Thanks Dudette đ
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Link – thanks BWD
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Thanks again Dudette!
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Thank you Yardarm
Steve Benen: …. The candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination are a pretty scary bunch âŚ. the two-hour display on CNN last night was a depressing reminder of whatâs become of the GOP in the 21st century. That said, maybe itâs just me, but Iâm starting to find the audiences for these debates even more disconcerting.
Wolf Blitzer posed a hypothetical scenario to Ron Paul, asking about a young man who makes a good living, but decides to forgo health insurance. Then, tragedy strikes and he needs care. Paul stuck to the libertarian line. âBut congressman,â the moderator said, âare you saying that society should just let him die?â
And at that point, some in the audience shouted, âYeah,â and applauded.
…. note that in last weekâs debate, the mere observation that Perry has signed off on the executions of 234 people in Texas, more than any other governor in modern times, was enough to generate applause from a different GOP audience.
…. Thereâs a deep strain of madness running through Republican politics in 2011, and it appears to be getting worse. Those wondering why the GOP presidential field appears weak, insipid, and shallow need look no further than the voters they were choose to pander to.
Full post here
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Dana Milbank: The applause identified Rick Perry as the crowd favorite when he took the stage in Tampa for Monday nightâs Tea Party debate, greeting his lesser rivals as âfellasâ. But two hours later, those fellas – and a gal from Minnesota – had made some serious progress toward exposing the broad-shouldered Texas governor as an empty suit.
⌠The lowest point for the man atop the polls came when Michele Bachmann accused Perry of cronyism, suggesting that he forced girls to receive the HPV anti-cancer vaccine because his former chief of staff was lobbying for the vaccine maker, Merck, which also âgave thousands of dollars in political donations to the governorâ.
Perry answered with his trademark boastfulness: âIt was a $5,000 contribution that I had received from them. I raise about $30 million. And if youâre saying that I can be bought for $5,000, Iâm offended.â
âŚ. On the defensive from beginning to end, Perry resorted to the time honored tradition of making up stuff. When Romney took issue with Perryâs previously-expressed views that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and unconstitutional, Perry had a comeback: âGovernor, youâre calling it a criminal — you said if people did it in the private sector if would be called criminal. Thatâs in your book.â
The crowd cheered this rejoinder, which would have been effective if Romney had indeed written such a thing. An electronic search of Romneyâs book, âNo Apology,â found no use of the word âcriminalâ in relation to Social Security. What he wrote was quite the opposite, saying that if bankers raided trusts the way politicians raid the Social Security trust, âthey would go to jail.â
Full article here
Thanks Loriah
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