Liberal Rep. Anthony Weiner Says He 'Wrote' The House Health Care Bill

Politico.com:

Here's a clip of Rep. Anthony Weiner at a town hall meeting, asked about the health care bill, declaring, "I wrote the bill. ... The bill and I are one."


Weiner made the comments on Monday night at the Middle Village Property Tax Association, taking rather strong ownership of the congressional reform bill that few are embracing when a voter asked about it. Weiner had been a strong advocate for a single-payer option, which was never part of the final drafts.


The Senate version of the health care bill had most of the elements that actually passed, not the House one. Weiner's little-known GOP opponent, Bob Turner, was also there, as were Democratic officials including state Sen. Joe Addabbo and Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi, I'm told.

Montana GOP Policy: Make Homosexuality Illegal

HuffPo.com:

At a time when gays have been gaining victories across the country, the Republican Party in Montana still wants to make homosexuality illegal.


The party adopted an official platform in June that keeps a long-held position in support of making homosexual acts illegal, a policy adopted after the Montana Supreme Court struck down such laws in 1997.

The fact that it's still the official party policy more than 12 years later, despite a tidal shift in public attitudes since then and the party's own pledge of support for individual freedoms, has exasperated some GOP members.

"I looked at that and said, 'You've got to be kidding me,'" state Sen. John Brueggeman, R-Polson, said last week. "Should it get taken out? Absolutely. Does anybody think we should be arresting homosexual people? If you take that stand, you really probably shouldn't be in the Republican Party."

Gay rights have been rapidly advancing nationwide since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Texas' sodomy law in 2003's Lawrence v. Texas decision. Gay marriage is now allowed in five states and Washington, D.C., a federal court recently ruled the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy unconstitutional, and even a conservative tea party group in Montana ousted its president over an anti-gay exchange in Facebook.

But going against the grain is the Montana GOP statement, which falls under the "Crime" section of the GOP platform. It states: "We support the clear will of the people of Montana expressed by legislation to keep homosexual acts illegal."

Montana GOP executive director Bowen Greenwood said that has been the position of the party since the state Supreme Court struck down state laws criminalizing homosexuality in 1997 in the case of Gryczan v. Montana.

This is overblown, nothing will come of it, but of course the Left will holla about it because that's one the things they do best. I've always stated that the best strategy for conservatives in challenging the "gay rights" agenda is making the case that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice, not a predetermined genetic trait--the facts will attest to that.

Obama Slams Petulant Liberals

Courant.com:

So we are going to be in some tough fights everywhere, and all of you are going to be desperately needed in order for us to keep moving in a positive direction.


Now, the second reason I'm telling you this is because Democrats, just congenitally, tend to get -- to see the glass as half empty. (Laughter.) If we get an historic health care bill passed -- oh, well, the public option wasn't there. If you get the financial reform bill passed -- then, well, I don't know about this particularly derivatives rule, I'm not sure that I'm satisfied with that. And gosh, we haven't yet brought about world peace and -- (laughter.) I thought that was going to happen quicker. (Laughter.) You know who you are. (Laughter.) 

Good for Barry to finally stand up for himself against the all-or-nothing white liberals that make up his base (indeed one would think white liberals were RACIST! for the heap of criticism they've thrown at Barry over the past few weeks). Barack Obama has easily been the most liberal President ever. Because of Barry's leftwing leanings and attempts at a new socialist order, his approval ratings remain low, his party is at a huge risk of losing both chambers of Congress come November, the country's debt has quadrupled and there's a good chance Barry might not see a second term (if he even wants one). Yet the white, liberal elite still aren't satisfied. Funny that.

Bill Maher Launches Christine O’Donnell Blackmail Scheme With Clip Of Her Admitting To Witchcraft

Mediaite.com:

Bill Maher and Delaware GOP Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell go way back– namely, all the way back to “1997 or something,” when O’Donnell appeared semi-regularly on Politically Incorrect. Now that she is a celebrity, Maher used his first show of the season to remind O’Donnell that “I made you,” and warn that he would release an old clip of her weekly until she came to Real Time. This week’s was of O’Donnell admitting to going on dates to Satanic altars!


Maher seemed to remember her visits to the show fondly, sending her good wishes and predicting that she may be more successful than Sarah Palin because “Sarah Palin is mean and Christine is not.” Despite deeming her nice enough to not attack her in any direct way, Maher was not above digging through old clips of her on his program saying wacky things in order to get her back on his show. “It’s like a hostage crisis,” he explained, “Every week you don’t show up, I’ll throw a body out.”

Last night’s body was from 1999, and the discussion was on witchcraft. O’Donnell, who from the clip appears to have been talking about her faith before admitting to said witchcraft, explains that because she had been a part of Satanic circles, she understood better than most why faith (in non-Satanic religions) was so important.

The bizarre thing about the “attacks” on O’Donnell so far is that few, if any, have anything to do with actual policy. Few know what her actual political beliefs are outside of her hyper-conservatism in her private life and, as Bill O’Reilly said on his program last night, she is a woman who “is not remarkable in any way” politically.

Obama Administration: Global Warming Out, 'Global Climate Disruption' In

FOXNews.com:

From the administration that brought you "man-caused disaster" and "overseas contingency operation," another terminology change is in the pipeline.


The White House wants the public to start using the term "global climate disruption" in place of "global warming" -- fearing the latter term oversimplifies the problem and makes it sound less dangerous than it really is.


White House science adviser John Holdren urged people to start using the phrase during a speech last week in Oslo, echoing a plea he made three years earlier. Holdren said global warming is a "dangerous misnomer" for a problem far more complicated than a rise in temperature.


The call comes as Congress prepares to adjourn for the season without completing work on a stalled climate bill. The term global warming has long been criticized as inaccurate, and the new push could be an attempt to re-shape climate messaging for next year's legislative session.


"They're trying to come up with more politically palatable ways to sell some of this stuff," said Republican pollster Adam Geller, noting that Democrats also rolled out a new logo and now refer to the Bush tax cuts as "middle-class tax cuts."

Harry Reid Calls Chris Coons His "Pet"

This should help....Christine O'Donnell:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday predicted to The Hill that Democratic Senate candidate Chris Coons will safely win the Nov. 2 general election against GOP nominee Christine O'Donnell.

Reid talked up the New Castle County executive following a memorial ceremony on the Capitol's east steps to commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. O'Donnell on Tuesday night won the GOP nomination to face Coons in November — a result that has split the national Republican Party.

But Reid said Coons would have won even if Rep. Mike Castle (R) had prevailed over O'Donnell.

"I'm going to be very honest with you — Chris Coons, everybody knows him in the Democratic caucus. He's my pet. He's my favorite candidate," Reid said.

"Let me tell you about him: A graduate of Yale Divinity School. Yale Law School. A two-time national debate champion. He represents two-thirds of the state now, in an elected capacity. I don't know if you've ever seen him or heard him speak, but he is a dynamic speaker. I don't mean loud or long; he's a communicator. So that's how I feel about Delaware. I've always thought Chris Coons is going to win. I told him that and I tried to get him to run. I'm glad he's running. I just think the world of him. He's my pet."

Creepy.

Jimmy Carter: Ted Kennedy Killed My Health Bill

CNN.com:

The late Sen. Ted Kennedy is widely hailed for devoting his political career to the cause of providing health care to all Americans. But in an interview set to air on 60 Minutes Sunday, former President Jimmy Carter says Kennedy is the one to blame for delaying legislation to provide such care. 

"The fact is that we would have had comprehensive health care now, had it not been for Ted Kennedy's deliberately blocking the legislation that I proposed," Carter told CBS correspondent Lesley Stahl. "It was his fault. Ted Kennedy killed the bill."

Carter said Kennedy blocked the bill out of spite in advance of the Massachusetts senator's unusual, yet ultimately unsuccessful 1980 bid to unseat him.

"He did not want to see me have a major success in that realm of life," Carter said.


Kennedy at the time was pressing for a health care program run by the federal government, comparable to the so-called "public option" that many progressives fought for last year. Carter preferred to enact smaller changes over time to improve the existing health care system, similar to the legislation signed by President Obama in March. In the end, both of their plans failed to gain traction and the issue was put on the back burner when Ronald Reagan was elected president.

The liberal myth of Ted Kennedy The Great Crusader gets exposed for the BS that it really is.

Former Clinton Aide Lanny Davis Calls Rachel Maddow “Sanctimonious And Intolerant”

Mediaite.com:

Apparently the Clinton claws are out for Rachel Maddow. Yesterday, on the syndicated radio show ‘America’s Morning News’ Lanny Davis, longtime supporter, and former White House counsel to President Bill Clinton, called Maddow “sanctimonious and intolerant” and part of the Dem’s “Tea Party side.” This in response to Clinton’s remarks the other day pushing back at Maddow’s criticism from last March when she called Clinton the “best Republican president the country has ever produced.” From Davis:


“But she’s sanctimonious and intolerant of anyone who disagrees with her. So, if it’s Bill Clinton, she calls him a Republican because he doesn’t meet Rachel Maddow’s test. So, the worst element of our party are people who call themselves liberal who are actually illiberal because they are intolerant of anyone who disagrees with them.”

Gotta love a little liberal-on-liberal violence. And hey, a gay, white liberal exposed as an intolerant hypocrite...SHOCKER!

Did Delaware Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton Shake Down Lobbyist?

PoliticsDaily.com:

A sub-theme of the GOP's 2010 midterm election strategy is that Democrats have become corrupt -- that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's plans to "drain the swamp" were just talk.

The ethics woes of Reps. Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangel have strengthened the argument, and it's possible another name may be added to the list.

BigGovernment.com -- a site run by conservative Andrew Breitbart, who created a firestorm this summer with his release of a video of Shirley Sherrod that was edited to make her appear racist -- has obtained audio ostensibly of D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton shaking down an unnamed lobbyist.


While most citizens would probably be shocked to hear even the most ethical political leader asking for money, BigGovernment argues Norton -- Washington's non-voting House member -- may have crossed the line for a variety of reasons, including:

"her frequent mention of her seniority and her Chairmanship of a subcommittee. She is attempting to solicit funds based on her past actions taken in her official capacity in Congress. She is implying to the lobbyist that, should he decline to donate, he will be turning down a senior member of Congress who Chairs a subcommittee highly relevant to his "sector".

. . . Worse than that, she details her role overseeing a large economic development project in the District, funded by 'stimulus' funds. It would appear that either the lobbyist has an interest in this project, or the Congresswoman thinks he does, as she states she is 'frankly surprised' the lobbyist hasn't given to her.

Karl Rove: "I'm A Huge Tea Party Fan"

Sad that far-Right extremists like Michelle Malkin would play the "sexist" card just because Rove's being honest about what Christine O'Donnell needs to do in order to win in November.

Michelle Obama Calls Being First Lady "Hell"

FOXNews.com:

Maybe life in the White House isn't so bad after all. 

First lady Michelle Obama's office and the French Embassy both denied on Thursday that Obama ever told French first lady Carla Bruni that being first lady of the United States is "hell," as reported in an eye-catching excerpt of a new biography of Bruni. 

"The first lady never said that," Obama's press secretary, Katie McCormick Lelyveld, said. 

"Mrs. Bruni-Sarkozy distances herself completely from the content of the book," French Embassy spokesman Emmanuel Lenain said in a statement. "The words attributed to the first lady of the United States were never said." 

Lenain said the book, "Carla and the Ambitious," was not authorized, and that only the authors are responsible for its contents -- though the book had been billed as the "official" biography. A separate unauthorized biography of Bruni has been penned by author Besma Lahouri.

Good to see that Michelle "Angry Black Woman" Obama is back. Not that the people who've really been paying attention didn't know that Michelle O. couldn't keep playing pretend-to-be-nice for too long anyway. From her memorable "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country” line to her exiling Barry's mistress Vera Baker to the Caribbean the fact that an educated (she has a Harvard law degree yunno), black woman doesn't like taking a back seat to no man, the idea that Michelle O. would be happy as 1st Lady is a joke. And now her true feelings on the duties of being Barry's sidekick are there for all the world to see: "It's hell. I can't stand it". Thanks Michelle. Now Americans have added motivation (and a duty) to make sure that your stay as 1st Lady is as short as possible.

Bill O’Reilly Tries To Make Peace Between Sarah Palin And Karl Rove Over Christine O’Donnell

Mediaite.com:

One of the most fascinating aspects of following the “GOP Civil War” brought about by Christine O’Donnell’s stunning primary victory is watching it play out in real time on Fox News. Sarah Palin, who backed the Tea Party candidate, is a Fox News contributor, and so too is Karl Rove, who has come to represent the GOP establishment, and has been a vocal critic of O’Donnell (and her chances for general election victory.) Enter the Fox News big dog, Bill O’Reilly, who reminded Gov. Palin that she and Rove were “simpatico” on most issues. In other words, can’t we all just get along?

Obama Placates Liberals, Appoints Elizabeth Warren To Finance Post

ABCNews.com:

President Obama will select Elizabeth Warren to join the administration in a special advisory role to help form the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a watchdog agency she first proposed back in 2007.


The move, first reported by ABC News' Jake Tapper, gives Warren an important role in creation of the bureau, but avoids, for now, a confirmation fight in the Senate. Her selection will appease a slew of prominent lawmakers, progressives, and labor unions who in recent months have clamored for her nomination to the post.


After all, the new agency -- part of the sweeping Wall Street reform bill that passed Congress earlier this summer -- was Warren's brainchild. In 2007 Warren, the Harvard Law professor and bailout watchdog, proposed the creation of "a new regulatory body to protect consumers who use credit cards, home mortgages, car loans, and a host of other products.


"Clearly it is time for a new model of financial regulation, one focused primarily on consumer safety rather than corporate profitability," Warren wrote in the summer of 2007.


Though Warren led the charge for greater consumer protections, she was far from a shoo-in to oversee the new agency. Some prominent members of the administration and Congress questioned whether Warren -- a straight-shooting, no-holds-barred critic of both the financial industry and the federal government -- might be too controversial to win Senate confirmation if she is eventually chosen by the President to lead it.

Media Heresy: Bill Clinton to Blame for Horrible Economy NOT Bush

Newsbusters.org:

Since the financial industry collapse two years ago, dishonest media outlets and their employees have continually blamed George W. Bush for the implosion that occurred in the fall of 2008 as well as the resulting recession.

NewsBusters has regularly pushed back on this historically inaccurate premise specifically pointing to two crucial pieces of legislation signed into law by former President Bill Clinton.

On Wednesday, a contributor to the Huffington Post - who is also the editor of the website TruthDig - published an article confirming what NewsBusters has been claiming, doing so in a fashion that must have shocked the economically ignorant proprietor of this perilously liberal online "news" outlet:

Since the collapse happened on the watch of President George W. Bush at the end of two full terms in office, many in the Democratic Party were only too eager to blame his administration. Yet while Bush did nothing to remedy the problem, and his response was to simply reward the culprits, the roots of this disaster go back much further, to the free-market propaganda of the Reagan years and, most damagingly, to the bipartisan deregulation of the banking industry undertaken with the full support of "liberal" President Clinton. Yes, Clinton. And if this debacle needs a name, it should most properly be called "the Clinton bubble," as difficult as it may be to accept for those of us who voted for him.

Clinton, being a smart person and an astute politician, did not use old ideological arguments to do away with New Deal restrictions on the banking system, which had been in place ever since the Great Depression threatened the survival of capitalism. His were the words of technocrats, arguing that modern technology, globalization, and the increased sophistication of traders meant the old concerns and restrictions were outdated. By "modernizing" the economy, so the promise went, we would free powerful creative energies and create new wealth for a broad spectrum of Americans -- not to mention boosting the Democratic Party enormously, both politically and financially.

Ethically Challenged Charlie Rangel Easily Wins Democrat Primary

That's right Charlie! Keep playing them for the fools they are:

Facing ethics charges in Washington and upstart challengers at home, Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) won a resounding victory Tuesday to keep the Harlem-based House seat that he has easily controlled for 40 years. 


Rangel, the ousted Ways and Means Committee chairman who has been charged with 13 counts of violating House rules, ran an aggressive campaign for the Democratic nomination, betting that the people who have known him longest - voters in the 15th Congressional District - would send him back to Capitol Hill with a political victory before the House ethics committee tries him later this year or early next year. 

"I go back to Washington stronger than I've ever been," Rangel declared as supporters presented him a victory cake from singer Aretha Franklin.

For blacks and Democrats it's like Stockholm Syndrome. No really it is.

Rachel Maddow Resorts To A 15-Year-Old PSA Ad In Attempt To Smear Christine O'Donnell

Mediaite.com:

Tea Party (and Sarah Palin)-backed candidate Christine O’Donnell shocked many by winning the GOP Senate primary in Delaware tonight, enraging a good part of her own party in the process. Why are they so beside themselves at O’Donnell’s win? Well, the video Rachel Maddow gleefully showed tonight while discussing O’Donnell’s victory is a good place to start.


That video, Maddow explained, is from 1996, when O’Donnell spoke with MTV in support of abstinence on behalf of a group she founded, S.A.L.T. (Savior’s Alliance For Lifting the Truth). Specifically, O’Donnell delves into why masturbation is wrong. 

There are many reasons to love this video. The first that jumps out at you, as soon as you catch a glimpse of O’Donnell’s hair: wow, this is so ’90s. And just when you think it can’t get any more ’90s, they hit you with Joan Osborne’s “One Of Us.” O’Donnell talks about the importance of using our sexual desires “in God’s appropriate context.” One of her cohorts explains that “masturbation is a selfish act, and it’s a lustful one, and we are to walk with pure hearts, not adulterous, lusting hearts.”

O’Donnell also dismissed the idea of telling people that “masturbation is the answer to AIDS and all these other problems that come with sex outside of marriage” (the apparent fact that no married people have AIDS is news to us), and then delivered her best line. We won’t spoil the exact wording, but know it’s about pleasing yourself vs. people in a relationship pleasing each other, and that when Maddow welcomes guest Ezra Klein directly after the segment, he says, “It’s gonna be hard to follow that, Rachel.” Indeed it is.

The smell of desperation. It's who they are.

Tea Party Favorite Christine O'Donnell Wins GOP Senate Primary Over Mike Castle

There's some irony here in the fact that Castle, a noted RINO, was just endorsed by Chris Christie, but hey the power of the Tea Party just can't be underestimated no matter how much the Left tries to smear them:

Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell, a perennial candidate with no government experience, soundly defeated veteran politician Mike Castle for the Republican Senate nomination in Delaware Tuesday -- posing a major upset to the political establishment on the last big day of primaries. 

With all precincts reporting, O'Donnell beat Castle 53-47 percent. 

O'Donnell's win stands as the latest sign of Tea Party strength but also the latest test of whether that movement helps or hinders the Republican Party, with an open seat and perhaps a GOP Senate majority at stake. 

State party leaders have warned that O'Donnell cannot compete against Democrat Chris Coons and had vigorously backed Castle, a nine-term congressman and former governor. 

But O'Donnell stood her ground and accused Castle of selling out to the moderate wing of the party. Considered a long shot just weeks ago, her candidacy got renewed attention after conservative Joe Miller beat Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski in their state's Senate primary

last month. Big-name endorsements from Sarah Palin and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint boosted her profile in the final days of the race, which snowballed into one of the nastiest intra-party battles of the year.

Harry Reid And Lady GaGa Exchange Tweets Over 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell'

Yeah because a sitting Senate majority leader listening to Lady Gaga's feelings on DADT shows us how concerned he is about the welfare of our troops. but then this is your Democrat Congress catering to the fringe-Left while showing once again that its foot is right there on the pedal:

At first, it seemed like just a coincidence.


The day after Lady GaGa took discharged servicemembers with her on the red carpet to the Video Music Awards and gave a shout-out to repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell during an acceptance speech, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) scheduled a Senate vote on the rule that bars openly gay servicemembers.

But now Reid’s campaign is tweeting GaGa that they are listening to her concerns about DADT.

The tweet appears to be in response to GaGa’s earlier tweet where she posted a picture with the servicemembers at the VMAs and added, “Gay Veterans were my VMA dates. Repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. CALL HARRY REID to Schedule Senate Vote.”

Idiot Liberal TV Host Meredith Vieira To GOP Young Guns: "What's So Good About Tax Cuts?"

Newsbusters.org:

NBC's Meredith Vieira, on Tuesday's Today show, demonstrated just how out of touch she is on the Tea Party and the economy as she questioned GOP House members, "Are you worried about the influence of the Tea Party?" and even doubted the positive effect tax cuts can have on creating jobs as she questioned: "What's so good about them?" [audio available here]


On to promote their new book Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders, Republican Congressmen Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy were on hand to school the Today anchor, with Cantor having to explain to Vieira that "the last thing you want to do in an economy like this with 9.6 percent unemployment is have a big tax increase on small businesses," as seen in the following exchange:


VIEIRA: One of the key issues also heading into the midterm elections, is this expiration of the tax cuts, Bush's tax cuts. Over the weekend, your leader I guess, your boss, Minority Leader John Boehner said that he would support tax cuts for just middle income earners, if that was his only option. Yesterday he took that back, he did an about-face. Why?


CANTOR: I think sort of fundamental to everyone right now watching this show, whether it's a working mom, a small business owner, or an investor, I think none of, none of those type of people, no American really thinks that raising taxes is a good idea, especially in a recession. And I think that's what John Boehner was trying to say. And the Republican position has always been and will be - we don't believe there ought to be tax hikes. And so I do think, Meredith, you're right. That's going to be a critical issue over the next several weeks, as we go back to Washington today.


VIEIRA: And yet these tax cuts have been in existence for quite a while, these Bush tax cuts. If they were designed to stimulate the economy and to create jobs, they didn't succeed. So what's so good about them?

Whoever said liberals are elite, smug and out-of-touch?

Bill Clinton Strikes Back At Rachel Maddow

This sounds like the "Professional Left" stuff Robert Gibbs was talking about a few weeks ago:

Bill Clinton struck back at Rachel Maddow Monday without even using her name.

While speaking alongside Tony Blair at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Clinton took exception with comments Maddow made on her program in March.

"One of the leading television commentators on one of our liberal cable channels said I was the best Republican president the country ever produced, which would come [as] quite a surprise to the Republicans, half of whom still think I'm a closet communist," he said, according to Politico.

"What she meant by that was I didn't necessarily follow their 'conventional wisdom,'" he said. "I said, 'What do you mean?!'"

In March, Maddow said, "What we ended up with is what we ended with, in my opinion, is the two terms of the Clinton administration, which is that Bill Clinton was probably the best Republican president the country ever had, if you look at the policies that he passed."

Maddow made the comment during a segment about how President Obama had been moving to the right on health care and expressing her worries that Obama's presidency was beginning to look like Clinton's.

While defending himself Monday, Clinton talked up his administration's results for low-income Americans and his tax policies.

Guess Slick Willie still doesn't know that they wouldn't be happy if Dennis Kucinich were President.

Obama Administration Gave $216,000 To Anti-Sarah Palin Group

Yahoo.com:

The federal government hired a New Orleans man for $18,000 to appraise whether news stories about its actions in the Gulf oil spill were positive or negative for the Obama administration, which was keenly sensitive to comparisons between its response and former President George W. Bush's much-maligned reaction to Hurricane Katrina.


The government also spent $10,000 for just over three minutes of video showing a routine offshore rig inspection for news organizations but couldn't say whether any ran the footage. And it awarded a $216,625 no-bid contract for a survey of seabirds to an environmental group that has criticized what it calls the "extreme anti-conservation record" of Sarah Palin, a possible 2012 rival to President Barack Obama.

The contracts were among hundreds reviewed by The Associated Press as the government begins to provide an early glimpse at federal spending since the Gulf disaster in April. While most of the contracts don't raise alarms, some could provide ammunition for critics of government waste.

Obama Lied About Health Care Costs Going Up

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

One week before the critical vote in Congress making ObamaCare law, President Obama said that health insurance premiums would go down for most people:

H/T: Breitbart TV

Nancy Pelosi Gets Far More Lobbyist Cash Than John Boehner

If you just read the NYTimes, then you're clearly not interested in the facts:

"Mr. Boehner's ties to lobbyists seem especially deep," New York Times reporter Eric Lipton wrote of the House Republican Leader yesterday. Well, they're not, and therein lies the problem: Lipton apparently premised his article not on facts and data, but on what he thought seemed reasonable.


Had Lipton stooped to investigate some of the serious claims he was making, he might have discovered that Nancy Pelosi has raised almost twice as much money from lobbyists this cycle as has Boehner. He might also have revealed that Sens. Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, and Blanche Lincoln all raised more money from lobbyists this cycle as Boehner has since 1999.


Washington Examiner columnist Tim Carney, who did the legwork on these numbers, also noted that Boehner's name does not appear on the Center for Responsive Politics's list of the top 20 recipients of lobbyist cash. Eighteen House Democrats have received more such money than Boehner has this cycle.

"Sure, Boehner is too close too lobbyists," Carney writes, "but the money trail says he isn't closer than Nancy Pelosi."

So why didn't this (quite obvious) fact make it into Lipton's Sunday article? It doesn't fit the narrative. As I wrote yesterday, the Times has spent the past two years playing up GOP connections to lobbyists, while all but ignoring prominent Democrats's blatant connections to powerful industry groups and their paid representatives.

Fox News Audience Grows Among Republicans And Independents; CNN And MSNBC Down In All Categories

They're not only winning, they're blowing the competition away:

Pew is out with their annual look at how news consumers get their information, with several interesting breakdowns across various forms of media.


But one category that sticks out is which cable news network plays a “significant role in people’s news habits” – not surprisingly, FNC grew year-to-year but CNN and MSNBC were down, even among Democrats.
From the study:

Overall, cable news continues to play a significant role in peoples’ news habits – 39% say they regularly get news from a cable channel. But the proportions saying they regularly watch CNN, MSNBC and CNBC have slipped substantially from two years ago, during the presidential election.

Only Fox News has maintained its audience size, and this is because of the increasing number of Republicans who regularly get news there. Four-in-ten Republicans (40%) now say they regularly watch Fox News, up from 36% two years ago and just 18% a decade ago. Just 12% of Republicans regularly watch CNN, and just 6% regularly watch MSNBC.

As recently as 2002, Republicans were as likely to watch CNN (28%) as Fox News (25%). The share of Democrats who regularly watch CNN or Fox News has fallen from 2008.

It says a lot about how far FNC has come that it has completely taken over the Republican news audience. It was an entirely different time when CNN had more Republicans regularly watching the network than FNC just eight years ago.

Politiks As Usual: In The News 9/13/10

Democrats Return To Capitol Hill, Mount Final Push To Keep Control

Lady Gaga And The Death Of Sex

The Eternal Flame Of Muslim Outrage

Gangster Government Stifles Criticism Of Obamacare

Conservative Victory Now, No Guarantee Later

Santorum's Google Trouble A Warning To Conservatives In Internet Age 


First Medal Of Honor For A Living Afghan War Vet

PennDOT Bows To Transgendered Community

Jon Voight Slams TIME Magazine As Anti-Semitic

Glenn Beck And Sarah Palin Are (Mostly) A Big Hit In Alaska

Boehner Backs Tax Cuts Limited To Middle Class

Taylor Swift Absolves Kanye West In VMA Song

GLADD Pressures CNN To Spike Online Poll On Gay TV Characters

It's gotten pretty noticeable: how much mainstream TV has gone gay. Indeed while the networks still suffers from a huge problem with a fair representation of Black characters, the gays are all over the place with gay characters in either starring roles, supporting roles or even playing the background. Makes you wonder if nowadays if successful TV show means catering to the white liberal gay Left. And if you have a problem with that....er, well, too bad:

The gay left hates debate – especially the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. They're furious that CNN Headline News offered balance and came to the Media Research Center's Culture and Media Institute for a negative opinion on homosexuality. That's apparently beyond the pale.
Mediaite reported that GLAAD succeeded in pressuring CNN into spiking an online poll that asked the question “Is the surge in gay TV characters 'bad for society'?” On the GLAAD blog, Aaron McQuade found it was "troubling" for CNN to allow dissent:

The report then goes on to give a troubling amount of airtime to anti-gay activist Dan Gainor from the Culture and Media Institute, who does believe that it’s “bad for society” to offer authentic depictions of the lives of LGBT people. He remarked that, “Hollywood has done a great deal of work causing acceptance in American culture for homosexuality.”

Why would you object to this sentence? This happens to be as factual as asserting that the sky is blue. It also acknowledges GLAAD's power to pressure Hollywood. The only answer is that Gainor seems to disapprove, and disapproval is not allowed. It's a false "dualism" to allow debate:

But CNN’s offensive poll and its attempts to manufacture controversy by granting a platform to so-called experts like Gainor follows an alarming trend of media outlets creating simplistic, predictable “pro-gay”/”anti-gay” dualisms that do a great disservice to viewers who are seeking information on the diversity of opinion and experience within our community.
We will continue to challenge this type of coverage.

That is, the "type of coverage" that allows anyone to disagree.