Republican Lies category archive

Renee Loth in the Boston Globe.

The Republican vision of America is a cramped place of limited prospects — not blue-sky, just blue. To hear them tell it, we live in can’t-do nation. We can’t educate our children. We can’t afford a first-class transportation system. We can’t regulate the safety of our air and food and water. We can’t operate highway rest stops or public parks. We can’t even keep our criminals in prison.

And we really, truly, can’t tax rich people a penny more to help pay for these other things.

Read the whole thing.

It’s Republican woo-woo science.

Via the Booman Tribune.

Wisconsin Governor Walker is apparently a repeat offender. Rachel Maddow reports on how he made up a financial crisis in Milwaukee to bust a union. Now Milwaukee is paying significantly more than before for a lower level of service.

Via The Richmonder, who’s on a roll this week.

Chris Matthews on the Republican Party’s odious Southern strategy.

Via Bob Cesca.

If Fox News Channel’s lies were not so dangerous, they would be pathetic and silly. But they are, so they’re not.

Bill McKibben tells of learning, at age 50, that he is a Communist, at least in the whacked out world of Glenn Beck:

Since I don’t actually watch Mr. Beck, I didn’t know about it until e-mails began to arrive, informing me that indeed I was a communist. My first reaction was: I’m not a communist. I’m a Methodist.

But then I reconsidered. What exactly was I doing when those e-mails arrived? I was downloading an iPad app, At Bat 11, which lets me (for only $14.99) hear the broadcast of any baseball game anywhere in the country. Since I live in New England, I use it to track our beloved Boston squad, whose moniker I had never before deeply contemplated. Now – well, enough said.

And the next morning, on my first full day as a communist? I spent most of it outdoors, at the annual New England festival for young cross-country ski racers. More than 500 kids from across the region were competing, and I was standing on the toughest hill cheering. And here’s the thing – at least with the first- and second-graders, I was cheering for everyone equally. Not only that, but did you know where this particular type of skiing was invented? Norway.

Read the rest of Mr. McKibben’s red reminiscences at the link.

Addendum:

Field weighs in on the latest (at least for a minute or two) lie.

If you don’t want to spend the whole three and a quarter minutes watching, fast-forward to the two minute mark.

Via The Richmonder.

Shaun Mullen wonders who was the worst Secretary of Defense (or Secretary of War, to use the original name of the office) in U. S. history.

He narrows it down to two persons,

• Donald Rumsfeld, who’s currently making the round the talk shows flogging his new book, a tua culpa, or
• Robert McNamara.

You can follow his reasoning at the link. Here’s the tie breaker:

Like Rumsfeld, McNamara was a control freak who thought he had all the answers, lacked the crucial element of common sense and surrounded himself with sycophantic acolytes. Like Rumsfeld, he presided over an unpopular war built on a foundation of false assumptions and outright lies. Like Rumseld, there was an amorality to his actions. And like Rumsfeld, he squandered the respect of his generals and admirals.

But without McNamara, there still would have been a Vietnam War, while there would not have been an Iraq war without Rumsfeld.

Q. What would you get if Snooki entered politics?

Connie Schultz busts myths in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. A nugget:

That’s the thing about those so-called “pampered” union workers. They don’t exist. But the mythology comes in handy when you’re looking to redirect the blame for these tough economic times.

A wise man once wrote, “The working classes didn’t bring this on. It was the big boys that thought the financial drunk was going to last forever and overbought, overmerged and overcapitalized.”

That came from Will Rogers on Oct. 25, 1931.

Today, he’d be accused of engaging in class warfare.

I am reminded of the union mantra: They only call it class warfare when we fight back.

James Woolcott takes on the Wis. Kid.

Don’t miss this one.

Republicans: not a party, a marauding gang.

Brendan comments so I don’t have to.

It is what Republicans do to facts. Dennis G. demonstrates, using facts to do so.

The only thing new about this is the confession:

The defector who convinced the White House that Iraq had a secret biological weapons programme has admitted for the first time that he lied about his story, then watched in shock as it was used to justify the war.

Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed Curveball by German and American intelligence officials who dealt with his claims, has told the Guardian that he fabricated tales of mobile bioweapons trucks and clandestine factories in an attempt to bring down the Saddam Hussein regime, from which he had fled in 1995.

I remember reading that he got the name “Curveball” because intelligence types thought that was what he was throwing.

Bushies believed him because they wanted war more than they wanted truth.

The Stark truth.

Via DelawareLiberal, which posted the transcript.

Cynthia Tucker explains the damage done by Ronald Reagan. A nugget:

He . . . infamously turned voters against their government — or at least the idea of their government. In his first inaugural address, he said, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” That set the tone for his presidency, in which he constantly blamed government for creating more problems than it solved.

That has led to our present dilemma — one in which the United States is nearly ungovernable. American voters are more dependent on government than ever. Just try reducing the size of Medicare or Social Security or agricultural subsidies. (Reagan didn’t actually reduce the size of government; he didn’t even try. See chart below.) But they stubbornly resist the idea of raising revenue to cover those programs — because that would feed government!

Some voters are so philosophically opposed to government that they simply block out the idea that programs they love, such as Medicare, are government programs. (Reagan opposed the creation of Medicare, by the way, insisting that it would lead to “socialism.)

Field takes on Reagan.

Sadly, one fears that truth cannot stand against myth.

Republicans must make stuff up about our history because the facts indict their beliefs and policies:

Via TPM.

When Glenn Beck’s radio show was canceled in Philly, Beck ranted that Philly was some kind of post-Apocalyptic hell hole out of Grand Theft Auto.

Philadelphia is a big city. It’s got good parts and not so good parts, like any other city. When I worked there, I walked all over the Center City and University City areas without difficulty.

John DeBella, a local Philly radio host, calls out Beck’s lies.

By the way, the Indepence Hall area is just around the corner from where the Philly chapter of Drinking Liberally met for a while when I was there. Because street parking in Philly can be a nightmare difficult, I commonly parked two to four blocks away. Never a problem. (DL has since moved to a location closer to City Hall where street parking is in your dreams–most of the attendees walk or take transit.)

Via Glomarization, who provides more background.

Republican Party continues to dominate the awards.