The real kicker in this HuffPost investigative piece (and I know you'll be shocked) is that the "independent" Tea Party members, the ones who insist they're not rubber stamps for the GOP, are actually caught red-handed:

An extensive review of GOP campaign literature, floor speeches and public statements reveals that Republican candidates and officeholders routinely use GOP talking points verbatim in their speeches and campaign literature, while passing off the language as their own personal views.

Using the plagiarism detection software program iThenticate as well as Google and the Library of Congress, HuffPost found that more than 30 members of the House and Senate eschew originality when it comes to making their case.

A search for Democratic violations turned up far fewer instances. But if Democrats show less of a penchant for blatant copying, it may reflect their traditional unwillingness to follow the party line more than any higher ethical standards. Will Rogers's oft-quoted declaration -- "I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat" -- has worn well over time.

[...] Republican use of identical language isn't limited to press releases or websites; they often use verbatim the words of other members on the House floor.

"As the American people struggle to make ends meet, too many also live with the challenge of affording basic health care for themselves and for their families," Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) announced on the House floor on July 28, 2009. The empathetic statement matches GOP talking points verbatim.

On the same day Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) drew another line from the same set of talking points, telling his fellow lawmakers on the House floor that "the administration's plan for a government takeover of health care will raise taxes, ration care, extend wait times, and let a government commission make decisions that should be made by families and their doctors."

Even when the talking points were not made public, it's not hard to tell when lawmakers were reading from a script. First Tom Price (R-Ga.) and then Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), a few days later, decried "a government takeover of health care that will lead to fewer jobs, higher taxes, and less health coverage."

Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) told members on the House floor that "the truth behind the cap-and-tax plan is that it will lead to more taxes, fewer jobs, and more government intrusion in our lives." That's mirrors GOP.gov.

The most flagrant violations come from an unlikely corner: A dozen members of the House Tea Party Caucus have made word-for-word use of GOP talking points, presenting them as statements of their own. These self-styled renegade Republicans are, quite literally, reading from a script written in Washington. The source of that script is usually GOP.gov, the website of Republicans in Congress.

The Washington Post Sunday Outlook section had an article from the President of American Enterprise Institute, Arthur Brooks, making the conservative case for why wealthy people shouldn't be taxed very much, and why it was so nasty for President Obama to make arguments about fairness in his criticisms of the Ryan budget, which radically lowers taxes for the richest 10 percent of Americans while raising taxes on everyone else, ends the guarantee of health care and nursing home care for seniors and those with disabilities, forces the average senior citizen to pay more than $6,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses, and cuts money for food stamps, health care for children, Pell Grants, and education funding by at least a third.

Brooks' argument boils down to the idea that if you are rich, it is probably because you earned the money by working harder and being smarter than most other people, and that this kind of merit doesn't deserve higher taxes; that in fact we should reward merit. He goes on to say the kind of redistribution us lefties support "for the sake of fairness, it weakens free enterprise, lowers opportunity and impoverishes us in many ways."

It is an interesting, if very familiar (conservatives in America have been making it for about 230 years), argument, and it is important to discuss because it goes to the heart of what conservatives in this country believe. Brooks does a good job of including some nuance in his argument, acknowledging for example that luck might have something to do with becoming wealthy, and that government had some modest role to play in a modern society, but essentially, he is very open about what conservatives believe: if you are wealthy, it is almost always because you deserve to be; if you are poor or working class, that is probably what you deserve as well.

I want to first make the case why the argument itself is wrong, and then move to a broader discussion of how this basic argument exposes how modern conservatism has gone so deeply off the rails.

Continue reading »

Why Is Hinderaker Changing the Subject on Schiavo?

via Watching the Watchers

...The concept of Bush Fatigue is lost on Hinderaker. In his mind, the slipping poll numbers can only point to the inconsequential minutiae that is the "GOP talking points memo" on the Terri-inspired legislation, a.k.a the Protection of Incapacitated Persons Act. We debate with facts, not the facts themselves, so I will admit that the source of the memo is unknown, but to write that "[a] reasonable conclusion would be that the 'talking points memo' might be a fake, created by Democrats to cast aspersions on the motives of the Republican leadership" is not only irrational, but indecent. Where are the facts? Where are the sources?...read on

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(h/t David E..)

Lindsey, Lindsey, Lindsey. How long do you think you'll be able to get away with this game, hon? It's astounding to watch you defending your virtue with one hand - and grabbing as much pork as possible for your state with the other.

As Mark Karlin puts it, it's like foreclosing on a bakery and demanding a free cake.

We need to stop this kind of hypocritical grandstanding. Here's a good idea, via The Political Carnival:

In essence, Graham is saying he opposed the "Main Street Job Creation Act" even though it would be political suicide not to distribute the money to the voters of his state. He was joined in rabid obstruction of the bill by his fellow Republican, Senator Jim "Stonewall Jackson" DeMint.

As BuzzFlash Editor Mark Karlin proposed a couple of weeks back, the state of any senator who opposed the "Main Street Job Creation Act" should only receive half their allotted funds. If both senators opposed the bill, the state should receive no federal allotment from the legislation.

That way, hypocrites such as Lindsey Graham couldn't grandstand their zealotry and then pass out the goodies that they fought against.

In fact, Graham represents one of the many GOP Neo-Confederate states that receives more money from the federal government than their citizens pay in taxes. That sort of makes South Carolina a welfare state as far as the Union is concerned.

As for Lindsey Graham, he's become a talk show regular spouting GOP talking points -- and then practicing the chronic hypocrisy of being a Republican welfare king for his constituents.

UPDATE below.

Joe Biden sat down for an interview with Florida television anchor Barbara West Thursday and got hit by a barrage of Sean Hannity's talking points, prompting him to ask at one point, "Are you joking? Is this a joke? Is that a real question?"

Interviewer: "You may recognize this famous quote: "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." That's from Karl Marx. How is Senator Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?"

Biden: "Are you joking? Is this a joke?"

Interviewer: "No"

Biden: "Is that a real question?"

Interviewer: "That's a real question"

[...]

Interviewer: "Are you forewarning Americans that nothing will be done, and America's days as a world leading power are over?"

Biden: "Umm, no, I'm not at all. I don't know who's writing your questions."

[...]

Interviewer: "What do you say to the people who are concerned that Barack Obama will want to turn America into a socialist country much like Sweden?"

Someone's been listening to a little too much Rush Limbaugh. Sheesh. Compare this interview to the softballs she threw John McCain less than two weeks ago. Kudos to the Obama campaign for responding by canceling a Jill Biden interview with the same network.

Anonymous Liberal adds:

The woman was like a cartoonish caricature of a wingnut, and her questions were straight out of a Steven Colbert interview. I kept waiting for her to ask Biden when Obama stopped being a member of al Qaeda.

UPDATE. Surprise, surprise. Her husband is a GOP media consultant. Ya think she got the questions via her husband, or did Rick Davis skip the middleman?

Darryl Plant:  A fundraising call from the DLCC sounds like GOP talking points...

Simply Left Behind:  ...And please remember that our nation's tax code supports Paris Hilton...

Princess Sparkle Pony:  ...But no matter how bad things get, we mustn't let the diminutive war criminals get us down...

Bush in 30 Seconds Blog :  our so-called "missle defense shield" is only a little further along than the GOP's plan to resurrect Ronald Reagan's dead corpse and run him for President in 2008.  Of course, for some GOP candidates, every day is Reagan's birthday.

Bucket o' Hank :  Thanks, Hank, for reading every GOP candidates' MySpace page so I don't have to.  And I'm with you on the "explorehuckabee-dot-com" eww factor.

Holy Crap!  Atheists are so darn militant!  But Tom Delay thinks God's talkin' to him?  Actually, meebe She is. Meanwhile, a new book on intelligent design is so full of holes, critics are enjoying the read.

Guest round up by Blue Gal.  bluegalsblog AT gmail DOT com.

Think Moderate: President Bush lies (again) about the troop 'surge'

d r i f t g l a s s: Please, I am begging you. Begging. Keep defending Alberto Gonzales! Keep regurgitating GOP talking points many Friedmans after the facts have consigned them to the compost heap of history.

INSTAPUTZ: Wingmutts accuse captured Brits of 'cowardice' and even cite the GENEVA CONVENTIONS!....and they're beating the war drums

Norwegianity: How a bogus letter became the case for War

Sic Semper Tyrannis 2007: A couple more BUSHCO flacks experience eleventh-hour conversions. Take note of both the accuracy of their present analysis and the egregious crap that they've been shoveling until now.

HOLY CRAP: The Conservative Weather Channel...Sexual and religious addictions aren't strange bedfellows...Have you ever had unkind thoughts about L. Ron Hubbard?...Beware The Workplace Religious Freedom Act...The right to worship, or not...Mr.Deity, and the signs from god...Bible Study for Atheists...Top Ten Courses offered by Pat Robertson's Law School...God Debate: Sam Harris vs. Rick Warren...Religious Right fat cats bankroll legal crusade against church/state separation...It's Stem Cell Time...Did the Red Sea Part? Fuhgeddaboudit!

Shakespeare's Sister has moved over to Shakesville

Cliff Schecter is by far one of the best strategists the Democrats have going for them. He handles the talking heads perfectly, and today was no exception.

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Republican strategist Brad Blakeman tried to use all the standard GOP talking points and Cliff was not about to stand for it. Check out Cliff's blog for the look on Blakeman's face when Cliff called him out.

Check out the news on Ken "The GOP talking points action figure" Mehlman and his BFF -- the one--the only--Jack Abramoff

For five years, Allen Stayman wondered who ordered his removal from a State Department job negotiating agreements with tiny Pacific island nations — even when his own bosses wanted him to stay. Now he knows. Newly disclosed e-mails suggest that the ax fell after intervention by one of the highest officials at the White House: Ken Mehlman, on behalf of one of the most influential lobbyists in town, Jack Abramoff.

"Mehlman said he would get him fired," an Abramoff associate wrote after meeting with Mehlman, who was then White House political director.

Asked about his relationship with Abramoff a few months ago, Mehlman said, "Abramoff is someone who we don't know a lot about. We know what we read in the paper."...read on

Billmon has more...

NewsHog: The Mumbai bombs and Pakistan...recently, Cernig called the Indian sub-continent the Most Dangerous Place In The World and a month ago predicted that America's next big foreign policy disaster was brewing there.

Senate Majority Project: After being implicated in two election crimes, and serving time in prison, Alan Raymond's phone-jamming company is back in business...under a different name.

War and Piece: Michigan Republican Rep. Peter Hoekstra has suggested some unauthorized leaks could have been deliberate attempts to help al-Qaeda. That kind of reckless talk sounds familiar...

Attytood: A plea to America's news directors and editors: Cancel Bush's "Fear Factor"

The Brad Blog: California election official facing 43 criminal charges...

Media in Trouble: NPR's Steve Inskeep parroted GOP talking points, Senator Leahy slapped him down.