Joni Ernst: Ted Cruz's Favorite Candidate
Joni Ernst was asked about her extreme agenda recently, and she responded with an exasperated, "Oh for heaven's sake. I am not extreme, I'll tell you that." Well Joni can tell us whatever she wants, but her positions speak for themselves. She wants to abolish the Department of Education and the EPA. She wants to get rid of the federal minimum wage altogether. In her perfect world, just like Ted Cruz, she would eliminate the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that are crucial to Iowa's economy. She's floated impeaching President Obama, supported state nullification of federal laws, and endorsed Ted Cruz's government shutdown, which cost the economy $24 billion. For heaven's sake, that sounds pretty extreme now, doesn't it? It's even extreme enough for Ted Cruz. In fact, he finds Ernst's extreme positions so inspiring that he told Radio Iowa this weekend, "there is no senate candidate I am more excited about across the country than Joni Ernst." Joni Ernst and Ted Cruz are two peas in a pod. And their agenda would be disastrous for working families in Iowa.
Rand Paul Can Run Away From His Burger, But Not From His Record On Immigration
On issue after issue, Rand Paul tries to have it both ways. He has lauded himself as a champion for "minority rights" while opposing parts of the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act and Fair Housing Act. He has proclaimed on national television his desire to end all foreign aid, including for Israel, only to then claim he has never proposed such a thing. And when it comes to immigration, for months, Paul has been trying to have his cake and eat it too. He has repeatedly claimed to be supportive of immigration reform, trying to appear as though his 2016 candidacy could broaden the GOP base, but his record tells a different story. Paul voted against the Senate's bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill -- a bill that allocated significant resources to border security -- in addition to attacking DACA, effectively supporting a return to deporting DREAMers. Since the Senate passed its bill, the GOP has only moved backwards on the issue, cowering to the extreme anti-immigrant wing of the party driven by Steve King and all of his men. Rand Paul hasn't done a single thing to distance himself from this position, and now he's fundraising with King himself. And still, Paul wants to dissociate himself with the anti-immigrant crowd and avoid any tough questions about immigration policy. So much so that when a DREAMer introduced herself to Steve King at lunch, Rand literally dropped his burger and ran away from the table.
Republicans Boost New Hampshire Hopeful Day After She Renews Call for Impeachment
National Republicans are putting their hopes to regain New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district behind extreme candidate Marilinda Garcia, just one…
Paul Ryan's Poverty Plan: Stop Being Poor
Five years to the day after our last national minimum wage increase, Paul Ryan is set to lay out a "new" six-pillared poverty plan. Ryan has long preached about how to tackle poverty and fashions himself as a serious politician and policy wonk. But if you believe that, I've got a 2 hour marathon time to sell you! Here are the six tenets of Paul Ryan's poverty plan, as told by his career rather than his rhetoric:
- Never Raise The Minimum Wage. Time and time again, Ryan has voted against raising the wage for hardworking Americans, and even argued that doing so would actually harm low income Americans.
- Oppose Unemployment Insurance. Since 2010, in the depths of the Great Recession, Ryan has voted at least six times against extending unemployment benefits for American job-seekers.
- Gut Medicaid, Leaving Low-Income Americans Uninsured. Ryan's most recent budget would take an ax to Medicaid, taking health care away from between 14.3 and 20.5 million low income Americans.
- Slash Nutrition Assistance Programs. The FY15 Ryan Budget would slash an astonishing $137 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, which lifted 4 million Americans out of poverty in 2012. Almost half of SNAP recipients are children.
- Fight Against Protections For Low-Income Consumers. Ryan has consistently taken the side of big banks and credit card companies over Americans fighting to stay afloat, even after the 2008 financial crisis.
- Divisively Demonize The Poor For Their Situation. As if his policy attacks on low-income Americans weren't offensive enough, Ryan infamously blamed poverty in part on the "real culture problem" of "inner city" men who don't want to work.
Georgia, Meet Mitt Romney Lite
When Mitt Romney got pummeled in the 2012 election, the GOP was forced to reboot and consider how to attract candidates who can be more competitive. In Georgia, the GOP's conclusion was to run an elitist millionaire with a checkered business record and an inability to understand the concerns of working families. Sound familiar? But don't worry, David Perdue isn't a total clone of Mitt Romney. While Romney was serving as Governor of Massachusetts, for instance, David Perdue was busy tanking a company called Pillowtex, leaving its 7,500 workers out to dry and pocketing a cool $3.1 million in the process. It wasn't the first batch of American jobs that was killed under Perdue's stewardship. From 1994 to 1998, Perdue served as a senior vice-president at Haggar. Under his leadership, Haggar implemented an enormous shift of company employment and operations overseas. Thousands of American workers lost their jobs, and nearly 50% of the company’s domestic workforce was laid off, but Perdue brushed it off as being "in the best interest of the company."
Rep. Ellmers And That Elusive GOP Rebrand
Hmmm, the new GOP looks conspicuously like... the old GOP. I suppose you can give them credit for trying. After…
Thom Tillis Is Back And More Racially Divisive Than Ever
You may remember him from his hit single "Divide and Conquer." Well he's back with an all new track. Your…
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.
Thom Tillis Is Frustrated By "Emotional" Female Colleague
Thom Tillis has a clear record when it comes to women. And it's not good. Tillis supports a personhood amendment that could make some forms of birth control illegal. He passed legislation that threatened to close women's health care clinics in North Carolina. And he even believes states should have the right to make birth control illegal entirely. So it's no surprise when Tillis's attacks on women extend beyond his legislation and into his personal comments and behavior. Coming under fire this week after a film tax credit that supports North Carolina was killed in committee, Tillis let his true colors shine though. While he previously supported the credit, Tillis was notably quiet after the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity railed against it--a group that has also poured millions upon millions into false advertisements attacking his Senate opponent. So when a female legislator, Susi Hamilton, called Tillis out for betraying North Carolina's film community, he brushed her criticism off as being "born out of emotions." Thom Tillis. No friend of women.
Floundering Republican Elites Lose Control of Party, Ask "What Civil War?"
Ask the elites of the Republican establishment in Washington about the civil war within their party, and you're likely to be met with feigned bewilderment. Well golly, I've got no idea what you're talking about! It's a strategy that has been an almost religiously adhered to by the so-called adult types - the John Boehners and Paul Ryans in Congress, and George Wills and Charles Krauthammers of the punditry class - who are grasping at straws in an effort to keep the party from coming completely unglued. But now, even the most wide-eyed supporters must now see through this guise of unity. This week House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who boasts a 95 lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, was tossed aside for Dave Brat, an unknown ultra-conservative Tea Partier. That's right, the same Eric Cantor who has been long-considered a young star of the party, known for being a constant thorn in the President's side for his refusal to compromise his conservative values, was toppled by the Tea Party in the blink of a primary. He became the sitting first majority leader in history to lose a primary since the position was created in 1899. Just hours later, extreme Tea Partier Chris McDaniel, who is running to unseat incumbent conservative Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran in another nasty and drawn out intra-party fight, sent a fundraising email with the subject line "We Just Beat Eric Cantor." Now that the Tea Party has killed the narrative of its decline with a single swift victory, what will be their next target? The American people can only await complete and utter government gridlock in the coming months.