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Economy

These Four Republicans Want You To Believe Boehner’s Fiscal Showdown Proposal Is A Compromise

By Annie-Rose Strasser on Dec 4, 2012 at 11:30 am


Rep. John Boehner’s (R-OH) proposal to avert the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ is far from moderate: He refuses to consider taxing millionaires, he wants to raise the payroll tax, and his plan to raise revenue is similar to the detail-free ideas of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney. On top of all that, the namesake of his plan — economics heavyweight Erskine Bowles — rejected the title, saying that the plan wasn’t centrist enough.

But that isn’t stopping some far-right organizations and members of Congress from rejecting the proposal. A few Republicans have come out against the Boehner plan, either as an attempt to try to make the Speaker look moderate when he’s not, or as a way of evincing a personal vendetta. Here are four Republicans calling Boehner’s plan a cave on the fiscal showdown:

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS): The freshman Congressman from Kansas might be harboring some personal feelings against GOP leadership right now: Huelskamp was just taken off of the budget committee for having opposed leadership too many times. He’s speaking out against leadership Republicans, saying they “only give lip service to conservative principles.”

Americans for Prosperity Preisdent Tim Phillips: The point of an advocacy organization is to push their own agenda, and AFP has been vocal about theirs: To stop Democrats from raising any taxes, and to cut back on social safety net spending. Phillips trashed Boehner’s plan in an interview with National Journal, saying “Sadly, this plan leaves conservatives wanting.”

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC): As a tea party standard-bearer, DeMint may be trying to push Boehner as far to the right as possible by calling out his plan on Twitter. It’s also possible the Senator was feigning outrage, an easy way to paint Boehner as reasonable. “Speaker Boehner’s offer of an $800 billion tax hike will destroy jobs and allow politicians in Washington to spend even more,” he wrote.

The Heritage Foundation: According to National Journal, the advocacy arm of the Heritage Foundation sent its members an email disparaging Boehner’s plan: “Not only are Republican leaders asking their members to go back on their promise not to raise taxes on the American people,” the email reads, “but they appear unwilling to fight for the bold entitlement reforms that won them the House in 2010.”

In fact, there’s no compromise in Boehner’s plan at all, just a vague promise to find a method of increasing revenue. It cuts deeply from social programs while sparing top earners from any additional taxes. Indeed, every potential olive branch extended by Republicans has been nothing more than a bait and switch, signaling to the public that Republicans are willing to play a fair game, but without any actual proposals to go along with the gesture.

Election

Despite ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comments, Right-Wing Groups Continue To Spend For Akin

By Josh Israel on Oct 25, 2012 at 9:00 am

Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO)

Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO)

After Senate nominee and U.S. Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-MO) August comments that victims of “legitimate rape” are unlikely to become pregnant, a wide array of leading Republicans called on him to withdraw from the race. When he refused, some outside groups cancelled their plans to run ads on Akin’s behalf. But, a ThinkProgress review of independent expenditures shows several groups have continued to spend in support of Akin.

Among those continuing to back Akin are:

1. Reinventing A New Direction PAC (Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) leadership PAC): This political action committee has spent at least $100,000 on its media efforts against incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill (D). The group’s ad attacks McCaskill for supporting foreign aid. Even Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) denounced the spots — which are also being run against other Senate Democrats.

2. Faith Family Freedom Fund (the super PAC affiliated with the Family Research Council, an anti-LGBT hate group): This super PAC has reported spending more than $15,000 on radio ads attacking McCaskill for her support for Obamacare and the 2009 stimulus law — though it does not mention the social issues the group tends to focus on. One speaker in the ads argues “everyone’s talking about this so-called war on women, and it seems to me that McCaskill is the problem,” because she “made the economy worse.” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins criticized the GOP’s abandonment as “suspect.”

3. Senate Conservatives Fund (Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) leadership PAC): This political action committee has spent more than $90,000 backing Akin, including e-mail list rental and on-line processing. The PAC’s website is collecting online contributions for Akin and says it has already raised more than $444,000 for his campaign. DeMint and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) endorsed Akin in September, saying, “We support Todd Akin and hope freedom-loving Americans in Missouri and around the country will join us so we can save our country from fiscal collapse.”

4. National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund and its NRA Institute for Legislative Action: The political and lobbying arms of the pro-gun group
have combined to spent more than $140,000 on flyers and postcard mailings. The group’s endorsement praised Akin for his “proven record of defending the Second Amendment.”

5. National Right to Life PAC: This anti-abortion group spent more than $30,000 on mailings backing Akin.

6. Freedom’s Defense Fund: This PAC, tied to birther and Swift Boat conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi has spent over $150,000 running TV ads in support of Akin. While one recent ad attacked McCaskill for her support of “socialism” and “the liberal assault on free markets and traditional values,” the group made the odd decision to run a pro-Akin ad that actually reminds voters of Akin’s “legitimate rape” comments.

Watch the spot:

7. Missouri Farm Bureau Federation Statewide Farm PAC: The group, which claims to support candidates who are pro-agriculture, has spent about $20,000 on radio ads supporting Akin.

8. National Federation of Independent Business: This pro-GOP trade association spent more than $10,000 on mailings against McCaskill. The group, which calls itself “the voice of small business,” endorsed Akin this month, noting his opposition to Obamacare, tax increases, and “the regulatory bureaucracies in Washington.”

In recent weeks, Akin has come under additional fire for repeatedly comparing McCaskill to a dog, claiming there is no “science” behind evolution, and arguing against equal pay laws.

NEWS FLASH

DeMint Likens Teachers Striking In Chicago To ‘Thugs’ In The Middle East | Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) jokingly compared the teachers strike in Chicago to the unrest in the Middle East during a speech at the Values Voters summit Friday morning. “You know, we had a lot of bad news this week,” DeMint began. “On my way over, I was reading another story about a distant place where thugs had put 400,000 children out in the streets. And then I realized that was a story about the Chicago teachers strike. But we’ve got to think of good things.” Watch it:

LGBT

DeMint Proves Validity Of Pro-Gay Ad By Inventing Controversy To Get It Pulled

By Zack Ford on Jul 30, 2012 at 12:45 pm

Supporters of Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) have been pressuring media outlets to pull an ad attacking his position that people who are gay should not be allowed to teach in public schools. Now, the senator’s attorney, Cleta Mitchell, has successfully convinced WCBD Channel 2 in Charleston to pull the ad, inherently proving its very message.

The supposed controversy is a claim that the ad portrays DeMint as being anti-Semitic, though notably no one in Charleston’s Jewish community actually complained about the ad. It juxtaposes a fake headline about DeMint opposing letting Jews be teachers against a real one about opposing letting people who are gay be teachers. WCBD wanted the ad to be edited to clarify  that the fake headline was fake — even though the narration clearly distinguishes between the two — but the ad’s sponsor, the Alliance for Full Acceptance, refused to change it. Watch the ad in question:

The only aspect of this story sadder than the faux outrage and manipulated use of anti-Semitism is the ironic way the response exemplifies the point of the ad. DeMint’s beliefs about gay people are horribly offensive, essentially suggesting that they are all an inherent threat to children. If he were to say that about any other group, be it Jews, people of color, people with disabilities, or people with hazel eyes, he would be instantly decried. Instead, his anti-gay positions continue to be minimized as his supporters invent a different attack on him as a means to defend him and his biases. Hopefully this manufactured controversy helps more people understand DeMint’s reprehensible beliefs and think twice about whether or not gays and lesbians have actually achieved respect in society.

(HT: Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters.)

LGBT

DeMint Supporters Demand TV Stations Pull Ad Exposing His Anti-Gay Comments

By Guest Blogger on Jul 24, 2012 at 11:10 am

Many supporters of Sen. Jim DeMint have demanded that Charleston area television stations  pull a recent ad that features his past comments that gay and lesbian teachers should not be allowed in the classroom in public schools. Highlighting DeMint’s anti-gay convictions, the ad equates DeMint’s anti-gay statement with the same logic that was previously used to fuel anti-Semitism. Specifically, the ad begins with a hypothetical question: “What if you saw this headline? ‘Senator Jim DeMint: Jews Should Not Teach Public School’” The ad announcer than replaces the word “Jews” with “Gay” in the headline, reflecting DeMint’s actual statement.

According to the Alliance for Full Acceptance, the gay rights advocacy group that funded the ad campaign, local television stations have ignored the calls to remove the ad and have continued to air the 30-second piece. Although DeMint supporters have argued that the ad falsely presents the Senator as anti-Semitic, DeMint’s original comments were widely panned as highly discriminatory and controversial. The Senator made the remarks in 2004 after he was asked about a state GOP platform item which said that homosexuals should not teach in schools — DeMint replied, “I don’t think they should. We need the folks that are teaching in schools to represent our values.”

Warren Redman-Gress, the directer of the Alliance for Full Acceptance, indicated that he was pleased with the way that Charleston stations have handled the matter — “We are really thankful the TV stations see the value in what we’re doing, and, in that first salvo, have stood by us.”

The ad is part of a campaign that began last month to raise public awareness of how commonly discriminatory attitudes towards the LGBT community are often more accepted and normalized than similar feelings towards other racial or social groups. Senator DeMint, in particular, has had a history of controversial and anti-gay comments. From falsely claiming that the chief military officials did not want DADT to be repealed to opposing hate crimes legislation to delaying confirmation of gay judicial nominees, DeMint is no stranger to opposing equality.

By worrying whether he comes off as anti-Semitic without concern that he’s anti-gay, DeMint’s supporters prove the very point the ad is trying to make. Watch it:

–Angela Guo

Security

Relying On Conspiracy Theories, GOPers Say They’ll Block Critical Sea Treaty

By Zack Beauchamp on Jul 16, 2012 at 5:30 pm

Ratifying the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) seems like a no-brainer. The treaty’s central provisions divvy up maritime territory among countries for the purposes of natural resource development. More than 160 countries have acceded to it, including the whole of the developed world. Iran, Syria, and North Korea oppose it while the Obama administration, five former Republican Secretaries of State, the U.S. military, and major affected industries all support ratification.

But today, according to a blog post by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), enough Senate Republicans have signed on to block the Treaty so that it will not pass in the coming year: “4 additional senators have joined in opposition to LOST, including Mike Johanns (R-NE), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA). With 34 senators against the misguided treaty, LOST will not be ratified by the Senate this year.” DeMint’s complaints against the treaty, listed in the same post, aren’t remotely based in reality:

  • Demint claims LOST would sneak in a cap and trade law for greenhouse gasses. In reality, a State Department legal analysis found that “it contains no obligation to implement any particular climate change policies.”
  • DeMint claims the U.S. would have to pay “trillions in royalties” to state sponsors of terrorism. But according to John Norton Moore, a U.S. ambassador for the Law of the Sea in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations, “the treaty grants the U.S. the only permanent veto as to how the modest royalties, collected in return for secure property rights, are to be distributed to state parties” and would allow “U.S. access to strategic minerals of copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese and rare earths worth about $1 trillion.“
  • DeMint claims it would strengthen China against the United States. Actually, it would give the U.S. a leg up on Beijing in several major areas.

So why are 34 Republicans opposing it? Because, as Dave Weigel reported for Foreign Policy, conspiracy theories about the U.N. have “moved from the fringes of the GOP into its mainstream.” Republicans, Weigel discovered, have been swayed by a fringe theory that claims LOST is facilitating the U.N.’s takeover of American sovereignty:

“[I've] heard we should not join this convention because, quote, ‘It’s a U.N. treaty,’” said [Secretary] Clinton, “and of course that means the black helicopters are on their way.” Opposition to the treaty, she said, is “unfortunate because it’s opposition based in ideology and mythology, not in facts.”

Republicans were unconvinced. “Most wars we’ve fought have been fought over ideology and philosophy,” said Idaho’s Sen. Jim Risch, who’s been winning elections in his state since 1970. “If we give up one scintilla of sovereignty that this country has fought, has bled for, and have given up our treasure and the best that America has, I can’t vote for it.”

Of course, when military leaders pointed out that the treaty would actually strengthen America’s position in the world, Risch yelled at them. The most influential advocate for the “sovereignty” concern that Risch was peddling, according to Weigel, is Frank Gaffney, a well-documented source of Islamophobic conspiracy theories.

Update

Senator John Kerry’s office postponed this year’s ratification vote until after the election, predicting industry pressure means “it’s a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’ for the Law of the Sea.”

Health

Republican Senator Calls For Federal Takeover Of State Health Exchanges By Telling States Not To Set One Up

By Amanda Peterson Beadle on Jun 28, 2012 at 3:14 pm

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the Affordable Care Act, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) condemned the law as “an unprecedented and enormous tax.” Surprisingly, he also called on states to ignore the ruling and stop implementing the ACA’s exchanges. Interestingly, that would lead to the federal government stepping in:

“I urge every governor to stop implementing the health care exchanges that would help implement the harmful effects of this misguided law. Americans have loudly rejected this federal takeover of health care, and governors should join with the people and reject its implementation.”

The Affordable Care Act requires each state to set up a health insurance exchange where consumers can purchase insurance, but if a state does not implement one, then the federal government will operate the state’s exchange program. Officials in several Republican-dominated states put off setting up their exchanges until after the ruling, and governors in three states — Florida, South Carolina, and Wisconsin — say they will not act to implement the law until after the November election if Mitt Romney is elected and tries to repeal the law.

States have until November to turn in their exchange plans to the federal government so that the state programs can be approved by Jan. 1, 2013 — and in place by Jan. 1, 2014. But for states like Georgia, where legislators have done nothing to set up an exchange, and other states that have chosen not to act, it’s unclear if officials can set up an exchange program in time to avoid intervention from the federal government.

Special Topic

Sen. DeMint: People With Pre-Existing Conditions Actually Got Better Health Care Before Obamacare

By Annie-Rose Strasser and Scott Keyes on Mar 28, 2012 at 10:13 am

WASHINGTON, DC — Though one of the key successes — and most popular aspects — of the Affordable Care Act is the provision banning insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) thinks they were better off before the law passed.

ThinkProgress spoke with DeMint outside a tea party rally nearby where the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the constitutionality of the individual mandate. The second-term South Carolina senator called the pre-existing condition clause simply an “excuse for government to run health care.” We asked whether people with such conditions would get less health care under Obamacare than they did prior to its enactment. “They probably will,” declared DeMint.

DEMINT: I can guarantee you people with pre-existing conditions are going to get less health care—lower quality health care—under Obamacare than they would under a state-run plan.

KEYES: Do you think they get less health care under Obamacare than they did before Obamacare was enacted?

DEMINT: They probably will. It will definitely cost more for everyone and it will be inefficient and it won’t be as patient-focused. And so we need to make sure that we do the thing the right way and there are ways that everyone can have insurance, and that’s our goal.

Watch it:

While DeMint may think care will be worse for those with pre-existing conditions, this is simply not true. Nearly 50,000 people previously turned down because of a pre-existing condition have already been able to receive health care because of the ACA and the new Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan that the law created. Already, health care reform has stopped discrimination against children with pre-existing conditions. By 2014, that same law will apply to all adults, ensuring that everyone with an existing medical problem is able to get the care they need.

Republicans are currently pushing for the repeal of the ACA as the Supreme Court hears a case on the constitutionality of the individual mandate section of the law. If the mandate were to be repealed, health insurers would likely have to once again deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, because it would be unsustainable to have an insurance pool made up of only “high risk” people.

Yet for DeMint, that world where insurance companies could deny health insurance to people with pre-existing conditions is not only preferable, but somehow better for such people. If Republicans get their wish, DeMint’s vision may soon be realized at the expense of health care for millions of Americans with existing medical problems.

Justice

DeMint Joins The Mike Lee Club, Will Oppose All Judicial Nominees

By Ian Millhiser on Mar 9, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Earlier this year, Tea Party Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) announced that he would oppose each of President Obama’s nominees in retaliation for the fact that Lee believed the president’s recent recess appointments to be unconstitutional. Lee also believes that national child labor laws, Social Security, Medicare, FEMA, food stamps, the FDA, and income assistance for the poor are unconstitutional.

Regrettably, Lee’s fellow Tea Partier Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has now decided to follow Lee’s lead:

DeMint, who voted last fall for two Obama judicial choices from South Carolina, said he’s now rejecting all of the president’s nominees to protest his winter recess appointments of four controversial nominees to avoid GOP opposition.

“President Obama has shown a complete disdain for the people’s elected representatives and our duty to advise and consent on nominations,” DeMint told McClatchy.

“Unless he revokes his unprecedented recess appointments that defied the constitutional role of Congress, I don’t intend to support any of his judicial nominees this year,” DeMint said.

Needless to say, Lee and DeMint are wrong about the constitutionality of the president’s recess appointments. They and many of their fellow congressional Republicans have argued that the Senate can defeat the president’s recess appointments power by having a single senator hit the Senate’s gavel twice every three days (this is not an exaggeration). Yet, as two of President George W. Bush’s top constitutional advisors explained in 2010, the question of whether the president can make recess appointments does not turn on whether the Senate engages in some empty formality, rather, “the question ‘is whether in a practical sense the Senate is in session so that its advice and consent can be obtained.’”

Because the Senate was out of town and conducting no business when the president named his recent recess appointments, there is no good reason to doubt their constitutionality.

Justice

Right Wing Groups Spend Over $1 Million To Elect Senate Candidate With Fringe Constitutional Theories

By Josh Israel on Jan 20, 2012 at 6:30 pm

Texas Republican Senate candidate Ted Cruz

Senate candidate Ted Cruz (R-TX)

While most of the coverage of skyrocketing spending by SuperPACs and tax-exempt 501(c)(4) organizations has focused on the tens of millions going to presidential campaign attack ads, one statewide candidate has been the beneficiary of $1.1 million in spending by right-wing groups already this cycle — a radical attorney named Ted Cruz.

Cruz, a former Texas state solicitor general, is seeking the Republican nomination for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s (R-TX) open senate seat. Although his two primary opponents have raised much more in campaign cash to date, every “independent expenditure” reported for the race, to date, has been aimed at helping Cruz’s candidacy or hurting his opponents.

Yesterday, Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) Senate Conservatives Fund reported spending $500,000 on a pro-Cruz independent expenditure. Likewise, the conservative Club for Growth, Club for Growth Action, and former Rep. Dick Armey’s (R-TX) FreedomWorks have spent more than $634,000 on pro-Cruz ads and over $468,000 on ads bashing primary opponent Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst for being a “moderate.”

So what’s so exciting about Cruz that far right groups are willing to pay top dollar to put him in the Senate? Cruz excited anti-government groups with his unconstitutional proposal for a backdoor method of state nullification of federal laws and the Affordable Care Act. He co-authored a white paper advocating a radical reading of the Constitution that would lead to Medicaid and most federal education programs being declared unconstitutional, and he supports an equally radical plan to privatize much of Social Security.

Moreover, if Cruz is elected, he would quickly find several new friends who share his inability to distinguish the Constitution from the Tea Party’s policy preferences. Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Rand Paul (R-KY) have all pushed even more radical efforts to declare much of the Twentieth Century unconstitutional.

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