I think that Mitt Romney's speech tonight will certainly be an attempt at rescuing his character from that of someone who is regarded as untrustworthy, hypocritical and somewhat out of touch. Mitt's up against President Obama who isn't perfect but is much more transparent and believable than he can ever be.
Democracy Now interviewed Matt Taibbi in which he points out that Romney is a hypocrite because his entire campaign is built on the idea that he is against debt when his entire fortune was built through the creation of debt. Taibbi wonders why journalists have not questioned Romney about the obvious contradictions:
+++
One of our readers sent us the following hilarious cartoons - many thanks!
Some of the most vicious and also most creative photoshoppers can be found at the "Something Awful" forums - their members used to annoy Sarah Palin a lot with "Trig" photoshops, and it is no surprise that they now started to create photoshops about Clint Eastwood and his chair (please note that new photoshops will be added constantly at "Something Awful"). Some of these photoshops are "too awful" to show them here - you need to visit "Something Awful" yourself in order to see them in their full g(l)ory. Here are some of the milder examples:
Here is the last one for this post:
Our amazing AzureGhost created a picture at our special request - Paul Ryan has been exposed as a complete liar in respect to his recent claim that he run "a sub-3.00 marathon." He therefore proudly earned his "4 Palins" and also earned the right to receive a very special composition!
OK, I "did a Romney/Ryan" and told a lie. Yes, there will be another great picture! AzureGhost provided us with another creation on special request, because it was more than obvious who was really sitting in the chair - a snarling Sarah Palin!
And lo, it came to pass that a great turbulence did descend upon a Land of Many Flowers that would wreak havoc throughout a vast kingdom of more than three hundred million souls, causing them to fall to their knees and cry out, "Mercy, have mercy upon us!"
No, we're not talking about Hurricane Isaac here, this is about the swirling mass of fetid air coming from the Republican National Convention. This gathering of crotch-scratching misogynists, racists, and dimwitted thinkers is nothing more than a celebration of greed and ignorance, a grand occasion being held to reinforce the GOP's image as a party that avidly promotes and holds fast to devious ideas and corrupt ideals. From this bubbling cauldron of anti-Americanism, Mitt
Romney will emerge as the party's Supreme Being and align himself with a platform that can best be described as a veritable hairball
of far-right-wing primordial values that will be embraced and championed by those with severely limited intellect. Bedlam by the Bay Sir Isaac of the Carribean could have saved his time and energy, as the GOP is quite capable of creating chaos all by itself, thank you very much! A question that really needs to be asked: Who in the name of all you hold dear was responsible for scheduling the Republican National Convention in Florida smack-dab in the middle of hurricane season? Answer: Michael Steele, who it has been noted, was not invited to participate at this year's convention. But moving on, the advance crew of the campaign has proven themselves to be the masters of disorganization and discord.
Did you hear I ran away from Ron
Paul's delegates in Tampa?
John Sununu, the Romney hack campaign's Rules Committee Chairman, caused a wee bit of a dust-up with Ron Paul delegates who objected to changes in the rules that had been pushed through that gave Romney expanded authority over the Republican nominating process. But before the Paul folks had a chance to submit their minority opinions, Sununu had left the building. Needless to say, the power-grabbing rules were rammed through the committee. Guess it was that I don't fully endorse Mitt Romneythingy from Ron Paul, huh?
Hi! Do you like the look? I call it Valley Trash East.
Mrs. Mitt was scheduled to speak to the delegates -- and the American public, God help us all -- on Monday, the first day of the convention. The cuteness in this schedule is almost too much: the Romneys were to create the bookend effect with Ann giving the opening speech and Mitt ending the tiresome thing when he gives his acceptance speech on Thursday. But alas, the best laid plans...etc. Too bad someone didn't remember they'd been sent memos from the major television stations alerting them to the fact that they would not be covering the first day of the convention in prime time. Not to worry! Ann will do her thing on Tuesday because the GOP is just skipping Monday due to Isaac. I think the plan is to unzip Mitt the Stick even further so Americans can see he's not stiff. No, honestly! And by the way, where are the fashion police when you need them? Mrs. Romney appears to be trying to copy Michelle Obama's casual style and instead ends up looking like Sarah Palin on a reallybad wardrobe day.
Ack! The hair protests!
The Donald was scheduled to do a You're Fired routine with a President Obama look-alike, but that got figured out about thirty seconds after it was announced that he had a big surprise for the convention. Oh, those winsome GOPers! Dontcha you just love 'em? Trump was going to speak anyhow but his hair and hands said No! Isaac would muss his carefully combed coiffure, and he has a press-the-flesh phobia. Yes, this would-be politicianthinks shaking hands is barbaric. He actually said in his book: One of the curses of American society is the simple act of shaking
hands... I happen to be a clean hands freak. I feel much better
after I thoroughly wash my hands, which I do as much as possible.
At least Americans will be spared some of the idiots during this convention. Sarah Palin will be in Arizona slinging hash and as much vitriol-cum-sexiness as she can muster for another Mormon, Kirk Adams. See that, Mitt? She'll show you a thing or too about working to further that old White Horse Prophecy! Or, perhaps they're afraid she'll announce a third-party candidacy and they'd have to unplug her mike and turn off the lights. Others not invited to participate in this freak show include Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, and Rick Perry. Seems Ron Paul won't be attending, either, but he's going to get a video tribute because he's retiring from the House. Now that should be a take-your-breath-away fifteen minutes of already stagnant air time. They want no part of George W or Dick Cheney, either. After all, there's been enough squawking about deficit spending and bailouts, no need to remind voters who actually caused that, right? Not All the Idiots are Attending Camp RNC
Lost my place here. Am I
supposed to flip, flop, lie,
or make stuff up?
*Before he checked in at Vacation Bible School in Tampa, Mitt took an opportunity to add credibility to his not-fit-for-national-office persona. Speaking to a hometown crowd in Michigan, he punched out the line: No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate — they know that this was the place we were born and raised. As Politicususapoints out, The birther joke was Romney’s weak attempt to knock the president’s
campaign back on its heels. It didn’t
work. That's right, it didn't work. In less time and in far fewer words than it took Sarah Palin to answer
Katie Couric’s what do you read? question, the Obama team threw it back at
Romney with a very effective fifteen-second ad: America Doesn't Need a
Birther-in-Chief.
And unlike the Romney team, Team Obama actually knows how to spell the name of our country. Is the Romney group mainlining an illegal substance over there, or have they simply outsourced their ad campaign to China?
Moving on... *In a terrific column from the New York Times, Timothy Egan points out that the House of Representatives wackosphereis repletewith right-wing nuts: Take a look around key committees of the House and you’ll find a
governing body stocked with crackpots whose views on major issues are as
removed from reality as Missouri’s Representative Todd Akin’s take on
the sperm-killing powers of a woman who’s been raped. Yep, he calls out all the usual suspects. *Charlie Crist, former Republican governor of Florida, has endorsed President Obama. In an op-ed, Crist wrote: I've studied, admired and gotten to know a lot of leaders in my
life. Across Florida, in Washington and around the country, I've watched
the failure of those who favor extreme rhetoric over sensible
compromise, and I've seen how those who never lose sight of solutions
sow the greatest successes. *Don Dwyer, a Maryland state Republican legislator who believes that gays are a threat to children, got drunk and crashed his boat into another boat that was full of children. Now, who's a bigger threat to children, someone who's gay or a drunken homophobic straight guy? *Legendary Kochsucker Scott Brown, who is taking up valuable space in the U.S. Senate, is in a huff because his Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Warren, had the gall to speak out against his record. The nerve of Ms. Warren! How dare she! [Personal memo to Scott Brown: Now I’m not a politician, nor have I ever played one on TV. But Senator, I was following this
country’s elections before you had soiled your first diaper, so I have a teeny
bit of advice for you: Grow the f**k up!
This ain't The Bobbsey Twins and Baby
May playing at the seashore, you know. If you’re not afraid of Massachusetts voters being reminded that
you’re a job killer, a protector of tax breaks for oil companies, a defender of
millionaires and billionaires who do not pay their fair share of taxes, and an opponent
of equal pay and limited access to much-needed healthcare for women, stand up
and say it yourself!] *Unless they've changed the Constitution and didn't inform us, a police officer's duty is still to enforce the law ethically in the area under his jurisdiction. Now maybe New Hampshire has a different set of laws, but a Republican running for sheriff in Hillsborough County says if elected, hewon’t rule out the use of deadly force to stop “elective” legal abortions. *In Washington state, Republican Michael Baumgartner wants to be a U.S. Senator when he grows up. The problem is, at age thirty-seven, he has the political savvy of an eighth grader. After taking exception to an article about him, he sent reporter Josh Feit a personal email with a photo of a Navy SEAL that read, Josh, this is Pat Feeks, a Navy SEAL killed last week in Afghanistan. Take a good look and then go fuck yourself. *From the News of the Absurd file, Todd Palin has signed on with All American Speakers. It is rumored that his first topic will be What to Expect When Your Wife is NOT Expecting.
*And in one of those unfortunate Oops-this-can't-be-good-for-my-campaign articles, The Washington Postcalls Mitt Romney's budget proposal Garbage. Or is that GarBAAGE? *Just so no one thinks that Paul Ryan has recently learned to keep his stupid right-wing mouth shut, he recently called rapejust another method of conception. Now how does that jive with his buddy Todd Akin, who thinks that legitimate rape is a method of birth control? I'm so confused! End Note
Policies designed for the benefit of the dominating group bring harm and hardship for those who live outside the border of privileged circles --George Romney, father of the Republican candidate for President of the United States.
So what is Sarah Palin doing these days? The Alaskan rogue who has fallen from grace was destined to conquer the RNC 2012, according to her remaining few dozen fanatical followers (hint: never annoy Karl Rove). However, this is not how things turned out in the end. Sarah was not allowed to speak at the RNC, which is a wise move, given the fact that there are countless bombshells in her closet which are just waiting to go off at some point. But it now looks that she might not even be there at the RNC: On Monday, August 27th, when the RNC is supposed to start (the convention will now start on Tuesday due to storm "Isaac"), Sarah Palin will be "headlining" a Barbecue in Arizona, supporting Kirk Adams, Republican candidate for Congress.
Sarah Palin's support for Kirk Adams is actually quite interesting. Kirk Adams is currently embroiled in a hot & dirty primary battle with Republican Matt Salmon. As we all know, some Republicans still believe that the endorsement by the mentally ill quitter from Alaska matters a lot, and Matt Salmon apparently falls into this category as well. Salmon's campaign manager voiced his dissatisfaction about Palin endorsing Kirk Adams:
Adam Deguire, Salmon's campaign manager, responds:
“It’s a wonder why Sarah Palin would endorse a politician like Kirk Adams who has a record of voting for wasteful spending, higher taxes and supports amnesty for illegal immigrants. Matt Salmon is supported by Governor (Jan) Brewer, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and every Tea Party organization in the East Valley – we’re confident his proven record of conservative leadership has resonated with the voters.”
Matt Salmon's opponents found the new "ultimate weapon" against him: He cashed in as a lobbyist on Obamacare! Well, this is at least what Kirk Adams' campaign claims in the following advert:
While investigating this claim, I discovered some interesting details. Matt Salmon's opponents claim that he "cashed in on Obamacare" because they claim that he represented as a lobbyist the pharmaceutical companies Lundbeck and Millennium, which "are part of Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA), which struck a deal with President Obama and the Whitehouse." Who would have thought that lobbying for pharmaceutical companies could be held against you in a Republican primary!
However, the truth is apparently more complicated, and we can also find indications that "Obamacare" is not the Socialist monster that the Koch-sponsered tea-hadists want Americans to believe it is. On a blog called "Western Free Press" we find interesting comments about this topic. This blog examines Matt Salmon's "rebuttal" to the potentially very damaging claim that he "cashed in on Obamacare" - a rebuttal which reads like this:
1) Matt Salmon has NEVER lobbied for the passage of ObamaCare, the expansion of ObamaCare, or supported ObamaCare in any way, shape or form.
2) Matt Salmon has NEVER lobbied for or against any legislation pertaining to ObamaCare.
3) Matt Salmon’s former business partner, John Haddow, was the consultant who represented Lundbeck and Millennium pharmaceutical companies
4) John Haddow actually lobbied AGAINST ObamaCare, NOT for the passage of it NOR for the expansion of it.
While it is doubtful that this statement can be viewed as the full truth, as "Western Free Press" also points out, there are some interesting comments on the blog which Matt Salmon's former partner business John Haddow then left himself, in an apparent attempt to control the damage.
My name is John Haddow. I was Matt's partner while at both Policy Impact and Upstream Consulting. I had both Lundbeck and Millennium as clients before Matt joined the firm. As a small firm it was customary to list all the lobbyists on the forms, more as a form of protection from the very onerous reporting requirements and penalties that are now in place. You err on the side of safety.
With respect to those two clients I was the only person in the firm that met with these two clients and had the technical background to understand the issues before them. I have repeatedly stated that Matt Salmon did not lobby on these clients behalf and that in fact we did not support ObamaCare since it was harmful to almost all small pharmaceutical companies. We did vigorously engage to ensure that the treatment of Orphan products in the bill was corrected to ensure that patients using these products would have continue access to them to keep their quality of life at the level they currently enjoy.
There are some clients that Matt was working for that I was listed for but in fact did no work on as well.
Now things get confusing: John Haddow claims in this comment that Obamacare "was harmful to almost all small pharmaceutical companies" - but on the other hand, just recently the Wall Street Journal made the rather sensational claim that "Big Pharma colluded with the White House at the public's expense", a claim which was then quickly exploited by the right-wingers. I am not sure where "little pharma" ends and "big pharma" starts, but it is more than obvious that President Obama wanted to please the "industry", which actually sounds like classic Republican policy to me.
That Obama's healthcare reform was not governed by "Marxist" policies also becomes even more obvious when you look at the next paragraph from John Haddow's comment:
The major health insurance companies all cut a deal with the Obama administration to support the bill. They did this because the most crucial part of the bill, the mandate to buy insurance, was in their interests. Kirk Adams and his family insurance company sells health insurance policies. Should we now say that Kirk Adams was supporting ObamaCare since his insurance company and the companies they write policies for would benefit? That is the leap of logic that Kirk wants you to take with Matt Salmon but ignore with him.
So, wait a moment: President Obama cut a deal with "big pharma" as well as with "the major health insurance companies?" Is this what Socialist policy look like these days? The legions of brainwashed Fox News-fans believe that Obama is a "Marxist" or "Communist" who wants to enslave the USA, but in reality Obama is doing nothing more than to implement what I would call "classic moderate Republican concepts" (although some of you might disagree with this classification).
On the one hand, the fact that Obama managed to bring through healthcare reform is certainly "progressive", but on the other hand, the details of the implementation are just what somebody like Mitt Romney could have had in mind (who just today boasted about his "Romneycare" achievements in Massachusetts). In any case, many Americans will certainly be very grateful to President Obama that in future your eligibility for healthcare insurance will not depend any more whether you have a pre-existing condition or not. +++ Finally, Sarah Palin displays again her personal brand of "rougeishness." Asked on Fox News the clearly "pre-approved question" (like all the questions, no doubt)...
"Would you consider at any point a viable conservative third party if neither party will move from their current positions?"
...the quitter from Alaska is clearly elated to nurture her grudge against the GOP-people when she explains in quite some length why she believes that a third party is "a possibility":
I think Karl Rove might be annoyed again! She did not learn, did she?
Have a great Sunday, everyone!
+++
UPDATE:
This clip is just about to go viral - somebody videotaped Mitt Romney at a $ 50,000-per-plate private fundraiser and published a first clip: Mitt Romney praising the virtues of the notoriously appalling working conditions in Chinese factories - a Capitalist's dream!
UPDATE - The video clip is not available any more as the "Rachel Maddow" youtube account has been deleted, but I uploaded the clip again, and here it is, in its full glory:
Mitt Romney letting the audience know about his rather peculiar views:
"95% of life is set up for you if you were born in this country. And, I remember going to ah, uh, sorry just to bore you with stories.
When I was back in my private equity days, we went to China to buy a factory there. It employed about 20,000 people. And they were almost all young women between the ages of about 18 and 22 or 23. They were saving for potentially becoming married.
And they work in these huge factories, they made various uh, small appliances. And uh, as we were walking through this facility, seeing them work, the number of hours they
worked per day, the pitance they earned, living in dormitories with uh, with little bathrooms at the end of maybe 10, 10 room, rooms. And the rooms they have 12 girls per room.
Three bunk beds on top of each other. You've seen, you've seen them? (Oh...yeah, yeah!) And, and, and around this factory was a fence, a huge fence with barbed wire and
guard towers. And, and, we said gosh! I can't believe that you, you know, keep these girls in! They said, no, no, no. This is to keep other people from coming in.
Because people want so badly to come work in this factory that we have to keep them out. Or they will just come in here and start working and, and try and get compensated. So we, this is to keep people out. And they said, actually Chinese New Year as the girls go home, sometimes they decide they've saved enough money and they don't come back to the factory.
And he said, so, on the weekend after Chinese New Year there will be a line of people hundreds long, outside the factory, hoping that some girls haven't come back. And they can come to the factory. And, and so as we were experiencing this for the first time, going to see a factory like this in China some years ago.
The Bain Partner I was with turned to me and said, you know, 95% of life is settled if you are born in America. This is uh, this is an amazing land and what we have is unique and fortunately it is so special we are sharing it with the world."
Isn't it cool to have millions of impoverished people wanting to work for you...?
These are the values of the wannabe President of the United States...?
There can be in my view no doubt whatsoever that this video is "real" (other websites think the same, for example "Crooks & Liars"). It is clearly Mitt Romney's voice, you can also see him in the video, and the uploader recorded from a fairly concealed position. It might very well have been an employee who was working at this event. It is also apparent that the video uploader is pretty inexperienced as far as "internet activities" are concerned, because he or she chose the rather unfortunate youtube name "Rachel Maddow" (although explaining in the profile that he/she is just a "fan"), which resulted in a rather absurd controversy, with even Rachel Maddow tweeting about the video.
+++
UPDATE 2:
Alaska, love it or suck it! Todd Palin, following in the footsteps of his "wife" Sarah Palin, now has his very own "speaker's bureau" - the "All American Speakers Bureau" has taken him on, according to their website! The former "first dude" can now be booked to give expert advice for example on how to bully friends and foes, and he has a lot of special knowledge to offer ("What to take into account when planning to fake a pregnancy"). No, that was a joke, but he really is available for speeches now:
This is his bio on the website:
Todd Palin has served as Alaska's First Gentleman, is a four-time winner of the Iron Dog snowmobile race and a reality television personality.
Categories: Adventurers, Entertainment, Reality TV Stars, Television Personalities
Booking Fee Range: Contact booking agent for fee info (About Fees)
Speaker Travels From:
Todd Palin was born on September 6, 1964 in Alaska. He is the husband of former Alaskan governor and McCain's vice-presidential nominee in 2008, Sarah Palin. He graduated from Wasilla High School in 1982 and worked as a commercial fisherman and in the oil production field.
He's a four-time winner of the Iron Dog, the world's longest, toughest snowmobile race that stretches over 2,000 miles from the Mat-Su Valley to Nome to Fairbanks in Alaska.
Palin was the First Gentleman, also referred to as the "First Dude" of Alaska from 2006 to 2009. While in this position, he focused on vocational job opportunities for workers in Alaska.He also holds his Private Pilot Certificate and owns a Cessna 185 float plane.
He appeared on the TLC show, Sarah Palin's Alaska, with the rest of his family, in which he assisted with logistics and production. Todd is currently a contestant on NBC's reality show Stars Earn Stripes, where celebrities contend with one another while executing military challenges that are inspired by real exercises.
Well, this should be another piece of evidence to prove that the Palins left the political scene for good and try to find a "safe haven" in the celebrity world instead. But is the celebrity world really ready for the Palins...?
It should also be noted that the Palins always tell Levi Johnston that he should get a "real job." However, if there is anyone who lost any interest in "real jobs", than it is the Palin family. Todd, the slope is waiting for you!
Heydon Prowse tricked his way past security at Tony Blair’s London homePhoto: BBC
There is plenty in the world of politics to feel angry about at the moment. Rightly so. However a good release from the tension caused by such anger can be found in comedy. In particular good satirical political comedy.
Last night I struck gold. A new political comedy series is causing waves in the United Kingdom. It is bold and brave and BBC 3's The Revolution Will Be Televised is bound to upset quite a few people. There is a market for the truth at the moment and this series looks like it will fill that spot. The featured comedians Heydon Prowse and Jolyon Rubinstein have turned the spotlight on money stealing bankers, confused celebrities and hypocritical politiciansand I promise that you will laugh as you watch them do so. Yes,The Revolution Will Be Televisedis British. Yes, the seriesdeals specifically with British issues. But the analogies are just the same. Britain like the USA has more than her fair share of super rich tax avoiders, corrupt politicians and money grabbing bankers so we share your pain, America. Sit down. Relax for a while. And most importantly please don't forget to smile.
+++
Bonus video:
A clip from the HBO-series "The Newsroom" with a controversial message:
+++
UPDATE:
Take a look at AzureGhost's latest stroke of genius: The "Grand Old Penis" (GOP) in action!
I'll proudly tell you my foreign policy experience: I voted to send people to war!
Yes, dear readers, it's been one of those weeks. If Paul Ryan's response to the question on his lack of foreign policy credentials reminds you of the 2008 Republican vice president candidate's response of When Putin rears his head to a similar question from Katie Couric, you're forgiven. The quality of GOP candidates for that important office has not improved in this election cycle.
Such excitement! Such diversity! White people like me, they really LIKE me!
But according to GOP leaders and pundits, it cannot be said too many times that in choosing Paul Ryan
to be his vice presidential running mate, Mitt Romney made a bold and
courageous choice. Yup, he's mid-west-heartland white, he’s a hard-line-far-right-wing-nutty Christian, and he’s one
of those works-out-every-day males. And what do those attributes add up to? That's right -- White Christian Male. Yes, indeed, when it comes to being boldand
courageous, Mitt Romney’s a real risk-taker!
Romney/Ryan: The Trust Me/Tea Party Ticket
Just trust me, suckers. (hee, hee)
It will come as no shock to readers of this blog that Mitt Romney cannot actually tell voters how he plans to govern as President of the United States. How do we know this? He told us back in March 2012 that I won't detail my plans because then I'd lose. Whatever the subject, Mitt's discovered that Americans don't actually like his policies, and he's not going to win by flipping, flopping or lying on the issues. From his tax issues to his stand on immigration, Mitt has decided that we're just going to have to trust him. This blatant disregard for the right of voters to understand his beliefs and policy plans is not just progressive bloggers' assumptions, it has been verified by the candidate's campaign. Very recently, Romney advisers said their guy has no plans to pivot from [his] previous view that diving into details during a general-election race would be suicidal.One even went so far as to state that Campaigns that are about specifics, particularly in today’s environment,
get tripped up.
Ryan preaches anti-American gospel to Wisconsin Tea Party slugs in June
Koch Brothers' love child Paul Ryan has achieved the far-right conservative pinnacle in this election year. His selection as the GOP vice presidential candidate is a Teabagger's wet dream on sildenafil citrate. Initially unimpressed with Mitt Romney's I'm severely conservative claims, the spokeswoman for the Tea Party Express recently said, Selecting someone like Paul Ryan...proves that Mitt Romney is committed to addressing the
economic issues that have been troubling our nation for the last four
years. Paul Ryan has been in the House of Representatives for thirteen years and has proven himself to be one of the most do-nothing legislators in history. Besides voting Yes to everything that Bush II proposed, and No to everything President Obama has proposed, he has renamed a Post Office, done something or other about the excise taxes on arrows, and written two different versions of a hocus-pocus GOP budget plan. And while we'll talk more about Ryan's, ahem, activities in the House downthread, it's important to understand that for these less than remarkable accomplishments the tax payers have given him $2,262,000. [Note: Cutting his salary has not shown up in the spending cuts he proposes in his budgets.] With this history, he'll be just one of many Tea Party lawmakers who went into the House with no legislative experience and came out with the same record.
A Week of Extremes and Extremists
*Although we should not have been, most Americans were shocked and sickened by the pronouncement from anti-abortion Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) that legitimate rape does not often lead to pregnancy because the female body has ways to
try to shut that whole thing down. This intellectual and cultural freak of a human being is currently running for the United States Senate against Claire McCaskill, and if the voters in Missouri have any sense of decency at all, they'll not only refuse to elect him to that post, but will see that he is not sent back to the House as well.
And to demonstrate their...um...personal disgust and outrage at such a statement, the Trust Me/Tea Party ticket quickly sent out this lily-livered piece of tripe:Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree
with Mr. Akin’sstatement. A Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion ininstances of rape. That's about as limp a statement as the one he made after Rush Limpballs Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a slut and a prostitute: I'll just say this, which is, it's not the language I would have used. But after realizing he might be just a wee bit out of step with GOP leaders -- not to mention that the Democrats are tying Akin's comments to the Republican ticket -- Romney got around to saying,Congressman Akin's comments on rape are insulting, inexcusable and,
frankly, wrong. Like millions of other Americans, we
found them to be offensive. Who is this we you're talking about, Mitt? Oh OK, we can read the tea leaves: Ryan can't speak up against this atrocity himself because he is in complete accord with Akin. That's right, Ryan and Akin co-sponsored a bill to redefine rape as meaning forcible rape. And just in case readers forget, Ryan's misogynistic legislative history includes his cosponsoring a bill to give a fetus personhood rights, voting to defund federal family planning programs, authoring a budget that dismantles Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs that aid women, and voted many times to prevent women in the military from using their own money to pay for abortions at military hospitals. So that's the legislation we've paid him $2.25M for over the span of thirteen years. [I want my money back, Mr. Ryan.]
Of the Akin situation, President Obama said, The views expressed were offensive. Rape is rape
and the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what
types of rape we’re talking about doesn't make sense to the American
people and it certainly doesn't make sense to me.
Rape: An Affront to our Shared Humanity. If you can stand it, you must see this video filmed two years ago when President Obama signed the Tribal Law and Order Act, giving tribal police greater
authority to prosecute and punish criminals. In it, Lisa Iyotte, who was raped in front of her two small girls, strives to contain her emotions enough to introduce the President. It took him about fifteen seconds to recognize her distress and he went to her, hugged her, and stood by her side until she got through it. Have tissues handy.
Moving on...
*Some down-ballot Republicans, i.e., those at the state level, are in a swivet about the Ryan pick for vice president. Seems they don't know whether to embrace that radical budget or turn their backs on the whole ticket. [Heh]
*And speaking of the budget(s), it seems that befuddlement abounds in ye old campaign. See, Mitt's got one and Paul's got one, and nobody knows what's what. Rachel Maddow encapsulatedthe issue like this: the day after the Ryan announcement, Romney said it’s my plan, not his plan; Monday, he
saidthe plans are the same; on
Tuesday, he said the plans are very different; on Wednesday, Romney started running on
the Paul Ryan plan again. There’s
more, but surely Americans get the picture by now. So Mitt decided to show to
us dummies exactly how the Romney plan (or the Ryan plan, or the Romney/Ryan
plan, or…) is different from the Obama
plan.Writing on a whiteboard, Romney
proved to us that, well…um…he proved to us that he can actually write on a
whiteboard!
When Brit Hume asked Ryan just exactly when the Romney plan would balance the budget, Ryan said he didn't know because we haven't run the numbers on that specific plan. Does anyone else
find it perplexing that Mitt Romney,
who never saw a spreadsheet he did drool over, and Paul Ryan, Mr. Republican
Budgetmeister, have never even run the numbers on their individual or combined
plans?
*John Sununu got a little frazzled when challenged by Soledad O'Brien on the difference between President Obama's Medicare Plan and Romney's plan. Soledad, stop this! he shouted. All you’re doing is mimicking the stuff that comes out of the White House and gets repeated on the Democratic blog boards out there. After O'Brien explained that it was not her evaluation of the two plans, but rather the CBO's and CNN's independent analysis, Sununu said, Put an Obama bumper sticker on your forehead when you do this! This titillating little exchange provoked David Schuster to say later that it seemed like Sununu hasn't taken his medication.
*Paul Ryan is very forgetful! He forgot that he had asked for stimulus money. In a conversation with the caller during a radio interview he was doing in 2010, he said, No, I’m not one (of those) people who votes for
something then writes to the government to ask them to send us money. I did not
request any stimulus money. And then he suddenly remembered that he had left his $1 - $5 million trust off his disclosure forms until he was vetted by the Romney campaign.
*Ryan blamed President Obama for the shutdown of a GM plant in his Wisconsin hometown, saying Obama's "terrible energy
policies" led to $4 a gallon gas and the closure of the company's oldest
assembly plant, breaking the Democrat's promise to keep it open. The only problem with this little rant is that plant closed down in December 2008, while George W. Bush was still the president.
End Note
While Paul Ryan sent people to war, President Barack Obama brought them home. And all too often, they came home in flag-draped caskets.
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BONUS VIDEO (by Patrick):
One of our Californian readers just sent us the link to the following very smart and very funny video, which was published on youtube yesterday - and I am sure that Sunnyjane won't mind if we add this to her post! After all, Mitt Romney lacks proper "disclosure" on so many levels!
