Conlibe: Political Blog for TRUTH in Politics.
Liberal Opinion Blog. Boston, Massachusetts. Political Democrat, Independent. Debunk Republican Lies, MisinformationArchive for Palin
The Dark Lord of Politics Is Back!
It’s POLITICS Season…and guess who’s cleaning his weapons?
“The Architect”
He who Must NOT be Named – Karl Rove, the Voldemort (Dark Lord in the Harry Potter books) of politics. And Rove is trying to ensnare you once again in his black magic.
Beware, if you fall within a category Republicans consider “mudbloods!” (wizards and witches who come from non-magical families.) Meaning to Republicans: Non-Anglos, Liberals, Gays, Hispanics, Blacks, Muslims, etc…).
Matt Latimer, a speechwriter to President George W.Bush describes Rove as: less a Voldemort who was “what all the liberals said he was, the villain.”
Rove sowed the seeds of the Divisive brand of politics we are reaping in America, today. I hold Rove responsible for 8 years of George Bush. Bush even described Rove as “The Architect” of his victory over John Kerry in the November 2004 presidential election.
Senator Phil Gramm, Texas: 1985 – 2002
To me, Rove is the reason so many people now dislike and distrust the Republican party. He’s the reason we got politicians like John Ashcroft and Phil Gramm.
What did Phil Gramm do? According to Wikipedia, Gramm: co-sponsored the Gramm-Latta Budget in 1981 which increased military spending, cut other spending, and mandated the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981.
Included in the act was an across-the-board decrease in the marginal income tax rates in the U.S. by 23% over three years, with the top rate falling from 70% to 50% and the bottom rate dropping from 14% to 11%. This act slashed estate taxes and trimmed taxes paid by business corporations by $150 billion over a five-year period.
Rove is also the reason (again to me) that we now have the Tea Party. He’s the reason the Republican party is split to the point they can’t even accept their anointed candidate, despite the pretense of unity. Karl Rove is the reason American politics has become so nasty!
- Rove was accused of being behind a phone poll called a “push-pull poll” that asked voters questions like: would people be “more or less likely to vote for the Democrat Governor Ann Richards of Texas if they knew her staff was dominated by lesbians? Rove naturally denied being involved in circulating these rumors about Richards during the campaign, although many critics nonetheless identify this technique, particularly as utilized in this instance against Richards, as a hallmark of his career.
- One of the more notorious dirty tricks of which Rove is accused is the so-called “push-pull poll” conducted in South Carolina during the 2000 primaries, when George W. Bush and John McCain were vying for the Republican presidential nomination. The poll suggested that McCain, who has an adopted daughter from Bangladesh, had fathered an illegitimate child with a black woman. Rove denied having anything to do with it.
- 1996 Harold See’s campaign for Associate Justice, Alabama Supreme Court. A former campaign worker charged that, at Rove’s urging, he distributed flyers that anonymously attacked See, his own client. This put the opponent’s campaign in an awkward position. If See’s opponent publicly denied the flyers, he’d be damned anyway. Guess who won? Rove’s client was elected.
- In one campaign, a former Rove staffer reported that a whisper campaign alleging the opponent, a democrat, was a pedophile (a pedophile!?) started with Rove. But that could not be proved.
- In the 1986 Texas governor’s race, when the contest between Rove’s Republican client, Bill Clements, and the Democratic incumbent Mark White was neck and neck, Rove announced he had found an electronic listening device in his office, and cried foul. The furor swung the election to Clements and to this day Texan Democrats are convinced Rove concocted the whole episode.
Valerie Plame CIA scandal links
- In July 2006, conservative columnist Robert Novak confirmed Rove leaked the name of CIA undercover agent, Valerie Plame Wilson. Plame was married to Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador who had questioned the Bush administration’s claims about Iraq’s alleged nuclear program. Rove allegedly told the journalists that Plame was “fair game” because her husband had gone public with his criticism.
This is documented online. In some cases, I quote passages in whole or in part…
How can any politician, Republican or Democrat, CONDONE this type of behavior? They do this ALL the time because YOU, voters, ALLOW this to go one. Once it’s your candidate who will benefit, you go along. Now see where it’s taken us. The good candidates run for cover and we get people like Mitt Romney who are willing to DO anything, SAY anything to win!
If Republicans (and ALL politicians) are smart – they will get RID of people like Carl Rove and aim for the moral high ground.
But Republicans won’t. Because these days it’s “Win at ANY Cost” no matter how high. I don’t know how many ethnic and social groups Republicans feel a need to antagonize but they are going for the record!
Ronald Reagan (left) debates Democrat Walter Mondale
BEFORE Karl Rove became “The Architect” of Republican politics, we had Ronald Reagan. During a 1984 presidential debate with Walter Mondale, Reagan said: “I want you to know that…I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” Brilliant. But then Rove was NOT running Reagan’s campaign, though he did handle some mailings.
Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986. It, among other things, gave amnesty to about 3 million illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982. If Reagan ran for nomination today, the Tea Party would OPPOSE him. Imagine that!
Thank Karl Rove for the insidious destruction of the Republican Party. Republicans seem to attract, gather, collect, embrace these destructive forces and revolve in their orbit. The Karl Roves, the Rush Limbaughs, the Glen Becks, the Sarah Palins who have hijacked the Republican Party, but Republicans are too scared to depose these polarizing elements as their icons. What good is it doing for them except to make Republicans appear more and more extremist and out of touch?
Wolves in SHEEP clothing!
Sometimes I speculate the current crop of Republican politicians we have today are not real Republicans at all, just wolves in Republican clothing!
Until Republicans become strong, bold, mature, gutsy enough to say to these divisive elements within their party: “YOU do NOT represent ME!”...they may eke out a few more wins, but I don’t see a rosy future. Maybe I’m the one with blinders!
We need a new, charismatic, yes a COOL republican to come along and rescue the Republican party – because America NEEDS two parties, two sane parties. (Democrats, you’re not off the hook, either.)
Can you imagine a Republican presidential candidate who will tell Rush Limbugh: “You may preach your hate-mongering and disharmony. If encouraging presidential failure and disdain for immigrants and various ethnic groups is your thing IT’S NOT MINE. So hear and know this: YOU do not speak for the Republican party and you especially DO NOT speak for me! You speak ONLY for you”.
Obama Cool! Karl Rove ad for Mitt Romney says Obama’s too cool. FAKE Romney better. How about Rove ditching his “cool” smartphone or laptop for a much more dated version? NO? So YOU like cool…?
A Republican Presidential candidate who will tell Carl Rove: “No thanks. I’ll find another person to advise my campaign.
It’s ONLY when Republicans get such a candidate that they will understand the concept of “cool”. UNTIL THEN, Republicans…NO THANKS.
In May 2008 the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Karl Rove to testify on the politicization of the Justice Department under George W. Bush. The Bush Justice Department was accused of FIRING U.S. attorneys who refused to go after Democrats! (NO concern for job losses, then.)
Lost White House e-mails, CIA leak scandal, Cheney adviser – Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigns – one scandal after the other under Bush/Rove? In August 2007, Karl Rove resigned without responding to the Senate Judiciary Committee subpoena. Rove is running ads for Mitt Romney…
DO YOU WANT MORE OF THAT?
One of George W. Bush’s nicknames for KARL ROVE is “Turd Blossom” a Texas term for a flower that blooms from cattle poo! That’s documented online too. Just follow your nose…
Health Care Reform and The Budget to Nowhere…
I hate to say this…but, RICK SANTORUM was right!!!
Mitt Romney is/can be a deer in the headlights when it comes to Health Care Reform! If you know the right questions to ask…which most reporters seem NOT to know or are AFRAID to ask (of ALL the candidates).
Santorum would have been a more difficult candidate to challenge on Health Care Reform – except that Santorum is so far from the mainstream he’s X-treme! So Republicans had NO choice, really…
Still, Santorum has a point. Can you see that debate between Obama and Romney when the question of Health Care Reform comes up? I don’t know about YOU, but I can hardly wait!
Er, governor – what is it about the Federal law that you don’t like, again…?
Maybe we should start by asking you…DO YOU BELIEVE THAT EVERYBODY SHOULD HAVE HEALTH CARE? SHOULD THEY BE MANDATED TO BUY INTO IT, LIKE YOU MADE US DO HERE IN MASSACHUSETTS?
TAX FORMS, Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Schedule HC, Page 1: For STATE Taxes in MA You MUST fill this form. NO Health Care, PAY A PENALTY under Romney Care!
There are so many Flips, Flops and Misspokes that Romney can duck behind the anticipation is precious!
And hopefully Obama or some savvy, non-pandering journalist (hopefully a few of those remain) will grill him on it.
What a chuckle or cringe fest this can be!!!
Just think! The very same Republicans who were and are so outraged about mandated Health Care are on their way to anointing the Prince of mandated health Care as their candidate for president. Chickens coming home to roost! And not in a good way.
TAX FORMS, Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Schedule HC, Page 2: For STATE Taxes in MA You MUST fill this form. NO Health Care, PAY A PENALTY. Romney Care!
But then, Republicans have taken the Art of Hypocrisy to new heights. After all, they’re the very same people who tried to crucify President Clinton for adultery and then condoned their own party’s adulterers…because when a Republican commits adultery, it is not EVEN a sin LIKE IT IS when Democrats do it. Why? The Bible tells them so, of course!
Haven’t you read the gospel of John? John Boehner 12:32? It says “And now this I write to you, my dearly beloved republicans, that when the unpatriotic (meaning Democrats) commit a sin, no matter how small or insignificant, that sin shall be exposed and the offender publicly castigated and run out of their dwelling place and their place of employment to be an example to unbelievers.
But if a publican (meaning Republicans) should stumble and sin, remember he is human. Therefore, his sin, no matter how horrendous, shall be covered up and held close, so that others shall not know of it. For surely, I say to you. The sins of the unpatriotic are greater than the sum of the sins of the publicans.”
Let’s hear Mitt Romney and his Republican supporters explain WHY Health Care Reform is OK for Massachusetts but not OK for the rest of the nation. Why is it OK to mandate in a state, but not OK to mandate for the nation? I guess it’s because the people living in Massachusetts, even the Republicans, are radical Liberals…so anything goes here!
As Wisconsin Representative, Republican Paul Ryan put it in an interview with NBC’s Ann Curry: (Romney) “..was the governor of Massachusetts, which is a fairly liberal state; he had a democratic legislature he had to work with and so he had to make compromises”. Indeed! Romney “compromised” so much he ended up compromising his integrity!
TAX FORMS, Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Schedule HC, Page 3: For STATE Taxes in MA You MUST fill this form. NO Health Care, PAY A PENALTY. That's Romney Care!
Schedule HC, Affordability and Premiums: TAX FORM, Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Romney Care....
Of course we in Massachusetts know it was not really Romney who signed the bill. It was secretly president Obama hiding under Romney’s desk. If Mormons believed in the concept of the Trinity Godhead – then maybe I could say it was one of Romney’s three selves: “FLIP’, “FLOP” or “MISSPOKE”. Please explain that, Mr. Romney. Not to me. I get it. I LIVE in Massachusetts. Explain it to Republicans, especially TEA PARTY Republicans across the board who don’t like mandates…and claim that THIS is the MAIN reason they oppose President Obama’s Health Care bill…
- Of course WE know the REAL reason they oppose Health Care and everything else Obama does is because: They so HATE Obama they’re vowed to OPPOSE anything he does with ONE reason and ONE REASON alone: to ensue he becomes a One-term President.
They NEVER cared under George Bush… Remember the $400-million Bridge to Nowhere that Sarah Palin first thought was “essential” before it was not! That became the face of waste and that was a Republican – Ted Stevens of Alaska.
President Clinton left a surplus. Bush took over and LEFT a huge deficit. DID YOU HEAR JOHN BOEHNER OR PAUL RYAN TALKING ABOUT CUTTING COST DURING THE BUSH TERM IN OFFICE? Why not? IS spending different, when it’s Republicans doing the spending? I guess that depends on what “is” really is!
Schedule HC, Health Care PENALTY Worksheet: TAX FORM, Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Romney Care....
Do you remember the debate over the COST of the War in Iraq? Did you see Mitch McConnell pontificating about the Cost? No. He voted FOR military action in Iraq, the LEADING cause of American Deficits/Debt and voted to authorize 86 billion of tax dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And what do you have to show for this money, Mr McConnell. A great victory? Money better spent than on health care for Americans…?
That war had/HAS such a huge cost…on every front. Emotionally, politically – a disaster. Financially, an economy killer. Geo-politically? On the family? On the soldiers? On the NATION!?
DEAD SOLDIERS, WOUNDED SOLDIERS, SOLDIERS LOSING LIMBS, SOLDIER SUICIDES, SOLDIERS GOING BERSERK DUE TO STRESS AND OVER-ROTATIONS, FAMILIES BREAKING UP (but that’s fine, just blame gays), THE FINANCIAL COST: billions and billions of dollars…
RESULT of ALL this waste of time, money and lives: Iran one – America zero!
Schedule HC, Minimum Coverage: TAX FORM, Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Romney Care....
Take that same amount of money or less, and spend it on Health Care for people HERE in America. Heck no! We need to keep the COSTS down. Anything to do with America – keep costs down. Military action overseas – spend, spend, spend!!!
Slam a couple of multi-million-dollar missiles into a town in Afghanistan, kill innocents, enrage more Muslims. That’s fine. Price just right. Health Care for kids in America…too expensive.
So close fire stations, cut funding for police, schools and after-school programs that keep kids of the streets and put them on a path to self-sufficiency so they will not go on the Welfare that you hate so much…that’s fine. Build another missile – of course! We still have more places in Afghanistan to bomb especially as that’s going so well!
Schedule HC, Instructions: TAX FORM, Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Romney Care....
Let’s take a page from Paul Ryan’s book. Let’s pretend we really, really CARE about budget deficits. We sooo do not want to leave DEBT for our kids. Do we work with the President to come up with a budget that will pass? NO!!! Mr. Ryan wastes more time and resources ON A BUDGET THAT HE KNOWS FULL WELL WILL NOT PASS. But you diligently work on behalf of the people who sent you to Washington by getting the House to debate it…after which your budget dies. Now you’ve helped cut the deficit. Go on TV and SAY so!
The House knows the Senate will not even LOOK at Ryan’s budget. So Ryan’s budget goes nowhere. But Ryan can say HE did something about cutting the deficit. And he’s right, because (in case YOU, like the media and the Stock Market missed it) the DEFICIT was automatically halved the moment Ryan’s budget died on the House floor.
TAX FORMS, Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Instructions: MA STATE Taxes. Without Health Insurance you may PAY A PENALTY under Romney Care!
Yes, indeed. Ryan can be so proud. Now that is Leadership we can depend on! I don’t think he needs to do anything else to tackle deficit reduction, do you? He’s done ALL THAT HE CAN DO…
Thanks to him, half of the Deficit was wiped away. Now all he has to do is sit tight until HE becomes president to wipe away the remaining half!
Yep – the Budget to Nowhere…strikes again.
Romney’s Back-Flip…Flop…on “Work”
Not since President Clinton questioned the meaning of “is” — have I wondered what a simple word like work means. Until now!
What does WORK mean to the Romneys…and Republicans…?
Depends. If you live here…
Romney home (one of them) on Lake Winnepesaukee, New Hampshire
When you’re talking about Mitt Romney’s wife Ann Romney, it means STAYING HOME taking care of kids. Then it’s exceedingly hard work, too. So hard, in fact, that you cannot even drag yourself out of bed to go to an office and hold down a 9-5 job where you are expected to PLAY all day!
When it comes to Welfare Moms…WORK means STAYING HOME and playing so much that you then need to pack those easy going little darlings off somewhere and jog to a bus stop, transfer to another bus or a train then sprint to a 9-5 job where you KEEP YOUR NOSE TO THE GRIND – and WORK all day.
Public Housing, Boston
Didn’t I tell you…?
Mitt Romney loves women, especially poor women…and he wants them to work.
Meaning like his wife, he wants you to STAY home and raise your kids. Or does he? NO. Wait. He wants poor women to go to work…yes WORK! And no, NOT work in the way it applies to his wife where you stay home…!
You get it…? I know it would not be long before he put another one of his three Flip-Flop shod feet into his mouth!
Yes. He wants mothers on welfare to go to WORK.
But before they head off to WORK — let us look at a definition of WORK, as coming from the Republican Camp, from Ann Romney, from Michele Bachmann …
(There really is a GOD, you know. Even some of us non-Republicans have to believe — when we see some superior being raining well deserved justice down on Republicans).
Hillary Rosen
When Democratic strategist, Hilary Rosen (poor woman), said Ann Romney never worked a day in her life – we KNOW she meant never held a job in the rat race. We know Rosen was NOT referring to child rearing and raising a family.
In America when people ask you: Do you work? They’re not asking you if you stay home and take care of kids or a home. They want to know: Do you have a job where you leave your kids/home and engage in an activity for which you get a regular paycheck where some employer removes taxes and other deductions.
Maybe we should expand that to mean “Stay-Home Mom/Person” but chauvinistic beings that we are, we don’t. NOT YET!!!
Maybe taking care of kids and home SHOULD be termed a full time job. Maybe the working spouse should come home, write the stay home partner a check, remove taxes etc and say: Honey, here is your salary. But so far, we’ve not reached that elevated state of thinking.
When the earning partner puts that money into a joint account or hands the stay home partner the check or whatever arrangement they have, that stay home person is essentially being paid for a job done. WE ALL KNOW THAT. I and many people DO NOT DISPUTE that child rearing is hard work.
I went/am going through it.
"Working" women!
But when someone asks me if I work, I know they’re not asking me if I take care of my son.
Ann Romney knew it. Rosen knew it. Democrats knew it. Republicans knew it. But again, given the Dumbing of America, the Fear Factor, the Pandering Factor, the Stupidity Factor, the Grandstanding Factor, the Divisive Factor, the Cult of Dissent for Political Gain Factor, the Romney Camp and Republicans saw an opening, AND THEY TOOK IT. Turns out it was a Foxhole…and not the rabbit warren they thought it was with multiple exits!
See where it got them?
To Welfare moms…and to ALL OTHER MOMS WHO HAVE TWO JOBS by Republican definitions: Child Rearing and Office jobs.
So when I refer to “work” here, don’t give me any B.S about childcare – ’cause right now I have laundry waiting, and it’s not gonna do itself. I’m referring to moms who take care of kids, and elderly parents and STILL MUST hold down a paying job…that brings a paycheck!
To moms who in addition to those 2 jobs (office and home)… ALSO hold a 3rd Part-time job too! They just thought they had two jobs until Ann Romney made them add childcare and now they realize they are holding 3 jobs! Yet they will NEVER experience the lifestyle of Mrs. Ann Romney with her ONE job!
So if Child Rearing is a full time job for Ann Romney…Why does Mitt Romney want to load poor moms with MORE work, like a job…a job as in outside the home — which his wife does not do? Why the discrepancy…?
So let’s see what Rosen said: “Ann Romney never worked a day in her life.” And she’s right. Ann Romney has not worked as we define work.
If Rosen had said: Parenting is not work, that would be different.
if Rosen had said: All Ann Romney has done is stay home and care for kids, thereby devaluing that contribution, this would be different. I won’t support any dismissal of the contribution made in the home.
Not easy - houseWORK!
Ann Romney is lucky and blessed to have a husband who can provide for her – and provide it in a harmonious setting. Many of us would want to be in a situation like Ann Romney. Her kids appear to be grounded, her husband appears to be content. I’ve NEVER heard even a hint of infidelity in that marriage (as compared to the Palin’s or Clinton’s). She appears to have done a great job in that regard. The only criticism I have against the Romney family is: Why did none of your sons join the army and fight for the country you love so much?
But then I don’t want my son in the army, either…especially when people like Dick Cheney and John McCain keep calling for war!
Rosen stated a fact, and because that fact was not convenient for some, THAT FACT became a non-fact…lost in “truthiness”.
(According to online encyclopedia, Wikipedia: Truthiness is a term coined by American television comedian Stephen Colbert. It’s a quality characterizing a “truth” that a person claims to know intuitively “from the gut” or because it “feels right” without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts.
BACK IN JANUARY, what did Romney say?: “Mothers on welfare need to go to work”? He wants mothers on welfare to go to work or lose their benefits. I don’t support welfare, which I think beats people DOWN. So I’m NOT against getting people off welfare. This is NOT the argument here. If Romney can get people off welfare, go Romney! Should have tried it here, in Massachusetts, but then if he HAD, he’d be disassociating with it now, anyway.
Epitome of the working woman! On stage and off...
If we play dumb like Romney and Republicans did on Rosen’s remarks, what does Romney mean? Seems his understanding of work appears to jive with that of Rosens – but GASP – that CANNOT BE!
So what does Romney mean again, by work?
Because after all the furor from his side, he cannot mean work, WORK? Can he? Because that would be a MAJOR Flip-flop…AGAIN!
Romney’s words: “I wanted to increase the work requirement…that even if you have a child 2 years of age, you need to go to work…And people said, ‘Well that’s heartless’ (imagine people thinking something like that!)…and I said NO. No, I’m willing to spend more giving day care to allow parent to go back to work. It’ll cost the state more providing that day care, but I want individuals to have the dignity of work.”
“Dignity of work?”
Is Romney saying his wife is also lacking that “dignity” of work, since she is at home taking care of kids – or does that only apply to women on welfare?
Or do we just agree that Rosen was right – and allow this to go away?
Know what bugged me…?
How quick many Democrats were to rush to condemn Rosen. Doesn’t make you want to be a strategist for them, now does it? How about saying: “Hey. Time out! Rosen was NOT criticizing Ann Romney for staying home and raising her kids. She was just pointing out that Romney has not held a paying job in the rat race and so she doesn’t share the frustrations of those of us who have had to…”:
- Get up early, VERY early, and wake and dress kids, feed them, pack lunches, head to a car, bus, train, with a stroller, and drop the kid off at Day Care
- Scramble to find an alternative if there is an unforeseen circumstance at the Day Care, like a burst pipe in the winter…and the Day Care is closed?
- At the end of the day, reverse the stress. Race to the bus/train to reach the Day Care BEFORE the time when they start charging you extra! Stand in the snow in an icy bust stop and wait for a bus that never comes because of the snow havoc?
- Reach home late and still have to prepare dinner, get kids to bed, prepare for the next morning when your living hell of a life begins all over…
Democrats Logo...
- I’m not even going to get into budgets, shopping, doctor’s appointments, etc…
- DOES ANN ROMNEY LIVE THESE THINGS…in that way?
Did Democrats make those arguments in support of Rosen?
No – they threw her to the wolves. (Ms. Rosen – ssshhhh! Not worth it! Go Independent!)
That’s politics these day…every ship is a Titanic!!!
Conlibe: Political Blog for TRUTH in Politics. 