VIDEO: GOP's Reckless Iran Letter Backfires

The walking disaster that is the GOP leadership has outdone themselves. Senator Tom Cotton’s letter to the Iranian government encouraging Iran’s leaders to dismiss the ongoing nuclear talks with the United States is insolent, reckless and plainly stupid. Oh yeah and it might be a felony. Does the GOP they really think they are going to score political points by cozying up to Ayatollah Khamenei? Horrendously, every member of the Republican Senate leadership signed the letter, as did GOP presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio. Rubio’s even fundraising off of this treacherous political embarrassment. Check out our new video, and the brutal headlines for the GOP after the jump.

MEMO: 10 Questions For Jeb Bush And One For The Media

To: Interested Parties From: Brad Woodhouse, President, American Bridge 21st Century Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2015 Re: 10 Questions For Jeb Bush And One For The Media I have one question for the media. If y'all are going to spend every waking moment obsessing over the minutiae of Hillary Clinton's email habits, why shouldn't Jeb Bush -- whose usage of private emails and servers during his tenure as governor is strikingly similar to Clinton's -- be subject to the same scrutiny? If anything, Governor Bush has more issues with his transparency than Secretary Clinton, and he's done far less to address them. So here are ten questions he should answer:

1. If Bush sent and received over 3 million emails as governor, as he has said himself, how are we to believe only 250,000 were public records?

2. How did Jeb Bush decide which emails were public records and which staff members were in charge of that process?

3. What key issues were discussed in the 90% of emails that remain unreleased? The 2000 recall? Terry Schaivo?

Walker all-in for welfare accountability… except for his corporate welfare program

This past Saturday at the Iowa Ag Summit, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker trotted out one of his most tried-and-true brags when he pontificated about how he's made it harder for working class Wisconsinites to obtain food stamps by proposing drug testing and other hurdles for welfare recipients to overcome. It's a stigmatizing line that the presidential hopeful has used countless times to highlight his conservative credentials in front of audiences in his home state, in Iowa and recently at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Underlying Walker's rhetoric is misguided right-wing logic that drug testing welfare recipients constitutes strong stewardship of taxpayer funds. Indeed, Walker is all about making it harder for members of the working class to access government assistance. But he's all for making it easier for corporate titans to access taxpayer-funded grants and advantageous tax breaks through the woefully mismanaged private economic development agency he created -- the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). WEDC has been as ineffective at helping Walker reach his infamous goal of creating 250,000 new jobs in his first term as it has been scandal-ridden.

MEMO: Scott Walker Refusing to Answer Questions after Doubling Down on Extreme Positions

As Scott Walker gets closer and closer to announcing his run for president, he’s doubling down on extreme positions that are taking him closer and closer to the right wing conservative base. On top of that, he’s avoiding answering press questions on these positions because he only wants to talk about them to extreme audiences who share his views. In just the past couple weeks, he avoided answering press questions at CPAC in late February, after a speech to the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce last week, at the Iowa Ag Summit this past weekend, and after signing his disastrous right-to-work bill in Wisconsin yesterday. Since Scott Walker won’t talk about his positions, we’re happy to fill the void. Here’s what Walker has been up to lately:

• He insulted working families across the country when he compared union protesters to ISIS terrorists;
• He’s falsely claimed that President Reagan firing air traffic controllers made the Soviet Union take him more seriously;
• He’s attacking working families again by pushing through new right-to-work legislation after promising he wouldn’t;

Iowa Ag Summit Shines Light on Glaring Flaws in GOP Field

The Republican field had a chance to stand out at this weekend's Iowa Ag Summit, but instead displayed the same political skill that cost them the Presidency in 2012. Scott Walker focused on promoting his extreme positions, Jeb Bush ran a failed play from Mitt Romney's playbook, and the #GOPRebrand hit new lows as Rick Perry compared immigrants to tracking UPS packages and Rick Santorum repeated his opposition to legal immigration.

Rick Perry

Compares Immigrants to UPS Packages

Mike Huckabee

Says Immigrants Come "Because They've Heard There's A Bowl of Food Just Across the Border"

EXPOSED: GOP's Dazzling Display of Hypocrisy

Republicans have been quick to point the finger after the recent e-mail controversy. But attempts to score quick political points has only invited scrutiny into their questionable e-mail practices. They should look in the mirror before reciting their talking points. Check out these articles calling out the GOP for their humiliating hypocrisy.

MSNBC: Jeb Bush owns his own email server

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush owns the server that runs [email protected], the personal email account he used as governor to conduct official, political and personal business.

Asked who controls the server that operates that email address, Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell responded: “He owns it.”

The server was housed in a state-owned office building during the years that Bush served as governor, from 1999 until early 2007. A Bush source familiar with the situation said there were “digital security” measures in place to protect Bush’s emails, but declined to elaborate on how the server and its data were physically and digitally kept from harm.

Scott Walker's Hypocritical Attack

American Bridge 21st Century Vice President Jessica Mackler released the following statement on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's hypocritical attacks:

"The past few weeks have revealed Scott Walker to be the least prepared, least knowledgeable Republican presidential wannabe, but now he's making a run at being the most hypocritical, too. These cheap, political attacks are ignorant of Governor Walker's record--and reality."

GOP Hypocrisy Revealed: Jeb Bush Releases Less Than 10% of Private Email

SHOT:

CHASER:

MEMO: Jeb Bush Hypocrisy on Email Disclosure

Earlier this week, Jeb Bush attempted to capitalize on the recent email controversy by tweeting “Transparency matters. Unclassified @HillaryClinton emails should be released. You can see mine, here jebbushemails.com.” Bush’s attempt to score quick political points exposes him to a powerful hypocrisy attack. As governor, Bush used private emails; thus far he has not disclosed them all. There is even early media speculation that Bush’s actions may have skirted Florida law. Key Points:

• Bush used a personal email address as governor, and there are messages missing. As the Washington Post reporters, “Bush used his personal email address, [email protected], to conduct official, political, and personal business…” but Bush’s email disclosure website (which was already public and available at the Florida state archives) lacks many key messages, including any messages between Jeb Bush and his brother, then-President George W. Bush.

• Media accounts establish that Bush, not the State of Florida, decided which private emails to disclose – apparently nothing would have stopped the Bush team from selectively leaving out politically problematic emails. As the Tampa Bay Times reported, “The Bush files, though enormous, are not complete” because they lacked “emails the governor deemed not relevant to the public record.” In other words, Bush selected what was “relevant” or not for the public record, not civil servants.

American Bridge Submits Open Records Request For Unreleased Bush Emails

Today, in accordance with the Florida Open Records Law, American Bridge is requesting unreleased emails sent from Jeb Bush's private email account during his time as governor. Recently, Bush was quick to brag about releasing 250,000 emails in his ostensible devotion to transparency -- but Bush said he received 550,000 emails on his private account and 2.5 million emails on his public account during his gubernatorial tenure. A full copy of the open records request can be found here, and is copied after the jump.