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Monday, July 16, 2012

Palin thinks she's being punished by not being invited to speak at Romney's convention



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From the DailyBeast/Newsweek:
The Romney campaign prides itself on a slavish adherence to script, and Palin cannot be trusted to avoid the impulse to go rogue. That is why, perhaps, the Romney campaign has not asked Palin to speak at the convention nor contacted her about even attending the party’s marquee event in Tampa. Queries to the Romney camp about any possible Palin role at the convention meet with a stony silence. Palin does not seem surprised. “What can I say?” she responded in an email from Alaska, when asked by Newsweek about the convention, just before heading to Michigan to deliver an Obama-thumping speech. “I’m sure I’m not the only one accepting consequences for calling out both sides of the aisle for spending too much money, putting us on the road to bankruptcy, and engaging in crony capitalism.”
Check out the Palin quote at the end of this segment - it's prima facie evidence of why the Romney people wouldn't want Palin saying a word at their convention - she's just nasty, and goofy, and can't help it.
Palin’s objections to Romney are not so much about the man himself—she speaks of him respectfully, as he does about her—but about who, and what, he represents. Romney was the choice of the party’s elites, whom Palin has regarded with open disdain ever since her rough treatment during the 2008 campaign. They are some of the same people who anonymously disparaged Palin as a clueless bumpkin, and some of them are now helping to run Romney’s campaign. When unnamed Romney aides tell reporters that Romney will likely go with a “safe” choice for vice president because of the 2008 “disaster,” Palin notices.

She noticed, too, that when the Romney camp reined in Fehrnstrom after his “not a tax” goof, the man assigned to take on a more public role as Romney spokesman was Kevin Madden, best known in Palin’s sphere for his appearance on a CNN news panel just days before the 2008 election. The subject was the latest piece of leaked Palin gossip—her $150,000 “shopping spree” (for which Palin later reimbursed the Republican National Committee)—and the damage Palin was perceived to have done to the McCain campaign. “That’s an indication just how unseasoned Sarah Palin is as a national candidate,” Madden opined, before laughing about Palin’s lack of knowledge about issues and declaring that “people who have done this before” know enough to choose running mates “that are nationally vetted.”

Palin says that she doesn’t know Madden and will not comment about him personally. However, she adds: “I assume he didn’t do his homework and his disparaging remarks were due to him actually believing the BS reporting on my record and reputation that began the day I was tapped to run for VP. I’ll assume and hope he’s evolved since then, perhaps understanding now the leftist media’s agenda against candidates they oppose.”
If the media were "leftist," then they surely opposed John McCain (by definition, since he's a rightie). Yet there was no effort by the media to paint McCain as a dingbat who can't even speak English correctly. That was reserved for Palin, because it's true.

Sarah Palin played a HUGE role in bringing down John McCain's run at the presidency. We can only hope that Mitt Romney makes a similar mistake, even if it only means letting Palin speak at the convention. Give the woman as much rope as she wants, as far as we're concerned. It's been far too long since Tina Fey had a good laugh. Read the rest of this post...

What didn't McCain like in Romney's hidden tax returns?



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Mitt Romney isn't against showing his tax return to Republicans. He just has a problem showing his tax return to the rest of us.

Remember, Romney handed over 23 years of returns to the McCain campaign when he was being considered as a possible vice presidential choice in 2008.  McCain's took a look at Romney's returns and decided to choose Sarah Palin instead (that has to say something, Sarah Palin was better than Romney's returns). Was the choice of Palin merely McCain's bad judgement or did McCain's people see a real problem with what they found in Romney's returns?

I am not a 0.01%-er like Romney, but I have done 'due diligence' for corporate acquisitions. If my employer or client was buying a company that someone else had passed on, I would want to have all the information the last potential buyer had before they backed out. Mitt Romney needs to come clean on what's hiding in his tax returns. Read the rest of this post...

CNN: "It's time, Mitt" (and check out the amazing screen shot, below)



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This was actually just on CNN.
CNN's Erin Burnett calls Romney out for not releasing his tax returns.  And what a bizarre thing Romney said today - he doesn't need to release his returns because Teresa Heinz didn't release hers.  So apparently Mitt Romney is now running for First Lady.  Incredible.  Here's the entire clip.

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Paterno got $5.5m package from Penn State after scandal broke



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As Chris is on a much-needed annual vacation, I'm standing in for him on the Penn State outrage watch. Unbelievable (via Slate):
The same month Joe Paterno found himself embroiled in the investigation of longtime assistant coach Jerry Sandunsky, he began to renegotiate his contract, reports the New York Times. It was January 2011 but the contract wasn’t set to expire until the end of 2012. Still, by August Paterno and the university president reached a deal that the coach would get a $3 million bonus if he made 2011 his last season. At that time, both men were deeply involved in the Sandunsky scandal.

When the university board of trustees got wind of the deal in November, a brief debate on whether the payout should move forward was quickly shut down and in the end gave Paterno pretty much received everything he wanted as part of a $5.5-million package. The fact that Paterno’s wife managed to get the use of “specialized hydrotherapy massage equipment” as part of that package illustrates just how much power Paterno had over the university and its officials.
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Five Questions: Susan Smith, FL state activist and Progressive Caucus chair



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Another interview in our series, Five Questions, about American history, progressives, Democrats and the future. This is the next-to-last one.

Today's interviewee is Susan Smith, one of the most dynamic activists in the states I've ever met. Ms. Smith is a Florida resident and Florida-focused. She presently chair of the Progressive Caucus, a group within the state Democratic Party.

Her situation is unique. While Florida Democrats don't have a ton of state-wide leverage, they're united around progressive values to a degree unheard of in DC.

So the problems Ms. Smith faces are different — she has a united party at her side, and a determined state-wide enemy firmly centered in the Republican side of the aisle.

Listen as she helps us understand what's happening in Florida. (Tease: She doesn't think Rick Scott will be re-elected. She thinks Obama will.) Her fifth question, like Alex Lawson's, is about effeciveness. Nice answer.

Five questions, Susan Smith with Gaius Publius, recorded at Netroots Nation 2012. Enjoy:



"I think [progressives] should be very aggressive." Music — to these ears anyway.

The full list of "Five Questions" interviews includes the following. Links to names will take you to previously-published interviews.
These interviews will be concluded this week. Thanks for listening to them.

GP

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

Even Ann Romney's horse lives better than most Americans



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From Business Week:
"Rafalca, a 15-year-old German-born mare, lived under a vaulted, tile ceiling in a terrazzo-floored stable with brass fittings. She is one of the expertly trained and meticulously cared for horses representing the U.S. in dressage at the London 2012 Olympic Games. She is also the property of Ann Romney, wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt."
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Video: Mitt Romney's JOBS program



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We already have socialist health care in America, and it's the most expensive option



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America already guarantees free health care (kind of) to everyone. By law, hospitals have to give care to everyone who enters their emergency departments.  From Voices of San Diego:
It's called EMTALA, short for the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. President Ronald Reagan signed it into law in 1986. It's regularly cited as one of the greatest unfunded mandates our government ever passed.

EMTALA mandates not only that hospitals take care of anyone who enters their emergency departments — anyone — but that they not discharge those patients unless they're safe and stable.
To recoup their losses, hospitals simply pass the costs to insurers, and the rest of us, through higher rates. Though some of that sounds like more justification for simply gouging the rest of us.
"To recoup their losses," Roberts wrote, "hospitals pass on the cost to insurers through higher rates, and insurers in turn pass on the cost to policy holders in the form of higher premiums."
And hence to me, as I gulp at our employees' health care bill.

The numbers really are brutal. In 2011, Sharp Healthcare had to give $287 million in so-called "uncompensated care." For Scripps, the number was $268 million. For UCSD? $80 million.
Uncompensated care is a bit of a misnomer. The hospitals don't just absorb that loss and pout. Not all of it.

They have people to pay. Doctors aren't cheap and their supply is controlled.

No, they pass those costs onto people with insurance. It's an unfair burden for employers committed to providing health care to their employees. It certainly doesn't make it easier to hire people.
The entire health care system in our country is one big ponzi scheme. The hospitals charge more for the uninsured, and more importantly, for the insured.  Hospitals can charge ridiculous rates and insurance companies, after negotiating them down to a less-but-still-ridiculous rate pay them.

For my recent cataract surgery, the charge to use the hospital facilities for the 20 minute surgery was $14,000 per eye. That's ridiculous. The insurance company got them "down" to $5000 an eye - again, just for the facilities, the surgeon and anesthesiologist was extra, as was the laser they used to cut my eye (that alone was $1100 out of my pocket, that I had to pay BEFORE they'd do the surgery).  That's an absurd amount to pay for cataract surgery, but I needed to see this particular doctor as I'm at a much higher risk of a detachment and blindness as a result of the cataract surgery, because of my past retinal problems.  And that's what the hospital charges.

I saw a video the other day of Krugman on CNBC in which he notes that if we simply got the cost of American health care down to the prices they charge in France, we'd likely solve our deficit problem.

Our problem is the cost of health care is bankrupting all of us.  And our healthcare system is so corrupt, so ponzi, so inbred, that it reinforces the high prices.

So while I'm willing to accept that a portion of the higher prices comes from having to pay the medical bills of the uninsured, that's not the only reason hospitals and doctors and insurance companies charge so much.  They charge so much, as the old joke goes, because they can. Read the rest of this post...

Possibly the bitchiest TV ad about Romney, ever



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And from the Obama campaign, no less. This one is brilliant.

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Defining Mitt Romney — "The public doesn't like corporate raiders"



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We've had a spate of stories chez La Maison Chez Nous (at our place) about how the Romney campaign is in serious trouble. All have done extremely well, reader-wise. I think I agree with Paul Krugman who wrote in one of them that "Romney is in the process of getting defined."

But defined as what?

You and I, we think about stuff. So these Bain Capital lying-with-a-point stories make sense to us.

But could you explain the Bain problem in one phrase to the average Jack and Jill whose Tuesday voting is squeezed between two or three jobs, several kids, and aging parental (and American Idol) worries? Until now, I'm not sure I could.

But here's Howie Klein to do the deed, in a great catch of something written by David Frum. The phrase we're looking for is Corporate raider and David Frum supplies it.

First Klein on what Frum doesn't get (my emphasis and paragraphing throughout):
Frum doesn't seem to see the importance of the controversy swirling around Romney's time at Bain as being a real character issue, something that is helping voters understand what kind of man Romney essentially is.

[Romney's] legalistic but thoroughly deceitful and opportunistic filings and excuses for filings with government boards tells voters far more about him than the fact he's a Mormon bishop or a happily married man with a pack of sons who refused to serve in the military or wealthy enough to have a dancing horse and a new elevator for his car collection.
Then he quotes Frum. Notice (say I) what Frum does get:
Non-college whites may dislike Barack Obama, but they don’t like corporate raiders either.

In the Republican primaries of both 2008 and 2012, Romney consistently lost among Republicans earning less than $100,000 per year. (Back in 2008, Romney’s populist rival Mike Huckabee quipped, “People want to vote for somebody who reminds them of the guy they work with-- not the guy who laid them off.”)
"Corporate raider" says it all. Simple. Clean. Deadly. He's being defined as Michael Milkin. Gordon Gekko. Carl Ichan. A T-Rex predator in a world of foot-tall primates (that would be us).

Action Opportunity — you can help. "Romney the corporate raider" could be your constant characterization, you with voices (and pens). Phrases like ...

     the wine-dark sea
     rosy-fingered dawn
     swift-footed Achilles
     grey-eyed Athena
     cunning Ulysses
     the writer Masaccio
(OK, that one's mine)

... these are the kinds of phrase that live a long time through sound and repetition.

Care to try to end this election now? Do to Romney what they did to Kerry and Gore. Help define him.

"Romney the corporate raider" has a nice Homeric ring to it. It's yours if you wish.

Side benefit: Ending this election now would allow us progressives to shoulder the burden of planning for the post-campaign campaign, the world of December 2012 and beyond.

Just saying.

GP

To follow or send links: @Gaius_Publius
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35 questions about Bain that Romney needs to answer



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An EXCELLENT article from Forbes. Here are a few of the best:
4. Surely someone from Bain occasionally called you up and asked your opinion about something work related from 1999 to 2002. Wouldn’t that qualify as “involvement,” if only on a minor level?

5. You earned at least $100,000 as an executive from Bain in 2001 and 2002, separate from investment earnings according to filings with State of Massachusetts. Can you give an example of anyone else you personally know getting a six figure income, not dividend or investment return, but actual income, from a company they had nothing to do with?

6. What did you do for this $100,000 salary you earned from Bain in both 2000 and 2001?

7. If you did nothing to earn this salary, did the Bain managers violate their fiduciary duty by paying you a salary for no discernible reason?

8. Are there other companies that pay you six figures a year as earned income, not investment income, for which you have no involvement?
24. Why do SEC documents claim you were Chief Executive Officer, President, and Managing Director of Bain Capital 2000 and 2001 if you were merely the sole owner?

25. Did you sign this SEC document?

26. Is this accurate or not?

27. If you didn’t sign it, is someone guilty of lying to the SEC?

28. True or false, it is a felony to lie on SEC filings?
34. You are obviously bright, hard working and energetic. Isn’t is possible that you put in 60 hours a week on the Olympics but still put in 5 hours a week as an active consultant or adviser by phone, email and the occasional meeting with the full time managers of Bain?
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Red Cross officially declares Syria a "civil war," fighting in Damascus, airport reportedly closed



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Business Insider explains the legal ramifications of the situation now being declared a "civil war" - I didn't realize it made a legal difference:
The conflict in Syria was effectively declared a civil war by the Red Cross on Sunday, as the "most intense" fighting since the start of the uprising was reported in Damascus.

The Red Cross had previously designated Idlib, Homs and Hama as war zones, but the change in status means international humanitarian law applies wherever fighting occurs throughout the country

Combatants will now be officially subject to the Geneva Conventions, and will be more exposed to war crimes prosecutions, after the ICRC declared that the conflict was a "non-international armed conflict", or in lay terms a civil war.
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Zandi: Economy on election day will look a lot like today



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Romney has everything riding on a bad economy, and the President the opposite.  A muddled economy means other issues, like Romney's refusal to come clean about his taxes, all the more relevant in the voters' minds:
Zandi predicted the November unemployment rate would be around 8 percent -- near its current level at 8.2 percent -- but noted the unemployment rate was lower in key swing states including Ohio, Virginia and New Hampshire.
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