Paul Krugman left it all on the table after Newt Gingrich praised Republicans' official response to the President's State of the Union address.

"Where was the substance? There was nothing there," Krugman asked. "There was nothing. Absolutely no content. Lovely personal story, but absolutely zero policy content and that is actually true about everything that's happening. There is no Republican alternative on health care."

Snip

In case you're not convinced yet, this is what happened just hours before the State of the Union address.

Did they debate immigration? No.
Did they debate education policy? No.
Did they focus on jobs and job creation? No.
Did they debate reinstating the unemployment extensions? No.

They did none of those things. Instead, they debated and passed HR 7, the IRS-will-decide-if-you-were-raped bill that President Obama has already said he will veto should it ever sneak past the Senate and onto his desk.

They passed yet another useless, invasive, insulting abortion bill.

And then they put McMorris-Rodgers up there in front of the camera to smile sweetly and tell each and every viewer that they're really very happy to just leave the status quo in place, but if you're having a tough time, don't worry, because she'll pray for you. She'll pray for you tonight.

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/01/paul-krugman-slams-gingrichs-praise-sotu

An interview with Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) after Tuesday’s State of the Union address turned into a strange confrontation with NY1 reporter Michael Scotto.

“I’m not speaking about anything that’s off-topic,” Grimm tells Scotto. “This is only about the president.”

“Well, what about –” Scotto begins to say, before Grimm walks off-camera, at which point the reporter tells viewers, “Congressman Michael Grimm does not want to talk about some of the allegations concerning his campaign finances.”


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/28/staten-island-republican-caught-bullying-reporter-i-will-break-you-in-half/

Conservatives are attacking Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) for misrepresenting her background, in particular the hardships she faced as a young single mother. But one Texas Republican is defending Davis' record, saying the gubernatorial candidate wouldn't be subject to the same criticism if she were male.

Snip............




In a Monday release from her campaign, Davis responded to Abbott's attacks with defiance.

"[The attacks] won’t work, because my story is the story of millions of Texas women who know the strength it takes when you’re young, alone and a mother," Davis said in the release. "I’ve always been open about my life not because my story is unique, but because it isn’t."

And in an email to her supporters sent Tuesday, Davis said, "You’re damn right it’s a true story."



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/22/wendy-davis-attack_n_4645187.html

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow responded on Monday to accusations by members of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) staff that her network is out to get him, pointing out that Christie’s administration has still not explained the September 2013 lane closures on the George Washington Bridge that has led to several Christie appointees being subpoenaed.

“The question of why matters,” Maddow said. “Governor Christie’s office has tried to shame people for asking what the reason might plausibly have been. But they have offered zero explanation of their own.”



http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/21/rachel-maddow-to-chris-christies-administration-you-want-a-piece-of-me/

The Tea Party is just the popular face of corporate power in the United States, says political philosopher Noam Chomsky.

“I wouldn't call them revolutionary,” Chomsky said, dismissing a suggestion that the conservative political faction had anarchist characteristics.

He told Radio VR during an interview posted online last week that he agreed with the conservative political analyst Norman Ornstein’s characterization of the Tea Party.


“He just described them as a radical insurgency opposed to rationality, to political compromise, to participation to a parliamentary system — in fact, with no positive goals themselves,” Chomsky said.

He said traditional anarchists opposed the inherent inequality in the relationship between a government and its people or business owners and their workers, while Tea Party conservatives promote this imbalance.

“They’re in favor of having the population subordinated to concentrated private power, which should have no limits,” Chomsky said.



http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/20/noam-chomsky-the-tea-party-is-the-petty-bourgeois-face-of-corporate-oligarchs/

No one ever said Freedomworks (for whites only) had any care for racial sensitivity, but yesterday's call to support "nullification of Obamacare" in South Carolina seems calculated to stir up even more white resentment than there is already.

In a newsletter sent to their members Sunday, Freedomworks' Vice President Adam Brandon called for more members to join the battle to repeal, or in South Carolina's case, nullify Obamacare:

Last Tuesday, FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe gave the keynote address at a rally to support nullifying ObamaCare in South Carolina. Progressives are watching this fight all across America. They know that if ObamaCare is nullified, it could be the end of Obama’s radical health care takeover.

Matt went down to South Carolina to cheer on this important effort. The State House already passed the measure. Now it’s the Senate’s turn to act.

Nullifying ObamaCare in South Carolina could set a precedent for the rest of the country. Americans are fed up with the health care takeover. Premiums are going up across the country. Hard working citizens are losing their coverage. The economy is in trouble and ObamaCare only makes it worse.


http://crooksandliars.com/2014/01/freedomworks-goes-full-tilt-secessionist

By right-wing standards, that rhetoric is actually pretty mild, except for that term "nullification." South Carolina's nullification crisis in 1832 foreshadowed the issues which framed the Civil War 30 years later. Here we are today using the same kind of rhetoric and inflammatory language over...health care?

Now that the New York Times and other major media outlets have taken notice of Roger Shuler's plight, you'd think he would become a cause celebré for bloggers everywhere. You'd think that the judge, a crony of politician Bob Riley, would come under high scrutiny for ignoring the First Amendment in his quest to squelch any negativity about Alabama's Favorite GOP Son, Bob Riley.

Nope. Nada.

Matt Osborne:

Alabama has been transformed into Karl Roveistan, a country where it is not safe to be liberal or a Democrat. Political prosecutions have become a normal way of life here while massive political spending and resentment politics have allowed the GOP to take over every statewide office. The “Heart of Dixie” is now entirely under the control of people who often do not seem to regard liberals and progressives as humans, let alone Americans deserving the protection of laws and a Constitution. The unlawful and illegitimate arrest of Roger Shuler is a feature of the new Alabama, not a bug, and if allowed to proceed unchecked we can expect this outrage will also become “the new normal.”

- See more at: http://crooksandliars.com/2014/01/alabamas-corrupt-judges-leave-blogger#sthash.lvCxQXki.dpuf

The opening segment of Tuesday night's The Rachel Maddow Show is an outstanding example of why Christie’s Bridge-Gate Scandal Boosts Rachel Maddow To Ratings Victory Over Fox News. I wonder what cable news channel Christ Christie watched tonight? Was he curious enough to sit through what Rachel Maddow had to say about him and his disproved denials?

Needless to say, it was must see t.v. and something wonderful to behold. With the skills of Sherlock Holmes, she identified every discrepancy in Christie's assertions and tore apart every inkling of credibility that he might have hoped to retain. She flat out said that statements he has made are provably not true. She might as well have just used the word liar. And then she went on to prove it.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/15/1269754/-Rachel-Maddow-Destroys-Any-Credibility-Chris-Christie-Might-Think-He-Still-Has

The Senate failed to clear the 60-vote hurdle on two proposals to extend unemployment benefits, thanks to a GOP filibuster.

Legislation to bring back unemployment insurance for over a million long-term jobless Americans failed to clear the Senate on Tuesday, leaving no clear path forward.








- See more at: http://crooksandliars.com/2014/01/senate-votes-unemployment-benefit#sthash.T0rLaflF.dpuf

Democracy Now's Amy Goodman and author Ian Haney López take the viewers through the GOP's long history of using racist dog whistles to get people to vote against their own economic interests.






- See more at: http://crooksandliars.com/2014/01/dog-whistle-politics-how-use-coded-racial#sthash.RMxdW0Oj.dpuf