Category: Conservatives

Willard ‘Mitt’ Romney: The (Un-)Artful Dodger

Posted on by TL
Ask Romney Anything?
Ask Willard "Mitt" Romney, the (Un-)Artful Dodger, anything? Really?

For those who watched the GOP circular firing squad Saturday night, you may recall Mitt Romney referring to a question about states banning birth control “silly.”

The only thing “silly” was his dodge, as he tried to deny his own state the right to offer birth control in 2005.

From the Huffington Post:

Mitt Romney artfully dodged a question about whether states have the right to ban birth control during Saturday’s Republican presidential debate, calling the question “silly” and saying that states wouldn’t want to do that anyway. But as governor of Massachusetts in 2005, Romney took a harder line on contraception, vetoing a widely supported bill that would make the morning-after pill available over the counter in that state and require hospitals to offer emergency contraception to rape victims.

His surprising veto did not stand. The Massachusetts state Senate voted unanimously to overrule it, and the state House voted 139-16 to do the same.

Imagine that.

If he does get the GOP nomination, this multi-millionaire’s record will speak for itself, even as he tries to blow smoke over it.

Santorum: I Cashed In Because I Care

Posted on by TL

I actually watched tonight’s GOP presidential debate. Saw no one that appeared very presidential. Much, much pandering to the far, far right.

Every time Rick Santorum spoke he looked like a nervous schoolboy who had to pee.  No kidding.

Not my observation, but the observation of someone with whom I was watching.

Still, Santorum managed to defend the massive amounts of money he made from lobbying since he lost his U.S. Senate seat.

From Mother Jones:

During Saturday’s GOP Primary debate, Rep. Ron Paul accused Rick Santorum of being a “big government person” who exploited his beltway connections with lobbyists to get wealthy after losing his Senate seat in 2006. Santorum insisted that he only took a series of high paying “consulting” jobs because he believed in the causes.

“I’m known in this race and I was known in Washington, DC, as a cause guy. I am a cause guy. I care deeply about this country and about the causes that make me —that I think are at the core of this country,” Santorum said. “And when I left the United States Senate, I got involved in causes that I believe in.”

Santorum was one of the less wealthy members of the Senate during his tenure, though as the main gatekeeper for the “K-Street Project,” the attempt to place Republicans in influential positions in DC lobbying firms, Santorum developed plenty of key connections with lobbying firms and trade associations. After leaving Congress those connections proved financially beneficial. Financial disclosure forms filed last year indicate that Santorum went from making around $200,000 a year to more than a million dollars in 2010.

Washington, as it stands now, is an incredible cash cow for these GOP candidates. Do you really think any of them will change that in the least if they win the presidency?

Paul Krugman on Romney’s Record of Destroying Good Jobs

Posted on by TL

Mit Romney, job destroyer:

Suppose, for example, that your chain of office-supply stores gains market share at the expense of rivals. You employ more people; your rivals employ fewer. What’s the overall effect on U.S. employment? One thing’s for sure: it’s a lot less than the number of workers your company added.

Better yet, suppose that you expand in part not by beating your competitors, but by buying them. Now their employees are your employees. Have you created jobs?

The point is that Mr. Romney’s claims about being a job creator would be nonsense even if he were being honest about the numbers, which he isn’t.

At this point, some readers may ask whether it isn’t equally wrong to say that Mr. Romney destroyed jobs. Yes, it is. The real complaint about Mr. Romney and his colleagues isn’t that they destroyed jobs, but that they destroyed good jobs.

When the dust settled after the companies that Bain restructured were downsized — or, as happened all too often, went bankrupt — total U.S. employment was probably about the same as it would have been in any case. But the jobs that were lost paid more and had better benefits than the jobs that replaced them. Mr. Romney and those like him didn’t destroy jobs, but they did enrich themselves while helping to destroy the American middle class.

And that reality is, of course, what all the blather and misdirection about job-creating businessmen and job-destroying Democrats is meant to obscure.

Rick Santorum’s Wife had a Second-term Abortion – But That’s Supposed to be Different

Posted on by TL

We must tread lightly regarding family members of candidates. Still, when anyone takes radical positions, preaches endlessly and with great sanctimony, well, that candidate merits closer attention – especially if that candidate wants to be President of the United States.

Frankly, I am in shock as I write this.

Rick Santorum’s wife had a second-term abortion to save her life, so reports oursilverribbon.org:

Rick Santorum is one dangerously confused denialist. The former Pennsylvania Senator and presidential aspirant is best known for his inability to associate his professed compassion for life at the level of the zygote, with the physical realities of human sexuality.  He has equated loving same-sex relationships to bestiality.  He is opposed to abortion under any circumstance. Almost.

In October, 1996, his wife Karen had a second trimester abortion.  They don’t like to describe it that way. In his 2004 interview with Terry Gross, Santorum characterizes the fetus, who must be treated as an autonomous person, as a practically a gunslinging threat, whom the mother must murder in self-defense. Karen has had to justify her decision to save her own life by explaining that if she died her other children would have lost a mother.

The compassionate side of me says this is an incredibly private family issue. However, the Santorums have already discussed this publicly.

Read for yourself and decide: http://oursilverribbon.org

Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George Earns Turning Left’s First Annual Rainbow Flag Award

Posted on by TL
Cardinal Francis George Rainbow Award 2011
Francis Cardinal George, winner of the first-annual Turning Left Rainbow Flag Award.

Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George easily won Turning Left’s first-annual Rainbow Flag award after comparing — and then defending his remarks regarding — the city’s gay pride parade to a rally of the Ku Klux Klan.

Yes, the KKK.

Honestly, what was this man thinking?

Some gay rights activists in Chicago asked the Cardinal to apologize for his remarks, calling his remarks “hurtful,” “brazen” and “bigoted.”

But George, always one to hold steadfast to his conclusions, refused.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Linking the KKK to gay rights activism led to criticism of the cardinal. On Tuesday, he issued a statement on the Archdiocese of Chicago web site defending his comments.

“The Chicago Gay Pride Parade has been organized and attended for many years without interfering with the worship of God in a Catholic church,” the cardinal’s statement said. “When the 2012 Parade organizers announced a time and route change this year, it was apparent that the Parade would interfere with divine worship in a Catholic parish on the new route.

“When the pastor’s request for reconsideration of the plans was ignored, the organizers invited an obvious comparison to other groups who have historically attempted to stifle the religious freedom of the Catholic Church. One such organization is the Ku Klux Klan which, well into the 1940’s, paraded through American cities not only to interfere with Catholic worship but also to demonstrate that Catholics stand outside of the American consensus. It is not a precedent anyone should want to emulate.”

How can the Cardinal possibly miss the fact that this really was not about him, or any “Catholic parish on the new route”?

Why would he possibly think that this change completely revolved around the Catholic Church, and the mass schedule of one parish?

Worst of all, the Cardinal lumped all parade participants in the same category with the KKK.  He did not distinguish.  The insult was to all of our GLBTQ brothers and sisters.

The change of time for the parade, believe it or not, was actually initiated to keep inebriated people from sullying the streets of Chicago. Thanks to your efforts, the parade will now launch at Noon, and the drinking will continue.

Here’s the rub:

Alderman Tom Tunney (44th Ward) and organizer Richard Pfeiffer meet with church representatives last week to discuss the parish’s concerns about the route and proposed start time of 10 a.m., which is one hour before the church’s morning mass.

As Chicago’s first openly gay alderman and a member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Tunney was caught in the middle.

Now parade organizers say the 2012 parade will be pushed back to Noon – the previous start time – to help accommodate Sunday services along the parade route.

“After consulting with the various City departments, we believe this is an agreeable compromise to help keep the parade safe and manageable while respecting the diversity of our neighborhood,” Tunney and Pfeiffer said in a joint statement.

Congratulations to FRANCIS CARDINAL GEORGE, winner of Turning Left’s first-ever annual Rainbow Flag Award!

DailyMail: Single Catholic school teacher fired for ‘grave immoral act’ of having baby through artificial insemination

Posted on by TL

This is truly sad:

Christa Dias, a former teacher at Holy Family and St. Lawrence Catholic schools in Cincinnati, Ohio, claims she was fired for becoming pregnant using artificial insemination.

Ms Dias was fired in October 2010 when, at five and a half months pregnant, she approached her employer about maternity leave options.

And this is truly despicable:

The schools initially fired Ms Dias, 32, for being single and pregnant, Cincinnati.com reports. 

When the schools discovered that violated several federal and state anti-discrimination laws, they said she was fired because she became pregnant using artificial insemination.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

And Cardinal George in Chicago defends likening the Gay Pride Parade to a Ku Klux Klan rally.

How sad for him.

How saw for Catholics everywhere.

Rick Perry wins Texas Monthly’s Bum Steer Award

Posted on by TL

Bum Steer Award goes to Rick PerryFrom the Houston Chronicle’s campaign blog:

Texas Monthly has announced its Bum Steer of the Year, an annual “award” granted to the person the magazine deems “has been responsible for the biggest screw-up, gaffe, fumble, stumble, train wreck, or humiliation of the past twelve months.”

And this year it goes to Rick Perry.

Fox News Apologizes for Offending Jews In Latin America Christmas Poll

Posted on by TL

Can you believe this?

If there were any doubts that Fox’s reign of offense extended beyond English speaking borders, may they now be laid to rest.

In a Fox Latin America Facebook poll promoting a National Geographic Christmas special, they asked:

Who Do You Think Is Responsible For The Death of Christ?

A. Pontius Pilate
B. Jewish People
C. High Priests

More from AddictingInfo.

GOP Working Overtime To Keep College Students from Voting

Posted on by TL

From the New York Times:

Political leaders should be encouraging young adults to participate in civic life, but many Republican state lawmakers are doing everything they can instead to prevent students from voting in the 2012 presidential election. Some have openly acknowledged doing so because students tend to be liberal.

And this too:

William O’Brien, the speaker of the New Hampshire State House, told a Tea Party group earlier this year that students are “foolish” and tend to “vote their feelings” because they lack life experience. “Voting as a liberal,” he said, “that’s what kids do.” And that’s why, he said, he supported measures to prohibit students from voting from their college addresses and to end same-day registration. New Hampshire Republicans even tried to pass a bill that would have kept students who previously lived elsewhere from voting in the state; fortunately, the measure failed, as did the others Mr. O’Brien favored.

Read more.

Nod to Eric Byler.