Must Reads

David Frum: The GOP's Bernanke Letter

Ezra Klein: Nice central bank you got here. Shame if something should happen to it.

The Rude Pundit: Hypocritical, Cruel, and Buffoonish Responses from the GOP on Obama's Tax Plan

Bob Cesca: Rick Perry’s Epic Lying Could Make Him the Next President

Justin Rosario: Stop Pretending You’re Not A Conservative! You Wrecked The Country, Now Own Up To It!

Sarah Lai Stirland: Energy Department: House Republicans Distorted E-Mail Correspondence

Joel Atcheson: Reality? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Reality

President Obama's Weekly Address - September 24, 2011

Strengthening the American Education System

Cartoon of the Day

The Big Tent Party

Here you go Log Cabin Republicans. Pat yourselves on the back, GOProud. Please Lt. Dan Choi, continue to rail against President Obama and how he's done nothing for the gay community, and realize that in fighting against Obama, this is what you're fighting for.



The cognitive dissonance is astounding.

Just as I will never understand why any middle class member of a union votes Republican, I will shake my head in amazement at a gay American who flips the lever for any GOP candidate.

And let's be clear about Rick Santorum's idiotic statement:

I would say any type of sexual activity has absolutely no place in the military. The fact they are making a point to include it as a provision within the military that we are going to recognize a group of people and give them a special privilege to, and removing don't ask don’t tell. I think tries to inject social policy into the military. And the military's job is to do one thing: to defend our country...

Yes, it's a real privilege to put your life on the line to defend Rick Santorum and his policies isn't it? But please, Rick, continue.

I would just say that going forward we would reinstitute that policy if Rick Santorum was president. That policy would be re-instituted as far as people in, I would not throw them out because that would be unfair to them because of the policy of this administration. But we would move forward in conformity with what was happening in the past. Which was- sex is not an issue. It should not be an issue. Leave it alone. Keep it to yourself whether you are heterosexual or homosexual.

The repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell is now law. Rick Santorum or any other Republican president (I shudder at the thought) cannot unilaterally reinstitute DADT with the flick of a pen. You can't repeal a law by executive order. That's why it was so important for President Obama to make this a legislative issue as he is doing with the Defense of Marriage Act. Besides the fact that the federal court deemed DADT unconstitutional.

Santorum is right. Sex is not an issue, but by discriminating against gay and lesbian soldiers, he is making it an issue. There is no "exception," no "special privilege" we are bestowing among gay soldiers be the repeal of DADT. So take your own advice, Rick. Leave it alone.

As far as yet another hostile Republican crowd at the debate after the "Let 'em die" Tea Party crowd at the CNN debate, I'm not the least bit surprised by their applause at Santorum's answer, but the boos at a uniformed member of the Armed Forces who is protecting their right to be homophobes and bigots takes it to a new low. Booing a member of the military? They should be ashamed, but they're not.

Gay Republicans, what the hell are you thinking?

Buffett Birthers?

Seriously?

The Hill reports big names in Congress are starting to say Buffett "needs to reveal his finances if his views on tax rates are going to serve as the basis for Obama administration policy."

NRSC chair John Cornyn (TX), who took the call to Twitter Thursday, explained to ABC News that knowing how Buffett makes his money could change the way people view the so-called "Buffett Rule" that President Obama is making a cornerstone of his call for increased taxes on the super-rich.

John Cornyn should pay attention because I believe this is exactly what Warren Buffett admitted to. He is taxed at a lower percentage on capital gains for really doing nothing but investing his money.

Here he is on Charlie Rose, WITH A COPY OF HIS TAX RETURNS!



Hey Buffett Birthers, just say "Oops" and get out! And now that we've seen that Mr. Buffett has made his tax returns public, I'd like to see the Koch brothers' returns, please.

Elizabeth Warren Is For Real

Watch this now. Elizabeth Warren is running for Senate against (former?) Tea Party darling incumbent Scott Brown in Massachusetts. Watch her as she takes questions from Joe Scarborough and Mark Halperin who are showing obvious disdain for her. You can see it in their faces as they ask what I consider to be "gotcha" questions that she hit out of the park.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

President Obama didn't fight for you? China's military aspirations? Great questions! If only they would ask serious questions of everyone that came on their show.

You can donate to Elizabeth Warren's campaign here.

Poor Rep. Flemming Eking Out An Existence at $774K Per Year.

Here's the perfect example of the GOP disconnect in the class warfare/tax fairness issue. Republican Louisiana Rep. John Flemming owns Subway shops and UPS storefronts. His income from those businesses is $6 million yearly. But he has the balls to whine that after expenses, he only takes home $600,000. After after home expenses, he only has $400,000 left to reinvest.



First of all, it's none of my business if Flemming's home expenses are $200,000. But whatever happened to tightening your belt at home during hard economic times? What happened to living within your means? Second, it doesn't seem like he's counting his $174,000 Congressman's salary in his take home total. Finally, Flemming claims to have 500 employees. At $5.4 million in expenses, he's paying far less than $10,800 per employee that his number equals divided by 500 employees.

So, John Flemming is a liar when it comes to job creation. But what's really galling is that what he sees at practically nothing, his $774,000 "take home pay" can hire 15-20 teachers, or police officers or firefighters.

And these are the politicians the Tea Party types defend? Pathetic.

President Obama's Plan for Reducing the Deficit

Here's yesterday's speech in case you missed it like I did.

Quote of the Day

"I reject the idea that asking a hedge fund manager to pay the same tax rate as a plumber or a teacher is class warfare. I think it’s just the right the thing to do...

This is not class warfare, it's math...

I will not support - I WILL NOT SUPPORT any plan that puts all the burden for closing our deficit on ordinary Americans. And I will veto any bill that changes benefits for those who rely on Medicare but not does raise serious revenues by asking the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to pay their fair share."

~President Obama in his speech on his plan to reduce the deficit by raising $1.5 trillion in revenue from top earners.

One Good Reason To Raise Taxes

Bill O'Reilly might quit.



Of course, Bill-O is throwing crap on the walls to see what sticks. His fear mongering about a 50% income tax is purely wild speculation. No one in the White House has ever claimed that number, only a reversal to the Clinton Era tax rates, which were 36% and 39.6% for individuals in the top 1.2% of wage earners. And in actuality, after deductions and loopholes, they didn't even pay that much.

But hey, if Bill O'Reilly will quit working altogether because of a 3% hike in his taxes, that's all the more reason to support President Obama's revenue increase plan. I'm sure O'Reilly's narcissism will allow him to go quietly into the night and forgo the $20 million he makes a year. No more Fox. No more books. No more showing how he's so much smarter he is than everyone else on the planet. I'm sure that the self-avowed second most powerful man in the nation will go that route. Maybe he can just go back to a simple life of sexual harassment.

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?

Must Reads

Ezra Klein: Why Libertarianism Fails in Health Care

The Rude Pundit: The US Day of Rage Takes a Trip Into Right-Wing Conspiracy Land

Bob Cesca: Cable News Debate Coverage Is Hurting Democracy

Kevin Drum: How to Talk About Solyndra

Paul Rosenberg: 10 Signs God Is Furious With the Right

Roger Ebert: Saul Alinsky Pours for the Tea Party

Nick Baumann: The GOP's Genius Plan to Beat Obama in 2012

Paul Begala: I [heart] Government

Paul Krugman: Free To Die

President Obama's Weekly Address - September 17, 2011

Passing the American Jobs Act

Hey CNN, WTF?!

Holy crap!



ADDING... The more I think about this, the more I realize that this was inherently racist. Accidentally playing the wrong music track for bumper music is one thing, but you have to realize that they were looking for some kind of rap music. Because what else would a 103 year old woman who drives a two-tone 1979 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, and happens to be black, listen to while she's cruising down the block?

Whoever decided that rap music would be the proper choice of music for this clip should be dismissed.

Must See Interview

It's amazing how sharp former President Jimmy Carter still is at 86 years young. This interview is a must see just for the realization of how underrated and under appreciated Carter was and still is. His demonization by the right is shameful.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I'll update with the added video as it becomes available.

Quote of the Day

"He puts the 'goober' in 'gubernatorial.'"

~Former Texas Agriculture Commissioner and radio host Jim Hightower on Rick Perry's record as Governor of Texas during an interview with Thom Hartmann

In Sickness and In Health...

... unless of course, your partner has Alzheimer's Disease, in which case all bets are off. At least that's the opinion of The 700 Club's Christian televangelist Pat Robertson.

In his television broadcast Tuesday, Christian televangelist Pat Robertson said that in certain cases, it may be ethically permissible for a spouse to divorce a husband or wife stricken with Alzheimer’s “if [the non-ill spouse] is going to do something” with a new partner...

...“I certainly wouldn’t put a guilt trip on you if you decided that you had to have companionship, you’re lonely, and you’re asking for some companionship,” Robertson said, clarifying that the spouse would have to ensure that his wife would have “somebody looking after her.”

The sanctity of marriage indeed.

Lose a House Seat, Gain a Senate Seat?

The House seat vacated by Anthony Weiner was filled last night by Republican Bob Turner. To put things in perspective, this particular district has been a Democratic stronghold for about 100 years, and although registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by a margin of 3 to 1 in NY-9, Turner came away with a win over Democratic nominee David Weprin by a 53-47 margin. There are some arguments that despite the district being Democratic, it's a conservative one. Take that for what you will, but I don't recall Anthony Weiner being very conservative.

That news doesn't bode well for 2012 in my opinion, but this does:

Elizabeth Warren officially announced her candidacy for Senate in Massachusetts on Wednesday morning in a short video posted to a new campaign website, www.elizabethwarren.com.

...Warren will attempt to take on Scott Brown, the Republican who won Edward M. Kennedy’s Senate seat in a special election after the veteran senator died in late 2009.

I hope the people of Massachusetts do the right thing this time.

The Terrorists Won

The Daily Beast: A Long Island woman has been charged with allegedly calling in a phony bomb threat on Sept. 10th—reportedly because she did not want her family to fly on the tenth anniversary on the terrorist attacks. Airport police in Tucson, Arizona, said they received an anonymous call from a woman on Sept. 10th who claimed she had heard her boyfriend and others discussing a plot to bomb Southwest Airlines Flight 2475 to Long Island that day. Police called bomb squad officials and notified the FBI, who tracked the call to Mary Purcell, 37, who said she was worried about her mother and brother flying that day. She is set to be arraigned in federal court, but the exact charges are unknown.

Yes, when someone calls in a bomb threat in order to cancel the flight for fear of her family flying on the anniversary of 9/11, the terrorists have won.

I'll add my two cents: there were plenty of tickets available for Broadway shows this weekend, mostly due to the fact that this was the first week back to school in New York City. I wouldn't doubt that at least a small part of the reason was because it was the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and some were leery of traveling into Manhattan either because of fear or they just didn't want the hassle of security checkpoints on the highways.

Since it was a light week, many of us in the industry were offered complimentary tickets to the Sunday shows. On more than one occasion, I heard colleagues who couldn't give Broadway tickets away worth hundreds of dollars because either people were frightened to be in the city that day, or they had initially accepted the tickets, but then reneged after someone else talked them out of it.

The terrorists have won.

Compassionate Conservatism Redux

Former George W. Bush speech writer Michael Gerson once defined the phrase 'compassionate conservatism' as, "the theory that the government should encourage the effective provision of social services without providing the service itself." We all know by now how well that worked for the Bush administration.

Liberal commentator Joe Conason, noting Bush's policy of tax cuts, wrote in 2003 that "so far, being a 'compassionate conservative' appears to mean nothing very different from being a hardhearted, stingy, old-fashioned conservative." Similarly, former President Bill Clinton described the message of compassionate conservatism as: "I want to help you. I really do. But you know, I just can't" or similar variants.

The true definition of compassionate conservatism can be summed up as, "Yeah, that's a shame... wish I could help out but everyone should take care of themselves."

I've been in a self-imposed media blackout these last few days due to the September 11th anniversary 24 hour news cycle (I don't need to see that again) and decided not to watch last night's CNN Republican Primary debate because I saw all I needed to see during last week's debacle. Why would I want to subject myself to the motley crew that is the GOP nominees again? Unless they've changed their minds about climate change or evolution, or actually looked at the numbers to realize they're just flat out lying on the Recovery Act while hypocritically benefitting from it, there was no need for any more self-induced stress.

But then I heard (bad news travels fast) that a hypothetical question was asked of Ron Paul regarding a 30 year old man who chooses not to pay for health insurance, then suddenly needs it - what's to be done? And the audience yelled to "let him die." I couldn't believe it. So I had to see for myself.



More than anything else that has transpired in the world of American politics and the divisiveness we've gotten accustomed to this last decade or so, this truly breaks my heart. What has become of us as a society? Or I should rephrase, what has become of the Republican party as a societal faction of our population? This is the pro-life party? This is the party touting their Christianity? It's absolutely disgusting. And this comes on the heels of last week's audience strongly praising Rick Perry's execution record as Governor of Texas.

There are some criticizing the editing of this video because it cuts off Ron Paul's answer to the question. But the video isn't about Paul's answer, it's about the callousness of the audience. If you listen closely, Ron Paul says "no" when asked if society should let the hypothetical patient die before explaining about pre Medicare days and churches taking care of the sick, blah, blah, blah. Someone in the audience yells "YEAH!" at the thought of letting the patient die to hoots and hollers and it sounds like they're mostly in agreement. I'm sure if the dipshit audience member who yelled had a member of their family who was in that situation, he would think differently.

I also can't dismiss this as just two or three jackasses in the audience. They ALL applauded at the notion of letting the hypothetical patient fend for himself. It's not just two or three jackasses anymore. It's become mainstream GOP thinking. And if the nominees and the Republican leadership feel the need to kowtow to the Tea Party, then shame on them.

Just another example blowing apart the myth that both parties are the same.