SNL takes on Rubio, the Pope, Nugent and Fox & Friends

*LOL*






. . .
Thanks to the official "SNL" website for posting the full list of corrections from this week's "Fox & Friends."

• At no time did our military fight a war against Cobra.
• The "T" in BLT does not stand for "terrorism."
• Meteors are not coming to take your guns.
• It is not Roe vs. Dwayne Wade.
• Zero Dark Thirty is not a diet soda.
• The Vatican is not accessible through a wardrobe.
• Food stamps are not used to mail food.
• Armadillo is not Spanish for "arms dealer."
• Navy Seals are not actual seals with laser beams on their heads.
• "That's not a knife, this is a knife" is not the Australian National Anthem.
• At no time did the passengers on the Carnival Cruise ship become zombies.
• Beyonce cannot hypnotize animals.
• "Adele" is a singer. "A Dell" is a computer.
• February is a month.
• Marco Rubio did not bring pasta back from China.
• The Staten Island Ferry will not give you money for teeth.
• The real Abraham Lincoln lived longer than 3 hours.
• More people died from gun violence last year than from walking into elevator shafts.
• The Constitution did not "write itself."
• Bruno Mars is from Earth.
• There are no Americans in the Bible.
• The tie goes to the runner.
• Not all amputees kill their girlfriends.
• Zumba is not a secret form of Santeria.
• North Korea is not a Cloud City.
• A "pin code" and a "pine cone" are two different things.
• The kid on Modern Family did not start out in porn.
• Joe Biden's teeth are real and do not pick up radio waves.
• Polar bears are rarely "asking for it."
• Kobe beef is not meat from the flesh of Kobe Bryant.
• A "period piece" is not a movie that only plays during one week of the month.
• Plants are alive, but they cannot watch TV.
• A transgender is not a car that can be driven by men and women.
• Kate Upton is not dating a glacier.
• God does not sneeze electricity.
• The similar names of the North Dakota and South Dakota are not a coincidence.
• Even black people love Raymond.
• Mumford's daughters are not in foster care.

A Really Bad Week for the NRA and Wayne LaPierre (Not that there's anything wrong with that)

After the murder of children in Newtown, Connecticut, the NRA is under-fire. And momentum from the progressive gun-control side is showing no signs of slowing. In fact, the more NRA leader Wayne LaPierre pushes his crazy apocalyptic fearmongering and hatred for President Obama, the more foolish and out-of-touch he seems. This only invigorates the Left, giving us hope that the NRA's power is waning, and LaPierre is losing the battle.

Please, proceed, Mr. LaPierre.

Last week in a Senate Hearing on gun control measures, LaPierre seemed to blame everything in society for mass shootings except guns. Then he pooh-pooh'd background checks:

My problem with background checks is you’re never going to get criminals to go through universal background checks. All the law-abiding people . . . you'll create an enormous federal bureaucracy, unfunded, hitting all the little people in the country who will have to go through it, pay the fees, pay the taxes. We don’t even prosecute anybody right now that goes through the system we have. So we're going to make all those law-abiding people go through the system, and then we aren't going to prosecute any of the bad guys if they do catch one. None of it makes any sense in the real world.
~ Wayne LaPierre of the NRA

Mr. LaPierre, that's the point! Criminals won't go to purchase the guns, because there will be a background check! We'll stop them from the original purchase. You missed that point completely! And I think it's basic. (applause in the room)
~ Senator Dick Durbin, D-Illinois

More Quotes from the Gun Hearing Here:
Snark Amendment: Wayne LaPierre ~ Kids Need a Security Blanket of Guards and Guns


On Saturday there was the sad story of America's top military sniper, Chris Kyle, getting shot On a Gun Range in Texas. Yes, on a gun range, where everyone is probably a member of the NRA, everyone was armed and everyone is generally knowledgeable about guns. Another veteran suffering from PTSD shot Kyle and an acquaintance, and even though they were in a place built for the sole purpose of shooting at targets, the two men didn't have a chance to fire a single shot in return. There couldn't be a better example of how stupid it would be to "arm everybody," even teachers in schools. Because guess what? Plenty of armed people have died in the wars as well. Ask any soldier. Guns won't stop bullets.

Read the whole story with all the quotes here:
Snark Amendment: American Sniper Chris Kyle Shot to Death on Texas Gun Range

On ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Progressive economist Paul Krugman tore into the NRA and LaPierre:

PAUL KRUGMAN, NEW YORK TIMES: But what really strikes me -- I don't know how this plays, you know, what will happen. What strikes me is we've actually gotten a glimpse into the mindset, though, of the pro-gun people and we've seen certainly Wayne LaPierre and some of these others. It's bizarre. They have this vision that we're living in a "Mad Max" movie and that nothing can be done about it, that America cannot manage unless everybody's prepared to shoot intruders, that -- the idea that we have a police forces that provides public safety is somehow totally impractical, despite the fact that, you know, that is, in fact, the way we live.
So I think that the terms of the debate have shifted. Now the craziness of the extreme pro-gun lobby has been revealed, and that has got to move the debate and got to move the legislation at least to some degree.

During the Super Bowl the snti-gun group Demand a Plan started by NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg ran an advertisement with a video clip of Wayne LaPierre from a few years back saying he favored universal background checks. It's very effective because at one time the NRA made sense and that's what society wants, so LaPierre and his minions are totally out-of-touch with mainstream America.

Demand a Plan on Twitter




And the worst thing that happened to Mr. LaPierre was when he appeared on Fox News, usually a safe haven for gun-nuts. But not this time - it became his worst nightmare. Usually pro-conservative interviewer Chris Wallace raked the NRA spokesman over hot burning coals in a sudden fit of real journalism. Because basically LaPierre was lying about Obama "taking all our guns" - just absurd fearmongering. There is no universal ban on guns and there probably won't ever be. He also tried to pin all violence on "gangs" in Chicago and Washington D.C. when obviously the hometown Newtown shooter wasn't a gang member and neither was the man who shot Chris Kyle on the gun range. Guns are the key - not the class designation of the shooter.

WALLACE: The murder today, because one of the things that concerns people, it seems every day we talk about a shooting. Oftentimes, mass shooting.

LAPIERRE: Right.

WALLACE: Day after day after day. And the frustration is you don't think that the answering -- that limiting guns has anything to do with that. And I understand there is some things you think will work and we'll talk about that.

The murder yesterday of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, this was a man who wrote "American Sniper". This is a man credited with the largest number of confirmed kills of any American soldier ever. He and another man gunned down at a Texas gun range.

LAPIERRE: If you want to stop violence in this country, here's what you do, OK? First, if you want to protect or kids, you put armed security in schools. I'm not talking about arming teachers, I'm talking about police officers, and I'm talking about certified professional security people. There is not a parent that sends off their kid to school that wants those kids to be unprotected. Just in Atlanta this past week, armed security stopped a shooting in an Atlanta school. Stopped it, right? Stopped it.

Second --

WALLACE: Here's the problem -- but here's the problem, respectfully, sir. If you -- if you arm people at schools, a lot of these people aren't just motivated to kill people in schools, they want to kill people.

And, forgive me, and, if it's -- school is too tough, they'll go to a movie theater. Like James Holmes. They'll go to a shopping center. They'll go to a gun range and kill Chris Kyle.



~~~~~~~~~~

Complete Transcript from Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace

WALLACE: All right. You oppose gun control as a form of government tyranny. But in the Senate hearings, this week, you offered a different reason for it. Let's take a look.

LAPIERRE: Right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAPIERRE: What people all over the country fear today, is being abandoned by their government. If a tornado hits, if a hurricane hits, if a riot occurs, that they're going to be out there alone, and the only way they will protect themselves, in the cold, in the dark, when they are vulnerable, is with a firearm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Do you really think that that is a more serious threat, marauding bands of Americans during a hurricane or a tornado, do you think that's a more serious threat to the average American than the steady drum beat of gun violence and sometimes mass gun violence?

~~~~~~~~~~

WALLACE: A couple of weeks ago, the NRA started running an ad that created a great deal of controversy. Here's a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARRATOR: Are the president's kids more important than yours? Why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Mr. LaPierre, do you regret putting up that ad?

LAPIERRE: The point of ad was this -- it wasn't picking on the president's kids. The president not --

WALLACE: It mentions them.

LAPIERRE: The president's kids are safe and we are thankful for it. The point of that ad --

WALLACE: They also face a threat that most children do not face.

LAPIERRE: Tell that to people in Newtown. Tell that to people --

WALLACE: Do you really think the president's children are the same kind of target as every school child in America? That's ridiculous and you know it, sir.

LAPIERRE: You know, unfortunately, I think there are parents all over the school that think -- all over the country that think their kids are entitled to the same amount of protection when they go to school, and they want --

WALLACE: So, they should have Secret Service?

LAPIERRE: No, but what they should have is police officers or certified armed security in those schools to keep people safe. If something happens, the police -- despite all the good intentions, is 15 to 20 minutes. It's too long. It's not going to help those kids.

Certified armed security in schools, just like --

WALLACE: But that's not going to protect them in the shopping mall, in the movie theater, on the streets.

LAPIERRE: Which is why we need to do everything else I'm talking about. Let's enforce the federal gun laws which we did not do now against gangs with guns, felons with guns -- my gosh, in the shadow of where we are sitting now, gangs are out there in Washington, D.C. You can buy drugs. You can buy guns. They are trafficking in 13-year-old girls --

(CROSSTALK)

WALLACE: I understand there are lots of problems out there and this isn't going to solve all of them.

But you can't say, that -- first of all, the gangs don't commit the mass murders, Adam Lanza wasn't a member of a gang. James Holmes was not a member of the gang.

You talk -- one of the points of the ads that I want to ask you about, is you made it a class argument, the rich and elites.

LAPIERRE: Sure.

WALLACE: They have bodyguards. They have security.

LAPIERRE: Sure. And Mayor Bloomberg has it. Mayor Bloomberg has bodyguards.

WALLACE: I'll tell you who else has security. You do.

LAPIERRE: Sometimes. Yes.

WALLACE: And, you have security. Today you have security.

LAPIERRE: Yes, and you talk about hypocrisy right out in the open, we have had all kinds of threats on me, OK?

WALLACE: Does that make you an elite -- an out of touch elite because you have security?

LAPIERRE: I don't deny anybody the right to security when they need it. What I'm saying, it is ridiculous, Chris, for all the elites and all the powerful and privilege, the titans of industry, to send their kids to school where there's arm security. They have access to semi-automatic technology. They have access --

WALLACE: First of all, I don't know anybody who has -- I don't know anybody elites who sends their kids -- my children went to the same school that the Obama children went to, many years ago, and there were no armed security there.

LAPIERRE: A third of the schools in the country already have armed security.

WALLACE: I understand that, but the idea of an elite class, it's just nonsense, sir.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hillary Clinton Hospitalized with Blood Clot

Hillary Clinton was Hospitalized tonight with a possible Blood Clot, and I'm praying she will be all right. Get well soon, Madame Secretary!

Update on New Year's Eve:

From CNN:

The clot was located in the vein between the brain and and the skull behind Clinton's right ear and did not result in any stroke or neurological damage, her doctors said in a statement.
Clinton was treated with blood thinners to help dissolve the clot and would be released once the medication dose had been established, they said.
"In all other aspects of her recovery, the secretary is making excellent progress and we are confident she will make a full recovery. She is in good spirits, engaging with her doctors, her family, and her staff," Clinton's doctors said.
Clinton, 65, was suffering from a stomach virus earlier this month when she fainted because of dehydration, causing the concussion.

From Talking Points Memo

Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines released a statement late Sunday that said the secretary was being treated at New York Presbyterian Hospital and was expected to be kept under observation for two days. Earlier this month, Clinton’s aides said she fainted and hit her head, causing a concussion. She has remained out of the public eye ever since.
Read the full statement:

In the course of a follow-up exam today, Secretary Clinton's doctors discovered a blood clot had formed, stemming from the concussion she sustained several weeks ago. She is being treated with anti-coagulants and is at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital so that they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours.
Her doctors will continue to assess her condition, including other issues associated with her concussion. They will determine if any further action is required.

Many on Twitter were recalling today that back when Hillary fell and suffered a concussion, members of the right-wing media made lots of jokes about a fake malady that would keep the Secretary of State from testifying about Benghazi. I knew that was total BS - why would Hillary suddenly be afraid to tell the truth to Congress? It was just hateful talk from the hateful side of the country.

Media Matters: Fox Evening Shows Mock Hillary
Washington Post: Those Who Doubted Hillary's Illness

Benghazi-Gate Imploding for GOP

Using Benghazi as a Republican talking point is imploding for the Right.

First it had no effect on the election, except to make Mitt Romney look like an idiot.
Then John McCain and Lindsey Graham tried to get themselves a new committee in the Senate to investigate Benghazi, but Harry Reid put the kibosh on that.
They spent days attacking Susan Rice, which only made them seem petty and hypocritical.
Now McCain is back-peddling as fast as he can, even scheduling a meeting with Rice and the acting head of the CIA.
And Fox News is under fire for blowing it all out of proportion in the first place.

From CBS News

United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice will meet with senators on Capitol Hill Tuesday to answer questions about the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya. CBS News has learned her appearance will include a morning meeting with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has been among her biggest critics since her initial remarks on the attack.

. . . Rice will be accompanied by acting CIA Director Mike Morell while Graham and Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., will also attend Rice's meeting with McCain, which was requested by Rice's office following the Republicans' criticism. On November 14, President Obama defended Rice from the criticism from GOP senators, saying that "If Sen. McCain and Sen. Graham want to go after somebody, they should go after me." He added that to "besmirch her reputation is outrageous."

In the video below, the Fox anchor gives the spiel about "four people died" and that makes Benghazi significant. But journalist Tom Ricks puts it in perspective. After all, the four who died must have know the risk factors of their jobs in Benghazi. Weren't they probably briefed that such a thing could happen in a volatile country like Libya? Get real. Oh, and the GOP cut funding for security at consulates, so for that they are to blame. Sh** happens in a war zone.

Transcript under the video:


 
Transcript via Media Matters

JON SCOTT (co-host): Pressure mounting on the Obama administration over its response to the deadly attack on our consulate in Benghazi, as [Fox News correspondent] Catherine Herridge reported just minutes ago. Several top GOP lawmakers are backing off their criticism of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, instead focusing on the White House. Two senators even expressing concerns about a possible White House cover-up. Let's talk about it with Tom Ricks. He is author of The Generals. He has spent decades covering our military. He joins us now.

Senator John McCain said in the past he would block any attempt to nominate Susan Rice to become U.N. -- I'm sorry, secretary of state. She's currently the U.N. ambassador. He seems to be backing away from that. What do you make of it?

RICKS: I think that Benghazi generally was hyped, by this network especially, and that now that the campaign is over, I think he's backing off a little bit. They're not going to stop Susan Rice from being secretary of state.

SCOTT: When you have four people dead, including the first dead U.N. ambassador -- U.S. ambassador in more than 30 years, how do you call that hype?

RICKS: How many security contractors died in Iraq, do you know?

SCOTT: I don't.

RICKS: No. Nobody does, because nobody cared. We know that several hundred died, but there was never an official count done of security contractors dead in Iraq. So when I see this focus on what was essentially a small firefight, I think, number one, I've covered a lot of firefights. It's impossible to figure out what happens in them sometimes. And second, I think that the emphasis on Benghazi has been extremely political, partly because Fox was operating as a wing of Republican Party.

SCOTT: All right. Tom Ricks, thanks very much for joining us today.

RICKS: You're welcome.

Click. End of interview. The truth hurts.

Grover Norquist: Delusions of Oz

source: buzzfeed
The curtain is finally being pulled back on the little man named Grover Norquist. For years he has terrorized the Cowardly Lions and Tin Men of the Republican Right, warning that if they don't play his game his way and sign his absolutist "No Tax" pledge, the Tea Party money will dry up and they will not get re-elected.

But things are changing.

Jena McGregor on Washing Post writes:

Yet the leader who has the most to lose by the cracks in the Norquist pledge is not any representative who stands up against it and risks offending some voters, but the man who started it in the first place. Norquist’s power base, after all, has always been shaky. All it will take is a few powerful Republicans to actually break the pledge, and the wall will come tumbling down. The pledge’s strength—and Norquist’s power—lies in its universal acceptance among powerful Republicans. If that falls, so does Norquist.

Yes, once the Great and Powerful Oz is shown to be just a little man who doesn't do anything except yell "Boo!" unfortunately can't get anyone to drink his Emerald City Kool-Aid anymore.

Grover is in denial, like the rest of his tribe in the GOP, but he needs to realize that every day new Republicans are going to defect and mutiny from the Pledge not to Raise Taxes that Norquist strong-armed them into signing.

Today my Senator, Bob Corker R-TN, said he wasn't going to honor his tax pledge to Grover Norquist. Of course, I did NOT vote for Corker  - or even his Democratic opponent who was a Tea Partier in disguise - I voted for the Green candidate - but I do feel a sense of pride that a Tennessean is getting out of Grover's clutches ahead of the crowd. And I've said it before, but Corker is not as far-right-right as he pretends to be. He's just a business guy who was Mayor of Chattanooga, and actually had a pretty good reputation for working on all sorts of group projects here. He's a consensus guy, not a stonewaller, and even Norquist knows that (see interview below in which he calls Corker a "moderate"). But no Republican gets elected in TN without adhering to the Party Line, and in the past that has meant signing on with scum like Norquist. But everything is changing fast:

“I’m not obligated on the pledge,” Corker told CBS’s Charlie Rose on Monday morning. “I made Tennesseans aware, I was just elected, the only thing I’m honoring is the oath I take when I serve, when I’m sworn in this January.”

Good to know that, Bob. It would have been more courageous never to sign it in the first place, but I'm glad the scales have fallen from your eyes, or at least that Lindsey Graham has given you permission to follow him in standing up to Norquist in order to possibly save your party.

But Grover isn't going to go down that easily. In fact, he is calling out anyone who opposes him, including Bob Corker, making veiled threats towards some type of retaliation towards anyone who defies him, accusing them of "impure thoughts" as if he has delusions of god-hood as an omniscient deity. But hey - we always knew he felt that way.

He also says over and over that none of these guys opposing him would have been elected in their states without signing his pledge. Oh really? Some of these Republicans were basically running unopposed thanks to weak candidates from the Dems - TN for instance -  and Democrats and Independents also voted for them in most states. That Pledge doesn't matter to those people who aren't very political and just see Corker as the first name on the ballot.

Grover believes he is a kingmaker - and the Great and Powerful Oz - but it was never true. He just had the ability to spin the illusion of power in the form of money. But like the Koch fortune that was supposed to win the Presidency for Mitt Romney, it is turning out to be fool's gold.

You can see his attitude in the following interview from Fox News today (my transcript)

Neil Cavuto: Fairly or not, Grover, you've been seen as this "Wizard of Oz" character who has been able to keep Republicans in lock-step with your thinking, and with more bolting, especially with prominent members bolting, it says something about what is in peril for you.
. . . I don't want to liken you to Tony Soprano, but are you saying you're going to remember these guys who are turning on you?

Grover Norquist: Okay, nobody's turning on me. I understand why Harry Reid is trying to personalize it as "Grover" but what Harry Reid doesn't want to say is that the American People don't want their taxes raised. They've elected a Republican Congress opposed to raising taxes, and I, Harry Reid, am at odds with the American people.

Neil Cavuto: They are going to raise taxes, Grover. They are - they're looking like they are. So -- is that a repudiation of you? Or recognition of the election? Or what?

Grover Norquist: Okay, first of all, the promise on the pledge is to the American People. What I have accomplished with Americans for Tax Reform is to make it easy through the pledge for elected officials, candidates and incumbents, to credibly commit that they won't raise taxes.
Corker was elected to the Senate because he took the pledge. People had thought he was too moderate, maybe he wouldn't make it, but he made that written commitment to the people of Tennessee. He would not be a Senator today if he hadn't made that commitment. If he breaks it, he's going to have to have a conversation with the people from Tennessee about his . . . keeping his word. And the same thing about other people who were elected because they made that written commitment to the people of their state.

Neil Cavuto: That sounds like a threat.

Norquist: No -- look, I vote in Washington D.C. The people that Corker promised or (Saxby) Chambliss (R-GA) promised or (Lindsey) Graham (R-SC) promised are in their state. They haven't promised me anything. They promised the voters of their state that they would go to Washington and reform government, not raise taxes to pay for Obama's bigger government. They need to focus on reforming government, not raising taxes to pay for bigger government each year. And it's a lot of work - it's not easy! But throwing up your hands and saying 'Maybe I'll raise taxes' instead of governing is not the way to go.


By tonight, Grover was getting more rattled and had a hissy fit on Piers Morgan, attacking Peter King R-NY, and comparing breaking the Tax Pledge to breaking a Marriage Vow???  Hey, Stupid - your pledge isn't legally or spiritually binding. Get over yourself!!!!!!!!!

Story via Mediaite

During a rather tense interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan this evening, conservative activist Grover Norquist blasted the various prominent Republican lawmakers who have expressed a willingness to break his long-standing anti-tax pledge in the name of achieving a compromise to avoid the “fiscal cliff.” In particular, Norquist took a shot at Rep. Peter King (R-NY), accusing the congressman of trying to “weasel” out of a career-long commitment to the pledge.

. . . Norquist fired back with a pointed stab at King: “The pledge is not for life … [but] Peter King, who tried to weasel out of it, shame on him as the New York Sun said today. I hope his wife understands that commitments last a little longer than two years or something.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Morgan shouted. “Hang on. That was a bit below the belt, Grover.”

“The commitment for the pledge, as Peter King well knows when he signed, is that as long as you’re in Congress you will rein in spending and reform government not raise taxes,” Norquist responded. “It’s only as long as you’re in the House or Senate. If he stayed too long, that’s his problem. But you don’t tell the bank, ‘Oh, the mortgage. Wasn’t that a long time ago?’”

He concluded: “If you make a commitment, you keep it.”

Earth to GOP: The Polls are Arithmatic

"Skew" is another interesting phrase the GOP loves to use. Here's the defintion via Online Etymology Dictionary:

skew (v.)    late 15c., from O.N.Fr. eskiuer "shy away from, avoid," O.Fr. eschiver (see eschew). Meaning "depict unfairly" first recorded 1872, on notion of being slanted. Statistical sense dates from 1929. Related: Skewed; skewing. The adjectival meaning "slanting, turned to one side" is recorded from c.1600; noun meaning "slant, deviation" first attested 1680s.

It is ridiculous to imply that "all" the polls are "skewed" except for certain bad polls by biased people like Rasmussen or Karl Rove that show their guy Romney leading. Isn't it more likely that they are the ones who are skewed instead of the 15 other pollsters, some of whom are non-partisan or who take a poll of polls average?

But none of that matters if you are Republican clinging to false hope. They just can't accept that the very likable and inspirational - although African American - President Obama is way ahead in the polls. Because . . . arithmatic.

As of tonight, Nate Silver of 538 Blog is giving Barack Obama an 84% chance - well, let's be scientific and say "83.9%" chance of winning the Presidency.

Mitt Romney has, therefore, only 16.1% chance, no rounding necessary.

That's the mathematical truth, unless you are a Republican in denial.

The polls are what they are - just a statistical snapshot of the country's rejection of goofy-strange Mitt Romney as President of the United States. Simple as that.

But denial is strong in them, like the Force. For instance, here's a stammering and sputtering Karl Rove spinning about how "unscientific" the polls are, but even Bill O'Reilly isn't drinking the kool-aid on Fox News:

O'REILLY: . . . Are these polls dishonest?

ROVE: No. Look, we endow them with a false scientific precision they simply don't have. If you've got nine points more Democrats than Republicans and you're nine points more --
(CROSSTALK)

O'REILLY: You you're going to have a poll that reflects that.

ROVE: -- yes, nine points more Obama. Think about this. Romney and Obama get each roughly the same percentage of Republicans and Democrats as -- as their opponent. That is to say they carry their -- their base overwhelmingly. Romney, among Independents is winning by three points.

So -- so if Romney is winning the Independents and winning the Republicans do you think in a battle ground state like Florida, he's nine points down and the answer is no....

ROVE: . . . So look, we've got to be careful about, you know, we have a proliferation of these polls. There have been 87 national polls in the last 30 days. That's more polls than were run in the last six months of the 1980 presidential race.


O'REILLY: All right.

ROVE: Last week -- last week alone, we had 51 state level polls; and the week before that, 41.
(CROSSTALK)

O'REILLY: I understand that but -- but here -- here -- look, from my point of view as a news analyst and I believe that the folks know I'm honest in that regard, when news agencies like the CBS News on the radio report the polling and it shows that Barack Obama has leapt out to a big lead in Florida and Ohio, that gets inside people's minds. They remember that. And that can only help the President. That helps the President.

ROVE: Sure.

O'REILLY: Because the perception is he is going to be the winner.

. . . O'REILLY: All right, real quick, real quick, your board, the Karl Rove board where is the race in Ohio and Florida in your opinion?

ROVE: Well, toss-up in both states.

O'REILLY: Toss-up? It could go either way at this point in history.

ROVE: Sure.

O'REILLY: All right, Mr. Rove. We appreciate that.

Then tonight, we have Wolf Blitzer of CNN taking a stand for a change, although he rolls it back quickly to the "toss-up" idea, via Media Matters:


Transcript from CNN

Ashleigh Banfield: CNN's Wolf Blitzer joining me live from Washington, D.C.

Wolf, the Romney camp and their allies are suggesting that a lot of those so-called mainstream polls are skewed in some way, that they're not accurate. I want to play a short clip from Mr. Romney's political director, Rich Beeson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICH BEESON, POLITICAL DIRECTOR, ROMNEY CAMPAIGN: We trust our internal polls. I don't make any campaign decisions based off what I read in the "Washington Post." So I'm not going to get into the specifics of what our polls say or don't say. I trust our numbers and that's what we're basing our decisions off of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: But he won't give us those numbers.

So, Wolf, here's how it goes. Every time bad numbers come out, I hear campaigns saying, we don't use those numbers, we use our own. But I never hear that when the numbers are good. Am I wrong?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": You're not wrong, but the fundamental fact of what's going on right now is the numbers in these key battleground states, according to almost all of the reputable national polls out there, show that Obama is ahead in most of these key battleground states. That's obviously disconcerting to a lot of Republicans. Some of them, like Karl Rove, for example, have repeatedly gone out there and suggested that these polls are biased against the Republicans because they're oversampling Democrats, for example, as opposed to Republicans. And as a result, don't trust these polls, they're not reliable. So it's sort of convenient for a lot of these Republicans, like Karl Rove, to go after the NBC poll or the ABC poll or CNN polls.

But what they don't say is that the FOX News polls are showing almost exactly the same thing. FOX has some good polls. For example, their most recent battleground states, Ashleigh, in Ohio and Virginia, show Obama ahead of Romney by seven points. In Florida, the FOX News poll shows the President ahead of Romney by five points. Very similar to all these other so-called mainstream poll numbers. You don't hear them complaining about the FOX News polls. They're complaining about the others, so there is an imbalance there.

If you take a look at all these polls, and we at CNN did a poll of polls, you show -- it clearly shows that the President is ahead slightly in almost all of these key battleground states. And I think that's pretty significant.

BANFIELD: We were just showing Virginia, and now here is Florida, and they're saying exactly what you just said, Wolf. And here is the thing. Yes, we're 40 days out. But early voting -- we started the program talking about the significance of early voting and the volumes of people who do early voting. Which brings me to my next question, regardless of what the Romney camp is saying about their internal polls, is it entirely possible they are seeing these polls that are now, as I said, solidifying with early voters and saying it may be time to spend the money on down-ballot contenders and go for the House and go for the Senate because we've lost those states at this point?

[Blogger Note: Wolf immediately rolls back his comments so as not to offend the GOP. Typical. The truth is never enough.]

BLITZER: Yes, I think it's way too premature to say they've lost those states. It's early. I've seen polls turn around the final 40 days of an election. They certainly can turn around in this election. And let's not forget --
(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: But even with the early voting numbers, Wolf?

BLITZER: Even with the early voting numbers. This is not over by any means, Ashleigh. There's three presidential debates, one vice presidential debate. And I remember very vividly -- you probably were too young to remember -- the 1980 race.

Women Want to be Just Like Ann Romney

Liz Trotta, ancient pundit, says modern women are jealous of Ann Romney.

From Fox News Via Media Matters

When Ann Romney showed up at the Olympics equestrian competition in London's Greenwich Park last week, the media scrum around her would lead some to believe that Michael Phelps had dropped in.

Mrs. Romney was there to watch her horse, Rafalca, compete in dressage, once the sport of ancient kings. The uninitiated call it 'horse ballet.' Rafalca, a German-bred mare, didn't miss a pirouette as her patron cheered and pronounced the performance constant and elegant.

Some would say not unlike her mistress, Ann Romney, is not to be taken lightly. Perhaps that's why President Obama's political operatives, most of them women of the left, have the knives out for her, casting the potential first lady of the United States as a modern day Marie Antoinette, out of touch with common folk.

. . . Recently the lefty WAGs [wives and girlfriends] went on about Romney’s $1,000 blouse, a scandal. But the $7,000 jacket Michelle Obama wore to Buckingham Palace drew only approving nods from her fans in the left-wing media.

“Don’t try to make any sense of this hypocrisy. For with their inborn sense of class warfare — as well as their funny clothes — the ladies of the press really believe they are acting on principle, except that the principle is driven by envy, envy of a woman who managed to do exactly what their mothers told them, although they would never admit it: marry a good, preferably rich man; raise your children full time and dress like a lady.”

Come on, girls. Play fair.

OMG - yes, in here in 1952 America, Ann is everything we women aspire to be, right?

*looks at calendar*

Whoops - this is 2012. Ohhhh, you mean "retroactively" jealous!

I agree with you that Ann is exactly like a show-pony, though.


But here's the thing - I wasn't born till 1960, and even in 1970 my Mama never told me to go marry a rich man, have babies, and talk about "those people." My mother - a classy woman herself, though not married to a wealthy man - didn't raise me to be a snob, and I didn't go to college to get my MRS degree, LOL.

It's incredible that anyone would believe that female journalists or any female would be jealous of a woman who is married "for eternity" to the robotic and rather clueless Mitt Romney. I can't imagine a worse fate, except that all that money is supposed to be the icing on the cake. Something tells me that isn't quite enough.

Of course, this is coming from Fox Snooze, so consider the source. Out of touch television for the out of date and low-info voter.

The Fierce and "Decent" Harry Reid

Who would have thought that the Democrat who would finally throw down the gauntlet and not back down an inch on Romney's taxes would be the usually reticent Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid? And this story is getting bigger and bigger almost by the hour.

Harry Reid to Huffington Post

"His poor father must be so embarrassed about his son," Reid said, in reference to George Romney's standard-setting decision to turn over 12 years of tax returns when he ran for president in the late 1960s.

Saying he had "no problem with somebody being really, really wealthy," Reid sat up in his chair a bit before stirring the pot further. A month or so ago, he said, a person who had invested with Bain Capital called his office.

"Harry, he didn't pay any taxes for 10 years," Reid recounted the person as saying.

"He didn't pay taxes for 10 years! Now, do I know that that's true? Well, I'm not certain," said Reid. "But obviously he can't release those tax returns. How would it look?

"You guys have said his wealth is $250 million," Reid went on. "Not a chance in the world. It's a lot more than that. I mean, you do pretty well if you don't pay taxes for 10 years when you're making millions and millions of dollars."

On Wednesday, Reid spoke out again on the Senate Floor, repeating his accusation that Romney hasn't paid any taxes in ten years.

So, the word’s out that he hasn’t paid any taxes for 10 years. Let him prove that he has paid taxes, because he hasn’t. We already know from one partial tax return that he gave us, he has money hidden in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and a Swiss banking account. Mitt Romney makes more money in a single day than the average middle-class family makes in two years or more.

Then he told reporters that he has more than once source to back up his claim.

LA Times Story

In a conference call with Nevada reporters on Wednesday, he broadened what he said were his sources for the contention that Romney was able to avoid federal taxes.

"I have had a number of people tell me that," said Reid, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, while refusing to elaborate. "I don't think the burden should be on me," Reid told the home-state reporters. "The burden should be on him. He's the one I've alleged has not paid any taxes. Why didn't he release his tax returns?”
On Thursday morning, Reid said that a nominee for a Cabinet position couldn't get confirmed by the Senate if he made as limited a release of tax information as Romney has thus far.
"Let him prove that he has paid taxes, because he hasn't," Reid declared, then adding that “Mitt Romney makes more money in a single day than the average middle-class family makes in two years or more

This is throwing the Romney camp for a loop - and as we know, it doesn't take much to get them into a tizzy of alleged victimization by the mean old Democrats. Romney said on Sean Hannity via Mediaite:

Well, it’s time for Harry to put up or shut up. Harry’s going to have to describe who it is he spoke with, because, of course, that’s completely and totally wrong. It’s untrue, dishonest, and inaccurate. It’s wrong. So I’m looking forward to have Harry reveal his sources, and we’ll probably find out it’s the White House.

Also on Thursday, Romney spokesperson Eric "Etch-A-Sketch" Fehrnstrom accused Reid of "McCarthyism," which is rich coming from a campaign that has ignored the witch hunts of Michelle Bachmann and her pals.

Harry Reid's statements are baseless and untrue, and I would ask him one simple question - 'Have you no sense of decency, Sir?' Is there nothing that you won't do to debase yourself and the office you hold, in the name of dirty politics? . . . This reminds me of the McCarthy hearings back in the 1950s.

From Huffington Post

"I don't think there is anything behind it. He hasn't produced any evidence," Fehrnstrom said Thursday in an interview with Fox News. "I'm telling you speaking on behalf of the governor that those charges are untrue, they are baseless and there is nothing to back them up."
"This reminds me of the McCarthy hearings back in the 1950s," he added.
Fehrnstrom's line, "Have you no decency, sir?" is a paraphrase of what Army lawyer Joseph N. Welch asked Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy in 1954, when he famously stood up to the powerful, witch-hunting senator who was falsely accusing people of being Communists.

On this issue, not only is Reid standing fast, but he is practically begging the media to keep talking about Romney's taxes, and especially to investigate people at Bain who would know the truth.

The elegant flourish of the whole thing is that Romney can't complain that people are picking on him because he is a Mormon, since Reid is also a Mormon. Ann Romney tried to play that card in the "You People" interview in which she mentioned tithing to the church, and how that meant they could be trusted on the tax issue. But it doesn't really work when another Mormon is saying it, plus where are all the other Mormons out there who should be speaking out on Romney's behalf? *crickets*

Tonight both CNN and MSNBC covered the tax return issue for hours. Lawrence O'Donnell offered a Romney-tax montage and discussion, while CNN's Dana Bash told Anderson Cooper that Reid's sources are good or he wouldn't be standing firm.

Mitt Romney could "shut up" Harry Reid. Mitt Romney could "shut up" all of us by doing what every presidential candidate does and show his tax returns. Every day that Mitt Romney refuses to show his tax returns costs him politically and therefore logically casts more and more suspicion on why he is not releasing his tax returns.
~ Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC


Tax Montage & Discussion from Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell

 

Transcript: Dana Bash on CNN's Anderson Cooper, August 2, 2012

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We now have a couple of responses, Anderson. Let me read you the first one, that is, "Senator Reid stands by his comments. Governor Romney's continued refusal to release his tax returns raises legitimate questions about what he is hiding and whether he paid any taxes at all. Governor Romney can easily end this debate by following the precedent set by his father and releasing his tax returns."

And as you were coming on the air, Anderson, I got a follow-up like the statement, which also stands by what they call his credible source that Romney has not paid taxes for 10 years, and he's calling Romney playing tricks, many tricks at his disposal for avoiding taxes. So not backing down at all.

I got to tell you, covering Harry Reid for a lot of years, there are times when he says things off the cuff that make his aides wince, like talking smelly tourists in the capitol. I'm not making this up. This is not one of those times.

This is one of those times where he knows exactly what he's doing. He's doing it on purpose. He's doing it for political reasons because he wants this issue, Romney's taxes, to be talked about on programs like yours, and wants it to be headlines in newspapers, and wants Mitt Romney to respond on this issue, which they think is a negative for Romney as opposed to issues that Romney wants to talk about.

. . . But this is -- when Harry Reid doesn't like somebody, he goes for the jugular. And that is what he is doing now. He is an old boxer and he still likes to be a political street fighter. He knew full well that he was going to be questioned over and over again on who his source was. And he said -- he's told people close to him who I have spoken today that he didn't care. He's not telling going to tell who his source is.

But I did speak, I just have to tell you, that I did speak to one source who's very close to Senator Reid who claims to also know who this Bain investor is that Reid spoke with, and insists that this is a credible person and this person if we knew the name we would understand that they would have the authority and the ability to know about Romney's tax returns. Whether we'll find it out ever, who knows. But they're doing this on purpose so that this is the discussion.

Romney Camp plays "Curse the Press" in "Ass-Gate"

Romney rode on the plane with a Press entourage all week, but his handlers didn't treat them well.

• On Friday outside 10 Downing Street Romney only took questions from the British Press.
• On Saturday, he told both the U.S. and Israeli press that they were shut out of a fundraiser.
• On Sunday after an uproar, he allowed the press into the fundraiser after all.
• On Monday, Greta Van Susteren of Fox said they were being held on the bus in Poland like "animals in a petting zoo" and not allowed to ask questions.
• On Tuesday in Warsaw as Romney was leaving a soldier's tomb to go make his speech in Warsaw, frustrated reporters shouted questions and were told off by a Romney operative named Gorka.

This "Curse the Press" thing can only go so far, although I'm sure it's resonating with the far-right who loved Sarah Palin's characterization of the "Lamestream Media." The problem is, some of the people in the press are far to the right of mainstream.

And if Romney is going to talk about Israel and Poland as beacons of democracy, he's going to have to accept that a free press is crucial to a free society.

They also should have realized that when people like Rupert Murdoch, Charles Krauthammer, and Greta from Fox are complaining about the candidate, they should try to be nice once in a while and answer questions, even if Romney has to say "no comment." In fact, that's what he should say sometimes, but he doesn't know how.

Today more newsprint hit the fan, so to speak. :)

Talking Points Mem ~ Romney Aide Curses at Press in Poland

Transcript

CNN: “Governor Romney are you concerned about some of the mishaps of your trip?

NYT: “Governor Romney do you have a statement for the Palestinians?

Washington Post: “What about your gaffes?

NYT: “Governor Romney do you feel that your gaffes have overshadowed your foreign trip?”

CNN: “Governor Romney just a few questions sir, you haven’t taken but three questions on this trip from the press!

Gorka: “Show some respect”

NYT: “We haven’t had another chance to ask a question…”

Gorka: “Kiss my ass. This is a Holy site for the Polish people. Show some respect.”

Hey, Gorka ~ respect works both ways!!! And you should have more faith in your candidate and let him practice answering questions before you tick off more journalists. Things are not going to get easier after this trip - Romney has seen to that will his gaffes.

Of course now the Romney camp says they are sorry it happened, and they've rolled it back. As David Corn of Mother Jones said on Hardball - "They should call this the 'moonwalking tour' because every time Mitt Romney speaks he has to walk backwards while seeming to go forward. How many remarks can you walk back?"

And yet here's another one . . .

From Politico

Gorka subsequently called a pair of reporters to apologize, saying he lost his cool. “It was inappropriate,” Gorka said. Romney was at the square to visit the Polish Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. After he did that, laying a wreath and greeting Polish military veterans, the GOP hopeful decided to walk down to a monument on the other side of the square. Romney has not held a media availability for his traveling press corps since taking three questions outside 10 Downing Street in London last Thursday.

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Zimmerman Sees God's Plan in Murder of Trayvon Martin

George Zimmerman told Sean Hannity that he thinks the shooting of Trayvon Martin is part of God's Plan, so he wouldn't go back and do anything differently. Zimmerman was was released on $1 million bond earlier in July.

Via Transcript from Fox News

HANNITY: Is there anything you regret? Do you regret getting out of the car to follow Trayvon that night?

ZIMMERMAN: No, sir.

HANNITY: Do you regret that you had a gun that night?

ZIMMERMAN: No, sir.

HANNITY: Do you feel you wouldn't be here for this interview if you didn't have that gun?

ZIMMERMAN: No, sir.

HANNITY: You feel you would not be here?

ZIMMERMAN: I feel it was all God's plan and for me to second guess it or judge it --

Barabara Walters was offered the interview, and even flew to Florida to speak to Zimmerman, but at the last minute he changed the terms:
Via Huffington Post

When Walters and her team arrived in Florida, she said that Zimmerman came in dressed in a t-shirt, rather than a suit. "That should have been my first clue," she said.
According to Walters, Zimmerman said that the plans had changed, and he was refusing to do the interview unless ABC granted him one request. Walters refused to confirm that he had requested a month-long stay in a hotel. "It was a condition that, being a member of ABC News, I was unable to grant," she said.
. . . The drama took a bizarre twist when Walters announced that Zimmerman wanted to call into the show to speak to Walters. "He wouldn't do the interview, but now he has something to say," she said, later adding, "This has been an interesting day, to say the least."
She then pointedly refused to put him on air. "Mr. Zimmerman, if you could not do the interview yesterday, I don’t think we should do a quick one today," she said. "In the future if you feel differently, we will consider it.”

Several attorneys told the Orlando Sentinal that the interview was probably a mistake:

WOFL-Channel 35 legal analyst Diana Tennis. “Mark O’Mara looked unhappy through most of that interview, and how he did not leap out of his chair and throw himself on his client at that moment, I don’t know,” Tennis said. “Just terrible, terrible, unfortunate judgment in the moment,” she added.

WOFL legal analyst Aramis Ayala saw the interview as a gift to the prosecution. “They do have a gift with a red bow on top of it to address his credibility,” she said.

WFTV-Channel 9’s Bill Sheaffer predicted that prosecutors will be prepared to cross examine Zimmerman about statements in the interview. Sheaffer added that Zimmerman’s lack of regret may hurt the shooter the most. “One may conclude from those statements that there is no remorse on the part of Mr. Zimmerman,” Sheaffer said.

On CNN, Sunny Hostin said the interview was very unusual for someone facing second-degree murder. “There’s a lot of objective evidence that, quite frankly, contradicts a lot of the things he said to the police,” she said. ‘I never think it’s a good idea for a defendant to use a strategy giving media interviews. It’s always a bad idea.”

“In Session” correspondent Jean Casarez, also talking to CNN, said it was “amazing” that Zimmerman did the interview. “The credibility of George Zimmerman is truly the entire case,” she said.

Casarez said that Zimmerman’s version of being injured by Martin might help the defense case. She added, however, that Zimmerman’s inconsistencies will determine whether he’s believed or not.

Romney's Returns - the Ugly Truth

The Romney camp is holding firm that he has "already released" all the tax returns he is going to release, meaning the single return from 2010. Considering the fact that everyone from George Will to Bill Kristol to Rahm Emanuel are calling Romney out on his taxes, it's almost unbelievable that they continue to stonewall.

Romney appeared on Fox and Friends this morning, sounding as if he is being nibbled to death by geese, LOL.

Via Think Progress

ROMNEY: The Obama people keep on wanting more and more and more. More things to pick through, more things for their opposition research to try make a mountain out of and to distort and to be dishonest about. We’re going to put out two years of tax returns.

Esquire has a great spin on why Romney is holding back:

Contempt for "the Help"

It is helpful always to remind yourself that, in the mind of Willard Romney, there are only two kinds of people — himself and his family, and The Help. Throughout his career, and especially throughout his brief political career, Romney has treated The Help with a kind of lordly disdain. . . .
. . . The Help has no right to go pawing through the family books, giggling at the obvious loopholes and tax dodges, running amok through all the tax shelters, and probably getting their chocolate-y fingerprints all over the pages of the Romney family ledger. And, certainly, those members of The Help in the employ of the president of the United States, who is also part of The Help, have no right to use the nearly comically ostentatious wealth of the Romney as some sort of scrimey political weapon. He does not have to answer to The Help. I mean, jeepers, he's running for office.
This isn't stubbornness. That's often an acquired trait. What this is, fundamentally, is contempt. Contempt for the process, and contempt for the people who make their living in that process, and contempt for the people whose lives depend on that process.

Good job by MSNBC's Luke Russert pushing Romney's surrogate, Gail Gitchco, to clear up the tax mess this morning. Epic fail on her part as "communications director." They just don't get it. Someone is eventually going to leak these tax returns, so it would be better if they just got it over with now. But when has the Romney camp ever been that bright? Never.

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Team Romney Preaches to the Choir

With all of Mitt Romney's media gaffes, it's no wonder that Rupert Murdoch has been tweeting that Romney needs a new team. In fact, his words seemed particularly prophetic yesterday when Mitt's man Eric Fehrnstrom, the etch-a-sketch guy, insisted in an interview with Chuck Todd of MSNBC that the tax connected with Obamacare was a "penalty," which is the same spin used by the White House. That interview has thrown the right-wing blogosphere into a hissy fit.

But Fehrnstrom is only one of Mitt Romney's problems, and I think Dark Lord Murdoch was referring to another interview - this one on Breitbart - in which two Romney advisors say they will only communicate through the "Center-Right Media," which to them does NOT include Fox News.

And that's a big problem, because Murdoch isn't going to back a Republican candidate who shuns Fox News. In fact, he hints on his twitter that he doesn't even see Romney as a viable candidate, and he certainly has the power to weaken his chances in November just by ignoring him. Romney has appeared on Fox, but mainly to spout agreed-upon talking points. But I really don't understand why Team Romney would rely mainly on the "Far-Right-Out-There-Goofy-Extremist Media" when the vast majority of independent or low-information voters wouldn't be reading the Drudge Report or Breitbart anyway.

So in a bizarre way, I agree with Murdoch. The Romney guys seem to think that preaching to the far-right choir is the answer, instead of attacking Obama in the mainstream media. I honestly doubt this will help him win anything except more enemies - and they don't need Rupert Murdoch as an enemy. And while they tout Twitter as important to their message, it can hurt Romney as much as help him - Murdoch proved that this weekend.

Breitbart: Romney Team Relies on Drudge and Breitbart

Drudge is the single most powerful force in the media today,” said Zac Moffat, Digital Director of the Romney Campaign. Lenny Alcivar, campaign spokesman

In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, Moffat and Alcivar discussed how websites like Breitbart and Drudge influence the way their campaign receives and delivers the news.

When this election is over, one of the lessons that will be learned by the mainstream media is that they no longer have a toe-hold on how Americans receive their news. Never before – in a way that has taken Democrats off stride – have we seen the confluence of an aggressive online community, led by Breitbart, and an aggressive campaign team not willing to cede an inch of ground to Democrats. This combination has created a new political reality. We no longer allow the mainstream media to define the political realities in America. The rise of Breitbart, Drudge and others, combined with an aggressive Romney campaign is a powerful tool in the arsenal of the conservative movement.
If I talk to Breitbart about an issue, thousands more will hear our message than if we give a quote to one of the hill rags.

Moffat revealed, “I have two windows constantly up on my screen all day long, Twitter and the Drudge Report.”

*snip*

“The governor will no longer allow the mainstream media to dictate the terms of this debate. This is just the beginning... We are witnessing the rise of the center right media.”

Yeah, right - how's that working for you so far? *scratching head*

Rupert Murdoch Criticizing Romney on Twitter

My daughter pointed out some kind of shenanigan going on with Rupert Murdoch on Twitter criticizing the Romney campaign - not once, not twice, but several times over the past week, and not mincing words either. I didn't even believe it at first considering the week Romney has had with the immigration law mostly being struck down in Arizona and then the huge loss in the Supreme Court. Is he blaming Romney for that?

Shouldn't he be more, uh, supportive of the anointed candidate? Or is he trying to jump-start a candidate that he finds uninteresting. Sounds as if Rupert just met Romney for the first time at the big Chateau event in Utah. Frankly he doesn't sound too impressed. I wonder if Romney is refusing to take advice from Murdoch?

And to me that spells trouble for Romney if the Fox propaganda machine isn't behind him. Not that it bothers me, LOL - sounds great! Keep the criticism rolling, Mr. Murdoch!

Just read this:

When is Romney going to look like a challenger?Seems to play everything safe, make no news except burn off Hispanics.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) June 24, 2012

Easy for Romney to spell out restoration of the American dream and bash incompetent administration. But not a word!

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) June 24, 2012

Met Romney last week.Tough O Chicago pros will be hard to beat unless he drops old friends from team and hires some real pros. Doubtful.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012

US election is referendum on Obama, all else pretty minor.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012

Someone calls him out on the critical nature of his remarks, saying he shouldn't anger the Fox fans:

@rupertmurdoch - Do not fool yourself. @MittRomney has a 'GOOD CHANCE' of 'DEFEATING OBAMA IN 2012'. Don't anger your supporters.

— ROCKWITHBECK (@ROCKWITHBECK) July 1, 2012

@ROCKWITHBECKAgreed, but it's his to lose if he doesn't get on the front foot soon

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012

In the middle of all that, Murdoch talks about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, since they are divorcing over Tom's obsession with Scientology. Then someone asks him about Mormonism. Weird stuff! I don't really know what to make of it, which is why I'm posting it here instead of on Snark Amendment. It's all quite cryptic.

Watch Katie Holmes and Scientology story develop. Something creepy, maybe even evil, about these people.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012

@shakircMormonism a mystery to me, but Mormons certainly not evil.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) July 1, 2012

The War on Women - Keep Walkin' Boots

These boots are made for walkin', and that's just what they'll do.

One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

~ Nancy Sinatra's 1966 #1 Hit

OMG - look at those mini-skirts! Even in 1966 women didn't have to hide much on TV.

And yet, in Michigan in 2012, two female congresswomen were silenced for saying the word "vagina" in a debate about . . . wait for it . . . an abortion bill!

From The Detroit Free Press  

State Reps. Lisa Brown, D-West Bloomfield, and Barb Byrum, D-Onondaga, were told today that they wouldn’t be recognized to publicly speak on any matters before the House because of comments they made Wednesday during an emotional debate on a bill that puts new restrictions on abortion providers.
Brown, who voted against the legislation, told supporters of the bill, “I’m flattered you’re all so concerned about my vagina. But no means no.”
And Byrum was gaveled out of order after she protested when she wasn’t allowed to speak on her amendment to the bill that would have required proof of a medical emergency or that a man’s life was in danger before a doctor could perform a vasectomy.

This week Rush Limbaugh said a group of nuns had "Gone Feminazi." Yes . . . Nuns. Wow - yeah, the Nuns are just on a rampage these days. And he thinks the Vatican is right to "tamp it down." Wow - I thought that American Nuns were able to vote or campaign for anyone they chose since they are citizens too.

RUSH: “By contrast, CBS played up the supporters of a group of left-leaning Catholic nuns during four on-air segments between May 30 and June 1, 2012. Correspondent Wyatt Andrews hyped how ‘hundreds of Catholics have rallied behind the sisters,’ and that ‘protests in support of the nuns have been held in almost 50 cities.’” Have you heard about any of this? One paragraph Snerdley said he saw on the 164 rallies across the country. The nun story. Do you know what the nun story is? Yep. Yeah, but what are the nuns doing? Do you know what the nuns are doing? The nuns have gone feminazi on everybody. This small group of nuns in the Catholic Church is going feminist, and the Vatican is obviously — well, a figure of speech, slapping them down. And the Vatican is trying to tamp it down and say, “No, no, no, that doesn’t happen. There’s no such thing as a feminist nun.”

And on Fox News, anchor Gretchen Carlson finally showed the right spirit and walked out as her doofus male cohosts were dissing women. She was so fed up she walked off the set. From Think Progress

Thursday morning, Steve Doocy interviewed members of the U.S. Navy Band about the band’s recent inclusion of women. Reacting to the segment, Brian Kilmeade remarked, “Women are everywhere. We’re letting them play golf and tennis now. It’s out of control.” Visibly upset, Gretchen Carlson, the only female host, walked off of the set. “You read the headlines. Since men are so great. Take them [women] away,” she said. Kilmeade responded, “All right. Finally.” Then, as she walked further off of the set, Kilmeade jeered, “Leaving an all male crew” and added “she needed a shower.” Watch it:

If I were her, I would have kept on walkin' and demanded more respect. But look where you are, honey - FOX! Keep walkin' boots . . . yeah!

Governor Scott says Florida Will Sue Homeland Security for List of Voters to Purge

This guy is all kinds of crazy. Even with his popularity dropping and all his Election Officials in mutiny, he can't stop the purge. He's the Captain Queeg of Florida looking for his strawberries illegal voters.

From Talking Points Memo

“The Florida’s Secretary of State office wil be filing a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to give us that database,” Scott said. “We want to have fair, honest elections in our state and so we have been put in a position that we have to sue the federal government to get this information.” The move comes after Scott disregarded a request from the Department of Justice on Wednesday to abandon efforts to purge eligible voters.

Neil Cavuto, who conducted the interview, pressed Scott on why many of those who objected to the purge were Republican election supervisors. Cavuto also noted that other prominent Florida Republicans, notably Sen. Marco Rubio, were notably silent on the purge.

Shepard Smith: Republicans on the "Wrong Side of History" About Gay Marriage

This is fantastic - Shep Smith is the one smart guy on the Fox News payroll and he isn't afraid to speak the truth and say that President Obama is on the correct side of history in his stance on gay marriage, while the Republicans refuse to "evolve."



And a little truth goes a long way when there is so much nonsense spouted about LGTB issues on the Right among people who actually know better. Watch the clip below from Hardball and you'll see what I mean - a Republican Romney tool saying that if parents just did all the right things such as reading the Bible to their kids, then they would never have a homosexual child. Funny thing - I bet almost everyone in the U.S. has known a preacher or deacon or Sunday School teacher with a gay child. And where do all those gay priests come from if their families indoctrinate them in religion from an early age? Answer: *crickets chirping*. There is no answer because sexual orientation is involuntary, not a choice. Unbelievable.

Murdoch Violates Ethics on U.S. Side of the Pond

If you've ever had the misfortune of watching Steve Doocy and Friends on the Fox News Network in the morning, then you'll recognize just how close Saturday Night Live came to recreating the show for their audience. When something is a clown circus with Ted Baxter clones for 14 years, it doesn't take much to create a parody of it, but they caught the clueless mugging for the camera perfectly.



And this comes on the heels of Doocy misquoting President Obama in order to get a rise out of Mitt Romney. Of course we are just supposed to see that as Doocy's lovable mischief-making side, and not the erroneous and cynical anti-real-news side.

I love the guy who plays Rupert Murdoch, too. The British Courts recently ruled that due to the phone-tapping and harrassment scandal, Murdoch was "Not A Fit Person To Exercise The Stewardship Of A Major International Company." So shouldn't our government look into the activities of Fox News here in the U.S.? Maybe they will. Media Matters has compiled a Fact List of Ethical Violations from Fox, including the constant slanting of news, the creation and promotion of Tea Party events, and political donations to Right Wing causes.

The Free Press Action Fund has a Petition set up asking Congress to look into Murdoch's activities on this side of the Pond. Sign it Here. It states in part:

News Corp.’s corruption doesn’t end at British shores. Murdoch controls a huge swath of media in the U.S., including FOX News, the Wall Street Journal, cable networks and 27 local TV stations. Murdoch’s company has been charged with bribing government officials and hacking into phones and computers throughout its global operations. Murdoch is not above the law. We need to place him and his colleagues under the lights and before the cameras in Congress. Take action now. Sign this letter urging your member of Congress to hold Murdoch’s News Corp. accountable.

Also a group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW has asked the FCC to revoke Murdoch's Broadcast Licenses:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski asking the FCC to revoke the 27 Fox broadcast licenses News Corp. holds in the United States. Under U.S. law, broadcast frequencies may be used only by people of good “character,” who will serve “the public interest,” and speak with “candor.” Significant character deficiencies may warrant disqualification from holding a license.

An investigation by Great Britain’s House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee recently condemned Rupert Murdoch as “not a fit person to exercise stewardship of a major international company.” Further, the Committee concluded that both Rupert and James Murdoch turned a blind eye to the illicit activities at News Corp. The Committee described parts of Rupert Murdoch’s testimony as “barely credible,” and said the notion that he had no inkling about the widespread illegal conduct was “simply not credible.”

CREW also sent letters to the House and Senate Commerce Committees asking for hearings into whether Rupert and James Murdoch meet the FCC’s character standards.

CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan stated, “The House of Commons report makes clear that both Rupert and James Murdoch were complicit in New Corp.’s illegal activities. If the Murdochs don’t meet the British standards of character test, it is hard to see how they can meet the American standard.”

Stay tuned ~ the scandal continues. Wouldn't it be great to see Fox News dismantled during a major U.S. election year, and never have to hear anything out of Steve Doocy and his silly friends again?