friday

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cantor: a fraud, a liar and a rank amateur.

al

April, 2011

“…. and now that he fights these battles, those who never went back to the community …. take shots at him for standing up for us, they don’t speak for us, they don’t talk to us, and we’re tired of hearing them talk about the President.”

the ‘bain’ of mitt’s presidential hopes…..

GOPolitico “exclusively” showed this unaired 1994 ad on their site today, accompanied by an unusually truthful ‘hit piece’ about a Republican:

A company that laid off hundreds of employees. A federal “bailout” to rescue a failing bank. Mitt Romney, at the center of it all.

It’s a story line from a tough Democratic ad that was teed up for use against Romney in his 1994 Senate campaign in Massachusetts. The spot, which was provided exclusively to POLITICO, never actually aired. But it’s all but certain that some version of its allegations will surface in the GOP primary or the general election, if Romney makes it that far.

That ad would have been damaging had it appeared when it was produced nearly two decades ago. But it could take on new relevance in a 2012 campaign in which Romney is touting his business career as proof he can lead a national economic turnaround.

When Romney challenged Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1994, it was his connection to those two companies that played a significant role in sinking his campaign as Democrats tied him to plant closings and worker firings.

In 2012, those familiar attacks from his past are likely to take on a new potency: Bain Capital’s involvement in mass layoffs is likely to haunt Romney in a campaign focused on jobs. Other episodes, such as the claims that Romney benefited from a federal bank rescue, could ignite anew.

… According to former Kennedy advisers, the ad never ran because it turned out to be unnecessary: Kennedy had already broken Romney with a series of ads tying him to layoffs in Indiana.

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Love it. But it’s interesting that GOPolitico is going all out to sink Romney …. not conservative enough?

omg, rick was a tax-raisin’, gore-supportin’ commie!

NYT: Gov. Rick Perry, a no-apologies conservative known for slashing government spending and opposing all tax increases, is about as Republican as you can get. But that was not always the case.

Mr. Perry spent his first six years in politics as a Democrat, in a somewhat forgotten history that is sure to be revived and scrutinized by Republican opponents if he decides to run for president.

… Perry cast some votes and took a few stands that seem to be at odds with his fiscal conservatism today. The most vivid example is his support of the $5.7 billion tax hike in 1987, signed by Gov. Bill Clements, a Republican, opposed by most Republican members…..

… Almost a quarter-century later, Mr. Perry, as governor, was faced with a similar budget shortfall. But he took a markedly different tack this session, opposing any new taxes and signing a budget that made the first reduction in overall spending on public education since at least 1949.

…. As a House Democrat, Mr. Perry was also the co-author of legislation aimed at tripling the amount of money state legislators are paid….

… he was a top Texas supporter and organizer in 1988 for Al Gore, who ran as a Southern conservative rather than the populist reformer he eventually became as the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee.

… In 1984, fellow Democrats recruited Mr. Perry to run for a State House seat …. Perry easily won and quickly became known as a rising star in the Texas House.

…. Rumors that Mr. Perry would defect to the Republican Party – and run against Jim Hightower, the populist Democratic agriculture commissioner – picked up steam by late 1989. On Sept. 29, Mr. Perry made it official at a Capitol news conference….

Full article here

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a loyal fox

Just a couple of corrections to the CNN report – Murdoch’s (UK) Times all but ignored the story until they had no choice but to cover it the last few days; Murdoch’s (UK) Sky News’ presenters have been busy attacking The Guardian newspaper for exposing the scandal, thereby causing the closing down of the poor old News of the World and putting people out of work. Yep, it’s all The Guardian’s fault 🙄 And Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal has been busy writing its usual comically pro-GOP crap through the debt limit talks (see here). So, business as usual. You wonder where Murdoch’s people find the time to hack the phones of murdered schoolgirls.

weepin’……..

TheSecondCityNetwork

Thanks Suzanne!

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tourist attraction

President Barack Obama walks around the South Lawn of the White House with Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, while tourists in the background walk along the Ellipse, the National Mall, and the Jefferson Memorial, July 14, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

ssshhh

Greg Sargent: The latest debt ceiling meeting between Obama and Congressional leaders just wrapped up, and a Dem source emails:

“Cantor didn’t say a word the whole meeting.”

(Update: A second Dem source has now confirmed this.)

locally speaking

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TPM: Hey, remember when House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said President Obama walked out of the debt talks yesterday? So, yeah – Obama says that never happened.

“No,” Obama told Cox TV’s Scott McFarlane in an interview Thursday. “At the end of the meeting, what I said to the group was what the American people feel: We have a responsibility to do the right thing. We shouldn’t be partisan, we should solve problems.”

The interview was one of a few sit-downs Obama did with local television reporters from across the country today. In addition to the interview with McFarlane, he spoke to TV stations in Philadelphia and Washington, DC.

Video here

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**** President Obama will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. Friday ****