Because they can — and they know they won’t get called on it.
As Jon pointed out yesterday, Mitt Romney’s campaign has turned lying into something of a craft, if not an art form. But Mother Jones’ Kevin Drum offers an explanation why every time a politician tells a lie, he or she is likely to get away with it:
Politicians have increasingly discovered over the past couple of decades that even on a national stage you can lie pretty blatantly and pay no price since the mainstream media, trapped in its culture of objectivity, won’t really call you on it, limiting themselves to fact checking pieces like Kessler’s buried on an inside page. And because virtually nobody except political junkies ever sees this stuff, it doesn’t hurt their campaigns at all.
Proportion of African-Americans who say they have no religious affiliation, according to the American Religious Identification Survey. The figure shows that black Americans are one of the fastest growing segments of the one of the fastest growing segments of Americans: the so-called “Nones.” In 1990, 6% of African-Americans said they were “Nones,” with the figure nearly double today.
When Andrew Breitbart died unexpectedly in March 2012,* he was hailed by those on both the right and the left who lauded his “mischievous spirit and Barnum-esque knack for creating a stir.” But he wasn’t really like some little bad boy, he was a big bad boy, capable of mean-spirited and dishonest acts.
As this long-lost video shows, however, the only thing Breitbart really cared about was winning the argument and defeating — by any means — the monolithic, juggernaught-like LEFT, which seeks to impose “cultural Marxism” and “political correctness” on the poor little helpless right.
So watch the tape (not the whole thing, it’s 18:30), but enough to remind you of Breitbart’s ability to talk and never really say anything. Given the current level of discourse in this country — an environment ripe for Breitbart’s brand of creative video editing and aggressive smear campaigns — we’re better off without him.
* Thanks for the correction, Paula.
From the You Can’t Please All the Gay Republicans Any of the Time Department comes this:
“That the president has chosen today, when LGBT Americans are mourning the passage of Amendment One, to finally speak up for marriage equality is offensive and callous,” said Log Cabin Republicans president R. Clarke Cooper in a statement. “Log Cabin Republicans appreciate that President Obama has finally come in line with leaders like Vice President Dick Cheney on this issue, but LGBT Americans are right to be angry that this calculated announcement comes too late to be of any use to the people of North Carolina, or any of the other states that have addressed this issue on his watch.”
“This administration has manipulated LGBT families for political gain as much as anybody, and after his campaign’s ridiculous contortions to deny support for marriage equality this week he does not deserve praise for an announcement that comes a day late and a dollar short.”
Hold on there R., that amendment passed in N.C. by more than a 60 percent margin. Do you really believe that if President Obama had endorsed gay marriage a day sooner and a dollar more it would have changed the minds of any of those benighted Tarheels? Really?
The relative assholeyness of rich folks has been proven in not one, not two, but SEVEN recent experiments. Why there is such interest in proving this topic as the world struggles with economic lassitude and the rise of the 1% might be worth a scientific experiment of its own, but the fact is, we do want to know and social scientists have confirmed our suspicions.
The National Academy of Sciences grouped the studies under the collective heading, “Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior.” Among the key findings:
“Upper-class drivers were the most likely to cut off other vehicles at the intersection, even when controlling for time of day, driver’s perceived sex and age, and amount of traffic.” Drivers of “high status” cars cut off other vehicles nearly 30% of the time; “low-status” cars cut off other vehicles 7.7% of the time.
Drivers of “low status” vehicles failed to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk up to 30% of the time, while 46% of “high status” vehicle drivers failed to yield, an increase of more than 50%.
What do you do when the facts don’t support your actions, which were based on extremist rhetoric and false notions? If you’re Gov. Rick Scott (GOP/Tea – Fla.) you simply change the mission.
The results are in, and drug testing of welfare recipients as a means to deny them assistance costs more than it saves and fails to shrink the welfare rolls. On the plus side, it shows that drug use is lower among welfare recipients than in the general population.
The idea that people on public assistance are lazy, fatcat, dishonest, drug using cheaters of the system who eat steak and drive Cadillacs is so deeply held on the right that it can’t be shaken — no matter how much the facts pee all over it.
The facts have Gov. Scott and the Florida legislators who introduced the bill — which is being challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) even as it is under consideration in 25 other states — pivoting. They say their idea wasn’t so much to save taxpayer dollars, which is precisely what they claimed at the time, but to cut illegal drug use and…um…give me a second here…what sounds good? Something about children? Maybe?
“It’s not about money, it’s about the drug issue,” said Rep. Jimmie Smith, R-Lecanto, who sponsored the legislation. “It’s about using every tool we have in the toolbox to fight drugs.”
Jackie Schutz, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office, said the governor agreed: The drug welfare law is about protecting children and getting parents back to work.
So along with saving taxpayers money, fighting drugs, protecting children, and getting parents back to work, that brings the total number of things the new law isn’t accomplishing to four.
I was saddened by this last rant. Can’t believe anyone finds acceptable to throw his usual apples and oranges at a woman who speaks for responsible healthcare for the female half of the population and then in the same breath says he wants to see sex videos. I guess pornography is a good thing. (I hear it is better with prescription drugs.)
— Email from an uncredited Pensito Review contributor
Rush’s “apology” to Sandra Fluke doesn’t begin to cover it. Calling her a slut was the least of the ugliness he heaped upon her. Rush made it clear in his attack that any woman who is not ashamed enough of the fact that she has sex to keep quiet about it is a whore, a prostitute, a slut. And furthermore, he would like to get him some of that or at the very least watch videos of it online. One can only be relieved that none of Rush’s wives stuck around long enough to bear him a child, especially a daughter.
As expected, Rush’s “apology” makes it clear he still means every word he said and only regrets, like Mitt Romney, the semantics.
For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.
I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit?In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.
My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.
Next, contact his employer, who profits from Limbaugh’s perverted rants:
Mark Mays
CEO Clear Channel Communications
200 East Basse Rd
San Antonio, TX 78209
Phone: (210) 822-2828 publicrelations@clearchannel.com
And finally, keep contacting the advertisers who support the Rush Limbaugh Show. I am not listing them here because, as of press time, many have discontinued their sponsorship (Quicken Loans, Sleep Train Mattress Centers, Heart & Body Extract, Oreck Upright Vacuum Cleaners, Sleep Number Beds, AutoZone, Citrix Online — aka GoToMeeting.com, GoToMyPC.com) and more are bailing by the minute.
But you might want to express to the Mitt Romney campaign how weak and mealy-mouthed their candidate sounded today, when all he could find to disagree about with Limbaugh was not what Rush said but how he said it.
“I’ll just say this, which is, it’s not the language I would have used. I’m focusing on the issues I think are significant in the country today, and that’s why I’m here talking about jobs and Ohio.”
Pundits say that Trump’s $5,000 midterm bribe was an overreach,
And they agree that if lies were a crime, he’d be impeached.
Despite all the dividend promises he’s made,
The fact is, not one has ever been paid,
So even before the midterms, he already owes us $8,000* each.
*$5000 stimulus checks via “DOGE dividend”; $2000 stimulus checks via a “tariff dividend”; $1000-plus checks via “savings” from expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies
“The man is afraid of the voice of the people and that the people understand and know what he’s doing. He’s trying to stifle the ability of journalists to let the people of America know what’s really going on with their government.”
— “Kamala Harris called President Donald Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House ‘absolutely abhorrent,’” The Wrap reports.
“Not one of them is trained in technical skills. Not one research PhD, as opposed to China, where half the cabinet is science and technology PhDs. We’re led by grifters and fools.”
— Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs, on X, on President Trump’s 35-person cabinet.
“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far… The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”
— Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), breaking with President Trump in a direct-to-camera video.
“Donald Trump made over a thousand stock sales and purchases worth between $79m and $270m in July,” The Guardian reports. “His two largest sales were of Amazon and Microsoft stock, selling between $5m and $25m each on 20 July. That same day, he also sold up to $5m worth of Oracle and Costco stock, $500,000 to $1m in Nvidia, and bought up to $5m worth of shares in Intuit and Salesforce, among dozens of other transactions.”
“The unprecedented spate of mid-decade redistricting for the U.S. House has changed the congressional districts for one-tenth of Americans and significantly altered the makeup of at least one-fifth of districts, according to a new study,” the Associated Press reports.
A new Fox News Poll finds 71% of voters think the Trump administration lacks a clear strategy for ending the Iran War, including 95% of Democrats, 83% of independents, and 43% of Republicans. Sixty percent say U.S. military action against Iran was the wrong decision, while just 37% say it was right.
“The Trump administration last year spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers as part of its plan to shrink the government and save taxpayers money, according to a new estimate by a congressional watchdog,” CNN reports.
Reuters has documented at least 470 targets of retribution under Trump’s leadership – from federal employees and prosecutors to universities and media outlets. The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.
