When Asked What, Besides Tax Cuts, Would Help The Economy, Pence Says Tax Cuts
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) went on Fox News last night to back up House Minority Leader John Boehner’s (R-OH) over-the-top call for President Obama to sack his entire economic team, including Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and top adviser Larry Summers. “The President ought to ask for and accept the resignation of the Secretary of the Treasury and Larry Summers, and he ought to bring a new team,” Pence said.
But beyond that, Pence, like the rest of his GOP colleagues, didn’t offer any ideas of his own that would help the ailing economy. When host Greta Van Susteren asked what, besides tax cuts, he would do to turn the economy around, Pence at first dodged, but then said tax cuts for the rich would be the way to go:
VAN SUSTEREN: What — besides the sort of the usual — the — you know, the tax program, extending the Bush tax cuts that I know the Republican Party want, what is it that you could do to turn it around?
PENCE: Yes, look, the enemy of our prosperity is uncertainty. … the greatest uncertainty right now is — and you just heard — you heard the Vice President again kind of defend it in passing, their tax cuts — their tax increases on the rich — is this administration actually thinks that it would be a good idea to allow a tax increase on job creators on January 1st, 2011. You know, higher taxes never got anybody hired.
Watch it:
In addition to creating massive deficits, extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans would do little to help the economy and create jobs. In fact, the evidence suggests that if the GOP got their tax cuts for the rich, the economy could get worse. After the Bush tax cuts were enacted, the country “registered the weakest jobs and income growth in the post-war period.” And as the Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo noted, GDP increased faster following the tax increases of 1993 than it did following either the Bush or Reagan tax cuts.
It’s clear that Pence and his GOP colleagues just don’t have much to offer. Given that Pence has been asked repeatedly for new ideas on the economy — and hasn’t been able to offer any — one would imagine that he could think of something other than “tax cuts,” but apparently not.
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RNC Spokesman: ‘We Embrace Whatever Candidate Needs To Do To Win’
In May, the tea party movement successfully toppled long-time Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT) in a wave of anti-establishment sentiment that is “altering the nation’s political landscape.” This tea party tide carried Trey Gowdy to victory over the “reasonable Republican” Rep. Bob Inglis (SC) and now may push tea-party-backed Senate candidate Joe Miller (R-AK) to a win over current Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) in “one of the biggest political upsets of the year.” As President Bush’s former speechwriter Michael Gerson points out today, the Republican party now faces an uphill struggle to rein in the “untested ideology” of these new candidates that is “clearly incompatible with some conservative and Republican beliefs” and may prove “toxic to the GOP.”
But Gerson’s concerns are falling on deaf ears at the Republican National Committee. Today on ABC’s Top Line, RNC spokesman Doug Heye enthusiastically embraced the radical views of GOP candidates like Miller. In opening the discussion between Heye and DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse, Top Line host Jonathan Karl “wanted to see how excited” Heye was about “[his] man” Miller. He aired a previous interview on Top Line in which Miller said unemployment extension benefits are “not constitutionally authorized. I think that’s the first thing that’s got to be looked at so I do not favor their extension.” When Karl asked whether Heye embraces that view, Heye responded “we embrace whatever candidate needs to do to win”:
KARL: Ok, so you have a candidate who thinks that unemployment extension is not constitutionality authorized…uh…First of all, do you embrace that?
HEYE: Well we embrace whatever candidate needs to do to win. Every candidate campaigns in a different manner, every governor is a different governor, every senator is a different senator. But we look for candidates who can win.
KARL: Is that a mainstream Republican position that can win?
HEYE: Its certainly one that we have a lot of people in this party who have talked about. And certainly the Constitution is a key talking point for our party, it’s something that we do everyday.
Watch it:
Miller, whose constitutional challenge of unemployment extension benefits on Topline “went further” than other tea party candidates, also said that “we’ve got to transition out of the Social Security arrangement and go into more of a privatization,” insisting that “it’s not that radical of an idea.”
If Heye’s party is willing to embrace whatever tea party candidates like Miller believe, the Republican platform may also soon reflect Miller’s denial of “man-made global warming,” Sharron Angle’s (R-NV) espousal of the Church of Scientology’s prison rehabilitation program, Ken Buck’s (R-CO) no-exception abortion in cases of rape and incest, and an outright overthrow of the Constitution over birthright citizenship. However, as Ian Millhiser reports, the GOP is well on its way to embracing that mentality.
California Mosque Targeted With Anti-Muslim Sign: ‘No Temple For The God Of Terrorism At Ground Zero’
California Mosque Targeted With Anti-Muslim Sign: ‘No Temple For The God Of Terrorism At Ground Zero’
As ThinkProgress and many other outlets noted earlier today, a Muslim New York City cab driver appeared to be the first physical casualty of the controversy surrounding the Islamic center near Ground Zero. The passenger reportedly asked the cab driver if he was a Muslim. After the driver responded affirmatively, the passenger said, “Assalamu alaikum — consider this a checkpoint!” and slashed the driver’s neck and face.
But in addition to acts of bodily harm against Muslims, the ugly and emotional Ground Zero debate has generated hate crimes against a mosque in California. The Fresno Bee reports that a brick was thrown through a window of the Madera Islamic center last Friday. There have been repeated instances of hate directed against this particular mosque. Signs have been left at the Islamic center carrying inflammatory messages, like this one:
The other signs left at the Madera mosque read: “Wake up America, the Enemy is here. ANB” and “American Nationalist Brotherhood.”
ThinkProgress has previously noted that there has been a spate of hate crimes against mosques in America. For instance, a mosque in South Arlington, Texas, was vandalized earlier this month. “The vandals also cut a pipe, allegedly thinking that it was a natural gas line.” Also, the Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Nashville, Tennessee was vandalized with anti-Muslim graffiti. And in a Jacksonville mosque this year, a pipe bomb was set off and a “tissue stuffed inside with white powder” was sent in the mail to one of the community’s local religious leaders.
Meet Bruce Majors: The Tea Partier Advising Beck Rally-Goers To Stay Off The Green And Yellow Lines
Meet Bruce Majors: The Tea Partier Advising Beck Rally-Goers To Stay Off The Green And Yellow Lines
On Monday, a Maine tea party blog created a sensation when it published a “visitor’s guide” to Washington, D.C. for tea party activists coming to the city this weekend to attend Fox News host Glenn Beck’s big rally. The guide was widely mocked on blogs and cable news for its paranoid warnings about the vast majority of the city, but overlooked so far is the author of the guide — right-wing activist Bruce Majors.
While the guide’s absurd warnings could be dismissed as written by an overly-cautious out-of-towner who doesn’t understand D.C., Majors should know better — he’s “lived and worked in DC since 1980 (in 3 of the cities 4 quadrants),” according to his blog. Majors should also be intimately acquainted with the unsafe zones of the city, as he is a Realtor who is currently listing several homes (his company has many more) deep within the forbidden zone, and even near the dreaded Green and Yellow Metro lines. And apparently his political views seep into his business, as one client was forced to find another agent after Majors “was extremely inappropriate when he began discussing President Obama and how evil he is.”
While the guide’s absurd warnings could be dismissed as written by an overly-cautious out-of-towner who doesn’t understand D.C., Majors should know better — he’s “lived and worked in DC since 1980 (in 3 of the cities 4 quadrants),” according to his blog.
But “Majors is no mere small-time troll or newcomer.” He is an active “Tea Party community organizer in Washington, D.C.,” and a major online organizer, especially at Tea Party Patriots. On that site, he is the second biggest poster of all time, with 2277 messages, to the group’s official email listerv:
He’s organized protests online, and is the owner of the Tea Party Professionals group on Linkedin. He was also identified as a “LP [Libertarian Party] campaigner and everyone’s-facebook-friend” by a libertarian blog. He also appears to have written for the American Spectator, among other publications.
A frequent commenter on progressive blogs, Majors describes himself on his OpenSalon.com profile as an “Anarcho-capitalist revolutionary sharpening his guillotine.” On Talking Points Memo — where he was flagged with a “Troll Alert” and the subject to a lengthy profile — his bio states that he is “[l]ooking for employment as guillotine operator for citizens’ tribunal.”
Indeed, elsewhere in Majors ‘extensive online presence, there is a clear flirtation with violence as a political tool. In a Facebook note titled “We will remember in November,” Majors listed the names of all the members of Congress who voted for the Affordable Care Act — dubbed the “The Executioner’s List” — followed by a picture of a guillotine and accompanied by this call to action:
Call Capitol Hill and promise them retribution. Not just in their next race, but in their attempt to run for or be appointed to ANY office, and any private enterprise they will engage in in the future. And any member of their family.
Commenting on a TPM story, Majors wrote, “Poor walking cadaver [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid [D-NV] shouldn’t run fake tea party candidates to split the opposition vote against him. Someone might drop a plane on him. They already dropped a truck on his family,” referring to a car accident that seriously injured Reid’s wife and daughter. His Facebook page also features two jokes about President Obama’s death (and that he is a Muslim), and a picture of a sign referencing the Thomas Jefferson quote, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
Like his visitor’s guide, which offered advice to dealing with “African immigrants,” Major’s other writings have clear racial undertones. In a tweet linking to an article about Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan and affirmative action, Majors wrote, “Kagan says Obama is ‘my niggah.’” In another tweet linking to a video of Obama, Majors tweeted, “Poor little flop eared bitch. People are so mean to him.” Upon news of White House economic adviser Christina Romer’s upcoming departure, Majors tweeted, “Congratulations Christiina Romer! A house slave is now free. But all us field slaves are still in chains!” On the Shirley Sherrod dust up, Majors wrote:
[I]t is clear that most black Democrats in politics & the media are complete knaves and idiots (much like their white counterparts). The purpose of their constant race focus is, as Angela Codevilla discusses in his American Spectator article, to have a charge, racism, which which they can convict average Americans of a crime so they can then demand to enslave them.
Majors also posted a picture on his Facebook page comparing First Lady Michele Obama to Chewbacca from Star Wars:
In addition, Majors appears to be a birther, posting images on his Facebook page of a forged Kenyan birth certificate that birthers claim is authentic, and several birther joke images, including a sign saying, “Illegal immigration is destroying this county — look what it did to the White House.”
TPM’s Troll Watch reported that Majors has also conducted “direct e-mail harassment and identity theft against liberals,” using stolen screen names to harass commentors on blogs he has been banned from. Indeed, he is the subject of several threads on online forums warning about his harassment, and he reportedly told one woman who accused him of using multiple screen names to hide his identity, “you silly facist bitch. Do not tell me what screen name I can use or what I am free to say.”
What You Need To Know About Rick Scott: The Corrupt And Fraudulent GOP Gubernatorial Nominee In Florida
What You Need To Know About Rick Scott: The Corrupt And Fraudulent GOP Gubernatorial Nominee In Florida
Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Rick Scott
In his victory speech last night, Rick Scott, the 57 year old former health care executive and founder of the health care attack group Conservatives For Patients Rights, assured Republicans that the “party will come together” after a particularly bruising primary challenge against Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. Scott entered the race in April and proceeded to spend approximately $50 million of his estimated $218 million fortune on a negative campaign that sought to deflect attention from his past business controversies and smear McCollum as a product of the establishment.
That outlandish sum, however, is not nearly as shocking as how Scott came to acquire it — as the chief executive of one of the largest and most controversial for-profit hospital chains in the country, Columbia/HCA.
In 1987, Scott, a mergers and acquisitions lawyer who “had cut his teen on deals involving radio stations, fast food businesses, and oil and gas companies before focusing in on the money to be made by acquiring hospitals,” didn’t enter the health care business for the sake of improving the quality of care, but rather wanted to “do for hospitals…what McDonald’s has done in the food business” and “what Wal-Mart has done in the retailing business.” The goal, as Maggie Mahar explains in Money Driven Medicine, “was to combine volume with low cost.” This quote is demonstrative: “Do we have an obligation to provide health care for everybody? Where do we draw the line? Is any fast-food restaurant obligated to feed everyone who shows up?” he asked.
Indeed, through an aggressive strategy of rapid acquisitions and consolidation, Scott turned Columbia/HCA into one of the largest health care companies in the world. Forbes magazine noted Scott ruthlessly bought “hospitals by the bucketful and promised to squeeze blood from each one.” HCA/Columbia executives saw health care as any other commodity. “This industry’s not any different than an airline industry or a ball bearing industry,” said David T. Vandewater, Columbia’s chief operating officer. “You run at 40 percent of capacity or at 60 percent of capacity you’re not getting the maximum value out of your assets.”
Under Scott’s leadership, Columbia/HCA pled guilty to an massive array of fraud charges — which resulted in a fraud settlement of $1.7 billion dollars, the largest in U.S history. Columbia/HCA systematically defrauded taxpayers, charging Medicare $15,000 for Tiffany pitchers and other luxury goods, “exaggerating the seriousness of the illnesses they were treating,” and engineering a program where doctors were granted partnerships in hospitals as a kickback for referring patients. In 1997, “disaster struck in the form of an FBI raid.” In July of that year, “federal agents swarmed Columbia/HCA hospitlas and offices in five states. Within weeks, three executives were indicted on charges of Medicare fraud, and the board had ousted Scott.” Scott left in disgrace, but not before walking away with “a $9.88 million severance package, along with 10 million shares of stock worth up to $300 million at the time.”
During Scott’s tenure at Columbia/HCA, his cost cutting methods threatened patient care and safety:
– Susan Marks, a technician at one of Scott’s hospitals, was forced to monitor 72 heart monitors by herself. Marks explained, “I have to. I’ve been told you either do it, or there’s the door.” [ABC News, 9/26/97]
– Scott downsized nursing staffs, created conditions where “babies were attended as infrequently as every three hours. Once, the only nurse caring for seven ill infants was so busy she failed to hear an alarm when a baby stopped breathing. A parent dashed to the baby and stimulated breathing, the state report said.” [New York Times, 5/11/97]
– Hospital workers in Florida complained, “gloves come in only one size, and rip easily.” In addition, California employees protested “filthy conditions,” and being “stretched to the limit” as Scott’s company slashed “the ratio of nurses to patients.” [Money Driven Medicine, pg. 119]
In 2001, Scott would return to health care and the “McDonalds model,” with a chain of urgent care clinics all over Florida. And as Tristam Korten explained in this two part series for Salon, it quickly replicated many of Columbia/HCA’s favorite business practices.
Crosso-posted at the Wonk Room.
Leading AK GOP U.S. Senate Candidate Joe Miller: ‘We Haven’t Heard There’s Man-Made Global Warming’
Leading AK GOP U.S. Senate Candidate Joe Miller: ‘We Haven’t Heard There’s Man-Made Global Warming’
Following last night’s GOP Senate primary in Alaska, the race is “too close to call” between incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) and challenger Joe Miller. As of this writing, with “98 percent of precincts counted, Murkowski trailed political newcomer Joe Miller by 1,960 votes out of more than 91,000 counted.”
Earlier this week, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner interviewed Miller, probing him on a variety of issues. On global warming, Miller didn’t deny the existence of climate change, but that human activity was not responsible for it. He told the newspaper that “temperature change is a part of the process of our existence,” and that we “haven’t heard there’s man-made global warming”:
Miller doesn’t doubt that the climate changing, only to what extent humans are causing climate change. “I think it’s undeniable, that anyone who has looked at the natural record of the Earth can see significant cyclical changes well before the industrial age, so we know the temperature change is part of the process of our existence, and frankly, you’re probably aware in the ’70s there were real concerns about global cooling,” he said. [...]
“We haven’t heard there’s man-made global warming,” he said. “Second, even if we proved that, we have not proven we have a solution that works. And third, even if we’ve proven that, we haven’t done a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether the solutions like cap-and-trade that Sen. Murkowski has proposed are actually worth the cost to people.”
If Miller is unconvinced of the existence of “man-made” global warming, all he has to do is pay attention to the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community. In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a UN group “made up of hundreds of scientists from 113 countries” determined that “human-generated greenhouse gases account for most of the global rise in temperatures over the past half-century.” A 2009 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States found that “97–98% of the climate researchers most actively publishing in the field support the tenets” of the IPCC’s conclusion that man-made greenhouse gases are responsible for the planet warming.
Skeptical Science, using data from several government agencies that monitor the global climate, created this graph demonstrating how the rise in carbon dioxide has closely tracked a rise in global temperature over time:
Four Of Five Health Care Plaintiffs Have Lost Their Republican Primaries
As ThinkProgress previously reported, five GOP officials who joined the completely merit-less lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act ran for governor this year. With Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum’s defeat at the hands of corrupt former hospital CEO Rick Scott last night, all but one of these five officials have lost their Republican primary:
This March, two attorneys general took the lead in lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the health care overhaul: South Carolina’s Henry McMaster and Florida’s Bill McCollum. Another, Michigan’s Mike Cox, soon signed on.
The lawsuits made them national leaders on the central national issue, and seemed tailor-made for Republican primaries. But all three lost those primaries, as CNN’s Peter Hamby noted of the first two last night.
McMaster lost to Nikki Haley, whose reform message trumped his series of ads touting his health care fight. Cox, who also put his health care suit on air, lost to a wealthy businessman who ran on a non-ideological platform under the slogan, “one tough nerd.” McCollum lost to Rick Scott, and there the message may not be as clear — Scott was also a leading national foe of the health care bill.
In addition to these three losing attorneys general, Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, who muscled his way into the health care litigation against his state AG’s objection, also lost his primary seeking another term as governor. Only Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett (R), who ran virtually unopposed for his party’s gubernatorial nomination, survived the voter’s scrutiny.
Of course, it’s hard to be sure just what message primary voters intended to send by choosing Scott over McCollum. Last May, 54 percent of Florida voters said that McCollum’s lawsuit was a “bad idea.” But it’s also quite possible that Florida Republicans were inspired by Scott’s decision to spend a portion of his vast personal fortune in a failed attempt to block the Affordable Care Act. It’s also possible that McCollum’s bitter confession speech, which claims that voters were bamboozed by Scott’s massive campaign spending, accurately explains his loss:
“The votes today have been tallied and I accept the voters’ decision,” McCollum said. “This race was one for the ages. No one could have anticipated the entrance of a multimillionaire with a questionable past who shattered campaign spending records and spent more in four months than has ever been spent in a primary race here in Florida.
One thing that is crystal clear, however, is that wasting taxpayer dollars on a frivolous lawsuit is never a good way to appeal to voters. Every single health care plaintiff in a contested primary for governor lost their election — hopefully this will inspire future candidates to abandon their counterproductive opposition to health reform.
Vitter’s Dire Prediction That Drilling Moratorium Would Be Worse Than BP Oil Spill ‘Failed To Materialize’
Vitter’s Dire Prediction That Drilling Moratorium Would Be Worse Than BP Oil Spill ‘Failed To Materialize’
As part of its response to BP’s disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration in June issued a 6-month moratorium on deepwater offshore drilling in order to survey drilling safety measures and prevent a similar spill.
While the oil and gas industry went to court to prevent the moratorium from taking effect, Republicans responded by issuing fear-mongering rhetoric. The moratorium “could kill thousands of Louisiana jobs,” Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) said, while Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) called it “a second assault on the Gulf.” Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), who has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the oil and gas industry, called on Obama to lift the temporary ban and claimed the moratorium would be worse for the Gulf region, economically, than the oil spill itself:
As I stated, there is no one more environmentally devastated by this oil disaster than the people of the Gulf Coast. It’s our coast, our marshes, and our way of life that is being impacted. However, despite the ongoing oil spill disaster, the great majority of Gulf Coast citizens feel strongly that the administration’s deepwater moratorium is a major mistake. Simply put, it will cost us more jobs and economic devastation than the oil spill itself.
But as it turns out, Vitter and his GOP colleagues’ rhetoric was mere hyperbole. The New York Times reports today that their dire predictions “failed to materialize”:
[T]he worst of those forecasts has failed to materialize, as companies wait to see how long the moratorium will last before making critical decisions on spending cuts and layoffs. Unemployment claims related to the oil industry along the Gulf Coast have been in the hundreds, not the thousands, and while oil production from the gulf is down because of the drilling halt, supplies from the region are expected to rebound in future years.
The Times reports that “[e]ven the government’s estimate of the impact of the drilling pause — 23,000 lost jobs and $10.2 billion in economic damage — is proving to be too pessimistic.”
But the news is unlikely to pull Vitter away from his close ties to Big Oil. The Louisiana senator introduced a bill shortly after the Gulf spill to limit BP’s liability to the amount of its profit in the last four quarters, or $150 million, whichever is greater. (BP ended up agreeing to a preliminary $20 billion liability fund). And in 2000, while a member of the House, Vitter introduced a bill (which never became law) to reduce oil companies’ criminal liability for spills.
‘Are You Muslim?’: Passenger Stabs NYC Muslim Cab Driver
‘Are You Muslim?’: Passenger Stabs NYC Muslim Cab Driver
NY1 reports today of a likely hate crime in New York City, which has been the site of an ugly, emotional debate over the proposed Park 51 Islamic community center near the site of Ground Zero. The news station reports that a cab driver was attacked by a young man who appears to have assaulted him due to his Islamic faith. The man reportedly asked the driver if he was Muslim, and when he confirmed that he was, the young man attacked the driver, slashing him “in the throat, arm and lip” with a knife:
A city cab driver is in the hospital after being stabbed by a passenger who allegedly asked if he was Muslim, police tell NY1. Investigators with the New York City Police Department say it all began Monday night when a 21-year-old man hailed a cab at 24th Street and Second Avenue in Manhattan.
Police say the passenger asked the driver, “Are you Muslim?” When the driver said yes the passenger pulled a knife and slashed him in the throat, arm and lip.
Both the driver and the alleged attacker are currently hospitalized in Bellevue Hospital. The first casualty of the “Ground Zero mosque.”
The passenger, Michael Enright, 21, of Brewster, N.Y., hailed the cab at Second Avenue and East 24th Street around 6 p.m. Tuesday, the police said. Twenty blocks north, they said, he slashed and stabbed the 43-year-old driver in his throat, face and arm. [...] After falling silent for a few minutes, the passenger began cursing and screaming, and then yelled, “Assalamu alaikum — consider this a checkpoint!” and slashed Mr. Sharif across the neck, and then on the face from his nose to his upper lip, the alliance said. [...] “I feel very sad,” Mr. Sharif said in a statement released by the taxi workers’ alliance. “I have been here more than 25 years. I have been driving a taxi more than 15 years. All my four kids were born here. I never feel this hopeless and insecure before.”
Right-Wing Christian Militia Vows To Protect Florida Church Burning Qurans On September 11 (Updated)
Right-Wing Christian Militia Vows To Protect Florida Church Burning Qurans On September 11 (Updated)
Despite the city’s fire protection ordinances, the poorly-named Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL is committed to hosting “International Burn a Quran Day” on September 11. The radical church, which boasts an “Islam Is Of The Devil” message on a sign outside the church and as the title of its pastor’s book, insists “we will still burn Korans” on the church grounds despite being denied a permit. While the church may be fined for openly burning the holy texts, one “armed Christian conservative group” aptly named Right Wing Extreme vowed Sunday to protect the church from any other harassment during the burning:
The Christian conservative organization Right Wing Extreme has offered its support and protection for the International Burn a Quran day.
Right Wing Extreme was founded in April of 2009 after the Department of Homeland Security’s report titled Right Wing Extremism.[...]
“We fully support Dove World Outreach Center and its efforts to put an end to the notion that Islam is a peaceful religion. Islam is a violent cult with the goal of world domination.” Says Right Wing Extreme founder Shannon Carson.
Right Wing Extreme insists that “President Obama is a Muslim who is intentionally destroying America’s economy, constitution, and has a socialist agenda aimed at bringing about a New World Order.” The group measures its “state of alert” through a “Defcon system.” Currently set at level 3, the “Defcon system” warns that the group’s “moral and ethical code are under moderate attack” and that the U.S. Constitution is only “partially intact.” According to their ethical code, members swear to defend the Constitution and recognize “that freedom comes by the shedding of blood and sacrifice.”
While Right Wing Extreme is supporting the church’s “protest” of Islam by militaristic means, one non-profit Muslim group, the Book of Signs, is countering the protest by “distributing 50 free Qurans for every Quran burned” and by urging bookstores to refuse to sell Qurans to those involved.
TP’s Lee Fang Discusses The ‘Kochtopus’ Network On Countdown
For the past two years, ThinkProgress researcher Lee Fang has been digging into the nefarious activities of the Koch family, reporting on their funding of the tea parties, the depth of their astroturfing, and their family’s record of right-wing radicalism.
Using a great deal of TP’s research, The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer published a lengthy article this week that gives the “Kochtopus” ideological network the mainstream media attention it deserves. In order to “alter the direction of America,” the oil family has been “giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups.”
“They are out to destroy progressivism,” Democratic strategist Rob Stein said of the Kochs. Appearing on MSNBC’s Countdown last night, Fang observed the long history of Kochs’ efforts to bring down the progressive movement:
Charles Koch, about 10 years ago, compared himself to the theologian Martin Luther and he said he’s bringing a right wing radical free-market reformation to this country. So, you know, like you said, Fred Koch, the father, did this to President Kennedy, funding the John Birch Society. They did it to Clinton, funding a lot of the attack groups and the rallies on Capitol Hill, smearing Hillary Clinton. They’re doing it to Barack Obama. But they’re going to keep doing it.
Watch it:
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ThinkFast: August 25, 2010
ThinkFast: August 25, 2010
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is “at risk of becoming the third Senate incumbent ousted in a primary this cycle” after a bitter fight against attorney Joe Miller, who has the backing of several tea party groups and former Gov. Sarah Palin. As of this morning, Miller had a 3,000 vote lead, with 77 percent of precincts reporting. Meanwhile, despite being outspent 5-to-1, Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL) claimed the Democratic nomination for Florida’s open Senate seat over billionaire Jeff Greene, while in Arizona, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is likely to retain his seat after beating ultra-conservative primary challenger J.D. Hayworth.
Yesterday, Alaskan voters approved Ballot Measure 2, a new law requiring doctors to notify parents if a child aged 17 years or younger is to receive an abortion. The “fiercely contested” law imposes felony charges on doctors who fail to comply and “marks the first time Alaska voters confronted the abortion issue at the polls.”
Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson derides the “toxic” nature of the tea parties. He argues that the ideology of tea partiers is “clearly incompatible with some conservative and Republican beliefs,” and warns Republicans that they are “building a majority on an unstable, slightly cracked foundation.”
Writing in the Financial Times, John Podesta and Robert Greenstein argue against extending the Bush tax cuts “for the top 2 percent of earners, whose average annual income is $800,000.” They note that “a few centrist Democrats are joining the conservative stampede,” and conclude, “We cannot afford to let blind ideology and rabid partisanship threaten sensible economic policy.”
CIA analysts have said that the most urgent threat to U.S. security is al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen, not the core group based in Pakistan. The assessment has prompted Obama administration officials to urge an escalation of U.S. military operations there. “We are looking to draw on all of the capabilities at our disposal,” said one unnamed official.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivered an “impassioned defense” of the proposed Park 51 Islamic community center last night at a fast-breaking Iftaar dinner at the governor’s mansion. “How big should the ‘no-mosque zone’ around the World Trade Center be?” he asked of the mosque’s critics. “There is already a mosque four blocks away. Should it too, be moved?”
Dozens of people were killed in coordinated car bomb attacks against police forces across Iraq today. “There may be a state, there may be a government. But what can that state do? What can they do with all the terrorists? Are they supposed to set up a checkpoint in every house?” asked one survivor of the attacks.
The National Association of Realtors said yesterday that July housing sales plummeted 25.5 percent below last year’s level “as buyers lost the spur of a government tax credit.” The news “surprised nearly every analyst and put the volume of single-family home sales at the lowest level since 1995.”
The Justice Department said Tuesday that it will appeal a federal judge’s order temporarily halting embryonic stem cell research this week. While current projects can keep previous government funding, 22 projects slated to receive $54 million in September “will be stopped in their tracks.”
Some family members of 9/11 victims will rally today in support of the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York City. “Their group, called September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, will also be joined by at least 40 religious and civic organizations, and is expected to announce the creation of a coalition called New York Neighbors for American Values” to promote religious tolerance.
And finally: Rep. Ron Paul’s (R-TX) iconic 55-foot limousine from his 2008 presidential campaign is getting an upgrade from a famed car designer, who will stretch it to 105 feet, making it the world’s longest car. The limo — a companion to Paul’s blimp — “was painted with stars, stripes and slogans including ‘Ron Paul Revolution,’” but was heavily damaged by an electrical fire after the campaign.
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Danger! Bus Parking For Beck’s 8/28 Rally Is Outside The Recommended ‘Safe Zone’
Danger! Bus Parking For Beck’s 8/28 Rally Is Outside The Recommended ‘Safe Zone’
Yesterday, a Maine tea party blog posted some handy advice for activists coming to Washington Saturday to attend Fox News host Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally. Among warnings about how to deal with “African immigrants” — do not “assume they are African Americans” and “especially do not…guess they are from a neighboring country” — the guide advised rally-goers to stay out of the vast majority of the city, and cautioned which portions of Metrorail system are safe. While the entire Green and Yellow lines are off limits, the guide allowed for travel on the Blue and Orange lines, as long as attendees do not stray West of the Eastern Market stop. As for areas outside this tiny safety zone: “you should not explore them.”
Unfortunately, the only official parking location for group buses is two stops beyond the last safe stop on the Blue and Orange line at RFK stadium, deep in the forbidden zone:
Buses will not be permitted to drop anywhere near the Lincoln Memorial.[...]
Bus parking is available at RFK Stadium for groups. RFK Stadium is adjacent to the Stadium Armory Metro Rail station on the Orange & Blue Rail lines. Walking distance from the bus parking area to this Metro is approximately 0.7 miles. The RFK Stadium Armory station connects to the Smithsonian Metro Rail Station, approximately 1 mile from the Lincoln Memorial event site.
DCist created a map illustrating the guide’s recommendations, which ThinkProgress has modified to demonstrate the danger facing the rally’s attendees when they unload from their buses to find themselves far in the unsafe zone:
Steele, Rubio, And Diaz-Balart Soften GOP’s Immigration Rhetoric On Spanish Language Television
Steele, Rubio, And Diaz-Balart Soften GOP’s Immigration Rhetoric On Spanish Language Television
Earlier today, the Huffington Post’s Amanda Terkel reported that Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele “distanced the Republican Party from SB-1070″ in an interview with Univision. Steele attempted to reassure Latino viewers that Arizona’s new immigration law is not “a reflection of an entire country, nor is it a reflection of an entire political party.” Wonk Room observed that, over the past week, at least two other Republicans have appeared on Spanish-language television echoing Steele’s remarks: Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Florida senatorial candidate Marco Rubio (R).
Watch this week’s Spanish-language interviews:
Despite shying away from it in English-language press a couple weeks ago, Rubio took to the Spanish-language airwaves to unambiguously affirm that he does not support gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum’s (R-FL) efforts to bring SB-1070 to the state of Florida. Diaz-Balart also frowned on McCollum’s Arizona copycat bill in an interview with Al Punto’s Jorge Ramos. However, Diaz-Balart insisted that such efforts have “bipartisan support.” More specifically, Diaz-Balart stated outright that Sink has said she is in favor of SB-1070 and, that as governor, she and McCollum would be pretty similar on the issue. However, Wonk Room could only find evidence that suggests otherwise.
Tea Party Leaders Criticize Beck’s 8/28 Rally: ‘All He’s Doing Is Trying To Use Us To Promote Himself’
Tea Party Leaders Criticize Beck’s 8/28 Rally: ‘All He’s Doing Is Trying To Use Us To Promote Himself’
This Saturday in Washington, DC, Fox News host Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally will take place at the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech. Beck has claimed that the rally — meant “to recognize our First Amendment rights and honor the service members who fight to protect those freedoms” — is “going to be one for the history books” and will be “a turning point in America.”
Beck has been a fervent supporter of the Tea Party, having previously promoted its events and rallies and even provided a forum for various Tea Party factions to work out their differences. While many local Tea Party chapters are helping to turn out attendees for the rally, some Tea Party leaders aren’t interested in helping Beck:
At least one tea party group rejected Beck’s entreaties to assist with the march, concluding he was offering little in return for its organizational know-how and credibility, while giving preferential treatment to FreedomWorks, which is paying to sponsor Beck’s radio show. The group’s leader, who requested anonymity to avoid antagonizing Beck, said, “All he’s doing is trying to use us to promote himself.” [...]
“I call it ‘Beckaplooza,’ because it seems to be all about Beck,” said Andrew Ian Dodge, the Maine state coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, a coalition of local groups that has helped stage several big rallies. … [W]hen the Patriots were deciding whether to help with Saturday’s rally, Dodge said there was internal queasiness over the M.L.K. link and Beck’s inflammatory rhetoric, including his blasting of Obama as a racist. … “Beck takes it outside of the realm of fiscal conservatism into issues that are more emotional and make you wonder if we really want to be associated with this guy,” [Dodge said].
RedState.com’s Erick Erickson said Beck is going to have to “be careful” or his gimmicks are “going to start becoming a punchline.”
Fox executive Bill Shine told Politico that “there is no organized promotion planned for the rally on Fox News and the network has nothing to do with it.” But as Media Matters notes, Fox has in fact been the “unofficial corporate sponsor” of Beck’s event. Perhaps that’s why Beck is expecting such a high turnout, recently suggesting that it will be similar in size to President Obama’s inauguration. “This will be a thing that your children will remember,” he has said. “I expect a miracle on 8/28.” Organizers are anticipating 300,000 participants. The country anxiously awaits.
Road To Stem Cell Decision Paved By Bush-Era Activism
Road To Stem Cell Decision Paved By Bush-Era Activism
Yesterday, Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan-appointed trial judge in DC, suspended all federal funding for embryonic stem cell (ESC) research — a decision which limits such research in a way that even President George W. Bush found untenable. But yesterday’s decision did not occur in a vacuum. It is the product of many right-wing activists working very, very hard for a very long time.
Indeed, as Michael Tomasky explains in the Guardian, the road to yesterday’s deeply radical decision was paved by Bush-era fights over the judiciary:
This case was not only about the new NIH guidelines, but about the legal standing of the plaintiffs, who were representatives of conservative Christian advocacy groups and research agencies that opposed the Obama NIH proposals. The plaintiff Alliance Defense Fund has a history of anti-gay activism. The group’s standing to sue was in question. In fact, on a previous occasion, Lamberth tossed the suit, arguing that the plaintiffs lacked standing.
That was appealed, and the question of standing was returned to a three-judge panel on the DC Circuit. This is the most important federal circuit court in the country. On June 25, a three-judge panel overturned Lamberth’s earlier decision and ruled that the plaintiffs did have standing. . . . Now, here’s the question. Who sat on this three-judge panel? They were: Janice Rogers-Brown, Brett Kavanaugh and Douglas Ginsburg. All Republicans. The first two very ideological Republicans. Rogers-Brown, whose nomination was contentious in 2005 and blocked by Democrats for a time until a deal was brokered . . . .
Brett Kavanaugh was an associate counsel for Ken Starr’s Whitewater investigation. He then joined Starr’s firm. He was also active for Bush-Cheney 2000, and was rewarded with this plum assignment.
If anything, Tomasky understates just how deeply ideological these three judges are. Judge Brown, who was a central figure in 2005’s nuclear war over the filibuster, once compared liberalism to “slavery” and Social Security to a “socialist revolution.” Judge Ginsburg is a leading “tenther” who once called for America to return to a discredited era when child labor laws were considered unconstitutional. Judge Kavanaugh’s career of right-wing legal activism speaks for itself.
Nor is yesterday’s decision an isolated incident. Earlier this month, a Bush-appointed judge in Richmond threw an unnecessary lifeline to right-wing activists challenging President Obama’s single greatest accomplishment — health reform. Although the law is quite clear that this judge should have dismissed the case, the right is clearly hoping that it has stacked the courts enough to dismantle Obama’s entire legacy.
These decisions, and others like them, need to be a wake-up call to progressives. For decades, the right has manipulated the Senate rules and thrown their full political support behind deeply radical judicial nominees, while progressives been far less engaged in this fight. Is it any wonder, then, that the Senate has only confirmed half as many of Obama’s judicial nominees as it did for all other recent presidents?
Glenn Beck’s ‘Non-Political’ Rally — Sponsored By The Right Wing
Glenn Beck’s ‘Non-Political’ Rally — Sponsored By The Right Wing
This weekend, Glenn Beck will hold a rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial that is being billed as a “non-political event that pays tribute to America’s service personnel and other upstanding citizens who embody our nation’s founding principles of integrity, truth and honor.” The “Restoring Honor” rally will feature speeches from Beck and Sarah Palin, but Beck has repeatedly stressed that it’s “not a political event.” Last Thursday, Beck told Bill O’Reilly — who openly questioned how an event featuring Sarah Palin couldn’t be political — that “[t]his isn’t political. This is about restoring honor in our own selves. We will never fix our country unless we stand in the shadows of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.”
Despite Beck’s claims, however, it is clear that right-wing groups and politicians are helping organize, promote and subsidize the event. Adele Stan at Alternet reported last week that the Koch-funded front group Americans for Prosperity (AFP), which advocates for a number of conservative causes, is subsidizing bus and hotel packages for attendees of Beck’s rally, though not specifically advertising the rates as being for Beck’s event.
A search of the Restoring Honor website, however, shows that AFP is organizing buses for the event. A section on the website allows potential attendees to see if a bus is leaving from their area, and displays contact information for the bus organizer. In Georgia, there are three different buses with the contact Joel Foster, who is the grassroots organizer for AFP’s Georgia chapter. (He even lists his AFP e-mail address). A bus leaving from Raleigh, NC, and another in Baltimore County, Maryland, both appear to be organized by local AFP chapters.
In addition, several other right-wing groups are promoting the event and organizing travel. Among them:
– Grassfire.org, a conservative “grassroots” group with ties to the powerful Republican public relations firm Shirley & Banister, is an approved travel coordinator for the event, and has agreements with 30 area hotels.
– The American Family Association, Kentucky Chapter is running a bus to the event.
– Americans Against Immigration Amnesty advertises a bus, hotel, and event transportation package.
The map of bus organizers also belies Beck’s claim that “[t]he Restoring Honor Rally is neither a 9/12 nor a Tea Party rally.” A vast majority of the buses heading to DC appear to have been organized by local Tea Party chapters; for example, of the 51 bus pickups in Pennsylvania, over 30 are organized by either a Tea Party or 9/12 group. In Georgia, every bus stop but one is organized by either AFP or a local tea party group.
Beck’s insistence that “Restoring Honor” isn’t political is not simply a public relations effort. Funding for the event is provided by an organization called the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which is a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt, federally registered charity. In order for that charity to preserve its tax-exempt status, the “Restoring Honor” rally must be non-political. Perhaps Beck’s message this weekend will not be political — but the right-wing is clearly coordinating the rally.
Marine Corps Commandant Conway Reiterates: Marines Should Not Have To Share Quarters With Gay Troops
Marine Corps Commandant Conway Reiterates: Marines Should Not Have To Share Quarters With Gay Troops
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway
On a different, but related subject, Conway suggested that if the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” law is repealed, the Marines may consider allowing Marines not to share quarters with homosexuals.
Conway said the Marines may make such housing arrangements “voluntary” to accommodate any “moral concerns.” He said many Marines are “very religious” and because of their moral concerns “don’t want to room” with homosexuals.
But Conway stressed that if the law is repealed, the Marines would take the lead in implementing it. “We cannot be seen as dragging our feet. We’ve got two wars to fight. We’ll implement it and move on,” said Conway.
Conway came under intense criticism in March when he told Military.com he will insist that the Marines have the option of not living alongside gay servicemembers. The Wonk Room looks back at his comments and what they would mean for the forces.
Dick Armey Questions President Bush’s Qualifications On The Economy: Bush Wasn’t ‘A Big Thinking Guy’
Dick Armey Questions President Bush’s Qualifications On The Economy: Bush Wasn’t ‘A Big Thinking Guy’
Former House Majority Leader and FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey is making the rounds this month to promote his new book, “Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto.” In proselytizing for the conservative agenda of the “leaderless” Tea Party, Armey touts the humble foundations of the movement’s agenda, saying the “best practices come from the ground up, around kitchen tables, from Facebook friends, at weekly book clubs, or on Twitter feeds.”
In trying to reestablish the conservative brand, Armey is attempting to throw President Bush under the bus. In an interview aired last night on the O’Reilly Factor, Armey dismissed the qualifications of Bush who pushed for the 2008 financial bailout funds. When right-wing pundit Bill O’Reilly tried to defend Bush’s decision, Armey told O’Reilly that “Bush isn’t a big thinking guy” and he lacked “adult discipline,” unlike Armey, who knows better because “he read Hayek and Mises”:
O’REILLY: So you think the federal government should just step back and let it go?
ARMEY: Yeah the whole notion of too big to fail is simply a rationale for government intervention mostly.
O’REILLY: Bush isn’t a Big government guy..
ARMEY: No Bush is… Bush isn’t a big thinking guy either. Quite frankly He’s not well-schooled on economics. [...] Look I’m an economist by training, I studied it all my life. I have an advantage over them because I read Hayek and Mises. But the fact of the matter is the most critical affliction that came to the economy for those few days was the nations see in the secretary of treasury and the president in a total panic. If they would’ve had an adult discipline.
O’REILLY: So if you were there, you wouldn’t have done anything, no intervention. You would’ve let whatever happen happen
ARMEY: Absolutely right. You’ve got to let..you can’t privatize profits and socialize loss.
Watch it:
Armey is not shy about his current contempt for the former president. At a Christian Science Monitor lunch last month, Armey dubbed Bush the “quickest, biggest bitter disappointment.” But, during Bush’s administration, Armey found plenty of policies to praise Bush about. In 2001, Armey even touted Bush’s “rare ability to ‘tune out the noise’” to get things done:
House Majority Leader Dick Armey said yesterday President Bush has a rare ability to “tune out the noise,” which is helping him define and organize the new initiatives of this administration. “There’s a new demeanor in Washington,” Mr. Armey told a group of constituents at a breakfast coffee klatch. Mr. Bush “knows what he wants to accomplish and is busy going about it.”
While he now slams Bush’s No Child Left Behind policy, Armey published an op-ed in the Washington Times in 2001 to congratulate Bush for “finally changing the way Washington views education.” Blaming President Clinton for “simply talking about a failed education system,” Armey said Bush “is doing something about it.” When Bush pushed to privatize Social Security in 2004, Armey saluted Bush’s “strong leadership” in “clearly understand[ing] the profound issues at stake.”
Toomey: ‘I’ve Never Said I Favor Privatizing Social Security’
Toomey: ‘I’ve Never Said I Favor Privatizing Social Security’
Last week, Pennsylvania’s Republican candidate for Senate, Pat Toomey, touted his plan for privatizing Social Security, saying, “I’ve got a whole chapter in a book that I wrote that deals with how I think, one of the ways I think we could reform Social Security to make it viable.” A section of the chapter which Toomey referenced is called “Personal Accounts Lead to Personal Prosperity.” And when President Bush released his plan for privatizing Social Security, Toomey said, “I have been arguing for many years in favor of Social Security personal retirement accounts. “I’m thrilled that the President is taking up this critical issue,” Toomey added. But when directly asked at the Pennsylvania Press Club yesterday whether he still favors privatization, Toomey actually replied, “I’ve never said I favor privatizing Social Security”:
Q: Do you continue to favor privatizing Social Security?
A: I’ve never said I favor privatizing Social Security. It’s a very misleading — it’s an intentionally misleading term. And it is used by those who try to use it as a pejorative to scare people…[T]hat doesn’t mean that we must perpetuate exactly this structure for future workers and for very young workers. So I’ve advocated that we consider offering young workers an alternative — a reform within Social Security that would give them the opportunity to take a portion of their payroll tax and actually save that and own that and allow that to accumulate over the course of their working years and for that to provide a portion of their retirement benefit. I think that’d be a very constructive reform, and that’s what I’m going to advocate.
Watch it:
As The Wonk Room explains, Toomey’s plan is most certainly privatization, and the majority of Americans oppose it.
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