Romney: ‘No One’s Ever Asked To See My Birth Certificate’

Romney: ‘No One’s Ever Asked To See My Birth Certificate’: Mitt Romney joked about the right-wing conspiracy theory claiming that President Obama was born in Kenya, during a rally in Commerce, Michigan on Thursday afternoon. “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised,” Romney declared to loud cheers. Watch it: Both [...]/p

The Big, Racist Lie at the Center of the Romney-Ryan Campaign | Alternet

The Big, Racist Lie at the Center of the Romney-Ryan Campaign | Alternet
"The Romney team appears to have adopted a strategy of throwing so much dishonest spin around that the fact-checkers just throw their hands up in frustration. Along with his bald-faced lie that Obama “raided” Medicare , this week the campaign tripled-down on its universally debunked claim that the Obama administration had killed the welfare “reforms” passed by Bill Clinton. In fact, they defended that ad by citing a fact-free column by Mickey Kaus published on Tucker Carlson's always-wrong right-wing blog, the Daily Caller .

They hope to make inroads attacking welfare because, like the infamous "Southern strategy," it stokes racial animus. Political scientist Michael Teslerstudied voters' reactions to seeing Romney's first welfare ad, and found that, “among those who saw it, racial resentment affected whether people thought Romney will help the poor, the middle-class, and African-Americans"."

Corporate Profits Rebound But Household Income Falls In Wake Of Great Recession

Corporate Profits Rebound But Household Income Falls In Wake Of Great Recession: Household incomes have fallen faster since the end of the Great Recession than they did during it, even as corporations have returned to greater profitability than they reached before the Great Recession. Corporate profits passed their pre-recession levels earlier this year, but according to a new study from Sentier Research, household incomes have fallen behind, [...]/p

Federal Reserve Sells Last Of Its Stake In AIG, Turns $18 Billion Profit

Federal Reserve Sells Last Of Its Stake In AIG, Turns $18 Billion Profit: The Federal Reserve of New York sold the last of its stake in American International Group (AIG), the insurance giant bailed out by the federal government in 2008. In selling the last of its assets related to the AIG bailout, the Fed earned an $6.6 billion profit for taxpayers, bringing its total profits from the [...]/p

Before Granting Interviews, Romney Demands Reporters Agree Not To Ask ‘About Abortion Or Todd Akin’

Before Granting Interviews, Romney Demands Reporters Agree Not To Ask ‘About Abortion Or Todd Akin’: On the campaign trail today, Mitt Romney refused to grant interviews to any reporters who wanted to know about his position on abortion, or about Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), the Senate candidate whose “legitimate rape” comments sparked outrage over the weekend from Democrats and Republicans alike. One CBS correspondent, Shaun Boyd, explained that only four [...]/p

Romney: I'm not just entitled to my own opinions, I'm entitled to my own facts

Romney: I'm not just entitled to my own opinions, I'm entitled to my own facts
"Here's the key point about this waiver: Massachusetts wasn't using it to "gut" welfare reform. The waiver was put in place because Massachusetts had its own welfare reform policies that were more aggressive than federal law. In other words, Mitt Romney knows, from personal experience, that getting a section 407 waiver isn't the same thing as gutting welfare reform. In fact, waivers can help reform be even more effective. There's no question but that Mitt Romney is aware of this, yet he nonetheless continues smearing President Obama with false attacks on welfare, because he not only feels entitled to own opinions, he feels entitled to his own facts—as long as they suit his personal ambition."

Mitt Romney Attacks The Line Separating Church And State

Mitt Romney Attacks The Line Separating Church And State
"Mitt Romney is the highest-profile Mormon politician in the history of the Latter-Day Saints Church. Since I've been exploring and writing about the subject of Romney's beliefs and how they will shape him as a president, it's not at all surprising to me that he's speaking out against separation between church and state."

The Republican Rape Defenders

Huckabee Breaks With GOP, Throws Support Behind Akin

Huckabee Breaks With GOP, Throws Support Behind Akin: As Republicans continue to pile on Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) for saying victims of “legitimate rape” can’t get pregnant, Mike Huckabee has strengthened his support for the embattled Senate candidate. Huckabee first gave Akin the opportunity to defend the remark on his radio show, which he did by explaining that women often lie about being [...]/p

"Pants-on-Fire" Paul Ryan

Recalling all of Paul RYAN's LIES & dissembling on Contraception & Abortion.

Romney Plan Would Raise Taxes On Middle Class To Finance Massive Corporate Tax Cut

Romney Plan Would Raise Taxes On Middle Class To Finance Massive Corporate Tax Cut: A recent analysis based on the loose outlines of Mitt Romney’s proposed tax plan — which would disproportionately benefit the wealthy and corporations — found that to remain revenue neutral, as Romney insists it will, it would have to raise taxes on middle- and lower-class families. The result, the Tax Policy Center concluded, is that [...]/p

Michigan GOP House Nominee Quit Teaching Job After Reprimands For Abusing Students

Michigan GOP House Nominee Quit Teaching Job After Reprimands For Abusing Students: Tea Party activist Kerry Bentivolio, the Republican nominee to replace Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), is known for being a Santa Claus impersonator. But a Detroit Free Press examination of Michigan public records shows that during his career as an educator paints an image of an/p

In Order To Form a Less Perfect Union: The Politics Of Fear, Outrage and Distraction | Common Dreams

In Order To Form a Less Perfect Union: The Politics Of Fear, Outrage and Distraction | Common Dreams
"Once again, the Republicans are managing to distract the country from their extremely unpopular economic positions – positions that help the uber rich and corporations at the expense of low and middle income wage earners."

Why Missouri’s Students Might Believe Todd Akin’s Junk Science

Why Missouri’s Students Might Believe Todd Akin’s Junk Science: Addressing the controversy surrounding Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-MO) offensive comments that “legitimate rape” doesn’t lead to pregnancy, President Obama joked last night at a fundraiser that the Missouri Senate candidate must have “somehow missed science class.” Obama’s point that Akin must not be aware of the actual science behind female sexuality, conception, and sexual assault [...]/p

Women’s rights at stake - BostonHerald.com

Women’s rights at stake - BostonHerald.com
"Maybe the GOP missed the Centers for Disease Control’s 2011 report that an astounding 18.3 percent of American women have been raped in their lifetimes. That’s a lot of women now wondering whether their particular nightmare would qualify as “legitimate” or “forcible” enough for Akin and Ryan, the self-appointed arbiters of rape."

Republicans try new twist on old Medicare lie

Rep. Paul Ryan told voters today he didn't want to bore them with the details of his and Romney's plan for Medicare. But we promise not to be bored if he tells us the truth about the plan and what it will really cost seniors. Ed Schultz explains the facts and talks to MSNBC Political Analyst and columnist for Bloomberg View about whether the Republicans will fool voters in the debate over healthcare.

Paul Ryan's Top 10 Falsehoods and Outrages... from Just His First Week on the Campaign Trail | Alternet

Paul Ryan's Top 10 Falsehoods and Outrages... from Just His First Week on the Campaign Trail | Alternet
"Paul Ryan charges that Barack Obama has ‘stolen’ $700 billion from medicare for his Obamacare. In fact, these expense reductions do not cut Medicare benefits,  and, moreover, Romney and Ryan supported these reductions!  The difference is that they would give the savings to the affluent, whereas Obama uses them to cover the presently uninsured."

Steve King: Multicultural Groups Are ‘People That Feel Sorry For Themselves’

Steve King: Multicultural Groups Are ‘People That Feel Sorry For Themselves’: At a recent town hall, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) explained his concern over discovering that Iowa State University has multicultural groups. King characterized minority students as people “who feel sorry for themselves,” and worried about impressionable students being “brought into a group that have a grievance against society.” King said: I went to the Iowa [...]/p

Texas Judge Suggests He Will Join ‘Civil Unrest, Civil Disobedience, Civil War Maybe’ If Obama Is Reelected

Texas Judge Suggests He Will Join ‘Civil Unrest, Civil Disobedience, Civil War Maybe’ If Obama Is Reelected: Judge Tom Head, a county judge in Lubbock, Texas, announced on a local television station that he would personally join the resistance against a United Nations’ takeover of American sovereignty, which he says will occur if Obama is reelected: [Obama] is going to try to hand over the sovereignty of the United States to the [...]/p

GOP Approves ‘Most Conservative Platform In Modern History’

GOP Approves ‘Most Conservative Platform In Modern History’: A week from the 2012 Republican National Convention, Republican committee members spent Tuesday articulating and affirming the principles they stand for in a draft of the official party platform. Led by Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) and featuring other Tea Party stars like Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), the committee [...]/p

Scott Brown's radical Senate candidates stand with Akin to redefine rape

Scott Brown's radical Senate candidates stand with Akin to redefine rape
"You probably also won't be surprised to find out all of these representatives were cosponsors of the infamous HR 3, the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act." You know that one, the one that says there's only really one kind of rape, "forcible" rape, and you can't get an abortion unless you can prove that you were the victim of rape-rape, not one of those other kinds of rape that you might have really enjoyed. With the added bonus that the IRS would actually have to audit your abortion to determine whether your abortion was because of rape or incest.

That's where Scott Brown's loyalties lie, and that's who Scott Brown wants with him in the Senate. In a word, his fellow Republicans."

Tea Partyer Calls For Obama To Get Out of 'Our Country'

Tea Partyer Calls For Obama To Get Out of 'Our Country'
"I've written about this lunatic before. Marcia Wood is the same person who called for businesses not to hire anyone until Barack Obama was out of office and fantasized about muzzling Michelle Obama, but as time has gone on and the Republican party implodes more and more, her harsh rhetoric has crossed the line into territory that is at the least, borderline seditious."

Rep. Steve King backs Akin: Says he's never 'heard of' child pregnancies from rape, incest

Rep. Steve King backs Akin: Says he's never 'heard of' child pregnancies from rape, incest
"Really? A sitting congressman—and one who's always been quite eager to pass legislation regarding what women can or cannot do with their very naughty babymaking parts, no less—has never once heard of child pregnancies from rape or incest? And even goes farther than Akin himself did, by claiming that he's never heard of such a thing happening from statutory rape, suggesting that it is the law itself that prevents such a thing from happening? It's not often I'm impressed by congressional ignorance at this point, but I think all of America has to tip their hats to Mr. King on this one. This one is impressively stupid."

Todd Akin Isn’t The Only Tea Party Senate Candidate Who Thinks Medicare Is Unconstitutional

Todd Akin Isn’t The Only Tea Party Senate Candidate Who Thinks Medicare Is Unconstitutional: Rep. Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin (R-MO) does not just have an unusually weak understanding of human biology, he also has a similar inability to understand the Constitution. Akin doubts the constitutionality of Medicare and other federal health care programs, in addition to believing that national school lunch programs violate the Constitution. Akin is not alone. [...]/p

6 Worst Things Republicans Have Said About Rape, Sex and Women's Bodies | Alternet

6 Worst Things Republicans Have Said About Rape, Sex and Women's Bodies | Alternet
"By now you’ve likely heard -- and perhaps felt your jaw drop open over -- Todd Akin’s  recent interview, in which the Republican Senate candidate from Missouri admitted that he believes abortion should be illegal even in cases of rape, because “if it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” If you follow that logic to its end, Akin means: Ladies, if you say you got pregnant after being raped, you’re probably lying about the rape part.

Of course the scientific facts are far from on Akin’s side, which should be embarrassing for a member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. While it may be true that  female ducks have evolved in such a way that they now have a biological anti-pregnancy response to forced sex, human beings most definitely have not."

Influential Conservatives Defending Akin

Influential Conservatives Defending Akin: Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) has apologized for his suggestion that women who have suffered a “legitimate rape” cannot be impregnated, admitting his serious error in biology. Much of the pressure for this move has come from Republican figures who have called on him to resign, including Senator Ron Johnson, S.E. Cupp, former Rep. Heather Burns, [...]/p

Akin’s Spiritual Mentor: Women Occasionally Invite Rape, Victims Are ‘Hysterical’

Akin’s Spiritual Mentor: Women Occasionally Invite Rape, Victims Are ‘Hysterical’: Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-MO) spiritual mentor Reverend D. James Kennedy harbored extreme and sometimes flatly misogynistic views about rape and abortion, according to a ThinkProgress review of Kennedy’s sermons on the topic. The Senate candidate, who set off a massive controversy by claiming this weekend that victims of “legitimate rape” don’t get pregnant, has deep [...]/p

Revealed: How Conservative Radio Creates an Echo Chamber of Hate | Alternet

Revealed: How Conservative Radio Creates an Echo Chamber of Hate | Alternet
"The study, released last month by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, used Hannity's radio show and four programs – the "Rush Limbaugh Show," the "Glenn Beck Program," "Savage Nation" and the "John & Ken Show" -- as the focus of an investigation of the influence and confluence of specific interests in ultra-conservative radio programming. The results, as you might imagine, were not surprising.

“The findings reveal that the hosts promoted an insular discourse that focused on, for example, anti-immigration, anti-Islam and pro-Tea Party positions,” the study concluded. “This discourse found repetition and amplification through social media"."

Romney's Campaign Strategy: Lie, Lie, and Lie Some More -- Can Democracy Survive with 0% Media Accountability? | Alternet

Romney's Campaign Strategy: Lie, Lie, and Lie Some More -- Can Democracy Survive with 0% Media Accountability? | Alternet
"The Romney campaign has turned to a strategy of swamping the public with flat-out, blatant lies, one after another, again and again, endlessly and lavishly repeated. They do this because they are making a calculation that it will work! So what is going on? And can democracy survive this assault?"

Why Romney's Panicked Campaign May Pander Even Harder to the Far Right | Alternet

Why Romney's Panicked Campaign May Pander Even Harder to the Far Right | Alternet
"Mitt Romney, a corporate takeover executive in the private sector, is now in full political makeover mode as he campaigns for president, starting with his attention-deflecting choice of radical U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate.

Washington insiders recognize the symptoms of a panicked campaign and see that the attempted makeover is not complete—and won’t be until the Republican National Convention adjourns and the fall campaign begins. And so we are seeing seemingly bizarre musings from known GOP ideologues trying to fill in Romney’s blank pages."

GOP Senate Candidate Suggests The Voting Rights Act Of 1965 Should Be Overturned

GOP Senate Candidate Suggests The Voting Rights Act Of 1965 Should Be Overturned: Rep. Todd Akin, the GOP’s candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri, suggested in an interview that it was time to “look at or overturn” the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Asked directly if seminal federal civil rights legislation that prohibits discriminatory voting proceedures needed to be modified or [...]/p

Paul Ryan Heckled At Town Hall: ‘Why Did You Lie About Accepting Stimulus Funds?’

Paul Ryan Heckled At Town Hall: ‘Why Did You Lie About Accepting Stimulus Funds?’: At a Virginia town hall Friday, a man interrupted vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan and asked him why he denied securing more than $20 million in stimulus funds for a local energy efficiency organization. He yelled, “Why did you lie about accepting stimulus funds.” Laughing off the question, Ryan simply moved on where he left [...]/p

Paul Ryan blames Obama for GM plant closed in 2008 under Bush

Paul Ryan blames Obama for GM plant closed in 2008 under Bush
"GM stopped production at its Janesville, Wisconsin production facility in 2008, when George W. Bush was still president, but according to Paul Ryan the person to blame is President Obama."

Analysis: Paul Ryan Voted to Add $6.8 Trillion to the Federal Debt

Analysis: Paul Ryan Voted to Add $6.8 Trillion to the Federal Debt: Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan has gained an undeserved reputation as a “fiscal hawk,” touting his “Path to Prosperity” budget as a responsible plan to rein in what he describes as a “path to debt and decline.” But Ryan’s [...]/p

Why Paul Ryan’s Constitution Has A Lot More In Common With Ayn Rand Than With The Founding Fathers

Why Paul Ryan’s Constitution Has A Lot More In Common With Ayn Rand Than With The Founding Fathers: Last September, GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan spoke at the Hillsdale College’s Kirby Center, a Washington, D.C. arm of the conservative institution that was founded under the leadership of Supreme Court spouse Virginia Thomas. The speech was delivered in commemoration of Constitution Day, and it provides a fairly substantial window into how he understands [...]/p

Paul Ryan: Bankrolled by the Banksters, the Privatizers, and the Kochs

Paul Ryan: Bankrolled by the Banksters, the Privatizers, and the Kochs
"While most developed nations have found a way to pay for health care for all their citizens, the United States is only able to provide low-cost, comprehensive health care coverage for seniors. With a new study out showing that half of Americans die with no financial assets, Medicare is literally a life saver for millions of seniors and their children who often cannot afford to take care of their elderly parents without the government's help.

Ryan's proposed 2013 budget would replace this system with one that provides a government voucher to force families to purchase insurance on the private market. If the insurance company decides it can't or won't cover all your needs, tough luck."

Tea Party Billboard Compares Obama To Bin Laden

Tea Party Billboard Compares Obama To Bin Laden: A Tea Party group launched a billboard in Elkhart, Indiana this month comparing President Obama to Osama bin Laden. The billboard is funded by We the People of Marshall and Fulton Counties and reads, “The Navy SEALS removed one threat to America… The voters must remove the other.” The Elkhart Truth reports that 25 residents [...]/p

What a Romney-Ryan budget would mean for Americans | Economic Policy Institute

What a Romney-Ryan budget would mean for Americans | Economic Policy Institute
"The Romney-Ryan fiscal agenda would wreak havoc on the middle class—and the U.S. economy at large—in order to keep cutting taxes for millionaires. Romney and Ryan are not serious about accelerating economic recovery or stabilizing the long-term fiscal outlook, or even proposing evidence-based solutions to our actual economic challenges (raising millionaires’ disposable income is not one of them). What they would enact, if given the chance, would increase unemployment, slow near-term economic growth, destroy the safety net and social insurance programs, and defund non-security discretionary investments, all in order to lavish millionaires with tax cuts more than twice as large as those that would be afforded by continuing all the Bush-era tax cuts."
"Ryan’s budgets make deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, as well as repeal the Affordable Care Act ."

Scott Brown runs away from Paul Ryan question

Scott Brown runs away from Paul Ryan question
"There's one Republican senator in particular who would just as soon completely pretend that there wasn't also a presidential race happening this year. Scott Brown really needs Massachusetts to forget that he's a Republican, and that his standard-bearer, Mitt Romney, just picked the most ideologically extreme choice he could to help him lead the ticket. So when asked about Paul Ryan, what could Brown do but run away from them? Literally."

Paul Ryan: Cruel, Not Courageous | Common Dreams

Paul Ryan: Cruel, Not Courageous | Common Dreams
"Under Ryan’s plan, the wealthiest 1 percent would get a massive tax break. Meanwhile, Medicare would be privatized, leaving seniors with vouchers that could never keep up with rising health-care costs. It would slash programs helping struggling families stay afloat, such as food stamps and housing assistance, by nearly a trillion dollars over the next decade. Education and employment training — vital to our nation’s future — would be cut by a third. Ryan, whose great-grandfather founded a large road construction company, would spend 25 percent less than President Obama rebuilding our deteriorating infrastructure. And since gutting Medicaid and Medicare isn’t enough, he would also repeal the president’s health-care law, leaving tens of millions of people uninsured."

Ryan Took Stimulus Funds After Voting Against Them, GOP Runs Away From His Budget Plan | Alternet

Ryan Took Stimulus Funds After Voting Against Them, GOP Runs Away From His Budget Plan | Alternet

Meanwhile, the GOP continues its freak-out over Ryan's budget. Politico reports first that the GOP sent out a memo spinning furiously away from the budget: “Do not say: ‘entitlement reform,’ ‘privatization,’ ‘every option is on the table,’” the National Republican Congressional Committee said in an email memo. “Do say: ‘strengthen,’ ‘secure,’ ‘save,’ ‘preserve, ‘protect.’” And another story reveals how the GOP is "fretting" and "panicking" about the pick: "In more than three dozen interviews with Republican strategists and campaign operatives - old hands and rising next-generation conservatives alike - the most common reactions to Ryan ranged from gnawing apprehension to hair-on-fire anger that Romney has practically ceded the election. This is sure going well for the Romney campaign!

‘The uninsured would increase by tens of millions’ under Paul Ryan’s Medicare and Medicaid plan

Sister Simone Campbell: Romney-Ryan tax policies are ‘antithetical to either scripture or sanity’

Why Religious Leaders Have Condemned The Ryan-Romney Budget

Why Religious Leaders Have Condemned The Ryan-Romney Budget:  Now that Mitt Romney has picked Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as his running mate, Ryan’s radical budget constitutes Romney’s economic platform. The Ryan-Romney budget is based on a number of false and dangerous [...]/p

MItt Romney Wants a 12.5% Tax Break that you Pay For

Congressman Paul Ryan wants to give Mitt Romney a tax break worth millions of dollars. And if Paul Ryan wanted to give you the same sort of tax break - then you'd probably be hugging him too. But he doesn't want to give you a tax break - in fact - he wants to raise your taxes in order to pay for the tax break he wants to give to Mitt Romney. Here's what's going on...The congressional joint economic committee just released a new study on the paul ryan republican budget - which passed out of the house earlier this year thanks to the support of nearly every single republican. And what they found is - millionaires like Mitt Romney would get a 12.5% tax break. Considering Mitt Romney is worth about $260 million bucks and makes tens of millions a year - that comes out to a pretty hefty million tax break courtesy of his buddy Paul Ryan. That goes on top of the sizeable $77,000 tax break romney got by writing off his wife's horse as a tax deduction. A side note: Ann Romney really loves horses. Unfortunately for the rest of us, who aren't worth $260 million and don't have an addiction to dressage horses that we can write off as tax deductions - The Ryan plan would actually raise our taxes. As the Washington Post points out: "the tax reform plan that house republicans have advanced would sharply cut taxes for the wealthiest americans and could leave middle-class households facing much larger tax bills." Here's how it all breaks down - the Ryan plan creates just two tax brackets - drastically lowering the top income tax down to 25% and creating a second income tax rate of 10% for working people. That might looks like a good deal for everyone - but paul Ryan also eliminates a lot of tax deductions used by working people - so the end result actually works out to a tax increase for low and middle income Americans. These are the facts - the Paul Ryan budget, which - again - was voted on by nearly every single republican in the house - raises taxes on working people. I guess we've found the unwritten exception to millionaire and k street lobbyist grover norquist's pledge - tax increases are ok when they hit working people, but not okay when they hit rich people like Mitt Romney, Grover Norquist, and the Koch Brothers.

Paul Ryan’s Family Business Built On Government Contracts

Paul Ryan’s Family Business Built On Government Contracts: Despite the repeated mantra from the Romney-Ryan campaign that “hard-working Americans are what create jobs, not government,” Paul Ryan’s family business — for whom he briefly worked as a “marketing consultant” — was built in large part on government contracts. Salon reports Ryan Incorporated Central began in 1884 doing government-subsidized railroad construction, then moved into [...]/p

Reagan Budget Adviser Blasts Paul Ryan’s Budget As An ‘Empty Fairy Tale’

Reagan Budget Adviser Blasts Paul Ryan’s Budget As An ‘Empty Fairy Tale’: Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s budget — which gives massive tax breaks to corporations and the wealthiest Americans, drastically slashes funding for social programs, decimates state budgets, and still ends up ultimately raising the deficit — has garnered critics ranging from Catholic bishops to top economists. Yesterday, former President Reagan’s budget adviser, David Stockman, added [...]/p

Paul Ryan’s Budget Deals a Body Blow to Women’s Bottom Line | Common Dreams

Paul Ryan’s Budget Deals a Body Blow to Women’s Bottom Line | Common Dreams
"Most people know Paul Ryan for his budget plans. There’s plenty of pain to be found in his budget for the lower and middle class, but women in particular make out poorly (literally) if his budget gets a presidential signature. Add in other policies he’s proposed or supported, and the picture becomes even bleaker. Here’s why:"

Frank Luntz Messaging Ordered by NRCC For Medicare Lies

Frank Luntz Messaging Ordered by NRCC For Medicare Lies
"Here it is, plain and simple. Paul Ryan is a fervent believer in killing social insurance by privatizing it for profit. To that end, his budget proposal ends Medicare. It ends it. Period. There is no "choice." involved. It ends Medicare and shifts the burden for medical costs onto senior citizens. Similarly, his scheme for Social Security ends it. Period. It takes our retirement funds and gives them to Wall Street, where all the risk then shifts over to the retiree and all the profit heads into Wall Street's pocket."

THE GOP STRATEGY

Republican Governors Weary Of Romney/Ryan Medicare Privatization Plan

Republican Governors Weary Of Romney/Ryan Medicare Privatization Plan: Governors Rick Scott (R-FL) and Rick Perry (R-TX) both refused to endorse Mitt Romney and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s plan for Medicare on Monday. In a Fox News interview with Neil Cavuto, both Scott and Perry joined a growing number of Republicans distancing themselves from the Romney-Ryan plan for Medicare by saying that they [...]/p

Ryan Family Financially Benefits From The Health Insurance Industry

Ryan Family Financially Benefits From The Health Insurance Industry: Ryan touts a Medicare plan that would expand the role of private insurers by replacing the traditional Medicare plan with a voucher program that seniors could use to purchase private health plans.

Six Republicans Who Think Voters Should Not Be Able To Choose Their Own Senators

Six Republicans Who Think Voters Should Not Be Able To Choose Their Own Senators: Late last week, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), who is currently campaigning for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ), told a Republican gathering in Payson, Arizona that he supports abolishing the Seventeenth Amendment’s guarantee that voters elect their own senators. Prior to the Seventeenth Amendment’s ratification, the Constitution provided for [...]/p

Paul Ryan: Just Plain Bad for Women | Common Dreams

Paul Ryan: Just Plain Bad for Women | Common Dreams
"We need to start talking about his extreme views on women’s rights and social issues. Ryan may come off as a harmless, smiling congressman primarily concerned with the nation’s debt, but he has voted for some of the most extreme positions on issues near and dear to many female voters."

Five Reasons Why Paul Ryan Is Bad For Women’s Health

Five Reasons Why Paul Ryan Is Bad For Women’s Health: During the Republican primary, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney promised to pick a running mate who is just as anti-abortion as he is, and he seems to have found that in Paul Ryan. “I’m as pro-life as a person gets,” Ryan, who is Roman Catholic, told the Weekly Standard in 2010. The Republican from Wisconsin [...]/p

Why Religious Leaders Have Condemned The Ryan-Romney Budget

Why Religious Leaders Have Condemned The Ryan-Romney Budget:  Now that Mitt Romney has picked Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as his running mate, Ryan’s radical budget constitutes Romney’s economic platform. The Ryan-Romney budget is based on a number of false and dangerous [...]/p

PERRspectives: Romney and Ryan Both Supported Privatization of Social Security

PERRspectives: Romney and Ryan Both Supported Privatization of Social Security
" the Republicans' Romney-Ryan ticket is already drawing fire for both men's plans for the "voucherization of Medicare." As it turns out, there's another reasonMitt Romney and Paul Ryan should worry America's seniors and the millions more soon to join them. Both supported President Bush's aborted scheme to privatize Social Security, only to run away from their past positions after its staggering unpopularity and the 2008 meltdown of the U.S. financial system revealed that Republican path to be political suicide."

VIDEO: Tea Party Councilman Holds Sign Featuring Severed Obama Head

VIDEO: Tea Party Councilman Holds Sign Featuring Severed Obama Head: A Tea Party councilman is so far defying calls for his resignation after an old video resurfaced that shows him holding signs depicting President Obama’s head on a pike, former Governor Jennifer Granholm with a noose around her neck and Nancy Pelosi with several bullet holes through her face. Paul Smith, a city councilman in [...]/p

Fox News Pundits Wonder If Republicans Can Defend ‘Tax Cuts For The Wealthy’ With Ryan On The Ticket

Fox News Pundits Wonder If Republicans Can Defend ‘Tax Cuts For The Wealthy’ With Ryan On The Ticket: Bill Kristol, who had predicted that Mitt Romney would name Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running-mate, expressed some concern Saturday morning that Republicans may have a hard time defending the GOP budget, which disproportionately cuts taxes for the rich. “It’s the tax cuts for the wealthy, where Republicans have not done a particularly good [...]/p

"Path to Prosperity?" For Many Senior Citizens, VP Pick Ryan's Plan Would Be Path to the Poorhouse | Common Dreams

"Path to Prosperity?" For Many Senior Citizens, VP Pick Ryan's Plan Would Be Path to the Poorhouse | Common Dreams
"If Americans who are embracing Rep. Paul Ryan's "Path to Prosperity" -- and that now includes Mitt Romney -- spent a few minutes reviewing a few recent research reports, they just might conclude that the Wisconsin Republican's plan to reduce the deficit might better be renamed the "Path to the Poorhouse" because of what it would mean to the Medicare program and many senior citizens."

Paul Ryan’s Original Medicare Plan Ends Medicare, Period

Paul Ryan’s Original Medicare Plan Ends Medicare, Period: In April of 2011, after Republican Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan had been House Budget Chair for only a few months, he convinced nearly the entire House GOP caucus to vote for a laissez-faire budget resolution that would slash education, raise taxes on the middle class, and destroy Medicaid’s promise to provide health care to [...]/p

12 Things You Should Know About Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan

12 Things You Should Know About Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan: Mitt Romney has picked as his running mate 42 year-old Republican Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI), the architect of the GOP budget, which the New York Times has described as “the most extreme budget plan passed by a house of Congress in modern times.” Below are 12 things you should know about Ryan and his policies: [...]/p

Ohio Limits Early Voting Hours In Democratic Counties, Expands In Republican Counties

Ohio Limits Early Voting Hours In Democratic Counties, Expands In Republican Counties: Ohio has introduced a new tactic in their broader attempts to make it even harder for Democratic voters to get to the polls this year. Early voting stations in Ohio’s heavily Democratic counties will only be open between 8 am and 5 pm, while Republican counties have expanded their hours to allow voting on nights [...]/p

Ann Coulter tears the mask off FOX.

Ann Coulter tears the mask off FOX.
"Everyone from Roger Ailes to Hannity to O'Reilly to Wallace to the FOX and Friends on the couch crowd have ALL, at various times, denied they were really mere partisan Republicans. They knew that was a damaged and discredited brand. They knew letting folks in on the joke would crush their ratings among the masses of low-information voters. No, they were better than that. They were CONSERVATIVES. That was the all-important identifier. Everyone else was that ignominious thing known as "liberal." How ironic this happens at the hands of She Who Foams at the Mouth. In her moment of rage, Ann has summarily stripped Hannity of that fig leaf. AND HE AGREED WITH HER.  Listen to the exchange again."

The GOP’s Favorite Hate-Monger: How the Republican Party Came to Embrace Bryan Fischer | People For the American Way

The GOP’s Favorite Hate-Monger: How the Republican Party Came to Embrace Bryan Fischer | People For the American Way
"Fischer’s unabashed bigotry is on full display throughout his writings and on-air rants. His entire career is based on leveling venomous attacks against gays and lesbians, American Muslims, Native Americans, progressives and other individuals and groups he detests. He wants to redefine the Constitution to protect only Christians, persecute and deport all American Muslims, prohibit gays and non-Christians from holding public office and impose a system of biblical law.

While Fischer’s views are undeniably shocking, what is most disturbing is his growing influence within not only the Religious Right but also the Republican Party."

PERRspectives: Romney-Ryan Plan IS the Ticket for Republicans

PERRspectives: Romney-Ryan Plan IS the Ticket for Republicans
"Both Ryan and Romney would deliver a massive tax cut windfall for the rich, a multi-trillion giveaway offset only in part by gutting the social safety net each pretends to protect. Romney-Ryan ends Medicare as we know it with a "premium support" gambit that would dramatically shift health care costs to America's seniors. Their shared call for repealing the Affordable Care Act could leave up to 48 million more people without health insurance. Even as their draconian austerity budgets would increase unemployment beginning in 2013, both men would nevertheless ratchet up defense spending. And despite their mutual pledges to end many tax loopholes and deductions to fund their gilded-class giveaway, neither Paul Ryan nor Mitt Romney has the courage to say which ones. As a result, these supposed deficit hawks would actually add trillions more in red ink to the national debt."

How The House GOP Budget Would Decimate America’s Cities And States

How The House GOP Budget Would Decimate America’s Cities And States: authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), targets programs that benefit the poor and middle class to find most of its spending cuts, even as it gives the rich and corporations $3 trillion in tax breaks. The budget also would hit America’s middle class in [...]/p

Republicans Blasted Obama Administration For Warning About Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism

Republicans Blasted Obama Administration For Warning About Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism: The gunman in the shooting at a Sikh temple over the weekend has been labeled a potential domestic terrorist — defined as one who incites politically-motivated violence against his or her own country. In Wade Michael Page’s case, that political motivation was likely white supremacy, a growing problem in the United States. But when, in [...]/p

Tea Party Group Jokes About Beating Obama To Death

Tea Party Group Jokes About Beating Obama To Death: A local tea party group in Pennsylvania called Northeast Pennsylvania Spirit of 1776 is sending out an email alert in which it imagines the Founding Fathers beating up President Obama in Heaven for being a “radical, socialist leader”: ThinkProgress spoke with a member of the group, who confirmed that the organization sent out the mailing [...]/p

Rick Perry Factors Into State Budget Obamacare Funds He Had Pledged To Reject

Rick Perry Factors Into State Budget Obamacare Funds He Had Pledged To Reject: Eight days after the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and ruled that the federal government cannot penalize states that refuse to expand Medicaid, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) announced that he would not open the program to more applicants. But while he was making a public show of [...]/p

Republican Congressional Candidate Compares Obama To Hitler

Republican Congressional Candidate Compares Obama To Hitler: Dr. Marisha Agana, a pediatrician, is challenging incumbent Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) in the newly drawn Ohio District 13. The Republican candidate is a staunch conservative who believes that “this government has already planted the seeds of this kind of autocratic takeover of our lives.” But on Sunday, Agana went a step further and compared [...]/p

Right-Wing Rhetoric Heats Up, As Talk of Nazis Enters the Conversation | Alternet

Right-Wing Rhetoric Heats Up, As Talk of Nazis Enters the Conversation | Alternet
"In any case, revolution, even if for some only literarily, has been on the mind of a wide range contemporary conservative evangelical and Catholic leaders for some time. It is a conversation that seems likely to continue."

Right-Wing Plan for Defeating Obama: Gin Up the Hate | Alternet

Right-Wing Plan for Defeating Obama: Gin Up the Hate | Alternet
"Stuck with a lackluster candidate, Tea Partiers focus their rage on the president."

How Mitt Romney Got Rich Destroying American Jobs and Promoting Sweatshop Capitalism | Alternet

How Mitt Romney Got Rich Destroying American Jobs and Promoting Sweatshop Capitalism | Alternet
"Republicans claim that Mitt Romney's entrepreneurial activities at Bain Capital have been good for Americans. The truth is that Romney has spent his career offshoring and outsourcing American production processes -- and associated jobs -- to countries like China where human labor is valued in the market at a very low wage rate.

Mitt Romney’s tenure as Bain’s CEO has long linked him to offshoring and outsourcing. Even today, although he is no longer in that position, Romney still makes a nice profit on undertakings done long after he left the day-to-day management of the firm."

The State of America's Children 2012 | Common Dreams

The State of America's Children 2012 | Common Dreams
"when we looked closely at poor children across the nation, ten states plus the District of Columbia had child poverty rates of 25 percent or higher: Mississippi was the highest at 32.5 percent, followed by D.C., New Mexico, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Only New Hampshire had a child poverty rate of 10 percent or lower. When it comes to ensuring equal chances for children everywhere in our country we have a long way to go. And when we realize that nationwide a child is born into poverty every 29 seconds it should sound alarms from coast to coast."

Birther Group Launches National Ad Campaign Seeking To Disqualify Obama From Reelection

Birther Group Launches National Ad Campaign Seeking To Disqualify Obama From Reelection: A birther organization known as the Conservative Majority Fund is currently running a national ad campaign claiming that it can disqualify President Obama from running for reelection. While the ad is steeped in the rhetoric of the birther movement, it goes far beyond simply claiming that Obama was not born in the United States. Indeed, [...]/p

Republican Hate Peddlers Divide America

Does Mitt Romney Think He Is a Son of Abraham and That the Land of Zion Will Be his Inheritance? | Alternet

Does Mitt Romney Think He Is a Son of Abraham and That the Land of Zion Will Be his Inheritance? | Alternet
"Conservative Christianity teaches “ supersessionism,” the idea that God’s covenant with Christians replaced his covenant with the Jews and now Christians are the Chosen People, the spiritual heirs of Abraham. Mormonism takes this a step further, teaching that Mormons are not only the spiritual heirs of Abraham, they are his physical descendants as well."

Thank you, tea party — your craziness will only rally the sane majority

Romney's Tax Plan? Mitt Loves Millionaires

Romney's Tax Plan? Mitt Loves Millionaires
" New Analysis Shows Romney Tax Plan Would Raise Taxes On Middle Class Families By More Than $2,000:"

60 Faith Leaders Sign Letter Telling GOP Not To Raise Taxes On 24 Million Americans

60 Faith Leaders Sign Letter Telling GOP Not To Raise Taxes On 24 Million Americans: A coalition of faith leaders released a letter ahead of yesterday’s symbolic House tax vote telling Republicans not to allow the expiration of two tax credits that, together, would raise taxes on more than 15 million Americans. In the letter, the faith leaders called for extensions of the 2009 expansions of the Child Tax Credit [...]/p

Rep. King Goes Birther: Suggests Obama’s Parents Telegrammed Fake Hawaii Birth Announcement From Kenya

Rep. King Goes Birther: Suggests Obama’s Parents Telegrammed Fake Hawaii Birth Announcement From Kenya: "The Iowa Congressman noted that his staff had investigated the matter and found birth announcements in the two Hawaii newspapers the week after Obama’s birth. However, King went on to float the absurd notion that his parents “might’ve announced that by telegram from Kenya"." More Tea Party crazy.

Tennessee State Rep. Claims Obama Will Fake Assassination To Prevent An Election

Tennessee State Rep. Claims Obama Will Fake Assassination To Prevent An Election: Tennessee state Rep. Kelly Keisling (R) is spreading a conspiracy theory to his constituents that claims that President Obama will fake his own assassination to avoid an election against Republican candidate Mitt Romney. In an email sent from a government email address in his office, Keisling forwarded along a warning that the President and the [...]/p

Rubio Praises Government For Investing In Infrastructure, Schools At ‘We Built It’ Event

Rubio Praises Government For Investing In Infrastructure, Schools At ‘We Built It’ Event: "The remarks echo President Obama’s claims during a July campaign event, which Republicans have misrepresented to portray him as anti-business."

The Libertarian Con: Favorite 'Rebel' Ideology of the Ruling Class | Alternet

The Libertarian Con: Favorite 'Rebel' Ideology of the Ruling Class | Alternet
"Calling yourself a libertarian today is a lot like wearing a mullet back in the 1980s. It sends a clear signal: business up front, party in the back. You know, those guys who call themselves “socially liberal but fiscally conservative.” Yeah. It’s for them.

Today, the ruling class knows that they’ve lost the culture wars. And unlike with our parents, they can’t count on  weeping eagles and the stars ‘n bars to get us to fall in line. So libertarianism is a last-ditch effort to ensure a succession to their throne. Their hope is that the kids will nod along as wealthy elites spread austerity regimes across the world."