Political Quotes of the Day

[David Franks]

Nevermind that it makes no sense and requires a mental defect to accept, because Republicans don't have the capacity to realize it.

Just like most planks of the Republican platform and the conservative agenda.

[Dardedar]

"(sorry, you Paul fans, but libertarianism does not and cannot work. It's not up for debate; it's a ridiculous mindset that glorifies selfishness and ignores that sometimes in life, things happen, and the measure of a society is how the least of us is cared for.)" Crooksandliars

[Dardedar]

Moron Cain and abortion:

"Herman Cain may not think it's important to know who the president of Uzbekistan is, but he might want to brush up on his knowledge of the constitution.
The GOP candidate told Christian Broadcasting Network that he would sign a constitutional amendment banning abortion.
"I feel that strongly about it. If we can get the necessary support and it comes to my desk I’ll sign it. That’s all I can do. I will sign it," he said.
Unfortunately for Cain, as Politico's Ben Smith points out, the president doesn't sign constitutional amendments. In fact, he plays essentially no role in the process."
Huff Po

[Applecrate]

"(sorry, you Paul fans, but libertarianism does not and cannot work. It's not up for debate; it's a ridiculous mindset that glorifies selfishness and ignores that sometimes in life, things happen, and the measure of a society is how the least of us is cared for.)" Crooksandliars

But it -does- work... as long as you ignore the fact that we don't live in a make-believe world where markets are perfectly efficient and have zero qualms whatsoever about the well-being of others.

[Dardedar]

.
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[Dardedar]

Steve Jobs:

"You're blowing it with Fox News," Jobs told him [Murdoch] over dinner. "The axis today is not liberal and conservative, the axis is constructive-destructive, and you've cast your lot with the destructive people. Fox has become an incredibly destructive force in our society. You can be better, and this is going to be your legacy if you're not careful."
LINK

[Dardedar]

The values debate we’re not having

"The “compassionate conservatism” espoused by President George W. Bush and many prominent evangelical leaders has been supplanted by a Tea Party ideology that bears more resemblance to the anti-Christian philosophy of Ayn Rand than it does to the Gospel.

...Tea Party activists and Republican leaders have consistently targeted for cutbacks vital government programs that protect the poor, the elderly, children and other vulnerable Americans. Yet calls for shared sacrifice and proposals to modestly raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans in order to fund investments and protections that promote the common good are derided as “class warfare.” This is what passes for family values?

...Most “values voters” with even a minimal degree of biblical literacy recognize that the Hebrew prophets and Jesus warned the powerful not to afflict the poor and comfort the rich. These bedrock Judeo-Christian principles are flouted by conservatives who demand cuts to nutrition programs that help low-income women feed their children even as they defend tax loopholes for some of the world’s wealthiest people.

At a time when our nation is plagued by the worst poverty rates in decades, religious leaders are not buying this narrow ideological agenda. In fact, evangelicals, Catholic bishops and Protestant leaders are leading a “Circle of Protection” campaign to defend government programs that provide a basic measure of dignity and security to those struggling to make ends meet. We are also urging a balanced approach to deficit reduction that doesn’t put the greatest burden on those hit hardest by the economic crisis.

Despite the media infatuation with the religious right, data from Public Religion Research Institute and other polls consistently show that a majority of Christians care about a broad set of moral priorities — protecting the poor from harmful budget cuts, comprehensive reform of immigration laws, supporting renewable energy and supporting family planning and other common-ground policies that prevent abortions. Such nuance is often lost in a political moment defined by polarization."
--The Rev. Richard Cizik is president of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good. He was vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals from 1998 to 2008.

[Dardedar]

Herman Cain defines masculinity for us... "The more toppings a man has on his pizza, I believe, the more manly he is. Because the more manly man is not afraid of abundance. A manly man don't want it piled high with vegetables! He would call that a sissy pizza."
--Herman Cain in a GQ interview as reported in the NY Daily News 15 Nov 2011

[Dardedar]

"Mitt Romney says U.S. is "only inches away from ceasing to be a free market economy.”

politifact



Turns out... not remotely true. Nice informative debunk.

***

Newt Gingrich says... "We spend less on defense today as % of GDP than at any time since Pearl Harbor."

politifact



Same as above.

Teabagger Pirate!

[Dardedar]

Whose Big Government?

Conservatives Grew Government in Order to Guarantee Private Profits

"...what would Galbraith make of today’s student-loan system? Government enables private banks to make loans, structures the market, and guarantees profits. It is considered half-private, half-public. Yet it is horribly complex, rife with corruption, and $6 billion a year that could help students afford college instead fattens the coffers of private lenders, enriching people like Albert Lord, the CEO of Sallie Mae. An entirely public system, in which government made loans directly to students, would be cheaper and less complex. That might be "bigger government," but it would be more efficient and would better serve the public purpose. Alternately, we could have a fully private system, in which banks actually compete and take risks, perhaps by bidding for the right to make loans.

Instead, we have the worst of both worlds: government that is bigger than it needs to be because it helps generate private profits. The same could be said of the Medicare Advantage program, which supposedly introduces "private-sector competition" to Medicare, but instead spends $1,000 more per person than is necessary because it subsidizes private-sector profits."

New America Foundation

[Dardedar]

Sample a typical whopper from the latest republican debate:

RON PAUL: "We have dumped the debt on the American people through TARP funding as well as the Federal Reserve. So the debt is dumped onto people. And what did we do? We bailed out the people that were benefiting during the formation of the bubble. So as long as we do that, we're not going to have economic growth."

THE FACTS: The $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program was proposed by President George W. Bush and passed by Congress in 2008 to help rescue banks and other imperiled financial institutions. Nearly all of the money has been paid back, with interest.
Most economists credit the program with keeping the financial system from freezing up and helping to prevent the worst recession in 30 years from becoming another Great Depression. The Federal Reserve does not operate on taxpayer money and does not receive any operating funds from the Treasury. In fact, it makes money every year from its banking operations, and turns over profits to the Treasury.

http://news.yahoo.com/fact-check-plenty ... 26681.html

More examples of misinformation here.

"Other countries care for their mentally ill. Making them debate on TV is just cruel." ~Andy Borowitz

[Dardedar]

"The Republican establishment is lining up against Gingrich, claiming that he is not conservative enough. This is laughable and a red herring.... Gingrich's problem is hardly being conservative enough. Rather the real objections center on two other faults. First, he is a blowhard pseudo-intellectual in love with his own ideas and himself. Second, he is an asshole, and I mean that in the most rigorous, social scientific way possible.
If Gingrich gets the nomination, the media is going to make a huge deal of the egghead vs. egghead presidential race. That is silly. Gingrich's intellectualism is the intellectualism of a precocious 16 year old who just read the Fountainhead -- shallow, capricious and grandiose. Next year he/she will have gone goth, or something else. So it is with Gingrich, although though he probably won't go goth."
LINK

[Dardedar]

PRO-ADULTERY WEBSITE ENDORSES GINGRICH | A website that promotes adultery has endorsed Newt Gingrich for president, and even erected a giant billboard in Pennsylvania to announce it. Next to a picture of Gingrich making a “shh” gesture, the billboard reads: “Faithful Republican, Unfaithful Husband.” Ashleymadison.com, a dating website for people looking to cheat on their spouses, welcomes visitors with the tag line, “Life is short, Have an affair.” Gingrich has admitted to cheating on his wives,..."



Thinkprogress

[Dardedar]

Quotes of the year:

"Not meant to be a factual statement." - Jon Kyl's April press release responding to questions about his claim on the Senate floor that 90 percent of Planned Parenthood's activities are abortion

"I put an asterisk on my support... One position that I’m concerned about shifting the cost burden to senior citizens. Seniors are saying, look, I’m not in a positon to be able to handle that. I also share that real fear, that’s why I put that asterisk out there." -- Michele Bachmann on her vote for the Ryan Medicare Budget.

"So let me say on the record, any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood." - Newt Gingrich flip-flopping on Ryan Budget

"Corporations are people, my friend." Mitt Romney at the Iowa State Fair

"Oops." - Rick Perry not able to remember the third cabinet department he would eliminate at a GOP debate

"And when they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan I'm going to say, you know, I don't know. Do you know?" - Herman Cain

"Every barrel of oil that comes out of those sands in Canada is a barrel of oil we don’t have to buy from a foreign source." - Rick Perry

Crooksandliars

[Dardedar]

[David Franks]

“However, on religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God’s name on one’s behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I’m frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in ‘A,’ ‘B,’ ‘C,’ and ‘D.’ Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of ‘conservatism.’ ”

--Barry Goldwater, September 16, 1981

[Dardedar]

"Using a despicable tactic known as secret hold, McConnell is sabotaging Obama, thwarting job grow, and jeopardizi­ng the security of our Nation by delaying the confirmati­on of critical appointmen­ts. In the latest iteration from the party of no, Shelby states that a Noble Laureate lacks monetary policy experience­. Unfortunat­ely, the anti-intel­lectual crusade subscribed to by Republican­s has opened the door for mindless incompeten­ts to hold political office. Since Obama has been in office, Republican­s have used “secret hold” 197 times and the filibuster rule 132 times; during the Bush years, democrats used both 16 times. Republican­s have always supported big business, which is why they continue to rely on exploitive tactics designed to protect and subsidize their corporate handlers, while keeping the middle-cla­ss disproport­ionately taxed and subjugated­. From 2000 to 2008, Republican­s cut $1 trillion from public education and public safety to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. While Republican­s emphatical­ly oppose any increase in the minimum wage (or increasing the salary teachers, social workers, firemen, and police officers earn), they universall­y support corporate CEOs earning 200 times their actually workplace value. In the aftermath of Carly Fiorina running Hewlett Packard into the ground—out­sourcing 30 thousand jobs, she was financiall­y rewarded to the tune of $700 million. According to federal guidelines­, anyone living on minimum wage is living in poverty, yet Republican­s in Congress have lock-step voted since 2000 to increase their salary 8 times (26% or $32,700)—n­ot bad, when you consider that people around the country are losing their jobs or taking pay cuts, and the lowest paid American Workers have received only 1 raise in the last 10 years."

Huff Po

[Dardedar]

[Dardedar]

[ghost]

"(sorry, you Paul fans, but libertarianism does not and cannot work. It's not up for debate; it's a ridiculous mindset that glorifies selfishness and ignores that sometimes in life, things happen, and the measure of a society is how the least of us is cared for.)" Crooksandliars

What a strawman.