Back in 2010 it was a Senate filibuster that prevented passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act. The Act would have helped end discriminatory pay practices against women. Needing 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster, Democrats could only garner 58.
So, while the House passed the bill and a majority of senators favored passing the bill, because Senate rules require a supermajority to invoke cloture, the bill died.
Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. XIII
By Steve Benen - Fri Apr 13, 2012 2:00 PM EDT.
Mitt Romney recently felt comfortable lecturing journalists about, of all things, "quality control" when sharing the news with the American public.
As Ed Kilgore joked, "Now I suppose when you have already developed a reputation for towering mendacity on subjects large and small, a medium-sized lie about your views on media accuracy is as easy as changing those jeans and a lot easier than changing your entire political persona on a regular basis. But you might think at some point the man would fear being struck down by a thunderbolt right on the spot if he lectures the media -- old or new -- about 'sourcing' and 'quality control.'"
If the presumptive Republican nominee has any such fears, he's not showing it. Those looking for proof need only consider the 13th installment of my weekly series, chronicling Mitt's mendacity.
1. Romney told voters about the cost of the Affordable Care Act, "[W]e've just learned from the CBO, it's not a trillion dollars. It's more like double that.... Obamacare is massively more expensive than had been originally estimated."
That's not even close to being true.
2. On the same subject, Romney argued, "Thirty percent of employers said they are going to drop the coverage for their employees when Obamacare is installed."
Actually, no, they didn't say that at all.
Historian Scott Ellsworth commented in a recent interview that White Tulsans and Black Tulsans will have differing views of the targeted racially-motivated killing spree perpetrated by Jaocb England and Alvin Watts last weekend.
Ellsworth is right. But, to understand why, you have to know Tulsa’s history.
Read the rest here.
Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. XII
By Steve Benen - Fri Apr 6, 2012 2:46 PM EDT.
David Corn covered Mitt Romney's speech to the Newspaper Association of America on Wednesday, and came away gobsmacked -- shocked not only by the Republican candidate's dishonesty, but by the larger context.
Romney stood before a gathering of journalists. He made a series of incorrect and dishonest accusations. And he was not hooted out of the room. He faced no penalty for this -- just a few slaps from those pesky, fact-checking schoolmarms. He will not be banned from similar forums. The politerati is not up in arms. His campaign rolled on. And this may well sum up one of the fundamental problems with American politics.
That's more than fair. Romney's habitual dishonesty certainly deserves to be taken more seriously, and the fact that a likely major-party presidential nominee had no qualms about lying to a room full of reporters -- most of whom, presumably, knew when Romney wasn't telling the truth -- underscores an unsettling degree of brazenness. He seems to tell falsehoods with confidence that there will be no consequences.
This week was an ambitious test of this proposition, with Romney straying from the truth with breathtaking frequency. Those looking for proof need only consider the 12th installment of my weekly series, chronicling Mitt's mendacity.
1. Campaigning in Wisconsin, Romney complained, "The president put an ad out yesterday, talking about gasoline prices and how high they are. And guess who he blamed? Me!"
That's not true; Obama's ad does not blame Romney for gas prices. It simply tells voters that the oil companies are supporting Romney's campaign.
I am sure the GOP presidential candidates are not the only ones thankful to have completed the last pre-Iowa caucus debate. The voters must be especially thankful. What has become abundantly clear is how bereft the GOP is of new and compelling ideas.
The reason no candidate has taken a clear lead is that no candidate espouses any genuine ideas that the electorate can rally behind.
Every few weeks there is a new front-runner or new person second in the polls behind long-time presumptive frontrunner Mitt Romney.
But, why hasn’t Romney run away with the nomination? After all, he has been campaigning for four years.
Read the rest here.
In the one high-profile case of a Black member of Congress, Artur Davis (D-AL), running for Governor, the Congressman lost – and he lost big time. One major reason: he voted against the healthcare reform bill, now the Affordable Care Act and otherwise derided (depending on how you think about it) by conservatives as “Obamacare.” And when he lost, it was in a Democratic primary, no less.
Artur Davis wanted to be governor of Alabama and correctly realized that he needed a more moderate voting record. So he publicly cast a “nay” vote against health care reform. In response, Alabama’s Black voters made a decision that they’d rather have better, more affordable health care than their own first Black governor. As a result, they turned away from him in the primary in droves and Davis’s political career was over faster than disgraced New York Congressman Anthony Weiner’s.
Read the rest here.
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