Karl Rove Warns Of An Obama "October Surprise":
"These Chicago Guys Are Tough; They're Gonna Do Something"

From the October 19 edition of Fox News' Hannity:

Previously: 

Bolling Predicts "Some Chicago-Style, Thug, Gangster Politics Coming" From The Obama Campaign

Fox Contributor Pat Caddell: Ryan Pick Elevates The Discussion Above Current "Chicago Gangster Strategy"

Karl Rove: Fox's Official Unofficial Republican Response

 

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Romney Team Plans To Continue War Spending
Indefinitely

A top Romney foreign policy advisor has indicated that Governor Romney intends to incorporate war spending into his military budget even after 2014, when American troops are set to be out of Afghanistan. Speaking at a debate last night at the Military Reporters and Editors Association Conference in D.C., Dov S. Zakheim, a former Under [...]



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Fox Smears Another Solar Company: Satcon Edition

Today, Fox & Friends claimed that Satcon, a solar company that recently filed for bankruptcy, received $129 million in "taxpayer cash." In fact, the company only received small research grants, which enjoy bipartisan support.

Satcon Technology, which makes parts for large solar power projects, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Satcon suffered from diminishing incentives in Europe and competition with European and American vendors in the $7 billion inverter market, but plans to continue operations.

This morning, Fox & Friends' "News By The Numbers" segment featured Satcon:

BRIAN KILMEADE: Next, $129 million. That's how much taxpayer cash went to solar company Satcon technology -- I hope I said that right -- but even that couldn't keep it afloat. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week.

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Hillary Clinton On Energy And Foreign Policy: We
Need To Address The Very Real Threat Of Climate Change

by Katie Valentine Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is willing to break the climate silence. In a speech on energy diplomacy yesterday afternoon at Georgetown University, Clinton talked about the importance of sustainability and climate issues on the international policy agenda. ?We?have an interest in promoting new technologies and sources of energy ? especially including [...]



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Fox's Peter Doocy Reports Benghazi Attack Might
Have Been "Tied To That Anti-Islamic Video," Undermining Weeks Of Fox Distortions

From the October 19 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom:

Previously:

Contrary To Right-Wing Media Claims, Report Confirms Anti-Islam Video Was Catalyst For Libya Attack

Libya Misinformation: Fox Anchor Dismisses Anti-Muslim Video That Sparked Global Riots

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Supreme Court Allows Mentally Ill Man To Be
Executed

Last night, the Supreme Court denied a stay of execution to Florida inmate John Errol Ferguson. Ferguson, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and has a history of hallucinations, believes that he is the ?Prince of God,? and that his captors are preparing him for ?ascension.? As ThinkProgress previously explained, it is difficult to square [...]



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Neoliberalism Kills

During the run-up to passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), I wrote a number of posts (here, here, and here) assessing the ACA very negatively, and pointing out the shortcomings of the various versions of this bill, preceding its final passage. My[...]

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Scott Brown blames Elizabeth Warren for his
insult to victims' families

Scott Brown had initially issued a gracious apology for calling the family members of absestos victims who appeared in ads for Elizabeth Warren "paid actors." That graciousness is totally gone now, and he's back to his usual nasty self as he gets pressed further about it.

She's been the one who's been representing those large corporations against those victims. It's unfair. I should have verified it. I said I was sorry and I want to reiterate that,? he said.

It's all Elizabeth Warren's fault that he was a total asshole about these people, and it's not fair that his being a massive jerk about it is coming back to bite him in the ass. You can almost understand Brown lashing out as he sees his Senate gig slipping away with stories like this. Here's one of the victims, a construction worker, holding a press availability on his lunch hour to talk about Brown's accusations.

I was a little upset, you know, when I heard about it. After taking care of my father for so long, it's a little insulting. {...] I'm not an overpaid actor. I'm an ordinary construction worker just like my father. We were all in the same business, my two brothers and all my cousins and I don't see any Hollywood in construction,? said John English.

It's telling about Brown's character that he would believe that this man, appearing in this ad, could possibly be an actor, could possibly be lying about his father's suffering.

Maybe Brown is so used to lying, he just assumes that's what everybody does.

Please contribute $3 to Elizabeth Warren on ActBlue.

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CNN Continues To Treat Conservative "Scam PAC" As
Legitimate

CNN has continued to bolster the national profile of Tea Party Express in the lead up to the presidential election despite widespread reporting that the supposed grassroots organization exists largely to funnel money into the coffers of the group's founders.

During the 2010 election cycle, Our Country Deserves Better, the political action committee that launched the Tea Party Express, was repeatedly criticized for its spending practices. According to Talking Points Memo, from July through November of 2009, almost two-thirds of the group's expenditures went to the GOP consulting firm whose lead partner co-founded the PAC.

Since the midterm elections, CNN has hosted Tea Party Express spokespeople numerous times and even co-hosted a Republican presidential primary debate with the group.

While receiving this heavy promotion from CNN, Our Country Deserves Better PAC has continued to engage in dubious spending practices.

A recent Politico piece labeled Our Country Deserves Better as "perhaps the best example" of "scam PACs," groups that spend only a fraction of their revenue for their stated purpose of helping political candidates. According to Politico, Our Country Deserves Better has spent more than 91 percent of its revenue on "fundraising expenses, travel, and other overhead costs":

In the presidential race, too, a handful of outside groups have popped up to raise millions of dollars and spend them with jaw-dropping inefficiency. Perhaps the best example is a group dubbed Our Country Deserves Better PAC, a rebooted version of the Tea Party Express, which spent heavily in Senate races in the 2010 cycle. In the 2012 election, Our Country Deserves Better has collected $7.8 million, so far, with more than three-quarters of that money coming in through small increments that the FEC does not itemize.

[...]

Despite its robust fundraising, Our Country Deserves Better PAC has reported just $488,907 in independent expenditures. A full 91.6 percent of its revenue went to "other federal operating expenditures" -- fundraising expenses, travel and other overhead costs. [Politico, October 17]

But despite its controversial spending habits, which have prompted questions about whether the group is too closely aligned with GOP operatives and less in line with the tea party's grassroots movement, CNN continues to regularly promote Tea Party Express. Amy Kremer, the chair of the Tea Party Express, has appeared on CNN at least 19 times since last October to discuss the group's political activities and offer her perspective on a number of policy issues, such as entitlement spending and health care reform. Kremer has also appeared on NPR and MSNBC, and made five appearances on Fox News. 

And even though the PAC came under scrutiny a few years ago for reportedly serving as little more than a slush fund for the Republican consulting firm that started it, its spending strategy appears not to have changed much. According to a Media Matters review of Federal Election Commission filings, the PAC has disbursed about $2.4 million to Russo, Marsh and Associates, that same consulting firm, since January 2011, out of a total $7.2 million spending. The firm's founder, Sal Russo, was also a co-founder of Tea Party Express and is listed as a chief strategist for the Our Country Deserves Better PAC. Joe Wierzbicki, a principal at the consulting firm, is also the PAC coordinator for Our Country Deserves Better.

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Donald Rumsfeld's 'water boy,' Gen. Tommy Franks,
picked for Mitt Romney's Military Advisory Council

Maybe Mitt Romney can get Donald Rumsfeld, here with Gen. Tommy Franks,
to serve a third time as secretary of Defense.Adam Weinstein has written a splendid head-knocker taking note of one of Mitt Romney's top choices for his "Military Advisory Council." It's Gen. Tommy Franks, U.S. Army, retired. No. 4 on a Foreign Policy list of worst U.S. generals that includes Benedict Arnold as No. 2.

Casting aside for the moment that the imperialist Iraq invasion should never have occurred in the first place, Gen. Franks was the guy who, in the words of Michael O'Brien, served as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's "water boy." Gen. Eric Shinseki, now secretary of Veterans Affairs, had said that the invasion would require half a million troops, but Rumsfeld wanted to do it on the cheap, 150,000 at most. He turned to Franks:

Franks had only one thing going for him, and it was not the fact he was the CENTCOM Commander. It was the fact that he was a  "yes man" who did whatever his boss told him to do in the face of overwhelming historical evidence the plan he was executing was bogus.

The guy who lost track of Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora thus became the guy who planned the invasion, which went really well ... until it didn't. That guy says at the top of the press release from the GOP candidate's campaign office:

Governor Romney is committed to restoring America's leadership role in the world. Instead of playing politics with our military, he will strengthen our defense posture by reversing the President?s devastating defense cuts. The fact of the matter is that we cannot afford another four years of feckless foreign policy. We need level-headed leadership which will protect our interests and defend our values with clarity and without apology.

Weinstein vivisects Franks's tenure, noting that he :

? Deliberately concealed from the American public how in 2001, at Bush White House's request, he was planning an Iraq invasion?while we were still trying to topple the Taliban and find Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

? Lost track of bin Laden at Tora Bora in late 2001, then claimed he hadn't, then was proven wrong.

? Perpetuated the bogus "weapons of mass destruction" myth about Iraq.
Ignored warnings from his CENTCOM predecessor that Iraq wouldn't be a walk in the park, and disregarded an earlier series of US war games, titled Desert Crossing, that predicted many of the difficulties of an Iraq occupation.

? Completely failed to plan for any post-conflict cleanup after the predicted fall of Saddam Hussein. "You pay attention to the day after," he reportedly told the administration, "I'll pay attention to the day of."

The choice of Franks follows a pattern with Romney. His foreign policy team is a bunch of knuckle-headed, knuckle-dragging neo-conservatives who did everything they could to make the invasion of Iraq a sure thing starting on Sept. 12, 2001.

In those gaps in Romney's schedule that keeps him off programs like "The View," he is probably memorizing advice for the foreign policy debate from Franks, John Bolton and the rest of that crew of unrepentant liars, mountebanks and incompetents. Despite the lack of details he's presented, it doesn't take much pondering to know what the candidate as president would do on Day One when it comes to international affairs.

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