How bad does Al Franken's 312 vote victory over Norm Coleman in 2008 burn in conservative craws? Pretty bad. Some of them just can't seem to let it go. Since they can't do anything to Franken until 2014, the only other target is MN Sec. of State Mark Ritchie who is up for reelection this year.
Minnesota Majority, a right wing group with white supremacist flavorings, got the Republican's communications department, Fox News, to report on a "study" they concocted:
The six-month election recount that turned former "Saturday Night Live" comedian Al Franken into a U.S. senator may have been decided by convicted felons who voted illegally in Minnesota's Twin Cities.
That's the finding of an 18-month study conducted by Minnesota Majority, a conservative watchdog group, which found that at least 341 convicted felons in largely Democratic Minneapolis-St. Paul voted illegally in the 2008 Senate race between Franken, a Democrat, and his Republican opponent, then-incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman.
The funny thing is, convicted felons did vote in the 2008 election. He voted for Norm.
I suppose it is a waste of my breathe to remind everyone that three MN courts all ruled unanimously that Franken got the most votes and that the election and recount were fair and square. Even Republicans like Tim Pawlenty and Norm's legal team stated that there was no vote fraud in the election.
Later, Justice Paul Anderson asked [Norm's attorney Joe] Friedberg bluntly whether he was alleging outright criminality by election officials: "Is there any evidence of any fraud, any favoritism, or anything other than the election officials in Minnesota tried to do the best job possible to apply the law?"
"Absolutely not," said Friedberg. "And there's no voter fraud, there's no election fraud."
According to MPR, the Ramsey County Attorney will prosecute 28 cases as a result of this "study." A far cry from the amount needed to invalidate Franken's victory.
Republicans will by trying to use this "study" as a cudgel with which to pummel Ritchie. Therefore, I suggest we all drop a few coins in Ritchie's campaign fund:
Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) cynical attack politics is getting noticed and debunked by (and surprisingly of all places) Fox News. Bill noted late last night that Bill O'Reilly took her to task for calling President Obama's demand and BP's acquiescence to set up a $20 billion escrow account compensation fund "extortion." Geraldo Rivera got into the act, too.
Geraldo's lead-in takes a while and he starts grilling Bachmann at the 4 minute mark. BTW, Geraldo's indictment of BP and Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) in the lead-in is pretty scathing.
What's going on when the official media outlet for the Republican Party starts attacking it's own? Are they going to try and make a claim that they are actually journalists? Or is there some kind of secret plan that will only become evident later?
Did Bachmann miss a memo from Roger Ailes (head of Fox New)? Has she finally gone too far even for Fox News?
In 2006 I wrote my thesis and titled it What's the Matter with America. Not the most original thesis as 'What's the Matter with Kansas' had come out a couple of years later but I took it to another level and studied the affects of pocketbook voters vs 'moral' voters in presidential elections going back to the early 70's. What I found was scary to say the least as we see a shift from common sense in the 80's during the Reagan administration and the introduction of 'scare tactics' and 'the religious right.'
When I wrote my thesis the economy was in fantastic shape so I wasn't surprised to find that people were still voting against their best interest but in today's world of nearly 10% unemployment you'd think things would be changing...well I was wrong.
I was over at the Fox News website doing a little research on Newt's new book 'To Save America' when I came across a poll asking If the GOP takes back Congress, what would you like to see them focus on the most? There are 3 options to choose from, Jobs, Taxes, and Immigration. Just for fun (and because I wanted to see the results) I clicked on Jobs. I thought I'd be in the majority but I was way off. In fact, the results are as follows.
The Tea Party Express sure has been making a lot of noise lately, especially here in Minnesota, and ever since the politically impossible became possible when the Obama Administration-backed and Democratically lead Congress passed Health Care Reform and it recently became law of the land.
So what is the Tea Party Express national bus tour all about, anyway? Well, according to their website, the purpose of the tour is to "highlight some of the worst offenders in Congress who have voted for higher spending, higher taxes, and government intervention in the lives of American families and businesses." Their slogan is, "Just Vote Them Out."
With all the images of Tea Partiers carrying guns, signs of Obama as Stalin/Hitler/pick your favorite socialist or dictator, and shouts of "baby killer", "Armageddon," and "anti-Christ," at the rallies, I could help but wonder, "that's it?". On Wikipedia, their positions and goals are summed up in two sentences "...constitutionally limited government generally,[12][13] and more specifically is anti-stimulus,[14] anti-deficit,[15] anti-bailout[16] and anti-health reform."
OK then, I get it. No taxes, hence the April 15th rally at the nation's capital, and pretty much against anything else our government is trying to do for the people based on what the majority of folks actually voted for. Wow. I really miss the days of 2008 when a lot of my friends, oh so young and idealistic, were a part of the Ron Paul Revolution, and we had real substantive debates about inflation, the Federal Reserve (they converted me on that one), monetary policy, excise taxes, cuts in spending (including military), tariffs, civil liberties, and even health care. We often found common ground, like breaking up the government-enforced monopolies of HMOs and pharmaceutical companies, over a pint of friendly beer.
So who the heck is Ron Paul, anyway, and where is he? He used to be "America's #1 defender of individual liberty fighting for us in the nation's capitol!" Dr. Paul is a physician and Republican Congressman for the 14th congressional district of Texas, and made a spirited run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, when I first heard of him. He was sort of like the Dennis Kucinich of the right field. You know, a true maverick.
On the surface, Ron Paul seems like the perfect leader for the Tea Party movement; he's experienced nationally, extremely bright and knowledgeable of the issues, has a great Netroots base and is a surprisingly strong fundraiser. He even one this year's coveted Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) presidential straw poll, eking out Mitt Romney who won the prize the previous three years. Paul seems like a Libertarian's Republican, and is pretty candid in front of the cameras for that red meat 24-hour cable news factor, O'Reilly or otherwise. Well maybe that's the problem.
You see, today's Tea Party "leaders" (speakers) are more about getting air-time then getting results for the country. It's really just a front for Dick Army to raise large sums of money for his PAC to elect even more far-right Republicans of the status quo. If this was a true revolutionary movement (democratic and nonviolent), then why won't Rep. Ron Paul be caught dead near one of their rallies? Or maybe he was never invited?
In a fairly recent interview, Ron Paul noted that, "Neocon issues in public policy are not exactly dead these days," and, "Everybody likes to join what looks like a popular movement, then they want to come in and influence that movement," Paul continued. So don't expect Sarah Palin to be advocating to end to drug war, or to have the Federal Reserve Bank audited any time soon. Never mind a thoughtful discussion on foreign policy, border security, or energy policy. It's all still "drill, baby, drill" from here on out for the Tea Party People, as Sarah Palin spouted today in her key note speech at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.
At least Ron Paul will be on all those serious news shows, like Kucinich still is from time to time, right? Well, Fox News, Limbaugh, Beck, etc. seem keep his voice down and the Bachmann's and Palin's of the world at full volume. Just sit back and watch, Republicans and the Tea Party will actually protect the Fed, Wall Street and the Banksters in the next-up national debate on financial services reform, justifying much-needed regulation as a "government takeover." Yawn. We could really use a substantive debate from conservatives and libertarians right now. However, we've been getting pretty much a watered-down version from some centrist and corporate Democrats.
And that's a shame. Not so much for Progressives like myself, who's voice has been pretty coherent and unified as of late, but rather for the thousands who attend these Tea Party rallies who have legitimate concerns about the role of government. It's really too bad they don't have any new ideas to address those concerns, other than "just vote them out," although Ron Paul certainly does. Instead it's just the same old, same old, Tom Delay/George W. Bush ideas of the past. But this time, the difference is lipstick.
Bachmann heaps praise on O'Reilly and Beck: That's where people want to go to find the truth.
In an interview with Fox News, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) kissed up to Bill O'Reilly and his audience, telling producer Jesse Watters, "The Factor is the factor. That's what's important." Bachmann then showered O'Reilly and Glenn Beck with her praise:
People vote with their feet. And they love Bill O'Reilly; they love Glenn Beck. They love the shows that are on Fox. That's what matters. Because people want to go where they can find truth. They obviously aren't finding truth over on some of these other channels.
Bachmann has gone on Fox News to claim health care reform is unconstitutional, that the Census is dangerous because it was used to intern the Japanese, and that Alaskan caribou favor oil drilling because they like the the warmth of the pipeline. Together, the Fox News network and Bachmann create a very "truthy" tag-team.
Some call it disinformation, some call it lying, but what ever it's called, it certainly isn't the truth. Keep in mind republiCon John Kline had to be pressured into holding his one and only "Town Hall" - and I use that term loosely, Erik Paulsen has shown no inclination to do any "Town Halls" despite his predecessor's record of doing multiple - and legitimate - Town Hall meetings twice a year. As far as the ol' MotorMouth herself, as far as I can tell Bachmann has never held a "Town Hall." She did "host" a "Forum" earlier this year, but: she let a paid shill lawyer do the talking.
Fast forward to last night: wanting to see how long it took Sean insHanitty to say something stupid, I tuned to Faux News at the top of the hour and was not disappointed. Especially since he had Bachmann MotorMouth Overdrive on, "right" away! Let's look!
Everybody catch that? Let's review:
(3:15) Hannity: "What do you make, I'm watching Barney Frank and it doesn't really really surprise me, he's got a very safe district, but you know, the arrogance, the condescention, you know, the battling with the voters - something's changed and I can't quite pinpoint what it is. I've never seen voters attacked this way, have you?"
Bachmann MotorMouth Overdrive: "Well, the great thing is that Members of Congress are at home this August - they're having an opportunity to be actually able to hear from normal Americans about how they feel about this health care proposal rather than the lobbyists that have been swirling through the halls of Congress. This is a wonderful thing - we're actually seeing Democracy in action and it'll be very difficult for members of congress to go back to Washington DC in September and clearly vote against their constituent's interests. None of them can say now that they didn't realize where the heartbeat of the American public is and we'll soon see if the liberals in Congress are listening to regular Americans."
So, here we have Bachmann MotorMouth Overdrive talking about how "wonderful" Town Halls are, and she's never had one. And lest we not forget, Kline had to be pressured into holding his one and only "Town Hall" and Paulsen shows no inclination to ever holding one.
Let's watch what Minnesota GOP Deputy Chair Michael Brodkorb said, concerning Town Halls:
Which brings us back to what I said, up at the top:
Some call it disinformation, some call it lying, but what ever it's called, it certainly isn't the truth.
The first clue that the guy is a rightwing paid shill is the line that green jobs "kill manufacturing jobs."
In the first place, since when has a GOPer complained about the loss of manufacturing jobs? Does "Free Trade" ring a bell?
And since when has a GOPer complained about creating "low wage jobs"??!? I mean, the lower the wages for the serfs "employees" - the bigger the take at the top! Just ask Bill McGuire, or, say, Wal-Mart about THAT one....
But, ya gotta love how these rightwingers call President Obama's guy a commie.
Hmmm....don't like the guy; call him a commie....don't like the guy; call him a commie...hmmm....
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), was back on Fox News. This time she appeared on Sean Hannity's show attacking Sen. Barney Frank and ACORN. The main problem with her attacks is that she is lying.
Rep. Michele Bachmann continued her campaign against Rep. Barney Frank and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) on Fox News' Hannity on Wednesday. Despite Bachmann's claims on the show, a new bill introduced by Frank will not funnel money to ACORN and ACORN is not "under indictment" in 12 states for "voter fraud."
Bachmann will not allow the truth to get in the way of her conspiracy theories. In her Bizarro World, she truly believes all this. Of course, she's aided and abetted by the official Republican TV channel, Fox News.
Never to be confused with a real outlet of journalism, Fox News already has their talking points in place with regard to Al Franken: emphasize his "high unfavorables." Of course, the poll they cite, duly repeated by Politico, was a national poll, which often doesn't turn out well for congressional leaders.
Can someone remind me of the last time we were supposed to care about a national poll about a junior Senator who hasn't even been sworn in for his first term yet? Or better yet, when was the last time a poll like that actually mattered?
Still, good to see Fox News is on the ball with their attack strategy.
Here's Tim Pawlenty on Wednesday's edition of Fox News' Neil Cavuto: Steaming Pile of Blatant Hackery (clip courtesy of TPM):
"But beyond just the money and the politics, just as a matter of philosophy and our country, the nationalization of the auto industry, the likely partial or full nationalization of the health care industry, the energy industry -- this is gonna be a very different country 12 or 24 months from now...This is not the United States of America that we know and love and remember. This looks more like some sort of, you know, republic from South America circa 1970s."
There are so many problems with what our dear Governor tried to do with this appearance, it's difficult to know where to begin.
1. Blatant scare tactics. McCarthyism much?
2. No one is proposing nationalization of the health care industry. Obama's health care plan would provide a public plan option to complete with private plans so that everyone in America has access to affordable health insurance.
3. Has Gov. Pawlenty read history? Industries in Latin America (note: that's Central America too, Timmy!) were nationalized by leftist (read: NOT left-of-center as we have in America, but true LEFTist) governments because they were profitable and those profits were being hauled out of the country, mainly by American corporations.
That isn't even vaguely similar to what we have right now in the US. Failing insurance companies and brokerages, carmakers on their knees in bankruptcy? A government whose united line on the matter has been to get the carmakers back out of bankruptcy as soon as possible because they don't want to run a car company?
Politics is politics, and Tim Pawlenty has to demonstrate to the Republican presidential primary crowd that he can attack 1950s era scarecrows and windmills just as effectively as Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Sarah Palin can. But that does not entitle him to his own set of facts. Naturally, Fox News's Cavuto was pleased as punch to let Pawlenty pass this drivel off as true.
Not so much out here in the reality-based community.
Glenn Greenwald: This is what happens when a Blue Dog defender of illegal eavesdropping gets busted for dirty backroom deals caught via illegal wiretapping.
Last October, Michelle Bachmann went on Chris Matthew's "Hardball" show - and as could have been predicted*, said stuff outrageous, and outrageously stupid. She essentially called then-candidate Barack Obama "anti-American." Not content with smearing Obama, Bachmann went on to question the patriotism of Democratic Members of Congress, too. You can watch her screed at YouTube.
Needless to say, and I'm sure most remember, Little Miss Hiding In the Weeds, after accusing a sitting U.S. Senator of anti-Americanism, then went on by calling for the media to launch a McCarthyite expose into the anti-Americanism of her collegues in the US House. Needless to say, her antics on "Hardball" set off a firestorm.
So, Michelle went on Billo's show, on Faux Fox "News", to deliver her Mea Nota Culpa. Just for nostagia's sake, let's watch! (after the break)
The Tea Party Express sure has been 
