January 20, 2013

Joe Scarborough: Republicans Only Kept House Majority Because Of Gerrymandering

MSNBC host and former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough admitted on Sunday that Republicans only kept their majority in the House of Representatives as a result of gerrymandering, noting that the GOP received less votes than Democrats in the 2012 election. Scarborough argued that Republicans must prevent radical ultra-conservative voices from dominating the party’s message and pointed out that the GOP is already losing electoral ground among voters who view it as too extreme and out of touch with middle class Americans:

SCARBOROUGH: William F. Buckley in the 1960s at some point had to start defining the boundaries of conservatism. He went after the John Birch Society, Ayn Rand, George Wallace. That has to happen again with this party because it’s getting smaller and smaller. In this debate, we actually have conservative thinkers, talking about ronald reagan being a RINO — a Republican in name only, because he supported an assault weapons ban. They keep pushing themselves closer and closer to the cliff. But I just have to say one other really important point, because I made a mistake over the past month talking about how Republicans have also won a majority in the House. As this article I was referencing mentioned, we actually got a minority of votes nationwide in House races. It was just gerrymandering from 2010 that gave us the majority.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/20/1474561/joe-scarborough-republicans-only-kept-house-majority-because-of-gerrymandering/

January 18, 2013

NRA lied: No armed guards at Obama girls’ school

http://americablog.com/2013/01/nra-lied-armed-guards-obama-schoo.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Americablog+%28AMERICAblog+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

There’s a reason they’re call gun “NUTS.” The NRA just lies. These guys should consider teaming up with the religious right, considering the audacity of lies they tell.

You might recall that we reported earlier this week that the NRA had launched an ad/Web site targeting President Obama’s children. The ad claimed – falsely, we now know – that the school the Obama girls attend, Sidwell friends, has “11 armed guards.”

In fact, the school has no armed guards of any kind.

Now, you’d think that when the NRA saw that the source for lie was “Breitbart,” a far right blog known for its sensationalism rather than it’s love of veracity, they’d have double checked. Well, if they did, they double checked with Fox News, because it’s a lie.

(end snip)

The article quotes the Washington Post fact checker.

4 Pinocchios for a slashing NRA ad on security at Sidwell Friends School

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/4-pinocchios-for-a-slashing-nra-ad-on-security-at-sidwell-friends-school/2013/01/16/95b2127a-6032-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd_blog.html