Month: October 2010

Slap In The Face

by digby

I kept hearing yesterday from all the Village pundits that the Republicans under great centrist statesman John Boehner were going to moderate after the election because they know they have to govern. (And anyway all this election unpleasantness doesn’t mean they aren’t the grown-ups anymore because they totally are.)

Well, if this is any indication of how it’s going to go, I wouldn’t place any bets on it:

Republican Rich Iott, the controversial Congressional candidate who has drawn fire for donning a German Waffen SS uniform, refused on Saturday to say whether he would support Minority Leader John Boehner for Speaker should the GOP win control of the House on Tuesday.

Iott’s comments were made moments after Boehner spoke to a group of Republican volunteers at the Lucas County Republican Party headquarters in downtown Toledo.

“I don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see,” Iott told Roll Call when asked if Boehner would have his support for the top House job if Republicans successfully win the majority in the House.

Iott, a tea party favorite, did not say who he would support instead of Boehner.

Boehner has received heavy criticism for his continued support for Iott after the photos of the Republican candidate in the SS uniform surfaced on the Atlantic.

Here you have a Nazi sympathizer running for congress. The probable future speaker of the House endures a huge amount of criticism for agreeing to appear with him, but does it for the good of the ball team anyway (and probably because he has no personal problem with Nazis.) And for his trouble he gets slapped in the face almost immediately by the guy he’s supposed to be helping.

Welcome to our world John Boehner. How do you like these Teabaggers now?

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Send In The Clowns

by digby

ABC has hired Andrew Breitbart and his lying little helper Dana Loesch to do election night coverage. Seriously.

I don’t think I have to spell out all the ways in which it is an insult to its viewers and to its journalists to do this. There are many examples of his grievously bad judgment and disgusting behavior, many of which are listed here. But my personal favorite of his “journalistic” top ten screw-ups has to be this one:

And then there was the stellar work produced by Andrew Breitbart, the self-styled leader of today’s conservative “journalism.” His site last week claimed to have uncovered a video of community organizers praying to Obama. Talk about “buzz”! Obedient right-wing bloggers such as Malkin, Atlas Shrugs, RedState, Stop the ACLU, HotAirPundit, Sundries Shack, along with cable TV talkers Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs, immediately piled on, openly mocking a group of mostly African-Americans activists as they gathered in prayer. (If second-graders aren’t off-limits from being called “Obama-worshiping drones” by members of the right-wing media, why would people amidst prayer not be ridiculed, right?) One right-wing site accused the organizers of “blasphemy,” and lots more shrieked as loud as they could about how the devastating video confirmed that loony liberals were falling for the Cult of Obama. RedState: “Speechless.” Hot Air Pundit: “Difficult to watch.” Stop the ACLU: “It’s a cult.” HotAirPundit: “Shocking Video.” Slight problem: When some sane people outside of Breitbart’s (hate) circle actually watched the video, they realized that the community organizers who gathered weren’t saying “Obama.” They were saying “Oh God,” which is typical when people are in prayer. So, yeah, that was a hiccup. Meaning, the only reason Breitbart posted the video was in order to smear liberal activists in prayer because he thought they were saying “Obama.” That was the whole point of the video. But Breitbart bungled the audio, which meant the smear collapsed, even some right-wing bloggers, such as … well, pretty much all them, never bothered to correct their original posts in which they called the organizers out as creepy cult members.

ABC must know that the Shirley Sherrod or ACORN stories aren’t the only examples of his mendacious ways. He’s made his career out of these racist video hoaxes. It isn’t a coincidence. So I think we have to assume they think having a lying racist on the air will bring in some ratings. Whether they foolishly see this as adding “edge” to their allegedly hip “Facebook” program or whether they are making a pitch for Fox’s white supremacist audience, it’s a journalistic travesty to allow this man and his lying lieutenant anywhere near a legitimate news organization.

But then these news outlets are all making huge profits from the right wing buy out of our democracy, so maybe it’s just the price of doing business.

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Both Sides Now

by digby

Could someone please explain to Howard Fineman that negative ads aren’t to blame for violent behavior by right wing thugs at political events? (If that were true, I think the left would be justified in detonating a nuclear bomb.) Discussing the incident in Kentucky on Hardball today, he said this:

Fineman: Having worked in Kentucky and known that place and know a lot of people there, it’s nothing special about Kentucky. You know, it’s a hard fought battle with a lot of nasty stuff, and this is true all over the country, very nasty things being said. Don’t forget Chris that virtually every ad that’s been on television every message from every candidate all year this year has been negative. There’s been very little positive advertising on anything. So one reason that … (The video is playing over this and Chris interjects, “he’s crunching her there!) ok,… well, it’s a short hop, step and a jump from calling some people evil and unpatriotic to basically inhuman…

Chris: The sanctions are there

Fineman: the sanctions are already there in the hyperbole in these ads — on both sides.

Up until the time he said “both sides” I was assuming that he was holding the right wing candidates responsible for dehumanizing their opponents thus sanctioning the supporters violent actions. Sadly, no.

The conversation continued with Fineman getting quite indignant at the idea that some of these actions were against the press (and therefore completely beyond the pale)and expressing his shock that Harry Reid might lose to a nutball like Sharron Angle. Matthews then pointed out that there was a disturbing pattern of these thuggish authoritarian tactics and Fineman obviously realized that un-Villagelike shrillness was imminent. He jumped in

:

Fineman: I think there are different categories of offenses here. I’m not sure …

Matthews: You don’t see a theme here.

Fineman: What I see as a theme is the rough edge of American politics which has been dragged to the right

Matthews: how the fringe that’s always been there, but because of bad times they nominate these people. There’s always been a Sharron Angle…

Fineman: But I think if you look at history, I’m sure if you look over the past 75, 80 years sometimes on the left there were some rough stuff, over the years, if you want to go back to the 30s, if you want to go back in various parts of what was going on during the depression…

Matthews: but they were clashing with the Pinkertons, they weren’t going after …

Fineman: big city machines and stuff…

Walsh: … there was labor strife..

Fineman: there were some not nice things that happened on election day on the other side

Matthews: I sense that it’s asymmetric this year

Fineman: Maybe it is this year, but if you look at history …

Matthews: last thought Joan. I think it’s peculiar to one side this year.

Joan: I think it’s extremely unbalanced and it’s on the one side I can’t think of an example of a Democratic congressional of senate candidate at this point using any of these tactics. So I’m not comfortable with “both sides do it” Howard.

Fineman: Well, I’m just saying that if you look at history I’m sure you can find examples.

Sure you can. In 1789 in France, for instance. But it’s relevance to what’s happening in America in 2010 is just a teensy bit obscure, Howard.

The Villagers are determined to create a narrative that “both sides do it” and it doesn’t hold water. (Chris Cilizza insisted on it yesterday as well.) The difference in this cycle isn’t the ads and both sides are definitely not doing it. It’s the violent rhetoric on the part of Republican candidates and their overstimulated supporters that’s causing this.

And I would bet that it’s only going to get worse after they win. After all, we will still have a Democratic president (the horror, the horror…) and they will realize that even when they win, their enemies are not going to fall to their knees, admit they were wrong and wholeheartedly join the conservative movement. And that will drive them mad. You see, when they win an election, they have a mandate that requires total capitulation. When Democrats win, it means that the people either made a mistake or the election was stolen. Democratic majorities and Democratic presidents cannot, by definition, be legitimate. They will be both emboldened by the win and infuriated by the fact that the other side will continue to exist (regardless of what it actually does.) It’s going to be a rough two years.

And by the way, if anyone knows Howard, could they please remind him of this? It really puts this whole thing in context.

*My friend JS wrote to me about that post I linked in that last paragraph and said, “In this post, you call the right out on their “double standard” as if they’re doing democracy and failing hideously at it. But they’re not doing democracy anymore–they’re doing war. That’s why it’s so ugly, and why the only discernible rule there they follow is “we win and you lose, no matter what it takes.” He’s got a point.

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Obama’s Secret Healthcare Army

by digby

Kyle at Rightwing Watch shares an inspirational video:

I’m a Special Forces officer, I’m a Green Beret and I’ve studied Marxist insurgency, it was part of my training. And the things I know have been done in every Marxist insurgency are being done in America today.

The final thing has been to establish a constabulary force, a force that can control the population. You say “well, we don’t have that.” Well, let me remind you that prior to the election, the President stood up and said that if elected he would have a nation civilian security force that would be as large as and as well-equipped as the United States military.

For what?

Remember Hitler had the Brownshirts and in the Night of the Long Knives, even Hitler got scared of the Brownshirts and killed thousands of them.

So you say “are there any signs that that’s happened” and the truth is yes. If you read the health care legislation which, by the way nobody in Washington has read, but if you read the health care legislation it’s actually in the health care legislation.

There are paragraphs in the health care legislation that talk about the commissioning of officers in time of a national crisis to work directly for the President. It’s laying the groundwork for a constabulary force that will control the population in America.

Who else? General Jerry Boykin, who served under George W. Bush as the Undersecretary of Intelligence at the State Department. Thankfully, he’s out of uniform now, but just think about the fact that until just a few years ago he was running the Pentagon’s covert operations. I’m sure you all recall that he was quoted in uniform saying that his God was real and the Islamic god was an idol. But this is what really characterized Boykin, the fine upstanding Christian General:

A December 9, 2003 item in The Guardian (UK) connected Boykin with secret Israeli counterinsurgency assistance in Iraq, allegedly including assassination squads. In another Guardian articleclaimed that towards the end of 2003, it was Boykin who, under Donald Rumsfeld’s orders, advised then Camp X-Ray head Major General Geoffrey Miller in Guantanamo to transfer the same Camp X-Ray methods to Abu Ghraib and the Iraqi prison system.

Now he’s lecturing America on how to regain its moral compass.

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“Stabilizing The Retirement Age”

by digby

Parker and Spitzer have been inviting national politicians on to their show to make a final argument for their sides going into next Tuesday’s election. Yesterday they had Bill Richardson on:

SPITZER: We’re going to talk a bit more about Afghanistan in a moment. But to come back to the deficit for a second. Would you — because I want to just sort of get your views on the things we’re asking everybody, most of the money and the entitlement, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, would you in some way change those programs right now to restore balance over the next 10, 15, 20 years? Social security in particular?

RICHARDSON: Well, you have to slow the growth. You have to have a bipartisan agreement. It’s never going to happen if we just demagogue this issue. But, yeah, you got to look at ways that you’re at least slowing the growth. You can’t just say, all right, we’re going to cut Social Security, the base of it. But there are ways that we financially, I believe, Governor, we can be more effective at stabilizing the retirement age, stabilizing Social Security, finding ways, you know, the Peterson, the Pete Peterson Commission, maybe make that a serious bipartisan effort. It is bipartisan, but have ways that both parties come together. And I think if the Republicans do make some gains, there’s a potential for a lot of bipartisan agreements. I hope they don’t make gains, but if they are, perhaps on free trade agreements, on efforts to create jobs…

SPITZER: Those things are hugely important. Just to kind of put a final footnote on the Social Security, when you talk about stabilizing the rate of growth, there really seem two ways to do that One is to bring the retirement age more into line with what demographics are in terms of life and work expectancy or the inflation adjustment which can be calibrated. Are those things that you think we can or should do?

RICHARDSON: Well we should — yeah, we should take a look at them. I’m not saying do both or do one. I’m saying that most importantly, Governor, you got to have a bipartisan agreement. If you’re just going to demagogue these issue, it’s not going to work.

Keep in mind that that’s two national Democrats there.

This is very worrying. Richardson may be out of the loop and buying into the current marketing because he just doesn’t know any better, but Spitzer, who should, was just as bad with his false choices. They both accepted the Peterson Shock Doctrine premise that now is the time to cut social security. (That’s when people are confused and scared and will accept absurd, plutocratic “solutions” to problems that don’t even exist.)

It would be interesting to see just one Democrat answer these question in the following way:

“I would love to know why people are obsessing about a possible, small shortfall in social security 30 years from now instead of the very real job shortfall we have today. If you’re worried about paying the bills, the quickest and best way to deal with it is to get people back to work as soon as possible. More workers means more revenue means less debt — everybody wins, now and in the future.”

I know that’s over simplified, but I think Democrats need to start challenging the illogical bumper sticker conventional wisdom that’s developed that basically says the only way to fix this economic slump is to cut social security.It’s utter nonsense that they are even talking about it right now when we have huge, immediate problems and our future problems will not be solved by doing this but will instead be made worse. (Does anyone think that having a huge generation of very poor old people who cannot work is going to make this country stronger?)

This is a very self-destructive act on the part of Democrats and they are playing with fire if they decide to “compromise” on this. If during an economic crisis, they go from being slow and ineffectual in their economic response to actively weakening the most important social program in America during, then the political consequences are likely to be significant.

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News Even News Junkies Don’t Know About

by digby

I’ve been focusing quite a bit on the election and so I’ve missed quite a few big stories on other topics, but I would have thought I would hear something about this:

The reappearance of huge plumes of oil is making it hard to pretend that it has all gone away. Here’s a roundup of some of the Gulf oil headlines from just the last 4 days:

• More Independent Scientists Report “Vast Volumes of Oil Present on Seafloor”; Independent Research AGAIN Directly Contradicts NOAA/Coast Guard Findings

• EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: Confirmed Fish Kill on Grand Isle; “Overpowering Stench of Death and Decay” Coming From BP “Death Mounds”

• Coast Guard Claims That Miles-Long Expanse of Oil on Gulf Surface Is Algae; Boat Captain: “I’ve never seen algae that looked orange, that was sticky, smelled like oil and that stuck to the boat and had to be cleaned off with solvent”

• “They are dying” says registered nurse working in Florida — I’m seeing “people who have been chemically poisoned”

• Valdez Toxicologist: “People are dropping dead now” — “I don’t think we’ll have to wait years to see the effects like we did in Alaska”

• State officials admit: “Worried about FISHERY COLLAPSES, based on the collapse of the herring fishery” after the Exxon Valdez

• “I’m scared of what I’m finding” says chemist — Corexit combines with oil to generate new compounds, many with “double bonds”

• Fishermen Report Louisiana Bays Filled With Oil

• NEW TEST RESULTS: 8 out of 8 Blood Samples from BP Cleanup Workers Test Positive For Toxic Chemicals Found in BP Oil

• Feds Are Allowing BP to Leave Oil on Gulf Beaches

• Chemist: Women more at risk — “Bleeding from their vagina and anus. Small kids are bleeding from their ears. This stuff is busting red blood cells”

• Submerged oil surfaces: Fishermen say 10 MILE patch of brown foam “5 INCHES THICK with red swirls of oil”

• “They are literally shrimping in oil” says eyewitness — “It’s criminal” that officials keep waters open

• Catfish in lagoon “suffering burns across their heads and bodies” (VIDEO)

• Researchers discover oil plume drifting 300 miles from Macondo well (VIDEO)

• “May spark a whole new debate”: Scientist “astonished” that he found so much crude — Questions whether NOAA “dramatically understated” amount of oil in Gulf (VIDEO)

• “It’s Raining Bacteria”: Rain can spread flesh-eating microbes via “bio-aerosols” — “Also led to skin allergies and rashes”

• British Parliament report says Corexit 9500A “among the MOST CYTOTOXIC” dispersants studied — “Major concerns by lead scientists”

• Federal Government Intimidates More Independent Researchers

• 46% of BP Oil Spill wildlife cleanup workers reported RASHES, itchy skin, or red skin — 35% with headaches

• COREXIT appears to STILL be inside blue crab larvae says Tulane researchers in Gulf

• Engineer confirms: “Toxic Corexit 9500A in MS Sound” after well capped

• Senior NRDC Scientist: Still NO testing for heavy metals OR dispersant (VIDEO)

• Researchers find “VAST VOLUMES” of oil on seafloor — Includes “Thick Raw Crude”

• Scientists find “long plumes” of oxygen-depleted water “emanating” from BP’s Macondo well site

• Fishermen sprayed while sleeping in group of 20 boats tied together – Now under doctors’ care (VIDEO)

• Oil Spill Commission Co-Chair Startled By Federal Rig Inspectors’ Lack of Formal Training and Lack of Knowledge of Underwater Drilling Operations

• “We have dolphins that are hemorrhaging. People who work near it are hemorrhaging internally.” — BP dispersants are causing sickness (this is published by Al Jazeera, but is written by award-winning American reporter Dahr Jamail and quotes American scientists)

• Chemist: Chemicals from dispersed oil “coming down as rain”

Who knew?

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Be Sure To Put a Rag Over Our Mouths First

by digby

Right wing email of the day:

“Total Annihilation.”

Please help us put a hose in the mouth of our drowning opponent.

We are going to win the battle on Tuesday. You already know that to be true.

The question that has not yet been answered is,

How big will the victory be?

Our goal is to give the big government liberals who have violated the constitution a pounding of historic proportions. They deserve no less.

We have an opportunity to deliver them a defeat so catastrophic that it will send the leaders and organizers who have been working for decades to establish socialism in America into permanent retirement and force the liberals to start rebuilding their efforts from scratch.

Will you help us make that happen?

Tea Party Patriots has built a massive, nationwide database of registered voters who more than likely support Tea Party principles, but do not always go vote. We are working hard to have person to person, one on one contact with each of these people and motivate them to go to the poll on Tuesday. If we can reach them all, we can create the massive landslide we need.

A donation of $50 will give us the resources we need to reach 100 of these people.

$100 helps us reach 200 of these key voters.

And with $1,000 we can motivate 2,000 people to go to the polls. In many places that would double the turnout at a voting precinct!

Please help us put a hose in the mouth of our drowning opponent. Click here to donate today. Time is of the essence.

If we fail to make the most of this chance, we may not get another one.

You are the heart and soul of the Tea Party Movement. Thank you for promoting the causes of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets with us!

And thank you for promoting waterboarding. It’s what America is all about.

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Voting Info — Pass it on 1. Find Your Polling Place http://maps.google.com/maps/mpl?moduleurl=http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/mapplets/elections/voter-info/voter-info.xml
2. Find a Local Progressive Voter Guide
http://www.theballot.org/ 3. Volunteer (partisan)
http://pol.moveon.org/2010/
http://www.calloutthevote.com/ http://www.barackobama.com/index.php?splash=false 4. Election Protection http://www.866ourvote.org/ More aggregated resources (partisan)
http://www.barackobama.com/index.php?splash=false
http://www.democrats.com/2010-gotv
http://12weekplan.org/2010/10/do-more-than-vote/ More aggregated resources (nonpartisan) http://electionland.com/
http://www.voteagain2010.com/
http://mashable.com/2010/10/20/online-election-tools/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Mashable+%28Mashable%29
http://www.votesmart.org/

High Bid Politics

by digby

I really want another villager to lecture me about how this avalanche of secret money pouring into elections doesn’t really mean anything:

In the bitter U.S. Senate race in Kentucky, a local millionaire has helped launch a barrage of ads attacking the Democratic candidate a candidate who, as the state’s attorney general, is prosecuting the businessman’s nursing home for allegedly covering up sexual abuse, records show.

The businessman’s name is Terry Forcht. And like many super-wealthy conservative donors who are quietly stoking the GOP’s mid-term election surge around the nation, the extent of his investment in the 2010 campaign is both vast and, for now at least, largely unknown.

In addition to donating personally to Republican Rand Paul’s upstart campaign, Forcht is the banker handling funds for American Crossroads. The conservative group was founded by Republican strategist Karl Rove and has, through its non-profit arm, American Crossroads GPS, channeled millions into this year’s campaigns without identifying its donors.

American Crossroads GPS and other outside groups that shield the identity of their donors have emerged as a fixture of the 2010 campaign season, thanks to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that loosened restrictions on political giving. The case of Forcht’s opaque role in the Kentucky contest offers a glimpse at why some election reform groups believe anonymous donations are so problematic.

This is just a crude example of what’s going on, of course. Every last one of these wealthy donors are basically buying themselves a get out of jail free card from all politicians of either party. They are outright buying the Republicans (who are selling themselves like street corner hookers)and threatening the Dems with more where this came from if they fail to cooperate. Sure, there are some down and dirty sleazebags like this guy who’s punishing the Attorney General, but all of them — every last one of them — are doing this to ensure that their interests, whether legal or economic, are taken care of above all else. If there’s time and energy left over they will let the rubes play with women’s uteruses and punish some immigrants and minorities. But job one is making damned sure that nobody touches their ill gotten gains and nobody even thinks of holding them responsible for their crimes.

This same thing, by the way, has been going on with judicial races. Doesn’t that make you proud to be an American?

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Gun Nut Funnies

by digby

Here’s my wingnut email of the day, sent in by reader JK:

New weapon that should make it through gun control.

Smith & Wesson Model 180

Do you have anti-gun friends who do not seem as ‘joyous’ as they were after the election of the “Great One”? Maybe they’re worried about their ‘security’ at home with the increasing “residential crime” they’ve been reading about. Also, maybe they realize now that the police can’t be everywhere to protect them within seconds.

Well here’s ‘good news’ for them. Smith & Wesson has just announced a new handgun designed just for the Democrat who is un-familiar with – and possibly afraid of – handguns, yet wants to have adequate home protection: The “SW18044L” (‘L’ signifies ‘liberal’). You will note that this handsome, powerful weapon is a “commemorative model” which proudly bears the Democratic “Donkey”, & a large capital “D”!

Tell those “friends” to be sure to get their orders in early, because they will be in high demand!

I have a feeling some of these numbskulls are going to wake up on Wednesday morning very confused when they find out that Barack Obama is still president.

(And what residential crime is he referring to — foreclosure fraud?)

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