Democratic Senators holding the lead in Ohio & Florida

Republicans were hoping to be a lot closer in both states though for now, they have their work cut out for them. The Virginia battle is much harder to call and may remain that way until election day. NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll:

In Virginia, Kaine and Allen are deadlocked at 46 percent apiece with likely voters.

In Ohio, incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown leads Republican State Treasurer Josh Mandel 49 percent to 42 percent.

And in Florida, two-term Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, leads GOP Rep. Connie Mack 51 percent to 37 percent. Twelve percent of Florida voters said they were undecided about the race.

Read the rest of this post...

Energy Conservation no longer on GOP platform

Why would conserving energy be dropped? Shouldn't that be a conservative principle? Once again, anything that the Democrats support has to be shut down by the Republicans. Just because. Bloomberg:

The Republican Party platform for 2012 contains no mention of energy efficiency, leading some observers to conclude that the issue of energy conservation--long considered bipartisan—is becoming increasingly politicized.

The omission is “a little bit surprising” given support from previous Republican platforms and from Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney himself during his time as governor of Massachusetts, said Andrew Goldberg, chief lobbyist for the American Institute of Architects, a group that supports energy-efficient buildings.

Conserving energy is good all around, including good for the wallets of average Americans. Why or how it has become politicized by the GOP is hard to answer. Read the rest of this post...

Official government news agency in China calls out Romney

Hysterical. There's not much else to say when China's own state news agency calls out Romney like this.

While addressing a rally in the U.S. state of Virginia on Thursday, Romney, just as what he has done along his campaign trail, opened fire on China, claiming that it was Beijing's undervalued RMB currency that forced U.S. manufacturers out of job.

What is more sensational is that this millionaire GOP candidate has vowed to declare China a currency manipulator on the first day of his presidency if elected.

Yet it is rather ironic that a considerable portion of this China-battering politician's wealth was actually obtained by doing business with Chinese companies before he entered politics.

Ouch. Read the rest of this post...

Obama leading in new swing state polls

There's a long way to go until election day but President Obama is pulling ahead in a few key states.

President Obama has opened clear leads over Mitt Romney in three critical battlegrounds of the November election, according to new polls by NBC News, The Wall Street Journal, and Marist College.

In Florida, the largest swing state with 29 electoral votes, Mr. Obama leads by Romney among likely voters by 49 percent to 44 percent.

In Virginia, with 13 electoral votes, Mr. Obama leads by the same 49 percent to 44 percent margin.

And in Ohio, with 18 electoral votes, the Democratic incumbent leads his Republican challenger by 50 percent to 43 percent.

Read the rest of this post...

Five liberal pundits repeat RW anti-teacher talking points

What's happening to education in this country is one of the biggest under-the-radar stories of the new century. It gets some attention, then it doesn't, and still the movement to totally transform public schools marches on.

I'd like to make several points here. The first is this — that many so-called "liberals" are on board with the corrupt "education reform" movement. You'd think they know'd better, but they seem to not.

(Wonder why? Me too. See the Takeaways below for some thoughts on that.)

Here's from Alternet, a great find by Sarah Jaffe (my emphasis and reparagraphing):

5 Liberal Pundits Repeating Right-Wing Teacher-Bashing Talking Points
Chicago's teacher strike is shaping up to be one of the most important labor actions in a generation. So why are people who consider themselves progressives siding with the bosses?

Chicago's teacher strike may turn out to be the most important one in a generation, as teachers stand up to a corporate-backed education reform regime that stresses testing and firing teachers as a form of “accountability” while continuing to refuse to invest real money in making educational opportunities equal for all students.

The so-called education reform movement wants high-stakes tests that students take yearly to be used to evaluate teachers and weed out the "bad" ones, and pushes money into charter schools that are privately owned and don't have union teachers.

Under the guise of "accountability" for teachers and schools, reformers put taxpayer dollars into the hands of private investors despite the charter schools' negligible results when it comes to actually improving education.

The movement has been particularly pernicious because it's crept inside the heart of the Democratic party and taken hold of politicians and commentators who profess to be on the side of working people, but end up bashing teachers' unions.

These are the "liberals" who've been fighting the teacher's strike. The article itself details their sins far more fully that what's below.

1. Nicholas Kristof. The New York Times' columnist is celebrated for his trips into Global South countries to report heartwrenching stories of women; he's lauded as an activist and a human rights advocate. But when it comes to women and workers fighting for their rights closer to home, he seems to have a big blind spot. ...

Kristof [argues] for “bottom-third” teachers not to have job protections, then [suggests] that we should listen to teachers for ideas on how to weed out that bottom third. ...

2. Joe Nocera. Nocera, also at the Times, tries to soften his critique of the teachers' strike by throwing them a bone midway through his column. ... But where you got your next sentence is completely unclear. “On the other hand, the status quo, which is what the Chicago teachers want, is clearly unacceptable.” ...

3. Dylan Matthews. Over at Wonkblog, founded and headed by liberal darling Ezra Klein, Dylan Matthews went two for two, first arguing that teachers' strikes hurt student achievement (measured, of course, by those magical test scores) and then churning out a charming little piece arguing over teachers' wages. ...

4. Matt Yglesias. Yglesias' contribution, at Slate, to the teachers' union-busting is one of the most unintentionally ironic things I've ever seen. Just a year and a couple of months out from the biggest labor uprising in decades over the rights of public employees, Yglesias is actually arguing that teachers' unions suck because they are public employees. ...

5. Jacob Weisberg. It might be easier to understand Yglesias' position on striking teachers when you look at his boss's tweets on the subject. Weisberg, editor-in-chief at Slate, is the most gleeful yet:

Rooting for Rahm to make the Chicago Teachers' Union sorry for this inexcusable strike. Students in class fewest hours of any big city.

It's disconcerting to see such clear desire for punishment of working people (by a multimillionaire politician whose best friends are on Wall Street no less). ...

Meet the perps, supposedly on our side.

Takeaways:

■ First, it's about the Benjamins (the money); in particular, the Benjamins collected as tax support for public education. School "reformers" want that money spent only on their kids. "Accountability" is just the cover story.

■ Second, left-support of breaking the CTU strike plays to what Chris Hayes calls "the meritocracy" and its interests. I call this the "liberal" version of the ultimately-race-based class war.

Said differently, high-dollar Republican voters don't want their kids in public schools with non-biblicals — so they home-school and create "Christian" academies.

High-dollar Democratic voters don't want their kids sullied and held back by inner-city types (of all types), so they create charter schools and places like the Chicago Lab School, where Rahm Emanuel sends his own kids.

Both groups want public school money diverted to their separatist school systems. Thus, both want "reform."

■ Third, ask yourself, where does that leave the public schools? More particularly, what then is their mission?

In a phrase, public schools become wage slave prep for those soon-to-be-nonexistent factory jobs.

Here's lawyer and Chicago school parent Matt Farmer making the case against this dual educational track. In Chicago, the perps are Penny Pritzker and Rahm Emanuel, both with ties to ... Barack Obama (h/t Sam Seder's Majority Report for the clip):



Your (unstolen) tax dollars at work. This is what Our Betters in Blue have in mind for you and your kids. (Our Betters in Red add those ugly identity issues to the mix, like vagina-control and religious orthodoxy.)

■ For a nice factual analysis, read this by our own Matt Browner Hamlin. Nails it. Keep his points in mind when listening to the so-called liberals who what to bust this strike.

■ Finally, do you wonder why Chicago's other unions haven't shut down the town in support? Could it be the twin devils of the modern union movement: (1) the testosterone divide and (2) co-option by Democratic leadership?

Worth considering. Either way, I agree with Ms. Jaffe's initial assessment. This is "one of the most important labor actions in a generation."

Which way will it go? Will you help if you can?

GP

To follow or send links: @Gaius_Publius
  Read the rest of this post...

Mitt Romney apologizes to terrorists who killed US ambassador

The fair way to interpret what Romney told Stephanopoulos today is to use Romney's own language.

Mitt Romney condemned the anti-Muslim film that incited the deadly attacks in Libya and Egypt, and used language that is awfully similar to the US embassy statement that Romney, Fox News, and a slew of Republicans have been calling "an apology."

Here's Romney today:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: How about the film that seems to have sparked all this, the Innocence of Muslims film? Secretary Clinton today said she thought it was disgusting. How would you describe it?

MITT ROMNEY: Well, I haven’t seen the film. I don’t intend to see it. I you know, I think it’s dispiriting sometimes to see some of the awful things people say. And the idea of using something that some people consider sacred and then parading that out a negative way is simply inappropriate and wrong. And I wish people wouldn’t do it. Of course, we have a First Amendment. And under the First Amendment, people are allowed to do what they feel they want to do. They have the right to do that, but it’s not right to do things that are of the nature of what was done by, apparently this film.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: We’ve seen General Martin Dempsey call Pastor Jones to say, “Please don’t promote this film.” You think that’s a good idea?

MITT ROMNEY: I think the whole film is a terrible idea. I think him making it, promoting it showing it is disrespectful to people of other faiths. I don’t think that should happen. I think people should have the common courtesy and judgment– the good judgment– not to be– not to offend other peoples’ faiths. It’s a very bad thing, I think, this guy’s doing.

Now here's the US Embassy statement that Romney, and Fox and the GOP, called apologizing to terrorists:

“The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims — as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.”
— Embassy statement, issued 6 a.m. EST, some six hours before the attack.

So let's compare:

US embassy: "The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims... We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others."

Romney:  "I think people should have the common courtesy and judgment– the good judgment– not to be– not to offend other peoples’ faiths."

Romney just said exactly the same thing that the embassy did, but Romney went one more step.  He said that you should abuse the First Amendment.  Remember, Republicans were upset that the embassy didn't DEFEND the First Amendment.  Romney, went one step further and accused the filmmaker of abusing it.  So there are moral limits on the First Amendment, Romney says.  So is Romney saying the violence was justified?  Well, he's certainly suggesting that the filmmaker doesn't have clean hands here.

This is beyond belief.  If anything, Romney's statement is "worse" than the US embassy statement, because Romney made clear that there are moral limits to the First Amendment.

Under Romney's definition, and Fox's and GOP Chair Reince Priebus, Mitt Romney just apologized to the folks who killed our ambassador.

Just wait a few hours, Romney is going to be backtracking on this entire thing. Read the rest of this post...

Video: The modern Republicans are a "Frankenstein political party"

I want to post this, not just because it calls AmericaBlog and the many other "citizen journalists" the modern "thought leaders" for analysis of political issues, but because the speaker, Mike Papantonio, is right about what's happened to the Republican Party.

Here he is on the Ed Schultz Show talking about what these Frankenstein Republicans have become. It's the intro to the interview that Gaius previewed here.



Gaius's posts on this subject are here:

GOP is a party of WASPs led by 70-year-old impotent white guys — This link takes you midway through, to the Koch part of the post.

Norquist on Romney: "Pick a Republican with enough working digits" to sign the Ryan budget — Norquist was a featured speaker at AFP's "Defending the American Dream Summit" in 2011, and unlike David Frum or Steve Schmidt, is fully on the AFP bandwagon.

But Papantonio says all that needs to be said. Do pay attention to what he says about Reagan. He was recruited by billionaires as a front man to resist the student rebellion in California. It worked.

Gaius was interviewed after that segment. We'll bring you that clip if it is posted. Read the rest of this post...

Birther Romney adviser in Kansas may remove Obama from ballot in state

The fact that a Romney adviser is considering removing President Obama from the ballot in Kansas should give everyone pause.  Not simply because the reason for removing the President is the racist "birther" theory that Mitt Romney himself gave a push two just a few weeks ago.  But more importantly, the Republicans, and via his adviser, Mitt Romney, are once again considering whether they can steal an election.

What's amazing is that the Republicans talk a good talk about stealing elections, but when it comes down to it, they always seem to be the only ones making a serious effort at doing just that.  It's called a "tell" in poker, and we've talked about it a number of times here on AMERICAblog.  Republicans accuse Democrats of doing what Republicans are already doing.

It's not just a tell, it's also a way to inoculate themselves.  If you're going to attempt to steal an election, what better way to cover yourself than accuse the guy you're stealing it from of being a thief, first.

Of course, this issue is about more than stealing elections.  It's about the rank racism now permeates the upper levels of the GOP.  Even RNC chair Reince Priebus was called out two weeks ago for pushing racist theories about the President.  Not that they can't also be subtle in their extremism.

The extremism, sadly, goes to the highest reaches of the Republican party.  These are not nice people. They lie about the little things, they lie about the big things, and they can't even get their story right when they try to tell the truth about benign facts like the capital of Libya.  And if you call them out on it, they simply amplify the lie with more voices and an even more outrageous story in the hopes of distracting you from their other lies, and the truth.

When will sane Republicans take back their party from the nutjobs running it at the RNC, in the Congress and in the Romney campaign. Read the rest of this post...

Bigoted filmmaker who triggered deaths has shady past

Besides being a hateful bigot, the filmmaker behind the new movie that has triggered riots and the death of a US ambassador is no stranger to trouble. He may have also violated the terms of his probation and is under investigation following the outbreak of violence. NBC News:

A 55-year-old Egypt-born Coptic Christian man living in the Los Angeles area was a key figure behind the anti-Islam film "Innocence of Muslims," blamed for sparking riots and protests in the Middle East, a federal law enforcement official told NBC News Thursday.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, who is on probation after being convicted of financial crimes, also was twice sentenced to jail on drug charges in the late 1990s, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said.

Court records show that Nakoula was convicted on federal fraud charges in Los Angeles in 2010. Among the conditions of his probation, Nakoula was barred from using "any online service at any location" without the prior approval of his probation officer, according to a copy of court records in the case.

Read the rest of this post...

More conservative lies about Libya/Egypt - Romney must be seriously in trouble

Judging by the level of vitriol from every propaganda organ, and politician, in the Republican party today, Mitt Romney must be losing the election badly.

They're in full panic mode.  Coming out with a lie a minute.   I wrote about one earlier tonight.  And another this morning.  But this one is particularly egregious.

According to a British tabloid - and this has already been debunked - everyone knew that the attacks in Libya and Egypt were going to happen and no one did a thing!

Uh right.  So now the "9/11 truthers" are after Obama too.

In fact, according to a spokesman for the head of the entire US intelligence establishment, there wasn't zip.

Shawn Turner, spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, emailed: “This is absolutely wrong. We are not aware of any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent.”

But GOP propagandist Matt Drudge was happy to push the story, as will GOP partisan tomorrow.

Anything to change the story from how Mitt Romney pulled and Al Haig and apparently thought he was the head of the US government the other day in the middle of a national security crisis. Romney was roundly rebuked for his arrogance, and the danger he posed to US foreign policy by involving himself in an ongoing crisis. But in GOP-land, that means you find another even bigger lie in order to take attention off of the one you got caught saying earlier.

They are seriously panicking over in Romney-land.

How long until the Republicans bring up Obama's birth certificate again? Read the rest of this post...