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."
Mitch McConnell Joined Kentucky Sports Radio. It Didn't Go Well (AUDIO)
Mitch McConnell has long been ducking Kentucky Sports Radio. They interviewed his opponent in-studio weeks ago, and have since been begging McConnell to offer the same opportunity. But per usual, McConnell was nowhere to be found. Well suddenly, with polls showing McConnell trailing in the political fight of his life, he's eager to have his voice heard. So today, Mitch dialed into the show out of nowhere and told them he wanted to go on the air -- a move of seeming desperation, and one that frustrated host Matt Jones. Mitch came out swinging, and not at his opponent. He came out combative -- for no apparent reason -- toward the Jones and Kentucky Sports Radio, leaving a bad taste in their mouth. If ever there were an indicator that a guy has been in Washington too long, it's that he can't even appear on sports radio without launching immediately into negative attacks. No need to take our word for it -- just listen to this supercut of the station's own analysis:
Hello Ernst and Ryan; Goodbye Social Security and Medicare
Joni Ernst is in serious trouble in her Iowa senate race. Paul Ryan really wants to be president. So when Ryan comes to Iowa to campaign for Ernst tomorrow, everybody's a winner! Except Iowans. Paul Ryan pioneered plans to privatize Social Security and slash Medicare, and Joni Ernst was his number one cheerleader. Ernst said "Ryan is a do-er, especially on budget issues," and she gleefully voted to endorse his budget in the Iowa Senate. She's voiced her support for privatizing Social Security on the campaign while refusing to offer any details, and claimed that Medicaid recipients "have no personal responsibility for their health," another program that would be gutted by Ryan's budgets. Joni Ernst is a fringe candidate, and it shows in the company she keeps and the people she admires. She's thanked the Koch brothers for "starting her trajectory." She said she was flattered to be compared to Sarah Palin because Palin is the kind of politician she admires. She appeared with Ted Cruz, who said there was no candidate he was more excited about across the country than Ernst. And now she's campaigning with anti-retirement crusader, Paul Ryan, who she calls a "do-er." Joni Ernst doesn't want Iowans to believe that she's extreme. But facts are facts. Ernst and Ryan want to privatize Social Security and roll back Medicare. That's pretty extreme.
EXCLUSIVE Audio: AFP Summit Speakers "Appeal" To Women
Americans For Prosperity held its annual "Defending the American Dream Summit" in Dallas last month, where top tier Republican presidential…
Headline Speaks for Itself: "Rand Paul Vows to Repeal Every Prior Executive Order If Elected President"
Here's what Rand Paul said to a crowd of Tea Party supporters in New Hampshire last night:
"I think the first executive order that I would issue would be to repeal all previous executive orders,” Paul replied to resounding cheers through the Manchester pub, named for the beer bearing the namesakes of American revolutionary Sam Adams."Don't take our word for it, Paul's comment was reported by Breitbart.com - not exactly a left-leaning news source. Said Paul in the Breitbart article: “Signing statements, altering legislation by the president, are wrong and unconstitutional and shouldn’t happen. Executive orders shouldn’t either.” [Breitbart.com, 9/11/14] More than ten thousand executive orders have been issued over the course of the nation’s history to make progress on critical issues like civil rights, national security and more. Now that Paul has expressed his commitment to rescinding each and every one of these executive orders, we would like to hear more details from him on why he would like to reverse these landmark efforts, including:
- The Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln, 1863: The proclamation declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.”
- Executive Order 9981, President Harry Truman, 1948: Ended racial discrimination in the U.S. Armed Forces.
- Executive Order 10834, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1959: Established specifications for the design of the current United States flag.
- Executive Order 10925, President John F. Kennedy, 1961: Ensured equal employment opportunities in the federal government, barring discrimination based on “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”
- Executive Order 11063, President John F. Kennedy, 1962: Mandated an end to housing discrimination based on race.
- Executive Order 11905, President Gerald Ford, 1976: Banned political assassinations.
- Executive Order 11245, President Barack Obama, 2014: Prohibited workplace discrimination based on gender identity, in addition to sexual orientation in the federal government and within companies that contract with the federal government.
Video: Rick Perry and Rick Scott Try To Out-Koch Each Other
The past two weeks have seen Rick Perry skip the formal reading of his felony charges to do an event with the Kochs' AFP in New Hampshire, then explain that he was being indicted for bribery (he's not, shouldn't have skipped that arraignment), then return to Dallas for AFP's "Defending the American Dream Summit."
At the end of this Tour-de-Koch, the gaffe-prone governor sat down with Ed Morrissey of the conservative blog Hot Air, and further revealed the extent to which Republicans revere the Kochs and court their political support -- they even brag about it, apparently.
New Video — Joni Ernst: Trajectory
Newly released audio recordings from the Koch brothers' summit of billionaires and bought candidates this week reveals the extent to which candidates like Joni Ernst are inextricably tied to the oil lords and their anti-working families agenda. Ernst did not parse words in crediting the Kochs and their extensive network for getting her to where she is today. Now, the billionaire brothers are reaping the benefits of their investment, as Joni Ernst, the Republican nominee in a key senate race, sings the Koch gospel on issue after issue.
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.
Meet Glenn Grothman And The *New* GOP
After an embarrassing cycle for the GOP in 2012 -- from a clown show of a presidential primary season that…
How Dare Dairy Queen (Pay Its Workers A Living Wage)
Texas Congressman Blake Farenthold has always been ahead of the curve. First, it was the duckie pajamas. Then, last summer, it was talk of impeaching the president. Now, at a town hall this week in Corpus Christie, Rep. Farenthold has gone even further than just doubling down on his opposition to raising the minimum wage: he has actively mocked a local Texas business (in this case, Dairy Queen) for paying its workers $18/hour. Right on, Congressman. How dare Dairy Queen pay its workers a living wage?