Think Progress

Rove’s RNC ‘grassroots’ rival, American Crossroads, raised 97 percent of its money from four billionaires.

karlrove2Compensating for damage the Republican National Committee’s unsteadiness may cause Republican candidates this fall, several high-profile GOP operatives — including Karl Rove and two former RNC chairmen — recently founded American Crossroads as a “grassroots,” “shadow RNC.” Salon’s Justin Elliott now reports that the group raised 97 percent of its funding from just four billionaires:

The IRS filing of American Crossroads, an outside 527 group that was conceived by Rove and ex-RNC chair Ed Gillespie, gives a good taste of who is funding the GOP effort to make big gains in the House and Senate come the fall. … Chaired by another ex-RNC chair, Mike Duncan, American Crossroads has pledged to raise $50 million to beat Democrats in the midterms and has been seen by some as a competitor to the Republican National Committee itself.

And despite the group’s description of itself as “grassroots,” Salon’s review of its IRS filings show that four billionaires have contributed 97 percent of the $4.7 million it has raised to date. There are no limits on how much corporations, unions, and individuals can donate to 527 groups.

Elliott notes that two of the billionaire donors “made their fortune in the oil and gas industry.” One, Harold Simmons, “was the sole funder” of “a group that ran ads attempting to tie Obama to Bill Ayers in 2008.” Rove acknowledged earlier this month that his group raises money successfully largely because the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United opened the door to unlimited corporate donations in politics.

- William Tomasko




Barney Frank: ‘No one can stop’ Obama from nominating Warren as consumer bureau chair.

After the passage of Congress’s financial regulatory reform bill, a heated debate has sprung up over who will get to chair the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — which will be in charge of advocating for consumers in their dealings with financial institutions and products — with TARP watchdog and Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren being the favored choice of many. Last night, House Financial Services chairman Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell that while other progressive failures, like the lack of a public option in health care legislation and an inadequate stimulus package, were largely failures of Congress, nominating Warren is Obama’s choice alone. He noted that “no one can stop” the president from nominating her:

FRANK: I would say to the president, look, I sympathize with President Obama. He’s been criticized by some of my liberal friends. We didn’t get a public option and we didn’t get the other things we wanted. That wasn’t his fault. The economic recovery bill, the stimulus — it wasn’t as big as it should have been. That wasn’t his fault. He couldn’t get the votes. But with regard to appointing Elizabeth Warren, that’s his decision. No one can stop him from making it. And I hope he will appoint her.

Watch it:




Rep. Wamp Suggests Secession If Voters Reject Right Wing Views On Constitution

jefferson-davisIn an interview with Hotline OnCall, Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN) suggested forming a new Confederacy if voters reject the “tenther” view that laws that conservatives disapprove of violate the Constitution:

“I hope that the American people will go to the ballot box in 2010 and 2012 so that states are not forced to consider separation from this government,” said Wamp during an interview with Hotline OnCall.

He lauded Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), who first floated the idea of secession in April ‘09, for leading the push-back against health care reform, adding that he hopes the American people “will send people to Washington that will, in 2010 and 2012, strictly adhere” to the constitution’s defined role for the federal government.

“Patriots like Rick Perry have talked about these issues because the federal government is putting us in an untenable position at the state level,” said Wamp[.]

Like Wamp and Perry, many right-wing lawmakers embrace lunatic legal theories — and their numbers grew significantly once President Obama took office.  Right-wing Governors Bob McDonnell (R-VA) and Bobby Jindal (R-LA) both signed wildly unconstitutional bills attempting to nullify health reform.  Tenther Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas thinks that the ban on whites-only lunch counters is unconstitutional, and other tenther officials claim that everything from Social Security to Medicare to the federal highway system is unconstitutional.

Moreover, while Wamp and Perry’s secessionary agenda puts them at odds with the Constitution and the American people, it does have one famous precedent supporting it.  In 1860, American voters elected an obscure former congressman named “Abraham Lincoln” to the presidency.  Eleven southern states — all of whom disagreed with the new president on the issue of slavery — soon decided that they didn’t want to be bound by the results of that election.  Before Wamp starts campaigning to become the next Jefferson Davis, however, he might want to give some thought to what happened the last time right-wing state governments engaged in an act of mass treason.




Bachmann: If GOP wins the House, ‘all we should do is issue subpoenas.’

BachmannSpeechYesterday, Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) spoke to the GOP Youth Convention in Washington. One attendee asked Bachmann about what the Republicans will do if they win back the House:

QUESTION: I might be putting the cart before the horse here, but assuming the Republicans win the House back this next cycle, how do you feel about the chances for a little oversight and a little accountability now that the Republicans would have the subpoena power? How aggressive do you think?

BACHMANN: Well I think that’s all we should do. I think all we should do is issue subpoenas and have one hearing after another and expose all the nonsense that has gone on. And it’s very important when we come back that we have constitutional conservative leadership, because the American people’s patience is about this big. [...]

And this is the year, this is it. All of our chips are on November. If we don’t get it back and then starve the beast, the House – we have the power of the purse – so we can starve Obamacare, we don’t have to fund any of these programs. And that’s exactly what we need to do: defund all of this nonsense and then unwind it.

Listen:

Bachmann’s comments echo those of many of her GOP colleagues calling for more investigations of the Obama Administration and a defunding or outright repeal of the new health care law. And considering that some in the Republican Party are afraid to put forth an agenda, fearing that their policies could hurt them in November, Bachmann’s remarks follow naturally. There’s no time for meaningful policy discussion if the GOP spends all its time having “one hearing after another” investigating fabricated controversies and attempting a highly unlikely defunding of health care reform.

Charlie Eisenhood

(h/t TPM)




Tancredo echoes GOP Congressman, calls for Obama’s impeachment over immigration.

Tom TancredoEchoing Rep. Lamar Smith’s (R-TX) false claim that President Obama is “awfully close” to violating his oath of office by not securing the border, former Rep. Tom Tancredo published an error-ridden op-ed in today’s Washington Times calling for Congress to impeach President Obama:

Eleven years ago, like every citizen elected to serve in Congress or any person appointed to any federal position, I swore an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.”

I’ve always thought it significant that the Founders included domestic enemies in that oath of office. They thought liberty was as much at risk from threats within our borders as from outside. … Mr. Obama is a more serious threat to America than al Qaeda. We know that Osama bin Laden and followers want to kill us, but at least they are an outside force against whom we can offer our best defense. …

Mr. Obama’s most egregious and brazen betrayal of our Constitution was his statement to Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican, that the administration will not enforce security on our southern border because that would remove Republicans’ desire to negotiate a “comprehensive” immigration bill. That is, to put it plainly, a decision that by any reasonable standard constitutes an impeachable offense against the Constitution.

Of course, Tancredo’s argument is built on fraud — even Kyl himself has walked back his false claim about Obama’s border security intentions, and spending on border security has “skyrocketed” under Obama.  Sadly, Tancredo’s frivilous call to impeach Obama likely enjoys strong support among right-wing lawmakers.  Yesterday, for example, newly-minted Tea Party Caucus leader Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) explained that a GOP Congress’ entire agenda should be to “issue subpoenas and have one hearing after another.”

- William Tomasko




Far-Right Activist Launches Tour To Burn Lindsey Graham In Effigy

Far-right activist Randall Terry, founder of the radical anti-choice group Operation Rescue, is notorious for his incendiary schemes to drive attention to his hate-filled rhetoric. Last year, he launched a contest encouraging people to make videos burning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in effigy and promoted a “Defeat Sotomayor” campaign that depicted the Supreme Court judge as a skull-faced killer.

Now, Randall Terry has announced a four-city series of demonstrations in South Carolina where protesters plan to “burn, hang, or beat” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for his recent vote supporting Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court. In a press release , Terry explains that the effigy tour is necessary because Kagan supporters are the “enemy” of God:

“If a man brings the enemy into your camp, he is helping the enemy; when he helps the enemy, he has become the enemy, and must be treated as such. Mr. Graham has betrayed God and innocent babies; we must treat him as a fraud and a traitor from this moment forth.

“On a lighter note, since Mr. Graham uses babies as pawns in his game of politics, we will play some ‘games’ in front of his offices, such as ‘pin the flip-flop’ on the donkey, and beating a Graham pinata. We promise – it will be a lot of fun.”

Yesterday, in an interview with Birmingham News, the far-right activist again reiterated his plans to “burn, hang or beat Senator Lindsay Graham in effigy,” adding that “we’re going to make comedy out of it and it’s gonna be a lot of fun.” Watch it:


- Nina Bhattacharya

Update South Carolina's Greenville News reports that Terry filmed two skits in downtown Greenville, SC, office. One "involved Randall's employee constructing gallows to hang the mannequin with Graham's picture on it," while the other "involved a stick and a pinata. The workers hit the pinata, which had a picture of Graham on it, until plastic babies fell out of it." Here's a picture of a protester with the effigy:

effigy



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.




Nelson cites deficit to vote against unemployment benefits but backs budget-busting tax cuts for rich.

bennelsonEarlier 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.

Update Nelson also voted for Jim DeMint's (R-SC) attempt to permanently repeal the estate tax.



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.

Charlie Eisenhood




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.”

- William Tomasko




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.

- Nina Bhattacharya




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.

Charlie Eisenhood

(h/t TPM)




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.

iran-energyThe 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

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“:

Final Race Wonk Room

Survey on 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

art.carlycu0613.gi

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.”

- Nina Bhattacharya




Louisiana Bishops Rebuff New State Gun Law: ‘We Don’t Think It’s Appropriate To Have Guns In Churches’

jindal2Earlier 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)

- William Tomasko




RNC failed to report over $7 million in debt.

Republican_Chairman_C_Star_s640x490Earlier 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.

Charlie Eisenhood

(h/t Taegan Goddard)




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

By Think Progress on Jul 21st, 2010 at 9:15 am

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.

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.

Update This morning on ABC's Good Morning America, Sherrod told George Stephanopoulos that she's "not sure" whether she'll return to her job if Vilsack decides to reinstate her.
Update Politico's Mike Allen reports that Vilsack reversed himself today after "[y]ielding to a late-night phone call from the White House."



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