Straight from the ranks of the unemployed and underemployed, sending one unified message. Republicans will not make this economy better.

(h/t The Political Carnival)

Why, I wonder what's the matter with Republicans? Aren't they all confident and all, considering the current narrative that they're on track to win back the Congress and shut down the government? I can't imagine why Republican Steve May thinks he has to recruit homeless folks for the Green Party ticket in order to pull Democratic votes away, can you?

That's not all. Last week there was the Houston, Texas voter suppression schemes. This week it turns out True the Vote is building their case with doctored photos.

Compare and contrast:

If Republicans think they are the party with better ideas, why doctor photos to suppress voters? Let their ideas be tested fairly, or not at all. Yes, that was sarcasm. This is classic Republican behavior. Suppress the vote, put up fake candidates to siphon votes, whatever works. They will stop at nothing to subvert and corrupt democracy for their own ends.

Former budget director Peter Orszag thinks the Bush tax cuts should be extended for two more years. I think he should pound sand.

Here's an excerpt (PDF) from President Obama's campaign literature in 2007-2008:

Restore Fiscal Discipline to Washington

[...]
Reverse Bush Tax Cuts for the Wealthy: Obama will protect tax cuts for poor and middle class families, but he will reverse most of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest taxpayers.

Nowhere in that literature does it say anything about extending tax cuts because Republicans aren't playing nice and are sticking their back ends in the President's face. Nowhere. Up till now, Obama has kept the majority of his campaign promises, even if they do not look exactly like we thought they should.

So along comes Peter Orszag, former White House budget director, with this little bomb:

In the face of the dueling deficits, the best approach is a compromise: extend the tax cuts for two years and then end them altogether. Ideally only the middle-class tax cuts would be continued for now. Getting a deal in Congress, though, may require keeping the high-income tax cuts, too. And that would still be worth it.

Not so much. This is the difference between how an accountant looks at things and how people look at them. I would gladly give up whatever piece of tax cuts would be coming to me to see the wealthy folks taxed at a reasonable rate.

Orszag can come up with all the reasonable arguments that accountants and economists make routinely, but nothing will change the fact that there was a promise made in 2007-2008. We all know Republicans won't make a whit of difference in the end anyway, since they have made it clear they won't play on any field at any time no matter how much is extended their way.

Higher taxes now would crimp consumer spending, further depressing the already inadequate demand for what firms are capable of producing at full tilt. And since financial markets don’t seem at the moment to view the budget deficit as a problem — take a look at the remarkably low 10-year Treasury bond yield — there is little reason not to extend the tax cuts temporarily.

Yes, there's a real big reason not to; namely, it would be a broken promise that would appear to me to be nothing more than giving into the schoolyard bullies. Perhaps we could hand over our lunch money, too, and while we're at it, would we also like to let them raise the Social Security retirement age to 75 and let oil companies sit at the right hand of the President?

This is not a cut-and-dried issue. This is emotional. From my perspective, what the Bush tax cuts got me was no economic growth for the last decade and multiple threats to my future security. I see absolutely no reason to budge on this. None.

Fortunately, Mr. Orszag is no longer the White House budget director. I hope that means he and the President don't see eye to eye on this particular question and he's looking for a pickup by one of those rich dudes who don't pay much in taxes.

Sharron Angle thinks the media has taken her out of context -- what a shocker!

When CNN caught up with Angle at one of her Las Vegas campaign stops, she complained some of her more controversial statements had been taken out of context. "As you speak, as we're conversationally speaking, sometimes when you pick out words, they're not the best words you could have used," she told CNN in a rare one-on-one interview. "When taken out of context, you can make anybody look like they don't know what they're talking about," she elaborated.

Harry Reid disagrees.

"It's a little hard to take out of context when they say they want to phase out Social Security," Reid responded to CNN. "Her words are what she is. My words are what I am. So I don't think you can run from what you say and what you do."

There's an epidemic of contextual errors these days, it seems. Is Angle saying that she didn't mean it when she talked about "second amendment remedies" with regard to the Obama administration? Or did I misunderstand the context of her reference to "domestic enemies" inside this Administration? What part of "eliminate the Department of Education" did they get out of context? Perhaps Angle can supply some much needed context to her remarks about the unemployed being spoiled, lazy, or 13-15 year old rape victims making the best of a 'bad situation'.

Not to worry, my friends. Sharron Angle promises she'll be a "mainstream Senator". Or did the media get the context wrong on that, too? The only way Sharron Angle would be mainstream is if the river ran right through the Republic of Crazy.

Right after the President's speech yesterday, John Cole wrote this:

As good of an idea as it is, the merits of the plan will never be discussed. Ever. That just isn’t how our media rolls- it’s right there in the second paragraph. All Republicans will have to do is dismiss this as an “election year stunt,” and the ground has already been readied by the Politico and elsewhere by calling the WH desperate, and our media will go into full-on horse-race mode.

And of course, he's right. Here, watch this little snippet from yesterday's speech again. It's short, but entertaining:

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Of course, John Boehner comes straight out of the gate with this:

Republicans have targeted an unemployment rate that continues to hover above 9 percent despite last year's economic stimulus plan. "If we've learned anything from the past 18 months, it's that we can't spend our way to prosperity," Boehner said.

When Forbes bloggers even come down hard with the criticism, maybe it's time for Republicans to rethink that knee-jerk thing.

The GOP’s constant kneejerk rejection of economic ideas simply for the sake of Saying No has as much to do with our current malaise as anything being done wrong in the White House. The newly-minted fiscal conservatives on the Republican side of the aisle, many of whom are themselves responsible for the $3 trillion and counting Iraq War, are like the old men in the Muppet Show who heckle from the balcony.

It’s naysaying for naysaying’s sake at this point and I hope voters will remember that their favorite Republican All-Stars are equally complicit in the crime that is 15 million unemployed 3 years into a recession.

Obama's proposal and Boehner's rejection aren't really news. It's been thus from day one, when Republicans decided the best they could do would be to simply obstruct. But now it has an added dimension: It plays straight into the current horserace narrative, and the press could not wait to jump right on that bandwagon, just like John Cole predicted.

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Kim Jong Il and Rupert Murdoch. Maybe it's a marriage made in heaven, unless you're a software developer looking for a job here in the United States. Bloomberg reports that Murdoch's News Corp hires North Korean developers to create mobile phone games.

Programmers from North Korea’s General Federation of Science and Technology developed a 2007 mobile-phone bowling game based on the 1998 film, as well as “Men in Black: Alien Assault,” according to two executives at Nosotek Joint Venture Company, which markets software from North Korea for foreign clients. Both games were published by a unit of News Corp., the New York-based media company, a spokeswoman for the unit said.

My first thought: Is that even legal? Well, yes, it is.

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The Barack Obama who showed up in Milwaukee today is the one I remember from 2008 who seemed to disappear over the past year or so. If he keeps this tone between now and November, I'll bet on the press narrative changing from "Dems are hosed" to something far more positive. With a mix of humor, sarcasm and a generous dose of fire, Obama put Republicans on notice: Their days of obstruction are numbered.

I was struck by how different he is when he has a crowd. It was clear they were completely with him and he with them. If I were in charge of White House communications, I'd lose the prepared speeches in front of the Oval Office and make every camera opportunity one with people, because it's clearly where he's most comfortable and at home. It also plays well in the sound bite arena.

I loved this small personal dig at the CEOs and Republicans who think free speech means slander and libel. From his prepared remarks:

Milwaukee, that’s what we’re going to do again. That’s what’s been at the heart of all our efforts: building our economy on a new foundation so that our middle class doesn’t just survive this crisis – but thrives once we emerge. And over the last two years, that’s meant taking on some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for too long.

And then he jumped off the script for this:

You know who they are. They talk about me like I'm a dog.

Right back on script again:

That’s why we passed financial reform that provides new accountability and tough oversight of Wall Street; reform that will stop credit card companies from gouging you with hidden fees and unfair rate hikes; reform that ends the era of taxpayer bailouts for Wall Street once and for all.

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The problem with weekends is that everyone is out playing when some of the best writing is published. I've read several must-read posts today, so here they are...get something cool to drink and read these. You won't be sorry.

Digby and Howie tackle the Social Security myths flying around, thanks to Alan Simpson and the BlueDogs.

digby:

...it's insane that we are talking about economic problem 30 years out when right now we have 10% unemployment and an economy that slipping back in to recession.

howie:

At least Republicans are consistent; they're against anything and everything that could possibly lighten the burden on ordinary working families.

Ezra Klein tells us how to fix Social Security in one graph, Paul Krugman is depressed, ED Kain at Balloon Juice looks at the next Republican Recession, and Jan Brewer admits she was wrong about beheadings.

Robert Reich's longish but absolutely required reading piece at Salon delivers the real lesson of this Labor Day, and Bill Clinton steps up to defend Democrats' actions on the economy.

In the "race is not an issue, no really" department, Sam Seder searches for black folks at the Beck rally.

On the tech side, this Virgin Mobile MiFi on demand device (no contract, no monthly commitment) is perfect for geeks like me who want to be connected wherever, whenever with unlimited Internet access.

What are you reading?

Koch Industries just gave the Yes on 23 campaign another million dollars via their front corporation, Flint Hills Resources. When added to Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp. contributions, a total of $8.2 million has been raised for a "Yes" proposition that really is a "No" proposition in disguise.

Consider this: 100% of the money to fund Proposition 23 comes from outside California. Oil companies inside California -- Chevron and Shell, notably -- have not funded this campaign. What is it about the underlying law -- California AB32 -- that makes corporations with stakes in Kansas and Texas want to spend as much as they can to defeat it? And how is it that libertarians with self-proclaimed strong belief in states' rights like David and Charles Koch are so committed to undoing a law that has no bearing on their state or their rights?

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The first (and likely only) debate between Barbara Boxer and Carly Fiorina took place tonight. From the first question to the last closing statements, Boxer was fully in control. Despite a format that was difficult -- timed responses and rebuttals -- Fiorina could not escape her past record at the helm of Hewlett-Packard, or her tired Republican ideas. One of the finest moments came with the first question to Fiorina about opposition to the small business jobs bill and teachers bill. Here it is:

How do you justify immediate help for the wealthiest Americans but not for average Californians who might be out of a job and listening to this debate tonight?

Fiorina's response is predictable and rambly. The one thing she did well all night was deflect the actual question asked of her.

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