Down With Democracy

Raw Story: It’s no secret that Fox News leans to the right, but one host may have crossed the line on Friday when he actively encouraged viewers to “vote Republican” if they didn’t like big government.

It's either self rule, corporate rule or no rule, and it's clear what Fox News and GOP have in mind. But using the public airwaves to demonize government by the people and effect a corporate takeover of our democracy is beyond the pale. It should be illegal. Fox News should be taken off the air before it's too late.

Far Worse Than Feared

New studies show impact of BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster on dolphins and other marine wildlife may be far far worse than feared.

The results of Republican party catering to big oil, hostility to clean energy, and deregulation are far worse than feared. Read the linked article. It's heartbreaking. And it's a result in no small part to drill baby drill and other GOP party public policy.

When The Guilty Complain

Raw Story: Daily Caller editor-in-chief Tucker Carlson says that “professional race-baiters” like some African-American lawmakers and President Barack Obama are making a mistake by injecting race into the death of Trayvon Martin.

The Republican party deliberately built its base with racists, makes common cause with Nazis, has its political and philosophical power base in the confederate south, and to this day prefers the confederate flag to the American flag. The preeminent Republican party family of our time, the Bush dynasty got rich underwriting the Nazi war machine. The Republican party is racist through and through. Pointing that out doesn't make anybody a race-baiter. It just makes them honest.

The Deregulators

Think Progress: Members of Congress who submitted comments advocating the weakening of the already watered-down Volcker Rule — which is meant to rein in banks’ risky trading — have received more than four times as much in campaign contributions from the financial sector as members who demanded stricter regulations, a report released today by Public Citizen reveals

Deregulation of the financial industry is what allowed them to loot the economy and caused the financial meltdown in 2008/2009. Unless we re-regulate the industry it's going to happen again.

The Mother Of All Sugar Daddy's

Raw Story: Wisconsin Lieutenant Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch (R) accused the Democratic candidate who is hoping to beat Gov. Scott Walker in the upcoming recall election of having to get a “sugar daddy” to run for office.

As usual they accuse others of what they're far more guilty of. The Koch Brothers own Scott Walker. They're the reason he won and they're the reason he'll beat the recall. They bought and paid for him a long time ago. Which of course is why he does their bidding while screwing the people of Wisconsin. The guy is corrupt to the core. And the Koch Brothers are the biggest corruptors of democracy in the universe. So what do you do when you're guilty as sin? Accuse your opponent of the same thing. As inherently dishonest and scummy as that is, in this case it's even more so.

Racial Issues

Raw Story: Most observers took President Obama’s comment that the killing of Trayvon Martin hit him particularly hard because “if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon” as a very normal human reaction.

However, at least one person — Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich — found it “disgraceful” and “appalling” that Obama was “trying to turn” the death of the African American teenager “into a racial issue.”

No, what's disgraceful and appalling is the fact the Republican party deliberately built its base with racists, has its political and philosophical power base in the confederate south, and to this day prefers the confederate flag to the American flag.

Self Haters

Before a speech by GOP messaging guru Frank Luntz, a band called The Angry Mob Band played for the crowd. Pennsylvania political reporter Sy Snyder, reporting from the event, tweeted that a band at the conference sang the lyrics, “We’re fighting the corruption of Jewish banks but when the Jews come to feed us, we always say thanks.” Snyder added that the band was satirizing the Occupy movement, but that hardly seems to justify the lyrics.

The Republican party has been a haven for racists and bigots for 50 years. We've never understood why a Jew would vote Republican. Who would vote for people who believe you deserve hell? It makes no sense whatsoever. Of course it also makes no sense for blacks, Latinos, or Muslims to vote Republican either. And when you add in poor people, old people, and women, what you have left is rich, which, evangelical Christian men. They're the only people who should logically vote GOP. Everybody else would be voting against themselves.

Hasn't Worked Yet

CNN: The oil industry's plan to lower gas prices: More drilling, fewer regulations, lower taxes. But it won't work, experts tell CNNMoney.

Of course it won't. That's what we've been doing for the last 12 years. It's standard Republican party policy. It's what caused the gulf oil disaster, the outsourcing of our middle class, the hollowing out of our economy, and the financial meltdown at the end of the Bush/Cheney administration. It's been a God damn national disaster.

As a Republican...

A white supremacist in northern Idaho is running for sheriff of Bonner County, saying his views on race will not influence his approach to the office.

What follows in the link is exactly what one would expect, he running as a Republican. This is after all a political party that deliberately built its base with racists.

Flippity Flop Flop Flippity Flippity Flip Flop

Romney in response to his campaign saying he's like an Etch-a-Scetch: "The Issues I'm running on will be exactly the same"

We're sure that's true. The problem is he keeps jumping from one side of these issues to the other. The guys flip flops like a dying fish on the deck of one his yachts.

History Hates Conservatives

Think Progress: Seven years ago, opponents of the “Stand Your Ground” legislation predicted it could lead to racially motivated killings. From Reuters, April 2005:

“For a House that talks about the culture of life it’s ironic that we would be devaluing life in this bill,” said Democratic state Rep. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach. “That’s exactly what we’re doing.” [...]

Critics say the measure could lead to racially motivated killings and promote deadly escalations of arguments.

“All this bill will do is sell more guns and possibly turn Florida into the OK Corral,” said Democratic state Rep. Irv Slosberg of Boca Raton.

Putting aside the murder of Travon Martin and the racial aspect in general, the rate of "justifiable homicide" in Florida has tripled since this law was passed. So yet again history has proven progressives right and conservatives wrong. If there is any issue, any public policy, any law in which history has proven the conservatives right and the progressives wrong, we can't think of what it could be. From slavery on, this has been the case.

Dangerously Corrupt

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats are setting up a showdown with Republicans on the issue of unlimited secret campaign donations, proposing new rules that would expose those donations to public view.

The Republicans will oppose this bill. This is because they're not only for the complete corruption of our democracy, but they want those who are buying it to be able to do so in secret. Given their actions one can come to no other conclusion.

Update: Although an obvious call, we were right.

Clear And Present Danger

ARBUTUS, Md. -- At a town hall here on Wednesday, Mitt Romney claimed that the economic policies of former President George W. Bush and then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson were responsible for keeping the United States out of a full-scale depression.

Anybody with half a brain knows it was the policies of former President W. Bush and Romney's Republican party that caused the meltdown in the first place. Their public policy was in effect for 6 years before the collapse. They rightfully own the result. Anything else is a chicken-shit, dishonest, cowardly evasion of responsibility, and given that their public policy has not changed, a direct threat to the economic and fiscal viability of the United States.

Killer Public Policy

Feds open probe of Trayvon Martin death.

This is because the guy that chased him down and shot him to death hasn't even been arrested, much less prosecuted by the local white, gun loving power structure. We would usually suggest people vote against legislators who pass the right-wing, NRA backed, right-to-murder laws that appear to be protecting this shooter, but if you live in one of these red states it might be a better idea just to pack up and move before somebody "legally" murders your kid.

No Question... Romney's a Liar

Raw Story: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Sunday said that there was “no question” President Barack Obama had a plan to raise gas prices when he took office.

“When he ran for office, he said he wanted to see gas prices go up,” the candidate told Fox News host Bret Baier.

Except that Obama never said such a thing. So the first thing said in this conversation should be that Mitt Romney is a pathological liar and can't be trusted. After that we can talk about the fact that when Bill Clinton left office the price of oil was 18.00/barrel. Midway through the following Republicans administration it was at 150.00/barrel. The Republican party is the party of big oil. They're the party of the deregulation that's allowed the speculators to run up the price of oil. They're against clean energy. They're responsible for the war in Iraq and the talk of war with Iran. They're more responsible than anything or anybody else for the high price of gas.

Update: It turns out that politician running for president that said the thing that most closely resembles what Romney's lie tries to attribute to the president is Romney himself:

“I don’t think that now is the time, and I’m not sure there will be the right time, for us to encourage the use of more gasoline. I’m very much in favor of people recognizing that these high gasoline prices are probably here to stay.” [Quincy Patriot Ledger, 5/06]

Dirty

Trump on Fox News ’ Neil Cavuto:

Wind is destroying the environment in many, many places. People are going crazy over the horrible, noisy, disgusting windmills. And they are horrible and a horrible intrusion, ruining communities, and solar is weak and has not been effective and is very, very expensive.

Ruined oceans and rivers are disgusting. Wildlife covered in oil is disgusting. Air heavy with particulate air pollution is disgusting. Kids with cancer is disgusting. Wind power is not disgusting. Of course, since the GOP is the party of dirty energy it's not a surprise to hear them constantly say things like what Trump just said, disgusting as it may be.

Shilling For Loansharks

TPM: Democrats are hammering Ohio state Treasurer and GOP Senate nominee Josh Mandel for holding a fundraiser, in a far-off location with some special company.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Tuesday that Mandel flew to the Bahamas last Friday, to give a speech and hold a fundraiser at the convention of the Community Financial Services Association — the trade group for the payday-lending industry, which has been targeted heavily in the debates over financial reform and the Dodd-Frank law passed by Congressional Democrats and President Obama in 2010.

Nice little racket they have going here. Destroy American jobs and savage the middle class and then get paid by those who profit directly from the carnage.

Understand This

Raw Story: Fox News host Gretchen Carlson says she can’t understand why Democrats would be against discriminatory voter ID laws unless they are “for voter fraud.”

And the rest of the world can't understand why the GOP would rob 5 million people of their right to vote to fix a problem that doesn't exist. So we need the tell the rest of the world as loud and as often as possible that since there is no problem, the alleged fix can be nothing more than an institutional Republican effort to rob all manner of poor, elderly, and minority Americans of the right to vote. And that attack on our democracy should disqualify them from serving in it.

History Is a Hunter

Think Progress: As the improving economy has robbed conservatives of the chief talking points against President Obama, some have resorted to creative explanations for the upswing that avoids giving any credit to the current occupant of the Oval Office. Tea Party darling Rep. Allen West (R-FL) employed this tactic recently, wondering if “someone [is] playing around” with positive unemployment data, and he did so again today, this time to explain away the bullish stock market.

The Nasdaq topped 3,000 today for the first time since 2000 and the Dow finished strong, up 217 points at 13,177 — its highest level since the end of 2007.

But on Fox News this afternoon, West said the markets were only up because traders think Republicans will win big in November. Host Neil Cavuto seemed taken aback by the suggestion and pressed West for clarification, but the Congressman stood by his claim

The stock market tripled under Bill Clinton. It crashed under Cheney/Bush. And under Obama it's nearly doubled again. The market does much better when Democratic party public policy is in effect. When GOP deregulation and economic/fiscal policy rules the day, it collapses. That's the historical record. It happened in 1929, it happened 1987, it happened in 2008, and it will happen again if Mitt Romney is president. This is because GOP public policy causes instability and is proven by history to be a tragic failure. And no amount of bad lies by that psychopath Allen West can change that.

The President Is Not White

Huffington Post: Ask President Barack Obama about his religious affiliation, and he's a Christian. Ask Mississippi or Alabama voters, and you might find a different answer.

In the midst of tight GOP primaries in both states, Public Policy Polling (PPP) has released information showing that a majority of likely GOP primary voters in the Deep South do not see Obama as a Christian. PPP's Alabama survey of 600 likely GOP primary voters found that only 14 percent consider Obama a Christian, while 45 percent said he is a Muslim and 41 percent answered that they were not sure.

A similar picture emerged in Mississippi. Of 656 likely GOP primary voters surveyed, 12 percent said Obama was a Christian, 52 percent classified him as a Muslim, and 36 percent fell in the "not sure" category.

This tells us several things. First, the Republican base is basically insane. Hell, 1 in 4 Republicans believe Obama may be the anti-Christ. You can't reason with people like that. You can only point out to people who are not insane that voting with crazy people is dangerous. Second, it's a testament to the effectiveness of the GOP disinformation machine that they can get a majority of their flock to come to a conclusion disproved by all the evidence. A group of people that lie so so easily, so often, and so effectively are of low character and should not be trusted to tell the truth about anything. And last, that the GOP would know their base would respond to this racially based bit of disinformation is yet another indication the Southern Strategy lives on (and if you have any doubt about that, the same poll shows nearly half of Republicans in Mississippi want to ban interracial marriage)

Rock Star

Sarah Palin Friday on Fox:

Now, it has taken all these years for many Americans to understand that that gravity, that mistake, took place before the Civil War and why the Civil War had to really start changing America. What Barack Obama seems to want to do is go back to before those days when we were in different classes based on income, based on color of skin.

Ok, as is usually the case with Sarah Palin what she said was incoherent and completely backwards. Before, during, and after the civil war it was conservatives that fought for slavery and against civil rights, the modern Republican party deliberately built its base with racists, and to this day the political and philosophical power base of the Republican party is the confederate south. It's also worth noting that the base of the Republican party vaulted this woman straight to the top just because she's a MILF.

Freedom

Huffinton Post: At a town hall in Jackson, Miss., on Friday morning, Mitt Romney offered his usual full-throated defense of free enterprise and small government. He criticized the large number of employees and small workload in the Navy purchasing department, said health care needed to operate more like a private market, and told the audience, "I want freedom to reign forever in this country."

We're sure he does. However when Republicans talk about small government they mean corporate rule. And when they talk about freedom, they mostly mean the freedom of the transnational corporation to pollute the environment, fill the oceans with oil, not pay any taxes, and ship your job to China. They could care less about you. Seriously, they will give your kid cancer if that's what they have to do to bankroll their grip on power.

A Million Times Better

Employers 227,000 jobs in February, better than experts expected.

Another month with Bill Clinton type numbers. It's also - literally - a million better than the last month we had a Republican in the Whitehouse. Only idiots and enemies of America would go back to the policies that had us where we were before Obama took over.

Need Bodies

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Monday told a high school senior not to expect any help from the government for college tuition unless he joined the military.

So when he and his fellow Republicans lie us into yet another Iraq he'll have 40,000 more American kids to kill and maim. To run dishonest, counter productive, devastating wars you need to sacrifice a lot of people. And coercion is basically the only way to get people to participate. Call this an economic draft. Of course leaders that aren't horrible human beings, leaders that are interested in investing in America's future instead of enriching their crony war-profiteering buddies, would simply invest in education.

Doomsday Clock Jocks

Raw Story: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Sunday warned an 11-year-old boy that the world would be one step closer to nuclear war if President Barack Obama was allowed another term in office.

The reality is we're many steps closer due to the fact the highest levels of the Republican party deliberately burned the spy network keeping track of loose WMD. And a few more yet because that same GOP wasted trillions of dollars worth of precious self defense resource in Iraq, and turned Al Queda from a few hundred folks running around the mountains of Afghanistan into a global brand. That's Mitt's Republican party. That's history.

We're Just Like You

Ann Romney today on Fox News. “We can be poor in spirit, and I don’t even consider myself wealthy which is an interesting thing."

The Romney's are worth over 200 million dollars... not-considered-wealthy in Romney world. Did you get that? It would be dangerous to let people like this run the country. To begin with, they have a rather lose grip on reality.

Party Of God

TPM: Before you can join the Laurens County Republican Party in South Carolina and get on the primary ballot, they ask that you pledge that you’ve never ever had pre-marital sex — and that you will never ever look at porn again.

What is this, Iran? We suppose people call them the American Taliban for a reason. This is your Republican party. And they don't belong anywhere near public service (at least not in this country).

Speaking Ill Of The Illest

Politico: Andrew Breitbart, a Washington Times columnist who oversees Breitbart.com and BigHollywood.com, tapped into the anti-Kennedy vein in the hours after the senator’s death was announced, posting a series of Twitter messages in which he called Kennedy a “villain,” a “duplicitous bastard” and a “prick.”

"I'm more than willing to go off decorum to ensure THIS MAN is not beatified,” Breitbart wrote. “Sorry, he destroyed lives. And he knew it."

And now he's dead. Too bad for him that asshole sold his soul to the devil. We're sure the payment came up quicker than he thought.

The Business Of Being Corrupt

Rick Santorum on Limbaugh:

“He’s being absurd, but that’s you know, an entertainer can be absurd. He’s in a very different business than I am.”

Yeah? What business are you in Rick?

Defamation

Think Progress: Relentless attacks on the Chevy Volt from Rush Limbaugh and Republican politicians have taken their toll, as General Motors has announced a five-week suspension in production of the range-extended electric car. Conservative enemies of clean energy and the Obama administration seized on isolated reports Volts with battery fires, calling the cars “Obama-mandated death traps.” Limbaugh even said GM was a “corporation that’s trying to kill its customers.”

These conspiracy-tinged partisan attacks have now cost American jobs, with 1300 workers temporarily laid off in the face of lower than expected demand for the innovative cars, even as gas prices rise. In January, GM CEO Dan Akerson bemoaned the effect of the barrage of ideological criticism on the popularity of the 37 – 93 mpg car:

We did not design the Volt to become a political punching bag and that’s what it’s become.

Oh, and about those attacks? After an investigation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determined that the Volt is just as safe as any gasoline-powered vehicle on the road.

Rush Limbaugh is a disgusting piece of garbage. If there is a hell, there is no doubt that's where he'll end up. GM should sue his fat ass. And what's up with Republicans trying destroy GM? First Mitt and now this? Are they getting paid by Toyota or something?