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While Decrying Unemployment, Rick Scott Brags Of Laying Off Workers

Santorum Condemns Audience Jeers Of Gay Soldier

Landrieu Highlights Darrell Issa’s Clean Energy Hypocrisy

Justice

During Court Hearing, Conservative Fifth Circuit Chief Judge Shouts Down Progressive Colleague, Telling Him To ‘Shut Up’

By Ian Millhiser posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Sep 23, 2011 at 8:00 pm

Chief Judge Edith Jones

The Fifth Circuit is probably the most conservative federal appeals court in the country. It recently sanctioned a cheerleader and alleged rape victim because she sued the school district that required her to cheer for her alleged rapist. Its judges frequently attend “junkets for judges” hosted by an oil-industry funded group. And the court has developed such a reputation as a safe haven for the oil industry that the House GOP recently tried to shift many important oil drilling lawsuits into this court.

Few people capture the essence of the Fifth Circuit better than its chief judge, Edith Jones. During a recent court hearing considering a criminal defendant’s drug conviction, Jones became incensed because she believed one of her few left-of-center colleagues was asking too many questions, and she angrily cut him off:

CHIEF JUDGE JONES: Judge Dennis!

JUDGE DENNIS: Can I, can I, can I ask a question?

CHIEF JUDGE JONES: You have monopolized, uh, uh, seven minutes….

JUDGE DENNIS: Well, I’m way behind on asking questions in this court. I have been quiet a lot of times, and I am involved in this case….

CHIEF JUDGE JONES slams her hand down on the table (loudly), stands halfway up out of her chair, and points toward the door.

CHIEF JUDGE JONES: Would you like to leave?

JUDGE DENNIS: Pardon? What did you say?

CHIEF JUDGE JONES: I want you to shut up long enough for me to suggest that perhaps….

JUDGE DENNIS: Don’t tell me to shut up….

CHIEF JUDGE JONES: … you should give some other judge a chance to ask a question …

Listen:

The fact that Jones cut off one of her progressive colleagues is a minor issue, but arises against a background of mean-spirited and ideological decisions. Jones once wrote a dissenting opinion claiming that a female worker who “was repeatedly propositioned, was groped and grabbed, [had] pornography [] placed in her locker, and [had] other employees broadcast[] obscene comments about her over the company’s public address system” did not experience sexual harassment. At oral argument, she even suggested the woman would need to be raped to claim such harassment.

In other dissent, Jones wrote that a 15-year-old student who was molested by her high school teacher for over a year could not sue the school district because there is “no broad constitutional purpose to be served by recognizing for [a victim's] benefit a constitutional right not to have her bodily integrity compromised by a teacher’s sexual abuse.”

Jones ranks fourth in the nation among judges who have attended corporate junkets, and she once joined a dissent claiming that a death row defendant whose lawyer slept through much of his trial was not denied his constitutional right to counsel.

Economy

Gov. Rick Scott Brags About Laying Off 15,000 Government Workers After Decrying Florida’s High Unemployment

By Marie Diamond posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Sep 23, 2011 at 7:00 pm

The GOP presidential candidates and other prominent conservatives spoke today at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Florida. This afternoon, Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) took to the stage to talk about “successes” in his state, including decreasing the state’s unemployment rate to 10.7 percent — which he noted is still well above the national average.

In the next sentence, though, Scott touted another “success” — laying off 15,000 public sector workers, which of course increased the unemployment rolls in his state. Scott then declared, “government can’t create jobs”:

SCOTT: We’ve had plenty of success so far. Not enough…In Florida, unemployment rate’s gone from 12 percent down to 10.7. We’re still above the national average, but we’ve generated 87,200 private sector jobs — private sector! And we have 15,000 less government jobs in the state of Florida. [Applause] Government doesn’t create jobs.

Watch it:

Scott’s reminder that he laid of thousands of Floridians drew big applause from the conservative crowd. At least 600,000 government workers have lost their jobs since the recession began, but Republicans nevertheless keep scapegoating public employees who have shouldered more than their fair share of economic pain.

In fact, massive job losses in the public sector are one of the main factors keeping national unemployment so high. In August, a gain of 17,000 private sector jobs was completely negated by 17,000 public sector job losses. According to David Leonhardt, if state and local governments had continued to hire at their previous pace, they would have added half a million jobs to the economy. In other words, government austerity over the past two years “has cost the economy about one million jobs.”

Green

Rand Paul Suggests Polluters Like The Koch Brothers Should Go To Jail

By Lee Fang posted from ThinkProgress Green on Sep 23, 2011 at 6:00 pm

The Collaborative on Health and the Environment profiled Horace Smith, a resident near Koch's Corpus Christi refinery. Photo: Steve Lerner

Typically a reliable voice in support of corporate greed, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) suggested this week that petrochemical polluters like David and Charles Koch should go to jail.

Mallory Factor of The Street interviewed Paul a few days ago. During the conversation, Paul blasted efforts by environmentalists to rein in unregulated hydrofracking. But at one point, the junior senator from Kentucky pivoted and made a caveat. Paul said people who pollute with benzene, a carcinogenic chemical, should “go to jail”:

PAUL: I don’t want to pollute the water. I don’t want to pollute streams. If you dump benzene in the stream, I want you to go to jail.

Watch it:

As it turns out, Koch Industries, the petrochemical conglomerate owned by David and Charles Koch, has dumped benzene into streams.

In 2000, the Department of Justice served the company with an indictment for allowing “at least 91 metric tons of uncontrolled benzene in its liquid waste streams” during a period in 1995 at its Corpus Christi refinery. Prosecutors alleged that the company was well aware of its pollution, and that Koch’s employees conspired to deceive regulators.

Shortly after President Bush took office in 2001, his Attorney General John Ashcroft dropped 88 counts against Koch for the benzene spill and cover-up. Koch pleaded guilty to falsifying documents, all major charges were dropped and the company settled the lawsuit for $20 million, a small part of the possible $350 million in fines. The Bush administration, the beneficiary of large Koch campaign checks, essentially slapped the company on the wrist for leaking a chemical known to cause leukemia.

Since the indictment, Koch has invested in modifying its Texas refinery. Over the years, however, there were other incidents benzene releases from Koch’s Corpus Christi plant.

Koch’s refineries are located in an area called Refinery Row. According to the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, residents face a high cancer rate and birth defects, while many report chronic sickness.

The billionaire brothers who own Koch Industries, worth $25 billion each, never went to jail.

NEWS FLASH

Ann Coulter Tells Florida CPAC That Rep. Wasserman Schultz Is A ‘Hideous Beast’ | Today, the Florida Conservative Political Action Conference gave primetime billing to right-wing provocateur Ann Coulter. As is her style, she wasted little time hurling derogatory insults and venomous name-calling. Coulter called DNC Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) a “hideous beast who has a voice like a hyena getting an abortion,” eliciting wild cheers from the audience. Watch it:

In her comments, Coulter referenced Rep. Allen West’s (R-FL) sexist attacks on Wasserman Schultz from earlier this summer, in which he called her “the most vile, unprofessional, and despicable member of the US House of Representatives,” telling her to “shut the heck up” because “you are not a Lady.” ThinkProgress reached out to a CPAC spokesperson to see if they would condemn Coulter’s hateful comments. We have not heard back.

Education

Republicans Bash No Child Left Behind, Then Bash Obama For Trying To Unravel It

By Marie Diamond posted from ThinkProgress Education on Sep 23, 2011 at 4:35 pm

Last night’s Republican debate in Florida was filled with candidates’ tirades about the federal government’s role in education. No Child Left Behind, the sweeping and unpopular education law signed by President George W. Bush, was singled out for criticism, with Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) saying they’d do away with it altogether.

Many Republicans want to either scrap the law or substantially change it, including House Education Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MI), who calls NCLB “too large of an intrusion of the federal government.”

Yet after bashing No Child Left Behind — while doing nothing to fix it themselves — the GOP has turned right around and criticized the administration for moving ahead with reforms to scale it back. The Hill reports that Republicans are “ready to pounce” on Obama for issuing waivers to the states that will free them from many of NCLB’s requirements:

President Obama will announce major changes to No Child Left Behind Friday, which is already drawing criticism from Republicans who feel the administration is exercising too much power in the country’s education system.

In a ceremony at the White House, Secretary Arne Duncan and Obama will urge states to apply for waivers on the provision of NCLB that requires school proficiency by 2014, but there’s a catch. The administration is requiring that states adopt education policy changes the administration deems necessary.[...]

But Republicans on Capitol Hill don’t want the administration imposing more regulations on states and schools.

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) called the waiver requirements a “political move” by the administration.

But Obama’s move is understood nationwide as a move towards ending the most-hated parts of NCLB. “This is the beginning of the end of the No Child era,” said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, a nonpartisan research group.

Republicans determination to criticize Obama when he’s doing something they’ve long called for illustrates that they will find a way to attack the president no matter what he does. Regulations on states and schools were already imposed by Bush — Obama is trying to roll them back while keeping education standards high.

The waivers are necessary because NCLB required annual yearly progress tests show student proficiency or schools would face significant penalties. Forty-five states are expected to apply for the waivers, which allow states to continue receiving federal education funds.

Green

Sen. Landrieu Reads Darrell Issa’s Letters Begging For Taxpayer Clean Energy Loans On The Senate Floor

By Lee Fang posted from ThinkProgress Green on Sep 23, 2011 at 4:00 pm

Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

House Oversight Committee chair Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) investigation of clean energy loan programs was undercut this week by a revelation, first reported by Bloomberg, that he had also requested money from the same program for companies in his district. A follow-up story by ThinkProgress found that an investor to the firm Issa had asked to subsidize had donated several times to Issa, including a check just shortly before Issa sent his letter to Secretary Chu.

Today on the Senate floor, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) mocked Issa’s hypocrisy. She carried with her copies of the letters signed by Issa, as well as other letters by Republicans asking for money for the clean energy program they had just voted to cut, and read them into the Congressional Record:

LANDRIEU: He’s a member from California, he’s a very powerful member of the House. I’m going to read his whole letter. [...] And maybe the press even writes, ‘Darrell Issa, the Republican leader, is promoting manufacturing in California.’ Because this is what he says in his district. And this is the letter he sends to the Secretary. But when he’s in the floor of the House last night, he voted to gut this program. That’s what this debate is about!

Watch it:

Earlier this week, Republicans tried to make hay out of the Solyndra controversy by taking an axe to clean energy programs. Landrieu made short work out of the GOP’s shameful gimmick.

Landrieu continued tearing into Republican hypocrisy. She noted that the cuts were purely political because the supposed offsets for FEMA only required $175 million, not $1 billion. She then continued to read Republican letters asking for clean energy loan cash, including yet another one signed by Issa (asking for money for battery-maker Quallion LLC):

LANDRIEU: I’m going to do this all week, so I hope the press gets ready to ask these Republican leaders how could you possibly have the gall to hold press opportunities in your district promising people that you’re helping them to create jobs and then come back to Washington and cut the rug out from under their feet with a bogus excuse that you have to come up with a billion dollars [...] when the real need for FEMA in 2011 is $175 million. But under the guise of having to provide a billion dollars, they want to gut this program that’s creating jobs and they themselves have asked for these loans to be made in their district. [...]

Several members, and I am going to submit their names to the record [...] In addition — this is the killer, this is the killer — in addition Quallion think that this funding will create more than two thousand three hundred new and long-term jobs nationwide. And this is the program that Representative Cantor decided to use as an offset so he could fool the American people.

Security

FBI Library And Online Training Resources Stocked With Islamophobic Material

By Eli Clifton posted from ThinkProgress Security on Sep 23, 2011 at 3:30 pm

Spencer Ackerman’s reports on Islamophobic training sessions at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have sent the Bureau into damage control mode. On Thursday, the FBI held a conference call with Muslim civil rights groups to apologize for the offensive training materials, which Ackerman has published over the past week.

The FBI has promised a “comprehensive review of all training and reference materials,” but Ackerman, in an article published today, reveals that the work of well-known Islamophobes permeates the FBI’s training culture and the internal reference resources available to FBI agents.

Ackerman reports that the mandatory online orientation material for the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs), included the following description of Sunni Muslims:

Sunni Muslims have been prolific in spawning numerous and varied fundamentalist extremist terrorist organizations. Sunni core doctrine and end state have remained the same and they continue to strive for Sunni Islamic domination of the world to prove a key Quranic assertion that no system of government or religion on earth can match the Quran’s purity and effectiveness for paving the road to God.

An examination of the FBI’s library in Quantico, which is not open to the public, revealed that the Bureau stocks a wide range of resources on Islam but includes a number of books by well known anti-Islam authors Daniel Pipes and Robert Spencer.

Pipes and Spencer are featured prominently in the Center for American Progress’ new report, “Fear, Inc.,” which outlines the small but influential group of individuals and institutions who help promote anti-Muslim hatred in the U.S.

Spencer, who claims that “Islam is not a religion of peace” and has suggested that President Obama may be a Muslim, gained notoriety after it was revealed that Norwegian terrorist Anders Brevik’s manifesto included 162 references to Spencer and his blog Jihad Watch.

Pipes famously observed that “all immigrants bring exotic customs and attitudes, but Muslim customs are more troublesome than most.” He also plays a key role in the Islamophobia echo chamber by repeating the falsehood that Obama is a former Muslim who “practiced Islam.”

The combination of Islamophobic presentation and the FBI’s apparent endorsement of noted anti-Muslim “experts” like Spencer and Pipes raises serious questions about the FBI’s counterterrorism training and the Bureau’s understanding of Muslim Americans.

Earlier this month, the Seattle Times reported on a disastrous presentation by an FBI agent at a community outreach workshop. The failed presentation offers insights into how federal law enforcement officers’ training has seriously hampered their ability to engage with Muslim communities.

Economy

Cantor Claims Victims ‘Need To Know’ Disaster Relief Funds Are ‘There For Them’ After Repeatedly Holding Funds Hostage

By Travis Waldron posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Sep 23, 2011 at 2:40 pm

House Republicans finally pushed through their continuing resolution early this morning after finding yet another $100 million in spending cuts that satiated the conservatives who wouldn’t approve disaster relief funds without matching offsets. Immediately after it passed, spokespersons for Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) took to Twitter to warn Senate Democrats against blocking funds for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), despite the fact that a bipartisan Senate majority passed a $7 billion FEMA relief package a week ago.

At a news conference today, Boehner and Cantor themselves joined in those warnings, attempting to blame Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and his Democratic colleagues for blocking disaster relief funds. Cantor, who has repeatedly insisted that the House would not approve disaster relief funds without offsets, blasted Reid for “blocking” funds that victims of multiple natural disasters needed:

CANTOR: As the Speaker indicated, there are people who are suffering in a big way, and they need to know that FEMA and the disaster relief monies will be there for them.

Watch it:

That’s an interesting change of position for Cantor, who was the first Republican to mention exchanging disaster relief funds for spending offsets in the wake of the tornadoes that hit Joplin, Missouri in May. Cantor again insisted on offsets after the East Coast earthquake that was centered in Mineral, Virginia — the heart of his own district. And for good measure, Cantor again noted that offsets were necessary for disaster funds after Hurricane Irene battered states along the East Coast from North Carolina to Vermont.

Democrats in both the Senate and House have been attempting to approve disaster relief without massive spending offsets to popular programs, including those that once had broad Republican support. And they haven’t been alone in their opposition. Cantor’s actions on disaster relief earned him rebuke from multiple Republican governors and put him out of step with former Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay (TX), who pushed through deficit-financed disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

NEWS FLASH

Gary Johnson Flip Flops On Dog Poop Joke, Claims He ‘Came Up With’ It | Last night, libertarian former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson finally got a chance to join the other GOP presidential candidates on stage for a debate, and had a highlight moment with a plagiarized joke about dog poop. “My next-door neighbor’s two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration,” Johnson quipped. It turns out the line was cribbed from conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who made the joke earlier in the day. This morning on Fox News, Johnson admitted that he didn’t come up with it himself, saying a local radio host had sent it to him along with a handful of other “zingers” collected from listeners. But this afternoon, Johnson reversed himself, telling the Florida Conservative Political Action Conference, “I came up with” the joke:

JOHNSON: Right now, I am the most Googled name on the planet because last night I came up with a witty sentence on dog poop.

Justice

Texas State Senator Kills Rule Allowing Death Row Inmates To Request Their Last Meal

By Travis Waldron posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Sep 23, 2011 at 1:30 pm

State Sen. John Whitmire (D)

While anti-death penalty advocates around the world focused on the execution of Troy Davis in Georgia Wednesday night, the state of Texas went about quietly executing Lawrence Brewer. Brewer was convicted of murdering James Byrd, whom Brewer dragged to death behind his pickup truck in 1998.

Before he was executed, Brewer, like all of Texas’ death row inmates, was able to request his last meal. Brewer made the most of that request, asking for two chicken fried steaks, a triple meat bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelet, a large bowl of fried okra, three fajitas, a pint of Blue Bell ice cream and a pound of barbecue with half a loaf of white bread. Brewer’s last meal incensed Democratic state Sen. John Whitmire, a long-time senator who is particularly influential on prison issues. Calling the last meal request an “extremely inappropriate” privilege that “the perpetrator did not provide to their victim,” Whitmire wrote a letter to the Texas Criminal Justice Division asking it to end the practice, Houston Press reports:

Whitmire wrote to the executive director of the Texas Criminal Justice Division that he had long opposed the practice, and “enough is enough.” [...] “I am asking you to end this practice immediately or I am prepared to do so by statute next session,” he wrote.

Whitmire won’t have to end the practice by statute, because the Criminal Justice Division relented Thursday afternoon, with Executive Director Brad Livingston saying in a statement:

I believe Senator Whitmire’s concerns regarding the practice of allowing death row offenders to choose their last meal are valid. Effective immediately, no such accommodations will be made. They will receive the same meal served to other offenders on the unit.

What Whitmire hopes to accomplish by denying death row inmates a final meal of their request is unclear. The last meal, however ridiculous it may sometimes be, is a traditional ritual on death row, and seems a small issue in the process of the state-sanctioned taking of a human life. It seems the state of Texas, which has executed more people than any other state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, is seeking ways to make its penal system even more cruel than it already is. But given the questionable nature of many of the state’s executions, which include juveniles, the mentally ill, and the potentially innocent, the real tragedy is that the death penalty still exists at all.

LGBT

Conservatives And Media Criticize GOP Candidates For Not Condemning Audience Boos Of Gay Soldier

By Zack Ford posted from ThinkProgress LGBT on Sep 23, 2011 at 12:40 pm

Last night, Stephen Hill, who is serving in the Army in Iraq, had the courage to come out as gay to a national audience and ask the Republican presidential candidates about how they’d handle troops like him. The audience responded to his question with boos, and Rick Santorum said he’s reinstate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (a promise he doubled down on later in the evening).

The big question today, even among conservatives, is: Why did none of the candidates stand up for the soldier? Here are some of today’s reactions to the offensive moment:

- Former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer: “Booing a soldier serving our nation is uncalled for. If I were on stage, I would make that point.”

- The Hill’s Ballot Box: “None of the Republican candidates responded to the audience’s reaction.”

- CBS News: “Some audience members audibly booed the soldier — a moment the GOP candidates on stage chose to ignore.”

- The New Yorker: “His reply was breathtakingly bad: he talked about dangerous social experiments and what a mistake the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell had been; he didn’t even thank Hill, in a rote way, for his service. But none of the candidates did, and any one of them could have.”

- Christian Post: “Santorum, who has never served in the armed forces, did not address the boos, but explained his position by saying ‘sexual activity has absolutely no place in the military.’”

- National Review: “Whatever you think of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” or homosexuality, Hill is risking his life on behalf of his country. It is troubling, and revealing, that Santorum’s answer entirely defined Hill as a gay man first and as a soldier second, if at all.”

- GOProud: “Tonight, Rick Santorum disrespected our brave men and women in uniform, and he owes Stephen Hill, the gay soldier who asked him the question about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal, an immediate apology. That brave gay soldier is doing something Rick Santorum has never done – put his life on the line to defend our freedoms and our way of life.  It is telling that Rick Santorum is so blinded by his anti-gay bigotry that he couldn’t even bring himself to thank that gay soldier for his service.”

- Log Cabin Republicans: “Unfortunately, for many Americans the take-away from last night’s debate was not that Republicans have the solutions our country needs, but that too many in our party are clinging so strongly to a failed and discriminatory law that they are willing to disrespect a man in uniform. As a current Army Reserve officer and an Iraq combat veteran, I found it appalling that a soldier serving down range would be disrespected in such a fashion.”

A petition is already underway on Change.org calling on Rick Santorum to apologize to gay soldiers. If Republicans are going to tolerate the shunning of gay troops, they will cause the very problems of unit cohesion they claimed would be the result of DADT repeal.

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Politics

Gingrich Takes Swipe Against Perry: ‘I Actually Believe All The Words That I Wrote That Are In My Book’

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Sep 23, 2011 at 11:49 am

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) took a veiled shot at his presidential rival Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s book today, which takes such radical stances on everything from Social Security to the Civil War that Perry’s campaign has tried to disavow it. Just over a week into Perry’s run, his campaign said Fed Up! — which was published just 10 months ago — is not meant to reflect Perry’s current views, while Perry defenders have suggested it’s “somehow unfair to quote Rick Perry’s views extreme views accurately.” Nonetheless, Perry himself told ThinkProgress, “I haven’t backed off anything in my book,” leaving observers understandably confused on where Perry stands on his own book.

Without mentioning him by name, Gingrich took what appeared to be a jab at Perry’s flip-flop, telling the Florida Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando today, “I actually believe all the words that I wrote that are in my book.” Watch it:

Gignrich emphasized the words “I wrote” in his quip, insinuating, as some have rumored, that his rival didn’t write his book. Conservative Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin alleged last week that Perry didn’t write an op-ed that bore his named in the Wall Street Journal. Of course, most political books are ghost-written to some degree, but Perry has displayed an unusual level of ignorance about what’s contained in Fed Up!

As for Gingrich’s own books, of which he has written dozens, he recently published one arguing that President Obama poses a Hitler-like threat.

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Media

Anti-Immigrant Groups Founded By White Supremacist Wield Influence Over Google/Fox News Debate

By Lee Fang on Sep 23, 2011 at 11:10 am

John Tanton

The Google/Fox News debate last night featured a new online question submission platform, allowing the “viewing public for the first time to weigh in with votes on questions they want asked.” Steve Grove, an executive at Google, was quoted in a Fox News article saying the new format will “bring more voices into the arena to create an informed and lively dialogue about the future of our country.”

But one of the YouTube questions came from Kristen Williamson, a spokeswoman from Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a conservative advocacy hate group that lobbies for less immigration. Chris Wallace did not introduce Williamson’s question as one selected by viewers. However, the format of the question appeared as the other user-submitted videos.

Earlier during the debate program, NumbersUSA, a right-wing grassroots group also dedicated to decreasing the number of legal immigrants, aired a new national television ad.

Among the many white supremacy connections between the two groups, both were founded with help from John Tanton, an infamous anti-immigrant activist. An advocate of eugenics and other racist beliefs, Tanton has said that his immigration philosophy is guided by the goal of preserving a “European-American majority.” Watch the NumbersUSA ad, followed by the FAIR question about E-Verify to Newt Gingrich:

It wasn’t the only question with a disclosure issue. Fox News/Google picked a popular question from Lee Doren asking the candidates which federal agency they would eliminate. Megyn Kelly introduced Doren simply as “Lee Doren from Arlington, Virginia.” Watch it:

Doren isn’t any average citizen; he’s employed by Craft Media, a consulting firm that specializes in social marketing for corporate lobbying and Republican campaigns. Fox News failed to disclose that Doren — who has gained an online following with Big Business-friendly YouTube videos — and his firm represent a number of special interests already looking to influence the presidential election. For instance, the firm has counted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — a trade association for Goldman Sachs, Dow Chemical, Chevron, and other large corporations — and Newt Gingrich’s attack group American Solutions as clients in the past. According to its website, the firm does everything from creating ads to assisting clients with “placing” articles in a variety of media outlets.

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Economy

Tea Party House Republicans Sell Their Principles For Gimmicky $100 Million Cut

By Pat Garofalo posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Sep 23, 2011 at 10:30 am

For Sale: $100 Million

On Wednesday night, House Republicans failed to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded beyond Sept. 30, as 48 Republicans cut ranks with their leadership and voted against the measure (as did all but six Democrats, who object to the bill’s level of disaster aid and cuts to a clean vehicle manufacturing program). House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) was reportedly incensed at the members who abandoned him on the vote, deriding them as “know-it-alls who have all the right answers.”

But early this morning, the House was able to pass a CR, after Boehner and the Republican leadership added a $100 million cut to a Department of Energy clean-energy loan program. Other than that cut, the bill was exactly the same as the one the House defeated on Wednesday. But the additional cut was enough to entice 23 Republican members into flipping their votes. They were:

Rep. Lou Barletta (PA) Rep. Larry Buschon (IN) Rep. Michael Burgess (TX)
Rep. Dan Burton (IN) Rep. John Campbell (CA) Rep. Francisco Canseco (TX)
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (UT) Rep. John Duncan (TN) Rep. Stephen Lee Fincher (TN)
Rep. John Fleming (LA) Rep. Trey Gowdy (SC) Rep. Tim Johnson (IL)
Rep. Doug Lamborn (CO) Rep. Jeff Landry (LA) Rep. Kenny Marchant (TX)
Rep. Jeff Miller (FL) Rep. Randy Neugebauer (TX) Rep. Bill Posey (FL)
Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (CA) Rep. Dennis Ross (FL) Rep. Ed Royce (CA)
Rep. Michael Turner (OH) Rep. Tim Walberg (MI)

Wednesday’s roll call vote is here and today’s is here. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) did not vote Wednesday night but voted for the CR today. Six of the flippers are members of the official Tea Party caucus.

Not only did these Republicans switch their vote due to the addition of a single $100 million spending cut to a $1 trillion bill, but the cut is to a program that, until recently, Republicans supported. The motivation for including the cut is that it’s from the program that funded the tech company Solyndra, the right’s favorite punching bag at the moment.

The Senate has already approved a continuing resolution that funds disaster aid at a higher level than the House and doesn’t cut vehicle manufacturing. But instead of attempting to forge a compromise, Boehner and the House GOP decided to buy 23 votes via a single spending cut.

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Health

Perry Lies: Says Dying Cancer Patient Convinced Him On HPV Vaccine, But He Didn’t Meet Her Until After Issuing Mandate

By Scott Keyes posted from ThinkProgress Health on Sep 23, 2011 at 9:47 am

In last night’s Republican presidential debate, Gov. Rick Perry (R) faced harsh criticism over his decision to mandate that all Texas girls receive the HPV vaccine. Not only were conservatives uncomfortable with the idea of a health care mandate, but the fact that the vaccine’s drugmaker, Merck, was a major donor to Perry and had hired the governor’s former chief of staff as a lobbyist drew accusations of cronyism.

After his attempts to deflect the issue in earlier debates proved unsuccessful, Perry took a different tack this time. “I got lobbied on this issue,” Perry said solemnly. “I got lobbied by a 31-year-old young lady who had stage 4 cervical cancer. I spent a lot of time with her. She came by my office talked to me about in program.” Watch it:

However, contra to Perry’s insinuation that his relationship with Heather Burcham led him to require the HPV vaccine for all Texas girls, ABC News’ Arlette Saenz pointed out that he hadn’t befriended the woman until after issuing the mandate:

Months after the Texas state legislature revoked the executive decision, Perry expressed in very personal terms the potential the HPV vaccine holds for preventing cervical cancer in young women. Perry spoke of the missed opportunity of the Texas government at a memorial service for Heather Burcham, a 31-year-old woman who died from cervical cancer after contracting HPV.

Perry and Burcham, a teacher from Houston, Texas, struck up an unusual friendship in the months after he issued his executive order. While the Texas legislature was working to revoke the mandate, Burcham traveled to Austin to testify about her personal experience with cervical cancer and how the HPV vaccine might help spare other young women from suffering a fate similar to her own.

Perry’s first explanation to conservatives was that it couldn’t have been cronyism because Merck’s $5,000 donation (which was actually $30,000) wasn’t sufficiently large for him to “be bought.” Last night’s account was that a dying cancer patient prompted his actions, yet it’s now revealed that their friendship didn’t begin until after the mandate order. What will Perry’s new explanation be in the next Republican debate on Oct. 11?

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