Today's edition of quick hits:
* Afghanistan: "Afghan police killed four American soldiers coming to their aid after a checkpoint attack Sunday, the third assault by government forces or insurgents disguised in military uniforms in as many days."
* Unrest that began in the Middle East and North Africa has now spread to 20 countries.
* This includes Hezbollah: "The head of Lebanon's Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah on Sunday called for nationwide protests over a film about the Prophet Muhammad, saying that the United States must be held accountable for creating strife between Muslims and Christians."
* In Ohio: "President Obama, under renewed fire from Mitt Romney for not standing up to China on behalf of American workers, used a rally in this battleground state on Monday to announce a new trade case against Beijing. He said it was Mr. Romney who had sent jobs to China through his zealous practice of outsourcing at Bain Capital."
* One year later: "Looking to reignite their movement on its one-year anniversary, several hundred Occupy Wall Street activists protested in lower Manhattan Monday, staging a sit-in near the iconic New York Stock Exchange and swarming through the streets in costumes and toting American flags and signs."
* Welcome candor: "Meir Dagan, a former head of the Israeli Intelligence service Mossad, says that an attack on Iran would be the 'stupidest idea [I've] ever heard.'"
* It appears that House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Pete King (R-N.Y.) really doesn't care for the judgment of independent fact-checkers on easily-verifiable claims. King wants to believe and repeat falsehoods, and seems quite irritated by evidence that contradicts his preferred fantasy.
* I suspect Republican officials are generally delighted most poor people don't vote. If the poor voted in greater numbers, the GOP would get crushed in most elections.
* And I suppose this was inevitable: "Limbaugh: Middle East unrest was 'contrived' to blame conservatives and make them look 'nuts.'"
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Leave a Comment:
SECRET VIDEO: Romney Tells Millionaire Donors What He REALLY Thinks of Obama Voters
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/secret-video-romney-private-fundraiser
During a private fundraiser earlier this year, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told a small group of wealthy contributors what he truly thinks of all the voters who support President Barack Obama. He dismissed these Americans as freeloaders who pay no taxes, who don't assume responsibility for their lives, and who think government should take care of them. Fielding a question from a donor about how he could triumph in November, Romney replied:
Romney went on: "[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
Mother Jones has obtained video of Romney at this intimate fundraiser—where he candidly discussed his campaign strategy and foreign policy ideas in stark terms he does not use in public—and has confirmed its authenticity. To protect the confidential source who provided the video, we have blurred some of the image, and we will not identify the date or location of the event, which occurred after Romney had clinched the Republican presidential nomination. Here is Romney expressing his disdain for Americans who back the president:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XnB0NZzl5HA
At the dinner, Romney often stuck to familiar talking points. But there were moments when he went beyond the familiar campaign lines. Describing his family background, he quipped about his father, "Had he been born of Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot of winning this." Contending that he is a self-made millionaire who earned his own fortune, Romney insisted, "I have inherited nothing." He remarked, "There is a perception, 'Oh, we were born with a silver spoon, he never had to earn anything and so forth.' Frankly, I was born with a silver spoon, which is the greatest gift you can have: which is to get born in America."
Romney told the contributors that "women are open to supporting me," but that "we are having a much harder time with Hispanic voters, and if the Hispanic voting bloc becomes as committed to the Democrats as the African American voting block has in the past, why, we're in trouble as a party and, I think, as a nation." When one attendee asked how this group could help Romney sell himself to others, he answered, "Frankly, what I need you to do is to raise millions of dollars." He added, "The fact that I'm either tied or close to the president…that's very interesting."
Asked why he wouldn't go full-throttle and assail Obama as corrupt, Romney explained the internal thinking of his campaign and revealed that he and his aides, in response to focus-group studies conducted by his consultants, were hesitant to hammer the president too hard out of fear of alienating independents who voted for Obama in 2008:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=H3vwuXMw7ac
(Note: Obama did not promise his policies would keep unemployment under 8 percent, and 50 percent of college graduates are not unemployed.)
To assure the donors that he and his campaign knew what they were doing, Romney boasted about the consultants he had retained, emphasizing that several had worked for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=P7i7zVRFKSA
When one donor said he was disappointed that Romney wasn't attacking Obama with sufficient intellectual firepower, Romney groused that the campaign trail was no place for high-minded and detail-oriented arguments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAIDfwrghHw&feature=player_embedded
Romney, who spoke confidently throughout the event and seemed quite at ease with the well-heeled group, insisted that his election in and of itself would lead to economic growth and that the markets would react favorably if his chances seemed good in the fall:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHKVsEknCrI&feature=player_embedded
At the dinner, Romney also said that the campaign purposefully was using Ann Romney "sparingly... so that people don't get tired of her." And he noted that he had turned down an invitation from Saturday Night Live because such an appearance "has the potential of looking slapstick and not presidential."
Here was Romney raw and unplugged—sort of unscripted. With this crowd of fellow millionaires, he apparently felt free to utter what he really believes and would never dare say out in the open. He displayed a high degree of disgust for nearly half of his fellow citizens, lumping all Obama voters into a mass of shiftless moochers who don't contribute much, if anything, to society, and he indicated that he viewed the election as a battle between strivers (such as himself and the donors before him) and parasitic free-riders who lack character, fortitude, and initiative. Yet Romney explained to his patrons that he could not speak such harsh words about Obama in public, lest he insult those independent voters who sided with Obama in 2008 and whom he desperately needs in this election. These were sentiments not to be shared with the voters; it was inside information, available only to the select few who had paid for the privilege of experiencing the real Romney.
COMNIG SOON: More from the secret Romney video.
What a piece of work
Romney knows he doesn't have the confidence of the majority and wouldn't represent them if elected. He just wants to be President. He's hoping that the markets will fix what has been broken (that's his entire plan) because he obviously isn't planning on doing anything but cut taxes for the rich and monopolies. That is pathetic and scary.
I think this was leaked on purpose by Team Romney. They're not ashamed of it. I think they want this message out. They think he sounds earnest when delivering the message and is less artificial than he performs in other situations where he doesn't feel as comfortable. And I think this is what Romney really believes which is truly scary.
Tomorrow Rash Limbaugh will blame the Iraq war on the Girl Scouts.
Or Sandra Fluke.
He's going to obviously defend the Boy Scouts concerning child rape...something he can identify with personally?
News flash to Limbaugh and company: the entire world does not revolve around US politics. I know, it's hard to believe that the whole universe isn't contrived just to make conservatives look bad (was it Colbert who said facts have a liberal bias?). As it happens, events in the Middle East are the result of an incredibly complicated history, ancient and recent, and rhetorically stampeding through it like an adolescent elephant on a temper tantrum makes things a lot worse. Would you kindly just remove yourselves from the conversation? Thank you.
Limbaugh and his dittoheads are the kind of people who have been "stampeding through" the Middle East since 1096.
It's easy to believe our country is only a little over 200 years old. Some Americans still think like barbarians who have no conception of the world beyond the small towns they grew up in or want to have that knowledge.
We have been so blessed to have had some of the greatest minds of the Age of Reason set up a system of government with so many possibilities for equal opportunity and justice for all. Our Founders truly carved out an exceptional view of Mankind and its potential. They were intellectually curious in so many ways and had a keen sense of what oppression and discrimination could do to a society.
It's a shame it was all wasted on people like Limbaugh who has only contempt for their views on democracy and human potential today.
"He said it was Mr. Romney who had sent jobs to China through his zealous practice of outsourcing at Bain Capital."
Um, no. It wasn't "He said," as though it is just an opinion or contention. He pointed out. Or He clarified.
I wonder what fraction of the 53% that Romney doesn't hold in disdain (at least not on audio -- in his heart he probably holds all but the top 0.1% in disdain) is able to afford their current mortgage because of the mortgage interest tax deduction, or send their kids to public schools, or rely on Medicare for their health insurance, or get health care through their job (which is given preferential Federal tax treatment, making it easier for employers to offer it)?
Yes, it is true than a fair share of the middle class has slipped back into near poverty since the GOP Contract with America. And that's fine with Romney.
Just look at the language he uses on that tape about getting advice from foreign election experts. He truly doesn't identify with his own country or countrymen. He doesn't identify with his own party or trust them with steering his campaign. He's been secretly using foreign marketing people...who are as incompetent and clueless as he is.
Makes you wonder where that money in his tax havens comes from and what it's been used for. I suspect that Mitt and Bain have been money laundering funds from other countries. I thought I once heard about something like that which Bain did in South America. I need to go back and find that source and post a link. Get back to you later.
Or, as it's known in our house "Contract ON America".
Wrong again, Rush! There is no contrivance needed to make the right wing "conservatives" look "nuts". They have managed to accomplish that all on their own.
I heard some of the Romney
tape on Mother Jones. Let's see. Romney needs the white "working class" guy to vote for him at about 70% to have a chance. Yet he suggests this group is a bunch of losers! Since this is the same group that is taking advantage of help to sending their kids to college. I guess if you need help to go to college, then you are a loser in Romney's eye. Amazing.
He needs 61 percent of the white vote, but he has pissed 103 percent of the nation off. The other 3 percent of the 103 percent are dogs named Seamus........
No mention of the Chicago teachers' strike? Seems like that's front-page news everywhere but here...
As for the poor not voting in greater numbers, this might have something to do with not believing in the system to begin with. Things have to get better before there's more trust there, y'know? (Of course, voter ID laws and intimidation don't help.)
The transactional costs of voting are very high if you're poor. You probably rely on public transportation and have a commute that lasts more than an hour. Your polling place is probably near your home but may not be on a bus route. Your commute in combination with the public transit schedules may mean that you have to take time off of work to vote, even if you vote first thing in the morning or plan to get to the polls right before they close. You may have a legal right to arrive late or leave early to accommodate your voting but you don't have a legal right to be paid for the time you miss and if you are poor. every dollar counts. And all that assumes that you don't have children that need to be retrieved from day care or who need supervision at home or a dinner that needs to be cooked.
If you're poor, voting may be a very real challenge.
Please don't forget the news about the declaration of the NDAA championed by the Obama administrations as being " unconstitutional" http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/we_won_--_for_now_20120917/
This is a huge step forward in fight that as much as Obama says he wants to go, in reality is doubling down on the inverse.
No one has to "conspire" to make wingnuts (Limpdick is NOT a Conservative - he's a fascist) look nuts. They were born that way.
I think the Romney Fundraiser footage is the most damaging piece of video to come through the intertubes in some time. Vetted, too. Please include this tonight - his campaign is already trying to distract potential viewers from it.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/secret-video-romney-private-fundraiser
He is expert at insulting people. This shows me and should show others that if (God forbid) he were elected, he would thumb his nose at half of American citizens. He disgusts me and he just has zero couth.
Rmoney, you are SO wrong on this and I am never going to vote for any Republican, and you have no business trying to become President of the USA. You obviously despise me, a person that worked 41 years.
Your judgement is horrible for America. You go around talking about divisions and the entire time, you stoke the fire of division. Absolutely despicable.
Romney's contempt for those who are unemployed or have lost jobs and now make half of what they used to is sickening. He treats laborers like necessary collateral damage in his quest to be more "successful."
He has been lying so much to the middle class. He used Bain to put us into this hole and he's going to do everything he can to keep us there so he can enrich himself and the other Top 1%. We now have his own words candidly telling us so. It's a shame that he couldn't keep it secret.
This tape is just another thing that Romney will not respond to when questioned about it. He'll say he's given us all the information we need. Yes, this tape is all the middle class needs to know about Mitt Romney...from his own lips.
It's interesting to note that Netanyahu, a close personal friend who also used the same election consultants for his campaign, represents a handful of top ruling families in Israel. They control everything within the Israeli economy. Bibi has been treating the middle class there the same way the Top 1% does in this country.
Question: can a man willing to piss off the electorate before an election be counted on NOT to tell a nuclear power to f off ? He's got KNEECAP and shelters. Our fault if we didn't maintain ours.
Peter King is the biggest fool in Congress and he has A LOT of competitition. If you didn't think so, watch a rerun of MTP from yesterday. THIS act of his and other pompous Republicans is to 'school' the media, lie their ass off and say 'facts don't matter'. WHY would anyone vote for someone that LIES TO THEIR FACE? Ok that's rhetorical.
I do hope that those citizens in the Arab world who appreciate the aid from America in their quest for freedom will soon appear in the streets of their Arab capitals in support of the USA.
They already have but it's hard to find those pictures on Fox or in the "lame-stream" media. Those kinds of pictures don't sell or make for good lead because they don't foment hate or support the reichwing propaganda machine.
In other news:
http://secure.billygraham.org/stand-with-us/stand-with-us.aspx?QR=168&BA=2673&SOURCE=BY120VMHG&gclid=CM2r4szcvbICFeV7Qgod2hgAJA
(/snarK)
Well, PNAC contrived the WMD excursion, and it has made conservatives look nuts, so I agree with Limbo.
The first thing I'd do if elected is get voting bills passed that not only insure all people the right to vote without any restrictions but also mandate that they participate in all federal elections. Other democracies like Australia impose a fine on citizens if they refuse to exert their civic responsibilities. Voting should be like jury duty. No excuses and no exemptions.
Go see the Mother Jones article in the links above. Total bombshell.
Pass the popcorn, the Romney crash and burn show has started.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Speech filled with angry rage to work up the Warriors before the insurrection starts:
"First of all le me say I’m not anti-Christian I don’t mind the sane Christians and Catholics, But those other Tony Perkins, Ralph Reed, Pastor Hagee, Rick Santorum, Jerry Boykin devils got to go…
I wanted to write this rant on the 1st year anniversary of Occupy:
You ever notice how the right wingers always get a free pass when it comes to law enforcement?
These fascist pig motherf**k’n police all over the nation spent the last year pepper spraying and arresting the Occupy crowd but these power mad puppets won’t arrest that scandalous right wing, fundamentalist Christian idiots who made that blasphemous movie about Mohammed?
Ok let me get this straight you Conservative CONTROL by AUTHORITY idiots… you’re trying to tell me that Concerned Citizens who demand for ethics, responsibility and accountability from a corrupt Ruling Class are worse than the jerk who caused insurrection all over the Middle East by those right wing fundamentalist Muslim idiots.
Rich Neo-Conservatives have spent the last 60 years playing those fanatic Middle Easterners for suckers. It ain’t no coincidence the Arab unrest is happening just before a major US Presidential election. The Evil Republicans got the whole Middle East working to beat President Obama right now.
You Hajjis got to learn a con is a CON… no matter in a ghetto back alley or an Ivory Tower, the trick is recognize IT and not get played for FOOLS!”
2012 by Charlie Stunats
As posted on jinnbad.blogspot.com
I am waiting till seniors figure out that 47% of dependents who are "dependent on government" includes Medicare recipients. Yikes!
I would say that Rachel and her idiotic followers are among the most pathetic excuses for intelligent human beings that I have ever commented on. I have dogs that are smarter than almost any of you people who claim to be human. This idiot in the WH from Kenya is so stupid that I'm wondering if he may be closely related to one of my dumber dogs. This is whole admistration is so deranged that God must be setting up the end of the world for the near future. Never seen so many blinded -apparently human beings this darkened. Must be God allowing Satan to enter your minds and blinded you to how stupid all of your are. God help you see some light before this election!!!!
Thank you for the content-free post. Now wipe the spittle off your chin.
You almost have to thank the stain that took the time to post this viewpoint. It points at a good deal of the problem the country faces. Unfortunately for us and the stain, the stain doesn't realize where the problem is coming from. The problem is the stain.
I think she missed her Cymbalta today..
Better up the Haldol too!
Pakistan successfully tested a missile that has nuclear capabilities today and the Arctic Sea ice is expected to be completely gone by 2015.
Tony....
Lay down the crack pipe, that @!$%# will kill you.
To Spoact, What planet are you from? Or you just another mislead idiot that thinks obama can even possibly even balance his checkbook. You along with many others on this blog are pathethic and probably misled by Satan to bring on the end of the world. Do you believe in Jesus? Check HIM out and just believe and your thoughts and attitude will change - hopefully in time!
No I'm not kidding anybody, don't do crack either. I'm not perfect but you can't possibly believe that Obama has done anything but run our deficit that it may be out of reach. Also his pacifism obviously doesn't impress any of the Muslim terriorists in the world. He needs to apologize to the American people for being the worst " president" in American history- PERIOD!!!
It's amazing that some shhit-for-brains think the deficits and debt are Obama's fault. Nope, not true.
PolitiFact | Viral Facebook post says Barack Obama has lowest spending record of any recent president
- Off the Charts Blog | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | What’s Driving Projected Debt?
- Economic Downturn and Bush Policies Continue to Drive Large Projected Deficits — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
- CHART: Spending, Taxes, And Deficits Are All Lower Today Than When Obama Took Office | ThinkProgress
- How the Deficit Got This Big - NYTimes.com
- Sources of the Budget Deficit - NYTimes.com
- CHART: Spending, Taxes, And Deficits Are All Lower Today Than When Obama Took Office | ThinkProgress
- The Truth About Federal Spending
- MarketWatch Column On Obama's Spending Restraint Stands Up To Attacks | Media Matters for America
- Obama spending binge never happened - Rex Nutting - MarketWatch
- The myth of Obama's spending binge - The Plum Line - The Washington Post
- Obama Presided Over a Tax Revenue Drought, Not a Spending Binge | Crooks and Liars
- Who's to Blame for the Deficit Numbers?
- Bush-Era Tax Cuts Projected As Largest Contributor To Public Debt [CHART]
- Mitt Romney Debt Speech Ignores Key Facts
Tony, I do not think the President is trying to impress the the "Muslim terrorists". You have slapped the people in the face here. Not really what Jesus would advocate.
Perhaps you can read those links from Disgusted. Maybe re read about the 2 greatest commandments again for yourself. Jesus might open your heart to show you that coming to message boards and disparaging our president is NOT what the Bible says to do. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rom.13.1
I think Obama has impressed these al Qaeda members:
September 2012 - Saeed al-Shihri
June 2012 - Abu Yahya al-Libi
September 2011 - Anwar al-Awlaki
September 2011 – Younis al Mauritani captured (senior al Qaeda leader in Pakistan)
September 2011 – Abu Hafs al-Shahri killed (al Qaeda’s chief of Pakistan operations)
August 2011 – Atiyah Abd al-Rahman killed (Al Qaeda No. 2 in Pakistan)
May 2011 – Osama bin Laden killed (Number 1 Al Qaeda, and worlds most wanted)
June 2011 – Fazul Abdullah Mohammed killed (top al-Qaeda operative in Somalia)
June 2011 – Ilyas Kashmiri killed (top al- Qaeda commander in Pakistan)
June 2010 – Hawza al Jawfi killed along with 6 other terrorist (leader in Pakistan)
May 2010 – Mustafa Ahmed Muhammad Uthman Abu al-Yazid killed [aliases Shaikh Sa’id al-Masri and Mustafa Abu al-Yazid] (al Qaeda’s No. 3)
April 2010 – Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Umar al-Baghdadi (Top two Al Qaeda operatives in Iraq)
March 2010 – Qari Mohammad Zafar killed (terrorist leader in Pakistan)
February 2010 – Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar captured (The Taliban’s top military commander)
February 2010 – Sirajuddin Haqqani killed (militant commander in Pakistan)
January 2010 – Qassem al-Rimi, Ayed al-Shabwani, Ammar al-Waili, Saleh al-Tais, Ibrahim and Mohammed Saleh al-Banna killed (Al-Qaeda military boss and senior Al-Qaeda figures in the Arabian Peninsula)
December 2009 – Saleh Al-Somali killed (senior al Qaeda operative in Pakistan) September 2009 – Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan killed (ringleader of an al Qaeda cell in Kenya)
Gohmert Reacts to the Death of Libyan US Amabassador
http://youtu.be/GfMrxMHnSZ8
Gohmert pays no actual respect to Chris Stevens and the three other victims from Libya but rather uses the time to attack President Obama, President Carter. He reads aloud from a Fox News report. He then goes on to say that Iran or any country in the Middle East are just waiting to use nukes and the victim in all this... Israel! The bloke is bonkers!