The rich, whose power comes not from hard work, creativity, innovation, or the creation of wealth: the rich who instead secure their wealth through the manipulation of government and politicians. The great evil that we Americans face is the banal evil of second-rate minds, who can’t make it in the private sector, and who therefore turn to the massive wealth directed by our government as the means to securing wealth for themselves. The enemy is not evil: the enemy is well-dressed.
Lawrence Lessig, from Republic, Lost
A response to Rookies to rule next Congress (Politico, 8/18/12)…
Some eye-opening stats about the next Congress, which figures to be filled with junior members as a result of the historic class of 2010 and the next class of incoming freshmen, which also looks to be rather sizable.
SEN Dick Lugar (R) attributes his May ’12 GOP primary loss (won by Tea Party-backed Richard Mourdock) to a barrage of negative ads from far-right PACs:
“Well, I think Indiana was unique in the sense that the outside groups, whether it was FreedomWorks or Club for Growth or Grover Norquist Group or the NRA or what have you had no other playground, Indiana was it because this was a place where there was an incumbent Republican senator, not many of us running this time as a matter of fact and so they were able to come in early on with hundreds of thousands and finally millions of dollars with negative ads which turned around what usually was an approval that I had from sixty to seventy percent for all these years, and it went down real fast in the last two or three weeks under that barrage.”
(http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57442292/face-the-nation-transcripts-may-27-gibbs-gillespie-and-senator-lugar/?pageNum=5&tag=contentMain;contentBody)
On the eve of Lugar’s primary defeat, he expressed concern over Mourdock’s partisanship:
“If Mr. Mourdock is elected, I want him to be a good Senator. But that will require him to revise his stated goal of bringing more partisanship to Washington. He and I share many positions, but his embrace of an unrelenting partisan mindset is irreconcilable with my philosophy of governance and my experience of what brings results for Hoosiers in the Senate.”
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/richard-lugar-loses-primary-nomination-to-conservative-challenger-richard-mourdock/2012/05/08/gIQANcJjBU_story.html)Lugar was perhaps singled out by the GOP’s far-right in part for flirting with bipartisanship. (He voted ‘yea’ with only 2 other Republican senators on the blocked DREAM Act in 2010.) Interestingly, a few weeks after losing the GOP primary, Lugar told Bill Schieffer on Face the Nation, “…it’s a difficult situation. So when you talk about Syria and talk about troops or intervention, President has been very cautious. I think properly so.” That kind of bipartisan talk in today’s political climate can get a lawmaker in a lot of trouble- regardless of seniority. (Lugar is is the Senate’s most senior Republican.) So I suspect that as insecure, far-right PAC-funded freshmen enter the US Congress, we can reasonably expect more ‘gridlock and mindless partisanship.’
DittoMorph
from The PCTC Blog
a blog about politics that takes a common sense approach to the issues that matter most. if it seems a bit on the liberal side, it’s because the truth has a liberal bias. if you want to win over the electorate, use it.
After Paul Ryan learns he’s being vetted as a potential running mate for Mitt Romney, what does he go and do? He amends his 2011 financial disclosure statement, reporting,
It has been discovered that an inadvertent omission was made…
Ryan continues to explain to the clerk of the US House of Representatives that this ‘inadvertent omission’ amounted to between $100,000 and $1,000,000 in the 2011 tax year.
Contrast Ryan’s behavior with that of Cleveland waitress, Ginny Hopkins, who receives a $434,712 IRS refund check in June 2012 instead of one for the correct amount of $754. 
What does she go and do? She returns it the very next day to her local IRS office after joking,
’I think I would have to work most of my life to earn that much money.’
We need people like Ginny running for public office.
Chains, Joe? The real threat is enslaving our big banks into protecting depositors and customers, rather than stockholders and officers!
The problem w/ Romney made up outrages & lies is fact checkers r not enough;they don’t stop him. Repeat a lie often, people will believe it
Register to vote TODAY. Republicans are working to deny you your right to vote. Don’t let them win by being complacent.
Paul Ryan: “I was on Social Security as a kid, but I didn’t NEED it, and I’m sure most people don’t, so it won’t hurt when I kill it.”
In his response to Romney’s VP pick, Radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh inadvertently may have given us a window into the Republicans’ prevailing view of their presumptive presidential nominee. Below is a transcript from his show aired on (8/13/12). My inserted comments are in bold.
from RushLimbaugh.com
This is the challenge that these guys face. It’s the challenge that they have. You know, let’s face it, folks. One of the reasons that so many conservatives, all during the Republican primary process, were so forlorn, was that there wasn’t anybody that could articulate what we believe. (chuckles) [Romney can't articulate the beliefs of the Republican Party.] They were all on the radio. Where are they in the Republican Party? Admit it! Well, we now have somebody on the ticket who’s us. [Romney is an outsider- 'not one of us.'] Somebody’s on the ticket who can explain all of this, who believes all of this in his heart and in his soul. [Romney does not genuinely believe in his own message.]
His name is Paul Ryan, and he can do it with optimism and a smile on his face and no bitterness and so forth. [Romney is a buzz killer who projects pessimism & bitterness.] So I like it because they’re tackling this head on. You know, if he’d chosen, say, Rubio, the accusation would have been that Romney was pandering to a group. If he’d chosen Condi, same accusation: Pandering to a group. [Romney has a history of pandering to different interest groups.] This pick told me that Romney is not just serious about winning, but governing. [Romney is more concerned about winning than governing.] That’s what it told me. I could be proven wrong.
Who knows?
But I like the fact that there’s somebody who’s gonna be on the news every day that can talk like I do. [Romney lacks oratory skills.] And I don’t mean to make this about me. I don’t mean to make this about me. That’s not the point. We’ve got somebody who can articulate what we believe. [Again, Romney can't articulate the beliefs of the Republican Party.]It’s in his heart. [Again, Romney does not genuinely believe in his own message.] He doesn’t need crib notes. [Romney needs to cheat to be successful.] He doesn’t need briefings. [Romney lacks the depth of knowledge needed to be an effective president.] He doesn’t need a consultant to tell him what to think or how to answer a question [Romney is afraid to trust his own judgement.]. He knows it. [Again, Romney lacks background knowledge.] He’s lived it. [People can't relate to Romney's due in part to his privileged, strict Mormon upbringing.]
That’s why I’m jazzed.
DittoMorph
