Tag: Republican Lies
More Americans Believe Obama is a Muslim
1 in 5
–The number of Americans (18 percent) who mistakenly think Pres. Obama is a Muslim, according to a Pew Research poll conducted before his comments on the Islamic community center in downtown Manhattan. A Time Magazine poll taken after his comments showed 25 percent of Americans now think Obama is a Muslim.
Palin Headliner Moved to Smaller Venue Due to Sluggish Response
Are people finally growing weary of chronically aggrieved snark? Or do they just not care to toss hundred dollar bills at Sarah Palin anymore?
Slow ticket sales have bumped Sarah Palin’s appearance next week in Jacksonville to a smaller venue.
“An Evening of Hope with Sarah Palin” was moved from the 2,936-seat Moran Theatre to the 609-seat Terry Theatre…Mark Nelson, Florida director for Heroic Media, said the event was moved to the Terry Theatre because there weren’t enough tickets sold to hold it in the larger Moran.
“We would rather have a packed theater than a theater that’s not so packed,” Nelson said.
Yes, I just imagine those 600 people sharing that 3,000-seat theater would feel a little silly at the money they wasted. Money? Let’s talk. Preferred seating is $100 but a few general admission tickets are also available for $50. But if you’re willing to be a sponsor, you can buy all the Palin you want.
Verbatim
Personally, if I had $100 million to build a mosque that promotes interfaith tolerance, I would not build it in Manhattan. I’d build it in Saudi Arabia or Pakistan. That is where 9/11 came from, and those are the countries that espouse the most puritanical version of Sunni Islam — a version that shows little tolerance not only for other religions but for other strands of Islam…That resistance to diversity, though, is not something we want to emulate, which is why I’m glad the mosque was approved on Tuesday. Countries that choke themselves off from exposure to different cultures, faiths and ideas will never invent the next Google or a cancer cure…
— Thomas Friedman, author and New York Times columnist
Tea Baggers Exposed Gaming the Digg System
Here’s a story we doubt you’ll see reported on FOX News. AlterNet recently completed a year-long investigation into so-called “gaming the system” at the content aggregator, Digg. A Yahoo group calling itself the Digg Patriots (whose site has since been taken down) figured out how to rig Digg’s voting. If you don’t know, at Digg and many similar sites, you can vote for the stories you want to see featured prominently, or in this case, those you want “buried.” As AlterNet reported:
It’s easier to tell you what the group is against than what it’s for: Obama, progressives, diplomacy, health care reform, immigrants, science, the separation of church and state, acknowledgment of human-induced climate change, the government, pro-choice protections, public schools, and higher education. They also claim to believe Obama is a Muslim and a socialist, and that he was born in Kenya.
Literally thousands of stories have already been artificially removed from Digg due to this group. When a story is buried, it is removed from the upcoming section (where it is usually at for ~24 hours) and cannot reach the front page, so by doing this, this one group is removing the ability of the community as a whole to judge the merits or interest of these stories on their own (in essence: censoring content).
The immensity of the impact is commensurate with the reach of Digg. Again, according to Alternet:
It is ranked 50th among US websites by Alexa (117th in the world), by far the most influential social media site…Digg generates around 25 million page views per month, over one third of the page views of the NY Times. Front page stories regularly overwhelm and temporarily shut down websites in a process called the “Digg Effect.”
Conservative Olson: All Rights Aren’t Up for a Vote
Olson was probably only allowed to speak without being shouted down because of his conservative creds. After all, he was the man who won Bush v. Gore and was rewarded with the job of Solicitor General under George W. Bush. The entire exchange is great, but the part where he asks Chris Wallace whether we should also put FOX News’ right to free speech up to the voters is brilliant.
Polls Finally Open in Florida. Will the Republican Blood Letting End?
After what seems like decades, but is only a matter of hundreds and hundreds of days, the polls were finally opened in Florida, where early voting for the Aug. 24 primary began. I pity my Republican neighbors, who must choose between the guy with no lip and the guy with no eyebrows (or hair) as their candidate for governor. This video, produced by Democrat Alex Sink’s team, shows the state of the GOP primary.
Meanwhile my gal, Sink, has rightfully profited in polling and fundraising from the rancor on the GOP side. Recent polls show her up over her Republican opponents, by how much varying upon which candidate she is paired with. Her lead seems wider over McCollum than Scott. And she has about $5.8 million in the bank, which she’ll need if she finds herself running against multimillionaire Scott. Bud Chiles, son of Democratic governor Lawton Chiles, is trailing in polls with about 15 percent. Chiles is in the race as an independent, so if he stays in, it will be a three-way contest.
Verbatim
While former half-term governor Palin is certainly an expert in not being vetted, we put our trust in the judgment of the American people who rejected not only the broken policies she and Republicans continue to call for, but also this very kind of childish politics she continues to engage in.
DNC Press Secretary Hari Sevugan, commenting on Sarah Palin’s statement that Pres. Obama is not up to the task of being president, despite 18 months of proof to the contrary. Even as Pres. Obama has pulled the country back from the brink of Republican-induced economic collapse, succeeded where the last eight presidents failed at starting genuine health care reform, reversed Bush policies on torture, murder, mutilation, and humiliation of individuals in the custody of officers or agents of the federal government, and signed a strategic arms treaty with Russia that reduces both of our nuclear arsenals by one-third (without even being able to see the Russian shore), Palin said, “Some of this though is a result of he not having much experience and then a complicit media and maybe some voters who chose to not to allow him to be vetted very closely.”
Obama Proves Hoover, GOP, Tea Party, and FOX Wrong
Score one for the Obama administration; zero for Republicans, Tea Baggers, and FOX News. A newly released study by two esteemed economists (yes, I know that’s an oxymoron) shows that Obama’s fiscal policies did indeed pull the country back from the brink of a depression brought about by Bush-Cheney mismanagement.
…the economists argue that without the Wall Street bailout, the bank stress tests, the emergency lending and asset purchases by the Federal Reserve, and the Obama administration’s fiscal stimulus program, the nation’s gross domestic product would be about 6.5 percent lower this year.
In addition, there would be about 8.5 million fewer jobs, on top of the more than 8 million already lost; and the economy would be experiencing deflation, instead of low inflation.
We all know how Hoover’s policies worked out. This study show the GOP/Tea/FOX versions would work no better.
The authors of the work, reported in the New York Times, are former Federal Reserve vice chair Alan S. Blinder and Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi.
The study makes clear that Obama’s use of multiple strategies to bolster the economy was essential.
Irony on Parade: Tea Party Hotheads Turn on One of the Men Who Invented Them
Scott made millions as CEO of Columbia/HCA. The hospital chain founded by the Frist family (as in former Senate majority leader Bill Frist) swallowed competitors in the ’90s by dictating terms to suppliers. They’d merge with most of the hospitals in a given area, then tell vendors how much they wanted to pay for products. If a vendor balked, they simply switched to a lower bidder, leaving the first one with nobody to sell to. One of the repercussions of this strategy was the trend toward labor outsourcing by American companies, with medical product suppliers moving facilities to Mexico in order to meet pricing demands.
A “shouting, finger-pointing” crowd demands an explanation
Columbia was found guilty in 2000 of bilking Medicare and Medicaid in a massive, concerted, company-wide fraud effort under Scott. The chain was fined $1.7 billion, the largest penalty ever, and Scott was forced to resign or face criminal charges. He soon bounced back, founding the Solantic chain of urgent care clinics, which mainly serves the uninsured. Scott and several confederates have been the big bucks behind the so-called “astroturf” (meaning it looks like grassroots but it isn’t) opposition to health care reform.
Which brings us to the ironic position in which he recently found himself at a Tea Party gathering on the campaign trail.
