Mitt Watch: What Sandy Tells Us About The Candidate And His Party

Oct 31st, 2012

UPDATE 4pm CST 11/1/12: In this piece, I made mention of Gov. Christie's very public praise of the President's management of the disaster response. The GOP has begun to savage him for it. That didn't take long.

Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath are perfectly legitimate political issues. That anyone would argue otherwise is ridiculous.

Chait puts it best:

"What you are going to see over the next week is an overt effort by Democrats to politicize the issue of disaster response. They're right to do it. Conservatives are already complaining about this, but the attempt to wall disaster response off from politics in the aftermath of a disaster is an attempt to insulate Republicans from the consequences of their policies."

The GOP has directly targeted our national disaster response mechanisms, having gone so far as to threaten a total government shutdown last year while seeking a nearly forty percent cut to first responders. The outright elimination of FEMA has become a central position among the party's leadership.

Mitt Watch: Ugly Deals And Not So Blind Trusts

Sept 25th, 2012

While everyone is debating either the fairness of the rate or the bizarre and hypocritical over-payment revealed in the release of Mitt Romney's 2011 tax returns, there are some darker and more complicated issues raised.

After reminding us that it was Romney himself who stated years ago "you can always tell a blind trust what it can and cannot do," FT reports that his investments in Chinese energy concern Cnooc, a group with direct dealings in Tehran and a history of human rights abuses, seem to have been made and sold with suspiciously convenient timing regarding his political ambitions.

The short version: his "blind trust" invested in Cnooc after their practices were raising eyebrows and under investigation here in the U.S. but divested late in the Summer of 2011 just before candidate Romney made talking tough on China one of his campaign's talking points. More on this HERE. 

The next time we hear anyone from Team Romney refer to the "morality of capitalism," it's worth asking them just what the hell they think they're talking about.

The Ryan Acceptance Speech, cont...

Aug 30th, 2012

Sally Kohn notes that what Ryan "didn't say" is nearly as remarkable as his stunning deceits:

"Ryan didn’t mention his extremist stance on banning all abortions with no exception for rape or incest, a stance that is out of touch with 75% of American voters.

Ryan didn’t mention his previous plan to hand over Social Security to Wall Street.

Ryan didn’t mention his numerous votes to raise spending and balloon the deficit when George W. Bush was president.

Ryan didn’t mention how his budget would eviscerate programs that help the poor and raise taxes on 95% of Americans in order to cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires even further and increase — yes, increase —the deficit."

Nope. That would have been the real Ryan, the heartless, spoiled, Objectivist child trapped in the body of a man and eager to do whatever he must to secure the accolades of the party of "no."

Now We Know Why Romney Picked Ryan

Aug 30th, 2012

In an election year which has seen one of our country's two major parties nominate the most remarkably dishonest public figure in living memory for the presidency, everyone had an opinion on why that liar picked Paul Ryan as his second. 

Some said it was Ryan's "seriousness." 

Others said it was his "grasp of budgets." 

There were even those that said it was a calculated move to appeal to young, conservative women. After all, Ryan does P90X. He is buff.

We were all wrong. Every one of us failed to see what Romney saw. Paul Ryan, as it turns out, is actually capable of lying with a straight face nearly as well as Mitt Romney himself.

Quote Of The Day - GOP Convention Reaction Edition

Aug 30th, 2012

"Paul Ryan demonstrated that he is an appealing, energetic campaigner comfortable with the sort of looseness with facts voters perpetually reward."

-- The Economist's Will Wilkinson on the stunningly dishonest spectacle that was Paul Ryan's acceptance speech for the VP nomination.

Mitt Watch - Puncturing The Myth Of Bain

Aug 29th, 2012

Team Romney has consistently told a tale of rugged, independent capitalist dynamism when describing the GOP nominee's record at Bain. 

He is credited with nearly singlehandedly saving it from collapse. 

This a a huge part of their argument for a corporate presidency.

Is it true? 

Not by a long shot writes Tom Dickinson:

"The federal records, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that Romney's initial rescue attempt at Bain & Company was actually a disaster – leaving the firm so financially strapped that it had "no value as a going concern." Even worse, the federal bailout ultimately engineered by Romney screwed the FDIC – the bank insurance system backed by taxpayers – out of at least $10 million. And in an added insult, Romney rewarded top executives at Bain with hefty bonuses at the very moment that he was demanding his handout from the feds."

He didn't build this.

Mitt Watch: Now He's Just Lying... Again

May 29th, 2012

If there's any hunk of red meat for self-declared "conservatives" which they can be relied upon to devour more voraciously than charges of "big government" I don't know what it is. Speaking to a crowd in Colorado today, Mittens Romney made the following statement:

"We have 145,000 more government workers under this president. Let’s send them home and put you back to work."

This isn't merely spin and it's not some sort of exaggeration. It's an outright, bold-faced, incredibly big-balled, straight up lie. Period. End of discussion. At least it should be.

Since President Obama took office, six hundred and eight thousand public sector jobs have been eliminated (SOURCE).

Here's the rub; Obama has actually presided over the largest contraction of government in generations, something the right has demanded for as long as can be remembered. That's well over half a million consumers not participating in the economy during the worst downturn in 80 years, a fact which has directly contributed to the stalled recovery by further depressing demand.

To Obama's army of detractors I would say this:

You can have wildly shrinking government or a robust and dynamic short term rebound.

You can't have both.

You have received full delivery on one of your movement's core demands and it is biting our country on the ass.

Sleep tight.

H/T to MM

Mitt Watch - A Staggeringly Ugly Reveal

May 26th, 2012

Image via

Websters defines the word game as an "activity engaged in for diversion or amusement."

Games are fun.

They are also frivolous.

This matters.

In an interview with one of his fawning water-carriers, the WSJ's Peggy Noonan, the GOP nominee for the most powerful position in the history of world said the following a few days ago:

"I think the game is like a sport for old guys. I mean, you know, I can’t compete in competitive sports very well, but I can compete in politics."

This should end Mitt Romney right here.

The shocking elitism in his statement is only matched by its craven stupidity. It's bad enough to consider his even thinking this way. But, to have so little regard for the people that he would say it aloud is unlike anything I have witnessed in the last quarter century.

Politics, by his own proclamation, is simply his latest hobby. While wife Ann spends part of their fortune on her "dressage," Romney has set out to saddle the people with a more hopeless future for his own gratification and that of his monied friends.

After all, it's just a "game."

We are the pawns and pieces. We are the poker chips. He likes a good bluff so why not truck with "birthers" and "tenthers" and propagandists? Anything to win.

After all, it's just a "game."

This serves to explain Romney's staggering mendacity. Why bother to tell the truth?

It's just a "game."

Wild proclamations that Russia is our "number one enemy" don't really mean anything.

It's just a "game."

Promising the last administration's neo-cons that he will give them their third war in the Middle East is of no consequence.

It's just a "game."

A worldview in which leadership of the United States is just a shiny prize during times this turbulent and potentially transformative should preclude eligibility for any office, much less Commander in Chief.

To doubt that a Romney presidency would be a disaster of previously un-imagined proportions is increasingly naive.

Chris Christie - No Ordinary Liar

April 10th, 2012

When New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced he was killing the The Trans-Hudson Passenger Rail Tunnel, a project 20 years in the making, he framed as some incredibly responsible and brave decision making on his part. It represented the new, post Tea Party GOP brand. The project was wasteful and something New Jersey simply couldn't afford!

As it turns out, nearly every metric he pronounced to defend this move was a flat out lie. Ahead of a new GAO report to be released this week detailing his many falsehoods, the NY Times reports:

"Canceling the tunnel, then the largest public works project in the nation, helped shape Mr. Christie’s profile as a rising Republican star, an enforcer of fiscal discipline in a country drunk on debt. But the report is likely to revive criticism that his decision, which he said was about “hard choices” in tough economic times, was more about avoiding the need to raise the state’s gasoline tax, which would have violated a campaign promise. The governor subsequently steered $4 billion earmarked for the tunnel to the state’s near-bankrupt transportation trust fund, traditionally financed by the gasoline tax."

You see? He did do exactly what needed to be done. For himself. The congestion of physical interstate commerce the project would have alleviated extends far beyond New Jersey or New York.

Steve Benen is appalled:

"Even at the time, Christie's decision on this project in 2010 was hard to understand. Conservatives, who've become increasingly hostile towards American infrastructure improvements, cheered the move, but from a substantive perspective, the governor's decision was fairly characterized as "destructive and incredibly foolish."

But this new report casts that decision in an even more damaging light. The Government Accountability Office is a non-partisan research/audit arm of Congress, and it's reporting this week that Christie's rationale for his strange decision wasn't even true. It was a mistake to scrap a major public works project during a weak economy; it was a bigger mistake to explain the move with dishonest claims."

This is big stuff. Gov. Christie, in an act of supreme political selfishness, quite literally damaged a whole sector of the American economy. On purpose.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons the Governor thought better of entering the 2012 race for POTUS.

Romney Watch - The Guy Simply Can't NOT Lie

April 9th, 2012

Regarding a campaign appearance by Mittens last week, Dana Milbank notes just how shocking the candidate's distaste for the truth really is:

"PolitiFact has awarded Romney its “Pants on Fire” or “False” ratings for 32 claims. Among them are these: that Obama “didn’t even mention the deficit or debt” in his State of the Union address, that “our Navy is smaller than it’s been since 1917,” that Obama “never worked in the private sector,” that Obama “gave” the automakers “to the UAW,” and that “we’re only inches away from no longer being a free economy.”

Wednesday’s speech alone had more than a dozen distortions, including allegations that: Obama “has failed to even pass a budget” (Congress passes budget resolutions, which the president doesn’t sign); Obama created a panel empowered to deny treatments under Medicare (the board can only make recommendations, and only if Congress fails to find Medicare cuts), Obama “has added regulations at a staggering rate” (the Business Roundtable just said it “lauded” the administration’s attempt at regulatory reform).

No fewer than three Romney claims in that one speech merited PolitiFact’s “Pants on Fire” rating: that Obama led “a government takeover of health care,” has been “apologizing for America abroad” and is ending “Medicare as we know it.” Romney’s assertions that Obama “is the only president to ever cut $500 billion from Medicare” and that eliminating Obamacare saves “about $100 billion” were rated false.

That Romney resorts to such gratuitous falsehoods discredits his leadership more than his opponent’s."

Understatement Of The Year Nominee

April 5th, 2012

I have to tip my hat to Right Wing Watch for this gem:

"As we have noted several times in recent weeks, David Barton has a problem accurately reporting on contemporary issues that are easily verifiable..."

Wow. This is politeness on a scale that deserves no small amount of praise.

David Barton convulsively lies every single time that he opens his face-hole. RWW has tirelessly and ceaselessly exposed his lies for quite a bit longer than the last few weeks.

Frankly, I suggest that they have every right to take a lot more credit here.

As to the particular matter at hand, David Barton was lying. Again. Really blatantly.

Mitt Watch - Shake, Shake, Shake - Why The Etch-A-Sketch Gaffe Should End Him

March 23rd, 2012
by F. Grey Parker

Image via

Up until a couple of days ago, it had become somewhat superfluous to discuss the fact that Mitt Romney has no real positions on any issues.

This is not to say he doesn't believe in certain things.

I will concede the possibility that he might.

All this said, it is now obvious that there is something in his programming which precludes the courage of whatever convictions he might actually hold.

So used to Romney's 180 degree shifts had we become that we were beginning to dismiss the deadly seriousness his lack of character presents.

Enter the Etch-A Sketch moment. In an interview with CNN, Romney's closest campaign adviser and confidante, Eric Fehrnstrom, had this exchange with John Fugelsang:

Fugelang: Is there a concern that the pressure from Santorum and Gingrich might force the Governer to tack so far to the rigft that it might hurt him with moderate voters in the general election?

Fehrnstrom: Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It's almost like an Etch-a-Sketch – you can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again. But I will say, if you look at the exit polling data in Illinois, you’ll see that Mitt Romney is broadly acceptable to most of the factions in the party. You have to do that to become the major party nominee. (EMPHASES OURS)

Yes. This is as bad as it seems.

Already, this inadvertent revelation of the truth is being compared to Dukakis in the tank in 1988, George H. W. Bush's apparent fascination and previous inexperience with product scanning technology in 1992, and John Kerry's notorious stunner regarding the Iraq war in 2004.

Worth A Thousand Words - Shake, Shake, Shake Edition

March 23rd, 2012

Rush's Rank Hubris

March 5th, 2012

Image via

Well. Apparently poor, little Rush is quite saddened that no one fell for his "apology."

He took to the air today to tell everyone that he really, really, honest to goodness meant it.

Really.

But, being the slop-swilling propagandist, egomaniac and narcissistic fiend that he is, he had to explain that his real transgression last week was, in the words of Politico's MJ Lee, "stooping down to the level of Democrats in discussing the issue of contraception coverage."

Uh huh. Right. It's really the fault of the left that he couldn't contain himself. So much for the party of "personal responsibility."

Limbaugh: "In fighting them on this issue last week, I became like them. Against my own instincts, against my own knowledge, against everything I know to be right and wrong, I descended to their level when I used those two words to describe Sandra Fluke. That was my error. I became like them."

Sure, he "apologized" for calling her "those two words."

You know? "Slut" and "prostitute?"

That just leaves the other fifty individual smears upon Sandra Fluke's character and humanity he has yet to address. Yeah, some folks are counting.

Also, when you follow an apology with a "but?" It's not an apology.

The sponsors continue to flee and the pressure isn't letting up. Nor should it. With any luck, this is the beginning of the end for his vicious, over-ripe festival of lies.

One more time, remember how this all started:

An educated and informed American woman had the audacity to speak publicly after the elected GOP leadership said she was "not qualified" to do so.

The Cain Train Officially Derails

Dec 3rd, 2011

A few weeks ago, I publicly declared we weren't going to seriously follow the Cain campaign anymore. I am breaking that vow for obvious reasons. Today, in a performance as obtuse as it was narcissistic, Herman Cain announced that he was "suspending" his bid for the American Presidency.

Over the course of what Rachel Maddow called his "performance art" campaign, Cain did provide the nation with two valuable contributions; We discussed widely, and for the first time in the broader critical community, the possibility of implementing a "flat tax." His "999" plan helped educate the American people to the fact that flat tax proposals are little more than schemes to benefit paternalistic, crony Capitalism and to further the creation of an American aristocracy. They always have been. What's more, Cain's run allowed the voters of this country to see just how vicious the "family-values" party is willing to be (as shown HERE, HERE,HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE) when they aren't exploiting the peccadilloes of liberal womanizers when their  predations are made public.

That the final straw for the GOP base seems to have been an alleged consensual extramarital relationship and not the allegations of harassment and possibly even sexual assault against numerous women should give us all pause. Barbara J. Risman addresses this HERE.

Cain still refuses to take any responsibility whatsoever. He just can't seem to "blame himself."

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

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

Only Nine?

Dec 1st, 2011

Green Bay Progressive, doing a roundup of PolitiFact ratings, presents nine reasons not to trust Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

Still... only nine?

You Can Tell Because His Lips Are Moving, cont...

Nov 1st, 2011

Good old Gov. John Kasich (OH), whose actions against the average citizen almost make Gov. Scott Walker's (WI) look moderate, is lying. Again. Because that is what he does.

The "Uncertainty" Lie

Oct 10th, 2011

To hear the Republican party's current ranking members tell it, everything wrong with the American economy stems from "over regulation." This has created too much "uncertainty" and is the reason the engine of job creation has collapsed.

In particular, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's (R-VA) entire economic message is based on this premise. A few weeks ago, he repeated his position, "By pursuing a steady repeal of job-destroying regulations, we can help lift the cloud of uncertainty hanging over small and large employers alike, empowering them to hire more workers."

There are more examples of this nonsense HERE, HERE and HERE.

Most experts have been growing increasingly annoyed listening to this skipping record. You don't have to be an ardent Keynesian to understand that the problem starts with demand. Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute recently observed:

"There is a ... story, widely told by Republican politicians and business trade associations, which claims that business investment and hiring is being held back by uncertainty over future regulations and taxation. As Maine Senator Susan Collins said in introducing her bill to put a moratorium on all new regulations: “Businesses, our nation’s job creators and the engine of any lasting economic growth, have been saying for some time that the lack of jobs is largely due to a climate of uncertainty, most notably the uncertainty and cost created by new federal regulations” (Kasperowicz 2011). Her view has been repeated by others, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (2011) and the Chamber of Commerce (Donohue 2011)."

Is it true? Are America's businesses desperately crying out against "regulation?" 

In a word, "NO." 

As it turns out, not only is it provable that this is bullshit but, even better, it is former Reagan aide and stalwart conservative economist Bruce Bartlett who has done just that.

"Evidence supporting Mr. Cantor’s contention that deregulation would decrease unemployment is very weak. For some years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has had a program that tracks mass layoffs. In 2007, the program was expanded, and businesses were asked their reasons for laying off workers. Among the reasons offered was “government regulations/intervention.” There is only partial data for 2007, but we have data since then through the second quarter of this year.

The table below presents the bureau’s data. As one can see, the number of layoffs nationwide caused by government regulation is minuscule and shows no evidence of getting worse during the Obama administration. Lack of demand for business products and services is vastly more important."

Here is the same data from the BLS crunched by the EPI in the form of a graph.

I have opined in the past that this "uncertainty" meme is not only dishonest, it is actually anti-Capitalist.

What the GOP has been arguing in favor of over the last decade is not unfettered markets. They want to rig the game, not set it free.

Pure Capitalism is built on the concept of accepting risk.

Today's Republicans are stipulating that there should be little or no risk.

They are determined to shield capital investors from the consequences of stupid or even dangerous decisions. Their message and their mission is to eliminate responsibility.

The sick irony, now that they also have declared that "corporations are people," is that they are actually doing what they have been arguing "liberals" have been trying to do for the last two generations.

The GOP is actively conferring victimhood on a group and trying to confer special rights and a special status.

It's not the corporation's fault... it's everybody else's fault.

The little dears... 

The Grifta From Wasilla

Oct 8th, 2011

Again, I have been eating crow this week for having stuck to the position that Sarah Palin would run for the Presidency.

Long after most of her cheerleaders and detractors alike had formed the opposite view, I was blogging posts like this one    --> HERE.

Yup. I got it totally wrong.


Of course, I don't think any of us have actually seen this sort of behavior from a supposedly "serious" candidate before. Jon Stewart nails her to the wall for her obscene profiteering:

"The only way Sarah Palin's fundraising scheme would be dishonorable is if she had known her decision all along yet continued to dangle her indecision as a lure to donors."

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Rick Perry's Big Bold Faced Lie

Sept 13th, 2011

During last night's Tea Party sponsored "debate," Gov. Rick Perry dropped a line that was so provably untrue it was actually impressive. Regarding the 2009 stimulus, Perry declared that:

"It created zero jobs."

Yes, Politifact gave it a "pants on fire" rating. As a matter of course. The whole exchange is worth reading as it more than confirms that we are dealing with something other than a political party.