http://www.people-press.org/2012/06/04/partisan-polarization-surges-in-bush-obama-years/

Hacker leads off with a quiz: during the past century, how many Republican challengers have unseated Democratic presidents? Out of six attempts only one, Ronald Reagan, was able to do so. The reason is that Republicans have yet to achieve a majority of voters willing to declare the GOP as their party. In fact, this recent round of partisan purges has left the GOP with shrinking numbers of faithful loyalists. When Pew asked potential voters what party they identified with in 1990, 31% said Republican, compared with 24% today. Democrats also lost a point since 1990, down to 32% today. But independents swelled from 29% to 38%.

With Paul Ryan on board to bolster what can only be seen as a lack of love for Romney-the-candidate by GOP strategists, the campaign, and thus the party, is going all-in on extreme right-wing positions, leaving the center to the Democrats.  Ryan’s hatred of “entitlements” and his extreme social conservatism may endear him to the party ideologues, but it raises hell with the electorate:

In 1987, 62% of Republicans favored some kind of social safety net and 58% saw some good in unions. Today, it is down to 40% and 43% respectively.

In 1992, 86% favored some form of environmental regulation; today that number is down to 47%.

A nine point increase in Independents and a 7 point drop in declared Republicans indicates a mass defection since 1990.

This puts Republicans in a deep hole, leaving them in the position of attacking everything the democrats do, and proposing nothing – at least nothing that appeals to a broader electorate. They relentlessly attack PPACA, yet fail to understand that PPACA helps not only those with marginal incomes, but also the middle class (40% of those earning over $90K and 60% aged 50 to 64 have cut back on needed medical attention because of cost.) Their attacks affect all classes; SS and Medicare recipients, folks on assisted living, aid for children with disabilities, potential college students, etc.

Hacker says the GOP has been the party of the top “bosses” since Reconstruction, aligning itself with the 1% and relying on divisive issues around race, abortion, the 2^nd Amendment, foreign threats and immigration to win elections.  The Pew study shows that, today, Independents are much closer to Democrats, particularly around issues like the concentration of wealth, Wall Street regulation, the use of military power and who is to blame for mortgage defaults.

If party loyalty is shrinking among voters, then the answer must be to shrink the number of eligible Democrat voters, giving us this recent round of voter suppression. Hacker supplies some interesting numbers on this as well:

A passport will allow anyone to vote, but half of adult Americans don’t have one.

City dwellers of a Democratic persuasion are less likely to have a driver’s license.

One-fifth of all persons aged 18 to 21 do not have a driver’s license – that’s 3,335,254 potential voters.

Of persons aged 75 or older, 4,738,013 no longer have valid licenses.

The Republicans, of course, have much more money to spend, and they have a hard line conservative SCOTUS to back them up, if necessary. None of this is an easy road for Democrats, but it would indicate that the key to a Democrat victory lies, as always, in maximum voter turnout.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/elizabeth-warren-interview-14094700

On TARP, the economy and too big to fail.

Their struggle hit home yesterday as about 2 dozen people, including 6 from the Illinois plant, protested at Sensata headquarters in Attleboro. Many held signs that read: We Don’t Want a Romney Economy. There is a protest planned for today at the offices of Bain Capital.

That reminds me, a former Bain Capital CEO and current coupon clipper who maintains an interest in Bain  is now running for CEO President of the United States. Mr. Romney has done much speechifying of late about how evil China is and how he will get tough with them on trade and jobs. Oh, and that it is all Obama’s fault. Now might be a good time for Mr. Romney to start.

But he won’t. While His Excellency has entertained the notion of creating jobs right here in the U S of A, the “profit creator” in him prefers the new business model: profits from job losses. And while he enjoys a severance from Bain as a percentage of profits (carried interest) that provided him with $2 million in income in 2011, it is not his fault that workers are getting  fired . After all, Bain Capital is just one of many small businesses being crushed under the socialist policies of Barack Hussein Obama. As a type S-corporation, their shoestring profit margin couldn’t afford to give up a tax loophole that would have funded a cut in student loan interest. Besides, any new taxes on wealthy business owners will only result in more job losses – um, according to the republican presidential candidate.

If Romney has his way, he can use Air Force 1 to oversee his business interests in China while creating even more profits right here at home.

Let me warn you and let me warn the Nation against the smooth evasion which says, “Of course we believe all these things; we believe in social security; we believe in work for the unemployed; we believe in saving homes. Cross our hearts and hope to die, we believe in all these things; but we do not like the way the present Administration is doing them. Just turn them over to us. We will do all of them- we will do more of them, we will do them better; and, most important of all, the doing of them will not cost anybody anything.”

Here he is on Youtube. Worth watching just to see the joy on his face when he delivers the above:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3RHnKYNvx8

Junior Brown’s famed Grecian locks
Conceal a head full of rocks
While congress stagnates
His campaign obviates
All for the checking of the box.

Things aren’t always as they appear
Like the Senator having a beer
When he pulled it too soon
In that local saloon
He was miffed that Reid made him come here.

It’s as plain as the nose on her face
That Brown is losing the race
He is not a nice guy
In a suit and a tie
So he tries to rile up the base.

Says Brown she’s no Cherokee!
Why she is as white as me!
She won’t show me her files
So there’s something to hide
It’s the only explanation, you see.

As his gaze hit the side of her face
The professor gave not a trace
It’s a family trait
Not an object of hate
And it’s clear junior Brown has no case.

No matter how often Brown mocks
Claiming Warren was being a fox
Brown’s problem is with gender
So to the Senate we’ll send her
At the polls we’ll be checking the box.

You say you would have voted for the Lily Ledbetter bill if you were in the senate, yet you voted against the equal pay bill as a senator.

You say you believe that climate change is real and is both man-made and a natural phenomenon, yet fail to explain why building the XL Pipeline is good for the environment.

You claim to have an all-of-the-above approach to energy sources yet continue to vote for taxpayer subsidies for oil companies and defend that by voting against ethanol subsidies (and the oil companies thank you for it.)

You cultivate the nice-guy persona yet deny that a Native American has the right to run for public office.

You cultivate the nice-guy persona yet deny someone’s ethnicity because you don’t think  they  “look” Native American. “Look-at-her.  Look-at-her.  Look-at-her…”

If you go back to Washington, and McConnell becomes senate leader, all your bi-partisanship will not matter a bit – you will vote in lockstep with the man who vowed to make Obama a one-term president.

So you won’t be returning to Washington.

http://www.people-press.org/2012/06/04/partisan-polarization-surges-in-bush-obama-years/

He leads off with a quiz: during the past century, how many Republican challengers have unseated
Democratic presidents? Out of six attempts only one, Ronald Reagan, was able to
do so. The reason is that Republicans have yet to achieve a majority of voters
willing to declare the GOP as their party. In fact, this recent round of
partisan purges has left the GOP with shrinking numbers of faithful loyalists.
When Pew asked potential voters what party they identified with in 1990, 31%
said Republican, compared with 24% today. Democrats also lost a point since
1990, down to 32% today. But independents swelled from 29% to 38%.

With Paul Ryan on board to bolster what can only be seen as
a lack of love for Romney-the-candidate by GOP strategists, the campaign, and
thus the party, is going all-in on extreme right-wing positions, leaving the
center to the Democrats.  Ryan’s hatred
of “entitlements” and his extreme social conservatism may endear him to the
party ideologues, but it raises hell with the electorate:

In 1987, 62% of Republicans favored some kind of social
safety net and 58% saw some good in unions. Today, it is down to 40% and 43%
respectively.

In 1992, 86% favored some form of environmental regulation;
today that number is down to 47%.

A nine point increase in Independents and a 7 point drop in declared
Republicans indicates a mass defection since 1990.

This puts Republicans in a deep hole, leaving them in the
position of attacking everything the democrats do, and proposing nothing – at least
nothing that appeals to a broader electorate. They relentlessly attack PPACA,
yet fail to understand that PPACA helps not only those with marginal incomes,
but also the middle class (40% of those earning over $90K and 60% aged 50 to 64
have cut back on needed medical attention because of cost.) Their attacks affect
all classes; SS and Medicare recipients, folks on assisted living, aid for
children with disabilities, potential college students, etc.

Hacker says the GOP has been the party of the top “bosses”
since Reconstruction, aligning itself with the 1% and relying on divisive
issues around race, abortion, the 2^nd Amendment, foreign threats and
immigration to win elections.  The Pew
study shows that, today, Independents are much closer to Democrats,
particularly around issues like the concentration of wealth, Wall Street
regulation, the use of military power and who is to blame for mortgage
defaults.

If party loyalty is shrinking among voters, then the answer
must be to shrink the number of eligible Democrat voters, giving us this recent
round of voter suppression. Hacker supplies some interesting numbers on this as
well:

A passport will allow anyone to vote, but half of adult
Americans don’t have one.

City dwellers of a Democratic persuasion are less likely to
have a driver’s license.

One-fifth of all persons aged 18 to 21 do not have a driver’s
license – that’s 3,335,254 potential voters.

Of persons aged 75 or older, 4,738,013 no longer have valid
licenses.

The Republicans, of course, have much more money to spend,
and they have a hard line conservative SCOTUS to back them up, if necessary. None
of this is an easy road for Democrats, but it would indicate that the key to a
Democrat victory lies, as always, in maximum voter turnout.

###

As some of you may have noticed, my political exile to the Kingdom of Zembla, that tiny fiefdom in
the northern reaches of the southern latitudes, has ended. My jailers have
flung open the gates, conditionally. While I enjoyed those secret tea parties
with kings and queens -also in exile, and the shuffleboard was competitive, it
is good to be back with all of you. As Jack Nicholson said, “You make me want
to be a better man.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79269_Page2.html

Brown launches into a whole litany of statements that were never uttered by anyone until he came along. Things like, “that they’re talking about you — and it’s their way of saying that government is entitled to more of what you built…anti-free enterprise attitude, epitomized by Elizabeth Warren, the liberal Harvard professor who has made it the calling card of her Senate campaign against me, is that every achievement in life is a collective effort…If only leftists like Warren and all Occupy protesters weren’t so wrapped up in taxing and regulating them without end or in denigrating their achievements, these men and women would do even greater things and hire even more workers…” blah, blah. Small business people whistle while they work.

Politico, a newspaper of sorts, made the courageous editorial decision today to cover this story: “Mitch McConnell calls for ‘Obamacare’ repeal vote as Democrats talk women’s health.” Bells went off. I was filled with a vague sense of the past. It was deja vu all over again.

Tomorrow, the preventive treatment trigger in the PPACA will go into effect. Brother Reid took to the floor of the senate to remind us all of this fact. He said,”“For years, American women have unfairly borne the burden of high costs of contraception, starting tomorrow, insurance plans must cover contraception.” Reid lauded the law’s focus on preventive health care — especially when it comes to cancer screenings such as mammography for women. He told of his wife’s battle with breast cancer and wondered what would have happened if she had to wait a year to see a doctor and get a diagnosis.

Apparently, all this idle musing awakened the Kentucky senator and top GOP sock puppet Mitch McConnell just in time to request an amendment to the pending cybersecurity bill, wherein, it might possibly be written, repeal, repeal, repeal Obamacare now, right away! McConnell “called” for action while the democrats chatted about women stuff. Just another day at the office.

Now I can tell already that none of you are particularly alarmed by this news because it isn’t news at all. It is the same crazy people doing the same crazy thing every day and hoping for a different outcome. But it ain’t news. And as non-news those pamphleteers of the 4th Estate ought not to keep bringing it up-because it takes away valuable inches for real stories like, “PPACA Preventative Care LAW Begins” or some such.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/79191.html#ixzz22FtZWZu2
At least in the newspapers of my youth, the fish was always the catch of the day.

“I was thinking this morning as I prepared to come into this room of a discussion I had across the country in the United States about my perceptions about differences between countries,” Romney told a group of high-dollar donors at a fundraiser in Jerusalem’s King David Hotel. “As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000 dollars, and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality.”

And the inaccuracies of it as pointed out by AP:

“Romney actually got the numbers very wrong: Israel’s GDP per capita was $31,000 in 2011 and Palestinians’ per capita GDP was just $1,500. Romney at no point mentioned that the Palestinian territories have for decades been occupied without sovereign control, where residents face significant restrictions on movement and employment.”

The District of Columbia has a GDP per capita of $174,000, higher than any state in the union. Is it any wonder he wants to move there – that’s where the “culture” is.

And now Romney and his band are off to Poland! I can just imagine what he might say about Warsaw.

Brooksley Born - Chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 1996 to 1999. Born issued a prescient warning about the lack of transparency inherent in trading swap derivatives and wanted to expand the regulations of the Federal Reserve, the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) for curtailment and oversight of such trades. Her recommendations were met with a buzz saw attack by FED chair Alan Greenspan, Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers. Greenspan, in particular argued that there wasn’t a need for a law against fraud because if a floor broker was committing fraud, the customer would figure it out and stop doing business with him, prompting the WSJ to proclaim, “ the nation’s top financial regulators wish Brooksley Born would just shut up.” Under heavy pressure from the financial lobby, legislation prohibiting regulation of derivatives by Born’s agency was passed by the Congress.  Born resigned in 1999.

Sheila Bair- Acting Chair of the CFTC from 1991 to 1995, Chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) from 2006 to 2011 current chair of the Systemic Risk Council, a volunteer effort formed by the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute and the Pew Charitable Trust to monitor and comment on regulation. Bair has been a strong advocate of breaking up the big banks. Bair warned of the impending sub-prime mortgage crisis. Bair organized a meeting to persuade financial institutions to reduce monthly payments, but bank investors were not convinced. As FDIC chair she saved the FDIC fund some $40 billion by assessing banks the cost of insuring deposits rather than liquidating banks or taxpayer borrowing. Bair came under fire in 2008 for the FDIC’s lack of statutory authority pre Dodd-Frank and said, “We were told by the New York Fed that problems would occur in the global markets if Citi were to fail. We didn’t have our own information to verify this statement, so I didn’t want to dispute that with them.” Dodd-Frank Act, enacted in 2010, expressly prohibits bank bailouts by extending the FDIC’s resolution authority to close the largest financial firms and make their shareholders and creditors bear the losses without creating a systemic disruption. Dodd-Frank also gives the FDIC new authority to directly access information from large bank holding companies which are not in sound condition.

Elizabeth Warren-Chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel to oversee the Troubled Assets Relief Program, Assistant to President Obama and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and currently the Democratic candidate for the U S Senate from Massachusetts. Warren has met repeated resistance from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner because TARP did not require any management changes at the world’s biggest banks while being reimbursed by taxpayers’ dollar- for-dollar for the banks losses. She was forced out of the running to oversee the CFPB by unrelenting attacks from the GOP and lack of support by leading democrats for her efforts.

Banking interests on Wall Street and in Washington continue to trump party politics, democratic rule and common sense policy in much the same way that Neo-Conservative ideology triumphed in American foreign policy in the last decade. These women challenged this “fifth column” of financial patricians on behalf of the American people and were met with a level of resistance that, arguably, would not have been directed at them if they were men. Was it assumed by some in power in Washington that, by appointing women to these positions, they, and their agencies, could be marginalized and then steamrolled into doing the bidding of Big Finance or is this just so much conspiracy theory? In any event, such an assumption, if true, was a bad one because Geithner, Rubin, Summers, Greenspan, and others, in their “irrational exuberance”, assented to the bad practices, hubris and greed of crony capitalism that continues to subvert the economic recovery. We need Elizabeth Warren, and people like her, in Washington representing our common interest.

Yes, Willard really said this. Think he’s sizing up the UK for a Bain takeover?

“England [sic] is just a small island. Its roads and houses are small. With few exceptions, it doesn’t make things that people in the rest of the world want to buy. And if it hadn’t been separated from the continent by water, it almost certainly would have been lost to Hitler’s ambitions. Yet only two lifetimes ago, Britain ruled the largest and wealthiest empire in the history of humankind. Britain controlled a quarter of the earth’s land and a quarter of the earth’s population.”

Somehow, the English Channel didn’t stop Prince Albert. Even the trees are kind of puny, though, have you noticed?. But they still have the Cayman Islands!

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/mitt-romney-crony-10723178#ixzz20yp93Tap

In 2002, investigative reporters Donald Barlett and James Steele published, in Sports Illustrated, a scathing assessment of how Romney “saved” the Olympics. Apparently, taking care of every “job creator” and public servant with a hand out and claiming Olympic Pride is not spending taxpayer money in self-dealing schemes; it’s “building the economy” while the rest of us were smoking dope and organizing the poors into an anarcho-syndicalist reserve army. Here is a taste from the article:

“Is this a great country or what? A millionaire developer wants a road built, the federal government supplies the cash to construct it. A billionaire ski-resort owner covets a choice piece of public land. No problem. The federal government arranges for him to have it. Some millionaire businessmen stand to profit nicely if the local highway network is vastly improved. Of course. The federal government provides the money. How can you get yours, you ask? Easy. Just help your hometown land the Olympics. Then, when no one’s looking, persuade the federal government to pay for a good chunk of the Games, including virtually any project to which the magic word Olympics can be attached. For the past few years, while attention was focused on the Great Olympic Bribery Scandal-in which Salt Lake City boosters dispensed as much as $7 million in gifts, travel, scholarships, medical care, jobs and other goodies to IOC members (and their relatives and companions) to ensure that Utah’s capital city would be chosen to host the 2002 Winter Games-private and public interests have siphoned an estimated $1.5 billion out of the U.S. Treasury, all in the name of those same Olympics.”

and,

This is not to say that the recipients are unappreciative. Mitt Romney, SLOC’s president, has acknowledged the U.S. government’s contribution by saying, “We couldn’t have done it without them. These are America’s Games.”

Since Romney can’t talk about his good works at  Bain,won’t talk about exactly how he acquires and keeps his wealth, won’t talk about his governance over the good people of the Commonwealth, maybe he can elaborate on his recovery plan?  Nah.

BTW: In 2003, London’s National Audit Office projected the costs to the British Government for the 2012 London Olympic Games to be $3.7 billion. It now estimates the cost at $14.6 billion and an independent estimate (from Sky News) puts it at $37 billion.

Ah, yes, crony capitalism in the age of austerity is doing just fine.

It would seem that Winslow is now the surrogate spokesman for Brown since the staff is probably tired of fixing all his gaffs. So the next time Dan has a town hall meeting we can now ask him  who on Wall Street is financing Brown’s campaign since Brown hasn’t bothered to tell us because that would be false reform.