The Tea Party Isn't Racist, Just Conservative

This Talking Points Memo article is titled "Tennessee Tea Partiers to GOP Gov: Stop Employing Muslims, Gays, Democrats."

This week Tea Party Caucus chair Michele Bachmann and her comrades fingered State Department worker Huma Abedin as a Muslim Brotherhood infiltrator. Abedin is in fact Muslim.

An Arkansas Tea Party leader made the following joke at a Tea Party rally in June:
"A black kid asks his mom, 'Mama, what's a democracy?'
"'Well, son, that be when white folks work every day so us po' folks can get all our benefits.'
"'But mama, don't the white folk get mad about that?'
"'They sho do, son. And that's called racism.'"
The audio, including the applause following the joke can be heard here.

The joke dynamic above suggests one of two scenarios. Either those Arkansas Tea Baggers don't think that most relief benefits are collected by white people or they know it, but think it's okay. It is ignorance in the former case and hypocrisy in the latter. Either way, both mindsets are predicated on supremacy.

It's the same kind of supremacy that makes people think it is okay to draw up purge lists for the Tennessee governor based on sexual orientation and religion/ethnicity. Rather than define their objections by their hatred, the Tennessee Tea Baggers chalk up their objections to the governor's "consistent lack of conservative values."So I stand corrected. From now on, per the Tea Party, I will use the word "conservative" instead of "racist."




Say "Mitt Romney's Rich" Five Times Fast



Mysterious Mitt has spoken, and the one thing he isn't flip-flopping  on (so far) is that he won't divulge any more tax returns than already promised. 


"The Opposition research of the Obama campaign is looking for anything they can use to distract from the failure of the president to reignite our economy... And I'm simply not enthusiastic about giving them hundreds or thousands of more pages to pick through, distort and lie about" Romney said. 


The second part of Romney's statement is what should put a curious look on your face. Here are a few other things Romney could be saying there:
 -"And I'm simply not that good enough to run against him."
-"And if this is how he's pummeling me when I don't release my taxes, imagine how he's going to pummel me when I DO!"
-"And I'm simply not enthusiastic about revealing what I'm trying to conceal."


It's a really hollow excuse. The Obama campaign doesn't need tax returns if they just wanted something to "distort and lie about." They could "distort and lie" about anything. That's what's great about lying and distorting, but by pressing Romney for his tax returns, they are taking the path of least resistance. They won't need to devote any energy to lying or distorting because according to Romney's steadfastness, there is a doozy of a whopper in Mitt's 1040s. 


Order a large popcorn if you're going to follow this story because it will be good. Even in a best case scenario for Romney where he coughs up the paper and there's nothing to hide, it still looks weird. That is where Obama should be hitting him now just in case this was all a red herring. It should be pointed out how Romney is stonewalling the people he is running to serve and how his penchant for obfuscation shows a lack of character and leadership.


And that's the best case scenario. If Romney refuses to show his taxes, he is toast even if unemployment goes up to 20 percent. He most likely knows this which is why he is probably just looking for a way to figure out how he can put it all on the table with the best spin possible. Whatever he is hiding, whether there's a year or two that he didn't pay taxes or that son Taggart is a pre-op human, he needs to reveal it in the best possible light instead of just letting the press have at it.


Good luck to him. He's going to need it. After all the effort to pass those voter ID laws, and keep the economy on ice, it all may have been for nothing. This is not one of those things that could go either way in the mind of the public. If a majority of people already think that Mitt Romney should show us his taxes, chances are that same majority, if not more aren't going to like what Romney is hiding. By the time the Republican convention comes around they may be looking for a way for Romney not to show up. Things are not looking good for the arrogant one.


Is it November yet?

Tax Talk

While the you-know-whos continue their short-sighted and greedy campaign to make taxing the rich taboo, here is some encouraging reading and media for people with logical economic sense. Enjoy.




http://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-tax-rates-2012-5?op=1

http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2011/04/22/billionaires-millionaires-willing-to-pay-more-taxes.html


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-01/higher-taxes-won-t-discourage-wealthy-from-working-harder.html


http://patrioticmillionaires.org/


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/a-rich-guys-case-for-much-higher-taxes/2012/04/17/gIQA384rNT_blog.html


Mama's Fancy Boy



Be prepared for the latest Republican rose-colored lens scam. I've heard it twice today in response to Obama's aggressive Bain attacks. Two prominent Republican women acknowledge the money Obama has spent to air the attack ads in swing states. Then they claim that the ads have had no effect because Obama and Romney are stuck in a statistical dead-heat nationwide. But here's the truth they are leaving out; when you look at recent polls in those states where Obama is running the ads, Obama is ahead. What's more is twice as many people in those states think Bain is a reason to oppose Romney than a reason to support him. 

I agree more with James Carville than I do with his very wrong wife Mary Matalin that Romney will have to throw Bain on the crap heap as a result of it gaining so many negative connotations. As Illinois Senator Dick Durbin said earlier today, Romney is running from Bain like a scalded cat. Romney has already abandoned his governorship as proof of experience after having fellow Republicans trash his record during the primaries. What else is there? His award for Best Patrician Underbite in prep school? His being named Mama's Fancy Boy during an outing when she and he wore matching khaki? I can't wait.

Is is November yet?

Base Appeal

David Corn of Mother Jones puts it best when he describes Republican ideology as religion. I think he puts it best because that is the way that I have described it myself. Republicans have shifted so far to the right that they have become calcified. It is hard to tell which ones are just toeing a line and which ones believe what they say when they say "taxes are bad" and "the auto bailout was bad" and "the middle class can only grow if you coddle the wealthy."


Let's look at what would happen if smart people like John Boehner and Mitt Romney ever tried for a second to talk sense. Perhaps they'd want to test the waters by ADMITTING that the largest tax increase in U.S. history was simultaneous with the largest economic expansion in U.S. history. Perhaps they'd want to experiment by ADMITTING higher taxes did not prevent "job creators" from "creating jobs." Perhaps they'd want to survey the ramifications of ADMITTING having the lowest tax rates in over 60 years has had no effect on spurring employment. Perhaps they'd want to have a look see of the implications of ADMITTING the connection their party has been making between taxes and "job creation" is bullshit. 


What would happen is that they would be drummed out of the party and into oblivion. Again, today's Republican party is not about being right. It's about control. In the case of the "job creators" blather they have created a flawed doctrine and as with any doctrine, it does not have to be right to be relevant. It just has to be adhered to by enough people. And that is the problem for the GOP. This "job creator" mess is only adhered to by the Republican base. No one else is buying it. Just check out these polls.





Mitt: Offense? Defense? The Fence



This is not about any of Mitt Romney's opinions, because apparently he doesn't have any in this election cycle. That's by design. Romney, thought he could come out with his patrician underbite and tease Barack Obama into defeat while avoiding issues, policy, and his own past. That strategy depended largely on Obama bringing NO attention to Romney's position on the issues, his policy ideas, and most importantly, Romney's past.


A million Bain attack ads later, Mitt Romney has become Mitt Possum. He's got nothing to say in his defense. Now that Romney's offshore cash and Swiss bank accounts are turning into the stuff of Democratic pile-ons, Romney is in denial. He knows that the worst place to be as a candidate is on the defensive, yet when you are being attacked, you have to respond. If Romney responds to the allegations of him being a wealthy, outsourcing, vulture, Swiss bank account-having, job destroying, flip-flopping, economy wrecker it will be an acknowledgement that he is being put on the defensive. But if he acts as if no one is making these charges, he maintains the upper hand. He stays in control of the debate. Right? Right?


Is it November yet?

This Oughtta Help... Nunca

This is a screenshot from Mitt Romney's webpage devoted to winning over Latinos. It's entitled "JUNTOS CON ROMNEY." That means "together with Romeny" as in "let's all get in line together with Romney so he can check our papers since he digs Arizona's immigration law. Nice try Mitt, but you gotta do what you gotta do. That reminds me - where's your black people's page, "HoMEEezzz haNgin' WIT ROMROM"? Or what about your page for women, "BYtChES be wANtin' ULtRAsOUNDS fOr ROMROM 'casuse He BE piMPIN"? Mitt knows that Latinos like Spanish, Blacks like to butcher English and all women like black guys. 


Message to Barack Obama: You can't compete with this guy. Regardless of the shade of blood, be it one percent blue or plebeian maroon, he's got his finger on the pulse. A'IGHT?