#RomneyShambles

post from Crooks and Liars on 28 July 2012 05:00:14 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Courtesy of the DNC, highlights from #RomneyShambles. In case you missed David Cameron's stinging comeback to Romney's implication that London wasn't prepared for the Olympics:

"We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world," the prime minister said, pointedly. "Of course it's easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere." (Romney ran the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake Ciy, Utah.)

I just hope that Romney isn't headed to any other nations overseas to show off his foreign diplomacy skills. We really can't spare any allies.

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The Churchill bust conspiracy

post from Daily Kos on 28 July 2012 05:00:07 PM. © Daily Kos

President Barack Obama shows Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom a bust of Sir Winston Churchill in the private residence of the White House, July 20, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) The backside of 10 Downing StreetUh oh, time to get all Nancy Drew up in this thing:

Like a plot twist in a sitcom, IT TURNS OUT THERE ARE TWO CHURCHILL BUSTS!!!!!
The one in the White House Residence was a gift to the White House from the British Embassy during the Nixon administration.
The other one was loaned to President George W. Bush by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Says James Barbour, Press Secretary and Head of Communications for the British Embassy, ?The bust of Sir Winston Churchill, by Sir Jacob Epstein, was lent to the George W Bush administration from the UK?s Government Art Collection, for the duration of the Presidency. When that administration came to an end so did the loan; the bust now resides in the British Ambassador?s Residence in Washington DC. The White House collection has its own Epstein bust of Churchill, which President Obama showed to Prime Minister Cameron when he visited the White House in March?

... and a third Churchill bust, currently residing in a certain White House bathroom, contains a map showing the location of Lincoln's gold!

The White House is now admitting the error. Or is that just what they want you to think?

As backstory, the controversy around the Churchill Bust is that supposedly Barack Obama let the British have their bust back when the original loan of it had expired in order to pay them back for slavery or calling things "chips" or something, I don't remember the exact details, but yesterday Mitt Romney burnished his foreign policy credentials by telling a London crowd that when he was president, he'd take the Churchill bust back from the British and again display it proudly in the Oval Office (in the process banishing any remaining busts of communists Martin Luther King Jr. and Abe Lincoln, who I again point out were communists).

As a fabulously wealthy man, Mitt knows that returning things after the loan has expired is something only poor people do. Besides, our special relationship with the United Kingdom entitles us to keep all their stuff if we say we want it.

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nspiracy

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Billboard Compares Obama To Aurora Shooter

post from ThinkProgress on 28 July 2012 05:00:03 PM. © ThinkProgress

A billboard in Idaho is comparing President Obama to James Holmes, the 24-year-old accused of killing 12 people in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater. The electronic sign, sponsored by the libertarian-leaning Ralph Smeed Foundation, says: ?Kills 12 in a movie theater with assault rifle, everyone freaks out. Kills thousands with foreign policy, wins Nobel Peace Prize.? ?We?re all outraged over that killing in Aurora, Colorado, but we?re not outraged over the boys killed in Afghanistan,? a member of the group explained, adding, ?We?re not saying that Obama is a lunatic.”

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urora-shooter/

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FDL Book Salon Welcomes Steve Coll, Private
Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power

post from Firedoglake on 28 July 2012 04:59:34 PM. © Firedoglake

If you?ve ever wondered why all the angry political rhetoric about high gasoline prices has so little effect when you?re paying around $4 a gallon, give a read to Steve Coll?s incredibly well-researched book, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American[...]

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One in three conservatives now think Obama is
Muslim

post from US Politics | AMERICAblog News on 28 July 2012 04:00:36 PM. © US Politics | AMERICAblog News

The stupid, it breeds.Most of the growth in Obama-Muslim theorizing has occured among Republicans. One in six of them used to think Obama was Muslim; one in three of them now do. There's no follow-up, but you can count off the things that conservative Republicans haven't liked about Obama. The Cairo speech. "Apologizing for America." Wanting to close Gitmo. Afghanistan timetable. Siding with...

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Amazon.com CEO Gives $2.5 Million To WA Marriage
Campaign

post from Crooks and Liars on 28 July 2012 04:00:35 PM. © Crooks and Liars

This is a nice little bit of positive PR for a company that's had a bad year, public relations-wise. Between not wanting to pay sales taxes and making warehouse workers perform in extreme temperatures (which they've since remediated, they announced recently), Amazon needed a feel-good story. I'd say this qualifies:

OLYMPIA, Wash. ? Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, announced Friday they are donating $2.5 million to the campaign to defend Washington?s same-sex marriage law.
With the gift, Washington United for Marriage has raised more than $5 million for its referendum campaign.
enlarge Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO and founder.
?It?s a game changer for us,? said campaign manager Zach Silk in Seattle. ?It puts us in unique position to win.?
But, his group is still the underdog, he said. In 32 previous elections nationally, same-sex advocates have lost. Silk said he believes the Washington election may be the turning point, thanks in part to the Bezos? donation.
?We?re at a tipping point, and they really understand this is an historic moment, and they want to be on the right side of history and want to make history,? he said.
Amazon publicly supported the law earlier this year, along with other prominent Pacific Northwest businesses, including Microsoft, Starbucks Corp. and Nike Inc.
Last month, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer and co-founder Bill Gates each donated $100,000 to support the law.
Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener said the Bezos? donation was a personal decision and that ?Jeff and MacKenzie feel strongly about the issue.?
Silk and officials with two national gay rights groups ? Freedom to Marry and the Human Rights Campaign ? say Bezos? $2.5 million donation is the largest publicly reported gift to a marriage campaign. They noted that gay marriage opponents have tried to limit the disclosure of campaign contributions, so they couldn?t be certain whether there was a larger one.

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Yes, Its 2012: Black Couple Denied Wedding in the
Predominantly White Church That They Attend

post from Firedoglake on 28 July 2012 04:00:28 PM. © Firedoglake

And you thought it was a just a problem that churches feel that "all God's children" applies to LGBTs? Yes, it's the 21st century and on Sundays around the U.S., Christian worship still occurs most of the time in racially self-segregated environments.[...]

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Romney Cuts Off Press Access To Israeli
Fundraiser Following London Gaffes

post from ThinkProgress on 28 July 2012 04:00:04 PM. © ThinkProgress

Following a series of well-publicized gaffes in London, Mitt Romney’s campaign may be trying to restrict press access to the former Massachusetts governor as he travels to Israel, violating a pre-negotiated agreement.

Romney, who is flying with a group of reporters on his international trip, had agreed in April to allow limited media coverage of all finance events held in public spaces. But on Saturday, the campaign suddenly reneged on that deal and announced that a fundraiser with big-money American donors — including controversial casino magnet Sheldon Adelson — in Jerusalem’s King David Hotel would be “closed press“:

But Romney?s campaign announced Saturday that it would block the news media from covering the event, which will be held at the King David Hotel. The campaign?s decision to close the fundraiser to the press violates the ground rules it negotiated with news organizations in April, when Romney wrapped up the Republican nomination and began opening some of his finance events to the news media.
Under the agreement, a pool of wire, print and television reporters can cover every Romney fundraiser held in public venues, including hotels and country clubs. The campaign does not allow media coverage of fundraisers held in private residences.
Campaign spokesman Rick Gorka declined to explain the campaign?s decision to violate protocol with the Jerusalem event. Pressed repeatedly by reporters to offer an explanation, Gorka said only that the fundraiser was ?closed press.?
?That?s all I?ve got for you ? it?s closed press,? Gorka said.

Politico notes that Romney “allowed press into his London fundraiser Thursday night.”

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http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/07/28/601941/romney-cuts-off-press-access-
to-israeli-fundraiser-following-london-gaffs/

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Just Another FU From The Right Wing

Want to know what your Republican senator really thinks about you? By now, it should be obvious to even the most stone headed clod that the Republican party wants America to fail because their lords and masters on Wall Street can make more short term profit and earn more money for professional stock holders and manipulators like Willard from it's failure than they can from success for the middle class. The latest proof of that comes once again from the way they voted on the bill that would have eliminated tax incentives for companies that outsource jobs overseas, (Courtesy of the Teamsters Union)

These are the U.S. Senators who voted today against a bill that would eliminate tax breaks for sending U.S. jobs overseas:
Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), John Barrasso (R-WY), Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Boozman (R-AR), Richard Burr (R-NC), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Dan Coats (R-IN), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Bob Corker (R-TN), John Cornyn (R-TX), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), John Hoeven (R-ND), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), James Inhofe (R-OK), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Mike
Johanns (R-NE), Ron Johnson (R-WI), John Kyl (R-AZ), Mike Lee (R-UT), Richard Lugar (R-IN), John McCain (R-AZ), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Rand Paul (R-KY), Rob Portman (R-OH), James Risch (R-ID), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Richard Shelby (R-AL), John Thune (R-SD), Pat Toomey (R-PA), David Vitter (R-LA), Roger Wicker (R-MS).

A lot of familiar names in that list. If you haven't figured out that these people only exist to deliver the money you bust your ass to earn to the rich then there's probably no hope for you... or the country. Wonder what Mittens thought of the bill in view of all that campaign bullshit he's been spouting lately about bringing back all those jobs he himself outsourced?

Speaking of Mitt Romney and his pathological inability to connect with real people anywhere, I thought I'd pass this email along from Daily KOS. I'm pretty sure the Brits are savvy enough to realize that Mitt Romney doesn't speak for the American people but it never hurts to make sure. I signed it myself, mainly because it's the closest I can come to actually tossing a dancing horse turd at His Excellency,

Tom, please sign our letter to the people of the United Kingdom, letting them know Mitt Romney's oafish comments do not represent the views of most Americans toward one of our oldest and strongest allies. Click here to add your name-we will send the letter and the signatures to the British press.
During his recent trip to the United Kingdom, Mitt Romney questioned London's Olympic preparedness, forgot the name of the leader of the Labour Party, and said it would be terrible if the United States were to become like Europe. The people of the United Kingdom are so outraged over Romney's behavior that even two leading members of the Conservative Party, Prime Minster David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson, went out of their way to issue harsh rebukes.
In just two days, Mitt Romney has put a real dent in an alliance that took two world wars and forty years of the Cold War to build. That's why we're putting together a letter to the people of the United Kingdom, letting them know Mitt Romney does not speak for most Americans. We'll send the signatures to the British press, and hopefully mend some of the wounds which Romney has so ineptly managed to inflict.
Please sign our letter to the people of the United Kingdom letting them know that Mitt Romney does not speak for us.
Keep fighting,
Chris Bowers
Campaign Director, Daily Kos

As Fred Kaplan writes in this Slate article from yesterday:

Mitt Romney's not-so-excellent adventure abroad ("Romneyshambles," the Brits are calling it) has been many things: shabby, hilarious, scandalous, an enlivening hoot to a dreary election season. One thing it shouldn't be, though, is surprising.
Charles Krauthammer, the right-wing commentator who usually finds every excuse to attack Barack Obama-he took Obama's blinking during a tête-à-tête with Vladimir Putin as a sign of appeasement-pronounced himself befuddled by the GOP candidate's flare of incompetence.
These sorts of trips, Krauthammer said on Fox News Thursday night, are easy. You express solidarity with the allies, listen, nod your head, and say nice things or nothing at all. Instead, Romney questioned his hosts' ability to run the Olympics, raised doubts about Londoners' community spirit, and violated protocol by publicly mentioning a meeting with the head of MI-6. "It's unbelievable, it's beyond human understanding, it's incomprehensible," Krauthammer, normally a paragon of self-confidence, sputtered. "I'm out of adjectives ... I don't get it."
The thing that Krauthammer doesn't get is that Romney is not the sort of businessman-that his brand of capitalism is not the sort of enterprise-that requires even the most elementary understanding of diplomacy, courtesy, or sensitivity to other people's values, lives, or perceptions.

Which sums up Lord Willard in just about as succinct and brief manner as you're going to find anywhere. The man simply feels that he... having been born to privilege with the silver spoon of entitlement in his mouth is so far above everyone else that he doesn't even have to pretend he gives a damn.

And just to keep your awareness that upper reaches of the Republican party are mainly populated by loons and goons, we have Michele Bachmann who is definitely certifiable as the former and is working hard to get her ticket for the latter. The more irrelevant she gets the more bizarre the woman becomes to the point that I have no trouble believing that she's become totally unhinged. She's always been a bigot but one of the things more dangerous than bigotry is paranoid bigotry and this lady has that by the sack full. She has no business even being in Washington but for Boner to keep her on the House Intelligence Committee after he paranoid rants about the Islamic Brotherhood or whatever the hell she was gibbering about is a failure that he alone will have to own.

And last but by no means least One of the possibly only three people in America who truly get it offers a perspective on Campaign 2012 that even curmudgeons like myself can understand and appreciate. Not surprising since he is America's Alpha Curmudgeon himself.

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

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y-lewis-black-campaign

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Smug American Elitism at the Olympics Opening
Ceremony

It is a running joke that Americans learn geography or about countries outside the United States only when the US military decides to invade a country. Presumably, this is why NBC broadcasters Bob Costas, Matt Lauer, and Meredith Viera announcing the[...]

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