Showing posts with label mccarthyism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mccarthyism. Show all posts

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Michele Bachmann Won't Seek Re-Election

photo MICHELE-BACHMANN-NEWSWEEK.jpg

From Reuters
Michele Bachmann, a Tea Party firebrand and 2012 presidential contender, announced on Wednesday she will not seek re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives but said her surprise decision had nothing to do with multiple investigations into her campaign finances.
. . . Bachmann also said the decision was "not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries" into her 2012 White House campaign, which is the subject of at least five federal and state investigations into potential campaign finance violations.
The Federal Election Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of Congressional Ethics, the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee and a local Iowa police department are looking into allegations about the campaign.




"Be assured, my decision was not in any way influenced by any concerns about my being reelected to Congress. I've always in the past defeated candidates who are capable, qualified, and well-funded. And I have every confidence that if I ran, I would defeat the individual who I defeated last year, who recently announced that he is once again running. And rest assured, this decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign or my former presidential staff. It was clearly understood that compliance with all rules and regulations was an absolute necessity for my presidential campaign, and I have no reason to believe that that was not the case."



I think she's going to the Elephant's Graveyard.
~ Chris Matthews on Hardball

. . . she never really explains her head-snapping decision to step down. She starts with a confusing numerology about her length of service in various political offices. Bachmann says she figured eight years was enough time in office. Strange, because just Friday she sent out an email asking for money for her re-election.
~ John Dickerson on Slate

Bob Dole must be some kind of prophet.
Not 72 hours after Fox News Channel aired the former Republican leader’s suggestion that the GOP put out a “closed for repairs” sign, Michele Bachmann announced that she’s going out of business. Just like that, the Republican conglomerate got an unexpected chance to shutter one of the balkiest shops in its supply chain.
. . . Soft, slow music, with a sound not unlike a church bell tolling, played as she began her announcement. . . . The bell tolled a final time as the video faded to black — and so, too, did the career of a lawmaker unlike any other this country has seen since the shot heard around the world was fired in New Hampshire.
~ Dana Milbank on Washington Post

The announcement that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is not seeking reelection will leave the Capitol a much less interesting place to fact check. As one of our colleagues put it, “The entire fact checking industry may have to hold a national day of mourning.”
Bachmann is not just fast and loose with the facts; she is consistently and unapologetically so. No other lawmaker earned as high a percentage of Four-Pinocchio ratings as Bachmann — and she earned an average of more than Three Pinocchios as a presidential candidate.
~ Glenn Kessler on Washington Post

There is, inevitably, a rambling quality to an eight-and-a-half-minute monologue. This is Bachmann's hostage video to reality. The staff decision to back her vocal track with faint Springsteenesque music was a tell—the video would have seemed ever odder without it. Bachmann was at turns defensive and defiant and bucket-list ticking, talking about her excitement at taking a plane to London to attend Margaret Thatcher’s funeral, her co-sponsorship of the 37th attempt to overturn Obamacare (“which passed in the House”), and her philosophically contradictory commitment to bring federal tax dollars to her district to build a regional airport and rebuild a bridge. Note to Bachmann: you didn’t build that.
~ John Avlon on Daily Beast

























































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Friday, August 3, 2012

Harry Reid Asking for Mitt's Tax Returns is "McCarthyism"

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So, the word’s out that he hasn’t paid any taxes for 10 years. Let him prove that he has paid taxes, because he hasn’t. We already know from one partial tax return that he gave us, he has money hidden in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and a Swiss banking account. Mitt Romney makes more money in a single day than the average middle-class family makes in two years or more.
. . . I am not basing this on some figment of my imagination/ I have had a number of people tell me that. I don’t think the burden should be on me. The burden should be on him. He’s the one I’ve alleged has not paid any taxes.
~ Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

Well, it’s time for Harry to put up or shut up. Harry’s going to have to describe who it is he spoke with, because, of course, that’s completely and totally wrong. It’s untrue, dishonest, and inaccurate. It’s wrong. So I’m looking forward to have Harry reveal his sources, and we’ll probably find out it’s the White House.
~ Mitt Romney on Fox

Harry Reid's statements are baseless and untrue, and I would ask him one simple question - 'Have you no sense of decency, Sir?' Is there nothing that you won't do to debase yourself and the office you hold, in the name of dirty politics?
. . . This reminds me of the McCarthy hearings back in the 1950s.
~ Romney Advisor Eric Fehrnstrom on Fox News

Fehrnstrom's line, "Have you no decency, sir?" is a paraphrase of what Army lawyer Joseph N. Welch asked Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy in 1954, when he famously stood up to the powerful, witch-hunting senator who was falsely accusing people of being Communists.
~ Huffington Post

What needs to happen is the focus needs to shift to Harry Reid and his questionable legal behavior here. If anybody deserves to be investigated, it is Harry Reid for what he's doing and how he's doing it. The media has become a bunch of hecklers. They're not journalists seeking information. They're not asking questions that are on the minds of the American people. They're seeking to trip Romney up. Obama is nothing. He's not even president of the United States right now. He's not even celebrity of the US. He is the fundraiser-in-chief. We know that every poll out there, other than Rasmussen, is oversampling Democrats. Every one of them. We know that these people on the Democrat side are lying to themselves with their polls about how well Obama is doing. Harry Reid is starting to sound like an angry old white man. He's sounding deranged.
~ Rush Limbaugh

Reid's speculation on Romney's taxes is McCarthyism? Can a Godwin episode be far behind?
~ Meteor Blades on Daily Kos

It's always hilarious to hear the party of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove talk about the harsh tone of politics.
~ comment by jj32 on Daily Kos

"McCarthyism"??? RotFLMAO . . . This from the campaign that has, so far as I can tell, refused to comment on the true McCarthyism from Bachmann, Gohmert, Westmoreland, et al
~ comment by Its the Supreme Court Stupid on Daily Kos

Mitt Romney could "shut up" Harry Reid. Mitt Romney could "shut up" all of us by doing what every presidential candidate does and show his tax returns. Every day that Mitt Romney refuses to show his tax returns costs him politically and therefore logically casts more and more suspicion on why he is not releasing his tax returns.
~ Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC


Tax Montage & Discussion from Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell

 
Transcript: Dana Bash on CNN's Anderson Cooper, August 2, 2012
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We now have a couple of responses, Anderson. Let me read you the first one, that is, "Senator Reid stands by his comments. Governor Romney's continued refusal to release his tax returns raises legitimate questions about what he is hiding and whether he paid any taxes at all. Governor Romney can easily end this debate by following the precedent set by his father and releasing his tax returns."
And as you were coming on the air, Anderson, I got a follow-up like the statement, which also stands by what they call his credible source that Romney has not paid taxes for 10 years, and he's calling Romney playing tricks, many tricks at his disposal for avoiding taxes. So not backing down at all.
I got to tell you, covering Harry Reid for a lot of years, there are times when he says things off the cuff that make his aides wince, like talking smelly tourists in the capitol. I'm not making this up. This is not one of those times.
This is one of those times where he knows exactly what he's doing. He's doing it on purpose. He's doing it for political reasons because he wants this issue, Romney's taxes, to be talked about on programs like yours, and wants it to be headlines in newspapers, and wants Mitt Romney to respond on this issue, which they think is a negative for Romney as opposed to issues that Romney wants to talk about.
. . . But this is -- when Harry Reid doesn't like somebody, he goes for the jugular. And that is what he is doing now. He is an old boxer and he still likes to be a political street fighter. He knew full well that he was going to be questioned over and over again on who his source was. And he said -- he's told people close to him who I have spoken today that he didn't care. He's not telling going to tell who his source is.
But I did speak, I just have to tell you, that I did speak to one source who's very close to Senator Reid who claims to also know who this Bain investor is that Reid spoke with, and insists that this is a credible person and this person if we knew the name we would understand that they would have the authority and the ability to know about Romney's tax returns. Whether we'll find it out ever, who knows. But they're doing this on purpose so that this is the discussion.
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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Debunking Bachmann's McCarthyist Muslim Spy Charges

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It appears that there has been deep penetration in the halls of our United States government by the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood has been found to be an un-indicted co-conspirator on terrorism cases and yet it appears that there are individuals who are associated with the Muslim Brotherhood who have positions, very sensitive positions, in our Department of Justice, our Department of Homeland Security, potentially even in the National Intelligence Agency. I am calling upon the Justice Department and these various departments to investigate through the Inspector General to see who these people are and what access they have to our information.
~ Senator Michele Bachmann speaking to the American Family Assocation


Letter to Bachmann from Congressman Keith Ellison (R-MN), a practicing Muslim
You allege that:
• “Brotherhood operatives” within the U.S. government may have directly influenced the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment of the Muslim Brotherhood, as presented by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on February 10,2011;
• The mother, brother and deceased father of Huma Abedin, Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary of State 1-lillary Clinton, are connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, and that she, too, by extension, may be working on the organization’s behalf;
• The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, an international organization of 57 countries to which President George W. Bush created a special envoy position, is “determined to impose shariah worldwide” and undermine the U.S. Constitution;
• The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an umbrella organization of American Muslim groups, is “the largest Muslim Brotherhood front in the United States,” and PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER
• The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and Muslim Advocates, two civil rights Organizations, “exercise influence in ways that align with Muslim Brotherhood agendas.”
(more at link)
. . . I request that you provide my office a full accounting of the sources you used to make the serious allegations against the individuals and organizations in your letters. If there is not credible, substantial evidence for your allegations, I sincerely hope that you will publically clear their names.


Bachmann's 16-page letter reply to Rep. Ellison
I am particularly interested in exactly how, given what we know from the international media about Ms. Abedin’s documented family connections with the extremist Muslim Brotherhood, she was able to avoid being disqualified for a security clearance. ~ Michele Bachmann

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When anyone, not least a member of Congress, launches specious and degrading attacks against fellow Americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are and ignorance of what they stand for, it defames the spirit of our nation, and we all grow poorer because of it. These attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis, and no merit. And they need to stop now.
~ Senator John McCain, R-AZ, quoted by The Hill



From Buzzfeed:


Update from Huffington Post
UPDATE: 2:20 p.m. (July 18) -- In a response on Wednesday, Bachmann said that her letters were being "distorted" but did not directly address Abedin or McCain.
"I encourage everyone, including media outlets, to read them in their entirety," she said in a statement. "The intention of the letters was to outline the serious national security concerns I had and ask for answers to questions regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical group's access to top Obama administration officials."


Rep. Ellison to CNN's Anderson Cooper:
COOPER: You asked for a full accounting of the evidence these members of Congress were using to make their claims. You got a 16- page letter back. Does their evidence hold up?
ELLISON: No, it’s 16 pages worth of nothing. It’s 16 pages worth of repeated false allegations. Just regurgitated nonsense. And, you know, it doesn’t — 16 pages doesn’t take nothing and turn it into something. It’s still nothing…
COOPER: Have you seen any evidence of “deep penetration” — that was the words that Congressman Bachmann used — “deep penetration” by the Muslim Brotherhood into the security apparatus of the United States?
ELLISON: No, it’s not true. It doesn’t exist. It’s a phantom.


From Huffington Post
Anderson Cooper lit into Michele Bachmann on his Tuesday show for spreading rumors about the supposed infiltration by "Muslim extremists" into the U.S. government.
Bachmann, along with four other Republicans in the House of Representatives, has called for investigations into whether or not the government has been infiltrated by Islamic fundamentalists, and has specifically pointed a finger at Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton.

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Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Wingnut Attack Dogs Go Werewolf on Obama

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Mitt Romney was at one point, and in some ways still is, an "establishment Republican." Yet he's run a campaign that has been almost from the beginning almost all attack. It was that way in the primaries, it's that way now. So if you have an establishment Republican behaving like an attack dog, you're going to have the Rush Limbaughs of the world behaving like werewolves.
Mitt Romney has dragged the center of gravity of the discussion over to the nasty realm . . . and it has only begun, it's only begun. They'll become increasingly hysterical as the months go on.
~ Howard Fineman on Hardball

I think it can now be said, without equivocation -- without equivocation -- that this man hates this country. He is trying -- Barack Obama is trying -- to dismantle, brick by brick, the American dream.
There's no other way to put this. There's no other way to explain this. He was indoctrinated as a child. His father was a communist. His mother was a leftist. He was sent to prep and Ivy League schools where his contempt for the country was reinforced. He moved to Chicago. It was the home of the radical left movement. He hooks up to Ayers and Dohrn and Rashid Khalidi. He learns the ruthlessness of Cook County politics. This is what we have as a president: a radical ideologue, a ruthless politician who despises the country and the way it was founded and the way in which it became great. He hates it.
Rush Limbaugh on his Radio Show July 16, 2012

So there’s communism. That’s Karl Marx Obama. That’s Hugo Chavez Obama. That’s Joseph Stalin Obama. This is a very dangerous man.
. . . This man is the most dangerous, most divisive, most evil – I’ll use the word evil – president in the history of America.
~ Talk Radio host Michael Savage July 17, 2012

We are proud to report that Rush Limbaugh is No. 1 and Michael Savage is No. 2. These are the most listened to talk show hosts in the world.
~ Talk Stream Live

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It just seems now that on the surface, this campaign is about Romney having something to hide at the same time this wolf pack on the right continues relentlessly to declare the President of the United States somehow not "one of us," not an American, someone indoctrinated in anti-Americanism, and Michele Bachmann out there going after Hillary's people, saying that Huma, her closest top aide who travels with her all the time is somehow secretly working as a mole for the Muslim Brotherhood. This is really "Loony Country."
~ Chris Matthews on Hardball

I am particularly interested in exactly how, given what we know from the international media about Ms. Abedin’s documented family connections with the extremist Muslim Brotherhood, she was able to avoid being disqualified for a security clearance.
~ Senator Michele Bachmann going after Hillary Clinton's aide Huma Abedin

Michele Bachmann Really Wants to Become Our Generation’s Joseph McCarthy
~ Headline on Jezebel

She (Bachmann) needs to be in a mental institution, which we mean 100% seriously and with the utmost concern for her mental health, or she needs to be sued for abuse of power or defamation or whatever legalese doo-da buzzword thing it is. SHE HAS RELEASED A DOCUMENT, friends, outlining how the Muslim Brotherhood has achieved “deep penetration” into the highest levels of the federal government. She points to Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s State Department slave and Anthony Weiner’s wife, as an Infiltrator, and how does she even have a security clearance? Michele Bachmann is either mentally insane or too stupid to be allowed on a federal ballot, and the latter would be an extraordinary feat. Why is she allowed to be in Congress?
~ Jim Newell on Wonkette

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This guy (President Obama) doesn't understand how to create jobs. So it's no surprise on why he failed so miserably the past four years in terms of job creation. He has no idea how the American system functions. And we shouldn't be surprised about that, because he spent his early years in Hawaii smoking something, spent the next set of years in Indonesia, and frankly when he came to the U.S. he worked as a community organizer which is a socialized structure and then got into politics in Chicago. There has been no experience in his life in which he's earned a private sector paycheck that meant anything.
John Sununu on Fox News Via Political Carnival

(Governor John Sununu)has a knack for colorful language and can be very informative and entertaining . . . perhaps he wasn’t as clear as he should have been.
~ Governor Tim Pawlenty defending the hyperobolic statement below from Gov. John Sununu

Sununu as surrogate is clearly a double-edged sword for Romney. Yes, he riles up the base with his take-no-prisoners, make-no-apologies approach to politics. But, that approach can occasionally look just a bit too aggressive or off-key.
~ Rachel Weiner on Washington Post

Once again whatever Rush wants, Rush gets. On his show yesterday, conservative talk show titan Rush Limbaugh angrily said Camp Romney needs to go after Obama on the college-age drug use Obama admitted to in a passage in his biography. So today Romney’s high profile surrogate John Sununu — yew guessed it! – raised the drug issue and also told reporters Obama needs to learn how to be an American.
~ Joe Gandelman, editor of The Moderate Voice



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