Year: 2012

Categories
Politics

Republican Peter King – “I Don’t Care About Fact-Checkers”

Peter King, Mitt Romney, Donald Rumsfield, Liz Cheney, Tim Pawlenty and other Republicans regularly use the media to propagate a false claim – that the President goes around the world apologising for America. When that lie is told on Fox News and other irresponsible “news” outlets, the claim goes unchecked and the viewing public is left with the impression that the President is weak on national security.

But on Monday’s Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien, Peter King was finally asked to backup his claims. King pointed to a 2009 speech by the President in Cairo and said the speech contains “apologies” for America’s values. Soledad explained that she had copies of the speech and found no reference to apologies or the words “I’m sorry.”

“Everyone keeps talking about this ‘apology tour’ and ‘apologies’ from the President,” said O’Brien. “And I’m trying to find the words “I’m sorry, I apologize’ in any of those speeches — which I have the text of all those speeches in front of me. None of those speeches at all. And if you go to factcheck.org, which we check in a lot, they all say the same thing. They fact check this.”

She also advised King that Fact Checkers have debunked the claim that the President went on an “apology tour,” to which King answered, “I don’t care about fact checkers.”

That sentiment is reflected in Mitt Romney’s campaign. When presented with facts challenging the false claims he makes, Romney continues the lies.

Facts have no place in this Republican party.

Categories
Politics

Crazy Liz Cheney Accused Obama of Abandoning A Country That Doesn’t Exist

Liz Cheney repeated the falsehood that President Obama has apologized to our enemies and abandoned Czechoslovakia, which hasn’t existed since 1992.

During a panel on ABC’s This Week, host Jake Tapper asked the daughter of the former vice president if she agreed with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s assertion that [President] Obama was “sympathizing” with the people who attacked the U.S. embassy in Libya and killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and other Americans.

“I think he did get it right,” Cheney insisted. “We’ve now had three and a half years of Obama policy and it looks an awful lot like — whether you’re talking about the Mexico City speech in 2009, the Cairo Speech in 2009, the extent to which he’s been apologizing for America, he’s abandoned some of our key allies like Israel, Poland, Czechoslovakia. He’s attempted to appease our enemies, the Iranians, for example, the Russians. … The president himself has got a terrible record on national security, and it’s clearly something that Gov. Romney ought rightly to be pushing.”

“Terrible record on national security?”  Not quite.

Categories
Elizabeth Warren Politics

Elizabeth Warren Leading Scott Brown In Massachusetts

With 50 days left until Massachusetts voters decide who will represent them in the U.S. Senate for the next six years, Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren has pulled ahead of Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, according to a new poll.

The survey of Bay State votersconducted Sept. 6-13 by the Western New England University Polling Institute through a partnership with The Republican and MassLive.com, shows Warren leading over Brown, 50 to 44 percent, among likely voters.

The gap among registered voters is even larger, according to the survey, which concluded Warren leads 53 to 41 percent. The poll of 545 registered voters has a 4.2 percent margin of error, while the sample of 444 likely voters has a 4.6 percent margin of error.

Categories
Mitt Romney Politics

It’s Raining Polls

The Democratic Nation Convention is a dot in the campaign’s rear-view mirror, but the shift in public sentiment it engendered is now embedded in the polling numbers. And that’s not good news for Mitt Romney.

The one bright spot for Mitt’s campaign is in North Carolina, where a Rasmussen poll has him leading by 51-45%. This is a firm enough pick-up for the GOP that the Obama campaign will probably not contest the state too vigorously because there are other states that need their attention.

Most of the other state polling over the last week shows the president with small leads in some of the swing states and solid leads where he needs to have them, most notably in Pennsylvania and Michigan, where the conservative groups supporting Romney have pulled their advertising, and New Jersey where, despite Chris Christie’s best efforts, Romney is behind by double digits. Those states, though, were always considered nice switches if the election was going to swing hard against Obama and Romney was going to win in landslide, a scenario not out of the question last spring when the economy and momentum were on Mitt’s side. After a summer in which Obama ran a textbook incumbent’s campaign (define your opponent negatively, change the topic from the economy, force Mitt further to the right), the big Republican win seems to be fading. Romney can certainly pull this election out, but he’ll need to go a different route than the 44 state rout he was thinking about.

In the states where the election will turn, the latest polls show a virtual dead heat. Obama leads by one point in a Rasmussen Virginia poll and by one in Colorado according to a Denver Post/SUSA survey. In Florida, and NBC/WSJ/Marist poll has Obama leading by 49-44%, but the poll overstates Democratic participation so the actual results are probably closer than five points. Both Rasmussen and ARG show one point leads for Obama in Ohio and UNH/WMUR sees Obama with a five point lead in New Hampshire. If Romney can carry Ohio, Florida and Colorado, he’d be within two Electoral Votes of the presidency and could win with any one of New Hampshire or Virginia. This is a tall order, but this is where both he and Obama will be spending the most money and time over the next seven weeks.

The main focus for the next few days, though, will be on Wisconsin, a state that hasn’t been polled since the DNC. With native son Paul Ryan on the national ticket, a poll-leading Republican, Tommy Thompson, atop the Senate ballot and a Republican governor at the helm, Wisconsin has been trending red for the past two years. The Romney campaign is putting a good deal of money into the state and a win there would be a huge pickup. In fact, a Romney win in Wisconsin could mean that Ohio follows suit. That would obviate the need for Mitt to win Colorado. It’s big. Perhaps we’ll get some numbers this week.

The national polls show an Obama bounce that has faded somewhat, though the Rasmussen tracking poll had Romney ahead by four early in the week and now shows his lead cut in half. Gallup has shown a pretty consistent Obama lead throughout the last 10 days. National polls by the New York Times, ABCNews and NBC/WSJ show an Obama lead, but they all overpolled Democrats in their surveys. I at least will need some further confirmation from more realistic internals to make a judgement about the national race. We know it’s close, but we don’t know just how close it is.

With foreign policy grabbing the headlines this week, the Romney campaign hopes to undermine the president’s policies while continuing to attack him on the slow economy. That Mitt’s comments on the Middle East unrest were seen as political opportunism will not help him, but if further events lead to more instability, he could correct himself and gain the high ground. Obama has probably built up enough of a lead in the foreign arena to survive, but more problems are clearly not what he wants. The president’s campaign has to figure that any day Romney is not talking about the economy, he’s losing ground. We’ll see what happens this week.

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Categories
Politics terrorists weekly address

President Obama – “We Will Never Waver” In The Pursuit To Capture America’s Enemies

President Obama used his Weekly Address to speak about the tragedy that happened in Libya where four Americans were killed. The President reassured Americans that as long as he’s Commander-In-Chief, he will do all he can to bring justice to the families of the four fallen heroes.

As we mourn their loss, we must also send a clear and resolute message to the world: those who attack our people will find no escape from justice. We will not waver in their pursuit.  And we will never allow anyone to shake the resolve of the United States of America.

This tragic attack takes place at a time of turmoil and protest in many different countries. I have made it clear that the United States has a profound respect for people of all faiths. We stand for religious freedom. And we reject the denigration of any religion – including Islam.

Yet there is never any justification for violence. There is no religion that condones the targeting of innocent men and women. There is no excuse for attacks on our Embassies and Consulates. And so long as I am Commander-in-Chief, the United States will never tolerate efforts to harm our fellow Americans.

Categories
Politics presidential

Polls Show Obama With Significant Lead Over Romney

WASHINGTON — A presidential race that has been neck-and-neck for months suddenly isn’t.

In the week after the political conventions ended, President Obama has opened the most significant, sustained lead in the daily Gallup Poll since Mitt Romney emerged as the Republican nominee last spring. Disappointing unemployment statistics released last Friday haven’t stemmed Obama’s rise, and Romney’s sharp criticism of the president in recent days during the unfolding crisis in Libya has opened a new line of partisan attack against the challenger.

With 53 days and three presidential debates to go, strategists in both parties say there’s time for Romney to recover lost ground, especially with an electorate deeply dissatisfied with the direction of the country and the state of the economy. But even some Republican political analysts warn that the former Massachusetts governor faces a political landscape that has become steeper as the campaign heads into the home stretch.

The Gallup Poll showed Obama leading Romney 50%-44% Thursday among registered voters. A Fox News poll Wednesday also had Obama ahead, 48%-43%, among likely voters.

The two candidates had been locked within 2 percentage points of each other in the daily Gallup survey since July. Neither had held a lead of as much as 5 points since June.

Categories
Birther Politics

Kansas Considers Motion To Remove President Obama From Presidential Ballot

Barack Obama, the first African-American President of the United States, is the only president in the history of this nation forced to prove his citizenship. A group called the Birthers (a group the Republican presidential candidate ascribes to) questioned Mr. Obama’s citizenship based on no evidence to suggest otherwise, except for a phrase they continuously used, “he’s not one of us.”

To calm their nerves, the President did something unprecedented. He provided the only proof legally allowed – his “short form” and “long form” birth certificates but of course, the Birthers want more. Unfortunately for them, the President’s birth was not televised and the placenta is already discarded. So what’s a Birther to do? Try to keep the democratically elected President of the United States off the ballot.

Here’s what’s happening in Kansas;

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, an informal advisor to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, said on Thursday he and his fellow members of a state board were considering removing President Barack Obama from the Kansas ballot this November.

Kobach is part of the State Objections Board along with Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, all Republicans. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that on Thursday the board agreed to consider whether to take Obama off the ballot because they said they lacked sufficient evidence about his birth certificate.

“I don’t think it’s a frivolous objection,” Kobach said, according to the Capital-Journal. “I do think the factual record could be supplemented.”

The board is looking at a complaint filed by Joe Montgomery, of Manhattan, Kan., who claimed the Obama is not a natural born U.S. citizen and so is ineligible to be president. The man appears to be part of a group of conspiracy theorists known as “birthers,” who deny Obama’s birth certificate is real.

Late Thursday, Kobach told TPM in an email conversation that he made his “frivolous objection” comment at the end of the meeting and was responding to a specific question.

“A ‘frivolous’ argument, in legal terms, is one that cannot reasonably be made under any circumstances,” Kobach wrote. “The objection passed that very low threshold, which is not saying much.”

The board will send records requests to Hawaii, Arizona and Mississippi for more documentation of Obama’s birth. They plan to meet again on Monday to discuss the matter. Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett questioned Obama’s birth certificate earlier this year and also briefly considered removing him from the ballot.

Categories
Mitt Romney Politics

Joke Of The Year – Romney Calls Obama a Liar

Hold on to your chairs folks, we are not responsible for anyone falling over from laughter. Get this… In an interview that aired today, Mitt Romney, the most dishonest politician I’ve ever seen accused President Obama of lying.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney says the upcoming debates will be tough because President Barack Obama has a tendency to “say things that aren’t true.”

“I think he’s going to say a lot of things that aren’t accurate,” Romney told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in an interview that aired on Friday. “I’m tempted to go back to that wonderful line by Ronald Reagan — ‘There you go again’ — but you can’t use something that’s [already been used].”

“Bill Clinton used that about you the other day during the Democratic Convention,” Stephanopoulos noted.

“I didn’t happen to see that, but doubt we’re going to pull out something from Ronald Reagan, he’s one of a kind,” the former Massachusetts governor explained. “But the challenge I’ll have is that the president tends to, how shall I say it, say things that aren’t true in attacking his opponents.”

“I’ve looked at prior debates and in that kind of case, it’s difficult to say, well, am I going to spend my time correcting things that aren’t quite accurate or am I going spend my time talking about the things I want to talk about? And that’s the challenge.”

But President Obama may also have his hands full when it comes to fact checking the Republican nominee.

MSNBC’s Steve Benen spent months chronicling Romney’s “mendacity” and claimed to have found 533 falsehoods in 30 weeks, according to a tally by blogger Fred Clark.

Categories
Mitt Romney Politics presidential Republican

We’ve Figured Out The Reason For Romney’s Lies –

Lies in the morning, lies in the evening, lies at supper time. With Romney on the ticket, you can have lies every time. And you will!

We’ve detailed some of Romney’s lies here, here, here, here, and oh yea, here, here, here, here, here, (deep breath)… here, here, here, here, here, here… I can go on, but I think you got the point.

Categories
Politics taxes

The Hypocrisy – Romney Asked For 10 Years Worth of Taxes In His VP Search

Mitt Romney’s desire is to keep the American people from seeing his tax returns. And so far, the man who could be the next president of the United States, has been successfully, only allowing voters to see one year with a promise to show one more.

But when it came to picking his running mate, Romney saw the importance of transparency and demanded 10 years worth of taxes from his candidates.

As part of its vetting, the Romney campaign required at least some of the candidates on the short list—including the eventual winner of the GOP veepstakes, Ryan—to submit fully 10 years of tax returns, according to a knowledgeable source.

The requirement was consistent with the past practices of both Republican and Democratic campaigns.  Indeed, in 2008, Mitt Romney turned over 23 years of taxes to John Mccain’s campaign when he was under consideration to be the Arizona senator’s running mate.

But this year, the vetting of tax returns has had particular political resonance because of Romney’s refusal to release more than two years of his own tax filings. The Obama campaign has waged a withering assault on Romney for his failure to be more transparent about his personal finances, part of a larger narrative seeking to portray the Republican nominee as a privileged plutocrat who has been able to mine the tax code for loopholes and other tricks unavailable to average middle—class Americans.  For months, Chicago and its allies have hammered Romney on taxes, suggesting he must be hiding something.

In response to questions about the 10-year requirement, Romney campaign press secretary Andrea Saul declined comment.  “We do not discuss the VP selection process,” she wrote in an email.

The hypocrisy never ends with this guy.

Categories
Politics

Republicans In Panic Mode – Realizing The Inevitable Romney Loss This November

With new polls showing President Obama extending his lead over Mitt Romney by as much as 52% to 46% according to a CNN/ORC poll, Republicans are now officially in panic mode.

On the “Fair and Balanced” Fox News network – you know, that network that goes out of their way to make sure the content of their programming is “fair and balanced” – one of the “fair and balanced” host advised Mitt Romney to “call Barack Obama a socialist.”

And the President of Fox News himself offered his two cents, telling Romney to “draw a clear line” and “offer specific path to restore American dream.” Sarah Palin suggested that Mitt Romney is being too soft, and told the candidate that he must fight, and fight with all his might!

And Republican Joe Scarborough slammed Romney recently, calling him a “flawed candidate.”

But Laura Ingraham so far takes the cake. She assailed the Republican candidate and his campaign, stating that if Romney cannot win, the Republican party should be dismantled.

“If you can’t beat Barack Obama with this record, then shut down the party. Shut it down. Start new, with new people,” Laura said. She continued;

“Election after election, we hire people who have lost previous campaigns; who’ve run campaigns that have failed; who have message campaigns where the message fell flat, and they keep getting re-hired. I don’t understand that. I don’t know why those are the people you hire.”

They’re flipping their lids, and the heat hasn’t been turned on yet!

Categories
Egypt Mitt Romney Politics

President Obama – “Governor Romney Seems To Have a Tendency To Shoot First and Aim Later”

After a careful silence while his opponent faced allegations of politicizing national security, President Barack Obama took a his own swing at Mitt Romney on Wednesday

“There’s a broader lesson to be learned here: Governor Romney seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later,” Obama told CBS News of Romney’s claim that Obama was not forceful enough in his response to yesterday’s killing of four U.S. diplomats in Libya.

Romney’s statement, released last night before many of the facts from the attack in Benghazi were gathered, has drawn bipartisan criticism as lawmakers call for unity to respond to what is now being investigated as a terrorist attack.

Since an initial early morning statement from the campaign, Obama’s political operation had taken care not to be seen as capitalizing on the events for political gain — but once Romney tried just that, Obama took the gloves off.

“As president, one of the things I’ve learned is you can’t do that-it’s important for you to make sure that the statements that you make are backed up by the facts and that you’ve thought through the ramifications before you make them,” Obama continued.

Obama’s campaign spent much of the day silent on the issue, deferring to the White House to respond to a national security incident. Their silence had the added benefit of allowing Romney time to wallow in the mess of his own creation.

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