Media fail at the Arizona Daily Star continues
May 25, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Jesse Kelly is avoiding the media like the plague, just as he did in 2010. Everything comes through his campaign spokespersons, one of whom is the Arizona Daily Star's former talentless hack political reporter, Daniel Scarpinato, who somehow fell upwards to land a job with the RNCC after blowing a tailor-made election for Jonathan "Payday" Paton in 2010 by losing to the political neophyte Jesse Kelly in the GOP primary (I mean really, how else does one explain this other than utter incompetence?)
Scarpinato's value to the Kelly campaign is his open door access at the Arizona Daily Star to an equally highly disappointing political reporter, Brady McCombs, who rotely reports whatever Scarpinato provides him in stenogrpaphic fashion. If McCombs had a lick of common sense he would avoid the obvious and transparent link between Star alumnus, which destroys the credibilty of the Arizona Daily Star as an objective news source. That goes double for the editors of the Star.
A line in today's reporting: "Scarpinato and the GOP have been trying to link Barber to Obama and what they call his 'job-destroying policies' throughout the campaign." McCombs does not correct this GOP falsehood.
The overall economy has now added over 2 million jobs over the last year, and nearly 3.5 million jobs over the last three years. For America's private sector, it's 2.3 million over the last year, and 4 million over the last three years.
Incidentally, the 8.1% unemployment rate is the lowest since before President Obama took office…
Here's another chart, this one showing monthly job losses/gains in just the private sector since the start of the Great Recession. That's 26 consecutive months of private sector job growth.
The Bush Years Were a Lost Decade of job growth. It was faith based supply-side "trickle down" GOP economics that gave us the Bush Great Recession. Bush is the first president since Herbert Hoover to leave office with fewer jobs than when he entered office. "Mittens" Romney promises Bushonomics "on steroids."
Jesse Kelly Psychotically Dodging Questions On ALIPAC Endorsement
May 24, 2012
By Michael Bryan This story has already been picked up nationally by the Maddow Blog, and I expect it will air on the Rachel Maddow Show. Locally, Jim Nintzel posted on it at The Range Blog. Rachel recently did a segment on idiot Congresscritter Mike Coffman who was caught by a reporter mindlessly mouthing his … Read more
Rep. Trent Franks, ‘Mayor’ of Washington, D.C.
May 24, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Rep. Trent Franks is Arizona's most embarrassing congessman by far, he just doesn't get the kind of media attention the others do. Last week Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) held Congressional hearings on a bill that would prevent doctors in D.C. from performing abortions after 20 weeks (the bill the Arizona legislature recently … Read more
Dr Richard Carmona Blasts the Arizona Birthers
May 24, 2012
By Michael Bryan Dr. Richard Carmona published an op/ed on the Capital Times today (outside their paywall) that criticizes the rash of birther news coming from Arizona's conservative politicians. He writes, in part: "Many observers have blamed this rash of birther “investigations” in Arizona on career politicians pandering to the extremes. They posit that it must … Read more
What the Heck is “Completely Out of Bounds” About ALIPAC’s Endorsement of Jesse Kelly?
May 23, 2012
By Michael Bryan Why is Jesse Kelly so freaked about being endorsed by Americans for Legal Immigration (ALIPAC)? Maybe because the Anti-Defamation League reports ALIPAC is backed by white supremacists, neo-Nazis and anti-Semites? Maybe because Senator John McCain demanded J.D. Hayworth renounce his own endorsement by ALIPAC during his Sentorial primary challenge to McCain, because of … Read more
The GOP Women’s Policy Committee
May 23, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
So the Tea-Publican response to the GOPs "war on women" is to form a Women's Policy Committee and put a female face on their misogynist anti-woman policies. "How can there be a war on women if women are sponsoring these misogynist GOP policies?" (The Arizona legislature has used this tactic for years).
Tea-Publicans insult your intelligence. They think you are stupid and you will fall for this kind of crap. As Steve Benen writes, The 'Women's Policy Committee' gets to work:
The "war on women" didn't catch on as a national phenomenon because GOP officials are invariably men; it caught on after Republicans in Virginia decided to mandate medically-unnecessary, trans-vaginal ultrasounds for women who want to undergo a legal medical procedure.
In recent months, Republicans at the state and federal level and have been fighting to restrict contraception; cut off Planned Parenthood; approving sweeping new restrictions on abortion; playing games with the Violence Against Women Act; denying the existence of gender-based pay discrimination and rolling back pay-equity laws.
When it came time for House Republicans to pay for lower student loan interest rates, GOP officials decided to get the funding by cutting access to breast cancer and cervical cancer screenings.
And in nearly all relevant instances, every member of this new Women's Policy Committee voted with their far-right male counterparts.
If these lawmakers think a committee and a video will help improve the political circumstances, they don't yet understand that this is about public policy, not perceptions about gender diversity. If they want to close the gender gap, they need to change the substance, not the style.
The Women's Policy Commttee video has the feel of an SNL ad skit, and reminded me of this earlier ad from the creative minds at Funny or Die. (Video below the fold – not work safe).
The CBO has suddenly made everyone Keynesians again
May 23, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reminded everyone yesterday that on December 31 all of the Bush-era tax rates will expire, as will the Obama-era payroll tax "holiday." At the same time, thanks to the failure of the congressional "supercommittee" last October, $1.2 trillion in automatic budget cuts will kick in, half to come from the military budget, and half to come from domestic programs. the colloquial term for this event has become known as "Taxmageddon." CBO report: Taxmageddon would throw U.S. back into recession.
Steve Benen writes, Maybe we really are all Keynesians now:
Yesterday, the CBO told policymakers that if the deadline comes, tax rates go up, and spending goes down, the deficit will shrink very quickly — but the economy will probably contract and slip into a recession.
And wouldn't you know it, the CBO has suddenly made everyone Keynesians again.
A giant austerity bomb is timed to go off at the beginning of next year, and the threat of significantly higher taxes and lower spending has Republicans running around the Capitol sounding more like John Maynard Keynes than John Boehner.
Automatic, across-the-board reductions to domestic and defense spending, combined with the looming expiration of the Bush tax cuts, will dramatically consolidate the budget in the next calendar year, if Congress does nothing. And despite bemoaning deficits throughout the Obama years, the GOP's suddenly come around to the view that cutting government spending is a job killer.
Republicans have argued, practically every day since Jan. 20, 2009, that there's a "debt crisis" that threatens the very fabric of civilization. This "crisis" will not only crush our children's future, conservatives have argued, the budget shortfall, created largely by GOP policies, is killing jobs and holding back the economy today.
But they don't mean it. If Republicans were sincere about this, yesterday's CBO report would be seen as great news — after all, the automatic cuts and higher tax rates would not only shrink the deficit immediately, it would prevent trillions of dollars in new debt over the next decade.
