Nobody Arraigning On Rick Perry's Koch-Parade

Rick Perry was due to appear in court in Texas today for the formal reading of his two felony charges after being…

FOX and Friend (Scott Brown)

This was Scott Brown just last week. Brown was utterly incredulous when it was suggested that FOX News would be any more favorable to his campaign just because he worked there. He pointed out that he was nothing more than a (very well paid) part-time employee. Coincidentally, FOX decided to do an apocalyptic special titled "Live Free Or Die: The Affordable Care Act in New Hampshire." This is the only special FOX has done focused on a single state all cycle. It offers a doomsday view of the new healthcare law in the Granite State, before entering savior Scott Brown in the final minutes to chronicle his heroic campaign to defeat Jeanne Shaheen and repeal the law. And FOX isn't the only outside help Scott Brown is getting in Mission: Tell Everyone ACA Will Destroy Their Lives -- the Koch Brothers' AFP has run false ads to attack Brown's opponent over health care too. But forget the skewed picture painted by FOX and AFP, and the nuanced politics of the Affordable Care Act for Scott Brown (only about one-third of voters support his repeal stance). This special, on the heels of Scott Brown's categorical dismissal of the notion that FOX would do anything to help his floundering campaign, is one more piece of evidence that you can't trust a word that comes out of this guy's mouth. Shocking, from a Massachusetts guy trying to convince the whole state of New Hampshire that he's one of them, right?

Rick Scott Pretends To Listen To Scientists (NEW VIDEO)

Ever since Rick Scott's buffoonery on climate change was thrust into the national spotlight -- and promptly ridiculed -- he's been desperately trying to rehabilitate his image on the subject. The other week, he even strung together an environmental tour in which he purported to be an environmentalist. Well the charade has continued. Yesterday, Rick Scott finally met with climate scientist and he listened with all the focus and alacrity of an eighth grader on the last day of school. His faux interest in climate change (paired with his steadfast rejection of its causes) didn't fool the scientists that met with him and it isn't fooling the voters.

Things Mitt Romney Could Talk To Bruce Rauner About While In Illinois

Mitt Romney will be in Chicago this afternoon as part of Paul Ryan's book tour, where the two can reminisce about that time they lost Illinois by 17 points en route to a landslide defeat two years ago. Perhaps while Mitt is in town, he should take some time to talk to his political doppleganger, Bruce Rauner. After all, the two would have SO much to talk about, like:

• The joys of shipping jobs overseas

• The age-old debate: Car elevators vs. $100,000 extra parking spots

• How annoying it is when the public demands to see your tax returns

• What a lovely place the Cayman Islands is for stashing millions to avoid paying US taxes

American Bridge Submits FOIA Request For Gov. Corbett's Phone Records

It isn't every day that the chief executive of a state admits that he expressly operates in a manner to skirt transparency laws. But that's exactly what Governor Corbett has done. As the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported last week, Corbett has gone to incredible lengths to conduct business outside of the public eye:

"The governor said he rarely uses email because he knows reporters would file Right-To-Know requests to get them. Instead, he said, he uses the telephone. He said he needs the freedom to be able to express opinions that he may later want to change. Mr. Corbett said he deletes his emails about once a week."

That's a stunning concession and one that demonstrates contempt for the spirit of open democracy. As such, American Bridge is issuing a FOIA request for Governor Corbett's official phone records. The people of Pennsylvania deserve to know exactly what their governor has made such a concerted effort to conceal.

Click here to view FOIA request.

Jack Hunter, Rand Paul's Race Relations Defender

Jack Hunter, Rand Paul's former new media director, has authored a piece in Politico espousing that Senator Paul is the Republican Party's new "Jack Kemp," calling him a "revolutionary" when it comes to outreach to African Americans. Hunter, who has strong ties to Paul and co-authored his 2011 book, is an interesting one to talk about race relations, given his ties to neo-secessionist and confederate groups. In fact, Hunter has a long history of preaching extreme positions on racially charged issues, including comparing Abraham Lincoln to Hitler and saying of Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, that his "heart was in the right place." In his writings, Hunter has gone so far as to decry that "it's a shame that" white Americans "are always denied fair treatment" because of the color of their skin. This is Rand Paul's defender on race relations, ladies and gentlemen.

Background

“The Southern Avenger” Alter Ego

Jack Hunter, Paul’s New Media Director, Wrote Numerous Articles As The “Southern Avenger” That Praised John Wilkes Booth And Made Provocative Comments About Race. According to CNN, “Sen. Rand Paul's new media director, who also helped the Kentucky Republican write a 2011 book, has a past as a pro-Southern secessionist assuming a ‘Southern Avenger’ persona while hosting a radio show. Jack Hunter, who has made a number of provocative comments about race, was also a member of the pro-Southern independence group League of the South before he came to work for Paul.” [CNN, 7/9/13]

Hunter Had Strong Ties To Rand Paul 

Hunter Was Also The Co-Author Of Paul’s 2011 Book, The Tea Party Goes To Washington.” According to The Atlantic, “In June, Rand Paul parted ways with Jack Hunter, an aide and co-author of Paul's 2011 book The Tea Party Goes to Washington, after the Washington Free Beacon revealed that Hunter used to be a neo-Confederate shock jock called the Southern Avenger, a columnist who compared Abraham Lincoln to Saddam Hussein, and the former chairman of the Charleston, South Carolina, chapter of the League of the South, a secessionist group.” [The Atlantic, 9/18/13]

A Rick Scott Dodge So Bad That We Decided To Launch A New Site

If you're reading this post, you probably already know that Rick Scott won't answer questions. After all, you are the…

Happy Akin-versary!

Zero score and two years ago today, Todd Akin shook the political world with his now infamous claim that "[in the case of] a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down.” We could go on for hours mocking Akin's asinine comments and his recent attempt to rehabilitate his image, which included a retraction of his apology and a slew of evidence that he still doesn't understand why anybody was offended in the first place. But at this point, Akin is nothing more than another extreme Tea Party has-been. What's far more important is that, while Akin may have had a unique flare for the offensive, his extreme positions on women's health are anything but unique within the Republican party. Supporting so-called "personhood" is the de facto position in today's GOP -- a position that could make common forms of birth control like the pill illegal. Many Republican candidates oppose abortion even in the case of rape or incest, and some have gone as far to oppose it even when the mother's life is in danger.Republicans have voted to slash funding for Planned Parenthood and redefine rape as "forcible rape," and the list goes on and on. So today, American Bridge is relaunching ItsNotJustAkin.com to continue to expose Republican candidates for their ongoing efforts to regulate women's bodies. Todd Akin may not be in Congress anymore, but his legacy lives on.

Colorado's Coffman and Gardner Are Two Peas in an Extreme, Bad for Colorado Pod

Last week, Colorado Congressman Mike Coffman couldn't for the life of him remember the phrase "birth control," while his colleague Congressman Cory Gardner unflinchingly pledged to a constituent that, if elected Senator, he would once again vote to restrict women's access to health care services. Indeed, Colorado Congressmen Forgetful and Affirmative are two peas in a pod when it comes to limiting women's health care rights. In his bumbling attempt to appear sensitive to women's issues, Coffman did manage to verbalize that he supports the Supreme Court's recent Hobby Lobby decision, which allows certain employers to limit women's access to birth control, as previously required by the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive mandate. Setting aside, of course, the fact that forgetting birth control is not a luxury millions of women who rely on contraceptives for family planning and health reasons can afford, consider also that Coffman's debate blank out is coming from a candidate who has previously supported the restrictive, anti-abortion 'personhood' measure that could ban common forms of birth control like the pill.

New Web Ad: Thom Tillis Forgot To Tell You A Few Things

Thom Tillis released a new TV ad today telling you a few things about his background and his record. The only problem? He forgot the facts. Nearly everything Tillis says in the ad is completely undermined by the truth about his record as Speaker of the North Carolina State House. From massive education cuts and budget shortfalls to tax cuts for the wealthiest North Carolinians in a perfectly Koch-aligned agenda, one thing is clear: Tillis does not want to talk to you about his record in the legislature. It's a record he's obviously so proud of that in this new ad he conveniently fails to mention that he has anything to do with the very legislative body he presides over. So we decided to help Speaker Tillis out and fill in some of the crucial context he was unable to fit into his new ad.