Monthly Archives: August 2012
The Democratic National Convention begins in 4 days
And now for something completely different…
The DNC theme ought to be “A Breath of Sanity.”
The first two days of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, Tuesday, September 4 and Wednesday, September 5, will be held at Time Warner Cable Arena. President Obama and Vice President Biden will accept the Democratic nominations for President and Vice President on Thursday, September 6 at Bank of America Stadium. See Schedule…
demnewswire: Add your name if you stand with Barack and Joe: http://dems.me/TC5Gu8
via: afmjen
Romney will create 12 million new jobs? Yeah, that’s going to happen with him or without him.
Romney claims that his economic plan will create 12 million new jobs. Well, it turns out the baseline job growth over the next four years is already 12 million new jobs.. thanks to the policies of President Obama. (via: thepoliticalfreakshow)
It’s like he’s bragging that he’ll make sure the Earth continues to rotate every day.
Stephen Colbert on the RNC’s theme “We built it”
Source: sandandglass
This seat’s taken
Register to vote | Volunteer | Contribute (via: demnewswire)
Let’s make sure that THIS seat stays taken.
Clint Eastwood and the Empty Chair Meme: The Eastwooding
via: christopherstreet
An empty chair. Less Clint Eastwood’s metaphor for president Obama and more the Republican party’s metaphor for black people. — inothernews
via: motherjones
via: jamesurbaniak
via: christopherstreet
motherjones: Srsly, we live for moments like these in human events. (via)
joegressivism: Chair we can believe in!
Related:
Sarah will not go gentle into that good night
Not only was Sarah Palin not invited to the Republican Shindig in Tampa, but the Huffington Post reports that Fox News cancelled *all* the appearances of Our Lady of Petulant Facebook Posts on Wednesday night. Palin posted her feelings about that to Facebook (natch):
[Palin] said she was miffed that she wasn’t getting a chance to laud John McCain, who is also speaking tonight. She posted a picture of the two of them, along with a statement:
I’m sorry Fox cancelled all my scheduled interviews tonight because I sure wanted to take the opportunity on the air to highlight Senator John McCain’s positive contributions to America, to honor him, and to reflect on what a biased media unfairly put him through four years ago tonight. Granted, our honored and esteemed war hero has gone through much more than the liberal media can ever do to him in their efforts to harm this patriot. I look forward to hearing his words to his fellow Americans tonight more than any of the other convention speeches. God bless John McCain. Thank you for everything. And happy birthday, my friend.
[...] Fox News responded to Palin with a statement by Bill Shine, executive vice president of programming, that was sent to Mediaite: “Our plans changed based on the fact that the RNC condensed the schedule of speeches from four nights to three. We look forward to having Governor Palin back as soon as we can.”
In other words: don’t go away mad, Sarah. Just go away.
It’s cute they still like to call her “Governor” Palin, as if people will forget she quit that job halfway through. Sarah’s 15 minutes are over — it’s Romney-Ryan’s Fox News / GOP now.
UPDATE! Fox “News” capitulated to the Facebook screed within 24 hours, and had Sarah on for her special blend of expert analysis (without all the pesky commas and periods) on Thursday night. New glasses and everything!
She wants Romney-Ryan to apologize for voting for things that she’s (now) against: “Well, that is when a mea culpa comes in quite handy and everyone who voted for TARP and stimulus, and the six trillion dollars additional in debt that we hand to our kids and grandkids to have to pay off, which totals now $16 trillion in debt by growing government these last four years under Obama, now everybody needs say, ‘hey, I’m sorry man, for voting for that, sorry for supporting these bailouts and the Cash for Clunkers and all these goofy programs where centralized government planners tried to plan our economy and they failed.’”
Let’s recall how The Savior of the Teapeoples viewed federal money as a mayor and a governor of Alaska before she became one-half of Team Maverick, then quit her day job to become a one season reality star and Fox News political analyst:
Boston Herald: Palin for ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ before she was against it – Also mentioned elsewhere on this site, she didn’t sell the previous governor’s plane on eBay. It was listed a few times, but no one bought it. Ultimately, state officials sold it at a $600,000 loss. Politico.com – As mentioned elsewhere on this site, she was in favor of the “bridge to nowhere” before it become a national embarrassment; then she turned against it. But guess what? She kept the money, and spent it on other road projects (including the “road to the bridge to nowhere”, which currently leads up to an empty beach). Gov. Palin’s claim comes with a serious caveat. She endorsed the multimillion dollar project during her gubernatorial race in 2006. And while she did take part in stopping the project after it became a national scandal, she did not return the federal money. She just allocated it elsewhere. ”We need to come to the defense of Southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table like the bridge,” Gov. Palin said in August 2006, according to the local newspaper, “and not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that’s so negative.”
The Political Chase – Palin Hired Lobbyist to Get Millions in Earmarks – When she was first elected mayor of Wasilla, the town was debt-free. When she left, the town had $20 million in debt. Palin, who portrays herself as a fiscal conservative, racked up nearly $20 million in long-term debt as mayor of the tiny town of Wasilla —that amounts to $3,000 per resident. She argues that the debt was needed to fund improvements. Washington Post – Palin Billed State for Nights Spent at Home – She talks about being opposed to federal pork-barrel spending. But as mayor of Wasilla, she hired a lobbyist who raked in $27 million in federal dollars for the town of 6,700 residents. (That’s $4029 of our taxes given to each Wasillan.) A $1.9 million transportation hub and $15 million for a rail project in a town with 6,700 residents? How many small town mayors are getting funding from the feds for projects like that?
Alaska is the ultimate welfare state: it receives more federal tax dollars than any other state in the union. It gives its residents handouts, thanks to a windfall profits tax on oil (a tax supported by Obama and opposed by McCain!). Sarah Palin has been at the forefront of making all of this happen.
RNC: accidental truths
Lindsey Graham’s moment of truth
“We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.” — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), in a Washington Post interview on Wednesday
The base of the RNC: here’s why Romney uses welfare ads and birther jokes
From CNN’s Political Ticker:
CNN Goes On Air With Story About Incident Against Network’s Black Camerawoman | TPM LiveWire
On air this evening, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer called attention to the network’s earlier report on two Republican National Convention attendees throwing nuts at a black CNN camerawoman and saying, “This is how we feed animals.” The attendees were removed from the Tampa Bay Times Forum after the exchange.
Blitzer called the incident “truly shocking” and said it “hit home” for everyone at the network. CNN political analyst Donna Brazile said during the segment she hopes the two attendees have their convention credentials revoked.
How many undecideds and independents will be captured in the GOP’s alluring net of misogynistic racism? I guess we’ll see in November.
I look forward to all the hilarious teleprompter jokes from Fox News, et al. today
Via thepoliticalfreakshow: Lots of conservatives have mocked Obama for using Teleprompters, but Romney hasn’t. As he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity, “it does make some sense though, I understand, it makes some sense.” He got the prompters adjusted this afternoon:
And from Tuesday night:
PHOTO BY J. SCOTT APPLWHITE, AP PHOTO • Ann Romney is greeted on stage by her husband Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney after her speech to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012.
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The “Reader-in-Chief” – Obama’s Teleprompter: The GOP’s Dumbest Attack: ”It’s a strange obsession because it’s inane. Teleprompters are tools. Sure they’re high tech if you’ve just emerged from the 1950s (which might explain the GOP’s fascination with them), but ultimately they’re just a medium for prepared remarks, substantively no different from a sheet of paper on a lectern. A teleprompter can’t magically imbue a poor speech with additional spellbinding qualities. Criticizing someone for using a teleprompter is like berating him for using a microphone, or arguing that there’s something wrong with writing on a word processor rather than with a quill and ink…”
However, when someone who’s held up as The Savior to the Teapeoples has to write the high points of her speech on her hand… that’s a whole different level of WTF. Especially when said Savior loves to talk about the president’s teleprompter usage.
From February/2010
Betty White vs. Clint Eastwood
Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech: NINE issues he decided he wouldn’t talk about
Long on biography but short on policy.
Think Progress lists 9 items Romney either didn’t bring up — or that were mentioned in passing — in his acceptance speech last night. “[F]or a candidate who chose Paul Ryan as his running mate to signal a willingness to take on big challenges, Romney spent precious few — if any — words discussing some of the country’s most pressing problems and even less time explaining how a Romney/Ryan administration would solve them:”
- – 0 mentions of Financial Reform: Even as millions of Americans struggle with the effects of the Great Recession caused by Wall Street malfeasance and scores of others continue to deal with the fallout of the foreclosure fraud scandal, Romney has said that he will repeal the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law, but has yet to detail what, if anything, he would put in its place.
- — 0 mentions of Climate Change: “President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet,” Romney said to loud laughter. It’s too bad that he and most of the GOP delegates don’t believe in the very real threat of global warming.
- – 0 mentions of Immigration: “We are a nation of immigrants,” Romney said, without explaining how he would help the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. Romney has not said if he would rescind Obama’s temporary directive permitting young undocumented immigrants to work in the country, though his advisers have suggested that he would.
- – 0 mentions of Romneycare: The convention speakers didn’t tackle Romney’s greatest accomplishment as governor, the enactment of universal health care coverage in Massachusetts. Romney promised to repeal Obamacare, but did not say what he would replace it with.
- – 0 mentions of Afghanistan or Syria: Romney did not mention how he planned to address the nation’s largest ongoing wars or one of the most important ongoing humanitarian crises on Earth. This may be because the Romney campaign has been unable to meaningfully distinguish its policies from those of the Obama administration on either of these crucial issues.
- – 0 mentions of Social Security: Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, has proposed Social Security privatization schemes that would have cost retirees dearly if they had been in place during the financial crisis.
- – 0 mentions of Veterans: Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Romney has ignored veterans issues. After he spoke to the Veterans of Foreign Wars last month, veteran advocates said they were “still waiting for Romney to spell out how he would do better than his opponent.” “We haven’t … heard any specific plans yet from Governor Romney or his campaign,” said Bob Wallace, executive director at the Washington office of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, echoing the sentiment of many advocates.”
- – 1 mention of Medicare: Romney criticized Obama for cutting $716 billion cuts from Medicare — reductions that are also included in Paul Ryan’s budget. But did not explain what his own controversial reforms. Under Romney’s “premium support” plan, seniors would have to spend significantly more for health care.
- – 1 mention of Housing: Romney did say, “when the realtor told you that to sell your house you’d have to take a big loss” — but that’s all. The Federal Reserve bank of New York anticipates that millions of Americans will face foreclosure this year and next, but Romney has yet to release a housing plan, beyond telling homeowners in foreclosure-battered Las Vegas “don’t try and stop the foreclosure process,” just “let it run its course and hit the bottom.”
Mitt Romney is a firm believer in keeping secrets, which includes his policy plans. Romney has restricted voters to a ‘need to know’ access, meaning they don’t need to know until after they vote for him.
Do you have a law degree? Well do ya, punk?
FUN FACT: 25 of the 44 presidents have been lawyers.
image: lycanpedia
The enormous problem with Marco Rubio’s speech
Rubio follows Christie’s lead, ignores Romney: Rubio’s speech was 1,733 words, only a handful of which were “Romney.” What did the senator have to say about his party’s presidential nominee? From the speech: “He’s a devoted husband, father and grandfather. A generous member of his community and church. Everywhere he’s been, he’s volunteered his time and talent to make things better for those around him.” That’s it; that was the entirely of Rubio’s praise of his party’s presidential nominee — at the national convention in which he was introducing Romney. [...] And last night, Rubio used his time in the spotlight to advance himself, not his would-be president. Given the larger suspicion that the Republican Party only tolerates Romney, and is primarily motivated by its hatred of the president, Rubio’s speech helped capture a larger problem.
