Weekly Roundup, June 5-10, 2012

by Blueberry T

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Wisconsin Recall Election Results

Kathleen covered the final push on recall election day in Wisconsin.  As we all know by now, the result was not what many of us had hoped, with Walker prevailing by a similar margin to his victory in 2010.  On the positive side, the Democrats claimed victory in the Wisconsin Senate, apparently giving them the majority there, enabling “checks and balances” to temper the extremism we have seen in the past two years.  (However, the margin of victory was slim and apparently a recount will take place.) The impact of Citizens United in Wisconsin is undeniable, with Walker holding a funding edge of 8X over Barrett.  Thanks, SCOTUS, for allowing corporate interests and outside money to buy elections – you’ll certainly go down in history for your role in corrupting democracy.  The BradBlog had a pretty sobering look at dirty tricks and inaccuracies in votetabulation – how such discrepancies can be allowed without any audit of the voting machine tabulations is beyond me.  

Friday, June 08, 2012

So Many Mitt Romney Lies, So Little Time

In one installment of what I expect to be a long-running series, sunnyjane takes on several of Mitt Romney’s lies.  (This could be a life work.)  In this post, she covers his shifting stories about:  his draft deferment; his inheritance; his blatant distortion of an Obama comment; and his flat-out lie about the Solyndra case.  On the deferment: he was for the Vietnam War and draft but against going to Vietnam, before he was against the war but for going.  (Got that?)  He says he took no steps to take himself out of the draft pool; this apparently doesn’t count spending 2½ years as a Mormon missionary in France.  On his inheritance: he didn’t inherit anything; or he did but he gave it to the Mormon church; or he did and gave it to the church and his kids…hmmm, perhaps the Romneys took advantage of the generation-skippingestate tax provision allowing favorable tax treatment of the inheritance?  On the distortion of then-candidate Obama’s statement, he took this quote: “Senator McCain’s campaign actually said, and I quote, ‘If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.’” and claimed that Obama said “If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.”  That’s a very deliberate and malicious lie.  Finally, on Solyndra – Romney lied that the Inspector General found evidence of wrong-doing by the Obama Administration; the opposite is true (and he knows it).  Long story short:  Mitt Romney is an unprinicipled jerk and world-class liar.  Surprise! 

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Sunnyjane's Tribute to Seamus

Sunnyjane has turned captioning animal photos as her daily “tribute to Seamus” into an art form… do yourself a favor and click on the link above; I promise you’ll be glad you did!  And, to the point, the post also highlights the kind of guy Mitt Romney really is – made all the more apparent by his comment that he wouldn’t repeat the dog on the roof escapade, not because it is inhumane, but because it has gotten so much attention, and he can’t have that because he’s running for President, for Pete’s sake! 

Some Comments and Links:

Psalm023:  Don't get discouraged.  I always believed that good will triumph.  It takes a few setbacks for voters to see through the veil of deceit and when they realize their mistakes in trusting dishonest politicians, they'll become more involved and use discernment the next time.  Evolving and learning takes time.  Hopefully by November voters will see what they need to see.   

ProChoiceGrandma:  In his speech, Walker neglected to express his gratitude to David and Charles Koch and SCOTUS for his "win".  

Leadfoot_LA:   I just want to say....it will be ok!  We can't let them get us down.  That is what they want!  They want us to feel so discouraged that we don't vote in November.  NO WAY.  Obama WILL win!!  We will make sure of it.  We weren't sure he could do it last time - and he did!!  (thanks, Sarah!)  He will do it again.  Yes we can!!

Cheeriogirl pointed out this comment from “Bronxdude” on HuffPo:  "Contrary to Mitt’s patently deceitful rhetoric and the Republican plan to repeal the 20th century, under Obama, Americans have seen less corporate regulation, 26 consecutive months of private sector job growth, resurgence of the auto industry, consistent GDP expansion, improved stock market valuation, shrinkage in home foreclosures, increased bank earnings and the highest ratio of profit to worker wages in 60 years, yet Mitt continues to chip away at making the middleclass extinct, as evidenced by Republicans reluctantly continuing Obama’s payroll tax deduction, which accounts for families receiving an additional $1,500 per year in deposable income. Under the Bush tax cuts, the average tax cut for the top 2% in 2010 was $67,891; conversely, the average income for the bottom 98% in 2010 was $39,239. Republicans want to keep unemployment high because history has shown that incumbent presidents don’t get reelected when unemployment is high, which is why Republicans are obstructing every job creation bill introduced by Obama, while opting instead to pass 244 bills that rename government buildings, federal parks and post offices after fellow Republicans. Guided by Grover Norquist, Mitt’s mentor, in their latest piece of obstructionism, Republicans voted against levying a paltry .7% tax increase on 300,000 millionaires, a move that would have generated the revenue needed to create 900,000 construction/infrastructure repair jobs. Since 2009, Republicans have blocked 491 bills specifically designed to increase revenue and create jobs. During the decade Republicans controlled congress, tax revenue decreased 57%, the number of Americans living in poverty rose to 1-in-3 (in Georgia, Newt’s home state, 1-in-4 children live in poverty), and unemployment soared to 8.6%, while government spending increased 54%, topping out at $11.4 trillion."

Sleuth1:  Had a political lunch today where I was the only Republican in the room (well, a RINO...)…So... today I got to meet the Democratic contender for lunch, along with a handful of other people who apparently weren't afraid to be seen in public with a Democratic candidate.  Nice guy, but his people were looking for dirt. I finally said to them, you will NOT win with mudslinging. What you DO have deal with is all this fear mongering. You have to turn the light, a very BRIGHT light, on all this fear crap and the outrageous lies. These people are afraid and will vote out of that fear.  I also said quite out loud, "And I'll go right ahead and say it. They are mostly afraid because there is a black man in THEIR White House, and it's best that everyone is willing to admit that out loud and then move on forward learning WHY that frightens them so much and then dealing with it."  I think they took what I said to heart because they want to meet with me again.

Tyroanee:  If you need to file an extension on your tax returns while your running for President of the United States...you may be Mitt Romney
- If you need to hide your money in overseas bank accounts to avoid paying taxes... you are Mitt Romney
- If you avoid being drafted 4-5 times...you most certainly are Mr. Romney
- If you like to play dress-up as a state trooper... you have committed a crime Gov. Romney.
- If you need to install an elevator for your cars, but are unable to comprehend, or know someone that knows someone that is able to use spell checker...You've pulled a ROMNEY

Sue pointed out this op-ed by Mitt Romney, from the National Review, December 2008, calling for the Republicans to enact a stimulus package.  “What is Washington waiting for?”

VaughnIAM found this site with John McCain’s opposition research on Romney.  

Zane1 linked to Slate: Bill in a ChinaShop.  

HonestyinGov pointed out this report onAmericans For Progress, claiming they don’t support candidates while they are – wait for it – supporting candidates.  

Think Progress had a good article on Romney’sfalse claims about Solyndra.  

Here’s an article from our friend Nomad about Romney's claims that people are envious of his success.

Another great piece by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone about SEC failure to hold any of the big players in the financial sector accountable.  

Older_Wiser had this on ALEC being behindvoter purges; what a surprise (not).  

Juicyfruityy found this from politicususa on workers voting against their own economic interests

and this from Andrew Sullivan on Romney’s “UnethicalStench.”