Having Your Cake and Voting Against It Too

PolitiFact | Obama criticizes Republicans who opposed stimulus, then claim credit for projects it funded.

— Rep. Geoff Davis of Kentucky. Davis, a three-term congressman, issued a news release on Jan. 28, 2009, the day of the first House vote on the stimulus, in which he was quoted saying that “this so-called ‘stimulus’ legislation is full of pet spending projects that will do very little to restore confidence in our economy or create jobs.”

But 11 months later, on Dec. 16, 2009, Davis sent out a release announcing the awarding of a $1 million-plus grant for the Carroll County School District. “Congressman Geoff Davis is pleased to announce that the Carroll County School District has been awarded $1,044,140 in funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) Early Head Start Expansion Program,” the release stated. It goes on to say, “In these difficult economic times, it is critical to ensure that vulnerable populations in Kentucky have access to important support services like those provided by the Early Head Start program. This important grant will allow Carroll County School District to expand their ability to provide needed assistance to local low-income families and children. I am very proud of the work that the Carroll County School District is doing to strengthen their community, and I am pleased that our office was able to assist them in obtaining these funds.

As it happened, on the very same day, Davis sent out a separate release in which he referred to the “failed trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ bill.”

Breathtaking hypocrisy.

Road to Recovery in 1,000 Words

Organizing for America | BarackObama.com | Road to Recovery.

Job Loss Graph

Obama needs to plaster this to his forehead.

Two on the Street Right Now

“Let me put this in perspective,” Biden said on Face the Nation. “There have been three people tried and convicted by the last administration in military courts. Two are walking the street right now. There have been over 300 tried in federal courts by the last administration and by us. They’re all in jail now. None of them are out seeing the light of day.”

We’re looking into Biden’s assertion that more than 300 people have been tried in federal courts and will post our findings soon.

Here, we are examining Biden’s assertion that three people were tried and convicted by the last administration in military commissions, and that two of three have been released

After consulting news reports and military documents, we discovered that Biden was correct. We also checked with experts who both support and oppose military commissions for various reasons, and no one disputed Biden’s numbers.

via PolitiFact | Two of three convicted in military commissions have been released.

You gotta love Joe for that soundbite!

Budget Sense and Nonsense « The Baseline Scenario

Budget Sense and Nonsense « The Baseline Scenario:

“So, let’s recap. The medium-term deficit problem was created by Bush tax cuts and by an unfunded Bush-era expansion of Medicare. The long-term deficit problem is all about Medicare. Yet the only solution that Republicans can think of is reducing spending–but not Medicare spending. Of course, this shouldn’t surprise us; Mitch McConnell gave us this, after all:*”
CBPP Deficit Analysis
Mitch McConnell Flip Flop Press Releases

(Via The Baseline Scenario.)

A picture is worth a thousand words.

The Party Mans Up

Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize today. The Rebs quickly criticized it in the same spirit of us losing the 2016 Olympics. Then comes this from the Dems:

“The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists — the Taliban and Hamas this morning — in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize,” wrote DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse. “Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize — an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride — unless of course you are the Republican Party. The 2009 version of the Republican Party has no boundaries, has no shame and has proved that they will put politics above patriotism at every turn. It’s no wonder only 20 percent of Americans admit to being Republicans anymore – it’s an embarrassing label to claim.”

I’m not one to cheer the Dems but I clapped…hard…when I read that.

Connecting The Dots – Ta-Nehisi Coates

Connecting The Dots – Ta-Nehisi Coates:

“There’s a lot at work here: 1.) Race-baiters have, for the past few decades, repeatedly outfoxed anti-racists. Beck and Cornyn know how to walk up to the line. Carter is from a generation of liberals who never understood why people didn’t agree them about Willie Horton. Thus Carter doesn’t insinuate, he doesn’t calibrate, he just speaks, political effects be damned. 2.) The dominant school of journalism holds that it’s safer to talk about the effect of talking about race on Obama, rather than actually talking about its effects, period. That’s true for most things though–reporters are generally more interested in gamesmanship, than issues. 3.) A lot of reporters take Beck and Cornyn’s race-baiting is taken as a given. I’ll be shocked if anyone asks Cornyn about this. I don’t think they much care.”

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coats.)

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Race Is A Factor But… – Ta-Nehisi Coates

Race Is A Factor But… – Ta-Nehisi Coates:

“There’s a tendency to lump anti-black racism in with all the serious problems presented when you try to make a democracy work. There is always a danger of becoming single-minded, of bringing to bear a myopic analysis which sees one thing in everything. Moreover, watermelon jokes are a long way from red-lining, and in seeing how far we’ve come, the temptation is to dismiss how far we have to go.But from a black perspective, it’s a temptation you can ill-afford. Racism cost us dollars a half-century ago. Today it costs us quarters–but it still costs.”

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.)

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The President’s Indoctrination Speech

Media Resources Prepared School Remarks:

“Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.
And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.
The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.”

(Via The White House.)

Yep, liberal propaganda as predicted.

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Mob Deep

Op-Ed Columnist – The Town Hall Mob – NYTimes.com:

“That is, the driving force behind the town hall mobs is probably the same cultural and racial anxiety that’s behind the ‘birther’ movement, which denies Mr. Obama’s citizenship. Senator Dick Durbin has suggested that the birthers and the health care protesters are one and the same; we don’t know how many of the protesters are birthers, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s a substantial fraction.
And cynical political operators are exploiting that anxiety to further the economic interests of their backers.
Does this sound familiar? It should: it’s a strategy that has played a central role in American politics ever since Richard Nixon realized that he could advance Republican fortunes by appealing to the racial fears of working-class whites.”

(Via NY Times.)

Yeah, it’s Southern Strategy remixed. The fact that people on Medicare don’t want “government-run healthcare” exemplifies the ignorance and plain stupidity of these people.

The Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrest: When Race Matters – TIME

The Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrest: When Race Matters – TIME:

“Obama, in all likelihood, has had similar experiences with the police, exchanges in which he was left with the impression that his Ivy League pedigree could take him only so far. And so it’s unfortunate that he felt unable to continue to express what he truly felt. He was forced to revise and turn what was an objectively true statement — that it’s stupid to arrest a man in his own house for being rude — into a vague ‘teachable moment’ [emphasis mine] about nothing particular…
This is deflating. If the rest of the country is too immature for some straight talk about the relationship between blacks and the police, delivered by our most accomplished and temperate diplomats, then the prospects for a broader dialogue about race are not good.”

(Via TIME Magazine.)

Exactly. With all of the defenses I’ve heard for Crowley, not one addresses the fact that they arrested a man in his own home for essentially being rude. All those small government, losing freedom folks said nothing about this. This is the central argument for black folks accurate or not: That Gates’ race made this kind of violation sanctioned in our society. Crowley’s defenders simply prove that fear right.

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