Questions for Mitt

I just had Martin Bashire on, who mentioned that 61% of the 47% figure Mitt mentioned pay payroll taxes and were the working poor, many working 2 or even 3 jobs to keep a roof over their heads. How would Mitt explain that they're not "taking personal responsibility of themselves?"

Or what about the 10%+ of the country who are seniors, on Medicare and SS, but don't earn enough to pay income taxes? What does he say to them, who have paid into the system their entire lives, some in nursing homes or otherwise sick or not as mobile as they used to be. Are they not "taking personal responsibility?"

How about people with disabilities? Or who've sent out a hundred resumes in a hundred days? Are they not taking personal responsibility?

Lynne talks about many of these same issues here, and asks what Scott Brown thinks about it. Every Republican should be asked the same question. Do they stand with Mitt? Are the working poor, disabled and seniors of the country 'moochers,' or people who deserve our respect?

Romney's Lies Have Finally Caught Up to Him

No matter how skilled the habitual liar, if they do it long enough, they're eventually going to get to the point where they can't come up with a new lie to cover the old ones.

As BMG makes clear, Romney's now there. Welcome, Mittens.

Let's look at this tangled web.

He claimed to be retired from Bain from 1999-2002 to the SEC/IRS, but Bain claimed he wasn't to the SEC, critically paying him a salary as chief executive. So, was Romney lying to the IRS, or was Bain lying to its investors and the SEC?

Now, Romney claims that his status as CEO of Bain from 1999-2002 was just technical jargon and wasn't his real position. In fact, he says he was totally removed from Bain and had no intention of coming back, despite the fact that he was still attending board meetings for companies Bain owned.

That's his answer to voters and his defense against what he listed on his SEC/IRS claims, but that's not what he was saying to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where he insisted his time in Utah was just a leave of absence and that he always intended to return to Bain -- as his basis for why he should remain eligible to be Governor of Massachusetts.

This latest claim of his undermines his previous claim, that he was never going to go back. It's all the more serious a lie because, without it, it's likely he wouldn't have ever been Governor of Massachusetts.

So, what are we supposed to believe? What Mitt told the SEC and IRS? What Bain told the SEC? What he said to explain away the divergence of what he said to the IRS and what Bain said to the SEC? Or what he told Massachusetts, in order to be eligible to run for Governor?

Each claim is slightly different than the next, and undermines the others more and more. All that's left is the facts: whatever he says, he was on salary to be the chief executive officer of Bain and, contrary to his insistence that he had nothing to do with the company, was regularly flying in to Massachusetts on Bain business, even while living in Utah.

The bottom line? Other people go to prison for the kind of lies Mitt Romney habitually makes.

Five Things to Remember this November

Every time I think of why people shouldn't vote for someone like Scott Brown, Mitt Romney or Richard Tisei, my mind immediately goes to great lengths to come up with things about complicated policy reasons people aren't going to remember. Sometimes, it's the simple things that count -- and will allude to the more complicated things anyway.

Here's five simple things that you should tell your friends, family and neighbors for this November. 

• If a candidate has a Swiss bank account, a Cayman Islands bank account and a bank account in Bermuda, one he kept secret while in office, you should probably vote for the other guy.
• For as much as Republicans politicians like to rail against government, it's amazing just how much they love it when it comes to extracting everything they from it for their Wall St. friends. Wars they can't pay for (or finish)? Check. Bailing out the banks and giving tax loopholes to Fortune 500 Companies? Check. Then, when all the money's gone, they'll try to use your Social Security funds to pay for it.
• If a candidate's entire campaign is based on how nice his family is, he doesn't have anything to to run on. If he does so while talking about how much time he spends with his family during the daytime as an office holder, that means he wasn't doing his job.
• If a candidate runs on being a moderate, but will vote for John Boehner or Mitch McConnell, he's lying.

Today's Globe: 6 *more* pages of Scott Brown fluff

After taking a whack at Elizabeth Warren for an entire month with near-daily headlines about manufactured racial bating stories, what would the Boston Globe have in store for Scott Brown, now that they've decided we're into electoral politic's hard hitting journo season?

Fear not, dear readers, the Globe had six entire pages dedicated to Scott Brown today, covering

• the scandal about how Senator Brown's dead set against health care reform, while his daughter benefits from it and even Chief Justice Roberts ruled for it 
• the Senator's reluctance to debate in New Bedford or Worcester to answer questions relevant to those communities, even while his opponent agreed to one of his radio debates 
• why Senator Brown's saying he's for keeping student loan rates affordable, when he's the principal guy behind blocking current efforts in the Senate

Oh, hell, what did it cover? 

For Brown, campaign an all-out family affair 

Senator's wife and daughters now helping to soften image of the man with the truck 

WRENTHAM — Scott Brown is at the stove, preparing bacon and cheese omelets, tossing eggshells into the sink with scarcely a glance, each one a perfect shot. Gail Huff is at the breakfast table, reminiscing about her early days as a TV reporter, talking up her husband’s cooking. But the star of the show is the fridge. 

A standard issue side-by-side ­model, nearly every inch of its face is plastered with snapshots and magnets, children’s drawings and certificates of achievement, ticket stubs and local press clippings. The collaged photos show daughters Ayla and ­Arianna through the years — Girl Scouts, Little League, prom night, college — but there are glimpses of Brown and Huff, too. 

One shows him a decade ago, a ­little-known state legislator in full Gene Simmons makeup and giant shoulder pads, one more anonymous KISS fan rocking with his tongue out. Another from 2010 shows how much their lives have changed: Huff hugs the real Gene Simmons, after he invited them backstage because he wanted to meet Brown, the man who wrested Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat from the Democrats.

That's just the first three paragraphs. Dear god, help us all.

On the off chance that there's anything important happening in Massachusetts or the country at large -- oh, I don't know, like a jobs crisis or hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts citizens being under water on their mortgages -- I sent a letter to the Globe's writer of this fluffenuttery goodness. Here were my last few words for him.

He's running an entire campaign dedicated on steering the campaign away from any kind of serious issue or problem facing Massachusetts or the country, constantly engaging in Straw Mans and issues that have no bearing on regular people. Why is the media enabling him? 

There are serious issues in this race and the voters of Massachusetts deserve a media that's going to hold our Senators' feet to the fire, especially during political campaigns. That is your responsibility as a journalist. Please live up to it.

Pretty please?

Meanwhile, it's time to resurrect the Fake News tag, because when there's critically important stuff going on in Massachusetts and around the world, stories like this are a steaming pile of crap.

Scott Brown Heard Your Question, but isn't Interested

Bay State Liberal nails it. 

Health care's future is on the line but what did Scott Brown focus during his "debate" with Dan Rea? Yep, CherokeeGate. 

A few hundred miles away in New York, Elizabeth Warren sought refuge on an equally partisan stage, trying to talk substance about underwater mortgages with Rachel Maddow.

While Elizabeth Warren constantly tackles problems that are actually effecting voters across Massachusetts, our Jr. Senator (rightly) thinks talking about the actual issues will cost him the election. It's all faux heritage-gate and innuendo until November... if the Senator gets his way.

If there's any shred of decency left in the organizations we formerly called the Boston Mainstream Media, they'll start to lay the smack down and demand he'll address his record and the issues. Don't hold your breath.

Until that happens, he'll deftly stonewall any serious questions and quickly pivot to how he's such a great dad or how Elizabeth Warren is a secret marxist foreigner and other assorted BS.

Activists and the netroots have a roll to play. We need to be loud enough so the media hears what we're saying and actually covers this race like journalists.

Video: Scott Brown's Royal Blunder

Scott Brown's two years of lying on the stump may not stay in the news as long as the faux heritage gate 'issue,' but in the end it could be more damaging. It changes the perception of Scott Brown. No longer is he the guy people want to have a beer with, now he's the guy people are laughing at.

A Presidential Boston Oopsie

Just got a local press pool report. Highlighted the funny part, only the names have been changed deleted to protect the [somewhat] innocent.

Emphasizing the wrong crowd? Check. Missing likely satire? Check. Then again, maybe this was just the Globe making their snarky submission to the press pool in an attempt at dry humor -- and the President's people whiffed when they sent it out.

In all seriousness, it looks like tonight's been a big success. Can't wait to see all the clips.

Best Video Yet on Scott Brown's Kings and Queens

"Kings and Queens" was a longstanding part of his stump speech, and only blew up now because voters and the MSM had such limited access to him.

The guy thought the most important thing he could do was try to impress voters by making him sound important, in ways an 8 year old may think sounds important, instead of trying to talk about all the things he was doing to grow jobs and make Massachusetts a better place.

Perhaps that's understandable, given the fact that he wasn't doing anything to grow jobs or make Massachusetts better.

An absolutely appropriate question

"Which kings and queens and prime ministers have you had private meetings with?" 


After all, he's now talked about them at least five times.

The Media is in its own World

When it comes to politics and the news, two interrelated but entirely different things, there are really two worlds: the world everyday people and most public officials live in, and the world where the mainstream news exists. So, when the NY Times says Warren survived the state convention despite "flailing" over the past week, it's important to note that the NY Times is only describing the news as it exists within the very small bubble of the Main Stream Media.

The reality that the rest of us live in is a different story. A "flailing campaign" is not one that's evening up the polls and winning statewide conventions by record numbers. A "flailing campaign" is a candidate like Marisa DeFranco's, who lost 96% of the statewide delegate votes and had to pay her way through a signature drive.

What Elizabeth Warren has done in this campaign is truly record breaking. She went from a no-name candidate to someone who's amassed thousands and thousands of volunteers and enthusiastic supporters in the case of a few months. She's raising gazillions of dollars from mostly small donors, eschewing the typical Wall Street folks that dominate many statewide campaigns.

She's doing all of this against an incumbent with the thin but unmistakable veneer of popularity and likability. 

There is simply no precedent for what she's doing. Only in the world of the media could one of the single greatest primary campaign in this state's history be deemed as 'flailing,' simply because of media-contrived stories that the public -- in poll after poll -- states they don't give a damn about. It's amazing what they're doing, but not surprising.

Eventually, they'll be forced by the strength of the Warren campaign to actually report the race, just like Deval Patrick's campaign forced them to do... and when that happens, when those two worlds combined, Scott Brown's thin veneer will not only wear off, but his whole campaign will fall apart. At least, that's Ryan's Take. 

A Call to Convention

Elizabeth Warren didn't need to spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy her way onto the ballot. Doing so, in fact, would have been much easier than organizing the tens of thousands of supporters and volunteers who have been electrified by the Warren campaign.

We haven't seen this kind of engagement by the activist base of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since 2006, when Deval Patrick did something no one has since the Dukakis era: created a massive volunteer army.

In fact, with all due respect to the Governor, what Warren's been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time is even more impressive -- and I don't say that lightly. No one's attracted so many people, so quickly, as Warren has in Massachusetts. It's unprecedented and it's our best weapon against Scott Brown.

So, the question is, where does Marisa DeFranco fit in with all of this?

I'd like to say this primary is useful, like in 2006. Back then, the Governor benefited from being able to build up steam in the primary, igniting something that fascinated the media and enraptured hundreds of thousands of voters who were "checked out" for decades of voting before.

All of that happened, in part, because of the primary. Yet, Marisa DeFranco is no Tom Reilly or Chris Gabrieli. She isn't even a Christy Mihos. She's a comical sideshow that's raging behind the scenes, for anyone aware of the show. She's spouting Scott Brown lines, one after another, hoping one will stick and bring her act to Broadway. That dog ain't hunting.

The ultimate embarrassment is her continual campaign spiel about how she's the real grassroots candidate, but admits she only has 40 volunteers and has only raised only $40,000, the vast majority of which would have been needed to buy her way onto the ballot via paid signature collecting.

Years ago, I decided a barometer I'd use for any campaign in the state would be paid signature collecting. It's simply a disrespectful act toward democracy to go out and buy some private company to pay people a dollar a signature (or more) to put someone or something on the ballot. It's led to extreme abuse and has been the constant tool by bigoted or corporate groups to get things on the ballot.

DeFranco may be shocked to learn this, but she isn't entitled to be on the ballot. Buying signatures alone isn't enough. Thankfully, we -- the activist base of this party -- have an opportunity to do what party leaders can't and tell DeFranco she's toast, by denying her access at the convention.

If any of your delegate-friends waver, feeling guilty about dropping someone from the ballot for the first time in a long time, remember to tell them just what kind of a campaign DeFracno's run. Remember to tell them just what's at stake in November. Only one candidate at the convention can take on Wall Street and actually act as a force of nature to give everyday American families a fair shot. Any other vote is a vote for Scott Brown.

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics... and more Lies

So, if there's lies, damned lies and statistics... what do we call it when the statistics are baloney?

The state of the Tierney-Tisei campaign, from the Salem News, reveals this tidbit on the two campaigns' dueling polls:

Tierney's camp, however, said the GOP poll "has a double-digit Republican bias," noting that the same poll showed U.S. Sen. Scott Brown with "an implausible 24-point lead" over Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren. Statewide, the two are virtually tied. 

In fact, the GOP poll does have elevated Republican representation, GOP poll author John McLaughlin said in an email to The Salem News.

Now, I have no idea who is 'winning' this race, but when a campaign releases a poll that shows it's 'up' by doubling the size of Republicans in the poll, that's just making shit up.

Given how expensive polls are, there aren't likely to be many good polls in this race going forward, but it's always a good bet to take what the candidates have to say on the horse-race stuff with a grain of salt. Especially the media.

Marisa DeFranco at 3:30pm on LeftAhead

Mike and I are interviewing US Senate Candidate Marisa DeFranco at 3:30 today on LeftAhead. You can listen live at blogtalkradio.com/lefties starting at 3:30pm, or anytime after 4:30 at LeftAhead.com. There's also a mp3 player for the show on the right-hand column of this blog, and people can catch it at iTunes or some other podcast aggregators.

Why the GOP's going nuts of attacks on Bain

The reason why the GOP is so terrified of Gingrich's attacks on Bain isn't because they're afraid it will stop Romney from winning the nomination (that's a certainty at this point), but rather that they're afraid of seeing Newt put Bain's way of doing business on the table for GOP base voters, in a way Democrats never could.

Bain crushes unions, strips away benefits and ships jobs overseas, buying companies out with hundreds of millions or billions in loans. They then ditches that debt on those stripped-down companies, who can't afford it, leaving many of them out of business or shells of their former selves.

It's bad for America and the elites of the GOP don't want people to hear it, especially their base. Why? Because the elites of the GOP know it, too, but they just don't care.

Walking over the little people to make money is an easy decision for those elites, but not for most Americans. Democrats are already open to the idea that there should be some restrictions on the way companies can do business, but most base GOP voters aren't. If people, especially the GOP's base, understand exactly what companies like Bain does, they'd no more support it than they'd support drug cartels.

Elizabeth Warren Podcast

Lynne, Mike and I had a fantastic podcast today -- with special guest and Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren!

The topics are some of what you'd expect and some of what you may not, giving her a chance to show that she's not just a one-trick pony. Indeed, her experience and expertise is wide and deep, covering the issues that effect the Middle Class's purse strings the most. She also has a keen understand of the systemic problems facing Wall Street -- and how so many of the issues are truly linked to the failures of the system to place a check on the powerful lobbying interests out there.


Here's the episode, below:

Listen to internet radio with massmarrier on Blog Talk Radio

Elizabeth Warren's giving them hell

This is just fantastic stuff. Scott Brown isn't going to know what hit him.

Not ready for the rough and tumble?

When it comes to the criticism of Elizabeth Warren, that's always the first one I hear. She's a Harvard elite, she's an intellectual, she's "cloistered."

These are the criticisms being launched against her -- the person who Time called one of "The New Sheriffs of Wall Street." You know, the one who took on the most powerful industry in America -- the banks -- and won, pushing through the Consumer Protection Agency, something few ever thought could be done.

The idea that Elizabeth Warren is just too dainty for Congress is absurd. If fire and passion is the measure, she's got that in spades.

Yes, she's never been a candidate before. Yes, it remains to be seen if she'll be a good one. Yes, I'm still waiting to learn more before I fully commit to the race, including her official announcement.

But the fact that she teaches at Harvard is not going to stop her from talking about the issues pressing our families. The fact that she's a woman doesn't mean she won't bring the toughness and passion to her campaign necessary to defeat Scott Brown.

Yes, I went there, because gender is really what the "rough and tumble" is all about, isn't it? It's a dog-whistle politics of a different kind and should be called out as such.

There are certainly still questions about her ability to campaign that any new candidate would face, as well as the sorts of policies she'll support outside of the financial sector, but being ready for the rough and tumble of Congress or political campaigns ain't it. If that's your critique, it's time to pick something else.

I know who Rachel Maddow will vote for

Not that she'll say it out loud, but she may as well.

Elizabeth Warren Wants You

To tell her to run for US Senate.

MA-Sen: Marisa DeFranco on Today's LeftAhead

Democratic candidate for US Senate, Marisa DeFranco, joined us on today's LeftAhead podcast, talking about jobs, immigration, her background and why she has the chops to beat Scott Brown.

She's an immigration attorney and has been so for well more than a decade. She's also been very involved in women's rights issues, like equal pay for equal work. She unabashedly wears a progressive hat and seeks to build a grassroots campaign.

Listen to the show or download it at LeftAhead, the BlogTalkRadio player on the right, iTunes or any number of other podcast aggregators, like PocketCast for Android.