Tag: Republicans

Faux Outsider: Cain Was a Lobbyist In Bed with Big Tobacco

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If you’re having trouble grocking Herman Cain, a recent article in the New York Times will make your mental light bulb shine.

Cain, who has been the next Reagan since he won the straw poll at Florida’s Presidency 5 confab in September, says his main virtue is that he is an outsider to politics. And while it’s true that Cain has never held elected office, he is only an outsider in the Jack Abramoff sense of that word.*

…the role that helped propel Mr. Cain into politics was that of an ultimate Washington insider: industry lobbyist.

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Cain’s Fruit Salad Doesn’t Pass the Sniff Test

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Cain is going to have to come up with a better answer to the question of whether he’s increasing sales taxes by 100 percent on states like New Hampshire, who don’t currently have a sales tax, than “apples vs oranges.” If you’re paying zero taxes on apples now, and “Herb” affixes a 9 percent federal sales tax to your apples, you don’t have oranges, you have more expensive apples.

Joy-Ann Reid, publisher of the Reid Report, on Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 taxation scheme.

Republicans Accept $18 Million Government Bailout for Convention Expenses

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GOPconventionYou know how Republicans are always telling the rest of us that we need to get by without federal assistance, to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, to pay our own way, and to just generally be self-sufficient? Well when it comes to throwing parties, forget all that!

Republicans are helping themselves to $18 million of the public dole for party planning for their 2012 national convention in Tampa. Let the good times roll!

Let me beat FOX News to the false equivalence punch by acknowledging that Democrats will likely accept funding for their convention in Charlotte. But there’s a difference.

Organizers of the 2012 Republican National Convention have received a $18 million grant from the Federal Elections Commission for planning and preparation…

The money, which comes from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, had been anticipated and is intended for payroll for staff members, travel, office supplies and other convention-related expenses.

While charges of hypocrisy might apply to the GOP for accepting the grant, that case certainly can’t be made concerning Republican deficit handling. The first use of quite a few of those many, many benjamins is paying off debt racked up in the past few years, when fundraising didn’t keep pace with spending.

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One Florida Lawmaker’s Dream: To Make Executions Horrific Again

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lethalinjection
Not nearly violent enough

If you’ve ever wished there were some way to make state-ordered executions more violent, one Florida state representative feels your…

Well, anyway, Rep. Brad Drake has filed a bill in the upcoming state legislative session to do away with lethal injections and instead provide death by electrocution and firing squad. Yes, I did say, “firing squad.”

Drake, R-Eucheeanna, said the idea came to him after having a conversation with a constituent at a DeFuniak Springs Waffle House…

What, I ask you, could go wrong when a Republican representative brainstorms legislation with the guys and gals at the Waffle House?

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Perry’s Wife Not Clear on the Concept of Unemployment

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He resigned his job two weeks ago because he can’t go out and campaign with his father because of SEC regulations…My son lost his job because of this administration.

Anita Perry, wife of Gov. Rick Perry (Tex. – GOPvangelical), responding sympathetically to a voter at a South Carolina diner who told the Perrys he is working as a handyman since losing his job. Griffin Perry resigned as an investment advisor at Deutche Bank to hit the campaign trail with his dad.

Scott Gives Himself Do-Over on Jobs Promise

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I could argue that I don’t have to create any jobs. I just have to make sure we don’t lose jobs.

Gov. Rick Scott (Fla. – GOP/Tea), explaining why he shouldn’t be held to his campaign promise to create 700,000 new jobs on top of projected growth in Florida. Scott has focused — like most tea party Republicans who campaign on jobs — on issues like drug testing applicants for public assistance, gutting environmental protections, restricting access to voting, and micromanaging public education.

Florida’s Newest Democrat: Mrs. Charlie Crist

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CaroleCrist
Carole Crist: Too smart to be a Republican?

While the obvious question might be, “What took you so long?” the fact remains that even Carole Rome Crist, wife of former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, is now a Democrat.

Crist himself, of course, left the Republican party when it went all tea party crazy and lined up behind eventual winner Marco Rubio in the 2010 Florida Senate race. But Charlie simply dropped out of the GOP to become an independent while Mrs. Crist is taking the more active step of registering as a Democrat.

Which straw, we wonder, broke the camel’s back and turned Carole from red to blue?

New Republican Senators Not Very Popular

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3rd – or 1st, depending

Rank of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in popularity of new senators. Public Policy Polling ranked the top ten of the senators elected in 2010 and found the only two Democrats in positions number one (Joe Manchin, W.V. with a rating of +33) and two (Richard Blumenthal, Conn. at +18). Rubio was third, but first among Republicans, with an approval rating of +7, with Rand Paul (Ken.) near the bottom at -2, and Roy Blunt (Mo.) dead last at -9.