Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) seems to be one of those Republicans. But when C-Span host Steve Scully asked the California Republican about the tax cuts issue on Washington Journal this morning, Nunes went slightly off message:

SCULLY: Tax cuts, do they increase the debt or do they spur economic growth?

NUNES: Well, I think that they increase the debt. If you let them expire at the end of the year we’re going to have a huge, the largest tax increase in American history.

Nunes drifted back on message later, saying that the deficit is “going to grow” if all the Bush tax cuts expire. But when asked why, he couldn’t provide any specifics. “Because it’s going to throw the economy into a tailspin,” he said. Watch it:

Nunes is right about one thing: Tax cuts do increase the debt, but he’s dead wrong in claiming that they reduce the deficit. In fact, as the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities pointed out, the Bush tax cuts will cause $3.4 trillion in deficits between 2009 and 2019 while the “debt-service costs caused by the Bush-era tax cuts, amount[] to more than $200 billion through 2008 and another $1.7 trillion over the 2009-2019 period — over $330 billion in 2019 alone.”

Moreover, the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein has noted just how the federal debt will skyrocket if the Bush tax cuts are extended as opposed to allowed to expire:

“If they’re willing to let the tax cuts expire,” Klein writes, “it’s good evidence that they’re serious about cutting the debt. If they’re not willing to let the cuts expire, it’s irrefutable evidence that they’re not.”

Adopted in December 1865, the current 13th Amendment of the Constitution prohibits “slavery” and “involuntary servitude” in the United States or any place under its jurisdiction. The Iowa GOP is not trying to overturn this amendment to reinstate slavery. Instead, it wants to reintroduce the “original 13th Amendment” first offered by senator Phillip Reed of Maryland in 1810. The amendment states that “if any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive or retain any title of nobility or honor” from a “foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen” and “shall be incapable of holding any office of trust.” In receiving only 12 out of the 13 votes needed for ratification, the amendment was never adopted.

Traditional supporters of the idea are known as “Thirteenthers,” who seek to prevent those with the title of “esquire,” such as lawyers and bankers, from participating in government. But according to its spokeswoman, Danielle Plogmann, the Iowa GOP supports it as an attack on President Obama’s Nobel Prize win:

There are, of course, other implications of Thirteenthism, such as ensuring that the United States never again suffers the humiliation of having a president win the Nobel Peace Prize. That was just what the Iowa Republicans had in mind, according to Plogmann, who wrote in an e-mail that the plank “was meant to make a statement about the delegates’ opinion about Mr. Obama receiving the prize.” (Presumably they didn’t mind if, in the process, they were also making a statement about any American scientist or writer unlucky enough to win a Nobel.) Unfortunately for them, the Department of Justice looked into whether Obama needed Congressional approval to accept the Nobel under the existing emoluments clause, and based on the meaning of “foreign state” (which would not cover the Nobel Prize Committee) concluded that he did not.

Iowa is currently “the only state where this type of plank has been introduced into the GOP platform.” While chances are indeed remote that such a measure would pass, should the Iowa GOP and “Thirteenthers” successfully push their belief, “every act of federal government since 1819,” including the abolition of slavery, “would be delegitimized.” (HT: Iowa Independent)

Today, though, BeyondChron notes a flaw in Whitman’s minority outreach efforts — she’s refused to attend this Saturday’s California Gubernatorial Faith Forum, “an event where each candidate for Governor and Lieutenant Governor will separately answer questions from an audience of mostly African American and Hispanic church members.”

Last week, KTVU reported on the so-called “scheduling conflict” preventing Whitman from attending the forum:

Earlier this month, the Whitman campaign sent a letter saying she could not attend because of a scheduling conflict.

But KTVU has looked at a series of back and forth communications between the Whitman campaign and the faith forum organizers and it appears that if there really is a scheduling conflict, it came up very recently.

Back in May, the Whitman campaign wrote ‘We aren’t scheduling yet for the month of July. We will be back in touch with you.’ Despite back and forth emails for nearly two months, the Whitman campaign gave no answer until just over a week ago when Whitman declined the invitation. …

In the past two days, KTVU asked Whitman’s spokeswoman to explain what the scheduling conflict with the forum was. Despite repeated phone conversations and emails, we never got an answer.

As a political science professor quoted in the article notes, “Let’s face it; campaigns use scheduling conflict as a way to excuse something that they don’t want to do.” Loran Simon, one of the event’s organizers, thinks “it is not her priority or there is no appetite to come and have a conversation with this community.” Jerry Brown, the Democratic nominee for governor, and Abel Maldonado, GOP nominee for lieutenant governor, will both attend the forum.

Beyond this incident, BeyondChron’s Harrison Chastang reports that Whitman’s campaign has also refused to engage with African-American media in the state through ads or interviews:

Whitman’s has reportedly spent a record $50 million dollars on TV, radio and print ads with the promise of spending just as much, or more between now and the November election. African American owned media outlet throughout the state say that the Whitman campaign has not spent a dime on radio or print ads with the Black owned media. …

Joe Stinson, sales director for the Black owned Sacramento Observer, said that the Whitman campaign has not only refused to buy any ads in their paper, but that the Whitman campaign did not respond to repeated invitations to appear before the Observer’s editorial board. Stinson said the Whitman campaign was also personally contacted by the West Coast Black Newspaper Publishers Association, an organization that represents Black owned newspapers throughout California. Officials with other Black owned newspapers and radio stations around California say they have not received a dime in advertising revenue from the Whitman campaign.

Chastang compares Whitman to California’s Republican nominee for Senate, Carly Fiorina, who “appeared unannounced at a South Central Los Angeles Juneteenth event, a bold decision in that African American audiences like the LA Juneteenth crowds can be hostile to conservative Republican candidates.” He argues Fiorina “gave the impression that if she defeats Barbara Boxer, her door will be open to African Americans — even if they did not vote for her in large numbers.”

- William Tomasko

Last week, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, called for a temporary extension of all the Bush tax cuts, including those for the wealthiest two percent of Americans, which the Obama administration would like to see expire. Conrad even suggested waiving pay-go rules (which apply to those cuts for the richest two percent) in order to extend the cuts without paying for them. Conrad quickly clarified that he wasn’t embracing the Republican approach, which is simply extending all of the tax cuts forever, calling that a “formula for the decline of the United States.” Today on CNBC, Conrad argued that now just isn’t the time to raise taxes on the wealthy:

We’ve got to be very careful with the timing of what we do. There’s no question in my mind that taxes have to go up on the wealthiest among us. The question is when. I don’t think this is the moment.

Watch it:

Meanwhile, DailyKos diarist rojjj caught Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) touting the Bush tax cuts on local Connecticut news station WTIC-1080. Lieberman said that “in the long term,” it may be appropriate to raise taxes on the wealthy, but that it would be a “mistake” to raise taxes on the richest Americans “right now“:

JOYCE: One of the things I’m hearing discussed I’m hearing this from time to time, and I do believe that head of the Fed Bernanke suggested that maybe the tax cuts be put in place the Bush tax cuts, should be kept for the next two years. Where are you on that, and what’s the talk?

LIEBERMAN: I don’t know that he specifically said that, but he’s somebody to listen to [...] We got a long term debt problem as Bernanke said and we gotta begin to bring our government back into balance. Probably in the long term that gonna mean we’re gonna have some more people in higher income levels. But I think that right now, as we’re trying to come out of a bad economy, that would be a mistake. I don’t know if its two years, six months, whether it’s a year, to just hold over these tax cuts so theres more money in the hands of these busineses, small businesses which create most of the jobs, a lot of people are in those upper brackets running those small businesses let’s make sure the economy’s stronger before we start raising taxes again.

Listen to it:

As the Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo notes, “A two year extension of the cuts for the rich would cost about $75 billion, with little in terms of economic activity to show for it.” Senators who feign concern for fiscal responsibility, as both Conrad and Lieberman do, should take note of this budget-busting effect of extending the tax cuts.

Cantor explained in an e-mail interview that the tea-party movement is “certainly not of Washington and in that respect it’s better left with the people.” [...]

“Part of what is so inspiring about the tea-party movement is that it is not structured like a political party and, instead, is a truly organic, grass-roots effort,” Cantor said. “The movement was born outside of Washington and includes people of all political stripes — Republicans, independents and Democrats — who have come together out of frustration with their government in an effort to force it to change.”

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) — who is also strong tea party supporter — refused to join as well, explaining that the tea party movement “should be kept outside Congress.” “The more you try to put structure around the tea party, the more compromised it will be,” Chaffetz wrote on Twitter. “If any one person[s] tries to co-opt it, the tea party will lose its identity and effectiveness.” So far, out of the 178 Republicans in the House, only 46 have joined Bachmann’s caucus.

Following scandal after scandal, many donors have abandoned the Michael Steele-led Republican National Committee in favor of other right-wing groups preparing to attack Democratic candidates in this fall’s elections. The two biggest beneficiaries of the RNC’s woes appear to be American Crossroads, the “shadow RNC” setup by Bush operatives Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, and the Republican Governors Association, currently chaired by Mississippi Governor and former RNC Chairman Haley Barbour. Despite their apparent strategic differences, these three groups still have one thing in common: massive infusions of cash from Big Oil. Over $4 million of oil-related cash has spewed into the three groups in the second quarter alone.

AMERICAN CROSSROADS: American Crossroads, the shadowy 527 group setup by Rove and Gillespie as a supposed “grassroots” alternative to the RNC, and whose stated goal is to distort the facts in order to brand the BP oil disaster as “Obama’s Katrina,” has received 97 percent of its funding from just four right-wing billionaires. Of these, two made their fortunes in the oil and gas industry, according to a report by Salon. The two Dallas-based oil billionaires, Trevor Rees-Jones and Robert Rowling, each contributed $1 million to the group, which recently began airing misleading attack ads against Senator Harry Reid. Rove and Gillespie have also explicitly taken advantage of the recent Citizens United Supreme Court decision to setup a related 501(c)4 organization, American Crossroads GPS, in order to conceal the identity of some of their donors. The public will likely never know where the $5.1 million the group raised in June came from because of “the value of confidentiality to some donors,” but it could have come from other right-wing oil billionaires like tea party-funder David Koch to major corporations like BP America and Goldman Sachs.

RGA: Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has moved aggressively to promote the RGA as an alternative to the RNC. In addition to setting up “victory funds” across the country that have long been “the province of the RNC,” Barbour recently told a private audience that “[he] had to raise the RGA budget by $10 million because the RNC is in such bad shape.” Barbour, who has made something of a recent career out of downplaying the severity of the BP oil disaster, has indeed driven RGA fundraising to new heights during his tenure as chairman. As we previously reported, the oil and gas industry appears to have shown its appreciation for Barbour’s Big Oil apologism by contributing more than $2 million to the RGA’s coffers in the last quarter alone.

RNC: Despite its almost constant series of travails, the regular RNC, which still lists Gillespie as the owner of its headquarters, continues to take in boatloads of cash from Big Oil. The Center for Responsive Politics reports that so far this election cycle the RNC has received $555,439 from the oil and gas industry — enough to make Big Oil one of the embattled committee’s top ten sources of cash. The RNC unveiled a new ad yesterday attacking President Obama’s response to BP oil disaster, perhaps in the hopes of drumming up even more cash from Big Oil.

Unfortunately for the regular RNC, there’s at least one major GOP donor who is only giving his money to the shadow RNCs. Texas leveraged buyout billionaire Harold Simmons, best known for funding the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004 and false attack ads linking President Obama to Bill Ayers in 2008, has recently channeled $1 million to American Crossroads and $125,000 to the RGA.

Portion of Section 2 of S.B. 1070: Requires police to inquire about the immigration status of anyone they stop, detain, or arrest if they reasonably suspect the person is in the country illegally.

Section 3 of S.B. 1070: Criminalizes the the failure to apply for or carry immigration documents.

Portion of Section 5 of S.B. 1070: Criminalizes the solicitation, application for, or performance of work by an undocumented immigrant.

Section 6 of S.B. 1070: Authorizes the warrantless arrest of a person where there is probable cause to believe the person has committed a public offense that makes the person “removable.”

Bolton also echoed the criticisms made by SB-1070 opponents over the past few months, noting that “requiring Arizona law enforcement officials and agencies to determine the immigration status of every person who is arrested burdens lawfully-present aliens because their liberty will be restricted while their status is check.” She additionally found that the burdensome verification requirement “will divert resources from the federal government’s other responsibilities and priorities.” However, a few problematic sections remain including the one which allows Arizona residents to sue local police if they believe they are not enforcing what remains of SB-1070 and the creation of a separate crime for knowingly transporting an undocumented immigrant under any circumstance, even in an emergency.

Ironically, on the recommendation of Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) — an ardent proponent of SB-1070 — Bolton was nominated to the United States District Court for the District of Arizona by President Bill Clinton back in 2000. During her confirmation hearing, Kyl stated:

Well, there is one person in our state who’s a real expert on this in the judiciary, and that’s Judge Bolton. And because of her expertise and fairness, all of the contending interests from Arizona have been willing to place their concerns before her to be resolved, and she is right in the middle of this important litigation right now. They will be very sorry to see her leave in Maricopa County Superior Court bench. So, I have some mixed emotions in helping to nominate or to confirm Judge Bolton, but that’s how highly thought of she is.

Prior to the announcement of her decision, Kyl speculated that “she will parse the law, that is to say she will perhaps extract certain portions of it that she think might be problematic and might enjoin those portions calling additional briefings from the parties.” Before learning of Bolton’s decision, Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) stated, “I’m confident Arizona will prevail.” Bolton has been described by her peers as an “impeccable” and “fearless” judge whose rulings are “well-reasoned and unambiguous.”

LENO: I don’t know if you heard the thing I was mentioning, it actually made me angry. That kid, the West Point kid [Dan Choi], what’s your take on that?

O’REILLY: Well I don’t get it. President Obama has the power to stop this Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell business. Just sign an executive order. I don’t know why it’s taking so long.

LENO: And to me, doesn’t it cost like $300,000 to send a kid to West Point? He speaks Arabic…Anybody that’s willing to take a bullet for me is OK in my book.

O’REILLY: Yeah, but $300,000 to the government – that’s like $0.30, you know what I mean? So, they don’t care about cost. But, look, it’s just not fair, we should stop this nonsense.

Watch it:

O’Reilly, who seemed to be comfortable with continuing DADT in February, appears to have opened his mind on the issue just as large numbers of military officers and veterans have come out against the policy. As Dan Savage points out, O’Reilly’s new position places him “to the left of President Obama on DADT.” Obama, who campaigned on ending DADT, could issue an executive order suspending DADT anytime. (HT: Balloon Juice)

– Charlie Eisenhood

However, later in the very same interview, King threw concern for the deficit out the window, saying Congress should extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, and that there is no need to pay for the $678 billion in lost revenue they represent. “You don’t have to ask for a paid-for” to offset tax cuts, King said, before making the ludicrous claim that Bush’s cuts “increased revenues”:

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Since you are, I’m presume, support extending the Bush tax cuts, do you think that you guys should figure out a way to pay for them, since it will add to the deficit, decreasing government revenues?

KING: [...] They have stimulated the economy. It is not paid for with offsets, those tax cuts have been in place as you characterized them, since May 28th of 2003. This is a continuation of a tax policy, so I would say you don’t have to ask for a paid-for continued tax policy. This is a tax increase if we let this happen without doing something happen about it. They have also demonstrated they increase in revenue with the capital gains as a part of that.

Watch it:

King is hardly the first congressional Republican to attack President Obama for increasing the deficit, while simultaneously endorsing the addition of hundreds of billions of dollars more in order to preserve tax cuts for the wealthy. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) explained last week that “you should never have to offset the cost” of tax cuts, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said, “there’s no evidence whatsoever that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue.” These sentiments have been parroted by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), and Sens. Judd Gregg (R-NH), Tom Coburn (R-OK), and John Cornyn (R-TX), among others.

Of course, history has proven that the Bush tax cuts did not stimulate the economy, did not pay for themselves, and certainly did not increase tax revenue. Even Bush’s federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan — who once championed the tax cuts — recognized these facts earlier this month, calling on Congress to allow all the cuts to expire, in order to pay down the deficit.

But Blankenship isn’t the only one with chips in the game. The Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky reports that several coal executives, including Blankenship, are pooling their money to take advantage of the Supreme Court’s Citizen United decision loosening corporate campaign finance laws by forming a 527 group to help elect coal-friendly Republicans. Why a 527? Because according to the IRS, they can hide their activities until “next year, long after the Nov. 2 election.” From the report:

“With the recent Supreme Court ruling, we are in a position to be able to take corporate positions that were not previously available in allowing our voices to be heard,” wrote Roger Nicholson, senior vice president and general counsel at International Coal Group of Scott Depot, W.Va., in an undated letter he sent to other coal companies. [...]

“A number of coal industry representatives recently have been considering developing a 527 entity with the purpose of attempting to defeat anti-coal incumbents in select races, as well as elect pro-coal candidates running for certain open seats,” Nicholson wrote. “We’re requesting your consideration as to whether your company would be willing to meet to discuss a significant commitment to such an effort.”

Nicholson listed three races “of interest”: Conway against Republican Rand Paul for Kentucky’s open Senate seat; Chandler against Republican Garland “Andy” Barr in Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District; and Democratic U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall against Republican Elliott “Spike” Maynard in West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District.

According to Nicholson, three other companies — Alliance Resource Partners, Natural Resource Partners, and Blankenship’s Massey Energy — “have already had some theoretical discussions about such an effort and would like to proceed in developing an action plan.” By combining their efforts and forming a 527, these companies could potentially spend millions of dollars to influence the West Virginia races.

Unfortunately, this political intervention by the dirty coal industry may come at the public’s expense. After all, for years, these companies have been lobbying for looser regulations. The results have been tragedies at coal mines, such as the 2006 Sago Mine explosion that killed 12 people; the mine was owned by Nicholson’s International Coal Group and had been cited for 276 safety violations in 2004 and 2005. More recently, an explosion at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia killed 29 people. The Mine Safety and Health Administration had cited Upper Big Branch for more than 3,000 violations — 638 since 2009. In April, two miners died at an Alliance Resources Partners mine that ranked “seventh in the U.S. by the number of ‘significant and substantial‘ violations accrued since January 2009.”

Ironically, one of the candidates this new 527 wants to back — Rand Paul — was hit by his primary opponent for once acknowledging that coal “is a very dirty form of energy.”

Today, Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) went on MSNBC and put on an even less impressive performance. Mike Barnacle begged Shadegg to identify just one specific program that he would axe, but Shadegg fell back on the conservative tactic of calling for an across the board cut on all programs:

BARNACLE: We have had an endless stream of members of Congress and the United States Senate on here over the past two or three years and whenever they are asked the question, ’specifically, what would you cut to trim spending in the federal government,’ everybody agrees it’s a huge problem, we have to soak our faces in cement here on the set to prevent ourselves from laughing out loud at the non-answers we get. So my question to you, long-winded question here, is, can you please, I’m begging you, give me just one program you’d cut? We’ll start with just one program you’d cut.

SHADEGG: Well, there are lots of programs I would cut. I would begin by an across the board cut on all spending because I think we need to spread this…I’d say five percent across the board tomorrow on every single program, including defense, then you’d begin the process in the right direction.

Watch it:

But an across the board cut makes no attempt to prioritize between vital, necessary programs that people depend upon and unnecessary, wasteful spending. It simply takes the same chunk out of everything. Is Shadegg willing to cut veteran’s health care or Social Security benefits by five percent tomorrow? How about border enforcement, food stamps, homeland security, the FBI, or national park funding? By not providing one single idea, instead opting for a tired talking point, Shadegg shows that he isn’t interested in grappling with any of the realities of the budget.

The Wonk Room has ideas on programs that could be cut.

However, Petri signed King’s discharge petition yesterday to repeal everything in health reform. In doing so, he joined other GOP members, like Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA), and Rep. Charles Djou (R-HI), who all similarly said they were not interested in stripping Americans of new health reform subsidies and protections. Those members also signed King’s radical petition to do with away with every last provision of the health reform law.

Reached for comment, Petri spokesman Niel Wright told ThinkProgress that although his boss signed King’s petition, he does not share King’s views on health reform and does not intend “at this time” to sign onto King’s companion health reform repeal bill, H.R. 4972.

The House voted 308-114 yesterday to approve “a major war-funding increase of $33 billion to pay for his surge in Afghanistan.” Twelve Republicans and 102 Democrats opposed the measure; last year, “32 Democrats opposed a similar midyear spending bill.” The vote came after the leak of classified documents on the Afghanistan war and now heads to President Obama for his signature.

800,000 gallons of oil have spilled “into a creek and flowed into the Kalamazoo River in southern Michigan, coating wildlife,” following a leak from a pipeline that goes from Indiana to Ontario. Rep. Mark Schauer (D-MI) said the spill is a “public health crisis” and plans to hold hearings on the issue.

A new Natural Resources Defense Council report has found that BP’s Gulf oil spill has not impacted the vast majority of the area’s beaches but is still keeping tourists away. Beach closures have been mainly limited to three areas of Louisiana while “[c]losures or advisories have been issued for 49 of 253 monitored beach sites in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.”

Ignoring a White House veto threat, the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee voted to add $450 million to the defense budget for a second engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Pat Garofalo notes, “Congress’ insistence on funding the wasteful program comes at the same time that deficit hysteria is preventing any and all measures to combat the Great Recession from easily moving on Capitol Hill.”

Two “leading economists wielding complex quantitative models” say they have “empirically proved” that government economic interventions under Presidents Bush and Obama saved the economy. In a new paper, they argue that without the Wall Street bailout, Federal Reserve lending, and Obama’s stimulus package, “the nation’s gross domestic product would be about 6.5 percent lower this year.”

The new financial regulation law contains a little-noticed provision that “grants the federal government broad new powers to compel financial firms to hire more women and minorities.” The precedent-setting diversity promotion effort is “drawing fire from Republicans who say it could lead to de facto hiring quotas.”

The Massachusetts Legislature approved a new bill yesterday “to bypass the Electoral College system” and ensure that the president-elect is “determined by the national popular vote.” Under the bill, which passed by 28 to 9, all of Massachusetts’ 12 electoral votes “would be awarded to the candidate who receives the most votes nationally.”

Yesterday, the Senate failed to invoke cloture on the DISCLOSE Act, a campaign finance reform bill that would “require more disclosure of the role of corporations, unions and other special interests in bankrolling political advertisements.” With a 57 to 41 vote, Democrats “failed to persuade even one Republican” to get the “60 votes needed to defeat a Republican filibuster.”

Democratic senators are downplaying the likelihood of passing legislation that would establish a new bank tax, with Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D) saying “it’s becoming more remote as the session comes to an end.” When asked about possible plans to discuss such a tax on his Senate Finance Committee, chairman Max Baucus (D) replied, “Not soon.”

And finally: Do Americans miss President Bush? It appears that they don’t.

ThinkProgress is hiring! Details here.

As the Progress Report today details, “Hayward’s departure will mark the end of a disastrous legacy that was spent botching the company’s response to its oil spill in the Gulf.” Almost a month after the gusher released 32 million gallons of toxic oil into the surrounding ocean as well as an unprecedented amount of chemical dispersants, Hayward told Sky News that “the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest.” In May, Hayward told a reporter who asked him about the victims of his company’s oil spill, “We’re sorry for the massive disruption it’s caused their lives. There’s no one who wants this over more than I do. I would like my life back.”

However, BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, who has previously told the American public that he cares about the “little people,” appeared on CNBC this morning to celebrate Hayward’s record at BP. “Tony Hayward has done a great job for the company,” Svanberg said proudly. He then admitted to CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo that the change in leadership at BP is simply cosmetic. Hayward’s presence at the company, Svanberg explained, hurt its image, so replacing Hayward was based simply on “rebuild[ing]” the BP “brand and reputation”:

SVANBERG: Tony Hayward has done a great job for the company through his almost thirty years and he has done it very well, greatly as a CEO. He has driven the company’s performance and developed the company in many, many ways. He has also led an unprecedented response in the Gulf of Mexico. But it became obvious to him and to us that in order to rebuild our position, in order to rebuilt our brand and reputation, we needed fresh leadership and that is why we are doing the change.

BARTIROMO: Of course on Hayward’s watch, the company suffered and the country in America suffered the worst environmental disaster ever.

Watch it:

Given the golden parachute pension Hayward received — “an immediate £600,000-a-year ($930,000) pension when he leaves the firm in October” — it’s no wonder his fellow executives at BP think highly of his tenure at the oil conglomerate.

Over NOM’s objections, a NOM tour tracker from the Courage Campaign interviewed Larry Adams, the man holding the sign, who revealed that he had struggled with homosexual tendencies before discovering the bible:

NOM STAFFER TO ADAMS: We don’t want anything inflammatory, we’re here in love. [...]

ADAMS: If homosexuality was punished like it was supposed to be, there wouldn’t be so much homosexuality out here….

COURAGE CAMPAIGN: Have you ever had that temptation?

ADAMS: Oh yea…I know it is from the devil so I avoided it….I was all confused myself until about 40 years old and started reading the bible…and now I know what’s right and what’s wrong. The bible says, then I believe it.

Watch it:

Ironically, NOM has been portraying itself as a victim of LGBT activists who claim that the group’s supporters are bigoted or intolerant. During an interview on the Lars Larson show on Thursday — before the Indiana rally — former NOM CEO Maggie Gallagher said she was “really proud of our supporters.” ” If you look at the tape, they remain very peaceful and prayerful and respectful of the law, because that’s who our people are.” LGBT activists “want us treated like racists in the public square and it’s wrong and it should stop.”

Gallagher also criticized LGBT leaders for failing to condemn the counter protesters’ “disruptive” tactics. “I mean, what kind of people do that, first of all, and what kind of movement doesn’t step up and say, ‘No, this isn’t what our movement is about.’

Cross-posted on The Wonk Room.

Speaking to journalists at the company’s London headquarters, Hayward claimed that he had been unfairly “demonised and vilified” in the US where Barack Obama and other politicians have been severely critical of BP’s actions and taken exception to some of Hayward’s public comments. [...]

But Hayward said today he could not go [to the hearing] because “I have got a busy week [in the office]“. BP said it would send another representative to testify at the hearing.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) was infuriated by Hayward’s reply, stating, “It is apparently more important to BP and Mr Hayward to focus on his multimillion dollar golden parachute than to help answer serious questions about whether the company advocated trading blood for oil.” Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill and former British justice secretary Jack Straw have also declined to show up.

During his time at ThinkProgress, Matt imposed a measure of accountability on right-wing hate radio, had a careful ear for the deceptions of Fox News pundits, and learned to spot interesting angles for stories that others would miss. His warm sense of humor, enthusiasm for the news, and friendship will be missed around the office. A look at some of Matt’s greatest hits:

REPORT: GOP Lawmakers Outnumber Democratic Lawmakers 2 To 1 In Stimulus Debate On Cable News [Link]

John Gibson Mocks ‘Weirdo’ Heath Ledger’s Death: ‘He Found Out How To Quit You’ [Link]

Steele on judges with ‘empathy’: ‘I’ll give you empathy. Empathize right on your behind!’ [Link]

Conservatives Attack Gay Dumbledore; Claim Vindication For Jerry Falwell’s Homophobia [Link]

Feeney Covered Up True Cost Of Abramoff Junket [Link]

Wallace Responds To Cokie Roberts’ Criticism By Joking About Her Watching Kristol Crawl Around In A Dog Collar [Link]

Beck, A Self-Proclaimed Heir To Civil Rights Movement, Promotes Quotes By Anti-Civil Rights Ezra Taft Benson [Link]

Hagee Says Hurricane Katrina Struck New Orleans Because It Was ‘Planning A Sinful’ ‘Homosexual Rally’ [Link]

Hans Von Spakovsky 101: How To Suppress The Vote Like A Pro [Link]

ThinkProgress Interviews O’Reilly Hit Man Jesse Watters [Link]

We wish Matt the best of luck in his future endeavors.

Last night on Fox News, Gingrich seemed to stand by that claim, reiterating, “I’d love to have these folks say, ‘Let’s build a church and a synagogue in Mecca, or rather in Saudi Arabia, and that would balance off our having an interfaith mosque.’” Gingrich went on to say that the organizations behind the project — which are based in New York — are “hostile to our civilization”:

VAN SUSTEREN: The interesting thing is that Sarah Palin came out against it. And Mayor Bloomberg responded, saying that the — that efforts to derail the mosque are un-American.

GINGRICH: See, and I just think that’s baloney. … I like Mike a lot. He’s a very good mayor. I don’t know why he’s taking this position. The idea of a 13-story building set up by a group many of whom, frankly, are very hostile to our civilization — and I’m talking now about the people who organized this, many of whom are apologists for sharia, which is a form of law that I think we cannot allow in this country, period.

Watch it:

TPM’s Eric Kleefeld notes that, in the same interview, Gingrich signaled that a mosque near Central Park would be more appropriate than one near Ground Zero. Matt Yglesias responds by trying to map out the “mosque exclusion zone.”

The downtown Manhattan mosque and community center project is a collaboration between the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA) and the Cordoba Initiative, both of which seek “to elevate the discourse on Islam” and bring “together leaders across the Muslim-West divide to speak out for innovative, proactive, and positive solutions to challenges we share.” And as Van Susteren noted, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg recently offered support for their effort:

What is great about America and particularly New York is we welcome everybody, and if we are so afraid of something like this, what does that say about us? Democracy is stronger than this. You know the ability to practice your religion was one of the real reasons America was founded. And for us to just say no is just, I think, not appropriate is a nice way to phrase it.

In fact, other city and state politicians stood by ASMA founder Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s project. “This is precisely where this kind of center for peace and place of worship should rise up,” New York City Comptroller John Liu said. Moreover, 46 percent of Manhattan voters support the proposal while 36 percent opposed. So according to Gingrich’s logic, these New Yorkers are also by extension “hostile to our civilization.”

The poll also found that only 30 percent of Americans support retaining all the Bush tax cuts, while a similar portion believe they should all be allowed to expire. Twenty-seven percent favor repealing the tax cuts for wealthy, while maintaining the rest, as the Obama administration has proposed.

Thanks to Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour’s (R) prodigious fundraising, which continued apace even the very same day the oil slick reached Mississippi, the Republican Governors Association was able to raise an astonishing $19 million last quarter. A ThinkProgress review of RGA documents recently filed with the Internal Revenue Service reveals that a significant portion of last quarter’s haul—more than $2,000,000—came from oil and gas industry interests, including:

$1,000,000 from infamous right-wing oil billionaire and tea party-funder David Koch.

$250,000 from Devon Energy

$150,000 from Chevron

$100,000 from ExxonMobil

$100,000 from Hunt Oil

$25,000 from Marathon Oil

$25,000 each from Bollinger Shipyards and the president of Gilbert Cheramie Boat, both of which provide support services to the offshore oil drilling industry.

Barbour is no stranger to raking in huge sums of money from Big Oil and other polluters. He raised some $1.8 million in campaign cash from the oil and gas industries during his 2003 and 2007 gubernatorial campaigns. During his two cycles as chairman of the Republican National Committee in the 90s, the oil and gas industry contributed $30 million to the RNC — nearly three times as much as it gave to Democrats during the same period. He also maintained extremely close ties to dirty energy interests when he was one of Washington D.C.’s most prominent corporate lobbyists, representing some of the nation’s largest polluters. As Mississippi governor, he has remained an outspoken opponent of clean energy policies.

As BP’s oil rolled onto the beaches of the Gulf Coast and the cash rolled into the RGA, Barbour consistently and conspicuously downplayed the significance of the BP disaster. After skipping two meetings with President Obama, he went on to argue that the Obama administration’s common-sense moratorium on deepwater drilling was worse than the spill itself. And before eventually backtracking, Barbour complained that the $20 billion escrow fund BP agreed to setup “bother[ed]” him because it might cut into BP’s profits.

One wonders whether it’s a coincidence that all of the large donations listed above came in after Barbour began downplaying the significance of the disaster. The Biloxi Sun-Herald, which twice endorsed Barbour for governor, wrote that Barbour’s “underestimation” of the oil disaster left had left Mississippi’s Gulf Coast “more vulnerable” than that of neighboring states. The paper also called his decision to continue fundraising during “these days of crisis” “questionable, even troubling.”