A question of character

May 29, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Willard "Mittens" Romney is set to attend a fundraiser today with the race-baiting Birther King himself, Donald Trump.

The Obama campaign is out with a new video today comparing and contrasting Romney’s refusal to distance himself from Trump with John McCain’s 2008 willingness to stand up to extremist voices within his own party. In the video, Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom claims: “A candidate can’t be responsible for everything that their supporters say.”

Of course, Donald Trump isn’t merely a “supporter.” Trump is a leading Romney surrogate and fundraiser.

Steve Benen tallies up the times Romney has failed to stand up to the right.

Chris Cillizza writes about Mitt Romney’s losing gamble on Donald Trump.

Video below the fold.

Extreme Makeover: Jesse Kelly 2.0 continues to benefit from federal stimulus money

May 29, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Tucson Weekly has been doing the fact check political reporting that the Arizona Daily Star has failed or refused to do. Today, The Arizona Republic also does the job that the Arizona Daily Star should be doing.

The Republic revisits an issue from the 2010 congressional campaign and looks at how Don Kelly Construction benefitted from federal stimulus money, of which idiot son Jesse Kelly is critical of (because it is a standardized GOP talking point — just read from the script). Way to bite the hand that feeds you. Jesse Kelly's firm benefited from stimulus he criticized:

Jesse Kelly, the Republican candidate running to replace Gabrielle Giffords in Congress, argues that President Barack Obama's economic-stimulus program failed to boost the economy through infrastructure projects and that government spending is driving the country to bankruptcy.

But the family construction company where Kelly has worked for about eight years, Don Kelly Construction Inc., has benefited from at least three contracts financed by millions in stimulus dollars and has relied almost exclusively on government-funded pipeline projects for its business.

Update: Will Montana’s challenge to Citizens United v. FEC get a hearing before SCOTUS?

May 29, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

An update to an earlier post, Will Montana's challenge to Citizens United v. FEC get a hearing before SCOTUS?

Lincoln Caplan writes about the status of the Montana Supreme Court decision challenging Citizens United v. FEC in the Sunday New York Times, Can State Laws Cohabit With Citizens United?:

The Supreme Court is expected to respond in June to a Montana Supreme Court decision upholding the state’s Corrupt Practices Act, which bans corporations from making political expenditures from their general treasuries.

American Tradition Partnership, a nonprofit group, and co-petitioners sued for a declaration that the act violates their freedom of speech. They contend the Citizens United decision so clearly invalidates the Montana law that the justices should reverse the state ruling without oral argument.

Montana, however, makes a sound and compelling argument that Citizens United, which struck down a federal ban on independent spending in political campaigns by corporations and unions, does not bar it from fighting political corruption with a carefully tailored campaign law. The Supreme Court should quickly uphold the state ruling, or hear oral argument before making a decision.

The Montana case, while about state law, deals with the central fallacy of Citizens United — that “independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.” The justices seemed to believe there would be no consequences for democracy if unlimited money flooded campaigns.

Koch is a cancer in the American body politic

May 29, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

McClatchy News has the latest reporting on the billionaire bastard Koch brothers, who are a cancer in the American body politic. Center's activities provide glimpse into network of conservative advocacy groups | McClatchy:

The financial firepower that fueled the rise of a network of conservative advocacy groups now pummeling Democrats with television ads can be traced, in part, to Box 72465 in the Boulder Hills post office, on a desert road on the northern outskirts of Phoenix.

That's the address for the Center to Protect Patient Rights, an organization with ties to Charles and David H. Koch, the billionaire brothers who bankroll a number of conservative organizations.

During the 2010 midterm election, the center sent more than $55 million to 26 GOP-allied groups, tax filings show, funding opaque outfits such as American Future Fund, 60 Plus and Americans for Job Security that were behind a coordinated campaign against Democratic congressional candidates.

The money from the center provided a sizable share of the war chest for those attacks, which included mailers in California, robo-calls in Florida and TV ads that inundated a pocket of northeastern Iowa. The organizations it financed poured at least $46 million into election-related communications in the 2010 cycle, among other expenditures.

In that campaign, outside groups – the vast majority backing Republicans – reported spending a record $304 million, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Never Forget

May 28, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: As President Obama noted in his remarks at the Vietnam War Memorial this Memorial Day, there are 1,666 Americans still missing in action (MIA) from the Vietnam War. Of course, there are still many Americans MIA from all previous wars. A memorable made for television movie by CBS, Sole Survivor (1970) — … Read more