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Romney: I Won't Release Tax Returns Soon 'Because I Want To Beat Obama'

Limbaugh On Gingrich Cheating On His Ex-Wife: ‘Newt’s A Victim’

Palin Says Interview With Ex-Wife Will Help Gingrich ‘Soar’

Politics

Mitt Romney: I Have ‘Lived In The Real Streets Of America’

By Tanya Somanader on Jan 19, 2012 at 9:30 pm

During the CNN debate in South Carolina tonight, Mitt Romney struggled to draw a clear distinction between himself and his chief challenger Newt Gingrich. Chiding Gingrich for spending decades in Washington as a political “insider,” Romney insisted that he’s the “perfect example of why we need to send to Washington someone who has not lived in Washington, but someone who has lived in the real streets of America.” Watch it:

It’s unclear whether those “real streets” are the ones by Romney’s beach house in California, his mansion in New Hampshire, or his multi-million dollar “colonial” in Massachusetts. Of course, Romney has attempted to paint himself as an everyday, middle-class guy before. But as a Wall Street millionaire who keeps money in offshore accounts and is comfortable making $10,000 bets, it’s seems like most streets Romney spends time on are the ones paved in gold.

Politics

Romney Gets Booed For Hedging On His Tax Returns

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Jan 19, 2012 at 9:19 pm

During tonight’s GOP debate in South Carolina, Republican front-runner Mitt Rommey said he will “probably” release his tax returns for multiple years, but received boos from the audience when he refused to commit to releasing as many years of returns as his father did when he ran for president.

Romney has been cagey on his tax returns, at first refusing to commit to releasing them before finally agreeing this week to release his returns from 2011 in April. But tonight, he said for the first time that he would release returns “probably for other years” as well. When moderator John King asked Romney if he would follow his father’s lead and release 12 years of returns, Romney replied “maybe,” and earned audible condemnation from the crowd. Watch it:

Romney explained that he wouldn’t release his tax returns before he won the nomination “because I want to beat Obama” and he expects Democrats to use his tax returns against him. Newt Gingrich replied by noting that Democrats would likely do that no matter when he released his returns.

Economy

Report: The Recovery Act Saved Thousands Of Americans From Homelessness

By Tanya Somanader posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Jan 19, 2012 at 8:00 pm

The Great Recession has steadily eaten away at the economic security of many Americans. Facing stagnant wages, growing unemployment, and rising health care costs, nearly 50 percent of Americans are slipping from the shrinking middle-class into low-income status or even poverty. In 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in order to bolster job creation and fend off an even more severe downturn. The ARRA passed without a single House Republican vote, with House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) calling it a “woefully inadequate” response.

However, a new report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness reveals that the Recovery Act was vital in keeping Americans off the street. An estimated $1.5 billion of Recovery Act funds were directed towards “rental assistance and programs steering recently evicted people toward new housing.” According to Alliance President Nan Roman, those funds were instrumental in keeping the number of homeless down “even as the U.S. economy saw its worst downturn since the 1930s”:

The Homelessness Research Institute, the educational arm of Roman’s organization, put the number of Americans living on the streets or in shelters at just over 636,000 in 2011. That’s down about 6,000 from the group’s 2009 estimate. The figure is based on reports and street counts from state and local agencies that receive federal housing funds.

Roman said the stimulus money, coupled with pre-recession federal programs aimed at veterans and the chronically ill, have kept that figure down even as the U.S. economy saw its worst downturn since the 1930s. But that money is drying up now that the Obama administration, Congress and the states are grappling with budget issues fueled by the recession.

In fact, the Homelessness Prevention Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP) program alone, which was directly funded by the Recovery Act, helped 94 percent of the program’s participants who were homeless or a step away from homelessness find permanent housing. The Recovery Act also kept 6 million Americans out of poverty and created at least 3.3 million jobs.

But ARRA funds are running out and, as the report notes, the number of Americans facing the prospect of homelessness is continuing to rise. More than 4 million homes were foreclosed upon since 2007 and the New York Federal Reserve estimates that 3.6 million more will be lost to foreclosure in the next two years. If Republicans continue to slash these housing programs, thousands of vulnerable Americans will face the exact situation the Recovery Act helped successfully prevent.

Security

Did The Republican Party Formally Abandon The Two-State Solution?

By Ali Gharib posted from ThinkProgress Security on Jan 19, 2012 at 7:15 pm

RNC resolution sponsor Cindy Costa with Mitt Romney at a 2008 fund-rasier (CNN)

The Republican National Committee (RNC), at their winter meeting in New Orleans, unanimously adopted a resolution that appears to support a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Journalist Mitchell Plitnik broke the story on his blog that the RNC passed the resolution, authored by a supporter of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s presidential bid. The full text can be found at Plitnik’s post, but the relevant section reads thusly:

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the members of this body support Israel in their natural and God-given right of self-governance and self-defense upon their own lands, recognizing that Israel is neither an attacking force nor an occupier of the lands of others; and that peace can be afforded the region only through a united Israel governed under one law for all people.

The RNC had not promoted the resolution in the media, so Plitnik wrote to confirm its authenticity. RNC National Committeewoman from South Carolina Cindy Costa sponsored the resolution, so Plitnick wrote to her to confirm the authenticity of the resolution. Here’s the exchange between Costa — who just yesterday endorsed Romney — and Plitnik, who published the e-mails on his blog:

Me: Dear Ms. Costa,
[...] I just wanted to check with you that this was in fact an officially adopted RNC resolution. Can you please let me know? Thanks.

Costa: Yes it was adopted unanimously by the RNC last Friday at our winter meeting in New Orleans. Cindy

As Plitnik notes, the resolution endorses “one law for all people.” “So,” Plitnik writes, “there is no interpretation possible other than that the RNC is also advocating complete Israeli annexation of the West Bank, including granting citizenship to the Palestinians living there.”

The RNC resolution “confirms the decades long bipartisan consensus on a two-state solution is shattered,” J Street tweeted today.

A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been the official U.S. policy of the Clinton, W. Bush and Obama administrations. The Center for American Progress has more on the importance of the two-state solution here.

Health

Report Finds No Link Between Restrictive Abortion Laws And Lower Abortion Rates

By Amanda Peterson Beadle posted from ThinkProgress Health on Jan 19, 2012 at 6:30 pm

Highly restrictive abortion laws do not lead to lower abortion rates, according to a new report from the Guttmacher Institute. Globally, nations that have more restrictive abortion laws, like in Latin American and Africa, also see a higher number of unsafe abortions and deaths because of the unsafe procedures.

The chart below compares regional abortion rates to abortion policies and shows that women living under Western Europe’s liberal laws undergo fewer abortions than those in more restrictive countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia:

Additionally, while the worldwide abortion rate has dropped between 1995 and 2003, it stalled between 2003 and 2008. And nearly half of all abortions are unsafe. And the proportion of abortions that take place in the developing world, where 56 percent of unsafe abortions take place, increased between 1995 and 2008, from 78 percent to 86 percent because of the population growth in these countries.

Gilda Sedgh, a senior research associate that the Guttmacher Institute, said the increase was “cause for concern.” “The long-term decline in global abortion rates has stalled, at the same time that abortions are becoming concentrated in developing countries,” Sedgh said in a statement. “This plateau coincides with a slowdown in contraceptive uptake. Without greater investment in quality family planning services, we can expect the plateau to persist.” An estimated 47,000 women die from unsafe abortions each year, making up 13 percent of maternal deaths.

Despite these findings, the GOP presidential candidates pledged to restrict women’s access to both abortions and contraception during a pro-life presidential forum last night. Frontrunner Mitt Romney, who was not at the forum, has flirted with supporting a “personhood amendment” and has promised to adopt policies that restrict the availability of abortion coverage

Justice

Two-Thirds Of Small Business Owners Say Citizens United Ruling Hurts Them

By Marie Diamond posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Jan 19, 2012 at 5:45 pm

Tomorrow is the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s historic decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which opened the door for unlimited corporate spending to influence the outcome of elections.

On the eve of the anniversary, a new survey reveals that small business owners overwhelmingly say the ruling hurts their business:

Two-thirds of American small business leaders believe the controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United v. FEC case handed down two years ago on January 21 hurts small companies.

In fact, only nine percent of small business leaders thought the ruling positive, according to an independent national survey of 500 small business leaders released today by the American Sustainable Business Council, Main Street Alliance and Small Business Majority.

The survey also found that 88 percent of small business owners hold a negative view of the role money plays in politics, with 68 percent viewing it very negatively. [...]

“As we approach the two-year anniversary of the Citizens United case, the verdict is loud and clear: the ruling hurts the small businesses that we need to be strong for economic recovery,” said David Levine, executive director of the American Sustainable Business Council. “Business owners are frustrated because they have to compete with big business bank accounts to be heard, and they are fighting back.”

Small business has been hailed by legislators of both parties as the undisputed engine of economic growth. 51 percent of Americans are employed by small business, and small businesses generate 70 percent of new private sector jobs. But they increasingly find their needs ignored by lawmakers who favor corporate contributors with deeper pockets.

“America’s entrepreneurs feel corporations have an outsized role and say in politics—to the detriment of the small business community,” said John Arensmeyer, founder and CEO of Small Business Majority. “They’re looking for a level playing field, and as the country’s primary job creators, they should have it.”

Politics

Palin Says Interview With Ex-Wife Will Help Gingrich ‘Soar’

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Jan 19, 2012 at 5:00 pm

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin defended Newt Gingrich ahead of the airing of a shocking interview tonight with his ex-wife, whom Gingrich cheated on, saying the news will only help the former Speaker’s chances of winning the South Carolina GOP primary Saturday. Palin and her husband have endorsed Gingrich.

Speaking on Sean Hannity’s radio show this afternoon, Palin played her typical game of conflating the “dumbarses” in the “lamestream media” and the political left, assuming that ABC News is airing the embarrassing interview in an attempt to derail Gingrich’s campaign. This will backfire, she argued, because voters don’t care about the fact that fact that Gingrich carried on an affair for six years while married, or that he asked his wife for an open marriage so he could continue the affair, or that he subsequently left his wife after she was diagnosed with a terminal disease:

PALIN: I call them dumbarses. They, thinking that by trotting out this old Gingrich divorce interview that’s old news — and it does feature a disgruntled ex, claiming that it would destroy his campaign — all it does, Sean, is incentive conservatives and independents who are so sick of the politics of personal destruction, because it’s played so selectively by media, that their target, in this case Newt, he’s now going to soar even more. Because we know the game now, and we just won’t put up with it.

So, good call media! Way to go to covertly hype this, even Gingrich opponents, for being so brilliant they sure are dumb.

Listen here:

In fact, the interview is not “old” but Marianne Gingrich’s first TV interview since her divorce from the former Speaker in 1999, and it does make news about how Gingrich — who often defends “traditional” marriage on the campaign trail — treated his wife of 18 years.

But Palin, who calls herself a feminist, completely ignores the substance of Gingrich’s actions to portray him as a victim of just another tawdry lamestream media smear. “I have a degree” in journalism, she reminded Hannity.

Related Posts

NEWS FLASH

National Review Calls It ‘Critical That Romney Release His Tax Records Now’ | Joining the band of conservatives asking Mitt Romney to release his tax returns, the editorial board of the National Review issued an immediate demand today. Doing so is “critical,” the conservative magazine writes, so voters can “take a look and decide if we’ve got a flawed candidate” now, rather than in September. The editorial asks Romney to release his 2010 returns if the current year is not available. So far, Romney has indicated he will “probably” release his returns in April.

Economy

Fifty Years Ago This Week, JFK Signed Order Allowing Federal Workers To Collectively Bargain For First Time

By Guest Blogger posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Jan 19, 2012 at 3:50 pm

Last year was a tough one for public sector workers. Lawmakers in Wisconsin passed a controversial bill stripping collective bargaining rights from most state employees. Ohio approved similar legislation (although Ohio voters soundly rejected it in a referendum). Other officeholders, like Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, claimed that government workers are better paid than private-sector employees, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Meanwhile, 600,000 government workers have lost their jobs since the beginning of the recession.

But things have not always been this way. In fact, 50 years ago this week, President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10988, which allowed most federal workers to bargain collectively for the first time. As Prof. Joseph McCartin writes in the Los Angeles Times, the effects of Kennedy’s order were much more extensive than that, and, at the time, more popular:

At the time Kennedy acted, very few workers at any level of government had won the right to bargain collectively with their employers. Federal action helped inspire many states and localities to follow suit, allowing their own workers to organize. This triggered a huge wave of unionization in the public sector that saw firefighters, teachers, sanitation workers, social workers and many others form unions in the 1960s and ’70s.

For 20 years after Kennedy’s order, public sector union rights were not controversial. To the contrary, they enjoyed bipartisan support — even from conservatism’s leading light, Ronald Reagan. Reagan, as governor of California, presided over the extension of collective bargaining rights to state and local workers in 1968.

So how have we ended up here, with unions a favorite target of conservatives? McCartin argues that much of the decline in public support for bargaining came from Reagan breaking the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization strike in 1981. This event was cited by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) when he went on his union-busting rampage.

Blaming public sector workers for government’s fiscal woes may be popular, but the facts don’t support that thesis. As McCartin notes, North Carolina (a state without collective bargaining) is projected to have a 10 percent budget deficit for the 2013 fiscal year, compared to 3.5 percent for New York (more densely unionized than any other). In the case of the federal deficit, studies show that the lion’s share of the increase has come from Bush-era policies like the wars and tax cuts, as well as the effects of the recession. Pay for federal workers does not come close to registering.

One topic that rarely gets discussed is how much unions have actually done to benefit everyone — such as giving us the weekend and ending child labor. Nor do we hear much about the correlation between union membership rates and middle-class incomes, nor how a drop in union membership has exacerbated income inequality in the U.S.

– Zachary Bernstein

Politics

Romney Earns Most Endorsements From Former CEOs With $100 Million-Plus Golden Parachutes

By Josh Israel on Jan 19, 2012 at 3:10 pm

Meg Whitman and Mitt Romney

Meg Whitman and Mitt Romney (Associated Press)

Yesterday, Mother Jones identified 21 former CEOs who received more than $100 million in severance packages when they left their posts.

A ThinkProgress analysis of federal campaign finance records reveals that of the 21-person list, only four have been disclosed as donors to 2012 presidential candidates.

Mitt Romney garnered the most endorsements. At least three of those donors have given the legal maximum — $2,500 — to the Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign. They were former CVS Caremark Corporation CEO Thomas M. Ryan, former U.S. Bancorp CEO Jerry A. Grundhofer, and former eBay CEO (and unsuccessful 2010 California gubernatorial candidate) Margaret C. “Meg” Whitman.

The only other recipient was former candidate Tim Pawlenty. Ex-Target Corporation CEO Robert J. Ulrich gave $2,500 to Pawlenty’s presidential campaign committee. Pawlenty dropped out of the race and endorsed Romney last September.

Additionally, former General Electric CEO John F. “Jack” Welch Jr. has publicly backed Romney, though he has not yet been disclosed as a Romney donor.

To date, Barack Obama 2012 re-election campaign filings have not listed any of these former CEOs as donors.

Media

Limbaugh On Gingrich Cheating On His Ex-Wife: ‘Newt’s A Victim’

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Jan 19, 2012 at 2:18 pm

ABC News is planning to air a explosive interview tonight with Newt Gingrich’s ex-wife — her first since 1999 — in which she reveals that the former Speaker asked her for an open marriage so he continue to see his current wife, Callista. Not surprisingly, some conservatives and Gingrich himself have attacked ABC for airing the “tawdry and inappropriate” interview, but shock jock Rush Limbaugh took things to another level on his show today by outright defending Gingrich on the matter.

Limabugh, who could fairly be described as a proud chauvinist, said, “I don’t understand why the media’s pretending to be so upset” about Gingrich’s behavior with his ex, Marianne. Limbaugh went on to read a “great note” from a “good friend of mine,” which posits that Newt and not Marianne — whom Gingirch left shortly after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis — is the real “victim” here. Moreover, the fact that Gingrich asked for “permission” to cheat on his wife is “a mark of character, in my book,” Limbaugh continued:

LIMBAUGH: I got a great note from a friend of mine. “So Newt wanted an open marriage. BFD. At least he asked his wife for permission instead of cheating on her. That’s a mark of character, in my book. Newt’s a victim. We all are. Ours is the horniest generation.” [...] That’s from a good friend of mine, “Newt’s slogan ought to, ‘Hell, yes, I wanted it.’” (laughing) I’m sharing with you how some people are reacting to this.

It’s worth noting that Gingrich had been having an affair for several years before he asked “permission” to cheat on his wife.

Rush Limbaugh married his fourth wife in 2010.

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Politics

Portland, Maine City Council Votes To End ‘Corporate Personhood’

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Jan 19, 2012 at 1:55 pm

After more than four hours of testimony last night, the city council of Portland, Maine voted 6-2 to call on the state’s congressional delegation to support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing “corporate personhood.” Of course, Mitt Romney made headlines and raised eyebrows this summer when he told a town hall attendee that “corporations are people, my friends.”

The resolution was a response to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling. While advocates acknowledged the council’s vote has no legal authority, they said it was nonetheless important symbolism:

“I can’t think of a more important thing to talk about than democracy. It is being threatened,” said Eric Johnson, a small-business owner from Portland. “You need to help us be heard. There is no more important issue.”

Anna Trevorrow said, “It is absolutely the business of the City Council. The community has come together and asked you to make a statement.”

Mayor Michael Brennan, along with [Councilor David] Marshall and councilors Kevin Donoghue, John Anton, Jill Duson and Nicholas Mavodones, supported the resolution.

The measure’s sponsor said the Occupy Wall Street movement inspired him to submit the non-binding resolution. Maine’s two congressmen, Rep. Mike Michaud (D) and Chellie Pingree (D) have both been critical of the Citizens decision, as has Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME).

Los Angeles, New York City, and a handful of cities held similar votes last year.

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Alyssa

15 Women GQ Could Have Named To Its Powerful People In Washington List

By Alyssa Rosenberg posted from ThinkProgress Alyssa on Jan 19, 2012 at 1:22 pm

GQ’s 50 Most Powerful People in Washington list came out yesterday. And it turns out that there are just 11 women on the list, two of whom (Heather Podesta and Lissa Muscatine) appear in the rankings with their husbands; three of whom (Svetlana Legetic, Jayne Sandeman and Barbara Martin*) appear as a single item on the city’s social scene; and one of whom, Buffy Wicks, appears at the end of a long list of men who will play key roles in the 2012 elections. Just five of them, Hillary Clinton, Kathy Ruemmler, Nancy Hogan, Patty Murray, and Liz Cheney get to stand on their own. There are some deeply bizarre exclusions here, ignoring women who wield power in the administration, the media, and think tanks and academia. Here are 15 we think could — and should — have made the cut.

1. Valerie Jarrett. Or Nancy-Ann DeParle. Or Samantha Power. Three of President Obama’s closest advisors are women, who have guided his thinking on everything from Libya strategy to health care reform. If that doesn’t count as power, I’m not sure what does.

2. Nancy Pelosi. The former speaker of the House may have lost her fanciest job title getting President Obama’s health care bill passed, but all that means is that she did exactly what elected officials are supposed to do: value policy results over the outcome of the next election cycle. And having your party down doesn’t mean you’re out. Pelosi is still a force in the House, even in the minority.

3. Katharine Weymouth. The Washington Post may not be the paper it once was, but that hardly means it doesn’t matter. As the Post’s publisher, Weymouth runs the biggest paper in town. She’s important, especially as the Post competes with upstarts like Politico and builds new initiatives like Ezra Klein’s publication-within-a-publication, Wonkbook.

4. Jane Mayer. The New Yorker’s resident giant slayer isn’t afraid to take on anyone, from the Koch brothers, to Art Pope, to the architects of the worst of the war on terror. Another rising Washington reporter, Annie Lowrey, who is part of the New York Times’ economic team, could also be on this list.

5. Neera Tanden. No, it’s not just because she’s my boss. It’s inexplicable that GQ would pick Liz Cheney, who runs the strawman think tank Keep America Safe and contributes to Fox News while ignoring the woman who runs one of the most powerful think tanks in Washington, and who was a key adviser to Hillary Clinton to boot. There’s real power, and there’s the ability to fling rhetorical bombs. Any power list worth its salt should distinguish between the two.

6. Maureen Dowd. She may go waspish more than she goes sincere. But even if you think she’s light, there’s no question that Dowd can skewer her subjects, or define them, whether with uncomfortable nicknames or facts.

7. Kathleen Sebilius. Or Janet Napolitano. Or Michèle Flournoy. Or Mary Schapiro. President Obama has women overseeing everything from implementation of his health care law, to homeland security, to the country’s securities oversight, a critical issue in this economic crisis. And Flournoy could be Secretary of Defense some day, too.

8. Jessica P. Einhorn, Dean of Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. SAIS is a highly respected institution, and Einhorn is part of an important generation of women in foreign policy, and this summer, will wrap up 10 years of creating the next one.

9. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The senior woman on the Supreme Court has hung on through health issues to continue her life-long fight for women’s rights.

10. Chan Heng Chee. Washington isn’t just a town where American policy gets made. It’s also the home of a vibrant diplomatic community. The deputy dean of the diplomatic corps, Ambassador Chan is the leader of Washington’s women ambassadors, a fixture in the city’s social scene, and has a long-game perspective on the American relationship with Asia.

*Full disclosure: I worked with Jayne and Barbara while I was at Washingtonian, and like and respect them both. If you’re going to put the curators of the social scene on the list, they undeniably belong there.

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Politics

Former SC GOP Chair Calls On Romney To ‘Do The Right Thing’ And Release Tax Returns

By Travis Waldron and Scott Keyes on Jan 19, 2012 at 12:41 pm

CHARLESTON, South Carolina — Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) issued an ultimatum to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) yesterday, calling on Romney to release his tax returns before tonight’s debate so Americans could examine his personal finances like they have done with every presidential candidate in modern history.

Perry left the Republican presidential primary this morning and endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R), who plans to release his own tax returns today. At Perry’s announcement here, former South Carolina GOP Chair Katon Dawson, who had endorsed Perry, also called on Romney to “do the right thing” and make his tax returns public:

KEYES: He’s been pretty vocal about calling on Mitt Romney to release his tax returns.

DAWSON: All us politicians have to do it and eventually you do. It’s either pay me now or pay me later. That’s what’s going to happen.

KEYES: So you think Romney is going to have to release them?

DAWSON: You’re not going to run a race without having to do it. It’s going to be a continued question mark. I’m sure that Governor Romney will do the right thing.

Watch it:

Romney has said he may release his tax returns for last year once he files them in April.

The challenges aren’t just coming from Romney’s fellow Republican candidates. Romney also faced a challenge from a questioner at a South Carolina campaign event this morning. When asked why he hadn’t made his returns public, Romney replied, “Yeah, I will actually. You’ll hear more about that. April.”

Calls for the release of Romney’s tax returns have intensified over the last two days after Romney said his tax rate is “closer to 15 percent” — less than many middle class Americans — because most of his income comes from investments. Further questions have resulted regarding the fact that Romney still draws significant income from his former company, Bain Capital, which has often utilized offshore tax havens. ABC News also reported last night that Romney himself holds investments that utilize tax havens in the Cayman Islands.

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Justice

Before Perry Endorsed Newt, Newt Endorsed Perry’s Claim That Social Security Is Unconstitutional

By Ian Millhiser posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Jan 19, 2012 at 12:02 pm

Later today, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is expected to drop out of the Republican presidential race and endorse former Speaker Newt Gingrich. Not too long ago, however, Gingrich provided Perry with an endorsement of his own. In 2010, Perry published Fed Up!, a screed against the federal government which claims that Social Security, Medicare and, indeed, most of the progress of the 20th century is unconstitutional. Gingrich wrote the foreword to Perry’s book, and he wholeheartedly endorsed the book as a “handbook” that will arm “every American” with “the facts so that you can inform your family, friends and neighbors”:

Lest there be any doubt, Fed Up! is not the least bit ambiguous when it claims that America’s safety net violates the Constitution. The passage calling Social Security unconstitutional, for example, clearly and unequivocally states that Social Security exists “at the expense of respect for the Constitution” (note: the font in this clip is different because it is not available online and had to be captured on a Kindle reader):

Eighteen months after Gingrich lavished praise on Perry’s narrow vision for America, he will now share a stage with the radical governor and accept his endorsement. Given Fed Up!‘s complete clarity in laying out Perry’s view of the Constitution, however, it is difficult to believe that Gingrich did not know exactly what he was praising when he drafted such an effusive foreword to Perry’s book.

Now that Gingrich has emerged as one of the two leading contenders for the GOP presidential nomination, he has an obligation to explain whether he still believes, as Perry does, that Social Security is unconstitutional. Moreover, if Gingrich has since abandoned that belief, he has an equal obligation to explain what happened in the last eighteen months to change his mind on such an important constitutional question.

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Politics

GOP Hopefuls Refusing To Disclose Top Bundlers

By Josh Israel on Jan 19, 2012 at 11:20 am

Mitt Romney speaksWhile the Barack Obama presidential campaign continues to release quarterly lists of who is bundling contributions for his campaign, iWatch News reports that unlike the president and past candidates of both parties, GOP White House hopefuls are still not disclosing their campaign bundlers (supporters who collect “bundles” of campaign checks to deliver to their favored candidates):

In previous election cycles, GOP presidential candidates disclosed the names of their big-money “bundlers.” For some, it was a source of pride. President George W. Bush famously installed a tiered system for his biggest fundraisers, dubbing them “Pioneers,” and “Rangers.” In 2008, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., followed suit by posting the names of his bundlers on his campaign site.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the GOP frontrunner for this year’s nomination, released the names of his top 2008 donors, but not the amounts. He has yet to disclose even the names of his bundlers for the upcoming election.

The Campaign Legal Center’s Meredith McGehee says “There has been no strong commitment from the current GOP candidates to ‘one up’ Obama” on transparency issues,” partially because they do not perceive it as a salient issue for their constituency.

With numerous Super PACs refusing to release donor lists until after key primaries are over and the Citizens United ruling now permitting 501(c)(4) groups free to spend huge sums on independent expenditures without ever making their funders public, this lack of voluntary disclosure by the candidates is just one more way the 2012 election may be the least transparent of the post-Watergate era.

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LGBT

Despite Publicly Backing One Man-One Woman Marriage, Newt Asked Ex-Wife To ‘Share Me’ With Other Women

By Igor Volsky posted from ThinkProgress LGBT on Jan 19, 2012 at 10:34 am

Last year, in a written affidavit to the conservative FAMiLY Leader, thrice married Newt Gingrich pledged to “defend” traditional marriage between one man and one woman, writing, “As President, I will vigorously enforce the Defense of Marriage Act, which was enacted under my leadership as Speaker of the House, and ensure compliance with its provisions.” “I will support sending a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman to the states for ratification. I will also oppose any judicial, bureaucratic, or legislative effort to define marriage in any manner other than as between one man and one woman.”

But as the former House speaker gains steam as the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney in the lead up to Saturday’s South Carolina primary, his second wife, Marianne Gingrich is claiming that he did not live up to his public proclamations. In an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Brian Ross, Gingrich claims her ex-husband wanted an open marriage. “He came to her and said, ‘I want to stay married to you and still have an affair with Calista, his current wife,” said Ross. “According to Marianne, he said ‘You need to share me,’ and she said ‘I don’t want to share,’ and the marriage ended.” Listen:

The full interview will air on ABC after tonight’s GOP Presidential debate in South Carolina. Watch an excerpt:

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