Daily Archives: July 25, 2012

The congressional culture of corruption

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“During the years I was lobbying, I purveyed millions of my own and clients’ dollars to congressmen, especially at such decisive moments. I never contemplated that these payments were really just bribes, but they were. Like most dissembling Washington hacks, I viewed these payments as legitimate political contributions, expressions of my admiration of and fealty to the venerable statesman I needed to influence. Outside our capital city (and its ever-prosperous contiguous counties), the campaign contributions of special interests are rightly seen as nothing but bribes. The purposeful dissonance of the political class enables congressmen to accept donations and solemnly recite their real oath of office: My vote is not for sale for a mere contribution. They are wrong. Their votes are very much for sale, only they don’t wish to admit it. The reason they don’t feel they are being bought is that the interaction seems so normal. In fact, were they not public servants, it would be very normal.” — Jack Abramoff

Thanks to Citizens United, America will be wholly owned and operated by a small group of millionaires and billionaires if they manage to help Mitt Romney buy the White House.

Inside the mind of a rightwing nutjob: James Taranto

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John Cole posted the following and, rightly, tells James Taranto to go fuck himself:

“James Taranto, the WSJ rightwing nutjob whose job is the Best of the Web feature, which invariably means reposting whatever Glenn Reynolds or the halfwits at NRO write every day:

“He is, of course, referring to the reports that a number of men used their bodies to shield their loved ones during the Aurora massacre. Most of us thought of this as a noble and amazing sacrifice… You know who got to make the decision whether their lives were worth it, Taranto? The three heroes who ate bullets saving their loved ones, not some fat scumbag neocon filth sitting comfortably with a glass of bourbon while wanking on twitter from the comfort of a wingback chair in Manhattan.”

What John Cole said. And when Cole tells Taranto to go fuck himself, I think we can all understand that’s probably an accurate description of Taranto’s entire relationship history. The Wall Street Journal must be very proud to have this guy on board.

Mitt Romney is an extremely wealthy man propped up by extremely wealthy donors

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How to buy the White House (aka political investing for profit):

“About four dozen donors and families have given at least $1 million to super PACs this election cycle, with three-quarters of them giving to the GOP. Combined, these four dozen donors have provided $130 million of the $308 million super PACs have raised this cycle (more than 40 percent) — a reflection of how much these outside groups are funded by extremely wealthy donors. And that goes double on the GOP side, where nearly half of the $228 million raised by super PACs has come from about three dozen million-dollar donors. [...] Topping our list, of course, is the family of Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, which has combined to give more than $36 million (including funds given by their children). Much of it has gone to a super PAC supporting Newt Gingrich in the Republican presidential primary, but more recently the couple gave $10 million to the top super PAC supporting Mitt Romney. [...] The point? Democrats are making the case that Romney is an extremely wealthy man propped up by extremely wealthy super PAC donors. And at least for now, with super PACs carrying the load for Romney in the early ad wars, there’s a lot of truth to that.” — The Fix’s super PAC Millionaires Club – The Washington Post

What do they hope to get for the millions they’re pouring into Romney? More money, more tax cuts, loopholes, and subsidies, paid for with austerity cuts for the rest of America.

Related: 

Like Mitt Romney, the world’s super rich are hiding at least $21 trillion offshore (Where’s the tax returns?)

image: christopherstreet

Romney’s own “you didn’t build that” moment at the 2002 Winter Olympics

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“You Olympians, however, know you didn’t get here solely on your own power.”

– Mitt Romney, quoted by NBC News, during his speech at the opening ceremonies at the 2002 Winter Olympics. (via: Political Wire)

“Of course Americans build their own business.”

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…

Oh, and we still want to see Romney’s tax returns and want to know when he actually LEFT Bain Capital… because that information does matter.

Related: 

“There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody.You built a factory out there — good for you!  But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for.  You didn’t have to worry that maurading bands would come and seize everything at your factory and (have to) hire someone to protect against this because of the work the rest of us did. Now look: you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea — God Bless! Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is that you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.” — Elizabeth Warren, explaining how there’s nobody in this country who got rich on his own.

Romney adviser to Britain: Obama’s black. Romney’s white. What else do you need to know?

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“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and [Mitt Romney] feels that special relationship is special. The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have.”

— an unnamed adviser to Mitt Romney, speaking to The Daily Telegraph yesterday, ahead of Romney’s overseas tour of Britain, Israel and Poland on Wednesday.

Michele Bachmann has finally identified the real threat to our nation: Michele Bachmann

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Obviously as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Bachmann should ask that she be investigated by the various IGs, along with anyone else who signed onto Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge / secret Muslim agenda:

“Anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist helped the Muslim Brotherhood infiltrate the U.S. government, according to the report that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) cited in an attack on top State Department aide Huma Abedin.

“Earlier this month, Bachmann and four other Republicans sent a letter to inspectors general in the State, Homeland Security, Defense and Justice departments calling on them to investigate “potential Muslim Brotherhood infiltration” of the Obama administration by [Huma] Abedin, an aide to Secretary Clinton and wife of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY).

“As evidence of their claims, the five Republicans cited “The Muslim Brotherhood in America: The Enemy Within,” a ten-part video course produced by the Center for Security Policy.

“The movies claim that the “Muslim Brotherhood was helped in its efforts to achieve information dominance over the George W. Bush administration” by Norquist, a Christian. The influential anti-tax activist is also accused of using “various organizations to promote Islamist agendas.”

“Nearly every Republican in Congress has signed Norquist’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge, vowing to oppose any and all tax increases. Only 14 Republican members of 112th Congress have refused to sign the pledge.”

Michele Bachmann signed it. Apparently there are only 14 Republicans who are not in league with Norquist. That’s a lot of infiltration if you ask me.

And, let’s be honest, it’s like a sick joke on the entire nation that Bachmann is a member of something called the “House Intelligence Committee” to begin with — like a big “pull my finger” to every American from the GOP.

Vote some of these nutjobs out of office in November.