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Showing posts with label demonizingrepublicans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label demonizingrepublicans. Show all posts

Hecklers at Romney events are getting paid to heckle him

With all the discussion over the last week about someone heckling Obama (really a reporter saying that he thought that Obama was finished and who tried to ask a question), it was interesting to see this claim.

The protesters popping up at Mitt Romney's rallies throughout Michigan Tuesday look like run-of-the-mill grassroots liberals — they wave signs about "the 99 percent," they chant about the Republican's greed, and they describe themselves as a loosely organized coalition of "concerned citizens."
They're also getting paid, two of the protesters and an Obama campaign official told BuzzFeed.
At the candidate's afternoon stop outside a bakery in DeWitt, a group of about 15 protesters stood behind a police barricade, a few of them chanting in support of Obama. Asked why he was protesting, a man dressed in a grim reaper costume pointed a reporter to a pair of "designated representatives" standing in the shade.
"I can't talk, you gotta get one of those people over there to talk to y'all," he said. "They're the ones who can talk to reporters."
Neither of the representatives agreed to give their names, but two protesters said they were getting paid to stand outside of the rally, though their wage is unclear: one said she was getting $7.25 per hour, while another man said they were being paid $17 per hour.
Meanwhile, about 50 feet away, another protest had been organized by local Democrats in conjunction with the Obama campaign. A campaign official told BuzzFeed they had nothing to do with the other group — which he said he believed they had been sent by the labor-backed "Good Jobs Now" — and confirmed that they were being paid. . . .
So given how upset Obama was with the reporter from the Daily Caller, will Obama call on unions to stop paying these people to heckle Romney? 


CNN reports a call from David Axelrod for Obama supporters to stop heckling Romney.  Do you think that if he was serious, that unions would really stop paying people to heckle Romney?  A tape of the CNN broadcast discussion starts at 9:55 into this segment of the Jon Stewart show.



Congressional Democrat accuses Republicans of "murder"

Congressional Democrat accuses Republicans of "murder"

One would think that a give away to the oil industry would increase their profits and thus increase their incentive to produce oil and thus lower price, but according to Democrats that isn't how things work.  From Roll Call:
 . . . The legislation is a “monstrosity,” a “Trojan horse,” an “all-out assault” on the environment and a “massive giveaway” to the oil industry that would not lower gas prices by “one cent,” the two lawmakers said.But while the criticisms were aimed squarely at the GOP, the words might also sting for a small group of Democrats who voted for the bills of which the energy package is comprised. . . .
In every case, the bills received some Democratic votes, and one bill was reported via unanimous consent.
In the Energy and Commerce panel, Democratic Reps. Mike Ross(Ark.), Jim Matheson (Utah) and John Barrow (Ga.) voted for several of the bills. During consideration of H.R. 4880, one of the bills that came before Energy and Commerce, an amendment of Waxman’s was adopted by voice vote.
In the Natural Resources panel, Democratic Reps. Peter DeFazio (Ore.), Dan Boren (Okla.) and Jim Costa (Calif.) voted for some of the bills.
H.R. 2752, included in the package, was reported out of Natural Resources by unanimous consent. . . .
. . . Waxman said “a couple of Democrats who may have voted for these bills does not make it bipartisan legislation. These are Republican partisan proposals advanced by the Republican leadership.”
Continuing his response, Waxman upped the ante, saying Republicans are “getting away — literally — with murder” because of their record on the environment.
“Some of these pollutants do harm, and they may even lead to fatalities,” Waxman said. . . .
Obama attacks and completely misquotes two Republican congressmen

Obama attacks and completely misquotes two Republican congressmen

Democrats object strongly to the Republicans paying for the lower student loan interest rates with cuts to Obamacare and Republicans object to imposing new payroll taxes on some small businesses earning more than $250,000.  But even the Washington Post had a hard time with Obama's claims of what the Republicans were arguing:

Two Republican members of Congress are striking back at President Obama for personally targeting them in recent speeches about keeping student loan rates low.
Both claim Obama misrepresented them in citing comments suggesting they oppose keeping student loan rates at 3.4 percent, rather than allowing them to revert to 6.8 percent on July 1.
It is somewhat unusual for a sitting president to single out individual rank-and-file members of the opposition party for criticism and scorn in public speeches, and both rejected his comments Thursday. . . .
On Monday, Obama mocked Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) . . . for saying that those with student debt are sitting on their butts having opportunity dumped in their lap.
“I’m going to quote this because I know you guys will think I’m making it up,” Obama said at the University of North Carolina. “She said she had ‘very little tolerance for people who tell me they graduate with debt because there’s no reason for that.’”
But Obama dropped a few words from Foxx’s comment on the G. Gordon Liddy radio show. Foxx told Liddy she had “very little tolerance for people who tell me that they graduate with $200,000 of debt or even $80,000 of debt because there’s no reason for that” — apparently limiting her comments to those who take on large amounts of debt for school. . . .
 Obama also went after Missouri's Todd Akin:

At the University of Iowa, Obama said, “You’ve got one member of Congress who compared these student loans — I’m not kidding here — to a ‘stage-three cancer of socialism.’”
“Stage-three cancer? I don’t know where to start. What do you mean? What are you talking about? Come on. Just when you think you’ve heard it all in Washington, somebody comes up with a new way to go off the deep end,” he said.
. . . [In fact] Asked about the student loan issue, Akin slammed the government for taking over college loans in a 2009 bill.
“America has got the equivalent of the stage-three cancer of socialism because the federal government is tampering in all kinds of stuff it has no business tampering in,” he said. “So first, to answer your question precisely, what the Democrats did to get rid of the private student loans and take it all over by the government was wrong. It was a lousy bill. That’s why I voted no. The government needs to get its nose out of the education business.” . . .
Akin objected this way to the misquote:
“With all due respect, the President misquoted me.  I was not saying that student loans are a cancer.  I referred to the policies where there is a government takeover of private industries.

“This is most evident in the government takeover of U.S. healthcare, the government takeover of student loans and the government’s attempts to shut down U.S. energy.

“I suspect the President was given a misquotation of what I actually said, but I am sure we have a fundamental disagreement on the role of government and what constitutes socialism regarding current public policy.” . . . 

Even liberals find the White House Budget rhetoric over the top

Even liberals find the White House Budget rhetoric over the top

Here is the Washington Post evaluation of the Obama administration's rhetoric about spending cuts in the House GOP payroll tax bill.

“Their proposal ... makes harmful cuts to things like education, that strengthen middle-class security. Their plan seeks to put the burden on working families, while giving a free pass to the wealthiest and big corporations, by protecting their loopholes and subsidies.”

--White House spokesman Jay Carney, Dec. 9, 2011 . . .

But no matter where you look in the CBO score, you cannot find cuts for education, energy or veterans. So how does the White House justify this claim?

At the bottom of Table 1 of the CBO report, there is a line regarding changes in spending subject to “caps on discretionary funding.” That shows a reduction in outlays of about $9 billion over five years and $26 billion over 10 years.

House Republicans say they wanted to capture the savings from a proposed one-year freeze in federal employee wages. The freeze would amount to about $1.2 billion in one year, but over time the freeze builds up savings because all future salaries would increase from a lower base. . . .

In a stunning leap of logic, the White House claims that it knows this reduction in spending will fall on education, clean energy and veterans programs. House Republicans did not reduce the defense side of the ledger, even though civilian Pentagon salaries are affected, giving some credence to the White House focus on such programs. But, still, the White House has no idea how future Congresses will write the budget, especially 10 years from now.

Moreover, the money is almost a rounding error in the context of the federal budget. The nondefense discretionary budget will be $5 trillion to $6 trillion over the next 10 years, so this amounts to perhaps one-half of one percent of that amount — even if you accept the White House line that this law will mean additional cuts. . . .

Administration officials say that Carney was merely offering an illustrative list of what could be cut, but it certainly did not sound like that. He spoke with certainty, decrying the “burden on working families” that would result from the House GOP bill. . . .
House GOP will "Kill People"

House GOP will "Kill People"

Democrats use very moderate language to discuss Republicans. From Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Ca):

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) on Tuesday accused Republicans of pushing legislation that would poison more than 8,000 people to death as a Christmas gift to Americans.

"They have attached a poison pill — literally, colleagues — because it will kill 8,100 more people more than would have otherwise been killed from pollution,” said Boxer, referring to a provision Republicans have included in their payroll tax cut extension bill that would delay the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) industrial boiler regulations. . . .
"'Massive blow' if GOP blocks payroll tax"

"'Massive blow' if GOP blocks payroll tax"

Does it matter that the Republicans also support this extension or that the idea for this type of cut originally came from Republicans? The only reason that there is a debate over this tax cut is because the Democrats are insisting on attaching it to a tax increase on other people. The Associated Press:

Blending governing with re-election politics, President Barack Obama roused a cheering northeast Pennsylvania crowd Wednesday as he warned of a "massive blow to the economy" if Republicans block a payroll tax extension.


Obama then contradicted this claim at a later talk the same day.

Later, in donor-rich New York City where he was raising money for his already flush re-election bid, he took a more conciliatory tone, acknowledging that Republicans such as House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky were also willing to extend the payroll tax, though not with a tax increase on millionaires.

"For the last couple of days Mr. Boehner and Mr. McConnell have both indicated that it probably does make sense not to have taxes go up for middle class families, particularly since they've all taken an oath not to raise taxes," Obama told about 50 donors at a Greenwich Village restaurant. "And so it's possible we'll see some additional progress in the next couple of weeks that can continue to help strengthen the economy." . . .
Ann Coulter's piece does what the news media should be doing on the accusations about Herman Cain

Ann Coulter's piece does what the news media should be doing on the accusations about Herman Cain

Will anyone in the media be apologizing for what they have put Herman Cain through? Ann Coulter's latest piece.

Herman Cain has spent his life living and working all over the country -- Indiana, Georgia, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Washington, D.C. -- but never in Chicago.

So it's curious that all the sexual harassment allegations against Cain emanate from Chicago: home of the Daley machine and Obama consigliere David Axelrod.

Suspicions had already fallen on Sheila O'Grady, who is close with David Axelrod and went straight from being former Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley's chief of staff to president of the Illinois Restaurant Association (IRA), as being the person who dug up Herman Cain's personnel records from the National Restaurant Association (NRA).

The Daley-controlled IRA works hand-in-glove with the NRA. And strangely enough, Cain's short, three-year tenure at the NRA is evidently the only period in his decades-long career during which he's alleged to have been a sexual predator.

After O'Grady's name surfaced in connection with the miraculous appearance of Cain's personnel files from the NRA, she issued a Clintonesque denial of any involvement in producing them -- by vigorously denying that she knew Cain when he was at the NRA. (Duh.)

And now, after a week of conservative eye-rolling over unspecified, anonymous accusations against Cain, we've suddenly got very specific sexual assault allegations from an all-new accuser out of ... Chicago.

Herman Cain has never lived in Chicago. But you know who has? David Axelrod! And guess who lived in Axelrod's very building? Right again: Cain's latest accuser, Sharon Bialek. . . . .
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka calls Gov. Walker "Lucifer"

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka calls Gov. Walker "Lucifer"

Another reason why Obama should publicly correct the head of the AFL-CIO for the language that he uses. From CNSNews:

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said that his union coalition would participate in a planned recall campaign targeting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) – a man Trumka referred to as “Lucifer.”

“Would I support going after Lucifer?” Trumka said, after being asked if he would support a recall of Walker. “Let me think about that. That's a tough one. Of course we’re gonna' be there.”

Trumka, taking questions after delivering a speech on jobs at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. said that Walker had “overreached” by using a “contrived deficit” to try to strip public-sector unions of their collective bargaining rights.

“I mean, the guy has overreached, he’s been a bad governor,” said Trumka. “He tried to use a contrived deficit to take people out.” . . .
Janeane Garofalo: Republicans support Herman Cain and Sarah Palin to hide their racist, anti-female views

Janeane Garofalo: Republicans support Herman Cain and Sarah Palin to hide their racist, anti-female views

This is actually pretty funny. Racist Republicans and Tea Party members support a black man BECAUSE they are racist.

Janeane Garofalo: "Herman Cain is probably well liked by some of the Republicans because it hides the racist elements of the Republican party. Conservative movement and tea party movement, one in the same.

"People like Karl Rove liked to keep the racism very covert. And so Herman Cain provides this great opportunity say you can say 'Look, this is not a racist, anti-immigrant, anti-female, anti-gay movement. Look we have a black man.'"


"Herman Cain: Blacks Have Been 'Brainwashed'"

"African-Americans have been brainwashed into not being open minded, not even considering a conservative point of view. I have received some of that same vitriol simply because I am running for the Republican nomination as a conservative. So it's just brainwashing and people not being open minded, pure and simple," presidential candidate Herman Cain (R-GA) said on CNN.

Biden refers to Republicans as "the Barbarians" at the gates


"you are the only folks keeping the barbarians from the gates"
"stop this onslaught"
"the other side has declared war on labor's house"


"President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong."
James Hoffa spoke before Obama, but Obama didn't reprimand Hoffa for the type of language used here. Realclearpolitics refers to this as "Hoffa Threatens GOP at Obama Event." In fact, Obama said that he was "proud" of Hoffa immediately after the union leader's remarks shown above. Obama's talk was not billed as a political talk so it was billed to the taxpayers to pay for its costs. Listen to this portion of the speech at the bottom of this page and tell me it was not a political speech.

UPDATE 4: Jake Tapper here is great when he asks about what the standard should be for the 2012 campaign. A video is available here.

MR. CARNEY: Mr. Hoffa speaks for himself. He speaks for the labor movement, the AFL-CIO. The President speaks for himself. I speak for the President.

What the President was glad to do yesterday was have the opportunity to present his views on the importance of working Americans and on the importance of taking measures to help working Americans --

Q Okay, so the precedent --

MR. CARNEY: -- to create jobs and grow the economy.

Q So the precedent you’re setting right now for the 2012 election is, the candidate -- the Republican candidates are the ones that we need to pay attention to, and those who introduce them at rallies, their surrogates -- you don’t have to pay attention to anything that they say.

MR. CARNEY: Jake, I really -- I think I’ve said what I can say about this.

Q I just -- is that the standard now?

MR. CARNEY: You can report it as you --

Q I’d rather not have to do this Washington Kabuki every time something happens --

MR. CARNEY: It’s up to you to do the Kabuki --

Q -- but if that’s the standard -- if that’s the standard, then --

MR. CARNEY: The standard is, we should focus on the actions we can take to grow the economy and create jobs, instead of focusing on Kabuki theater.

Q Did the President find the comments appropriate?

MR. CARNEY: Can we move on?


UPDATE 3: So do you believe your own ears or Media Matters? Matt Gertz at Media Matters claims that Hoffa said this.

HOFFA: Everybody here's got to vote. If we go back and keep the eye on the prize, let's take these son of a bitches out and give America back to America where we belong! Thank you very much!


Listen to the video of the speech from above and see if Hoffa made the statement the way that everyone is reporting it. Hoffa might have made other statements, but surely this is the one that has gotten people upset. Media Matters seems to be willing to do anything to go after Fox News.

UPDATE 2: DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz refuses to criticize Hoffa's comments available here.

UPDATE: Someone in the UK had the same thoughts that I did. Obama calls Republicans on language when Democrats constantly use much worse language, yet he never specifically condemns Democrats for what they have said.

. . . But the statements today by Jimmy Hoffa Jr and Vice President Joe Biden demean the presidency and, tactically speaking, are stupid own goals.
Hoffa, the Teamsters president, was warming up a Detroit crowd when he said: “President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let’s take these son of a bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong.”
Biden, whose mouth has long been a liability for Obama, was at an AFL-CIO rally when he told union members: “You are the only folks keeping the barbarians from the gates…the other side has declared war on labour’s house.”
These comments were not nearly as bad as the statement last week by Congressman Andre Carson last week that members of the Tea Party want black people “hanging from a tree”. Let’s not get too sanctimonious here – they’re fairly common sentiments behind the scenes on both sides of the political divide.
The difference, of course, is that they were uttered publicly by someone chosen by the White House to introduce Obama and by the sitting vice-president at a time when Obama is calling for a bipartisan coming together to tackle the economy. To add to their foolishness, they follow on from Obama’s sensible call in January for “civility” in public discourse and for people to talk “in a way that heals, not a way that wounds”.
Hoffa’s comments were much worse than Biden’s, though the vice-president’s demeanour suggests he could be a liability on the campaign trail (I’d wager there’s a campaign plan for him to be used only in “rev up the base” type events). Put together, they are embarrassing enough to require an apology from Obama. . . .
A down and dirty campaign from "both sides"?

A down and dirty campaign from "both sides"?

It isn't clear from Howard Fineman's discussion why the Republicans would want a "dirty" campaign. It is the Democrats who have nothing else to run one. Republicans have a lot to run on -- Obama's disastrous record and how they would do things differently. From Howard Fineman on Hardball:
"I don't think that the numbers are good enough, and I don't think that the temper of the country are going to be good enough, which is why when I talk to Democrats outside and inside the White House, as I did today. What I heard was a slightly different message. It's not going to be a 'Morning in America' campaign, it's going to be a darkness at midnight campaign about the Republicans. it's going to be about the fact that the Republicans in Congress pushed Paul Ryan's bill Medicare, about how they pushed Cut, Cap and Balance. It's about how Republicans wanted to dismantle Wall Street reform. It's going to be about how the Republican presidential candidates have embraced the Tea Party. Those are going to be the two central messages of a campaign that's mostly going to be about attack. I think this is -- just like 2008 was in some respects an uplifting campaign, from both sides, this one is going to be down and dirty from the beginning from both sides."
Obama keeps blaming Republicans for slow economic growth

Obama keeps blaming Republicans for slow economic growth

Democrats may have had complete control of Congress and the presidency during the last Congress, and that may have been true all the way up until January this year, but Obama is blaming Republicans for the current slow economy. Note that the economy during the first half of this year the economy grew at 0.4%, and the first quarter was the slowest. Is Obama really blaming the slow growth in the first quarter on Republicans taking control of the House of Representatives? Well, Obama's Saturday radio address sure makes that claim:



A vacationing U.S. President Barack Obama accused Congress on Saturday of holding back the U.S. economic recovery by blocking "common sense" measures he said would create jobs and help growth.



In remarks recorded on Wednesday on his campaign-style bus tour in Illinois and aired during his holiday in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Obama said the stalled construction, trade and payroll tax bills could give a boost to the economy.



"The only thing preventing us from passing these bills is the refusal by some in Congress to put country ahead of party. That's the problem right now. That's what's holding this country back," the president said in his weekly radio address, which is also transmitted on the Internet. . . .




The text of the radio address is available here.
Was Obama right that Biden never referred to Tea Party members as terrorists?

Was Obama right that Biden never referred to Tea Party members as terrorists?

The Los Angeles Times reviews the evidence here:



In an unusual move within the fraternities of Washington journalism, Politico, which broke the original hot story, issued a reaffirmation of the piece Wednesday, apparently in response to another Washington news organization questioning Politico's sources as "dubious."



To refresh your memory, hours after Biden met behind closed doors with unhappy congressional Democrats during the heated talks, Politico reported that the vice president of the United States had agreed with Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Mike Doyle's characterization of the House's new GOP majority and said, "They have acted like terrorists."



Biden tried to make a joke over his "effing" gaffe. But not this one, not when his boss is bemoaning hyperbolic Republicans.



Politico describes its reporting on the incident, saying it had five sources describe the scene and notes that Biden never asked for a correction or retraction and issued an artful dodge of a response.



The veracity is important here because the Obama administration is trying to blame the tea party's unreasonable ideological rabble for the unprecedented credit downgrade by Standard & Poor's, not the White House's wanton spending or unwillingness to make entitlement cuts.



It's an important part of Obama's planned 2012 campaign meme to pin blame for the nation's ongoing economic stagnation on Republicans, who just took over the House in January -- and to shield the lopsided congressional majorities of Democrats since 2007 that included both Obama and Biden for half that time. . . .
Obama says that we should be frustrated at Congress?

Obama says that we should be frustrated at Congress?

Here is a president who won't put forward his own proposals but attacks proposals when the Republicans put forward theirs, who leaks Republican proposals to the New York Times when they are offered in closed door meetings, who attacks Republicans for not compromising when compromising should be a two way street, but who now constantly blames Republicans and Congress for any problems. The S&P downgrade was from not cutting enough and for delaying any noticeable cuts for many years. Notice that he implicitly is taking a swipe a the House and not the Senate when his weekly radio address notes that members are back in their home districts right now. From Fox News:



In his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said people are frustrated by the partisan gridlock in Washington, especially after the brutal fight over increasing the nation's borrowing limit that didn't prevent the U.S. debt from being downgraded.

Obama tried to position himself on the side of the public and against a deeply unpopular Congress. But even though Obama's approval ratings aren't so good either, he clearly sees a need to direct the public's anger toward Congress or risk being the target himself as the 2012 campaign revs up.

"You've got a right to be frustrated," the president said. "I am. Because you deserve better. I don't think it's too much for you to expect that the people you send to this town start delivering."

"Members of Congress are at home in their districts right now. And if you agree with me -- whether you're a Democrat or a Republican or not much of a fan of either -- let them know." . . .
"FAA Shutdown Idled Far Fewer Than the 70,000 Construction Workers Democrats Claimed"

"FAA Shutdown Idled Far Fewer Than the 70,000 Construction Workers Democrats Claimed"

From Fox News:

When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Thursday a bipartisan compromise to end a political stalemate over funding the Federal Aviation Administration, the Nevada Democrat said that 74,000 transportation and construction workers would be able to return to work – a figure that has been cited often by other congressional Democrats and Obama administration officials during the two-week shutdown.
There’s only one problem: Democrats exaggerated.
“It’s probably about 24,000 construction workers who are out of work,” said Stephen Fuller, an economist at George Mason University. “That’s a pretty important number, especially to those workers, but it isn’t 70,000.”
Fuller conducted an industry study that found 70,000 airport construction workers would be “affected” in some way by the shutdown, not idled. However, the 4,000 FAA furloughed as a result of the shutdown is correct. . . .
Politico: Obama's press secretary "misfired all over the place"

Politico: Obama's press secretary "misfired all over the place"

From Politico:

The Obama administration has never been backward about leaning forward on Fox News. The network has proven a durable, go-to villain to rally the base and stoke indignation against a perceived antagonist on the right.

But White House press secretary Jay Carney, going after Ed Henry from Fox News on Wednesday, misfired all over the place by also insulting House Speaker John Boehner for being a "showboat" and exposing a level of secrecy and political calculation in the debt limit negotiations that runs counter to promises President Obama ran on.

The day after the two tangled over Henry's request for specifics on Obama's plan, Carney and Henry were back at it again. Henry asked at the briefing when Obama's plan might be submitted to the Congressional Budget Office. . . .

New Jersey Public Unions refer to Republican Gov. Chris Christie as Nazi

My question is whether any Democratic politicians will take the Union chief to task for using this type of language.

At a Thursday rally in New Jersey protesting Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s pension deal that would cut pensions and benefits to public workers, a union leader charged Christie with acting like a Nazi. And not any ordinary Nazi, but Adolf Hitler himself.

“Good afternoon brothers and sisters. Welcome to Nazi Germany,” Communications Workers of America District 1 Vice President Christopher Shelton is seen raving in a video posted on YouTube.

“We have Adolf Christie and his two generals trying to make New Jersey Nazi Germany.”

The two Nazi “generals” apparently refer to two Democratic state legislators instrumental in reaching the pension deal with Christie. . . . .

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