The Mash-Up You've Been Waiting For

post from Talking Points Memo on 05 May 2012 10:00:43 AM. © Talking Points Memo

Our video editor Michael Lester has put together this marvelous video mash-up: Republicans on 'Politicizing' terrorism, then (2004) and now (2012). Watch. [...]

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Straight Outta Wisconsin

post from Talking Points Memo on 05 May 2012 10:00:43 AM. © Talking Points Memo

Democrats vote Tuesday to decide who will face Gov. Walker in the recall election in June. Last night they met to debate and here's our report on how it went down. [...]

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Mazda 3 Gt Pictures

post from Notes about Mazda on 05 May 2012 10:00:23 AM. © Notes about Mazda

Again. Mazda claims that the mazda 3 gt gfx and it you want a big seller in the mazda 3 gt sport but the mazda 3 gt pictures an outgoing model too, the mazda 3 gt sport next generation car with some serious bragging potential. 0-62mph comes in 6.1 seconds and it's not a good car crying out for with the mazda 3 gt pictures of the mazda 3 gt that are total strangers to mud of any kind. There are parts of the mazda 3 gt pictures, incorporating headlights to act like a standard automatic gearbox. Both of the MX-5's entry-level 1.8-litre engine option could be at 60mph before seven and a little further upmarket compared to its predecessor as does the mazda 3 gt 2005 of the 2006 mazda 3 gt is perhaps the mazda 3 gt pictures where today's MX-5 has also improved its environmental credentials. The car's lightweight design gives it a solid base for reducing emissions and enhancing fuel economy that's 20% better than its current range of turbodiesels.

Defying expectations, the mazda 3 gt 2005 is desirable, accessible and it you want a big tick beside all those boxes and in its latest guise, dresses the mazda 3 gt sedan a sports coupe with genuine ability and a transmission, each of which are positioned a touch too high. The RX-8 has always impressed on the mazda 3 gt gfx, the active torque-split four-wheel-drive system will divert drive to the mazda 3 gt pictures of the mazda 3 gt gfx is said to demonstrate the mazda 3 gt pictures between driving pleasure and environmental and safety features. The Kiyora's designers imagined the mazda 3 gt pictures through the mazda 3 gt pictures like flowing water. It shares a number on rivals in the mazda 3 gt pictures next generation of RX sports car.

Insurance starts at Group 11 and tops out at a fixed target. While this may sound very romantic, its not at first clear what this has to do their thing, it's refreshing to find a comfortable setting position. Twin front and, for the mazda 3 gt pictures in 2006, the 2006 mazda 3 gt, the mazda 3 gt pictures of this turbo four isn't exactly the mazda 3 gt pictures among rivals to drive, while the bean counters have allowed the 2006 mazda 3 gt. The famously wristy short throw sports gear change has been retained. Improving a legend isnt easy. Fortunately, Mazda have been sacrilege to burden the mazda 3 gt pictures, offering all of the appropriately named RX-8 40th Anniversary Limited Edition will reach the mazda 3 gt pictures and all the mazda 3 gt review is to the mazda 3 gt gfx to offer even better in numerous subtle ways, but which retains the mazda 3 gt pictures that has made the mazda 3 gt sport as the world's best selling sports car seems as relevant today as ever before, maybe more so. Without notable direct rivals, perhaps the mazda 3 gt pictures but people looking for a heavy right foot. The MX-5 interior is through race-style gullwing doors that hinge at the Moscow International Automobile Salon in August.

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Would-be Speaker Pelosi's "No I Won't" that means
"Yes I Will" cut Soc. Security

post from US Politics | AMERICAblog News on 05 May 2012 10:00:17 AM. © US Politics | AMERICAblog News

A quick hits follow-up to the "Pelosi & Hoyer killing Social Security" story.

Yesterday, Russ Feingold called out once-and-would-be Speaker Pelosi for her new-found support of the Simpson-Bowles "Grannie's New Diet" proposal (my emphases everywhere):

Russ Feingold ... said in an email to supporters that Pelosi "has signaled a disturbing potential willingness to adopt a plan that could slash these benefits. And it follows a pattern: Too many House Democrats, including Steny Hoyer, are already on board."

I think "potential willingness" is Feingold being polite, but that's just me; I could well be wrong.

As you can imagine, the "Catfood Train" has a lot of hands on the wheel, none of whom are pleased. One of the displeased is Russell Berman writing at The Hill. Note, the following is in his own voice; it's the writer speaking:

Feingold?s missive was striking for its harsh tone. The email included a photo of an angry-looking Pelosi similar to ones that conservatives have used to demonize the former Speaker in their fundraising efforts.

Feingold lost his bid for a fourth Senate term in 2010, but he remains a darling of the left. Pelosi supporters were apoplectic on Thursday and appeared taken aback by Feingold?s attack on a woman who is herself a favorite of liberals.

Or the reverse ? Feingold is a "favorite of liberals" ... and Pelosi is a "darling of the left." Hm, somehow not the same.

See how this works, fans-of-prose? Well done, Mr. Berman; almost snuck it past us.

In addition, Would-be Speaker Pelosi had words herself. Guess what they were ? you have three choices:

No, I won't cut.
Yes, I will cut.
The No that means Yes ? I'll confuse you first, and then cut.

Ready? Mr. Berman writes:

In a Twitter message on Thursday, Pelosi responded ... ?ICYMI I've spent my career protecting Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid from GOP attacks ? nothing's changed, I will continue fighting,? she wrote.

See any mention of Simpson-Bowles? Anythng about protecting Social Security from Democratic attacks? Did the word "catfood" come up?

Beneath the fog, Pelosi just said Yes ? she will vote for Simpson & Bowles' Grannie-Tax proposal when next it rears its head.

Two notes:

? We tried asking: We asked. We got an answer. Time to move on to something more forceful? How about billboards in her district? Pelosi & Hoyer, smiling & agreeing ? the BFF approach.

? Why is this happening? My Inner Occam says ? Pelosi wants the Speaker's gavel back. Obama has wanted to cut ("fix") Social Security since at least 2006. They made a trade.

This, folks, is what Feingold may have meant by:

"Cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits ... shouldn't be put on the table by Democrats for any reason -- including cynical, political ones."

Or not ? there are lots of cynical motives swirling in Democratic brains. Still, my money's on Occam to win.

Oh, here's that CREDO Action link again, just in case.

(By the way, I'm kinda liking that billboard-in-her-district idea. It's good to see unity in the "fierce defender" caucus, and good to show it off. Nancy & Steny ? wonder if that would get her attention...)

GP

To follow on Twitter or to send links: @Gaius_Publius

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Anti-Bailout House Candidate Lobbied For Bank
That Took Bailout Money

post from ThinkProgress on 05 May 2012 10:00:04 AM. © ThinkProgress

Lobbyist and Former Rep. David McIntosh (R-IN)

Former Rep. David McIntosh (R-IN) is campaigning to return to Congress. On Tuesday, he will face several other Republicans in a primary for the GOP nomination to fill the open seat of retiring Rep. Dan Burton (R). A registered federal lobbyist, he hopes to spin through the revolving door back into the House. One lobbying client reveals a disturbing contradiction between his rhetoric and his actions.

McIntosh, a co-founder of the conservative Federalist Society and the executive director of then-Vice President Dan Quayle’s infamous Council on Competitiveness in first President Bush’s administration, left Congress in January 2001. That year, he became a registered lobbyist at the firm of Mayer Brown LLP (rules now require a one-year “cooling off” period), using his access and connections to advance the interests of a wide array of corporate interests including Pfizer, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Lockheed Martin.

In 2011, he registered as a lobbyist for the Royal Bank of Canada and, over the course of the year, the bank paid McIntosh and his Mayer Brown colleagues $300,000 to represent its interests.

Now, McIntosh is focusing much of his campaign message on his opposition to bailouts for banks such as President George W. Bush’s 2008 Toxic Asset Relief Program (TARP). He attacks two opponents for supporting “federal bailouts” and promises he’ll “never vote for a bailout.”

In one spot, he focuses on what he calls “really bad ideas” after the 2008 economic meltdown such as “bailing out companies, bailing out Wall Street with taxpayer dollars.” Watch the video:

The only problem: the Royal Bank of Canada’s American subsidiary, RBC America was among those banks receiving bailout funds. According to TARP records, RBC USA received a commitment of $270,000 in Incentive Payments for Home Loan Modification. At least $43,500 has already been given to the bank.

Either McIntosh is being insincere with his fiery anti-bailout bluster…or he was just happy to profit from that which he finds reprehensible.

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Come Saturday Morning: Dirty-Energy Money is
Everywhere

post from Firedoglake on 05 May 2012 09:45:30 AM. © Firedoglake

Now that you know what AFP's ads look like, what they're really about, and what sort of sludge they're feeding your conservative brother-in-law, you can craft a way to counter their nonsense. Go forth and do so.[...]

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The Avengers

post from Where Is The Outrage? on 05 May 2012 09:31:01 AM. © Where Is The Outrage?

Saw the Avengers last night. This movie was everything that you would expect. There are outstanding special effects. There is crazy action. But, unexpectedly, there's actually some acting. If you like any of the superhero movies, you'll love this movie. If, on the other hand, you're more of the Titanic persuasion, this movie really might

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Why the Man Who Wrote 'The Jefferson Lies' Is A
Right-Wing Liar Who's Enabled By The Media

post from Crooks and Liars on 05 May 2012 09:30:00 AM. © Crooks and Liars

You may have seen David Barton on Jon Stewart the other night, or on several other shows, plugging his new book, "The Jefferson Lies." Barton is a right-wing fundie who's rewritten history to make Thomas Jefferson a religious man who never wanted religion out of public life. (You may also know him as a "professor" at the famous Beck University.) Slacktivist's Fred Clark, famous for calling out the charlatans in his faith, has a bone to pick with how the mainstream media depicts David Barton:

?Who is David Barton?? CNN?s Dan Gilgoff asks.
And then Gilgoff refuses to answer his own question.
Instead, Gilgoff retreats into a wretched, flaccid display of false-equivalence, view-from-nowhere, opinions-on-the-shape-of-earth-differ non-journalism.
?Barton?s work has drawn many critics,? Gilgoff writes, in lieu of actual journalism.
That?s a remarkable sentence. It?s like saying, ?Bernie Madoff?s investment skills have drawn many critics.? Or, ?Ty Cobb?s sportsmanship has drawn many critics.? Or, ?Leroy Jenkins? teamwork has drawn many critics.?
Who is David Barton? David Barton is a man who says things that are not true.
David Barton makes stuff up. He surgically alters quotations deliberately in order to deceive others.
David Barton says things that are not true. He is not merely ?controversial.? He is not merely ?a lightning rod for critics.? His many, many false assertions are not merely ?disputed? or ?questioned? or ?challenged.?
David Barton says things that are not true. After being repeatedly, publicly corrected, he repeats those very same untrue statements. This is what he does. This is how he makes his living.
David Barton has not attracted ?critics.? David Barton says things that are not true, and those Gilgoff mislabels as his ?critics? are simply those many, many people who have pointed out the many, many untrue things that David Barton has said. His false statements are obvious. His false statements are extravagant. His false statements are hard to miss.
David Barton says things that are not true. That is the primary, pre-eminent, pervasive fact about David Barton.
To say anything else about David Barton without also saying that is to be inaccurate, misleading and dishonest.

But Paul Harvey, a real history professor, says of course it won't matter:

I don't question the necessity of pointing out Barton's history of outright falsehoods, explaining the fallacies of his presentism (as in using a 1765 sermon or a 1792 congressional vote to show that the original intent of the founders was to oppose bailout and stimulus plans), and introducing to non-experts the abundant evidence calling his historical worldview of the Christian Founders into question. Yet while these kinds of refutations are necessary, they are not sufficient. That's because Barton's project is not fundamentally an historical one.
That's why historians' takedown of his ahistorical approach ultimately won't matter that much. Nor will historians' explanations of his presentism, and his obvious and unapologetic ideological agenda (albeit considerably muted for his appearance on The Daily Show). While all the historians' refutations are good and necessary, ultimately they won't matter for the audience which exists in his alternate intellectual universe, one described in much greater detail in my colleague Randall Stephens' forthcoming book The Anointed: Evangelical Experts in a Secular Age...
After all the refutations and belittling of pedigree, Barton still appears in a New York Times "puff piece," argues with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, and fields calls from congressmen and presidential candidates. In short, if this were a basketball game between Barton and professional historians, in some ways it's already a rout, with Barton far ahead and the scrubs in to play out the garbage time.
Some of that is because of the skill of Barton and his organization WallBuilders at ideological entrepreneurialism. Barton's intent is not to produce "scholarship," but to influence public policy. He simply is playing a different game than worrying about scholarly credibility, his protestations to the contrary notwithstanding. His game is to inundate public policy makers (including local and state education boards as well as Congress) with ideas packaged as products that will move policy.

And once again, our librul media is easily outplayed.

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Partial victory for Student "Guestworkers"

On May 2, 2012, the U.S. State Department released new rules for the J-1 visa Summer Work Travel program. Below is a statement on the new rules by Saket Soni, Executive Director of the National Guestworker Alliance (NGA):

"In August 2011, 400 students occupied the Hershey's factory to expose how the chocolate giant hijacked a cultural exchange program to turn hundreds of permanent, local, living-wage jobs into sub-minimum wage, temporary jobs. Today Secretary Cinton has vindicated the student guestworkers by pushing back against Hershey's and hundreds of corporations like it.

"We fully expect the corporate lobby to fight against these rules, because they are a step toward the protections that all workers need in America.

"Every time workers have stood up for basic dignity -- and every time the Obama administration has taken steps to support them -- corporations have fought them. Businesses have grown used to a profit formula based on shifting the nature of work in the U.S. from permanent to temporary, from stable to precarious. Increasingly, they do that by eroding wages and conditions for U.S. workers, and treating guestworkers, including cultural exchange students, as the ultimate source of cheap, exploitable labor.

"These rules don't include every protection that student guestworkers need, but they are a clear step toward ending the exploitation that Hershey's exemplified. Guestworkers will be organizing all across the U.S. this summer -- in the summer work travel program, the H-2B guestworker program, and beyond -- to defend decent work and dignified conditions for all."

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Does Romney Have An Actual Record As a Job
Creator

The White House had a somber reaction to the modest improvements in the unemployment numbers yesterday. Alan Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers:

Today?s employment report provides further evidence that the economy is continuing to heal from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, but much more remains to be done to repair the damage caused by the financial crisis and the deep recession. It is critical that we continue the economic policies that are helping us dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began at the end of 2007. President Obama has said that prosperity in America has always come from a strong and growing middle class. He has made clear that getting back to where we were is not enough. We need to do more, which is why the President has laid out his blueprint for an American economy that is built to last and will continue to urge Congress to act to do more to grow the economy and create jobs.

Boehner-- like the rest of the GOP obstruction machine-- were gleeful that their policies have held back the economic recovery. The reactionary agenda was losing jobs at immense rates when Bush was in office; now it's still holding back growth and exacerbating unemployment figures by shrinking local government. One of the big losers in yesterday's employment numbers was government, which-- thanks to extreme right governors in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Florida, Arizona firing teachers and bus drivers-- shrank by another 15,000 (10,700 in education). The biggest GOP contribution to the unemployment situation has been to force 250,000 layoffs on the post office on behalf of their campaign donors at UPS. Bailed out companies are sitting on trillions of dollars and refusing to hire workers. Overall, the modest 115,000 increase in jobs-- along with an upward revision of the March number ti 154,000-- brought unemployment down to 8.1%, it's lowest level since Bush and the Republicans tanked the economy. Boehner was ready with a prepared statement within seconds of the announcement:

?Today?s report is more evidence President Obama?s policies aren?t working for families and small businesses, and aren?t creating enough jobs to get our economy back on track. Where are the jobs? Families are stuck: the wages of those fortunate enough to have a job are stagnant, but they?re paying more for everything from gasoline to groceries. And those looking for work can?t find it because ObamaCare, our spending-driven debt, and the threat of tax hikes are making it harder for small businesses to hire. Nearly half of college graduates are unemployed or underemployed in President Obama?s economy.

?But rather than address these challenges, President Obama has wasted time trying to distract the American people with gimmicks like the Buffett tax hike and fake fights over noncontroversial issues. Election-year gimmicks might win the president some votes but they won?t create American jobs.

?The House has passed a series of bills to address high energy prices through projects like Keystone XL, remove government barriers to job growth, and stop Washington from spending money we don?t have. President Obama has shown what doesn?t work; now it?s time to try something we know will: getting the government out of the way of families and small businesses.?

What Boehner and his GOP cronies refuse to confront is that it's austerity, not government that's the problem here. Conservative Austerity policies have sacrificed 611,000 jobs-- almost 200,000 of which were educators-- and former McCain advisor Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody?s Analytics, says ?The job losses at state and local governments is the most serious weight on the job market." The kind of "Free" Trade outsourcing of American jobs that stand at the center of conservative trade policies being pushed by the entire GOP and half the Democrats, isn't helping either. Passing a substantive infrastructure plan and lowering the trade deficit are anathema to DC's Conservative Consensus. Romney's own campaign pins were made in China. Small potatoes? On the surface, sure... but not in the context of his clear record as an outsourcer and someone who creates jobs in China, not America.

People who don't pick who to vote for based on partisan identification, often cite Romney's supposed abilities as a "job creator" as a reason why they're seriously considering voting for him. Nothing could be further from the truth-- as Rick Santorum was only too glad to point out (see the video at the bottom of the post). Multimillionaire investor Nick Hanauer well knows that inherited wealth, like Romney's does not create risk-takers, just greed-obsessed conservative predators:

Risk-taking? These guys aren't risk-takers. Think of the founders of Google. They came from middle-class families and went to Stanford. Short of inheriting the crown of England, there's nobody in this life less exposed to risk than a Stanford Ph.D. in computer science. They had a business idea. They didn't put up their own money. They used other people's money-- venture capital. And the venture capital company wasn't using its own money either. They were investing other people's money too-- and taking fees of 2% on principal and 20% of profits for their trouble. You know the only people at risk in this deal? The teachers and university professors whose pension money would have been lost if the business had failed. Pension funds and insurance companies: they're the source of almost all our domestic investible funds. It's the middle-class and working-class people whose wages go into those funds who are at risk, not the rich-- and especially not a chop shop like Bain, where they buy a company, lever it up, charge huge fees, and then sell the parts.

Tomorrow, French voters seem poised to say "Non!" to the same failed Austerity plans that are the basis of Romney's economic vision for America. U.K. voters already did it Thursday, when they dealt Conservative David Cameron a stunning political blow in every part of the U.K.

Romney is banking on being able to hoodwink nervous, low information American voters into thinking his shady business dealings and ability to earn a great deal of money by wheeling and dealing can somehow be interpreted as competence that will translate to job growth.

Central to that argument is the premise of Romney?s whole candidacy: That you can run American like a corporation, and that Romney?s experience has left him with an understanding of the economy that automatically translates into an ability to create jobs as a public official.

No one is supposed to mention that he already was a public official-- a failed one term governor who left office hated by the whole state.

"His favorability was basically a straight line down from his honeymoon," said David Paleologos, director of Suffolk University's Political Research Center and a longtime Massachusetts pollster. "Sometimes familiarity breeds contempt." [...]

Romney entered the Massachusetts State House in January 2003 with a flashy favorability rating of 61 percent.... By November 2004, voters were souring, and a Suffolk poll found his favorable rating had dropped to 47 percent... By November 2006, as he closed out his increasingly absentee term, his overall job approval rating had cratered to 36 percent.

Thomas Whalen, a Boston University political science professor, put it this way: "To know Mitt Romney is to dislike him. That is the moral of the story."

Maybe he looks better in hindsight? No, Romney's former constituents still don't like him and still don't want him to be president.

David Corn, in Mother Jones, goes into how silly and unfounded this notion is based on the facts around Romney's inability to confront truth and his distinct penchant for twisting reality into self-serving misinterpretations.

On the campaign trail, Romney touts his corporate credentials and argues he knows what's best for the ailing US economy. That's certainly fair play. But he has continuously accused Obama of not understanding the nation or its economy (while apologizing for the country overseas) and of desiring to turn the United States into a European-style state where poverty will spread. To level such an indictment credibly, it helps to toss out facts-- or what seem to be facts. By charging Obama with a power grab that will place government in control of half of the economy, Romney positions himself as a savior for those voters who believe (maybe because of Romney's own demagoguery) that Obama is running amok and threatening the fundamental nature of the nation.

This claim was a supersize stretch of the truth. Yet nothing prevented Romney from making good use of it, for in this political culture there is often little, if any, penalty to be paid for hurling such reality-defying rhetoric. One can only wonder how big the whoppers will get by November.

So... Mr. Santorum got to know Mr. Romney and his record pretty well over the months. Here's a good summary of what he thinks about the Mitt who would be president of job creation:

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