WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE

An endorsement he doesn’t need

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/heckuva-job-brownie-backs-gop-call-to-offset-disaster-aide-with-program-cuts.php
‘Heckuva Job Brownie’ Backs Eric Cantor’s Penny Pinching Disaster Plan

Reading the tea leaves about what is going to happen with the deficit reduction “supercommittee”

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/top-republican-staffer-to-serve-as-staff-director-for-super-committee.php
Top Republican Staffer To Serve As Staff Director For Super Committee

Mitt Romney, in a nut shell

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/08/romney_to_demint_no_thanks_bub.php
Romney declines to attend DeMint ring kissing session in South Carolina on Labor Day.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/mitt-romneys-schedule-now-has-room-for-jim-demint.php
Mitt Romney’s Schedule Now Has Room For Jim DeMint

Rock Perry, millionaire

http://www.americablog.com/2011/08/rick-perry-became-millionaire-while-in.html

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/30/rick_perry_rich

Nothing to see here, move along. . .

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/30/1011983/-Rick-Perry-automatically-deletes-all-staffer-emails-after-seven-days-
Rick Perry automatically deletes all staffer emails after seven days

Too crazy for the teabaggers!

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/christine-odonnell-booted-off-tea-party-event-with-sarah-palin.php
Christine O’Donnell Booted Off Tea Party Event With Sarah Palin

Buh-bye! http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/08/30/odonnells_book_signing_bust.html

Sarah Palin: her own worst enemy (of course)

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/who-doomed-sarah-palins-presidential-hopes.php

Is there any point in documenting all the lies in Dick Cheney’s book?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/30/1012022/-Open-thread-for-night-owls:-Dick-Cheneys-book-reinvents-reality

http://www.americablog.com/2011/08/cheneys-memoir-surprisingly-misses-few.html

http://www.slate.com/id/2302751/

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/cheney-i-dont-think-iraq-damaged-our-reputation-around-the-world.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/cheneys_bizarre_alternate_univ031876.php

Heh, heh: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/30/dick-cheney-book-john-mccain_n_941573.html
Dick Cheney Bashes John McCain In New Book

Back to the 50’s!

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/glenn-beck-is-the-term-colored-really-such-a-bad-thing.php
Glenn Beck: Is The Term 'Colored' Really Such A Bad Thing?

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/real-victims.html

Rush’s race-based politics

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/our-post-racial-society-by-david-atkins.html

God’s Own Party

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/gop-field-offers-ultimate-faith-based-initiative

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/30/1011972/-Rick-Perrys-reading-list:-A-how-to-on-converting-Jews-and-Muslims-toChristianity

Digby: What’s wrong with our media?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/whats-wrong-with-our-media.html

Bill Nye, Science Guy, goes on Fox with some facts about climate change

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/fox-host-to-bill-nye-youre-confusing-our-viewers-on-climate-change.php
Fox Contributor To Bill Nye: You're 'Confusing Our Viewers'

More: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/fox-business-host-accuses-bill-nye-confusing

***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.***

STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES

Please, try

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/will_house_republicans_block_p031853.php
Will House Republicans block post-Irene aid?

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/eric-cantors-budget-hypocrisy/2011/08/29/gIQAowUjnJ_blog.html

Not good

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/obamas-uncle-arrested-and-held-as-illegal-immigrant.php
An uncle of President Obama was arrested in Framingham, MA last week for drunk driving, and detained as an illegal immigrant, according to CNN. . .

Michele Bachmann now says she was “in jest” when she said God was punishing us with Hurricane Irene

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/bachmann-campaign-irene-wakeup-call-quote-in-jest.php

Just a joke? http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/bachmann-hurricane-gods-warning-about-govern

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/bachmanns_attempt_at_humor031859.php
[Steve Benen] In both instances, the videos show Bachmann’s supporters chuckling.

I’ll gladly concede that the right-wing Republican delivered the comments in a seemingly lighthearted way, but it’s also worth noting that presidential candidates don’t generally joke about deadly natural disasters while the disaster is unfolding. Bachmann clearly liked the line well enough to repeat it more than once, but while she was drawing laughs, people were literally dying.

Theocracy warning

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/douthat_perry_bachmann_and_the031865.php

No, Mitt, this doesn’t handle the question

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/romney-im-only-doubling-my-house-technically.php
Romney told the publisher of the New Hampshire Union Leader, Joe McQuaid, that while the square footage of the new estate will -- as reported -- nearly quadruple in size once construction is complete, the number is misleading because it includes the garage and basement . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/29/1011639/-Mitt-Romney-says-hes-doubling,-not-quadrupling,-size-of-beachfront-vacation%C2%A0home

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/note_to_candidates_dont_parse031862.php

Oh, really?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/29/1011684/-Perry-seals-travel-and-expense-records-until-after-November-election
Rick Perry is currently embroiled in a legal battle to block the public from viewing his travel and expense records, but The Washington Post notes that everything from July of this year forward will remain under seal until after the November 2012 election . . .

Perry now says he stands by everything in his book. (Thanks, Rock, we’ll be quoting this one)

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/08/quote-day-rick-perry-says-rtfm
“I haven’t backed off anything in my book. Read the book again, get it right. Next question.”

Rick Santorum has made a career out of calling gays sick perverts, and now he’s surprised they’re angry with him

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/santorum-the-gay-community-is-on-a-jihad-against-me.php
Santorum: The Gay Community Is On A 'Jihad' Against Me

The website “Gawker” is working on a story on a Fox News personality that has the network very upset – so you know what that means

http://crooksandliars.com/tina-dupuy/fox-news-preemptive-strike-against-gawk
Fox News' Preemptive Strike Against Gawker

Yes, she said it

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/29/1011679/-Fox-News:-Does-it-matter-if-a-presidential-candidate-is-dumb
[Megyn Kelly, Fox News] I want to ask you this—does it matter, should it matter, if somebody is dumb?

Because you know, we've had—yes, there have been partisan attacks, no question, it does usually seem to focus on Republicans, is Michelle Bachmann dumb, they've talked about, you know, her being on the House Intelligence Committee is a contradiction in terms, and they've anonymously sourced Republicans asking that question, now they're asking this about Rick Perry, Sarah Palin—but is it unfair, just because it's coming from some in the mainstream media?

I mean, there were questions about the number of colleges Sarah Palin, you know, attended, there were questions about, you know Perry's academic transcript and so on, does it make it illegitimate just because of who's asking it?

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/stupidity-is-a-party-issue/2011/08/29/gIQAEIZxnJ_blog.html

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/29/rick_perry_dumb

***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.***

DUMBING DOWN

They’ve never liked it, and now they see a chance to get rid of it: more anti-Social Security rhetoric from the GOPers

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/rick-perry-social-security-monstrous-lie

http://firedoglake.com/2011/08/29/showing-the-kind-of-leader-hed-be/

Medicare too: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/sen-heller-pretends-gop-doesnt-want-end-me


Heh

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/62214.html
Is Rick Perry dumb?

Colin Powell on Dick Cheney’s book: “cheap shots”

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/colin-powell-compares-cheneys-book-marketing

More: http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/george-will-slams-dick-cheney-not-apo
[Nicole Belle] Damn it, I hate it when this happens. I actually agree with George Will. . . .

Well, they aren’t DEMOCRATS, are they?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/democracy-on-their-terms-republicans-lock-down-town-halls-to-stifle-critics.php
Democracy On Their Terms: Republicans Lock Down Town Halls To Stifle Critics

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/rep-todd-akin-refuses-meet-constituents-an
Rep. Todd Akin Refuses to Meet With Constituents

The war on teachers

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/28/1011204/-The-war-on-teachers-and-the-impact-on-US-public-opinion

Morons

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/27/glenn-beck-hurricane-irene-is-a-blessing/
[Glenn Beck] [T]his hurricane is a blessing. It is a blessing. It is God reminding you — as was the earthquake last week — it’s God reminding you you’re not in control. . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2011/08/fox-news-do-we-really-need-national.html
Fox News: We have the Weather Channel, why do we need the National Weather Service?

http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/08/28/306173/voters-punish-incumbents-for-bad-weather
Voters Punish Incumbents For Bad Weather

In case you missed the Sunday talk shows

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/28/tv-soundoff-sunday-talkin_n_939466.html

Bonus item: Dumb, dumb, dumb

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/situational-keynesianism-redux.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.***

BLOWN AWAY

Good luck to everyone in the path of Hurricane Irene. Here are some reassuring words from Ron Paul

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/08/27/paul_wants_government_to_do_nothing_about_hurricane.html
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) slammed the Federal Emergency Management Agency and said that no national response to Hurricane Irene is necessary, NBC News reports.

Said Paul: "We should be like 1900; we should be like 1940, 1950, 1960. I live on the Gulf Coast; we deal with hurricanes all the time."

More: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/26/ron_paul_hurricanes

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/26/1010932/-With-Hurricane-Irene-ready-to-strike,-Ron-Paul-says-we-dont-need-FEMA

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/ron-paul-thinks-hurricane-aid-wasteful-tout

Michele Bachmann now wants us to think of her as a serious policy wonk. Problem is, she has absolutely no idea what she is talking about

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/27/bachmann-promises-fast-economic-turnaround-with-tax-cuts/
Representative Michele Bachmann promised Saturday that as president she would turn things around within one economic quarter, in part by cutting corporate taxes and eliminating capital gains and inheritance taxes. . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/environment/bachmann-us-king-daddy-dogs-in-resources-but-environmentalists-locking-them-up/2011/08/27/gIQAGCrmiJ_story.html
Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann claimed Saturday that the United States has more fuel resources than any other country, but blamed what she termed “radical environmentalists” for bottling up American energy policy. . . .

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/bachmann-bizarro-minute-health-care-law-dea
[Politico] The Minnesota congresswoman struck an urgent tone, issuing dire warnings to voters of the consequences of not electing a Republican who will repeal Obama’s health care law in 2012.

“I have wept in Washington, D.C., watching what’s happening to our country,” Bachmann said.

Speaking in hushed and sometimes pleading tones, she warned that the implementation of Obama’s health care law would be a death knell to conservatism in America. “You can’t put socialized medicine into a country and think that ever again you can elect as president a Republican or conservative or even a tea partier and think somehow we’re going to get back to limited government. It won’t happen because socialized medicine is the definition of big government,” she said.

“That’s why this is it — 2012 is it,” she added, calling it a “last-chance election” for the country. . . [read on]

Wisconsin SC justice David Prosser says he was “goaded” into putting his hands around a female justice’s neck

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/workplace-anger-wisconsin-style

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://firedoglake.com/2011/08/28/sunday-talking-heads-august-28-2011/
ABC’s This Week: Jake Tapper hosts. Irene – FEMA director Craig Fugate. Political Roundtable: George Will, Cokie Roberts, Donna Brazile, Ron Brownstein.Libya – Foreign Policy Roundtable: George Will, Robert Kagan of the Brookings Institution, Robin Wright, author of “Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World,” and Rajiv Chandrasekaran of The Washington Post.

CBS’ Face the Nation: Irene. Colin Powell on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

CNN State of the Union: Irene. FEMA director Craig Fugate. Hurricane Center Director Bill Read. Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ).

NBC’s Meet the Press: Irene – FEMA director Craig Fugate.Then, Gov Chris Christie (NJ-R). Roundtable: David Brooks; Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson; Katty Kay; and National Correspondent for NBC’s TODAY, Jamie Gangel, who interviewed VP Cheney exclusively.

Bonus item: Ha ha ha

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/08/27/bush_authorized_leak_on_iraq.html
Cheney to Bush: "Whoever is leaking information like this to the press is doing a real disservice, Mr. President."

He writes: "A short time later [national security adviser] Steve Hadley came into my office and closed the door. He told me that he was the source for Ignatius and that he'd talked to him at the instruction of the president."

***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.***

OOPS, SORRY!

We’ve had it here before, but it’s worth remembering that Rock Perry added to his record number of executions in Texas by killing a potentially innocent man (thanks to DR for the link)

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann

More: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/06/25/cameron_todd_willingham_rick_perry

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/15/1007261/-Video-:-Presidential-Candidate-Rick-Perry-Executed-An-Innocent-Man-in-Texas

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/03/perry_willingham_survey
Did a questionable execution actually help Rick Perry's political career?

Of course, this will help him in certain quarters, but it is a very weird slogan for a presidential campaign

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/rick-perry-i-dislike-washington-its-seedy-pl
Rick Perry: 'I Dislike Washington... It's a Seedy Place'

Submissive women

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/12/michele-bachmann-deflects-submissive-question-at-gop-debate.html
Is Michele Bachmann Submissive?
The Tea Party queen was asked whether she would defer to her husband as president. Leslie Bennetts says it’s an important question—one the Republican candidate shouldn’t be allowed to deflect so easily.

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/26/romney_women
When Mitt Romney gets frustrated with women
His testy exchange with a female critic is a reminder of how uncomfortable he seems when women challenge him

It’s official: the Republican Party IS the Tea Party

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/08/tea-party-dead-long-live-tea-party

http://www.slate.com/id/2302341

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/same-old-good-old-boys.html

It used to matter when the Fed Chairman said things like this

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/bernanke-slams-congress-for-harming-economy-with-debt-limit-brinksmanship.php
Bernanke Slams Congress For Harming Economy With Debt Limit Brinkmanship

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/bernanke_has_a_message_for_con031817.php

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/ben-bernanke-versus-mitch-mcconnell/2011/03/03/gIQApf39fJ_blog.html

Who funds the Islamophobes?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/millions_donated_to_islamaphobic_groups_since_2001.php

How Wisconsin SC justice David Prosser explained the “chokehold” he delivered to one of his fellow justices – without quite explaining WHY HE LAID HANDS ON HER AT ALL

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/prosser_to_investigators_contact_with_bradleys_nec.php
Even skimming the papers, which have been posted online by the Wisconsin State Journal, they reveal a detailed portrait of a court that is deeply dysfunctional . . . [read on]

More: http://host.madison.com/news/state_and_regional/article_286893fe-fba9-5c78-8b4d-acd31177b7b8.html
The liberals, meanwhile, painted Prosser as an angry man who could snap at any moment. Abrahamson, who insisted Wash Bradley never touched Prosser, said he is prone to outbursts and no one knows what might set him off. . .

Cokie’s Law becomes mainstream CW

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/fox-news-facts-argue-reality-global-w
Fox News: Facts Don't Matter on Global Warming - It's What Resonates with Voters

What is Cokie’s Law? http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/cook-upholds-cokies-law.html
"At this point," said Roberts, "it doesn't much matter whether she said it or not because it's become part of the culture. I was at the beauty parlor yesterday and this was all anyone was talking about."

The weird world of the Christian Right

http://www.alternet.org/world/152143/texas_legislators_and_christian_groups_fight_to_insert_god_into_vets'_funerals_--_against_families'_wishes
Texas Legislators and Christian Groups Fight to Insert God Into Vets' Funerals -- Against Families' Wishes

More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/26/1010854/-Texas-lawmakers-fighting-to-insert-Christian-language-in-funerals-for-non-Christian-soldiers

Bonus item: Where do they find these guys?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/08/26/lawmaker_doesnt_deny_naked_photos.html
Puerto Rican senator Roberto Arango, who is active in the Republican party, didn't confirm or deny taking naked photographs of himself found in a popular gay dating app, Gawker reports. . . .

***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.***

STRENGTH OF CHARACTER

I know this will SHOCK you, but once again Mitt Romney has abandoned his previous views and embraced positions he knows are wrong in order to curry favor with the teabaggers

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/mitt-romney-backs-away-from-climate-change.php
Mitt Romney Backs Away From Climate Change

More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/25/1010435/-Feeling-Rick-Perrys-heat,-Mitt-Romney-evolves-on-climate-change

One thing Rock Perry and George Bush have in common

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/rick-perry-and-george-w-bush-texas-willing-executioners
[WP] In his nearly 11 years as the state's chief executive, Perry, now running for the Republican presidential nomination, has overseen more executions than any governor in modern history: 234 and counting. That's more than the combined total in the next two states -- Oklahoma and Virginia -- since the death penalty was restored 35 years ago. . . .

He vetoed a bill that would have spared the mentally retarded, and sharply criticized a Supreme Court ruling that juveniles were not eligible for the death penalty. He has found during his tenure only one inmate on Texas's crowded death row he thought should receive the lesser sentence of life in prison. . . .

Dick Cheney settles some scores

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2011/08/25/gIQA4i6zeJ_story.html
Former vice president Richard B. Cheney provides an unapologetic defense of the George W. Bush administration in his memoir to be released next week, including explanations of his own decisions on contested national security and domestic policies that often come at the expense of former Cabinet members and colleagues. . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/books/dick-cheney-tells-his-side-in-memoir-in-my-time-review.html
In an interview on NBC’s “Dateline,” former Vice President Dick Cheney says that his new book, “In My Time,” will have “heads exploding all over Washington.” Whatever readers think of Mr. Cheney’s politics, their heads are more likely to explode from frustration than from any sense of revelation. Indeed, the memoir — delivered in dry, often truculent prose — turns out to be mostly a predictable mix of spin, stonewalling, score settling and highly selective reminiscences. . . .

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/cheney_tenet_resigned_when_the_going_got_tough_video.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/powerful-crazy.html

Eric Cantor (R-VA), whose district was the epicenter of the DC quake, picks a great time to come out against federal disaster relief

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/eric-cantor-no-federal-earthquake-disaste-0

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/cantors_callousness_turns_pree031793.php

http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/08/25/304517/cantor-opposes-new-earthquake-relief-funding-the-problem-is-that-people-in-virginia-don%E2%80%99t-have-earthquake-insurance/

“Public” doesn’t mean public any more

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/25/1010492/-GOP-Rep-Steve-Chabot-has-police-confiscate-opponents-video-cameras-at-town-hall
GOP Rep. Steve Chabot has police confiscate opponents' video cameras at town hall

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/a_unique_approach_to_governmen031798.php
A unique approach to government ‘transparency’

Wow. Just wow

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/08/25/congressional_approval_hits_new_low.html
A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds just 12% of Americans approve of Congress . . .

Wisconsin SC judge not exactly apologetic over charges he physically assaulted a female colleague

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/prosser_bradley_made_the_decision_to_sensationaliz.php

Indiana anti-gay state rep has a hard time explaining why he paid a guy for “a good time”

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/08/25/lawmaker_admits_he_paid_man_but_insists_hes_not_gay.html

The APA tries to remedy the damage done by psychologists consulting with the govt on torture techniques, but only makes it worse

http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2011/08/24/apa-casebook-on-psychologist-ethics-and-interrogations-fails-to-convince/
[Jeff Kaye] A new proposed “casebook” on psychologist ethics in national security settings, written by the Ethics Committee of the American Psychological Association (APA), tells psychologists that when assessing whether an interrogation technique is abusive or not, they should consider, among other factors, whether there are “data to support that the technique is effective in gathering accurate information.” This determination, which places the needs of the military or intelligence gathering entity above that of the person the psychologist is examining, demonstrates how blatantly unethical it is for psychologists to participate in these interrogations. . . [read on]

What happens when Fox News has to choose between Karl Rove and Sarah Palin?

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/fox-news-cuts-rove-after-he-calls-palin-thin

Crack in the Washington Monument a “sign from the Lord”

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/pat_robertson_on_washington_monument_crack_is_that.php
[Pat Robertson] "But it seems to me the Washington Monument is a symbol of America's power, it has been the symbol of our great nation, we look at that monument and say this is one nation under God," he continued.

"Now there's a crack in it, there's a crack in it and it's closed up. Is that a sign from the Lord? Is that something that has significance or is it just result of an earthquake? You judge, but I just want to bring that to your attention," he said.

"It seems to me symbolic," Robinson said. "When Jesus was crucified and when he died the curtain in the Temple was rent from top to bottom and there was a tear and it was extremely symbolic. Is this symbolic? You judge."

No word on what sign Robertson thinks God was trying to send with the damage to the National Cathedral.

Bonus item: Yes, I agree we WILL be seeing this photo again, and often, if Perry gets the nomination against Obama

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/a_picture_worth_far_less_than031783.php

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/the-obama-perry-picture/2011/08/25/gIQAmKkQeJ_blog.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.***

DEFICIT THINKING

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/congressional-report-budget-deficit-to-hit-13-trillion-this-year/2011/08/24/gIQA7vnTbJ_story.html
The federal budget deficit will continue at historically high levels, hitting $1.3 trillion in fiscal 2011, congressional budget analysts said Wednesday. But it will ebb substantially over the next decade — if the Bush-era tax cuts and other measures are allowed to expire as scheduled, the report said.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that revenue, coupled with the debt-reduction deal signed into law this month by President Obama, would cut projected deficits by $3.3 trillion, or nearly half, over the next 10 years.

But that reduction will be realized only if lawmakers allow a series of tax cuts and other temporary revenue measures to expire. . . .

The GOPers are saying more and more openly that Social Security is a bad idea and just should be eliminated

Rubio: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/08/rubio_social_security_harmed_america.php

Perry: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/24/1010135/-Rick-Perry-says-there%E2%80%99s-not-going-to-be-a-Social-Security-and%C2%A0Medicare%C2%A0program

More: http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/94128/marco-rubio-and-the-new-republican-consensus
The New Republican Consensus

One Social Security “fix” to avoid

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/why-raising-retirement-age-fix-social-s
Why Raising The Retirement Age is a Horrible Idea

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/why-raising-retirement-age-horrible-idea-pa
Why Raising the Retirement Age Is A Horrible Idea, Part 2

More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/24/1007200/-Raising-the-Medicare-eligibility-age-is%C2%A0expensive

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/08/putting-stake-through-reitrement-age-zombie

It’s early in the process, and there are more twists to come, no doubt, but for now Rock Perry (not a typo, my new nickname for him -- as in Rock Hudson, or "dumb as a rock") is zooming past Mittens and the Mean Girl

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/08/bye_mitt_1.php

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/24/1010192/-PPP:-Perry-opens-double-digit-lead-over-Romney-and-Bachmann

http://elections.firedoglake.com/2011/08/24/rick-perry-is-the-gop-front-runner/

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/rick-perrys-southern-magic.php

For now . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/perry_equates_homosexuality_wi031767.php
[Greg Sargent] “[S]eriously: Does the Rick Perry campaign have any strategy at all to deal with the fact that a whole host of extreme views that almost certainly render him unelectable in a general election are right there in black and white, right under his own byline?” . . . [read on]

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/08/24/what_makes_perry_different.html
[Walter Shapiro] "Indeed, Perry is not only a presidential candidate, but also a cowboy-booted sociological experiment. It is almost as if Perry's political persona was constructed by bundling together all the fears and phantoms in the left-wing anxiety closet. Since the hysteria of the 1950s Red Scare, no Republican figure has matched Perry in his God-given ability to give liberals the heebie-jeebies. Others can rival the governor's disdain for academic achievement (Palin), his cross-on-the-sleeve religiosity (Michele Bachmann and Mike Huckabee), and his antipathy to Social Security and Medicare (Paul Ryan and Barry Goldwater). But never before has a top-tier presidential candidate embodied the whole lethal package."

Every now and then the real nature of these groups peeks out

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/24/1010272/-Open-thread-for-night-owls:-Mainstreaming-calls-for-violence
[SPLC] Yesterday, speaking with far-right radio host Janet Mefferd, William Gheen, the leader of the nativist group Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC), said that legal political activity may no longer be sufficient to protect America from immigrants — in particular, he made it clear, from non-white immigrants. Gheen, who in the past tried to appear a moderate on the nativist scene, said that in order to save “white America,” it may be necessary to engage in “extra-political activities that I can’t really talk about because they’re all illegal and violent.” . . . [read on]

The kind of people they are

http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/08/24/303655/the-depravity-of-the-poor/
[NRO] It is simply a fact that our social problems are increasingly connected to the depravity of the poor. If an American works hard, completes their education, gets married, and stays married, then they will rarely — very rarely — be poor. At the same time, poverty is the handmaiden of illegitimacy, divorce, ignorance, and addiction. As we have poured money into welfare, we’ve done nothing to address the behaviors that lead to poverty while doing all we can to make that poverty more comfortable and sustainable. . . .

Yep, if you’re going to create a phony Twittter feed to mock your opponents, best not to send out messages FROM YOUR OWN account by mistake

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/scott-brown-spox-apparently-outs-his-dem-mocking-twitter-feed.php

More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/24/1010145/-Top-Scott-Brown-adviser-caught-tweeting-from-anti-Khazei-parodyaccount

Bonus item: But seriously, folks

http://www.samefacts.com/2011/08/watching-conservatives/basic-morals-dept
[Mark Kleiman] So some wingnut decides to steal Paul Krugman’s identity by creating a Google+ account in his name and posting something stupid on it. The wingnut has now boasted of, rather than confessed to, what was quite probably a crime and quite certainly an appallingly unethical action. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/24/paul-krugman-impersonator_n_935186.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.***

FAULT LINES

Earthquake in DC – and that’s Obama’s fault too

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/quote_of_the_day_12031744.php

Under 40%, and dropping

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/obama-hits-another-low-in-the-gallup-poll.php
Obama Hits Another Low In The Gallup Poll

Are we learning yet?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/22/president-obama-s-weak-re-election-message-time-for-a-new-theme.html
[Jeff Shesol] Obama declared war on partisanship in 2008, and partisanship won. . . [read on]

What’s going on in Libya?

http://crooksandliars.com/matt-osborne/what-just-happened-libya

http://www.juancole.com/2011/08/how-to-avoid-bushs-iraq-mistakes-in-libya.html

Class warfare

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/gop-decries-class-warfare-on-tragically-rich

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/class-warfare-republican-style/2011/03/04/gIQAfhutYJ_blog.html

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/08/23/science-news-study-shows-147-entities-control-worlds-finances-63911/

What Rick Perry reads

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/rick_perry_and_the_5000_year_l031738.php

The kind of people they are

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/tea_party_chair_in_sc_posts_joke_about_killing_obama.php
Tea Party Chair In SC Posts Joke On Facebook About Killing The Obamas

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/08/nj_legislator_resigns_over_wifes_race_rant.php
NJ Legislator Resigns over Wife's Race Rant

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/indiana_goper_self-destruction_of_soliticiting_man.php
State Rep. Phillip Hinkle, an Indiana Republican who was accused of offering a young man money in exchange "for a really good time," will not resign but says he won't seek re-election next term. . .

Fox News is happy; the “Fairness Doctrine” is dead

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/08/goodbye-fairness-doctrine
[Kevin Drum] After Barack Obama won the 2008 election, conservatives started up a drumbeat of conspiracy theorizing about a secret liberal plan to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine. The idea, apparently, was that this would put Rush Limbaugh and other conservative talkers out of business and thus ensure both the perpetual domination of the Democratic Party in Congress as well as Obama's plan to become president-for-life. Don't believe me? . . . [read on]

More: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61851.html

Worse and worse for Murdoch, Inc.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/news_international_reportedly_paid_former_editor_w.php
News International reportedly made payments to former News Of The World editor Andy Coulson after he had been hired to serve as communications chief in the Conservative Party. . .

Bonus item: Can’t tell real news from The Onion any more

http://firedoglake.com/2011/08/23/tea-party-makes-me-feel-sorry-for-the-onion/

***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.***

FED UP?

Rick Perry disavows his own book

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/08/paper_trail.php
Rick Perry: Just because I wrote a book calling for privatizing Social Security doesn't mean I'm for privatizing Social Security.

Also, the Perry campaign won't say whether he still favors repealing the 16th Amendment, which sanctified the income tax, as he proposed in the book.

More: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/08/22/300479/rick-perry-disavows-fed-up/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/you_wrote_it_you_own_it031708.php

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/08/22/300479/rick-perry-disavows-fed-up
[Matt Yglesias] Fed Up is not some 20-year-old graduate school thesis that Perry wrote before he served in elected office. It is a substantial, nationally published manifesto that Perry was proudly signing at book tours just a few months ago.

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/08/rick-perrys-unfortunate-book
The book, Mr. Sullivan said, “is a look back, not a path forward.” It was written “as a review and critique of 50 years of federal excesses, not in any way as a 2012 campaign blueprint or manifesto,” Mr. Sullivan said.

[Kevin Drum] This has been making all the usual rounds today, and why not? It's unusually dumb. Given the amount of — well, let's call it inconvenient bluster in the book — I guess Sullivan has to give this a try, but does he really think Perry can disown a book that he released nine months ago? That's not very swaggering and tea partyish. Sounds like Mr. Perry is all hat and no cattle.

Nov 2, 2010: http://www.wfaa.com/news/election-dnu/Perry-Book-is-proof-hes-not-interested-in-White-House-run-106576099.html
"I think probably the best display, the best concrete evidence that I'm really not running for president is this book, because when you read this book, you're going to see me talking about issues that for someone running for public office, it's kind of been the third rail if you will," Perry told the AP. "But these are issues that really need to be talked about."

You might think it would be hard for the Repubs to find some reason to criticize Obama’s handling of the Libya situation. But McCain and Graham don’t disappoint

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/mccain-and-graham-say-us-should-have-pushed-harder-for-fall-of-qaddafi.php
Since the beginning of the Libyan conflict, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have been on the side of the hawks. They kept that stance Sunday night, issuing a joint statement that celebrated "the end of the Qaddafi regime" but bemoaning how long it took. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/22/1009548/-John-McCains-bitter-Libya-spin

More: http://www.slate.com/id/2302124/
[Fred Kaplan] Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., issued a truly obnoxious statement today, congratulating "our British, French, and other allies, as well as our Arab partners, especially Qatar and the UAE, for their leadership in this conflict," adding, almost as an afterthought, "Americans can be proud of the role our country has played in helping to defeat Qaddafi, but we regret that this success was so long in coming due to the failure of the United States to employ the full weight of our airpower." [read on]

Of course, we have our own concerns with his handling of it

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/08/22/libya
[Glenn Greenwald] In April, 2003, American troops entered Baghdad and Saddam Hussein was forced to flee; six months later, the dictator was captured ("caught like a rat in a hole," giddy American media outlets celebrated) and eventually hanged. Each of those incidents caused massive numbers of Iraqis who had suffered under his decades-long rule to celebrate, and justifiably so: Saddam really was a monster who had brutally oppressed millions. But what was not justifiable was how those emotions were exploited by American war advocates to delegitimize domestic objections to the war. . .

As I've emphasized from the very first time I wrote about a possible war in Libya, there are real and important differences between the attack on Iraq and NATO's war in Libya, ones that make the former unjustifiable in ways the latter is not (beginning with at least some form of U.N. approval). But what they do have in common -- what virtually all wars have in common -- is the rhetorical manipulation used to justify them and demonize critics. Just as Iraq War opponents were accused of being "objectively pro-Saddam" and harboring indifference to The Iraqi People, so, too, were opponents of the Libya War repeatedly accused of being on Gadaffi's side (courtesy of Hillary Clinton, an advocate of both wars) and/or exuding indifference to the plight of Libyans. And now, in the wake of the apparent demise of the Gadaffi regime, we see all sorts of efforts, mostly from Democratic partisans, to exploit the emotions from Gadaffi's fall to shame those who questioned the war . . .

GOPers: we don’t want to support YOUR tax cuts, we want credit for OUR tax cuts

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/republicans-new-stance-tax-cuts-defined
'Not All Tax Relief is Created Equal'

More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/22/1009379/-Republicans-want-to-raise-your-taxes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/what-does-norquist-think-of-gop-opposition-to-payroll-tax-cut/2011/03/03/gIQApBRUWJ_blog.html

What is Jon Huntsman doing?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/08/huntsman_20.php

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/22/jon-huntsman-s-reasonable-man-act.html

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/22/huntsman_bash_republicans

She was just John the Baptist to the Real Deal

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/peaked-polling-shows-bachmann-support-withering-after-perrys-debut.php
Polling Shows Bachmann Support Withering After Perry’s Debut

The GOP’s theocratic agenda

http://crooksandliars.com/sarahburris/history-bachmanns-religious-war

Academic study confirms what we already knew

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/study-tea-party-members-cultural-dispositions-authoritarianism-ontological-insecurity-libertarianism.php
Study: Tea Party Members Cultural Dispositions ‘Authoritarianism, Fear Of Change, Libertarianism And Nativism’

Orrin Hatch lucks out

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/chaffetz-wont-seek-senate-seat-in-utah
After appearing to spoil for a fight, Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah, announced Monday that he would not run for his state’s Senate seat, removing a potentially formidable rival to Senator Orrin Hatch . . .

Why? Good question: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/08/chaffetz_out.php

Florida governor Rick Scott is mired in scandal. This won’t help

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/florida_gov_rick_scotts_transition_emails_accident.php
Florida Gov. Rick Scott's Transition Emails Accidentally Deleted

***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.***

“UNELECTABLE”

Pay to play

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/us/politics/21donate.html
Rick Perry's Donors Reap Benefits From Texas State Aid

Pray

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/organizer-perrys-prayer-event-pushing
Organizer of Perry's Prayer Event Pushing For 5 Million Conservative Christian Voter Registrations

Perry also wants to end the progressive income tax

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/08/repealing-16th-amendment

Lovin' it!

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/huntsman-calls-his-rivals-unelectable/
Huntsman Calls His Rivals ‘Unelectable’

Why is he doing it? http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/08/huntsman_20.php

Brilliant timing

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/reports-romney-plans-to-quadruple-size-of-calif-home/2011/08/21/gIQAfTk5TJ_story.html
Romney plans to quadruple size of Calif. home

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/romneys_real_estate031688.php

It had to happen: the press has stopped taking Michele Bachmann’s word for what she did as an IRS tax attorney, and has started looking into it

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/08/21/looking_into_bachmanns_record_as_tax_attorney.html
"Bachmann did not respond to interview requests or written questions about her IRS career for this story. But she has repeatedly cast herself as a former tax litigator without mentioning that her job was to represent the IRS against taxpayers."

We're not even interested any more

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/will-she-wont-she-the-signs-are-mixed-over-a-possible-palin-presidential-entry.php
Will She? Won’t She?

Will the GOPers support Obama’s tax cut for the middle class?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/congressional_republicans_want031691.php
[AP] ‘Congressional Republicans want to raise your taxes’

More: http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/08/bargaining-vs-hostage-taking

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/jobs-schmobs.html

Charles Krauthammer, Mr. Dependable

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/the_ultimate_political_ad_homi031689.php

In case you missed the Sunday talk shows

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/21/tv-soundoff-sunday-talkin_n_932368.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.***

NORMALIZING CRAZY

I know there’s a risk of going hyperbolic over this, but are the Republicans really TRYING to destroy our society? (Thanks to Robert M. for the link)

http://www.readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/6881-the-tea-partys-next-target-the-environment
You'd think Congress would be too busy wrecking the economy to attack the environment. Yet, in the midst of a packed schedule snapping at President Obama's heels and lunging for each other's throats, Republicans have found time to try and rip the heart out of the Environmental Protection Agency, killing 40 years of protections for water, air, endangered species, wildlife habitat and national parks. . . [read on]

Rick Perry keeps testing the limits of mainstream political discourse

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/perry_doubles_down_on_everythi031686.php

It’s not a “gaffe” when HE MEANS IT: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/19/gaffes-by-candidates-both-mar-and-enliven-campaign.html

He’s another one

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/perry-criticizes-government-while-texas-job-growth-benefits-from-it/2011/08/18/gIQAPPZQSJ_story.html
Perry criticizes government while Texas job growth benefits from it

Jon Huntsman tests whether a reasonable man can survive in today’s GOP

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/huntsman-i-wouldnt-necessarily-trust-any-of-my-opponents-right-now-on-the-economy.php
Tapper asked, "Were you just being cheeky or do you think there's a serious problem with what Governor Perry said?" Huntsman's response: "I think there's a serious problem. The minute that the Republican Party becomes the party - the anti-science party, we have a huge problem. We lose a whole lot of people who would otherwise allow us to win the election in 2012."

Huntsman went on to describe what he sees as the long term political downside to questioning science. . . [read on]

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/huntsman-gets-more-aggressive-with-opponents-obama/2011/08/20/gIQAb5wNSJ_story.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/the_candidate_with_nothing_to031687.php

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/08/huntsman-wakes-up.html
[Andrew Sullivan] Huntsman has a prophetic role in this campaign if he chooses to adopt it: the truth-teller. His chances are so slim, he loses nothing by speaking this candidly. At the very least, he lays down a distinctive marker for 2016. . . .

With Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords only now starting to put her life back together after being shot in the head, he thinks this is funny

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/keith-olbermann-makes-coburn-worst-person
[Tom Coburn, R-OK] “It's just a good thing I can't pack a gun on the Senate floor.” [read on]

Last January, after the shooting happened: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/sen-coburn-is-disgusted-with-all-the-media-right-and-left/
[Coburn] “I’ve pretty well been disgusted with all the media, right and left, after this episode, because what it does is it raises and says there’s a connection and the President rightly said there was no connection to [the Arizona shooting]. . . . And we’re spending all this time talking about political discourse rather than talking about the real risk to our country. We need to quit paying attention to what all the media says, we need to start watching, as [Sen.] Chuck Schumer has said, what we say.”

Christine O’Donnell now says she walked out of a CNN interview because of “sexual harassment”

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/christine-odonnell-accuses-piers-morgan-bord

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://firedoglake.com/2011/08/21/sunday-talking-heads-august-21-2011/
ABC’s This Week: Jake Tapper host. Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman. Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod. Roundtable: George Will, Donna Brazile, Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times, Frank Luntz, and Liz Claman of FOX Business Network. “And as the president begins his vacation, he might not be resting so easy as he gets flack from an unlikely place: his own base.”

CBS’ Face the Nation: Norah O’Donnell hosts. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Economist Mark Zandi. Former party chairs, Ed Gillespie and Terry McAuliffe.

CNN State of the Union: Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod. Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) and Gov. Martin O’Malley (D-MD). Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) of the Congressional Black Caucus. The economy – U.S. economic editor of The Economist Greg Ip and Editor of Thomson Reuters Digital Chrystia Freeland.

NBC’s Meet the Press: Horse race. Obama for America Campaign adviser, Robert Gibbs. Then, Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN). Roundtable: Harold Ford, Jr., Peggy Noonan, E.J. Dionne, Maria Bartiromo.

***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.***

KNOW YOUR ENEMY

The Repubs are so hostile to compromise, so unwilling to give Obama a political win on anything, that they even oppose him when he suggests THEIR OWN policies. Rachel Maddow calls them out

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#44210368

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/obama-pushes-for-a-tax-break-republicans-are-blocking.php
Obama: Hey, Republicans Are Blocking My Tax Break!

They won’t confirm his judges either

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/19/1008686/-White-House-highlights-Senate-judiciaryobstruction

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/crisis_on_the_courts031666.php

Congress can’t come to an agreement on the debt, so they empower a gang of twelve to negotiate an agreement for them. Now it appears that that group can’t agree either, so John Warner wants to form a gang of six to tell THEM what to do. What a way to run a government in the midst of crisis

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/18/1008234/-Warner-wants-a-new-Gang-of-Six

Former Goldman Sachs VP changes his name, now serves on the House committee responsible for Wall Street oversight. An innocent coincidence?

http://mydd.com/users/theyoungturks/posts/government-corruption-goldman-vp-name-change

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/ex-goldman_employee_on_issas_staff_says_he_changed_name_to_honor_transylvanian_heritage.php

We’re going to keep hearing more and more about this

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/us/politics/20repubs.html
Mr. Perry, however, is hardly a natural heir to the Texas Bush legacy or the much-maligned reputation that Mr. Bush left among both Republicans and Democrats. The blue-blooded Bush clan’s dislike of the gun-slinging, coyote-shooting son of tenant farmers runs deep — from the first President George Bush on down to the family’s political Svengali, Karl Rove, to state-level operatives — and Mr. Perry further offended Bush-world when, in recent years, he publicly criticized President George W. Bush on a number of issues, and questioned his fiscal conservatism. . . .

Don’t mince words – tell us what you really think!

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/former-reagan-official-rick-perrys-an-idiot.php
Ronald Reagan's chief domestic policy adviser took Texas governor Rick Perry to the woodshed Friday for recent controversial statements -- in particular about his suggestion that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke would be committing treason by printing money to boost economic growth.

"Rick Perry's an idiot, and I don't think anyone would disagree with that," Bruce Bartlett said on CNN's American Morning. . . .

Proof: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_08/perry_parties_and_pragmatism031653.php

Can he win?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/19/1008729/-Establishment-Republicans-arent-worried-about-Perrytheyre-worried-about-whether-he-can-win

As is well-known, Michele Bachmann used to work as a tax lawyer for the IRS – the bane of teabaggers everywhere. Here’s how she explains it all now

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/bachmann-on-why-she-worked-for-irs-first-rule-of-war-is-know-your-enemy/2011/03/03/gIQAmVD6NJ_blog.html
This is fun. Michele Bachmann, on the campaign trail today, offered what seems to be a new explanation for her previous work as a lawyer for the Internal Revenue Service, something that has drawn some ire from the right.

Her explanation: She worked for the IRS as a kind of secret anti-tax mole whose mission was to get to know the place in order to better undermine it later. As she put it: “The first rule of war is `know your enemy.’”

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/the-gaffes-of-august-bachmanns-big-week-on-the-stump.php

Thuggery

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/18/bachmann_goons
Bachmann campaign roughing up reporters

Can she win?

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/19/bachmann_gop_2012
Nominating Michele Bachmann would be political suicide for Republicans, but they need her to stick around for now

On the fringes

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/santorum-ill-take-up-huntsmans-offer----hes-crazy-to-believe-in-global-warming-video.php
On Thursday, Jon Huntsman tweeted a jab at fellow GOP primary candidate Rick Perry with the declaration: "To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy" -- a brave move for a Republican presidential candidate in the age of the Tea Party. In response, his fellow (and much more conservative) candidate Rick Santorum seems to be saying: Yup, you are crazy.

Santorum on Friday singled out Huntsman for accepting the scientific consensus on manmade activities being a significant contributor to global warming -- and did not talk at all about Huntsman's belief in evolution, despite his own long political history of questioning evolutionary science and advocating for the teaching of the "intelligent design" movement of creationism.

"Yeah well, I'll be the first one to take him up on his offer," Santorum told MSNBC . . .

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/climate-change-science-makes-for-hot-politics/2011/08/18/gIQA1eZJQJ_story.html

Do they really teach creationism in Texas public schools?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/did-rick-perry-turn-texas-public-schools-into-creationism-indoctrination-centers.php

http://firedoglake.com/2011/08/19/rick-perrys-innovative-educational-model-students-get-to-decide-the-right-answer/
Rick Perry’s Innovative Educational Model: Students Get to Decide the Right Answer

http://www.americablog.com/2011/08/texas-schools-not-doing-well-under.html
The estimated public high school graduation rate in Texas ranks 43rd of the 50 states . . .

Sarah! wants you to know she’s still around

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/19/1008712/-Sarah-Palin-releases-Iowa-ad-to-make-sure-youre-still-paying-attention-to-her

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/sarah-palin-im-still-newsworthy-really-i-am/2011/03/03/gIQAqpPSQJ_blog.html

As everyone not in a coma remembers, Obama eventually released his REAL birth certificate to finally put an end to the “birther” idiocy. Of course it didn’t stop anything

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/sheriff-joe-arpaio-probing-obama-birth-certi

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