The Commentariat -- August 13, 2014
Internal links, photo & related text removed.
Fred Kaplan of Slate: What President Obama is doing to protect the Kurds "has nothing to do with getting drawn back into the Iraq war.... The main reason for Kurdistan's stability is that in 1970 the U.S. and Iraqi governments decreed it an autonomous area. More relevant still, after the 1991 Gulf War, the U.N. Security Council, in, Resolution 688, declared the area a 'safe haven' to protect Kurds from Saddam Hussein's wrath. (He had killed thousands of Kurds with chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.) And the United States agreed to enforce the resolution with a 'no-fly zone.'" ...
... Martin Matishak of the Hill: "Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said Tuesday that open-ended military actions, like President Obama's airstrikes in Iraq, should require congressional approval, and that a bill he's proposed would ensure that is the case. Kaine said that while he supports the U.S. humanitarian mission underway in Iraq, 'it is now up to the administration to receive Congressional authorization for the current air campaign against' the group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)."
Bryce Covert of Think Progress: "The jobs that have been added to the economy during the recovery pay 23 percent less, on average, than those that were lost in the recession, according to a report from The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM).... The report is the latest to confirm that while job growth has been strong lately, the types of jobs being added may not support working families.... The USCM report also highlights growing income inequality, as the richest bracket saw a $490 billion gain in total income in 2012 while all of the lower groups saw a decline.... Things are only forecast to be worse, though. One in four workers are projected to be in low-wage jobs over the next decade."
Amy Goodnough of the New York Times: "More than 300,000 people who bought subsidized health insurance under the Affordable Care Act could lose it next month if they do not provide proof that they are living in the United States legally, the Obama administration said Tuesday."
Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "A legislative year in which Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio set out to publicly marginalize the more vocal right-wing members of his conference ended with them emboldened, and with new leaders ready to bring the right back into the fold.... On Capitol Hill, the Tea Party wing continues to drive the party's agenda." ...
... White-White-Whitey-White. Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "According to U.S. Census data, only 13 out of 234 Republican-held districts are majority-minority (that is, districts where white non-Hispanics make up less than 50 percent of the population). That's about 5 percent of all Republican districts. In contrast, fully 49 percent of Democrat-held districts are majority-minority." Thanks to Nisky Guy for link.
Immigration attorney David Leopold in the Hill: "As long as the administrative decision to defer the removal of a group of undocumented immigrants is legitimately aimed at more efficient use of law enforcement resources, it arguably falls well within the president's discretion.... In fact, presidents of both parties have used categorical grants of deferred action to postpone the deportation of large groups of undocumented immigrants, including abused women, hurricane victims and refugees. Therefore, to violate the constitution, the president's action must be a dramatic, extraordinary departure from universally accepted exercises of executive discretion. DACA or its expansion don't even come close." ...
... Elise Foley & Sam Stein of the Huffington Post: "In a newly released memo, the Democratic opposition research firm American Bridge highlights 10 instances in which past presidents have used their authority to apply selective prosecution of immigration laws. More often than not, those instances targeted specific populations caught up in complex and dangerous foreign policy crises. But immigration lawyers sympathetic to the White House say that these actions still provide sound principle on which the current administration can act." The American Bridge memo is here. ...
... ** Alberto Gonzales! in a USA Today op-ed: "In spite of this humanitarian crisis and the economic burdens it creates for state and local governments, recently members of Congress failed to pass legislation to address these issues before heading home for the August recess. In response, the President announced that he will take executive action even though he previously professed publicly his power to deal with the influx of young immigrants was limited. I support the President's commitment to address this issue provided his actions are consistent with his duty under the Constitution to faithfully execute our laws." Via Paul Waldman. ...
... Oh, and This: AP: "Looking to make inroads with the rising number of Hispanic voters, conservative activists are offering English classes, health checkups and courses to help Spanish-speakers earn high school diplomas. Picking up part of the tab: Charles and David Koch.... Enter the Libre Initiative, an organization that has collected millions from the Kochs' political network. Libre, which means 'free,' pushes a message of limited government and economic freedom between lessons on how to build family-run businesses and prayer breakfasts with Hispanic pastors.... In effect, it is a shadow GOP -- one with a gentle emphasis on social services and assimilation over a central party often seen as hostile to immigrants and minorities."
James Bamford of Wired has a long piece on an interview with Ed Snowden, which begins with a lot of stuff on how the author arranged the meeting, etc. CW: That's as far as I got. Also, artsy photos of Ed, including a ridiculous cover wherein Ed fondles a bunched-up American flag while staring blankly into the abyss through crooked Russian-issue glasses. ...
... Apparently somewhere in the profile those who bother to read it learn that, according to Snowden, NSA hackers are monumental fuck-ups. Dustin Volz of the National Journal: "The National Security Agency inadvertently brought Syria's Internet to a screeching halt nationwide in 2012 after a failed attempt to hack into the war-torn country's communications data, according to a new claim by Edward Snowden.... It is unclear which blackout Snowden is referencing, but any blackout would have the potential to disrupt communications among fractured rebel groups and aid the Assad regime." ...
... AND the Fuck-ups Are Dangerous. Kim Tummarello of the Hill: "The United States has a secret cybersecurity program dubbed 'MonsterMind' that is designed to detect and automatically respond to threats, according to former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. The program -- which had never before been revealed -- is capable of intercepting all foreign communications to people in the U.S., detecting and disarming cyberattacks and can 'automatically fire back, with no human involvement,' Wired reported in a lengthy profile of Snowden published Wednesday. The program was the 'last straw' for Snowden, who remains a wanted man in the United States for leaking reams of information about secret intelligence programs. Snowden warned an automatic program like MonsterMind could harm innocent countries, as cyberattacks are often routed through computers in other places. 'You could have someone sitting in China, for example, making it appear that one of these attacks is originating in Russia,' Snowden said. 'And then we end up shooting back at a Russian hospital. What happens next?'"
Congressional Races
Shane Goldmacher of the National Journal: "The National Republican Congressional Committee, which came under fire earlier this year for a deceptive series of fake Democratic candidate websites that it later changed after public outcry, has launched a new set of deceptive websites, this time designed to look like local news sources. The NRCC has created about two dozen of these new faux news sites targeting Democrats, both challengers and incumbents, and is promoting them across the country with localized Google search ads." CW: Just another iteration of traditional GOP phony.
AP: "Businessman Mike McFadden has won Minnesota's Republican Senate primary and will take on Sen. Al Franken in November. McFadden defeated retiring state Rep. Jim Abeler and several lesser-known candidates in Tuesday's primary." ...
... Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: McFadden "will begin the general-election campaign as an underdog against Sen. Al Franken (D). Franken easily defeated his primary challenger."
Greg Sargent: The Iraq War becomes an issue in the Iowa Senate race, with Republican Joni Ernst arguing that the U.S. should not have withdrawn troops from Iraq, & Demo Bruce Brayley characterizing her as a Dick Cheney Republican.
Rebecca Berg of the Washington Examiner: The Koch brothers-funded "Freedom Partners, this week canceled its reserved television air time in Michigan for the remainder of the summer and the fall, according to one Democrat who monitors ad buys -- effectively conceding the [Senate] fight [between Democrat Gary Peters & Republican Terri Lynn Land] in a state some Republicans are cautiously optimistic could turn in their favor.... The ad time the group had reserved in Michigan totaled roughly $1 million." Peters has been ahead in most polls by only 4 points. Via Greg Sargent.
Thanks, Wingnuts! Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Republicans are in a hurry to stop talking about impeachment ... because it's killing the GOP among swing voters.... The House GOP's lawsuit against Obama's use of executive orders is turning out to be a political loser too. In fact, it's not much more popular than impeachment.... What's even worse for Republicans when it comes to both impeachment and the lawsuit is that they don't even have the effect you might think on the GOP base. They do, however, motivate liberals."
Mark Sommerhauser of the St. Cloud (Minnesota) Times: "Republican Tom Emmer coasted to victory Tuesday night in the primary election for the GOP nomination to succeed U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann.... Emmer advances to the November general election with DFL candidate Joe Perske and the Independence Party's John Denney. Perske and Denney were unopposed in the primary.... Emmer now becomes the general-election favorite in the solidly Republican 6th District."
Gubernatorial Races
Jason Stein of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Mary Burke cruised to victory Tuesday in the Democratic primary race for governor, setting up one of the most closely watched midterm races in the country between the former bicycle executive and Gov. Scott Walker. Burke, a Madison School Board member and former state commerce secretary, never faced a threat in her primary race against state Rep. Brett Hulsey (D-Madison)." ...
... Sean Sullivan: "Polls show Walker has a real race on his hands against Burke. A recent Marquette Law School survey showed Walker (46 percent) and Burke (47 percent) in a dead heat."
Patrick Condon of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: "Republicans chose Jeff Johnson on Tuesday to be their candidate for governor, betting that the mild-mannered political veteran is the party's best chance to unseat Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton in November. Johnson, a Hennepin County commissioner from Plymouth, led a four-man field throughout the night and, with 99 percent of the counted, emerged victorious with 30 percent of the vote." According to Sean Sullivan (story linked above), Dayton "is favored to win."
Karyn Bruggeman of the National Journal: "Less than two years after the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School..., the package of gun laws passed posthaste by the Connecticut Legislature in April 2013 is poised to play a significant role in the race between Gov. Dan Malloy and his Republican opponent, Tom Foley.... Connecticut's gun laws played almost no role in the state's gubernatorial contest four years ago, when Malloy narrowly beat Foley by 6,404 votes, but that's bound to change this year now that the governor is focusing on his leadership in the aftermath of the shooting and using the issue as a wedge in an otherwise deadlocked race. The most recent public opinion poll, conducted in May by Quinnipiac University, had the candidates tied at 43 percent apiece.... Malloy's embrace of the issue could vex Foley, who has yet to articulate a clear stance on the state's bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, in the fall campaign. Indeed, the May Quinnipiac survey found that 56 percent of Connecticut voters support the state's new, stricter gun laws, while just 38 percent stand opposed." ...
... Update. Christopher Keating, et al., of the Hartford Courant: "Greenwich business executive Tom Foley roared to victory Tuesday night in a low-turnout Republican gubernatorial primary, setting up a potentially contentious rematch with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy this fall that polls show will start off as a dead heat."
Presidential Election
Frank Rich compares & contrasts Hillary Clinton's boring book Hard Choices to Edward Klein's "complete crap" book Blood Feud: the Clintons vs. the Obamas. "You can't fault a reader for wanting to spend time with Klein's two-fisted Hillary rather than the often robotic self-censoring bureaucrat of Hard Choices. Both these Hillarys are in essence fictional creations crafted for the marketplace -- one embellished with camp to sell books, the other embalmed with civic virtue to win votes -- so in the end, it all comes down to which kind of fiction you prefer. The real Hillary, whomever [sic!] she may be, is scantly visible in either book." Thanks to MAG for the link. ...
... CW: The only Hillary we wil ever see is the one reacting to her most recent bad press. After we made fun of her for a foreign policy platform that consisted of "telling America's story," which she proffered on the "Daily Show," her response was (a 100 percent scripted Colbert performance &) a tough-broad foreign policy interview. When people criticized her for dissing the President in the Goldberg interview, Clinton let it be known that she planned to "hug it out" with Obama at a posh Vineyard party. And so it goes. It is unreasonable to expect a presidential candidate to be candid, but Hillary's canned persona is not the usual product of campaign ops, like the fake Michelle Nunn her campaign proposed to present; rather, the fake Hillary is a reactive -- and therefore inconsistent (nearly amorphous) -- charade.
Paul Waldman in the American Prospect: Hillary "Clinton says that a [foreign policy] doctrine is necessary (though she doesn't use that word). The trouble is, she won't actually say what hers would be, other than to say she'd have one.... The appeal and the danger of doctrines is that they simplify decision-making, assuring you that there's only one reasonable choice in complex situations and unintended consequences aren't something to worry your head over." ...
... Maureen Dowd: "Hillary Clinton was one of the 29 Democratic senators who voted to authorize that baloney war.... It's not that she's too old.... It's that she's too old-think, thrusting herself forward as a hawk at a time when hawks -- in the season of Elizabeth Warren and Rand Paul -- aren't so cool. Americans are sick of the idea that we should plunge in and plant our flag in the ground and work out the details later.... Besides, a Times article by Tim Arango and Eric Schmitt [also linked here yesterday] demonstrated that 'at every turn' the rise of ISIS's self-styled caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been shaped by the United States’ involvement in Iraq -- putting the ball of blame back in Hillary's court.... David Axelrod tartly tweeted: 'Just to clarify: "Don't do stupid stuff" means stuff like occupying Iraq in the first place, which was a tragically bad decision.'" ...
... Sam Stein: "... several Democrats insisted the rift [between Hillary Clinton & President Obama] may underwhelm.... On the issue of Syria, Obama and Clinton ended up largely in the same place. While Obama clearly moved slower than Clinton wanted, he did end up sending arms to the rebels -- even if he thought it was futile. In June, he asked for $500 million more.... And while Clinton may have expressed regret that the administration moved slowly to put its imprint on Syria's civil war, she peppered her position with skepticism ('I totally understand the cautions that we had to contend with') and drew limits to U.S. involvement."
Beyond the Beltway
Trymaine Lee of msnbc reports the account of Dorian Johnson, the closest eyewitness to the police shooting death of Michael Brown. The Ferguson, Missouri, police are still withholding the identity of the shooter. ...
... Marina Koren of the National Journal: "President Obama released a statement late Tuesday afternoon, calling the shooting death of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Mo., police officer on Saturday 'heartbreaking.' ... Also on Tuesday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration announced flight restrictions over Ferguson, banning pilots from flying less than 3,000 feet above the St. Louis suburb until Monday. The reason given for the no-fly was 'to provide a safe environment for law enforcement activities.'"
The Brownback "Miracle," Ctd. Reid Wilson of the Washington Post: "The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday said it would file charges against the state of Kansas, alleging that bond documents failed to disclose just how much of the state's pension system was underfunded.... It's the latest blow to Kansas's bond ratings, which have already been downgraded this year by Moody's and Standard & Poor's. Those downgrades had to do with projected budget deficits after a [Gov. Sam] Brownback-supported tax cut left a projected $330 million hole in the state budget."
Andrew Cain of the Richmond Times-Dispatch: "Bob McDonnell and his sister were desperate to unload costly Virginia Beach rental properties as the economy tanked in 2009, according to newly released emails today." ...
... Rosalind Helderman & Matt Zapotosky have the Washington Post story. CW: I have not been able to access the WashPo all day. I was finally able to call up this story using a trick (Control+F5), but I can't copy & paste text. The link may not work for you, either. ...
... I'm not the only one having trouble. Commenters at this site complain, too. One of them has diagnosed the problem: "Dana Milbank wrote a column that is unfavorable to the Obama Administration today. Maybe that's why we can't access the site." Yeah, that's probably it. ...
... Brian Tashman of Right Wing Watch: "Today on 'The 700 Club,' Pat Robertson and Jay Sekulow did their best to paint the former Republican governor of Virginia as the victim of a 'political prosecution,' decrying his corruption trial as a 'political witch hunt' spearheaded by Attorney General Eric Holder. Robertson alleged, without any evidence, that Holder wanted to stop Mitt Romney from tapping McDonnell as his running mate in 2012 and is 'behind all of this stuff.'" ...
... More from Right Wing World
Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday tied Robin Williams' death, which sheriffs believe was a suicide, to the 'leftist worldview.'" CW: Curiously, Rush claims that leftists are never happy; we're "always angry about something." Um, doesn't Rush spend most of his show yelling & haranguing about stuff? Doesn't he seem -- angry? All the time? Maybe he's a leftist in disguise. Excellent disguise. He has me fooled.
News Ledes
Guardian: "Hamas and Israel have agreed five more days of truce to allow further talks after a tense final countdown to the end of the current 72-hour ceasefire on Wednesday night. The current truce, which is the eighth bid to stop the five-week long war, had been due to expire at midnight, and rocket fire on Israel two hours before its end prompted fears of a new outbreak of violence." ...
... AFP: "Israeli aircraft carried out air strikes across Gaza early Thursday in response to Palestinian rocket fire and shortly after a new ceasefire brokered by Egypt came into effect, officials said."
Los Angeles Times: "Militants with the Islamic State group seized several towns in northern Syria's Aleppo province early Wednesday, dealing a blow to rival rebel factions who were forced to withdraw from areas they took this year, according to fighters reached near the front line. With the capture of the strategic town of Akhtarin and a few surrounding villages, fighters with the breakaway Al Qaeda group have moved farther west and now threaten to cut off the rebels' main access highway to neighboring Turkey."
Guardian: "The death toll from conflict in eastern Ukraine has doubled in the past fortnight, the UN's human rights office said on Wednesday, as international wrangling continued over a controversial Russian aid convoy to the region. The UN office said its 'very conservative estimates' suggested the death toll has risen to 2,086 by the beginning of this week, up from 1129 on 26 July. About 5,000 people had been injured, it said, in figures that represented 'a clear escalating trend' of violence in the east." ...
... AFP: "After earlier vowing to block a massive Russian convoy headed for its borders, Kiev said it could allow the aid to enter the country after it was inspected by Ukrainian border guards and foreign monitors."
AP: "An Associated Press video journalist and a freelance Palestinian translator were killed Wednesday when ordnance left over from the Israeli-Hamas war exploded as they were reporting on the conflict's aftermath. Simone Camilli and Ali Shehda Abu Afash died when an unexploded missile believed to have been dropped in an Israeli airstrike blew up as Gaza police engineers were working to neutralize it in the northern town of Beit Lahiya."
Share Article
Reader Comments (9)
Maybe the Washington Post doesn't want you to post a link to this:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/08/12/95-of-republican-house-districts-are-majority-white/
The title says it all, but the article has graphs and facts. I assume Christopher Ingraham, the author of this article, is not related to Laura Ingraham.
The more I watch and read about Hillary Clinton, the more I'm inclined to agree with Marie's recent assessment that she is no shoe in. She has had a looooong time to develop a presidential campaign strategy. She's been to the rodeo before and gotten thrown so she knows what to expect and how to avoid most of the horse shit. But that doesn't mean she'll dispense with all those shovels of bull shit.
Maybe it's part of the plan, but if the idea is to keep her sealed in armor giving out with canned, carefully prepared and edited responses, scrubbed clean of any possible errors, along with policy, personality and humanity, I'm already feeling queasy. In a way, I get the whys for this kind of strategy. The Clintons underwent eight years of what must have been a daily, grinding misery. Of course Bill let them in for a large helping of that, but even without Gennifer Flowers and Monica Lewinsky they still had targets on their backs. When wealthy scumbags like Richard Mellon Scaife are throwing tens of millions of dollars around to find any way to get you, when they accuse you of murdering your friends, of treason, TrooperGate, Whitewater, TravelGate, and the slimy effluence from what really was a vast right-wing conspiracy, you develop a fierce protectiveness, or you fall apart.
Add to all the card carrying Hillary haters the garden variety wingnut misogynists and the virulent daily attacks, and it's easy to see why someone would want to keep their distance. But turning yourself into a robot isn't the answer. We criticized Romney for his soulless, scripted presentations, and I would be equally critical if Hillary went that route.
I'm not sure that will entirely be the case, but the guardedness will provide further ammunition to the Fox bots that she's hiding something (BENGHAZI!! ain't going away). Her ham-handed attempt to distance herself from Obama has already struck many as uncalled for, and there may be a lot more of that. She doesn't have to wear an "I Love Barack" button on the campaign trail, but she also doesn't want to look like a back-stabbing opportunist.
Christ, I'm already weary of 2016 and we've still got two years of this to go.
If it's gonna be Hillary, and I don't see anyone else on the Democratic horizon, I hope she has a better strategy locked away somewhere ready for quick deployment, 'cause I'm not likin' this one very much. She's had a lot of time to figure out how to do this, and if it doesn't get any better than this, we'd all better pray that her opponent implodes within hours of the convention, otherwise those famously feckless "independent" voters may vote against her just because, and then we're fucked.
One thing's for sure. If she does get elected, the wingnuts will totally lose their shit. First a black president, then the ignominy of a woman in the White House--and a Clinton to boot! Right-wing rage? We ain't see nothin' yet.
And speaking of right-wing rage...
Screaming, angry right-winger claims that left-wingers are angry screamers.
I know. It's silly, isn't it. Stupid, really. But Rush Limbaugh's latest cry-baby tirade offers a look at how things work in right-wing world.
Every bad thing in the world comes from liberals. So Robin Williams' problems are all about a left-wing worldview. Now surely there must be something to back up such an amazing statement. Don't worry. Rush has impeccable sources. Where does he go to "prove" he's right? Why, Fox News, natch.
"I mean, right here there’s a story on Fox News website. Do you know, it says right here, that the real reasons that Robin Williams killed himself are he was embarrassed at having to take television roles after a sterling movie career."
But that's not good enough so the Fox story changes. (Not to mention the fact that television has become a desired destination for many actors. And who believes he killed himself because of a TV show? TV is where he got his first big break.)
"Right here it says that one the contributing factors to Robin Williams deciding to kill himself was “survivor’s guilt.” It’s in the headline."
Oh, shit, well, if it's in a Fox headline, it must be true.
"I read that and I thought, “Survivor’s guilt? What? What survivor’s guilt? What?” So I read it, and it turns out that three of his closest friends, the story says — Christopher Reeve, John Belushi, and Andy Kaufman… The source, unnamed in the story, said that Robin Williams felt guilty that he was still alive while his three friends had died young and much earlier than he had. He could never get over the guilt that they died and he didn’t."
So, an unnamed source in a story invented by Fox sums up Robin Williams' life for Rush Limbaugh. The right-wing way is to fit everything into nice neat boxes labeled "Good" and "Bad". But the wingers weren't through with Williams.
Over on Fox, he was attacked as a coward. Shep Smith decided that anyone who opts for suicide is a coward because, I assume, Christians believe this and because Jesus.
Neither Limbaugh nor Smith, nor, apparently, anyone else in right-wing world have any real sympathy for anyone with depression and addiction because, I'm guessing, those are the signs of a weak person. Forget that Limbaugh himself is an addict. He can so you should too. And it can't just be depression because that doesn't allow for the inclusion of "left-wing worldview" as the reason for Williams' death. It can't be messy and difficult and tragic, it has to be EZ to understand. Good and Bad.
Who says so? Fox news and Rush Limbaugh, that's who. In the crazy not-so-fun house mirror world of right-wingers, if one winger says something, it must be true, no matter how ridiculous and unfounded, this bullshit is then shot into the echo chamber, repeated and embroidered with more globs of bullshit and voila, the "truth". Right-wing style.
No extra charge for the angry screaming.
There is an excellent post on Daily Kos drilling down, especially, on President Obama's articulate, detailed response to a reporter who queried whether it is true we should have left more troops in Iraq. This is the author's concluding paragraph:
"The above news conference has not received the coverage it deserves. Instead, long debunked statements and actions by neocons (Senator John McCain and Lindsey Graham and neocon lites like Hillary Clinton) are given coverage without the appropriate historical and journalistic analysis. America must not fall into war based on the same faulty analysis and lies of the past. "
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/12/1320975/-Obama-slams-reporter-s-Right-Wing-adopted-talking-point-as-bogus-and-wrong
@Victoria D. Video of President Obama's press briefing is in the August 11 Commentariat below. The question comes in at about 18:49 min. The transcript is here.
The Daily Kos poster, Egberto Willies, obviously has not been reading the Right Wing News, which covered Obama's remarks extensively. Why? Because these people simply do not believe that Obama should have honored the agreement they reluctantly admit George W. Bush signed. (Most pundits -- and Fox "News," of course -- simply ignore Bush's agreement, & go right into blaming Obama, calling him a liar, etc.) Ergo, the gist of all of the winger commentary was, of course -- It's all Obama's fault.
It is impossible to have any sort of dialog with people who ignore basic facts.
Marie
Whoa, Scott Walker is in a dead heat in the Wisconsin governor's race.
Here come the dirty tricks! And the Koch money. And Koch dirty tricks as well.
Dirty tricks and untraceable money, the Republican Way. Wonder what they'll try this time? Last time around one of their dirty tricks involved shutting down communications (phone and internet service) to his opponent's campaign headquarters. This guy has been running sleazy campaigns since college (he didn't finish, by the way...if they weren't going to let Scotty cheat, then to hell with them).
It's not like he can run on his record. Like his fellow wingnut gov in Brownbackistan, Walker's record on the economy, especially job creation, is pitiful. According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the year before Walker slithered into office, job creation in Wisconsin was about 40% higher than the national average. After a few years of good ol' Republican economic know-how and Walker stewardship, Wisconsin is now 40% below the national average. A complete turnaround drop in job creation, downwards, of course, and it only took him less than three years! Holy crap cheeseheads, four more years and your job creation will drop below the event horizon. Good thing he killed those unions! And good thing you all voted for him in that recall election.
Dirty tricks, lousy economic performance, and regular kowtowing obeisance to the Koch brothers (which is proof positive that those guys don't give a rat's ass about job creation or the economic growth of anything but their own bottom line).
Way to go, Wisconsin Republicans!
Marie links to a story about the NRCC developing phony websites disguised as non-partisan news sources in order to eviscerate Democratic candidates and hoist the flag for equally phony Republican mountebanks and scum-a-banks.
Interestingly, an article on Salon, by Simon Maloy--who should fucking know better--describes this GOP indoctrination effort as Republicans getting into "the propaganda game" as if they've been anything but prior to this latest adventure in oleaginous mendacity.
Sorry, Simon. Where THE fuck have you been?
The GOP has been the Grand Old Propaganda party for decades.
People, can we all, please, not try to diminish the quotidian effrontery of conservatives even more than they do?
Sheesh!
The guy that "was shocked by blowjobs" and his friends promote this video of a talking dog being denied some good eats. The blowjob guy loves this so much he is reduced to tears. I didn't even laugh. I'm worried––have I lost my sense of humor or is their kind of "laugh till you cry" funny just not my cup of tea?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AMpugNjTKk&feature=youtu.be
PD: I didn't find the dog video funny. My overwhelming desire was to give that lovely pup the damn bacon.
Didn't recognize the guy in tears, though, so I missed your reference.