Former UBS Traders Offered Deal in Libor
Investigation

Several former traders at UBS have been offered a deal by federal prosecutors in the unfolding Libor scandal, which if we had a criminal justice apparatus dedicated to accountability would be a moment of hope for the potential of going up the chain and[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/firedoglake/fdl/~3/dwxnQ7HK1_Q/

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

The Continuation Of The WSJ's Rove Problem

Karl Rove is continuing to use Wall Street Journal column to blatantly advance his own financial interests.

Rove is the co-founder of Crossroads GPS and American Crossroads, two outside groups devoted to defeating President Obama in the November election. And in his August 8 Journal column, Rove touted the efforts of outside groups working against Obama without any disclosure of his own involvement in such groups.

Rove advised Mitt Romney to run positive ads while leaving the dirty work of negative advertising to outside groups:

Mr. Romney also began running more positive ads. The election will not be won just by highlighting Mr. Obama's failures, a job better left (mostly) to outside groups. Because it can put the candidate on camera, the Romney campaign is better positioned to reassure voters that he has a plan to create jobs, reduce spending, and make America more prosperous.

Rove's outside groups plan to raise at least $240 million ahead of Election Day in order to fund ad buys.

And Rove's groups are indeed busy smearing Obama just as Rove suggested they should in his Journal column. Last week, Rove's group unveiled a new ad that falsely claimed that the 2009 stimulus bill failed.

Rove's group previously produced an anti-Obama attack ad that deceptively edited comments the president has made. Rove subsequently hyped the same distortion in his Journal column.

The Journal has a Rove problem. It allows Rove to hype distortions promoted by his political groups, it allows him to promote the role of his groups in this election cycle, and it refuses to acknowledge Rove's conflict of interest.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.mediamatters.org/~r/mediamatters/latest/~3/_Yn58Ebo2sM/189216

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

Lies Are the New Truth

Being a campaign surrogate isn't easy. You have no say in what the candidate you favor or his campaign decides to say or do, yet you're called upon to defend their words and actions. That can put you in an extremely uncomfortable position, unless you're Newt Gingrich.

Yesterday, Newt went on Anderson Cooper 360 to talk about Mitt Romney's new welfare attack ad, which falsely accuses Obama of ending work requirements in welfare, and what he said was truly remarkable, even for him. Now, let me be absolutely clear about something. I've been paying very, very close attention to political ads for a long time. In my former career as an academic I did a lot of research on political ads. I've watched literally every single presidential general election campaign ad ever aired since the first ones in 1952. I've seen ads that were more inflammatory than this one, and ads that were in various ways more reprehensible than this one (not many, but some). But I cannot recall a single presidential campaign ad in the history of American politics that lied more blatantly than this one.

You can get the details on those lies here or here, but it's something quite rare in politics. Usually candidates deceive voters by taking something their opponent says out of context, or giving a tendentious reading to facts, or distorting the effects of policies. But in this case, Romney and his people looked at a policy of the Obama administration to allow states to pursue alternative means of placing welfare recipients in jobs, and said, "Well, how about if we just say that they're eliminating all work requirements and just sending people checks?" I have no idea if someone in the room said, "We could say that, but it's not even remotely true," and then someone else said, "Who gives a crap?", or if nobody ever suggested in the first place that this might be problematic. But either way, they decided that they don't even have to pretend to be telling the truth anymore.

To get back to Newt, here's what happens when someone is questioned about it. Newt's argument is?and I'm not exaggerating here?that although the Romney ad makes false claims, that's OK because Barack Obama and those who work for him are, in Newt's opinion, the kind of people who would gut work requirements if they could, so therefore it's OK to say that they are actually doing it, even though they aren't.

We accept a lot of ridiculous spin in politics, but this is something entirely different. If you look closely, you can see the gaping hole where Newt's soul used to be:

Mitt RomneyUnited StatesThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsPratt?Romney familyNewt GingrichPresidency of Bill ClintonUniversity of West GeorgiaBarack Obama

Read The Full Article:
http://prospect.org/article/lies-are-new-truth

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

Romney team valiantly trying to make convention
boring

Having fun yet, Mitt?If you thought Mitt Romney had a hard time appeasing all the Republican factions and egos with his pick for vice president, just think about what a nightmare he's got with the convention. Do you actually expose Michele Bachmann to a national audience? Rick Perry? ("There are three great reasons to vote for Romney. There's . . . let's see . . . there's . . . What was I thinking of?")

Well, it looks like they're avoiding any more Rick Perry gaffes, and Bachmann has decided she'll be having a "unity ralley" at a megachurch near the convention center. That leaves the Romney team to figure out how to deal with Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, and Donald Trump, not to mention everbody's favorite half-governor. Newt doesn't get a prime time speaking slot. Newt doesn't get any slot. They've scheduled him to conduct workshops they're calling Newt University. Sort of like an extremists' petting zoo.

If Trump doesn't get his slot, he's got a good reason. He's just so damned popular he might not have time to be there.

?The Republican Party in Sarasota?you?ve probably heard of this?they?re giving me the Statesman of the Year award,? he said, adding that he did not want to overextend himself. (As quantitative proof of his popularity, Mr. Trump?s spokeswoman called immediately after the interview to note that he has 1.4 million Twitter followers, a number that she said is growing by about 40,000 a week.)

There's actually the thought in the party that if they let Trump speak, they can control what he says on the stage. Hahahahaha!

Then there's the Trump-sized ego who is Herman Cain. He's promising to raise, well Cain, to represent the teabaggers, who he thinks don't get enough respect.

?Based upon having done hundreds of speeches and based upon the reaction from those various audiences,? he said, ?me speaking at the convention could offer, No. 1, some enthusiasm. No. 2, some inspiration to get past any differences that still exist amongst various groups. And let?s be honest, it?s there. We?re not a homogeneous party yet.?

And nobody knows what in the hell to do with Palin. If they don't invite her, she'll probably just crash the damned party anyway. If they do invite her, how do they keep her from sucking up all the oxygen in the great Tampa area? You think she's going to let Mitt Romney get all the attention?

Against all odds, with Romney as the nominee, it's looking like the Republican convention might turn out to be kind of interesting to watch, in a train wreck kind of way.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/IRUwWN5jJmg/-Romney-team-valiantly
-trying-to-make-convention-boring

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

Fox Continues Its Campaign To Make It Harder For
Americans To Vote

Fox News and Breitbart.com attacked a Massachusetts effort to increase registration among eligible low-income voters. This is nothing new for Fox, which has also pushed for voter ID laws that would restrict voting rights for low-income voters. 

Federal law requires states to help citizens who receive federal benefits such as food stamps register to vote. New England United for Justice, the NAACP, and others recently sued Massachusetts officials, claiming that Massachusetts was not providing registration help as required by federal law. Massachusetts officials settled the lawsuit.

The settlement requires Massachusetts officials to send voter registration forms to people who receive aid from government programs. Federal law requires states to help register citizens receiving such assistance. Agreements similar to the one reached in Massachusetts are already in effect in Georgia, Ohio, Missouri, New Mexico, Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, and Mississippi. The Massachusetts agreement also requires the state to run informative voting public service announcements on TV and radio stations as well as in welfare office waiting rooms.

Fox Businees Host Stuart Varney, echoing a Breitbart.com article, reacted to the ruling by suggesting that the court ruling was a "spearheaded effort by the Democrats" to buy the votes of welfare recipients. Varney further claimed the $275,000 the state was spending to send registration information to 500,000 voters is "a form of buying votes with your money." Varney failed to note that similar programs are being run in several other states.

In addition to attacking an effort to increase registration among eligible voters, Fox has promoted voter ID laws that would restrict the rights of thousands of eligible low-income voters. 

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.mediamatters.org/~r/mediamatters/latest/~3/3bCo0bRC6qE/189215

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

Will Mitt Romney Obey Ann Coulter and Fire Andrea
Saul

Sam Stein and Karen Finney had a great conversation with Alex Wagner on The Last Word about Ann Coulter's remarkable call for donors to withhold fundage to Mitt Romney's campaign -- "big donors" -- until Andrea Saul is fired for citing Romneycare in[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/firedoglake/fdl/~3/umhRUp7XN6w/

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

Off With Her Head!

Ann Coulter says Romney campaign spokesperson Andrea Saul must be fired for touting Romneycare. [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Talking-Points-Memo/~3/08-MDnTpL1Y/off_with_her_he
ad.php

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

Money.Humor.Fun.

Mitt Romney on that now infamous photo of he and his Bain partners back in the day:"It was a moment of humor."[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Talking-Points-Memo/~3/uXCjmtnmVcw/moneyhumorfun.p
hp

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

Top Story: Karl Rove Super PAC Skirts 30-Day
Election Law But Nobody Is Talking About That

The outrageous ad by Priorities USA Action, the Obama Super PAC?the one that accuses Mitt Romney of being responsible for a woman?s death from cancer, apparently on the theory that Romney was personally responsible for providing health insurance and health care services to family members of anyone who ever worked for a company in which Bain Capital invested, in perpetuity?has blown up in Obama?s face like an exploding cigar. – Has the Obama Campaign Gone Too Far

NEVER MIND that Priorities USA and Team Obama can’t coordinate. We went through this with Super PACS affiliated with Mitt Romney earlier this year. We all know how this works. But at least Priorities USA isn’t skirting FEC regulations, which is exactly what Karl Rove is being accused of doing right now with this ad.

Karl Rove and the Koch Bros. have already been twisting election law on “social welfare” ads in order to protect their donors’ anonymity, which I wrote about in detail, though most everyone else ignored the story.

But today while everyone in the media from the right’s Joe Scarborough to Beltway man Mark Halperin to the far right’s cheer leader Fox News squeals bloody murder about a Priorities USA ad, there has been very little said about Crossroads GPS currently running negative ads against Obama without disclosing donors well after the 30-day convention deadline.

The new commercial — which opens with a clip of CBS News anchor Scott Pelley saying, ?This is the worst economic recovery America has ever had? — began running Tuesday in nine battleground states. Part of Crossroads GPS? most recent $25-million buy, the ad is set to run through Aug. 6, the group announced on its website. That means the commercial will be on the air less than 30 days before a party convention — a period of time in which groups that air ?electioneering communications? must disclose all their contributors for the cycle, the result of a federal court ruling this spring. – Crossroads GPS tries to squeak past disclosure window

The story above from the Los Angeles Times ran on August 1. U.S. News & World Report picks it up today, but no one is talking about that. Everyone else is honed in on the one Super PAC that supports Obama. Priorities USA is pretty much the only ballgame for Democrats, while Republicans have group after group hitting Pres. Obama.

Joe Scarborough and Mark Halperin double-teamed Robert Gibbs on Wednesday demanding he denounce the Priorities USA ad, but to my knowledge “Morning Joe” hasn’t picked up anything on Karl Rove’s Super PAC skirting FEC election law, whether it’s the “social welfare” scam aspect, pretending to run an ad for the good of everyone, while slamming Obama, and hiding their anonymous donors, or his group running ads past deadline without disclosing donors.

Robert Gibbs was right when he turned the tables on Scarborough to talk about an ad Mitt Romney’s responsible for, which is the welfare ad that’s a pack of lies. Scarborough feigned ignorance of the welfare ad details, which of course Gibbs wasn’t allowed to do on the Priorities USA ad.

Michael Steele added that he had a “visceral reaction” to the Priorities USA ad in “his living room.”

Well, we’re watching Karl Rove ads all day long during the Olympics and every other program, some of which have nothing to do with “social welfare” and shouldn’t be on the air without disclosing their donors, and others running past the 30-day rule without doing so as well. So, Mssrs. Steele and Halperin (but not Scarborough, for reasons already stated) can kiss by ex-dancer derriere.

Now the entire right from wingnut radio to Fox News Channel to the blogosphere is focused on Priorities USA.

Unable to run on his record, President Hope-and-Change has built a campaign based entirely on scurrilous lies about Mitt Romney. But the latest reaches a historic, despicable low. – The Obama Campaign Hits A New Low

The double standard on Super PAC ads pits the Rove, Koch Bros, and 60 Plus Goliath against the Priorities USA David. I’m just wondering when Democrats are going to turn the discussion toward Republican Super PACS and Rove, because he’s getting away with actually skirting FEC regulations, while all Priorities USA did is hit a nerve.

It’s the point that got Alan Grayson in so much trouble when he said the Republican health care plan is if you don’t have health insurance “you die.”

The bootstrap Republican philosophy simply doesn’t work, especially when you have no job, no money and you get sick and run out of options.

Read The Full Article:
http://taylormarsh.com/blog/2012/08/karl-rove-super-pac-skirts-30-day-election-la
w-but-nobody-is-talking-about-that/

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!

News Desk: Man Lying Naked In A Roadway in Texas
was Randy Travis

Country music star Randy Travis, who pleaded no contest to public intoxication following the Super Bowl in February, was arrested again Tuesday after being found naked, smelling apparently of alcohol and lying on a remote stretch of roadway in northern Texas just before midnight, authorities said. He was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated and felony retaliation, after allegedly threatening to fatally shoot highway patrol troopers who responded to a concerned caller who notified authorities of “a man lying in the roadway” Tuesday. The DWI offense is a misdemeanor, authorities said. [CNN]

SOMEHOW THIS sounds awfully like the trailer for Hangover 3.

Read The Full Article:
http://taylormarsh.com/blog/2012/08/news-desk-man-lying-naked-in-a-roadway-in-tex
as-was-randy-travis/

Add to del.icio.us   Digg this   Post to Furl   Add to reddit   Add to myYahoo!