Rachel Maddow makes the argument I was making yesterday about why it matters that Mitt Romney has no sense of right, wrong, morals or ethics. It really does matter, and to those who think I'm being redundant, I'd encourage you to start asking the questions alongside me about why it is that his moral and ethical failures are glossed over so completely in the press coverage of the man.

Here's the latest one. Mitt Romney looked at an audience during a speech on Thursday and told them this, flat-out:

One must ask whether we will still be a free enterprise nation and whether we will still have economic freedom. America is on the cusp of having a government-run economy. President Obama is transforming America into something very different than the land of the free and the land of opportunity.

Just about everything that comes out of Romney's mouth is a lie, and no regular reader here should be surprised by that. But what is surprising is how easily he does it, and that he never, ever, ever is sorry for it. Not even a little bit sorry for it.

The Mormon religion adheres to the tenets of the Bible, and in the Bible Jesus gives this admonition:

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

That wasn't meant to get preachy on you as much as it was to frame the seriousness of what Mitt Romney is doing inside of his claim to be some kind of holy and righteous man, just for the record. Because when you tell lies like that, or look people in the eye and straight up lie about Solyndra, or when you tell people a lefty author says Obama pushed the Affordable Care Act to intentionally slow down the economic recovery, then it is apparent to all who are listening that Mitt Romney is speaking in his native tongue of lies. There's nothing even slightly righteous about that, nothing good, and nothing worthy of the Oval Office.

Steve Benen tracks Mitt's mendacity on a weekly basis. So far he has over twenty installments. TWENTY.

You know Mitt Romney is a lying liar and so do I. Now go tell that nice lady down the street who thinks he'd be better for this country than the black guy who's already there.

That's the 4 trillion-dollar question. Because if there are, then this whole debt ceiling debate will play out much differently than it has so far. But if there aren't -- if they've all gone over to the dark side -- then we're in for some bumpy roads.

Kevin Drum is now saying what I said back in mid-July. The only way to get anything done will be for Republicans to divide, peel off the Tea Party, and join with Democrats.

If Boehner can’t get the tea partiers in the House to support his proposal, and if Harry Reid can’t find 60 votes in the Senate for his, then pretty shortly they’ll figure out that there’s only one way to pass something: forge a compromise that can get substantial support from both Democrats and non-tea-party Republicans. Such a compromise is almost certainly available, and all it takes to get there is for Boehner to be willing to admit the obvious: the tea partiers just aren’t willing to deal, period. They want to burn the house down so they can build something better from the ashes. They’re insane.

So walk away from the tea partiers. Instead, strike a deal that a hundred non-insane House Republicans and 20 or 30 non-insane Senate Republicans can support. Add that to a majority of the Democratic caucus and you’re done. You’ve saved the country.

Steve Benen:

I strongly agree with all of this. By most estimates, there’s a group of House Republicans — I call it the “Suicide Squad” — that just don’t want to raise the debt ceiling and would gladly pursue default. They’ll vote for right-wing measures such as CC&B, or something close to it, but anything else is simply out of the question.

Exactly how big is this contingent? That’s unclear. There are 240 House Republicans, though, and it’ll take 217 votes to prevent a total disaster. Does the Suicide Squad include more than 23 members? Almost certainly, yes. This, again, makes it necessary for Boehner to embrace a plan that can garner some Democratic support.

For me, the most pressing question, which I don’t know the answer to, is, how big is the Republicans’ sane contingent? Kevin envisions 100 or so non-insane House Republicans joining a similar number of House Democrats to save the country. Sounds good. But are there 100 sane House Republicans? I honestly have no idea. Is there a reliable count of such things?

I would even ask it a little differently. The real question is: how many patriotic Republicans are there? How many are there in that Congress, who if asked to look in the mirror, could manage to do that after they screwed the entire country and forced us into slow economic death?

And along those lines, this question: When do we start holding these Republicans to their oath to uphold the Constitution? That 14th amendment solution works two ways, as I see it. As sworn elected officials, their duty is first and foremost to uphold and protect the Constitution, which clearly states that the validity of public debt shall not be questioned.

Shall not be questioned. Shall not. Since this is debt already authorized by Congressional appropriations, there would seem to be a Constitutional duty for these Republicans to honor their obligations as delineated in the 14th amendment.

I am not a lawyer, nor do I claim to be any kind of Constitutional expert. But as an observer, it seems to me the 14th amendment cuts both ways and carries consequences to those who fail to honor it and who are primarily responsible for the debt; that is, the United States Congress.

So that leaves us with not one, but two questions. First, are there any sane Republicans? And second, what consequences are there for those who are members of the "Suicide Squad?" In my opinion, those under the deepest obligation to honor the 14th amendment are members of Congress first, not the President, and I would like to see a loud, public discussion of what happens to un-American, Constitution-violating members of Congress if they continue down the path they're on.

The truth may set you free, but not if you're a Republican and the subject is taxes. After all, 95% of American families as promised received a tax cut from the Obama stimulus package. And while three-quarters of Americans support President Obama's proposal to roll back the Bush tax cuts for those earning over $250,000 to their Clinton-era levels, it turns out that affluent voters, too, chose Barack Obama over John McCain. Making matters worse, a Gallup poll Monday revealed that Americans' "views of income taxes among most positive since 1956."

So as their furious followers head off to their April 15th orgy of tea-bagging, the leadership of the GOP and its amen corner in the right-wing media have instead turned to tall tales on taxes.

Here, then, are 10 Republican Tax Day lies:

1. President Obama will raise taxes on small businesses.
2. The estate tax devastates small businesses and family farms.
3. 40% of Americans pay no taxes.
4. Tax cuts always increase revenue.
5. The GOP is the party of fiscal discipline.
6. Ronald Reagan was the greatest tax cutter of all time.
7. FDR caused the Great Depression, or at least made it worse.
8. Obama's cap-and-trade plan will cost each American family $3,100 a year.
9. Obama's tax proposals will undermine charitable giving.
10. The rich pay too much in taxes already.

For the details behind each of the GOP's Tax Day deceits, continue reading.

Continue reading »

Download | play Download | play (h/t Heather)

Ah...we knew him before he became a Villager. Our buddy and former C&L contributor Steve Benen handicaps how the candidates and their respective economic messages are playing with the American people. Needless to say, Benen rightly points out that McCain's flailing has hurt him in the presidential race.

I heard George Will, who is not exactly a reflexive liberal, talk yesterday how this is something of a presidential test. And there's one candidate who's come across as steady, unflappable, calm, the kind of person you would want in a crisis and it's not John McCain, it's Barack Obama. I thnk to a certain extent we saw that with John McCain's constant changing of messages. It didn't necessarily convey a sense of confidence, or for that matter, a sense of competence.

Beyond being happy to see one of my colleagues on television, I think that Steve makes a point -- though I do wish he wasn't quite so charitable towards McCain -- with which I hope we can see the Obama campaign expound upon and moreover, really hammer home in the upcoming debates: this past week and McCain's response to the economic crisis has shown him to not only have a plan to lead the country out of its economic woes...it shows he doesn't even understand them in the first place. That's not "ready from Day 1", that's not ready at all.

And that's a meme that will resonate with voters.

Transcripts below the fold

Continue reading »

Download | play Download | play (excerpt courtesy of Bill W, full video available at Times Online)

Steve Benen:

Fundraising for a presidential library has always been controversial, in part because, unlike contributions to U.S. political campaigns, donations to libraries can come from foreign sources, and are easier to conceal.

But this kind of corruption is striking, even by the Bush administration's standards.

The Sunday Times reports Stephen Payne, a Bush pioneer and a political appointee to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, was caught on tape offering access to key members of the Bush administration inner circle in exchange for "six-figure donations to the private library being set up to commemorate Bush's presidency."

In an undercover video, Payne is seen promising to arrange a meeting for an exiled leader of Krygystan with Dick Cheney or Condoleezza Rice. (Not President Bush because "he doesn't meet with a lot of former Presidents these days," Payne says. "I don't think he meets with hardly anyone.") All it will take for him to arrange this high-level meeting, says Payne, is "a couple hundred thousand dollars, or something like that."

Specifically, Payne tells a Kazakh politician he knew as Eric Dos that Payne would come up with "the exact budget," which would be "somewhere between $600,000 and $750,000, with about a third of it going directly to the Bush library." The contribution would "be a show of ‘we're interested, we're your friends, we're still friends.'"

The TimesOnline piece makes no specific mention of the politician that Dos is representing, but both Benen and BooMan narrow it down to former Krygystan President Askar Akayev, and possibly a motive as well:

(T)he prospective client who is being asked to pony up $600,000 - $750,000 ($200,000-$250,000 of which will go to the Bush Library) is former President Askar Akayev, as he is the only exiled former president of Kyrgyzstan in existence. Akayev's human rights record is mixed. For the region, it was better than average, but in the years just prior to his ouster he began to restrict and harass political and media freedoms.

The Times of London sting operation is curious. The video shows a meeting between Stephen Payne, [who is a Bush pioneer, a political appointee to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, and a Senior Advance Representative traveling internationally in advance of and with President Bush and Vice President Cheney], an unidentified representative of Askar Akayev, and an undercover reporter who is surreptitiously videotaping the conversation. It appears that the latter two gentleman colluded in setting up the sting and that part of the agreement was that the Times would not mention Akayev's name or country in print. What possible motivation would Akayev have to embarrass the Bush administration? Let's look at who Akayev blamed for his ouster:

The ousted Kyrgyzstan president, Askar Akayev, last night accused the US of being behind the "anti-constitutional coup" which forced him to flee the country last week, and said he wold only resign if given sufficient a guarantee of his personal safety.

I believe we have what is known as payback time, ladies and gentlemen.

Brad DeLong: This was nice to see coming from an ex-Republican

Intel Dump: After the waterboarding...

We are respectable negroes: Six degrees of separation for John McCain

Arms Control Wonk: NATO Nukes not secure.

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: What Would Jack Do?, The Progressive Puppy, Kick!, Aunt Jemima's Revenge

CORRECTION: In yesterday's Roundup, I noted that Mugsy's Rap Sheet was asking readers to contribute to a master list of Sidney McMaverick's flip flops and gaffes. I also mentioned that I considered Jon Perr to be the blogosphere's foremost authority on that vast subject. Jon writes that, while flattered by the compliment, he believes the actual "foremost authority" on this matter is frequent Crooks and Liars contributor Steve Benen. Sorry for the oversight, Steve!

Cliff Schecter and Other Opinionated Talents: Apparently, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama agree about the polarizing effect of the standard GOP tactic of emphasizing cultural controversy over meat and potatos issues.

Beggars Can Be Choosers: Whatever happened to protest music?

All Hat No Cattle: This looks a good place for gunslingers Hillary & Mitt

The Reality-Based Community: Your tax dollars at work

The Carpetbagger Report: Steve Benen's closely guarded secret exposed

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: O Hell Nawl!, Cannibal Planet, Blazing Indiscretions, Beautiful Horizons

On a personal note, I want to congratulate my wife, Candy, and my brother Sean, on the release of their book!

Watchdog Blog: How did the Bush Administration has get away with so much unnecessary secrecy over the past seven years? And how will the next president behave?

Informed Comment: Police mutiny, refuse to attack Sadrists; Clashes continue in Basra...but it's all good!

David Seaton's News Links: The discrediting of America's philosophy of finance is just another element in the general discrediting of the United States as a brand.

Lawyers, Guns and Money: McCain relies on Enron Revolution footsoldier for economic counsel. Steve Benen notes, "confronted with a fire, McCain is taking advice from an arsonist."

Liberal Values: Zbigniew Brzezinski on getting out of a foolish war.

The Opinion Mill's Sunday Bookchat: Mat Johnson tells the story of a black journalist passing for white, Eric Alterman faces a winger trying to pass for an intellectual, E. Benjamin Skinner stares into the abyss of modern-day slavery and Jack London, staring into the future from a century away, comes up with a novel that has more than a little in common with our own times.

Our very own Steve Benen was the subject of a video on being a political blogger. Just the smallest of nits to pick with the filmmaker, why no love for C&L?

Good morning. I'm Lance Mannion and I've got a secret. And if you're old enough to get that reference please leave this site now. You're too old. You're skewing this page's demographic away from the highly desirable 18-34 year old audience we covet. You're asking why I don't leave myself, considering I must be as old as dirt too since I made the joke? Well, I can't. I'm committed to doing the morning blog round up all week. And yes, this is a pretty fair sample of the kind of humor you'll find at my blog, so don't say you weren't warned.

Now, what do Steve Colbert, Joe Klein, Mitt Romney, John F. Kennedy, and Seth and Evan from Superbad have in common? Nothing, except that they're all subjects of the links below:

One-time LA Times political reporter Bill Boyarsky wishes political reporters as a breed weren't so much "like geese, waking up to a new world each day as if the day before had never happened."

But Mike the Mad Biologist finds hope that some members of the bad old MSM are beginning to see that their critics in the Blogtopia (TM Skippy) have a point and a purpose.

Mark at New Corpse Blog makes a plea to the striking Writers Guild to grant the writers of the Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Letterman, and the Tonight Show the same special status news writers have so they can come back to work and stop hurting America with their silence.

This would be a good time for everyone to take a refresher course in Journalism 101 from Professor Jon Swift.

As Steve Benen noted right here on this page, on Thursday Mitt Romeny's set to deliver what he hopes will be a Kennedy-esque speech on his faith and his religion and their relationship to his political beliefs, and at PERRspectives they're saying, "Governor, You're no Jack Kennedy." But at No More Mister Nice Blog, Steve M. confesses to being taken aback by Romney's choice of location for the speech and wonders "What does a Republican have to do to become a pariah in this country?"

Meanwhile, Molly Ivors had a vision.

And Superbad comes out on DVD today, which occasion causes Uncle Crizzle---also known as Craig Lindsey, film critic for the News & Observer---to remember gratefully how Superbad saved his summer.

Craig's formal review of the movie is here.

All done for today. Please send tips and suggested topics for tomorrow and the rest of the week to me at lance(at sign)lancemannion(dot)com.