Quote Of The Day

Sept 30th, 2012

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"Can I see another’s woe, and not be in sorrow too? Can I see another’s grief, and not seek for kind relief?"

-- William Blake

In A Nutshell

Sept 28th, 2012
Clay Bennett's brilliant work can be found HERE

Quote Of The Day

Sept 27th, 2012

"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both."

-- Frederick Douglass

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.

Quote Of The Day

Sept 24th, 2012

"Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike."

-- Alexander Hamilton

In A Nutshell

Sept 23rd, 2012

Quote Of The Day - Here And Now Edition

Sept 22nd, 2012

"The Romney campaign has to get turned around. This week I called it incompetent, but only because I was being polite. I really meant 'rolling calamity.'"

-- Peggy Noonan on the increasingly unglued display.

Quote Of The Day

Sept 21st, 2012

"Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well- warmed, and well-fed."
-- Herman Melville

In A Nutshell

Sept 20th, 2012

Quote Of The Year Nominee

Sept 19th, 2012

As succinct a response to this piece of news as we've seen so far.

In A Nutshell

Sept 19th, 2012

Things We Can't Make Up

Sept 19th, 2012

The world sure is going to hell.

Lately, it seems like just about anything is possible provided, of course, that it's miserably ill-conceived and will lead to more misery. It was with this in mind that I avoided the morning presser with Jay Carney. I just couldn't do it. I needed a break from it all while I deal with more immediate crises such as the looming prospect of living in my car while thousands of people steal my music on the internet.

Upon my return to the computer, this was the first thing I saw...

Well. Okay then.

Along with most folks, I wondered if some new Onion/Politico nexus had formed.

Then it struck me. Not everyone would find this absurd. So devoted are the haters, the reactionaries and the outright loons that debate has probably already begun in earnest somewhere over when the attack will begin.

"Yeah, laugh now. You won't be laughing when the tanks roll through WaWa, Ontario and the bombs start falling on Dildo, Newfoundland."

Yes. There is a Dildo, Newfoundland.

Sleep tight and, as Abraham Lincoln so wisely warned, "don't believe everything you read on the internet."

A "Career Politician" Without A "Real Job"

Aug 31st, 2012

I am referring to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), of course. This is how Ryan's own brother, Tobin, referred to him during a chat with Fox News' Megyn Kelly on Wednesday.

The GOP Convention - Over At Last

Aug 31st, 2012

In 32 years of watching political conventions, I've never seen an emptier, more dishonest display. Outside of the Michael Dukakis debacle, I've also never seen a less likable candidate. Yes, that includes Bob Dole.

With just over 2 months to go before the election, the big message of the GOP's final night was that Mitt Romney is actually a human being. They are genuinely concerned about this. They set out to prove it. They also spent about half of the evening trying to rehabilitate the public image of Bain Capital.

A noticable portion of the ceremony was used to soothe fears regarding Romney's Mormonism.

Dave Weigel writes:

"Nineteen years after he started running for office, Mitt Romney schedules references to his religion throughout his biggest night. I can't recall anything comparable for other candidates who broke the WASP barrier."

There was plenty of New Testament but no Joseph Smith. Romney was referred to more than once as "clergy" but the new doctrines of the Church for which he spent so many years as an elder were completely absent. Let's face it, it was weird.

That they found all this image management necessary and Romney still could win this is a testament to the success his party has achieved in sabotaging any recovery and keeping our nation on its knees.

This brings us to getting the economy moving again.

Ezra Klein was justifiably annoyed by the lack of specifics and noted an interesting coincidence:

"The only policy idea he described in any detail was his five-point plan “to create 12 million new jobs.” The plan is more domestic energy production, more free trade agreements, more skills development, more deficit reduction, and cutting taxes and regulations. It is difficult to see how these policies — most of which would take some time to work — would address the jobs crisis we’re in right now. But perhaps they don’t have to. Romney’s target of 12 million jobs over the next four years happens to be the same number of jobs the economic forecasting firm Moody’s Analytics expects us to add even without major policy changes."

The real problem with the Romney jobs promise is not that it cynically parrots existing projections. It's that actually passing his tax plan would likely prevent us from reaching them. Assaulting demand with an average middle class tax hike of $2000 annually will grind whatever growth we might see to a halt.

Pete Suderman is more blunt:

"It's kind of amazing, actually. Romney managed to say even less about what he would do as president than he usually does. Despite Republican Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan's promise earlier today that Romney would discuss his plans for the country in "granular" detail, Romney offered almost nothing in the way of a governing vision, much less specific legislative goals. Instead, he criticized Obama for running up too much debt, and, in practically the same breath, for cutting spending on Medicare and the defense budget. Vote Republican!"

Agreed. There was nothing there. 

If the GOP's plan was an actual product, like a car or a refrigerator, their pitch would be called false advertising at best and criminal misrepresentation at worst.

The terrible, obscene lies of last night were replaced with bland, general falsehoods. Some fact checking can be found HERE and HERE.

In the end, they weren't pitching their own ideas as much as they were challenging the opposition to defend theirs.

I have never seen it done that way.

On a side note, although I find the pile on Clint Eastwood is now enduring to be both vulgar and cruel, there is a sum up in it.

GOP Convention Live Blog

Aug 30th, 2012

10:25pm CST 

And there we have it.

An empty suit with no core values who thinks we can magically alter our financial agreements with China, drastically lower taxes where there is actual revenue, raise them where it will cripple aggregate demand, and retool for a battle against the Soviet menace might be the next President of the United States.

Back later with reactions and round ups.

Quote Of The Day - Batshit Crazy GOP Edition

Aug 30th, 2012

"In 2010, when I was running, everybody said 'No, you're too extreme.' But now look, it's where everybody is going."

-- Notorious GOP whack job and former candidate for the U.S. Senate, Sharron Angle

Did Any Of Them Build This?

Aug 30th, 2012

For all of the mileage the GOP is getting from what is shaping up to be the all time gaffe of President Obama's career, they still just don't seem to have thought this thing through.

The Only Thing They Did Build

"We Built It."

Okay. It's glib but clever. Obama handed it to them. Here's the problem with this theme for the week; it's beginning to look like they didn't actually find anyone to speak at the convention who didn't benefit from public investment.

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.