Jeff Biggers’ big book night tonight at 8pm (doors open at 7)

September 28, 2012

by David Safier Jeff Biggers got some local love for his new book, "State Out of the Union: Arizona and the Final Showdown Over the American Dream." The Weekly published a long excerpt, One of Those Little Barefooted Mexican Kids, about Raúl Castro. Add that to another excerpt published in Salon last week. Tonight's the … Read more

Fact checking the mendacity of ‘Mittens’

September 28, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Time once again for Steve Benen's weekly fact check of the shameless shapeshifter and pathological liar, Willard "Mittens" Romney. Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. XXXVI:

When Mitt Romney talked to "60 Minutes" last week, he said President Obama has "repeatedly shown a reckless disregard for the truth." If there's ever been a more blatant example of political "projection," I don't can't think of it. 

And yet, Romney is increasingly invested in this. This week, several reports noted that Romney intends to use next week's debate to do some "fact check" the president. The Obama campaign, unimpressed, released a video this morning on the subject. (Video below the fold).

Of course, if the 2012 presidential race comes down to which candidate is more dishonest, Romney's in trouble. Consider, for example, the 36th installment of my weekly series, chronicling Mitt's mendacity.

1. Romney argued just yesterday that the crisis of military suicides would be made worse by looming cuts to the defense budget.

That's plainly untrue.

2. In same speech, Romney said, "You realize we have fewer ships in the Navy than any time since 1917."

This one again? Romney dropped this lie a while ago, but it's apparently back.

3. Romney went on to say, in reference to the president, "[H]is plan also calls for trillion dollar deficits."

Obama's plan calls for trillions in deficit reduction.

4. Romney added, "It is the same series of policies he's put in place over the last four years and they have not worked. And if you don't, why, look at the price of gasoline."

To blame gas prices on the president's policies is ridiculously untrue.

5. Romney also said in reference to Obama, "He's put us on a road to Europe."

The irony is, Europe is trying to grow through austerity, just as Romney intends to do here. He's lying in a self-refuting sort of way.

6. In a speech at Westerville, Ohio, Romney boasted, "We got unemployment down [in Massachusetts] to 4.7 percent."

Well, in reality, the unemployment rate in Massachusetts dropped because so many people dropped out of the state's workforce. The fact of the matter is Massachusetts' job creation record during Romney's term was "one of the worst in the country," ranking 47th out of 50 states.

Continue reading Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. XXXVI.

Vulture capitalist ‘Mittens’ Romney liked to ‘harvest’ companies for profit

September 28, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Willard "Mittens" Romney really doesn't want you to believe that he is the heartless vulture capitalist that his GOP primary opponents and the Obama campaign have portrayed him as. The problem is, Mittens never cleaned up all the evidence he left behind that proves otherwise.

David Corn at Mother Jones has another video, this one from a CD-ROM created in 1998 to mark the 25th anniversary of Bain & Company. NEW ROMNEY VIDEO: In 1985, He Said Bain Would "Harvest" Companies for Profits | Mother Jones: 

Mother Jones has obtained a video from 1985 in which Romney, describing Bain's formation, showed how he viewed the firm's mission. He explained that its goal was to identify potential and hidden value in companies, buy significant stakes in these businesses, and then "harvest them at a significant profit" within five to eight years.

The video was included in a CD-ROM created in 1998 to mark the 25th anniversary of Bain & Company, the consulting firm that gave birth to Bain Capital. Here is the full clip, as it appeared on that CD-ROM (the editing occurred within the original) (video below the fold):

Obama campaign ad: ‘My Job’

September 28, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The latest Obama campaign ad, "My Job," simply puts pictures to Willard "Mittens" Romney's own words to devastating effect.

Mitt Romney:

"There are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what …"

"… who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it …"

"… And they will vote for this president no matter what …"

"… And so my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Video below the fold.

GOP poll shows Arizona is a close race for U.S. Senate and President

September 28, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Arizona's shadow governor, Chuch Coughlin and his Highground Inc. political consulting firm, hired GOP pollster Moore Information to poll the senate and presidential races in Arizona. It looks like Arizona is a close race and the Democrats have the momentum according to the pollster and Arizona's shadow governor. GOP poll: Ariz. Democrats gaining in Presidential and Senate races:

Chuck Coughlin's political consulting firm HighGround, Inc. released a new poll showing Democrats are making a late charge in presidential and senate races. 

According to the survey, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is holding a slim lead over Democratic president Barack Obama. [The new poll poll shows Romney leading Obama 46 percent to 42 percent.]

At the same time, the survey shows Democratic Senate candidate Richard Carmona within a few points of his Republican rival, Congressman Jeff Flake. [The new poll shows Flake leading Carmona 43 percent to 40 percent.] 

The results in both races were within the margin of error, meaning it's a dead-heat heading into the last six weeks of the campaign.

* * *

Coughlin, who has a reputation as a fierce Republican political consultant, said he released the poll because he wanted voters to have a fair assessment of where the state stands right now.

"This is not going to be a landslide election one way or the other,' Coughlin said. 

* * *

Coughlin said the results of his latest survey mean these races will come down to who "can grab the momentum in the next two weeks and who can close effectively."

In the Senate race, Coughlin said it’s Carmona who has the momentum on his side. But, he warned, that can change quickly, especially for a first time candidate like Carmona. 

Recent polls show Carmona gaining on Flake appear to back up Coughlin's claims.

* * *

That same trend appears to be happening in the presidential race.

Bonus poll number from this poll: Proposition 121, the Top Two Primary ("Jungle Primary") is losing badly, with the no vote at 53%, and the yes vote at a dismal 37%.

UPDATE: HuffPo's Howard Fineman agrees Arizona's senate race is a tossup. Huffington Post: A GOP Senate Is Slip-Sliding Away: Countdown Day 40: "[T]he Carmona-Flake race is considered a tossup, and President Barack Obama, though still behind, is slowly but noticeably gaining ground."

It’s an election year, so it must be time for another Nathan Sproul voting fraud scandal

September 28, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I posted a detailed account of the illegal voting fraud scandals perpetrated by the GOP's voter suppression specialist, Arizona's own Nathan Sproul, back in 2008. GOP voter registration fraud: Mark Jacoby arrested, Nathan Sproul under investigation (again) (snippets):

Arizona's very own renowned GOP voter suppression specialist, Nathan Sproul, is back in the news. Those of us in the election integrity community have been pursuing this evil GOP bastard for years (here's a brief summary of his activites in the 2004 election (Team Bush Paid Millions to Nathan Sproul–and Tried to Hide It | BaltimoreChronicle.com), but he has been protected by the Bush "injustice" department (possibly tied to the U.S. Attorney Gate scandal, hmmm?), and the Arizona McMedia who will not investigate or report about his misdeeds because Sproul does consulting work for the McCain campaign (and many other Arizona Republicans).  Here are a number of BRAD BLOG reports on Sproul & Associates (now known as Lincoln Strategy). (A shout out to Brad Friedman!)

CNN affiliate KLAS-TV in Las Vegas reported that "Federal, state, and local officials are gathering information about allegations of voter registration fraud that were first raised by Channel 8 Eyewitness News." Las Vegas Now | Investigation into Trashed Voter Registrations:

On Tuesday afternoon, Las Vegan Eric Russell and his girlfriend took a packet of documents to the Las Vegas FBI office but left before filing a formal complaint about what Russell says was a deliberate effort to disenfranchise local voters.

Russell worked for a company called Voters Outreach of America, along with 300 other people. He says he got into a beef with the company over a pay dispute, and witnessed his bosses ripping up registration forms that had been filed by Democrats.

"They were thrown away in the trash. I grabbed them out," said Eric Russell.

* * *

In Oregon, the same company that was operating here has been criticized for its tactics in signing up voters. There, it used the name America Votes, which is actually the name of a Democratic organization.

* * *

The Campaign Legal Center provides additional background. "This company  was hired directly by the Republican National Committee.  Identical allegations were made against this company in Pennsylvania in 2004."

– Sproul's role in voter registration drives this month triggered official investigations in several other states with canvassers alleging they had been told to discard Democratic voter registration forms, leaving voters who thought they had registered off the rolls.

– The firm has a contract with the Republican National Committee to register new voters and has operated using the name Voters Outreach of America.  Sproul's chairman, Nathan Sproul, is a former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party.

– Voters Outreach of America is also under investigation in Oregon for "alteration and destruction of voter registration cards," said Anne Martens, a spokeswoman for Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury.

– The FBI and local election officals are inverstigating the allegations.