AB Leadership

Plain Dealer: GOP U.S. Senate Candidate Kevin Coughlin Calls Global Warming Science 'Sketchy'

On August 22, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported:

A Democratic super PAC called American Bridge 21st Century sent a videographer to an Aug. 18 appearance that Coughlin made before a Strongsville tea party group called Strong Ohio. It filmed Coughlin calling the science behind global warming "sketchy," and rhetorically declaring: "I would ask the people in Pompeii who are frozen like this if an act of Congress could change their situation."

Washington Post: Bachmann On Why She Worked For IRS: "First Rule Of War Is 'Know Your Enemy'"

On August 18, 2011, the Washington Post reported:

"This is fun. Michele Bachmann, on the campaign trail today, offered what seems to be a new explanation for her previous work as a lawyer for the Internal Revenue Service, something that has drawn some ire from the right. Her explanation: She worked for the IRS as a kind of secret anti-tax mole whose mission was to get to know the place in order to better undermine it later. As she put it: “The first rule of war is `know your enemy.’” This explanation seems a bit at odds with descriptions of the episode she’s given on previous occasions, when she’s said her anti-tax fervor was the result of her work for the IRS. This version on the trail explains her work for the IRS — which spanned four years, from 1988-1992 — in a way that will be more acceptable to hard-core anti-tax conservatives." BACHMANN: “We change the economy by changing the tax code. How many of you love the IRS? No! It’s time to change it. I went to work in that system because the first rule of war is ‘know your enemy.’ So I went to the inside to learn how they work because I wanted to beat them.”

WSJ: GOP Candidates: Too Many Americans Pay No Taxes

On August 17, 2011, the Wall Street Journal reported:

"A new orthodoxy has emerged in recent days on taxes: Not enough people are paying them.

[...]

And Democrats are starting to take notice.

“Republicans are falling over themselves to protect millionaires and billionaires, and now it is clear that their presidential front runners are eager to raise revenue by taxing those who are struggling day in and day out to make ends meet,” said Ty Matsdorf of American Bridge 21^st Century, a new Democratic independent expenditures group tracking the GOP candidates."

Huffington Post: Mitt Romney Mistakes New Hampshire For Iowa

On August 15, 2011, the Huffington Post reported:

Criss-crossing from early primary state to early primary state can get tiring. After awhile, it probably gets hard to tell Nashua from Des Moines.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney ran into this problem when campaigning in Manchester on Friday, speaking at a town hall sponsored by the Granite Oath PAC. A tracker for the Democratic independent expenditure group American Bridge 21st Century caught Romney confusing the Granite State with the Hawkeye State.

Transcript:

I had Arnold Schwarzenegger come to my state and try to poach jobs from my state. I thought, "How in the world could he do this to a fellow Republican?" He put billboards up! With him on the billboard. And it said, you know, he was in a T-shirt there and it says "Come to California." So what do you think, I put billboards up in his state. And, uh, it had me in a T-shirt, flexing my muscles. And it said, "Smaller muscles, but much lower taxes. Come to Massachusetts." You guys are supposed to do that here in Iowa. I wouldn’t be able to compete in that case. Zero tax rate is pretty darn good.

Washington Post: When Republicans question Obama’s identity, it’s all part of the game

On August 15, 2011, the Washington Post's Greg Sargent wrote:

NBC’s Carrie Dann reports that Rick Perry has now taken to claiming that the United States should have a President who is “in love with America.” This will not be deemed outrageous or even noteworthy. That comes after Perry’s announcement speech over the weekend in which he repeated this falsehood:

“We don’t need a president who apologizes for America. We need a president who protects and projects those values.”

To my knowledge, the Post’s Glenn Kessler is the only reporter whopointed out that the claim that Obama apologized for America is, well, a falsehood.

Pawlenty Says Goodbye

On August 13, MSNBC's First Read reported:

"And file this away: At the last stop of Pawlenty's campaign before today's Ames Straw poll, the former Minnesota governor yesterday approached someone his campaign rarely openly welcomes -- a tracker from the liberal leaning organization American Bridge. Trackers are accustomed to being approached by campaigns, usually in an attempt to get them to leave. But rarely does the candidate seek out trackers -- and perhaps never has a candidate had a request similar to Pawlenty's: He wanted to take a photo with the tracker, telling him: "In case we never see each other again." So Pawlenty and a stunned tracker -- who had been following the candidate through Iowa since he announced his run on May 23 -- made their way up to the stage and stood next to each other and smiled while a photographer snapped a photo. Asked by NBC News whether it meant his campaign is running out of steam, Pawlenty answered, "Will [the tracker's name] has been following us around, and I wanted to make sure we got a picture before whatever is next for him."

Lincoln Journal-Star Editorial: Bruning's Words Are An Embarrassment

Nebraska Attorney General and Republican Senate candidate Jon Bruning has had a very rough week back home. After American Bridge posted video of him comparing welfare recipients to raccoons, he has been the subject of riducule both nationally and in his back yard. Yesterday, we highlighted how Nebraska television stations reacted to the offensive blunder. POLITICO noted, "One way you can tell if an issue has really punched through is if it lands on local television newscasts. That's why Jon Bruning's comment comparing welfare recipients to raccoons matters." Today, things got worse for Bruning. The Lincoln Journal-Star published a scathing editorial titled "Bruning's words are an embarrassment." See what the Lincoln Journal-Star had to say after the jump

Local Press Hammers Jon Bruning For Comparing Welfare Recipients To Raccoons

Over the weekend, American Bridge caught Nebraksa Attorney General and Republican Senate candidate Jon Bruning with his foot in his mouth. During a speech at Heartland Liberty Fest, Bruning compared welfare recipients to scavenging raccoons.

Not surprisingly, the offensive comments are not going over well in Nebraska. Yesterday, the Omaha World-Herald ran a front page story titled "Bruning Welfare slam draws flak." And last night, local television news stations continued to pound him over the remarks. Below you'll find just two of the many segments devoted to the flap, from NBC local affiliates WOWT in Omaha and KNOP in North Platte,  CBS affiliate KOLN in Lincoln, and Fox affiliate KPTM in Omaha.

Omaha World-Herald: Bruning Welfare Slam Draws Flak

On August 6, 2011, American Bridge captured Nebraska Senate candidate Jon Bruning (R) comparing welfare recipients to scavenging raccoons. The incident caused quite a stir in Bruning's home state. Read the article from the Omaha World-Herald after the jump.

Think Progress: Tim Pawlenty’s Extremely Weak Grasp Of Monetary Policy And International Finance

n August 9, 2011, Think Progress's Matthew Yglesias reported:

"When American Bridge sent a tracker to record this talk from Tim Pawlenty, I’m sure they were hoping he’d commit gaffes with a bit more political potency than the ones on display here. But if you happen to care at all about policy substance, what you’re about to see is the former Minnesota governor make a number of blundering errors that reveal fundamental misunderstandings of how monetary policy and the international financial system works: