Jeb's Self-ID Problem Draws Widespread Mockery
Jeb Bush's self-identification problem had the political world scratching its head Monday. After registering as "Hispanic" on his 2009 Florida voter registration form, the presumptive presidential candidate was hard-pressed to explain the error. Instead he tried to poke fun at the mistake, which would have been a savvy move had the entire national press corps not beat him to the punch.
VIDEO: Pence "On the Wrong Side of History"
The political backlash against Indiana Governor Mike Pence's "Religious Freedom" law has been swift and devastating as thousands of Hoosiers have protested…
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.
VIDEO: Jeb Bush: CPAC's Persona Non Grata
CPAC 2015. Thousands of attendees, hundreds of speakers and panelists, and upwards of a dozen GOP presidential hopefuls. And yet, a singular, overwhelming theme from the Conservative confab -- unmistakable rancor for former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. All three days of the conference found Conservatives landing jab after jab on Jeb, from Laura Ingraham to Chris Christie to Donald Trump.
What "War on Women"?
The one where Republicans not only don't trust women to make their own health care decisions, they feel a need to legislate that only what they view as "legitimate rape" entitles a woman to receive health care services. That war on women, folks. Republicans may talk about their rebrand, claim their 2014 victories show their problems with women have evaporated, but don't listen to the spin. Nothing has changed in the two years since failed Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin made his infamous comment about "legitimate rape." Case in point? A Missouri legislator named Rick Brattin who has proposed a bill that would, as reported by Mother Jones, "force a woman who wants an abortion to obtain written permission from the father first—unless she was the victim of 'legitimate rape.'"
The Company You Keep… Allen West Endorses Joni Ernst
You can tell a lot about a person by the people they associate themselves with. For Joni Ernst, her cavalry just got even more extreme. Ernst has already credited the Koch brothers with starting her trajectory, said she was "flattered' to be compared to Sarah Palin, trumpeted Glenn Beck's conspiracy theory, and now she's earned the adoration of Allen West, who just cut this spot endorsing her. In case you're not familiar with Allen West, here are a couple of lovely quotes that highlight his worldview, though this is just the tip of the iceberg:
- "When I see anyone with an Obama bumper sticker, I recognize them as a threat to the gene pool."
- "So I’m here as the modern-day Harriet Tubman to kind of lead people on the Underground Railroad away from that plantation [of the Democratic Party]"
- On Social Security benefits: "So once again we are creating the sense of economic dependence which, to me is a form of modern, 21st-century slavery."
Putting the "Fib" in NFIB
The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) presents itself as a do-good nonpartisan group that fights for the best interests of small businesses and stays out of politics. It isn't. Dig a litter deeper and you'll quickly learn that NFIB is another group with Koch-funding working to push their anti-working family agenda and elect politicians who embody it. They purport to lobby for small business, but fight tooth and nail for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans -- tax cuts that help people like the Kochs and not people like the local hardware store owner.
Dave Brat's Grand Old TEA Party
The Republican establishment was dealt a shocking blow last week when Eric Cantor, an ardent conservative and supposed young star of the GOP, was defeated by little-known Tea Party candidate Dave Brat. The upset sent shockwaves through the Republican Party, and Brat wasted no time in demonstrating his extreme views. In an interview with Chuck Todd the day after winning his primary, Brat, an economics professor, appeared to lay out a case for abolishing the minimum wage, before backpedaling and claiming that he didn't have a "well-crafted response on that one." But the real story isn't Brat's bumbling, or even Cantor's fall from grace. The real story is that the positions of Dave Brat and his Tea Party friends and the positions of today's "Republican establishment" aren't any different. Whether you ask overnight Tea Party sensation Dave Brat, or longtime Washington elite Speaker Boehner, they'll tell you the same thing. There ain't any difference between the Tea Party and the GOP.
Billionaire Koch Brothers Oppose Increasing the Minimum Wage
From President Brad Woodhouse: Not exactly a newsflash – but here it is - from the Koch funded AFP – a note to Senators urging a vote against increasing the minimum wage. Two dudes worth a combined over $80 billion opposing an increase in the minimum wage for people who work fulltime but still live in poverty. Unbelievable.
Scott Brown Still Has Massachusetts Plates
Former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, who is publicly flirting with a 2014 Senate campaign in "Massachesett--uh, in New Hampshire," has spent months parading around the state in his famous GMC truck. It seems that Brown was in such a rush, however, that he overlooked crucial details before jumping over the state line to hobnob with New Hampshire Republicans. As you can see below, Brown's famous truck still has Massachusetts plates. Without a New Hampshire license plate to call his own, it's no wonder that while speaking at a fundraiser this summer, Scott Brown tried to recite New Hampshire's famous state motto "Live Free AND Die," before struggling to recover and correcting himself. Perhaps now is the time for Scott Brown to invest in NH plates, if only to remind him what state he's in and what their motto is.