the race. She is the head of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress and yet this still seemed to come as a surprise. What we heard from the media since the debate is that she prepared well and had her answers down pat, but what we haven’t heard from the MSM is what her views have beensince she’s been in office outside of bashing Obama. They do know that she shares the same voters that Sarah Palin does. Bill O’Reilly was suggesting that she would make a good VP pick for someone like Romney as he talked to Dick Morris last night because members of the House never get elected as President. Morris agreed with that but only because he believes she hasn’t been vetted yet and there might be downside when the oppo research starts while Romney has already been through that process. That’s the main reason Conservatives hate Romney. The major reason Senators and members of the House have problems running for the Oval Office is because they take many, many votes in Congress which leaves a record that their rivals use against them. President Obama used Hillary Clinton’s vote on the Iraq war as a big tool against her since he never had to take that vote and could later say he would have voted against it. It’s Politics 101. Anyway, Bachmann is as extreme as it gets and it’s not like she’s been hiding it. When she went McCarthy on Chris Matthews and told him that there are anti-American members in Congress and we should investigate them , it became an Internet sensation for lunacy. Before FOX News created the Tea Party, she was considered wackier than Rick Santorum and Dan Webster put together . In other words, she’s the perfect Ralph Reed candidate. The Daily Beast did a little digging into her past and Michele Goldberg wrote up a bio that highlights her extremism: Bachmann’s Unrivaled Extremism Bachmann honed her view of the world after college, when she enrolled at the Coburn Law School at Oral Roberts University, an “interdenominational, Bible-based, and Holy Spirit-led” school in Oklahoma. “My goal there was to learn the law both from a professional but also from a biblical worldview,” she said in an April speech. At Coburn, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe, who she recently described as “one of the professors who had a great influence on me.” Bachmann served as his research assistant on the 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argued that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy, and that it should become one again. “The church and the state have separate spheres of authority, but both derive authority from God,” Eidsmoe wrote. “In that sense America, like [Old Testament] Israel, is a theocracy.” Eidsmoe, who hung up the phone when asked for an interview, is a contentious figure. Last year, he withdrew from speaking at a Wisconsin Tea Party rally after the Associated Press raised questions about his history of addresses to white supremacist groups. In 2010, speaking a rally celebrating Alabama’s secession from the Union, he claimed that Jefferson Davis and John C. Calhoun understood the Constitution better than Abraham Lincoln. Reading Eidsmoe, though, some of Bachmann’s most widely ridiculed statements begin to make sense. Earlier this year, for example, she was mocked for saying that the Founding Fathers “worked tirelessly” to end slavery. But in books by Eidsmoe and others who approach history from what they call a Christian worldview, this is a truism. Despite his defense of the Confederacy, Eidsmoe also argues that even those founders who owned slaves opposed the institution and wanted it to disappear, and that it was only Christian for them to protect their slaves until it did. “It might be very difficult for a freed slave to make a living in that economy; under such circumstances setting slaves free was both inhumane and irresponsible,” he wrote. She’s so nutty that she once called the cops on an ex-nun who tried to talk gay rights with her in a bathroom. TNR believes as I do that she’s the Tea Party darling because she’s melded free market fundamentalism with religious conservatism : Bachmann is a cutting edge religious right conservative, espousing an apocalyptic free market fundamentalism that’s become virtually indistinguishable from the apocalyptic Randian worldview of the party’s libertarian wing. Bachmann spent months addressing Tea Party rallies where she focused primarily on economics. What she’s done like the rest of the social conservatives these days is adopt Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman’s economic theological principles and incorporated them into their many forms of Evangelical Christianity and that will help her in the GOP primary. Here’s a few of her greatest hits since the news media apparently needs me to do some research for them. Michele Bachmann’s economic ideas might be more cruel than Paul Ryan’s Michele Bachmann Pushes Planned Parenthood Sex Trafficking Lie During Ralph Reed’s Wingnut Conference Michele Bachmann blames her reading of articles for getting everything wrong Bachmann’s Iowa Debacle Minnesota GOP invites anti-gay death metal preacher to give opening prayer Bachmann claims NATO killed 30,000 civilians in Libya Michele Bachmann Refuses to Walk Back Gangster Government Comments Michelle Bachmann gives voice to the right’s darkest impulses Michelle Bachmann warns of politically correct re-education camps for young people Congresswoman Bachmann “We Would Do Well To Humble Ourselves Before God!” Bachmann has said Dems didn’t want her to be the first woman President so she was criticized, but here are a few more i nsane rants for your viewing pleasure: Remember when you told Glenn Beck that the census was used to round up Japanese Americans during WWII ? or when you said that health care reform was undesirable because if everyone had access, lines at her doctors’ office would be too long; or when you claimed that “Flying Imams” attended a victory party for Keith Ellison or when you complained about “re-education camps for young people” or when y ou introduced a bill blocking the US from ever joining a global currency .
Continue reading …Michele Bachmann hides religious extremist views and wins CNN GOP debate, but that’s about to change
June 16, 2011 No CommentI had to laugh after reading the Villagers proclaim Michele Bachmann the winner of CNN’s GOP debate in NH simply because she was able to present herself as somewhat normal. And as many others wrote, she stole the spotlight because she announced on the podium that she was indeed running for President. Wouldn’t any normal person viewing the debate have thought she was already running since she was part of the debate? Michele Bachmann’s star turn Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann came into Monday night’s presidential debate in the Queen City as an unknown commodity. She left it as the most talked-about candidate in the 2012 GOP field. Bachmann stole headlines at the start by announcing that she had filed to run for president — skipping the exploratory phase entirely — and then proceeding to command the stage in the first hour of the CNN-sponsored debate with quotable answers on every question asked of her. The crowd assembled at Saint Anselm College broke into spontaneous applause after several of Bachmann’s answers. And others were impressed that she has 23 foster children. It’s a good thing to be a foster parent, but if anybody in the Beltway Media paid attention earlier, they would have known that and probably reported on it when she started making noises about jumping in the race. She is the head of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress and yet this still seemed to come as a surprise. What we heard from the media since the debate is that she prepared well and had her answers down pat, but what we haven’t heard from the MSM is what her views have beensince she’s been in office outside of bashing Obama. They do know that she shares the same voters that Sarah Palin does. Bill O’Reilly was suggesting that she would make a good VP pick for someone like Romney as he talked to Dick Morris last night because members of the House never get elected as President. Morris agreed with that but only because he believes she hasn’t been vetted yet and there might be downside when the oppo research starts while Romney has already been through that process. That’s the main reason Conservatives hate Romney. The major reason Senators and members of the House have problems running for the Oval Office is because they take many, many votes in Congress which leaves a record that their rivals use against them. President Obama used Hillary Clinton’s vote on the Iraq war as a big tool against her since he never had to take that vote and could later say he would have voted against it. It’s Politics 101. Anyway, Bachmann is as extreme as it gets and it’s not like she’s been hiding it. When she went McCarthy on Chris Matthews and told him that there are anti-American members in Congress and we should investigate them , it became an Internet sensation for lunacy. Before FOX News created the Tea Party, she was considered wackier than Rick Santorum and Dan Webster put together . In other words, she’s the perfect Ralph Reed candidate. The Daily Beast did a little digging into her past and Michele Goldberg wrote up a bio that highlights her extremism: Bachmann’s Unrivaled Extremism Bachmann honed her view of the world after college, when she enrolled at the Coburn Law School at Oral Roberts University, an “interdenominational, Bible-based, and Holy Spirit-led” school in Oklahoma. “My goal there was to learn the law both from a professional but also from a biblical worldview,” she said in an April speech. At Coburn, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe, who she recently described as “one of the professors who had a great influence on me.” Bachmann served as his research assistant on the 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argued that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy, and that it should become one again. “The church and the state have separate spheres of authority, but both derive authority from God,” Eidsmoe wrote. “In that sense America, like [Old Testament] Israel, is a theocracy.” Eidsmoe, who hung up the phone when asked for an interview, is a contentious figure. Last year, he withdrew from speaking at a Wisconsin Tea Party rally after the Associated Press raised questions about his history of addresses to white supremacist groups. In 2010, speaking a rally celebrating Alabama’s secession from the Union, he claimed that Jefferson Davis and John C. Calhoun understood the Constitution better than Abraham Lincoln. Reading Eidsmoe, though, some of Bachmann’s most widely ridiculed statements begin to make sense. Earlier this year, for example, she was mocked for saying that the Founding Fathers “worked tirelessly” to end slavery. But in books by Eidsmoe and others who approach history from what they call a Christian worldview, this is a truism. Despite his defense of the Confederacy, Eidsmoe also argues that even those founders who owned slaves opposed the institution and wanted it to disappear, and that it was only Christian for them to protect their slaves until it did. “It might be very difficult for a freed slave to make a living in that economy; under such circumstances setting slaves free was both inhumane and irresponsible,” he wrote. She’s so nutty that she once called the cops on an ex-nun who tried to talk gay rights with her in a bathroom. TNR believes as I do that she’s the Tea Party darling because she’s melded free market fundamentalism with religious conservatism : Bachmann is a cutting edge religious right conservative, espousing an apocalyptic free market fundamentalism that’s become virtually indistinguishable from the apocalyptic Randian worldview of the party’s libertarian wing. Bachmann spent months addressing Tea Party rallies where she focused primarily on economics. What she’s done like the rest of the social conservatives these days is adopt Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman’s economic theological principles and incorporated them into their many forms of Evangelical Christianity and that will help her in the GOP primary. Here’s a few of her greatest hits since the news media apparently needs me to do some research for them. Michele Bachmann’s economic ideas might be more cruel than Paul Ryan’s Michele Bachmann Pushes Planned Parenthood Sex Trafficking Lie During Ralph Reed’s Wingnut Conference Michele Bachmann blames her reading of articles for getting everything wrong Bachmann’s Iowa Debacle Minnesota GOP invites anti-gay death metal preacher to give opening prayer Bachmann claims NATO killed 30,000 civilians in Libya Michele Bachmann Refuses to Walk Back Gangster Government Comments Michelle Bachmann gives voice to the right’s darkest impulses Michelle Bachmann warns of politically correct re-education camps for young people Congresswoman Bachmann “We Would Do Well To Humble Ourselves Before God!” Bachmann has said Dems didn’t want her to be the first woman President so she was criticized, but here are a few more i nsane rants for your viewing pleasure: Remember when you told Glenn Beck that the census was used to round up Japanese Americans during WWII ? or when you said that health care reform was undesirable because if everyone had access, lines at her doctors’ office would be too long; or when you claimed that “Flying Imams” attended a victory party for Keith Ellison or when you complained about “re-education camps for young people” or when y ou introduced a bill blocking the US from ever joining a global currency .
Continue reading …Michele Bachmann hides religious extremist views and wins CNN GOP debate, but that’s about to change
June 16, 2011 No CommentI had to laugh after reading the Villagers proclaim Michele Bachmann the winner of CNN’s GOP debate in NH simply because she was able to present herself as somewhat normal. And as many others wrote, she stole the spotlight because she announced on the podium that she was indeed running for President. Wouldn’t any normal person viewing the debate have thought she was already running since she was part of the debate? Michele Bachmann’s star turn Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann came into Monday night’s presidential debate in the Queen City as an unknown commodity. She left it as the most talked-about candidate in the 2012 GOP field. Bachmann stole headlines at the start by announcing that she had filed to run for president — skipping the exploratory phase entirely — and then proceeding to command the stage in the first hour of the CNN-sponsored debate with quotable answers on every question asked of her. The crowd assembled at Saint Anselm College broke into spontaneous applause after several of Bachmann’s answers. And others were impressed that she has 23 foster children. It’s a good thing to be a foster parent, but if anybody in the Beltway Media paid attention earlier, they would have known that and probably reported on it when she started making noises about jumping in the race. She is the head of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress and yet this still seemed to come as a surprise. What we heard from the media since the debate is that she prepared well and had her answers down pat, but what we haven’t heard from the MSM is what her views have beensince she’s been in office outside of bashing Obama. They do know that she shares the same voters that Sarah Palin does. Bill O’Reilly was suggesting that she would make a good VP pick for someone like Romney as he talked to Dick Morris last night because members of the House never get elected as President. Morris agreed with that but only because he believes she hasn’t been vetted yet and there might be downside when the oppo research starts while Romney has already been through that process. That’s the main reason Conservatives hate Romney. The major reason Senators and members of the House have problems running for the Oval Office is because they take many, many votes in Congress which leaves a record that their rivals use against them. President Obama used Hillary Clinton’s vote on the Iraq war as a big tool against her since he never had to take that vote and could later say he would have voted against it. It’s Politics 101. Anyway, Bachmann is as extreme as it gets and it’s not like she’s been hiding it. When she went McCarthy on Chris Matthews and told him that there are anti-American members in Congress and we should investigate them , it became an Internet sensation for lunacy. Before FOX News created the Tea Party, she was considered wackier than Rick Santorum and Dan Webster put together . In other words, she’s the perfect Ralph Reed candidate. The Daily Beast did a little digging into her past and Michele Goldberg wrote up a bio that highlights her extremism: Bachmann’s Unrivaled Extremism Bachmann honed her view of the world after college, when she enrolled at the Coburn Law School at Oral Roberts University, an “interdenominational, Bible-based, and Holy Spirit-led” school in Oklahoma. “My goal there was to learn the law both from a professional but also from a biblical worldview,” she said in an April speech. At Coburn, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe, who she recently described as “one of the professors who had a great influence on me.” Bachmann served as his research assistant on the 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argued that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy, and that it should become one again. “The church and the state have separate spheres of authority, but both derive authority from God,” Eidsmoe wrote. “In that sense America, like [Old Testament] Israel, is a theocracy.” Eidsmoe, who hung up the phone when asked for an interview, is a contentious figure. Last year, he withdrew from speaking at a Wisconsin Tea Party rally after the Associated Press raised questions about his history of addresses to white supremacist groups. In 2010, speaking a rally celebrating Alabama’s secession from the Union, he claimed that Jefferson Davis and John C. Calhoun understood the Constitution better than Abraham Lincoln. Reading Eidsmoe, though, some of Bachmann’s most widely ridiculed statements begin to make sense. Earlier this year, for example, she was mocked for saying that the Founding Fathers “worked tirelessly” to end slavery. But in books by Eidsmoe and others who approach history from what they call a Christian worldview, this is a truism. Despite his defense of the Confederacy, Eidsmoe also argues that even those founders who owned slaves opposed the institution and wanted it to disappear, and that it was only Christian for them to protect their slaves until it did. “It might be very difficult for a freed slave to make a living in that economy; under such circumstances setting slaves free was both inhumane and irresponsible,” he wrote. She’s so nutty that she once called the cops on an ex-nun who tried to talk gay rights with her in a bathroom. TNR believes as I do that she’s the Tea Party darling because she’s melded free market fundamentalism with religious conservatism : Bachmann is a cutting edge religious right conservative, espousing an apocalyptic free market fundamentalism that’s become virtually indistinguishable from the apocalyptic Randian worldview of the party’s libertarian wing. Bachmann spent months addressing Tea Party rallies where she focused primarily on economics. What she’s done like the rest of the social conservatives these days is adopt Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman’s economic theological principles and incorporated them into their many forms of Evangelical Christianity and that will help her in the GOP primary. Here’s a few of her greatest hits since the news media apparently needs me to do some research for them. Michele Bachmann’s economic ideas might be more cruel than Paul Ryan’s Michele Bachmann Pushes Planned Parenthood Sex Trafficking Lie During Ralph Reed’s Wingnut Conference Michele Bachmann blames her reading of articles for getting everything wrong Bachmann’s Iowa Debacle Minnesota GOP invites anti-gay death metal preacher to give opening prayer Bachmann claims NATO killed 30,000 civilians in Libya Michele Bachmann Refuses to Walk Back Gangster Government Comments Michelle Bachmann gives voice to the right’s darkest impulses Michelle Bachmann warns of politically correct re-education camps for young people Congresswoman Bachmann “We Would Do Well To Humble Ourselves Before God!” Bachmann has said Dems didn’t want her to be the first woman President so she was criticized, but here are a few more i nsane rants for your viewing pleasure: Remember when you told Glenn Beck that the census was used to round up Japanese Americans during WWII ? or when you said that health care reform was undesirable because if everyone had access, lines at her doctors’ office would be too long; or when you claimed that “Flying Imams” attended a victory party for Keith Ellison or when you complained about “re-education camps for young people” or when y ou introduced a bill blocking the US from ever joining a global currency .
Continue reading …Michele Bachmann hides religious extremist views and wins CNN GOP debate, but that’s about to change
June 16, 2011 No CommentI had to laugh after reading the Villagers proclaim Michele Bachmann the winner of CNN’s GOP debate in NH simply because she was able to present herself as somewhat normal. And as many others wrote, she stole the spotlight because she announced on the podium that she was indeed running for President. Wouldn’t any normal person viewing the debate have thought she was already running since she was part of the debate? Michele Bachmann’s star turn Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann came into Monday night’s presidential debate in the Queen City as an unknown commodity. She left it as the most talked-about candidate in the 2012 GOP field. Bachmann stole headlines at the start by announcing that she had filed to run for president — skipping the exploratory phase entirely — and then proceeding to command the stage in the first hour of the CNN-sponsored debate with quotable answers on every question asked of her. The crowd assembled at Saint Anselm College broke into spontaneous applause after several of Bachmann’s answers. And others were impressed that she has 23 foster children. It’s a good thing to be a foster parent, but if anybody in the Beltway Media paid attention earlier, they would have known that and probably reported on it when she started making noises about jumping in the race. She is the head of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress and yet this still seemed to come as a surprise. What we heard from the media since the debate is that she prepared well and had her answers down pat, but what we haven’t heard from the MSM is what her views have beensince she’s been in office outside of bashing Obama. They do know that she shares the same voters that Sarah Palin does. Bill O’Reilly was suggesting that she would make a good VP pick for someone like Romney as he talked to Dick Morris last night because members of the House never get elected as President. Morris agreed with that but only because he believes she hasn’t been vetted yet and there might be downside when the oppo research starts while Romney has already been through that process. That’s the main reason Conservatives hate Romney. The major reason Senators and members of the House have problems running for the Oval Office is because they take many, many votes in Congress which leaves a record that their rivals use against them. President Obama used Hillary Clinton’s vote on the Iraq war as a big tool against her since he never had to take that vote and could later say he would have voted against it. It’s Politics 101. Anyway, Bachmann is as extreme as it gets and it’s not like she’s been hiding it. When she went McCarthy on Chris Matthews and told him that there are anti-American members in Congress and we should investigate them , it became an Internet sensation for lunacy. Before FOX News created the Tea Party, she was considered wackier than Rick Santorum and Dan Webster put together . In other words, she’s the perfect Ralph Reed candidate. The Daily Beast did a little digging into her past and Michele Goldberg wrote up a bio that highlights her extremism: Bachmann’s Unrivaled Extremism Bachmann honed her view of the world after college, when she enrolled at the Coburn Law School at Oral Roberts University, an “interdenominational, Bible-based, and Holy Spirit-led” school in Oklahoma. “My goal there was to learn the law both from a professional but also from a biblical worldview,” she said in an April speech. At Coburn, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe, who she recently described as “one of the professors who had a great influence on me.” Bachmann served as his research assistant on the 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argued that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy, and that it should become one again. “The church and the state have separate spheres of authority, but both derive authority from God,” Eidsmoe wrote. “In that sense America, like [Old Testament] Israel, is a theocracy.” Eidsmoe, who hung up the phone when asked for an interview, is a contentious figure. Last year, he withdrew from speaking at a Wisconsin Tea Party rally after the Associated Press raised questions about his history of addresses to white supremacist groups. In 2010, speaking a rally celebrating Alabama’s secession from the Union, he claimed that Jefferson Davis and John C. Calhoun understood the Constitution better than Abraham Lincoln. Reading Eidsmoe, though, some of Bachmann’s most widely ridiculed statements begin to make sense. Earlier this year, for example, she was mocked for saying that the Founding Fathers “worked tirelessly” to end slavery. But in books by Eidsmoe and others who approach history from what they call a Christian worldview, this is a truism. Despite his defense of the Confederacy, Eidsmoe also argues that even those founders who owned slaves opposed the institution and wanted it to disappear, and that it was only Christian for them to protect their slaves until it did. “It might be very difficult for a freed slave to make a living in that economy; under such circumstances setting slaves free was both inhumane and irresponsible,” he wrote. She’s so nutty that she once called the cops on an ex-nun who tried to talk gay rights with her in a bathroom. TNR believes as I do that she’s the Tea Party darling because she’s melded free market fundamentalism with religious conservatism : Bachmann is a cutting edge religious right conservative, espousing an apocalyptic free market fundamentalism that’s become virtually indistinguishable from the apocalyptic Randian worldview of the party’s libertarian wing. Bachmann spent months addressing Tea Party rallies where she focused primarily on economics. What she’s done like the rest of the social conservatives these days is adopt Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman’s economic theological principles and incorporated them into their many forms of Evangelical Christianity and that will help her in the GOP primary. Here’s a few of her greatest hits since the news media apparently needs me to do some research for them. Michele Bachmann’s economic ideas might be more cruel than Paul Ryan’s Michele Bachmann Pushes Planned Parenthood Sex Trafficking Lie During Ralph Reed’s Wingnut Conference Michele Bachmann blames her reading of articles for getting everything wrong Bachmann’s Iowa Debacle Minnesota GOP invites anti-gay death metal preacher to give opening prayer Bachmann claims NATO killed 30,000 civilians in Libya Michele Bachmann Refuses to Walk Back Gangster Government Comments Michelle Bachmann gives voice to the right’s darkest impulses Michelle Bachmann warns of politically correct re-education camps for young people Congresswoman Bachmann “We Would Do Well To Humble Ourselves Before God!” Bachmann has said Dems didn’t want her to be the first woman President so she was criticized, but here are a few more i nsane rants for your viewing pleasure: Remember when you told Glenn Beck that the census was used to round up Japanese Americans during WWII ? or when you said that health care reform was undesirable because if everyone had access, lines at her doctors’ office would be too long; or when you claimed that “Flying Imams” attended a victory party for Keith Ellison or when you complained about “re-education camps for young people” or when y ou introduced a bill blocking the US from ever joining a global currency .
Continue reading …NBC: Weiner Resignation Announcement ‘Showed Much of His Strength as a Congressman’
June 16, 2011 No Comment
During Thursday NBC News special coverage of New York Congressman Anthony Weiner announcing his resignation, congressional correspondent Kelly O'Donnell remarked to Nightly News anchor Brian Williams: “Anthony Weiner showed much of his strength as a Congressman in what he talked about just now in trying to talk about a message that was something other than this scandal.” [ Audio available here ] After Weiner finished speaking, Williams wondered: “Kelly, was there ever any salvaging this? It's been – it's been said that if he'd been candid at the beginning he could still have his seat in Congress.” O'Donnell acknowledged how damaging the lying was, but then sympathetically observed: “The underlying nature of this type of scandal, which was so embarrassing, also made it very difficult for him to go forward because he has been mocked in a way that no one would ever wish on their enemy.”
Continue reading …