Bill dishes out a piece of his political mind for all!





RawStory:



" On Friday night’s edition of “Real Time with Bill Maher,” host Bill Maher asked Mitt Romney to do him a small favor and not choose his running-mate until after August 17, when “Real Time” returns from its summer hiatus.



“And furthermore, he must take my advice on who to pick,” he said, because secretly he wants Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) to win the presidency. Romney is, all politics aside, an “ultra-caucasian Mormon zillionaire who uses his dog as a hood ornament,” and a treasure trove of gaffes, awkward moments and disastrous off-the-cuff remarks. For a comedian to bet against Romney, Maher said, is like Halliburton betting against wars.



The current vice presidential options, as Maher sees them, are a little bleak. There’s Florida’s Senator Marco Rubio (R) “who you may recognize as the brother of the bride in every wedding you’ve ever been to.” There’s “naugahyde bean-bag chair,” New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) and Wisconsin Congressional Rep. Paul Ryan (R), who’s a “heartless, smirking bastard,” a demographic that Romney pretty much already has sewn up. And then of course there’s ex-Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R), who is so dull he might actually make Romney look interesting.





cont'


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/30/maher-urges-romney-to-pick-george-zimmerman-as-vp/

.

Welcome to Bizzaro Rethug World...


" It had been a while since we’d last heard from Carl Paladino, the fire-breathing Republican who unsuccessfully ran for governor in New York in 2010 and who delivered his concession speech while holding a baseball bat. But he’s still up to his old ways. In an email to former Sen. Al D’Amato (R-NY), which Paladino apparently forwarded to friends and supporters and which was obtained by Politicker, Paladino unloads on the elder Republican.

Al, keep your nose out of WNY politics or I will expose your underbelly. You are a spineless fraud and you’re going down with Skelos. Did you have fun at Andrews $50k party? You are such a low life parasite. It’s all about money and you could care less about the people and republican principals. What are you going to do when I tell the people that you were the prime mover of Andrew’s gay marriage bill so he could pound his chest as the most powerful governor the state has ever known and you could have access as a lobby for the big buck clients you extort.

Politicker reports that the dispute concerns the 74-year-old D’Amato’s role trying to broker peace between “warring factions” of New York state Republicans, following a request from Erie County Conservative Party chairman Ralph Lorigo. Lorigo is backing primary challengers to GOP state Senators Mark Grisanti and George Maziarz. In return, Maziarz is trying to get Lorigo removed from his position. Paladino, who is also backing the primary challengers, appears not to appreciate D’Amato’s efforts.




http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/paladino_tells_al_damato_hes_a_spineless_fraud_and.php?ref=fpnewsfeed

.

Man, Freeper heads are definitely exploding!!...



ThinkProgress:



"...After yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling upholding the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act, conservative politicians turned on Chief Justice John Roberts for siding with liberal justices and ruling the mandate constitutionally sound. Critics of the decision even edited his Wikipeida page to call him a “chief traitor” and “coward,” and suggested his epilepsy medicine cause “cognitive problems.” Conservative commentator Glenn Beck got in on the action, labeling the chief justice the “Dread Pirate Roberts” and quickly setting up his online store to sell a tee shirt with Roberts’s face and the word “coward” below above it. Here’s a picture of the shirt, on sale for a mere $30:


THIRTY BUCKS? THATS ALL?




http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/06/29/508944/glenn-beck-sells-tee-shirts-calling-john-roberts-a-coward/

" With the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the health care law, the focus now shifts to the states, whose leaders are charged with implementing portions of the legislation, including health care exchanges and potential expansions of Medicaid enrollment.Amid the heated discussions at the state level on Thursday, a Democratic state representative told Kansas' Republican governor to "grow up" because of his resistance to the law, while a Democratic state senator in Nebraska promised a full-scale battle over Medicaid expansion.



Dozens of states have waited for the high court's ruling before beginning to set up exchanges. The deadline for setting up fully state-controlled exchanges has passed. States can run a hybrid exchange with the federal government but must arrange for this by 2014. Those states that do not adopt either of these types of exchanges would have one run by the federal government. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican who in the past has rejected federal funds for an exchange, remains unwavering in his opposition to the health care law. Brownback, who as a U.S. senator voted against the legislation in 2010, has instead said that he expects Mitt Romney to be elected president and roll back the law.



"The Brownback Administration continues to oppose ObamaCare and will not take any action to implement it," Sherriene Jones-Sontag, a Brownback spokeswoman, wrote in an email on Thursday. "This is now a political issue that will be resolved by the American people in the November elections."



Kansas state Rep. Mike Slattery (D-Mission) attacked Brownback's stance. "It's ridiculous, the Brownback administration is showing that ideology is above following federal law," Slattery said. "As a Kansan I'm furious. He is breaking federal law and that is politics at its utter worst. It is embarassing and utter nonsense. I say grow up. You are governor of one of the 50 states and you're acting like a child."





cont'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/28/health-care-reform-battle-states_n_1635545.html


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Already some republican dissension in the ranks?

At least wait a week or so...


.

It would seem that Willard Romney is quite the proud papa Mormon for delivering ROMNEYCARE to Massachusetts. So much so that HE felt it was important enough to include an image of his Health Care Reform folder next to a picture of his wife.







On tonight's TRMS: (transcribed by me)



Here is Rachel:



Rachel Maddow:


"...This is Mitt Romney's official portrait for his time as Governor of Massachusetts.

You see in terms of the props here, there is some indeterminate painting behind him.

Trying to figure out what that is today,....maybe its a boat, or a fish or something....



Then he has a lamp, you got a flag, you got a picture of his wife,.....AND, WAIT A SECOND..

WHATS THAT OTHER THING?


Hey, nothing is done by accident.....oh yea, a LITTLE FOLDER on his desk next to him that has a MEDICAL SYMBOL with the snakes on it, the CADUCEUS.


Thats what his official portrait is. His portrait summed up his time in office as two things:


- Being married to Ann Romney (remember the Massachusetts Gay marriage problem happened under him)....


And also...


THAT BILL,...PASSING HEALTH REFORM.



THATS IT!!


MARRIED!


HEALTH REFORM!


PHFFT!....









From MSNBC LEAN FORWARD:
(Thu May 24, 2012 7:30 PM EDT)






Before Romneycare was a bad word, governor's portrait bragged about Massachusetts healthcare


We don't often see the intersection between art and national politics. But a closer look at former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's official painted portrait reveals a startling clue about how the Republican candidate once felt about his signature policy achievement—universal healthcare.



The investigative team at PoliticsNation has been busy researching Romney's seldom-discussed, missing years as governor of the Bay State. During the GOP primaries, Romney faced intense scrutiny from his party's base for his background as a moderate New England Republican. Conservatives reserved their greatest skepticism for Romney's healthcare legacy in Massachusetts, namely the individual insurance mandate that served as a blueprint for President Obama's healthcare reform.



While Romney constantly defended his policy as "right for Massachusetts," he rarely raised the issue himself. And yet when he sat for his official portrait, which still hangs in the state house in Boston, he chose to have his healthcare achievement forever enshrined in his legacy. A closer look at the portrait reveals a folder featuring the caduceus, the traditional staff-and-serpents symbol for healthcare. It's one piece of his record that Romney will never be able to erase.



http://leanforward.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/24/11866594-before-romneycare-was-a-bad-word-governors-portrait-bragged-about-massachusetts-healthcare?lite

" Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld President Barack Obama’s health care reform law, will Fox News host Bill O’Reilly apologize? After all, he promised he would.



During a March 26 interview with American Constitution Society President Caroline Fredrickson, O’Reilly ended the interview by promising to “apologize for being an idiot” if the court upheld the law. The American Constitution Society President had argued that the law was constitutional based on Commerce Clause and Congress’ power to collect and spend revenue for the general welfare.


After O’Reilly threatened to end the interview if Fredrickson would not name one thing the federal government forces people to buy, she explained that the Affordable Care Act imposes a penalty, but does not “force” people to buy health insurance.


“It’s a form of a tax,” she told the Fox News host.


“It’s a police power,” O’Reilly interrupted. “This is becoming absurd. It’s a police power if you punish someone for not doing anything!”


“Sir, you’re going to have to let me talk if you invite me on your show,” Fredrickson pointed out.


“No, I don’t have to let you talk if you’re not answering the question,” O’Reilly shot back.



“Ms. Fredrickson, you’re going to lose and your arguments are specious,” he added. “It’s absolutely police powers from the federal government and it’s going to be 5 to 4. And if I’m wrong, I will come on and I will play your clip and I will apologize for being an idiot.”



cont'

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/28/oreilly-promised-to-apologize-for-being-an-idiot-if-heath-law-was-upheld/


.

"...If the Democrats yield to the pressure to vote against Eric Holder,
the rumblings across the nation that the Dems are a weak-willed
group of individuals doing nothing but serving their own selfish agendas
and keeping powerful lobbyists in their pocket will ring true..."




Election year politics are fun for the junkies among us who can’t get enough of the verbal sparring and behind-the-scenes machinations that help fuel the news cycle. The unfortunate by-product of this sort of activity is the need for politicians to rabidly purse agenda-laden causes that defy common sense and decency. In the case of Attorney General Eric Holder and the “Operation Fast And Furious” fiasco, congressional Republicans have been licking their chops after a House of Representatives committee found Holder in contempt for withholding documents.




While the attacks on Holder have been a largely partisan effort, it appears that some House Dems may be pressured by the National Rifle Association (NRA) to vote for contempt against the Attorney General. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/26/nra-pressure-could-push-some-dems-to-vote-contempt-for-holder/ Gun rights supporters, along with the NRA, allege that the botched “Fast and Furious” operation was nothing more than a ploy by the Obama administration to get tougher on gun control laws. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, said last Sunday that e-mail correspondence from the White House show that the administration intended to use the operation as a scapegoat to push for a weapons ban.



It’s no secret that powerful lobbying groups like the NRA have ways to sway the minds of elected officials to serve their own interests. The NRA will put the pressure on Democrats to vote contempt, especially in states friendly to gun rights laws. A Democrat, fearing loss of financial and voting support, would probably find it best to follow the NRA’s suggestion – even if the claims are ludicrous and unfounded at best, but as Rev. Al Sharpton asked Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, recently on his “Politics Nation” program, could race be at the core of the debate?



Rep. Cummings, an attorney himself, didn’t deny that Holder being Black may be a reason Republicans in the House do not like him. But beyond that (reasonable) leap in logic, Cummings raised another fine point: No other Attorney General has faced the level of scrutiny Holder is enduring now and the Maryland Democrat even said that he’s satisfied with how Holder has handled the fiasco.
What this entire ordeal is beginning to look like is an attempt to undermine Obama’s regime, weaken his position in the polls, and bolster the Republican vote – not exactly shocking news in a potentially tight presidential race.





cont'


http://newsone.com/2022797/eric-holder-fast-and-furious/

.

&feature=player_embedded




" Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a video on Tuesday highlighting Republican inconsistency regarding the “Fast and Furious” scandal.

The 3-minute video shows Republican lawmakers contradicting themselves and each other while talking about the botched “Fast and Furious” operation.

A House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform investigation led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) has been ongoing for months. By a party line vote of 23 to 17 last week, Republicans on the committee held U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over the Department of Justice’s refusal to release additional documents pertaining to the gun-running scandal.

The video shows Issa and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) claiming the White House was involved in the operation. But three days later, Issa said there was no evidence the White House was involved. The video ends with a clip from the Colbert Report, mocking the idea that the botched operation was actually an elaborate conspiracy to impose stricter gun laws.

The Democrats said the video shows how the Republican-led investigation has been “based on a series of unfounded claims and unsubstantiated allegations that turned out to be inaccurate after investigation.”





cont'


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/26/house-democrats-fast-and-furious-probe-based-on-a-series-of-unfounded-claims/