PolitiFact Virginia: Allen says he reined in state spending as governor

On August 22, 2011 PolitiFact Virginia reported:   Republican George Allen is promising his unrelenting effort to curb federal spending…

Rick Perry Compares Civil Rights Movement To Lower Taxes And Deregulation

At an August 20, 2011 meet and greet at the Old Town Bistro in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Gov. Rick Perry seemingly likened the struggles of the civil rights movement to fighting for lower taxes and deregulation. As AMERICAblog's Kombiz Lavasany wrote, "The statement is historically inaccurate, Martin Luther King Jr. fought for unions and regulations."

Think Progress: Olympia Snowe Urges Constituents To Thank Court For Ruling Against The Individual Mandate She Voted For

On August 22, 2011, Think Progress wrote: Politico’s Pulse reports that Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) “is inviting people to…

MEMO: Rick Perry: The Great Campaigner?

Last week, Texas Governor Rick Perry burst onto the GOP Presidential scene, managing to step all over the Ames straw poll by making his official announcement the same day.

By waiting until after the straw poll to enter the race, Perry avoided answering the tough questions that voters care about. Rather than use his first week in the race to show Americans where he stands on today's most pressing issues, he upstaged himself with a series of gaffes and extreme statements, revealing that he's just not ready for prime time.

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.”

RELEASE: American Bridge 21st Century Hires Matt Thornton & Ike Blake

WASHINGTON -- American Bridge 21st Century President Rodell Mollineau today announced the hires of Matt Thornton and Ike Blake to serve as senior communications adviser and director of media production, respectively. “I’m thrilled to add two all stars like Matt and Ike to the American Bridge team,” Mollineau said. “With Matt’s communications skills and Ike’s technical and creative abilities, American Bridge will be even better equipped to shape the political debate and hold Republicans accountable.” Thornton, who started this week, most recently served as communications director for Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). He previously served as the communications director for former Congressman Zack Space (D-OH), and he has worked on campaigns in Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, and West Virginia. A Kansas native, he holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.

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."

Rick Perry Accuses Scientists Of Manipulating Climate Data

On August 17, 2011, Texas Gov. Rick Perry called climate change "a scientific theory that has not been proven," and accused scientists of manipulating the data in order to secure funding:

PERRY: "You may have a point there because, I do believe that the issue of global warming has been politicized. I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data, so that they will have dollars rolling into their, to their projects. I think we're seeing almost weekly or even daily scientists who are coming forward and questioning, the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change. Yes, our climate's changed, it's been changing for ever-ever since the earth was formed, but I do not buy into that uh, a group of scientists, who have in some cases found to be manipulating this information and the cost to the country and to the world of implementing these uh, uh anti-carbon programs is in the billions if not trillions of dollars at the end of the, of the day, and I don't think from my perspective I want America to be engaged in spending that much money on still a scientific theory that has not been proven, and from my perspective is more and more being put into question."

Rick Perry Says The Federal Reserve Is "Almost Treasonous"

On August 15, 2011, Texas Gov. Rick Perry bizarrely asserted that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was "almost" committing treason for, well, doing his job:

PERRY: If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we -- we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous -- or treasonous in my opinion.

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.