DeMint on Honduran coup: It was ‘no more a coup than…Al Franken’s election to the Senate.’
DeMint on Honduran coup: It was ‘no more a coup than…Al Franken’s election to the Senate.’
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) today defended Honduran President Manuel Zelaya’s recent removal from office by the Honduran military. In the course of defending the military coup, DeMint attacked President Obama for having what he called an “ad hoc and personalized foreign policy that seems less about supporting the rule of law than it is about supporting particular rulers.” Zelaya’s “removal from office was no more a coup than was Gerald Ford’s ascendence to the Oval Office or our newest colleague Al Franken’s election to the Senate,” DeMint claimed. Watch it:
DeMint seems to have missed the part where Franken was sworn in to office after a lengthy court battle that involved neither the “illegal military intervention” nor forced deportation. Further, despite Zelaya’s faults, his undemocratic removal from office has been roundly denounced by the international community and President Obama has said that the coup threatens to establish a “terrible precedent” for the future of Latin American democracy.
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Flashback: Palin said that women complaining about ‘excess criticism’ don’t ‘do us any good.’
Flashback: Palin said that women complaining about ‘excess criticism’ don’t ‘do us any good.’
Since announcing that she would resign as governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin (R) has been blaming her decision on the “main stream media” and political operatives who accused her of “all sorts of frivolous ethics violations.” However, last year, Palin pointedly criticized Hillary Clinton during the presidential election for complaining about “excess criticism” and being put under “a sharper microscope”:
PALIN: When I hear a statement like that coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism or you know maybe a sharper microscope put on her, I think, “Man that doesn’t do us any good — women in politics, women in general wanting to progress this country.” I don’t think it bodes well for her, a statement like that. Because, again, fair or unfair, it is there, I think that’s reality, and I think it’s a given. I think people can just accept that she is going to be under the sharper microscope. So be it. I mean, work harder, prove yourself to an even greater degree that you’re capable, that you’re going to be the best candidate, and that of course is what she wants us to believe at this point.
Watch it:
Bolton: ‘Targeted force’ is the ‘only option’ for Iran.
Bolton: ‘Targeted force’ is the ‘only option’ for Iran.
In his third op-ed on Iran in a major newspaper in the last month, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton wrote in the Washington Post today that the time is right for Israel to launch an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities:
Iran’s nuclear threat was never in doubt during its presidential campaign, but the post-election resistance raised the possibility of some sort of regime change. That prospect seems lost for the near future or for at least as long as it will take Iran to finalize a deliverable nuclear weapons capability.
Accordingly, with no other timely option, the already compelling logic for an Israeli strike is nearly inexorable. [...]
Those who oppose Iran acquiring nuclear weapons are left in the near term with only the option of targeted military force against its weapons facilities. Significantly, the uprising in Iran also makes it more likely that an effective public diplomacy campaign could be waged in the country to explain to Iranians that such an attack is directed against the regime, not against the Iranian people.
Despite his suggestion that now is time for an attack, in reality, it’s always a great time to attack Iran if you’re John Bolton, considering he never passes up an opportunity to use turmoil in the Middle East to suggest war with Iran.
Rep. Broun receives applause on the House floor for calling global warming a ‘hoax.’
Rep. Broun receives applause on the House floor for calling global warming a ‘hoax.’
During the floor debate this morning over the historic American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) received a round of applause from GOP colleagues when he claimed that man-made global warming is a “hoax” with “no scientific consensus.” Broun, citing misleading statistics, also claimed that the bill would hurt the poor and “kill jobs:”
BROUN: Scientists all over this world say that the idea of human induced global climate change is one of the greatest hoaxes perpetrated out of the scientific community. It is a hoax. There is no scientific consensus. … And who’s going to be hurt most [by ACES] the poor, the people on limited income…the people who can least afford to have their energy taxes raised by MIT says $3100 per family. … This bill must be defeated. We need to be good stewards of our environment, but this is not it, it’s a hoax! … [APPLAUSE.]
Watch it:
Broun’s tired hoax claims aside, Broun’s $3,100 talking point is contradicted by the Congressional Budget Office, which found that that the average cost of the legislation would be only 48-cents a day, the price of a postage stamp, and that “households in the lowest income quintile would see an average net benefit of about $40 in 2020.” A report by the Center for American Progress and the University of Massachusetts also found that the bill would create 1.7 million new jobs, including 59,000 new jobs in Broun’s homestate of Georgia.
Boehner’s PAC spent over $30,000 on a Florida golf outing with lobbyists.
Boehner’s PAC spent over $30,000 on a Florida golf outing with lobbyists.
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), an avid lover of golf, has repeatedly used the golf course for fundraising purposes. Unlike the imprisoned former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who famously used golf as “bait…to lure Republican politicians into his realm,” Boehner has repeatedly used golf as a means of giving lobbyists some face-time with him while raising money for House Republicans in the process. The Washington Post’s Mary Ann Akers reports today that Boehner’s PAC, Freedom Project, “spent a total of $31,474.11 on a golf fundraiser for friends, lobbyists and anyone else who wanted intimate tee time with the House’s top Republican” at the Ritz Carlton in Naples, FL last February, raising nearly a quarter million dollars for GOP candidates.
The Wonk Room’s Matt Duss discusses the future of the Iranian protests on MSNBC
The Wonk Room’s Matt Duss discusses the future of the Iranian protests on MSNBC
This afternoon, the Wonk Room’s Matt Duss appeared on MSNBC to discuss President Obama’s statements on Iran and what to watch for during the upcoming days’ protests. He credited Obama for being “clear and steady” in his support of the Iranians’ human rights and questioned “what, if anything, [Obama] could do simply by speaking out, as his critics insist he should.” He also drew parallels between the events happening now in Iran and those before the 1979 Revolution:
DUSS: As you said, the huge ceremonies and demonstrations that are happening right now, this is very important symbolism. These are the same sort of demonstrations that took place leading up to the 1979 Revolution and Mousavi and the people around him have been very smart to put Khamenei in the position of the Shah right now. And we need to wait and see something that could really tip this or be a tipping point is when the clerical establishment starts to fall away from the regime and start to go out and release more statements in support of the demonstrators.
Watch it:
Foreign Policy interviews Mousavi’s spokesman about what Mousavi wants from the U.S.
Cheney responds to Panetta: ‘I hope my old friend Leon was misquoted.’
Cheney responds to Panetta: ‘I hope my old friend Leon was misquoted.’
In an interview with Jane Mayer for the New Yorker, CIA Director Leon Panetta responded to former Vice President Cheney’s recent speech to the American Enterprise Institute, saying, “It’s almost as if he’s wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point.” Earlier today, Cheney released a statement in response to Panetta. “I hope my old friend Leon was misquoted. The important thing is whether the Obama administration will continue the policies that have kept us safe for the last eight years,” the statement read. Cheney’s reference to Panetta as his “old friend” is significant. Indeed, it reminds us that Panetta’s assessment of Cheney’s intentions was not from the mouth of a long-time political enemy, but rather from a former colleague and long-time friend. Cheney endorsed Panetta’s nomination to CIA in January, specifically noting their long relationship. “I am very fond of him. He is a very talented guy,” Cheney said:
FOX NEWS: Leon Panetta for CIA director — does that choice trouble you in any way, due to his lack of intelligence experience?
CHENEY: I know Leon. We first met back in the Nixon administration when we were both Republicans. And then I served with him for 10 years in the House of Representatives. He was, of course, a Democrat, I was a Republican in the House. I like him a lot. He is one of my favorite Democrats, if I can put it in those terms.That may be the kiss of death for Leon, but I am very fond of him. He is a very talented guy. [Fox News, 1/12/09]
The Director was simply expressing his profound disagreement with the assertion that President Obama’s security policies have made our country less safe. That’s all there is to it. Everyone understands that al-Qaeda and its allies are a dangerous and determined enemy.
Buchanan argues against affirmative action: ‘One prefers the old bigotry.’
Buchanan argues against affirmative action: ‘One prefers the old bigotry.’
Today, in a Human Events column titled “Miss Affirmative Action,2009,” MSNBC’s Pat Buchanan continued his attack on Judge Sotomayor. He declared that affirmative action is worse than the “old bigotry” against African Americans:
Thus, Sotomayor got into Princeton, got her No. 1 ranking, was whisked into Yale Law School and made editor of the Yale Law Review — all because she was a Hispanic woman. And those two Ivy League institutions cheated more deserving students of what they had worked a lifetime to achieve, for reasons of race, gender or ethnicity.
This is bigotry pure and simple. To salve their consciences for past societal sins, the Ivy League is deep into discrimination again, this time with white males as victims rather than as beneficiaries.One prefers the old bigotry. At least it was honest, and not, as Abraham Lincoln observed, adulterated “with the base alloy of hypocrisy.”
This is the newest in a series of racist comments made by Buchanan since Sotomayor’s nomination. He has told senators to oppose Sotomayor’s nomination and “stand up for the white working class.” He even went so far as to assert that, because of affirmative action, “what is happening now to white men right now is exactly what was done to black folks for years.”
Bush DOJ Failed to Enforce Federal Law Protecting Abortion Providers from Anti-Abortion Extremists
Bush DOJ Failed to Enforce Federal Law Protecting Abortion Providers from Anti-Abortion Extremists
In the wake of the murder of Dr. George Tiller by an anti-abortion extremist, the very real problem of extremist violence against abortion providers and clinics has gained a fresh spotlight, even though that violence is not new. After the 1993 murder of an abortion provider, Dr. David Gunn, Congress passed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which made any use of “force, threat of force or physical obstruction” against doctors and patients a federal crime. The law was an attempt to put an end to the constant wave of death threats, acts of vandalism, and clinic bombings.
According to the National Abortion Federation, the “FACE law has had a clear impact on the decline in certain types of violence against clinics and providers, specifically clinic blockades.” Under the Bush Administration, however, criminal and civil enforcement of the law by the Department of Justice declined dramatically, the Washington Independent’s Daphne Eviatar reports:
The day after Dr. George Tiller was murdered, TWI obtained data revealing that under the Bush administration, criminal enforcement of the federal law designed to protect abortion providers and clinics had declined by more than 75 percent over the last eight years.
But there’s also a civil component to that federal law, known as the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act. That part of the law allows the attorney general to seek an injunction and compensatory damages for anyone who’s been harmed by any activity that violates the law. And it turns out that the Department of Justice over the last eight years didn’t use that part of the law to protect abortion providers, either.
Eviatar found that, according to DOJ statistics, the Bush Administration “brought only about two criminal prosecutions per year in the entire country under the FACE Act, and never more than four in any single year.” In contrast, under President Clinton the Justice Department “prosecuted 17 defendants for violations of the FACE Act in 1997 alone, and an average of about 10 per year since the law was enacted in 1994.” Evitar reports though that the Bush Justice Department had an even more abysmal record of enforcing the civil component of the FACE Act:
Yet despite these broad powers that Congress granted the attorney general in 1994 to prevent and combat violence against abortion clinics and providers, the Bush administration almost never used them. From 2000 until 2008, during the eight years of the Bush administration, the Justice Department filed only one civil case under the FACE Act. From 1994 until 1999, in contrast, in just five years of the Clinton administration, the Department filed 17 civil cases under the FACE Act — in addition to its much heavier load of criminal cases that we’ve reported before.
Between 2000 and 2008, the National Abortion Federation recorded 3,291 acts of violence against abortion providers and “at least 17 cases of ‘extreme’ violence against abortion providers in the United States, such as arson, stabbing and bomb attacks.” However, the Bush Administration’s Department of Justice “prosecuted only 11 individuals for any acts of violence against abortion clinics or providers.”
Before voting against stimulus, Bennett requested millions in stimulus funds for his state.
Before voting against stimulus, Bennett requested millions in stimulus funds for his state.
This morning, USA Today reported that two days before he voted against the economic stimulus package Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) requested over $180 million in stimulus money from the EPA and the Department of Agriculture. Bennett, attempting to explain this apparent contradiction, told USA Today that “as long as it passed and they’re handing out money, they might as well hand it out where it will do some good.” But in a statement he released after voting against the bill, Bennett claimed the recovery legislation could do no good. “The only thing this bill will stimulate is the national debt,” said Bennett:
The economy is in serious trouble, and we need to do the very best we can to restore confidence in our economy and in our future. Our country desperately needs a stimulus package, but I don’t think the bill passed today is the right medicine. I regret that this opportunity to put our economy back on track has been squandered. We should have passed a bill that focused on fixing housing, helping taxpayers keep more of their hard earned money through permanent tax cuts, and spending only on projects that would genuinely stimulate the economy and create jobs. Unfortunately, the only thing this bill will stimulate is the national debt.
USA Today also found that 13 other Republicans who had voted against the stimulus had also requested stimulus funding for their states or districts.
O’Reilly Apologizes For False Attack On CNN
O’Reilly Apologizes For False Attack On CNN
On the Fox News this week, host Bill O’Reilly complained that he was “shocked that an Army recruiter in Arkansas got gunned down by some Muslim terrorist in the United States, and I can’t find any info about it.” Purporting to show “blatant media bias in America,” he criticized CNN specifically, claiming the network had largely ignored the story. According to O’Reilly, “only Anderson Cooper at 10:00 covered the story. No one else.” However, yesterday, CNN’s Rick Sanchez took O’Reilly to task for his misbegotten “media bias” claims, showing a lengthy clip of day-long CNN coverage of the shooting:
SANCHEZ: Bill O’Reilly says he only saw it once. And since he only saw it once, well then, that must be the truth. It doesn’t matter what really happened, it doesn’t matter what the record shows. All that matters is what Bill thinks he saw.
Watch it:
Last night on The Factor, Bill O’Reilly announced he had a “rare correction” to make. O’Reilly said that a “snide, surly guy on CNN” (Rick Sanchez) corrected the record about CNN’s coverage. “I was wrong. My apologies to CNN,” O’Reilly said. Watch it:
Coleman urges Republicans to be more tech-savvy by competing on the ‘ethernet.’
Coleman urges Republicans to be more tech-savvy by competing on the ‘ethernet.’
Over the past few months, improving their web presence has become a hot topic for conservatives. At a debate earlier this year, candidates for the chairmanship of the RNC boasted about the number of followers they had on Twitter and friends on Facebook. Yesterday, in an interview at the Conservative Heartland Leadership Council in St. Paul, former Minnesota Republican senator Norm Coleman inadvertently highlighted the “tech gap” between conservatives and progressives when he encouraged conservatives to compete with progressives on the “ethernet“:
“In the end, we need to compete, as I’ve said before, we need to compete in each and every kind of forum,” said Coleman. “And whether it’s on the ground traditionally, or today it’s in — it’s in the ethernet. It’s in the — you know, it’s online. It’s in the blogs, it’s Twitter, it’s Facebook, and the next iteration.”
Watch it:
(HT: Minnesota Independent)
Burr Defends Mint-Flavored Suckable ‘Tobacco Lollipops,’ Claims They’re Not Being Marketed To Children
Burr Defends Mint-Flavored Suckable ‘Tobacco Lollipops,’ Claims They’re Not Being Marketed To Children
On May 27, CNN’s Carol Costello reported on tobacco company R.J. Reynolds new dissolvable “smokeless products.” Noting that critics call them “tobacco lollipops” that are aimed at getting “kids hooked on nicotine,” Costello reported that “R.J. Reynolds will soon test three new products — Camel sticks that dissolve as you suck them, minty tobacco strips that look like breath strips, and orbs — flavored, dissolvable tablets that some say look and taste exactly like candy.”
On the Senate floor yesterday, Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) came to the tobacco company’s defense, claiming that it wasn’t trying to deceive anyone; it’s CNN’s fault for labeling Camel Orbs as candy. Burr charged that CNN “mischaracterized the product” because “it’s not candy flavored”:
BURR: But when CNN did their story. Take a guess on the angle that they took. They labeled it as candy. Candy! Even though it’s not candy flavored. They said it was candy. … No, they said it was candy. That’s where they labeled it. … They portrayed Reynolds America as being deceptive and luring children. No candy. It’s not going in the candy section. It’s in the tobacco section where smokeless and stick products is.
Later in his speech, Burr responded to Sen. Jeff Merkley’s (D-OR) criticism that some of the dissolvable tobacco products are in containers shaped like cell phones to attract kids. “Let me assure you, Mr. President, if a cell phone doesn’t work, children don’t want it,” said Burr. Watch it:
While Burr might claim that the Orbs aren’t “candy-flavored,” the fact is that they come in “mint and cinnamon flavors” known as “fresh” and “mellow.” Additionally, the tobacco industry has a well-documented history of using flavored tobacco to market their products to children:
Documents from the tobacco industry also contradict these claims. A report from R.J. Reynolds in 1985 stated: “Sweetness can impart a different delivery taste dimension, which younger adult smokers may be receptive to, as evidenced by their taste wants in other product areas.” A Brown & Williamson report from 1972 suggested consideration of developing cola-flavored and apple-flavored cigarettes. The report also suggested a sweet-flavored cigarette and stated: “It’s a well-known fact that teenagers like sweet products. Honey might be considered.” If flavored products were appealing to youth then, what has changed to make them less appealing to youth now?
Burr’s speech today follows his earlier claims that regulating tobacco by the FDA would contradict the agency’s mission to protect public health since there is no healthy way to use tobacco. Burr, whose hometown Winston-Salem is also the home of R.J. Reynolds, is the second-highest recipient of campaign contributions from Big Tobacco.
Boehner drops the t-bomb.
Boehner drops the t-bomb.
In a press conference today, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) broke with the Republican practice of referring to the Bush administration’s torture practices as “enhanced” or “harsh” interrogation techniques. As Ryan Grim notes, Boehner described the recently released OLC memos as outlining “torture techniques“:
BOEHNER: Last week, they released these memos outlining torture techniques. That was clearly a political decision and ignored the advice of their Director of National Intelligence and their CIA director.
Watch it:
Shortly thereafter, Boehner’s spokesperson Michael Steel e-mailed Grim, saying, “It is clear from the context that Boehner was simply using liberals’ verbiage to describe these interrogation techniques. The United States does not torture.” Earlier this week, when asked by CNS News if the US government did the right thing in waterboarding Khalid Sheik Mohammad, Boehner punted: “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask [the CIA].”
Ron Paul defends Texas secession as ‘very much an American principle.’
Ron Paul defends Texas secession as ‘very much an American principle.’
Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) recently raised the idea of Texas seceding from the Union as one possible response to President Obama’s fiscal policies. Now, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) is following suit. In a video post on his Campaign for Liberty PAC, Paul said the secession debate “is worth a discussion“:
[Perry] really stirred some of the liberal media, where they started screaming about: ‘What is going on here, this is un-American.’ I heard one individual say ‘this is treasonous to even talk about it.’ Well, they don’t know their history very well, because if they think about it…it is very American to talk about secession. That’s how we came in being. Thirteen colonies seceded from the British and established a new country. So secession is a very much American principle.
Watch it:
Specter defends Limbaugh: ‘I like him.’
Specter defends Limbaugh: ‘I like him.’
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), who is trailing Club for Growth president Pat Toomey in the polls for the 2010 GOP primary, has been lurching to the right recently, most notably by announcing last month that he will vote against the Employee Free Choice Act. On the Howard Stern radio show today, Specter took to defending Rush Limbaugh:
Specter: Do I like Rush Limbaugh? … Yeah, I like him [...]
Stern: He’s a crackpot? He’s an enemy of the country.
Specter: (laughing) Uh, no, he’s not. He’s expressing his opinion.
Stern: Senator, wait a second. In all seriousness. He wants the president to do poorly? Listen, I never voted for Bush, but I always wanted to see him do well. I’m an American. I want my president to be successful. Who says ‘I don’t want my president to do well?’ That’s anti-American!
Specter: Well I haven’t heard Rush Limbaugh say that. But there’s a lot of talk which is provocative.
It’s puzzling that Specter hasn’t heard about Limbaugh’s statement that he hopes Obama fails. The issue has been covered by blogs and the front pages of national newspapers for months. It even earned Limbaugh a spot on the cover of Newsweek. Or perhaps Specter is learning from the others who have criticized Boss Limbaugh and have then apologized to him.
Senate Should Ignore Nutty Glenn Beck Conspiracy Theories And Appoint Harold Koh
Senate Should Ignore Nutty Glenn Beck Conspiracy Theories And Appoint Harold Koh
Our guest blogger is Henry Fernandez, a Senior Fellow at the Center For American Progress Action Fund.
As ThinkProgress recently noted, a small number of conspiracy-theory, far-right conservatives have raised concerns about Obama’s appointment of Harold Koh to be Legal Adviser to the Department of State. Their nutty views have been trumped up by Fox News and the NY Post, with extremist Glenn Beck leading the charge. This despite there being no basis in reality for the charges against Koh.
Today on his Fox News show, Beck ranted some more against Koh. Beck conceded, “There is a big debate on the internet, in the New York Times and everybody else, saying that I’m a crazy nut-job because of Harold Koh.” Watch it:
Koh is currently Dean of Yale Law School, with an international law and human rights resume that makes him uniquely qualified to be the top lawyer at the State Department. Unfortunately, these stellar qualifications have not been sufficient to move him quickly through the Senate, as he is one of several appointees being delayed by conservatives.
The right’s fabricated concern is that Koh would allow international law to trump U.S. law. This is based apparently on Koh’s speech to the Yale Alumni Association of Greenwich Connecticut, from which observer Steve Stein gathered that Koh wanted Islamic sharia law to govern in U.S. courts. But there is good reason to not believe Stein. The organizer of the event and head of the Alumni Association, Robin Reeves Zorthian, wrote to the NY Post:
The account given by Steve Stein of Dean Koh’s comments is totally fictitious and inaccurate. I was in the room with my husband and several fellow alumni, and we are all adamant that Koh never said or suggested that sharia law could be used to govern cases in US courts. The subject of his talk was Globalization and Yale Law School, so, of course, other forms of law were mentioned. But never did Koh state or suggest that other forms of law should govern or dictate the American legal system. Hopefully, your readers are interested in the facts.
More facts: Koh has consistently used US federal law in the U.S. federal courts to go after the leaders of military juntas that have killed Americans and citizens of other countries. This is the exact opposite of allowing foreign laws to trump U.S. law. He has also used US law to protect those who face persecution at the hands of powerful dictators.
Koh’s commitment to the rule of law is what really offends the hard right. His belief in the supremacy of US law has put him in direct conflict with some of the conspiracists’ favorite folks. Dean Koh testified before Congress against the nomination of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General because of Gonzales’ support for torture. He also challenged the right of George H.W. Bush to house innocent Haitian refugees at a prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. Koh’s opponent — then-Solicitor General Ken Starr — argued that US law did not apply at Guantanamo, and thus the Haitians had no rights. Koh argued that both U.S. law and U.S. morality certainly applied there.
Harold Koh should be appointed, while liars and crazy people should be ignored.
After Opposing Immigration Reform During His Presidential Campaign, Romney Flip-Flops Again
After Opposing Immigration Reform During His Presidential Campaign, Romney Flip-Flops Again
Our guest blogger is Henry Fernandez, a Senior Fellow at the Center For American Progress Action Fund working on state and municipal issues.
During his 2007-8 run for President, Mitt Romney switched from historically supporting immigration reform to being against it, championing a mass expulsion plan that he acknowledged would not work. Romney was so right-wing on immigration, that he enthusiastically accepted the endorsements of anti-immigrant ideologue and former Congressman Tom Tancredo and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, now under investigation by the Justice Department for allegedly violating the constitutional rights of Latinos.
As a successful businessman who recently joined the board of the heavily immigrant-reliant Marriott hotel company, Romney has apparently learned that appearing anti-immigrant or anti-Latino is politically foolish in a country where Latinos and Asians have grown to 11% of the vote. He has now flipped again and is calling for the Republican Party to support comprehensive immigration reform and to pass such a bill right away. The Hill interviewed Romney and reported yesterday:
Romney believes that one way to attract more minorities to the GOP is to pass immigration reform before the next election, saying the issue becomes demagogued by both parties on the campaign trail. “We have a natural affinity with Hispanic-American voters, Asian-American voters,” he said.
Romney should know about demagoguing on immigration. He did it himself.
During the campaign, Romney thought his anti-immigration postition would help him with Republican primary voters. Ironically, it cost him the nomination when he ran head long into the diversity of the Republican Party in Florida. While John McCain did not beat Romney among white voters in the Florida primary, McCain crushed him among Latino Republicans, effectively ending both Romney’s campaign and the primary.
As I noted at the time, Romney’s hard line position on immigration was beyond hypocritical. His own family’s immigration history was to put it modestly, “unique.” His great grandfather immigrated in apparent violation of both US and Mexican laws to Mexico when the US government cracked down on polygamists. Three generations of Mitt’s ancestors lived in Mexico, his father was born there, and he has family which still resides there. What brought his grandparents back to the US were impacts of the Mexican Civil War. To be clear — like many more recent immigrants, Mitt’s immediate family immigrated to the US from Mexico because of increasing violence and changing economic conditions.
The fact the Republican Party was hijacked by anti-immigrant extremists has been obvious for some time. Republicans torpedoed the Bush-McCain-Kennedy immigration compromise bill in 2007 for fear of an extremist backlash. Conservative commentators like Richard Nadler have described how this led to a major shift in Latino and immigrant voters away from the GOP. In turn, states like New Mexico, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, and North Carolina flipped to Obama as Latinos, Asians and immigrants shifted their votes and came out in large numbers to vote.
Hopefully “Multiple Choice Mitt” has found his final answer.
Iran considering the death penalty for ‘offensive’ bloggers.
Iran considering the death penalty for ‘offensive’ bloggers.
Al Jazeera’s Nazanin Sadri reports that Iran is considering a new law that would allow the death penalty for “offensive” bloggers:
Under a strict interpretation of Islamic law, Individuals can be sentenced to death for two main categories of crime. The first is murder. The second is known as ‘fasad,’ which means spreading mischief or undermining the authority or stability of the state. What that constitutes is open to interpretation. In the past it has been applied to rape, adultery, drug-related offenses, and homosexual behavior. Iran now wants to introduce the death penalty for bloggers who write about and promote illegal activities.
Watch Sadri’s report:
According to the report, there are about 60,000 active bloggers in Iran, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Army discharged 11 soldiers in January because of DADT.
Army discharged 11 soldiers in January because of DADT.
Last week, Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) proposed repealing the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy banning gay men and women from serving openly. Since its enactment in 1994, the policy has “cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of service men and women…including approximately 800 with skills deemed ‘mission critical.” Today, in “the first in a series of monthly releases” highlighting the impact of the policy, Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) revealed that 11 soldiers were discharged for being gay in January:
“At a time when our military’s readiness is strained to the breaking point from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the armed forces continue to discharge vital service members under the outdated, outmoded ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy,” said Moran. … “[H]ow many more good soldiers are we willing to lose due to a bad policy that makes us less safe and secure? I’m going to keep releasing this information each month until DADT is repealed.”
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