Right-wing commentator: Poor people voting is ‘un-American’

By Muriel Kane/Raw Story

Many conservatives appear to think badly of poor people, but Matthew Vadum of the Capital Research Center takes it a step further. According to the title of his latest article for American Thinker, he believes that "registering the poor to vote is un-American."

"Why are left-wing activist groups so keen on registering the poor to vote?" Vadum asks. "Because they know the poor can be counted on to vote themselves more benefits by electing redistributionist politicians. Welfare recipients are particularly open to demagoguery and bribery."

"Registering them to vote is like handing out burglary tools to criminals," he continues. "It is profoundly antisocial and un-American to empower the nonproductive segments of the population to destroy the country-- which is precisely why Barack Obama zealously supports registering welfare recipients to vote. ... Encouraging those who burden society to participate in elections isn't about helping the poor. It's about helping the poor to help themselves to others' money."

Vadum goes on to claim that "registering the unproductive to vote is an idea that was heavily promoted by the small-c communists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven" -- and if that assertion sounds suspiciously like the similar theories involving Cloward and Piven promoted by Glenn Beck, it is no coincidence.

Vadum describes himself in his Twitter profile as "Glenn Beck's tutor on the Left," and the description accompanying a video uploaded by Vadum to YouTube this July states, "Glenn Beck learned about the 'Cloward-Piven Strategy' of orchestrated crisis for the first time ever when he interviewed Matthew Vadum, an expert on left-wing pressure groups, on Fox News on May 13, 2009."

Two years ago, Raw Story reported on the agenda of the Capital Research Center, where Vadum is a senior editor, as being intended to "defund the left":

"The idea of starving the Democratic Party of donations by defunding the progressive non-profits that form a central pillar of its support is not new. It goes back to at least 1981, when the Heritage Foundation published a set of over 2000 policy recommendations for the Reagan administration. ... The Capital Research Center (CRC) was founded in 1984 by a former Heritage Foundation vice president to implement this agenda by uncovering the presumably questionable funding sources of progressive groups. ...

"Currently, CRC senior editor Matthew Vadum -- who describes himself as 'America's foremost expert on the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN' -- seems to be carrying much of the weight of the anti-ACORN campaign through his blog, Twitter feed, and frequent appearances with Glenn Beck and other right-wing TV hosts.

"Last May, Vadum told Beck, 'ACORN is an immense crime family ... that has tentacles all though the United States, and now it's trying to spread to India and Canada and other places. ... They're engaged in racketeering. ... They break the law constantly.'

"'Something that needs to be explored is the roots of ACORN in the 1960s,' Vadum continued. 'It grew out of the radical welfare rights movement. And the idea behind that was that not enough people were on welfare and that you needed to pack the welfare rolls with as many people as possible in order to overwhelm the governments -- the various levels of government -- and cause social chaos.'"

Vadum's latest attack on the poor appears to be the natural extension of that same agenda. "Cloward and Piven's long campaign to bring vast numbers of unproductive people into the political process culminated in the 1993 enactment of the Motor-Voter law," he writes. "That law turned welfare offices into voter registration centers and encouraged nonprofit groups to conduct registration drives. It also opened the door to massive voter fraud. ... As Benjamin Franklin supposedly said, 'When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.' With the help of Cloward, Piven, Alinsky, and Obama, we're well on our way."

Holiday Inn Responds: Liberal Protesters Against Cantor Were A Security Threat

By Travis Waldron/Think Progress

As ThinkProgress reported Thursday, a Richmond, Virginia-area Holiday Inn abruptly canceled room and event ballroom reservations made by progressive groups that had planned to hold a “jobs rally” countering House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) event at the same hotel Wednesday evening. After they were removed, the groups held a protest outside the hotel. Holiday Inn’s corporate owner, Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG), did not comment on the incident before publication yesterday, but today IHG responded, saying the protesters were removed from Holiday Inn property out of concerns for employee and guest safety:

IHG is aware of the protest that occurred at the Holiday Inn Richmond Koger South Conference Center. This hotel is independently owned and operated. IHG does not dictate local hotel operating policy for such franchised properties other than to require all hotels bearing its trademarks to comply with all federal, state and local laws, including laws regarding peaceful protests. The group in question was asked to leave the hotel due to concerns for the safety and security of hotel guests and employees. When the group returned to lead a protest, the hotel cooperated with authorities, who requested that the protestors leave the hotel property. All further inquiries should be directed to the Chesterfield County Police Department.

Unfortunately, the statement fails to address why or how the groups’ reservations were a threat to public safety. The groups’ rally was planned for a ballroom in a separate portion of the hotel, and they planned to invite Cantor to speak to the group and listen to their concerns. After they were removed, the protesters assembled out of the hotel’s sight range, across the street and a shopping center parking lot from where the hotel is located. Upon marching to the hotel, they appeared to comply with law enforcement requests throughout the protest. According to police, there were no arrests made during the protests.

When ThinkProgress asked IHG to comment further on how the protesters were a safety threat, whether it had heard specific claims from employees or guests concerning their safety, or whether it had spoken with Cantor’s office or campaign before removing the protesters, the company declined to comment, saying only, “At this time, this is the extent of the information we are able to provide. All further questions should be directed to the Chesterfield County Police Department.”

GOP Rep. Renacci Bars Cameras Used By People Who Don’t Agree With Him From His Town Hall

By Zaid Jilani/Think Progress

During the August recess, a number of conservative members of Congress have gone to great lengths to avoid being questioned by their constituents or holding town halls altogether. In Ohio, Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) even had video cameras confiscated from his constituents so that they could not film what their congressman was saying.

Now, Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH) is following Chabot’s lead. The Ohio congressman’s staffbarred a cameraman from the Democratic-allied American Bridge organization from filming a town hall in his district that took place yesterday:

Despite a nationwide controversy that erupted last week after Cincinnati GOP Rep. Steve Chabot refused to allow video cameras at a town hall meeting, organizers of a public meeting last night with Wadsworth GOP Rep. Jim Renacci followed suit by barring a Democratic organization’s cameraman from recording the event. The newly-established American Bridge 21st Century Super PAC has recorded speeches by public officials and political candidates around the nation, including events held by GOP U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Coughlin of Cuyahoga Falls, and Urbana area GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the House Republican Study Committee. “We are making sure politicians are held to account for their record and the comments they make to their constituents,” said the group’s spokesman, Matthew Thornton.

While Renacci stopped American Bridge’s cameraman from filming, his staff did allow a woman to film at the event on behalf of him. The footage recorded by her shows Renacci’s staff stopping the American Bridge cameraman from using his video camera. Watch it:

Dick Morris Uses Fox To Push His Anti-Muslim Petition

From Matters Matters

In recent days, Fox News contributor Dick Morris has repeatedly used his Fox appearances to promote a petition on his website opposing the Park51 Islamic community center. Morris has a history of inflammatory attacks on Park51, including the outrageous claim that the community center is "designed to celebrate the attacks that killed 3,000 Americans."

Morris Uses Fox Appearances To Push His Anti-Muslim Petition

Morris Claims Park51 Will "Train The Same Kind Of Terrorists That Caused The Attacks" And "Want[s] Us To Provide Them With U.S. Taxpayer Money To Make It Possible." On the August 29 edition of Fox Business' Lou Dobbs Tonight, Morris promoted his petition to prevent the proposed Park51 Islamic community center from applying for federal funds, claiming the community center will "teach Sharia law and train the same kind of terrorists that caused ground -- the attack on the World Trade Center to happen" and "want[s] us to provide them with U.S. taxpayer money to make it possible." Morris concluded by asking people to go to his "website, DickMorris.com, in the upper right-hand corner, I have a petition that we started to collect signatures on today." [Fox Business, Lou Dobbs Tonight, 8/29/11, via Media Matters]

On Hannity, Morris Plugs Petition At End Of Unrelated Segment. On the August 29 edition of Fox News' Hannity, Morris ended a segment on the GOP primary by saying:

MORRIS: I just want to say one thing before your music comes. The guys who want to build the ground zero mosque have applied for federal funds from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the entities created to rebuild after 9-11. I'm outraged by that, and if you go to DickMorris.com, please sign the petition, the upper right-hand corner of the site, to stop this. To ask us to pay for their mosque, to rub our noses in it, after 9-11 and teach sharia law at that mosque is absolutely incredible. It's August 29, otherwise I would think it's April 1.  [Fox News, Hannity, 8/29/11, via Media Matters]

Morris Uses Fox & Friends Appearance to Promote Petition. On the August 31 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, at the end of a discussion about the impact a vice presidential candidate could have on the GOP primary, Morris claimed that "the group that is pushing for the 9-11 mosque, two blocks from the Trade Center site, is now asking for federal funds." Morris mentioned his petition which would prevent Park51 from using those funds "to help lower Manhattan recover" and provided a link to his website, asking viewers to "please click on it and sign up." [Fox News, Fox & Friends 8/31/11, via Media Matters]

O'Reilly "Set[s] Up" Morris To Push Petition. On the August 31 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly invited Morris to push the petition. Morris claimed the center's builders "want us to pay for their mosque to rub our nose in 9-11 and train for Sharia law stuff." Morris pushed a petition which he said could be found "on the upper right-hand corner of said website, DickMorris.com" to "deluge the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 8/31/11, viaMedia Matters]

Promoting Petition On His Website, Morris Claims Park51 Is "Designed To Celebrate The Attacks That Killed 3,000 Americans"

Morris: "The Ground Zero Mosque ... Will Doubtless Spawn Hundreds Of New Terrorists." In an August 29 post promoting the petition on his website, Morris claimed that Park51 is "designed to celebrate the attacks that killed 3,000 Americans" and "will doubtless spawn hundreds of new terrorists." From DickMorris.com:

The ground zero mosque, called Park 51, has applied for a $5 million grant of federal funds from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. The Corporation, set up to rebuild lower Manhattan after 9-11 is actively considering the grant request. Imagine! A federal entity set up to rebuild lower Manhattan giving tax money to a mosque designed to celebrate the attacks that killed 3,000 Americans!

The ground zero mosque will offer courses in Shariah Law and will doubtless spawn hundreds of new terrorists eager to pick up where the 9-11 hijackers left off.

[...]

[T]he sponsors of the mosque have no business rubbing the noses of the victims' families in the dirt by building the mosque right next to the site of 9-11. But there is especially no justification for using our tax money to make it possible. [DickMorris.com, 8/29/11]

Morris' Petition Claims That "The Mosque Will Teach Shariah Law, And Its Location Is An Insult To All Americans." From Morris' petition:

We the undersigned strongly urge the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to refuse to give funding to the planned mosque near the Ground Zero site of the World Trade Center. The mosque will teach Shariah law, and its location is an insult to all Americans - especially those who lost loved ones on 9-11. To use our tax dollars to subsidize this insult just compounds the affront to our sensibilities. [DickMorris.com, 8/29/11]

Morris Has A History Of Inflammatory Attacks On Park51

Morris: Park51 Would Be  Like Other "Sharia Mosques" Which Are "Command Centers For Terrorism." On the August 18, 2010, edition of The O'Reilly Factor, discussing Park51, Morris claimed "[t]hese Sharia mosques -- and that's the key word, Sharia, not mosque -- have become the command centers for terrorism." Morris also claimed Park51 would be "a triumphalist monument" to the 9-11 attacks. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 8/18/10, via Media Matters]

Morris: Park51 Would Be "A Terrorist Recruitment, Indoctrination And Training Center." From an August 18, 2010, column on Morris' website:

The proposed mosque near to ground zero is not really a religious institution. It would be -- as many mosques throughout the nation are -- a terrorist recruitment, indoctrination and training center. It is not the worship of Islam that is the problem. It is the efforts to advance Sharia Law with its requirement of Jihad and violence that is the nub of the issue.

[...]

Which brings us to the ground zero mosque. There can be no doubt that any mosque organized and run by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf will be based on Sharia Law and will serve as local branch office of the pan-Islamic terrorist offensive against the west. That such a facility should be located right next to the place where Jihad achieved its most hideous triumph is unspeakably inappropriate. [DickMorris.com, 8/18/10]

Morris: Park51 Will Be Used To "Train And Recruit Sharia Law Advocates Who Become Terrorists." On the August 19, 2010, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Morris claimed that Park51 will be used to "study and promote and train and recruit Sharia law advocates, which -- who become terrorists." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 8/19/10, via Media Matters]

Morris: "Embodying The Values That Most Americans Share, That Doesn't Include A Mosque At Ground Zero." On the September 29, 2010, edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, during a discussion of "progressive values," Morris claimed, "Embodying the values that most Americans share, that doesn't include a mosque at ground zero." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 9/29/10, via Media Matters]

For the truth about the Park51 community center, SEE HERE.

September 1st Marks First Day of New Job Losses Caused by Snyder, Removal of Consumer Protections

From The Michigan Democratic Party:

Item Pricing Repeal Takes Effect, Forcing Job Losses and Leaving Consumers Vulnerable

LANSING – Today marks the first day of the repeal of Michigan’s Item Pricing Law – a law that has helped to protect consumers and create jobs for decades.

“This repeal is a jobs-killer and puts consumers at risk,” Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer said. “It’s just more of the same job-killing agenda from Governor Snyder and the Republicans. After eight months of ‘reinventing Michigan,’ we are in far worse shape than when Republicans took control.”

“We need to be passing legislation that helps to create jobs,” added Brewer. “Instead, the Republicans have raised taxes on seniors and the middle-class, severely cut public education, and repealed job-creating legislation like Item Pricing – all to pay for an massive tax windfall for wealthy CEOs, insurance companies, oil companies, and banks.”

“A normal trip to the grocery store will now turn into a risk for consumers,” Brewer said. “Without safeguards in place, consumers may end up paying more for their basic goods. At a time when every family is stretching every dollar, we can’t put their hard earned money at risk. It’s yet another example of the Republicans putting corporations before people. It’s a sad day for Michigan consumers and for the middle class.”

AT&T bought more than 700 copies of Rick Perry’s book

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

The Dallas-based telecommunications giant AT&T bought more than 700 copies of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's book, Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America From Washington, as part of a fundraising event arranged by the American Legislative Exchange Council in December 2010.

Perry recently urged the Federal Communications Commission to approve the proposed merger between T-Mobile and AT&T, saying it would "spur continued innovation." The U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday it would seek to block AT&T's $39 billion takeover because it would "substantially lessen competition" in the U.S. wireless market.

The Texas governor and AT&T have had a close relationship. AT&T’s political action committee has given Perry more than $500,000 over the past decade, according to Texans for Public Justice.

In December 2010, the company co-sponsored a conservative policy summit, where it spent over $13,000 to buy more than 700 copies of Perry's book as a gift to those attending the event.

Sales of the book benefit the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank with close ties to Perry. The founder of the organization, Dr. James Leininger, has donated millions to Perry's gubernatorial campaigns. The organization's president, Brooke Rollins, has also served as Perry’s Deputy General Counsel and later as his Policy Director.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which arranged for the book sale, is a little-knownbut extremely influential conservative group that drafts industry-friendly state legislation.

"I can only tell you that we worked with ALEC to provide enough copies to give to the conference attendees," Kerry Hibbs, an AT&T spokesman, said at the time.

In the book, the Texas governor blasted the expansion of the federal government and criticized programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. He attacked social welfare programs as "fraudulent systems designed to take in a lot of money at the front and pay out none in the end."

Perry also called Social Security "a crumbling monument to the failure of the New Deal," which was implemented "at the expense of respect for the Constitution."

"This unsustainable fiscal insanity is the true legacy of Social Security and the New Deal," he wrote.

The book is also critical of the the 17th Amendment, which established the election of senators by popular vote instead of by state legislatures, and the 16th Amendment, which allows the federal government to collect income taxes.

In Same District Where Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Was Shot, GOP Auctioning Off A Glock .45 At Fundraiser

By Zaid Jilani/Think Progress

The Pima County GOP — which is in the same district where Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot early this year — is holding a very insensitive fundraiser this week. The party is holding araffle fundraiser, and the prize is a Glock handgun, the same category of weapon that was used to shoot Giffords:

As the Huffington Post’s Alex Brant-Zawadzki notes, “With 125 tickets, at $10 a ticket, the [Pima County Republican Party] could pull in a cool $1,250″ with the off-color fundraiser.

After Irene Batters Her District, GOP Rep. Hayworth Pledges To Hold Disaster Funds Hostage For Budget Cuts

By Zaid Jilani/Think Progress


Last week, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)shockingly demanded that Congress should not approve emergency aid to states battered by Hurricane Irene unless it makes offsetting budget cuts elsewhere first. Several other congressional Republicans have made the same demand since then.

Now, Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-NY) has joined this chorus of disaster aid hostage takers. Hayworth, who represents a portion of New York that the hurricane hit, said Congress has to have budget cuts before it allocates more disaster aid because the “challenges we face with the national budget have not changed,” and likened it to a family skipping a vacation:

Only days after a record-setting storm destroyed her district, Rep. Nan Hayworth and her House colleagues threatened to withhold disaster money if lawmakers don’t cut additional spending from the federal budget. “We’re facing a natural disaster in the middle of an economic disaster,” Hayworth said Wednesday. “Certainly, the challenges we face with the national budget have not changed.”

Hayworth, R-Mount Kisco, said she would only vote to replenish the federal disaster fund if new spending was offset by budget cuts. She said those cuts should come from “non-defense discretionary spending.” Hayworth likened her position to a family skipping vacation if it was overwhelmed by bills. “We have to control spending,” she said. “There’s no question about it.”

Hayworth represents a number of cities, including Yorktown, that were battered by Irene. Thousands of her constituents were left without power and there was widespread flooding and damage to water systems, as some towns are now warning their residents to boil their water before consumption. Orange County alone said it received three times as many emergency phone calls as during a major snowstorm in February 2010, and 36,000 people were left without access to electricity. A resident of the town of Monroe in Orange County posted a YouTube video of the streets outside, where natural waterfalls had formed from flooding and cars were stuck in water:

Both Govs. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) and Chris Christie (R-NJ) have called on their fellow Republicans to immediately deliver disaster aid and put aside hostage taking about complimentary budget cuts.

Motor City Liberal Comment: I really believe these ass clowns think their Koch Brothers sugar daddies can spin every idiotic comment they make with their billions of dollars.

Five GOP Presidential Candidates Have Proposed Eliminating Capital Gains Tax, A $1 Trillion Giveaway To The Rich

By Pat Garofalo/Think Progress

Yesterday, 2012 GOP presidential long-shot Jon Huntsman unveiled an economic plan that, in addition to including standard conservative tropesabout repealing the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, would eliminate the capital gains tax entirely. This proposal came just a week after Huntsman hinted that he may be open to raising the capital gains tax, which currently stands at 15 percent.

But Huntsman is far from alone in the GOP primary in proposing full elimination of the capital gains tax. In fact, five GOP presidential candidates have proposed the very same thing:

At least five Republican presidential candidates support eliminating taxes on capital gains, proposing even deeper cuts than former President George W. Bush endorsed and standing in contrast to advocates of higher investment tax rates such as Warren Buffett.

According to published reports or their websites, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, former pizza executive Herman Cain and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have said they back getting rid of the capital gains tax, which now has a top rate of 15 percent for most assets held for more than a year.

Republicans have proven time and again that they really love tax cuts for the wealthy, but completely eliminating the capital gains tax is nothing but a pure handout to the ultra-rich. At the moment, the richest 0.1 percent of Americans pay 44 percent of the capital gains tax, and 68.3 percent of the tax is paid by the richest 1 percent. The bottom 95 percent of Americans pay just 10 percent of capitals gains taxes.

But the tax still brings in a substantial amount of revenue. Complete repeal, using data from the Congressional Budget Office, would cost about $1 trillion over 10 years. [See methodology below.]

As billionaire investor Warren Buffett wrote in an op-ed, “I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off.” Indeed, the conservative claim that lower capital gains rates leads to increased investment and job creations doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. Perhaps that’s why conservative icon Ronald Reagan actually equalized the capital gains rate with the regular income rate, a fact that conservativestend to forget.

Methodology: Projected capital gains receipts on a current policy baseline (which assumes that the Bush tax cuts expire and the tax goes from 15 percent to 20 percent) from the Congressional Budget Office are included in Table 4-3 here. The change in revenue from extending the 15 percent rate until 2021 is in Table Revenues—Option A-1 here. To calculate the cost of full repeal, we assumed that the 15 percent rate would be extended for 10 years.