Month: July 2012
Halperin: Obama’s Attacks on Romney Equate to ‘Swiftboating’
We are at a potentially critical moment in the presidential race over the Democrats’ attempts to make Romney’s Swiss bank account, Cayman Island investment funds, and secret tax returns into what the Republicans’ Swift Boating effort was for John Kerry in 2004.
— Mark Halperin, writing in TIME magazine.
Rich Romney Supporter Says Poor Too Stupid to Understand GOP Politics
I don’t think the common person is getting it. Nobody understands why Obama is hurting them. We’ve got the message. But my college kid, the babysitters, the nails ladies — everybody who’s got the right to vote — they don’t understand what’s going on. I just think if you’re lower income — one, you’re not as educated, two, they don’t understand how it works, they don’t understand how the systems work, they don’t understand the impact.
— An unnamed donor at Mitt Romney’s weekend fundraiser in the Hamptons, explaining to The Los Angeles Times how lower-income people just don’t understand the GOP’s message.
The Media Has the Campaign Fundraising Story Wrong … Again
You’d think we were watching a horse race the way the media is reporting on campaign fundraising. But of course that’s because the horse race metaphor is easy to understand and easier still to report on.
But NBC’s First Read makes some important points that involve more nuanced analysis and some actual THINKING to get to the heart of the matter:
Did Leona Helmsley’s Reanimated Corpse Attend Romney’s East Hampton Fundraiser?
Los Angeles Times reporter Maeve Reston went out on Long Island over the weekend to cover the fundraisers for Mitt Romney in the Hamptons. She hit paydirt with a a quote from a woman Reston described as a “New York City donor … who would not give her name” sitting in the “passenger seat of a Range Rover stamped with East Hampton beach permits.”
“I don’t think the common person is getting it. Nobody understands why Obama is hurting them. We’ve got the message. But my college kid, the baby sitters, the nails ladies — everybody who’s got the right to vote — they don’t understand what’s going on. I just think if you’re lower income — one, you’re not as educated, two, they don’t understand how it works, they don’t understand how the systems work, they don’t understand the impact.”
That sounds oddly reminiscent of another poster child of New York 1 Percenters, Leona Helmsley, the billionaire “Queen of Mean,” who was convicted of tax evasion in 1988. During her trial, one of her former housekeepers quoted her as saying, “We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.”
Texas Republican Party Calls for Ban on Critical Thinking In Public Schools
The Texas GOP’s declarative position against critical thinking in public schools, or any schools, for that matter, is now an official part of their political platform. It is public record in the Republican Party of Texas 2012 platform [PDF, p. 13]. With regard to critical thinking, the Republican Party of Texas document states:
“Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.” [PDF, p. 20).
Yes, challenging beliefs or claims is considered insubordinate, immoral and could lead to rebellion, disobedience or perhaps worse: revolution. For the Republican Party and their followers, thinking is subversive, imagination is a sin and the Republican Party in Texas and elsewhere is working to codify this into public policy. The plutocrats can’t have a working-class citizenry that is asking questions of those in power, be they parents or bosses; instead, the people must be taught the ideology of what is morally acceptable, what rules and regulations to follow. and even more importantly, how to accept and internalize hierarchical authoritarianism. Critical thinking is a direct challenge to the “leaders” and their claims on authority, and any opposition to vertical arrangements is ethically unacceptable to those in power.
The Republican Party runs Texas with virtually no opposition, so what the state GOP demands in its platform, it will get.
GOP to Make 31st Attempt to Create Jobs – Wait, No, Sorry – to Repeal Obamacare
30
Number of floor votes in the House to repeal, defund or dismantle the Affordable Care Act since Republicans took control of the House in January 2011. They’ll vote to repeal it again on Thursday.
West’s Slavish Assertions
Some say Alan West speaks bravely,
But we think it’s just his brand of knavery.
It’s not so courageous
To say things outrageous
Like Social Security is 21st-century slavery.
Three Questions for Mitt Romney about His Offshore Wealth
The Obama campaign doubled down on its attacks against Mitt Romney’s personal wealth today, releasing a new online video that slams the Republican presidential candidate over his offshore financial holdings in known tax havens.
The video, which features Obama’s campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt, makes some pretty bold claims, basically accusing Romney of using a Bermudan shell corporation to dodge U.S. taxes and hide the extent of his personal fortune.
While the attacks are so far unsubstantiated, the video does raise three interesting questions that Romney has yet to answer about his offshore holdings:
