Rubio: Extending Jobless Benefits Must Be Paid For, But Tax Cuts For The Rich Will Pay For Themselves
Rubio: Extending Jobless Benefits Must Be Paid For, But Tax Cuts For The Rich Will Pay For Themselves
Last week, a handful of Republicans tried to claim — despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary — that tax cuts inevitably pay for themselves, so the $678 billion extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans does not have to be offset. At the same time, Senate Republicans are standing pat against a $33 billion extension of unemployment benefits, because they say that it is too expensive.
As Center for American Progress Action Fund analyst Michael Linden wrote, “Senate Republicans unanimously opposed extending jobless aid one day, citing concern over the deficit, but then turn right around and push for huge tax cuts for the very richest people in the country, which would cost more than 20 times as much.” And this crazy double-standard is also being espoused by the GOP’s candidate for Senate in Florida.
Marco Rubio appeared on Chuck Todd and Savannah Guthrie’s MSNBC show today to say that an extension of jobless benefits must be paid for, but that extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy does not. “They will be paid for because they create economic growth,” he said:
RUBIO: I would vote for [a jobless benefits extension] if it’s paid for. You’d have to show how its going to be paid for and I think Republicans have been working to do that in Washington and certainly I would be part of trying to find that. [...]
GUTHRIE: So you mentioned that you want the unemployment extension to be paid for. Would you take that principle to other issues? For example, there’s talk, of course, among Republicans that the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans should be extended, but it sounds like there’s not necessarily a plan to pay for those. Would you draw the line there?
RUBIO: Well, let’s understand what the bigger picture is and it’s about the debt. [...] We definitely need growth if we want to pay down the debt, and that’s why you need policies like making permanent the ‘01 and ‘03 tax cuts.
TODD: Okay, but I’m confused, would you support them if they were not paid for, if they were not balanced out by spending cuts?
RUBIO: Well, the question is they will be paid for because they create economic growth, especially in the long-term.
Watch it:
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) has said that “you should never have to offset” tax cuts for the rich, and it would appear from these comments that Rubio wholeheartedly agrees.
However, as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has pointed out, the claim that tax cuts inevitably pay for themselves “is contradicted by the historical record.” Even President Bush’s own economists don’t believe that tax cuts are free, as Andrew Samwick, Chief Economist for the Council of Economic Advisers in 2003-2004, said that “no thoughtful person believes that this possible offset [the Bush tax cuts] more than compensated for the first effect of these tax cuts. Not a single one.” Edward Lazear, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in 2007 added, “I certainly would not claim that tax cuts pay for themselves.”
As Paul Krugman wrote, “the notion that tax cuts pay for themselves has no empirical support. And yet the GOP leadership — which claims to be oh so worried about the deficit — is willing to stake America’s solvency on its belief that tax cuts are free.” In fact, the path of revenues following the Bush tax cuts is “pretty much what you would have expected if the Bush cuts had no supply-side effect at all.”
Cross-posted on The Wonk Room.
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Fox News gives Vitter a pass on aide scandal.
Fox News gives Vitter a pass on aide scandal.
Yesterday, Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) went on Fox News Sunday to discuss the oil spill cleanup effort. Despite being embroiled in a widely reported scandal involving his former aide, Brent Furer, who worked on women’s issues for Vitter until late last month and only resigned after his conviction for stabbing a woman in 2008 came to light, Fox News’ Chris Wallace did not even broach the subject. Just this month, Vitter dodged reporters’ questions about the scandal:
REPORTER: You say [your aide's arrest] happened two years ago, I mean, he just resigned and you let him stay on the staff since the events happened in 2008, so it wasn’t two years ago.
VITTER: Well, the event was two years ago, the discipline he got in the office was two years ago..
REPORTER: Why’d you let him…what kind of discipline did he get in the office?VITTER: Anybody else [have a question]?
Watch:
Apparently Vitter’s scandal and subsequent avoidance of it just isn’t newsworthy for the ever “fair and balanced” Fox News. (HT: TPM)
Trent Lott: Most Americans Don’t Want ‘A Lot Of Jim DeMint Disciples’ In The Senate
For months, the GOP establishment has tried to walk a thin line between keeping tea party supporters in the fold while not scaring off mainstream voters by closely embracing the radical views of the tea party movement.
For example, earlier this year, RNC Chairman Michael Steele attempted to appease tea partiers by declaring that the “Republican Party will not meddle in local races — especially GOP primaries featuring candidates backed by Tea Party activists.” Steele even went so far as to state that “If I weren’t doing this job, I’d be out there with the tea parties.” However, according to a ThinkProgress report, the Republican Party has already spent over $2 million against tea party challenges to the GOP establishment.
Now, after Republican establishment choices were defeated in Senate races from Utah to Kentucky to Nevada, the old guard of the GOP is sounding the alarms.
Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) told the Washington Post that he feared what tea party candidates could do to the Senate:
“We don’t need a lot of Jim DeMint disciples,” Lott said in an interview. “As soon as they get here, we need to co-opt them.”
It’s no surprise that Lott is worried about more DeMint-style Republicans entering the Senate. DeMint’s hard-right views – including comparing immigration to the Gulf oil leak and protecting secret holds in the Senate – place him well outside the mainstream and earned him the title of “Most Conservative Senator” in 2006 and 2007. The GOP establishment is also worried about an insurrection from tea party candidates who were backed by DeMint but opposed by the NRSC. With a potential new crop of loyal tea party senators, Jim DeMint has even hinted that he’ll seek a leadership post.
However, Lott, who fears a breakdown of the Republican establishment’s power in the Senate, says he’s not expecting tea party candidates to do well in November. Said Lott, “I still have faith in the visceral judgment of the American people.”
Sen. Cornyn: ‘I Think A Lot Of People Are Looking Back With More Fondness On President Bush’s Administration’
Sen. Cornyn: ‘I Think A Lot Of People Are Looking Back With More Fondness On President Bush’s Administration’
When Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) made an appearance on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” yesterday, a host asked him whether Republicans plan to embrace the Bush legacy, and Cornyn suggested that they wholeheartedly would. He even claimed that former President Bush is enjoying a revival as the public feels “fondness” about his administration:
HOST: Last question. We learned this week that President Bush’s memoir is going to be available really in mid October … Is this a plus for your candidates to have President Bush’s administration regurgitated, discussed before election day? …
CORNYN: Look, I think President Bush’s stock is going up a lot since he left office…I think a lot of people are looking back with a little more — with more fondness on President Bush’s administration, and I think history will treat him well.
HOST: So the book will be a plus for your candidates?
CORNYN: You know, I haven’t read it, so I don’t know what’s gonna be in it. But it’s intriguing when you say it’s going to be candid.
Watch it:
Clearly, though, the American public is still sour on Bush’s record. A recent Time poll found that 71 percent blame Bush for the “balky economy,” versus 27 percent who blame President Obama. By a whopping 53-to-33 percent margin, Americans favor Obama over Bush.
As for Cornyn’s claim that “history will treat” Bush “well,” the Siena Research Institute this month released its latest poll of presidential scholars, who ranked Bush as the worst president of the modern era and in the bottom five overall. Despite evidence like this, Cornyn is only the latest prominent conservative to engage in wishful thinking about Bush’s legacy, following the likes of Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), Bush’s former Attorney General John Aschcroft, and Karl Rove. (HT: Taegan Goddard)
National Tea Party Federation Expels Tea Party Express Over Mark Williams’ Bigotry
The National Tea Party Federation — a national coalition of tea party groups formed in April — has expelled Tea Party Express (TPE) over a racially-tinged blog post written by its former chairman and current spokesperson, Mark Williams. The post, which he maintains was satirical, repeatedly referred to “colored people” and called slavery a “great gig.” Williams has a long history of bigotry, and has been one of most prominent defenders of the tea party in the wake of a resolution adopted by the NAACP last week calling out “racist elements” within the movement.
The federation demanded that Williams “be officially removed from the ranks of the Tea Party Express” in a public manner, or face expulsion from the national umbrella organization. TPE has repeatedly refused to rebuke Williams’ bigotry in the past, and protected Williams once again, even in the face of expulsion from their comrades. A TPE “leader’s response was clear: they have no intention of taking the action we required for their group to continue as a member of the National Tea Party Federation,” a Federation press release announced.
On CBS’ “Face the Nation” yesterday, federation spokesman David Webb said Williams’ blog post was “clearly offensive”:
“We, in the last 24 hours, have expelled Tea Party Express and Mark Williams from the National Tea Party Federation because of the letter that he wrote which he, I guess, may have considered satire but which was clearly offensive,” said federation spokesman David Webb Sunday on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”
“And that is what we do. Self-policing is the right and the responsibility of any movement or organization,” he added.
In a defiant blog post, Williams fired back directly at Webb, writing that he “was [a] careless individual tea partier who assumed the mantel of ‘leadership,’” and that “Mr. Webb speaks only for” himself. But in a press release, the federation said the decision had been reached “unanimously” during an “‘All Hands’ conference call.” Williams also tried to downplay the federation’s stature, suggesting they were a “minor player[] on the fringes.” But later in the post, he readily admits that the umbrella group does the “bulk of the lobbying and organizing of tea party events for around 40″ other tea party groups, and that Tea Party Express was “among the original signers and the intent was that we would act as a central clearing house.”
While Tea Party Express continues to tolerate Williams’ bigotry, the leading tea party group did apparently demote him — on their website. Williams stepped down as chairman of the group in June in order to devote himself to stopping the construction of a mosque in New York City, but until last week, he was still listed as “chairman” online. Now he is listed as “spokesperson.”
In rebuking Williams, the federation is doing exactly what the NAACP called on tea party leaders to do — condemn any racist elements within the movement to show the tea party is as inclusive as it claims to be. The federation’s action in expelling Tea Party Express is welcome, but should not stop with Williams, as there are clearly other racist and bigoted elements trying to make inroads into the anti-tax movement.
Tea Party Express is a leading tea party group, backing dozens of high-profile candidates across the country. Will their candidates follow the federation’s lead and condemn Williams’s hate?
ThinkFast: July 19, 2010
ThinkFast: July 19, 2010
A group of leading economists have “produced a manifesto calling for more government stimulus and tax credits to put America back to work.” In today’s New York Times, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman argues that Obama’s best hope for the midterms “is to close the ‘enthusiasm gap’ by taking strong stands that motivate Democrats to come out and vote.”
Concerned about “a substance seeping near BP’s sealed oil well,” oil-spill response chief Thad Allen demanded that the company “intensely monitor the seabed” and prepare “to reopen the well immediately” if new oil leaks occur around the wellhead. In a “sharp” letter Sunday to BP, Allen requested that BP update him on the “latest containment plan and schedule” by 8:00pm CDT that day.
A two-year Washington Post investigation found that “[t]he top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.”
“Influential evangelical Christian leaders” have come to the aid of President Obama’s push to overhaul the nation’s immigration system, testifying before Congress and championing reform. “There is very little I agree with regarding President Barack Obama. On the other hand, I’m not going to let politicized rhetoric or party affiliation trump my values, and if he’s right on this issue, I will support him on this issue,” said Matthew D. Staver of Liberty Counsel.
Carte Goodwin will “be sworn in at 2:15pm Tuesday to replace” the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV). A “few minutes later,” Democrats will “break the impasse” on unemployment extension with Mr. Goodwin’s vote and will “cut off debate” on legislation to provide jobless pay through November.
Sessions And Cornyn Refuse To Detail GOP Agenda, Offer Zero ‘Painful Choices’ To Cut Spending
Sessions And Cornyn Refuse To Detail GOP Agenda, Offer Zero ‘Painful Choices’ To Cut Spending
The heads of the Republican congressional campaign committees — Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Pete Sessions (R-TX) — appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press today to discuss their party’s strategy for the November elections. Sessions began by saying that everyone knows exactly “what Republicans stand for,” but he quickly proved that even he doesn’t really know. Host David Gregory, visibly frustrated, repeatedly pressed the two campaign chiefs for substance, saying, “these are not specifics, voters get tired of that.” But all he got in return was vapid talking points, like how Republican candidates are “standing with the American people back home.”
Gregory correctly dismissed what he was hearing from Sessions as “gauzy,” and turned to Cornyn, saying, “I’m not hearing an answer here, what are the painful choices” that Republicans are prepared to make to cut the deficit? Instead of offering any ideas of own, and in direct contrast to the sense of urgency with which conservatives paint the deficit, Cornyn responded that he would wait for President Obama’s debt commission’s report, which will conveniently come after the election. Gregory replied, “wait a minute, conservatives need a Democratic president’s debt commission to figure out what it is they need to cut?”:
GREGORY: I think what a lot of people want to know is, if Republicans do get back in power, what are they going to do?
SESSIONS: It’s quite simple that Americans do know the agenda that is before us. They understand what the President and the speaker stand for, and they understand what Republicans stand for. Republicans…very strong, standing with the American people back home. [...]
GREGORY: Congressman, congressman, that’s a pretty gauzy agenda so far. I mean, what specifics — what painful painful choices are Republicans prepared to make? … How do you [balance the budget]? Tell me how you do it. Name a painful choice that Republicans are prepared to say we have to make.
SESSIONS: Well first of all, we have to make sure as we look at all we spend in Washington, D.C., with not only the entitlement spending, but also the bigger government we cannot afford anymore. We have to empower the free enterprise system.
GREGORY: Congressman, these are not specifics, voters get tired of that.
SESSIONS: Oh they are. They are. … Let’s go right to it.
GREGORY: Do it!
GREGORY: Senator, I’m sorry, I’m not hearing an answer here on specifics. What painful choices to really deal with the deficit — is Social Security on the table? — what will Republicans do that will give them, like ‘94, there was the Contract with America, what are voters going to say, hey, this is what Republicans will say yes to.
CORNYN: Well, the president has a debt commission that reports December the first, and I think we’d all like to see what they come back with.
GREGORY: But wait a minute, conservatives need a Democratic president’s debt commission to figure out what it is they need to cut?
Watch it:
Rich Lowry, the editor of the conservative National Review, called Cronyn and Sessions’ performance “disappointing” on Twitter, writing, “a consensus GOP agenda” is “badly needed…so these guys have something to say.”
In a candid moment on Bill Bennett’s radio show this week, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) seemed to admit why Republicans refuse to give specifics. Republicans shouldn’t “lay out a complete agenda,” King said, because people might not like it.
McConnell refuses to denounce Tea Party racism: ‘I am not interested in getting into that debate.’
McConnell refuses to denounce Tea Party racism: ‘I am not interested in getting into that debate.’
Today on CNN’s State of the Union, host Candy Crowley asked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) about the NAACP’s resolution calling on the Tea Party movement to condemn the “racist elements” in its ranks. McConnell, however, brushed aside accusations of racism, saying he’s “got better things to do”:
CROWLEY: Well, as you know, this weekend, NAACP said that the tea — there are racist elements in the tea party.
MCCONNELL: I am not interested in getting into that debate. What we are interested in is trying to have an election this fall that will respond to what the American people are asking us to do, which is to have some checks and balances here. [...]
CROWLEY: Nothing that you have seen on TV, including some of the signs that we’ve seen, albeit the minority at some of these tea party rallies, some of the posters that have been put up in the name of some factions of the tea party make you the least bit uncomfortable?
MCCONNELL: Look, there are all kinds of things going on in America that make me uncomfortable, both on the right and on the left. I have got better things to do than to wade in to all of these disputes and discussions that are going on out in the country. What we are trying to do is to make the president a born again moderate. We are trying to send enough conservatives to Congress this November to move him in a different direction.
Watch it:
Last year, McConnell was quick “to heap the most fulsome praise” on the Tea Party protests while “bashing the media” for portraying the protests unfavorably. Today on CBS’s Face the Nation, TeaParty365 co-founder David Webb said that the National Tea Party Federation “expelled” Mark Williams and his Tea Party Express “in the last 24 hours” for his “clearly offensive” satirical letter saying “coloreds” supported slavery.
Wallace Presses Pence On How He Can Call The Stimulus A ‘Failure’ In The Face Of Job Growth
Wallace Presses Pence On How He Can Call The Stimulus A ‘Failure’ In The Face Of Job Growth
Republicans continue to rail against the stimulus, even though economists agree that the program has created a significant number of jobs. Last week, the White House Council of Economic Advisers said the Recovery Act has saved or created 3.6 million jobs. A recent report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) also found that the stimulus “has increased the number of workers by between 1.2 million and 2.8 million” and projects that “3.7 million jobs could be attributed to the stimulus by the end of September.”
Today, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace presented Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) with the CBO number and asked him how he could still say that the Recovery Act has “failed” in the face of this nonpartisan evidence:
WALLACE: These are numbers from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. It estimates the stimulus has boosted growth between 1.7 and 4.2 percent, and it’s increased the number of people unemployed by 2-2.8 million. Congressman Pence, is that failure?
PENCE: Look, the reality is the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that is that part of our government that tracks the economy when people are hired and fired, says that since the stimulus was passed, we’ve lost 3 million jobs overall. About 2.5 million jobs net. The reality is unemployment today over 14 million Americans are unemployed; that’s exactly what it was a year ago. The American people know. We can’t borrow and spend and bail our way back to a growing economy.
WALLACE: But what about the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office just in effect saying, it would have been worse, and the fact is that it has boosted growth, it has gotten millions of people employed?
PENCE: Well, our economy is beginning to grow in a tepid way on the margins, I would argue in spite of the prescriptions of the physicians in Washington, DC. The American people know what’s necessary to get this economy moving again. It’s fiscal discipline in Washington, DC, and across-the-board tax relief for working families, small businesses, and family farms.
Watch it:
Basically, Pence seems to be saying that because unemployment hasn’t been completely eradicated, the stimulus must be a failure. But it’s important to remember the hole the country had to dig itself out of from the Bush administration, and the fact that unemployment would be even higher without the stimulus:
Many Republicans continue to go around and pretend that the stimulus hasn’t created any new jobs, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Last week, ThinkProgress attended a job fair hosted by Rep. Eric Cantor where the businesses in attendance had received more than $52 million in federal stimulus funds. Other Republicans who voted against the stimulus have similarly had no problem taking credit for its success.
Florida Tea Party To Host ‘Radical Islamophobe’ Who Said Muslims Shouldn’t Hold Political Office
Florida Tea Party To Host ‘Radical Islamophobe’ Who Said Muslims Shouldn’t Hold Political Office
This past week, the Tea Parties went after the NAACP for its resolution calling on the movement to denounce “racist elements” in its midst. “You must expel the bigots and racists in your ranks or take full responsibility for all of their actions,” said NAACP President Benjamin Jealous.
One of the groups that supported this resolution was CAIR, the largest Muslim civil liberties advocacy organization in the U.S. The organization is now calling attention to anti-Muslim bigotry in the Tea Party movement, pointing to an upcoming event in Florida:
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the group Emerald Coast Tea Party Patriots has invited Brigitte Gabriel, the head of the anti-Islam hate group ACT! for America, to be the keynote speaker at its “U.S. Constitution Freedom Rally” on August 21 in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.
CAIR is also calling on political candidates scheduled to appear at the event, including GOP Senate candidate Marco Rubio, to cancel their appearances unless Gabriel is dropped as a speaker.
In 2008, the New York Times’ Deborah Solomon called Gabriel a “radical Islamophobe.” In 2007, Gabriel gave a speech in which she said that the difference “between Israel and the Arab world is the difference between civilization and barbarism. It’s the difference between good and evil,” adding that in the “Arabic world,” they “have no soul.” Watch it:
Gabriel has also asserted that every practicing Muslim is radical and when asked by the Australian Jewish News whether Americans should “resist Muslims who want to seek political office in this nation,” replied, “Absolutely.” She has similarly stated that Muslims can’t serve loyally in the U.S. military. Gabriel is a frequent Fox News guest.
In August, Tea Party Central of OC in California plans to offer a “Basic Training Class 101” by Gabriel’s group, ACT! for America on how to “be an effective activist against Political Islam and its threat to our way of life, and how to communicate this threat to elected officials, the media, and others.”
Right Wing Apoplectic That Montana School Is Teaching Tolerance, Safe Sex, And Anti-Bullying Measures
Right Wing Apoplectic That Montana School Is Teaching Tolerance, Safe Sex, And Anti-Bullying Measures
Over 500 Helena, MT residents gathered at the Helena School District’s school board meeting Tuesday night to weigh in on a new K-12 health education plan released last week. The 62-page proposal, developed by community members and health officials over two years, promotes a broad health and nutrition education program for each grade. However, there is a small section dealing with sex education that has ignited a firestorm of backlash among conservatives, both locally and nationally.
The curriculum would teach first graders “that human beings can love people of the same gender;” second graders “not to make fun of people by calling them ‘gay’ or ‘queer;’” and fifth and sixth graders that “there are several types of intercourse.” These ideas spurred right-wing pundits Sean Hannity (and guest Fox News contributor Todd Starnes), Bill O’Reilly, and Laura Ingraham into a tail-spin on their shows this week over the curriculum as a weapon to promote the homosexual agenda:
– HANNITY: What right does a school district that can’t even teach kids to read and write — and this is, generally speaking, around the country — have to impose their values on the kids? [7/13/10]
– STARNES: Sean, this is the report right here. Sixty-two pages. I have read every single word. And I’ve got to tell you something, Jack and Jill go up the hill, and they do some really inappropriate things once they get up there. [...] Rub a dub dub, three men in a tub. [7/13/10]
– O’REILLY: This stuff comes from the school boards and the superintendent. They want to indoctrinate the children. The reason is they don’t want bullying. They want tolerance across the board. So you take a 5-year-old who just wants to play and, all of a sudden, it’s Heather has two mommies or Gary has 18 daddies. I don’t know what it is. [7/14/10]
– INGRAHAM: Children will learn that sexual relationships could happen between two men or two women. Why stop there? Why are they stopping at two? I mean that’s very exclusionary, don’t you think? No plant life invoked. [7/15/10]
Watch it:
Hannity, O’Reilly, Ingraham, and many right-wing conservatives actually have no problem imposing values onto students — as long as they’re the values they champion, as found in programs like abstinence-only education. Medical experts have concluded that not only do abstinence-only programs not curb teen pregnancy, but “there is evidence to suggest that some of these programs are even harmful and have negative consequences by not providing adequate information for those teens who do become sexually active.” Despite clear evidence and increasing recognition of their inefficacy, such programs continue to receive millions in federal funding.
When it comes to curriculum content, the right-wing watchdogs are clear on what values are acceptable. Hannity slammed an Arizona school district for “refusing to end its Mexican-American studies program,” citing a Chicano civil rights textbook as evidence that the class radicalizes students to overthrow the government. Both O’Reilly and conservative pundit Michelle Malkin insisted that a California proposal to include LGBT history in textbooks was “extreme and dangerous” propaganda that would prevent teachers from criticizing the “gay cannibal” Jeffrey Dahmer.
Supporters of the Helena plan recognize the need to support curriculum that “contains honest, science-based information on wellness and allows students to make better decisions.” As one parent supporting the plan said, “[T]his is about reality and truth so our kids don’t grow up in La-La-Land.” The board will have one more opportunity for public comment before it makes a decision at its August meeting.
Coburn Throws Roommate Heath Shuler Under The Bus To Attack Unemployment Benefits
Coburn Throws Roommate Heath Shuler Under The Bus To Attack Unemployment Benefits
Senate Republicans have been preventing a final vote on a measure to extend unemployment benefits to more than 3 million Americans because of the $33 billion cost. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has been on the front lines of the unemployment benefits battle all year.
This week on C-Span, Coburn argued that he’s not against extending the benefits, he just wants the cost to the government to be offset. (He has no such concerns when it comes to extending the Bush tax cuts, however.) “We’re just saying, it’s important now…that if we’re going to do that that we pay for it.” But then Coburn suggested that people don’t even need the benefits anyway, citing a conversation he had with his roommate, Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC):
COBURN: I live with Congressman Heath Shuler. He told me yesterday that a job fair in North Carolina…had over 500 jobs available. Three people showed up. Three people showed up for 500 jobs in an area of unemployment of 10 percent. And his explanation was, “They’re not going do it until the benefits lessen.” And that may not be an exact interpretation of what his words were but the fact is there is a negative aspect to continuing unemployment.
Watch it:
Did only three people show up to a job fair that had 500 jobs available? As Crooks and Liars noted, this seems highly unlikely. ThinkProgress spoke with a knowledgeable source who helped organize the jobs event with Shuler. The source told us that it was actually a “work force training” and that there were “some jobs available,” but not 500 as Coburn had claimed.
And did Shuler really suggest that Americans on unemployment benefits won’t look for a job until their “benefits lessen?” That statement “is not consistent with what [Shuler's] position has been” on unemployment benefits, said the source, who called Coburn’s comment “insulting” because he made Shuler’s constituents “out to look like a bunch of deadbeats.”
Asked for his views on extending unemployment insurance, Rep. Shuler provided ThinkProgress with the following statement:
While it needs to be done in a fiscally responsible manner, I think it is our responsibility to provide unemployment benefits for those who lose work through no fault of their own. I’m holding a variety of events in my district to create a job-friendly environment and to connect my hardworking constituents with job opportunities.
Indeed, according to the source, the congressman has had other job events in his district that were “phenomenally attended.”
Retreating, GA Dem. Gov. Primary Candidate Roy Barnes Says He Would Support Arizona-Style Immigration Law
Retreating, GA Dem. Gov. Primary Candidate Roy Barnes Says He Would Support Arizona-Style Immigration Law
Next week, Georgia voters will go to the polls to vote in a statewide primary election that will decide nominees for various statewide offices for both the Democratic and Republican parties. Yesterday, the Democratic contenders for the gubernatorial nomination in Georgia debated a variety of issues before a televised audience in Atlanta.
At one point of the debate, the moderator turned to the issue of Arizona’s radical new immigration law. When asked what he thought about the law and the Obama administration’s decision to sue Arizona for enacting it, former Democratic governor Roy Barnes said that he would sign a similar bill if it were passed in Georgia, and he criticized the administration’s decision to litigate the issue:
Democratic gubernatorial front-runner Roy Barnes said Friday he would sign immigration legislation similar to what Arizona passed if he is elected, adding he disagreed with the Obama administration’s decision to sue over the law.
Barnes, in a debate sponsored by WSB-TV, said state officials are already enforcing some federal laws, a key element of the Arizona law that empowers local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws.
“Would I sign a law that had some of those elements? I would,” Barnes said. “But I would want to make sure it was not a racially profiling bill.”
Barnes also said he doesn’t believe “the United States government should sue any state.” “I don’t think that’s appropriate,” Barnes said.
In endorsing the Arizona law, Barnes staked out a much more anti-immigrant position than his fellow candidates. Attorney General Thurbert Baker said that enforcing immigration “can’t be a state responsibility,” but that he would “entertain” a new immigration law. House Minority Leader DuBose Porter and former Labor Commissioner David Poythress both said they would hold off on commenting about an Arizona-style law until after the decision is announced in the federal government’s lawsuit against Arizona. (In the past, Poythress compared Arizona’s law to the Soviet Union.)
But Barnes’ position doesn’t just conflict with those of his fellow candidates, but also with his own past statements. In a debate held just last month, Barnes slammed the Republicans for making the law the “dominant issue” and for “distracting” from other important matters. He emphasized the need for a “national solution“:
“There are some parts that I can go along with. Local governments enforce federal laws all the time. Police officers arrest folks for federal laws all the time. So I don’t have any problem with that part. Now, you have to be careful not to be racial profiling. I think there’s a balance there.
“But let me tell you this. This seems to be the dominant issue over on the Republican side. It’s a little distracting. I’ll be quite frank with y’all. The army of Georgia is not big enough to march to the Rio Grande river, stopping folks from coming across. I might could stop those Alabamians from swimming across the Chattahoochee. You have to push for some sort of national solution.”
As President Obama has said, the Arizona law is “ill-conceived” and drives a “wedge between communities and law enforcement, making our streets more dangerous and the jobs of our police officers more difficult.” If Barnes is truly concerned about the immigration issue, he should push for comprehensive immigration reform, just as he did last month, and abandon support for such a radical and ultimately ineffective law.
Group Run By Anti-Stimulus Crusaders Rove And Gillespie Airs Ad Attacking Reid For Lack Of Stimulus Money In NV
Group Run By Anti-Stimulus Crusaders Rove And Gillespie Airs Ad Attacking Reid For Lack Of Stimulus Money In NV
GOP operatives Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie recently founded a network of right-wing attack groups to rival what they view as inept and ineffective Republican National Committee. One of those groups, American Crossroads, is a 527 committee, formed to spend tens of millions of dollars on House and Senate races this year.
The group recently launched an ad in Nevada attacking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D):
It’s bad enough that Nevada has the highest unemployment in the nation. And Harry Reid claims to be helping the jobs situation? Really Harry? Recent data show Nevada ranks 50th in the money received from Harry’s stimulus bill. That’s right — Senate leader Harry Reid has gotten his own state less help than every other state but one. And along with bailouts, deficits, and Obamacare, that’s what Harry Reid’s done for Nevada. Really Harry? That’s not the kinda help Nevada needs.
Watch it:
Is American Crossroads really concerned about who gets what monies from the Recovery Act? Here’s Rove and Gillespie attacking the stimulus:
GILLESPIE: The fact is that we’ve got unemployment at 9.5 percent. They said it wasn’t going to go above 8 when they passed the stimulus. We have a $1.4 trillion deficit. We have $13 trillion in debt.
ROVE: Look, the stimulus bill was not stimulative. The American economy is strong enough it’s gonna come out of recession. The question is did these policies impede or speed up its recovery. I think they impeded its recovery. I don’t think they sped it up.
Rove even attacked the stimulus for not creating jobs. “We’re approaching the anniversary of the stimulus package, and a recent poll shows, and I think it was 9 percent of the American people think the stimulus package has helped create jobs,” he said.
Moreover, Nevada is one of the smallest states in the U.S. and as the Atlantic’s Derek Thompson noted, “stimulus money went disproportionately to states with larger public sectors and higher Medicaid bills.” In fact, it’s Reid who has been trying to get unemployment benefits extended for out-of-work Americans, but Senate Republicans have been blocking it from getting though. “Almost two million people who are long-term unemployed. These are not numbers. They are people,” Reid said scolding the GOP for their obstruction.
“The ad is factually accurate, [but] It’s also an embarrassment,” Thompson noted. “Republicans have spent the last three months blocking a Sen. Reid-endorsed extension to unemployment insurance that would particularly help Nevada.”
Report: ‘It’s Clear That Some With Racist Agendas Are Trying To Make Inroads Into’ The Tea Party
Report: ‘It’s Clear That Some With Racist Agendas Are Trying To Make Inroads Into’ The Tea Party
This week, the NAACP approved a resolution condemning what it called “racist elements” within the Tea Party movement. “You must expel the bigots and racists in your ranks or take full responsibility for all of their actions,” NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said. Conservatives and tea partiers immediately took offense. Rush Limbaugh called the resolution “not true,” while Sarah Palin said it is “false” and “appalling.” Sean Hannity claimed he “can’t find any” racist Tea Party signs, while Tea Party Express founder Mark Williams attacked the NAACP, claiming it makes “more money off race than any slave trader ever.”
But as ThinkProgress has documented, there is racism in the Tea Party movement. Moreover, a new report from the Kansas City Star digs deeper into the racist elements of the Tea Party and citing various instances of racism linked to the movement, concludes that “it’s clear that some with racist agendas are trying to make inroads into the party,” noting that “in several instances, tea party members with racist backgrounds”:
Billy Roper is a write-in candidate for governor of Arkansas and an unapologetic white nationalist. “I don’t want non-whites in my country in any form or fashion or any status,” he says.
Roper also is a tea party member who says he has been gathering support for his cause by attending tea party rallies. “We go to these tea parties all over the country,” Roper said. “We’re looking for the younger, potentially more radical people.”
The Star also found that “white nationalist groups are encouraging members to attend tea parties”:
The Council of Conservative Citizens, a St. Louis-based group that promotes the preservation of the white race, has sponsored its own tea parties in some Southern states.
The council’s website has referred to blacks as “a retrograde species of humanity” and said non-white immigration would turn the country into a “slimy brown mass of glop.” Gordon Baum, the group’s founder, told The Star that the council encourages members to participate in tea parties. [...]
Roper, a former organizer for the neo-Nazi National Alliance and now chairman of White Revolution, said he has been attending tea party rallies to recruit members and garner support for his 2010 write-in campaign for Arkansas governor.
“Liberals think these are all poor, angry, working-class whites, but that’s not true,” said white nationalist movement scholar Leonard Zeskind. “It’s a solid middle class. The belief that these are people hit by the economic downturn is a myth. It’s people who have what they want and don’t want it taken away. They’re defending white privilege. Their slogan is ‘We want our country back.’”
Indeed, a New York Times/CBS poll found that 52 percent of Tea Party supporters said “too much has been made of the problems facing African-Americans” while 28 percent of Americans overall said the same.
BP Launches Effort To Control Scientific Research Of Oil Disaster
BP Launches Effort To Control Scientific Research Of Oil Disaster
Foreign oil giant BP is on a spending spree, buying Gulf Coast scientists for its private contractor army. Scientists from Louisiana State University, Mississippi State University and Texas A&M have “signed contracts with BP to work on their behalf in the Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA) process” that determines how much ecological damage the Gulf of Mexico region is suffering from BP’s toxic black tide. The contract, the Mobile Press-Register has learned, “prohibits the scientists from publishing their research, sharing it with other scientists or speaking about the data that they collect for at least the next three years.” Bob Shipp, head of marine sciences at the University of South Alabama — whose entire department BP wished to hire — refused to sign over their integrity to the corporate criminal:
We told them there was no way we would agree to any kind of restrictions on the data we collect. It was pretty clear we wouldn’t be hearing from them again after that. We didn’t like the perception of the university representing BP in any fashion.
The lucrative $250-an-hour deal “buys silence,” said Robert Wiygul, an Ocean Springs environmental lawyer who analyzed the contract. “It makes me feel like they were more interested in making sure we couldn’t testify against them than in having us testify for them,” said George Crozier, head of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, who was approached by BP.
These efforts to buy silence and cooperation come in addition to the $500 million Gulf Research Initiative, a Tobacco Institute-like program managed by a panel picked by BP to disburse scientific research grants in the coming years. Louisiana State University, University of Florida’s Florida Institute of Oceanography, and Mississippi State University’s Northern Gulf Institute have already accepted $10 million each.
In contrast, the federal government has failed to coordinate the massive research program needed to save the Gulf, preventing academic researchers from observing the data collected by the NRDA teams that include both government and BP contractors. “The science is already suffering,” Richard Shaw, associate dean of Louisiana State University’s School of the Coast and Environment said. “The government needs to come through with funding for the universities. They are letting go of the most important group of scientists, the ones who study the Gulf.” (HT: The Independent Weekly)
Still Looking Out For Wall Street, Leading Republicans Are Already Calling To Repeal Financial Reform
Still Looking Out For Wall Street, Leading Republicans Are Already Calling To Repeal Financial Reform
Earlier this week, the Senate voted 60-39 to pass Congress’s financial regulatory reform bill, setting the stage for President Obama to sign it into law next week. The bill installs new safeguards and protections for consumers in their interactions with financial institutions and is a response to the economic crisis started in 2008 largely due to bad behavior by the world’s most powerful financial institutions.
Yet, just as they did for the health care bill earlier in the year, leading Republicans have already started calling for a repeal of the bill, this time before it has even been signed into law:
– Even before the bill passed the Senate, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) told reporters on the day of the vote, “I think it ought to be repealed.” [7/15/10]
– “If we were in a position to do something, maybe [Boehner] is right,” said GOP Policy Chairman Sen. John Thune (ND), endorsing Boehner’s call for repeal. [7/15/10]
– Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-AL) said he’d “love for it to be repealed.” [7/16/10]
– Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, told Good Morning America that he and other Republicans would “like to repeal it.” [7/16/10]
However, some Republicans have been hesitant to endorse a full repeal of the bill. When pressed by ThinkProgress, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) refused to endorse Boehner’s call for repealing the legislation. Sen. George LeMieux (R-FL) told the Hill that “some parts” of the bill “are good,” and that he would only endorse repealing parts of it.
“Now, already, the Republican leader in the House has called for repeal of this reform,” said President Obama in his weekly address, responding to Boehner’s comments. “I would suggest that America cannot afford to go backwards, and I think that is how most Americans feel as well. We cannot afford another financial crisis, just as we are digging out from the last one.”
‘Emergency Committee for Israel’ Based Out Of ‘Committee for the Liberation of Iraq’ Offices
‘Emergency Committee for Israel’ Based Out Of ‘Committee for the Liberation of Iraq’ Offices
In a nice catch, Eli Clifton reports that the Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI), the latest neocon astroturf pro-war outfit, is based out of the same office as a previous neocon astroturf pro-war outfit, the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (CLI):
The evidence lies in a a letter from ECI’s executive director (pdf), Noah Pollak, to Comcast regarding the attack ad the group has been running in Pennsylvania. The letterhead bears the following address: “918 Pennsylvania Ave., SE · Washington, D.C. 20003.”
That address happens to be the same as that of Orion Strategies, a public-relations consultancy owned and operated by renowned GOP lobbyist Randy Scheunemann, who, in addition to serving as president of the CLI, has been retained since the 2008 elections as Sarah Palin’s personal — and Bill Kristol-approved — foreign-policy trainer.
The connection to Orion Strategies comes through former Weekly Standard web editor and regrettable McCain campaign spokesman Michael Goldfarb, who joined Scheunemann’s firm last January, and serves as an adviser to the Emergency Committee for Israel. In addition to his work with ECI, Goldfarb also advises the Liz Cheney/Bill Kristol-led Keep America Safe, and was a research associate at the Project for the New American Century, which served as the mothership for various neocon enterprises in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, most notably the invasion of Iraq.
In addition to serving as president of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, Scheunemann served as PNAC’s director, and was a key ally of Iran-connected con-man Ahmad Chalabi.
Considering how disastrous the Iraq invasion was, not only for U.S. security but also for Israel’s — driving radicalism and sectarianism in the region, vastly increasing Iranian influence in the region and allowing it to advance its nuclear program — it is deeply ironic that the people operating the “Emergency Committee for Israel” are among those most responsible for creating that “emergency” in the first place.
BP Ran Magazine Article Extolling Relations With Libya As It Secretly Lobbied For Terrorist’s Release
BP Ran Magazine Article Extolling Relations With Libya As It Secretly Lobbied For Terrorist’s Release
BP received a new round of scrutiny yesterday when it admitted that officials had lobbied the British government in 2007 to “conclude a prisoner-transfer agreement that the Libyan government wanted to secure the release of the only person ever convicted for the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing over Scotland, which killed 270 people, 189 of them Americans.” BP was “worried that a stalemate on that front would undercut an oil exploration deal with Libya.”
The new details demonstrate that BP was willing to risk international security for pure profit motives. The UK ambassador to the U.S. issued yesterday stated that the British government “is clear that Megrahi’s release was a mistake,” but denied any link with BP. (The UK justice minister at the time, Jack Straw, had admitted that the BP-Libya deal was a factor in the government’s review of Al-Megrahi’s case.) The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing on the issue, and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said BP should freeze its operations in Libya because it “should not be allowed to profit on this deal at the expense of the victims of terrorism.”
As BP was privately lobbying the UK government, it was also publicly trying to improve the country’s image and extolling how beneficial an oil relationship between Libya and BP would be for Britain. ThinkProgress found an old BP Magazine (Issue 4 2007) that ran an entire article titled, “Libya: A Commanding Presence on the World Stage.” In the piece, a BP official essentially brushes aside the Lockerbie bombing:
“When you talk to people outside about Libya, Lockerbie is often the first thing they think of — terrorism. In actual fact, it’s probably one of the safest places I’ve been to with BP,” says BP Libya’s business support manager, Ian McGregor.
“Initially, most people ask about security. They think it’s very unsafe, or there are a lot of army and guns everywhere. To be honest, it’s the absolute opposite.” [...]
Speaking at the signing, Hayward hailed the agreement as the start of an enduring and mutually beneficial partnership, which will allow BP and Libya to deliver on their aspirations for growth.
“With its potentially large resources of gas, favourable geographic location and improving investment climate, Libya has an enormous opportunity to be a source of future energy for the world.”
BP is poised to begin deepwater drilling in Libya next month, a deal potentially worth $20 billion. Jim Mitchell of the Dallas Morning News writes, “I’m not so naive to think that BP is the only company that has put profits and business opportunity ahead of justice, but this is stunning especially since Lockerbie was such as heinous act and Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi the only convicted perpetrator for a crime that has provided little closure to families of victims.”
Bigoted Tea Party Leader Mark Williams: ‘It’s Impossible For There To Be A Racist Element In The Tea Party’
Bigoted Tea Party Leader Mark Williams: ‘It’s Impossible For There To Be A Racist Element In The Tea Party’
Mark Williams, the former chairman and current spokesperson of Tea Party Express, went on MSNBC today to again deny that there is any racism in the tea party, and to bash the NAACP for daring to point out the obvious examples of bigotry within the movement. When host Tamron Hall asked why not “move forward” by condemning extremism in both camps, Williams instead pointed fingers, blaming all cases of racism on agent provocateurs Crash the Tea Party. Even more absurd, Williams said it is “impossible” for the tea party movement to contain racist elements:
HALL: Do we move forward by either side calling out extremism in their party? [...]
WILLIAMS: It’s impossible — it’s impossible for there to be a racist element in the tea party, you don’t get it! The tea party is about human rights, it’s about the United States constitution. The United States constitution mankind’s foremost human rights document.
HALL: What about the signs of the president as an African with a bone in his nose? What is that? Is that about the constitution?
WILLIAMS: Those signs were brought by Crash the Tea party, the coalition of anti-tea party groups, google crashed the tea party. You will find it all there. … Buy my book!
Watch it:
Of course, as ThinkProgress has documented, Williams needs to look no farther than himself to know that it is not “impossible” for the tea party movement to contain racist elements. Moreover, William’s pathetic attempt to dismiss every single example of tea party racism as the work of Crash the Party is complete nonsense. If he took his own advice and googled Crash the Tea Party, he would see that the group didn’t even exist until April of this year — a year after racist and bigoted signs began appearing at tea party rallies. Beyond this, the counter-protesters never really materialized, and basic common sense should tell Williams that the group couldn’t possibly be responsible for every single racist sign.
Yesterday, NAACP president Benjamin Jealous called out tea party leaders, like Dick Armey, saying, “Dick we don’t think your racist, we’re just disappointed that you’re being silent in at the racism amongst your ranks.” A good place for Armey to break that silence would be with Williams.
Read more about racism in the tea party in today’s Progress Report.
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