tomorrow’s headlines today

gold

Let’s do it again 😉

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Memory Lane….

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Win With Women

Thanks GGail

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Not an actual Huffy Post headline ….. but give them another day 😉

bits ‘n’ pieces

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NYT

Thanks ChristiMtl – I suspect Krugman will be deeply disappointed if Joe Gagnon is right 😉

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Thanks Donna Dem

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Tuesday: The President will tape an appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” before departing for San Francisco. In San Francisco, he will participate in a campaign event. In the afternoon the President will travel to Denver and participate in campaign events. He will spend Tuesday night in Denver.

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Text of the President’s remarks at today’s campaign event at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas here

“Their leader, Mitch McConnell said that – and I’m going to make sure I quote this properly – saving jobs of teachers and firefighters was just, and I quote, a bailout. A bailout! These aren’t bad actors who somehow screwed up the economy. They didn’t act irresponsibly. These are the men and women who teach our children and patrol our streets and run into burning buildings and save people. They deserve our support.”

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This is great:

Eclectablog

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Gallup: U.S. Unemployment Down Sharply in Early October

What is Working

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Move On

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Worth seeing again:

Visit thanksobamacare.org

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I don’t read HuffyPo any more, but I’m guessing it’s looking something like this these days …..

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It’s Pete!

Chief Official White House photographer for President Barack Obama Pete Souza photographs Obama speaking on the American Jobs Act in Las Vegas, Nevada

good afternoon

Visit thanksobamacare.org

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Original video at Mediaite – thanks Donna Dem

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Even Mr Bigot himself, Pat Robertson, thinks the GOP is too extreme. Seriously:

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I didn’t actually read Halperin’s lead story about Perry, but I think it refers to his IQ.

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I don’t read HuffyPo any more, but I’m guessing it’s looking something like this these days …..

😉

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😳

GOPolitico: The Michele Bachmann of political reporting.

pants on fire….

You know, Arianna should really tell her buddy to stop telling fibs.

‘lincoln sells out slaves!’

On March 8th 2011 President Obama took questions from a group of Boston Area College Democrats, Republicans and Independents after his speech at Tech Boston Academy in Dorchester, MA.

Thanks Meta

the professional left’s heroine…. (updated)

Read Shoq’s experience with Miss BP here – and their Twitter exchange here

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This gem of a 2010 story by David Weigel (now Slate) in the Washington Independent can never be re-posted enough:

Weigel was reporting on an anti-healthcare reform Tea Party rally where he spoke to one of the organizers and speakers, Kathryn Serkes. She told him:

“I’m in contact with folks on the progressive side. They’re saying right now that Pelosi’s almost there with the votes. What they’re saying is that there’s some serious arm-twisting – their words were union thuggery. One progressive source told me that there was serious union thuggery this weekend, targeting Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.).”

The source, she confirmed, was Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake.

Weigel emailed Hamsher to ask her if she was, in fact, working with the Tea Party on the issue and if she had used the term “union thuggery” in her conversations with Serkes.

Hamsher didn’t reply, instead posting this at Firedoglake in response to his report (‘Tea Party Activist Working With Firedoglake’s Hamsher on HCR Whip Count’ – here)

“Dave Weigel isn’t a journalist, he’s a smear-monger that makes things up and projects his own fantasies onto his stories ….I know Katherine, we were on MSNBC together and we’ve spoken about working on the pot legalization measure in California in the future …. she tells me that when Weigel approached her and asked her who her “source” was, she didn’t say. He said “It’s Jane Hamsher, isn’t it…I’ve been around.” According to Katherine, she didn’t respond.

….I’m not “working” with the tea partiers on health care. But Weigel doesn’t care about the truth …. He’s just a fantasist printing propaganda, and the Washington Independent has no higher standards than to print it.”

Problem?

Weigel had a recording of his conversation with the Tea Party woman:

SERKES: They’re saying that there’s some serious arm-twisting, and their words were union thuggery.

WEIGEL: Who’s the they?

SERKES: The progressive side. A progressive source told me that there was serious union thuggery going on this weekend.

WEIGEL: Is this the Firedoglake folks?

SERKES: It’s Jane. You’re figured it out.

WEIGEL: I’m not new at this.

SERKES: She said they were after Altmire this weekend. Yeah, because Jane and I last talked Saturday.

Hamsher’s response to being outed?

“Weigel has now posted the audio tape of his conversation with Katherine Serkes at the Tea Party event, in which he does not inform her that he was taping her. The recording confirms that she did use my name, however. I’ve asked Weigel twice now if at any point prior to this segment he informed her that she was being recorded, and he has not responded.

…. attending a Tea Party event and taping attendees without their knowledge, then posting that tape to discredit them in support of passing the health care bill, sounds more like the actions of a Democratic political operative …. he aspires to be a member of a cliquish, insider set with the moral flexibility to align themselves with anyone in power.”

Ah yes, the big issue here was the recording, not the fact that it had been revealed that Hamsher was working with the Tea Party towards their common goal: the defeat of President Obama’s healthcare bill. Or that Serkes quoted Hamsher using Tea Party speak: “Union thuggery.” Note how she failed to address being exposed, instead resorting to personal abuse.

(Links: here and here)

After exposing Hamsher, Weigel asked for “an apology and a retraction” – he’s still waiting.

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Fox and Friend:

Yep, she joined in on Fox News’ ‘Kill The Bill’ campaign, appearing on the network soon after calling for a boycott of it.

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This story, from May of this year, is an eye-opener too:

Mike Elk (ExiledOnline, May 2011): Yesterday I confronted Jane Hamsher, founder of Firedoglake, over her refusal to honor a labor boycott against the Huffington Post that two major writers unions have called for.

… Hamsher wasn’t satisfied merely crossing the picket line: She went on the offensive against boycott organizers … In an email exchange with several members of the labor movement, Hamsher jeered at the writers’ union organizers, mocking their organizing efforts….

In response to Hamsher’s outrageous anti-labor attacks, I wrote to one of these listserv groups on which both Hamsher and I were members: “Jane Hamsher the last person I would ever want to have as my shop steward” … this was not the first time Hamsher has taken a position hostile to workers’ rights and labor ….

…Hamsher also attacked Sal Roselli (president of the National Union of Healthcare Workers) implying that he was an Italian thug, an old tactic used by anti-labor PR people to smear labor activists as mobsters ….

….When I raised this ugly episode yesterday in the context of Hamsher’s attacks on the HuffPo boycott, Hamsher responded to me, “You’re just halucinating [sic] now, Mike. I never ‘tried to get people fired from their jobs,’ nor did I ever use ‘race baiting language to paint Sal Roselli as a thug.’….You’re either really mentally ill, or incredibly malicious.”

….. This was a new low for Hamsher…….

Full post here

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See here

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See here

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Rooted Cosmopolitan

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Five years ago she posted this photoshopped picture of Joe Lieberman as a ‘black’ man on Huffington Post, in an attempt to describe his efforts to “woo African American voters”. The photo was promptly removed, and she offered a ‘sorry if you were offended’ apology.

Link

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Osborneink.com (December 2010): Jane the Hamsher is one of the cool kids… yet she wouldn’t recognize progress if it smacked her in the face, and so far has achieved nothing resembling progress on any front. Indeed, I have been waiting for someone to tell me what this woman’s “progressive” credentials are.

She is first and foremost a self-aggrandizing publicity whore whose Accountability Now PAC has so far given $0 to progressive candidates in the first two years of its existence while spending $285,272. If she ran a non-profit this way, it would get shut down. As things stand, the PAC (which also counts Kos and Glenn Greenwald as operators) has only made noise.

…. Hamsher’s kill-the-bill madness included an appearance on FOX News just months after her own call to boycott the network. She later returned to that channel spouting nonsense about cap-and-trade. Her recent appearances on Lawrence O’Donnell leave me convinced progress is not her purpose.

Jane has a troubling problem with transparency and truthfulness…..

Full post here

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rcade (DK, March 2010): Firedoglake publisher Jane Hamsher has become one of the most polarizing figures in the liberal blogosphere, moving people sharply to the pro or con column with her outspoken opposition to the health care reform bill, appearances on Fox News bashing the Obama administration and the letter she sent with conservative activist Grover Norquist demanding the resignation of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Hamsher wields a lot of influence by operating two Democratic political action committees, FDL Action PAC and Accountability Now PAC. By the end of 2009 these PACs had accumulated $454,000 from thousands of individual donors….

The Federal Election Commission reports show that Hamsher’s PACs are a significant source of income for Firedoglake, but my experience trying to question her about them suggests that she’s not big on transparency.

… Accountability Now collected $113,695 in donations during 2009, as it reported to the FEC, and spent $169,992 that year on nine consultants … including Hamsher ($24,000) and PAC cofounder Glenn Greenwald ($24,000)….

Full post here

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HistoryByDay (March 2010)

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WeeSeeYou

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Osborneink: …. Jane Hamsher is quite obviously accepting money from BP. Why is that important? Because according to Hamsher, anyone who takes money from the oil company is guilty of selling out:

“Carbon cap and trade was a scheme cooked up by BP and Enron lobbyists in the mid nineties. BP has subsequently dropped millions of dollars into the coffers of green groups to pave the way for it. Obama’s cry to pass Kerry-Lieberman as punishment for BP is not only highly ironic, it’s also illustrative of just how broken our national discourse around environmental issues has become.

Until progressive groups successfully address the challenge of funding themselves independent of the elite individuals and institutions that act as enforcers of a corporate agenda, they will not be able to successfully advocate for progressive causes. Any success they might have will mean that their funding dries up, and they will cease to exist.”

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Link

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ABL (BalloonJuice):

See full post here

ABL’s Balloon Juice post refers to this campaign promoted by ‘figaro’ at FDL:

ABL (Balloon Juice):

The post about “Afro-Americans” needing an “education program” appeared on FDL on May 18 – it’s still there, never removed.

“i can’t stop thinking of kabul”

Seriously, the former-hardcore-right-wing-Republican-and-now-Queen-of-the-Professional-Left is becoming a parody of herself.

“I’m in sun-and-creativity-soaked Cannes but can’t stop thinking of Kabul……”

True, they’re so similar:

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PS I was in Cannes once and never have I visited a more hideous place on earth – a Disneyland for classless tosspots like the Huffy woman. Full of vacuous freaks armed with Louis Vuitton handbags and chihuahuas.

The beach was covered in dog shit – and that was the most pleasant part of the hell-hole.

Among the happier moments in my life was the moment I left Cannes. Honest.

night everyone

President Obama hosts military fathers and children for a screening of Cars 2 in advance of Father’s Day in the South Court Auditorium June 15. The event is part of the President’s Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative.

More here

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Never forget:

“Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.” (Coretta Scott King)

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I completely failed in my promise to reply to emails and check out all the comments today, or to try again to find out why lots of you are having trouble with the new WordPress comment box. Another promise: I’ll try to get it done tomorrow 😕

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First Lady Michelle Obama and a young volunteer mix cement as they help build a playground during the KaBOOM! and Congressional Family Service Project at Imagine Southeast Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., June 15, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

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From the comments I got a chance to read today, I saw that a lot of you were down about the renewed attacks on the President from the professional left.

Just a couple of things:

The vast majority of the professional left didn’t campaign or vote for Barack Obama in 2008 – this is the simple truth, as any of you who visited the better known liberal (ha!) sites would have seen in 2007/08. These people’s hatred for BHO was a sight to behold – even before he took office. I witnessed it myself time and time again – that’s why I started this blog, to get away from these ****ed up hate-mongers.

But he got elected without them, and he will get elected without them again in 2012.

Check all the recent polls – his support from genuine progressives usually tops 80 per cent. The professional left are in a tiny minority, they just make a lot of noise. They are irrelevant, just a bunch of self-promoting, bitter keyboard warriors with seriously troubled agendas.

Always remember, so many of the professional left divas – like Arianna Huffington and Cenk Uygur – were hardcore right-wingers until not too long ago. Miraculous conversions that had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that they found it easier to forge media careers as ‘progressives’. And then there’s the PL’s beloved Glenn Greenwald, his hatred of the President leaving the chap foaming at the mouth as he pounds his keyboard and spews his daily bile. This, incidentally, the guy who’s still pushing the candidacy of Republican/Libertarian Gary Johnson – the racist scumbag who wants to end child labor laws. How progressive of you, Glenn 🙄

These people aren’t progressives, they’re attention-seeking opportunists who haven’t a genuine liberal bone in their bodies. Uygur, the self-appointed voice of the Professional Left, and self-confessed Ronald Reagan devotee, is the guy who sneered at the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, describing equal pay for women as a “minor” achievement by the President (see here).

See?

These people are just not worth your energy or worry – they are nothing, they represent no one but themselves, a tiny hate-filled clique whose biggest fear is progress. **** them, preserve your energy and passion for getting President Obama re-elected 😉

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2008 ….. “Them”

Do you think she voted for President Obama in 2008? Me neither. And she probably won’t vote for him either in 2012.

Net loss? Zero.

😉

‘why newt must run’

August, 2010 – Arianna bumps in to Newt & Callista Gingrich and Barbara Walters in Amalfi

This is a comically great find by Politicususa (see here) …. hey, 16 years later she’s got her wish!

Why Newt Must Run

by Arianna Huffington (Nov 27, 1995 in The Weekly Standard)

…Running for president would undoubtedly be the biggest gamble of Gingrich’s political career. And there is absolutely no self-interested reason for him to do it. He has said that he would run only if there were a clear moral imperative for him to do so….

….Precisely because Gingrich is right about the moral crisis the country is facing …. there is a moral imperative for him to fill the leadership vacuum and address the growing devastation.

…the Gingrich of November 1996 could be a far different, far more inspiring public figure. Gingrich may be a lightning rod, but he also embodies the revolution like no one else. He is its most articulate, self-confident, and unapologetic voice, and he burns with conviction that America can and will be a better place because of it …. he can rediscover the youthful realization that drove him to dedicate his life to politics in the first place: that at certain critical moments in history, effective leadership is all that stands between a civilization and its collapse.

There are times in life when risking everything is more prudent than protecting what you have. For Gingrich, this could be one of them. And if Gingrich fails to accept the mission, the mission does not go away. The hole in the heart of the Republican revolution remains, waiting for a leader to fill it.

See the full Weekly Standard article here and the Politicususa post here