Posts filed under ‘Republicans, Including Wingers & "Moderates"’
Dooo Iiiiiiiitt
Republicans Declaring War on Birth Control?
Starting in August, women in the U.S. will get free birth control from their health insurance.
The exceptions are women who work for a religious organization–such as the Catholic Church–allowed to opt out of mandatory coverage.
Many people are aware President Obama last Friday had to backtrack some–and broaden the new coverage regulation in order to allow other kinds of religious employers–such as a hospital or non-profit–to not provide the coverage. In the compromise, those women workers still get the free coverage–directly through their health insurance carriers.
That compromise was good enough for many Catholic organizations–not the Catholic bishops–and now, not good enough for a handful of Senators who want to ban the coverage for any kind of religious employer and–taking it MUCH FURTHER–allow any employer not to cover contraception if it violates the employer’s moral or religious beliefs.
How about letting a woman decide if she wants to use birth control?
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. — much mentioned as a possible GOP vice presidential candidate and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., have an amendment that would allow any employer to deny birth control coverage if it runs counter to their religious or moral beliefs.
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., has an amendment–tacked on to the Transportation Bill, for heaven’s sake– to let health insurers have the right to ban coverage on conscience grounds.
Yeah guys, doooo iiiiiit.
I mean seriously. It’s 2012. Do Republicans really think this is a winning issue? Really?
Republicans Really Screwed Up Last Weekend’s Maine Caucuses
For a party that claims (emphasis on claims) to be obsessed about perfection when it comes to all things voting, Republicans really know how to screw up ah, voting:
Eeeeek! A Fraud! (RJ Matson, Roll Call, April 16, 2007)
Pressure Mounting for GOP Caucus Reconsideration
Pressure is on the Maine Republican Party to reconsider its weekend declaration that Mitt Romney won the state’s caucuses.
The Maine GOP announced Saturday that Romney narrowly edged Ron Paul, 39 percent to 36 percent, in a nonbinding presidential preference poll taken during the caucuses. The margin was fewer than 200 votes.
A number of communities were not included in that poll because they had not held their caucuses in time. Washington County Republicans postponed their caucuses, originally scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 11, because of a pending snowstorm and will now meet this Saturday. Other communities across the states also have caucuses scheduled for this weekend and later this month.
All along, state GOP officials said communities knew that their votes would not be included in the final results if they did not hold their caucus by Feb. 11.
However, a review of the town-by-town results released Saturday by the Maine GOP suggests that some communities that had caucused prior to Feb. 11 were not counted. Nearly all Waldo County towns held caucuses on Feb. 4 but those towns were blank in the results released by the state party. Additionally, Waterville held its caucuses ahead of time but were not included in the results.
Over the last few days I’ve read some tweets and seen some headlines speculating that the Maine GOP essentially rearranged the deck chairs so that Romney would “win.” Given the info above, maybe they did.
Talk about
VOTER FRAUD.
Michigan to Romney: Don’t Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out
Ouch. Here’s a bare-bones, raw explanation as to why Michiganders are rallying around Rick Santorum. Shorter: Mitt stabbed them in the back. They hate him.
One very clear reason why Mitt Romney is far from a lock to win the Michigan primary, despite his ties to the state, is that he’s not really tied to the state.
He was born here, he lived here. But he’s not family. Not anymore.
That’s why the characterization of Rick Santorum polling well in Romney’s backyard is a bit misguided. The truth is, many of us disowned that two-faced liar years ago. We remember how, back in 2008, Romney came home promising to do all he could to save the auto industry. And we believed him and voted for him and he won the primary here. Then, after he dropped out of the race, he wrote a New York Times op-ed that carried the headline “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”
The opening sentence: “If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye.”
What the hell?
I thought he said he was one of us.
Later in the piece, Romney talks about why we should let the auto industry go bankrupt. Although he lays out some very sound reasons for this — including an anecdotal story of when his father, George, took over American Motors — at the end of the day he fails to mention the most important thing. Us.
He forgot about the people back home who depended on the auto industry to put food on the table, pay mortgages, send the kids to college. He greeted us like family when he needed our votes, but when he left town he treated us like strangers.
[...]
But it’s going to be tough to sit and listen to Romney, knowing he will try to say whatever he thinks we want to hear. And besides, our backs are still sore from that knife he stuck in them in 2008.
Read the whole thing here.
New Mexico: Corporations Are Not People
I’m about to crawl in bed because I have The Cold That Won’t Quit that everyone seems to have these days, but I want to put this up first:
New Mexico calls on Congress to overturn Citizens United ruling
The New Mexico state legislature has approved a resolution that urges the U.S. Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. FEC.
“This marks a major victory for the constitutional amendment movement to reclaim our democracy,” said John Bonifaz, director of Free Speech for People, a coalition of groups that oppose the controversial ruling.
“The Citizens United ruling presents a direct and serious threat to the integrity of our elections, unleashing a torrent of corporate money into our political process,” he added. “The ruling is also the most extreme extension yet of a corporate rights doctrine which has been eroding our First Amendment and our US Constitution for the past 30 years. As with prior egregious Supreme Court rulings which threatened our democracy, we the people must exercise our power under Article V of the Constitution to enact a constitutional amendment which will preserve the promise of American self-government: of, for, and by the people.”
If my memory serves, I think this is the first time a state legislature has passed a resolution opposing Citizens United. A number of city and county councils have passed amendments and/or resolutions but I think this is first state-wide resolution ever.
Bravo New Mexico.
Let’s keep this ball rollin’ people!
Letter Carriers Refuse to Deliver Mail Based on “Moral Convictions”
Think about this:
In response to the Obama Administrations’ rules that insurance companies cover birth control of female employees who work with religiously affiliated organizations, Republicans are pushing legislation that would allow any employer to deny health services to employees on “moral convictions.” Among the Republicans pushing the legislation is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
On Sunday, during an appearance on Face The Nation, McConnell claimed that requiring employers to cover crucial health services for women is a violation of freedom of religion and admitted to Bob Scheiffer that he supports Roy Blunt’s legislation that would allow any employer in the nation to deny health services to employees if such services conflict with their “moral convictions.”
Are you serious Mitch? Fine. The thing is, you’re proposing going down a two-way street buddy.
Let’s say the Postal Service decides, ahem, based on “moral convictions” of course, it won’t deliver flyers from Republican candidates. Or let’s say a left-leaning telephone company decides it won’t — based on “moral convictions” — route campaign calls from a Koch-brother-funded organization to its customers. Or lets say a liberal-leaning bank won’t — based on “moral convictions” — cash checks deposited by people who belong to the Republican party.
Do we really want to go down that road? Really? REALLY?
Imagine having the wisdom to think things through and to bust out of your hermetically sealed Fox-encased brain and to think about the reality of what you’re proposing.
Geezus.
Mitt (Dog on Roof) Romney Wins Maine Caucuses
A whopping 39% of Mainers — that would be a total of 2,190 people — voted for Mitt
Illustration by Colleeen Clap for the "Chris Matthews Show"
Romney in today’s Republican caucuses there.
Ron Paul came in second at 36% with 1,996 votes.
Rick Santorum was third at 18% with 989 votes, and
Newt and Callista Gingrich came in fourth at 6% with a pitiful 349 votes.
Relevant factoid: Maine’s population? 1,328,188.
So, 5,524 Republicans voted in Maine today and the cables have been hanging on it all week? Really?
#ItsAllAboutRatingsTheMoney
The Fox Business Network (FBN) is History
Fox Business Replaces Its Primetime Lineup with Reruns
Fox Business Network announced Thursday they will replace their three primetime programs with “encore presentations of the channel’s top post-market programs,” also known as reruns of Lou Dobbs Tonight. The network is getting rid of FreedomWatch with Judge Andrew Napolitano, Power & Money with David Asman, and Follow the Money with Eric Bolling. Fox Business has struggled with ratings compared to other networks, and in the short term, it doesn’t feel like reruns are going to improve anything, but then, maybe they’re just regrouping. Only time will tell.
I was at the NewsHounds when the Fox Business Network (FBN) debuted in October, 2007. After watching for several days, it was clear that Fox’s intention in launching FBN was to in essence air a channel centered on right-wing propaganda couched as a “business news” outlet. I knew that wouldn’t fly. People who were/are looking for information as to where and how to invest their money want facts. They want facts and/or informed opinions as to what the future holds in terms of risks, upsides and downsides. They don’t want Sean Hannity-like rants.
Conversely, the folks who want “news” (and Sean Hannity-like rants) had the Fox News Channel (FNC). Why would they migrate to FBN?
When Neil Cavuto (of both Fox News and FBN) started to beg people to watch FBN, I knew they were in trouble:
By the way, in about 90 minutes, I will be speaking live with Rudy Giuliani. It will be his first interview since outlining his tax plan. You can only catch it on Fox Business Network. That’s coming up at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time. If you don’t get this network, demand this network from your cable provider.
So this news about Fox Business replacing its primetime programs with reruns — who does that? — can only signal the beginning of the end of the farce that was the Fox “Business” Channel.
RIP. I give it until the end of the year. Fox won’t risk tarnishing its brand by closing the channel prior to November 6. After all, they’ve got “fair and balanced” work to do, i.e., putting a Republican in the White House.
Serious Buyer’s Remorse Happening in Ohio
[Ohio Governor] John Kasich’s not getting any more popular. 33% of voters approve of him to 53% who disapprove. Only a little more than half of Republicans think he’s doing a good job (58/25), while Democrats (9/80) are almost universal in their disapproval. If voters could do the 2010 election over again they’d vote for Ted Strickland by a 20 point margin, 56-36, numbers that not coincidentally track closely with the Senate Bill 5 repeal result from last fall.
-John Boehner’s approval was 26/52 on our last national poll and it’s not much better in his home state of Ohio at 28/54. Boehner has a similar situation to Kasich where Republicans are meh to him (53/28) while Democrats pretty much all dislike him (8/74). He also does badly with independents at 28/55.
In 2010 Ohio voters elected a Republican Governor and went GOP in many House races, helping to elect a new Republican Speaker of the House from their state. Now they regret the Governor and don’t like the Speaker. It’s hard for me to imagine that buyer’s remorse isn’t going to work to the benefit of Barack Obama and other Democrats in the state this fall.
These guys will probably have unlimited money when they run again (thank you Republican activists on the Supreme Court) but hopefully — fingers crossed! — the people will vote them out anyway. Then again, Ohio isn’t known as the fairest, most transparent place to cast a vote…
New Hampshire Republicans Hope to Eliminate Lunch Breaks
Photo: dylizi.blog.com
Do you think every single business can be trusted to give their workers a lunch break without it being mandated by law? You know, out of the goodness of their heart? Republicans in New Hampshire do: New Hampshire Republicans Propose Bill To Eliminate Workers’ Lunch Breaks.
Folks, if you think there are” too many government regulations” and that those regulations are strangling businesses, vote Republican, because this is what they mean when they say they want to undo those “job killing regulations.” They want to make it so businesses can do anything they want, including screw you out of a lunch break.
You think corporations run things now? Just wait.
Romney to Campaign in Maine Friday, At a Yacht Service Company
No, this isn’t a headline from The Onion:
Romney to campaign in Portland on Friday
AUGUSTA, Maine — Former Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential nominee frontrunner Mitt Romney is expected to campaign in Maine on Friday, just one day before the state GOP releases results of its presidential preference poll.
Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster told The Associated Press that Romney is expected to speak Friday evening at a rally at Portland Yacht Services.
What is “Portland Yacht Services?”
Portland Yacht Services is a full service Boatyard and Marina, providing customers with a full spectrum of services for outfitting and maintaining a motor or sailing vessel. Our dedicated staff handles all types of storage, maintenance, refits, and restorations on any type of boat or yacht.
This is the photo on the masthead of its website:
Mitt, really? Really!
I don’t care if Portland YACHT Services services dinghies, when you’re trying to look like a man of the people when you aren’t, you don’t go anywhere near a place called Portland YACHT Services.
Hello! Anyone home?
Unbelievable.
Santorum Wins the Night
Santorum Jolts GOP Presidential Race With 3-state Sweep
Jolts is right.
Republicans. Don’t. Like. Romney.
Hah. This is getting good.
Rick Santorum Could Win Colorado
I live in Colorado.
I haven’t seen a single pro-Romney ad this year.
Rick Santorum is close to “winning” the caucus here tonight (@10:28 p.m. ET*).
Photo: USAToday
Grassroots Republicans in this state could pull this off, unswayed by a gazillion dollars worth of campaign propaganda that puts lipstick on a pig.
Take that Romney.
* What’s with calling this race people? The polls closed 90-minutes ago.
Colorado Cop Pulls Over Car With Dog Crate Strapped to the Roof
OMG, this is great.
Police Stop Dogs Against Romney Protester for Having Dog Crate on Car Roof
This image says it all. A Dogs Against Romney Pack Member was stopped by the Littleton, Colorado police yesterday for having a dog crate on the roof of his car. The Pack Member, identified only as ”Oredigger,” was on his way to protest at a Mitt Romney event yesterday with the crate atop his car carrying a stuffed toy dog when the police officer, believing he was actually transporting a live dog on the roof of his car, stopped him. Says Oredigger, “I was pulled over for suspected animal abuse.”
This clearly illustrates how blatantly awful, incredibly dangerous, outrageously insensitive – and even illegal – Mitt Romney’s decision to transport his own dog on the roof of his car was.
But Romney still blows it off: The dog was “comfortable;” he “liked it.” Yo Mitt, that’s because the dog trusted you to take care of him and he had no idea of the danger he was in, you idiot. Geezus. Outrageously insensitive is right.
Oh, and P.S. Bravo to that cop.
About The Republican Reaction to Obama Taking Super PAC Money
This would be our Tweet of the Day, which pretty much sums up what Republicans are saying today about President Obama’s decision to take super PAC money:
Ed Schultz Looks in the Mirror and Sees Karl Rove
Ed Schultz just minutes ago: “Why would a right-wing hack” like Karl Rove “come out and talk about a Super Bowl ad? Hahahaha.”
Ed devoted his entire radio show today to ♥loving♥ the ad and as of 8:26 p.m. ET, he’s spent half an hour talking about it on his TV show.
What a tool.
Jon Huntsman — Back to the Gilded Grindstone
Ah yes. When a millionaire trust fund kid has to find something to do, this is what he does:
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman says he’s ruling out another political bid this year but is leaving open the possibility of a future run.
In his first public comments since abandoning his presidential race, Huntsman told The Salt Lake Tribune that he plans to serve on some corporation boards [calling all companies who want to expand their business into China], do some volunteer work and go on a speaker circuit as well as possibly taking some yet-to-be-named news media gig [hey, Fox could claim he's their "liberal"]. But, for now, he’s taking a break from the political scene.
Amazing. This is a former presidential candidate who told us he had a passion for changing/helping/reforming the country and he’s going to spend his down-time serving on corporate boards [easy as hell money], raking in thousands of dollars on the speaker’s circuit and bloviating on teevee [he could play a liberal on Fox!]?
What a fraud.
Mitt Isn’t Going to Like This
This is the cover of the most recent issue of The New Republic:
And no, The New Republic isn’t a flaming liberal rag, it’s conservative, so I find this choice of cover photo pretty darn interesting. This is one of the ugliest pictures I’ve ever seen of anyone.
The Tea Party Demo
Last week the New York Times published an article titled: Activists Fight Green Projects, Seeing U.N. Plot:
Across the country, activists with ties to the Tea Party are railing against all sorts of local and state efforts to control sprawl and conserve energy. They brand government action for things like expanding public transportation routes and preserving open space as part of a United Nations-led conspiracy to deny property rights and herd citizens toward cities.
They are showing up at planning meetings to denounce bike lanes on public streets and smart meters on home appliances — efforts they equate to a big-government blueprint against individual rights.
What struck me about the article wasn’t the UN conspiracy theory angle; that’s been around for a long time. What I noticed was the accompanying photo:
At a Roanoke County, Va., meeting, dozens opposed the county's paying $1,200 to a nonprofit. Photo: Jared Soares for The New York Times
Check out the age demographic.
Romney Wins Nevada
Let’s jump over the five, six or however-many hours the cables are going to feign doubt and say out loud what everyone knows is going to happen tonight:
ROMNEY WINS NEVADA
Don’t forget, we’re talking caucuses here folks. This is about how roughly 20% of hardcore Republicans voted, never mind the other 80% and independents and Democrats.
The general election will be a whole new ballgame.
Have a fun Saturday night!
Now, on to Maine and Colorado. (Bleh.)
Rick Santorum’s Zzzzzzz Factor
Far as I can tell, none of the kids in this photo care what Rick Santorum is saying. And can you blame them? I’m sure the feeling is mutual.
(Via.)
Depressing News for Republicans
Republicans want as many Americans as possible to be unemployed (at least through November 6) so I imagine they’re in a pretty bad mood today: Job Growth Surges, Jobless Rate Drops to 8.3 Percent
“ppl” Having Babies?
This would be my Tweet of the Day:
First of all Mr. King, “ppl” don’t have babies. Women. Have. Babies.
And about that supposed “dying civilization” due to “ppl” not having kids? Really? Tomorrow I’ll post some stats about how the planet is dying from overpopulation, not underpopulation. (I know, you and your crowd want to drown science in the bathtub and you think dumb is good. Hey, you’re a winner on both of those fronts!)
As for insurers? Don’t get me started.
Geezus.
New Logo for the Susan G. Komen Foundation
And here’s a heads up regarding a kickass post by a Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog (Kivi is a PR consultant) about how the Komen Foundation essentially rebranded itself overnight on Tuesday. It went from what people thought of as an organization dedicated to women’s health, to what people now perceive as a right-wing political tool.
From the You-Can’t-Make-This-Shit-Up File
I come across so much mind-blowingly crazy stuff like this every day, my whole blog could be dedicated to it. I tend to shake my head and move on at most of it but sometimes I have to stop and scream. And I’m screaming now:
Alabama Republican Senator: Low teacher Pay Mandated by God
A Republican State Senator from Alabama claimed this week that keeping teacher salaries low is actually an order from the Christian deity figure, imparted in ancient texts written by Jewish tribesmen thousands of years ago.
Speaking at a prayer breakfast recently, Alabama state Senator Shadrack McGill praised giving pay raises to politicians, saying that it helps to prevent bribery. Then he shifted gears and went in the opposite direction with regards to teachers, arguing against a bill that would increase their salaries.
“Teachers need to make the money that they need to make,” he said, according to Alabama newspaper The Times-Journal. “There needs to be a balance there. If you double what you’re paying education, you know what’s going to happen? I’ve heard the comment many times, ‘Well, the quality of education’s going to go up.’ That’s never proven to happen, guys.
“It’s a Biblical principle. If you double a teacher’s pay scale, you’ll attract people who aren’t called to teach. To go and raise someone’s child for eight hours a day, or many people’s children for eight hours a day, requires a calling. It better be a calling in your life. I know I wouldn’t want to do it, OK?”
He continued: “And these teachers that are called to teach, regardless of the pay scale, they would teach. It’s just in them to do. It’s the ability that God give ‘em. And there are also some teachers, it wouldn’t matter how much you would pay them, they would still perform to the same capacity. “If you don’t keep that in balance, you’re going to attract people who are not called, who don’t need to be teaching our children. So, everything has a balance.”
Huzzah!
10, 15, 40 years ago, this wouldn’t have made the news. It would have been thought of as, literally, crazy; the rant of a religious nut.
Firing People is So Much Fun
If Donald Trump ends up endorsing Willard, the DNC is ready with this ad:
Hee hee.
Senators Call on Komen Foundation to Reverse Planned Parenthood Decision
I’m glad to see at least some Democrats making noise about the Komen Foundation’s hit job on Planned Parenthood. Maybe they learned something after having gone along with Republicans, like spineless sheep, in destroying ACORN.
Raising the stakes, the letter explicitly raises the possibility of “thousands” of women losing access to “potentially life-saving screenings because of a politically motivated attack.”
The pressure on the Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation to reverse its decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screenings for poor people — a decision which has caused an uproar among women’s groups and on social media — is about to get significantly more intense. Nearly two dozen Senators are set to enter the fray.
I’m told that some 22 Dem Senators have signed on to a very toughly worded letter urging Komen to reverse its decision, which Komen has justified by citing a new rule prohibiting it from funding any group under investigation by the government. (This has conferred legitimacy and signficance [sic] on the probe into Planned Parenthood that has been launched by anti-abortion GOP Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida.)
More, including the letter, here.
Good Luck With That Mitt
So now Romney thinks he’s going to gain traction with the public by criticizing Obama’s plan to withdraw from Afghanistan next year?
Republican front-runner Mitt Romney slammed President Obama on Wednesday night over Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s announcement that the United States would end its combat mission in Afghanistan next year.
Speaking in Las Vegas, Romney said that announcing a timetable to end the combat mission showed the president’s “naivete.”
“The secretary of Defense said that on a day certain, the middle of 2013, we’re going to pull out our combat troops from Afghanistan,” Romney said, according to reports from Las Vegas.
“He announced that. So the Taliban hears it, the Pakistanis hear it, the Afghan leaders hear it. Why in the world do you go to the people that you’re fighting with and tell them the date you’re pulling out your troops?” Romney said. “It makes absolutely no sense.”
Romney concluded that Obama’s “naivete is putting in jeopardy the mission of the United States of America and our commitments to freedom.”
“Our commitments to freedom?” Really? I think Americans are sick and tired of being at war and paying for war and they want the “mission of the United States of America” to focus on “commitments” here at home.
Yo Mitt. Good luck with that.
Tom Coburn Hates America
This would be Republican Senator Tom Coburn:
Tom Coburn Blocks 9/11 Museum Funding
Sen. Tom Coburn is blocking legislation that would provide $20 million a year in federal funding for the National September 11 Memorial & Museumat [sic] ground zero…
Photo: AP
Coburn hates America and he’s dissing our dead. Not only that, where’s his flag pin?
Huh? Huh?
I’m thinking Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.
Republicans Are Killing Alabama’s Economy
You get what you vote for:
Photo: Alamy
Alabama’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, widely seen as the toughest in the United States, could cost the state’s economy up to $10.8 billion, according to a new study.
The Alabama law, passed in June, requires police to detain people they suspect of being in the United States illegally if they cannot produce proper documentation when stopped for any reason, among other measures.
A cost-benefit analysis released this week by University of Alabama economist Samuel Addy estimated up to 80,000 jobs could be vacated by illegal immigrants fleeing the crackdown, costing Alabama’s economy up to $10.8 billion.
The lost jobs would cost Alabama up to $264.5 million in lost state sales and income taxes, and as much as $93.1 million in lost city and county sales taxes, it found.
At the low end of the range, Addy found the crackdown could cost the state economy $2.3 billion.
A U.S. appeals court blocked Alabama from enforcing parts of the law, including a provision that permits the state to require public schools to determine the legal residency of children upon enrollment. But the court left most of the law untouched.
Last summer I posted about farmers in Alabama who were suffering due to this new law which was passed, seemingly, without an ounce of study. (Republicans think ignorance is cool, after all.)
Alabama, is it any wonder you’re 50th in just about everything?
Like I said above. You get what you vote for.
