Cantor Respects Limbaugh’s ‘Conservative Voice,’ But Rejects His Use Of Hitler Comparisons
Cantor Respects Limbaugh’s ‘Conservative Voice,’ But Rejects His Use Of Hitler Comparisons
On Bloomberg’s Political Capital, host Al Hunt asked House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) whether he agrees with hate radio host Rush Limbaugh’s assertion that “Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by dictate.” Limbaugh also compared the administration’s health care logo to a swastika.
Cantor hemmed and hawed in response. “Rush Limbaugh, other personalities…have opinions,” he said, emphasizing that the Republican Party is a “party of inclusion” that has room for voices like Limbaugh. But Cantor — the only Jewish Republican member of the House — clarified that he does not condone the use of Hitler “in any discussion of politics” and such comparisons “are not, I think, very helpful.”
Hunt pressed: “So it was inappropriate for Limbaugh to say that?” Cantor responded:
CANTOR: You know, look Al, I think Rush Limbaugh is a conservative voice for America. A lot of the things he says I agree with.
HUNT: But not that?
CANTOR: Right. I don’t condone the use of the word Hitler.
Watch it:
Steve Benen comments, “I suppose Eric Cantor deserves some credit” for his “mild and indirect rebuke. I’m just not sure if he’ll stick to it.” TPM notes that Cantor’s office is trying to highlight his independence from Rush by pointing reporters to the story.
Last week, Cantor’s spokesman said it was “inappropriate” to display a prominent photograph at a GOP rally comparing health care reform to the Nazi concentration camp in Dachau.
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Casey Warns Against Anti-Muslim Backlash: ‘It Would Be A Shame If Our Diversity Became A Casualty’
Casey Warns Against Anti-Muslim Backlash: ‘It Would Be A Shame If Our Diversity Became A Casualty’
This morning on separate Sunday show appearances, the Army chief of staff — Gen. George Casey — expressed his “concern” that speculation about the motivations of Ft. Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan may “cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers.” Casey said he has instructed his Army leaders to “be on the lookout for that.” On CNN’s State of the Union, he added:
As great a tragedy as this was, it would be a shame if our diversity became a casualty as well. [...] I worry that again that speculation could cause things that we don’t want to see happen.
On ABC, Casey emphasized that the diversity of our Army and society as a whole “gives us all strength.” Watch it:
Some of the “speculation” that Casey is concerned about has emanated from right-wing circles. For example, the hosts of Fox & Friends suggested that “special debriefings” and “special screenings” of Muslim soldiers should be considered. Also, Allen West — a Republican congressional candidate and Iraq war vet — used the murders to claim the “enemy is infiltrating our military.”
On a trip to the United Arab Emirates, Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said, “Obviously, we object to — and do not believe — that anti-Muslim sentiment should emanate from this.” Speaking with a group of women university students, she said, “This was an individual who does not, obviously, represent the Muslim faith.”
Earlier this week, right-wing columnist Ralph Peters claimed that “political correctness killed those patriotic Americans” because military officials pander to “America-haters.” Reacting to this common right-wing argument, Sen. Lindsey Graham said on CBS that Hasan’s “actions do not reflect on the Islamic Muslim faith.” He added, “This man’s actions reflect on him. And if we missed some signals on him that we should have known, great. But let’s don’t take this to a level that we should not.” Graham concluded, “Let’s don’t accuse people for giving him a pass because he’s a Muslim because I don’t think there’s any evidence of that.”
Gingrich: The Founding Fathers would be ‘very severe critics’ of Obama if they were alive today.
Gingrich: The Founding Fathers would be ‘very severe critics’ of Obama if they were alive today.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich spoke before a conservative audience in Naples, FL yesterday. Gingrich gave a talk about his new book, To Try Men’s Souls, which tells the story of men who played a critical role in the Revolutionary War. When a reporter with the Naples News asked Gingrich what the Founding Fathers would “say about our current issues” if they were alive today, he suggested that they would be “very severe critics” of President Obama:
I think they would be very, very severe critics of the current system. And they would tell us that if we continue to drive God out of public life and we continue to increase power in Washington, we are literally putting our freedom at risk.
Watch it:
Gingrich also dodged a question about who he prefers in the Republican primary in Florida’s Senate race. He said former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio (he initially slipped and called him “Mario”) is “a very aggressive, very articulate conservative,” while Gov. Charlie Crist is “a very solid political figure.” Gingrich also said that, “at the moment,” he’s not thinking about running for President in 2012.
Ft. Hood murder suspect alive and in stable condition.
Ft. Hood murder suspect alive and in stable condition.
At a press conference moments ago, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, commanding general of the Army’s III Corps and Fort Hood, revealed that contrary to initial media reports, the suspected shooter in the Ft. Hood murders is not dead. The suspect, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, is reportedly “in stable condition” and his death is “not imminent.” The female first responder who shot Hasan is also alive. Cone further reported that, while he’s not ruling out terrorism as possible motive for the shootings, the “evidence does not suggest” it was an act of terrorism.
Obama: It’s difficult enough to lose soldiers overseas, ‘horrifying’ to see their lives taken on U.S. Army base.
Obama: It’s difficult enough to lose soldiers overseas, ‘horrifying’ to see their lives taken on U.S. Army base.
A shooting at the Ft. Hood Army Base in Texas earlier this afternoon has claimed the lives of 12 people and wounded at least 31 others. The suspected gunman — Major Nidal Malik Hasan — was shot to death is alive and in stable condition, while “two other soldiers were in custody.” President Obama called the Fort Hood shootings a “horrific outburst of violence.” “It is difficult enough to lose” soldiers overseas, he said, but it is “horrifying that they should lose their lives at an Army base in the U.S.” (Watch his remarks here.)
We condemn this cowardly attack in the strongest terms possible and ask that the perpetrators be punished to the full extent of the law. No religious or political ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence. The attack was particularly heinous in that it targeted the all-volunteer army that protects our nation. American Muslims stand with our fellow citizens in offering both prayers for the victims and sincere condolences to the families of those killed or injured.
Right-wing protesters at GOP rally display prominent sign tying health care to the Holocaust.
Right-wing protesters at GOP rally display prominent sign tying health care to the Holocaust.
ThinkProgress’ Lee Fang snapped this photograph of a prominent sign being displayed at today’s GOP anti-health care rally. It’s unclear whether this sign is one of the many being handed out by Americans for Prosperity, the corporate front group sponsoring today’s rally. The sign reads “National Socialist Health Care: Dachau, Germany – 1945”:
Matt Yglesias observes, “There are all kinds of nutty people in the world, but these kinds of things are the wages of a conservative leadership and media that’s consistently tried to drum-up opposition to health care reform not by opposing things that are actually in the bill, but with demagogic opposition to completely fabricated provisions.”
Gov. Charlie Crist Tries To Weasel Away From His Endorsement Of The Stimulus
Gov. Charlie Crist Tries To Weasel Away From His Endorsement Of The Stimulus
Back in February, when the administration was pushing Congress to pass its Recovery Act, President Obama gained the support of a prominent Republican ally, Florida Governor Charlie Crist. Standing side-by-side with Obama, Crist explained why he was supporting the stimulus:
CRIST: We’ve had to cut about $7 billion the past two years and we haven’t raised taxes and we’re still in balance. But to be candid, it’s getting harder every day. It’s getting harder every day and we know that it’s important that we pass this stimulus package. It is important that we do so to help education, to help our infrastructure, and to help health care for those who need it the most — the most vulnerable among us.
As The Weekly Standard’s John McCormack notes, Crist explained that he was breaking from his own party to back the stimulus “because Florida needs it frankly.” In May, Crist said he would have made the “pragmatic” decision to vote for the stimulus had he been in the Senate.
But because he is currently engaged in a tight Senate campaign against fervent anti-Obama, anti-stimulus right-wing candidate Marco Rubio, Crist is conveniently forgetting his prior statements. Yesterday on CNN, Crist claimed that he never “endorsed” the stimulus package. “I didn’t endorse it, I didn’t even have a vote on the darn thing,” he said. Watch it:
The irony, of course, is that Crist is distancing himself from the Recovery Act at a time when the bill is beginning to bear fruit. Nearly $7 billion has flowed from the stimulus into the state of Florida, helping to create or save approximately 29,000 jobs. (State officials put the number closer to 47,000.)
The Crist administration has set up a website to specifically tout the benefits of the stimulus program. “I’m grateful for the federal dollars coming to our state for economic recovery,” Crist states in a video posted on that website. Some examples of its impact:
– More than 3,000 teaching jobs were saved and more than 500 coaching and support jobs created in Broward and Palm Beach County schools.
– Construction worker Leon Barron of Ft. Piece, FL, said he was “facing the prospect” of being laid off prior to the stimulus. “We appreciate the stimulus and the president,” said Barron, who works for Range Construction Industries.
– Ranger Construction Industries Vice President Bob Schafer said a stimulus contract allowed him to save the jobs of 25 to 30 people he otherwise would have laid off.
– Pasco County officials say they seriously underestimated the demand for federal stimulus money intended to prevent homelessness, and they are being overwhelmed with calls for help.
Sadly, Crist has taken to deceiving the public, rather than defending a proud record of saving and creating jobs in Florida.
Limbaugh blames Newt Gingrich for screwing up the NY special election.
Limbaugh blames Newt Gingrich for screwing up the NY special election.
Yesterday, Bill Owens scored an historic victory by becoming the first Democrat in more than a century to win a congressional election in upstate New York’s 23rd district. Owens’ victory was a defeat for many prominent leaders of the conservative movement, particularly Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. In the lead-up to the election, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had engaged in a public brouhaha with Beck over his support for Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman’s candidacy. Gingrich complained that Beck, Limbaugh, and company were pursuing “a very destructive model for the Republican Party,” and those concerns appear to have been vindicated by the outcome of Tuesday’s election. Nevertheless, Limbaugh is blaming Gingrich for the conservative’s defeat:
Here is — these are my thoughts on New York-23. … We cannot forget how this whole thing happened in the first place. There was not a primary. The right message here would indict the way party bosses, Republican Party bosses and these big thinkers like Newt screwed the whole thing up from the get go.
Listen here:
The war between Newt and Rush extends back to earlier this year, when Limbaugh said Gingrich was tearing apart the conservative movement by trying to embrace “better policy ideas.” Gingrich had argued that the “era of Reagan is over,” and that Republicans needed more than simply being the “party of no.” Limbaugh is of course quite comfortable with the “party of no” status.
Fox’s Gretchen Carlson Helps Promote Her Former Nanny’s Health Care Protest
Fox’s Gretchen Carlson Helps Promote Her Former Nanny’s Health Care Protest
In his Washington Post column late last month, George Will revealed that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) was once Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson’s babysitter:
When [Bachmann] was a teenager in Anoka, Minn., she was a nanny for a young girl named Gretchen Carlson. Today, Carlson, a Stanford honors graduate who studied at Oxford, is a host of “Fox & Friends,” the morning show on — wouldn’t you know — Fox News Channel. See how far ahead the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy plans?
This morning, the pair reunited on-air as Carlson teed up a couple of softball questions, allowing her former nanny to talk at length about her upcoming corporate-sponsored health care protest this Thursday on Capitol Hill.
During the Fox infomercial “interview,” Bachmann employed her usual colorful, over-the-top commentary to decry health reform. The health care vote is the “Super Bowl of freedom,” she said, and voters must mobilize to defeat the Democrats’ “crown jewel of socialism.” Watch it:
Bachmann urged “real freedom-loving Americans come here to Washington” on Thursday, and “look at the whites of their eyes of their members of Congress and say, ‘don’t you remember? I told you don’t take away my health care.’”
As Rachel Maddow observed last night, this is the “rhetoric of revolutionary violence.” “The ‘whites of your eyes’ reference is that you’re supposed to wait and see the whites of someone’s eyes before you shoot at them,” Maddow noted. “That’s where we get that phrase from — from when to shoot at people.”
Rep. Foxx: Health care reform is a bigger threat than ‘any terrorist right now in any country.’
Rep. Foxx: Health care reform is a bigger threat than ‘any terrorist right now in any country.’
Few Republican congressional members have served as a greater fount for hyperbolic and uninformed ranting about health care reform as has Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC). As ThinkProgress previously documented, Foxx has claimed Democratic reforms would mean seniors are “put to death by their government,” that health reform is a “distraction,” and that “there are no Americans who don’t have health care.” She was at it again today on the House floor, arguing that health reform is a greater threat to our country than “any terrorist right now in any country”:
Everywhere I go in my district, people tell me they are frightened. … I share that fear, and I believe they should be fearful. And I believe the greatest fear that we all should have to our freedom comes from this room — this very room — and what may happen later this week in terms of a tax increase bill masquerading as a health care bill. I believe we have more to fear from the potential of that bill passing than we do from any terrorist right now in any country.
Watch it:
Bush on bin Laden: ‘I guess he is not dead.’
Bush on bin Laden: ‘I guess he is not dead.’
Eight years ago, President Bush asserted with great bravado that al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden would be taken “dead or alive.” “I don’t care, dead or alive — either way,” Bush said at the time. This weekend, while attending a conference of business leaders in New Delhi, India, Bush struck a different tone:
Asked whether al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden could be alive, Bush said “I guess he is not dead.”
He, however, noted that Laden is hiding and “not leading victory parades” or “espousing his cause” on TV.
He expressed confidence that Laden will be brought to justice which “he deserves to be” and it was a matter of time.
Bush, who failed to properly resource the Afghanistan war over the term of his presidency, had some advice for Obama as he considers whether or not to send more U.S. troops into that conflict. “I hope we don’t abandon the people of Afghanistan,” Bush said, adding that U.S. withdrawal would cause the return of “brutal tyranny” in the nation.
Fox’s Chris Wallace Conducts Sycophantic, Softball Interview With Rush Limbaugh
Fox’s Chris Wallace Conducts Sycophantic, Softball Interview With Rush Limbaugh
When the White House snubbed Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace of an interview with President Obama in September, Wallace defended his program by claiming it is a “truly fair and balanced show.” This morning, he had an opportunity to demonstrate his fairness, but failed miserably.
During his 30-minute on-air interview with Rush Limbaugh, Wallace did not ask a single critical question of the hate radio host, nor did he ever seriously challenge Limbaugh’s views at any point in the interview. Wallace relished engaging in a hostile interview with President Clinton in 2006, arguing afterwards that, “My instinct is to go after them with the high hard one.” He showed none of those instincts this morning.
Instead, Wallace teed up a series of softball questions, allowing Limbaugh to offer unchallenged accusations of Obama. Some examples:
WALLACE: This week it will be one year since Barack Obama was elected president. In that time, what has he done for and to the country?
WALLACE: You have now taken to calling Mr. Obama the man-child president. What does that mean?
WALLACE: Let’s talk about a couple of the big issues the president is dealing with now — first of all, Afghanistan. You suggest that he is taking all of this time to decide what to do in Afghanistan to keep his left-wing base on board for health care reform.
WALLACE: But you don’t think that Barack Obama has a profound respect for our soldiers and the families that are giving the sacrifice?
WALLACE: Do you think the individual mandate is constitutional? Do you think the government has the right to tell people, You’re going to get health insurance, and if you don’t get it, you’re going to pay a penalty?
WALLACE: To press my question, why aren’t people turning to the Republicans?
WALLACE: I think you’re a great broadcaster. How can you possibly be worth that kind of money?
WALLACE: If he does win, how is Rush Limbaugh going to handle seven more years of Barack Obama?
Limbaugh took the opportunity to issue screed after screed — calling Obama a “radical” leader who is “destroying” the country, claiming Obama “doesn’t care” about the troops in Afghanistan, and dismissing Obama’s trip to Dover Air Force base to see the fallen soldiers as a “photo op.” Wallace silently went along for the joy ride.
Full transcript of the interview below: More »
Bachmann Calls For Health Care Protest Rally In DC Next Week: ‘We’re Going To Have A Big Party’
Bachmann Calls For Health Care Protest Rally In DC Next Week: ‘We’re Going To Have A Big Party’
In an interview with the Washington News Observer, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) revealed that, next week in Washington, D.C., the right wing is trying to galvanize yet another mass protest rally against health reform.
Following in the spirit of the “tea party” protests in April and the Glenn Beck-inspired 9/12 rally, Bachmann announced, “We’re going to have a ‘house call’ and a big party out on the National Mall [next week], and we’re going to tell Congress what they can do with their health care bill.”
Fashioning herself as the leader of this mass protest, Bachmann exhorted everyone to “get off the couch, get in your car, get a van together, get a bus together, but get here! We’re going to have a ‘house call’ next week, and we need every American to be here.” She then issued this dire warning (infused with pop culture references):
The American people realize this is it. Just like that brand new Michael Jackson movie came out, ‘This Is It.’ This is it for freedom. If you believe in liberty, and if you’re rejecting tyranny, this is it. Dr. Mark Levin wrote a seminal book that really swept this country called Liberty and Tyranny. And that’s what this debate is about next week. Liberty and tyranny.
Watch it:
Maryland NAACP protests city’s Halloween ‘lynching’ display.
Maryland NAACP protests city’s Halloween ‘lynching’ display.
The Parks and Recreation Department of the city of Frederick, MD recently decided to hang three dummies from a tree as part of its Halloween program. The dummies’ “overstuffed shirts, blue jeans and white, faceless heads” sparked concern from Frederick residents who complained that “the figures evoke images of lynchings.” According to one resident:
“It instantly reminded me of the pictures of the lynchings that happened in the ’20s and ’30s in the United States,” he said. “I found it very offensive as a white person.”
Guy Djoken, president of the Frederick County chapter of the NAACP, said “people are angry” about the display, noting that it’s a problem that they are “hanging on city property.” Djoken said he sent the mayor of Frederick, William Holtzinger, an email asking for their “immediate removal.” See Djoken’s comments here:
Boehner Won’t Pledge To Offer GOP Health Care Plan, Refuses To Post It Online If He Does
Boehner Won’t Pledge To Offer GOP Health Care Plan, Refuses To Post It Online If He Does
Republicans have been insisting for months that Democrats are shoving a secret bill down the throats of the American public. The health reform legislation “should be posted online for 72 hours so members and the American people get a chance to see what’s in these bills,” House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) told Fox News. “But it seems to me that Democrat leaders want to rush these bills through Congress before anybody has a chance to read them.”
In fact, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) “has repeatedly pledged to Republicans that the health bill and any manager’s amendment would be posted online for at least 72 hours before the House votes,” and he promised again this week.
At a press conference this morning, a reporter turned the tables on Boehner and asked whether he’d post the GOP plan for 72 hours. Boehner declined to make such a pledge:
QUESTION: Will the Republicans put their alternative online for 72 hours as well?
BOEHNER: Uh, we’ll uh, we’ll have our ideas ready. Don’t worry.
Why won’t Bohner post the GOP plan? Because he doesn’t have one. Later in the press conference, this minor detail was revealed when a reporter pressed Boehner for a GOP alternative plan:
QUESTION: Is it your plan to have one Republican alternative that you all would get behind and endorse?
BOHNER: We have a number of ideas that we would like to proffer in this process, and we’re not quite sure how the majority intends to proceed. And so until we understand how they intend to proceed, it’s pretty difficult for us to have a solid plan.
Watch it:
Earlier this month, Fox’s Greta van Susteren asked Boehner why House Republicans didn’t push for transparency when they were in power. “It was a different time,” Boehner said in response.
It’s clear why Republicans have been insisting on having as much time as possible to read the bill. As Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) explained, health insurance lobbyists need to be given “at least 72 hours” so they can try to kill the legislation.
Joe Lieberman is afraid to debate Rachel Maddow on health reform.
Joe Lieberman is afraid to debate Rachel Maddow on health reform.
For the past couple of nights on her MSNBC show, Rachel Maddow has skewered Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) for his stated willingness to filibuster health reform. Decrying his “demonstrably and obviously untrue arguments” about the public option, Maddow told her audience last night that Lieberman could end up being “the reason we won’t get health reform if we don’t get health reform.” For his part, Lieberman appears afraid of defending his views to Maddow’s face. Last night, Maddow reported:
I also want to tell our viewers that we invited Senator Lieberman to come onto this show tonight. His office did not even bother to respond to our requests.
Senator Lieberman, you should know you have an open invitation — as you long have had — to come on this show. I promise you will get a fair shake. Actually, at this point, I promise to not only buy you a shake, I will buy you a cookie if you come on this show.
Watch it:
Blair On Middle East Peace Talks: ‘You’ll Never Get The Most Optimal Context…So Let’s Get It Going’
Blair On Middle East Peace Talks: ‘You’ll Never Get The Most Optimal Context…So Let’s Get It Going’
This Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will travel to Israel for her first official visit since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was sworn in. Her visit comes at a time when the Middle East peace dialogue appears to have stalled. Clinton “aims to push forward the discussions with Israel and the Palestinians about agreeing to a framework for negotiations.”
In an interview with ThinkProgress today, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair — who previously served as a Middle East envoy — said, “I just think the essential thing is to get the negotiations underway. You’ll never get the most optimal context. … It’ll never be perfect, so let’s get it going.” Blair also emphasized the need to show “real changes on the ground.”
Rather than embrace final-status negotiations for a two-state solution in the Middle East, Netanyahu has recently suggested the idea of forging an “economic peace” with Palestinians. Blair told us this idea isn’t practical because economic issues must be coupled with political progress:
You’ve got to have the political and the economic and the security. But however, having said that, the economics — provided it’s not separated out from the politics or the security — the economics can play a part. The West Bank economy at the moment is growing pretty strongly. … So it’s not all bad news, but you need the political context.
Watch it:
The Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo asked Blair about the UK experience with community schools. Blair, who was at the Center for American Progress today to discuss how to improve student outcomes, emphasized that the longer hours and valuable services provided by community schools could mean they are “the wave of the future.”
Steele Agrees That GOP Should Cease To Exist In New Jersey If Corzine Wins
Steele Agrees That GOP Should Cease To Exist In New Jersey If Corzine Wins
During an interview on MSNBC this morning, RNC Chairman Michael Steele oddly agreed that if the Republican Party cannot pull out a victory against incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine in the upcoming New Jersey gubernatorial race, it should just give up and cease to exist.
“If Chris Christie doesn’t win under these circumstances in New Jersey, should the Republican Party just fold in that state?” NBC’s Chuck Todd asked, getting a laugh out of Steele. Todd likened the Republicans to a Charlie Brown character. “It’s like Lucy and the football — Lucy is about to pull the football away again.”
Steele accepted the premise. “You’re absolutely right, Chuck,” Steele said, countering with his own pop culture metaphor:
Have you seen those commercials the NFL is running with the referee who is tripping up the players and getting into the game? Well, I’m that referee getting into the game. And we’re doing everything we can to keep that football in place for Chris Christie to kick that extra point, if you will.
Of course, referees are supposed to be unbiased observers who have authority to enforce the rules of a contest — hardly the proper analogy for the head of a political party wading into a political race to help his favored candidate.
Moreover, Steele’s more appropriate role as a “referee” in another political race is sure to anger the right-wing base of his party. When asked who he was supporting in the New York 23rd congressional race, Steele sided against the tea party activists’ favored candidate, Doug Hoffman. “I support the Republican nominee, as a Republican Party chairman,” Steele said. “And that’s the way to go, right?” Watch it:
National Republican leaders don’t agree that endorsing Republican candidate DeDe Scozzafava is “the way to go.” In supporting Hoffman, Sarah Palin said her endorsement would be a message to party leaders of “no more politics as usual.” Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) said that “we cannot send more politicians to Washington who wear the Republican jersey on the campaign trail but then vote like Democrats in Congress.”
Steele and former Speaker Newt Gingrich are increasingly standing alone in their support of the Republican candidate. Roll Call reports that on Tuesday, “former National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) spurned the leadership by endorsing Doug Hoffman’s third-party campaign in the New York special election, following the lead of Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.).”
Fox News promotes incoherent ‘Obama Change Index’ to argue the President is tanking.
Fox News promotes incoherent ‘Obama Change Index’ to argue the President is tanking.
FoxNews.com, the official website of the Fox News anti-Obama propaganda network, is promoting what it calls the “Obama Change Index.” The index purports to chart “the impact of policies promised by President Obama,” and conveniently graphs Obama’s progress on a scale of 0-700. It appears that Fox’s “change index” is tabulated by asking one Democratic, Republican, and Independent pundit what they think of Obama on 7 different issues: budget, stimulus, homeland security, foreign/military affairs, social issues, dealing with Congress, law and justice. While Obama’s favorable ratings have been going up recently, Fox News’ index unsurprisingly shows Obama tanking. Reddit user KingBeetle writes of the index, “I can’t even figure out what it means, but for some reason this week, Obama is down 271 points.” It’s now 282 points:
A couple of interesting observations from the “Obama Change Index”: On the week of 9/16/09, Obama scored a zero on Homeland Security for no apparent reason. Similarly, Obama scored a zero on “social issues” the week of 6/30/09 because he “tried to placate the gay community.”
Gingrich Expresses Concern With Identifying Beck And Limbaugh As Leaders Of The GOP
Gingrich Expresses Concern With Identifying Beck And Limbaugh As Leaders Of The GOP
Last week, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) — the chairman of the House Republican Conference — defended the influence of right-wing talk shows over the Republican Party. Pence claimed that it’s “hogwash” to suggest that pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck “only speak for a small group of activists.” In a similar vein, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) defended the influence of Limbaugh, Beck, and other commentators because, she claimed, they represent a “critical mass.”
Reflecting the emerging stranglehold over the Republican Party that Limbaugh and Beck now exert, the new cover of The Weekly Standard identifies Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sarah Palin as the faces of the GOP (see image to the right). Yesterday morning on C-Span, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich expressed concern with the cover:
Well, I just think it’s interesting that two of the three people on the cover are talk radio hosts — Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. And they’re fine people, and they have big audiences, and that’s terrific. But you have a party that has Gov. Haley Barbour, it has Gov. Mitch Daniels, it has Gov. Tim Pawlenty. [...] You know, you can have a very, very intense movement of 20 percent. You can’t govern. To govern, you got to get 50 percent plus one after the recount.
Watch it:
Gingrich has been taking heat from right-wing activists for endorsing the Republican candidate in New York’s upcoming 23rd congressional district race. The right-wing base — i.e. tea party activists — are rallying behind Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, who has earned the endorsement of Sarah Palin, Dick Armey, and Michele Bachmann, among others.
Gingrich’s comments reflect an ongoing tension in the Republican Party between their tea party activist base and those who want to embrace more moderate candidates. After Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he didn’t want to belong to shrinking party full of “angry white guys,” Beck shot back that he’s “going to stick with the angry people…because they’re only angry about you.”
On PBS last Friday, conservative commentator David Brooks said “the Republican Party has a terrible problem of who its spokespeople are.” He expressed concern the influence of Beck and Limbaugh is “part of a larger problem” that the GOP has.
If some people in the Republican Party want to go around the country purging everyone they disagree with, they’re going to rapidly make this a minority party for a generation and they’re going to guarantee the re-election of President Obama and they’re going to guarantee Nancy Pelosi stays as Speaker for the rest of her life.Watch it:
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