August 20, 2012

Shout out to EarlG!!! How a Romney Gaffe that Wasn't Went Viral on the Web

"The Romney family misspells their own name in what might be the greatest Freudian slip in US history," the Facebook photo caption reads.

In the photo, Mitt Romney is lining up a group of young children to spell out his last name with letters printed on their t-shirts. Only they're in the wrong order in the image, and spell out "RMONEY" instead. Posted most recently in July on a Facebook page for the website Kulture Kritic, it has been shared over 40,000 times since it first appeared in February and is still going strong.

There are two problems with this image: those children aren't the candidate's family and in the real image, they're lined up to spell out "Romney." Humor winning out over truth, that hasn't stopped the doctored photo from traveling for months, not always being called out as a fake. Conservative and progressive commentators alike chuckled over what appeared to be a believable campaign gaffe, one that was perhaps prophetic given Team Romney's copy-editing foibles in the months that followed.

"I happened to stumble across the original photo of Romney with the children while I was searching for images for inspiration," Dave Allsopp, who tells techPresident that he created the image and first posted it on the left-leaning online community he co-founded, Democratic Underground, wrote in an email to techPresident. "I'd seen a few DU members referring to Romney as 'RMoney,' and it just hit me."

Since then the image has spread everywhere, sometimes with DU attribution and sometimes without, sometimes acknowledged as a Photoshop job and sometimes not, from the Huffington Post and Buzzfeed to Republican-leaning blogs that decisively debunked it. Even Google Search suggestions point to widespread interest in the photo, prompting Googlers to complete their searches with terms like "romney money picture," "romney money family photo," and "romney money kids."

more: http://techpresident.com/news/22741/how-ap-photo-became-viral-romney-meme

August 20, 2012

Democrats Tie Ryan, Romney to Akin as ‘Dangerous’ for Women

Source: ABC

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The GOP presidential ticket, Romney and Ryan, swiftly condemned Akin, saying in a joint statement that they “disagree” with Akin’s remarks and that their administration “would not oppose abortion in instances of rape.”
But Democrats said the presumptive nominee and his running mate have a history of aligning with Akin on “extreme” positions, including legislation that would have redefined rape, banned abortion in all cases and cut off funding for abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood.
“While Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are working overtime to distance themselves from Rep. Todd Akin’s comments on rape, they are contradicting their own records,” said Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith.
“Every day, women across America grapple with difficult and intensely personal health decisions — decisions that should ultimately be between a woman and her doctor,” she said.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/08/democrats-tie-ryan-romney-to-akin-as-dangerous-for-women/

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Ryan Hailed Akin’s ‘Leadership’ During Missouri Senate Primary

Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), whose comments Sunday that “legitimate rape” is biologically unlikely to cause pregnancy sparked a firestorm, earned gushing praise from Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) last year when he declared his candidacy for Senate. His comments were so glowing that Ryan had to clarify later that they did not constitute an endorsement.

“Todd Akin has been a great asset to the House Budget Committee,” Ryan said in a joint press release last November with fellow House leaders, including NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions, and Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan. “His principled approach to fiscal responsibility is exactly the kind of leadership America needs and I appreciate his hard work.”

Akin touted Ryan’s praise as a major asset, prompting his GOP primary rivals to accuse Akin of misleading by implying Ryan had endorsed him in the race. Ryan’s spokesman quickly clarified at the time that he merely was “applauding Rep. Akin’s work on the House Budget Committee,” not giving his official backing, according to Politico.

Although best known for his budget work, Ryan is firmly within the right wing of his party on abortion. The Obama campaign recently released a TV adhighlighting Ryan’s support for banning abortions without exceptions for rape and incest and, in certain cases, even the health of the mother.

more: http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/paul-ryan-hailed-todd-akins-leadership-in-missouri-senate-race.php

August 20, 2012

Obama Calls Akin Rape Comment 'Offensive'

Source: National Journal

President Obama on Monday called recent comments on rape by Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., “offensive,” and said they marked a difference in opinion between the political parties.

“Let me first of all say the views expressed were offensive. Rape is rape. And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we’re talking about doesn’t makes sense to the American people and certainly doesn’t make sense to me,” Obama told reporters.

The president said Akin’s comments illustrate “why we shouldn’t have a bunch of politicians, the majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women.”

Read more: http://nationaljournal.com/politics/obama-calls-akin-rape-comment-offensive--20120820

August 20, 2012

Obama says Americans expect more tax returns from Romney

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Monday it was not "out of bounds" for his re-election campaign to push Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney to release more tax returns, saying such transparency is what the American people would rightly expect.

Obama made the comments in the White House press briefing room. He said the precedent for candidates to release years of tax returns was set decades ago and should not change.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-rt-us-usa-campaign-obama-taxesbre87j0mj-20120820,0,5348375.story

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Obama: ‘I Don’t Think We’re Being Mean’ By Asking For Romney’s Taxes

IGOR BOBIC 1:53 PM EDT, MONDAY AUGUST 20, 2012

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"I think the idea that is somehow exceptional, that there should be a rationale or justification for doing more than the very bare minimum, has it backwards," Obama said of his request for more tax information. "The assumption should be, you do what previous presidential candidates have been doing for decades."

"This isnt sort of overly personal here guys, this is standard stuff," Obama added. "I don't think we're being mean by asking you to do what every other presidential candidate has done."

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-i-dont-think-were-being-mean-by

August 20, 2012

David Axelrod: Todd Akin's Comments Are 'Inconvenient' For Romney-Ryan, 'Not Inconsistent'

WASHINGTON -- The Obama campaign is, not surprisingly, unwilling to accept Mitt Romney's condemnation of Rep. Todd Akin's controversial remarks and move on.

Akin, a Missouri Republican who is running for Senate, said Sunday that women who are the victims of "legitimate rape" rarely get pregnant. In an interview with The Huffington Post on Monday, chief Obama strategist David Axelrod said the comments reflected the larger philosophy of the GOP presidential ticket.

He predicted that the public would find the remarks even more distasteful once it became widely known that Romney's running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), teamed up with Akin on strict anti-abortion measures.

"When you look at who Akin's partner was on all the anti-choice legislation, it was Paul Ryan," said Axelrod. "When you look at the legislation that would limit a women's right to choose, even for victims of rape and incest, that is the Akin-Ryan position. And frankly, by endorsing personhood amendments ... Romney has gone there too. This is the prevailing position of the Republican Party."

"I think they find Todd Akin's comment terribly inconvenient," Axelrod said. "It is very inopportune. But they are certainly not inconsistent, when Ryan joined with him and tried to limit the definition of rape to forcible rape. What does that mean? They are trying to run away from what has been their own position and yet, while Akin's proposition was particularly egregious and outrageous, on the underlining principle of whether you are going to limit a woman's right to choose, and how rape victims are dealt with and how they would approach this issue, they are very much in line with him."

more:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/20/david-axelrod-todd-akin_n_1811693.html?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012

August 20, 2012

AFA's Bryan Fischer: Todd Akin Wasn't 'Misspeaking' but Speaking for a Movement

Todd Akin Wasn't 'Misspeaking' but Speaking for a Movement
Submitted by Brian Tashman on Mon, 08/20/2012 - 11:45am
Missouri Republican senate candidate and congressman Todd Akin is trying to run away from his claims that “legitimate rape” rarely leads to pregnancy, insisting that he “misspoke” while making “off-the-cuff remarks,” even though they were in an interview with a local reporter. Akin made a similar half-apology following his claim that “at the heart of liberalism really is the hatred for God,” with his spokesman arguing that his claim during a radio interview were “off-the-cuff.”

Akin is a beloved figure of the Religious Right, and his campaign advertises endorsements from Concerned Women for America activists and activists like Mike Huckabee, Phyllis Schlafly, Michele Bachmann and David Barton. Barton, who recorded campaign ads calling Akin a “true Christian leader,” has compared Akin to John Witherspoon and other founding fathers. American Family Association spokesman Bryan Fischer, who hosted Akin on his radio show the day after the congressman’s primary victory, said people need to “lighten up” about his rape comments :




Previously, Akin said he wants to ban the morning after pill, worried marital rape laws will be used as “a legal weapon to beat up on the husband” and sought to narrow the definition of “rape” in legislation. Akin also prominently advertises his endorsement from Schlafly, who has said women cannot be raped by their husbands.

Sarah Posner in Religion Dispatches notes that Akin, who has a masters in divinity, received his degree at a denomination which teaches that rape seldom leads to pregnancy and should not be relevant to laws on abortion rights, and as Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones pointed out, anti-choice luminary John Willke asserts that hormones make pregnancies resulting from rape “extremely rare” and Physicians for Life believes “the rate of pregnancy is actually very rare” because the stress from the rape “alter[s] bodily functions, the menstrual cycle included.”

more:http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/todd-akin-misspeaking-speaking-for-movement

August 20, 2012

How Nonprofits Spend Millions on Elections and Call it Public Welfare

Matt Brooks describes the mission of the Republican Jewish Coalition as educating the Jewish community about critical domestic and foreign policy issues.

But the well-dressed crowd that gathered in May for a luncheon on the 24th floor of a New York law firm easily could have figured that the group had a different purpose: Helping Mitt Romney win the presidency.

Brooks, the group's executive director, showed the 100 or so attendees two coalition-funded ads taking aim at President Barack Obama. Then Brooks made a pitch for a $6.5 million plan to help Romney in battleground states, reminding guests that their donations would not be publicly disclosed by the tax-exempt group.

"Contributions to the RJC are not reported," Brooks told the people sitting around a horseshoe-shaped table. "We don't make our donors' names available. We can take corporate money, personal money, cash, shekels, whatever you got."

much more: http://www.propublica.org/article/how-nonprofits-spend-millions-on-elections-and-call-it-public-welfare

August 20, 2012

McCaskill: Akin 'legitimate rape' comment a 'gut check' for voters

Source: LATimes

Sen. Claire McCaskill called rival Todd Akin's comments about "legitimate rape" a window into the Republican's thinking, seizing on a moment that has suddenly boosted her imperiled reelection bid.

In an interview on MSNBC on Monday morning, a stern McCaskill spoke of her background as a prosecutor working with rape victims, and said Akin's answer to a question about abortion in the case of rape lacked sensitivity.

"It shows how many people are out there, sometimes in very important positions, that just don't understand the trauma, and don't understand what it means," the Democrat said. "For most Missourians I hope this is one of those gut check moments when they realize this is not somebody we want speaking for us and for our values on the floor of the United States Senate."

Akin, a Republican congressman from Missouri, was asked in an interview with KTVI-TV if he would support abortion in the case of rape.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-mccaskill-akin-legitimate-rape-comment-a-gut-check-for-voters-20120820,0,2759181.story

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Fox Lets Rove Discuss Akin Rape Comments Without Disclosing His Conflict Of Interest[/]


Fox News hosted Karl Rove this morning to discuss Rep. Todd Akin's (R-MO) comments that women have a biological mechanism to prevent them from getting pregnant if they are raped. Neither Rove nor Fox disclosed that Rove's political groups have invested more than $900,000 in Akin's U.S. Senate race.

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Rove explained that "the Akin story will be important inside Missouri," but quickly pivoted to discussing the deficit and other economic issues. Rove's attempt to change the subject mirrors Akin's statement about the controversy last night, in which Akin, after claiming he "misspoke," attempted to refocus the story on "very important issues, starting with the economy."

Asked how badly Akin's comments will hurt him in his race against Sen. Claire McCaskill, Rove conceded that Akin has some "real explaining to do," then abruptly changed the subject to a story he said was "far more important," the Republican Party's fundraising advantage over the Democratic Party.

As of early August, Crossroads GPS, the 501(c)(4) offshoot to Rove's American Crossroads Super PAC, has spent more than $850,000 on the Missouri Senate race. American Crossroads has spent an additional $64,000 on the race. During the segment, Rove was identified as both a Fox News contributor and a former Bush adviser, but his connection to Crossroads was not disclosed.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/08/20/fox-lets-rove-discuss-akin-rape-comments-withou/189444

August 20, 2012

Like Health Insurance CEOs, Ryan Wants You to Have More "Skin in the Game"

When you look closely at GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan's proposals to restructure Medicare, it's clear he agrees with many health insurance company CEOs that Americans -- especially older Americans -- don't have enough "skin in the game" when it comes to medical costs. If his proposal to largely privatize Medicare becomes a reality, those not already 55 and older will be putting far more "skin in the game" than current Medicare beneficiaries do, and they'll be required to peel off increasing amounts of skin every year for the rest of their lives.

I can't tell you how many times I heard my former CEO and other industry executives say that, in addition to the ever-increasing cost of a stay in the hospital, new drugs and new medical technology, a big reason why premiums keep going up is because those of us who make a tiny fraction of what they make are not paying enough out of our own pockets (i.e., "skin&quot for medical care.

They use that rather crude term when they talk to Wall Street financial analysts and policymakers to justify their strategy of moving more and more of us into what they euphemistically refer to as "consumer-directed" health plans but which in reality are high-deductible plans that require us to pay far more of our own money for medical care than we have had to pay in the past.

Ryan would change Medicare from what is known in industry jargon as a "defined benefit" plan to a "defined contribution" plan. Medicare beneficiaries would no longer have the assurance of knowing that the government would always pay the lion's share of the cost of coverage (defined benefit). Instead, the government would give them a set amount of money in "premium-support" payments (defined contribution) every year to buy coverage from private insurers. (The 2011 version of Ryan's proposal would replace the traditional Medicare program entirely by private insurance plans. In the 2012 version, traditional Medicare would remain an option.)

more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wendell-potter/like-health-insurance-ceo_b_1810641.html

August 20, 2012

Romney Statement on Abortion Contradicts Ryan’s Earlier Stance

Source: NYT

Romney Statement on Abortion Contradicts Ryan’s Earlier Stance
By TRIP GABRIEL and MICHAEL D. SHEAR
A campaign statement that neither Mitt Romney nor Representative Paul D. Ryan opposes abortion in rape cases contradicts Mr. Ryan’s earlier position on the issue.

The statement was issued late Sunday in response to a widely condemned comment earlier in the day by Representative Todd Akin, the Republican Senate nominee from Missouri, that in cases of what he called “legitimate rape,’’ women’s bodies reject a pregnancy. Mr. Akin was explaining why he opposes abortion in the case of rape.

“Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin’s statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape,’’ a Romney campaign spokeswoman, Amanda Henneberg, wrote.

Although Mr. Romney has stated this position before, Mr. Ryan, a seven-term congressman from Wisconsin, has opposed abortion in the case of rape. During his first run for the seat in 1998, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that he opposed abortions in all cases except to save the life of the mother.


Read more: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/20/romney-statement-on-abortion-appears-to-contradict-ryans-earlier-position/