Day: October 16, 2012
Ryan Totally Faked Charity Event
The photo-op they did wasn’t even accurate. He did nothing. He just came in here to get his picture taken at the dining hall.
— Brian Antal, the head of an Ohio charity, says that the Romney campaign last week “ramrodded their way” into the group’s Youngstown soup kitchen so that Paul Ryan could get his picture taken washing dishes in the dining hall, the Washington Post reports. Said Antal: “We’re a faith-based organization; we are apolitical because the majority of our funding is from private donations. It’s strictly in our bylaws not to do it. They showed up there, and they did not have permission. They got one of the volunteers to open up the doors.”
George Romney Aide Disparages Mitt’s Lack of Character
While it seems that Mitt would say and do anything to close a deal – or an election. George Romney’s strength as a politician and public officeholder was his ability and determination to develop and hold consistent policy positions over his life.
— Walter DeVries, a longtime aide to George Romney, “issued a harshly worded critique of Mitt Romney, accusing him of shifting political positions in ‘erratic and startling ways’ and failing to live up to the distinguished record of his father, the former governor of Michigan,” the New York Times reports. De Vries, who worked for the senior Mr. Romney throughout the 1960s, wrote that Mitt Romney’s bid for the White House was “a far cry from the kind of campaign and conduct, as a public servant, I saw during the seven years I worked in George Romney’s campaigns and served him as governor.”
Clinton Takes Full Responsibility for Security Debacle in Benghazi
I take responsibility.
— Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, telling CNN the buck stops with her when it comes to who is to blame for security ahead of a deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. She also insisted President Obama and Vice President Biden are not involved in security decisions adding, “I want to avoid some kind of political gotcha” just before an election.
This Could Be the ‘Willie Horton’ Ad of This Campaign
Just when you thought the Tea Party had shriveled up and died, their super PAC comes out with this piece of vileness that panders to the whitest part of the GOP base.
Another Romney Lie: Obama Has Not ‘Doubled’ the Federal Deficit, He Has Reduced It by Billions of Dollars
In the presidential debate, Mitt Romney said, “The president said he’d cut the deficit in half. Unfortunately, he doubled it.”
Unsurprisingly, the notion that the deficit has doubled over the last three years is a lie:
Late Friday afternoon, the Treasury Department published the official report on the U.S. budget deficit for the most recent fiscal year: $1.089 trillion. While that’s obviously still a very large budget shortfall, the deficit is $200 billion smaller than it was last year, and is nearly $300 billion smaller than when President Obama took office.
Even Politifact agrees, FWIW.
Even Fox News Calls B.S. on Six ‘Studies’ Cited by Romney-Ryan to Bolster Their $5 Trillion Tax Cut Scheme
In the first presidential debate, Mitt Romney falsely claimed there were six studies that proved his $5 trillion tax cut that mostly benefits the wealthy would not lead to increased taxes on the middle class and/or blow a bigger hole in the deficit. “I will not, under any circumstances, raise taxes on middle-income families,” Romney said. “I will lower taxes on middle-income families. Now, you cite a study. There are six other studies that looked at the study you describe and say it’s completely wrong.” In the vice presidential debate, Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan mentioned the six studies twice.
Talking Points Memo reports that “of the six studies, two are blog posts by the conservative American Enterprise Institute; one is a report by the Republican-friendly Heritage Foundation; one is a paper by Princeton professor and former George W. Bush adviser Harvey Rosen; the fifth and sixth are a Wall Street Journal op-ed and blog post by Harvard economist Martin Feldstein, an adviser to the Romney campaign.”
These “studies” are so bogus that even Fox News found that it could no longer carry water for its own party’s candidates. On their Sunday show, host Chris Wallace took down Ed Gillespie, Karl Rove’s embed in the Romney campaign, on the issue:
Advertisers Continue to Exit Right-Wing Radio
This story needs much more exposure:
At the New Media Seminar held last week in Los Angeles, Norm Pattiz, CEO of Courtside Entertainment, had some harsh words for conservative talk radio hosts nationwide: “Those who do not adapt will be swallowed up.”
The cause for such a dire remark? The continuing fleeing of national advertisers from the right-wing radio spectrum. And he said this in front of a large crowd including notable conservative hosts.
What has happened without the major backers having realized it is that the new era of social media has rendered the marketing advantage of these right-wing hosts moot. Now advertisers can no longer sit securely thinking that only the hosts audience would pay attention to what was being said, and to which companies were advertising with them. Now a host says something out of line, the advertisers take a direct hit. And the strength of social media is only growing.
