LIKE NIGHT FOLLOWS DAY

Mitt Romney follows the same dark path toward atavism as every other GOP frontrunner: it’s in the gene pool

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/romney-stumbles-over-hang-him-gaffe-aimed-at-obama-video.php
In New Hampshire Friday, Mitt Romney stumbled over a line about pinning the nation's melancholy on President Obama that found him scrambling to back away from a quote suggesting Republicans are going to "hang" Obama with America's problems in 2012.

"Uh, so to speak -- metaphorically," Romney quickly corrected, before adding, "you have to be careful these days, I've learned that." . . .

Donald Trump isn’t running for President. Like Sarah Palin, he’s found that APPEARING to run for President can be a big boost to your media career (tv reality shows, books sales, speaking fees), and to your ego. But he’s not running – does he really think that positions like this, expressed this way, are the substance of a presidential campaign?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/donald-trump-drops-f-bombs-in-vegas-stump-speech-video.php
Trump On China: 'Listen You Mother F***ers'

http://tv.gawker.com/#!5787881/donald-trump-on-iraq-stay-and-keep-the-oil
Donald Trump on Iraq: ‘Stay and Keep the Oil’

More F-bombs: http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/donald-talks-dirty-ladies-trump-laun

By the way, what IS going to happen in Iraq?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/04/remember_iraq.php
With an end-of-the-year deadline for withdrawal of American troops looming -- and talks underway between the U.S. and Iraqi governments to negotiate a new security agreement that could very well see U.S. troops remaining beyond the deadline in some capacity . . .

Not good, and I’m not going to excuse it

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/a_little_nuance_please/2011/03/03/AFPr6eEF_blog.html
[Greg Sargent] Let’s state as clearly as possible that political spending from anonymous donors is bad for our democracy — whether it’s coming from Republicans or Democrats. Now that leading Dems have announced a new group designed to raise and spend big bucks on Obama’s reelection — some of it from undisclosed donors — voters will be seeing reams of ads from the Dem side without knowing who paid for them. . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/money-chase.html

BP oil spill, rising gas prices, and . . .

http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/04/29/republicans-trapped-on-oil-company-tax-subsidies/
Republicans Trapped on Oil Company Tax Subsidies

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029184.php

Michele Bachmann gets the memo: abolishing Medicare is a VERY unpopular idea

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/bachmann-backtracking-on-support-for-abolishing-medicare.php

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/29/971436/-Bachmann-backs-up:-Now-vows-to-keep-our-promise-to-current-and-future-seniors

Some “truce”

http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/04/29/mitch-daniels-breaks-truce-will-sign-planned-parenthood-defunding-bill-in-indiana/
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, who suggested that conservatives should engage in a truce on social issues and focus on deficits, will sign legislation that will ban state funding for Planned Parenthood. . . .

GOPer says ‘the context” helps excuse her statement that blacks don’t work hard. Uh. . . no it doesn’t

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029189.php

The new birth certificate conspiracy theory: it’s a forgery!

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/with-drudge-reports-help-birthers-latch-onto-phony-forgery-theory.php

More unsubtle racial coding: http://mediamatters.org/blog/201104290009

Breitbart uses his video-editing magic to smear university profs

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/breitbarted-again-biggovernment-uses-edited

Bonus item: The Colbert Report: America Needs to See Obama's Report Cards

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/colbert-report-america-needs-see-obamas-re

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

SHUT UP!

A taxonomy of birtherisms (post Obama’s birth certificate release)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/04/joshs_new_taxonomy_of_birtherism.php
[Josh Marshall] First comes what I'll call 'Fine, Whatever! Post-Birthers'. These are the people who recognize, more or less grudgingly, that the release of the long form birth certificate finally settles whatever remote doubt might have existed over where President Obama was born and thus whether he is eligible to serve as president. The key though is that pretty few actual birthers fall into this category. Most were 'birther curious' politicians who never came down hard in favor of birtherism.

Second comes what I now term 'Forensic Denialist Long Form Birthers'. These are the folks who going on very theories deny or doubt the authenticity of the document released yesterday. Orly Taitz appears to be in this category, claiming, with no apparent reason, that an authentic document would have identified Obama's father as "Negro" as opposed to "African." More creatively, Jerome Corsi, author of the swift boat smear and leading birther now calls the Nordyke twins -- two girls born one day after Obama -- represent the "Rosetta Stone" of birtherism because the numbers on their birth certificates are lower than Obama's notwithstanding being born a day later.

Most intriguing and the final broad category are the Racialist Birther Triumphalists. This group accepts the birth certificate as proof that Obama was born where and when he claims. But that doesn't matter, they argue. And the birth certificate actually proves that President Obama's father was not a citizen of the United States at the time of his birth. Ergo, seemingly based on no existing constitutional argument, Obama himself is not a 'natural born' citizen although he is a 'native born' citizen. Even within the RBT category, there appears to be a division between those who say Obama isn't natural born because his dad was not a US citizen and those who claim that Obama is actual a dual-citizen of the British Empire, based on his father's birth, and thus not capable of being President. . . . [read on for more]

More: http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/oh-look-birthers-are-already-playing

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/after-birtheres-running-through-fever.html

A humorous look: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/the-best-birther-parodies.php

As predicted here

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/28/birther_poll
More than half of Republicans still unpersuaded Obama was born here

More: http://www.samefacts.com/2011/04/watching-conservatives/bad-faith/
[Mark Kleiman] So far as I can tell, not a single one of the Obama-haters who has been pounding one version or another of the “birther” drum has had the decency to say, “OK, there’s the ‘long form’ we asked for, and it says what the short form said it said. Sorry! Case closed.” . . . [read on]

Glenn Greenwald on putting the CIA under a military man

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/04/28/petraeus

More: http://my.firedoglake.com/jimwhite/2011/04/28/petraeus-to-cia-completes-cheneys-dream-consolidates-intelligence-within-pentagon/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/petraeus_predicted_to_bring_military_style_accountability_openness_to_cia/2011/04/29/AFMH0OBF_story.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/28/895670/-Open-thread-for-night-owls:-Petraeus,-Panetta—good-news,-bad-news

At one time, there were 15 or so GOPers making noises about running for President in 2012 – chomping at the bit to take on Obama. Now, here’s the new narrative

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/04/28/why_are_so_few_willing_to_challenge_obama.html
Why Are So Few Willing to Challenge Obama?

The kind of people they are

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/ok-goper-its-a-fact-that-blacks-dont-work-as-hard.php
Oklahoma GOPer: It's A Fact That 'Blacks' Don't Work As Hard

Still lying

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/28/971068/-Rep-Jean-Schmidts-big-Planned-Parenthood-lie
Rep. Jean Schmidt: "For every 33 pregnant women that walk into a Planned Parenthood clinic, 32 receive an abortion." . . [read on]

Madman

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/rick-santorum-im-pretty-sure-planned-parenthood-practices-eugenics.php
Rick Santorum: I'm Pretty Sure Planned Parenthood Practices Eugenics

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/we-found-weapons-of-mass-destruction-rick-santorums-greatest-foreign-policy-hits.php

Donald Trump wants to see Obama’s birth certificate and college grades, but won’t release his own tax returns

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/27/donald-trump-birther-obama_n_854583.html

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/trump-insults-the-blacks-again/2011/03/04/AF1Vbf5E_blog.html
Trump insults ‘the blacks,’ again

John Yoo, chief enabler of the Bush/Cheney Executive power grab, is now very, very concerned about Presidential overreach (when a Dem is in office)

http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/04/28/john-yoo-discusses-limits-to-executive-power/

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/yoo_president_can_slaughter_village_but_not_make_c.php

Bonus item: How petty is Sarah Palin? You wouldn’t believe

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/shes-got-tiger-blood-or-is-it-tiger.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

UNFALSIFIABLE

Obama releases his birth certificate. Finally, finally, this makes the birthers shut up, right? Right? Right?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/orly_taitz_obamas_long-form_birth_certificate_should_say_negro_not_african.php
Orly Taitz: Obama's Long-Form Birth Certificate Should Say 'Negro' Not 'African'

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/gingrich-on-birth-certificate-release-why-did-it-take-so-long.php
Gingrich On Birth Certificate Release: 'Why Did It Take So Long?'

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/gohmert-the-birth-certificate-proves-we-need-a-federal-birther-law.php
Gohmert: The Birth Certificate Proves We Need A Federal Birther Law

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/georgia-governor-who-questioned-obamas-birth-certificate-now-focused-on-creating-jobs.php
Republican Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, who wrote a letter to President Barack Obama demanding to see his long-form birth certificate, isn't focused on the "birther" issue these days . .

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/eric-cantor-criticizes-president-obama-for-addressing-birth-certificate-controversy/
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor . . . took the view that President Obama should not be wasting the nation’s time on such a silly non-issue . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/04/quote_of_the_day_7.php
[WorldNetDaily] It would be a big mistake for everyone to jump to a conclusion now based on the release of this document, which raises as many questions as it answers."

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/tea-party-nation-hold-your-horses----weve-got-some-other-questions-about-obamas-eligibility.php
Tea Party Nation: Hold Your Horses -- We've Got Some Other Questions About Obama's 'Eligibility'

More: http://mediamatters.org/research/201104270037

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/27/970594/-What-a-shock:-birthers-arent-convinced-by-release-of-long-form-birth-certificate

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/04/real-message-obamas-birth-certificate

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/republicans_punt_on_birth_certificate_continue_embarrassing_the_country/2011/03/03/AFHK93zE_blog.html

http://www.slate.com/id/2292306/
[David Weigel] President Obama did not end the "birther" movement today. Hours after the president released his long-form birth certificate—years after releasing the short-form one that proved he was a citizen—the issue had already evolved.

Now they think it’s fake

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/04/obama-brazenly-lying-once-again

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/27/next_birthers

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/suspicious-typing-alert-freeper-kerning.html

Donald Trump: It’s all about me!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/donald_trump_in_new_hampshire_amid_birther_madness/2011/04/27/AFrjfEzE_blog.html
“Today, I am very proud of myself because I have accomplished something that nobody else has been able to accomplish. I was just informed...that our president has finally released a birth certificate. . .”

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/trump-on-obamas-birth-certificate-im-honored----but-where-are-his-school-records-video.php
Trump On Obama's Birth Certificate: I'm 'Honored' -- But Where Are His School Records?

How do you think Black Americans feel about the first Black President, an historic figure, Harvard grad, now being treated like just another affirmative action cheat?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/42790905#42790671

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/humiliation-riding-carpet-racism

Call it racism: http://www.americablog.com/2011/04/confronting-coded-racism-of-donald.html

I’ll bet you these numbers don’t change

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/polls-show-about-half-of-gopers-think-obama-wasnt-born-in-us.php
Polls Show About Half Of GOPers Think Obama Wasn't Born In U.S.

Sure enough: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/04/28/large_number_still_have_doubts_on_obama_birthplace.html

A look back at birtherism

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/27/republicans_birther_dodge

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/gallery/2011/04/theres-the-birth-certificate-tpms-best-of-the-birthers.php

Sarah! clarifies it all

http://www.slate.com/id/2292391/
"I think the media is loving this because they want to make birthers, as they call people who are just curious about the President of the United States and his background and his associations and his consistency with what he says today versus what he said in both the memoirs that he wrote or Bill Ayers or whomever wrote them—the media is loving the fact that some curious Americans are actually asking the questions. And they're trying to make those curious Americans sound kind of crazy. So the media is loving this issue and they're perpetuating the issue, trying to make it sound really worse than it is."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/27/970653/-Sarah-Palin-on-the-release-of-Obamas-long-form-birth-certificate

Does she really want to pick this fight? http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/challenge-sarah-palin-produce-your-academic
[Karoli] Here's my simple challenge, Sarah. You attended four universities in six years, before finally managing to eke out a degree from the University of Idaho in journalism. . . .

Paul Ryan, liar

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/04/paul-ryan-vs-truth
[Kevin Drum] There's a lot of annoying mendacity in Paul Ryan's budget proposal, but the most annoying by far is his repeated insistence that under his plan seniors would get "the same kind of health-care program that members of Congress enjoy." . . . [read on]

The Dems are trying hard to pin killing Medicare onto the Repubs. The media is trying hard to pretend that’s not what the Republicans have proposed

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/newt-gingrichs-opponents-accused-him-of-wanting-medicare-to-wither-on-the-vine-because-thats-what-he-said-he-wante/

Squeezed: GOP Senators will have to vote on the Ryan bill

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/reid-to-senate-republicans-you-wanna-privatize-medicare-vote-for-it.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029160.php

Obama sends CIA head Panetta to the Pentagon, Gen. Petraeus to head the CIA

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/us/28military.html
Obama’s Pentagon and C.I.A. Picks Show Shift in How U.S. Fights

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/a_look_at_obamas_new_national_security_team_with_changes_at_pentagon_cia/2011/04/28/AFW5SJ3E_story.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/27/970583/-Panetta-to-replace-Gates-at-Defense,-Petraeus-to-replace-Panetta,-Allen-to-replace-Petraeus-

http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/04/27/leon-panetta-to-pentagon-david-petraeus-to-langley/

Recount starts in Wisconsin, and there’s already a problem. Guess where?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/wis-court-recount-off-to-rough-start-in-waukesha-county.php

Long-time PBD loyalist Pat G is having some issues with the health care system in this country:

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) is a clear example of why our United States of America is falling apart. MSK is another big corporate lie. Corporate lies have brought us to our current situation: A nation of poor and super-rich…no middle-class.

We are in an increasingly, as yet quiet, civil war in this country, and it is all over money.

MSK is exhibit A.

MSK is the epitome of Corporate-American greed.

They tug on the heart-strings of people, even dying patients and their wealthy families, to donate money to MSK.

In return, MSK which pays no taxes as a “non-profit”, uses a very small percentage of the money to actually conduct research. They use a high percentage of the donated money to put in their pockets.

MSK claims that 88% goes to research and 12% to administration.

An investigation into their finances reveals that in 2009, $11.7 million went into research while the board of directors were paid $25.1 million!

The CEO was paid $4.4 million.

MSK receives millions of our tax dollars.

They tell people that the money goes to fight cancer.

“MSK has an enormous public relations campaign; it is a never-ending powerful propaganda machine to distort truths.

Related links:

http://www.ralphmoss.com/mskccletter1.html

http://just-say-no-to-chemo.blogspot.com/2010/01/whistleblower-on-laetrile-cover-up.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Summerlin

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

DUNCES

Time to go after the GOP on Medicare, hard

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/26/970290/-The-threat-to-todays-seniors-in-the-Republican-Medicare-Medicaid-plan

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/26/970061/-Republican-health-plan-vs-the-public-option

http://www.americablog.com/2011/04/more-talk-of-reid-forcing-vote-on-ryan.html

Watch: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/first-dem-attack-ad-targets-candidate-who-claimed-to-support-gop-budget.php

The GOP – get this – accuses the Dems of “scare tactics”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029132.php

We’re lucky John Boehner is so dumb. Here he is defending Paul Ryan’s plan to cut Medicare by saying it’s just like Obamacare. But don’t they HATE Obamacare?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/boehner-republicans-voted-to-turn-medicare-into-obamacare.php

More stupidity: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029126.php

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/is_boehner_softening_on_ryan_plan_no_can_do_spox_says/2011/03/03/AFTFYlrE_blog.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029149.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/obama-hey-boehner-glad-to-hear-the-change-of-heart-on-oil-subsidies.php
President Obama didn't wait to take advantage of what looked to be a new Republican position on federal oil and gas subsidies. In a letter sent to Congressional leaders on Tuesday, Obama welcomed House Speaker John Boehner's apparent newfound appreciation for the call to end taxpayer payments to oil companies . . . [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/26/970320/-Obama,-Dems-press-Boehner-on-ending-oil-and-gas-subsidies

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029130.php

Playing with fire over the debt limit

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029118.php

Did these people LIVE through the Bush years?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/gop_senators_ask_obama_to_drop_disclosure_order_for_contractors/2011/04/26/AFNkocwE_blog.html
Republican senators are asking President Obama to drop plans to sign an executive order forcing government contractors to disclose donations to groups participating in political activities, saying the White House shouldn’t use a company’s political history to determine if they’re eligible for government work. . . .

Now it’s the GOPers who are afraid of their town hall meetings

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/boomarang-rang-confronting-republicans.html

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/22/town-hall-sean-duffy-medicare/

Obama: “moderate Republican”?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-shocking-truth-about-the-birthplace-of-obamas-policies/2011/04/15/AF6qINpE_blog.html

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/04/obama-republican

More from the Wikileaks Gitmo docs

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/04/26/tortured-confessions-and-the-gitmo-protection-orders/
Tortured Confessions and the Gitmo Protection Orders

Very subtle, guys. Now they’ve gone from “show us your birth certificate” to “show us your grades”

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/pat-buchanan-birther-apologist-obama-af
[Pat Buchanan] “I think he went to those schools, I think the wheels were greased and I think he's affirmative action all the way.” . . .

Call it racism: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/racism-american-tradition.html

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/04/roots-white-rage

The roots of Roveanism

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/history-politcal-lying

Rev. Franklin Graham, tool of the Repubs

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/lawrence-odonnell-skewers-franklin-graham
O'Donnell laid Graham's hypocrisy bare when it came to pretending that he didn't know full well that our President is a Christian . . . [watch]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

CAMP X-RAY

Wikileaks releases more documents on Gitmo. Here's what they tell us

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/04/25/guantanamo

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/in-gitmo-opinion-two-versions-of-reality.php

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/25/970052/-The-WikiLeaks-Guantanamo-release:-Made-up-as-they-went-along

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/wiki-dump-asymmetrical-suicide-useful.html

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/04/25/the-gitmo-documents-reveal-disparities-between-us-and-other-countries-assessment-of-risk/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/04/25/doj-warns-gitmo-defense-attorneys-not-to-use-gitmo-files/

GOPernomics

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029109.php
[Steve Benen] The Washington Post had a fairly long item yesterday, highlighting Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) for his focus on fiscal issues, and pondering whether he's likely to run for president in 2012. To hear the Post's Dan Balz put it, Daniels is uniquely qualified to make his party's fiscal agenda his own national platform. . . .

As Paul Krugman noted recently, Daniels is "held up as an icon of fiscal responsibility" without having earned it: "[W]hat I can't forget is his key role in the squandering of the fiscal surplus Bush inherited. It wasn't just that he supported the Bush tax cuts; the excuses he made for that irresponsibility were stunningly fraudulent."

It's just bizarre for a guy who led the Bush/Cheney budget office to pick fiscal responsibility, of all things, as a signature issue. . . [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/25/969996/-Coburn-not-talking-about-tax-increases,-gets-blasted-by-Norquist-anyway
Coburn 'not talking' about tax increases, gets blasted by Norquist anyway

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029098.php

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/our_distorted_conversation_over_the_deficit/2011/03/04/AFcanCiE_blog.html

How the US economy is NOT like a household budget

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/common-sense-and-budget-deficits

Make Republicans in the Senate vote on the Ryan plan

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029101.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/gop-hubris-turning-tables-on-themselves.html

Haley Barbour (R-MS) decides not to run. (His wife is relieved)

http://mydd.com/2011/4/25/haley-barbour-of-mississipp

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/haley-barbour-will-not-run-for-president-i-dont-have-that-fire-in-the-belly.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029111.php

More: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/25/barbour_2012_president

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/haley_barbour_a_loss_or_just_a_decision_not_to_run/2010/12/20/AFxJARkE_blog.html

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/on-the-largely-irrelevant-news-about-haley-barbour-not-running-for-president/

Another manufactured scandal

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029113.php
Fox News today slammed President Obama for not issuing a proclamation acknowledging Easter. (Somehow, Christians managed to hear about the holiday anyway.) Conservative activists quickly followed suit, probably unaware of the fact that Bush and Reagan didn't issue Easter proclamations, either. . . [read on]

No racial angle here, is there? Donald Trump (having struck out on his birther investigation) now questions how Obama got into an Ivy League school

http://www.americablog.com/2011/04/trump-now-questioning-how-obama-got.html

Bonus item: The politics of lying

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/lying-for-truth-and-other-right-wing.html

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/04/civility-and-lying

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

2012

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/what_if_the_2012_republican_field_is_set/2011/04/21/AFZDHdJE_blog.html
Everywhere you look these days there’s evidence that Republican voters aren’t thrilled with their choices for president. . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/huckabee_and_palin_arent_running/2011/03/04/AFd0LxPE_blog.html
Why Huckabee and Palin aren’t running

Rick Santorum, irresponsible idiot

http://mydd.com/2011/4/24/a-double-whammy-w

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/santorum-gays-already-have-enough-rights

Out in the open

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/rush-limbaugh-says-left-upset-obama-bec
Rush Limbaugh is getting more racist as time goes by. . . .

Wow. The Gitmo Files

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/04/25/the-gitmo-files-abu-zubaydahs-file/
Carol Rosenberg] There’s not a whiff in the documents that any of the work is leading the U.S. closer to capturing Bin Laden. In fact, the documents suggest a sort of mission creep beyond the post-9/11 goal of hunting down the al Qaida inner circle and sleeper cells.

The file of one captive, now living in Ireland, shows he was sent to Guantanamo so that U.S. military intelligence could gather information on the secret service of Uzbekistan. A man from Bahrain is shipped to Guantanamo in June 2002, in part, for interrogation on “personalities in the Bahraini court.”

That same month, U.S. troops in Bagram airlifted to Guantanamo a 30-something sharecropper whom Pakistani security forces scooped up along the Afghan border as he returned home from his uncle’s funeral.

The idea was that, once at Guantanamo, 8,000 miles from his home, he might be able to tell interrogators about covert travel routes through the Afghan-Pakistan mountain region. . . . [read on!]

How’s Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) doing?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/04/24/how_giffords_is_recovering.html

In case you missed the Sunday talk shows

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/conrad-work-both-sides-of-the-equation-on-taxes-and-spending-without-raising-rates.php

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/24/tv-soundoff-sunday-talkin_n_852983.html

Bonus item: Awwww. . . .

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/glenn-becks-final-days-fox-kind-path
Glenn Beck's final days at Fox: Kind of a pathetic spectacle, really

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

SUN SHINE

A little good news for a change

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2011/04/rough-day-at-office.html
[John] We had a solar panel blowout and sunlight leaked out everywhere. Crews are still trying to contain it now, but large amounts of sunlight have already been released and will probably get into the water supply.









OK, now: back to normal

Why Obama hasn’t shut down Gitmo (as promised)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/guantanamo_bay_how_the_white_house_lost_the_fight_to_close_it/2011/04/14/AFtxR5XE_story.html

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/04/23/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-wolf/

GOP logic: cutting taxes will create jobs. When cutting taxes increases deficits, without creating jobs, then you argue that's because deficits kill jobs, so you need to cut government programs to create jobs – even though cutting government programs eliminates jobs

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/republicans-pretend-our-deficit-stifling-j

Back in 2009, when the Repubs were courting the votes of the elderly, they said the Dems were going to cut programs for seniors, and so the GOPers passed a “Seniors’ Bill of Rights.” Now, guess who’s talking about cutting programs for seniors?

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/republicans-shred-their-seniors-bill-rights

First Wisconsin, now Michigan: “the Ground Zero of US politics”

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/rachel-maddow-michigan-high-school-ground

More: http://www.americablog.com/2011/04/michigan-is-ground-zero-of-american.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/23/969343/-Michigan-pension-boards-file-suit-over-emergency-manager-law

Bareknuckle politics in Florida

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/wrecking-crew.html

Rev. Franklin Graham: not his father’s son

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029084.php

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://firedoglake.com/2011/04/24/sunday-talking-heads-april-24-2011/
ABC’s This Week: Easter Sunday religion special. “During this season of rebirth, has America lost its faith? And what is the role of God in government and politics?” Franklin Graham. Then, “is materialism the new religion in America?” with Pastor Tim Keller. Roundtable: Interfaith couple Cokie and Steve Roberts, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Eboo Patel, founder of the Interfaith Youth Core. Finally, Vy Higginsen and The Gospel Teen Choir.

CBS’ Face The Nation: Freshmen senators. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sen. Chris Coons (D-E), Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), Rep. Tim Griffin (R-AK), Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL).

CNN State of the Union: Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT); Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-GA); Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO); Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN); Former NATO Commander Gen. George Joulwan (Ret.); Former US Ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns; Randi Weingarten (American Federation of Teachers); Steve Perry (Capitol Prep Magnet School)

Fareed Zakaria – GPS: Former Secretaries of the Treasury Paul O’Neill and Bob Rubin. Then, “[w]hat powerful Washington official is behind a pseudonymous article – signed “Mr. Y” – that calls for a re-ordering of American priorities and a de-emphasis on military power?” Plus, David Brooks tells “us how to succeed.” And more.

NBC’s Meet The Press: Two members of the “Gang of Six” negotiations, chair of the Senate Budget Committee, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK). Roundtable: David Brooks, Eugene Robinson, Alex Castellanos, Anita Dunn.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

THE TRUTH WILL OUT

Here’s the difference between the left and right in this country. Compare Obama birther lies with “Who’s Trig Palin’s mother?” lies. In the case of Trig, we research and publish the refutations ourselves – in the case of the right, they ignore the evidence and condemn anyone who suggests otherwise

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/confessions-of-a-former-trigger/

More: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/22/trig_palin_wesley_loy

Why John Ensign (R-NV) suddenly resigned (after repeatedly saying he wouldn’t)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/23/us/23ensignfolo.html
Senator John Ensign’s resignation letter allows him to leave office just one day before he was to have to answer questions under oath about whether a $96,000 payment to the family of his former lover was illegal and designed to keep the affair from becoming public . . .

But in interviews Friday, officials said the two leaders of the Ethics Committee — both the top Democrat and the top Republican — had decided not to let the investigation disappear. . .

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/ensign_still_on_the_ethics_hook_after_resigning.php

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/22/gop_boon_ensign_resignation

A weird Angle

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/the-gops-angle-problem-nevadas-upcoming-special-house-election.php
The resignation of scandal-plagued Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), and the expected appointment of current Republican candidate Rep. Dean Heller to the seat, could portend a political mess of a wholly different sort: A special election for Heller's House seat -- and the conundrum for Republicans posed by the potential candidacy of their losing U.S. Senate nominee from 2010, Sharron Angle.

Angle, who lost the 2010 Senate race despite the national Republican wave -- due to controversy over extreme statements about "Second Amendment remedies" to Democratic policies, and her statements in favor of phasing out Social Security and Medicare -- has already been running for the House seat . . . [read on]

The GOP world view

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/minn-gop-house-speaker-backs-off-calling-voting-a-privilege-not-a-right.php
Minnesota state House Speaker Kurt Zellers (R), who is strongly pushing for passage of a voter ID law, has now backed away from comments he made in a radio appearance on Wednesday -- when he said of the act of voting: "I think it's a privilege, it's not a right." . . . [WRONG!]

Replacing one lie with another

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/04/not_letting_facts_get_in_his_way.php
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) has amended the congressional record to qualify his recent remark about Planned Parenthood which led to the mother of all spin from his flack: "His remark was not intended to be a factual statement."

The original statement from Kyl: "If you want an abortion you go to Planned Parenthood and that's well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does."

After Kyl amended his remarks, the congressional record now reads: "If you want an abortion you go to Planned Parenthood and that is what Planned Parenthood does."

Roll out the crazy

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/allen-west-barack-hussein-obama-is-a-low-level-socialist-agitator-video.php
Allen West: 'Barack Hussein Obama' Is A 'Low-Level Socialist Agitator'

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201104210030
Limbaugh: Obama Is "A Street Thug. As A Community Organizer, That's What You Are"

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029072.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/limbaughs-little-white-slip-is-showing.html

Glenn Beck/Mike Huckabee steel cage death match: grab the popcorn!

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/glenn-beck-vs-mike-huckabee-goes-to-round-3.php

Bonus item: This story’s got it all

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/04/captures_so_much.php
[Josh Marshall] I'm not sure I've heard a story in a while that captures so much about the gonzo, Obama-era far-right. Notorious Koran-burning freak Pastor Terry Jones is up in Dearborn today protesting the purported (i.e., non-existent) imposition of Sharia Law in the city. And he made a big to-do about bringing a pistol to the protest.

And now, alas, there's been a fatality: the floorboard of Jones' car.

Jones is apparently so handy with a firearm that he managed to accidentally discharge his weapon in his car.

More: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/anti-muslim-pastor-accidentally-fires-gun-af

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

BUH-BYE!

Scandals Great and Small

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/22/us/politics/22ensign.html
Senator John Ensign of Nevada, the subject of an ethics investigation related to his affair with the wife of a former top aide, announced Thursday evening that he was resigning, effectively ending the high-profile Senate inquiry that had already ruined his once-promising political career. . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029063.php
[Steve Benen] To briefly recap for those who've forgotten -- it's always irked me that major media outlets almost completely ignored this story -- Ensign's humiliation came to public attention in June 2009, when we learned the conservative, "family-values" senator carried on a lengthy extra-marital relationship with one of his aides, who happened to be married to another one of his aides. Ensign's parents tried to pay off the mistress' family.

The scandal grew far worse when we learned that the GOP senator pushed his political and corporate allies to give lobbying contracts to his mistress's husband. . . [read on]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/christine_odonnells_campaign_files_amendments_to_campaign_fundraising_reports_for_2_years/2011/04/22/AFhgiKNE_story.html
The campaign for former Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell has filed amendments to fundraising reports filed in 2009 and 2010 with a lawyer blaming computer software for mistakes on them. . . .

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/leaked-tell-all-manuscript-by-former-aide-suggests-sarah-palin-broke-election-law.php
Simon & Schuster imprint Howard Books announced that it will release "Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin," a tell-all by former Palin aide Frank Bailey, on May 24.

Portions of the book, which Howard Books promises will be a "chilling expose," were leaked to reporters in February, and suggested Palin may have violated election laws in her 2006 gubernatorial campaign. . .

What happened to Bradley Manning

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/04/21/what-happened-to-bradley-manning-in-january/

PolitiFact gets it wrong

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029053.php
[Steve Benen] A couple of days ago, we discussed the new ad from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), featuring seniors forced to tackle jobs they wouldn't otherwise do -- selling lemonade, mowing lawns, and stripping -- in order to have money for their health care. The spot is funny, but the message is serious: "Seniors will have to find $12,500 for health care ... because Republicans voted to end Medicare."

PolitiFact, ostensibly one of the more trustworthy fact-checkers, argues that the DCCC's claim isn't just wrong, it's "pants on fire" wrong -- the worst designation the outlet can make, pointing to deliberate and flagrant dishonesty. . . [read on]

More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/21/968966/-PolitiFact-acknowledges-GOP-proposal-would-end-Medicare-as-we-know-it

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/literal-geniuses.html

Looks like the Donald Trump “investigation” of Obama’s birthplace didn’t turn up anything

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/donald-trump-ive-said-my-piece-on-obamas-birth.php
Donald Trump: I've Said My Piece On Obama's Birth Certificate

More: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53499.html
A latter-day P.T. Barnum with an insatiable appetite for attention. . . [read on!]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/trump_palin_and_the_gop_electorate/2011/03/28/AFBUdcKE_blog.html
Donald Trump isn’t going to be the Republican nominee for president. But in a way, that’s beside the point. . .

Ask an expert

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/sean-hannity-to-host-special-report-on-media-bias-for-fox-news.php
Sean Hannity To Host Special Report On Media Bias For Fox News

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

OILY

Doc Hastings, the worst member of Congress you’ve never heard of

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#42692339

More: http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/04/20/the-bp-oil-disaster-one-year-later/
The BP Oil Disaster, One Year Later

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/one-year-later-youd-think-deepwater-
One year later, you'd think the Deepwater Horizon spill never happened at all

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/20/968778/-BP-oil-disaster,-one-year-later:-Were-still-as-thirsty-as-ever-for-oil
BP oil disaster, one year later: We're still as thirsty as ever for oil

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/20/968533/-The-toll-of-the-BP-gusher
The toll of the BP gusher

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/20/why_no_oil_spill_legislation
The industry spent $146.5 million on federal lobbying. Is it any wonder Congress adopted no new laws?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/bp-to-cut-tax-bill-by-13b-isnt-saying-what-it-paid-irs-for-2010.php
BP To Cut Tax Bill By $13B But Won't Say What It's Paying IRS For 2010

Wikileaks suspect Bradley Manning to be transferred out of Quantico, to Ft. Leavenworth. Progress, of a sort?

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/04/20/manning
Manning's move to a new detention center comes about a week after a U.N. torture investigator complained that he was denied a request to make an unmonitored visit to Manning. . . . Two days later, a committee of Germany's parliament protested about Manning's treatment to the White House. And Amnesty International has said Manning's treatment may violate his human rights [ed.: actually, the Amnesty condemnation was far more emphatic than that]. [read on]

More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/20/968763/-Bradley-Manning-being-moved-to-military-prison-in-Kansas

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/04/20/did-the-pentagon-misinform-obama-when-it-said-bradley-mannings-treatment-met-our-standards/
Did the Pentagon Misinform Obama When It Said Bradley Manning’s Treatment Met Our Standards?

Electric cars mean less gas consumption, hence less gas tax revenues, in Minnesota. This is a bad thing?

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2011/04/really-unpopular-complicated-expensive.html

What Paul Ryan doesn’t understand about the economy

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/paul-ryans-plan-to-deepen-the-recession/

Is the GOP really going to embrace Medicare cuts?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/04/how_lethal.php

http://www.americablog.com/2011/04/84-oppose-gop-paul-ryans-medicare-plan.html
84% oppose GOP Paul Ryan's Medicare plan

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/poll-70-of-tea-partiers-oppose-cuts-to-medicare-medicaid.php
70% Of Tea Partiers Oppose Cuts To Medicare, Medicaid

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/biden-republicans-totally-out-of-thie-closet-with-plan-to-end-medicare.php

http://abreakingnews.com/obama-rev-ryan-plan-stol-medicare-is-not-courageous-its-radical-25004.html
[Obama] “I don’t think it’s particularly courageous,” he said of the GOP plan to convert Medicare to a voucher program and make big cuts to the federal-state Medicaid program for the poor.

“Nothing is easier than solving a problem on the backs of people who are poor, or people who are powerless, or don’t have lobbyists, or don’t have clout,” Obama said.

The GOP keeps promising that they will come up with a better alternative to Obamacare. We’re still waiting

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/three_months_have_passed_wheres_the_gops_health_plan/2011/03/28/AFVjTUCE_blog.html

They always have to have a bogeyman

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/right-wing_warns_of_homosexual_indoctrination_in_public_schools.php
Right-Wing Warns Of 'Homosexual Indoctrination' In Public Schools

Wow – how wacky has Republican political rhetoric become when Michele Bachmann sounds sane?

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/bachmann-says-its-time-to-move-past-birther-debate
Bachmann Says It’s Time to Move Past ‘Birther’ Debate

Haw haw: How many members do you think the group “Jews for Palin” has?

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/20/jews_for_sarah_palin

What we knew

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/has_the_media_helped_trump_fabricate_presidential_candidacy_out_of_thin_air/2011/03/03/AFWgcwBE_blog.html
[Greg Sargent] The media’s willingness to treat Donald Trump’s candidacy as a real possibility is primarily what has turned his candidacy into a real possibility . . . [read on]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

STANDARD AND POOR

More on S&P’s possible downgrading of the US credit rating

http://mydd.com/2011/4/19/the-sp-downgr

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/04/whos-afraid-standard-poors

http://www.americablog.com/2011/04/analysts-dismiss-s-criticism-of-us.html

http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/04/19/proper-reaction-to-sp-credit-downgrade-threat-bursting-out-laughing/

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/standard-poors-playing-us-fools

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/19/968420/-SP-plays-into-debt-hysteria-and-the-drive-to-cut-social-spending-on-the-backs-of-those-who-need-it

“The Winners And Losers Of The GOP's First 100 Days In Power”

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/the-winners-and-losers-of-the-gops-first-100-days-in-power.php

We have a Civil Rights Commission again

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/with_bipartisan_balance_restored_civil_rights_commission_will_examine_bullying_of_lgbt_students.php

Sigh

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/wis-elections-board-no-major-discrepancies-in-waukesha-county-vote-numbers.php
Wis. Elections Board: 'No Major Discrepancies' In Waukesha County Vote Numbers

Dog whistles

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/tea-party-sounds-alarm-acorn-is-going.html
[From the teabaggers] “Watch for Obama to “Steal” the 2012 Election . . .

We must keep a jaundiced eye on ACORN, The New Black Panthers, SEIU, and other such criminal organizations to implement Obama’s plan again to “steal” this election. . .” [read on]

Is anyone surprised that there is little enthusiasm for Newt as President?

http://mydd.com/2011/4/20/the-8

I doubt he’s really running, but if he were, Donald Trump (along with Sarah! Palin) shows the complete interpenetration of politics, show business, and marketing

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/19/trump_trademarks_success
The supposed presidential hopeful intends to market cologne and bathroom products . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/029011.php

More: Trump’s “Palin Moment”

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/04/so_much_hilarity_to_come.php
[Josh Marshall] Just between you and me, you simply must see this video of Donald Trump today getting asked about whether he believes there's a right to privacy in the US constitution. We've got it up in the feature right now. And it was bouncing around the cable nets all day. But no lead in can do it justice. By any measure, it's right up with "In what sense, Charlie?" [watch]

Bonus item: Don’t miss this one. Journalist James Stewart bemoans the rise of lying in public discourse. Digby asks, Gee, where did it all start to go wrong. . . ?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/drowning-in-bs-journalist-who-had-no.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

TAXING PROBLEMS

The Bush tax cuts are killing us

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/not-problem.html

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/the-declining-effective-tax-rate-of-americas-400-highest-earning-individuals/

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/the-perverse-distributional-consequences-of-tax-breaks-are-a-feature-to-some-on-the-right/

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/04/tax-day-charts

http://www.slate.com/id/2291530/

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/what-rich-dont-want-you-know-about-ta

Remember? http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/10/18/politics/main242210.shtml
[October 2000] Bush gazed around the diamond-studded $800-a-plate crowd and commented on the wealth on display.

"This is an impressive crowd - the haves and the have-mores," quipped the GOP standard-bearer. "Some people call you the elites; I call you my base."

S&P threatens to downgrade US credit rating because of Republican threats to default on the national debt. The Repubs say this shows they are right

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/eric-cantor-sp-rating-hit-a-wake-up-call-for-debt-ceiling-vote.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/white-house-pushes-back-against-sp-pessimism.php

http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/04/18/both-parties-use-standard-and-poors-downgrade-threat-for-their-own-political-ends/

Is the “Gang of Six” going to sell us down the river?

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/third-way-gang-six-compromise-only-game-tow

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/18/968019/-Senate-Gang-of-Six-considering-Social-Security-cuts,-punting-on-raising-taxes

The fight over net neutrality, and why it still matters

http://mydd.com/users/the-media-consortium/posts/the-wavelength-the-battle-over-net-neutrality-rages-on

I love those Republican apologies

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/orange_co_goper_my_obama-as-chimp_pic_was_just_a_birther_joke_meant_for_my_friends.php
"Again, for those select few who might be truly offended by viewing a copy of an email I sent to a select list of friends and acquaintances, unlike the liberal left when they do the same, I offer my sincere apologies to you--the email was not meant for you." [read on]

A sign of the times: want to know why Donald Trump isn’t really running for President? Ask his producers

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/18/nbc_trump_2012

More: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/04/18/is_trump_serious_this_time.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/donald_trump_the_comeback_huckster/2011/04/18/AFtvej0D_story.html

Chuck Norris, American Hero

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/chuck_norris_declares_war_against_sharia_law_invas.php

Why Fox REALLY got rid of Glenn Beck

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/04/glenn-beck-vs-fox-news-a-visual-guide-to-the-divorce/237490/

Politico’s “overhyped non-stories”

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/18/politico_front_page

Bonus item: Watch. Listen. Laugh

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/sharron-angle-belts-out-god-bless-the-usa-at-tea-party-rally-video.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

DIGITAL DEMOCRACY

The future of technology and politics

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/17/967802/-New-Media-and-the-2012-Campaign

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2012_gop_presidential_hopeful_explore_digital_future_news_ways_to_capitalize_on_social_media/2011/04/18/AF3mwlxD_story.html

Debt limit kabuki

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/is-snookie-were-politician-kabuki-for.html

Donald Trump shows off his foreign policy finesse

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/trump-when-you-have-war-and-you-win-nation-y
"In the old days when you have a war and you win, that nation is yours," he said. "Either I go in and take the oil or I don't go in at all."

"Just take their oil?" Crowley asked.

"Absolutely," Trump replied. "I'd take the oil, give them plenty so they can live very happily. I'd take the oil."

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_04/028983.php

Financial martial law in Wisconsin

http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/04/16/gov-scott-walker-reportedly-planning-financial-martial-law-in-wisconsin/

Get out the straight jacket!

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/descending-madness-glenn-beck-says-re
Glenn Beck Says The Republican Party Is Trying To Politically Assassinate Him, Bachmann and Palin

In case you missed the Sunday talk shows

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/geithner-opponents-of-debt-ceiling-increase-going-to-own-the-responsibility-for-the-risk-that-create.php

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/17/tv-soundoff-sunday-talkin_47_n_850158.html

Bonus item: Sunday chat – the funny version!

http://www.moonshinepatriot.blogspot.com/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***