When Women Succeed, America Succeeds

President Barack Obama is introduced to speak by Lilly Ledbetter at an event aimed at increasing transparency about women’s pay during an event at the White House. The first law President Obama signed after taking office in 2009 was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which extended time periods for employees to file claims for wages lost as a result of discrimination.

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Text of the President’s remarks here

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President Barack Obama signs executive actions, with pending Senate legislation, aimed at closing a compensation gender gap that favors men, during an event marking Equal Pay Day. President Obama announced new executive actions to strengthen enforcement of equal pay laws for women.

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Lisa De Bode: Obama Signs Executive Order On Equal Pay For Women

Keeping with his promise to champion women’s rights in the workplace, President Barack Obama signed an executive order Tuesday that addresses the issue of unequal pay among federal contractors.The executive order addresses the federal government’s gender wage gap by mandating that contractors publish wage data — by gender and race — to ensure compliance with equal-pay laws. The order also prohibits contractors from retaliating against employees who compare salaries. Tuesday’s signing coincides with National Equal Pay Day, serving as a reminder that more than 50 years after the Equal Pay Act was made law, women still earn less then men. On average, women earn only about 77 cents on the dollar compared with men. African-American women and Latinas take home even less, just 64 cents and 54 cents, respectively, for every dollar earned by white men, according to the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC). Obama called the numbers “embarrassing,” and “wrong.”

“It is good to move the ball forward on improving our equal pay policies,” Fatima Graves, NWLC vice president for education and employment, told Al Jazeera. “It’s important because right now workers are left in the dark about wage disparity information.” “What we really need is for Congress to pass the Fair Paycheck Act which would get at all workers,” she said. A Senate vote on that act, slated for Tuesday, would extend the order’s requirements to most other employers. However, the bill has already failed to pass twice, despite evidence that pay transparency can reduce the gender wage gap. In the federal government, for example, where pay rates are publicly available, the gender wage gap is much smaller than in the private sector, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.The Fair Paycheck Act would close loopholes in the Equal Pay Act of 1963

More here

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Members of Congress including Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., pose for photos in the East Room of the White House in Washington, before an event marking Equal Pay Day

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No daughter should be paid less than somebody else's son for the same work: ofa.bo/iVN #FairFutureNow http://t.co/SupdQcFScK

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Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 08, 2014

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"When #WomenSucceed, America succeeds." —President Obama on why he's fighting for #EqualPay: go.wh.gov/5Y9J47 http://t.co/LEubmRDtW0

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The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 08, 2014

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Rise and Shine

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Today:

1:40: President Obama delivers remarks calling on Congress to stop interest rates on student loans from doubling on July 1

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Thanks amk

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NYT Editorial: The political feud between the White House and Congressional Republicans has now culminated in a House oversight committee vote to cite Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. for criminal contempt. His supposed crime is failing to hand over some documents in an investigation of a botched gunrunning sting operation known as “Fast and Furious.”

The Republicans shamelessly turned what should be a routine matter into a pointless constitutional confrontation. And the White House responded as most administrations do at some point: it invoked executive privilege to make a political problem go away.

…. Mr. Issa has relished making this investigation a political fight….There was no reason the House committee and the Justice Department could not work out a deal to produce the documents requested, or some form of them. Instead, they show again that every issue, large or small, can be turned into ammunition for political combat.

Full editorial here

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Cagle

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OFA

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TPM: Mitt Romney’s campaign asked Florida Gov. Rick Scott to downplay his state’s job growth after several press releases from the governor’s campaign and messages from the Florida Chamber of Commerce trumpeted gains for the month of May, according to Bloomberg News.

Florida’s unemployment rate dropped from 8.7 percent in April to 8.6 percent in May, though still significantly above the national rate of 8.2 percent.

A Romney adviser reportedly requested that Scott’s office say that Florida’s unemployment rate could improve faster under a Romney presidency….

The development is perhaps one of the clearest examples of the messaging predicament the Romney campaign finds itself in …. when you ask Republican governors how things are going, especially in swing states, the economic picture starts to brighten considerably…

More here

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Cagle

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First Lady Michelle Obama greets patrons before eating lunch at Nacho’s Restaurant in Pueblo, Colo., June 20, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Sonya N. Hebert)

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Morning everyone 😉

As usual, I’m waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind in replying to emails, will try to catch up soon.

A Letter from Lilly

Governor Romney,

It’s time to speak up.

I’m writing to ask you to stand up to your fellow Republicans, show you’re worthy of the leadership you’re asking the American people to entrust you with, and let us know where you stand on legislation that will help finally make pay equity a reality.

I’m writing you directly because so far, your leadership has been so lacking that it appears those closest to you don’t know where you stand, either.

In April, your advisers were asked whether you support the law that bears my name and empowers women to fight back when we’re cheated out of equal pay. They responded with silence.

In May, the Washington Times asked your campaign five times whether you support the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that goes further to ensure equal pay for equal work. Again, silence.

Now, in June, as Washington Republicans continue to oppose this common-sense law, you continue to hide.

Your campaign will say only that you support the concept of pay equity, but that you wouldn’t change any laws to actually enforce it. That’s like saying you’re for staying dry but wouldn’t use an umbrella in a rainstorm. Women are getting soaked, Governor Romney, and staying silent when a solution is at hand isn’t leadership—it’s an insult and a cop-out.

If the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was a step in the right direction, the Paycheck Fairness Act is a giant leap forward. The first gave us recourse to sue no matter when we learn that we’ve been paid unfairly—a right we often didn’t have until President Obama made it the first bill he signed. The second will make it easier for women to learn if they’re being discriminated against in the first place. It gives businesses incentives to do what’s right and protects workers from being fired for sharing information about their pay. It closes loopholes and makes discrimination harder to hide, which makes it harder to commit.

You talk often about your unique understanding of the economy. I’m troubled, though, that you don’t seem to understand the consequences of pay inequality. It’s not just about a paycheck and it’s not just a women’s issue—it’s a family issue. Women make just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns, which adds up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost earnings over years of hard work. More women are becoming breadwinners in their families, and unjustly lower wages mean we have less to spend in our communities to support the economy. The overtime pay, Social Security, and pensions we earn are based on our wages, so unfair pay today hurts us now and weakens our retirement security later. I learned that lesson the hard way.

It’s 2012. Women are not worth less than men, and no one should get paid less for doing the same job just because she is a woman.

Will you stand up for women, stand up to your fellow Republicans and stand on the right side of history? Will you finally say aloud that you support efforts to stop pay discrimination before it starts? We’re listening.

Respectfully,

Lilly Ledbetter

keeping his word

afternoon all (updated)

Thank you ObamaBuilt2LastNZ!

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First Lady Michelle Obama participates in a tug of war with Jimmy Fallon in the Blue Room of the White House during a “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” taping for the second anniversary of the “Let’s Move!” initiative, Jan. 25. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

** NBC tonight at 12:35 am ET **

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AP: The number of available jobs in the United States jumped in December to near a three-year high, supporting other data that show a brighter outlook for hiring.

Companies and governments posted 3.38 million jobs in December, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That’s up from the 3.12 million advertised in the previous month and nearly matches the three-year high reached in September. Job openings in the private sector reached the highest point in almost three and a half years.

…. The report on job openings follows Friday’s optimistic employment figures. Those showed employers added 243,000 net jobs in January, and the unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent.

….. It generally takes one to three months for employers to fill job openings. December’s big jump in postings is likely one reason January’s jobs report was healthy. But it also suggests job growth may continue in the coming months.

More here

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TPM – thanks Loriah

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Steve Benen: For months, Republican presidential candidates have been eager, if not desperate, to accuse President Obama of waging a “war on religion”….

…. Mitt Romney seems to have settled on a policy to match the attack: the Obama administration’s decision to require coverage of contraception as preventive care under the Affordable Care Act is, according to the former governor, an “attack on religious liberty”.

…. As a substantive matter, Romney’s lying. The administration’s policy already exempts churches and other houses of worship and “doesn’t require any individual or employer to violate a religious belief – it simply ensures that their employees with different beliefs have the same access to birth control as all other women.”

…. he’s not only lying; he’s also denouncing Obama for adopting a policy similar to one Romney used to support …. as governor, a previous iteration of Romney required all Massachusetts hospitals, including Catholic hospitals, to provide emergency contraception to rape victims.

More here

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Link

USA Today: Pundits and bishops warn President Obama he could lose the white Catholic vote over requiring a contraception option for insurance plans. But Catholic women say they want birth control covered in employee health plans.

…. The Catholic bishops, backed by conservative evangelicals, say the Obama administration shouldn’t include contraception coverage as part of free preventive care options in employers’ health insurance plans …. here’s where the Catholic women come in. According to the Public Religion Research Institute poll released today:

….58% of all Catholics agree employers should be required to provide their employees with health care plans that cover contraception. That slides down to 52% for Catholic voters, 50% for white Catholics.

… the numbers might bring pause to pundits mulling the “Catholic vote”.

More here

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Steve Benen: For months, Republican super PACs have been raising vast sums from wealthy donors …. the political world, however, hasn’t heard much from Democratic super PACs, which have raised far less money.

That will apparently soon change … Jim Messina argued overnight that the Obama campaign just doesn’t have a choice.

He added that Republican super PACS, in aggregate, are “expected to spend half a billion dollars, above and beyond what the Republican nominee and party are expected to commit to try to defeat the President.” That may sound like hyperbole, but it’s a reasonable estimate. The Koch brothers alone are prepared to spend $100 million later this year to defeat Obama.

…. Democrats had a choice: stick to principle, refuse to play by the new rules, and make defeat far more likely, or level the playing field …. The only surprise here is that anyone would be surprised by the decision.

Full post here

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Thanks Mary

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NYT: The delicate Karl Rove said he was “frankly, offended” …. (by)…. the Chrysler ad that Clint Eastwood narrated, which many people who don’t share Mr. Rove’s political worldview thought was rather uplifting.

…. he suggested the words were dictated by “the President of the United States and his political minions,” who bailed out Detroit with taxpayer dollars. It’s just another example of “Chicago-style politics,” he said, whatever that means.

The White House said it had nothing to do with the ad, but it had a great deal to do with Detroit’s resurgence, and that’s what’s really offensive to Mr. Rove and other Republicans. They’d prefer to drown out the good news coming from the carmakers, such as these recent headlines…

More here

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Flashback … from 2004:

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I’m still catching up with the news – and all the comments! – after being out today, will post again soon-ish 😉

evening all

If it wasn’t for vcprez on Saturday most of us would never have known about our friend Kasai’s amazing talent ….. she was way too shy to tell us!

Treat yourself, have a look at KasaiCreations and RedBubble (where you can buy cards, prints and posters of Kasai’s work), they’re simply stunning.

Kasai on Twitter

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Tuesday:

2:00: VP Biden attends a campaign event in Fort Worth, Texas.

6:30: VP Biden attends a campaign event in DeKalb, Texas.

7:15: PBO delivers remarks at a campaign event.

9:10: PBO delivers remarks at a campaign event.

11:00: First Lady Michelle Obama delivers remarks at a DNC reception in Los Angeles.

Michelle Obama appears on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”.

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In case you missed…

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Chief of Staff Jack Lew briefs President Barack Obama during Lew’s first senior advisors meeting as chief of staff in the Oval Office, Jan. 30, 2012. Participating in the meeting are, from left: Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett; Lew; Senior Advisor David Plouffe; Counsel to the President Kathryn Ruemmler; Director of Communications Dan Pfeiffer; Counselor to the President Pete Rouse: Press Secretary Jay Carney; Rob Nabors, Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs; Nancy-Ann DeParle, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy; Alyssa Mastromonaco, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations; and Bruce Reed, Chief of Staff to the Vice President. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Sun Times: While the attention is on the Tuesday Republican primary here, the Obama 2012 re-election team has been organizing in this state for months and already has 11 Florida offices.

…. Here are highlights of the Chicago-based Obama campaign on-the-ground organizing in the Sunshine state:

• 194 State of the Union Watch Parties ranging from Key West all the way to Pensacola.

• Held nearly 3,000 trainings, planning sessions, house parties, and phone banks.

• Held 4,500+ one-on-one meetings.

• Opened 11 campaign offices across the state, including in Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tampa, Palm Beach County, Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

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In November, Romney was rated somewhat or very negatively by 22 percent of independents.

In December, Romney was rated somewhat or very negatively by 29 percent of independents.

And in the new poll, Romney was rated somewhat or very negatively by 42 percent of independents — 20 points higher than two months ago.

Also: In November, Romney was beating Obama 47-34 among those voters. Now the numbers are upside down: Obama is beating Romney 44-36.

More here

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The Week

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Thinkprogress

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The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first act President Obama signed, fulfilling a campaign pledge.

The Act amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

It gave legal support to Lilly Ledbetter’s 1998 equal-pay lawsuit – a lawsuit that the Supreme Court ruled against in 2007, by a 5-4 majority.

Lilly Ledbetter’s case had been largely ignored until then, but the decision made it “a rallying issue for the left … in their attempt to persuade the public that the Supreme Court was moving too far to the right”. (See more here)

The bill was re-introduced in Congress in January 2009. It passed in the House of Representatives with 247 votes in support and 171 against. The vote was nearly perfectly split along party lines…. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed the Senate, 61-36, on January 22, 2009.

President Obama had long championed this bill and Lilly Ledbetter’s cause and by signing it into law ensured that women like Lilly Ledbetter and other victims of pay discrimination could effectively challenge unequal pay.

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By the way, here’s how professional left darling Cenk “Obama is a moron” Uygur (the pure ‘progressive’ who’s only 41, but ….. is a ‘former’ Republican whose hero was Reagan, who voted for George HW Bush and Bob Dole, who opposed affirmative action, was anti-choice on the abortion issue, supported Clarence Thomas, had a serious problem with feminism, attended Federalist Society meetings (an organization of conservatives and libertarians co-founded by the charming Robert Bork) and, to this day, is an Armenian Genocide denier – and opposed PBO from almost his first day in office and called on Democrats to vote against him in this year’s Iowa primary …. PBO got 98.5% of the vote, so that worked well) described The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act:

“Eventually the Democrats had a 60 seat majority in the Senate, they were unstoppable. And what did we get? Lilly Ledbetter. If you don’t know, that’s a minor bill that passed in the beginning of the administration … it’s a good bill, that’s why I bring it up … about women being entitled to equal pay. God bless. Incredibly easy victory.”

A “minor” bill?

Ooops, Uygur’s inner Republican slipped out. He should try telling Lilly Ledbetter it’s a “minor” bill.

Read Hoos Left on this fraud, fantastic: “A failed corporate lawyer and neocon with an enhanced opinion of himself and an ego as fat as his broad ass.”

PS Uygur is so progressive, he followed Jane Hamsher and Glenn Greenwald’s lead by setting up a PAC pleading for donations for causes he, um, passionately believes in. And as Hamsher and Greenwald could tell you, these PACs can be very profitable 😉

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First Lady Michelle Obama shows NFL PLAY 60 Super Kid James Gale, 11, historical photos from previous administrations on display in the Booksellers Area during a National Football League (NFL) taping in the East Wing of the White House, Jan. 30, 2012. At right is James’ mother Lisa Gale. The taping will air during the Super Bowl, Feb. 5, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

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Link

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Spare a thought for GOP Rasmussen, something has gone horribly wrong with their polls:

51% with Rasmussen?! That means PBO must be about 76%! Thanks Loriah.

rise and shine

Steve Benen is back blogging, phew! Link

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11:15: First Lady Michelle Obama joins Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to announce new proposed rules regarding health care for veterans and injured service members. (CNN Live streaming)

12:15: Jay Carney briefs the press.

2:15: PBO welcomes President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia to the White House.

3:15: PBO and Michelle Obama host the Diplomatic Corps Reception.

5:30: PBO participates in an interview with YouTube and Google+ to discuss his State of the Union Address.

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I never thought I’d say this: well done Jake Tapper.

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In a small gathering in Midtown Manhattan on November 29th, 2007, Senator Barack Obama is asked what he would do to begin to bridge the “wealth gap” between America’s very rich and very poor:

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Thanks lamh!

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Morning everyone 😉

oh rachel……..

So, Rachel Maddow says the President has achieved nothing legislatively?

Well, someone disagrees with you, Rachel….

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By the way, in the video above she, rightly, describes the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as “historic” …. “a bill that had languished in Congress for years, the start of much more legislative achievement to come”.

But this is what her Firebagger buddy and former hard right Republican Cenk Uygur had to say about it:

More here

How progressive of him!

I’d guess if it was a (current) Republican, rather than a firebagger fraud like Uygur, who sneeringly described legislation aimed at guaranteeing equal play for women as “minor”, Rachel would have called him out on it….

Oh well.

mission accomplished

Rochester patch: A Reuther Middle Schooler will have quite the what-I-did-this-summer story to tell when she starts back to school on Tuesday.

On Monday, Lilly Arbour completed a 17-month quest to meet all 115 of her elected officials when she spent a few minutes backstage with President Barack Obama, who visited Detroit for Labor Day….

More here

ah yes, cenk uygur – time to re-post this:

Originally posted March 10

President Barack Obama hugs Lilly Ledbetter after signing the ‘Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, January 29, 2009

So, Cenk Uygur (Young Turks), darling of the Professional Left, was, apparently, ranting again today about the President – I don’t know what he was hyperventilating about this time, I only watch him now when I’m in need of a cure for insomnia.

I used to like the guy, always watched his YouTube stuff, but I remembered today the point when we parted company:

This video (you can see it all here) was made just a year in to Barack Obama’s presidency – but by then Uygur had already concluded that the President had failed him and his fellow ‘progressives’.

Okay, that was all a bit predictable from a professional leftie, but what was most incredible about this video was this supposed progressive’s sneering comments about the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act:

“Eventually the Democrats had a 60 seat majority in the Senate, they were unstoppable. And what did we get? Lilly Ledbetter. If you don’t know, that’s a minor bill that passed in the beginning of the administration … it’s a good bill, that’s why I bring it up … about women being entitled to equal pay. God bless. Incredibly easy victory.”

A “minor” bill?

A 2009 bill that amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was an incredibly easy victory?

A 2009 bill that finally gave legal support to Lilly Ledbetter’s 1998 equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination was “minor”?

A lawsuit that the Supreme Court ruled against in 2007, by a 5-4 majority

“The case had never received much attention before going to the Supreme Court, but the Court’s ruling ignited legal groups on the left and Democrats that took action to transform the Ledbetter case into a rallying issue for the left, having activists seen in the figure of the complainant an ideal standard-bearer in their attempt to persuade the public that the Supreme Court was moving too far to the right.”

….The bill was re-introduced in the 111th Congress in January 2009. It passed in the House of Representatives with 247 votes in support and 171 against. The vote was nearly perfectly split along party lines…. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed the Senate, 61-36, on January 22, 2009.

As president, Obama actively supported the bill. The official White House blog said:

President Obama has long championed this bill and Lilly Ledbetter’s cause, and by signing it into law, he will ensure that women like Ms. Ledbetter and other victims of pay discrimination can effectively challenge unequal pay.

On January 29, Obama signed the bill into law. It was the first act he signed as president, and it fulfilled his campaign pledge to nullify Ledbetter v. Goodyear.

Here’s the video of the signing of the “minor” bill – see how little it meant to all those who attended:

So, did Cenk sneer at the successful conclusion to the long struggle for equal pay for women because he regards equal pay for women as “minor”, or because it was President Obama who signed the bill? Maybe both? Dunno.

I remember thinking, only a Republican could regard equal pay for women as a “minor” achievement. Oh, wait:

(See the full video here, from YearlyKos ’07, where he tries to convince progressives that not only he is no longer “so conservative judicially I went to Federalist Society meetings”, he is now a fully fledged progressive!)

So, from being a Ronald Reagan fan (which he was) and a Federalist Society supporter (wow!) and a critic of “excessive regulation” (good grief), to being a fully fledged Professional Left ‘progressive’ in no time at all …. that’s, um, change we can believe in!

Of course leopards can change their political spots, and it’s very lovely when they shift the spots from right to left, but is there not a touch of the Arianna Huffingtons about this guy? The political shift has paid off beautifully, he’s now a professional leftie media star! (But still not big in to equal pay for women).