Author: Ezra Grant

I'm just tired of the lies and nonsense coming from the GOP, so this is my little contribution to combat the nonsense!

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Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics South Carolina

And Here’s Mitt Romney – The “Ideal” Teapartier

Mitt Romney is the ultimate politician, although he will be the first to tell you that he “lived his life in the private sector.” I call him the ultimate politician because he has mastered the hustle of knowing his audience and pandering to them to get their vote. And like it is for any politician, votes are the number one priority, so telling your audience what they want  to hear is a sure way to get them to nod in your direction.

Well – now he’s catering to the Teaparty. Speaking in South Carolina on Saturday, Romney told the audience (some were teaparty members) that he is the “ideal” teaparty candidate, as he tried to cast doubt on the Teaparty’s present favorite candidate, Newt Gingrich.

“I recognize that the speaker has a big lead here,” Romney said of Gingrich in a press conference in South Carolina. “But I think as people take a closer and closer look, they’ll recognize that I reflect more effectively the positions which they hold on key issues.

“I think Tea Partiers may have listened to the first debate where we discussed the speaker’s compensation from Freddie Mac, for instance. And he said, I think he said that he got $300,000 from Freddie Mac and it was to work as an historian. And as time has gone on we find out it’s $1.6 million and he worked as a spokesman for, in providing support for Freddie Mac,” Romney said. “I think as tea partiers concentrate on that for instance, they’ll say, wow, this really isn’t the guy that would represent our views.”

The tea party, Romney said, is “anxious to have people who are outside Washington coming in to change Washington, as opposed to people who stayed in Washington for 30 years.”

“And I believe on the issues, as well, that I line up with a smaller government, a less intrusive government, regulations being pared back, holding down the tax rates of the American people, maintaining a strong defense, and so many Tea Party folks are going to find me, I believe to be the ideal candidate,” Romney said. “I sure hope so.”

Because of his constant drive to be accepted by all political factions and and his inability to stick to any one position, Romney has gained the status of  flip flopper: skilled in the art of moving from one policy to another at the drop of a hat.

Imagine for a moment, a Romney administration making the dreaded announcement that America will go to war with Iran. Most assuredly by the next week, while the troops are in the air flying to drop the first bombs, Romney decides that war may not be the answer to Iran afterall, only to change his mind once again the following week.

Leadership…not!

Categories
Politics Texas

Rick Perry Finds A Way To Live Off The Government

Why are Republicans trying to game the system? Why do they insist on maintaining loopholes that benefit only the rich? These are questions many Americans are asking, and Rick Perry’s  actions pin points exactly why Republicans do what they do. Perry found a way to retire, and still collect his salary and make more money in the process.

Perry officially retired in January so he could start collecting his lucrative pension benefits early, but he still gets to collect his salary — and has in turn dramatically boosted his take-home pay.

Perry makes a $150,000 annual gross salary as Texas governor. Now, thanks to his early retirement, Perry, 61, gets a monthly retirement annuity of $7,698 before taxes, or $6,588 net. That raises his gross annual salary to more than $240,000.

On a swing through Cherokee, Iowa, Perry was asked why the Employee Retirement System should be paying his retirement while he’s still collecting a salary.

“That’s been in place for decades … I don’t find that to be out of the ordinary,” Perry said. “ERS called me and said, ‘Listen, you’re eligible to access your retirement now with your military time and your time and service, and I think you would be rather foolish to not access what you’ve earned.”

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Wisconsin Union Bashing

One Month To Go Before Scott Walker’s Goose Starts Cooking

The water’s a-boiling, and Walker is literally feeling the heat. He has bombarded Wisconsin airwaves with television ads trying to convince the people that his failed policies are just what they need. But once the fire is lit, it’s just a matter of time before the feast begins.

MADISON — Organizers of the historic recall effort against Gov. Scott Walker have collected more than half a million signatures, a milestone that puts them more than 90 percent of the way toward the number needed to trigger an election.

Thursday’s announcement by officials with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and the recall organization, United Wisconsin, comes with one month left before the deadline to turn in the 540,208 signatures needed to force Walker back onto the campaign trail.

“Scott Walker continues to spend millions on misleading TV ads trying to convince voters that his drastic cuts to education and other ‘reforms’ are working,” Meagan Mahaffey, United Wisconsin’s executive director, said in a press release Thursday. “But the people of Wisconsin are not buying his lies and are moving at record pace to stop Walker’s destruction and recall him from office.”

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Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics

Flavor Of The Week – The Gingrich Lead Quickly Evaporates

But no one should be surprised. This is just part of the Republicans “Anyone But Romney” strategy. We all expect that when it’s all said and done, Republicans will put the future of this country into the hands of someone who can’t decide where he stands on any issue, on any particular day.

To quote Christine O’Donnell when she endorsed the man Republicans will be forced to accept, “That’s one of the things that I like about him — because he’s [Romney] been consistent since he changed his mind.”

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Mitt Romney Politics

Will President Obama Win The Republican Nomination Battle?

On Fox News yesterday, this graphic of all the Republicans running for President in 2012 was shown on the Magyan Kelly Show. What exactly is wrong with this picture? If you’re a Fox viewer, then let me point it out. Look at who is in second place. If you still can’t figure it out, then we can’t help you. Sorry.

The graphic was prominently displayed on confused viewers’ television screens for about 20 seconds. Later on in the show, Kelly jokingly apologized for the error saying, “As it turns out they are not the same man. Not philosophically, not ideologically, not in any other way… our apologies for that error.”

But what was even more shocking than the graphic, was Fox admitting they had made a mistake. If apologizing was a common routine for this network,  it would be a 24 hour job, consisting of at least three different shifts.

Categories
Iraq troops war

Finally. The War In Iraq Officially Ends Today

Another promise kept, as Republicans continue chastising the president for following through on  his word to end the unpopular war.

“After nearly nine years of war, tens of thousands of casualties –including 4,500 dead — and more than $800 billion spent, the U.S. military on Thursday formally ended its mission in Iraq and prepared to leave the country,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

New York Times: “The tenor of the farewell ceremony, officially called ‘Casing the Colors,’ was likely to sound an uncertain trumpet for a war that was launched to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction it did not have and now ends without the sizable, enduring American military presence for which many officers had hoped. The tone of the string of ceremonies culminating with the final withdrawal event on Thursday has been understated in keeping with an administration that campaigned to end an unpopular war it inherited.”

In all fairness, the decision to leave Iraq was made between the Bush administration and the leaders of Iraq. But this important little fact means absolutely nothing to Republicans, as they continue accusing this president of wrongly bringing this war to an end.

Finally.

Categories
Barack Obama democrats Politics

President And Democrats Give Up The Call For Millionaire Tax Hike

Here we go again. In another effort to negotiate in good faith with Republicans and get some agreement on extending the payroll tax break, CNN is reporting that President Obama and the Democrats will drop the millionaire surtax the President has called for over the last few months.

In what would be a major concession, President Obama and Senate Democrats will drop their insistence that a surtax on millionaires pay for extending the payroll tax cut, a Democratic source tells CNN. This would be part of a new Democratic offer.

The move comes after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other top Senate Democrats met with President Obama at the White House earlier today.

Based on this President’s past, one would assume that Republicans should chalk this one up as another win. But I will caution my fellow Americans. Until we get a full understanding of what they agreed upon, let’s not pass judgement on this administration just yet.

I remember other situations where we thought the president had given up too much. And although there may have been times when we wished he had held out a little longer and stood his grounds against these Republicans, we must admit that when we looked at the overall picture, the president, most of the time,  seemed to come out on top. Thus, we hear all the time, “while everyone played checkers, the president was playing chess.”

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Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics presidential Republican

Pot and Kettle – Mitt Romney Calls Newt Gingrich “Unreliable”

When an inconsistent flip-flopper calls you an inconsistent flip-flopper, you know you’ve got problems. This is Mitt Romney’s next message for the Republican voters, that Newt is like a chameleon experienced in changing his colors to match his surroundings.

Defending himself against charges that his own conservative credentials are suspect, the former Massachusetts governor turned the question in Gingrich’s direction and said that it is the former speaker who has strayed repeatedly from embracing conservative doctrine in recent years.

“He has been an extraordinarily unreliable leader in the conservative world—not 16 or 17 years ago but in the last two to three years,” Romney said. “And even during the campaign, the number of times he has moved from one spot to another has been remarkable. I think he’s shown a level of unreliability as a conservative leader today.”

And who’s better equipped to talk about being a switch hitter than Ol’ Mitt Romney. His flip-flops are well documented here,  here, here,  here… and we could keep going, but you get the point. So, Mitt calling Newt “extraordinarily unreliable” and moving “from one spot to another” is – to borrow a phrase from Ed Shultz – Psycho Talk!

Categories
Newt Gingrich Politics

Obama’s Team On Gingrich – “The Higher A Monkey Climbs… The More You See His Butt!”

Words of wisdom coming from David Axelrod, the top strategist and adviser to President Obama, suggesting that the more Newt Gingrich leads in the polls, the more scrutiny he’ll get. And with scrutiny, the skeletons come falling out!

Discussing the GOP primary electorate, Axelrod said, “All the energy is on the side of the Tea Party folks. And Gov. Romney comes from that other tradition of the Republican Party. And ya got to give him credit for trying. He’s done everything but light himself on fire for the last eight weeks trying to win.”

Then Axelrod turned to Gingrich–who has resurrected his candidacy after nearly tanking earlier in the year.

“Now Newt is back. Last week you all left him for dead at the checkout counter at Tiffany’s and now he’s back, a lion in winter,” Axelrod quipped. “That’s L-I-O-N by the way, I don’t want to stir up any trouble here.”

The Obama team has been tying Gingrich to the Tea Party movement, and Axelrod reinforced this messaging at the briefing.

“In certain ways [Gingrich] fits the role for this, because as we pointed out earlier in the week he is the original tea partier. You know, he brought that kind of politics to Congress in the early 90s, he led three government shut downs in order to try and roll back environmental protection…roll back the Department of Education and education programs, he wanted to cut Medicare, he wanted to give more tax cuts to the wealthy. He was really a forerunner of what we see today.”

Axelrod also noted that Gingrich has a long record that will be scrubbed and scrutinized.

“So the question is, can he sustain this over time?,” Axelrod said.

“I told my colleagues yesterday a bit of homespun wisdom that I got from an alderman in Chicago some years ago when one of his …colleagues wanted to run for higher office and he was really dubious. He said, ‘just remember the higher a monkey climbs on a pole, the more you can see his butt.’ So, you know, the Speaker is very high on the pole right now and we’ll see how people like the view.”

Just what you need – a vision of Newt’s monkey butt. Hope you’re not having dinner. 🙂

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marriage Newt Gingrich Politics

Oh, Now Newt Gingrich Pledges To Be Faithful To His Third Wife

This could be for a number of reasons. Maybe Newt is really sincere about being faithful to his third wife after cheating on the first two, or maybe Newt’s just being Newt – pandering to the masses, telling a specific group exactly what they want to hear at that specific moment.

With the Republican nomination elections set to begin in just a few weeks in Iowa, Newt Gingrich signed his version of a pledge to the Christian Conservative Evangelists of that state, promising to “uphold the institution of marriage through personal fidelity to my spouse and respect for the marital bonds of others.”

Gingrich made the pledge to The Family Leader, a socially conservative group based in Iowa. The organization has its own Marriage Pledge that other 2012 White House hopefuls have signed, including Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

Gingrich did not sign The Family Leader’s pledge himself, but did provide a lengthy written response to the organization. The former House speaker said he was fully committed to defending traditional marriage, including enforcing the Defense of Marriage Act and supporting a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and woman.

And apparently, the Conservative group bought it. The issued this statement;

“We are pleased that Speaker Gingrich has affirmed our pledge and are thankful we have on record his statements regarding DOMA, support of a federal marriage amendment, defending the unborn, pledging fidelity to his spouse, defending religious liberty and freedom, supporting sound pro-family economic issues, and defending the right of the people to rule themselves.”

Maybe this group is just a glutton for punishment, or maybe they’re just willing to believe anything Gingrich says because they just cannot support Romney, or maybe Gingrich really has changed and is willing to do the right thing. Who knows, only time will tell if Newt can really uphold his pledge.

But this we do know. Using ‘Gingrich’ and ‘do the right thing’ in the same sentence should never be done. EVER!

Categories
Iowa Mitt Romney Politics

Rick Perry Calls Mitt Romney’s $10,000.00 Bet “Pocket Change”

Tasting blood in the water, Rick Perry went in for what he hopes is the kill. On Sunday, Perry went into attack mode, suggesting that Rick Perry’s $10,000.00 bet is “pocket change” for Romney, and suggests that Romney is out of touch with middle class Americans.

The morning after Mitt Romney challenged Rick Perry to a $10,000 bet, the Texas governor slammed Romney’s casual but pricey wager and suggested the sum is merely “pocket change” for his wealthy rival.

“Having an extra ten thousand that you would throw down on a bet just seems very out of the ordinary,” Perry told a New York Times reporter after a crowded event in an Ames diner.

“I would suggest to you that ten thousand dollars is pocket change for Mitt,” he added

The “pocket change” remark offered a sharp new nettle on Perry’s earlier criticism of Romney in an interview with Fox News Sunday, in which he dubbed the former Massachusetts governor “a little out of touch with the normal Iowa citizen.”

Categories
Fox News Stupid

Math And Fox News Are Not Friends

From Gawker – This is too good not to repost.

The junior high school students who run the Fox News Charts Shop during detention have produced this latest visual explosion showcasing the unemployment rate’s fluctuations under our current president, Obama. Some interesting findings here, specifically that the number 8.6 is the same thing as the number 9.0. If Obama can just get the unemployment rate down from 8.6% to 8.8% or 8.9%, then he’ll be in the clear.

I bet their viewers still can’t see what’s wrong here.

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