Author: Trish

New Mailer Shows How Untethered to Truth the Republicans Have Become

Trish

SanduskyMailer

Republicans seem to be betting that the folks on the receiving end of this mailer are crack-stupid.

Will the next campaign feature Nancy Kerrigan style knee-capping? Soviet style poisoning?

Kathy Castor-Dentel, an elementary school teacher and a Democrat, is running for the Florida State House of Representatives, District 30. She is the daughter of Betty Castor, who was herself smeared as a terror sympathizer in her bid for the U.S. Senate in 2004 by Republican Mel Martinez, who subsequently lost interest in the office and quit early to spend more time with his family. She is also the sister of U.S. Rep. Karen Castor (D – Fla.), a rising star in U.S. House Minority.

Jerry Sandusky, who is depicted in the mailer, is a former Pennsylvania State assistant football coach recently convicted of serial child molestation and sex abuse. He has no relationship to Castor-Dentel, Florida teacher’s unions, or indeed, to the Florida District 30 race. But hey, why let that stop anyone from smearing Castor-Dentel by linking the two anyway?

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Vote Fraud IS a Problem — Among Republicans

Trish

2

Number of Republicans arrested for vote fraud on Friday, Nov. 2. In Las Vegas, a 56-year-old registered Republican woman attempted to vote at two polling stations on the same day. In Portland, Ore., an elections office worker was caught filling in any blanks on ballots with a straight Republican ticket. There were no reports of Democrats committing vote fraud, but if you hear of any, please leave a link in the comments. P.S. Doctored videos by James O’Keefe don’t count.

CNNMoney: Obama is Now Officially a Job Creator

Trish

Newly released employment numbers show two things.

1. Pres. Obama is a job creator.

2. Mitt Romney needs a new strategy.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The U.S. economy now has more jobs than it did when the president took office in January of 2009.

Economist: ‘The stimulus did what it was expected to do. We are on a path to recovery.’

With the addition of Friday’s fairly strong jobs report, plus upward revisions over the last couple of months, there are now 194,000 more jobs than there were in January of 2009, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And the number could be even higher once more expected revisions are released. Last month, the Labor Department released a statement saying it likely under-counted jobs created in much of 2011 by around 386,000. Those are preliminary figures that could still change when the final data is released in February.

But by either measure, Obama can now be called a job creator.

“The stimulus did what it was expected to do,” said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, referring to the $787 billion package of spending and tax cuts pushed through by the president in early 2009. “We are on a path to recovery.”

So Much for the Rumors — Bloomberg Endorsed Obama

Trish

bloomberg

You heard the speculation this week that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg refused to let Obama assess places destroyed by Hurricane Sandy because he is rooting for Mitt Romney and didn’t want to give the president any photo ops. Looks like the rumors were wrong.

Bloomberg, who had previously said that he would not make a public endorsement in the 2012 race, apparently changed his mind after New York was pummeled by Hurricane Sandy…

Bloomberg’s endorsement comes as momentum for Obama seems to be building as the race ends

“The devastation that Hurricane Sandy brought to New York City and much of the Northeast — in lost lives, lost homes and lost business — brought the stakes of Tuesday’s presidential election into sharp relief,” Bloomberg wrote.

“We need leadership from the White House — and over the past four years, President Barack Obama has taken major steps to reduce our carbon consumption, including setting higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks,” the mayor continued. “His administration also has adopted tighter controls on mercury emissions, which will help to close the dirtiest coal power plants…which are estimated to kill 13,000 Americans a year.”

He then went on to praise President Obama’s “Race to the Top” education initative, his defense of a woman’s right to choose, and his support for marriage equality, noting that “I want our president to be on the right side of history.”

But, Bloomberg added, it’s not just that he likes Obama. It’s also that he doesn’t like Romney.

[…]

October Job Growth Might Have Been Twice the Forecast. Cue the Rightwing CEO Tweets

Trish

Tweets galore address the report from ADP (a payroll services provider) that 158,000 private sector jobs were added in October. Since this figure is about twice the gain of 88,000 jobs that was forecasted, we can again expect rightwing CEOs to start questioning the motives of the company, in between sending emails to their staffs threatening to cut their jobs if Obama is re-elected.

While we wait for those tweets to proliferate, here’s one I liked:

Four More Years @4More99
We expected the US to create 88,000 jobs in October – instead there were 158,000. I blame Obama.

Republican Tax Policies Added the Portion of the 47% Who are Poor

Trish

Kim Dixon at Reuters:

Mitt Romney has distanced himself from his remarks lamenting the nearly 47 percent of Americans who do not owe federal income taxes, but his fellow Republicans helped engineer the very tax breaks that have put many in that category. And little change is expected soon.

Economist: ‘There is some degree of disconnect between complaining about the 47% and yet supporting the policies that brought it about’

A key reason: The breaks in question – the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit – are based on core Republican philosophies of encouraging work to lift people out of poverty, Republican aides and many conservatives say.

The number of Americans not owing federal income taxes has been growing since the mid-1980s, and the increase largely stems from expansion of these two tax credits – championed by Republicans from conservative economist Milton Friedman to former President Ronald Reagan.

“It is absolutely true – there is some degree of disconnect between complaining about the 47 percent and yet supporting the policies that brought it about,” said economist Alan Viard of the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute.

The income credit began under Republican President Gerald Ford and was significantly expanded by Reagan. The child credit doubled to $1,000 under Republican President George W. Bush.

Read the full story.

Waiting Game: Longest Ballot Ever Presented to Florida Voters

Trish

17

Number of minutes it will take to read a general election ballot in Florida, where the state legislature has added 11 constitutional amendments for voters to consider. All amendments are deceptively worded and written by the Republican-led body, and all received a thumbs-down from the League of Women Voters. Thanks to the 3,000 words on the ballot, the longest lines in history are expected at the polls. No doubt voters who can’t wait more than an hour or two will give up in frustration.