July 14, 2010 - Pensito

— Kentucky U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul (R), in an interview with the National Review, on what type of Senator he would be if elected.

Sarah and Todd Palin’s ghost-writers, in a statement on the announced re-betrothal of Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston. Bristol’s statement was slightly different: “We got engaged two weeks ago. It felt right, even though we don’t have the approval of our parents.”

— Alex de la Portilla, speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, endorsing Marco Rubio (R) for U.S. Senate.

— Democratic strategist James Carville, in an interview on ABC News.

Nonpartisan Spin Referee PolitiFact Gives Liz Cheney a Pass Even After Proving She Lied

July 14, 2010July 14, 2010 Jon Ponder

With the Republicans’ propaganda mills working at full speed, churning out lies, half-truths and disinformation morning, noon and night, there are only a handful of sources that can be relied upon to sort their truths from the lies.

There are at least two excellent liberal sites with the mission of debunking right-wing lies, Media Matters, which was founded by David Brock, a one-time right-wing propagandist who saw the light, and News Hounds, which has the great tagline, “We watch Fox so you don’t have to” — thanks again, guys, for that not-so-small mercy.

Until now, however, there were primarily just two nonpartisan arbiters of spin: Factcheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, and PolitiFact, a Pulitzer Prize-winning unit of the St. Petersburg Times in Florida.

But now, PolitiFact has embarrassed itself by mishandling an incident in June on ABC’s Sunday morning political chat show in which Arianna Huffington challenged a patently false statement by Liz Cheney:

[…]

Day: July 14, 2010

Verbatim

I think I will be part of a nucleus with Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn, who are unafraid to stand up. If we get another loud voice in there, like Mike Lee from Utah or Sharron Angle from Nevada, there will be a new nucleus.

— Kentucky U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul (R), in an interview with the National Review, on what type of Senator he would be if elected.

Verbatim

Bristol believes in redemption and forgiveness to a degree most of us struggle to put in practice in our daily lives.

Sarah and Todd Palin’s ghost-writers, in a statement on the announced re-betrothal of Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston. Bristol’s statement was slightly different: “We got engaged two weeks ago. It felt right, even though we don’t have the approval of our parents.”

Verbatim

— Alex de la Portilla, speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, endorsing Marco Rubio (R) for U.S. Senate.

Verbatim

To keep the House, we have a three-pronged strategy. To keep the House, it’s called the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

— Democratic strategist James Carville, in an interview on ABC News.

Nonpartisan Spin Referee PolitiFact Gives Liz Cheney a Pass Even After Proving She Lied

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“One woman at a rally in New Jersey told me last week that she was ‘nauseously optimistic.’ That may capture a lot of people’s last-minute jitters.”

— Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), quoted by Axios, on what Democrats feel ahead of the midterm elections.

“I think Congress made a mistake not protesting turning the Rose Garden into what looks like the entrance to Liberace’s bathroom.”

— Former President Bill Clinton, quoted by The Wrap.

“Boy, they are scraping the bottom of the barrel. It feels like a real desperation play to me, because it has got zero basis in the law.”

— Republican election law expert Ben Ginsberg, quoted by Politico, on the Trump administration’s effort to invalidate Alaska’s election results.

Numerati

3,824

$1.4 billion

-35 points

31%

63% to 38%

KFF Poll: “With the 2026 midterm campaigns in full swing and early voting about to begin, there is a wide enthusiasm gap between partisan voters, with Democratic voters 25 percentage points more likely than Republican voters to say they are ‘more motivated’ than usual to vote (63% vs. 38%).”