Mitt Romney: Just Trust Me

Are you fucking kidding me?!

ROMNEY: “[O]ur campaign would be-- helped immensely if we had an agreement between both campaigns that we were only going to talk about issues and that attacks based upon-- business or family or taxes or things of that nature." 

[...] 

“[W]e only talk about issues. And we can talk about the differences between our positions and our opponent's position.” Romney said of his own campaign: “[O]ur ads haven't gone after the president personally. … [W]e haven't dredged up the old stuff that people talked about last time around. We haven't gone after the personal things.”

Personal things? PERSONAL THINGS?!

For a fucking year now, Mitt Romney has been touting his time as a the rootinest, tootinest bobtailed wildcat north, south, east or west of the Great Salt Lake. He's the kick ass and take names private sector job creator at his private equity firm, Bain Capital. He's a master CEO who created a bajillion jobs, and it's through this amazing experience in the private sector which President Obama lacks, that he is better suited to run the U.S. of A. That's all we've heard from this sleazy, used car salesman.

And now with less than 90 days to go, now that we are in the thick of it campaign-wise, now that the dirty little dealings of Bain's vulture capitalism are coming to light, now that we find out that Mitt Romney was still the de facto head of Bain for three years after the time he claims he left, now he's claiming that what he's been putting front and center as the cornerstone of his leadership bona fides is "personal' and shouldn't be subject to criticism?

I say again: ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!

Now all of this is stemming from the Priorities USA SuperPAC ad centering on Joe Soptic, a victim of Bain's vulture capitalism. Everyone on the right is having an apoplectic fit over the ad, saying it goes too far and points to Romney as Soptic's wife's murderer after she was stricken with cancer but waited too long for treatment because they had lost their health insurance. They're all laying it at the feet of the Obama campaign when the fact of the matter is that it's a SuperPAC ad, not an Obama campaign ad.

How do you like Citizens' United now, bitches?

Mitt Romney 2012: Just Trust Me.

Senate GOP Filibusters DISCLOSE Act

If there's any question left at all where the Republicans stand on campaign finance reform or transparency, think no more.

Last night, Senate Republicans led by Minority Leader and resident Galapagos tortoise Mitch McConnell, voted against bringing a bill to the floor requiring disclosure of anyone who donates to independent groups that spent more than $10,000 on campaign ads.

Once the supposed leaders in campaign finance disclosure (remember John McCain?), not one, single Republican voted in favor of the ‘Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections Act of 2012’ or 'DISCLOSE' Act. Not even John McCain.

And what is wrong with wrong with disclosing who is behind the the financing of specific independent ads on either side of the political spectrum? According to a McConnell op-ed, he considers it "un-American." He believes it "punishes political enemies." How so if the bill is equally enforced towards ads supporting both parties? McConnell also says it's a First Amendment infringement on free speech. Well, if what you are financing is something you believe in, something you stand for, why would you be ashamed of attaching your name to it?

The truth of the matter is it has nothing to do with protecting free speech or punishing political enemies. Republicans are blocking a vote on this bill because the majority of anonymous money is funding anti-Obama ads. And for the last three years, the GOP has made it clear that their number one priority above all else is to make President Obama a one term president. If the roles were reversed and it were Romney who was in the crosshairs of most of the superPACS, I would posit that there would have been no such filibuster.

The Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court overturned McCain-Feingold except for the ban on foreign corporations or foreign nationals in decisions regarding political spending. But how are we to know where the money is actually coming from to fund the superPACS when the donations are anonymous? This loophole could possibly allow foreign entities to play a role in our albeit fractured political campaign finance system. Whether or not this is the most important reason for disclosure is a conversation for another day (I think it should be a major reason), but I digress.

The fact remains that Republicans would rather have millions upon hundreds of millions of dollars pumped into the political process without any care as to where it came from. It's dangerous. It should stop. And maybe one day it will when it's the Republicans who are on the short end of the stick.

More Like This, Please

I have a feeling this is only the first in what will be a long line of debunking Mitt Romney, Karl Rove, the Koch Brothers and the GOP in general over the next six months.


(Via Upworthy) 

 Here's the debunkification.

Stephen Colbert's Strange Heroe$ List

Ever since Stephen Colbert started accepting donations for his SuperPAC, he's been scrolling the names of contributors consistently during his show at the bottom of the screen. I watched Thursday's show last night and something happened to catch my eye. I couldn't believe what I'd just read, so I rewound my DVR and froze it to confirm.



My only fear is that pranksters like these may undermine the whole purpose of Colbert's SuperPAC. Isn't proper identification of donating individuals mandatory? Or is this exactly they kind of contribution that's allowed which freaked people out in the first place with the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling?

MSNBC Suspends Olbermann

Keith Olbermann has been suspended indefinitely from MSNBC for making campaign contributions to three Democrats.

...Keith Olbermann: "One week ago, on the night of Thursday October 28 2010, after a discussion with a friend about the state of politics in Arizona, I donated $2,400 each to the reelection campaigns of Democratic Representatives Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords. I also donated the same amount to the campaign of Democratic Senatorial candidate Jack Conway in Kentucky." Olbermann went on to say he "did not privately or publicly encourage anyone else to donate to these campaigns, nor to any others in this election or any previous ones, nor have I previously donated to any political campaign at any level."

What is happening to the democratic process in our country when an individual is denied participation via legal campaign donations because of a horrible ethics policy rule? There's something horribly wrong when one cannot participate in or financially support the candidate(s) of their choice, but it's fine for corporations to donate unlimited funds to candidates and political parties in an anonymous way.

NBC should reconsider an ethics policy that infringes on an individual's constitutional rights.

UPDATE (6:05pm): According to a Huffington Post article, "[w]hile NBC News policy does not prohibit employees from donating to political candidates, it requires them to obtain prior approval from NBC News executives before doing so." The more I read into it, it seems to be personal between the NBC exec Phil Griffin, and Olbermann. It's a "my dick is bigger than your dick" issue, hence the suspension.

But the bigger issue still remains. Corporate rules are currently in place thanks to the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision that make available unlimited funds to 501(c)(4)s in support of a specific campaign by corporate donors who can remain anonymous, but those same corporations can have ethics policies in place for their employees against making campaign contributions as an individual private citizen, or at least in the case of NBC, needing permission from the executives first, who really have no business knowing who you vote for or your political affiliation.  It's just not right. I'd begrudgingly say the same if it happened to Bill O'Reilly.

President Obama's Weekly Address - September 18, 2010

The Republican Corporate Power Grab