Mornin’ POU!

I see Politico suspended Joe Williams thanks to Breitbart’s website.

Politico Suspends Reporter for Suggesting Romney’s Only Comfortable Around ‘White Folks’

By Brett Smiley

Joe Williams, Politico’s White House Correspondent, made the remarks that resulted in his suspension during a panel discussion on Martin Bashir’s MSNBC show. Bashir suggested that Mitt Romney might be having trouble connecting with Hispanics because he rarely appears on television besides Fox. Williams responded:

Romney is very, very comfortable it seems with people who are like him. That’s one of the reasons why he seems so stiff and awkward in some town hall settings, why he can’t relate to people other than that. But when he comes on Fox and Friends, they’re like him, they’re white folks who are very much relaxed in their own company.

Not helping matters: The joke Williams tweeted about Romney’s penis. Williams’s account is currently set to private, but the colorful 140-character dispatches are available on Breitbart (dot) com.

MORE: http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/06/politico-suspends-its-white-house-correspondent.html

Here’s the alleged tweet about Ann Romney that Breitbart posted on their website: http://i48.tinypic.com/205tv6v.jpg

Here’s what Williams tweeted about his suspension:

joseph williams ‏@jdub321
tweeps: been suspended from Politico and my account has been hacked. gonna lay low for a bit. be back soon. how soon? I should know…soon

Notice that Breitbart’s screen capture of the tweet doesn’t contain the time stamp? Considering Breitbart’s track record, I wouldn’t be surprised if they hacked his account.

David Duke Endorses Former Black Panther: ‘I’ll Take the Anti-Zionist Any Day’

Former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke released a video announcing his endorsement of Charles Barron, an affirmative action supporting, African-American, former Black Panther who is running for Brooklyn’s 8th Congressional district, and the conflicting priorities ole’ Duke faced are just mind-boggling. What could possibly cause Duke to endorse a Black Panther? Anti-semitism, of course!

Barron’s opponent Hakeem Jeffries is also African-American, so we suppose Duke’s racism didn’t have to compete against his views on Israel and Jews — Barron shares a certain animus for the nation — but then, Duke could have just not endorsed. He’s from Louisiana and this is a Brooklyn congressional race. Perhaps he took interest after, as the New York Observer’s Hunter Walker notes, Barron was called “The David Duke of New York.” Here’s Duke’s rationale:

In a race for Congress between an anti-Zionist black activist and a black activist who is a bought and paid for Zionist Uncle Tom, I’ll take the anti-Zionist any day. In this election of limited choices, I believe that Charles Barron is the best choice. Why? Because I think there’s no greater danger facing the United States of America and facing the world than the unbridled power of Zionist globalism. … Charles Barron stands against that power. If I lived in New York City, I would certainly vote for Charles Barron.

read more: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/06/david-dukes-realpolitik-endorsement-former-black-panther/53791/

He forgot to mention ‘self-deportation’
By Steve Benen

–
Fri Jun 22, 2012 8:00 AM EDT.

We talked yesterday about Mitt Romney’s speech to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, and the fact that the Republican candidate still refuses to comment on President Obama’s new immigration policy. But it’s worth pausing to appreciate the fact that this part of the immigration debate wasn’t the only element on which Romney was vague.

more here http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/22/12355715-he-forgot-to-mention-self-deportation?lite

This is just downright offensive. You can die for the country so that my good white grandkids will never have too.

Romney’s immigration plan: Military pathway but not for DREAM students

excerpt:
The Romney plan says that “young illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children should have the chance to become permanent residents, and eventually citizens, by serving honorably in the United States military.” In no place does his plan talk of an opportunity for undocumented young residents to obtain a pathway by going to college. Moreover, his plan does not support Obama’s recent policy changes to undocumented young immigrants.

“Governor Romney never addressed what would happen to the Dreamer students,” says Clarissa Martinez De Castro, Director of Immigration at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). “In light of how specific Obama’s directive was on students, there was no excuse not to mention this,” she adds.

more here
http://nbclatino.com/2012/06/21/romneysimmigrationplannopathway/

Gas Prices Falling Rapidly
USA Today notes the cost of gasoline could be below $3 a gallon by the November election.

“Nationally, regular gasoline averages $3.47 a gallon, down 47 cents from this year’s high in April and well below the $5-a-gallon fears fanned earlier this year by energy speculators, Middle East tensions and oil refinery glitches that crimped supplies. Those issues appear to be over, at least for now.”
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/06/22/gas_prices_falling_rapidly.html

wow…got slapped upside the head by the group YOU founded? LOL

Chris Barron, the former board president and co-founder of GOProud, told Metro Weekly, “I voted no and one other board member voted no.” LaSalvia tells Metro Weekly that Jessica Lee, who is a lesbian, was the other vote against the endorsement.

GOProud’s Romney Endorsement Decided by Straight Board Members
http://www.metroweekly.com/poliglot/2012/06/goprouds-romney-endorsement.html

Florida’s Scott ignores Romney’s advice
By Steve Benen – Fri Jun 22, 2012 9:36 AM EDT.

For months, Mitt Romney has been contradicted by Republican governors in key swing states — he’s trying to convince voters to feel depressed and pessimistic; they’re doing the opposite, talking up the improvements in their states’ economies.

The conflict reached a new level with reports that Romney urged Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) to “tone down his statements heralding improvements in the state’s economy because they clash with the presumptive Republican nominee’s message.”

By yesterday afternoon, the relevant players were denying such talks took place, but whether you believe the accounts or not, it’s worth noting that the far-right Florida governor doesn’t seem to mind stepping all over Romney’s message. Just yesterday, Scott’s state Republican Party sent out a press statement along with this chart, showing the growth in Florida’s private-sector job market.

It was accompanied by text heralding the “increases in job creation and economic growth” in Florida, the drop in Florida’s unemployment rate, and the boast that Florida “is heading in the right direction.”

Of course, the GOP statement credits Rick Scott for the developments, not President Obama, but the point is, the Florida governor wants voters in the nation’s largest swing state to feel great about Florida’s growing economy — and Romney doesn’t.

Remember, it’s not just Florida. Maddow Blog has been documenting the trend for over a month, but as other news outlets pick up on this, we see the examples of conflict between Romney and his ostensible gubernatorial allies grow. The New York Times reports today that the Republican presidential nominee is “on a collision course” with GOP governors in states like Virginia, Ohio and Iowa. The Daily Beast noted the concerns in Wisconsin, too

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/22/12357099-floridas-scott-ignores-romneys-advice?lite

Mitt is crazy…and I think his 5 sons were trying to get the public to take action and rescue them by going on Conan:

excerpt:
The Romney sons were alarmingly blithe about their dad’s physical intimidation-based sense of humor last night, recalling with affection how he loves shoving their faces into food under the guise that they should smell it and the one time that their dad, the Presidential hopeful, wrote “HELP” on the bottom of his friend’s shoes before the friend got married so that when the friend kneeled in front of the church, the whole congregation saw the word HELP on his shoes oh my god I’m wiping tears of joy and hilarity from my eyes. The most hilarious part is that Mitt is no longer friends with that guy! You know a prank’s good when it causes a friendship to end.

Although Mittens loves dishing it out, as you could probably guess, he’s not excellent at taking it. When his son Josh attempted to prank his dad by grabbing his arm as he reached for a light switch leading into a dark and scary basement, the former Massachusetts governor tackled his son and asked, repeatedly, “Was it worth it? Was it worth it?!”

Being a Romney sounds terrifying.

http://jezebel.com/5920229/mitt-romneys-sons-explain-more-of-their-dads-totally+not+evil-pranks

(When did she become so lame?)

Melissa Harris-Perry: Fear Is Driving America’s Politics, But Hope Is the Only Antidote
June 18, 2012 |
Editor’s Note: This is a transcript of a speech delivered yesterday at the Take Back the American Dream conference

Reason to hope

That said, there is no reason to lose hope. The fear that has activated the last decade cannot be countered with more fear of what is coming. Is there money in the political system? Yup. Is the Supreme Court friendly? No. Are there folks willing to actually damage the very core of our democratic principles in order to win short-term gains? Um-hm.

Maybe it’s coming from people who were slaves and Mormons — my white people [ancestors] were Mormons; my black people were slaves. Everybody was basically after them. The Mormons got ejected out of Missouri, had to push handcarts across the American West. The black folks got enslaved for a couple of centuries. I don’t know, I guess struggle doesn’t worry me in the sense of being struggle itself. …..

I know I’ve talked a lot, but I really do have to go talk to the Bushes now, but it’s because I’m not afraid of them. I’m not angry with them; I often disagree. But I am not afraid of any person with whom we are struggling. We can get to another place.

http://www.alternet.org/activism/155929/melissa_harris-perry%3A_fear_is_driving_america%27s_politics%2C_but_hope_is_the_only_antidote/?page=6

A good plan vs. no plan
By Steve Benen – Fri Jun 22, 2012 12:41 PM EDT

.If you read only one op-ed today, I’d recommend this item from Obama campaign advisor Jeffrey Liebman in the Wall Street Journal. It’s tough to summarize the nature of the debate over jobs and its connection to the presidential race in 800 words, but Liebman, a professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, pulls it together nicely.

The defense of President Obama’s jobs agenda is pretty straightforward: the economy lacks demand, is held back by public-sector layoffs, and desperately needs infrastructure investments, and the White House plan addresses exactly what’s ailing us. But what stands out is Liebman’s assessment of the president’s challenger.

What would Gov. Romney do to create jobs now? In a word, nothing. In fact, the proposals he has put forward would slow the recovery, reversing the gains we have made since the recession ended.

The rest of Gov. Romney’s economic agenda — $5 trillion in deficit-increasing tax cuts with no plausible path to pay for them, divesting from clean energy, and repealing rules of the road for Wall Street — would almost certainly undermine confidence in the U.S. economy and reduce employment further. But even if you dismiss this risk, what is clear is that there is no plausible argument for how Mr. Romney’s policies would address the jobs crisis we face today.

That strikes me as unambiguously true. In fact, in my dream, head-in-the-clouds, hopelessly-naive vision of how the 2012 presidential race should play out, voters would be presented with two competing options on the nation’s top issue: Obama would explain the economic benefits of his plan, while Romney would highlight the benefits of his plan.

Voters would consider the two options and choose the superior plan.

Of course, at least at this point, that’s impossible — not because voters wouldn’t bother to evaluate two competing economic agendas, but because Romney doesn’t dare offer a detailed plan. As Ari Berman recently put it, “Obama Has a Jobs Plan. Romney Doesn’t.”

——————————————————————————–

This isn’t to say Romney’s platform is a complete mystery. We know from his speeches, ads, and website what he intends to do in a general sense: roll back access to health care, slash taxes, increase military spending, relax Wall Street safeguards, expand oil drilling, etc. The Republican candidate avoids specifics and policy details, but we can analyze Romney’s intended plan based on the broad outline.

We can also take what we know and determine whether Romney’s approach would lower unemployment. There’s no great mystery here: while independent analysis found Obama’s Americans Jobs Act would create as many as 1.9 million jobs in 2012, independent analysis also finds that Romney really doesn’t have a jobs plan at all.

As Greg Sargent recently talked to two nonpartisan economists about Romney’s stated goals.

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/22/12359311-a-good-plan-vs-no-plan?lite