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Rep. Todd Akin is in a primary race to challenge Sen. Claire McCaskill for her Senate seat in Missouri. Akin is also a hardcore Americans For Prosperity corporate candidate and all-around not-nice guy. But even for a not-nice corporate guy, this comment of his at a recent debate was so deeply out of touch with reality that it deserves some attention, even from the President.

Here's what he said:

America has got the equivalent of the stage three cancer of socialism because the federal government is tampering in all kinds of stuff it has no business tampering in. So first, to answer your question precisely, what the Democrats get rid of the private student loans and take it all over by the government was wrong, it was a lousy bill, and that’s why I voted no. The government needs to get its nose out of the education business.

Please take note of the following facts which Akin doesn't care about but which the rest of us should:

1. Education is not a business. It's how civilized countries invest in remaining civilized. I repeat: Education is NOT now, nor should it ever be, a business.
2. Federally guaranteed student loans were the brainchild of the Republican God of Economics, Milton Friedman. Friedman argued that there was too much risk to private lenders, therefore:
   

   But whatever the reason, there is clearly here an imperfection of the market that has led to underinvestment in human capital and that justifies government intervention on grounds both of "natural monopoly," insofar as the obstacle to the development of such investment has been administrative costs, and of improving the operation of the market, insofar as it has been simply market frictions and rigidities.

   [...]

   A governmental body could offer to finance or help finance the training of any individual who could meet minimum quality standards by making available not more than a limited sum per year for not more than a specified number of years, provided it was spent on securing training at a recognized institution. The individual would agree in return to pay to the government in each future year x per cent of his earnings in excess of y dollars for each $1,000 that he gets in this way.

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We live in a world of Republican framing. Every single day on this site we combat and argue against that framing.

But one thing I never thought would be necessary to do would be to teach Americans the concept of socialism. The great right-wing noise machine has made "socialism" some great to-be-feared "ism" like the Communism of the Soviet Union, conjuring up day-long bread lines and lazy welfare queens living off your hard labor.

But the truth is somewhat less sinister than that. The five happiest countries in the world are...wait for it...democratic socialist countries. The countries are socialist in that taxes go towards services for the citizens. Top-ranking Denmark offers the social safety nets of universal health care, retirement pensions, college educations and even child care, as well as amazing income equality.

Truly, there's nothing scary about socialism as it is practiced around the world. It's time for liberals to take back the word and embrace what how it would actually improve the life for most Americans.

Playwright and actor Wallace Shawn takes a good first step by openly admitting in his new essay why he calls himself a socialist:

The global market selects out a tiny group of privileged babies who are born in certain parts of certain towns in certain countries and these babies are allowed to lead privileged lives [..]

As for all the other babies, the market sorts them and stamps labels onto them and hurls them violently into various pits, where an appropriate upbringing and preparation are waiting for them. [..]

Actors understand the infinite vastness hiding inside each human being, the characters not played, the characteristics not revealed. Schoolteachers can see every day that, given the chance, the sullen pupil in the back row can sing, dance, juggle, do mathematics, paint, and think. If the play we’re watching is an illusion, if the baby who now wears the costume of the hustler in fact had the capacity to become a biologist or a doctor, a circus performer or a poet or a scholar of ancient Greek, then the division of labor, as now practiced, is inherently immoral, and we must somehow learn a different way to share out all the work that needs to be done. The costumes are wrong. They have to be discarded. We have to start out naked again and go from there.

Again, kudos to Chris Hayes and his team for having a Sunday morning discussion none of the other shows would dare to do.

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Let's see. In the four years since Obama took office, the stock market has gone up 54%, corporate profits are at all-time highs and taxes are at historic lows.

America simply can't take much more of Obama's socialism.

If only Obama were more like the rock-ribbed capitalist president who imposed wage and price controls, presided over high tax rates on rich people, was an unabashed Keynesian -- and considered giving out free money to every American family.

Mister, we could use a man like Richard Nixon again.

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Michele Bachmann suspended her campaign this morning and announced her intention to return to Congress to keep trying to repeal Obamacare. All this in the wake of claiming she's never been a politician. Hm.

Never let it be said that she wastes an opportunity to use the scary "socialism" word, or otherwise demonize this administration.

Republican debates just won't be the same without her.

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Howard Dean made the sharpest comparison yet between what the protesters in Egypt are standing for, why they're standing for it, and why we should pay attention to similar circumstances in this country. His key point is toward the middle of the video, where he says this:

The fact of the matter is when social inequality and wage inequality gets too large, you have social instability. we are in a position now where we are in trouble in this country. I wouldn't say we could be Egypt next week, but people really are disillusioned by the government and corporations. They don't trust any institution very much, and that's why. I think the President missed a chance to say that in front of the Chamber. he would have gotten i think a lot of credit from the American people if he had.

I don't agree that saying it to the Chamber would have gotten a lot of credit from the American people. I doubt most people would even know he'd said it, and if they did, it would have been so twisted up that it would have played as a negative, given today's environment. But what Governor Dean says about inequality is right on the money.

Granted, in this country we have elections. Egypt doesn't. And in this country we have free speech and ostensibly, freedom of the press. Egypt doesn't. Finally, in this country there is still a social safety net, which Egypt does not have. In those respects, we are much different from Egypt. But when it comes to income and wealth inequality, the US surpasses Egypt, and it has indeed fostered mistrust in government and business.

Further, the Citizens United decision lends itself to further distrust, because the corporate "person's" voice will carry farther and louder than any one citizen will. Look no further than the Koch Brothers' bought-and-paid-for Energy and Commerce Committee in the House. Never in my lifetime has there been a more obvious subversion of democracy than the 2010 midterm elections. I know this isn't news to many of you reading this, but it really is important for our "side" to begin to shift the conversation away from the right-wing tropes and come around to a real discussion of what "redistribution of wealth" means, what it is, what it isn't, and why the last 30 years represent a consistent governmental redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the upper tier.

While I don't necessarily think a speech at the United States Chamber of Commerce would be the place for that, I do see that message lacking overall from what we're hearing from the White House. 99ers should be interviewed on The Last Word, to tell their side of what it's like to be "downsized" and have wealth redistributed to the corporations who "downsized" them to begin with. Prosperity and recovery shouldn't be measured by what the Dow closes at, but by whether more people can afford to put food on the table without government or charitable assistance.

Bob Herbert's editorial in today's New York Times says it far better than I:

Corporate profits and the stock markets are way up. Businesses are sitting atop mountains of cash. Put people back to work? Forget about it. Has anyone bothered to notice that much of those profits are the result of aggressive payroll-cutting — companies making do with fewer, less well-paid and harder-working employees?

For American corporations, the action is increasingly elsewhere. Their interests are not the same as those of workers, or the country as a whole. As Harold Meyerson put it in The American Prospect: “Our corporations don’t need us anymore. Half their revenues come from abroad. Their products, increasingly, come from abroad as well.”

American workers are in a world of hurt. Anyone who thinks that politicians can improve this sorry state of affairs by hacking away at Social Security, Medicare and the public schools are great candidates for involuntary commitment.

Lawrence and Governor Dean alluded to a very important part of the President's speech yesterday, which Mike Lux wrote about in detail. The president's framing of the importance of government regulations in commerce was excellent and important. Wrapping it all up with a call to patriotism was also excellent and important. But now it's time to move past catering to these Birchers and start calling the entire country to patriotism, which means ending the meme of "me" and beginning a realistic discussion of poverty, inequality, and how best to change that.

Transcript follows (It's the MSNBC transcript that accompanies their video, so all typos, errors and other problems are entirely theirs):

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Michael Tomasky: Intellectual consistency can be overrated. Because there's nothing intellectual about it.

Pruning Shears: Isn't it a little strange that no one mentions things like our two wars when looking at election results? Washington has for several years now been fully committed to disastrous policies.

Instaputz: It Burns

Manifesto Joe's Texas Blues: Architects of revisionism

Informed Comment: Iran threatens to pull out of nuclear deal over new UN sanctions

The Big Picture: Socialism

For all of the shouts and cries from conservatives about "bailouts", GM has just proven the wisdom of Congress' decision to lend Federal funds to keep GM afloat until they could get back on their feet. Today the company paid off their loans from the Canadian and US governments in full, five years early.

The company is paying back the loans “in full, with interest, years ahead of schedule,” Whitacre said in an opinion article in the Wall Street Journal. The two governments hold a majority of the automaker’s equity, he said.

The repayment shows “our plan for building a new GM is working,” Whitacre said. GM is “leaner, stronger” and building new vehicles whose sales have allowed the company to invest more than $1.5 billion at 20 plants in the U.S. and Canada, he said.

The GM loans have been a real talking point for conservatives. In exchange for the loans, the US and Canadian governments took an equity stake in the company as security for the loan. In any other world, this would be the prudent choice, but in our hysterical 24/7 tea and whine culture, that decision led to cries of "Socialism! Socialism!" In conservative-land, it was somehow better to allow one of our core industries to fail, to more or less end any competition between US companies, and throw 2 million people out of work, not to mention the support industries around GM's manufacturing and sales business.

I'd say it was an investment worth making. By getting GM the cash they needed to stay afloat and restructure, they've emerged stronger, more competitive, and poised to compete. Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows I'm a huge fan of the Chevy Volt and am still jonesing for the opportunity to take it for a test spin. I gave up my Honda a year ago and walk everywhere right now. I'm not planning to buy another car until I can buy the Volt or something as cool as the Volt.

Cheers, GM, and congratulations! It's good to see you roaring back.

$Blind In Texas$: Sen. John Cornyn asked for "real" stories from "real" Texans concerning the new health care reforms...but only from small business owners. Elmo sent him one anyway

Wonk Room: Conservatives Debate: Is Obama's mother's taste in men relevant to the war against Islamofacists?

Big Brass Blog: They don't seem to know what the hell they're ranting about

Submitted to a Candid World: Abortion for Convenience?

Group News Blog: Mexicali Relief

The Poor Man Institute: Romance Corner

(video originally posted here 10/29/09 - more on this below)

Topeka — As President Barack Obama signed into law health care reform, the Kansas House rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that was aimed at blocking the federal legislation.

The measure received a 75-47 majority Tuesday but fell short of the two-thirds majority — 84 votes — necessary in the 125-member House to put a constitutional amendment before voters.

The reforms “will take us down the path of socialism,” said Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita.

But Democrats criticized the proposed state constitutional amendment, saying that federal health reform will be decided on U.S. constitutional issues regardless of what states approve. They also argued that the state amendment would constrain the Legislature from making health insurance changes sought by consumers. Read on...

This is great news for the residents of Kansas, but could spell trouble for the Representatives who voted against it. I think it would be wise for each member of the Kansas House who voted against this amendment to ask for increased security both at work and at home. I don't suggest this just because Democrats are being targeted by right wing extremists nationwide, but because it appears at least one Kansas militia nut has been following this issue very closely. After further research of the above video I posted last year, it seems the man who gave the interview and posted it - gunnyranger2 - is a well-armed militia member who isn't shy about speaking his mind on YouTube and showing off his arsenal. (parts of video are NSFW)

World Net Daily's latest cover (h/t FreakOutNation)

To paraphrase my buddy Steve Benen, it's illuminating to hear what Republicans say when they don't think anyone's listening:

Ben Smith had this major scoop yesterday:

The Republican National Committee plans to raise money this election cycle through an aggressive campaign capitalizing on "fear" of President Barack Obama and a promise to "save the country from trending toward socialism."

The strategy was detailed in a confidential party fundraising presentation, obtained by POLITICO, which also outlines how "ego-driven" wealthy donors can be tapped with offers of access and "tchochkes."[..]

The party's fundraising presentation suggests the Republican National Committee thinks its own supporters are idiots. All the party has to do is exploit contributors' "fears," and expect the checks to come rolling in.

And to stoke those fears, the RNC's message to these dupes includes telling them that contributions to Republicans will help "save the country from trending toward socialism!" One slide in the presentation refers to U.S. leaders as "the Evil Empire," with a picture of the president as the Joker from Batman, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as Cruella DeVille, and Senate Majority Leaders Harry Reid as Scooby Doo.

How did such a document reach the media? It wasn't leaked: "The 72-page document was provided to POLITICO by a Democrat, who said a hard copy had been left in the hotel hosting the $2,500-a-head retreat, the Gasparilla Inn & Club."

Oops.

Oops, indeed. Maybe the RNC leadership is about as smart as the donors they sneer at.

While I don't relish the ugliness that is sure to come--and the inevitable lies and distortions--I see this as the last desperate grasps of a party that sees a whole lot more hurt in front of them come Election Day than the media will ever acknowledge.