Boehner, Fox’s Shep Smith, And Other Journalists Slam Breitbart For His Race-Baiting Smear Campaign
Boehner, Fox’s Shep Smith, And Other Journalists Slam Breitbart For His Race-Baiting Smear Campaign
This morning, President Barack Obama apologized to former USDA official Shirley Sherrod for her forced resignation based on a highly misleading video produced by right-wing media tycoon Andrew Breitbart. Obama “expressed his regret” in a phone call with Sherrod, which she described as “a very good conversation.” Sherrod also said she is considering suing Breitbart — who has refused to apologize or retract the story — for defamation, noting, “He was willing to destroy me…in order to try to destroy the NAACP.”
But Sherrod isn’t the only one denouncing Breitbart’s deceitful tactics. Speaking to the Daily Caller, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) called it “unfortunate” that Breitbart “didn’t lay out the whole story, as opposed to a part of it.” “They only put a little piece of the story out there and people make judgments and they rush and they make bad decisions. They make rash decisions,” Boehner said.
Meanwhile, Fox New anchor Shep Smith — whose network breathlessly promoted the smear campaign — slammed Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com as “widely discredited,” and blasted the White House for acting on its video. Smith even called out his own employer, saying, “The video, taken completely out of context, it ran all over the Internet, and television, including on this network:”
We here at Studio B did not run the video and did not reference the story in any way for many reasons, among them: we didn’t know who shot it, we didn’t know when it was shot, we didn’t know the context of the statement, and because of the history of the videos on the site where it was posted, in short we do not and did not trust the source. [...]
[The White House based its decision on] an edited videotape on a widely discredited website that has had inaccurate postings of videos in the past–edited to the point where the world was deceived. … What in the world has happened to our industry and the White House?
Watch it:
As Media Matters documented, a number of high-profile journalists have joined Smith in condemning Breitbart. CNN’s Anderson Cooper said Breitbart’s video was “clearly edited to deceive and slander Miss Sherrod.” Cooper added that Breitbart’s efforts to “weasel his way out of taking responsibility for what he did to Miss Sherrod is a classic example of what is wrong with our national discourse.” Politico’s Ben Smith noted that “Breitbart’s sites now have a growing credibility problem.”
Even conservative journalists, like the Weekly Standard’s John McCormack, denounced Breitbart. “Breitbart’s posting of the partial clip, which leaves out crucial information, was unfair to Sherrod,” McCormack wrote. “Sherrod deserves an apology from Breitbart for posting the edited video.” The National Review’s Jonah Goldberg agreed, writing Sherrod is “owed apologies from pretty much everyone, including my good friend Andrew Breitbart.”
However, Breitbart has at least one defender in hate radio host Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh attacked Shep Smith for “cav[ing]” and said the NAACP should now be spelled “R-A-C-I-S-M,” Limbaugh added.
- Comments
- 370
Nelson cites deficit to vote against unemployment benefits but backs budget-busting tax cuts for rich.
Nelson cites deficit to vote against unemployment benefits but backs budget-busting tax cuts for rich.
Earlier this week, the Senate finally voted 60-40 to extend unemployment insurance for the millions of Americans who are unable to find work due to the poor economy. One senator who voted against extending these benefits was Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), who cited the deficit as his reason for opposing an extension. He gave the following statement to the press:
“I support extending unemployment benefits for Nebraskans and Americans who remain out of work. However, I opposed the Senate’s unemployment bill today because it should have, and it could have, been paid for.
“I oppose another $33 billion in deficit spending and increasing the debt. The six-month extension of unemployment benefits is a priority that can and should be funded. Some of the $70 billion in offsets included in earlier proposals could have been used to offset the $33 billion in new spending in this bill.”
However, today Nelson came out for extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. While the senator cites the cost of extending unemployment benefits for Americans who are down on their luck and unable to find work as a reason to oppose extending unemployment insurance, he is endorsing massively expanding the deficit by extending Bush’s tax cuts for the richest Americans. Extending unemployment benefits has a relatively tiny budgetary cost of $33 billion, but extending the Bush tax cuts for one year alone would add $115 billion to the federal budget deficit. Effectively, the senator is not standing up for fiscal discipline — he is standing up for the richest Americans over those who are the worst off.
Right Wing Economist Laffer Bashes Greenspan For Calling For End Of Bush Tax Cuts
Right Wing Economist Laffer Bashes Greenspan For Calling For End Of Bush Tax Cuts
Last week, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan called for allowing the Bush tax cuts he championed in 2001 to fully expire, as scheduled, at the end of the year. His reversal dealt a blow to Republicans who are calling for an unpaid-for permanent extension of the cuts for the rich, even falsely claiming that they increase government revenues.
Unsurprisingly, Greenspan’s comments have irked some right-wing pundits. The strongly discredited economist and former member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board Arthur Laffer criticized Greenspan on the Fox Business network, questioning his patriotism and accusing him of practicing “bad economics.” Media Matters has the transcript:
HOST: Hey, Alan Greenspan says let [all the Bush tax cuts] expire. The former Fed Chairman. Let ‘em all expire.
LAFFER: Good for him. I mean there he goes. Well, I guess he’s out of power. He’s a little old. I don’t think he has any kids. Heck, what does he care? You know, I have six kids. I have eleven grandchildren. You know, I really care about the future of this country and I really don’t want to be taxed into poverty. I really don’t think it’s smart in this day and age, with this type of unemployment, to tax people who work more and to pay people who don’t work more. That just is silly. It’s bad economics.
Watch it:
Actually, Laffer’s recent suggestion to suspend all federal taxes should be called “bad economics,” not Greenspan’s recognition that his suggested policy didn’t work. As Media Matters’ Walid Zafar points out, “No serious economist on the left, center or right actually believes this stuff [Laffer is saying]. It’s quackonomics. It resonates well with the Tea Party crowd, but is without a foundation.”
In the past, Laffer held a different view of Greenspan and his policies. Laffer “supported Alan Greenspan being reappointed [as Fed Chairman] twice” and, in 2004, called Greenspan’s work “exquisite,” saying that he “ha[d] done one of the best jobs on monetary policy ever.” Yet, now that Greenspan is “out of power” and “a little old,” Laffer apparently thinks his economic prowess is gone.
The Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo asked a prescient question last week: “Greenspan at least seems to be coming around to the notion that the conservative economic philosophy is a big sham that doesn’t work in practice. Will the rest of the GOP ever follow?” Apparently not.
Boehner Admits Some Tea Party Attendees ‘Want To Kill All Of Us In Public Office’
Boehner Admits Some Tea Party Attendees ‘Want To Kill All Of Us In Public Office’
During a lunch with reporters yesterday, when asked about Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) new Tea Party Caucus, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) offered a rather candid assessment of the Tea Party, acknowledging that some of their activists are violent “anarchists“:
BOEHNER: I’ve been to my share of tea party events. … Let me tell you about these events. Yeah, there’s some disaffected Republicans there. There are always some Democrats there. Always a couple of anarchists who want to kill all of us in public office. But I’ll tell you this: 75 percent of the people who show up at these events are the most average, everyday Americans you’ve ever met. … As I said earlier this year, we should listen to them, we should work with them, and we should walk amongst them.
Watch the full exchange:
In April, a New York Times and CBS News poll found self-identified Tea Party members are more likely than the general public to justify violence against the government.
Before Boehner tries to dismiss the violent “anarchists” as a rogue element, he should remember how prominent Republicans have sought to marshal those violent attitudes. Referring to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in March, RNC Chairman Michael Steele announced on Fox News: “Let’s start getting Nancy ready for the firing line this November.” Fox News contributor Sarah Palin directed her fans to “reload” against Democratic candidates in 2010.
Amid the outpouring of vandalism and death threats against Democratic lawmakers when health care reform passed, ThinkProgress compiled a video of GOP members of Congress’ extreme, violent rhetoric on the issue.
At the same time in March, Boehner himself appeared to be encouraging the anger behind the violence: “Violence and threats are unacceptable. That is not the American way… I know there’s anger, but let’s take that anger and go out and register people to vote, go volunteer on a political campaign, and let’s do it the right way.” Rep. Tom Perriello, whose family was threatened and harassed after he voted for health care reform, called Boehner’s statement “fairly outrageous,” saying those who threaten violence “need to be prosecuted, not brought into the campaign room.”
GOP Senate candidate: Vote for me ‘because I do not wear high heels.’
GOP Senate candidate: Vote for me ‘because I do not wear high heels.’
Responding to a question at a local forum over the weekend, Colorado Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck said that voters should choose him over his female primary opponent, former lieutenant governor Jane Norton, “because I do not wear high heels.” Buck’s spokesperson quickly defended the sexist remarks, saying Norton’s campaign “has made gender an issue” and that “high heels have been invoked at several points in the campaign, including at least once by Norton’s campaign manager”:
“She has questioned my manhood; I think it’s fair to respond,” Buck continues in the video. “I have cowboy boots on. They have real bull— on ‘em. That’s Weld County bull—, not Washington D.C. bull—.”
Watch it:
Earlier this month at the Western Conservative Summit, the Buck said that “the greatest threat to this country is the man who occupies the White House.” His campaign spokesman later clarified that the greatest threat not is one man, but the entire progressive movement.
Angle holds three-minute press conference, then runs from questions.
Angle holds three-minute press conference, then runs from questions.
Yesterday, after “dodging the press” for more than a month, Sharron Angle, the GOP Senate candidate running against Sen. Harry Reid (D) in Nevada, held her first press conference since her primary win in early June. However, it wasn’t much of a press conference because, like another GOP Senate candidate last month, she dodged reporters’ questions and rushed out the door of the building. The Las Vegas Sun reports:
In the warehouse of a family-owned clean diesel manufacturer in Sparks, Angle delivered a three-minute speech on her desire to permanently repeal the estate tax. When invited by the final speaker to stay and answer a few questions, she turned on her heel and rushed out a back door with a small cadre of staff members.
Reporters, including one who is six months pregnant, chased after her, calling out questions on unemployment benefits and other topics she has largely refused to address.
Watch it:
Angle may have been reluctant to answer questions since she spent her last interview calling unemployed Americans “spoiled.” Or perhaps she just knew that she would not have had an opportunity to plug her website and ask for campaign donations.
(h/t TPM)
Big Oil Companies Lobby Against U.S. National Security Interests, Try To Weaken Iran Sanctions Act
Big Oil Companies Lobby Against U.S. National Security Interests, Try To Weaken Iran Sanctions Act
Our guest blogger is Joshua Dorner, Communications Director for Progressive Media.
The recent revelations about BP’s alleged role in pressing for the release of convicted Pan Am Flight 103 bomber Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi in order to secure valuable oil concessions in Libya provides a potent reminder of the influence oil companies and other major corporations exert over foreign policy. New evidence uncovered by ThinkProgress shows that America’s own oil giants are also trying to shape U.S. foreign policy to protect or enhance their own profits, even if it puts American security at risk.
Lobbying disclosure forms filed with the Senate this week show that the American Petroleum Institute, ExxonMobil, Shell, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, and Halliburton lobbied the House, Senate, and various executive branch agencies on the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act during the first half of the year as the bill was being debated in the Senate.
Big Oil’s interest in weakening the law is obvious. Among other things, the new law, signed by President Obama on July 1, imposes significant new sanctions on individuals and corporations “that directly and significantly contribute to Iran’s ability to develop petroleum resources” and that sell more than $200,000 in fuel or other refined petroleum products to Iran. The new sanctions are important because “although Iran is the second-largest oil producer in the world, it lacks refining capacity and relies on foreign suppliers for nearly 5 million gallons of gasoline a day.” In addition, the country’s energy industry is “a huge source of revenue for the Iranian government and a stronghold of the increasingly powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps,” which “oversees Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.”
Big Oil has no shortage of experience in doing business with Iran. A New York Times investigation revealed that many of these same companies often want to have it both ways by doing business with Iran at the same time that they receive billions in contracts and revenues from the U.S. government:
- ExxonMobil, which spent $2.5 million on lobbying last quarter, currently enjoys $4.9 billion in revenues from federal oil and gas leases and sold fuel additives to Iran until 2006.
- Shell, which spent $4 million on lobbying last quarter, has $11.9 billion in revenues and benefits from the U.S. government, a wide variety of business relationships with Iran, and is alleged to be in violation of the 1996 Iran Sanctions Act—the very law amended by the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Act.
- ConocoPhillips, which spent $5.5 million lobbying last quarter, accrues $1.7 billion in revenue from federal grants and oil and gas leases and still actively profits from selling gasoline to Iran via Lukoil, in which it holds a minority stake.
- Halliburton has a whopping $27.1 billion in government contracts and, until 2007, provided oil and gas drilling services to Iran through a foreign subsidiary.
Big Oil helps prop up Iran’s regime in another important way: by opposing strong clean energy and climate legislation. The kind of strong legislation to move us off oil that is vocally opposed by the American Petroleum Institute would deny Iran $100 million a day in petrodollars.
The Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Act passed the House 412-12 and the Senate 99-0, so it’s not surprising that Big Oil’s activities in Iran are not very popular. While the websites of API and the oil companies say virtually nothing about Iran, ConocoPhillips appears to have inadvertently posted dozens of complaints it received about profiting from doing business with Iran. One commenter simply says “screw your buddies in Iran,” while another writes “I hpoe [sic] you choke on the blood stained money that you make from Iran.”
EXCLUSIVE: New Docs Show Truman Integrated Forces, Despite Military Objections
EXCLUSIVE: New Docs Show Truman Integrated Forces, Despite Military Objections
Earlier this month, as part of the year-long Defense Department review of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, the Pentagon distributed surveys to some 400,000 servicemembers to gauge their reaction to repealing the policy. While LGBT groups have characterized the questionnaire — which asks the troops to speculate on the sexuality of fellow servicemembers — as “derogatory and insulting,” the Pentagon continues to insist that they need to know what the troops are thinking in order to properly repeal the ban. “How do we identify beforehand the problems, the issues, and the challenges that we’re going to face? The kind of training requirements we’re going to need, the kinds of changes in regulations, the impact on benefits — all of these things need to be addressed in advance…. That’s where we want to hear from you all,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates told troops stationed in South Korea.
Earlier this week, the Advocate’s Kerry Eleveld reported, contrary to prior reports, that this is not the first time the military had surveyed the troops. “Prior to President Truman’s 1948 executive order integrating the armed forces…our preliminary research shows that branches of the armed forces undertook a number of modestly sized surveys of the attitudes of enlisted and nonenlisted troops concerning racial issues, integration, and morale,” Eleveld quoted a Defense Department spokesperson as saying.
Following this lead, the Wonk Room traveled to the National Archives and recovered some of the surveys the military conducted about the troops’ attitudes towards black and Jewish people between 1942 and 1946. At the time, the military — along with the overwhelming majority of the country — opposed integrating black servicemembers into the forces and preferred a ’separate but equal’ approach that would have required the military to construct separate recreation spaces and facilities. The survey about Jews was no more promising, with 86% of the soldiers agreeing that “there is nothing good about Jews“:
While “no official Army action was being considered with respect to Jewish soldiers,” Truman integrated the forces despite the objections of the troops. He allowed them to voice their opinions but did not let them dictate the policy.
It remains to be seen if Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen and President Obama (who have to sign off on the DOD study) are willing to do the same for Don’t Ask, Don’ Tell. So far, the Pentagon insists that it will. “It is abundantly clear to this working group that their marching orders from the Secretary of Defense are to determine how to implement a repeal of DADT,” Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon’s spokesperson insists. “Their job is not to determine whether or not the force wishes a repeal to take place or not to take place. Their job is to prepare for that inevitability.” (While the results of the DADT survey are obviously pending, past surveys of military veterans have found that an overwhelming majority say it’s “personally acceptable to them if gay and lesbian people were allowed to serve openly in the military.”)
Post produced with research help from Think Progress intern, Nina Bhattacharya.
Senate GOP Candidate Carly Fiorina Flip-Flops On Unemployment Benefits
Senate GOP Candidate Carly Fiorina Flip-Flops On Unemployment Benefits
After weeks of Republican obstructionism, the Senate — in a 60-40 vote yesterday — cleared the way for the extension of unemployment benefits to millions of struggling Americans. In California alone, where current unemployment is 12.3%, the state’s Employment Development Department reports, “the delay in benefit extension…affected about 260,000 jobless Californians.” In an interview with San Francisco’s KGO-AM radio yesterday, California’s GOP Senate candidate abandoned her former stance on extending unemployment benefits, indicating she would now “probably” support the extension if she was elected:
“I probably would vote for this extension, but I’ll tell you what, I think it is absolutely appropriate for people to stand on their desks and say, ‘When is it that we’re finally going to do what needs to be done and cut government spending?’” Fiorina said.
This statement stands in sharp contrast to the GOP candidate’s previous sentiments. In June, CNBC’s Larry Kudlow asked Fiorina if her time at HP qualifies her “to go after the government payrolls…to make the spending cuts in their salaries and their benefits.” Fiorina said “sure.” And earlier this month, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO told Good Morning America she would not have voted for the unemployment bill “the way it is put together today” and — like many of her Republican colleagues — cited concerns over the deficit to justify her position.
Although the GOP candidate has had a change of heart on unemployment benefits, still, as Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo points out, “Fiorina’s only real solution to anything is to cut taxes. But that doesn’t do much good for those who are already out of work and have no taxable income, and it doesn’t spur demand that will give businesses more customers and thus a reason to expand.”
Louisiana Bishops Rebuff New State Gun Law: ‘We Don’t Think It’s Appropriate To Have Guns In Churches’
Louisiana Bishops Rebuff New State Gun Law: ‘We Don’t Think It’s Appropriate To Have Guns In Churches’
Earlier this month, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) signed a bill into law that allows people to bring concealed weapons into places of worship. Anyone who passes a background check and completes “eight hours of tactical training each year” can be designated “as part of a security force” for “churches, mosques, synagogues or other houses of worship” that allow carriers of concealed weapons. USA Today reported this week that Catholic churches in Louisiana will still not permit congregants to bring guns to their services:
Concealed handguns won’t be allowed in Roman Catholic churches, despite a new state law allowing them.
“We don’t think it is appropriate to have guns in churches,” Danny Loar, executive director of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops — the church’s public policy arm in Louisiana, said Monday. …
Bishops discussed the issue when reviewing bills, Loar said.
“The bishops decided that, if the bill became law, the bishops would let their pastors know that this would not be permissible in Catholic churches,” Loar said.
The previous law let only law enforcement officials carry concealed weapons into churches.
Local faith leaders began speaking out against the proposal even before it became law. In June, Catholic Archbishop Gregory Aymond said, “Church is supposed to be a place of sanctuary. The idea of guns there — I’m pretty skeptical.”
And, even though the bill’s principal champion, state Rep. Henry Burns (R), claimed that the new policy would make houses of worship in “declining neighborhoods” safer, local clergy deny that concealed weapons would be any help. “We’ve been here 29 years, and there’s never been a time that a gun would have solved anything,” said John Pierre, a church elder in “a gritty Central City neighborhood.” Reverend John Raphael, whose congregants “had to duck for cover when gunfire suddenly broke out nearby” after one Sunday service, still “said an armed presence in the sanctuary is incompatible with what a church is supposed to be.”
(h/t TPM)
RNC failed to report over $7 million in debt.
RNC failed to report over $7 million in debt.
Earlier this month, reports leaked suggesting the Republican National Committee had failed to report “hundreds of thousands of dollars” of debt to the FEC. It now appears that the level of debt is much greater than originally estimated and may have been hidden by committee leadership. The Washington Times reports:
In a memo to RNC budget committee members, RNC Treasurer Randy Pullen on Tuesday accused Chairman Michael S. Steele and his chief of staff, Michael Leavitt, of trying to conceal the information from him by ordering staff not to communicate with the treasurer – a charge RNC officials deny.
Mr. Pullen told the members that he had discovered $3.3 million in debt from April and $3.8 million from May, which he said had led him to file erroneous reports with the FEC. He amended the FEC filings Tuesday.
Campaign-finance analysts said that simply misreporting fundraising numbers to the FEC can lead to millions of dollars in fines and that criminal charges can be levied if the actions are suspected to be intentional.
Though RNC aides and officials are strongly denying any wrongdoing or misreporting, the organization has brought on “former [FEC] Chairman Michael E. Toner” as outside counsel, an “unusual and significant move,” according to Heritage Foundation legal pundit Hans A. von Spakovsky. He noted, “The RNC normally uses its own inside counsel to deal with the FEC, but if I had a really serious problem with the FEC, Michael Toner is one of the first guys I would turn to help me out.” It also looks like another serious problem for Steele, who just got done weathering numerous calls for his resignation after suggesting that the U.S. should not be involved in Afghanistan.
(h/t Taegan Goddard)
Breitbart’s New Conspiracy Theory: The ‘Purported’ Farmer’s Wife Is A Plant
Breitbart’s New Conspiracy Theory: The ‘Purported’ Farmer’s Wife Is A Plant
Two white farmers who were supposedly discriminated against by former USDA official Shirley Sherrod spoke out on her behalf yesterday, saying “no way in the world” is she racist.
But last night, the right-wing blogger who instigated this faux controversy questioned the white farmers’ honesty and repeated his false racist charges. In interviews with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and CNN, the Iron City, GA couple Roger and Eloise Spooner described Sherrod as a “friend for life” and a “good person” who helped save their farm. Speaking with CNN’s John King, right-wing provocateur Andrew Breitbart challenged Eloise Spooner’s “purported” story, accusing King of trusting Sherrod “that the ‘farmer’s wife’ is the farmer’s wife”:
You tell me as a reporter how CNN put on a person today who purported to be the farmer’s wife? What did you do to find out whether or not that was the actual farmer’s wife? I mean, if you’re going to accuse me of a falsehood, tell me where you’ve confirmed that had this incident happened 24 years ago. [...]
You’re going off of her word that the farmer’s wife is the farmer’s wife?
Watch it (full interview, part one and part two):
Of course, CNN wasn’t just going off Shirley Sherrod’s word, but also the word of Eloise and Roger Spooner themselves. Just for the record, if the “purported” Spooners are a hoax, they’re a quite involved one:
– Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Marcus Garner confirmed to ThinkProgress that the paper independently found Eloise Spooner for her interview.
– Eloise and Roger H. Spooner are listed in the Iron City, GA phone book.
– The Spooners’ 62nd wedding anniversary, according to a blog post of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, was celebrated at the 2009 Tennessee Truck Show.
– Roger Spooner has been cited in “mainstream” news reports, including a 2002 Associated Press story in the Lexis-Nexis database, claiming to be a “survivor” of the USS Yorktown at anniversaries of the Battle of Midway, which purportedly happened in 1942.
– In a 2009 article, USS Yorktown survivor Roger Spooner claimed to have “discharge papers” from the Navy in his “wallet.”
In his desperation to defend his ugly tactics, Breitbart is resorting to dragging an innocent family’s name through the mud.
ThinkProgress At Netroots Nation
ThinkProgress At Netroots Nation
Blogging will be lighter than usual this week, since all of us here at ThinkProgress, the Wonk Room, and Matt Yglesias are going to be in Las Vegas for the annual Netroots Nation conference.
While there will definitely be plenty of fun and games, we assure you we’ll also be working. If you’re also going to be attending the conference, we’d love for you to stop by and check out some of the panels we’ll be on:
THURSDAY, JULY 22
Environmental Conflict and Climate Change: The Grassroots vs Big Green
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM, Brasilia 2
Speakers: Michael Brune (Sierra Club), Majora Carter (Majora Carter Group), Gene Karpinski (LCV), Michael Kieschnick (CREDO/Working Assets), and Amanda Terkel (ThinkProgress)Immigration Reform’s Strange Bedfellows: The Surprising Consensus that Reform will Improve American Jobs and Bolster Our Economy
3:00 PM – 4:15 PM, Brasilia 6
Speakers: Mark Lauritsen (United Food and Commercial Workers), Adam Luna (America’s Voice), Andrea Nill (Wonk Room), State Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and Arturo Venegas (former chief of police for the city of Sacramento)Copenhagen to Cancun: Climate Negotiations and the Netroots
4:30 PM – 5:45 PM, Brasilia 2
Speakers: James Henn (350.org), Kate Horner (Friends of Earth), Brad Johnson (Wonk Room), Kate Sheppard (Mother Jones), and Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman (Alliance for Climate Protection)
FRIDAY, JULY 23
Is the BP Oil Disaster the Breaking Point for Communicating about Clean Energy?
10:30 AM – 11:45 AM, Miranda 1-2
Speakers: Kevin Grandia (DeSmogBlog.com), Steve Kretzmann (Oil Change International), Jason Miner (The Glover Park Group), Phil Radford (Greenpeace), Amanda Terkel (ThinkProgress)
SATURDAY, JULY 24
The Obama Doctrine: Successes, Challenges and the Future
10:15 AM – 11:30 AM, Brasilia 1
Speakers: Max Bergmann (Wonk Room), Wendy Chamberlin (Middle East Institute), Paul Eaton (retired general), Lawrence Korb (Center for American Progress)The Filibuster and Senate Reform
4:00 PM – 5:15 PM, Brasilia 6
Speakers: Mimi Marziani (Brennan Center), Dave Roberts (Grist), Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM), David Waldman (Congress Matters), and Matthew Yglesias (ThinkProgress)
The Progress Report will also be on break the rest of this week, and returning on Monday, July 26.
Vilsack reconsidering his firing of Shirley Sherrod.
Vilsack reconsidering his firing of Shirley Sherrod.
This morning, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that he is now reconsidering his decision to fire Shirley Sherrod, after taking the bait of a deceptively edited video that appeared on BigGovernment.com meant to make the Georgia USDA official appear racist. From Vilsack’s statement:
I am of course willing and will conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts to ensure to the American people we are providing services in a fair and equitable manner.
This certainly isn’t a promise that Sherrod will get her job back (despite overwhelming evidence that she was set up and is the victim of injustice), but it’s a significant step forward. After all, yesterday afternoon, Vilsack was standing by his decision, saying, “The controversy surrounding her comments would create situations where her decisions, rightly or wrongly, would be called into question making it difficult for her to bring jobs to Georgia.” The NAACP has apologized to Sherrod for initially rushing out a statement saying it was “appalled” by her “shameless” actions and has called on Vilsack to reinstate her.
Ben Stein: The Unemployed Are People With ‘Unpleasant Personalities…Who Do Not Know How To Do A Day’s Work’
Ben Stein: The Unemployed Are People With ‘Unpleasant Personalities…Who Do Not Know How To Do A Day’s Work’
Today, the Senate extended unemployment benefits for millions of jobless Americans. Despite the terrible shape of the economy, conservatives resisted extending unemployment insurance for weeks for Americans who can’t find work, launching a filibuster to prevent a vote on the benefits.
Writing at the American Spectator yesterday, former Nixon speechwriter and TV personality Ben Stein downplayed the suffering unemployed Americans are experiencing by writing that the people who are unemployed right now are “generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities.” He claims the unemployed are Americans with “unpleasant personalities…who do not know how to do a day’s work“:
The people who have been laid off and cannot find work are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities. I say “generally” because there are exceptions. But in general, as I survey the ranks of those who are unemployed, I see people who have overbearing and unpleasant personalities and/or who do not know how to do a day’s work. They are people who create either little utility or negative utility on the job. Again, there are powerful exceptions and I know some, but when employers are looking to lay off, they lay off the least productive or the most negative. To assure that a worker is not one of them, he should learn how to work and how to get along — not always easy.
Of course, saying that the 15 million Americans who are unemployed right now are “generally” people with “poor work habits” is as offensive as it is wrong. The current recession is a global phenomenon caused by the collective bad behavior of the world’s largest financial institutions. Before the recession, the unemployment rate hovered around six percent; it is ludicrious to say that millions of Americans suddenly got lazier and less able to work within the span of a few months.
Unfortunately, Stein is a widely respected voice on the American right who regularly appears on cable news to offer his thoughts on politics and policy. Using the Critical Mention media search engine, ThinkProgress finds that the name “Ben Stein” was mentioned 64 times in major television media networks within the past thirty days alone.
NAACP backtracks on criticism of Sherrod: ‘We were snookered.’
NAACP backtracks on criticism of Sherrod: ‘We were snookered.’
Yesterday, following the forced firing of former Department of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod, the NAACP rushed out a statement saying that it was “appalled” by her “shameless” actions. While the Obama administration is standing by its decision to force Sherrod’s resignation, the NAACP has courageously reversed course, saying it had been “snookered by Fox News and Tea Party Activist Andrew Breitbart.” The civil rights organization says the incident highlights “the lengths to which extremist elements will go to discredit legitimate opposition.” “This is a teachable moment, for activists and for journalists,” the statement reads. Read it below: More »
White farmers at the center of Shirley Sherrod controversy: ‘No way in the world’ she is a racist.
White farmers at the center of Shirley Sherrod controversy: ‘No way in the world’ she is a racist.
As it becomes increasingly clear that the video that brought down former USDA official Shirley Sherrod’s career was deceptively edited to make her appear racist, the two white farmers she allegedly discriminated against vigorously defended her. The video shows how Sherrod “racially discriminates against a white farmer,” BigGovernment.com owner Andrew Breitbart claimed. But that farmer, Roger Spooner, and his wife Eloise, flatly denied that this afternoon on CNN, telling host Rick Sanchez, there is “[n]o way in the world” Sherrod is a racist:
SANCHEZ: In all your time knowing Shirley Sherrod, has there ever been anything about her, either through her attitude, her words, her opinions or behaviors that would lead you to believe that she is in any way a racist?
ROGER SPOONER: No way in the world. No way. No way. I don’t even want to talk about it. It don’t make sense. She was just so nice to us as — she didn’t — there wasn’t no — there wasn’t no racism attitude at all in it. Heck no. … They don’t know what they’re talking about. Let me say. They don’t know what they’re talking about, if you want to know my opinion.
ELOISE SPOONER: She always treated us really good. She was nice mannered, thoughtful, friendly. Good person.
CNN also reported that Sherrod’s father had been murdered by a white farmer in an apparently racially-motivated crime, which a grand jury refused to pursue. Asked how she dealt with that, Sherrod said, “what I had to do was turn that into a positive. And I did it by devoting my life to working for change.” “I made a commitment the night my father died that I would not leave the South and that I would stay here and work to make a difference,” she added. Watch a compilation:
Rubio’s campaign ‘couldn’t give an answer’ on how he would pay for his proposed tax cuts.
Rubio’s campaign ‘couldn’t give an answer’ on how he would pay for his proposed tax cuts.
This week, GOP U.S. Senate candidate in Florida, Marco Rubio, said he would not support extending unemployment benefits to nearly 3 million Americans unless spending cuts were identified to offset the $33 billion cost. “At some point, someone has to draw a line in the sand and say we are serious about not growing debt,” Rubio said. At the same time, Rubio wants to make the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy permanent — at a cost of nearly $700 billion over the next ten years — with no offset. While Rubio recently claimed they would pay for themselves (they won’t), a local Florida CBS reporter followed up with his campaign:
However, historically speaking, no party has ever opposed extending the benefits when the unemployment rate was higher than 7 percent until the current election cycle. [...]
However, when it comes to offsetting the costs of an extension of the Bush Tax Cuts that Rubio wants made permanent, his campaign couldn’t give an answer to CBS4.com’s Tim Kephart.
In fact, Rubio’s economic platform is basically a re-hash of the Bush tax cuts. “[A]fter perusing the list [of Rubio's plan], the sharp-eyed reader will likely notice a recurring theme: This Rubio guy appears to be a big supporter of tax cuts,” said the Orlando Sentinel’s Jim Stratton. In fact, the cuts Rubio is proposing would cost trillions of dollars while overwhelmingly benefit only the very rich.
White House Uses Misleading Breitbart Video As Basis To Hastily Demand USDA Official’s Resignation (Updated)
White House Uses Misleading Breitbart Video As Basis To Hastily Demand USDA Official’s Resignation (Updated)
Yesterday, right-wing media tycoon Andrew Breitbart posted a video of Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod, who is African-American, telling an NAACP gathering that she withheld help from a white farmer, in part because of his race. “Video Proof: The NAACP Awards Racism,” Breitbart declared on his BigGovernment.com website. “[H]er federal duties are managed through the prism of race and class distinctions,” Breitbart wrote, just days after the NAACP condemned “racist elements” within the tea party movement, of which Breitbart is a key supporter. Right-wing blogs and Fox News quickly picked up the video and demanded blood.
Within less than a day, Sherrod resigned from her USDA post under heavy pressure from the White House, saying she received “at least three” frantic phone calls from superiors demanding her resignation. At first glance, the forced resignation seemed fair — even the NAACP endorsed it, calling her comments “shameful.”
However, new evidence suggests that BigGovernment selectively edited the video to grossly distort what actually happened. “Context is everything,” Breitbart wrote in his hit piece, but he failed mention this key context:
Sherrod [told the Atlanta Journal Constitution] that what online viewers weren’t told in reports posted throughout the day Monday was that the tale she told at the banquet happened 24 years ago — before she got the USDA job — when she worked with the Georgia field office for the Federation of Southern Cooperative/Land Assistance Fund.
Sherrod said the short video clip excluded the breadth of the story about how she eventually worked with the man over a two-year period to help ward off foreclosure of his farm, and how she eventually became friends with the farmer and his wife. [...]
“The story helped me realize that race is not the issue, it’s about the people who have and the people who don’t. When I speak to groups, I try to speak about getting beyond the issue of race.“
Indeed, the wife of the white farmer in question, 82-year-old Eloise Spooner, confirmed the story and called Sherrod a “friend for life.” She told CNN that Sherrod “treated us really good and got us all we could.” “She’s the one I give credit to with helping us save our farm”:
Sherrod also noted that there were several white people in the audience, in addition to the town’s mayor. “Why would I do something racist if they were there?”
None of this context is included in the clip that Breitbart used to smear Sherrod. The production company that shot the video confirmed to TPM that “the entire video matches what Sherrod is saying,” but that they cannot release it at the moment for legal reasons. The AJC is working to have it made public.
BigGovernment has the entire video, but it seems the site chose to exclude the parts that wouldn’t serve their right-wing agenda. Breitbart is “trying to spur racial animosity, [by] taking the remarks of an African-American American official to the NAACP, and removing the context, all in the hopes of generating white resentment,” Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen wrote. Of course, if Sherrod’s story is true, this wouldn’t be the first time Breitbart used deceptively edited videos to bring down his rivals. “They edited the tape to meet their agenda,” a law enforcement source told the New York Daily News of Breitbart’s ACORN investigations, after the Brooklyn DA cleared the group of all wrongdoing.
While Sherrod’s comments did seem worthy of rebuke at first, perhaps the White House should have waited to see the full video before acting so aggressively to get rid of her. Sherrod told CNN that a USDA undersecretary told her the White House was worried the controversy was “going to be on Glenn Beck tonight.”
Koch Industries Takes Credit For The ‘Spontaneous’ Tea Parties: We’re Glad We ‘Helped Stimulate’ Them
Koch Industries Takes Credit For The ‘Spontaneous’ Tea Parties: We’re Glad We ‘Helped Stimulate’ Them
As ThinkProgress has documented, the lobbyist-run Americans for Prosperity (AFP) has been instrumental in orchestrating the Tea Party movement. The group coordinated “grassroots” protests around the country and provided organizations and communications support to the Tea Parties. AFP staffers are also regular presence at Tea Party rallies. The man behind AFP is David Koch, who is one of the richest men in the world thanks to his oil, chemicals, and manufacturing conglomerate Koch Industries. In 2009, AFP President Tim Phillips said he “launched our organization.”
Koch Industries and AFP have largely tried to keep their distance from the Tea Parties. From a May 2010 interview with the Frum Forum’s Tim Mak:
Most incredibly striking is Koch’s efforts to distance itself from the Tea Party movement. “We’ve been labeled tea party founders or funders – in fact, masterminds – but that’s not consistent with the facts,” said Fink. “To my knowledge, we have not been approached for support by any of the newer ‘tea party’ or other grassroots groups that have sprung up around the country in the past year or so.”
However, now that Tea Parties are becoming institutionalized, Fink is taking some credit. While still calling the Tea Parties “spontaneous,” he says that Koch would be happy to know that he helped “stimulate” these people into action and acknowledged the role of AFP:
Q: What about the accusations that you are driving these activities – that they’re corporate-sponsored ‘astro-turf’ rather than real grassroots movements?
A: That’s nonsense. … Tea parties reflect a spontaneous recognition by people that if they do not act, the government will bankrupt their families and their country. They’re absolutely right about that.
Now, if our work over the past 30 or 40 years has helped stimulate some of those citizens who are becoming more active, that’s great, but it’s a far cry from pulling strings.
What we have done is support the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, which has been active in various forms for nearly 30 years. … AFP and its state chapters have begun collaborating with tea party groups, and we’re in favor of any group willing to constructively address irresponsible government policies.
Koch Industries communications director Melissa Cohlmia has also insisted to ThinkProgress that “AFP is an independent organization and Koch companies do not in any way direct their activities.” However, both Koch and Fink serve as directors of the AFP Foundation.
AFP has used the Tea Parties to push causes that fit the agenda of its wealthy backers. Even though the estate tax hits only the very wealthiest estates — 99.8 percent are not subject to this tax — AFP was urging its members to lobby Congress to block a reinstatement of the estate tax.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll